i66 



NATURE 



\y2me 13, 1889 



•countries, the?e and many like facts we may allow. But we 

 would be glad for them to study the history of Western 

 inventions, and show a willingness to recognize the ingenuity, 

 'knowledge, and intellectual power of other nations wherever 

 they are found. Let them also enter on a rivalry in inventions. 

 Let them make new discoveries and advance in the arts in new 

 ways such as may be of benefit in the world. The Western 

 nations will not be slow to acknowledge any efficient aid they 

 may give in science, politics, or the arts." 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Cambridge. — Nearly twenty courses of scientific and medical 

 instruction for medical S'tudents will be carried on in the Long 

 Vacation, including, besides chemical, botanical, anatomical, 

 and physiological courses, Dr. Anningson and Mr. Robinson on 

 the examination of water, air, and foods, chemically and micro- 

 scopically, and Prof. Roy and Mr. Adami on pathology, morbid 

 histology, and bacteriology. 



The Museums and Lecture Rooms Syndicate have recom- 

 mended the erection of the buildings required for human 

 anatomy, together with the joint anatomical and physiological 

 lecture-room, at a cost which will fall within the ^10,000 reported 

 to be available for the purpose. 



The honorary degree of Doctor in Science has been conferred 

 on Prof. Mendeleeff, of St. Petersburg ; and the honorary M. A. 

 on Baron A. von Hiigel, Curator of the Museum of Archaeology 

 Jijre. 



The Senior Wrangler, Mr. G. T. Walker, and Messrs. Dyson 

 and Gaul, bracketed Second Wranglers, are all members of 

 Trinity College. 



In the second part of the Mathematical Tripos, Messrs. 

 Brunyate, of Trinity, and Orr, of St. John's, have been placed in 

 the first division of Class ]., in alphabetical order ; and Messrs. 

 Buchanan, of Peterhouse, and Sampson, of St. John's, in the 

 .second division of the first class. 



The Moral Sciences Tripos seems in a state of rapid pro,:^ress 

 towards obliteration. This year one first class and one second 

 class represent the men ; and this is but natural, for the range of 

 work is such as to task the energy and thoughts of a matured 

 ithinker. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Chemical Society, May 16.— Dr. W, J. Russell, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — The following papers were read : — 

 The magnetic rotation of nitrogen compounds, by Dr. W. H. 

 Perkin, F. R.S. In previous communications the author has 

 shown that in the magnetic field the plane of polarization of 

 light is rotated to a greater extent in unsaturated than in saturated 

 carbon compounds, and it is now shown that in the case of 

 nitrogen compounds the magnetic rotation ■ is in like manner 

 correlated with changes in the valency of the nitrogen. From 

 the discussion of his results generally the author concludes that 

 in compounds of un'-aturated triad nitrogen, the nitrogen has a 

 greater influence than when it is present in the saturated con- 

 dition, the difference in the values being about o'5 ; this is only 

 about half the difference usually observed on comparing the 

 rotations of carbon compounds differing by two atoms of 

 hydrogen. In the discussion which followed the reading of the 

 paper, Dr. Gladstone, F. R.S., said that the general result of 

 Dr. Perkin's work, establishing a difference in nitrogen according 

 as it is present in the saturated or unsaturated condition, was in 

 accordance with the conclusion which he had arrived at from the 

 study of refractive power ; the peculiarities brought out by the 

 study of the magnetic behaviour, however, were chiefly indicated 

 by peculiarities in dispersive power, being less obvious in the 

 refraction equivalents. — The nature of solutions as elucidated by 

 a study of their densities, electric conductivities, heat capacity, 

 and heat of dissolution, by Mr. S. U. Pickering. The solu- 

 tions examined were those of calcium chloride, calcium nitrate, 

 • and sulphuric acid, and the various hydrates which are proved 

 to exist in solution are numerous and complex. The hydrates 

 which calcium chloride forms contain 6, 7, 8, 10, 13, 18, 28, 

 86, and 1500 H2O ; calcium nitrate gives hydrates with 3, 3 "5, 

 4-5, 5, 6, 10, 17, 51, 265, and 1810 HjO ; while with sulphuric 



acid hydrates are found containing^, \, %, i, |, 2, 4, 5, 9, 13, 

 24. 52. 135. 510, 1430, and 4950 HoO". The existence of 

 these is, naturally, more doubtful in some cases than in others, 

 and it is impossible to determine the exact molecular composition 

 when more than about loHgO is present. In some cases the 

 hydrates of sulphuric acid were established by six independent 

 sets of results obtained from the study of four distinct pro- 

 perties. The excessively large amount of water present in 

 the highest hydrate is a matter of especial interest, and the 

 existence of such compounds explains the influence which mere 

 traces of one substance may have on another substance {eg. 

 impurities in metals). The final conclusion which the author 

 deduces from his work is the absolute rejection of any theory 

 of dissolution other than the hydrate theory. — The expansion 

 of water and other liquids, by the same. The author gives 

 some determinations of the density of water at different tem- 

 peratures, which indicate sudden changes in the expansion at 

 about 10° and 18°. On examining the results obtained by 

 •Pierre, Kopp, Rosetti, Matthiessen, Solly, Despretz, and 

 Hagen, he obtained further evidence of these changes, as well as 

 of another change at 50°-6o^ Pierre's results also show marked 

 changes at 0° and 2° '5. Pierre's results with eleven organic 

 liquids were also examined, and in most of them there appeared 

 to be sudden changes of density at certain temperatures, which 

 temperatures were different for different liquids. Nearly all of 

 these results show that the densities of liquids when plotted 

 against temperature form a series of parabolic curves of the 

 second order, not meeting tangentially, and differentiating, 

 therefore, into a series of straight lines which do not meet at 

 the points where the breaks occur. — The formation of phenyl- 

 indoles by isomeric change, by Dr. W. H. Ince. It is known 



.CPh,^ 

 that the phenylindole Q^/ ^CH, when heated with zinc 



\nh/ 



chloride at 173 , is converted into the isomerideCgllgC;^ ^CPh 



^NIK 

 (Fischer and Schmitt, Ber. der dent. chem. Gesellsch.,i%S'j, lo^l, 

 i8u). The author finds that the corresponding naphthindole, 



/CPh* /<^Ph. 



CioHs< ^CH,andmethylphenylindole,C6H4( >CH, 



^NH/ ^NMe-^ 



undergo a like change under similar conditions, although action 

 takes place neither so easily nor so completely as in the simpler 

 case. — An improved Soxhlet extractor, and vacuum distilling 

 apparatus, by Dr. I. Lewkowitsch. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, May 28. — Annual General 

 Meeting. — Sir George B. Bruce, President, in the chair. — After 

 the reading and adoption of the Report, hearty votes of thanks 

 were passed to the President, to the Vice-Presidents, and other 

 Members of the Council, to the Auditors, to the Secretaries 

 and Staff, and to the Scrutineers. — The ballot for the Council 

 resulted in the election of Sir John Coode, K.C.M.G., as Pre- 

 sident ; of Mr. G. Berkley, Mr. H. Hayter, Mr. A. Giles, 

 M.P., and Sir Robert Rawlinson, K.C.B., as Vice-Presidents ; 

 and of Mr. W. Anderson, Mr. B. Baker, Mr. J. W. Barry, Mr. 

 E. A. Cowper, Sir James N. Douglass, F.R.S., Sir Douglas 

 Fox, Mr. J. C. Hawkshaw, Mr. C. Hawksley, Sir Brad- 

 ford Leslie, K.C.I.E., Mr. G. F. Lyster, Mr. J. Mansergh, 

 Mr. W. H. Preece, F.R.S., Sir E. J. Reed, K.C.B., F.R.S., 

 M.P., Mr. W. Shelford, and Mr. F. W. Webb, as other Mem- 

 bers of the Council. — The session was then adjourned until the 

 second Tuesday in November, at 8 p.m. — The Council have 

 awarded the following premiums in respect of the original com 

 munications submitted during the session 1888-89 • — For pap' 

 read and discussed at the ordinary meetings : a Telford Me^ 

 and a Telford Premium to Gisbert Kapp, for his paper on altei 

 nate-current machinery ; a Watt Medal and a Telford Premiu: 

 to William Henry Greenwood, for his paiier on the treatmei 

 of steel by hydraulic pressure, and the plant employed far the 

 purpose ; a George Stephenson Medal and a Telford Premium 

 to Edgar W^orthington, for his paper on the compound principf 

 applied to locomotives : a Watt Medal and a Telford Premiui 

 to Charles Edward Emery, for his paper on the district distribi 

 tion of steam in the United States ; a Telford Premium to Jo' 

 Audley Frederick Aspinall, for his paper on the friction of loo 

 motive slide-valves ; a Telford Premium to John Oliver Arnol 

 for his paper on the influence of chemical composition on t" 

 strength of Bessemer steel tires. For papers printed in t 

 Proceedings without being discussed : a Watt Medal and 



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