April I, 1884] 



NA TURE 



543 



Section of Natural Science.— V. Ball, F.R.S., in the chair.— 

 Gerrard A. Kinahan read a paper entitled "Notes on the Coal- 

 fields of the North- West Territories of Canada." 



Cambridge 

 Philosophical Society, March 10. — Mr. D'Arcy W. Thomp- 

 son, B. A., Trinity College, wns elected a Fellow. — ^The folbw- 

 in' papers were comnunicated : — Continuation of observation; 

 on the state of an eye affected with astigmatism, by Sir G. B. 

 Airy. The paper consisted of a continuation of ob-ervations 

 already recorded in the publication of the Society. The author 

 gave tables of the distances from the c >rnea of the left eye at 

 which a luminous p^int appears respectively as a horizontal and 

 a vertical strai;4ht line. The observations have extended from 

 the year 1S25 to the present time. — On the measurement of the 

 electrical resistance between two neighbouring points on a con- 

 ductor, by Lord Rayleigh. In some experiments described \\ a 

 recent paper read before the Royal Society, tlie autlior had 

 occasion to arrange a set of resistance coils so that the ditTerence 

 of potenti.il between t«o points on a circuit through which a 

 current is flowing shall be exceedingly small and yet known to a 

 high degree of accuracy. In the present conmunication the 

 method is applied to determining the difference of potential 

 between two neighbouring points on a conductor through which 

 the same current is flowing. The resistance coils are adjusted 

 until the difference of potential measured by the current pro- 

 duced in a galvanometer of comparatively high resistance is the 

 same in the two cases. The method has been applied by Messrs. 

 Ward and Shackle at the Cavendish Laboratory to determine 

 the v.ilue of a small resistance of abDUt i/2X) of a B.A. unit, 

 and is capablie of very great accuracy. — On dimensioaal equa- 

 tions and change of units, by Mr. W. N. Shaw. 



Sydney 



Linnean Society of New? South Wales, January 30. — 

 C. S. Wilkinson, F.G.S., president, in the chair. — The President 

 delivered an address on the progress of science in Au-;trali=i 

 during the pxst year, and concluded by a general account of the 

 geology of the country from an economic poiat of view. — The 

 following papers were read : — Supplement to the Descriptive 

 Catalogue of the Fishes of Australia, by William Macleay, 

 F.L.S., &c. This paper contains references to, or descriptions 

 of, 157 species of fishes not mentioned as Australian in the 

 previously printed catalogue. The species here described for 

 the first time are from the pens of Dr. Klunzinger, Dr. Gunther, 

 Messrs.JDe Vis, Ramsay, Macleay, and R. M. Johnston. The 

 total number of Australian fishes now amounts to 1291 species. — 

 On some ne-v Batrachians from Queensland, by Charles W. De 

 Vis, M.A. This paper contams descriptions of three new 

 species of frogs, collected at Mackay, by Mr. H. Ling Roth, 

 and named by the author as follows : — Lirnnodynjs/es linealiis, 

 approaching L. p.ronii, but distinguished by shorter hind limbs 

 and continuity of dorsal stripes ; L. oUvaceus, and Ilyla rothii. 

 — On plants indigenous in the immediate neighbourhood of 

 Sydney, by Mr. Haviland. This, the sixth of the series, gives 

 an account of some species of the genus D.irwin'a, showing the 

 supposed m.anner of fertilisation, and explaining, to s ime extent, 

 the prevalence of the species D. faickularis, notwithstanding 

 the great disproportion between the fertilised and the fertilising 

 (lowers. — Studies on the Elasmsbranch skeleton, by William A. 

 HasweU, M.A., B.Sc. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, March 24. — M. Rolland in the chair- 

 — Influence of the density of explosive gaseous mixtures on 

 pressure ; isomerous mixtures, by MM. Berthelot and Vieille. — 

 Separation of galliu n from boric acid, by M. Lecoq de Bois- 

 baudran. This concludes the series of exhaustive experiments 

 conducted by the author for the purpose of obtai ling the com- 

 plete separation of g.album from all other know 1 elements. A 

 final communication is promised on the separation of gallium 

 from tartaric acid, taken as a type of organic substances whose 

 presence might affect several of the reactions indicated during 

 the course of the foregoing studies. — On the concordance of 

 some general practical methods, based on apparently opposite 

 principles, for determining the tensions in a >ystem of points 

 connected by electric 1 nks and kept in equilibrium under the 

 action of external f')rces, by General L. F. Menabrea. — Obser- 

 vations of Saturn and Uranus made at the Observatory of Nice, 

 by M. Perrotin. These observations were made under unusually 



favourable conditions by Messrs. Norman Lockyer, Thollon, and 

 Perrotin on March 16 and iS. The outer ring of Saturn 

 appeared to consist of three distinct rings slightly diminishing in 

 breadth outwardly, and each apparently made up of numerous 

 subdivisions. Uranus, seen on the iSih, presented in some 

 respects the general aspect of Mars, with dark spots towards the 

 centre, and a white speck like the p ole of that planet at the 

 angle of position 380° on the edge of the disk. Mr. Lockyer, 

 who was present at the sitting, read a telegram from M. Perrotin 

 announcing a repe'ition of the obser\'ati ons on March 23 under 

 equally favourable conditions. — Note on the polar spots in Venus, 

 observedat theMeudonObservatory,by M. E.L.Trouvelot. These 

 spots seem to be permanent, although varying greatly in brilliancy, 

 and often rendered invisible by the distance of the planet towards 

 superior conjunction. — On the thrust of a mass of sand with 

 horizontal upper surface against a vertical wall, in the neigh- 

 bourhood of which its inner angle of friction is assumed to 

 he slightly increased accordinr to a definite law, by M. f. 

 Boussinesq. — On the extension of the theorems of Pascal and 

 Brianchon to surfaces of the second o.der, by M. A. Petot. — 

 On a probable cause of the discrepancies found to exist between 

 the electromotor force of voltaic piles and the theoretical results 

 of thennochemicil observations, by M. G. Chapi-Ton. — Note 

 on the action exercised by polarised light on cellulose solu- 

 tions in Schweizer's fluid, by M. A. Lev.dlois. — Remarks on a 

 ca-e of dimorphism observed with the hyposuVhite of soda 

 (NaO,S%0„,5HO), by MM. F. Parmentier and L. Amat.— Re- 

 searches on the sulphites and bisulphites of sodi, by M. 

 de Forcrand. — On the dissymmetric chloro-ioduretted and 

 bromo-ioduretted ethylenes, by M. L. Henry. — Experimen- 

 tal researc'-.es on the influence of extremely high pressure on 

 living organisms, by M. P. Regnard. These experiments were 

 conducted by means of the press of MM. CaiUetet and Ducretet, 

 yielding pressures of 1000 atmospheres and upwards. Soluble 

 ferments were unaffected by extreme pressure; starch at 1000 

 was changed to sug.ir ; alga; at 600 were decomp osed, and the 

 carbonic acid liberated ; infusoria, leeches, and mollusks at 600 

 v/ere rendered insensible, but recovered when the pressure w as 

 removed ; fishes with swimming bladder resisted 100, became 

 insensible at 200, and succumbed at 300. These results show 

 interesting coincidences with the phenomena observed by the 

 naturalists of the Talisman at various oceanic deptlis. — On the 

 action of cold on microbes, by MM. R. Pictet and E. 

 Yung. Many inferior organisms resisted temperatures of 

 from - 70° to - 130° C. for several hours. Others were either 

 killed or lost their germinating functions. — On peritoneal 

 transfusion, by M. G. Hayem.— On the medullar mechanism of 

 paralyse; of cerebral origin, by M. Couty. — Anatomical descrip- 

 tion of the f(£tus of a gorilla recently brought from the Gaboon, 

 by M. T. Deniker. — On the anatomy of the Pcachia hastata dis- 

 covered by Gosse in 1835, by M. Faurot.— On the structure of 

 the auditory organ in Arenicola grubii. Clap., by M. Et. Jour- 

 dan. — Anatomy of the mu-cles in the abiomen of the bee, by 

 ^L G. Carlet.— Note on a deposit of gold a' Pefufl ir in Anda- 

 lusia, by M. A. F. Nogues. — On certain changes in the appear- 

 ance of the sky recently observed at Nice, by M. L. Thollon. — 

 On the crepuscular glows observed at San Salvador, in Central 

 America, by M. de Montessus. 



Berlin 

 Physiological Society, February 29.— Dr.Weyl spoke about 

 the secretion in man of nitric acid, which he had analytically 

 proved, and which, by administration of ammonia, he was able 

 quantitatively to increase. After it had been experimentally 

 e^tablished that a direct transference of albumen into nrine was 

 impossible, it was recognised that the formation of urine was no 

 oxidising process of the albumen, but was effected circuitously 

 by the formation ofamido-compounds, who;e introduction into the 

 animal body increased the quantity of the secreted urine. The 

 formation of urine took place through alimentation of the 

 simplest amidinous matters, ammonia increased the secretion of 

 urea. Similar 1 the action of ammonia was that of a carbomite 

 of ammonia, as al-o when combined with organic acids, while 

 from hydrochlorate, sulphate, and mineral acid salt, the ammonia 

 did not become transformed into urea. On perusing the litera- 

 ture of the subject, Dr. Weyl found that in all experiments the 

 ammonia was never wholly transformed into urea, but that 

 there was alwavs a residue of from 10 to 40 per cent, which was 

 not represented in the nrine. This residue of ammonia, he 

 conjectured, was consumed in the animal body, and he therefore- 



