June ii, 1903] 



NATURE 



143 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, May 5.— Prof. Geikie in the chair.— 

 Mr. J. Ci. Goodchild read a paper dealing with (i) Scottish 

 c arriigurms, amethysts, and quartz, (2) chalcedony, opal 

 and jasper, in which many interesting details were given 

 . t the valuable collection in the Museum of Science and 

 Art. Important questions as to the genesis of these 

 minerals and the influence of environment were indicated 

 as calling for careful investigation. — Mr. J. G. Qoodchild 

 also read a paper on the phonetics of Gaelic, a subject to 

 which he had devoted attention for many years. A speci- 

 men of Gaelic, which Prof. Mackinnon had put together 

 as containing all the different sounds used in Gaelic, was 

 transliterated in the phonetic alphabet known as palaeo- 

 tvpe, and each sound was then discussed, especially in re- 

 lation to its mode of production. The author argued that 

 many of the peculiarities of Gaelic sounds were due to the 

 resonance in the vestibule or chamber immediately above 

 the glottis. — Dr. A. T. Masterman gave a brief note on 

 the heart and pericardium in Enteropneusta, Echinodermata 

 and their allies, sketching what he believed to be the 

 process of embryological development. One stage he had 

 net, however, been able as yet to observe. — Prof. C. G. 

 Knott communicated a further instalment of his investi- 

 tjations into the interrelations of the resistance and 

 magnetisation of nickel at high temperatures. In the later 

 experiments the temperature was pushed up to about 

 400° C. The increase of resistance of a particular wire when 

 magnetised was found to increase as the temperature was 

 raised, but afterwards greatly to decrease. This was to 

 be expected if we suppose that the greatness of this effect 

 in the magnetic metals is due to their magnetisation. At 

 the highest temperature reached the percentage change of 

 resistance in a moderate field was about one-sixtieth of the 

 value at ordinary temperatures. 



Mav 18. — The Hon. Lord' M'Laren in the chair. — Dr. 

 Alex. M. M'Aldowie read a paper on the human plantar 

 reflexes. The lower limb in infants was a prehensile limb, 

 and the reflex movement when the sole was tickled was 

 similar to that in monkeys. As the child began to try 

 to walk, the character of the reflex changed, and became 

 ultimately plantigrade in type. The prehensile reflex, 

 however, remained in abeyance, and manifested itself in 

 disease. Under these conditions it appeared as soon as 

 the cerebral control was withdrawn or overcome, and thus 

 permitted the spinal control to reassert itself. It was a 

 remarkable fact that such a reflex, which disappeared so 

 early in the individual life, should reappear under patho- 

 logical conditions. The author considered that this per- 

 manence of the prehensile reflex indicated that the period 

 in the development of the ancestors of the human race 

 when the lower limb was an organ of prehension was one 

 of immense duration. — Sir William Turner, K.C.B., in a 

 paper on the occurrence of the sperm whale or cachalot 

 in the Shetland seas, described in detail the lower jaw, the 

 teeth, and the tympano-petrous bones of a large specimen 

 which had been found dead near Hillswick, Shetland, in 

 August, iqoi. The animal was a male, and was 61 feet 

 long. The point of a massive explosive harpoon was found 

 imbedded in the head, and had penetrated the great chamber 

 for the lodgment of the spermaceti, most of which had 

 consequently drained away. Of the sixty-four* teeth 

 obtained, forty-two were mandibular, seven were doubtful, 

 probably mandibular, but had never cut the gum, and the 

 remaining fifteen belonged to the upper jaw. They were of 

 various shapes, straight and curved, and were obviously rudi- 

 mentary and functionless. The paper contained a history 

 of other occurrences of sperm whales in the Shetland seas, 

 and closed with a comparative study of the tympano- 

 petrous bones of Physeter, Kogia, and other Odontoceti. — In 

 a preliminary note on the shedding of scales in gadoid fishes, 

 Mr. .\lex. Wallace Brown brought evidence in favour of the 

 view that these fish shed their scales before spawning, rtnd 

 that this shedding ceases when the fish cease spawning. 

 Should this fact be established by future investigation, the 

 ordinary view that the rings on the scales indicate years 

 of growth will have to be abandoned. 



P.ARIS. 



Academy of Sciences, June 2. — M. Albert Gaudry in 

 the chair. — On certain singularities of, partial diff^erential 

 equations of the elliptic type, by M. Emile Picard. — On 



some new fossils from the Soudan, by M. A, de Lapparent. 



Further fossils found by Captain Gaden in the Soudan are 

 undoubtedly Cretaceous in type. One of them, an 

 ammonite, is related to the genus Mammites and also to 

 \'ascoceras. The sea must thus have extended as far as 

 Tchad, and covered the Damerghou. It is nearly certain 

 that during the Cretacean epoch it joined the Atlantic, 

 and that the whole of Africa north of i3°-i4° "N. latitude 

 was occupied by a vast sea, from which the high lands of 

 Abyssinia and an island including Air, Tassali, Ahaggar 

 and Tademait emerged.— Astronomical and magnetic work 

 at Madagascar, by M. P. Colin. A series of measure- 

 ments of the magnetic elements showed a diminution in 

 the declination at Tamarive of 11' between May, 1902, and 

 April, 1903, with a slight maximum in September; the 

 inclination diminished i' 45", and the horizontal com- 

 ponent diminished by 000033. — On the infinitesimal 

 properties of linear systems of circles, by M. Mesuret. — 

 On the anisotropy of silk, and on the value of Poisson's 

 ratio for this substance, by M. F. Beaulard. The results 

 of the measurements given show clearly that silk is not 

 isotropic. — On the magnetism of liquids and crystals, by 

 M. Georges Meslin. No solid belonging to the cubical 

 system exhibits the phenomenon of magnetic dichroism. — 

 On the heat conductivity of iron in the magnetic field, by 

 M. A. Lafay. The experiment of Maggi, which would 

 appear to show that the heat conductivity of iron is affected 

 in a magnetic field, is a convection phenomenon due to the 

 air, and is not observed in a vacuum. There is some experi- 

 mental ground for supposing that in a very intense magnetic 

 field the conductivity of iron for heat is appreciably 

 diminished, but the effects do not vary with variations in 

 the direction of the magnetic and heat flux. — On the 

 utilisation of energy for transmission in wireless telegraphy, 

 by M. G. Ferris. — On the radiations emitted by radio- 

 active lead, by MM. Korn and Strauss. On comparing 

 the photographic effect of equal quantities of radio-active 

 lead, in the form of sulphate, one of which had been ex- 

 posed to the influence of the kathode rays for ten minutes, 

 it was found that the action on the photographic plate was 

 much more intense in the case of the exposed sample. 

 This effect could not be due to phosphorescence, since the 

 photographic action was unaffected by interposing a thin 

 plate of aluminium or black paper. No other radio-active 

 material appears to show this effect, which is remarkable 

 in that there is no corresponding increase in the electro- 

 active power, the rate at which an electrified body is dis- 

 charged remaining the same. — On the emanation of 

 radium and its coefficient of diffusion in air, by MM. P. 

 Curie and J. Daune. The view of Rutherford that the 

 emanation of radium behaves as a gas is confirmed by a 

 fresh experimental method. The fact that the emanation 

 of radiation is condensed at the temperature of liquid air, 

 first announced by Rutherford, is also confirmed. — On the 

 purification of hydrogen on the industrial scale by cold, by 

 .M. Ch. Renard. Crude hydrogen passed at the rate of 

 one to tv^-o litres per minute through a vessel containing 

 liquid air is completely freed from hydrogen arsenide. The 

 method may be practically useful in the purification of 

 hydrogen for balloons.— On the cementation of steel, by 

 >i. L6on Guillet. The velocity of penetration of the steel 

 by the carbon depends upon the temperature, the time, and 

 the nature of the substance supplying the carbon. By 

 simple cementation certain nickel steels acquire the same 

 hardness as carbon steels, when the cementation of the latter 

 has been followed by tempering. — The decarburation of 

 steels and thin metallic plates by evaporation in a vacuum, 

 by M. G. Belloc. — On the form assumed by mercuric 

 iodide on separating from solution, by M. D. Gernex. 

 When mercuric iodide is formed either by volatilisation or 

 evaporation from solution at low temperatures, the unstable 

 I yellow form is produced.— Observations on the precipitation 

 I of manganese bv persulphuric acid in acid solution, by 

 j M. H. BaubiKiiy. A study of the effect of varying the 

 j volume of the solution in which the precipitation is carried 

 1 out. — The alloys of copper and magnesium, by M. O- 

 Boudouard. In a preceding paper the study of the fusi- 

 j bilitv curve indicated the existence of three definite com- 

 ' binations : Cu^Mg, CuMg, and CuMg„. In the present 

 I paper these results are confirmed by a metallographic study 

 j of the alloys. — On the silicides of chromium, by MM. P. 



NO. 1754, VOL. 68] 



