4 8 



NA TURE 



[May io, 1883 



Brieger reported upon the results of his attempts at a more accu- 

 rate study and determination of the violent poisons which deve- 

 lop out of animal substances, and which not unfrequently bring 

 about sudden death after eating stale cheese, stale sausage, or 

 stale fish. Prof. Selmi made the first step towards the know- 

 ledge of these poisons by preparing powerfully ac'ing bodies 

 out of corpses and decomposing animal matter. These he de- 

 scribed under the name of "ptomain." Prof. Brieger has now 

 investigated their occurrence in analogous substances by means 

 of the reactions that Prof. Selnii gave lor these ptomains, and 

 he has found, among other things, that neurin when exposed to 

 the air very soon develops such a ptomain, which, like the rest, 

 kills frogs and rabbits with the symptoms of coma. If the neurin 

 remains a long time exposed to the oxidising influence of the air, 

 the violent poison di-appears. Further, a poisonous body belonging 

 o the same group was found in a number of artificial peptones, 

 but not in all, and here also this substance was soon destroyed 

 by further alterations taking place in the peptone. This fact 

 could be quite universally established, viz. that a further pro- 

 giessing decomposition in dead bodies destroyed all poisonous 

 substances. Prof. Brieger next approached the task of isolating 

 these easily decomposable and violently poisonous bodies. He 

 succeeded, by working on large masses of dead animal bodies 

 with a series of chemical processes, in preserving the poison in 

 beautiful, large, needle-shaped crystals. He has not as yet 

 determined whether these consist of the poisonous body pure, or 

 whether they also contain other bodies. Therefore the chemi- 

 cal composition of the ptomains has not yet been certainly 

 determined. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, April 30.— M. Blanchard in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read :— On the reduction of 

 the barometer and the pendulum to the sea-level, by M. Faye. 

 While Poisson's correction for attraction of a continental mass 

 may be suppressed, the attraction of a hill or mountain on which 

 observations are made must not be neglected. At a station in 

 mid-ocean, such as a volcanic or coral island, the attraction of 

 the island must be considered. Correction for masses like the 

 Alps or Himalayas is much more difficult. — On the pyro-electri- 

 city of quartz, by MM. Friedel and Curie. They di sent from 

 Herr Hankel's views as to the distribution of electric tensions in 

 crystals, — On a quaternary base derived from oxyquinoleine, by 

 M. Wurtz. — Prolonged anaesthesia obtained by protoxide of 

 nitrogen at normal pressure, by M. Bert. The new method he 

 has tried on animals is to cause anaesthesia first with the pure 

 protoxide, then give a mixture of the protoxide and oxygen (the 

 blood then recovering the oxygen necessary to it) ; then the pure 

 protoxide may be given again. Thus both asphyxia and return to 

 sensibility are obviated. A dog was kept insensible half an hour. 

 A mask and two caoutchouc bags are all that is necessary. — On 

 the project of the African interior sea, by M. de Lesseps. He 

 replies to M. Cosson. — On a theorem of partitions of complex 

 numbers contained in a theorem of Jacobi, by Prof. Sylvester. — 

 Resume' of meteorological observations made during the year 

 18S2, at four points of Haut Rhin and the Vosges, by M. Him. 

 Inter alia, the greatest actinometric differences do not always 

 correspond to the most limpid skies. The slight mist or dust, 

 which stops part of the luminous rays, does not absorb the 

 calorific rays. — A new general formula for the development of 

 the perturbitive function, by M. Baillaud. — Observations of solar 

 spots and facuke at the Royal Observatory of the Roman Col- 

 lege during the fourth quarter of 1882, by M. Tacchini. After 

 the secondary minimum in August, the spots increased to a con- 

 siderable maximum (relatively) in November, then decreased 

 suddenly to a minimum in December. During 1882 there 

 appears a greater activity than in 1881. The mean of faculse is 

 slightly greater in 18S1 than in 1882. — Observations of solar 

 protuberances, faculae, and spots at the Royal Observatory of 

 the Roman College, during the third and fourth quarters of 

 1882, by the same. The number of protuberances per diem 

 was nearly the same as in the first half-year, but the 

 height and extension were somewhat greater. The mini- 

 mum was in September and October. Spots, faculse, and 

 protuberances were more numerous near the equator than in the 

 previous half-year. — Observation of the transit of Veuus at St. 

 Thomas in the Antilles by the Brazilian Commission, by M. de 

 Teffe. The third and fourth contacts were observed. — On the 

 use of a birefringent glass in certain observations of spectrum 

 analysis, by M. Cruls. By giving the crystal an alternative 

 motion of rotation the extraordinary spectrum is displaced, and 



the eye is thus helped to see peculiarities better than if the spec- 

 trum were at rest. Again, the two spectra of a faint star may 

 be so juxtaposed that the bright parts of the one correspond to 

 the dark channellings of the other, so that vision is aided. — 

 Determination of a particular class of surfaces, &c. (continued), 

 by M. Darboux. — On continuous- periodic fractions whose 

 numerators differ from unity, by M. de Jonquieres. — On the 

 generalisation of the theorem of Fermat, by M. Lucas. — On the 

 same, by M. Pallet. — On the groups of linear equations, by M. 

 Poincare. — On some double integrals, by M. Goursat. — On the 

 Eulerian functions, by M. Bourguet. — On the cycle of motors 

 with explosive gases, by M. Witz. — On the transmission 

 of sound by gases, by M. Neyreneuf. With a sensitive 

 flame arrangement he proves that carbonic oxide has about 

 the same transmitting power as air ; carbonic acid much greater. 

 He finds Hauksbee's law inexact. — On the analogy that exists 

 between the allotropic states of phosphorus and of arsenic, by 

 M. Engel. — Research on the metallic derivatives of amides ; 

 means of distinguishing a monoamide from a diamide, by M. 

 Gal. — On a process of hardening soft calcareous stones by means 

 of fluosilicates with a base of insoluble oxides, by M. Kessler.- 

 On a means of foreseeing liberations of firedamp, by M. de 

 Chancourtois. On the supposition that movements of the 

 earth's crust often cause such liberation, he proposes the use of 

 delicate seismographic apparatus. — New histological researches 

 on the termination of the biliary conduits in the lobules of the 

 liver, by M. Kanellis. — On the structure of the nervous system 

 of Hirudinex, by M. Saint Loup. — On the incubation of eg^ 

 of a hen affected by cholera of fowls, by M. Barthelemy. The 

 eggs contained germs of the microbes; these were only deve- 

 loped with aerial respiration when the allantoid yielded to the 

 blood the oxygen necessary. (The development of the embryo 

 stopped between the eighth and the tenth day.) — Comparison 

 between the bacilli of tuberculosis and of leprosy (continued), by 

 M. Babes. — M. Common presented a negative photograph of 

 the nebula in Orion (taken January 30). An equatorial reflector 

 of three feet aperture was used, and the dry plate was exposed 

 39 minutes. 



CONTENTS Page 



Education in the United States 25 



Letters to the Editor : — 



1 he Microphone. — Shelford Bidwell 27 



The Soaring of Birds. — R. Courtenay 28 



Flight of Crows. — Prof. Thos. McKenny Hughes, 



F.R.S 29 



Sheet Lightning. — Antoine d'Abbadie 29 



The American Trotting-Horse. — Francis Galton, 



F.R.S 29 



The Shapes of Leaves. — E. M. Holmes .... 29 

 Solar Halo.— Sergeant E. Cardwell (With Dia- 

 gram) ; Tho. B. Groves 30 



Mock Moons.— F. T. Mott ; R. C. Johnson ... 30 

 Sun Pillar of April 6, 1883.— Prof. Thos. McKenny 



Hughes, F.R.S 31 



Fibreballs.— Clement L. Wragge 31 



Helix pomatia.— Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S. ; 



Henry Cecil ; J. C 31 



Intelligence in Animals. — W. R. Hughes ; Duncan 



Stewart 31 



The Solar Eclipse of 1883 31 



Lectures to Working Men 33 



Cirriform Clouds 34 



Scientific Progress in China and Japan. By Sinensis 34 

 Prof. Lindstrom on Operculate Corals. By Prot. 



H. N. Moseley, F.R.S. (With Illustrations) ... 35 

 Baron Nordenskjold's Expedition to Greenland. By 



Baron A. E. Nordenskjdld (With Diagram) ... 37 



Notes 41 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



D'Arrest's Comet 44 



Temper's Comet, 1873 II 44 



Rules and Regulations for the Prevention of Fire 



Risks arising from Electric Lighting 44 



University and Educational Intelligence 45 



Societies and Academies 45 



