FEBRUARY IT, 1897] 
NLA LURE. 2 
59 
o 
R. E. Holding, on behalf of Sir Douglas Brooke, Bart., ex- 
hibited a head and two pair of shed horns of a fallow deer. 
The latter showed curious deformities in consequence of disease 
of the frontal bone.—Mr. G. E. H. Barrett-Hamilton gave a 
short general account of his expedition to the Fur-Seal Islands 
of the North Pacific during the summer of 1896, in company 
with Prof. D’Arcy Thompson. This journey had been under- 
taken on behalf of the Foreign and Colonial Offices, with a 
view to the investigation of the natural history of the northern 
fur-seal (O¢arza urstna), with special reference to certain dis- 
puted points which had a distinct bearing on the industry con- 
nected with the skins of the animal. A detailed report of Mr. 
Barrett-Hamilton’s investigations would be issued as a Parlia- 
mentary Blue Book.—Mr. G. A. Boulenger, F.R.S., read a 
paper entitled ‘‘ A Catalogue of the Reptiles and Batrachians 
of Celebes, with special reference to the collections made by 
Drs. P. and F. Sarasin in 1893-1896.” This memoir gave a 
complete list (with descriptions) of all the reptiles and batra- 
chians, with the exception of the marine species, known to 
occur in the Celebes. The number of species of reptiles enum- 
erated was 83, and of+batrachians 21.—Mr. Martin Jacoby 
contributed to our knowledge of the African fauna by describing 
43 species of Phytophagous Coleoptera, 37 of which were new, 
based on specimens contained in collections sent home to him 
from Natal and Mashonaland by Mr. Guy A. K; Marshall, and 
from Madagascar by M. Alluand, of Paris. 
CAMBRIDGE. 
Philosophical Society, January 25.—Mr. F. Darwin, 
President, in the chair.—Some results obtained by staining the 
brain with the chrome-silver method (illustrated by photo- 
micrographs), by Dr. A. Hill. Dr. Hill showed a granule of 
the olfactory bulb with a looped axis-cylinder, and also certain 
forms of granule of the cerebellum not hitherto described. He 
also exhibited sections and photographs showing the variations 
in the form of the “thorns” on the dendrites of nerve-cells, 
which can be produced by varying the hardening process: (1) 
The thorns may be absent; (2) they may be long or short ; 
(3) they may have the typical form of a minute rod with a dot 
at the end, or the dots may be divided and lie on the course of 
the rod; (4) they may be replaced by long filaments.—A possible 
explanation of the quinqueloculine arrangement of the chambers 
of the microspheric forms of triloculine and biloculine shells of 
the miliolidz (foraminifera), by Mr. J. J. Lister. It was sug- 
gested that the quinqueloculine mode of growth in the young 
microspheric forms of the miliolide may be ancestral and 
archaic. —On the theory of osmotic forces, by Mr. J. Larmor 
(will be printed in full). 
MANCHESTER. 
Literary and Philosophical Society, January 26.—Prof. 
H. B. Dixon, F.R.S., in the chair.—On a convection scope 
and calorimeter, by A. R. Bennett. Mr. Bennett described 
how he had devised a small and exceedingly sensitive motor 
which begins to revolve the moment it is exposed to daylight in 
the open air, whether the sun is shining or not, and which will 
also work all night in clear weather. The delicacy of the motor 
is such that it is affected by the radiant heat of moonlight. The 
motive power is due to convection currents caused by the 
radiant heat of daylight striking through a glass shade with 
which the instrument is covered; the glass is not heated, but 
the metal surfaces of the instrument are, and air is conse- 
quently expanded on the motor surfaces and condensed on the 
glass, the resulting difference of temperature setting up a con- 
vection current which does not cease so long as the instrument 
is exposed to the radiant heat due to visible rays. Descriptions 
were given of modifications by which surplus heat is automatic- 
ally stored during the day and employed to drive the instrument 
at night. During the months of May, June, and July last, such 
a storage instrument continued in motion without stopping day 
or night ; and in fine climates, like Egypt, much longer periods 
of continuous movement could undoubtedly be secured. The 
speed of the instrument is affected by barometrical pressure and 
hygroscopic conditions. It is capable of marking the dew-point, 
and works well even when its glass shade is completely coated with 
ice or half buried insnow. Mr. Bennett has succeeded in adapting 
the instrument to act as a calorimeter by first cooling the whole 
of the instrument to a given temperature, when rotation ceases, 
and then suspending pieces of heated metal inside. In this way 
the specific heats of substances can be accurately compared, 
since the number of rotations caused is in direct proportion to 
NO 1424, VOL. 55] 
the amount of introduced heat. The instrument can also be 
used to measure the comparative heat-retaining power of textile 
fabrics, boiler compositions, &c., and the relative heat con- 
ductivities of thin threads and wires. Mr. Bennett has also 
instituted a series of experiments, as yet incomplete, into the 
comparative sensitiveness to convection effects of various gases, 
which promise interesting results, since the differences already 
noted are unexpectedly great, and, moreover, do not bear any 
direct relation to the densities or other known physical properties 
of the gases tried. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, February 1.—M. A. Chatin in the 
chair.—The election of M. Filhol in the Section of Anatomy 
and Zoology, in the place of M. Sappey, was approved by the 
President of the Republic.—On a mode of inversion of multiple 
integrals, by M. Paul Appell.—On the, integration of certain 
differential equations by series, by M. Emile Picard. —Further 
details on an apparatus for producing acetylene, by M. H. L. 
Lechappe.—On a scheme of night signalling on railways by 
phosphorescence, by M. A. Boullerot.—On a new instrument 
designed to show the upward or downward movement in 
balloons, by M. Aug. Coret.—Distance of the solar system, by 
M. E. Roger. A discussion of the two laws enounced by M. 
Delauney. It is stated that the first law may be attributed to 
chance agreement, and that the second is a particular case of a 
more general law.—On the quadratic integrals of the equations 
of dynamics, by M. P. Painlevé.—On the laws of interest, by 
M. Enrico de Montel.—Generalisation of the formule of 
electromagnetism, by M. Vaschy.—On the molecular conduc- 
| tivity of salts in dilute solution, by M. P. Joubin.—On the 
radio-photography of the soft parts of man andanimals, by MM. 
Remy and Contremoulin. Silver chromate is deposited bya 
preliminary chemical treatment on the surface, and in the tissues 
of the muscles. In this way photographs can be obtained by 
means of the Rontgen rays in which not only the muscles, but 
even the muscular bundles are clearly visible.—Structural 
isomerism and rotatory power, by MM. Ph. A. Guye and J. 
Guerchgorine. The results of an experimental study of the 
rotatory power of the amyl isovalerates, derived from the three 
isomeric valeric acids ; of the propyl and butyl valerates, ob- 
tained from the active valeric acid; and of the propyl and 
butyl caproates, prepared with caproic acid obtained syntheti- 
cally by the decomposition of active amyl-malonic acid. It is 
found that in all cases the normal propyl group behaves as 
though it were heavier than the isopropyl group, but that the 
isobutyl group appears to be heavier than the normal butyl group, 
whilst the latter, again, is heavier than the secondary butyl! group. 
—Constitution of the combinations of antipyrin with phenols, 
by M. G. Patein. It isshown that monomethylphenyl-pyrazolone 
does not combine with phenols, and that the phenol is probably 
joined, in the case of the combination with antipyrin, to one of 
the nitrogen atoms.—On the estimation of lipase, the saponi- 
fying ferment in the blood, by MM. Hanriot and L. Camus. 
The estimation was carried out by measuring the amount of 
sodium butyrate formed by the saponification of butyrin during 
a fixed time. The activity of lipase prepared from the blood 
serum of the horse was shown by preliminary experi- 
ments to be unchanged after nearly two months’ preserv- 
ation; the temperature, however, exerts a considerable in- 
fluence upon the results, and has to be kept constant during 
the determination.—On a new method of preparing anatomical 
specimens, by M. N. Melnikoff-Rasvedenkoff. The specimen 
is treated successively with a solution of formaline, alcohol 
(60 to So per cent.), and a solution made up of water (r00), 
glycerine (20), and potassium acetate (15).—Separation of 
glycerine in wine by means of a current of steam, by MM. 
F. Bordas and Sig. de Raczkowski. Test analyses are given 
showing the accuracy of the method.—Contribution to the 
study of the action of zinc upon red wines, by M. L. A. Levat. 
The amount of zinc taken up by the wine is sufficient to make 
the latter poisonous, and this metal should not be used for taps, 
or for containing vessels of any kind in which wines are stored. 
—Structure and mechanism of the bulb in the Mollusca, by M. 
Alexandre Amandrut.—On a method of mounting rotifers, by 
M. Nicolas de Zograf. The rotifers are narcotised with a solu- 
tioe of cocaine hydrochloride, and then’ treated with osmie acid. 
This is removed and replaced by weak crude wood vinegar, then 
the animals washed with water and dried by alcohol. The 
rotifers fixed in this way do not contract their abdominal 
appendages, cilia, or tentacles. —The castorewme of the roach, by 
