380 



NA 2 URE 



[Marc/i II, 1875 



Guthrie in the autumn of 1873, and that the formation of the 

 Society has been attended with much success in every way. The 

 meetings were commenced under singularly favourable circum- 

 ttances, as the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education 

 generously placed the physical laboratories and lecture-rooms at 

 the disposal of the Society, which was thus afforded unusual 

 facilities for experimental illustrations. The first paper was on 

 the new contact theory of the galvanic battery, by J. A. Fleming, 

 B.Sc, and it was followed by many valuable communications. 

 Two papers may be mentioned as being of special interest, 

 these are : "On the combination of colours by polarised light," 

 by Air. W. Spottiswoode, F.R.S.,'and "On the application of 

 wind to stringed instruments," by Mr. J. Baillie Hamilton. — The 

 Society has already lost a very able member by the death of Dr. 

 W. S. Davis, of Derby, at the early age of thirty-two.— The 

 following is the list of officers and Council for the present year :— 

 President, Prof. J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S. Vice-presidents: 

 Prof. W. G. Adams, F.R.S. ; Prof. G. C. Foster, F.R.S. 

 Secretaries: Prof. A. W. Reinold, M.A. ; W. Chandler 

 Roberts. Treasurer, Dr. E. Atkinson. Demonstrator, Dr. 

 F. Guthrie, F.R.S. The other members of the Council are :— 

 Latimer Clark, C.E., W. Crookes, F.R.S., Prof. A. Dupre, 

 Prof. O. Henrici, F.R.S., W. Huggins, F.R.S.,Prof. M'Leod, 

 W. Spottiswoode, F.R.S., Dr. H. Sprengel, D. W. Stone, 

 E. O. W. Whitehouse. 



Royal Horticultural Society, Feb. 9. — Annual Meeting. 

 Viscount Bury, K.C.M.G., president, in the chair. — The Report 

 of the Council, which dealt principally with the financial position 

 of the Society, was taken as read. The statement of accounts for 

 1874 showed an expenditure of 11,673/. 3-^- sa"-, against an income 

 of 10,877/. gs. 11,/., leaving a deficit of 795/. 13.1. 3</. This did 

 not include rent, on account of which 2,400/. must be paid to 

 H.M. Commissioners for the Exhibition of 1851 during 1S76, 

 otherwise the lease of the gardens at South Kensington will be 

 avoided. On the other hand, the income was increased by a sum 

 of 76S/. I Js. 6r/. paid to the society for the use of the arcades 

 during the International Exhibition of last year. The result of 

 the ballot for officers and council for the ensumg year was as 

 follows :— President, Viscount Bury, K.C.M.G. ; Treasurer, 

 Bonamy Dobree ; Secretary, W. A. Lindsay. New members of 

 Council, Hon. and Rev. J.,T. Boscawen, W. Longman, J. D. 

 Chambers, F. Campion. On the motion of Mr. Godson the 

 discussion of the report was adjourned to March 9. 



Edinburgh 

 Royal Society, Alarch I. — Sir William Thomson, president, 

 in the chair. — The Chairman announced that the Council had 

 awarded the Makdougall Brisbane Prize for the Biennial Period, 

 1872-74, to Prof. Lister for his paper on the germ theory of 

 putrefaction and other fermentative changes, communicated to 

 the Society, 7th April 1873. The following communications 

 read : — Obituary notice of Mr. William Euing, by Prof. W. P. 

 Dickson, Glasgow, communicated by the President ; on a faulty 

 construction common in skewed arches, by Mr. Edward Sang ; 

 on the mode of growth and increase amongst the corals of the 

 Palceozic Period, by Prof H. Alleyne Nicholson, M.D. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, March l. — M. Fremy in the chair. 

 — The following papers were read : — On the generalisation of 

 the theory of the normals of geometrical curves, where for every 

 normal a number of straight lines is substituted, by M. Chasles. 

 — On some problems of molecular mechanics, by M. Berthelot. 

 This paper was based principally on the experiments of MM. H. 

 Sainte-Claire Deville and Debray, with perruthenic acid and 

 oxide of silver, of which an account was read at the last meeting ; 

 it treats of certain facts, newly discovered and relating to the 

 direct formation of compounds, which upon decomposition evolve 

 a considerable degree of heat ; these facts are quoted with special 

 reference to butyrate of soda, and from them some general deduc- 

 tions are made with regard to molecular mechanics. — On the 

 capillary theory applied to Tiliacese, by M. A. Trecul. — Experi- 

 ments on the artificial imitation of native magneto-polar platinum, 

 by M. Daubree. — A note on magnetism, by M. Th. du Moncel. 

 — M. Leverrier then explained to the Academy the new organi- 

 sation of the meteorological service of ports, which came in force 

 on March i. Reports are made twice daily, morning and even- 

 ing, and it is expected that the evening reports will be specially 

 beneficial to fishing vessels. — Don Pedro II., Emperor of Brazil, is 

 nominated correspondent to the section for Geography and Navi- 



gation, in lieu of the late Admiral de Wrangel. A telegram was 

 read from his Majesty expressing thanks for the distinction. — A 

 memoir by M. Cabieu, on a new manure, consisting of the ashes 

 of Medusx", picked upon the coasts, and faecal matter. — A note, 

 by M. Chapelas, in defence of the phenomenon observed by him 

 on Feb. 10, at Paris, which was supposed by others to be a large 

 bolide. — On the geometrical solution of some problems relating 

 to the theory of surfaces, and depending from infinitesimals of 

 the third order, by M. A. Mannheim. — On the simplest modes 

 of limit equilibrium, which can be present in a body without 

 cohesion and strongly compressed, by M.J. Boussinesq. — A note 

 by M. G. Fouret, on the geometrical construction of the moments 

 of bending power acting upon the supports of a beam with seve- 

 ral joists. —A note by M. V. Feltz, on experimental researches 

 on the toxical principle in putrefied blood ; account of experi- 

 ments made upon dogs into whose veins putrefied blood was 

 injected. — A memoir by M. Macario, on the employment of elec- 

 tricity in hydrocele, iliac passion (ili'iis), and paralysis of the 

 bladder ; accounts of cases that were successfully cured by elec- 

 tricity. — A memoir on the chemical manure for beet, by MM. 

 H. Woussen and B. Corenwinder. — M. de Ma.ximowitch then 

 presented a note on a theory of integration of equations with 

 partial derivatives of the second order. — M. P. P. Mestre made a 

 communcation respecting Phylloxera. — A note by M. H. Renan, 

 elements and ephemerides of planet (141). — On a purple colour- 

 ing matter derived from cyanogen, by M. G. Bong. — On the 

 separation of boracic acid from silica and Huorine, by M. A. Ditte. 

 — On the reciprocal substitution of the volatile fatty acids, by M. 

 H. Lescreur. The author maintains that he has permanently esta- 

 blished the following facts, namely, that acetic acid can displace 

 formic acid from its compounds in considerable quantity, that 

 this displacement can take place in the cold, that the presence of 

 water does not notably affect the phenomenon, and the quantity 

 of formic acid displaced varies according to the excess of acetic 

 acid added. — A note by j\I. G. Hinrichs on the calculation ol the 

 moments of maximum inertia in the molecules of the chloro- 

 derivatives of toluene. — Note by M. W. Louguinine on the quan- 

 tities of heat evolved in the formation of the potash salts of some 

 acids of the fatty series. — On a new psychrometer which avoids 

 all calculation, called hygrodeik, by M. Lowe. — On a newpouret 

 for volumetric analysis, by M. A. Pinchon. — Finally, five letters 

 from different correspondents were read, all with regard to the 

 bolide of Feb. 10, first mentioned by M. Chapelas, who after- 

 wards thought it was only the strongly illuminated edge of a 

 cloud. 



BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED 



Colonial. — The Pathological Significance of Nematode Haematozoa; 

 T. R: Lewis, M.B. (Calcutta). — Report of Microscopical and Physiological 

 Researches into the Nature of the Agent or the Agents producing Cholera. 

 Second Series: T. R. Lewis and D. D. Cunningham (Calcutta). 



Foreign. — Principes des Sciences Absolues: James Thomson (J. Rothschild 

 Paris). —La Terre VegStale, Geologie Agricole : Stanislas Mejnier (J. 

 Rothschild, Paris). — SuHe Variazioni periodiche e non periodiche della te«- 

 peratura nel Clima di Milano : Giovanni Celoria (Milan, Ulrico Hoepli). 



CONTENTS Page 



Agkicultiire in Victoria 361 



OUB Book Shelf:— 



Lewis's " Pathological Significance of Nematode Harniatozoa " — 



Dr. T. S. CoBBOLD, F.R.S 363 



Letters to the Editor: — 



The Origin of the Jewish Week.— Dr. W. R. Smith 363 



Kirkes' PhysioIo;;y. — W. Percy Ashe 363 



Flight of Birds.— Principal F. Guthrie 364 



To Microscopists and Entomologists. — R. C. Fisher 364 



" Chani'.-leon Barometer." — A. Percy Smith 365 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Total Solar Eclipse of 878. October 29 365 



Encke's Comet 3S5 



Variable Stars 365 



The French Transit Expedition to New Caledonia 365 



Scientific Report of the Austro-Hungarian North Polar E.\- 



PEDITION OF 1S72-74 366 



John Ed\vard Gray, F.R S 368 



New Order of Eocene Mammals 368 



Meteorological Odservations in the Pyrenees. By W. de 



Fonvielle 369 



Science at the New Paris Opera, IL By M. G. Tissandier iiVitk 



Ilhistratioits) 369 



Notes ..371 



On the Dynamical Evidence of the Molecular Constitution 



OF Bodies, II. By Prof Clerk-Maxwell, F.R.S. {With Ilbts- 



iraiion') 374 



Societies and Academies 377 



Books AND Pamphlets Received . , 380 



