48 



NATURE 



[May ii, 1 1 



former was markedly more equable. A like comparison was 

 also instituted for the corresponding annual variations at Ma- 

 deira, Lisbon, Jerusalem, and Scotland, and the same wonderful 

 equableness was shown to exist. Observations with the wet- 

 and dry-bulb thermometer, and spectroscopic indications of the 

 " rain-band " proved the climate of Madeira to be at the same 

 time remarkably humid, which at once explains its cold summers 

 and warm winters. This striking humidity the author traced to 

 the influence of the Gulf Strea 0, a branch of which trends 

 south from the Bay of Biscay past the coast of Portugal. That 

 the ocean waters around Madeira are peculiarly warm, was demon- 

 strated by the late Sir Wyville Thomson in the Challenger Expe- 

 dition. The abundant presence of watery vapour in the atmo- 

 sphere also seems to have a marked influence upon the flora and 

 fauna, which are very different from what would be expected 

 when latitude alone is considered.— Mr. P. Geddes communi- 

 cated a paper by Mr. F. E. Beddard, B.A., on the anatomy 

 and histology of Pleurochacta Moscleyi, a new genus and species 

 of earthworms, which had been brought home by Prof. Motley 

 from Ceylon. The chief characteristics of this species noted 

 were, that the seta: are not arranged in continuous lines round 

 the body, but in two lateral groups, that there are no segmented 

 organs, and that the capillaries extend into the hypoderm, as in 

 the leech.— Prof. Heddle, in the first of three notes, described 

 a leaf-bed which he had discovered at the base of a high preci- 

 pice at the north-west corner of the island of Canna. The bed 

 consists of a highly laminated brown clay, easily split by tapping 

 or by inserting the edge of a knife. This clay, when it comes 

 down to the water's edge, is acted upon by the waves to form 

 the so-called Fuller's earth. In the second note, the author 

 intimated that the inner Hyskier— a group of skerries some nine 

 miles from Canna — was formed of the pitchstone porphyry of 

 the Scuir of Eigg, which is about twenty-two miles distant. 

 The third note related to a supposed organism from the marble 

 of Sutherland, which the author, from his intimate acquaintance 

 with the structure and mode of occurrence of minerals, was 

 certain was not a mineral. A specimen had been sent to Dr. 

 Carpenter, who, without any knowledge as to where it had 

 been got, described it as being very Eozooic. — Mr. J. Aitkin 

 communicated a brief note on the selective absorption of sea- 

 water for light, on which he had made some spectroscopic 

 observations. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, May I. — M. Jamin in the chair. — 

 The death of Mr. Darwin was commented upon by the Presi- 

 dent and by M. de Quatrefages. — On some reactions of bichlor- 

 ide of mercury, by M. Debray. — On the employment of liquefied 

 gases, and particularly ethylene, for production of low tempera- 

 tures, by M. Cailletet. A thermometer immersed in liquid 

 ethylene indicated about - 105°; whereas protoxide of nitrogen 

 boils at - 88°. In utilisation the liquid was, on opening an 

 orifice in the receiver, projected through a glass tube on the 

 apparatus to be cooled. Suddenly diminishing the pressure of 

 compressed oxygen cooled to at least - 105 , one observes 

 tumultuous ebullition for a little ; (at - 88° oxygen gave merely 

 a fine mist). Ethylene has the property of remaining liquid 

 and transparent at temperatures where protoxide of nitrogen and 

 carbonic acid become solid and opaque. — Separation of gallium, 

 by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. — Report on a memoir of M. C. 

 Stephanos, entitled " Memoir on Groups of Binary Forms 

 having the same Jacobian." — Determination of the difference of 

 longitude between Paris and Besancon, by MM. Barnaud and 

 Leygue. A chronometric observatory is being founded at 

 Besanijon, for the benefit of the watchmaking industry there, 

 and the difference of longitude between the site chosen and the 

 Montsouris Observatory is found to be 14m. 36"267s.— Develop- 

 ments in series of a holomorphous function in an area limited by 

 arcs of the circle, by M. Appell. — On certain ternary quadratic 

 forms, by M. Picard. — On photographs of the spectrum of 

 the nebula of Orion, by Prof. Draper. — On the polarisation of 

 electrodes and on the conductivity of liquids, by M. Bouty. 

 From experiments in which the electromotive iaethod of M. 

 Lippmann was applied to measuring the conductivity of acidu- 

 lated water with a very weak electromotive force (e.g. that of a 

 zinc-cadmium element), he concludes that a liquid has only one 

 way of conducting electricity (not two, an electrolytic and a 

 metallic, as some physicists suppose), whatever the special pheno- 

 mena of the electrodes. — Influence of a metal on the nature of 

 the surface of another metal placed at a very small distance, by 

 M. Pellat. Two metal surfaces placed opposite each other at an 



interval of a few millimetres or tenths of a millimetre, have their 

 superficial layers temporarily altered (as one finds on measuring 

 the difference of potential) ; after separation the change gradually 

 disappears. The author regards the action as not electric, but 

 purely material, and depending on the nature of the influencing 

 metal (it is great with lead, less with copper, nil with zinc). 

 Metals seem to emit, at ordinary temperature, a volatile sub- 

 stance, which, deposited on the surface of objects, chemically 

 modifies their nature. — On the liquefaction of ozone, by MM. 

 Hautefeuilie and Chappuis. By compressing, at about 125 atui., 

 a mixture of oxygen and ozone in a bent tube, part of which was 

 cooled with a jet of liquid ethylene (see above), they obtained 

 ozone in liquid drops of a dark indigo blue colour. The 

 vaporisation of the liquid is not very rapid, even at atmospheric 

 pressure. — Action of insoluble metallic sulphides on a solution of 

 acid sulphate of nickel in presence of sulphuretted hydrogen, by 

 M. Baubigny. — Oxidation of pyrogallol in presence of gum arabic, 

 by MM. de Clermont and Chautard. — Chemical study of various 

 products of Uruguay, by M. Sace. This relates to caoutchouc 

 from various fig trees, the camphor tree, a blue-flowered vetch, 

 and chickweed. — Observations relative to a group of fossil 

 Suidje, whose dentition has some Simian characters, by M. 

 Filhol. These fossils are from the upper eocene. Other points 

 of similarity are the shortening of the skull and the form of the 

 temporo-maxillary articulation. — Researches on the anatomy of 

 some Echinida, by M. Kahler. — The Grotto Lympia, by M. 

 Riviere. He finds evidence of the contemporaneity of the 

 brecciform deposits of this grotto (discovered at Nice in 1878, 

 and containing remains of Elcphas, Lagomys, Capraprimigtnia, 

 Cervus, Bos, &c), with quaternary man. — On the reptiles found 

 in the gault of the east of Fiance, by M. Sauvage. Eleven have 

 been discovered. Inter alia, crocodiles existed of much larger 

 size than those of the Cambridge strata. The principal Pino- 

 saurian was a Megalosaurus (superbus) of gigantic size, differing 

 in several features from the M. Bucklandi of the oolite in 

 England. — A hypsometric map of the rivers of European Russia, 

 by Col. de Tillo, was presented by M. Daubree. It is observed 

 that the principal water-courses of that country change pretty 

 abruptly in general direction. M. Holtz noted several observa- 

 tions relative to intermittent springs. 



CONTENTS Page 



British Fossil Cephalopods 25 



Our Book Shelf: — 



Featherman's •' Social History of the Races of Mankind " ... 28 



Allen's " Commercial Organic Analysis " 28 



Hovgaard's " Nordenskjcild's Arctic Voyage Round ^Asia and 



Europe " - 29 



Dudgeon's " Sphygmograph " 29 



Wakelin's " Great Mathematical Question " 29 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Existence of a Voice in Lizards.— Prof. Th. ElMER .... 29 



Sea-shore Alluvion— Langley Point.— J. B. Redman 30 



Colour Perception.— Napier Smith . . 30 



How may Clouds consisting of Liquid or of Frozen Water be Distin- 

 guished? — Dr. Hermann Kopp 3* 



On the Conservation of Solar Energy. — Joseph John Murphy . . 31 



Cyclones. II. By E. Douglas Archibald 31 



On Photographs of the Spectra of the Nebula in Orion. By 



Dr. Henry Draper 33 



Epping Forest 34 



The Winter of 1881-2 35 



Sevres Porcelain and Science (With Illustrations) 36 



Phylloxera. ByJ.S Gardner 38 



The Extension Seaward of the Waters of the Chinese Rivers. 



By Surgeon-Major H. B. Gufpy . 38 



Professor Geikie in Arran . . . 39 



Notes 40 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Anthelm's Nova of 1670 42 



Variable Stars 42 



The Comet 1882 a 42 



Biological Notes: — 



Fauna of the Suez Canal 42 



The Comparative Action of Isomeric and Metameric Compounds on 



the Growth of Plants 43 



Caucasian Milk Ferment 43 



New Freshwater Sponges 43 



Molluscous Fauna of Moscow 43 



Peristaltic Intestinal Movements 43 



On the Occurrence of Root-florets in Catananche lutea 43 



Chemical Notes 44 



Physical Notes 44 



The Jointing of Rocks and the Channel Tunnel. By Prof. 



William King 45 



University and Educational Intelligence 45 



Scientific Serials 45 



Societies and Academies 46 



