January 22, 1903] 



NA TURE 



>8 7 



exposure. — The Astronomer Royal read a paper describing 

 his proposals for the reproduction and publication, on a scale 

 twice that of the original plates, of the photographs for the 

 Astrographic Chart made at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. 

 — The Astronomer Royal also read a note on photographs 

 of Giacobini's comet, taken at the Royal Observatory. — Mr. 

 H. C. Plummer briefly described the object of his paper on 

 the use of Mr. Aldis's tables of the function J (S + cos 8) in 

 determining the elements of an orbit. — Other papers were 

 taken as read. — A photograph of a Leonid meteor taken by Mr. 

 W. W. Payne at Carleton College Observatory, Northfield, 

 Minnesota, was exhibited on the screen. 



Geological Society, January 7. — Prof. C. Lapworth, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — On the discovery of an 

 ossiferous cavern of Pliocene age at Dove Holes, Buxton 

 (Derbyshire), by Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. The Car- 

 boniferous Limestone, in the neighbourhood of Dove Holes, 

 has from time to time yielded remains of extinct Mammalia of 

 Pleistocene age. The latest discovery is of a group of Mam- 

 malia of far higher antiquity than the Pleistocene. The 

 Victory Quarry, Bibbington, in which the discovery was made, 

 is excavated in a rolling plateau of Carboniferous Limestone. In 

 the course of working the quarry, a cave was discovered. It 

 ran nearly horizontally north and south, and consisted of a 

 large chamber and a small passage, both eroded in a master- 

 joint. It was filled with a horizontally stratified red clay, con- 

 taining angular and rolled pebbles of limestone, and a few 

 sandstone-pebbles from the Millstone Grit and Yoredale rocks. 

 Scattered through the mass were mammalian bones and teeth, 

 some waterworn and others with sharp fractures. The contents 

 had clearly been introduced into the cave by water, flowing 

 under geographical conditions which nn longer exist. The 

 mammalian remains belong to the following species : — 

 Machairodus crenatidens, Fabr. ; Hyaena, sp. ; Mastodon arver- 

 nensis, Croiz. and Job. ; Elephas meriaionalis, Nesli. ; Rhinoceros 

 etruscus, Falc. ; Eqitus stenonis, Nesli.; Cervus etueriarum, 

 Croiz. and Job. All these species are found in the Upper 

 Pliocene deposits of France and Italy, and undoubtedly belong 

 to that age. Some of the bones present the characteristic teeth- 

 marks of the hyaenas. The author concludes that the animal- 

 remains have been washed out of a hyena-den, which then existed 

 at a higher level, and carried down deep into the rock, into the 

 cave in which thev were found, along with the clay and pebbles 

 brought down in flood-time from the Yoredale and Millstone- 

 Grit hills. The author appends a map illustrating the physical 

 geography of the British Isles in Upper Pliocene lime. There 

 were then no physical barriers to forbid the migration of 

 Machairodus, Mastodon, Elephas meridionalis, and the rest, 

 from central and southern France into Britain. Over this 

 area, the animals migrated in the Upper Pliocene age. The 

 discovery of a few of them in Derbyshire is to be looked upon 

 as a monument of their former existence over the whole of this 

 region. 



Edinburgh. 



Mathematical Society, January 9. — On the decimalisation 

 of English money and some simplifications in long division, by 

 J. D. Hamilton Dickson and the late J. Hamblin Smith — 

 Note on the preceding paper, by J. W. Butters. — Notes on 

 anti-reciprocal points, by A. G. Burgess. — On the singular 

 points of plane curves, by Dr. Sprague. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, January 12. — M. Albert Gaudry 

 in the chair. — On some new halogen derivatives of dextro- 

 rotatory benzylidenecamphor and benzylcamphor, by MM. A. 

 Haller and J. Minguin. By the addition of hydrobromic 

 acid to benzylidenecamphor, a compound is obtained which can 

 be clearly distinguished from the benzylbromocamphors by the 

 different products obtained on opening up the camphor ring. — 

 On the glycolysis of the blood in vitro, by MM. R. Lepine 

 and Boulud. — The president announced to the Academy the 

 loss by death of M. Sirodot, correspondent in the section of 

 botany. — The variations in the activity of reduction of oxyhemo- 

 globin in the course of a balloon ascent, by M. Tripet. 

 Observations were made at altitudes up to 5000 metres on three 

 subjects, with the following results. At great altitudes, the du- 

 ration of reduction of the oxyhemoglobin diminishes to less than 

 one-half of the normal time of reduction, this diminution in the 

 balloon in the absence of all fatigue being nearly instantaneous. 



In all three subjects, the proportion of oxyhemoglobin 

 increased with the height. As the balloon approached the earth, 

 the converse phenomena were noted, but the teturn to the normal 

 was slow and was not completed on arriving at the surface of the 

 earth. The results of observations on the arterial blood-pressure 

 at varying heights are also given. — On a reciprocal transformation 

 in mechanics, by M. Paul I. Suchar. — On the existence in 

 certain differential systems of integrals responding to given initial 

 conditions, by M. Ch. Riquier. — On the singular trajectories 



of the problem of three bodies, by M. T. Levi-Civita On 



graphical statics in space, by M. B. Mayor. — Resistivity and 

 temperature, by M. Ponsot. —On two silicides of manganese, by 

 M.P. Lebeau. The existence of a manganese silicide, MnSi, 

 in steel has been indicated by MM. Carnot and Goutal, and 

 of a silicide, SiMn.,, by M. Vigouroux, but neither of these has 

 been isolated in a state of purity. It has been shown in 

 a previous paper that copper silicide can be utilised 

 in the preparation of the silicon compounds of iron 

 and cobalt, and the same reaction applies equally wel 

 to the study of the silicides of manganese. — On the 

 expansion of tempered steels, by MM. Georges Charpy and 

 Louis Grenet. The results of M. Svedelins on the contraction 

 and variation in the coefficient of expansion of annealed and 

 tempered steels are to a certain extent confirmed, but the differ- 

 ences found in the coefficients of expansion are not so great. — 

 On the chloride of cinnamylidene, by MM. Ernest Charon and 

 Edgar Dugoujon. This is produced by the interaction of 

 cinnamic aldehyde and phosphorus pentachloride under certain 

 conditions which are described. The compound is very un- 

 stable and is readily acted upon by water or moist air. The 

 addition products with chlorine and bromine are described. — 

 The action of sodium on iodophenoxypropane, by M. l'Abbe 

 J. Hamonet. — On the use of nitrates for the characterisation 

 of sweet wines, by M. Curtel. Advantage is taken of the 

 presence of nitrates in sugar from the beet to detect the 

 addition of sugar to wine. — On some cephalopods collected 

 during recent voyages of the Prince of Monaco, by M. L. 

 Joubin. — On two new types of parasitic Epicaride, by M. 



Jules Bonnier The fossil fishes of Belgium, by M. Maurice 



Leriche. — Preliminary note on the geology of the Isle of 

 Eubee, by M. Deprat. — On glacial observations made in 

 Upper Maurienne in the summer of 1902, by M. Paul Girardin. 

 — The phenomenon of pyrenolysis in the cells of the hepato- 

 pancreatic gland of Europagurus Bernardus, by M. L. Launoy. 

 — Organic sexual dimorphism in the Gallinaceeand its variation 

 with feeding, by M. Frederic Houssay. — On the presence of 

 saccharose in almonds and on its function in the formation of 

 oil, by M. C. Vallee — On the formation of the purple of 

 Purpura lapilhts, by M. Raphael Dubois. The author holds, 

 contrary to the views expressed by M. Letellier, that the 

 mechanism of formation of the colouring matter in Purpura is 

 the same as in the genus Murex, and is the result of the activity 

 of a zymase, to which the name of purpurase is given. 

 — Researches on the influence of variations of altitude on the 

 respiratory exchanges, by M. J. Tissot. A table of the experi- 

 mental results obtained by two observers in a captive balloon is 

 given, the discussion of the results being reserved for a future 

 note. — A comparative study of the activity of production 

 of glycose by striated muscle, by MM. Cadeac and Maignon. 

 — On the calculation of the amount of water added and cream 

 removed in milk analyses, by MM. Louise and Ch. Riquier. 

 A criticism of a formula of M. Genin. It is necessary to take 

 into account the change of volume produced by the removal of 

 cream. — Remark on the origin of volcanic activity, by M. 

 Stanislas Meunier. Remarking on the views recently put 

 forward by M. Gautier, the author points out that they are 

 identical with those put forward by him some time ago. 



New South Wales. 

 Linnean Society, November 26, 1902.— Mr. J. H. Maiden, 

 president, in the chair. — Studies on Australian Mollusca, 

 part vii. , by Mr. C. Hedley. An examination of the history of 

 nomenclature shows that the current names of many well-known 

 marine forms are defective. Purpura amygdala is shown to 

 apply properly to a West Australian species ; the Sydney shell 

 usually so called is described as P. pseudamygdala. Venus 

 austratis, Sowerby, is replaced by Chione lagopus, Lamarck, 

 and Capulus dameli of Angas (not Crosse) by C. australis, 

 Lamarck. A new species of Cecum, lately discovered by Miss 

 Parker, is added to the fauna under the name of C. lihanum. 



NO. 1734, VOL. 67] 



