NA TURE 



[January 14, 1909 



of the current through the contact considered. — The in- 

 fluence of the quality of the lighting on the photographic 

 reproduction of colour : J. Thovert. — The freezing of 

 mixtures of water and soluble fatty acids : A. Faucon. 

 Solutions of formic, acetic, and propionic acids were used. 

 The freezing points of the eutectic mixtures with these 

 three acids were —48°, —27°, and — 29°-4 respectively, 

 and no formation of any hydrate could be proved. — The 

 density of methane and the atomic weight of carbon : 

 George Ba.ume and F. Louis Perrot. The gas was pre- 

 pared by the action of water on methyl-magnesium iodide, 

 and after washing purified by fractional distillation under 

 reduced pressure. Air being appreciably soluble in liquid 

 methane, special precautions were necessary to remove this 

 impurity. The mean weight of. the normal litre of methane 

 was found to be 0-7168 gram. According to the method 

 of reduction employed, the atomic weight of carbon from 

 this density is deduced as 12004 (Leduc), 12005 (D. Berthe- 

 lot), and 12003 (P. A. Guye). — Concerning the atomic 

 weight of silver : .\. Leduc. A reply to some criticisms 

 of M. Dubreuil. — The silicides of hydrogen : P. Lebeau. 

 A large quantity of the gas produced by the action of 

 hydrochloric acid on magnesium silicide was cooled with 

 liquid air, and the compounds of silicon with hydrogen 

 submitted to fractional distillation. Besides pure SiH,, 

 not inflammable in air, a gas the density of which (2-18) 

 corresponded with Si,H, was obtained. A third com- 

 pound, isolated in small quantity, and characterised by 

 its extreme inflammability in contact with air, is probably 

 silico-ethylene, Si,H,. It is this substance which renders 

 the impure silicon hydride spontaneously inflammable. — 

 K case of isodimorphism : H. Marais. The forms of 

 ethylamine chlorhydrate and bromhydrate stable at the 

 ordinary temperature are perfectly isomorphous. The 

 forms realisable at higher temperatures are isodimorphous, 

 the stable form of one of the bodies being isomorphous 

 with the unstable form of the other. — The hypotypical 

 regeneration of the chclipeds in .4/ya serrata : Edmond 

 Bordagre. — Leprosy and dcmodex : A. Borrel. — The 

 parthcnogenctic segmentation of the egg in birds : \. 

 Lecaillon. — The gastric digestion of casein : Louis 

 Gaucher. Coagulation of the milk does not necessarily 

 occur in the stomach, and is not peptonised in that organ. 

 — -The elTect of bases on the action of certain ferments : 

 C. Gerber. — K gravimetric method of constant sensibility 

 for the measurement of high altitudes : Alphonse Bergret. 

 The apparent variation of the weight of a body, passing 

 from one altitude to another, is proportional to the differ- 

 ence of level of the two stations. This variation is of 

 the order of 1/ 10,000 for the height of the Eiffel Tower. 

 — Rain and springs in Limousin in 190S : P. Garrigrou- 

 Lagrange. — The earthquake of December 28, iqo8 : 

 Alfred Ang^ot. \ reproduction of the curve registered by 

 the Milne seismograph at the Pare Saint-Maur Observa- 

 tory is given. — The earthquake of December 28, 1908 : R. 

 Cirera. An account of observations made at Ebro. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, Janu.\kv 14. 



ROVAL SociETV, at 4.30.— The Yielding of the Earth to Pisturhing Forces : 

 Prof. A. E. H. Love, F.R.S.— The Relation of the Earth's Free Pre- 

 cesfiional Nutation to its Resistance against Tidal Deformation : Prof. 

 J. Larmor, Sec.R.S.— Notes on Observations of Sun and Stars in some 

 British Stone Circles. Fom ih Note. The Botallek Circles, St. Just, 

 Cornwall : Sir Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S.— On the Depression of 

 the Filament of Maximum Velocity in a Stream flowing through an Open 

 Channel : A H. Gibson.— On the Passage of ROntgen Rays through 

 Gases and Vapours : J. A. Crowther.— On the Velocity of the Cathode 

 Rays ejected by Substances exposed to the y-Rays of Radium : R. D. 

 Kleeman. 



Institution of Electrical Engineers, at 8. — The G. B. System 

 from a Tramway Manager's Point of View ; Stanley Clegg. 



Mathematical Society, at 5.30.— The Canonical Form of a Linear 

 Suhslitution : H. Hilton.— On the Solution of the Quintic : J. Hammond, 

 — On Octavic and Sexdecimic Residua'-ity : Lieut -Col. A. Cuimingham. 

 -On Change of the Variable in a Lebesgue Integral : Dr. E. W. 

 Hobson.- On Abel's Extension of Taylor's Series : Rev. F. H. Jackson.— 

 Note on the Evaluation of a Certain Integral containing Bessel's Ful 

 Prof. H. M. Macdonald. 



FRIDAY, January IS. 



Institution op Mechanical Engineers, at 8.— The Filtrati 

 Purification of Water for Public .Supply : John Don. 

 /J/OA^ZJ^r. January 18. 

 of .Arts, at 8.— The Public Supply of Electric Power 



' and 



Royal Soc 



the United Kingdoi 

 Victoria Instituti 



Schofield. 



Dr. A. T. 



TUESDAY, January 19. 



Royal Institution, at 3. — .Albinism in Man : Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S. 



Royal Statistical Society, at 5. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8. — Further Discussion', High 

 .Speed on Railway-curves : J. W. Spiller. — A Practical Method for the 

 Improvement of Existing Railway-curves: W. H. Shortt. 

 IVEDNESDAY, January 20. 



Entomological Society, at 8. — Annual General Meeting. 



Royal Microscopical Society, at 8. — Presidential Address, by Lord 

 Avebury : On Seeds, with Special Reference to British Plants. 



Royal Meteorological Society, at 7.30.— Annual General Meeting.— 

 Address on Some Aims and Efforts of the Society: Dr. Hugh Robert 

 Mill. 



THURSDAY, January ji. 



Royal Society, 314.30. — Probable Papers : Syntonic Wireless Telegraphy, 

 with Specimens of Large-scale Measurements: Sir O. Lodge, F.R.S., 

 and Dr. Alex. Muirhead, F.R.S.— The Leakage of Helium from Radio- 

 active Minerals : Hon. R. J. Strutt, F.R.S.— 'Ihe Mobilities of the Ions 

 produced by Rontgen Rays in Gases and Vapours : E. M. Wellisch. — On 

 the Electricity of Rain and its • 'rigin in Thunderstorms: George C. 

 Simpson.— The Photo-eleclric Fatigue of Zmc, II.: H. Stanley Allen. 



LiNNEAN Society, at 8.— The Genus Nototriche, Turcz : Arthur W. Hill.— 

 The Longitudinal Symmetry of Centrospermea; : Dr. Percy Groom. 



Royal Institution, at 3.— Mysteries of Metals : Prof. J. O. Arnold. 

 FRIDA Y, January 22. 



Royal Institution, at 9.— The World of Life : as Visualised and Inter- 

 preted by Darwinism : Alfred Russel Wallace, O.M., F.R.S. 



Physical Society, at 5. 



306 



307 

 307 



307 

 307 



308 

 309 



NO. 2046, VOL. 79] 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Construction and Use of Cranes. By F. C. L. . . 301 

 An Oxford Champion of Darwinism. By F. A. D. . 302 



Archaeology in Greece. By H. R. Hall 303 



Sylvester's Mathematical Papers. By G. B. M. . . 303 



A Geography of Russia 304 



Locomotive Engineering 305 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Bruni : " Feste Lcisungen und Isomorphismus." — 



H. M. D 



Owen : " The Economic Open-air Chalet for the 

 Hygienic Treatment of Consumption and other 



Diseases."— R. T. H 



Ka.ssowitz : " Wclt-Leben-Seele. Ein System der 



Natiirphilosophie in gemeinfasslicher Darstelliing." 



Lorenlz : " AUiandlungen liber theoretische Physik." 



G. H. B. 



Millard : "The Wonderful House that Jack Has" 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



Sequestrated Church Property. — Francis Galton, 



F.R.S 



The Isothermal Layer of the Atmosphere. — Charles 



J. P. Cave 



Magnesium in Water and Rocks. — Prof. Ernest 



H. L. Schwarz 



Phosphorescence on a Scottish Loch. — Thos. 



Jamieson 309 



The Movement of Water in Soils. (Il'i/A Diagram.) 



—Dr. J. Walter Leather; Dr. E. J. Russell . 309 

 The Correlation of Teaching. — Charlie Woods; 



Prof. John Perry, F.R.S 310 



An Electromagnetic Problem. — A. Core; D. F. 



Comstock . . 310 



The Anthropology of the Greenland Eskimo. (Illus- 



I rated. ) . . 311 



A Human Fossil from the Dordogne Valley. {Illus- 

 trated.) By H. O. F 312 



Black- water Fever 313 



Animated Photographs in Natural Colours . . . 314 



Prof H. G. Seeley, F.R.S. By R. L 314 



Notes 315 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Further Photographs of Morehouse's Comet .... 320 



Search-ephenneris for Halley's Comet 320 



The Distribution of Eruptive Prominences on the 



Solar Disc 320 



Double-slar Orbits 320 



Errors in Measures of Star Images and Spectra . . . 320 

 Physical Observations of the National Antarctic 



Expedition, (///nslrated.) 320 



The North of England Education Conference . . . 322 

 The iElher of Space. l!y Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. 322 

 Science and the Practical Problems of the Future. 



By Prof E. L. Nichols 325 



University and Educational Intelligence 327 



Societies and Academies 329 



Diary of Societies 330 



