3o8 



NA TURE 



\Aug. 20, 1874 



of this fact. There is, as Gervais and others have fuuud, a 

 striking relationship between it and some of the poisonous 

 serpents in the possession of a longitudinal furrow on the back 

 part of tlie teetli, as if to carry poison from a gland. Whetlicr 

 the animal be actually poisonous or not, Gervais calls attention 

 to the peculiar structure of the teeth (as shown by the microscope 

 in a cross section), the basal part of which is filled by folds or 

 plications directed outward toward the fine exterior coat of 

 enamel. 



Two new medical bi-monthly journals come to us from Paris ; 

 one, the Paris Medical Record, is in English, and in general 

 appearance and arrangement resembles the London Medical 

 Ree)rd ; its declared intention is to supplement the efforts of 

 other medical journals. The ether, Echo de la Prcssc Mcdicale, 

 is intended as the complement of the above, and is to be pub- 

 lished every alternate week. 



The Wheeler U.S. expedition started from Washington to 

 concentrate at Pueblo, Colorado, on July 15, leaving there as 

 soon thereafter as the different parties can be got into shape. It 

 will move in three separate divisions, which will occupy portions 

 of South-western Colorado and Northern New Mexico. The 

 principal localities to be examined are south of the thirty- 

 eighth parallel of north latitude, in the neighbourhood of the 

 Rio San Juan, and the northern tributaries of the Rio Grande, 

 Rio Chamas, Pecos, and Canadian, a region extremely interest- 

 ing, and which must shortly be opened up for mining purposes. 

 There will be two separate astronomical parties, one in charge 

 of Mr. John H. Clark, with one assistant, at the observatory, 

 Ogden, Utah ; the other in charge of Dr. F. L. Kampf, who 

 will have two assistants, and will occupy stations at Las Vegas, 

 Cimmaron, Sidney Barracks, Julesburgh, and the crossing of 

 the Union Pacific Railroad at the one hundredth meridian. In 

 New Mexico there will be a special party operating, consisting 

 of Prof. E. D. Cope, palaeontologist, and Dr. H. C. Yarrow, 

 naturalist of the survey, and one assistant. These gentlemen 

 will visit certaui specified areas in the valley of the Rio Grande 

 and Rio San Juan. The main division will be in cliarge of 

 Lieut. Wheeler, assisted by Lieut. C. W. Whipple and six 

 civilian assistants. The first party of the first division will be in 

 charge of Lieut. W. L. Marshall, assisted by three civilian 

 assistants. The second party consists of Lieut. Rogers Birnie and 

 five civilian assistants. The .'r-c^r^d division of the first party, 

 Lieut. P. M. Price and four cnuinn assistants; second party, 

 Lieut. S. E. Blunt and three civilian assistants. There is also a 

 special natural history party, at jjresent operating in portions of 

 Arizona atid New Mexico, consisting of Dr. J. T. Rothrock, 

 botanist. Prof. H. W. Henshaw, ornithologist, and James 

 Rutter, general collector. Dr. Oscar Loew will acompany the 

 expedition as chemist and mineralogist, and will be assigned to 

 one of the above-named sections. The entire expedition is 

 made up of nine different parties, and will cover a wide and 

 interesting field ; and it is hoped that our geographical know- 

 ledge, in the broadest sense of the word, will be greatly aug- 

 mented by its labours and investigations. Mr. Henshaw and 

 his associates of the special party, above referred to, have been 

 heard from in the vicinity of Fort Wingate, New Mexico, where 

 they were making the best of their way south. They have 

 already secured extensive collections of specimens, and a box 

 has been received at the Washington office containing a number 

 of bird-skins, Indian crania, fish, reptile.?, insects, plants, &c. 

 This parly will proceed south to near the Mexican boundary, 

 and then retrace their steps, disbandmg at Santa Fc in the fall. 



In a paper reprinted from the American Journal of Science 

 and Arls, Un the connection between isomorphism, molecular 

 weight, and physiological action, by James Blake, M.D., the 

 author gives the following reBults_ of investigations on the action 



of substances wlicn introduced into the veins or arteries of living 

 animals:—!. In the changes induced in living matter by inor- 

 ganic compounds, the character of the change depends more on 

 the physical properties of the reagent than on its more purely 

 chemical properties. 2. That the character of the changes is 

 determined by the isomorplious relations of the electro-positive 

 element of the reagent 3. That among the compounds of the 

 more purely metallic elements, the quintity of substances in the 

 same isomorphous group required to produce analogous changes 

 in living matter, is less as the atomic weight of the electro-posi- 

 tive element increases. 4. That the action of inorganic com- 

 pounds on living matter appears not to be connected with the 

 changes they produce in the proximate elements of the solids 

 and fluids, when no longer forming part of a living body, at 

 least in so far as our present means of research enable us to 

 judge. 5. That in living matter we possess a reagent capable of 

 aiding us in our investigations on the molecular properties of 

 substances. 



There have been found in the Waiora district, Central India, 

 in a coalfield of about 1,000 acres, two seams, one 15 ft. and the 

 other 20 ft. thick, close together. In other parts the seam is 

 from so ft. to 60 ft. thick. It is also said there are millions of 

 tons of iron ore yielding 70 per cent, of metallic iron. 



Among other recent interesting announcements is that by I\Ir. 

 O. Harger of the discovery in the coal measures of Illinois of a 

 fossil spider, to which the name Arlhrolycesa antiqua has been 

 applied. 



The telegraphic apparatus at the U.S. Naval Observatory at 

 Washington is now connected with the main lines of the Western 

 Union Telegraph Company, so that not only is the time-ball 

 dropped daily at noon, but the same signal is widely distributed 

 by the telegraph company. It goes directly from the observatory 

 to the main ofiice in New York city, and thence it is sent to 

 nearly every State in the Union. The immediate object of these 

 signals is to furnish accurate and uniform time to the railroads, 

 and throughout the whole of the vast territory in question there 

 is scarcely a train whose movements are not regulated by the 

 observatory clocks. The clocks at the Navy Department, at the 

 Army Signal Ofiice, at the Treasury Department, and at the 

 Western Union Telegraph Company's ofiice are all constructed 

 on the system known as Hamblett's, and are directly controlled 

 by electric currents sent every second by the standard clock at 

 the observatory. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Puma {Felis concolor], and three Ivinkajous 

 {Cercolepies eaudivolvulus), from South America, presented by 

 Mr. W. Delisle Powles ; a Cuvier's Toucan {Rampltastos euvicri), 

 from Brazil, presented by Mr. Philip Harrington ; a Macaque 

 Monkey [Macacns cj'noniol^Hs), white variety, fiom India, pre- 

 sented by Sir Andrew Clarke ; a West African Python {Pyllion 

 se/iic], deposited ; a Crested .Agouti (Dasvprocla cristata), from 

 South ^America; five common Kingfishers (Alcedo is/ida), 

 British, purchased. 



THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE j 



ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE 



THE forty-fourth Annual Meeting of the Association 

 was opened yesterday at Belfast, when Prof. A. W. 

 Williamson resigned the Presidency to Prof. Tyndall, 

 who delivered the opening Address. 



As in former years, we are able, by the courtesy of the 

 officers of the Association, to publish this week the 

 Address of the President of the Association, and the 

 Addresses of some of the Presidents of Sections. 



