March 7, 1889] 



NATURE 



455 



that they had once more to congratulate the Fellows upon the 

 prosperous state of the Society's atlairs. The report of the 

 Librarj' and Museum Committee, after enumerating the addi- 

 tions made to the Society's Library and collections during 1888, 

 referred briefly to the work done in the Museum, in the way of 

 cleaning and putting it in order. — The President then presented 

 the Wollaston Gold Medal to ''rof. T. G. Bonney, F.R.S. ; the 

 Murchison Medal to Mr. William Topley, F. R.S., for trans- 

 mission to Prof. James Geikie, F. K.S. ; the Lyell Medal to Prof. 

 W, Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. ; the Bigsby Medal to Mr. J. J. 

 Harris Teall ; the balance of the proceeds of the Wollaston Fund 

 to Mr. A. Smith Woodward ; the balance of the Murchison 

 Geological Fund to IMr. Grenville A. J- Cole ; and the balance 

 of the proceeds of the Lyell Geological Fund to M. Louis DoUo. 

 — The President read his Anniversary Address, in which, after 

 giving oV)ituary notices of Mr. W. Hellier Baily, Mr. H. Carvill 

 Lewis, Vice- Admiral T. A. B. Spratt, Viscount Eversley. Mr. 

 John Brown, Mr. W. Ogilby, and other deceased Fellows, 

 together with notices of the Foreign Members and Corre- 

 spondents of the Society who had died since the last anniversary 

 meeting (Prof. Gerhard Voni Rath, Prof. T. Kjerulf, Prof. 

 Giuseppe Meneghini, and Prof Giuseppe Seguenza), he noticed 

 the papers which had been published by the Society during the 

 past year. The remainder of the address consisted chiefly of a 

 discussion of the work of the International Congress from its 

 commencement to the last meeting in London in 18S8, and 

 dwelt upon the influence which such meetings exercise upon the 

 progress of geological science, quite apart from any formal re- 

 solutions which may be arrived at by the members. — 'J'he ballot 

 for the Council and Officers was taken, and the following were 

 duly elected for the ensuing year :— President : Dr. W. T. Blan- 

 ford, F.R.S. Vice-Presidents: Dr. John Evans, F.R.S., Prof. 

 T. McKenny Hughes, Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S., Prof. J. Prest- 

 wich, F.R.S. Secretaries : Mr. W. H. Hudleston, F.R.S., Mr, 

 f. E. Marr. Foreign Secretarv : Sir Warington W. Symth, 

 F.R.S. Treasurer: Prof. T. Wiltshire. Council: Prof. J. F. 

 lilnke, Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S.. Prof. T. G. Bonney, 

 1 .R.S., Mr. James Carter. Dr. John Evans, F.R.S., Mr. L. 

 I letcher. Dr. A. Geikie, F.R.S., Prof. A. H. Green, F.R.S., 

 Rev. Edwin Hill, Mr. W. H. Hudleston. F.R.S., Prof. T. 

 McKenny Hughes, Prof. J. W. Judd. F.R.S., Major-General 

 C. A. McMahon, Mr. J. E. Marr. Mr. E. T. Newton, Prof. J. 

 I'restwich. F.R.S., Mr. F. W. Rudler, Prof. H. G. Seeley, 

 F.R.S.; Sir' Warington W. Smvth, F.R.S., Mr. W. 'lopley, 

 F.R.S., Rev. G. F. Whidborne, Prof. T. Wiltshire, Rev. H. H. 

 Winwood. 



Zoological Society, February 19.— Dr. St. George Mivart, 

 Vice President, in the chair. — Mr. Sclater exhibited specimens 

 of the eggs and chicks of the Hoatzin {Opisihocoiuus cristatus) 

 from a scries collected by Mr. R. Quelch in British Guiana, and 

 called attention to the extraordinary development of the wings 

 in the chick, in reference to the statement that these organs are 

 used like hands for climbing-purposes. — Mr. Sclater exhibited 

 heads and skins of a new Antelope obtained by Mr. H. C. V. 

 Hunter, in Eastern Africa, which he proposed to call Damalis 

 hunteri, after its discoverer. — Sir E. G. Loder, Bart., exhibited 

 and made some remarks on a skeleton of the Rocky Mountain 

 Go2X{Haplocertis montanus). — Dr. Giinther exhibited a mounted 

 specimen of Thomson's Gazelle (Guzella ihumsoiii), and pointed 

 out its complete distinctness from. Grant's Gazelle (6'(T=;V/a 

 ^ranti). The specimen in question had been obtained in Masai- 

 land by Mr. H. C. V. Hunter.— Mr. R. Lydekker read a paper 

 on the skull of Lytoloma, an extinct genus of Chelonians allied 

 to Chelone. — Mr. R. Lydekker pointed out the characters of an 



I apparently new species of Hyracodontotheritiin, based on speci- 

 mens from the phosphorites of Bach, near Lalbengue, in France. 



, — Dr. A. Giinther, F.R.S., described some new fishes from the 

 Kilima-njaro district in Eastern Africa, based on specimens 

 obtained by Mr. F. J. Jnckson during his recent expedition into 

 that country. He also exhibited a dried specimen of a fish 

 obtained by Mr. H. C. V. Hunter from one of the crater-lakes 

 in the same district, which he referred to a new genus and 



; species of Chromidre, proposed to be called Or^oc/iro/ius hunteri. 

 — Dr. Giinther also exhibited a pair of horns of an .\ntelope 



i obtained many years ago in the interior of' Southern Central 

 ' Africa, which were remarkable for their length and gentle back- 

 ward curvature, with only a very slight twist near the tips. He 

 referred these horns to a new species, proposed to be called 

 Aiitilope triangularis. — Dr. Giinther read some notes on a 

 Bornean Porcupine, which he had formerly described as being 



without a tail, and named Trichys lipura. It now appeared 

 that some specimens of this animal possessed a long and slender 

 tail, but that other characters would necessitate the retention of 

 the genus as distinct from Athcrura. — Mr. F. E. Beddard read 

 a paper directing attention to certain points in the anatomy of 

 the Accipitres with reference to the affinities of Polyboroides. 

 This form was shown to belong to the Falconid?e, and to have 

 no real affinities with Strpentarius. — Sir Walter Buller read a 

 paper on a species of Crested Penguin from the Auckland 

 Islands, based 'm a specimen lately living in the Society's 

 Gardens, which he proposed to call Etulyptes sclaleri. 



Anthropological Institute, February 26. — Dr. J. Beddoe, 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair. — Mr. Francis Galton e.xhibited 

 a new instrument for testing the delicacy of perception of 

 differences of tint ; also an instrument for telling reaction time. 

 Both instruments will ^be exhibited in the Paris Exhibition. — 

 Major C. P.. Conder, R.E., read a paper on " The Early Races 

 of Western Asia." 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, February 4.— The Rev. Prof. Flint, Vice- 

 President, in the chair. — Prof. T. R. Frazer read a paper on the 

 natural history, chemistry, and pharmacology, of Strophanthus 

 hispidus. — Mr. John Aitken exhibited and described his im- 

 proved apparatus for counting the dust particles in the atmo- 

 sphere. — Prof. Rutherford read a paper by Dr. G. N. Stewart, 

 on the electrotonic variation in nerve with strong polarizing 

 currents. 



February 18. — Dr. Thomas Muir, Vice-President, in the 

 chair. — Prof. Crum Brown communicated a paper by Mr. Alex. 

 Johnstone, on the prolonged action of sea-water on pure n.itural 

 magnesium silicate.-;. — A paper by Dr. A. B. Griffiths on the so- 

 called liver of Curcinus mccnas was al<o read. — Dr. Muir com- 

 municated a paper by Mr. Alex. M'Aulay, Melbourne, on the 

 differentiation of any scalar power of a quaternion, and a note 

 by Prof. Tait on Mr. M'Aulay's paper. — Prof. Crum Brown 

 read an account by Mr. Albert Campbell of the change in the 

 thermoelectric properties of Wood's fusible metal at its melting- 

 i>oint. — Prof. Brown also read a paper by Mr. Frank Beddard on 

 the anatomy and physiology of Phreoryctes. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, February 25. — M. Des Cloizeaux, 

 President, in the chair. — Note on the question, whether their 

 original infectious pioperties can be recovered by pathogeiiic 

 microbes, which have apparently preserved nothing beyond the 

 power of vegetating outside the living animal organism, by M. 

 A. Chauveau. In continuation of his recent communication 

 {Coinptcs rendus, cviii. p. 319), the author here describes some 

 experiments which show that, in Bacillus anthracis apparently 

 deprived of all infectious virulence, this virulence may be as 

 easily restored as the simply diminished virulence is renovated 

 i n M. Pasteur's attenuated microbes. It results generally from 

 these studies that in losing or recovering their virulence patho- 

 genic microbes undergo no specific transformation. These 

 physiological metamorphoses are merely an extension of the 

 law well kno wn to botanists that the conditions of culture may 

 modify not only the form, but also and specially the functions of 

 plant-.— On some points in the theory of the sextant, by M. 

 Gruey. The points here discussed are (i) the possibility of con- 

 structing the sextant with a single glass, which is decided in the 

 affirmative, a means being indicated by which the practical in- 

 convenience of such an instrument may be obviated ; (2) the use 

 of the transparent part of the small glass. This is suppressed by 

 some, preserved by others, and M. Gruey considers that it is in 

 fact useless. — On a question in the doctrine of probabilities, by 

 M. E. Mayer. A solution is here proposed of M. Bertrand's 

 57th problem, dealing with the case of two players with equal 

 chances and equal capital, and the probability of one ruining the 

 other in a given number of throws. — Remarks on the conduc- 

 tivity and mode of electrolysis of concentrated sulphuric acid 

 solutions, by M. E. Bouty. The main object of these experi- 

 ments is to measure the molecular conductivity of sulphuric acid 

 at or about the temperature of o^ C. An attempt is also made to 

 determine the coefficients of temperature a and /3 in the 

 formula — 



C, = C,(l -f- a/ -f ^t"-). 

 — On the electro-chemical measurement of the intensity of 

 curienls, by M. A. Potier. Arguments are advanced to show 

 that the electrolytic measurement of intensity cannot be regarded 



