March i8, 1875] 



NA TURE 



399 



ia an exhaustive manner, and the reasons were given to justify 

 tliis conclusion. Mainly they consisted of the discovery of the 

 register of her baptism at Chinnor, Oxford, in 1763, frora infor- 

 mation furnished by lierself ; the birih of lier first child Samuel, 

 when she was between twenty-nine and thirty ; the drowning of 

 him and some thirty-four other persons by a catastrophe at Had- 

 low in 1S53, when his age was stated to be fifty-nine on his 

 monument ; and the calculation of dates and other circum- 

 stances in the old dame's family history. The proofs were alto- 

 gether on the side of certainty, whilst any objections that could 

 be brought forward were of the feeblest character, especially such 

 as the inability to find a register of the marriage with her hus- 

 band, who was a soldier in the Buclc5 Militia. Her physical 

 condition, from careful examination during life in Octqber 1873, 

 was next described, when all the organs and functions of the 

 body were, for the most part, found to be healthy, and cor- 

 responded to those of a person a fifth of her age. All that was 

 confirmed in every respect by inspection after her death in January 

 last, and the results proved the absence of the usual well-known 

 senile changes, which explained the fact, as the author stated, 

 that not only she, but the nine other persons he had examined, 

 were enabled to reach the age of 100 years, and even to overstep 

 it. Vet, with the attainment of such a great age, there was 

 always an amount of feebleness present which very slight causes 

 influenced, and thus life soon came to an end. In the old dame 

 the merest chill or slightest possible cold extinguished the spark 

 of life. The occurrence of a well-authenticated case like hers 

 readily explained the fact that now and then, under peculiarly 

 favourable circumstances, especially in a more equable climate 

 than our own, the century is exceeded by several decades. And 

 the occurrence of such great ages as have been recorded from 

 time to time by honest and conscientious inquirers of former 

 years, need not be looked upon with doubt, much less with 

 distrust, for the anxiety to prove the correctness of such ages was 

 as great then as it is now. — Previous to the ordinary meeting, a 

 special general meeting of the members was held to authorise an 

 application to the Board of Trade for a license, and to adopt tlie 

 draft memorandum and articles of association for the incor- 

 poration of the Institute. It was also resolved that ladies be 

 admitted as members with all the usual privileges. 



Royal Horticultural Society, Feb. 17.— Scientific Com- 

 mittee. — Mr. A. Murray, F.L.S., in the chair. — Dr. Masters 

 showed fruit of Fuchsia procumbeiis. The Rev. M. J. Berkeley 

 exhibited leaves of Tlua Bohca, from the Natal Botanic 

 Garden, aflected with a lichen, Singula Feci, Mont. Mr. 

 Kelt, the curator, states that it makes its appearance as a 

 minute speck of brown colour which gradually enlarges in cir- 

 cumference till the end of the season, when the margin 

 assumes a pale green colour, and ceases to grow. Mr. Berkeley 

 found that the brown substance was composed of a species of 

 Ccphaleuros ; it consisted of decumbent articulated thi-eads, each 

 of which has at its tip a globose sporangium. It is very near 

 Chrooiepus, and if some lichens are parasitic on ChrooUpus, this 

 may be on Ccphaleuros. — Prof. Thiselton Dyer exhibited speci- 

 mens of Baridius ateninius, an insect most destructive to orchids 

 at Singapore. He also called attention to the occasional forma- 

 tion of tubers within potatoes, which he believed to be due to 

 ingrowing shoots derived from the eyes. — A portion of a letter 

 from Santarem, addressed ty Mr. Trail to Dr. Hooker, was read, 

 describing the ant-inliabited bulla; on the leaves of some Mclas- 

 iomacca: After lareful examinations Mr. Trail was quite at a 

 loss to determine the exact connection between the bullae and 

 the ants, of which at least three species inhabit them. 



Geneial Meeiing. — W. Burnley Ilume in the chair.— The 

 Rev. M. J. Berkeley remarked that he had placed some very old 

 specimens of Micrococcus prodigiosus (blood rain) on rice paste, 

 and they had recommenced growing, and had spread as far as 

 could be expected from the state of the weather. According to 

 Mr. Stephens, the plant retains its power of vegetation after it 

 has been in an oven forty-eight hours. 



March 3.— Scientific Committee.— Dr. Hooker, C.B., P.R,S., 

 in the chair. — The Rev. M.J. Berkeley read a letter from Mr. 

 Moseley, the naturalist on board the Challenger, relating to a 

 fungus, Splucria sinensis, growing out of a caterpillar and used 

 as a delicacy by the Chinese. — Prof. Thiselton Dyer showed a 

 ball formed by the action of the sea out of fragmems of Caulinia 

 from the shore at iMentone, collected by the late Mr. Moggridge. 

 — A discussion arose as to the effect of lichens on trees in con- 

 nection with the occurrence of species of Slrigula on the leaves 

 of the tea plant, and the injury which is found to arise in mossing 



the stems of Cinchona in India after removing the bark, if lichens 

 are mixed with the moss. The Rev. M. J. Berkeley thought 

 that all the evidence was against any penetration of the hyphje 

 of the lichen into the subjacent tissues of the plant upon which 

 the lichen gi-ew. The lichens were injurious by preventing the 

 access of light and air. If they were scraped off the branches of 

 apple-trees infested by them, and the surface were washed, the 

 tree soon recovered, which would not be the case if the hyphs 

 had penetrated into its tissues. — Dr. Bastian said that he had 

 examined some of the nematoid worms found in the swellings on 

 the roots of cucumbers. They were, however, too immature to 

 determine their genus. — Dr. Masters alluded to a Chinese prim- 

 rose exhibited, in which there was a partition throughout the 

 leaves, stem, and inflorescence of colour. He thought that this 

 was an instance of dissociation of hybrid characters. A similar 

 bilateral partition of colour sometimes took place in plants raised 

 from cuttings, when of course the above explanation would not 

 apply. 



General Meeting. — Bonamy Dobree, treasurer, in the chair. — 

 The Rev. M. J. Berkeley addressed the meeting. He called 

 attention to the gigantic Sweet Potato (weighmg over 15 lbs.). 

 Convolvulus Batatas, from Madeira, shown by Dr. Hooker ; a 

 branch of the Kuraquat, Citrus japonica, with fifiy-six fruits ; and 

 a charming miniature Orchid, Masdei'allia ntelanopus. 



Physical Society, Feb. 27.— Prof. Gladstone in the chair.— 

 Mr. Wills, F.C.S., submitted to the Society apparatus which 

 he had devised for exhibiting the sodium spectrum to an audience. 

 The experiment as usually shown consists in volatilising the 

 metal or one of its salts between the carbon poles of a lamp 

 and in projecting the spectrum on to a screen. The method is 

 imperfect, as the characteristic lines of sodium are always asso- 

 ciated with the continuous spectrum of the electric light. Mr. 

 Wilis prefers, therefore, to obtain a sodium flame by burning 

 hydrogen which has been passed over the surface of tlie molten 

 metal ; by this means a pure sodium spectrum may be thrown 

 on the screen. Prof. McLeod suggested that other metals might 

 be introduced into the hydrogen flame in a finely-divided state, 

 aud that the continuous spectrum might be eliminated by 

 employing a horizontal slit. — Prof. G. C. Foster then read 

 a paper, by himself and Mr. J. O. Lodge, on the lines of 

 flow and equipotential lines in a uniform conducting sheet. 

 The first experimenter who worked on this subject was 

 ICirchhoff, who used plates of copper, but owing to their 

 small dimensions, his measurements were imperfect. Quincke 

 employed rectangular plates, and afterwards discs of lead 

 and copper conjointly, so that he obtained a difference of 

 potential at the junction. The next experiments were made by 

 I'rof. Robertson Smith, who used conducting discs of tinfoil and 

 deduced equipotential lines from the lines of flow. Prof. Foster 

 stated that thegeneral mathematical theory had been fully esta- 

 blished by Kirchhoff, who had verified it experimentally in all 

 its main features. The object the authors of this paper had m 

 view was to show that Kirchhoff's results can be arrived at by 

 very simple mathematical processes, if each electrode by which 

 electricity is supplied to or taken from the sheet be regarded as 

 producing everywhere the same effect as it would if it were the 

 only electrode in the sheet. The electrical condition of every 

 point in the sheet thus appears to result from the simple super- 

 position of the efTects due to the several electrodes. This mode 

 of treating the question has been adopted by Prof. Robertson 

 Smith, but his paper was in the main addressed to mathematical 

 readers. It was the aim of the authors, however, to show that 

 the chief results could be established by elementary methods 

 which can be included in ordinary class teaching. The paper 

 contained, in addition to the mathematical discussion of the sub- 

 ject, a description of an experimental method of laying down the 

 equipotential lines on a conducting surface, so that the difference 

 of potential between any two consecutive lines may be constant. 

 Measurements were also given of the resistance of discs of tinfoil 

 of various sizes, and with the electrodes in various positions. 

 The results agreed closely with the calculated values, and thus 

 supplied a verification of the theory which Kirchhoff had been 

 unable to obtain in consequence of the small re-.istance of the 

 discs used by liim. Mr. Latimer Clark made some observations 

 on the methods by which contact was made between the elec- 

 trodes and the conducting sheet, and Prof. Adams then described 

 sjine of the results which he had just communicated to the Royal 

 Socie'.y, on lines of force. 



Entomological Society, March l. — Sir Sidney Smith Saun- 

 ders, president, in the chair. — Jlr. F. II. Ward exhibited living 



