March 15, 1883] 
Chemical Society, March 1.—Dr. Gilbert, president, in the 
chair.—The following gentlemen were elected Fellows :—A, C. 
Abraham, G. Board, C. N. Betts, E. Bevan, F. J. Cox, A. 
Collenette, S. Dyson, W. T. Elliott, H. B, Fulton, C, G, 
Grenfell, B. F. Halford, W. D. Hogg, D. Hooper, J. J. 
Knight, H. F. Lowe, T. H. Leeming, J. E. Marsh, W. 
Newton, C. Rumble, F. Scudder, J. O’Sullivan, S. A. Vasey, 
T. D. Watson, R. M. Walmsley, C. S. S. Webster, F. Watts. 
—The following papers were read :—On some derivatives of the 
isomeric C,)H,,O phenols, by H. E. Armstrong and E. H. 
Rennie. Lallemand stated that a trinitro-thymol was produced 
by the action of a mixture of nitric and sulphuric acids on 
dinitrothymol. The authors find that a trinitro body is formed, 
but that it has the constitution and properties of trinitrometacre- 
sol. The authors could not obtain a trinitro body from carva- 
crol. When thymolsulphonic acid is treated with nitric acid, 
paranitrothymol is formed, the sulpho group being displaced. 
When bromothymolsulphonic acid is treated with chromic acid, 
an amorphous quinone is formed, but when permanganate is 
used, no quinone is produced, The authors have also studied 
the action of nitric acid on bromisobutylsulphonic acid.— 
Chemico-microscopical researches on the cell-contents of certain 
plants, by A. B. Griffiths. The author has grown cabbage 
plants on soils containing ferrous salts: the plants are larger, 
and their ash contains a considerable quantity of oxide of iron. 
In sections under the microscope crystals are visible which 
belong to the monoclinic system and give a blue colour with 
potassium: ferricyanide and an opacity with barium chloride. 
The author concludes that they consist of ferrous sulphate. —The 
phenates of amido bases, by R. S. Dale and C, Schorlemmer. 
The authors have satisfied themselves that, when aurin is heated 
with ammonia, pararosanilin is at once formed. When aurin is 
heated with common rosanilin and alcohol, asolution is produced 
which on concentration yields a crystalline powder of rosanilin 
aurate ; similarly by heating anilin and phenol in molecular pro- 
portions, anilin phenate is obtained in glistening: plates melting 
at 29°'5, boiling 184°°5. 
Anthropological Institute, February 27.—Prof. W. H. 
Flower, F.R.S., president, in the chair—The election of Mr, 
C. Fountaine Walker was announced.—Dr. Garson exhibited 
and described a series of photographs of cases of hypertrichosis. 
—Mr. A. Tylor reada paper on the homological nature of the | 
human skeleton. He finds that in the skull of all vertebrate 
animals, including man, a general resemblance to the trunk and 
limbs is carried out—for instance, variations in the limbs are 
accompanied by variations in the jaws, and the occiput varies 
with the pelvis, the sternum with the palate, and so on through- 
out the skull and body. This is due to mechanical causes. 
Bones, like the parts of plants, consist of stalks and leaves ; the 
stalk-element is shown in the vertebra and the long bones, and 
the leaf-element in the apophyses, the plate-bones of the skull, 
such as the parietals, &c, The elemental shaft-bones always bulye 
at the extremities where pressure is exerted, hence the peculiar | 
form of all such bones. This form is a mechanical necessity, 
and, in accordance with the known laws of correlation and repeti- 
tion of parts, helps us to understand the singular relations 
subsisting between the skull and the rest of the skeleton. 
Institution of Civil Engineers, March 6.—Mr. Brunlees, 
president, in the chair.—The first paper read was on the pro- 
ductive power and efficiency of machine tools, and of other 
labour-saving appliances, worked by hydraulic pressure, by Mr. 
Ralph Hart Tweddell, M.Inst.C.E.—The second paper read 
was on stamping and welding under the steam-hammer, by Mr. 
Alexander McDonnell, M.Inst.C.E. 
SYDNEY 
Linnean Society of New South Wales, December 27, 
1882.—Dr. James C. Cox, F.L.S., president, in the chair.— 
The following papers were read :—Occasional notes on plants 
indigenous in the neighbourhood of Sydney, No. 2, by Edwin 
Haviland. This paper treats chieflly of the construction and 
habits of Utricularia dichotoma.—Description of a new Belideus 
from Northern Queensland, by Charles W. De Vis, B.A.—A 
paper by the same author describing two new Queensland 
fishes (Callionymus achates and Mugil nasutus)—By the Rev. 
Dr. Woolls, on the species of Eucalyptus first known in Europe. 
Of the twelve species described by Willdenow, eleven are from 
the immediate neighbourhood of Sydney, and one only from 
Tasmania. This tree, the Tasmanian Stringy Bark (2. obligua), 
NAT ORE 
475 
was the first Eucalypt known in Europe, the specimen having 
been collected during Furneaux’s voyage. On it L’Heéritier 
founded the genus, 1788. The early descriptions are, as it may 
be supposed, very vague and imperfect, and their identification 
has been a matter of much difficulty and hesitation, now happily 
removed.—On some new species of tubicolous annelides, by 
William A. Haswell, M.A., B.Sc.—On new species of Agaricus 
discovered in Western Australia, by the Rev. C. Kalchbrenner. 
—On some points in the anatomy of the urogenital organs in 
females of certain species of kangaroos, Part 1, by J. J. 
Fletcher, M.A., B.Sc.—The Rey. J. E. Tenison- Woods read a 
paper on a species of Brachyphyllum, which was found in the 
Tivoli coal mine. In many respects this species resembled the 
well-known &. »amillare of the British and Continental Oolite, 
but lest any confusion should arise from a doubtful identification, 
and as the stems and leaves of this specimen were much thicker, 
and the leaves more fleshy than in 2. mamillare, the author dis- 
tinguished it as B. crassum. He considered that the discovery 
of this specimen served to place the Jurassic age of the Ipswich 
(Queensland) coal beds beyond much doubt.—A note was read 
by Dr. H. B. Guppy, of H.M.S. Zar, on the cocoa-nut eating 
habit of the Bzgas of the Solomon Islands. Dr. Guppy had 
no doubt from what he had observed that the Robber-Crab is in 
the habit of breaking open the shells of the cocoa-nuts with its 
powerful chelze.—Mr. Haswell stated that he had much pleasure 
in announcing to the Society that, thanks to the intelligent 
inquiries made by Mr. Morton of the Museum, while recently in 
Queensland, he had hopes that they were on the way towards 
learning something of the embryology of the Cevatodus. Mr. 
Morton had ascertained that the Ceratodus spawns in the Burnett 
River during the months of June, July, or August, the spawn 
being deposited in a slight excavation formed in the bed of the 
river at a depth of eight or ten feet, the male and female re- 
maining in close attendance on it until hatched. Arrangements 
had been made by which it was hoped that a supply of the 
spawn might be obtained for observation next season. 
PARIS 
Academy of Sciences, February 26.—M. Blanchard in the 
chair.—The death of Baron Cloquet, Member in Medicine and 
Surgery, was announced.—The following papers were read :— 
Note on various points of celestial physics, by M. Janssen. At 
Meudon Observatory they are studying movements of photospheric 
matter with the aid of series of images obtained with the ‘‘ photo- 
graphic revolver” ; they are also working at photographic photo- 
metry, the principle being that the intensities of two lght-sources 
are in the inverse ratio of the time they take for the same photo- 
graphic work (e.g. producing the same tint on two quite similar 
plates). The method will be applied to data of ihe comet of 
1881, the full moon, &c. M. Janssen further hopes to present 
soon a complete study of the spectrum of aqueous vapour.— 
Results of a new series of experiments on the apparatus for 
transport of mechanical work installed on the Chemin de fer du 
Nord, by M. Deprez: note by M. Tresca (see p. 422).—On 
the heat of formation of chromic acid, by M. Berthelot.—Rain 
in the Isthmus of Panama, by M. de Les-eps, A table of 
observations of rainfall by Mr. John Stiven, for 1879-1882, 
shows that 1879 was an extraordinarily rainy year (2‘152 m.), a 
large excess occurring in November. ‘The rain-season lasts 
nearly six months, from May to November, excepting an inter- 
ruption of a few weeks in Juneand July. This is explained by 
the behaviour of the ascending body of air which accompanies 
the curve of maxima in its annual oscillation on either side of 
the thermal equator, which movement is connected with the 
annual movement of the sun. ‘The trade-winds north and south 
also affect the phenomena.—On the bronze tools used by miners 
in Peru, by M. Boussingault. A bronze chisel found in an old 
quarry of trachyte near Quito, evidently served in working the 
trachyte (softened by water) ; it contains copper 95, tin 4°5, with 
minute quantities of lead, iron, and silver.—Nebulz discovered 
and observed at Marseilles Observatory, by M. Stephan,—Ex- 
halation of nitrogen in a gaseous state during respiration of 
animals, by M. Reiset. MM. Petenkoffer and Voit negated such 
exhalation (affirmed by the author). Recent experiments by 
MM. Seegen and Nowak confirm M. Reiset’s view.—Direct and 
rapid attenuation of virulent growths by the action of heat, by 
M. Chauveau. The method may be applied to liquids of arti- 
ficial cultivation with much better success than to the natural 
humours of the system, and it may be graduated at will accord- 
ing to the degree of attenuation desired.—Contribution to the 
