May 18, 1899] 
NATURE al 
value for which was 232°; prolonged heating of carbon 
disulphide at 230°, or prolonged exposure to bright light, causes 
slight decomposition. The decomposition of carbon bisulphide 
vapour by detonation is not propagated as an explosion, and no 
explosive wave could be propagated in mixtures of the vapour 
and oxygen containing less than 4o per cent. of the latter.— 
The action of nitric oxide on nitrogen peroxide, by H. B. Dixon 
and J. D. Peterkin. A very slight increase of volume occurs on 
mixing nitric oxide with nitrogen peroxide at 27°, but a con- 
siderable expansion attends the mixing of inert gases like 
nitrogen with the peroxide, owing to dissociation of the latter ; 
these results may be explained by the equation 
NO, — NO + NOs 
on the supposition that at 27° the dissociation is nearly 
complete.—On the mode of burning of carbon, by H. B. 
Dixon. It is shown that Lang’s view that carbon dioxide 
is the first product of the combustion of carbon, and that 
carbon monoxide is only produced by the subsequent 
reduction of the dioxide, is invalid. —Crystalline glycollic alde- 
hyde, by H. J. H. Fenton and H. Jackson. The aqueous syrup 
containing glycollic aldehyde obtained by heating dihydroxy- 
maleic acid with water, yields a hexose, C,H,,O,, on evapor- 
ation; during the latter process a small proportion of crystalline 
glycollic aldehyde sublimes ; when first dissolved in water the 
aldehyde has the composition C,H,O,, but after about twenty- 
four hours the molecular composition becomes C,H,O.,—On 
the blue salt of Fehling’s solution and other cuprotartrates, by 
O. Masson and B. D. Steele. The blue salt of Fehling’s solu- 
tion when dried zz vacuo has the composition K,C),HgCuyOj,, 
4H,O, and contains a complex negative radicle of which copper 
is a part ; none of the copper is electropositive.—The prepar- 
ation of acid phenolic salts of dibasic acids, by S. B. Schryver. 
—The maximum pressure of naphthalene vapour, by R. W. 
Allen, The author has prepared, from new experimental data, 
tables showing the vapour pressure of naphthalene and giving 
the weight of naphthalene required to saturate a cubic metre 
of gas at temperatures ranging from o° to 130°.—Scoparin, 
by A. G. Perkin. Scoparin, the colouring matter of broom, 
s probably a methoxyvitexin.—On a new .compound of 
arsenic and tellurium, by E. C. Szarvasy and C. Messinger. 
The compounds of arsenic with elements of the oxygen-sulphur 
series which are most stable at high temperatures are As,O,, 
As,S,, As,Se; since the differences between the molecular 
weights in this series of compounds are 15 and 16, it: was 
thought probable that the compound As,Te3 should be formed 
at high temperatures. The authors have obtained this com- 
pound.—The action of hydrogen peroxide on secondary and 
tertiary aliphatic amines. Formation of alkylated hydroxyl- 
amines and oxamines, by W. R. Dunstan and E. Goulding.— 
The enantiomorphously related tetrahydroquinaldines, by W. 
J. Pope and S. J. Peachey. The authors have separated 
synthetic tetrahydroquinaldine into a dextro- and a lzvo-rotatory 
isomeride by crystallising its salts with camphorsulphonic acids. 
Entomological Society, May 3.—Mr. R. McLachlan, 
F.R.S., in the chair.—Dr. A. L. Bennett exhibited various 
insects which he had collected in the French Congo, They 
included a species of Mantidz remarkable for its very striking 
resemblance in coloration to a piece of bark.—Mr. F. Enock 
exhibited a living specimen of Mefa cénerea infested with a 
number of minute red Acarz on the ventral surface of the 
abdomen. Healso showed eggs of Mefa and Wotonecta lying 
tm situ in decayed leaf-stalks of A/zsma, and described the 
mode of oviposition as observed by himself in both of these 
genera. He then exhibited a living example of the remarkable 
aquatic Hymenopteron—Prestwichza aguatica, Lubb., and said 
it was one of a brood of nine, including eight ? 9 and one 6, 
that issued on May 1 from a single egg of Colyméetes found on 
September 5, 1898.—Mr. Merrifield showed some specimens of 
Hemaris bombyliformzs, Esp., with the scales still covering the 
central portions of the wings. He said thee scales, which are 
present immediately after the emergence of the insect but soon 
become detached, may be rendered adherent by allowing a very 
weak solution of indiarubber in benzoline to run over the wings. 
—Mr. C. H. Dolby-Tyler communicated a paper on the 
development of Ceroplastes roseatus, Towns. and Cockl. 
Mathematical Society, May 11.—Prof. H. Lamb, F.R.S., 
Vice-President, in the chair.—Major MacMahon, R.A., F.R.S., 
communicated some results he has obtained in the theory of 
NO. 1542, VOL. 60] 
partitions. —Mr. H. M. Macdonald read a paper on the zeroes 
of aspherical harmonic, P,,”"(«), considered as a function of 7. 
—Mr, W. F. Sheppard gave an account of his paper on the 
statistical rejection of extreme variations, single or correlated 
(normal variation and normal correlation). 
MANCHESTER. 
Literary and Philosophical Society, April 25.—Mr. J. 
Cosmo Melvill, President, in the chair.—At this the annual 
general meeting, Mr. R. H. Inglis Palgrave, F.R.S., and 
Prof. William Ramsay, F.R.S., were elected honorary members 
of the Society.—The annual report (as amended) and the state- 
ment of accounts were adopted, and the following were elected 
officers and members of the Council for the ensuing year :— 
President, Prof. Horace Lamb, F.R.S. ; vice-presidents, Prof. 
Osborne Reynolds, F.R.S., Mr. Charles Bailey, Mr. J. Cosmo 
Melvill, and Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. ; secretaries, 
Mr. R. F. Gwyther and Mr. Francis Jones; treasurer, Mr. 
J. J. Ashworth; librarian, Mr. W. E. Hoyle ; other members 
of the Council, Prof. H. B. Dixon, F.R.S., Mr. Francis 
Nicholson, Mr. J. E. King, Mr. R. L. Taylor, Mr. F. J. 
Faraday, and Mr. W. H. Johnson.—At the ordinary meeting 
held afterwards, Prof, Dixon described an apparatus for bring- 
ing together nitrogen peroxide and nitric oxide in order to 
determine whether any combination occurs between the gases. 
PARIS. 
Academy of Sciences, May 8.—M. van Tieghem in the 
chair.—On the absolute measurement of time, deduced from the 
laws of universal attraction, by M. G. Lippmann. The unit of 
time suggested is based upon the proposition that the numerical 
value of the Newtonian constant is independent of the units of 
length and mass, and depends uniquely upon the choice of the 
unit of time. Inversely, the magnitude of the interval of time 
taken as unity is determined without ambiguity when the 
numerical value of the Newtonian constant which corresponds 
to it is given.—Anatomical and physiological characters of 
plants rendered artificially Alpine by alternation between 
extreme temperatures, by M. Gaston Bonnier. Alpine temper- 
ature conditions were imitated by keeping the plants in an ice 
box during the night, and exposing fully to the sun during 
the day. The petioles of the leaves develop more rapidly 
under these conditions, and the leaves, which are smaller 
and thicker, have a more highly developed layer of 
pallisade tissue, and frequently the reddish coloration of 
Alpine plants. The flowers are relatively larger and more 
highly coloured than those grown under ordinary conditions. — 
M. Prillieux was elected a member of the Botanical section, in 
place of the late M. Naudin.—On the circumstances which 
modify the images reflected by a mercury bath, and on the 
transmission through the soil of vibrations produced at the sur- 
face, by M. G. Bigourdan. In the hope of securing a steadier 
mercury surface, the bath was placed at varying distances from 
the surface of the earth. It was then found that two quite 
distinct classes of earth tremors could be distinguished, the one 
slow and regular, to which the name undulation is given, the 
other rapid and irregular vibrations.—On_ the pencils which 
correspond to the case where the series of Laplace is limited in 
one direction, by M. C. Guichard.—The groups of the order 
p' @, # being a number greater than g, by M. Le Vavasseur.— 
On the electric capacity of badly conducting bodies, by MM. I. 
I. Borgmann and A. A. Petrovsky.—On an intense source of 
monochromatic light, by MM. Ch. Fabry and A. Perot. ‘Bhe 
new source suggested is the electric arc between two surfaces of 
mercury 272 vacuo. The mercury is contained in two concentric 
glass tubes, the inner one only just separating the two mercury 
surfaces. On giving the tube a slight shock a momentary 
connection is set up, and the arc starts. For a perfectly stable 
arc a potential of about thirty volts is necessary, and a current 
of from two to three amperes. The light is not perfectly mono- 
chromatic, but may be easily rendered so by the interposition of 
cells containing suitable absorption media. Thus, a mixture of 
didymium chloride and potassium bichromate cuts off all rays 
except the green ray, the most useful ray for general purposes. 
—On the ratio of the atomic weights of hydrogen and 
oxygen, by M, A. Leduc. By taking into account the 
increase of pressure observed to take place when hydrogen 
and oxygen gases are mixed, the number for the ratios 
of the atomic weights deduced from the density of detonating 
