NA TURE 



[M.\^■ 14, 1896 



These charts showed, l)y a new form of wind rose, recently 

 adopted by the Meteorological Council, not only the frequency 

 of the winds, but their strength, over areas contained by 3° of 

 latitude and 10° of longitude. Isobars were also drawn on the 

 charts so that the relation of the winds to the barometrical 

 pressure could be compared. In the corners of the wind areas 

 the percentage of fog and the number of weather observations 

 were given. A smafl inset chart showed the temperature of the 

 air, which was represented by isothermal lines, and the limits of 

 fog were also indicated. (3) Sea surface temperature charts of 

 the South Indian Ocean, between the Cape of Good Hope and 

 New Zealand, for each month of the year. 



Coming now to natural science. Dr. Woodward, F.R.S., 

 showed a part of the collections made by Dr. C. I. Forsyth Major 

 in Madagascar, 1894-95 '• »"ci Dr. J- ^V. Gregory exhibited a 

 geological map of part of British East Africa, with sketches, 

 sections and specimens. The map showed the main features in 

 the structure of British East Africa. The region consists of a 

 plateau of Archean rocks (gneiss and schist) sinking beneath 

 strips of Carboniferous and Jurassic deposits in the coastlands, 

 and buried by piles and sheets of volcanic rocks in the interior. 

 Volcanic activity probably lasted from the Cretaceous to the 

 present day. The lavas have been ejected by plateau eruptions 

 and by crater eruptions. The former poured forth sheets first of 

 trachytoid phonolite, and then of basalt. The country is 

 traversed by the Rift Valley, on the floor of which are thick 

 series of lacustrine deposits ; on its walls are the terraces of 

 e.\tinct lakes. Dr. Gregory also showed specimens of Hemip- 

 tera [Flata nigriciiuta. Walk.), the colonies of which resemble 

 inflorescences. Mr. H. W. Seton Karr, and Sir John Evans, 

 K.C.B., Treas.R.S., exhibited (i) paleolithic implements from 

 Somaliland ; (2) paleolithic implements from Somaliland, 

 ogether with European, Asiatic, and African specimens for com- 

 parison. 



Gold nuggets showing internal crystalline structure, formed an 

 exhibit by Prof. Liversidge, F.R.S. The specimens (Australian) 

 had been sliced and polished, and then etched with chlorine 

 water or other reagents, so as to show the internal crystal- 

 line structure and the presence of enclosures of quartz, iron 

 oxide, &c. 



Prof. McKenny Hughes, F.R.S., exhibited (i) specimens 

 illustrating the amount and mode of shrinkage of bog oak ; 

 (2) mulberry, showing symmetry in the twigs and asymmetry in 

 the leaves ; (3) travertine lining a wooden pipe, and reproducing 

 all the details of the surface on which it was thrown down. 



Photographs of "cup and ring" markings naturally formed 

 upon stucco, were exhibited by Mr. C. Carus-Wilson. The wall 

 of a house, built about forty years ago, was covered with stucco. 

 Alternations of temperature, to which the face of the wall had 

 been subjected, had rearranged the particles composing the 

 stucco, producing linear and annular ridges and depressions 

 similar to those occasionally seen on rock-faces, and usually 

 ascribed to the hand of prehistoric man. 



Prof. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., shosved a cast of enlarged model 

 (eight times natural size) of the type specimen ol Amphithcriuin 

 prcvostii (lower jaw, Stonesfield slate). Casts taken direct from 

 these very small jaws are of little use. Drawings necessarily fail 

 to show clearly the modelling of the teeth. Accordingly Prof. 

 Lankester has obtained, through the skill of Mr. Pycraft (one of 

 his assistants in the Department of Comparative Anatomy, 

 Oxford), a careful wax model of each of the unique Oxford 

 mammalian fossil jaws, eight times the natural size. A coloured 

 cast of the wax model of one of these jaws, the type specimen of 

 Amphitherium, was exhibited, and similar casts will be offered to 

 the chief European and American museums. 



The Marine Biological Association had on view a series of 

 specimens illustrating the boring habits of certain marine animals, 

 amongst them being a series of shells showing the gradual dis- 

 integration due to the action of boring sponges. Some rare or 

 interesting marine organisms recently found at Plymouth were 

 also shown by the Association. 



Mr. Walter (Jarstang demonstrated certain adaptations, sub- 

 servient to respiration, in sand-burrowing Annelids and Crustacea. 

 In aquatic animals which burrow in fine sand, the activity of the 

 gills would be impaired by the accumulation of sand around the 

 gills, or in the course of the respiratory currents. To prevent 

 this, the water before passing to the gills is sieved in the Annelid 

 Aphrodite by a felted mass of fine hairs, and in Decapod Crus- 

 tacea by the hairs bordering the branchiostegite. In the crabs 

 Atekcycliis and Coiysles the normal respiratory current is re- 



NO. 1385, VOL. 54] 



versed, and the «aler passes to the gills through a sieve-tube 

 formed by the interlocking of rows of special hairs on the 

 apposed antenuLi;-. In A/c/ecytliis, which burrows to a shallow 

 depth, the reversal of the current takes ])lace only when the crab 

 is imbedded ; in Coryslcs, which burrows deeply, the antenna! 

 tube is elongated, and the reversal of the current is all but 

 constant. 



A wax model of a single electrical nerve cell from the spinal cord 

 o{ Malaptertirtis clcctrkiis (River Senegal), and microscopic serial 

 sections, was exhibited by Dr. Gustave Mann. The model was 

 made from camera lucida drawings of a complete series of 

 sections through the cell. It showed one axis cylinder process, 

 and an enormous number of dendritic processes which in many 

 cases are joined by their ends to form loops. The model was 

 500 times the natural size of the nerve cell. 



A selection of the dried plants collected in Tibet by Mr. St. 

 George R. Littledale, was exhibited by the Director, Royal 

 Gardens, Kew. The plants were collected in the Gooring \'alley, 

 between Tengri Noor and Lhassa, in lat. 30° 12' N., and long. 

 90°25'E.,at an altitude of about 16, 500 feet; they represented 

 the general character of the vegetation. 



Nuclear division in the spores of Fegatclla conica was shown 

 by Prof. J. B. Farmer. The spindle in these spores is of a very 

 unusual form at first, but becomes normal subsequently. The 

 primary cell wall remains free in the cytoplasm, and during the 

 two second divisions of the nuclei it becomes rotated through an 

 angle of 90°, and the spore is thus divided into four cells. The 

 ultimate position taken up by the walls corresponds with that of 

 a system of soap films, introduced into a box similar in shape to 

 that of the Fegatella spore, when the cavity of the box is to 

 become divided into four chambers by such films. 



Mr. A. Francis Dixon showed a model to illustrate the method 

 of reconstruction from serial microscopical sections by the use of 

 glass plates. This exhibit illustrated a method of reconstruction 

 which is especially useful in tracing the crossing and branching 

 of fine structures, such as nerves and vessels in the embryo. The 

 model was composed of a number of glass plates covered with a 

 transparent varnish. On each plate was traced the outline of a 

 portion of a section belonging to a series, multiplied in the case 

 shown fifty diameters. The thickness of each glass plate was 

 fifty times that of the section drawn on it. When the different 

 plates were placed one over the other in order, a transparent 

 model of the whole structure results, multiplied fifty times. The 

 model shown illustrated parts of the distribution of the trifacial 

 nerve in a rat embryo of the fifteenth day. 



During the evening two lectures, with demonstrations by 

 means of the electric lantern, took place. At one of these Prof. 

 Meldola described the exhibits, by M. le Prof. Lippmann, of 

 colour photographs by the interferential method. The photo- 

 graphs, which were projected upon a screen, represented stained 

 glass windows, landscapes and flowers taken from nature, vases, 

 and a portrait from life. 



Experiments with liquid air were described by Prof. Dewar, 

 F. R.S. , at the second of the two demonstrations. 



THE IRON AND STEEL INSTITUTE. 

 'T'HE annual general meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute 

 was held last week in London, commencing on Thursday, 

 the 7th inst, and continuing over the following day. From the 

 Report of the Council it would apjiear that the Institute is in 

 a flourishing stati;. The membership is increasing, and natur- 

 ally with it the income, whilst the exi^enditure shows a very 

 remarkable diminution during the last two years. Those who- 

 are acquainted with this society know that this lessening cost 

 of management lias not been accompanied by any diminution; 

 of efficiency. 



On the meniliers assembling on Thursday morning. Sir 

 Lowthian Bell occupied the chair in the absence of the Presi- 

 dent, Sir David I iale, who was prevented from being present 

 by indisposition. The first business of the meeting was the 

 presentation of the Bessemer medal, which had been awarded 

 to Dr. Hermann Wedding, Professor at the Berlin School of 

 Mines, in recognition of the services he has rendered to the 

 iron and steel industries by his valuable contributions to metal- 

 lurgical literature. An interesting feature in this ceremony was 

 the presence of Sir Henry Bessemer, the venerable founder of 

 the modern steel industry, who made a speech congratulating 

 Dr. Wedding on being selected by the Council as the recipient 

 of the medal. 



