.560 



NA TURE 



\_Fcb. II, 1886 



chlorophyll function, that is, the property of decomposing 

 carbonic acid in the light, is of a pui'ely chemical order, 

 inherent to chlorophyll, and continuing to act apart from 

 the physiological conditions, by M. Victor Jodin. Without 

 denying this conclusion the author recalls certain former experi- 

 ments, which apparently point at a different result, and which 

 should he taken into consideration in order to establish a general 

 theory of chlorophyll based on all the known facts. —On the 

 morphology of the ovary in insects, by M. Armand Sabatier. — 

 A contribution to the anatomy of the Chlortemid^, by M. Et. 

 Jourdan. — Observations in connection with M. Kohler's recent 

 note on a new species of Baianoglossus, by M. G. Pouchet. It 

 is shown that this species is identical with that which MM. de 

 Guerne and Batrois found in abundance in iSSo in the Island 

 of Loch (Glenans Archipelago), and is also probably the same 

 as that found in 1879 by M. de Lacaze-Duthiers at Frez-TIir, 

 Finisterre. — On the optical properties of some fibrous minerals, 

 and on some critical species (arseniosiderite, wawellite, vadisciie, 

 davreuxite, hydrated anthophyllite, hydrotephroite of Langlan, 

 Sweden), by M. A. Lacroix. 



Berlin 

 Physiological Society, November 27, 1S85. — Dr. Benda 

 spoke on mammalian spermatogenesis. The results re- 

 cently communicated to the Society by Dr. Biondi (Nature, 

 vol. xxxii. p. 544), of his investigation into the genesis | 

 of spermatozoa, had, in view of their divergence from the 

 ideas of earlier observers, induced Dr. Benda to ex- 

 amine the subject more closely. By application of the best 

 hardening and staining methods he had obtained precisely 

 the same figures as had all earlier observers. In particular, 

 through the preparations he had made from rats, bulls, and 

 dogs, he had convinced himself of the actual existence 

 of Ebner's spermatoblasts. Upon a large cell arising 

 from the wall of the canal, the foot-cell, a thin stalk pro- 

 jects, on which was situated an oval formation consisting of 

 small flaps. In his interpretation of this st.ilk, however. Dr. 

 Benda differed from Ebner, taking the spermatoblasts as he 

 (Dr. Benda) did, for a heap of daughter-cells connected by the 

 stalk with the foot-cell. He further deviated from earlier ob- 

 servers in assuming that the foot-cell originated from a laige 

 wall-cell provided with a quiescent nucleus, which interiorly de- 

 veloped a process with which the daughter-cell then united 

 into the spermoblasts. Not till later on did the sperma- 

 tozoa appear. Examinations of a large series of different kinds 

 of animals would enable a ]ilan to be taken of all the stages of 

 spermatogenesis. — In the discussion which followed the address. 

 Prof. Waldeyer urged that the type of the spermatogenesis, as 

 described by Dr. Biondi, namely, that of cell-columns with pro- 

 gressive development from the interior outwards of the sperma- 

 tozoa out of cell-nuclei, proved conclusively in the case of 

 the rat, might possibly not hold good for all kinds of animals. 

 It was possible that in other kinds of animals the several stages 

 passed, not successively, but simultaneously and less distinctly, 

 one from another, so that whole knots of cells may be involved 

 in the same stage of development. A subsequent conjunction 

 of daughter-cells with the process of a foreign cell seemed to 

 him improbable. — Dr. Midlenhof presented a series of photo- 

 graphs of horses in movement, prepared by Herr Anschiitz in 

 execution of a commission from the Royal Ministry of War. 

 One series exhibited the successive positions of the horse in the 

 act of springing ; another in the act of trotting. Dr. Miillenhof 

 followed this up with some observations on the way in which 

 these images were obtained, and drew special attention to certain 

 positions in the body of the animal. — Dr. Wolft'berg described 

 a case of abnormal single vision which had recently come under 

 his observation. A man of sound health in every respect coin- 

 plained that for some time he was constantly seeing two objects 

 of the same kind, or very similar to each other, as a single 

 object when they were lying beside each other. It made 

 no difference what was the form of the objects, whether tlijy 

 were letters of the alphabet, numbers, strokes, crosses, and ^o 

 on. In all these cases he saw the two objects constantly as a 

 single object when they stood at a short distance from each other, 

 Ini a horizontal position the two objects might be placed at a 

 greater interval from each other than in a vertical position, in 

 order to be seen by him as a single object. The position of the 

 singly seen image was always that of the fixed object. The 

 single seeing of two objects was confined to the macula lutea. 

 If the objects were not entirely alike, but only very similar to 



one another, then did they likewise appear as one. If they had 

 difterent colours, then'were they likewise seen as one object with 

 rivalry of colours. In the eyes of the patient the existence of 

 no objective anomaly could be established. By way of ex- 

 planation of this hitherto unobserved plienomenon. Dr. Wolft'- 

 berg called to mind the physiological phenomena of normal 

 single seeing in the case of two images striking identical spots of 

 the retina, and of abnormal single seeing in the case of objects 

 in the circle of vision which did not indeed hit identical spots of 

 tile retina, but yet appeared as single. The physiological 

 abnormal single seeing in this latter case respected, how- 

 ever, only objects to which attention was not turned, which 

 were not fixed, and in such contingency the images ap- 

 peared always between the two objects. If, then, the physio- 

 logical single seeing, in the case of non-identical spots of the 

 retina being hit, distinguished itself so far from the above-men- 

 tioned pathological condition, it yet had in common with the 

 pathological condition the rivaUy of the colours, the single 

 seeing of similar objects, and the greater interval in horizontal 

 than in vertical directions. In the opinion of the speaker, the 

 observed pathological condition was due to a psychical cause, 

 and was to be classed in the category of illusions. 



BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED 



"Le Sens des Couleurs cliez Homere " : Dr. de Keersmaecker (Lebeque, 

 Brussels).— " Die Lebendigc Kraft und ihr Mass" : Dr. Max Zewerger (J. 

 Lindauer, Miinchen). — " Widerstand und Maschinenleistung der Dampf- 

 schilTe": E. Rauchfuss (Lipsius und Tischer, Kiel) — F.Iectro-Deposi. 

 tion": A. Watt(Lockwood and Co.)— "AGuide to the Ex ' 

 the Nose": E. C. Baber (Lewis).— "Alkali Tables," 2nd Edition: 

 (Lockwood and Co). — " Pmctical Introduction to Chemistr>' " : 

 Shenstone (Rivingtons). — "Attack and Defence as A_ 

 Evolution": C. Morris (Philatlelphia) — " Les Orages en Russie" 

 Klossovsky (Odessa) —" On a New Zealand Fungus that has of late become 

 a Valuable Article of Commerce " W. Cotenso. — " The Apparent Movements 

 of the Planets " : W. Peck (Archibald .and Peck, EdinburgW.— " Beobacht- 

 ungen I'lber die Dammerung insbesondere liber das Purpurlicht und seine 

 Beziehungen zum Bishop 'schen Sonnenring " : Dr. A. Riggenbach (Georg's 

 Verlag, Basel). 



Bell 



f. A, 



Animal 



CONTENTS Page 



Precautions against Hydrophobia 337 



Botanical Results of the " Challenger " Expedition 33S 



Halsted's " Elements of Geometry '■ 340 



Our Book Shelf:— 



" The Zoological Record for 1884" 34' 



Kalkowsky's " Elemente der Lithologie " 342 



Vivarez's " Notions Generales sur I'Eclairage Elec- 



trique " . 34- 



Young's " Rome in Winter and the Tuscan Hills in 



Summer " 34^ 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Barometric Pressure in the Tropics. — Dr. A. Woeikof 342 



Parallel Roads.— J. Starkie Gardner • 343 



Colours in Clouds.— Ccl.J.F.Tennant, R.E.,F.R.S. 343 

 Movement of Telegraph-Wires.- R. Mountford 



Deeley . . . .' 343 



The Deltas of Glacial Rivers.— G. H. W 343 



Mahwa Flowers. By Prof, A. H. Church .... 343 

 The University Extension Movement. By W. 



Odell 344 



The New Natural History Museum in Vienna. By 



Ritter Franz von Hauer. (Illustrated) 345 



Notes 347 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Double-Star 61 Cygni 350 



The Zodiacal Light 35° 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1886 



February 14-20 35° 



Chemical Notes 35° 



The Institution of Mechanical Engineers . , • • • 35' 

 The Value ofthe RefractionGoniometerin Chemical 



Work. By Dr. J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S 352 



The Rainfall of the British Islands. By Alexander 



Buchan • 353 



The Australian Museum, Sydney 355 



Univeriiity and Educational Intelligence 356 



Scientific Serials 35^ 



Societies and Academies 35^ 



Books and Pamphlets Received 360 



