November 26, 1891] 



NATURE 



95 



in the Lochaber shelves might not be a serious difficulty, it was 

 hard to understand why such shells should not be found in many 

 localities had the whole country been submerged to the height 

 of the highest Glen Roy "road." Then no satisfactory ex- 

 planation on the marine theory had ever been given of the 

 coincidence of the terraces with well-marked cols ; while a 

 further formidable objection to this theory lay in the nature and 

 distribution of the detritus of the shelves, which, in his opinion, 

 was very unlike material arranged in a tidal sea, but was quite 

 what might be looked for in a freshwater lake. He thought 

 that the author's present paper lessened some of the difficulties 

 of the glacier theory by simplifying the grouping of the ice- 

 dams. There still remained the objection that if the Great 

 Glen and the valleys round Ben Nevis were choked up with ice, 

 Glen Roy and its neighbours could hardly have been filled with 

 water. But this difficulty, which every glacialist must have felt, 

 was probably more formidable in appearance than in reality. 

 As Mr. Marr had pointed out, conditions did actually now 

 exist in Greenland very similar to those which, according to the 

 theory so ably expounded by the author, formerly existed in 

 Lochaber. 



Royal Meteorological Society.November 18.— Mr. Baldwin 

 Latham, President, in the chair.— Mr. R. H. Scott, F.R.S., 

 gave an account of the proceedings of the International Meteoro- 

 logical Conference, which was held at Munich from August 26 

 to September 2. — The following papers were also read: — Ac- 

 count of an electric self-recording rain-gauge, by Mr. W. J. E. 

 Binnie. This is a very ingenious instrument, and has been con- 

 structed on the assumption that all drops falling from an orifice 

 or tube are identical in weight, as long as the dimensions of the 

 orifice are not varied. —On wet and dry bulb formula, by Prof. 

 J. D. Everett, F. R.S. This is a criticism of the methods 

 investigated some years ago by M. August and Dr. Apjohn for 

 determining, by calculation, the maximum vapour tension for 

 the dew point from the temperatures of the dry and wet bulb. 

 Prof. Everett also criticizes the values adopted by Regnault, and 

 says that, in presence of the uncertaintyjas to a rational formula, 

 he thinks Mr. Glaisher did wisely in constructing his table of 

 factors, which give the dew point approximately by the most 

 direct calculation which is admissible. The inherent difficulties 

 of hygrometric observation and deduction are great, and have 

 not yet been fully overcome. — Results of meteorological 

 observations made at Akassa, Niger Territories, May 1889 

 to December 1890, by Mr. F. Russell, F.R.G.S. This is in 

 continuation of a f >rmer communication respecting the same 

 place. After detailing the results of the various observations, 

 the author says that this period was very unhealthy, and the 

 year 1890 especially so. The weather was exceptionally dry, 

 with small- pox and phthsis amongst the native population. The 

 West Coast reports generally were also unfavourable in reference 

 to the condition of resident Europeans, and at the principal 

 ports quarantine regulations were put in force consequent upon 

 an outbreak of yellow fever in places situated to the south-west. 

 At Bonny ten deaths occurred from November to February out 

 of a population of some sixteen Europeans. 



Sydney. 



Royal Society of New South Wales, September 2.— H. 

 C. Russell, F.R.S., President, in the chair. — The following 

 papers were read : — On a wave-propelled vessel, by Lawrence 

 Hargrave. — Notes on a spontaneous disease among Australian 

 rabbits, by M. Adrien Loir. — Notes on recent celestial photo- 

 graphs, by H. C. Russell, F.R.S.— Some folk-songs and myths 

 from Samoa, by Rev. G. Pratt and Dr. John Fra.ver.— Aquick 

 filter without the aid of pumps was exhibited and described by 

 W. M. Hamlet. 



October;. — H. C. Russell, F.R.S., President, in the chair. 

 — The following papers were read : — Notes on the use, con- 

 .struction, and cost of service reservoirs, by C. W. Darley. — Dr. 

 Fraser presented some myths and historical records from Samoa. 

 The myths had reference to an ancient practice of offering every 

 day a human sacrifice to the sun, and to a chief called " Malie- 

 toa the Fierce," and showed how that was stopped. The 

 histories were chiefly genealogies of the kings of Manu'a. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, November 16.— M. Duchartre in the 

 chair. — On the secular acceleration of the moon and the varia- 

 bility of the sidereal day, by M. F. Tisserand. From the author's 



investigation it seems that the increase in the length of the day 

 produced by tidal action is almost the same in amount as the 

 decreasi* resulting from the secular contraction of the earth due 

 to its cooling, so the length of the sidereal day remains practically 

 invariable. —On the research on the number of roots common to 

 several simultaneous equations, by M. Emile Picard.— On the 

 law of intensity of light emitted by phosphorescent bodies, by 

 M. Henri Becquerel. A correction to a formula given in a 

 previous paper.— The heat of formation of hydrazine and of 

 hydrazoic acid, by MM. Berthelot and Matignon. Hydrazine— 

 I (I) Heat of solution of hydrazine sulphate at io°*6 is -870 

 I cal. per molecule. (2) Heat of neutralization : (a) by sulphuric 

 acid -f 5 55 cal. per equivalent ; (/') by hydrochloric acid •+- 5*2 

 cal. per equivalent. Hydrazine is therefore a weak base com- 

 parable to ferric oxide. (3) Heat of combustion of i mol. 

 ^ crystallized hydrazine sulphate = -t- 1277 cal. (4) Heat of 

 formation AN2H4 = - 475 cal. Hydrazoic acid—{\) Heat of 

 solution of ammonium salt, = - 7*08 cal. per mol. (2) Heat 

 j of neutralization : {a) by baryta water ■{■ lO'O cal. ; (b) by am- 

 I monia -f 8'2 cal. Hydrazoic acid, dilute, is comparable to 

 I amidobenzoic acid, superior to hyponitrous acid. (3) Heat of 

 combustion of the am. salt -^ 163-8 cal. per mol. at constant 

 volume, and -t- 163 "3 cal. at constant pressure, by explosion in 

 compressed oxygen. (4) Heat of formation of am. salt : (a) 

 crystallized - 25*3 cal. ; (<5) in solution - 32-3 cal. Heat of 

 i formation of the free acid in dilute solution = - 61 '6 cal. — Oxi- 

 ! dation of nickel carbonyl, by M. Berthelot. (See Notes.) — 

 Tables of Vesta, by M. G. Leveau. A comparison of the meridian 

 j observations made of the minor planet Vesta, from January to 

 April 1890, with positions given in the Nautical Almanac, and 

 \ in an ephemeris computed by means of M. Leveau's tables of 

 I this planet. The tables are founded on 5000 meridian observa- 

 j tions made between 1807 and 1888, and the masses taken for 

 I Jupiter and Mars, respectively, are 1/1045-63 and 1/3,648,000. 

 j The mean differences of position are greater in the Nautical 

 Almanac than in M. Leveau's ephemeris, both in right ascension 

 and declination. — On secular variations of eccentricities and in- 

 clinations, by M. J. Perchot. — On linear differential equations, 

 by M. Andre Markoflf. — On the dielectric power, by M. Julien 

 Lefebvre. From experiments described, the following mean di- 

 electric constants have been derived : sulphur (flower and roll), 

 2'6 ; sulphur, cast in rolls six months previously, 3*9; ice, 

 different specimens, 3*45 and 24; ebonite, 2*3; paraffin, 

 brown, 2*1, white, 2-0; petroleum, 1-9 ; carbon bisulphide, 

 1-7; spirits of turpentine, 1*5. The results agree fairly well 

 with those obtained by Gordon. M. Lefebvre also finds that 

 the dielectric constant of sulphur increases with the time. — On 

 an application of photography to the polariscope, by MM. 

 Chauvin and Charles Fabre. — Action of light on ruthenium 

 peroxide, by M. A. Joly.— Salts formed by oxygen compounds 

 of ruthenium inferior to ruthenic and heptaruthenic acids, by M. 

 A. Joly. — On the lodonitroso and bromonitroso compounds of 

 platinum, by M. M. Vezes. — On the coloration of solutions of 

 cobalt, and the state of its salts in solution, by M. A. Etard. — 

 The nitration of silk, by MM. Leo Vignon and P. Sisley. — On 

 the implanting of large pieces of decalcified bone to fill up losses 

 of the substance of the skeleton, by M. Le Dentu. It has been 

 found that pieces of decalcified bone substituted for a portion or 

 the whole of a diseased bone plays the part of a temporary support 

 i which, before disappearing, allows the periosteum or the osseous 

 j tissue sufficient time to reconstruct a new bone. —On some 

 phenomena of reproduction of Cirrhipedes, by M. A. Gruvel. — 

 On the age of the fauna of Samos, by Mr. Forsyth Major. — On 

 a Neolithic flint working [exploitation) of a new type, by RL 

 I Armand Vire. 

 : Berlin. 



Physiological Society, October 30.— Prof, du Bois-Reymond, 

 President, in the chair. — Prof. Gad reported on experiments, 

 conducted under his direction by Dr. Schtscherbak, on the 

 alteration of the movements of eating in rabbits which result 

 from removal of certain parts of the cerebrum. 



Meteorological Society, November 3.— Prof. Schwalbe, 

 President, in the chair. — Dr. Zenker spoke on the relation- 

 ship of solar radiation, as it would really occur if the sun were 

 directly overhead and there were no atmosphere, to the actually 

 existing and observed temperatures of stations, taking into ac- 

 count their proximity to oceans and continents. — Prof. Hellmann 

 made a short communication on the recent experiments in 

 America on the artificial production of rain. 



NO. 1 152, VOL. 45] 



