326 



NA TURE 



[August 6, 1891 



The same number of the Rivista summarizes a somewhat 

 important communication to the Naples Royal Academy of 

 Physical and Mathematical Sciences, in which Prof. Dino 

 Padelletti urges that the usual investigation for the movement 

 of the plane of oscillation of Foucault's pendulum in relation to 

 the earth's rotation is insufficient. The author contends that the 

 problem for latitudes between the pole and equator is more 

 difficult than would appear from the usual simple solution, and 

 cannot be solved by the principle of inertia. He proposes an 

 equation derived from the principle of composition of the rota- 

 tional forces. 



A METEOROLOGICAL journal in the Russian language, the 

 MeteQrologitscheskij Westnik (Messenger), has lately appeared 

 under the competent editorship of Woeikof, Rykat.'chew, and 

 Spindler ; its general plan seems to be like that of the German 

 Zeitschrift. The idea of starting it arose at .a meeting of the 

 Russian Naturalists and Phjsicians at St. Petersburg in the end 

 of 1889. Four graphic tables are given in this journal, showing 

 the course of the meteorological elements during 1889 at the 

 agricultural experimental station of Sapolje, also measurements 

 of ground temperature, &c. 



Tn'E. Selborne Society's Magazine ^ox1\y\y con\.'3Xw% the first of 

 a series of articles on the Kew Museums by Mr. J, R. Jackson ; 

 others on the efifects of environment on plants, and other in- 

 teresting matter. Among the correspondence are complaints 

 from Warwickshire that the Wild Birds Preservation Act is a 

 dead letter there, as the "authorities," whoever they maybe, 

 take no trouble in the matter. On the other hand, the in- 

 habitants of Shetland are fully alive to it. 



The last volume (xxii., 6) of the Trudy of the Society of 

 Naturalists of Kazan contains the second part of Mr. Korz- 

 chinsky's valuable researches into the northern limits of the 

 black-earth steppe region of East Russia. In the first part- 

 published in 1888, the author gave the results of his explorations 

 in the province of Kazan. He now confirms his conclusions by 

 further exploration in Samara, Simbirsk, Perm, and Ufa. He 

 gives the northern limits of the black- earth steppe vegetation, 

 and shows that they depend neither upon climate nor upon the 

 altitudes, but chiefly upon the courses of the rivers. 



According to La Nature, the telephonic service of Paris, 

 rapidly developing of late, will soon include an immense central 

 telephonic office in the Rue Gutenberg, capable of serving 

 directly 30,000 subscribers, without connection with the other 

 offices of the quarter. The work is being actively pushed for- 

 ward. Cables are being laid in the sewers, an enlargement of 

 which, at certain points, is rendered necessary. There were 

 7800 subscribers in Paris last October. Paris has now tele- 

 phonic communication with Brussels, Marseilles, Lyons (which 

 also communicates with Marseilles), Lille, Havre, Rouen, and 

 London. Twenty-eight towns in France have a telephonic 

 system. There are two in Algeria, in Algiers and Oran. Lille 

 and Roubaix, Lille and Dunkirk are connected by telephone ; 

 and, ere long, connection will be formed between Lille, Valen- 

 ciennes, Calais, and Fourmies, between Lyons and Saint 

 Etienne, between Dieppe and Rouen, between Marseilles and 

 Nice. 



The climate of the Greek island Cephalonia has been lately 

 described by Dr. Partsch {Petermann s Mitt.). We note the 

 following features. At Argostoli temperature reaches a maximum 

 in July (2 j°-3 C. ), whereas in Corfu and Patras it does so in August. 

 With several days' calm and bright sunshine, in the bay, the air, 

 laden with moisture, becomes unbearably hot and close. Yet 

 the natives go but little to the wooded hills behind, where the 

 temperature goes down sometimes to I5°'5 C. or lower. Mules 

 bring down snow nightly, in summer, from covered pits in the 



NO. I I 36, VOL. 44] 



hills, for supply of restaurants, &c. As to rain, there is a sharp 

 contrast between the wet winter-half and the dry summer-half 

 of the year. The annual rainfall (3^ years) was about 35 inches. 

 The autumn rains are ushered in by severe thunderstorms. 

 November and December are the wettest months, but about 

 Christmas there is usually a short time of fine weather. March 

 is extremely variable, and often very cold. With May begin the 

 rainless months, and the drought is sometimes considerably over 

 ICO days. Five months have sometimes passed with but a few 

 slight showers. On this greatly depends the currant cultivation : 

 a brief downpour may spoil the crop. Snow falls seldom in 

 Argostoli, but often on the hills. Dew is plentiful in summer, 

 but its salt precipitate is feared. Wind is greatest in winter, 

 southerly winds prevailing, especially south-east. A hot south 

 wind (the lambaditta) blows, rarely, in early summer, and with 

 evil effiscts to vegetation. The fresh north-west wind {maestro) 

 brings cumulus clouds on the hills. 



Mr. F. Howard Collins, the author of a useful epitome 

 of Mr. Herbert Spencer's system of philosophy, has written a 

 pamphlet in which he discusses the causes of the diminution of 

 the jaw in the civilized races. In opposition to the views of 

 Weismann, he contends that the phenomenon is due to "dis- 

 use" ; and the argument, as he presents it, deserves to be 

 seriously considered. Some time ago Mr. Collins sent to 

 Nature a letter in which he gave some account of the ideas 

 which he now expounds more fully. In the preface to his 

 pamphlet he seems to imply that the letter was not inserted 

 because, according to a belief said to be current among certain 

 biologists, the editor of Nature is "more willing to publish 

 letters contending that acquired faculties are not inherited than 

 those contending that they are." Mr. Collins has too readily 

 allowed himself to be influenced by the belief of " certain 

 biologists." If he supposes that it is possible for the editor of 

 Nature to print all the letters sent to the paper for publication, 

 he must have a very inadequate conception of an editor's 

 functions. 



To throw light on some physiological processes, Herr Hof- 

 meister recently experimented {Archiv fiir experim. Pathol.) on 

 the swelling of plates of gelatine in various solutions ; the plates 

 being taken out from time to time, dried, and weighed. With 

 salt solutions of various concentration, the gain of weight was 

 large in the first days, then gradually fell ofi', as in former ex- 

 periments with pure water. The eiTect varied with the nature 

 of the salt ; and even with solutions holding the same number 

 of molecules in 1000 parts water, the swelling varied as much 

 as five-fold. This difference, it is {pointed out, is related to 

 attraction of the salt for water ; the greater the attraction, the 

 more difficult the entrance of water into the plate. But that 

 this is not the only factor is proved by the swelling in pure 

 water being always much less than that in the solutions. Experi- 

 menting with ordinary salt, the gain of weight proved to con- 

 sist both of water and salt, both dependent (but differently) on 

 concentration. With increase of the latter, the gain of water 

 rises to a maximum (about 13 per cent.), then declines ; but the 

 gain of salt goes on always increasing proportionally to the con- 

 centration. The remarkable property salts have of increasing 

 the gain of water beyond what occurs in pure water is also 

 shown by indifferent organic substances, as cane-sugar and 

 alcohol. Experiments were further made on swelling of gela- 

 tine plates in methyl-violet solutions, and with the result that 

 the concentration of the solution in the plates was always much 

 greater (over 30 times) than that in the solution presented. The 

 colouring-matter is taken up in relatively much greater quantity 

 than the water. Further, gelatine takes up somewhat more 

 colouring-matter relatively from a dilute than from a concen- 

 trated solution. The forces concerned in these phenomena, and 



