6sS 



NA TURE 



October 



1901 



olivine and other minerals. These rocks are also associated 

 with others made up principally of felspar (albite and ortho- 

 clase), containing large quantities of well-crystallised, generally 

 tabular, corundum, which is extracted by the villagers near the 

 junction of the felspar-rock with the eteolite-syenite. It is 

 remarked that the association of rocks is remarkably similar to 

 that described in eastern Ontario, and also in the Urals. 



The methods of improving ocean bars are discussed by Mr. 

 Lewis M. Haupt in the Proceedings of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society for July in connection with the proposed im- 

 provements at Brunswick Outer Bar, Georgia. There are at 

 least five methods available for creating navigable channels, 

 namely, by the use of dynamite, by a single jetty, by a single 

 curved breakwater, by twin jetties, and by dredging. Of the 

 several methods proposed for bar removal by the use of single 

 or double jetties or by the reaction breakwater, the latter, so far 

 as it has been tested, fulfils better than any other the con- 

 flicting requirements of harbour entrances, costs less than half 

 as much, and is far cheapei: to maintain. 



M. Chart.es Rabot publishes, in the August and September 

 numbers of La Geographie, a full summary of the chief contribu- 

 tions to the literature of limnology which have appeared during 

 the past year. The work done in each country is dealt with 

 under a separate heading, and the paper includes a review of 

 Prof. Forel's " Handbuch der Seenkunde." 



The National Geographic Magazine for September contains an 

 article on " German Geographers and German Geography," by 

 Dr. Martha Krug Genthe. A summary is given of the work 

 associated with the names of Behaim, Kant, Humboldt, 

 Ritter, Berghaus, Richthofen and Ratzel, and some account of 

 the present position of geography in German education. The 

 magazine also contains a note by Mr. R. Muldrow on Mount 

 McKinley, in Alaska, the highest mountain in North America. 

 A series of theodolite measurements from points on a stadia line 

 run up the Shushitna River gives the position of the mountain 

 'n lat. 63° 5'N., long. i5i°o' W., and its height at 20,464 feet. 



The September number of Naturen, the excellent popular 

 journal issued by the Bergen Museum, contains an article on 

 the dipper, and a second on the European bison. 



Ix the Meiiiorias y Revista "Antonio Alzate," Seiior L. 

 Herrera publishes the second instalment of his remarkable 

 scheme for an abbreviated biological and mineralogical nomen- 

 clature. 



In the October issue of the Zoologist Mr. L. J. Bevir dis- 

 cusses Dante as a naturalist, while the Rev. H. A. Macpherson 

 contributes some interesting particulars with regard to the work 

 of early ornithologists. 



The Zambesi Mission Record usually contains one or more 

 articles dealing with science in a popular manner. The issue 

 for the current month has a very readable illustrated communica- 

 tion entitled " A Chat about Snakes," from the pen of the Rev. 

 J. O'Neil. 



According to the October issue of The Naturalist, the 

 members of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Club enjoyed a most 

 successful outing at Wykeham, near Scarborough, on June 22. 

 Perhaps the feature of the day was the number of fritillary 

 butterflies seen on the wing. 



Messrs. W. and G. S. West have completed their alga-flora 

 of Yorkshire in the Transactions ol the Yorkshire Naturalists' 

 Union. The enumeration makes up 1044 species. 



A.MONG the lectures to be delivered at the Royal Victoria 

 Hall, Waterloo Road, during the month of November we 

 notice ihe following : — November 5, " Lightning and other forms 

 NO. 1670, VOL. 64] 



of the Electric Discharge," by Prof. A. W. Porter ; November 26, 

 "Student Life in Germany," by Dr. A. W. Crossley. 



The syllabus of the Hampstead Scientific Society for 1901-2 

 has reached us, and gives promise of a full and interesting 

 session. The opening meeting will be held on November i, 

 when the president. Sir Richard Temple, will deliver an address. 



Those of our readers who are on the look-out for cheap 

 scientific books should see the new catalogue of remainders, &c., 

 which has just been issued by Mr. H. J. Glaisber, of Wigmore 

 Street, W. In it are to be found the titles of very many such 

 works at greatly reduced prices. 



The following American botanical publications have been 

 received : — "The Willows of Alaska," by Frederick V. Colville, 

 from the Proceedings of the Washington Academy of Sciences ; 

 and the " Violet-rusts of North America," by J. C. Arthur and 

 E. W. D. Holday, reprinted from the Minnesota Botanical 

 Studies. They consist of three species, Aecidiiini pedatuin, 

 Puccinia Violae, and P. effusa. 



The journal o( the Royal Microscopical Society for October 

 contains a further instalment of Mr. F. W. Millett's report on 

 the recent foraminifera of the Malay Archipelago collected by 

 Mr. A. Durrand. The summary of current researches is note- 

 worthy as indicating the attention now being paid to the con- 

 struction of microtomes, no less than seven new instruments or 

 improvements on old instruments being described. Abstracts 

 are given of a number of recently published important papers on 

 microscopic metall ography, several of them illustrated by half- 

 tone plates. 



Two papers by Ciamician and Silber have appeared in recent 

 numbers of the Berichte, which describe a series of interesting 

 experiments on the action of light in promoting mutual oxida- 

 tion and reduction between organic compounds. This change 

 is specially interesting in connection with the chemical effects 

 brought about by light in plant life. The o.xidising agent is 

 represented by a ketone, diketone or aldehyde, those of the 

 aromatic series being the most active. They undergo reduction 

 into alcohol or pinacone. The reducing agent is an alcohol or 

 ordinary ether, the alcohol being converted into aldehyde or 

 ketone. The product of oxidation of ether has not been deter- 

 mined. Thus quinone dissolved in ethyl alcohol, sealed up 

 and exposed to sunlight, gives quinol and aldehyde ; quinone 

 and isopropyl alcohol give quinol and acetone ; glycerol is 

 oxidised to glycerose (dioxyacetone), erythritol to erythrose, 

 &c. On the other hand, benzophenone in presence of alcohol is 

 reduced to benzopinacone, benzaldehyde to hydrobenzoin, &c. 

 Curiously enough, even such stable substances as the paraffins 

 and benzene undergo oxidation with quinone, black products 

 being obtained, which have not yet been investigated. Still 

 more remarkable is the action of light on ortho-nitrobenzalde- 

 hyde either dry or dissolved in various solvents. It is then 

 converted into ortho-nitrosobenzoic acid C|;Hj(N0.2)C0H = 

 C8Hj(N0).C00H. In presence of methyl or ethyl alcohol, the 

 corresponding ester is formed. Under like conditions, meta- 

 nitrobenzaldehyde gives resinous products, and the para-com- 

 pound remains for the greater part unchanged. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Ruff {Machetes pugnax), European, pre- 

 sented by Mr. W. H. Dobie ; six Common Pheasants 

 {Phasia)ius colchicus, vi\a'i.&\&x.), British, presented by Sir J, 

 Haggerston, Bart, ; a Bronze-winged Parrot {Pioniis chalco 

 pterus) from Colombia, a Naked-footed Owlet (Athene noctua), 

 European, deposited; four North African Jackals [Canis 

 anthus), two Fennec Foxes (Canis cerdo) from North Africa, 

 received in exchange. 



