4oS 



NA TURE 



[February 21, 1895 



mersion of the sand in a fluid of a specific gravity of 2'8S, 

 invented and described by Dr. J. L. C. Schroeder van der 

 Kolk, formed the subject of a report drawn up by Mr. Van 

 Diesen and Dr. Behrens — Mr. Schols and Mr. Martin re- 

 ported upon an e-say by Mr. J. J. A. Muller, in which 

 the author calculated the dislocation undergone by some parts of 

 the mouniain system of Sumatra, in consequence of the earth- 

 quake of May I", 1892. These calculations, which are based 

 on data supplied by the measurements executed in the said 

 island, on behalf of the secondary tiiangulation, prove with great 

 certainly a horizontal shifting of the following three points to 

 the extent, and in the direction indicated : — 



Sorik Merapi I -23 M. 344° 57' 



Tor Si Hite ... ... 064 M. 149° 2' 



Goenvenjj Malintang ... I'24M. 304° 28' 



the directions being counted from the north point, going round 

 through the easi.^Dr. Jan de V.ies discussed some meihodsof 

 deducing from given conliguralions more complicated con- 

 fignralions. In particular a series of configur.itions, first de 

 scribed by Andreef, was deduced from ihe tetrahedron by 

 means of Ji system ot polar coordinates. — Dr. Hikhuis Rooze- 

 boom, in considerini; the experiments of Prof. .Spring, on the 

 conversion of black inio red llgS, showed that this author was 

 mistaken in the nature of ihe phenomenon, which belongs to the 

 category of the conversion of unstable modifications into stable 

 ones. The pressure required for a conversion of this description 

 does not admit of being expressed by a simple law. — Dr. P. 

 van Romhuri;h has examined, in the laboratory ol the " culture " 

 garden at Tjikeumeuh, a number of coca leaves grown in Java, 

 in order to ascertain their volatile constituents. Those of 

 Erythrcxylon Cc<a Lam. var., Sprucfanum (Kurck), when dis- 

 tilled with water, produced melhylsalicylate (about 20c.c. was 

 obtained from 140 kgrs. of fresh leaves). In the water was 

 also found a little acetune and m^lhylic alcohol, and perhaps also 

 traces of salic)lic aldehyde. The quantity of methyl salicylate 

 decreases in proportion as the leaves grow older ; in fresh un- 

 expanded top leaves Dr. van Komburgh loun'l 013 per cent., in 

 young leaves from o 06 to 007 per cent., in old leaves even less 

 than 002 per cent. The leaves of Erylhroxylon Bolivianum 

 (Burck) were also proved to contain methyl salicylate, but only 

 o 0C4 per cent., as well as those of E. ecarinaliim (Burck), but 

 not those of E. Biirmaniunt (Grift) and E. loni^epetiilatum 

 (Burck), while in the case of E. spec, iiisul. Comor the results 

 were doubtful. — Prof Kamerlingh Oniies read a paper on the 

 Kryogene Laboratory at Leyden, and on the production of ex- 

 tremely low temperatures. The object of the author in starting his 

 investigations, upwards often years ago, viz. the combination of 

 Wroblewski's an'l Ulszew.ski's labours with those of Pictet, has 

 been quite satisfactorily attained with the least possible means. 

 Liqaid oxygen is stored in a gla^s vessel adapted for experiment- 

 ing and observing puiposes; the oxygen vapours are continuously 

 compressed, liquefied, and again poured into the said vessel, so 

 that the evaporation from the surface takes place at a level 

 pretty neatly constant. With Ihe aid of a small quantity of 

 ciiculaiing oxygen, a bath of liquefied gas of quarter to a half 

 litre can t»e maintained under normal or reduced pressure, ad 

 libitum. With this method no use is made of Dewar's vacuum 

 vc««I». The vc^s^-l IS protected from conveciive transference 

 of heat by the oxygen vapour, which cools a special chamber 

 with plaleglast windows. The-e windows remain qui'c free 

 from hoa'-frost, and do not in'erfere with the (orm.ilion of 

 images. The con'Icnsation of oxygen is obtained m a spiral 

 tube immersed in liquiil ethylene boiling in a copper flask 

 connected «iih a conjugate vacuum pump and cimpressor. 

 The circulating ethylene is liquefied in a condenser cooled down 

 to 80° by a circulation of methyl chloride, or in some casrsby 

 carbonic acid. The apparatus is so arranged, and the fla>k 

 especially is so devised, that only a minimum of conden-cd 

 gaset 14 required. Only onr and a /ju// kiliigiammesof ethylene 

 i> used in the author's ethylene ciiculaiion to obtain the above- 

 m'ntioned permanent liquid oxygen bath, in c<inliaili>tinclii>n 

 to Ihe great quantities mentioned in the accoums of Dewar's 

 experiments — The purifying o( ga>es by means of fractionating 

 at low Icmperaiurei was alto treated, and a modified (oim ol 

 Caillettt's mercury plunger compictsor, used specially for this 

 purfxise, was dociiliel. The author c nchidcd with a few 

 obtervations on certain inves'igaiitinsatid nppnr.iliis in course of 

 execution, and intendrd to I'C picpara'oty to the m inipulaiiun 

 of liquid hydrogen in the Kryn.enc Labuiatory ol the future. 



NO. 1321, VOL. 51] 



GOTTINGEN. 

 Royal Academy of Sciences. — In the Nachrichtcn, part 

 4 (1S94), the following papers of mathematical and physical 

 interest appear: — Fv. Schilling, the fundamental polygon of 

 Schwarz's 5-function for the case of complex exponents ; O. 

 liolza, a fti function for the general hyperelliptic case; R. 

 Dedekind, on ideals (in the theory of numbers) ; K. Riecke, the 

 equilibrium between a deformed homoi^eneous solid and liquid in 

 contact with it ; 1". Riecke, Cl.iusius' condition equation; A. 

 Hurwitz, on the theory of ideals ; R. Ilau-^sner, the numerical 

 coefficients of Weierstrasss trseries : G. Pick, invariant pro- 

 cesses for higher binary forms; A. Schonflies, the hexagonoid 

 of Eberhard ; P. Bachmetjew, results as to electrical earth- 

 currents in Bulgaria ; K. Ritler, extension of the Kiemann Roch 

 theorem to sets of forms ; A. Sommerfeld, mathematical theory 

 of the inflexion of light and electricity; W. Voigt, on piezo- 

 electricity in crystals without a centre of symmetry. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Hooks.— Cod-Liver Cil and Chemistry : Dr. F. A. M. tier (Peter Mol'cr). 

 — Mechanics, an Elementaty Text- Bo"l(. Theoretical and Practical. Dy- 

 namics ; R. T. Gtazebrook (Cambtidge University Prc^s) — Colour Vision : 

 Captain W. de W. Abncy (Low). — The Student's English Hictionary: 

 Mr. J. Ogtivie. new edtti n (Ulackie). — The Story of the Star.*;; G. r. 

 Chambers (Newnes).— L'niversal Electrical Directory, 1895 (.Mabaster). — 

 On the Geographical Distribution of Tropical Diseases in Africi ; Dr. R. 

 W. Felkin tEdinburgh, Clay).-Philosophy of Mind : I'rof. G. T. Ladd 

 (toREmans). 



Pamchlets — Le Service ChronoiticHtique a rObservatoire de Genfcve. 

 &c. : Prof. R. Gamier (Geneve, Aubert Schuchardt). - OriKen PoliMrico 

 de las Especies : A. Soria y Mata (Madrid, Establicimiento TtpoR'.'llico). 



Serials. — Engineering Magazine, February (Tucker).— Journal ol the 

 Franklin Institute, February (Philadelphia). — Himmel und Erde. February 

 (Berlin, Paetel).— Internationales Archiv filr Ethnographic. Band viii. 

 Heft I (K. Paul).— Journal of the Anthropological Institute, February 

 (K. Paul).— Journal of the Asiatic Society of Henual, V.>1 l.\iii. P.irt j 

 Ni. 3 (Calcutta). — .\slrophysicaI Journal, February (Wesley). — Journal of 

 the Chemical Society, February (6urney). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Sir Andrew Crombie Ramsay 3S5 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Hill: " Harvard College by an Oxonian." — L. . . 386 



Dumesnil : " Tableau Mclrique de L"gatilhmes" . 386 

 Rodway : " In the Gui.ina Forest. Studies of Nature 



in Relation to the Struggle for Life." {/Iluslraud) 387 



Wiillner : " Lehrbuch der lixperimentalph)sik. " — pv 387 

 Middendorf: "Peru. Beobachtungen und Sludien 

 iiber das Land uml seine Bewohner whhrtnd eines 



25-jahiigen .Vufenthalts" 388 



Letters to the Editor: — 



The Liquefaction of Gases. — M. M. Pattison 



Muir 3S8 



Ari;on. (Illuslraled.)—V>i. J. H. Gladstone, 



F.R.S 389 



The Aurora of November 23, 1894.— W. H. Wood ; 



Prof. A. S. Herschel, F.R.S 31)0 



The American Association.— -Dr. Wm. H. Hale . 390 



Earthquake in Norway.— Dr. Hans Reusch . . . 390 



" The lilack-veiued White Butterfly."— H, Goss . 391 



ThcZo'iiacil Light.— Rear-Admiral J. P. Maclear 391 



Oysters and Typhoid 391 



Notes 392 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Mars in 1894 395 



Novel Methods in Photometry 395 



.V'mosphiric Dispersion 39^ 



The Sun's Place in Nature. I. (IlliislraleJ.) By J. 



Norman Lockycr, C.B., F.R.S 396 



Nathanael Pringsheim. By D. H. Scott 399 



The Antitoxic Scrum Treatment of Diphtheria. By 



Dr. G. Sims Woodhead 402 



University and Educational Intelligence 406 



Scientific Serials 40'> 



Societies and Academies 406 



Books, Pampalets, and Serials Received .... 408 



