628 



NA TURE 



\Oct. 23, 1884 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 Paris 



Academy of Sciences, October 13. — M. Rolland, Presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — Note on the theory of the figure of the 

 earth, by M. F. Tisserand. — On the decomposition of the oxide 

 of copper by heat, by MM. Debray and Joannis. — Note on the 

 sulphuret of carbon, and the application of a solution of this 

 substance in water to the treatment of the vine attacked by 

 phylloxera, by M. Eug. Peligot. Its solubility in water is 

 shown to be considerably greater than that recently determined by 

 M. Ckiandi. At the ordinary temperature water dissolves 

 3'5 c.c. per litre, or 4^52 grm., its density being I "293. Its 

 antiseptic properties have also been fully confirmed by the further 

 investigations of M. Pasteur, who anticipates that it will become 

 the most efficacious of all antiseptics, it being also the cheapest, 

 costing only a few centimes per litre. It is, moreover, the best 

 known insecticide, and has already rendered great services in the 

 destruction of phylloxera. At present 30,000 hectares of vineyards 

 are yearly treated with over four million kilogrammes of the sul- 

 phuret of carbon with "excellent results. When applied in the 

 form of a sulphocarbonate of potassium it has a double action, 

 the sulphuret killing the insect, and the potassa, an essentially 

 fertilising element, enriching the soil. — On the nitrates present 

 in plants (continued), by MM. Berthelot and Andre. Their 

 distribution during the various periods of vegetable growth, and 

 their relation to the total proportion of the fundamental elements, 

 potassium and nitre, contained simultaneously in the leaves, stem, 

 root, and flower, are discussed by the authors. — Observations 

 made at the Observatory of Marseilles during the recent total 

 eclipse of the moon, by MM. Stephan and Borelly. The 

 occupations of several stars contained in the list supplied for 

 the purpose by M. Struve of the Pulkowa Observatory were 

 observed. — Note on the map of the erratic phenomena and 

 ancient glaciers on the northern slope of the Swiss Alps and of 

 the Mont Blanc range, by M. Alph. Favre. This map, drawn 

 to the scale of I : 250,000, indicates the extreme development 

 of the old glaciers, and, as far as possible, the glacial drift, 

 erratic boulders, and moraines deposited in this region during 

 the period of glaciation. The glacier basins, marked in dif- 

 ferent colours, by no means coincide with the present hydro- 

 graphic systems of the country. Six great glaciers are enumer- 

 ated : that of the Arve, stretching from Mont Blanc to Lake 

 Bourget ; that of the Rhone, running from Furca in one direc- 

 tion to Lyons, in another to the Rhine near Laufenburg ; that 

 of the Aar, extending from the glaciers of that name to Berne ; 

 that of the Reuss, issuing from Mont Saint-Gothard and ter- 

 minating near the Rhine ; that of the Limmat, stretching from 

 the Claris highlands to the Rhine ; lastly, the vast glacier of the 

 Rhine issuing from the Grisons, traversing Suabia, and termin- 

 ating near Sigmaringen on the left bank of the Danube. — Ob- 

 servations made at the Observatory of Marseilles of the planets 

 240 and 241, and of Max Wolf's new comet, by M. Stephan. — 

 Description of a new galvanometer with astatic needles (one illus- 

 tration), by M. E. Ducretet. — Note on the mechanical dislocation 

 of the persistent images left on the retina of the eye after gazing on 

 highlyilluminatedbodies(oneillustration), byM. F. P. LeRoux. — 

 Note on a preparation oftrichloruretted camphor, by M. Cazeneuve. 

 — Description of the first larva from the eggof Epicauta verticalis, 

 by M. II. Beauregard. — Note on two new species of simple 

 Ascidians (family of the Phallusiadese), by M. Roule. — On the 

 anatomical structure of Anchynia rubra, by M. N. Wagner. — 

 Account of a new insect of the genus Phylloxera {Phylloxera 

 solids, Lichtenstein), by M. J. Lichtenstein. — Note on a meteor 

 recently observed near Royan, by M. Chapel. — Remark, on 

 M. Paul Venukoff's new work " On the Deposits of Devonian 

 Formation in Russia," by M. Daubree. — Note on a block of 

 pumice found on April 13, fifteen miles off the Madagascar 

 coast, in 14° 35' S. lat., 48° 2' E. long., and supposed to have 

 come from the Krakatoa eruption, by M. Alph. Milne- 

 Edwards. 



Stockholm 



Society of Natural Sciences, 

 Sandahls, President, in the chair. — Dj 



of his researches this summer at the zoologico-botanic station 

 established at Dr. Regnell's expense at Kristineberg, in the 

 province of Bonus, as to the mechanical power of the higher 

 Algas to endure strain, and thereby resist the swell of the sea. 

 He described his method, and gave an account of the strain 

 which strips of Alga; of certain lengths and thicknes 

 bear. He found that they possessed a very high degree of 



September 20. — Prof. 

 Wille gave an account 



resistance and elasticity, but that when the weight was removed 

 they retained some of the additional length caused by the strain. 

 As might be expected, the power of resistance was greater in the 

 lower than the upper parts, as the former suffer a far greater 

 strain than the latter from the swell of the sea. He further 

 referred to the anatomical causes of this, which were due to the 

 circumstance that the specific mechanical cells which had to 

 resist the strain were preferably developed in the lower parts, and 

 to the fact that, as the plant grew, special organs of strengthening — 

 they might be called moorings — were successively dropped to the 

 bottom from the sides of the Algse, and in some cases even deve- 

 loped through the membrane downwards. The lecture was 

 illustrated by means of drawings. — Dr. Thedenius exhibited a 

 specimen of the moss Riceia natans, taken by him the the 

 same day at Sundbyberg, the only spot in Scandinavia where 

 it glows. He also exhibited a hitherto unknown hybrid of 

 Trat>opogo>i porrifclius and T. minor, which had grown in his 

 garden this summer, where both grew, and referred to the 

 hybrid of T. forrifolius and T. pratensis found some time ago at 

 Karlskrona. He also exhibited Bryonia dioica, a species never 

 before grown in Sweden, which he had found in his garden. 

 — The Secretary referred to an article forwarded to the Society 

 on the East Indian plant Abras precatorius, according to which 

 a particular variety of Bacillus had been discovered in the 

 poisonous infusion of its seed, which demonstrated that infectious 

 diseases could be transmitted by plants, and pointed out that 

 Dr. Widmark, a Swedish botanist, had recently shown that the 

 Bacteria were not originally in the infusion in question, but that 

 it only served to sustain the Bacteria which had immigrated 

 thither from the air. He concluded by mentioning the well- 

 known but inexplicable phenomenon of Pinguecula vulgaris 

 having the effect of curdling milk when the vessels containing 

 the latter had been rubbed with the butterwort, which was most 

 probably due to microbes. 



Botanical Society, September 27. — Prof. V. B. Wittrock, 

 President, in the chair. — The meeting was the first one of the 

 winter term. — On the diseases of cultivated plants in Sweden, 

 by lien J. Eriksson. — On the geographical extension of some 

 rare Swedish Phanerogams, by the President. — On the 13th 

 and 14th fascicular of the work " Algae aquse dulcis, exsiccatae, 

 quas distribnerunt Veit Wittrock et Otto Nordstedt," which had 

 recently appeared, by the same. 



CONTENTS page 



Field and Garden Crops. By George Murray . . . 605 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Cory's " How to Foretell the Weather with the Pocket 



Spectroscope " 606 



Lynn's " Celestial Motion : A Handy Book of 



Astronomy " 606 



Casey's " First Six Books of the Elements of Euclid, 



and Props, i.-xxi. of Book xi." 606 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Sky-Glows. — E. Brown ; J. Edmund Clark . 607 



Cole's Pits. — Joseph Stevens 607 



Circular Rainbow. — W. Symons 607 



The New Geological Map of Russia 608 



Earthquakes. By Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis. (Illtis- 



trated) 60S 



International Weights and Measures 612 



Notes 613 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Wolf's Comet 615 



The November Meteors 615 



New Southern Double-Stars 616 



The Total Solar Eclipse of 1S16, November 19 . . 616 



Chemical Notes 616 



American Ornithologists' Union 616 



The Capillary Constants of Liquids at their Boiling- 



Points 618 



Researches on the Origin and Life-Histories of the 



Least and Lowest Living Things. By Rev. W. 



H. Dallinger, LL.D., F.R.S. (Illustrated) ... 619 



The Peripatetic Method of Instruction in Science 



and its Development. By Henry W. Crosskey, 



LL.D 622 



The Association of German Naturalists and 



Physicians 625 



Scientific Serials 627 



Societies and Academies 628 



