May 



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NA TURE 



o1 



variation of specific heat at constant volume of various gases 

 with density ; {b) lolite in the Granites of Leinster ; (c) a 

 heterogeneous Beryl Felspar mineral ; (</) the reversal of Old- 

 kamia antiqtia and radiata impressions in the Slates of Bray 

 Head. Is the author, amongst o;her papers, of the following : 

 — " On the direct experimental determination of Specific Heats 

 of Gases at Constant Volume " (Proc. Roy. Soc, vol. xlviii., in 

 abstract, recommended for Phil. Trans.); "On the Method of 

 Condensation in Calorimetry " (Proc. Roy. Soc, vols. xlv. and 

 xlvii.) ; " On the Specific Heats of Minerals" (ibid,, vol. xli.) ; 

 " Observations of Spark Discharge over Surfaces of Dielectrics " 

 (ibid. vol. xlvii.) ; " On the Volcanic Ash of Krakatoa" (Proc. 

 Roy. Dubl. Soc, vol. iv.). Has invented (a) the Method of 

 Steam Calorimetry (Trans, and Proc. Roy. Soc, as above) ; (/') 

 a Diffusion Photometer {Phil. Mag., July 1888) ; (.) a Hydro- 

 static Balance {ibid., Sept. 1888) ; ((/) an Instrument lor measur- 

 ing Melting and Boiling Points of Solids, &c., up to a very 

 high temperature (Nature, vol. xxxiii., tva^ Industries, vol. vi.); 

 (1?) a Method of measuring the Density of a Gas {Phil. Mag., vol. 

 XXX.) ; (/) a Method of reading Distant Meteorological Instru- 

 ments (Proc Roy. Dubl. Soc, vol. iv,) ; {g) a Method of 

 measuring Specific Gravities of Minute Quantities of Porous and 

 other Solids \Phil. Mag., July 1888. 



Joseph Larmor, M.A., 



D.Sc Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge. University 

 and College Lecturer in Mathematics. Senior Wrangler, 1880. 

 Formerly Professor of Mathematics Queen's College, Galway. 

 Fellow of the Royal University of Ireland. Examiner in 

 Mathematics at the University of London. Author of the 

 following papers: — "Application of Generalized Space Co- 

 ordinates, Potentials, and Isotropic Elasticity " (Trans. Camb. 

 Phil. Soc, vol. xiv.); "Least Action" (Proc. Lond. Math. 

 Soc, vol. XV.); "Flow of Electricity in Linear Conductors ' 

 {ibid., vol. xvi.) ; "Characteristics of an Asymmetric Optical 

 Combination " {ibid., vol. xx. ) ; " Electro-magnetic Induction in 

 Conducting Sheets and Solid Bodies" {Phil. Mag., 1884) ; and 

 other papers on Pure and Applied Mathematics. 



Louis C. Miall, 



Professor of Biology in the Yorkshire College. Prof. Miall has 

 published the following papers and books : — Reports on 

 Labyrinthodonts (Rep. Brit. Assoc, 1873-74) : the first trans- 

 lated as introduction to S. Anton Fritsch's "Fauna der Perm- 

 formation Bohmens"; Fossil Teeth of Ceratodus (Palaeont. 

 Indica); Sirenoid and Crassopterygian Ganoids, Parti. (Palaejnt. 

 Soc.) ; papers on Labyrinthodonts, Rhizodus, Ctenodus, and 

 Megalichthys (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc): Studies in Comparative 

 Anatomy : I. Skull of Crocodile, II. Anatomy of the Indian 

 Elephant (jointly with F. Greenwood), III. The Cockroach 

 (jointly with H. Denny) : Vertebrate Palaeontology in Geol. 

 Record (Sub-editor). In 1875 received the Wollaston Donation 

 from the Geological Society. 



Benjamin Neve Peach, 



F. R. S. E. , F. G. S. District Surveyor of the Ge .logical Survey 

 of Scotland. Past President of the Physical Society of Edinburgh. 

 Recipient of the Wollaston Donation Fund of the Geological 

 Society in 1887. For thirty years actively engaged on the 

 Geological Survey, during which lime he has mapped many of 

 the most complicated districts of Scotland. Has charge of the 

 surveying of the North- West Highlands, and has taken the leading 

 part in unravelling the remarkable structural complications of 

 that region. Author of various papers on pal^ontological sub- 

 jects : — " On some New Crustaceans from the Lower Carboni- 

 ferous Rocks of Eskdale and Liddesdale " (Trans. Roy. Soc. 

 Edin., vol. xxx., p. 73); "On some new species of F'ossil 

 Scorpions from the Carboniferous Rocks of Scotland" (ibid., 

 P- 399) ; "Further Researches among the Crustacea and 

 Arachnida of the Carboniferous Rocks of the Scottish Border " 

 (j3z(/., p. 511) ; " On some Fossil Myriapods from the Lower 

 Old Red Sandstone of Forfarshire " (Proc. Roy. Phys. Soc. 

 Edin., vol. vii. p. 179). Joint author with Mr. J, Home of 

 tnanypapersonstratigraphical and physical geology, including: — 

 "The Glaciation of the Shetland Isles" ((Jaart. Journ. Geol. 

 Soc, vol. XXXV. p. 778); "The Glaciation of the Orkney 

 Islands" (ibid., vol. xxxvi. p. 648) ; "The Old Red Sandstone 

 of Shetland" (Proc Roy. Phys. Soc Edin., vol. v. p. 30); 

 "The Glaciation of Caithness" (ibid., vol. vi. p. 316) ; " Re- 



NO. 1 176, VOL. 46] 



port on the Geology of ihe North- West of Sutherland " (Nature, 

 vol. xxxi. p. 31); "The Old Red Sandstone Volcanic Rocks 

 of Shetland" (Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxxii. p. 539^; 

 " Report on the Recent Work of the Geological Survey in the 

 North- West Highlands of Scotland, based on the Field Maps 

 of B. N. Peach, J. Home, W. Gunn, C. T. Clough, L. Hinx- 

 man, and H. M. Cadell" (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. xliv, 

 P- 378). 



Alexander Pedi.er, 



F.C.S., F.I.C, Fellow of the University of Calcutta ; Professor 

 of Chemistry, Presidency College, Calcutta ; Meteorological 

 Reporter to the Government of Bengal ; and Curator of the 

 Bengal Government Museum at Calcutta. Author of papers on 

 " An Isomeric Modification of Valeric Acid," " Calcutta Coal 

 Gas," " The Use of the Radiometer as a Photometer," " Cobra 

 Poison," "The Past and Present Water Supplies of Calcutta," 

 "Technical Education for Bengal," "The Fain Point Cyclone 

 of September 22, 1885," published in the Proc. Roy. Soc, the 

 Journ. Chem. Soc, the Journ. Asiat. Soc. Beng., and elsewhere. 



Augustus D. Wai.i.kr, M.D., 

 Lecturer on Physiology at St. Mary's Hospital Medical School. 

 Distinguished as a i'hysiologist. Laureat de I'lnstitut de 

 France (Prix de Physiologic Experimentale). Contributions to 

 the Royal Society :-~"On the Influence of the Galvanic Cur- 

 rent on the Excitability of the Motor Nerves of Man" (with 

 Dr. de Watteville, Phil. Trans., 1882); "On the Influence of 

 the Galvanic Current on the Excitability of the Sensory Nerves 

 of Man" (Roy. Soc Proc, 1882) ; "On the Action of the 

 Excised Mammalian Heart'" (with Dr. Reid, Phil. Trans., 

 1887); "On the Electromotive Changes connected with the 

 Beat of the Mammalian Heart" (Phil. Trans., 1889). Con- 

 tributions to the Joiirtial of Physiology : — "On the Rate of 

 Propagation of the Arterial Pulse Wave" (vol. iii., 1880) ; "A 

 Demonstration in Man of Electromotive Changes accompanying 

 the Heart's Beat '" (vol. viii., 1887) Contributions to other 

 journals, English and foreign :-" Die Spannungen in den 

 Vorhofen des Herzens " {Arch. f. Anal. u. Physio/., 1878); 

 "On Muscular Spasms known as Tendon Reflex " (/>/•«//«, 

 1880); " Nouvelles Experiences .sur les Phenomenes nommes 

 Reflexes tendineux " (with Dr. Prevost, Ncv. Med. de la Suisse 

 Rotnande, l88i); " Sur la Contraction de I'Ouverture " {Journ. 

 de Physiol., 1882), &c 



NOTES. 



The Council of the British Association for the Advancement 

 of Science have nominated Dr. J. S. Burdon Sanderson, F.R.S., 

 Waynflete Professor of Physiology in the University of Oxford, 

 President for the meeting of the Association which will be held 

 next year at Nottingham. Dr. Sanderson has accepted the 

 nomination. 



The Gold Medal of the Linnean Society has this year been 

 awarded by the Council to Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace for his 

 important contributions to the literature of zoology. The medal 

 will be presented at the forthcoming anniversary meeting of the 

 Linnean Society, to be held at Burlington House on the 

 24th inst. 



Wk regret to have to record the death of the illustrious 

 chemist, August Wilhelm Hofmann. He died on May 5. 

 Prof Hofmann was well known in England, where he spent 

 many of his best years. On Liebig's recommendation he was 

 appointed in 1848 Superintendent of the Royal College of 

 Chemistry, in London. This institution, which made great 

 progress under his care, was in 1853 merged in the Royal 

 School of Mines as the Chemical Section. He became a 

 Warden of the Royal Mint in 1855. In 1864 he accepted the 

 chair of chemistry at Bonn, and in the following year he was called 

 to Berlin, where he spent the rest of his life as Professor of 

 Chemistry. He made many contributions to the Innaleii der 

 Chtmie, to the Transactions of the Chemical Society, and 

 to the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, of 



