314 



NATURE 



[June 8, 1916 



4o,oooi. ; the National Academy of Sciences, 30,640/. — 

 including the Bache Fund, ii,5ooZ., and the Watson 

 Fund, 5000Z. ; the American Association for the Ad- 

 vancement of Science, 2o,oooZ., made up of the Col- 

 burn Fund of 15,000/. and the General Research Fund 

 of 5000Z. ; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 

 15,760/., made up of the Rumford Fund of 13,260/. 

 and the C. M. Warren Fund of 2500/. ; the California 

 Academy of Sciences, 13,000/. ; Harvard College Ob- 

 servatory Advancement of Astronomical Science Fund, 

 8000/. ; the National Geographic Society Fund for 

 Exploration and Geographical Research, 7000/. ; the 

 Elizabeth Thompson Science Fund, 5200/. ; and the 

 Archaeological Institute of America, Washington, 

 5000I. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Royal Society, June i. — Sir J. J. Thomson, president, 

 in the chair. — Prof. H. M. Macdonald : The trans- 

 mission of electric waves around the earth's surface. 

 A formula is obtained for the magnetic force at any 

 point of the earth's surface supposed imperfectly con- 

 ducting when the source is a simple oscillator normal 

 to its surface. If jj = (r/2AV)3, where o- is the specific 

 resistance of the earth at its surface, V is the velocity 

 of radiation in the space outside the earth, A is the 

 wave-length of the oscillations, and z = {2najK), where 

 a is the earth's radius, it appears that, when »js is a 

 small quantity, the effect of imperfect conduction is 

 to increase the magnetic force at a distance from the 

 oscillator, the ratio of the magnetic force in this case 

 to the magnetic force when the conduction is perfect 

 increasing with the distance from the oscillator and 

 diminishing with increasing wave-length. When 

 squares and higher powers of 7]zi are neglected, the 

 results at angular distances from the oscillator of 6°, 

 9°, 12°, 15°, 18° for a wave-length of five kilometres 

 agree with those derived from Love's results when 

 the square of k/m is neglected. The effect of the 

 terms involving squares of rjzi is opposite to that of 

 the first order terms. Values of the ratio are calcu- 

 lated from the general formula for wave-lengths of 

 five kilometres and two kilometres, for a wave-length 

 of five kilometres the ratio increases almost uniformly 

 from 1-004 ^t an angular distance of 6° to 1027 at 

 18°, and for a wave-length of two kilometres from 

 1106 at 6° to 1082 at 18°.— Prof. W. M. Hicks: A 

 critical study of spectral series. Part IV. — The struc- 

 ture of spark spectra. The communication deals with 

 the nature of the structure of spark spectra, using 

 for this purpose the spectra of silver and gold. It is 

 found that practically the whole of a spectrum in 

 each case is built on a similar plan. Lines differ from 

 other lines by constant differences of wave number 

 called links, and sets of lines are connected by these 

 links into chains or linkages attached each to one 

 of the ordinary series lines. These links depend on 

 successive A-displacements on the series limits, where 

 A is the displacement which gives the doublet separa- 

 tion, all of which may be calculated from data already 

 known. The discussion is confined only to displace- 

 ments on the p and .f sequences. Those depending on 

 the d sequences exist, but their discussion is post- 

 poned.— K. Terazawa : Periodic disturbance of level 

 arising from the load of neighbouring oceanic tides. 

 In Hecker's observations on the lunar deflection of 

 gravity the force apparently acting on the pendulum 

 at Potsdam is a larger fraction of the moon's direct 

 attraction when it acts towards east or west than 

 when it acts towards north or south. A similar result 

 has been found bv Michelson in his observation of the 

 lunar perturbation of water-level at Chicago. A cal- 



NO. 2432, VOL. 97] 



culation is here made to ascertain to what extent the 

 tilting of the ground caused by the excess pressure 

 of the tide in the North Atlantic is important for the 

 explanation of this geodynamical discrepancy. Re- 

 placing the North Atlantic by a circular basin of 

 radius 2000 km., taking the position of Chicago to be 

 1000 km. from the coast, and the rigidity of the 

 earth to be 6 x 10* c.g.s., it is found that the attraction 

 i effect of a uniform tide per metre of height is about 

 j 00024", while its tilting effect is as much as 00069", 

 I the maximum of the direct lunar attraction being 

 0-017". If the surface of tide is ellipsoidal, 

 shelving towards the coast, nearly the same result is 

 reached for the same mean tidal height. — E. B. R. 

 Prideaux : The use of partly neutralised mixtures of 

 acids as hydrion regulators. It has been shown that 

 niixtures of acids have certain advantages over single 

 acids which have been hitherto used for hydrion regu- 

 lators. The principle of inserting the acids required 

 to make the neutralisation graph more nearly linear 

 should be capable of wide application. A mixture of 

 phosphoric, acetic, and boric acids has been investi- 

 gated, the (H') values tabulated, and details given 

 ifor the reproduction of these as standards. They were 

 found to possess the advantages predicted. — Dr. 



E. A. N. Arber : The fossil floras of the Coal Measures 

 of South Staffordshire. A flora of fifty-eight species 

 is described from a new horizon in South .Stafford- 

 shire, the Red Clay Series, or Old Hill Marls, of 

 Transition Coal Measure age. A new genus, Calamo- 

 phloios, and new species of Sphenopteris and Cardio- 

 carpus are described, as well as several records new 

 to this horizon. Ten new records are added to the 

 known flora of the Productive Serjes (Middle Coal 

 Measures), including new species of Calamites and 

 Lepidostrobus. A large number of additional records 

 from new localities or horizons are added in respect 

 to fossils already known from these beds. 



Faraday Society, May 9. — Sir Robert Hadfield, presi- 

 dent, in the choir. — E. Hatschek : An analysis of the 

 theory of gels as systemg of two liquid phases. The 

 generally accepted theory of the constitution of gels is 

 that they are systems of two liquid phases. No 

 attempts have been made to determine whether this 

 assumption accounts for various observed properties 

 of gels. The present paper is a mathematical inves- 

 tigation directed to determining whether the observed 

 elastic properties of gels are compatible with their 

 being composed of two liquid phases only, and it is 

 concluded that this theory is untenable. — F. C. 

 Tiiompson : The properties of solid solutions of metals 

 and of intermetallic compounds. By considering the 

 space-lattice of a solid solution of two metals as result- 

 ing from the substitution of atoms of B for an equal 

 number of A in the space-lattice of the latter, it is 

 possible to predict with some completeness the proper- 

 ties, hardness, specific volume, and electrical resistance of 

 the allov. — F. C. Thompson : The annealing of metals. 

 After briefly considering the structural changes in- 

 duced in metals and simple alloys by such processes 

 as rolling or wire drawing, as a result of which the 

 crystalline elements remain unchanged in hardness, 

 the conditions governing such mechanical treatment of 

 metals are examined.^ — Z. Jeffries : Grain size 

 measurements in metals, and importance of such in- 

 formation. The author's method for mea«^ur- 

 ing £?rain size consists in counting the grams 

 completely included and partly included in the 

 circular portion of an imaee of the specimen 

 of standard magnification, and by means of an em- 

 oirical formula determining therefrom the equivalent 

 number of whole grains in the standard area. — Dr. 



F. T- Brislee : The changes in physical properties of 

 aluminium with mechanical work. II.- — Specific heats 



