Feb. 24, 1887J 



NATURE 



405 



light would take 31 years to traverse. — Note on the transparency 

 of platina mirrors, by Edm. Van Aubel. His further researches 

 confirm the author's previous conclusions regarding the false 

 transparency of these mirrors, the light passing, not through the 

 metal itself, but through the interstices left between the particles 

 deposited on the plates as prepared by Paul Lohmann, of Berlin. 

 — On the instability of eipiilibrlum of the surface-l.ayer of a 

 liquid, second part, by G. \'an der Mensbrugghe. The points 

 here dealt with are: (I) the existence of a surface-tension 

 proper to each liquid according to a given inner temperature ; 

 (2) the existence of a contractile or expansive force on the 

 surface of a liquid in contact with a solid ; (3) tension of a 

 surface common to two liquids not intermingling. — On the 

 valency of an atom of carbon, by Louis Henry. A method is 

 proposed for determining the relative value of the four unities of 

 its chemical action — C'n the jihysiology of the heart of the 

 dog, by l.eon Fredericq. The author explains the nature of the 

 contraction of the ventricles, the idio-muscular contraction of 

 the cardiac muscle, the nervous system of the heart, its isolated 

 circulation, and the circulation in the pulmonary artery. — The 

 Neanderthal or Canstadt race in Belgium, by M.M. Traipont and 

 Lohest. The authors describe what appears to be the most im- 

 portant anthropological find ever made in Belgium. It consists of 

 two more or less perfect human skeletons discovered by them in 

 association with the remains of KJiitioceros tichorinus, Etephas 

 primi^enins, the cave hycena, and other extinct animals in the 

 undisturbed Lower Quaternary deposits of a limestone cave at 

 Spy, on the banks of the Orneau, in the province of Namur. 

 The human remains, which came to light during the summer of 

 last year, present remarkable points of resemblance with those 

 of the oldest yet discovered Palaeolithic race, as represented by 

 the Neanderthal and Canstadt skulls. The relationship is so 

 close that the strikingly simian features of these skulls, hitherto 

 regarded as possibly aberrant or pathological, would appeir to be 

 perfectly normal, and characteristic of the oldest known human 

 inhabitants of Western and Central Europe. One of the skulls 

 of the Spy men is decidedly platidolichocephalic (long and low), 

 with cephalic index 70 ; the other is sub-platidolichocephalic, 

 with index 74'8o. The frontal bone is also very low, narrow, 

 and retreating, and the upper alveolar process highly progna- 

 thous, while the chin is but slightly developed, receding more 

 rapidly than that of even the lowest Papuan type. 



En^ler's JSolanische yakrbiicher, Achter Band, I Heft. — The 

 latest botanical discoveries in the tombs of Egypt, by G. 

 Schweinfurth. This article, with an appendix dated October 

 1886, contains an enumeration and description of vegetable 

 remains found in tombs at Dra-Abu'n-Negga. Though the 

 specimens were often in bad preservation, the author has been 

 able to recognise some fifty species of plants from tombs dating 

 from various periods, both very ancient and comparatively 

 modern ; among others the garlic (AlUitni sativum), which, 

 with leeks and onions, is men'ioned in Numbers, chap. xi. — 

 The next two articles by .Alfredo Cogniaux and Dr. F. W. Klatt 

 contain descriptions of the Melastomacce, Cucarbitace:^, and 

 Compositae collected by Lehmann in Guatemala, Costa Rica, and 

 Columbia. — On the family of the Lactoridaceas, by A. Engler. 

 The genus Lactoris has been ^placed by various authors in the 

 Magnoliaceae, Dilleniacea;, and Piperace^E (Saururaceae). On 

 anatomical as well as other grounds the author rejects the affinity 

 to the .Saururacese and Dilleniaceae, and concludes that Lactoris 

 is to be regarded as representing a family (Lactoridacea;) closely 

 allied to the Magnoliaceos. — On Didymia, a new genus of 

 Cyperacea.-, by Dr. R. \. Philippi {with one plate). — Contribu- 

 tions to the flora of the Congo district collected by Dr. Naumann 

 on the expedition of H.M.S. Gazelle, prepared by A. Engler. — 

 Then follow abstracts of papers published elsewhere. — At the 

 conclusion of this number is a formal offer of prizes for mono- 

 graphs of the genera Ranunculus and Draba, and for a critical 

 revision of the fossil forms of Quercus. 



Achter Band, 2 Heft.— Dr. R. A. Philippi, on the Chilian 

 species of Polyachyrus, a genus of CompositcC belonging ex- 

 clusively to Chili and Peru. The .author distinguishes the species 

 according to the characters of the leaves, and illustrates his paper 

 with a plate. — Hepaticce .\fricana;, by F. Stephani (one plate). 

 This is a descriptiomof two collections of Hepaticoe : the one, 

 made by F. A. Moller, from the Island of St. Thomas, consists 

 of thirty-four species, of which twenty are new ; the other, by 

 W. Monkemcyer, about the mouth of the Niger, consists of six- 

 teen species, of which eight are new. — The Hepaticoe of the 

 Peninsulaof Alaska, prepared by F. Stephani, comprise four new 



species, three of which are figured on pUte iii. The fourth 

 {Frultaiiia ehikootiensis) is extremely small, only a few milli- 

 metres in length, and is found hidden in the roughnesses in the 

 bark of the birch. — Comparative anatomy of the leaf of the 

 family OIacine«, by E. Edelhotf. This is a laborious investiga- 

 tion of minute details of the anatomy of the leaf, the outcome 

 of which is apparently no new view as to the grouping of the 

 members of the family, but rather the recognition of microscopic 

 diagno-tic characters. — Dr. GUrich, on the botanical results of 

 the expedition of Flegel to the Niger-Binue. — Note on a recently 

 disclosed Pliocene flora in the neighbourhood of Frankfurt/a/M. , 

 by Dr. H. Th. Geyler. — ^Abstracts of papers published else 

 where. 



Nuovo Giornalc Botanico Italian}, January 18S7. — .Signot A. 

 Piccone continues his observations on the part played by phyto- 

 phagous fishes in the dissemination of Algee. The fish which 

 appears to be by far the most effective in this direction in Box 

 Salpa, L. — Dr. F. Tassi contributes an elaborate paper on 

 anaesthesia and poisoning in plants. Among the general con- 

 clusions at which the author has arrived, the more important are 

 that there exists in certain plants a property analogous to that 

 which in animals is variously denominated irritability, contractility, 

 excitability, &c., but that this property is located in no special 

 organ, but originates in the protoplasm. Some substances which 

 produce anaesthetic or poisonous effects in animals are in no way 

 injurious to plants, 



RenJieoiiti Jclla R. Accademia dei Lined, December 1886. — 

 Researches on the nature of malaria, carried out by Dr. Bernardo 

 Schiavuzzi in Pola, Istria. The results of these experiments show 

 the constant presence of a Bacillus, morphologically identical with 

 that already described by Klebs and Tommasi-Crudeli, in the 

 malarious districts of Pola, ani its absence from the healthy 

 localities. This Bacillus, artificially cultivated and inoculated 

 on rabbits, develops fevers showing all the characteristics of 

 swamp-fever, while in the infected animals the red corpuscles of 

 the blood uniergo the same alterations as Marchiafava and Celli 

 have shown to be characteristic of malarious infection. These 

 alterations, however, are attributed by Dr. Schiavuzzi, not to the 

 presence of a parasitic animal which has never yet been detected 

 either in the air or in the soil of the infected districts, but to a 

 deterioration of the blood-corpuscles directly or indirectly caused 

 by the action of a pathological ferment of quite a different 

 nature. He accordingly concludes that the Bacillus malariie 

 described by Klebs and Tommasi-Crudeli in 1879 is the true 

 cause of marsh-fever. — On the objective spectroscope, by L. 

 Respighi. The author claims the honour of having first intro- 

 duced and applied to stellar spectro, copy the improved form of 

 this instrument, as noiv generally used by spectroscopists. 

 Although the important modification made by him is commonly 

 attributed to Secchi, he shows conclusively that it had been 

 adopted and successfully employed by him fully nine months 

 before its application by Secchi in November 1869. An account 

 of his first experiments with the perfected instrument appeared 

 in the Atti of the Academy for May 20, 1S69. The modifica- 

 tion in question consists in replacing the large prism of Fraun- 

 hofers instrument by one with a small refrangent angle, by means 

 of which may be obtained perfectly distinct and well-defined 

 spectra of the smaller stars. 



Reiidicoitti del Reale Istituto Lombardo, January 13. — Annual 

 Report on the progress of the mathematical and natural sciences, 

 presented by the Secretary, S. Ferrini. In this general survey 

 of work done by members of the Istituto, special reference was 

 made to E. G. Cantoni's meinoir on the phenomenon of dew, 

 showing that Aitken's observations have been confirmed by the 

 results obtained in Italy by Fusinieri, Melloni, and Cantoni 

 himself, in opposition to the generally admitted hypothesis of 

 Wells ; to C. I'oloni's experimental researches on the perma- 

 nent m.agnetism of steel at various temperatures, formulating 

 the law of variations caused by changes of temperature, and on 

 his new method for measuring the absolute thermic conductivity 

 of metallic wires ; and to Giacomo Cattaneo's studies on the 

 formation of gastric and intestinal glands in the embryo of 

 Sabiio ialar. 



Rivijia Scieiitiftco-lndustriale, January 15. — Electricity deve 

 loped with the formation of fogs and clouds, by Prof. Luigi 

 Palmicri. Some electric phenomena recently observed at the 

 meteorological stations of Naples and V'esuvius are appealed to 

 in confirmation of the author's view that strong electric tensions 

 in clear skies constantly indicate the near approach of clouds 



