192 



NA TURE 



[Dec. 23, 1886 



determine the true character of the doubtful fossil organisms 

 still by many naturalists classed with the Algae, the author has 

 carefully studied the traces of all kinds observed especially at 

 points on the coast of Brittany, where extensive tracts are ex- 

 posed at low water. Impressions have been taken of marks 

 due to animals, yet exactly resembling the forms occurring in 

 Secondary and even Primary formations often described and 

 figured as belonging to the vegetable kingdom. — On the means 

 of reducing momentary accelerations of velocity in machines 

 fitted with regulating gear acting indirectly, by MM. A. Berard 

 and H. Leaute. The object of this memoir is to supply 

 trustworthy governors, applicable especially to machinery 

 used in the manufacture of gunpowder. For the appa- 

 ratus here described, it is claimed that, while giving the 

 required uniformity of action, it checks all abnormal in- 

 crease of speed, so dangerous in this industry. — Observations 

 of Finlay's comet (i885), made at the o"38 m. equatorial 

 of the Bordeaux Observatory, by M. F. Courty. The tabulated 

 results of these observations include the mean position of the 

 stars taken as points of comparison borrowed from Schcenfeld'- 

 Catalogue, published in the eighth volume of the "Bonn 

 Observations," 1886. — A practical demonstration of the exist- 

 ence of diurnal nutation, by M. Folic. The remarkable 

 agreement of the results here recorded, deduced from observa- 

 tions made at various points of latitude and longitude, is con- 

 sidered sufficient to prove the existence of the diurnal nutation 

 of the terrestrial axis, and to determine its constant at about 

 o'2''. — On certain problems of isochronism, by M. G. Fouret. — 

 On a theorem relating to the permanent movement and flow of 

 fluids, by M. Huijoniot. The curious relation which is shown 

 to exist between the permanent movement of fluids and that of 

 the propagation of sound is here investigated. — On the co- 

 efficient of explosion for a perfect gas, by M. Felix Lucas. 

 Various arguments are advanced to show that this coefficient 

 is I '40, not I '41, the number generally adopted. — On 

 the coefficient of pressure for thermometers, and on the 

 compressibility of liquids, by M. Ch. Ed. Guillaume. 

 The probable coefficient resulting from M. Descamps' experi- 

 ments is shown to approximate very closely to that of Regnault, 

 and the coefficients of compressibility must be corrected accord- 

 ingly. — On the nature of electric actions in an insulating medium, 

 by M. A. Vaschy. Assuming that the reciprocal actions of two 

 electrified bodies are exercised through the intermediary of the 

 intervening medium, and not directly at a distance, the author 

 endeavours here to determine the part played by this medium in 

 the transmission of the electrostatic actions. The medium itself 

 is regarded as a combination of the ether and ponderable matter 

 in relations to be subsequently determined. — Note on an abso- 

 lute electro-dynamometer, by M. H. Pellat. By means of this 

 instrument, which has been constructed by M. Carpentier, the 

 intensity of a current may be determined directly in absolute 

 value with an error less than 1/2000. — N'^teon steno-telegraphy, 

 by M. G. A. Cassagnes. By this combination of mechanical 

 stenography and telegraphy the operator is enabled to record 

 and tran";mit along a single wire a considerable number of words 

 instantaneously. Numerous experiments on the French lines 

 have yielded the following results for a single wire: (j) 400 

 words a minute to a distance of 350 kilometres (with two finger- 

 boards 24,000 words an hour) ; (2) 280 words a minute to a dis- 

 tance of 650 kilometres (with two boards 16,000 to 17,000 

 words an hour) ; (3) 200 words a minute to a distance of 900 

 kilometres (with one board 12,000 words an hour). Messages 

 may even be forwarded simultaneously in both directions, and 

 the system ofi"ers other advantages greatly accelerating and sim- 

 plifying telegraphic work. — On a process of rock-erosion by the 

 combined action of the sea and frost, by M, J. Thoulet. Cer- 

 tain results observed on the Newfoundland coast are attributed 

 to the combined action of liquid and frozen water. — On some 

 coloured reactions of arsenic, vanadic, molybdic, and arsenious 

 acids, as well as nf the oxides of antimony and bismuth, by M, 

 Lucien Levy. — Thermic phenomena accompanying the pre- 

 cipitation of the bi-metallic phosphates and allied salts, by M. 

 A. Joly. Here are studied the extremely complex relations of 

 bicalcic, bibarytic, distrontianic, and other phosphates, bibarytic 

 arseniates, and monobarytic hypophosphate. — Heat of neutral- 

 isation of glyceric and camphoric acids, by MM. H. Gal and 

 E. Werner. — On the water-bearing apparatus of Calophyl- 

 lum, by M. J. Vesque. A study of this highly specialised 

 apparatus enables the author to classify the twenty-five known 

 species of the genus Calophyllum. — Analysis of the Javanese 



mineral waters, by M. Stanislas Meunier. The specimens 

 here examined were brought from the Kuripan district, near 

 Boghor, and yielded 54'203 per cent, of chloride of calcium, 

 40'65i of chloride of magnesium, 2 '860 of chloride of sodium, 

 I'I04 of chloride of potassium, and i'924 residue insoluble in 

 water. — On a new locality containing thenummulitic formations 

 of Biarritz, by M, de Folin. — On the importance and duration 

 of the Pliocene period studied in connection with the Roussillon 

 basin ; fresh documents relating to the Pliocene mammiferous 

 fauna of this district, by M. Ch. Deperet. In the discussion 

 which followed the reading of this paper, both M. Gaudry and 

 M. Hebert argued that the Pikermi and Leberon deposits should 

 be referred, not to the Pliocene, but to the Upper Miocene 

 epoch. — Note on the reptiles and fishes found in the caves of 

 Mentone, by M. Emile Riviere. — On the storm of December 8, 

 by M. Fron. — The Fohn and its cosmic origin, by M. Ch. V. 

 Zenger. It is argued that this wind is a cyclonic movement of 

 cosmic origin, allied to such phenomena as the aurora borealis, 

 electric and magnetic storms, terrestrial currents, and the seismic 

 waves which so often accompany violent tempests. 



BOOKS AND PAMPHLETS RECEIVED 



Crustacea and Spiders : F. A. A. Skuse (Sonnenschein).— The Queen's 

 Jubilee Atlas of the British Empire : J. F. Williams (Philip).— A Concise 

 History of England and the English People: Rev. Sir G. W. Cox (Hughes). 

 —The Tea-Planters Manual : T. C. Owen (Ferguson. Colombo).— Disease 

 and Sin (Wyman).— Hours with a 3-inch Telescope: Capt. W. Noble 

 (Longmans). — Proceedings of the Davenport Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 vol. iv. (Davenport, Iowa). — Zeitschrift fiir wissenschaftliche Zoologie, 

 Vierundvierzigster Band, Drittes Heft (Engelmann, Leipzig). — DifFerential 

 Calculus ; J. Edwards (Macmillan). — Proceedings of the American Philo- 

 sophical Society, vol. xxiii. No. 123 (Philadelphia). — Report of the National 

 Academy of Sciences. 1885 (Washington).— Bulletin of the U.S. Geological 

 Survey, Nos. 27, 28, 29 (Washington). — Morphologisches Jahrbuch, 12 

 Band, 3 Heft : Prof. Gegenbaur (Engelmann, Leipzig).— Bulletin de la 

 Societe Imperiale des Naturalistes de Moscou, No. 2. 1886 (Moscou). 



CONTENTS PAGE 



Canal and River Engineering. By Major Allan 



Cunningham, R.E 169 



Alpine Winter 170 



Our Book Shelf:— 



VonTillo's "Magnetic Horizontal Intensity in Northern 



Siberia' 1 70 



White's " Ordnance Survey of the United Kingdom " 170 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



The Cambridge Cholera Fungus.— Dr. E. Klein, 



F.R.S 171 



The Longitude of Rio.— Prof. C. A. Young . . . 172 

 An Error in Maxwell's " Electricity and Magnetism." 



— James C. McConnel 172 



Seismometry. — Prof. J. A. Ewing 172 



How to make Colourless .Specimens of Plants to be 



preserved in Alcohol. — Selmar SchSnland . . . 173 

 The Recent Weather.— F. T. Mott ; William 



Ingram 173 



Electrical Phenomenon. — Thomas Higgin .... 173 



Electricity and Clocks. — T.Wilson 173 



Botany of the Afghan Delimitation Commission. 



By W. Bolting Hemsley 173 



Deposits of Volcanic Dust 174 



The Potato Tercentenary 175 



New Zealand Coleoptera 177 



The Relief of Emin Pasha. ( With a Map) .... 177 



Notes 179 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Barnard's Comet 181 



Rotation-Time of the Red Spot on Jupiter 181 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1886 



December 26 — 1SS7 January 1 181 



Geographical Notes 182 



On some Further Evidence of Glaciation in the 



Australian Alps. By James Stirling 182 



Sorghum Sugar 184 



On the Cutting of Polarising Prisms. By Prof. 



Silvanus P. Thompson 184 



The Sympathetic Nervous System. By Dr. Walter 



H. Gaskell. (Illustrated) 185 



Scientific Serials 187 



Societies and Academies 188 



Books and Pamphlets Received 192 



