July II, 1889J 



NATURE 



253 



long and 100 yards wide. — Researches on the electrical resist- 

 ance of bismuth, by Dr. Ed. von Aubel. The paper, which 

 is in French, was taken as read. A translation will appear in 

 the Proceedings of the Society. — Expansion with rise of tem- 

 ]ierature of wires under pulling stress, by J. T. Bottomley, 

 I'.R. S. The investigation was to determine whether the co- 

 efficient of expansion of wires depends on the stress to which 

 they are subjected, and was undertaken in connection with the 

 secular experiments on the elasticity and ductility of wires, now 

 being conducted at Glasgow University. Two wires, about 17 

 feet long, of the same material, were suspended side by side 

 within a tube, through which steam could be passed to change 

 the temperature. One wire v/as loaded to half, and the other 

 to one-tenth its breaking weight, and, in the preliminary experi- 

 ments the elongations were read by a Quincke's microscope 

 cathetometer. About 150 heatings and coolings, extending over 

 three months, were necessary to bring the heavily loaded wire 

 to its permanent state, so that consecutive expansions and con- 

 tractions were equal. When this stage was reached, hooks of 

 peculiar shape were attached to the lower ends of the wire. 

 These hooks form a relative geometrical guide, and their hori- 

 zontal parts mutually support a small table which carries a plane 

 mirror. If the wires expand or contract unequally, the mirror 

 becomes tilted, and the relative displacement is observed by 

 means of a telescope and scale fixed nearly vertically over the 

 mirror. From experiments on copper wires, the coefficient of 

 relative expansion was found to be 0*32 x 10"^ per degree Cen- 

 tigrade, or about 1/55 of the ordinary linear expansion of the 

 material. The heavily loaded wire expanded most. The results 

 for platinoid give 027 x 10"* as the relative coefficient under 

 the conditions named above ; this is about 1/57 of the ordinary 

 linear expansion, which, from separate experiments, was found 

 to be I5'4x lo"*. Mr. H. Tomlinson thought the probationary 

 ])eriod for copper might be considerably shortened by repeatedly 

 ]3utting on and taking off the load, and by subjecting the wire 

 to torsional oscillation. With iron wires this would not be the 

 case, for they behave in a most peculiar manner, and require 

 long periods of rest after each oscillation. From experiments 

 he had conducted during the last two years, he found that the 

 ])ermeability of iron could be enormously leduced by repeated 

 heatings and coolings whilst undergoing magnetic cycles of small 

 range. Mr. Gregory said the paper threw considerable light on 

 some experiments on the sag of stretched wires upon which he 

 was engaged. He also suggested heating the wires by electric 

 currents. In reply, Mr. Bottomley said he had considered it 

 important to leave the wires untouched after being suspended, 

 and as regards heating by electricity he thought that convection- 

 currents would make the temperature non-uniform. — Owing to 

 the absence of Prof. S. P. Thompson, his "Notes on Geometrical 

 Optics " were postponed. 



Linnean Society, June 20. — Mr. Carruthers, F. R.S., Pre- 

 sident, in the chair. ^Dr. H. Trimen exhibited specimens and 

 drawings of the tuberculated lime of Ceylon, and made some 

 interesting remarks thereon. — Governor Moloney, of the Colony 

 of Lagos, West Africa, exhibited an extensive collection of 

 butterflies and moths, the result of twelve months' collecting 

 during the rainy season. The former, comprising representatives 

 of 65 genera and 158 species; the latter, 78 genera and 112 

 species, had been named and arranged by Mr. Herbert Druce. 

 A few Chelonians, belonging to the genera Ttinonyx, Sterna- 

 thceriis, and Cinixys, were also exhibited, and a remaikably large 

 block of resinous gum, which, in the opinion of Prof. Oliver, 

 was referable to some species of Daniellia, and which had been 

 found in Ijo country. As an article of commerce, it possessed 

 ihe advantage of requiring a heat of 600° F. to " run " it, so as 

 to unite with linseed oil in the manufacture of varnish. In 

 addition to these specimens. Governor Moloney exhibited some 

 long bows and cross-bows obtained fronw chiefs of Ibadan from 

 some battle-field in that neighbourhood, and used by natives 300 

 miles from the coast-line. A discussion followed, in which Dr. 

 Anderson, Mr. D. Morris, and Mr. Harting toik part. — Prof. 

 Stewart next exhibited some skulls, adult and immature, of 

 Ornithorhyiichus paradoxus, and explained the very curious 

 dentition of this animal ; upon which Dr. Mivart and Prof 

 Howes made some critical remarks. — A paper was then read by 

 Dr. John Anderson, F'. R. S. , on the mammals, reptiles, and 

 Batrachians which he had collected in the Mergui Archipelago, 

 and concerning which he had been enabled to make some inter- 

 esting field-notes. Attention was particularly directed to a new 

 bat {Emballonura), and to the occurrence, on some of the 



islands, of Pteropus cdults, besides a wild pig, musk deer, gray 

 squirrel, and a crab-eating monkey (Set/inopilhectis), which hunts 

 along the shore in search of Crustacea and Mollusca. Some 

 remarks were made on rhinoceros going out to sea, and on a 

 crocodile being found twenty miles off the coast. — A communi- 

 cation was read from Mr. Charles Packe, on a remarkable case 

 of prolonged vitality in a fritillary bulb. — The meeting (the last 

 of the session) was brought to a close by a most interesting de- 

 monstration on animal locomotion, by Mr. E. Muybridge, who 

 illustrated his remarks with projections on the screen, by oxy- 

 hydrogen light, of instantaneous photographs taken by him, to 

 which motion was imparted by means of the zoopraxiscope. 



Sydney. 

 Royal Society of New South "Wales, May i.— Annua! 



Meeting. — Sir Alfred Roberts in the chair. — The report stated 

 that twenty new members had been elected during the year, and 

 the total number on the roll, April 30, was 474. During the 

 year the Society held seven meetings, at which the following 

 papers were leid : — Presidential address, by C. S. Wilkinson. — 

 Forest destruction in New South Wales, and its effects on the 

 flow of water in water-courses and on the rainfall, by W. E. 

 Abbott. — On the increasing magnitude of 77 Argils ; on an 

 improvement in anemometers ; on the storm of September 21, 

 1888; on a new self-iecording thermometer; and on the 

 thunderstorm of October 26, 1888, by H. C. Russell, 

 F. R. S. — Notes on some minerals and mineral localities in 

 the northern districts of New South Wales, by D. A. Porter. 

 — On a simple plan of easing railway curves, by W. Shellshear. 

 — On the anatomy and life-history of Mollusca peculiar to Aus- 

 tralia ; and on the desert sandstone, by the Rev. J. E. Tenison- 

 Woods. — LJescriptionof an autographic stress-strain apparatus, by 

 Prof. Warren. — Considerations of phytographic expressions and 

 arrangements, by Baron Ferd. von Mueller, K.C.M.G., P\R.S. 

 — Indigenous Australian forage plants (non-grasses), including 

 plants injurious to stock ; .some New South Wales tan sub- 

 stances. Part 5, by J. N. Maiden. — Census of the fauna of the 

 older Tertiary of Australia, by Prof. Ralph Tate. — Results of 

 observations of comets I. and II., 1888, at Windsor, New Soutli 

 Wales, by John Tebbutt. — The Latin verb jubere, a linguistic 

 study, by Dr. John Eraser. — Notes on some New South Wales 

 minerals (Note No. 5), by Prof. Liversidge, F.R S. — The 

 Medical Section held seven meetings, at which the attendance 

 was far above the average ; the papers read and specimens 

 exhibited were interesting and valuable. The Microscopical 

 Section held seven meetings. The Clarke Medal for the year 

 1889 had been awarded to R. L. J. Ellery, F.R.S., Govern- 

 ment Astronomer for Victoria. The Society's bronze medal 

 and money prize of ^25 had been awarded to the Rev. J. E. 

 Tenison-Woods for his paper on the anatomy and life-history of 

 Mollusca peculiar to Australia, and the Council has since issued 

 the following list of subjects with the offer of the medal and a 

 prize of .^25 for each of the best researches if of sufficient merit : — 

 (To be sent in not later than May i, 1890) : The influence of the 

 Australian climate (general and local) in the development and 

 modification of disease ; On the silver ore deposits of New 

 South Wales ; On the occurrence of precious stones in New 

 South Wales, with a description of the deposits in which they 

 are found. (To be sent in not later than May i, 1891) : The 

 meteorology of Australia, New Zealand, and Tasmania ; Ana- 

 tomy and life history of the Echidna and Platypus ; The micro- 

 scopic structure of Australian rocks. — The Chairman read the 

 Presidential address, and the officers and Council were elected 

 for the ensuing year. Prof Liversidge, F.R. S., was elected 

 President. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, July i. — M. Des Cloizeaux, Presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — On a flow of molten glass occasioned by the 

 accidental piercing of a glass furnace, by M. F. P"ouque. An- 

 account is given of the sudden escape of about 400,000 kilo- 

 grammes of molten glass from the Clichy-la-Garenne Works, and 

 a comparison is drawn between the action of the discharge and 

 that of volcanic lavas. The absence of bubbles near the surface 

 of the former, and the other differences noticed between the two 

 streams, are attributed mainly to the different chemical composi- 

 tion of the initial magma of each substance. The woUastonite 

 peculiar to the vitreous flow solidifies under very different condi- 

 tions from those of the feldspars and ferro-magnesian bisilicates 

 occurring in the molten lavas. — The thermo-chemical ompared 

 with the surgical method in the study of the animal organism, by 

 M. Sappey. In continuation of his recent communication ork 



