2l6 



NA TURE 



[December 29, il 



Geography, ihe G.iy I'rize is given to M. Sauvageau. Of (he 

 Reneral prizes, the Leconte Prize is not awarded this year, M. 

 Fremont receiving the Montyon Prize (unhealthy trades), Mme. 

 Curie the Gegner Prize, M. feniilio Daniour the Delalande-Gueri- 

 neau Prize, M. Chaflanjon the Tchihalchef Prize, M. fedouard 

 Branly the Houllevigue Prize, M. Felix Bernard the Saintour 

 Prize, M. MunierChalmas the f^strade-Delchos Prize, and M. 

 Merigeault the Laplace Prize. The following prizes are divided : 

 the Jerome- Ponti Prize between MM. Guichard and Lemoult, 

 the Cahours Prize between MM. Ilebert, Metzner, and Thomas ; 

 M. Blanc receiving an encouragement, and the K^stner-Bour- 

 sault Prize between MM. Andre Blondel and Paul Dubois and 

 M. Paul Janet. The Rivet Prize is awarded to M.VI. Meri- 

 geault, Defline, Le Troquer, and Gerin. 



.\MSTERDAM. 



Royal Academy of Sciences, November 26. — Prof. 

 Van de Sande Bakhuyzen in the chair. — Prof. Beyerinck, on a 

 contagium vivum Huidum, causing the spot-disease of tobacco 

 leaves. This disease, also known as the mosaic disease of 

 tobacco leaves, may be inoculated into healthy plants by in- 

 jecting into the stem, near a bud, sap pressed from infected 

 plants. The active virus passes completely through the pores of 

 very dense porcelain, and can even penetrate into agar by diffu- 

 sion ; therefore it cannot be a contagium fi.-cum in the usual 

 sense, but it must be fluid. Out of the tobacco plant it cannot 

 be made to multiply ; but in the dividing tissues of the leaf- 

 rudiments and the meristems of the buds it multiplies freely and 

 •over a great extent. \ very small drop of the porcelain filtrate 

 <an render all the leaves of the infected plant entirely covered 

 with spots, and the sap of these leas'es would be sufficient for 

 >the contagion of an unlimited number of healthy plants. The 

 ■virus is destroyed by boiling at so low a degree as 90' C. — Prof. 

 Bakhuis Roozeboom, on the phenomena to be observed on the 

 solidification of liquids, consisting of two tautomeric forms. In 

 the case of equilibrium being established between these forms 

 at the temperature of solidification, these phenomena have been 

 treated by Bancroft. A new deduction was given for those cases 

 in which solidification takes place at temperatures at which no 

 equilibrium can be established any more in the liquid, and 

 specially when supposing that one pisses from the region of 

 •equilibrium through two regions of one-sided equilibrium to the 

 region of non-equilibrium. All the various consequences of 

 slow and quick heating and cooling may be graphically repre- 

 sented. — Prof. \'an der Waals deduced from the phase equation 

 for a mixture, given by himself, the laws for A, (the volume con- 

 traction on mixing under constant pressure) and A^, (the pressure 

 contraction on mixing in given volume), and compared the re- 

 •sulls, obtained by himself, with the observations of Kuenen and 

 others in the case of mixtures of carbonic acid and methyl 

 <;hloride. According to Amagat, A, would be =0, and accord- 

 ing to Dalton's law, Ap = o. The results, arrived at by the 

 author, may briefly be summed up as follows : A, is small all 

 along the course of the isotherm, and the amount may be con- 

 sidered a magnitude of the saine order. On the other hand, A^ 

 follows a course equal to the deviation from Boyle's law, and 

 when the volume is small it approximates infinity. — Prof. \an 

 Bemmelen presented for publication in the Proceedings a com- 

 munication by Mr. F. A. H. Schreinemakers, entitled, "Equili- 

 briums in systems of three components, variation of the tempera- 

 ture of solution of binary mixtures by the addition of a third 

 component." — Prof. Van der Waals, on the errors that may be 

 .committed in the determination of the molecular weight from 

 the vapour density in consequence of the deviations from Boyle's 

 and Guy-Lussac's laws. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



MONDAY, January 2. 



SociETV OF Chemical Industhv, at 8.— On Safety Explosives: Osc.ir 



.Guttmann. 

 Victoria lNSTlTUTE,at 4.30. — The Physiography of the Th.-imcs Basin : 



Prof. I.obley. 



lySDNESDA V, January 4. 



Geological Society, at 8. — Geology of the Ashbourne and Buxton Branch 

 of the London and North-Wcstcrn Railway. Part I. Ashbourne to 



Crakcloiv : H. H, .\rnoia-Bemross. -The Oceanic Dcposils of Ti 

 W.I. : J. B. H.-irrison and A. J. Jukes-Browne. 

 Society of .Arts, at 7. — Hands and Feet : Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell. 



FRIDAY, January 6. 

 Geologists' Association, at 8.— The Glacii 



District, Norway : Horace W. Monckton. 

 Qubkett Microscopical Club, at 8. 



,nd Fjords of the Bergen 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Books —Das Kleinebuch von der Marine : G. Nesdec and H. SchrSder 

 (Kiel, Lipsius).— The .Vew Gulliver: W. P. Garrison (N.Y., Marion 

 Press).— Practical Photographer, Vol. ix. (Lund).— Die Kalturgewachse 

 der DeuLschen Kolonien und ihre Erzeunisse ; Prof R. Sadebeck (Jena, 

 Fischer) —Das Geotektoniscbc Problem 'der Glarner Alpen : A. Roth- 

 pleu, Text .ind Atl.-is (Jenal Fischer). —Studien uber Saugethiere : Dr. 

 .Max Weber, Zweiter Theil (Jena. Fischer).— Sewerage : A. P. Folwell 

 (N.V., Wiley).— A Text-Book of Physiological Chemlslry : Prof. O. 

 Hammersten, translated by Prof. J. A. Mandel, 2nd edition (N.V., Wiley). 

 — .\nnals of Coal Mining: R. L. GMov.'^y{Coi{Ury Cuattiian Office). — 

 Fossil Medusa; : C. D. Walcott (Washington) —On the Study and Diffi- 

 culties of Mathematics : X. de Morgan, new edition (Chicago, Open Court 

 PublishingCompany).- Truthand Error: J. W. Powell (Chicago, Open 

 Court Publishing Company). — Lectures on Elementary Mathematics : J. 

 L. Lagrange, translated by T. J. McCormack (Chicago, Open Couit Pub- 

 lishing Company) — The Fishes of North and Middle America : Drs. Jordan 

 and Evermann, Part 2 (Washington). 



NO. 1522, VOL. 59] 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Gold Coast of Western Africa. By M. H. K. . 193 

 A Herpetology of Egypt. By G. A. Boulenger, 



F.R.S 195 



A Book with Two Names. By C. V. B 196 



Technical Bacteriology. By Dr. A. C. Houston . . 197 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Atkinson: " Elementar)- Botany." — J. B. F 198 



Cornish: " .-Vnimals of To-day, their Life and Con- 

 versation." — R. L 198 



Fisher and Schwatt : "Text-book of Algebra." — G. 



B. M 198 



Rodet : " Distribution de I'energie par courants poly- 



phascs."— D. K. M 199 



Buckman-Linard : " My Horse : My Love " . . . 199 



Ilolman : " Matter, Energy, Force and Work " . . 199 



Barclay: " The Way the World Went Then " ... 199 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



Fourier's .Series. — Prof. Albert A. Michelson ; 

 Prof. J. WiUard Gibbs ; A. E. H. Love, 



F.R.S 200 



The Schmidt-Dickert Relief Model of the Moon. — 



Oliver C. Farrington 201 



Maxwell's I^ogic. — John Lister 201 



Lord Iveaghs Gift. By Dr. Allan Macfadyen . . 201 



George James Allman. By G. B. H 202 



Dr. H. W. Vogel 204 



Notes 205 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Aslronon-ical Occurrences in January I S99 208 



Comet Chase 208 



Artificial Production of Sun-spots 20S 



The Heavens at a Glance 20S 



Are Moldavites of Celestial Origin ? 20S 



Jupiter and his Markings. By W. F. Denning . . 209 

 The New Liverpool Museums Extension Buildings. 



(IllustralcJ.) 209 



Economic Botany in Nyasaland 211 



The Iron Ore Deposits of Northern Sweden ... 211 



Electrical Stage Appliances 212 



Metallic Alloys and the Theory of Solution. By 



Charles T. Heycock, F.R.S 212 



University and Educational Intelligence 21 j 



Scientific Serials 214 



Societies and Academies 214 



Diary of Societies 216 



Books Received 216 



