January 26, 1899] 



NATURE 



the N.E. coast-region of Asia more closely resembled each other 

 than they did the other races of their own continent. He 

 exhibited a series of heads of the Siberian roedeer, which were 

 compared with typical heads of the European roedeer, from 

 which it was considered specifically distinct. A discussion 

 followed, in which Mr. J. G. Baker and Dr. O. Stapf criticised 

 at some length the character of the flora of the Altai, Dr. W. 

 T. Blanford and Colonel Godwin-. Vusten commented upon the 

 mammalia collected by Mr. Elwes, and Sir George Hampson 

 gave some statistics relating to the lepidoptera. 



Mathematical Society, January 12. — Prof. Elliott, F. R..S , 

 Vice-President, and subsequently Lieut. -Colonel Cunningham, 

 R.E., \'ice- President, and Dr. Hobson, F.R.S., in the chair. — 

 The following papers were read, or communicated in ab.stract : — 

 Linear transformation by inversions. Dr. G. G. Morrice. — The 

 zeroes of the Bessel functions (No. ii. ), by Mr. H. M. .Macdonald. 

 — A simple method of factorising large composite numbers of any 

 unknown form, by Mr. Biddle. — On a determinant each of whose 

 elements is the product of k factors, Prof. Metzler. — Properties 

 of hyper-space, in relation to systems of forces, the kinematics of 

 rigid bodies, and Clifford's parallels, Mr. A. N. Whitehead. — On 

 the reduction of a linear substitution to its canonical form, Prof 

 Burnside, F.R.S. 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, January 9. — Sir William Turner, Vice- 

 President, in the chair. — Dr. Thomas Muir communicated a 

 paper on the determination of a single term of a determinant. — 

 In a paper on the energy of the Rrintgen rays, the Rev. A. 

 Moffat gave an account of some e.xperiments recently made by 

 him in Erlangen. The energy was determined by photometric 

 comparison of the luminescence of the fluorescent screen with a 

 standard candle, and the result was in fair agreement with that 

 obtained by Dorn by a calorimetric method. The discharge 

 was obtained from !i Tiippler influence machine — a fact which 

 probably explains the shortness of duration of the Rontgen 

 discharge (1/100,000 sec.) as compared with the duration 

 obtained by Trouton, Roito, and other experimenters who used 

 the induction coil. — Dr. R. Broom communicated a paper on 

 the development and morphology of the marsupial shoulder- 

 girdle, which contained an examination of the early stages of 

 development in the common Phalanger, the Ring-tailed 

 Phalanger, and the Rock-Wallaby. Among the conclusions 

 arrived at were the following : (a) The well-developed coracoid 

 in the fretal marsupials, and consequently the coracoid process 

 in the higher mammals, is the homologue of the posterior cora- 

 coidal element in the Monotremes and Theromorphs and of the 

 coracoid in reptiles generally, (b) The epicoracoid in Mono- 

 tremes and Theromorphs is the homologue of the precoracoid of 

 the amphibia. (i) The only representative of the precoracoid 

 remaining in the higher mammals is the coraco-clavicular 

 ligament. — Prof. Tait, in a note on the hydrokinetic equations, 

 pointed out how the introduction of unit volume of the fluid as 

 a factor of the whole, led to a definite interpretation of each 

 term separately. The interpretation took a curious form in the 

 case of vortex motion. 



P.'iRIS. 



Academy of Sciences, January 16 — M. van Tieghem in 

 the chair. — The Centenary of the Imperial Military Academy of 

 Medicine of St. Petersburg, by M. d'Arsonval. — On the general 

 course of vegetation, by M. Berthelot. The amount of moisture 

 was determined in different parts of the same plant (Cyiwsuriis 

 irisla/iis), grown in sunlight and in the shade. The plant 

 developed in the .shade contains the largest quantity of water. — 

 On the anomalous dispersion of incandescent sodium vapour, and 

 on some consequences of this phenomenon, by M. Henri 

 Becquerel. Incandescent sodium vapour shows an abnormal 

 dispersion for radiations near the lines Di and D,. The index 

 of refraction of the vapour can be clearly shown to be less than 

 unity for radiations of wave-length near to D, and D.^. A con- 

 firmation is also given of the experiment of M. Voigt, who 

 from theoretical considerations based upon the Zeeman effect 

 Concluded that a sodium flame, placed in a magnetic field and 

 traversed by a polarised luminous bundle, ought to show double 

 refraction analogous to a crystallised plate, and in a direction 

 perpendicular to the magnetic field. The phenomenon results 

 from a superposition of the Zeeman effect and abnormal dis- 

 persion. — On the treatment of tuberculous abscess, by M. 

 Lannelongue. As an alternative to extirpation, a method of 

 multiple injection is described, the active ingredient in the fluid 

 injected being iodoform. — Results of meteorological observations 



NO. I 526, VOL. 59] 



made in the depression at the centre of Asia (Luktshoun), by 

 M. Alexis de Tillo. — Solar observations made at the Ob- 

 servatory of Lyons, with the Brunner equatorial during the 

 third quarter of 1898, by M. J. Guillaume. — On the vari- 

 ation of density in the interior of the earth, by M. du 

 Ligondes. — On a new slide rule, by M. G. Gallice. This 

 calculating rule is designed for the use of navigators, and 

 by its use problems of nautical astronomy can be rapidly 

 solved. — On the complete integrals of some partial differential 

 equations, by M. N. Saltykow. — Loss of electricity by evapor- 

 ation of electrified water. Application to atmospheric electricity, 

 by M. H. Pellat. A surface of electrified water, having a sur- 

 face density slightly greater than that of the earth, loses a portion 

 of its charge on evaporation at the ordinary temperature, but 

 this effect is not sufficient to explain the diurnal variation. ^ — On 

 the transmission of sounds by ultra-violet rays, by M. Dussaud. 

 A modification of the ordinary selenium radiophone, in which 

 ultraviolet rays act upon the selenium cell through a fluorescent 

 substance. — On a physical method of deciding whether dis- 

 persion occurs in a vacuum or not, by M. L. Decombe, It is 

 proposed to study the relative velocities of light wave and the 

 electrical oscillations produced by a Hertz exciter. — On the 

 optical properties of the invisible residual luminescence, by M. 

 Gustave Le Bon. Ordinary solar light and the invisible light 

 emitted by phosphorescent bodies possess absolutely identical 

 properties. This residual luminescence completely disappears 

 after a time. — On the source of energy in radio-active bodies, 

 by Sir William Crookes. The suggestion is put forward that 

 uranium and thorium, substances possessing heavy atoms, may 

 have such a structure as to be able to abstract energy from the 

 more rapidly moving air particles, without being affected by the 

 slower air particles : a partial realisation, in fact, of Clerk Max- 

 well's "demon." — On the peroxidation of cerium dissolved in 

 alkaline carbonates, by M. Andre Job. Cerium salts dissolved 

 in alkaline carbonates may exist in three states of oxidation, 

 corresponding to CcoOj, CeO„, and CeOj. — Triacetylmorphine 

 and the oxidation of morphine, by M. H. Causse. It is shown 

 that a triacetyl-derivative can be obtained from morphine, and 

 that one atom of oxygen is probably present in a ketonic 

 group, CO. — On the ether-chlorides of dibasic acids, by M. E. 

 E. Blaise. — The assimilation of carbohydrates and the elabor- 

 ation of organic nitrogen in the higher plants, by -M. Maze. — On 

 the Ordovician rocks of Crozon, Finisterre, by M. F. Kerforne. 

 Amsterdam. 

 Royal Academy of Sciences, December 24, 1898. — Prof 

 J. A. C. Oudemans in the chair. — Prof. Bakhuis Roozeboom 

 communicated the results of Dr. Van Eyk's inquiries into 

 mixture crystals of KNO3 and TINO3. This is the first time 

 that the progress of the solidification and the relation between 

 the composition of a liquid mixture and a solid one has been 

 studied with respect to all concentrations from o to 100 per cent. 

 From o to 20 per cent, and from 50 to too per cent, the mixture 

 crystals, subsiding from the melted substance, contain KNO3. 

 Between 20 and 50 per cent., a conglomerate of the two 

 limiting mixture crystals is deposited. The transition of all 

 these mixture crystals from the rhombohedrical to the rhombic 

 form has also been studied. This transition is a very compli- 

 cated process, though it has been found entirely to correspond 

 with the theory lately given by the author. While in the case 

 of TINO3 the transition takes place at 144°, and in the case of 

 KNO3 at 129' in the case of mixture crystals it is only com- 

 pleted at 108°. In the rhombic form, too, there is a hiatus in 

 the mixing from 40 to 84 per cent, of KNO3, which becomes 

 still greater towards a lower temperature. — Prof. Vander Waals 

 made a communication on volume contraction and pressure 

 contraction (ii. ), being a continuation of a communication 

 made by himself at the previous meeting, and discussed the 

 course of the magnitude d,. The author demonstrated that 

 even in those cases in which the magnitude was positive, if the 

 mixing took place at low pressure, reversion of the sign was to 

 be expected when the pressure, at which the mixture took 

 place, was very great. — Prof. Kamerlingh Onnes presented (i) 

 a paper by Dr. J. Verschaffelt on determinations concerning 

 the course of the isotherms in the case of a mixture of carbonic 

 acid and hydrogen, in the proximity of the plait point ; (2) a 

 paper by Dr. L. H. Siertsema, entitled " Measurements on the 

 magnetic rotatory dispersion of gases." As a continuation of his 

 communications on this subject (1/. Proc, September 1896), the 

 author gives some more details and plates of the apparatus, with 

 a discussion of the results obtained. 



