Mar. 7, 1872 j 



NATURE 



average annual rainfall. Mr. Buchan contributes another paper 

 **On the Temperature of the Soil compared with that of the 

 Air," being a discussion of series of observations made t'^'elve 

 times daily in different parts of Scotbnd, at the instance of the 

 Marquis of Tweeddale, president of the society. From the 

 observations it is seen that the surface temperature of the soil is 

 considerably colder than the air resting on it in winter, and con- 

 considerably warmer in summer ; and from the relations of the 

 temperature of the soil to that of the air during changes of 

 weather, some interesting results are drawn with reference to 

 the influence of solar and terrestrial radiation on climate. — A 

 brief notice of tlie winter climate of Malaga, detailed notes of 

 the weather of the quarter, and tabulated returns from ninety- 

 one stations, including several highly important stations in Ice- 

 land, Faro, and regions Ijordering on the Mediterranean, make up 

 the number. 



yoitrnal of tJic Chemical Society, December 1S71. — This num- 

 ber commences with a paper by Watson Smith, " On the Dis- 

 tillation of Wood," and although of considerable technical 

 interest it does not present any new features. — A paper on 

 Anthraflavic Acid follows, by W. II. Perkin. This is a substance 

 which occurs in tlie artificial alizarin of commerce. Two distinct 

 formula: have already been assigned to this body byDrs. Schunck 

 and Liebermann. This communication proves conclusively that 

 these formulce were wrong, and that in reality this acid is isomeric 

 with alizarin, Ijut unlike that body it possesses no tinctorial 

 power. — Dr. Armstrong contributes 'a paper on the action of 

 Nitric Acid on the Dichlorophenol Sulphuric Acids. The results 

 obtained are very interesting, but seem to cast some doubt on the 

 theoretical speculations of some G°rman chemists on the consti- 

 tution of those bodies. — The abstrac's in this number occupy 100 

 pages, and comprise many papers of great value. — E. Baudiment 

 has made an extensive series of experiments on the intimate 

 action of substances which assist the decomposition of potassic 

 chlorate and the disengagement of oxygen. Many bodies were 

 tried, some of which, as cupric or manganic oxides, when heated 

 with potassic chlorate, as is well known, yield oxygen very readily, 

 in this case, when the temperature reaches a definite point, a 

 sudden rise of 50° or 60° takes place with a tumultuous evolution 

 of gas. The author has found that the decomposition of potassic 

 chlorate is always accompanied witlr a disengagement of heat, so 

 that this substance may be called an endothermic compound. 



Tyi^ Monthly Microscopical Joanial, February 1872. — "On 

 the relation of Nerves to Pigment and other Cells or Elementary 

 Parts,'' by Dr. Lionel S.' Beale, F.R.S. After alluding to 

 the tendency of opinion in these days to favour the con- 

 clusion that the finest branches of nerve fib res come into struc- 

 tural relation with the active elements of other tissues. Dr. Beale 

 affirmed his opinion that, whatever may be the influence produced 

 by the nerves upon the stnicture, he does not think it depends 

 upon continuity of substance between the nerve and the tissue 

 affected. — "Report on Slides of Insect Scales," f^ent to the 

 Royal Microscopical Society by the Chevalier de Cerbacq, ex- 

 amined by Henry J. Slack. — " On the Structure of the Stems of 

 the Arborescent Lycopodiacccc of the Coal Measures," by W. Car- 

 ruthers, F.R.S. — "On a Leaf-Bearing Branch of a Species of 

 Lepidodcndfon." These papers contain the results of an examina- 

 tion of a series of specimens from Mr. John Butterworth, of 

 Shaw, near Oldham. — "On Bog Mosses,'' by Dr. R. Braith- 

 waite, F.R.S., part iii., Monograph of the European species. 

 This paper includes an enumeration of species, and full descrip- 

 tion of Sphagmni? cymhifoliuin, the first in the series. — 

 " The advancing powers of Microscopic Definition," hy Dr. 

 Royston Piggott. This is a further contribution to the vexed 

 question of beaded scales, and may be taken as a summary of 

 Dr. Royston Piggott's views, of which the first portion appears 

 in the present number of the journal. — " Microscopical Object- 

 glasses and their Power," by Edwin Bicknell ; "Remarks on a 

 Tolles' Immersion, yVi" by Edwin Bicknell; "Maltwood's 

 Finder Supplemented," by W. K. Bridgman. This latter com- 

 munication offers a plan by means of which two correspondents 

 may bring their " Maltwoods " into relation with each other, sup- 

 posing that their indications do not coincide. — "On a new 

 Micro-telescope," by Prof. R. H. Ward, reprinted from the 

 "American Naturalist." This number of the journal is illus- 

 trated by four plates. 



The J.'itrnal of Botany for February is ornamented by a very 

 good portrait of the late editor, Dr. Berthold Seemann. The 

 original articles are fewer than usual, including only the conclu- 



sion of Mr. J. G. Baker's paper on the Botany of the Lizard 

 Peninsula, and a case of poisoning by the seeds of Macrozamia 

 spiralis, by Dr. George Bennett. There are, however, a good 

 many interesting short notes and several valuable reprints, in- 

 cluding Dr. W. R. McNab's Histological Notes, read before the 

 Botanical Society of Edinburgh ; a list of new species of phane- 

 rogamous plants published in Great Britain in the year 1S71 in 

 the Annals a7id Magazine of Natural History, Botanical Maga- 

 zine, Floral Magazine, Gardeners' Chronicle, Hooker's Icoites 

 Planiarum, Journal of Botany, Journal of Ike Linnean Society, 

 and Refiigiuni Bolaniciini ; and Canon Kingsley's admirable 

 address to the Winchester and Hampshire Scientific and Literary 

 Society, on Bio-Geology. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 

 Geological Society, February 21.— Prof Ramsay, F.R.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair. The following communication was 

 read: — " Migrations of the Graptolites." By. Prof. H. Alleyne 

 Nicholson, M.D. The author commenced by stating that the 

 occurrence of the same species of marine animals in deposits in 

 different areas is now generally regarded as evidence that such 

 deposits are not strictly contemporaneous, but rather that a mi- 

 gration from one area to another has taken place ; this mi- 

 gration he thought would probably in many cases be accom- 

 panied by modification. Applying these principles to the 

 Graptolites, he endeavoured to show in what directions their 

 migrations may have taken place. He excluded from the family 

 Graptolitidce the genera Dictyonetna, Dendrograpsus, Callograp- 

 siis, and Ptilograpsus, and stated that the family as thus limited 

 extended from Upper Cambrian to Upper Silurian times. The 

 earliest known Graptolites were those of the Skiddaw Slates, 

 which he thought would prove to belong to the Upper Cambrian 

 series. The Skiddaw area he considered to extend into Canada, 

 where the Quebec group belongs to it. Genera of Graptolites 

 belonging to this area are represented in Australia, and this the 

 author regarded as indicative of migi-ation, but in which direc- 

 tion was uncertain. Having discussed the forms of Graptolites 

 characteristic of the deposits in the .Skiddaw-Quebec area, the 

 author proceeded to indicate the mode in which the family is re- 

 presented in the areas of deposition of the great Silurian series, 

 namely, the Llandeilo areas of Wales and Scotland, the Conis- 

 ton area of the North of England, the Gala area of South 

 Scotland, the Hudson-River area of North America, and the 

 Saxon and Bohemian areas, giving under each of these heads a 

 list of species, with indications of their probable derivation. 

 Mr. Etheridge commented on the importance of Dr. Nicholson's 

 paper, and on the difficulties attending the study of the Grapto- 

 litida;. The migration of these organisms appeared to him to be 

 very difficult to establish, especially in connection with their ex- 

 tension both eastwards and westwards. Mr. Hughes believed 

 that if we could discover the original of any species, we should 

 see a small variety appearing among a number of forms not very 

 different from it, and from which it had been derived ; but when 

 the variety had prevailed, so as to be the dominant form , we 

 were far on in the history of the spec'es ; that it was a great 

 assumption to fix upon any bed we now know as representing the 

 original source of any group ; that we know too little about the 

 chronological order of the geological divisions referred to to 

 reason with any safety on the migration of Graptolites from one 

 era to another ; that the term Lower Llandeilo, for instance, was 

 very unsatisfactory as used in the paper ; there was nothing 

 lower than the Llandeilo Flags at Llandeilo ; and where older 

 beds occurred in Scotland and elsewhere, it was not at all clear 

 that the equivalent of the Llandeilo Flags was present at all. 

 He differed also altogether from the author as to the position of 

 the Dufton Shales, and criticised the views of the author as to 

 the range of some species. He thought that M. Barrande's 

 theory of the colonies was bome out by the study of the 

 Graptolites, but that we had not sufficient data to speculate as 

 to the areas in which they made their first appearance, or the 

 order of their geographical distribution. Prof. Duncan ob- 

 seiwed that at the present time there wa^:, among other forms, 

 quite as great a range fir species as that of the Graptolites 

 pointed out by the autlior. Having looked through all the 

 drawings of Graptolites that he could meet with, he had found 

 none whatever that were accurate ; and he had moreover never 

 in any specimens discovered such cups or calices between the 



