i88 



NATURE 



[June 22, 189;; 



Amsterdam, to which attention has been drawn in our columns. 

 The notice is on the whole favourable to this new venture. — The 

 notes and new publications are well up to date. 



Metedi-ologischc Zeitschrift, April. — On the hypotheses of the 

 oscillations of the so-called maximum zone of the aurora, and 

 the peculiarities of the development of the aurora in this zone, by 

 A. Paulsen. In 1872 Prof. Fritz asserted that the winter minimum 

 of the aurora diminished with increase of latitude, and in 1S80M. 

 Tromholt endeavoured to show that the maximum zone is in a state 

 of continual oscillation, as it makes not only a yearly and eleven- 

 yearly movement, but also a daily periodical change of position. 

 Also that aurorse are more frequent in the morning hours than 

 in the evening, and therefore tliat the maximum zone shifts to 

 the northward during the night. The object of Dr. Paulsen's 

 paper is to refute these assertions, and he quotes observaiionsto 

 show that the movement of the zone of greatest auroral display 

 during the course of the night is not towards the north, and slates 

 that no single phenomenon exists that can be explained by a 

 daily oscillation of the maximum zjne, but that, on the contrary, 

 all that we kuow about the daily range of the aurora points to 

 the fact that no such movement can exist. — Relations of daily 

 synoptic weather charts to the general circulation of the atmos- 

 phere, by E. Herrmann. Starting from the point of view that 

 the resultants of the forces of the earth's rotation and of centri- 

 fugal force, ill a stationary condition of the atmosphere, must be 

 normal to the areas of equal pressure, the author shows how the 

 normal distribution of pressure is solely a result of the difference 

 of rotation of the atmosphere round the earth's axis, and of the 

 rotation of the earth itself. On the basis of the distribution of 

 pressure acccording to Maury's zones, there result three zones 

 in each hemisphere: — An equatorial zone of easterly winds, 

 a zone of westerly winds, and a polar zone of easterly winds, 

 with corresi)ondin;^ changes of jiressure. It follows from the 

 decrease of temperature towards the pole that at a ceitain height 

 the zone of westerly winds extends over the zone of easterly 

 winds. The daily positions and extent of the zonts are deter- 

 mined by the distribution of pressure in all latitudes, and their 

 existence is a necessary consequence of the principle of the pre- 

 servation of areas, but applied to the whole atmosphere, and 

 not to individual particles as Ferrel has done. The author urges 

 the importance of the continuance of synoptic charts, and of 

 the desirability of telegraphic reports from Iceland and the 

 Azores. 



Bulletin de V Acadhiiie Royak de Belgique, No. 4. — The most 

 interesting paper is one by tj. Vander Mensbrugghe on negative 

 hydrostatic pressure. It is well known that any horizontal layer 

 of a liquid in equilibrium supports a hydrostatic pressure equal 

 to the weight ol a column of liquid, whose base is equal to the 

 area of the layer considered, and whose height is the vertical 

 distance of the layer from the surface. The author investigates 

 the pressures existing in layers lilted up ai!iof<? the level, whether 

 by atmospheric pressure, capillarity, or otherwise. In this case 

 the hydrostatic pressure will be similarly calculated, but will be 

 negative, so that it must be subtracted from the external pressure 

 upon the surface of the liquid in order to obtain the true pres- 

 sure on the layer. This conclusion is illustrated by a series of 

 striking experiments. A test-tube was filled wiih water and 

 withdrawn, mouth downwards, from the tank, leaving the mouth 

 an inch or so below the level. A U-tube was closed with the 

 thumb at one en 1, while the other was inserted in the test-tube. 

 On releasing it, air was sucked into the test tube and the liquid 

 reduced to the exterior level. A long cylindrical tube of paper, 

 similarly filled with water and withdrawn, was flattened more 

 and more towards ttie top, owing to the atmospheric pressure 

 exceeding that of the liquid inside. The same reasoning applied 

 to cases where the liquid was raised by capillary action, the dis- 

 tribution of pressure being the same as if the tubes had been 

 closed at the capillary surfaces. A wide tube was provided with 

 a closely-fitting cork, through which was passed a very fine tube. 

 The liquid was held suspended in the wide tube owing to the 

 capillary action of the sur face in the thin tube, which was 4 cm. 

 above the level. On introducing a U-tube as before, the water 

 was again expelled by the air rushing in, and reduced to the ex- 

 ternal level. 



Bulletin de la Socikc des Naturalntes de Moscoii, 1892, No. 3. 

 — Sources lor the flora of the Kieff educational district (Kieif, 

 Volhynia, I'odolia, Tchernigov, and Poltava), by Comte Bour- 

 delle de Monircsor, being a full bibliography of all publications 

 relative to the subject. — Contributions to the ornithology of the 



NO. I 234, VOL 4i>] 



Transcaspian region, according to the researches of M. Thomi 

 Barey, by J. Stolzmann. M. liarcy travelled in the region i: 

 1889-91 for the Branicki Museum of Warsaw. Of the 230 

 species mentioned in the detailed list now given, 17 are new (or 

 the region. — On the alkalies of the blood and the lymph, by 

 J. M. Syechenov. Blood being not only the store for the food 

 materials of the organism, but also the medium for breathing, it 

 is desirable to ascertain the means of maintaining the composi- 

 tion of blood which is necessary for that purpose. The fact 

 that the carbonate of sodium from the pancreatic and intestine 

 juice enters the blood, is considered as a process for feeding the 

 blood with necessary alkalies. — The Upper Tilhonic deposits 

 of Central Russia; note by N. Krischtafowitch. — Glaciers in 

 Russia, by H. Trautschold. Remarks against the glaciation of 

 middle Russia, based upon the old conception of only mountain 

 glaciers being able to produce glacial effects. — 7"he OUostephanus 

 nodif;er zons near Milkovo in Podolsk, government of Moscow, 

 by D. Stremoukhoff. New species, O. tnilkovensis, described. 

 — Note on some special cases of the problem of several bodies, 

 by Th. Sloudsky. — Short report upon geological and botanical 

 excursions in Yaroslav and Vologda, by Dr. Zickendrath. — On 

 the neurokeratin, by Dr. J. Ognelf. This substance, in the 

 sense eslablished by KUhne and his followers, does not exist 

 either in the peripheral nerves or in the brain ; when obtaned 

 from the brain it represents a varied mixture of unsoluble re- 

 mainders from the tissues composing the brain ; ihe molecular 

 substance (retina, brain) on the one side, and the neurokenitin- 

 net in the peripheral nerves on the other side, cannot be con- 

 sidered as homnlogical formations. — ((rf. No. 4). A list of the 

 mammals and birds from the Aral steppes, by A. M. Nikobky 

 — New species. Astragalus uralensis, by Dr. Lilvinov. — Note 

 on the cold of Jfinuary, 1893, by B. Sresnewskij.— To the 

 memory of N. J. Kokscharoff and A. W. Gadolin, by V. Ver- 

 nadsky. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



et,F.R.S^H 



Mathematical Society, June 8. —Mr. A. B. Basset, F.R ^ 

 vice-president, in the chair. — The chairman announced thai the 

 Council had unanimouslymade the fourth award of its De-Morgan 

 gold medal to Prof. F. Klein, of Gottingen, on the ground ol his 

 many contributions to the advance of mathematical science. 

 The following communications were made : — Complex in- 

 tegers derived from e'' - 2 = o, and on the algebraical 

 integers derived from an irreducible cubic equation, by Prof. 

 G. B. Mathews. — Pseudo-elliptic integrals and their dynamical 

 application?, by A. G. Greenhill, F.R..S. Writing the Elliptic 

 Integral of the Third Kind in the canonical form— 



where 



43(2 + .xf - {0'+ i)s + ■»■;'!', 



then r and y are the quantities e uployed by Halphen in his 

 " Fonctions Elliptiques," t. i. p. 103. Putting 



where 



and 



then 



z + X = \iu - YV, 

 I2pf = -ly + i)- - 4->'. 

 zm + X = pmv - pi', 

 Zi + X = 0, 



Z3 + X = y, 



and so on ; and generally :,„ + x is the same as Abel's J?™., 



if we replace Abel's .* by ^',, and I^' and I -H ^ by Hal- 



phen's - X and - y ^Abel's "CEuvies Completes, t. 11. pp. 

 157, 163) Abel's recurring equati .n lor (/„, is now only another 

 foim of this elliptic function furniula— 



p(« + .') + p(« - V) = 2VV + ^ ^/_\^y + ^y.' 



