188 
NATURE 
[DEcEMBER 24, 1896 
co-operate with other educational bodies. In moving ‘‘ That 
the new regulations for Woolwich examinations will not be 
satisfactory unless the number of subjects a candidate can take 
up is diminished by at least one, and that a heavy one, below 
the present number,” the Rev. Dr. James said the Army curri- 
culum afforded no education at all. It was, from the literary 
point of view, a failure, and from the scientific point of view was 
poor and inadequate. The incessant and irritating changes were 
a grave detriment to the intellectual development of the candi- 
dates. The result of these changes was especially felt in the 
department of science, and it was made impossible to give a 
really valuable scientific training. Under the: old system nine 
was the maximum number of subjects. Now a boy was to be 
allowed to take up ten subjects, and the amount of mathematics 
in Class I. had been very largely increased, while a third alter- 
native subject had been added which was beyond the reading 
required by the scholarship standard for mathematics at the 
Universities. Dr. James's resolution fell through, but the 
following were adopted in its place :—(1) That the new regula- 
tions for Woolwich examinations involve a disastrous increase 
of the burden of a curriculum which is already too heavy for 
candidates of the required age. (2) That it is not desirable that 
any such changes as are proposed should be made in regulations: 
which have been only recently established, and which have 
enabled Woolwich and Sandhurst candidates to be generally pre- 
pared together, and that the committee be instructed to urge the 
views of the conference on the military authorities. 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 
American Journal of Scte nce, December.—Archelon Ischyros, 
a new gigantic Cryptodire Testudinate from the Fort Pierre 
Cretaceous of South Dakota, by G. R. Wieland. This testu- 
dinate is closely allied to the genus Protostega. All the large 
bones were found in place, and the skeleton was almost com- 
plete. The ribs, which average 1 m. in length, are remarkable 
jor their distal increase in thickness. The cervical centra are 
very heavy and strong bodies, and indicate a neck of enormous 
strength. The humerus measures “65 m., the ulna *33 m., and 
thefemur "46m. The totallength is about 11 feet 4 inches, and 
the spread of the massive forearms 16 or 20 feet, this being the 
most striking feature of theanimal. The skeleton was found em- 
bedded at the side of a small ravine near the South Fork of the 
Cheyenne River.—A method for the separation of aluminium 
from iron, by F. A. Gooch and F. S. Havens. The method is 
based upon the different solubilities of aluminium and ferric 
chlorides in strong hydrochloric acid. To test the method, 
measured portions of the standardised solution of aluminium 
chloride were evaporated nearly to dryness in a platinum dish, 
a measured amount of ferric chloride was added in a very little 
water, a mixture of equal proportions of ether and strong hydro- 
chloric acid was introduced, the liquid was saturated at 15° 
with gaseous hydrochloric acid, more ether was added to secure 
complete miscibility, and more gas passed to perfect saturation. 
The aluminium chloride was collected upon asbestos in a per- 
forated crucible, washed with a mixture of ether and aqueous HCl 
thoroughly saturated with the gaseous acid, dried at 150°C. for 
half an hour, covered with pure mercuric oxide, and ignited, 
gently at first, and finally over the blast. The error was less 
than I per cent.—Chemical composition of Hawaiian soils and 
of the rocks from which they have been derived, by A. B. Lyons. 
The relation in chemical composition of soils to the rocks from 
which they are derived can be most advantageously studied in 
a volcanic country, where disintegration of the rock is rapid 
and is attended with great chemical changes. In the Hawaiian 
soil there is observed a loss of more than half the silica, 77 per 
cent. of the manganese, 93 per cent. of the lime, 91 per cent. of 
the magnesia, and about 50 per cent. of the phosphoric acid. 
It is especially interesting to note that while the rotted lava has 
lost nearly all its calcium and potassium, the soil retains a con- 
siderable proportion of both these elements, probably owing to the 
influence of plants and molluscous animals.—The Jurassic 
formation on the Atlantic coast, by O. C. Marsh. Adduces 
reasons why certain fresh-water formations in New Jersey and 
elsewhere along the Altantic coast should be regarded as Jurassic 
instead of Cretaceous. 
Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society, vol. iii. No. 2, 
November.—The number opens with a report of the Buffalo 
Colloquium, a meeting which was held as auxiliary to the 
ummer meeting of the Society. It lasted a week, and the plan 
NO. 1417, VOL. 55] 
of it was that two courses of lectures should be given, consisting 
in each case of six one to two-hour lectures. Prof. Bécher’s 
subject was linear differential equations and their applications, 
and Prof. Pierpont’s the Galois theory of equations. Outlines 
of the lectures are given. The result was so satisfactory that at 
the close of the Colloquium a motion was adopted recommending 
to the Council that arrangements be made for a similar gathering 
in connection with the next summer meeting of the Society. —A 
geometrical method for the treatment of uniform convergence 
and certain double limits, by Prof. Osgood, was read, as 
previously noted, at the summer meeting. It is a very thorough 
paper and fully illustrated. The geometrical representation of 
functions by curves and surfaces is, the author states, of twofold 
importance ; for not only does it represent to the eye, by means 
of a concrete picture, relations which would otherwise appear 
only in abstract arithmetic form, but this picture in its turn 
makes evident new facts, and points out at the same time the 
curve that the arithmetic proof of the theories thus suggested 
would naturally take.—Prof. Bécher reviews Heffter’s ein- 
leitung in die Theorie der linearen Differentialgleichungen mit 
einer unabhangigen variabeln.—From the notes we learn that 
Profs. Klein and J. J. Thomson addressed the Society on 
October 17. 
Symons's Monthly Meteorological Magazine, December.— 
Weather in the last century. Early records of the weather 
being somewhat rare, it was thought that summaries of the one 
in question were worthy of publication. The register was kept 
at Richmond by Mr. George Smith, a Proctor to Queen Anne, 
and contains a record of daily observations, made without 
instruments, from April 1713 to June 1745. The original 
document is preserved in the library of the Royal Meteorological 
Society.—The scientific use of kites, by W. L. Moore, Chief of 
the U.S. Weather Bureau. The question discussed is simply, 
why kites are better than captive or unmanned balloons for 
exploring the upper air. The advantages over captive balloons 
are manifest. Prof. Moore has made out a strong case in favour 
of kites, but thinks that balloon observations should not be 
neglected.—Aarometrz descripizo, by J. Addison, 1672-1719. 
Attention has been called by Mr. Inwards, late President of the 
Royal Meteorological Society, toa poem under this title which 
is contained in 7ickel?s Addison, vol. vi. p. 427. The poem is 
reprinted in the current number of the A/agazzne, and the editor 
would be glad of a reference to any good translation that may 
exist, 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
LONDON, 
Royal Society, December 10.—‘‘The Chemical and Phy- 
siological Reactions of certain Synthesised Proteid-like Sub- 
stances. Preliminary Communication.” By Dr. John W. 
Pickering. 
From the observations recorded in this paper it appears that 
if certain derivatives of proteids, and other substances of allied 
chemical constitution, are heated together in sealed tubes with 
an excess of either phosphorus pentachloride or pentoxide, a 
series of colloidal substances are formed which, when freed from 
the contaminating phosphoric acid, and dissolved in concentrated 
ammonia, give opalescent solutions that, on evaporation down 
im vacuo, yield substances closely resembling in physical, 
chemical, and physiological properties certain proteids. 
These colloidal substances, although they differ from one 
another in minor details, are usually distinguished by the follow. . 
ing characteristics :— 
(1) They are soluble in warm water, forming opalescent 
leevorotatory solutions. 
(2) The resulting solutions yield the principal colour reactions 
hitherto deemed diagnostic of proteids. 
(3) In the absence of salts, solutions of these colloids do not 
coagulate on heating. In the presence of a trace of a neutral 
salt they coagulate on heating at temperatures very similar to 
proteid solutions. 
(4) Fractional heat coagulation shows the colloidal solutions 
are a mixture of different substances. 
(5) The different constituents of the colloidal solution exhibit 
different physiological action. 
(6) In the presence of an excess of neutral salts, or of salts of 
the heavy metals, the colloidal solutions behave in a manner 
similar to proteid solutions. 
(7) When introduced into the circulation of pigmented 
