June 21, 1894] 



NATURE 



191 



There are two well-marked varieties of this species, the one ' 

 being pale and light-coloured, and inhabiting the sandhills of 

 Poole in Dorsetshire and Southport in Lancashiie, while ihe 

 dark vatiety occurs in various localities on dark peaty soil.— Mr. 

 S. Skinner exhibited specimens of magnetic rock. The frag- 

 ments of rock shown were from the RifTelhorn, near Zermalt, a . 

 mass of rock which appears to be permanen'ly magnetised in a I 

 direction E. — W. with north polar magnetism towards the west. 

 They are composed of serpentine with small veins of magneiic 

 oxide of iron. The magnetic tiilds of these fragments have 

 been mapped with a small compass needle and show both regular 

 poles and consequent poles. It is suggested that the mag- 

 netism preserved in these frag^nents wa-, due to magnetic forces 

 acting at the time of the foriuation of the veins of magnetic ore. 

 With certain assumptions, it follows that these forces acted 

 almost at right angles to the present direction of the magnetic 

 meridian, a conclusion possibly consistent with our present 

 knowledge of Ihe secular variation.— Mr. .•\. C. Dixon read a 

 paper on a "Geametrical proof of a Theorem of Conver- 

 gcncy." 



Dublin. 



Royal Dublin Society, April iS— The Earl of Rosse in 

 the chair, — Dr. G. Johnstone Stoney, F.R.S., communicated a 

 paper on a mounting fo; the specula ol reflecting telescopes, 

 designed to remove the impediment to their bemg used for 

 celestial photography. Tne author obseived that reflecting 

 lelesc ipes are much cheaper than refractors : moreover, their 

 uniiing rays of all refrangil)ilities in one focus would give them 

 an immense advantage over refractors for photographing the 

 heavens and in celestial spectroscopy, were it not for the diffi- 

 culty of keeping their line of collimation sufficiently fixed. 

 Tnis difficulty arises from the necesiily of supporting the 

 speculum by a very equable pressure applied over its whole 

 back. The mechanicil appliances for securing this must be so 

 delicate that they yield a little when the telescope is moved from 

 one aliiiuile to anoiTier. The author of the present communi- 

 cation proposes to get rid of this imperfection by substituting 

 compressed arr for the "bed of levers " or layers of flannel 

 which have hitherto been employed, and he describes a regu- 

 lator through the intervention of which the pressure will vary 

 automatically according to the requisite law when the telescope 

 is moved from one altitude to another. With this contrivance 

 the speculum is made the front of a closed chamber, and 

 rigidly maintains its position with reference to i', and there- 

 fore with reference to the tube of the telescope, however 

 the latter may be moved about. — Sir Howard Grubb, 

 F. R. S., read (a) a note on the effect of tarnish on the 

 transmission of light through telescopic objectives ; (''') a note on 

 the construction of an equatorial wi h complete circumpolar 

 motion. — Prof. \\ . Noel fiartley, F. R.S., exhibited photo- 

 graphic enlargements of band spectra of metals, and Bessemer 

 flame spectra, and gave a description of these phenomena. — At 

 the meeting held May i6, Mr. Albert Taylor reai a paper 

 (communicated by Sir Howard Grubb, F.R. S.) on the photo- 

 graphing of the solar corona during total solar eclipses (with 

 special reference to the author's experiences at the Brazili,in 

 station at I'ara Cum, during the total solar eclipse of April 

 1893), and on the selection of suitable instruments. The author 

 commented upon the results obtainedal the various stations at 

 which the eclipse of 1893 w^^ observed, and suggested that the 

 organisatioil of expedition's to observe the next total solar eclipse 

 (August 8, 1S96) should at once be begun.— Mr. A. F. Dixon 

 exhibited models constructed from microscopic sections by a 

 method first used by Prof. His. The sections are drawn by 

 means of a camera lucida, on glass plates covered with negative 

 varnish, and the model is completed by simply placing the 

 plates in order one over the other. 'This method is found 

 especially useful in tracing the courses and connections of fine 

 nerves in the embryo. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, June 11.— M. Loewy in the chair. 

 — Note on the great coudt equatorial of the Paris observatory, 

 by M. Lee .vy.— The green substance of Phyllum Orthopter.^ 

 of the family of the Phasmids, by M.Vf. Henri Becquerel and 

 Charles lirongniarl. .A spectroscopic examination has deter- 

 mined the identity of this substance with chlorophyll. — On the 

 homologues of quinine ; their physiological and therapeutic 

 action, by MM. E. Grimaux, Laborde, and Bjurru. The sub- 



NO. 1286, VOL. 50] 



stances cupreiue, methyl cupreine (quinine), ethyl cupreine, 

 propyl cupreine, and amyl cupreine have been studiel. As 

 the molecular weight increases the toxic dose becomes rapidly 

 smaller, and the therapeutic action becomes more vigorous. 

 The ethyl derivaiive should be used as an antiperiodic when 

 quinine has failed, and the [iropyl derivative might perhaps be 

 employed as a powerful anii'.hermic in cases of continued fevers. 

 — O'uservations of the planets -\V (Courty, February 11, 1894), 

 AZ (Cou ty, Much 5. Iti94), and of Denning's comet (March 

 26, 1894), made at Bordeaux by MM. G. Rayet, L. Picart, 

 and F. Courty: no'.e by M. G. Rayet. — Discovery of Champ- 

 sosaurians in beds of phosphorite in the Algerian suessonian, 

 by M. \. Pomel. — On the chromosphere of the sun. A reply 

 to the last note of AL Hale, by .M. H. De landres. — -\. new 

 application for bichromated gelatine, by M. Izarn. The 

 material is proposed to be used for the protection of silver 

 surfaces on instruments, backs of mirrois, and so forth. It 

 has given good results in trial cases. — On an application of con- 

 tinued fractions, by M. S;ieltjes. — On thealgebra'cal integrals of 

 linear differential equations of the second order, by M. P. 

 Vernier. — On equations of derived panials of the second order, 

 by M. X. Siouff. — On magnetisation produced by Hertzian cur- 

 rents ; a magnetic dielectric, by M. Birkeland, — On the nature 

 of electric conductiliilily, by M. Vaschy. — .Measurement and 

 comparison of coefficients of self-induclion by alternating cur- 

 rents of great frequency, by M. H. Abraham. — Oil the mean 

 geometric distance of the elements of a group of surfaces and its 

 application to the calculation of coetiicients of induction, by M. 

 Ch. Eug. Guye. — On the estimation of iodine, by MM. A. 

 Villiers and ^I. Fayolle. The iodine is liberated by means of 

 feriic chloride, taken up by carbon bisulphide, and titrated in 

 the separaed solution by standard sodium thiosulphate. — On 

 the acid sulphates of aniline and ortho- and paratoluidine, by 

 M. Edmond Hitzcl. — The synthesis of he.xamethjlene deriva- 

 tives ; triethylphloroglucinol, by M. A. Combes. — .\ note on 

 the qualitative composition of officinal creosotes from oak and 

 beech woods, by MM. A. Behal and E. Choay. — .Action of 

 primary aromatic bases on dissymmetrical ketone compounds, by 

 M. L. Simon. The work was undertaken with the object of 



R.C.R' 

 discovering in aniline derivatives of the form || indications 



N.CsH^ 

 of an isomerism analogous to that obtaining among oximes. The 

 condensations quoted in the communication were effected in the 

 cold and in the absence of every condensing reagent capa' de of pro- 

 ducing migrations. Isomeiisni has not been observed in anycise. — 

 On the stability of aqueous solutions of mercury b chloride, by 

 M. E. Burcker. The author concludes that (i) ordinary 

 waters cause the immediate decomposition of mercury bichloride, 

 and this action continues under the combined influence of air, 

 light, and the substances contained in the water or brought by 

 the air ; (2} the decomposition becomes insignilicant when the 

 solution is removed from the influence of air and light ; (3) 

 solutions made with distilled water undergo very little change, 

 even when exposed to air and light. — On the preparation of 

 tetrachlorethylene and the action of 07. )nised oxygen on this 

 body, by M. A. Besjon. — O.i a ptomaine extracted frjm the 

 urine of cancer patients, by M. .\. B. Gr.ftiths. This sul>stance 

 has the composition CjH.-.N'O.,, and is termed caihuiiie. It is 

 a very poisonous base, giving alkaloid reactions and crys'alli-- 

 ing in microscopic needles. It is alkaline and soluble in 

 water. — Researches on the internal ear of the " Roussette de 

 rinde" (Pti'io/ii; meiiius), by M. Beauregard. — On the 

 characteristics and the evolution of Lomisines, a new group of 

 anomurous Crustacea by M. E. L. Bouvier. — On the 

 development and formation of excretory canals in Ctrraria 

 cc/tuiafj, by M. Joannes Cbalin. — Diptera parasitic on 

 .\cridians : oviparous Muscidoe .) lan'cs oophagcs. Burrowing 

 Diptera. By M. J. Kiinckel d'Herculais. — Intercellular com- 

 munications in lichens, by .M. Georges Poirault. — On the geo- 

 logical lines in the neighbourhood of the observatory of Abbadia 

 (Basses- Pyrenees), by M. P. \V. StuartMenteath. — Defence 

 against Phylloxera, by M. Rabourdin. 



Berli.n. 



Meteorological Society, May i.— Prof. Hellmann, Pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — Dr. Siiring gave an account of a winter 

 sojourn, from December to March, on the Brocken. During 

 the three months he experienced several anticyclones, two 

 periods of storm, and -ever.al cf complete envelopment in clouds, 



