J20 



NA TURE 



[Dec. 4, 1884 



cholera and cholemia, by M. W. Nicati. From the experiments 

 recently made in the chemical laboratory of the Faculty of 

 Sciences at Marseilles it seems established that biliary acids are 

 relatively more abundant in the blood of the victims of cholera 

 than in others. But the author is unable yet to decide whether 

 in their case death is to be attributed to cholemia. — Note on 

 infectious and parasitic pneumonic affections, by M. Germain 

 See. — Experiments on the efficacy of disinfecting agents in the 

 case of chicken cholera, by M. Colin. — On the virulence of the 

 bubo accompanying soft chancre, by M. I. Straus. — -On the 

 luminous intensity of the spectral colours ; influence of the state 

 of the retina in determining light effects, by M. H. Parinaud. — 

 On the appendices to the jaw of grinding insects, by M. Joannes 

 Chatin. — On the floral polymorphism and the fertilisation of 

 Lychnis dioica, L., by M. L. Crie. — Remarks on Dr. Ladislas 

 Szajnocha's memoir on the Cephalopods of the Elobi Islands, 

 West Coast of Africa, by M. Daubree. 



Berlin 

 Meteorological Society, November 4. — Dr. Hellmann, 

 following up an account of the most recent works in the depart- 

 ment of meteorological literature, which he concluded with a 

 full discussion of Mr. Blanford's rain-map of India, communi- 

 cated his own observations regarding the rain conditions pre- 

 vailing in Heligoland. The measurements there obtained had 

 given an annual rainfall of 72 '50 inches, an amount far surpassing 

 that which had been observed at any of the neighbouring sta- 

 tions on the west coast of Schleswig and at the mouth of the 

 Elbe. The speaker, having last summer made a tour of in- 

 spection, and convinced himself, from the instruments in use 

 and their situation, of the accuracy of the registrations above 

 referred to, explained the excessive rainfall in Heligoland by the 

 circumstance that the steep coast, shooting up almost perpen- 

 dicularly to about 164 feet above the level of the' sea, forced the 

 moist sea winds suddenly aloft, and so .caused them to cool and 

 condense both very rapidly and to a great extent. For the sake 

 of testing the correctness of this explanation he had got another 

 rain-gauge set up on the dunes at about 16 feet above sea-level, 

 the registrations of which would next year be compared with 

 those at the higher level. A second point in which the rain 

 conditions of Heligoland deviated from those observed at the 

 neighbouring stations on the coast respected the annual course 

 of the rainfall. It was found that in North-West Germany the 

 rainfall indicated a minimum in the middle of April and a maxi- 

 mum in August. In Heligoland, on the other hand, though 

 indeed the minimum of rainfall occurred likewise in the middle 

 of April, the maximum was attained in November. Dr. Hell- 

 mann sought an explanation of the postponement of the 

 rain maximum in this latter case in the circumstance that 

 in the yearly course of the temperature of the water and 

 the atmosphere the difference between the two was greatest in 

 November, the water at that time showing a temperature as 

 much as 3°'6 F. warmer than that of the air. — Prof. Sporer 

 gave a brief sketch of the present period of sun-spots. The spot 

 periods being counted from minimum to minimum, the com- 

 mencement of the present spot period was to be referred to 

 i8y8'8. So far as had been hitherto observed the present was 

 distinguished from the two last spot periods by two peculiari- 

 ties ; first, that the maximum in the present period appeared to 

 have occurred o - 4 of a year later than in the previous periods, 

 and, second, that during the maximum the distribution of the 

 solar eruptions showed an essentially different character from 

 that usually obtaining. In the former periods it was observed 

 during the maximum that the greatest concourse of spots 

 surrounded with faculae occurred in the median latitudes of the 

 sun, that they were completely wanting towards the poles, 

 became less numerous also towards the equator, and only 

 at the equator itself did they again become somewhat more 

 crowded. In the rotation of the sun those eruptions showed 

 a heliographic displacement towards the equator, in contrast to 

 the spots free from faculae which, in the course of rotation, 

 wandered towards the poles. During the minima of the spot 

 periods the maximum of the eruptions was generally found 

 in the neighbourhood of the equator. In the present period, 

 again, the greatest concourse of eruptions surrounded with faculre 

 was found towards the equator during the maximum as well, a 

 phenomenon usually occurring at the time of the minimum. The 

 present, on the other hand, resembled former periods in the 

 circumstance that it was only on rare occasions that the con- 

 course of spots was alike on both hemispheres of the sun. In 



the majority of cases either the northern hemisphere presented 

 a more copious display of spots than the southern, or the southern 

 mustered them in larger numbers than the northern. 



Stockholm 



Academy of Sciences, November 12. — Prof. Gylden com- 

 municated the results of the Meridian Conference in Washington, 

 according to the report of the Swedish delegate Count Lewen- 

 haupt, and gave an account of his own paper " On the origin of 

 comets." — Prof. Lindstrom exhibited a fossil scorpion recently 

 found near Wisby in the Silurian formation of Gotland, and 

 remarkable as the most ancient air-breathing land-animal at 

 present discovered. — Prof. Retzius presented the last volume of 

 his great work "Das Gehororgan der Wirbelthiere," and made 

 some remarks on its contents. — Prof. Nordenskjbld communi- 

 cated a "Catalogue of the Meteorites in the Swedish Museum 

 of Natural History," by Herr G. Lindstrom, Assistant Mineral 

 Department. — Prof. Wittrock gave an account (1) of a paper by 

 Dr. Johansson, of Upsala, " On Fungi from Iceland," and (2) of 

 another paper by Dr. Alb. Nilsson "On the mechanical func- 

 tion of the sheaths of Dianthus banaticus, Heuff." — The Secre- 

 tary presented the following papers: — On a quantity of the 

 electrical potential, by Prof. Dahlander. — Sur la sommation des 

 puissances semblables des « premiers nombres entiers, by Dr- 

 C. O. Boije, of Gennas. — On some recently-published mathe- 

 matical papers from the seventeenth century by Bierens de 

 Haan, by Dr. G. Enestrom. — On a proposition from the theory 

 of the elliptic functions, by E. Phragmen.— On substituted 

 cyanamides and melanins, by Dr. P. Claesson. — On Mer&us 

 atiatarius, Eimbeck, found in Sweden, by G. Kolthoff.— On a 

 new Isopod from the coast of Sweden, by Dr. C. Bowallius. — 

 On minerals occurring at Vestra Silfberg, by Dr. Mats Weibull. 

 — A catalogue of the phrenogamous plants and ferns of Jemtland. 

 by Dr. P. Olsson. 



Vienna 



Imperial Academy of Sciences, October 23. — Report on 

 his journeys in the Balkan Peninsula, by F. Toula. — The geo- 

 logical exploration of the Central Balkans and adjacent regions, 

 by the same. 



CONTENTS page 



The Cholera Bacillus 97 



The Haytian Negroes. By Prof. A. H. Keane . . 9S 

 Our Book Shelf: — 



Johow's " Hilfsbuch fur den Schiffbau" 100 



Carr's " Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and 



Applied Mathematics " 100 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Natural Science for Schools. — Walter A. Watts . 101 



Do Flying-Fish Fly? -Dr. John Rae, F.R.S. . . 101 



The JcaiiuMe Drift. — R. S. Newall 102 



A Meteor Visible in the Daytime. — Rev. James 



Graves 102 



Noon-Glow. — D. J. Rowan 102 



Rosy Glow about the Moon. — Robert Leslie ... 102 

 Wild Fowl Decoy. — Sir Ralph Payne Gallwey, 



Bart 102 



Prehistoric Man. — Daniel Pidgeon 102 



Fly-Maggots Feeding on Caterpillars. — J. H. A. 



Jenner; M. E. S 10.5 



The Forbes Memorial.— Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell . . 103 



Thomas Wright, M.D., F.R.S 103 



Robert A. C. Godwin-Austen, F.R.S 104 



Charles Clouston 104 



On the Autumnal Tints of Foliage. By H. C. 



Sorby "05 



A Tornado Photographed. By Prof. Edward S. 



Holden. {Illustrated) 106 



Meteorology of Magdeburg 106 



On a Hydriform Phase of " Lymnocodium 



Sowerbii." By Alfred Gibbs Bourne 107 



Notes >°7 



The Royal Society Anniversary 109 



The Wave Theory of Light, II. By Sir William 



Thomson, F.R.S., LL.D. (Illustrated) 115 



Scientific Serials "8 



Societies and Academies no 



