294 



NATURE 



\7uly II, 1878 



suitable means during the period of systole, it is found that the 

 variation observed (in which, so long as the surface is in its 

 normal state, a becomes negative to b in the second phase) 

 is modified by momentarily warming (in the manner already 

 described) as follows : — When b is warmed a still becomes 

 negative in the second phase ; but the extent of the deflection is 

 four or five times as great as before. When a is warmed, in- 

 stead of becoming negative in the second phase, it becomes 

 positive ; in other words, the second phase is reversed. Per-t 

 manent injury (as e.g., by the closer approach of the ho 

 platinum wire) produces similar results, with this difference : 

 that whereas the modifications produced by radiation are tran- 

 sitory, and in fact pass off in a few seconds, those caused by 

 injury are of much loiter duration. All these facts seem to 

 show that there is an intimate relation between the second 

 phase and the act of contraction. The nature of this relation 

 is matter for further investigation. 



Linnean Society, June 20. — Prof. AUman, F.R.S., presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — Mr. W. Catell was elected a Fellow of the 

 Society. — Dr. J, Gwyn Jeffreys exhibited and made remarks on 

 specimens of a new species of Virgularia, dredged by himself 

 and the Rev. A. M. Norman in the Osterfjord, Norway, and 

 which Dr. Danielssen will further describe. — Some gourds, pro- 

 bably the fruits of Lagenaria vulgaris, from Pekin, were shown 

 by Mr. J. R. Jackson, of Kew. These, which were quite orna- 

 mental in form, had had their figure given them while in the 

 living state by their being inserted into moulds, thus growing to 

 the pattern desired. — A notice of some shells dredged by Capt. 

 St. John, R.N., in the Korean Strait, was read by Dr. J. Gwyn 

 Jeffj-eys. Of fourteen species enumerated six are now, for the 

 first time, found living in the North Pacific as well as the 

 Atlantic. Nucinella ovalis and Kellia pumila, supposed extinct, 

 are thus shown recently living in the Korean region. Six other 

 species are already known as inhabiting both oceans. No less 

 than nine of the fourteen species are Coralline Crag fossils. ITie 

 author finds this collection supporting his formerly expressed view, 

 that mollusca common to the North Atlantic and North Pacific 

 oceans may have originated in high northern latitudes, and have 

 found their way to Japan on the one side and Europe on the 

 other by means of the bifurcation of the great Arctic current. — 

 Chas. B. Clarke read a paper on two kinds of dimorphism in the 

 Rubiacese. The group in question is well known to be largely 

 dimorphic, the variations chiefly consisting in the length of the 

 style and stamens. The author now records dimorphism as 

 follows: — I. Where the point of insertion of the stamens is 

 altered, being situate in one form high above the middle of the 

 corolla tube, and in another form at the base of the corolla tube 

 — that is, subepigynous instead of epicoroUine. 2. Where there 

 are two kinds of fruit, viz. (a) a large fruit corresponding to a 

 sessile flower, &c., and (b) a small fruit corresponding to a 

 peduncled flower. — The Secretary read, for Capt. W. P. Armit, 

 some notes on the presence of Tachyglossus ( = Echidna) and 

 Ornithorhynchus in North and North-East Queensland. It is 

 shown that the Echidna occurs at Bellenden Plains, 18° S. lat., 

 which habitat appears to be the most northern limit yet recorded 

 in the Australian continent. The Ornithorhynchus is also met 

 with 150 miles west of Georgetown and on the Leichardt River, 

 about 18° S. lat. — Some remarks on the Echidna skull accom- 

 panying the above paper were made by Dr. J. Murie. Its com- 

 parison showed that, in all particulars, it agreed with that of the 

 common E. hystix, and that supposed to be specifically distinct, 

 to wit, the E. setosa. The New Guinea Echidna (Acanthoglossus 

 Bruijnii) presents marked characteristic differences from both. — 

 Prof. Oliver communicated a paper by Mr. N. E.Brown on the sta- 

 pelise of Thunbei^'s herbarium and descriptions of new genera. 

 Of eleven species of stapelia of Thunberg's determination, five 

 only properly belong to the genus as now understood, and six 

 belong to five diffierent genera, two of which ( Trichocaulon and 

 Diplocyatha) are now characterised for the first time. Sarcocodon 

 speciosum from the Somali land, and Huerniopsis decipuns from 

 South Africa, are curious plants, the genera and species receiv- 

 ing a formal description. — The abstract of a paper on the shell 

 of the bryzoa, by Mr. Arthur W. Waters, was taken as read. — 

 The main points of observations on the white whale {Beluga 

 leucas) exhibited at the Westminster Aquarium, were given orally 

 by Dr. J. Murie. These notes chiefly related to the times and 

 manner of breathing, certain outward peculiarities, visual organs 

 and movements of body and tail in progression round the tank, 

 along with other physiological topics. Respiration in and out of 

 the water is not identical as to times and manner. A funsfus 



(Saprolegnia ferax, Smith), that lately known as' the "salmon 

 disease," grew in abundance on the body of the whale, and no 

 doubt acted prejudicially to the animal's health. 



Mathematical Society, June 13. — Prof. H. J. S. Smith, 

 F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair, — Mr. T. R. Terry was 

 admitted into the Society, and Mr. J. D. H. Dickson was pro- 

 posed for election. — Dr. Hirst, F.R.S., communicated a paper 

 by M. Halphen, on the characteristics of systems of conies. — 

 Mr. J. J. Walker read a paper on a method in the analysis of 

 plane curves. This last paper was the development of a method 

 of treating the intersections of a transversal with a plane curve 

 which occurred to the author some years since ; it contained, 

 inta- alia, a discussion, by the use of the method, of the problem 

 of the inflexion-tangential curve for the quartic, with the deter- 

 mination of the co-ordinates of the tangential point in terms of 

 the co-ordinates of the corresponding point of inflexion. — Mr. 

 Tucker (hon. sec.) communicated the following papers :— On 

 the calculus of equivalent statements, II., Mr. Hugh McColl ; On 

 the flexure of spaces, Mr. C. J. Monro ; On the decomposition 

 of certain numbers into sums of two square integers by continued 

 fractions, Mr. S. Roberts, F.R.S. ; On a new method of finding 

 differential insolvents of algebraical equations, Mr. R. Rawson. 

 — Questions were asked by Prof. Cayley, F.R.S. (" Has a solu- 

 tion been given of the statement that in colouring a map of a 

 country, divided into counties, only four distinct colours are re- 

 quired, so that no two adjacent counties should be painted in 

 the same colour?") ; by Mr. Merrifield, F.R.S., on the uniform 

 distribution of points in space ; by Mr. Tucker, in connection 

 with the announcement made in Nature (vol. xvii. p. 104) of 

 a second exception to Fermat's statement that all numbers of the 

 form 2'« -i- I are primes. The two exceptions now known are 

 for m = 5, 12, in which cases 5 . 2? -J- i, 7 . 2^* -f I are factors 

 respectively. Mr. Tucker suggested that 9 . 2*^ -I- i, 11 . 2^^ + I, 

 &c., might be factors when m = 19, 26, &c. 



Physical Society, June 8.— Prof. W. G. Adams, president, 

 in the chair. — The following candidate was elected a Member of 

 the Society : — Mr. R. H. Solly. — The Secretary read a paper 

 by Prof. Hughes on the physical action of the microphone. — 

 Sir John Conroy, Bart., M.A., read a paper on the light reflected 

 by potassium permanganate. After referring to the results ob- 

 tained by Haidinger and Stokes, and more recently by Wiede- 

 mann, ^heBproceeded to describe his own experiments, which have 

 been made by means of a very complete Babinet's goniometer 

 provided with a vertical as well as a horizontal stage, so that the 

 reflecting surface could be placed directly over the axis of the 

 instrument. Sunlight, unpolarised or polarised in any plane by a 

 Nicol, was used, and the moving arm of the instrument carried 

 a direct-vision spectroscope with a ' ' bright-spot " micrometer 

 and a reflecting prism for bringing a second spectrum into the field. 

 The colour of a siu-face, obtained by rubbing the crushed per- 

 manganate into a surface of ground glass with an agate burnisher, 

 was found to vary with the nature of the light and its angle of 

 incidence, and it further varied as the surface was immersed in 

 benzene, bisulphide, or tetrachloride of carbon. With light 

 polarised perpendicular to the plane of incidence,the dark bands 

 in the reflected spectrum are far more distinct than when un- 

 polarised or polarised perpendicularly to that plane. In the 

 first of these three cases four bands are observed at angles less 

 than 40°, and the blue end of the spectrum is very weak ; as 

 the angle of incidence increases the intensity of the blue rays 

 diminishes : the dark bands gradually shift towards the blue end 

 of the spectrum, and at about 60° a new band appears near D. 

 With a still greater angle more of the blue rays are reflected 

 and the bands fade away, those in the more refrangible part 

 disappearing first. This displacement amounts approximately 

 to 0*006 tenth-metre.— Prof, S. P. Thompson exhibited and 

 described a cheap and efficient form of optical bench. Two 

 straight oak bars, about two metres in length, are clamped 

 together, as in a lathe-bed, and a number of slides carryii^ 

 various appliances slide easily without shake, and can be fixed 

 in any position by wedges. The several frames carrying the dif- 

 fraction grating or edges, the eye-piece (with an engraved glass 

 micrometer), &c., are so made, in wood, as to be capable of ad- 

 justment in any plane ; and the instrument can also be employed 

 for making photometric or other measurements. The mean of 

 two determinations for the wave-length of certain red light gave 

 o'ooo629 as compared with Fresnel's figure, 0*000640, while the 

 total cost did not exceed 3/.— The Secretary then read a paper 

 by Prof. Ayrton, of the Imperial College of Tokio, Japan, on 

 the electrical properties of beeswax and lead chloride. The 



