496 



NATURE 



[Sept. 14, 1882 



trains. It consists of a drum turned by clockwork, over which 

 a continuous slip of paper passes. This paper is marked by 

 two pencils which can at any time be brought into contact with 

 it. One of these gives a straight line which shows the be- 

 ginning, ending, and line of duration of an experiment. The 

 other receives a reciprocating motion from one of the wheels of 

 the locomotive, und so gives a continuous series of curves, the 

 relative closeness of which to each other measures the speed of 

 the train. From results given by this instrument a very instruc- 

 tive curve was drawn, showing the manner in which a train 

 comes to rest. Experiments were made on a piece of level line' 

 on the Midland Railway, between Nottingham and Newark. 

 On a calm day a train weighing 125 tons, and moving at the rate 

 of 45 miles an hour, ran 5 miles and 5 yards after the steam was 

 shut off. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Entomological Society, August 2.— Mr. F. D. Godman, 

 M.A., F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — One new Member 

 was elected. — Exhibitions : Macropis labiata, by Mr. F. Knock ; 

 Paragus tibialis and Discomyza incurva, by Mr. T. R. Billups ; 

 Cicindda, sp. from Babylon, by Miss E. A. Ormerod ; Xyleborus 

 saxesenit (destructive to ale-casks sent out to Rangoon), by Mr. 

 W. 1.. Distant. — Papers read : Notes on the life-history of 

 Si/ones lineatus, by Mr. T. H. Hart, read by Miss Ormerod. — 

 On a visit to Ceylon, and the relation of Ceylonese beetles to 

 the vegetation there, by Mr. G. Lewis, who had captured about 

 1200 species of beetles in Ceylon in five months. — On certain 

 temperature forms of Japanese butterflies, by Mr. H. Pryer. 

 Paris 



Academy of Sciences, August 21. — M. Boussingault in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — On longitudinal 

 shock of a free elastic bar against an elastic bar of other matter 

 or of another size, fixed at the end not struck ; consideration of 

 the extreme case in which the striking bar is very rigid and very 

 short, by M. de Saint- Venant. — On the vaso- motor effects pro- 

 due d by excitation of the peripheric segment of the lingual 

 nerve, by M. Vulpian. This nerve seems to have a certain 

 degree of recurrent sensibility, manifested on stimulating the 

 peripheric segment of the cut nerve, by contraction of the vessels 

 in the opposite half of the tongue. — On the appearance of man- 

 ganese on the surface of rocks (continued), by M. Boussingault. 

 This relates chiefly to the Challenger observations. The ^ea 

 and rivers contain carbonic acid favouring the dissolution of 

 insoluble carbonates. When, from any cause, the acid gas is 

 expelled, the salts are precipitated ; the carbonates of protoxide 

 of iron and protoxide of manganese, once in contact either with 

 the oxygen of the air, or with that dissolved in the water, are 

 modified by sur-oxidation of their bases ; the carbonate of iron 

 produces a red sesquinoxide, the carbonate of manganese a black 

 oxide. — Some observations on the phylloxeras of Savoy, by M. 

 Lichtenstein. The multiplication is very much less in Savoy 

 and other regions, where the temperature is below 20° to 25 in 

 summer. Seven species of phylloxera are now distinguished in 

 France. — Observations at Marseilles Observatory, by M. 

 Borrelly. — On the solar metallic eruptions observed at Rome 

 during the first half of 1882, by P. Tacchini. Forty-three were 

 observed, twenty-four north of the solar equator, and nineteen 

 south. A maximum occurred in March. The number of lines 

 iva, always small, and the solar activity was far from that of the 

 preceding epoch of maximum. The line B c was the most 

 frequent. The only splendid eruption was on June 21 ; its 

 maximum height was about 167". The maxima of the 

 eruptions were between ± 10° and ± 20°, nearly as with 

 the .-pots; but they extended to greater latitudes. — Broaden- 

 ing of the spectral lines of hydrogen, by M. Van Monckhovm. 

 He concludes from experiments that the broadening is quite 

 independent of temperature, and solely due to pressure. — On 

 the longitudinal shock of an elastic rod fixed by one of its ex- 

 tremities by MM. Sebert and Hugoniot. — On approximate 

 quadratures and cubatures, by M. Mansion. — Hydrodynauiic 

 experiments ; imitation by liquid or gaseous currents of stratifi- 

 cations of the electric light in rarefied gases and of various 

 forms of the electric spark (seventh note), by M. Decharme. 

 He moves horizontally and quickly over a plate covered with 

 minium, a tube with issuing current of liquid or air. — Remarks 

 on the subject of M. Tommasi's communication on the numerical 

 relations between thermal data, by M. Le Blanc. — On a syn- 

 thetic type of Annelid (Anoplonereis Ilermanni) commensal of 



Balanoglossus, by M. Giard. — The quaternary formation of 

 Billancourt, by M. Riviere. — Chemical composition of the 

 banana at different degrees of maturation, by M. Ricciardi. The 

 green banana contains about half of its weight of starch, which 

 disappears in the ripe fruit, and the sugar in the fruits ripened 

 on the plant is almost entirely cane sugar ; that of the fruits 

 ripened after gathering, four-fifths inverted sugar, the rest cane 

 sugar. The tannic substances and organic acids of the green 

 fruits disappear in the ripe fruits. M. Ricciardi considers the 

 CO2 produced by the banana in the third period of its maturation 

 is not due to alcoholic fermentation. — On modifications of the 

 epidermic structure of leaves under various influences, by M. 

 Mer. — Observations on an earthquake at Couchey (Cote d'Or), 

 by M. Guillemot. This occurred at 4.25 a.m., on August 14 ; 

 a single dull shock was followed by an oscillation south-south- 

 east to north-north-west, lasting half a second. The shock was 

 feb over at least 14 kilometres. 



August 28 — M. VVurtz in the chair. — M. Mouchez communi- 

 cated an address he had given at the inauguration of a statue to 

 Fermat at Beaumont-de-Lomagne. — Meridian observations of 

 small planets and of the comet Wells, at Paris Observatory, 

 during the second quarter of 1882, by M. Mouchez. — On the 

 inclination of the magnetic needle, by M. d'Abbadie. His ob- 

 servations with an inclination-needle of MM. Brunner, only 

 o'o63m. long, prove its accuracy. — Communication on black 

 phosphorus, by M. Thenard. As against doubts of the exist- 

 ence of black phosphorus, he states that lately, when moulding 

 phosphorus in the usual way, and after getting a dozen rod*, all 

 of the ordinary colour, the thirteenth blackened suddenly 

 throughout at the moment of cooling. The phenomenon was 

 afterwards reproduced in a partial way. — Separation of gallium 

 (continued), by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. — A communi- 

 cation by M. Chevreul affords evidence that Joseph Hubert, 

 the friend and successor of Poivre in the island of Reunion, 

 recognised, as early as 1788 (some ten years before Eng- 

 lish and German savants), the gyratory character of cy- 

 clones. In 1S1S Hubert got the complete and correct formula 

 expressing 1 heir double motion of gyration and translation (several 

 years before Dove). — Observations of planets 227 and 229 with 

 the western equatorial of the garden of Paris Observatory, by 

 MM. Henry — Solution of the problem of Kepler for consider- 

 able eccentricities, by M. Zenger. — On the formation of secon- 

 dary couples «ith plates of lead, by M. Plante. He accelerates 

 the formation of the couples, by first keeping them immersed 

 twenty-four hours in nitric acid diluted one-half of its volume 

 with water. The porosity produced extends the chemical action, 

 which occurs on alternation of the primary current. These 

 couples, in eight days, and after three or fur changes of direc- 

 tion of the primary, yield results w hich were formerly obtainable 

 only after several months' treatment. — M. Larroque presented a 

 note on the transport, by lightning, of ferruginous particles con- 

 tained in dust of the air. To this he attributes the persistence of 

 the magnetic property observed in certain trees. 



CONTENTS Pa.r 



Naval Education 473 



United States Fisheries 474 



Ui r Boob sb.i p:- 



Coote's " Wanderings South and East"; Helms' "Pioneering in 



the Far East " 47 15 



Chavanne's " Hotel's Geographische Chaiakter-Bilder fur Schiite 



und Haus" 47* 



Researches on the Division of the Chlorophyll-Granules and upon 

 the Occurrence of Hypochlorin in the Cyanophyce.-c and Bacil- 



larinc^a: — Prof Schaarsch.midT GvULA 476 



Mimicry in the " Plume Moths."— J. E. Taylor 477 



Note on So oche (Mountain Sickness) in the Andes. By J. 



Ball, F R.S 177 



Drudging in the Norwegian Fjords. By Prof. E. Ray Lan- 



KEsTER.F.R S 4/8 



Scientific Results of the "Jeannette" Exiebition .... 479 



Notes . . 479 



OurAsfrc/nobicai Column:— 



Definitive Comet-Orbits 4S3 



The Variable Star Algol 4S3 



TheM ti noferCygni 483 



The Comet of 1761 483 



The Exci 1 ■ability up Plants, II. By Prof. Burdon Sanderson, 



F.RS. (M .// Illustrations) 4?3 



The British Association: — 



Reports 486 



Section A— Mathematical and Physical (ft ith Diagrams) ... 488 



Section C-Geology «W 



Secti 11 D— Biol gy— Department .if Zool gy and Botany . . . 402 



Dep in mem < >f Anatomy and Physiology 493 



Department of Anthropology 494 



SOCIETIhS AND ACADKMIES 49 n 



