March 14, 1901] 



NA TURE 



483 



of the position of the Nova, from a photograph taken at the 

 University Observatory, Oxford.— Mr. Bryan Cookson gave a 

 description, illustrated with lantern slides, of a new photographic 

 zenith telescope, constructed with a view to the determination 

 of the constant of aberration. The essential feature of the 

 ordinary zenith telescope is the level, but in this new form of 

 the instrument there is no level, verticality of the axis being 

 obtained by floating the supports of the telescope in a bath of 

 mercury. Mr. Cojkson also gave some preliminary results 

 obtained wifh the new instrument. — Nine other communications 

 were taken as read. 



Linnean Society, February 21.— Dr. A. Gunther, F.R.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair.— Mr. R. Morton Middleton ex- 

 hibited and made remarks on a series of Virginian oysters of 

 certified ages.— Mr. H. E. Smedley exhibited with the aid of the 

 lantern a series of photomicrographs illustrating the histology of 

 various types of plants. Mr. Smedley also showed some fo^gil 

 remains of Balaena from the Crag, with other undetermined 

 bones.— A paper by Prof. E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S., and Mr. 

 R. Lydekker, F.R.S., on the affinities of ^hiropus f/ielano- 

 leucus, was read by Mr. Lydekker. The authors based their 

 views on an examination of a cast of the skull presented by the 

 late Prof. Milne-Edwards to the Oxford University Museum, 

 and certain limb-bones and a fine skull in the Natural History 

 Museurn, South Kensington, all of which were described. The 

 conclusions arrived at were that in important and distinctive 

 points ^hirppus agrees with yEhiriis a.nd Procyon (more closely 

 with the former) and differs widely from Urstts, notwithstanding 

 its external resemblance to the last named. The salient points 

 in the anatomy of each were discussed, and the resemblances 

 and differences made clear by a series of photographs which 

 were exhibited.— A paper by Monsieur A. Gruvel, entitled 

 " Etude d'une espece nouvelle de Lepadides," was communi- 

 cated by Prof. Howes, who gave an abstract of the same, and 

 exhibited drawings of the new species [Scalpellum maximum) 

 described by the author. The paper also dealt with examples 

 of Poecilasma carinatum which were found attached to a speci- 

 men of the Scalpellum. 



Anthropological Institute, February 25.— Prof. Haddon, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair.— Mr. H. Ling Roth read a paper 

 on Maori tatu and moko. The paper, which was fully illustrated 

 by lantern slides, opened with an explanation of the diff"erence 

 between tatu and moko ; by the former is understood production 

 of a pattern by puncturing the skin and depositing colouring matter 

 under it ; in the final state the skin is perfectly smooth. In 

 moko, on the other hand, the instrument is a chisel and leaves 

 slight grooves in the skin after the wound is healed, The 

 Maoris made use of spirals and coils in their patterns, differing 

 in this respect from other Polynesians. The instrument, which 

 is really a miniature hoe, is placed on the skin and tapped with 

 a mallet. The operation is extremely painful, involving great 

 loss of blood, so that only a small portion of the pattern can be 

 done at once. The portions of the body operated on are the face 

 and thighs, and in the case of the latter the effect is that of an 

 ornamental pair of drawers. The operation was begun at puberty 

 and small additions were continually made, especially after a 

 successful fight or on similar important occasions. The most 

 elaborately tatued was most favoured by the fair sex. In some 

 cases post mortem moko was employed to increase the value of 

 a specimen.— Major-General Robley presented a drawing of a 

 Maori war dance. 



Edinburgh 



Mathematical Society, March 8.— Some elementary 

 theorems regarding surds, by Prof. Chrystal.— Note on the 

 application of complex integration to the equation of conduction 

 of heat, by Mr. John Dougall. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, March 4.— M. Fouque in the 

 chair.— On the new star which recently appeared in the con- 

 stellation of Perseus, by M. J. Janssen. In stars such as the 

 sun, m which the temperature is too high for water to exist, as 

 the temperature falls there must come a point at which com- 

 bination of the hydrogen and oxygen will suddenly take place. 

 This would be accompanied with an enormous and sudden 

 increase of temperature and hence of light production, and this 

 is put forward as a possible explanation of the appearance of a 

 new star. At the moment of combination, on account of the 

 pressures and temperatures developed, the rays of the spectrum 

 ought to be considerably enlarged, and this is precisely what 



NO. 1637, VOL. 63] 



appears in the spectra obtained at Meu Ion. — Meridional sight 

 with cylindrical mirror, by M. G. Lippmann. A description 

 of an apparatus for measuring right ascensions, in which the 

 meridian is shown as a luminous line projected upon the sky. 

 With this apparatus a cross wire in the eyepiece is rendered 

 unnecessary. — On the preparation and properties of sulph- 

 ammonium, by M. Henri Moissan. The three varieties of 

 sulphur were submitted to the action of liquefied ammonia at 

 '- 80° C. ; no reaction takes place, but on allowing the tempera- 

 ture to rise slowly solution occurs with sulphur insoluble in 

 carbon bisulphide at -38°, with prismatic sulphur at - I5°'S, 

 and with the octahedral variety at - 11* 5. From this solution 

 a new compound, sulphammonium, can be obtained, of a dark 

 red colour, and having at -23° the composition (NH3)2S, at 

 20°, (NH3)2S.2Nn3, which is completely dissociable at the 

 ordinary temperature and pressure, and which possesses the 

 property of being able to add sulphur in the cold to a large 

 number of simple and compound bodies. — A method of esti- 

 mating sulphides, sulphydrates, polysulphides and hyposulphites 

 coexisting in solution, in particular in certain mineral 

 waters, by M. Armand Gautier. The method proposed is based 

 upon the facts that sulphhydrates, distilled- in a vacuum, 

 give up all their sulphuretted hydrogen in excess of that required 

 to form the monosulphide, and this, again, yields the whole of 

 its sulphur on distilling in a current of carbon dioxide. Test 

 analyses are given of a water prepared synthetically and of the 

 mineral water of Labassere. — On germination in distilled water, 

 by MM. P. P. Deherain and Demoussy. Seeds can form their 

 roots and commence their development in distilled water abso- 

 lutely deprived of lime, although this development is arrested 

 when the distilled water contains unweighable traces of copper. 

 — A phototherapic apparatus without a condenser, by MM. 

 Lortet and Genoud. The size of the active zone in the apparatus 

 described may be varied from i to 6 cm. in diameter, the zone 

 from an apparatus using a condenser being much smaller. The 

 time necessary for the exposure is also reduced to one-fourth of 

 that required in the older form of apparatus. — Observations on 

 the brightness of the planet Eros made at the Observatory of 

 Lyons, by MM. Guillaume, Le Cadet and Luizet. The results 

 are shown in the form of a curve having a period of about 

 2h. 50m. , the total variation of light being about two magni- 

 tudes. — On the variation of brightness of the planet Eros, by 

 M. M. Luizet. A mathematical discussion of the results of the 

 previous paper.— -Variations of brightness of the planet Eros, by 

 M. Baillaud. From observations made at the Observatory of 

 Toulouse, the period between the times of maximum brightness 

 is found to be the same as between the minima, 2h. 23m. — The 

 elements of the system formed by the double planet Eros, by M. 

 Ch. Andre. The time of revolution of the satellite of Eros is 

 nearly that of Phobos, the eccentricity is nearly equal to that 

 of the lunar orbit, and the mean density of the system is of 

 the order of that of Mars. — On the period of the variability 

 of brightness of the planet Eros, from determinations made at the 

 Observatory of Toulouse, by M. L. Montangerand. The period 

 deduced is 2h. 22m.— On the new star in Perseus, 

 by M. M. Luizet. A comparison of the magnitude 

 ot the new star with o-Taurus, ;3-Gemini, a- Perseus, and 

 7-Cassiopeia. — Observations en the new siar in Perseus, by 

 M. H. Deslandres. A detailed study of the spectrum of the 

 new star (see p. 477). — On a certain surface of the third 

 order, by M. D. Th. Egorov. — On complete systems of partial 

 differential equations, by M. Edmond Maillet. — On the propa- 

 gation of the Hertzian oscillations in water, by M. C. Gutton. 

 It is shown that the wave-length remains the same when the 

 resonator and the transmitting wires are immersed in water. — 

 The law of transparency of matter for the X-rays, by M. L. 

 Benoist. — On the induced radio-activity provoked by radium 

 salts, by MM. P. Curie and A. Debierne. The experiments 

 cited show that the induced radio-activity is transmitted by the 

 air, and this is in agreement with the hypothesis of Rutherford. 

 — On a new method for determining the atomic weight of 

 uranium, by M. J. Aloy. The nitrate is decomposed, and the 

 ratio of nitrogen to uranium nitrate determined. — Thermal 

 study of the ammoniacal aluminium chlorides, by M. L. Baud. 

 — On a new silicide of cobalt, by M. Paul Lebeau. The new 

 silicide, which has the composition CoSi, is obtained by heating 

 metallic cobalt and copper silicide in the electric furnace. 

 — On the mixed organo-magnesium compounds, by M. V. Grig- 

 nard (see p. 477). — On an isomeride of anethol and on the consti- 

 tution of the latter, by MM. Behal and Tiff'eneau. Anisol, treated 



