NA TURE 



\_May 29, 1884 



by post; Dancer's objects found in flue-dust and coal-ash; 

 minnow-trough ; B. W. Thomas's Foraminifera ob- 

 tained by washing clay from tin- boulder drift in Minnesota, 

 showing forms identical with some now found living in the At- 

 lantic Ocean ; some exceptionally well mounb : lid ofarranged 

 Ih.it. .in. In k. Getschmann of Berlin; some curious Schizo- 

 mycetes by Mr. Cheshire, and a rotaliau from closed Hint nodu- 

 ]■,; cavitj ••■ '"to chalcedony, by Dr. G. C. 



Wallich. -' --Dr. P. 11. Carpenter gave an account of his . « 

 respecting the nervous system of the Crinoidea, and exl 

 1 .reparations in illustration of them. He directed al 



' rly to the branches from the axial cords of the 



skeletal ad upwards into the ventral perisome at the 



mbul tci l, both of the arm : and "1 the disk.— -The 



p isher, vice-president, and Mr. A. W. Bennett, 



v re ap] linted D for the 



1 



er, N.\ .. I .S.A., on August 19 



next. 



Royal Meteorological Society, May 21. — R. II. Scott, 

 F.R.S.. president, in the chair. — Capt. W. W. Hamilton and 

 C. D. F. Phillips, v,.i ... 1 . R.C.S., F.R.S.E., v 1 

 Fellows of the Society. — The following papers were read: — 

 Notes on the proceedings of the International Pol 

 held at Vienna, April 1*7 to 34, 1SS4, by R. II. Scott, F.R.S., 

 presides ' "its on the Maloja Plateau, 



Upper Engadine, 6000 feet above the sea, by Dr. A. T. 

 The Maloja Plateau is situated at the higher extremity of the 

 Upper Engadine, and is protected from northerly, easterly, and 

 southerly winds. The author gives some account of the meteo- 

 rology of this plateau, and also the observations made during 

 the four months from November 1883 to February 1SS4. — On 

 some results of an examination of the barometric variations in 

 Western India, by A. N. Pearson. — Illustrations of the mode 

 of taking meteorological averages by the method of weighing 

 papei diagrams, by R. Inwards, F.R.A.S. — Ten years' weathei 

 in the Midlands, by Rupert T. Smith. 



Edinburgh 



Royal Society. May 5. — Mr. Robert Gray in the chair. — 

 Dr. Sang gave a paper on the formula; for computing loga- 

 rithmic sines. — Mr. J. Murray communicated a paper, b) Mi. 

 T. T. Cunningham, on a new Trematode. — Mr. George Seton 

 read a paper on the vital statistics of Scotland : and Prof. Turner 

 gave a communication, by Mr. A. YVynter Blyth, on the results 

 of experiments made by him on the chief disinfectants of com- 

 merce. His object in experimenting was to discover their 

 efficiency in destroying the spores of Anthrax bacillus. 



May 19. — Mr. Robert Gray, vice-president, in the chair. — 

 Prof. Chrystal communicated a note, by M. Hermite, " Sur la 

 Reduction des Integrates Hyperelliptiques." — Prof. Schuster, at 

 the request of the Council of the Society, gave an address on the 

 discharge of electricity through gases. His address was illus- 

 trated by several beautiful experiments. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, May 19. — M. Rolland, president, in 

 the chair. — Note on a theorem of M. A. Lindstedt concerning 

 the problem of the three bodies, by M. F. Tisserand. — On bromic 

 substitutions, by MM. Berthelot and Werner. — Kinematic analysis 

 of the action of walking in man (four illustrations), by M. Marey. 

 — Note on the twenty-three first sheets of the map of Africa to 

 the scale of I : 2,000,000, presented by Col. Perrier to the 

 Academy, by M. F. Perrier. The map, which is mainly the 

 work of Capt. de Lannoy, will consist altogether of sixty-two 

 sheets, and is expected to be completed towards the end of 1SS7. 

 — Pathological experiments on rabies, by M. Pasteur, assisted by 

 MM. Chamberland and Roux. — Note on the attenuation of 

 cultivated virus treated with compressed oxygen, by M. A. 

 Chauveau. — Note on the transformation of conieine to propyl- 

 pyridine ; regeneration of conieine, by M. A. W. Hofmann. 

 — Observations on the new planet 2 ;■ at Vienna, by 



M. I. Palisa, on April 26, 1S84), made at the Paris Observatory 

 (equatorial of the west tower), by M. G. Bigourdan. — Determi- 

 nation of the elements of rotation of the sun, by M. Sporer. — 

 Properties of nine points of a left curve of the fourth order, of 

 seven points of a left cubic, of eight associated points, by M. A. 

 Petot. — On a linear equation of the third order analogous to 

 Lame's equation, by M. E. Goursat. — Remarks relative to the 

 velocity of propagation of the wave produced in the Indian 



1 )cean by the Krakatoa eruption, by M. Boussinesq. — Adoption 



by the Vienna International Polar Conference of new absolute 

 magnetii unities (centimetre, gramme, second), by M. Mascart. 



New method of in. asuring the intensity of an electric current 

 in absolute unities, by M. Henri Becquerel. — Note on a new mer- 

 curial galvanometer, by M. G. Lippmann. — On the variations of 

 .1 properties of bismuth placed in a magnetic field, by 

 '', I I 11 - 1 In the coefficients of expansion in the elementary 

 eases, by M. J. M. Crafts. — On the various theoretic results that 

 considered in steam engines, byM. 1'. Charpentier. — 

 (in the transmission of sound by gases, by M. Neyreneuf. — 

 Note on the variation of the indices of refraction of quartz under 

 the influence of temperature, by M. If. Dufet. — On the deter- 

 mination of the /pour by gaseous displacement 

 under reduce.! and variable pressure, by M. J. Meunier. — Action 

 of the sulphuret of potassium on the sulphuret of mercury, 

 by M. Debray. — On the acid phosphates of baryta, by 

 \j. v. [oly. — On the solubility of salts, by M. EtarcT. 



Mote on crystallised chloride of ammoniacal silvei and 

 iodide of ammoniacal silver, by M. Terreil. — On an artificial 

 pseudomorphosis of silica, by" M. A. Gorgeu.— Analysis of the 

 mineral waters of Brucourt, Calvados (Normandy), by M. 

 Vulpian. — On the employment of superphosphates in agri- 

 culture; observations in connection with a recent note of M. 

 Led 11. by M. 1'. P. Deherain. — Comparative nitrifying 

 ime salts either naturally contained in or superadded 

 to vegetable soils, by M. P. Pichard. — A new series of experi 

 ments on the differential perception of colours, by M. Aug. Char- 

 pentier. — Note on the brain of Eunice harassii and its relations 

 to the hypo.lcrm. by M. Et. Jourdan. — On the genus Rhopalea 

 (simple Ascidians), by M. L. Roule.— On the presence oi the 

 Egyptian Naja (Naja haje, Dumer.) in Tunis, by M. Valory 

 Mayet. — Pretended influence of light on the anatomii 

 of the leaves oi Allium ursinum, by M. Ch. Musset. — Remarks 

 on a hypsometric map of Russia, by General de Tillo. — On the 

 remarkable solar halo recently observed at Palermo, by M. A. 

 Ricco. — Fresh observations on the crepuscular lights seen in the 

 Isle of Bourbon, by M. Pelagaud. 



CONTENTS Page 



The Dilution of Dog Poison 97 



The Mammalia of India and Ceylon 98 



North American Mollusca. By Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys, 



F.R.S 99 



Our Book Shelf: — 



Step's "Plant-Life" 99 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Equatorial Coude of the Paris Observatory.— 



Howard Grubb, F.R.S 100 



The Earthquake.— H. C. Sorby, F.R.S. ; Antoine 



d'Abbadie ; A. Shaw Page 101 



Instinct in Birds.— R. S. S 102 



A Remarkably Brilliant Meteor. — Rev. John 



Hoskyns-Abrahall .' 102 



Right-sidedness.— E. H 102 



Modern Travel— A Scientific Education 102 



The Late Monsieur Wurtz 103 



Robert Angus Smith. By Prof. T. E. Thorpe, 



F.R.S 104 



Norwegian Geodetical Operations 105 



Saturn (Illustrated) 105 



Earth Currents 106 



Notes '°7 



Geographical Notes 109 



The Movements of the Earth, IV. By J. Norman 



Lockyer, F.R.S. (Illustrated) no 



The Royal Commission on Technical Instruction . 113 

 On the Nomenclature, Origin, and Distribution of 

 Deep-Sea Deposits, II. By John Murray and Rev. 



A. Renard I[ 4 



University and Educational Intelligence 117 



Scientific Serials 118 



Societies and Academies 118 



