NATURE 



[Dcr. 31, 1874 



Manchester 



Literary and Philosophical Society, Dec. i. — Rev. Wm. 

 Gaskell, M.A., vice-piesident, in the chair. — Some doubts in re- 

 gard to the law of the diffusion of gases, by Mr. II. H. Howorth. 



Dec. 15.— Mr. Edward Shunck, F.R.S., president, in the 

 chair.— Rev. Wm. Gaskell, M. A., read an interesting account of 

 Horrocks' and Crabtree's observations of the Transit of Venus in 

 1639, published in ihe Annual Register for 1769.— Some par- 

 ticulars respecting the negro of the neighbourhood of the Congo, 

 West Africa, by Mr. Watson Smith, F.C.S.— Analysis of one 

 of the Trefriw mineral waters, by Mr. Thomas CarncUey, B.Sc. 

 Communicated by Prof. H. E. Roscoe, F.R.S. 

 Glasgow 



Geological Society, Dec. 15. — Mr. John Young, F.G.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair. — Mr. James NeUson, jun., exhibited 

 a selection of fossils from the Irish and Scotch limestone beds, 

 and read a paper on the Armagh limestones, and their equiva- 

 lents in Scotch strata. — Mr. James Dairon read a paper on the 

 graptolites of the Upper LUndeilo rocks of the south of Scot- 

 land. Mr. Dairon described more particularly the following 

 forms : Climacograpsus tentiusculus, DiJymograpsus, Dicrano- 

 grapsiis, and Plcurograpsus, pointing out the characteristic 

 features of each, and indicating their range in the rocks of the 

 formation, and the beds in which they severally occur most 

 abundantly. The paper was illustrated by drawings and by a 

 beautiful collection of specimens. 



Boston, U.S. 



Society of Natural History, March 18. — The president 

 in the chair. — Dr. Samuel Kneeland read a paper illus- 

 trated by diagrams and specimens, on the evidence for and 

 against the so-called sea-serpent. He thought a careful weigh- 

 ing of the evidence showed that such an animal is not a 

 zoological aljsurdity, and that from paUrontology (if we dis- 

 card the testimony of many credible witnesses) we may even 

 conclude that it is a possibility — and, he believed, a probability 

 — that some form, intermediate between the mar n^' ^auiians of 

 the Secondary and the elongated cetaceans of the I'eaiary has 

 come down to the present epoch, and will eventually come under 

 the notice of naturalists, and prove, in this as in many other 

 cases, that widely spread popular beliefs in natural history, espe- 

 cially when professing to rest upon credible testimony, have 

 generally fur their foundation some portion of scientific truth. 

 He believed there were at least two species of the creature 

 (which he styled Eremotlierium), one in the northern and another 

 in the southern ocean. — Notes on Ophidiida; and Kierasferidfe, 

 with descriptions of new species from America and the Mediter- 

 ranean, by F. W. Putnam. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, Dec. 21. — M. Fremy in the chair. — 

 The following papers were read : — New theory of the motion of 

 the planet Neptune : remarks on the ciiseniblc of the theories 

 of the eight principal planets, Mercury, Venus, the Earth, Mars, 

 Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune ; by M. Le Verrier. The 

 paper presented completes a work commenced on Sepleniber 

 l6th, 1839. — New theorems on series of similar triangles, by 

 M. Chasles. — On the limited o.xidation of the hydro-carbons: 

 amylene ; by M. Berthelot. The author employs a solution of 

 chromic acid as the oxidizing agent. Hydride of amylene yields 

 valerianic acid. Amylene when mixed with water and treated 

 with the mixture yiekls a mixture of all the fatty acids from 

 formic to valerianic — the latter and acetic acid being formed in 

 the greatest proportions. — New documents on the flora of New 

 Caledonia, by M. Ad. Brongniart. — On the carpellary theory 

 according to the Eiliacea", by M. A. Frecul. — The Laboratory of 

 Experimental Zoology at Roscoff, by M. H. de Lacaze-Duthiers. 

 The author gives a detailed account of this valuable establish- 

 ment. — Micrnmetric measurements of the triple star f Cancri, 

 by M. Otto Struve. — Report on a memoir by M. Sarrau, entitled, 

 " Theoretical researches on the effects of gunpowder and explo- 

 sive substances," by the Commissioners, MM. Morin, Tresca, 

 Berthelot, and Resal. — On an apparatus for measuring gases in 

 indusirial analyses or gas-liydromeler, by M. E. J. Maumene. — 

 Observations concerning a recent communication by M. A. 

 Cornu on the degree of precision of Fouc;rult's method for 

 measuring the velocity of Ight; a letter from M. Lissajous to the 

 perpetual secretary. The writer gave the following extract from 

 ['"oucault in contradiction to M. Coinu's statement that the for- 

 mer had obtained results having an indeterminate approximation : 

 "Increasing thus the length of the luminous patli and apply- 

 ing greattr ticcuracv to the nieaiu;'.jn.i:t of the lime, I obtained 



determinations of which the extreme variations do not exceed 

 j-Jtj and which combined by the method of means rapidly give 

 series which ageee nearly to -jji;." — On the pyruvic ureides : 

 synthesis of parabanic acid ; by M. E. Grimaux. This acid has 

 been obtained by the action of bromine and water on mononitro- 

 pyruvic ureide : — 



C4H3(NO.,)02 +6Br + H20 = CBrjNOa + CsH^N^Oa -h sHBr. 

 On a fragment of cranium seeming to indicate that trepanning 

 might have been employed among the Celtic people, by M. E. 

 Robert. — M. Dumas read a telegram from M. Fleuriais relating 

 to the transit of Venus. — Installation in Campbell's Isle of the 

 expedition sent to observe the transit of Venus ; a letter from 

 M. A. Boquet de la Grye to M. Dumas. — Letter to the perpetual 

 secretary on the subject of the obelisk raised at Montmartre in 

 1736 for the fixing of the meridian of Paris, by M. F. Lock. — 

 On the first method given by Jacobi for the integration of equa- 

 tions to the partial derivatives of the first order, by M. G. 

 Darboux. — On the changes of brilliancy of Jupiter's satellites, 

 by M. C. Flammarion. — On the molecular equilibrium of solu- 

 tions of chrome alum, by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. — Pre- 

 paration of pure nickel salts from the nickel of commerce, by 

 M. A. Terrell. — Action of chlorine on perbromide of ac'.tylene, 

 by M. E. B^urgoin. — Toxicological search for potassium cyanide 

 in presence of non-toxic double cyanides, by M. E. Jacquemin. 

 Rcocarches on the pathological albumens, method of estimating 

 albumens, cSic, by J. Birot. — Analysis of a meteorite which fell 

 in the province of Huesca, in Spain, by M. F. PIsani. — Obser- 

 vations relating to the Roda meteorite, by M. Daubree. — Re- 

 searches on the modifications which the blood undergoes in its 

 passage through the spleen, from the double point of view of its 

 richness in red globules and its respiratory capacity, by MM. L. 

 Malassez and P. Picard. — Observations made at Bordeaux of 

 two lunar halos of lemarkable intensity on the isth and 19th 

 of December ; a letter from M. G. Lespiault to the president. — • 

 During the meeting RI. Du Moncel was elected a free member 

 in place of the late M. Roulin. 



BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED 



EniTlSH. — A Sketch of Pfiilo^ophy. Parr 4. Biology and Theodicy : a 

 Prelude to the Biology of the Future: John C. Macvicar, MA., LL.D., 

 D.D. (Williams and Norgate) —Gardener's Venr-Book for 1875: Robert 

 Hogg, I.L.D., F US. (" Journal of Horticulture ").— Heredity : From the 

 French of Th. Ribot (Hy. S. King and Co.)— Geology of the Clyde Valley : 

 John Young, IM.D. (James Maclehose, Glasgow). — List of the Palaeozoic 

 Fishes. E.xtracted from the Geological Magazine (Triibner and Co,>— 

 Seventh Annual Report ot the Executive Committee of the Manchester Nat. 

 Soc. for Woman's Suffrage (Alexander Ireland, Manchester) — Notes on i 

 Till or Border Clay with broken Shells in the Lower Valley of the River 

 Endrick : Robt. L. Jack, F.G S (Geological Society, Glasgow),— Astro- 

 nomy ; J. Norman Lockyer (Macmillan and Co.)— The Physics and Philo- 

 sophy of the Senses: R. S. Wyld, F.R.S.E. (Henry S. tCing and Co.)— 

 Cholera: How to Prevent and Resist it : T Whiteside Hime, A B., M.B., 

 &c. (Baillicre, ITindall, and Cox).— Studies on Biogenesis : Wm. Roberts, 

 M.D. (Royal Society).-On the Connection between Colliery Explosions 

 and the Weather in 1872 : Robert H. Scott and Wm. Galloway (Quarterly 

 Journal of the Meteorological Society). — British Wdd Flowers. Parts 

 7 and 8 : John E. Sowerby Ijohn Van Voorst) —History of British Birds. 

 Parts 6, 7, and 8 : A. Newton, M.A., F.R.S. (John Van Voorst) —M icrc 

 graphic Dictionary. Parts iS, ig, 20, and 21 : J. W. Griffith, M.D., and 

 A. Henfrey, F.R.S., F.L S (John Van Voorst).— Anthropologia. Vol. i. 

 Part 3 (Baillicre, Tindall, and Cox). 



CONTENTS Pace 



Galton's " English Men of Science." By Prof. W. Stanley 



Jevons, F.R.S ,61 



Gkeek's " History OF THE English People" 164 



Fehling's New Chemical Dictionary. By M. M. P,iTTibON Mi'iK 165 

 Our Book Shelf :— 



Reuss's " Fossil Bryozoa " 166 



Hoernes' " Geology of Samothrace " 166 



Allh's " Pala:ontology of Podolia " 166 



Mojsvar's "Daonella" and " Halobia" 166 



Letters to the Editor: — 



On the Inventor of Clock Movement applied to Equatorials.— Suum 



Quique 166 



The Potato Disease.— Prof. W. T. Thiselton Dyer 167 



Mr. Cuttell and Section Cutting.— Prof. W. C. Williamson, 



F.R.S ,67 



Snakes and Frogs 167 



The Anderson School of Nati;ral History 167 



The Last Typhoon at Hong Kong 168 



Encke's Comet. By J. R. Hind, F.R.S 169 



Fertilisation of Flowers by Insects, IX. By Dr. Hermann 



U\ii.\.iLK (H'ith IlltislralioKs) 169 



The Transit of Venus i-yi 



The Sfectroscope and the Transit of Venus 171 



N0TIL.S ^3 



Thk Present Condition of the Royal Society ....'. . . 175 



French Academy of Sciences— Anniversary Meeting .... 178 



Scientific Serials 178 



Societies AND Academies lyg 



Books and Pamphlets I^eceived 180 



