356 



NA TURE 



{Mar. 5, 1874 



on respiration, by introducing some volatile substances into 

 the air passages under the larynx. When chloroform is in- 

 haled through a tracheal canula (the mucous membrane of 

 the nose being guarded against it;; action), there is acceleration 

 and shallowing ( Vtrflackuitg) of the respiratory movements, with 

 low position ol the diaphragm, and, sometimes, entire stoppage 

 in the position of inspiration. Ether, benzine, and oil of mustard 

 have a similar, ihough less, effect. Section of the vagi at the 

 neck shows thai these chan.es depend on reflex action of the 

 vagi. The v.ipour of a strong solution of ammonia produces 

 great change in the respiration, ofren lasting several minutes, and 

 varying bet>»een a retarding and deepening effect, with long 

 stopi'age in position of expiration, and retardation and shallow- 

 ing in position ot inspiration. This also is due to reflex action 

 through the vagi. Inhalation of pure carbonic acid through tlie 

 tracheal canuU produces, both when the vagi are cut and uncut, 

 first, a moderate acceleration, then a considerable retardation of 

 the resf ir.iiory movements. No phenomen>»n occurs which can 

 he explained by a direct stimulation of the vagi by theCno- — Dr. 

 Fitzingrr communicated a paper on the species of ihc f;imily of 

 dcers {Ceni) acc"rding to their natural relations. He enumerates 

 twenty ditterent >pecies. four of which he has himself intioduced, 

 VIZ, atrongyloccros, Elaphocrros, Doryceros, and Nanrtaphus. 

 To Wagner's species Macrotis and Furcifer, he gives the names 

 Otdnplins and Creagrocerus, the two former names having had a 

 previous application in zoology. Dr. Schenck presented a note 

 on the e^igs of Raja qiiadrimaciilata within the oviduct ; de.-crib- 

 iiig the siruciure of the shell, and the development of the 

 embryo. — Urs. Nowak and Kratschmer made a commuiiicati.m 

 on phosphoric acid as a re-agent with alkaloids. They nnd that 

 it gives, with several alkaloids, peculiar colour-reactions, in some 

 of which cliaracteristic reactions of smell are developed. In 

 both respects it pr sents some advantages over ihe similarly- 

 acting iulphuric acid It is specially preferable to this in de- 

 termination ol atropia, for reasons which the authors give. 



rHIL.\DELrHIA 



Academy of Natural Sciences, Oct. 7, 1S73.— Dr. 

 i<u>chenbrrger, president, in the chair. — " Law of Seed Germi- 

 .lation in Swamp Plants." Mr. Thomas Meehan said that it 

 A-as an err »r to suppose that Nature placed trees in places the 

 best suited to their growth. Almost all of our swamp trees 

 grew muca better when they could get into dryer places, if in 

 ordinary good limt. He referred among others to Maguoha 

 Jauca, Acer rubrum, Celds occideiilalis. Ilex opaca, Ciiprcuus 

 chamacyparis, Cephalanthus occidentalis, Salix babylonica, espe- 

 cially as, within his own repeated observations, growing better 

 out of swamps than in them. Why it was that they grew in 

 swamps was no enigma to those in the habit of raising forest 

 trees from seed. It was found that seeds of these trees would 

 only germinate in damp places, and, of course, in a state of 

 nature the tree had to remain in the place where the seed germi- 

 nated. He thought the principle taught that plants required 

 water to grow well was true only in so far as a humid condition 

 of the soil was concerned. Plants as a general thing, though 

 they were of the class known especially as water plants, pre- 

 ferred to gro* out of the water, except in those which grew 

 almost entirely beneath the surface. As was well known, the 

 TaxodiuiH disticlium in the southern swamps sent up "knees" 

 from various poinis as the roots extended, often as large as old- 

 fashioned be -hives, and several feet above the surface. 



Oct. 21. — Dr. Ruschenbtrger, president, in the chair. — 

 " Stibiaferrise, a new Mineral from Santa Clara County, Cali- 

 fornia," by E. Goldsmith. 



Oct. 28. — Dr. Ruschenberger, president, in the chair. — 'I'he 

 following paper was presented for publication: — "Descriptions 

 of Mexican Ichneumonida;," by C. T. Cresson. 



Nov. 18. — Mr. Vau.\, vice-president, in the chair. — The fol- 

 lo-.ving papers were presented for publication: — "On the Ho- 

 mologies and origin of the Types of Molar Teeth in Mammalia 

 Educabilia," by V.. L;. Cope; " Contribution to the Ichtliyology 

 of Alaska," by E. D. Cope. Prof. Cope remarked that he had 

 observed in the Rocky jlountain region circles of stones ar- 

 ranged by human liands, in countries not now inhabited by the 

 Indians. One ot these is in South-western Wyoming near South 

 Bitter Creek, inside the liorseshoe of the Mammoth Buttes. 

 The locality is a very barren one, and could hardly be regarded 

 as a camping-ground. The circle consists of three uninterrupted 

 concentric rings close together, the hole having a diameter of 

 about 1 5 ft. The stones are of moderate size, composed of 



a dark silex, and evidently derived from the drift material 

 brought down from the Uinta Mountains, which is found on the 

 snmmits of the bad-land mesas. Five or six miles from this 

 place was found a flint factory with numerous implements and 

 cores. Two" other circle- were observed, in Colorado, about 

 a hundred miles east of Long's Peak, and about five miles from 

 a spring in a well-grassed country. The locality is unsuitable for 

 a camp, in consequence m the remo'cness of wood and water. 

 The country is not inhabited by Indians, the nearest, a temporary 

 camp, lor travelling Chejennes, Sioux, &c., being forty miles 

 distant. 



Nov. 25. — Dr. Ruschenberger, president, in the chair. — -The 

 following paper was presented for publication: — "Description 

 of Seven New Species ot Uniomdie of the United States," by 

 Isaac Lea. The committees to which were referred the follow- 

 ing papers : — " On the Homologies and Origin of the Types of 

 Molar Teeth in Mammalia Educabilia," by Edward D. Cope ; 

 and " Contributions to the Ichthyology of Alaska," by Edward 

 D. Cope," reported in favour of their publication in the Jountal. 

 — Disposition of the flexor perforans. Flexor longus hallucis, and 

 Flexor accessorius in Faradoxurus musanga Gray, by Dr. H. C. 

 Chopman. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, Feb. 23. — M. Bertrand in the chair. 



The following communications were made: — On the undu- 

 latory movement of a train of wagons due to a shock, by M. H. 

 Res..l. — On the acid waters which rise in the Cordilleras, by M. 

 Boussingault. — Determination of vapour densities, by H. Sainte- 

 Claire Deville. The author criticised the apparatus for the de- 

 termination of vapour densities, recently devised by AL Croulle- 

 bois. — M. Dumas communicated a note on a process invented by 

 Dulong for taking vapour densities. — Observations concerning 

 the last communication by M. Clausius, on the equation 



// Q 

 -Tfr = o, by M. A. Ledieu. — M. Milne-Edwards gave news 



of I'Abbe A. David, now travelling in Western China, and pre- 

 sented, on the part ol this naturalist, a note containing descriptions 

 of several new birds — Memoir on the swim-bladder from the 

 point of view of station (sltilion) and locomotion, by M. A. 

 Moreau. The author described some experiments made 

 upon a perch [Perea fluvialis). — Organogenesis compared 

 with Androgenesis in its relations to natural affinities (Class 

 CEiiotheruuc), by M. A. Chatin. — On a new mode of ramifica- 

 tion observed in plants 01 the family of the Umbeliiferte, 

 by M. D. Clos.— Ooservations relative to a recent memoir 

 by M. Helmholtz upon "Aerial Navigation," by M. W. 

 dc Fonvielle. On the lines which are doubly tangential, to the 

 "surface lieu" of the centres of curvatures of a surface of the 

 second order, by M.Laguerre. — On the permanent magnetism 

 ol steel, by M. E. Bouty. — Note on the distribution and deter- 

 mination of thallium, by Mr. T. L. Phipson. — On the presence 

 of metallic silver in gallena, by the same author. — Anatomical 

 researches on rickets of the vertebral column," by M. Ch. 

 Robin. — Geological sketch of the Isle of Pros, by M. H. 

 Gorcci.\. — On a new apparatus for registering the direction of 

 clouds, by M. H. de Parville. — On three new human skele- 

 tons discovered in the caves of Menton, and on the disappearance 

 of chipped flints and their replacement by sandstone and lime- 

 stone instruments, by M. E. Riviere. — On pine-culture in Central 

 France, by M. de Behague. 



CONTENTS Page 



Prof. Huxley at Aberdeen 337 



Post-Tertiakv Geologv, 11. By .'\. H. Green 339 



ScHweiNFi RTn's " Heart OF Afkica " 340 



Our Book Shelf 342 



On 3. Proposed Statistical Scale. — F. Galto.v 342 



Simultaneous Meteorological Observations. — A. BucHAN .... 343 



The Limits of the Gulf-stream.— Wm. W. Kiddle 343 



A Lecture E.\periment.—C. J. Woodward 344 



Ihe " Treasury of Botany " — T. Moore 344 



Ihe Moons of Uranus 344 



M EN OF Science, their Nature and their Nurture. By Francis 



Galton, F R.S 344 



Influence OF Geological Changes ON .THE Earth's Rotation 



By Prof Sir Wm Thomson, F.R.S. . 34s 



OiisERVATloNS OF Maximum and Minimum Sea-Temperatckes by 



Continuous Immersion. By T. Stevenson (With lUustralioiU). 346 



Ozone 1. By Dr. Andrews, F.K.S. (*ri"M ///;«/«!.'/««) .... 347 



Notes 349 



Scientific Serials 352 



Societies and Academies 352 



