December 22, 1898] 



NATURE 



187 



[ilowly in dialysers constructed of vegetable parchment ; they can 

 oe filtered through a gelatin film under pressure; but experi- 

 I nents show they are rapidly absorbed by the blood-vessels. In 

 bther words, though their molecules are large, they are not so 

 } arge as those of the native proteids. 



I The walls of the capillaries are membranes possessed of per- 

 meabilities approximating those of a film of gelatin, and are 

 relatively, although not absolutely, impermeable to proteids 



II Starling, _/<;«rK. of Physiol., vol. xix. p. 311). If molecular 

 iize is the obstacle to proteid absorption from subcutaneous 

 spaces, the same would apply to anti-toxins, for these are 

 liubstances of great molecular size comparable to proteids. 



h The practical indication of this in the treatment of snake-bite 

 s to inject the anti-venene intravenously, until the potency 

 of the anti-venomous serum which is at the disposal of the 

 Mblic is greatly enhanced. W. D. H. 



REMARKABLE EFFECT OF THE INDIAN 

 EARTHQUAKE OF JUNE 12, 1897. 



A REMARKABLE example of the eftect of the Indian 

 earthquake of June 12, 1897, upon railway lines is 



filustrated by a brilliant photo-etching in the general report 

 if the operations of the Survey of India 

 luring the years 1S96-97, prepared under 



•the general direction of Major-General C. 

 ■itrahan, R.E , and recently distributed. 



The picture (Fig. i), which represents the 



Manshai Bridge, Cooch Behar State Rail- 

 way, after the earthquake referred to, is 



pere reproduced in a reduced form. 



I This earthquake continues to be the 



(heme of discussion by seismologists. One 



lof the most important papers yet published 



|s that by Dr. Agamennone in the last 



•BolUltino (vol. iv.. No 3) of the Italian 



iSeismological Society, of which the follow- 



,(ng is a summary. At Rome, the early 



rthort-period vibrations were first recorded 



;M II. 17 a.m. (G.M.T.), and these lasted 



until about II. 40, when the long-period pul- 

 sations commenced, reaching a ma.ximum 



;,u about 11.474. During the first interval 



there were five distinct maxima, all of 



which can be identified with those on the 



records from other observatories. After 



ai.47i these records fail to show marked 



features in common, and the movement 

 iillies away more or less slowly according to 

 i^he sensitiveness of the instrument em- 

 ployed. At Calcutta, the duration of the 



earthquake is variously estimated at from 



!our to ten minutes, and at Shillong, 

 vhich is close to the epicentre, at two 

 ninutes. In Europe, the duration of the 

 listurbance, according to magnetograph 

 jrecords, was about half an hour at St. 

 ipetersburg, i^ hours at Wilhelmshaven, 

 liind 2\ hours at Utrecht : and, according to 

 those of different Italian seismometro- 

 Kraphs, lA hours at Verona, \% hours 

 jpt Rome, 3 hours at Catania, and 

 jji hours at Padua. At Rome, the 

 Jieriod of the earliest vibrations was half a second, but this 

 gradually increased to 3-3 seconds after about 15 minutes. . 

 The pulsations which followed had a period of 11 and ' 

 ^10 seconds, in the records of pendulums 16 and 8 

 metres long, respectively, decreasing to about 8 seconds in 

 hoth ; and it is interesting to notice how closely the different 

 [instruments at other observatories agree in this respect. The 

 measures of the maximum tilt of the ground during the pa.ssage 

 iof the pulsations are less concordant, but the mean of eight good 

 Vihservations in Italy is i2"-4, a value which agrees fairly well 

 (with that of 10" obtained by means of the bifilar pendulum at 

 lEdinburgh. Unfortunately, for the calculations of the velocity, 1 

 Jhe recorded times at Calcutta differ by 2\ minutes, being 11.4^ I 

 I La Touche) and 11.7 (Oldham). Dr. Agamennone quotes j 

 nineteen European records of the time of the first disturbance, | 

 Und the five best give a mean velocity of 9 or 11 km. per second, I 



! NO. 1521, VOL. 50] 



according to the time adopted for Calcutta. For the long-period 

 pulsations, the corresponding estimates are 2-6 and 2-8 km. per 

 second, i.e. about one-quarter of the above. Lastly, taking the 

 period of the pulsations at 10 seconds, the velocity at 27 km. 

 per second, and the maximum tilt of the ground at 12", Dr. 

 .'\gamennone finds the length of a complete pulsation, as it 

 traversed Italy, to be 54 km., and the height of its crest (or 

 ampUtude) about half a metre. 



BRITISH ASSOCIATION. 

 conkerence of the dei.eg.vfes of the corresponding 



Societies. 

 'T'HE first meeting of the Conference was held at University 

 College, Bristol, on Thursday, September 8, at 3 p.m. 

 The Corresponding Societies' Committee were represented by 

 Mr. W. Whitaker (Chairman), Dr. Garson, Mr. Hopkinson, 

 Prof. Meldola, Mr. G. J. Symons, and Mr. T. V. Holmes 

 (Secretary). 



A short report, which was in the hands of every delegate 

 present, contained the following paragraph : — 



The Committee observe with satisfaction that the correspond- 

 ing societies steadily increase in number, and that the total 

 number of the members composing them also increases. For 



example, in the British Association Report oi the Bath meeiing 

 in 1S88 there is a list of fifty-five corresponding societies, having 

 a total of 18,950 members. The Toronto Report of last year 

 shows sixty-nine corresponding societies, having a total of 22,395 

 members. On the other hand, the average number of members 

 in each society appears to have slightly decreased, having been 

 between 344 and 345 in iSSS, and betw^een 324 and 325 in 1S97. 

 But this is accounted for by the collapse of the two federations 

 — the Midland Union and the Cumberland and Westmoreland 

 .-Association — and the withdrawal of the Royal Scottish Geo- 

 graphical Society between the two periods. For in iSSS these 

 three associations numbered among them 4006 members, as many 

 as would be found in eleven or twelve average societies. 



The Committee, while regretting the absence of certain 

 .societies whose headquarters are not in London from the list of 

 corresponding societies, add : — Fortunately, in most cases. 



