96 



NATURE 



[November 22, 1S94 



343. — On the camph .,er,es and on the constitation of camphor, 

 by M. A. Bchal.— Researches on the oxidation of alcohols by 

 Fehling's solution, by M. Fernand Gaud. Methyl, ethyl, and 

 propyl alcohols yield the corresponding aldehydes and salts of 

 the corresponding acids when the alcohol is in excess ; when 

 the reagent is in excess and the heating is prolonged at a higher 

 temperature, salts of the corresponding acids are obtained, 

 but no aldehyde. — Biological observations m'^&^on Schiitocerca 

 fercirina, Olivier, during the invasions of iSol, 1S92, and 1S93 

 in Algeiia, by M. T Kunckel d'Herculais.— L>n the swarming 

 of Termites, bv M'. J. Perez.— On the assimilation of nitrates 

 by plants, by M. Demoussy. 



Berlin. 

 Physical Society, October 19.— Prof, du Bois Raymond, 

 President, in the chair.— The President referred to the loss the 

 Society had sustained by the death of von Helmholtz. — Prof 

 P.oemstein demonstrated an experiment of Messrs. Elster and 

 Geitel on the intluence of polarisation on the outflow of nega- 

 tive electricity which may be brought about by light. The 

 most suitable roelals for the experiment are sodium or potas- 

 sium or their alloys. A liquid alloy of potassium was charged 

 with negative electricity so that the leaves of an electroscope 

 connected with it were widely divergent. As soon as the rays 

 of an incandescent lamp were allowed to fall on the surface of 

 the alloy, the room being previously darkened, the leaves of 

 the electroscope approached each other as due to an outflow of 

 electricity. AVhen the light was polarised by a Nicol prism it 

 now led to a discharge only when the plane of its vibrations co- 

 incided with that of its incidence : in the plane at right-angles 

 to the above the action of the light was reduced to a minimum. 



Prof. Koenig recounted the results of his researches on the 



significance of visual purple. (Previously communicated to the 

 Physiological Society on July 20. See Natl-RE, Xo. 129S, 

 p. 492.) .\ discussion followed, in which the President, Prof, 

 von Bezold, Prof. Neesen, and Dr. Rubens took part. The 

 last-named supported Prof. Koenig"s view that the fovea cen- 

 tralis is colour-blind for blue, by pointing out that fine blue lines 

 in the spectnm cannot be seen by absolutely direct vision, but 

 only by indirect vision. 



Physiological Society, October 26.— Prof, du Bois Rey- 

 mond, President, in the chair.— The President dwelt on the 

 recent deaths of their honorary President, von Helmholtz, and 

 Prof. Pringsheim, and drew attention to the more importatit 

 botanico-physiological researches of the latter. — Dr. Bendix 

 spoke on the influence of sterilising milk on its digestibility. | 

 If milk is sterilised by prolonged boiling or the passage of steam j 

 through it, a series of changes take place. The sugar is turned 

 into caramel, and the sweet taste changes correspondingly, and, 

 further, on cooling the fat tends to form lumps, and thus destroy 

 the emulsion. Three experiments had been made on children 

 between the ages of one and two yeais, each experiment con- 

 sisting of two series. In the first, the children received either 

 fresh milk, or such as had only been once boiled-up, together 

 with some white bread ; in the second, the same amounts of 

 sterilised milk and bread. A comparison of the nitrogen and 

 lat in the food and f^tccs showed that the sterilised milk was 

 just as completely utilised as the unsterilised, — Dr. Cowles 

 spoke on his cardiographic researches carried out on mammals. 

 In bis earlier experiments he had found the frog's heart to be 

 the most suitable object, lying firmly as it does in a depression 

 of the liver. Working with this, he had observed that as long 

 as the heart is normally filled with blood the apex remains at 

 rest on the surface of the liver during systole, whereas when 

 deprived of blood it is raised at each systole. -Among mammals 

 he had not as yet found a heart so suitable for the experiment. 

 In the dog, rabbit, and cat, the heart lies on the lung-tissue, is 

 hence easily pushed to one side, and is thus readily displaced by 

 any levers or other apparatus brought to bear upon it. In 

 monkeys, also, there is a fold of the lungs lying between the 

 diaphragm and the heart, so that up to the present he had not 

 been able to obtain any reliable cirdiographic tracings by 

 placing levers on t)ie outside of the mammalian heart. 



GuTTINGEN. 



Royal Society of Sciences. — The A\i^,:unicn June 

 July 1894) conums :hc following papers of scientific interest . 



June 9. — ' '. Wallach : Un the relations of the carvon-series 

 ^C„HnO) and the properties of the oximes of cyclic ketones 



WO I ;oS. VOL 5 l] 



(III.). J. Hermes; On the division of the circle into 65,537 

 equal parts. .\. von Koencn : On the geological survey of 

 Southern Hanover. 



Tune 23.—?. I>rude : Studies on the electric resonator. 



■July 7. — David Hilbert : Outlines of a theory of Galois' 

 Zahikcrper. K. Schering and C. Zeissig : New photographic 

 method of registering the time and the position of the magnets 

 in magnetometers and galvanometers. Ludwig .Aschoff: Cor- 

 tribvition to the subject of atypical epithelial proliferation and 

 the origin of pathological glandular growths. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, andSERIALS RECEIVED. 



Ho)KS. — N'viclicnictnde: Prof. H. I. Haas (Leiprig, Weber).— .-^ Labora- 

 tory Manual of Organic Chcmi»tr>' : Dr. W. k. Umdortf (Boston, Heath). 

 —Practical Methods in Microscopy C. H. Clark (Boston, Heath).— Life at 

 the Zoo: C. J. Cornish (Seeley) — .Membit Club Reprints, No. 9 : The 

 Elementary Nature of Chlorine ; Humphr>- l)avy(Edinburzh. W, F. Clay). 

 —Outlines of Biology ; P. C. Mitchell (Methuen)— Radiant Suns: A. 

 Giberne (Seeley).— By Vocal Woods and Waters. E. Step (Bliss) — 

 Kh>thmic Heredity: H. C. Hiller (Williams and Norgate).— Report of the 

 Filth .Meeting of the Australasian Association, September 18.15 (Sydney). — 

 Practical Inorganic Chemistry ■ E. J. Cox, jrd edition (RivinjtonX—Aus- 

 trala-i.a. Vol. 1 : Malay-la and the P.-tcific Archipelagoes : Dr. F. H. H. 

 Guillemard (Stanford).— Cloudland: Rev. W. C. Ley (Stanford) —Primer 

 ifP-ychology : Prof. J T. La Jd (Longmans). — Psychology for Teachers: 

 C. Lloyd Morgan (.\moM). 



Pamphlets.— Notes on Tours along the Malabar Coast : E. Thurston 

 (Madras)— In Defence of Pasteurism : Dr. M. B. Colah (Bombay) — 

 Mittcilungen des Vcrcins fur Erdkunde zu Halle a.S. 1894 (Halle a.S. ). 



SKKlAt.s.— Psychological Review, November (Macmillan). — American 

 Meteorological Journal, November (Ginn).— Journal of the franklin Insti- 

 tute, November (Philadelphia). — Journal of the Anthropological Institute, 

 November (K. Paul).— Royal Natural Histor>-, Part 13 (vVarne).— Pro- 

 ceedings and Transactions of the Queensland Branch of the Royal Geo- 

 graphical Society of Australasia. 1S03-94 (Brisbane). — .-Vstronomy and 

 .\stro- Physic*, November (Wesley).— .American Naturalist, November 

 (Wesley) —i.c Monde des Plantes : P. Constantin, fasc. i (Paris, Bailliere). 

 English Illustrated Magazine, Christmas (19S Strand). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Psychology of Mental Arithmeticians and Blind- 

 fold Chess-players. By Francis Gallon, F.R.S. . 73 

 The Collected Works of Olbers. By J. L. E. D. . . 74 



Quaternions 70 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Stephen: "Sir Victor Brooke, Sportsman and 



Naturalist " 7^ 



Briggs and Bryan : " A Text-book of Dynamics. A 



Text-book of Statics " 76 



Pickworlh: ' The Slide-Rule."— W. J. L 77 



Pizzetti : " I Fondamenli Matematici per laCritica dei 



Kisultati Sperimcntali." — G 77 



" Tcppicherzeugung im Orient " 77 



Orndorff; " A Laboratory Manual " 77 



Letters to the Editor:— 



lingerPrints.— Sir W. J. Herschel, Bart. . ... 77 

 BoUzmann's Minimum Function. (Il'it/i Diagram.) 



S. H. Burbury, F.R.S 78 



The Kinetic Theory of Gases.— Edwd. P. Culver- 

 well 7S 



Homogeneity of Structure the Source of Crystal 



Symmetry.— H. A. Miers 79 



Gravitation. — Prof. A, M, Worthington, F.R.S. . 79 



The Koucault Pendulum Experiment. -G. A. R. . . 79 



.■\n Observation (ill Mollis.— Dr. L. C. Jones ... 79 



Photographs of a Tumbling Cat. (lliiairaUJ.) ... 80 



Biology in the United States— A Prospect. By 



G. B. H 81 



Notes 82 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Observations of the Transit of Mercury 85 



Kphtmerisof lincke's Comet 85 



Recent Observations of Jupiter 85 



The New Cypress of Nyasaland. {Ulinlrated.) . . ..85 



bchiapaielli on Mars 87 



Early British Races, II. (llluslraleJ.) By Dr. J. G, 



Garson 9'' 



University and Educational Intelligence 92 



Scientific Seiials 93 



Soclellc^ 4iid Acaden ies 93 



Books, Pampolets, anj Serials Received 96 



