May 15, 19 1 3] 



NATURE 



285 



be shown to an audience, as the opaque deposit over 

 the greater part of the tube obscures them. 



It has only been possible this evening to bring for- 

 ward a selection of the results of two years' work 

 on this subject at the Imperial College, with generous 

 help from colleagues, and facilities provided by the 

 governors. 



Let me conclude by reading to you a prophetic 

 passage from one of Faraday's letters to Schonbein : — 

 "What of nitrogen? Is not its apparent quiet sim- 

 plicity of action all a sham? Not a sham, indeed, 

 but still not the only state in which it can exist. If 

 the compounds which a body can form, show some- 

 thing of the state and powers it may have when 

 isolated, then what should nitrogen be in its separate 

 state? You see I do not work; I cannot. But I 

 fancy, and stuff my letters with such fancies (not a 

 fit return) to you." 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 A NEW chair uf bacteriology is to be founded in 

 Eciinburgh University under a Inquest from Mr. 

 Robert Irvine, of Royston, Granton. At his death, 

 leven years ago, Mr. Irvine bequeathed 230 shares 

 of 10Z. each in a company for developing the resources 

 of Christmas Island for the purpose of establishing 

 the chair when the interest from the shares should 

 reach 25,000*. or 30,000/. The accumulated dividends 

 on these shares now reach more than 30,000/. It is 

 understood that 25,000/. will go towards the main- 

 tenance of the professorship, and that the remaining 

 5000/. will be used in providing _ the class-rooms, 

 laboratories, and the necessary equipment. 



Attention has already been directed to the progress 

 which has been made in the provision of well-equipped 

 laboratories for the study of electrical technology and 

 kindred subjects in the University of Hong Kong. 

 Prof. C. A. Middleton Smith has sent us an exhaustive 

 list of engineering and other equipment which has 

 been presented to the University by public-spirited 

 manufacturing firms. Their generous support of the 

 cause of higher technical education in the distant parts 

 of the Empire is sure to be productive of excellent 

 results, and is worthy of emulation by other firms. 

 The greatest support seems to have been received for 

 the department of heat engines, and the authorities in 

 Hong Kong hope that more offers of apparatus will 

 be received from firms interested in electrical engineer- 

 in?. A complete equipment is required for experi- 

 ments in all branches of electrical work, and an appeal 

 is made to manufacturers that this branch of engineer- 

 ing shall be represented worthily in the equipment 

 presented to the University. It is impossible here to 

 mention each of the gifts which have been made, but 

 as indicative of the substantial character of the gifts, 

 the complete spectrograph^ outfit presented by 

 Messrs. Adam Hilger and Co., and the Sankey's hand- 

 bending tegting machine given by Mr. Casella, may 

 be mentioned. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Physical Society, April 25.— Prof. C. H. Lees, F.R.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair.— W. R. Bower : A graph- 

 ical method of optical imagery. The paper contains 

 a development of optical imagery based on elementary 

 geometry, including limiting positions, but excluding 

 cross-ratios, centres of perspective, &c. The method 

 NO. 2272, VOL. 9l] 



adopted is useful for teaching the properties of optical 

 systems to those who are not essentially students ot 

 pure mathematics, and can be satisfactorily used by 

 those capable of draughtsmanship with mathematical 

 instruments. — Dr. C. V. Burton : The spectroscopic 

 resolution of an arbitrary function. An ordinary grat- 

 ing has periodic rulings, and a spectrum obtained 

 by means of it is characteristic of the radiation enter- 

 ing the spectroscope-slit. But if the radiation is homo- 

 geneous, while the distribution of the rulings is 

 arbitrary, we obtain a spectrum characteristic of the 

 grating. It is thus found to be theoretically possible 

 to resolve spectroscopically a given arbitrary function 

 <f>(\) into its harmonic constituents. The theory ot 

 the proposed method of resolving functions is dis- 

 cussed, and is as complete as that of ordinary spectro- 

 scopy, while in one respect it is more simple; for, 

 since the light entering the spectroscope-slit is entirely 

 of one wave-length, the comparison of intensities of 

 ral lines (whether visually or photographically) 

 is facilitated. 



Linnean Society, May 1. Prof. E. B. Poulton, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair.— Prof. P. Groom and 

 W. Rushton : The structure of the wood of East Indian 

 species of Pinus.— Dr. Winifred Brenchley : Branching 

 specimens of Lyginodendron ohitiamium, Will.- — 

 A. C. F. Morgan : A problem in Weismannism. — Mrs. 

 L. J. Wilsmore : Sphenopits marsu-pialis. — Papers on 

 collections made bv the Percy Sladen expedition to 

 the Indian Ocean :— Miss Helen L. M. Pixell : Poly- 

 chceta of the Indian Ocean, with some species from 

 the Cape Verde Islands. The Serpulidse, with a 

 classification of the genera Hydroides and Eupomatus. 

 — S. Hirst : Report on the Arachnida of the Seychelles. 



Miss Marjorie Lindsay: Gvpsinct plana. Carter. — A. 



Grouvelle : Nitidute, Heterocida?.— A. RaHray : Psela- 

 phidae de l'Archipel des Seychelles.— Dr. K. Jordan : 

 \nthribidse of the Seychelles.— S. Maullk : Hispinse 

 from the Seychelles.— Dr. K. Jordan ; Certain changes 

 in nomenclature of Lepidoptera proposed by Dr. 

 Verity. 



Zoological Society, May 6. — Dr. Henry Woodward, 

 F.R.S. vice-president, in the chair. — Dr. F. E. 

 Beddard : The anatomy and systematic arrangement of 

 the Cestoidea. This paper, the tenth of the series, 

 contained an account of two species of tapeworms 

 found in a Dongolan genet, both of which were de- 

 scribed as new, one being made the type of a new 

 g enus . — J. A. Milne : Pacific salmon : an attempt to 

 evolve something of their history from an examina- 

 tion of their scales. Reasoning from the similarity 

 of their appearance to the scales of the other Sal- 

 monidas, the author pointed out that all the migra- 

 torv species except Onchorhynchus kita remain for at 

 least a year in fresh water before proceeding to the 

 sea— in the Fraser River district, at any rate. He 

 also showed the scale of a quinnat, and pointed out 

 that it was scarcely possible to avoid the conclusion 

 that that fish had already spawned once before it was 

 captured.— Miss Kathleen Haddon : Notes on Penpa- 

 toides woodwardii, Bouvier. This paper was based 

 on material collected in Western Australia, consisting 

 of twenty specimens, male and female, ranging in 

 size from 17 to 46 mm., thus considerably exceeding 

 in length those described by Prof. Bouvier. _ Various 

 types of coloration are exemplified, some being blue- 

 green with small yellow spots, while others have the 

 yellow pigment increased so as to give a tawny 

 appearance to the animal ; a dark variety of this latter 

 type also occurs.— J. C. F. Fryer ; Field-observations 

 on the enemies of butterflies in Ceylon. It was con- 

 cluded (1) that in Ceylon, with the exception of the 



