i6o 



NA TURE 



{Dec. 24, 1874 



Morgan ; Some remarks on the preceding paper by Dr. Schlor- 

 lemmer ; and a Note on Aricine by Mr. D. Howard, who finds 

 tha this is really a distinct aikalaid existing in certain kinds of 

 reputed cinchona barks. — The Chairman announced that Prof. 

 C. Maxwell had promised to give a lecture on the i8th of 

 February, On the dynamical evidence of the molecular constitu- 

 tion of bodies. 



Meteorological Society, Dec. 16.— Dr. R.J. Muir, pre- 

 sident, in the chair.— The following papers were read : — Atmo- 

 spheric piessure and rainfall, by John C. Bhixam, F.M. S. — 

 Remarks on West India Cyclones, by H. F. Jahncke.^ This 

 paper is a continuation of a former one read before the Society 

 in February last. — Notes on the weather experienced over the 

 British Isles and the north-west of France during the fir.t few 

 days of October 1874, by R. H. Scott, F.R.S. The object of 

 this paper was to show that the charts in the Bulldtn Inter- 

 7iatioiial are drawn upon insufficient data. It also recommended 

 the adoption of the conical projection on charts for meteoro- 

 logical purposes. — On a new self-registering hygrometer, by 

 H. Negretti, F.M.S., and J. \V. Zambra, F.. M.S. —Results of 

 meteorological observations made at and near St. Paul's Island, 

 in the South Indian Ocean, by R. H. Scott, F.R.S.— Descrip- 

 tion of a new patent portable magnetic anemometer and current 

 meter for maritime use, by R. M. Lovvne. 



Entomological Society, Dec. 7. — Sir Sidney Smith 

 Saunders, CM. G., president, in the chair.— Mr. E. A. Fitch 

 extiibited some oak-galls formed by insects of the genera Dryo- 

 cosmus and Aphilothrix, of which descriptions had been pub- 

 lished in a recent number of the Entomologist's Monthly 

 Mas^azhie, together with three curious bud-galls, miknowu, from 

 Rayleigh, in Essex. — Mr. Champion exhibited a box of Hemi- 

 ptera, collected by Mr. J. J. Walker in different places near the 

 Mediterranean. — Prof. Westwood forwarded a letter he had 

 received from Mr. Stone, accompanying a sample of tea imported 

 from Shanghae, infested by a small beetle which proved to be 

 the Plimis hololcucus. Also a letter from Prof. Forel, of Lau- 

 sanne, statmg that the Fkylloxa-a vastalhx had made its appear- 

 ance among some vmes at Pregny, in the canton of Geneva, 

 which had been introduced from England into the graperies of 

 the Baron Rothschild, and that the Phylloxera had been disco- 

 vered in two of his greenhouses among vmes planted in 1S69, 

 sufficiently distant from each other to render it improbable that 

 the insect had been communicated one from the other ; and he 

 therefore concluded that the disease had been introduced in 

 1S69 from the graperies in England. He was anxious to ascer- 

 tain whether the vines in the English graperies were less influ- 

 enced than those out of doors ; but none of the members 

 present were aware of the occurrence of the insect in England 

 out of doois, as it had hitherto appeared in greenhouses only. — 

 Mr. C. O. Waterhouse communicated some " Synonymical 

 Notes on Longicorn Coleoptera." 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, Dec. 14. — M. Fremy in the chair. — 

 The proceedings commenced by M. De Lacaze-Duthiers present- 

 ing to the Academy the first two volumes of his " Archives of 

 Experimental Zoology." — The followmg papers v/ere then read : 

 — On the originating centres of the plague of 185S and 1S74 ; 

 epidemic nature and contagion of ttiis plague ; by M. J. D. 

 Tholozan.— Note on the distribution of water in Egypt and in 

 Greece, byM. Bclgrand. — M. Le Verrier presented a new theory 

 of the planet Neptune. — Determination of the velocity of light 

 and of the sun's parallax, by M. A. Comu. As the mean of 

 504 experiments, the author has obtained the value 300,000 

 kilometres per second for the velocity of light m vacuo. 

 The determination of the solar parallax is determined in three 

 ways: (I) Observation of the eclipses of Jupiter's satellites — 

 mean result S"85. (2) Analytical metliods founded on the com- 

 parison of astronomical observations with theoretical laws based 

 on the principle of gravitation — mean result S''86. (3) Geo- 

 metrical methods founded on the parallactic displacement of 

 certain planets. Result obtained from opposition of Mars in 

 1862 was 8"84. — Observations on the phenomena essential to 

 fertilisation in the fresh-water Alga; of the genus Batrachosper- 

 mum, by M. Sirodot. — Theory of cyclonic meteorological phe- 

 nomena, by M. Couste. — Observations on the reproduction of 

 the Phylloxera of the vine, by M. Balbiani. — The American 

 species of the genus Phylloxera, by Mr. C. V. Riley. The author 



recognises sixteen well-defined species. — Method followed in 

 searching for the most efficacious substance to oppose to Phyl- 

 loxera at the viticultural station of Cognac, by .VI. M ix Comu. 

 — Experiments made with poisonous agents on healthy vines, by 

 M. Baudrimont. — Telegrams from M. Janssen, director of the 

 Japanese Transit of Venus Expedition, to the Minister of 

 Public Instruction, to the Academy of Sciences, and to the 

 "Bureau des Longitudes," were read. Letters referring to 

 the transit were received also from M. E. Mouchez, director 

 of the station at St. Paul, and from M. Fleuriais, director of 

 the Pekin station.— Observations on Borrelly's last comet, 

 by M. Siephan. — On the stability of equilibrium of a heavy 

 body resting on a curved support, by M. C. Jordan. — On cubic 

 residues, a note on the theory of numbers, by M. P. Pepin. — 

 On two simple laws of the active resistance of solids, by M. J, 

 Boussinesq. This is a continuation of the former paper bearing 

 this title. — Observations relating to a recent communication by 

 M. Volpicelli on electric induction, by M. E. Blavier. — On the 

 inconvenience of employing vessels of Buheiuian glass in chemical 

 analysis, and particularly in alkalimetry, by M. P. TruchoL 

 The author states that French soda glass is not sensibly 

 attacked by boiling water. — On the action of hydrogen on 

 silver nitrate, by M. N. Beketoff. It had been stated 

 by M. .Roussel that silver nitrate was reduced by hydrogen, 

 while, on the other hand, M. Pellet maintained that pure 

 hydrogen had no action on solutions of this salt, and that 

 reduction was effected in such cases by the presence of traces of 

 arsenic in the hydrogen employed, or by the presence of an 

 excess of silver oxide in the nitrate. The author of the present 

 communication made, therefore, a series of experiments with 

 carefully purified hydrogen, from which he concludes that this 

 gas does reduce the nitrate either in neutral or feebly acid solu- 

 tions. The recent researches by Dr. Russell in this comitry on 

 the same subject do not seem to have come under the author's 

 notice. — Action on the economy of the derivatives of the biliary 

 acids, on the colouring matters of the bile, and on cholesterine, by 

 MM. V. Feltz and E. Ritter. — An«:sthesia produced by the 

 intra-venous injection of chloral in a case of hollowing of the 

 tibia and ovariotomy j acidity of the chloral solution ; method of 

 neutraUsing it, by M. Ore. 



BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED 



British. — Gums, Resins, Oleo-Resins, and Resinous Products in the 

 India Museum or pro.l i ed m India; Dr. M. C. Cooke (London, India 

 .Museum). — ICcoaomic Ucology ; or, Geology in its relation to Arts and Manu- 

 factures ; David Page, LL.D., F.C.S , &c. (VVm. Blackwood).— The Last 

 Journals of David Livingstone. 2 vols. ; Horace Waller, F.R-G.S. Ooha 

 Murray). — Origin of Creation ; or, the Science of Matter and Force : I'hos. 

 R. Frascr and Andrew Deivar tLongmans),— .The Botanical Locality Record 

 Club : Report of the Recorder for 1873 (E. Newman). ^.Anthropological 

 Notes and Queries: British Association (Stanford). — I'he Conflict between 

 Religion and Science ; J. W. Draper, M.D. (H S. King and Co )— The 

 Doctrine of Descent and Darwinism. International Series ; Oscar bchmitz 

 H. S. King and Co.) 



American.— The "Babbit Portfolio." New England Society of N. J., 

 (United States). — Memoir of the Founding and Progress of the United States 

 Observatory : Prof. J. E. Nourse, U.S.N. (Washington). 



FoREiG.w. — Bulletin dc la Federation des Societes d'Horticulture de Bel- 

 gique (Liege). 



CONTENTS Pa 



Protection for Inventions 141 



Livi.ngstone's " L.\sT Journals." {.With Itlustratton) 142 



Indian Meteorology * 145 



Our Book Shelf 147 



Letters to the Editor ; — 



Deep-sea Researches.— Prof. W. C. Williamson, F.R.S. ... 148 



Origin of Bright Colouring in Animals. — ^Joseph John Murphy . 148 



Psychology of Cruelty 149 



Migration of Birds 149 



The Potato Disease J49 



Helmholtz ON the Use and Abuse of the Deductive Method 



IN Physical Science 149 



Movements of the Herring 151 



The Transit of Venus 153 



Notes 153 



The Royal Society Medals 155 



Scientific Serials 157 



Societies and Academies 157 



Books and Pamphlets Received 160 



