96 



NA TURK 



[May 31, 1877 



numbers in the first miUioii, and these are longer, lie thought, 

 than anyone would have supposed likely. He exhibited the 

 lists from which he drew the above results. Questions were put 

 to the meeting, for information, by Prols. Cayley and Clifford. 



Geological Society, May 9. — Prof. P. Martin Duncan, 

 F.R..S., president, in the chair. — James Dorrington, Rev. E. R. 

 Lewis, Edward Penton, Henry Rosales, and Henry White were 

 elected fellows of the Society. —On the Agassizian genera 

 Amlilypienis, PaUeoiiisciis, Gyrolefiis, and Pygoptcrus, by Ramsay 

 H. Traquair, F. R.S.E. The author's object in this paper was 

 to discuss the characters by which the above genera of fossil 

 fishes have been supposed to be distinguished in the case of 

 specimens from the carboniferous series. — On the circinate 

 vernation, fructification, and varieties o{ Sphcnoptcris a^iiiis, and 

 on Staphyloptcris (?) peacJiii, Etheridge and Balfour, a genus of 

 plants new to British rocks, by C. W. Peach, A.L. S., commu- 

 nicated by Robert Etheridge, E.R.S., V.P.G.S. — On the occur- 

 rence of a Macrurous Decapod (Antltrapahrmon %ooodwardi, sp. 

 nov.) in the red sandstone, or lowest group of the carboniferous 

 formation in the south-east of Scotland, by Robert Echeridge, 

 jun. , P'.G. S. After giving a detailed bibliography of the pal.T^o- 

 zoic malacostracous Crustacea, the author described the remains 

 of a small crustacean from the lower group of the carboniferous 

 formation near Dunbar, and discussed its affinities and systematic 

 position, which he regarded as being among the Macrurous 

 Decapods, altliough the absence of the eyes in the preserved 

 specimens, and some other characters, rendered it doubtful 

 whether it might not in some respects approach the Stomapoda. 

 Its position among the Macrura seemed, however, to be esta- 

 blished by the well-developed abdominal somites and telson. He 

 referred the fossil to Salter's genus, Anthyapalmmon, and named 

 the species A. tuoodwardi. — On the stratigraphical position of 

 the corals of the Lias of the Midland and Western Counties of 

 England and of .South Wales, by R. F. Tomes, communi- 

 cated by R. Etheridge, F. R.S., V.P.G.S. The object of this 

 paper was to give the precise stratigraphical position of the 

 species of liassic corals collected by the author and his friends 

 in the districts above mentioned. He noticed forty-one species, 

 of which fifteen were described as new. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, May 21. — M. Peligot in the chair. — 

 The following papers were read : — Meridian observations of 

 small planets at the Paris Observatory during the first quarter of 

 ■877, by M. LeVcrrier. — On Gay-Lussac's law of volumes, by 

 M. H. i;t. Claire Deville. He considers recent researches have 

 neither invalid.ited nor added to the law. — On an algebraic 

 method for obtaining the ensemble of the fundamental variants 

 and co-variants of a binary form, and of any combination of 

 binary forms (continued), by Mr. Sylvester. — Report on M. Rou- 

 uaire's project of making an interior sea in the south of Tunisia 

 and the Province of Constaniine. M. Fave reports favourably ; 

 but on the points, whether the sea would not dry up, whether 

 the vapours would benefit neighbouring lands and not be 

 carried to the sea by winds, and whether the eastern Algerian and 

 Tunisian climate would recover its old fertility, and be improved 

 hygienically, MM.Daubrccand Dumas(while adopting thegeneral 

 conclusions) express hesitation, and desire further researches. — 

 Report on a memoir of M. Stanislas Meunier, entitled "Com- 

 position and Origin of the Diaraantiferous Sand of Toit's Pan 

 (in South Africa). M. Meunier has separated several mineral 

 species not before noticed there, and offers an ingenious explana- 

 tion of the way of filling up,those vertical pits. — On the employ- 

 ment of oxygen of high tension as a process of physiological 

 investigation ; poisons and virus, by M. Bert. There is in an- 

 thracic blood a toxical and virulent principle which resists the 

 action of compressed oxygen and alcohol, and which can be 

 isolated like diastase. M. Bert is studying its nature and its re- 

 lation to the bacteria. Lymph, too, and the pus of glanders, 

 by resisting compressed oxygen, show that their virulent action 

 is not due to living beings or cells. — On the employment of 

 rotatory discs for the study of coloured sensations, by M. 

 Rosenstiehl. — Dehydrated oxalic acid may serve to characterise 

 polyatomic alcohols ; chemical function of inosite, by M. Lorin. 

 — Decomposition of chlorhydrate of trimethylamine by heat, 

 by M. Vincent. This subst.ince might be utilised to give 

 ammoniacal products and pure chloride of methyl, the latter 

 yielding the methylated aniline colours or pure methylic al- 

 cohol. — Observations of a disease of the vine known com- 

 monly as white, by Mr, Schnetzler. — New spectroscopic method, 



by Mr. Langley. Two spectra from the north and south 

 poles of the sun respectively are put in juxtaposition (a 

 considerable dispersion being used) ; let the instrument be 

 adjusted so that the lines in both are continuous. On 

 turning the spectroscope round its axis of coUimation till 

 the light comes from the east and west extremities of the 

 equator the solar lines are displaced, while the atmospheric 

 remain continuous. On turning 180° the spectra glide on one 

 another like a Vernier on a scale. The point is, siinultaiieous 

 observation of the different displacement of the solar and 

 the atmospheric lines in the two spectra. — On a trans- 

 mission of motion, by M. Roze. — On the spectrum of the elec- 

 tric spark in a compressed gas, by M. Cazin. From experi- 

 ments on air and nitrogen he concludes that the electric spark in 

 a gas is similar toan ordinary hydrocarbon flame. In each there are 

 luminous particles giving a spectrum of lines, and solid or liquid 

 particles giving a continuous spectrum. The latter (in the case of 

 the spark) come from the electrodes and the walls. When the 

 pressure is increased these particles are more abundant ; the con- 

 tinuous spectrum becomes more brilliant, and finally makes the 

 linear spectrum disappear. The luminous spark called an 

 aureole is of gaseous particles, and is to the total spark what the 

 blue base of a candle llame is to the entire flame. — Studies on 

 organ pipes, by M. Philbert. — On some new models of r.adio- 

 meters, by Mr. Crookes. — Thermo-chemical study of aniline 

 and some other bodies of the same group, by M. Louguinine. — 

 On the nitrates of bismuth, by M. Yvon. — On the ]iroperties of 

 resorcine ; molecular volumes, by M. Calderon. Resorcine in 

 solution behaves as if it were solid and isolated from the solvent. 

 In presence of water and potash it absorbs oxygen, though very 

 slowly. — Anatomical characters of the blood in new-born infants 

 during the first days of life, by M. Hayem. Inter alia, the red 

 corpuscles are much more unequal in size than in the adult, and 

 seem of a different composition. The number (in a cubic metre) 

 is nearly as high as in the most vigorous adult. The number of 

 white corpuscles is three or four times as great as in an adult. 

 When the infant lias reached its minimum weight (about the 

 third d.iy) the number of these suddenly falls ; various fluctua- 

 tions ensue (which are described). — On a process for estimation 

 of alcohol in liquids, by M. Fleury. — On the filling of 

 fissures in chalk with silex, by M. Robert. — M. Vinot presented 

 a celestial map of the equatorial region. 



CONTENTS p.v;e 



The Universities EfLL an'p University Movements 77 



Tim Nerd of Museum Reform. Ky'Prof. \V. Boyd Dawkins, 



F.R.S 78 



Foster's "Text- Book of Physiology." By E. A. Sch.-vfer . . 79 



Weisp.ach's " Mechanics oi'- Engineebing." By Patrick EmvARO 



Dove 81 



Our Booic Shelf ; — 



Johnston's " Gazetteer" 82 



Pascoe's "Zoological Classification" 82 



Wright's "Tracts relating to the Modern Higher Mathematics " . 82 



Post's " Grundriss der chemischen Technologic " 83 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Colour-Sense in Birds.— J 8j 



A Simple Wave-Motion Apparatus. —W. Jesse Lo\ktt (IFi'M 



Illustration) R3 



Atmospheric Currents. — Worusworth Donisthori'E 83 



Vellow Crocuses.— A. H 84 



Complementary Colours — J. RoMlLi v Allen 84 



Chromatic Aberration of the Eye —S. P. Thompson 84 



A Correction — Richard A. Proctor 84 



Dr. Philip P. Carpenter S4 



Koenig's Tuning-Forks and the French " Diapaso.n Normal." 



By Alexandeu J. Ellis, F.R.S 85 



How to Draw a Straight Line, H. By A. B. Kempe, B.A. {IVitli 



Ittmtriitioiis) 86 



Meteorological Notes: — 



Notes of the Weather in Scotland, FarO, and Iceland 89 



Meteorology of Holland 8g 



'I'ycho Brahe's Meteorological Journal 89 



" Atlas Meteorologique " of the Observatory of Paris, 1875 ... 89 



Weather Maps in Australia go 



Stoneyhurst Meteorological and Magnetical Observa-ions, 1876 . . 90 



Climate and Infant Mortality in Tasmania 90 



On the Proper Length of the Gymnasium Swing. By Francis 



E. Nipher go 



Notes 91 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comets Observed by Heveliiis 93 



" The Observatory " 93 



L' Etc de la Saint-Martin et les Etoiles Filantes 93 



University and Educational Intelligence 94 



Societies AND Academies {With Ithtstration) 95 



