April Z, 1 875 J 



NA TURE 



459 



General Meeting. — W. A. L-nJsay, secretary, in the chair. — 

 The Rev. M. J. Berkeley called attention to the various objects 

 of interest exhibited. 



Anthropological Institute, March 23. — Col. A. Lane Fox, 

 president, in the clnir. — The President communicated a note on 

 the chest measurement of recruits for tlie army, pointing out how 

 the departure from a uniform method of measuring gave rise to 

 unnecessary public expenditure, and often to the loss of good 

 and .sound men to the service. The method employed "by Col. 

 Fox himself at his depot w.as explained, and a table o: statistics 

 was exhibited in illustration of his remarks. — The Rev. Dunbar 

 I. Heatn, M.A., read a paper entitled " Molecules and Poten- 

 tial Life." The object of the author was to adduce arguments 

 to show that there is a physical foundation for the measurement 

 of vitality. The labours of Dr. Lionet Beale enabled us to put 

 the amount of protoplasm, or living matter in the adult human 

 body, at about I5lbs. in weight. Every vital action of every 

 sort or kind kills a portion of that matter, and the mechanism 

 by which its death is compen>aled, by the vitalisation of fresh 

 pabulum, was anatomically and physiologically described. 

 Hence it followed that every unit of physical action corresponds 

 to the death of a unit of protoplasm, and a unit of vital action 

 is at the sair.e lime exhibited. The death of protoplasm at the 

 outside of a cell was described as diminishing the velocity and 

 therefore the pressure of the ouiside dissociated atoms, the con- 

 sequence of which Was the deposit of the proximate principles 

 such as fibrine, &c. , and a rush of fresh pabulum inwards into 

 the cell. — Mr. G. H. Kinahan, F.G.S., contributed a paper on 

 a prehistoric load at Duncan's Flow, Balbyalbaugh, Co. Antrim. 



Entomological Society, March I5. — Sir Sidney Smith 

 Saunders, president, in the chair. — Mr. Sealy exhibited speci- 

 mens of an Oinithoptita bred from larva.* taken in Malabar in 

 great numbers on Ai ist^ilvchta iiidica. — Pro'. Westuood exhi- 

 bited drawings of several undescribed Coleoptera of remarkable 

 forms, of which he intended to communicate the descriptions. 

 Amongst them was an insect from the collection of M. Mniszecli 

 which bore a strong resemblance to a KhysoJis, and which he 

 had named KJiisodina Munzichii^ but was really a Heteromcrous 

 insect. — Mr. M'Lachlan remarked that on close examination 

 the species of Lcpiuna exhibited at the last meeting by Mr. F. H. 

 Ward did not correspond with the description of 2. domcstica of 

 the United States, nor with the descriptions of any species with 

 which he was acquainted. — Mr. Butler communicated some 

 critical remarks on tlie recently published work on the SphingidLi 

 by Dr. Boisduval. — The Rev. R. P. Murray read some remarks 

 on the species of Teiias, forming the Ilecabe group, which 

 tended to show that the insects which hud hitherto been consi- 

 dered distinct species under the names ol^-Esiopc, Men., Brcnda, 

 Doubl. and Hew., and Sari, Horsf., were mostly, if not all, 

 referable to but one species, T. Hccabe, Linn. Prof. Westwood 

 suggested that the case might be analogous to certain species of 

 PUris, where certain forms, e.g. P. napaii:, Esp., and P. Sabd- 

 licic, Sttph., now universally recognised as varieties of P. tiapz, 

 Linn., had long been considered as specifically distinct. Prof. 

 Westwood also suggested that attention should be paid to the 

 times of appearance of the various forms, and the period noted 

 during which they remained in the pupa stage. Mr. Butler 

 remarked that the latter circumstance had an important bearing 

 in the case of Papilio Aja.x, Linn. — Mr. J. S. Baly communicated 

 descriptions of new genera and species of Ph)tophagous Coleo- 

 ptera. — Mr. C. O. Waterhouse communicated a paper on the 

 Lamellicorn Coleoptera of Japan. — Mr. F. Smith read descrip- 

 tions of new species of Indian Aculeate Hymenoptera collected 

 by Mr. G. R. James Rothney, and also descriptions of new 

 species of bees of the genus A'oniia, Latrielle. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, March 23. — Mr. Thos. E. 

 Harrison, president, in the chair, — The papers read were on 

 the Hull Docks, by Sir William Wright, Assoc. Inst. C.E. ; and 

 on the construction of the Albert Dock at Kingston-upon-HulI, 

 by Mr. John Clarke Hawkshaw, M.A., M. Inst. C E. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, April 5. — Mr. C. 

 Brooke, F. R.S, in the chair. — A paper on the relation of the 

 Scripture account of the Deluge to Physical Science, by Prof. 

 Challis, F.R.S., was read. 



M.VNCHESTER 



Literary and Philosophical Society, March 23. — Mr. 

 Edward Schunck, F.R.S., president, in the chair. — On dis- 

 coveries in a cave at Thayingen, near Schaffhausen, by Arthur 

 Wm. Waters, F.G.S. 



Riga 



Society of Naturalists, Sept. 2, 1874.— A number of sped- 

 mens, mainiy of ornilhological interest, were presented to the 



Society by Dr. C. Berg, of Buenos Ayrcs, and others. Prof. 



Schweder then spoke at length on self-ignition of hay ; he attri- 

 butes the first cause of the rise of temperature in bundles of hay 

 to the chemical decomposition of the hay itself. 



Sept. 16. — M. Behrniann spoke on the constitution of red and 

 yellow prussiate of potash, and gave the graphic representation 

 of both, showing the four free atomicity bonds in Cfy (Fe" Cy-), 

 and the six in Cidy (Fe"'2 Cyjo). 



Oct. 14 — Prof. Kiestntzky presented a number of rare spe- 

 cies of plants for the herbarium of the Socieyt. The paper read 

 was "On Microscopic Investigation of Rocks," by Prof Petz- 

 hold. — Dr. Nauck then exhibited some specimens of SltQoporus 

 piscifof?nis bred by him. — The publication of the Society con- 

 tains a detailed list, by J. H. Kawall, of all the work done by 

 ihe new Russian societies of naturalists, and comprises the 

 societies of Charkow, St. Petersburg, Moscow, Kasan, and 

 Odessa. 



Stockhol.m 



Kongl. Vetenskaps Akademiens Forhandlingar, Sept. 9 

 and Oct. 14, 1S74. — The following papers were read : — On 

 some peculiarities in the isothermal curves and the relations 

 amongst different kinds of specific heats in the mechanical heat 

 theory, by Prof. G. R. Dahlander. — On the influence of birds 

 upon the composition of fossililerous strata, by Dr. G. Eisen. — 

 On two deductions from Cauchy's theorem of mathematical 

 roots, by G. Miltag-Leffler. — On the magnetic measurement of 

 iron ore deposits, by Prof. R. Thalen. — Calculation of the rela- 

 tive disturbances of planet (112) Iphigenia, by Dr. J. O. 

 Backlund. 



GiJTTINGEN 



Royal Society of Sciences, Dec. 1S74.— The following 

 papers were read : — On the influence of the position of sun and 

 moon upon volcanic eruptions, by S. von Waltershausen. — On 

 the Sanskrit verbal root si'i, and its derivatives in Greek and 

 Latin, by Th. Benfey. — Chi the laws of voltaic induction, by 

 Ed. Riecke. — Lin the molecular motion of two particles, with 

 reference to Weber's law of electric force, by the same. — On the 

 morphology and physiology of the facet eye of Articulata, by 

 Dr. Grenacherof Rostock ; an elaborate treatise on the subject, 

 with a view to prove that the morphology of the compound ej es 

 is perfectly compatible with Darwin's theory. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, March 22. — M. M. Fremy in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read :- Study of the process 

 in the human mind in the research of the unknown, by aid 

 of observation and experience, &c., by M. Chevreul. This is 

 the authoi's second paper on the subject, and treats of the laws 

 of vision and of the simultaneous contrast of colours. — On the 

 stability of the salts of the fatty acids in the presence of water, 

 and on the reciprocal displacement of these acids, by M. Benhe- 

 lot. Mainly the alkaline salts are considered in their behaviour 

 with excess of water, base or acid, and the acids tieated of, with 

 regard to substitution of each other, are lormic, acetic, butyric, 

 and valeric acids. — On the association of native platinum wiih 

 rocks of a chrysolite base in the Ural ; original relation of this 

 metal to chromite, by M. Daubree. — On the variations or peri- 

 odical changes in the temperature (lenih note) ; period oi the 

 twelve-fold twentieth day, by M. Ch. Samte Claire Deville. — 

 The Academy then proceeded to the nomination of a new corre- 

 spondent to its Mechanical Section, in lieu of the late Mr. Fair- 

 bairn. M. Boileau was duly elected in his stead. — The President 

 then addressed a few words to M. Bouq let de la Grye, the chief 

 of the expedition sent to Campbell Island to observe the Transit 

 of Venus, and thanked him ant the other members of the expe- 

 dition, in the name of the Academy, warmly for their untiring 

 efforts to obtain satisfactory results. After a short acknowledg- 

 ment M. Bouquet de la Grye read a paper on the scientific docu- 

 ments lecording the observations made at Campbell Island ; the 

 obseivations of the Transit of Venus «ere not successful, but the 

 obsei'vers have brought home numerous results of other scientific 

 observations, which in some degree atone lor the disappointment 

 with the rare phenomenon of the Transit. — A note by M. Mann- 

 heim on M. Ribaucour's paper read at the last meeting, on some 

 properties of curves traced on surfaces. — A note by M. Moutard, 

 on the linear differential equations of the second order. — On 

 the quantity of oxygen which the blood can absorb at the diffe- 



