February io, 1S98] 



NATURE 



359 



paring a series of compounds, which probably have the con- 

 stitution NNaR.C. Me(OH)o, by the action of caustic alkalis on 

 amides. — The formation of monomethylaniline from dimethyl- 

 aniline, by J. B. Cohen and H. T. Calvert. Phenylnitrocarbinol 

 acts violently upon dimethylaniline with formation of nitroso- 

 nifethylaniline, benzylic alcohol and benzaldehyde and evolution 

 of nitrogen. — Note on the aluminium-mercury couple, by J. B. 

 Cohen and H. T. Calvert. A small quantity of chlorine is re- 

 tained by aluminium, probably as oxychloride, when it is 

 amalgamated with mercuric chloride. — Action of chloroform 

 and alkaline hydroxides on the nitrobenzoic acids, by W. J. 

 Elliott. 



Geological Society, January 19. — Dr. Henry Hicks, 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair. — On some gravels of the Bag- 

 shot district, by Horace W. Monckton. The author referred to 

 his papers on gravels south of the Thames, published in the 

 Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. for 1892 (p. 29) and 1893 (P- 308), 

 and gave some additional details. He suggested that the occur- 

 rence of stones which had been very little rolled or waterworn 

 in gravels at certain localities, afforded evidence of the presence 

 of ice in the water by which those gravels were deposited ; and 

 that the position of some sarsens which he described was due 

 to the same agency. He gave details and exhibited photographs 

 of a number of sarsens which he had seen in situ. In the 

 discussion which followed the reading of the paper, the 

 hypothesis advanced by the author was criticised unfavourably 

 by several speakers, but others supported it. — On the occur- 

 rence of chloritoid in Kincardineshire, by George Barrow. The 

 rock containing the chloritoid was first foun-! in situ at the 

 entrance to the little gully at the head of Friar Glen Burn, near 

 Drumtochty Castle. It has since been observed at many places 

 along a belt of country extending from the coast north of Stone- 

 haven nearly as far as the North Esk. The rock is easily 

 recognised by the presence of numerous white spots, which are 

 always present and are larger than the chloritoid. The chlori- 

 toid and the spots vary in size, being largest when the rock is 

 most crystalline (a schist), and smallest when it is least crystal- 

 line (a slate). The mineral appears as minute glistening scales 

 in the schist, but in the slate it can be recognised only with the 

 aid of the microscope. The optical characters were described, 

 and shown to be identical with those of the mineral from the 

 He de Groix, and with those of the ottrelite from Ottre and 

 Serpont. An account of the methods adopted to obtain a pure 

 sample was given. Several analyses were made, and it was 

 proved that as the purification increased, the analyses approxi- 

 mated more and more closely to the analysis of the mineral from 

 the Isle de Groix. The final result was as follows : — SiOg 

 26-00, AI2O3 40-05, FeO 19 50, FcoOg 5-05, MgO 2-88, loss on 

 ignition 6-00; total, 99-48. — The annual general meeting of 

 the Society will be held on Friday, February 18, at 3 p.m. 



Linnean Society, January 20. — Dr. St. George Mivart, 

 F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair.— Mr. J. E. Harting ex- 

 hibited a series of photographs of the grey seal ( Halicharus grypiis) 

 at various ages, taken from life by Mr. Henry Evans, of Jura, 

 on the Haskeir Rock, Outer Hebrides, to which place the animal 

 resorts every autumn for breeding purposes. Some of the photo- 

 graphs showed the young thickly clothed with white hair, which 

 is retained for several weeks after birth, but is gradually shed 

 before the animal enters the water. Details of measurement 

 and weight were given, and occasion was taken to review the 

 status of the grey seal as a British species, and to indicate its 

 known breeding stations in the British Islands. — Mr. W. J. H. 

 McCorquodale exhibited a skull of a hartebeeste which was one 

 among some fifty skulls of various ruminants he had recently 

 received, all having their horns infested by the larva; of Tinea 

 vastella, upon the chrysalids of which he offered some remarks. 

 The collection was from Nigeria, and was made by his brother 

 the late Lieut. R. H. McCorquodale, 3rd Dragoon Guards, 

 while doing duty as a special service officer in W. Africa. He 

 further recorded the capture by his brother, in 1896, of a giraffe 

 from the regions of the Benue River, north of Calabar, remark- 

 ing that the specimen was the only one known from this region 

 of Africa, and that its skull was now deposited in our national 

 collection. — Mr. W. E. de Winton, who was present as a visitor, 

 made some remarks on the geographical distribution of the giraffe 

 in Africa, and traced the limits of the range of the northern and 

 southern species as far as had been ascertained. — Dr. W. G. 

 Ridewood read a paper on the larval hyobranchial skeleton of 

 the anurous batrachians, in which were recorded observations 

 made on twenty-one species belonging to nineteen genera. — Mr. 



NO. 1476, VOL. 57] 



R. II. Burne read a paper on \.ht fonts genitalis of the Myxinida, 

 in which he concluded that the urogenital sinus pre.sent in the 

 lampreys is in the J/)';rm/i^<^ unrepresented, and that the ureters 

 and genital pore open into an integumentary cloaca. 



Paris, 

 Academy of Sciences, January 31. — M. Wolf in the chair. — 

 Note accompanying the presentation of the notice on the .scientific 

 work of H. Fizeau, by M. A. Cornu. — On the approximate deve- 

 lopment of the disturbance function, by M. H. Poincare. — On the 

 meteorological observatories of the Atlantic Ocean, by S.A.S. 

 Albert, Prince of Monaco. Two centres of observation, 

 at San Miguel and Flores, have been established in the Azores, 

 and the results are regularly telegraphed to certain continental 

 observatories. The observations from these two stations gives 

 some fifty hours' warning to European ports of approaching 

 depressions. — Remarks by M. Mascart on the preceding paper. 

 — M. Cremona was elected a Correspondent in the Section of 

 Geometry in the place of the late M. Brioschi. — Martial function 

 of the liver in the Vertebrates and Invertebrates, by M. Dastre. 

 The hepatic organ whenever present is always distinguished 

 from the other tissues by the increased amount of iron it contains. 

 Thus in the Crustacea the liver is rich in iron, containing four times 

 as much as muscle, the blood and ovary containing practically 

 none. In Molluscs (cephalopods) the hepato-pancreas contains, 

 weight for weight, twenty-five times as much iron as any of the 

 other tissues ; in Lamellibranchs the ratio is about five to one, 

 and the same for Gasteropods. The presence of this iron is 

 independent of the metal in the blood, thus where copper is 

 present in the blood as hsemocyanine, iron only is present in 

 the hepatic tissue. — Observations of the periodical comet of 

 Arrest, made at the Observatory of Rio de Janeiro with the 

 25 cm. equatorial, by M. L. Cruls. — On some photographs of 

 nebulse obtained at the Observatory of Meudon, by M. A. 

 Rabourdin. — Remarks on the preceding communication, and on 

 the correct method of getting comparable images of the nebulae, 

 by M. J. Janssen. A telescope was specially designed for this 

 work, of I metre aperture and 3 metres focal length. Owing to 

 its very short focal distance this instrument is very valuable for 

 observing and photographing very faintly luminous objects, 

 especially nebulne. — On the development of analytical functions 

 for real values of the variables, by M. Painleve. — On the 

 systems of partial differential equations, analogous to systems of 

 equations of the first order, by M. Jules Beudon. — On the 

 relations between the infinitesimal elements of two homographic 

 or correlative figures, by M. A. Demoulin. — On surfaces 

 applicable to a surface of revolution, by M. A. Pellet. — On the 

 decomposition of ©-functions into factors, by M. G. Humbert. — 

 On the most general monographic method resulting from the 

 relative position of two superposed planes, by M. Maurice 

 d'Ocagne. — On the permanent changes of form and breaking of 

 metals, by M. G. A. Faurie. Test pieces of metals, submitted 

 to longitudinal stress under certain conditions, develop nodal 

 points at equal distances apart. These effects are not produced 

 by bending or torsion. — On the flexion of thick bars, by M. 

 Ribiere. — Experimental study of the lustre of projectors of light, 

 by MM. A. Blondel and J. Rey. — Study of some radiations by 

 interferential spectroscopy, by MM. A. Perot and Ch. Fabry. 

 By means of the interference apparatus described in previous 

 papers, it is now shown that the green thallium ray is composed 

 of one bright ray and of two others, more faint, situated towards 

 the red. The bright green ray of mercury is also triple, two of 

 these three lines being separated by only yj^th of the interval 

 between the sodium lines. Some of the cadmium lines were also 

 split up. — On the measurement of high temperatures by the 

 interference method, by M. Daniel Berthelot. The method is 

 based upon the fact that if the density of a gas is diminished to 

 the same extent on the one hand by a rise of temperature, or on 

 the other by a diminution of pressure, the index of refraction 

 has the same value in both cases. The constant temperature 

 required in these experiments was obtained by means of an 

 electric furnace, composed of two spirals of platinum wire, 

 jacketed with asbestos, by which any temperature up to 1000° C. 

 could be steadily maintained. — On the composition of air at 

 different places, and on the density of gases, by M. A. Leduc. 

 After discussing the errors inherent to the methods of Dumas 

 and Regnault, figures are given for the composition by weight 

 of air taken at various places and under varying > conditions of 

 wind. The author notes that in comparing the densities of 

 various gases with oxygen the figures obtained by himself and 

 Lord Rayleigh agree very exactly, but that compared with air 



