620 



NA TURE 



[April 29, 1886 



is covered, it is free from malaria. — On the minute anatomy of 

 the central nervous organs, by Prof. C. Golgi — On periodic 

 and superfluous respirations, by Prof A. Mosso (eight plates). — 

 The respiratory movements in health are not always uniform in 

 sleep and during moments of deep repose ; the respiratory effort 

 decreases and augments. This pecidiar form the author calls 

 "periodic respiration," and any excess of respiration beyond 

 the actual needs of the tissues and blo:)d he calls "superfluous 

 respiration." Many phenomena of interest are described in this 

 memoir. — Contribution to a knowledge of the physiological 

 effects of cocaine, by Dr. C. Sighicelli.— On the physiological 

 action of thalline, by Dr. G. Pisenti. 



Schriflm rtVr Naturfonchenden CeseUschaft in Danzig, Band 

 vi. Heft 3 (1886). — We note here a copiously-illustrated account 

 by Drs. Lissauerand Conwentz of the various antiquities which 

 have been found in the Vistula-Nogat delta, ranging from the 

 Neolithic period to Roman times ; also a curious collection, by 

 Herr Triechel, of sayings of the country folk in West Prussia, 

 about plants.— Herr Helm and Herr Brischke report on insects 

 found in amber. — The remaining matter largely relates to local 

 botany. 



Bulletin de VAcadSmie Royale de Btlgique, February. — Appli- 

 cation of the telephone to the discovery of faults in electric lines, 

 by Eric Gerard. A new and ingenious method is described for 

 determining by means of the telephone the spot where an under- 

 ground telegraph line presents any accidental solution of con- 

 tinuity without the necessity of opening the ground and expos- 

 ing the section of ihe wire where the break is suspected to exist. 

 Owing to its extreme sensitiveness, the telephone communicates 

 all signals transmitted by the underground conductor during the 

 examination ; but when the fault is reached, it remains silent, 

 thus indicating the spot where search should be made for the 

 defect. The method may be made applicable to submarine 

 cables. — Earth microbes and then- action in stimulating the 

 growth of the higher vegetable species, by E. Laurent. In°order 

 to ascertain how far these micro-organisms are necessary to the 

 life of the plant, the author has recently made some experi- 

 ments : (I) in natural soil; (2) in soil first sterilised and then 

 inoculated with microbes ta'<en from the natural soil ; (3) with 

 soil rendered absolutely sterile ; (4) with sterilised soil to which 

 mineral manures were afterwards added. These experiments 

 clearly showed the importance of the microbes, whose functions 

 would seem to be identical with those of nitrification. They 

 seem to prepare the needed inorganic food of the plant by de- 

 composing the organic matter present in the ground. — On tlie 

 influence of lunar attraction on the mercurial barometer, by \. 

 Liagre. This was in reply to some remarks of IVI. Folie, wlio 

 questioned the author's statement that atmospheric tides cannot 

 be determined by '.he mercurial barometer. He repeats that 

 lunar attraction cannot be appealed to in order to explain M. 

 Kolie's law that atmospheric pressure is lowest when the 

 oceanic tides are highest.— A simple and practical method of 

 deterniinuig the magnetic declination of any place whose 

 me, idian is unknown, by F. Folie. It is shown that the difficult 

 and troublesome process of fixing the meridian may be dispensed 

 with by employing a method based on the simple fact that, when 

 the height of a star is equal to its declination, taken with its sign 

 or opposite sign according as it is in the northern or southern 

 hemisphere, its azimuth is the supplement of its horary angle, or 

 else is equal to this angle itself —Notice of some geological 

 specimens from the islands of Cebu and Melanipa (Philippines), 

 by A. F. Renard. A study of these specimens, collected by 

 Mr. Buchanan in 1874, seems to show that to Cebu and 

 Melanipa may also be extended the interpretation already 

 admitted for the larger islands of the archipelago regarding the 

 schisto-crystalline character of the underlying rocks, and the 

 presence of eruptive rocks of the archa;an type.— The same 

 author contributed two other valuable papers on the geological 

 constitution of the Ternate volcano and of Mount Giinong-Api, 

 in the Banda Archipelago. 



Rcndiconti del Reale hliluto Loinbardo, March 4-18.— Posi- 

 tivism and evolution, by Prof A. Buccellati. It is argued that 

 Comte's theological, metaphysical, and positive cycle may 

 perhaps represent the general sequence of mental evolution, but 

 cannot be accepted in a strictly chronological sense. It confines 

 the human mind in t to narrow limits, and it must be obvious 

 that all three phases of thought have been simultaneously at work 

 m varying degrees of intensity at all times. Such an exclusive 

 succession is illogical, and opposed alike to history and to the 



very constitution of the mind, which passes readily and uncon- 

 sciously from analytic observation to synthesis, and from the 

 inductive to the deductive method.— On the systems of surfaces 

 and their rectangular trajectories, by G. Morera.— Meteoro- 

 logical observations made at the Brera Obser\'atory, Milan, 

 during the month of February. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



I.O.NDON 



Royal Society, March 25.— "On the Minute Anatomy of 

 the Brachial Plexus." By W. P. Herringham. 



Dr. Herringham had traced by dissection the fibres of the 

 several nerve roots from the spinal cord through the net 

 of the plexus into the various nerves given off from this, 

 and down these nerves to their final destination, whether motor 

 or sensory. He found — 



(i) That any given fibre may alter its position relative to the 

 vertebral column, but will maintain its position relative to other 

 fibres. 



(2) That, in the motor nerves, {a) of two muscles, or of two 

 parts of a muscle, that which is nearer the head end of the body 

 tends to be supplied by the higher, that which is nearer the 

 tail end by the lower nerve ; [b] of two muscles that which is 

 nearer th^ long axis of the body tends to be supplied by the 

 higher, that which is nearer the periphery by the lower nerve ; 

 (<-) of two muscles that which is nearer the surface tends to be 

 supplied by the higher, that which is further from it by the 

 lower nerve. 



(3) That, in the sensory system, {a) of two spots on the skin 

 that which is nearer the pre-axial border tends to be supplied by 

 the higher nerve ; (b) of two spots in the pre-axial area the 

 lower tends to be supplied by the lower nerve, and of two spots 

 in the post-axial area the lower tends to be supplied by the 

 higher nerve. 



A table was also given of the muscles classified according to 

 the spinal root which supplied them. The paper was based on 

 fifty-five dissections. 



Physical Society, .\pril 10.— Prof. Balfour Stewart, Presi- 

 dent, in the cliair. — The following communications were read : — 

 On the cause of the solar diurnal variations of terrestrial mag- 

 netism, by Prof Balfour Stewart, LL.D., F.R.S. The author 

 commenced by reviewing various theories that have been ad- 

 vanced to account for the solar diurnal inequalities of terrestrial 

 magnetism. That they can be due to the direct magnetic action 

 of the sun is highly improbable, since terrestrial analogies would 

 lead us to infer that matter at the temperature of the sun is quite 

 incapable of possessing magnetic properties, and also from the 

 fact that changes in the range of the daily variation Lag behind 

 corresponding solar changes in point of time. The hypothesis 

 of Faraday, that the observed variations are the result of the 

 displacement of the magnetic lines of force due to the varying 

 temperature, and consequently varying magnetic permeability, 

 of the atmospheric oxygen, is disproved by the fact that there 

 is no agreement between the chief magnetic variations and those 

 of the temperature of the great mass of the atmosphere, though 

 it is certain that there must be some effect due to this. The 

 earth-current hypothesis is quite unable to explain one of the 

 chief characteristics of these variations, that they are half as 

 great again at periods of maximum as at those of minimum sun- 

 spot frequency. Sir George Airy has, moreover, been unable 

 to detect any resemblance in form between the regular diurnal 

 progress of the magnet and that of earth-currents. We seem, 

 therefore, compelled to seek for the cause of the variations in 

 the upper atmospheric regions, and we cannot imagine such a 

 cause to exist in any other form than that of a system of elec- 

 trical currents. That curents may, and actually do, exist at 

 great heights is shown by the aurora, which is unquestionably 

 an electric current, and manifests a close connection with the 

 phenornena of terrestrial magnetism. The great increase of 

 magnetic variation at epochs of maximum sunspot frequency 

 can also be accounted for on this supposition : Prof. Stokes has 

 remarked that an increase in the radiating power of the sun 

 would probably imply not only an increase in general radiation, 

 but a special and predominant increase in such actinic rays as 

 are probably absorbed in the upper regions of the earth's atmo- 

 spheie. These regions will, therefore, greedily absorb the new 

 rays, their temperature will rise, and, as is known to be the 

 case for gases, the electrical conductivity will be increased. 



