94 



NATURE 



[NoVEIviUEK 28, 1907 



in the camphane series, part xxiv., camphoryldithio- 

 carbamic acid and camphorylthiocarbimide : M. O. 

 Forster and T. Jackson. Descriptions of botli these 

 compounds are given. — The vapour pressures of triethyl- 

 amine, of 2:4: 6-trimethylpyridine, and of tlieir mixtures 

 with water : R. T. Lattey. The total pressure curves 

 obtained experimentally for these mixtures conform to the 

 tvpe expected theoretically. The partial pressure curves 

 can be calculated by a form of the Duhem-Margules equa- 

 tion. — Liquid triethylamine : R. T. Lattey. Evidence is 

 brought forward to show that the amine is a unimolecular 

 liquid. — Note on the constitution of homoeriodictyol : F. B. 

 Power and F. Tutin. It is shown that in so far as the 

 observations of Mossier (Si7s. A". Acad.. VJiss. Tl'ieii, June) 

 with regard to this compound are accurate, they can be 

 explained by the formula previously suggested by the 

 authors (Trans. Chem. Soc., xci., 889). — The alkyl com- 

 pounds of gold. Diethylauric bromide, preliminary note : 

 \V. J. Pope and C. S. Gibson. This colourless crystal- 

 line substance, the first alkyl compound of gold described, 

 is obtained by the action of auric bromide on magnesium 

 ethyl bromide in ether. — The interaction of methylene 

 chloride and the sodium derivative of ethyl malonate. A 

 correction : F. Tutin. The yellow sodium salt previously 

 described (ibid., xci., 1141) is the sodium derivative of 

 ethyl dicarboxyglutaconate. formed by the action of chloro- 

 form present as an impurity in the methylene chloride. — 

 Preparation of aliphatic nitro-compounds : P. C. Ray and 

 P. Neog^i. The nature and quantities of the nitrites and 

 nitro-compounds obtained by interaction of various alkyl 

 iodides with mercurous nitrite are given. — Some mercury 

 derivatives of camphor : J. E. IMarsh and R. de J. F. 

 r+ruthers. .\ description of the compounds obtained by 

 heating camphor with alkaline mercuric iodide. — Contri- 

 butions to the chemistrv of the terpenes, part ii. : G. G. 

 Henderson. The addition product of chromyl chloride 

 and limonene is described, as well as the decomposition 

 products obtained from this. — The synthesis of acridines 

 and phenonaphthacridines, tetra- and hexa-methylacridines, 

 dimethylphenonaphthacridines, dixylylmethylenediamines : 

 A. Senior and A. Compton. — The root and leaves of 

 Morinda longiflora : M. Barrowcliff and F. Tutin. 

 These materials are reputed in Sierra Leone to possess 

 valuable medicinal properties, but the products obtained 

 from them, viz. (a) hvdroxrmethoxvmethvlanthraquinonc, 

 (6) morindanol, CjjHj.Oj.OH, m.p. 278, (c) a phyto- 

 sterol, (d) hentriacontane, (e) a mixture of lower fatcy 

 acids and citric acid, and (/) resins and other amorphous 

 products, possess no pronounced physiological activity. .\ 

 small amount of the alizarin monomethyl ether, which 

 occurs in " Chay " root, was also obtained. — Ethvl 

 a-cyano-7-phenylacetoacetate : A. R. Smith and J. F. 

 Thorpe. — Aromatic amides and imides of camphoric acid : 

 W. O. Wootton. — The melting point of d-phenylglucos- 

 azone ? F. Tutin. The phenylosazonos of sugars occurring 

 naturally in a number of plants have been prepared, and 

 found to melt at temperatures varying from 205° to 219°. 

 On re-crystallisation from pyridine they melted at 215° to 

 218°, which is the melting point of (f-phenylg!ucosazone. 

 similarlv re-crystallised from pyridine. — The interaction of 

 cyanodihydrorarvone. amyl nitrite, and sodium ethoxide : 

 A Lapworth and E. Wechsler. 



Royal Anthropological Institute. November 5. — Prof. D. J. 

 Cunningham, F.R.S., president, in the chair. — A new 

 method of ascertaining the stature and making other 

 measurements of the living person : Prof. D. J. Cunning- 

 ham. The apparatus consists of a large bed of slate 

 placed against a wall and divided into centimetre squares. 

 The subject is placed against the slate, and by the aid of 

 a carpenter's square the height and other measurements 

 can be read off. — A series of so-called " grave stones " 

 and other objects pf a similar nature from the west of 

 New South Wales : N. W. Thomas. The objects, most 

 of wfliich are apparently manufactured of a mixture of 

 gypsum and sand, are in many cases marked with parallel 

 grooves and signs resembling broad arrows. Some of 

 them are long, banana-shaped objects with a cup-shaped 

 hollow in the base. These are said to be found in sand- 

 hills associated with implements and other remains of old 

 camps. As to the meaning of these there is absolutely 



NO. 1987, VOL. 77] 



no information. Others, which are shorter, thicker, and 

 sometimes helmet-shaped, are certainly placed upon grave:-, 

 but the precise object is uncertain. 



Royal Astronomical Society, November 8. — Mr. Newall, 

 president, in the chair. — Pogson's Observations i,f 

 Variable .Stars, edited by C. L. Brook and H. H. 

 Turner : Prof. Turner. — Note on the ancient solar eclipses 

 discussed by Mr. Cowell : A. C. D. Crommelin. The 

 author had made an independent calculation of the six 

 most important ancii'nt eclipses, and obtained results 

 practically identical with those of Mr. Cowell. Further 

 reasons were given for supposing that the eclipse of —1062 

 was witnessed from Babylon itself, and a brief statement 

 was given of the point at issue between Mr. Cowell and 

 Prof. Newcomb and Mr. Nevill. — Disappearance of 

 Saturn's ring system, October 3 : R. T. .\. Innes. The 

 ring was easily seen with the 9-inch refractor of the 

 Johannesburg Observatory at 4.45, in twilight, but be- 

 came invisible by 10.30 the same evening, so the earth 

 must have passed through the plane of the ring soon after 

 invisibility. — The ultra-violet region in sun-spot spectra, 

 and spectrum of comet digoy : J. Evershed. The papers 

 were read by Dr. Michie Smith, who showed a series of 

 sun-spot spectra taken at Kodaikdnal Observatory, and 

 also a photograph of the comet spectrum showing several 

 lines extending into the tail, and a pair of very bright 

 lines confined to the nucleus, which were identified with 

 the lines of cyanogen. — Photograph of comet 1^1907 taken 

 at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich : .\. S. Eddington. 

 The tail of the comet appeared to consist of a number of 

 fine straight rays spreading from the nucleus. — Note on 

 the permanency of some photovisual lenses : Dr. W. J. S, 

 Lockyer. Si.v of these lenses, of apertures of 3 inches to 

 12 inches, have been in use at the Solar Physics Observ- 

 atory, and in periods of from twenty-three to eighty-three 

 months they have all developed curious m.arkings on one 

 or more of their inner surfaces. Th.^ markings appeared 

 on the inner surfaces of one or both of th^ ou-.id." !en:. r, 

 and not on the inner lens, as had been expected. A series 

 of photographs was shown, the markings being crysta'line 

 formations, sometimes covering the entire lens. It was 

 concluded that the formation was due to the absorption 

 of water vapour by the glass, setting free its alkaline 

 components to form carbonates, which are deposited as 

 crystals. Further particulars were given in a note by Mr. 

 Dennis Taylor, appended to Dr. Lockyer's paper. — Spectro- 

 scopic observations of cyanogen in the solar atmosphere 

 and in interplanetary space : H. F. Newall. The author 

 had found by the method of Cornu that cyanogen was 

 present in the sol.ar atmosphere, but it also appeared to 

 exist in space, and the suggestion was made that the 

 presence of cyanogen in comets, as shown by their spectra, 

 might be due to the latter circumstance rather than to its 

 existence in comets themselves. — A series of spectrohelio- 

 graph photographs of solar facute and prominences taken 

 at the Koclaik^mal Observatory, India : Dr. Michie 

 Smith. 



Mathematical Society, November 14. — Prof. VV. 

 Burnside, president, in the chair. — Hyper-complex 

 numbers : J. 11. Maclagan Wedderburn. The object of 

 the paper is to develop a treatment of hyper-complex 

 number-systems by aid of the calculus introduced by 

 Frobenius, and applied by him to the theory of groups. — 

 The invariants of a binary quintic and the reality of its 

 roots : Dr. H. F. Baker.' It is usual to express the in- 

 variants of a quintic in terms of a set of four, which are 

 connected by a syzygy. In the paper three rational func- 

 tions of the four are introduced, each of them an in- 

 variant, and two of them absolute invariants, in terms of 

 which each of the four, and any other invariant, can be 

 expressed rationally, and the explicit expressions of the 

 four original invariants in terms of the three new in- 

 variants are given. \A'hen the two new absolute invariants, 

 denoted by X, Y, are regarded as coordinates of a point 

 in a plane, the conditions that the quintic, with real 

 coefficients, may have one, three, or five real roots are 

 determined by the division of the plane into four regions 

 bv means of a certain quartic curve, corresponding to the 

 vanishing of the discriminant, and an arc of a certain 

 cubic curve which toucivs this quartic. The number of 



