Abstract
PARIS Academy of Sciences, September 6.—M. Wurtz in the chair.—The following papers were read:—Researches on basic salts and on atakamite, by M. Berthelot.—Contributions to the history of ethers, by the same.—On the etiology of anthracoid affections, by M. Pasteur. He cites some facts in support of his theory. On a spot in a meadow where an anthracoid cow had been buried in 1878, a small enclosure was formed, and four sheep put in it; in another enclosure, a short way off (3m. or 4m.), four other sheep. In seven days one of the former set died of the disease; none of the latter set were affected. (Germs of charbon had been found on the ground over the buried cow, but not a few metres off.) M. Pasteur differs from M. Toussaint's opinion that acute septicæmia is identical with chicken cholera,—M. Bouley gave some account of recent experiments of M. Toussaint, apparently showing the efficacy of preventive inoculation of sheep and rabbits against charbon by his method. He hopes that once preventive inoculation has become practical, it will be possible to make, not races, but generations, refractory to the disease, by inoculating the mothers during the last period of gestation.—Planet (217), discovered by M. Coggia at the Observatory of Marseilles, on August 30, 1880, by M. Stephan.—On the part taken by Claude Jouffroy in the history of the applications of steam, by M. de Lesseps. This refers to a regret expressed by the granddaughter of the inventor that M. de Lesseps had not, at the inauguration of Papin's statue, recalled the services of Jouffroy, who, in 1783, invented the pyroscaph, which steamed on the Saone sixteen months, making two leagues per hour. M. de Lesseps had thought it his rôle only to recall the inventions anterior to Papin, and those of Papin himself.—The enemies of the gallicolar phylloxera, by M. Coste.—Observations of solar protuberances, faculae, and spots, during the first half of 1880, by P. Tacchini. The increase of solar activity is evident. The observations as to distribution agree well with those of previous quarters. The maximum of frequence of groups of faculæ is nearer the equator than that of protuberances. There are more groups of faculae in the north than in the south hemisphere (nearly double the number); the protuberances are equally distributed in the two hemispheres. The maximum of frequence of spots and faculæ is produced in the same zones in the two hemispheres.—On the law of magneto-electric machines, by M. Joubert.—On the variations of fixed points in mercury thermometers, and on the means of taking account of them in estimation of temperatures, by M. Pernet. He confirms M. Crafts views, and gives a formula for calculating the minima of zero, &c. He states that he can restrict to 1/100 of a degree for several hours the variations of zero in a thermometer whose zero has undergone a depression of 0.°8 C. after determination of the 100° point.—On borodecitungstic acid and its salts of sodium, by M. Klein.—Inoculation of the rabbit with glanders; destruction of the virulent activity of the matter of glanders by desiccation; transmission of glanders by inoculation with the saliva, by M. Galtier. This points to the possibility of healthy cavalry horses being contaminated by drinking from the same trough with horses in which the disease is present in a latent state. M. Larrey called attention to a disease that was once very common in the army, where soldiers ate out of a common porringer; it is an inflammatory and ulcerous affection of the mouth. The disease disappeared after the practice was given up in 1852.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 22, 480 (1880). https://doi.org/10.1038/022480b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/022480b0