April i\, 1878] 



NATURE 



479 



G. von Koch. — Dr. H. von Ihering's" contribution to the 

 anatomy of Chiton deals chiefly with the sexual apparatus, the 

 kidney, and the muscles. He show that in Chitonidrc the sexes 

 arc undoubtedly separate, and that the ova are fertilised in the 

 ovary. — Observations on the formation, fertilisation, and seg- 

 mentation of the animal egg, by Oscar Hertwig, part 3, 20 

 pages, 3 plates. This part deals with the ova of the star-fish, 

 Asteracanthion. 



Zeilschrift fiir ivissenschaftliche Zoologie, vol. xxx. part 2. — 

 Contribution to the knowledge of the flagellate infusorians and 

 some related organisms, by O. Biitschli, 78 pp. 5 plates, de- 

 scribirg or criticising a great number of species. — On the lungs 

 of Birgus latro (land crab), by C. Semper. — I'he copulatory 

 organs of plagiostomes, by K. R. Petri, 48 pp. 3 plates. — The 

 central nervous system of the alligator, by Rabl-Riickard, 38 pp. 

 2 plates. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, March 28.— " Measurements of Electrical 

 Constants. No. II. On the Specific Inductive Capacities of 

 Certain Dielectrics," by J. E. H. Gordon, B.A. Camb. First 

 Series. Communicated by Prof. J. Clerk Maxwell, F.R.S. 

 (Abstract.) 



The author has, under Prof. Clerk ■ Maxwell's directions, 

 carried out some measurements of specific inductive capacities 

 by a new method. 



The author finds that all his results are much lower than those 

 obtained by previous experimenters, and suggests that the fact 

 may perhaps be explained on a supposition that the specific 

 inductive capacity of dielectrics increases from an inferior to a 

 superior limit during the first small fraction of a second after the 

 commencement of the electrification. He discusses this question 

 at some length in his paper. 



"On the Thermo-Electric Properties of Liquids," by G. 

 Gore, LL.D., F R.S. 



In this communication the author has described an improved 

 apparatus for examining the thermo-electric properties of liquids, 

 by the use of which, with the precautions stated, all sources of 

 error in such experiments appear to be removed ; he has also 

 described a number of experiments he has made with it, and the 

 results obtained. 



By employing a sufficient number and variety of electrically- 

 conducting solutions, of acids, salts, and alkalies, in those 

 expf.riments, he has discovered several exceptions to the usual 

 effect he had. formerly obtained, viz., that acid liquids are 

 thermo-electro-positive, and alkaline ones thermoelectro- 

 negative, and has sketched a diagram representing the thermo- 

 electric behaviour of heated platinum in three of the exceptional 

 liquids. 



Reasoning upon the satisfactory results obtained, he con- 

 cludes : — (i) That the electric currents are not produced by 

 chemical action ; (2) Nor by a temporary disassociation of the 

 constituents of the liquid ; (3) Nor by the action of gases 

 occluded in the metals ; (4) But that they are produced purely 

 and solely by the heat, and that heat disappears in producing 

 them ; (5) That they are immediate or direct effects of the heat, 

 and that aqueous conducting liquids, therefore, possess true 

 thermo-electric properties ; (6) That the current is a result of a 

 difference of thermic action at the surfaces of the two pieces of 

 metal ; (7) That it is a product of a suitable molecular structure 

 of the liquid, a change of such structure resulting from alteration 

 of temperature, and a direct conversion of heat into electricity ; 

 and (8) That the circumstance which is most influential in 

 enabling heat to produce the currents, and most determines their 

 direction and amount, is a suitable molecular structure of the 

 liquid. 



By means of the apparatus and process described, he has dis- 

 covered irregular molecular changes in several of the liquids 

 examined ; and as molecular changes are the bases of various 

 physical and chemical alterations, he suggests the use of this 

 apparatus and method as a new one for discovering anomalous 

 molecular alterations, and other coincident physical and chemical 

 ores, in electrically conducting liquids ; and for detecting differ- 

 ences of electric potential between metals and liquids at different 

 temperatures. 



By reasoning upon the different results obtained, he concludes 

 also as probable, that when a piece of metal is supply immersed 



in a suitable liquid, a change of temperature occurs ; and this (if 

 correct ^) is a parallel fact to that of the production of electricity 

 by simple contact only. The results also support the contact 

 theory of voltaic electricity. 



The paper concludes with several suggestions of new lines of 

 re?earch suggested by the experiments, one of which is the con- 

 struct on of a new thermo-electro-motor. 



Chemical Society, March 30. — Anniversary meeting. — Dr. 

 Gladstone, president, in the chair. — The following is a brief 

 summary of the president's address :— The bye-laws have been 

 thoroughly revised. Successful efforts have been made to expe- 

 dite the publication of the Journal, and a sub-editor, Mr. C. E. 

 Groves, has been appointed. The Research Fund now amounts 

 to 4, coo/., and already two papers have resulted from the assist- 

 ance rendered by it to investigators. The President hopes that 

 many chemists, especially those to whom the pursuit of chemistry 

 has become a source of wealth, will contribute to this important 

 fund. During the past year an independent body, the Institute 

 of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland has been formed and 

 incorporated ; its objects, which are quite distinct from those of 

 the Chemical Society, are the encouragement of the study of 

 chemistry and the maintenance of the profession on a sound and 

 satisfactory basis. Sixty-five papers have been read during the 

 past session, and two lectures have been delivered. There are 

 at present 965 Fellows. The Society has lost by death one 

 eminent foreign member,'M. Regnault, and, besides, Messrs. R. 

 Apjohn, J. J. Griffin, W. Gossage, T. Hall, E. L. Koch, M. 

 Murphy, Dr. Noad, and E. F. Teschemacher. After several 

 votes of thanks, &c., the following officers were elected for the 

 ensuing year : — President — J. H. Gladstone, Ph.D., F.R.S. 

 Vice-presidents— F. A. Abel, C.B., Sir B. C. Brodie, W. Dela 

 Rue, E. Frankland, A. W. Ilofmann, W. Odling, Lyon Playfair, 

 A. W. Williamson, T, Andrews, W. Crookes, F. Field, N. S. 

 Maskelyne, H. E. Roscoe, R. Angus Smith. Secretaries — W. 

 H, Perkin and H. E. Armstrong. Foreign Secretary — Hugo 

 Miiller. Treasurer — W. J. Russell. Council — Lothian Bell, 

 M, Carteighe, A. H. Church, W. N. Hartley, C. W. Heaton, 

 D. Howard, G. Matthey, E. Riley, W. A. Tilden, R. V. Tuson, 

 R. Warington, C. R. A. Wright. During the meeting it was 

 announced that Mr. Warren De la Rue had presented the 

 Research Fund with the sum of 100/. on the condition that it 

 should be devoted to any one important research. 



Anthropological Institute, March 12. — Mr, John Evans, 

 D.C.L., F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Prof. A. Graham 

 Bill read a paper on the natural language of the deaf and dumb. 

 The author stated that in most cases dumbness was merely a 

 consequence of deafness, and does not arise from any deficiency 

 in the vocal organs, but merely from the inability to acquire 

 articulate language, fiom want of means of imitating it. This 

 can be supplied by teaching. The dogma, " without speech, 

 no reason," is not well founded. Deaf-mute children thmk iu 

 pictures. Thence they form a language of signs which, as con- 

 tractions of it become understood, develops into a conventional 

 language, but its extent is very limited. No deaf-mute has been 

 found who had formed the idea of a Supreme Being. About 

 the commencement of the present century the Abbe de I'Epee 

 opened an institution for the education of deaf-mutes. The 

 tendency of education was to render the language more and 

 more conventional by means of contractions. Of this Mr. Bell 

 gave many interesting examples. The result of systematic edu- 

 cation has been to enable the deaf-mutes to form a community 

 among themselves, using a real language, representing abstract 

 ideas as well as mere objects. Not only so, but the language 

 has idioms of its own ; for example, the objective case comes 

 first— thus, " the boots made the bootmaker." This is a diffi- 

 culty, and perhaps a mistake in the education ; it affords, how- 

 ever, a useful subject for anthropological inquiry into the analogy 

 with the development of spoken language. In illustration, Mr. 

 Bell delivered the Lord's Prayer in the sign language. The 

 North American Indians have a sign language, the same in 

 character, but less developed, than that of the deaf-mutes. The 

 language of the deaf-mutes is beginning to split into dialects. 



Photographic Society, March 12. — ^J. Glaisher, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Papers were read by Dr. van Monck- 

 hoven on the fading of carbon prints, and the suppression of 



' .Since writing the paper he has proved, by experiment, that when a sheet 

 of platinum is immersed in various saline, alkaline, and acid liquids ,a slight 

 rise of temperature takes place ; the solutions already employed, in which 

 such a result occurs, are enumerated. 



