3 6 4 



NATURE 



[Fed. 12, 1880 



F L S • Secretaries, R. Meldola and W. L. Distant ; other 

 Members of Council: H. W. Hates, F.L.S., W. Cole, J. W. 

 Dunning M.A., F.L.S., F. du C:me Godman, F.L.S., O. 

 Salvin, F.R.S., H. T. Stainton, F.R.S., S. Stevens, F.L.S., 

 and T.I- Weir, F.L.S. In the absence of the president, an 

 address was read by J. W. Dunning;, vice-president, and the 

 meeting terminated with the usual vote of thanks to the officers. 



Photographic Society, January 13 — J. Glaisher, F.R.S., 

 president, m the chair. — Mr. 1 eon Warnerke having at the 

 previous meeting described all actinometers hitherto used, now- 

 read a paper on a new aclinometer, designed by himself; it is 

 ha ed upon the retention of light by a phosphorescent substance. 

 In this case calcium sulphide being the medium chosen, an 

 ingenious apparatus has been constructed, in which is a disk of 

 this phosphorescent material, hermetically sealed between glasses, 

 and revolving over this is another disk containing a series of small 

 holes where increasing layers of coloured gelatine, with figures 

 upon them, produce increasing opacity, and the last number 

 seen before the figures become invisible, indicates the intensity of 

 light at the moment, A contrivance is also introduced by which, 

 after using, any remaining luminosity is extinguished by letting 

 red or green light pass on to the disk containing the phosphor- 

 escent material. This actin. meter is found to perfectly register 

 the value of candle, gas, or any other light possessing actinic 

 power, however small. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, February 2. — A paper 

 on recent Assyrian ano Babylonian re earch, illustrated by maps 

 and specimens, was read by Mr. Hormuzd Kassam ; in which, 

 after sketching 'he roue which a traveller would take from 

 Aleppo by Diarbekir, Mosul, and Baghdad to Nineveh, he 

 gave a full acoount of his explored >n in Nineveh and Babylon, 

 with a description of the different ancient sites existing there 

 at present. 



Vienna 



Imperial Academy of Sciences, December 18, 1879. — The 

 following papers were reid :— On the changes produced by 

 chemical change of muscle- instance in polar excitation by the 

 electric current, by Dr. Biedermann. — On the method and data 

 of phyto phylogenetic research ; on researches of the kind in the 

 Island of S! ye ; and on the phyl n f Pinus, by Prof. v. 

 Ettinghausen. -On the action of phosph inium-iodide on sulphide 

 of carb .11, by Dr. Jahn.— On the synthesis of biguanide, by 

 Dr. Herth. — Report on searches and excavations during the 

 past year (in Moravia, Lower Austria, and Krain). — On a new 

 viviparous species >f UngaKa from Peru, by Dr. Steindachner.— - 

 Geological observations in the Island of Chios, by Herr Teller. ' 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, February 2.— M. Edm. Becquerel in 

 the chair. — The following papers were read :— On some appli- 

 cations of elliptic functions, by M. Hermite.— On a linear 

 differentia] equation of the second order, by M. Gylden.— 

 Comple nent to r.-cent note on the deformation of substances, by 

 M. De Saint Venant. — Experiments on the compression of 

 gaseous mixtures, by M. Cailletet, Compressing in his appa- 

 ratus 5 vol. carbonic acid and I vol. air he easily liquefies the 

 former. On carrying the pressure to 1 50 or 200 atmospheres, 

 the meniscu ol liquefied acid, concave and quite distinct, becomes 

 plane, loses distinctness, and is gradually effaced, till at length 

 the liquid 1, h.lly disappears, the tube being then, apparently, 

 filled with a h imogeneous matter, which resists all further pres- 

 sure, like a liquid. On dimini hing the pressure the liquid 

 suddenly appeal again, at a constant pre -sure for determinate 

 temperatures (132 atm, at +5-5°, 110 atm. at 19", &c). This 

 disappearance of, liquid cannot be due to heat liberated in com- 

 pression, for the lube was i n ersed in water keeping a constant 

 temperature, and the compression was slow. It seems that at a 

 certain- pres ure th li |uid and gas are dis olved in each other. M. 

 Cailletet hied to 1. si this bycol uving the CO., with iodine, but this, 

 attacking the mercury, masked the phenomenon. (The supposition 

 that the disappearance of liquid is inly apparent, he disproves.) — 

 Evolution of inflore-cence in Gramii ese '2nd part); types of struc- 

 ture of the pi imary rachis ; order of appearance of the first vessels, 

 by M. Trecul.— M. Gaudin submit te a method of dividing masses 

 of ice, viz., placing on them a flexible tube of leadoralloy of tin 

 and antimony, of small calibre, connected nith a steam boiler, 

 and open at the end to let the ati of condensation out. It 

 penetrates into the ice by its weight and heat. The trenches 

 hus made are kept from clo-iug by means of boards, and charges 



of dynamite may be put into them. — On the theory of linear 

 differential equations, by M. Mittag-Leffler. — Remarks on the 

 new metals of gadolinite and samarskite, by M. Delafontainej 

 He regards ytterbium, decipium, and fhilppium as definitively 

 acquired for science ; scandium he cannot speak of; mosandrum 

 should be eliminated ; samarium requires more proof; the cha- 

 racters of the yellow oxide, Philippine, are tho-e of M. Soret's 

 earth X and the /to/mine of M. Cleve ; the latter name, there- 

 fore, should not be retained. — Artificial n production of scorodite, 

 by MM. Verneuil and Bourgeois. Iron wire is treated with a 

 concentrated solution of arsenic acid in a sealed tube, heated to 

 I4o"-i5o° ; it gets covered with grey gelatinous matter (a mix- 

 ture of amorphous arseniate of sesquioxide of iron and arsenious 

 acid in small crystals) ; this matter gradually disappears, being 

 transformed into scorodite. The authors hope to get erythrine, 

 annabergite, and some other hydrated ar-eniates thus. — On the 

 anatomical characters of blood peculiar to intense and extreme 

 ansemia, by M. Huyem. In what he calls aghbulie intenst (the 

 globular richness varying from 2,00 ,000 to 800,000), he notes 

 that crystal- form in the dried blood, like those of dried lymph ; 

 and in the fresh blood he finds white globules with coloured con- 

 tents, and -till retaining amoeboid contractility(such are also found 

 in lymph). In aghbulie extreme (Soo.ooo to 450,000 globules) 

 there are elements like the red nucleated globules of oviparous 

 animals. In all cases the white globules are much more nume- 

 rous and smaller than in normal blood. In ansemia, then, the 

 blood becomes in some sort lymphatic, i.e., it is formed of a 

 mixture of blood properly so called and lymph. — Researches on 

 the movements of the uterus, by M. Polaillon. A registering 

 apparatus and manometer were connected with the enlarging 

 instrument sometimes introduced into that organ. The author 

 calculated the specific force of the uterus to be about 178, and 

 therefore very much below the force of striated mu-cles in man, 

 which is about 1087. Uterine contraction produces a regular 

 movement without shock, and remarkable for its length, nearly 

 two minutes (contraction and relaxation together ; the former 

 being the shorter). Violent respiratory movements raise the 

 pressure considerably. — A note from M. Macagn 1 treated of the 

 composition of the air in different parts of Palermo ; another, 

 of the production of tannin in leaves of sumac ; he finds leaves 

 at the upper extremity of the stem richer in tannic acid than 

 those at the base. The quantity of acid diminishes as the plant 

 grows older. 



CONTENTS 



JK SH 



he Electric Light . . . 

 if Fluids. By Prof. Osborn 

 : of Greenland .... 



" Hi-t:.ry of the Tin Trade" 



' Mathematical Tables, chiefly to Four Figures" . . . 



i's " Eight Months in an Ox Waggon" 



"Countries of the World" 



rr.< < - 01 ,1, b oitor: — 

 Light of Webb's Planetary Nebula (DM. + 41° 4004).— Prof. 



Edward C. Pickering 



Electricity of the Blowpipe Flame.— Herb- rt M'Leod, F.R.S. . 



Triassic Footprints.— Searles V. Wood. Jun 



Rainfall in the Tropics.— Dr. A. Woeikof 



Mountain Ranges. — Tkelawny Saunders 



Halley's Mount.— The Writer of the Article "On 



Brown's 



H.x 



Mo 



A Speculation Regarding the Senses." — F.R.S 



Perforated St >nes in River Beds.— Wm. Curean 



Politics and Science.— W. O 



Scientific Jokes.— G. H 



Stags* H..rns.— John Rae; B. W. S 



"Song of the Screw."— Prof. J. D. Everett, F.R.S 



The P-t iffice and the Telephone.— W. H.Pkeece 



Karl von Seebach 



Arthur Tules Morin 



Prehistoric Man in Japan. By Fredk. V. Dickins 



Thb Study of Earthquakes in Switzerland 



The History of Vesuvius during the Year 1879 By G. F. 



Rodwell {With Illustration) ....... 



The Crayfish. By Prof. E. Ray Lankhstep, F.R.S. (With 



Illustrations) 



Fogs 



Notes 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



The Harvard College Observatory 



The Minor Planets in 1880 



A Great Comet • 



Physical Notes 



GeOGkAEH'c-a v OTSS ■ 



Q* a New Action OP the Magnet ON Electiic Currents . . . 



UNivhRsiTv ani> Educational Inteli igencb 



Scientific Serials 



Societihs and Academies 



JOI 



36. 



301 



