556 



NATURE 



[Aprils, 1880 



reproduce the characters of its parents and indeed of its 

 ancestors but if we remember that the great law of all living 

 matter is that the child is not a separate individual, but a part of 

 the living body of the parent, up to a certain date, when it 

 assumes a separate existence, then we can comprehend how living 

 beings inherit ancestral characters, for they are parts of one con- 

 tinuous series in which not a single break has existed or can ever 

 take place. lust as the wave-form over a pebble in a stream 

 remains constant, though the particles of water which compose 

 it are ever changing, so the wave-form of life, which is heredity, 

 remains constant, though the bodies which exhibit it are continu- 

 ally changing. Mr. Tylor's paper was illustrated by a large 

 number of diagrams. 



Royal Microscopical Society, March 10. — Dr. Beale, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. Fifteen gentlemen were 

 nominated or elected Fellows.— Mr. Beck exhibited an improved 

 form of microscope with swinging sub-stage ; Mr. Mayall a new 

 traverse lens, by Mr. Tolles ; Mr. Dunning a new form of turn- 

 table ; Dr. H. Gibbes a T V h- nngeneous immersion objective 

 for use with the binocular ; and Mr. Crisp Klonne and Muller's 

 demonstration microscope and a specimen of micrometric ruling 

 by Prof. Rogers, of Harvard, U.S.— Mr. James Smith described 

 his method of illumination for high powers.— The following 

 papers were read:— On a sponge parasitic within Carpcnteria 

 raphidodtndron, by Prof. Martin Duncan, F.R.S.— On a petro- 

 graphical microscope, by M. Naehets.— On double and treble 

 staining of animal tissues, by Dr. H. Gibbes.— On Podophyra 

 quadripartita, by Mr. Badcock. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, March 23. — Mr. W. II. 

 Barlow, F.R.S., president, in the chair.— The paper read was 

 on explosive agents applied to industrial purposes, by Prof. Abel, 

 C.B., F.R.S. 



Edinburgh 



Royal Society, March 15.— Lord Moncrieff, president, in 

 the chair. — By request of the Council, Lieut. Conder, of the 

 Royal Engineers, gave an interesting and detailed lecture oil the 

 topography of Jerusalem. — Dr. James Geikie presented a com- 

 munication on the geology of the Faro Islands, which he had 

 visited last summer in company with Mr. Amund Hellend, of 

 Christiania. In the absence of the author, the paper was read 

 by Prof. Geikie. It was divided into two portions, the first 

 treating of the more purely geological characteristics of the 

 islands, which consist mainly of miocene volcanic formations 

 intermingled w ith coal and clay dep sits and attaining a thick- 

 ness of from 10,000 to 12,000 feet ; and the second part bearing 

 particularly upon the evidences of glacier action. There were 

 all the indications of prolonged glaciation, stria;, moraines, 

 boulder-clay, &c. ; but there was no evidence that this action 

 was the result of a great ice-drift from the north. Everything 

 indeed proved the glaciation to have been purely local. — Prof. 

 Tait communicated a note on the colouring of maps. This he 

 reduced to the problem of so lettering by the fewest possible 

 symbols a number of points in a plane which have been joined 

 two and two by non-intersecting lines so as to form three-sided 

 areas, that no two connected points shall have the same name. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, March 29. — M. Ed. Becquerel in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — Application of the 

 theory of sines of superior orders to the integration of differen- 

 tial linear equations, by M. Villarceau. — On the determination 

 of high temperatures, by MM. Sainte-Claire Deville and Troost. 

 They describe an improved form of apparatus they used in 1S63 

 (primarily for determining the expansion of porcelain) now sim- 

 plified by use of a Sprengel trompe, by means of which may be 

 removed and measured, whenever desirable, the thermometric 

 matter (nitrogen) contained in the porcelain reservoir, and the 

 temperature be calculated. — On the hypergeometric series of two 

 variables, and on simultaneous differential linear equations with 

 partial derivatives, by M. Appell. — On a class of functions of 

 several variables drawn from inversion of integrals of solutions 

 of differential linear equations, the coefficients of which are 

 rational functions, by M. Fuchs. — On the manner in which 

 frictions come into action in a fluid which departs from the state 

 of rest, and on their effect in preventing the existence of a func- 

 tion of velocities, by M. Boussinesq. — Memoir on integrations 

 relative to the equilibrium of elasticity, by M. Mathieu. — Re- 

 searches on diffusion, by M. Joulin. This first portion relates 

 to condensation of various gases by porous bodies (charcoal, dry 



or saturated with liquid), the pressure being varied from a few 

 centimetres to 4 atm., and the temperature from 0° to 100°. 

 The absorbent was put in a glass tube which communicated 

 (through tubes with cocks) with a manometric reservoir and 

 a mercury pump. Inter alia, the saturation of dry charcoal 

 with oxygen, nitrogen, or hydrogen is instantaneous, but with 

 carbonic acid slow. Saturation with gaseous mixtures is slower 

 than that with each of the constituent gases. Charcoal soaked 

 with alcohol condeuses much less than if soaked with water, and 

 is saturated with gas much more slowly. — On a new property of 

 vanadates, by M. Hautefeuille. Vanadates fused in contact with 

 air rapidly take up a constant quantity of oxygen (bi-vanadate of 

 lithia absorbs in a few minutes more than eight times its volume 

 of this gas at a dark red, and liberates this gas at about 6oo° 

 during crystallisation). Vanadates liberate in vacuo, in passing 

 from the vitreous to the crystalline state, quantities of oxygen 

 variable with the proportions of acid and base, and the nature 

 of the base. This has a bearing on determination of equivalents. 

 — On some properties of mixtures of cyanide of methyl with 

 ordinary alcohol and with methylic alcohol, by MM. Vincent 

 and Delachanal. The topics treated are the boiling points and 

 densities of the mixtures, and a rational method of separating 

 cyanide of methyl from ordinary alcohol. — Experiments showing 

 that the anaesthesia due to certain lesions of the cerebro-rachidian 

 centre may be replaced by hyperesthesia under the influence of 

 another lesion of that centre, by M. Brown-Sequard. Among 

 other conclusions, the theory that the conductors of sen-itive 

 impressions of the limbs intercross in the spinal cord must be 

 rejected ; and one lateral half of the base of the brain may suffice 

 for the transmission of sensitive impressions from both sides of 

 the body. — Reflex effects of ligature of oue pneumogastric on the 

 heart after section of the opposite pneumogastric, by M. Francois- 

 Franck. In this a retardation or arrest of the heart occurs, 

 almost as notable as if the cut nerve had been intact ; this 

 effect is shown to be reflex. He studied the phenomenon 

 in relation to time, with what he calls a neurotome it signal 

 electriqtu. — Contribution to the study of the trail 

 of tuberculosis, by M. Toussaint. From experiments on 

 pigs he infers that where tuberculosis occurs in those animals it 

 is analogous to galloping consumption in man. The bovine 

 species, on the other hand, which have tuberculosis much more 

 often, have most often the chronic variety. Hence young pigs 

 from tubercular parents soon die, and in adults which become 

 tubercular the quick progress of the affection prevents reproduc- 

 tion. The facts also prove that tuberculosis is transmitted with 

 the greatest facility (1) by ingestion of tubercular matters, (2) by 

 heredity or lactation, (3) by inoculation' with tubercular matter 

 or blood, (4) by simple cohabitation. — On a mode of treatment 

 of certain infantile cases of deafness or deaf-mutism, by M. 

 Boucheron. The cases referred to are those arising from naso- 

 pharyngeal catarrh, causing the mucus of the Eu-tachian tube to 

 swell and stop the passage, the stirrup bone, ere long, being, 

 through pressure of external air on the tympanum, made to'press 

 strongly on the liquid of the labyrinth, injuring the acoustic 

 nerve. M. Boucheron chloroformises the child and practises 

 catheterism, insufflation of air, and pharyngeal cauterisation 

 with a brush dipped in iodine solution. 



CONTENTS Page 



Musical Pitch 533 



Farming 534 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Mr A. R. Wallace's "Australasia."— A. Hart Evei-ett . . . 53; 



Nicholson's Palaeontology, 2nd Edition, 1879.— Richard Lydek- 



The Mean Free Path of Molecules.— S. E.'P 537 



The Zo ..logical Station, or Aquarium, at Naples.— W. A. Lloyd . 537 



Ice Crystals and Filaments.— S. T. Barrett 537 



Orone.— Clement L. Wragge 537 



Meteors.— F. T. Mott ; W. F. Denning 537 



Anchor-Ice.— Dr. J .Rae 538 



Diatoms in the London Clay.— W. H. Shrubsole 538 



Carnivorous Wasps.— Lewis Bod 538 



Two Entomologists „ • * " .\ V." S3 



A Leaf from the History of Swedish Natural Science, II. By 



Prof. A. E. Nordenskjold 539 



On the Long Period Inequality in Rainfall. By Balfour 



Stewart, LL.D., F.R.S . . =41 



Deep-Ska Dkedging and Life in the Deep Sea. By H. N 



Moseley, F.R.S. (With Illustrations) 5*3 



Notes • 347 



Geographical Notes , ■ • • ■ 549 



The History of Musical Pitch. By Alexander J. Ellis. 



F.RS • • • j 55o 



The Atomic Weight of Antimony. By Josiah P. Cooke . . . 554 



Societies and Academies 555 



