478 



NATURE 



[April 10^, 1876 



M. M. Pattison Muir. The author has examined the trichlo- 

 ride, tribromide, and the so-called bismuthic acid. — On bis- 

 muthiferous tesseral pyrites, by W. Ramsay. The formula of 

 this mineral appears to be (Ni, Co, Fe){As, 61)3. — On the occur- 

 rence of native calcium chloride at Guy's Cliffe, Warwickshire, 

 by John Spiller. — The decomposition of alcohol and its homo- 

 logues by the joint action of aluminium and its halogen com- 

 pounds, by Dr. J. H. Gladstone and Alfred Tribe. Aluminium 

 and its iodide have no action upon methyl alcohol. Ethyl 

 alcohol Is energetically decomposed by a mixture of these sub- 

 stances, hydrogen gas being evolved in large quantities and a 

 pasty residue being left, which the authors consider to be aluminic 

 iodo-ethylate. Heated to 275° C. this residue fuses and under- 

 goes decomposition thus : — 



Ai3J(C.H,0)3^A,^03-f3J?'"* 



The authors have likewise obtained evidence of the existence of 

 aluminic ethylate. Amylic alcohol is decomposed also by these 

 substances. A mixture of the chloride with the metal has no 

 action upon alcohol ; the bromide has a decided action. — Ethyl- 

 phenyl-acetylene, by T. M. Morgan. This substance has been 

 obtained by the action of ethyl iodide upon the sodium com- 

 pound of phenyl-acetylene the two substances being mixed with 

 ether and heated in sealed tubes. — Narcotine, cotarnine, and 

 hydrocotamine, by G. H. Beckett and Dr. C. R. A. Wright. 

 The authors have studied the action of water upon narcotine 

 hydrochloride, 'he action of ethyl iodide on hydrocotamine, nar- 

 cotine, and cotarnine, and the action of acetic anhydride on all 

 three of these bodies. Dr. Wright adds an appendix on the struc- 

 tural formulae of narcotine and its derivatives. — Note on incense 

 resin, by Dr. J. Stenhouse and C. E. Groves. This resin is the 

 produce of Idea heptaphylla, Aubl., a native of British Guiana. 

 The essential oil contains a hydrocarbon of the empirical formula 

 CsHg, which the authors propose to call conimene. To the 

 crystalline resin the authors assign the formula Q^^^^Q, and 

 propose the name icacin. — On certain sources of error in the 

 ultimate analysis of organic substances containing nitrogen, by 

 G. S. Johnson. These errors are : first, increase of weight by 

 the absorption of oxygen by nitrite contained in the solution in 

 the potash bulb owing to the passage of unreduced nitrous anhy- 

 dride over the ignited copper. Secondly, the presence of occluded 

 hydrogen in the metallic copper reduced in this gas, which is 

 given off on the application of heat and reduces the surface film 

 of oxide, producing water which adds to the weight of the 

 chloride of calcium tube. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, March 16. — Preliminary Reports to Prof. 

 Wyville Thomson, F.R.S., Director of the Civilian Scientific 

 Staff. I. On the true Corals dredged by H.M.S, Challenger in 

 deep water between the dates Dec. 30, 1870, and Aug. 31, 1875, 

 by H. N. Moseley, Naturalist to the Expedition. 



The author gives a list of the corals dredged in a depth of 50 

 fathoms and upwards, with notes on each. The whole is neces- 

 sarily preliminary, on account of the impossibility of sufficient 

 comparisons being made, and references obtained. The results 

 embody great additions to our knowledge concerning the bathy- 

 metrical range of corals. Only one coral has been obtained from 

 a greater depth than 1,600 fathoms ; it is Fun^a symmetrica. 

 Only three other corals have been obtained at as great a depth 

 as 1,500 fathoms. Only about twenty-seven genera of corals 

 have as yet been proved to exist in a depth of 250 fathoms and 

 upwards ; of these a list is given, to which is added those ob- 

 tained by the U.S. Coast Survey and the Porcupine, making 

 forty-two genera in all. Of these twenty occur in the fossil 

 state. No coral in any way allied to the Rugosa has been 

 dredged by the Challenger. 



II. On work done on board the Challenger^ by Mr. John 

 Murray, Naturalist to the Expedition. This Report includes 

 the preliminary notice on oceanic deposits, describing specimens 

 of the sea-bottoms obtained in the soundings, dredgings, and 

 trawlings, over 300 in number, during the years 18 73- 187 5, 

 between England and Valparaiso. The deposits may be classed 

 as follows : — 



I, Shore Deposits — 



(a) Blue and green muds. — Met with near the shores of 

 most of the great continents and islands. 



{b) Grey muds and sands. — Met with chiefly near oceanic 



islands of volcanic origin, 

 (f) Red mud. — Met with on the eastern coast of South 



America. 

 {d) Coral mud. — Met with near coral reefs. 



2. Globigerina Ooze. — An abundant oceanic deposit not met 

 with south of latitude 50° S. 



3. Kadiolarian Ooze. — An oceanic deposit met with only in 

 the Western and Middle Pacific. 



4. Diatomaceous Ooze. — An oceanic deposit met with only 

 south of 50° S. latitude. 



5. Red and Grey Clays. — The most abundant oceanic de- 

 posit. 



The deepest sounding (4,475 fathoms) was a Radiolarian 

 ooze. 



In the early part of the cruise many attempts were made by 

 all of the naturalists to detect the presence of free protoplasm in 

 or on the bottoms from the soundings and dredgings, but with 

 no definite result. It was undoubted, however, that some speci- 

 mens of the bottom preserved in spirit assumed a very mobile 

 or jelly-like aspect, and also that flocculent matter was often 

 present. 



At this point Mr. Buchanan determined that the flocculent 

 matter was simply the amorphous sulphate of lime precipitated 

 by spirit from the sea-water associated with the ooze. Subse- 

 quently a number of experiments were made, in conjunction with 

 Mr. Buchanan, upon the behaviour of this amorphous precipi- 

 tate when precipitated with different quantities of spirit, and 

 when treated with colouring solutions. The precipitate was 

 also examined alone and mixed up with some of the ooze. The 

 ooze was examined at the same time, and in the same manner, 

 but without having been treated with^ spirit. The results were 

 shortly these : — 



" When sea-water is treated with twice its volume of spirit or 

 less, nearly the whole of the amorphous precipitate assumes the 

 crystalline form in a short time. 



" When treated with a great excess of spirit the precipitate 

 remains amorphous, and assumes a gelatinous aspect, 



"This gelatinous-like sulphate of lime colours with the car- 

 mine and iodine solutions, and when mixed with the ooze has, 

 under the microscope, the appearances so minutely described by 

 Haeckel. 



"The ooze washed with distilled water, or taken just as it 

 comes up, and treated in the same manner with colouring solu- 

 tion, does not shov/ these appearances." 



When it is remembered that the original describers worked 

 with spirit-preserved specimens of the bottom, the inference 

 seems fair that Bathybms and the amorphous sulphate of lime 

 are identical, and that in placing it amongst living things the 

 describers have committed an error. 



A preliminary report on vertebrates is then given, containing 

 a list of all the fishes taken in the trawl or dredge. New forms 

 necessitate modifications in the definitions of some families, but 

 it has not been found necessary to establish any new families. 

 The deep-sea and oceanic forms belong to the families — Stenop- 

 iychidcE, Macruridce, Ophidiidce, Scopellidcu, Stomiatidce Pedicu- 

 lati, Halosaiirida;, Notocanthi, Muraenidcs, and Tra^hinid(E. 



Of the Petrels and Penguins very extensive collections have 

 been made, as skins and as spirit specimens. Two or three 

 skeletons of very large specimens of the Sea-elephant have been 

 preserved. 



III. On observations made during the earlier part of the 

 voyage, by the late Dr. R. von Willemoes-Suhm, naturalist to the 

 Expedition. This report is on the Atlantic fauna only. Among 

 the most interesting results obtained may be mentioned briefly 

 the facts that shrimps in great depths are liable to be attacked 

 by considerably large Gordiaceous worms ; that a curious inter- 

 mediate form between Priapulids and Sipuncuhds has been dis- 

 covered ; that relations of the famous Jurassic Eryonidze are 

 still living in the great depths, where they are (in the Pacific at 

 least) by no means rare. 



March 23, — " On the Force caused by the Communication 

 of Heat between a Surface and a Gas ; and on a New Photo- 

 meter," by Prof. Osborne Reynolds, communicated by B. 

 Stewart, F.R.S., Professor of Natural Philosophy in Owens 

 College, Manchester. 



This paper contains an account of an experimental investi- 

 gation undertaken with a view to support, by absolute measure- 

 ments, the theoretical arguments by which the author endea- 

 voured to prove the existence of reactionary forces or ' ' heat- 



