2l6 



NA TITRE 



[December 28, 1905 



and agreeing also remarkably well with the calculated 

 value. In the observations, however, which had extended 

 over the last four years, there existed undoubted evidence 

 >of a shift which could not be explained in terms of any 

 known motions. It would be interesting to see how this 

 shift continued as the sun-spot cycle passed through its 

 approaching maximum. The only suggestion which the 

 author had to offer in explanation was the possible effect 

 of a changing pressure in the sun in the neighbourhood 

 of the material giving the line. — Observations on the 

 normal temperature of the monkey and its diurnal vari- 

 ation, and on the effect of changes in the daily routine 

 on this variation: Drs. Sutherland Simpson and J. J. 

 Galbraith. The diurnal temperature variation in the 

 monkey had considerable range, being about twice that 

 of man in normal health. The temperature reached its 

 maximum during the day and its minimum at night. 

 When b) artificial illumination and darkening of the 

 room day and night were interchanged, and when at the 

 same time the meals were altered appropriately, the 

 temperature variation was found to change also, the 

 maximum always coming during the time of activity. 

 Starvation for three days quite did away with the rhythmic- 

 character of the variation. — Notes on the effect of electric 

 oscillations (co-directional and transverse) on the magnetic 

 properties of iron : J. Russell. The oscillations were 

 obtained from an induction coil, and their general effect 

 was greatly to increase the induction in moderate fields, 

 and also to increase the hysteresis during a complete cycle. 

 When the cycles were compared between the same limits 

 of induction, the effect of the electric oscillations was to 

 diminish the hysteresis. — Some electrical measurements on 

 metals : Dr. C. E. Fawsitt. The aim of the experiments 

 was to measure the electromotive position of two specimens 

 of the same metal, one of which had been rapidly cooled 

 and hardened and the other slowly cooled and annealed. 

 I he metals used were silver, gold, and platinum, and in 

 ill cases the hardened amorphous form was found to be 

 electropositive to the annealed crystalline form when placed 

 in dilute acid, the potential difference being about 0013 

 volt. 



New South Wales. 



Linnean Society, September 27. — Mr. T. Steel, president, 

 in the chair. — Notes from the Botanic Gardens, Sydney, 

 No. 11 : J. H. Maiden and E. Betche. In addition to 

 several new species and varieties described, the following 

 species are recorded as new for New South Wales : — 

 Capparis sarmentosa, A. Cunn., from the Macpherson 

 Range; Casearia esculenta, Roxb., from the same locality 

 (the discovery of this species adds another order, 

 Samydacea?, to the flora of New South Wales) ; Pultenaea 

 mollis, Lindl., from Gilgandra ; Eryihroxylon australe, 

 F.v.M., from the Macpherson Range ; Strychnos psilo- 

 sperma, F.v.M., from the same locality; Marsilea angusti- 

 folia, R.Br., from Gilgunnia. — Notes on the native flora 

 of New South Wales, part iv., the occurrence of Casuarina 

 striata, Ait., on the Narrabeen shales : R. H. Cambage. 

 Casuarina stricta is one of the sheoaks found chiefly in 

 the southern part of Australia, including Tasmania, and 

 it is also common in the interior of New South Wales. 

 The author recently found it growing on the Narrabeen 

 shale formation at Newport. The shales dip southerly from 

 Narrabeen, and pass under Tort Jackson at a depth of 

 nearly 1000 feet, but outcrop again at Otford and Stanwell 

 Park, where C, stricta also reappears. The theory is 

 advanced that in late or post-Tertiary time this species 

 flourished on what is now regarded by geologists as the 

 submerged continental shelf, but formerly was a continu- 

 ation of the present land-surface, extending, perhaps, 

 twenty miles easterly to the 100-fathom line. As the 

 Narrabeen -hales in the vicinity of Port Jackson also rise 

 to the eastward, they would probably have formed the 

 surface in places beyond the present shore-line, and it is 

 suggested thai C. stricta worked its way up from the 

 south, partly along this old land-surface, but, owing to 

 the subsidence, has all been destroyed with the exception 

 of these isolated remnants at Newport, Otford, and Jervis 

 Bay.— Censu- Muscorum Australiensiura : a classified cata- 

 logue of the frondose mosses of Australia ami Tasmania, 



NO. 1887, VOL. 73] 



collated from available publications and herbaria records : 

 part ii. : Rev. W. W. Watts and T. Whitelegge. This 

 second part of the census completes the mosses known as 

 acrocarps. About 370 species are listed. 



October 25. — Mr. T. Steel, president, in the chair. 

 — The geology of the New Hebrides : D. Mawson. 

 The following is a summary of the author's con- 

 clusions : — The chain of islands forming the New 

 Hebrides group owes its existence primarily to the de- 

 velopment during Miocene times of a fold-ridge apparently 

 continuous with that passing around the north of New 

 Guinea through Sumatra and on to the better known 

 region of the Himalayas and southern Europe. In the 

 New Hebrides the folding period was preceded by local 

 shallow marine conditions and subdued volcanic activity. 

 The folding force would appear to have been exerted from 

 the direction of Fiji against the foreland of New Caledonian 

 crystalline schists and gneisses; a single ridge probably 

 resulted defining the western line of islands where ex- 

 tensive outcrops of Miocene strata are exposed — in Santo, 

 Malekula, and possibly Efate. 



CONTENTS. page 



The Chemistry of Plants. By F. Escombe .... 193 



Experiments with Explosives. By J. S. S. B. . . . 194 



Causality and the Human Will 194 



Ions and Organisms . . 195 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Fiebeger : "Civil Engineering: A Text-book for a 



Short Course."— E. G. C 196 



Flammarion : " Thunder and Lightning " 196 



" Photography for the Press " 196 



Irving : " How to Know the Starry Heavens" . . . 196 

 Letters to the Editor: — 



Magnetic Storms and Aurora?. — Dr. Alexander 



Graham Bell; Prof. H. Gedmuyden .... 197 

 The Origin of Variations in Animals and Plants. — ■ 



Prof. T. D. A. Cockerell 197 



An Acoustical Method for the Demonstration of the 



Magnetism of Liquids. — T. Terada 197 



The Panama Canal. (Illustrated.) 19S 



The Biometrics of Brain- Weights 200 



The Head-Hunters of Borneo. [Illustrated.) By R. L. 203 



Report of the Geological Survey 204 



Notes 204 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comet 1905 c 20S 



Eclipse Spectra 20S 



Ionisation of the Atmosphere During Total Solar 



Eclipse 20S 



Measures of Double Stars 208 



Graphical Method for finding the Time of Moonrise . 2< 8 

 New Buildings of the Glasgow and West of Scot- 

 laud Technical College. (Illustrated.) By G. A. G. 20S 

 Recent Studies of Periods in Meteorology .... 209 



Antarctic Earthquakes 210 



Technical Education for Fishermen. By J. J. . . . 211 

 Life-History of the Emperor Penguin. By Edward 



A. Wilson 211 



University and Educational Intelligence 212 



Societies and Academies 213 



