Societies and Academies

Abstract

PARISAcademy of Sciences, July 14.—M. Daubrée in the chair.—The following papers were read:—Addition to my memoir on the principle of least action, by M. Serret.—On the direct combination of cyanogen with hydrogen and the metals, by M. Berthelot Cyanogen and hydrogen, pure and dry, mixed in equal volumes, and sent through a narrow glass tube heated to 500° to 550°, give some sign of combination; but the reaction is mor complete when the mixture is heated several hours to the same temperature in a sealed tube of hard glass; this is after-wards opened over mercury. The union of Cyanogen with some metals was found also to be merely a question of time and temperature. The substances were heated together m a sealed tube. Silver and mercury did not combine with cyanogen at any temperature. The analogies of cyanogen with the halogen substances are extended in this inquiry, beyond formulæ, to methods of direct stannamyls, by MM. Cahours and Demarcay.—On an application of the theory of elliptic functions, by M. Picard.—Researches on the effects of the rheostatic machine, by M. Planté. Using a machine of 80 condensers charged by his secondary battery of 800 couples, he obtains noisy sparks more than 0.12m. long, and if they are produced above an insulating surface sprinleled with flowers of sulphur, they may even attain 0.15m., and leave a sinuous furrow. When short of their maximum length they often from closed branches like anastomoses; also, on the sprinkled surface, arborescences, which appear after removing the excess of sulphur by a few light taps. This, M. Planté thinks, may explain the plant-like impressions some-times found on the bodies of persons struck by lightning. But little dynamic electricity is required for these and other static effects described (that from 3 or 4 Daniell elements). By associating all the condensers in surface, and adding a small special rotating commutator, static effects of quantity are had, different from those of tension. By mechanical force of successive sparks M. Plante elevates water.—On the treatment by submersion of vines attacked by phylloxera, by M. Faucon. Some of the insects always survive.—On the phylloxera in the Côte d'Or, by M. Viallane.—On the treatment of anthracnose; observations of M. Puel, by M. Portes. The efficacy of lime is demonstrated.—Observations at Marseilles Observatory, by M. Stephan.—On a definite integral, by M. Callandreau.—On the integration of equations with partial derivatives of orders superior to the first, by M. Pellet.—Minimum of dispersion of prisms; achromatism of two lenses of the same substance, by M. Thollon. Two lenses of the same substance, traversed, the one at the minimum of dispersion, the other at the minimum of deviation, by a luminous beam, may at once deflect and achromatise the light. Hence a system of lenses of the same matter may be made, having one focus and at the same time being achromatic.—On the vapour of bisulphydrate of ammonia, by M. Isambert.—On the dissolution of carbonic oxide in acid protochloride of copper, by M. Hammerl. A thermo-chemical investigation.—On the transformation of tartaric acid into glyceric and pyruvic acids, by M, Bouchardat.—On the isomerism of borneol, by M. De Montgolfier.—On bichlorhydrate of turpentine, by the same.—On some derivatives of indigotine, by M. Giraud.—Comparison of effects of inhalations of chloroform and ether, in anæsthetic and in toxical dose, on the heart and the respiration; applications, by M. Arloing. In the first phase attention should be given both to the heart and the respiration, whether chloroform or ether be used; in the second, the heart must be watched, and especially in the case of chloroform; in the third, the respiration. Chloroform should be preferred to ether, where the operation may be long, as the denouement of intoxication by ether is more sudden.—Causes of death from intravenous injection of milk and sugar, by MM. Moutard-Martin and Richet. Death from injection of a great quantity of milk is the result of bulbar anaemia, which produces phenomena of excitation.—On the reproduction of Amblystomas at the Museum of Natural History, by M. Vaillanto—Comparative anatomy of the Hirudineæ; organisation of the Batracobdella latasti, C, Vig., by M. Vignier.