564 



NATURE 



[October 4, 1894 



accurate mtasuremenls to be made in connection wiih the use 

 of horizontal types of torsion testing machine*, and also to 

 measure any deflections of a pointer moving about a horizontal 

 axis, through an angle not exceeding iSo") ; a cathetometer, 

 specially designed for the testing laboratory. 



An impact machine is being constructed, fitted with revolving 

 drum, tuning-fork. &c., for recording deflections under rapidly 

 repeated blows. Willi the aid of this apparatus valuable results 

 maybe expected from tests carried out upon materials subjected 

 to repeated stresses. 



In the laboratory there are also an Oertling bullion balance 

 with a capacity up to 125 Ihs. and down to i lOD of a grain, 

 and standard weights up to 100 lbs. ; a Muir lathe, a shaping 

 machine, and a grinding machine are provided, .so that all the 

 apparatus required for preparing the specimens for testing is at 

 hand. 



In addition to the above, the laboratories are supplied with 

 numerous other small pieces of apparatus, amongst which may 

 be mentioned Whitworlh's measuring machine for measuring a 

 variation of one-hundred-thousandth of an inch, .Sweet's 

 measuring machine, and a very complete and elaborate collec- 

 tion of micrometers, vernier calipers, caliper squares, depth 

 gauges, rules, &c. 



Our space will not permit us to give an adequate description 

 of the laboratories and lecture-rooms which the McGill Univer- 

 sity owes to the benefactions of .Mr. McDonald and Mr. Thomas 

 Workman, and the mere enumeration of the experimental appa- 

 ratus contained in them will raise a spirit of envy in the minds 

 of the many workers whose expenditure on scientific instruments 

 is curtailed within very narrow limits. Certain it is that these 

 magnificent donations have provided Montreal with a scho3l of 

 practical science unsurpassed in its facilities for learning. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Taris. 

 Academy of Sciences, September 24. — M. Lccwy in the 

 chair. — fieodesy and its relations with geology, by M. H. 

 Faye. Gravity has a greater numerical value in islands than 

 in the midst of continents, as the constant is determined by 

 pendulum observations ; this is probably due to the more rapid 

 cooling of the crust of the earth beneath extensive seas, as 

 evidenced by the low temperature of water (1° or 2°) at depths 

 at which the temperature is about 133" in land. The greater 

 average density owing to the lower temperature accounts for 

 the higher value of the constant at sea, notwithstanding the 

 replacement of so much solid matter by the specifically lighter 

 water. The author then draws attention to the need of aid 

 frcm geologists in the further elucidation of the reasons for 

 variations in the consiant of gravity. — Truffles (Domalan) from 

 Smyrna, by M. A. Chatin. — .M. \. I'omel accompanies a copy 

 of his " Monographie dcs IVeufsTaureaux fossiles des terrains 

 quaternaires de r.>\lge:ie " by a brief note on its contents. — 

 Experimental researches on the influence of low temperatures 

 on the phenomena of phosphorescence, by M. Kaoul Pictet. 

 Substances showing strong phosphorescence after exposure to 

 sunlight entirely lose this property on strongly cooling (say to 

 — 100°), but regain their power on being allowed to approach 

 the ordmary temperature in the dark without further cxpnsure 

 to light. The time during which this f'otential luminosilr may 

 be retained, at temjjeralures such that most of the energy of 

 heat vibrations is abstracted, is now being investigated.^ 

 Observations of the sun, made at Lyons Observatory with the 

 IJiunner equatorial, during the second quarter of 1S94, by M. 

 j. Guillaumc. The distribution of spots and facul.u during 

 April, .May, and June is given in tabular form. — On the rota- 

 tion of solar spot«, by Sl. Flammarion. The observed rota- 

 tions of spots on themselves in several cases are all in the same 

 fen'efrom south through west to north, and amount in onecaseto 

 77 in three days, in another lo 152' in four days, and in a third 

 case the rotation reaches 34 In two days. This law of rotation 

 is not, however, applicable lo cases where segmentation 

 occurs. — r)n the theory of the Wimshurst machine, by P. V. 

 Schafferf. It is shown that a small modification of the 

 Wimshurst machine enables its efliciency to be doubled, and 

 the reasons leading lo this modification are discussed. — On the 

 coexistence, in the same host, of a monosporous coccidiin and 

 a polysporous coccidian, by M. Alphonse Labbc. — On the 

 function of the kidney in Helix, by M. L. Cutnot. — On the 

 alimentation of two commensal organisms {Ntrciltpm and 

 Pinnotheres), by M. Henri Coupin. 



NO. 1301, VOL 50] 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, andSERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books — A Shilling Arithmetic; J. Hamblin Smith (Longmans). — 

 Memorials of Old Whitby : Rev. Canon Atkinson (Macmillan). — limber 

 and Timber-Trees: late J". Ln^tetf, 2nd cdiiion (Macnullan). — A Text-book 

 of Pathology : Prof. D. J. Hamilton, Vol. 2 (Macnnllnn) — An Iniro. 

 diiciory Account of cenain Modern Ideas and Methods in Plane Analytical 

 Geometry : Dr. C- A. Scott (Macmillan). — General Report on the Operations 

 of ihe Survey o( India Department durine 1892-93 (Caleutta). — .\ppariiions 

 anJ Though t-Transference : F. Podmorc (ScoH).— The Senile Heart : Dr. G. 

 W. BaUour(BI.»ck).— A Text-Book of Sratics: W. Hrigi;sandG. H. Bryan 

 (Cli\c).— A Text-Book of Dynamics: W. BriggsandG. H. Bryan (Clive). 

 — R^^ularisaiion deri Moteurs des Machines Klcctriques: P. Minel (Paris. 

 Gauihier-VillarsV — Forii6cation : E. Hcnnebert{Pari>. Gauthier-viilars). — 

 Diiiham College of Science Calendar, Session 1891-95 (Reid). — Rain- 

 making and Sunshine: j. CilHnson (Sonnenschcin).— S.-»iri:ual Law in the 

 Natural World : J. T- Thomas (Longmans). — Merchant Venturers' Technical 

 College, Calendar, Ninth Session, 1394-95 (Bristol). — La Gcosraphie Lit- 

 (orale : J. Girard (Paris. Sociiitc d'htdiiions Scientifiques) —Badminton 

 Libr-iry — .Archery: C. J. Longman and Colonel H. Walrond (Longmans). — 

 Lithogenesis der Gegenwart. Untter Thcil ; Einleitung m die Geoloffie als 

 Hisiori'ichc Wissenscbaft : Prof. J. Walther (Jena, Fischer*. — Lehrbiich 

 der \'crglcichenden Anatomic : Vierte Abihg. Verglcichcnde Anitom;e 

 der Echinndcrmcn und Enteropneusien t Dr. A. Lan;^ ^|ena, Fischer). — 

 Ways and Works in India: G. W. MacGeorge (Constable).— The 

 Theory of Sound: L rd Rayle'gh, Vol. i, and edition (Macmillan).— 

 Tenth and Eleventh Annual Reports of the Bureau of Ethnology 

 to the Sccretarv of the Smithsonian Institution (\V'a*hmgt jn).— The Nests 

 and Eggs nf Non-Indigenous British Birds : C l>i.Non (Chapman).— 

 Astron'.mic Sferica: Prof. Pjrr>(Roma. Sociclh Editrice Datilc .Alighieri). 

 '1 h* New Technical Educator, Vol. iv. (Cassell). — Nomenclator Coleoptero- 

 lo^icus: S. Schenkling (Frankf.irt a.m. Bechlnld). — New South Wales, 

 Rep iri of ihc Minister ol Public In^iruction f«r the Year 1893 (Sydney, 

 Potter). 



Pamphlets. — Thesis for the Decree of Doctor of Rc'enc; of Edinburgh 

 University, on the Relative Efficiency of certain Filters fjr Removing 

 Micro-organisms from Water: Surgeon-Major H. H. Johnston (Edinbureh, 

 Banks). — Report on the Relation between Malarial Fever among Her 

 Mnjesty's White Troops at Port Louis, Mauritius, and the Meteorological 

 Elements of Temperature. Rainfall, and Relative Humidity lor the Year 

 1839 : Surgeon-Major H. H. Johnston (Edinburgh, B.tnks). 



Serials. — Royal Natural Histor>*(Yol. 2. Part ii(\V.irne). — Zeilschrifi fur 

 Physikaltsche Chemie, xv. Band, i Heft (Leipzig, Engcl'ii.iDnl.— Timehri, 

 lune (Stanford).— Schrifien der Naturforschenden Gcscllschaft In Daniig, 

 Neue Folge. Achten Handcs Drittcs und Viertes Heft fDAniig).— Sunday 

 Maeaiine, October (Isbisler).— Good Words Ocinber (Kbisteri.— Records 

 M the Geological Survey of India, Vol. xxvii. Part 5 (Calcutta).— Popular 

 Astrono my, September (Wesley). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Another Substitute for Darwinism. Ily Dr. Alfred 



R. Wallace, F.R.S 541 



The Mean Density of the Earth 542 



Mining, liy Bennett H. Brough 543 



Dr. Adier's Observations on Gall Flie3. By 



W. F. K 545 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Notter and Firth : "Hygiene" 54S 



Reynolds: " Primer of Hygiene ' 545 



Macpherson, Sluart-Woriley, and Saintsbury : " I'ur 



and Feather Serle5. -The Grouse " 54*^ 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Has the Ci^c for I Urccl Organic Adaptation been fully 



stated :'— H. M. Bernard 546 



The (ireat Nebula in Andromeda. {Ilhistralid.) — 



C. Easton 548 



On the Identification of ILibitual Criminals by Finger- 

 prints.— Henry Faulds ... 547 



The Tctrahedral Carbon Atom.— Dr. G. S. Turpin. 547 



Careless Writing. — F. G. Donnan . 549 



On the Doctrine of Discontinuity of Fluid Motion, 

 in Connection with the Resistance against a 

 Solid moving through a Fluid. II. l!y Lord 



Kelvin, P.R.S 549 



Mr. Scott Elliot's Ruwenzori Expedition. I!y 



W. T. Thiselton-Dyer, CM. G.. F.R.S 540 



The Physiological Action of the Paraffin Nitrites . 550 



The Late Professor J P. Cooke 551 



Notes 552 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



An Instrument for Photographing Meteors. (IHiis- 



traleil.) Si(> 



Sun spot Observations at the Potsdam Observa- 

 tory. I'.y W. J. L 556 



Physics and Engineering at the McGill University, 



Montreal, (/iliitlnite,!.) 55^ 



Societies and Academies 5^4 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received .... 564 



