June i6, 1892] 



NATURE 



167 



crust cannot have commenced until long after the birth of the 

 moon ; so that the still molten surface would be able for ages to 

 radiate its heat directly into space. Otherwise we are thrown 

 back on the nebular hypothesis, according to which the moon 

 was left behind in the process of evoluti m of the system. — On 

 Gynodioecism in the Labiatje, by Mr. J. C. Willis. Among the 

 hermaphrodite flowers of Origanum and other Labiatae, there 

 occur (on the same plant) female flowers, and also flowers with 

 one or more imperfect stamens; the corollas of these flowers 

 are usually smaller than those of normal hermaphrodites. Their 

 number varies from "i to 7*5 per cent, of the total flowers. 

 Kxperiments conducted in 1891, to determine if these abnor- 

 malities varied in number with the season, gave no result ; no 

 two plants (though all were from one stock) gave similar re- 

 sults. Observations were also made on Nepeta Glechomn ; the 

 relative numbers of female and hermaphrodite flowers were de- 

 termined weekly during the flowering season, and the propor- 

 tion of females found to be greatest at the beginning of the 

 season. It was also noticed that the female plants bear more 

 open flowers at one time than the hermaphrodites (3'i to 2'i). 

 It was observed that the amount of protandry in the flowers 

 appears to vary, being small at the beginning, and larger to- 

 wards the end of the season. Further observations are in pro- 

 gress upon this subject. — On the steady motion and stability of 

 dynamical systems, by Mr. A, B. Basset. — Note on the geo- 

 metrical interpretation of the quaternion analysis, by Mr. J. 

 Brill. The last two papers were taken as read. 



Dublin. 

 Royal Dublin Society, May 18.— Dr. G. J. Stoney, F.R.S., 

 Vice-President, in the chair. — Mr. G. H. Carpenter presented 

 I report upon the Pycnogonida collected in Torres States by Prof. 

 A. C. Iladdon. The collection comprises only three species : 

 Palleiie aiislraliensis, Hoek, f)r which (together with a new 

 species) a new genus [Parapallene) is suggested ; and a new 

 Ascorhynchus. — Mr. H. H. Dixon gave a preliminary note on 

 the mode of walking of some of the Arthropoda, illustrated by 

 means of instantaneous photographs. He found that the 

 limbs move together in "diagonals"; in insects the first and 

 third legs on one side move with the second on the other; in 

 spiders the first and third on one side with the second and fourth 

 on the other ; while the antenna of an insect is moved with the 

 first leg on the same side. — Sir Howard Grubb, F. R.S., 

 described his new chronograph for the Cape Town Observatory. 

 This chronograph is built on the model of that at Dunsink 

 Observatory, Dublin, with such improvements as have been 

 suggested by recent developments in the clock-work of equa- 

 torial telescopes. The barrels, two in number, either or both 

 of which can be brought into action, are 28 inches long and 9 

 inches in diameter. • The screws which carry the wagons are 

 one-tenth pitch, revolving once per minute. The circumference 

 of the barrel being about 27 inches, the seconds are four-tenths 

 of an inch loni^, and each barrel is available for about four and a 

 half hours' work. The principal modifications upon the Dun- 

 sink instrument consist in the application of the electrical con- 

 1 rol of the clock, as described in the Proceedings of the Insti- 

 lution of Mechanical Engineers for the year 1888. The 

 governor shaft of the clock gears directly into the driving spindle 

 without any intermediate wheels, and as there is maintaining 

 power to the clock barrel, it is possible to wind during the 

 operation without at all affecting the rate of the clock. The 

 axes of the barrels are supported upon sets of bicycle balls, in 

 hardened steel boxes. The wagons carrying the electro-magnets 

 for the registration of the signals are carried on one plain 

 roller and two grooved rollers, the latter having hardened steel 

 end-plates to msure accuracy of position. With the main 

 instrument, which is inclosed in a glass case, is supplied a 

 distributor for the purpose of working the electrical con- 

 trol, for the explanation of the action of which the 

 above paper may be referred to. — On a new electro- 

 lytic galvanometer, by J, Joly. In the ordinary methods 

 of determining the strength of a current by means of 

 electro-chemical action, the element of time enters into 

 llie measurements, which further require considerable care in 

 carrying out. In this instrument the observer is not concerned 

 with time observations, and its indications follow fairly rapid 

 variations of current. It consists of a glass bulb containing 

 ddute sulphuric acid, in which are immersed platinum electrodes 

 jilaced close together to diminish resistance. This vessel com- 

 municates below with a tube bent twice at right angles and 



NO. I 1 8 I , VOL. 46] 



carried up to a height of about 50 cm. above the level of the 

 bulb. A little mercury c )ntained in the bulb rises normally 

 into this tube to a level which is the zero of the instrument. 

 The tube is open at the top. The bulb is furnished with two 

 tubulures on its upper surface. One is kept closed by a 

 stopper, and merely serves to admit the electrolyte into the 

 bulb when filling it. The other is furnished with a brass 

 attachment upon which is cemented a small piece of platinum 

 foil pierced by a hole of very small bore. The puncture is 

 protected above and below from obstruction by receptacles 

 containing cotton wool. When a current is passed between 

 the electrodes the gas evolved can only escape through the 

 fine puncture. At normal pressures this will only let the gas 

 pass out slowly. Hence there is an accumulation of gas in the 

 bulb, and the increased pressure causes the mercury to rise in 

 the vertical index tube ; but as the pressure rises, the rate of 

 eflux of the gas increases till it equals the rate of evolution, 

 when the mercury column comes to rest. The reading of a 

 scale alongside the tube then gives the current in amperes. The 

 instrument constructed for trial is very satisfactory. It reads 

 on a very open scale up to 2"5 amperes. The electrodes are 

 not large enough to carry heavier currents ; if they were so, of 

 course by enlarging the orifice the range could be increased. 

 At the higher readings there is some delay before the mercury 

 column becomes stationary, due probably to a rise of tempera- 

 ture in the bulb. There is probably some small variation of 

 the readings with atmospheric temperature change. The 

 calibration is efTected by placing it in circuit with a trustworthy 

 galvanometer. The inventor has had but little leisure to de- 

 velop the instrument, and brings it before the Society in hopes 

 that someone may think it worth while to further investigate its 

 capabilities. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, June 7. — M. d'Abbadie in the 

 chair. — On the application of M. Linstedt's method to the 

 problem of three bodies by M. H. Poincare. — On a class of 

 analytical functions of one variable, dependent on two real 

 arbitrary constants, by M. Emile Picard. — On the products of 

 the residual life of the tissues, especially of the muscular tissue 

 separated from the living being, by MM. Gautier and Landi 

 (contmued). The authors found that meat when kept at a 

 leiuperature not exceeding that of the livin;^ animal, acquired 

 an acidity of about o"5 per cent, after several weeks, during 

 which it was protected from air and bacteria. They attribute 

 this acidity to the formation of acid phosphate of potassium 

 under the influence of fatty acids, and especially to the partial 

 peptonization of the albuminoids. Two substances, found in 

 milk, but not in fresh meat, are also abundantly produced, viz. 

 casein and nucleo-albumin. The albuminoids steadily decrease, 

 whereas there is a proportional increase of alkaloids, these 

 being identical with those produced during the life of the organ- 

 ism. — Eflfects produced upon numerous morbid states by sub- 

 cutaneous injections of a liquid extract from the testicles, by 

 M. Brown-Sequard. — On the densities of liquefied gases and 

 their saturated vapours, and on the constants of the critical 

 point of carbonic acid, by M. E. H. Amagat. — On new methods 

 of forming certain substitution imides, by M. A. Haller. — 

 Reports of the Committee charged with the examination of the 

 calculator Inaudi, by MM. Charcot and Darboux. Jacques 

 Inaudi, a peasant born in Piedmont in 1867, learned to reckon 

 before he acquired the art of reading and writing, which he did 

 not master till twenty. He therefore owes his extraordinary 

 calculating powers to an abnormally developed memory for 

 figures, aided by a mental representation of numbers which the 

 Committee proved by a series of careful experiments to be purely 

 acoustical, and quite independent of visualization. The rules 

 of Inaudi's operations are original. In addition and subtrac- 

 tion he begins on the left side, and deals with each whole 

 number in its turn. The extraction of roots and 

 the solution of equations are performed by tentative approxi- 

 mations, executed with remarkable rapidity. At the end of a 

 long sitting Inaudi was able to recount the whole series of num- 

 bers dealt with, amounting to some 400 figures. — On the stability 

 of motion in a particular case of the problem of three bodies, by 

 by M. Coculesco. — Solar observations during the first quarter of 

 the year 1892, by M. Tacchini. At the Roman College, during 

 this period, the frequency of metallic eruptions, spots, and faculffi 

 was greater in the southern hemisphere of the sun, whereas the 

 protuberances were more frequent in the northern, and neai^er 

 the pole. The auroral maximum is probably more dependent 



