464 



NATURE 



[September io, 1891 



gravels are of the pre- Pleistocene age. — Note on the causes of 

 the variations of the magnetic needle, by Prof. Frank H. 

 Bigelow. (See Our Astronomical Column.)— Notice of new 

 vertebrate fossils, by O. C. Marsh. 



The American Meteorological Journal for August contains 

 the following articles : — Mountain meteorology, by A. L. Rotch. 

 The author points out the advantages of mountain stations at 

 which regular and continuous observations can be made as com- 

 pared with fragmentary observations in balloons. The chief 

 characteristic of the pressure at high altitudes in temperate and 

 northern regions is a higher pressure in summer and a lower 

 pressure in winter ; thus the barometer varies inversely at high 

 and low levels. With elevation above the sea, the absorption 

 of aqueous vapour diminishes, or inversely, solar radiation in- 

 creases. In the Himalayas a black bulb thermometer /// vacuo 

 has registered 25° above the boiling point of water, while the 

 shade temperature was only 75°. In general, the annual range 

 of temperature diminishes with height, so that at an elevation 

 of about 39,060 feet, which is the height of the cirrus clouds, 

 probably the temperature is constant throughout the year. The 

 hygrometric conditions at high altitudes are subject to rapid 

 changes, from complete saturation to extreme dryness, and are 

 accompanied by analogous thermal changes. In all mountainous 

 regions, where there is no prevailing wind there is a wind blow- 

 ing into the valleys during the day, and out from the valleys 

 during the night. On calm, clear, winter nights the air in the 

 valleys is often colder than on the mountain slopes. The author 

 considers that much of the progress made in recent years in 

 meteorological science is due to the establishment of mountain- 

 stations, and that ia comparing the work done by various 

 nations to advance mountain meteorology, France stands un- 

 rivalled. The German and Austrian stations are frequently 

 badly placed, being located in inns below the summits. Among 

 the best stations (in addition to the French) he mentions the 

 Sonnblick, Hoch Obir, Santis, Ben Nevis, and Mount Washing- 

 ton. — On the various kinds of grjidients, by L. Teisserenc de 

 Bort. This is a translation from the memoirs of the Meteoro- 

 logical Congress held at Paris in 1889, in connection with the 

 International Exhibition. The air being put in motion by dif- 

 ferences of pressure, there ought evidently to be a relation 

 between the gradient and the wind velocity, but although the 

 wind increases with the gradient, there is no exact ratio, nor a 

 constant relation from day to day. The author reviews the 

 subject in connection with changes produced by temperature and 

 dynamic effects upon the rectilinear movements of the atmo- 

 sphere, and the movements caused by the earth's rotation, and 

 he draws attention to the " dragging " of the air by the friction 

 of the superincumbent layers, the effect of which ought to be re- 

 vealed by observation. — The climatic history of Lake Bonneville, 

 by R. de C. Ward. This is an abstract of a monograph by J. 

 R. Gilbert, published by the United States Geological Survey. 

 The paper is chiefly geological, but has an important bearing 

 upon the secular changes in climate. Lake Bonneville was the 

 ancestor of the great Salt Lake of Utah, which has frequently 

 altered its level, even in recent years. At the time of the glacial 

 epoch its level was about 300 metres higher, and it occupied 

 about ten times its present area. The cause of the drying up 

 of a large part of the former area is found in the prevailing 

 winds which, on their way from the Pacific and in their passage 

 over the Sierra Nevada, have precipitated much of their mois- 

 ture, and pass over this region as drying winds. — The other 

 articles are : observations at a distance (by means of electricity), 

 by T. P. Hall ; ocean fog (the causes which produce it), by E, 

 P. Garriott ; and water-spouts (observed on a voyage), by Prof. 

 C. Abbe. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, August 31. — M. Duchartre in the 

 chair. — Comparative amatomy of plants, by M. A. Chatin. 

 In presenting this recently published work to the Academy, the 

 author summarizes the results of his researches on Phanerogamic 

 plants contained in it and former volumes. — Studies relative to 

 the comparison of the international metre with the prototype of 

 the Archives, by M. Bosscha. It has been experimentally found 

 that, after existence for a century, the metre of the Archives 

 may still be used in the production of a unit of length, with all 



the precision requisite in the measures of a prototype, and that 

 the international metre and national standards defined by the 

 equations sanctioned by the General Conference of Weights and 

 Measures represent a unit of length sensibly different from the 

 Archives metre. They are shorter by about 26 /u. — On a pro- 

 perty of involution common to a plane group having five right 

 angles and a system of nine planes, by M. Paul Serret. — On the 

 laws of hardening and permanent deformations, by M. G. Faurie. 

 — Observation of Wolf's comet, by M. J. Leotard. The comet 

 was observed on August 27 as a feeble nebulosity about 3' in 

 diameter. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Lessons in Art: Hume Nisbet (Chatto).— The Electro-magnet and 

 Electro-magnetic Mechanism: S. P. Thompson (Spon). — Hand-book of 

 Jamaica, 1891-92 (Stanford) —The South Italian Volcanoes, edited by Dr. 

 Johnston-Lavis (Naples). — The Frog, 4th edition. — A. M. Marshall (Man- 

 chester, Cornish). — Publications of West Hendon House Observatory, 

 Sunderland ; No. i. Structure of the Sidereal Universe: T. W. Backhouse 

 (Sunderland, Hills). — Telegraphic Determinations of Longitudes on the 

 West Coast of Africa: PuUen and Finlay (Admiralty). — Electricity in 

 Mining : S. P. Thompson (Spon). — Prize Essay on the Distribution of the 

 Moon's Heat and its Variation with the Phase : F. W. Very (The Hague, 

 Nijhoff). — Return, British Museum (Eyre and Spottiswoode). — Ueber den 

 Beweis des Prinzips von der Erhaltung der Energie : T. Gross (Berlin, 

 Mayer and Muller). -Geological Magazine, September (K. Paul). — Zeit- 

 schrift fiir Wissenschaftliche Zoologie, 52 Band, 3 Heft (Leipzig, Engel- 

 mann). — Morphologisches Jahrbuch, 17 Band, 3 Heft (Leipzig, Engelmann). 

 — Encyklopsedie der Naturwissenschaften, Dritte Abthg., 10 Lief (Breslau, 

 Trewendt). — Notes from the Leyden Museum, vol. xni. No. 3 (Leyden, 

 Brill). — Erganzungsheft zum 68 Jahrest. der Schlesischen Gesellschaftfiir 

 Vaterlandische Cultur (Breslau, Aderholz). — Journal of the Chemical 

 Society. September (Gurney and Jackson). — The Asclepiad, No. 31, 

 vol. 8 : Dr. B. W. Richardson (Longmans). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



An Evolutionary Castigation. By Prof. R. Meldola, 



F.R.S 441 



The Laws of Force and Motion. By A. G. G. . . 443 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Emtage : "An Introduction to the Mathematical 



" Theory of Electricity and Magnetism " 443 



Sergueyeff: " Le Sommeil et le Systeme Nerveux : 



Physiologie de la Veille et du Sommeil " 444 



Hewitt: " Elementary Science Lessons " 444 



Cracknell : "Solutions of the Examples in Charles 



Smith's ' Elementary Algebra' " 444 



Letters to the Editor:— 



The Anatomy of Heloderma. — G. A. Boulenger . . 444 



A Straight Hand.— A. d'Abbadie (de I'lnstitut) . . 444 



Cordylophora lacustris. — Henry Scherren .... 445 



Absolute and Gravitation Systems. —Frederick Slate 445 

 Eucalyptus as a Disinfectant.— J. Brendon Curgen- 



ven 445 



Alum Solution. —Harry Napier Draper 446 



A New Keyed Instrument for Just Intonation. 



{Uluslra/ed.) By Dr. William Pole, F.R.S. ... 446 

 The New Australian Marsupial Mole — Notoryctes 



typhlops. By Dr. P. L. Sclater, F.R.S 449 



Francis Briinnow, Ph.D., F.R. A. S • 449 



Notes 450 



Our Astronomical Column :— 



Solar Observations 453 



Connection between Terrestrial Magnetism and 



Radiant Sunlight ... 453 



Two New Asteroids 453 



Physics at the British Association 453 



Chemistry at the British Association 455 



Some Difficulties in the Life of Aquatic Insects. By 



Prof. L. C. Miall 457 



Forthcoming Scientific Books . 462 



Scientific Serials 463 



Societies and Academies 464 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received .... 464 



NO. 1 141, VOL. 44] 



