544 



NA TURE 



{Sept. 28, 1882 



Clinical Medicine and Clinical Surgery will be delivered at the 

 Royal Free Hospital, where daily clinical instruction will be 

 given to the students. The number of students admitted since 

 the foundation of the school in 1874 has been 100. 



The new University at Lund was opened on the 26th inst., 

 great preparations having been made for the ceremony. The 

 principal universities of the continent were represented through 

 deputations. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 Sydney 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales, July 26. — The 

 following papers were read : — Botanical notes in Queensland, 

 Part 5, by the Rev. 1. E. Tenison-Wbods, F 1 i S. 'Ibis paper 

 contained the results of the author's observations on the Mulgrave 

 River, with a list of the species collected by him in that district. 

 — On the forage plants indigenous to New South Wales, by I r. 

 Woolls, F.L.S. — Description of three new fishes of Queensland, 

 by Chas, W. Pe Vis, B.A. The species described by Mr. De 

 Vis are :— I, Oligorus Goliath, taken in Moreton Bay, a fish of 

 gigantic size, seven feet long, and two feet high. 2. Synaptura 

 Fitzroiensis from Rockhampton; and 3. EngrauKs Carpentaria, 

 from the Norman River. — 4. Description of a species of Squill, 

 Lysiosquitta Miersii, from Moreton Bay, by Chas. \V. De Vis, 

 B.A. This Crustacean, which is found in Moreton Bay, differs 

 materially, according to Mr, De Vis, from the two species of the 

 same genus recorded in Mr. Haswell's Catalogue, which belong 

 to Mr. Mi iv second section of the genus, while the present 

 species agrees with his fir-t section. — On Cypraa citrina Gray, 

 from Rowley Shoals, North West Australia, by John Brazier. 

 C.M.Z.S. — On a varietyof Ovulum depression, from the Loyalty 

 Islands, by Mr. R. C. Rossiter. — Notes on the nidification of 

 the spoon-bill, the heron, and the night-heron, by Mr. K. H. 

 Bennett. 



Vienna 



Imperial Academy of Sciences, July 15. — L. I. Fitzinger 

 in the chair. The following papers were read: — F. Lorber, a 

 contribution to the determination of the constants of the polar 

 planimeter. — Ph. Knoll, contributions to the theory of respiratory 

 innervation (third communication). — H. Satter, contributions to 

 the histnry of development of the antheridium of liver-wort. — 

 C. Huellner, on the influence of great amplitudes on the oscil- 

 lations of elastic bodies. — E. Lippmann and F. Fleissner, on 

 Azylines, a homologous series of azotic bodies. — F. Heindachner. 

 contributions to the knowledge of the river-fishes of South 

 America.- C. Etti, on the combinations of vanillin with pyro- 

 gallol and phloroglucin. — L. v. Barth and I. Schreder, on the 

 action of melting caustic potash on orcin and gallic acid. — J. 

 Habermann and M. Hoenig, on the action of cui-ric hydroxide 

 on some sugar species. — M. Hoenig and F. Berger, on the action 

 of chloroform on naphthalene in presence of aluminium chloride. 

 — C. Nachbaur, examination of the embryos of ingerminated 

 rye, especially on their contents of diastase. — C. Zatzek, to the 

 knowledge of bees-wax. — S. Schubert, on diisobutyl-hydro- 

 qninones and some of its derivatives. — F. Exner, on some ex- 

 periments relating to the contact-theory. — L. Hartinger, on the 

 occurrence of organic bases in the merchantable amyl alcohol. — 

 A. Waage, on the action of ammonia on propionaldchyde. — J. 

 Fruehling, on oxybutyric acid. — B. Brauner, on some earth con- 

 tained in cerite. 



Taris 



Academy of Sciences, September 18. — M. Blanchard in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — Note on the life and 

 works of M. Emile Plantamour, by M. Faye. — On marsh-fevers, 



by M. d'Abbadie. Immunity from such fevers in bad Ethio- 

 pian regions is often secured by sulphur-fumigations on the 

 naked body. In Sicily the workmen in sulphur-mines on low 

 ground suffer much less from intermittent fever than the rest of 

 the population. In Greece (M. Fouque has shown), a once 

 flourishing town of 40,000 inhabitants, Ztphyria, has been 

 almost utterly depopulated through marsh fever ; and its de- 

 cadence has corresponded to a transference of sulphur-mining 

 operations to the east, so that the sulphur-emanations are pre- 

 vented, by a mountain mass, from reaching the ^ite of the town ; 

 (other similar facts are given). — Geological and historical con- 

 siderations on the great deserts of Africa and Asia, by M. de 

 Tchihatcheff (Abstract of a British Association paper).— Sepa- 



ration of gallium (cot tinued), by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran, — 

 Study on the regime of the maritime Loire, hy M. Bouquet de 

 la Grye. Between Nantes and Saint Nazaire there is deposited 

 annually about 590,000 cubic metres of sand and n ud. The 

 volume of the channels has diminished about 56,000 cubic metres 

 annually, for sixty years. The outer bar of the river has risen 

 070m. since 1864, and will probably rise more, presenting a 

 danger for large vessels coming to Saint-Nazaire. The author 

 indicates means of bringing the river back to its former constitu- 

 tion, such as replanting, covering slopes with turf, and he sug- 

 gests a plan for carrying off quickly into the sea the 40 million 

 cubic metres that have been deposited during the la-t sixty years. 

 — On the permutation of n objects and on their classification, by 

 M. Bourgot. — Absorption by the epidermis of aerial organ.-, by 

 M. Cornu. A substance emitted in the form of vapour may 

 traverse the epidermis (though very thick) of aerial parts of a 

 plant, and be absorbed without previous dissolution in water. 

 (1 he experimental case was that of growing grapes exposed to the 

 vapours of heavy oils from distillation of coal tar. The enipy- 

 reumatic substances were concentrated, as judged by taste, in the 

 central part of the pulp and the bulb of the peduncle.) — The 

 squires of forces of induction, produced by the sun in planets, 

 and due to the velocity of revolution of these bodies, are, all 

 other things equal, in inverse ratio of the seventh powers of 

 the distances from the star; induction of comets, bolides, and 

 falling stars, by M. Quet. — On a refractometer, for measuring 

 the indices and the dispersion of solid bodies, by M. Soret. 

 He modifies Kohlrauscn's refractometer, which has the dis- 

 advantage of requiring monochromatic light, and so is unfit for 

 researches on dispesion. A beam of parallel solar rays falls 

 on a crystal immeised in a liquid more refringent, and of known 

 indices ; after reflection it is received on the slit of a spectro- 

 scope. With sufficient angle of incidence, all the visible spectral 

 rajs are totally reflected, and the spectrum is very brilliant. On 

 gradually diminishing the incidence, the different rays attain in 

 succession their limiting angle, and reach the spectroscope with 

 intensity considerably lessened ; thus a dark screen advances 

 towards the violet. The line of separation in the spectrum, 

 together with the incidence, afford data for arriving at the index. 

 — Influenc- of temperature on the spectra of metalloids, by M. 

 Van Monckhoven. He proves experimentally that the so-called 

 high temperature spectra may be produced at very low tempera- 

 tures, and viceversd. — On the action of presence of plates of 

 zinc in boilers, and on a process for avoiding explosions, by M. 

 Treve. The hydrogen liberated with galvanic action should 

 theoretically maintain the boiling (after having started it), and 

 so prevent explosion as a result of super heating ; for this, however, 

 the plates must be carefully kept clean. The author thinks it well 

 to add the Continuous injection of gas (preferably carbonicacid), and 

 so incessantly prevent the super-heating, which may be regarded 

 as a sleep of the liquid. — On the winter of 1S79-80, by M. 

 Teisserenc de Bort. The exceptional cold is attributed to a dis- 

 placement of the centre of high pressures of Madeira and the 

 Azores, and to a perturbation in the barometric maximum of 

 Siberia. — On the alteration of grape seeds by mildew, by M. 

 Prillieux. 



CONTENTS Page 



Modern Physics 521 



Oi'R Book Shelf : — 



Jenkinson's "Amazulu" 522 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Lighthouses.— Prof. William Swan 522 



The August Meteors. — Donald Cameron 523 



Animal Intelligence. By C. Li.ovd Morgan 523 



Aino Ethnology. By. A. H. Keane 524 



On a New Arc Electric Lamp. By W. H. Preece, F.R.S. 



(With. Illustrations) 526 



The Sanitary Institute 528 



Notes 529 



Unwritten History, and How- to Read it. II. By John Evans, 



D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., &c 531 



Prof. Havckel on Darwin, Goethe, and Lamarck 533 



The Hillary Star 70 Ophiuchi 541 



The Great Comet of 1S74 542 



Biological Notes: — 



Colossal Cuttlefish 542 



Japanese Cotton 542 



vng its Young 542 



Blind Subterranean Crustacea in New Zealand 542 



Geogi a hical Notes 543 



University and Educational Intelligence 543 



Societies and Academies 544 



