452 



NATURE 



[Sept 20, 1^77 



doing of the same external work for every successive unit-length 

 of the hfting-height will require a larger sum of contractile forces 

 than for every earlier one, since the muscle, even with progres- 

 sive contraction, varies as to its elastic properties in the direction 

 of an increase of its extensibility. Upon the weight hung to the 

 muscle act, when contraction occurs, both the contractile and 

 the elastic forces of the muscle. ... In the sum (c ■¥ e) of the 

 contractile (c) and the elastic forces (.:), t- becomes at first (during 

 the contraction) smaller, with the natural unweighted length of 

 the muscle equal to nil, and later, even negative. If the weight, 

 then, be lifted a number of units of length, the value of c 



must increase with increasing contraction But an 



increase of the contractile force is only possible through in- 

 creased transformation of elasticity into vis viva, that is, through 

 exchange of material, which finds its expression in the increased 

 formation of heat which I have observed. Thus, if I mistake 

 not, the facts discovered by me connect themselves with other 

 relations already known, and will find their application in a 

 future theory of muscular forces." 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Oxford. — It is stated that the Home Secretary has appointed 

 as joint secretaries to the Oxford University Commission the 

 Rev. Thomas Vere Bayne, Censor and .Student of Christ Church, 

 and Thomas Francis Dallin, late Fellow of Queen's College, and 

 Public Orator of the University of Oxford. 



Cambriiige. — The death is announced of Dr. Geldart, Master 

 of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, in the eighty-first year of his age. 

 He had held the mastership twenty-five years, having succeeded 

 Sir Herbert Jenner Fust. Dr, Geldart graduated as seventeenth 

 Avrangler in 1818. 



London. — Besides those already announced, the Rev. J. F. 

 Blake and Mr. Lebour are, we believe, candidates for the vacant 

 geological chair in University College. 



Nottingham. — The ceremony of laying the foundation-stone 

 of the University buildings at Nottingham has been fixed for 

 Thursday, the 27th inst. The ceremony will be performed at noon 

 by the Mayor, and subsequently there will be a public luncheon 

 in the Albert Hall, at which Mr. Gladstone is expected to he 

 present. The cost of the buildings, including the land, will be 

 60.000/. Of this sum an anonymous donor has contributed 

 10,000/., and the remainder will be found by the Corporation, 

 ■who have given the site. There will be lecture and class-rooms 

 for the promotion of the Cambridge University Extension 

 Scheme, which, it will be remembered, was first incorporated 

 at Nottingham, and which has since been carried out successfully 

 in several centres of industry. There will also be class-rooms, 

 laboratory, &c. , for the use of the students in the science classes 

 in connection with the local Mechanics' Institution, as well as 

 rooms for the Free Library and the Natural History Museum. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, September 10. — M. Peligot in the 

 chair. — Experimental researches on the mechanism of the forma- 

 tion of sugar in the liver, by M. CI. Bernard. — Referring to the 

 preceding paper, M. A. Triicul then read a treatise on the formation 

 of starch and of cellulose in plants. — M. Th. du Moncel then 

 presented to the Academy a copy of his " Recherches sur les 

 meilleures conditions des electro-aimants." — On the variation of 

 atmospheric pressure at different altitudes, determined at the 

 Puy-de-Dome Observatory, during the cyclones of last winter, 

 by M. Alluard. The author found, on comparing the barometri- 

 cal readings at the Puy-de-Dome Observatory with those of 

 Clermont Observatory, that the most remarkable discrepancies 

 existed, the barometer having frequently risen several milli- 

 metres at Clermont, when at the same time it fell considerably 

 on the Puy-de-D6me. He asks whether the supposition is 

 justified that, whiie a cyclone passes over the land, other smaller 

 cyclones are situated inside of it anil remain at different heights, 

 without reaching the ground ? Or does the strange phenomenon 

 result from local reasons which appertain to the relief of the 

 Dome's chain and to the relative position of the two observa- 



tories ? In all cases this phenomenon shows the necessity of 

 studying the atmosphere in different layers and the great import- 

 ance of tlie Piiy-de-D6me Observatory. — On a process of pre- 

 serving the flesh of fish (extract from a note), by M. R. M. 

 d'Amelio. — On the presence of phylloxera in the department of 

 Loir-et-Cher, by M. J. Duplessis. The writer has found that the 

 pernicious insect has now penetr.ated as far as Villebarron, and 

 the district infested near Orleans now has the shape of a vast 

 equilateral triangle of 60 kilometres side. — M. Ed. Prillieux then 

 read a note on the causes which have brought about the invasion 

 of phylloxera into the Vendome district. — M. J. Maistre in a 

 letter to M. Dumas speaks of the effects of sulphocarbonates 

 against the insects. — The Minister for Agriculture and Commerce 

 wrote a letter to M. Dumas on the same subject. — M. Faye then 

 drew the attention of the Academy to some interesting results 

 obtained at Wasliington Observatory by the observation of the two 

 satellites of Mars recently discovered. It appears from a communi- 

 cation made by Admiral J. Rodgers, that in the telegram first sent to 

 Europe by the Smithsonian Institution at Washington there was 

 a mistake, viz., in ascribing to the inner satellite a distance of 

 fifty seconds ; half of the major axis of its orbit amounts only to 

 thirty-three seconds of arc. — A letter was then read by the pre- 

 sident from M. Ch. Lamey on some observations he made 

 during the winter of 1S64-65, and which caused him to believe 

 that Mars is surrounded by a ring of asteroids of all sizes, and 

 as a whole resembling, in some respects, the ring of Saturn. 

 M. Limey had observed an uncertain reddish light on each side 

 of the disk of tlie planet and corresponding nearly to its equator. 

 He directs the attention of the observers of the two new satel- 

 lites to this phenomenon. — M. Leverrier then announced the 

 discoveiy of another new planet in the zone between Jupiter and 

 Mars, by Mr. Watson, at Ann Arbor, on the 3rd instant, 

 R.A. 23'iom. Dec. -f 0° 45'. Daily motion in R. A. 55s. ; in 

 Decl. — i' ; magnitude II. — On the theory of the small motions 

 of a weighty point on a fixed suface which is described round a 

 vertical axis of revolution, by J. Boussinesq. — On locomotives of 

 the compound system, by M. A. Mallet. — On the specific heat 

 and the melting heat of platinum, by M. J. VioUe. In the 

 course of experiments made by this gentleman he found the true 

 melting-point of pure silver at 954° C. — A note by M. V. Neyre- 

 neuf on the specific induction power. — On nitroso-guanidine, 

 by M. Jousselin. — On the methods which the ancients must have 

 employed to lift and transport the great Celtic or Gallic mono- 

 liths, by M. E. Robert. — A note by M. L. Hugo on some 

 curves representing certain elements ot the planetary system. 



CONTENTS Pack 



The WoRiv of the Iron and Steel Institute 43.I 



Cohn's Biology of Plants. By Prof. W. R. McNab 435 



Our Book Shklf : — 



Mackay's " Physiography and Physical Geography " 437 



Fisher's '* Book of Algebra " 437 



" Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geographical Sur- 



vey of the Territories."— A. G. Butler 437 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Temperature of Moon's Surface.— The Earl of RossE, F.R S. . 43S 



Rainfall and Sun-Spots in India.— E. D. Archibald 438 



The Australian Monotremes.— P. L. S. : W. A. Forbes ... 439 



English Names of Wild Flowers and Plants.— J. Willis.'. ... 439 

 Some of the Troubles of John O'Toole respecting Potential 



Energy. — X 439 



On the Supposed Action of Light on Combustion. — G. Savaky . 441 

 Our Astronomical Column :— 



The Satellites of Mars 441 



'I'he S.itelIiteof Neptune 441 



The Binary a Centauri 441 



Meteoric Astronomy 441 



A New Comet 442 



Chemical Notes ; — 



Action of Organic Substances increasing the Sensitiveness of certain 



Silver Salts 442 



Heat of Combustion of Oxygen and Hydrogen in Closed Vessels . 442 



On Vapour Volumes in Relation to Avogadro's Law 442 



Chemical Constitution of the Minerals Ha'chetolite and Samar- 



skite, from North Carolina , 442 



On a New Class of Bodies termed Platoiodnitrites 442 



A New Acid 442 



Remarkable Plants, IV.— The Blue Gum Tree (Encalyftus 



globulus, Labil.) (With Illustration) 443 



Mantegazza on the Relative Lengths of the Index and 



"Ring" Fingers. By J. C. Galton 444 



Notes 445 



Introduction and Succession OF Vertebrate Life IN America . 44S 

 On Nocturnal Increase of Temterature with Elevation. By 



James Glaisher, F.R.S 450 



The Heat Phenomena accompanying Muscular Action . . . 451 



University and Educational Intelligence 452 



Societies and Academies 452 



