512 



NATURE 



[September 21, 189; 



Egypt, presented by Mr. M. W. Edgley ; one Egyptian Jerboa 

 {Dipus agyplius] from Egypt, presented by Mr. W. R. Clark ; 

 a Golden Eagle {Aquila chrysattis) from Scotland, presented 



bv ]\Ir. Bryan Cookson ; a Buzzard (Butep ) from 



West Africa, presented by Mr. Rice ; three Tench (Tmca 

 vidgaris) from British Fresh Waters, presented by Mr. Arthur 

 E. Rumsey ; two Collared Fruit Bats (Cyiionyrleris collaris), a 

 Wapiti Deer [Cervits cauaJensisy <? ), a Jajianese Deer {Cervus 

 sika, f ) born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Double Star Measures. — Nos. 3185-86 of the Aslrono- 

 mischen Nachrichten contains the micrometrical measures of 

 double stars made by Mr. Tarrant during the years 1S89-92. 

 This series is a continuation of that published in a preceding 

 number (2991) of the same journal. The same instrument has 

 been employed as formerly, but its position has been changed, 

 it now being 510 feet above the sea level. Stars with consider- 

 able southern declination can thus be much more accurately 

 measured. The objects are arranged in the following order : — 

 Dorpat Catalogue, Pulkova Catalogue, Burnham, and Miscel- 

 laneous. 



Pur.BLICAZIONI DELLA SPECOLA Vaticana, — In the third 

 volume of this publication there are several contributions of 

 interest and importance to which we can here briefly refer. In 

 the .Astronomical Section, M. P. G. Lais gives an account of the 

 measurements of the position of Nova Auriga (with a photo- 

 graph), and also a few words on the comets Swift, Holmes, and 

 Brooks. M. P. F. Denza, in addition to a communication on 

 the total eclipse of the moon that occurred on November 4, 1892, 

 gives a summation of the observations made of the shooting 

 stars of August in that year, and of_ the shooting stars of 

 November in the same year, and also of solar spots, magnetic 

 disturbances, and auroras. In the Astro-Photographic Section, 

 M. P. G. Lais and F. Mannucci give an account of the work 

 done for the international chart and catalogue of the heavens ; 

 twenty-six photographs for the chart, and 115 for the catalogue 

 were taken, while 154 other photographs, including groups of 

 stars, nebulas, comets, &c., were obtained. These communica- 

 tions are accompanied by some fine photographs, which include 

 the Prsesepe group. Nebula of Orion, and some of the sun. 

 M. P. F. Denza communicates most of the articles in the 

 Magnetic Section, while the Meteorological Section contains 

 many important communications, with several diagrams, among 

 which we must mention that on the classification of clouds, by 

 M, F. Mannucci, which is illustrated by a beautiful series of 

 photographs showing the various forms which they assume. 



Comet Finlay and the Pr.esepe. — The ephemeris of 

 Finlay's comet showed that a passage through the star-group 

 Prsesepe would take place about the beginning of October. In 

 Astronomischtn Nachrichkn, No. 3187, Prof. A. Berberich gives 

 a comparison of the ephemeris with the star-places in Yarnall's 

 catalogue the measures of C. Wolf and Winnecke giving the 

 following table of conjunctions. (7. Pr. = number in Yarnall's 

 catalogue) : — 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, September 11.— M. Loe vy in the 

 chair.— Treatment of vines infested by Phylloxera with peat 

 moss impregnated with .schist, by M. F. de Mely. The results of 



NO. 1247, VOL. 48] 



the treatment proposed last year have been controlled by the 

 Inspector-General of Agriculture and by the Inspector-General of 

 the Compagnie de Lyon. As a consequence of their visit, the 

 Minister of Agriculture has sent Dr.Crolas, of Lyon, toorganise 

 further applications of the method. A vine already attacked by 

 Phylloxera has been under treatment since June, and although 

 some of the insects have survived, the vine has not turned 

 yellow. The portion of the vineyard treated by this method 

 for two seasons has retained its rootlets in a perfect state, and 

 those vines which were treated with the maximum dose — viz. 

 2 kgr. of the mixture, containing 200 grs. of pure schist, show 

 no trace of Phylloxera. — Magnetic observations recently made 

 in Russia by M. VenukoiT. Observations at about a hundred 

 stations comprised between 45° 1 1' and 36' 42' of latitude, and 

 65° 47' and 82° 17' of longitude east of Greenwich prove that 

 the isogonal lines inserted in Berghaus's IViysikalischer Alias 

 are not exact for Central Asia ; in particular, the degrees ol 

 declination accepted are too large. Local variations of the 

 magnetic elements in European Russia have recently beat 

 investigated, and some very large disturbances have heen dis- 

 covered, lu the province of Grodno the magnetic declinatioa 

 was found to change by 10° in a distance of 21 km., and in Uie 

 neighbourhood of Belgorod the deviation mounted up to 

 180° in a space of a few tens of square km. This implies 

 the presence of a small and perfectly local magnetic pole. 

 It must be remembered that in the Neva delta the f )rlress of St. 

 Peter and Paul is known to deflect the magnetic needle hy 10°. — 

 Presence of a ferment analogous to emulsine in mushrooms, and 

 particularly in parasitic mushrooms of trees or those growing 

 on wood, by M. Em. Bourquelot. It is proved that several 

 mushrooms, and especially those developing on living or dead 

 wood, contain a soluble ferment possessing the property of 

 doubling various glucosides, such as amygdaline, salicine, and 

 coniferine. It is not possible to say that this ferment is iden- 

 tical with the emulsine of the almonds, but it acts in the same 

 manner and upon the same substances. This ferment was 

 found in two ways. In one, the fresh mushroom was placed 

 in a saturated atmosphere of ether or chloroform vapour, which 

 produces an abundant exudation of liquid holding in solution a 

 large portion of the principles contained in the cellular joioe. 

 This liquid was placed for 24 or 48 hours in direct contact wUTi 

 a solution of a glucoside ; or an aqueous solution was formed by 

 precipitation with alcohol, and treated in the same manner. W 

 the second process, the mushroom was triturated with sind cad 

 transformed into a paste ; this paste was treated with distiUad 

 water and filtered off, the liquid being used as before. Om 

 specimen, picked from an elder branch, gave a liquid wUdk 

 completely converted a dose of coniferine into gra|ie-sugar fe 

 the course of three days. The ferment is limited to funyi living 

 on wood, enabling them to assimilate the glucosides ccntaioed 

 in it. — On a method of determining the density of giises for 

 industrial purposes, by M. Maurice Meslans. 



CONTENTS. ttm 



British Association 4^ 



Section C — Geology. — Opening Address by J. J. H. 

 Teall, M.A., F.R.S., Sec.G.S. President of (he 



Section 486 



Section D — Biology. — Opening Address by Rev. H. 

 B. Tristram, M.A., LL.D., D.D., F.R.S., 



President of the Section 1f^ 



Section G — Mechanical Science. — Opening Address 



by Jeremiah Head, M. Inst. C.E., Past Pres. 



Inst.Mech.E., F.C.S., President of the Section . 497 



Section H — .\nthropology. — Opening Address by 



Robert Munro, M.A., M.D., F.R.S.E., 



President of the Section JOJ 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Thieving of .A.ssyrian Antiquities.— H. Rassam i«S 



Bishop's Ring.— T. W. Backhouse 509 



Spring and Autumn of 1893.— Right Hon. Sir Edw. 



Fry, F.R.S 5°? 



Notes 50» 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



DouMe Star Measures S-*^ 



Pubblicazioni della Specoia Vaticana 5'^ 



Comet Finlay and the Pra;sepe • ■ ■ ■ 5'^ 



Societies and Academies 5'^ 



