July 22, 1897] 



NATURE 



287 



polarisation of the dielectric by induction, followed by permanent 

 polarisation by conduction. —Dr. Giuseppe Bardelli (xxx. xii.) 

 gives a short mathematical note on certain simple relations 

 between centres of gravity and moments of inertia. 



Bulletin de la Soci^te des NcUuralistes de Moscoti, 1896, No. 

 3.— The reptile fauna of Europe, by Dr. J. Bedriaga. Part 2. 

 Urodela (continued). A further instalment of this important 

 work, in German, is given. — On the means of obtaining cells 

 without a nucleus, by J. J. GerasimoflF (in German). Having 

 previously obtained such cells by keeping cells of Spirogyra, 

 Sirogonium and Zygtiema at a temperature below zero during 

 the process of bi-partition, the author now obtained the same 

 results by means of chloral hydrate, rether, and chloroform. — 

 The histology of the skin of Petroinyzon, by W. Kapelkin (in 

 German, with two plates). — On changes taking place in the 

 nerve-system and the inner organs after the resection of Nervus 

 vapis and Nervus splanchnic us, by Dr. W. Niedzvietzky (in 

 German, with four plates). Parts of the vagus nerve (about 

 one inch long) were cut out in four rabbits, and of the 

 Nervus splanchnicus in two dogs. The animals supported 

 the operations very well, and seven, eight and nine months 

 after the operation they were killed. The author now gives 

 the anatomical changes which were observed, especially in 

 the nerve-system of these rabbits. — Remarks relative to a paper 

 printed by the author in the Archiv fiir Psychiatrie, by Mme. 

 Olga Leonova (in German). 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Edinburgh. 

 Royal Society, July 5. — The Hon. Lord McLaren in the 

 chair. — Mr. Thomas Heath read a note on the Calcutta earth- 

 quake (June 12, 1897), as recorded by the bifilar pendulum at 

 the Edinburgh Royal Observatory. His results have been 

 already communicated to Nature (June 24, p. 174). He 

 described the instrument as set up on Blackford Hill, and ex- 

 hibited a model. Vibrations of a transient character due to 

 shocks in or near the building were damped out by immersing 

 the pendulum in the clearest paraffin oil. According to a rough 

 calculation the seismic disturbance on the 1 2th took twenty-two 

 minutes to travel 4970 miles in a great circle. There were 

 absolutely no premonitory disturbances on the day of the earth- 

 quake, but there were indications of continued activity till the 

 1 6th. Reference was made to the services this instrument 

 might render in "laying" a certain notorious ghost. — Prof. 

 Tait briefly described the contents of a paper by Lord Kelvin 

 and Dr. Magnus Maclean on leakage from electrified metal plates 

 placed above and below uninsulated flames. The most im- 

 portant result — and an anomalous one apparently — was that the 

 amount of discharge under a flame was much greater when the 

 body ended in a plate than when it ended in a point. — In a 

 paper on the antivenomous properties of the bile of serpents and 

 other animals, and an explanation of the insusceptibility of 

 animals to the poisonous action of venom introduced into the 

 stomach. Prof. Eraser described the steps taken to isolate the 

 constituent of the bile of serpents and other animals that render 

 the venom harmless, and described various experiments on 

 rabbits and white rats illustrating its use. — On the influence of 

 excessive muscular work on the metabolism, by Drs. Dunlop, 

 Noel Paton, Stockman and Mr. Ivison Macadam. — Dr. Gregg 

 Wilson read a paper on the development of the Miillerian ducts 

 of reptiles. In embryo reptiles the first foundation of the 

 Miillerian ducts is a thickened plate of epithelium on the region 

 of the excretory system that has been identified as pronephros. 

 Growth backwards is quite independent both of the segmental 

 duct and of the coelomic epithelium posterior to the pronephric 

 thickening. There is an anterior ventral extension of the 

 foundation, comparable to the anterior part of the duct in 

 elasmobranchs and to the temporary ventral extension of the 

 Miillerian duct foundation in Rana.— Mr. Jr A. Macdonald read 

 a paper on the C discriminant as an envelope. The purpose of 

 the paper was to find the conditions under which the dis- 

 criminant of the equation 



U 



Ar» + B<:''-i -f D^'-^ -f 



Nr 



P^ 



where A, B, &c. are synectic functions of x and y, and c is a 

 parameter, yields a curve which at every point of its length is 

 touched by one of the curves of the system U = o. 



NO. 1447, VOL. 56] 



Scottish Meteorological Society, July 19.— Extreme 

 variation of the surface temperature of the ocean for every two 

 degrees square, by Dr. John Murray, F.R.S.— Hourly variation 

 of the rainfall at Ben Nevis and Fort-William Observatories, 

 by R. T. Omond. — Some striking peculiarities of the weather 

 of June last, by R. C. Mossman. — Exhibition of a convenient 

 apparatus for the determination of the temperature of saturated 

 steam in connection with barometric pressure, by J. Y. 

 Buchanan, F.R.S. 



Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, July 2.— Dr. 

 Edward Schunck, F.R.S., in the chair.— The meeting was held 

 for the presentation of the Wilde medals, and the delivery of 

 the Wilde lecture. The Wilde medal for 1896 was awarded 

 to Sir George Gabriel Stokes " for his pre-eminent services to 

 mathematical and physical science, and in regard of the standing 

 which he occupies in relation to the leading physicists of this 

 and other countries." The Wilde medal for 1897 was awarded 

 to Sir William Huggins " for his researches on the application 

 of spectrum analysis to solar and stellar physics." The state of 

 Sir William Huggins' health unfortunately prevented him from 

 receiving the medal in person. — The premium, under the Wilde 

 Trust, for 1897 was awarded to Mr. Peter Cameron for his 

 papers, published by the Society, on Hymenoptera Orientalia. 

 —Sir George Stokes then delivered the Wilde lecture on "The 

 Nature of the Rontgen Rays." 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, July 12.— M. de Chatin in the 

 chair. — The Perpetual Secretary announced to the Academy the 

 loss it had sustained by the death of M. Steenstrup, Corre- 

 spondant in the Section of Anatomy and Zoology. — Approxi- 

 mate theory of the passage from a gradually varied to a rapidly 

 varied state, or vice versd, by M. J. Boussinesq. — On the em- 

 ployment of copper salts in the estimation of several elements 

 in cast iron and steel, by MM. Ad. Carnot and Goutal. A 

 modification of the cupric ammonium chloride method for the 

 estimation of carbon in steel is described, which permits of a 

 complete determination in less than two hours. Sulphur may be 

 determined by a similar method with equally satisfactory results. 

 In the residue, the chromium, tungsten, and titanium may 

 be estimated. — M. Gayon was elected Correspondant in the 

 Section of Rural Economy, in the place of M. Hellriegel.— 

 Treatment of psoriasis by intra-muscular injections of orchitine, 

 by M. F. Bouffe.— Researches on the ostioles, by >L J. J. 

 Andeer.' — On the actual state of the geodesic work in Russian 

 Turkestan, by M. Venukotf, — Observations on the periodical 

 comet of D'Arrest, made at the Observatory of Toulouse with 

 the large Gautier telescope and the Brunner equatorial, by M. 

 F. Rossard. — Observations on the same comet, made at the Ob- 

 servatory of Algiers, by MM. Rambaud and Sy.— On the linear 

 differential equations belonging to the Riemann class, by M. F. 

 Marotte. — Magnetarium designed to reproduce the phenomena 

 of terrestrial magnetism and the secular changes of the horizontal 

 and vertical components, by M. Wilde. — On the absorption of 

 light by crystals, by 1\L V. Agafonoff.— On a standard thermal 

 mercury voltmeter, and on some applications of the calorimetric 

 method in electric measurements, by M. Charles Camichel. 

 The indications of the instrument are given by the expansion 

 of column of mercury, about one metre long, after the cur- 

 rent has been passing for a known interval of time. — 

 A new optical method of studying alternating currents, by 

 MM. H. Abraham and H. Buisson. The rotation produced 

 by the current in a concentrated solution of an alkaline iodo- 

 mercurate is not directly measured as in the method of Pionchon, 

 but is reduced to zero by applying a second bobbin carrying a 

 continuous current capable of being directly measured. In the 

 curve thus obtained the positive and negative parts are not 

 found to be exactly symmetrical. — Physiological action of the 

 galvanic current, by M. Dubois. — Electrical influence by 

 Crookes' tubes, by M. Foveau de Courmelles. — On the com- 

 plexity of the bundle of X-rays, by MM. A. Imbert and H. 

 Bertin-Sans. After prolonged use, a Crookes' tube emits rays 

 which appear to differ from the X-rays at first produced, inas- 

 much as they are able to traverse bodies relatively opaque to the 

 X-rays without appreciable absorption. — On mercury pumps 

 without taps, by M. Chabaud. The mercury pump described m 

 a recent note by M. Henriet (see p. 263), is not new ; neither does 

 it present any advantage over the form with valve. — On some 

 basic salts of copper, and on the brown hydrate of copper, by 



