154 



NATURE 



\ytme 25, 1874 



siderable length, of the birds of Grand Menan, N.i;.— Mr. F. W. 

 Putnam has a paper on the various forms of cutting instruments 

 made of stone. — "Notes on the bird-fauna of the Salt Lake 

 Valley and the adjacent portions of the Wahsatch Mountains," is 

 the tide of a long paper by Mr. R. Ridgway, who also contri- 

 bute; a paper on the birds of Colorado, and, along v/ith Mr. .S. 

 F. Biird, one on some new forms of American birds. — There are 

 also interesting accounts of the numerous and profitable excur- 

 sions male during the summer months by the Institute. — There 

 is a very minute account of the celebration of the 25th anniver- 

 sary of the Institute on M.arch 5, 1S73. Many well-known 

 scien'ific men were present, and among others Prof. O. C. 

 Mar.di, who paid the high compliment to the Institute that 

 through its influence the botany and zoology of Essex county 

 were better understood than those of any other county in the 

 United States. It was at the hands of the Essex Institute, he 

 said, that he himself acquired his taste for scientific investiga- 

 tion. 



Poggcmiorfs Annalcn <Ur Physik und Chcmic, No. 3, 1874. 

 — This number commences with a translation of Dr. Draper's 

 recent paper on photography of the diffraction spectrum (which 

 has already appeared in our columns). — The conductivity of 

 flame for galvanic currents is known to be greatly exalted by 

 presence of metallic vapours, and M. Herwig was led to inquire 

 whether a gaseous layer, entirely formed of such vapours, would 

 not show good conductivity even at low temperatures. He ex- 

 perimented with mercury, dense vapours of which can be had 

 several hundred degrees under white heat. The vapour con- 

 ductivity he finds to resemble that of the voltaic arc, rather than 

 that of a simple metallic conductor. There is a peculiar transi- 

 tion-resistance, which is great in comp.arison with the hindrances 

 which the current finds v/ithin the vapour-layer itself ; so that 

 the total resistance is in great measure independent of the extent 

 of the vapour-layer. The transition-resistance is less with in- 

 creased electromotive force of battery or strength of current. 

 Further, the vaporisation in the positive mercury surface was in- 

 crea,sed by the current ; another point of analogy to the volaic 

 arc (in which, if the electrodes be mercury and platinum, the 

 mercury is vaporised only when it forms the positive pole) ; 

 and, using a platinum point and a mercury surface, the icsist- 

 ance of ihe vapour (like that of the arc) was greater when the 

 mercury surface was positive. — M. Eriedrich Miiller concludes 

 his investigation on galvanic polarisation and the distribution of 

 the current in electrolytes, lie states that, with copper plates in 

 dilute sulphuric acid, and also in a solution of sulphate of copper 

 mixed with sulphuric acid, the polarisation follows a simple 

 law : it is a linear Increasing function of the density of current. 

 Another observation of the author is that cupric oxide is reduced 

 to copper by galvanic hydrogen (confirming previous observa- 

 tions that galvanic hydrogen is considerably more active than 

 ordinary hydrogen). — The galvanic conductivity of su'phuiic 

 acid and muriatic acid, and its dependence on temperature, is the 

 .subject of a communication from M. Grotrian. — In pursuing his 

 researches on the compressibility of elastic fluids ^I. Regnault 

 did not experiment with pressures lower than one atmosphere. 

 The difficulty of the inquiry has perhaps deterred physicists 

 since. \\'e here find it undertaken, however, by M. Siljestronn, 

 who contributes a paper on the subject ; in the first part here 

 given the details ol apparatus are fully described, and the nu- 

 merical results of some sixteen series of experiments tabulated. 

 — M. Schneider communicates a ninth paper on new salts of 

 sulphur, and M. Kessler describes "the simple euthyoptic spec- 

 troscope. " — Among matter from other journals we note a valu- 

 able paper by M. Lioltzmann, On experimental determination of 

 the dielectricity constants of insulators. 



Astroiiomischc Xachrk/iltn, No. 1,995. — This number contains 

 a large number of observations of position, taken at Leipsig, of 

 some of the minor pl.inets — Comet II. (Tempel), Comet III. 

 (Borelly), Comet IV. (Henry), and Comet VH. (Coggia) ; also 

 the mean planes of sixty-nine variable stirs for the year 1S73. — 

 Prof. d'Arrest sends his observations on the position of Coggia's 

 comet, taken during May last. — An astronomical prize is offered 

 by the Academy at Copenhagen for research on the data of the 

 ancients comprised between the time of Ptolemy and the 

 eighteenth century. — The discovery of a new planet is anounced 

 from Toulouse by Mr. Perrotin, May 19, 10 f.M. R.A. i6h. 

 28m. 30s., IJ. 22° 48'. — Nr). 1,996 contains a discussion of the 

 errors of levels due to the change of direction of attraction 

 paused by the spheroidal figure of the earth and other local 



causes, and Prof. Spccrer gives the results of his sun-spot and 

 protuberance observations for April and May last. 



AhJiandliiiic^cit dcr Scldesnchtn GcseUscIiajt fiir VatirUindische 

 Ciiltur, 1S72-73. — Dr. Griitzer here furnishes a number of social 

 statistics regarding Preslau gathered from the census made in 

 December of that year. From a comparison with Berlin, the 

 population of which (825,389) wasthen nearly four times that 

 of Breslau, it appears that Breslau is less crowded ; there being 

 in it a dwelling-house to every 38*9 of the inhabitants, whereas 

 in Btrlin the proportion is i to every 56 '9. On the whole it 

 appears that, notwithstanding the better proportion of dwellings 

 in Breslau, the health of the two cities is nearly alike, Breslau 

 having counttrbalancing disadvantages in bad buildings, sites, 

 drinking and underground water, and soil. — M. I^impricht con- 

 tribute i a report on the watershed between Weide and Bartsche, 

 with a list of the plants found in that region. 



]'i-rh. di-r k.k. zool. bot. CcscUschaftin IVim, 23/e-/- Band, 1S73. 

 — This volume, of more than 600 closely-printed pages, is chiefly 

 occupied by papers on entomology and botany. Among the 

 most important are : — Insecta. — Contributions to the Orthoptera 

 of the Tyrol : Krauss ; Diptera collected in Galicia ; Hymeno- 

 ptera : Kriechbaumer ; Microlepidoptera of Leghorn, by J. 

 Mann ; Contributions to the nocturnal Lepidoptera of North 

 America, by Prof. Zeller (second part) with figrires : more than 

 a hundred new species are described ; Contributions to the 

 Phryganida;, by Dr. Ilagen of Cambridge, U.S.; Hungarian 

 Diptera : Kowarz ; Eight new German species of Diptera : 

 Beling ; New butterflies from Asia Minor; On certain species 

 of Tipula and its allied genera : Beling. — Crustacea. — On Lcpi- 

 diiriis /idi/hukii and the Phyllopoda. — I't-iL-brala. — A graphic 

 account of the breeding and habits of the Pelican on the Danube. 

 Beside P. onocrotahts and P. cfispiis^ P. ntinor was also found. 

 On Coincfliorus bakalcnsis, a fish allied to the genus Celliis, with 

 two figures : Dybowski. — yl/ii//a^<'(7. — Contributions to the genus 

 Atvlidia and its allies, by Dr. Bergii of Copenhagen. — Botany. — 

 Contributions to the flora of Lower Austria, by Von Reuss, jun. ; 

 Lichens of the Tyrol, by F. Arnold : Fauna of the Brdygebirg 

 in Bohemia ; Fungi of south-east Hungary, by Prof. Ilarslinsky ; 

 The flora of the state districts in the south-east of Lower Austria : 

 Woloszczak ; Contributions to the flora of Lower Austria, by 

 Hackel. The volume contains a photographic portrait of the 

 late Secretary of the Society, Ritter von Eiauenfeld, with his 

 latest contributions to Entomology ar.d a biographical notice, by 

 Von Wattenwyl. 



Rcale Istititto Lombardo. Rendiconti : t. vii. , Fasc. i. e ii. — 

 These parts contain the following papers : — Prof. Serpieri commu- 

 nicates his observations of the meteor shower of August 10, 1873, 

 made at Urbino. — Observations concerning the constitutions and 

 combin.ations of bodies, a paper on molecular physics, by 

 Dr. Guido Grassi. — On a fact of importance in silkworm 

 culture, by Prof. G. Balsamo Ciivelli. — Prof. Cesare Lombroso 

 tabulates the height and weight, cranial meisurements and 

 capacities, facial angle, ^c. , of 832 Italian prisoners, dividing 

 them into homicides, thieves, highwaymen, incendiaries, 

 tricksters, deserters, &c. These prisoners were Sicilian, Sar- 

 dinian, Calabrian, Neapolitan, I'iedmontese, Genoese, and 

 I.ombardian. The results are discussed in great detail. — Prof. 

 An'onio Bucellaii contributes a paper on political economy, 

 entitled " On the theory of capital." 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 

 Royal Society, June 1 1.— Spectroscopic Notes. — On the 

 Evidence ol Variation in Molecul.nr Structure, by J. N. Lockyer, 

 F.R.S. 



1. In an accompanying note I have shown that when different 

 degrees of diasociatiiig power are employed the spectral effects 

 are different. 



2. In the present note I purpose to give a preliminary account 

 of some researches which have led me to Itie conclusion that, 

 starting with a mass of elemental matter, such mass of matter is 

 continually broken up as the temperature (including in this term 

 the action of electricity) is raised. 



3. The evidence upon which I rely is umished by the spec- 

 troscope in the region of the visible spectrum. 



4. To begin by the extreme cases, all solids give us continuous 

 spectra ; all vapours produced by high tension spark give us line 

 spectra. 



