270 REPORTS OF SOCIETIES. 



BIRMINGHAM AND MIDLAND INSTITUTE SCIENTIFIC 

 SOCIETY.— September 28th. Mr. W. B. Grove, B.A., gave au account of 

 some of the more important phenomena connected with " Volcanoes," with 

 special reference to the real source and method of volcanic action. The paper, 

 the writer intimated, was mainly a rimani of what is contained in Professor 

 Judo's recent book on the subject. It was pointed out how incorrect were the 

 common ideas connected with volcanoes, and especially the famous eoverness- 

 dictnm, " A burning mountain, from the summit of which issue smoke and 

 flames;" every word of this definition usually is or may be untrue. — October 

 12th. — Mr. C. B. Caswell gave an account of the properties and uses of Hydro- 

 pen peroxide. He described its preparation from Barium dioxide and 

 Hydrogen fluosilicate, and the concentration of the dilute solution so obtained 

 in vacuo over strong oil of vitriol, and drew attention to the purity and 

 cheapness of the 10 volume solution now in the market. He then demon- 

 strated the most striking properties of this remarkable body, showing, among 

 other experiments, the mutual decomposition of Hydrogen peroxide and 

 Argentic oxide ; the rapid conversion of Pmmbic and Amnionic sulphides into 

 their respective sulphates, and the reduction of the Manganic peroxides to the 

 state of protoxide. He also showed the tests whereby the presence of minute 

 traces of this body may be detected ; the formation, under suitable conditions, 

 of perchromic acid, a beautiful blue body, being the most characteristic, and 

 the liberation of Iodine from Potassium iodide in presence of Ferrous sulphate 

 being the most delicate. After a description of the estimation of the peroxide 

 by means i f standard permanganate in presence of sulphuric acid, the uses to 

 which the solution may be put in the laboratory as an oxidising agent were 

 pointed out, whereby the pungent and noxious fumes to which nitric acid, 

 chlorine, See., give rise, may be avoided. Mr. Caswell concluded by referring 

 to the recently discovered fact that Hydrogen peroxide is produced in nature 

 on a grand scale during the atmospheric oxidation of oil of turpentine. 



BIRMINGHAM PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.— October 12th.— The first 

 meeting of the session was held at the Mason College, the Kev. H. W. Watson, 

 F.R S. (the President), in the chair. — The Kev. H. W. Crosskey (secretary) read 

 the hi nual report, which staled that the Council last year had the pleasure of 

 n porting that Dr. George Gore, F.E.S., had accepted the position offered him, 

 and that the amount of £150 per annum had been allotted to him in order that. 

 he might hnve greater faeilitbs for continuing in Birmingham his original 

 researches. Dr. Gore had forwarded a report stating that since he had been 

 entrusted with grants from the Birmingham Endowment of Research Fund, he 

 had made, partly with the aid of those grants, the following researches in physics 

 and chemistry, which had been communicated to the P.oyal Society, and pub- 

 lished, namely : — Thermo-electric behaviour of aqueous solutions with 

 platinum electrodes ; influence of Voltaic currents on the diffusion of liquids ; 

 experiments on electric osmose ; phenomena of the capillary electroscope ; 

 electric currents caused by liquid diffusion of osmose ; influence of Voltaic cur- 

 rents on diffusion of liquids ; and phenomena of the capillary electroscope. He 

 hoped before long to submit to the Philosophical Society an original communica- 

 tion. In addition to the before-mentioned researches, and as an entirely 

 separate matter, he had been aiding the cause of original research by preparing 

 for publication a small book on " The Scientific Basis of National Progress," 

 am t was now being printed. The Council have further had the pleasure of 

 granting the sum of £20 to Dr. C. A. McMunn, of Wolverhampton, to enable 

 him to obtain the apparatus needed for the continuance of his original 

 research' s on the " Spectroscopy of Auimal Colouring Matters." The Council 

 i hevi ii that the meetings of the society would be made more interesting if various 

 notes were pr> s-nted in addition to the papers which might be read. They 

 invited the members, therefore, to bring forward notes of any special research 

 in which they might be engaged, as well as to furnish more elaborate papers. In 

 reviewing the history of the society siuce its foundation, the Council had every 

 ground for believing in its future. It had made steady progress, and the two 

 volumes of its Proceedings already published showed the value of the work that had 

 been done. — Mr. George Hookham (treasurer) read the financial statement, and 



