520 



NA TURE 



[April 2, 1903 



to the meeting, states that Sir Arthur Mitchell has resigned 

 the office of honorary secretary, and has been succeeded by 

 Mr. R. T. Omond. The council also reports that the work at 

 the two Ben Nevis observatories has gone on satisfactorily. 

 The arrangements for resuming the observations during the 

 summer at the half-way station (2200 feet) were carried out 

 in August last. A very complete series of observations was 

 obtained, both at the half-way station, and also for part of 

 the time at three other intermediate stations. Dr. Buchan 

 has been chiefly occupied with a continuation of the discus- 

 sion of the hourly observations of pressure, temperature, 

 humidity, rainfall, and sunshine, with their inter-relations, at 

 the Ben Nevis and Fort William observatories from 1890 to 

 1902. As regards the temperature and pressure inter-rela- 

 tions, the " constants " have now been determined for all 

 temperature differences, for differences of i2°'o or less, and 

 for differences of i8°'o or more. The relations which the 

 results bear to the cyclones and anticyclones of north-western 

 Europe have been pointed out. A beginning has been made 

 with a discussion on the hourly hygrometric differences. The 

 relations of the various hourly and daily differences thus 

 ascertained to weather changes are also in course of ex- 

 amination. 



Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell, of the New Mexico Normal 

 University, East Las Vegas, writes concerning the advan- 

 tages of the wall museums which he has used in the depart- 

 ment of biology under his care. The cases are shallow, and 

 consist of frame and back of wood, and a glass front 

 screwed down tightly so as to keep out dust. Wall 

 museums of this kind occupy no space needed for other pur- 

 poses, and can be placed in any rooms continually used by 

 students. A similar plan has been advocated by some 

 teachers in this country, who will be glad to hear of the 

 success which Prof. Cockerell has found to attend the em- 

 ployment of wall cases in his biological instruction. 



To be able to attach, by means of an adapter, a telephoto 

 lens to the objective of one's camera is a desideratum which 

 will be appreciated by many photographers. Such an ac- 

 quisition has recently been placed on the market by Messrs. 

 J. H. Dallmeyer, Ltd., in the form of " the Adon " lens, 

 which is a very compact, light and well-finished article. It 

 is mounted in aluminium, has a rack and pinion adjustment, 

 and an adapter for mounting it on other lenses, or a flange 

 for using it by itself, and an iris diaphram, the whole of 

 which is contained in a neat leather case. The system it- 

 self is composed of two achromatic combinations, the front 

 being a positive lens of focal length 4^ inches, and the 

 back a negative lens 2^ inches in focal length. The focus- 

 ing is manipulated by the rack and pinion, thus obviating 

 the necessity of altering the extension of the camera. When 

 used in front of an ordinary lens, there is a limit to the 

 magnification obtainable, hut by itself it has no such limit- 

 ation ; in the first case magnification from 2 to 2J diameters 

 can be secured. The illustrations contained in the booklet 

 which describes the methods of use and results obtained 

 with this lens show specimens of the kind of work that 

 can be accomplished, and speak well for the definition of 

 the combination. 



Mr. F. E. Ives has described in the Journal of the Frank- 

 lin Institute a very simple way of measuring objects under 

 the microscope by projecting an image of an illuminated 

 scale — a jeweller's saw was used — on the plane of the 

 object by means of the substage condenser. 



The unfortunate controversy that has arisen between 

 Major Ross and Prof. Grassi regarding the discovery of 

 the mosquito phase of the malaria parasite continues, and 



NO. 1/44, VOL. 67] 



a lengthy pamphlet dealing with the whole matter lias 

 been issued by the last named. To an impartial observer, 

 it would seem that the credit of the discovery must un- 

 doubtedly be given to Major Ross, but that a vast amoilnt 

 of detail as to the exact metamorphoses undergone by the 

 parasite and the elucidation of the species of mosquito con- 

 cerned have been contributed by Prof. Grassi. 



As is well known, a high body temperature is incom- 

 patible with life, and when it rises to about nine degrees 

 above the normal (from 9S°'4 to 107° F.), and continues at this 

 for any length of time death ensues. Drs. Halliburton and 

 Mott show that this temperature coincides with the coagu- 

 lation of one of the proteids, cell-globulin, of the cells of 

 the nerve-centres, and probably of other cells of the body, 

 and suggest, therefore, that the physico-chemical cause of 

 death from hyperpyrexia is the coagulation of cell-globulin. 



It is announced that commencing with the current volume, 

 the Physical Review will be conducted with the cooperation 

 of the American Physical Society, and the proceedings of 

 the Society will be published in the Review instead of in 

 the Bulletin previously issued. 



Prof. Luigi Sala publishes in the Lombardy Rendiconti 

 an account of the work of Giovanni Zola, professor of 

 anatomy in the University of Pavia, who died on Decembei 

 1*5, 1899. Prof. Zola was the author of more than seventj 

 writings dealing with anatomy, his largest work being 

 his description of the museum of human anatomy at Pavia. 

 He was also one of the founders, in 1879, of the Bolletlino 

 scientifico, which he edited jointly with Profs. A. de 

 Giovanni, of Padua, and Leopoldo Maggi, of Pavia. 



In a note contributed to the Physical Review on the 

 dimensions of large inductance coils, Mr. James F?. Ives gi\ es 

 numerical results showing that a coil of maximum induct- 

 ance must have a square cross section, that the indui tani 1 

 of a coil with given length of wire increases rapidly as 

 the mean radius is increased up to the maximum inductance, 

 and then decreases slowly, and that for coils of maximum 

 inductance the inductance increases rapidly as the length of 

 wire increases, but not quite proportionately to the square 

 of the length. The second conclusion shows that it is better 

 to make the mean radius too large than too small. 



In certain notes on the anatomy of the 9-banded armadillo 

 (Tatusia novemcincta), published in vol. xvii. of Mem. Soc. 

 Antonio-Alzate, Dr. Duges alludes to the animal under the 

 name of Cachicama novemcincta. We have been unable to 

 find that generic term in any list, and if the author intends, 

 it to supersede Tatusia (or Tatu, as some would have iti, 

 this should have been definitely stated. 



In continuation of previous articles on exterminated 

 animals, Mr. G. Renshaw, in the March number of the 

 Zoologist, publishes one on the black emeu (Dromaeus ater), 

 of Kangaroo Island, which was exterminated by a squatter 

 some time during the last century. A stuffed specimen 

 in the Paris Museum is the only complete skin of this 

 bird known to exist. 



Much interest attaches to an article by Mr. E. C. Case 

 in the February number of the American Naturalist on the 

 " Pelycosaurian " reptiles of the Permian and Triassic form- 

 ations of North America. These reptiles were near relatives 

 of the anomodonts (theriodonts and dicynodonts) of the Tria,s 

 of South Africa and other countries of the Old World. The 

 author now finds that the American forms, in the retention 

 of two temporal arcades to the skull, display affinities to 

 the tuatera (Rhynchocephalia) which are lost in their 

 African allies, the two temporal arcades having in these 



