48 



NATURE 



[November 8, 1894 



with 

 pep- 



from sulphites and thiosulphates (the Utter of these substances 

 beioK decomposed into sulphites and sulphur, and the sulphite, 

 acted on as in the first case) ; fourthly, by the reduction of sul- 

 phate^. From the common reducing bacteria which turn nitrates 

 into nitrites, and these into ammonia salts, which produce from 

 litmus, indigo-blue, methylen-blue &c. the co7«P°°d^g 

 leucoids, none has the power to attack sulphates 1 his is dot^e 

 by a specific ferment, a ver>- small ,/,V;7/„.,, which 's perfectly 

 ansrobic, and which is common in the black mud of polluted 

 waters, as also in these waters themselves. It grows 

 veiv small quantities of organic nutriment, as malates, 

 tone, sugar, and phosphates added to common water, rendered 

 alkaline by sodium carbonate. Temperatures fr°«> ?5 '<> J° 

 are the best for reduction. For the determination of the Hjb 

 the iodometric method can be used. Common water with the 

 addition of ,', pef cent, sodium malate, ,',, per cent, asparagin, 

 -A- per cent, potassium phosphate, and i per cent, sodium car- 

 bonate. infected with mud containing the ferment, and secluded 

 from the air, and with forty-five milligrammes SO3 per litre, was 

 in three days quite free from this substance, containing nearly 

 10-2 miUigr. H,S, the cause of the deficit (twenty-one milligr. 

 SO,, not transformed into H.,S) being not yet 4""e clear 

 Mohr's salt (ferrous ammonium sulphate) is very well adapted 

 for reduction experiments, the smallest trace of reduction being 

 indicated by the form.-ition of black FeS. The spirillum has 

 been named 5>/r,/.';./« dcsullurica,,:. It seems to be of geo- 

 logical importance, inasmuch as the deep groundwater of the 

 province of South Holland is quite free from sulphuric acid 

 which, being abundant on the surface, is apparently reduced by 



Farmers : A. E. Pease (Macmillan).-A Treatise on Hygiene and Public 

 Health, Vol -,(Churx:h,m. -The Deserts of Southern France, ' V<,U. . S. 

 BSng-GoulJ Mcthue„).-Sir Victor Brooke, Sportsm.ln and Na Ural s 

 O. dslie .Stephen .(Murray).- .,he_^Ioan.at.,.^c.f ^^^^J^ ,M- 



igineering : 



'* -l. a 



Koch). - 



Slorphologie der ErdoberrtSche. a Vols. : Ur. A. ^'="«,i?'""Xnd^ria!" 

 horn) —Twelfth Annual Rep ,rt of the t .shery Board for Scotland, 18J3, 

 Par" 3 . Sctentific Investigations (Edinbursh)^-Lectnrcs O" '."1= "^'J''"'"" 

 The4y; Piof. A. Milnes Marshall (Nu.t). -Album von Papua-Typen . A. 

 15 Meyer and R. Parkinson (Dresden. Stengel). ,, >, v i> „„„ 



plMp.iLETS.-N.-uional Health: C. Sott (Belf.ast. Mullai, .-Report 

 on Experiments on the Manuring. of Hay, Oats, ^"f J"™PV n -Tb i7 

 The Pamunkey Indians of Virginia : J. G Pollard (^^^!;'^'"S';"K '''''"° 

 graphy of the Wakashan Langua^-es : I. CPdhng (Washington . 



Skkials -Physical Soc ety of London. Proccedin.gs, Vol. xiii. fart i 

 (T^rior and Francis). -Journal, of An,-uomy .-.nd Physiology, October 



Longman's Mag; 



apposes , .__ , 



both the conduction and the displacement current give 

 rise to a //<j//effect, the intensity coeflicient being difterenl 

 the two cases. In this way the discrepancy, which exists 



(New York, Macmillan) • 



Bcilnige zur Uiologie der Pflanzcn. vn. 



Milller).— -Morphologisches .lahrbuch, -■ 



fTivlnr and !■ rancisi. — lournai ui rtu..iw<"j and '^hysioiog>, 

 Unffin).-lour"al of the Royal Microscopical Soc ety, tXi'f" ('''"'»"';>■ 

 Longman's Magazine, November (l.ong.nans),-Engl,sh Illustrated Maga- 

 i^n" November (i<,8 Strand) -Mineralogical Maga^me, September 

 (S"mpkm°-^S "day Magazine, November. Isbisler). -Good Words No- 

 ember (isbister).iAmerican Journal of M,a.hema.,cs. Vol- xv,. No 4 

 (Baltimore).-Bulletin of the .Wr.can Mathematical f""''^. O«ober 



- L'Antbropologie, lome V. No. 5(t'ans, .Masson). 



• Band, i Heft (Breslau. Max 

 Band, 4 Heft (Leipzig, Engel- 



Z::^!:-^;^:^Zr^^S:<Si^^ survey n-j^-.; o^j^^- 



,„„l —-rransactions of the Le cesler Liter.ary and Philosoplucal 3uciei>, 

 V'oYTpl^tr* 10 I (Leicester; Gibbons).-Z=itsch.ift (iir Wissenschaft^^^^^^ 

 lo^ef Ivi,^ Band, 3 Heft (Leipzig, Engelman,;).-(-on.en.Porary Revtew. 

 November (Isbisler) -Natural Science, November (Macnullan).--Hum.an.- 

 "rian November (Hutchinson).-y.;arterly Journal of the GeoloB cal 

 Society Vol 1. Part 4, No. =oo (Longmans) -Geological Magaz.ne, 

 No"e',ibeT(S.anford).-Journalof the Chemical Society N-=-^=;, ^,';™=V 

 ^nrt Tackson) —Geological Mag.izine, November (Paul).— ScribnersMaga 

 zine-'Not.ember (Low)!iNatural History of Plants : Kerner and Oliver, 

 Part' 7 (Blackie).--Fortnighlly Review, November((,hapman and Hall). 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



and his own experiments. All mixtures of two substances mus 

 show retrograde condensation.-Prof. Onnes also communicated 

 the results of an investigation, by Dr. Borgesius, on the molecular 

 refraction and dispersion of some salts in solution, made with an 

 interferential refraciomcter especially constructed for 'his pur- 

 pose, and giving the small ditVerences of refraclion of two fluids 

 by a single reading of verniers and counting of striae. 



Pattern Maker: "Helical Gears.' 



BOOKS PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



s.-I.ehrbuch der Experimental Phy.sik : A. W.dlner, Erster Band 



Ilcm-nt. nf Mrtallurgy : W. J. H.arnson and W J 



k of Organic Chemistry : Dr. 



(I.ei(zig. Teut.i 



Harnson. J'l 



Bemthsen, t; 



.,.Murr..j i 

 i'amickc 



;,, i vis, I 



Dussinner of 



.Mineral K* 



ion). — U.S 



.n, 2nd English edilion(Blackie) — 

 Chemistry: Dr. C. Schorlemmcr, 

 1) —Geoiiictrical Conies: C. Sinilli 

 ,try of the Vertebr.itcs : A. Willcy 

 l-nre of Wm. Huckland. D.D., 

 T iincllcn Hilfsmiltcl der Che- 

 XL, Bcclihold)— Arithmetic 

 . iiiversity Press) —Practical 

 1 I. II .\clon(Canibridge University 

 Britain: Dr. C. Creighlon, Vol. 1 

 Klrmcniary Introduction to Mine- 

 IVess).— Report of the Com- 

 Vol. I (Washington^.— Index 

 I, Part 3 (Oxford, Clarendon 

 . .: I'-ychologv : Prof. C. Lloyd 

 :ion Universclle: B. Conta (Pans, 

 ■ t 11 July iS'jZ (Washington).— 

 , -,3: D. 1. Day (Washing- 

 -The Penokec |ron- Bearing 



I -vii 



Phi 



l.e- 

 I>et 

 Ge 

 Th. 

 mrr 



.(Lc 

 v. K. 



, -ravl^ij- I 

 Dickft'in and A 



r., |. r r.n.l I . 



- and C. R. van Hi« 



! ',c U.S.: S. H. 



I , ; H. Gannett 



ri'ilogv, 1 888.80 : 



' ,• to tnc 



.Spottis- 



e Ilritish 



.j.-|iie 



.: in die 



, . Cher).— 



,fli.e .M.^...:. L.iCoiu..!ivc : M. 1 1 ..>-l..: . 1 ;.l.on; -Com- 



Prof .Conner (.M.tcmillao).- Horjc-Brceding for 



Tchad" 

 A Foreman 



Dixon': "The Nests" and Eggs of Non-Indigenous 

 British Birds" • •„ 



Conner: " Commercial Geography • 



Flalher: "Dynamometers and the Measurement ol 

 Power."— G :•■■„■ 



Guy : " Electric Light and Power 



Letters to the Editor:— 



Prc.f. Hollzmann and the Kinetic Theory of (jases.— 



In° n"ive^zUu"udes. " (llimlraul)-^. s'. Buckman 

 lames Parkinson, the .Vuthor of " Organic kc,....ins ol 

 • a Former \Vorld."-Spencer George Perceval . 

 On Chinese Beliefs about the North.- Kumagusu 



Th"piSoViimberT;ees.-/uVred- W.Bennett 



Khyndiodcmui Urratris in Liiglanil.— I- . vv. 



Gamble ■ ■ 



Tan-Spots over Dogs' Lyes.— J. Shaw . . . • ■ 



A Criticism of .he Astronomical Theory of the Ice 



Age. By Edward P. Culverwell 



Notes. (Illiislrat.J.) 



Our Astronomical Column :— , , i, , 



.\ Comet on ihc- Eclipse Photographs of 1^93 . . . . 



The Transit of .Mercury 



Mira Ceti 



Return of Encke s Comet 



Two Variable S'ars 



Observations of Mars . . . . ,.•,■; 

 The Electric Conductivity of Pure Water 



Rodger .' ,«; 11. ' ' ' 



Neo-Vitalism. By Frances A. Welby . . 

 Science in the Magazines . . -^ • 



University and Educationa Intelligence . 



Scientific Serials 



Societies and Academies • • • • • • 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 



29 

 30 



30 

 30 



30 

 30 



3' 



3« 



3t 



32 

 33 



33 



35 



By J 



W. 



NO. 1306, VOL 51] 



