August 30, 1894] 



NA TURE 



441 



are placed in the upper chamber of a side-neck test tube con- 

 stricted in the middle. The tube is fitted with a funnel tube 

 reaching to the bottom, and immersed in a flask filled with hot 

 water. When the acid is at 8l° the percentage of chlorine in 

 the gas given off is 84. The chlorine dioxide may be destroyed 

 by passing the gases through a wash bottle containing a saturated 

 solution of MnCl; in strong hydrochloric acid at 90°, and may 

 be still further eliminated bypassing the gas through a hard 

 glass tube filled with asbestos and heated. 



The Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science for March 

 contains studies in mammalian embryology (iii.). The 

 placentation of the Shrew (Sorex vulgaris, L. ), by A. A. W. 

 Hubrecht. (Plates 31 to 39.) The author shows that the 

 placenta is essentially an embryonic neo-formation, which is 

 permeated by maternal blood that circulates in spaces devoid of 

 endothelium. This embryonic neo-formation is preceded by a 

 considerable proliferation of maternal epithelium, which, how- 

 ever, does not enter into the constitution of the ripe placenta, 

 but affords facilities of fixation and nutrition for the embryonic 

 neo-formation in its earliest stages. The discoid placenta is, in 

 the later stages of pregnancy, the only connection between 

 foetus and mother. — On some further contributions to our know- 

 ledge of the minute anatomy of Limnocodium Sowcrbii^ by 

 R. T. Gum her. (Plate 40.) Some further details regarding 

 the structure of the tentacles, the sense organs, and the 

 male reproductive organs are added to those already re- 

 corded by .'MIman and Lankester. AUman placed this medusa 

 among the Leptomedusas ; Lankester, on the contrary, referred 

 it to the Trachomedusse. The author writes : " Linnwcodium 

 Sower/iii is a medusa descended from Leptomedusan ancestors, 

 which has developed sense organs, with an endodermal axis inde- 

 pendently of the Tiachomedusae." Allman's paper on I., vic- 

 toria, in which he adopts Lankester's specific name of Sowerbii, 

 was published in July 1880, not in 1881, as stated in the list 

 of authors quoted. — Note on the mesenteries of Actinias, by A. 

 Francis Dixon. 



June. — Contains studies on the comparative anatomy of 

 sponges (vi.). On the anatomy and relationships of Lelapia 

 australis, a living representative of the fossil Pharetrones, by 

 Arthur Dendy. (Plate 13.) By far the most interesting 

 feature of this species is the very remarkable reticulated fibrous 

 character of the skeleton, which appears to have hitherto escaped 

 notice. This character is unknown in any other living calcareous 

 sponge, while it forms the most prominent feature in the large 

 fossil group "Pharetrones" of Zittel, hitherto regarded as ex- 

 tinct. Lelapia australis may therefore be regarded as the only 

 known living representative of this important group. The author 

 sums up his interesting and important paper by introducing the 

 family Pharetrones into the system of recent Calcarea, and re- 

 gards Lelapia as a very specialised type of Grantidse. — The 

 structure of the bill and hairs of Ornithorhynchus paradoxus, 

 with a discussion of the homologies and origin of mammalian 

 hair, by Ed. B. Poulton. (Plates 14, 15, and ISA.) — A 

 contribution to our knowledge of the 01igocha;ta of tropical 

 Eastern Africa, by Frank E. Beddard (plates 16 and 17), 

 describes eight new species belonging to the genera Eudri- 

 hides, Polytortiitus, and Gordiodrilus, and describes the new 

 genera I'areudrilus, Alluroidcs, and all the species collected in 

 Zanzibar and Moiubassa. — .\ further contribution to the 

 anatomy of Limnocnida tanganyicce, by R. T. Gunther. 

 (Plates 18, 19.) The author bases his researches on material 

 caught and fixed in osmic acid by Mr. A. Swann, on the shores 

 of Lake Tanganyika. — Notes on the minute structure of 

 Peloinyxa paluslris (GreefT), by Lilian J. Gould. (Plates 20 

 and 21.) The appearance of "a centra! m.ass of doubtful sig- 

 nificance " is noted; the "glanzkorper" of Greeff were found to 

 stain with several reagents, and the rod-like bodies appear to 

 be certainly bacteria. 



The Afulhematical Gazette, No. 2. (Macmillan, July.) — W. 

 J. Greenslreet gives a summary of Herbart's views of the 

 place of mathematics in education. The keynote to Herbart's 

 position is " no one can be expected to think himself into the 

 strict uniformity of nature, who has had no training in the 

 rigorous discipline of mathematics and its deductions." G. 

 Heppel takes for the first of his mathematical worthies Edward 

 Wright, who was "probably born about 1 560, and died in 

 1615." In the matter of the Now River, Wright appears to 

 have afforded an illustration of the Virgilian " Sic vos non 

 vobis," as he conceived the project, but was ousted by Sir 



Hugh Middleton. Further interesting particulars of this too- 

 little-known mathematician are given by (De Morgan?) in the 

 Penny Cyclopcsdia, and in Ball's " History." E. P. Rouse con- 

 tributes a note on the " Director circle of a conic inscribed in 

 a triangle." Solutions of questions, and questions and short 

 notes complete a good number. 



Bulletin oj the New York Mathematical Society, vol. iii. 

 No. 10. (New York : Macmillan, July.) — Prof. A. Vasiliev 

 (pp. 231-235) furnishes many items of interest in his note, 

 Lobachevsky as Algebraist and Analyst. In this it is shown 

 that Lobachevsky's genius was not confined to geometry only. 

 In Macfarlane's " .Mgebra of Physics" (pp. 235-242), Dr. 

 Chapman analyses the Principles of the Algebra of Physics, and 

 the paper on the Imaginary of .Mgebra, by that mathematician. 

 Dr. G. A. Miller supplements his note in the April number by 

 a note on the substitution groups of eight and nine letters (pp. 

 242-245). Prof. Webster (pp. 245- 248) reviews Byerly's ele- 

 mentary treatise on Fourier's series and spherical, cylindrical, 

 and ellipsoidal harmonics, and at the outset discusses " a rather 

 singular review (of the book) in a leading New York paper, in 

 which a number of curious statements are made." Prof. D. E. 

 Smith's review of Cajori's history (see Nature, No. 1288, p. 

 235) is the subject of a critique, by Prof. Halsted, to which 

 Prof. Smith replies (pp. 249-251). The concluding notice is on 

 orthogonal substitutions, by Prof. H. Taber (pp. 251-259). A 

 long list of publications, notes, and an index closes vol. iii. 



Memoires de la Socit'tJ d' Anthropologic de Paris, tome i. 

 (3'= serie), 2' fascicule. — Recherches Ethnologiques sur le 

 Morvan, by Ab. Hovelacque and Georges Herve. The district 

 known as Morvan includes parts of four Departments — Yonne, 

 Cote-d'Or, Nii-vre, and .Sanne-et- Loire ; it is distinguished from 

 the surrounding country by the vclcanic nature of the soil, and 

 the central portion, or Upper Morvan, has a mean elevation of 

 600 to 700 metres (about 2000 feet) above sea-level. The climate 

 is exceedingly inclement, the temperature cold and variable, the 

 winters long and severe. Morvan is essentially Celtic, 

 and the primitive inhabitants have been very slightly influenced 

 by contact with the people around them. The stature indicates 

 two ethnic elements, the one moderately tall — the Kymric ; the 

 other shorter — the Celtic, such as we find distributed over a great 

 part of Central Europe. About two-thirds of the population 

 of Morvan have grey or sometimes blue eyes ; the others have 

 brown eyes, light rather than dark. Usually the children have 

 auburn hair, and the adults dark brown hair. 



Memoires de la Sociit^ d' Anthropologic de Paris, tome i. 

 (3' serie), 3"= fascicule. — The Anthropology of France — 

 Dordogne, Charente, Creuse, Corrcze, Haute-Vienne — by Dr. 

 R. CoUignon. The author has turned to good account the obser- 

 vations made during recruiting operations in the five departments 

 meniioned in the title. The mean stature shows greater variation 

 than in any other part of France, the maximum being i'667m., 

 while a minimum of i ■56Sm. was observed at Saint-Mathieu 

 (Haute-Vienne). -Ml the tall cantons are grouped at the circum- 

 ference of the five departments, and the people of short stature 

 are collected in groups in the centre. As the result of his 

 investigations, the author shows that in this district we 

 have three great groups : first, the brachycephalic — some 

 dark, others fair — tall or short ; second, dolichocephalic and 

 fair ; third, dolichocephalic and dark. This last group may 

 be further subdivided into some three types : the first, 

 platycephalic, with a disharmonic face ; the next, dolichopsic, 

 with a high head ; the last, somewhat rarely met with 

 and characterised by prognathism, a low and retreating 

 forehead, black hair, and narrow face. The dolichocephalic 

 brunettes are nearly allied to the Cro-Magnon type, while 

 those who are prognathous, and who have the long narrow face, 

 are perhaps distant relatives of the men of Canstadt and Spy, 

 possibly also they may be distantly allied to the swarthy inhabi- 

 tants of the south Algerian oasis. 



Bulletins de la Soci/t<! d" Anthropologic de Paris, tome v. 

 (4" serie). No. i, January ; No. 2, February. — In a paper 

 on the various forms of the teeth of different races. Dr. 

 F. Regnault says that the canines of the lower races of man 

 differ from those of the higher races, in that the crown of the 

 tooth is larger in comparison with the neck, and th.at, like those 

 of the apes, they, terminate in a sharp point, which is usually 

 much worn. M. Emile Schmit, in a paper on the " Boves" of 

 Champagne, describes two of these curious subterranean 



NO. 1296, VOL. 50] 



