June 7, 1906] 



NA JURE 



141 



foiiLino. — On Tuesday the visitors were receivccl at the 

 l-orri^M Office in order that Lord Kitzmauriee and Mr. 

 L(iuf,<h, M.P., might welcome thorn ollicially on behalf of 

 the (.ovcrnment. At the conclusion of the reception they 

 were driven to the University of London, where luncheon 

 was servi'd. Addresses were afterwards delivered by the 

 Vice-chancellor (Sir Kdward Busk), M. Liard, Sir Arthur 

 Riicivcr, and Prof. M. E. Sadler, and a visit was made to 

 the new physical and chemical laboratories of the Royal 

 College of Science. In the evening several receptions were 

 held in honour of the guests. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 



Geological Society, May 9. — Mr. Aubrey Stiahan, 

 l-'.K.S., vice-president, in the chair. — The eruption of 

 \'(^uvius in April, 1906 : Prof. Giuseppe de Lorenzo. 

 After the great eruption of 1872 \'esuvius lapsed into 

 repose, marked by merely solfalaric phenomena, for three 

 years. Sirombolian activity followed, varied by lateral 

 outpourings of lava in 1885, i88q, 1891, 1895, &c., and by 

 outbursts from the principal crater in 1900 and 1904. 

 Kissuring of the cone and slight outpourings of lava began 

 in May, 1905, and continued until April 4, 1906, when 

 the first great outburst from the principal crater occurred, 

 accompanied by the formation of deeper and larger fissures 

 in the southern wall of the cone, from which a great mass 

 of lluid and scoriaceous lava was erupted. After a pause 

 the maximum outburst took place during the night of 

 April 7 and 8, and blew 3000 feet into the air scoriae 

 and lapilli of lava, as well as fragments derived from the 

 wreckage of the cone. The south-westerly wind carried 

 this ash to Ottajano and San Giuseppe, which were buried 

 under 3 feet of it, and even swept it on to the Adriatic 

 and Montenegro. At this time the lava which reached 

 Torre Annunziata was erupted. The decrescent phase 

 began on April 8, but the collapse of the cone of the prin- 

 cipal crater was accompanied by the ejection of steam and 

 dust to a height of from 22,000 feet to 26,000 feet. On 

 April 9 and 10 the wind was north-easterly, and the dust 

 was carried over Torre del Greco and as far as .Spain ; 

 but on .April 11 the cloud was again impelled northward. 

 The ash in the earlier eruptions was dark in colour, and 

 made of materials derived directly from the usual type 

 of leucotephritic magma ; but later it became greyer, and 

 mixed with weathered clastic material from the cone. 

 The great cone had an almost horizontal rim on April 13, 

 verv little higher than Monte Somma, and with a crater 

 which possibly exceeds 1000 feet in diameter; this cone 

 was almost snow-white from the deposit of sublimates. 

 Many deaths were due to asphyxia, but the collapse of 

 roofs weighted with dust was a source of much danger, as 

 was the case at Pompeii in a.d. 79. The lava-streams 

 surrounded trees, many of which still stood in the hot lava 

 with their leaves and blossoms apparently uninjured. The 

 sea-level during April 7 and 8 was lowered 6 inches near 

 Pozzuoli and as inuch as 12 inches near Portici, and had 

 not returned to its previous level on April iS. The maxi- 

 mum activity coincided almost exactly with the full moon, 

 and at the time the volcanoes of the Phlegraean Fields 

 and of the islands remained in their normal condition. 

 The author believes that this eruption of Vesuvius is greater 

 than anv of those recorded in history, with two exceptions 

 — those of .4.r>. 7C1 and of a.d. 1631. — The Ordovician rocks 

 of western Caermarthenshire : D. C. Evans. The ground 

 dealt with is practically identical with that examined by 

 the late Thomas Roberts, whose notes were published in 

 1803. It extends from the River Cywyn on the east to 

 the Tave on the west, and from the base of the Old Red 

 Sandstone on the south to the top of the Dicranograptus- 

 Shales on the north. 



Zoological Society, May 15. — Dr. J. Rose Bradford, 

 I''.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — Descriptions of the 

 two species of water-mites (Hydrachnida;) collected by Mr. 

 W. .\. Cunnington in Lake Nyasa during the third Tan- 

 ganyika expedition, 1904-5 : J. N. Halbert. — A collection 

 of mammals made by Mr. \V. Stalker in the northern 

 territory of South Australia, and presented to the National 



NO. I 9 ID, VOL. 74] 



Museum by Sir William Ingram, Bart., and the lion. 

 John l-"orresl : O. Thomas. The collection included six- 

 teen species, of which the two following were of special 

 interest :— A/hs forrcsli, sp.n. Size, medium. Colour, 

 drab-grey above, white below. Teeth with their lamin.e 

 peculiarly twisted, the first molars with large cingular 

 ledges. Head and body, 104 mm. ; tail, 72 mm. ; hind 

 foot, 19 mm. Type, B.M. No. 6.3.9.39. I'hascogale 

 ingrami, sp.n. .Size, minute; the teeth and feet smaller 

 than in any known Australian marsupial. Head peculiarly 

 flattened. Head and body, 80 mm. ; tail, 00 mm. ; hind 

 foot, 10 inm. Typi\ B..M. No. 6.3.9.77. — ' '"' skull of a 

 young ribbon-fish (Regalecus) : Prof. VV. B. Benham and 

 W. J. Dunbar. — Descriptions of two species. — one of them 

 new— of hair-worms of the family Gordiida; : Dr. von 

 Linstow. The specimens were obtained in Korea by .Mr. 

 Malcolm Anderson, who was making collections of the 

 fauna of eastern .Asia for the Duke of Bedford. — Descrip- 

 tions of a new lizard, a new snake, and a new load 

 collected in Uganda by Mr. li. Degen : (i. .\. Boulenger. 

 — The gestation and parturition of certain monkey^ lh.it 

 had bred in the society's menagerie in the spring of the 

 present year: R. I. Pocock. 



Faraday Society, M y 15. — Dr. V Mollwo Perkin, 



treasurer, in the chair. — Behaviour of platinised eleotrodes ; 

 H. D. Law. The author desired to find an electrode on 

 which the reduction of the aromatic aldehydes and similar 

 easily reducible compounds could not be effected. Platinised 

 platinum, as being the metal from which hydrogen is 

 liberated at the lowest potential, was tried as the kathode 

 in an acidified alcoholic solution of benzaldehyde. At 

 first energetic reduction took place ; the activity of this, 

 however, diminished in successive experiments, and was 

 extremely small after twelve hours' polarisation. — The 

 electrolysis of fused zinc chloride in cells heated externally : 

 Julius L. F. Vogrel. The dehydration of zinc chloride by 

 evaporating under reduced pressure, and the electrolysis 

 of the salt in a fused state in extcrnallv heated cells were 

 investigated by Dr. O. J. Steinhart and the author jointly 

 on behalf of the Smelting Corporation, Ltd. Further in- 

 vestigations were made after the United .Mkali Company 

 had joined the Smelting Corporation in testing the process, 

 j and details are given in the paper of the work as carried 

 out under the joint supervision of the author's firm and 

 the chemical staff of the United Alkali Company. The 

 author describes how the process was carried successfully 

 to a stage when continuous electrolysis was carried on for 

 eleven days and nights, and three cwt. of pure zinc was 

 produced. On the failure of the Smelting Corporation the 

 work was suspended, and finally abandoned, although 

 further elaborate investigations were undertaken by the 

 United Alkali Company utilising cells heated internall}' 

 by the current. 



Royal Microscopical Socitty, May 16. — Dr. D. H. 

 Scott, F.R..S., president, in the chair. — Some observations 

 recently made on the parasites of malaria and the phago- 

 cytic action of the polymorphonuclear leucocytes : Dr. 

 Bernstein. The subject was illustrated by drawings show- 

 ing the results of observations made during the examination 

 of blood taken from a patient suffering from malarial 

 fever. The observations were made at intervals of a few 

 minutes during a period of five hours. A crescent form 

 of the parasite was seen to become engulphed by a leuco- 

 cyte, in which it was soon surrounded by vacuoles and 

 was ultimately destroyed, only the pigment granules re- 

 maining; other leucocytes afterwards approached and 

 absorbed some of the granules. The blood film w'as 

 stained, and the preparation, showing the pigment granules 

 in the polymorphonuclear leucocytes, w'as exhibited under 

 a microscope at the meeting. 



Chemical Society, May 17.— Prof. R. Meldula. F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — The relation between absorption 

 spectra and chemical constitution, part vi., the phenyl- 

 hydrazones of simple aldehydes and ketones : E. C '' 

 Baly and W. B. Tuck. A spectroscopic investigation of 

 the phenylhydrazones of formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, propyl- 

 aldehyde, acetone, and diethylketone shows that these exist 

 in two forms, an unstable true hvdrazone and a stable 

 azo-form. The absorption spectra of the hydrazones of the 



