5 o8 



NA TURE 



{Sept. 1 8, 1884 



as much as food for the body. Now, I am sure I can safely 

 assert that, in the investigation and discovery of the secrets and 

 mysteries of the heavens, the human intellect finds most invi- 

 gorating exercise, and most nourishing and growth-making 

 aliment. What other scientific facts and conceptions are more 

 effective in producing a modest, sober, truthful, and ennobling 

 estimate of man's just place in Nature, both of his puny insig- 

 nificance, regarded as a physical object, and his towering spirit, 

 in some sense comprehending the universe itself, and so akin to 

 the divine ? 



A nation bound to the dust, and near to starving, needs first, 

 most certainly, the trades and occupations that will feed and 

 clothe it. When bodily comfort has I een achieved, then higher 

 needs and wants appear ; and then science, for truth's own sake, 

 comes to be lovi d and honoured along with poetry and art, 

 leading men into a larger, higher, and nobler life. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 

 The Journal of the Franklin Institute for July contains : — 

 How to determine the grade of expansion anil the size of a 

 steam-engine which is to perform a given duty with the least 

 total expenditure of money per working hour, by L. D'Auria. — 

 Present state of the subject : " Heat of combustion of coal, by 

 Chief Engineer Isherwood, U.S.N, (with figures and tables). — 

 New York to Chicago in seventeen hours, by W. Barnet Le 

 Van (4 diagrams). — Electro-dynamics, by John W. Nystrom. — 

 A short paper criticising Moncel's formulae in " Electricity as a 

 Motive Power." — The ellipticity of planets, by Pliny Earle 

 Chase, LL.D. — The discharge of turbine water-wheels, by. J. 

 P. Frizell (with tallies). — The iridium industry, by Wm. L. 

 Dudley (illustrated). — Physical and chemical tests of steel for 

 boiler and ship plates for the U.S. Government cruisers, by 

 Pedro G. Salom (5 pages of tables). — To tell iron from steel 

 in small pieces (translated from Dingler's Polytcchnisch.es Journal, 

 by W. F. Worthington, U.S.N. —Report on the trial of the 

 " City of Fall River," by J. E. Sague, M.E., and J. B. Adger, 

 M.E. — Correspondence. — Book Notices. — Franklin Institute. — 

 Items. — Low temperatures. — Ventilation of sewers. — Marsant's 

 safety lamp. 



Rivista Scientifico-Induslriale, June and July. — Exposition of 

 a new 1116017 on the formation of hailstones ; experiments on 

 their artificial production, by Prof. Giovanni Luvini. — Remarks 

 on radiant heat in connection with the second law of thermo- 

 dynamics, by Prof. Adolfo Bartoli. — On the various hypotheses 

 hitherto proposed to harmonise the results of the theory of 

 radiation with the second law of thermodynamics, by the same 

 author. — On Lambrecht's thermo-hygroscope, by the Editor. — 

 Researches on the persistence of life and the vital functions in 

 insects after decapitation, by Dante Roster. 



Bulletin de V Acadimie Royale de Betgique, June 7. — Obituary 

 notice of M. F. Duprez, by M. Van der Mensbrugghe. — A 

 contribution to the study of drinking-waters, and especially of 

 those supplied to the city of Louvain, by M. Bias. — Researches 

 on the germination of linseed and sweet almonds, by M. A. 

 Jorissen. — On the Marine Station at Edinburgh, by MM. Van 

 Beneden and Renard. — Note on a flint instrument discovered in 

 the Quaternary alluvia of Hainaut in association with the re- 

 mains of the mammoth, rhinoceros, and horse, by F. L. Cornet. 

 — Discourse pronounced at the obsequies of M. Louis Hymans, 

 by M. Wagener. — On gymnastic exercises in the Belgian educa- 

 tional establishments, by M. Vincent de Block. — On the poeti- 

 cal works of Jean d'Outremeuse, by M. Stanislas Bormans. 



Archives des Sciences physiques el naturelles (de Geneve), j 

 periode, tomes ix. and x., 1883. — On electrolytic condensers, by 

 C. E. Guillaume. — The determination of the absolute capacity 

 of some condensers in electro-magnetic units, by M. Schneebeli. 

 — On the theory of atmospheric absorption of solar radiation, by 

 J. Maurer. — Note on cometary refraction, by G. Cellerier. — 

 Researches on the absorption of ultra-violet rays by various 

 bodies, by J. L. Soret. — Remarkable movements which some- 

 times follow the fall of hailstones and sleet, by D. Colladon. — 

 Theory of dynamo-electric machinery, by R. Clausius. — Adjust- 

 ment of resistance coils, by S. P. Thompson. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



PARIS 

 Academy of Sciences, September 8. — M. Rolland, Pre- 

 sident, in the cha!.-, — The sitting was opened by the President 



with a few remarks on the ninety-ninth anniversary of M. 

 Chevreul, doyen of the Academy. — Researches on the general 

 development of vegetation in an annual plant (continued) : 

 nitrous elements and mineral constituents, by MM. Berthelot 

 and Andre. — Note on the general resolution of the linear equa- 

 tion in matrices of any order, by Prof. Sylvester. — Remarks on 

 balloon steering, by M. Duroy de Bruignac. The author con- 

 siders that the experiment of August 9 at Chalais introduces a 

 new phase of aerial navigation ; and that the problem hitherto 

 regarded as hopeless may soon be completely solved. It must, 

 however, always remain of difficult application, the results de- 

 pending on two essential conditions : that is, the necessity of 

 increasing the propelling power and of diminishing the resist- 

 ance of the air. A simple calculation shows that this resistance 

 is in proportion to the cube of the sine in the angle of incidence 

 of the prevailing atmospheric current. Hence for the small 

 angles, which are rightly preferred, we get a variation of from 

 2° to 4 s double or treble, or thereabouts, a tremendous obstacle, 

 which has to be overcome. — Observations of the new Borelly 

 planet 240, made at the Observatory of Algiers, by M. 

 Ch. Trepied. — Observations of the solar spots and taeniae 

 made at the Observatory of the Collegio Romano during the 

 second quarter of the present year, by M. Tacchini. — A new 

 contribution to the question of the origin of the phosphates of lime 

 in the South- West of France, by M. Dieulafait. The author refers 

 these formations to the action of saline waters during the Tertiary 

 epoch, analogous to if not identical with those of the lagoons at 

 the present time. The saline and concentrated waters of these 

 lagoons, which certainly existed in Tertiary times, played a 

 double part in the production of the natural phosphates of lime. 

 In the first place they attacked the limestone rocks far more 

 actively than ordinary water could have done ; and then they 

 contribute directly phosphoric acid, which is still being deposited 

 in the shallow lagoons of the Rhone delta. — Experiments made 

 for the purpose of testing the influence of pulps and other arti- 

 ficially prepared foods on cow : s milk, by MM. A. Andouard 

 and V. Dezaunay. These experiments, carried on during the 

 years 1S83 and 1884, tended to show that the prepared foods 

 acted injuriously on the milk, but increased the quantity of butter 

 without affecting its quality. — On the Sjlar coronas recently 

 observed in Switzerland, at Nice, and elsewhere, by M. L. 

 Thollon. From a comparative study of the different accounts 

 received of these phenomena, the author concludes that they are 

 not merely halos, but true coronas, that is, an effect of diffraction 

 produced either by fine dust or by light particles of moisture 

 present in the elevated regions of the atmosphere. — Description 

 of a meteor observed at the Trocadero Observatory on the night 

 of September 5, by M. L. Jaubert. 



CONTENTS Page 



The Zoological Collections of H. M.S. "Alert". 485 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



The Flow of Streams. — George Maw ; J. P. G. 



Smith. (Illustrated) 4S6 



Ocean Swells. — Col. H. H. Godwin-Austen . . 4S7 



Salmon-Breeding. — Francis Day 48S 



Hydrodictyon in the Eastern Counties. — Rev. J. C. 



Saunders 488 



The Sky-Glows.— J. Edmund Clark ; J. Gledhill ; 



Clement L. Wragge ; W. Larden 488 



Pipe-Clay.— A.. Hale 489 



Repulsion.— D. D. Heath 490 



Fellow-Feeling in House-Flies and Swallows. — 



J. M. H 490 



Rainbow on Spray. — Frank E. Cane 490 



Japanese Education 490 



British Birds at the Natural History Museum. 



(Illustrated) 49 1 



Notes 494 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Astronomical Photography 496 



'[ lie British Association Catalogue of Stars .... 496 



The Comet 1884* 49" 



The British Association : — 



Reports 49 6 



Pending Problems of Astronomy. By Prof. C. A. 



Young 5 CI 



Scientific Serials 5°S 



Societies and Academies 5 C '8 



