March 12, [885] 



NA TURE 



45i 



life of the lamp in hours, and B(v) the number of candles 

 equivalent to the lamp, f(v) and 6(?) being expressed as a 



functi in of the potential difference in volts — J\ 7-7 stands 



for the cost per year per candle, as far as the renewal of lamps is 

 concerned. Also, if // stands for the cost of an electric horse- 

 power per year for the number of hours electric force is em- 

 ployed, and p{v) the number of watts per candle, 



74° 

 stands for the cost per year per candle as far as the production 

 of power is concerned. The sum of these two represents the 

 total cost per candle per year, and the value of z/that male 

 a minimum may be found either graphically or analytically. 

 tcally for the 108 volt Edison lamps 

 used at tin Finsbury Technical College, where n may be taken 

 as 560 and //= 5/., they find that the minimum value of the 

 total cost is given by v = 106. The curve connecting total 

 yearly cost per candle wdth -j they found to be very fiat at this 

 point, showing that the lamps may be burnt with a potential 

 difference varying as much as 4 volts, with only 5 percent, 

 addition to the annual cost. It is found that with certain types 

 of incandescent lamps the candle-power of the lamp varies as the 

 potential difference minus a constant. The authors also find 

 that in rough photometric experiments Xo. S snerm candles may 

 ! for standard ones. — Mr. Macfarlane Gray gave an 

 account of a most extended investigation upon the second law 

 of thermodynamics. From considerations connected with the 

 specific heats of liquids and gases the author comes to the con- 

 clusion that the second law is not true. The experimental results 

 re chiefly those of Regnault, to which, however, Mr. Gray 

 lied some corrections. 



Edinburgh 

 Royal Physical Society, February iS. — The Rev. Prof. 

 J. Duns, D.D., F.R.S.E., President, in the chair.— The follow- 

 ing communications were read, viz. : — Prof. W. Turner, F. R. S., 

 exhibited and described a collection of fossil bones of mammals 

 obtained in excavating the new dock and a gas-holding tank at 

 Silloth. He was indebted for these to Dr. Leitch, Mr. Charles 

 Boyd, and Mr. J. T. Middleton. The specimens consisted of 

 antlers and a humerus of the Red Deer, vertebra of two whales 

 and two skulls and some of the bones of the limbs of the great 

 extinct ox of Britain, Bos primigenius. Those found in exca- 

 vating the dock were within a short distance of each other, lying 

 in a bed of wet gravel and shingle, mixed with oyster, m 

 and cockle beds, the material overlying the bones being twenty- 

 six feet in thickness. One of the antlers contained eight points, 

 and it is doubtful if a finer specimen could be found on any 

 existing red deer. The lower jaw of one skull of the Bos 

 primigeniu was obtained, and it is apparently the only speci- 

 men that had been seen in Britain, and, comparing it with the 

 wild cattle in Cadzow Forest, he found that the extreme length 

 of the jaw of the fossil ox was 1 SJ inches, as against 15 1 inches 

 in the Hamilton cattle, being a difference of nearly 3 inches. 

 The leg bones also showed the massive character of the Great 



11I enabled the Society to realise its magnitude. — Dr. R. 

 Murray, M.A., M.R.C.P.E., described and exhibited 

 some new modifications of recording apparatus. — Dr. Ramsay 

 Traquair, F.R.S., described and exhibited a new fossil fish, 

 Elotiichthys muttistrialus, found in the black-band ironstone at 

 Gilmerton.— Mr. George Brook, F.L.S., described a new 

 method for the aeration of marine aquaria. — Mr. John Hunter, 



-. . read a paper on a new modification of Lunge's nitro- 

 meter. — Prof. A. G. Xathorst an 1 ] ri m, of 

 Stockholm, have been elected Corresponding Fellows of the 

 Society. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, February 19. — Sir Frede- 

 rick i. .R.S., President, in the chair. — Thesecondof 

 a course of lectures on "The Theory and Practice of Hydro- 

 liveredbyDr. William Pole. F.R.SS., I., and 

 E., M.Inst.C.E., Honorary Secretary of the Institution, the 

 subject being "Water Supply." 



Cambridge 



Philosophical Society, February 16. — Prof. Foster, Presi- 



. in the chair. — The following communications were made 



ty : — Some remarks on the urea-ferment, by Mr. A. 



S. Lea. — On the occurrence of re; 1 ' the root 



of Laminaria bulbosa, by Mr. Walter Gardiner. — On the types 



of excretory system 'found in the Enteropneusta, by Mr. W. 

 Bateson. 



Sydney 



Linnean Society of New South Wales, December 31, 

 1884.— C. S. Wilkinson, F.L.S., President, in the chair.— 

 The following gentlemen were present as visitors : — Messrs. 

 W. H. Caldwell, B.A., C. E. Smith, James Mosely, Alex. 

 Hamilton. — The following papers were read : — Occasional notes 

 on plants indigenous in the immediate neighbourhood of Sydney, 

 No. 8, by Edwin Haviland. — The geology and physical geo- 

 graphy of the State of Perak, by the Rev. J. E. Tenison- 

 Woo Is, F.G.S., &c. — Note on an apparently new parasite 

 affecting sheep, by R. von Lendenfeld. In several localities 

 sheep were affected by a disease similar in appearance to epi- 

 thelial cancer, which appeared on the feet behind the hoofs and 

 on the lips. Tl e histological investigation shows that the rete 

 malphigii is inflamed and the Papilla? attain a very large and 

 abnormal size ; the outer layer of the skin and the homy epi- 

 thelium are very much thickened, and it is apparent that between 

 the horny layer granular masses, apparently parasites, are dis- 

 posed, in which nuclei can be detected. The author supposes 

 these to be an Amceba, and to cause by irritation the hyper- 

 trophy of the epithelium. The sections were exhibited under 

 the microscope : the specimens were hardened with chromic 

 acid and stained with picric acid carmin. — On the temperature 

 of the body of Ornithorhynchtis paradoxus, by X. do Miklouho- 

 Maclay. The result of some observations on the temperature 

 of the Ornithorhyiichus is here given, showing it not to exceed 

 40 C. or 76° Fahr. Previous observations made by the Baron 

 had shown that the temperature of the body of the Echidna was 

 at least 5° Fahr. higher than that of the other Monotreme. — 

 Mr. W. H. Caldwell, B.A., exhibited several specimens which 

 he had recently obtained in Queensland, showing the stages in 

 the development of the Monotremes from the laying of the egg 

 to the hatching. — Mr. J. Mitchell, of Bovvning, exhibited a 

 large number of Silurian fossils collected by him in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Bowning. They consisted of a variety of mollusks, 

 corals, and about sixteen species of trilobites. Among the trilo- 

 bites are Phacops caudatus, P. longicaudatus, P. encrinurus 

 punctatus, and P. Jamesii (?), Calymme [Lenariaf), Harpis 

 ungula, Staurocepkalus Murchisonii, Brontins, and several of 

 the genus Acidapsis, one of which attained a considerable size. 

 The mollusks included representatives of Pentamerus, Ortho- 

 ceras, Avicula, Strophomena, &c. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, March 2. — M. Bouley, President, 

 in the chair. — Note on " Les Origines de l'Alchimie," by the 

 author, M. Berthelot. In this work the origin of alchemy, fore- 

 runner of the modem science of chemistry, is traced back by 

 means of Greek manuscripts and Egyptian papyruses to the 

 remotest historic times. — Researches on isoraery in the aromatic 

 series ; heat of neutralisation of the polyatomic phenols, by MM!. 

 Berthelot and Werner.— Observations of the small planets and 

 of Wolff's comet made with the great meridian at the Paris 

 Observatory during the last quarter of the year 1884, communi- 

 cated by M. Mouchez. — On the periodicity of the solar spots, 

 and the anomaly of their last maximum, by M. Faye. _ The 

 periodicity is regarded as established, and the irregularity in the 

 last maximum is referred to a possible quasi independence of the 

 northern and southern solar hemispheres, in virtue of which the 

 epochs of their respective greatest activity may not coincide exactly. 

 — First explorations of the mission sent by the Academy to study 

 the recent earthquakes in the south of Spain, by M. Fouque. 

 The mission, consisting of MM. Fouque, Levy, Bertrand, 

 Barrois, Offret, Kilian, and Bergeron, arrived at Malaga on 

 February 7, and from that point visited Periana, Zaffararia, 

 Venta de Zaffararia, Alhama, Arenas del Rey, and Albunuelas, 

 which places suffered most during the disturbances. — On a 

 characteristic reaction of the secondary alcohols, by M. G. 

 Chancel. — Action of oxygenated water on the oxides of cerium 

 and thorium, by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. — Correction of a 

 previous communication {Comptcs Rtndus, February, 1S79, p. 

 322) regarding the spectrum of Samarium, by M. Lecoq de 

 Boisbaudran. — On the prevailing winds of North Persia, 

 and on the south wind of the province of Ghilan, by M. 

 J. D. Tholozan. — Report of the International Comn; 

 the widening and deepening of the Suez Canal, pre- 

 sented by M. de Lesseps. — Election of M. Grand' Eury 

 as Corresponding Member for the Section of Botany in place 



