400 



NA TURE 



[_Feb. 2 1, 1 1 



Mineralogical Society, February 12. — Rev. Prof. Konney, 

 F.R.S., president, in the ch.air. — Messrs. T. Vaughan Hughes 

 and W. Semmons were elected members, and the Grand Duke 

 of Leuchtenberg, M. E. Bertrand, and Prof, von Lang, cor- 

 responding members. — The following papers were read : — Note 

 on a case of replacement of the quartz constituent of a graijite by 

 fluor spar, by the President. — On an arsenical copper ore, 

 "garbyite," from Montana, U.S.A., by Mr. W. Semmons. — On 

 an altered siderite from Alston Moor, by Dr. C. O. Trechmann. 

 — Notes on a picrite (Pala'opicrite) and other rocks from Gipps 

 Land, and a serpentine from Tasmania, by the President. — Prof. 

 Judd, on invitation by the President, submitted some sliiles of 

 dust from the volcano of Krakatoa, which were exhibited under 

 the microscope, and explained the principal features noticeable 

 in these deposits — The President exhibited some slides of dust 

 from Cotopaxi, which had fallen on Chimborazo at the time that 

 Mr. Edward Whyniper was ascending the latter mountain. 



Sydney 



Royal Society of New South Wales, December 5, 1SS3. 

 — Hon. Prof. Smith, C.M.G., president, in the chair. — Three 

 new members were elected and seventy-eight donations received. 

 — A paper on additions to the census of the genera of plants 

 hitherto known as indigenous to Australia, by Baron Feid. von 

 Miiller, K.C.M.G., F.R.S., was read.— Prof. Smith exhiliiled 

 Stroh's apparatus for producing attraction and repulsion by 

 vibrations of air. — The following specimens from the Solomon 

 Islands, collected by Dr. II. B. Guppy of H.M.S. Lark, were 

 exhibited and described by Prof. Liversidge, F. R.S. : — I. White 

 flint from Ulana or Contrariete Island. 2. Flints, including 

 chips and cores, from Ugi, also a large flint tomahawk weighing 

 about four pounds. The flints possess all the characteristics of 

 those from ihe chalk of Europe, and cannot by mere inspection 

 be distinguished from them. Prof. Liversidge remarked that 

 some years ago Mr. Brown, the We^leyan missionary, brought 

 from New Britain a soft white limestone which was quite un- 

 distinguishable from chalk, not only physically but chemi- 

 cally, and pointed out that this discovery of flints afforded 

 another very strong proof of the probable presence of true chalk 

 of Cretaceous age in the South Sea Islands. 3. Samples of 

 water from the fresh-water lake of Wailava in the Island of 

 Santa Anna. 4. Water from the boiling spring in the Island 

 of Simbo ; temperature 212°. 5. Water condensed from one 

 of the fumaroles in the Solfatara on the south-west point of 

 Simbo, at an elevation of about 300 feet above the sea. 6. Water 

 condensed from one of the fumaroles on the summit of the 

 South Plill in the Island of Simbo, elevated about 1 100 feet 

 above the sea. 7. Two kinds of fruits ejected from the crops 

 of pigeons shot on a small island off the south coast of St. 

 Christoval. 



Berlin 



Physical Society, January 25. — Dr. Kayser spoke on the 

 results of an investigation, recently published by Prof. Bun, en 

 of Heidelberg, into the condensation of carbonic acid on smooth 

 glass surfaces, results which did not coincide with those of other 

 physicists, the speaker among the rest. Prof. Bunsen had found 

 that the condensation of carbonic acid was a continuous process 

 which could not be regarded as finished even after a period of 

 three years. According to the views hitherto entertained, the 

 process referred to came to a conclusion in a very short time. 

 Dr. Kayser was of opinion that the diverging result of I'rof. 

 Bunsen's examination was to be explained on the ground that in 

 his experiments he made use of an absorbing vessel stoppered by 

 a greased glass cock. Carbonic acid appeared, however, to 

 diifuse itself thoroughly through fat, as had been proved by an 

 experiment set in operation some weeks ago. Two cruciform 

 glass vessels were set up, one arm of which, directed downw ards, 

 passed into a capillary tube dipped in quicksilver, while the 

 three other arms were closed up in one vessel by greased glass 

 plates and hermetically sealed in the other. Both were filled 

 with carbonic acid. In the grease-stoppered vessel the volume 

 of carbonic acid showed a slow progressive diminution, but in 

 the other vessel it continued unaffected. Anything like con- 

 densation of the carbonic acid was here quite out of the question, 

 though on the other hand there was clearly a case of osmose 

 through the grease, a subject which Dr. Kayser would further 

 prosecute. — Prof. Vogel exhibited instantaneous photographs 

 of various animals in motion — horses, cows, dogs, and stags— 

 which had been executed by Mr. Muybridge in San Francisco. 

 Prof. Vogel having explained the mode of their production. 



directed attention to particular pictures completely at variance 

 with the representations of animals in motion hitherto customary 

 among artists. When, however, whole series of these figures, 

 which were occasionally very curious, were viewed through the 

 stroboscope, it was recognised how true to nature these repre- 

 sentations were. — Prof. Neesen laid before the Society two new 

 apparatus — one a call-apparatus for telegraphic purposes, con- 

 structed by Herr Abakanowicz, which, from the small number 

 of its vibrations, would exercise no disturbing influence on 

 neighbouring conductors ; the other an electro-m.agnetic tuning- 

 fork constructed by Herr Kijnig, in which the quicksilver 

 contact common in other instruments of the kind was replaced by 

 a metallic contact. — Dr. Aron communicated a practical experi- 

 ment he had made on an old frictional electrical m.achine. By 

 the application of cacao-butter as grease for the amalgam, he 

 elicited from an old machine, which was no longer able to be 

 charged, beautiful sparks of four inches long, and he recom- 

 mended this fat for trial, particularly in the case of old electrical 

 machines. 



Vienna 



Imperial Academy of Sciences, December 20, 1883. — F. 

 von Hoehnel, on the mode of occurrence of some vegetable raw 

 materials in stem plants. — F. Strohmer, on quantitative deter- 

 mination of pure aqueous solutions of glycerine by means of their 

 refractive index. — E. Lippmann, on the action of organic hyper- 

 oxides on organic compounds (sealed packet). — V. Hilber, on 

 a recent land-snail found in the loess from China (second 

 paper). — C. Auer von Welsbach, on the earths of the gadolinite 

 of Ytterby (on a modification of spectral analysis). — A. Arche, 

 on cerite and its breaking up to cerium, lanthan, and didymium 

 compounds. — E. Stefan, on the calculation of the coefficient of 

 induction of wire coils. 



January 3, 1884. — R. Andreasch, contribution to a knowledge 

 of allylurea. — R. Rumpf, on the andesin in the lignite of Trifail 

 (Styria). — A. Wassmutt, on the heat produced by magnetism. — 

 L. Fodor-Mayerhofer, contribution to the theory of the varying 

 vertical sun-dial.— H. Zukal, studies on lichens. — M. Kretschy, 

 researches on kynurinic acid. — S. von Wroblewski, on the use of 

 boiling oxygen as a freezing mixture, on the temperature obtained 

 thereby, and on the solidification of nitrogen. 



January 10. — F. Hoehnel, on wood-tissue with a story-like 

 structure.— T. Wolfberger and F. Strohmer, on a generally 

 applicable method of analytical determination of acidity by 

 weight (sealed packet). 



CONTENTS Page 



The Modern Languages of Africa. By Prof. A. H. 



Keane 377 



Recent Text-Books of Determinants 378 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Mr. Lloyd Morgan on. Instinct. — George J. Ro- 

 manes, F.R.S. , . ■ 379 



" Mental Evolution in Animals." — F.J Faraday . 381 

 The Remarkable Sunsets.— Prof. C. Michie Smith; 



A. C 381 



"The Indians of Guiana." — ^James Dallas. . . . 382 

 "Probable Nature of the Internal Symmetry of 



Crystals."— Prof. L. Sohncke 383 



Holothurians. — Surgeon H. B. Guppy 384 



Unconscious Bias in Walking. — Dr. John Rae, 



F.R.S 384 



The Storm of J.anuary 26.— Dr. Robert Dixon . . 384 



Palestine Exploration. By Henry Chichester Hart 384 



Fairy Rings. By Henry Evershed 384 



A Cheap Insulating Support. By Prof. Silvanus P. 



Thompson ( IVil/i Illustration) 3^5 



John Hutton Balfour 385 



Captain Hoffmeyer 387 



Notes 387 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Australian Observatories .... 390 



Chemical Notes 391 



Technical Education 392 



Geological Survey of the United Kingdom .... 395 

 The Origin of the Scenery of the British Islands. 

 By Archibald Geikie, F.R.S., Director-General of 



the Geological Survey 39^ 



Scientific Serials 397 



Societies and Academies 398 



