374 



TRANSACTIONS OF SOCIETIES. 



Monday, April 24th: Dr. E. T. Mellor, F.G.S., President, in the 

 chair. — "Notes on the occurrence of oriental ruby in Kimberlite'" : 

 H. S. Harger. A description of crystals and fragments of ruby, 



about a dozen in number, picked out from the pulsator concentrates by 

 sorters at the Koffyfontein Diamond Mine, and varying in weight 

 between one and 75 carats. 



South African Institute of Engineers. — Saturday, April 8th : Mr. 

 J. A. Vaughan, President, in the chair. — "Electricity as a cooking and 

 heating agent" : C. G. Trevett. In addition to dealing exten- 



sively with the initial outlay and the cost of current, maintenance and 

 repairs, the author dwelt on the need for ensuring satisfactory insula- 

 tion and on the selection of suitable utensils. 



ROYAL Society of South Africa. — Wednesday, April igth : S. S. 

 Hough, M.A., F.R.S., President, in the chair. — "Photography as an 

 aid to Astronomy" : S. S. Hough. (Presidential address). A descrip- 

 tion of methods in use, and the progress made by their aid in securing 

 the necessary data for the discussion of astronomical problerns ; in 

 particular the advances rendered possible through the introduction of 

 photography in this connection. 



Wednesday, May 17th: S. S. Hough, M.A., F.R.S., President, in 

 the chair. — "Some new South African succulents and other plants" : 

 Dr. R. Marloth. The author described a species of Cytinus, the 



second of the South African Rafflesiaceae ; a Borbonia, the source of 

 Cape "rooibos" tea; and an Anacampseros, another example of a 

 mimicrv plant. — "Notes on the language of Bushman tribes north of the 

 Orange' River"; Miss D. L. Bleek. The language spoken by these 

 tribes differs too much from that spoken by the southern Bushman 

 tribes to be called a mere dialectical variation. The author had also 

 studied the peculiarities reproduced by the gramophone records of pure 

 Masarwa, in the heart of the Kalahari, preserved in the S.A. Museum. 

 "Notes on the result of investigation of a Strandlooper Rock-shelter" : 

 Dr. L. Peringuey. A description of objects found in a cave necro' 



polls, including several skeletons, in the pelvic bone of one of which 

 part of a stone arrow-head was embedded. Flat stones, occasionally 

 painted, had been placed on the hunched-up bodies, and the evidence 

 indicated that implements of the palaeolithic and of the neolithic types 

 were coeval, and that no hiatus existed between them in South Africa. — 

 "Observations on the inheritance oT character in Zea ?nays" : J. Burt= 

 Davy. Some results obtained by crossing different varieties of maize, 

 and manifested in the red colouring pigment extending from pericarp 

 to aleurone layer, and in the variation of the number of rows on an 

 ear. — "On the early Babylonian eclipses of the sun": E. N. Nevill. 

 The author disputes the correctness of Dr. Cowell's identification of the 

 total eclipse of the sun recorded in line 14 of Tablet No. 35968 in the 

 British Museum with that of July 31st, B.C. 1062, and finds that only 

 three total eclipses satisfv the prescribed conditions, namely, those of 

 June 5th, 1217, May i8th', 1123, and May 31st, 956.— "Sylvester's axi- 

 symmetric unisignants" ; Dr. T. Muir. 



Chemical, Metallurgical and Mining Society of South Africa.— 

 Saturday, May 20th: Dr. J. Moir, M.A.. F.C.S., President, in the 

 chair. — "Some aspects of mine ventilation and temperature on the Wit- 

 watersrand" : J. Whitehouse and W. L. Wotherspoon. The 

 paper was illustrated by charts and diagrams showing, from rock 

 temperatures taken in deep level mines on the Rand, that the mean rise 

 is I degree F. for 253.9 feet vertical depth, and giving a number of 

 psychrometrical observations at various underground levels at the 

 Village Deep mine. The effect of a fan installation was to extract 

 from the mine as much as 202 tons of moisture per day, and the pro- 

 vision of a plentiful water supply for laying dust consequently beconies 

 necessary. From an economic standpoint it was requisite to deal with 

 the increase of temperature with depth in order that the miner's capacity 

 for work might not be reduced. 



