May 26, 1 904 J 



NA TURE 



95 



The President exhibited a Longicorn beetle lapliired near 

 Malvern, Natal, by Mr. C. X. Barker, together with a hirge 

 Bracon from the same locality, to which, on the wing, it 

 showed a close superhcial resemblance. — Mr. H. J. Turner 

 exhibited living larvrc and cases of several species of the 

 lepidopteroiis genus Coleophora, and contributed notes on 

 them. — Dr. \. Jefferis Turner communicated a paper en- 

 titled " A Classification of the -Australian Lymantriadse." 

 — Dr. F. \. Dixey read a paper by Major Neville Manders, 

 R..A.M.C., entitled " Some Breeding Experiments on 

 Calopsiliii pyranthi, and Notes on the Sligration of Butter- 

 flies in Ceylon." 



Chemical Society, May 5.— Prof. W. A. Tilden, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — The following papers were read : — 

 The slow combustion of ethane : W. .»\. Bone and \V. E. 

 Stocking;s. The hydrocarbon is first oxidised to acet- 

 aldehyde, the latter then passes into formaldehyde, and this 

 is eventually oxidised to carbon dioxide, carbon mono.xide 

 and steam. — The action of radium rays on the halides of 

 the alUali metals, and analogous effects produced by heat ; 

 W. Ackroyd. The 7-rays from radium bromide produced 

 no colour change with lithium chloride, but with sodium, 

 potassium, rubidium and cajsium chlorides produced yellow, 

 violet, bluish-green and green transitory colorations re- 

 spectively. These changes are analogous to the thermal 

 effects produced in other substances, and are probably like 

 these purely physical. — The mutarotation of glucose and 

 galactose. Solubility as a means of determining the pro- 

 portions of dynamic isomerides in ec|uilibrium : T. M. 

 Lowry. The author has applied the method already used 

 in the case of 3-bromonitrocamphor to these sugars, and 

 finds that the stereoisomerides are approximately equally 

 stable, and are present in about equal proportions in solu- 

 tions. — .\ study of the substitution products of nr-tetrahydro- 

 a-naphthylamine. 4-Bromotetrahydro-a-naphthylamine and 

 tir-Ietr.'ihydro-a-naphthylamine-4-sulphonic acid : (i. T. 

 Morg-an, .Miss F. .M. G. Micklethwait and H. B. Winfleld. 

 — Studies in the tetrahydronaphthvlamine series, part ii., 

 halogen derivatives of (iy-tetrahvdro-j3-naphthylamine ; part 

 iii., reaction between flr-tetrahvdro-^-naphthylamine and 

 formaldehyde : C. Smith. .\ description of the derivatives 

 obtained in these reactions. — The resin acids of the 

 Conifenc, part i., the constitution of abietic acid : T. H. 

 Easterfieid and G. Bagrley. .A. description of the various 

 decomposition products of abietic acid is given ; a study of 

 these led the authors to the conclusion that this resin acid 

 is a decahydroretenecarboxylic acid, and they suggest that 

 in retene the methyl and isoprop\l groups occupv a iueta 

 position relatively to each other. — .Additive products of 

 benzylideneaniline with ethyl acetoacetate and ethyl niethyl- 

 acetoacetate : F. E. Francis and Miss M. Taylor. These 

 additive products are show'n to e.xist in one form onlv. — 

 Studies on ethyl carboxyglutarate. part i., action of acids 

 on ethyl sodiocarboxyglutarate : O. Silberrad and T. H. 

 Easter-Held. — .Studies on optically active carbimides, part 

 i. : .A. Neville and R. H. Pickard. — The comparison of 

 the rotation values of methyl, ethyl and ii-propyl tartrates 

 at different temperatures : T. H. Patterson. It is shown 

 that a connection between the rotation values of these esters 

 may be traced when the comparison is made at correspond- 

 ing temperatures. — Note on the action of hydrogen sulphide 

 on formaldehyde and acetaldehyde solutions : J. Drugrman 

 and vv . E. Stockingrs. A description of a number of 

 complex thio-derivatives obtained in these reactions. — The 

 viscosity of liquid mixtures : A. E. Dunstan. The effects 

 of the chemical aOinity, molecular aggregation, and to some 

 extent of the chemical constitution of the constituents on 

 the viscosities of liquid mixtures are discussed. — The con- 

 version of isopropyl alcohol into I'sopropyl ether by 

 sulphuric acid : F. Southerden. In opposition to the ex- 

 perience of previous investigators, the author has obtained 

 a small yield of i.s'.ipropyl ether by this reaction. 



Royal Astronomical Society, May 13. — Prof. H. H. 

 Turner, F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The secretary gave 

 an account of a paper by Dr. Downing: on the definitive 

 places of the standard stars for the northern zones of the 

 .Astronomische Gesellschaft, and also of two papers by Mr. 

 Cowell on the moon's errors in longitude. — A brief account 

 w.is given of a second series of double star measures by 



NO. 1804, "VOL. 70] 



the Rev. T. E. Espin. — The Astronomer Royal read a 

 paper on the new Greenwich micrometer for measurement 

 of photographs of Eros. As the measures were required 

 for determination of the solar parallax, a greater degree 

 of accuracy was necessary than for the .Astrographic Chart. 

 .A new instrument was therefore constructed, on the lines 

 of Mr. Hinks's Cambridge measuring machine, and the 

 results obtained with it were extremely satisfactory, the 

 measures being remarkably accordant. The micrometer 

 was described and illustrated by photographs shown on the 

 screen. — Mr. Franklin-Adams read a paper on his photo- 

 graphic chart of the heavens, to .Argelander's scale 

 i° = 2o mm. .After much preliminary work and an extended 

 series of experiments, a lo-inch photographic lens was made 

 by Messrs. Cooke and Sons from designs by Mr. Dennis 

 Taylor, and this was provided with a specially constructed 

 mount of the English form, with two guiding telescopes 

 instead of one, and various other improvements. The 

 instrument w-as taken to the Cape in June, 1903, and by 

 the kindness of Sir D. Gill was erected in the grounds of 

 the observatory. The work of photographing the southern 

 heavens on 115 plates, each 15 inches square, with two 

 hours' exposure, was practically completed, as well as a 

 set with triple exposures, and another taken with a 6-inch 

 lens. The star images were very good, even towards the 

 edge of the plates, the lenses having proved extremely 

 satisfactory, and the driving arrangements specially good. 

 Photographs of the instrument and specimens of the plates 

 were shown on the screen. — Mr. Bellamy gave an account 

 of his paper on a new cluster in Cygnus, and other papers 

 were taken as read. 



P.^RIS. 



Academy of Sciences, May 16. — M. Mascart in the chair. — 

 The president announced to the Academy the loss by death 

 of M. Marey, member of the section of medicine and 

 surgery, and of M. Sarrau, member of the section of 

 mechanics. The death of Prof. Williamson, correspondant 

 for the section of chemistry, was also announced. — The 

 cooling power of a feebly conducting lliiid current on a 

 body limited in every direction : J. Coussinesq. — On the 

 electrolysis of calcium chloride : H. Moissan. A reply to 

 some criticisms of M. BuUier with reference to a claim for 

 priority. — The effect of small oscillations of temperature 

 on a system affected by hysteresis and viscosity : P. Duhem. 

 Small oscillations of external action and of temperature 

 have no appreciable influence on the transformation of a 

 system when the coefficient of viscosity of this system is 

 large with respect to the amplitude of the oscillations. — 

 Researches relative to the resistance of the air made by 

 means of a new apparatus called the dynamometric balance : 

 Ch. Renard. Two different forms of apparatus are de- 

 scribed, the simple balance, which permits of the calibration 

 of wind vanes for dynamometers, and the double balance, 

 specially employed in the study of helices. Three illustra- 

 tions are given. — On the function of the n-rays in causing 

 changes of visibility in feebly illuminated surfaces : Jean 

 Becquerel. The conclusion is drawn from the experi- 

 ments described that the change in the distinctness and 

 luminosity of feebly lighted surfaces submitted to the action 

 of the H-rays is probably to be attributed, at least in great 

 part, to a variation in the sensitiveness of the vision arising 

 from the n-rays directed on the surfaces, and not to an 

 appreciable variation in the light emitted. — The explanation 

 of some colour phenomena shown by a tube containing 

 rarefied gas : H. Pellat. — On the microscopic state of the 

 poles and the discharge spectra : B. Eginitis. — On the 

 density of aqueous saline solutions considered as an additive 

 property of the ions, and on the existence of some hydrated 

 ions : P. Vaillant. — .A new method for the exact determin- 

 ation of the molecular weights of the permanent gases ; the 

 atomic weights of carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen : Ph. A. 

 Guye. The author, with M. Friderich, has previously 

 established that the van der Waals equation leads to the 

 relation \'„(i-|-a)(t — fe) = R, where V,„ represents a gram- 

 molecule at 0° C. and under the pressure of one atmosphere, 

 a and b the two constants of the equation of fluids with 

 respect to unit volume, and R the gas constant. In the 

 present paper R is replaced by R — njT,. By applying this 

 relation to the experimental results of Leduc, Morley and 

 Rayleigh, the values of the atomic weights of hydrogen. 



