Dec. 13, 1883] 



NATURE 



167 



contended that the main object of a hearing-trumpet should be 

 clearness, not loudness, and for this purpose the portable whis- 

 jiering tube was undoubtedly the best for conversation. For 

 otherpurposes the principles laid down by Lord Kayleigh should 

 be more generally adopted, the telescopic jointed instrument of 

 gradual slope being the nearest approach to theory. — Prof. G. 

 F. Fitzgerald, F.R.S., read a paper on the quantify of energy 

 communicated to the ether by a variable current. The auth ir 

 shows that an alternating electric current, if it produces radiations 

 of the nature of light, as it would do upon the most probable 

 interpretations of Maxwell's electromagnetic theory of light, 

 would radiate energy equal to m" x N'' x 10--' ergs per second, 

 where ?n is the magnetic moment of the current and N is the 

 number of its alternations per second. — W. E. Wilson exhibited 

 a simple form of reflecting spectroscope with a diffraction 

 grating, which was described by Howard Grubb, F. R.S. By 

 employing a pair of mirrors, by which the light is twice re- 

 flected, the necessity for having an instrument of inconvenient 

 length is avoided. — K. J. Moss, F.C.S., exhibited a remarkable 

 specimen of crystallised stibnite from Japan. The crystallo- 

 graphic characters of similar specimens have recently been de- 

 scribed by E. S. Dana. Mr. Moss found that this stibnite may be 

 regarded as practically pure antimony tersulphide ; a very minute 

 trace of iron is the only impurity present in appreciable quantity. 

 Sectii"^n of Natural Science : Prof. V. Ball, F.R.S., in the 

 chair. — H. St. John Brooks, M.B., read a paper on the oste- 

 ology and arthrology of the haddock (Gadtis icglefinus). The 

 chief feature of this paper was a description of the articulations 

 of all the bones and the attachments of the various ligaments. 

 The author drew attention to the beautiful arrangement of the 

 articidations of the upper jaw of fishes which is seen to great 

 advantage in this form. Ligaments passing from the palate 

 bones to the premaxilla; of the opposite side are crossed by 

 others passing from the ethmoid to the maxillae, the whole form- 

 ing a lattice like arrangement. By these ligaments the compo- 

 nent parts of the upper jaw are kept in contact with a nodule of 

 cartilage, which lie-- between them and the ethmoid. — Prof. V. 

 Ball, F.R.S., exhibited and drew attention to a conglomerate 

 of quartz pebbles which is found at the base of the chalk in 

 certain parts of the county of Antrim, and which appeared to him 

 to be inconsistent with a deep-sea origin. He also exhibited 

 bones of red deer, ox, pig, fragments of pottery and flint flakes, 

 &c., from a kitchen midden at White Park, Bray, Co. Antrim. 

 Among -pecimens recently contributed to the Geological Museum, 

 samples of spherical phosphorite from Southern Russia were 

 exhibited. One of them, which had been sliced, shows a 

 beautifully radiated internal structure ; this, it is hoped, will be 

 figured and published with details shortly. — Dr. W. Frazer 

 read a note on bones and shells obtained from drainage 

 cuttings at Sandymount. — G. Johnstone Stoney, F. R.S,, ex- 

 hibited cores of limestone found in the drift overlying Cam- 

 brian slates near Greystones, Co. Wicklow. Water percolates 

 through the drift, and, on reaching the Cambrian slates, makes 

 its way horizontally through the lowest layer of the drift, 

 corroding the limestone boulders, \\hich form one of its con- 

 stituents ; cores of solid limestone are frequently found of some 

 fantastic form in the heart of a friable mass which remains in 

 the part of a boulder that has been acted on by water charged 

 with carbonic acid. This shows that the corrosion is still actively 

 progressing, and that the drift is here undergoing a change 

 which is rapid from a geological point of view. The water abo 

 washes away the fine particles of clay, and the result of the 

 change is to alter a clay drift containing a great number of lime- 

 stones with some stones of otiier kinds into a gravel containing 

 chiefly these other stones. — A. G. More, F.Z.S., exhibited as a 

 specimen recently acquired by the Natural History Museum the 

 mountain Goat (Mazama atncrlcana) from the Rocky Moun- 

 tains. This animal is remarkable for the abundance of its soft 

 white hair ; it has the general appearance of the goat, and its 

 horns somewhat resemble those of the chamois. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, December 3. — M. Blanchard, 

 jjrcsident, in the chair. — Note on the universal hour proposed 

 by the Conference in Rome, by M. Faye. The author urges 

 several objections against the adoption of Greenwich astrono- 

 mical time and meridian, calculating the longitudes from o to 

 24h. east, which might be convenient for navigation and astro- 

 nomical purposes, but unsuitable forrailways, telegraphs, govern- 

 ment offices, and the public generally. For the formula, uni- 



versal time = local time - (L -f I2h.), where L indicates the 

 longitude c.ilculated east from Greenwich, he proposes to substi- 

 tute, universal time = local time — L. The formula would thus 

 be simplified by the suppression of thi last term, and, instead of 

 Greenwich astronoinicil time, the civil hour would be adopted 

 as the universal hour. Thus would be avoided the inconvenience 

 of disagreement between local and univeral time, which would 

 otherwise be felt precisely in the most densely peojiled regions 

 of the globe. — Remarks on M. Piarron de Mondesir's so-called 

 mechanical problem of the two chains, by M. H. Resal. — 

 On preventive inoculation with artificially developed charbon 

 germs attenuated by the method of rapid heating, by M. 

 A. Chauveau. Of a large number of sheep inoculated with 

 germs heated to -I- 80° C, not one succumbed, although 

 further tests showed that the germs themselves had lo»t none 

 of their prolific vitality. — Summary reports on the results of the 

 French mission to Cape Horn : astronomial observations by M. 

 H. CourcelleSeneuil ; terrestrial ma\;netism, magnetic registers, 

 and photographic work, by Lieut. E. Payen ; magnetic observa- 

 tions made at Orange Bay by M. Le Cannellier ; resuinc of the 

 meteorological observations made at Orange Bay between Septem- 

 ber 26, 18S2, and September i, 18S3, by Lieut. J. Lephay. — On 

 the absorption line produced by diluted blood in the violet and 

 ultra-vialet region of the spectrum ; photographic reproduction 

 of this line in solar light, by M. J. L. Soret. — On the secular 

 variation in the direction of terrestrial magnetic force at Paris 

 (continued), by M. L. Descroix. — Description of an "aero- 

 plane " constructed for the purpose of furthering aerial naviga- 

 tion, by M. deSanderval. — Su|)plement to a previous note on M, 

 Tisserand's formula connected with the celestial mechanism, by M. 

 Radau. — Determination ofthe mutual distances of the three masse, 

 in the mechanical problem of the three bodies, by M. A. Lind- 

 stedt. — Tlieory of the ricocheting action of spherical projectiles 

 on the surface of the water, by M. E. de Jonquieres. — On the 

 theory of Abelian integrals, by M. E. Goursat. — On a theorem 

 of Riemann connected with the functions of independent n vari- 

 ables admitting 2k systems of periods, by MM. H. Poincare and 

 E. Picard. — On the geometrical curve of the fourth degree with 

 two double points, by JL Humbert. — On the integration of a 

 homogeneous rational function, by M. C. Stephanos. — Measure- 

 ment of the difference of potential of electric layers on the surface 

 of two liquids in conta t, one illustration (continued), by MM. 

 E. Bichat and R. Blondlot. — On M. De ains' optical experi. 

 ment : determination of the optical constants of a birefractive 

 crystal of one axis, by M. Lucien Levy. — Researches on the 

 stability of solidified superfused sulphur, by M. D. Gernez. — 

 On the artificial production of spessartine (manganesiferous 

 garnet), by M. Alex, Gorgeu. — Experimental researches on 

 the development and accumulation of saccharine (the phe- 

 nomenon of " saccharogenie "} in beetroot, by M. Aime 

 Girard, — On the acetate of biprimary bichloretted ethyl 



(rif'H--CO /^^ )' obtained by the reaction of the mono- 

 chloretted chloride of acetyl on monochlorhydric glycol, by M. 

 Louis Henry. — On the condhions suitable for accelerating the 

 oxidation of siccative oils, by M. Ach, Livache, — On copper as 

 a preservative against infectious diseases, and on the absolutely 

 harmless character of the p iwders of this metal employed by 

 workers in copper, by M, V. Burq, From his further researches 

 the author maintains, against recent statements to the contrary, 

 that copper undoubtedly possesses certain prophylactic ]3roperties 

 against several infectious maladies, and especially against 

 cholera, — Construction of the scapulo clavicular cincture in the 

 series of Vertebrates, by M. A, Lavocat. — On the se.xual 

 and larval polymorphism of the plumicole Sarcopidae, by 

 MM, E. L. Trouessart and P. Megnin. — Researches on the 

 physiological properties of maltose (continued), by M. Em. 

 Bourquelot. — On the Adapisorex, a new genus of mammals 

 occurring amongst the Lower Eocene formal ioris of the neigh- 

 bourhood of Reims, by M. V. Lemoine. — On the dis- 

 covery of the genus Equi-etum in the Kimmerid^e clays of 

 Belleme, department of Orne, by M. L. Crie. — On the quater- 

 nary lignites of Bois I'Abbe, near lipinal, by M, P. Fliche, — 

 On the remarkable sunsets observed at Paris and elsewhere in 

 France on November 26 and 27, by M, L, Renou, The author 

 considers that this phenomenon may be connected with a condi- 

 tion of the atmosphere which recurs on the same day every year. 

 Electric disturbances have been regularly observed between 

 November 26 and 28 ever since the shower of meteors, which, 

 occurred on November 27, 1872, 



