444 



NA rURE 



[August 30, 1894 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, August 20. — M. Lcewy in the 

 chair. — Electricily considered as a vortical movement, by M. 

 Ch. V. Zenger. The author shows that an electrical discharge 

 produces a whirling movement in the gas through which it is 

 discharged, which may be said to be a cyclone on a small scale, 

 so completely are the phenomena of cyclones reproduced. The 

 particles appear to describe a trajectory which may be repre- 

 sented by a screw of variable pitch traced on a conical surface. 

 — New experiments permilting the comparison of the delivery 

 of liquids, gases, and vapour from the same orifices, by M. H. 

 Parenty. (i) The coefficients of delivery of gases are precisely 

 equivalent lo those of the submerged delivery of liquids. (2) 

 These coefficients are not sensibly varied when the pressure and 

 the back-pressure are modified in various w.-iys ; they are inde- 

 pendent of the temperature and the atmospheric pressure. (3) 

 There exists, for liquids, no analogous phenomena to the regu- 

 larity of delivery of gases. The delivery of liquids is exactly 

 and always the ordinate of a parabola, of which ihe loss of 

 charge is the abscissa. — On the periodicity of the absorption 

 rays of isotropic substances, by JI. G. Moreau. The author 

 concludes a mathematical investigation of this question as fol- 

 lows : In an isotropic absorbent, there should be two pos- 

 sible kinds of waves of propagation. The one gives bands 

 by anomalous dispersion (they may be reduced to very fine and 

 black rays by regular dispersion), the other gives less intense 

 rays, but they are periodic .ind more numerous. They 

 would form a kind of double refraction which observa- 

 tion does not seem to have indicated. — On the action 

 of the halogen hydracids on formaldehyde in presence 

 of alcohols, by M. Louis Henry. A claim for priority as against 

 M. C. Fabre. — Action of camphoric anhydride on benzene in 

 presence of aluminic chloride, by M.\I. E. Burcker and C. 

 Slabil. Two substances besides the principal product, phenyl- 

 camphoric acid, have been isolated, namely, phenylcamphoric 

 anhydride, Ci^HigOj, and a diphenyl compound represented by 



CO . CH, . 

 the formula PhCO . CPh^ ' >CH . C.H,.— The ex- 



^CH, . CH/ 

 traction of free acids from beeswax, by M. T. Maire. — Influence 

 of lesions of tissues on their aptitude for fixing dissolved sub- 

 stances, by M.\f. A. Charrin and P. Carnot. It is shown that 

 dissolved substances tend to accumulate in unhealthy or injured 

 tissues. — On some antitoxic properties of the blood of the 

 terrestrial salamander {Satamandra maiulosa) against curare, by I 

 MM. C. Phisalix and Ch. Contejean. The salamander requires 

 eighty times as much curare as the frog for poisoning to take 

 place. The immunity of the salamander may be due to the 

 presence in its blood of some substance which neutralises the 

 effect of this poison. In support of this hypothesis, it is found 

 that a mixture of salamander- blood and curare in proper pro- 

 portions docs not act on the frog. This substance has a 

 physiological action conferring immunity against curare, and not 

 a direct chemical action on the latter, for the inoculation of 

 frogs with salamander-blood twenty-four hours before the in- 

 jection of curare enables the frogs 10 withstand a much larger 

 dose than when Ihe salamander-blood has been mixed with 

 curare previous to injection. — On the budding of Diplosomidae 

 and Didemnidpe, by M. Maurice Caullery. — Researches on the 

 respiration and assimilation of the Muscinea;, by M. li.Jiinsson. 

 There are great differences among the Muscinea; in regard to the 

 intensity of respiration and chlorophyllian assimilation. For 

 example, the diflferent species disengage in the daik very 

 different quantities of carbon dioxide per gramme of dry weight. 

 The proportion of water present in the plants is an important 

 cause of variation, the greater this proportion Ihe more intense 

 are Ihe gaseous exchanges. Specimens taken from a very damp 

 place give off more g«,s than specimens of Ihe same species 

 taken from a dry location. The reddish coloration of many 

 mos-cs, very marked when Ihe plants have been developed in 

 Ihe light, diminishes considerably Ihe intensity of respiration 

 and a>similation.— On the pcriihccx- of the " Rot blanc of Ihe 

 vine {Chnrnnui diflodiitia), by MM, 1'. Viala and L. Ravaz.— 

 On Ihe chemickl constitution of the atmosphere, by M. T. L. 

 I'hipsoD. 



New Sou I h Wales. 



Linoetn Society, June 27.— Prof. David, President, in Ihe 

 chair— De<ciipllon of five new fishes from the Australasian 

 region, by J. Douglas Ogilby. Of Ihe species described, Gil- 



NO. I 296, VOL. 50] 



lichthys mirahiUs and Ciitnis -fhiteleggei were from Ihe coast of 

 New South Wales, O/'hioclinus de z'isi from Queensland. 

 Petroscirtes iiclii from Lord Howe Island, and Elcotris liii:- 

 /out from New Zealand. — The land molluscan fauna of British 

 New Guinea, by C. Hedley. Two new specie.s, Si/a/a anthro- 

 faphagotum and Olopovia macgrtgorur, were described ami 

 fii^ured. It was considered that Alousson's genus Trochonanina 

 should be merged into Sitala. Anatomical details of several 

 species not before dissected were added. — Studies in Australian 

 entomology. No. vli. New genera and species of C<i;'aW(/i?, by 

 Thomas G. Sloane. Three genera — NotoUstus (type, Abax 

 sulcipennis, Macl.), Selalimorfha (Feronini), and I.eslianthus 

 (Helluonini) — and thirty-six species were described as new. 

 — Wood uioihs : with some account of their life-histories, 

 chiefly compiled from the notes of Mr. R. Thornton of New- 

 castle, by W. W. Fioggatt. This paper gave a general account 

 of the habits and food-plants of several species of I'.udoxyla and 

 Charagia, and of Ltlo Slacyi. — Botanical notes from the 

 Technological Museum, Part ii., by J. H. Maiden and R. T. 

 Baker. The notes included (l) a list of additional localities of 

 New South Wales plants, (2) new varieties of New South Wales 

 plants, (3) Queensland species new for New South Wales, 

 (4) remarks on naturalised species in the colony, and (5) de- 

 scriptions of unrecorded fruits.— Notes on plants collected on a 

 trip to the Don Dorrigo Forest Reserve, by J. II. Maiden. 

 The author traced the southern extension of plants hitherto 

 recorded from the Clarence Ri%'er and further north, ard the 

 northern extension of plants hitherto not recorded further 

 north than the Macleay River, Blue Mount.iins, &c. He also 

 described a number of well-marked varieties of certain species, 

 and added notes on imperfectly-described or little-known 

 plants. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLET, and SERIALS RECEIVED, 



Hooks. — Pcregriii:ixlni Psicolosiclie : Dr. T. VignoH (MMaiio, Hocpli),— 

 The Sportsman's Handbook: R. Ward, yih edition (R. Ward). — C'ontro- 

 vcrscn in der Ethnologic : A. Bastian, i. ii. in. (Berlin, Wcidmann).— Celestial 

 Objects for Common Telescopes: Rev. T. W. Webb, vol. a. 5th edition 

 (Longmans). — A Journey in other Worlds : J-^ Asior (Longmans). — I'nicis 

 dc M<ii<i )rologie EndogC^ne . F. Cann (Paris, Gauthicr-Villars). — Evolution 

 and Kthics: T. H. Huxley (Macmillan). 



Pamthlet. — The Molecular Tactics of a Crj'stal : Lord Kelvin (Oxford, 

 Clarendon Press). 



iM:Ki.\i,s.— American Naturalist, August (Philadelphia). — Bulletin d'- 

 L'Acadtiiiiie Royalc des Sciences de Bclgique, 1894, No. 7 (Bruxclles). — 

 Kn;;li\h Illiisirated Magazine, September (19S Strand). — Good Words, 

 Scptcinhcr (Isbistcr). — Sunday Magazine, Scpiembcr (Isbister). — Long- 

 man's Magazine, September (Longmans).— Chambers's Journal, Septcmb<rr 

 (Chambers). — (leographical Journal, September (Stanford). — Naiur.tl 

 Science, September (ALicmillan).- Humanitarian, Scpicmber (Hutchinson). 

 — Century lllustnttcd Magazine, September (Unwin). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



A Theory of the Glacial Deposits. By Rev. E. Hill 421 



University Extension. Ky R. A. Gregory 422 



Some Recent Works on Electricity 42 i 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Sexton: " The First Technical College " 42.) 



Woollcombe : " Practical Work in General Physics " 425 

 Wilson: "Manual of Practical Logarithms." — W. 



J- L 425 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Towards the Kfhciency of Sails, Windmills, Screw- 

 Tropellcrs, in Water and Air, and Aeroplanes. — 



Lord Kelvin, P. R.S 425 



Geological Maps of Baden. — J. Edmund Clark . . 421 

 Variation of " .\urclia. " — Prof. W. A. Herdman, 



P. R.S 421' 



Creatures of Other Days {Illmtraltd.) By H. G. S. 426 



Ernest Mallard 42S 



Notes 428 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



.Solar Eclipse Photography 433 



Observations of .Saturn and Uranus 4JJ 



Biology at the British Association 433 



Geography at the British Ahsociatlon 436 



Mechanics at the British Astociaiion 437 



Anthropology at the British Association 43<j 



Scientific Serials 440 



Societicb and Academies 44^ 



Books, Pamphlet, and Serials Received 444 



