214 



NA TURE 



\Jan. 15, 1874 



Self-Culture, Intellectual, Moral, and Physical, a Vade-mecum 

 for Young Men and Students "(Edinburgh: Edmonston and 

 Douglas), contains many old and valuable truths forcibly 

 expressed, and is calculated, we believe, to benefit the class for 

 whom it is intended. — "Darwinism and Design; or, Creation 

 by Evolution" (Hodder and Stoughton), is an attempt to show 

 that although "Evolution is true, the Design argument remains 

 unshaken ;" that indeed "Evolution is the method of Creation." 

 — " From January to December ; a book for Children " (Long- 

 mans), is a miscellany consisting of stories, poems, papers on 

 natural history, &c., arranged, for no reason that we can see, 

 under the twelve months of the year. We fear even grown-up 

 children will find the visits to Kew, the Zoological Gardens, and 

 other papers, dull ; besides, it is a great blunder to send forth 

 a book like this without a single illustration. — "The Alps of 

 Arabia ; Travels in Egypt, Sinai, Arabia, and the Holy Land,'' 

 by William Charles Vaughan (King and Co.), goes over well- 

 trodden ground, and tells us nothing new ; though those who 

 contemplate a similar journey will find the bock u eful, fresh, and 

 interesting. — " The Expanse of Heaven ; a Series of Essays on 

 the Wonders of the Firmament," by R. A. Proctor, B.A. 

 (King and Co.), is sufficiently described by its title. 



"Geological Sketch of the Province of Cadiz," by J. 

 McPherson, is an abstract of a similar work written by the 

 author in Spanish, and is printed at Cadiz. It is a valuable 

 study of the subject, and is illustrated by well-executed maps and 

 sections. 



We take the following from Ocean Highways: — Captain 

 Heaviside, R.E., of the Great Trigonometrical Survey of India, 

 is completing the work of Captain Basevi by forming a base 

 station for the India pendulum operations, at the Kew Observa- 

 tory. With this object he is now engaged in swinging Captain 

 Kater's original convertible pendulum ; and a re-measurement of 

 its length will be undertaken probably at the Ordnance Survey 

 Office at Southampton, by Colonel Clarke, the highest authority 

 in England, and probably in Europe, as regards the measure- 

 ment of standards. 



The Dublin College of Physicians, the Lancd says, has 

 opened its portals to female aspirants for its degrees, a lady 

 holding the M.D. of Zurich having been exempted from the first 

 half of the examination for the L.K.Q.C.P. The College is also 

 said to be willing to confer its midwifery diploma on aU ladies 

 who may, under certain regulations, apply for it. 



We have received an Italian publication by A. Manzone, on 

 the fossils of Monte Titano in the republic of San Marino, their 

 age and mode of origin. It is published at Florence by G. 

 Barbara. 



The principal papers in the last number of Petermann's 

 Mittheilungen are, a Memoir of Colonel Eemel von Sydow 

 a long account, by Prof Nordenskiold, of the Swedish 

 Expedition to the North-east of Spitzbergen, from April 24 

 to June 15, of last year, an account of the Exploration 

 of North-west Texas, by an expedition sent out in 1872 by the 

 Texas Land and Copper Association, and a summary of the 

 work of the Challenger Expedition in the North Atlantic. The 

 last two are illustrated by well executed maps. 



The additions to the Zoological Society Gardens during the 

 past week include a Lioness [Fclis Ico) from Kattywar, presented 

 by Mr. J. Humfrey, of the Bombay Staff Corps ; three common 

 Marmosets {Hepak jacchns) from S.E. Brazil, presented by Le 

 Chevalier d' Albuquerque ; a Crested Ground Parrakeet (Crt/o- 

 psitla nrn'tr-Zwllanditc) from Australia, presented by Vice- Admiral 

 Wallis Houston ; and a Drill {Cynocep/ialus cncophaiis) from W. 

 Africa, purchased. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The Monthly Microscopical jfournal, for tliis month, contains 

 four papers, besides the notes, record of the progress of Micro- 

 scopical Science and the Proceedings of the Royal Microscopical 

 Society.— Mr. S. J. Mclntire, in Notes on so called Acarelliis, 

 discusses the point whether the specimens described and named 

 A. miisciv and A. piilicis, by Mr. Tatem, are related 10 a form 

 known by him as a parasite on Obishim, and elsewhere ; and 

 whether it is one of the early forms of Gainasus, as 

 thought by Mr. Tatem and Dujardin, though not by himself. 

 — A second paper by Mr. W. H. Dallinger and Dr. J. 

 Drysdale, contains further researches into the life-histoiy of 

 the Monads. The importance of prolonged study of the same 

 form is insisted on, and this shows that the method of multiplica- 

 tion is not, as generally supposed, entirely by fission, but some- 

 times by an absorption into one of two individuals, the resulting 

 mass clearing like an ovum, and giving rise, somewhat as in Grega- 

 rina, to a multitude of new individuals. Sometimes more than 

 two, as many as four or six, were observed to unite. — Prof. E. 

 Hull describes the microscopic structure of a granitoid quarlz- 

 porphyry from Galvvay, in which "the silica has consolidated 

 into individual sub-crystalline grains before the other mine- 

 rals, whereas in all true granites the silica has been the last to 

 consolidate. The presence of aqueous (?) vapour during the 

 consolidation of this rock is shown by the existence of numerous 

 fluid cavities, and is another feature in which it resembles true 

 granites." — Mr. G. W. Morehouse's paper on the structure of 

 the scales of Lepisma saccharine, is reprinted from the American 

 Naturalist. 



PoggcndorJ's Annalen der Physik und Cheniie, No. 8, 1873. 

 —In this number, M. Riess criticises four different methods for 

 determining the duration of discharge of a Leyden battery ; 

 that of Wheatstone, with rotating mirror ; that of Lucas and 

 Cazin, with rotating slitted disc ; the electrical thermometer ; 

 and the electro-dynamometer. He shows, from experiments 

 with the first two, that the light-duration of the spark consists of 

 two time-parts ; the discharge-time of the battery, and the dura- 

 tion of the afterglow of particles of metal present in the spark. 

 These two parts vary, sometimes in the same direction, some- 

 times in opposite directions. Thus the duration of the discharge 

 and the luminous duration of the discharge-spark stand in no 

 fixed relation to each other. — In a paper on polarisation of elec- 

 trodes in the voltaic arc, M. Herwig obtains results different 

 from those of Grove on the same subject. His final mode of 

 experiment was with a ball of pure silver as one electrode, and a 

 plate of copper as the other ; the ball being moved from point 

 to point over the plate. Only the silver was here pulverised 

 and any repeated action on what of it passed to the plate was 

 prevented. M. Herwig found that the waste of silver was not 

 even remotely equivalent to the quantity of hydrogen developed 

 in the voltameter. — Dr. Rink has a paper on the velocity of 

 sound, in whicli he raises some objections to the conclusion to 

 which M. Regnault was led by experiments with the gas and 

 water pipes of Paris, viz., that the velocity of sound is dependent 

 on its intensity, and that a weak wave is jiropagated less quickly 

 than a strong one. — A lengthy article by M. Riecke treats of the 

 magnetisation of soft iron. He gives experimental determina- 

 tions of the functionr. of magnetisation for different kinds 

 of iron (by which is meant the induced magnetic mo- 

 ment divided by the magnetising force). — In a note on the 

 relations between capillary and electric phenomena, M. G. 

 Lippmann describes a capillary electrometer and an electro-capil- 

 lary motor (with illustrations). In the latter, two bundles of fine 

 glass tubes, dipping in separate vessels of mercury, are moved 

 up and down alternately through the changes of form the mer- 

 cury surface undergoes from polarisation with a galvanic current; 

 and this motion is converted into rotary by a system of levers. — 

 M. Bergh proposes an application of solar heat as a motor force, 

 — vaporising sulphurous acid contained in vessels on the roof of 

 a workshop. He would add to the solar machine, Natterer's 

 apparatus for condensing carbonic acid ; the force thus stored 

 up might be used when solar heat was deficient. — M. Leyser de- 

 scribes a new form of Holtz's machine ; and among the remaining 

 subjects treated in this number are, heat relations and decom- 

 positions in solution of mixed salts in water (Winckclmann), 

 absorption of heat Ijy pulverised carbon (Vierordt), determina- 

 tion of the relation of specific heat to the velocity of cooling of 

 certain gases( Kohlrauscb). 



