264 



NATURE 



[J I'' 16, 1908 



New South Wales. 

 Linnean Society, Mav 27. — Mr. J. H. Maiden, vice-presi- 

 dent, in the ch;iir. — The behaviour of Hy\a aurea to 

 strychnine : Dr. H. G. Chapman. The common ,'\us- 

 tralian frog Hyla aurea has been noted not infrequently 

 lo be much less susceptible to the poisonous alkaloid 

 strychnine than European frogs of the genus Rana. The 

 minimal lethal dose for various species of Rana has been 

 measured by numerous observers, and there seems to be 

 general agreement that it may be said to lie between 2 mg. 

 and 55 mg. per kilogram of body-weight. For Hyla 

 aurea the minimal lethal dose is 01 mg. per gram of body- 

 weight, and is somewhat higher in frogs collected in 

 winter than in those collected in summer, but is unaffected 

 by differences in sex. The receptive substance of the 

 muscles of Hyla aurea is sensitive to strychnine, so that 

 the frogs show, with appropriai:e doses, typical curare 

 paralysis. The prominence of this action produces a char- 

 acteristic type of poisoning in Hyla. — Notes from the 

 Botanic Gardens, .Sydney, No. 13 : j. H. Maiden and E. 

 Betche. The authors described several new species, new 

 varieties, new records for New South Wales, and new 

 localities, and made some remarks on notable plants. — 

 .\ contribution to our knowledge of Australian Hirudinea. 

 Part i. : E. J. Goddard. 



Calcutta. 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, June 3.— Tibetan charms 

 obtained by Lieut. -Colonel S. H. Godfrey in Ladakh, one 

 for chasing away evil spirits and the other for compelling 

 fortune : Dr. S. C. Vidyabhusana. These two charms are 

 printed from wood blocks, and used by people of Ladakh 

 Avho are entirely ignorant of the meaning of the writing 

 on them. The writing is Sanskrit in Tibetan characters. 

 — .-v. polyglot list of birds in Manchu, Chinese, and Turk! : 

 Dr. E. D. Ross. — Materials for a flora of the Malay 

 Peninsula, part No. 21 : Sir George King and J. S. 

 Gamble. The part contains the two families which com- 

 plete the GamopetaU-c, viz. No. 86, Gesneracea?, and 

 No. 90, Verbenacea-. A review of the former of these 

 families was published in 1905 by Mr. H. N. Ridley, 

 director of the Singapore Botanic Garden, in the Journal of 

 the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, but as the 

 form of that publication was not quite the same as has 

 been used by Sir G. King and his various helpers, 

 Mr. Ridley's, work has been revised by Mr. Gamble with 

 the help of Lieut. -Colonel D. Pra'in, of Kew. The 

 \'erbenaceae have been worked up by Mr. Gamble. Part 

 No. 21 also contains the addenda and corrigenda of the 

 Gamopetalje and the inde.K to vol. l.xxiv. — Note on the 

 peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) : Lieut. -Colonel D. C. 

 Philiott. — The use of the abacus in ancient India : E. R. 

 Kaye. Tylor. Woepcke, Rodel, Burnell, Bayley, and other 

 writers on Indian mathematics assume that the abacus was 

 in common use in ancient India, but they give no evidence 

 of such use. They, however, on this assumption build up 

 elaborate arguments to prove that our arithmetical notation 

 was invented in India, and incidentally that the Arabs owe 

 their arithmetic to the Hindus. .'\n examination of their 

 statements shows that their assumption is unwarranted, 

 and, indeed, that no evidence at all has yet been given 

 of the use of this instrument in ancient India. This, of 

 course, does not prove that the abacus was not used by 

 the early Hindus, and it is with the idea of eliciting 

 evidence on this point, if it exists, that this paper was 

 read. — Plea for an aquarium in Bengal : Rai Ram 

 Brahma Sanyai. The author advocates the establishment 

 of an aquarium at Puri.-'bhiefly for the study of economic 

 questions regarding the fisheries of the Bav of Bengal. — 

 A descriptive list of works on the Madhyami'ka philosophv : 

 Dr. S. C. Vidyabhusana. This paper gives a short 

 account of the Tibelan versions of twenty-seven works on the 

 Madhyamika philosophy, the Sanskrit originals of which, 

 with one exception, appear to have long been lost. The 

 Tibetan versions are included in the well-known collection 

 called the Tangyur, which the writer of the paper examined 

 while residing at the monastery of Labrang, in Sikkim, in 

 June, 1907. They include the works of Arva Nagarjunn, 

 Arya Deva, and Buddha Palita, besides those' of the teacher 



NO. 2020, VOL. 78] 



Bhavya, who criticised the contemporaneoi; systems. -of 

 Hindu philosophy, viz. the Voga, Samkhya, Vaisesika; 

 N'edanta, and .Mimamsa. These works, which have not 

 been noticed elsewhere, are very important, as thev throw 

 a good deal of light on the history of Indian philosophy. 

 — The mechanical, physical, and chemical theories of the 

 ancient Hindus, part i. : Principal B. N. Seal. A synoptic 

 view of the mechanical, physical, and chemical theories of 

 the ancient Hindus, based chiefly on the Vyasa Bhashya 

 or Patanjali's .Sutras, the Samhita of Charaka, the Bhashya 

 of Prasastapada, the \'artika of Udyotakara, and the 

 \'rihat Samhita of V'araha Mihira, which belonged to the 

 fourth, fifth, and sixth centuries of the Christian era. — 

 Geometrical theory of a plane non-cyclic arc, finite, as well 

 as infinitesimal : Prof. S. IVIuichopadhyaya. — A memoir 

 on the surgical instruments of the Hindus, with a com- 

 parative study of the instruments of Greek, Roman, Arab, 

 and modern European surgeons, part i. : Dr. G. N. 

 IVIuichopadhyaya. The author describes the surgical 

 instruments of the Hindus, and concludes that knowledge 

 of the kind was considerably more advanced among them 

 than previously held to be. — Rationalisation of algebraical 

 equations : Mahendranath De. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Experimental Entomology. By F. A, D 241 



Infinite Series. By G. B. M 242 



Studies in Education 242 



Elementary Electricity 243 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Knuth : " Handbook of Flower Pollination, based 

 upon Herman Midler's Work ' The Fertilisation of 



Flowers by Insects'" ... 244 



Tibbies : " The Theory of Ions : a Consideration of 



its Place in Biology and Therapeutics" . . . . 244 

 Rye : " The Libraries of London ; A Guide for 



Students " 244 



Letters to the Editor: — 



The Spectrum of Radium Emanation. — S'r William 



Fanrsay, K.C.B., F.R.S.,andA. T. Cameron 245 

 The Kinetic Energy of the Ions emitted by Hot 



Bodies. — Prof. O. W. Richardson 245 



Absorption of X-Rays. — Dr. C. G. Barkla and 



C. A. Sadler 245 



The Form of Birds' Egg. — A. R. Horwood . . . 246 



Lord Kelvin's P. ilosophy. — Dr. W. Peddie . . . . 246 

 The Magnetic Separation of Heavy Minerals in the 



Field. — J. D. Falconer 247 



The .'■ky Glows. — W. F, Denning 247 



A Remarkable Solar Halo. — Charles J. P. Cave . 247 

 Propns' d Admi.ssion of Women to the Fellowiship of 

 the Chemical Society. — Sir W. Ramsay, K.C.B., 



T^° ^ 247 



I.' -thorities. — Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S. 247 



The ^ ;e » the British Empire. (Illustyaled:) . . 248 

 The Secondary Oscillations of Oceanic Tides. 



(IlliislyalcJ.') 249 



Vestiges of Scales in the Fox 250 



Notes 251 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Saturn's Kings 255 



New Phoiograpliic Celestial Charts 255 



Double Stars 255 



The Albedoes of Jupiter's First and Third Satellites . 2i;5 



A Bright Meteor " 255 



Latitude Variation 255 



Archaeological Exploration in Guatemala. [Illits- 



tiated.) 256 



The New Buildings of the University of Leeds. By 



J. B. C 257 



A Cape Catalogue of Stars. By A. M. W. D. . . . 258 



University and Educational Intelligence 259 



Societies and Academies 260 



