July 4. 1S78] 



NATURE 



271 



also called passing attention to some living tree frogs {Hyla 

 arborea) which he had obtained in the South of Europe. Those 

 now exhibited to the Fellows showed the remarkable change of 

 colour which this species of frog is known to possess, some being 

 green, others bright blue. This change of hue is due to certain 

 pigment corpuscles the precise nature of which he at present is 

 investigating. — The Report on Publications was read by the 

 Secretary, and that of the balance-sheet by Dr. R. C. A. Prior. 

 Afterwards the Treasurer (Dr. J. Gwyn Jeffreys) laid his state- 

 ment of accounts, &c., for the year 1877, before the meeting. 

 This showed a very satisfactory financial position, a balance of 

 46/. 13J. remaining in hand, after all current expenses had 

 been paid, while 700/. had been invested since the last Annual 

 Report. The alterations in the bye-laws relative to an increase 

 in the rate of payment for Fellows compounding, previously read 

 at two successive general meetings, was put to the ballot and 

 confirmed by the Fellows at large in the terms of the Charter. 

 — The Secretary gave a notice of the Fellows and Foreign 

 Members who had died during the past twelvemonth ; of the 

 former there were ten, and of the latter foiu-, viz., fourteen in 

 all. Among these Mr. Henry Adams, Dr. Elias M. Fries, 

 Mr. Andrew Murray, Prof. Parlatore, Mr. Fox Talbot, Dr. R. 

 Visiani, Dr. H. A. Weddell, and Mr. T. V. Wollaston, deserve 

 mention as of considerable repute in the scientific world. During 

 the year thirty-eight Ordinary Fellows and five Foreign Members 

 had been elected. — At this meeting also the following Fellows 

 were elected into the Council : — Mr. J. Ball, Dr. T. Boycott, 

 Mr. F. Du Cane Godman, Dr. A. Giinther, and the Rev. G. 

 Henslow, in the place of Mr. J. G. Baker, Dr. W. B. Car- 

 penter, Mr. Henry Lee, Prof. W. K. Parker, and Mr. S. I, A. 

 Salter, who retired by rotation. The President and Officers 

 were re-elected. 



Physical Society, May 25.— The President, Prof, W. G. 

 Adams, in the chair. — The following candidates were elected Mem- 

 bers of the Society :— W. Kieser, T. McEniry, W. R. Philips, G. M. 

 Whipple. — Mr. D. J. Blaikley read a paper on brass wind instru- 

 ments as resonators, describing an attempt he has made to carry 

 into some detail certain acoustical investigations of the late Sir 

 C. Wheatstone. A method by which the positions of the notal 

 points in a cone and in a bugle had been fixed was shown, and 

 it was then shown that a complete cone cannot be used by the 

 lips as a wind instnmient, that conic frustra cannot give reson- 

 ance to the same series of notes as complete cones, and that 

 therefore the conical form must be modified ; and, as this modi- 

 fication of form makes the position of a node for every note 

 required more or less coincide with that of the lips, so will 

 the instrument be more or less perfectly in tune. As the number 

 of quarter wave-lengths in a cone or wind instnmient is not 

 directly proportional to the vibrational number of the note, as it 

 is in free space or in an open tube, so the velocity of the wave 

 of a gfiven note is not exactly the same as that of another note of 

 different pitch. Experiments were shown to illustrate the effect of 

 varieties of form in producing different qualities of tone, and 

 evidence was given of the existence of very high harmonic or 

 partial tones in the low notes of wind instruments. In the trom- 

 bone the ninth partial tone (three octaves and a tone above its 

 prime) was thus proved to be sounding, and partial tones up to 

 the sixteenth have been heard. — Sir W. Thomson pointed out 

 the comiection between the range of a musical instrument and 

 the phenomena observed in a trumpet-shaped bay between high 

 and low water ; he ako considered that an investigation of the 

 overtones due to the cavity of the mouth would well repay 

 research in explaining the influence its shape has on the vowel 

 sounds. — Lord Rayleigh observed that in a conical musical in- 

 strument, the correction to be made on account of the cone not 

 being perfect to the apex is equal to six -tenths of the radius of 

 the open end, and he pointed out that with a bell-mouthed 

 instrument much of the sound is diffiised as spherical waves. — 

 Dr. Guthrie placed on the table a communication on salt solu- 

 tions and attached water and on the separation of water from 

 crystalline solids in currents of dry air, in continuation of his 

 researches, which have already been published. The results 

 could not be usefully abstracted, but as an instance of the im- 

 portant results obtained it may be mentioned that Dr. Guthrie 

 finds that when dry air is passed over chloride of barium at a 

 temperature just above 25° C, the j8 molecule of water is given 

 off, and that the a molecule of water is only separated at a tem- 

 perature just above 60° C. He also showed the effect of a steam 

 jet in boring through a block, mainly with a view of obtaining 



uggestions as to the use of such a method in the commercial 



preparation of ice. — Mr. Rutherfurd then showed a photograph 

 of the solai- spectrum from the line E to H, taken by means of 

 a grating. By means of a heliostat he concentrated the rays on 

 a lens within a collimator, which in relation to the observing 

 telescope was of considerable length, in order to admit as much 

 light as possible, and the grating was movable. The enlarge- 

 ment was effected by inserting a lens near the focal point of the 

 observing telescope, and he used a sensitive collodion which 

 gave the greatest sharpness of definition about the line G. — Sir 

 W. Thomson, in continuation of the communication made to 

 the Society at its last meeting, described the effect of torsion on 

 the electric conductivity of a tube of brass. We have already 

 given an account of this paper. 



Anthropological Institute, May 28. — Major-Gen. A. Lane 

 Fox, F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — Mr. Hyde Clarke 

 exhibited a carved stone object which was considered as having 

 come from Central America. — Col. Paske read a paper on 

 Buddhism in Little Tibet. After a brief description of the route 

 through the Kangra and Kulu Valleys to the high mountain 

 passes leading into Lahore and Spiti, he gave particulars of the 

 physical features of these countries, their products, &c., with 

 some account of the habits and customs of the people, concluding 

 with observations on Buddhism, Col. Paske gave an explana- 

 tion of the modified form of Buddhism prevalent in the provinces 

 of Little Tibet, and brought to notice the ritual and religious 

 customs of the Lamas or Buddhist priests ; described his visits 

 to Buddhist monasteries, exhibiting specimens of Buddhist 

 ritualistic instruments, and other curiosities, with a small painting 

 representing the "Triumph of Buddhism," executed by a Lama 

 recently arrived from Llassa. — Mr. Brabrook read a paper by 

 Mr.'Alfred Simson, entitled Notes on the Piojes of the Putumayo. 

 A tribe of Indians occupying the middle and lower Aguarico and 

 a considerable stretch of the left bank of the Napo are known 

 as the Santa Maria Indians or Pioje's, from the word in their 

 language, pioje, and speak the same language, and have several 

 traits in common with the Indians inhabiting the borders of the 

 Upper Putumayo, who seem to have no special appellation, but 

 which Mr. Simson proposed to call the Macaguajes or Piojes of 

 the Putumayo. Mr, Simson's experience of these Indians 

 extended only to those living on the banks of the main stream, 

 dining long journeys with a number of them selected from 

 different villages, and visits and sojourns in most of these 

 villages. Their dwellings, religion, and customs were freely 

 described. Mr. Simson also communicated a vocabulary of the 

 Zaparo language. 



Geological Society, June $. — John Evans, F.R.S,, vice- 

 president, in the chair. — William Santo Crimp and Joseph 

 Richard Haines were elected Fellows of the Society. — The fol- 

 lowing communications were read : — On the quartzites of Shrop- 

 shire, by Charles Callaway, F.G.S. — On the affinities of the 

 Mosasauridse, Gervais, as exemplified in the bony structure of 

 the fore fin, by Prof. Owen, C.B., F.R.S. — On new species of 

 Procolophon from the Cape Colony, preserved in Dr. Grierson's 

 museum, Thomhill, Dumfriesshire ; with some remarks on the 

 affinities of the genus, by Harry Govier Seeley, F.L.S., Pro- 

 fessor of Geography in King's College, London. — On the 

 microscopic structure of the Stromatoporidse, and on palseozoic 

 fossils mineralised with silicates, in illustration of eozoon, by 

 Principal Dawson, F.R.S. — On some Devonian Stromatopor- 

 idaj, by A. Champernowne, F.G.S. — On a new species of 

 Lofiusia from British Columbia, by George M. Dawson, F.G.S., 

 of the Geological Survey of Canada. 



Chemical Society, June 6. — Dr. Gladstone, president, in 

 the chair, — The follomng papers were read : — Analogies 

 between the action of the copper-zinc couple and occluded and 

 nascent hydrogen, by Dr. Gladstone and Mr, Tribe. The 

 authors have observed that finely-divided copper charged with 

 hydrogen converts nitre into potassium nitrite and ammonia, and 

 reduces potassium chlorate to chloride. The copper-zinc couple 

 converts nitrobenzol in aqueous solution into anilin, a reaction 

 which the authors have utilised for the detection of small quan- 

 tities of nitrobenzol. The action of palladium-hydrogen, plati- 

 num hydrogen, and carbon-hydrogen on various substances have 

 been investigated, and compared with the action of the copper- 

 zinc couple. During the reading of the paper. Dr. Russell 

 took the chair. — On the alkaloids of the aconites. Part 3, by 

 Dr. Wright and A. P. Luff. The authors have continued their 

 researches on these alkaloids, and in the present paper investigate 

 the saponification, &c., of aconitin, picraconitin, and have ob- 

 tained two new bases, aconine and picraconin ; acteyl and ben 



