238 



NA rURE 



17 an. 6, I J 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Royal Society, November iS. — " On the Specific Heats of 

 Minerals." ByJ. Joly, B.E., Trinity College, Dublin. Com- 

 municated by Prof. Fitzgerald, F. K.S. 



A number of experiments — carried out by the method of con- 

 densation — are tabulated in this paper, on minerals whose 

 specific heats have not previously been determined as well as on 

 some mineral substances previously dealt with by Kopp, Reg- 

 nault, &c. 



The observation of specific heat is suggested as of value in 

 determinative mineralogy. It is, with some exceptions, nearly 

 constant for the same chemical composition, and calculable from 

 an assumed chemical constitution, not alone in the case of simple 

 compounds, but in the ca^e, often, of the more complicated sili- 

 cates, &c. No difficulty is introduced into its determination by 

 conditions of aggregation such as loosene.ss, &c. The method 

 by weighing in air and steam admits of its value being very 

 simply determined, and, if great accuracy be not required, very 

 rapidly. 



The experiments made by the writer show that there is a small 

 variation in the specific heats of minerals of the same species, 

 accompanying slight differences in translucency, lustre, perfec- 

 tion of crystalline form, the tendency being for the specific 

 heat to be a minimum in the most perfect crystals. There is, 

 further, in some cases, a variation of quite different order accom- 

 panying pronounced differences in physical appearance, as from 

 the transparent aquamarine to the clouded beiyl, sapphire to 

 corundum, &c. ; so that a distinct and definite value exists for 

 each variety, unaccounted for by any probable variation in 

 chemical composition. 



It appears, also, that this kind of variation obtains in the case 

 of the isometric sulphides, pyrite, galenite, sphalerite, and in 

 such degrees as admit of the several values being stated in 

 numerical proportion from one substance to another. Thus, 

 using the initial letters for the observed values, it is found that — 



/i : Pi ■■ ■■ fi : i's ; 

 and, if the orthorhombic disulphide of iron, marcasite, be in- 

 cluded, the proportion 



si : s„ : : />i : m : : ^^ : ^^ 

 obtains very closely. The observations of other observers are 

 included in these ratios, the existence of which, if further borne 

 out, suggest as an explanation the existence of variations of 

 structure of definite character affecting, in a definite way, the 

 freedom of the atom. From this point of view, the case of 

 marcasite would be that in which such variation proved adequate 

 to determine a special symmetry for the aggregate. 



December 9. — "Note to a Paper on the Geometrical Con- 

 struction of the Cell of the Honey- Bee" [Proc. U.S., No. 240, 

 p. 253, 18S6). By Prof. H. Hennessy. 



The author found in the foregoing paper that a side of one of 

 the lozenges terminating the cell was three times the diff'erence 

 between two parallel edges of the hexagonal prism, and from 

 this result he constructed one of the lozenges by erecting a per- 

 pendicular at one-third of its length from one end, and from this 

 end, with radius equal to the side, he inflected a second side of 

 the lozenge, which g.ave the whole figure and also the six tra- 

 peziums forming the prism. With a compass and ruler the 

 whole figure can be thus easily constructed. 



The author further proves that the triangular pyramid which 

 terminates the bee's cell may be inscribed in a sphere whose 

 diameter is three times one of the edges of the pyramid. More- 

 over, this sphere contains within it as much of the hexagonal 

 prism as may be measured by twice the side of a lozenge on the 

 prism's shorter edge. These results, together with the extremely 

 simple mode given by the author for constructing the figure, 

 divest the problem of the complex character which it was some- 

 times supposed to have, and they may also assist in explaining 

 the action of the bees in moulding the cells of the honeycomb to 

 their observed shapes. 



"The Intra-ovarian Egg of some Osseous Fishes." By 

 Robert .Sch.arR', Ph.D., B.Sc. Communicated by Prof. 

 Mcintosh, F.R.S. 



December 16. — "On the Changes in the Proteids in the 

 Seed which accompany Germination." By J. R. Green. 



The author described experiments proving the existence in 

 germinating seeds of a ferment resembling the proteolytic fer- 

 ment of the pancreas. This exists in the resting seeds in the 



condition of a mesostate or zymogen, and is, on the starting of 

 the germiuative process, transformed into the active ferment. 

 He traced the changes which it brings about in the reserve 

 proteids of the seed, and showed that, while they passed through 

 the stage of peptone, the nitrogen was carried to the growing 

 points in the condition of a crystalline amide, such as leucin, 

 asparagin, &c. 



Zoological Society, December 2i, 1886. — Prof. \V. H. 

 Flower, LL.D., F.R.S. , President, in the chair. — Mr. Howard 

 Saunders, F. Z. S., exhibited and made remarks on a specimen 

 of a hybrid between the Tufted Duck and the Pochard, bred in 

 Lancashire in 1886. — Mr. J. Bland Sutton, F.Z.S., read a paper 

 on atavism, being a critical and analytical study on this subject. 

 — Dr. von Lendenfeld read a paper on the classification and 

 systematic position of the Sponges. This was based on the 

 recent researches on the Hexactinellida, Tetractinellida, and 

 Monaxonida of the Challenger Expedition, and on his own 

 investigations on the rich Australian Sponge-fauna, particularly 

 of the groups Calcarea, Chalinidfe, and Horny Sponges. A 

 complete system of Sponges was proposed, and worked out 

 down to the families and sub-families, and all the principal 

 genera were mentioned. An approximately complete list of the 

 literature of Sponges (comprising the titles of 1446 papers), a 

 " key " to the determination of the 46 families, and a discussion 

 of the systematic position of the Sponges were also contained in 

 the paper. — Prof. Ray Lankester communicated a paper by Dr. 

 A. Gibbs Bourne, of the Presidency College, Madras, on Indian 

 earthworms, containing an account of the earthworms collected 

 and observed by the author during e-xcursions to the Nilgiris 

 and Shevaroy Hills. Upwards of twenty new species were 

 described. 



Geological Society, December 15, 1886. — Prof. J. W. 

 Judd, F.R.S., President, in the chair. — John Usher and Joseph 

 Tertius Wood were elected Fellows of the Society. — The fol- 

 lowing communications were read : — Notes on Nuniinuliles 

 elegans. Sow., and other English Nummulites, by Prof T. 

 Rupert Jones, F.R.S. The author finds, in the " Sowerby 

 Collection," now in the British Museum, the original specimens 

 on which Sowerby founded his Nuininnlaria elegans (1826, 

 "Min. Conch. "vok vi. p. 76). These are partly specimens from 

 that part of the bed "No. 29" of Prof. Prestwich's section of 

 Alum Bay (Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc, vol. ii. (1846), p. 257, 

 pi. ix. fig. l), which is known to be the lowest of the Barton 

 series ; and partly some in a stone said to be from Emsworth, 

 in Hampshire. The former are the same as those named Niitnmii- 

 lites planulata, var. Prestwic/tiana, hy Rupert Jones in 1S52 ; 

 and the latter are N. planulata, Lamarck (1S04), and probably 

 foreign. Thus N. elegans has priority over Prestwichiana ; and 

 as this last was determined by De la Har|.-e to be a variety of 

 JV. ivemmelensis. Van den Broeck and De la Harpe, this variety 

 should be var. e/egans. The author thinks that, on broad 

 zoological principles, N. planulata might still be regarded as 

 the species ; but, in view of the careful differentiation » orked 

 out by De la Harpe, he accepts the "specific" standing ot 

 " weinnielensis " as useful among Nummulites ; but " Prestwich- 

 iana " has to give way to " elegans " for the peculiar " Barton " 

 variety. A bibliographical history of the long-misunderstood 

 N. elegans, Sowerby, descriptions of this form and of JV. vario- 

 laria (Lam.), notes on N. hnigata (Brug. ), and an acccount of 

 their range in England, complete the paper. — On the dentition 

 and afhnities of the Selachian genus Piychodus, Agassiz, by A. 

 Smith Woodward, F.G. S. The genus Piychodus, owing to the 

 detached condition in which the teeth are usually found, has 

 hitherto been imperfectly understood. Agassiz referred it to the 

 Cestraciontidae, on account of a supposed resemblance in the 

 arrangement of the teeth, and Owen's researches on their micro- 

 scopic structure served to confirm this view. On the other hand, 

 several writers have pointed out characters tending to show 

 affinity between Piychodus and Rhynchobatus. More recently, 

 however. Prof. Cope and the author had shown that the sup- 

 posed affinities between Piychodus and the Cestraciontids were 

 only apparent, and in the present paper additional evidence was 

 brought forward. The author proceeded to describe several 

 specimens of P. decurrens in the British Museum, and in the 

 collection of Mr. H. Willett, of Brighton, one of the latter, 

 especially, containing, what had been previously entirely un- 

 known, the dentition in part of both jaw-. These specimens- 

 showeil that each jaw contained six or seven longitudinal rows 

 of teeth on each side of the median row, and that the genus must 



