March 2, 1905J 



NA TURE 



431 



belonging to it : a superior limit is also found in certain 

 cases, tor the first three degrees of the concomitants, for 

 a quantic of any order, the actual number of irreducible 

 concomitants is found ; and hence the number of funda- 

 mental syzygies is inferred. Tables of ground-forms are 

 given for quantics of order 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 respectively. — 

 Reduction of generating functions by means of complex 

 integration : G. B. Mathews, F.R.S. It is shown in this 

 note how a class of generating functions which occur in the 

 theory of invariants, and in that of the partition of num- 

 bers, may be reduced by means of Cauchy's calculus of 

 residues. 



Dublin. 

 Royal Irish Academy, February 13. — Prof. R. Atkinson, 

 president, in the chair. — Verb functions or explicit 

 operations, with notes on the solution of equations 

 by operative division : Major Ronald Ross, C.B., F.R.S. 

 If any expression is being considered as the result of an 

 operation performed on one of its elements, the actual 

 operation can be separately and explicitly represented in 

 the following manner. The place occupied by the subject- 

 element is called the base of the operation and is always 

 denoted by ;8. Thus, /3 cos-'/8 is the operation performed 

 on X in order to produce the function x cos-'.x. As /3 has 

 no quantitative value, such an expression as /3 cos-';3 de- 

 notes, not a quantity, but an action, and may be called a 

 verb function. Before applying such an expression to a 

 subject it must be placed in special (square) brackets in 

 order to distinguish operation from multiplication. The 

 method may be applied to the solution of a complete equa- 

 tion of the iith degree in 2n ways, and applies equally to 

 the solution of linear differential equations. 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, February 6. — Dr. Traquair in the chair. — 

 On Penella, a Crustacean parasitic on the Finner Whale 

 (Balaenoptera musciilus) : Sir William Turner. This cope- 

 pod was originally recognised by Koven and Danielssen as 

 parasitic on Balaenoptera rostrata. The author's specimens 

 were obtained in 1903 from B. miisculus. The memoir com- 

 prised an account of the external characters and internal 

 anatomy of the female, which, being from 10 to 12 inches 

 long, varying in different specimens, is a giant amongst 

 copepods. A comparison of the species with other species 

 of Penella was made, and the great length of the thoracic 

 in comparison with the genito-abdominal segment was re- 

 ferred to. The male of this species has not yet been recog- 

 nised. — The ontogeny of the neuron in vertebrates ; a 

 cytological study of the embryonic nucleus : Dr. John 

 Cameron. The results of the investigation tend to show 

 that the so-called neuroblasts of the central nervous system 

 in the early vertebrate embryo are really nuclei, from which 

 the rudiments of the axis cylinder are formed as delicate pro- 

 trusions. The neuroblast nuclei are found to exhibit re- 

 markable structural changes, as evidence of the formation 

 of these processes. The results attained in this research 

 support the central theory of nerve-genesis as formulated by, 

 among others. His and von Kolliker. They also tend to 

 throw fresh light on the properties and functions of the cell- 

 nucleus. 



Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, February 7. — 

 Prof. H. B. Dixon, F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — 

 A new direct-vision spectroscope : T. Thorp. In Mr. 

 Thorp's instrument the dispersion is effected by means of 

 a transparent grating of about 14,500 lines to the inch, 

 mounted on the long face of a light crown prism having a 

 refracting angle of about 37° to secure direct vision. This 

 prism-grating is mounted in a hinged frame and adjusted 

 so that the grating face is at an angle of 4=;° with the axis 

 of the instrument when the frame is at the centre of its 

 range of motion. A spring holds the frame tightly against 

 the end of a micrometer screw having a graduated head, 

 this head being in the focus of a lens placed near the 

 ocular of the spectroscope so that it can be read off without 

 taking the instrument away from the eye. The D lines 

 can just be separated in the pocket instrument, and read- 

 ings can be made by taking the mean of several to about 

 one Angstrom unit. — Leaden weights found at Melandra 

 Castle, an old Roman edifice near Glossop. among them 



NO. 1844, '^'OL. 71] 



being the uncia, or ounce, and other weights related 

 thereto : F. A. Bruton. — A direct determination of the 

 atomic weight of chlorine by burning a known weight of 

 hydrogen in a known weight of chlorine : Prof. H. B. 

 Oixon, F.R.S., and E. C. Ede^ar. The hydrogen was 

 occluded in palladium and so weighed ; the chlorine was 

 prepared by the electrolysis of silver chloride, and was 

 weighed in the liquid state. The atomic weight comes out 

 about 35-192, higher than the accepted number by 0.012. 

 This higher value is of interest in view of the recent (un- 

 published) work of Prof. Theodore Richards, of Harvard, 

 who obtains a value 0.019 higher than the accepted 

 atomic weight. — On the occurrence in Britain of the Pacific 

 eider (Somateria v-nigntrn, Gray), a species new to the 

 European avifauna : C. Oldham. — Some habits of bats, 

 with special reference to the lesser horse-shoe bat (Rhino- 

 lophits hipposiderus) : C. Oldham. Proofs were given that 

 the hibernation of these animals is not continuous, but 

 interrupted by transient periods of activity. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, February 20. — M. Troost in the 

 chair. — Observation of the partial eclipse of the moon on 

 February 19 : G. Bigrourdan. Owing to the cloudy con- 

 dition of the sky no observations were possible before 7.50 

 p.m. — On a new method of synthesis of alkyl derivatives of 

 certain cyclic saturated alcohols : A. Haller and F. March. 

 The sodium derivatives of propyl, isobutyl, and isoamyl 

 alcohols, heated to 200° to 225° C. in an autoclave with 

 /3-methylcyclohexanone, act partly as reducing and partly as 

 alkyl substituting agents. Homologues and isomers of men- 

 thol result from the reaction. — On the examples of Pali- 

 nuridcB and Eryonida; collected in the eastern Atlantic by 

 the French and Monaco expeditions : E. L. Bouvier. The 

 study of the collections brought home by the two expeditions 

 has resulted in the discovery of some new interesting 

 species, among others two types belonging to the genera 

 Puer and Eryonicus, examples of which are extremely 

 rare. These two forms show their distinctive morphological 

 characters very early. — The application to the nitriles of the 

 method of direct hydrogenation by catalysis ; the synthesis 

 of primary, secondary, and tertiary amines : Paul Sabatier 

 and J. B. Senderens (see p. 423). — The large solar spot of 

 February, 1905 : Th. Moureux. On February 2 this spot, 

 which was clearly visible to the naked eye, had a length of 

 180,200 kilometres. Its area was i ;'29th of the solar disc, and 

 hence it is greater than any sun-spot previously observed. — 

 On Taylor's series on the circle of convergence : Paul 

 Dienes. — On difTerential equations of the second order con- 

 taining a single parameter : G. Tzitzeica. — On, the 

 approximate integration of differentia! equations : Emile 

 Cotton. — On the mode of working of the differential gear 

 of automobiles : A. Petot. — On the coefficient of magnetisa- 

 tion of bismuth and on some fixed points in the diamagnetic 

 scale : Georges Meslin. The coefficient found for mercury 

 was —0-185.10-'', taking water as —0.79.10-'. For 

 crystallised bismuth the value, with the additive correction 

 for the air. was —1-39 10-°, whilst a slightly higher result, 

 --1.42.10-°, was obtained for the fused metal. — On the per- 

 borates : P. Melikoff. A claim for priority as against M. 

 Jaubert. — On lactyllactvllactic acid and the dilactide of the 

 inactive acid : E. Jung-fleisch and M. Godchot. — On the 

 carbimide of natural leucine : MM. Hugounenq and Morel. 

 The leucine ethyl ester was heated to 130° C. with carbonyl 

 chloride in toluene solution, and the mixture submitted to 

 fractional distillation in vacuo. The carbimide sought for 

 was readily separated in this way from the substituted urea 

 formed at the same time. — On the perborates : J. Bruhat 

 and H. Dubois. A description of the preparation and pro- 

 perties of the perborates of potassium, sodium, and am- 

 monium. — .Assimilation outside the organism : Ch. Ber- 

 nard. It has been stated by Friedel and confirmed by 

 Macchiati that the enzyme extracted from leaves by 

 glycerine in the presence of chlorophyll and light was 

 capable of decomposing carbonic acid and setting free 

 oxygen. The author has not been able to obtain any trace 

 of oxygen under these conditions, and on repeating an ex- 

 periment exactlv in accordance with Macchiati 's instructions 

 found that the gas evolved consisted of methane and other 

 inflammable gases, arising from the anaerobic decom- 

 position of the plant tissue, this change not taking place 



