JuLy 9, 1914] 
Challenger Society, June 24.—Dr. A. E. Shipley 
in the chair.—Commander Campbell Hepworth: The 
origin of the Gulf weed. Commander Hepworth 
initiated a discussion by referring to a form of Sar- 
gassum found in the central part of the Sargasso Sea. 
Seed-like bodies were stated to have been seen from 
which small leaves sprouted in various stages of 
growth up to 4 or 5 in. long. It was suggested that 
these might represent a mode of reproduction not 
hitherto recognised in Sargassum.—G. C. Robson: 
Lo Bianco’s work on the periods of sexual activity in 
marine animals. The lists compiled by Lo Bianco 
from observations over a period of thirty years on the 
animals of the Gulf of Naples were analysed, and an 
attempt was made to discover causes for the differ- 
ences of breeding period in various species, genera, 
and larger groups. It was concluded that while in 
certain cases it seemed possible to correlate these 
differences with the mode of life of the animals, in 
other cases the differences appeared to be non-adaptive. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, June 29.—M. P. Appell in the 
chair.—G,. Bigourdan: The various classifications of 
nebule and star clusters and the abbreviations em- 
ployed for describing these objects. A_ historical 
account of the systems of classification and the corre- 
sponding abbreviations due to J. Herschel, Schultz, 
Kobold and Wirtz, Wolf, S. I. Bailey, Stone, and 
Merecki. The author proposes a system partially based 
on these, and gives a list of the principal abbreviations 
which he suggests might be universally adopted.—J. 
Meyeringh and A. Haller: Dimethylallylacetophenone 
and its oxidation products. Careful oxidation with weak 
alkaline permanganate gave the glycol, 
C,H,.CO.C(CH,).CH,.CH(OH).CH,.OH, 
or 2-benzoyl-2-methyl-4 : 5-pentanediol. The reactions 
of this glycol with benzoyl chloride and phenyl iso- 
cyanate have been studied, and the products are de- 
scribed.—André Blondel; Analysis of the induction 
reactions in alternators.—C, Guichard; Surfaces such 
that the osculating spheres to the lines of curvature 
of a series form an O or a 2lI_ system.—-Georges 
Charpy: The influence of time on the rapid deforma- 
tions of metals. In testing metals by shock, the 
variation of the time of deformation was varied from 
oor to o-oor second, and this variation produced no 
practical differences in the work absorbed by the 
breaking.—H, Parenty: An experimental law for the 
flow of gases and steam through orifices.—F. W. 
Dyson was elected a correspondant for the section of 
astronomy, in the place of the late Sir David Gill. 
—<A. Buhl: The normal curvature of closed contours.— 
R. J. Backlund: The zeros of the function ((s) of 
Riemann.—Theodor Poeschl: An evaluation of poten- 
tials—Leonida Tonelli: A direct method for the cal- 
culus of variations.—Harald Bohr: The function ((s) 
of Riemann.—André Léauté: The problem of two 
electric lines branched in series.—A. Schidlof and A. 
Karpowicz: The evaporation of globules of mercury 
maintained in suspension in a gaseous medium. It 
was found in experiments designed to measure the 
elementary charge on fine mercury particles in sus- 
pension that the velocity of fall diminished con- 
tinuously, an effect. possibly due to evaporation. This 
phenomenon would vitiate the conclusions drawn by 
Ehrenhaft from his experiments.—Mlle. Paule Collet : 
The variations of resistance of crystals and residual 
electromotive forces.—J. Minguin and R. Bloc: The 
influence of solvents on the optical activity of the 
ortho- and allo-acid methyl camphorates and _ the 
NO. 2332, VOL. 93] 
NALORE 
1 
499 
neutral camphorate. The solvent exerts a very con- 
siderable influence on the optical activity. Thus the 
ortho-methyl camphorate in formic acid gave a=8-16°, 
in cinnamene, o=13-46°, numerous other organic sol- 
vents giving intermediate values.—M.  Leprince- 
Ringuet : The inflammability of mixtures of methane 
and various gases.—F. Ducelliez and A. Raynaud ; The 
bromination of cobalt and nickel in presence of 
ethyl ether. The compounds, CoBr,(C,H,,O) and 
NiBr.(C,H,,O), are produced. These are decomposed 
by heat and give the anhydrous bromides.—O. 
Hoénigschmid: Revision of the atomic weight of 
uranium. Analyses. of the bromide gave 238-175 as 
the mean value of fourteen determinations.—C. 
Gaudefroy: The dehydration of gypsum. The trans- 
formation of the hemihydrate into the soluble 
anhydride is reversible. This accounts for the different 
temperatures. given by various observers as that at 
which the anhydrous calcium sulphate is produced 
the temperature depends on the hygrometric state of 
the air in the oven.—E. Gley: The function of the 
suprarenal capsules in the action of vaso-constrictive 
substances. Indirect vaso-constrictive substances.—]. 
Chaine: A fairly frequent error of interpretation in 
comparative anatomy.—A. Vayssiérre and G. Quintaret : 
A case of hermaphrodism in Scyllium — stellare.— 
Maurice Caullery: The Siboglinidee, a new type of 
invertebrates collected by the Siboga expedition.— 
MM. Bonnefon and Lacoste: Experimental researches 
on the grafting of the cornea.—H. Busquet and M. 
Tiffeneau : The rhythmic oscillations of the tonicity of 
the ventricles on the isolated rabbit’s heart.—T. 
Bézier ; The existence of a Carboniferous flora, possibly 
Westphalian, at Melesse (Ille-et-Vilaine).—R. Tron- 
quoy: Some new data concerning the geology and 
petrography of the Congo.—Jacques Deprat: The 
Palzozoic strata and the Trias in the region of Hoa- 
Binh and of Cho-Bo (Tonkin).—J. Giraud: The sedi- 
mentary strata of the south and west of Madagascar. 
—Maurice Lugeon: The extent of the Morcles strata. 
—Jean Chautard; Contribution to the study of the 
origin of petroleum.—Pereira de Sousa: The effects in 
Portugal of the earthquake of November 1,. 1755. 
The results of the study of a document by the Marquis 
de Pombal, recently discovered in the national archives 
of Lisbon. 
Care Town. 
Royal Society of South Africa, May 20.—The president 
in the chair.—T. Muir: Properties of Pfafhans and 
their analogues in determinants.—J. C. Beattie: The 
secular variation of the magnetic elements in South 
Africa during the period t1goo-13. The annual 
changes in the. magnetic declination vary from an 
average decrease of 1:5’ of westerly declination at 
Mauritius during 1900e-g—a change which has turned 
into an increase of 1-4’ a year between 1907-g—to a 
decrease of 14’ a year in the neighbourhood of Dur- 
ban; from the latter place the decrease becomes less 
as we go in a north-westerly direction, and attains a 
value of 5’ at Loanda; the decrease as we go west or 
south-west is also quite definite, though not so great, 
and at Cape Town has the value of 8’. It appears 
also that the absolute value of the decrease is increas- 
ing all over South Africa at the present time. A com- 
parison of the results given in the paper with those of 
the American and British Admiralty declination charts 
for approximately the same epoch shows no continuity 
between the land values of the secular change and 
those over the sea, the high values over the land find 
no place over the sea except in the case of the result 
obtained from the Gauss and Carnegie observations. 
The greatest annual change of dip is found in the 
