March 15, 1906] 



NA TURE 



479 



The fifth annual students' soiree of the Sir John Cass 

 Technical Institute will be held on Saturday, March 17. 

 The guests will be received by Sir Owen Roberts, chairman 

 of the governing body, and Lady Roberts, Mr. George 

 Baker, J. P., vice-chairman of the governing body, and Mrs. 

 Baker. Short lectures and demonstrations on scientific 

 subjects will be given during the evening. 



At the last meeting of the council of the University of 

 Birmingham several appointments to the staff were made. 

 Mr. George S. West was appointed assistant lecturer and 

 demonstrator in botany in succession to Dr. A. J. Ewart ; 

 Dr. Theodore Groom was appointed senior lecturer in 

 geology and geography to succeed Prof. W. W. Watts, 

 F.R.S., recently appointed to the chair of geology in the 

 Royal College of Science, London ; and Mr. Donald M. 

 Levy was appointed demonstrator in metallurgy to succeed 

 Mr. H. N. Schnurmann. Communications were received 

 announcing the bequest by the late Mr. John Feeney of 

 the sum of 20,000/., a donation from Messrs. W. and T. 

 Avery, Ltd., of 500/., and valuable gifts from Messrs. 

 Veritys, Ltd., Mr. J. C. Vaudrey, and Mr. Willoughby 

 Ellis. An assistant lectureship and demonstratorship in 

 civil engineering was established. 



F'or the last few years Oberlin College has been engaged, 

 says Science, in raising a fund of 100,000/. This is now 

 almost complete. The fund was started by an anonymous 

 donor of Boston, who promised 20,000!. At the time of 

 the trustees' meeting in November last the fund had 

 reached 67,000/. Since then numerous gifts have been 

 made, including 1000/. for library endowment, 400!. for 

 additions to the women's gymnasium, 2000/. toward a 

 men's building, 6600/. from the estate of Dr. C. N. Lyman, 

 of Wadsworth, O., which will be devoted to library endow- 

 ment, 15,000!. to be used as endowment for the Slavic de- 

 partment of the seminary, 2000!. for library endowment, 

 and 1000!. for the art building. In the total of 97,000!. 

 now raised is counted 25,000!. promised by Mr. Carnegie 

 for a library, on condition that 20,000!. be raised for library 

 endowment. To complete the fund, therefore, it will be 

 necessary for the college to raise about 10,000!. more. It 

 is expected that this will be done before commencement. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Chemical Society, March 1. — Mr. A. G. Vernon 

 Harcourt, F.R.S., past president, in the chair. — Studies of 

 dynamic isomerism, part iv., stereoisomeric halogen deri- 

 vatives of camphor : T. M. Lowry. Measurements were 

 given of the solubilitv in alcohol of a-chloro- and cc-bromo- 

 camphors, afi- and a7r-dibromocamphors, and ap- and 

 enr-chlorobromocamphors, both alone and in presence of a 

 small proportion of sodium ethoxide. The increase of 

 solubility on addition of the alkali is ascribed to the form- 

 ation in the solution of a small proportion of the stereo- 

 isomeric a'-compound. — The coagulating action of colloids, 

 part i. : W. P. Dreaper and A. Wilson. The results 

 obtained by the authors throw some light on dyeing and 

 tanning processes. The influence of gallic acid in the 

 manufacture of leather seems to be of a more direct nature 

 than was previously supposed. — Studies on optically active 

 carbimides, iii., the resolution of a-phenyl-a'-4-hydroxy- 

 phenylethane by means of /-menthylcarbimide : R. H. 

 Pickard and W. O. Littlcbury. The !-menthylcarbamates 

 formed by combination with /-menthylcarbimide can be 

 separated by fractional crystallisation, and are then hydro- 

 lysed by alcoholic sodium hydroxide. — Experiments on the 

 synthesis of the terpenes, part viii., synthesis of the 

 optically active modifications of A 3 -/>-menthenol(8) and 

 A^'C'l-^-menthadiene : F. W. Kay and W. H. Perkin, 

 jun. A'-Tetrahydro-/>-toluic acid, !-A 3 -/>-menthenol(8), 



A 3:S l' J '-/>-menthadiene, and <2-A 3:8 < 3 >-/>-menthadiene have all 

 been synthesised. By fractional crystallisation of the 

 brucine and strychnine salts of the first-named compound 

 it was resolved into optical isomerides, and from these the 

 two other compounds were prepared in an optically active 

 condition. — Studies in the acridine series, iii., the methyl- 

 ation of chrysaniline : A. E. Dunstan and J. T. Hewitt. 

 — Note on the application of the electrolytic method to the 



NO. 1898, VOL. 73] 



estimation of arsenic in wall-papers, fabrics, &c. : T. E. 

 Thorpe. — Nitrogen halides from camphoryl-i|/-carbamide : 

 M. O. Forster and H. Grossmann. The action of 

 potassium hypobromite and hypochlorite on eamphoryl-i|i- 

 carbamide has been found to give rise to dihalogen deri- 

 vatives which have all the properties of compounds con- 

 taining halogen attached to nitrogen. — The relation of posi- 

 tion isomerism to optical activity, vi., the rotation of the 

 menthyl esters of the isomeric chloronitrobenzoic acids : 

 J. B. Cohen and H. P. Armes. In the present investi- 

 gation the combined effect of the halogen and nitro-group 

 on the activity of the menthyl group has been examined. 



Mathematical Society, March 8. — Prof. W. Buinside, 

 vice-president, and subsequently Sir W. D. Niven, vice- 

 president, in the chair. — Sommerfeld's diffraction problem 

 and reflection by a parabolic mirror : Prof. H. Lamb. 

 Sommerfeld's problem is that of the diffraction of plane 

 waves by a plane screen bounded by a straight edge. It is 

 shown that Sommerfeld's solution may be arrived at in a 

 simple way by combining certain simple particular solutions 

 of the general equation of wave motion when expressed in 

 terms of the coordinates that define two systems of confocal 

 parabolic cylinders, the edge of the screen being the line 

 of foci of the cylinders. Slightly modified forms of these 

 solutions lead to a complete solution of the problem of 

 reflection by a convex mirror in the form of a parabolic 

 cylinder. It appears that in this application of the wave 

 theory the reflected waves, which the ordinary processes 

 of geometrical optics represent as diverging from a line of 

 sources coinciding with the line of foci of the cylinder, 

 really diverge from a plane of sources, terminated in an 

 edge at this line, and extending thence with continually 

 diminishing strength to an infinite distance on the concave 

 side of the mirror. The problems of reflection by concave 

 parabolic and paraboloidal mirrors are also discussed. — 



Function-sum theorems connected with the series 2x"/ n 2 : 



1 

 Prof. L. J. Rogers. The sums of the values of the func- 

 tion defined by the integral/ _ (l _ v) -i i og xdx for var ious 



sets of values of the argument are shown to have definite 

 constant values. — Investigations on series of zonal 

 harmonics: Prof. T. J. 1'A. Bromwich. The paper re- 

 lates to the behaviour of series of the type 2^„>-"P„(cos 0) 

 in the neighbourhood of points on the boundary of the 

 region of convergence. — The functions ?/?(.r, 8) and fy[x, 6) 

 Rev. E. W. Barnes. The paper deals with the asymptotic 

 expansions of special types of integral functions. — The re- 

 lations between the p-Yme determinants formable from 

 a p by q array : Prof. E. J. Nanson. — An informal com- 

 munication On the divisors of numbers of certain forms was 

 made by Lieut. -Colonel A. Cunningham. The special 

 forms are ,/r'+ 1 and (a jx + 1 ) 3 + 1. — Dr. F. S. Macaulay 

 made an informal communication On the equilibrium of 

 forces of given magnitudes the lines of action of which 

 pass through given points. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, March 5. — M. H. Poincare in 

 the chair. — The suboxides of carbon : M. Berthelot. — 

 Some arithmetical consequences of the theory of Abelian 

 functions : G. Humbert. — The propagation of a movement 

 round a centre in an elastic, homogeneous, and isotropic 

 medium : study of the wave produced without change of 

 density : J. Boussinesq. — The bean containing hydro- 

 cyanic acid, Phaseolus lunatus : L. Guignard. Frequent 

 cases of poisoning of animals by this bean have occurred, 

 due to the hydrocyanic acid it contains. This acid arises 

 from a glucoside, phaseolunatine, which is present in the 

 bean. Determinations of the amounts of hydrocyanic acid 

 obtainable from beans from various sources gave figures 

 varying between 0006 per cent, and 0-102 per cent. A 

 new method for detecting traces of hydrocyanic acid is 

 gi ven . — The synthesis of three dimethyl-cyclo-hexanols : 

 Paul Sabatier and A. Mailhe. The method of Sabatier 

 and Senderens has been applied to the addition of hydrogen 

 to the three xylenols. Details of the preparation of these 

 substances are given, together with their physical proper- 

 ties and those of their immediate derivatives. — The mag- 



