92 



NA TURE 



[November 26, 1891 



$200, to Edward S. Holden, Esq., for researches on stellar 

 spectroscopy, to be carried on at the Lick Observa- 

 tory. 



§150, to Prof. J. KoUmann, for investigations on the em- 

 bryology of monkeys. 



$25, to Prof. J. P. McMurrich, Clark University, Worces- 

 ter, Mass., to study embryology of Aurelia. 



$200, to Dr. Johannes Dewitz, Zoolog. Institute, Berlin, 

 Germany, for researches on the laws of movement of 

 Spermatozoa. 



$150, to Alexander McAdie, Clark University, Worcester, 

 Mass., for experiments on atmospheric electricity. 



$250, to Prof. Julien Fraipont, University of Liege, Liege, 

 Belgium, for the exploration of the cave of Engihoul. 



$50, to Prof. M. E. Wadsworth, Houghton, Michigan, for 

 observations on the temperature in mining-shafts. 



$50, to Prof. A. B. Macallum, University of Toronto, 

 Toronto, Canada, to study the digestion and ab- 

 sorption of chromatine. 



$250, to Dr. G. Baur, Clark University, Worcester, Mass., 

 for the exploration of the Galapagos Islands. 



$300, to Prof, Edw. S. Holden, Lick Observatory, Cal., 

 for astronomical photography. 



$250, to Prof. Louis Henry, Louvain, Belgium, for re- 

 searches on the fundamental solidarity of carbon 

 compounds. 



$300, to Prof. L. Hermann, Konigsberg, Prussia, for phono- 

 graphic experiments on vowels. 



$50, to Prof. Alpheus Hyatt, Cambridge, Mass., for re- 

 searches on the evolution of Cephalopoda. 



UNIVERSITY A ND ED UCA TIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 



Oxford.— Convocation on Tuesday arrived at the following 

 decision : — 



" That the University accept the offer of Mr. G. J. Romanes, 

 F.R. S., Christ Church, to give an annual sum of £2^^ for a 

 lecture to be delivered once a year on some subject approved by 

 the Vice-Chancellor relating to science, art, or literature. The 

 lecturer to be called the Romanes Lecturer, and to be appointed 

 by the Vice-Chancellor annually in the Michaelmas Term, the 

 lecture to be delivered in the next following Easter or Trinity 

 Term on a day to be fixed by the Vice-Chancellor, who shall 

 give public notice thereof to the University in the usual manner. 

 Also, that the thanks of the House be given to Mr. Romanes 

 for his liberality." 



We understand it was Mr. Romanes's wish that the 

 foundation should be anonymous ; but as such a course was 

 found to be without precedent, and otherwise impracticable, he 

 yielded the point to the University authorities. 



Mr. H. T. Gerrans, Fellow of Worcester College, has 

 been elected by the Board of the Faculty of Natural Science a 

 member of the Committee for nominating Masters of the Schools 

 from Hilary Term 1892 to Hilary Term 1895. Mr. C. H. 

 Sampson, Fellow of Brasenose College, has been elected 

 by the same Board of Faculty a member of the Committee for 

 nominating Mathematical Honour Moderators. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 

 A GOOD deal of interesting geolo;»ical information is given in 

 the last number of the Izvcstia of the East-Siberian Branch of 

 ihe Russian Geographical Society (vol. xxii., 2 and 3). M. 

 Obrutcheff gives an orographical and geological sketch of the 

 highlands of the Olekma and the Vitim, with the exploration of 

 which he was intrusted by the mining administration. Besides 

 the upheavals of these highlands, which have a general direc- 

 tion from the south-west to the north-east, M. Obrutcheff 

 found another series of upheavals stretching west -north-west 

 to east-south-east, the chief ridge of that system (named 

 Kropotkin's ridge by the author) rising to the height of from 

 1300 to 1500 metres, and separating the tributaries of the 

 Lena from those of the Vitim. Several lower chains seem 

 to have the same direction. The whole series consists of 

 metamorphic slates and limestones, intersected by granites 

 and gneisses, and belongs to the Lower Silurian and Cam- 

 brian system, a closer definition of its age being difficult 



NO. II 52, VOL. 45] 



on account of a total want of fossils. M. Obrutcheff also con- 

 firms the glaciation of the whole of these highlands. The 

 valleys are filled up with morainic deposits, with polished and 

 striated boulders, and there are traces of inter-glacial layers. 

 The domes arrottdis and the roches moiitonnees, so familiar to the 

 glacialist, are frequent, and the author gives interesting facts to 

 confirm the transport of boulders at great distances over the 

 mountain-ridges, which cannot be explained without admitting 

 that the whole of the highlands was covered with a mighty ice- 

 cap. The same number contains a note by the same author on 

 the Jurassic fossil plants recently discovered on the Bureya River 

 (a tributary of the Amur), and a list of 290 flowering plants 

 collected by Mme. Klements in South Yeniseisk and Tomsk, 

 and described by M. Preyn. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London, 

 Chemical Society, Novembers. — Mr. W. Crookes, P\R.S., 

 Vice-President, in the chair. — The following papers were read : — 

 The magnetic rotatory power of solutions of ammonium and 

 sodium salts of some of the fatty acids, by Dr. W, II. Perkin, 

 F.R,S, Ostwald has argued that the peculiar results obtained 

 by the author in the case of solutions of acids and of ammonium 

 salts, &c., are in accordance with the electrolytic dissociation 

 hypothesis ; and has suggested that since salts formed from weak 

 acids are as good conductors as those formed from strong ones, 

 we may expect in this case also, marked deviations from the 

 calculated values. He also considers that such salts as ammonium 

 formate, &c., when in aqueous solution would show molecular 

 rotations which would not be the sums of the rotations of the 

 components of the salts, as must nearly be the case if the view 

 put forward by the author be correct, that such salts are almost 

 entirely dissociated into acid and base. The author has ob- 

 tained results which show that the rotatory powers of the 

 ammonium and sodium salts do not vary with dilution ; and on 

 comparing the experimental values obtained in the case of 

 ammonium salts with those afforded by the constituent acid and 

 ammonia, as might be expected, as reduction of rotatory power 

 always attends combination, the values are slightly less in 

 the case of the salts. This reduction is very nearly the same as 

 that which takes place in the formation of the corresponding 

 ethereal salts, and as the latter are anhydrous, the results show 

 that the values for ammonium salts in solution are practically 

 those of the dry salts, and therefore that Ostwald's views are in- 

 applicable. — Note on the action of water gas on iron, by Sir 

 H. E. Roscoe and F. Scudder. Whilst making experiments on 

 the application of water gas for illuminating purposes, the 

 authors have observed that occasionally the Fahnehjelm comb 

 becomes coated with a deposit of ferric oxide, and a further 

 examination of the tips of the steatite burners showed that the 

 deposit of ferric oxide was " coralloid," and therefore could not 

 be produced from dust in the atmosphere. They also observe 

 that water gas which has been standing in steel cylinders at a 

 pressure of 8 atmospheres for about a month contains a much 

 larger quantity of iron. A preliminary determination of the 

 iron in this gas amounted to 2-4 milligrams per litre. Although 

 the compound, which is doubtless the iron carbonyl of Mond 

 and Quincke, is only present in this small quantity, the authors 

 have succeeded in proving that it can readily be liquefied. In 

 the discussion which followed, the Chairman referred to the fact 

 that at the recent British Association meeting at Cardiff, Mr. 

 Mond had exhibited specimens not only of liquid iron carbonyl, 

 but also of a solid compound of iron with carbonic oxide. Prof. 

 Ramsay stated that he had found that the compound of nickel 

 with carbonic oxide was formed in the cold. — The dissociation 

 of liquid nitrogen peroxide, by J. Tudor Cundale. The author 

 has determined by colorimetric methods the relative amount of 

 NO2 formed in liquid nitrogen peroxide, (i) by dilution with 

 chloroform, (2) by rise of temperature. He has also aseertaioed 

 the absolute amounts of dioxide by comparing the colour of the 

 liquid solution with that of the gas containing a known amount 

 of nitrogen peroxide. The results show that, on dilution, (i) 

 dissociation takes place very slowly at first, but more rapidly 

 when less than 5 per cent, of the peroxide is present; (2) that 

 solutions of the peroxide dissociate more rapidly than the pure 

 liquid on rise of temperature. — Ortho- and para-nitro-ortho- 

 toluidine, by A. G. Green and Dr. T, A, Lawson, The authors 

 find that when ortho-toluidine sulphate is nitrated in a large 



