February 13, 1908] 



NATURE 



359 



Royal Anthropological Institute, January 28 — Annual 

 meeting. — Prof. D. J. Cunningham, F.R.S., in the chair. 

 — Anniversary addrf>^, anthropology in the eighteenth 

 century : Prof. Cunningham. The work of the period 

 centres round five men, Camper, White, Blumenbach, 

 I'richard, and Lawrence, of each of whom an interesting 

 •in-ount was given. 



Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, November 26, 1907. 

 —Prof. H. B. Di.Non, F.R.S., president, in the chair.— 

 Demonstration illustrating the formation of acetylene from 

 elementary substances : Prof. E. Knecht. On heating a 

 small piece of calcium on charcoal before the blow- 

 pipe, the metal readily took fire, and, after burning with 

 a brilliant orange flame for about two seconds, sank 

 iiuo the mass of the charcoal. After the latter had 

 l)e.-n allowed to cool, it was broken up, when a hard 

 lump was found which yielded acetylene on treatment 

 with water. — New reactions for the characterisation of 

 mercerised cotton : J. Hiibner. The author has found 

 (hat, on immersing mercerised and ordinary cotton in a 

 solution of iodine in saturated potassium iodide solution 

 for a few seconds, and afterwards washing with water, 

 the colour of the mercerised cotton quickly changes to a 

 liluish-black, whilst the ordinary cotton becomes lighter 

 in colour and changes to a brownish-chocolate shade. 

 .■\fier further washing the ordinary cotton becomes white, 

 whilst the mercerised material remains a bluish-black 

 colour, which fades very slowly on prolonged washing. — 

 The direct combination of carbon and hydrogen ; H. F. 

 Coward, In experiments made with small quantities of 

 highly purified carbon, the author has obtained from 

 01 gram of carbon, containing a maximum of o-g c.c. of 

 hydrogen, 100 c.c. to 120 c.c. of methane by direct union 

 with hydrogen. 



December 10, 1907. — Prof, fl. B. Dixon, F.R.S., presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — Some notes on the mammals of Lundy 

 Island : T. A. Coward. The notes were the outcome of 

 a few days spent in trapping on the island; some of the 

 specimens obtained were exhibited. — Notes on some de- 

 structive mites : C. ti. Hewitt. The author described a 

 new mite, hohmannia iiisigiiis, Berl., var. dissimilis, 

 n. var., which was found feeding on the scale-leaves of 

 tLdip bulbs. Two other mites which have occurred in the 

 Manchester district were described, viz. Rliizoglyphiis 

 ccliinopus and Glycyphagus spinipcs. 



January 14. — Prof. H. B. Dixon, F.R.S., president, in 

 the chair. — The atomic weight of chlorine : Dr. E. C. 

 Edgar. The method used to re-determine this constant 

 was to burn pure dry chlorine, at the tip of a quartz jet, 

 in an atmosphere of pure dry hydrogen in a quartz " com- 

 bustion vessel"; the hydrogen chloride formed was con- 

 densed in a limb of it by liquid air. As the mean of 

 eight experiments, the atomic weight of chlorine calculated 

 from the ratio weight of chlorine burnt/weight of hydrogen 

 burnt is 35'i94 ; from the ratio weight of hydrogen chloride 

 caught — weight of hydrogen burnt/weight of hydrogen 

 burnt it is 35'i93 (atomic weight of hydrogen = i). If the 

 atomic weight of oxygen is taken as 16, that of chlorine 

 becomes 35-462 and 3,v46t respectively. — The production 

 of photographs in the colours of nature : A. Brothers. 



January 28. — Prof. H. Lamb, F.R.S., in the chair. — 

 A new type of dynamical stability : A. Stephenson. A 

 system in a position of equilibrium and capable of oscilla- 

 tion about that position may be acted on by periodic force 

 in such a way that no oscillation is generated- thus the 

 equilibrium of a pendulum is not disturbed by the action 

 of vertical force. The object of the communication w^as 

 to establish the remarkable property of this non-generating 

 type of disturbance in maintaining an equilibrium which 

 would otherwise be unstable. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences. February 3. — M. A. Chiuveau in 

 the chair. — The existence of crystallised sodium fluoride 

 as an element of the nepheline syenites of the Los Islands : 

 A. Lacroix. These rock specimens were collected by M. 

 \'illiaume from Ruma. In order that unweathered 

 material only should be obtained, the specimens were re- 

 moved by blasting with dynamite, and about half a ton 

 of rock was brought to Paris. One svenite was found 



NO. T998, VOL. 77] 



to contain a new mineral, the mineralogical and physical 

 characters of which are described in the present paper. 

 It has a smaller refractive index («„ = 1-328) than any other 

 known mineral, and appears to consist of sodium fluoride, 

 with traces of manganese, calcium, potassium, and possibly 

 zirconia. The mineral is named villiaumite, and its mode 

 of origin is discussed. — The heat of formation of the 

 anhydrous oxides of strontium and barium : M. de For- 

 crand. Strontia and baryta cannot be purchased pure, 

 but if the hydroxides are placed in a platinum boat and 

 heated to 850° in a current of dry hydrogen, absolutely 

 pure, white SrO and BaO can be obtained, the platinum 

 boat not being attacked. The heats of solution found are 

 higher than those of Thomsen, possibly on account of the 

 greater purity of the material. — Observations of the sun 

 made at the Observatory of Lyons during the third quarter 

 of 1907 : J. Guillaume. The results are summarised in 

 three tables, giving the number of spots, their distribution 

 in latitude, and the distribution of the faculse in latitude 

 respectively. — The development of an arbitrary function 

 according to the functions of Laplace : Leopold Fejer. — A 

 new electric arc furnace applicable to laboratory re- 

 searches : Louis Cierc and Adolphe Minet. For an 

 E.M.F. of 50 or bo volts, by suitably proportioning the 

 area of cross-section of the furnace to the current, an 

 arc of any length can be obtained. In the furnace figured, 

 using from i to 2 kilowatts, any desired temperature from 

 a dull red heat upwards can be obtained, and capable of 

 dealing with from 2 to 40 grams of material. — The use 

 of flames as valves for high-tension alternating currents : 

 Andr^ Cathiard. — Some anomalous modifications of the 

 band spectra of various compounds in the magnetic field : 

 A. Dufour. M. Henri Becquerel has attributed the 

 peculiar behaviour of the bands of calcium fluoride, 

 previouslv described by the author, to the presence of 

 impurities. This view would appear to be improbable, 

 since similar phenomena are now shown to be exhibited 

 by the chlorides and fluorides of all the alkaline earths. — 

 The reduction of indigo by the electrolytic method : H. 

 Chaumat. The method recently described by the author 

 was anticipated by Goppelsroder in 1882. — Some complex 

 salts of iron in which the iron is masked : P. iPascal. 

 Recently precipitated ferric pyrophosphate is soluble in 

 sodium pyrophosphate, the solubility being independent of 

 the temperature and concentration of the sodium salt. 

 When the solution is saturated, the constituents are in 

 the proportion Fe,(P.Oj), : 3Na,.P,0,, which may be 

 written Na5Fe,(P,0;),, or sodium ferropyrophosphate com- 

 parable with "the ferricyanide, and the behaviour of the 

 salts, together with the isolation of the acid itself, confirm 

 the view that such a complex acid exists. — Some new 

 derivatives of camphcnylone : its constitution : L. Bou- 

 veault and G. Blanc. — The order of addition of ammonia 

 to organic a-oxides of asymmetrical structure : K. 

 Krassousky. The reactions between ammonia and 

 trimethylethylene oxide and liobutylene oxide have been 

 studied, and the conclusion is drawn that in the com- 

 bination of ammonia with asymmetrical a-oxides, the 

 hydroxy! group is found attached to the carbon atom con- 

 taining the least hydrogen. — The genesis of certain 

 minerals of alumina and iron. Lateritic decomposition : 

 Jean Chautard and Paul Lemoine. — The presence of 

 scapolite gneiss and cipolin in Dahomey : Henry Hubert. 

 — The origin of the fertile soils of western Morocco : Louis 

 Gentii. — The solution of saccharose isotonic with the eggs 

 of Strongylocentrotus ; Jacques Loeb. The author con- 

 tests that his experimental results arc in strict agreement 

 with those of M. Delage.— The morphology and evolution 

 of the Sabellarians of Saint Joseph : Ch. Grawier.— Con- 

 tribution to the study of the calorific solar radiation : C. 

 Fery and G. IVIiliochau. An account of work done in the 

 observatorv at the summit of Mont Blanc in 1907. The 

 apparatus ' was standardised by pointing at an electric 

 furnace, and gave an effective absolute temperature for 

 the centre of the solar disc of 5555° C. The value found 

 for this temperature in 1906 was 5620° C. 



Calcutta. 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, January 8. — Notes on 

 Indian mathematics, ii., Aryabhata : G. R. Kaye. The 



most important part of this paper consists of a translation 



