March 2, 1899] 



A\^ n 'RE 



431 



the utilisation of the " M trconi '' system 'of wireless telegraphy 

 for the control of public and other clocks, and explained how 

 this could be effected. He also communicated a note upon the 

 results that may be expected from the proposed monster tele- 

 scope at the Paris Exhibition of igoo. — Prof. T. Preston, 

 F, R S., made a communication upon the perturbations suffered 

 by the spectral lines in a strong magnetic field. The various 

 types of effect were explained by theory, and a general law, 

 which appears to govern all the phenomena, was laid before the 

 Society. — Prof. J. Emerson Reynolds, F. R.S., exhibited the 

 new Geissler tube, illustrating the beautiful colour-effects 

 obtained under the kathode rays, and Prof. T. Johnson showed 

 aseriei of specimens of rubber-producing plants and their pro- 

 ducts in various stages of manufacture. 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, January 23 —Sir Arthur Mitchell, K.C.B., 

 in the chair. — Lord McLaren presented a communication on 

 the symmetrical .solution of the ellipse-glissette elimination 

 problem. — Prof. Cossar Ewart read a second instalment of his 

 experimental contributions to the theory of heredity, in which 

 facts and theories of reversion were taken up in considerable 

 detail. The question was as to how far the resemblance of off- 

 spring to a recent or remote ancestor was a mere coincidence, 

 or due to chance, or governed by what may be termed the law 

 of reversion. Instances were very familiar in which the off- 

 spring, instead of displaying characteristics intermediate to those 

 of the parents, strongly resembled one or other, or some grand- 

 parent, or even a more remote ancestor. Thus, it was a 

 notorious fact that the children of mulattoes varied greatly, 

 some being almost white, while others were darker than their 

 parents. This was clearly a case of reversion. The mental, 

 moral and physical peculiarities of many half-castes might also 

 be explained as being due to reversion, to which there was a 

 strong tendency when the parents belonged to tsvo distinct types 

 of race. 



February 6. — Lord Kelvin in the chair. — Prof. Crum Brown, 

 in a note on Nernst's "osmotic experiment," in which a 

 water septum fixed in bladder separates pure ether from a solu- 

 tion of benzol in ether, gave what seemed to him the simple 

 explanation of the phenomenon in terms of diffusion as deter- 

 mined by the gradient of concentration, and described and ex- 

 hibited anew form of experiment in which the semi-permeable 

 septum moved up as osmosis proceeded. A sufficiently dense 

 solution of calcium nitrate was separated from a solution of 

 phenol in water by a layer of phenol. As the water diffused 

 through from above, the layer of phenol gradually rose. Basing 

 on his view of the action. Prof. Crum Brown gave a new de- 

 finition of osmotic pressure which had the merit of being purely 

 experimental without any reference to molecular theories. This 

 definition was to the effect that if two solutions of a given sub- 

 stance are formed at different pressures, they will be of the 

 same concentration when this difference of pressure is equal to 

 the osmotic pressure. Prof. Crum Brown also gave an account 

 of an old proposal of the late Prof Andrews as to the nomen- 

 clature of the anhydrides of acids. The proposal was to use 

 carbonica, .sulphurosa, sulphurica, as the ordinary every-day 

 names of COo, SO.>, SO3, which are often erroneously called 

 acids, and have other more technical but less convenient names. 

 These names would fall into line with such old familiar 

 words as silica, soda, lithia, ic— Lord Kelvin read a paper on 

 the application of Sellmeyer's dynamical theory to the dark 

 lines D] D.^ produced by vapour of sodium. It was suggested 

 by Becquerel's recent discovery of anomalous dispersion in 

 sodium vapour, the broadening out of the D lines being indi- 

 cated by Sellmeyer's theory when worked out for a dynamical 

 system of two concentric spherical atoms enclosed in an ether 

 sheath. — In a second communication Lord Kelvin gave some 

 additional theorems on the motion of liquid in an ellipsoidal 

 hollow— a continuation of his paper on the same subject of 1885. 

 One result referred to the great force required to keep the pro- 

 late ellipsoid fixed in position when the axis of molecular rota- 

 tion was inclined at an angle of 45" to the principal axis of 

 figure.— Messrs. A. J. Herbertson and P. C. Waite read a 

 paper on the mean annual rainfall of Australia, being Part I. of 

 a series of papers on the rainfall of Australasia. The results, 

 which cover a period of fifteen years from 1881-95 inclusive, 

 were shown on charts. In years of drought (e.g. 1888) about 

 three quarters of the whole continent had a rainlall of less than 

 10 incites per annum ; but in years of heavy rainfall (such as 

 NO. I 53 I, VOL. 59] 



'■^95-94) itiis region was much diminished in area. The 10- 

 inch line was the limit of sheep-rearing ; the 15-inch line, of 

 wheat-growing; the 25-inch line, of maize ; and the 40-inch 

 line, of sugar-cane. — Ur. Thomas Muir presented a communica- 

 tion on the multiplication of an alternant by a symmetrical 

 function of the variables. 



February 9.— Prof Copeland in the chair. — At the request of 

 the Council, Vice-Admiral Makaroff, of the Imperial Russian 

 Navy, gave an address on some important oceanographic prob- 

 lems and novel modes of research. He exhibited his own forms 

 of hydrometer and thermograph for ocean work, and described 

 some of the more important results he had obtained in regard 

 to temperature and salinity of the ocean. For example, the 

 isotherms of the surface waters in Formosa Channel run parallel 

 to the mainland, and in certain months the change of tempera- 

 ture is so rapid as we pass across the strait that a seaman could 

 use temperature readings as a guide for steering his craft. A 

 large model was exhibited of the Admiral's "ice-breaker," 

 Ermaik, which has just been completed to his design by .-Arm- 

 strong, Whitworth, and Co., of Newcastle. There were three 

 screw-propellers in the stern, and also a screw in front for 

 "breaking" the ice. There were special arrangements for 

 moving 150 tons of water from one end of the ship to the other, 

 and for moving 100 tons of water from one side to the other, 

 thus enabling the navigator to change the lie of the ship at 

 will. One of the practical ends for which the ship had been 

 designed was to clear the Kara Sea of ice in early summer, so 

 as to facilitate approach to the Obi and Yenisei Rivers. If this 

 were successfully accomplished, then in all probability a trip to 

 the North Pole would be attempted. 



Mathematical Society, February 10.— Dr. Morgan, Pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — The following papers were read : — The 

 eight queens' problem, by Dr. Sprague ; on a problem of Lewis 

 Carroll's, by Prof Steggall. 



P.\RIS. 

 Academy of Sciences, February 20.— M. van Tieghem 

 in the chair.— The work of the soil, by M. P. P. Deherain. — 

 An experimental study of the relations existing between the 

 state of aeration, and capacity of holding water possessed by a 

 soil and plant growth.— Heat effects produced by stretching 

 india-rubber, under conditions which^may be realised for the 

 elasticity of a muscle under contraction, by M. A. Chauveau. — 

 Estimation of carbon monoxide, by M. Armand Gautier. A 

 reclamation of prioiity in reply to some remarks by MM. 

 Schlagdenhauffen and Pagel.— Some remarks on the claim to 

 priority by M. J. Winter on the cryoscopy of urine, by M. Ch. 

 Bouchard.— On the growth of functions defined by differential 

 equations by M. Emile Borel.— On divergent series and func- 

 tions defined by a Taylor's series, by M. Le Roy. — On some 

 forms of differential invariants, by M. Emile Cotton.— On the co- 

 efficient of expansion characteristic of the perfectly gaseous state, 

 by M. Daniel Berthelot. From a comparison of the results of 

 Amagat and Regnault, the author concludes that the limiting 

 value of the coefficient of expansion of hydrogen is '0036625 

 when the pressure is indefinitely reduced, and hence that the 

 absolute zero is - 273'-04 C— On the complex oxides of the 

 rare earths, by MM. G. Wyrouboff and A. Verneuil. Although 

 the ceroso-ceric oxide is quite insoluble in nitric acid, it 

 dissolves very easily when mixed with a certain quantity of 

 lanthanum or didymium oxides. In the present paper the 

 authors have investigated the limits between which the foreign 

 oxides possess this peculiar property, and find that the per- 

 centage may vary between 10 and 43 per cent. These results 

 are attributed to the formation of complex oxides of the type 

 CcjOj. MO. — Action of oxidising agents upon some amides, by 

 M. (Jlchsner de Coninck — On the law of dilution of electro- 

 lytes, by M. P. Th. MuUer. The difference between the 

 molecular conductivity ^ and that at infinite dilution /Zj, 

 was shown by Oswald to be a function of the 

 volume only. According to the author, if 5 = >x„ - /i, 

 then when the volume v = 2", the expression for 5 is of the 

 form 8 = A (J)", A being a constant. From this is deduced a 

 formula for molecular conductivities of neutral salts formed of 

 monovalent ions, fi = fi,^ — 5272 e-lOiiiWX—On a new- 

 method of preparing mixed alkyl-phenolic phospheric ethers, 

 by M. Albert Morel. The mixed ethers are prepared by acting 

 upon PO(OC|jH5)3 with sodium ethylate.— Action of ferment- 

 ation amyl alcohol upon its sodium derivative, by M. Guerbet. 



