36o 



NA TURE 



[August S, 1895 



platinum black was found most suitable for this purpose. The 

 absorbing medium employed consisted of a thin layer of water 

 in a quarti cell. The energy radiatecl from the heated foil passed 

 through a diaphragm of known ajxjrture, whose temperature was 

 the same as that of the bolometer. The errors in determining 

 the unit of light amounteil to' one per cent., due chiefly to the 

 air currents on the surface of the foil. The unit can now lie 

 establishe<l a', any time in the Imperial Physico-technical Institute 

 (Berlin) ; but in order to facilitate its accurate establishment at 

 any other place, experiments are Iwing made to determine the 

 temperature of the glowing foil from ratio of the radiation over 

 the range of the visible siX'Ctnmi. 



June 28. — Prof, von Bezold, President, in the chair. — Dr. 

 Raps exhibited and descril>ed some new electric meters con- 

 structed by Siemens and Halske, which by the use of constant 

 magnets provide an accurate measure for technical pur]xises, ami 

 are uninfluenced by ordinary variations of temperature. Dr. du I 

 Bois descrilx;d exiwrimcnts made by Dr. E. T. Jones on magnetic 

 lifting-power. He had already showed that Maxwell's formula 

 holds good for a field whose strength is up to 500 C.G.S., and 

 now passed on to fields of greater strength. In the last set 

 of experiments electro-magnets were employed with a sectional 

 surface of an iron bar [lassed through the armatures. \ m.-ignetic 

 lifting power of 52 kilogrammes per square centimetre of 

 .surface was thus for the first lime obtained, and Maxwell's 

 formula was found to hold good up to this maximal value ; the 

 error was at most five per cent., due as yet to insuflicieni intro- 

 duction of corrections. Stephan's formula did not in any way 

 corrcsp<:'nil with the results of the above experiments. It further 

 ap[K.-arcd that a lifting piwer of 150 kilogramnies (X-'r square 

 centimetre should be obtainable. 



-•VMSTERnAM. 

 Royal Academy of Sciences, June 29. — Prof Van dcr 

 \Vaal> in the chair. — Pmf Martin presented a work, written by 

 him, and entitled " Die l-'ossilien von Java." Basing his argu- 

 ments on the presence of the.se fossils, the author showed that 

 iji Java there are found Upper Miocene, Pliocene and (Juaternary 

 sediments. When the distribulion of these formations is 

 consiflered, it appears that in general the newer strata have been 

 fomicfl on the otiter side of the older ones, and there can be no 

 doubt that since the time of the Upper Miocene formation a 

 continuous and very slow elevation of the coast ("negativ 

 strandverschiebung") took place, in consequence of which the 

 Upper Miocene, I'liocene and <,)uaternary sediments of the coast 

 were laid dry. That this shifting of the coa.sl was very con- 

 siderable, is proved hy the Xjaliendoeng fossils, fotmd 910 m. 

 above the level of the sea, and this fact further tallies with what 

 is known about Sumatra, where in the " Padangsche Boven- 

 landen " Xeogene sediments have lieen found up to a height of 

 1088 m. Not long ago the author showed that during the 

 • Juaternar)- iK-riixl a considerable movement took place in the 

 eastern part of the archipelago, and numerous facts .show th.at 

 the wh'ile (if the Indian archiiwlago w.-is subjected to this. The 

 .author further remarked that he ha<l received interesting fossils 

 from Western Borneo. Among them are : Perhfhitules ( Waag. ), 

 Proloiardia, and Corhiila. AH these fossils have been found in 

 strata th.at were formerly known as " ancient schists, " which, 

 hfiwever, f)n account of the above-mentioned fossils, ran only be 

 rci-k'ineil to Inrlnng to the Mesozoic |K-rifMl : more |virticularly they 

 ought lolx' classed eillier with the Jurassic or with the Cretaceous 

 formation. In accordance with the present slate of our knowledge 

 it is highly prril«lile that the fossils in question have been taken 

 from Jurassic fonnation.s. It ap|iears, then, that Me.sozoic strata 

 hnve a ver)- wide distribution in the Indian archipelago. — Prof 

 1 ■ rinck rrada paiK-ron Cynipstatyds. The Ci'«//»jfri/r<;.f gall- 

 • rycommrm m Austria- Hungary on Qiifniis /V(/hh. h/iiAi, 

 '. d in conmicrcc as a first-rate tanning material. In 

 i inds two or three small localities are known where 

 , 1,1 fi run. I, —The dehydr.ition, rehydration and le- 

 • 1 silicic acid, by Prof, van Bemmelcn. — 

 i Mime iximjihlels by himself and simie of 

 i»l, Hiili reference to Dr. Langcmeyer's <lisserlalion, 

 • influence of the use of sugar u|xin muscular labour. 

 I .le with the ergograph, it is ileduced that 



\ been proved that sugar has a favourable 



., : :i laliour. — .\t the request of Dr. C. A. 



I iv de Ifruyn, Prof Kranchimont c<imnumicaled that free 

 I . ir.i/inc had been pre|>are<l 'oy the former in t«o ways: 

 I' fr.tm NilljllCI with vnlium mcthylate in a methyl alcoholic 



NO. 1345. VOL. 52] 



solution, and 2° by heating the hydrate to 100" with barium- 

 oxide. Free hydrazine is a somewhat thick fluid with the smell 

 of the hydrate. It boils without decomposition at iij°'S and a 

 I'ressure of 761 m.m. , and at 56° if the pressure is 71 ni.m. 

 When cooled, it becomes solid, and then melts again at 2° ; 

 its density at 2j° is 1-0075 ^"'' <'<^<-** ""'■ therefore, difter much 

 from that of the hydrate (boiling .at 119 ). Ii\ ordinary air it 

 forms strong va|x>urs and is easily oxidised by oxygen « ith the 

 formation of nitrogen. In the air it will burn, but not explode, 

 like hydroxylamine, and consequently it is much more stable, — 

 Prof. Kamerlingh Onnes communicated meastirements on the 

 capillarity of liquid gases, made by Dr. V'crschafielt in the Leyden 

 laborator}'. Carbonic acid and nitrous oxide obey the law of 

 corres|X)nding slates ; their capillary equation h.as an exixirtent 

 approaching the theoretical value giveii by \"an der Waals, and 

 they are not associated fluids. — Prof \'an der Waals presented 

 a |iaix"r intended for the reixirt of the meeting, and enlitled : 

 " On the critical circumstances of a mixture, " l>eing a sequel to 

 what was comnuinicate<l in the meeting of the section held in 

 May. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books.— Bouches a Feu : E. Hennelx:rt (Paris. Gauthier-Vill.irs). — 

 Balisliquc Ext^elire : E. V.-illier (P.iri.4, Gaulhicr-Vill.irs).— Gcologic.->l 

 Survey of Canada, Annual Report, new series, Vol. 6 (Ollaw.i). — Science 

 Re.-iders, Book iv. : V. T. .Murch* (M.-icinill.-ln).— A Text-lxjok of the 

 I*rinciplc.s of Physics : Dr. .-X. Daniell, 3ni edition (Macmillan).— Pau- 

 Gnosticisin : N. Winter (Transatlanlic Publishing Company). — .\ Hand- 

 lxx)k to the Flora of Ceylon : Dr. H. Trimcn, P,art 3 and plates (Uulau). _ 



PAMl'llLirrs. — tlcogcnelische Beitrage : Dr. O. Kunt/e (I-eip/ij, 

 Grcssner).— Sobre Peces de .\gua Dulce : C. Berg (Buen.>s .\ires, .Msina). — 

 The Grimsby Trawl Fishery, ii;c. : F,. W. I.. Holt (Plymouth). 



SERIAI.S. — Journal of the Institution of Electrical Engineers, Julv(Spon). 

 —Quarterly journal of the Geological Society, August (Longnraivs).— Fort- 

 nightly R'eview, .\ugust (Chapman).— Macmillan's Magazine, Auguxt 

 (M,-tcmilt,an). — Scribner's Magazine, August (Low). — Verhandlungcn des 

 N'alurhistorischcn Vereins, Ac, EinundmnfzigNter Jalirg., Sechste Folge, 

 I Jahrg., Zweite H5lfte(Boun).— Bulletins de laSocietd IV.'Vnthroiwlogie de 

 P;iris, tome vi. 4*-' serie (Paris, M.asson). — Geological M;igazine, August 

 (I)ulau).r-Geographical Mag.lzine, .'\ugust (Stanford).— Transactions and 

 Proceedings of the New Zealand Institute, 1804, Vol. xw-ii. (Welliirgton,, 

 Costall). — Science Progress, August (Scientific Press, Ltd.). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Study of Insects. H\ W. F. K ,;37 



Agriculture and Horticulture 33S 



Our Book Shelf:— 



" Floclrical l^alxjratory Notes and Forms" 339 



Berdoe : " Microbes and Disea.se Demons"' .... 340 

 " Men-gu-yu-niH-tsi : or. Memoirs of the Mongol En- 

 campments '' 340 



Letters to the Editor : — 



I'niversily of l.onilon Kkriion. --Right Hon. Sir 



John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., F,R.S 340 



Metrical Kclali.ms of Plane Spaces of;; Manifoldness. 



Emanuel Lasker 340 



The I- eigning of Death,— Oswald H, Latter , , . 343 

 llallcv's Chart of M.agnetic Declinations.— Charles 



L. Clarke 34J. 



The Eruption of Vesuvius, July 3, 1895. (llliistiated.) 



lt\ Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis 343 



P. L. Chebyshev (Tchebicheff) 345 



Notes 345- 



Our Astronoinical Column: — 



The K.itation of \ Liuis 34^ 



('■eoileliial Ohseivalimis 34^ 



The Institution of Mechanical Engineers 348 



The International Geographical Congress .... 350. 



The British Medical Association 35* 



Science in the Magazines 355 



Photometric Standards 35^ 



Scientific Education in America 357 



University and Educational Intelligence 359 



Societies and Academies 359 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received i(^- 



