NATURE 



[July 17, 1884 



in absolute measure of the electrical capacity of a condenser, 

 and on a method of finding by electrical observations the period 

 of a tuning-fork. The paper described experiments conducted 

 according to a method given in "Maxwell," vol. ii. §77^, 

 for measuring the capacity of a condenser. Mr. J. J. 

 Thomson showed (Philosophical Transact ons, 1883, part iii. ) 

 that Maxwell's formula is only approximate, and gave the 

 correct formula, which was used in the author's experiments. 

 In these tuning-forks were used of frequencies approximately 

 16, 32, 64, and 12S to a second, the frequencies being deter- 

 mined by careful comparison with the clock by Lord Rayleigh's 

 method, and the corresponding values found for the capacity 

 were '3336 m.f., '3340 m.f., '3335 m.f., '3337 m.f. The mean 

 is '3337 m.f., and the experiments do not show any variation in 

 the capacity, as the time of changing varies from 1/16 to 1/128 

 of a second. The condenser was furnished by Messrs. Latimer 

 Clark, Muirhead, and Co. The method also gives a ready and 

 accurate means of determining the pitch of a tuning-fork, for if 

 the capacity of the condenser used is known the frequency («) 

 can be determined. The author has used the method successfully 

 for this purpose. Lord Rayleigh objected to mercury contacts in 

 such experiments ; and Dr. Stone said he had found iron and 

 mercury contacts good. — Prof. Herbert Macleod exhibited a sun- 

 shine recorder made by placing a water lens in front of a camera 

 box and lens. Sensitised paper is placed in the bottom of the 

 box so that the focused ray strikes on it, and as the sun moves 

 traces a curved line or band on the paper. Several of these 

 records were shown to the meeting. 



Royal Microscopical Society, June 11. — Rev. W. H. 

 Dallinger, F.R.S., President, in the chair. — Prof. Zenger's 

 method of constructing endomersion objectives by using a 

 mixture of ethereal and fatty oils for correcting chromatic aber- 

 ration was explained and an objective exhibited. — Dr. Wallich 

 exhibited a new condenser which he had devised. — Mr. J. 

 Mayall, jun., exhibited and described his method of applying 

 amplifiers to a microscope, by which a considerable range of 

 magnifying power and working distance was obtained. — Mr. C. 

 Beck exhibited and described a new form of microscope lamp for 

 use in various pathological and physiological investigations. — 

 Notes were read on human spermatozoa with two tails (Mr. 

 Hazlewood), on the potato-blight insect (Mr. Brennan), and on 

 a Spirochete of unusual form (Mr. Cheshire). — Dr. Anthony 

 read a paper on drawing prisms, on which a long and inter- 

 esting discussion took place. — Mr. Dowdeswell read a paper on 

 some appearances in the blood of vertebrate animals with 

 reference to the occurrence of bacteria therein ; Mr. Oxley, on 

 Protospongia pedicellata, a new compound infusorian ; and Mr. 

 C. D. Ahrens on some new polarising prisms which he had 

 devised. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, July 7. — M. Rolland, President, in 

 the chair. — Remarks in connection with a note of M. Berthot on 

 the mutual attraction and repulsion of the molecules of bodies, 

 by M. de Saint- Venant. — Note on the absorption of chlorine by 

 carbon, and on its combination with hydrogen, by MM. Berthe- 

 lot and Guntz. — Remarks on the projected inland sea in North 

 Africa, by M. de Lesseps. The author, who supports the 

 scheme, replies to the objections raised by M. Cosson, and 

 denies that its execution would involve the ruin of the Belad-al- 

 Jerid and Suf districts. — On the cholera epidemic, by M. E. 

 Cosson. While admitting that the present epidemic in the 

 south of France is of the Asiatic type, the author points out that 

 it is of a much less virulent character than previous visitations. 

 The germs of the malady seem to lose their intensity and power 

 of transmission in proportion to the distance of the places 

 whence they have been imported. They may thus be compared 

 to the attenuated virus artificially cultivated by M. Pasteur. 

 The efficacy of military cordons and measures of isolation 

 and disinfection is insisted upon, and illustrated by refer- 

 ence to the results obtained by these precautions during 

 the prevalence of cholera in Algeria in the year 1867. — On 

 the so-called algebraic monothetic equations, in which all the 

 coefficients are functions of a single matrix m, by Prof. Sylvester. 

 — Memoir on the chemical composition and alimentary value of 

 the various constituents of wheat, by M. Aime. Contrary to the 

 generally received opinion, the author concludes, from experi- 

 ments made on himself, that whole meal or household bread, 

 containing all the ingredients of the grain, is less wholesome and 

 more indigestible than pure white bread made of the flour alone. 

 — New researches on the structure of the brain and on the func- 



tions of the white fibres of the cerebral substance, by M. J. Luys. 

 — On the developments bearing on the distance of two points, 

 anal on some properties of the spherical functions, by M. O. 

 Callandreau. — Note on the holomorphous functions of any genus 

 (mathematical analysis), by M. E. Cesaro. — On the determina- 

 tion of longitudes in the region of the Caucasus, letter addressed 

 to M. Faye by General Stebnitski. — Note on the electric con- 

 ductivity of highly diluted aqueous solutions of organic substances, 

 such as ethylic alcohol, glycerine, phenol, glucose, urea, acetone, 

 albumen, ordinary ether, and ethylic aldehyde, by M. E. Bouty. 

 Researches on anhydrous phosphoric acid, by MM. P. Haute- 

 feuille and A. Perrey. — On some new borotungstates, by M. D. 

 Klein. — On the dishydrating action of salts, by M. D. 

 Tommasi. According to the researches of M. Grimaux, salts 

 would appear to favour the coagulation of colloidal substances 

 by acting as dishydratants. But the author shows that in some 1 

 cases certain salts produce the opposite result. — On perseite, a 

 saccharine substance extracted from the berry of Luurus persea, 

 and analogous to mannite, by MM. A. Muntz and V. Marcano. 

 — On the bibromide of metaxylene, metaxylenic glycol, and 

 other derivatives of metaxylene, by M. A. Colson. — Polari- 

 metric researches on the regenerated cellulose of pyroxylenes 

 and on the cellulose subjected to the action of sulphuric acid, by 

 M. A. Levallois. — Experiments on the artificial fabrication of 

 farmyard manure, by M. P. P. Deherain. — Contribution to the 

 comparative anatomy of the races* of mankind : dissection of a 

 Bosjesman, by M. L. Testut. These studies, made on a subject 

 from twelve to fourteen years old, have revealed a muscular 

 system in a more or less rudimentary state, which exists in a 

 normal condition in various anthropoid and other apes, and in 

 some instances even in mammals of other orders. In his re- 

 marks on the paper M. de Quatrefages points out that it supplies 

 no fresh argument in favour of man's descent from a simian 

 prototype. — On the submaxillary of Oligotoma saundersii, 

 CEdipoda cinerascens, Gryllus domesticus, and some other mem- 

 bers of the locust family, by M. J. Chatin. — Researches on the 1 

 transpiration of vegetables under the tropics, by M. V. Mar- 

 cano. — On a new genus of fossil grain (Gnetopsis ediptica, G. 

 trigona, and G. hexagona) from the Upper Carboniferous 

 Measures, by MM. B. Renault and R. Zeiller. 



CONTENTS page 



Professor Tait's "Light." By R. T. Glazebrook . 261 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Munro and Jamieson's " Pocket-Book of Electrical 



Rules and Tables."— A. Gray 262 



Warden and Waddell's " Non-Bacillar Nature of 



Abrus Poison " 263 



Zeigler's " Text-Book of Pathological Anatomy and 



Pathogenesis " 263 



Letters to the Editor :— 



The Late M. Dumas.— Dr. W. H. Perkin, P.C.S. 263 



The Cholera Germ.— E. K 263 



The Mountain System of the Malayan Peninsula. — 



Rev. J. E. Tenison- Woods 264 



Chalk and the " Origin and Distribution of Deep- 



Sea Deposits. "• — J. Starkie Gardner 264 



Animal Intelligence. — T. H. Potts ; Dr. George 



J. Romanes, F.R.S 265 



Diffusion of Scientific Memoirs. — Prof. John Milne 267 



Suicide of Snakes.— Rev. W. R. Manley .... 268 



Sky-Glows.— B. J. Hopkins ; Capt. Frank Petrie 268 



Fireball. — Annie E. Cocking 269 



Butterflies as Botanists.— W. G.fcS 269 



A Cannibal Snake. — John Fotheringham .... 269 

 Fourth Note on the Electrical Resistance of the 



Human Body. By Dr. W. H. Stone 269 



Gas-Burners 270 



Birds-Nest Soup 271 



On the Evolution of Forms of Ornament, II. By 



Prof. Jacobsthal. (Illustrated) 272 



Notes 274 



Zoological Nomenclature, II 277 



Krakatoa 279 



Evidences of the Existence of Light at Great 



Depths in the Sea. By A. E. Verrill 280 



Artificial Lighting. By R. E. B. Crompton .... 281 



Societies and Academies 283 



