2 l6 



NATURE 



[June 



892 



gates, and practically tested on the Pyrenees frontier during the 

 cholera in Spain two years ago. On that occasion the passen- 

 gers' linen was disinfected in heating ovens by steam under 

 pressure, and the cholera patients, real or suspected, were iso- 

 lated. It having been shown that it is practically impossible for 

 a vessel to pass the Suez Canal in quarantine, without contact 

 with the shores, it was resolved that no vessel should be allowed 

 to pass into the Mediterranean unless it was free from infection 

 or had been completely disinfected. Vessels from the Orient 

 which have had no case of cholera since their departure will be 

 allowed a perfectly free passage. Those which have had cases of 

 cholera during the voyage, but none for seven days before ar- 

 rival, will be allowed to pass the Canal in quarantine if they have 

 a medical officer and a disinfecting stove on board. If not, they 

 will be retained at the entrance of the Canal, where a sanitary 

 station will be erected, and where the disinfection will take place. 

 Infected vessels will be detained at the entrance, the patients 

 will be disembarked and isolated, and the vessels will be disin- 

 fected. It is calculated that, oat of i5,ooo vessels that have 

 passed through the Canal in five years, under the regulations 

 now adopted 28 would have had to undergo a delay of a few 

 hours for disinfection, and 2 would have been detained for a 

 few days. — On the law of correspondence of tangent planes in 

 the transformation of surfaces by curved symmetry, by M. S. 

 Mangeot. — On the distribution of pressures in a rectangular solid 

 charged transversally, by M. Flamant. — On the law of resist- 

 ance of the cylinders utilized in the cru-her manometers, by M. 

 P. Vieille. — On the Doppler-Fizeau method, by M. Moessard. 

 If the relative motions of the source and the observer he alone 

 considered, without reference to the distortion of the wave-front 

 due to motion through the connecting medium, the ratio of the 



real to the apparent wave-length will be — ,, where V 



is the velocity of wave propagation, v that of the source, v' 



that of the observer. The true formula for this ratio is 



V - 



which, in the case of V = z/, will differ from the former by in- 

 finity. — An examination of the possibility of a reciprocal action 

 between an electrified body and a magnet, by M. Vaschy. 

 Showing that such an action cannot exist unless it be due to a 

 physical quality of the ether different from that implied by the co- 

 efficients k and k' in the electric and magnetic laws of attrac- 

 tion, viz. /= ^'22-, and/= ,^'^^^. — Action of nitric oxide on 



the metallic oxides, by MM. Paul Sabatier and T, B. Senderens. 

 — On a bromo-nitride of phosphorus, by M. A. Besson. — On 

 permolybdic acid, by M. E. Pechard. — On the alteration of 

 preserved ferruginous mineral waters, by M. J. Riban. — On the 

 transformation of gallic acid into pyrogallol : fusion point of 

 pyrogallol, by M. P. Cazeneuve. — On the intestinal calculi of 

 the cachalot [ambre gris), byM. Georges Pouchet. — The helio- 

 iropism of the Naupliiis, by M. C. Viguier. — Researches on the 

 proximate composition of vegetable tissues, by M. G. Bertrand. 

 — On the action of some mineral salts on lactic fermentation, by 

 M. Ch. Richet. — On the respiratory exchange, by MM. Chr. 

 Bohr and V, Henriquez. An account of experiments showing 

 that the lungs are not only the seat of the process of gaseous 

 exchange, but also of the oxidation of tissue elements,— Origins 

 and trophic centres of the vaso-dilatatory nerves, by M. J. P. 

 Morat. — Researches on the requirements of the vine, by M. A. 

 Muntz. — On the topography of some lakes of the Jura, the 

 Bugey, and the Isere, by M. A. Delebecque. 



Amsterdam. 

 Royal Academy of Sciences, May 28. — Prof van de Sande 

 Bakhuyzen in the chair. — Mr. Behrens dealt with specimens of 

 brass made by compression of the constituents at ordinary tem- 

 perature by Prof W. Spring, Liege, Belgium. One of the 

 s|)ecimens, kindly forwarded by Prof Spring, was of a reddish 

 colour, and had been produced by compressing a mixture of 9 

 })arts of copper and i part of zinc ; another, pale yellow, by 

 compressing a mixture of 7 parts Cu and 3 parts Zn. Both 

 specimens had been filed up twice, and again consolidated by 

 pressure. The reddish metal was a little softer than common 

 cast brass ; it could be somewhat flattened under the hammer. 

 The yellow metal was harder than common brass, and brittle. 

 Both varieties contain a great quantity of yellow alloy, which 

 seems to be in an amorphous state, showing a uniform, finely 

 granular appearance, without any vestige of the beautiful crys- 

 tallites, so characteristic for copper-zinc alloys, obtained by 



NO. II 83, VOL. 46] 



fusion. Further, a good deal of angular fragments of red copper, 

 some of them cracked and doubled up, with yellow threads 

 between the red lumps and strands, and finally some zinc, 

 angular fragments and threads, trending outwards and uniting 

 near the curved surface of the cylindrical specimens. The metal 

 is nearly, but not wholly compact. There is much that gives 

 evidence of a flow in the yellow alloy and in the zinc, but nothing 

 pointing to a truly liquid state of the alloy or one of its com- 

 ponents. Regelation seems to be put aside, while there does 

 not remain any doubt that zinc and copper have been intimately 

 mixed and actually united by repeated filing and compression. 

 One may venture to say, that a more complete union of metallic 

 powders by compression will lead to alloys of most remarkable 

 properties, and may give some alloys that cannot be produced 

 by fusion. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books. — Our Earth — Night to Twilight, vol. i. t G. Ferguson (Unwin) — 

 The Alternate Current Transformer, vol. li. The Utilization of Induced Cur- 

 rents : Prof. J. A. Fleming (Electrician Company). — Essai sur la Vie et 

 la Mort: A. Sabatier (Paris, Bab^). — Chambers's Encyclopasdia, vol. ix. 

 (Chambers). — Iconographia Florae Japonicse, vol. i. Part 2 : Dr. K. Yatabe 

 (Tokyo). — Thermodynamique a I'Usage des Ing^nieurs; A. Witz (Paris, 

 Ciauthier-Villars).— U.S. Relief Map (Washington).— Bees for Pleasure and 

 Profit : G. G Samson (Lockwood).— Waterdale Researches ; or, Fresh 

 Light on the Dynamic Action and Ponderosity of Matter: 'Waterdale' 

 (Chapman and Hall). — Helen Keller : Souvenir of the First Summer 

 Meeung of the American Association to Promote the Teaching of Speech 

 to the Deaf; second editi >n (Washington, Volta Bureau). 



Pamphlet.s. — Descriptive List of the Fishes of Lorain County, Ohio : 

 L. M. McCormick (Oberlin). — Land Improvement in India: Colonel A. T. 

 Eraser (Bombay, Thacker). — Proposal for a National Photographic Record 

 and Survey : W. J. Harrison (Harrison). 



Serials.— Journal of the College of Science, Imperial University, Japan, 

 vol. v., Part I (Tokyo),— lournal of the Insti.ution of Electrical Engineers, 

 lune(Spon). -Journal of the Polynesian Society, vol. i. No. i (Wellington, 

 N.Z.). — Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, June (Kegan 

 Paul).— Deutsche Ueberseeische Meteorologische Beobachtungen, Heft 4 

 (Hamburg).— Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society of New South 

 Wales, vol. x-xv , 1S91 (Kegan Paul).— Beitrage zur Biologie der Pflanzen, 

 v. Band, -^ Heft (Williams and Norgate).— Bulletin from the Laboratories of 

 Natural History of the State University of Iowa, vol. ii. No. 2 (Iowa). — 

 Botanische Jahrbucher fiir Systematik, Pflanzengeschichte und Pflanzen- 

 geographie, Sechzehnter Band, i Heft, Funfzehnter Band, 3 Heft (Williams 

 and Norgate).— Encyklopaedia der Naturwissenschaften, Erste Abthg., 67 

 Litfg., Zweite Abthg , 69-70 Lief. (Williams and Norgate). 



CONTENTS. PAGF 



The London University of the Future 193 



English Botany. By James Britten 197 



A Bacteriological Hand-book. By Mrs, Grace C. 



Frankland 198 



Our Book Shelf:— ^^^ 



Bergbohm : " Neue Rechnungsmethoden der Hoheren WBk 



Mathematik." — R. E. A '51^ 



Chapman: "An Elementary Course in Theory of 



Equations " 199 



Letters to the Editor:— 



" The Grammar of Science."— Prof. Karl Pearson \<j) 

 Immunity of the African Negro from Yellow Fever.— 



Dr. C. Creighton 200 



The Line Spectra of the Elements.— Prof. C. Runge 200 

 The Nitric Organisms.— Prof. Percy F. Frankland, 



F.R.S 200 



Protection against Rain in the Elder. — Alfred W. 



Bennett 201 



The Total Solar Eclipse, April 15-16, 1893. {Illus- 

 trated.) .... 201 



University of Dublin: Tercentenary Celebration. . 203 

 Exhibition at Niirnberg by the German Mathe- 

 matical Association 204 



The Kekule Festival at Bonn. ByJ.E. Marsh . . 205 



The True Basis of Anthropology 206 



Lewis Morris Rutherfurd 207 



Notes 208 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Variable Nebulae 211 



Variation of Latitude 2£I 



Comparative Spectra of High and Low Sun .... 211 



The Coronoidal Discharges 211 



Geographical Notes 211 



A New Form of Air Leyden. {Illustrated.) By Lord 



Kelvin, P.R.S 212 



University and Educational Intelligence 213 



Scientific Senals 214 



Societies and Academies 214 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 2i6 



