Abstract
PARIS Academy of Sciences, August 17.—M. Bouley, President, in the chair.—Observations of the minor planets made at the Observatory of Paris (large meridian instrument) during the second quarter of the year 1885, communicated by M. Mouchez.—Note on typhoons and the so-called “grains arques” of the eastern hemisphere (two illustrations), by M. Faye. From the descriptions of these meteorological phenomena made by observers in the Indian and Pacific Oceans, and in Senegal, the author concludes that all such cyclonic movements of the atmosphere affect a circular form. The importance of this conclusion is obvious in connection with the theory which regards these atmospheric disturbances as sharply denned whirlwinds of circular shape, not as the result of currents converging towards a common centre of attraction without definite outer limits.—Researches on the present and the prehistoric races of Brazil, in connection with the sixth volume of the Natural Museum of the Archives of Rio de Janeiro, presented to the Academy on behalf of the Emperor Don Pedro II., by M. de Quatrefages. The contents of this volume are of great importance for the comparative study of the Brazilian races past and present, and of the primitive cultures of the more civilised populations in North and Sputh America. It contains papers by M. Hartt on the river and marine shell heaps occurring in various parts of Brazil; by M. J. B. de Lacerda on the human remains found from time to time in these deposits, and by M. Peixoto on the Botocudos still surviving in the eastern provinces of Brazil. But the chief attraction of the volume is the valuable and richly illustrated memoirs of M. Ladislaus Netto, on the remarkable artificial hill of Pacoval, which is now fully described for the first time. This hill, entirely the work of man, stands on the margin of a lake in the island of Marajo, and although reduced by erosion and weathering to a fifth or a sixth of its original size, is still 300 metres long, 250 broad, and 6 high. It presents the outlines of a gigantic Jabuti turtle (Emys faveolata) in this respect showing analdgies with the works of the mound-builders in the Mississippi basin. Its contents are of the most varied character, including stone implements of all kinds, idols, amulets, and a vast quantity of o earthenware, funeral urns, vases, tangas, &c., covered with ornamental designs remarkable for their delicacy and taste, either painted, incised, or modelled in relief. Some of the signs appear to be of a hieroglyphic character, presenting certain analogies to the early Chinese, Egyptian, and Mexican writings. One inscription, which M. Netto has attempted to interpret, seems to speak of long migrations, most probably from the Andes highlands down the Amazons basin, towards the Atlantic seaboard.—Experimental researches on cholera, by MM. Paul Gibier and van Ermengem. Appointed by their respective Governments to study Dr. Farran's method of preventive vaccination, these biologists have independently arrived at the same conclusion, that the sub-cutaneous injections of the cultivated virus (comma bacillus) does not preserve from cholera the animals on which their experiments have been made.—Observations of Tuttle's comet made at the Observatory of Nice (Gautier's equatorial), by M. Perrotin.—Equatorial observations of Barnard's comet (a) made at the Observatory of Algiers with the 0.50 m. telescope, by M. Ch. Trepied.— Account of a remarkable solar protuberance observed on the eastern edge of the disk at Paris on August 16, by M. E. L. Trouvelot.—Description of a new magnifying apparatus for the projection of microscopic objects as well as of images of large dimensions, by MM. Theodore and Albert Duboscq.—On the action of the iodide of phosphonium on the oxide of ethylene, by M. J. de Girard.—On the elective alcoholic fermentation of sugar, by M. H. Leplay. Against the objections of MM. Bourquelot and Maumene the author maintains from his own experiments that the elective alcoholic fermentation as originally discovered and described by M. Dubrunfant really exists and must be accepted as a scientific although hitherto unexplained phenomenon.—On the organisation, anatomy, and digestive function, of Pachydvilus enchytrceoides by M. Remy Saint-Loup.—Extraction and composition of the gases contained in the foliage of floating and submerged aquatic plants, by MM. N. Grehaut and J. Peyrou.—Recurrence of the superficial earthquake at Escarpel and in the neighbourhood of Douai, Departement du Nord, by M. Virlet d'Aoust.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 32, 408 (1885). https://doi.org/10.1038/032408a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/032408a0