588 



NA TURE 



[October i i, 1894 



the drum carrying the plates. — A description of a bundle of 

 descending cerehral fibres disappearing in the olivary bodies 

 (cerebroolivary bundle), by M. Y. Luys. — Influence of low 

 temperatures on the laws of crystallisation, by M. Raoul Pictet. 

 The author shows the e"isential difl^erence in the manner in 

 which the crystallising body losts heat at the moment of solidi- 

 fication in the two cases where the substance is (l)adiathermanous 

 and (2) diathermanous. All substances become diathermanous 

 below - 70", and hence the true temperature of crystallisation 

 is only obtained when the surrounding medium is maintained 

 at a temperature very slightly belo* the solidifying point. 

 Hence an explanation of the anomalies occurring in de- 

 terminatians of the crystallisation point of such substances 

 as chloroform. — On the development of the latent image 

 in photography by alkaline peroxides, by M. G. A. 

 Le Roy. Aqueous solutions of alkaline peroxides or 

 alkaline solutions of hydroxylcan be used as developers, but are 

 inferior to the ordinary reagents. — .-Vction of hydrogen phos- 

 phide on potassammonium and sodammonium, by M. A. Joannis. 

 When hydrogen phosphide is passed into a solution of potass- 

 ammonium or sodammonium in liquefied ammonia, it is ab- 

 sorbed with the production of the solid white substances PH„!C 

 and PlloXa. Heat destroys these compounds in accordance 

 with the' equation 3PH„K = 2PH., -f PK,. Water decom- 

 poses them with liberation of hydrogen phosphide. Nitrous 

 oxide dots not yield any substance corresponding with the salts 

 of hydrazoic acid. — Researches on mercuric picrate, by M. 

 Raoul Varet. The preparation and properties of mercuric 

 picrate are described. Thermal data are given in detail, and 

 from them it is seen that the picrate ranges itself along with the 

 acetate rather than with the other soluble salts, the chloride and 

 cyanide. Picric acid displaces hydrocyanic acid from its 

 pol.assium combination with disengagement of -(- 107 Cal., 

 whereas hydrocyanic acid completely replaces picric acid in the 

 mercuric salt with liberation of -f 122 Cal. — iVction of picric 

 acid and picrates on metallic cyanides. The isopurpurates. A 

 note by M. Raoul Varet. When picric acid can replace hydro- 

 cyanic acid in its compounds with evolution of heat, isopur- 

 purates are formed ; when, as with the mercuric salt, the 

 hydrocyanic acid replaces picric acid with evolution of heat, 

 isopurpurates are not formed. — The antiseptic properties of the 

 vapours of formaldehyde, by M. A. Trillat. The vapours of 

 formaldehyde, produced by the inomplete combustion of methyl 

 alcohol, have proved very efficacious in destroying germs in sick 

 rooms, and have no action on metals or instruments, and but little 

 action on dyed fabrics. — Observations on flours, by M. Balland. 

 — On the anterior extremity of the dorsal cord in the superior 

 vertebrates, by M. G. Siint-Remy. — Evolution of the sexual 

 elements in the composite Ascidians, by M. Antoine Pizoo. — 

 On one of the Chylridinerc parasitic on the vine, by M. A. 

 Prunet. — On the calcareous luffs of the col de Lautaret (Hautes- 

 Alpes), by M. W. Kilian. From this preliminary study of the 

 Lautaret tuffs, it miy be concluded : (l) That these tuffs are 

 relatively recent, their disposition indicating that the present 

 aspect of the surface is much the same as that obtaining at the 

 time of their formation. They are more or less mixed with 

 moraine deposits. (2) The vegetable dt-t>ris contained in these 

 tuffs, notably the cones and branches of Pitiiii sylveslris, indi- 

 cate the existence at the epoch of their formation of a forest 

 vegetation which has since abandoned these altitudes. — On the 

 presence of carboniferous earth in the Sahara, by M. F. Foureau. 

 — Thermomelric observations on the summit of Ararat, by M. 

 VenukofT. M. Gimmer visited the summit of Ararat on August 

 16, 1S94, and found two thermometers left by M. Pa.stoukoff the 

 precedmg year in a tin-plate box. The maximum registered 

 -f- 1725' C, the minimum -40'C. Another minimum instru- 

 ment, attached in the open air to a vertical object, indicated 

 - 38' C. At the time of the visit, the lcmpe:ature of the air in 

 the shade wps -I- 3' C. — On an aerostatic ascension effected in 

 Russia, by M. VenukofT. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



ny Alonin : ' tw^n and IJiuiger, < »ctot»er (UltM). — Alptri*- v_lirr.ilc% lor Con 

 fumption : Dr. H. ). tfarilwK k« (Cfiiirchill).— Wh.it is Heat?: F. Hoven 

 den (WhiitinghannN — l-ife m Ancient Egypt; A. Erman. translated Iiy H 



NO. 1302, VOL. 50] 



M. Tirard (Macmillan). — A Text-Book of Inorganic Chemistry : G. S. 

 Newih (l.ongmans). — Watts' Dictionary of Chemistry : M. M. P. Muir 

 and H. F. Morley, Vol. 4 (Lonpm:»na). — Popular Astronomy: C. Flam- 

 mari>n, translated by J. E. <iore (Cha'to).— Visions of the Interior of the 

 Earth, &c : the Prince of Mantua, ;tc. (SimpkinV— Historical Progress 

 and Ideal Socialism ; Prof. J. S. Nicholson (Black). — Lecture> on Human 

 and Animal Psychology : W. Wundt, tronslatt^d by J. E. Creighion and E. 

 II. Titchener(Sonncfischcin). — A Laboratorj- Manual of Physics and Applied 

 Klectricity : arranged and edited by Prof. \L, L. Nichols, Vol. 2 (Mac- 

 millan). — An Elementary Manual of Zoology designed for the use of Forest 

 Ufficers in India: E.G. Cotes (Calcutta). 



Pamphlets. — Re.:;eln fur die WissenschaftUche Bcnennung der Thiere, 

 &c. (Leipzig. Engelm.inn). — Hahnbestimmung dcs Kometen 1S51 III. 

 (Brorsen): Dr. R. Spiialcr (Wien). — Philosophical Transactions of the 

 Royal Society of London : Experimental Investigations on the EiTcctivc 

 Temperature of the Sun, made at Daramona, Strecte, co. Westmeath : \V. 

 E. Wilson and P. L. Gray (K. Paul).— Aussere Einflusse als Entwiclc- 

 lungsreize: Prof A. Weismann (Jena, Fischer). — English Institutions ,ind 

 the .'Vmertcan Indian: Dr. J. A. James (BaIIimo^e^ 



Serials.— English Illustrated Magazine, October (198 Strand). — Long- 

 man's Magazine. October (Longmans). — Century Magazine, October(Un- 

 win). — Chambers's Journal, October (Chambers). — .■\merican Naturalist, 

 September (Philadelphia). — Natural History of Plants : Kerner and Oliver. 

 Part 6 fBlackie). — Contemporarj* Review. October (Isbisier), — Humani- 

 tarian, October (Hutc*iinson). — Phonographic Qu.irterly Review, Octf»ber 

 (Pitman).— Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England, Vol. v. 

 Part 3. No. ig (Muiray). — Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society, 

 third series, No.x. (Blackwood). — Geographical Journal, October (Stanford) 

 — National Review, October (Arnold) — Natural Science. t)ciober (Macmil- 

 lan). — Fortnightly Review, October (Chapman). — Mind, Octobcr;\Villiams). 

 — Geological Mae.irine, October (K Paul).— Journal of the Royal Statistical 

 Society. September (Stanford). — Asclcpiad, No. 41. Vol. xi. (Longmans). — 

 Medical Magazine, October (Southwood). — Astronomische Mit:heilungen 

 von der Krinitflichen-Sternwarte zu GOttingen. Dritter Theil (G-.ttingcn).— 

 Journal of the Chemical Society, October (Giimey). — Annals of Scottish 

 Natural History, October (Edinburgh, Douglas). Himmel und Erde, 

 October (Berlin. Paetel). — Science Progress, October (Scientific Press, 

 Ltd.). 



CONTENTS PAGE 



Astronomical Spectroscopy. By Dr. J. L. E. 



Dreyer 565 



Agricultural Zoology 567 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Chanule : " Progress in Flying Machines " .... 569 

 Dyer : " Fertilisers and Feeding Stufls : their Proper- 

 lies and Uses" 569 



Gumming: " Heat treated Experimentally " .... 569 

 Macgeorge : " Ways .ind Works in India " .... 569 

 De Fonvielle : " Manual Pratique de I'Acronaute" . 569 



Whitehead : " Fruit Culture for Profit " 569 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Wilde's Theory of the Secular Variation of Terrestrial 

 Magnetism. {IlluslraleJ.)—'Pto{. Henry Wilde, 



F. R.S 570 



The Newtonian Constant of Gravitation. — Prof. C. V. 



Boys, F.R.S 571 



On Some Temperature-V,-iriaiions in France and 



Greenland. (IVilh Diagram.)— h.. B. M. ... 571 

 New K.lemcnt in the Sulphur Group. — C. T. Blan- 



shard 571 



Bright Meteors.— Prof. A. S. Herschel, F.R.S. . 572 

 Tan-Spots over Dogs' Eyes. — S. E. Peal . . . 572 

 Flight of the Albatross. {///ustrat(J.)—A. Kings- 

 mill ... 572 



On the Doctrine of Discontinuity of Fluid Motion, 

 in Connection with the Resistance against a 

 Solid moving through a^iFluid. III. {Il'it/i Dia- 



ffni'ii.) liy Lord Kelvin, P. R.S 573 



Observations on Young Pheasants. Hy Prof. C. 



Lloyd Morgan 575 



Schools of Meteorology. Hy Prof. Cleveland Abbe 576 

 The Koyal Photographic Society. -Address of the 



President, Sir H. T. Wood 577 



William Topley, F.R.S. By W. W 579 



Notes 5!o 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Nebulosities near the Pleiades, [lllusl rated.) . . . 583 



Scient.e in the Magazines 583 



Measurements of Precision. By Prof. T. C. Men- 



denhall 5*4 



Societies and Academies 5*7 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 588 



