May 28, 1896] 



NA TURE 



83 



Dr. Ph. Molle has reprinted from the Memoirs of the 

 Royal Academy of Belgium his " Rocherches de microchimie 

 comparee sur la localisation des alcitloides dans les Solanacees." 

 These alkaloids are found chiefly in the superficial organs of the 

 plant, especially in the bark, where- they serve to protect it 

 against the attacks of herbivorous animals. They are entirely 

 absent from both the embryo and the endosperm of the ripe 

 seeds, and can in no sense be regardeil as reserve food-materials ; 

 if they occur at all in the seed, it is only in its integument. 



Mr. C. F. Clarke, of Plumstead, writes to point out a 

 clerical slip in the notice of Dr. (Orchard's "Astronomy in 

 Milton's Paradise Lost," by which Sat.an's shield is said to be 

 compared to Galileo's glass (not a very large object, that of the 

 Lick or Yerkes telescope might have been more appropriate had 

 such then existed), instead of the moon as viewed through it. 

 Besides the three constellations mentioned in our notice, Milton 

 also alludes to Orion, supposed by him, as by the ancient 

 poets, to be associated with windy and stormy weather. 



We welcome No. 12 of the A/em/i/c Chtb Reprints, published 

 by Messrs. W. F. Clay, Edinburgh. The volume contains 

 Faraday's papers on " The Liquefaction of Gases " (1823-1S45), 

 and an appendix consisting of papers by Thomas Northmore 

 on the compression of gases, which were referred to by 

 Faraday, in his historical statement, in the following terms. 

 " The most remarkable and direct experiments I have yet met 

 with in the course of my search after such as were connected 

 with the condensation of gases into liquids, are a series made by 

 Mr. Northmore in the years 1S05-6. " .Students of physics, and 

 every one interested in the subject of the liquefaction of gas, 

 should possess a copy of this latest addition to the Alembic Club 

 Reprints. 



The Deutsche Seewarte has recently issued the last of its 

 series of atlases dealing with maritime meteorology and other 

 useful information relating to the great oceans. The present 

 work, which refers to the Pacific Ocean, contains thirty-one folio 

 coloured charts, with explanatory text, and, like its predecessors, 

 forms an appendix to the Sailing Directions which are published 

 in a separate form. The atlases for the Atlantic and Indian 

 Oceans have been in the hands of German sailors for some years, 

 and, being in a clear and popular form, are almost equally useful 

 to other countries. In addition to the usual charts of ocean 

 currents, specific gravity, temperature of air and sea-surface, 

 relative frequency of winds, distribution of rainfall, &c. , there 

 are others containing useful data, among which we may mention 

 the mean sailing routes, and the distribution and principal haunts 

 of various kinds of whales. The charts are based on a large 

 amount of information supplied by German captains, and include 

 materials collected by other nations. .V just appreciation of this 

 part of the work of the Deutsche Seewarte is shown by the fact 

 that it has been found necessary to prepare a second edition of 

 the Sailing Directions for the Atlantic Ocean, which will be 

 published as soon as practicable. 



The /aunial of Ihe Asiatic Society of Bengal can scarcely 

 be .said to have a place in our chemical libraries ; the 

 current number, however, contains a paper by Dr. P. C. Ray, 

 of the Presidency College, Calcutta, on mercurous nitrite, 

 that is worthy of note. During a preparation of mercurous 

 nitrate by the action of dilute nitric acid in the cold on mercury, 

 yellow crystals were deposited which, upon examination, proved 

 to be mercurous nitrite. The analysis proved somewhat difficult, 

 as the substance dissociates in solution into metaUic mercury and 

 mercuric nitrite. The fact that this nitrite is stable in strongly 

 acid solutions, is an additional proof of the views advanced by 

 Dr. Divers as to the " nitronic " constitution of the nitrites of 

 copper, silver, mercury, and bismutli. The stability of silver 

 NO. 1387, VOL. 54] 



nitrite towards nitric acid has already been noticed by .-\cworth 

 and Armstrong, and by Russell, and the behaviour of mercurous 

 nitrite is closely analogous. Dr. Ray proposes, in a subsequent 

 communication, to give the results of an attempt to prepare fatty 

 nitro-derivatives from this compound. 



The Commissioners of the St. George's Public Library record 

 in their second report, that good progress has been made with the 

 arrangement of the cases and specimens comprised in the natural 

 history collection presented to the library. The donor generously 

 undertook the laborious task of installing, classifying, and 

 labelling the whole of the objects, as well as the preparation of 

 the numerous explanatory reading-cases, which will contribute so 

 much to the proper understanding of the contents of the room. 

 The collection may now be considered as ready for the use of 

 students, and it affords an illustration of what can be done to 

 connect the public libraries with natural history museums 

 generally. Certain annual subscriptions were promi.sed for three 

 consecutive years towards the cost of maintaining the collection, 

 but unfortunately in the second year (1S95) the full amount has 

 not been realised. It is stated that at least ^150 is re- 

 quired to cover the working expenses during the four years for 

 which the Commissioners have undertaken to house the collec- 

 tion, until it shall' be seen whether good use is made of it by 

 natural history students ; the cost of installation having been 

 defrayed partly out of the library rate and partly by the donor. 



The School of Practical Science at Toronto may be proud 

 of an Engineering Society which can issue a volume ol Pro- 

 ceedings (No. 9) such as we have just received. The papers 

 in the volume are of more than engineering interest. Mr. 

 McLennan has a paper on " Rontgen Radiation," detailing 

 results obtained by him ; and special attention should be called 

 to an excellent essay on "The Pendulum," by Mr. A. M. 

 Scott, which gained for the author the 1851 E.xhibition Science 

 .Scholarship allocated by the University of Toronto. There is 

 also an original contribution on the action of heat upon cements, 

 and another on brickwork masonry. Even astronomy finds a 

 place in the volume. Mr. W. L. Innes contributes a brief 

 history of celestial science, and Mr. A. T. Laing describes an 

 ingenious planetarium devised by him. As an instance of the 

 value of a little astronomical knowledge, we may refer to a 

 short paper on "Aspect and Prospect," by Mr. C. H. C. 

 Wright, in which a diagram is given to show the azimuth of 

 the sun at any time of the year for any place in the latitude 

 of Toronto. The diagram, which is due to Prof. Kerr, should 

 be of much assistance to architects in deciding upon the be.st 

 aspects for windows of various rooms. Other subjects treated 

 are lightning arresters, planimeters, standards in machine shop 

 practice, the Chicago Canal, and a simple form of telemeter. 



The Report of the American Museum of Natural History, 

 just issued, shows notable increase in the various collections, and 

 large and expensive additions to the building. The expeditions 

 to Peru, Honduras, Sumatra and Mexico, have resulted in the 

 acquisition of a large number of interesting objects and photo- 

 graphs. In the department of Public Instruction, regular 

 courses of lectures have been delivered to the teachers of the 

 public schools, and free lectures to the people on public holidays 

 as well as every week. The department of Mammalogy and 

 Ornithology received in 1895 'he William Dutcher Collection of 

 New York Birds, numbering over two thousand specimens, con- 

 tributed by the Linnean Society of New York. A very large 

 number of .-Vrctic mammals and birds have been received as the 

 result of the expedition to Greenland. The department of 

 Vertebrate Palaeontology has been enriched by the Cope Collec- 

 tion of Fossil Mammals of North America, comprising nearly 

 ten thousand specimens, representing 4S3 species. The acquisi- 

 tion of this valuable collection establishes the Museum as a 



