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1B75] 



NATURE 



99 



I'eotlnics of Newfoundland, and on the Stone Implements 

 of Newfoundland. The first paper was a continuation of 

 one read the previous session, and contained the further experi- 

 ences of the author in Newfoundland, which island he had 

 recently revisited. The Beothucs possessed several of the cha- 

 racteristics belonging to many of the tribes inhabiting North 

 America, whilst they differed from them in the following pecu- 

 liarities :— Lightness of complexion, the use of trenches in their 

 wigwams for sleeping places, the peculiar form of canoe, the 

 custom of living in a state of isolation apart from the white 

 inhabitants of the island, and their persistent refusal to submit to 

 any attempts made to civilise them. They were also remarkable 

 for their inability to domesticate the dog.— Prof. Busk communi- 

 cated a paper on two Beothuc skulls, and described them as 

 presenting ail the characteristics of the normal brachycephalic 

 form of the Red Indian skull. — In his second paper Mr. Lloyd 

 described the stone implements he had brought from Newfound- 

 land, consisting of axes, chisels, gouges, spear and arrow heads, 

 scrapers, fish-hooks ; also cores, flakes, whetstones, rubbing 

 stones, sinkers, and stone vessels. — Mr. Park Harrison exhibited 

 and described five photographs, from Tahiti, of Easter Island 

 wooden tablets ; and Mr. H. Taylor exhibited a series of fine 

 photographs of people inhabiting the South Sea Islands. 



Royal Horticultural Society, May 12. — Scientific Com- 

 mittee. A. Murray, F. L.S., in the chair. — The Chairman made 

 a communication with respect to the acarus to which Prof. 

 Thiselton Dyer had drawn attention as destroying the female 

 flowers of the Yew. He believed it to be undescribed, and pro- 

 posed for it the name of Tetranychiis taxi. It was allied to the 

 acarus which Prof. Westwood had described as very injurious to 

 the young buds of the currant. — Mr. M'Lachlan exhibited speci- 

 mens of wallflower in which the petals were virescent. — Dr. 

 Masters showed leaves of the vine (from a nursery in the neigh- 

 bourhood of London) bearing galls produced by Phylloxera. — 

 Prof. Thiselton Dyer called attention to a paper by Dr. Franz 

 Low, translated in the current number of the Annals and Maga- 

 zine of Natural History. It described a nematoid worm ( Jyleti- 

 chus Millefolii), which produced the galls on the rachis of the 

 leaves of the common Milfoil. — Prof. Thiselion Dy^r exhibited 

 three flasks which contained Pasteur's solution, all three of which 

 had been subjected to boiling. The neck of No. i flask, treated 

 on March 3, 1875, was plugged, while the contents were still 

 boiling, with cotton-wool, and the fluid remains clear and 

 unaffected. In flask No. 2, otherwise similarly treated, but 

 without any plug, so that access of air and therefore of spores 

 was allowed, there was a dense growth of mould {Penicillium). In 

 No. 3, boiled on Sept. 30, 1873, but in which the plug was 

 removed for five seconds only on Oct. 15, 1874, a dense mould 

 had made its appearance. 



General Meeting. — W. Burnley Hume in the chair. — Prof. 

 Thiselton Dyer called attention to the principal objects exhibited. 

 — A fine potful of the rare Irish Butterwort, Pinguicula grandi- 

 flora, was shown by Mr. Dean. Senecio macroglossus, an ever- 

 green greenhouse climber shown by Mr. Green, had foliage 

 identical with that of some forms of ivy ; it was a native •f the 

 Cape. — A ripe fruit of Stephanotis Jloribunda was sent by R. T. 

 Coombe, Taunton. Morels, which are abundant this year, were 

 represented by a fine series of Morchdla crassipes, sent by J. 

 Barclay, The Durdans, Epsom. 



Physical Society, May 22. — Prof. Gladstone, F.k.S., pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — Mr. Spottiswoode, F.R.S., exhibited and 

 described a revolving polariscope. A luminous beam passes 

 from a small circular hole in a diaphragm through a polariscope, 

 the analyser of which is a double image prism, the size of the 

 hole being so arranged that the two luminous discs shall be clear 

 of each oiher. If the prism be made to revolve rapidly, one of 

 the discs revolves round the other and is merged into a ring of 

 light, which is interrupted at opposite sides by a dark shaded 

 band, the position of which depends upon the position of the 

 original plane of polarisation. The discs may be coloured by 

 inserting a selenile plate, and the rapid revolution of the analyser 

 then gives alternating segments of complementary colours ; or, if 

 a quartz plate be used, the rotating disc passes successively twice 

 in a revolution through all the colours of the spectrum, and 

 when the revolution is rapid, merges into a prismatic ring. The 

 effect of the interposition of a J-undulaiion plate, which convert* 

 plane into circularly polarised light, was then shown, and Mr. 

 Spottiswoode also interposed a concave plate of quartz, and 

 exhibited the effect of rotation on the characteristic rings of 

 quartz. —Prof. Adams exhibited a polariscope adapted for show- 



ing the optic axes of crystals in wliich they arc much inclined to 

 each other, as in the case of topaz. The part of the instrument 

 by which this is effected consists of a frame in which the crystal 

 is supported between two hemispherical lenses, the common 

 centre of which is at the centre of the crystal. The frame is 

 capable of motion round an axis at right angles to that of the 

 instrument. By this means each of the axes can be brought 

 under the cross wires, and the space through which the frame is 

 moved affords a means of determining the angle between the 

 axes of the crystal. The crystal may be immersed in a liquid in 

 cases in which its optic axes are too far apart to be seen in air. — 

 Dr. Mills made a verbal communication on fusion-point and 

 thermometry. His apparatus for fusion-points consisted essen- 

 tially of a beaker, in which stood an inverted funnel, the shortened 

 stem of which carried a test-tube, supported by a contraction 

 at its base. The test-tube contains naphtha of high boiling-point, 

 and the thermometer and capillary tube containing the substance 

 occupy its centre ; the funnel has four equidistant semicircular 

 cuts at the end of its stem, and six on its lips ; the beaker is 

 nearly filled with strong oil of vitriol, and has a wooden cover ; 

 on the application of heat below the beaker, warm oil of vitriol 

 ascends in the funnel, and cold oil of vitriol descending, enters 

 at the lip ; thus an automatic stirring is kept up, and the mer- 

 cury in the thermometer rises so regularly as to appear perfectly 

 continuous in course, even under considerable magnifying power. 

 The manner of preparing and filling tiie capillaiy tubes was de- 

 scribed. Attention was then drawn to the "zero error" of 

 thennometers. In thermometers which have not been much used, 

 the zero error must always be determined immediately after 

 experiment. It is also generally necessary to correct for the 

 projection of the thermometer beyond its bath. This correction 

 has been experimentally determined by the author, and required 

 from 1,500 to 2,000 observations of temperature for each of four 

 instruments used. It was ascertained that the well-known 

 expression — 



C = -0001545 (T - t)N 

 given by Regnault and Kopp is not supported by actual trial. 

 If we write the expression thus — 



C = x(T- t)Ar 

 experiment shows that x depends on the length JV exposed, and 



X = a + PAT 

 For lengths of about 25°, x is about •00013, *iid increases about 

 •0001 for every additional 25°. The exact values of a and $ 

 require, however, to be ascertained for each instrument. — Mr. 

 Bauerman, F.G.S., described and illustrated a very simple 

 method for ascertaining the electric conductivity of various forms 

 of carbon. The method, which was originally devised by Dr. 

 von Kobell, consists in holdmg a fragment of the substance to 

 be tested with a strip of zinc bent in a U-form, and immersing it 

 in a solution of copper sulphate. In the case of a bad conductor 

 a deposit of cupper takes place solely on the surface of the zinc, 

 but when a good conductor is employed a zinc-carbon couple is 

 formed, and a deposit takes place on the surface of the carbon. 

 Numerous specimens were exhibited which showed that the con- 

 ducting power is greatest in coal which has been subjected to a 

 great degree of heat, and the lowest temperature at which this 

 change takes place appears, in the case of anthracite, to be 

 between the melting points of zinc and silver. Such experiments 

 appear to be specially important as giving a clue to the tempera- 

 ture at which anthracitic me'amorphism has been effected by the 

 intrusion of igneous rock. — Prof. Woodward exhibited an appa- 

 ratus for building up model cones and craters. It consists of a 

 wooden trough about 18 inches long, with sloping sides ; at the 

 bottom of the trough a bladed screw carries forward the ashes, 

 sawdust, or other material used, to an opening through which 

 air (rom a powerful bellows is forced upwards. A board 3 or 4 

 feet square, with a hole in the centre, is placed over the air-jet, 

 and on this the crater is formed. Several of the peculiarities of 

 natural cones may thus be illustrated, and their structure* shown, 

 by using sawdust of various colours. 



Wellington, N.Z. 



Philosophical Society, Feb. lo.— Dr. Hector, F.R.S., in 

 the chair. — The annual report by the Council (adopted as read) 

 congratulated the Ncciety upon its prosperous condition, not 

 only in regard to the great increase in the immbei of members, 

 but upon the growing interest taken in the work of the Society, 

 as indicated by the large attendance at the meetings of the past 

 session, and bj the number of interesting papers read and dls* 



