240 



NATURE 



"July 5, 1900 



of ro" C. or more above that of the body may be registered 

 (Dr. Dudgeon's experiment) ; and that if a roll of flannel, 

 thoroughly dried, be warmed to 96° C. and put into saturated 

 steam at 100° C, the temperature within the roll may rise 

 30° C. or more above that of the steam (Dr. Parson's experi- 

 ment). Further, he showed that when a roll of flannel, which 

 has not been artificially dried is put into steam, at atmospheric 

 pressure, heated to 200° C, though the surface of the roll 

 becomes charred, the temperature in its interior rises rapidly to 

 100° C. , but does not exceed this for a longtime — indeed, not 

 until all the separable water has been boiled away. He con- 

 cluded that such substances when quite dry have the property of 

 uniting with water, and of generating heat in the process, and 

 this without becoming damp in the ordinary sense of the word ; 

 and maintained that the source of this heat is not alone the 

 latent heat of the vapour condensed, because a rise of temperature 

 takes place when dried filter paper is wetted with water at the 

 ■same temperature, but must include also either the latent heat 

 of water converted into the solid state— as Sir W. Roberts has 

 -suggested in discussing Dr. Dudgeon's experiment— or else the 

 -energy set free in a chemical combination between the material 

 and the water.— Experiments upon striated discharges, by R. S. 

 "Willows. The conditions affecting the distance between the 

 ■striae were investigated for hydrogen, nitrogen and air. In the 

 •first gas, as the current was increased from a very small value, 

 the stria first separated, attained a maximum distance of 

 separation, and finally approached each other. In nitrogen and 

 air their distance apart at first increased, and finally became 

 constant. The distance apart varies inversely as the pressure 

 until the discharge reaches the walls of the tube. The effect 

 of the nature of the gas, the diameter and length of the tube, 

 and the shape of the electrodes was also investigated. Any 

 variation due to these was found to obey no simple law. The 

 double striae in hydrogen, noticed by De la Rue and Miiller, 

 were found to constitute a normal part of the discharge in this 

 gas, provided a suitable pressure were established.— A method 

 ■of measuring the retardation produced by a crystal plate, by 

 1L. R. Wilberforce. The author described a ready way of ap- 

 proximately determining the retardation produced' by a plate of 

 fciaxial crystal cut perpendicularly to a mean line. The requisite 

 (measurements could be made with an ordinary polariscope. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, June 25.— M. Maurice Levy in 

 the chair. — Problem of the cooling of a wall by radiation, re- 

 duced to the simpler case of cooling by contact, by M. J. 

 Boussinesq. — Note on a series of abnormal contacts in the 

 -western region of the lower Pyrenees, by MM. Michel-Levy 

 and Leon Bertrand. — M. Giard was elected a member of the 

 Section of Anatomy and Zoology in the place of the late M. 

 Milne-Edwards, and M. Bazin was elected correspondent for 

 the Section of Mechanics.— On the large sun-spot observed on 

 June 17 with the great telescope of 1900, by M. Moreux. This 

 sun spot, a drawing of which accompanies the note, had a 

 ■diameter of 36,cxx) kilometres, and furnished a good example of 

 the mechanism of segmentation of a sun spot. According to 

 the author's hypothesis, the phenomena are not due to 

 •cyclones or volcanoes, but to superheated regions. — Trigonal 

 mocmal curves, by M. F. Amodeo.— On the motion of 

 a wire in space, by M. G. Floquet.— On two remarkable groups 

 of geometrical loci, by M. E. Mathias. In his experimental re- 

 sults obtained with carbonic acid, M. Amagat has considered the 

 case of the locus of points in the [p, v) plane, such that for a 

 total weight of liquid and vapour equal to unity, the volume of 

 the liquid is constantly equal to that of the vapour. This locus, 

 ^according to M. Amagat, is a straight line, nearly perpendicular 

 ito the axis of abscissse ; but the author now shows that this locus 

 is a curve constantly convex towards the volume axis. — On the 

 jdiscontLnuity of the kathodic emission, by M. P. Villard. The 

 three modes of exciting a Crookes' tube are considered, 

 alternating currents, an induction coil and a static ma- 

 x:hine, and in each the phenomenon would appear to be dis- 

 .continuous. — On the permeability of fused silica to 

 iiydrogen, by M. P. Villard. At 1000° fused quartz 

 resembles platinum, in allowing hydrogen to pass through. — 

 On the resistance of fused silica to sudden variations of tempera- 

 ture, by M. Dufour — On the telegraphone, by M. Valdemar 

 Poulsen. A description of an instrument for automatically re- 

 cording words spoken through a telephone.— On the develop- 

 flient and . propagation of the explosive wave, by M. H. Le 

 Chatelier. An application of the photographic method to the 

 NO. 1 60 1, VOL. 62I 



study of the explosive wave. Measurements are given for 

 various mixtures of acetylene and oxygen, acetylene and nitric 

 oxide, acetylene and nitrous oxide, and carbon monoxide and 

 oxygen. In the last case the velocities depend upon the mode 

 of ignition, and upon the quantity of the fulminating sub- 

 stance used to start the explosive wave. — On the acidity 

 of the alcohols, by M. de Forcrand. A thermochemical 

 paper. — Addition of hydrogen to ethylene in presence of 

 various reduced metals, by MM. Paul Sabatier and 

 T. B. Senderens. Reduced cobalt effects the combination of 

 ethylene and hydrogen at ordinary temperatures similarly to 

 reduced nickel. A comparison of the results obtained with 

 reduced nickel, cobalt, copper and iron shows that the 

 activity of the metals in causing this reaction is in the order 

 given, nickel being the most energetic. — On the crystalline 

 combinations of acetylene with cuprous chloride and potassium 

 chloride, by M. Chavastilon. It has been previously shown by 

 the author that two kinds of crystals, yellow and colourless, 

 may be obtained from the same copper solution, according to 

 the velocity of the current of acetylene. Further analyses show 

 that the colourless crystals correspond to the formula 



C2H.,.(CU2CI2)KC1, 



and the yellow crystals, 



C2H2.[(Cu2CU).,KCI.]o. 

 By the action of ether upon the colourless compound, the 

 yellow crystals are obtained. — Oxidation of anethol and 

 analogous substances containing a lateral propenylic chain, 

 by M, J. Bougault. The method of oxidation used 

 is the action of iodine in presence of precipitated mercuric 

 oxide, an aldehyde being obtained. Aldehydes from anethol, 

 isosafrol, isomethyleugenol and isoapiol have been prepared, 

 together with the corresponding acids. — -On a new derivative of 

 benzophenone, by MM. Gichsner de Coninck and Derrien. — 

 Composition of the compounds of fuchsine with acid colouring 

 matters, by M. A. Seyewetz. — On the kidney of Lepadogaster 

 Goiianii, by M. Frederic Guitel. — On a fayalite rock, by M. A. 

 Lacroix. The fayalite of Callobrieres presents a very remark- 

 able and exceptional mineralogical composition. It is essentially 

 characterised by the association of the fayalite with griinerite, 

 apatite and magnetite. — The function of the cell nucleus in 

 absorption, by M. Henri Stassano. The nucleus, by reason of 

 its chemical composition, plays a predominating part in the 

 absorption of foreign substances. — On the proteolytic diastase 

 of malt, by MM. A. Fernbach and L. Plubert. — Action of high 

 frequency currents upon the elementary respiration, by M. 

 Tripet. In diseases of nutrition, treatment by high frequency 

 currents regulates the activity of reduction of the oxyhsemo- 

 globin. — Influence of extracts of the ovaries upon the modifica- 

 tions of nutrition caused by pregnancy, by MM. Charrin and 

 Guillemonat. — The lake of Ladoga from the thermal point of 

 view, by M. Jfiles de Schokalsky. — On a balloon ascent made 

 on June 17, by M. Genty. — On an extraordinary halo observed 

 on June 22, by M. Joseph Jaubert. 



CONTENTS. PACK 



Protoplasm, By Prof. H. Marshall Ward, F.R.S. . 217 



Pitmanese Phonetics 220 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Schultze : " Psychologic derNaturv61ker."—H.W. B. 220 



Pycraft : " The Study of Bird- Life."— R. L. . . . . 221 

 Taylor: "An Introduction to the Differential and 



Integral Calculus and Differential Equations " . 221 

 England's Neglect of Science. By Prof. John 



Perry, F.R.S 221 



Human Babies': What they Teach, {^Illustrated.) 



By S. S. Buckman 226 



Notes 228 



Our Astronomical Column:— 



Ephemeris for Observations of Eros • 233 



Measures of Eros .... 233 



Total Eclipse of the Sun, May 28 233 



The Royal Observatory, Greenwich 233 



The Geological Age of the Earth 235 



Notes on Saturn and his Markings. By W. F. 



Denning 237 



University and Educational Intelligence 238 



Societies and Academies 238 



