December 14, 1899] 



NA TORE 



167 



be about i milligram of arsenic in 127 grams of thyroid 

 gland. Further research showed that if the gland is 

 slowly digested at 38^ in presence of acidulated pepsine 

 solution, the peptone formed contained no arsenic, the 

 whole being concentrated in the residue of cellular nuclei. — 

 Research and estimation of minimal quantities of arsenic in the 

 organs, by M. Arniand Gautier. The tissues are warmed with 

 pure nitric acid (containing about one per cent, of sulphuric 

 acid) until the whole is liquefied, then strong sulphuric acid is 

 added and heat again applied, the oxidation being completed 

 by the addition of nitric acid in small quantities. The liquid is 

 diluted largely with water, sulphurous acid added, and hydrogen 

 sulphide passed for some hours. After purification, the arsenic 

 sulphide is oxidised and poured into a Mi^rsh's apparatus.— M. 

 Georges Lemoine was elected a Member in the Section of 

 Chemistry in the place of the late M. Friedel.— Particulars of 

 a destructive earthquake in the Moluccas on September 30, by 

 the French Consul at Batavia. — Remarks by M. Loewy on the 

 " Annales de I'Observatoire de Toulouse." — Observations of 

 the Leonids and Bielids made at Athens, November 1899, 

 by M. D. 6ginitis. — On some properties of certain sys- 

 tems of circles and spheres, by M. C. Guichard. — 

 On the theory of groups, by M. R. Baire. — On dif- 

 ferential equations of the second order with fixed critical 

 points, by M. Paul Painleve. — Generalisation of a formula of 

 Gauss, by M. E. Busche. — On the transformation of Abelian 

 functions, by M. G. Humbert. — Influence of the X-rays upon 

 the electrical resistance of selenium, by M. Perreau. The X- 

 rays were found to reduce the resistance of selenium in a 

 similar manner to light rays, the reduction caused by the 

 Chabaud tube used being nearly the same as that caused by 

 diffused daylight, or a gas flame at i'5 metres. — On the proof 

 of the fluorescence of aluminium and magnesium in water and 

 in alcohol under the action of the currents from an induction 

 coil, by M. Thomas Tommasina. — Dissociation of potassium 

 and ammonium iodomercurates by water, by M. Maurice 

 Francois. The decomposition of (NHj)!. flglg. HgO and of 

 KI.HgI.2.5H20 is a limited one, and is reversible. When the 

 state of equilibrium is attained, the amount of alkaline iodide 

 present in the liquid is constant for a given temperature. — On 

 the heats of partial neutralisation of carbonyl-ferrocyanic acid 

 compared with those of ferrocyanic acid, by M. J. A. Muller. 

 Carbonyl-ferrocyanic and ferrocyanic acids are of the same 

 order of strength. — On some new combinations of benzene with 

 phosphoric anhydride, by M. H. Giran. — Preparation of tetra- 

 chloro- and tetrabromo-orthoquinones starting from the corre- 

 sponding tetrahaloid derivatives of guiacol and veratrol, by M. 

 H. Cousin. The tetrachloro-derivatives of guiacol and veratrol 

 are first hydrolysed by nitric acid, and the resulting pyro- 

 catechols oxidised to the corresponding quinones. — On a case 

 of hysterical hemiplegia cured by hypnotic suggestion and 

 studied by chronophotography, by M. G. Marinesco. — Biological 

 observations on Peripaltis capensis, by M. E. L. Bouvier. — 

 On the hybrid fertilisation of the albumen, by M. Hugo de 

 Vries. — The Cretaceous minerals of Aquitaine, by M. Ph. 

 Glangeaud. — On the history of the Jiu valley, in the Central 

 Carpathians, by M. E. de Martonne. — On the vestiges of an 

 ancient vitrified stronghold in the upper valley of the Dore 

 (Puy-de Dome), by M. J. Uselade. 



New South Wales. 

 Royal Society, September 6.— The President, W. M. 

 Hamlet, in the chair. — " Sailing birds are dependent on wave- 

 power," by L. Hargrave. The author points out that sailing 

 birds passed most of their time over the face or rising side of 

 waves, and that by so doing they abstracted power from the 

 moving water as the progress of the wave raised the air above 

 it at a velocity proportional to its speed and slope. He used 

 Prof. S. P. Langley's results to show that the uplift of a 

 moderate swell was amply sufficient to support a plane and 

 keep it moving at about thirty-five miles per hour in a calm. — 

 " Some applications and developments of the prismoidal 

 formula," by G. H. Knibbs. Starting with a demonstration 

 that the prismoidal formula was rigorously applicable to solids 

 with parallel plane ends, whose mantles were ruled surfaces, 

 the paper showed how the volumes of series of longitudinally 

 contiguous solids, with plane ends, and skew or warped — ruled 

 quadric — surfaces on the other sides, could most conveniently 

 be calculated. The determination of the volumes of solids 

 whose longitudinal axes were plane-curves, or curves of double 



NO. 1572, VOL. 61] 



curvature, was also considered, and it was shown that the 

 prismoidal formula was also rigorously applicable to circularly 

 warped solids, the centre of gravity in such changing its p<«ition 

 linearly with the distance along the curved longitudinal axis. 

 When the change of the centre of gravity of a right section is a 

 non-linear function of the distance along the curved axis, or 

 when the radius of curvature is not constant, the prismoidal 

 formula is not rigorously applicable. The paper closed with 

 suggestions as to the application of the formulae. — Among the 

 exhibits were twenty- four mounted photographs, including a 

 series of photographs of aboriginals representing two types, 

 male and female, a few illustrative of camp life and corroborrees, 

 and a special series illustrating some of the details of an 

 aboriginal Bora ceremony. The photographs were taken 

 and exhibited by Mr. Chas. H. Kerry, and afterwards presented 

 to the Society. 



Royal Society, October 4.— Prof. T. W. E. David, Vice- 

 President, in the chair. — Current Papers, No. 4, by H. C. 

 Russell, C.M.G., F.R.S. This paper began by calling atten- 

 tion to the fact that during the years 1896 and 1897 the preva- 

 lent winds over Australia and the Indian Ocean were north-west, 

 and that as a result, comparatively few current papers were re- 

 ceived, because the wind forced the bottles carrying current 

 papers towards the south, and in this way prevented them from 

 resting in the Australian Bight, the great dumping ground for 

 bottles. It was also shown that during the past year north-west 

 winds had been few and light, while southerly winds had been 

 frequent, and, as a consequence, current papers had been fre- 

 quently received. On many days they came in pairs, and on 

 one day three current papers had been seen, which is the maxi- 

 mum for one day, and during the past year 105 had been 

 received. Referring to the drift of the disabled steamer Perth- 

 shire, it was shown that the direction the steamer took was just 

 that which the author had found to be the course of bottle- 

 papers, and that although the Perthshire was driven by many 

 winds, it would appear that the final result did not produce any 

 deviation from the drift line of that part of the Tasman Sea. Re- 

 ference was made to the unusual number of breaks in propeller 

 shafts, and to the greater speed of current papers and the great 

 number of violent storms, which the author thought all pointed 

 to unusual energy in the sea and atmosphere, which may have 

 caused the unusual strains on propeller shafts. — Note on the oc- 

 currence of Glaciated Pebbles in the Permo-Carboniferous Coal- 

 field near Lochinvar, New South Wales, by Prof. T. W. E. David. 

 These glaciated pebbles occur on a geological horizon over 1000 

 feet below the level of the Greta Coal-seams, whereas the hori- 

 zons, where Mr. W. G. Woolnough and Mr. R. D. Oldham 

 discovered their glacial pebbles, are from 1500 to about 2000 feet 

 above the level of the Greta Coal-seams. These glacial beds at 

 Lochinvar are at the very base of the Permo-Carboniferous 

 System, and in general appearance closely resemble the Bacchus 

 Marsh Glacial beds of Victoria, a locality where there is evidence 

 of ice action on a grand scale over a wide area. These last 

 belong probably to about the same geological age as the beds 

 near Lochinvar. The height of the glacial beds at Lochinvar is 

 about 200 feet above the sea, and the thickness of the beds prob- 

 ably not less than 200 feet. The pebbles were probably trans- 

 ported by floating ice. Those at Lochinvar were carried to 

 their present resting place before the Greta Coal-seams were 

 formed, and those at Branxton some time subsequent to the 

 formation of the Greta Coal, in either case at times when this 

 part of the Hunter Coal-field was submerged under the sea, as 

 marine shells of Permo-Carboniferous age occur immediately 

 above the glacial beds. 



Amsterdam. 

 Royal Academy of Sciences, October 28. — Prof Stokvis 

 in the chair. — Prof. Martin reported on behalf of Prof. Bthrens 

 and himself on a treatise by Mr. Fritz Noetling, entitled 

 "The miocene of Burma." The conclusion of this report was 

 adopted, viz. to insert this treatise in the Transactions of the 

 Academy. — Mr. H. E. de Bruyn read a paper on the relation 

 between the mean sea level and the height of half tide. The 

 author proved that various causes, such as (l) the height of 

 the flood tide, (2) the average sea level, (3) the time of year, 

 (4) the presence of drift ice, influence the difference between 

 the above two averages, and he determined the amount of this 

 influence in the case of the sea level at Delfzyl. — Prof. 

 Bakhuis Roozehoom presented Dr. H. J. Hissink's dissertation, 

 entitled "On mixed crystals of sodium nitrate with potassium 



