556 



NATURE 



[October 6, 189: 



have depopulated Europe must have invariably come direct from 

 India is no longer tenable. For Europe alone, two striking 

 examples, in 1852 and 1869 respectively, have formally de- 

 molished the theories which regarded only things coming from 

 the East as bearing any danger of contamination. The epi- 

 demic of 1852 came from within Poland and Germany. That of 

 1869-73 repeated the same things in Ukraine. Nowadays, 

 when these facts have taken their place in science, some minds 

 seek to diminish their importance by pointing out that these epi- 

 demics revived some previous epidemics which had their origin 

 in India. But that which makes the spreading epidemic or the 

 pandemic is the revival of the choleraic principle or germ with 

 all its original attributes Even in India similar revivals per- 

 petuate the annual endemic, and the epidemics which appear every 

 three, four, or five years. This is the main fact which governs 

 the entire history of cholera, and upon which micro-biological 

 research must proceed. What difference of morphology, of 

 virulence, or of reproductive faculty is there between the germs 

 of the epidemics which die out at their origin, and those of the 

 epidemics which revive several times, and can invade the whole 

 world without proceeding from India ? — Application of a con- 

 ventional system of rectangular coordinates to the triangulation 

 of the coasts of Corsica, by M. Hatt. The trigonometrical net- 

 work drawn for the hydrographic mapping of the coasts of 

 Corsica describes a closed curve. The employment of the con- 

 ventional system, which transforms into rectangular plane 

 co-ordinates the polar co-ordinates reckoned on the sphere round 

 an origin, offers numerous advantages. The suppression of the 

 sphericity permits the application of processes of calculation 

 which have been dealt with in a preceding communication on 

 rectangular co-ordinates. On this account it was interesting to 

 test on a larger scale the methods which had only been utilised 

 for the determination of secondary points. The experiment has 

 given satisfactory results, and exhibits the practical advantages of 

 the new system of co-ordinates and the methods of calculation. 

 K being the length of the geodetic line joining a point to the 

 origin, and Z the angle made by this line with a fixed direction, 

 the conventional co-ordinates are x ■= K sin Z and ^ = K cos Z. 

 These assumptions permit the rapid and easy calculation of 

 tables of corrections. — On a new hydro-carbon, suberene, by 

 M. W. Markovnikoff. — Action of oiperidine and pyridine on 

 the haloid salts of cadmium, by M. Leopold Hugo. 



Sydney. 



Royal Society of New South Wales, June i.— General 

 Meeting. — Prof. Warren, President, in the chair. — The follow- 

 ing papers were read : — Oceanic philology, by Sidney H. Ray ; 

 a determination of the magnetic elements at the Physical 

 Laboratory, University of Sydney, by S. Coleridge Farr ; on 

 certain geometrical operations, by G. Fleuri ; analyses of the 

 well, spring, mineral, and Artesian waters of New South Wales, 

 and their probable value for irrigation and other purposes, by 

 John C. H. Mingaye ; remarks on the large sunspots visible at 

 the present time, by H. C. Russell, F.R.S. 



July 5. — Chemical and Geological Section. — Prof. Liversidge, 

 F.R.S. , in the chair. — The fdlowing papers were read : — Micro- 

 scopic structure of some intrusive rocks in the neighbourhood of 

 Sydney, by Rev. J. Milne Curran ; notes on the occurrence of 

 platinum and its associated metals in the Richmond River sands, 

 also in lode material in the Broken Hill district, by John C. H. 

 Mingaye, 



July 6.— General meeting. Prof. Warren, President, in the 

 chair. — Paper read :— On the ventilation of sewers and drains, by 

 J. M. Small. 



July 15. — Medical Section. — Dr. Friaschiin the chair.— Paper 

 read :— Recent work on the pathology of cancer, by Dr. G. E. 

 Rennie. 



August 3.— General Meeting. — Prof. Warren, President, in 

 the chair. — The following papers were read :— Flying-machine 

 work, and the \ I.H.P. steam motor weighing 3i lb., bv L. 

 Hargrave. The paper described the experimental work carried 

 out by the author during the past twelve months. A compressed- 

 air-driven flying-machine (No. 16) had no less than twelve 

 trials, on one of which it flew 343 feet, the speed being a little 

 over ten miles per hour. On the first trial it was fitted with a 

 bi-plane, which was found to be a very stable form. Some 

 curious experiments with a segment of a hollow cylinder were 

 recorded. A description was given of a steam engine and boiler 

 for a flying-machine, the total weight of which is l\ lb., in- 



NO. I 197, VOL. 46] 



eluding fuel and water ; the indicated horse-power developed 

 was 169. Nine detail drawings were shown, including those of 

 an air-pump and small-pressure indicator. On the venom of 

 the Australian black i-nake (Pseudechis porphyriacus), by C. J. 

 Martin, Demonstrator of Physiology in the University of Sydney, 

 and J. McGarvie Smith. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books.— Euclid, Books i and 2; D. Brent (Percival).— Book B ; or 

 Arithmetical Chemistry, Part 2, new edition : C- J. Woodward (Simpkin). — 

 Tenth Annual Report of the Fishery Board for Scotland : Part 3, Scien- 

 tific Investigations (Edinburgh). — Survey of India Department, General 

 Report 1890-91 (Calcutta). — Observations made at the Hong- Kong Observa- 

 tory in the Year 1891 : W. Doberck (Hong-Kong). — Geological Survey De- 

 partment, Ottawa, Annual Report, new series, vol. 4 (Ottawa, Dawson)- — 

 Gemeinverstandliche Vortrage aus dem Gebiete der Physik : Dr. L. Sohncke 

 (lena, Fischer).— The Student's Manual of Deductive Logic: K. R. Bose 

 (Calcutta, Lahiri). — Lightning Conductors and Lightning Guards : Dr. O. J. 

 Lodge (Whittaker). — Horn Measurements and Weights of the Great Game 

 of the World: R. Ward (The Author, Piccadilly).— The Universal Atlas, 

 Part 19 (Cassell). Imperial University of Japan, Calendars for Years 1890- 

 91 and 1891-92 (Tokyo, Maruya). — London Inter. Sc. and Prelim. Sc. 

 Directory, No. 3, July 1892 (London, University Correspondence College). 

 — London Inter. Arts Directory. No. 5, July 1892 (London. University Cor- 

 respondence College). — A Treatise on Analytical Statics, vol. ii. : Dr. E. J. 

 Routh (Cambridge University Press). — Annual I'eport of the Department ot 

 Mines and Agriculture, N.S.W.. i8gi (Sydney, Porter).— The Birds of 

 Lancashire, 2nd edition : F. S. Mitchell (Gurney and Jackson). — Odnro- 

 graphia, a Natural History of Raw Materials and Drugs used in the Per- 

 fume Indu-itry: J. Ch. Sawer (Gurney and Jackson). — A Text-book of Agri- 

 cultural Entomology, 2nd edition : E. A. Ormerod (Simpkin). — Beneath 

 Helvellyn's Shade: S. Barber (E. Stock). — Borneo; its Geology and 

 Mineral Resources ; Dr. T. Posewitz, translated by Dr. F. H. Hatch 

 (Stanford).— How to make Common Things: LA. Bower (S.P.C.K.),— A 

 Short Manual of Inorganic Chemistry : Drs. A. Dupre and H. W. Hake 

 (Griffin). -A Text-book of Coal-Mining: H. W. Hughes (Griffin). 



Pamphlf.ts. — L' Automobile e la Filosofia Naturale e Sperimentale ; 

 Note ed Osservazioni • G. Cassola (Napoli, Gargiulo). — Epidemic Pneu- 

 monia at Scotterand Neighbourhood: T. B. F. Eminson (Kimpton). — Con- 

 tagious Foot-Rot in Sheep : Prof. G. T. Brown (Murray). 



Serial. — Proceedings of the Liverpool Geological Society, Part 4, vol. vi. 

 (Liverpool). — Natural Science, October (Macmillan). — Traits Encyc. de 

 Photographie, premier suppt. : A troisieme fascicule : C. Fabre (Paris, 

 Gauthier- Villars). — Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, 

 vol. iii. Part 3 (Murray). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Natural Seleetion and Alternative Hypotheses. Bv 



Edward B. Poulton, F.R.S -533 



Sunshine. By C. V. B 537 



Stretton on the Locomotive. By N. J. Lockyer , . 538 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Houghton : "Sketches of British Insects" 540 



Mitchell: " The Birds of Lancashire " 540 



Posewitz : " Borneo : Its Geology and Mineral Re- 

 sources " 540 



Letters to the Editor : — 



"A New Course of Chemical Instruction." — Grace 



Heath .... 540 



The Temperature of the Human Body. — L. Gum- 

 ming .541 



Comet IF. 1892 (Denning, March 18).— W. F. 



Denning . . 541 



Cirro-stratus. — J. Porter ...... ... 541 



A New Habitat for Cladonema. — Henry Scherren . 541 

 To Draw a Mercator Chart on One Sheet Repre- 

 senting the whole of any Complexly Continuous 

 Closed Surface. {With Diagram.) By Lord Kelvin, 



P.R.S 541 



The Recent Eruption of Etna. {Illustrated.) By 



Gaetano Platania 542 



Notes 547 



Our Astronomical Column:— 



Comet Brooks (August 27, 1892) 551 



Comet 1892 II. (March 18) 551 



Nova Aurigse 552 



Geographical Notes 552 



Magnetic Induction. {Illustrated.) By Prof. J. A. 



Ewing, F.R.S 552 



Botanical Papers at the British Association .... 554 



Scientific Serials 555 



Societies and Academies 555 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 556 



