NA TURE 



[July 30, 1896 



affected the pendulum for loh. 14m., and the Venezuelan earth- 

 quake of April 28 for as much as loh. 30m. 



We notice in the Moscow geographical review, Earth 

 Knowledge [Zenilevcdenie), a very valuable paper, by M. 

 Alboff, "On the Vegetation of West Caucasia. " The paper 

 is an introduction to his recently-published prreat work, " Pro- 

 dromus Flor;v Colchida:." 



The Director of the Geodynamic Section of the Observatory 

 of Athens has sent us the Bulletin Mensticl Seisinologii/iie for 

 February, March, and April of the present year. The fact that 

 these three numbers contain records of 147 earthquakes in 

 Greece and the Ionian Islands, shows what an admirable field 

 for study is placed before Dr. Papavasilion. Many of these 

 shocks occurred in districts which have been recently visited by 

 severe earthquakes, no less than sixty-six having been felt in 

 Zante alone. 



The Proceedings of the Edinburgh Mathematical Society for 

 the Session 1895-96 have just been published. Among the 

 papers is one having an application to optical instruments, viz. , 

 "A summary of the theory of the refraction of thin approxi- 

 mately axial pencils through a series of media bounded by 

 coaxial spherical surfaces, with application to a photographic 

 triplet, &c.," by Prof. Chrystal. Prof. G. A. Gibson contributes 

 to the volume an interesting descriptive review of Prof. Cantor's 

 ■' Vorlesungen iiber Geschichte der Mathematik," with special 

 reference to the rise of the infinitesimal calculus, and the 

 Newton- Leibnitz controversy. There is also a paper on " The 

 number and nature of the solutions of the Apollonian contact 

 problem," by Mr. R. F. Muirhead, and others on " Symmedians 

 of a tiiangle and their concomitant circles," by Dr. J. S. Mackay, 

 and "On deducing the properties of the trigonometrical func- 

 tions from their addition equations," by Mr. Muirhead. 



Four parts of the Transactions of the Royal Society of 

 Edinburgh, embracing the period 1893-95, are among recent 

 publications. As we regularly print reports of papers read at 

 the Edinburgh Royal Society, it is unnecessary to do more 

 now than refer to a few of those published in the present 

 parts of the Transactions. A paper, by Mr. Aitken, on dust 

 particles, and the relation between them and meteorological 

 phenomena, appears in part iii. of vol. xxxvii. ; which also 

 contains papers on the fossil flora of the South Wales coal-field, 

 by, Mr. R. Kidston, and on the variations of the amount of 

 carbonic acid in the ground-air, by Dr. C. Hunter Stewart. 

 The following part of the same volume has papers on the 

 partition of a parallelepiped into tetrahedra, by Prof. Crum 

 Brown ; on the manganese oxides and manganese nodules in 

 marine deposits, by Dr. John Murray and Mr. Robert Irvine ; and 

 on the chemical and bacteriological examination of soil, with 

 special reference to the soil of graveyards, by Dr. J. Buchanan 

 Young. The greater portion of part i. (vol. xxxviii.) is taken 

 up with Dr. H. R. Mill's elaborate paper on the distribution of 

 temperature in the Clyde Sea area. The paper is accompanied 

 by thirty-two plates, most of them containing several coloured 

 diagrams, and it is altogether a monument of painstaking 

 observation and careful work. Among the remaining contents 

 of the same publication are papers on bird and beast in 

 ancient symbolism, by Prof. D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson, 

 jun. ; two glens (Glen Aray and Glen Shira), and the agency of 

 glaciation, by the Duke of Argyll ; and on the relation between 

 the variation of resistance in bismuth in a steady magnetic field, 

 and the rotatory or transverse effect, by Mr. J. C. Beatie. In 

 part ii. of vol. xxxviii. are two extremely important papers, one 

 on specific gravities and oceanic circulation, by Dr. Alex. Buchan ; 

 and the other on deep- and shallow-water marine fauna of the 

 Kerguelen region of the great Southern Ocean, by Dr. John 

 NO. 1396, VOL. 54] 



Murray. Dr. Buchan's paper is accompanied by nine maps, 

 showing the specific gravity of the oceans at observed tempera- 

 tures from the surface to a depth of 2000 fathoms. An immense 

 amount of material has thus been brought together for the 

 benefit of oceanographers. 



An important source of vanadium compounds has lately been 

 discovered in South America. In the high plateaus of the 

 Andes, at a height of about 16,000 feet, there exists a mine of 

 anthracite containing vanadium. The coal from this mine, 

 which is easily worked, burns easily, leaving about two per 

 cent, of ash. This ash contains one-seventh to one-quarter of 

 its weight of vanadium, besides some silver, with traces of 

 zirconium and platinum. The extraction of the vanadium on 

 the large scale has been accomplished by M. Iv. Helouis, who 

 has applied it to the preparation of aniline bliick, to the colour- 

 ing of porcelain, and in metallurgy. The vanadium used by 

 M. Moissan in the preparation of vanadium carbide came from 

 this source. 



In the current number of the Beric/ite there is an account, by 

 Mr. O. Piloty, of a new method of preparing the salts of 

 hyponitrous acid, for which it is claimed that the yield is in 

 advance of all methods previously described. Hydroxylamine 

 hydrochloride, by treatment in alcoholic solution with sodium 

 ethylate and benzene-sulphonic chloride, is converted into 

 benzene sulphonehydroxylamine, CjHj.SOo.NH.OH, and this, 

 on treatment with concentrated potash solution, gives the 

 potassium salts of benzene-sulphonic and hyponitrous acids, 

 which can be separated without difiiculty. The mechanism 

 of the reaction is precisely analogous to the production of 

 hyponitrite from potassium hydroxylamine mono-sulphonate, 

 discovered by Divers and Haga {Jour. Client. Soc, 1889, 

 p. 760). In a subsequent note, referring to the preliminary 

 note by Hantzch, stating that anhydrous hyponitrous acid 

 can be obtained, Mr. Piloty describes the results obtained 

 by him in this direction. Silver hyponitrite, suspended in ether 

 and treated with hydrogen chloride, gives silver chloride and a 

 solution of H2N^,03 in ether. Rapid evaporation of the ether 

 causes the deposition of the acid as an oil, which solidifies to a 

 crystalline mass in a freezing mixture. As might be expected, 

 both the oil and solid possess highly explosive properties. Of 

 the numerous isomerides of the formula HoN.jOj theoretically 

 possible, this is the second to be isolated, the nitramide 

 NHoNO., of Thiele and Lachman being the first. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Barbary Ape [itacacus inuus, ? ) from 

 North Africa, presented by Mr. E. G. Walls ; a Bonnet Monkey 

 ( Macacus sinicus, 9 ) from India, presented by Mr. P. Clarke ; 

 two Macaque Monkeys (Macacus cynoniolgus, 6 9 ) from India, 

 presented by Mrs. Williamson; an Ocelot {Felis pardalis) from 

 Trinidad, presented by Mr. H. O. Nicholls ; a Black-tailed 

 Flower-Bird [Anthornis melanura) from New Zealand, presented 

 by the Hon. Walter Rothschild ; a New Zealand Parrakeet 

 [Cyanorhainphus novis-zealandia) from New Zealand, presented 

 by Miss A. Malcolm; a Bare-eyed Cockatoo (Cma/wa^'/HKO/t^V) 

 from South Australia, presented by Mrs. M. E. Huntley ; a 

 Boobook Owl {Ninox hoobook) from Australia, presented by Dr. 

 R. Broom ; a Raven [Corvus cora.t), British, presented by Mr. 

 William Soper ; a Rook (Corvus frugilegus), British, presented 

 by the Rev. A. Greaves; six Purplish Death Adders {Pseiidec/iis 

 porphyriaca), three Brown Death Adders (Dieiucnia textilis), 

 six Short-headed Death Adders (Hoploceplialus curtus) from 

 Australia, a Yellow-headed Conure (Contirus jendaya) from 

 South-east Brazil, deposited; six Garter Snakes (Tropidonotus 

 ordinatus), six Dekay's Snakes (Ischnognathus dekayi), three 

 Spotted-headed Snakes (Ischnognathus occipito-masculatus), 



