Dec. 9, 1869 | 
NATURE 
177 
denuded by atmospherical action since the origin of the present 
rivers. Mr. Taylor then gave an account of a recent visit to 
Chillesford, in Suffolk, where he had studied the typical section, 
and taken an inventory of the commonest fossils and their mode 
of occurrence. The crag intercalated between the Chillesford 
clay contained great quantities of MJactra solida. This was the 
shell found so abundantly at Arminghall, near Norwich, in a 
bed resting on a portion of the Chillesford clay. The usual beds 
which, in the neighbourhood of Norwich, were found underlying 
this clay, were absent at Arminghall, so that the clay rested on 
the solid chalk. He had no doubt, therefore, that the interca- 
lated crag at Chillesford was represented at Arminghall by the 
Mactra solida bed. 
PARIS 
Academy of Sciences, November 29.—The following 
mathematical papers were read :—On a potential of the second 
kind which solves the equation with partial differences of the 
fourth order, expressing the interior Equilibrium of elastic, 
amorphous, non-isotropic substances, by M. de Saint-Venant, 
and a note on a certain class of differential equations of the 
_ second order by M. Laguerre. A note found among the papers 
of the late M. Léon Foucault on the construction of the optical 
plane was read. It gave a description of the method adopted 
by M. Foucault to obtain a perfectly plane surface of glass, 
and was supplemented by some remarks of M. A. Martin on his 
experience in the employment of the same method.—M. P. 
Gervais presented a note accompanying preparations relating to 
the anatomy of the Great Anteater.—M. Melsens communicated 
a memoir on the Passage of Projectiles through Resisting 
Media, in which he treats of the conveyance of air by projectiles 
moving through it, and the effect of the compression of the air 
upon the course of the projectile—M. Scoutetten presented a 
note on the Preservation and Improvement of Wines by Means 
of Electricity. He stated that by the application of a current of 
electricity generated by a battery, and passed into the wine by 
means of platinum electrodes, its quality is greatly improved. — 
M. A. Gerardin remarked upon the unhealthy conditions produced 
by the discharge of the water of starch manufactories into rivers, 
and maintained that he had restored some rivers into a healthy con- 
dition by causing the watercontaining albuminousand other organic 
refuse to be discharged upon well-drained arable land. A paper 
on a very simple system of floodgates with a constant yield under 
variable pressure, by M. Maurice Lévy, was communicated, as 
also a note by the same author on a peculiar system of skew- 
bridges. MM. P. Desains and E. Branly communicated some 
investigations on solar radiation. They have found that the 
calorific action of the sun increases in intensity with the altitude 
of the place of observation, but that the transmissibility of the 
rays through water diminishes with the altitude. The transmissi- 
bility of the solar heat through water and alum was found to be 
greater in the morning than at noon, but this was not so strikingly 
the case in October as in August. The authors stated that their 
spectroscopic observations were in accordance with the preceding 
results, A paper by M. J. Moutier on the expansion of gases 
was presented, as also a note on molecular actions in chlorine, 
bromine, and iodine, by M. C. A. Valson. In the latter the 
author described his experiments to ascertain the amount of 
molecular action in chlorine, bromine, and iodine, by determining 
the height to which solutions of precisely equivalent quantities of 
their salts would rise by capillary action. From his results he 
inferred that if chlorine and iodine could easily be brought into a 
liquid state, the capillary elevations of the three bodies above- 
mentioned in a tube I millimetre in diameter would be respectively 
6, 5°5, and 5 millimetres. The author suggested that the capillarity 
of substances may be made available in chemical analysis, and 
remarked that in its physical properties bromine stands nearly 
midway between chlorine and iodine. MM. Odet and Vignon 
presented an account of a new method of preparing anhydrous 
nitric acid, founded upon that proposed by Gerhardt for obtaining 
the anhydrous monobasic organic acids. They prepared chloride 
of azotyle by the action of oxychloride of phosphorus upon nitrate 
of lead or silver. The vapours of this chloride of azotyle were 
directed upon dry crystals of nitrate of silver at a temperature of 
140 —158° F; the products of the reaction were conveyed into 
a tube immersed in a mixture of ice and common salt, where they 
furnished colourless prismatic needles presenting all the properties 
described by H. Sainte-Claire Deville. The authors described 
a simplified form of apparatus in which the acid may be pro- 
duced without the preliminary preparation of chloride of azotyle, 
and indicated the reactions which take place. M. J. Roussin 
communicated a paper on the preparation of hydrate of chloral 
and on its characters when pure. His process consisted in sub- 
mitting the crude crystalline mass obtained by passing dry 
chlorine through absolute alcohol to strong pressure until it is 
quite dry, then placing it in a retort with alittle powdered chalk 
and distilling it. M. Dubrunfaut presented a paper on inverted 
sugar, in which he declared the results lately communicated to 
the Academy by M. Mauméné to be erroneous.—A memoir by 
M. E. Van Beneden on the mode of formation of the ovum and 
the embryonic development of the Sacculine was read ; to this 
we shall probably advert elsewhere.—M. Marié-Davy presented 
a third note on lunar radiation, containing the results of his 
observations on this subject during the month of November. 
The following papers were also communicated :—On a new 
means of diagnosis and extraction of iron projectiles and leaden 
projectiles with an iron nucleus, by M. Milliot; on a new elec- 
trical explorer for detecting foreign (especially metallic) sub- 
stances in the tissues of the human body, by M. Trouvé ; on 
a system of aérial navigation (title only), by M. A. Vaillant ; a 
description of clinical experiments upon the therapeutic effects of 
bromide of morphine and atropine, and bromide of digitaline (title 
only), and an indication of a mode of curing stings by cauterisa- 
tion (by the use of phenic and sulphuric acids), by M. Delagrée ; 
and a note on the supposed influence of subterranean marshes in 
the development of intermittent fevers, by M. Colin. 
BERLIN 
Academy of Sciences, October 11.—Professor Magnus read 
a paper on the alteration of the radiation of heat by roughening 
of the radiating surface, in which he described a series of ex- 
periments made by him to determine the cause of this alteration, 
and stated that in his opinion the increased radiation of a rough- 
ened surface depends essentially upon the refraction which the 
heat undergoes in issuing from the surface of the radiating body. 
—Professor W. Peters communicated a notice of a new species 
of Lizard, Phyllodactylus galapagensis, from the Galapagos 
Islands. He remarked that only five species of reptiles were 
previously known from these islands—one tortoise, three lizards, 
and one snake, The last he identified with Dyomicus chamissonis, 
which also occurs on the continent of America, and with this 
Dr. Giinther’s Herfetodryas biserialis, from the Galapagos group, 
may be synonymous. If it be distinct, the number of reptiles 
from these islands will only be seven.—Prof. Pringsheim read an 
elaborate memoir on the conjugation of swann-spores, the 
morphological primary form of reproduction in the vegetable 
kingdom, and a communication was presented by Dr. K. 
Schultz-Sellack on the diathermancy of a series of substances 
for dark heat. The author stated that he had found that 
many more substances than is generally supposed allow a con- 
siderable amount of the dark heat radiated by lampblack at 
212°F. to pass through then. He enumerates binary com- 
pounds of chlorine, bromine, fluorine, and iodine, and a number 
of sulphides, and shows their behaviour in this respect by means 
of percentage tables. 
German Chemical Society, November 12.—The following 
papers were read :—Otto on Mercuric Phenylide.—Kolbe: 
Lecture Experiment to demonstrate the increase of weight of 
burning substances.—Kempf on Carbonate of Phenyl.—Car- 
stanjen on the Action of Oxychloride of Chromium on Hydro- 
carbons. —Henry on Chlorosulphide of Phosphorus. —Radizewsky 
onthe Wax contained in the Straw of Cereals.—A. W. Hofmann 
on the Action of Iodine on Thiobenzamide. — Friedel; Paris Corre- 
spondence.—Richter: Petersburg Correspondence. 
BONN 
Natural History Society of Rhenish Prussia and 
Westphalia.—The autumnal gathering of this society took 
place on the 11th October, the day so widely observed as the 
centenary of the birth of Humboldt ; and the proceedings were 
naturally inaugurated by a discourse in commemoration of the 
great philosopher of whom the Germans are so justly proud. 
The following are the more important communications sub- 
mitted to the society :—The veteran Prof. Noggerath gave an 
account of the earthquakes, four in number, which since Novem- 
ber 1868 have visited the Rhine province, specifying the extent 
of country subject to their influence, and glancing at the general 
physical characters of earthquake phenomena. He was followed 
by Prof. Troschel, who showed the importance of a study of the 
geographical distribution of animals as indicating the configura- 
tion of the earth’s surface, and the distribution of land and water 
