November 7, 1907] 



A'A TURE 



parison with other goldfields ; economic bearing of the 

 problem ; and, finally, summary of conclusions. The 

 author stated that in his opinion the theory as to the 

 origin of the banket in best agreement with the facts 

 appeared to be that which regarded the banket as a marine 

 placer in which gold and black sand (magnetite with 

 some titaniferous iron) were laid down in a series of shore 

 deposits. Owing to the late hour at which the discussion 

 on this paper terminated, the other paper on the evening's 

 agenda, the deviation of Rand boreholes from the vertical, 

 by Mr. Joseph Kitchin, was held over for discussion at 

 ■;he meeting on November 21. 



M.1NCHESTER. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, October i. — Prof. 

 Jl. B. Dixon, K.R.S., president, in the chair. — The presi- 

 dent delivered an inaugural address, in which he re- 

 ferred shortly to the work on radio-activity, with which 

 is intimately associated the name of Prof. E. Rutherford ; 

 the work of Messrs. Barlow and Pope, by which the 

 valency of the chemical atom has been connected in a 

 definite manner with its volume in crystalline structures ; 

 the researches of Prof. Perkin on the formation and 

 stability of various carbon rings, more particularly his 

 work on the camphor and terpene series, and at somewhat 

 greater length on the work in which he was most interested 

 personally — the propagation of the explosion wave in 

 gases, the direct determination of the specific heat of CO,, 

 the temperature of the ignition points of gases, and the 

 re-determination of the atomic weight of chlorine. 



October 15. — Prof. H. B. Dixon, F.R.S., president, in 

 the chair. — The relation between the crystalline form and 

 the chemical constitution of simple inorganic substances : 

 Prof. W. J. Pope and \V. Barlow. The authors have 

 applied the methods emplo^'ed in their paper of October 

 16, igo6, to the study of the crystalline structure and 

 molecular condition of a number of simple inorganic sub- 

 stances, such as the crystalline elements, binary compounds 

 like silver iodide, potassium chloride, &c., ammonium 

 halogen salts and compounds of the tvpc of rubidium 

 tri-iodide, Rbl,. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, October 28. — M. H. Becquerel in 

 ihr chair. — The disease of the pine in the Jura ; MM. 

 Prillieux and Maublanc. The disease of the pines in 

 the Jura, recently pointed out by M. Bouvier and called 

 by him rouge, has been studied in Germany by Hartig, 

 who has shown that the disease is due to the attack of a 

 parasitic fungus, Phoma abiclina. The same fungus, for 

 which the authors prefer the name Fnsicociiini ahieiinum, 

 attacks the pines in the Vosges and the Jura. The disease 

 is not so grave as has been supposed by IM. Bouvier, as 

 the trees are rarely killed by it, certain of the branches 

 only being attacked. The rational treatment is the re- 

 moval of the dead branches and their destruction by 

 incineration ; in this way the fructification of the fungus 

 and the dissemination of its spores are avoided ; but this 

 treatment may be too costly, and not justified bv the 

 actual losses threatened. — The heat of formation of the 

 oxides of lithium : M. de Forcrand. A criticism of the 

 data put forward by various authors for the heat of form- 

 ation of Li,0, together with experimental data for the 

 heat of formation of LiOH and Li,0,. — Observations of 

 the comet iqo7e (Mellish) made at the Observatorv of 

 Besan^on with the bent equatorial : P. Chofardet. 

 Apparent positions of the comet, and position of the com- 

 parison star for the night of October 17. The comet was 

 of the ninth magnitude, of circular form, without a distinct 

 nucleus. Total diameter about 2'. — Observations of the 

 romet iqoyc made at the Observatory of Algiers with the 

 31-8 cm. bent equatorial : M.M. Sy and Villatte. Similar 

 sets of observations for October 18 and 20. — Critical trans- 

 cendental points and inverse functions of integral func- 

 tions : Pierre Boutroux. — Contribution to the synthesis of 

 precious stones of the family of the aluminides : F. 

 Bordas (see p. 17). — .\ new quantitative measuring 

 instrument for the X-rays : H. Guilleminot. — Some iodo- 

 mercurates : A. Duboin. The following double iodides 

 have been isolated in a crystalline form and analysed : — 

 FeI„2HgI„6H„0: HgO,2AII,,3HgI,,i5H.O ; and 

 2All3,5AgI,2AgO,i3H20." 

 NO. 1984, VOL. 77] 



— A new method of determining the atomic weights of pre- 

 cision simultaneously for all the elements present in a 

 single chemical reaction ; G. D. Hinrichs. The author 

 describes a graphical method of reduction to the experi- 

 mental data for silver, chlorine, thallium, nitrogen, 

 oxygen, and radium, with the result that all the atomic 

 weights are reduced to multiples of 05. — A colloidal solu- 

 tion of arsenic : V. Auger. .'\ hydrochloric acid solution 

 of arsenious anhydride reduced by hypophosphorous acid 

 at a low temperature in presence of a large amount of 

 alcohol gives a reddish-brown powder, consisting of 

 metallic arsenic, 682 per cent. ; phosphorus, 0-97 per cent. ; 

 alcohol, 2-5 per cent. ; and water, 28-4 per cent. This 

 form of arsenic possesses the property of dissolving 

 immediately in a dilute solution of caustic soda, giving a 

 brown colloidal solution, the properties of which are given 

 in detail. — Some causes of error in the estimation of phos- 

 phorus in iron, cast iron, and steel : G. Chesneau. — The 

 formation of liquid crystals of two new coinpounds of 

 cholesterin : Paul Gaubert. The two compounds are 

 obtained by heating cholesterol with glycollic acid or with 

 glycerol. — ^The disease of the pine in the forests of the 

 Jura : E. Henry. This disease was first observed in the 

 summer of 1906, and up to the present has not caused the 

 death of a single tree. — A new method of reaction of the 

 skin to tuberculosis, and its utilisation in the diagnosis of 

 tuberculosis : J. Lignieres. .\ development of the Pirket 

 reaction in which the tuberculin may be replaced by dead 

 tubercle bacilli. The skin need not be broken, as it is 

 sufficient to rub the dead bacilli or pure tuberculin in until 

 the skin is well reddened. Healthy animals give no specific 

 reaction but with tuberculous animals there is a well- 

 marked reaction. — The explanation of the general 

 mechanism of the transformation of glycogen into glucose 

 by the muscles and the animal tissues : F. Maigrnon. 

 The author concludes from his experiinents that the 

 muscles possess an amylase capable of effecting the trans- 

 formation of glycogen into glucose. — The transparency and 

 colour of sea water in the English Channel : M. Letalle. 



New South Wales. 

 Royal Society, August 7.— vir. H. A. Lenehan, vice-presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — Note on copper in andesite from near 

 I^autoka, Fiji ; H. I. Jensen. This paper describes the 

 occurrence of lumps of copper ore weighing from i lb. in 

 andesitic matri.x. An analysis of a specimen showed that 

 it contained 53J per cent. Cu, 7J per cent. Fe, and 21J per 

 cent. S, the metallic portion being therefore a mixture 

 of bornite and chalcocite. A microscopic e.xamination con- 

 firmed the presence of these two minerals. The same 

 minerals were found to occur in many of the normal 

 andesites of the district in smaller quantity. A quantita- 

 tive estimation revealed 0034 per cent, of CuO in the 

 normal andesite. It appears from the examination of 

 specimens obtained that either copper ore has segregated 

 out in the consolidation of the lava, or else, in the period 

 of consolidation, magmatic vapours have extracted the 

 copper from portions of the lava and deposited it else- 

 where in the mass. The copper distinctly belongs to the 

 andesite magma of the district, and does not constitute a 

 mere xenogenic included product. It is interesting to note 

 that such a differentiation has there taken place in a true 

 volcanic rock. — Analvsis of a specimen of sea-water from 

 Coogee, New South 'Wales: C. J. White. Special atten- 

 tion was paid to the specific gravity determinations (for 

 the calculation of which Buchanan's hydrometer No. 6 

 was used), for this gives the salinity directly, and indirectly 

 gives very valuable indications of the various constituents 

 present (the ratio of dissolved salts to one another being 

 praclicallv constant for all ocean w-aters). — Notes on some 

 aboriginal tribes : R. H. Mathews. — Note on the action 

 of lime on the available soil constituents : F. B. Guthrie 

 and L. Cohen. The authors have investigated the changes 

 that take place in the amounts of water-soluble and citric- 

 soluble potash and phosphoric acid in limed soils in pots. 

 Three kinds of soil were used, sand, garden loam, and 

 clay. They find that in all cases the amount of mineral 

 plant-food soluble in water had diminished to a consider- 

 able extent in the unlimed pots after standing for a month. 

 The effect of liming has been to lessen this loss, but it 

 does not appear to prevent it entirely. There is less water- 



