24 



NA TURE 



{Nov. 5, i! 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, October 26. — M. Bouley, President, 

 in the chair. — A means of preventing rabies from the bite of a 

 mad dog, by M. L. Pasteur. After almost endless experiments 

 the author announces that he has at last succeeded in obtaining 

 a practical and prompt prophylactic remedy, which has already 

 proved sufficiently efficacious in the case of dogs, to justify the 

 belief in its gener.al efficacy when applied to all animals, includ- 

 ing man himself. A full account of the process will be found at 

 p. I of this week's NATURE. — Direct fixation of free atmospheric 

 nitrogen in plants through the agency of certain argillaceous 

 clays, by M. Berthelot. Some years ago the author found that 

 to atmospheric electricity was largely due the attraction of free 

 nitrogen to the immediate elements of vegetable nrgnnisms. 

 After fresh experiments conducted for two years at the Meudon 

 station for vegetable chemistry, he has now discovered a new 

 and perhaps a more general cause of this arrestation in the silent 

 but incessant action of argillaceous clays and of the microscopic 

 organisms contained in them. In this memoir he gives the 

 results of over 500 analyses of four different clays constituting 

 five distinct but simult.aneous series of experiments in a closed 

 chamber, in a field under shelter, on top of a tower 28 metres 

 high without shelter, in hermetically sealed flasks, and lastly in 

 soil artificially sterilised. — Note on the Cynthiadte of the French 

 seaboard, by MM. H. de L.acaze-Duthiers and Yyes Delages. In 

 the present paper the authors restrict their remarks to the typical 

 Cynthia morns, a characteristic group of simple ascidians occurring 

 in the English Channel, in the Atlantic, and in the Mediterranean. 

 The several varieties are determined and the anatomy of the whole 

 group described in detail. — Note respecting some recent com- 

 munications on waterspouts, by M. Faye. The author's remarks 

 refer to the report issued by the United States Army Signal 

 Service on the thirteen tornadoes of May 29-30, 1879, the most 

 complete and elaborate account of these phenomena hitherto 

 published. — Experiments on the transmission of force by electri- 

 city between Paris and Creil, by M. Marcel Deprez. These 

 costly experiments, begun on October 17, 1884, and carried out 

 with the aid of MM. Rothschild, have so far proved very satis- 

 factory. In a future communication complete tables are pro- 

 mised of all the electric and mechanical data of the experiments 

 hitherto made both by the author and by M. Collignon. — On 

 the propagation of motion in bodies, and especially in perfect 

 gases, by M. Hugoniot. — Note on a new process for making 

 hydrjgen g.as, by MM. Felix Henibert and Henry. By this 

 simple and economic process hydrogen gas available for nume- 

 rous combinations applicable to the arts and industries may be 

 produced at the rate of o'oi5 franc the cubic metre. — Discovery 

 of a new planet {No. 25^, of 13th magnitude) at the Observatory 

 of Nice, by M. Perrotin. — Remarks on the new star in the 

 nebula of Andromedn, one illustration, by M. E. L. Trouvelot. 

 This new star A, as well as the already discovered B, 

 would appear to form part not of the nebula itself, but 

 of the Milky Way. — Application of M. Lcewy's new 

 methods for determining the absolute co-ordinates of the circum- 

 polar stars, without the necessity of ascertaining the instrumental 

 constants (polar distances), by M. Henri Renan. — Questions 

 relating to a bundle of plane cubic figures (continued), 

 by M. P. H. Shoute. — On birational plane geometrical trans- 

 formations, by Mr. G. B. Guccia. — General differential equa- 

 tions reducible to quadratures, by M. Wladimir Maximowitch. 

 — Note on a new absorption spectroscope, by M. Maurice de 

 Thierry. This apparatus enables the observer to study fluids 

 under a thickness of 3 to 10 metres, and to detect the presence of 

 oxyhemoglobine in a liquid cont.aining not more than i-5,ooo,oooth 

 of that substance. It is an instrument of extreme precision, 

 capable of rendering great services to forensic medicine, physics, 

 and biological chemistry, by facilitating the study of the absorp- 

 tion spectra of fluids examined under a great thickness. — Note 

 on a new neutral carbonate of magnesia, by M. R. Engel. 

 This is an anhydrous carbonate absolutely different both from 

 the natural neutral carbonate (COgMg) and from the crystallised 

 and anhydrous neutral carbon.ate artificially obtained by M. de 

 Senarmont. — On the volatile property of the mixed organic 

 compounds, by M. Louis Henry. — Note on the zymotic proper- 

 ties of four kinds of virus : those of the spleen, of puerperal 

 septicemia, of gangrenous septicemia, and of the symptomatic 

 charbon of the ox, by M. S. Arloing. — On the existence of two 

 kinds of sensibility to light — the sense of colour and of form, by 

 M. H. Parniaud. — On the phy.^iological action of the sodic 



sulpho-conjugate of roceUic acid, by MM. P. Cazeneuve and R. 

 Lepine. — On the circulation of the blood in the nerve-cells of 

 the intei-vertebral ganglia, by M. A. Adamkiewicz. — On the 

 method of distribution of certain sympathetic intra-cranial 

 chord-, and on the existence of a sympathetic root of the ciliary 

 ganglion in the goose, by M. F. Rochas. — On the development 

 of the nem.atodes (second note), by M. P.aul Hallez. — Fresh 

 researches on the influence of shocks on the egg-germ of the hen 

 during the period between laying and hatching, by M. Dareste. 

 Theoretical researches on the distribution of heat on the surface 

 of the globe, by M. Alfred Angot. — On the varying dates of the 

 vintage season in France since the year 1236, by M. Alfred 

 Angot. — Application of thermo-chemistry to the explanation of 

 geological phenomena : carbonate of zinc, by M. Dieulafait. — 

 On the green luminous ray observed at sunset in the Indian 

 Ocean, by M. Treve. — Remarks on M. G. Arth's recent note 

 regarding the action of the nitrate of anhydrous ammoniacal 

 ammonia on some metals, by M. Ed. Divers. 



Stockholm 

 Academy of Sciences, October 14. — The following papers 

 were presented for insertion in the Society's yournal: — A 

 monographic revision and synopsis of the Microceridae and Pro- 

 tomantinida>, by Prof. Aurivillius. — Lois de I'equilibre chimique 

 dans I'etat dilae, gazeux on dissous, by M. T. H. vant Hoft'. — 

 On the distribution of the sexes in Acer platanoides, L., and in 

 some other species of Acer, by Prof. V. Wittrock. — Codiohiin 

 ppiyrhizuffi, n.sp. , a contribution to the knowledge of Codiolum 

 A. Braun, by Herr G. Lagerheim. — Contributions to the know- 

 ledge of the specific warmth of some minerals, by Dr. W. Obeig. 

 — On Petrus de Dacia, by Dr. G. Enestrbm. — The osteology 

 and exterior conformation of Sowerby's whale {Microptcron 

 bidens. Sow.), by Dr. Carl Aurivillius. — Researches on remains 

 of the limbs in the Ophidians, by Miss Albertina Carlsson. — 

 Investigations into some sources of error in measuring the amount 

 of the rainfall, by Dr. S. A. HJeltstrbm. 



CONTENTS PAGE 



Hydrophobia i 



Topinard's "General Anthropology." By Dr. J. G. 



Garson ; 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Wood's "Insect Enemies" 6 



Wood-Mason's "Account of the ' Palan Byoo,' or 



' Teindoung Bo ' " ■ 6 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Krak.atao. — Dr. H. J. Johnston-Lavis 6 



The Recent Total Eclipse of the Sun. — Killingworth 



Hedges. [Illustrated) 6 



An Earthquake Invention. — D. A. Stevenson ... 7 



The Mithun.— S. E. Peal 7 



On the Behaviour of Stretched India-rubber when 



Heated. — Herbert Tomlinson 7 



The Resting Position of Oysters. — Arthur R. Hunt . 8 



Salmo salar and S./erox in Tasmania. — Francis Day 8 



A Right-footed Parrot.— C. V. Boys 8 



The New British Myzostoma. — P. Herbert Car- 

 penter, F.R.S 8 



Tertiary Rainbows. — W. L. Goodwin 8 



" Furculum" or "Furcula."— K. W. Shufeldt . . S 



Metric or English Measures ? — E. R. P 



Charles Robin 



The Liverpool International Exhibition. By C. E. 



De Ranee 9 



Dr. Gould's \A^ork in the Argentine Republic ... c) 



Telpherage. [Illustrated) 12 



The Meldometer. By Prof. J. Joly 15 



Notes 16 



Astronomical Phenomena for ths Week, 1885, 



November S-14 iS 



Optical Theories. By R. T. Glazebrook, M.A., 



F.R.S iS 



Electrolysis . 20 



Molecular Weights 20 



University and Educational Intelligence 22 



Scientific Serials 23 



Societies and Academies 2^ 



