October 22, 1896J 



NATURE 



599 



Mr. T. Whitelegge, who has charge of the marine invertebrata 

 in the museum, has conducted a number of experiments to test 

 the value of formol as a preservative. The results have proved 

 highly satisfactory, more especially in regard to delicate marine 

 organisms ; they show that a 2\ per cent, .solution is sufficient 

 to preserve many delicate organisms, and that for most others a 

 5 per cent, solution is ample. 



A LIST of books in which botanical book-hunters will be 

 especially interested, is the " Kibliographie Botanique," just 

 issued by Messrs. J. B. Bailliere et Fils, Paris. The books and 

 brochures in this catalogue are classified geographically. 



A BRIEF account of the excursion to the Isle of Man, after 

 the recent meeting of the British Association, was given in 

 Nature of the Sth inst., by Prof. \V. A. Herdman. It may 

 interest sonic of our readers to know that a complete descriptive 

 report of this supplementary meeting of archreologists, geologists, 

 zoologists, and botanists, occupying no less than fourteen 

 columns, appears in the Isle of Man Times of October 3. 



We have received the Report of the Botanical Survey of 

 India for the year 1895-96, by the Director, Dr. G. King. The 

 Botanical Surveys of Northern India and of the Bombay 

 Presidency have been steadily progressing ; while that of 

 Southern India has been temporarily interrupted by the death of 

 its Director, .Mr. M. A. Lawson. Work has also been done in 

 Assam and in Burma. 



In connection with this Survey, Dr. D. D. Cunningham and 

 Mr. D. I'rain have published a very interesting "Note on Indian 

 Wheat-rusts," containing a great deal of valuable information 

 respecting the diseases known as "rust," which attack the wheat 

 and barley crops in different parts of India, and which appear to 

 belong to four different .specie; of the genus of parasitic fungi 

 Puciinia, and their connection with a fungus which attacks 

 Lannca asplcnifolia, a very common weed among cultivated 

 crops, belonging to the Composite;. 



Messr.s. William Wesley and Son have prepared and 

 issued a new "Natural History and Scientific Book Circular" 

 (No. 126), containing titles and prices of nearly two thousand 

 works on the Invertebrates. The catalogue comprises descrip- 

 tions of handbooks and other general works, a classified list of 

 works on the Iiivertebiates from Protozoa to MoUusca, arranged 

 according to Claus' " Text-book of Zoology ; " and a section on 

 economic entomology. This intelligent arrangement of the titles 

 makes the catalogue a useful index to zoological literature. 



The renowned Zcitschrifl fiir physikalische Cliemie has now 

 a friendly rival in K\\e. Jotirtial of Physical Chemistry, edited by 

 Profs. Wilder D. Bancroft and Joseph E. Trevor, and published 

 at Cornell University. The first number of the new journal 

 contains articles on "Irreversible Cells," " Chemistry and its 

 Laws," and "Ternary Mixtures," reviews of books, and critical 

 digests of |>apers bearing upon different phases of physical 

 chemistry. The journal thus follows much the same lines as its 

 admirable German prototype, and we anticipate that it will play 

 a similar important part in the development of the rich domain 

 where the realms of physics and chemistry overlap. The pub- 

 lication will be issued every month except July, August, and 

 September. The London agents are Messrs. Gay and Bird. 



.\ 1 RESH light has been thrown on the constitution of the 

 nitro-paraftins by the researches of Prof. Hantzsch, of Wiirzburg, 

 which are recounted in a recent number of the Berichte. At one 

 time it was thought that the presence of the nitro-group in the 

 methane molecule imparted an acid function to one of the 

 hydrogen atoms, and that in the formation of a salt this atom 

 was replaced by the metal, which thus became directly com- 

 NO. 1408, VOL. 54] 



bined with the carbon atom, the formula of sodium nitro-methant 

 being written CHjNa.NO,. The researches of Nef and other.-; 

 have, however, shown that most probably the free nitro-paraffins- 

 have a different constitution from their salts, and that in the 

 latter the metal is not directly combined with carbon, but with 

 oxygen. Prof. Hantszch's discovery shows that this view is- 

 almost certainly correct. He has found that certain aromatic 

 derivatives of the nitro-paraffins actually exist in two distinct 

 forms, one of which, the normal compound, is an indifferenS 

 substance incapable of forming salts, and has the formula 

 R.CH„ NOj ; whilst the other, the iso-compound, has the 



formula R.HC=^ ^N.OH, and acts in all respects as an acid, 



When, for example, a solution of the sodium salt of bromo- 

 phenylnitromethane is acidified with hydrochloric acid, the iso- 

 compound is precipitated as a crystalline mass, which melts at 

 90°. When this is preserved, however, either alone or iii 

 solution, it rapidly undergoes a molecular change, and after 

 twelve hours melts at 60°, and has all the properties of the 

 normal compound, which can itself be directly obtained from the 

 solution of the sodium salt by decomposition with a weak acid, 

 such as carbonic acid. The normal compound does not react 

 with ferric chloride, is much less soluble than its isomeride, and' 

 in aqueous solution is a non-electrolyte ; whereas the iso-com- 

 pound is a stronger acid than acetic acid, and gives a character- 

 istic colouration with ferric chloride, a further proof that it 

 contains the hydroxyl-group. The normal compound is at once 

 converted by alkalis into the iso-derivative, which then imme- 

 diately dissolves, forming the corresponding salt. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Bonnet Monkey {Macacus sinicus, i ) fron> 

 India, presented by Dr. Allen M. Cleghorn ; two Tigers (Felts 

 /igris,<i 9,juv.)from India, presented by H.H. the Gaekwar 

 of Baroda ; a Wild Cat (Felis caius), a Common Genet (Geuetta 

 vulgaris), two Avocets (Recurvirosira avocefta), two Eyed 

 Lizards (Lacerta ocellatiis), seven Green Lizards {Lacerta virtdis), 

 European, three Prairie Marmots [Cyiwmys hidovicianiis), a Cat 

 Bird {Galcoscoplcs carolinensis) from North America, a Sulphury- 

 Tyrant (Pitangiis SHlphiiratiis) from South America, a Grey 

 Coly Shrike {Hypocoliiis ampeliiitis) from Scinde, two Greater 

 Black-backed Gulls (Lams marinus), a Herring Gull (Larus 

 argeiilatus), a Black-headed Gull (Larus ridibuudus), British, 

 presented by the Lord Lilford ; two Girey Francolins {Franco- 

 liiius ponticerianus) from India, presented by Lieut. -Colonel D. 

 K. Robertson ; a Loggerhead Turtle (Thalossochelys caouaua) 

 from Spain, presented by Miss A. Steer ; five Spotted Sala- 

 manders (Salaiiiandra maculosa), European, presented by Miss- 

 Minks; a Yellow-cheeked \,^nm\ (Lctinir xanlhomystax) hom 

 Madagascar, a Moorish Tortoise (Testudo luauriiauica) from 

 North Africa, deposited ; two Nylghaies (Bosclaphus trago- 

 camclus, <J 9 ) from India, received in exchange. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 



Telegrams about Comets. — At the meeting of the Tele- 

 gramm-Commission at Bamberg on September 18 last, it was- 

 decided to make an alteration in the scheme of cypher that has- 

 been in use up to the present time. It has now been settled 

 that the date of ohser-jation and the brightness of the object shall 

 be included in a group of five figures, and allowed for in the 

 " control " figures, which are always added as a check. 



To prevent mistakes the following example is added — 



"Comet Witt D.A. 09120 October 13000 Berlin, Urania- 

 02554, 07630, 35946, 35957, 04207." 



This reads when deciphered — 



"New Comet Witt 1896 D.A. 9 October, I3h. mean time 

 Berlin, Urania. Apparent R. A. = 25" 54'. Apparent N. P. D. 

 76" 30'. Daily movement -14', -3'. Magnitude 12m." 



