January 30, 1896] 



NATURE 



tained by sulphonating the amidoacid with fuming sulphuric 

 acid. — I : 3-0-naphthylaminesulphonic acid and the correspond- 

 ing chloronaphthalenesulphonic acid, by H. E. Armstrong and 

 W. P. Wynne. — Studies on the constitution of tri-derivatives of 

 naphthalene, No. 15. The disulphonic acids obtained by 

 sulphonating i : 3-a-naphthylamine- and i : 3-0-chloronaphtha- 

 lene-sulphonic acids, by H. E. Armstrong and W. P. Wynne. 

 On sulphonating these two acids with fuming sulphuric acid, 

 disulphonic acids of corresponding constitutions are obtained ; the 

 acid prepared from the amido-acid may be converted by Sand- 

 meyer's method into the acid having the constitution 



CI 

 /\ \ 



\ /\/ "^^3 

 HSO3 



obtained from the i : 3-a-chloro-acid. 



Zoological Society, January 14. — Dr. W. T. Blanford, 

 F. R.S., Mce- President, in the chair — A communication was 

 read from the Rev. W.J. Holland, containing a preliminary 

 revision and synonymic catalogue of the butterflies of the family 

 Hesperiidae of Africa and the adjacent islands, with descrip- 

 tions of some apparently new species. The total number of 

 species of African Hesperiidiv catalogued by Mr. Holland was 

 349, of which twenty-one were new to science. Fourteen new 

 genera were characterised. — A communication was read from 

 Dr. Arthur G. Butler, which gave an account of a collection 

 of butterflies obtained by Mr. R. Crawshay in Nyasa-land 

 l>etween the months of January and April 1895. Many of the 

 species in this consignment had been obtained at considerable 

 altitudes. It was therefore surprising that comparatively few of 

 them proved to be undescribed, though some of the new forms 

 were of exceptional interest. Nine species altogether were 

 characterised as new. — Mr. P. Chalmers Mitchell read a paper 

 on the intestinal tract of birds. — Mr. F. G. Parsons read a paper 

 on the myology of rodents, in continuation of a former paper 

 read before the Society in 1894. — Mr. F. E. Beddard, F. R.S., 

 gave an account of some earthworms from the Sandwich Islands 

 collected by Mr. R. L. Perkins, and appended descriptions of 

 some new species of Perichceta. Of the nine species of earth- 

 worms of the Sandwich Islands Mr. Beddard was unable to say 

 that any one was indigenous. — A communication from Mr. 

 Oscar Neumannn gave the description of a new species ot 

 antelope obtained during his expedition to East Africa in 

 1892-95, which he proposed \.o waxwQ Adeitota thoiitasi, in honour 

 of Mr. Oldfield Thomas. 



Royal Microscopical Society, January 15.— Annual 

 meeting. — A. D. Michael, President, in the chair. — After the 

 annual report and the Treasurer's statement of accounts had 

 been read and adopted, the following were elected as officers 

 and Council for the ensuing year : — President : Albert D. 

 Michael. Vice-Presidents : Rev. Edmund Carr, Frank Crisp, 

 Dr. Richard G. Ilebb, Edward Milles Nelson. Treasurer : 

 William Thomas Suffolk. Secretaries : Prof. F. Jeff"rey Bell, Rev. 

 W. H. Dallinger, F.R.S. Members of Council : Conrad Beck, 

 Alfred W. Bennett, Dr. Robert Braithwaite, Thomas Comber, 

 Edward Dadswell, George C. Karop, the Hon Sir Ford North, 

 Thomas H. Powell, Charles F. Rousselet, Prof. Charles Stewart, 

 John Jewell Vezey, Thomas Charters White. — The President, 

 Mr. A. D. Michael, then delivered his annual address. The 

 subject taken was the anatomy of the Acari. It was pointed out 

 that the ordinary text-book definition of an Acarus as a creature 

 in which abdomen and cephalothorax are completely fused is not 

 correct, but that still the great characteristic of the anatomy is 

 concentration ; this was illustrated by the author's recent 

 researches relative to the brain and nerves of the Hydrachnidie 

 (water mites) and other families. The address then dealt with 

 the alimentary organs fully, and several remarkable modifica- 

 tions of the diff"erent organs to meet the wants of various 

 creatures were explained. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, January 20.— M. A. Cornu in the 

 chair.— On two new invariants in the general theory of algebraic 

 surfaces, by M. Y.. Picard. — On keeping up the motion of a 

 pendulum without interference with its time of oscillation, by 

 M. G. Lippmann. In a pendulum clock certain minute impulses 

 must be given by the movement to the pendulum to overcome 



NO. 1370, VOL. 53] 



the energy losses due to friction, and these interfere to a slight 

 extent with the natural period of vibration. In an ordinary 

 precision clock, attention is directed rather to keeping this dis- 

 turbance constant than to eliminating it. That a given instan- 

 taneous impulse, however, considered by itself, should give rise 

 to no disturbance, it is necessary and suflicient that it should 

 take place exactly at the instant that the pendulum passes 

 through its position of equilibrium. An electrical arrangement 

 is described which fulfils this condition.— On the circulation of 

 the air in the soil, by MM. P. P. Deh^rain and Demoussy. A 

 description of an apparatus for the experimental study of the 

 porosity of soils. Air is sucked out from the bottom of a layer 

 of soil of fixed dimensions, and the steady difference of pressures 

 hereby set up is measured, this increasing with the porosity of 

 the soil. The same apparatus serves for the study of the passage 

 of water through soils. — The law of equivalence in the trans- 

 formations of energy in animals, by M. A. Chauveau. Experi- 

 mental details of the relation between the work (positive and 

 negative) done by the muscles and the carbon dioxide excreted 

 by the lungs. The conclusion is drawn from these experiments 

 that the mechanical work done by the muscles in lifting a weight 

 requires only an equivalent expenditure of energy. This is stated 

 by the author to be the first experimental demonstration of the 

 law of equivalence for work arising in the activity of animal 

 tissues. — On the specific heats of gases and the properties 

 of the isotherms, by M. E. H. Amagat. — A note on some 

 experiments of M. Witowski on the thermal constants of 

 air between o and - 140°. — Morphology of the limbs of the 

 bony fishes, by M. A. Sabafier. — On the problems of variations 

 relating to double integrals, by M. G. Koenigs. — On the flexure 

 of beams, by M. M. Duplaix. — Difference in the action of ultra- 

 violet light on static and dynamic critical potentials, by M. R. 

 Swyngedauw. Some experiments in support of a law announced 

 in a previous note. — On a spherical Crookes' tube, showing the 

 reflection of the kathode rays by glass and metal, by M. G. 

 Seguy. — On the reflection and refraction of polarised light, by 

 M. E. M. Lemeray. A geometrical interpretation of some 

 formulie of Fresnel. — On the solubility of sodium thiosulphate 

 in alcohol, byoM. P. Parmentier. Ordinary sodium thiosulphate 

 has been obtained in two modifications, melting at 32" and 47' "9 

 respectively. Solubility determinations on these, and also on 

 the superfused salt, gave results which are not in agreement 

 with the experiments on the same subject previously published 

 by M. Brunner. The conditions of equilibrium are very com- 

 plex, and do not appear to follow any simple law. — On the 

 nitrosulphides of iron, by MM. C. Marie and R. Marquis. A 

 new method of preparing Roussin's salt. Sulphide of iron and 

 sodium nitrite are treated at 100° with carbon dioxide. On 

 cooling the pure salt crystallises out, the results of the Analyses 

 of which best agree with the composition FejSoNsOg -f I "5 H.^O. 

 The reactions towards boiling alkali solutions,'and water at 200" 

 were examined, but the complete study of the products is re- 

 served for a future paper. — Action of carbonyl chloride upon 

 some hydrogen compounds, by M. A. Besson. The reaction 

 with phosphonium bromide is given by the following equation 

 6PH4Br -1- 5COCI2 = loHCl -»- 6HBr -|- 5CO -f 2rH3 -V P,H,„ 

 Hydriodic acid gives carbon monoxide, hydrogen chloride, and 

 free iodine only, no derivative corresponding to carbonyl 

 iodide being formed. With phosphonium iodide the principal 

 reaction is 



4PH4I -f 8COCU = 16HCI -H SCO -i- P2I4 + 2P. 

 Hydrogen phosphide, PHg, is without action u[x»n carbonyl 

 chloride, as is also H^S in the cold. At 200°, however, the 

 latter gives carbon oxysulphide, COS. — On dichloralglucose and 

 monochloralglucosane, by M. J. Meunier. A study of the con- 

 densation products obtained from chloral hydrate and glucose 

 under the action of sulphuric acid. — The weight and composi- 

 tion of the dead covering layer of forests, by M. E. Henry. 

 Figures are given for two classes of deposit, under fully-grown 

 trees, and under brushwood. The weight of the dead layer 

 gradually increases with time for about ten years, and then 

 remains very nearly constant (about 7000 kg. to 8000 kg. per 

 hectare). Complete chemical analyses are given, rendering it 

 possible to construct a chemical balance-sheet for the forest. — 

 The volcanic tufas of Segalas (Ariege), by M. A. Lacroix. 

 These tufas present a remarkable analogy with the basaltic tufas 

 of Auvergne. A microscopical examination showed that they 

 are undoubtedly volcanic, consisting of labroadorite and andesitic 

 scoria. — On the discovery of a tertiary stratum bearing land 



