May 14, 1891] 



NATURE 



45 



the last paper read, that of Lieutenant Jaques, U.S.N., was of 

 such a voluminous nature that it might better be described as a 

 treatise, and is far beyond our scope, as may be judged from its 

 title. 



The autumn meeting of the Institute will probably be held at 

 Birmingham. 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY SOIREE. 



'T'HE soirSes given by the Royal Society become every year 

 -*■ more pleasant. The one held on Wednesday, May 6, was 

 in every sense most successful. We note some of the objects 

 exhibited : — 



Mr. J. Wimshurst exhibited an electrical influence machine 

 (alternating and experimental). 



The Trotter curve ranger was shown by Mr. A. P. Trotter. 

 This portable instrument is intended to facilitate setting out 

 large curves for railway and other work. It dispenses with 

 tables of angles and with the use of chains and assistants. No 

 cumulative error can arise as with theodolite work. 



Profs, Riickerand Thorpe, FF.R. S., exhibited a map showing 

 the probable connection of lines towards which the magnet is 

 attracted in England and France. Profs. Riicker and Thorpe 

 found that the north pole of a magnet is attracted to a line 

 which runs south from Reading, and enters the Channel near 

 Chichester. M. Moureaux has traced a similar line from 

 Fecamp to the south of Paris, but its southern termination has 

 not yet been discovered. The directions of the two lines make 

 it probable that they are parts of the same axis of disturbance. 



The Director-General of the Geological Survey exhibited : — 

 (i) Specimens illustrating the phosphatic chalks in England, 

 France, and Belgium, arranged by Mr. A. Strahan, Geological 

 Survey of England aiii-#Vales. Phosphatic band in the upper 

 chalk of Tapiow, containing about 30 per cent, of phosphate of 

 lime. Tapiow phospha'.ic chalk separated by washing into : (i) 

 brown sand composed of phosphatised organisms, and con- 

 taining about 50 per cent, of phosphate of lime ; (2) chalky 

 mud composed largely of rhabdoliths, coccoliths, and discoliths. 

 Microscopic preparations of the phosphatised organisms of the 

 Tapiow chalk, showing Foraminifera, prisms of Inoceramus shell, 

 fish-scales, fish-bones, and fish-pellets. Photographs of the 

 Tapiow phosphatised organisms, by Mr. J. J. H. Teall, F.R.S. 

 Phosphatic chalk of Beauval (Somme), and microscopic pre- 

 paration. Phosphatic chalk of Ciply (Belgium), and microscopic 

 preparation. — (2) Illustrations of a former Arctic climate in 

 the Lowlands of Scotland, determined by Mr. Clement Reid, 

 Geological Survey. At Hailes, about three miles south-west of 

 Edinburgh, in a thin seam of silt, resting immediately on 

 boulder clay, Mr. J. Bennil, of the Geological Survey of Scot- 

 land, has lately found numerous remains of plants. These show 

 a climate probably 15° or 20° colder than that of the Lowlands 

 at the present day. In the following list the peculiarly Arctic 

 species are marked with an asterisk. The only tree is an alder. 

 The willows are all dwarf species ; two of them {Salix herbacea 

 and S, reticulata) still live on the higher mountains of Scotland, 

 the third {S. polaris) is an Arctic form now extinct in Britain. 

 At the same locality there is another deposit, probably of later 

 date, which contains only plants still living in the neighbourhood, 

 including several trees. 



Thalictrum 

 Ranunculus aquatilis 



Viola 

 Stellaria media 



Oxalis acetosella 

 Hippuris vulgaris 

 * Loiseletiria procumbens 

 Menyanthes trifoliata 

 Stachys palustris 

 Ajuga reptans 



Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum 

 Polygonum aviculare 



* Salix herbacea 



* Salix polaris 



* Salix reticulata 

 Alnus 



Empetrum nigrum 

 Potaviogeton 

 Eleocharis palustris 

 Scirpus pauciflorus 

 Scirpus lacustrts 

 Scirpus ? 



Carex ? 

 Isoetes lacustrts 



The Executive Committee of the Silchester Excavation Fund 

 exhibited (by permission of the Duke of Wellington) : — (i) Iron 

 tools and utensils of the Roman period, found together in a pit 

 in the Romano-British city at Silchester, Hants, in September 

 1890.— (2) Bronze objects of the Roman period found at 

 Silchester. 



Prof. H. Carrington Bolton, Ph.D. (of New York), exhibited 



NO. I I 24, VOL. 44] 



musical sand, from Arabia, United States of America, and the 

 Hawaiian Islands, collected by the exhibitor. 



Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., exhibited remains of Anomodont 

 Reptiles from the Trias, Karoo, Cape Colony. 



The Director of the Royal Gardens, Kew, exhibited a 

 collection of views in the Royal Gardens, Kew, showing the 

 development of the Gardens during the last fifty years. This 

 series is a portion of a very extensive and valuable collection of 

 prints, drawings, and photographs of the most interesting features 

 in the Royal Gardens. It has been brought together during the 

 past twenty years, and is now deposited for exhibition in Museum 

 No. 3. 



Messrs. J. E. H. Gordon and Co. exhibited Tomlinson 

 regulator for electric light mains. The Tomlinson regulator is 

 intended for use in transformer sub-stations. It is worked by a 

 wire from the central station, but automatically corrects any 

 error of the attendant at the central station. Ordinary automatic 

 apparatus cannot be safely used for this purpose, as, though 

 should such get out of order when taking out transformers, no 

 harm is done except the waste of coal, yet if it gets out of 

 order when putting in transformers it may burn up the sub- 

 station. The peculiarity of the new apparatus is that if anything 

 whatever goes wrong, all transformers are at once put in, thus 

 ensuring absolute safety. By the courtesy of the Brush Company, 

 and of the Metropolitan Electric Supply Company, who have 

 lent the necessary machinery, the apparatus has been tried on a 

 large scale in the Brush Company's works. A plant of 1950 

 lights capacity has been run for 24 hours with, and for 24 hours 

 without, the new apparatus, with the result of a saving of 4j 

 cwt. of coal, or, in other words, with the new apparatus there 

 was a saving of 89 pounds of coal per 8 c. p. lamp per annum, 

 or about 26 per cent, of the total coal bill. 



Sir J, B. Lawes, Bart., F.R.S., and Dr. J. H. Gilbert, F.R.S., 

 showed :— (i) Three enlarged photographs of Leguminous plants, 

 grown in 1889, in experiments on the question of the fixation of 

 free nitrogen. The plants were grown, in some cases with 

 sterilization, and in others with microbe-seeding of the soil. 

 With suitable microbe-infection of the soil, there was abundant 

 formation of the so-called leguminous nodules on the roots of the 

 plants, and there was, coincidently, very considerable fixation of 

 free nitrogen. The evidence at command points to the con- 

 clusion that the free nitrogen is fixed in the course of the 

 development of the organisms within the nodules, and that the 

 resulting nitrogenous compounds are absorbed and utilized by 

 the higher plant. — (2) ColoYired drawing, by Lady Lawes, of 

 the Rothamsted rain-gauges. — (3) Coloured drawing, by Lady 

 Lawes, of the Rothamsted drain-gauges. 



Old plan of the Mint in the Tower of London, exhibited by 

 the Hon. Sir C. W. Fremantle, K.C.B. This document is 

 described as an exact survey of " The Ground Plot or Plan of 

 His Majesty's Ofiice of Mint in the Tower of London." It 

 bears the date 170 J, and must have been prepared by the order 

 of Sir Isaac Newton, who was appointed Master of the Mint in 

 1699. The position of Newton's official residence is shown 

 at A. 



Mr. R. E. Crompton, M.Inst. C.E., exhibited :—(i) Section 

 of armature winding, showing copper divided, twisted, and com- 

 pressed, to avoid loss from eddy currents. — (2) Crompton's 

 method of obtaining accurately sub-multiples of the ohm ; for 

 current-measuring purposes. 



Prof. Oliver Lodge, D.Sc, F.R.S., exhibited :— (i) Revolving 

 mirror. Rapid revolving mirror driven by clock-work, with 

 detachable fan to give moderate speeds, with adjustable main 

 spring to vary the speed, and with vacuum cover for highest 

 speeds (the last not yet satisfactory). Slow moving index, to 

 enable the speed to be determined ; and electro-magnetic brake 

 to regulate its going, or to stop it gradually. Mirror, 2*3 x i 

 cm., silvered back and front; very light, but giving fair 

 definition. It makes 5760 revolutions for i of the winding 

 arbor. Used for analyzing sparks, and observing the speed of 

 electric pulses along conductors of various kinds. Made by 

 Mr. W. Groves. — (2) Clock for pointing out continually the direc- 

 tion of the earth's orbital motion. (Two home-made forms.) A 

 disk, or dial, set on a polar axis with the obliquity of the 

 ecliptic, is driven by a clock against the rotation of the earth. 

 On the dial are recorded 365 days of the year. It is set once 

 for all in the plane of the ecliptic, with the actual date pointing 

 90° from the sun. In the first instrument I devised, the direction 

 of the right-dated radius of the dial henceforth points out the 

 direction of the earth's motion at any instant, if the clock keeps 



