4 6 



NA TURE 



[November 13, 1902 



which originated with the discovery of the Becquerel rays, had 

 been greatly advanced by the experiments carried out at the 

 Cavendish Laboratory, and he had no doubt that in the next two 

 or three years much light would be thrown upon this important 

 matter. — Prof H. L. Callendar exhibited some vacuum 

 calorimeters. Three of the calorimeters were for the deter- 

 mination of the specific heat of mercury, water and steam 

 respectively by the steady-flow method. The fourth was a 

 vacuum-jacketed Bunsen calorimeter. Prof. Callendar gave 

 some details of the instruments and described the method of 

 using them. — Miss A. Everett exhibited some photographs of 

 cross-sections of hollow pencils formed by oblique transmission 

 through an annulus of a lens. The direct rays of an arc light 

 were allowed to pass through an annulus of a convex lens tilted 

 to an angle of 45° with their direction and placed at a distance 

 of about twice its focal length from the arc. The photographic 

 plate was placed at right angles to the beam, and a series of 

 exposures was made at gradually increasing distances from the 

 lens. Two series of photographs were shown, the first series 

 from a plano-convex lers with one annulus and the second 

 from a double convex lens with two annuli. 



Zoological Society, November 4. — Mr. G. A. Boulenger, 

 F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — Dr. C. W. Andrews gave 

 an account, illustrated by lantern slides, of the pakeontological 

 discoveries made by himself and Mr. H. J. L. Beadnell during 

 their recent visit to the Fayum, Egypt. — A communication was 

 re id from Mr. R. Shelfurd dealing with the mimetic insects 

 and spiders of Borneo and Singapore. — Mr. C. Tate Regan 

 .-read a paper on the classification of the fishes of the suborder 

 JPlectognathi. — A communication from Lieut. -Colonel J. M. 

 Fawcett contained notes on the transformations of the butterfly 

 Papilio dardanus and the moth Philampelus megaera, and 

 descriptions of two new species of moths under the names 

 A'aidcsia clio and Dermakipa daseia. — Mr. Oldfield Thomas 

 .read a paper on the mammals collected by Mr. Edward Degen 

 during his recent expedition to Lake Tsana, Abyssinia. — A 

 communication was read from the Hon. Walter Rothschild, 

 in which he stated his opinion that the elk described by Mr. 

 Lydekker as Alies bedfordiat was, if not a valid species, a 

 distinct subspecies, and not a variety as had been supposed by 

 Mr II. J. Elwes. 



Cambridge. 



Philosophical Society, October 27. — Prof. Macalister, presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — A case of extreme visceral dislocation, with re- 

 marks on the functional interpretation of the agminated glands of 

 Ihe intestine, by Dr. E. Barclay-Smith. — Notes on the genus 

 Liparis, by Mr. J. J. Lister. Among other points, attention was 

 drawn to the difference between the conspicuous satiny-white col- 

 ouring of the three species Porthesia ciirysorrkaea, P. auriflua and 

 Liparis sa/tcis and the quiet buffs, browns and blacks of the other 

 members of the family, conforming closely with their environ- 

 ment ; and it was pointed out that there is a considerable body 

 of evidence showing that the conspicuous species are noxious to 

 other animals, both in the larval and adult state, by reason of 

 the urticating properties of the hairs. — Notes on the anatomy of 

 J/j, rozamia hetaromera, by Miss A. Robertson. — Further 

 experiments on radio-activity from rain, by Mr. C T. R. 

 Wilson. In a paper read before this Society on May 5, experi- 

 ments were described which showed that a vessel, in which 

 freshly fallen rain has been evaporated to dryness, shows radio- 

 active properties lasting for a few hours only. Many samples of 

 freshly fallen rain have since that date been tested both here and 

 at Peebles, and all have shown this effect. The magnitude of 

 the effect obtained from a given quantity of rain has nearly 

 .always been of the same order, whether the rain has consisted 

 of large or small drops, and whether it has been collected by 

 day or by night, at the beginning of a shower or after some 

 hours of continuous heavy rainfall. Once, however, during a 

 thunderstorm an abnormally large effect was obtained. The 

 radio-activity is obtained equally well, whether the rain is boiled 

 down in platinum or porcelain vessels. It is not destroyed by 

 porcelain vessels. It is not destroyed by heating the vessel to 

 dull redness ; in this, as in other points, it resembles the induced 

 radio-activity obtained on negatively charged wires. From 

 190 c.c. of rain a precipitate was obtained sufficiently radio- 

 active to increase the ionisalion within the testing vessel to 

 about 100 times its normal value ; to enter the vessel the rays 

 hid to penetrate aluminium about 0^00032 cm. in thickness. 



NO. I724, VOL. 67] 



The intensity of the radio-activity falls to about one-fourth of 

 its initial value in an hour, like that obtained by evaporation. 

 Similar precipitates formed in tap- water or in rain-water that has 

 stood for twenty-four hours are quite inactive. 



Manchester. 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, November 4. 

 — Mr. Charles Bailey, president, in the chair. — Mr. Francis 

 Jones read a paper on the action of alkalis on glass 

 and on paraffin, in which he pointed out that, while it is 

 generally acknowledged that alkalis in course of time act on 

 glass, there is considerable difference of opinion among chemists 

 as to whether this action interferes with the well-known test 

 for carbon dioxide in air, generally known as Pettenkofer's, but 

 which was first described by Dalton in a paper read before this 

 Society in 1802. Solutions of lime, strontia and baryta of known 

 strength were left in glass bottles at the ordinary temperature 

 for several months, and the strength of each was ascertained 

 from time to time. It was found that the lime water lost 

 strength more rapidly than the others, and that baryta could be 

 kept in glass bottles for a period of twenty months without 

 suffering any material loss in strength. Similar solutions were 

 left in contact with finely divided silica and with powdered 

 glass, and again it was found that lime water acted on these 

 bodies more rapidly than the other two. The action on glass 

 bottles, however, is not so rapid as to prevent any three of 

 these alkaline solutions being used for Pettenkofer's test. It 

 has been suggested that bottles used for this test should be 

 coated with paraffin wax to prevent the contact of the alkaline 

 liquid with the glass, but the author shows that lime, strontia 

 and baryta lose strength in contact with paraffin, the action of 

 baryta being much more energetic than that of either lime cr 

 strontia. Some baryta solution in contact with paraffin for 

 five months was very nearly neutral at the end of that period. 

 Consequently, the storing of standard baryta solutions in 

 paraffined bottles is quite inadmissible. — Sir W. H. Bailey 

 exhibited the working model of the switchback centrifugal 

 railway invented and made by Richard Roberts. — Mr. W. E. 

 Hoyle exhibited some coloured photographic lantern slides 

 prepared by the Sanger Shepherd process. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, November 3. — M. Bouquet de la 

 Grye in the chair. — On two Trypanosomes of Transvaal cattle, 

 by M. A. Laveran. Details are given of the mode of growth 

 and multiplication of Tr. Theileri, the cause of the cattle 

 disease known as Galziekte. Another Trypanosome, found by 

 M. Theiler in the blood of an ox, is regarded by the author as 

 a new species, to which the name of Tr. transvaaliense is 

 given. — On the equality of the velocity of propagation of the 

 X-rays and of light in air, by M. R. Blondlot. On the sup- 

 position that the velocities of the X-rays and the Hertzian waves 

 are equal, it can be predicted that the reinforcing effect of an 

 X-ray tube upon a spark discharge ought to pass through a 

 maximum for a certain position of the tube with regard to the 

 spaik, and this conclusion has been confirmed by experiment. 

 The same hypothesis allows of the calculation in advance of the 

 displacements that the position of the tube corresponding to this 

 maximum ought to undergo in consequence of changes in the 

 conducting wires or in the detonator. This was also confirmed 

 experimentally, one method giving for the ratio of the velocities 

 o'()7 and the other 093. The whole of the experimental facts 

 lead to the conclusion that the velocity of propagation of the 

 X-rays is equal to that of the Hertzian waves or of light in air. 

 — On some recent sunsets, by M. Perrotin. The recent sun- 

 set glows are compared with the similar ones in 1883, and the 

 hypo hesis of their volcanic origin is considered. It is pointed out 

 that the phenomena occurred in the same month in both years, 

 which would tend to suggest that their origin was rather due to 

 meteorological conditions than to after effects of volcanic erup- 

 tions. — The analysis of nine specimens of air collected in the 

 galleries of a coal mine, by M. Nestor Grehaut. The carbonic 

 acid was found to vary between I 'O and I 8 per cent., methane 

 between 3'5 and 75 per cent., and oxygen between i6'l 

 and 18 per cent. Attention is drawn to the high per- 

 centage of marsh gas, which in three cases was present in 

 sufficient quantity to form an explosive mixture. — On the mono- 

 graphic resolution of the triangle of position for a given latitude, 

 by M. Maurice d'Ocagne. — On uniform ttanscendentals defined 

 by difleicnlial equations of the second order, by M. R Liouville. 



