158 



NATURE 



{June 1 6, 1887 



in a thousand cocoa-nuts on the average displays this 

 strange peculiarity. The formation of the latter is always a 

 remarkable phenomenon, hard to account for, from the water 

 in the nuts generally lacking the chemical substances 

 favouring abnormal growth of the kind. Rumphius states 

 for a fact that cocoa-nuts from Macassar yield more pearls 

 than those from other places. This scientist, in 1682, 

 sent, as a present to the Grand Duke of Tuscany, a ring 

 in which a cocoa-nut pearl had been set. Similar pearl- 

 Hke formations are met with in other East Indian 

 fruits, such as the waringin, the pomegranate, and the 

 kechubong." 



To this may be conveniently added two brief extracts 

 from the longand admirable account given by Rumphius : — 



" Calappites,Be\g\s Calappus-Steen, Malaicensibus Mes- 

 tica Calappa, albus est lapillus instar marmoris seu silicis 

 albi, durus, planus, ac glaber, cujus putaveram alio loco 

 inter lapides ac mineras descriptionem dedisse, quum 

 vero in Calappa mice inveniatur, ac sollicitus sim, opus 

 illud a me forte non absolutum iri, animo induxi hie loci 

 ejus exhibere descriptionem. Est itaque albus ac politus, 

 seu glaber lapillus in interiore Calappa niicis parte con- 

 crescens, nunc putamini fixus, nunc vero media in lympha 

 natanSjdiversae ac duplicis potissimumforma^ " (Rumphius, 

 " Herbarium Amboinense," vol. i. pp. 21, 22). 



" Incolae plurimum ovsxn^'iMesticas amant,quarum quas- 

 dam tanti aestimant, ut optimis etiam prasferant gemmis ; 

 plurimas enim ipsis tribuunt immo sine dubio super- 

 stitiosas etiam virtutes, gestant enim has ad nu-dum 

 corpus, in annulis, et armis, ad prosperum conatuum 

 successum obtinendum. Elegantissimos ac rotundissimos 

 hujus Calappi lapillos, seu Calappites imponunt annulis 

 suis, vel etiam telis adpendent, non auro, sed argento 

 circumdatos, dicentes melius hoc cum natura Calappites 

 convenire " (p. 22). 



If Dr. Hickson would present one of his pearls to 

 the Kew Museum, it would, I am sure, interest a great 

 many persons who would be glad to see an authentic 

 specimen of so interesting a curiosity. 



NOTES. 



The Annual Meeting of the Royal Society for the election of 

 Fellows was held at the Society's rooms in Burlington House 

 on Thursday last, when the following gentlemen were elected 

 into the Society : John Young Buchanan, M. A., John Theodore 

 Cash, M.D., Sir James Nicholas Douglass, M.I.C.E., Prof. 

 James Alfred Ewing, B.Sc, Prof. George Forbes, M.A., 

 William Richard Gowers, M.D., Prof. Alexander B. W. 

 Kennedy, M.I.C.E., George King, M.B., Sir John Kirk, M.D., 

 Prof. Oliver Joseph Lodge, D.Sc, Prof. John Milne, F.G.S., 

 Rev. Octavius Pickard-Cambridge, M.A., George James Snelus, 

 F.C.S., Thomas, Lord Walsingham, William Whitaker, B.A. 



The Council of the London Mathematical Society have 

 awarded the second De Morgan medal to Prof Sylvester, 

 F.R. S., for his numerous and brilliant contributions to pure 

 mathematics. The medal will be presented at the Council 

 meeting in November next. 



The preparations for the forthcoming meeting of the British 

 Association in Manchester are progressing very favourably. A 

 strong Local Committee has been formed, and a guarantee fund 

 of over ;^io,ooo has been raised to meet the necessary local 

 expenses. The recepiion-room will be in the recently-built 

 Natural History Museum of the Owens College, and the Section 

 rooms in the College or its immediate neighbourhood. A pro- 

 minent feature of the meeting will be the presence of a large 

 number of eminent foreign men of science, of whom more than 

 a hundred have already accepted invitations to attend. 



Akrangements for the dinner to Prof. Tyndall are progress- 

 ing satisfactorily under the direction of the Executive Committee 

 consisting of Prof. Stokes (Chairman), Sir F. Abel, Sir W. 

 Bowman, Sir F. Bramwell, Dr. Evans, Prof. Frankland, Dr. 

 Hirst, Prof. Huxley, and Sir Henry Roscoe. Circulars 

 announcing the dinner have been largely issued. It is, how- 

 ever, for obvious reasons impossible to send notices to all those 

 who might wish to attend, and applications for tickets are daily 

 made by gentlemen who have received no special notification of 

 the event. There is no doubt that a body of scientific men will 

 meet at the dinner such as has seldom or never been brought 

 together on a similar occasion. Nor will the gathering be con- 

 fined to scientific men alone. Among others, the following have 

 also expressed their intention of being present : Lord Derby, 

 Lord Ly tton, Earl Bathurst, Sir F. Poll Dck, Sir F. Leighton, 

 Lieut. -General Smyth, Prof. Bonamy Price, and Messrs. Leslie 

 Stephen, W. Lecky, and Wemyss Reid. 



The Ladies' Soiree zX the Royal Society, as we stated last week, 

 was largely attended. Careful preparations had been made for 

 it, and it was a great success. At intervals, in the Principal 

 Library, a cornet solo was telephoned from Brighton. A large 

 number of objects of great scientific interest were exhibited. 

 Photographs of clouds, and photographs of the Firth of Forth 

 Bridge, were shown with the lime-light ; the former with de- 

 monstrations by the Hon. Ralph Abercromby, the latter 

 with demonstrations by Mr. Baker. The microscopic struc- 

 ture of pearls was also shown with the lime-light, by Dr. 

 George Harley. The Zoological Society of London exhibited 

 a fine living specimen of the electric eel, from which shocks 

 were taken. Prof. A. W. Riicker exhibited — (i) Colours 

 of soap-films rotating under the influence of an air-current. 

 A jet of air is directed on to the film so as to form a 

 vortex, the colours of which change as the film becomes thinner. 

 This experiment is due to Sir David Brewster. Attention 

 has been recently called to it by Lord Rayleigh. (2) Arti- 

 ficial imitation of the colours of the setting sun. Light is 

 passed through a glass cell containing a solution of sodium hypo- 

 sulphite. If a little hydrochloric acid is added, the sulphur is 

 deposited in fine particles which scatter the blue end of the 

 spectrum. The trans jaitted light becomes redder, and colours 

 like those of sunset are produced. This experiment is due to 

 Capt. Abney. (3) Apparatus to illustrate the passage of 

 light through lenses. An application on a large scale of the 

 method of tracing the rays by passing them through air in a 

 closed space charged with a small quantity of smoke. Chrysalides 

 and living larvse showing the influence of surroundings upon 

 their colours were exhibited by Mr. E. B. Poulton ; and Dr. E. 

 Klein exhibited the following specimens of microbes under the 

 microscope and in cultivation : — Bacilhts anthracis ; Bacillus 

 ttiberculosis ; Bacillus of leprosy ; Bacillus of swine fever ; 

 Bacillus of septiceemia ; Bacillus found in typhoid fever ; Spiril- 

 lum found in Asiatic cholera ; several other species of Spirilla ; 

 several species of Bacterium terino ; Micrococcus of foot-and- 

 mouth disease ; Micrococcus of scarlet fever ; Micrococcus of 

 vaccine ; different species of coloured microbes. Mr. Chichester 

 A. Bell showed apparatus for reproducing audibly the vibrations 

 of liquid jets. Vibratory motions of the orifice fro Ji which a liquid 

 jet escapes, give rise to slight swellings, and constrictions of the 

 liquid column. The swellings increase and the constrictions di 

 minish as the jet travels downwards, finally causing it to break into 

 drops. When the jet strikes upon a flat surface, the swellings 

 are continued as waves in the thin sheet of liquid, which spreads 

 out from the point of impact. The jet liquid being a conductor 

 of electricity (acidulated water), and two platinum electrodes in 

 circuit with a battery, and a telephone being immersed in the 

 liquid sheet or nappe, the jet vibrations are rejoroduced as sound 

 in the telephone. 



