432 



NATURE 



{Sept. 2, 1880 



At Caracas in Venezuela on August 1 there was a heavy 

 shock of earthquake at 7 p.m. 



The United States Government proposes to hold an Inter- 

 national Sanitary Congress at Washington in January, 1S81. 



The Rev. A. E. Eaton has begun a series of Notes on the 

 Entomology of Portugal in the Eiilovwlogisfs Monthly Magazine. 



In No. 9, vol. xxxviii. of Globus an account of Dr. Potagos's 

 travels iu the regions of the Nile and Welle is given. 



Among the articles in No. 2 of the American Journal of 

 Philology (Macmillan and Co.) is one of considerable scientific 

 interest — "Recent Investigations of Grimm's Law," by Mr. II. 

 C. G. Brandt of Johns Hopkins University. 



We are requested by Lieut. Temple to publish the following 

 letter addressed to him by Lieut. Col. Fr. Sejersted, Director of 

 the Royal Norwegian Geographical Survey Office: — "Chiis- 

 tiania, August 7, iSSo. — Sir, — You may possibly have noticed 

 that I have replied in some English newspapers to remarks 

 stated in those papers to have been made by you at a meeting on 

 the 19th of May last of the Society of Arts, with respect to our 

 Norwegian coast charts, and that I have especially alleged that 

 your remarks must have been caused by ignorance of the present 

 stage of our coast charts. I now learn from a copy of the 

 Journal of the Society of Arts, containing your paper complete, 

 that the said newspaper statements were misguiding extracts, 

 and that your censure w^as not pointed agamst our coast charts, 

 but against an English belabouring of those charts in no w ay 

 connected with the geographical survey of Norway. As a 

 matter of course my reply would not liave been published if the 

 said newspaper statements had been correct concerning the main 

 point to us, and I hereby declare w ith great pleasure that the 

 copy of the Journal of the Society of Arts, containing your 

 paper, proves plainly that you are intimately acquainted with 

 our coast charts and coast descriptions, which are mentioned by 

 you in a very satisfactory manner to us. I express my wish that 

 the£e lines may help to make good the injustice you have 

 sullered from the misconceptions caused by the ambiguous 

 newspaper statements, and 1 beg to leave it to you to use this 

 letter at pleasure." 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during tlie 

 past week include a Macaque Monkey {Macacus cynomol^us) 

 from India, presented by Mr. Geo. G. Turner ; two American 

 Moorhen.s {Callinula gahata) from America, presented by Mr. 

 G. H. Hawtayne, C.M.Z.S. ; a Turnstone (Slrepilas interprcs)^ 

 captured at sea, off the Azores, presented by Capt. A. McRitchie, 

 s.s. Utopia; two Koodoos {Strcpsiccros kudu) from Africa, a 

 Harnessed Antelope (Tragdaphus scriptus) from Gambia, a 

 Syrian Fennec Fox {Canisfamdicus) from North Africa, a Kin^ 

 Vultm-e (Gypagus papa) from Tropical America, deposited ; a 

 Nylghaie (Boselaphus pictns) from India, a Michie's Tufted Deer 

 (Elaphodus michianns) from China, a Cuvier's Toucan (Ram- 

 phastos cuvicri) from the Upper Amazons, purchased. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, August 16. — M. Wurtz in the chair. 

 — The following papers were read : — Summary report of tlie 

 cruise of Lc Travaillcur (continued), by M. Alph. Milne- 

 Edwards. He describes the various animal .'-pecies obtained. — 

 On the establisluuent of hospital stations in Equatorial Africa, 

 by M. de Lesseps. This reports the progress of Capt. Bloyet iu 

 the East (who reached Usagara on July 2) and M. de Brazza in 

 the West (who is seeking a suitable position on one of the 

 affluents of the Ogowe). — On the embryos accompanying cysti- 

 cersi in pork, by M. Poincare. Pork may contain microscoiiic 

 germs of Taenia wliich may quite escape ordinary inspection. 

 Raw meat of any kind should be avoided. — On some formukij 

 relative to hypergeometric functions of two variables, by M. 



Appell. — On various attempts at demonstration of the theorem 

 of Fermat, by M. Pepin. — Observation on a group of lines in 

 the solar spectrum, by M. Thollon. With the centre of the solar 

 image, on liis apparatus (on a mountain near Nice) he notes 

 four lines, a, b, c, d, of which a and b are close to each other, 

 and similarly c and d ; b and c are of iron, a and a are telluric. 

 On directing the apparatus to the two ends of the equatorial 

 diameter, the iron lines are displaced relatively to the others, 

 conformably to theory. — On the cause of variations of fixed 

 points in thermometers, by M. Crafts. He describes ex- 

 periments which reduce to nil, or a very small araoun', the 

 rSle of pressure in permanent elevation of the zero point. 

 Glass blown at the lamp and long exposed to heat diminishes in 

 volume through interior w^ork. — On rapid alcoholic fermentation, 

 by M. Bou'singault. This relates to fermentation in a liquid 

 that is boiling under a pressure so weak that the heat does not 

 alter the organism of the ferment, while yet it is sufficient to 

 expel the alcohol and the carbonic acid. Glycerine appears 

 during this rapid fermentation. — Spectral examination of thulium, 

 by M. Thalen. — On the absorption-spectra of metals forming 

 part of the groups of yttria and of cerite, by M. Soret. — On 

 erbine, by M. Cleve. The atomic weight of the metal he finds 

 to be 166 (ytterbium 173). — Measurement of the intensity of 

 some dark lines of the solar spectrum, by M. Gouy. His method 

 shows clearly the telluric nature of the group B (between 6S66 

 and 6SS0), by reason of their greater inten^ity. — On polar electri- 

 city in hemihedric ci7Stals with inclined faces, by MM. Jacques 

 and Curie. They show that in all the non-conducting substances 

 studied the direction of the electric poles is connected with the 

 position of the hemihedric faceltes. M. Thenard recalled 

 experiments bearing on the subject made by his son fifteen years 

 ago. — New results of utilisation of solar heat obtained at Paris, 

 by M. Pifre. He succeeds in utilising 80 per cent, of the solar 

 heat as against 50 (Mouchot). The reflector is made of three 

 truncated cones, so that the generating line is a broken one. The 

 focus is thus concentrated in much less length, and the height of 

 the boiler may be diminished one half (without increasing its dia- 

 meter). When the sky is clear the boiling of fifty litres is obtained 

 in less than forty minutes, and the pressure rises I atm. every 

 seven or eight minutes. The steam-engine is specially adapted 

 for solar receivers. — Production of crystals of sesquichloride of 

 chromium of persistent green colour, by M. Mengeot. — On the 

 inconveniences presented, with regard to physiological reactions, 

 in cases of poisoning with morphine, by the substitution of 

 amylic alcohol for ether in the process of Stas, by MM. Ber- 

 geron and L'Hote. — On the experiment of the great cervical 

 .sympathetic, by MM. Dastre and Morat. They demonstrate 

 the existence of vaso-dilator as well as vaso-constrictor nerves in 

 the cervical sympathetic. — Morphological signification of the 

 appendices serving for suspension of chrysalides, by M. Kunckel. 

 They are (in Lepidoptera) hooks of membranous anal legs modi- 

 fied and adapted to special biological conditions. — On a new 

 station of the age of stone at Hanaweh, near Tyre (Syria), by 

 M. Lortet. Myriads of flints (of very primitive form), along 

 with numerous fi-agments of bone and teeth, were found in a 

 kind of conglomerate or breccia. — On the falling stars of August 

 9, 10, and II, 18S0, by M. Chapelas. The mean horary number 

 is only 53'7, making a difference of 69*3 wdth that last year. 

 This seems to limit the return of the maximum of August 

 between 1848 and 1879, giving a period of thirty-two or thirty- 

 three years, quite like that of the phenomenon of November 12 

 and 13. 



CONTENTS p.vGE 



The Cruise of the "Knight Eruant." By Si.^ C. V\'vville 



Thomson, F.R.S 40S 



Letters to the Editor: — 



A Fragment of Primaeval Europe.— The Duke OF .\i.gvli. . . . 407 



New Red Star.— John Birmingham 408 



Locusts and Coffeee Trees — Dr. A. Er.n'ST 408 



InteUect in Brutes.— L P. Gratacap 408 



Thunderstorms. III. By Prof. Tait 408 



The British Association 410 



Section A— M.-ittiematics and Physics— Opening Address by Prof. 



W. Grylls Adams, MA., F.R.S., President of the Section . . 411 

 Section D— Biology— Department of Anatomy and PhysiLl igy— 

 Address by F. M. Balfour, M.A.. F.R.S., Vice-President of the 



Section 417 



Department of Anthropology— Address by F. W. Rudler, F.G.S., 



Vice-President of the Section 420 



pal.bontological and e.mbryological development. by prof. 



Alexander Acassiz 4*4 



Notes 43i 



Societies and Academies 43* 



