January 23, 19 19] 



NATURE 



419 



lit'-, turite, goethite, limonite, chalybite, mesitite, and 

 .■ilk. -rite from many well-defined localities in Nova 

 Scotia. The dehydration curves and optical characters 

 of turite (2Fe 1 0„H,0), goethite (Fe,0„H,0), and 

 limonite (jFe-Oj^H.O) prove that these, al least 

 ngst the large group of ferric hydroxide mineral , 

 are distinct species with crystalline structure; some 

 rs are colloidal. Turite ( = turgite, an incorrect 

 German transliteration from the Russian) is a hard, 

 lustrous, black mineral, with a radially fibrous and 

 entric, shell) structure, and gives a dark cherry- 

 streak; the fibres are optically birefringent and 

 strongly pleochroic. Sharp, brilliant crystals with the 

 forms of goethite, but consisting of anhydrous ferric 

 oxide, i.e. pseudomorphs of haematite after goethite, 

 v. ei e described. 



Royal Meteorological Society, January 15. — Sir Napier 

 Shaw, president, in the chair. — Sir Napier Shaw : Pre- 

 sidential address : Meteorology — the society and its 

 Fellows. Sir Napier Shaw referred to the change in 

 the position of meteorological work during the war 

 from that of a subject of curiosity, which might safely 

 bi li h to take its chance with such facilities as were 

 left to the ordinary public by inexperienced censors 

 and controllers, to that of a matter ot such import- 

 ance in gunnery and navigation of the sea and air 

 thai all reference to it was rigorously excluded from 

 the newspapers, and a number of special services were 

 improvised to meet the need for meteorological in- 

 formation for our own Forces, acting in co-operation 

 with corresponding organisations for the French, 

 American, and Italian Forces. To meet the demand 

 for information about the fundamental principles and 

 practice of the modern science, necessary for those 

 who were called upon to take up technical duties with 

 limited training, the Meteorological Office had 

 issued a number of books specially written for the 

 purpose. Looking forward, he said that the imme- 

 diate necessity was the organisation of tin- meteoro- 

 logical services to satisfy the demands of the home 

 countries and meet possible requirements of the 

 Dominions beyond the s. .1-. Tin essential conditions 

 of the organisation were, first, thai there should be 

 a career for men of ability, and, secondly, that there 

 should be opportunitv for suitable preparation by pre- 

 liminary training in scientific studies, including 

 meteorology, at the universities. Al the same time 

 efficient organisation of the public service required 

 'he regular collection of information about the 

 weather should be placed on a proper footing by ar- 

 inenl between the central authoritv and local 

 authorities. The dutv which the society should dis- 

 charge in the changed conditions was to foster or 

 an atmosphere which would make a satisfactory 

 national organisation on those lines possible In' the 

 interchange of ideas and the discus-ion of meteoro- 

 logical subjects. 



Mathematical Society, January K>. Mr. J. E. Camp- 

 bell, president, in the chair. — Prof. Frechet j The 

 differential of functional operations.- F. J. Mordell : 

 The value of a. definite integral. — Dr. T. J. l'.\. 

 Kromwich ; Operational solutions in conduction of 



Man. iiks 1 ik 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, December to, tdl8. 



Mr. W. Thomson, president, in the chair. Wargan 

 \V I ishenden : The efficiency of domestic tires and the 

 - of certain "coal-saving" preparations. The 

 experiments included determinations of (1) the 

 "radiant efficiency." or the percentage of the- total 

 calorific value of the coal burned, which entered the 

 room as radiation: (2) the distribution of radiation; 

 he volume of air passing through the room ; 



. I02] 



(4) the amount of heal passing away above the ceiling 

 level in the hot flue gases; and (5) the heating of the 

 room air. Three different grates gave radiant effi- 

 ciencies of 21, 24^, and 24 per cent, respectively; the 

 radiant efficienc) was not dependent upon the draught 

 even over such wide limits ... from one to nine 

 changes of air per hour. The maximum intensity of 

 radiation was found (upwards) at an angle of about 

 6o° to the horizontal through the centre of the fire. 

 The amount of heat contained in the hoi Hue oases 

 passing up the flue above the ceiling varied 'from 

 aboul 55 per cent, of the total calorific value of the 

 fuel burned for draughts of about 20,000 cubic ft. per 

 hour (nine changes), to about 15 per cent, for one 

 change per hour. The heat used in warming the 

 room air was very small, generally below 10 per 

 cent. Certain advertised preparations, solutions of 

 which were claimed, when previously spraved upon 

 the coal, greatly to increase the efficiency of fires, had 

 been analysed and found to consist chiefly of common 

 salt. Their use was found to have no effect whatever 

 upon the radiant efficiency, the duration of burning, 

 or the rise of air temperature produced bv coal- 

 fires. 



January 7. — Mr. W. Thomson, president, in 

 the chair.— Sir E. Rutherford : The work and influence 

 of Joule. Attention was confined to the first five vears 

 ,lS .v s -43) ot Joule's scientific career, which began at 

 the age, of nineteen, and an endeavour was made to 

 trace during this period the gradual growth of Joule's 

 power of experimentation and of philosophic insight. 

 This period was, in some respects, the most fruitful 

 and inspiring in Joule's lifetime, for it included his 

 remarkable researches on the transformations of 

 energy in the voltaic cell, the dynamo and motor, and 

 his first measurement of the mechanical equivalent of 

 heat. A brief discussion was given of the reasons 

 why the full recognition of the fundamental import- 

 ance of Joule's earlier researches was so long delaved 

 and of the difficulties experienced bv Lord Kelvin in 

 reconciling Joule's conclusions with the work of 

 Carnot on " Heat Engines." Adjustment of views on 

 both sides. was necessary before the foundations of 

 the new science of thermodynamics were securely laid. 

 and before the great principle of the conservation of 

 energ\ was generally recognised. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, December 30, 1918.— M. Leon 

 Guignard in the chair. -Albert, Prince of Monaco; The 



course of the floating mines in the North Atlantic and 

 the Arctic Ocean during and after the war. Experi- 

 ments on the ocean currents have been carried out 

 over a series of years, a large number of objects 

 made of wood, metal, or glass, and constructed so 

 that thev float just below the surface out of the direct 

 action of the wind, being used. The results have been 

 accumulated during twenty years, and can obviously 

 be applied to predict the course of floating mines. 

 The probable track of these is shown on a chart, and 

 the most dangerous localities are summarised as the 

 Bay of Biscay, the west coast of Portugal, Morocco, 

 the Canaries, and Madeira. From the Canaries to 

 1 he \11tilles the path of the mines is wider, and the 

 return to Europe follows the course of the Gulf 

 Stream. A. f.ameere : The Dicyemides. — M. Balland ; 

 The preserved fruit and jam distributed to the troops. 

 An account of the adulterations found in these articles 



of f I as supplied to the French Army. — Sir Almroth 



Wright was elected a correspondant for the section of 

 medicine ami surgery in succession to the late J. 

 Bi rnstein. F. Vessiot : An integral invariant of 

 hydrodynamics and its application to the theory of 

 1 elativitv. F. I.umiere : A method of record- 



