628 



NATURE 



{April 29, iagj 



December 30. — Annual meeting. — Dr. Ruschenberger, the 

 president, gave a rhuml oi the Society's work, describing it not 

 as an exclusive but as an inclusive Society for the acquirement, 

 increase, simplification, and diffusion of natural knowledge. Its 

 members have signalised themselves by doing their own printing 

 in the Academy Hall ; in fact gratuitous labour produces all the 

 matter published by the Academy. The institution is free from 

 debt, with a substantial building, and large collections of objects 

 as yet little studied. During last year the card catalogue of 

 works on anatomy and physiology has been completed, and the 

 only departments of the library not yet possessing a special 

 catalogue will be those of anthropology and mineralogy ; these 

 it is hoped to complete this year. In the museum work Mr. 

 J. A. Ryder has now identified 700 species of fishes in 325 

 genera. The museum has had a notable acquisition in the 

 archaeological collections of the American Philosophical Society, 

 especially consisting of the Poinsett collection of Mexican 

 antiquities, and many Peruvian remains; while Mr. W. S. 

 Vaux has borne the expense of adapting a room to receive 

 the collection. The skeleton of a native of the Chatham 

 Islands has been presented by Mr. W. H. Rau. Many 

 fossils of great interest and value, including bones of Uinta- 

 therium, Palsosyopx, and Crocodile, from Green River, 

 Wyoming, have also been added. The Section of Biology and 

 Microscopy has had two special soirees and seventeen meetings. 

 In Conchology 2,750 trays, containing 11,895 specimens, have 

 been determined, labelled, mounted, and placed in the collec- 

 tion. The arrangement of the Swift Collection is now com- 

 pleted, after three years' labour ; it is especially rich in West 

 Indian shells, and especially in terrestrial species ; it comprises 

 7,058 trays, containing 30,384 specimens. Mr. C. F. Parker 

 has been a very active worker in this department, and Mr. John 

 Ford, vice-director of the section, has prepared sections of 

 many shells to show their internal form. Donations have been 

 very numerous and valuable. The Herbarium has received very 

 valuable donations, and the gaps in the genera are now mostly 

 from rare districts. Dr. Asa Gray has during the year revised 

 many perplexing genera in the North American Composite, and 

 Mr. Parker is mounting the plants, with Dr. Gray's notes affixed, 

 as fast as elaborated. There is great and valuable voluntary 

 work going on by many botanical workers; 2,181 species have 

 been received during the year, especially 623 species of Florida 

 plants, including many new and rare species collected and pre- 

 sented by Dr. A. P. Garber, and many hundreds of foreign 

 plants, by Dr. Asa Gray. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, April 19. — M. Edm. Becquerel in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — On the inverse 

 problem of motion of a material point on a surface of revolution, 

 by M. Resal. — On the reciprocal di- placements of the halogen 

 elements, by M. Berthelot.— On the stability of oxygenated 

 water, by M. Berthelot. The spontaneous decomposition of 

 this compound becomes slower and slower in course of time. 

 The rate of transformation varies remarkably with the presence 

 of foreign substances in the liquor. The least trace of a base or 

 free alkali causes rapid decomposition ; acids retard the process ; 

 variation in amount of acid hardly affects it, but the special 

 nature of the acid does. Temperature accelerates the process. 

 — On the earths of samarskite, by M. Marignac. He confines 

 himself here to those earths the nitrates of which are last decom- 

 posed. To separate these he had recourse to their difference of 

 solubility in a saturated solution of sulphate of potash. He 

 finds, then, yttria (the principal element), terbine, a new earth 

 Y„, artd a small quantity of oxide of didymium, and of an earth, 

 which, if not pure decipium, is at least in great part composed of 

 it. — On the interoceanic canal of Panama, by M. de Lesseps. 

 No serious difficulty is anticipated. The length of the canal will 

 be 73 km., while the Suez Canal is 162. From the Atlantic the 

 entrance -vill be by the mouth of the River Chagres (which will 

 be deepened), and at Cruces, where this river issues from the 

 mountains, a dam of 46m. height will be raised, making possible 

 the storage of I milliard cubic metres of water. Beyond Cruces 

 the canal traverses the mountain of Culebra by a cutting of 5km., 

 and then the bed of the Rio Grande is utilised *:o the Bay of 

 Panama. — Observations on Megtpoda, by M. Oustalet. He 

 gives results of a visit to the English and Dutch museums ; 

 thinks the number of species allowed by ornithologists too large 

 and reducible to about twenty-five ; proposes a new subdivision 

 of the genus Talegallus, the sub-genus sEfi'podius, including the 

 7. of Waigiou (which he calls T, Brutjmi), and T.pyrrlio 



pygius ; he also seeks to rectify the frontiers assigned to Pei >• \ 

 steropoda by Huxley. — Theory of capillary phenomena (5th I 

 memoir), by M. Roger. — On the electromagnetic gyroscope, by 

 M. de Fonvielle. The impossibility of getting rotation with 

 induction-coils whose induced wire was very long, and in which 

 therefore the difference referred to by M. Jamin was as great as 

 possible, led him to reject M. Jamin's explanation.— Discovery 

 of a comet by M. Schaberle (telegram from the Smithsonian 

 Institution), communicated by Admiral Mouchez. — Observations 

 of the same comet at Paris Observatory, by MM. Henty and Bigour- 

 dan. — On the positions of the principal planets, by Mr. Chase. — 

 Remarks on the formula: of quadrature of Gauss, by M. Radau. 

 — Electric synchronism of any two motions, by M. Deprez. He 

 transmits electrically the movement of a motor A to a receiver B, 

 so that the angular velocity of B is always equal in amount and 

 sign to that of A. The transmitter has two commutators for 

 inversion of current, and the receiver two straight electromagnets 

 which rotate between the branches of a fixed one. — Measurement 

 of thermo-electric electromotive forces in contact of a metal and 

 a liquid, by M. Bouty. A derivation from a circuit of known 

 resistance, traversed by the current of one Daniell element, 

 comprised (1) a thermoelectric apparatus, formed of two tubes 

 containing a liquid kept at different temperatures, and two 

 metallic plates of the same metal, the tubes being connected by 

 a long capillary syphon ; (2) a sensitive Lippmann electrometer. 

 The results with various metals and salts of these in water- 

 solution, where the warm metal is exteriorly the positive pole, 

 are tabulated. The thermo-electric force is rigorously propor- 

 tional to the difference of temperature of the plates, and does not 

 sensibly vary with the degree of dilution of the salt. Salts of a 

 given oxide give nearly the same number, and the number for 

 copper and amalgamated zinc are nearly identical. Where the 

 cold metal is exteriorly the positive pole, the measurements 

 become uncertain, and the variations of electromotive force are 

 no longer proportional to the temperature. — On an automatic 

 mercury pump, by M. Couttolene. This is for increasing a 

 vacuum rcommenced by a water-trompe. — On tropeins, arti- 

 ficial mydriatic alkaloids, by M. Ladenburg. — L'n gelose, 

 by M. Morin. — On carbonate of ammonia, by M. Maumerle. 

 Two samples, nearly identical, showed very different properties. 

 — On existence of ammonia in plants and muscular flesh, by M. 

 Pellet. Inter alia, the strong ammoniacal odour perceived io 

 sugar manufacture, when the juice is treated with lime, is ac- 

 counted for by the ammonia found in beet. Plants containing 

 much of alkaline phosphates (e.g., corn) have their carbonates 

 decomposed by these. In flesh of ox M. Pellet found o - i5gr. 

 ammonia per cent, of the substance. — On an adulteration of 

 silicate of soda, by M. Jean. Anhydrous soap was the sub- 

 stance added. — On the variability of the teats of Ovides of the 

 Lower Cevennes, by M. Tayon. — On treatment of Arabian 

 elephantiasis by simultaneous use of continuous and intermittent 

 currents, by MM. Moncorvo and Aranjo. The continuous 

 currents soften the tissues, and the intermittent promote re- 

 absorption. 



CUNTKNTS Page 



Geodesy. By Major J. Herschel, R.E 655 



Our Book Shelf. 



Alston's " Fauna of Scotland, with Special Reference to Clydes- 

 dale and the Western District — Mammalia" 609 



LkTTKKS TO THE EdITOK .— 



Auroral Response in America. — Prof. Piazzi Smvth 609 



The Antiquity of Oceanic Basins —Dr. William B. Carpenter 



F.R.S 609 1 



Seeing by Electricity. — J. E. H. Gordon 610 J 



Ophiolepis mirabilis. — The Reviewer in Question 610 I 



The Omori -ihell Heaps— F. V. Dickins 610 ' 



The Destruction of Insect Pests by Application of Yeast. — H. A. 



Hagen .... 611 



Recall of Sights and r astes— Dr. A. Ernst 611 



Anchor-Ice. — Alan Macdougall 612 



Geological Survey of the United States. By Prof. Arch. 



Gsikie, F.R.S 612 



Stone Arrow Heads 613 



Rev. Jambs Clifton Ward, F.G.S 614 



The Institution of Mechanical Engineers . fits 



Note- • 6 t fi 



Our Astronomical ColUmh:— 



The Great Comet of 1843 . 6x8 



The Comet 1880 b (Schaberle. April 6) 619 



GeogkaJ-hical NorBS 6'9 



Physical Notes ... 6*° 



The India Museum Zoological Collections 621 



Mei-ror Showkks. By W. F. Denning (With Dinframs) ... 621 



Chemical Society— Anniversary Meeting 024 



ITnIVKkMTV AMD BUULAIKIHAL INTKLLIGENCB 6*5 



Scientific Serials 6*« 



Socibties and Academies 626 



