Jan. 4, 1872 J 



NATURE 



195 



the product with potassic hydrate. A number of substitution pro- 

 ducts of the two bodies have been prepared, and are here described. 

 — The next paper is "On the Conversion of Acetone into 

 Lactic Acid," by Linnenian and Zotta. This is accomplished 

 by heating dichloracetone with water to 200', when a considerable 

 proportion of lactic acid is obtained. Ladenburg has prepared 

 stannic triethyl phenyl by the action of sodium on bromobenzol, 

 and stannic triethyl iodide, mixed with ether. It is a colourless 

 liquid, boiling at 254", which is easily oxidised in the air ; it re- 

 duces an alcoholic solution of silver nitrate, diphenyl being pro- 

 duced in the reaction. Ilxdrochloric acid forms with it, benzole 

 and stannic triethyl chloride. — An interesting paper by Friedel 

 and Ladenburg, "On Siliccpropionic Acid," follows. By the 

 action of absolute alcohol on silicic chloride, the chloride of 

 triethylsilicic acid is obtained ; sodium added to this compound, 

 mbced with unc ethyl, yields, on heating, ethyl orthosilico-pro- 

 pionate, Si C.,I I, (OC.^H-,).,. Silico-propionic ether, on treatment 

 with aqueous potassic hydrate, yields silico-propionic acid. It 

 is a white powder resembling silica, from which it is easily distin- 

 guished by being combustible. It is soluble in hot potassic hy- 

 drate solution, but insoluble in boiling sodic hydrate. This acid is 

 the first representative of a new series of acids, containing the 

 group Si O.jH in the place of CO., 11. — Translations of two papers 

 by C. E. Slonroe follow, the originals of which have already 

 appeared in the American Journals.— The number concludes 

 with a short note "On the Preparation of Creatinine hydrochlo- 

 ride from urine," by R. Maly. It is purified by combining it with 

 mercuric chloride and decomposing the compound ^^■ith sulphu- 

 retted hydrogen. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Anthropological Institute, January i. — Sir John Lubbock, 

 Bart, F.R.S., President, in the chair. — Messrs. J. Thallon and 

 J. Jeremiah, jun., w-ere elected members. — Mr. C. Staniland 

 Wake read a paper entitled "The Adamites." The object of 

 this paper is to show, by reference to evidence extraneous to the 

 Hebrew Scriptures, what peoples are entitled to be classed as 

 Adamites. The name of the primitive race from which the 

 Chaldeans sprung — the .Akkad — proves that they must be thus 

 classed. Akkad would seem to mean " sons of Ad ; " the first 

 syllable of the word being the same as the Gaelic Maitt or Ach, 

 The first Babylonian dynasty of Berosus was Median ; and Sir 

 Henry Rawlinson says that the name by which the Medes are 

 first noticed on the Assyrian monuments is Ma,l. This people, 

 the initial letter of whose name may be treated as a prelix, was 

 doubtless the priniitive stock from which tlie AI;k-A,l were 

 derived. The Medes had also the distinctive title Mar: and 

 many of the Aryan peoples appear to have retained a remem- 

 brance of the traditional Ad. The first part of the Parsee work 

 known as Tlic Desatii- is called "the Book of the Great Ahuf," 

 ?'.<■., Father Ad. The Puranas of the Hindus refer to' the legend- 

 ary king, // or .■///, who is supposed to be the same as the Greek 

 Ai-tiis. The primitive Celtic race of Western Europe was called 

 Gaidal, i.e., the progeny of Gaid or Aid, who may be identified 

 with Dis, the mythical ancestor, according to Crcsar, of the 

 Gauls. Dis (the Greek JIadcs) was also "' Lord of the Dead " 

 among the Chaldeans, and may well, therefore, have been the 

 same as the legendary ancestor Ad. Among Ilamitic peoples, 

 the original Arab stock trace their first orign to Father Ad, who 

 is probably referred to also in the name of the Egyptian deity, 

 .{/•iim. The paper also mentions certain facts showing that the 

 name of the legendary ancestor of the Adamites may be traced 

 in the names of the deitie-. of Turanian and American peoples, 

 and also among the Polynesian Islanders, whose word for 

 "spirit" is ulnu, or ((/■;/(;, and whose Great Ancestor is called 

 Ta-ata. Dividing all the races of mankind, according to the 

 simple classification of Retzius, into brachycephali and dolicho- 

 cephali, the conclusion arrived at by the paper is, that Ad was 

 the legendary ancestor of the former, the Adamites, therefore, 

 embracing all the actually brachyceplialic peoples, and those 

 whose brachycephalism has been lost by intermixture with 

 the long-headed stock. The Adamites extend through the 

 whole of the northern hemisphere, and are found in various 

 parts of the southern hemispheae, on both the old and the new 

 continents. The names "Adam" and "Eve" were, how- 

 ever, merely expressions of the philosophical notion of the 

 ancients that the male and female principles pei-vade all nature. 



and originated all things and personifications of the ancestral 

 idea in relation to the human race. 



Chemical Society.Dec. 21, 1871. — Prof. Williamson, F.R.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair. — After the usual business of the 

 society had been transacted, the chairman announced that the 

 celebrated Italian chemist. Prof. Canizzaro, had consented to 

 deliver the Faraday lecture. A paper was then read by Mr. H. 

 Bassett, "On Eulyte and Dyslyte," two beautifully crystalline 

 compounds obtained by the action of nitric acid on citraconic 

 acid, a product of the dry distillation of citric acid. Both these 

 substances contain nitrogen, but owing to the com[iaratively small 

 quantity obtained, namely, less than two ounces from thirty 

 pounds of citric acid, the author has, as yet, been unable 

 thoroughly to investigate their nature. — Prof. H. E. Armstrong 

 also read a paper ' ' (_)n the Nitration of the Dichloro-Sulphonic 

 Acids," being a continuation of his researches on the isomeric 

 nitrochloro-phenols and their derivatives ; after which the meeting 

 adjourned until January iS, 1872. 



P.VRIS 

 Academy of Sciences, Dec. iS, 1871. — M. Chasles read 

 a continuation of his theorems relating to the harmonic axes 

 of geometrical curves, and presented a note by M. Hal[)hen on 

 right lines which fulfd given conditions. — M. II. Resal pre- 

 sented a memoir on the conditions of resistance of a fly-wheel, 

 and M. Combes a note by M. Haton de la Goupilliere on the 

 transformation of the potential by reciprocal yadii veitoycs.—^ 

 Telegrams received from M. Janssen, with regard to his solar 

 observations at Ootacamund, were communicated to the Academy. 

 — Several members referred to the prevalence of cold during the 

 first half of the month of December 1S71. — M. Delaunay called 

 attention to the remarkable concunence of a cliange of baro- 

 metric pressure with an alteration in the temperature of different 

 parts of Europe between the 6th and 9th of December, the 

 latter date show ing the maximum of cold at Paris. The great 

 cold of the 9th of December was also the subject of a note by 

 M. E. Becquerel, who gives a minimum temperature of - 25°'5 C. 

 (= - i3-°9F.)atMontargis,andof - 27-"5C. (= - i7-°5F.)near 

 Courtenay in the department of the Loiret. M. C. Sainte-Claire 

 Deville remarked upon the concordance of this statement of M. E. 

 Becquerel's with the minimum of - 26" C. (= - I4°'S F.) re- 

 corded at Nemours. He also presented a table of minima 

 obtained at various places in France from 7th to 15th December. 

 — MM. Becquerel presented a memoir on the influence of snow 

 on the temperature of the soil at various depths, according as it 

 is covered with turf or denuded, founded chiefly on observations 

 made from the 5lh to the 15th December. The authors found 

 that the temperature under the turfed soil, within two or tliree 

 centimetres of the surface, was always above o'C. (= 32' F.), 

 and as constantly below that point in the naked soil. — ^I. 

 Pasteur presented a note on a memoir by M. Liebig, relating 

 to fermentation, in which he defended his views as to the nature 

 of the phenomena of fermentation from certain criticisms upon 

 them published by Prof. Liebig. Upon this subject M. Frcmy also 

 spoke at considerable length in opposition to M. Pasteur, who re- 

 plied. — M. Bussy communicated a note by M . E . Bourgoin on the 

 complex nature of cathartine, in which the author states 

 that this substance, regarded as the active principle of senna, is 

 in reality composed of three distinct substances, namely, chrv'so- 

 phanic acid, a dextrogyrous glucose, and a new principle to which 

 he gives the name of chrysophanine. — M. Daubree communicated 

 a note by M. F. Gonnard, on the dolerites of the Chaux de 

 Bergonne and the zeolites which they contain. In this paper 

 the author ascribes very peculiar magnetic properties to the solid 

 dolerile of this locality, andijstates that the cavities of its lower 

 amygdaIoid.il parts contain three zeolites (christianite, phacolite, 

 and mcsole). — M. Trccul presented a note on the remarkable 

 arrangement of the stomata in various plants, and especially in 

 the petiole of ferns, in which he mentioned the occurrence of 

 { stomata upon the pilifonn appendages of the petiole \n P/ii/od<ii- 

 j ,/;vn Lliid,iihiiiii/ii, and noticed their existence in unusual posi- 

 i tions in many ferns, -A note liy M. 1'. Bert, on the influence of 

 different colo\irs on vegetation, was communicated by M. Milne- 

 Edwards. His general results are as follows : — green is nearly 

 j as fatal to plants as total darkness, red is very injurious, and 

 yellow less so than red, but more so than blue, but any colour 

 I t.aken isolatedly is injurious to plants. 



December 2O, 1 871. — A note by M. Brioschi, on the equation 

 j of the fifth degree, was read. — A note was read on the tension 

 I of the vapour of merciu^ at low temperatures, by M. Regnault, 



