192 



NATURE 



\Jime 22, 1882 



latter half is to check the growth and elongation of the peduncle. 

 This causes the la'ter to bend over towards the side on which 

 the petal is attached, and often so much so that it cracks on the 

 opposite side, and may even decapitate itself. — Change of sex in 

 Rhododendrons : The Rev. G. Henslow showed a flower in which 

 the corolla was doubled, the stamens partially petaloid, while the 

 pistil was open below with stamens, a tuft of imperfect petals 

 and stamens arising from the base. He showed a drawing of a 

 somewhat similar condition made in 1875, in which the style 

 had become strap-shaped, was partially coloured red, and bore 

 anther-cells on the margins; the pollen, however, was evidently 

 abortive. 



Entomological Society, June 7. — Mr. H. T. Stainton, 

 F R.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. P. B. Mason exhibited 

 dark varieties of Zyganafilipendule, and Callimorpha domiuula, 

 as well as of the insect formerly supposed to be Agrotis helvetina, 

 Boisd., but which was now believed to be a remarkable variety 

 of Noctua augur. — The President remarked that there had been 

 a great mortality this spring among the young larva; of the 

 currant saw-fly (Nematus ribesii). — Mr. McLachlan read a 

 revised list of British Trichoptera. — Mr. W. L. Distant read 

 descriptions of new species and a new genus of Cicadida from 

 Madagascar. — Mr. A. G. Butler communicated de.-criptions of 

 heterocerous Lepidoplcra collected in Chili by Mr. Edmonds : 

 Geomctritcs. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, June 15. — Annual 

 meeting ; the Right Hon. the Earl of Shaftesbury, K.G., in 

 the chair. — Prior to the delivery of an address on the scientific 

 aspects of the last Palestine survey, by Mr. Trelawney Saunders 

 — who gave a careful analysis of the valuable results of the sur- 

 vey of Pales' ine, especially noticing the accord of the results 

 with the Bible narrative — the honorary secretary, Captain F. 

 Perrie, read the report, from which it appeared that the total 

 number of members was now upwards of 950, Prof. Pasteur 

 and many other well-known men of science having joined the 

 Society in the past year. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, June 12.— M. Jamin in the chair.— 

 The death of M. Conalia, Correspondent in Rural Economy, 

 was commented upon. — On a point of the mathematical theory of 

 effects in the game of billiards, by M. Resal. — Characters and rile 

 of double salts formed by fusion, by MM. Berthelot and Ilosvay. — 

 Remarks on the use of zinc-carbon couples in electrolysis, by M. 

 Berthelot. — Note on some explosive alloys of zinc and platinum- 

 metals, by MM. Deville and Debray. Osmium is the only one 

 of the platinum metals which does not retain zinc when one 

 treats its alloy having a large excess of zinc, with an acid capable 

 of dissolving this metal. The action of zinc on osmium-iridium 

 is explained, according to laws of thermo-chemistry. (The heat 

 liberated in union of zinc with indium is enormous, and greatly 

 exceeds that in union of osmium and iridium). — M. de Lesseps 

 reported on the Suez Canal, and gave an account of the s.s. 

 Austral. — M. Schkesing was elected Member in Rural Economy 

 in i" "i of the late M. Decaisne. — Programme of astronomical 

 work to be clone by the scientific expedition sent to the south 

 pole, by M. Loewy. Classing the observations as (1) accidental, 

 and (2) regular, those of the transit alone belong to the first ; 

 the second class include determination of the hour, the latitude 

 and the longitude ; of the radiant points of the southern 

 heavens ; and search for comets. — Observation of the Venus 

 transit at Cape Horn, by M. Mnuchez. The Transit Com- 

 mittee reluctantly gave up the island of Cape Horn for the 

 mouth of the River Santa Cruz in Patagonia (for the most 

 southerly station), the chances of good weather being so small ; 

 but they urge the importance of providing the Cape Horn scien- 

 tific mission with instruments for transit observations. — Instruc- 

 tion, for the naturalists of the Cape Horn Mission, for 

 investigation of the animals on Terra del Fuego and adjacent 

 J M. Blanchard. Inter aim, the small mammals, as 

 unable to cross wide arms of the sea, should throw light on 

 questions in physical geography. Do the land birds migrate to 

 the continent in winter ? Are there hatrachians in those parts ? 

 oic. Special means must be taken in those cold and wet 

 climates for discovery of insects, few species of which attract 

 notice by number or bright hues. — Instructions for the mission 

 to Cape Horn, by M. Duchartre. In botanv, special regard 

 should be given to marine algss. — Geological instructions, by 

 MM. Daubree and I' - Cloizeaux. Search for fossil dibris and 

 i-.e iron is urged ; also in- 



vestigation of raised beaches. — Programme of meteorological and 

 magnetic observations, by M. Angot. Direct observations to be 

 made at 4 and 8 a.m. and p.m. at midday and at midnight, (the 

 expedition has a complete series of registering apparatus, and for 

 certain instruments, a double series). Inter alia, full instructions 

 are given for observation of austral auroras. — Observation'! of 

 planets 221, 222, 223, 224, and of Comet a 1S82 (Wells) at Paris 

 Observatory, by M. Bigourdan. — Observations of the same 

 comet with the 7-inch meridian circle at Bordeaux Observatory, 

 by M. Rayet. — Ditto with the 6-inch Brunner equatorial at 

 Lyons, by M. Gone.-siat. — On a mode of transformation of 

 figures in space, by M. Venecek. — On the law according to which 

 the electromotive force of a magneto-electric machine varies in 

 function of the resistance of the exterior circuit, by M. Deprez. 

 The diminution of electromotive force in the ring, -when the 

 current becomes very intense, is due to insufficiency of the in- 

 ductors. The wires of the ring cut the magnetic lines of force 

 at an angle increasingly different from a right angle (at which 

 maximum force is had). — Oscillations of the planeof polarisation 

 by the discharge of a battery ; simultaneity of electrical and 

 optical phenomena, by MM. Bicbat and Blondlot. A I.eyden 

 jar was discharged through a coil round a transparent body [e.g. 

 flint) between polariser and analyser, and each time there was 

 reappearance of the extinguished light. In one arrangement the 

 image of a slit in the polariser was viewed in a rotating mirror, 

 with a telescope, at each discharge ; and one saw a scries of 

 bright bands (as in the case of a spark). The plane of polarisa- 

 tion was proved to oscillate about its normal position. — Decom- 

 position of salts by matters in fusion, by M. Ditte. — Action 

 of heat on an acid solution of sulphate of nickel in presence 

 of sulphuretted hydrogen, by M, Baubignv. — On the me- 

 chanism of putrid fermentation, and on the alkaloids resulting 

 from it, by MM. Gantier and Etard. — On the decomposing 

 action of certain organic matters on oxygenated writer ; apropos 

 of a memoir by MM. Bert and Regnard, by M. Bechamp. — On 

 the aptitude communicated to cold-blooded animals to contract 

 charbon by raising their temperature, by M. Gibier. Charbon 

 was communicated to frogs (five out of tw enty) compelled to 

 live, after inoculation, in water at 35° to 37°. The bacteria 

 developed were longer than usual (due to slow circulation). — 

 Does the mechanism of absorption of virus vary with the nature 

 of the wounds ? Does the nature of the wounds affect the 

 efficiency of surgical intervention ? by M. Rodet. The nature 

 of the wound affects only the rapidity of the propagation, not 

 at all the mechanism of absorption ; the penetration is, in by 

 far the most cases, by the lymphatic vessels, very rarely by the 

 blood-vessels exclusively, and seldom, comparatively, by blood- 

 vessels and lymphatics. — On the sub-basaltic alluvions of the 

 Corions (Ardeche), by M. Torcapel. — Probable lowering of the 

 current water in the valley of the Seine during the summer and 

 autumn of 1S82, by MM. Lemoineand de Preandeau.— M. Carre 

 described a new fire-alarm ; an iron wire, constantly stretched 

 by a spring, and closing a circuit (with bell) when elongated by 

 heat ; communication is made by rupture, as well as by expan- 

 sion of the wire. 



CONTENTS p agb 



Charles Darwin, V. . 164 



Imitation Cheese. By Prof. T. E Thorpe. F.R.S 172 



The Irrawaddi River. By Major Allan Cunningham, R.E. . . 172 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



McAlpine's " Botanical Atlas " 175 



Letters to The Editor :— 



The Magnetic Storms of 1882. April.— William Ellis .... 17s 



Earthquakes in China— Marc Pechrevens, S.J 175 



Non-Electric Incandescent Lamps. — F. M. Sexton 176 



Conservation of Solar Energy. — Prof. Pliny Earle Chase . . . 176 

 The Function of the Ears in the Perception of Direction. — Consul 



E. L. Layard 176 



Jamaica Petrel —Consul E. L. Lavard , 77 



Douulk Stars. By Dr. W. Dooerck i 77 



On the Photographic Spectrum of Comet (Wells) I., 18S2. By 



William Huggins, F.R.S. (With Diagram) 179 



Kabath's Electric Accumulators (With Illustrations) . . . . 1S0 



Scientific Results op the Eclipse ,81 



Pkof. W. B. Rogers ",8. 



Notes jg-j 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Approaching Transit of Venus E5 



The Cordoba < Jbservaiion of Comet 1881 II., on June II 86 



Maskelyne's Solar Parallax 186 



The Royal Society of Canada 186 



On Smell. By William Ramsay 187 



University and Educational Intelligence 189 



scientific senials 190 



societies and academibs i 0o 



