536 



NATURE 



[Oct. 1 8, 1877 



and animals, showing the details of their structure ; and skeletons 

 and plaster casts by which the fundamental facts of anatomy and 

 human physiology can be successfully taught. Thus, with the 

 aid of these admirable elementary museums and appliances, 

 which Mr. Forster might well envy, the broad principles of 

 physical, chemical, and biological science are taught to all whose 

 education t;oes no further than the public schools ; and as regards 

 the others, such instruction in the elements of science forms an 

 admirable introduction to the University cour.se." 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Royal Microscopical Society, October 3. — Mr. IT. C. 

 Sorby, president, in tlie chair. — The president read a paper on 

 an improved method for distinguishing the axes of double 

 refracting substances which consisted of a wedge-shaped piece of 

 quartz cut parallel to the positive axis of the crystal, and made 

 to slide into the tye-piece of the microscope. When lliis p.assed 

 across the field of view in polarised light every gradation of tint 

 was successively produced by the varying thickness of the quartz, 

 and by viewing crystals through this it was 'very easy at once to de- 

 termine the position of their axes by noting the effect upon the 

 series of coloured bands produced by the quartz scale. — A paper 

 by Mr. F. H. Wenham on the aperture of object glasses was 

 read by the secretary. The inirport of Mr. Wenham's paper 

 was further explained, and illustrations of the method proposed 

 were drawn on the black-boaid by Mr, J. E. Ingpen. — Mr. Slack 

 described some curious observations made as to the liabit and 

 power of offensive attack by the genus diglena upon anguillula 

 and other species. 



Philadelphia 



Academy of Natural Sciences, May i. — On the Cam- 

 bari (crayfishes) of Northern Indiana, by W. F. Bandy {Proc, 

 1877, p. 171). — .Synopsis of the fishes of Lake Nicaragua, by 

 Drs. Gill and Bransford (pp. 175-191). —On lavendulite from 

 Chili, by E. Goldsmith. 



May 15. — Prof Leidy, on gregarines. 



May 22. — Prof. Leidy, on flukes infesting molluscs. — II. C. 

 Yarrow, notes on the natural history of Fort Macon, N.C. 

 (pp. 203-218). — On the brain of C/iim.rra nwns/roia, by Dr. 

 Wilder (pp. 219-250). 



June 12. — Prof. Leidy, remarks on parasitic infusoria. 



June 26. — Prof. Leidy, the birth of a rhizopod {Eji!;lyJ<ha). 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, October 8, — M. Peligot in the chair. 

 —On an incident mentioned at the congress of Stuttgart, by M. 

 Faye. This relates to recent geodetic operations in the north- 

 east of Spain, directed by Gen. Ibanez. — Apparatus for measur- 

 ing the heat of vaporisation of liquids, by M. Berthelot. He 

 aims at greater simplicity, while transmitting the vapour dry 

 from generator to calorimeter. A phial with hermetically sealed 

 neck is traversed by a wide vertical tube open at its inclosed top, 

 passing down through the phial to a serpentine in a calorimeter, 

 and (ill its way) through a metallic disc, a circular lamp, another 

 metallic plate, a sheet of paste-board, and a wooden plate (the 

 last three forming the cover of the calorimeter). lie finds on an 

 aver.age 636'2 as the total heat furnished by water between 100° 

 and zero (Regnault 636 '6). — On the determination of the heat of 

 fusion, by M. Berthelot. The two phenomena of fusion and 

 solidification in a body like hydrate of chloral are not reci- 

 procal when one directly follows the other, and the heat 

 absorbed in one case is not equal to that liberated in 

 the other. To measure the calorific weak infusion the 

 body should be brought to a certain final state, proved 

 idtnlical by thermal measurements, e.g., dissolving hydrate of 

 chloral at a given temperature and in a constant quantity of 

 water, and compaiing specimens recently fused, and others kept 

 several months or years. Then a known weight of the substance 

 is raised to different temperatures, sometimes above sometimes 

 below the point of fusion, then immersed and dissolved suddenly 

 In the water of the calorimeter. He finds the heat of fusion to 

 be 33 '2 cal. for i gramme. — On the variations of the heat 

 liberated by union of water and sulphuric acid at different 

 temperatures, by M. Berthelot. — On the relation whicli should 

 exist between the diameter of magnetic cores of electro-magnets 

 and their length, by M. Du Moncel. For equal resistances of 

 circuit the diameters should be proportional to the electro- 



motive force for equal electromotive forces, in inverse 

 ratio of the resistance of the circuit, including the battery 

 resistance ; for equal diameters proportional to the square 

 roots of the resistances of the circuits ; from given electro- 

 motive force and with electro-magnets in their conditions of 

 maximum the electro-motive forces of the batteries should 

 be proportional to the square roots of the resistances of the 

 circuits. — Programme of the expedition of next year (July, 1S78) 

 to the glacial sea of Siberia, by M. Nordenskjold. — Observations 

 of the planet 175 Palisa, and of the new comet of Tempel, with 

 the garden equatorial, by MM. Paul and Prosper Henry. — On a 

 general method of transformation of integrals depending on 

 squnre rools; application to a fundamental proldem of geodesy, 

 by M. Callandreau. — On the spectrum of the new metal davyum, 

 by M. Kern. He indicates the principal lines. — Pyrogenous 

 decomposition of chlorhydrate, bromhydrate, and iodhydrate of 

 trimelhylamiue, new characteristic of methylamines, by M. 

 Vincent. The new characteristic is the production of chloride, 

 bromide, and iodide of methyl from such decomposition. — On 

 iodide of starch, by M. Bondonneau. — Synthesis of benzoic acid 

 and of benzophenone, by MM. Friedel, Crafts, and Ador. — 

 Experiments on the tape-like development of human cysticercus, 

 by M. Redon. Man may, like swine, become completely 

 infested by cysticerci. M. Kedon caused some cysts from a 

 human body to be ingested with tepid milk into young pigs 

 and dogs ; he also swallowed some himself It appeared that 

 only man presents a favourable medium ; the pigs and dogs gave 

 no trace of the tape-worms ; but the author after about three 

 months discovered worms in his stools. This throws light on 

 the nature of the development of human cysticercus, and presents 

 a striking exception to the law of parasitism with alternating 

 generations. — Description of the meteoric stones of Rochester, 

 Warrenton, and Cynthiana which fell respectively on December 

 21, 1S76, and January 3 and 23, 1S77, with some remarks on 

 previous falls of meteorites in the same region, by Mr. Smith. — 

 M. Bouvel called attention to an arrangement for compressing 

 oxygen and hydrogen to considerable pressures. The wires from 

 a battery are conducted into a thick metallic block containing a 

 strong glass voltameter with one chamber double the other ; 

 under the chamber are the terminal electrode immersed in 

 acidulated water, the bottom of the reservoirs being closed by a 

 strong screw. The reservoir communicates aUo with another 

 cylinder in which a screw can be made to press on the liquid. 

 Two narrow passages rise from the gas chamber and are closed 

 by screws. 



CONTENTS PA.r 



Huxi-ey's " Anatomy of In\ertebkatbd Ani.mai.s " 517 



Everett's "Te.\t-Booiv of Physics" 51S 



Our Book Shelf : — 



Britten's "Popular British Fungi : containing Descriptions and 

 Histories of llie Principal Fungi, both Edible and Poisonous, of 



our Country" ■' f. I'j 



Post's " Zeitschrift fiir das chcmische Grossgewerbe " 31 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Indian Rainfall Statistics.— Old Madkassee =.i i 



Potential Energy.— X. ; W. G. ; W. P. O ^ - 



Dealers in Zoological Specimens and Models —Prof IC. Ray 



Lankesthr, F.R.S 521 



Ornithology of Costa Rica.— A. Eoucard 521 



On the Supposed Influence of Light on Combustion — C. To.M- 



LINSON. F.R.S 5-> 



Selective Discrimination of Insects— S. B 522 



OuK Astronomical Column : — 



The Nebula, Messier 8 (G.C. 4361) ^;2 



The Binary Star a Centautj qjj 



Jupiter's Satellites 5^2 



'I'he Present Comets 522 



Biological Notes 523 



Fox Talbot ■ 52; 



The Photographic Exhif.ition s'S 



The Norwegian Deep-Hea Expedition. Ey Dr. II. Mohn {}VWi 



Illustratiotis iiiid M„J>) 526 



Notes 529 



The Limits OF Natural Knowledge. By Prof C. von Naceli . 531 



University and Educational Intelligence 535 



Societies and Academies 536 



Erratum. — In Napure, vol xvi p. 330, the reference 

 Nac^i. should be to Nos. 1,663 and 1,733. 



the Ai/,i! 



