June 15, 1882] 



NATURE 



165 



Zahradnik ; a very intere.-ting paper by Prof. Carl Pelz, on the 

 construction of radii of curvature of conic sections, all considered 

 as mere corollaries of one theorem of Steiner ; and several 

 papers, by Dr. Franz Studnicka, concerning the theory of deter- 

 minants and polynomes ; and by Prof. J. Solin, on graphical 

 integration. ; Prof. A. Safarik contributes a paper giving the 

 results of his observations on the Transit of Mercury on May 6, 

 1878. After having compared the photographs of the sun during 

 the years 1875 to 1878, with observations on storms at Green- 

 wich, Prague, and Vienna, Prof. Zenger arrived, as is known, at 

 the conclusion that the I2"6 days' periodicity of "storms" on 

 the surface of the sun had the effect of producing the same 

 periodicity in the appearance of tornadoes in the West Indian 

 and of typhoons in the Indo-Chinese Seas. Now, he discusses the 

 storms noticed at Windsor (Australia) during the years 1863-75, and 

 discovers in their appearance the same periodicity; the average 

 deviations from it for the 29 duodecades of each year, being mostly 

 but fractions of one day. But it must be observed that, for calcu- 

 lating the average error of these deviations, Prof. Zenger not 

 only does not make use of the methods of least squares, but 

 takes into account the signs, positive or negative, of the devia- 

 tions, which method considerably diminishes the errors. Dis- 

 cussing Quetelet's tables of falls of meteorites, he arrives at the 

 conclusion that these last also sho.v the same periodicity. An 

 elaborate paper, by Prof. Augustin, gives the results of thirty- 

 eight year's observations of temperature at Prag, the averages 

 being: winter, -o° - 56 Cels. ; spring, S° - 77 ; summer, I9°0I ; 

 autumn, 9°'6o ; year, 9° - i8. 



Several communications are devoted to mineralogy, and we 

 notice among them the papers of Prof. Krejci on the crystallisa- 

 tion of quartz, and on the homcemorphism of Sphalerite, 

 Wurtzite, and Greenokit ; on transformation-symbols, by Dr. 

 N. Daubrawa ; and on minerals from the Kuchelbad diabase, 

 by MM. Preis and Urba. The papers on palaeontology, geo- 

 logy, zoology, and botany, mostly deal with the fauna and flora, 

 fossil or existing, of Bohemia itself. Dr. Ant. Fric gives a list 

 of all fossil animals found in the coal and limestone of the 

 Permian formation in Bohemia ; whilst only two species were 

 known from this formation in 1868, M. Fric's list includes no 

 less than 87 species, mostly labyrinthodonts and fishes. Dr. O. 

 Novak publishes his researches on hypostoms of trilobites ; and 

 Dr. O. Freismantel contributes three papers : on Noggerathias 

 of the Bohemian coalfields; notices on the Noggerathia, Stbg., 

 Nbggcrathiopsis, Fstm., and Rhiptozanistes, Schmalh., and the 

 description of a new Calamaria, Discinites bohemicus. M. K. 

 Taranek gives a description of. Diatomaceaa from Bohemian 

 marshes ; Dr. J. Schbbl publishes the results of his researches 

 on the reproduction of Isopod crustaceans ; and Dr. Ullik, the 

 results of several analyses of Bohemian waters. In the Ethno- 

 graphical Department we notice a paper by Dr. Jirecek, on 

 Walachians and Mauro-Walachians according to documents 

 found at Ragusa. 



The next volume of the Sitzungsberkhtc, for the year 1 S80, 

 is as rich as the preceding one. Dr. F. Studnicka continues his 

 researches on the theory of determinants, and describes a new 

 property of them, already observed by M. Catalan ; and M. F. 

 Mertens gives a new geometrical application of the rule of 

 multiplication of determinants. Dr. A. Seydler studies the 

 movement of a point 0.1 given curves and superficies. In the 

 domain of physics we notice but one paper, by Dr. K. Domalip, 

 on the alternating discharges of electricity in rarefied space, in 

 which paper the author deals especially with luminous back- 

 currents. The researcees of Prof. W. Zenger on the I2'6 days' 

 periodicity, are continued in this volume. He remarks that this 

 period is equal to one-half of the duration of each rotation of the 

 sun, and tries to prove that the earthquakes in Southern Italy, 

 from 1349 to 1873, a s given by Prof. Suess, also fell on such 

 days as closely coincide with the 12 6 days' period. He dis- 

 covers the influence of the same periodicity in the dates of the 

 passage of comets, from a.d. 371 to 1864, through their peri- 

 helium, as well as in the dates of meteoric showers. In further 

 papers he tries to establish that the same periodicity might be 

 discovered as to the maxima and minima of atmospheric pres- 

 sure, of temperature, &c, and of magnetic disturbances. Fi- 

 nally, he shows that the sidereal durations of the revolu- 

 tions of all planets are but multiples of the half rotation of 

 the sun, and he finds that the same number appears also in 

 the lengths of the months of the moon and of the satellites of 

 Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. He concludes that " the cause of 

 the movements in our solar system must be sought for in the 



rotation of the sun," and that all phenomena of gravitation, 

 magnetism, and electricity are but modifications of the same 

 cause which occasions the rotation of the sun. Dr. F. Augustin 

 contributes a paper on the climate of Prag, being a risume of 

 the meteorological observations made since 1840, and another 

 paper on the influence of clouds on the diurnal march of tem- 

 perature at Prag. Among geological papers we notice : the 

 communication by Dr. Fric on the discovery of fossil remains of 

 a bird, Cretornis Hlavaci, in the chalk of Bohemia ("Iser- 

 schichten ") ; the description of a new Tertiary Batrachian, 

 PaUcobatraclius bohemicns (H. v. Meyer), from the brown coal 

 at Bohmisch-Kamnitz, very similar to the faheobatrac/ius Gold- 

 fussi, but different from it in the structure of several parts of the 

 skeleton. M. Carl Heistmantel contributes two papers on the 

 fossil flora of the Hangend-ridge of the Kladno-Rakonitz coal- 

 basin, characterised by the abundance of Filices, Alethopteris 

 Scrli, and Cyatheites arborescent, being most common, and 

 appearing in masses, whilst the Sphenopteris is scarcely repre- 

 sented, the Neuropteris, so characteristic of the lower deposits, 

 completely disappears, and the Lepidodendrons become very 

 rare. The group of Leiodermaria becomes, on the contrary, 

 most usual, and acquires |a new representative in the Permian 

 Sigillaria dtnudala, Gopp. , whilst Conifers become more 

 numerous. The flora acquires thus a decidedly Permian charac- 

 ter. Mr. J. Woldrich contributes a paper on the diluvial fauna 

 at Sudslavic, close by Vimperk ; it bears a decidedly northern 

 character, as it contained remains of Myodes lorquatus, Nyctea 

 nivea, Leucocyon lagopus, F&torius Erminea, Ltpus variabilis, 

 Arvicola nivalis, A. gregalis, Lagopus alpinus, &c. Prof. A. 

 Belohoubek gives an interesting sketch of the influence of geo- 

 logical structure on the chemical composition of water in very 

 many springs and wells from different geological formations : 

 old gneisses, Huron, Silurian, Carboniferous, Permian, Chalk, 

 Tertiary, and Diluvium in Bohemia. The best water, as far 

 as can be concluded from M. Belohoubek's researches, which 

 he considers himself as only preliminary — is given by the 

 Gneiss, Permian, and partly also by the Chalk ; the worst, by 

 the Carboniferous and Silurian. Dr. Vejdovsky gives a list of 

 Rhizopods inhabiting the wells at Prag, several species of 

 Amoeba, Centropyrix, Euglypha, Trinema, &c, being charac- 

 teristic for special wells. M. Taranek gives a description of 

 Diatomaceae at Warnsdorf. Prof. J. Dedecek gives a sketch of 

 Bohemian Polytrichacese, and deals in another paper with the 

 distribution of Hepatic mosses in Bohemia. 



In the Annual Reports we notice, besides the public lectures 

 read at the annual meetings, a most useful, complete biblio- 

 graphical indexes of works and papers published by different 

 members of the Society since the beginning of their scientific 

 careers. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Cambridge. — From the annual report on the local lectures in 

 populous centres, we learn that 12 out of 23 courses of lectures 

 in the Michaelmas Term of 1881, and 10 out of 20 courses in 

 the Lent term of 1882, were on scientific subjects, and were 

 delivered to audiences amounting in all to 1042 persons in the 

 former term and 645 in the latter. This refers only to the work 

 exclusively conducted from Cambridge, without including the 

 courses of lectures in London and in the counties of Durham 

 and Northumberland, which are also largely under the influence 

 of the Cambridge system. 



University College, Nottingham, has applied to be affiliated 

 to Cambridge. 



A further report of no progress has been made by the Sedgwick 

 Museum Syndicate. It is estimated that 14,716/. is the present 

 value of the investments and balances of the Memorial Fund. 

 All that can be said as to the prospects of building is that further 

 acquisitions of sites near the new museums make satisfactory 

 proposals more possible. Prof. Hughes has addressed a letter 

 to the Vice-Chancellor showing that a considerable proportion 

 of the funds for building the present Woodwardian Museum and 

 Library was sought and given expressly for a geological museum, 

 so that the University may fairly be expected to find 15,000/. as 

 the value of the present museum if it takes possession of it for 

 the use of the Library. 



The first part of the Natural Sciences Tripos has placed 24 

 men in the first class, 20 in the second, and 10 in the third, while 



