Marcu 10, 1904] 
necessarily possess, or can readily obtain, a more intimate 
knowledge of the circumstances of each student than can 
the Board. The scholarships now provided by local authori- 
ties offer in many places the further assistance required. 
In these circumstances I do not consider it desirable that the 
decision of the Board be reconsidered.’’ It would be in- 
teresting to know how many national scholars receive any 
assistance from local authorities or have any resources 
beyond the 25s. per week now allowed them by the Board. 
Certainly it is desirable for local bodies to supplement the 
value of national scholarships, but while the Board of 
Education and local authorities are evading responsibility 
for support, the students who have not the additional re- 
sources referred to by Sir W. Anson have to cultivate high 
thinking on very poor living. The only satisfactory solu- 
tion of the difficulty is the provision of a hostel or residential 
college so that students may learn something of the 
corporate life which should be an essential part of a uni- 
versity education. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
Lonpon. 
Chemical Society, February 17.—Dr. W. A. Tilden, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair.—The following papers were 
read :—Observations on some intramolecular and originally 
reversible changes extending over prolonged periods of time : 
R. J. Friswell. It was suggested (1) that the labile con- 
dition is not confined to hydrogen, and (2) that the consti- 
tution of a compound may vary according to the particular 
““ stress ’’ to which it is subjected. Experiments illustrating 
these points were described, such as the slow decomposition 
of aniline hydrochloride by aminoazobenzene even in presence 
of excess of aniline.—Note on magnesium oxybromide : 
G. W. F. Holroyd. This substance was obtained by 
saturating an ethereal solution of magnesium phenyl 
bromide with acetylene, when it separated in the form of 
colourless crystals consisting of one molecule of the oxy- 
bromide with two molecules of ‘“‘ ether of crystallisation.” 
—The arrangement in space of the groups combined with 
tervalent nitrogen atoms: F. S. Kipping and A. H. Salway. 
The authors have attempted to detect asymmetry in a number 
of tervalent nitrogen compounds by treating these with 
d-l-benzylmethylacetylchloride. The products of these re- 
actions remained homogeneous after fractional crystallisa- 
tion, whence they conclude that the three radicles and the 
tervalent nitrogen atom itself in such compounds are 
situated in one plane, and that each pair of the radicles is 
symmetrically situated with regard to the third.—The 
esterification of r-mandelic acid by menthol and borneol : 
A. McKenzie. The esters obtained were described.— 
Certain organic phosphorus compounds: A. E. Dixon. 
Phosphorus trithiocyanate, a colourless oil readily hydrolysed 
by water into phosphorous and thiocyanic acids, and phos- 
phory! trithiocyanate, a pale yellow, highly refractive oil, 
were obtained respectively by the action of phosphorus tri- 
chloride and phosphorus oxychloride upon ammonium thio- 
cyanate. These substances behave both as thiocyanates and 
thiocarbimides, and this tautomerism is being further in- 
vestigated.—Note on the relation between the chemical com- 
position of some organic substances and the densities of 
their solutions: C. E. Fawsitt. Determinations of the 
densities of solutions of homologous carbamides, amines and 
acids have shown that this property is of an additive 
character, though slightly modified by constitutional in- 
fluences.—The so-called hydrocellulose: A. L. Stern. It 
was shown that the pulverulent substance formed by the 
action of dilute acids upon cellulose contains soluble hydro- 
lytic products, and that the bulk of the material has the 
same composition as cellulose.—(1) Isomeric change of 
diacylanilides into acylaminoketones ; (2) intramolecular re- 
arrangement in derivatives of the aromatic aminoketones : 
F. D. Chattaway. 
Royal Microscopical Society, February 17.—Dr. Hy. 
Woodward, F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair.—A paper 
by Mr. Stringer on an attachment for reading the lines 
in a direct vision spectroscope was read. The attachment 
consists of a light rigid arc of phosphor-bronze of about 
4c degrees and 6% inches radius, cast in one piece with 
two radial arms that project from a broad ring, by which 
NO. 1793, VOL..69] 
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453 
it is clamped to the body of the instrument. It lies just 
below the telescope, which is traversed across the spectrum 
by a screw that works through one of the radial arms and 
presses against a lug projecting downwards from the tele- 
scope to which it is clipped. A spring attached to the other 
radial arm acts on the opposite side of the lug and forces 
the telescope back when the motion of the screw is reversed. 
The arc carries a millimetre scale, divided in white on a 
black ground, and a vernier reading to tenths is carried by 
the telescope. Immediately below the eye-piece is a 
magnifying lens through which the scale and vernier can 
be read without any change in the observer’s position.— 
A paper by Mr. Nelson on the vertical illuminator was 
then read. The author said that after lying in abeyance 
for twenty-five years, the vertical illuminator has lately 
come into notice for the examination of opaque objects and 
especially for the microscopic examination of metals. He 
said a vertical illuminator must not be an oblique illuminator 
only, but must be capable of illuminating the full aperture 
of the back lens with a parallel beam of light. It must not 
be a permanent attachment to an objective so as to impair 
its performance for ordinary work. The reflector must be 
placed near the back lens, and there must be some method 
for regulating the illumination. To obtain the best 
advantage with vertical illumination it is necessary to use 
oil immersion cbjectives.—Another paper by Mr. Nelson on 
the influence of the antipoint on the microscopic image 
shown graphically was read. The author referred to a 
paper in the Journal for 1903 on a micrometric correction 
for minute objects, wherein he stated by way of illustra- 
tion that if one of the minute spinous hairs on a blow- 
fly’s tongue was examined on a bright ground and on a 
dark ground, a considerable difference in the sizes of the 
two images was discernible, and that the difference was 
caused by antipoints. A table was also given showing the 
amount to be added to the micrometric measurements of 
the image seen on the bright ground to bring it up to its 
true value. Mr. Gordon, who had originated the theory of 
the antipoint, had made accurate drawings of the two 
images of the hair, and the ratio of the breadths of the 
hair in these drawings was as 45 to 65. Applying the cor- 
rections given in the table to the measurement of the 
apparent size of the hair on a bright ground, the actual size 
works out to 12 per cent. more.—Mr. Keith Lucas followed 
with a paper on a microscope with geometric slides. He 
defined a geometric slide as one in which each motion which 
is not desired is separately eliminated by a single stop 
so arranged as not to interfere with any other possible 
motion. This principle he had applied in the design of a 
microscope to the slides of the fine and coarse adjustments 
and to the substage. 
Royal Meteorological Society, February 17.—Captain D. 
Wilson-Barker, president, in the chair—Mr. E. Mawley 
presented his report on the phenological observations for, 
1903. He showed that owing to the mildness of the winter 
and early spring wild plants flowered in advance of their 
average dates until about May, after which time only back- 
ward dates were recorded. In no previous year since the 
present series of reports was first instituted, in 1891, have 
such spring migrants as the swallow, cuckoo, and nightin- 
gale been so late in reaching our shores. The yield of 
wheat, barley, potatoes, turnips, and swedes was somewhat 
under average, but all the other farm crops yielded well, 
especially those of hay and beans, which were unusually 
abunaant. On account of the wet and protracted harvest 
most of the grain of the cereals was more or less discoloured, 
while potatoes were almost everywhere much diseased. 
Throughout the country this was one of the most disastrous 
years for fruit ever known. In fact, the only crop which 
gave anything like an average yield was that of straw- 
berries —Mr. W. H. Dines gave an account of the observ- 
ations which he had made by means of kites at Crinan, off 
the west coast of Scotland, during last summer. These 
observations were carried out by Mr. Dines under the 
auspices of a joint committee of the Royal Meteorological 
Society and of the British Association, the Government 
Grant Committee of the Royal Society providing funds for 
the hire of a vessel for the purpose. The author, after de- 
scribing various improvements which he had effected in the 
kites, stated that the weather last summer was most un- 
