336 



NATURE 



[August 3, 1893 



be sent in not later than May I, 1894 : — On the timbers of New 

 South Wales, with special reference to their fitness for use in 

 construction, manufactures, and other similar purposes. — On 

 the raised sea- beaches and kitchen middens on the coast of New 

 South Wales. — On the aboriginal rock-carvings and paintings 

 in New South Wales. To be sent in not later than May i, 

 1895 : On the silver ore deposits of New South Wales. — On 

 the physiological action of the poison of any Australian snake, 

 spider, or tick. — On the chemistry of the Australian gums and 

 resins. The chairman read the Presidential address, and the 

 officers and council were elected for the ensuing year. Prof. 

 T. P. Anderson Stuart being President. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, July 24. — M. de Lacaze-Duthiers 

 in the chair. — Diverse considerations on the theory of luminous 

 waves, by M. J. Boussinesq.' — Researches on samarium, by M. 

 Lecoq deBoisbandran. — On the alleged fossil ferns of the coarse 

 Parisian limestone, by M. Ed. Bureau. — On the distribution of 

 the intensity of gravitation on the surface of the globe, by M. 

 Deflbrges. This memoir has been submitted to the judgment 

 of the Academy by the Minister of War. It contains a sum- 

 mary of the observations of the value of ^> at thirty-five stations, 

 twenty-six determinations having been made with the 

 "reversible invertible " pendulum invented by Commander 

 Defforges, which eliminates the error due to the sliding of the 

 knife edges. In this pendulum a displacement of the centre of 

 gravity takes the pla^^; of the interchange of knife-edges, and 

 the influence of curvature and of any dissymmetry in the action 

 of the air is avoided. In the list of values enumerated, extend- 

 ing from Spitzbergen to Scotland, England, France, Corsica, 

 and Algiers, there are certain anomalies which cannot be ex- 

 plained by supposed inaccuracies of observation and reduction. 

 Clairaut's law, true in general, is almost every where masked by 

 these anomalies. On the littorals of the various seas, gravitation 

 presents slight anomalies, which are constant on the same 

 coast, and characteristic of it. The islands show a con- 

 siderable excess of gravitational force. On the con- 

 tinents the reverse obtains, and the defect appears to grow 

 with the altitude and the distance from the sea. As the real 

 surface of the ellipsoid, according to Clarke, does not depart 

 from the theoretical surface by more than i8'4 feet from the Shet- 

 lands to the Mediterranean, the discrepancies cannot be attributed 

 to irregularities in the figure of the earth, but must probably be 

 accounted for on geological grounds. — Observations of Ror- 

 dame's comet, made with the equatorial coudi (0.32m.) of the 

 Algiers observatory, by M. Rambaud. — On the equations of 

 the second degree whose general integral is uniform, by M. 

 Paul Painleve. — On certain systems of ordinary differential 

 aquations, by M. A. Guldberg. — On a nomographic method 

 applicable to equations which may contain up to ten variables, 

 by M. Maurice d'Ocagne. — Density of sulphurous anhydride, 

 its compressibility and expansion in the proximity of normal 

 conditions, by M. A. Leduc. The density of sulphurous acid 

 under normal conditions was found to lie between 2'2638 and 

 2'264I. The coefficient of expansion between 0° and 20° was, 

 at normal pressure, 0003963, and at a pressure of 334mm., 

 0'0O3787. — On residues of polarisation, by M. E. Bouty. For 

 defining capacities of polarisation it is implicitly admitted that, 

 at least to a first approximation, the whole quantity of electri- 

 city which traverses the voltameter circuit during charge is 

 employed in establishing polarisation, and will be recovered 

 during discharge ; also that to a given polarisation there 

 corresponds a single and unique value of recoverable 

 charge. M. Bouty shows that the effective capacities 

 of discharge increase in proportion as the polarisa- 

 tion of the voltameter decreases. Even the initial capacities 

 of polarisation cannot be relied upon to give rigidly constant 

 values. — On some new interference fringes which are strictly 

 achromatic, by M. Georges Meslin.- — On the oxidation of sul- 

 phide of nickel, by M. Ph. de Clermont. — On crystallised 

 cuprous phosphide, by M. A. Granger. — On bismuth sub- 

 gallate (dermatol), by M. H. Causse. — On the condensation of 

 the alcohols of the fatty series with the aromatic carburets, by 

 MM. A. Brochet and P. le Boulenger. — On the effects of the 

 slow destruction of the pancreas, by M. E. Hedon. — On the 

 interference of excitations in the nerve, by M. N. Wedensky. — 

 Comparison between the anterior and posterior members of 

 some Urodelse, by M. A. Perrin. — A parasitic entomophagus 



NO. 1240, VOL. 48] 



of the European silk-worm, by M. E. L. Bouvier and G. Dela. 

 croix. — Further researches on coccidia, by M. P. Thelohan. — 

 On certain facts which permit a comparison between the cen- 

 tral nervous systems of the Lamellibranchiata and the Gastero- 

 poda, by M. A. d'Hardiviller. — On the Rhizoctone ol 

 Lucerne, by M. A. Prunet. — On the glacial origin of the 

 breccia of the coal-bearing basins of Central France, by M. A. 

 Julien. — On two Turkish meteorites recently added to the 

 Natural History Museum, by M. Stanislas Meunier. — Desert 

 ! sands of Lower Egypt, by M. A. Andouard. An analysis ol 

 the sands between the Ismailia canal and the Menzaleh Lake 

 showed them to consist of 96 '5 per cent, silica, 0^384 water, 

 0.507 organic matter, and small quantities of other substances 

 such as carbonic acid, alumina, lime, and ferrous oxide. 

 These deserts are gradually being reclaimed by irrigation and 

 by the use of the "black earth" gathered among the ruins of 

 ancient habitations. 



GOTTINGEN. 



Royal Society of Sciences, February 22. — H. 

 Weber : Researches in the theory of numbers in the 

 domain of elliptic functions, II. A. Hurwitz : Proof of the 

 transcendency of the number e. H. Burkhardt : On vector- 

 functions which are themselves vectors, an application of 

 invariantal methods to a question of mathematical physics. 

 W. Holtz : On the immediate perception of magnitude in its 

 relation to distance and contrast. W. Ramsay : The isomor- 

 phic stratification and the intensity of double refraction ill 

 epidote. 



March 22. — W. Voigt : Determination of the constants of 

 thermal dilatation and pressure for certain quasi-isotropic 

 metals. 



April 12. — O. Wallach : New observations on compounds of 

 the camphor series. W. Voigt : The specific heats c,, and 

 Cv of certain quasi-isotropic metals ; determination of the 

 elastic constants of chloride of sodium ; remarks on the 

 problem of the transverse vibrations of rectangular plates. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



A Catalogue of Snakes. By W. T. Blanford, F.R.S. 313 



An Alpine Guide. By T. G. B 314 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Haeder : "A Handbook on the Steam-Engine." — 



N. J. Lockyer 314 



Wright "Heat" 3«S 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Slickensides. {With Diagram.)— I. PM.e.nYi.o-vii . 315 

 Potstones found near Seaford. — Geo. Abbott , . . 3'5 

 Simplified Multiplication. — Lieut. -Colonel Allan 



Cunningham, R.E 316 



Thunderstorm Phenomena on the Matterhorn. — 



Walter Larden 316 



Highest Rainfall in Twenty-four Hours.— E. Douglas 



Archibald 3'7 



Vivisection. — Cecil Carus-Wilson 317 



A Correction.— J. J. Walker, F.R.S 317 



The Astronomical History of On and Thebes. By 



J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S 3'* 



A Periodic Mercury Pump. {With Diagram.) By 



Frederick J. Smith, F.R.S 3«> 



The Late Dr. John Rae 3^' 



Notes 3*« 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Meteor Showers V" 



Comet Finlay 1893 3^6 



Rordame-Quenesset Comet, 1893 V^ 



Earth Movements 3^^ 



Observations made during the Eclipse of April, 1893 320 



The Observatory of Yale University 3^7 



" Astronomischen Gesellschaft " 3^7 



Geographical Notes 3^7 



Celebration of the Rothamsted Jubilee 3^7 



The Geologists' Association in Ireland 3*9 



The Development of £chi>ioc)'amns piisii/us 33° 



France and International Time 33° 



Oligodynamic Phenomena of Living Cells. By 



A. W. B 33' 



University and Educational Intelligence 33' 



Scientific Serials 33' 



Societies and Academies 333 



