2A6 



NA TURE 



yjan. 22, 1874 



eggs. It is thus larger than an ostrich egg, but much smaller 

 than the egg of the Epiomis, which is equal to 148 hen's eggs. — 

 Various plants and other specimens were presented. 



Vienna 



Imperial Academy of Sciences, Nov. 6. — Prof. Mach 

 presented a paper on pliysical experiments as to the sense of 

 equilibrium in man. P>om experiments on himself, he is led to 

 think that Flourens' turning phenomena, the orientation of 

 equilibrium and of motion, the phenomena of giddiness, certain 

 optical movements, &o., may be explained by supposing that the 

 nerves of the ampulla; of the semicircular canals respond to 

 every stimulus (which commonly involves a turning of the con- I 

 tents of the canal), with a sensation of turning. — Dr. Bone gave 

 results of 33 years' observations on the circumstances attracting 

 lightning strokes. He points out that the lightning often strikes 

 low objects, though higher may be nearer ; and he considers that 

 constancy of course, in thunder clouds (from presence of moun- 

 tain chains, &c.) and repeated discharges at particular points, 

 may afford an explanation, in the superior attraction, viz. of 

 subterranean masses of metal in certain regions. — Prof. Niem- 

 tschik made a conununication on the construction of an ellipse 

 inscribed in a circle, centre and tangent being given. 



Nov. 13. — Prof. Pfaundler described tl.ree forms of apparatus 

 he had devised for showing the composition of vibrations occur- 

 ring at right angles to each other. — M. Stefan gave a paper on 

 evaporation, examining theoretically the expernnents lately 

 described. From the formul.e of his dynamical theory of gases, 

 he calculates the mean courses of the vapour-molecules ol ether 

 and sulphuretted hydrogen from one collision to the next ; these 

 are 23 and 32 respectively, the millionth part of a millimetre 

 being taken as unit ; also, irom these, the diameter of the mole- 

 cules ; which are O'g and 07. 



Nov. 20. — M. Puschl presented a paper on the co-motion 

 (MillirLvegiiiig) of light in moved media. He states the following 

 conclusions : (i) Through participation of the ponderable atoms 

 in propagation of hght, the latter may, in various bodies, be 

 more or less retarded, but in no case is it considerably accelerated. 



(2) The specific refractive p?wer of a body is connected with 

 the substance of its atoms, and independent of its density, so long 

 as the internil nature of the atom substance remains the same. 



(3) The internal nature of atoms is modifiable through external 

 pressure, crystallisation, solution, mixture, and especially che- 

 mical action. (4) The ether waves sent out from substances 

 themselves are not produced immediately through the motions of 

 the atoms as a whole, but mediately, through corresponding dis- 

 turbances and concussions of the atom substance, which vibrates 

 in the periods natural to it, according to the specific elasticity and 

 the dimensions of the atoms. — Prof. Luess read a paper on the 

 earthquakes of Southern Italy. He specified some points, in 

 Sicily, and neighbouring islands, from which shocks spread 

 radially in various directions (Etna, however, not being one of 

 these centres) ; in other cases the earthquakes seemed to take a 

 quite irregular course. — Dr. Weiss made some observations 

 tending to identify the comet lately discovered by Coggia and 

 Winnecke with Comet 1818 I. — M. Payer presented some fossils 

 brought by the Weyprecht expedition from Spitzbergen. 



Boston, U.S. 

 Natural History Society, Nov. 19, 1S73.— Mr. F. W. 

 Putman gave an account of the anatomy of BdcUostonia, and 

 compared it with that of My.xiiie (known as hag-fish), illus- 

 trating his remarks with series of dissections, showing the brain, 

 skeleton, intestine, ovary, liver, heart, branchial sacs, &c. 

 Tticse two genera of fishes form the family of Myxinidtr, and 

 have similar habits and a very close external resemblance, 

 although they can be readily distingtushed by the number 

 and position of the brandial outlets, and by the posi- 

 tion of the (esophageal duct. Mr. Putnam said that his 

 dissections, though in great part repetitions of those of Miiller, 

 made over thirty years ago, showed conclusively the natural 

 separation of the genera by their internal structure. — Mr. L. S. 

 Burbank read a paper on tlie "Surface Geology of North Caro- 

 lina," with especial reference to some phenomena ot Northern 

 drift. From the facts noted the following inferences may be 

 drawn :— (i) The time which has elapsed since the close of the 

 drift period must be very short comjiared with the previous ages, 

 during which the solid ledges were disintegrated by chemical 

 and atmospheric agencies. 2) Boulders of the drift do not, in 

 general, owe their rounded fo.:us to attrition by glacial action, 



but, while still in place, assumed these forms by disintegration 

 and exfoliation. (3) Whatever the force or agency of the drilt 

 may have been, it did not jiroduce the great mass of the drill 

 material by mechanical action in wearing and grinding down 

 the solid rocks, but has merely carried forward and commingled 

 the materials already disintegrated. — The secretary read an 

 extract from a letter dated St. John's, Newfoundland, Nov. 10, 

 1873, from Mr. Alexander Murray, the geologist of Newfound- 

 land, to Professor Jules Marcou, giving an account of a remark- 

 able marine monster, which recently made its appearance off 

 the shores of that island, and of a severed arm or tentacle of 

 the same in his possession. The tentacle measured on October 

 31, having then been several days in strong brine and shrunk in 

 consequence, seventeen feet, but was said to have measured 

 nineteen feet previously. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, Jan. 12 — M. Bertrand in the chair. 

 — The following papers were read : — Tables of Jupiter, by M. 

 U. J. Leverrier. The author finds that the infiuencc of all the 

 small planets on Jupiter is inappreciable. — Third memoir on 

 chemical dynamics, by M. Becquerel. This paper dealt with 

 the action of water in chemical combinations and with the 

 effects of water and other liquids acting as electroHes. — On 

 the distribution of m.ignctism in soft iron, by M. Jamin. — On 

 the heat set free by the combination of nitrogen with ox\gen, by 

 M. Berthelot. — On the osteology of the anterior limbs of the 

 Oniil/tor/iyiiciis, &c., as compared with that of the corresponding 

 members of reptiles, birds, and mammalia, by M. Ch. Martins. — ■ 

 On the problem of three bodies, by M. F. Siacci. — Studies on 

 diffraction, by M. A. Cornu. The author gave a method for 

 the geometrical discussion of diffraction problems. — On the phy- 

 siology of the flight of birds in relation to the action of the wing 

 on the air, by M. Marey.— Organogenesis compared with andro- 

 genesis (raiidrxa) in its relation with natural affinities (class of 

 Criicifcnc), by M. Ad. Chatin. — On the transformation of the 

 vibroscope into a tonometer, and on its use for determining the 

 absolute number of vibrations, by M. A. Terquem. — On chloral 

 and its combinations with albuminous substances, by M. J. 

 Personne. — On an acoustic pyrometer, by M. J. Chautard. 

 This instrument depends on the variation of wave-length of a 

 sonorous wave when the vibrating air is heated. — On a re-agent 

 paper for detecting urea, by M. Musculus. — On the formation of 

 gum in fruit trees, by M. Ed. Prillieux. — Researches on the 

 glands of Rosa rtibiginosa and on their contents, by M. R. 

 Guerin. — On the geometrical properties of rational fractions, by 

 M. F. Lucas. — On theorems of indeterminate analysis, by Father 

 Pepm. — On the action of definite ternary systems compounded 

 of mannite, borax, and water on polarised light, by M. L. 

 Vignon. — On the artificial production of crystals of calcic oxalate 

 resembling those produced by plants, by M. Vesque. The 

 method consisted in causing solutions of potassic oxalate and 

 calcic chloride to mingle very slowly in a third neutral liquid by 

 causing them to flow through strips of blotting paper, or one 

 solution and the neutral liquid were mixed and the other intro- 

 duced in the same way, or the solutions were diffused into each 

 other through a dialyser. — Notes on the storms of the year 1S69, 

 by M. Fron. 



CONTENTS Page 



Science and Industry 217 



Belt's "Naturalist in Nicaragua." By A. R. Wallace, F.Z.S. 



(With niustratioKS) 218 



Pettigrew's Animal Locomotion. By A. H. Garrod 221 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Famine in India and Meteorology. — T. Logi.m, F.R.S. E. 



( With Illustrations) 222 



Dr. Tyndali and Sensitive Flames.— Prof. W. F. Barrett . . . 223 



The Potato Disease.— W. G. Smith, F,.L S =23 



On Diffraction Spectrum Photography, and the Determina- 

 tion OF the Wave-Lengths of the Ultra-Violet Rays. By 



Dr. H. Draper (W'/V/i/'/io/i{r^.///0 22+ 



The " BRONTOTHERID.C," a New Family of Fossil Mammals 



(With Illustrations) ; =27 



On THE Study of Natural History. By H. C. Sorbv, F.R.S- .. 228 



Trilouites 22S 



Notes 229 



New Remarks on THE Nature of the Chemical Elements, by 



M. Berthelot 231 



Science in Liege ... • . 232 



Scientific Serials . . 233 



Societies and Academies 234 



ratum. -Vol ix. p. 128, 1st col. line 35, for '* iS decrees " cad ' iSo 



