192 



NA TURE 



[December 25, 190: 



Xylosteum section of Lonicera. — Mr. C. B. Clarke read a 

 paper, Note on Carex Tolmzei, Boott. The species was 

 founded upon a specimen from the Columbia River, to 

 which the author had subsequently added three other plants. 

 The author has redescribed the original specimen, and has 

 described two of the supposed component forms as new 

 species. — A paper by Herr C. With, of Copenhagen, was briefly 

 characterised by Prof. G. B. Howes, F. R.S., on the Indian 

 Phalangida; contained in the Indian Museum, at Calcutta. The 

 collection was put into Herr With's hands to compare with the 

 types of ThorelPs species. With regard to the distribution of 

 forms, the author remarks that the Indian peninsula and adjacent 

 islands seem characterised by the presence of the subfamily 

 Gagrellinas. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, December 15. — M. Bouquet de la 

 Grye in the chair. — On the presence of argon, oxide of carbon 

 and hydrocarbons in the gas from the fumaroles of Mont 

 Pelee at Martinique, by M. Henri Moissan. The gas, which 

 was collected by M. Lacroix, emerged at a temperature of about 

 400° C. Besides those gases which have been already mentioned 

 as present in other volcanic eruptions, a considerable quantity of 

 combustible gas was found, together with about 07 per cent, of 

 argon. The percentage of carbon monoxide (i'6 per cent.) 

 would render the gas very toxic, and it is possible that many of 

 the deaths during the eruptions may have been due to this cause. 

 — On the stability of equilibrium and the variables without inertia, 

 by M. P. Duhem. — Experiments on the duration of the germ- 

 inating power of seeds preserved in a vacuum, by M. Emile 

 Laurent. Samples of seeds of various species of plants were 

 kept in the dark in a vacuum, side by side with duplicate samples 

 in air, and these were tested after intervals of two-and a-half 

 years, five years and seven-and-a-half years. Fatty seeds appear 

 to keep better in a vacuum than in air, but no general rule could 

 be deduced from the other seeds, the results being variable. — 

 Remarks by M. le General Bassot on the Annuaire of the 

 Bureau des Longitudes for 1902. — Perturbations independent of 

 the eccentricity, by M. Jean Mascart. — Observations of the 

 Giacobini comet (1902 d) made at the Observatoiy of Besancon, 

 by M. P. Chofardet. The comet appears as a small nebula of 

 the twelfth magnitude, and has an apparent diameter of about 

 45". — On the integration of a partial differential equation of the 

 second order of the hyperbolic type, with more than two inde- 

 pendent variables, by M. R. d'Adhemar. — A method for the 

 electrical separation of the metallic part of a mineral from its 

 gangue, by M. D. Negreano. — On aluminium fluoride, by 

 M. E. Baud. The. preparation of pure aluminium fluoride, 

 A1„F1 6 .7H._,0, is described, and its thermochemical data de- 

 termined — The action of boron chloride upon gaseous am- 

 monia, by M. Joannis. — As previous researches on the reaction 

 between ammonia and boron chloride have given contradictory 

 results, the reaction has been reinvestigated, especial attention 

 being given to the temperature of the reaction, which was kept 

 at about — 70" C. Ammonium chloride and boron amide appear 

 to be the only products ; at 440°C, the latter compound is partly 

 decomposed, the compound Bo.,(NH) 3 being produced. — On a 

 violet ammonio-manganese phosphate, by M. Ph. Barbier. — 

 The separation of the alkalis from peroxide of manganese, by 

 M. H Baubigny. The alkali salts carried down by precipitated 

 peroxide of manganese, which cannot be completely removed by 

 washing with boiling water, can be eliminated by a preliminary 

 washing with aconcentrated solution of ammonium nitrate. — The 

 diffusion of arsenic in nature, by M. F. Garrigou. The arsenic 

 is obtained in the state of sulphide, which is then submitted to 

 Bunsen's flame reaction, in which a film is produced on porce- 

 lain. It is claimed that quantities of arsenic of the order of 

 000001 milligram can be detected and approximately estimated. 

 Remarks by M. Armand Gautier on the preceding paper. In 

 working with such minute quantities of arsenic as those mentioned 

 by M. Garrigou, the extreme difficulty of allowing for the arsenic 

 derived from the glass and reagents is pointed out. — On/-benz- 

 ene-azobenzoic acid and its derivatives, by MM. P. Freundlgr and 

 de Laborderie. — On oxybenzylphosphinicacid,by M.C. Marie. — 

 On a new method of chlorinalion of aromatic hydrocarbons, by 

 MM. Seyewetz and Biot. The reagent used in the chlorination 

 is the double compound of ammonium chloride and lead tetra- 

 chloride. By its aid, chlorine derivatives of benzene, toluene, 

 xylene, naphthalene and anthracene were readily obtained. — A 

 ccelomic gregarun in Coleoptera, by M. L. F. Blanchard. — On 

 the evolution of the acrosome in the spermatid of Notanecta, 



NO. I730, VOL. 67] 



by MM. J. Pantel and R. de Sinety. — Teleomitosis in Amoeba 

 Gleichtnii, by M. P. A. Dangeard. — On photosynthesis outside 

 the organism, by M. Luigi Macchiui. Some facts in confirm- 

 ation of the statement by M. Jean Friedel on the production of 

 chlorophyll assimilation outside the plant. These researches 

 prove that the principal agent in chlorophyll assimilation in the 

 green plant, and also in the photosynthesis outside the living 

 organism, is an enzyme and that the chlorophyll pigment 

 appears to act as a chemical sensitiser. — The ripening of seeds 

 and the appearance of the germinating power, by M. P. Maze. 

 — On the role of vortices in wind erosion, by M. Jean Brunhes. 

 — On the ocean current near the Landes coast, by M. L. A. 

 Fabre. — On the origin of the transversal break of the Ivosva (North 

 Ural), by M. Louis Duparc. — The rapids in the river Kosva 

 are due to an old synclinal more or less orthogonal to the 

 direction of the folds. —On the deposits of phosphate of lime in 

 the Belemnites chalk, by M. N. de Mercey. — The influence of 

 catalytic agents upon the working of the organism : spermine, 

 cerebrine and chloradrenal, by M. Alexandre de Poehl. — The 

 diseases of organic demineralisation : plasmatic anremia, by 

 M. Albert Robin. 



CONTENTS. page 



Agricultural Science in Italy. By A. D. H 169 



A Himalayan Local Flora. By J. S. G 170 



Ostwald's Inorganic Chemistry. By W R 171 



A New Theory of the Universe. By W. M. H. . . 171 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Durham: "Report of the Yellow Fever Expedition 

 to Para of the Liverpool School of Tropical 



Medicine 172 



Earle : " Eyes Within " 173 



" Handbook of Instructions for Collectors." — R. L. 173 

 Smith: "The First Principles of Ratio and Propor- 

 tion and their Application to Geometry " 173 



"Year-book of the Scientific and Learned Societies 



of Great Britain and Ireland" ......... 173 



Williamson : " Papers on Etherification and on the 



Constitution of Salts" 173 



Amateur Angler : " Dove Dale Revisited : with Other 



Holiday Sketches" 173 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Volcanic Dust Phenomena.— T. W. Backhouse . 174 

 The Methods of Investigating the North Sea Fisheries. 



Dr. D. Noel Paton 174 



Carved and Perforated Antlers.— Prof. T. Rupert 



Jones, F.R.S 174 



St. Elmo's Fire during Snow Storm. — Charles 



Dibdin 174 



The Farthest South. (Illustrated.)- -By T. McK. H. 175 

 Secondary and Technical Education. By Prof. J. 



Wertheimer 176 



Prevention of Rabies 178 



Recent Work of the Geological Survey 179 



Prof. P. P. Deherain. By F. D 179 



Transatlantic Wireless Telegraphy 179 



Notes 180 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comet 1902 d 183 



The Algol Variable R.V. (13, 1902) Lyrse . ... 183 



Proper Motion and Parallax of Nova Persei .... 183 



Star with Probable Large Proper Motion 184 



Report of the Government Astronomer for Natal, 



1901 184 



Total Eclipse of the Moon, April 22, 1902 184 



The Great Irrigation Dam at Assuan 1S4 



The Velocity of Propagation of X-Rays. ( With 



Diagram.) By Maurice Solomon . . 185 



Recent Dietary Studies. By Mis. Percy Frank- 

 land 185 



Magnetic Observations in Baden. By C. C. . . . 1S7 

 The Origin of the Thoroughbred Horse. By Prof. 



Ridgeway 187 



University and Educational Intelligence 188 



Societies and Academies 1S9 



