Feb. 14, 1889] 



NA TURE 



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tions, a national rose conference and show on July 2 and 3, 

 a great vegetable conference on September 24, 25, and 26, and 

 a chrysanthemum centenary conference on November 5 and 6, 

 —all at Chiswick. There will be at the bi-monthly meetings a 

 short lecture and discussion on the plants exhibited, such as 

 was in former years very popular under the guidance of Dr. 

 Lindley. The Society will revive the publication of its 

 periodical Journal and Proceedings, and carry on at Chiswick 

 extensive trials of various classes of flowering plants, ferns, 

 vegetables, and artificial manures. 



Altogether it is gratifying to find that, the unfortunate and 

 costly connection of the Society with South Kensington having 

 been severed, there is a great revival of vigour and vitality and 

 of interest in a Society which has been in existence for nearly a 

 centnry, is the parent of a vast progeny of kindred institutions 

 throughout the Empire, and has rendered to horticulture 

 services the value of which it is impossible to over-estimate. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Royal Society, January 31. — ^' On Jsoeles lacustris, Linn." 

 By 3. Bretland Farmer, B.A., F.L.S, Communicated by Prof. 

 S. \\. Vines, F.R.S. 



Many points connected with the development of Isoetes still 

 remain to be cleared up, and this is especially true of the ger- 

 mination of the macrospore. This structure consists of a mass 

 of protoplasm, which, in perfectly mature spores, is inclosed in 

 a thick envelope, and this envelope is differentiated into six 

 layers, of which the outermost belongs to the episporium, the 

 three within this to the exosporium, and the two innermost to 

 the endosporium. The protoplasm contains very large quan- 

 tities both of oil and starch, and is provided with a large nucleus, 

 in which are embedded certain bodies which appear yellowish- 

 brown in preparations stained with ha^matoxylin, but as to who?e 

 nature it is not at present possible to speak definitely. During 

 germination, ha:matoxylin fails to reveal the presence of a 

 nucleus, and the cytoplasm at this period stains so rapidly 

 and deeply that it is possible that the nuclear substance 

 may be diffused through it. It is when the protoplasm 

 stains thus deeply that the first indication of cell-formation 

 is visible. Its mass is seen to be traversed by " cracks," which 

 divide it into a few large isolated portions, and it is in the 

 direction of these cracks that the cell-walls first appear. 

 The splitting of the protoplasm is doubtless called forth by the 

 methods necessarily used in embedding the spores, but the 

 conclusion that may be drawn from its presence probably is, 

 that the substance destined eventually to form the cell-wall, is 

 present before the appearance of this structure, and is arranged 

 in a plate-like manner, in such a way as to determine the 

 direction of the cracks referred to. The cells thus formed 

 probably owe their existence to a process similar to that 

 obtaining in the endosperm of many plants, except that, at least 

 so far, I have been unable to detect free nuclei in the first 

 stages, \'ery soon after cell-formation has begun, these bodi.-s 

 are again very easily seen, especially in the upper part of the 

 young prothallium, Division proceeds with great rapidity 

 in this portion, and the rudiments of the archegonia are 

 laid down. Their origin is similar to that in the Marattiacese ; 

 superficial cells divide at first once, periclinally, and of the two 

 cells thus formed, the upper gives rise to the neck by further 

 division into four stories, each story being divided crosswise in 

 the usual way ; the lower cell forms the central series consisting 

 of oosphere, one neck, and one ventral-canal cell. 



Division in the lower part of the prothallium takes place with 

 extreme slowness, and here at least the appearance of free 

 nuclei precedes that of the cell-walls. The cells which arise in 

 this region are readily distinguishable, on account of their large 

 • size, from those which owe their origin to the primitive cells in 

 i the upper portion of the prothallium, but although further cell- 

 division takes place throughout the spore, I am not in a position 

 [ at present to state exactly how it occurs, or in what relation it 

 stands with regard to the nucleus in these later stages. 



Minsralogical Society, January 22.— Mr. R. H. Scott, 

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

 read : — On connellite from a new locality, byG. T. Prior. —On 

 pseudomorphs of haematite after iron pyrites, by R. H. Solly. — 

 On crystals of percylite, caracolite, and an oxychloride of lead 



(daviesite), from Sierra Gorda, Bolivia, by L. Fletcher. — On 

 the distribution and origin of the hydro-carbons of Ross and 

 Cromarty, by Hugh Miller. 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, January 21. — Prof. Sir Douglas Maclagan, 

 Vice-President, in the chair. — Mr. J. Arthur Tho.nson discussed 

 the history and theory of heredity. — Prof. Maycraft communi- 

 cated a note, written by himself in conjunction with Dr. E. W. 

 Carlier, on the conversion, by means of friction, of ciliated into 

 stratified squamous epithelium. Specimens in illustration were 

 shown under the microscope. — Prof. Tait read a paper on the 

 virial equation, as applied to the kinetic theory of gases, especially 

 as regards the form of isothermals in the neighbourhood of the 

 critical point. The curves obtained from the new formula, with 

 suitable values of the constants, represent with accuracy the 

 isothermals of carbonic acid gas as obtained experimentally by 

 Andrews. But the chief point of interest in the paper is con- 

 nected with the question. What portion of the whole kinetic 

 energy of a substance is, in each of its molecular states {i.e. as 

 gas, vapour, liquid, and solid), to be regarded as proportional to 

 the absolute temperature? Prof. Tait gave reasons for believing 

 that it is incorrect to assume, with Van der Waals and Clausius, 

 that the ivholc kinetic energy determines the absolute tem- 

 perature. The pirt which is directly due to inter-molecular 

 forces is at least mainly incommunicable to other bodies, and 

 can thus have little to do with the temperature. — A note, by Mr. 

 R. T. Omond, on a remarkable fog-bow seen from Ben Nevis 

 on December 4, 188S, was communicated. — Mr. George Brook 

 described a new type of dimorphism found in certain Anti- 

 patharia. — Prof. Crum Brown communicated a paper, by Dr. 

 A. B. Griffiths, on a primitive kidney, or the beginning of a 

 renal system. 



Sydney. 



Royal Society of New South Wales, October 3, 

 1888. — Sir Alfred Roberts, President, in the chair.— The 

 following papers were read : — Considerations of photographic 

 expressions and arrangements, by Baron Ferd. von Mueller, 

 K.C.M.G., F.R.S.— Census of the fauna of the older Tertiary 

 of Australia, by Prof. Ralph Tate. — Notes on the storm of 

 September 21, 1888, by H. C. Russell, F.R.S. Mr. Russell 

 pointed out that, although such cyclonic disturbances seldom 

 visited the coast of New South Wales, experience had proved 

 that they were not unknown, and another such storm of greater 

 dimensions would probably cause considerable havoc in the city 

 of Sydney if the unstable class of buildings so much in vogue 

 were adhered to. — Some New South Wales tan substances, 

 Part 5, by J. H. Maiden. 



November 7.— Mr. H. C. Russell, F.R.S., Vice-President, 

 in the chair. — The following papers were read : — Results 

 of observations of Comets I. and II. 1888, at Windsor, 

 N.S.W., by John Tebbutt.— Desert sandstone, by the 

 Rev. J. E, Tenison Woods. — On a new self-recording ther- 

 mcme.er ; and notes on the thunderstorm of Ojtober 26, 

 1888, by H. C. Russell, F.R.S. Three meteorites were 

 exhibited : the first, weighing 35^ pounds, found near Hay, 

 was shown by the Chairman ; the second, weighing 137 

 pounds, found at Thunda, in Queensland, had been received by 

 Prof. Liversidge that afternoon. A preliminary note upon the 

 qualitative analysis of a portion of this meteorite was read 

 before the Society in 1886, which showed that it consists 

 essentially of iron and nickel with a little cobalt, sulphur, and 

 phosphorus. The third was exhibited by Mr. C. S. Wilkinson : 

 it weighed 12^ pounds, and was composed chiefly of iron, of an 

 irregular pear-shape, and was discovered firmly embedded in 

 slate rock on the highest peak of a mountain near the junction 

 of the Burrowa and Lachlan Rivers. 



December 5. — Sir Alfred Roberts, President, in the chair. 

 — The Chairman announced that the Council had awarded 

 the Clarke Memorial Medal for 1889 to R. L. J. Ellery, 

 F.R.S., Government Astronomer of Victoria. — The following 

 paper was read : — The Latin verb jubere — a linguistic study, 

 by Dr. John Eraser. — Prof. Liversidge exhibited and described 

 a large collection of New South Wales minerals. 



Paris, 



Academy of Sciences, February 4.— M. Des Cloizeaux, 



President, in the chair. — On the loss of nitrogen during the 



decay of organic substances, by M. Th. Schloesing. The fact 



that, during decomposition, nitrified organic matter liberates 



