February 17, 1910] 



A^.-^ rURE 



479 



Mr. Wilson at Peebles ; at the Blackford Hill, just outside 

 the city on the south, the value was about three times as 

 great as in the city, and at an intermediate station inter- 

 mediate values were found. — Dr. J. S. Thomson : 

 Alcyonaria from the Cape of Good Hope, part i. The 

 paper contained a description of thirteen species obtained 

 off the shore in depths varying from lo to 70 fathoms. Six 

 were new to science, and one new genus was recorded. — 

 Prof. J. T. Morrison : Notes on proposed meteorological 

 instruments. The one was a self-recording anemometer 

 capable of giving at once the north-south and east-west 

 components of the wind's velocity. This was to be accom- 

 plished by use of a sphere which, by means of appropriate 

 gearing, was kept rotating at a rate proportional to the 

 wind velocity, while its horizontal axis of rotation was so 

 connected to the vane as to point along the direction of 

 the wind. Two small discs, equidistant from and re- 

 spectively north and east of the vertical line through the 

 centre of the sphere and pressed against the lower surface, 

 would then rotate with the sphere and thus record the two 

 components. The other instrument was a modified air 

 thermometer, which could be set by comparison with a 

 contiguous Six's thermometer in such a way that the 

 reading gave at once the barometric pressure. The instru- 

 ment was portable, and was intended to take the place of 

 the aneroid, one of the most untrustworthy of all instru- 

 ments used by travellers. 



January 24. — Prof. Ewart, vice-president, in the chair. 

 — Dr. Williamina Abel : The development of the autonomic 

 nervous mechanism in the alimentary canal of the bird. 

 In the wall of the alimentary canal there are various nerve 

 ple.^uses and ganglia arranged in two layers, the function 

 of which is to control and regulate the movements of the 

 intestine. Are these nerve structures developed in situ or 

 are they outgrowths from the central nervous system? 

 From the point of view of physiological experiment the 

 balance of evidence is in favour of the first view, the work 

 of Bayliss, Starling, Langley, Elliot and others pointing to 

 the possession of peculiar properties which separate these 

 intestinal plexuses off fundamentally from the nerve 

 elements of the central nervous system. The evidence 

 afforded by histological examination of the developing 

 embryo is, however, for the most part in favour of the 

 second view. His, senior, Onodi, and His, junior, all sup- 

 port the outgrowth theory as a result of investigations 

 made by them on the relationship of the visceral nerve 

 supply to the central nervous system. It seemed desirable 

 to repeat the investigations with the use of the modification 

 of the silver nitrate staining method introduced by Ramon 

 y Cajal. The material used was embryonic chicks varying 

 in age from two to seven days' incubation. The work 

 was carried out in the physiological laboratory of Glasgow 

 University, and led to the conclusion that the autonomic 

 nerve mechanism in the alimentary canal is formed as an 

 outgrowth from the central nervous system. This view, 

 which receives the support of different histologists, would 

 suggest that the peculiar properties to the autonomic nerve 

 mechanism of the alimentary canal were secondary in 

 development to that of the cells. — J. J. Simpson : A new 

 species of Cactogorgia. This specimen, which differed 

 in certain specific characters from other known forms of 

 Alcyonaria, was one of the collection in the Royal Scottish 

 Museum. Unfortunately, there was no label of any kind 

 or mention of the locality where it had been found. — Dr. 

 J. Oliver : The stimulatory action of the oosperm in the 

 uterus. — ^Dr. J. Brovwnlee : The significance of the 

 correlation coefficients applied to Mendelian distributions. 

 This paper gave an account of the manner in which the 

 values of the correlation coefficient varied according to 

 the method of calculation when populations of parent and 

 offspring obtained on the Mendelian hypothesis were ex- 

 amined, and it was shown that in cases of dominance the 

 four-fold division method gave higher correlation values 

 than the product method. The effect of different forms of 

 assertive matmg on the correlation coefficient was also 

 shown, and from one form of assertive mating a series 

 of hereditary correlation coeflficients were obtained identical 

 with those found from observation. The effect of selective 

 mating was considered, and the forms of selective mating 

 which raised were distinguished from those which lowered 

 the correlation coefficient. The correlation coefficient from 



NO. 2103, VOL. 82] 



parent to offspring when three races mix instead of two 

 was also investigated, and the valys of the coefficient in 

 this case found to be considerably higher. Fraternal 

 correlation was found to be considerably increased by 

 assortive mating, and in certain cases by selective mating, 

 while in the case of a mixture of more than two races 

 further increase took place. These theoretical deductions 

 were illustrated by cases of inheritance of colour in 

 animals. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Scienf es, Ff hiuarv 7. — M. Em'lePirard in the 

 chair. — D. Gernez : A means of restoring phosphorescent 

 properties to the sulphides of the alkaline earths. A 

 sulphide of strontium, which immediately after its pre- 

 paration phosphoresced brilliantly, slowly lost this property 

 on exposure to air, but regained its phosphorescence on 

 heating to redness in a current of hydrogen. This re- 

 generation of the phosphorescence also takes place with 

 barium sulphide. — M. van der Waals was elected a foreign 

 associate. — M. Luizet and J. Guillaume : Observations 

 of the Innes comet (1910a) made at the Observatory of 

 Lyons. Results for January 26, 29, 30, and 31. — MM. 

 Javelie, CharloiSi and Schaumasse : The comet 1910a. 

 Observations made at Nice. Data given for January 25, 

 26, 27, February i, 2, 3. The comet has a round, well- 

 defined nucleus 10" in diameter. — M. Borrelly : Observa- 

 tions of the comet 1910a made at the Observatory of 

 Marseilles with the comet finder of 16 cm. aperture. Data 

 given for January 25, 26, 27, 29, 30, and February i 

 and 3. — M. Cogrgia : Observations of the comet 1910a 

 made at the Observatory of Marseilles with the Eicfiens 

 equatorial of 26 cm. aperture. Results for January 25, 

 26, 29, 30, and February i and 3. — MM. Claude, Ferri6, 

 and Driencourt : The comparison of chronometers or 

 clocks at a distance by the method of coincidences by 

 means of radio-telegraphic signals. Details are given of 

 the mode of transmission of the signals. The method was 

 tested between the observatories of Paris and Montsouris. 

 The errors are less than o-oi second. Further comparisons 

 will be carried out between Paris and Brest as soon as 

 the damage done to the apparatus at the Eiffel Tower by 

 the floods has been repaired. — A. Demoulin : The K 

 systems and congruences. — Johannes Mollerup : A remark 

 on integral equations of the first species. — Nicolas 

 Kryloff : Developments following hypergeometric poly- 

 nomials. — Michel Plancherel : The representation of an 

 arbitrary function by a definite integral. — Richard Birke- 

 land : Some irregular integrals of linear differential equa- 

 tions. — A. ^teve : Autorotation. An explanation of an 

 experiment due to M. Riaboutschinsky. — C. E. Guye and 

 S. Ratnovsky : The variation of the inertia of the electron 

 as a function of the velocity in the kathode rays and on 

 the principle of relativity. The experimental results are 

 compared in parallel columns with the figures calculated 

 from the hypotheses of Lorentz and with those calculated 

 from Abraham's formula. The deviations from the Lorentz 

 are about 1 to 2 per cent., 16 being positive and 11 

 negati%'e. The divergences from the Abraham formula 

 amount to nearly 4 per cent., 26 being positive and i 

 negative. Hence'it is clear that the Lorentz formula alone 

 is " compatible with the experimental results. — G. A. 

 Hemsalech and C. de Watteville : The high-temperature 

 flame spectrum of iron. The temperature used was that 

 of the oxyacetvlene blow-pipe. The spectrum is very nearly 

 the same as ' that obtained with the oxyhydrogen blow- 

 pipe, except that the intensity of all the lines is so much 

 increased that an exposure of ten minutes is sufficient to 

 give the image of a well-developed spectrum. — M. Guille- 

 minot : The radiochroism of organic bodies towards the 

 a, /3, and y ravs of radium and the X-rays. — Louis 

 Dunoyer : The emission of electric charges by the alkaUne 

 metals. A repetition of an experiment due to J. J. 

 Thomson on the emission of negative corpuscles by 

 rubidium. The author thinks that the assumption of the 

 spontaneous explosion of some atoms, analogous to the 

 destruction of radio-active atoms, is not necessary for the 

 explanation of the facts observed. — Louis Nomblot : The 

 reduction of the nitroso derivatives of acetyl- and benzoyl- 

 hydrazobenzene. Various attempts to produce triazane 

 derivatives by the reduction of these compounds with 

 hydrazine hydrate, aluminium amalgam, and zinc powder 



