

— 7 
‘Nov. 3 1870] 
MALOURE 

“‘ These facts all point to the conclusion that in the majority of | 
calcareous marine deposits, the Coccoliths originally formed a 
more or less essential part of the calcareous masses, and that in | 
thick or granulous, and particularly ancient limestone rocks, they 
can no longer be perceived, either on account of the opaque 
character of the rocks, or because they have been made by some 
change wholly or in part unrecognisable, or have been altogether 
destroyed. I have been able by some experiments to throw 
further light upon this subject. That these smallest organic bodies 
can be recognised in hard limestones only in the rarest cases, 
even when it contains them in great numbers, I convinced myself | 
by means of thin slices, which I made from Deep-sea Mud, 
thoroughly dried and rendered hard by repeated soaking in diluted 
Canada balsam and by heating, and also from writing chalk, 
made hard in the same way, and rich in Coccoliths ‘The infinite 
numbers of finest granules and rings are so massed together, one 
over the other, that it must be regarded as an extremely rare case | 
when a Coccolith is clearly seen here and there at the very thinnest 
edges.” 


THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION 
SECTIONAL PROCEEDINGS 
Section A.—MATHEMATICAL AND PHYSICAL SCIENCE 
On a new Electro-Magnelic Anemometer and the Modeof Using it 
in Registering theVelocity and Pressure of the Wind.—Mr. J. J. Hall. 
The anemometer consists of two parts, viz.—velocity apparatus 
and registering apparatus. The first consists of a set of Robin- 
son’s hemispherical cups, which communicate their motion down- 
wards into a brass box, where it is reduced in angular velocity, 
and causes a contact disc or commutator (in which two platinum 
contact pins are fixed equidistant from one another) to revolve 
in ~;th mile. An insulated metallic lever, having a platinum 
working face, stands on either side of the disc, so that upon the 
completion of every ;4;th mile one or other of the contact pins 
comes in contact with the two levers, thus uniting them and 
completing the circuit. The levers are raised a few degrees and 
then fall back to their normal position ready to be taken up by 
the next pin, and so on. The recording apparatus consists of a 
train of wheels and pinions working in a frame or between two 
brass plates, the arbors of which project through a dial-plate 
whereon the circles and figures are engraved and carry the 
hands. These wheels are driven by a weight attached to a line 
wound round a barrel, and a Jocking-pin disc (the pinion of which 
works in the first wheel) is released at every contact of the cup- 
apparatus by an electro-magnet which unlocks the pin-disc and 
allows the first hand to advance ¢4,th mile on the graduated dial 
by a jump similar to the minute hands in remontoire clocks. By 
turning on a ‘‘strike-silent ” stop a hammer lever is brought into 
connection with the escapement and strikes a bell at every con- 
tact. By this arrangement the observer has nothing to do but to 
notice the seconds-hand of his watch or chronometer while he 
counts the number of times that the bell is struck, each of which 
corresponds to the five-hundredth part of a mile, and by a for- 
mula arranged (and exhibited) by Mr. Hall (who has also 
arranged a comprehensive series of tables for use with this instru- 
ment) the hourly velocity may be readily deduced. In noting 
velocities extending over long periods of time, the instrument is 
read in the same manner as the ordinary cup and dial anemometer, 
or as a gas meter. By means of the formula before mentioned 
(although the unit of measurement in this instrument is five-hun- 
dredths) the observer may arrive at results as near the truth as ifthe 
‘instrument were capable of registering the one-thousandth part of 
a mile, while the great advantage lies in the fact that the battery 
power is less called into action, from which we may infer its 
elemental duration will be considerably longer. 
A Magnetic Paradox.—Mr. S. Alfred Varley, Assoc. Inst. C.E. 
The author stated he had termed the instrument a Magnetic 
Paradox because the phenomenon exhibited by it was the appa- 
rent repulsion of soft iron bya magnet. The apparatus consisted 
of a compound magnet in a box, and when pieces of soft iron 
were placed on the box over the poles they became magnetic 
by induction and were attracted by the magnet; but if a soft 
iron bar not by itself magnetic’ was approached near to the 
pieces of iron, they leapt away from the magnet in the box and 
became strongly attached to the soft iron bar, the pieces of iron 
appearing to be repelled by the magnet and attracted by the 
fron bar. The aathor stated the explanation demonstrated the 

; 17 
duality of the magnetic force, and it would also prove, did we 
not already know it, that magnetic force was transmitted only by 
induction. He stated that if a piece of soft iron were placed over 
the poles of a magnet, the magnet developes the magnetic forces 
resident in the iron by separating them, and the iron is attracted 
only by virtue of the forces existing in the iron itself, and to the 
extent to which the forces are separated. _If the magnet be bent 
bringing the lower pole round and over the piece of soft iron, 
the magnetic forces resident in the soft iron will be more de- 
veloped ; but if the piece of soft iron be midway, it will not be 
attracted, as the forces on either side are equal and balance ; 
another attraction will, however, be manifested if one pole 
be nearer to the piece of iron than the other. If, instead of 
bending the magnet as just described, the piece of soft iron placed 
over the magnet be approached by a soft iron bar, the mag- 
netic forces separated and rendered active in the piece of iron 
will develop the magnetic forces resident jn the iron bar, and if 
the bar opposed no resistance to the assumption of the magnetic 
condition, it would exert an attractive force for the piece of soft 
iron equal to that exerted by the magnet, provided always that the 
bar was at the same distance. It was stated that as the mass of 
iron in the iron bar was much greater than that of the piece of 
soft iron, the resistance opposed by the bar to polarisation was 
comparatively small, and might be disregarded, and consequently 
| it followed that as the dual forces resident in iron are equal, and 
| the one force cannot be developed without equally developing the 
other; when the iron bar was approached nearer to the piece of 
soft iron it became attracted, leaping away from the magnet 
and attaching itself to the iron bar, and this notwithstanding that 
the attractive force exhibited by the iron bar has been called into 
being by the magnet in the box, which is nearer to the piece of 
soft iron than itis to the iren bar. The iron bar also collected 
the magnetic rays of force issuing from the magnets, and con- 
sequently it exerted a greater attraction for the piece of soft iron 
than any individual magnet forming part of the compound mag- 
net. This was shown by placing a piece of soft iron on the pole 
of one of the magnets and removing it from the pole by the su- 
perior attractive force of the iron bar. It was also shown that if 
only the thickness of a picce of writing-paper were placed between 
the magnets and the piece of soft iron, the appearance of repul- 
sion could be prevented. 
SrecTion B.—CHEMICAL SCIENCE 
On the Separation from Iron Furnace Cinder of Phosphoric Acid 
Jor Manurial Purposes.—Mr. James Hargreaves. While the 
author was engaged in an attempt to produce a good ser- 
viceable steel direct from phosphoric pig-iron, by the use of 
nitrate of soda, the fact forced itseif upon his attention that 
phosphorus had previously been too much looked upon as some- 
thing to be got rid of, and not sufficiently as something to be got hold 
of ; and that to effect the latter would be the best means of effecting 
the former. When phosphoric pig-iron is converted into malleable 
iron, the phosphorusis, in great part, transferred to the refinery and 
puddling furnace cinder in the form of phosphate of iron, the 
amount varying with the composition of the pig-iron which 
yields it. The refining and puddling furnace cinder from Cleve- 
land pig-iron generally contains from 3 to 7 per cent. of phos- 
phoric acid, which is from one-fourth to one-half the amount 
contained in good commercial soluble phosphate of lime. This 
cinder is sometimes again used for the manufacture of pig-iron, 
but the product is of small commercial value on account of the 
accumulation of phosphorus in it. The concentration of the 
phosphorus from the pig-iron into the cinder in the form of phos- 
phate of iron renders it more easy and practicable to separate, 
when the preparation of compounds of phosphoric acid is the 
object in view, as there is a smaller bulk of material to be treated 
to obtain a given amount of this product. The phosphoric acid 
may be separated either in the form of soluble superphosphates 
of lime and magnesia, or of the alkaline tribasic phosphates. 
On the Retention of Organic Nitrogen by Charcoal. — Mr. 
Edward C. C. Stanford, F.C.S. In this paper the author sub- 
mitted some incomplete researches, as a first instalment of what 
promises to be a wide field of inquiry, viz., the action of char- 
coal on organic nitrogenous matter. He was desirous of 
knowing whether or not a loss of nitrogen occurs when that form 
of matter remains in contact with charcoal, and if so, what be- 
comes of it. If any loss occurs, it would invalidate the process 
recommended by the author at the Exeter meeting of the Associa- 
tion, viz., that of using charcoal as a means of securing the 
