2S8 



NA TURE 



[July to, 1900 



He referred to the recent discovery of the mode of impregnation 

 in some of the Cycadea; by means of active spermatozoids, as in 

 the case of vascular cryptogams. This seemed to suggest the 

 •question whether the gymnosperms were not more closely allied 

 to the vascular cryptogams than was usually recognised. Did 

 the evidence of palaeontology favour the view that there was a 

 closer affinity to the vascular cryptogams than to the higher 

 section of flowering plants, the angiosperms ? — The President 

 said this question deserved careful consideration, but it should 

 tie remembered that in these strata they only saw four groups of 

 plants, and that the coniferiK were found alongside the others, 

 and were evidently living at the same period. Brogniart had 

 shown the presence of pollen grains in the apical cavities of 

 fruits which had been preserved in silex. It was not known how 

 these spermatozoids were developed in Salisburia, but if they 

 rendered pollen grains unnecessary, the presence of the pollen 

 in these extinct fruits would be against the idea of including the 

 gymnosperms with the cryptogams. — The President announced 

 that the rooms of the Society would be closed from August 17 to 

 September 17, and that the next ordinary meeting would be 

 held on October 17. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, July 9. — M. Maurice Levy in 

 the chair. — Problem of permanent heating of a sphere by radia- 

 tion, reduced to the simpler problem of heating the same sphere 

 by contact, by M. J. Boussinesq. — Combustible gases of the at- 

 mosphere ; sea air. Existence of free hydrogen in the atmo- 

 sphere, by M. Armand Gautier. By way of completing his 

 previous researches on the impurities in the air of towns, woods 

 and mountains, the author now gives the results of experiments 

 on sea air. In these experiments no carbon compounds could be 

 detected in 100 litres of air, the amount present, if any, being 

 less than 0*03 mgr. per 100 litres ; hydrogen was still found, 

 however, to the extent of i'2i mgr. for the same volume. The 

 amount of free hydrogen thus proved to be present in the air, 

 2 parts by volume in 10,000, is thus about two-thirds of the car- 

 bon dioxide normally present. — On two loci relating to the densi- 

 tiesof the liquid and saturated vapour of carbonic acid, by M. E. H. 

 Amagat. In remarking on a recent paper by MM. Cailetet 

 and Mathias, the author points out that the conclusions drawn, 

 ■although opposed to his own, are obtained from the same set 

 of experimental data. The law of rectilineal diameters, 

 although extremely useful when applied within certain limits, 

 is not a mathematical but an empirical law, derived from ex- 

 periment, and hence its use as rigidly true seems hardly 

 justified. — The chemical constitution of steel ; influence of 

 tempering upon the state of combination of elements other 

 than carbon, by MM. Carnot and Goutal. In manganiferous 

 steels, the state of combination of the sulphur is not altered 

 by tempering, and phosphorus behaves similarly. In steels 

 containing arsenic, the latter is free if the cooling has been 

 slow, tempered steels containing an arsenide of iron, probably 

 FcjAs. — M. Czerny was elected a Correspondent for the 

 Section of Medicine and Surgery.— On the equations of 

 motion of a wire in any co-ordinates whatever, by 

 M. G. Floquet. — On certain linear partial differential equations 

 of the second order, by M. C. Guichard. — On the instability of 

 certain substitutions, by M. Levi-Civita. — Demonstration of the 

 rotation of the earth by Foucault's experiment with a pendulum 

 I metre long, by M. Alphonse Berget. The sensibility of the 

 reading apparatus is increased by viewing the pointer carried by 

 the pendulum in the field of a microscope furnished with cross- 

 wires in the eyepiece. With a pendulum only i metre long, the 

 deviation can be clearly observed after four seconds. ^ — On the 

 liquefaction of gaseous mixtures, by M. F. Caubet. The 

 results of experiments upon mixtures of methyl chloride 

 and sulphur dioxide are here given in the form of curves. 

 Two of the curves have the form predicted from theoretical 

 considerations by Gibbs and Konovalow ; these experi- 

 ments being the first to show these points. — On a new 

 type of mercury pump, allowing of a good vacuum being 

 attained rapidly, by MM. Berlemont and Jouard. A draw- 

 ing of the pump is given, unaccompanied by any explana- 

 tion. It is claimed for this pattern that it will work with 

 12 lbs. of mercury, gives a high vacuum automatically, is not 

 easily broken, and contains neither taps nor rubber connec- 

 tions. — On an ammoniacal chromous sulphate, by M. Ch. 

 Laurent. The salt described, which has the composition 

 Cr(NH4)2. (804)3 -t-eHgO is analogous to the double sulphate of 



iron and ammonia. — On the preparation of gentopicrine and 

 glucoside from fresh gentian root, by MM. Em. Bourquelot and 

 H. Herissey. The fresh roots are treated with boiling alcohol 

 as soon as possible after picking, in order to prevent the action 

 of the oxydases of the plant upon the glucoside, 22 kilograms 

 of root giving 250 grams of crystallised gentiopicrine. — Ex- 

 perimental parthenogenetic segmentation in Amphibia and Fish, 

 by M. E. Bataillon. The chemical composition of the medium, 

 in which the eggs are placed, has only a secondary effect. The 

 serum of mammals, whether diphtheritic or not, behaves like an 

 isotonic solution of a salt or sugar ; it acts by its osmotic 

 pressure. — Loeb's theory of the chemical fertilisation of the egg, 

 by M. Viguer. — On the cytology of the Hymenomycetes, by M. 

 Rene Maire. — The experimental origin of a new vegetable 

 species, by M. Hugo de Vries. — Influence of experimental 

 modifications of the organism upon the metabolism of sugar, by 

 MM. A. Charrin and A. Guillemonat. — A new method of 

 measuring stereognostic tactile sensibility, by MM. Ed. Toulouse 

 and N. Vaschide. — Some new facts concerning the subterranean 

 river at Padirac (Lot), by M. E. A. Martel. The work done in 

 1899 and 1900 has rendered accessible another 400 metres of 

 this underground river. — Combination of the effects of synodic 

 and tropical revolutions of the moon, by M. A. Poincare. 



New South Wales. 

 Royal Society, May 2. — W. M. Hamlet, President, in the 

 chair. — Annual general meeting. Mr. W. M. Hamlet read an 

 address upon the development of chemistry. Four words of 

 Arabic or Egyptian source were taken as the text or frame work 

 of this address, namely, alchemy, alkali, alkaloid and alcohol. 

 Under the first came a brief review of the most prominent 

 alchemists. The second afforded scope for the derivation of the 

 word denoting the volatile alkali — the alkaline air — ammonia. 

 In the case of the term alkaloid the researches of Fischer were 

 referred to as showing the constitution of such alkaloids as 

 theobromine and caffeine from structural formulae of uric acid. 

 Under the generic term, alcohol, the fermentation of other sub- 

 stances than those in use for the production of spirits of wine 

 were dealt with. A vote of thanks was passed to the retiring 

 president, and Prof. Liversidge, F.R.S., was installed as Presi- 

 dent for the ensuing year. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Relations between Ether and Matter. By 



Prof. Geo. Eras. FitzGerald, F.R.S 265 



Land Reclamation 266 



The Mammalian Brain 267 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Reid : " The Origin of the British Flora " 268 



AUingham : "A Manual of Marine Meteorology for 

 Apprentices and Officers of the World's Merchant 



Navies" 268 



Letters to the Editor:— 



A Surface-tension Experiment. — Prof. H. Bourget . 269 

 Duration of Totality of Solar Eclipses at Greenwich. — 



Chas. T. Whitmell • 269 



The New York Meeting of the American Associa- 

 tion . . 269 



The Wellcome Research Laboratories. By R. J. 



Friswell 271 



Notes . 271 



Rhythms and Geologic Time. By G. K. Gilbert . 275 

 The Relation of Stimulus to Sensation. {With 

 Diagram.) By Prof. C. Lloyd Morgan, F.R.S. . . 278 



Anemometer Tests. {Illustrated.) , 280 



The Great Alpine Tunnels. {Illustrated.) By Francis 



Fox 281 



University and Educational Intelligence 284 



Scientific Serials 286 



Societies and Academies 286 



NO. 1603, VOL. 62] 



