190 



NATURE 



[December 21, 1905 



pentadecylic acid, and a-hydroxymyristic acid : H. R. 

 Le Sueur. The aldehydes obtained by the pyrogenetic 

 decomposition of these acids are white solids, readily 

 soluble in the ordinary organic solvents; they form oximes, 

 semicarbazones, hydroxycyanides, and are oxidised to the 

 corresponding acids. — Studies on optically active carb- 

 imides, part ii., the reactions between Z-menthylcarbimide 

 and alcohols : R. H. Pickard, W. O. Littlebury, and 

 A. Neville. /-Menthylcarbimide reacts readily with 

 alcohols, and fourteen of the latter have been shown to 

 yield /-menthylcarbamates. These reactions have been 

 studied polarimetrically, and the velocity constants of re- 

 action so obtained compared. — The liberation of tyrosine 

 during trvptic proteolysis. A preliminary communication : 

 A. J. Brown and E. T. Millar. The authors have applied 

 Millar's method of estimating tyrosine by means of 

 bromination to the study of the trvptic hydrolysis of 

 proteids, and find that tyrosine is one of the first products 

 of such action. The quantitative study of proteolysis in 

 this way may throw some light on the existence or non- 

 existence of a tyrosine nucleus in different albuminoses. 

 — Ethyl piperonylacetate : W. H. Perkin, jun., and R. 

 Robinson. A description of the preparation of this ester 

 from piperonylic acid. — The action of ultra-violet light on 

 moist and dried mixtures of carbon monoxide and oxygen : 

 S. Chad wick, J. E. Ramsbottom, and D. L. Chapman. 

 It was found that under the action of the rays emitted 

 from a quartz mercury lamp a dry mixture of these gases 

 was largely, but somewhat irregularly, converted into 

 carbon dioxide and ozone. With moist gases the rate of 

 conversion was slower and more uniform, and more 

 carbon dioxide was formed and less ozone. — Benzoyl 

 derivatives of salicylamide : A. W. Titherley. — The 

 constitution and colour of diazo- and azo-compounds : 

 A. Hantzsch. A criticism of Armstrong and Robert- 

 son's paper, " The Significance of Optical Proper- 

 ties as Connoting Structure " (]ourn. Client. Soc, 

 1005, 1272-121)7). — Note on the incandescent mantle as a 

 catalyst and its application to gas analysis: J. E. Mason 

 and J. Wilson. The authors describe a modification of 

 Lewes 's method (Chan. News, 1905, xci., 61) for showing 

 the incandescence of the mantle in an unburnt mixture "1 

 alcohol vapour and air. Although less effective, the mantle 

 may be used as a substitute for platinised asbestos in the 

 ordinary lecture experiments for preparing formaldehyde 

 from methyl alcohol vapour and air, and sulphur trioxide 

 from sulphur dioxide and oxygen, and various applications 

 nf mantle fragments to the analysis of mixtures of hydro- 

 • arbon gases by combustion are given. — The influence of 



certain amph rii electrolytes on amylolytic action: J. S. 



Ford and J. M. Guthrie. The results of an investigation 

 of the influence of various amino acids on amylolytic action 

 are given. — The estimation of picric acid additive com- 

 pounds : F. S. Sinnatt. The method of Knecht and 

 Hibbert (Ber., 1903, xxxvi., 1540) for the estimation of 

 pic lie acid by means of titanous chloride has been found 

 10 be applicable to picrates and to picric acid additive com- 

 pounds. — Silver dioxide and silver peroxynitrate : E. R. 

 Watson. The author has analysed the anodic product 

 formed during the electrolysis of solutions of silver nitrate, 

 and rinds that its composition was correctly represented 

 by Side's empirical formula Ag 7 0,,N. This compound on 

 boiling with water decomposes, forming silver dioxide, a 

 greyish-black powder which may be heated to 100° without 

 decomposition. — The constitution of o-hydroxyazo-com- 

 pounds. Preparation of benzeneazodimethylcoumarin : J. T. 

 Hewitt and H. V. Mitchell. — Caro's permonosulphuric 

 acid : T. S. Price. The author has obtained a mixture 

 containing the potassium salts of sulphuric, permono- 

 sulphuric, and perdisulphuric acids. The results obtained 

 by the analysis of this mixture point to the formula 

 H„SO s for Caro's acid. 



Royal Astronomical Society, December 8. — Mr. W. H. 

 Maw, president, in the chair. — Account of the results of his 

 ncent investigations relating to sun-spot periods: Prof. A. 

 Schuster. Besides the recognised 11- or itj-year period, 

 the author found various subsidiary periods which recur 

 with great regularity, but which sometimes disappear. A 

 period of about 4} years could be traced back to 1740, and 

 other peril ds of about *'. and 13 years were also indicated. 



NO. l886, VOL. J T,] 



Possible explanations of the peculiarities of these periods 

 were suggested. — On the astronomical observations re- 

 corded in the Nihongi, the ancient chronicle of Japan : 

 E. B. Knobel. The astronomical observations contained 

 in this work comprise eclipses of sun and moon, occup- 

 ations, conjunctions, comets, meteors, &c. , and range from 

 a.d. 620 to a.d. 696. There is great difficulty in fixing 

 the dates of the observations owing to the complicated 

 system of chronology, borrowed from China. The year is 

 a lunar one of twelve months of twenty-nine or thirty 

 days, and an intercalary month every thirty-third month, 

 or seven intercalary months in the lunar cycle of nineteen 

 years. The rules for intercalary months are very com- 

 plicated, and there is therefore much difficulty in reducing 

 the dates to European chronology. Most of the recorded 

 eclipses agree with Oppolzer's tables when the dates are 

 properly reduced. — On the present state of lunar nomen- 

 clature : S. A. Saunder. The paper showed the anomalies 

 and irregularities in the present system, resulting in diflficul- 

 culties of identification in the case of many of the smaller 

 features on the moon which had been selected as points for 

 exact measurement. It was suggested that a committee 

 should be formed to revise the present system of lunar 

 nomenclature. — Photographs of comet d 1905 taken yvith 

 the 30-inch reflector of the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, 

 shown by Prof. F. W. Dyson. — Comparison of the results 

 from the Falmouth declination and horizontal force 

 magnetographs on quiet days in years of sun-spot maxi- 

 mum and minimum : Dr. C. Chree, F.R.S. — The presi- 

 dent announced that the Rev. C. D. P. Davies was giving 

 a demonstration of his system of testing parabolic mirrors. 

 — Other papers were taken as read. 



Mathematical Society. December 14. — Prof. A. R. Foisyth. 



president, in the chair. — Some difficulties in the theory of 

 transfinite numbers and order types : the Hon. B. A. \Y. 

 Russell. The paper deals with the difficulty as to 

 " inconsistent aggregates " and with the question concern- 

 ing the axiom that every aggregate can be well ordered. 

 It is shown that the difficulties belong rather to logic than 

 to mathematics, and various methods are explained by 

 which steps may be taken towards resolving them. — On 

 well-ordered aggregates: Prof. A. C. Dixon. — The Hessian 

 configuration and its connection with the group of 360 

 plane collineations : Prof. W. Burnside. The configura- 

 tion is that of 9 points in a plane which lie 3 by 3 on 12 

 straight lines. The first part of the paper is occupied with 

 the establishment of the configuration, and of the nature 

 of the group for which it is invariant, from a geometrical 

 point of view. In the second part it is shown how to 

 construct a configuration of 45 points yvhich lie 5 by 5 

 on 36 lines, 4 by 4 on 45 lines, and 3 by 3 on 120 lines. 

 From the 4.5 points 10 Hessian configurations can be 

 formed, and any two of these have one point in common. 

 The configuration is invariant for a group of 360 colline- 

 ations, yvhich is simply isomorphic with the alternating 

 group on six symbols. — On the representation of certain 

 asymptotic series as convergent continued fractions : Prof. 

 I.. J. Rogers. The paper is concerned with asymptotic 



series which represent integrals of the type / f(t)e-> !"dt, 



J 

 yvhere /(f) is a polynomial or is representable by a power 

 series. — The theory of integral equations : H. Bateman. 

 The theory is that of the construction of a function £ 

 yvhich shall satisfy an equation of one of the forms 



(1) /"(*) = 



('.,. 



t)<!>(t)Jt. 



(2) /(.v) = ^(.v 



A /'«(*. t)$(t)dt, 



where / and k denote known functions and A. is a constant. 

 It is shown how to reduce the solution of a linear differ- 

 ential equation to an integral equation of the second type, 

 and that, if is discontinuous in a certain way, a solution 

 of the equation of the first type exists and can be deter- 

 mined. — The imaginary in geometry : J. L. S. Hatton. — 

 On a neyv cubic connected with the triangle : H. L. 

 Trachtenberg. 



