644 



NA TURE 



[October 24, 1901 



^OCrRTIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Manchester. 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, October i. — Mr. 

 Charlfs Bailey, president, in the chair. — Mr. W. E. Hoyle 

 exhibited two ethnological specimens from Denierara, formerly 

 in the possession of ihe Manchester Natural History Society, 

 under the name of " fish-arrows." They are about 4 feet long, 

 slender, and apparently made from the wall of some hollow 

 reed, with nodes at regular intervals. At one end is a barbed 

 point of wrought iron, the other end being stained a dark brown 

 for about four inches. The use of these weapons is somewhat 

 difficult to determine ; they are too thin and flexible either to 

 shoot from a bow or to throw with true aim. Instruments of a 

 similar kind have, however, been used for catching fish by 

 baiting the barbed end and sticking the other end into the beti 

 of the stream among the reeds. — Mr.Cecil P. Htirst sent specimens 

 of Diotis naiuiiiiissiiHa, Desf., a disappearing British plant, 

 which he collected recently on the sandy bars separating two 

 inland lakes from the sea on the south-eastern coast of county 

 Wexford, Ireland. He described its habitat on the shores of 

 Lady's Island Lake and Tacumsin Lake, and on the coast from 

 Carnsore Point westward, and referred to its recorded occurrence 

 in nine of the coniital areas in the South of England, from all 

 of which, including the Channel Islands, it has disappeared. 

 It was found very sparingly on the south-western coast of 

 -Anglesey in the years 1S94 and iSq6. 



Academy of Sciences, October 14. — M. Bouquet de la 

 'Grye in the chair. —New series of experiments relating to the 

 action of hydrogen peroxide solution upon silver oxide, by M. 

 Berthelot. A thermochemical comparison of the action of 

 acids upon oxide of silver before and after the action of hydrogen 

 peroxide. The results are regarded as proving conclusively that 

 a peroxide of silver is formed in this reaction, and that the 

 evolution of oxygen is due to the decomposition of this com- 

 pound. — On the variation of races and species, by M. Armand 

 Gautier. Experiments by Molliard, and by Charabot and Ebray, 

 . on the influence exerted by the attack of certain insects on the 

 development of certain plants, and the researches of Daniel on 

 -grafting, are held by the author to prove that the Darwinian 

 principles of the influence of medium, of adaptation and of 

 matural selection are insufiicient to explain the profound and 

 irapid modifications which have here taken place.— Two new 

 Ihi-emogregarians of fi.shes, by MM. A. Laveran and F. 

 Mesnil. A detailed description of two new parasites of 

 the sole and blenny, to which the names Haemogregarina 

 bigeiiiina and Haemogregarimi Simondi are given. The paper 

 is illustrated with seventeen drawings of the parasites in various 

 stages of development.— The influence of variations of tempera- 

 ture on the evolution of experimental tuberculosis, by MM. 

 J^annelongue, Achard and Gaillard. Neither a moderate 

 degree of cold nor slight variations of temperature have any 

 .ijiarked influence upon the development of experimental tuber- 

 culosis in guinea-pigs. On the other hand, brusque variations 

 of temperature, although compatible with the life of healthy 

 guinea-pigs, have accelerated in a remarkable manner the course 

 of the disease. — On waves which may persist in a viscous fluid, 

 by M. P. Duhem.— The elliptic element of the comet igooc, 

 by M. Perrotin. Measurements of the position of this comet, 

 which was discovered by Giacobini on February 11, have been 

 made in the observatories of Nice, Lick, Besancon, Algiers, 

 Heidelburg and Strasburg, and show that it belongs to 

 the curious group of periodic comets supposed to have 

 been captured by Jupiter. The return of this comet 

 may be expected in about seven years. — On the periodic 

 integrals of binomial differential equations, by M. A. Davido- 

 glou. — On the points of inversion of solutions, by M. Albert 

 Colson. It is known that the specific heat of a solution is not 

 the mean of the specific heat of its constituents, and hence it 

 follows that the heat of solution and the heat of combination 

 are variable, and at a fixed temperature some heats of solution 

 change their sign. For solutions of common salt this point of 

 inversion is found to be at 52° C— The action of urea upon 

 pyruvic acid. Homoallantoic acid and pyruvil, by M. L. J. 

 Simon. It is shown that in this reaction, which has been 

 previously studied by Grimaux, there is an intermediate com- 

 pound formed, homoallantoic acid, and that the formation of 

 pyruvil is due to an internal condensation of this compound. — 



NO. 1669, VOL, 64] 



The nitro-derivative of pentaerythrile, by MM. Leo Vignon 

 and F. Gerin. The pentaerythrite, C(CH.jOH)4, was prepared 

 by the interaction of aldehyde, formaldehyde and lime water, 

 and was found to possess no reducing power towards Fehling's 

 reagent. The nitric ester was prepared and found to be 

 the tetra-derivative ; it was devoid of reducing power, 

 and hence it is probable that the nitric esters which do possess 

 reducing power have a constitution which is difterent from that 

 usually ascribed to them. — On the free phase of the evolutive 

 cycle of the orthonectides, by MM. F. Caullery and F. Mesnil. 

 — Marine poisons and the burrowing habit, by M. ti. Bohn. It 

 has been found that sea-water in which certain red alga; have 

 been growing is very poisonous, but that it loses this poisonous 

 property on filtering through sand. Burrowing animals have 

 thus the double advantage of mechanical and chemical protec- 

 tion. — On the eruptive rocks of Tilai-Kamen (Ural), by MM. 

 L. Duparc and F. Pearce. — On a green colouring matter ex- 

 tracted from the blood of animals poisoned by phenylhydrazine, 

 by M. Louis Lewin. The green substance, for which the name 

 of hemoverdine is proposed, is not apparently a phenylhydrazine 

 derivative, but a product of metamorphosis of haemoglobin. — 

 The spectruiTi of this substance is absolutely difl^erent from that 

 of hjeiTioglobin or of anyof its known transformation products. — 

 The microphyte of the Piedra, by M. P. S. de Magalhaes.— 

 On the mechanism of the formation of fine pearls in Mytiius ediilis, 

 by M. Raphael Dubois. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



SATURDAY. October 26. 

 CssEX FlELDCLUB(Esse.\ Museum of Natural History, Stratford), at 6.30. 

 Mimetic Insects: Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S. (Illustrated by Natural 

 Colour Photographs.) 



THURSDAY. October 31. 

 Chemical Society, at 8.30.— The Frankland Memorial Lecture ; Prof. 

 H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S. 



FRIDAY, November i. 

 Ifologists' Association, at 8. — A Conversazione in the Librai-y of 

 University College, Gower Street. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Life by the Sea-shore. By Prof. W. A. Herdman, 



F.R.S 621 



Scientific Topography. By T. H. H 622 



Euclid Revised 623 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Leighton : " The Life-History of British Serpents and 

 their Local Distribution in the British Isles." — 



G. A. B 624 



Jordan: " The Feeding of Animals." — R. W. . . , 625 



Cunningham: " First Stage Building Construction " . 625 

 Ouesneville : " Theorie Nouvelle de la Dispersion." 



"— J. D. E 625 



Letters to the Editor : — 



A Simple Model for Demonstrating Beat, (llliis- 



lialfd.)—K. Honda 626 



Polar Exploration. — Civilian 626 



On the Clusterint; of Gravitational Matter in any 



Part of the Universe 626 



The Chemistry of the Cygnian Stars and Basic 



Rocks. By Prof. Edw. Suess 629 



Rudolph Koenig. By S. P. T. ' 630 



The McClean Telescope at the Cape Observatory . 632 



The Nernst Lamp in America 632 



Floras of the Past. By A. C. S 633 



Notes 634 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Spectroscopic Binary Capella 639 



New Southern Algol-Variable 639 



Spectrum of Nova Persei 639 



Micrometric Observations of Neptune and its Satellite 639 



Appearance of the Photographic Image of Nova Persei 639 

 Recent Progress in Waterways and Maritime 



Works 639 



Italian Geology, (llitstraled.) By Dr. H. J. Johnston- 



Lavis ^40 



The Fumigation of Fruit Trees. (Illiistra/ed.) . . . 642 



University and Educationallntelligence 642 



Societies and Academies 644 



Diary of Societies 644 



