580 



NATURE 



[January 23, 19 13 



Cooke: (i) Some considerations on the specification 

 of tlieodolites for mines. (2) Specification for a pre- 

 cision-tlieodolite. Having found in the course of a 

 long experience that the greater number of theodo- 

 lites catalogued by British makers, while not unsuit- 

 able for the purposes of the civil engineer and surface 

 surveying in general, are not well adapted for under- 

 ground work, more particularly in inclined deposits, 

 the author has attempted to draw up a specification 

 for a precision-theodolite specially suited for the re- 

 quirements of the mining engineer. The outcome of 

 successive endeavours in that direction was embodied 

 in the two papers presented to the institution, the 

 intention being to provoke discussion from mining 

 men with a view to the ultimate drafting of a specifi- 

 cation which should standardise the vital features and 

 quality of a mine-theodolite suitable for working on 

 lodes of no great thickness or inclination. As a pre- 

 liminary, i\Ir. Cooke has formulated a series of twenty- 

 four conditions which he regards as more or less 

 essential to the production of a really useful instru- 

 ment for the purpose required, his chief points being 

 portability and readiness for immediate use, protec- 

 tion of the vernier plates and other vital parts from 

 dust_ and dirt, absolute accuracy in reading, and all 



possible simplicity of construction and operation. 



S. C. Bullock : Description of a modern lead concen- 

 trating mill, Broken Hill Junction North Mine, New 

 South Wales. While not desiring to hold up the plant 

 described in his paper as a model, the author showed 

 how by pursuing a series of experiments, it was 

 possible to improve a mill's output to a marked degree. 

 The mill feed, which was originally treated as one 

 class of ore, was divided into two sections, rhodonite 

 and quartz, to undergo separate treatment in accord- 

 ance with their respective physical characteristics, 

 after the preliminary crushing and sorting. This 

 system was devised as the outcome of exhaustive tests 

 in sizing, screening, and concentrating, and the result 

 of the new working has been a considerable increase 

 in recovery. A further development alluded to in an 

 addendum to the paper is the installation of a 

 minerals-separation plant, which is intended to treat 

 the crude zinc-lead ore after the jig lead has been 

 extracted.— J. H. Levings : The blast-roasting of sul- 

 phide ores. This paper related the practical experi- 

 ence of a working metallurgist in Tasmania, when 

 the first smelter at which the Huntington-Hebcrlein 

 process was used outside Europe was installed, in 

 1000, the Carmichael-Bradford process following a 

 year later. A chief point of interest in the paper deals 

 with the shape of the pots or roasting vessels, various 

 experiments ultimately deciding the form which gave 

 the most uniformly satisfactory results. 

 Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, January 7. Mr. 



Francis Jones, vice-president, in the chair. — Dr. G. 

 Hickling : A remarkable band-like cloud, observed on 

 the night of December 24, 1912. It was suggested 

 that the object observed was possibly due to cloud 

 formation on the trail of dust in the track of a 

 meteorite. — Dr. H. F. Coward and F. Brinsley : Vortex 

 Hngs of flame in a hydrogen-air mixture.— R. F. 

 Gwyther : The specification of the elements of stress. 

 Part ii., simplification of the specifications already 

 given {viie Manchester Memoirs, vol. Ivi., No. 10); 

 and part iii., an essay towards the reconstruction of 

 I he fundamental equations. Part ii. dealt with a 

 general mode of reducing the number of arbitrary 

 functions or the general stresses within a body frorn 

 six to three. Part iii. dealt with the physical basis 

 of the fundamental equations, and proposed a scheme 

 differing from that generally accepted. 

 NO. 22.=;6, VOL. Qol 



P.\RIS. 



Academy of Sciences, January 6. — M. F. Guyoi 

 in the chair. — The president . announced th. 

 death of M. Teisserenc de Bort and of W. 

 Cailletet.— L. E. Bertin : Calculation of the in- 

 crease of load or of speed obtained by increasini; 

 the dimensions of a steamer. — E. Bouty : The dielec- 

 tric polarisation of the wall and measurements of 

 dielectric cohesion ; the retardation of the silent dis- 

 charge.— L. Maquenne and E. Demoussy : The influence 

 of the preceding conditions on the value of the respira- 

 tory coefficient in green leaves. The theory developed 

 by the authors regards two stages as essential in 

 normal plant respiration, introducing a new factor, 



the solubility of carbon dioxide in the cell juices. A. 



Calmette and C. Guerin : A new contribution to the 

 patliogeny of tuberculous infection. Healthy and 

 tuberculous cattle were kept in the same shed for a 

 period of eleven months, under conditions preventing 

 infection by the lungs. All the healthy animals 

 became tuberculous, and responded to the tub.rculin 

 test, although only half of them showed det^.nite 

 tuberculous lesions. — P. Stroobant : The distribution of 

 spectroscopic double stars on the celestial sphere. 

 Spectroscopic double stars are relatively much more 

 numerous in the galactic zone than in the whole of 

 the stars of the same magnitude, and this is due to 

 the high proportion of helium stars among the 

 binaries.— .A. Demoulin : A general property of lines 

 traced on a surface. — A. Rosenblatt : Irregular surfaces 

 satisfying the inequality /,,^2; A, + 2).— Ch. Miintz : 

 The direct solution of the secular equation and some 

 analogous transcendental problems. — Georges Giraud : 

 A class of transcendentals having a theorem of multi- 

 plication.— M. Norlund : Linear equations of finite 

 differences.— G. Kcenigs : The construction of the 

 centres of curvature and principal planes of the 

 envelope of a surface of a cylinder which rolls without 

 slipping on another. — Jules Andrade : Experimental 

 researches on the double cylindrical spiral.— Henri 

 Villat : The flow of heavy fluids. — J. de Boissoudy : 

 The equilibrium of a gas" in a state of binary dis- 

 sociation.— A. Leduc; Guldberg's law and the law of 

 corresponding states.— O. Dony-Henaulf : The use of 

 resistances of granulated metallic chromium for elec- 

 trical heating. Powdered chromium, compressed 

 between carbon plates, can be conveniently used as a 

 resistance furnace, and permits of the use of low 

 voltages. Temperatures above the melting point of 

 quartz can be maintained.— Daniel Berthelot'and Henri 

 Gaudechon : The commencement of photolysis of ethyl 

 alcohol, acetaldehyde, and acetic acid.— H. Copaux : 

 The basicity of the tungsto-acids.— P. T- Tarbouriech : 

 2.2-Dimethylcy(-2oheptanone.— A. Fcrnba'ch : The acidi- 

 fication of musts by yeast in the course of the alcoholic 

 fermentation. — Marcel Baudouin : The lumbar verte- 

 brat canal in the anthropoid apes and in prehistoric 

 man. — Pierre Teissier, Pierre Gastinel, and P. L. 

 Mqrie : The passive vaccine immunity conferred by 

 intravenous injections of variolic serum.— F. Bordas'.- 

 The use of low temperatures in cryotherapy. A 

 freezing mixture of solid carbon dioxide in alcohol or 

 acetone is recommended for therapeutic work instead 

 of pencils of solid carbon dioxide.— A. Magnan : The 

 relations between feeding and the dimensions of the 

 caecum in ducks.— Pierre Kennel : Contribution to the 

 study of the functions of the large tentacles in Arion 

 r!(//(s.— Jacques I.iouville : The polymorphism of 

 DclphDuis Cnirigcr.—M. Desgrez and' M. Dorleans : 

 The influence of the constitution of the purin bodies 

 on their action towards arterial pressure.— A. Railliet, 

 G. Moussu, and A. Henry : Experimental researches 

 on the development of Fascinhi hepaticn.—Ch. 



