24 



NA TURE 



[May 4, 1882 



tations fr in classical Greek authors, that the Greeks were any- 

 thing but 1 articular in the use of the article, and apparently 

 attached little importance to it ; and hence a slavish rendering 

 of the article when it occurred into English, not only led in 

 many cases to bad English, but displayed ignorance of true 

 scholarship. This fault, the author maintained, the revisers had 

 in not a few instances made their own. — Prof. Blyth, in a paper 

 on the action of the microphone, pointed out that the action due 

 to the aerial waves of sound directly, and that due to the tremor 

 of the frame-work which supported the microphone, must be 

 carefully distinguished, the latter being probably the source of 

 the jarring that so commonly accompanies telephonic sounds. As 

 the result of a series of ingeniously-contrived experiments, he 

 concluded that the true microphonic action, as far as it related 

 to the transmission of articulate sounds, is due to the direct action 

 of air-pulses upon the temporary minute "arc-lights " which exist 

 as soon as the carbon points are shaken asunder by the tremor 

 of the frame. — Prof. Marshall submitted an account of experi- 

 ments made by Prof. C. Michie Smith, Mr. R. T. Omond 

 and himself, in reference to the lowering of the maximum 

 density point of water by pressure. The lowering was mea- 

 sured indirectly by calculation from observed thermal effects 

 when the pressure in a mass of water at a given temperature 

 was suddenly diminished from several tons' weight on the square 

 inch to the atmospheric pressure. This thermal effect is a 

 heating effect when the temperature of the water is below that 

 of the maximum density, a cooling effect when above. A ther- 

 moelectrical ju: union let into the pressure apparatus, and con- 

 nected to a delicate galvanometer, noted the changes of tem- 

 perature, while the pressure was measured by means of one of 

 Prof. Tait's high-pressure gauges, formerly described. From 

 their first and preliminary series of experiments, they had de- 

 duced a lowering of the maximum density point of rwater by 2° 

 C. per ton's weight increase of pressure. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, April 24. — M. Jamin in the chair. — 

 The following papers were read : — Movements of various parts 

 of a liquid in a vessel or reservoir, whence it flows through an 

 orifice (continued), by M. de Saint Venant. — Researches on the 

 distribution of heat in the dark region of solar spectra, by M. 

 Desarns. With a rock-salt prism, he found the position of the 

 cold bands and the maxima always nearly the same. But there 

 was not the same agreement in the relative values of the intensi- 

 ties of successive maxima and minima (especially in the region of 

 great wave lengths). The maxima were much greater in 1SS2 

 than in 1S79 (doubtless owing to dryne-sof theair). — Memoir on 

 the temperature of the air at the surface of the ground, and of 

 the earth to 36 m. depth, also of two pieces of ground, one bare, 

 the other turf-covered, in 1881, by MM. Becquerel. The mean 

 air-temperature, II°'I5, is higher than in the two immediately 

 preceding years. — On quarantines at Suez, by M. de Lesseps. — 

 Separation of gallium, by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. He uses 

 advantageously cupric hydrate, instead of carbonate of baryta or 

 lime, for precipitation of galline ; the copper is easily eliminated 

 with sulphuretted hydrogen. — Report on a memoir relating to 

 the hygienic and economical properties of maize, by M. Fua. 

 M, Fua proves the value of maize as food ; maladies attributed 

 lo it have been really due to badly kept and diseased maize. 

 — On hypercycles, by M. Laguerre. — On the theory of uniform 

 functions of a variable, by M. Mittag-LefHer.— On Fuchsian func- 

 tions, by M. Poincare. — Solution of the general problem of 

 indeterminate analysis of the first degree, by M. Meray. — The 

 minima of sun-spots in 1881, by M. Ricco. The northern hemi- 

 sphere was observed (at Palermo) without spots, 23 days ; the 

 southern, 94 days. There were 12 periods of minima in the 

 north, and 18 in the south. The intervals of minima differ little 

 from the time of a solar rotation. A certain stability of minima 

 thus indicated, especially is the northern hemisphere, was con- 

 firmed by observations of longitude. — On the actinic transforma- 

 tion of Foucault mirrors and their applications in photography, j 

 by M. ile Chardonnet. A plate of rock crystal, silvered so as to , 

 be opaque to sight, forms a filter, permeable exclusively by dark ' 

 rays of short wave-length, and which may be used for photo- j 

 graphy without intervention of visible light. Very white crown | 

 glass or thin Saint Gobain glass may be used instead of rock salt. 

 —On magnetic perturbation, by M. Mascart. A magnetic 

 storm of large extent seems to have begun (after some preli- 

 minary indications) on the night of April 13, and continued a 

 week or more ; strong shocks occurred on the 16th and 20th. 

 —Winter of 1881-1882 at Clermont and at Puy-de-D6me, by M. 



Alluard. These stations showed interversion of temperature 

 with altitude on 78 nights in four months (November to 

 February), or nearly two-thirds ; the minima on Puy-de-Dome 

 ranging from 7 to 13 degrees above those at Clerm nit. New 

 proof was had of the rule that whenever an area of high pressures 

 covers central Europe, and especially France, the interversion in 

 question occurs. M. Faye, referring to me fact that Mont Blanc is 

 sometimes seen from Puy-de-Dome, distant 2S0 km., suggested 

 observation of geodesic refraction between them. — On the equiva- 

 lent of carbon determined by combustion of the diamond, by Prof . 

 Roscoe. Representing O by 15 46, C becomes 11 '07. — On the 

 decomposition of salts of lead by alkalies, by M. Hide. — Action 

 of sulphuretted hydrogen on solution of sulphate of nickel in 

 the cold state, by M. Baubigny. — Researches on ozone, by M. 

 Maillefert. He describes its action on sulphur, selenium, tellu- 

 rium, sulphides, and some organic matters. — On the absorption 

 of volatile bodies with the aid of heat, by M. Schlcesing. He 

 illustrates this by several experiments ; e.g. powders of carbonate 

 of ammonia pass into a small tower of coke, sprinkled with 

 dilute sulphuric acid ; a part of the alkali is carried beyond. If 

 the temperature be raised to 100 , the absorption is total, and 

 almost instantaneous. M. Schlcesing proposes to apply the 

 principle to determination of nitric acid in the atmosphere. — 

 On the oxidation of pyrogallic acid in an acid medium, by MM. 

 Clermont and Chautard. — On the insoluble modification of pep- 

 sine, by M. Gautier. — On nuclei with intense polychroism in 

 dark mica, by M. Levy. These are due to zircon. — On the 

 action of permanganate of potash against accidents from the 

 poison of Bothrops, by M. Couty. His conclusions, from ex- 

 periment, are adverse to use of the permanganate as antidote. — 

 On the abyssal malacological fauna of the Mediterranean, by M. 

 Fischer. From 555 m. to 2660 m., about 120 species of mol- 

 lusca were dredged, of which only about 30 are really abyssal. 

 The number of species diminishes sensibly with the depth. 

 All the deep species are also found in the Atlantic. — On some 

 attempts at hybridation between different species of Echinoidese, 

 by M. Kcehlen. These were successful, e.<*. in the case of a 

 Spatangus and a Psammechinus. — On some points of the ana- 

 tomy of Holothurians, by M. Jourdan. — On the pyloric ampullae 

 of Podophthalmate crustaceans, by M. Mocquard. — On the vita- 

 lity of trichinae encysted in salt meat, by M. Fourment. In 

 salt meat prepared fifteen months back were live trichinae, which 

 were fully evolved in the alimentary canal of a new host, and 

 caused death. 



CONTENTS p ag , 



Tonnage Legislation. By W. H. White, Chief Constructor to the 



Myth and Science. By Dr. George J. Romanes, F.R.S 3 



A Primer of Ast. By Miss L. S. Bevington 5 



Ouk Book Shelf: — 



Vernon-Harcourt's "Treatise on Rivers and Canals."— Maj r 



Allan Cunningham 5 



"Galeni Pergamensis de Temperamentis et de Tnaequali Im 



Libri tres, Thoma I.inacro Anglo Interpretc, 1521 " 6 



Distant 's " Rhopalocera Malayana " 6 



Haslam's "Conic Sections Treated Geometrically " 7 



Gilder's " Schwatka's Search " 7 



' ' Chambers's Etymological Dictionary of the English Language " . 7 



Hesse- Wartegg's "Tunis; the Land and the People " 7 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Silurian Fossils in the North-West Highlands.— Henry Hicks . . 7 



Earthquakes and Mountain Ranges.— Rev. O. Fisher 7 



Vivisection.— Mrs. Anna Kingsford ; B.Sc. Student of Mkdi- 



C1NE / * " ' ^ 



Red Variable Stars— " Variab. Cygni (Birmingham) 1SS1,' &c— I. 



Birmingham 8 



Matter and Magneto-electric Action.— Henry Bkdford .... 8 



Cyclonfs. By E. Douglas Archibald 9 



The Gizzard-Contents of some Oceanic Birds. By Surgeon-Major 



H. B. Gupfy 12 



Recent Discoveries in the Planet Mars. By Rev. 1. \V. Webb 



(With Illustration) >3 



The Cause of Tuberculosis. By Dr. E. Klein 13 



Deei-.Sea Exploration (With Diagrams) 15 



Some Primitive Ideas on Meteorology 15 



NOTBS l6 



ijur Astronomical Column: — 



The Present Comet *« 



The so-called Nova of 1848 t» 



Gpograihical Notes ■ ■•_••-• *9 



Some of the Dangerous Properties of Dusts. By Prof, i . A. 



Abel. C.B., F.R.S "9 



The Influence of Temperature on Certain Seeds 22 



University and Educational Intelligence 22 



Scientific Serials 22 



Societies and Academies 3 3 



