Dec. 17, 1885J 



NATURE 



165 



In December, when the fat in the liver is increasing in 

 amount, cold increases the amount of fat stored up, and warmth 

 decreases it. 



The increase of fat, consequent on a decrease of temperature, 

 occurs chiefly in the outer part of the cells. 



The decrease of fat, consequent on increase of temperature, 

 occurs chiefly or wholly at the outer part of the cells ; as a rule, 

 the number of globules in the inner part of the cells is increased. 



Variations of temperature have much greater eftect on the 

 amount of fat in the liver in winter than in summer. 



The ratio of fat formed to fat metabolised, depends in part 

 upon certain unknown conditions of the body, independent of 

 temperature or of food. 



When frogs are fed, e.g. with worms, the fat in the liver at 

 first decreases ; after some hours it begins to increase, and 

 becomes greater than at the beginning of digestion ; towards 

 the end of digestion it decreases again in amount, so that in one 

 or two days the amount is normal. Whilst the fat is decreasing 

 in amount, the globules usually decrease in size ; whilst the fat 

 is increasing in amount, the globules usually increase in size, 

 and are found in the outer region of the cells. Later, as the 

 fat returns to normal, the globules form more and more an 

 inner zone. 



Probably the metabolism as well as the formation of fat is 

 more rapid in the outer than in the inner cell-region ; and 

 probably also there is in certain circumstances a transference of 

 fat -globules from the outer to the inner part of the cells. 



Each separate fat -globule appears to be slowly metabolised 

 in the same way that mesostate granules in secretory glands are 

 metabolised. 



From June to August, peptone or dextrin, when injected 

 into the dorsal lymph-sac of a frog, produces changes like those 

 produced by feeding. 



Mathematical Society, December 10. — J- W. L. Glaisher, 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair. — Mr. A. E. Ilaynes, Hillsdale 

 College, Michigan, was elected a Member. — The following 

 communications were made : — On the numerical solution of 

 cubic equations, by G. Heppel. — On a theorem in kinematics, 

 by J. Y. Walker, F. R. S. — Note on the induction of electric 

 currents in an infinite plane current sheet which is rotating in a 

 field of magnetic force, by A. B. Basset. 



Chemical Society, November 19. — Dr. Hugo Miiller, 

 F.R. S., President, in the chair. — The following papers were 

 read : — Aluminium alcohols ; part 3, aluminium ortho-cresy- 

 late and its products of decomposition by heat, by J. H. 

 Gladstone, F.R. S., and Alfred Tribe. — Notes on the constitu- 

 tion of hydrated and double salts, by Spencer U. Pickering. — 

 Some new vanadium compounds, by J. T. Brierly. — On the 

 action of PCI5 upon ethylic diethylacetoacetate, by J. W. James. 

 — On the vapour-pressures of mercury, by W. Ramsay, Ph.D., 

 and Sydney Young, D. Sc. After criticising Regnault's deter- 

 minations of the vapour-pressures of mercury, the authors show 

 that his results do not agree with the following generalisation, 

 which has been proved to be true in twenty-two instances. A re- 

 lation exists between the absolute temperatures of all bodies, 

 whether solid or liquid, whether stable or dissociable, which 

 may be expressed in the case of any two bodies by the equation 



R' = R -f r{i" - 0- 

 where R is the ratio of the absolute temperatures of the two 

 bodies corresponding to any vapour-pressure, the same for both ; 

 R' is the ratio at any other pressure, again the same for both ; 

 c is a constant which may equal o. or a small plus or minus 

 number ; and /' and t are the temperatures, absolute or Centi- 

 grade, of one of the bodies corresponding to the two vapour- 

 pressures. When f = o, R' = R, or the ratio of the absolute 

 temperatures is a constant at all pressures ; and when c > o or 

 c <. o, its values may readily be determined either by calculation, 

 or graphically by representing the absolute temperatures of one 

 of the two bodies as ordinates, and the ratios of the absolute 

 temperatures at pressures corresponding to the absolute tem- 

 peratures of that body as abscissa?. It is found in all cases that 

 points representing the relation of the ratio of the absolute 

 temperatures of the two bodies to the absolute temperatures of 

 one of them lie in a straight line. From this it follows that if 

 the vapour-pressures of any one substance are known through- 

 out, it is sufficient to determine accurately the vapour-pressures 

 of any other substance at any two temperatures, sufficiently far 

 apart, in order to be able to construct its whole vapour-pressure 



curve. The vapour-pressures of mercury have accordingly been 

 measured with the greatest care at the temperatures 222°'I5 C, 

 270° '3, 280° '2, 447°, and 448°. On comparing the ratios of the 

 absolute temperatures of mercury and water, at pressures corre- 

 sponding to tliose temperatures, they are found to agree with the 

 equation R' = R -f c (/ - /'), where c = o'ooo4788, if the tem- 

 peratures of mercury be chosen as ordinates. It is therefore 

 possible to construct the complete vapour-pressure curve of 

 mercury ; the paper contains tabular statements of the values. 



Linnean Society, December 3. — Sir J. Lubbock, Bart., 

 President, in the chaii-.^Sir H. E. Maxwell, Bart. , Lieut. -Col. L. 

 Blathwayt, and Messrs. R. A. Bastow, S. J. Capper, C. Ford, G. 



B. Howes, J. H. Gurney, jun., W. H. Tones, W. F. A. Lambert, 



C. T. Musson, W. D. G. Osborne, D. Petrie, and G. Thom 

 were elected Fellows. — The President announced from the 

 chair, and there were read letters from ( i ) the Elizabeth Thompson 

 Science Fund, U.S.A. ; (2) Prix de Candolle ; (3) Medals and 

 money prizes of Roy. Soc. N.S. Wales. — The Secretary 

 exhibited for M. Buysman a preparation of the floral parts of 

 Aconituiit Napdlus, L. — Mr. V. I. Chamberlain exhibited and 

 made remarks on a specimen of trap-door spider and nest from 

 California. — D. C. Cogswell showed oil-paintings of Eugenia 



jatnhos and Casparca porrecta from Bermuda. — The Rev. G. 

 Henslow read a contribution to the study of the relative effects 

 of diff'erent parts of the solar spectrum on the transpiration of 

 plants. His conclusions are : that his experiments prove that 

 Wiesner's results are correct, and that transpiration per se (theo- 

 retically distinct from the purely physical process of evaporation, 

 which takes place from all moist surfaces and bodies, dead or 

 alive) is especially, if not solely, referable to those particular 

 bands of light which are absorbed by chlorophyll, and that such 

 light, being arrested, is converted into heat, which then raises the 

 temperature within the tissues and causes the loss of water. The 

 only additional results advanced tentatively are, that yellow 

 light has a retarding influence upon transpiration, and that 

 "life" has a retarding influence upon evaporation as distinct 

 from transpiration. — Prof. T. S. Cobbold's notes on parasites 

 collected by the late Charles Darwin was next read. This contains 

 a letter horn Mr. Darwin when transmitting the author the speci- 

 mens in i869,followedbyDr. Cobbold'sown memoranda concern- 

 mg eight of them, only one, however, Distoma incerta, proving 

 new. — A paper was read, on Castilloa clastica, Cerv., and some 

 allied plants, by Sir J. D. Hooker. The author states that under 

 the name Castilloa elastica probably more than one species 

 exists. The true plant first described by Cervantes has flowered and 

 fruited in Ceylon ; it is now fully described and figured, with 

 remarks on allied plants also yielding Panama india-rubber. 

 Seeds collected by Mr. Cross in 1S75 failed to germinate, but 

 cuttings were also introduced, and from them plants were dis- 

 tributed to various colonies. Some diflSculty is found in propa- 

 gating by cuttings, as the side branches, which are deciduous, 

 will not strike root, but seedlings have now been raised at Pera- 

 denyia, and the culture is therefore assured. An account of the 

 introduction of the plant is appended. — A paper was read by 

 Mr. P. H. Carpenter, on the variations in the form of the cirri 

 in certain Comatulse. The shape and number of the cirrus- 

 joints of Antedon phalangitim vary so greatly, both in the same 

 individual and in individuals from different localities, that, if 

 the two extreme forms were met with in an isolated condition, 

 they would assuredly be referred to different species of Antedon. 

 The cirri of this species are classed by the author undei four 

 types: — (A) long-jointed, (B) intermediate, (C) square-jointed, 

 (D) short-jointed. A is the typical form which occurs in the 

 Mediterranean variety, but is also found in the Atlantic speci- 

 mens, together with B, and also, but more rarely, C ; while 

 D is confined to individuals from the Minch and the Rrss-shire 

 coast, occurring together with C, which is rare in examples 

 from the Atlantic, except in those dredged by the Dacia on the 

 Seine bank. — The Secretary summarised a paper, by Mr. Josjph 

 Baly, on the Colombian species of the genus Diabrotica, and in 

 which the author divides the genus into two sections, dependent 

 on the lengths of the second and third joints of the antennae. 



Zoological Society, December I. — Prof. W. H. Flower, 

 V.P.R.S., President, in the chair.— Mr. F. Day exhibited and 

 made remarks on a very curious fish, supposed to be a hybrid 

 between the Dab [Pleuronectes limanda) and the Flounder 

 {P.flesns). — Mr. Sclater laid on the table specimens of some 

 rare birds sent for exhibition by Mr. Whhely, of Woolwich, 

 and called special attention to a Hornbill which seemed to prove 



