December 8, 1 898] 



NA TURE 



u: 



were described, and it was shown that the development of basal 

 cilia was always identified either with attachment to or detach- 

 ment from the stalk. 



Dublin. 

 Royal Dublin Society, November i6.— Mr. \V. E.Wilson, 

 F.R.S.,in the chair. — Sir Howard Grubb, F.R.S., Vice-Pre- 

 sident of the Royal Dublin Society, read a paper on the 

 correction of errors in the distribution of time signals. 

 Alter referring to ihe various methods that are in use for the 

 purpose of lime distribution and the difficulties to be overcome, 

 he de.'ciibed a system which he had recommended for a large 

 institution in England, in Avhich the conditions were somewhat 

 similar to those of the Royal Dublin Society, though on a very 

 much larger scale. He proposed that the best regulator clock 

 should be procured and made to serve as the controlling clock 

 of the v\hole system, which, however, would be further checked 

 once every iwenty-four hours by a signal from Greenwich, this 

 being veiy much the same system as adopted at Ihe Royal 

 Dublin Society. The controlling clock, however, in this case he 

 proposed should be sealed up in an air-tight case and in an atmo- 

 sphere of nitrogen, and this placed in an outer case, or jacket, 

 also containing nitrogen. By this means a constant pressure can 

 be kept in the inside case, and with due precautions such a clock 

 can be kept under conditions of constant pressure and tempera- 

 ture, and therefore should be e.xpected to give extremely good 

 results. This clock is then used to control a piece of uniform 

 motion clock worked by a device very similar to what he has 

 adopted with such success for his astronomical mstruments, 

 which has now been tested for several years and given excellent 

 results. This piece of uniform motion clock is further checked 

 by the Greenwich signal, it being supplied with a device by 

 which Ihe services of a human being to receive the signal and 

 correct iheclock are dispensed with. By an automatic arrange- 

 ment the signal is received by this clock and corrected by 

 exactly the amount it varies at that moment from the true time, 

 and further a register is made of the amount of that correction, 

 which can be afterwards inspected and noted. This uniform 

 motion clock then serves as the central or distributing clock for 

 some 200 other clocks spread throughout the building, which 

 are practically only dials worked from this distributing clock. — 

 Prof. G. A. J. Cole exhibited a method of intensifying Ihe 

 coloration imparted to a Bunsen flame by potassium in silicates. 

 The minute assay is decomposed in a bead of sodium carbonate, 

 as described in the Geological Magazine, March 1898. The 

 method is of service in estimating the nature of the undifferen- 

 tiated ground mass in many igneous rocks. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, November 28. — M. Wolf in the 

 chair. — On the relation which exists between the progressive 

 motion and the motion of inclination in the safety bicycle, by 

 M. J. Boussinesq. — A differential method for determining vari- 

 ations of latitude and the constant of aberration, by M. G. 

 Bigourdan. The method described is purely differential, and 

 hence the results are free from errors inseparable from absolute 

 measurements. It is independent of the stability of the tele- 

 scope, and since only zenithal stars are employed, practically 

 independent of refraction — On the measurement of small 

 diameters, by M. Maurice Hamy. The application of the inter- 

 ference method of Fizeau and Michelson is difiicult for faint 

 stars, the bands being scarcely visible. In the modification 

 suggested the slits have a width which is appreciable compared 

 with the distance of their centres, and hence the formula of 

 Michelson is inapplicable. An approximate formula for the 

 method thus modified is developed by the author. On some 

 types of partial differential equations of the second order, 

 by M. E. Goursat. — On orthogonal systems, by M. Tzitzeica. 

 — On the complex multiplication of Abelian functions, by 

 M. G. Humbert. — The mechanical equivalent of heat and the 

 specific heats of gases, by M. A. Leduc. An application of the 

 formulae developed in previous papers to determination of J from 

 air and carbon dioxide. The deviations found are very large, 

 and are due to the difficulty of measuring accurately the specific 

 heat at constant pressure of a gas. The inverse calculation of 

 this latter constant from the experimental value of the mechan- 

 ical equivalent would probably be the better application of the 

 formulae. — On condensed oxides of rare earths, by MM. G. 

 Wyrouboff and A. Verneuil. The power of polymerising with 

 great ease under a variety of conditions is especially character- 



NO. 1 519, VOL. 59] 



istic of the ceroso-teric group of oxides, and many reactions in 

 this group can be more satisfactorily explained by this hypo- 

 thesis than by the assumption of the formation of basic salts. — 

 Observations on the spectra of aluminium, tellurium, and 

 selenium, by M. A. de Gramont. — On the aromatic urethanes 

 of tetra-hydroquinoline, by MM. Cazeneuve and Moreau. The 

 urethanes were obtained by the action of an excess of tetra- 

 hydroquinoline upon the carbonates of phenyl, ortho-chloro- 

 phenyl, methoxy-phenyl, and o-naphthol. — On pulegenacetone, 

 by M. Ph. Barbier. — Action of potash upon oxynitrocellulose, 

 by M. Leo Vignon. The chief product of this reaction is oxy- 

 pyruvic acid, CHo.(OH).CO.CO.OH. — On a new crystalline 

 principle extracted from Artemiiia absinthium, by MM. Adrian 

 and A. Trillat. — Researches on the means of increasing the 

 adhesive power of copper solutions used for spraying diseased 

 vines, by M. Joseph Perraud. Of the various substances 

 tried, colophane proved to be by far the most effective, soap 

 being the next useful. — Composition and food value of cheese, 

 by M. Balland. — On a method of colouring living protoplasm 

 by the pigments of fungi, by M. L. Matruchot. — Influence of 

 anaesthetics on the formation of chlorophyll, by MM. E. C. 

 Teodoresco and Henri Coupin. Chloroform or ether prevent 

 the production of chlorophyll in etiolated plants exposed to the 

 light. Used in quantities too small to completely prevent the 

 formation of chlorophyll, the production of the green colouring 

 matter was greatly retarded. — Cieobotanical study of the flora of 

 the high basins of the Sallanche and Trient, by AI. Paul Jaccard. 

 — On the discovery of fossils in the layers constituting in 

 Provence the formation called etage de V'itrolles, and on the 

 limit of the Cretaceous and Tertiary beds in the basin of Aix 

 Bouches-du- Rhone, by M. G. Vasseur. — Measures proposed to 

 avoid collisions at sea, by M. E. Lacoine. — Remarks concerning 

 the green ray, by M. Piot-Bey. 



New South Wales. 

 Royal Society, September 7.— Mr. G. H. Knibbs, 

 President, in the chair. — Key to tribes and genera of 

 Melanospermeae (olive-green seaweeds), by R. A. Bastow. — 

 A study of the dialects of New Caledonia, by Jules Bernier, 

 curator of the Musee N^o-Caledonienne. No less than twenty 

 dialects are distinguished in New Caledonia, which are grouped 

 into the following main divisions : ihe Southern, inclusive of 

 the Isle of Pines ; the Central ; the Northern ; and those parts 

 of the Loyalty Islands peopled by Melanesians. — An interesting 

 collection of photographs from the Don Dorrigo and Brush 

 districts. New South Wales, chiefly geological, were shown by his 

 Honour Judge Docker. — A new Eucalyptus oil was exhibited by 

 Messrs. Baker and Smith of the Technological Museum, Sydney. 

 On rectification this oil was found to contain a fraction boiling 

 between 28o''-2go° C, equalling 18 per cent, of the whole, and 

 which consisted almost entirely of eudesmol, comparatively in a 

 pure condition. The fraction wholly crystallised in less than 

 one hour. — The latest type of polariscope (Wright-Newton 

 projecting polariscope) was exhibited by Dr. F. H. Quaife. 



Linnean Society, October 26. — Prof. J. T. Wilson, Pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — On Carabidae from West Australia, sent 

 by Mr. A. M. Lea (with descriptions of new genera and species, 

 synoptic tables, &c. ), by Thomas G. Sloane. — Descriptions of 

 new species of Australian Coleoptera, Part v. by Arthur M. 

 Lea. — A statistical note on variations in the flowers of Augitil- 

 laria dtoica, R.Br., by C T. Musson. As is well known, 

 Angiiillaria dioiea, R.Br. (N.O. Liliaceae), is widely dis- 

 tributed in extra-tropical Australia and Tasmania, and occurs 

 under three forms — with male flowers only (without even rudi- 

 mentary pistils), with female flowers only (without even rudi- 

 mentary stamens), and in a polygamous condition (with male, 

 and hermaphrodite flowers). But whether or no all three forms 

 occur together throughout the area of distribution, and if so in 

 approximately what relative numerical proportions are matters 

 not ascertainable from present records. From the data col- 

 lected it would appear that in the locality mentioned the tendency 

 towards the condition of dioecism has reached an advanced 

 stage. — Mr. North exhibited the skin of a fledgling fan-tailed 

 cuckoo, Caconiautis Jlaheliijormis, which he had caught on 

 October 3 in a gully at Chatswood. It was being fed by ils foster 

 parents, a pair of rock warblers, Orignia rtihrieata, whose 

 nest was found in a dark recess in the rocks a few feet away.. 

 Usually the egg or ypung qf this parasite is found in domedi 

 nests built in situations which are more or less exposed to the- 



