NATURE [September 17, 1S96 



SCIENTIFIC SERIAL. 



American Journal of Science, September. — On the rcjiular or 

 specular reflection of the Ktintgen rays from polished metallic 

 surfaces, by O. N. Rood. Platinum foil at an angle of incidence 

 of 45° reflects T^^th part of the incident X-rays. About half the 

 rays are reflected in a regtilar geometrical or specular manner, 

 as proved by pliotographs of iron gratings obtained by means of 

 the reflected rays, and compared with photographs obtained 

 with the same mirrors by means of ordinary light, diftiised or 

 radiating from a point. But the proportion of regularly reflected 

 rays is less than in the case of ordinary light. There is a greater 

 proportion of difiused rays, but the.se are diff'used, not as they 

 would be by a dull surface, but as they would be by an imper- 

 fectly polished surface. Similar results were obtained with 

 speculum metal and tinfoil. — An iodometric method for the 

 determination of phosphorus in iron, by Charlotte Fairbanks. 

 Phosphorus may be determined in iron by precipitating the 

 ammonium phospho-molybdate according to the usual methods 

 of iron analysis ; then reducing the phospho-molybdate thus 

 obtained with potassium iodide and hydrochloric acid ; neutralis- 

 ing the residue with acid sodium carbonate, and reo.vidising 

 with standard iodine. — Is the land round Hudson Bay at present 

 rising ? by J. B. Tyrrell. The reasons advanced by Dr. Robert 

 Bell for supposing that the land round Hudson Bay is still 

 rising are not conclusive. The land at the mouth of the Churchill 

 River has been unchanged for the last century and a half. 

 Sloops Cove, where the sloops engaged on the Eskimo trade 

 used to winter, has many inscriptions of the middle of the 

 eighteenth century, whose position, when compared with their 

 exact date, shows that they would not have been hewn into the 

 lock at the level they occupy if the tides had at that time 

 attained a higher level than they do now. — A visit to the Great 

 Barrier Reef of Au.stralia, by A. Agassiz. The expedition, 

 supported by the United States, the British, and the Queens- 

 . land Governments, was equipped for extensive pelagic fishing 

 and topographical surveying inside and outside the Barrier 

 Reef. Boisterous weather made pelagic fishing very difticult, 

 and the explorers had to content themselves with an examina- 

 tion of the inner portions. The slope is greatest in the southern 

 portion, where the channel is wider. There is evidence to 

 show that the islands composing the reef formerly filled up the 

 channel as well. The islands lining the continent were the 

 last to disappear. The very moderate subsidence which has 

 taken place in comparatively recent times cannot have shaped 

 the outlines of the present Australian continent, and of its sub- 

 marine extension. For this we must look back, first to the 

 subsidence which took place in Cretaceous times, next to the 

 subsequent elevation of the Cretaceous beds, and finally to the 

 erosion and denudation to which these beds, since their elevation 

 above the level of the sea, have for so long a period been 

 subjected. It is on the upper part of these submarine slopes, 

 dating back to an earlier geological period, but modified by 

 erosion and denudation up to recent times, that during the 

 .present epoch corals have obtained a footing and built up the 

 Great Barrier Reef of Australia. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, September 7.— M. A. Cornu in the 

 .(■hair.— Notice on the late Ame-Henry Resal, by M. Maurice 

 Levy. — On the observations of the eclipse of the sun of August 

 9 last. Extract from a letter to M. Tisserand by M. Backlund, 

 Director of the Observatory of Pulkowa. Athough for some 

 time preceding the eclipse the weather had been extremely un- 

 favourable, the first contact was observed in a perfectly clear 

 sky, and a dozen good photographs were obtained. — Memoir on 

 the thermo-chemistry of the oxygen compounds of phosphorus, 

 arsenic and sulphur, by M. Marcellin Langlois.— On the steer- 

 ing of aerostats, by M. Rozier. — On the employment of a fixed 

 circle, derived from any group of seven tangents to a conic, to 

 define, A priori, the circle derived from any seven right lines, 

 by M. Paul Serret. — On the distribution of deformations in 

 metals submitted to stresses, by M. L. Hartmann. A reply to 

 some remarks by M. Charpy.— Discharge of electrified bodies 

 by the X-rays, by M. E. Villari. The experiments described 

 tend to show that the discharge of electrified bodies is not 

 brought about by the X-rays themselves, but by the air rendered 



NO. 1403, VOL. 54] 



active by their passage. — On the emission of the X-rays, by M. 

 C. E. Guillaume. A theoretical proof of the laws of emission 

 established experimentally by MM. Imliert and Bertin-Sans, 

 and by M. Gouy. — On the general relation between the intensity 

 of sensation and the duration of a luminous impression, by M. 

 Charles Henry. — On some questions in celestial mechanics, by 

 M. A. Karagiamides. — On nervo-psychosis, by M. Bouxteieff. 



Sydney. 



Royal Society of New South Wales, June 3. — Mr. J. H. 

 Maiden, President, in the chair. — The following papers were 

 read : — On periodicity of good and bad seasons, by Mr. H. C. 

 Russell, C..M.G.,F.R.S.— The Mika operation of the Australian 

 Aborigines, by Prof. Anderson Stuart. — The absorption of water 

 by the gluten of dift"erent wheats, by Mr. F. B. Cluthrie. 



July I. — Mr. J. H. Maiden, President, in the chair. — Dis- 

 cussion upon the paper read by Mr. Russell at the preceding 

 meeting. — Notes on recent developments of Rcintgen rays, by 

 Prof. Threlfall. 



August 5. — Mr. J. H. Maiden, President, in the chair. — 

 Papers read : — On the occurrence of a submerged forest with 

 remains of the dugong at Shea's Creek, by Mr. R. Etheridge, 

 jun.. Prof. T. W. E. David, and Mr. J. W. (Irimshaw (with 

 exhibits). — On aroniadendrin or aromadendric acid from the 

 turbid group of Eucalyptus kinos, by Mr. Henry G. Smith. — 

 On the cellular kite, by Mr. Lawrence Hargrave (with exhibit). 

 — Note on a method of separating colloids from crystalloids by 

 filtration (with demonstration) ; also an explanation of the 

 marked dift'erence in the effects produced by subcutaneous and 

 intravenous injection of the venom of Australian snakes, by Dr. 

 C. J. Martin.— Mr. H. G. Smith exhibited a specimen of 

 Lapidolite (Lithin mica) from near Norseman, West Australia. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Lydekker's Geographical History of Mammals . . 457 

 The Rational Study of Plant-Distribution. By 



J. B. F 458 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Vernon-Harcourt : " Rivers and Canals" 459 



Clowes and Coleman: "Elementary Practical 



Chemistry and Qualitative Analysis '" 460 



Morley : "Entomological Notes for the \'oung 



Collector."— W. F. K 460 



Letters to the Editor: — 



The Utility of Specific Characters.— Prof. Karl 



Pearson, F.R.S 460 



Specific Characters among the Mutillid*. — Prof. T. 



D. A. Cockerell 461 



The Khmer of Kamboja.— S. E. Peal 461 



Dr. Siemens' Smokeless Open Grate. — Fred. Wm. 



Foster 462 



The Liverpool Meeting of the British Association. 



IV. By Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S 462 



Inaugural Address by Sir Joseph Lister, Bart., 



P.R.S., President 463 



Section A— Mathematics and Physics.— Opening 

 Address by Prof. J. J. Thomson, F.R.S., 



President of the Section 47' 



Section B— Chemistry —Opening Address by Dr. 

 Ludwig Mond, F.R.S., President of the Section 475 

 The American Association for the Advancement of 



Science 4S0 



The Recent Cyclone in Paris 4S1 



Prehistoric European Art 4S2 



Notes 4S2 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



The Recent Solar Eclipse 4S7 



Comet Brooks 48? 



Comet Giacobini 4*7 



New Feature on Mars 4^7 



University and Educational Intelligence 487 



Scientific Serial 4S8 



Societies and Academies 48S 



