264 



NATURE 



[January 12, 1893 



■electrolytes, by M. Henri Bagard. The thermo-electric force 

 between two portions of the same electrolyte in diilFerent 

 stages of dilution was determined by experiments performed at 

 the physical laboratory of the Faculty of Sciences at Nancy. 

 The diaphragm employed consisted of goldbeater's skin, which 

 has the advantage of closely adhering to the glass. The results 

 are given in the case of zinc sulphate. With a 5 per cent, and 

 a 45 per cent, solution the difference of potential ranged from 

 78 at 179° to 155 at 73"5°, the unit being i/iooooth of the 

 E.M.F. of a Daniell cell. The law of intermediate bodies was 

 strictly fulfilled, as shown by opposing a couple of 5 and 25 

 per cent, in series with another of 25 and 45 per cent, to a third 

 of 5 and 45 per cent., when no deflection of the electrometer 

 was observed between 0° and 73 3°. — On the age of the most 

 ancient eruptions of Etna, by M Wallerant. The first eruptions 

 of Etna have been variously estimated to have occurred in the 

 later quaternary or in the upper pliocene periods. These con- 

 clusions were based on the study of the prismatic basalt laid 

 bare by the sea round the foot of the cone. The pliocene de- 

 posits found in conjunction with part of the basalt appear from 

 palseontological evidence to be contemporaneous with the sub- 

 Appenine blue marls, which belong to the lower pliocene. In the 

 Cyclopean I-les the basalt is covered with a layer of clay, which 

 is also found interpenetrated by the basalt. The identity of age 

 of the two formations is evidenced by lenticular patches of sand 

 interstratified in the clay, whose particles consist of fragments of 

 pyroxene, peridote, and triclinic felspar, proving that when the 

 sub-Apennine marls were being deposited Etna was the scene of 

 eruptions accompanied by the emission of ashes. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES, 



London. 



THURSDA y, January 12. 



Mathematical Socibtv, at 8. — On the Application of Clifford's Graphs 

 to Ordinary Binary Quantics , 2nd Part, Seminvariants : The President. — 

 On the Evaluati .n of a Certain Surface-integral and its Application to the 

 Expansion of the Potential of Ellipsoids in Series : L)r. Hobson, 



SociETv OF Arts, at 4.30. — Upper Burma under British Rule : H. Thirkell 



White. 

 ■Institution of Electrical ENGiNEERsf at 8.— Experimental Researches 



on Alternate-Current Transformers: Prof. J. A. Fleming, F.R.S. 



(Discussion.) 

 London Institution, at 6. — Electric Lighting (i) Generation of Electric 



Currents : Prof. Silvanus Thompson, F.R.S. 



FRIDAY, January 13. 

 Physical Societv, at 5.— Upon Science Teaching; F.W.Sanderson. 

 Society of Arts, at 8. — The l^evel ipmeni and Transmission of Power 



from Central Stations : Prof. W. Cawthorne Unwin, F.R.S. 

 iNSTiTiiTioN OF Civil Engineers, at 7.30. — Description of the Design 



and C )nstruction of a Roadway Bridge over the River Cam : Edwin 



Hulme. 

 Amateur Scientific Society, at 8.- Geology in 1892 : A. M. Davies.— 



Recent Developments in the Metallurgy of Gold : T. K, Rose. 



SATURDAY, January 14. 

 iRovAL Botanic Society, at 3.45. 



5r/iVD^K, January 15. 

 Sunday Lecture Society, at 4.— Some Invasions of India and their 

 Results" (with Oxyhydrogen Lantern Illustrations) : R. W. Frazer. 



MONDAY, January 16. 

 "Royal Geographical Society, at 8.30 (at the University of London, 



Burlington Gardens, W.)— Journeys in Sarawak, Borneo (Illustrated by 



the Oxy-hydrogen Lantern): Charles Hose. 

 Victoria Institute, at 8.— Why the Ocean is Salt : Prof. Hull, F.R.S. 

 London Institution, at 5.— The Spanish Armada (Illustrated): F. L. S. 



Horsburgh. 



TUESDAY, January 17. 

 Zoological Society, at 8.30.— A Proposed Classification of the Hes- 

 periidae. with a Revision of the Ge'. era : E. Y. Watson. — Descriptions of 

 New Species of Dipterous Insects of the Family Syrphidae in the Collec- 

 tion of the British Museum, with Notes on the Species described by the 

 late Francis Walker: E. E. Austen.— On Two New Species of Copepoda 

 from Zanzibar : Gilbert C. Bourne. 



MiNERALOGlCAL SOCIETY, at 8. — On a Discovery of Oriental Ruby and 

 Margarite in the Province of We'-tland. New Zealand : Prof. G. H. F. 

 Ulrich. — On the Isomorphism of the Red Silvers : H. A. Miers. — On the 

 Occurrence of Baddeleyite (Native Zirconia) in Brazil : L. Fletcher, 

 F.R.S. 



Royal Statistical Society, at 7.45.— The Reorganization of our 

 Labour Department : David F. Schloss. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8.— Gas 'Power for Electric 

 Lighting : J. Emerson Dowson. (Discussion.)— Reception by the Presi- 

 dent and Council. 



RovAi Institution, at 3.— The Functions of the Cerebellum, and the 

 Elementary Principles of Psycho-Physiology : Prof. Victor Horsley 



WEDNESDAY, January 18. 



Royal Mkteorological Society, at 7.15.— Annual Meeting —The High 



Altitudes of Colorado and their Climates : Dr. C. Theodore Williams. 



Royal Microscopical Society, at 

 Address : Dr. R. Braithwaite. 



-Annual Meeting. — Presidential 



Entomological Society, at 7.— Election of Council and Officers for 

 1893; Report of the Council, and Address by the President, F. D. 

 Godman, F.R.S. 



THURSDAY, January 19. 



Royal Society, at 4.30.— The B^kerian Lecture : The Rate of Explosion 

 in Gases : Prof. H. B. Dixon, F.R.S. 



LiNNEAN Society, at 8.— The Plants of Malanji, collected by Mr. A. 

 Whyte, and described by Messrs. Britten, Baker, and Rendle : W. Car- 

 ruthers, F.R.S. — Report on the District traversed by the Anglo-French 

 Sierra Leone Boundary Commission : G. F. Scott Elliot. 



Chemical Society, at 8 —The Determination of the Thermal Expansion 

 of Liquids: Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S.— The Thermal Expansion and 

 Specific Volumes of Certan Paraffins and Paraffin Derivatives: Prof. 

 Thorpe, F.R.S., and Lionel M. Jones. —The Hydrocarb ns formed by 

 Dec'mposiiion of the Citrine Dihydrochlorides : W._ A. Tilden, F.R.S., 

 and Sidney Williamson. — Camphorsulphonic Derivatives : F. S. Kipping 

 and W. J. Pope. — Note on the Decaphanes formed from Terpenes and 

 Camphor : Henry E. Armstrong. 



I'^STiTiTTiON OK Civil Engineers, at 2.30. — Students' Visit to the Works 

 of Messrs. Maudslay, Sons, and Field, Westminster Bridge Road, S.E. 



Royal Institution, at 3.— Tennyson : Rev. Canon Ainger. 



London Institution, at 6. — Electric Lighting (2) Electric Lamps: Prof. 

 Silvanus Thompson, F.R.S. 



R'^VAi Institutio> 

 F.R.S. 



FRIDA Y, January 20. 

 at 9. — Liquid Atmospheric Air : Prof. Dewar, 



SATURDAY, January 21. 

 Royal Institution, at 3. — Expression and Design in Music (with 

 Musical Illustrations): Prof. C. Hubert H. Parry. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



American Mechanism 241 



Seedlings. By Dr. Maxwell T. Masters, F.R.S, . . 243 

 Epidemic Influenza 244 



Our Book Shelf: — 



Wakt field : "An Elementary Text-book of Hygiene " 245 

 "Ostwald's Klassiker der Exakten Wissenschaften " 245 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Geographical Names.— Colonel H. H. Godwin- 



{mtk Diagram.)— A. 



245 

 245 



Austen, F.R.S. 

 The Weather of Summer. 



B. M 



" Aminol."— Hugo Wollheim ; Dr. E. Klein, 



F.R.S 246 



Super abundant Rain.— Sir H. CoUett 247 



Earthquake Shocks.— E.J. Lowe, F.R.S. .... 247 



A Brilliant Meteor.— W. Pollard 247 



Chemical Society's Memorial Lectures 248 



Extinct Monsters. {Illustrated.) By H. G. S. . . . 250 



Energy and Vision 252 



Notes 252 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Motion of Nova Aurigse 256 



Astronomical Discoveries in 1892 256 



Comet Holmes 256 



Ephemeris of Comet Brooks (November 20, 1892) . . 257 



The Meteor Shower of November 23, 1892 257 



Geographical Notes 257 



A New Seismograph. By Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis 257 

 Phy^ical Geography and Climate of New South 



Wales. By H. C. Russell, F.R.S 258 



Scientific Serials 260 



Societies and Academies 261 



Diary of Societies 264 



NO. 12 1 I, VOL. 47] 



