July 9, 1903] 



NA TURE 



239 



ozone in acid and aqueous solutions cannot be ascertained 

 by solubility determinations, since equilibrium between the 

 gas and its solutions cannot be secured. 



Geological Society, June ic— Mr. J. J. Harris Teall, 

 F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — On primary and 

 secondary devitrification in glassy igneous rocks, part i., 

 by Mr. John Parkinson. The types of primary devitrifi- 

 cation as found at Obsidian Cliff are briefly reviewed, and 

 reference is made to the conditions which favoured primary 

 devitrification at Obsidian Cliff. After a brief reference to 

 secondary devitrification, this part of the paper concludes 

 with a summary in which the several relations of secondary 

 to primary devitrification-structures are given. — Part ii., 

 by Prof. T. G. Bonnsy, F.R.S. Certain conditions, such 

 as slow cooling, supersaturation, and the presence of in- 

 clusions are favourable to crystallisation, some special cases 

 of which are discussed in the paper. The structures thus 

 formed in rocks may be classified as (i) the linear, and (2) 

 the granular, and the former may be subdivided into (a) 

 the rectilinear, (h) the curvilinear. Spherulitic structure 

 in its simpler form falls under (a), and is at first little more 

 than a radial grouping of molecules, the process becoming 

 gradually more complicated. Of this, " graphic " or 

 " pegmatitic " structure is a final stage, where two minerals 

 •TtM crystallising out of a solution, and one has slightly the 

 advantage over the other, so that it virtually forms a 

 .skeleton-crystal. Into this the ordinary radial growth of a 

 spherulite may be seen to pass; likewise also examples of 

 (a) into those of (6), the latter being due to the " leading " 

 mineral meeting with a rather stronger resistance, as if a 

 crystal were forming in a very tough jelly. The granular 

 structure is discussed, and explanations are offer^ of its 

 varieties. In conclusion, the relation of some of these 

 structures to an eutectic composition is discussed. — Geology 

 of the .Ashbourne and Buxton branch of the London and 

 North-Western Railway — Crake Low to Parsley Hay, by 

 Mr. H. H. Arnold-Bemrose. The present paper is a con- 

 tinuation of one published in 1890, and deals with the 

 geology of the next eight miles of this railway. 



Royal Microscopical Society, June 17. — Mr. Wm. 

 Carruthers, F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — In the 

 absence of Lord Rayleigrh, his paper on the theory of 

 optical images with special reference to the microscope was 

 read by Dr. Hebb. — Dr. H. Siedentopf read a paper on 

 the rendering visible of ultra-microscopic particles and of 

 ultra-microscopic bacilli. The subject was illustrated by 

 microscopes fitted with special illuminating apparatus, 

 various objects, and drawings on the blackboard.— A com- 

 munication relating to the preceding subject, sent by Dr. 

 Johnstone Stoney, was read by the secretary. There was a 

 lengthv discussion on the three papers, in which Prof. 

 J. D. Everett, Dr. S. Czapski, Mr. J. W. Gordon, Mr. 

 Rheinberg, Dr. C. V. Drysdale, Dr. Beilby, and Mr. Conrad 

 Beck took part. Owing to the lateness of the hour, the 

 following papers were taken as read : — On the " lag " in 

 microscopic vision (continued) ; an improved horseshoe 

 stage and a micrometric correction for minute objects, by 

 Mr. E. M. Nelson ; and a method of mounting bacteria 

 from fluid media, by Mr. J. k. Hill. 



Challenger Society, June 24. — Or. R. N. Wolfcnden in 

 the chair. — Mr. V. H. Blacknian contributed some notes 

 on Bipolar plants ; a comparison of the 259 Arctic and 

 •(>9 Antarctic Alg.-x; shows that no less than 54 species are 

 ound both north and south of the tropics, but not between 

 ihem; of the larger brown seaweeds not even a genus is 

 common to the two poles. — Dr. Fowler read notes on the 

 distribution of some Amphipoda collected by him in the 

 Bay of Biscay at various depths during a cruise in H.M.S. 

 Research, 1900; they had been identified by the Rev. 

 T. R. R. Stebbing. Among these were two Arctic cold- 

 water forms, Scina borealis, Sars., and Cyphocaris anonyx, 

 Boeck., taken between 750-500 fathoms and 300-400 

 fathoms respectively, but not known from shallow vvater at 

 low latitudes ; and Hyperioides lon^ipes, Chevreux, dis- 

 tributed round the 100 fathom horizon as a centre, but not 

 occurring at the surface or at great depths. 

 Cambridgb. 



Philosophical Society. May 18.— Dr. Baker, president, 

 in the chair. — A coleopterous insect embedded in the wall 

 of the human intestine, by Mr. D. Sharp, F.R.S. The 



NO. 7758, VOL. 68] 



author gave an account of the finding, by Dr. W. H. Ligert- 

 wood, of a living specimen of Otiorhynchus tenebricosus 

 embedded in the wall of the intestine of a patient who died 

 in the Wells Asylum. The position of the foreign body was 

 in the ileum about eighteen inches from the ileo-ccecal 

 valve. This beetle is purely herbivorous in its habits. — 

 Exhibition of a rare parasite, by Mr. A. E. Shipley. — On 

 the influence of electrons on colloidal solutions, by Mr. 

 W. B. Hardy, F.R.S. Specially purified globulin from 

 blood was dissolved (a) in a trace of acetic acid, (6) in a 

 trace of sodium hydrate. In presence of acetic acid the 

 globulin was found to move in an electric field from anode 

 to kathode, in presence of alkali it inoved from kathode to 

 anode. In the former case, therefore, the globulin particles 

 carried a positive charge, in the latter a negative charge. 

 These two solutions were exposed to the radiations from 

 radium bromide, and it was found that the electro-negative 

 solution of globulin was turned into an opaque jelly in 

 three minutes, while the electro-positive solution became 

 more mobile and less opalescent. — On bismuth, by Mr. 

 R. H. Adie. The discrepancies between the atomic weight 

 of bismuth as determined by Schneider and Marignac =208 

 and by Classen =2089, have been hitherto discussed on the 

 assumption that the cause is the presence of lead. The 

 author, by adopting a combination of fractionation as sub- 

 nitrate and distillation as chloride, has succeeded in obtain- 

 ing sufficient silica from pure bismuth to account for the 

 low values of the former observers. The determination of 

 the atomic weight and the isolation of a new coloured sub- 

 stance is now proceeding. — On the influence of great 

 dilution on the absorption spectra of highly concentrated 

 solutions of the nitrates and chlorides of didymium and 

 erbium, by Mr. J. E. Purvis. The experiments prove that 

 (i) the absorption bands of very highly concentrated solu- 

 tions of the chlorides of didymium and erbium are not 

 altered when the solutions are highly diluted. (2) The 

 absorption bands of very highly concentrated solutions of 

 the nitrates of didymium and erbium are considerably less 

 diffuse when the solutions are highly diluted. This effect 

 is analogous to that produced in the spectra of some gases 

 and vapours by diminishing the density of the gas or 

 vapour. (3) The absorption bands of very concentrated and 

 very diluted solutions of the chlorides of didymium and 

 erbium are precisely similar to those observed in the very 

 diluted solutions of the nitrates of these two earths. — On 

 a method of estimating the amounts of the oxides of didy- 

 mium and erbium by means of the absorption bands of their 

 solutions, by Mr. J. E. Purvis.— A lecture experiment to 

 illustrate the rotation of a magnetic pole around a straight 

 current, by Mr. P. V. Sevan. — Irreversible simultaneous 

 linedr reactions, by Mr. H. O. Jones and O. W. 

 Richardson. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, June 29.— M. Albert Gaudry in 

 the chair. — Researches on one and two fluid batteries, bv 

 .VI. Berthelot. — On the mechanical analysis of soils,' bv 

 M. Th. SchlcBsingr. A discussion of the relation between 

 the nature and amount of a substance deposited from sus- 

 pension in water, and the time taken to settle. Experi- 

 mental results on sandy, clay, and loam soils are given. — 

 On the influence of the introduction of unsaturated radicles 

 on the rotatory power of active inolecules, o-allyl, a-propyi, 

 and 5-methyl-)8-cyclopentanonecarboxylic esters, by MM. A. 

 Haller and M. Desfontaines. The conversion of an 

 aliphatic active molecule into a cyclic molecule is accom- 

 panied with a large rise in the rotatory power. The rota- 

 tory pov/er of the allyl ester is distinctly higher than that 

 of the propyl derivative. — Observations on the comet 1903 c, 

 discovered by .M. Borrelly at the Observatory of Marseilles, 

 June 21, by M. E. Stephan. The comet possesses a nucleus 

 of the tenth magnitude, and a tail extending 5' or 6'. 

 — Observations made at the Observatory of Lyons during 

 the partial eclipse of the moon of April 1 1 ; final results, 

 by M. Ch. Andrd. — Observation of the bright spot of 

 Saturn with the 38cm. equatorial of the Observatory of 

 Toulouse, by M. F. Rossard. — The elements of the Borrelly 

 comet, by M. G. Fayet. Calculated from observations 

 made at the Paris Observatory. The brightness of the comet 

 will reach its maximum about July 14, and the comet will 

 then be in a position very favourable for observation, and 

 may be visible to the naked eye for some days. — Observ- 



