March i8, 1886] 



NA TURE 



479 



vations of Regnault and Zeuner rarely exceeded I per cent., 

 while generally much smaller, a, b, and n have also been found 

 for some other substances, with the following results : — 



Alcohol a - 7'448 ... b — 8784. ... n = 1-29 



Ether a — fi'ggSS ... b = 3047 ... 11 = I'r53 



Mercury ... a = 9 '8651 ... b = 597 '5 ... « = '69 



Carbonic acid a = 8'4625 ... b — 302"8 ... « = "77 



I'rof. Perry offered some criticisms upon this paper, and 



believed that for practical purposes the expressions gi\'en would 



not be found superior to Rankine's formula 



log /■ = "----, 

 f t- 



which gives/ in terras of /, and and a quadratic expression for 

 obtaining / in terms of />. He also observed that the chief aim 

 of Ramsay and Voung's paper was to obtain relations between 

 the pressure and temperature of different saturated papers, so 

 that the connection between temperature and pressure having 

 been observed and recorded for one vapour, tliat for any other 

 vapour could be at once deduced from it. — On a map of the 

 world in which the proportion of areas is preserved, by Mr. 

 Walter Bally. The author had devised a method for construct- 

 ing such a map, but has subsequently found that one precisely 

 similar was employed by Flamsteed in 1729 for charting the stars 

 in his " Atlas Ccelest'S." The construction applied to the 

 earth is briefly as follows. Draw a straight line to represent the 

 meridian that is to occupy the centre of the map. Divide this 

 line into equal parts representing upon a convenient scale the 

 distance between the parallels ot latitude, and through these 

 Iioints draw a series of lines at right angles to the original line ; 

 these are the parallels of latitude. Mark off on these the actual 

 • lisiances at which the meridians cut them ; through the points 

 -.i) found the meridians maybe filled in, and the map constructed. 

 From the method of construction it is evident that, although the 

 outlines in the map are distorted, the amount of distortion in- 

 creasing w ith the distance from the central meridian, the pro- 

 portionality of areas is preserved, a fact which tl)e author 

 believes will render the map useful for recording rainfall, depth 

 of sea, ocean currents, &c. — On a delicate calorimetric ther- 

 mometer, by Prof. S. U. Pickering. 



Edinburgh 



Royal Society, February i. — Mr. J. Murray, Vice-President, 

 in the chair. — Several obituary notices were read. — Dr. Thomas 

 Muir read the second part of a paper on the theory of deter- 

 minants in the historical order of its development. — Mr. G. 

 Brook communicated a paper on the origin and formation of the 

 germinal layers in the Teleostei. — Mr. A. C. Mitchell described 

 the results of experiments on the thermal conductivity of ice. A 

 method involving periodic variation of tempe ature was used. 



February 15. — Mr. R. Gray, Vice-President, in the chair. — 

 Mr. W. Durham read a paper on chemical affinity and solution. 

 — Mr. J. T. Cunningham, of the Scottish Marine Station, read 

 a paper on the reproductive elements of My.xinc glutinosa. — Dr. 

 J. R. Buist commimicated a paper on the life-history of the 

 micro-organisms associated with Variola and Vaccinia. — Mr. A. 

 P. Laurie discussed the probable he.ats of formation of zinc- 

 copper alloys, as determined by observations on the E.M.F. of 

 constant voltaic cells with the alloys as negative elements. His 

 results indicate the formation of a compound of the formula 

 CuZno with an evolution of heat producing a fall of E.M.F. 

 equal to o'5 volt. — Prof. Tail, in a paper on the mean free paths 

 in a mixture of two systems of spheres, generalised his results as 

 given in previous papers. — Prof. Duns read a paper on two 

 shnmk human heads from South America. 



March i.— Prof. Douglas Maclagan in the chair. — Sir W. 

 Thomson read a paper on the magnitude of the mutual attrac- 

 tion between two pieces of matter at distances of less than 10 

 micro-millimetres — Prof. Tait read a paper on a theorem in the 

 science of situati'in. — Mr. John Aitken communicated a paper 

 on radiation from snow, and also a paper on thermometer 

 screens. — Mr. J. H. PoUok discussed the relation between the 

 volume of an aqueous solution of a salt and the sum of the 

 columns of its constituents. — Mr. W. Peddie read a paper on 

 the increase of electrolytic polarisation with time. 



Mathematical Society, March 12.— Mr. W. J. Macdonald 

 in the chair. — Mr. Harry Rainy read a paper on bifilar suspen- 

 sion treated by the method of contour hues, and Mr. J. S. 

 Mackay gave an abstract, with notes, of a paper of Euler's, 



entitled " Solutio f.acilis problematum quorumdam geometric- 

 orum difficillimorum." — A conversation took place regarding 

 work to be done under the auspices of the Society by groups of 

 members, with the result that investigations were undertaken 

 on linkages, projective geometry, and the bibliography of 

 mathematical periodicals. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, March 8. — M. Jurien de laOraviere, 

 President, in the chair. — Foundation of a hospital for the treat- 

 ment of rabies. The following aiticles have been adopted by 

 the Commission appointed by the Academy to promote this 

 object : — (i) An establishment for the treatment of rabies after 

 the bite of a mad anim.al shall be founded in Paris under the 

 title :of "Institut Pasteur"; (2) this Institute shall admit 

 Frenchmen and foreigners bitten by dogs or other mad animals ; 

 (3) a public subscription shall be opened in France and abroad 

 for the foundation of this establishment ; (4) the funds thus 

 raised shall be applied under the direction of a Committee 

 appointed for the purpose ; (5) subscriptions received by the 

 Bank of France and its branches, the Credit Foncier and its 

 branches, the Treasury, and public receivers. Names of all 

 subscribers to be inserted in the Journal Officid. Amongst the 

 Committee are the names of MM. Jurien de laGraviere, Pasteur, 

 Bertrand, Vulpian, Marey, Paul Bert, de Freycinet, Magnin 

 (Governor of the Bank of France), Baron Alphonse de Rothschild, 

 and the Perpetual Secretaries of the Academies of Sciences, 

 Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, Beaux Arts, and Moral and 

 Political Sciences. — Determination of the elements of refraction. : 

 the most convenient practical solution of the problem, by M. 

 Lcewy. Compared with the older methods here passed in review, 

 the new process enables the observer to obtain in a single month 

 a greater pi-ecision than was formerly possible after fifteen years 

 of observations and researches of all sorts required to determine 

 the instrumental constants. — Remarks on the danger of fire 

 arising from the use of nitric acid in the manufacture of certain 

 industrial objects, and especially of explosive substances, such as 

 gun-cotton and dynamite, by M. G. Lechartier. Several 

 instances are mentioned of straw and other organic substances 

 when heated, and even at a low temperature, taking fire by acci- 

 dental contact with this acid. — Equatorial observations of 

 Brooks's, Barnard's, and Fabry's comets, made at the Observatory 

 of Bordeaux in February 1886, by MM. G. Rayet and Courty. — 

 Observation of the nebula in Maia, by M. Perrotin. In a letter 

 addressed from Nice to M. Mouchez the writer states that by 

 masking Maia he was able distinctly to observe the nebula dis- 

 covered by MM. Henry, first on February 28, and again, in 

 company with MM. Thollon and Charlois, on March 3 and 

 4. — On the construction of objectives for instnnnents of pre- 

 cision, by M. Leon Laurent. The objectives here described and 

 illustrated have been executed by practical methods, which, 

 according to the author, yield the best possible results. They 

 have a diameter of 70 mm. with focus 735 mm. — On the iso- 

 meric states of the sesquichloride of chromium : gray hydrated 

 chloride ; anhydrous chloride, by M. A. Recoura. The author's 

 researches have led to the determination of two isomeric 

 varieties — a gray chloride and a green chloride, with which 

 latter is connected the violet anhydrous cliloride. Dissolved in 

 water, both varieties constitute two extreme states capable of 

 being transformed one into the other by passing through all the 

 intermediate states, the gray-blue solution constituting the 

 stable state of the extended solutions, the green solution 

 the stable state of the highly-concentrated solutions. In 

 another paper it will be shown that these are not the 

 only varieties of chloride. — Note on a combination of methylic 

 alcohol and sulphate of copper, by M. de Forcrand. — On the 

 action of ammonia and water on chloroform, by M. G. Andre. 

 Some details are given regarding the use of ammonia in aqueous 

 solutions, with indications of the relative proportions of the 

 products resulting from this reaction. — Note on the action of 

 picric acid on terebenthene and on thymene, by M. Lextreit. — 

 On the histogenesis of the elements contained in the ovaries of 

 insects, by M. J. Perez. — On the anatomy of the reproductive 

 organs of Pontobdella {P. muricata. Leach), by M. G. Datilleul. 

 — A contribution to the study of the Miocene palms of Brittany, 

 by M. Louis Crie. — On the distribution of inverted formations 

 in the region of the Jura comprised between Geneva and 

 Poligny, by M. Bourgeat. — Note on a method of direct analysis 

 of rocks by means of their physical properties, by M. Thoulet. 

 The physical properties of which the author avails himself in this 

 process are weight, specific heat, density, and the coefficient of 



