Dec. 21, 1882 | 
NATURE 
189 
Photograph spectrum of corona during totality on buth sides 
of dark moon. 
(5.) Prismatic camera. 
gratin, 
Use first order spectrum on one side and second order on the 
other. 
Commence two minutes before totality. Continue till two 
minutes after totality on gradually ascending or descending or 
rotating plate. 
(6.) 6-inch photo. Jens as in (2), mounted on alt-azimuth. 
Fine slit, One prism of 60°. To observe spectrum of corona. 
(7.) Photographs of corona of short, m dium, and very long 
exposure to determine form and true solar limit of apparent 
corona due to the illumination of our air, using for the latter 
purpose the photographic intensity of the image of the moon. 
Tam aware that because Solar Physics is a new subject, and 
one so entirely in the domain of jure science, the above scheme 
may appear ridiculous to many, for if carried « ut in its complete- 
hess its cost would perhaps amount to the sixtieth part of the 
sum expended on the Transit of Venus in 1874. I have, how- 
ever, felt myself bound to put it forward as an ideal scheme and 
one which, if several civilised Governments do each a little, con- 
certed action may help us in part torealise, I am informed that 
the French and Italian Governments are already making pre- 
parations for observations, and my desire is that we may be 
represented on an occasion which, having regard to the duty 
which is incumbent upon us to secure ob-ervations for_the use of 
those who come after us, is one of high importance. 
6-inch photo. lens as in (2), but with 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
The American Naturalist, November, 1882, contains :—On 
the ancient man of Calaveras, by W. O. Ayres.—On the grey 
rabbit, by S. Lockwood.—On the genus Nebalia and its fossil 
allies, representing the order Phyllocarida, by A. S. Packard, 
jun.—American work on recent mollusca, 1881, by W. H. 
Dall.—Progress of invertebrate paleontology in the United 
States in 1881. by C. A. White.—On the number of bones at 
present known in the pectoral and pelvic limbs of birds, by R. 
W. Shufeldt.—The Editor’s table—Recent l:terature.—General 
notes. 
Zeitschrift fur wissenschaftliche Zooligie, Bd. 37, Heft 3, 
November 1, 1882, contains :—On the structure and develop- 
ment of Dinophilus apatris, by Dr. E. Korschelt (plates 21 and 
22), The author would place the forms belonging to this genus 
in a new family of the Turbellaria.—Studies among the Lampy- 
ridz, by H. Ritter v. Wielowiejski (plates 23 and 24).—On the 
deposition of bone in the skeleton of bony fishes, by Max Kostler 
(plate 25).—On the origin and development of the green cells in 
Hydra, by Dr. Otto Hamann (plate 26); see remarks on this 
paper by Prof. Lankester, NATURE, vol. xxvii. p. 87. 
Bulletin de la Soc. Imp. des Naturalistes de Moscow, 1d82, 
No, 1, contains :—On the geology of the Windimir district, by 
H. Trautschold.—New lepidoptera of the Amur land, by H. 
Christoph (conclusion).—On the stone-growth of Sarepta—list of 
the Staphylinide, and on some new  lants of Sarepta, by A. 
Becker.—On the geographical distribution of the hop in ancient 
times, by Dr. C. O. Cech.—A protest relative to paleontological 
nomenclature, by H, Trautschold.—Remarks on some anomalies 
found in the form and colour of the plants in the various coun- 
tries of the Russian territory, by Dr. A. von Riesenkampff.— 
Note on an instrument to measure the intensity of gravity, 
by A. Issel.—On crinoids, addenda and corrigenda, by H. 
Trautschold.—Materials for a fauna of the Black Sea, fasc. iii, 
Vermes, by V. Czerniavsky. In Russian, but the diagnoses of 
new genera and species are in Latin. 
Revue internationale des Sciences biologigues, October 15, 
1882, contains :—Translation of Prof. Pringsheim’s ‘‘ Researches 
on Chlorophyll.”—M. Roujon, on the faculty of speech in 
mammals.—Prof. Abel, on the dangerous properties of fine coal 
dust (translation).—M. Viguier, on orientation and its organs in 
animals and in man,—Froceedings of the Academy of Sciences, 
Paris. 
Rendiconto delle Sessiont dell’ Accademia delle Scienze dell’ lsti- 
tuto di Bologna, 1881-82.—We note the following: On the suc- 
centuriate spleen of the dog, and on the reproduction of the 
spleen by pathological processes that have abolished the function 
of that viscus, by S. Tizzoni.—On adaptation of species to 
environment ; new researches on the genetic history of Tiema- 
todes, by S. Ercolani.—On the craniology of lunatics, by S. 
Peli.—On congenital deviations of the vertebral column in 
domestic animals, by S. Gottii—Function of the ccecum and 
the rest of the large intestine, by S. Vella.—On polydactylia 
and polymelia in man and vertebrates, by S. Ercolani.—On the 
variations and the course of the river Po, by S. Predieri.—Meteor- 
ology applied to the study of botany, with a description of a new 
geothermometer, by S. Bertoloni —On some new electric figures, 
by S. Villari—On electric shadows, by S. Righi.—On the 
minute anatomy of the muscles in insects which move their 
wings, by S. Ciaccio.— The elevation of the Bolognese Apen- 
nines by direct action of gravity and of lateral pressures, by S. 
ec eee researches on nerve-stretching, by S. 
XOssl. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LONDON 
Royal Society, November 23.—‘‘ Monthly Means of the 
Highest and Lowest Diurnal Temperatures of the Water of the 
Thames, and Comparison with the corresponding Temperatures 
of the Air at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich.” By Sir 
George Biddell Airy, K.C.B., F.R.S., late Astronomer Royal. 
The observations were instituted at the suggestion of the 
conductors of the Medical Department in the Office of the Regis- 
trar General of Births, Deaths, and Marriages, with the view ot 
supplying some knowledge of an element which may possibly 
affect the sanitary condition of the metropolis. The plan of 
observations was arranged at the Royal Observatory of Green- 
wich ; and the instruments were procured and mounted, and 
repeired when necessary, under the care successively of James 
Glaisher, Esq., and William Ellis, Esq., superintendents of the 
Magnetical and Meteorological Department of the Observatory. 
The self-recording instruments were attached to the hospital 
ships successively anchored in the Thames, nearly opposite to 
Greenwich ; and their records were read and registered by the 
medical officers of those ships, and these written registers were 
transmitted every week to the Royal Observatory. 
Ihave been favoured by Mr. Ellis, who, at my request, has 
kindly superintended the preparation of the results of observa- 
tions of thermometers in the water of the Thames, with the 
following remarks on the nature of the observations and the 
elements for their reduction. 
‘* The thermometers were inclosed in an upright wooden trunk 
attached to the side of the ship, its lower portion projecting into 
the water; the trunk was closed at the bottom ; the closing 
plate, and that portion of the sides which was under water, 
being perforated with holes, to allow the water easily to flow 
through. The thermometers were suspended in the trunk, so as 
to be about two feet below the surface of the water, and one 
foot above the bottom of the trunk. 
“The instruments employed throughout were, one for highest 
temperature, and one for lowest temperature. For highest tem- 
perature two constructions have been successively used: the 
earlier, in which the mercury, with rising temperature, pushes up 
a steel index, leaving it detached when the temperature falls ; 
the later, in which the column of mercury becomes divided on 
fall of temperature, the principal portion of the column beirg 
left in the tube. For lowest temperature, a spirit thermometer 
was employed, its index being contained within the column of 
spirit. The index-errors of the two thermometers in use were 
properly determined, and corrections for them were applied 
when necessary. 
“<The thermometers were read every morning at 9 a.m. 
“*The observations of atmospheric temperature at the Royal 
Observatory were made with the thermometers in ordinary use at 
the elevation of 4 feet above the ground.” 
It will be remarked that the indications of the thermometers 
in the Thames were read only once in each day. I could have 
wished that a greater number of readings could have been taken, 
sufficiently numerous to exhibit the dependence of the tempera- 
ture of the Thames-water upon the phase of the tide. But under 
the circumstances this was impracticable. To establish a self- 
registering apparatus was out of question ; and if ona few occa- 
sions we had gone through the labour of making observations at 
every hour of day and night, the conclusions deduced from those 
few instances might hav2 been vitiated by accidents. But I am 
able to assert positively, as a result from the reductions to be 
exhibited in the following pages, that nothing has been lost from 
the restriction of the plan of observation, It will be seen that 
