312 



NA TURE 



[July 28, 1892 



tetrazoperbromide in the usual way. This latter substance, by 

 the action of ammonia, yields lustrous silvery scales of the 

 azoimide. 



il>N<_>N:N<_>N<^ 



The analysis of this substance proves without doubt that two 

 amidogen groups were present in the original base. — The 

 existence of two acetaldoximes. Second notice, by W. R. 

 Dunstan and T. S. Dymond. The authors have more fully in- 

 vestigated the change undergone by acetaldoxime on heating 

 (see Nature, this vol., p. 94). The pure crystals melt at 

 46"5° ; after heating at 100° for a few minutes the liquid does 

 not begin to crystallize until 13°. On separating the crystals 

 now formed, and cooling the liquid still more a further crop of 

 crystals is obtained. Each of these separations is found to 

 melt at 46-5°. Acetaldoxime therefore exists in two modifica- i 

 lions, one, the crystalline form melting at 46*5°, and the other, I 

 a liquid form which the authors find cannot be obtained in a j 

 pure state, as when it approaches purity it partially reverts to j 

 the modification melting at 46-5°. — The dissociation constants j 

 of organic acids, by J. Walker. The author has measured the j 

 ■dissociation constants of a number of organic acids and ethereal 

 salts. — Note on the preparation of alkyl iodides, by J. Walker. 

 The author has devised a method for conveniently and rapidly 

 preparing considerable quantities of methyl and ethyl iodides. 

 The apparatus employed consists of a modified fat extraction 

 apparatus, by means of which the iodine is dissolved by the 

 condensed alcohol, and runs into a vessel containing the 

 phosphorus and alcohol. The method gives a good yield, and 

 may be applied to the preparation of higher iodides. — An ex- 

 amination of the products obtained by the dry distillation of 

 bran with lime. Preliminary communication, by W. F. 

 Laycock a-d F. Klingemann. On distilling a mixture of bran 

 and quick-lime, a black oil, floating on an aqueous solution is 

 obtained. The aqueous solution smells of herring brine, con- 

 tains much ammonia, and on boiling evolves inflammable gases. 

 The oil is evidently a complex mixture, and has not yet been 

 separated into its constituents. — The atomic weight of 

 palladium, by G. H. Bailey and T. Lamb. — The action of sul- 

 phuryl chloride on acetorthotoluidide and acetparatoluidide, by 

 W. P. Wynne. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, July 18. — M. d'Abbadie in the 

 chair. — On a slight additive correction which may have to be 

 applied to the heights of water indicated by sea-gauges, when 

 the swelling or chopping agitation of the sea reaches a great 

 intensity : case of a choppy sea, by M. J. Boussinesq. In this 

 second case the correction is much smaller than in the former, 

 amounting to not more than o*i mm. in an extreme case. — 

 Preparation and properties of proto-iodide of carbon, by M. 

 Henri Moissan. If an exhausted sealed tube containing crystals 

 of the tetra-iodide of carbon be heated in an oil bath to 120°, 

 iodine is liberated and condenses in the cooler portion of the 

 tube, while less volatile crystals of the proto-iodide of carbon 

 are produced, corresponding to the formula C2I4. To obtain 

 greater quantities, the tetra-iodide is reduced by silver powder. 

 The substance obtained presents itself in beautiful pale yellow 

 crystals of density 4 '38, fusing at 185°, and volatile without 

 decomposition below their point of fusion. By slow volatiliza- 

 tion in a vacuum at a temperature between 100° and 120'', 

 transparent crystals are produced, some of which form highly 

 refracting hexagonal tablets. The proto-iodide is very soluble 

 in carbon bisulphide, tetrachloride, and ordinary ether, which, 

 by cooling, gives good crystals. The new compound is very 

 stable, being not oxidized by potassium permanganate, and 

 boiling chromic and nitric acids. — On one of the reactions of 

 spermine, by M. Duclaux. — On a fossil baboon of the quaternary 

 phosphorites of Algeria, Macactis trarensis, by M. A. Pomel. — 

 Project of meteorological observatories on the Atlantic Ocean 

 by Albert I., Prince of Monaco. A proposal to establish a 

 station on the Azores as soon as the projected cable is laid, and 

 also on Madeira, the Canaries, Bermuda, and the Peak of 

 TenerifFe. It is expected that the prediction of cyclones will be 

 much facilitated, and Monaco is suggested as a centre for the 

 collection and distribution of the information obtained. — On the 

 specific heat and the latent heat of fusion of aluminium, by M. 

 J. Pionchon. The total quantity of heat required to raise i gr. 

 of aluminium from 0° to its fusing point, 625°, is 239-4. The 



latent heat of fusion is very large, being equal to that of water, 

 viz., 80 cal. — On the measurement of the dielectric constant, by 

 M. A. Perot. The further value obtained for glass was 2'39, 

 which, obtained by means of a glass prism weighing 65 kg., 

 agrees very well with that obtained from very rapid oscillations. 

 The value-i obtained by these two methods, being unaffected by 

 residual charges, are more reliable than those derived from the 

 static, the attraction, and the ballistic galvanometer methods. — 

 On the principle of maximum work, by M. H. Le Chatelier. 

 An examination of the bearing of certain thermodynamic laws 

 on Berthelol's principle, showing that the contradiction between 

 them is only apparent. — On a basic nitrate of calcium, by M. A' 

 Werner. — On the efflorescence of sulphate of copper and some 

 other metallic sulphates, by MM. H. Baubigny and E. Pechard. 

 — On the decomposition of the basic nitrates by water, by MM. 

 G. Rousseau and G. Tite. — On phosphopalladic combinations, 

 by M. E. Fink. — On the mechanical contrast between the 

 radical cyanogen and the chloroid elements, byM. G. Hinrichs. 

 — The influence of the substitution of the methyl group for one 

 benzene hydrogen on the properties of orthotoluidine, by M. A. 

 Rosenstiehl. — On the instability of the carboxyl in the phenol 

 acids, by M. P. Cazeneuve. — (3n preserved ferruginous mineral 

 waters, by M. J. Riban. — On a new leucomaine, by M. A. B. 

 Griffiths. — Effects of sudden release on animals placed in com- 

 pressed air, by M. G. Philippon. It was found that although 

 rabbits subjected to a pressure of six or eight atmospheres were 

 unaff'ected if the pressure was gradually released, a sudden ex- 

 pansion was followed by almost instantaneous death. The 

 cause of death appears to be the mechanical expansion of the 

 gas contained in the vessels, which, in the case of gradual 

 release, is eliminated by the lungs in a few minutes. — On the 

 immediate reparation of losses of intra-osseous substances, with 

 the aid of aseptic bodies, by MM. S. Duplay and M. Cazin. — 

 The coxal gland of the scorpion and its morphological relations 

 to the excretory glands of the Crustacea, by M. Paul Marchal. 

 — The avalanche of the Tetes-Rousses. Catastrophe of St. 

 Gervais-les-Bains (Haute- Savoie), by M. F. A. Forel. — On 

 certain forms of filling-up observed in some lakes of the 

 Pyrenees, by M. Emile Belloc. 



NO. T187, VOL. 46] 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Grouse Disease and Fowl Enteritis. By A. M. . . 289 



Electric Light Cables 290 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Picou : " Distribution de I'Electricite " ... 291 



Gall: " Popular Readings in Science " 291 



Blaikie and Thomson : " Geometrical Deductions " . 291 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



B.A. Procedure. — Henry E. Armstrong . 291 



The Position of 47r in Electromagnetic Units. — Prof. 

 Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S. ; Oliver Heaviside, 



F.R.S .292 



Neutral Point in the Pendulum. — Wm. Flinders 



Petrie 293 



Induction and Deduction. — E. E. Constance Jones 293 

 The Scale for Measurement of Gas Pressures. — Orme 



Masson . . 294 



Luminous Clouds.— W. Clement Ley 294 



Whirlwinds in the South Indian Ocean.— Robert H. 



Scott 294 



The Cause of the Great Fire at St. John's.— 



Humanity 295 



The Washington Collection of Fossil Vertebrates. 



By R. Lydekker 295 



Dynamo-electric Machinery. By Prof. A. Gray, 



F.R.S 296 



Mr. A. Norman Tate. By O. W. J 298 



The British Association 298 



Notes 298 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Madras Observatory 301 



Oxford University Observatory 301 



Geographical Notes 301 



The Bearing of Pathology upon the Doctrine of the 

 Transmission of Acquired Characters. By Henry 



J. Tylden .302 



A Trip to Queensland in Search of Ceratodus. By 



Prof. W. Baldwin Spencer 305 



Scientific Serials 310 



Societies and Academies 311 



