July 20, 1893] 



NATURE 



287 



Edinburgh. 



Royal SoJiety, June 19. — The Hon. Lord Maclaren, vice- 

 president, in the chair. — Dr. H. R. Mill communicated a paper 

 on the physical geography of the Clyde sea area. He con- 

 sidered specially the question of the distribution of temperature, 

 discu-ising the observations made by the Scottish Marine 

 S'.ation staff on the West Coast of Scotland for Mirch 1886 to 

 October 18S8, along with some other earlier and later observa- 

 tions made by Mr. J. Y. Buchanan and the Fishery Board for 

 Scotland. In the North Channel, between Scotland and Ire- 

 land, the temperature was uniform from the surface to the 

 bottom because of the action of the tides in mixing the water. 

 The yearly average of the temperature of the Channel water 

 was 2 degrees higher than that of the air of the Mull of 

 Cantyre. The air temperature reached its maximum in the 

 end of July, while the water temperature was greatest in the 

 middle of September. The tenperature varied greatly from 

 surface to bottom on the broad shallow which stretches from 

 Cantyre to Galloway, except at the time of the annual mini- 

 mum, when it became uniform. The Channel water mixes 

 there with the water from the great Arran basin. In that basin 

 the temperature is the same from the surface to the bottom at 

 the sp ing minimum in March, the lower layers being only 

 slightly affected during the year — most so at the autumn maxi- 

 mum. The surface layers heat and cool rapidly ; but the average 

 temperature of the whole is always lower than that of the 

 Channel, except for a month at the spring minimum. The 

 maximum temperature in the basin occurs in October. In the 

 more isolated sea lochs, such as Loch Fyne and Lich Goil, the 

 absence of oceanic influence is more marked. Thus in Loch 

 Fyne, though the temperature is nearly the same as at other 

 places at the minimum period, it is colder during the rest of 

 the year, and the difference between the surface and bottom 

 temperatures is more marked. 



July 3. — The Hon. Lord Maclaren, vice-president, in the 

 chair. — Prof J. Gibson read a paper on the chemical composi- 

 tion of sea- water. — Dr. Alex. Buchan described a diagram 

 exhibiting the hourly variations of rainfall at Ben Nevis Obser- 

 vatory. The diurnal variations at Ben Nevis Observatory are 

 much more marked than thjse at any other station on the 

 globe from which Dr. Buchan had been able to get observa- 

 tions. — Prof. Tait gave a further discussion of the path of a 

 rotating spherical projectile. — Dr. Noel Paton communicated 

 a paper by Dr. Chasseaud on an experimental study of intra- 

 ocular therapeutics. 



Dublin. 



Royal Dublin Society, June 21.— Prof. G. A. J. Cole in 

 the chair. — The following papers were read : — Note on a 

 graphitic schist from County Donegal, by Mr. R. J. Moss. 

 The schist yielded onanilysisa little ovsr three percent, of 

 carbon. — On some Pycnogonida from the Irish coasts, by Mr. G. 

 H. Carpenter. Eight species are enumerated, including two 

 forms of Phoxlchilus ; and the various species are considered by 

 the author to be so nearly related as to indicate that they are as 

 yet but in process of differentiation. — A paper was communi- 

 cited by Prof. A. C. Haddon on the post-embryonic develop- 

 ment of fungia, by Captain Gilbert C. Bourne. 



New South Wales. 



Linnean Society, May 31.— Prof. David, President, in the 

 chair.— -The following papers were read .-^Descriptions of new 

 Australian Lepidoptera, with additional localities for known 

 species, by T. P. Lucas. — Australian plants illustrated. No. v. 

 Angophora subvclutina, F.v.M., by R. T. Baker.— The Silurian 

 Trilobites of New South Wales. Part 2. The Genera Priittus 

 and Cyphaspis, by R. Etheridge, Jun., and John Mitchell.— 

 Description of a new Murex from South Australia, by John 

 B.azier. — Mr. Brazier exhibited a specimen of the South Austra- 

 lian Murex polypUurus, n.sp., described in his paper, a species 

 which in the past, by the late Mr. G. F. Angas and other 

 authors, has been confused with M. pamilus, A. Ad. , from the 

 China Sea, and Darros Island, Amirantes. Also a fossil speci- 

 men oi M. oclogoHus, Q. and G., from New Zealand. — Rev. J. 

 Milne Curran read a note recording the presence of a fossil 

 Buprestid beetle in an earthy limo.iite at Inverell, N.S.W. Tfle 

 insect is represented by a portion of a metallic green elytron, 

 and it is associated with Miocene fossil leaves and a species of 

 Unij. He also showed a specimen of a Silurian fossil coral 



NO. 1238, VOL. 48] 



{Heliolites) from Molong, N.S.W., in a beautiful state of pre- 

 servation. — Mr. Baker exhibited drawings and specimen; in 

 illustration of his paper. — Mr. Trebeck showed a specimen of a 

 large freshwater prawn (PaUcmoii omalus, Oliv.) from the Rewa, 

 River, Fiji. — Mr. C. T. Musson sent for exhibition specimens 

 of a European slug, Arion hortensis, Miill., from New Zealand, 

 where it is now not uncommon, though not yet recorded from 

 Australia. Also, from the Kurrajong, N.S.W., specimens of 

 the peculiar slug Cystopella petlerdi, Tate. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, July 10. — M. Lce*y in the chair. — 

 Note on the history of the facts which have proved the exist- 

 ence of the coronal atmosphere of the sun, by M. J. Janssen. — 

 Natural introduction of terms proportional to ether displace- 

 ments (Briot's terms) in equations of motion of light waves, by 

 M. J Bjussinesq. — On the relation which exists between the 

 co-efficients of the formulas of Coulomb (the magnetic formula), 

 of Laplace and of Ampere, by M. E. H. Amagat. — On a dif- 

 ferential equation of the second order, by M. Mittag-Leffl.-r, — 

 Proper vibrations of a medium indefinitely extended outside a 

 solid body, by M. Marcel Brillouin. Investigating the infinitely 

 small proper motions of an infinite gaseous atmosphere external 

 to a sphere which is deformed in any manner and then rendered 

 motionless, M. Brillouin arrives at an equation which delines 

 the pitch and quality of the sound emitted by the sphere, and 

 also plays an important part in the motion of solids influids. Thus 

 the form and dimensions of the bullet define the pitch and the 

 damping of the sounds produced ; the form of the vessel defines 

 the periods of the different waves which it produces whatever 

 may be its (small) velocity, the longest waves playing an im- 

 portant part in the resistance experienced. Thus, also, the 

 presence of a rigid obstacle in a solid elaitic medium deter- 

 mines the periods proper to the external medium, characterising 

 the form and the properties of the body. There is every reason 

 to believe that the waves emitted by metallic vapours correspond 

 for the greater part to vibrations peculiar to the external ether, 

 as will be shown in a detailed study of optical theories about 

 to appear in the Annales de Chimie et de Physique. — On the 

 realisation of constant temperatures, by M. Gouy. A criticism 

 of M. Berget's work to determine the constant of gravitation, 

 on the ground of the enormous difference produced in the gravi- 

 meter by a small difference of temperature.— On the electric 

 transference of heat in electrolytes, by M. Henri Bagard. Two 

 cylindrical glass tubes are fixed vertically in the corks of two 

 vessels into which a current is conveyed so as to pass into the 

 first vessel, up through the first tube into a reservoir containing 

 a solution of some salt like zinc sulphate, down through the 

 other tube and out by the other vessel. The lower portion of 

 the tubes is kept at a lower, the upper at a higher temperature. 

 A distinct Thomson effect was observed on sending a current 

 from twelve small Daniell's through the arrangement, heat being 

 conveyed in the direction of the current, as was easily shown 

 by the variation of resistance, which in liquids decreases rapidly 

 at higher temperatures. — On pyrosulphochrouiic hydrate, by 

 M. A. Recoura.— On the combinations of selenious acid with 

 molybdates, and on molybdoselenious acid, by M. E. Pechard. 

 - On the iodosulphides of arsenic and antimony, by M. L. 

 Ouvrard.— On the dissociation of calcium plumbate, by M. H. 

 le Chatelier. In Kassner's process for the manufacture of 

 oxygen, the following reaction is utilised : 



PbOj.2CaO = PbO -f 2CaO -f O. 



Experiments were made with a view of determining the advan- 

 tages or otherwise of this process as coinpa.ed with barium 

 peroxide. It was found that the disadvantage of the new 

 method lay in the fact that it required a teoiperature of 930° 

 instead of 700' ft/r the oxygen to be dissociated at a pressure of 

 o-l atmosphere. Oo the other hand, the plumbate, being 

 easily fusible, absorbs oxygen more rapidly and completely, and 



the air need not be previously desiccated and decarbonated. 



On benzoylcinchonine, by M. E. L<;ger. Action of sulphuric 

 acid upon pyrocatechiue and upon homopyrocatechine, by 

 M. H. Cousin.— On a process of directly combining ethylenic 

 and aromatic carbon compounds, by M. A. B.ochet. — Attempt 

 at the diagnosis of isomeric amido- benzoic acids and some 

 other aromatic compounds, by M. CEehsner de Coninck.— On 

 geraniol, by M. Ph. Babbler.— Influence of the acidity of musls 



