- Horticultural Society ; Charles C. Babington, F.R.S., Professor 
of Botany, Cambridge; M. A. Lawson, F.L.S., Professor of 
_ Botany, Oxford; J. H.Balfour, M.D., F.R.S., Professor of Botany, 
Edinburgh ; Alexander Dixon, M.D., Professor of Botany, 
Glasgow; G. Dickie, M.D., F.L.S., Professor of Botany, 
Aberdeen; E. Perceval Wright, M.D., F.L.S., Professor of Botany, 
Dublin; Robert Bentley, F.L.S., Professor of Botany, King’s 
College and Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain; W. T. 
Thiselton Dyer, B.Sc., F.L.S., Professor of Botany, Royal 
Horticultural Society, London; R. O. Cunningham, M.D., 
F.L.S., Professor of Botany and Zoology, Belfast; W. R. 
McNab, M.D., Professor of Botany, Royal College of Science, 
Dublin; George Henslow, F.L.S., Lecturer at St. Burtho- 
lomew’s Hospital and Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester ; 
John Ball, F.R.S.; Maxwell T. Masters, M.D., F.R.S.; James 
Bateman, F.R.S.; R. Trevor Clarke, F.R.H.S.; W. Wilson 
Saunders, F.R.S.; Geo. F. Wilson, F.R.S.; Robert Hogg, 
LL.D., F.L.S., Pomological Director to the[Royal Horticultural 
_ Society; W. Sowerby, F.L.S.; D. Moore, Pn.D., F.L.S. ; 
_ Andrew Murray, F.L.S.; William Munro, Major-General, 
C.B., F.L.S.; M. Pakenham Edgeworth, F.L.S.; John Miers, 
® F-R.S., V.P.L.S.; Frederick Currey, F.R.S., Sec. L.S.; 
_ Daniel Hanbury, F.R.S., F.L.S.; C.E. Broome, F.L.S. ; 
Leonard Bomefield, F.L.S.; J. T. Boswell Syme, LL.D., 
F.L.S.; Hugh Cleghorn, M.D., F.L.S.; Clements Markham, 
C.B., F.L.S.; R. C. A. Prior, M.D., F.L.S.; Edward J. 
Waring, M.D., F.L.S.; George C. M. Birdwood, M.D. ; 
Walter Elliot, K.C.S.I., F.L.S.; J. Forbes Watson, M.D., 
F.L.S. ; Richard Strachey, Major-General, C.S.I., F.R.S. ; E. 
W. Cooke, R.A. F.R.S.; Robert Braithwaite, M.D. ; William 
Mitten, A.L.S.; W. Allport Leighton, F.L.S.; William 
Phillips; John Goucher, F.L.S.; J. Leicester Warren ; 
Worthington G. Smith, F.L.S.; M. C. Cooke; James M. 
Crombie, F.L.S. ; Alfred W. Bennett, F.L.S.; V.G. More, 
F.L.S.; Thomas Moore, F.L.S., Floricultural Director to the 
Royal Horticultural Society ; Thomas Thomson, M.D., F.R.S., 
late Superintendent Royal Botanic Garden, Calcutta ; Charles 
Darwin, F.R.S. ; George Bentham, F.R.S. 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
THE Journal of Botany for November, 1872, commences with 
a paper by Prof. Thiselton-Dyer, on an intricate point of veget- 
able histology, ‘‘Tyloses,” or the cellular filling-up of vessels, 
_ witha plate. Critical botany is represented by two articles, on 
Dasylirion and Beaucarnea, by Mr. J. G. Baker, and notes on 
same Scandinavian piants, by Dr. Trimen; and geographical 
botany also by two—‘‘ The Influence of Insect Agency on the 
Distribution of Plants,” by Mr. A. W. Bennett, and notes 
respecting some Birmingham plants, by Mr. Jas. Bagnall. 
Among the extracts is a very interesting one on some southern 
_ plants observed in the environs of Paris in 1871, being an account 
of the species added to the flora of the neighbourhood of Paris 
_ by the German invasion, amounting to 190. In the December 
number Dr. Trimer records and draws a recent addition to the 
British flora, Psamma baltica ; and the whole of the remaining 
original articles relate to cryptogamic bo:any—the Rev. Jas. 
Crombie discourses on lichens, the Rev. P. O’Mearaon Diatoms, 
Mr. J G. Baker, on a new Asflenium from Cape Colony, and 
H. Boswell, on the mosses of Oxfordshire. A large portion of the 
_ number for January, 1873, is occupied by a lengthy and interesting 
_ biography, accompanied by a portrait of the African traveller, 
__F, Welwitsch. ‘he remaining original articles include a contri- 
_ bution to the subject of the ‘‘Influence of Insect Agency on the 
Distribution of Piants,” by Dr. Buchanan White, a valuable 
and suggestive paper by Prof. M‘Nab, and a description by Mr, 
_ J. G. Baker of some new ferns from Lord Howe’s Island. 
Theshort ‘* Notes and Queries” are not the least interesting part 
of these three numbeis, : 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LonbDON 
Royal Society, Jan. 9.—‘‘ Further Remarks on the Sense of 
Sight in Bires,” by Robert James Lee, M.A.. M.D. Hethinks 
_ it would be premature to enter upon general deductions until the 
_ data we possess are more numerous, and the anatomical details 
em ee ee te i ee 
_ NATURE. ~ 
213 
tion he has received much assistance and valuable information 
from Mr. Hulke, who has directed considerable attention to the 
structure of the ciliary muscle in birds. In order to show the 
different degrees of development of the ciliary muscle, he drew 
up a short table containing those specimens which have been 
examined with most attention. For the present he considers 
the ciliary muscle as a simple structure for the production of one 
effect, whatever minute differences may exist in the internal 
arrangement of its fibres. According to the table the axis of 
vision in the Eagle Owl is 3'7 ; Vulture, 3°1 ; Buzzard, 4; Rhea 
americana, 3; Flamingo. 9; Penguin, 6; Andean Goose, 4; 
Vieillot’s Pheasant, 6 ; Wood Francolin, 4 6 ; Canada Goose, 5 ; 
Hawk-headed Parrot, 4; Spotted Dove, 7; Grouse, 4; Par- 
iridge, 4. A second table is a continuation of that commenced 
in his last communication, and is intended to furnish certain 
data which are necessary for the determination of the visual 
powers in various species of birds. 
**On the Union of Ammonia Nitrate with Ammonia.” 
Edward Divers, M.D. 
Ammonia nitrate deliquesces in ammonia gas at ordinary 
temperatures and pressures, forming a solution of the salt in 
liquefied ammonia. To prepare the product, it is only re- 
quisite to pass dry ammonia gas into a flask containing 
the dry nitrate ; but the condensation proceeds more rapidly 
if the flask is surrounded with ice. The liquid obtained 
varies in composition according to the temperature and pres- 
sure. The liquid boils when heated, and, when nearly satu- 
rated with nitrate, deposits crystals of it when cooled—just like 
an aqueous solution. It can also, like an aqueous solution, be 
heated above its boiling-point without boiling, and become super- 
saturated with the salt without crystallising. When poured out 
into an open vessel, it becomes almost instantly gelatinous in 
appearance—may, indeed, become so as it falls in a stream from 
the flask containing it. This effect is due to evaporation of am- 
monia and solidification of nitrate at the surface of the liquid ; 
on breaking the crust of nitrate, the compound flows out as 
liquid as ever. It is not caustic to the dry skin. During 
its decomposition cold is manifested, and during its forma- 
tion heat is evolved, but not to a great extent, because the 
heat given out by the liquefaction of the ammonia is 
nearly all used up in the liquefaction of the nitrate, 
Its specific gravity can be calculated from its composition, by 
taking for the purpose 1524°5 as the specific gravity of the 
nitrate, and 671 as that of the ammonia. In its rate of expan- 
sion by heat, the liquid resembles others that exist as such at 
ordinary temperatures, rather than those that, like ammonia 
itself, are only retained as such by great pressure. Its expan- 
sivity increases with the quantity of ammonia present. Iis 
action upon a great number of substances, principally inor- 
ganic, has been tried, and found to be for the most part like 
that of ammonia (in the absence of water) and ammonia nitrate 
conjoined. The nitrate appears to undergo double decomposi- 
tion with most salts, and the ammonia to unite with nearly all 
of them, including those of magnesium, aluminium, iron, and 
manganese. It is a good electrolyte, ammonia and hydrogen 
appearing at the negative electrode, and nitrogen and ammonia 
nitrate at the positive electrode. 
By 
Anthropological Institute, Jan. 7—Sir John Lubbock, 
Bart., F.R.S., in the chair, A paper by the late J. W. Jackson 
was read on the Atlantean Race of Western Europe. The 
chief aim of the author was to controvert the largely accepted 
opinion that the dark Atlantean race was of Turanian origin.— 
A paper by Dr. John Shortt on the Kojahs of Southern India. 
The true Kojahs or Eunuchs are chiefly seen about the houses of 
wealthy Mussulman nobles, by whom they are placed at the 
head of their harems. Sometimes they hold important charges 
with a considerable amount of control. The ladies of the 
harem look upon them as their confidential advisers in all 
matters relating to their personal concerns. The second class of 
Eunuchs are called Higras or natural Eunuchs, who dress like 
and ape the manners of women, and are for the most part 
utterly worthless characters. The paper entered into minute 
details respecting the physical characters and habits of that 
strange class of men.—A joint paper by M. H. Gerber and 
Capt Butler on the Primordial Inhabitants of Brazil, waz also 
read. Ic contained valuable and full statistical information as to 
the populations of the provinces; the occupations of the in- 
habitants, their industry and productions ; the mineral wealth of 
__are generally allowed to be correct. Since his last communica- | the country, agriculture, manufactures, and colonisation. 
