May 24, 1883] 



NA TURE 



93 



ihe late Prof. James C. Watson the sum of about fourteen thou- 

 sand dollars had been placed in his hands. When the estate is 

 finally closed a further sum will be paid over to the Academy. 

 The income of the Watson fund is to be used under the direc- 

 tion of three trustees — Messrs. J. E. Hilgard, S. Newcomb, and 

 J. H. C. Coffin — for the purpose of aiding astronomical re- 

 searches. In accordance with the recommendation o F the trus- 

 tees the Academy granted five hundred dollars from this fund 

 towards defraying the expenses involved in observations of the 

 total solar eclipse of May 6, 1883. 



Later in the meeting Prof. Simon Newcomb of Washington 

 was elected Vice-President, and Prof. Asaph Hall of Washing- 

 ton Home Secretary. Five new members were elected : Prof. 

 A. Graham Bell of Washington, Dr. J. S. Billings, U.S.A., of 

 the U.S. Army Medical Museum, Washington ; G. K. Gilbert 

 of the U.S. Geological Survey ; H. B. Hill and C. L. Jackson, 

 Professors of Chemistry in Harvard College. The whole number 

 of members is now ninety-five. 



On the afternoon of Thursday the Academy adjourned to take 

 part by invitation in the ceremonies attending the unveiling of 

 the statue of Prof. Henry in the grounds of the Smithsonian 

 Institution. The time for these ceremonies was purposely fixed to 

 coincide with that of the spring meeting of the Academy. Henry 

 was preen, inently a scientific man, and at the time of his death 

 President of the Academy ; and yet the members of the Academy 

 were placed far down the line in the procession — after the Com- 

 missioners of the District of Columb a, and after officers of the 

 army and navy. This fact must be regarded as evidence of a 

 lack of appreciation of the relations existing between Henry and 

 the Academy and of the true worth and dignity of science. 



The exercises, which were in good taste, began with a short 

 address by Chief Justice Waite. After this, at a signal, the 

 covering was quickly drawn aside, instantly revealing the entire 

 statue. Loud applause followed, tbo-e who were seated rose to 

 their feet, and all hat- were removed. The scene was highly 

 impressive; and when the Philharmonic Society, accompanied 

 by the full marine band, burst forth with Haydn's grand chorus-, 

 " The heavens are tellin '," the h-art must have been a hardened 

 one which did not experience a feeling of exaltation. 



In the opinion of all, the statue is dignified and pleasing, and 

 vividly calls to mind tbe honoured original. President Porter's 

 oration, which was the principal event of the afternoon, was 

 listened to with much interest. It dealt with the plain facts of 

 the life of Henry, and was all that his best frienris could have 

 desired. 



Among the pleasantest social features of the meeting was a 

 reception given to the members of the Academy on Thursday 

 evening by Prof. A. Graham Bell. Tfiere were present many 

 well-known gentlemen, among them General Sherman, Chief 

 Justice Waite, Senator Sherman, ex-Secretary Blaine, and the 

 Japanese, Swedish, and Belgian ambassadors. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Zeitschrift fur wissenschaftliche Zoologie, Bd. xxxviii. Heft I, 

 February 20, 1883, contains : — On the vascular system and the 

 imbibition of water in the Najadae and Mytilidae, by Dr. Her- 

 mann Griesbach (PI. 1). — Researches among the Protozoa, by 

 Dr. A. Gruber (Plates 2 to 4) ; describes and figures several 

 new genera and species. — On the origin of the saliva {Fuller soft) 

 and the salivary glands in the bee, together with an appendix on 

 their olfactory organ, by Dr. P. Schieinenz (Plates 5 to 7). — On 

 the development of the red blood corpuscles, by Dr. W. Feuer- 

 stack (woodcuts). — Candid reply to my critics in the matter of 

 the "Brain of Fishes," by G. Futsch. 



Proceedings of the St. Petersburg Society of Natural History, 

 Vol. xiii. Part 1, for :882, contains: On the archaeology of 

 Russia, by Count Tivatkov (the Stone Period). — Notes of a 

 journey on the Dnieper in 1844, by Dr. Kessler. — On Capra 

 caucasua, Giild., by H. Dinnik. — Darwinism from the point of 

 view of universal physical science, by A. Beketov. — A mono- 

 graph of the Mysidae to he found in Russia (Marine, Lacustrine, 

 and Fluviatile), by Voldemaro Czerniavsky, fasc. 2. All the 

 above articles are in Russian except the last, which is in Latin, 

 and it is illustrated by four lithographic plates. 



Journal of the Russian Chemical and Physical Society, vol. xv. 

 fascicule 3. — On the hydrocarbon C IS H S0 obtained from the allyl 

 dimethyl carbinol, by Prof. A. Zaytseffand W. Nicolsky. — On 

 the hydrocarbon Ci H 18 obtained from the allyl dipropyl carbinol, 



by S. Reformatsky. It is a colourless liquid boiling at about 

 158° Celsius, insoluble in water, and easily soluble in alcohol 

 and ether. It rapidly absorbs the oxygen of the air ; density 

 0787 at 0°, 0774 at 16°, and 0770 at 21°. — Chemical analysis 

 of Kieff clays, by S. Bogdanoff. The white clay contains 96 pet- 

 cent, of kaolins; the loess contains S3'5 per cent, of quartz, 

 felspar, mica, and other silicates, 5-38 of kaolin, and 673 of 

 carbonate of lime. — On the diisooctyl, by A. Alechin. — On the 

 composition of the water which accompanies the naphtha and is 

 discharged by mud-volcanoes of the Government of Tiflis, by A. 

 Potylitzin (second paper). — An elementary demonstration of the 

 pendulum formula, and on a differential aerial calorimeter, by 

 W. Preobrajensky. 



The Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles for February, 

 1883, contains papers by C. E. Guillaume on electrolytic con- 

 densers ; by Emile Yung, on the errors of the senses, a contri- 

 bution to the study of illusions and hallucinations ; by Ernest 

 Favre, on the Geological Survey of Switzerland for 1882, con- 

 cluded in the March number. To the latter C. de Candolle 

 sends an interesting essay on the ripple marks formed on the 

 surface of sands under water, and on other ana'ogous pheno- 

 mena. 



The Journal de Physique tktorique et afpliquee for March 

 contains papers by Ph. Gilbert, on ihe experiments best suited 

 for demonstrating the rotation of the earth ; by G. Lippmann, 

 on Hehnholtz's theory of double electric layers as api lied to 

 electro cipillary phenomena; by II. I'cllai, on the same sub- 

 ject ; by A. kosensliehl, on the definition of complementary 

 colours ; by Ch. Cros and Aug. Veigeraud, on a direct positive 

 photographic paper. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, March 15. — "On the Changes which take 

 place in the Deviations of the Standard Compass in the Iron 

 Armour-plated, Iron, and Composite-built Ships of the Royal 

 Navy on a considerable change of Magnetic Lati'ude." By 

 Staff-Commander E. W. Creak, R.N., of the Admiralty Com- 

 pass Department. Communicated by Capt. Sir F. J. Evans, 

 R.N., K.C.B., F.R.S., Hydrograpber of the Admiralty. 



The period comprised between the years 1855-68 was one of 

 active research into the magnetic character of the armour-plated 

 and other ships of the Royal Navy and iron ships of the Mer- 

 cantile Navy. 



Among other contributions to this subject a paper by F. J. 

 Evais, Staff-Commander R.N. , F.R.S., and Archibald Smith, 

 F.R.S , was read before the Royal Society in March 1865, 

 relating to the armour-plated ships of the Royal Navy, and con- 

 taining the first published results of the system of observation 

 and analysis of the deviation of the compass established four 

 years previously. 



From lack of observations in widely different magnetic lati- 

 tudes the authors of that paper were unable to define the pro- 

 portions of the semicircular deviations ari ing from vertical 

 induction in soft iron and that arising from permanent or sub- 

 permanent magnetism in hard iron. 



During the last fifteen years vessels of all classes — except 

 turret ships— have visited places of high southern magnetic 

 inclination or dip, and the analysis of the deviations of their 

 standard compasses has been made, showing the constants of 

 hard and soft iron producing semicircular deviation. 



The constants for soft iron provide a means of predicting 

 probable changes of deviation on change of magnetic latitude for 

 certain vessels of the following classes, and others of similar 

 construction. 



1. Iron armour-plated ships. 



2. Iron cased with wood. 



3. Iron troopships. 



4. Iron and steel cased with wood. 



5. Composite-built vessels. 



6. Wooden ships with iron beams and vertical bulkheads. 

 These vessels were all in a state of magnetic stability previous 



to Ihe observations which have been discussed, and their com- 

 passes have had the semicircular deviation reduced to small 

 values, or corrected, in England by permanent bar magnets. 



This correction may be considered as the introduction of a 

 permanent magnetic force acting independently, and in opposi- 

 tion to the magnetic forces of the ship proceeding from hard iron. 



