192 



NA TURE 



[June 23, 1892 



water in New South Wales (preliminary notes), by Prof. T. W. 



E. David. The Medical Section held four meetings. The 



following papers were read :— A brief account of the histology and 

 development of tubercle, by Prof. Anderson Stuart. — Remarks 

 upon the nature and treatment of diphtheria, by Dr. W. Camic 

 Wilkinson. — Glimpses of the past : a series of sketches with 

 pen and pencil of the medicalhistory of Sydney, by Dr. Honison. 



The Microscopical Section held five meetings. The following 



paper was read : — Notes on slicing rocks for microscopical study, 



by the Rev. J. Milne Curran. The Civil and Mechanical 



Engineering Section held eight meetings. The following papers 

 were read : — Recent researches on the strength, elasticity, and 

 endurance of materials of construction with especial reference to 

 iron and steel, by Prof Warren. — The bridge over Lane Cove 

 River at the head of navigation, by H. H. Dare.— On the calcula- 

 tion of stresses by means of graphic analysis, by J. I. Haycroft. 

 — On the tacheometer and its application to engineering surveys, 

 by W. Poole, Jun. — On the sewerage of country towns: the 



separate system, by Dr. Ashburton Thompson. The Clarke 



Medal for 1892 had t>een awarded to Prof. W. T. Thiselton 

 Dyer, F.R.S. The Council had issued the following list of 

 subjects with the offer of the Society's bronze medal, and a prize 

 of £2^ for each of the best researches if of sufficient merit : — 

 (To be sent in not later than May i, 1893) Upon the weapons, 

 utensils, and manufactures of the aborigines of Australia and 

 Tasmania ; on the effect of the Australian climate upon the 

 physical development of the Australian-born population ; on the 

 injuries occasioned by insect pests upon introduced trees. (To 

 be sent in not later than May i, 1894) On the timbers of New 

 South Wales, with special reference to their fitness for use in 

 construction, manufactures, and other similar purposes ; on the 

 raised sea-beaches and kitchen middens on the coast of New 

 South Wales ; on the aboriginal rock-carvings and paintings in 

 New South Wales. — The Chairman read the Presidential address, 

 and the Officers and Council were elected for the ensuing year, 

 Prof. Warren being President. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, June 13. — M. d'Abbadie in the 

 chair, — A new contribution to the history of the truffle, Tirjtiania 

 Cambonii, "Terfas" of Southern Algeria, by M. A. Chatin. — 

 On subcutaneous or intra-venous injections of liquid extracts 

 from several organs as a therapeutic method, by MM. Brown- 

 Sequard and d'Arsonval. — In the place of the late Dom Pedro 

 d'Alcantara, M. von Helmholtz was elected Foreign Associate. 

 — Researches on the solar atmosphere, by Mr. George E. Hale, 

 of the Kenwood Astrophysical Observatory, Chicago. A photo- 

 graph of a metallic protuberance, obtained with an aperture 

 of 12 inches and a large grating spectroscope, shows all the 

 lines previously announced in the ultra-violet, and the following 

 additional ones: 39617 (manganese?), 3900*7 (calcium), 

 3886 '4 (hydrogen), and 3860 '4 (iron?). The writer has suc- 

 ceeded in photographing faculse in the centre of the disk. 

 — On the general problem of the deformation of sur- 

 faces, by M. L. Raffy. — On the theory of the fuchsian 

 functions, by M. Ludwig Schlesinger. — On transforma- 

 tions in mechanics, by M. P. Painleve. — On considerations 

 of homogeneity in physics, by M. A. Vaschy. — On the non- 

 realization of the spheroidal state in steam boilers : reclamation 

 of priority, by M. de Swarte. — On the co-existence of dielectric 

 power and electrolytic conductivity, by M. E. Bouty. A rigid 

 condenser is formed of iron disks separated by small wedges of 

 mica, and joined by iron screws isolated by mica and placed 

 opposite the wedges. This condenser is plunged into a fused 

 mixture of equal parts of the nitrates of sodium and potassium. 

 Air bubbles are carefully removed with plates of mica, and the 

 condenser is withdrawn at the moment when the salt com- 

 mences to solidify. The liquid, retained by capillarity, forms 

 between the disks an adherent regular solid layer. The appa- 

 ratus while yet hot is plunged into melted paraffin, which sur- 

 rounds it with an isolating layer devoid of hygroscopic power. 

 The experiments give a value for k approaching 4, and nearly 

 constant within the limits of temperature in which the 

 specific resistance in ohms may vary from 3*6 x 10^^ to 

 2*6 X lo^ i.e. in the ratio of about 138 to I. Here the 

 conductivity and the dielectric capacity belong to molecules of 

 the same kind. It is probable that, if the experiments could be 

 extended to ordinary electrolytes, they would give results of the 

 same kind — that is, finite values of the dielectric constant >^. The 

 distinction between dielectrics and electrolytes would thus solely 



NO. II 82, VOL. 46] 



reside in the amount of their conductivity. Dielectric polariza- 

 tion, established in a very short time in comparison with the 

 ten-thousandth of a second, would correspond, in Grotthuss's 

 S! heme, to the initial orientation of the compound molecules, 

 their conductivity to their progressive rupture.— On the retarda- 

 tion in the perception of the different rays of the spectrum, by 

 M. Aug. Charpentier. On suddenly illuminating the slit of a 

 spectroscope by white light, the red portion of the spectrum is 

 seen first, and the light seems to shoot across from the red to the 

 violet. This was confirmed by rotating an inverted sector of a 

 circle, i cm. broad at the base, and 8 to 10 cm. long once in 

 two or three seconds. The extreme point seemed drawn out into 

 a kind of spectrum extending from the red to the green. The 

 maximum duration of excitation compatible with the isolation of 

 the colours does not exceed about four or five thousandths of a 

 second. — On the anhydrous crystallized fluorides of nickel and 

 cobalt, by M. C. Poulenc. — Action of nitric oxide upon the 

 metals, and upon the metallic oxides, by MM. Paul Sabatier 

 and J. B. Senderens. — Thermochemical study of guanidine, of 

 its salts and of nitroguanidine, by M. C. Matignon. — Researches 

 on the disodic derivatives of the three isomeric diphenols, by 

 M. de Forcrand. — On normal pyrotartaric or glutaric acid, by 

 M. G. Massol. — Study of the decomposition of the diazo com- 

 pounds, by MM. J. Hausser and P. Th. Mullen— The folds in 

 the Secondary formations in the neighbourhood of Poitiers, by 

 M. Jules Welsch. — On the genesis of the ophiolitic rocks, by 

 M. L. Mazzuoli. — Three cases of increase in the velocity of 

 transmission of sense-impressions, under the influence of injec- 

 tions of the testiculary liquid, by M. Grigorescu. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books.— Country Thoughts for Town Readers : K. B. B. de la Bere 

 (Simpkin). — The Etiology and Pathology of Grouse Disease : Dr. E. Klein 

 (Macmillan). — Marine Shells of South Africa : G. B. Sowerby (Sowerhy). — 

 Atlas of Clinical Medicine, vol i. : Dr. B. Bramwell (Edinburgh, Constable). 

 —The Standard Course of Elementary Chemistry, Parts 1-5: E. J. Cot 

 (Arnold). — English Botany, Supplement to the Third Kdition, Part 2 : N. 

 E. Brown (Bell).— Volcanoes, Past and Present: Dr. E. Hull (Scott).— Den 

 Norske Nordhaus-Expedition, 1876-78, xxi.. Zoologi, Crinoida: D. C. 

 Danielssen (Christiania, Grondahl). — Coal Gas as a Fuel, fourth edition : T. 

 Fletcher (Liverpool, Tinling). 



Pamphlets. — Twenty-second Annual Report of the Wellington College 

 Natural Science Society, 1891 (Wellington College). — Johns Hopkins 

 University of Baltimore Register for 1891-92 (Baltimore). — British Univer- 

 sities (Manchester, Cornish). 



Serials. — Astronomy and Astro-Physics, June (Northfield, Minnesota). 

 — L'Anthropologie, tome iii. No. 2 (Paris, Masson) — Journal of the Royal 

 Microscopical Society, June (Williams and Norgate). — Contributions from 

 the U.S. National Herbarium, vol. ii., No. 2 (Washington).— Bulletin of the 

 New York Mathematical Society, vol. i. No. 9 (New York). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The New London University 169 



The Analysis of Wines. By T. E. T 170 



Modern Therapeutics. By W. D. H 172 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Besant : "Elementary Hydrostatics."— W 172 



Wright: " The Threshold of Science " ..... 173 



Lock : " Key to J. B. Lock's Elementary Dynamics " 173 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



Ice in the South Atlantic. —Robert H. Scott, 



F.R.S. ; Captain Edgar H. Andrew 173 



Land and Freshwater Shells peculiar to the British 



Isles.— R. F. Scharff 173 



The Imperial Institute 173 



Time Standards of Europe. By Dr. Hugh Robert 



Mill 174 



Notes 176 



Our Astronomical Column:— 



Colours on the Surface of Mars 179 



Observations of the Moon 179 



A Planet beyond Neptune ? 179 



Geographical Notes 180 



The Microscope's Contributions to the Earth's 

 Physical History. By Prof. T. G. Bonney, 



F.R.S 180 



The Ladies' Conversazione of the Royal Society . 184 



The Fourth Centenary of Columbus 185 



University and Educational Intelligence 186 



Societies and Academies 187 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 192 



