December 26, 1895] 



NATURE 



175 



^nd minima of the wind curves in 



Unsmoothedl 1846 1859 1872 1882 1894 (?) 



curve j" (10) (27) (27) (18) (30) 



Smoothed ^ 1846 i860 1873 1883 

 curve / (27-8) (30-0) (31-8) (29-4) 



The high value for our last cold season strikes one as a little 

 anomalous, causing an unusual break in the smoothed curve, if 

 we suppose (as we perhaps may) that this curve has not yet 

 reached its lowest point before rising to the next maximum 

 (say) about 1901. 



It would appear, then, that in the period considered, the 

 northerly type of weather, in which we are generally on the 

 eastern border of an anticyclone, has been specially prevalent 

 about the time of minimum sunspots, giving way to some other 

 type or types in the interval. 



A careful study of the behaviour (movements of translation, of 

 contraction and expansion, &c. ) of those high and low pressure 

 systems which determine the direction of wind, and furnish our 

 M'eather generally, seems likely, in the future, to throw some 

 useful light on the nature of solar influence on our atmosphere. 

 In this connection, I may refer to the work of the American 

 meteorologist. Prof. Bigelow, who finds {Am. Journal of Science, 

 vol. xlviii. p. 445), that in North America, "the North Low 

 {{pressure] and the South High [pressure] belts vary in latitude 

 directly with the solar intensity, being further north at the 

 maximum, and further south at the minimum of the period ; 

 while the North High and the South Low belts vary inversely, 

 that is, are further south during the maximum of sunspots." 



We know that northerly wind generally means cold, and it 

 would be interesting to trace the effects of the apparently 

 cyclical variation in those winds, above indicated, on health and 

 •other matters. A. B. M. 



"Perlites." 



Now that attention has been called in Nature (December 

 12, 1895, p. 135) to two papers, by Mr. Watts and Mr. 

 Smeeth respectively, in which perlitic structure is examined 

 with much careful, detail, may I protest at once against the use 

 made of the word "perlite" by these authors and by the 

 writer of the note in Nature ? So many terms (" granophyre," 

 *' picrite," " granulite," <S:c.) have been already strained by 

 petrographers from their original meanings, that the fine old 

 rock-name " perlite" may also be in danger. It was invented 

 by Beudant in 1822 (" Voyage en Hongrie, ' tome i. p. 329), as 

 a translation of the German Perlstein, and is the name of a 

 glassy rock having a particular structure. It cannot be also 

 used for the globules or cracks which characterise that 

 structure. Grenvili.e A. J. Cole. 



Royal College of Science for Ireland, Dublin, December 13. 



The Discovery of the Anti-Toxin of Snake-Poison. 



No one has accused Prof. Fraser of claiming priority for his 

 ■results published in June 1895 over those of Calmette published 

 in May 1894, and over those published by the same investigator 

 in April 1895. Such a proceeding on Prof. Eraser's part would 

 indeed have been rash. 



What I have drawn attention to is that when publishing a 

 •detailed account of experiments identical with those already 

 published by Calmette, and when drawing conclusions from them 

 similar to those already formulated by Calmette, he omitted to 

 refer to Calmette's published work in such a way as to fairly 

 •direct attention to the fact that he (Fraser) had been completely 

 anticipated by the French observer. I showed that this had led 

 other persons not conversant with the progress of this branch of 

 scientific inquiry to claim for Prof. Fraser the priority which it 

 would certainly have been unwise for him to have claimed for 

 himself. 



I supposed that Prof. Fraser would have been glad of the 

 opportunity of expressing regret for his omission — regret which 

 others must feel though he apparently does not. The theory 

 jnit forward by Prof. Fraser that it is not usual in communications 

 to the Proceedings of a scientific society extending to twenty- seven 

 pages octavo in length, to give more than the ver)- briefest 

 allusion to the latest work on the subject carried out and pub- 

 lished by another worker and anticipating all that you have to 

 say, is not, I think, admissible. Especially, it seems to me, is 

 il unusual that the reference to an immediate predecessor's work 

 should be so brief as to appear contemptuous, and so expressed 



NO. 1365, VOL. 53] 



as to be actually misleading (even when read by experts) in 

 regard to the total absence of novelty in the experiments and 

 conclusions which you are about to record as your own work. 



Prof. Fraser read one paper to the Royal Society of Edin- 

 burgh on June 3, and a second on the same subject on July 15. 

 It is impossible to imagine how many such preliminary state- 

 ments Prof. Fraser would consider it right to publish, and how 

 long a time he would allow to lapse before making the state- 

 ment which one would have thought should have been pre- 

 liminary to them all, viz. that the experiments have been already 

 made, and the results published by Calmette. 



London, December 22. E. Ray Lankester. 



Male of Apus. 



The male individuals of Apus cancriforinis are so rare, that it 

 appears worth while recording the occurrence of one amongst 

 the specimens used in the Zoological Laboratory in Oxford, 

 during the ordinary course of our work. As Kozubowski showed 

 in 1857, the only external sexual difference is the absence in the 

 male of the egg-sac on the sixteenth appendage, known as the 

 oostegopod of the female. This limb in the male is quite 

 similar to its neighbours : there are no appendages modified for 

 holding the female, such as occur in the allied form, Branchijyus. 

 It is generally stated that the male of A. cancriformis is about 

 one-third the size of the female ; whilst Lubbock found that the 

 male of Lepidurus p-oductus is larger than the female. The 

 present male did not differ in size from the females ; some of 

 which were slightly larger, others smaller. 



Oxford, December 18. W. B. Benham. 



The Merjelen Lake. 



It may help Dr. Du Riche Preller to a precise knowledge of 

 the condition of the Merjelen See, prior to the last dib&cle, to 

 inform him that on August 3 of the present year the water-level 

 was about 60 feet below the strand-line marking the level of 

 the col by which the lake drained into the Viesch valley. 

 There was at that time an upper as well as a lower lake. 



I have a number of photographs which show different aspects 

 of the lake, and I do not doubt but that fairly accurate deter- 

 minations of the water-level could be obtained from them. 



Percy F. Kendau.. 



The Yorkshire College, Leeds, December 17. 



THE PARIS ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND 

 THE ROYAL SOCIETY. 



AT the recent anniversary meeting of the Royal Society, 

 M. Marey, the President of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences, attended in his official capacity. Upon return- 

 ing to France, he gave an account of his visit, and his 

 remarks are reported in full in the Compies rendus of the 

 meeting of the Academy on December 9. The pleasant 

 relations that exist between the Royal Society and the 

 Paris Academy furnish standing evidence of the truth 

 that the interests of science are international, and M. 

 Marey's remarks on the work in connection with the 

 Catalogue of Scientific Papers show how closely those 

 who are devoted to the advancement of scientific know- 

 ledge are bound together. His visit is the visible sign 

 of the kindred feeling which prevails among French 

 and British men of science. In October last, many of 

 our leading workers in science, art, and literature were 

 the honoured guests of the Institute of P>ance, and we 

 may regard the return visit of the President of the 

 Academy of Sciences to the Royal Society as an official 

 expression of appreciation. It is on this account, and 

 because the visit was a matter of unique consequence, 

 that we print literally M. Marey's address to the Paris 

 Academy. 



" Te dois rendre compte a 1' Academic, des resultats d'une 

 mission que je viens de remplir en Angleterre. La Societe 

 Royale de Londres m'avait invite, a titre de President en 

 exercice de votre Compagnie, i assister aux fetes anniver- 

 saires de sa fondation. 



"C'est done a notre Academic que s'adressait I'accueil si 

 honorable qui m'a ^te fait i Londres. J'y ai entendu le Presi- 



