January 23, 1902] 



NA rURE 



287 



Mr. Kitcheyat the Verkes Observatory of the nebula surrounding 

 the new star in Perseus, and Mr. Newall described Prof. 

 Kapteyn's suggested explanation of the apparent rapid motion 

 of the nebula as shown in the photographs. — Mr. Lewis read a 

 paper on the orbit of the binary star 2 1639 in Coma Berenices. 

 — The secretary read a paper by Mr. Robinson, of the Radcliffe 

 Observatory, Oxford, upon a comparison of the visual and 

 photographic magnitudes of Nova Persei. 



Linnean Society, December 19, 1901. — Prof. S. H. Vines, 

 F. R.S., president, in the chair. — Prof. G. B. Howes exhibited 

 a marine organism received from Dr. Gilchrist, of South Africa. 

 It measures 1 5 cm. in length, and is structureless and trans- 

 parent, in section four-sided, with its angles prolonged and each 

 intervening area concave. A central tubular cavity is present, 

 and at one end a deep constriction, which may be due to wave- 

 action or other artificial causes. Ideas of a ctenophoran, the 

 cast-off test of a tunicate of the distoma type, of a myxicolid 

 worm-tube, an egg-capsule, and others which had occurred, had 

 all been discarded ; and after having submitted the object to a 

 dozen trained experts, he put it forward in the hope of obtaining 

 a clue to its significance and zoological position. In comment- 

 ing upon this exhibit, the president said he believed the occasion 

 was probably the first in the history of the Society upon which 

 an object had been laid upon the table to which no one could 

 give a name. — Prof. Howes also exhibited a mounted specimen 

 of the giant argulus {A. saitiformis) from a Japanese Telrodon. 

 — Mr. J. E. S. Moore exhibited the entire specimen and a 

 microscopic preparation, with drawings, of a new polyzoon, 

 encrusting the shell of Paramelania, dredged on the west coast 

 of Lake Tanganyika, at a depth of 25 fathoms. He showed 

 it to be typically gymnotoematous, and to present characters 

 most nearly suggestive of the marine genus Arachnidium. — 

 Dr. C. W. Andrews gave a short account of his recent visit to 

 Egypt, and showed lantern-slides illustrating some of the dis- 

 tricts in which vertebrate fossils were collected. The most im- 

 portant journeys were to Mozara with Mr. T. Barrow, and to 

 the Fayum with Mr. H. J- L. Beadnell, officers of the Egyptian 

 Geological Survey. In the former locality remains of Mastodon, 

 Brachyodus and other vertebrates of Lower Miocene age were 

 found ; and in the latter a large series of bones from Middle and 

 Upper Eocene beds was collected. These bones include a number 

 of very interesting forms, some of which ( Palaiomastodon and 

 Mceritherium) seem to be early proboscidians, and indicate that 

 that group originated in an Ethiopian land-area which became 

 united to the Paliearctic land in Oligocene times. A number of 

 plaster-casts of .some of the more important specimens were 

 shown. — Mr. Miller Christy exhibited and made remarks on a 

 specimen of White's Thrush, Turdns varius, Pallas, which 

 had been shot near Clavering, in Essex, so long ago as January 

 1894, and had been preserved for Mr. Rolfe, but had only 

 recently been identified as a rarity. Mr. J. E. Harting stated 

 that about the same time another bird of this species, which he 

 had seen, had been procured near Southampton, and that the 

 two might well have arrived in company from Siberia. After 

 pointing out the geographical distribution of the species and its 

 distinguishing characters, he exhibited coloured figures of the 

 egg, which is one of the rarest in collections ; and, for com- 

 parison, a figure of the egg and nest of the allied Turdus 

 htnulatus of .Vustralia. — The Rev. John Gerard exhibited a nest 

 of the sand-martin (Cotile riparia) made within the nest of a 

 dipper (Cinclus cu/ualicus), found near Bashall Hall, Yorkshire, 

 in which eggs of the former bird had been laid and hatched after 

 the latter had ceased to occupy it. — Mr. S. Pace exhibited speci- 

 mens of the common Torres Straits snail Planispira ( Trachi- 

 ofisis) iicUssertiana. He likewise exhibited a specimen and 

 drawings from life of a rare pelagic tectibranch, Etiielenops 

 (Neda) liiniceps, taken in Friday Island Passage, Torres Straits. 

 — Mr. S. Pace read a paper on the gasteropod Pontiothauma, 

 Sm., giving an account of the anatomy of this remarkable genus, 

 with special reference to the proboscis and its associated parts, 

 as observed in a specimen from the Indian seas, furnished some 

 years ago by Dr. Alcock, of the Calcutta Museum. — Mr. F. 

 Chapman read a paper on the Ostracoda collected round the 

 Funafuti Atoll. This collection, which had been placed in his 

 hands for examination and description by Prof. Judd, C. B. , 

 F.R.S., was obtained from various sources during the work of 

 the expedition for the purpose of boring in the Atoll. The 

 specimens represented the recent deposits obtained by dredging 

 outside the Atoll, chiefly at moderate depths, but many were also 

 selected from the dredgings in the lagoon, as well as from the 



NO. 1682, VOL. 65] 



beach-sands, the deep-sea deposits and the sands from the Atoll 

 boring. The total number of species was fifty-two, six of 

 which were found to be undescribed. The occurrence of the 

 genus Limnocythere was considered noteworthy on account of 

 its fresh-water habit. 



Royal Meteorological Society, December 15, igoi. — 

 Mr. W. H. Dines, president, in the chair. — The Symons gold 

 medal was presented to Dr. Alexander Buchan, F. R.S., for his 

 work in connection with meteorological science. — The president 

 in his address dealt with the theory of probability applied to 

 various meteorological problems. He considered that for all 

 practical purposes weather conditions may be looked upon as 

 purely accidental, and that we may apply to them the laws of 

 chance. They are not by any means in reality a matter of 

 chance, for although we cannot discover it, there is doubtless a 

 cause for each kind of weather, normal or abnormal. After 

 speaking upon the subject of weather forecasting, he dealt with 

 the question. How long is required to obtain a true average ? 

 He has come to the conclusion that ten years' temperature 

 observations give a mean of which the probable error is a little 

 under one degree ; thirty years reduce this to half a degree, fifty 

 years to one-third of a degree, and a hundred years to one-quarter 

 of a degree. After dealing with barometer observations and 

 rainfall, he proceeded to speak of weather almanacs, cycles, 

 &c. In conclusion he said that meteorology is far more than a 

 statistical science, and is very closely dependent upon theoretical 

 mechanics and thermodynamics, and in the application of these 

 subjects to meteorology lies the best hope of advance. The 

 council for the ensuing year were then elected, Mr. W. H. 

 Dines being the president and Mr. F. C. Bayard and Dr. H. R. 

 Mill secretaries. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, January 13. — M. Bouquet de la 

 Grye in the chair. — On the periods of double integrals and on a 

 class of linear differential equations, by M. Emile Picard. — 

 The preparation and properties of the hydride of sodium, by 

 M. Henri Moissan. Metallic sodium is attacked by hydrogen 

 gas at a temperature of about 400° C, the hydride thus formed 

 dissolving in the excess of metal, from which it can be isolated 

 in a slightly impure state by treatment with liquefied ammonia 

 at - 40° C. Pure sodium' hydride was finally obtained by 

 heating sodium wire in hydrogen at 370° C, keeping the upper 

 portion of the tube slightly cooler. Under these conditions the 

 hydride condenses on the cooler part in crystals, which upon 

 analysis proved to be NaH. It is attacked by the slightest trace 

 of water and catches fire in moist air. The hydride is attacked 

 by gaseous fluorine and chlorine, but remains unaltered in the 

 presence of liquid chlorine at - 35° C. It resembles potassium 

 hydride in its powerful reducing properties. —The cultivation of 

 lucerne upon soils without lime, by MM. P. Deherain and E. 

 Demoussy. Lucerne and clover grow feebly in soils without 

 lime if the bacteria-producing nodosities are present. The 

 addition of lime increases the vigour of growth in both cases. — 

 On integral parameters, by M. Alf. Guldberg. — On the theory of 

 entire functions, by M. Pierre Boutroux. — On radioactive bodies, 

 by M. P. Curie and Mdme. S. Curie. The authors have taken 

 two hypotheses as guiding principles in their researches on the 

 radioactive bodies ; that radioactivity is an atomic property of 

 bodies, and that each atom of a radioactive substance behaves 

 as a constant source of energy. Experiments carried out over 

 several years show that for uranium, thorium, radium and pro- 

 bably actinium, the radiant activity remains constant if the 

 chemical and physical state of the radioactive body remains the 

 same. Polonium alone appears to be an exception to this rule. 

 — A principle relating to the distribution of the lines of magnetic 

 induction, by M. Vasilesco Karpen. The principle is laid 

 down that in a magnetic medium submitted to the action 

 of a certain number of magnetomotive forces, the course of the 

 lines of induction is such that the intrinsic energy of the medium 

 is a maximum.— On the difference of potential and the deaden- 

 ing of the oscillatory spark, by M. F. Beaulard. A correction 

 of an arithmetical error in a previous paper. — Telephony without 

 wires through the earth, by M. E. Ducretet. By the use of a 

 microphone, messages were transmitted through the earth with 

 remarkable clearness, without any of the secondary noises so 

 annoying in telephony with conducting wires. — The influence 

 of low barometric pressures on the frequency of the polar aurora, 

 by M. H. Stassano. A clear connection is traced between 

 the frequency of the appearance of the aurora and a low 



