484 



NATURE 



[March 15, 1900 



fluorine in topaz by three different methods, viz. by fusing the 

 topaz with alkaline carbonates alone (Wohler), by liberating 

 the fluorine as silicon tetra-fluoride and weighing as potassium 

 silicon- fluoride (Liversidge), and by decomposing with alkaline 

 ■carbonates and silica (Berzelius- Rose). The last method gave 

 'the best results, and very probably the whole of the fluorine is 

 obtained by this method. — Note on a remarkable increase of 

 temperature after dark at Seven Oaks, Macleay River, by Hugh 

 Charles Kiddle. — Records of rock temperatures at Sydney 

 Harbour Colliery Birthday Shaft, Balmain, Sydney, by J. L. C. 

 Rae, E. F, Pittman and Prof. T. W. E. David.— The deep 

 sinking now being carried on at the Sydney Harbour 

 Colliery, Balmain, with which one of the authors is actively 

 associated, affords a very favourable opportunity of noting the 

 tiature and temperatures of the various rocks underlying the 

 ■neighbourhood of Sydney, and this the authors are utilising. 

 The paper read deals with the temperatures noted to a depth of 

 •1450 feet, which was the depth reached in the shaft at the 

 >«iiddle of November. The thermometers used were specially 

 supplied by Prof. Everett, F.R.S., Secretary of the British 

 Association Committee on the subject of underground tempera- 

 tures. If the mean annual temperature of Sydney be taken as 

 63° Fahr., the rate of increase is shown, by the observations 

 •4nade, !o be at the rate of i° Fahr. for every 90^ feet. A 

 remarkal)le increase of temperature was noted as the sinking 

 passed from the Hawkesbury Sandstones into the Narrabeen 

 "Beds, the upper section of which consists of chocolate shales. — 

 Note on the edible earth from Fiji, by the Hon. B. G. Corney, 

 "Prof. David and F. B. Guthrie. The sample of edible earth, 

 a soft, pale pink, clayey material, with occasional lumps of 

 chalcedony, was collected by Dr. Corney, near the northern 

 ■coast of Vanua Levu. Silica, alumina and combined water 

 are present in approximately the proportion required by the 

 formula Al203(Si02).2(H.^O)2 ; the substance appears, therefore, 

 to be a silicate of that composition — probably kaolinite — with 

 about 7 6 per cent, of uncombined ferric oxide as mechanical 

 impurity. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, March 15. 

 "ROVAI- SooiETV, at 4.30. — Total Eclipse of the Sun, January 22, 1898. 

 Observations at Viziadrug : Sir N. Lockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S., Captain 

 Cbisholm-Batten, R.N., and Prof. Pedler, F.R.S.— A Comparative 

 Crystallographical Study of the Double Selenates of the Series 

 R2M(Se04)<., 6M2O. Part I. Salts in which M is Zinc: A. E. 

 Tutton, F.R.S.— The Theory of the Double Gamma Function : E. W. 

 Barnes. 

 Royal In-stitutiov, at 3. — Recent Excavations in Greece: Dr. C. 



Waldstein. 

 t,iNNEAN SocrETV, at 8. — Report on the Botanical Results of an Expedi- 

 tion to Mount Roraima, in British Guiana, undertaken by F. V. 

 McConnell and J. J. Quelch, W. Bolting Hemsley, F.R.S., and others. 

 — Bryozoa from Franz Josef Land, collected by the Jackson-Harmsworth 

 Expedition, 1896-97 : A. W. Waters. 

 ^Chemical Society, at 8.— The Vapour Densities of Dried Mercury and 

 Mercurous Chloride : H. Brereton Baker.— (r) The Preparation of Pure 

 ''Hydrobromic Acid; (2) A New Sulphide of Arsenic : Dr. A. Scott, 

 F.R.S.— The Action of Iodine on Alkalis : R. L. Taylor. — The Inter- 

 action between Sulphites and Nitrites: Dr. Edward Divers, F.R.S., 

 and Dr. Tamemasa Haga.— New Polysaccharides: Manno-galactan 

 and Laevulomarman: Julian L. Baker and Thomas H. Pope. 

 FRIDAY, March i6. 

 aioYAL Institution, at 9.— Pictorial Historical Records: Sir Benjamin 



Stone. 

 EeiDEMiOLOGiCAL Society, at 8.30. — Measles: its Distribution and 

 Control: Dr Rotinson. 



SATURDAY, March 17. 



■ EStoYAL Institution, at 3.— Polarised Light : Lord Rayleigh. 



MONDAY, March 19. 

 •.Society of Arts, at 8.— The Photography of Colour : E. Sanger 



Shepherd. 

 RoY^t. liBOGRAPHiCAL SOCIETY, at 8. 30.— Explorations in the Pata- 



■ gonian Cordilleras : Dr. Hans Steffen. 



TUESDAY, March 20. 



<E.OYAL Institution, at 3. — Structure and Classification of Fishes : Prof. 

 E. Ray Lankester, F.R.S. 



^'Society OF Arts (Foreign and Colonial Section), at 4.30.— Imperial Tele- 

 graph Communication : Sir Edward A. Sassoon, Bart. 



iKoo LOGICAL Society, at 8.30.— Field Notes on some of the East African 

 Mammals (illustrated with Lantern Slides) : S. L. Hinde.— On a Case of 

 HomcEosi* in Asellus—KnXennule. replaced by a Mandible : W. Bateson, 

 F.R.S.— On Echinoderms from Singapore and Malacca : F. P. Bedford. 



TRovAL Geographical Society, at 4.— Twelve Years' Work of the 

 Ordnance Survey : Cobnel Sir John Farquharson, K.C.B. 



ilNSTiTOTiONOF CiviL ENGINEERS, at 8.— The Great Central Railway 

 Extension— Northern Division : F. W. Bidder.— The Great Central 

 Hailway Extension— Southern Division : F. Douglas Fox. 



NO. 1585, VOL. 61] 



A Demonstration of the Heliogravure 



Royal Photographic Society. 



Process : Ignatz Herbst. 

 Royal Statistical Society, at 5.30. 



WEDNESDAY, March 21, 



Society of Arts, at 8.— The Use and Abuse of Food Preservatives : Dr. 

 Samuel Rideal. 



Geological Society, at 8.— On a Bird from the Stonesfield Slate : Prof. 

 H. G. Seeley, F.R.S. — The Lower Ludlow Formation and its Graptolite- 

 Fauna: Mi.ss Ethel M. R. Wood. 



Royal Meteorological Society, at 7.30.— The Ether Sunshine Re- 

 corder : W. H. Dines. — Remarks on the Weather Conditions of the 

 Steamship Track between Fiji and Hawaii : Captain M. W. C. Hep- 

 worth. ^Comparison by means of Dots : Alexander B. MacDowall. 



Royal Microscopical Society, at f.30.— Exhibition of Slides of New, 

 Rare, and Foreign Rotifera, by C. F. Rousselet. 



Entomological Society, at 8. 



THURSDAY, March 22. 

 Royal Society, at 4.30. — The Croonian Lecture: Immunity, with 



Special Reference to Cell Life : Prof. Paul Ehrlich (of Frankfort-on- 



Main). 

 Royal Institution, at 3, — Equatorial East Africa and Mount Kmya : 



H. J. Mackinder. 

 Institution of Electrical Engineers, at 8.— Storage Battery Prob 



lems : E. J. Wade. 

 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, at 8.— Adjourned Discussion 



on Improvamsnts in the Longworth Power-Hammer, and Portable 



Pneumatic Tools. — Paper to be read: Observations on an Improved 



Glass Revealer, for Studying Condensation in Steam- Engine Cylinders 



and rendering the Effects Visible : Bryan Donkin. 



FRIDAY, March 23. 

 Royal Institution, at q.^Some Modern Explosives : Sir Andrew 



Noble. 

 Physical Society, at 5. — An Electromagnetic Experiment : Prof. S. P. 



Thompson, F.R.S.— (i) Some Experiments illustrating Syntony ; (2) An 



Electrical Micrometer : P. E. Shaw. 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8. — The Development of the Modern 



Locomotive Engine : J. W. Cross. 



SATURDAY, March 24. 

 Royal I vsriTUTiON, at 3.— Polarised Light : Lord Rayleigh. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 

 Sugars and their Derivatives. By Prof. R. Meldola, 



F.R.S. . . • 461 



A New Book on Man. By Prof. A. C. Haddon, 



F.R.S 462 



Systematic Bacteriology. By Dr. E. Klein, F.R.S. 464 



Collected Works of L. Lorenz 465 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Cunynghame : " Theory and Practice of Art Enamel- 

 ling upon Metals " 466 



Leigh : " The Witness of Creation : Nature Sketches 



from the Book of Job" . . . . . 466 



Guignet and Gamier: " La Ceramique Ancienne et 



Moderne" 466 



Letters to the Editor:— 



The Acoustic Analysis of the Vowels from the 

 Phonographic Record. {With Diagrams.)— P tot 



Louis Bevier ... . . 467 



Illustrations of Lepidoptera.—H. J. Elwes, F R.S. 468 

 "Billiards Mathematically Treated."— Enquirer ; 



G. W. Hemming .... . 468 



The Micro-Organism of Faulty Rum.— V. H. Veley, 



F.R.S., and Lilian J. Veley 468 



Drunkenness and the Weather.— R. C, T. Evans . 469 

 Mechanical Methods of Calculating Logarithms.— 



H. C. Pocklington 469 



The Centenary of the Berlin Academy of Sciences . 469 

 The Potency and Prepotency ofj Pollen. By Prof. 



H. Marshall Ward, F.R.S 470 



Atmospheric Electricity and Disease. By Prof. John 



Perry, F.R.S 47i 



Professor Emile Blanchard. By R. L 473 



Drs. C. T. R. Luther and G. Riimker 473 



Dr. Thomas Preston, F.R.S 474 



George James Symons, F.R.S 475 



Notes 475 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Search for an Intramercurial Planet 479 



The New Twin Refractor at Potsdam 479 



The Benjamin Althorp Gould Fund 479 



University and Educational Intelligence 479 



Societies and Academies 480 



Diary of Societies 484 



