2l6 



NA TURE 



[December 31, 189: 



M. S. Arloing. Prix Pourat, M. Gley. Prix Marlin-Damonr- 

 ette, M. Gley. Physical Geography. — Prix Gay (not awarded). 

 General Prizes. — Prix Montyon (unhealthy industries) : the 

 principal portion of this prize was awarded to M. Grehant, 

 and the remainder was divided equally between MM. Bay and 

 Brousset ; honourable meniion was made of M.VI. Bedoin and 

 Lechien. Prix Cuvier, the , Geological Survey of the United 

 States. Prix Fremont, M. Emile Riviert-. Prix Gegner, M. 

 Paul Serret. Prix Jean Reynaud, the late M. George-Henri 

 Halphen. Prix Petit d'Ormoy (Sciences Mathematiqu^s), M. 

 Edouard Goursat. Prix Petit d'Ormoy (Sciences Naturelles), 

 M. Leon Vaillant. Prix de la Fondation Leconte : a grant was 

 accorded to M. Douliot. Prix Laplace, ^L Champy. — The 

 following prizes were proposed for the years 1892-1896 : — 

 Geometry. — Grand Prize for Mathematical Sciences : deter- 

 mination of the number of prime numbers inferior to a given 

 quantity. Prix Bordin : study of the surfaces of which the 

 linear elements may be reduced to the form 



ds"' = [/(«) - <l,{vWti'^ + dv"-). 

 Prix Bordin : applications of the general theory of Abelian 

 functions to geometry. Prix Francoeur. Prix Poncelet. Me- 

 chanics. — Extraordinary Prize of 6000 francs : any improve- 

 ments tending to increase the efficiency of the French naval 

 forces. Prix Montyon. Prix Plumey. Prix Dalmont. Prix 

 Fourneyron : historical, theoretical, and practical study of the 

 bursting of fly-wheels. Astronomy — Prix Lalande. Prix 

 Damoiseau : improvements of the lunar theory with refer- 

 ence to secular inequalities caused by planets ; to see also 

 if any sensible inequalities exist in addition to those already 

 known. Prix Damoiseau : improvements in the methods of 

 calculating perturbations of asteroids which are necessary for 

 the representation of their position within a few minutes of arc, 

 in an interval of fifty years ; also to construct numerical 

 tables which will allow the quick determination of the prin- 

 cipal parts of the perturbations. Prix Valz. Prix Janssen. 

 Physics, — Prix L. La Gaze. Statistics. — Prix Montyon. 

 Chemistry. — Prix Jecker. Prix L. La Gaze. Mineralogy 

 and Geology. — Grand Prix des Sciences Physiques : an 

 exhaustive study of a question relative to the geology of a 

 part of France. Prix Bordin : the genesis of rocks, exemplified 

 by experimental synthesis. Prix Vaillant : applications of the 

 examination of optical properties to the determination of mineral 

 species and rocks. Prix Delesse. Prix Fontannes. Botany. — 

 Prix Barbier, Desmazieres, Montagne, de la Eons Meiicocq, 

 and Thore. Agriculture. — Prix Morogues. Anatomy and 

 Zoology. — Prix Thore. Savigny, and Da Gama Machado. 

 Medicine and Surgery. — Prix Montyon, Barbier, Breant, 

 Godard, Serres, Chaussier, Parkin, Bellion, Mege, Dusgate, 

 and Lallemand. Physiology. — Prix Montyon. Prix L. La 

 Gaze. Prix Pourat : experimental and chemical researches on 

 the inhibition phenomena of the nervous shock. Prix Pourat : 

 researches on the effects of subcutaneous or intra- vascular injec- 

 tions on the normal liquids of the organism or on liquid extracts 

 from different tissues or organs. Prix Martin- Damourette. 

 Physical Geography. — Prix Gay : study of terrestrial magnetism, 

 and, in particular, the distribution of the magnetic elements in 

 France. Prix Gay : study of the trajectory of cyclones moving 

 from North America or the West Indies. Gejreral Prizes. — 

 Prix Montyon (unhealthy industries), Cuvier, Tremont, Gegner, 

 Delalande-Guerineau, Jean Reynaud, Jerome Ponti, Petit 

 D'Ormoy, Leconte, Tchihatchef, and Laplace. 



Brussels. 

 Academy of Sciences, October 10. — M. F. Plateau in the 

 chair. — Note on a number of *Hyperoodons stranded in the 

 Thames and on the Normandy coast, by P. J. Van Beneden. — 

 Study of heat and light phenomena accompanying electrolysis, by 

 E. Lagrange et Hoho. In an electrolyte of dilute sulphuric acid, 

 a positive electrode having an area of 180 sq. cm. was immersed, 

 whilst the negative electrode consisted of a wire of copper 0*25 

 mm. in diameter, submerged to a depth of o"5 mm. below the level 

 of the liquid. On passing a current from accumulators through 

 the ' electrolyte, the ordinary phenomena of electrolysis were 

 observed. When the electromotive force was increased, a kind 

 of decrepitation, resembling the fizzing noise which is heard when 

 drops of water fall on a hot metal plate, was produced at the 

 negative electrode. The liquid about this electrode appears to 

 be in a state of ebullition. The phenomena increased in dis- 

 tinctness as the difference of potential between the negative 

 electrode, and a point in the liquid 3 mm. from it, approached 



NO. 1157, VOL. 45] 



16 volts. At intervals, when the difference of potential had 

 reached 16 volts, a number of luminous points were produced 

 between the electrode and the liquid, and their frequency was 

 found to increase with the difference of potential. The author has 

 studied the phenomena, using electrodes of Pt, Cu, Zn, Sn, Fe, 

 and C of different diameters, and electrolytes of different degrees 

 of dilution and different natures. He finds, among other things, 

 that the phenomena commence when the electromotive force is the 

 same (for a given degree of acidity) whatever the nature of the 

 electrolyte. The intensity of the current increases, cceteris 

 paribus, with the sections of the electrodes, and varies with the 

 nature of the electrode. For the same degree of acidity, the 

 same electrode, and the same amount of immersed surface, the 

 intensity of the current tends to remain constant, although the 

 electromotive force varied from 76 to 98 volts. — On the case in 

 which two hemihedric conjugate forms are not superposable ; 

 conditions necessary and sufficient for a polyhedron to be 

 superposable on its image seen in a plane mirror ; possible 

 existence in crystals of a class of hemihedra giving superposable 

 conjugate forms, although possessing neither centre nor plane of 

 symmetry ; direct and inverse symmetry ; tetrahedric group 

 of the quadratic system represented by A-4, by C. Cesaro. 



BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED. 



Books. — Die Elememarstructur und das Wachsthum der Lebenden Sub- 

 stanz : Dr. J. Wiesner (Wien. Holder). — Magnetism and Electricity; 2nd 

 edition, elementary stage : J. Spencer (Percival). — Arithmetic for Schools : 

 C. Smith (Cambridge University Press).— The Story of the Hills : Rev. H. 

 N. Hutchinson (Seeley). — A History of Epidemics in Britain from a.d. 664 

 to the Extinction of the Plague : C. Creighton (Cambridge University 

 Press).— Indigestion: Ur. T. Button (Kimpton).— Studies in Ratcatching 

 H. C. Barkley (Murray).— The Century Dictionary, 6 vols. (Unwin).— Year- 

 book of Pharmacy, 1891 (Churchill).— Societa Reale di Napoli ; Atti delta 

 Reale Accademia delle Scienze Fisichee Matematiche, serie -seconda, vol. 4 

 (Napoli).— Theory of Heat : J. Clerk Maxwell, loth edition (Longmans).— 

 Journeys in Persia and Kurdistan, 2 vols. : Mrs. Bishop (Murray).— The 

 Fauna of British India: Mammalia, part 2: W. T. Blanford (Taylor and 

 Francis).— The Collected Mathematical Papers of Aithur Cayley, vol. 4 

 (Cambridge University Press). 



Pamphlets. — Old Glasgow, Greater Glasgow; J. B. Russell. — The 

 Character and Influence of the Indian Trade in Wisconsin: Dr. F. J. 

 Turner (Bait). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Physical Theory of Solution. By J. W. R. . . 193 



Colour Blindness I95 



A Meteorological Guide-book . J96 



Our Book Shelf:— 



"Chambers's Encyclopaedia," Vol. VIII 196 



Huxley : *' La Place de I'Homme dans la Nature '' . I97 

 Letters to the Editor :— - 



Smithsonian Standards for Physical Apparatus.— Prof. 



S. P. Langley I97 



Pigment in Yellow Butterflies. — F. Gowland Hop- 

 kins 197 



The Chromosphere Line A 6676-9. — Prof. C. A. 



Young 19S 



Grafts and Heredity.— Prof. George Henslow . . 198 



Mental Arithmetic— Dr. K. Haas 198 



The Migration of the Lemming.— W. Duppa- 



Crotch 199 



The Recent Earthquake in lapan. — Prof. F.-A. 



Forel 199 



On the Virial Equation for Gases and Vapours. By 



Prof. P. G. Tait .199 



On the Relation of Natural Science to Art. I. By 



Prof. E. du Bois-Reymond, F.R.S 200 



Telescopic Objectives. (Illustrated.) By A. Fowler 204 



Notes 207 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



The Secular Variation of Latitudes 210 



The Rotation of Venus 210 



Stars having Peculiar Spectra 210 



The Tower of Babel and the Confusion of Tongues. 



By Theo. G. Pinches 210 



A Year's Scientific Work in New Guinea 211 



A Medium for Preserving the Colours of Fish and 



other Animals 212 



Scientific Serials 212 



Societies and Academies 212 



Books and Pamphlets Receiveu 216 



