596 



NA TURE 



[April 19, 1894 



month, have given similar results. The views hitherto held 

 concerning atmospheric electricity, and which originate from 

 Exner, therefore need modification ; at any rate, the view that 

 the aqueous vapour produces negative electricity at the higher 

 levels can no longer be held to be correct. What part it plays 

 can only be determined by further electrical measurements from 

 balloons. — Prof, von Bezold explained how the condition of the 

 atmospheric electricity could be represented in the simplest and 

 most diagrammatic manner by the aid of the graphic method. 

 — Dr. Gro?s described new experiments on the electrolysis of 

 sulphi>.tes in alkaline solutions, as, for instance, silver sulphate 

 and silver oxide in ammonia solution, which led again to re- 

 sults from which he believed a dissociation of sulphur might be 

 inferred. 



Physiological Society, February 23. — ^Prof. du Bois Rey- 

 mond, President, in the chair. — Prof H. Munk spoke concern- 

 ing Prof. Golz's lately published research on a dog which had 

 survived for a long time extirpation of the cerebrum, and on 

 whose behaviour evidence against the localisation of sense per- 

 ceptions in defined regions of the cerebral cortex were founded. 

 Prof. Munk, in the discussion which followed, explained that all 

 the phenomena which can be referred to the presence of visual, 

 auditory, olfactory, and gustatory perceptions in a dog which 

 has been deprived of its cerebrum, were simple reflex pheno- 

 mena which are awakened through general sen-ation without 

 the participation of a sense perception. Dr. Ullmann described 

 expeiiments which led him to the view that the red blood 

 corpuscles are not biconcave discs, but are biconvex bodies. 



Meteorological Society, March 6. — Prof. Hellmann, 

 President, in the chair. — Dr. Schubert reported on the results 

 of his further observations of the temperature and humidity in 

 woods and in the open. The observations were taken last year 

 at the same time, and were made at least twice daily, three hours 

 after noon and at sunrise, by means of an aspiration hygro- 

 meter. On each occasion nine single measurements were taken 

 in three groups, which were separated from one another by a 

 quarter of an hour, while in the groups the single observations 

 followed at intervals of one minute. The mean of twenty-six 

 days' observations showed that in the morning the temperature 

 in the woods was o "08" higher than outside them, while after 

 midday the temperature in the open air was 0'3^ higher than in 

 the woods. The humidity, both absolutely and relatively, was 

 greater in the open than in the woods both in the morning and 

 in the afternoon ; the difference was similar to the tempera- 

 ture difference, only smaller. Measurements in the tent 

 gave similar but greater differences than those made with the 

 aspiration hygometer. Prof Sprung spoke concerning the diurnal 

 range in velocity and direction of the wind on the Eiffel Tower. 

 From the Espy Koppen explanation of the daily variation of 

 wind velocity at the plain and summit stations, Prof. Sprung 

 has derived an explanation for the opposed direction of the wind 

 at the lower and at the higher levels ; he has pointed out that 

 from the presence of ascending currents about midday it fol- 

 lows that, at the lower level the wind must change direction 

 with the hands of a watch, while at the higher station it must 

 change against the hands. As, however, the wind observations 

 at the summit stations are not free from the friction of the sur- 

 face of the earth. Prof. Sprung has examined the reports of the 

 wind observations on the Eiffel Tower, and has found here also 

 a decrease of the wind velocity during the day, and an increase 

 during the night, as was found on the summit station. The 

 minimum wind velocity occurs, however, in summer as early as 

 9 a.m., while in winter it occurs first at i, and in spring and 

 autumn between 10 and il. The wind direction, as on the 

 summit stations, shows a maximum of turning with the watch 

 before noon, and a maximum of turning against the watch after 

 noon, the changes occurring also earliest in summer and latest 

 in winter, but the chanjjes of direction show themselves about 

 three hours after the minimum velocity. The wind observations 

 on the E ffel Tower, therefore, confirm the Kspy-Koppen expla- 

 nation, and show that the influence of rismg air-currents is 

 already sensible at these moderate heights. 



GOTTINGEN. 



Royal Society of Sciences. — The NacJirichten is now 

 issued in distinct series, dealing respectively with literary, 

 biological, and mathematico-physical memoirs. The first number 

 oiih&AIathemadsck-phystkaliscke AVrz^i^^ contains the following 

 papers : — 



NO. 1277, VOL. 49] 



January 13, 1894. — Ed. Riecke : A contribution to the 

 theory of swelling by imbibition {Qiielhmg). 



February 3. — Prof O. Henrici : On a new harmonic 

 analyser. — W. Voigt : On an apparently necessary extension of 

 the theory of elasticity (continued).- — C. Brodmann : Some 

 observations on the rigidity of glass rods. — O. Wallach : On 

 the behaviour of theoximes of cyclic ketones (II.). 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



Books. — Transactions of the Sanitary Institute, Vol. xiv. (Stanford). — 

 Machines Frigorifiques a Gaz Liqueliables : K. E. de Marchena (Paris, 

 Gauihier-ViUars). — A Treatise of Natal Astrology: G. Wilde and J. Dod- 

 son (Halifax, Occult Book Company). — Attempt at a Catalogue of the 

 Library of the late Prince Louis-Lucien Bonaparte: V. Collins (Sotheran). 

 -Tell el Amarna : W. M. F. Petrie (Methuen). — Man's Place in Nature, 

 and other Anthropological Essays : T. H. Huxley (Macmillan). — Nature's 

 Hygiene : C. T. Kingzett, 4th edition (Bailliere'). — Kecherches sur I'His- 

 toire de I'Astfonomie Ancienne : P. Tannery (Paris, Gauthier-Villars). — 

 Smithsonian Institution Report to July 1892 (Washington). 



Pamphlets. — Recherches Geologiques sur les Environs de Vichy (Allier) : 

 G. F. Dollfus (Paris). — Report of the Board of Managers of the Depart- 

 ment of Archaeolology and Palaeontology of the University of Pennsylvania, 

 1895 (Philadelphia). — Die Temperatur-Verhiiltnisse des Bodensees : Dr. F. 

 A. Forel (Lindau^i. B.). — Die Schwankungen des Bodensees: Dr. F. A. 

 Forel (Lindau i. B.). — Transparenz und Farbe des Bodensees: Dr. F. A. 

 Forel (Lindau i. B ). — La Lava Incandescente : A. Ricco (Roma). 



Seri.^ls — Journal of the Sanitary Institute, April (Stanford) — Journal 

 of the Chemical Society, April (Gurney and Jackson). — Record of Technical 

 and Secondary Educatijn, April (Macmillan). — American Journal of 

 Science, April (New Haven). — American Naturalist, April (Philadelphia). 

 Annalen 'der K.K. Universitats-Sternwane in Wien, viii. and ix. Band 

 (Wien). — The Asclepiad, No. 40, Vol. x. (Longmans). — Mind, April 

 (Williams and Norgate). — Transactions and Proceedings of the Botanical 

 Society of Edinbuigh, pp. 233-636 (Edinburgh). — Jouinal of the Franklin 

 Institute, April (Philadelphia) — Zoolngischer Anzeiger, xvi. Jahrg. 1893, 

 Litt. 2 (Leipzig). — Ainerican Meteorological Journal, April (Ginn). — Astro- 

 nomy and Astro-Physics, April (Wesley). — Contributions from the U.S. 

 National Herbarium, Vol. iv. Botany of the Death Valley Expedition 

 (Washington). — Proceedings of the Aristotelian Society, Vol. 2, No. 3, 

 Part I (Williams and Norgate). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Theory of Heat. By Prof. G, Carey Foster, 



F.R.S. 



An Educational Atlas 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Lydekker : "Life and Rock: a Collection of Zoo- 

 logical and Geological Essays " 



Jadroo : " Disease and Race " 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Mass of the Earth.— K 



The Royal Society. — Sir John Evans, K.C.B., 



F.R.S 



Lepidosiren paradoxa. — Prof. G. B. Howes . , . 



The Aurora of March 30.— F. R. Welsh 



Fireball. — Worthington G. Smith 



Micro-Organisms and Fermentation. — Frank E. 



Lott 



The North-East Wind.— Devonian Schists.— Prof. 



T. G. Bonney, F.R.S 



Are Birds on the Wing Killed by Lightning? — 



Skelfo 



The Early Return of Birds.— Robert M. Prideaux 

 The Foundations of Dynamics. — Edward T. Dixon 

 The Eleventh International Medical Congress. By 



Piero Giacosa . , 



The Royal Meteorological Society's Exhibition. 



By Wm. Marriott 



Notes 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Presence of Oxygen in the Sun 



Melting of ihe Polar Caps of Mars 



Ephemeris for Denning's Comet {a 1894) 



The Spectrum of Nova Norma; 



A New Southern Comet 



Irritability of Plants. By Prof. Pfeffer 



Chemistry in Relation to Pharmaco-therapeutics 



and Materia Medica. By Prof. B. J. Stokvis , . 



Transparent Conducting Screens for Electric and 



other Apparatus. By Prof. W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S,, 



and T. Mather 



The Currents in the Great Lakes of North America. 



( IVith Map. ) 



Scientific berials 



Societies and Academies . 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 



573 

 574 



575 

 575 



575 



576 

 576 

 576 



577 



577 



577 



577 

 578 

 578 



578 



579 

 5«o 



585 

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 586 



587 



591 I 



592 I 



593 ! 



594 ; 

 596 



