220 



NA TURE 



\yuly 12, 1877 



diagnosis of the metals, (2) in certain experiments where the 

 quadrant electrometer is objectionable, and (3) in teaching, 

 where this instrument is often unavailable on account of its cost. 

 An adjourned special general meeting of the society was then held, 

 after which the meetings were adjourned until November next. 



Anthropological Institute, June 2ri.— Mr. John Evans, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Three new members, one 

 honorary, and one corresponding member were elected. — Mr. 

 Burt exhibited the prow of a New Zealand war canoe supposed 

 to have been that which met Capt. Cnol< on his second visit to 

 that country. — Mr. Atkinson exhibited a specimen of gold so- 

 called Irish ring money.— A paper by Mr. Mortimer on an 

 underground structure near Langtoft, Yorkshire, was read. Mr. 

 Mortimer considers it is not a Bolontinus ; in this opinion he is 

 opposed by Mr. J. E. Price, F.S.A.— Mr. C. H. E. Carmichael, 

 M.A., read a paper on a Benedictine missionary's account of the 

 natives of Australia and Oceania, in which he summarised the 

 principal points of anthropological interest in the Memoire Storiche 

 di-lt' A:islmlin,\iy Mgr. Don Rudesindo Salvado, O.S.B., and 

 illustrated the missionary's account by reference to the views 

 expressed by Topinard, Virchow, and other foreign writers. 

 Mgr. Salvado maintains the unity of the Australian race and 

 Linguage, and upholds the possibility of raising the aborigines 

 to a fairly high pilch of civilisation, using their extreme quick- 

 ness in learning to speak and write European languages. Two 

 letters written in Italian by native boys brought to Europe at 

 about eleven years of age, were commented upon by Mr. Car- 

 michael, who laid copies on the table, and promised further in- 

 vestigation of the questions raised in the discussion. — The 

 president, Mr. C. Walford, Sir John Lubbock, and others took 

 pai't in the discussion. — H.l.M. the Emperor of Brazil was 

 present at the meeting. 



Vienna 

 Imperial Academy of Sciences, April 12. — Senile changes 

 of the joints and their connection with Arthrilis deformans, by 

 M. Weicliselbaum. — On a new determination of a quantity hav- 

 ing reference to the measurement of molecules from the theory of 

 capillarity, by M. Boltzman. — On the orbit of Dione 106, by M. 

 Seydler. — On the decomposition of hydroxylamin by alkalin- 

 copper solution, by M. Donath. — On a method of determining 

 the resistance of bad conductors of electricity, by M. Domalip. 

 — Influence of temperature on velocity of evaporation, by M. 

 Baumgartner. — On diffusion of vapours through clay-cells, by M. 

 Puluj. The velocity of diffusion depends on the temperature in 

 the same way as the maximum of tension. There is not direct 

 proportionality between velocity of diffusion and difference of 

 tension. The logarithmic function represents the connection 

 more accurately. — A contribution to the knowledge of viscous 

 substances, by M. Obermayer. Experiment showed that the 

 internal friction in brittle black pitch follows the same laws as 

 fluid friction. That in soft bodies does not exactly follow those 

 laws. — On the internal condition and the latent heat of vapours, 

 by M. I'uschl. Very rare aqueous vapour deviates from Ma- 

 riotte's law in an opposiie direction to that of gases and vapours 

 generally, and in this it behaves like very greatly rarefied atmo- 

 spheric air. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, July 2. — M. Peligot in the chair. — 

 The following papers were read : — On the generation of the 

 meridian curve of a surface of revolution, of which the mean 

 curvature varies according to a given law, by M. Resal. — 

 Researches on anhydrous chloral and on its hydrate, by M. 

 Berthelot. There is a liberation of heat in the reaction of 

 gaseous chloral with gaseous water, with formation of a gaseous 

 compound, gaseous hydrate of chloral therefore truly exists as a 

 compound distinct from a simple mixture of the two vapours. — • 

 Remarks on the subject of M. Mouchez' letter of June iS, by 

 M. Villarceau. — On the distribution of waters coming from 

 natural slopes of the French territory, and on the amelioration 

 of our interior navigation, by M. De Lessep;. M. Cotard has 

 suggested the storing of water in the higher parts and distribution 

 of it to navigation-canals giving cheap transport for materials of 

 small value, and avoiding the formation of unwholesome marshes. 

 M. Sibour advises the opening of a canal (seven kiloms.) 

 between the lake of Herre and the harbour of Marseilles. — 

 Reply to M. Roudaire's last communication on the formation of 

 a Saharan sea, by M. Cosson. Iitla- alia, he urges that the 

 change of the local climate would be fatal to the date, and that 

 new plants introduced would not compensate the loss. The 

 Artesian system is open to being greatly developed. The caravans 



of Central Africa would not diverge from their route to Morocco 

 and Tripoli. The addition of so much saline m.atter would 

 make the Artesi.an water undrinkable and unfit for irrigation. 

 The climate would become very unhealthy from combination of 

 moisture with great variations of temperature, &c. — M. Godron 

 was elected correspondent for the section of botany, in room of 

 the late M. Lestiboudois, obtain'ng thirty-three votes, against 

 five for M. Duval Jouve. — Trepanation of the membrane of the 

 tympanum, successfully performed in a case of long deafness 

 which had resisted all treatment, by M. Bonnafont. Any 

 deifness not accompanied by weakening of the sensibility of the 

 acoustic nerves (ascertainel by placing a watch on the cranial 

 wall near the ear), may be cured or greatly improved (he thinks) 

 by trepanation of the tympanic membrane. The tympanum 

 should be ani"esthetised, and th': canula should be allowed 

 to remain in the opening till it falls out naturally. — Argilo- 

 calcareous land and phylloxera, by M. Joffroy. A vine-stock 

 planted in such land resists the disease when the surface of the 

 ground is sufficiently inclined from its base, and is preserved from 

 contact with rain-water from higher ground. — Researches on the 

 compressibility of liquids, by M. Amagat. He studied volatile 

 liquids kept liquid by pressure at a temperature above that of 

 their boiling-point (when, it is known, their coefficient of dilata- 

 tion becomes very considerable). He gives numerical results for 

 ordinary ether and chlorhydric ether, and will afterw.rrds show 

 that these numbers agree satisfaolorily with deductions from the 

 formulae of the mechanical theory of heat. — On the state of the 

 vines treated at Cognac with alkahne sulphocarbonites, by M. 

 Mouillefert. — On the vapour of hydrate of chloral, by M. Troost. 

 Fresh experiments by a method which he describes confirn his 

 former results, which M. Wurtz hid questioned. — Dissociation 

 of gaseous iodhydric acid in presence of an excess of one of the 

 elements, by M. Lemoine The most important result is the 

 stability which this excess gives to the combination ; in mixing 

 iodhydric acid with increasing quantities of hydrogen the quantity 

 of ioilhydric acid dissociated diminishes about half. Still the 

 character of the dissociation seems always to subsist, whatever 

 the ineiiualily in the atomic proportions. This influence of mass 

 in dissociation is in accord with several other known facts. — On 

 the dissociation of ammoniacal salts in presence of metallic sul- 

 phides, by MM. De Clermont and Guiot. — On the employment 

 of fluoride of bromine as a dehydrating agent, by M. Landolph. 

 He gives several examples of its action (with camphor, &c.). — 

 On the ordinary presence of copper and zinc in the human body, 

 by MM. Raoult and I'.reton. They give the results of a judiciil 

 investigation made by them in 1S74. 700 grammes of (moist) 

 liver of a man who had died after an operation for stone, gave 

 2 inilligr. of copper and 7 mgr. of zinc ; 400 gr.ammcs liver of a 

 consumptive person gave 6 mgr. of copper and 12 mgr. of zinc. 

 To prove poisoning, it should be shown that the quantities of 

 copper or zinc found in a body are greater th.in the maxima in 

 normal conditions. — On the determination, in weight, of atmo- 

 spheric ozone, by M. Levy. This relates to a supposed influence 

 of platinum on arsenite of potash, which, however, was not 

 manifested in the conditions with which M. Levy operated. 



CONTENTS Pack 



The "Inflexible" [IVith lUusiratiotis') 201 



The Development OF THE Ovum, II. By the Rev. W. H.Dailingkr 



and Dr. J, Drvsdalh =03 



Von Richthofbn's ''China" 206 



Lrtters to the Editor : — 



Soldirrs' Rations —Prof. Saml. Haughtok.F.RS 207 



Printins and Calico Printing. —Henrv Cecil 207 



Stamping out Noxious Insect Life.— W. Little 207 



Complementary Colours —Joseph John Murphv 08 



Phyllotaxis ; G. E. Massee -oi 



Geographical Work IN Russia DURING 1876 209 



A Pocket Hammock {IViih IlUtstrations] 209 



The Sanitary Institute 210 



On the Source OF THE Carbon OF Plants 21 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



De Vico's Comet of Short Period 212 



The Late Professor Hcis 213 



The Caxton Exhibition (JfiM ///»j/ra^i>«) 2'3 



Notes • ^'5 



The Influence of Light upon thk Development of Bacteria. 



By Arthuic Downes, IH.D., and Thos. P. Blunt, M.A., F.C.S. . 218 



University and Educational Intelligence 218 



Scientific Serials ^'^ 



Societies and Academies , ^'9 



