620 



NATURE 



\Aprtl 22>, 1 88 1 



with sodium amalgam (containing 15 per cent, sodium), and a 

 small quantity of water cinnamene and methylic alcohol are 

 produced. 



Entomological Society, April 6. — W. L. Distant, vice- 

 presir'ent, in the chair. — One Ordinary and one Honorary 

 Member wtre elected. — Mr. J. Jenner Weir exhibited an nnde- 

 termined Nociua, apparently allied to the genera Dicycla, or 

 Gortyna, which was found in a nursery garden at BlacUheath in 

 August last. — Mr. R. McLachlan exhibited three rare species of 

 the Neuropterous genus Dilar, Ramb. — Rev. A. E. Eaton exhi- 

 bited a si'ccimen of Haploplithalmus elegans, Schobl., a wood- 

 louse ne" to the British fauna. — Miss E. A. Ormerod exhibited 

 two termite.s' nests from Bruish Guiana. — Mr. T. R. Billups 

 exhibited specimens of t«o rare British insects— A-////c«wok 

 eryt/trceus, Gr., and Lasiisomus enervis, Herr. Schaff. — The 

 Secretary announced the death of Herr J. H. C. Kawall, a well- 

 known entomologist of Courland, at the age of eighty-two. — Mr. 

 R. McLachlan read a description of a new species of Cordulina 

 (Gomphomacromia fallax) from Ecuador. — Mr. J. B. Bridgman 

 communicated a paper entitled "Some Additions to Mr. Marshall's 

 Catalogue of Biitish IchnaimonidcT." Upwards of sixty species 

 (most of which were exhibited to the meeting) were noticed as 

 new to the British fauna, including thirteen new to science. 



Meteorological Society, April 20. — Mr. C. Greaves, 

 F.G.S., vice-presidenf, in the chair. — W. H. Goss, F.G.S., 

 and Admiral I. E. Ma-sie were elected Fellows of this Society. 

 — The following papers were read: — On the frequency and 

 duration of rain, by I'r. Wladimir Koppen of Hamburg. — Re- 

 sults of experiments made at the Kew Observatory with Bogen's 

 and George's barometers, by G. M. Whipple, B.Sc, F.R.A.S. 

 — On a discussion of Mr. Eaton's table of the barometric height 

 at London with regard to periodicity, by G. M. Whipple, B.Sc, 

 F.R.A.S. 



Anthropological Institute, April 12. — F. W. Rudler, 

 F.G.S., vice-president, in the chair. — The election of Lieut. - 

 Col. R. G. VVoodthorpe,'R.IO., and of Thomas Vincent Holmes, 

 F.G..S., was announced. — Mr. Joseph Lucas read a paper on 

 the ethnologial relations of the Gypsies. In tracing back the 

 past history of the races described under the common name of 

 Gypsies we pass through two periods — the first historical, dating 

 from A.D. 1414 ; the second partly historical, partly inferential. 

 This older section formed the subject of Mr. Lucas's paper. The 

 author premised that linguistic evidence .shows that the various 

 tribe of Gypsie- now scattered over Europe can be referred to 

 several Eastern tribes from India to Persia. The investigation 

 dates back to archEeological times, especially in relation to the 

 worliing of metals and the presence of;a large number of pure 

 Sanscrit words in the language of European Gypsies, many of 

 which do not occur in Hindustani. The " archieological " sec- 

 tion embraces all that was not included under the several sections 

 — " The Gypsies in Egypt," " Gypsies among the Romans," or 

 "The Dark Ages"; but a good deal fi the evidence upon 

 which the archa:ological conclusions rest runs through those 

 several sections, as well as through sections specially devoted to 

 the names Zingdro and Rom. It will thus appear that the term 

 " Gy]>y ' is used by the author in the widest sense as meaning 

 "an Asiatic trilje which has wandered into Europe," though 

 strictly it should mean only those who came by way of Egypt. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, April 18. — M. Wurtz in the chair. — 

 The following papers were read : — Microscopic inscription of 

 movements observed in physiology, by M. Marey. The accu- 

 racy of the curves from M. Marey's instruments has been 

 doubted, on the ground that vibrations proper to the light lever 

 may be added to the physiological movement. He now removes 

 this objection by greatly diminishing the range and velocity of 

 the lever so as to give microscopic curves on smoked glass 

 (which is also moved more slowly). The inertia of the lever 

 becomes negligible. The curves, when examined in the micro- 

 scope or by projection, are found identical with the others. The 

 method gre.itly extends the field of phenomena that may be 

 registered, e.g. the vibrations of blood in the vessels, which give 

 a sound, produce a distinct microscopic trace. The portable 

 character of the apparatus is an advantage. — On the Eulerian 

 integral of the second species, by M. Gylden. — On the surface 

 of kummer with sixteen singular points, by M. Brioschi. — On 

 the action of heat on ammoniated bases, by M. Hofmann. — 

 Report on a memoir of M. Perisse, entitled " Causes which tend 



to warp the Girders of Iron Bridges, and Means of Calculating 

 these Girders for Resistance of Warping Forces." — On the 

 secondary battery of M. Faure, by M. Reynier. This is an im- 

 provement on M. Plante's. M. Faure quickly gives his couples a 

 power of almost unlimited accumulation by covering the lead elec- 

 trodes with a layer of spongy lead formed and retained thus: The 

 two sheets of lead are each covered with minium or other insoluble 

 oxide of lead, then with a felt envelope held by lead rivets. 

 They are then placed near each other (in spii-al, it may be) in 

 acidulated water. The electric current changes the minium to 

 peroxide on the positive electrode, and to reduced lead on the 

 negative. On discharging, the reduced lead is oxidised and the 

 peroxidised lead reduced. A quantity of energy capable of 

 giving I -horse power for one hour may be had with a Fau>e 

 battery of 75 ^Z- l^e battery, under certain condition-^, returns 

 80 per cent, of the work expended in charging it. — A letter from 

 Ampere to I.acroix was read. It was written w hen he was Pro- 

 fessor in the Lyceum of Lyons, and expresses his enthusiasm for 

 mathematical studies.— On the earthquake of Chio, by M. de 

 Pellissier, Consul-General at Smyrna. The amplitude of the 

 first oscillation, on the afternoon of April 3, was estimated to he 

 between 0'I5 m. and o'20 m. From then till the 5th 250 shocks 

 were felt, thirty or forty of which were capable of throwing • 

 down a solid wall. All the oscillations were in the direction 

 east to west. The Governor's palace, of very light construction, 

 but chained throughout at the level of each storey, resisted all 

 the shocks, while the wall inclosing the grounds, 070 m. thick, 

 was everywhere tlirown down. Smyrna has become a refuge 

 for the wounded. — On Fuchsian functions, by M. Poincare. — On 

 Abehan functions, by the same. — On a class of functions, the 

 logarithms of which are sums of Abelian intervals of the 

 first and third species, by M. Appell. — On the formulae 

 of representation of functions (continued), by M. Du Bois- 

 Reymond. — On stellar photography, by Prof. H. Draper. By 

 exposing 140 minutes in the telescope, he has succeeded in 

 photographing stars of magnitude 14"!, I4'2, and I4'7 (Poyson's 

 scale) in the nebula of Orion; the weakest is of the sixteenth 

 magnitude on Herschel's scale. The minimum of visibility for 

 the 9-inch telescope used has been thus nearly reached, and Prof. 

 Draper hopes soon to be able to go still further. The nebula 

 extends over a .surface about 15' in diameter. — Action of electro- 

 lysis on toluene, by M. Renard. — Structure and comparative 

 texture of the ink-bag in cephalopoda of the French coasts (con- 

 tinued), by M. Girod. The species observed were Sepia officinalis, 

 Loligo vulgaris, Sepiola Rondeleti, and Octopus vulgaris. — On the 

 large dunes of sand of the Sahara, by M. Rolland. These dunes 

 move toward the south-east, and the sum of sand is increased by 

 disaggregation of rocks ; but the movement and increase are 

 almost insensible in a generation. 



CONTENTS Page 



Scientific Worthies, XVII.— Robert Wilhelm Bunsen. By 



Vrai.'a..^.V.o^co-e.,V.V..'S,. (With Steet Plate Etip-aving) ... 507 



Japan «oo 



Our Book Shelf; — 



Habich's " Eludes geometriques et cinematiques " 603 



Carr's " Synopsis of Elementary Results in Pure and Applied 



Mathematics " ^3 



Keene's ■' Practical Fisherman " C03 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Movements of Leaves.— Charles Darwin, F R S .... 603 



Spectrum of the Star LI. 13412.— Prof Edward C. Pickering . fo4 



The Indian Winter Rains.— S. A. Hill 6o^ 



Pala:olithic M.in.— Worthington G. Smith 604 



Sound of the Aurora.— Dr. John Rae, F.R S. . 605 



The Scientific Principles Involved in Electric Lighting. 11. 



By Prof. W. Grvlls Adams, F.R. S «o5 



The French Association for the Advancement of Sciench at 



Algiers, II. By G. F. Rodwell fo6 



The Herring. By Prof Hcxlev, F.R S *07 



Notes *'3 



Chemical Notes *'5 



Physical Notes '''' 



The Development of Human Intelligence 6'7 



Abnormal Barometric Gradient between London and St. 

 Petersburg in the Sun-spot Cycle. By E. Douglas Archibald 



(With Chart) ^'^ 



Congress of the French Learned Societies 619 1 



University and Educational Intelltgbncr 619 



SoOFTTEs AND Academies *"> 



lk%% 



