36 



NA TURE 



iJlfay lo, 1877 



wrapping it round a cylinder that one line is parallel to the axis, 

 an arrangement which gives every possible subdivision of a circle 

 between any given intervals. The figures are then observed by 

 examining these lines through a narrow slit in a light opaque 

 screen attached to a tuning-fork or reed vibrating in a plane 

 parallel to the axis of the cylinder. This observing apparatus is 

 moved parallel to that axis until the figure remains stationary, 

 when the number of rotations is read off on a graduated 

 scale. Conversely, if the number of rotations of the cylinder is 

 known, the period of the tuning-fork can be determined. Inci- 

 dentally Prof. McLeod explained a sim pie method of causing a 

 fork to vibrate, and the manner in which they have succeeded in 

 maintaining the vibrations of a reed. It was found that varia- 

 tions in temperature influence tlie determinations, inasmuch as 

 they cause tlie period of the fork or reed to vaiy. When the 

 former is used it becomes necessary to deduct o'oi i per cent, of 

 the result lor each degree centigrade of rise above the tempera- 

 ture for which the fork is set, and 00277 per cent, when em- 

 ploying a reed. 



Anthropological Institute, April 24. — Mr. John Evans, 

 F. R. S., president, in the chair. — Dr. John Rae read a paper on 

 the migrations of the Esquimaux. The chief subjects of Di\ 

 Rae's remarks were two papers read before the Ethnological 

 Society, twelve years ago, the one by himself, the other by IVIr. 

 Clements R. Markham, Dr. Rae considered that Mr. Mark- 

 ham's present view was in accordance with what he (Dr. Rae) 

 advanced in 1865, viz., that the route of the Eskimo must have 

 been along the coast of America, across the Strait (northward) to 

 Banksland, and thence to the Parry Islands, &c., where so many 

 traces of them remain. He gave some information regarding 

 various peculiarities of the Eskimos, and exhibited a stone lamp, 

 with a curiously-shaped piece of stone, used for adjusting the wick, 

 which consists of a species of fibrous moss (sphagnum) brought 

 with the lamp from Repulse Bay more than twenty years ago. 

 The lamp when lit gave a clear bright tlame, from each of the 

 three bits of 11 oss used, without any perceptible smoke. These 

 form valuable articles of barter by the Eskimos in theneighbiiur- 

 hood of such localities, with the more distant natives, for they 

 seem to be in almost universal use, from Behring Strait eastward 

 to Hudson Bay. — Mr. Robert B. Holt then read a paper on 

 earthworks in Ohio, and Prof. Busk, F.R. S., described some 

 skulls from the same place.- — The following gentlemen took part 

 in the discussions : — .Mr. Hyde Clarke, Mr. Allen, the president, 

 and otheis. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, AprU 30. — M. Peligot in the chair. 

 — The following papers were read : — On a phenomenon of inso- 

 lation of the eye, which has not hitherto been explained, by M. 

 Chevreul. A few days before St. Bartholomew's day the Prince 

 de Navarre (afterwards Henri IV.) being with the Due d'Alenjon 

 and the Due de Guise, at the Louvre, playing dice, they twice 

 saw blood spots on the dice, whereupon they separated, in alarm. 

 M. Chevreul explains the phenomenon as an elTect of contrast of 

 colours in sunlight, and gives some experiments in illustration. 

 Material black appears red in reflecting white light. — On car- 

 buncular disease, by MM. Pasteur and Joubert. Are the effects 

 due to the bacteridmm or to a virus? The bacteridium may be 

 multiplied indefinitely in artificial liquids, without losing its 

 action on the system, so we cannot suppose it accompanied with 

 a soluble substance (or vims) producing, jointly with it, the car- 

 buncular effects. — Probable consequences of the mechanical theory 

 of heat, byM. Fave. Heseeks to explain the phenomena altributed 

 by M. Boutigny to the " spheroidal state," by supposing that the 

 calorific w.aves of the sidereal ether have a repulsive action on pon- 

 derable matter. Take the ca^e of a little water poured into a red- 

 hot capsule. The heated metal gives r.adiant heat, I'u:, impresses 

 the ether with waves which are rapidly propagated. This mo- 

 tion upwards counterbalances that due to the weight of the 

 water. The distance between liquid and metal depends on the 

 z/is L'iva developed by the ether. The motion of oscillation is 

 combined with one of varying rotation due to the resultant of the 

 repulsive forces not passing through the centre of gravity of the 

 globule. — On a new deposit of liquid mercury, indicated in the 

 upper valley of I'llerault by M. de Quatrefages, by M. Leymerie. 

 — On a new Arctic expedition of M. Nordenskjold, by M. de 

 Saporta. He intends prolonging his exploration as far as Behring 

 Straits. The expedition is to leave Sweden in the summer of 

 1S7S. — Electro-silicic light, by M. Plante. He calls attention to 

 the bright light produced when one or other electrode of his 

 secondary batteries is applied to a lube or plate of glass. 



\o 



The glass is decomposed, and the luminous effect is probably 

 due to incandescence of thesilicium. — On a process of solidi- 

 fication of sulphide of carbon, by M. Mercier. Treating 

 oils with a little protochloride of sulphur, a transparent 

 solid matter is got, with nearly the elasticity of caout- 

 chouc. If a volatile liquid be added at the moment of mix- 

 ture, as benzine, oil of petroleum, or sulphide of carbon, the 

 solidification takes place all the same, and the volatile liquid is im- 

 prisoned as in a net- work, from which it can only escape slowly. 

 The mixture may hold even 70 per cent, of sulphide of carbon. — • 

 On the treatment of phylloxerised vines with sulpho-carbonate of 

 potash, by M. Fatio. — On the rooting out of phylloxerised vines, 

 by M. Cornu. — On the comparative structure of the roots of Ame- 

 rican and indigenous vines, and on the lesion; produced by the 

 phylloxera, by M. Foez. — On the regeneration of phylloxerised 

 vine-stocks by the employment of sulpho-carbonate of potash, by 

 M. Gueyraud. — M. Dumas presented the first document from a 

 Commission charged by the Emperor of Brazil, to determine the 

 geographical positi )ns of the principal points of the empire. 

 It treats of the position of Barra do Pirahy, relatively to 

 Rio de Janeiro Observatory. — Observations of Comets II. 

 (Winnecke) and HI. (Swift, Borrelly), byM. Wolf. — On some 

 observations of solar spots, by M. Denza. This confirms M. 

 Janssen's observations. — On the surfaces whose principal radii 

 of curvature are functions of each other, by M. Mannheim. — 

 Investigation of the law which a central force must follow for 

 the trajectory which it produces to be always a conic, by M. 

 Darboux. — On the laws of Kepler ; solution of a problem pro- 

 posed by M. Bertrand, by M. Halphen. — Reply to a note of M. 

 Kirchhofif on the theory of elastic plates, by M. Levy. — Singu- 

 lar solutions presented in the problem of curvilinear motion of a 

 point under the action of a central force, by M. Boussinesq. — 

 On substances capable of being produced at a temperature above 

 that which causes their complete decomposition, by MM. Troost 

 and Hautefeuille. Examples are : protoxide of silver, ozone, 

 protochloride of platinum, sesquichloride, protochloride, and 

 subfluoride of silicium. — Process of industrial preparation of pure 

 salts of alumina, by M. Ducla. — On monochlorised acetones, by 

 M. Etard. — Experiments proving that the septicity of putrefied 

 blood is due to figured ferments, by M. Feltz. — On the fixation 

 of tannin by vegetable tissues, by M. Miintz. The tissue of 

 champignons, especially, may be "tanned" into a kind of 

 vegetable leather. — On gaseous exchanges between plants and 

 the atmosphere ; reply to critical observations of M. Barthelemy, 

 by M. Merget. — Researches on the absorption and emission of 

 gases by roots, by MM. Deherain and Vesque. — On the spon- 

 taneous and regular movements of a submerged aquatic plant, 

 Cerati^phylluni demersum, by M. Rodier. — On the presence of 

 mercury in the springs of Rocher (Puy-de-D6me), by M.Garrigou. 

 —On a case of hereditary hemiteria, by M. Martinet. — On in- 

 crease of the production of springs, by M. Chefdebien. 



CONTENTS pagb 



Mathematics IN America. ' By R. Tucker zr 



Visibility of tlie Ultra- Violet Rays of the Spectrum— Prof. A. S. 



HeRSCHEL S2 



Pete's Hair.— H. C. SoRBV, F.R.S 23 



The Critical Point of Carbonic Anhydride. -Wm. Garnett. . . 23 



Floating Cast Iron.— W. J. Millar 23 



Yellow Crocuses. — Thomas Comber 24 



Hoo;- Wallows and Prairie Mounds — Jas Durham 24 



A "Golden BouEh."—HENRvT. Whakton 24 



SroNTANEOus Generation. By Rev. W. H. Dallinger .... 24 



Great Guns 25 



SuspRCTEU Relations between the Sun and the Earth, 11. By 



Proi. Balfour Stewart, F.R.S. (With Illustrations) 26 



The New Zoological Gardens AT Calcutta 28 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Double-Star Measures at Cincinnai 29 



Change of Coloui in a Ursae Majoris 29 



a Centaari 30 



The Present Comets 30 



Biological Notes : — 



Zoological Classification 30 



Luminous CampanuUri;!.- 30 



Re p ration in Frojs 30 



The Woodpecker 30 



The Flamingo 30 



Copper ill the Blood 30 



The Respiration of Plant-i 31 



A Tasmanian Carnivorous Plant 31 



Botany of New Guinea 31 



Notes 31 



University Intelligence 33 



Societies AND Academies 34 



