May 28, 1874] 



NATURE 



75 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The Ciopof/iitiil Maiiaziiu; Way. — The principal article in 

 his number is a translation liy Col. Yule, C.B., of some of 

 the notes appended to the Rufsian edition of his " Essay on the 

 Oxus," by the late Alexis Fedcherko ; they are e.Ntremely in- 

 teresting. — Wr. E. D. Morgan contributes a paper on the new 

 Russian province of Amu Daria, which is accompanied by a 

 map. — Mr. E G. Ravenslein's paper On the Viti or Fiji 

 Islands, wiih tie excellent map which accompanies it, will be 

 very acceptable to many at the present time. — The number con- 

 tains aveiy curious and inlerestini; paper purporting to be the 

 autobiograj-hy of a slave, under the title of My parentage and 

 early career as a slave. 



1 HE Gtologual Maga:^inc for May, ccntains the following 

 original articles : — The shell-bearing gravels near Dublin, by the 

 Rev. Ma.wvell Close, F.G.S. ; On some new Devonian fossils, 

 by Prof. H. Allejne Nichol.'on, F. R.S.E. ; On the substitution 

 of zinc for magnesium, by E. T. Hardman, F.R. G.S.I. ; The 

 volcanic history of Ireland — addiess to the Royal Geological 

 Society of Ireland, by Prof. Hull, F.R.S., president ; On a 

 raised beach at Tramore, by E. T. Hardman. 



The American Journal of Science and Arts, April 1874. — We 

 have here the continuation of Prof. Leconte's interesting paper 

 On the great lava flood of the North West, and the structure 

 and age of the Cascade mountains. There has been much 

 speculatioir as to the origin of the " prairie mounds," 

 which consist of a drilt soil of earth, gravel, and small 

 pebbles. Prof. Leconte considers they are entirely the result of 

 surface erosion acting under peculiar condhicns, viz. a treeless 

 country and a drift soil consisting of two layers, a finer and 

 rtore movable one above, and a coarser and less movable one 

 helow. — Mr. Chasegivesanaccount of the auriferous gravel deposit 

 of Gold Bluff. — Mr. Meek continues his notes on seme of the fos- 

 sils figured in the recently isi^ued fifth volume of the Illinois Slate 

 geological report ; and Mr. Venil gives results of recent dredg- 

 ing expeditions on the coast of New England. ^In a paper On 

 the lignites and plant-beds of western J^merica, Mr. New- 

 berry calls in cjuestion some of Mr. Lesquereux's conclusions, 

 and seeks to show that seveial of the beels are Cretaceous anei 

 not Eocene. — Among the remaining matter we find notes on a 

 rraEs of meteoric iron found at Howard co. Ird. (with remarks 

 en the molecular structure of meteoric iron) ; on the parallelism 

 of coal seams ; and on recent earthquakes. We may also notice, 

 in the .Scimtific Intelligence, a lengthy abstract of a paper by 

 Josiah Cooke, jun.. On the verniiculites, their crystallographic 

 and chemical relations to the micas, with a discussion oi the 

 cause of variation of the optical angle in these minerals. 



Fogt^iiiJorff's Annalcn der Fliysil; tind C/iiniie, Jubelband. 

 — The hearty co-operation with which the proposal was met, to 

 commemorate the jubilee of the scientific veteran who has for 

 years edited the Annalcn, is here represented in a collection of 

 more than sixty papers of original research, many of them by 

 w ell-known investigators. We can do little more than briefly 

 glance at some of the subjects that are treated, of which there is 

 great variety. Electricity and magnetism meet with a consider- 

 able share of attention ; and we may first of all note some inte- 

 resting studies, by M. Wiillner, on discharges of the induction 

 current in spaces filled with rarefied gases. This research be- 

 tokens considerable minute care. Variations were made, in the 

 form of the tubes used, degrees of rarefaction, direction of spark, 

 velocity of rotating mirror in which the light was reflected, &c. ; 

 the influence of magnets was also observed, and some striking 

 peculiarities of strialion in the image of the discharge are brought 

 to light, and shown in drawings. — M. Hittorff examines froirr a 

 different point of view the conduction of electricity by gase.s. — 

 Prof. Elaserna, of Rome, studies extra currents ; and he points 

 out that at the moment of closuie the current begins to flow, 

 first slowly, then more ejuirkly, till it reaches a maximum, from 

 which it descends, by a series of oscillations, between maxima 

 and minima, to zero. — M. Reiss, in reference to what he terms 

 the electric induction of a non-conductor in itself, enunciates the 

 proposition that at the under surface of a free non-conducting 

 l>Iate, whose upper surface is electrified, there is an electric layer 

 of the same sign with the electricity of this surface, while imme- 

 diately above there is an electric layer of the opposite sign. — The 

 heat-action of electric disjunction currents forms the subject of 

 a communication from M. Edlund ; and M. Kohlrausch de- 

 scribes the action of polarisation on alternating currents ; also a 



sinus-inductor. The electromotive force of liquid batteries, the 

 tliermo-electric properties of topaz, spar, and arragonile, the 

 action of magnets on discharges in rarefied gas, the conductivity 

 of glass for electricity and beat, and some peculiarities of gal- 

 vanic polarisation, are also treated ; and of the more theoretical 

 papers, we may specify one by Prof. Feilitzsch, On the poles of 

 equal normal intensity in the magnetic field of a galvanic battery 

 current, and one On a general theorem for calculating the action 

 of magnetising spirals, by Dr. von Waltenhofen.— Perhaps no 

 scientific serial presents such a rich collection of material in the 

 department of mineral chemistry as Poggendorffs Annalcn during 

 these fifty years. The influence of Berzelius has made itseff 

 powerfully felt; both his spirit and his method being evidently 

 leflectedin the researches by his students, among whom Prof. 

 Heinrich Rose occupies the first rank. Those who are interested 

 in this branch will find in the JidicUand a valuable resume, by 

 Prof. Rammelsberg, of the work of the Annalcn in reference to 

 it ; and a list is given of forty young chemists who have laboured 

 on various mineral forms, under Rose's direction. — In a paper 

 On the struggle for existence among molecules, by M. Pfaundler, 

 an ingenious parallel is drawn between the phenomena of pro- 

 duction of certain chemical ccmponnds through partial dissocia- 

 ticn and reciprocal reactitn, on the one hand, and production of 

 species through natural selection (according to Darwin's theory) 

 on the other ; and this aiticle is followed by one On the equiva- 

 lent of vis viva, by M. Wilhclm Weber. — The phenomena of 

 light and heat are studied in various aspects. In a note On the 

 spectrum of auiora, Prof. Angstrom consideis that the yellow 

 light (characteristic of all auroras) arises from fluorescence or 

 phosphorescence. An electric discharge is snpposable, which, 

 though in itself faintly luminous, is rich in ultra-violet light, and 

 is thus capable of producing strong fluorescence. It is also 

 known that oxygen, and several compounds of it, are phospho- 

 rescent. Prof. Angstrom thinks it unnecessary to have recourse to 

 " variability of gas-spectra under varying conditicrrs of pressure 

 and temperature." — M. Zollner has a paper of photometric re- 

 searches on the physical character of the planet Mercury, in 

 which he comes to the conclusion that Mercury has a surface 

 cksely resembhng that of our moon ; it is without an atmo- 

 sphere. — Mr. Bolzmann studies the connection between the turn- 

 ing of the plane of polarisation and the wave-length of various 

 colours ; M. Ketteler, the specific law of so-called anomalous 

 dispersion ; M. Knoblauch, the reflection of heat and light rays 

 from inclined diathemanous and transparent plates ; and M. 

 Dufour the reflection of solar heat from the Lake of Geneva.— 

 A curious phenomenon is discussed by Prof. Lomme), viz. the 

 appearance of a luminous halo round the shadow of one's head 

 iir w'et grass, especially when the sun is low. He supposes it to 

 arise from light being refracted through the drops, received by 

 the surface below, and sent back through the drops to the lumi- 

 nous source ; the light thus suffering a fourfold refraction, and 

 also a diffuse reflection. It is a like cause to that which explains 

 the shining of cats' eyes in the dark. — In experimenting on the 

 specific heat of water at various tempeiatures, M. Bosscha 

 arrives at results somewhat different from those of Regnault. — 

 M. Hagenbach continues his experiments on fluorescence.— 

 There are several papers referring to new and improved instru- 

 ments. The practical physiologist will be interested in some 

 new arrangements, by Dr. du Bois Regmond, for studying the 

 physics of nerve and muscle, including a mercury key, a double 

 commutator, a "frog pistol," and a spring myographion.— M. 

 Barentin describes an improvement on Poggendorfl's machine 

 for demonstrating acceleration; M. Gcrst a spectroscope with 

 fluorescent eye-piece ; M. Melde a wave-apjiaratris for showing 

 Chladni's sound-figures ; M. Rudorff an improved Bunsen pho- 

 tometer ; while M. Jolly makes a new determination of the ex- 

 pansion coefficients of some six gases, and investigates the action 

 of air thermometers. — The theoretical limits of capability of 

 the microscope forms the topic of an able memoir by JI. Helm- 

 holtz. — Some hydraulic researches by M. Meyer prove that pres- 

 sure is propagated in water with the velocity of sound ; and that 

 the Poisseuille law holds good for outflow of water not only 

 through capillary tubes, but also through wider tubes, provided 

 these are sufirciently long (thus it was found to hold (or 250 

 to 3,oco m. length in a tube 7 mm. diameter). — M. Karsten com- 

 municates an instructive account of recent scientific researches 

 on tie temp-.eratures, saltnes.s, &c., of the Baltic and North Seas. 

 — In mechanii-s we have a number of bending-experiments from 

 M. Buff, in reference to ela;ticity of various substances — iron, 

 glass, wocd, &c. ; and among the few chemical subjects treated 



