528 



NATURE 



[March 30, 1893 



ric furaace. When the m?tal fu ses it gets saturated with carbon, 

 orming a carburet mixed with free carbon, which after solidifi- 

 cation exists in the form of swelling or true graphite. It is 

 separated by aqua regia. The residue consists of slate-grey 

 hexagonal crystals of density 2*06 to 2'o8, burning in a current 

 •of oxygen at 575". From 400^ upwards it swells like mercury 

 sulpho-cyanide. It is not attacked by fused nitrate of potassium, 

 chromic acid, or hot sulphuric acid, but is rapidly attacked by 

 warm iodic acid and fused sodium carbonate. The swelling up 

 is attributed to the sudden liberation of heated gas due to the 

 decomposition of a very small quantity of graphitic oxide pro- 

 duced under the influence of nitric acid at the expense of a trace of 

 amorphous graphite mixed with the crystallised variety, and more 

 easily attacked than the latter. — Researches on samarium, by 

 M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. — The pancreas and the nerve centres 

 regulating the glycemic function ; experimental demonstrations 

 derived from a comparison of the effects of a removal of the 

 pancreas with those of bulbary section, by MM. A. Chauveau 

 and M. Kaufmann. Medullary section, preceded or followed 

 by bulbary section, produces exactly the same effects as 

 medullary section preceded or followed by the removal of the 

 pancreas. As regards, therefore, the physiological action 

 exerted upon the sugar-forming apparatus, this last operation 

 behaves exactly like the bulbary section. Now the latter 

 determines the super-activity of the liver by suppressing the 

 transmission of the influence of an inhibitory centre situated in 

 Lhe medulla oblongata. As a necessary result, the removal of 

 the pancreas acts in an analogous way in producing hyper- 

 glycemia and glycosuria. This operation amounts to the 

 annihilation of the centre controlling the glycogenic function. 

 Hence the pancreas acts upon this function by exciting the 

 activity of this inhibitory centre, and probably also by 

 influencing the exciting centre, which is, on the other hand, 

 checked in its activity by the products of internal pancreatic 

 secretion poured into the blood. The results of the whole 

 experimental investigation on the pathogeny of diabetes are 

 embodied in sixteen propositions. — -On the distribution in 

 latitude of the solar phenomena observed at the Royal Obser- 

 vatory of the Roman College during the fourth quarter of 1892, by 

 M. P. Tacchini. — Photography of the solar corona apart from 

 total eclipses, by M. George E. Hale. — On electric waves along 

 fine threads; calculation of the depression, byM. Birkeland. — 

 On initial capacities of polarisation, by M. E. Bouty. — In- 

 fluence of frequency upon the physiological effects of alternating 

 currents, by M. d'Arsonval. — Measurement of large differences 

 of phase in white light, by M. P. Joubin. A new method of 

 rendering visible the fringes produced by two interfering systems 

 of waves consists in placing an anisotropic compensator upon 

 both the groups which have traversed the interference apparatus. 

 This compensator then receives polarised light which, before 

 being analysed, passes through a plate of quartz with its principal 

 section at an angle of 45° to the plane of polarisation. Such an 

 arrangement has been carried out in one of Fizeau's apparatus 

 for measuring expansions. It reads direct to 5V of a micron. — 

 On spherical aberration of the human eye; measurement of 

 senilism of the crystalline, by M. C. J. A. Leroy. The mean 

 aberration is a function of the age which grows slowly in young 

 people and very rapidly after mature age, tending towards a 

 maximum in old age. The spherical aberration of the eye 

 also depends principally upon the crystalline and notably upon 

 the variability of its index of refraction. In young people 

 this variability is rapid enough to sensibly correct the aberra- 

 tion. It decreases with age, and tends to a limiting value which 

 it would have if the crystalline had a uniform index throughout. 

 — Electrical crucible for the laboratory, with directing magnet, 

 by MM. E. Ducretet and L. Lejeune. — On a phenomenon of 

 dissociation of sodium chloride heated in presence of a 

 wall of porous earth, by M. de Sanderval. — On hydurilic 

 and desoxyamalic acids, by M. C. Matignon. — Action 

 of cotton upon sublimate absorbed in dilute solutions, by M. 

 Leo Vignon. — Influence of the alkalinity of blood upon the pro- 

 cess of intra-organic oxidation provoked by spermine, by M. 

 Alexandre Poehl. — Production of sugar diabetes in the rabbit by 

 the destruction of the pancreas, by M. E. Hedon. — Improvement 

 of potato-culture for industrial and forage purposes in France, 

 by M. Aime Girard. — On the employment of ruthenium red in 

 vegetable anatomy, by M. Louis Mangin. — Permian fish fauna 

 in France, by M. H. E. Sauvage.— On the manifestation, for 

 'more than six hundred years, of sudden variations of tempera- 



ture on fixed dates during the second fortnight of January, by 

 M. Dom D. Demoulin. — Destruction of trees and public health, 

 by M. J. Jeannel. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books.— Laws and Properties of Matter : R. T. Glazebrook (K. Paul).— 

 British Fungus B'lora, vol. 2 : G. Massey (Bell).— Text-book of Comparative 

 Geology : Dr. E. Kayser, translated and edited by P. Lake (Sonnenschein). 

 Beitrage zur Biologie und Anatomie der Lianen. Zweiter Theil :— Beitrage 

 zur Anatomie der Lianen, Dr. H. Schenck (Jena, Fischer).— GSuvres 

 Completes de Christian Huygens, vol. 5 (La Haye, M. Nijhoff).— Statistics 

 of the Colony of Tasmania, 1891 (Tasmania).— Meteorological Observations 

 made at the Adelaide Observatory, &c., 1890 (Adelaide). —Lehrbuch der 

 Entwicklungsgeschichte des Menschen und der Wirbelthiere, Dr. O. 

 Hertwig (Jena, Fischer).— Topographische Anatomie des Pferdes. Erster 

 Teil :— Die Gliedmassen : Drs. Ellenberger and Baum (Berlin, P. Parey).— 

 Distribution de la Vapeur : A. Madamet (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).— Lel.ait : 

 P. Langlois (Paris, Gauthier-Villars).— Universal Atlas. Part 25 (Cassell). 



Pamphlets.— Diagrams of Isothermal Lines of New South Wales.— Hail- 

 storms : H. C. Russell.— Das Genetische System der Chemischen Elcmente : 

 W. Preyer (Berlin, Friedlander),— Further Studies of Yuccas and their Pollina- 

 tion : W. Trelease (St. Louis, Mo.).— Museums Association, Report of 

 Proceeding!, &c., at the Third Annual General Meeting.— The Negro in the 

 District of Columbia : E. Ingle (Bait.). 



Serials.— Memoirs and Proceedings of the Manchester Literary and 

 Philosophical Society, vol. 7, No. i (Manchester).— Journal of the College 

 of Science, Imperial University, Japan, voL v., part 3 (Tokyo). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Electromagnetic Waves. By H. L 505 



The Great Sea-Serpent 506 



Public Health. By Dr. H. Brock 507 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Robinson : " The English Flower Garden : Style, 

 Position, and Arrangement, followed by a Descrip- 

 tion of all the Best Plants for it, their Culture and 



Arrangement" 5°' 



Jones : " Logarithmic Tables " 5'^ 



Bell : " Catalogue of the British Echinoderms in the 



British Museum (Natural History) " 5^8 



Letters to the Editor :— 



The Hatching of a Peripatus Egg.— Arthur Dendy . 508 

 A Simple Rule for finding the Day of the Week corre- 

 sponding to any given Day of the Month and Year. 



— H. W. W 509 



" Roche's Limit."— G. R 509 



The Ordnance Survey and Geological Faults, — Jas. 



Durham S^o 



The Discovery of the Potential.— Ottavio Zonotti 



Bianco; Dr. E, J. Routh, F.R.S 510 



Van't Hoff's " Stereochemistry."— Prof, Percy F. 



Frankland, F.R.S. ; Prof. F. R. Japp, F.R.S. 510 

 Standard Barometry. {Illustrated.)— Hr. Frank 



Waldo 511 



Motion of a Solid Body in a Viscous Liquid.— A. B. 



Basset, F.R.S 512 



Science in the Public Schools and in the Scientific 



Branches of the Army 513 



Climbing Plants. By W, Bolting Hemsley, F.R.S. 514 



Clapham Junction and Paddington Railway ... 5^5 



Notes 515 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comet Holmes (1892 IIL) 518 



Wolsingham Observatory, Circular No. 34 518 



Jupiter and his Satellites 5*^ 



The Horizontal Pendulum 5^9 



The Rising and Settings of Stars 5^9 



Geographical Notes 5^9 



The Institution of Naval Architects 5^9 



The Action of Glaciers on the Land . 521 



Further Studies on Hydrazine. By A. E, Tutton , 522 

 The International Congress of Prehistoric Arch- 

 aeology and Anthropology. By A. C. H 523 



Scientific Serials 524 



Societies and Academies 526 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received ..... S2i> 



NO. 1222, VOL. 47] 



