584 



\NA TORE 



[October 12, 1893 



forces in the chemically simple bodies, on the basis of thermo- 

 dynamics, being the third part of a remarkable memoir by 

 J. Weinberg.— On the development of the ocean, by Prof. H. 

 Trautschold. An attempt to prove that the ocean, at its first 

 appearance, must have been very poor in chlorides as well as 

 in carbonates and other salts. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, October 2,— M. Lcewy in the 

 chair. — On the Serpent d'eau of the Rhoae at Geneva, by 

 M. H. Faye. This paper contains a description of a peculiar 

 phenomenon seen at a weir near Geneva. Jt is a species of 

 whirl in a vertical plane produced by a recoil of the water from 

 the top of the barrier to a distance of I '5 m. The axis of the 

 whirl is horizontal, and parallel to the barrier. A delicate 

 experiment performed by the late M. Colladon proved that this 

 "serpent " exercises in its interior a considerable aspiration or 

 suction. The phenomenon is complicated by the superposition 

 of another whirl round a vertical axis in the neighbourhood of 

 places where the barrier is interrupted, and the water is allowed 

 a free fall. In these places conical tubes are formed whose 

 apices descend to the bottom of the river, and into which air is 

 noisily precipitated. Light objects — wood, paper — thrown into 

 the whirlpool, descend, turning upon themselves with extra- 

 ordinary speed. The whole phenomenon is very transitory and 

 unstable. M. Faye does not share M. Colladon's view that 

 the phenomenon is analogous to an ascending tornado. It has 

 no analogy to a tornado, although it essentially requires a 

 descending whirl for i's production. — Observations of the 

 comet Rordame-Quenisset, made with the great equatorial of 

 the Bordeaux Observatory, by MM. G. Rayet, L. Picart, and 



F. Courty. — Values of the ma<jnetic elements determined by 

 the polar expedition of the Imperial Russian Geographical 

 Society to the mouth of the Lena, by M. le General A. de 

 TiUo. The values for the magnetic elements at Sagastyr, as 

 found by Captain Jurgens, are the following : — 



Declination ... 47° E. 



Dip ^y^\ 



Horizontal intensity ... ... ... ... o^o^J2° 



G. Neumayer's map shows the greatest error in the declination, 

 which it gives at 11 '0° E. — Influence of the state of the surface 

 of a platmum electrode upon its initial capacity of polarisation, 

 by M.J. Colin. The re.-^ults of M. Colin's experiments are 

 in agreement with M. Blondlot's proposition that gases, and 

 hydrogen in particular, are the cause of changes in the capacity 

 of a platinum-water surface. If, in conformity with this hypothe- 

 sis, the presence of hydrogen diminishes the capacity, the capacity 

 of an electrode having served as kathode in the decomposition of 

 water is very small ; conversely, that of an electrode which has 

 served as an anode, must be very great, since the oxygen set 

 free must have eliminated the hydrogen with which the platinum 

 might have been charged. Chromic acid, being a powerful 

 oxidiser, must act in the same sense. — The fixation of iodine 

 by starch, by M. G. Rouvier. The weights of starch remaining 

 the same, as well as the other circumstances of the experiment, 

 if the quantity of iodine added is increased, the quantity fixed 

 rises at first. If the iodine is employed in sufficient quantity 

 a compound is obtained whose percentage of iodine is always 

 near I9'6, corresponding to the formula (CuHioOjJuils. A higher 

 percentage was never obtained. If tbe weights of iodine and 

 starch remain the same, as well as the other circumstances of 

 the experiment, and the volume of the mixture increases, the 

 quantity of iodine fixed diminishes, on condition that no more 

 iodine is employed than is necessary to obtain the percentage 

 I9'6. Otherwise, the volume may increase, and yet this per- 

 centage may be obtained. 



Sydney. 

 Royal Society of New South Wales, August 2. — 

 Prof. T. P. Anderson Stuart, President, in the chair. — 

 The following papers were read : — -Notes on the Bin- 

 gera diamond field, by Rev. J. Milne Curran. — On the 

 occurrence of a chromite-bearing rock from the Pennant Hills 

 Quarry, near Paramatta, by W. F. Smeeth, J. A. Watt, and 

 Prof. T. W. E. D.ivid. — Note on the occurrence of barytes 

 at the Five Dock Sandstone Qaarry ; and note on the 

 occurrence of calcareous sandstone allied to Fontainebleau 

 sandstone from Rock Lily, near Pittwater, by Prof. T. W. E. 

 David. 



NO. 1250, VOL. 48I 



Linnean Society of New South Wales, August 30. — Prof. 

 Haswell, Vice-Piesident, in the chair. — The following papers 

 were read : — Notes on Australian Coleoptera, with descriptions 

 of new species, part xiv., by Rev. T. Blackburn. — Note on 

 Colina Brazieri, Tryon, by Prof. Ralph Tate. — Descriptiins of 

 some new species of Araneidic from New South Wales, No. i'i. 

 by W. J. Rainbow. — Notes on aboriginal stone weapons and 

 implements. No. xviii.-xx. by R. Etheridge, Junr. — Three 

 additional types of womerah or throwing-stick, by R. Etheridge, 

 Jun. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books. — A Manual of Telephony ; W. H. Preece and A. J. Stubbs 

 (Whittaker) — The Principles of Fitting : A Foreman Pattern Maker (Whit- 

 taker). — Dissections Illustrated: Part 2, C. G. Brodie, (Whittaker).— At 

 Elementary Text-book of Coal Mining; R. Peel (Blackie).— Biologia Cen- 

 trali-Americana, Part 3, Text and Plates, ArchEcology ; Part 4, Plates, 

 Archseology : A. P. Maudslay (Porter). — Selections fr ,m the Philosophical 

 and Poetical W. rks of Constance C. W. Naden ; compiled by E. and E. 

 Hughes (Bickers). — Our Reptiles and Batrachians. new edition : Dr. M, C. 

 Cooke(\V. K. Allen). — 'I he Zambesi Basin and Nyassaland ; D J. Rankin 

 (Blackwood) — Some Salient Points in the Science of ihe Earth : Sir J W. 

 Dawson (Hodder and Stoughlon). — A Text-book of Physiology, (^th edition, 

 Part i: Dr. M. F.j&ter (Macmillan). — The " Thumb" Prayer-bo k 

 (Frowde). — Marine Boiler Management and Construction : C. E. Stro- 

 meyer (Longmans). — An Elementary Text-book of Agricultural Botany : 

 M. C. Potter (Melhuen). — Peches ei Ch.tsses Zojlogiques: Mtrqu.s de 

 Folin (Paris, Baillicre). — Lectures on the C imparative Pattiology of 

 Inflammation : E. Metchnikoff, translated by F. A. Starling and Dr. E H. 

 Starling (K. Paul). — Machine Drawing; T. Jones and T. G. Jones (J. 

 Hey wood). 



Pamphlets. —The Upper Hamilton and Portage Stages of Central and 

 Eastern New York : C. L. Preiser. — The Climate of Chica^jo ; H. A. Hazen 

 (Washington). — Mikroskopische Vivisektion ; Dr. A. Gruber (Freiburg,). — 

 Restoration of Coryphodons ; O. C. Marsh. — Massachusetts Institute of 

 'technology, a Register of Publications of the Institute, &c. 1862-93, 3rd 

 edition (boston). 



Serials. — Gaz2etta Chimica Italiana, Anno xxiii. i''93, Vol 2, fasc. y 

 (Palermo). —Engineering Magazine, October (New York). — Observat iry, 

 October (Taylor and Francis).— Popular Astronomy, September (Wesley). — 

 Himmel und Erde, October (Berlin). — L' Astronomic, October (Pari.-) — 

 Journal of ihe Chemical Society, October (Gurney and Jackson). — Journal 

 of the Statistical Society, September (Stanford). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Correspondence of Berzelius and Liebig. By 



T. E. T 56' 



Bacteriology for the Student 562 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Whitehead : " Exploration of Mount Kina Balu, North 



Borneo " 5^-1 



Dodgson : " Pillow Problems. Curiosa Mathematica, " 



Part II 564 



Woodward : " The ABC Five-Figure L-^garithms " 564 

 Thomas : " Enunciations in Arithmetic, Algebra, 



Euclid, and Trigonometry " 564 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Thoughts on the Bifurcation of the Sciences suggested 

 by the Nottingham Meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion.— Prof. Oliver J Lodge, F.R. S. . 564 

 British Association : Sectional Procedure. — L. C. M. 566 

 Orientation of Temples by the Pleiades. — R. G. Hali 



burton ■ • • 5^^ 



Early Chinese Observations on Colour Adaptations. — 



Kumagusu Minakata 567 



Remarkable Meteors.— J. Lloyd Bozward . . 567 



The Meteor of Sunday, October I, 1893.— J. Lovel . 567 

 Tertiary and Trias :ic Gastropoda ofthe Tyrol. By 



(BV)^ 567 



Notes 569 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Astronomy at the World's Fair 573 



The Aurora of July IS, 1893 573 



New Variable Stars in Cygnus 573 



Geographical Notes 574 



Biology at the British Association 574 



Conference of Delegates of Corresponding Societies 576 



The Geological Society of America 578 



Bleeding Bread By M. C. Cooke 57* 



Forthcoming Scientific Books 579 



Tiilobites with Antennae at Last ! By H. M. Bernard 582 



University and Educational Intelligence 583 



Scientific Serials 5^3 



Societies and Academies 5^4 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 584 



