284 



NATURE 



\yidv 22, 1880 



Lines in the Spectra described abof 



S72 



2947 



2951 



2955 



2959 



2966 



2967-5 



2970-5 



2975'5 



2981 



2989 



3S90 



2991 



2994 

 2999 

 3002 

 3005 

 3010 



3017 



3oi9'5 



3029 



3031 



3039 



3042 



3046 



3051 



3057-5 



3246 



3271 



34295 



3473 



4310 



Edinburgh 

 Royal Society, June 7.— Prof. Fleeming JeiAin, vice-presi- 

 dent in the chaii'.— The Council having awarded tlie Keith 

 prize for the biennial period 1S77-79 to Prof. Fleeming Jenkin 

 for his paper on the application of graphic methods to the 

 determination of the efficiency of machinery, the medal w as pre- 

 sented to him by Prof. Balfour.— At the request of the Council 

 Prof. Chrystal gave an address on non-Euclidian geometry, and 

 discussed in a most masterly and lucid manner the conscpience; 

 which the non-acceptance of Euclid's axiom of parallels involved. 

 Defining a straight Ime as the curve completely determined by 

 two points, the lecturer pointed outlhat there were three simple 

 cases that called for discussion : first, the case where two straight 

 lines cut in one point only and are infinite in extent ; ,-econd, 

 the case where two lines still cut in but one point, but 

 each line is finite in length returning into itself : and third, the 

 case where two straight lines cut in two points. Some of the 

 peculiar properties of these three kinds of space, which might 

 be called hyperbolic, single elliptic, and double elliptic space, 

 were demonstrated, and many others pointed out, while 

 Euclidian or homoloidal space was shown to be a himting case 

 of either hyperbolic or elliptic space.— Prof. Tait communicated 

 a note on the theory of the 15 puzzle, in which he gave a rule 

 for determining whether or no a particular arrangement could be 

 solved.— Mr. de Burgh Birch, M.B., CM., read a detailed 

 paper on the constitution of adult bone matrix and the functions 

 of osteoblasts.— Mr. Robert Gray exhibited two eggs of the 

 Great Auk (Aha impcnnis), and read a short graphic account of 

 the extinction of that bird within the present century.— Frof. 

 Chrystal exhibited a new form of telephone receiver which was 

 simply a fine wire, w hose extension and contraction under the influ- 

 ence of the heating and cooling caused by the varying intensity of 

 the current through the microphone transmitter were suiticient 

 to communicate musical notes to a vibrating membrane. Mr. 

 Blyth's recent communication to the Society, together with 

 certain observations of his own on the rapid cooling and heat- 

 ing of thin wires which he had made several years before, had 

 suggested the arrangement as one likely to succeed. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, July 12.— M. Edm. Becquerel in the 

 chair.— The foUomng papers were read :— Observations of the 

 comet /' iSSo (Schaberle) made at Paris Observatory, by MM. 

 Tisserand and Bigourdan.— On the pendulum, by M. Faye. He 

 announces a new apparatus with which M. Govi's system (see 

 below) and others may be studied. The reductions are linuted 

 almost exclusively to temperature.— Observations on the density 

 of iodine vapour, by M. Berthelot. The increase of total 

 energy of the halogen gases with the temperature, as also that of 

 the vis viva of translation, exceed those of the three other simple 

 gases hitherto studied (nitrogen, oxygen, and hydrogen) ; the 

 two orders of effects seem correlative. — On the heat of formation 

 of hydrocyanic acid, and of cyanides, by M. Berthelot. — Densi- 

 ties of vapour of selenium and tellnrium, by MM. Sainte-Claire 

 Deville and Troost. This gives details of operations in 1S63.— 

 On the etiology of anthrax, by M. Pasteur. Putrefaction of the 

 animal's body destroys the parasite, but some infected blood 

 and other liquid matter escapes into the ground about the 

 body, and there germs may be produced and remain with latent 

 life for years, ready to communicate anthrax on opportunity. 

 Curiously, the bacteridiumgerms may be fcund in the surface- 

 earth over the body, and they appear to come thither by agency 

 of earth-worms, carrying them in their alimentary canal. The 

 dust of this earth, with the worms' excrement, gets blown 

 about the plants, which the cattle eat, and are thus infected. 

 Germss of other diseases may perhaps be conveyed similarly. — 



Ammonia of the air and of water, by M. Levy. Inter alia, 

 contrary to what is observed in meteoric waters, it is in the hot 

 season that ammoniacal nitrogen seems to be most abundant in 

 the air. The annual averages in the case of meteoric waters are 

 nearly identical. — Alternance of generations in some Uredineae, 

 by M. Cornu. — New theorems on the indeterminate equatiorj 

 ax'^ + by* — ;-, by M. Pepin. — On some remarks relative to the 

 equation of Lame. — New method for determining the length of 

 the simple pendulum, by M. Govi. A pretty long, light, and 

 rigid rod is suspended by one end from a horizontal axis, and a 

 heavy runner, with centre of gravity in the axis of the rod, in 

 fixed at different points, and the pendulum set oscillating is 

 vacuo on solid supports. — Rapid synthetic method of establish- 

 ing the fundamental formula: relative to change of state, by M. 

 Viry. — On the constitution of matter and the ultra-gaseous state, 

 by Mr. Crookes. — On monochromatic lamps, by M. Laurent. 

 Apropos of M. Terquem's note, he recalls his modifications of 

 gas-burners and his asolipyle. — Telephonic effects resulting from 

 the shock of magnetic bodies, by M. Ader. Any mechanical 

 action which disturbs the state of molecular equilibrium of a 

 magnetic core has the effect of developing, Vfhen this core sud- 

 denly regains its equilibrium, an electric current capable of 

 affecting the telephone. — On the fiuorised compounds of uranium, 

 Ijy M. bitte. — On the atomic weight and on some characteristic 

 salts' of scandium, by M. Nilson. Atomic weight, 44. — Ultimate 

 action of bromine on malonic acid ; bromoform, by M. Bourgoin. 

 — On the etherification of sulphuric acid, by M.Villiers. — On the 

 reproduction of Plciirodeles waltlii, by JL Vaillant.— Salivary 

 glands in the Odonates (Neuroptera), by M. Poletaieu. These 

 glands exist in all the species (though they are denied by ento- 

 mologists). — Action of high and moist temperatures and of some 

 chemical substances (benzoate of soda, benzoic acid, sulphurous 

 acid) on germination, by M. Heckel. Seeds of Brassica nigra 

 sown in a wet sponge and kept at 48° showed numerous radicles 

 in less than twelve hours (while seeds kept in water at 48° never 

 germinated). After emitting [their radicles the seeds stopped, 

 but they developed quickly when the temperature was brought 

 down to 20° or \f"^. The three chemical agents suspended the 

 germination of various seeds. — Action of strychnine in very 

 strong dose on mammalia, by M. Richet. It acts somewhat like 

 curare and somewhat like chloral.— Alterations of the nerve- 

 tubes of the anterior and posterior nerve-roots and of the 

 cutaneous nerves in a case of generalised congenital ichthyosis, 

 by M. Leloir.— On immunity against antln-ax, acquired through 

 preventive inoculations, by M. Toussaint. 



CONTENTS Page 



Victoria University „- • ^^' 



On the Relation between the Molecular Weights of Sub- 

 stances AND THEIR Specific Gravities when in the Liquid 



State. By Prof. T. E TnoErE, F.R.S. (IVith Diagyaiii) ... 262 



Gordon's " Electricity and Magnetism" ' . . . . z^^ 



Stratigraphical Geology 264 



Our Book Shelf :— . , . „ . 



Garnett's "Treatise on ElemenLary Dynamics, for the Use 01 



Colleges and Schools ** 265 



Alexander's " Elementary Applied Mechanics " 265 



Letters to the Editor: — 



The Recent Gas Explosion,— S. Tolver Preston : Sir J. Favree, 



F.R.S 26s 



The Tay Bridge.— G. H 266 



"Geology of the Henry Mountains." — Robert Mallet, F.R.S. . 266 



Intellect in Brutes.— W. W. Nicholls 266 



The Volcanic Dust from Dominica.— M. E. Wadswokth ... 266 



Large Meteor.— F. C. Penrose 267 



Ball Lightning —W. F. Smith 267 



The Recent Explosions • 267 



North American Geology— Idaho and Wyoming. By Prof. 



Archibald Geikib, F.R.S • .- • ==^8 



The^Russian Imperial Yacht " Livadia " (With Iltuslmtwm) . 270 



Notes ^74 



Our Astronomical Colomn :— 



The Comet of 1668 276 



Variable Stars 277 



Biological Notes: — 



The Evolution of Dibranchiate Cephalopods 277 



On a Case of Apparent Insectivorism =77 



Intestinal Worms in the Horse =77 



The Domestication of Deer 27S 



The Fiddler Crabs =7| 



Org.ans of Deep-Sea Animals 278 



Chemical Notes 27S 



Physical Notes ^so 



Geooraphical Notes ;,-„•«■,;, '^ •„■■ ' - -„ ' 



Plants of the Coal-Measures. By Prof. W. C. W illiamson, 



P.R.S •, ;°' 



University and Educational Intelligence 252 



Scientific Serials 282 



Societies and Academies * . . . 203 



