288 



NA TURE 



[January 19, 1893 



albuminoids, but also stores nitrates in its tissues, gave 31, 39, 

 and 95 gr. of nitric acid per cubic metre of drainage water. 

 Beetroot gives, however, the least quantity of nitrogen in the 

 drained water in proportion to the crop. Next comes Turkey 

 corn, and then potatoes. It appears certain that all nitrogen 

 which enters the soil is either assimilated or else lost. In the 

 case of a bad harvest there is a loss both from the poverty of 

 the crop and the impoverished state of the soil. — On the small 

 planets and nebulae discovered at the Nice Observatory by MM. 

 Charlois and Javelle, and at the Mounier observing station, by 

 M. Perrotin. A list of eight minor planets discovered by the 

 photographic method in four weeks, i.e. one-sixteenth of the 

 time necessary to achieve the same result by eye observation. — 

 Dilatation and compressibility of water, by E. H. Amagat. 

 Tables are given showing the relative volumes of a quantity 

 of water at pressures varying from i to 3000 atmospheres and 

 temperatures ranging from 0° to 198"; and others showing the 

 compressibility of water under the same conditions. This is seen 

 to vary inversely as the pressure, and also inversely as the tem- 

 perature up to very high pressures, when it begins to increase 

 with the temperature. — Observations of Brooks's comet (Novem- 

 ber 19, 1892), made at the Paris Observatory (west equatorial), 

 by M. O. Callandreau. — Observations of solar phenomena, made 

 at the observatory of the Roman College during the third quarter 

 of 1892, by M. P. Tacchini. — On the reduction of elliptic in- 

 tegrals, by M. J. C. Kluyver. — On the thermal variation of the 

 electric resistance of mercury, by M. Ch. Ed. Guillaume. 

 Pointing out the remarkable agreement of his results with those 

 obtained by Messrs. Kreichgauer and Jager, at the Physico- 

 Technical Institute of Germany (see Wiedemann' s Annalen, 

 No. 12). — On the measurement of power in multiphase currents, 

 by M. Blondel. — Absolute value of the magnetic elements on 

 January i, 1893. The elements for that date, determined at 

 the magnetic observatory of the Pare Saint-Maur, situated in 

 long. 0° 9' 23" E. andlat. 48° 48' 34" N., are the following : — 



Secular variation 



Declination ... 

 Inclination 

 Horizontal force 

 Vertical force 

 Total force 



Absolute values oi 

 January i, 1893. 



15 24-3 



65 8-s 

 o •19596 

 0*42297 

 o 466 I 6 



-6-4 

 -05 

 + o"oooi6 

 + 000019 

 + o 00024 



The values for the magnetic and meteorological observatory 

 of Perpignan, long. 0° 32' 45" E., lat. 42° 42' 8" N., are 



Absolute values on 

 January i, 1893. 



Secular variation 

 in 1892. 



Declination ... 

 Inclination 

 Horizontal force 

 Vertical force ... 

 Total force 



14 12-9 ... . - 5-9 



60 13-3 ... - 1-8 



0*22278 ... -1- 0*00030 



o '38933 ••• +000003 



0-44856 ... + 0-00017 



— On the purification of arsenical zinc, by M. H. Lescoeur. 

 Zinc destined for toxicological operations can be obtained free 

 from arsenic, antimony, sulphur, and phosphorus by two suc- 

 cessive operations, viz. oxidation by means of nitre, and fusion 

 with chloride of zinc. — Combinations of quinoleine with the 

 halogen salts of silver, by M. Raoul Varet. — Symmetric 

 dipropylurea and dipropylsulphourea, by M. F. Chancel. — 

 On a substance derived from chloral, or chloralose, and its 

 physiological and therapeutic effects, by MM. Hanriot and Ch. 

 Richet. — On phagocytosis observed on the living animal, in the 

 branchii of the lamellibranch molluscs, by M. de Bruyne.— 

 New observations on the affinities of the different groups of 

 gasteropods, by M. E. L. Bouvier.— On an anomaly recently 

 presented by the secular variation of the magnetic needle, by 

 M. Leon Descroix. — Influence of motion on the development 

 of fowls' eggs, by M. A. Marcacci. 



Amsterdam. 

 Royal Academy of Sciences, December 24, 1892. — 

 Prof. Van de Sande Bakhuysen in the chair. — In a paper read by 

 MM. S. Hoogewerff and W. A. van Dorp, some isoimides of 

 camphoric acid were described. These were obtained by the 

 action of POCljOr CHj.COClon some substituted camphoramic 

 acids. The following reaction takes place : — 



/CO.NHR /C-NR 



CgHj/ +CH3.C0C1 = C8H / >0 + 



\COOH ^C = O 



HCI + CH3COOH 

 NO. I 2 12, VOL. 47] 



where R is put for CH3, CgHj or C7H7. The isoimides are 

 very unstable ; they easily add one molecule of water, re-generat- 

 ing the acids from which they derive. By the action of heat 



— COX 

 they are transformed into the ordinary imides ^^\i_rQ/ NR. 



—The same authors called attention to the fact that it seems to 

 be a general reaction of the anhydrides of bibasic acids to dis- 

 solve in the aqueous solutions of ammonia and the primary 



amines, forming the corresponding acid amides : R <^ ^q \0 -(- 



NHg.Ri = ^\C00I?^^- — M""- Bakhuis Roozeboom dealt 

 with the solubility-curve for systems of two bodies. The general 

 form of such a curve in its totality, as yet not known even by 

 the researches of Engel, has been encountered by the author and 

 Mr. Schreinemakers in studying the solubility of FegClg. 12H2O 

 in solutions of HCl. The curve is a continuous one, combining 

 the two solubilities of the hydrate, recently made known by 

 the author. It presents a summit when the proportion of 

 FejClf is the same as in the solid hydrate. Part of the solutions 

 give on water-additions a deposit of the hydrate, part of them 

 give redissolution. The general form of the curve for double 

 salts would be represented in its totality by a closed curve, sur- 

 rounding the point, indicating the composition of the double 

 salt. With this form the same division of the solutions in regard 

 to their behaviour on water-addition is possible as above. — 

 Prof. Lorentz treated of Stokes's theory of the aberration of 

 light. The hypothesis of M. Stokes, that the movement of the 

 ether admits of a velocity-potential, is in contradiction with the 

 supposition that, at the surface of the earth, the velocity of the 

 ether is equal to that of the planet. It might, however, be 

 doubted whether, in M. Stokes's explanation, the first hypo- 

 thesis is really necessary. In the present note it is shown that 

 it cannot be avoided. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Heredity. By A. E. S 265 



The Basis of Algebra. ByJ. L 266 



Fossil Plants as Tests of Climate. By J. Starkie 



Gardner 267 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Lodge: " Pioneers of Science." — A. T 268 



M ay cock : "Electric Lighting and Power Distribu- 

 tion" 269 



Bates: " The Naturalist on the River Amazons " . . 269 

 Letters to the Editor :— 



A Proposed Handbook of the British Marine Fauna. 



Prof. D'Arcy W. Thompson . 269 



On an Abnormality in the Veins of the Rabbit. — 



Prof. W. N. Parker 270 



Difficulties of Pliocene Geology.— Sir Henry H. 



Howorth 270 



Earthquake Shocks.— E.J. Lowe, F.R.S 270 



The Weather of Summer.— A. B. M 270 



On the Origin of the Electric Nerves in the Torpedo, 

 Gymnotus, Mormyrus, and Malapterurus. By 



Gustav Fritsch 271 



Australian Travels 274 



American Forestry. By Prof. W. R. Fisher .... 275 



John Strong Newberry. By A. G 276 



Notes 277 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Comet Holmes 281 



Burnham's Double-Star Observations 281 



Ephemeris of Comet Brooks 281 



The Eclipse of April l6, 1893 281 



Nova Aurigse 282 



" Astronomical Journal " Prizes 282 



Geographical Notes 282 



Travels in Borneo . 282 



Bacilli in Butter. By Mrs. Percy Frankland ... 283 

 The Occurrence of Native Zirconia (Baddeleyite). 



By L. Fletcher, F.R.S 283 



Gas Power for Electric Lighting ByJ. Emerson 



Dowson 284 



University and Educational Intelligence 285 



Scientific Serials , 285 



Societies and Academies 286 



