April a,, 1878] 



NATURE 



459 



have induced the Council to recommend that the next autumn 

 meeting should be held in Paris. A sum of 2,318/. has been 

 raised by the Institute for the widow and family of Mr. Jones, 

 the late general secretary, 



The President stated that the Bessemer medal had been 

 aw arded to Prof. Tanner, of Leoben, Austria, in consequence of 

 the great distinction that gentleman had earned for himself in 

 his researches in that branch of science which the Institute so 

 fpecially represented. 



One of the most important papers read was by Mr. I. Lowthian 

 Bell, M.P., F.R.S., on the separation of phosphorus from 

 pig iron. In this paper Mr. Bell detailed his further expe- 

 riences in his endeavours to eliminate the phosphorus from the 

 iron, its presence having a weakening effect on the metal. Fully 

 five-sixths of the pig iron manufactured in Great Britain is made 

 from ores which, when smelted, give a product containing from 

 three-tenths of a unit to nearly 2 per cent, of phosphorus. When, 

 however, this element exists in pig iron to the extent of much 

 more tlian one-tenth of a unit per cent, it is unfit for the Bes- 

 semer converter — at all events when ordinary spiegel iron, con- 

 taining 10 or 12 per cent, of manganese, is used for its final 

 purification. Bessemer steel rail-makers are, therefore, obliged 

 to reject iron which formerly sufficed for the manufacture of iron 

 rails, an iron comparatively free from phosphorus being neces- 

 sary. That, therefore, affected the prosperity of the mines which 

 formerly supplied the rail makers with ore, as well as the blast 

 furnaces which produced the pig iron from that ore. Mr. Bell 

 explained that at the high temperature of the Bessemer converter, 

 while the carbon was removed by the air during its passage 

 through the metal, the phosphorus was not affected. This he 

 stated was also the case to a certain extent in the ordinary 

 refinery furnaces ; with a more moderate temperature, however, 

 the conditions which bound carbon and phosphorus with iron 

 were materially changed. The iron was more or less oxidised, 

 and the oxide of iron so formed acted on the carbon and phos- 

 phorus. When the phosphorus is removed its loss is accom- 

 panied by a separation of the carbon contained in the pig iron. 

 Loss of carbon, however, deprives the metal of its susceptibility 

 of fusion at the temperatures at which the operation of refining 

 and puddling are carried on, and when once the metal is solid 

 the further elimination of phosphorus is very difficult, if not im- 

 possible. Mr. Bell expressed the opinion that a lower tempera- 

 ture probably weakened the affinity of phosphorus for iron, as 

 they existed in the crude metal, or strengthened the affinity 

 between oxide of iron and phosphoric acid. A third condition 

 involved in the mere condition of heat might be a diminution of 

 the power possessed by oxide of iron in attacking the carbon, 

 that element which enabled the crude metal to maintain fluidity 

 when moderately heated. The author said that whichever one 

 or more than one of the three conditions was required, the fact 

 remained that melted crude iron might be maintained in contact 

 with melted oxide of iron, and still retain carbon enough to pre- 

 vent it solidifying, while the phosphorus rapidly disappeared. 

 Instances were given of 95 per cent, of phosphorus being 

 removed, while only 10 per cent of the carbon had been dissi- 

 pated. The process consists in the more rapid agitation of the 

 two substances while in a liquid condition. The iron so heated 

 may be puddled for the production of malleable iron, or used for 

 the manufacture of steel. Specimens of steel of the highest 

 quality which had been so produced at the Royal Arsenal, Wool- 

 wich, were exhibited. 



Dr. Percy, F.R.S., gave some particulars as to the manufac- 

 ture o< Japanese copper. Bars of this metal present a beautiful 

 rose- coloured tint on their surface, which is due to an extremely 

 thin and pertinaciously adherent film of red oxide of copper or 

 cuprous oxide. This tint is not in the least degree affected by 

 free exposure to the atmosphere. Tr. Percy placed before the 

 meeting bars which he had possessed for thirty years, and which 

 had undergone no change, although freely exposed to the atmo- 

 sphere. The secret of this result lies in casting the copper under 

 water, the metal being very highly heated and the water being 

 also made hot. Dr. Percy stated that he had succeeded in 

 casting copper in this way, and had produced similar results to 

 those shown in the Japanese metal. 



Other papers read were :^" On some Recent Improvements 

 in the Manufacture of Iron Sponge by the Blair Process," by 

 Mr. J. Ireland j "Statistics on the Production and Depreciation 

 of Rails," by Mr. Charles Wood; "On Steel-casting Appa- 

 ratus," by Mr. Michael Scott; "On Railway Joints," by Mr. 

 C. H. Halcomb ; and "On the Manufacture of Bessemer Steel 

 and Steel Rails," by Mr. C. B. Holland. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE 



Cambridge. — The Council of the Senate recommend that the 

 application of Prof. C. C. Babington for skilled assistance at the 

 Botanical Museum be granted, and that an assistant curator of 

 the Herbarium be appointed at a salary of 100/, per annum, 

 the appointment to be m^de by the Professor with the consent 

 of the Vice- Chancellor, and to be for a period of four years. It 

 is in contemplation to appoint a non-collegiate student. 



Baltimore. — The Anniversary of the Johns Hopkins Uni- 

 versity was celebrated on February 22, when addresses were given 

 by some of the professors and others. So far the progress of the 

 University has been thoroughly satisfactory. One of its principal 

 aims is to encourage original research, both among professors 

 and students, and fellowships are granted to those who show 

 aptitude for such work. Prof. Remsen, in his address, showed 

 that a lofty idea of what original research really is, is entertained 

 at the University ; it is not merely the establishing of an isolated 

 fact, the devising of a new piece of apparatus, the simple analysis 

 of a new mineral, the discovery of an extra tooth in some 

 abnormal animal ; it is, rather, a systematic attempt to solve a 

 definite problem, involving the use of a variety of methods 

 peculiar to the special branch in which the attempt is made. In 

 the three laboratories, biological, physical, and chemical, a 

 variety of important work is being carried on, and altogether, 

 both in the kind and amount of work which is being done under 

 the auspices of the university, the trustees and professors show 

 that they have a thorough appreciation of the spirit of the 

 founder's legacy. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Mathematical Society, March 14. — Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Mr. Artemas Martin, Erie, Pa,, was 

 proposed for election. — The Secretary communicated a paper by 

 Prof. J. Clerk Maxwell, on the electrical capacity of a long 

 naiTOW cylinder and of a disc of sensible thickness. Prof. 

 Cayley, Mr. J. W. L. Glaisher, Mr. Roberts, and the President 

 made short"*communications. 



Royal AstronomicaL Society, March 8. — Lord lindsay, 

 president, in the chair, — Mr. Neison read a paper on Hansen's 

 terms of long period in the lunar theory. Mr. Proctor drew 

 some diagrams referring to the position of the axis of Mars, and 

 spoke upon Mr. Stone's paper of last January. Mr. Neison 

 made some illustrative remarks thereon. — A paper by Mr. 

 Plummer was read on the supposed influence of a mass of brick- 

 work upon the errors of ^a transit instrument in its neighbour- 

 hood. Several Fellows commented upon this paper and 

 described the lively behaviour of their transit-piers; Mr. 

 Dunkin said there was nothing new about it. — A paper by Mr. 

 Stone was read on telescopic observations of the Transit of 

 Venus. Mr, Gill spoke on the difficulties concerning contacts, 

 and some discussion followed, — A paper was announced by 

 Prof, Sedley Taylor on Galileo's trial before the Inquisition in 

 the light of recent researches ; likewise an atlas of the ecliptic, 

 by Heiss, of stars down to the fifth magnitude on Mercator's 

 projection, made in order to get people to lay down the zodiacal 

 light,— There were several other papers. 



Entomological Society, March 6. — H. W. Bates, F.L.S., 

 F.Z.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. John Woodgate was elected 

 a Member of the Society.— Mr, F. Moore, at the request of Sir 

 W. H, Gregory, late governor of Ceylon, exhibited a large series 

 of drawings, executed by native artists, of the transformations of 

 the lepidoptera of the island. These drawings were made under 

 the direction of Dr. Thwaites, and represented, for the first time, 

 the life-history of many species.— Mr. McLachlan exhibited 

 some entomological parts of the great Russian work " Fedtschen- 

 kos' Travels in Turkestan," -Mr. H, Goss exhibited a small 

 collection of fossil insects obtained by Mr. Gardner from the 

 Bournemouth leaf beds (middle eocene). The collection com- 

 prised numerous elytra of coleoptera, and wings of neuroptera, 



&c, Mr, J, Mansel Weale read some notes on South African 



insects. These referred to variation in Pieris severina and Pieris 

 vusenlina ; to the secretion of formic acid in Termes trimvcrius, 

 and the probable locaUsation of the same in a cephalic process, 

 and also to the larvae of some Hesperidae in relation to the subject 

 of protective resemblance,— Mr. Ed. Saunders read a paper 

 entitled "Remarks on the Hairs of some of our British Hymen- 



