4o6 



NA TURE 



[February 27, 1902 



the short-nosed sperm-whale (Cogia breviceps), based on an 

 examination of a specimen which had been washed ashore on 

 the coast of Otago, New Zealand. The soft parts of the same 

 specimen had formed the subject of a paper presented to the 

 Society by the same author in May of last year. — Two addi- 

 tional papers on the results of the " Skeat Expedition" to the 

 Malay Peninsula were read. The first, by Mr. K. F. Laidlaw, 

 gave an account of the dragon-flies (with the exception of 

 Agrionina;) collected, and a list of all other species that had 

 jweviously been known from the Peninsula. One new genus, 

 Climacobasis, and twelve new species were described. The 

 second paper, by Mr. \V. E. Collinge, contained an account of 

 the collection of non-operculate land and fresh-water mollusca 

 made by the expedition, and included descriptions of three new 

 genera (Apoparmarion, Paraparmarion and Cryptosemelus) and 

 eight new species, besides contributions to the anatomy of certain 

 species. Descriptions of three species of Prisma in the British 

 Museum collection, one of which, P. smil/ii, was new. were 

 also included in the paper. — A communication from Mr. W. F. 

 Kirby contained a list of twenty-three species of Orthoptera, 

 of which specimens were contained in a collection made by Sir 

 Harry [ohnston, K.C.B., in the Uganda Protectorate. 



Mathematical Society, February 14. — Dr. E. W. Ilobson, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Prof. Lamb read a paper on 

 Boussinesq's problem. The problem is to determine the strain 

 produced at any point of a semi-infinite elastic solid, with a 

 plane boundary, by the application of pressure to its surface ; 

 the solution is obtained in a straightforward manner by the use 

 of Bessel's functions. — Mr. A. Voung read a paper on quanti- 

 tative substitutional analysis. This paper is a continuation of a 

 previous one, published in Proceedings, vol. xxxiii.,in which the 

 conditions that a function of several variables may be unaltered 

 by particular substitutions, belonging to particular groups, were 

 applied to the development of relations between the concomi- 

 tants of quantics. — Prof. Love explained a new proof of a well- 

 known theorem concerning zonal harmonics. — The following 

 papers were communicated by the president : — Dr. PL F. Baker, 

 elementary proof of a theorem for functions of several variables. 

 The theorem is that, if an ordinary power series in any number 

 of variables does not vanish for zero values of the variables, the 

 inverse of the series can be expanded in a converging series ; it 

 is proved also that the range of convergence of the new series 

 is the same as that of the original series, provided that no zero 

 of the latter is contained in this range. — Mr. T. J. I'A. Brom- 

 wich, note on the wave surface of a dynamical medium naolo- 

 tropic in all respects. The kinetic energy of the medium is 

 taken to be a homogeneous quadratic function of the component 

 velocities, and the potential energy is taken to be a similar 

 function of the components of strain and rotation ; the equations 

 of motion are deduced from the llamiltonian principle, and the 

 form of the general wave surface is obtained without having 

 recourse to the methods of vector-analysi.s. — Prof A. C. Dixon, 

 on plane cubics. This note contains .some further developments 

 of the theory of corresponding points on a cubic, as given by 

 Salmon, and the closely connected theory of three conies. — Mr. 

 W. IL Voung, (i) on the density of linear sets of points, (2) on 

 closed sets of points defined as the limit of a sequence of sets of 

 points. The first paper deils with the distinction between sets 

 of points which are everywhere dense and sets which have the 

 property that every point is a limiting point on both sides ; the 

 distinction is of great importance in the application of the theory 

 of sets of points to questions concerning functions of real 

 variables ; illustrative examples are given. The second paper 

 deals with the geometrical connection between a set of given 

 rank, in a countably infinite number of closed sets, and the 

 corresponding limiting set ; the relation between the content of 

 each set of the countably infinite number and the content of the 

 limiting set is discussed in detail. 



Royal Meteorological Society, February 19. — Mr. W. IL 

 Dines, ])resident, in the chair. — hir. E. Mawley submitted his 

 report on the phenological observations for the year 1901. He 

 showed that as affecting vegetation the weather wiis chiefly 

 remarkable for the scanty rainfall during the growing period of 

 the year. The deficiency was not confined to any part of the 

 British Isles, but was more keenly felt in the English counties 

 than in either Scotland or Ireland. Wild plants came into 

 flower very late, but not quite as late as in the previous pheno- 

 logical year, which was an exceptionally backward one. The 

 swallow, cuckoo and other spring migrants were, as a rule, 



NO. 1687, VOL. 65] 



rather behind their usual dates in reaching these islands. The 

 crops of wheat, barley and oats were all more or less above 

 average in Scotland and Ireland. On the other hand, in England, 

 although there was a fair yield of wheat, that of barley ami oats 

 was very deficient. Hay proved everywhere a small crop, and 

 especially so in the .southern districts of England. Beans, peas, 

 turnips, swede.s, mangolds and potatoes were all more or less 

 under average in England, but either good or fairly good else- 

 where. The yield of hops proved singularly abundant. Apples, 

 pears and plums were below average, especially apples, but the 

 small fruits, as a rule, yielded well. Taking farm and garden 

 crops together, seldom has there been a less bountiful year. 



Manchicster. 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, February 4. — Mr. 

 Charles Bailey, president, in the chair. — Mr. J. E. King read 

 the first part of a paper on folklore of the North American 

 Indians, from the Jesuit relations (161 1 to 1637). Without 

 attempting to give any complete account of Indian culture, the 

 paper described and illustrated particular practices observed by 

 the Jesuits. The savages believed in two main sources of 

 disease, viz., desires in the mind of the patient, or evil practices 

 of an enemy working by witchcraft. The sorcerers, or medicine 

 men, claimed to cure disease and also to produce it, when 

 desired, by practices which come under the head of sympathetic 

 magic. Great importance was attached by the Indians to 

 dreams, singing, dancing and feasting. Wherever these 

 practices had a magical meaning, they were forbidden by the 

 Jesuits to their converts. — The animistic theory of nature is 

 illustrated by the observances with regard to the bones of 

 animals eaten at feasts, the treatment of fishing nets, and 

 offerings to dangerous rocks and rapids. The life of the human 

 soul after death was a shadow of the life on earth. The ghost 

 of the dead was driven from the abode of tlie living, and the 

 name of the dead -was not to be mentioned. — Mr. W. E. Hoyle 

 exhibited two carved wooden bowls from British Columbia, and 

 referred to the skill shown by the Indians in retaining in their 

 carvings the special characteristics of the various animals repre- 

 sented, illustrating his remarks by a series of lantern slides. — 

 Mr. Francis Nicholson drew attention to a paragraph in Mr. 

 Elijah Helm's "Chapters in the History of the Manchester 

 Chamber of Commerce," wherein it is stated that as early as 

 the first half of the seventeenth century cotton was brought from 

 Cyprus and Smyrna to London and thence to Lancashire, where 

 it was spun by hand on the single spindle frame. Mr. Nicholson 

 pointed out that most of the cotton used in Lancashire at that 

 time probably came from the West Indies, and, as confirming 

 this, he read a letter written from London by his great-grand- 

 father, Robert Nicholson, to his brother, James, in Liverpool in 

 1749, where he quotes: "Jamaica cotton is sold at i6rf. per 

 lb., some of the very choicest i(>\d. per lb., Leeward Islands 

 14^. per lb." 



Cambridge. 

 ' Philosophical Society, February 3. — Prof. Macalister, pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — Oxidation in presence of iron, by Mr. 

 H. J. H. Fenton. The remarkable influence which is exerted 

 by traces of iron in determining and regulating the oxidation of 

 various organic substances was first observed by the author 

 about twenty years ago, and the observation has since opened 

 up a very wide and fruitful field for ifivestigation. The work is 

 still being extended in several directions, and in the present 

 communication a brief summary is given of the principal re- 

 searches on the .subject already published, and of new results 

 which have recently been obtained. The conditions of this 

 oxidation-method show some very close analogies with certain 

 natural processes, and many experiments are in progress with 

 a view of throwing further light upon the function of the iron. 

 — Decomposition of hydrogen peroxide by light, by Mr. R. F. 

 D' Arcy. The author gave an account of experiments showing : — 

 (a) That dilute solutions of hydrogen peroxide are rapidly 

 aftected by exposure to sunshine. Experiments were chiefly 

 made with aqueous solutions containing 4 per cent, of " 20 vol.' 

 H.,Oo. Exposure of such a solution in a llask to the sunshine 

 of fiv'e days in June resulted in the decomposition of about 

 three-quarters of the hydrogen peroxide. In open dishes it 

 is more rapidly decomposed, and the effect in this case is not 

 dependent, at any rate to any considerable extent, on the 

 evaporation taking place simultaneously. The eflfect is not a 

 temperature effect. This property of hydrogen peroxide may 

 possibly be of some importance in some of its reactions, (h) 



