January 8, 1903] 



NA TURE 



239 



— The deep-sea isopod, Anuropus branchialus, Bedd., and 

 some remarks on Bithynomus giganleus, A. M. -Edw. , by Dr. 

 H. [. Hansen. The aberrant genus Anuropus was described 

 by Beddard in the report of the Challenger, vol. xvii., from 

 a single specimen brought up from 1070 fathoms off the coast 

 of New Guinea. The author has recently examined this 

 specimen during a visit to the British Museum, and supple- 

 ments the original description in several important pirticulars. 



Royal Microscopical Society, December 17, 1902. —Dr. 

 Hy. Wood ward, F. R.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. Rousselet 

 ■ exhibited an apparatus designed by Mr. H. Bausch for drawing 

 objects natural size. It was described in the Society's Journal in 

 1900, but had not been previously exhibited. — The Rev. R. 

 Freeman read a paper by Mr. F. R. Dixon-Nuttall and 

 himself on the genus Diaschiza which was illustrated by drawings 

 shown on the screen by means of the epidiascope. The authors 

 alluded to the confusion in which this genus of rotifers had 

 remained to the present time and pointed out the errors into which 

 Gosse had fallen. They described the characters of those 

 species which they considered should be included in the genus 

 and also described a new species. — Mr. E. R. Turner gave a 

 description of Lumiere's process of taking photomicrographs in 

 colours. 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, December 1, 1902. — Lord Kelvin, president, 

 in the chair. — Prof. Cossar Ewart read a paper on the callosities 

 of the horse, in which from a study of their occurrence in the 

 fee 11^ he concluded that the wrist callosity corresponded to the 

 supplementary pad in the foreleg of the dog, and that the hock 

 callosity corresponded to a pad which occurred in the banded 

 ant-eater. There was no evidence of the callosities being rem- 

 nants of glandular organs. The evidence was rather in favour 

 of Beddard's recent suggestion that they were remnants of 

 tactile organs such as occur in marsupials, lemurs, and the 

 ungulate hyrax. — Prof. Ewart also read a paper on a new horse 

 from the Western Islands, Equus Caballns Cellicus. This newly 

 recognised variety was a pony which took in the west the same 

 place which the Arab took in the east. It agreed with asses and 

 zebras in having no callosities on the hind legs, and it resembled 

 the Przevalsky horse of Central Asia in having short hairs on 

 the upper part of the tail just as in mules. It was yellow dun 

 in colour, had black fetlocks, small head, small ears, prominent 

 eyes, and had stripes and dorsal band, and fragments of stripes 

 on legs, shoulder and face. In many characteristics, it differed 

 decidedly from the Przevalsky horse, and nothing like it was to 

 be found in the east, the recognised home of the Arab. It was 

 found in Iceland, Faeioe, Barra and other small islands of the 

 outer Hebrides, also in Connemara. From the drawings of 

 Palaeolithic man and from the bones found in caves, we are able 

 to distinguish two kinds of horses, a large and a small size, and 

 it was suggested that the Celtic pony represented the small-sized 

 horse known to Paleolithic man. The evidence disproved the 

 once prevalent view that all the various breeds of European 

 horses were descended from the one domesticated stock which 

 originated in the east. Dr. Munro thought that Prof. Ewart's 

 paper was of great anthropological importance as furnishing 

 additional evidence as to the continuity of man and his domesti- 

 cated animals from Paleolithic times, and so giving the coup de 

 grace to a fetish which had existed for many years in this 

 country, that Palaeolithic man had died out and all his civilisation 

 become extinct before the appearance of Neolithic man. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, December 29, 1902. — M. Bouquet 

 de la Grye in the chair. — M. Mascart was elected a vice-president 

 for the year 1903. — On the presence of argon in the gases 

 from the Bordeu spring at Luchon, and on the presence of free 

 sulphur in the sulphurous water from the cave and its vapours, 

 by M. Henri Moissan. An analysis of the gases from this 

 spring, carefully collected in the absence of aii, showed the 

 presence of 2'56 per cent, of argon, I "22 per cent, of methane, 

 the remainder of the gas consisting of nitrogen. The water and 

 the vapour from it contained free sulphur. — On a new pre- 

 paration of the silicon hydride, Si 2 H 6 , by M. Henri Moissan 

 (see p. 233). — Experimental cultures in the Mediterranean 

 region : modifications in the anatomical structure, by M. Gaston 

 Bonnier. Experimental cultures of the same species of plant 

 were made in the same soil at Fontainebleau and at La Garde, 



NO. 1732, VOL. 67] 



near Toulon, and a minute account of the anatomical differences 

 observed is given. — On the conditions necessary that a fluid 

 should be in stable equilibrium, by M. P. Duhem. — On the 

 velocity with which the different varieties of X-rays are propa- 

 gated in air and in different media, by M. R. Blondlot. X- 

 rays of varying penetrative power were examined, and the 

 velocities determined in air, paraffin wax, beechwood, vaseline 

 oil and essence of turpentine, and it was found that within the 

 limits of experimental error the velocity of the different 

 varieties of X-rays was the same in all the media, being equal 

 to that of light in air. — On the germinating power of seeds 

 exposed to sunlight, by M. Emile Laurent. Sunlight exerts 

 an injurious influence upon the seeds or dried fruits of the higher 

 plants, the first effect being a delay in the germination and 

 then the death of the embryos. In general, moderately bulky 

 seeds are less sensitive to the effects of sunlight than smaller 

 ones, especially if the latter have dark coatings. — Notice on 

 M. Millardet, by M. Bornet. — Anomalies of the earth's 

 magnetic field on the Puy de Dome, by MM. B. Brunhes 

 and David. Report by M. Bouquet de la Grye. — New ob- 

 servations on the volcanic eruptions at Martinique, extracts 

 from letters addressed by M. Lacroix to MM. Darboux 

 and Michel Levy. — Observations of the comet d (1902) 

 made at the Observatory of Algiers with the 31'S cm equatorial, 

 by MM Rambaud and Sy. Observations of magnitude, 

 apparent positions of the comet and of comparison stars. — 

 Observations of the Perseids, Leonids and Bielids made at 

 Athens in 1902, by M. D. Eginitis. The Perseids were 

 observed under favourable conditions between August 8 and 13; 

 they were less numerous than in the five preceding years. The 

 conditions for the observation of the Leonids and Bielids were 

 not so favourable. — On entire functions, by M. Hadamard. — 

 Remark relating to my note on the approximate representation 

 of functions, by M: W. SteklofF. A correction of an error in a 

 previous note. — On the fundamental formula of Dirichlet re- 

 lating to the determination of the number of classes of definite 

 binary quadratic forms, by M. Mathias Lerch. — An application 

 of the theory of residues to the analytical prolongation of 

 Taylor's series, by M. Ernst Lindelo-f. — On a plane represent- 

 ation of space and its application to graphical statics, by M. B. 

 Mayor. — Study of the magnetofriction of the anode bundle, 

 by M. H. Pellat. In previous papers, the author has described 

 a series of phenomena which are produced when a kathode or 

 anode flux is submitted to the action of an intense magnetic 

 field and which are inexplicable by the laws of electromagnetism. 

 The assumption of the existence of an anisotropic friction 

 affecting the particles in motion, very great in the sense perpen- 

 dicular to the lines of force of the magnetic field and much less 

 in the direction of the lines of force, serves to explain the 

 observed phenomena perfectly, and the name magnetofriction is 

 proposed as a general name for this phenomenon. Experi- 

 ments are described in which the effect of varying the pressure 

 and nature of the gas is shown. — On the emana'ion from 

 phosphorus, by M. Eugene Bloch. It his been known for 

 some time that air placed in the neighbourhood of a stick of 

 phosphorus becomes a conductor of electricity. The study of 

 this phenomenon having led to contradictory explanations in 

 the hands of Barus, G. C. Schmidt and Harms, further experi- 

 ments have been carried out by the author, who concludes that 

 ihe conductivity of dry air which has passed over phosphorus 

 is due to ions of very feeble mobility which serve as nuclei 

 of condensation for water vapour, even non-satuiated. 

 The question of the exact chem cal mechanism by which these 

 ions are produced, whether their formation is due to the pro- 

 duction of a definite chemical compound such as ozone or an 

 oxide of phosphorus, or to a simple modification of the oxygen, 

 requires further study.- — On the Hall effect and the mobility of 

 the ions of a saline vapour, by M. Georges Moureau. — On a 

 new electric accumulator, by M. D. Tommasi. A descrip ion 

 of the method of constructing the lead plates of an accumulator. 

 The capacity obtained is 177 ampere-hours per kilogram of 

 plates. — On the spectra of flames, by M. C. de Watteville. 

 The method of M. Gouy is applied to the study of flame spectra 

 in the ultra-violet. The results given tend to show that 

 temperature is the only factor which influences the constitution 

 of spectra. — On the proportion of hydrogen in atmospheric air, 

 by M. Anatole Leduc. A reply to the criticisms of M. A. 

 Gautier, the author maintaining the accuracy of his original 

 conclusions. — The thermal study of metaphosphoric acid, by 

 M. H. Giran. — On some sources of mineral gases, by 



