154 



NATURE 



[ytine 20, 1872 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The Geological Magazine for June (No. 96) opens with an in- 

 teresting; article by Mr. Dyer ^on some fossil wooj from the 

 Lower Eocene of Heme Bay and the Isle of Thanet, in whicli 

 the author describes and figures the microscopic structure of the 

 wood of a Dicotyledonous tree, showing the peculiar phe- 

 nomenon known under the name of "tylose." — Mr. G. Poulett 

 Scrope communicates some notes on the late eruption of 

 Vesuvius. — From Mr. T. McKenny Hughes we have a note 

 entitled " Man in the Crag," in which the writer discusses the 

 interpretation to be given to certain crag sharks' teeth with holes 

 bored in their substance, and sometimes through them from side 

 to side, which have been supposed to be the work of human 

 hands. Mr. Iln^hes is of opinion that there is no evidence to 

 support this opinion, and that the cavities in question have been 

 produced by boring moUusca. — Mr. A. R. C. Sehvyn, Director 

 of the Canadian Geological Survey, notices the occurrence of 

 some fine fossil footprints in a stratum of dark shale belonging 

 to the Carboniferous series of Nova Scotia, and these footprints 

 are described and figured by Principal Dawson. The latter writer 

 states that the princip.al footprints are of two kinds — a large one 

 resembling the form described by him as Saiiropiis syiinensis, but 

 having a strong claw on the fifth toe of the hind foot, which has 

 left its mark strongly impressed upon the slab containing the 

 prints, and a smaller impression, sometimes trifid, but occasion- 

 ally showing the marks of four or five toes. The former (whicli 

 he names Saiiro/us iiiigiii/er) he thinks may have been made by 

 Eaphetes planiceps ; the latter perhaps by a species of Dendrcr- 

 pdoii. — Mr. James Geikie concludes his valu.able series of papers 

 on changes of climate during the Glacial epoch, and gives an im- 

 portant tabular view of the Ouaternary deposits of the British 

 Islands, with their equivalents in some other countries. Mr. 

 G. H. Kinahan notices the supposed middle gravels of the drift 

 of Ireland. The Rev. O. Fisher describes the occurrence of a 

 worked flint in the brick-earth of Crayford. The Rev. T. G. 

 Bonney has a paper on supposed Ice scratches in Derbyshire, 

 which he regards as slickensides; and Prof. Traquair furnishes 

 a supplementary note on Phanei-oplcuroii and Uronemits. — 

 Among the notices we may mention an account of the human 

 skeleton lately discovered in a cavern at Mentone. 



Rrjiu Scientifique, Nos. 43-50.— No. 43 commences with an 

 article by M. Wolf on the Transit of Venus in 1S74, illustrated 

 by five diagrams. Mr. ICeith Johnston's paper read before the 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh on the Lake-basin of Eastern Africa 

 is translated. In subsequent numbers we find a continuation of 

 M. Claude Bernard's course of lectures on Animal Heat. A 

 paper presented by Vi. Ch. Giad to the Geographical Society of 

 Paris on the resources of Alsace. Dr. Giinther's paper on 

 Ccratodiis Forsteri is translated from Nature. M. Dumas con- 

 tributes an article on the higher instruction in Agriculture at the 

 Central School of Arts and Manufactures in Fari.s. M. G. de 

 Morillet on Cave-man ; epoch of the Madeleine. M. Grandidier 

 contributes a most interesting series of papers on his scientific 

 voy.ige to Madagascar. Translation of the chapter on the evo- 

 lution of religious ideas among sav.iges, from Sir John Lubbock's 

 " Origin of Civilisation." Translation of Captain Noble's lecture 

 delivered at the Royal Institution on the Explosive Force of 

 Gunpowder. Report of the meeting of the Congress of German 

 Naturalists and Physicians at Rostock in Sept. 1871, department 

 of Geography and Chemistry. — In No. 44 is a history of the 

 Observatory of Paris. Biography of M. Pictet by Soret. We 

 have besides in each number abstracts of the proceedings of ^ the 

 various sqientific societies : the Academic des Sciences, Academic 

 de Medecine, Sociele de Biologie, Sociele Chimique, Societe 

 Geologique, Societe Botanique, Societe d'Anthropologie, and 

 of the foreign scientific societies at Vienna, Berlin, London, 

 Palermo, &c. 



The American Naturalist for June does not contain so many 

 original articles as usual. -The longest is by Dr. R. H. Ward, 

 on " Students' Microscopes," with particulars of the relative 

 advantages offered by the instruments furnished by different 

 makers.— Mr. J. A. Allen continues his " Ornithological Notes 

 from the West," discoursing this time on the birds of Colorado. 

 — There are two interesting shorter articles : by Mr. B. Pickman 

 Mann, on the "White Coffee-leaf Miner" (Cciniostoiim coffcelliim). 

 so destructive to the coffee culture of Brazil, with a plate ; and 

 by Prof. Sanborn Tenney, on the Remarkable Simulation of 

 Death presented by the Hibernation of the Jumping Mouse 

 {Jaeulus IfiiJioniHs) of the Western States. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Royal Society, June 13. — "Further Experiments on the 

 Effect of Alcohol and Exercise on the Elimination of Nitrogen, 

 and on the Pulse and Temperature of the Body." By E. A. 

 Parkes, F.R..S. 



1. The elimination of nitrogen during exercise was un- 

 affected by brandy ; and since the experiments led to the same 

 result in the former series during comparative rest, it seems cer- 

 tain that in healthy men on uniform good diet alcohol does not 

 interfere with the disintegration of nitrogenous tissues. 



2. The heat of the body, as judged ol by the axilla and rec- 

 tum temperatures, was unaffected by the amount given. 



3. The pulse was increased in frequency by four ounces of 

 brandy, and palpitation and breathlessness were brought on by 

 larger doses, to such an extent as to greatly lessen the amount of 

 work the man could do, and to render quick movements impos- 

 sible. As the effect of labour alone is to augment tlie strength 

 and frequency of the heart's action, it would appear obviously 

 improper to act on the heart still more by alcohol. In this effect 

 on the heart, and through it on the lungs, is perhaps to be found 

 the explanation of the trainer's rule, which prohibits alcohol 

 duiirig exertion. Whether in a heart exhausted by exertion alco- 

 hol would be good or bad is not shown by these experiments ; 

 but it can hardly be supposed that to urge a heart which requires 

 rest, as would then be the case, can be proper. 



4. It seems clear, from the suddenness wilh which marked 

 narcotic symptoms came on after the third dose was taken on 

 each day, that the eight hours from 10 to 6 o'clock were not 

 sufficient to get rid of the brandy taken at 10 and 2, and that in 

 fact the body must have been still saturuted at 6 o'clock. 



The exact amount of brandy which commenced to lessen the 

 labour the man could perform is not shown by these observa- 

 tions, and would require more careful modes of investigation. 

 It was evidently some quantity more than 4 ounces which pro- 

 duced effects sufficiently marked to attract his attention, but I 

 should not wish to affirm that every 4 ounces produced no effect 

 in this direction. The man himself was of opinion that 4 ounces 

 had no influence either way. He was quite certain it did not aid 

 his wotk, but he could not see that it injured it. The second 4 

 ounces decidedly produced a bad effect. 



5. That neither exercise on water nor on alcohol produced any 

 effect on the phosphoric acid of the urine. The result is in 

 accordance with that of the experiments recorded in No. 89 of 

 the " Proceedings of the Royal Society." 



The effect on the free acidity of the urine was also inappreci- 

 able. The free acidity may have been a little increased in the 

 brandy period, but the change is so slight as to fall within the 

 limits of normal variation. 



The effect on the chlorine was not certain, as its ingress was 

 not sufficiently constant. 



As the action of alcohol in dietetic doses on the elimination of 

 nitrogen and on the bodily temperature is so entirely negative, it 

 seems reasonable to doubt if alcohol can have the depressing 

 effect on the excretion of pidmonary carbon which is commonly 

 attributed to it. It can hardly depress, one would think, the 

 metamorphos's of tissues, or substances furnishing carbon, with- 

 out affecting either the changes of the nitrogenous structures or 

 bodily heat. It seems most important that fresh experiments 

 should be made with respect to its effect on carbon elimination, 

 as without a perfect knowledge on that point the use of alcohol 

 as an article of diet in health cannot be fairly discussed. 



Royal Geographical Society, June 10, — Major-General Sir 

 Henry C. Rawlinson, president, in the chair. " On the New 

 Hebrides and Santa Cruz Islands in the South-west Pacific," 

 by Lieut. A. H. Markham. The paper described the topography, 

 volcanic phenomena, and ethnology of these groups of islands, 

 visited by him during the cruise of H. M. S. A'osario, under his 

 command, between October 1S71, and February 1S72. Hegave 

 a history of the progress of discovery in this part of the Pacific, 

 commencing from the voy.age of Mendana in 156S. All the 

 various expeditions for three centuries did little more than sail 

 through the groups and have deadly encounters with the natives. 

 The islands lie in N.N.W. and S.S.E. direction, and contain 

 some of the most continuously active volcanoes on the surface of 

 the globe. The volcanic cones may be traced in a linear direc- 

 tion for 600 miles. The islands are remarkable for the absence 

 of coral reefs around them, which is attributed by Dana to the 

 destruction of the zoophytes by the heat produced by submarine 



