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Oct. 7, 1886 | 
NATURE 
563. 
constitution of the sun, by Ch. Fievez. Given the high temper- 
ature, chemical composition, and slight mean density of the 
sun, its chemical elements cannot exist in the solid or fluid state, 
or even to any large extent in the condition of highly compressed 
vapours. Assuming, further, with most physicists, that the sun 
consists of a gaseous mass whose temperature increases from the 
circumference towards the centre, it is argued that the solar 
spectrum must be formed by the superposition of all the radia- 
tions of the chemical elements present in the sun. The luminous 
part of the spectrum would thus be constituted by the radiations 
of like vibratory period, and Fraunhofer lines by the radiations 
of unlike vibratory periods. From this it would follow that a 
chemical element might exist in the sun without being revealed 
by a dark line in the solar spectrum, 
Schriften der Physikalische-Okonomischen Gesellschaft 2u 
Konigsberg i/Pr., 1885.—Herr Fritsch here gives the result 
of a study of certain gaps in the pith of Coniferze, discovered by 
Prof. Caspary some years ago. In its middle course the pith of 
a year’s growth consists of elongated parenchyma, but at the 
end of the growth it presents cubic or egg-shaped cells in loose 
union. Those gaps the author finds in species of the genera 
Abies, Picea, and Larix, and in Cedrus Deodara. The last- 
named differs from the others in not having a partition of cross- 
lying cells through the pith, above the gaps. All Conifer 
with persistent bud scales have this, and some Coniferze ( 7 sega 
canadensis and Torreya nucifera) have it, and are without the 
gaps. Finally, the Junipereae, Podocarpez, Taxineze, and Pinus 
have neither. The gaps seem to arise through stretching of the 
wood-cells, and their size depends on the age and moisture of the 
stem and branches.—Herr Franz writes on the magnetism ob- 
served at the end of long iron well-tubes (200 and 250 m.) at 
Konigsberg, and of some railway lines. The attractive force 
was proportional to the distance (not its square), the magnetism 
being pretty equally distributed over a line several metres long. 
In one well, the horizontal component at I metre distance was 
as much as fifteen times that of the earth’s magnetism.—Herr 
Klien describes experiments in plant cultivation by the water- 
method (specifying the substances given in solution and their 
amount), and points out its advantage in study of the action of 
poisons, such as the sulphocyanite of ammonium occurring in 
ammonia superphosphate from gas manufacture, and spoiling 
that product for manure purposes.—A paper by Herr Scharlop 
appears to throw light on the production of some prehistoric 
urns in Prussia, from a mode of manufacture which has lately 
died out.—Dr. Tischler discusses the representations of weapons 
and costumes on old bronzes of the Hallstadt-Italian period. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LoNDON 
Entomological Society, September 1.—Robert McLachlan, 
F.R.S., President, in the chair.—The following gentlemen were 
elected Fellows:—The Rev. Prof. Dickson, D.D., and Messrs. 
P. Cowell, A. O. Walker, and Lyddon Surrage.—The President 
remarked with regard to the gnats from the Kent Waterworks, 
exhibited at the last meeting, that Prof. Westwood had since 
informed Mr. Douglas that they were only Culex fipiens.—Mr. 
Slater exhibited certain parasites found on the body of a larva 
of Smerinthus tilie, which Mr. Waterhouse believed to be Uveo- 
pola vegetans, a species of Acari.—Mr. W. Warren exhibited 
Lupithecia fraxinata, E. innotata, a variety of Z. satyrata, a 
Gelechia ciught in Wicken Fen twenty years ago by Mr. Bond, 
and believed to be a new species, G. fumatella, G. vilella, 
Lithocolletis scabiosella, and Catoptria parvulana. Ue also 
exhibited larvae of Ge/echia vilella,-—Mr. South exhibited speci- 
mens of Dicrorampha distinctana, and stated that he considered 
it to be merely a local form of D. consortana, from which, in 
the larval stage, it could not be separated.—Mr. Stevens 
exhibited a living specimen of Clerus formicarius, recently found 
under the bark of an ash-tree in Arundel Park.—Mr, Billups 
exhibited Ciiysis sucetncta, Linn., taken by sweeping at Chob- 
ham on July 28 last; he also exhibited AZicrophysa elegantula, 
taken at Broadstairs in August last.—The Rev. W. W. Fowler 
exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Theodore Wood, a larva of Zange- 
landia anophthalma, a species new t “ritain.—Mr. H. Goss 
exhibited specimens of Oxygastra Cu acently taken near 
Christchurch, Hants. He stated tha ~d met with the 
species in the same locality in 1878, but na. ‘r seen it any- 
where else in the United Kingdom, nor was he aware of any 
recent record of its capture. Mr. McLachlan observed that the 
species was taken many years ago in Dorsetshire by the late Mr. 
Dale, but that he knew of no recent captures except those 
recorded by Mr. Goss. He also made some remarks as to the 
distribution of the species on the continent of Europe.—Mr. 
MeLachlan exhibited a specimen of Delay meridionalis taken by 
him in July last in the Pyrenees, also about 150 examples of 
the genus Chrysopa from the same district. Amongst them were 
C. vulgaris, perla, Walkert, viridana, tenella, prasina, flava, 
septempunctata, flavifrons, and others not yet fully identified. 
He also exhibited a few Coleoptera from the same district, and 
remarked on the extraordinary abundance of a pretty Lamelli- 
corn, which was so common as to give the meadows the appear- 
ance of being studded with multitudes of brilliant blue flowers. 
—Mr. C. O. Waterhouse called attention to the numerous 
reports which had lately appeared in the newspapers of the 
supposed occurrence of the Hessian Fly (Cectdomyia destructor) 
in Britain, and inquired whether any communication on the 
subject had reached the Society. The Rev. W. W. Fowler 
stated that he had been in communication with Miss Ormerod 
on the subject, and that she had informed him that neither the 
imago nor larva of the species had been seen, and that the 
identity of the species rested on the supposed discovery of the 
pupa.—Mr. A. H. Swinton communicated a paper entitled 
“The Dances of the Golden Swift.” In this paper the author 
expressed an opinion that the peculiar oscillating flight of the 
male of this and allied species had the effect of distributing 
certain odours for the purpose of attracting the females. 
PARIS 
Academy of Sciences, September 27.—M. Emile Blanchard 
in the chair.—Researches on the sugars, by M. Berthelot. The 
results are given of recent studies of some new principles obtained 
from the association of sugars with themselves, not by a stable 
combination of the class of sacchaio3> substances, but by a com- 
bination easily dissolved, analogous to that of the hydrates and 
alcoholates. The facts observed illustrate the difficulties so often 
met with in the preparation of the double salts. They supply a 
fresh proof of the special part played by the dissolvents in the 
extraction of immediate principles, for, according as water or 
alcohol is employed, melitose or raffinose may be obtained.— 
Conditions determining the rapidity of images in chrono- 
photography, by M, Marey. by the process here described, 
which is based on M. Chevreul’s method of obtaining a perfectly 
black ground, the author is enabled to reduce the time of pose 
for each image to the two-thousandth of a second, and hopes by 
further improved dispositions to reduce it still more. The new 
photographs show that this reduction of time greatly increases 
the delicacy of the images obtained by this process of chrono- 
photography.—Kinematic analysis of the locomotion of a horse, 
by M. Marey. In this paper are described and illustrated the 
movements of the fore-leg in the step, trot, and gallop. The 
tendency to economy of labour displayed in various degrees in 
the movements of all ‘‘animal machines” appears to attain the 
greatest perfection in the action of the horse, being, however, 
less evident in the trot and the gallop than in the slow 
pace.—Note on the removal of the Imperial Observatory of 
Rio de Janeiro to a new site, by M. Cruls. The new site, to 
which the Observatory will soon be removed, occupies about 40 
hectares (100 acres) of the Imperial Fazenda of Santa Cruz, the 
usufruct of which is granted by the Emperor for this purpose. 
The new Observatory will stand on the same parallel, and about 
2 metres to the west of the present establishment, and will be 
able to undertake observations both on atmospheric electricity 
and terrestrial magnetism much more successfully than was pos- 
sible in its old home.—On the transformation of algebraic sur- 
faces in themselves, and on a fundamental number in the theory of 
surfaces, by M. E. Picard. Having recently shown that surfaces 
capable of transformation in themselves by a birational substitu- 
tion, including two arbitrary parameters, are of the genus zero or 
one, the author now examines the case of a single parameter, 
which he finds leads to totally different conclusions.—On a new 
method of determining the coefficient of expansion for solids, by 
M. Robert Weber. If a solid body be suspended like a pen- 
dulum, its oscillations will depend upon its form, its mass, and 
the distance of its molecules from the axis of rotation. At two 
varying temperatures this distance varies, whence results a 
change in the oscillations, Hence for a given body there is a 
determined relation between its temperature, «, the coefficient 
