January 17, 190 (J 



NATURE 



291 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Chemical Society, December 13, 1900. — Prof. Thorpe, 

 President, in the chair. — Prof. H. A. Miers delivered the Ram- 

 melsberg Memorial Lecture. — December 20, 1900, Prof. Thorpe, 

 President, in the chair. — On the union of hydrogen and chlorine, 

 by J. W. Mellor. The mixture of hydrogen and chlorine ob- 

 tained by the electrolysis of hydrochloric acid always contains 

 measurable quantities of oxygen. A slight contraction occurs on 

 mixing gaseous chlorine and hydrogen chloride. — The nitration 

 of the three tolueneazophenols, by J. T. Hewitt and J. H. Lind- 

 field. The three tolueneazophenols are nitrated by warm dilute 

 nitric acid, and in each case the nitro-group enters the phenol 

 ring in the ortho-position relatively to the hydroxyl group. — 

 The bromination of the ortho-oxyazo-com pounds and its bearing 

 on their constitution, by J. T. Hewitt and H. A. Phillips. Ortho- 

 oxyazo-compounds appear to react towards bromine as true 

 oxyazo-compounds, and not as orthoquinone-hydrazones. — On 

 the use of pyridine for molecular weight determinations by the 

 ebullioscopic method, by W. R. Innes. Molecular weight de- 

 terminations show that pyridine does not favour the association 

 of dissolved substances ; its molecular rise in boiling point is 

 29*5. — The influence of the methyl group on ring formation, by 

 A. W. Gilbody and C. H. G. Sprankling. The authors have 

 determined the stability of phenylsuccinimide and its alkyl 

 derivatives in alcoholic solution. It is found that the stability 

 of the succinimide ring is decreased by introducing methyl 

 groups into the fatty ring, whilst Miolati has found that the in- 

 troduction of fatty groups into the aromatic ring increases the 

 stability. — Experiments on the production of optically actiye 

 compounds from inactive substances, by F. S. Kipping. — A 

 lecture table experiment for the preparation of nitric oxide, by 

 A. Senier. — The action of ethylene dibromide on xylidine and 

 pseudocumidine, by A. Senier and W. Goodwin. — The action 

 of phenylcarbimide on diphenyl-, dialphyl- and dinaphthyl-di- 

 amines, by A. Senier and W. Goodwin. — Note on the action of 

 nitrous acid on /}-nitroso-a-naphthylaniine, by A. Harden and 

 J. Okell. On treating i3-nitroso-a-naphthylamine in alcoholic 

 solution with potassium nitrite and hydrochloric acid, a salt of 

 the composition CjoHgOoNjK is obtained ; this and the cor- 

 responding sodium salt, when treated with stannous chloride and 

 acid, yield a substance which is probably an imidazole of the 

 following constitution — 





-"x 



N. 



N(OHK 



— l:2:4-Metaxylidine-6-sulphonic acid, by H. E. Armstrong 

 and L P. Wilson. In accordance with the views previously 

 published by Armstrong, it is found that although excess of 

 fuming sulphuric acid converts i:2;4-metaxylidine into the 

 5-sulphonic acid, the 6-sulphonic acid is readily obtainable by 

 heating the sulphate of the base. — The preparation of acetyl- 

 chloraminobenzene and related compounds, by F. D. Chattaway 

 and K. J. P. Orton. 



Geological Society, December 19, 1900. — J. J. H. Teall, 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair. — On the igneous rocks associ- 

 ated with the Cambrian beds of the Malvern Hills, by Prof. 

 T. T. Groom. The Cambrian beds of the Southern Malverns 

 are associated with a series of igneous rocks which have com- 

 monly been regarded as volcanic, but are probably all intrusive. 

 They consist of a series of bosses, dykes, sills and small lacco- 

 lites intruded into the Upper Cambrian Shales and into the 

 Hollybush Sandstone. The dykes appear to be confined to the 

 sandstones, the sills and laccolites chiefly to the shales, while 

 the bosses are found in both. All the rocks have a local stamp, 

 but are probably most nearly related to the camptonitic rocks 

 of the Central English Midlands. Intrusion took place at a 

 period not earlier than the Tremadoc, and probably not later 

 than that of the May Hill Sandstone. —On the Upper Green- 

 sand and Chloritic Marl of Mere and Maiden Bradley in Wilt- 

 shire, by A. J. Jukes-Browne and John Scanes. The district 

 dealt with is on the borders of Wiltshire and Somerset. The 

 general succession is as follows, the numbers being given in 

 feet : — Lower Chalk, with Chloritic Marl at the base, 200 ; sands 

 with calcareous concretions, 3 to 8 ; sands with siliceous con- 

 cretions (cherts), 20 to 24 ; Coarse Greensand, 15 ; fine grey and 

 buff sands, about 120; sandy marlstone, 15; grey marl and j 

 clay (Gault), 90. 



NO. 1629, VOL. 63] 



Royal Microscopical Society, December 19, 1900. — Mr. 

 Wm. Carruthers, F.R.S , President, in the chair. — Mr. Barton 

 exhibited some new forms of lanterns which could be used for 

 ordinary projection purposes either with or without the micro- 

 scope. The first was a lantern constructed so as to exclude all 

 light from the room except what passed through the lenses ; the 

 manner of using this in connection with a microscope was shown. 

 Another lantern exhibited was larger and more complete, and 

 could be used for all purposes, including enlargements. The 

 excellent definition of this lantern was demonstrated by the ex- 

 hibition on the screen of photomicrographs of mounted prepara- 

 tions of insects, and of- whole insects mounted in balsam. Mr. 

 Barton also exhibited and described several new forms of micro- 

 scope, with detachable circular stage, &c., and a new form of 

 electric arc lamp for lantern use. A new form of lime-light was 

 also exhibited of great brilliancy, steadiness and silence. Mr. 

 Nelson said he was very much struck with the perfection to 

 which the last-mentioned lamp had been brought, and inquired 

 if the gases had been enriched in any way, and how the light 

 was produced with such complete absence of noise. Mr. Barton 

 said nothing was used but the two gases, and the effect was pro- 

 duced by causing them to impinge upon each other previous to 

 their entrance to the mixing chamber, and by the construction 

 of the chamber itself. 



Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, January 8. — Prof. 

 Horace Lamb, F.R.S , President, in the chair. — A discussion 

 was introduced by Mr. W. H. Johnson upon the method of 

 navigation employed by the Norsemen on their voyages between 

 Northern Europe and Greenland and Iceland before the 

 mariner's compass was known. Mr, W. E. Hoyle communi- 

 cated a note on D'Orbigny's figure of Onychoteuthis diissumieri, 

 in which he pointed out the resemblance which it bore to a 

 species of Loligo in the Hamburg Museum. The skin of this 

 specimen was partly covered by convex tubercles, giving it a 

 shagreen-like appearance, which was due to its having under- 

 gone partial maceration in the stomach of some cetacean. It 

 was further shown that this appearance might perhaps explain 

 the true nature of a cephalopod described by Prof. Joubin, 

 which he stated to be covered with scales resembling these of a 

 ganoid fish. Dr. Lbnnberg had found a similar appearance in 

 a specimen of Onychoteuthis from Magellan's Straits, which on 

 investigation proved not to be due to scales at all, but to a 

 swelling of subcutaneous papillae in consequence of the macera- 

 tion to which the animal had been subjected. It seemed^ 

 therefore, a reasonable hypothesis that all these scalelike ap- 

 pearances were due to a similar cause. 



Edinburgh. 



Mathematical Society, January 11. — Mr. Geo. Duthie^ 

 Vice-President, in the chair. — Prof. Allardice read a paper on 

 the nine-point conic, and notes were given by Prof. Steggall, 

 Mr. D. B. Mair and Prof. Jack. 



Paris, 



Academy of Sciences, January 7. — M. Fouque in the 

 chair. — M. Bouquet de la Grye was elected Vice-President for 

 the year 1901. — M. Maurice Levy, the retiring President, 

 announced the changes in the members and correspondents for 

 the past year. — The President announced the death of Dr. 

 Potain, member in the section of Medicine and Surgery. — On 

 the integrals of total differentials of the third species in the 

 theory of algebraic functions of two variables, by M. Emile 

 Picard. — Observations of the comet 1900c (Giacobini), made at 

 the Observatory of Algiers, by MM. Rambaud and Sy. The 

 observations, which were made with the 3'! '8 cm. equatorial 

 on the nights of December 26 and 27, 1900, show that the 

 comet is a nebulosity of i' to 2' diameter with a feeble central 

 nucleus comparable in intensity with a star of the 13th mag- 

 nitude. — Observations of the comet 1900^ (Giacobini) made 

 with the equatorial of the Observatory of Besan9on, by M. P. 

 Chofardet. The observations were made on December 25, 

 1900, and show the comet as a rounded nebula without a tail, 

 wiih a central stellar nucleus of about the 12th magnitude. — On 

 convex closed surfaces, by M H. Minkowski. — On the theorem 

 of active forces, by M. H. Duport. — On linear equations with 

 indeterminate points, by M. Ludwig Schlesinger. — On the 

 theory of the equations of mathematical physics, by M. S. 

 Zaremba. — On the absolute value of the magnetic elements on 



