May 8, 1902] 
NATURE 
47 
hibited a reversible live box intended for use in observing large 
living objects, such as spiders while spinning their webs. 
—Messrs. Powell and Lealand exhibited a new ;;-inch semi- 
apochromatic homogeneous immersion objective of 1-4 N.A. 
It was made of glass which would stand any climate without 
deterioration, and the cost was exceedingly moderate. 
Linnean Society, April 17.—Prof. S. H. Vines, F.R.S., 
president, in the chair.—Mr. A. C. Seward, F.R.S., read a 
paper by Miss S. O. Ford and himself on the anatomy of 
Todea, with notes on the affinity and geological history of the 
Osmundaceze. The main points were :—(1I) the investigation 
of the anatomical structure of Todea as represented by 7. 
barbara and two of the filmy species, 7. superba and 7. hymeno- 
Phyllotdes, with a view to a comparison with that of Osmunda ; 
(2) a summary of the geological history of the Osmundacez and 
Osmundaceous characters ; and (3) the question of the interpre- 
tation of the stelar structures of Osmunda and Todea.—On 
behalf of Mr. G. M. Thomson, of Dunedin, N Z., the Rev. 
T. R. R. Stebbing, F.R.S., read a paper on the New Zealand 
Phyllobranchiate Crustacea Macrura. This embodied a general 
revision of the group, with detailed descriptions and figures of 
several rare or imperfectly known species. 
MANCHESTER. 
Literary and Philosophical Society, April 29.—Mr. 
Charles Bailey, president, in the chair.—Mr. Frank F. Laidlaw 
made a communication on the peoples of Malacca. Special 
attention was directed to a number of savage nomadic commun- 
ities, which inhabit the forest-country of the interior for the most 
part. Owing to intermarriage between the various communities, 
as well as to the careless nomenclature employed in speaking of 
them, it is difficult to classify them in a satisfactory manner. In 
the northern half of the peninsula, however, these savages 
exhibit almost universally negrito characteristics, viz. curly 
(almost woolly) hair, very dark skins and moderately long skulls 
(mesaticephalic) ; the nose also is extremely wide and very flat. 
These negritos occur chiefly in Kedah, Kelantan and Perak. 
Considerable intermixture of negrito blood is also found in most 
of the southern wild tribes, whom many authorities believe to be 
derived from an admixture of Malay and negrito blood, but the 
evidence tends to show that in Perak, at least, there exists a 
second race quite distinct from negrito or Malay—a dolicho- 
cephalic, moderately fair-skinned race with wavy hair, and 
possibly allied to the Karens of Burmah. Lastly, the people of 
Johor, Selangor and Pahang are obviously of mongoloid stock. 
Like the other two groups, their stature is small (average height 
of a full-grown man 4qft. 6in., of a woman 4ft. 34in.), but the 
hair is straight and the skull brachycephalic. It is not improb- 
able that this latter group is largely descended from Malays who 
refused to adopt the creed of Islam ; or they may perhaps more 
probably be derived from the widely spread pro-Malay race, of 
which the Malays themselves and the Javanese, &c, are 
specialised offshoots. 
DUBLIN. 
Royal Dublin Society, April 16.—Prof. D. J. Cunningham, 
F.R.S., in the chair.—Prof. John Joly, F.R.S., read a paper 
entitled ‘* A Sedimentation Mystery.”—Prof. G. A. J. Cole and 
Mr. T. Crook exhibited a large number of stones dredged by 
the Irish Fishery Survey from the Porcupine Bank and other 
places off western Ireland. They pointed out that the stones 
varied from one place to another so distinctly as to give a real 
clue to the submarine geology of the area. The _basalt- 
plateau of the north was not here traceable, and the rocks 
In general represented submerged extensions of those known 
upon the western coast. The Porcupine Bank includes a large 
boss of olivine-gabbro like some of those associated with Car- 
boniferous rocks in England. The description of the rocks is 
reserved for the Fishery Reports of the Department of Agricul- 
ture and Technical Instruction for Ireland. 
Royal Irish Academy, April 28.—Prof. R. Atkinson, 
president, in the chair.—Prof. Chas. J. Joly read a paper on 
quaternion integrals depending on a single quaternion variable. 
The method employed is given in Hamilton’s lectures, and the 
author indicated a simplestep by means of which the fundamental 
theorems of Green and Stokes and their quaternion extensions 
may be deduced from Hamilton’s results. The quaternion 
integrals must be either single, double, triple or quadruple ; and 
. in general the difference of two integrals of a given type taken 
NO. 1697, VOL, 66] 
— 
between the same fixed limits but with different ‘‘modes of 
passage ” is expressed as an integral involving one additional 
quaternion differential. Physical examples are given of the 
meaning of the different types of integrals, for example the 
conditions that the scalar double integral should be independent 
of the mode of passage are the well-known equations connecting 
the electric displacement and the magnetic force in a non-con- 
ducting dielectric. 
PARIS, 
Academy of Sciences, April 28.—M. Bouquet de la Grye 
in the chair.—The president announced to the Academy the 
death of M. Filhol.—Studies on batteries founded upon the 
reciprocal reaction of oxidising and reducing liquids. Common 
solvents. The action of acids on bases, by M. Berthelot.—On 
the treatment of malarial fevers by latent arsenic, by M. Armand 
Gautier. In a preliminary note published in February last, an 
account was given of the treatment of nine cases of malarial 
fever by injections of minute amounts of sodium methyl- 
arsenate. These results have now been extended, some twenty- 
three cases having been under treatment with entirely satis- 
factory results. All of these were severe cases which had proved 
refractory to the prolonged action of quinine, even in large 
doses. Out of ten cases of tertiary fever, four showed a slight 
relapse, the remaining six being completely cured by three 
successive injections of five to ten centigrams of the arsenical 
salt. In two cases of quaternary fever, the specific organism 
only disappeared after four or five successive injections of 
‘I to ‘2gram, Detailed instructions are given for the mode of 
application of sodium methyl-arsenate in the various types of 
malarial fever.—The culture of the forage beet in the experi- 
mental field at Grignon in 1900 and 1901, by MM. P. Dehérair 
and C. Dupont. it has been previously shown that the beet 
giving the largest gross weight of roots per hectare is net 
necessarily the best for forage purposes. As the result of twe 
years’ experiments on the large scale, the variety known as Géanfe 
demi sucriére rose was found to be decidedly superior to the old 
forage beet. It was also found that the mode of arranging the 
plants was without effect on the yield provided that the number 
of roots per square metre did not exceed ten.—Geographical 
work round the central massif of Madagascar, by M. P. Colin. 
The present paper is confined to geodesic and astronomical 
results. The magnetic observations will be given ina future 
paper.—On the third voyage of the Préncess Alice I., by 
S. A. S. Prince Albert of Monaco. A rdszmé of the results in 
oceanography, geography, zoology, physiolegy and bacterio- 
logy.—Report presented by the commission charged with the 
scientific control of the geodesic operations at the Equator, by 
M. H. Poincaré. —Observations of the comet A (1902) made at 
the Observatory of Algiers with the 0°318 cm. equatorial, by 
MM. Rambaud and Sy.—On divergent series and differential 
equations, by M. Edmond Maillet.—The measurement of high 
temperatures and Stefan’s law, by M. Féry. A cone of rays from 
the body the temp: rature of wh‘ch is to be measured is concentrated 
by a fluor spar lens upon a delicate iron-constantin thermocouple. 
The temperatures indicated by this instrument were compared 
with those calculated by the law of Stefan; the error did not 
exceed I per cent.—A universal scale of periodic movementé 
graduated in savarts and millisavarts, by M. A. Guillemin. The 
author proposes a new unit in acoustics to replace the octave and 
the comma. The use of the new unit, the millisavart, leads te 
a great simplification in numerical calculations.—On the gradua- 
tion of thermoelectric couples, by M. Daniel Berthelot. The 
couples used were of platinum in contact with Io per cent 
platinum-iridium. The temperatures of five melting points and 
eight boiling points were determined by two couples indepen- 
dently, the maximum difference between the two being about 
2°C. If e be the electromotive force of a thermocouple and 
¢ the centigrade temperature, log ¢ is a linear function of log ¢ 
for temperatures between 400° and r100°C. This relation being 
assumed, it is only necessary to have two standard points te 
calibrate a couple, and for this purpose the melting points of cime 
(419°) and gold (1064°) are recommended as the most suitable. 
With a good galvanometer there is no difficulty in obtaining a 
sensibility of o°-1 C. in the neighbourhood of 1000” C.—Qn the 
indices of refraction of liquid mixtures, by M. Edm. van Aubel. 
According to a recent paper by M. Leduc, the refractive energy 
of a mixture of alcohol and water is the sum of its constituents 
if the contraction of volume which takes place on mixing is taker 
into account. Experimental resul(s are now given for mixtures 
