March 3, 1898J 



NATURE 



431 



Manchester. 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, February 22. — 

 Mr. J. Cosmo Mel vill, President, in the chair. — The President 

 announced that Prof. Michael Foster, F.R.S., would deliver 

 the Wilde Lecture before the Society on March 29. — Mr. Mel- 

 vill exhibited an interesting series of distortions and hyper- 

 strophical deformities of Planorbis spirorbis, L. , found by Mr. 

 Arthur Stubbs at Black Rock, Tenby. These distortions 

 included (l) evolute whorls, (2) various forms of carination, (3) 

 sinistral turbinate spirals, and (4) dextral turbinate spirals. The 

 causes for such malformations are at present practically unknown, 

 but may be traced to the obstructions to the active but tender- 

 shelled mollusc caused by duckweed and conferva. 



Dublin. 



Royal Dublin Society, January 19.— The Right Rev. 

 Monsignor Molloy in the chair. — Prof. Thomas Preston 

 gave an account of some further observations which he had 

 made in studying the influence of a strong magnetic field on 

 the spectrum of a source of light placed in it. He exhibited 

 photographs by lantern projection, which illustrated the different 

 types of effect, showing that doublets, quartets and sextets are 

 produced, as well as triplets when the source of light is viewed 

 euross the lines of force. The consideration of these modifica- 

 tions of the normal triplet type was entered into, and it was 

 shown how such modifications could be produced by various 

 forms of reversal accompanying absorption in the vapour of the 

 spark which was the source of light. The connection of these 

 modifications with the complexity of structure of some of the 

 spectral lines, as observed by Michelson, was also passed in 

 review, as well as further matters concerning the influence of 

 the field itself on the molecules. — A paper, consisting of notes 

 on certain Actiniaria (including Phellia Sollasi, Haddon) by 

 Dr. Katherine Maguire, was communicated by Prof. A. C. 

 Haddon, who also exhibited a phonograph, cinematograph, and 

 other apparatus to be used in his projected expedition to New 

 Guinea and Borneo. 



Edinburgh. 



Mathematical Society, February 11.— Mr. J. B. Clark, 

 President, in the chair. — Mr. Duthie read a paper on a geo- 

 metrical problem, by S. Guimaraes. — A proposal that, in the 

 teaching of elementary geometry, Euclid's definition of proportion 

 be abandoned, was introduced by Prof. Gibson and Mr. W. J. 

 Macdonald, and discussed by several of the members present. 



- Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, February 21.— M. Wolf in the 

 chair. ^Chemical actions exerted by the silent discharge, by M. 

 Berthelot. A preliminary account of the methods employed 

 and general results obtained in the exposure of various mixtures 

 to the action of the silent discharge. In all, more than a 

 hundred and twenty systems were studied, the products being 

 examined at various stages of each reaction.— Chemical actions 

 caused by the silent discharge upon organic compounds. 

 Gaseous systems. Hydrocarbons and nitrogen, by M. Ber- 

 thelot. The action of the discharge upon the pure hydrocarbons 

 was first studied. Marsh gas gave at first a little acetylene, 

 which afterwards disappeared. After twenty-four hours the 

 remaining gas was practically hydrogen, only five per cent, of 

 the methane being unchanged. With nitrogen, absorption takes 

 place with the formation of basic substances. Detailed results 

 are. also given for ethane, ethylene, acetylene, prophylene, tri- 

 melhylene, and allylene, both alone and mixed with nitrogen. — 

 On derivatives of cinchonine, by M. E. Grimaux. Several 

 derivatives are described of the brominated substance obtained 

 by adding bromine to the crude oxidation product of cinchonine 

 according to the method of Koenigs and Comstock.— On the 

 place of the sponges in classification, and on the signification 

 attributed to the embryonic leaflets, by M. Edmond Perrier. 

 A criticism of a note on the same subject by M. Delage. — On 

 iteration, by M. C. Bourlet.— Remarks on a note by M. Moreau 

 on cycles of magnetic torsion and the residual torsion of soft 

 iron, by M. H. Bouasse. The two laws announced by M. 

 Moreau on residual torsion can be easily deduced from known 

 facts. — On an analogy between the action of luminous rays and 

 of lines of magnetic force, by M. Birkeland. A Crookes' tube 

 is placed above an, electromagnet, and is so arranged that the 

 distance of the kathode from the magnet can be exactly regu- 

 lated. Beyond a certain distance, the discharge in the tube is 

 uninfluenced by the magnet, but as the tube gradually, ap- 



NO. 1479, VOL. 57] 



proaches there is a certain critical position at which all the 

 properties of the discharge are suddenly changed, the difference 

 of potential between the kathode and anode being reduced to a 

 tenth of the original value, and the kathode rays are replaced by 

 others which produce no phosphorescence in the tube. The criti- 

 cal distance increases with the strength of the magnetising current. 

 — On the preponderance of the mechanical action of convection 

 currents in the production of effluvia figures upon fogged plates 

 submitted to the action of thermic poles in developing baths, 

 by M. A. Guebhard. — On a combination of phosphoric anhy- 

 dride with benzene, by M. H. Giran. The compound described 

 is obtained by heating the two substances in a sealed tube at 

 120°. It is decomposed by water, and appears to be CgHg-H 

 4P.2O5. — Influence of the X-rays upon the phenomenon of 

 osmosis, by M. H. Bordier. The experiments show that in 

 spite of the interposition of an aluminium plate in communi- 

 cation with the ground, osmosis is much slower when the 

 apparatus is exposed to the X-rays. — Production of a mucinoid 

 substance by bacteria, by MM. A. Charrin and A. Desgrez. A 

 substance of an albuminoid nature is produced by the growth 

 of the pyocyanic bacillus in beef broth. This possesses 

 poisonous properties, a dose 0"I5 grams jjer kilogram proving 

 ' rapidly fatal to a rabbit. Other bacilli behave similarly. — On 

 bitterness in wines, by MM. J. Bordas, Joulin, and Rackowski, 

 A ferment has been isolated, to which the production of the 

 bitterness in wine appears to be due. — On the aptitude of the 

 spores of the trufile to germinate, and on the function of the 

 aroma, by M. A. de Gramont de Lesparre. The aroma assists 

 in the preservation of the species by its antiseptic action upon 

 the spores. — On ktypeite, a new form of calcium carbonate, 

 differing from both calcite and arragonite, by M. A. Lacroix. — 

 The new form is found in the crystalline deposits of the thermal 

 springs of Carlsbad and Hammam-Meskoutine. Heat trans- 

 forms the mineral into, calcite, with detonation. — SemoHna and 

 foods resembling vermicelli or macaroni, by M. Ballard. 

 Analyses of semolina and macaroni from various sources. The 

 quality appears to be in proportion to the amount of nitrogenous 

 material. 



New South Wales. 



Royal Society, December i, 1897. — The President, Henry 

 Deane.in the chair. — On the steady flow of water in uniform pipes 

 and channels, by G. H. Knibbs. The paper dealt generally with 

 the nature of the two regimes under which flow takes place, and 

 of the instability of the rectilinear flow in pipes. A general 

 formula was proposed, to express the mean velocity of a flow of 

 water in a circular pipe under either regime, at any temperature, 

 and with any radius, " slope," or material of pipe. — Experi- 

 mental investigation of the flow of water in uniform channels, 

 by S. H. Barraclough and T. P. Strickland. The main object 

 ofthis investigation was to fill in an hiatus in the existing series 

 of experimental results, by determining the effect of change of 

 slope upon the velocity of flow, when the slope is varied 

 over a wide range. — Current Papers, No. 3, by H. C. Russell, 

 C.M.G., F. R.S. This paper will be printed in vol. xxxii. 

 oi\htSoc\eXy''% Proceedings for 1898. — Notes on Myrticolorin, 

 by Henry G. Smith. In the abstract of proceedings for August 

 4, a paper by Mr. Smith is noticed wherein is announced a new 

 dye-stuff obtained from the leaves of the " Red Stringy Bark," 

 Eucalyptus niacrorhyncha. This material, which in some 

 respects is allied to aromadendrin, was stated to belong to the 

 quercetin group of natural dyes. It was named by the author 

 Myrticolorin, as it was supposed to lie the only true dye sub- 

 stance obtained from the Myrtacei^. This note amplifies 

 previous statements by recording the results arrived at since the 

 announcement above referred to. Myrticolorin is a glucoside of 

 quercetin, and it breaks up on boiling with dilute sulphuric acid 

 into quercetin and a sugar:^A second supplement to a 

 Census of the Fauna of the Older Tertiary of Australia, by 

 Prof. Ralph Tate, with an appendix on Corals, by John 

 Dennant. Prof. Tate begins his paper by giving references to 

 the principal contributions to Australian Tertiary Palaeontology 

 which have appeared since the publication of his first supplement 

 in theyi37<r«a/ofthis Society for 1888. He notes a number of 

 genera hitherto unrecorded as being represented in Australia. 

 In the Polyzoa, a. synopsis is given of McGillivray's work, this 

 author being almost entirely responsible for the very large 

 additions to the genera and species of our Eocene fauna. Mr. 

 Dennant's appendix is prefaced by a brief resumd of recent work 

 on Australian Tertiary Corals. He then proceeds to record two 

 hitherto unrecorded genera for the Australian Tertiary Corals. 



