516 



NA TURE 



\April 2f>, 1874 



Physical Society, April iS. — Dr. Gladstone.'F.R.S,, in the 

 chair. — Dr W. H. Stone read a paper On Wind Pressures in 

 the human chest during peiformance on wind instruments. The 

 author's object was to ascertain (i) what was the extreme height 

 of a column of water which could be supported by tlie muscular 

 act of expiration transmitted by the lips : this was found to be 

 about 6 It. ; and (2) what was the actual pressure corresponding 

 to the fidl production of a note on each of the principal wind 

 instruments. It was found that with the majority of wind instru- 

 ments the pressure required for the high notes is considerably 

 greater than that required for the low notes, each instrument 

 having a pressure-ratio of its own. The clarinet is an exception 

 to the rule. — Mr. Tribe illustrated by experiments the action of 

 hydrogen upon finely divided metals, such as are produced by 

 precipitation. 



Edinburgh 



Royal Physical Society, April 22. — R. Scot Skirving, 

 president, in the chair. — Recent Modes of determining the 

 Impurity of Milk, by J. Falconer King, City Analyst. The only 

 sure way to determine the quality of milk is to make a proper 

 and careful chemical analysis of it. — Additional Note on the 

 Suspension of Clay in Water, by Wm. Durham. Finely-pow- 

 dered silica was found to behave in a manner generally similar to 

 clay. Experiments seem to show that each solution has a 

 specific capacity of sustaining clay, and also that this capacity 

 varies in a specific manner according to the strength of the solu- 

 tion. — Note on the Formation of Boulder Clay, by D. J. Brown. 

 Mr. Brown advocated that the usually accepted theory of the 

 land origin of boulder clay would not explain the nature of this 

 remarkable deposit, and considered that it was formed at the line 

 of junction of the Arctic glacier with the sea. — On Fused Stones, 

 showing Columnar Structure from a Pictish Tower, by the Rev. 

 Jas. M. Joass, Golspie. The^e stones, in their columnar struc- 

 ture, illustrate, though on a small scale, an important geological 

 phenomenon. Th; instance usually cited in illustration of the 

 development of columnar struclure in a melted mass is that of 

 grain-tin, which forms rude columns on cooling. The author 

 ventures to think that these fused stones afford a new and rather 

 better illustration of the geological phenomenon, more closely 

 analogous to the case of lavas, inasmuch as we have, in fact, a 

 fused silicate, an artificial lava, forming columns the same in 

 character as those of the Giant's Causeway, Samson's Ribs, or 

 the pillars of Fingal's far-famed cave. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, April 20. — M. Eertrand in the chair. 

 — The following communications were read : — Letter relating to 

 a calculation, by Pouil!et, on the cooling of the nm's mass, by 

 M. Faye. The author showed that Pouillet's calculation tacitly 

 implied that the sun's mass was not susceptible of contracti n, 

 and again restated his belief that solar radiation is not maintained 

 by external causes, but is to be looked for in the formation of the 

 sun itself, and in the enormity of its mass. — Observations con- 

 cerning a communication, by M. Croce .Spinelli, on the lines 

 of aqueous vapour in the solar spectrum, a letter Irom P. Secchi 

 to the perpetual secretary. The author stated, that although the 

 elements of water would be dissociated at the high temperature 

 of the sun, their combination might take place in the ascending 

 currents accompanying spots and eruptions owing to the lowering 

 of temperature in these currents produced by expansion. — Tenth 

 memoir on the formation of various ciystalline substances in 

 capillary spaces, by M. Becquerel. — New researches on the 

 cyanogen serie.'j, by M. Beithelot. A continuation of this 

 author's valuable researches in thermo-chemis^ry. — fleat of for- 

 mation of the Cyanogen compounds, by M. Berthelot. — On 

 Phyroxera and the Ameiican vines at Roquemauie (Gard), a 

 no-e liy M. J. F. Planchon. — CoUimating level and its employ- 

 ment for loggy horizons, by -M. G. M. Goulier. — On Orometric 

 dials, si,ec'a':y applicab'e to pcckct barometers, by the same 

 aali.or. — On laital diiUrtiuial equations which can be 

 in e;iated williout arbitrary lunc'ions, by M. de Pistoye. — 

 O-.i t'.'O '■K'iii:iiijr 5;oin's" of algefr .ical [lane curves, by Mr. 

 Jia'ii'ei. — ! >pi ill-: role of salts in 1 he action of potable waters 

 en lead, ly M. Fcrdos. 1 he author recommended, as the re- 

 : tills of his experiments, the filtration of all water issuing from 

 lea hn conduits.— Mode of preservation of the wood employed in 

 l.arj;e manufactures and in lailways, by M. Hubert. The pre- 

 sjtvative is hjdrated ferric oxide. — On the ab.sorption of 

 oxygen ond the emission of carbonic acid by leaves kept in 

 <l»ri;iies.s, by MM. P. P. Dcherain and II. Moissan. The 



authors have proved that leaves kept in the dark give off a 

 quantity of CO; increasing with the temperature, that the 

 quantity of CO.j given off is comparable to that given off by 

 cold-blooded animals, that the leaves absorb more oxygen than 

 they give off CO.>, and that they continue to evolve CO., in an 

 atmosphere deprived of oxygen. — Facts concerning the vibra- 

 tion of the air in sonorous pipes, by M. E. Gripon. — On a new 

 thermo-electric pile, by M. C. C. Clamond. — On a volume 

 regulator for gas currents, by M. H. Giroud. — On tetra-iodide 

 of carbon, by M. G. Gustavson. This substance has been 

 obtained by the action of tetrachloride of carbon upon di- 

 aluminic hexiodide, according to the equation 3CI4 -1- 2AUI5 = 

 3CI4 ■\- 2Al2Cl„; the two substances being dissolved in carbon 

 disulphide. It was described as a red crystalline substance de- 

 composed by heating in the air into CO.> and free iodine. — New 

 researches on black phosphorus, by M. Biondlot. — Action of 

 pure hydrogen on silver nitiate, by M. H. Pellet. The 

 author stated that a neutral or slightly acid solution of 

 the salt is not reduced in the cold by pure hydrogen, and that 

 an alkaline solution is reduced in the cold to an extent propor- 

 tional to its alkalinity, elevation of temperature increasing the 

 reducing action. — Researches on soluble phosphates used in agri- 

 culture, by M. A. Millot. — On the direct determination of the 

 degree of intensity of explosive mixtures : application of the 

 method to gunpowders, by M. Chabrier. — Action of bromine on 

 dibromsuccinic acid ; tribromsuccinic acid, by M. E. Bourgoin. 

 The following substances are obtained by the action of bromine 

 and water on the acid : tribromsuccinic and dibrom-maleic acids 

 and dibrominated ethylene dibromide. — On the alcohols con- 

 tained in the acid liquors of starch manufactories and in the pro- 

 ducts of the butyric fermentation of glucose, by M. G. Bouchardat. 

 These are ethylic, normal propylic, and butylic alcohols. — On the 

 determination of alcohol in water, wines and saccharine liquors, by 

 M. Salleron. — General method for the transformation of alcohols 

 into nitric ethers, by M. P. Champion. The reagent employed is 

 nitro-sulphuric acid. — On phenyl-allyl, by M. B. Radziszewski. 

 — On pyrogallol in presence of iron salts, by M. E. Jacquemin. 

 — On the colouring matter of wine, by M. E. Iluclaux. — On the 

 volatile acids of wine, by the same author. — Movements excited 

 in the stamens of Ulahonia and Berlhiis ; anatomical conditions 

 of this movement, by M. E. Ileckel. — On the direction of the 

 wind in the high and low (atmospheric) regions during the storm 

 of April 13, 1S74, by M. Chapelas. — During the meeting a com- 

 mission was appointed to prepare a list of candidates for the 

 vacancy of foreign associate caused by the death of M. De la 

 Rive. 



BOOKS RECEIVED 



English.— Handbook of Practical Telegraphy. 6th edit. : R. S. Culley 

 (Lonemans).-Ment.al Physiology : W. B. Carpenter (H. S. King & Co.).— 

 The Design and Construction of Harbours : Thos. Stevenson (A & C. Black). 

 —Our Inheritance in the Great Pyramid : C. Piazzi Smyth (Isbister & Co.). 

 -Longevity: John Gardner (H. S. King & Co.).— The New Chemistry : 

 Josiah P. Cooke (H. S King & Co.). — Hydrostatics and Pneumatics: Lardner 

 and Loewy (Lockwood).— Geology of Suffolk : J. R Taylor (While).— The 

 Universe and the Coming Transits: R. A. Proctor (Longmans) —Haydn's 

 Dictionary of Dates. 14th edit. : B. Vincent (Moxon). 



CONTENTS Pac. 



The French AssociATio.N FOR THE Advancement OF Science . . 497 



North American Birds 498 



Our Book Shelf 493 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Herbert Spencer and ,l/rim Axiom' — Robert B. Havward : A 



Senior Wrangler ; (Quarterly Reviewer 499 



Lakes with two Outfalls.— George Greenwood ; Hugh Miller . 500 



Trees " Pierced " by other Trees 501 



Prof. Tait on " Cram " 501 



The Soiree of THE Royal Society 502 



The Lectures AT the Zoological SoctErv's Gakdf.ns, II. . . . 503 

 The Fi uctuations of the A.^IEKICAN Lakes and the Devllop- 

 MKNT of Sun-Si'ots. Bi y G. M. Dawson, Geologist to the 



B.N.A. Boundary Commission. {lV:l/i Dii^sram) 504 



Polarisation of Light, VIII. By W. Spottiswoode, Trcas. R.S. 



{HVM Illustrations) 507 



Flowers of THE Primrose destroyed DY Birds 509 



John Phillips 510 



Notes 511 



On the Refraction of Sound. By Prof. Osborne Reynolds . . . 513 



Scientific Serials 514 



.Societies and Academies 514 



