X)ct. 26, 1882] 



NATURE 



held at 3, St. John's Terrace, Buckhurst Hill, at seven o'clock 

 on Saturday next, the 28th hist. The paper and the discussion 

 thereon will have special reference to the Club's projected 

 exploratkn- at Grays, Purfleet, and Tilbury. Archaeologists 

 and others interested in these mysterious relics are invited to 

 attend the m?eting. 



The New Zealand Times of September 1 contains an 

 account of the presentation of degrees at Wellington in 

 connection wi'h the -New [Zealand University examinations. 

 The chair was occupied by Dr. Hector, Vice-Chancellor, who 

 said it had been decided by the Synod of the New Zealand 

 University that the presentation of degrees should in future be 

 made in public. The Chancellor being unable to be present, 

 the duty of presenting the degrees had been deputed to him. 

 The New Zealand University had been in operati m since 1S70, 

 and th»re had b;en 155 graduates, of whom forty-nine had taken 

 degrees. This might appear a small result, but the object of 

 the University was to raise the standard of education, and this 

 had been done. The system of scholarships had been continued 

 with the University course, and a large portion of the funds had 

 been spent in this way. For some time past the examiners had 

 been appointed in London, and the degrees granted had a value, 

 in the eyes of the outer world, equal to those granted by the 

 London University. Owing to its charter, the New Zealand 

 University could not grant degrees for science, but there was 

 every prospect that the barrier would soon be removed, Dr. 

 Hector then referred to the disaffiliation of Wellington College, 

 which lias been converted into a high school for secondary edu- 

 cation. The step, he said, was necessary in order that they 

 might get a University College. 



A curious project in the way of recreation, by M. Joyeux, is 

 pnblished in La Nature. Suppose a large circular wooden 

 chamber, lit from above, but giving no view of outer objects 

 from within, and rotated smoothly and rapidly on a vertical axi-'. 

 A person standing in it would have to bead his body towards the 

 centre, by reason of centrifugal force, and the more so the 

 further he might be from the centre and the higher the speed. 

 M. Joyeux supposes he would be subject to the illu-i dii that the 

 floor was inclined upwards from his position to the centre ; if he 

 had to place himself at an angle of 45°, the floor would seem 

 incl ned at this angle, and a person standing in the corresponding 

 place on the opposite side would seem horizontal, for he, too, 

 would have to make an angle of 45 . Only at the centre would 

 the floor seem horizontal ; and if a number of persons were in 

 the chamber, it is only there one would see them in their real 

 position-. A person walking round the ciicumference would 

 seem to be at the outside of the base of a cone, which 

 turned under him. To facilitate the position of persons, 

 M. Joyeux would make the floor, not horizontal, but inclining 

 upwards at a certain distance from the centre. M. Tissandier 

 does not feel certain that the illusions described would actually 

 occur, but regards the scheme as an attractive curiosity. The 

 apparatus is named a fl igioscope. 



IN a recent paper to the Belgian Academy, M. van der 

 Mensbrugghe seeks to explain the calming influence of oil on 

 rough water, in accordance with the principle he has laid down, 

 that whenever a liquid mass in motion acquires rapidly a free 

 surface, more or less, there is developed a growing quantity of 

 potential energy at the expense of the kinetic energy of the mass ; 

 and reciprocally to a rapid diminution of free surface corresponds 

 always an increase of kinetic energy. Oil hinders the succes- 

 sive superposition of liquid layers, and so, the increase of the 

 kinetic energy of the liquid mass. Floating bodies of various 

 kinds (branches, sea- weed, ice-crystals, &c.) have a like action ; 

 immediately after the gliding of a very small number of liquid 

 layers over them they obey the thrust that brings them to the 



surface, and so render impossible the increase of kinetic energy 

 corresponding [to loss of potential energy of a large number of 

 superposed layers. 



It has been observed by M. Fredericq (Bull. Bel*. Acad.) 

 that the blood of crabs and other crustaceans at Ostend has the 

 same strong and bitter taste as the sea- water, and proves to have 

 the same saline constitution. Crabs in brackish water, on the 

 other hand, have a less salt Mood, and the crayfish of rivers 

 have very little of soluble salts in their blooJ. An exchange of 

 salts seems to take place, in these animals, between the blood 

 and the outer medium, producing approximate equilibrium of 

 chemical composition. This ; robably occurs through the respi- 

 ratory organ, and is according to the simple laws of diffusion. 

 On the other hand, the blood of sea-fishes has a.i entirely 

 different saline composition from that of the water ; it is more 

 or less isolated, presenting herein an evident superiority over the 

 invertebrates referred to. 



A useful complement to M. Marey's recent method of 

 applying photography to physic logical experiments (in which a 

 bright body moving before a dark screen is photographed several 

 times in quick succession) has been supplied by M, Ch. Petit in 

 a process which he calls similigravurc ; whereby the photo, 

 graphic picture is easily reproduced for insertion in a text. Two 

 specimens are given in Comples Rendus of October 2 ; one of 

 them, showing the successive attitudes of a man marching at the 

 parade step, the other, those of a white horse, with rider, leaping 

 over an obstacle. The process is not described ; but those 

 pictures present at a glance (M. Marey points out) much that is 

 instructive, showing, in the former case, e.g. the position of 

 different parts of the body during the step (which was executed 

 in 6-ioths of a second). 



In the October number of Pclermann's Mitlhcilungen are two 

 papers of scientific interest : one on the Geology of the Balkan 

 Peninsula, with map, by Prof. Franz Toula ; and the other on 

 the Distribution of the Aurora Borealis in the United States, by 

 Pro c . H. Fritz. 



M. Lisch, ins, ector of historic monuments, has recently 

 discovered a whole Gallo-Koman town in the environs of Poi- 

 tiers. It includes a temple, 14m. long, and with 70m. of 

 facade, a thermal establi-hment covering 2 hectares, and still 

 possessing its piscinae, hypocausts, pipes, flagging, &c, a 

 theatre, the stage of which is 99 m. in width ; entire streets, 

 and more than 7 hectares of buildings (the excavations are not 

 yet finished). " It is," he says, " a small Pompeii in the centre 

 of France." The sculptures are in the best style, and thought 

 to date from the second century. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past w eek include a Vervet Monkey (Cercopithecus lalaudii $ ) 

 from South Africa, presented by Mr. H. T. Hardcastle ; a 

 Common Marmoset (Hapale jacclitts) from Brazil, pre-ented by 

 Miss Katie Thomason ; a Common Paradoxure (Paradoxurus 

 typus) from India, presented by Mr. J. Wood ; a Naked-eared 

 Deer (Cariacus gymnotis 9 ) from Ecuador, presented by Miss 

 Lake ; an Oyster-catcher (LLcr/iatopus oslra^elus), British, pre- 

 sented by Mr. W. R. Temple ; a Maholi Galago (Galago ma/ioli) 

 from South Africa, deposited ; a Ruff (Machetes pugnax), a 

 Redshank (Tetanus calidris), British, purchased; a Collared 

 Fruit Bat (Cynonyctois collaris), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



Comet 1882 b (Finlay, September 8). — The following 

 ephemeris is deduced from the same elements as that given last 

 week : — 



