"Feb. 8, 1883] 
other electromotor, in a wire whose resistance is to be deter- 
mined. The two opposing circuits through this wire, “, are 
composed, the first of the spinning coil and a zero-galvanoscope, 
and the second of a battery and an absolute galvanometer ; these 
two circuits meeting at the ends of the wire &. The late Mr. 
Hockin and Prof. Foster find that the best conditions obtain 
when the resistance of the absolute galvanometer 7 is equal 
to R; the resistance of the zero galvanoscope 72 equal to 
E + 7, and the resistance of the spinning cord, 73, many times 
2 
the battery-resistance, which should be so lowas to be practically 
negligible. The E.M.F. of the battery should be double that 
of the spinning coil. Many other conditions had to be attended 
to, as explained by Prof. Foster. With this method, and using 
a thermo-electric battery giving an E.M.F. of 2°2 volts, the 
coil was spun at about 1800 revolutions per minute; 7 was 
63 ohms, 7) was 135, 73 was 50, and # was 73 in one, 
and of 80 in another experiment. A” was made up by 
coils on a resistance box. The ohm was determined by two 
trials to be 1°003 and ‘999. This general result is so satisfactory 
that the experiments will be continued with extra precautions. 
Mr. Glazebrook called attention to the remarkable agreement 
between the results of Lord Rayleigh’s determinations and his 
own independent ones. Lord Rayleigh’s figures are for the unit, 
*9893, -9865, 9868, and Mr. Glazebrook’s is ‘9866, or the mean 
of lord Rayleigh’s results. He also announced that the 
Clarendon Laboratory, Cambridge, would soon be in a position 
to test and certify any resistance coils sent there.—Mr. Walter 
Baily then read a paper on the spectra formed by curved diffrac- 
tion gratings. Ina diffraction grating ruled on a portion of a 
cylinder, if y is the distance of a point from the centre of the 
grating, and @ the angle which a line to the point makes with 
the perpendicular from the centre of the grating, ¢ the radius of 
curvature of the grating, and d@ an arbitrary constant, a series of 
curves may be drawn in the plane perpendicular to the lines of 
the grating having as the general equation 
~ - =1 
r cos?@=c cosd+ad. 
If a source of light is placed on a point on one of these, curves 
the foci of the diffracted light lie on the same curve. The curve 
consists of two loops, one of which gives the spectra of trans- 
mitted and te other those of refracted light. When d is infinite, 
these curves coincide in a circle, the properties of which have 
been so used by Prof. Rowland in the construction of his dif- 
fraction spectroscope. The paper also describes how the posi- 
tion of the spectra on the curves can be determined for any 
position of the source of light. 
Geological Society, January 24.—J. Gwyn Jeffreys, vice- 
president, in the chair.—Walter Raleigh Browne, Thomas 
Charles Maggs, Lieut.-Col. William Alexander Ross, and Cecil 
Carus Wilson, were elected Fellows of the Society.—The fol- 
lowing communications were read :—On Streptelasma Remeri, 
sp. nov., from the Wenlock shale, by Prof. P. Martin Duncan, 
F.R.S., V.P.G.S.—On Cyathophyllum Fletcheri, Edw. and H., 
sp., by Prof. P. Martin Duncan, F.R.S., V.P.G.S.—On the 
fossil Madreporia of the Great Oolite of the counties of 
Gloucester and Oxford, by Robert F. Tomes, F.G.S. 
Institution of Civil Engineers, January 30.—Mr. Brun- 
lees, president, in the chair.—The paper read was on ‘‘ Mild 
Steel for the Fire-boxes of Locomotive Engines in the United 
States of America,” by Mr. John Fernie, M.Inst.C.E. 
SYDNEY 
Linnean Society of New South Wales, November 29, 
1882.—Dr. James C. Cox, president in the chair,.—The follow- 
ing papers were read :—‘‘ Description of two new birds of 
Queensland,” by Charles W. De Vis, B. A.—One of these birds 
—Prionodura Newtoniana constitutes a new genus and species 
of the Family Paradiseide. It is described from a unique 
specimen taken in Tully River scrubs, Rockingham Bay. The 
other bird described—Cyracticus rufescens came from the same 
locality.—‘‘ Fungi aliquot Australiz Orientalis,” by the Rev. 
Carl Kalchbrenner.—The following new species were described 
Agaricus megalotheles, Agaricus Kirtoni, A. fpeltastes, and 
Scleroderma pileolatum.—The Rey. J. E. Texison-Woods, vice- 
president, read the fifth part of his ‘‘ Botanical Notes on 
Queensland.”—This paper consisted of a description of the 
“ Brigalow” scrubs, which consist mainly of Acacia hartophylla 
NA TORE 
355 
(F.v.M.) instead of A. excelsa as usually stated. The brigalow 
forms thickets of from thirty to eighty feet in height, amongst 
which a peculiar flora occurs. A list of those collected by the 
author was given at the end of the paper.—‘‘ Contribution to a 
knowledge of the Fishes of New Guinea” No. 3, by William 
Macleay, F.L.S., &c.—In this paper Mr. Macleay completes 
the list of the Fishes sent by Mr. Goldie from Port Moresby, 
bringing thenumber up to of species 274. The new species described 
in the present paper are :—H/atyelossus guttulatus, Coris cyanea, 
Pseudoscarus Goldiei, Pseudoscarus frontalis, Pseudoscarus 
papuensis, Pseudoscarus zonatus, Pseudoscarus labiosus, Pseudo- 
scarus Moresbyensis, Monacanthus nigricans, Monacanthus fuli- 
ginosus, Trygon granulata, and Teniura atra.—<‘ Notes on the 
Geology of the Western Coal Fields, No. 2, by Prof. Stephens, 
M.A.—In this paper Prof. Stephens proceeds to an examination 
of the Wallerawang, Marangeroo and Capertee conglomerates 
which leads him directly to the conclusion that the continent oft 
whose shores the upper marine carboniferous beds were deposited, 
was asystem of high mountain ranges, snow-capped, and under 
erosion by glaciers which descended to near the level of the sea. 
It was shown further that all the subsequent formations were of 
shore or river formation, in plains skirting the mountains, or in 
valleys penetrating their recesses, and that these were all fresh 
water deposits, excepting the coal seams themselves, which were 
subaerial ; and that the most recent sedimentary formations in 
that district was the Hawkesbury Sandstone, also lacustrine in 
origin, and due like the underlying strata to a continued rise of 
the lake waters upon the land,—‘‘ Note on an Australian species 
of Phoronis,” by William A. Haswell, M.A., B.Sc.—‘‘ Note 
on a curious instance of Symbiosis,” by William A. Haswell, 
M.A., B.Sc.—‘‘ Note on the segmental organs of Aphrodita,” 
by William A. Haswell, M.A., B.Sc. 
BERLIN 
Physiological Society, December 29, 1882,—Prof. du Bois 
Reymond in the chair. —Dr, Pohl-Pincus spoke about the effect of 
weak local stimulations of the heart, and about the effect of vagus- 
stimulation upon the heart.—Prof. Quincke of Kiel, who was 
present as a visitor, spoke upon the physiological part of the 
results of experiments and observations which he had made upon 
the life-history of the red blood corpuscles. It is a well-known fact 
that large cells with numerous pigment-granules occur in the 
spleen and in the marrow of bones. These cells, as the micro- 
chemical reaction teaches us, contain a great deal of iron in 
combination with albumen. The iron-reaction of the spleen and 
bone-marrow is more pronounced than the number of pigment- 
cells can explain ; and hence Prof. Quincke hypothesizes the 
presence in both structures of a colourless iron-albumen, which 
is, on the one hand, the product of the destruction of red 
corpuscles, and on the other hand forms the material out of 
which the new red corpuscles are developed. Both these cir- 
cumstances were verified experimentally; when by frequent 
transfusions of equal quantities of blood into an animal, the num- 
ber of the red blood corpuscles was considerably augmented, and, 
by this means, the destruction of red corpuscles likewise increased, 
the number of the pigment-cells and the amount of iron-albumen in 
the spleen and marrow ef the bones was also very much increased, 
and there was present in the capillaries of the liver a consideable 
quantity of white blood-corpuscles with iron-albumen, which, under 
normal circumstances are only found in this organ in very small 
numbers, When, onthe other hand, the number of an animal’s 
red blood-corpuscles had been diminished by repeated bleedings, 
both the number of pigment cells and the amount of iron-albu- 
men in the spleen and marrow was found after a few days to be 
considerably diminished and reduced toa minimum. While a 
part of the iron from the disintegrating red blood corpuscles 
describes a circle forming a reserve for the newly-forming blood- 
corpuscles, another portion is eliminated from the blood through 
the urine and bile. In the experiments, in which the destruc- 
tion of red corpuscles was increased as a consequence of 
transfusions, it was possible to demonstrate the intermediate 
stages in the process of the abnormally-large elimination 
of the iron, as both the liver-cells and the kidney-epithelium 
gave a quite distinct iron-reaction.—Dr. Schiffer then read 
two preliminary communications. One of these was npon 
the poisonous properties of the mammalian urine. When the 
urine of either carnivorous or herbivorous mammals was injected 
under the skin of a frog, symptoms of poisoning manifested 
themselves, to which the frog soon succumbed. Rabbits also 
| exhibited symptoms of poisoning after subcutaneous injection of 
