January 12, 1893] 



NATURE 



255 



•staining with hot Neelsen's solution, decolourizing in 25 p.c. 

 sulphuric acid, and finally staining in methylene blue ; instead 

 of washing the cover-glasses in sulphuric acid Thorner simply 

 uses a solution of methylene blue containing sulphuric acid. 



A METHOD of producing an intense monochromatic light is 

 ^described by Dr. Du Bois {Zeitschr. fiir Instr. p. 165). It 

 ■differs from the usual processes in the form in which the sodium 

 is introduced into the flame. A mixture of sodium bromide 

 and bicarbonate is made cohesive by adraganth and moulded 

 into sticks 4 mm. in diameter and 12 to 15 cm. long. These 

 are kept in the flame of a Linnemann burner by means of a rack 

 and pinion motion. Their conductivity being very low, they 

 are only vaporized at the extreme end. The latter must be 

 covered to avoid a continuous spectrum. At the greatest in- 

 tensity, two or three centimetres of the substance are consumed 

 per minute. The spectrum exhibits, besides the enormously 

 preponderating D lines, a air of lines in the green, and a 

 fainter pair in the red. 



From the ages of persons who have died in France during the 

 4ast 32 years, M. Turquan computes the average life there to 

 have been about 38 years for women, 36 for men, and 37 years 

 for both sexes together {.Rev. Set.). But this is now exceeded, 

 and the average is over 40 years ; a result, partly, of more 

 attention to hygiene, partly of a diminished birth-rate. From a 

 map showing the distribution of the average life, one finds the 

 average very low in Finistere and Brittany (28 years 11 months 

 in the former) in the Nord, the Pyrenees Orientales, &c., and 

 •especially in Corsica (28 years i month). In Finistere and 

 Corsica one finds least hygiene and most children, but not the 

 highest mortality of children. In some parts of Normandy, 

 with a high infantile mortality, the mean life is yet very long. 

 Thus it is about 48 years in Eure, 47 in Orne and Calvados, 

 &c The difference between the average life of men and 

 women rises to 4 years (excess in case of women) in the north- 

 west, and diminishes as you come towards the Mediterranean ; 

 and in Basses Alpes and Gard (in the south-east) man lives 

 longer than woman by about a year and a half. In Normandy 

 and Brittany there are most widows, and woman appears to 

 •have a grea ter vitality. 



It is now many years since electric currents were proved to 

 •exist in plan ts. In the study of these currents, an important step in 

 advance was taken when Prof. Burdon Sanderson proved their 

 existence in uninjured parts of living plants (it was usual before 

 to apply electrodes, often polarizable, to cut parts). As to their 

 cause, certain experiments made by Kunkel, some time ago, led 

 him to think it was in the purely mechanical process of water- 

 motion, set up on application of the moist electrode. The sub- 

 ject has been recently investigated by Herr Haake, who pro- 

 nounces against this view. He used Du Bois Reymond's clay 

 electrodes, with some woollen fibres projecting at the ends, and 

 he enclosed the leaves in a tube in which they were guarded 

 from air-draughts and kept moist. Arrangements were also 

 made for various operations, such as varying transpiration, ad- 

 mitting hydrogen, removing oxygen, &c. (for details see Flora, 

 p. 455, of this year). Herr Haake's results are briefly these :— 

 I. It is unquestionable that changes of matter of various kinds 

 are concerned in the production of the electric currents, especially 

 oxygen respiration, and carbonic-acid assimilation. 2. Water- 

 movements may possibly share in their production, but certainly 

 their share is but a small one. 



The Izvestia of the East Siberian Geographical Society 

 (vol. xxiii., 3) contains an account of M. Obrutcheffs' further 

 researches in the Olekma and Vitioa highlands. In the north- 

 eastern, formerly quite unknown part of this region, the 

 .author found a further continuation of the " Patom plateau" — 

 NO. 12 IT. VOL. 47I 



that is, a swelling from 3500 to 4000 feet high, devoid of tree 

 vegetation, with ridges and mountains rising over it to heights 

 of from 5000 to 5600 feet. They consist of granite and crystalline 

 schists, probably of Laurentian age, covered with younger, 

 probably Huronian, gneisses and schists. The other parts of the 

 highlands consist of Cambrian and Lower Silurian deposits, 

 while Upper Silurian limestones and Devonian Red sandstones 

 are only met with in the valley of the Lena. We thus have a 

 further confirmation of the hypothesis, according to which the 

 great plateau of north-eastern Asia is a remnant of an old conti- 

 nent which has not been submerged since the Devonian epoch. 

 Further traces of mighty glaciation have been found in the 

 south-east part of the region. As to the gold-bearing deposits, 

 they are pre-glacial in the south, and post-glacial or recent in 

 the north. The high terraces in the valleys are indicative of a 

 considerable post-pliocene accumulation of alluvial deposits,and 

 of a subsequent denudation on a great scale. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co. announce that a new edition 

 of Sir Archibald Geikie's "Text-book of Geology" is in the 

 press, and will appear shortly. 



The third and fourth volumes (completing the work) of Mr. 

 H. C. Burdett's " Hospitals and Asylums of the World" will 

 be published by Messrs. J. and A. Churchill about the end of 

 this month. Vol. iii. deals with the history and administration 

 of hospitals in all countries throughout the world. Vol. iv. 

 relates to hospital construction, and contains a bibliography and 

 portfolio of plans. 



Messrs. R. Sutton and Co. have published a second edi- 

 tion of Mr. J. E. Gore's "Scenery of the Heavens," with stellar 

 photographs and various drawings. Mr. W. F. Denning con- 

 tributes to the volume a chapter on fireballs, shooting stars, and 

 meteors. 



The second annual issue of "The Year-Book of Science," 

 edited by Prof. Bonney, F. R.S., is now in a forward state of 

 preparation, and will be shortly published by Messrs. Cassell 

 and Company. 



Messrs. Dulau and Co. have published " Annals of 

 British Geology, 1891," by J. F. Blake. This is the second 

 issue, and geologists will be unanimously of opinion that it is a 

 decided improvement upon the first. It contains a digest of 

 the books and papers published during the year, with occasional 

 notes. 



Lectures on the ear will be delivered in Gresham College, 

 Basinghall Street, E.C., on January 17, 18, 19, and 20, at 

 6 o'clock, by Dr. E. Symes Thompson. 



In Mr. R. Assheton's letter (Nature, vol. xlvii. p. 176) the 

 sentence beginning line 31 of the second column should have 

 read thus: — "But it is more metazoic — if I may use such a 

 word — to call the whole animal resulting from the segmentation 

 of the fertilized ovum, the sexually produced generation." 



Two interesting new compounds are described by Prof. 

 AnschUtz, of Bonn, in the current number of the Beric/Ue. They 

 are well-crystallized compounds of the lactides derived from 

 salicylic acid and the next higher (cresotinic) acid with chloro- 

 form, which latter substance is so loosely united with the lactide 

 that warming to the temperature of boiling water is amply 

 sufficient to dissociate them. Hence the compounds may be 

 employed for obtaining perfectly pure chloroform, and for 

 preserving chloroform in a solid form in which it is not proneto 

 decomposition. The lactide of salicylic acid has long been 

 supposed to be formed when the acid is treated with oxychloride 

 of phosphorus. Prof. Anschiitz, however, shows that the pro- 

 duct of this reaction contains many other substances in addition, 

 but by working under special conditions he has succeeded in 



