24 



NATURE 



[May 6, 1897 



Note on the precedinp; communicalion, by M. Lannelongue. — 

 On the locomotive action of the anterior members of the horse, 

 by M. P. Le Hello. As a result of the photographic study of 

 the horse in motion, mechanical apparatus has been constructed 

 demonstrating the muscular actions. — The action of the sun and 

 the moon upon the atmosphere, and on the anomalies of the 

 pressure, by M. P. Garrigou-Lagrange. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDA y, May 6. 

 Royal Institution, at 3.— Liquid Air as an Agent of Research : Prof. J. 



Dewar, F.R.S. 

 Society of Arts, at 4.30. — Kafiristan : its Manners and Customs: Sir 



George Scott Robertson, K C.S.I. 

 I-iNNEAN Society, at 8. — On Desmids from Singapore : W. and G. S. 



West.— The Problem of Utility: Captain W. F. Hutton, F.R.S.— On 



New Species of Mollusca from the Island of Madeira : Rev. R. Boog 



Watson. 

 Chemical Society, at 8. — A Bunsen Burner for Acetylene : A. E. Munby. 



—On the Reactions between Lead and the O.vides of Sulphur : H. C. 



Jenkins and A. E. Smith.— Ballot for Election of Fellows. 

 Gresham College (Basinghall Street), at 6. — Planets Saturn, Uranus, 



and Neptune : Rev. Edmund Ledger. 



FRIDA Y, May 7. 



Institution of Mechanical Engineers, at 7.30. — Experiments on 

 Propeller Ventilating Fans, and on the Electric Motor driving them : 

 William G. Walker. 



GeOLOGiSTs' Association, at 8. — Coral Islands : W. W. Watts. 



■Gkesham College (Basinghall Street), at 6. — Planets Saturn, Uranus, 

 and Neptune : Rev. Edmund Ledger. 



SA TURDA y, May 8. 

 Royal Botanic Society, at 4. 



Geologists' Association — Excursion to Southborough and Tunbridge 

 Wells. Director : G. Abbott. Leave Charing Cross Station (S.E.R.) 

 9.22 a.m.; arrive Southborough 10.50 a.m. 

 London Geological Field Class. — Excursion to Caterham to Redhill, 

 vi'd Godstone. Upper Greensand. Leave Cannon Street 2.17; arrive 

 Caterham 3.12. 



MONDAY, May 10." 



Society of Arts, at 8. — Design in Lettering : Lewis Foreman Day. 

 Royal Geographical Society, at 8.30. — Recent Journeys in Sze-Chuan, 

 Western China : Mrs. Bishop. 



TUESDAY, May ii. 

 Royal Institution, at 3. — Volcanoes: Dr. Tempest Anderson. 

 Royal Horticultural Society, at i. — Diseases of Plants. 

 Anthropological Institute, at 8.30. — A Lantern Demonstration on the 



Anthropological Features of the External Ear : Dr. A. Keith. 



Probable Papers : A Quinary System of Notation used in Luchoo : Prof. 



Basil Hall Chamberlain. — Ancient Measijres in Prehistoric Monuments : 



A. L. Lewis. — Rock Paintings and Carvings of Australian Aborigines : 



R. H. Mathews. 

 Iron and Steel Institute, at 10.30. — Annual Meeting. 

 Royal Photographic Society, at 8. — Portraiture : Harold-Baker.^Mr. 



Rogers, of Watford, will show his Acetylene Burner for Portraiture. 

 Royal Victoria Hall, at 8.30. — More about Rontgen and other Rays : 



Prof. A. W. Porter. 



WEDNESDAY, May 12. 



Society of Arts, at 8.— Motor Traffic : Technical Considerations : Sir 

 David Salomons, Bart. 



Geological Society, at 8. — The Gravels and Associated Deposits at New- 

 bury (Berks) : E. P. Richards.— The Mollusca of the Chalk Rock, Part 

 II. : Henry Woods. 



Iron and Steel Institute, at 10.30 a.m. — Annual Meeting. 



THURSDAY, May 13. 



Royal Society, at 4.30. — Probable Papers : An Attempt to cause Helium 

 or Argon to pass through Red-hot Palladium, Platinum, or Iron : Prof. 

 Ramsay, F.R.S. , and M. W. Travers. — On the Negative After-images 

 following Brief Retinal Excitation : Shelford Bid well, F.R.S.— A Dy- 

 namical Theory of the Electric and Luminiferous Medium. Part III. 

 Relations with Material Media : Dr. J. Larmor, F.R S. — On a New 

 Method of Determining the Vapour Pressures of Solutions : E. B. H. 

 Wade. — On the Passage of Heat between Metal Surfaces and Liquids in 

 Contact with them : T. E. Stanton. — On the Magnetisation Limit of 

 Wrought Iron : H. Wilde, F.R.S. 



Royal Institution, at 3. — Liquid Air as an Agent of Research : Prof. J. 

 Dewar, F.R.S. 



Mathematical Society, at 8.— On Cubic Curves as connected with 

 certain Triangles in Perspective : S. Roberts, F.R.S. — An Analogue of 

 Anharmonic Ratio : J. Brill. — An Essay on the Geometrical Calculus 

 (Continuation): E. Lasker. — On the Partition of Numbers: G. B. 

 Mathews. 



Institution of Electrical Engineers, at 8. — The Generation of 

 Electrical Energy for Tramways : J. S. Raworth. (Discussion.)— Dis- 

 turbances of Submarine Cable Working by Electric Tramways : A. P. 

 Trotter. 



FRIDAY, May 14. 



-Flames : Prof. Harold Dixon, 



SATURDAY, May 15. 

 Geologists' Association.— Excursion to Chislehurst. Directors : W. 



Whitaker, F.R.S., and T. V. Holmes. Leave Charing Cross (S.E.R.) at 



1.3s ; arrive at Chislehurst 2.19. 

 London Geological Field Class.— Excursion from Snodland to Ayles- 



ford, to view the Gault. Leave Cannon Street 2.37. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books.— A Treatise on Rocks, Rock- Weathering, and Soils: G. P. 

 Merrill (Macmillan).— Birds of our Islands : F. A. Fulcher (Melrose).— .\ 

 Plea for the Unborn : H. Smith (Watts).— Through a Pocket Lens : H. 

 Scherren (R. T. S.).— Researches on the Evolution of the Stellar Systems : 

 Dr. T. J. J. See, Vol. i (Lynn, Mass., Nichols).— A Course of Practical 

 Histology : Prof. E. A. Schafer, 2nd edition (Smith, Elder).— Dynamic 

 Sociology: L. F. Ward, 2 Vols., 2nd edition (New York, Appleton).— .A. 

 Handbook to the Birds of Great Britain : Dr. R. B. Sharpe, Vol. iv. (Allen). 

 Papers and Notes on the Genesis and Matrix of the Diamond : Prof. H. 

 C. Lewis (Longmans).— The North- Western Provinces of India : W. Crooke 

 (Methuen).— Grundriss der Entwicklungsgeschichte des Menschen und der 

 Saugethiere : Dr. O. Schultze, Zweite Halfte (Leipzig, Engelmann).— First 

 Stage Physiography : A. M. Davies (Clive). 



Pamphlets.— Le Climat de la Belgique, 1896 : A. Lancaster (Bruxelles). 

 Reunion du Comit6 International Permanent pour I'Ex^cution de la Carte 

 Photographique du Ciel, Mai 1896 (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).— A Study in 

 Insect Parasitism : L. O. Howard (Washington) —Philosophical Transac- 

 tions of the Royal Society of London : On the Capacity .ind Residual 

 Charge of Dielectrics as affected by Temperature .and Time : J. Hopkinson 

 and E. Wilson (Dulau).— A Summary of Progress in Petrography in 1896 : 

 W. S. Bayley (Waterville, Me.). — Hermann von Helmholtz : Gediicht- 

 nissrede von Emil du Bois-Reymond (Leipzig, Veit). 



Serials.— Chambers's Journal, May (Chambers).— History of Mankind : 

 F. Ratzel, translated. Part 18 (Macmillan).— Journal of the Chemical 

 Society, April (Gurney). — Century Magazine, May (Macmillan). — Bulletin 

 of the American Museum of Natural History, Vol. 8 (New York).— Pro- 

 ceedings and Transactions of the Nova Scotian Institute of Science, 

 Session 1895-6 (Halifax, N.S.).— Proceedings of the American Association. 

 Buffalo, N.Y., August 1896 (Salem). — Report of the International Meteoro- 

 logical Congre.ss held at Chicago, August 21-24, 1893, Part 3 (Washington).— 

 Contemporary Review, May (Isbister).— National Review, May (Arnold).— 

 Journal of the Essex Technical Laboratories, Vol. 2 (Chelmsford).— The 

 Humanitarian, May (Hutchinson).— Quarterly Journal of Microscopical 

 Science, April (Churchill). — Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, 

 Vol. ix., new series (Melbourne). — Himmel und Erde, April (Berlin), 



Royal Institution, at 9.— Explosion 



F.R.S. 



Royal Astronomical Society, at 8. 

 Physical Society, at 5. 

 Malacological Society, at 8. 



KG. 1436, VOL. 56] 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Scientific Worthies. XXX. — Stanislao Cannizzaro. 



(With Portrait.) By Dr. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S. . . i 

 Experimental Researches on the Physiology of Re- 

 production. By J. B. F 4 



Shakespearian Natural History. By R. L 7 



Our Book Shelf:— 



" Chapters on the Aims and Practice of Teaching" . . 8 



Upton: "Star Atlas" 8 



Lewis: " A Protest against the Modern Development 



of Unmusical Tone " 9 



Griffiths : " Respiratory Proteids : Researches in Bio- 

 logical Chemistry" 9 



Wundt : " Outlines of Psychology " 9 



Letters to the Editor:— 



Organised or Sectional Work in Astronomy.— W^. F. 



Denning 9 



Shelly Glacial Deposits. — G. W. Lamplugh .... 10 



Sieve for Primes. — Robt. W. D. Christie 10 



The Effect of Sunlight on the Tints of Birds' Eggs.— 



David Paterson 11 



Physiological Specific Characters. — Prof. T. D. A. 



Cockerell 11 



An Archaeological Survey of the British Islands . . 12 

 The International Photographic Catalogue and 



Chart 13 



Notes 13 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



A Remarkable Relation between the Distances, Masses, 



and Surface Gravities of the Planets 17 



The Double Star 44 Bootis 17 



Report of Mr. Tebbutt's Observatory 17 



The Twelfth German Geographical Congress ... 18 



The Institution of Mechanical Engineers 18 



Annual Meeting of the U.S. National Academy of 



Sciences 19 



Continuation of Experiments on Electric Properties 

 of Uranium. By the Right Hon. Lord Kelvin, 

 G.C.V.O., F.R.S., Dr. J. Carruthers Beattie, and 



Dr. M. S. de Smolan 20 



University and Educational Intelligence 20 



Scientific Serials 21 



Societies and Academies 22 



Diary of Societies 24 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 24 



