3IO 



NA1 URE 



\yan. 26, 



being 522. — Mr. Ellis in his Presidential address reviewed briefly 

 the work and position of the Society, remarking that such a 

 Society, whilst unable to carry out expensive original or experi- 

 mental work, could yet act with great advantage in inciting 

 volunteer workers throughout the country to united action, of 

 which one recent example was the ready response to the request 

 of the Society for photographs of lightning, an excellent collec- 

 tion of which had been obtained, and which would shortly be 

 exhibited ; in addition to which arrangements were being made 

 for the more systematic observation of thunderstorms. Referring 

 to the question of sympathetic relation between .sunspots and 

 magnetism and meteorology, he thought that any complete 

 treatment of the question in its meteorological aspect seemed to 

 require that it should be dealt with in a much more c.:)mprehen- 

 sive manner than before, for which purpose observations more 

 completely covering the surface of the globe might be necessary, 

 if indeed not necessary also for the solution of many other 

 meteorological questions, the present meteorological stations 

 being distributed over the earth in such isolated clusters. The 

 attention given to synoptic charts was most important, but the 

 general meteorological characteristics of places should also still 

 continue to be studied. After remarking upon other matters, he 

 laid before the meeting tables showing the monthly means of 

 amount of cloud from observations made in three different series 

 at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, extending in all from i'8i8 

 to the present time. In concluding, Mr. Ellis said that at one 

 time the science of meteorology seemed likely to form an 

 exception to the general rule of advance, for more than any 

 other it has required the united action of many workers, but the 

 field of inquiry of late years opened out allows us already to 

 talk of the new or modern meteorology, phrases typical of the 

 advance achieved, although the knowledge gained seems only to 

 remind us of how much has yet to be done. — The following 

 gentlemen were elected the officers and Council for the ensuing 

 year: — President: Dr. Wm. Marcet, F. R. S. Vice-Presidents: 

 Francis Campbell Bayard, William Ellis, Charles Harding, 

 Richard Inwards. Treasurer : Henry Perigal. Trustees : Hon. 

 Francis Albert Rollo Russell, Stephen William Silver. Secret- 

 aries : George James Symons, F.R.S., Dr. John William Tripe. 

 Foreign Secretary: Robert Henry Scott, F. R.S. Council: 

 Hon. Ralph Abercromby, Robert Andrew Allison, M. P., 

 Edmund Douglas Archibald, William Morris Beaufort, Henry 

 Francis Rlanford, F. R. S. , Arthur Brewin, George Chatterton, 

 William Henry Dines, Henry Storks Eaton, Baldwin Latham, 

 Edward Mawley, Dr. Charles Theodore Williams. 



Chemical Society, December 15, 1887. — Mr. William 

 Crookes, President, in the chair. — The following papers were 

 read : — An apparatus for comparison of colour-tints, by Alfred 

 W. Stokes. — The alloys of copper and antimony and of copper 

 and tin, by E. J. Ball. — The constitution of the so-called mixed 

 azo-compounds, by Francis R, Japp, F. R. S., and Felix 

 Klingemann. — The interpretation of absorption-spectra, by G. 

 H. Bailey. — The reduction of potassium bichromate by oxalic 

 acid, by C. H. Bothamley. — The reduction of chlorates by the 

 zinc-copper couple, by C. H. Bothamley and G. R. Thompson. 

 — Preliminary notice on the oxidation of oxalic acid by potas- 

 sium dichromate, by Emil A. Werner. — Isomeric change in the 

 naphthalene series ; No. i, by Henry E. Armstrong. — Isomeric 

 change in the naphthalene series; No. 2, y3-Ethoxynaphthale:ie- 

 sulphonic acids, by E. G. Amphlett and Henry E. Armstrong. 

 — Isomeric change in the naphthalene series ; No. 3, jS-Chloro- 

 naphthalenesulphonic acids, by Henry E. Armstrong and W. 

 P. Wynne. — Isomeric change in the naphthalene series ; No. 4, 

 o-Haloidnaphthalenesulphonic acids, by Henry E. Armstrong 

 and S. Williamson. — The sulphonation of naphthalene, by 

 Henry E. Armstrong and W. P. Wynne. 



Entomological Society, January 18.— Fifty-fifth aniversary 

 meeting. — Dr. D. Sharp, President, in the chair.— -An abstract 

 of the treasurer's accounts was read by Mr. H. T. Stainton, 

 F.R.S., one of the auditors ; and Mr. H. Goss, the Secretary, 

 read the Report of the Council. — It was announced that the 

 following gentlemen had been elected as Officers and Council for 

 1888 : — President : Dr. David Sharp. Treasurer : Mr. Edward 

 Saunders. Secretaries : Mr. Herbert Goss and the Rev. Canon 

 Fowler. Librarian : Mr. F. Grut. As other Members of 

 Council : Mr. Henry J. Elwes ; Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., 

 F.R.S. ; Mr. Robert McLachlan, F.R.S. ; Dr. P. Brooke- 

 reason; Mr. Edward B. Poulton ; Mr. Osbert Salvin, F.R.S. ; 

 Henry T. Stainton, F. R. S. ; and Lord Walsingham, F. R. S. 



— The President delivered an address, and a vote of thanks to 

 him was moved by Mr. McLachlan, seconded by Mr. F. Pascoe, 

 and carried. — A vote of thanks to the Treasurer, Secretaries, 

 and Librarian, was moved by Mr. Kirby, seconded by Mr. 

 Waterhouse, and carried. Mr. E. Saunders, Mr. H. Goss, 

 Canon Fowler, and Mr. F. Grut replied. 



Mathematical Society, January 12. — Sir J. Cockle, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — Messrs. J. M. Dodds and G. G. 

 Morrice were elected members, and Mr, E. W. Hobson ad- 

 mitted into the Society. — The following communications were 

 made : — The theory of distributions, Capt. P. A. Macmahon, 

 R.A. — On the analogues of the nine-points circle in space of 

 three dimensions, S. Roberts, F.R.S. — On a theorem analogous 

 to Gauss's in continued fractions with applications to elliptic 

 functions, L. J. Rogers. — A theorem connecting the divisors of 

 a certain series of numbers, Dr. Glaisher, F.R.S. — On reciprocal 

 theorems in dynamics. Prof. H. Lamb, F.R.S. 



Mineralogical Society, January 10. — Mr. L. Fletcher, 

 President, in the chair. — The following papers were read : — On 

 the development of lamellar structure in quartz crystals by 

 mechanical means, by Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S. — On the poly- 

 synthetic structure of some porphyritic quartz crystals in a 

 quartz-felsite, by Colonel C. A. McMahon. — Notes on hornblende 

 as a rock-forming mineral, by Mr. A. Harker. — On the invita- 

 tion of the President, Mr. Allan Dick, who was present as a 

 visitor, made some remarks on the process of kaolinization, 

 illustrated by models of crystals. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, January 16. — M. Janssen, President, 

 in the chair. — Remarks onM. Wolf's last note on the subject of 

 synchronization, by M. A. Cornu. The author is glad to find 

 himself in harmony with M. Wolf on the important points that 

 no synchronizing system is possible without some controlling or 

 regulating apparatus, and that such apparatus forms an essential 

 feature of the systems of Jones and Verite. — Remarks accom- 

 panying the presentation of the third volume of the " Annales 

 de rObservatoirede Rio Janeiro," by M. H. Faye. This volume, 

 which was presented by the Emperor of Brazil, is entirely de- 

 voted to the three Brazilian expeditions sent to the Island of Saint 

 Thomas, Pernambuco, and Punta Arenas (Patagonia) to observe 

 the transit of Venus in the year 1882. From a comparative study 

 of the recorded results, M. Cruls has calculated the solar parallax 

 at 8"'8o8. — Fresh researches on the phenomena produced by a 

 potent toxic agent, which is constantly emitted with the air ex- 

 haled from the lungs of man and other mammals, by MM. 

 Brown- Sequard and d' Arson val. Th2 experiments here described 

 and made on seven rabbits entirely confirm the conclusions 

 already announced regarding the powerful character of this 

 volatile organic poison, which appears to be almost certainly an 

 alkaloid. Further researches have been undertaken in order to 

 determine this point by direct proof. — On spontaneous tetanus, 

 by M. Verneuil. A case reported by Dr. Buisson, of Auber- 

 chicourt, is referred to as confirming in a striking way the author's 

 opinion that there is no such thing as spontaneous tetanus, and 

 that all reported cases will be found, if carefully studied, to be 

 caused by some virus introduced in some way into the system. — 

 On the canalization of the Isthmus of Panama, by M. de Lesseps. 

 In supplement to his recent remarks on this scheme the author 

 announced that the proposal to establish provisionally a lock 

 canal for one at a dead level has just been adopted by the 

 Company. He further explained how the extensive works already 

 executed can be adapted to the new design, so that the Canal 

 might still be completed and opened for traffic by the year 1890. 

 It would moreover be so constructed that the original plan of a 

 level canal might be gradually carried out without any inter- 

 ruption to the navigation. Both would be of the same length 

 of 74 kilometres, with a breadth of 22 metres at the bottom, 

 and 44 on the surface. Four locks will be needed, each 

 18 metres wide at the entrance, and with a total length 

 of 180 metres. — On the barometric curves recorded dur- 

 ing the third scientific expedition of the Hirondelle, by 

 Prince Albert of Monaco. These barometric readings 

 seem to show that the motions of the ship are insufficient 

 to explain the oscillations recorded during the course of 

 a storm, and that these oscillations accompany certain meteoro- 

 logical disturbances without at all aiding to forecast the 

 weather, — On the measurement of the absolute intensity 



