2 8o 



NA TURE 



yjan. 17, 1 1 



the wind, constructed and set up by him in -• the High 

 School of Agriculture. Hitherto, as is well known, in order 

 to compute the momentum of the wind, people had either 

 regi>tered its velocity by means of the Roljinson anemometrical 

 scale, or its ])ressure by means of the so-called pressure table. 

 The cross-cup instrument laboured, however, under this disad- 

 vantage, that it was incapable of folhowing a rapid change of the 

 wind's velocity, being neither able, under an increase of velocity, 

 to pi^ss at once to the duly accelerated pace, nor in the case of 

 an abrupt abatement of the wind's speed, to fall back, till after 

 a considerable time, to the commensurately slower rate. Tiie 

 pressure-table, again, was attended with this disadvantage, that 

 on each occasion it had to be placed in the direction of the wind, 

 and in the case of a relief of pressure, performed o-cillations of 

 its own, which registered themselves on the writing apparatus. 

 Prof. Bernstein's insirument consisted e.ssentially of a ball, 

 126 mm. diameter, affixed to a vertical descending rod, 

 which by an axle-system, at four-fifths of its length, was 

 rendered freely movable on all sides. To the lower end of the 

 rod was fastened a long wire, likewise movable on all sides, 

 and su'ipended inside a tube 4 metres long. At a still greater 

 distance was placed a quadrilateral vertical prism, movable 

 between rollers, so that each lateral movement of the ball 

 became converted into an up and down movement of the prism. 

 To the prism there hung a frame with a pencil, which marked in 

 curves on a passing strip of paper the movements produced by 

 the pressure of the wind on the ball. At the Io«er end, again, 

 there was fixed a horizontal plate, by way of a damper. Several 

 of the curves described by this measurer of wind-pressure were 

 shown by Prof. Bornstein, among others that of December 4, a 

 day distinguished by a very low mininmm (730 mm.), which 

 passed over Kurope from west to east. The observer perceives 

 ill this curve a very great rise of the wind's momentum during 

 the day, then at about seven to nine in the evening he see? the 

 curve descend al.nost to the line of zero, remounting thence in 

 the later hours of the night to its maximum. This showed that 

 the centre of the barometric minimum had passed exactly over 

 Berlin, two periods of intense wind-momentum being separated 

 by a lull of considerable duration. — Dr. Konig added some 

 supplementary notes to the address recently delivered by him 

 before the Society, setting forth the results of his investiga- 

 tions into the state of the colour-blind (-ee Nature, vol. xxix. 

 p. 168). Among other things he read a passage in Goethe's 

 "Theory of Colours," showing that Goethe had already exa- 

 mined a colour-blind person, regarding whom he was of opinion 

 that he was blue-blind, or akyanoblcpt. From Goethe's state- 

 ments, however, it was plain tliat the individual in question was 

 red-blind, and it would accordingly appear that this was the first 

 real observation of a case of colour-blindness. 



Physiological Society, December 21, 1883. — Prof. Fritsch 

 gave a demonstration of the model of a brain, prepared accord- 

 ing to the directions of Prof. Aeby in Zurich, and acquired by 

 the Physiological Institute. By means of differently coloured 

 wires and of coloured balls of different sizes, it shows the situa- 

 tion of the cerebral ganglia, and the course of the nerve-fibres in 

 connection with them. The nerve cords and the ganglia per 

 taining to them are without exception of the same colour. The 

 connections between the spine and the separate sections of the 

 cerebrum and cerebellum, the cerebral cavities and fissures, come 

 out very clearly in the skilfully fashioned model. — Dr. Falk 

 spoke of the transference from mother to foetus of corpuscular 

 and chemical poisons, and brought prominently to notice the 

 different results yielded by observations on man and experiments 

 made on animals with a view to obtaining knowledge on this 

 subject. Infectious diseases, such as small-pox, syphilis, <S:c., were 

 conveyed from the mother. Other diseases, such as inflamma- 

 tion of the spleen, were not so conveyed. With respect to 

 chemical poisons, the case was likewise various. The statements 

 of different authors respecting the oxide of carbon did not agree. 

 Dr. Falk had quite recently had occasion to dissect a woman 

 who died from the poison of oxide of carbon. Her body dis- 

 played all the symptoms characterising this form of death, 

 sho A ing in a singularly perfect manner the bright colour of the 

 skin, of the muscles, and of the blood. The dead foetus of the 

 deceased woman, which was of eight months' growth, bad, on 

 the other hand, normally coloured muscles and dark blood, in 

 which neither chemical reagents nor spectral analysis discovered 

 a trace of the oxide of carbon. A case having, however, been 

 el-ewhere observed of the passage of the oxide of q^rbon into 

 the blood of a foetus six months old. Dr. Falk conjecttlred that 



the age of the embryo, more particularly the greater or less thick- 

 ness of the partition dividing the mother's system of blood-vessels 

 from that of the child, formed a considerable item in the account. 

 This point he would study by experiments on (he osmosis of 

 gases. — Dr. Blaschko communicated the results of his investiga- 

 tions into the structure and embryological development of the outer 

 sliin in the palm of the hand of man and apes. On the under 

 side of the epidermis he not only found protuberances corre- 

 sponding with the regular furro vs visible on the surface, but, 

 answering to the prominences of the surface, were .also found 

 protuberances on the under side connected with the former by 

 transverse swellings. The study of the histological development 

 of the outer skin further taxight Dr. Blaschko that the epidermi-, 

 with its protuberances and depressions, was first fully formed 

 before the cutis came into shape, attaching itself to the epider- 

 mis. — Dr. .Salomon has endeavoured to fill a gap which was 

 yet perceptible in our knowledge of the urine of domestic 

 mammalia. In particular there existed but four analyses of the 

 urine of the pig, which, as an omnivorous animal, stood 

 specially near to man, and of these four, three were of earlier 

 date than 1S45. These four analyses, moreover, all concurred 

 in denying that the urine of s\^ ine contained any uric ac'd, a 

 circumstance very remarkable in face of the fact of the universal 

 diffusion of this substance among all the other higher animals 

 that had yet been examined. Its place was supposed to be 

 supplied in the pig by guanine. As the result of his examina- 

 tions, Dr. Salomon found that in all cases the urine of swine 

 contained uric acid, and that in no inconsiderable quan- 

 tities. The proportion of uric acid in the urine was, in swine, 

 as I to 150; in man, i to 50. Guanine, on the other hand, 

 could not be indisputably proved to be present in the urine of 

 swine ; but a crystalline substance, very closely related to guanine, 

 and showing simil.ir reactions, was found ; lactic acid, the pre- 

 sence of which in s\a ine had been maintained, could not be 

 discovered, although succinic acid, which comes ne.ar to it, was 

 found. Creatine and creatinine, as also other xanthine sub- 

 stances, were likewise searched for in the urine of swine. — In 

 connecti™ with this subject, Dr. A. Baginski stated that in the 

 urine of a diptherit'c child suffering from nephritis he had found 

 a substance very nearly related to guanine,'as also xanthine, both 

 in perfectly perceptible quantities. Both these substances, how- 

 ever, decreased in quantity with the abatement of the disease. 



CONTENTS Page 



Family Records. By George J. Romanes, F.R.S. 257 



Siam. By Prof. A. H. Keane - - . 258 



Letters to the Editor :— f 



The Remarkable Sunsets.— R. T. Omond ; Serene 

 E. Bishop ; W. Brydone-Jack ; Ad. Wentz'l, 



Jun. ; D. Wetterhan ; W. E. J 259 



Dust Atmosphere of China. — Prof. J. P. O'Reilly 260 



Electric Shadows. — W. F. Smith ( With Diagram) 260 



Cosmic Dust. — E. Metzger 261 



Diffusion of Scientific Memoirs. — R 261 



*^'i; Weather on Ben Nevis and Snowdon. — T. Sington 261 

 Teaching Animals to Converse. — Col. H. Stuart 



Wortley 261 



Circling to the Left in a Mist. — W. Larden ... 262 



The Porpitidae and Velellidae 262 



Hughes' New Magnetic Balance {With Diagram) . 263 



Winter Life at Spitzbergen 263 



The Weights of British Noblemen during the last 

 Three Generations. By Francis Galton, F.R S. 



( With Diapams) 2fi6 



The Eruption of Krakatoa. By M. C. van Doom 



( JlWi Itlustratiois) 268 



Charles Watkins Merrifield, F.R.S 270 



Geological Survey of Prussia 270 



Notes 270 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



P.arallaxes of Southern Stars 273 



Pons' Comet 273 



The Minor Planets 273 



Science in Russia 273 



Professor Haeckel on the Orders of the Radiolaria 274 



University and Educational Intelligence 276 



Scientific Serials 276 



Societies and Academies 277 



