3?2 



A^A TURE 



\_Fed. 1 8, 1886 



■of the stresses due to longitudinal bending. The parts subjected 

 to greatest stress by twisting are those which are near to the 

 ■centre of gravity of the transverse section ; and they are the 

 side plating near the neutral axis of longitudinal bendin;; in the 

 upri'iht position and the middle portions of the plating of the 

 decks. Those parts of the hull which are usually made the 

 strono-est, viz. , the straUe^; of side and bottom plating that are 

 farthest from the neutral axis, and the upper deck stringer 

 plate, are those which are least affected by twisting. It is pro- 

 bably owing, in great measure, to the straining action caused by 

 twisting, that experience has proved it to be necessary to make 

 the outside plating of a ship of nearly uniform thickness over 

 the whole section ; and it cannot be because of the reason some- 

 times given, that the plating in the vicinity of the neutral axis 

 when a ship is upright is often brought by rolling into positions 

 in which it is greatly strained by longitudinal bending. 



The importance of many of the structural arrangements of 

 ships which practical experience has shown to be necessary are 

 described in the present paper, and may be understood from the 

 considerations adduced ; and it may also be seen that no rules for 

 regulating the strength of ships are likely to be satisfactory if 

 based, as is often done, upon the hypothesis that the straining 

 actions caused by longitudinal bending are so much more 

 important than all others that it is sufficient to regard them 

 ■alone. 



Abstract of Paper on " Proteid Substances in Latex." Ity 

 J. R. Green, B.Sc., B.A., Demonstrator of Physiology in the 

 University of Cambridge. 



The author, after calling attention to the researches of other 

 writers into the nature of the proteids found especially in seeds, 

 described certain bodies found by him to be present in the latex 

 of various plants, chiefly East Indian and South American. The 

 most noteworthy of these was a curious proteid exhibiting rela- 

 tions to the peptones and to the albumoses, resembling the 

 former in being soluble in distilled water, in not being coagulated 

 by heat, and in dialysing through membranes, and agreeing with 

 the latter in being precipitated from its solutions in saturation 

 with solid neutral salts. In addition to this body, which was 

 present in all the samples examined, others were described, in- 

 cluding a form of abaimen, a globulin, and two albumoses, one 

 of the latter being identical with the hemi-albumose described 

 by Vines as occurring in many seeds. The paper concluded 

 with a recapitulation of the bodies found, and with a detailed 

 summary of their distinguishing reactions. 



February 4. — "On Intra-v.ascidar Clotting." By L. C. Wool- 

 dridge, M. B., D..Sc. Communicated by Prof. Sanderson. 



1 he author has isolated from the perfectly fresh thymus gland 

 and testis of the calf a substance which, when dissolved in alka- 

 line salt solution and injected into the blood of an animal, causes 

 instantaneous death. 



The substance in question is a complex proteid body, and as 

 proof that the effects it produces are due to this proteid and not 

 to any accidental admixture, the author adduces the fact tliat it 

 becomes entirely inactive after having been subjected for a short 

 time to the action of artificial peptic digestion. 



The cause of death is extensive intra-vascular clotting of the 

 blood ; if a sufficient quantity be injected, complete thrombosis of 

 the whole vascular system is produced. The substance docs not 

 contain any fibrin ferment, nor does the blood which is obtained 

 from an animal after injection of this substance contain more 

 than a minute trace of ferment. 



Mathematical Society, February 11. — Mr. J. \V. L. 

 Glaisher, F.R.S., President, in the chair.— Prof. P. H. Schoute, 

 Ph.D., Groningen, Netherlands, was elected a Member. — Capt. 

 P. A. Macmahon, R. A., read a paper on perpetuant reciprocants. 

 the object of which was to present the numerical enumeration of 

 the perpetuant reciprocants of the first six degrees carried out on 

 the plan initiated by Prof. .Sylvester (see Nature, January 7, 

 p. 222, Comfiles rendus, and the Messenger of Mathcmatks). — 

 The President communicated a note on the functions Z{u), e(tt), 

 ir(«,.j) by himself, and a note on a Z(u) function by Mr. J. 

 Griffiths.— The Secretary read part of a paper by Mr. R. A. 

 Roberts on polygons circumscribed about a conic and inscribed 

 in a cubic. 



Anthropological Institute, January 26. — Anniversary 

 Meetmg.— Mr. Francis Gallon, F.R.S., President, in the chair. 

 —The foUowmg gentlemen were elected Members of the Council 



for the ensuing year: — President, Francis Gallon, F. K.S. ; 

 Vice-Presidents: John Beddoe, F.R.S., Capt. R. F. Burton, 

 Prof. G. Busk, F.R.S., Tuhn Evans, F.R.S., Prof. Flower, 

 F.R.S., Prof. Huxley, "F.R.S., Sir John Lubbock, Bart., 

 F.R.S., Major-General Pitt-Rivers, F.R.S., Edward B. Tylor, 

 F.R.S., Hyde Clarke, Lieut.-Col. H. H. Godwin-Austen, 

 F.R.S., Prof. A. H. Keane ; Secretary, F. W. Rudler, F.G.S. ; 

 Treasurer, F. G. H. Price, F.S.A. ; Council : S. E. B. Bouverie- 

 Pusey, Sir W. Bowman, Bart., E. VV. Brabronk, F. S..\., Sir 

 George Campbell, C. H. E. Carmichael, M.A., W. L. Distant, 

 A. W. Franks, F.R.S., J. G. Garson, M.D., A. L. Lewis, 

 Prof. A. Macalister, F.R.S., R. Biddulph M.artin, Prof. Meldola, 

 Prof. Moseley, F. R.S.,C. Peek, M.A., J. E. Price, F.S.A., 

 Charles H. Read, F.S.A. , Charles Roberts, F.K.C.S., Lord 

 Arthur Russell, Prof. G. P. Thane, M. J. Walhoi.se, F.R.A.S. 

 Entomological Society, Februaiy 3. — Mr. R. McLachlan, 

 F. R.S., President, in the chair.— The President appointed 

 Mr. F. Du Cane Godman, F. U.S., Mr. Stainton, F.R.S., and 

 Mr. J. Jenner Weir, Vice-Presidents for the year. — Dr. Livett, 

 Lieut. Goodrich, Mr. Eustace Bankes, and Mr. F. Enock were 

 elected Fellows, and M. Ragonot of Paris, ex-President of the 

 Entomological Society of France, was elected a Foreign 

 Member. — Mr. C. O. Waterhouse exhibited some cocoons of 

 Coccidte [Eriopdtis) found by Mr. Moore on blades of grass at 

 Ilfracombe. — Mr. Douglas sent for e.xhibition leaves oiEuoiiymus 

 lapoiiiciis, received from M. Lichtenstein, infested by a coccid, 

 Chionaspis euonymi, first noticed in the United States, but 

 which occurred in great numbers at Montpellier and Nismes, 

 and always destroyed the shrubs attacked by it. — The President 

 exhibited specimens of Teliix australis, received from Mr. Olift 

 of the .Sydney Museum, who had captured them near Penrith, 

 New South Wales. Mr. Oliff stated that the insects were decidedly 

 sub-aquatic, as he had found them 8 or 10 inches below the 

 surface of the water on the stems of water plants. — Mr. W. F. 

 Kirby exhibited, on behalf of Mr. Ralfe, a series of specimens 

 of /,K"-"i' coryjon of a very extraordinary character. — The Rev. 

 W. W. Fowler e.xhibited a specimen of the almost unique 

 beetle, Ilarpalus calcealns, taken by himself at Bridlington ; 

 also a specimen of Apion Lemoroi, a new French Apion taken 

 on the coasts of Normandy and Brittany. He also exhibited 

 several species of British Helophori, and read notes on their 

 synonymy. — Mr. H. Goss read an analysis of M. Brongniart's 

 recent work on *' Les Insectes fossiles des Terrains Priuiaires," 

 and expounded that author's views on the classification of 

 insects from geological data. — The Rev. W. W. Fowler read 

 notes on a small collection of Languriula: , with descriptions 

 of two new species. — Dr. Baly communicated a paper con- 

 taining descriptions of new genera and species of Calenicidit. — 

 Mr. J. Edwards communicated the first part of a synopsis of 

 British Homoptera {Cicadina). 



Institution of Civil Engineers, January 26. — Sir Frederick 

 J. Bramwell, F. R. S., President, in the chair. — The ]iaper read 

 was on the injurious effect of a blue heat on steel and iron, by 

 Mr. C. E. Stromeyer, Assoc.M.Inst.C.E. 



Manchester 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, December i, 1SS5. — 

 Prof. W. C. Williamson, LL.D., F.R.S., President, in the 

 chair. — The diffraction of a plane polarised wave of light, by R. 

 F. Gwyther, M. A. — On ihe different arrangements of equal 

 spherical granules, so that the me.an density may be a maximum, 

 by Prof. Osborne Reynolds, F.R.S. 



DUBLI.N' 



Royal Society, January 20. — Section of Physical and Ex- 

 perimental Science. — C. R. C. Tichborne, Ph.D., in the chair. 

 — On a nomenclature for facilitating the study of music, by G. 

 J. Stoney, D.Sc, F.R.S. — Notes on improvements in equatorial 

 mountings, by Howard Grubb, M.F., F.R.S. These consisted 

 of a new slow motion in declination, a new position finder, and 

 a modification of the old differential slow motion in right ascen- 

 sion. Mr. Grubb also described a new slow motion in right 

 ascension, and a new arrangement for electric clock control 

 specially adapted for celestial photography. — Dr. Stoney com- 

 municated notes on observations made by Prof. Vogel with the 

 great Vienna refractor. — On a method of determining the specific 

 gravity of a small quantity of a dense solid, also applicable to 

 finding the specific gravity of a small quantity of a porous sub- 

 stance, by J. Joly, B. E. The ordinary method of dealing with 



