Societies and Academies

Abstract

PARIS Academy of Sciences, November 22.—M. Jurien de la Gravière, President, in the chair.—On the life and work of L. R. Tulasne, by M. Ed. Bornet. The paper contains a somewhat detailed account of the labours of this eminent botanist, who was born at Azay-le-Rideau (Indre-et-Loire) on September 12, 1815, and died on December 2, 1885. Appended is a list of the scientific publications of MM. Louis-Renè and Charles' Tulasne.—On ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate, by M. Berthelot. In continuation of his previous researches on the colloidal and crystallised states of the earthy phosphates, and especially of the phosphate of magnesia, the author here studies the double ammoniaco-magnesian phosphate, determining the conditions of formation of this compound in chemical analysis.—The Montgaudier. Cave, by M. Albert Gaudry. The author describes a visit he recently paid to this cave, which is situated in the Charente district, and which has revealed several objects of an artistic character, dating from the close of the Quaternary epoch, when the large fauna of extinct species had already mostly disappeared. But some remains such as pieces of ivory embellished with carvings of the aurochs and other animals, seem to have been executed at an earlier period, while the cave-dwellers were still struggling for existence with the mammoth, with Rhinoceros tichorhinus, the cave-bear, cave-lion, and large hyæna.—On glycose, glycogene, and glycogeny, in their relation to the production of heat and of mechanical labour in the animal system, by M. A. Chauveau. In this first physiological study of these elements, the author deals more especially with the generation of heat in the organism while in a state of repose. The reasons are set forth which lead to his broad generalisation regarding the preponderating part played by the glycose of the blood in organic combustions, source of animal heat and of muscular energy. It is now fully established that the absorption of glycose in the capillaries during the transformation of arterial into veinous blood is connected with the respective activity of the attendant combustions in the several organs.—Some remarks on the determination of mean values, by Leopold Kronecker. It is shown that in a converging series of real terms Φ1 + Φ2 + Φ3 +… with positive real quantities Ψ1,Ψ2,Ψ3… increasing with n beyond all limit, the limit of the expression—