2l6 



NA TURE 



[December 29, 1892 



Hastie and J. DardUnac for works on the population of France 

 and hygienic statistics respectively. Chemisry: The Prix 

 Jecker to M. B tuchardat for his researches on the terehene 

 carbon compounds. Mincalogv : The Prix VailUnt to M. 

 Lacroix fir his work on the applicati m of optical characters to 

 the determina'ion of rocks and mineral sp-cies. Buaay : The 

 Prix Desmaziei-es to M. Pierre Viala for his "Miladies de la 

 Vigne " ; the Prix Montagne — lOOD francs to. M. I'AbHe Hue, 

 and 500 francs to Dr. F. Xavier Gillot for their mycological 

 resea-^ches ; the Prixde la Pons Melicocq to M. Mi'^clef for his 

 "Botanic Geography of Nor hern France." Mv^dicine and 

 Surgery: Prix Montyon — one to MM. Farahoeuf and Varnier 

 for work on obstetric medicine, another to M. Javal for ophthal- 

 mometry, a third to M. Lucas Champonniere for his work on 

 hernia; the Prix Barhier was shareil between M. Laborle 

 ("Death by Chloroform") and MM. Cadeac and Albin 

 Meunier (" Alcohol i-iin," &c. ) ; the Prix Hellion to Dr. 

 Theodire C it 1 for his work on "The Education of the 

 Senses " ; the Prix Lallemand was shared between M. 

 Binet ("Les Alterations de la Perso naliie"') and M. 

 Durand (" Lcs Origines Animales de I'Homme"). Physio- 

 logv: the Prix M mtyon to M. Hedon (diabetes) and M. 

 Cornevin (breeding of domestic animaN) ; the Prix Pourat 

 to M. H. Roger for his researches on the inhibitory power of 

 the nerv iu-< shock. Physical Geography : the Prix Gay to 

 M. Moureaux (distribution of magnetic elements in France), 

 General Pr.zes : Prix Montyon, for improvements in unheal' by 

 industries, to M. L. Guemult (crys'al cutting); the Pux 

 Delalande Guerineau, to M. Georges Rolland for his work on 

 the Algerian Sahara; the Prix Jer .me Ponii, to M. Le 

 Chatelier for his researches on dissociation and chemical 

 equilibrium ; the Prix Leconte (50,000 (res.), to M. Villemin 

 for his demonstr<ition of the specific na u-e and the tran^miss- 

 ibility of tuberculosis. The Comples reniu^ contains a complete 

 list of the prizes to be awarded in the next few year<. 



Berlin. 



Physical Society. November 18.— Prof. Du Bois Raymond, 

 President, in the chair. — Prof. Nee.s-en gave an ace 'um of ex- 

 periments maile with a view to the phot<).iraf)hic recor Img of 

 the oscillation of projectiles. He cnployed holloAr projectiles 

 in whose interior was placed a sensitive plate, illuminated by 

 sunlight through a small opening. During its rotaory flight 

 the ray of light described curves on the plate, from whose 

 position, taken in conj motion with that of the sun, the osctila- 

 tion of the axis an 1 point of the pr .jectile would he ci'culatel. 

 The results obtained shoAfed that both the axis and point per- 

 form oscillatory movements during the flight whijh are very 

 (lifTerent from those usually believed to take place. In order to 

 study these more accurately, Prof. Neesen is busy with the con- 

 strue ion of some arrangenient which may ad .lit of the intro- 

 duction into the projectiles of sensitive plates which shall not 

 participate in the ro atory motion. 



December 2. — Piof. Du Bois Reymond, President, in the 

 chair. — Dr. Du Bois gave an account of experi nents ma^ie hy 

 Mr. Shea in Berlin on the lefraction of light in metals, and in 

 connection with this referred to a theoretical treatise which he 

 had recently pu ilibhed on the same subject in conjunction with 

 Dr. Rnbe..s. 



Pnysiological Society, November 25. — Prof. Du Bois { 

 Reymond, President, in the chair. — I )r. Treitel gave an account I 

 of observations he had male on two snails enclosed in air-tight ! 

 glass vessels. Dr Ad. Ba^inski gave an ace -unt of a very fatal ' 

 epidemic among rabbits in the same hutch, in which a post- \ 

 m )riem exajiination of the deatl aiii als .showed a serious 

 affection of the liver and intesinal mucous membrane. The 

 liver was tilled with cysts of various sizes, in which, t >gether 

 with coccidiae, some very remarkable gMwths were f luiid, which 

 led to very marke i changes of the epithelial cells. — Dr. Ra^iiz 

 made ashoa preliminary statement of bscivarions on \nnu- 

 lata made du'-irg his s'ay at the biological station <.f R .vi^no, 

 on the c last of the A Iriatic. While one species was lound to 

 be extremely sensitive to light, and to draw in its tentacles at 

 once when shaded, another closely related s lecies was q die un- 

 responsive, while, on the other hand, it reacted immediately to 

 the slightest touch. The first species was much less sensuive to 

 touch. 



Amsti'-rdam. 



Royal Academy of S-ie.ices, Qjtob-r 29. — Pro^ van de 

 Sande B.ikhuysen in the chair. —Prof, Engelmann spoK.e (l) on 



NO. 1209, VOL. 47] ^ 



the influence of central and reflected irriiaiion of the nervus 

 opticus on the movement of the cones of the retina ; and (2) on 

 the theory of the contraction ol muscles. — Prol. Schoute proved 



the following theorem :— If ~ + Z'. = i is the equation of a 



d^ 0' 

 given ellipse, E, and/iJTj/) contains the terms of the «th order 

 of the equation of a curve C" with reference to the same axes. 

 The sum -A of the eccentric anomalies a^ of the 2„ points 

 Sx- common to E and C" is determined by the relation 



f[a, - ib)' 

 He indicated several peculiar cases of this general theorem. — 

 Prof Kiiiierlingh Onnes communicated some measurements, by 

 Mr. Leeman, relating to Kerr's ph^-nomrnon when reflection 

 takes place at the pole of a cobali-m ignet. The constancy of 

 the difference of phase S, discovered by Dr. Sissingh was con- 

 firmed. The measurements agree wiih the theory of Gold- 

 hammer, contrary to that of Drude. Mr. Leeman finds a 

 magn to-optic dispersion in S. 



November 26. — Prof, van de Sande Bakhuysfn in the chair. — 

 Prof. Schoute cim inued his communication ol October 29, on a 

 general theorem in the theory of plane curves, and corrects a 

 theorem of Liguerre. — Prol. Loieniz d alt with the re'ative 

 motion of the eanh and the luminifrrous aether. — Prof. 

 Kam-ilingh Onnes spoke ol measures on the relation of spark 

 lengih and difTcience of potent al made by Dr. H,)rgesius at 

 Groiiingen with a dou 'le bifilar electromeier of his own con- 

 struciion. Phe differences hitherto found are explained by a 

 correction for pies ure and temperature havmg been omitted. 

 Discharge between two concentiic cylinders depends, as Gaugain 

 stated, on the ilt-nsitv of the iim< r one o l\. Provoking glow 

 discharge on the inner one of two c ncenlric cylinders proves 

 successful in maintaining constant high poiemials. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Gore's Visible Universe. By A. Taylor . . 193 



The Iron Manufacture in America. By John Parry 195 



A County Fauna 197 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Kimiiiiiis : "The Chemistry of Life and Health " . 198 

 Ktcnener : "N.ked-Eye Botany, with Illustrations 



an.l Floral Problems" . . .198 



Gaye : " The Great World's Farm : some Account of 



Naiure's Cro|is and how they arc Grown" .... 198 



Lettrrs to the Editor: — 



Measurement of Distances of Binary Stars. — C. E. 



Stromeyer ... .... 199 



Remarkable Weapons of Defence. — G. F. Hampson; 



E. Ernest Gieen . . . . .... 199 



A .^ug^csiion. — Old Subscriber 199 



Supeistiti^ns ol the Shuswaps of British Columbia. — 



Col nel C Bushe . . 199 



The Great Ice Age.— N. L. W. A. Gravelaar . . 200 

 Aggressive Mimicry. — Dr. George J Romanes, 



K.R.S. . . 200 



Aruficially Incubated Eggs.— W. Whitman Bailey 200 



The Proposed Univer-ity for London .... 2fbo 

 The Mancnester Municipal Technical School. 



{lUu^t'ated) By Sir Hen y E. Koscoe, F.R.S. . 201 

 The Mont Blanc Observatory, (/litis (rated.) By E. 



E. F. d'A 204 



M. Pasteur's Seventieth Birthday 204 



N Mcb . 205 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Jnpi er's l-ilih .satellite . 2o8 



Comei Brooks (November 20, 1892) 208 



Comei Holmes (N..vember 6, 1892) 209 



The M,irkiiit:s on Mars . 209 



The Li k Obs, rvaiory . 209 



W'tishington Magnetic Ob ervations 209 



Gc' grip ical Notes . . 209 



Dew and Fro t. By the Hon. R. Rnss^U ..... 2IO 

 Arborescent Froht Patterns {/llnsiia/al.) By Prof. 



G. A. Lebour; Piof S. Has, F.R.S 213 



Societies and Academies . . .... 214 



