June i8, 1891] 



NA TURE 



167 



of a moth belonging to the genus Tinea, and made some remarks 

 on its construction and peculiar coloration. — The President ex- 

 hibited a case of Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, which he had 

 selected to illustrate some of the more notable secondary sexual 

 characters in insects, and made some interesting explanatory 

 observations. — Dr, John Lowe exhibited some eggs of Mantis 

 religiosa which he had found adhering to the underside of stones 

 on mountain-sides in the Riviera. — On behalf of Mr. F. J. 

 Hanbury, Mr. W. H. Beeby exhibited and made remarks on a 

 sterile form of Ranunculus acris, on which some criticism was 

 offered by Prof. H. Marshall Ward.— A paper by Mr. M. C. 

 Potter was read, on diseases of the leaf of the cocoa-nut tree. 

 The specimens examined had been received from Ceylon through 

 Dr. Trimen, and in Mr. Potter's opinion the diseases noticed 

 were referable to three causes — namely, to the rays of the sun, to 

 the ravages of insect^, and to Fungi. These were separately con- 

 sidered, and descriptions were given of the diflferent appearance 

 which the leaves, thus variously affected, presented. A discussion 

 followed, in which Prof. H. Marshall Ward criticized in some 

 detail the observations which had reference chiefly to Fungi. — 

 Two papers followed by Dr. P. H. Carpenter, on some Arctic 

 Comattihe and on some Crinoidea from Madeira, upon which 

 Mr. W. Percy Sladen offered critical remarks. — The President 

 then gave an abstract of a paper which he had prepared on a 

 hermaphrodite mackerel, and exhibited the specimen on which 

 his observations were founded, referring also to the recent cases 

 of hermaphroditism in the trout and cod which had been brought 

 to the notice of the Society. A commentary by Prof. G. B. 

 Howes brought the proceedings to a close. 



Edinburgh. 

 Royal Society, May i8. — The Hon. Lord Maclaren, Vice- 

 President, in the chair. — Dr. Buchan read a paper on the 

 barometer at Ben Nevis Observatory, in relation to the direction 

 and strength of the wind. In arranging the results, Dr. Buchan 

 has referred the direction of the wind to sixteen points of the 

 compass, although the observations are actually made with 

 reference to the thirty-two points. The readings of the 

 barometers at the high level and the low level stations, when 

 reduced to sea-level, exhibit marked differences dependent upon 

 the direction of the wind. The investigation extends over the 

 period of nine months commencing in August last. During 

 that time, all the very high winds have been from the east- 

 south-east and the south-east, these being the directions in 

 which the wind blows freely along the top of the mountain to 

 the Observatory. In eleven cases the wind from these directions 

 attained a speed of 120 miles an hour or more ; and the (re- 

 duced) barometer at the high level station read about one-sixth 

 of an inch lower than the instrument at the low level station. 

 In no other direction was a higher velocity than 70 miles an 

 hour noted ; and in the directions from west to north-north- 

 west, east, and east-north-east, the velocity was never greater 

 than 30 miles an hour. With northerly winds the instruments 

 at the top of the mountain record a much lower speed than that 

 which, from observations of the drift of the clouds, is seen to be 

 reached at a small height above the top of the mountain. The 

 cause of this comparative calm immediately at the top is the 

 impact of the air upon the face of the cliff which lies to the 

 north of the Observatory. The stream lines are thus suddenly 

 deflected upwards. In such cases the depression of the baro- 

 meter is about three times as great as that which occurs with an 

 equally strong wind from other directions, and indicates the for- 

 mation of a region of low pressure around the Observatory. A 

 peculiar result which is observed with other directions of the 

 wind is that the (reduced) high level barometric reading exceeds 

 the (reduced) low level reading when the wind blows at about 

 the rate of 5 miles an hour. The reverse is always true when 

 the speed of the wind exceeds that rate, on the one hand, or is 

 extremely small, on the other. This seems to indicate an in- 

 crease of pressure in air-currents which ascend the mountain, 

 and so may explain the fact that the top of the mountain is 

 frequently clear, while dense cloud is being constantly formed 

 at a short distance above it. — Dr. J. Berry Haycraft gave an 

 account of some experiments which show (i) that the displace- 

 ments of the heart, which since Harvey's time are supposed to 

 take place with every contraction, do not really occur in the 

 unopened chest, and (2) that the cardiogram has been misinter- 

 preted by physiologists. It is usually supposed that, during 

 each contraction, the heart twists towards the right while its 

 apex moves forward, and, pressing against the wall of the chest. 



causes the " apex beat." Again, it has been supposed by some 

 that, during expansion, all diameters of the heart are not in- 

 creased, but that, on the contrary, one diameter is diminished in 

 length. Dr. Haycrafi's experiments show that all diameters 

 are increased during expansion, and that all are diminished 

 during contraction. They show also that the motions, above 

 described, do not occur in the unopened chest. The heart, in 

 order that it may be observed in the opened chest, is necessarily 

 separated froji its attachments and falls towards the back of the 

 chest (the animal operated upon being supposed to be placed 

 upon its back). During expansion, the heart beconaes flaccid, 

 and so is flattened against the back of the chest. The first 

 effect of the stiffc-ning which occurs during the muscular con- 

 traction is therefore an elevation of the heart, against gravity, 

 towards the front of the chest. Similarly, if the animal be 

 turned upon one side, the heart, during contraction, moves 

 towards the upper side of the chest ; and the "beat " can even 

 be made to take place towards the back. In the unopened 

 chest, the heart on the whole remains in position during con- 

 traction, and therefore it> boundaries move from the chest walls. 

 But the cardiogram, as usually interpreted, shows that the chest 

 wall is thrown outwards by the impact of the heart during con- 

 traction. Dr. Haycraft asserts that this is due to deformatioa 

 of the heart by pressure of the chest wall when the button of 

 the cardiograph is pressed against the exterior of the chest. The 

 first effect of the muscular contraction and stiffening of the heart 

 is therefore increased pressure against the chest-wall, which 

 gives rise to the up-stroke of the cardiogram. When the cardio- 

 graph is made as light as possible, the up-stroke is greatly 

 diminished ; but it never entirely vanishes, because the fl iccid 

 heart is always slightly distorted by the chest- wall even when 

 the cardiograph is not pressed against it. Dr. Haycraft further 

 shows that the sinuosities, which always appear to a greater or 

 less extent on the cardiogram, are not due to peculiarities in the 

 action of the heart, but are instrumental in their origin, being 

 caused by oscillations wliich result from the inertia of the 

 cardiograph. — Dr. Hugh Robert Mill read a paper on the 

 physical geography of the Clyde sea area, and the salinity and 

 chemical composition of its waters. He described records, and 

 discussed observations, made by himself and other members of 

 the staff of the Scottish Marine Station. The observations dealt 

 with extend over a period of three years, and their reduction has 

 occupied, in addition, the greater part of two years. In the first 

 part of the paper the author gives a detailed description, illus- 

 trated by a bathymetric chart, of the configuration of the Clyde 

 sea area, with a special account of the various loch basins. The 

 area and volume of each of these depressions are calculated, and 

 the area of land which drains into each of them is measured on 

 accurate maps. The rainfall is discussed in detail, and the river 

 discharge is calculated indirectly, tables being drawn up to show 

 the volume of rain water which flowed into each of the lochs 

 during each month of the year. The month of maximum rain- 

 fall over most of the area is January, that of minimum rainfall 

 is May. The whole sea area is conveniently divided into two 

 parts — the seaward, of great extent, bordered with compara- 

 tively low ground, and lying in a region whose average rainfall 

 is 44 inches ; and the landward, made up of deep narrow loch 

 basins, bordered by lofty mountains, and occupying a region 

 whose average rainfall approaches 60 inches. In the latter part 

 of the paper the positions of thirty-four stations (twenty-seven in 

 the landward, and seven in the seaward division), at which obser- 

 vations were regularly made, are described. The method of 

 collecting water samples, and the method of determining the 

 density by means of a Challmger-type hydrometer, are given in 

 detail. A record of 850 determinations of density made during 

 twelve trips, which extended over two years, are given in an 

 appendix. Twenty tables are given, which show the relations 

 of salinity to configuration, tides, and rainfall, and which exhibit 

 the relative amounts of pure sea-water and of fresh-water which 

 were present in each of the divisions of the sea area at certain 

 selected times. It was found that the amount of salt present 

 in the water of the Clyde sea area varies with the season, the 

 water being, as a rule, freshest in February, one month after 

 the maximum rainfall, and saltest in July or August, two months 

 after the minimum rainfall. The surface water exhibited the 

 greatest changes, the seasonal variations being more regular at 

 greater depths. Even at the head of lochs 50 or 60 miles 

 distant from the open sea the percentage of pure sea-water 

 present was rarely less than 88 ; the fresh river-water which 

 poured in in enormous volume after heavy rain rapidly mixing 



T29, VOL. 44] 



