6:.8 



NATURE 



[February 6, 1913 



Dublin. 

 Royal Irish Academy, Januarv ij- — Rev. Dr. Mahaffy, 

 president, in the chair.— H. Ryan and J. Algar : Mon- 

 tanic acid and its derivatives. The formula of mon- 

 tanic acid is CgH^^O,. The acid was converted into 

 its methyl, ethyl, and propyl esters, and the esters 

 when treated with alkyl magnesium halides gave ter- 

 tiary alcohols, such as dimethyl- and diethyl-heptacesyl 

 carbinol, diphenyl-heptacesyl carbinol, and the corre- 

 sponding di-/)-tolyl and di-o-naphthyl compounds. The 

 chloride and amide of the acid were prepared, and an 

 unsuccessful attempt to descend the series was made. 

 — H. Ryan and Rev. R. Fitzgerald : Identity of 

 baphinitone with homopterocarpin. In view of a pos- 

 sible relationship between the colourless, crystalline 

 constituents and the red dye of barwood the authors 

 isolated and examined baphinitone. They found that 

 the latter substance, which was discovered by Ander- 

 son in 1876, is laevorotatory, and is identical with 

 homopterocarpin, which was isolated in 1874 by Caze- 

 neuve from Sanderswood. Bromination of homoptero- 

 carpin gives a colourless crystalline derivative, the 

 formula of which is Cj.Hj^Br,©.. 



January 27. — Rev. Dr. Mahaffy, president, in the 

 chair. — G. P. Farran : Marine Entomostraca (in con- 

 nection with the Clare Island Survey). Four species 

 of Cladocera, sixty-five Ostracoda, and 152 

 Copepoda are recorded from the Clare Island 

 district. The list of Ostracoda, due almost 

 altogether to the work of Brady and Norman, com- 

 prises two-thirds of the total number known from the 

 west coast of Ireland, and probably includes all the 

 common forms. The list of Copepoda is, as regards 

 its largest section, the littoral species, merely a pre- 

 liminary one, and it is evident, on comparing it with 

 the fauna of other localities, that, although it adds 

 at least seventv species to the Irish fauna, it does not 

 contain half the species which may be expected to 

 occur. Four new species of Copepoda are described 

 in the paper. 



Edinburgh. 

 Royal Society, January 6. — Prof. Hudson Beare, 

 vice-president, in the chair. — Dr. G. E. Gibson : A 

 method of determining vapour densities at high tem- 

 peratures, and a new forth of quartz manometer. 

 The essential feature of the manometer was the thin 

 flexible membrane which terminated the small quartz 

 bulb, and which responded to the changes of pressure 

 in the same manner as the metallic membrane in an 

 aneroid barometer. To this membrane was attached 

 a small quartz plate, the upper surface of which was 

 polished so as to act as a mirror. Close to this quartz 

 mirror, and lying as nearly as possible in the same 

 plane, was a second quartz mirror attached by a 

 rigid connection to the quartz tube, the enlargement 

 of which formed the bulb. The reflected ray from this 

 second mirror acted as the zero with reference to 

 w^hich the movements of the first mirror were 

 measured. With this apparatus highly accurate 

 measurements had been made on mercury vapour and 

 on phosphorus vapour up to temperatures of 912° C. 

 and 1250° C. respectively.— J. S. Anderson: The ab- 

 sorption of light bv inorganic salts. No. vii., aqueous 

 solutions of iron salts.— A. R. Brown : The absorption 

 of light by inorganic salts. No. viii., alcoholic solu- 

 tions of copper, cobalt, and nickel salts in the ultra- 

 violet. These were further instalments of a series 

 of investigations planned by Dr. Houstoun. In the 

 case of the iron salts, both the visible spectrum and 

 the infra-red were studied. It was found that ferric 

 chloride and ferric bromide showed the same increase 

 in absorption with concentration which characterised 

 the chlorides and bromides of cobalt, nickel, and 

 copper. The formation of colloid hydroxide was a dis- 

 NO. 2258, VOL. Qol 



turbing factor in the case of weak solutions of ferric 

 salts. The alcoholic solutions were studied in the 

 ultra-violet region, and the conditions were found to 

 be very complex. The absorption of light by ethyl 

 alcohol was also measured for the first time. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, January 27. — M. F. Guyon in 

 the chair. — E. H. Amagat : The laws of corresponding 



states. L. Maquenne and E. Demoussy : The value of 



the respiratory quotient for green plants. Modifica- 

 tions in the method of measuring respiratory co- 

 efficients have been described by the authors in earlier 

 papers ; data are now given for forty-six plants. The 

 coefficient for young plants is generally greater than 

 unitv, and this appears to hold for all green leaves 

 during their period of active growth. — Pierre Duhem : 

 The adiabatic growth of entropy. — M. Graebe was 

 elected a correspondant for the section of chemistry 

 in success'.on to Sir William Ramsay, elected foreign 

 associate. — Francesco Severi : The algebraic corre- 

 spondences existing on the curves of a linear system 

 traced on a surface. — A. Rosenblatt : The algebraic sur- 

 faces which uo.-'Sess an irrational bundle of curves of 

 genus 2. — V. Kostitzin : Some remarks on complete 

 systems of orthogonal functions. — Angelo Tonolo : The 

 potential of an analytical line. — E. Benoit : Formula 

 appropriate to the calculation of the coordinates of 

 the summits of a primordial geodesic chain. — Ch. 

 Maurain and .A. Toussaint : The measurement of pres- 

 sures and rarefactions on large surfaces in motion in 

 the air. Results of experiments bearing on the 

 motion of aeroplanes. — iN'Iarcel Brillouin : The theory 

 of black radiation.— A. Schidlof and Mile. J. Murzy- 

 nowska : The application of the law of Stokes to the 

 fall of very small drops, and the determination of 

 the charge of the electron. An experimental study 

 of the fail of minute drops of olive oil in air, a modi- 

 fication of Millikan's method being employed. Cun- 

 ningham's theorem was found to be applicable in 

 this case. — P. Vaillant : A method of measuring large 

 polarisable resistances and its application to the 

 measurement of the resistance of bubbles in a liquid. 

 — A. Perot : Certain peculiarities of the velocity of the 

 luminous centres in hydrogen tubes. — Marcel Boll : 

 The measurement of the energy of an ultra-violet 

 radiation eriven off by a mercury arc working under 

 different conditions. The difference of potential was 

 found to be a linear function of the watts consumed 

 by the lamp. The energy of wave-length 2536 A.V. 

 emitted by a mercurv arc is a parabolic function of 

 the nower expended.— Felix Bidet : The displacement 

 nf the primary amvlamines by ammonia gas. — Eniile 

 Baud : The partial miscibility of liquids.- .'\. Portevin : 

 The deformation of the plastic alloys and their anneal- 

 ing after deformation. For an isolated grain of the 

 alloy the elastic limit is a vectorial quantity, and the 

 effect of a deformation depends on the direction of 

 the applied force. — Paul Pascal : Remarks on the 

 additivity of diamagnetism in combination. A com- 

 parison of atomic magnetisation coefficients deter- 

 mined directly with those found in combination shows 

 a close agreement, proving that this coefficient is an 

 additive property. — P. Lebeau and A. Damiens : A 

 method of analysis of mixtures of hydrogen and 

 saturated gaseous hydrocarbons. Complex mixtures. 

 A development of the method described in an earlier 

 paper, based on fractional distillation at low tempera- 

 tures, together with a eudiometric analysis of the 

 fractions, each fraction containing only two hydro- 

 carbons. Details are given of the results of the 

 analysis by this method of a mixture of ethane, pro- 

 pane, and butane. — E. Chablay : Some reactions of 

 sodium nmide in presence of liquid ammonia. Forma- 



