June 9, 1904] 



NATURE 



141 



SOCIETIES A\D ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Royal Society, March 17.— "On the Effect of a Mag- 

 netic Kield on the Rate of Subsidence of Torsional Oscilla- 

 tions in Wires of Nickel and Iron, and the Changes 

 Produced bv Drawing and Annealing." By Prof. Andrew 

 Cray, F.R.S., and .Alexander Wood, B.Sc. 



-May 5. — " Experiments on a Method of Preventing Death 

 from Snake Bite, capable of Common and Easy Practical 

 Application." By Sir Lauder Brunton, F.R.S., Sir Joseph 

 Fayrer, Bart., F.R.S., and Dr. L. Rogers. 



.-Mthough this paper is a joint one, the authors mention 

 that each had a different share in its production. The 

 whole research may be regarded as the natural outcome 

 of the work begun in India nearly forty years ago by 

 Fayrer ; the instrument employed was designed by Brunton 

 and the experimental work was carried out by Rogers. 



Of late years a great deal of important and instructive 

 work has been done by Eraser, Calmette and others in 

 regard to the preparation of antivenins, the injection of 

 which will preserve life in animals poisoned by snal^e venom. 

 This method of treatment, however successful it may be, 

 is open to the objection that its application is very limited, 

 as it can only be employed in places where the antivenins 

 can be stored ready for use. In order that any method of 

 preventing death from the bites of snake poison should be 

 of much practical utility, it must be one which can be 

 constantly at hand when wanted and easy of application 

 by unskilled persons, and as it is especially needed by very 

 poor people, such as the natives of India, it must also be 

 very cheap. In connection with this paper, an instrument 

 which seems to promise good results was shown at the 

 Royal Society. It consists simply of a small lancet about 



half an inch long with a hollow wooden handle, in which 

 crystals of permanganate of potash are contained. The 

 way in which it is proposed to apply the permanganate 

 is, that anyone bitten by a snake should at once tear a 

 strip from a turban, shirt or any other article of clothing, 

 and tie it as quickly as possible above the bite. A cut 

 should then be made with the lancet over the site of the 

 bite so as to convert the puncture made by the snake's 

 tooth into a small wound. Into this the crystals of 

 permanganate of potash, moistened with saliva if necessary, 

 are to be rubbed. Permanganate of potash as an antidote 

 to snake poison was first used by Fayrer in 1869 ; it was 

 shown by Wynter Blyth in 1S77 to be a complete chemical 

 antidote to cobra venom .when mixed in vitro, and his 

 results were confirmed by Brunton and Fayrer in 1878. 

 The anti-vivisection law prevented them from carrying 

 these experiments further at the time, but their continuance 

 in this country has now been rendered possible by Dr. 

 Waller's invention of a method of giving chloroform con- 

 tinuously for forty-eight hours or more. By means of this 

 instrument Captain Rogers has been able to test the effect 

 of permanganate of potash applied in the manner already 

 described on rabbits and cats. Five out of six animals 

 experimented upon survived after the injection of cobra 

 poison, and a similar number survived after the use 

 of Daboia poison. These experiments, which were entirely 

 carried out by Captain Rogers, are very satisfactory, 

 inasmuch as they show that the utility of permanganate of 

 potash is not confined to one class of venom, but that it 

 acts equally well with the venom of all kinds of snakes. 

 The results obtained five minutes after the injection of the 

 poison were as good as half a minute after injection, so 

 that altliough very rapid absorption occurs during the first 

 few seconds, it seems probable that absorption soon be- 

 comes slow from local effusion, and that suflicient time 

 would thus be afforded for the application of the proposed 

 antidote. Further experiments will be carried on by 

 Captain Rogers in India, and if they prove as successful 



NO. 1806, VOL. 70] 



as those which he made in this country, it is proposed that 

 lancets,' with full directions for use, should be sold at a 

 very cheap rate at all the post offices in India, in the same 

 way as packets of quinine are sold at present. If the plan 

 of treatment should prove efficacious, it will be a great 

 pleasure to Sir Joseph Fayrer to see the fruition of the 

 work which he began forty years ago. 



Chemical Society, May iS. — Prof. W. A. Tilden, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The action of nitrosyl 

 chloride on pinene : W. A. Tilden. It is shown that the 

 yield of this compound by the usual processes is improved 

 by using a mixtjre of equal quantities of d- and /-pinenes. 

 For the regeneration of pinene from the nitrosochloride, 

 methylaniline is recommended in place of aniline. — The 

 electrolytic estimation of minute quantities of arsenic : 

 H. J. S. Sand and J. E. Hackford. The authors recom- 

 mend the use of lead electrodes for the estimation of minute 

 quantities of arsenic, as their application permits of a 

 simplification of previous methods. — The action of sodium 

 methoxide and its homologues on benzophenone chloride 

 and benzylidene chloride, part ii. ; J. E. Mackenzie and 

 A. F. Joseph. — The bromination of phenolic compounds : 

 J. T. Hewitt, J. Kenner and H. Silk. It is shown that 

 when one molecular proportion of bromine acts on phenol, 

 the character and proportions of the products obtained vary 

 with the conditions under which the reaction is carried out. 

 .\bsence of water and presence of a strong mineral acid 

 favour the formation of /)-bromophenol, whilst sodium 

 acetate in a glacial acetic acid solution diminishes the 

 quantity of para-derivative formed. — The decomposition of 

 the alkvlureas. A preliminary note : C. E. Fawsitt. An 

 investigation of the velocity of decomposition of the alkyl- 

 ureas with acids shows that the hydrolysis is indirect, and 

 is effected as a secondary reaction of the acid with the 

 alkylammonium cyanate first formed. — The formation of 

 periodides in nitrobenzene solution, part ii., periodides of 

 the alkali and alkaline earth metals : H. M. Dawson and 

 Miss E. E. Goodson. In general, these iodides have proper- 

 ties similar to those of the potassium derivative already de- 

 scribed, and the experimental data indicate that enneaiodides 

 of the tvpe M'l, or M"Ij, probably represent the highest 

 limiting type of periodides. — The action of ozone on ethane. 

 Preliminary note: W. A. Bone and J. Drugrman. The 

 authors have obtained ethyl alcohol by the interaction of 

 ethane and ozone at 100°. The paper gives an account of 

 the method and apparatus employed. — Caproylthio- 

 carbimide : A. E. Dixon. A description of this substance 

 and of a number of its derivatives is given. 



Royal Meteorological Society, May 18.— Capt. D. Wilson 

 Barker, president, in the chair. — The principal causes of 

 rain : the Hon. F. A. Rollo Russell. The chief causes 

 of rain are only four, but several of these are often in co- 

 operation. These causes may be briefly described as 

 follows : — (i) the forced ascent of moist air by the slopes 

 of mountains ; (2) a mass of air invading rather suddenly 

 another mass moving from an opposite direction and main- 

 taining its Row below the opposing current which it dis- 

 places ; (3) the ascent of more or less moist air through 

 heavier and colder air to a height where condensation of 

 vapour takes place, increased radiation of heat towards 

 space, and often electrical developments producing further 

 condensation, increase of temperature, and renewed ascent 

 with the same results ; (4) the mixture of currents of air 

 from different directions. — On the observations of rainfall 

 at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, in the years 1815 to 

 1903 : W. C. Nash. The author has made a full inquiry 

 into the circumstances relating to the early history of the 

 register, and has drawn up an authoritative table of rain- 

 fall for the long period of eighty-nine years. The average 

 annual rainfall is 24-36 inches, and the number of rainy 

 days 157. The greatest fall was 3554 inches in 1903, and 

 the least fall 16-38 inches in 1S58. During the five months 

 January to May, no monthly fall exceeding 4-37 inches was 

 recorded, but in the remaining seven months there were 

 twenty-four falls exceeding 5 inches. Light falls of rain 

 are spread principally through the nine months January to 

 September, with a decided preponderance in spring. 



1 The lancets were made by Messrs. Arnold and Sons, West Smithfield. 



