576 



NA TURE 



[April i6. 1896 



from January i to 12, as determining the weather forecasts for 

 the whole ensuing year. These rules are contained in a work, 

 •'Die Bauernpraktik," of which the first German edition 

 appeared in 1508, and having attained a wide circulation over 

 western and northern Europe, was translated into English, 

 French, Danish, Swedish and Bohemian, and passed through 

 numberless editions in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. 

 There is no known author of this work, but the speaker had 

 succeeded in tracing out manuscripts of the thirteenth century, 

 and the writings of the Venerable Bede in the ninth, as the 

 source of the book. From Bede's writings — which deal not 

 only with weather forecasts, but contain also a "Thunder- 

 book," which is still popular in Sweden— it is evident that the 

 author had translated a Greek manuscript. Certain passages in 

 Pliny refer to Democritus as the source of some of the forecasts, 

 and of the significance of the twelve days mentioned above. 

 But the superstition as to these days is of still older date, for 

 statements which, although incomplete, are, on the whole, 

 similar to those in the " Bauernpraktik," are found on the 

 Babylonian tablets, and the speaker hence concluded that the 

 superstition is of Babylonian origin. 



Physiological Society, March 6. — Prof du Bois Reyniond, 

 President, in the chair. — Prof. Zuntz read a communication by 

 Messrs. Asher and Liischer, in Bern, in which they describe the 

 first results of an investigation of the electrical changes in the 

 oesophagus during deglutition. Using german-silver wire elec- 

 trodes and a capillary electrometer, they observed a movement 

 of the mercury whenever a wave of contraction passed over the 

 portion of the oesophagus included between the electrodes. — Dr. 

 Rothmann spoke on secondary degenerations of the pyramidal 

 tracts resulting from unilateral extirpation of the cortical centres 

 for the extremities. — Prof. Zuntz spoke on the results of his in- 

 vestigations on metabolism, which had shown that the perform- 

 ance of I kgm. of work requires the consumption of 28 kgm. 

 of chemically equivalent energy, whether it be derived from 

 proteids, from fats, or from carbohydrates. Chauveau had 

 recently come to the conclusion, based on experiments, that 

 sugar alone is used up in a muscle doing work, and that when 

 the animal is fed with fat the latter is preliminarily changed into 

 sugar by the liver. The speaker showed that this assumption 

 involves the occurrence of a very complicated chemical process, 

 during which a large part of the energy of the food must be set 

 free in the liver and remain unused. Chauveau had also stated 

 that the same amount of energy is used up in positive as in 

 negative work, and against this view the speaker advanced the 

 results stated above for positive work, while, on the other hand, 

 during the negative work of descending an incline with the 

 lesser declivity, less chemical energy is consumed, thus corre- 

 sponding to the lessened work. As the declivity becomes 

 gradually greater, the amount of chemical energy increases, at 

 a certain stage is equal to the work done, and then increases 

 rapidly beyond the ratio given above for positive work. — Dr. 

 Rawitz reported on an investigation of the well-known statement 

 made by Darwin that imperfect albinos — animals with white 

 hides and blue eyes — are deaf. Having become possessed of a 

 white dog with blue eyes, he had found, by experiments lasting 

 over three weeks, that this dog really was deaf. After killing 

 the dog, he found that the cortical auditory centres of both 

 sides were atrophied, being on one side reduced to half the 

 normal amount, and on the other to one-third. The cochlea 

 of the inner ear was also wasted away, and the auditory ossicles 

 ankylosed. 



March 20. — Prof, du Bois Reymond, President, in the chair. 

 — Dr. Rene du Bois Reymond discussed Stieda's theory of the 

 homology of the limbs, in detail with reference to the bones and 

 muscles, and briefly as to the blood-vessels g,nd nerves. — Dr. 

 Epstein demonstrated a new turbine, a new perimeter, and a 

 new kymograph constructed for the purpose of experimenting 

 on the influence of colour-perception on blood-pressure. — Prof. 

 Thierfelder reported on two further experiments, made in con- 

 junction with Dr. Nuttall, on animals free from bacteria. In 

 one of these, two guinea-pigs were fed for thirteen days, in the 

 other for ten days, aseptically with milk and biscuit. The 

 animals remained in every respect normal, and gained in weight 

 to the same extent as others fed with ordinary milk and biscuit. 

 Their urine contained ethereal sulphates, although the alimentary 

 canal was free from bacteria. 



Note. — In the report of the Physiological Society on p. 503 of 

 Nature, column 2, line 37 from the top, for " height of circu- 

 lation " read " height of contraction." 



NO. I 38 I, VOL. 53] 



Philadelphia. 



Academy of Natural Sciences, March 10. — A paper 

 entitled " Summary of New Liberian Polydesmoidea," by O. F. 

 Cook, was presented for publication. — General Isaac J. Wistar 

 made a communication on the apparent capricious distribution 

 of iron oxide as colouring matter in the rocks of the anthracite 

 coal region. At several points, apparently, the accessible .supply 

 of iron was exhausted by complete distribution in the strata 

 under process of deposit with intermediate and subsequent 

 periods during which new supplies appear from some source not 

 yet clearly explained. Prof. A. P. Brown stated that it had 

 been suggested by Russell that the red colour of certain 

 formations may have originated from the subaerial decay of iron- 

 bearing rocks, and the subsequent deposit of this material as 

 sediment forming the red rock. As far as the ash of coal 

 is concerned, it is probable that the colour is due to the way in 

 which pyrites is contained either in the coal itself or in the slate 

 adjoining. Coal containing separable pyrites would give white 

 ash, while if the pyrites is intimately mixed in the coal the ash 

 will be red. — Mr. James Willcox and Prof. Angelo Heilprin 

 commented on the evolutionary value of the large collection of 

 fulgurs presented to the last meeting, the former claiming that 

 about twenty-five species had been reduced by the presence of 

 complete series of intermediate forms to three or four. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books.— The Heart of a Continent : Captain F. E. Younghusband, 2nd 

 edition (Murray).— Argon and Newton : Lieut.-Colonel W. Sedgwick 

 (Whittingham).— British Sea Birds : C. Dixon (Bliss).— Les Rayons X : Dr. 

 C. E. Guillaume (Paris, Gauthier-Villars). — Report of the- Commissioner of 

 Education for the Year 1892-93, Vol. 2 (Washington). — Queen's College, 

 Gal way, Calendar for 1895-96 (Dublin, Ponsonby). 



Pamphlets.— Prof. Rontgen's " X " Rays, and their Applications in the 

 New Photography (Glasgow, Bauermeister). — Die Denkschopfung, &c. : A. 

 Bastian (Berlin, Diimmlers). — The Magnetic Circuit : Dr. H. du Bois, 

 translated by Dr. Atkinson (Longmans). 



Serials. — Journal of the Royal Statistical Society, March (Stanford). — 

 Engineering Magazine, April (Tucker).— Journal of the Franklin Institute, 

 April (Philadelphia). — Science Progress, April (Scientific Press). — Imperial 

 University, College of Agriculture, Bulletin Vol. ii. No. 6 (Tokyo).— Studies 

 from the Yale Psychological Laboratory, Vol. .3, 1895 (New Haven). — Eth- 

 nologisches Notizblatt, Heft 3 (Berlin, Haack).— American Journal of 

 Science, April (New Haven).— American Naturalist, April (Philadelphia).— 

 Strand Magazine, April (Newnes). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Old and New Theories of Evolution. By Dr. Alfred 



R. Wallace, F.R.S 553 



The Atomic Theory again 555 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Blochmann : " Die Mikroskopische Thierwelt des 



Siisswassers."— W. A. H 556 



Williams: "Manual of Lithology."—G. T. P. . . . 556 

 Letters to the Editor: — 



The Sacred Tree of Kum-Bum.— W. T. Thiselton- 



Dyer, CM. G., F.R.S 556 



The Rontgen Rays and Optically Active Substances. — 



Prof. Percy F. Frankland, F.R.S 556 



Radiographs by Fluorescent Screens. — Dr. L. Bleek- 



rode ; J. William Gifford 557 



Abnormal Rainbows. (///?/j-/m/e^.)— C. E. Peek . 557 



Family Data.— Prof. Karl Pearson 557 



The Retinal Circulation.— George J. Burch . . . . 55^ 



Jupiter and his Period of Rotation. By W. J. S. L. 558 



The Life of Joseph Wolf. {Illustrated.) 559 



Charles Chambers, F.R.S 561 



Notes 561 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Mira Ceti 



An Exhibition of Astronomical Photographs .... 



The Sun's Rotation 



The Tsetse Fly-Disease. {Illustrated.) By Walter 



F. H. Blandford 



The Action of Light on the Iris, demonstrated by a 



New Pupilometer. By Prof Charles Henry . 

 Immunisation against Serpents' Venom, and the 



Treatment of Snake-bite with Antivenene. I. 



{With Diagram.) By Prof. Thomas R. Eraser, 



F.R.S 



University and Educational Intelligence 



Scientific Serials 



Societies and Academies 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 



565 

 565 

 566 



566 



08 



