ii6 



NA TURE 



{June 7, 1877 



of the Imperial College of Engineering, Japan. The first con- 

 tains an account of an elaborate series of experiments on ice as 

 an electrolyte. They state as a result of their experiments that 

 the capacity per cub. cent, of ice at - I3°'5 C. is o 002 micro-firad, 

 and the specific inductive capacity is 22,160 (that of air being 

 called unity), while that of water at 8°7 C. is about 2,240 times 

 this amount. Commencing' with ice at— I3°'6 C the temperature 

 was allowed to rise and the conductivity determined by galva- 

 nometer readings. From these a very regular curve was deduced 

 which shows that the conductivity increases regularly, and that 

 there is no sudden rise in passing from tlie solid to the liquid state. 

 The apparatus was also employed for determining the electro- 

 motive force of polarisation currents at different temperatures 

 by replacing the copper by a zinc disc. — Tlie second communi- 

 cation contained suggestions for experiments on the viscosity of 

 water and other liquids. It is accompanied by working drawings 

 of an apparatus which the authors have designed for determining 

 the relation bttiveen the viscosity ol a liquid and the velocity of a 

 surface moving in contact with it. They have, however, no faci- 

 lities for making such an apparatus, and therefore place it at the 

 service of any one who may be willing to study the subject. 



Victoria Institute, June 4. — At the Annual Meeting of this 

 Institute, the address was delivered by Mr. J. E. Howard, 

 F. R.S. — Capt. F. Petrie (the honorary secretary) read the 

 eleventh annual report ; 107 members and associates had 

 joined during the year, and the total number had risen to over 

 700, two-thirds of whom were country and foreign members. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, May 29. — Mr. George 

 Robert .Stephenson, president, in the chair. — A paper was read 

 on an economical method of manufacturing charcoal for gun- 

 powder, by Mr. George Haycraft, F.C.S. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, May 28, M. Peligot in the chair.^ 

 Some remarks were made on M. Roudaire's Algerian scheme. 

 M. de Le^scps thought it practicable and useful ; M. d'Abbadie 

 desired thit study might be given for a whole year to the quan- 

 tity of evaporation and the tc-gime of the winds in that region, 

 &c.— The following papers were read : — Reply to M. Tacchini's 

 note inserted in last CompttS Rendiis, by M. Janssen. While 

 accepting M. Tacchini's figtires in comparison of maximum and 

 minimum years, he yet holds that the numerous and rapid 

 appearance and disappearance of spots witnessed during the past 

 year indicates very violent movetnents of matter. — On Gay 

 Luisac's law of volumes, reply to M. Saint Claire Deville, by 

 M. Wurtz. The system of chemical equivalents which prevailed 

 about 1840 over the atotnic notation of Berzelius, has not taken 

 accoitnt of Gay Lussac's discoveries on the combinations uf gases, 

 and the maintenance of the principle of equivalence in chemical 

 notation would bring science back to the times of Dalton, VVol- 

 laston, and Richter, which wojld be an anachronism. — Reply 

 to M. Wurtz's note on the law of Avogadro and the atomic 

 theory, by M. Berthelot. — Experimental critique on the glyco- 

 genetic lunction of the liver, by M. CI. Bernard. He 

 proves the (unction directly during life, laying bare the liver in 

 a dog, cutting off a piece of it, which is then put into boiling 

 water. The tissue contains a propoition of sugar varying from 

 I to 3 per 1,000. The influence of vivisection does not cause 

 variation in the quantity, unless the circulatory and respiratoiy 

 functions are greatly disturbed. M. Bernard also demonstrates 

 that the saccharine matter continues to be formed in the liver 

 after death. — Observations on the woik presented to the Academy 

 by M. Villarceau, entitled the " Nouvelle Navigation," by M. 

 Mouchez. He objects to the title ; and the analytic method 

 proposed (applicalion of Taylor's series in place of the old 

 formula) though good in theory, is found impracticable. Tlie 

 graphic method is nearly the same, according to M. Mouchez, as 

 he has himscli" long practised aird recommended. Lastly there 

 is but rare need to use M. Viilarceau's new process for deter- 

 mining the most probable point.— On an algebraic method for 

 obtaining the ensemble of the fundamental invariants and co- 

 variants of a binary form, and of any combination of 

 binary forms (continued), by Prof Sylvester. — Description of 

 new raananivres executed with the economising apparatus at 

 the dam of Aubois, by M. de Caligny. — Experiments made in 

 order to appreciate the diffusion of the vapours of sulphide of 

 carbon introduced into the ground as an insecticide, by M. 

 Gastine. In permeable soil the diffusion reached a maximum 

 radius of about I metre about the hole of injection (which received 

 20 grammes of the sulphide). The vapours persisted at 30 cm. 



distance from March l to 5, or about 100 hours ; nearer the 

 hole, 150 hours. In clayey soil the diffusion was as extensive, 

 and the persintence was about twenty-four hours more. — Histori- 

 cal remarks on the theory of movement of one or several bodies 

 of constant or variable forms, in an incompressible fluid ; on 

 the apparent resultant forces and on the experiments relating 

 thereto, by M. Bjerknes. — On Gauss's formula of quadrature, by 

 M. Callandreau. — Thermal researches on the substituted anilines, 

 by M. Longuinine. — Electrolysis of ordinary pyrotartaric acid, by 

 MM. Reboul and Bourgoin. This acid is very stable ; it is elec- 

 trolysed like mineral acids, and is in this respect quite unlike 

 succinic acid, which is decomposed easily. — Researches on the syn- 

 thesis of acids of the series C„H5„_202and C„H„„-402 ; allylic 

 and diallylacetic acids, by M. Reboul. —On the decomposition of 

 carbonic at:id in the solar spectrum by the green parts of plants, 

 by M. Timiriaieff. A spectrum was formed with a bisulphide of 

 carbon prism and a trough containing chlorophyll solution was put 

 in the path of the rays. Next were interposed in a row five vessels 

 inverted over mercury, each containing air with about 5 per cent, 

 carbonic acid, and these vessels received green organs of plants 

 (pieces cut from a bamboo leaf). The vessels, being in diflerent 

 parts of the spectrum, were left there six to ten hours on fine 

 days in July, and the gas was afterwards analysed. The maxi- 

 mum of decomposition of CO„ was always found in the vessel 

 corresponding to the position of the characteristic absorption 

 band of chlorophyll ; in orange, yellow, and green, the amount 

 of decomposition showed successive decrease, and in red there 

 was even production of CO^ through respiration. — On the 

 nature and signification of tne small red corpuscles of the 

 blood, by M. Hayem. He concludes that they are young 

 corpuscles incompletely developed. — On the changes of volume, 

 and the delivery of the heart, by M. Franijjis-Franck. His 

 method was to connect the cavity of the pericardium (in 

 live dogs) with one of Marey's registering apparatuses. The 

 heart increasing in volume in diastole drove a certain quantity 

 of air into the tambour, while the contraction in systole permitted 

 return of this air. — On the histological alterations of the uterus in 

 their relations to the principal diseases of this organ, by M. 

 Courty. — Statistical Researches on the Sologne, especially with 

 regard to recruiting and movement of the population, by M. 

 Coste. — On a process for recognising the presence of fuchsine in 

 wine.-, by M. Baudrimont. A drop of fuchsinated wine left a 

 few seconds on the skin of the hand, produces a mark which 

 cannot be washed out with water. 



GOTTINGEN 



Royal Academy of Sciences, January 31. — Report on the 

 Botanical Institute of Gbttingen University for 1876. 



February 21. — A contribution to the theory of reflection- 

 phenomena, by M. Rethy. 



March 21. Separation of arsenic from nickel and cobalt. 



April 4. — On the electric conductivity of aqueous solutions, 

 especially of salts of the alkalies and alkaline earths, caustic 

 alkalies, and some acids, by M. Kohlrausch. 



CONTENTS Page 



The Antiquity of Man 97 



The Value OF Natural History Museums. By Prof. W. Boyd 



Bawkins, F.R.S yj% 



Physiological ^^sthetics. By George J. Romanes uS 



Our Book iiHULF ;— 



Mueller's " Select Plants for Industrial Culture in Victoria " . . 100 



KusselFs " Notes on tlie Ancient Glaciers of New Zeal -nd " . . 10 j 



Nectar-secreting Glands.— Francis Darwin loo 



Quartzite Implements at Brandon.— Thomas Belt 101 



The Migration of the Swiss Miocene Flora.— Rev. George 



Hbnslow lot 



The Fertilisation of Orchids.— Henry O. Forbes 102 



New Meteor Radiant.— \V. F. Denning 102 



Our Astronomical Column :— 



Anthelm's Starol 1670 iu>2 



D'Arrest's Comet . 102 



Uhe D'Angos Comet of 17S4 u .; 



Prof. SvLVESi-HR ON Teaching and " Researching " 10; 



Our Insect Foes 1^.4 



'I'he Volcanoes of Iceland l With llhistration) . 105 



The An I iQuii y OF Man 106 



The Greenwich Observatory Report 109 



Recent Researches among the Lower Sarcode Organisms. By 



Prof. Allman, F.R.S no 



The Norwegian Deep-Sea Expedition. By Dr H. Mohn ... wo 



Notes in 



University and Educational Intelligence 114 



Scientific Serials 114 



Societies AMD Academies 114 



