136 



NA TURE 



{Dec. 18, 1873 



gical nature, and whether or not they admitted of so favourable 

 a solution was questionable. In any case, the author would 

 suggest tliat, the one favourable solution admitted, it might be 

 desirable, in a question involving so many and such great inte- 

 rests, not to acce])t an adverse verdict without giving all those 

 considerations the attention and deliberation which the import- 

 ance of the subject deserved. Granting the possibility of the 

 work in a geological point of view, there were great and for- 

 midable engineering difficulties ; but the vast progress made in 

 engineering science during the last half ccntui-y, led the author 

 to imagine that they would not prove insurmountable, if the 

 necessity for such a work were to arise, and the cost were not 

 a bar. 



Royal Astronomical Society, Dec. 14. — Prof Cayley, 

 president, in the chair. — Prof Prit chard gave a verbal ac- 

 count of the Physical Observatory about to be established 

 at Oxford. He said that the University authorities had 

 been induced to grant a site for a physical observatory in 

 the noble park of sixty acres, which they had recently thrown 

 open to the public. He had been anxious that such a site should 

 not be disgraced by an unsightly building such as observatories 

 usually were. He found himself fortunately situated in having 

 amongst his old pupils Mr. Barry, the well-known architect, 

 who had furnished them with a design which he showed to the 

 meeting, and had devised, amongst other things, a dome with a 

 fine broad sliutter, which he trusted would be really ornamental 

 as well as useful. There would be a central tower of three 

 rooms, one above the other ; the basement room would be used 

 for storage ; above would be the professor's room ; and in the 

 floor above that would be mounted the noble reflector which 

 had been presented to the University by Dr. De La Rue. In a 

 side wing there would be a transit instrument to be used for edu- 

 cational purposes, and another telescope which he hoped would 

 be well worked by members of the University. Mr. Barry 

 informed the society that their new rooms at Burlington 

 House would probaljly be ready by the middle of April. — 

 Capt. Noble mentioned to the society that in the new volume of 

 the A^anlical Almanac (ox iSyy tables of Uranus were given, 

 but it was no credit to England that we should have been kept 

 waiting for them until they were presented to us from across the 

 Atlantic by the labour of Prof. Simon Newcomb. 



Entomological Society, Dec. i.— H. T. Stainton, F.L.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair. — Mr. Bond exhibited a hybrid 

 specimen between Closta-a curtiila and C. mliisa partaking of 

 the characters of both parents. — Mr. Jenner Weir exhil)ited spe- 

 cimens of a minute Ilymenopterous insect (a species of Pscn), 

 which he had observed in large numbers (probably 1 50) in June 

 last on a pear leaf at Lewes. They had congregated together 

 on the surface of the leaf like a swarm of bees, though it was not 

 apparent what motive brought them together. — Mr. Dunning 

 read extracts from a letter from New Zealand stating that the red 

 clover had been introduced into that colony, but that they had 

 no humble bees to fertilise the plant. Also that certain Lepi- 

 dopterous insects had been accidentally imported into the islands, 

 but that the corresponding Ichneumon flies were wanted to keep 

 down their numbers. It was suggested that the nests of humble 

 bees might be imported, when the bees were in a dormant con- 

 dition, keeping them in that state (by means of ice) during the 

 voyage. — Mr. Baly communicated a paper on the Phytophagous 

 Coleoptera of Japan, being a continuation of a former paper on 

 the same subject. — Mr. Bates communicated a supplementary 

 paper on the Longicom Beetles recently brought from Chontales, 

 Nicaragua, by Mr Thomas Belt. — Mr. W. H. Miskin, of 

 Queensland, communicated criticisms on Mr. Masters' Catalogue 

 of the described species of Diurnal Lepidoptera of Australia. — 

 A fourth portion of the catalogue of British Insects, now being 

 published by the society, was on the table. It contained the 

 Hymenoptera {Oxyura), by Rev. T. A. Marshall, M.A. 



Paris 

 Academy of ' Sciences, Dec. 8. — M. de Quatrefages, 

 president, in the chair. — The president announced the death of 

 M. CI. Gay, member of the Botanical Section ; and the Perpetual 

 Secretary also announced the death of the well-known mineralo. 

 gist, C. F. Naumann, CoiTcsponding Member of the Mineralo- 

 gical Section. — The following jxapers were read : — An answer to 

 M. Pasteur's paper on the origin of beer yeast, by M. A. Trccul. 

 The author contradicted M. Pasteur's statement that the develop- 

 ment of Piiicilliuiji fiiaiiiiii:: from putrid yeast was an admitted 

 f ict. On the contrary, it had been observed to develop itself 



from perfectly healthy yeast. — On the vitreous substances 

 found included in Santorin lava, by M. F. Fouque. — On 

 the determination of the ratio of two specific heats by the com- 

 pression of a limited volume of gas, by M. E. H. Amgat. — On 

 the distribution of the neolithic populations in the department 

 of the Oise, by M. K. Guerin. — On the habits oi X\iz Phylloxera 

 (continued), by M. Max. Comu. — A further notice on the con- 

 nection of storms and sunspots as observed at Paris and Fecamp 

 was received from M. Poey. — Preliminary note on the elements 

 existing in the sun, by Mr. Norman Lockyer. M. Berthelot 

 then criticised the paper. He held that the phenomena of 

 specific heat, &c., indicated that the elements, so-called, were 

 on a very different basis from the compounds, and that the 

 phenomena they presented in this respect could not be ex- 

 plained if they were not regarded as actually simple bodies. M. 

 Dumas thought that, as he had himself maintained before 

 the Academy, elements ought only to be regarded as ele- 

 ments in relation to human experience and not as abso- 

 lute elements, a fact which he considered Lavoisier to have 

 established. He considered that modern experiments tended to 

 confirm this opinion. — Note on the identity of Cauchy's formula; 

 for the determitiation of the conditions of convergence ot La- 

 grange's series with those given by Lagrange himself, by M. L. F. 

 Menabrt'a. — On the November meteors, by M. Wolf — Note on 

 Faye's periodic comet and on the discovery and observations of 

 twenty nebula: made at the Marsedles observatory, by M. E. 

 Stephan. — On the movement of an elastic wire one end of which 

 has a vibratory motion, by M. E. Mercadier. — Observations on 

 the action of certain poisons on sea fish, by MM. A. Rabuteau 

 and F. Papillon. — On the embryo cell of the egg of osseous fish, 

 by M. Balbiani. — On the age of the dental follicle in the mam- 

 vtifera-, by MM. E. Magitot and Ch. Legros. — On the use of 

 electrical cauterisation in suigical operations, by MM. Ch. Legros 

 and Onimus. — On the Ostrceacious marl of Fresnes-les-Rungis 

 (Seine), by M. Stan. Meunier. — Note on a meteor observed at 

 Versailles on Dec. 3, by M. Martin de Brettes. — New analysis 

 of the water of .St. Thicbaut's fountain at Nancy, by M. P. Guyot. 

 — Studies on certain combustibles from the basin of Donetz and 

 Toula, Russia, by MM. Scheurer-Kestner and Meunier-DoUfus. 



BOOKS RECEIVED 



English.— Guide to Latin Prose: R. M. Millington (Relfe).— Wild 

 Animals: Wolf (Macmillan & Co.). — Problems of Life and Mind: George 

 Henry Lewes (Triibner & Co ).— Theory of Attraction. 2 vols. : Tod- 

 hunter (Macmillan & Co.).— The Borderland of Science : R. A. Proctor 

 (Smith, Elder & Co,). — Memoir of IMary Somerville : Martha Somer- 

 ville (John Murray). — Manual of Comparative Anatomy and Physiology : 

 J. M. Bradley (Simpkin and Marshall).— The River Amazon : H. W Bates 

 (John Murray). — The Chase: Somerville (W. Tegg). — Virgil's Eclogues. 

 Translated : Millington (Longmans). — Quantitative Chemical Analysis. 6th 

 edition: Fresenius (Churchill). — Nautical Almanac, 1877 (John Murray). — 

 The Simplicity of Life : Dr. Ralph Richardson (H. K. Lewis). — Introduction 

 to Quaternions : Kelland and Tait (Macmillaa) — Free-thinking and Plain 

 Speaking : Leslie Stephens (Longmans). — United States Geological Survey. 

 6lh .Annual Report : F. W. Haydyn (Trubner & Co.) — Har\'est of the Sea : 

 Bertram (John Murray).— Mountain, Meadow, and Mere : G. C. Davics 

 (H. S. King&Co.). — Legal Handbook for Architects ; Jenkins and Raymond 

 (H. S. King & Co.).— The Conservation of Energy: Balfour Stewart (H. S. 

 King & Co.).— Telegraphic Journal, vol. i. (Gillman). — Primer of Geology : 

 A Geikie (Macmillan & Co.).— Darwinism and Design : G. St, Claire(Hodder 

 & Stoughton). — From January to December (Longmans). — Pheasants for 

 Coverts and Aviaries : W. B. Tegetmeier (Horace Cox). 



CONTENTS Pace 



The Transit OF Venus Expeditions, 117 



Ellis's Life OF Count RuMFOKD. By W. M. Williams, F.C.S, . 117 



Garrett's Fishes of the Pacific 120 



Our Book Shelf ,20 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Prof. Agasslz.-Sir P. DeM. Grey Egerton, Bart., F.R.S. . . 121 



E.xperiments on Frogs 121 



Proposed Alterations in the Medical Curriculum. — Prof. H. Bal- 

 four, F.R.S 121 



Ancient Egyptian Balances. — H. W. Chisholm, Warden of the 



Standards {It^'it/i Illustration) "122 



Slalagmitic Deposits. — J. CuRRV 122 



Shooting-stars in the Red Sea. — Dr. A. B. Meyer 123 



Cuckoos 123 



Astronomical Almanacs 123 



UN THE Secondary Waves in the Sphvgmograph Trace {H'ith 



Illustrations) 125 



Polarisation of Light. By W. Spottiswoode. Treas. R.S. (IVith 



1 llttstratioHs) 127 



The Royal Society 129 



Notes 130 



Effects OF Alcohol ON Warm-Blooded Animals. By Prof. Binz 132 



Societies and Academies 133 



Books Rbckivkh 136 



