NATURE 



[_Nov. 8, 1883 



discharge of electric condensers, by S. Emilio Villari. — Report 

 on the antiquities recently discovered in Val della Torre, Adria, 

 Forli, Orvieto, and other parts of Italy, by S. Fiorelli. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



I'ARIS 

 Academy of Sciences, Oclober 29. — M. Blanchard, prtsi- 

 dent, in the chair. — Allusion was made by the President to the 

 loss sustained by the Academy in the person of M. Louis 

 Ereguet, the mechanician, who died suddenly on the night of 

 October 26. — Okervalion- on the geometrical deformations pro- 

 duced by pressure on a rectangular parallelopi] edon with prolong- 

 ation in a single direction (two illustration^), by M. Tresca. — 

 Fossil and savage man ; anthropological studies, by M. de 

 Quatrefages. In presenting this important work to the Academy, 

 the author remarked that since the discoveries of Boucher de 

 Perthes and the jawbone of Moulin-Quignon some twenty years 

 ago, not only has the existence of Quaternary man been univer- 

 sally recognised, hut a ceitain number of distinct Quaternary 

 races has already been determined. The existence of Tertiary 

 man also, withuut being yet fully demonstrated, has been ren- 

 dered highly probable, especially by the researches of M. Capel- 

 lini. A detailed account is given of all the known Quaternary 

 races of Western Europe, based mainly on the fossil remains 

 collected by M. de Baye in the artificial caves explored by him in 

 the department of La Marne. — Note on the freezing point of alco- 

 holic solutions, by M. F. M. Raoult. In accordance with the 

 general law established by the author, the soluble bases are shown 

 to belong to two distinct groups, one presenting a molecular 

 lowering of the freezing point comprised between 33° and 48°, 

 with a mean of 39° ; the other lying between 16° and 20°, with 

 a mean of 19°. — Kepoit on the results of the treatment of the 

 vines attacked by phylloxera in the Maritime Alps, by M. 

 Laugier. The report sjieaks favourably of the experiments 

 made during the years 18S1-83 with sulphuret of caibon and 

 sulphocarbonate of potassium. — On certain equations connected 

 with surfaces of constant curvature, by M. G. Darboux. — Deter- 

 mination of the equivalent of nickel by means of its sulphate, 

 by M. H. Uaubigny. — On a process for detecting by chemical 

 analysis the traces of blood in clothes that have been washed, by 

 M. C. Husson. — A comparative study of the excitability of the 

 surface and deeper parts of the brain, by M. Couty. — On the 

 spermatogenesis of podophthalmous crustaceans, and especially 

 of the decapods, by M. G. Herrmann. — Note on the anatomy 

 and physiology of the Sacculine and the allied genera Peltogaster 

 and Lerna;odiscus, by M. Yves Delage. j 



Berlin 

 Physical Society, October 19. — Dr. Frolich made a report 

 on measurements of solar heat executed by him in continuation 

 of observations he had made at an earlier date, according to the 

 method he was still pursuing, on the temperature of celestial 

 space. Observations on the temperature of the earth's surface 

 had led him to the conviction that solar heat, the principal source 

 of the temperature of the earth, must pass through very rapid 

 oscillations, which were in all probat)ility connected with the 

 quick movements on the solar surface that had been brought to 

 light by the new methods of investigation. To establish these 

 variations beyond all doubt required long-continued observations 

 of the sun's heat by means of trustworthy instruments remainirg 

 invariable for years. Thermoelectric piles provided with due 

 protective apparatus could alone be deemed instruments of this 

 description. Mr. Langley's bolometer was not adequate for any 

 length of time, the electric resistance of thin metal plates being 

 liable to very rapid variations. The thermoelectric pile he had 

 made use of was inclosed in a wide, double-walled pipe, opening 

 in front in the shape of a funnel, in which circulated a constant 

 stream of water of atmospheric temperature. The exposed front 

 end of the thermopile was closed by a plate of rock salt, and 

 the whole was set up in such a manner that it could turn in a 

 frame, which itself might be turned in all directions and closed 

 by means of a Venetian shutter. The whole appar.atus was 

 capable of revolving in all directions. The thermopile and the 

 galvancmeler of Siemens and Halske's recent construction were 

 perfectly tnistworthy instruments, as Dr. Frolich had repeatedly 

 convinced himself. There now remained the task of finding a 

 standard for the solar heat. For this purpose preparatory ex- 

 periments were instituted with luminous heat generators — a glow- 

 ing platina sheet and an electrical glow-lamp of older con- 



struction. These expei iments, however, came to nothing. 

 At last recourse was had to dark heat, such as was pro- 

 duced from a hollow screen filled with steam, one side of 

 which is blackened with smoke, and the other whitened 

 with chalk. With these apparatus measurements of solar 

 heat were taken on perfectly clear days under a bright 

 sun at very difi'erent [joints of the sun's altitude, and were re- 

 presented by curves, the absciss.-e of which showed the thickness 

 of the transmitted atmosphere ; the ordinates, the observed 

 warmth of the sun. Under favourable conditions the curve 

 formed a straight line, which, when extended to zero of the ab- 

 scissa, furnished the measurement of the solar heat without 

 atmospheric absorption. The measurements were at first at- 

 tempted to be taken at the Berlin Observatory, but were found 

 to present so many irregularities and oscillations in consequence 

 of the situation of the Observatory in the midst of the city and 

 the constantly vaporous and dusty state of the atmosphere sur- 

 rounding it that they had to lie discontinued there. ISetter and 

 m ;re regular results were obtained from observations made at a 

 house in the western suburbs. The best and most conclusive 

 measurements, however, in which the errors of observation w ere 

 reduced to i percent., were obtained from a tower in the West End 

 near Berlin, where, throughout six days of the past summer, curves 

 were registered approximating very closely to a straight line. One 

 single measurement executed on the Faulhom at a height of 9000 

 feet yielded a perfectly straight curve. The six measurements 

 distributed over the months of June, Tuly, August September, 

 and October, showed considerably different results in the dif- 

 ferent months. Dr. Friihlich caused Dr. Lohse, who had been 

 taking daily photographs of the sun at the Potsdam Observatory, 

 to supply him with data regarding the presence of sunspots 

 in the last months. From these data Dr. Frohlich found that 

 the lower degrees of solar heat con-esponded with numerous 

 formations of spots, while the higher gradations of heat 

 were attended with fewer sunspots. In this coincidence Dr. 

 Frolich was disposed to see a sequence of cause and effect. It 

 would be necessary, however, to accumulate a large number of 

 observations, and in particular to take them at elevated stations 

 before any definitive judgment could be passed respecting the 

 influence of sunspots on solar heat. 



CONTENTS Page 



A Bushel of Corn. By Prof. John Wrightson ... 25 



Zoology of the North Atlantic Expedition .... 26 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



Anderson's " Catalogue and Handbook of the Archaso- 



logical Collections in the Indian Museum " ... 27 

 Letters to the Editor ; — 



The Green Sun. — C. Michie Smith ; Dr. Warren 

 De La Rue, F.R.S. ; S. S. T. ; Nathl. Bernard 



Beardmore 28 



The Division of the Circle. — Antoine d'Abbadie. . 28 



Christian Conrad Sprengel. — Dr. H. A. Hagen . . 29 

 "Challenger" Zoological Reports. — F. Buchanan 



White 29 



Barytes from Chirbury. — H. A. Miers (With Via- 



gyarn) 29 



"Anatomy for Artists." — An Art Student . ... 30 



Meteor. — ^J. M. Hayward 30 



Thejava Eruption and Earthquake Waves. By J. T. 



Bealby 30 



The Literature of the Fisheries Exhibition .... 33 

 The Paris Obseivatory Equatorial (IVitk lUustra- 



/ion) 36 



The Institution of Mechanical Engineers .... 38 

 Nordenskjold's Greenland Expedition, II. By Baron 



A. E. NordenskjOld 39 



The Vienna International Electric Exhibition. . 42 



Notes 43 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Pons' Comet 45 



Tempel's Cooiet, 1S73 U 45 



A New Star Catalogue 45 



The Oban Fennatulida. By J. T. Cunningham . . 46 

 Notes from the Otago University Museum. By Prof. 



T. Jeffery Parker 46 



University and Educational Intelligence 46 



Scientific Serials 47 



Societies and Academies ^8 



