August 1 6, 1883] 



NA TURE 



383 



the potential being reckoued I, then when a stratum was 

 straddled the potential was I '243, 1229. 



On testing two idle wires distant | inch (i'6 centims.) apart 

 with a Thomson- Becker galvanometer, the current in this frac- 

 tional part of a tube was found to go frequently in the reverse 

 direction to that of the main current, and when the galvanometer 

 was connected to two idle wires diametrically opposite, currents 



were indicated sometimes in one direction, sometimes in another 

 across the tube (Fig. 8). These experiments seem to indicate that 

 there are eddies in the gas during a discharge, as if the motion 

 of the molecules conveying an electric discharge was of an 

 epicycloidal character. The authors conclude by saying that it 

 is possible that the eddies may be connected with the production 

 of strata. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Oxford. — We are requested to announce that the Savilian 

 Professorship of Geometry is vacant, and an election to the 

 office will be held before the end of Michaelmas Term (Decem- 

 ber 17). A Fellowship in New College is now annexed 

 to the Professorship. The duty of the Professor is to lecture 

 and give instruction in Pure and Analytical Geometry. 



The combined emoluments of the office from both sources 

 will be, for the present, 700/. a year, but may possibly hereafter 

 be increased to an amount not exceeding 900/. a year. 



Candidates are requested to send to the Registrar of the Uni- 

 versity their applications, and any documents which they may 

 wish to submit to the electors, on or before Wednesday, 

 October 31. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Bulletin of the Belgian Royal Academy of Sciences, June. — 

 On the action of amygdaline during the germination of bitter 

 almonds, by M. A. Jorissen. — Determination of the specific heat 

 of some organic bodies ; variations experienced by this quantity 

 through change of temperature, by M. de Heen. Of the eleven 

 substances examined, three only — the formic salts of sodium, 

 calcium, and barium — maintained a perceptibly constant specific 

 heat within the limits of a temperature ranging from lo° to 93 C. 

 A considerable increase of specific heat was shown by m 1st of 

 the other bodies tested. — Note on a double series of equations, 

 by M. E. Catelan. — Anatomical study of the ^Eschnines (.-£'. 

 grandis and heros), by Baron Edm. de Selys Longchamps. Ap- 

 pended is a complete tabulated classification of the ^Eschnidese 

 (/Eschna of Fabricius and Latreille). — On a deposit of Oldhamia 

 radiata (Forbes) recently discovered in Tubize, Brabant, by M. 

 C. Malaise. From its position in the Brabant schistose system 

 the author is induced to refer this rock to the Lower Cambrian 



formations. — Attempted determination of the relation — of the 



principal momenta of inertia in the terrestial spheroid, by M. E. 

 Ronkar. In this paper a twofold series of calculations are 

 made, based respectively on the hypotheses of Lipschitz and 

 Laplace regarding the mean density of the crust of the earth. — 

 Note by the editor on the explanation of the prevailing b'.ue 

 colour in large volumes of pure water advanced by M. Montigny. 



Annalen der Physik und Chemie, July. — Electrical re- 

 searches, by G. Quincke. — Researches on the slow discharge, by 

 Heinrich Hertz, with six diagrams. — On the difference in the 

 discharge from the positive and negative electrodes, by H. Hell- 

 man of Riga. — New observations on the thermo- and actino- 

 electricity of rock crystal as a reply to a memoir of C. Freidel 



and J. Curie, by W. Ha ikel. — On the variation of the magnetic 

 coefficient with the hardness of steel, by Hugo Meyer. — On the 

 coefficient of friction of mercury and its variation wi'h the tem- 

 perature, by Synesius Koch, with three diagrams. — Theory of 

 light for perfectly transparent light, by W. Voigt. — Concerning 

 the theory of light, by E. Lommel. — On the sound of impinging 

 Barnes, by K. Noack (three diagrams). — A new apparatus" for 

 showing Foucault's stream;, by Dr. A. von Waltenhofen.— On 

 the relation between the fundamental note and overtones of 

 transverse vibrations in open metal cylinders, by Hugo Feukner. 

 — On the reciprocal of the strain of closely-tuned elastic bodies, 

 by Dr. G. Krebs. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 Sydney 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales, June 27.— Prof . 

 W. J. Stephens, M.A., in the chair.— The following papers 

 were read : — Descriptions of new genera and species of fishes by- 

 Charles W. De Vis, B.A. Two genera are described, Daclylo- 

 phora of the family Cirrhitida, and Leme of the family Amblyo- 

 pina. The new species described are : Gnclla carbonaria, 

 Girella neuralis, Dactylophora semimaculata, Platycephalus 

 semermis, Polynemus specula ris, Lane mordax, Sphyrama 

 strenua, Trochocopus sanguinolentus, Labrichthys dux, Plagusia 

 nolata, Synaptura cinerea, and Crossorhinus ornatus. — A fourth 

 paper on plants indigenous in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 Sydney, by Mr. E. Haviland. — Localities of some species of 

 Polynesian recent mollusca, by John Brazier, C.M.Z.S., &c. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, August 6. — M. Blanchard, president, 

 in the chair. — Preliminary reports on the transit of Venus, 

 December 2, 18S2, at the Transit Stations of Haiti, by MM. 

 D'Abbadie, Callandreau, and Chapuis ; of Mexico, by MM. 

 Bouquet de la Grye, Heraud, and Arago ; of Martinique, by 

 MM. Tisserand, Bigourdan, and Puiseux ; of Florida, by M. 

 Perrier ; of Patagonia, by M. Fleuriais ; of Chili, by MM. de 

 Bernardieres, Barnaud, and Favereau ; of Chubut, by M. Hatt; 

 of Monte Video, by M. de Penfentenyo ; of Rio-Negro, by M. 

 Perrotin ; of Cape Horn, by M. Courcelle-Seneuil ; of Bragado, 

 by M. Perrin. These reports, deposited with the Secretary of 

 the Academy on the return of the several expeditions, are here 

 collected together for the convenience of astronomical students. 

 — Active or dynamic resistance of solids. Graphic representa- 

 tion of the laws of longitudinal thrust applied to one end of a 

 prismatic rod, the other end of which is fixed (concluded), by 

 MM. de Saint-Venant and Flamant. — In reply to a recent com- 

 munication by M. Jamin on the critical point of liquefied gases, a 

 letter was read from Mr. W. Ramsay, who claims priority of dis- 

 covery, and points out that he had already determined the 

 critical point in a memoir which appeared in the Proceedings oj 

 the Royal Society for April 22 and December 16, 1SS0. — On the 

 application of Ampere's method to the investigation of the ele- 

 mentary law of electric induction by variation of intensity, by 

 M. Quet. — On boron, by M. A. Joly. In this paper the author 

 determines the existence of a combination of boron and carbon, 

 reerving for a future communication a study of the various com- 

 pounds containing these two elements. — On the blood plaquettes 

 of M. Bizzozero, and on Norris's third or invisible blood cor- 

 puscle, by M. G. Hayem. It is shown that the so-called 

 " plaquettes," claimed by Bizzozero as a new discovery in the 

 Italian Archives of Biology for January, 1882, et sea., are simply 

 the " hcematoblasts " alreaiy described by M. Hayem. On the 

 other hand Norris's "third or invisible corpu-cle,'' which had 

 been identified with the haematoblasts, appears not to be a new 

 element at all, but merely an artificial product resulting from the 

 various manipulations to which the blood had been subjected by the 

 English observer. — Experimental researches on some phenomena 

 relative to the absorption of animal fats, by M. A. Lebedeff. — On 

 the true character of the ophthalmic affection known as astigmatic 

 keratite, by M. G. Martin. — New researches on the curve of the 

 muscular shock in various affections of the nervo-muscular sys- 

 tem, with three illustrations, by M. Maurice Mendselsso'jn. — 

 Influence of sea water on freshwater ani nals, and of fresh water 

 on marine fauna, by M. Felix Plateau. — On barometric pressure 

 in connection with igneous eruptions, by M. Fr. Laur. It is 

 argued that gaseous and other eruptions are due exclusively to 

 rapid variations of atmospheric pressure. 



