n8 



NATURE 



[May 31, 1888 



identical with those ordinarily adopted for these substances. — The 

 molecular weights of nitric peroxide and nitrous anhydride, by 

 Prof. Ramsay. The molecular weight of nitric peroxide as 

 •determined by Raoult's method in acetic acid solution, accords 

 with the formula N^O^. No definite results could be obtained 

 with nitrous anhydride since dissociation occurred at the 

 temperature of experiment (16 ). — In the discussion which fol- 

 lowed the reading of these papers, and in which Prof. Debus, 

 F.R.S., Dr. Perkin, F. R.S., and others took part, Mr. Wynne 

 remarked that most results hitherto obtained by Raoult's method 

 pointed to a complete dissociation of the complex molecules 

 present in solids and liquids, and would seem to show that the 

 dissociation is not dependent on the particular solvent employed ; 

 Mr. Crompton referred to the great irregularities noticeable on 

 comparing the molecular depressions of various substances as 

 determined by Raoult, and thought that until more was known 

 -of the cause of such irregularities, and of the mechanism of the 

 changes under discussion, such results as those brought forward 

 by Messrs. Brown and Morris should be accepted with great 

 reservation ; and Prof. Armstrong, F. R.S., observed that, apart 

 from the information as to the comparative molecular weights of 

 dissolved substances which Raoult's method promised to afford, 

 it appeared that, in order to gain as complete an insight as 

 possible into the molecular composition of solids and liquids it 

 was important to vary in every way the proportions of substance 

 dissolved as well as the solvent. — The action of heat on the 

 •salts of tetramethylammonium, by Dr. A. T. Lawson and Dr. 

 N. Collie. In the majority of cases, the salts examined decom- 

 pose in a simple manner, yielding trimethylamine and a salt of 

 methyl. — The action of heat on the salts of tetramethylphos- 

 phonium, by Dr. N. Collie. Tne salts of tetramethylphos- 

 phonium with the oxy-acids, when heated, undergo as a rule two 

 changes : the first and most important is the production of tri- 

 methylphosphine oxide and a ketone, and the second, which 

 occurs only to a very limited extent, results in the formation of 

 trimethylphosphine and a salt of methyl. 



Geological Society, May 9.— Mr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S. 

 President, in the chair. — The following communications were 

 read:— The Stockdale Shales, by J. E. Marr, and Prof. H. A. 

 Nicholson. The Stockdale Shales extend in an east-north-east to 

 ■west-south-west direction across the main part of the Lake 

 District, parallel with the underlying Coniston Licnestone Series 

 and the overlying Coniston Flags, with both of which they are 

 conformable. They also occur in the neighbourhood of Appleby, 

 and in the Sedbergh district. They are divisible into a lower group 

 -of black and dark gray and blue Graptolite-bearing shales, 

 Interstratified with hard bluish-gray mudstones, containing 

 Trilobites and other organisms, and an upper group of pale 

 greenish-gray shales, with thin bands of dark Graptolitic shales. 

 The lower group (Skelgill B;ds) are well seen in the stream which 

 runs past Skelgill Farm, and enters Windermere near Low 

 Wood ; while the upper group (Browgill Beds) occurs fully 

 developed in the Long Sleddale Valley, and its beds are very 

 fossiliferous in Browgill. The authors divided these into a 

 •series of fossil-zones, and the beds were compared with the 

 •corresponding beds in Sweden, Bohemia, Bavaria, &c. The 

 fossils other than Graptolites were shown to occur elsewhere in 

 strata of Llandovery-Tarannon age, from which it was concluded 

 that the Stockdale Shales occupy that horizon. A fault occurs 

 •everywhere between the Middle and Lower Skelgill Beds, except 

 perhaps in the Sedbergh district ; but it does not seem to cut out 

 a great thickness of rock, and the authors gave reasons for 

 supposing that it was produced by one set of beds sliding over the 

 other along a plane of stratification. The beds are found to 

 thicken out in an easterly direction, and the possibility of the 

 -existence of land in that direction was suggested. The authors 

 •directed attention to the importance of Graptolitoidea as a means 

 of advancing the comparative study of the stratified deposits of 

 Lower Palaeozoic age. A description was given of the following 

 new species and varieties : — Phacops elegans, Boeck and Stars, var. 

 glab.r, Cheirurus bimucronatus, Murch., var. acanthodes, 

 Ckeirurm moroides, Acidaspis erinaceus, Harpes judex, H. 

 angustus, Amfiyx aloniensis, Proeius brachypygus, and A try pa. 

 flexuosa. — On the eruptive rocks in the neighbourhood of Sarn, 

 Caernarvonshire, by Alfred Harker. 



Zoological Society, May 1.— Prof. Flower, F.R.S. , 

 President, in the chair.— Colonel Irby exhibited (on behalf of 

 Lord Lilford) a specimen of Aqulla rapax from Southern Spain, 

 believed to be the first authentic specimen of this species known 



from the Peninsula. — Prof. Flower exhibited and made remarks 

 on a specimen of the Japanese Domestic F'owl with the tail-coverts 

 enormously elongated, the longest attaining a length of 9 feet. 

 The specimen had been presented to the British Museum by 

 Mr. F. D. Parker. — Mr. C. M, Woodford made some general 

 remarks on the zoology of the Solomon Islands, and read some 

 notes on the nesting-habits of Brenchley's Megapode, which lays 

 its eggs in the sands on the sea-shore of these islands. — Mr. G. 

 A. Boulenger read the description of a new Land-Tortoise of. 

 the genus Homopus from South Africa, based on specimens 

 living in the Society's Gardens, which had been presented to the 

 SDciety by the Rev. G. H. R. Fisk. The author proposed to 

 name the species H. femora'is. — Mr. F. E. Beddard read the 

 second of his series of notes on the visceral anatomy of birds. 

 The present paper treated on the air-sacs in certain diving birds. 

 — Mr. Francis Day read the first of a proposed series of 

 observations on Indian fishes. 



Royal Meteorological Society, April 18. — Dr. W. Marcet, 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair. — The following papers were 

 read : — Jordan's new pattern photographic sunshine recorder, by 

 Mr. J. B. Jordan. The improvement in this instrument over the 

 previous pattern of sunshine recorder consists in using two semi- 

 cylindrical or D-shaped boxes, one to contain the morning, and 

 the other the afternoon chart. An aperture for admitting the 

 beam of sunlight is placed in the centre of the rectangular side 

 of each box so that the length of the beam within the chamber 

 is the radius of the cylindrical surface on which it is projected ; 

 its path therefore follows a straight line on the chart at all 

 seasons of the year. The semi-cylinders are placed with their 

 faces at an angle of 6o° to each other. They are fixed on a flat 

 triangular plate which is hinged to a suitable stand having level- 

 ling screws attached, and fitted with a graduated arc as a means 

 of readily adjusting and fixing the cylinders to the proper vertical 

 angle agreeing with the latitude of the station where used. — On 

 the meteorology of South-Eastern China in 1886, by Dr. W. 

 Doberck. This paper gives the results of observations made at 

 the Custom-houses and lighthouses by officers of the Imperial 

 Chinese Maritime Customs. In summer there is very little 

 change of temperature with latitude. The temperature depends 

 upon the distance from the nearest sea coast, and is greatest at 

 stations farthest inland. The highest mean temperature occurred 

 in July, and the lowest in January. The north-east monsoon 

 blows from September to June, and the south monsoon during 

 July and August ; the latter does not blow with half the force of 

 the former. Rainfall is greatest in Northern Formosa, and least 

 in Northern China. Along the east coasts of Formosa and 

 Luzon the winter is the wet season, while in China July seems 

 to be the wettest month of the year. — Lightning in snowstorms, 

 by Prof. A. S. Herschel, F.R.S. — Insolation, by Mr. Rupert 

 T. Smith. 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, May 7. — Lord Maclaren, Vice-President, in 

 the chair. — Dr. G. Sims Woodhead communicated a paper 

 written by Mr. Robert Irvine and himself, on the secretion of 

 carbonate of lime by animals. — A paper by Mr. Irvine and Mr. 

 George Young, on the solubility of carbonate of lime under 

 different forms in sea-water, was also read. — Dr. Alexander 

 Bruce described a case of absence of the corpus callosum, in the 

 human brain. — Dr. J. Murray discussed the distribution of some 

 marine animals on the west coast of Scotland. — Mr. W. E. 

 Hoyle described some larvae of certain Schizopodous Crustacea 

 from the Firth of Clyde. 



May 21. — The Rev. Prof. Flint, Vice-President, in the chair. — 

 A series of photographs of the Nice Observatory, presented by 

 M. Bischoffsheim through the Astronomer-Royal for Scotland, 

 were exhibited. — A note by Prof. Cayley, on the hydrodynamical 

 equations, was communicated. The author discusses the result 

 of the elimination of the symbol denoting the pressure by 

 differentiation of the three fundamental hydrokinetical equations. 

 — Dr. Archibald Geikie treated fully the history of volcanic 

 action during Tertiary time in the British Islands. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, May 22. — M. Janssen, President, 

 in the chair. — Obituary notice of M. Herve Mangon, member of 

 the Section for Rural Economy, and Vice-President of the 

 Academy for the year 1888, by the President. M. Mangon, 

 who was born in Paris on July 31,* 1821, and died there on 



