NA TURE 



[December 17, 1908 



Seven different causes might be assigned, nanK-Iy, pro- 

 gression of the isobars, wind denivellation, rapid flood- 

 ing, partial rainfall, squalls, impact of wind gusts, 

 and periodic minor fluctuations of the atmospheric pressure. 

 Lantern-slides were shown giving simultaneous micro- 

 barograms, anemograms, and limnograms taken on Loch 

 Earn, and from these it appeared that the most frequent 

 causes of seiches were squalls and periodic minor fluctua- 

 tions of atmospheric pressure. The well-known embroi- 

 deries which appear on limnograms during windy or un- 

 settled weather were found to be due, in many cases, to 

 solitary waves or groups of waves which are raised by 

 small squalls. In some cases these wave-groups travel 

 faster than the squall which produces them, so that the 

 lake vibration at certain places precedes the wind dis- 

 turbance which has caused it but is following after it. 

 A particularly good instance was observed of an atmo- 

 spheric-pressure fluctuation which was steadily periodic 

 for several complete periods, and which was immediately 

 responded to by a seiche of marked periodicity. An 

 account of the mathematical theory was reserved for the 

 next meeting. — Notes on hydrodynamics, chiefly on vortex 

 motion : Prof. .'Andrew Gray. These depended upon a 

 novel transformation of the usual hydrodynamical equa- 

 tions, leading to specially neat forms of solution of certain 

 types of problem. 



December 7. — Dr. Home, F.R.S., vice-president, in the 

 chair. — .A monograph on the general morphology of the 

 myxinoid fishes, based on a study of Myxine, part iii. : 

 Prof. F. J. Cole. The chief interest of this continuation 

 of previous papers on the same subject lay in the illustra- 

 tions, which had been carefully and elaborately drawn. 

 — An investigation of the seiches of Loch Earn by the 

 Scottish Lake Survey, parts iii.-v. : Prof. Chrystal. The 

 memoir concluded with a mathematical appendix on the 

 effect of pressure disturbances upon the seiches in a 

 uniform parabolic lake. Rayleigh's method of normal 

 coordinates was made use of with great advantage. The 

 first problem solved was the efl'ect of a uniform excess of 

 pressure over a part of a lake, the excess being assumed 

 to last for a definite time, usually the half-period of one 

 of the seiches, the uninodal, binodal, or trinodal, as the 

 case might be. The amplitudes of the seiches generated 

 were calculated, and found to be of the same order of 

 quantity as the pressure disturbance when estimated in 

 terms of the water barometer. The disturbance caused 

 by a suddenly generated distribution of pressure, ex- 

 pressible in a series of zonal harmonics, was then found, 

 and this led, by use of the principle of superposition, to 

 the calculation of the effect of a pressure disturbance vary- 

 ing both in space and time. The special case of a sudden 

 rise of pressure, propagated w'ith uniform velocity from 

 one end of the lake to the other, was worked out in detail 

 for a lake of p.nr.abolic bottom contour six miles long and 

 270 feet in depth. It was proved that the uninodal seiche 

 was most affected when the disturbance was propagated 

 with a speed of thirty-seven miles per hour. 



M.4NCHESTER. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, December i.— Pro'. 

 H. B. Dixon, F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The dawn 

 of human intention : an experimental and comparative 

 study of eoliths : Prof. A. Schwartz and Sir Hugh R. 

 Beevor. The term " eolith " was first used to designate 

 certain flint chippings found by Mr. Benjamin Harrison 

 in the chalk plateau in Kent, which bore traces that led 

 him to suggest that they were really primitive tools of 

 early man. This view, though receiving the support of 

 De Barri Crawshay and Prestvvich, was not generallv 

 accepted, and evoked much controversy. The authors 

 now sought to show that the existence of eoliths as the 

 work of man was a fact which was capable of demonstra- 

 tion. They found from anatomical and mechanical con- 

 siderations that the fundamental processes in which 

 primitive man would need the aid of tools were : — 

 (i) striking ; (2) cutting ; (3) scraping ; (4) piercing ; and 

 (S) the production of fire. Then, selecting suitable frag- 

 inents of flint, they performed with them the simple opera- 

 tions involved in these processes, carefully noting the 

 effects of such use, and of the secondary ' work of re- 

 sharpening, on the flints themselves. In this way they 

 XO. 2042, VOL. 79] 



were able lo establish certain definite characters for each 

 hypothetical class of tools. .V comparison of eoliths, col- 

 lected in considerable numbers from different sources, with 

 the artificially produced tools showed a very close agrec- 

 nient in respect of their characters. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, December 17. 

 LiNNEAN Society, at 8.— The Anomura .f the Red Sea: W, Riddell — 



Forms of Flowers in I'aleriana dioica : R. P. Gregory.— Etudes sur les 



Cirrhipedes du Cambridge Museum : Piof. A. Gruvel. — Rhynchota from 



the Sea/ark Expedition : \V. L. Distant. 

 Inst'tution of Ei.ECiRiCAi. Engineers, at 8.- The Electric Discharge 



and the Production of Nitric Acid : W. Cramp and B Hoyle. 

 Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, at 8. — A Visit to the Mineral 



Di<;tricts of Canada : W. Frechevitle and H. F. Marriott.— Notes on Plant 



in the Mining Districts of C.inada : R. E. Commans. 

 FRIDAY, December 18. 

 Institution of Mechanical Engineers, at 8. — Type-casting and 



Composing Machinery : L. A. Legros. 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8.— High-power Water-turbines on 



Moderate Falls: R. Wolfenden. 



MONDAY, December 21. 

 Faraday Society, at S.— The Influence of Cheap Electricity on Electro- 

 lytic and Electrothermal Industries: E. A. Ashcroft. 

 TUESDAY, December 22. 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8.— Investigation of the Heat-losses 



in an Electric Power-station : F. H. Corson. 



contents. p.^ge 



The Autobiography of a Practical Philosopher. By 



Dr. A. C. Haddon, F.R.S. . . iSi 



An Introduction to the Study of Natural History. 



ByJ. A. T 182 



The Commercial Products of India. By Capt. A. T. 

 Gage ... . . .... 184 



The Physics of Earthquakes 184 



Methods of Accurate Calorimetry, By Dr. J, A. 



Marker 185 



Tropical Agriculture. By W. G. Freeman .... 1S6 



Analytical Chemistry. By H. M. D 186 



Our Book Shelf:— 



"The A.D. Infinitum Calendar."— W. T. L. . . . 1S7 

 " The Extra Pharmacopceia of Martindale and West- 



cott."— R. T. H 187 



" The British Journal Photographic Almanack, 1909 " 1S8 

 "The American Annu;\l of Photography, 19109" . . 1S8 

 " Beitiage zur Naturdenkmalpflege." — A. W. B. . . 188 

 Villiger : "Die periphere Innervation; Kurze iilier- 

 sichtliche Darstellting des Ursprungs, Verlaufs und 

 der Ausbreilung der Hirr- und Riickenmarksnerven " 188 

 Letters to the Editor- — 



On the Salinity of the Norih Sea. {U'il/t Chart.)— 



Prof. D'Arcy W. Thompson, C.B 189 



Reform of Zoological Nomenclature. — Cyril 



Crossland 190 



Mercury Bubbles and the Formation of Oxide Films 

 by Water containing Oxygen in Solution. — G. T. 

 Beilby, F.R.S. ... . ... 190 



The Study of Stellar Evolution. By William E. 

 Rolston . . . . 191 



Peking to Mandalay. (lUiislraled.) By L. A. W. . 193 



International Physics 194 



Notes 195 



Our Astronomical Column :- 



Water Vapour in the Atmosphere of Mars ... . 200 

 Acceleration of Matter in the Tail of Morehouse's 



Comet 200 



Characteristics of the Superior (K3) Layer of the Sun's 



Atmosphere ... . . . 200 



Liverpool Astronomical Society 201 



One Hundred New Double Stars . .... 201 



Prize Awards of the Paris Academy of Sciences for 



igo8 201 



Meteorology in South Victoria Land. (Illustrated.] 



By M. 202 



The Percy Sladen Trust Expedition to the Indian 

 Ocean. Further Explorations. By J. Stanley 

 Gardiner, F.R.S., and J. C. F. Kryer ... 204 

 The Origin of the Potato. By Chas. T. Druery . . 205 

 Radio-active Changes in the Earth. By the Hon. 



R.J. Strutt, F.R.S. 206 



University and Educational Intelligence . ... 208 



Societies and Academies 208 



Diary of Societies 210 



