Abstract
PARIS. Academy of Sciences, September 2.—M. Des Cloizeaux, President, in the chair.—Definitions adopted by the International Congress of Electricians, by M. Mascart.—On the results obtained at Bourganeuf (Creuse), in transmission of force by electricity, by M. Marcel Deprez. The force is conveyed 14 kilometres, from a waterfall, by a bare siliceous bronze wire on posts. Generator and receiver have each 100 nominal horse-power; electromotive force of former 3000 volts. Further details are promised.—On the analytic representation of perturbations of planets, by M. Hugo Gyldén.—Researches on the relations between the carbon of plants and the quantity of fertilizing agents in the soil, by M. Georges Ville. The coloration of leaves varies with the nature of the manure, nitrogen having most effect. The colours of liquids got by treating leaves with alcohol (after extraction of the colouring matter carotine) correspond with those directly observed, but the differences in intensity are less. The orange solutions of carotine (with carbon sulphide) show corresponding variations of intensity with those of chlorophyll.—A prize competition, from Spain, was announced, for a work commemorating the discovery of America (30,000 francs and 15,000 francs).—On Brooks's comet, July 6, 1889, by M. Charlois.—On the aspect and on a companion of Brooks's comet, by M. G. Bigourdan. This companion, observed since the 27th ult., is a small round nebulosity (of magnitude 13˙3) on one side of the tail, and 20" from the nucleus.—Unipolar and bipolar induction on a turning sphere, by M. Ch. V. Zenger. The poles of the electro magnet can be moved towards or from each other, by means of movable coils. The suspended copper sphere, rotated by torsion, with axis near that of magnet, has a spiraloid elliptic movement, which is recorded on smoked paper. M. Zenger seeks to explain the orbital motion of planets and comets, on principles here involved.—Electrodynamic laws and planetary motion, by the same.—New experiments on the poison of the terrestrial salamander, by M. C. Phisalix. The minimum fatal dose of chlorhydrate of salamandrine for a dog is about 1 8 milligrammes per kilogramme of the animal, with subcutaneous injection; 1 milligramme with intravenous injection; and 8 to 10 milligrammes by the stomach. By a series of preventive inoculations a dog can be gradually accustomed to doses otherwise fatal. A dose of 5 to 10 milligrammes subcutaneous, or 1 milligramme intravenous, is fatal to the salamander itself.—On the cardiac effects of centrifugal excitations of the vagus, indefinitely prolonged beyond return of the heart-beats, by M. F. Laulanié. The intracardiac arresting apparatus is not, as has been supposed, exhausted when the heart begins to beat again after stoppage through the vagus.—Catheterism of the ureters, by M. P. Poirier. The bladder is illumined with a cystoscope, containing a small incandescent lamp at the end of the sound, and an optical apparatus, whereby the mouth of the ureter can be easily found, and the small catheter (also included in the cystoscope) inserted.—On the ovogenesis, the structure of the ovary, and the regression of the parenchyma of Gordians, by M. A. Villot.—On the Polyodontes maxillosus, by M. Remy Saint-Loup. This relates to the rare capture of a gigantic annelid (2 metres long) in the Gulf of Marseilles. The animal is described.—The protophylline in etiolated plants, by M. C. Timiriazeff. He finds confirmatory evidence of his view that it is protophylline that, oxidizing in light, gives rise to chlorophyll in the living organism. Protophylline is obtained from chlorophylline (i.e. chlorophyll minus xanthophyll).
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Societies and Academies. Nature 40, 484 (1889). https://doi.org/10.1038/040484a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/040484a0