142 



NATURE 



[December 12, 1895 



loam, 15 inches in diameter, was poured in one case Cleveland 

 white-iron, and in the other Cleveland grey-iron. The fluid 

 metal first entirely filled the mould. An expansion of the outer 

 layers then took place as the metal became plastic, the diameter 

 of the ball therefore increasing. The liquid interior, not having 

 commenced to expand, sank in the hollow shell formed by the 

 cooling and expanding layers of the outside, and thus formed a 

 cavity at the top, which was shown in a photograph of the cross- 

 section of the ball. The metal round the inner surface of the 

 top cavity then hardened, and the interior liquid metal expanded 

 gradually towards the centre ; and, by its pressure on the soft 

 outer envelope, also tended to increase the diameter of the 

 ball. This action continued until the outer layers arrived 

 at such a temperature that they should contract ; when a 

 contest arose between the contracting force of the fast- 

 thickening outer layers and the expanding force of the interior 

 as it in turn became plastic. When these forces balanced each 

 other, further expansion was arrested. After this point in the 

 cooling had been reached, the outer layers contracted as far as 

 their condition wou <"allow, but not to the full natural extent, as, 

 while the outside was in a state of tension owing to the swelling 

 of the interior, fresh layers of plastic and solidifying metal had 

 been built up in the interior. By the time contraction had com- 

 menced, these had formed an arch of many courses under different 

 degrees of tension ; and such a structure tended to prevent the 

 free contraction of the whole mass. The interior of this enlarged 

 vessel then contracted and drew away principally from the upper 

 part owing to the mass of plastic iron tending to gravitate to the 

 bottom of the ball. The results of further experiments on the 

 buoyancy of solid rolled low-carbon steel showed that it followed 

 the same law as cast-iron. It appeared, therefore, that the 

 physical changes from liquid to solid, as from solid to liquid, 

 were similar in grey-iron, white-iron, and low-carbon steel. In 

 view of the apparent analogy between the expansions of cast- 

 iron in cooling from the liqu" dto the plastic condition and the 

 expansion of water in cooling from 4° C. to 0° C, the author had 

 undertaken experiments to ascertain whether the welding of iron 

 could be attributed to similar action to that producing regelation 

 in ice. To identify the two phenomena, it must be proved that 

 the surface of the iron at the moment of welding contracted with 

 increase and expanded with decrease of temperature. But as, 

 according to the reasoning of the late Dr. James Thomson, 

 matter possessing this property m ast also be cooled by impact or 

 pressure, the identification would be complete, if this collateral 

 property of the cooling of welding iron under pressure could be 

 demonstrated. In the author's experiments, which were carried 

 out at the Mint, with the aid of Prof. Roberts-Austen, the 

 temperature at the welding surface of iron heated in an electric- 

 welding machine was taken by a Roberts-Austen recording 

 pyrometer. The results were given of a series of five experi- 

 ments, in three of which a fall of temperature, ranging between 

 19° C. and 57° C, had resulted from the application of pressure, 

 at temperatures of between 1300° C. and 1420° C. The thermal 

 expansion of iron was therefore negative between 1300° C. 

 and 1420° C. The theory of regelation in ice was founded 

 on the fact that the melting-point was lowered by pressure. 

 This held good also fov 'ron, in which case, however, there 

 were increasing degrees of mobility between the temperature 

 of 1400° C. and that of nielting wrought-iron, 1600° C. When 

 pressure was applied to a bar, e.g. at 1400° C, not only was 

 the me!ting-point lowered, but the mobihty of all lower temper- 

 atures within the critical condition was increased. 



Chemical Society, November 21. — Mr. A. G. Vernon Har- 

 court. President, in the chair. The following papers were 

 read : — The influence of temperature on refractive power, and 

 on the refraction equivalents of acetylacetone and of ortho- and 

 para-toluidine, by W. H. Perkin, senr. The author ascribes 

 the discrepancies betwee.. his own and Bruhl's values for the 

 refraction equivalents of acetylacetone, the toluidines, &c., at 

 high temperatures, to experimental error in the use of Briihl's 

 refractometer.— The evolution of carbon monoxide by alkaline 

 pyrogallol solution during absorption of oxygen, by F. Clowes. 

 The author has determined the experimental conditions regulating 

 the evolution of carbon monoxide during the absorption of oxygen 

 by pyrogallol solution, and details the precautions to be taken 

 for the accurate estimation of oxygen by the absorption niethod. 

 — The composition ot the limiting explosive mixtures of various 

 combustible gases with air, by F. Clowes. The compositions of 

 the limiting explosive mixtures of air with methane, hydrogen, 

 carbon monoxide, ethylene, water-gas, and coal-gas are very 



NO. 1363, VOL. 53] 



different ; the narrowest limits are observed in the case of 

 methane, the widest in that of hydrogen. — Note on the estima- 

 tion of butyric acid, by W. H. Willcox. — Some derivatives of 

 anthraquinonc, by E. Schunck and L. Marchlewski. The three 

 isomeric methylpurpuroxanthins and several of the ethers 01 

 anthraquinoneoxime /lave been prepared. — Efflorescence oi 

 double ferrous aluminium sulphate on bricks exposed to sulphur 

 dioxide, by D. Paterson. The white asbestos-like efflorescence 

 which appears on bricks exposed to sulphur dioxide, has the 

 composition AU(S04)3, FeS()4, 24H2O, and is evidently identical 

 with a salt found in volcanic regions. 



Entomological Society, December 4. — Prof. Meldola, 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair. — Mr. S. H. Scudder, of Cam- 

 bridge, Mass., U.S.A., was elected an Honorary Fellow to fill 

 the vacancy caused by the death of Prof. C. V. Riley. — The 

 Secretary read a copy of a letter of condolence which he had 

 written, by the direction of the Council, to the Entomological 

 Society of France on the death of their President, M. E. L. 

 Ragonot, and he also read the letter in reply from the Secretary 

 of the Entomological Society of France. — Mr. R. Adkin ex- 

 hibited a specimen of Mesogona acetosellce, taken at Arlington, 

 Sussex, in October 1895. It was stated that this was the first 

 recorded capture of this species in Britain. — Mr. G. T. Porritt 

 exhibited an example of Halestis guttatipennis, taken at Lye, 

 Worcestershire, in November 1889. It was believed to be the 

 third British example. Mr. Porritt also exhibited a series of 

 Mania typica, showing a curious malformation in all the speci- 

 mens. He stated that about one-third of a largie brood had 

 emerged in exactly the same form, having the wings only half 

 developed, but with the markings clearly defined. Mr.Tutt 

 and Mr. McLachlan referred to similar malformations in Agrotis^ 

 irituz and Hadena chenopodii. — Mr. Goss read a communication 

 from Mr. Sidney Crompton, of Salamanca, Tenerife, announc- 

 ing the capture there by Mr. Hammerton of two specimens of 

 Diadema misippus, a species of butterfly not previously recorded 

 from Tenerife. Mr. Crompton said the specimens were in such 

 fine condition that they must have been introduced into Tenerife 

 in the larval or pupal state, and emerged there. Mr. Hampson,. 

 Prof Meldola, and Mr. Osbert Salvin, F.R.S., made some re- 

 marks on the distribution of the species. — Mr. Champion read a. 

 paper entitled, "On the Heteromerous Coleoptera of St. 

 Vincent, Grenada, and the Grenadines." — Mr. Kenneth J. 

 Morton communicated a paper entitled, " New or Little Knowru 

 Palasarctic Perlidae." 



Zoological Society, Nov. 19. — Sir W. H. Flower, K.C.B.^ 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair. — A letter was read from Mr. 

 J. H. Gurney, respecting a kingfisher (Alcedol>eavatii)vi\nch had 

 been lately ascertained to be a permanent resident in some parts 

 of Ceylon. — Mr. Sclater gave a short account of the principal 

 animals he had noticed in the Jardin d'Acclimatation and Jardin 

 des Plantes at Paris during a recent visit.— Mr. Sclater exhibited! 

 and made remarks upon the skin of a zebra from Nyasaland", 

 obtained by Mr. R. Crawshay, and a remarkably fine pair of 

 horns of a male Livingstone eland (Oreas canna livingstonei)^ 

 which Mr. H. H. Johnston, C.B., had offered for the Society's- 

 acceptance. The animal had been shot by one of Mr. Johnston's 

 hunters, in 1893, between Zomba and Lake Chilwa.-— Colonel 

 L. H. Irby exhibited and made remarks on two British-killed 

 specimens of the greater bullfinch {Pyrrhula major). — Mr. W. T 

 Blanford, F.R.S., exhibited and made remarks on skins of Capra 

 sibirica and of Ovis anifnon, killed by Major Cumberland in the 

 Altai mountains. — A communication was read from Mr. Swale 

 Vincent, containing contributions to the comparative anatomy 

 and histology of the supra-renal capsules. In the present paper- 

 Mr. Vincent described the naked-eye and microscopical anatomy 

 of the supra-renal bodies in the different orders of fishes. He 

 was inclined to the view that supra- renal bodies are present ia 

 all the Elasmobranchii, Holocephali, Ganoidei, and Teleostii,. 

 and probably also in the Dipnoi. The supra-renal bodies of 

 fishes were in their essence " secreting glands, ' as the mammalian 

 organ was now supposed to be. There was no relation whatever, 

 in Mr. Vincent's opinion, between the supra-renals and the 

 lymphatic head-kidney. In the great majority, at any rate, of 

 Teleosteans they were both present in a well-developed con- 

 dition.— Mr. Gerard W. Butler read a paper on the complete or 

 partial suppression of the right lung in the Amphisbaenids;, and" 

 of the left lung in snakes and snake-like lizards and Amphib'ans. 

 The author gave particulars as to the relative development of the 

 right and left lungs in a large number of Amphisbrenidae and 

 other snake-like lizards and snakes and limbless Amphibians^ 



