6i8 



NA TURE 



lApril 30, 1885 



of spore formation, and were surrounded by a capsule. Micro- 

 cocci abundint in masses, diplococci and short chaplets. He 

 also exhibited a drawing of the bacilli. — Mr. J. Mayall, jun., 

 exhibited the diamonds belonging to the ruling machine of the 

 late F. A. Nobert, a typical one being shown under the micro- 

 scope by Mr. Powell. They had been submitted to various 

 diamond experts and workers with conflicting results, but the 

 careful examination made by Mr. L. Fletcher of the British 

 Museum with the goniometer, showed that in nearly every 

 instance the edges were formed by one natural fracture and one 

 polished face. — Mr. Hardy exhibited a colony of Vorticella;, 

 having the stalks agglutinated in a bundle, and covered with 

 transparent gelatinous matter. It was found erect on leaves in 

 colonies of 50 to 100, and appearing when loose very like large 

 conochilu". — Mr. Cheshire exhibited a remarkable slide showing 

 c inductive nerve-threads escaped from the sheath of the 

 ganglionic chain running through the first three segments of the 

 abdomen of Vespa vulgaris. 



Chemical Society April 16.— Dr. W. H. Perkirt, F.R.S., 

 Vice- P resident, in the chair. — The following papers were read : — 

 A crystalline tricupric sulphate, by W. H. Shenstone. — A modi- 

 fied Bunsen burner, by W. H. Shenstone. — Note on the history 

 of Thionyl Chloride, by C. Schorlemmer, F.R.S. — On the 

 reactions of selerious acid with hydrogen sulphide and of 

 sulphurous acid with hydrogen selenide, by E. Divers and T. 

 Shimidzu. — On a new and simple method of quantitative 

 separation of tellurium and selenium, by E. Divers and M. 

 Shimose. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, April 20. — M. Bouley, President, in 

 the chair. — Account of a new process fir liquefying oxygen, by 

 M. L. Cailletet. This process, the result of experiments recently 

 conducted in the Physical Laboratory of the Soibonne, is so 

 simple and of such easy application that it may henceforth be 

 introduced into the ordinary practice of the laboratory, and even 

 at lectures and before public audiences. — On the 

 various hypotheses regarding the true nature of the purple of 

 Cassius, by M. H. Debray. — Remarks on M. Poincare's theory 

 respecting the influence of the lunar tides on the trade winds, 

 by M. Faye. It is suggested that M. Poincare should be invited 

 to give wider scope to his studies in this branch of meteorology, 

 with a view to more fully testing the law that he has already 

 deduced from his remarkable observations. — Note on the differ- 

 ences apparently presented by the various regions of the gray 

 cerebral substance known as psycho-motor centies, as rejards 

 their different degrees of excitability, by M. Vulpian. The 

 author rejects Pfliiger's hitherto generally accepted theory, and, 

 from further experiments carried out on the dog, arrives at totally 

 different results. — Nebulae discovered and recorded at the Ob- 

 servatory of Marseilles, by M. E. Stephan. The nebulae ob- 

 served at this oh ervatory during the years 1SS3-S4 are here 

 arranged in tables showing the order and date of their dis- 

 covery, right ascension, and mean polar distance for 1SS5. 

 — Experiments recently made in Holland on an applica- 

 tion of the system of large movable tubes of the pumping 

 apparatus constructed at the sluice-gates on the Aubors River, 

 by M. A. de Caligny. — Explorations of the mission sent to 

 report on the recent earthquakes in the south of Spain, by M. 

 Fouquet. Pending the publication of a complete memoir, a 

 summary is here given of the observations made on the scene of 

 1 1 ranees, with a view to determining their extent, effects, 

 and probable origin. — On the geological constitution of the 

 Serrania de Ronda, which occupies the western section of the 

 region chiefly affected by the earthquake of December 25, 1S84, 

 in Andalusia ; report by MM. Michel Levy and T. Bergeron. — 

 On the Secondary and Tertiary formations of Andalusia (pro- 

 vinces of Grenada and Malaga), report by MM. M. Bertrand 

 and W. Kilian. — On the geological constitution of the Sierra 

 Nevada, the Alpujarras, and Sierra de Almijara, report 

 MM. Ch. Barrois and Alb. Offret.— On the rotation 

 of a heavy body suspended by a point of its axis, by M. 

 Halphen. In this paper the author completes Jacobi's theory 

 that the rotatory movement of a heavy body around a point of 

 its axis may be replaced by the relative movement of two bodies 

 'on which no accelerating force is exercised. — On the equilibrium 

 of a liquid mass to which a rotatory movement has been com- 

 municated, by M. H. Poincare. — Application of the empirical 

 formula of mutual forces to the mechanical laws of solids 

 and the general properties of bodies, by M. P. Berthot. — 



Note on two new indicators for taking the quantitative 

 analysis rlkalimetrically of the caustic ba-es in the presence 

 of the carbonates, by MM. R. EngelandJ. Ville. — On the vola- 

 tile properly of the oxygenised nitrites, by M. I.. Henry. — On 

 the formation of the alkaloids in pulmonary and other - aladies, 

 by M. Yilliers. — On the part played by the winds in agriculture, 

 their influence a chief cause of the fertility of Limagne d'Au- 

 vergne, by M. Alluard. — Note on the relation between the lunar 

 declination and the mean latitude of the starting-points of the 

 trade-winds, by M. A. Poincare.— On the anatomical characters 

 of the leaf and on epharmonism in the family of the Vismias, by 

 M. J. Vesque. — On the variations in the respiration of plants at 

 the different stages of their development, by MM. G. Bonnier 

 and L. Mangin. — On the origin of the loam of the plateaux of 

 Western Europe, by M. A. de Lapparent. — Note on a new 

 method of defence against mildew in the French vineyards, by 

 M. Miniere. 



Rome 



Reale Accademia dei L-incei, December 14, 1SS4. — Influ- 

 ence of magnetism on embryogeny. Prof. Maggiorani made a 

 communication to the Academy regarding his own researches on 

 the influence of magnetism on embryogeny, and in one of the 

 last sittings of the last academical session he made a statement 

 as to some of the results at which he had arrived. He explained 

 how the observations had up to that time been made on adult 

 animals developed from magnetised eggs ; in his more recent 

 researches Prof. Maggiorani has studied the effect of magnetism 

 on the formation of the embryo. In this case also he found 

 that magnetism has a retarding action on the development of the 

 embryo. In the experiments which he made in conjunction 

 with Dr. Magini eggs that had been subjected to the action of 

 magnets of different powers, and others that had not been so 

 treated, were placed in an incubator. The eggs used were fresh, 

 and every external source of disturbance was avoided. None 

 of the eggs escaped the retarding action of the magnetism, the 

 effect of which was found to be proportional to the strength of 

 the magnet employed and the duration of its action. Greater 

 activity seems to be manifested during the first ten days than 

 during subsequent periods. In the first few days there was 

 observed the curious phenomenon of an exceptional 

 energy in tin vital functions of the embryo, an energy which 

 contrasts with the subsequent retardation which the embryo 

 undergoes in its own development. According to Prof. Maggio- 

 rani this last fact i- a direct consequence of the initial increased 

 energy of the vital processes, that increase of energy injuriously 

 affecting the general nourishment of the embryo. The author 

 concludes by proposing another explanation of the phenomenon, 

 by means of interference, and he adduces some interesting 

 analogies between the so-called vital force and magnetism. — On 

 the fossil ziphioid found in the Pliocene sands of Fangonero near 

 Siena. Signor G. Capellini read a paper on the Ziphioid 

 {Choneziphius p!aniro Iris) found in the Pliocene sands of Fan- 

 gonero near Siena. Two portions of the skull of this interest- 

 ing- delphinoid were found at Antwerp in 1S09 and 1S12, but 

 hitherto no other remains of it had been discovered 

 I ast year Prof. C. d'Ancona having acquired for the Florentine 

 Museum portions of a skull and some other bone- ! 



near Siena, Prof. Capellini recognised that the fossil remains 

 belonged to the same species of Ziphioid which had oeen illus- 

 trated by Cuvier in 1823 under the name of , 

 Iris. '1 he portion of the specimen found at Siena supplies what 

 was wanting in tho-e obtained at Antwerp, and remove- all doubt 

 as to the true position of this singular cetacean ; and enables us 

 ish correlations between the Upper Tertiary of Italy and 

 Belgium, the sand- 'f Montpellier, and the crag of England. 

 According to Prof. Capellini, the fossil ce 

 Siena is closely allied to the Ziphius caviroslris of the pi 

 a cosmopolitan species captured on several occasions even in the 

 Mediterranean. — The English sunshine-recorder and die Italian 

 lucimeter applied to agrarian meteorology. Prof. G. Cantoni 

 drew the attention of the members of the Academy to the fact 

 that at the beginning of the year Him had brought forwa d in 

 actinometer of his own invention founded on the principle 

 applied by the Italian Bellani to a small instrument which he 

 reproduced, afterwards devoting himself to finding out a method 

 for making out of it a lucimeter capable of being used by agri- 

 culturists. Prof. Cantoni has made numerous experiments on the 

 lucimeter of Bellani, comparing its indications with those of the 

 sunshine-recorder. Employing these two instruments together he 



