516 



NA TURE 



{Sept. 29. 1887 



afford to neglect any department of research wh'ch has to do 

 with the life of man, however widely removed it may seem to 

 be from science and scientific methods of inquiry. " Homo 

 sum ; humani nihil a me alienum puto " 



REPORTS. 



Report of the Committee, consisting of Profs. Tilden, W. 

 Chandler koberts- Austen, and Mr. T. Turner, on the Influence 

 of Silicon on the Properties of Steel. — One series of experiments 

 has been completed, and the results obtained are : — On adding 

 silicon to the purest Bessemer iron, the metal is originally red 

 short, especially at a dull red heat, though it works well at a 

 welding temperature ; the red shortness is increased by silicon. 

 Silicon increases the elastic limit and tensile strength, but 

 diminishes the elongation and the contraction of area, a few 

 hundredths per cent, having a remarkable influence in this 

 respect. The hardness increases with the increase of silicon. 

 With o'4 per cent, of silicon and o'2 per cent, of carbon, a steel 

 was obtained difficult to work at high temperatures, but tough 

 when cold, capable of bein-^ hardened in water, and giving 

 a cutting-edge which successfully resisted considerable hard 

 usage. 



Report of the CommHtee, consisting of Profs. Tilden, Ramsay, 

 and Dr. Nicol, on the Nature of Solution. — The constants of 

 supersaturated and n on -saturated solutions have been examined. 

 Starting from non-saturated solutions, the temperature was 

 lowered until the point of saturation was reached, and the 

 physical properties of solutions near the point of saturation were 

 examined at a constant temperature (20"). There appears to 

 t)e no difference of physical properties within these limits from 

 those of ordinary solutions. Experiments are also described on 

 the specific viscosity of solutions, and there is added also a 

 report on the bibliography of the subject. 



Report of the Conmittee on Isomjric N.iphthalene Derivatives. 

 — Prof Armstrong pointed out how naphthalene obeys the a-law, 

 and described the formation of the dichlorides by different 

 methods. He showed that the products, though at first appar- 

 ently the same, have been now proved distinct. He also went 

 into the sulphonating of )8-naphtho!s. 



Second Report on the Cae Gwyn Cave, North Wales, by Dr. 

 H. Hicks. — The main object that the Committee had in view 

 this year was to extend the excavation which had been made in 

 front of the new entrance to the cavern, discovered last year, so 

 that a clear section of the deposits which covered that entrance 

 might be exposed. Work was commenced on June 6 and con- 

 tinued to the i8th, when it was decided that a sufficient excava- 

 tion had been made, and work was for the time suspended. The 

 excavation was visited daily by some members of the Committee. 

 It was found necessary to remove much of the timber placed 

 last year to support the face in front of the entrance, so that the 

 section might be clearly exposed, and the cutting was widened 

 here sufficiently to show a vertical face of undisturbed deposits. 

 The timber supporting the north-east face of the cutting was 

 allowed to remain, as that portion had been well exposed last 

 year, and it was thought that the excavation in front and to the 

 south-west would yield all necessary evidence without incurring 

 that additional trouble and expense. The cutting was carried in 

 a south-south-west direction from the mouth of the cavern, and 

 beyond the dip in the field supposed to indicate the line of an 

 old fence ; the length from the timber on the north-east face to 

 the commencement of the dip in the field being about 30 feet, 

 and the width varying from 5 to 10 feet ; the narrowest part 

 being at the furthest point from the cavern. In the face exposed 

 in front of the entrance, and for a distance in the cutting from 

 there of about 25 feet, the soil varied in depth from 18 inches to 

 2 feet, but at the slope supposed to indicate the line of the old 

 fence it thickened considerably. Underlying this throughout 

 the whole length of the cutting and in the field beyond this 

 point, a boulder-clay of a reddish-brown colour was exposed. 

 This boulder-clay contained thin seams of sand, which were 

 traceable generally at the same horizon along the whole section. 

 At a depth of about 7 feet from the surface, in a continuous band 

 of reddish sandy clay, numerous fragments of marine shells and 

 some perfect ones were met with, and these have been recog- 

 nized by Mrs. McKenny Hughes to belong to the following 

 species, viz. Ostrca sp., Mytilus sp., Nucula nucleus, Cardium 



echinatum, C. edule, Cyprina islandica, Astarte borealis, Artemis 

 exoleta, Venus gallina ?, Tellina balthica, Psammobiafei-roensis, 

 Donax ?, Mya truncata, IJttorina sp., Turrifella terelra, 

 Buccinum undatnm. Below the boulder-clay, at a depth of 

 about 9 feet from the surface, there was exposed some sandy 

 gravel and fine banded sand with a total thickness of over 6 feet, 

 and under the latter a well-defined band of finely lamina:ed 

 reddish clay. Below the laminated clay the brecciated bcne- 

 earth was found to extend as far as the cutting was made in 

 front of the entrance, and also for a distance of 7 feet in a 

 southerly direction from the entrance. This year only a few 

 fragments of bone and bits of stalagmite were obtained from this 

 earth, though it will be remembered that last year it yielded 

 many teeth as well as the flint flake which was discovered near 

 the entrance. The limestone floor under the bone-earth was 

 found to rise gradually outwards from the mouth of the cavern 

 for some distance, forming a shallow basin-shaped space in front 

 of the entrance. In the bone-earth in this space there were 

 several large angular blocks of limestone. It was not thought 

 necessary to dig down to the floor along the whole length of the 

 Clotting, but it was traced for 7 feet in that directipn by the 

 side of the cliff against which the deposits abutted. Beyond 

 that point the cutting was made deep enough to reach the sandy 

 gravel under the boulder-clay, and at different parts test-holes 

 were sunk still deeper into the gravel and sand. One hole was 

 also sunk in the field in front of the cutting at a distance of over 

 35 feet from the entrance to the cavern. The deposits here 

 were found to be similar to those in the cutting and in front of 

 the cavern, but the depth of soil over the boulder-clay was only 

 from I foot to 18 inches. A very large number of smoothed anrl 

 ice-scratched boulders were found, many of considerable size ; 

 the majority being fragments of Wenlock shale from the neigh- 

 bourhood and Lower Silurian rocks from the Snowdonian area. 

 Amongst them also were fragments of granite, gneiss, quartzites, 

 flint, diorites, basalts, Carboniferous rocks, &c. 



Report of the Committee, consisting of Mr. John Cordeaux, 

 {secretary). Prof. A. Newton, Mr. J. A. HarvieBrd'cvn, Mr. 

 William Eagle Clarke, Mr. R. M. Barrington, and M. A. G. 

 More, reappointed at Birmingham for the purpose of obtaining 

 {with the consent of the Master and Brethren of the Trinity 

 House and the Commissioners of Northern and Irish Lights) 

 observations on the Migration of Birds at Lighthouses and Light- 

 vessels, and of reporting on the same. 



The General Report ^ of the Committee has been printed in a 

 pamphlet of 174 pages, and includes observations from 126 

 stations out of a total of 198 supplied with schedules, letters of 

 instruction, and cloth-lined envelopes for wings ; altogether 280 

 schedules have been sent in. In the last report attention was 

 particularly directed to those main highways or lines of migration 

 by which birds approach the east coast of Scotland both in the 

 spring and autumn. Two chief lines seem to be clearly indi- 

 cated, by the Pentland Firth and Pentland Skerries, also by the 

 entrance of the Firth of Forth as far north as the Bell Rock 

 Lighthouse. Continued observations also indicate that on the 

 east coast of England the stream of migration is not continuous 

 over the whole coast line, but seems to travel along well- 

 established lines, which are persistently followed year by 

 year. 



On the east coast of England there seems to be a well-marked 

 line, both of entry and return, off" the Earn Islands, on the coast 

 of Northumberland. Scarcely second to this in importance is 

 the mouth of the Tees, both in the spring and autumn. The 

 North Yorkshire coast and the elevated moorland district from 

 the south of Redcar to Flamborough, including the north side of 

 the headland, is comparatively barren, few birds appearing to 

 come in. Bridlington I3ay and Holderness to Spurn and Lincoln- 

 shire, as far as Gibraltar Point, on the coast of Lincolnshire, 

 give, perhaps, the best returns on the east coast. The north 

 Norfolk is poor, but there are indications, in the heavy returi 

 annually sent from the Llynwells, Dudgeon, Leman and Owei? 

 and Happisburgh Lightvessels, that a dense stream pours along 

 the coast from east to west, probably to pass inland by the estuary 

 of the Wash and the river systems of the Nene and Welland into 

 the centre of England, thence following the line of the Avon 

 valley and the north bank of the Severn and Bristol Channel, 

 and crossing the Irish Sea to enter Ireland at the Tuskar Kock, 

 off the Wexford coast. This is apparently the great and main 



^ " Report on the Migration of Birds in the Spring and Autumn of 18 

 McFa'lane and Erskine, ig St. James's Square, Edinburgh, price 2^. 





