APRIL 4, 1907 | 
IN AT O8EE, 
Sad 
cent. in volume, intermediate rocks 5 per cent. to 7 per 
cent., and basic rocks less than 6 per cent. Of minerals 
tested, pargasite underwent the greatest expansion, albite 
gained 10 per cent., while in anorthite and leucite the 
increase was less than 4 per cent. The melting points of 
the rocks and minerals experimented upon were found to 
range from 1260° C. for rhyolite to 1070° C. for Clee Hill 
dolerite. The refractive indices of the glasses were deter- 
mined in dense fluids. An attempt was made to find 
experimentally the eutectic proportions of quartz and 
felspar. A mixture of orthoclase and albite gave a melting 
point lower than those of either mineral taken separately. 
Royal Meteorological Society, March 20.—Dr. H. R. 
Mill, president, in the chair.—The exploration of the air: 
Major B. F. S. Baden-Powell. Two classes of people 
are interested in the exploration of the atmosphere :— 
(1) the meteorologists, who study it chiefly to find out 
about the weather, and (2) the inventors, who would utilise 
it as a highway of travel. But these two are by no 
means rivals. The attainment of their objects will be of 
mutual assistance to one another. The aérial navigator 
will want to know all about the currents and the con- 
ditions of the air, while the meteorologist will derive the 
utmost benefit from the ability to visit any parts of the 
atmosphere. There are three means now at the service 
of man by which he may ascend into these desirable 
regions, or may send up self-recording instruments to 
probe the mysteries of the skies, viz. balloons, kites, and 
flving machines. ‘The balloon; although at the time of its 
invention it was hailed with acclamation as promising the 
conquest of the air to man, yet it is now realised that 
this cumbrous and delicate apparatus is not capable of 
much practical application. It is, nevertheless, useful 
(1) as an observatory for scientific investigation, (2) as a 
means of reconnaissance in war, and (3) as a most agree- 
able way of spending an hour or two in blissful peace 
and sublimity. But recently great strides have been made 
in the improvement of the balloon in the way. of pro- 
viding it with engines and propellers so that it may be 
driven to any predetermined goal. Twenty-five years ago 
the French Government made the first dirigible airship, 
and now it possesses one, if not more, that seems to be 
a really practical air vessel of war. Count Zeppelin in 
Germany has also produced a machine which in point of 
size as well as in speed has beaten all records. Going 
to the other extreme, we have small balloons now capable 
of attaining the greatest heights carrying self-recording 
instruments. Such contrivances have recently ascended to 
the enormous altitude of 82,000 feet, or nearly sixteen 
miles above the surface of the earth. Closely connected 
with this subject of ballons sondes, as the French call 
them, is that of meteorological kites. These also have 
been much improved in recent years, and instruments 
lifted by kites retained by steel wires have actually 
ascended to a height of four miles. Kites of a much 
larger dimension have also come into use during the last 
few years. At Aldershot they have been regularly intro- 
duced into the service. Men were first lifted by this means 
in 1895, in which year the lecturer made a number of 
ascents up to 100 feet high, but improvements have 
gradually followed until now men have actually gone up 
to a height of 3000 feet, an elevation practically beyond 
the reach of rifle bullets, and so high as to render 
the aéronaut almost invisible. Major Baden-Powell, in 
conclusion, referred to a subject which, if it has not 
hitherto had any very practical results, yet promises to 
bring about perhaps more extraordinary changes in the 
life of man than have resulted from any other of the 
marvellous inventions of the nineteenth or twentieth 
centuries. The flying machine has come, and it has come 
to stay. During the last two or three years, not only 
have men been successfully raised off the ground, but 
have been able to sustain themselves in the air for half 
an hour at a time. Very little more remains now to be 
done before we can say that man has veritably conquered 
the air. 
CAMBRIDGE. 
Philosophical Society, February 25.—Dr. Hobson, presi- 
dent, in the chair.—Some points in the anatomy of the 
peripheral nerves: Dr. B, Smith. Several specimens were 
NO. 1953, VOL. 75 | 
exhibited to show that the contour, size, and form of the 
nerve trunks of the body exhibited considerable variation ; 
that these variations were associated with (i) the physical 
conditions of the tissue traversed by the nerve, (ii) the dis- 
placements and strains to which the nerve trunk was 
subject ; that the local enlargements which certain nerves 
exhibited were due histologically to (i) an accumulation of 
the intrinsic connective tissue in the nerve trunk, (ii) the 
presence of numerous Paccinian corpuscles embedded in the 
nerve fibre bundles of the nerve trunk.—An occipital 
vermian fossa and cerebellar vermian eminence: Dr. G. F. 
Rogers. <A median occipital fossa 14 mm. X35 mm. in the 
shape of a gutter was shown with a series of varieties 
ranging from a small triangular flattening at the base of 
the occipital crest, through triangular fossa of increasing 
size up to the specimen noted above.—The tendency to 
fusion shown by the suboccipital vertebree: Prof. A. 
Macalister. A series of ankylosed cervical vertebrae in 
which there was exhibited a progressive coalescence of the 
several parts of the occiput and atlas, and of the axis and 
third cervical vertebra. The stages ranged from a simple 
adhesion to a complete unification. In one atlas there was 
a perfect neurocentral articulation between the pedicle and 
the axial odontoid process on one side.—The range of vari- 
ation in the navicular bone: Dr. M. Smith. An exhaus- 
tive investigation of the very large collection in the anatomy 
school results in the distinction of several well-defined 
varieties of the navicular bone.—The histology of the early 
placenta in Semnopithecus: Dr. W. L. H. Duckworth. 
The anatomical department has received from Dr. C. Hose 
a specimen of the uterus of a Macacus nemestrinus in an 
early stage of pregnancy. Microscopic examination of the 
placental area gives valuable and suggestive information 
as to the mode of connection of the maternal with the 
embryonic tissues in the earliest stages of placental forma- 
tion, showing in particular the fate of the uterine epithelial 
cells.—A chemical test for “strength” in wheat-flour: T. B. 
Wood. (See Nature, February 21, p. 391.)—The appli- 
cation of integral equations to the determination of expan- 
sions in series of oscillating functions: H. Bateman, 
March 11.—Dr. Hobson, president, in the 
—Reduction of carbon dioxide to formaldehyde (pre- 
liminary note): Dr. Fenton. Experiments were 
performed which demonstrated the direct reduction 
of carbon dioxide to formaldehyde in aqueous solution. 
It was further shown that a similar reduction can be 
brought about indirectly, with formic acid as the inter- 
mediate stage.—Dithioxanthoxalanil and its homologues : 
5. Ruhemann. Thioacetanilide and its homologues react 
with ethyl oxalate in the presence of sodium ethoxide to 
yield coloured compounds; these, in composition, differ 
from the corresponding substances which the author 
previously obtained, on using acetanilide and its homo- 
logues, by the replacement of two of their oxygen atoms 
by sulphur.—Some observations on complex carbonates : 
T. B. Wood and H. O. Jones. The authors have in- 
vestigated the solubility relations of potassium and copper 
carbonates, and determined the conditions under which 
the double salt, K,CO,CuCO,, crystallises out from these 
solutions.—A\n optically active tetrahydroquinoline com- 
pound: F. Buckney. Experiments have been made on a 
series of derivatives of tetrahydroquinoline containing a 
quinquevalent nitrogen atom, but at present the only com- 
pound that has been resolved is methyl allyl tetrahydro- 
quinolinium d-brom-camphorsulphonate. After repeated 
re-crystallisation of the d-brom-camphorsulphonate from 
ethyl acetate and toluene, the less soluble portion had a 
molecular rotatory power of 195° in aqueous solution, the 
value of [M]., for the basic ion consequently being —75°. 
The more soluble portion gave a value for [M]p of 342°. 
Hence the {M]p for the basic ion is +-72°.—A series of 
substituted bromanilines: J. R. Hill, These compounds 
were prepared in order to obtain from them two series 
of asymmetric nitrogen compounds by the addition of allyl 
and benzyl iodides. Such series would only differ from 
those described by Miss M. B. Thomas and Mr. H. O. 
Jones (Journ. Chem. Soc., 1906, p. 280) by the presence 
of a bromine atom in the phenyl group. In this way the 
change in the optical activity produced by increasing the 
weight of the phenyl group could. be’ studied. These 
chair. 
