42 



NA TURE 



[November io, 1S98 



much light on the real affinities of the insects, which characters 

 disappear in the half-grown or full-grown larva. The organs of 

 the perfect insects are also receiving much attention from various 

 entomologists who interest themselves in morphology ; and two 

 years ago Dr. Enzio Reuter, of Helsingfors, published an 

 elaborate account of the structure of the palpi in butterflies ; 

 while in the last part of Novitates Zoologicae, the organ of 

 the Tring Museum, Dr. K. Jordan has published a long 

 and interesting article on the antennae of butterflies, 

 dealing especially with the structure of the scales, sense-hairs, 

 setiferous punctures and sense-bristles in the various families of 

 butterflies, and, incidentally, in some moths. As is generally 

 the case in such inquiries, " we learn that an antennal organ or 

 structure is variable in one family, while.it is relatively constant 

 in other groups." We have not space to notice Dr. Jordan's 

 remarks on the bearings of his inquiries on the phylogeny and 

 classification of butterflies, for which we must refer our readers 

 to the paper itself. 



In the same part, of the Novilates Zoologicae, Dr. Jordan 

 replies to some severe criticisms made by the late Prof. Eimer 

 on the views put forward by the Hon. Walter Rothschild 

 and Dr. Jordan on the classification of the Papilionidae. We 

 cannot enter into the controversy ; but may say that Dr. 

 Jordan holds that Prof. Eimer was himself in error, owing to want 

 of sufficient materials on which to base trustworthy conclusions. 



Messrs. Oliver amd Boyd, Edinburgh, will, early in 1899, 

 publish a book containing a biographical sketch of the late Mr. 

 James Shaw, Tynron, and selections from his prolific writings 

 on scientific, antiquarian, rural and literary subjects. Two 

 hundred and fifty copies have already been subscribed for, and 

 the material is now being prepared for press by Prof. Robert 

 Wallace, University, Edinburgh, to whom all communications 

 on the subject should be addressed. 



A coNSiDER.'iBLE space in the Journal of Horliailture for 

 October is occupied by several papers on perfumes, by Mr. F. 

 W. Burbidge. He gives a long list of perfumes and essential 

 oils, and of the plants from which they are obtained, and a 

 copious bibliography of the subject. A description and drawing 

 is also given of the late Mr. A. Smee's apparatus contrived for 

 condensing the perfume from fresh flowers ; and reference is 

 made to the antiseptic properties of perfumes, and to their re- 

 markable power, as described by Prof. Tyndall, of absorbing 

 - heat from the atmosphere. The burning of perfumes or incense 

 in churches, hospitals, &c. , had undoubtedly originally a 

 hygienic purpose. The Rev. G. Henslow gives a paper on the 

 advantages to gardeners of a knowledge of vegetable physiology ; 

 and Mr. F. Enock one of his entertaining papers, very well 

 illustrated, on insect blights and blessings. Mr. F. M. Bailey 

 adds three new species of Nepenthes to the flora of Queensland, 

 the pitchers of which are figured. 



A VOLUME containing reports of experiments on the manuring 

 of oats, hay, turnips, and potatoes, conducted in 1897 on farms 

 in the south-west and centre of Scotland, under the direction of 

 the agricultural department of the Glasgow and West of Scot- 

 land Technical College, has just been published. 



The following announcement is made in the British Journal 

 of Photography: — " M. Berthiot, the well-known optician 

 of Paris, has constructed a new ' satz ' or casket of wide-angle 

 lenses. It contains four single lenses ; composed of three 

 elements that have 24, 24, 31 and 39 cm. foci respectively, and 

 can be used as single lenses, or combined they give 12, 16, 16 

 and 1 7 "5 cm. foci lenses. On the authority of Dr. C. Fabre, the 

 author of the well known Traitt' EnclyclopMique de Photo- 

 graphie, the doubtlets will include an angle of more than 100° 

 without spherical aberration." 



NO. I 5 15, VOL. 59I 



The fourth volume of " Bibliotheca Geographica," edited 

 by the Berlin Gesellschaft fur Erdkunde, and prepared by Dr. 

 Otto Baschin, has just appeared. It is a classified catalogue of 

 geographical works published during 1895, the works being 

 arranged alphabetically according to authors. The classification 

 adopted is as follows: — A. General geography: (l) biblio- 

 graphy ; (2) methods and instruction ; (3) general publications : 



(4) historical geography ; (5) mathematical and astronomical 

 geography, cartography ; (6) physical geography ; (7) biological 

 geography ; (8) anthropo-geography ; (9) hints for travellers 

 and observers. B. Special geography : (l) voyages and 

 travels in several continents ; (2) Europe ; (3) Asia ; {4) Africa ; 



(5) Australia and New Zealand; (6) Oceania ; {7) America: 

 (8) polar regions ; (9) oceans and seas. The publisher of the 

 bibliography is W. H. Kuhl, Berlin. 



A useful series of graduated arithmetical examples, worke'l 

 in full by approved methods, makes up a little volume entitled 

 " How to Work Arithmetic," by Mr. Leonard Norinan, pub- 

 lished at the Rugby Press. The models appear to have been 

 carefully chosen, and should be of assistance in cultivating neat- 

 ness of style and uniformity of method in large schools. — The 

 use of sketches in teaching the first rules of arithmetic is shown 

 in the " Picturesque Series" of arithmetical problems published 

 by the National Publishing and Supply Association, Ltd., 

 Reading, for Standards I. to III. of elementary schools. 

 The same publishers issue a " Deductive Series of Arithmetical 

 Problems," by Mr. T. Bowen, based on questions asked by 

 inspectors of elementary schools, and with solutions of leading 

 questions worked in full. We have also received from the 

 National Publishing and Supply Association the second edition 

 of "Quantitative Exercises for Beginners in Chemistry," Parts 

 I. and II., by Mr. A. H. Mitchell. The books are adapted to 

 the requirements of students under the Department of Science 

 and Art in quantitative and qualitative analysis. — The third 

 edition of a "Key to .A.lgebraical Factors, and their application 

 to various Processes in Algebra," by Mr. Dorabji H. Vachha, 

 has been published by Messrs. Longmans, Green, and Co. 



A series of experiments on the connection between taste 

 and chemical composition has been carried out by Dr. Kahlen- 

 berg, and described by him in the Bulletin of the University of 

 Wisconsin. Thirteen persons between twenty and thirty years 

 of age — three being women — a lady of sixty, and a gentleman 

 of sixty-three, served as subjects. The subjects were abstainers 

 from alcohol and tobacco, and were kept in ignorance of the 

 composition of the liquids tasted. The results show that for a 

 substance to aff'ect the taste, it must be soluble in water readily 

 diffusible and capable of reacting chemically with the protoplasm 

 of the terminals of the nerves of taste. The taste of solutions is 

 said to correspond to the rriodern theory of electrolytic dissocia- 

 tion. Thus a sour taste is attributed to hydrogen ions, which 

 may be detected in a 1/800 normal solution, whilst alkaline 

 taste is due to hydroxyl ions. Chlorine ions have a salty taste, 

 and so in a less degree have bromine and iodine ions. The 

 variation of intensity of taste with atomic weight, here indicated, 

 is said to be observed with positive ions. 



The current number of the Berichte contains an account of 

 the re-determination of the density of ozone by Prof. Ladenburg. 

 The ozone was prepared as pure as possible by cooling ozonised 

 oxygen in a tube surrounded by liquid air. Of the 22 cc. of 

 liquid thus obtained, nine-tenths were allowed to evaporate in 

 order to remove the liquid oxygen. In this way 2 to 3 cc. of 

 a blue-black opaque liquid were obtained, and with the gas 

 produced by its evaporation two experiments were made, one 

 to determine the density, the other to determine the percentage 

 of ozone. The density was determined by measuring the velocity 

 of effusion, water being used instead of mercury as the trapping 



