5 8o 



NATURE 



[April 15, 1880 



and spreads out wider in Holderness. This arm, in consequence 

 of the Chalky clay ice not having (from the westerly increment 

 of depression), descended the eastern slope of the Wolds, found 

 sea there covering the basement clay of Holderness, in whicli 

 sea it stopped between the Number and the Wash, by means of 

 which the lower part of the purple clay up to the level of about 

 150 feet, contains intercalated in it beds of sand and gravel, and 

 contains shells and shell-fragments, as does the Lancashire clay 

 similarly extruded beneath the sea. The other branch came 

 south along the western flank of the east moorlands and through 

 the Vale of York, where it ended, and became stationary in the 

 sea as this entered the Trent system on the final dissolution of 

 the chalky-clay glacier. The author discovers no trace of any- 

 thing like the intercalation of warm periods up to the stage with 

 which he concludes this part of his memoir ; and leaves the 

 description of the later beds, as well as an examination how fat- 

 arboreal vegetation and the coexistence of Pachyderms and 

 Proboscideans can be reconciled with the contiguity of extensive 

 land-ice for the concluding part of it. 



Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 April 5.— Dr. M. F. Heddle, F.R.S.E., president, in the 

 chair.— Prof. F. J. Wick, of Helingfors, and Mr. Richard 

 Pearce, of Denver City, Colorado, were elected as ordinary 

 members.— Prof. A. Geikie, F.R.S., read a paper on the 

 microscopic structure of some Scottish nitreous tasalts. The 

 paper was illustrated by a fine series of drawings and by a 

 number of microscopic sections.— Mr. J. B. Hannay, F.R.S. E., 

 gave an account of his recent experiments in the production of 

 the diamond and other precious stones, and exhibited some 

 fragments of artificial diamonds.— Dr. Heddle announced the 

 occurrence of xonaltite, turgete, martite, and other minerals in 

 Scotland, now di-covered for the first time in that country. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, April 5.— A paper on 

 life and its physical basis was read by Prof. Nicholson, M.D. , 

 F.R.S.E. The paper treated of the physical and chemical 

 properties of .the protoplasm, of the phenomena exhibited by 

 simple masses of protoplasm in a living condition (such as the 

 monera, the amceba, and the yeast plant), of the distinction 

 between dead protoplasm and living protoplasm, of the nature of 

 "Vitality." and of the nature of the temporary connection 

 which subsists between protoplasm and life. A communication 

 from Prof. G. G. Stokes, F.R.S., of Cambridge, having been 

 read, several present took part in considering the subject. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, April 5. — M. Edm. Becquerel in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — On some applications 

 of elliptic functions (continued), by M. Hennite. — Application 

 of tin.- theory of sines of superior numbers, &c. (continued), by 

 M. Villarceau. — On some theorems of kinematics, by M. Kesal. 

 — On determination of high temperatures, by MM. Deville and 

 Troost. This describes the application of their method to 

 determining the boiling temperatures of cadmium and zinc. 

 With niras the thermometric substance, the results closely agreed 

 with M. Edm. Becquerel's. It is noted that the boiling points 

 for zinc increased in using successively hydrogen, air, and carbonic 

 acid. — On the heat of formation of oxides of nitrogen, by M. 

 Berthelot. This paper relates to the bioxide and the protoxide. 

 He measured the heat of formation of the former by detonating 

 cyanogen (or ethylene) mixed with the bioxide in theoretic pro- 

 portions, and from the heat of combustion in that case deducting 

 that in the case of the same gas (cyanogen or ethylene) being 

 burnt with pure oxygen. The heat of formation of protoxide of 

 nitrogen was got by burning carbonic oxide with this gas and 

 with free oxygen, and deducting. The numbers arrived at were, 

 for the bioxide - 21*6, protoxide - 10-3. Tables of the 

 thermal formation of oxides of nitrogen, nitrates, and ammo- 

 niacal salt-, are added. — On the cyclone of January 24 last in 

 New Caledonia, by M. Faye. The wind-movement is not 

 spiraloid or convergent, but purely rotatory or circular. M. 

 Faye remarks on the geometric exactness with which the winds 

 acted, and the importance of good knowledge of the laws 

 of -tams as illustrated by the success with which Capt. 

 Reveillere managed the frigate Dives in this cyclone. — On the 

 points of the Siberian Arctic Ocean which present most obstacles 

 to navigati m, by M. Nordenskjold. The general opinion that 

 Cape Tcheliouskine presents most difficulty is mistaken ; for 

 numerous rivers there cause a current which frees the ice. Most 

 difficulty occurs near the east coast of Novaya Zemblya and in 

 the strait south of Wrangel's-land. — On the manner of present- 



ing the theory of potential in the hypothesis generally admitted 

 of the discontinuity of matter, by M. Boussinesq.— Winter lof 

 1S79-80 at Clermont and Puy-de-Dome, by M. Alluard. In 

 those parts, whenever a zone of high pressures covers Europe, 

 and especially France, there is interversion of the temperature 

 with the altitude (more manifest at night) ; it is less cold at 

 Puy-de-Dome than at Clermont, some 1,100 m. lower. M. 

 Faye remarked that this contradicted the notion that areas of 

 high pressure are due to so-called anticyclones (with imagined 

 descending motion). — Meteorological observatory of Pivy-de- 

 Dome ; glazed frost of November 21, 1879, by M- Alluard. — 

 Continuous gyratory movements produced by a rotative induc- 

 tion machine, by MM. de Fonvielle and Lontin. A star or 

 other shaped piece of soft iron is put on a pivot within the 

 frame of a galvanometric coil, through which coil is sent the 

 current of an induction-coil in which the inductive force of the 

 direct and the inverse current are as equal as possible. A horse- 

 shoe magnet supported above in a vertical plane by a rod may 

 accelerate or stop the rotatory motion of the star according 

 as its polar line is parallel or at right angles to the galvano- 

 metric wire. — Metamorphosis of the puceron of the ligneous 

 galls of the black poplar, Pemphigus bursarius, by M. 

 Lichtenstein. — Studies on chronometry ; compensation, by 

 M. Roze. — On the algebraic equations ^whose first mem- 

 ber sati-fies a linear differential equation of the second 

 order, by M. Laguerre. — On the measurer of energy, by M. 

 Deprez.— On the specific heat and the conductivity of bodies, by 

 M. Morisot. This describes the method (theoretical and experi- 

 mental) of a new research. — On sulphides and selenides of 

 chromium, by M. Moissan. — Thermochemical study of earthy 

 sulphides, by M. Sabatier. Sulphide of magnesium (MgS) = + 

 36-8 cal. ; of aluminium (A1„S 3 ) = +62'2cal. ; of silicinm (SiS 2 ) 

 = + 20 - 2 cal. — On crystallised oxalic acid, by M. Villiers. — On 

 the amidised acids of o-oxycaproic acid, by M. Duvillier. — Rela- 

 tion between the sugar and the mineral and azotised matters in 

 normal beets and beets grown to seed, by M. Pellet. It appears, 

 inter alia, that the order of utility of substances in manures for 

 beet is (1) phosphoric acid, (2) magnesia, (3) lime ; then potash 

 and soda, and lastly, nitrogen. In the two classes of beets 

 referred to the difference exists chiefly in the leaves and stems. 

 — On some alterations of subrenal capsules, by M. Bochefon- 

 taine. — On the simultaneous reproduction of orthose and quartz, 

 by M. Hautefeuille. This he accomplishes by using phosphates 

 concurrently with fluorides, producing the minerals associated as 

 in their natural beds. — On an earthquake experienced at 

 Poitiers and in the environs on March 22, 1SS0, by M, de 

 Touchimbert. 



CONTENTS Page 



Does Chlorophyll Decompose Carbonic Acid? By Prof. E. Ray 



Lankester 557 



Handbook op Botany 55? 



Our Kook Shelf: — 



Schomburgk's " On the Urari, the Deadly Arrow-Poison of the 



Macusis" 560 



"Note of Observations on Injurious Insects. Report, 1879." — 



John R. Jackson 560 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Density of Chlorine.— Prof. Henry G. Armstrong, F.R.S. . 561 

 The Omori Shell Mounds.— Charles Darwin, F.R.S. ; Prof. 



Edward S. Morse s^' 



Wallace's "Australasia."— Alfred R. Wallace 562 



The Comet 1S61, I.— Prof. George Forbes 562 



A Feat of Memory.— Edwyn Anthony 562 



Meteor. — Syd. Eve,. shed 5'H 



Carnivorous Wasps.— Worthington G. Smith 563 



"Who are the Irish ?"— James Bonwick, Author of "Who 



are the. Irish? " 563 



A Leaf from the History of Swfdish Natural Sciencb, III. By 



Prof. A. E. Nordenskjold 563 



The United States Weather Maps, April to July, 137S ... 565 



William Sharpky, M.D., F.R.S 5«7 



SlGNOK Perini's Planetarium (With Illustration) 55$ 



Deep-Sea Dredging and Life in the Deep Sea, II. By H. N. 



Moseley. F.R.S. (With Illustrations) 5*>9 



Nicholas Zinin 572 



Wilhelm Philipp Schimper 57.! 



Notes 573 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



The Southern Comet 575 



Physical Notes 575 



Geological Notes : — , 



Devonian Rocks of Belgium •.•-.-•• 57& 



i ri il igy and Physical Geography of the Aralo-Caspian basin . 577 



Geographical Notes 577 



Scientific Serials 57| 



Societies and Academibs . . . • • 57 K 



