February 6, 1902] 



NA TURE 



335 



sixteen had been studied 

 glacial origin. 



January 6. — Sir W 

 Mr. F. Fraser, on 

 to general suggestions 



in detail, left no doubt as to their 



Turner in the chair. — A paper by 

 a theoretical representation leading 

 in the ultimate constitution of matter 

 and ether, was communicated by Prof. Chrystal. The funda- 

 mental novelty was the conception of an atom of matter as a 

 kind of ether bubble. The ether was supposed to be an 

 assemblage of rapidly moving corpuscles rebounding after col- 

 lision without loss of energy, and in this a spherical vacuity was 

 produced forming the atom, the corpuscles in the spherical 

 surface being kept circulating in the surface by the impacts of 

 the corpuscles from outside, which on their part were unable to 

 penetrate within the sphere because of the barrier of swiftly 

 moving corpuscles in the surface. The author believed that this 

 hypothesis gave the gravitation law of attraction between two 

 neighbouring bubbles. The paper also contained speculations 

 relating to valency in chemistry. — A paper was read by Dr. 

 D. H. Scott on the primary structure of certain Palaeozoic 

 stems with the dadoxylon type of wood. The principal 

 result of the investigation, as a whole, was to show that in a 

 number of stems of Pal.^ozoic age with secondary wood of the 

 well-known dado.sylon type there were around the pith distinct 

 usually mesarch strands of primary xylem, forming the down- 

 ward continuation of the leaf-trace bundles. Hence, the anato- 

 mical structure typically represented by Lyginodendron OlJhainii 

 proves to have been widely distributed among Paleozoic plants, 

 and to have been common to stems which on other grounds 

 would be reasonably referred to Cordaitea;. Thus new links 

 have been found connecting this gymnospermous family with the 

 Cycadofilices, and through them with some primaeval group of 

 ferns. — Dr. Thomas Muir communicated a paper on a con- 

 tinuant resolvable into rational factors, and a note on selected 

 combinations. — Dr. Hugh Marshall read a note on a suggested 

 modiBcation of the sign of equality in chemical notation, in 

 which he proposed that in chemical equations representing actions 

 which actually occur the sign of equality should be composed 

 of singly barbed arrows arranged so as to differentiate the most 

 important varieties of chemical action. The symbols suggested 

 were : 'Z ., ^ ^ , C '^ . ^=^. the first for irreversible actions, 

 the second for reversible actions, such as dissociation, &c., the 

 third for reversible actions with definite transition point (in 

 which case the temperature might be stated above the symbol), 

 and the fourth for reversible actions which, under the conditions 

 of the experiment, are practically completed in the direction 

 indicated, so that the reversible character of the action is not of 

 immediate importance. It might also be used in doubtful cases. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, January 27. — M. Bouquet de la 

 Grye in the chair. — An apparatus for measuring the variations 

 of small zenithal distances, by M. G. Lippmann. The ap- 

 paratus described makes the zenith visible in the field of observa- 

 tion as a small artificial star, which shows amongst the real 

 stars. It possesses the advantages of requiring no special 

 regulation or stability, and visual observations may be replaced 

 by photography. — On some properties of the radiation from 

 radioactive bodies, by M. Henri Becquerel. It has been shown 

 in earlier papers that radium rays are divided into two groups 

 in a strong magnetic field, one part being not affected and 

 giving a strong impression on a photographic plate, the other 

 being deviated in a manner similar to the kathode rays. No 

 portion of the polonium rays is deviable. An analogous experi- 

 ment has now been made with uranium. The times of exposure 

 were necessarily very long, twenty and forty-two days in two 

 experiments. The whole of the uranium rays appear to be 

 deviated, the non-deviable portion, if it exists, being of an intensiiy 

 which is negligibly small compared to the whole radiation. This 

 would appear to show a fundamental difference between uranium 

 and radium. It has been previously found that the dark radiation 

 from radium is capable of transforming white into red phos- 

 phorus, and analogous experiments with uranium showed that 

 the uranium rays possess the same property. — On the prepara- 

 tion of tantalum in the electric furnace and on its properties, by 

 M. Henri Moissan. An alloy of niobium and tantalum was 

 first prepared by reducing niobite with sugar charcoal in the 

 electric furnace ; this was then converted into fluotantalate and 

 fluoniobate of potassium, and these salts separated by Marignac's 

 method. The tanlalic acid prepared in this way was then re- 

 duced with charcoal in the electric furnace in a graphite crucible. 



NO. 1684, VOL. 65] 



Metallic tantalum was thus obtained containing only a small 

 quantity of carbon as impurity, as a brilUant metallic mass, 

 with a crystalline fracture, of density 1279. Its behaviour to- 

 wards various chemical reagents is given in detail. — On a 

 class of rational transformations, by M. Ivar Fredholm. — 

 On the resolution of singular points of algebraic .'•urfaces, by 

 M. Beppo Levi. — The experimental definition of the different 

 kinds of X-rays by radiochromometry, by M. L. Benoist. The 

 unequal variations of transparency of two different bodies is 

 utilised, when the quality of the X-rays changes, to define a 

 series of qualities of rays. by a series of relative transparencies, 

 for example, of aluminium with respect to silver. The scale of 

 rays thus constituted is always comparable to itself, when the 

 two bodies and their thicknesses are defined. — On an apparatus 

 for automatically registering discharges in the atmosphere, by 

 M. J. Fenyi. A coherer and a bobbin are inserted in the circuit 

 of a Meidinger cell. A magnetised needle is placed in the 

 centre of the bobbin, and this is deviated and closes the regis- 

 tering circuit when the coherer becomes conducting owing to a 

 discharge. — On the vapour pressures of hydrogen selenide and 

 the dissociation of its hydrate, by MM. de Forcrand and Fonzes- 

 Diacon. The vapour pressures were measured at four points, 

 -42", -30, o°'2 and 30" 'S, and from these a curve was con- 

 structed. From this the heat of vaporisation was calculated by 

 means of the Clapyron formula. A similar set of determinations 

 was made for the hydrate. — On lithium antimonide and on the 

 preparation of some alloys of lithium, by M. P. Lebeau. Lithium 

 and antimony readily combine, giving rise to a large develop- 

 ment of heat, but the violence of the reaction is so great that a 

 definite compound could not be obtained in this way. But 

 the electrolysis of a mixture of the chlorides of lithium and 

 potassium with a kathode of antimony readily gives a definite 

 crystallised antimonide of the formula SbLis- The same method 

 can be applied to the preparation of a certain number of other 

 alloys of lithium. — The [action of copper hydrate on aqueous 

 solutions of metallic salts, by M. A. Mailhe. — Contribution to 

 the study of the aluminium-iron and aluminium-manganese 

 alloys, by M. Leon Guillet. — On glyceroarsenic acid, by M. 

 V. Auger. Arsenic acid and glycerol readily react, producing 

 acid esters with the elimination of one or two molecules of 

 water, but the product obtained is immediately hydrolysed 

 on contact with cold water. — On the assimilation of lactic 

 acid and of glycerol by Eurotyopsis Gayoni, by M. 

 P. Maze. — On the modifications of the segmentary organs 

 of Syllis, and their functions, at the stage of reproduc- 

 tion, by M. G. Pruvot. — On the mechanism of the formation 

 of the purple of molluscs, by M. Raphael Dubois. The pro- 

 duction of the colour would appear to be due to two substances, 

 one of which is a macrozymase, to which the name of purpurase 

 is given. The action of light is necessary to the production of 

 the purple. — On the physiological effects of the poison of the 

 filaments and tentacles of the Coelenterata, by MM. P. Portier 

 and Charles Richet. — The apolar and closed divergent chains 

 in ferns, by MM. C. Eg. Bertrand and Y. Cornaille. — On the 

 withering of vines caused by Coepophagus echinoptu, by MM. L. 

 Mangin and P. Viala. — The study of the daily variations of the 

 meteorological elements in the atmosphere, by M. L. Teisserenc 

 de Bort. — On the origin and age of the spring of Vaucluse, by 

 M. E. A. Martel. 



New South Wales. 

 Royal Society, December 4, 1901.— Prof. T. W. E. David, 

 F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — The gums, resins and 

 other vegetable exudations of Australia, by Mr. J. H. Maiden. 

 The author gives a list of natural orders which in Australia yield 

 both gums and resins, classifying them according as the gum or 

 resin is the predominating substance. The paper contains a 

 tentative list of those orders which yield kinos, and a list is 

 given of those exudations which specially merit the attention 

 of the research chemist. Then follows the main portion of 

 the paper, which contains notes on all the exudations known 

 to the author, arranged in botanical sequence. — On the principle 

 of continuity in the generation of geometrical figures in homa- 

 loidal space of «-dimensions, by Mr. G. H. Knibbs. The author 

 discussed the philosophical basis of the idea of the continuous 

 generation of geometrical figures, and showed that we are com- 

 pelled to admit the conceptional existence of a space of different 

 orders, as well asdimensions, of infinity and zero, the interpretation 

 of such being in all cases unambiguous. — Some theorems, 

 concerning geometrical figures in space « dimensions, whose 

 (k - i) dimensional generatrices are «'^ functions of their position 



