1 68 



NATURE 



[December 17, 1891 



The rotatory power of silk, by M. Leo Vignon. — Ammonia in 

 atmospheric waters, by M. Albert Levy. At the previous meet- 

 ing of the Academy, MM. Marcano and Miintz gave the results 

 of twenty estimations of ammonia in rain caught at Caracas, and 

 the mean (1-55 mgr. per litre) was thought by M. Miintz to be 

 higher than that obtained in our latitudes. M. Levy, however, 

 shows that a higher proportion has been frequently obtained in 

 France and elsewhere. He has estimated the ammonia and 

 nitric acid in all the rainfalls at Montsouris for sixteen years. 

 The average number is 150 per year ; and from these 2000 or 3000 

 measures, a mean weight of 2 '2 mgr. of ammonia per litre has 

 been obtained. — In which part of the nervo-muscular system is 

 inhibition produced ?, by M. N. Wedensky. — The antennal 

 gland of Amphipodes of the Orchestiidal family, bv M. Jules 

 Bonnier. — New list of large Cetacea stranded on the French 

 coast, by MM. G. Ponchet and H. Beauregard. — On the para- 

 sitic fungus of ZacZ/wz^zMw acridiorum, Gd., by M. A. Girard. 

 — On the germination of grains of Araucaria Bidwilli, Hook., 

 and Araucaria brasiliensis, Rich., by M. Ed. Heckel. 



Berlin. 



Physiological Society, November 13. — Prof, du Bois 

 Reymond, President, in the chair. — Prof. H. Munk gave an 

 account of further experiments made in his laboratory, on the 

 effect on the larynx of section of the superior laryngeal nerve 

 in the horse, and which had again led as their result neither to 

 paralysis nor atrophy of the laryngeal muscles. — Dr. Kriiger 

 having investigated the chemical constitution of adenin and 

 hypoxanthin, finds that they belong to the uric acid group. 

 When treated with hydrochloric acid at 130° C, they yielded 

 glycocoll, and by a more profound decomposition with bromine, 

 potassium chlorate, and hydrochloric acid, alloxanthin and urea 

 were obtained. 



Physical Society, November 20. — Prof. Kundt, President, 

 in the chair. — Prof. A. du Bois Reymond explained, starting 

 from the discovery of electrodynamic rotations produced by 

 alternating currents made by Galileo Ferraris in 1888, how the 

 rotation of the magnetic field is employed in the constructii-m of 

 rotatory current motors, and exhibited several forms of the 

 instrument to the Society. The principle di'-covered by 

 Ferraris has undergone very material modification during its 

 practical application, and hris led to most interesting scientific 

 results. 



December 4. — Prof, von Helmholtz, President, in the chair. 

 — Dr. Assmann described his aspiration-meteorograph intended 

 for use in captive balloons. — Dr. Wolff spoke on the per- 

 manency of an accumulator battery which had been standing 

 for a year, until the fluid in it had evaporated to dryness, and 

 which, on being recharged, almost immediately recovered its 

 original strength. 



Meteorological Society, December i.— Prof. Schwalbe, 

 President, in the chair. — Dr. Assmann spoke on meteorological 

 observations during balloon voyages and in captive balloons. 

 For the determination of temperature, humidity, and atmospheric 

 pressure in a free balloon, the aspiration thermometer and an 

 aneroid barometer sufSce. Comparative measurements made by 

 Rotch in Paris and in Berlin, during balloon voyages, showed 

 that a Richards thermograph records a temperature some 8° C. 

 higher than does a maximum and minimum thermometer, and 

 the latter shows a temperature always 2° C. higher than does 

 an aspiration thermometer. In order to carry out prolonged 

 observations on humidity during a balloon trip, three aspiration 

 thermometers must be combined, of which two are alternately 

 moistened while the third is kept dry. For use in captive 

 balloons self-registering instruments must be employed, whose 

 construction, owing to the frequently violent vertical jolts of the 

 balloon, presents considerable difficulty. The speaker exhibited 

 tracings which showed that these difBculties had been overcome 

 by him. Temperature is recorded by a bent Bourdon tube 

 filled with alcohol, humidity by a hair hygrometer, and atmo- 

 spheric pressure by an aneroid ; all these instruments being 

 placed in a space in which aspiration is continuously kept up. 

 Each instrument records upon a cylinder which rotates once in 

 about five hours. The German Ballooning Society proposes 

 to, make simultaneous observations (i) in a free balloon,i(2) 

 with a self-recording apparatus suspended by a long cable from 

 the car of the balloon, (3) with a second similar apparatus in a 



NO. TI55, VOL. 45] 



captive balloon, and (4) at the earth's surface. ' By this means 

 simultaneous determinations of temperature, humidity, and 

 pressure at four difTerent air-levels would be obtained. — Prof. 

 Sporer described the appearance of two groups of sun-spots, of 

 which one was unaccompanied by any disturbances of terrestrial 

 magnetism, while the other was followed by very strong dis- 

 turbances. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, AND SERIALS 

 RECEIVED. 



Books. — La Rose: J.Bel fParis, Bailliere). — Les Champignons: A, 

 Acloque (Bailliere). — La Place deL'Homme dans la Nature : T. H. Huxley 

 (Bailliere).-— Analysis of Theology : Dr. E. J. Figg (Willianisand Norgate). 

 — Sul Regime delle Spiagge e sulla Regolazlone dei Porti : P. Cornaglia 

 (Torino, Paravia). — Report.i on the Mining Industries of New Zealand, 1891 

 Wellington, Didsbury). — .Annual Report of the Department of Mines, 

 N.S.W., 1890 (Sydniy, Chapman). — The Embryology of the Sea Bass : Dr. 

 H. V.Wilson (Washington).— Electricity up to Date : /. B. Verity (Warne).— 

 Studies in Anatomy from the Anatomical Department of the Owens College, 

 vol. i. (Manchester, Cornish).— The Living Worid : H. W. Conn (Putnam). 

 — A Natural Method of Physical Training : E. Checkley (Putnam). — Notes 

 on Building Construction, Part 4 (Longman^).— Botanical Wall Diagrams 

 (S.P.C. K.). — CEuvres Completes de Christiaan Huygens, tome quatrieme 

 (La Haye, M. Nijhoff). — L' Electricity dans la Nature: G. Dary (Paris, 

 G. Carr6). — Thermodynamique : H Poincar^ (Paris, G. Carr6). — Through 

 Equatorial Africa : H. von Wissmann ; translated by M. J. A. Bergmann 

 (Chatto and Windus).— Mission Scientifique au Cap Horn, 1882-1883, tome 

 vii., Anthropologie, Ethnographic: P. Hyades and J. Deniker (Paris, 

 Gauthier-Villars) — Whitaker's Almanack, 1B92 (Whitaker). 



Pa.mphlets. — Higher Education in Indiana: Dr. J. A. Woodburn 

 (Washington). — Rules for a Dictionary Catalogue, 3rd edition ; C. A. 

 Cutter (Washington). — Promotions and Examinations in Graded Schools : 

 Dr. E. E. White (Washington). — Sanitary Conditions for School-houses : 

 A. P. Marble (Washington). 



Serials. — Journal of the Chemical Society, December (Gurney and Jack- 

 son). — Journal of the Royal Horticultural Society, vol. xiii. Part 3 (117 

 Victoria Street). — L' Anthropologie, 1891, tome ii No. 5 (Paris, Masson).— 

 The AsclepiaH. No. 32, vol. viii. (Lon?mans). — Botanische-Jahrbucher fiir 

 Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzengeographie, Vierzehnter Band, 

 4 Heft (Williams and Norgate). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Two Zoological Text-books. By Prof. E. Ray Lan- 



kester, F.R.S 145 



Modern Artillery. By A. G. G 146 



Giants and Acromegaly 147 



Peaks and Passes in New Zealand. By Prof. T. G. 



Bonney, F.R.S 147 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Dela Saussaye: "Manual of the Science of Religion." 



— W. R. S 148 



Layng : " Euclid's Elements of Geometry," Book XI. 



— W 149 



Makino : "Illustrations of the Flora of Japan. "— 



W. B. H 149 



Clutterbuck : " About Ceylon and Borneo " .... 149 

 Letters to the Editor:— 



Wind Direction. (With Diagratn.)—A. B.M. . . 149 

 The Migration of the Lemming. — F, Howard 



Collins 150 



The New Railway from Upminster to Romford, Essex. 



— T. V. Holmes 151 



Peculiar Eyes.— G. K. Gude 151 



Grafted Plants.— W. H. Beeby 151 



Intelligence in Birds.— A. Wilkins 151 



Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay. By A. G 151 



On Van der Waals's Isothermal Equation. ( With 



Diagram.) By Prof. D. T. Korteweg 152 



The Bird-Gallery in the British Museum 154 



The October Eruption North-West of Pantelleria. 

 By Prof. John W. Judd, F.R.S. ; G. W. Butler . 154 



Notes 154 



Our Astronomical Column :- 



Jupiter and his First Satellite 159 



Spectra of the Sun and Metals ... 159 



Measurement of Jupiter's Satellites by Interference. 



{Illustrated.) By A. A. Michelson 160 



The Samoan Cyclone of March 16, 1889. By 



H. F. B 161 



University and Educational Intelligence ... 162 



Societies and Academies 162 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 168 



