June 15, 1893 J 



NA TURE 



167 



bat on subslituting the expressions for kinetic and potential 

 energies, an identity resulted ; therefore the original statement 

 «asnotaIaw. Both the kinetic and potential energies of a 

 system were functions of its configuration. Potential energy 

 could not belong to a particle, but to a system. The president 

 doubted whether Dr. Lodge's scheme was more simple, natural, 

 and logical, than the ordinary one. The statement in Nature 

 (p. 62) that "strains were proportional to stresses" was simple 

 enough, but it was questionable if " frequency of vibration is 

 independent of amplitude " could lie considered so. The author 

 appeared to ignore mass in comparison with/er«, whereas the 

 idea of mass seemed to be the more simple one. Dr. Lodge, in 

 reply to. Mr. Burbury, said twobodiss never do attract one another; 

 the ihing which acted on either was the medium immediately 

 in contact with it. Mr. Herroun had used metaphysical 

 arguments against ether, but he (Prof. Lodge) thought it was a 

 good thing to investigate ether. He agreed with what Prof. 

 Minchin said about force and the first law of motion. Force 

 was the more fundamental, but mass was best as a standard unit. 

 As regards ether, he was prepared to say that it has no motion. 

 It possessed electromagnetic kinetic energy, and probably all 

 the stress energy that exists. Referring to the slipping body 

 mentioned by Prof. Minchin and Dr. Burton he said ihat in 

 speaking of the velocities of acting and reacting bodies being 

 equal, he always meant that their velocities along the line of 

 action were equal. The action between the sliding body and 

 plane was a "catch and let go" one, like a fiddle bow and 

 string. On the second laws of thermodynamics he hoped to 

 say something in a subsequent paper. When he spoke of R 

 being constant as the essence of Ohm's law he meant constancy 



as regards terms which appear in t-he equation — = R. 



Linnean Society, June i. — Prof. Stewart, President, in 

 the chair. — Ur. J. Lowe gave an account of a newly-observed 

 habit of the blackcap, Sylvia atiicapilla, in puncturing the 

 petals of certain flowers {Hibiscus Kosa-sinensis and Abutihii 

 frondosiiin), specimens of which he exhibited, thus causing the 

 exudation of a viscid secretion which proved attractive to in- 

 sects upon which the bird preyed. The observations in question 

 were made at Orotava, Tenerilfe, during the month of March 

 last. — By way of introduction to a paper by Mr. W. B. 

 Uemsley on Polynesian plants collected by Mr. J. J. Lister, 

 the latter gave an interesting account of the geology of the 

 Tonga Islands, their volca;iic nature, and the coral and lime- 

 stone reefs with the soil formed chiefly of volcanic outpourings, 

 on which dense patches of bush were growing. Referring then 

 to the bird-fauna of the Tonga group, Mr. Lister compared it 

 with that of Fiji and Samoa, and showed that it had no special 

 affinity with the avifauna of New Zealand, and exhibited very 

 little specialisation. Mr. I lemsley then gave an account of the 

 plants collected there, as also in the Solomon Islands. — Mr. A. 

 li. Rendle gave an abstract of a paper on fossil palms, in which 

 his remarks were directed to a revision of the genus NipadiUs, 

 Bowerbank, and were illustrated by drawings of specimens from 

 the London clay, Sheppey, from the Sussex coast, Selsey, 

 Brussels, N.E. Italy, and elsewhere. The paper was 

 criticised by Mr. Carruthers and by Mr. Clement Rcid, who 

 described the fi iding of specimens in situ at Selsey. — The 

 secretary then read a paper by Dr. Baur on the temperature of 

 trees, from observations taken in Colorado. — Mr. W. M. Webb 

 gave an abstract of a paper on the mode of feeding in Testacella, 

 illustrated by lantern slides prepared from original drawings oi 

 the living animal in various attitudes. , 



Royal Microscopical Society, May 17. — A. D. Michael 

 President, in the chair. — Mr. G. C. Karop read a letter 

 from Dr. R. L. Maddox on the subject of his rod illuminator. 

 — A letter from Mr. W. H. Youdale, referring to some diseased 

 beard-hairs, was also read by Mr. Karop. — Mr. C. Lees 

 Cttrties exhibited and described a new form of camera lucida, 

 made by Ilerr Leitz, of Wetzlar. — Sir David L. Salomons gave 

 an exhibition with his 'projection microscope. — The President 

 I said they were extremely indebted to Sir David Salomons for 

 I the very admirable and interesting exhibition which he had 

 I given them, the value of which was not only on account of the 

 defraction phenomena, which had been so well shown, but 

 ' because of the advance which was indicated in the construction 

 I of the apparatus. He could not help observing, as the exhibi- 

 tion proceeded, that there was a remarkable flatness of field not 

 1 generally seen under similar circumstances. There was one 

 i point on which he should like to ask for information ; it some- 



NO. 1233, VOL. 48] 



times happened that great concentration of light produce 1 also 

 a great concentration of heat, and that consequently objects in 

 bal-am, if exposed for too long a time, were apt to get spoilt 

 through the softening of the medium. Was this difficulty got 

 over in the present instance by using the electric arc light as an 

 illuminant?— Sir David Salomons said he obviated it very 

 muchj by using lenses cemented with balsam. The customary 

 alum and water he found to be rather a trouble, and so h-" used 

 simple distilled water, and found that it answered all the 

 neceisities of the case. 



Zoological Society, June 6.— Sir William H. Flower, 

 F.R. S., President, in the chair.^The Secretary read a report 

 on the additions that had been made to the Society's Menagerie 

 during the month of May, 1893, and called special attention to 

 a young Water- Buck {Cobtis ellipsiprymnus), born May 4, 1893, 

 being, so far as was known, the first antelope of this species 

 that has been bred in captivity. — Mr. Walter Rothschild 

 exhibited and made remarks on an egg of the DjckbiU 

 {Ornithorhynchus analinus), taken from the pouch of the 

 mother ; the legbones and egg of an extinct bird of the genus 

 Aify'ornis from south-west Madagascar; and series of lepi- 

 dopterous insects from Jamaica and from the Bolivian Andes. — 

 Mr. Sclater exhibited and made remarks on some skins and 

 skulls of mammals obtained in the Shire Highlands by Mr. 

 H. H. Johnston, Mr. B. L. Sclater, Messrs. Buchanan, and 

 Mr. Alexander Whyte. — A communication was read from 

 Messrs. F. E. Beddard and F. G. Parsons containing notes on 

 the anatomy and classification of the parrots, based on speci- 

 mens lately living in the Society's Gardens.— Mr. Sclater called 

 attention to two front horns of an African rhinoceros belonging 

 to Mr. F. Holmwood, which were stated to have been brought 

 by native caravans from the district of East Africa, south of 

 Lake Victoria Nyanza. They were remarkable for their great 

 length and extreme thinness. — A communication was read from 

 Mr. R. Lydekker containing an account of a collection of bird- 

 bones from the miocene deposits of St. Alban, in the Depart- 

 ment ol Ibcre, France. The more perfect specimens were 

 referred mostly to new species {Strix sancti albani, Falaortyx 

 maxima^ P. grivensis, and Totanus majori), while others were 

 regarded as undeterminable from their fragmentary condition. 

 —Mr. G. A. Boulenger read a paper describing some new 

 species of reptiles and hatrachians based on specimens lately 

 obtained in Borneo by Mr. A. Everett and Mr. C. Hose. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, June 5. — M. de Lacaze-Duthiers in 

 the chair. — Note on the works ofComte P. de Gasparin, I y M. 

 Th. Schlcesing. — Researches on iron of Ovifak, by M. Henri 

 Moissan. Three specimens of native iron, discovered by Prof. 

 Nordenskiold at Ovifak, Greenland, were tested for any crys- 

 tallised forms of carbon they might contain. The first specimen 

 had a metallic lustre, and was nearly black. This was found to 

 contain a small quantity of the kind of graphite which swells up 

 in boiling sulphuric acid. It also contained ordinary graphite 

 distinctly cry.-tallised, which gave rise to graphitic oxide on 

 being treated with potassium chlorate. Fused potassium bisul- 

 phate dissolved all the residue. The second specimen also had 

 a metallic lustre, but a light grey colour, and weighed 18 gr. 

 After treating with hydrochloric acid the residue showed frag- 

 ments of schreibersite, an opaque white mass of irregular form, 

 and a large number of highly refracting grains. On treating 

 this residue with hydrofluoric and then with boiling sulphuric 

 acid the volume of the carbon increased, showing the presence 

 of swelling graphite. No ordinary graphite was found. The 

 third specimen, which consisted of metallic globules dissemi- 

 nated through a stony matrix, left after treatment with the three 

 acids a residue containing some fragments of blue sapphire, 

 which could be picked out with the (creeps. Amorphous car- 

 bon was contained in all the specimens, swelling graphite in two 

 of them, and ordinal y graphite in one. Neither black nir 

 transparent diamonds were found in any of them. — On 

 the genesis of natural phosphates, especially those which have 

 derived their phosphorus from organised beings, by M. Armand 

 Gautier. — On the multiplicity of homologous parts in its rela- 

 tion to the gradation of vegetable species, by M. A. Chatin. 

 The multiplicity of the homologous organs of a given apparatus 

 is a certain sign of organic degeneration. The more numerous 

 the homologous parts, the more they deviate from the verticillary 

 type of floral organs and approach the spiral type. Their 

 reciprocal symiv.etry is also less regular, and their position 

 less stable. This view is confirmed by other incontestable signs 



