148 
NATURE 
[ Dee. 2, 1869 
I ———— 
half-way between D and b; a sécond in the place of the line 
b in the solar spectrum, and the third, which is fainter, in the 
blue. Beyond the yellow, in the opposite direction, the 
spectrum suddenly terminates. The author remarked upon 
the accordance of this spectrum with the colour of the 
planet, and upon the indistinctness of its outline under high 
magnifying powers. The author also indicated a means of ob- 
taining two superposable spectra, and stated that he had observed 
that the spectra furnished by Geissler’s tubes were essentially 
different according as the light was taken from the tubes, the 
bulbs, or the luminous sheaths of the wire. In his second paper 
Father Secchi stated that in order to observe the spectra of the 
smaller stars, he had adopted the plan of placing a large prism 
before the object-glass of his telescope, and obtained favourable 
results, some of which he communicated.—A note by M. F, 
Massieu, supplementary to a paper presented by him on the 18th 
October, was read. It related to characteristic functions in 
thermodynamics.—M. P. Gauthier communicated an essay on 
the movement of a projectile in the air; M. J. Carvallo, an 
investigation of the stability of beacon towers: M. E. Roger, a 
note on some general properties of curved surfaces; MM. Curie 
and Vigier communicated the results of some experiments upon 
animals, indicating that turpentine is not, as was supposed by 
M. Personne, an antidote for phosphorus. They also remarked 
that the hypothesis that the toxical action of phosphorus is due 
to its depriving the blood of oxygen was not compatible with 
the small doses of phosphorus which may prove fatal.—A note 
from M. Zantedeschi on the calorific rays of the moon was read, 
in which he indicated that the heating effect of the moon’s rays was 
demonstrated in 1685 by G. Montanari, and in 1781 by P. Frisi. 
The author also cited his own experiments.—A note on the 
calculation of the going of chronometers to determine longitudes, 
by M. H. de Maguay, was read, giving the results of observations 
upon these chronometers, and upon this M. Yvon Villarceau made 
some remarks.— A note by M. Bontemps on the coloration of glass 
under the influence of the solar light, was presented. In this paper 
the author adduces numerous examples of the production of a 
greater or less change in the colour of glass by long exposure 
to the sun’s rays.—A note on the physical properties of arable 
soils, by M. Hervé-Mangon, was read, in which the author called 
attention to certain physical properties of soils, such as their 
calorific power, their power of condensing and holding gases, 
and especially their behaviour with regard to water and aqueous 
vapour, which are of as much importance as their chemical 
properties in estimating the qualities of the soils. He described 
the means by which these properties of soils may be investigated. 
—An extract from a letter by Mr. C. T. Jackson, of Boston, 
was communicated, giving an account of the copper-mines of 
Lake Superior, and of a new deposit of tin in the State of Maine. 
He mentioned a mass of native copper obtained at a depth of 
480 feet in the Phcenix mine last June, measuring 65 feet long, 
32 feet high, and 4 feet thick at the exposed end. He estimated 
that this mass would furnish about 1,coo tons of copper, and 
stated that it was contained in a true vein, cutting at right angles 
several beds of trap and other rocks. The gangue consisted of 
cale spar, quartz, and pretruite. The deposit of tin noticed by 
the author was said to be in the neighbourhood of the town 
of Winslow, where the mineral occurs in more than qo little 
veins, varying in thickness from 4 inch to 1 foot, occupying a 
space between the metamorphic limestone and gneiss which 
constitute the country. The author obtained from the rough 
mineral 46 per cent. of tin.—A letter from M. A. Rojas 
entitled ‘‘ Echoes of a seismic tempest” was communicated. 
It contained an account of disturbances, chiefly manifested 
by the rise and fall of water, which occurred in various parts 
of South America simultaneously with the great Peruvian 
earthquake of the 13th August, 1868.—A letter by MM. E. 
Harny and F. Lenormant, dated at Thebes, was com- 
municated, in which they announced the discovery of traces of 
the Stone Age in Egypt. © They found an immense quantity of 
worked flints of all kinds upon a small space of the plateau 
separating the valley of Biban-el-Molouk from the escarpments 
which look over the ruins of Deir-el-Bahari. They compared the 
place to what is known in France as a “workshop of the Neolithic 
period.” —M. Balbiani communicated an inyestigation of the 
development and propagation of Strongylus gigas, in which he 
described the production and structure of the egg, and the 
development of the embryo of that parasite, the embryo of which 
he said, remains in the egg for five or six months in winter, and 
May remain there for a whole year, The author described his 
experiments, from which it appears that this parasite does not 
pass directly from the egg into the animal in which it acquires its 
perfect development.—M. P. Fischer described the copulation 
and spawning of the Aflysie and Dolabrifere, as observed by 
him in the aquarium at Arcachon. In the Af/ysie, the same 
individual serves alternately as a male and as a female ; and the 
author mentioned his having several times seen five or six indi- 
viduals united to form a chain, each of them, except the first and 
last, performing the function of both sexes at once. In _the 
Dolabrifera, which islikewise hermaphrodite, the copulation of the 
two individuals is reciprocal. The author described the emission 
and mode of attachment of the ribbon of eggs produced by the 
Aplysie, which, according to him, is sometimes as much as 120 
times the length of the body of the Mollusk.—A note on the 
aanatomy of the Alcyonaria, by MM. G. Pouchet and A. 
Myévre, was presented, as also some other papers of which the 
titles only are given. 
ITALY 
Royal Lombardy Institute of Science and Literature. 
The following Prize Questions are proposed by this Institute :— 
ORDINARY PRIZES OF THE INSTITUTE, 
Class of Literature and of Moral and Political Science. 
For 1870.—To what extent is it the right or duty of Goyern- 
ment to interfere in the education of the people, and how 
ought this interference to be exercised ? 
1. To determine whether it is a right or a duty. 
2. To inquire how the exercise of such right, or the per- 
formance of such duty, can be reconciled with the 
acknowledged and inalienable principle of liberty, civil, 
political, and religious. (To be delivered in Feb. 1870.) 
Class of Mathematical and Natural Science. 
For 1871.—Required an Essay on the physical and chemical 
nature of the various mineral combustibles of different epochs, 
with the view of determining whether there are any means of 
establishing a new classification thereof, which may serve to 
diminish, if not to remove, the ambiguities relating to the 
importance of the several deposits of mineral fuel, having regard 
to their quality, and to the extent of their deposits. (To be 
delivered in Feb. 1871. Prizes for this and the preceding ques- 
tion, 1,200 lire.) 
TRIENNIAL MEDALS OF THE INSTITUTE. 
The Royal Institute of Lombardy, according to the fifteenth 
article of its organic regulations, ‘‘adjudges every three years 
two gold medals, each worth 1,000 lire, for the promotion of 
agricultural and manufacturing industry ; one of which is intended 
for those Italian citizens who have contributed to the progress of 
agriculture in Lombardy, by means of discoveries, or of methods 
not yet put in practice, the other to those who have conspicuously 
improved, or successfully introduced into Lombardy a given 
manufacturing industry.” 
Those who wish to compete for these medals are requested to 
present their claims, accompanied by the necessary documents, 
to the Secretary of the Institute, at the Palazzo di Brera in 
Milan, not later than the 1st of March, 1870. 
ORDINARY PRIZES OF THE FONDAZIONE CAGNOLA., 
For 1870.—Required a Memoir, treating of the attained or 
possible advantage to the agriculture of any of the provinces 
of the Kingdom of Italy, and especially of Lombardy, arising 
from the introduction, accomplished or possible, of the doc- 
trines or practices recommended at the present day by the 
progress of Physics, Chemistry, or Meteorology. (For Feb. 
1870. Prize, 3,0c0 lire, including a gold medal, worth 
500 lire.) 
For 1871.—A Monograph on the poisonous and explosive 
substances extracted from coal, and on the hygienic measures to 
be adopted in the preparation, commerce, and transport of 
these bodies. (To be delivered Feb. 1871. Prize, 1,500 lire, 
with a gold medal of the value of 500 lire.) 
For 1872.—A Memoir giving, together with the necessary 
proofs by fact, a demonstration or a refutation of the curative or 
prophylactic efficacy of the alkaline and earthy sulphites or hypo- 
sulphites in intermittent fevers arising from malaria, comparatively 
with other means or remedies already known. (To be delivered 
in Feb. 1872. Prize, 1,500 lire, and a gold medal, worth 
500 lire.) 
The Memoirs to which prizes are awarded in the ordinary 
competitions of the Fondazione Cagnola remain the property of 
