576 



NA TURE 



yApril 15, 1886 



inferior organisms, such as insects and larvs.— Observations on 

 the new planet 254, discovered by M. Pahsa at Vienna on 

 March 31, made at the Paris Observatory, by M. G. Bigourdan. 

 —Note on the number of poles at the surface of a magnetic 

 body, by M. Stieltjes.— Construction of the left curve of thd 

 sixth'order and first genus : transformation of the surface of the 

 third order on a plane, by M. A. Petot.— Note on the late_M. 

 Dupuy de Lome's theory of submarine vessels, by M. Zede.— 

 Remarks in connection with the preceding note, and on_M. 

 Dupuy de Lome's projected submarine boat, by Admiral Pans. 

 It is pointed out that the problem of submarine navigation was 

 practically solved in the year 185S by Admiral Bourgeois, who 

 who actually sailed under water in his Plongmr, a model of 

 which is still preserved in the Naval Museum, Paris.— Note 

 on a calculator of ,steam and fluids at high pressure, by 

 M Henri Parenty.— On the mathematical problem of ana- 

 morphosis, by M. Leon Lecornu.— On a new general 

 method of graphic calculation by means of hexagonal aba- 

 cuses, by M. Ch. Lallemand.— On the variation produced by 

 a rise of temperature in the electromotor force of thermo- 

 electric couples, by M. H. Le Chatelier.— Note on a new 

 method of photographic reproduction without objective and by 

 the simple reflection of light, by M. Boudet de Paris. The 

 author's numerous experiments prove beyond doubt that a 

 design, a photograph or object of any Kind, may be reproduced 

 photOCTi-aphically without the aid of the usual appliances, and 

 with The light of a Carcel lamp.— Note on the tungstates and 

 chlorotungstates of cerium, by M. P. Didier.— On the elimina- 

 tion of the oxide of carbon in cases of partial poisoning, by 

 M. N. Grehant. — Researches on the therapeutic action of 

 urethane, by MM. A. Mairet and Combemale.— On the re- 

 productive functions of Doris t,sl:iJinaria and some other 

 Gasteropods, by M. E. Bolot. — On some special variations of 

 structure in the organs of the Simple Ascidians, by M. 

 Louis Roule.— On a new process for preserving and econo- 

 mising the hops used in brewing, by M. Louis Boule. For this 

 process it is claimed that it effects a saving of one-half in the 

 consumption of hops, which are at the same time made to pre- 

 serve their efficacy for an indefinite period. If generally 

 adopted it will reduce hops to a reasonable price, and remove 

 the inducement to employ deleterious drugs as substitutes. 



Berlin 

 Ptiysiological Society, January 29. — Prof. Ewald spoke 

 on the significance of the so-called second swallowing noise. 

 As was known, Kronecker and Meltzer, in their investiga- 

 tions into the mechanism of swallowing, had endeavoured to 

 explain the second noi-e, audible by auscultation in the region 

 of the stomach six seconds after the movement proper of swal- 

 lowing, by setting forth that through the act of swallowing, the 

 bit eaten was squirted into the upper part of the CESophagus, and 

 then encountered the peristaltic wave of the oesophagus, where, 

 after six seconds, it attained the lower part, and was pressed into 

 the cardiac orifice. It was the contraction of the lower part of 

 the oesophagus which produced the second noise in question. As 

 the result of observations on sound and diseased persons, as aho 

 on animals. Prof. Ewald had arrived at another opinion. Accord- 

 ing to his view the second swallowing noise was generated by the 

 entrance of air into the cardiac orifice. Both in the case of swal- 

 lowing anything and also in the case of not swallowing anything, 

 whether it were altogether empty swallowing or only saliva 

 trickling down, air penetrated into the lower part of the oesophagus. 

 Air might, iiowever, likewise penetrate from the stomach up- 

 wards. In proof of the correctness of this interpretation of the 

 second noise, there was first the fact that this phenomenon was 

 absent when water was so carefully drunk that no air accompanied 

 it on its passage to the cardiac orifice, and second that the noise 

 was sometimes heard without any bit being swallowed. If, now, 

 the second noise of swallowing had not the significance attached 

 to it by Herren Kronecker and Meltzer, neither could it be 

 regarded as any argument in favour of their view that, as had 

 been maintained by these authors, the piece swallowed stayed 

 for six seconds before the cardiac orifice till it got pressed into it. 

 Far from such being the case, the piece swallowed passed con 

 tinuously into the cardiac orifice, and finally the co-entering air got 

 pressed, with emission of noise, through the sphincter into the 

 stomach. — Dr. Pohl-Pincus gave a sketch of his experiments 

 designed to determine the influence of excitement of spirits and 

 passionate feelings on the hair of the head. Except in the case 

 of one phenomenon, these experiments proved without result. 



Through long years' experience he had by facts established that 

 in consequence of excitement the hair of the head showed a 

 changed double refraction in the lowest part lying above the 

 papilla, which he called the root-nodule ( iVurzelkmlcheti). 

 While under normal conditions this part of the hair appeared 

 white when polarised, when under moderate excitement it fell 

 out it sho« ed the colouring of blue I to yellow 2. Under the 

 highest degrees of excitement, again, the highest shades of 

 colour appeared ; blue 2 to yellow 3. What was the connection 

 between this material change of the hair and the excitement could 

 not be ascertained. No doubt the nouri.shment of the hair and 

 the process of cornification of the hair-cells played a part in the 

 matter. — Dr. II. Virchow produced a series of photographs in 

 which the structure of the corpus ciliare in the eyes of various 

 animals came out to view in its multiplicity. — Dr. Benda showed 

 preparations of the central nervous system which were treated 

 wilh copper hsematoxyUne, and shortly discussed the advantages 

 of this method of colouring for brain and spinal-marrow 

 preparations. 



BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED 



" Micro-Organisms and Disease," 3rd edition, revised by Dr. E. Klein 

 (Macmillan).— " Nature and the Bible," 2 vols., by Dr. Fr. H. Reusch, 

 translated by Kathleen Lyttelton (T. and T. Clark).— " Fancy Pigeons," 

 parts 7 and 8, by J. C. Lyell (U. Gill).— " Poultry for Prizes and Profit," 

 part 6, by James Long (U. Gill). — " British Cage-Birds," parts 7 and 8, by 

 R. L. Wallace (U. Gill).—" Bees and Bee-keeping," part 8, by F. R. 

 Cheshire (U. Gill).—" Book of the Goat," part 7, by H. S. H. Pegler (U. 

 Gill). — "An Intermediate Physical and Descriptive Geography," new edition 

 (Stanford).—" British Petrography," part 3, April, by J. J. H Teall (Watson, 

 Birmingham).— "The Rotifera or Wheel Animalcules," part 3, by C. T. 

 Hud-son and P. H. Gosse (Longmans). — "Journal of Anatomy and Physio- 

 logy," vol. xx. part 3, April (Williams and Norgate). — "China; Imperial 

 Maritime Customs. Medical Reports for the half year ended March 31, 

 1885 " (Shanghai).— " Notes from the Leyden Museum," vol. viii.. No. 2, 

 April (Brill, Leyden). 



CONTENTS PAGE 



Bird-Murder. By Prof. R. Bowrdler Sharpe .... 553 



Mr. Geikie's " Class-Book of Geology " 554 



Oscar Schmidt's " Mammalia" 556 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Aveling's " Chemistry of the Non-Metallics" . . . 557 



Bagnall's " Hand-book of Mosses " 557 



Dalla-Torre's " Tourist's Guide to the Flora of the 



Alps" 557 



DeMorgan's "Newton : His Friend: and His Niece" 557 



Day's " Numerical Examples in Heat " 558 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Note on Sonnet to Pritchard. — Prof. J. J. Sylvester, 

 F.R. S., Savilian Professor of Geometry in the 



University of Oxford 55^ 



Fishery Board of Scotland.— S. F. B 558 



Protective Influence of Black Colour from Light and 



Heat. — Hon. Ralph Abercromby 559 



Pumice on the Cornish Coast. — Surgeon H. B. 



Guppy • • • • 559 



The Connection between Solar and Magnetic Pheno- 

 mena. — G. M. Whipple 559 



Aurora. — H. Fritsch 559 



Was it an Earthquake? — A. Trevor Crispin . . . 559 



"Radical" or " Radicle."— J. F. Heyes .... 559 



Square Bamboo. — Dr. D. J. Macgowan 560 



Ferocity of Animals. — Unus 560 



Mr. Verbeek on Krakatab 5^° 



The Pleiades. By Miss A. M. Gierke 561 



Notes 564 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Parallax of Nova Andromedse %(>(> 



M. Loewy's Method of Determining the Elements of 



Refraction 5^6 



Discovery of Minor Planets 567 



Astrononiical Phenomena for the Week 1886 



April 18-24 567 



Geographical Notes 5^7 



The Mines Commission Report 56S 



Scientific Serials 572 



Societies and Academies 57^ 



Books and Pamphlets Received 576 



