142 
that this Admiralty system of training has produced the 
majority of the men who are now occupying the leading 
positions in the shipbuilding industry of this country; that 
it has given to the private shipbuilders its leaders, who 
have risen from the working classes; and that it has pro- 
duced many men holding responsible positions in other parts 
of the world. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
Lonpon. 
Chemical Society, November 18.—Dr. W. A. Tilden, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—The union of carbon 
monoxide and oxygen, and the drying of gases by cooling, 
by Mr. A. F. Girvan. A series of experiments with various 
cooling agents was made, to determine whether aqueous 
vapour could be so far removed from mixtures of these two 
gases by cooling that they could no longer be exploded 
electrically. It was found that after having been cooled 
to a temperature of —35° the mixture exploded feebly, 
and that if it had been cooled to below —50° explosion 
did not occur; whence it appears that there must 
be at least one molecule of water in 24,000 molecules 
of the. mixture in order that such mixtures may 
explode.—Simplification of Zeisel’s method of methoxyl and 
ethoxyl determinations, by Dr. W. H. Perkin, sen., F.R.S. 
The vertical condenser and washing bulbs are dis- 
pensed with, it having been found that the hydriodic acid 
is completely retained by using a long-necked distilling 
flask with its side arm arranged to slope slightly upwards. 
—tThe rusting of iron, part ii., by Dr. G. T. Moody. The 
salts which inhibit the formation of ‘‘ rust ’’ on iron are 
divisible into two classes, viz. those which are strongly 
alkaline, and therefore absorb carbon dioxide, e.g. sodium 
phosphate and borate, and those which are decomposed by 
carbon dioxide, e.g. sodium nitrite, acetate, and formate. 
The author is of opinion that the non-formation of ‘‘ rust ’’ 
in presence of these salts is due, therefore, to their removal 
of carbon dioxide from the air, and not, as was suggested 
by Dunstan, to their property of destroying hydrogen 
peroxide.—Constitution of ethyl cyanoacetate. Condensa- 
tion of ethyl cyanoacetate with its sodium derivative, by 
Messrs. F. G. P. Remfry and J. F. Thorpe.—tThe action 
of water and dilute caustic soda solutions on crystalline and 
amorphous arsenic, by Mr. W. T. Cooke. Amorphous 
arsenic is dissolved to a minute extent only, by prolonged 
ebullition of the element in water or aqueous solutions of 
sodium hydroxide even in presence of air. The crystalline 
form of the element, on the other hand, is also only slightly 
soluble in water and caustic soda solutions in presence of 
inert gases, but in presence of air the solubility is greatly 
increased.—Note on a double chloride of molybdenum and 
potassium, by Prof. G. G. Henderson. A description of the 
method of formation and of the properties of this salt, the 
composition of which is represented by the formula 
3KCl,MoCl,,2H,O, was given.—The action of benzamidine 
on olefinic-B-diketones, by Dr. S. Ruhemann.—Dissocia- 
tion constants of trimethylenecarboxylic acids, by Messrs. 
W. A. Bone and C. H. G. Sprankling. A comparison of 
the values of these dissociation constants with those of the 
ccrresponding saturated open-chain acids shows that the 
formation of a closed ring increases the values of these 
constants.—The elimination of hydrogen bromide from 
bromo-gem-dimethylsuccinic acid and from bromotrimethyl- 
succinic anhydride, by Messrs. W. A. Bone and H. 
Henstock. 
Mineralogical Society, November 17.—Dr. Hugo Miiller, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—Mr. R. H. Solly gave a 
detailed description of various minerals from the Binnenthal, 
five of which had not been identified with existing species. 
These five minerals all contain lead, arsenic and sulphur, 
but sufficient material for complete analyses has not yet been 
obtained. Three of them are red transparent minerals having 
each one perfect cleavage and a similar vermilion streak, 
but differing crystallographically : one is apparently ortho- 
rhombic with (100), (110) =39° 16/, (o10), (o11)=52° 57! and 
(oor), (101)=42° 43/; another is oblique with B=78° 46/, 
(100), (101)=42° 22/ and (o10), (111)=37° 3/; while the 
third has a zone at right angles to the perfect cleavage with 
angles of approximately 30° and 60°. The other two 
NO. 1780, VOL. 69] 
NATURE 
[DECEMBER 10, 1903 
minerals, which could not be identified with any of the other 
sulpharsenites of lead previously described by the author, 
are black with metallic lustre. One of these is oblique with 
B=81° 11/, (100), (101) =40° 7, (o10), (111)=55° 26/; it has 
a perfect cleavage (100), and, like liveingite, exhibits no 
oblique striations on the planes in the zone [100, oo1]. The 
other mineral is also oblique with B=89° 4o/, (100), (101) = 
46° 18/, and (o10), (111)=59° 56/; it has a perfect cleavage 
(100), and, like rathite, exhibits numerous oblique 
striations on the planes in the zone [100, oo1]. On fine 
brilliant crystals of sartorite recently obtained by the author 
he has been able to confirm the oblique symmetry which 
he had previously announced, and to determine accurately 
the elements, B=88° 31/, (100) (101)=54° 45/, (o10) (111), = 
69° 523/. Amongst other specimens from the dolomite _¢f 
the Lengenbach in the Binnenthal, the author exhibited 
and described peculiar rounded crystals of galena resembling 
seligmannite, hyalophane crystals twinned according té-the 
Carlsbad law and showing three new forms, a green mica 
which was determined to be anorthic, albite and biotite, 
minerals which have not yet been hitherto recorded from the 
locality, and barytes in green crystals. Of specimens from 
the Ofenhorn, the author exhibited some remarkably fine 
crystals of anatase, and crystals of laumontite, a mineral 
new to the locality—Mr. L. J. Spencer described crystals 
of adamite from Chili which were remarkable for their 
strong pleochroism.—Mr. G. F. Herbert Smith discussed 
the prismatic method of determining indices of refraction. 
From observations of the angles of incidence and deviation 
the refractive index and direction of the wave-front in the 
crystalline medium could be found. By using pairs of faces 
in the same zone and different angles of incidence a series 
of refractive indices is obtained which, when plotted with 
the direction angle as ordinate, gives in general a double 
curve. Three of the critical values are the principal in- 
dices, the fourth corresponding to the direction parallel to 
the zone-axis. The angles of polarisation with respect to 
the zone-axis provide a means of discriminating between 
the doubtful values. A description was given of an inverted 
goniometer whereby observations could be made in media 
other than air. 
Linnean Society, November 19.—Prof. S. H. Vines, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—The Rev. John Gerard, 
S.J., exhibited a fasciated rose sent by the Rev. J. Dobson, 
of St. Ignatius’s College, St. Julian, Malta, with this 
note :—‘‘ A freak of a white climbing rose, in which eight 
or nine blossoms with their stalks have grown together.’’ 
—The Rev. R. Ashington Bullen brought for exhibition 
an albino mole, from a farm near Bagshot; it was wholly 
of a light fawn colour, and no similar specimen had been 
seen for at least twenty years, though many moles had 
been trapped on the same farm.—Dr. M. T. Masters, 
F.R.S., gave an abstract of his paper, a general view of 
the genus Pinus. The author stated that the object of 
the paper was to discuss the nature and value of the 
characters made use of in discriminating the various species 
of Pinus, and to supply additional points of distinction 
derived from the anatomical structure of the leaf and other 
sources. The author has framed an analytical table of the 
species, which, although mainly artificial, may be of assist- 
ance hereafter in facilitating the determination of the 
species, and in arranging them in more natural groups. The 
two main divisions adopted are the thin-scaled pines or 
Tenuisquame, and the thick-scaled pines or Crassisquame, 
according to the relative thickness of the cone-scales. 
Further subdivisions are founded on various points of dis- 
tinction.—Contributions to the embryology of the 
Amentiferee, part ii., Carpinus Betulus, by Dr. Margaret 
Benson and Miss Elizabeth Sanday. More than 500 
accurately orientated, stained and mounted series of sections 
were obtained through ovules containing the earlier stages 
in the development of the numerous embryo-sacs, until the 
segmentation of the definitive nucleus and of the egg 
occurred. Former observations (see part i. in Trans. Linn. 
Soc., ser. 2, bot. iii. (1894), pp. 409-424) were confirmed 
and the following new facts obtained. The polar nuclei 
meet at the neck of the caecum, descend together and ulti- 
mately fuse near its base. The pollen-tube enters the sac 
in their vicinity, and provides some means of exit for one 
male gamete, which seems to be emitted into the caecum 
