Marcji 7,)r90i] 



NATUJ^E 



459 



an important action as a solvent, and the authors claim that 

 this is the chief, if not the only function of that secretion. It is 

 pointed out that the bile in this respect has a twofold action : 

 first, in aiding in the excreti6n of cljolestearin and lecithin ; 

 and, secondly, in aiding in the absorption of fatty acids and 

 sodium soaps from the intestine. All these substances possess 

 a low solubility in water, and have their solubility increased in 

 bile chiefly by virtue of the properties of the bile salts. The 

 fact that cholestearin is still but slightly soluble in bile explains 

 the well-known fact that gallstones are composed almost exclu- 

 sively of that substance, while lecithin is very soluble in bile 

 and hence is never deposited. This view as to the action of the 

 bile also furnishes an easy explanation for the so-called " circu- 

 lation of the bile. " It further explains the faulty absorption of fat 

 in the absence of either bile or pancreatic juice, and the almost 

 complete failure of fat absorption when both these secretions 

 are excluded from the alimentary canal. 



" On the Application of the Kinetic Theory of Gases to the" 

 Electric, Magnetic, and Optical Properties of Diatomic Gases." 

 By George W.Walker, B.A., A.R.C.Sc, Fellow of Trinity 

 College, Cambridge, Sir Isaac Newton Research Student. 

 Communicated by Prof. Riicker, Sec. R.S. 



Zoological Society, February 19. — Dr. Henry Woodward' 

 F. R.S. , vice-president, in the chair. — Dr. W. G. Ride wood 

 exhibited some microscopic preparations of the hairs of three 

 species of zebra, viz. Equus burchelli, E. zebra and the newly 

 described E'. johnstoni, in order to show that the hairs of the» 

 last-named animal agreed in structure with those of the other 

 two zebras. A letter received from Prof. Ewart on the same 

 subject stated that he was quite of the same opinion. — Mr. 

 F. E. Beddard, F.R.S., exhibited and made remarks upon a 

 specimen of a female Schmidt's monkey ( Cercopithecus schmidti) 

 with four mammae. — IVIr. R. Lydekker, F. R.S., described, 

 under the provisional T\a.me So/ah'a dorneeust's, an apparently new 

 species of estuarine dolphin from Borneo, a specimen of which 

 had recently been received at the British Museum. — -Mr. 

 Lydekker also gave a description of the Kashmir ibex {Ca/>ra 

 sibirica sacin), and pointed out the differences between this 

 and the three other races of Capra sibirica. — Mr. F. E. 

 Beddard, F.R.S., read a paper on the broad-nosed lemur 

 (Hapalemiir si/nus), which dealt with the points of difference 

 in structure between this species and JI. griseus. — A com- 

 munication from Dr. J. G. de Man contained a description of 

 Potamon (Potamonautes) Jloweri, a new species of crab obtained 

 by Captain S. S. Flower on the Bahr-el-Gebel, during his 

 expedition up the White Nile in 1900, and remarks on other 

 species of Potamon. — Mr. R. H. Burne read a paper entitled 

 " A Contribution to the Myology and Visceral Anatomy of the 

 Fairy Armadillo ( Chlamydophorus truncatus)," in which the 

 myology of this rare Edentate was reviewed, with special 

 reference to the two previous descriptions by Hyrtl and 

 Macalister, and features were pointed out in which this 

 individual showed a greater similarity to Dasypus than those 

 hitherto examined. — Dr. C. I. Forsyth Major read a paper 

 on some characters of the, skull in lemurs and monkeys, 

 in which he pointed out, amongst other results, that the 

 OS planum of the ethmoid, about which some doubts had 

 existed as to its presence in lemurs, was found to occur in the 

 young stages of many of these animals, and that the facial 

 expansion of the lachrymal bone in the lemurs as well as in the 

 monkeys was not a primitive condition but an extreme speciali- 

 sation. — Mr. Martin Jacoby read a paper containing descrip- 

 tions of fourteen new species of phytophagous coleoptera of the 

 family Chlamydse. 



Royal Meteorological Society, February 20.— Mr. W. H. 

 Dines, president, in the chair. — Mr. E. Mawley presented 

 his report on the phenological observations for 1900. During 

 the greater part of the winter and spring the weather proved 

 cold and sunless, but in the summer and autumn the temperature 

 was, as a rule,. high and there was an unusually good record of 

 bright sunshine. As affecting vegetation the two most note- 

 worthy features of the phenological year ending November, 

 1900, were the cold, dry and gloomy character of the spring 

 months and the great heat and drought in July. Throughout 

 the whole of the flowering season wild plants came into blossom 

 rnuch behind their average dates, indeed later than in any year 

 since 1 89 1. Such spring emigrants as the swallow, cuckoo and 

 nightingale were also later than usual in visiting these .shores. 

 Taking the British Isles a? a^ w.hqle, the crops of wheat, barley 



NO. 1636, VOL. 63] 



and oats were all more or less under average. The yield of hay 

 was poor in the southern half of England, but elsewhere varied 

 from a fair to an abundant crop. Turnips and swedes were 

 almost everywhere deficient, but there was a heavy crop of 

 mangolds. Potatoes were under average. This was a bountiful 

 year as regards fruit, the yield of apples, plums and all the 

 small fruits being in excess of the average. — Mr. A. E. Watson 

 read a paper entitled "A review of past severe winters in 

 England with deductions therefrom." From an examination of 

 the records of the severe winters of the last 300 years, he has 

 come to the conclusion that they are most frequent in the years 

 with the numbers o-i and 4-5. He is also of opinion that the 

 severe winter in the middle of each decade is generally a late 

 one (January to March) while that at the beginning or end of 

 each decade is generally an early one (November to January). 



Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, February 19.— 

 Prof. Horace Lamb, F. R.S., president, in the chair. — 

 Mr. Charles Bailey made a communication entitled " On 

 Ranunculus Bachii, Wirtgen, as a form of Ranunculus 

 fluitans, Lamarck." This aquatic plant is very polymorphic, as 

 seen in the series of British examples exhibited. In the south 

 of England, the stout stems are several feet in length, the leaves 

 and peduncles are from six inches to a foot long, and the flowers 

 are as large as a shilling or a florin. It is a frequent plant in 

 the Herefordshire Wye and in the Severn, but in the immediate 

 neighbourhood of Manchester it has been gathered in but one 

 station, viz., the Derbyshire Derwent, at Whatstandwell. The 

 plant occurs in canals and swift-running brooks, but its most 

 congenial station is a well-filled river. It becomes less frequent 

 in Great Britain as one ascends northwards, and just manages 

 to occupy a few of the southern counties of Scotland. The 

 range of examples exhibited showed that there exist all inter- 

 mediates between the diminutive form collected at Ayton in the 

 north, and the nine or ten feet plant of the New Forest in the 

 south. Mr. Bailey's conclusions regarding this plant accord 

 with Wirtgen's later view of it, namely, that the differences 

 between it and the type are merely comparative. — Mr. R. S. 

 Hutton exhibited an almost exact reproduction of Mois.san's 

 electric furnace, which has been set up at the Owens College. 

 There it is possible, with a 50 horse-power engine, to produce 

 a current of 700 amperes at 50 volts, and by that means it is 

 anticipated that researches at the high temperatures thus avail- 

 able — viz., 3500" C. , or higher — will shortly be able to be 

 carried out. Graphite prepared in electric furnaces was also 

 shown, as well as specimens of various carbides, carborundum, 

 &c., from the Niagara works. The specimens exhibited illus- 

 trated the facility with which some of the rarer metals now 

 become available, those shown being chromium and manganese. 

 A modern form of the Lippmann electrometer was also 

 exhibited by Mr. Hutton. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, February 25. — M. Fouque in the 

 chair. — The appearance of a new star in the constellation of 

 Perseus, by M. Loewy. This star, when discovered by Dr. 

 .Anderson, at Edinburgh, on February 21, was of the magnitude 

 of 27. Two nights later it was estimated by M. Robei', 

 at Saint-Jean-d'Angely, as being of the first magnitude. — 

 Studies on the agricultural value of land in Madagascar, 

 by MM. A. Miintz and E. Rousseaux. The soil of the 

 belt on the coast line from its composition would probably 

 prove fertile, but the ferruginous earths of the central massif 

 are poor and unfit for culture, except at the bottoms of the 

 valleys. The island, taken as a whole, is poorly provided with 

 the materials necessary for plant growth, and it does not appear 

 likely that it could ever support a dense population. — On the 

 appearance of a new star in the constellation of Perseus, by M. 

 Flammarion. A letter to the Permanent Secretary containing 

 the results of observations on the new star, by MM. Lucien 

 Bosc, A. Robert, Lotte, and Bruguiere. — On the variations in 

 magnitude and position of the satellites of Jupiter, revealing 

 the existence of a cosmic atmosphere, by Dom Lamey. The 

 observations recorded by the author can only be satisfactorily 

 explained by the assumption of the existence of an atmosphere 

 in the form of a ring, composed of a material too subtle to 

 condense, but sufficiently dense to modify by refraction the 

 images of stars traversing it in the equatorial plane. — On a 

 certain category of transcendental functions, by M. Edniund 

 Maillet. — The superficial traces left by the tools in the operation 



