96 



NA TURE 



\Nov. 25, i! 



on some New South Wales fislies, by Dr. Ramsay, F.R. S.E., 

 and J. Douglas-Ogilby. The common Jew Fish of Port Jackson 

 is here described under the name of Sciirna iieglccta, the authors 

 pointing out the marked differences between it and S. antarcticn, 

 Castelnau, and 6'. aquila, Lacep., the species to which it has 

 been hitherto referred. Evidence is also given that Cnllioiiy- 

 miis ret'vesii. Rich., is not, as has been stated, the female of C. 

 ciirvkornis, C. and V. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, November 15. — M. Jurien de la 

 Graviere, President, in the chair. — Letters having been read 

 from M. de Freycinet announcing the death of M. Paul Bert, 

 Resident-General in Annam and Tonquin, and Member of the 

 Academy, the President and M. Vulpiaii followed with some 

 remarks on the great services rendered to science by this distin- 

 guished physiologist. Reference was made more especially to 

 his researches on the action of light on living organisms ; on the 

 physiology of respiration ; and on the influence exercised on man, 

 animals, plants, and ferments, by increased or diminished 

 pressure of atmospheric air, of carbonic acid, and of oxygen. — 

 Observations of the .small planets made with the large meridian 

 instrument of the Paris Observatory during the second quarter 

 of the year 18S6, communicated by M. Mouchez. Numerous 

 observations made by M. P. Puiseux on Pallas, Juno, Olympia, 

 Electra, Urania, Europa, and several other minor planets, are 

 here brought into relation with the ephemerides either, of the 

 Natitical Almanac^ the Bulletin Astroitomiqut\ or the Berlin 

 yahrbuch. — Researches on the phosphates, by M. Berthelot. 

 Fresh researches are here reported on the double decompositions 

 vfhich reveal in the insoluble tribasic phosphates the existence of 

 two distinct states : one colloidal, amorphous, unstable, answer- 

 ing to the manifold constitution of the soluble phosphates ; the 

 other crystallised and stable, in which the three basic equivalents 

 seem on the contrary to play the same part. The phosphates of 

 soda, magnesia, baryta, lime, manganese, and the tribasic phos- 

 phates of strontian are specially considered. — Observations of 

 Winnecke's comet, by M. L. Cruls. As observed during last 

 September at the Observatory of Rio de Janeiro, this comet 

 presented the appearance of a nebulosity about 2' in diameter, 

 without clearly-defined nucleus, of somewhat circular form and 

 slight luminous intensity. — Note on Abel's theorem, by M. G. 

 Humbert. — On the flow of a gas penetrating into a receptacle of 

 limited capacity, by M. Hugoniot. The question here dealt 

 with is to determine the time required to fill a receptacle 

 containing air at an initial pressure /„, and placed in communi- 

 cation with a reservoir maintained by compressing-engines at a 

 constant pressure /i > /„. The reading of the paper was fol- 

 lowed by some remarks by M. Haton de la Goupilliere on this 

 fresh confirmation of his own theories on the flow of gases. — 

 On the variation of the magnetic field produced by an electro- 

 magnet, by M. Leduc. Reference is made to M. Marcel 

 Deprez's communication of October 26, which partly confirmed 

 the conclusions already arrived at by the author, and announced 

 to the Societe de Physique on February 19, 18S6. But the re- 

 sults obtained present considerable numerical differences, which 

 may be due to the different conditions under which the experi- 

 ments were made. — On the specific inductive power and con- 

 ductivity of dielectrics : relation between conductivity and ab- 

 sorbing power, by M. J. Curie. — On the velocity of dissociation, 

 by M. H. Lescceur. It is shown that the results drawn from 

 the velocity of dissociation may supply valuable data regarding 

 the presence of the hydrates and analogous compounds ; but 

 they can give no absolute or relative indications respecting the 

 tensions of dissociation. — On some laws of chemical combina- 

 tion, by MM. de Landero and Raoul Prieto. In these studies, 

 of which a few preliminary essays are here communicated, 

 chemical combination is regarded as resulting from the shock of 

 a collision between the particles of the elements forming any 

 given compound. The velocity of the particles in motion being 

 considered as a characteristic constant of each body, the loss of 

 energy or of vital force due to the shock between non-elastic 

 particles is regarded as the equivalent of the quantity of heat 

 liberated by the fusion. — On some histological peculiarities of 

 the acephalous mollusks, by M. Louis Roule. — On the typical 

 nervous system of the ctenobranch mollusks, by M. E. L. 

 Bouvier. — On platyrhinism in a group of African apes, by M. 

 A. T. de Rochebrune. It is shown that the family of the Colobi 

 forms a marked exception to the general rule that the apes of the 

 Old World are all catarhinous. As already anticipated by Dahl- 



bom and Gray, they prove to be distinctly platyrhinous, like all 

 the American Simla;.— Experimental researches on the syn 

 thesis of the lichens in a medium destitute of germs, by M 

 Gaston Bonnier. The researches carried out by the autho: 

 since 18S2 have resulted in the complete reproduction by syn 

 thesis of a certain number of species of lichens under conditions 

 fully confirming the views generally held regarding the complex 

 nature of these vegetable organisms. The results clearly show 

 that a lichen is formed by the association of an Alga and a 

 fungus. — The avifauna of the Mentone caves, by M. Fmile 

 Riviere. Of the forty-two species found in these caves, all still 

 survive except Pyrrhocorax primigenius, but their present distri- 

 bution mostly differs from that of Quaternary times, many 

 having disappeared from the Mentone district, owing to climatic 

 changes, the destruction of forests, and the chase. — On the 

 Jurassic Echinida; of Lorraine, by M. G. Cotteau. The re- 

 searches made by the author in this branch of palaeontology show 

 that in Lorraine the Echinidas followed the same line of develop- 

 ment as in other Jurassic regions. — K physiological study of the 

 respiratory function in singers, by M. Anatole Piltan. Obser- 

 va'ions made in various institutes show that the quality of the 

 voice is inherent to the expiratory type adopted by the subject, 

 whether unconsciously or acquired by special training. — 

 Bacteriological studies on the Arthropods, by M. Balbiani. 



CONTENTS PAGE 



Exploration of the North Sea 73 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Lupton's " Chemical Arithmetic" 74 



Heaton's " Experimental Chemistry ' 74 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Sense of Smell.— Edward L. Nichols and E. H. 



S. Bailey 74 



Tidal Friction and the Evolution of a Satellite. — James 



Nolan 75 



Seismometry in Japan. — Prof. J. A. Ewing .... 75 

 Ozone Papers in Towns. — Dr. W. J. Black .... 76 

 The Similarities in the Physical Geography of the 



Great Oceans. — J. Y. Buchanan 76 



Lung Sick. — Dr. Gerard Smets 76 



Meteor.— P. L. Sclater, F.R. S 76 



The Origin of Species.— Joseph John Murphy ; 



Edmund Catchpool 76 



The Coral Reefs of the Solomon Islands. By Dr. H. 



B. Guppy. {Illiisti-aled) 77 



The British Association and Local Scientific 



Societies 78 



The Colonial and Indian Exhibition. By John R. 



Jackson 81 



Notes 83 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Mass of Mercury 85 



The Naval Observatory 85 



Comet Fiiilay (1886 e) 85 



Comet Barnard (1886/) 85 



Gore's Nova Orionis 85 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1886 



November 28 — December 4 86 



Ten ■years' Progress in Astronomy, II. Bv Prof. C. 



A. Young '..... 86 



A Lecture Experiment on the Expansion of Solids 



by Heat. By H. G. Madan. (Uliislratcd) .... 89 

 Comparative Studies upon the Glaciation of North 

 America, Great Britain, and Ireland. By Prof. H. 



Carvill Lewis 89 



The Climate of Northern Europe and the Gulf 



Stream 91 



To Prove that only One Parallel can be drawn from 

 a Given Point to a Given Straight Line. By Dr. 



E. Budden. (Illiistraled) 92 



Scientific Serials 93 



Societies and Academies 93 



