2l6 



NA TURE 



[June 29, 1905 



Royal Meteorological Society, June 21.— Mr. Richard 

 Bentley, president, in the chair. — Normal electrical pheno- 

 mena of the atmosphere : G. C. Simpson. In no branch 

 of physics has the discovery of " ions," " electrons," and 

 " radio-activity " produced a greater revolution than in 

 that devoted to atmospheric electricity. In this paper the 

 author endeavoured to state the chief line along which 

 during the last few years investigations have been made 

 and the conclusions arrived at, and also to point out some 

 of the problems awaiting solution. The amount of radio- 

 active emanation in the lower regit.ns of the atmosphere 

 is increased by all those meteorological conditions which 

 tend to keep the air stagnant over the earth's surface. 

 The meteorological conditions I'hich either cause or often 

 accompany stagnant air are calm, low temperature and 

 high relative humidity, while, on the contrary, high winds, 

 high temperature, and low humidity generally accompany 

 the mi.xing. of large masses of air. This all agrees with 

 the observed facts that the atmospheric radio-activity in- 

 creases with falling temperature, rising humidity, and in- 

 creasing wind strength. — Two new meteorological instru- 

 ments : G. P. FergMson. The instruments described 

 were : — (i) automatic polar star light recorder for record- 

 ing the amount of cloudiness at night ; and (2) the 

 ombroscope, an instrument for determining the time 

 and duration of rain. Both these instruments are in 

 use at the Blue Hill Observatory, Mass., U.S.A. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, June 19.— M. Troost in the chair. 

 —On the preparation and properties of nitryl fluoride : 

 Henri Moissan and M. Lebeau (see p. 206)' — On some 

 alky! thujones and the combinations of thujone with 

 aromatic aldehydes : A. Haller. The thujone was con- 

 verted into its sodium derivative by means of sodium 

 amide in ethereal solution, and this acted upon by the 

 alkyl iodide. The preparation and properties of methyl, 

 ethyl, propyl, and allylthujone are described, the special 

 object of the work being to study the influence of the 

 introduction of the alkyl group on the rotatory power. 

 Thujone was also condensed with benzaldehyde, anis- 

 aldehyde, and piperonal, the effect in these cases being 

 an enormous increase in the rotatory power. Special 

 experiments were made to see if in the course of the work 

 the thujone had been converted into isothujone, but this 

 was found not to be the case. An improvement in the 

 method of preparation of isothujone from thujone is also 

 described. — Observations on the Giacobini comet (1905 «1 

 made with the large equatorial of the Observatory of 

 Bordeaux : Ernest Esclanson. The observations were 

 made on May 2 and 9.— On the influence of concentration 

 on the magnetic properties of solutions of cobalt : V. 

 Vaillant. If A be the coefficient of magnetisation of a 

 solution containing N equivalents of water and n of salt 

 then .\ = K'N-|-Kn, where K and K' are the coefficients 

 characteristic of the water and the salt. It was found 

 that the value of K was nearlv independent of the con- 

 centration and of the nature of the salt, the chloride 

 nitrate, and sulphate being studied. The slight variation 

 of K observed would appear to be due to ionisation.— On 



a basic ferric sulphate : A. Recoura The chemical 



properties of the anhydrous chloride of neodymium ■ 

 Camille Matignon. Hydrogen at 1000° C. has no action 

 upon the dry chloride, no trace of a subchloride being 

 detected. Oxygen slowly converts the fused chloride into 

 the oxychloride, NdOCl, \vater giving rise to the same 

 substance. Hydriodic acid slowlv converts the chloride 

 mto the iodide, and the bromide is formed with hvdrn- 

 brornic acid by a similar reaction.— On a method for deter- 

 mming the specific heats of solutions. The molecular heat 

 of good and bad electrolytes : P. Th. Muller and C. Fuchs. 

 The liquid is heated by a glass spiral containing mercury 

 through which a constant current is passed, water and 

 the solution being alternatelv introduced into the calori- 

 meter. The causes of the difl'erences between the specific 

 heats of solutions of electrolytes and non-electrolvtcs are 

 discussed.— Researches on the mercury formates': Raoul 

 Varet. A thermochemical paper.— On some new nitro- 

 dinaphthopyranic derivatives: A. Robyn.- On sparteine- 

 the stereoisomerism of the two iodomcthylates : Charles 

 NO. 1 86 I, VOL. 72] 



Moureu and Amand Valeur. These two iodomcthylates 

 cannot be distinguished by their behaviour on heating, as 

 they both split up quantitatively into methyl iodide and spar- 

 teine, and hence the author regards the isomerism as of a 

 stereochemical order.— The influence of electrolytes on the 

 mutual precipitation of colloids of opposite electrical sign : 

 Larguier des Bancels — On a new form of tartrate of 

 thallium, and on isomorphous mixtures of the tartrates of 

 thallium and potassium : Jean Herbette. Although the 

 tartrates of thallium and potassium belong to different 

 crystalline systems, mixtures of these salts exhibit a true 

 isomorphism ; the properties of the mixed crystals of these 

 two salts do not vary in proportion to the chemical com- 

 position. A case analogous to this has already been pointed 

 out by Groth for a mixture of potassium chlorate and 

 permanganate.— The action of liquid air on the life of the 

 seed : Paul Becquerel. The resistance of seeds to low 

 temperatures depends entirely upon the quantity of water 

 and gas contained in their tissues. If this quantity of 

 water and gas is sufficient, the cold disorganises the proto- 

 plasm and nucleus in such a manner that life is impossible 

 but if the protoplasm has by drying attained its maximuni 

 concentration, it completely escapes the action of the low 

 temperature, and the seed preserves its germinating power 

 —An enemy of the Tonkin coffee plant, the Xylotrechu. 

 of the dry bamboo: Louis Boutan — Researches on thr 

 ethnology of the Dravidians. The anthropological re- 

 lations between the mountain tribes and the castes of the 

 plain : Louis Lapicque — On the presence of graptolith 

 schists in the High Atlas of Morocco : Louis Gentil.- 

 On the formation of the Rochefort Cave (Belgium) ■ E A 

 ^r*""*^,'-"^"" fhe evolution of the fossil mammals ^ 

 .Marcellin Boule. A reply to a criticism of M. DepiJret — 

 1 he meteorology of total eclipses of the sun: W 

 de Fonvielle and Paul Borde. Remarks on the work 

 done by Sir John Elliot on the lowering of the temperature 

 during the eclipse of the sun. ^ 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Face of the Earth. By J. W. G jg, 



"^F^RS " ^^^^' ^^' ^'°^- J°''" °- McKendrick; " 



The Science of Education. By A. T S Iqc 



British Birds. By W. P P ^\ 



Our Book Shelf :_ '^° 



Anderson and Collier : " Riding and Driving."— R. L. 197 

 Groll : " Der Oeschinensee im Berner Oberland " 197 



Sargent : "Manual of the Trees of North America 

 (exclusive of Mexico) " . . . . 



Letters to the Editor:— 



Number of Strokes of the Brush in a Picture. - F. G. 19S 

 The Hjdtometer as a Seismometer.— G. T. Bennett 19S 

 The Pressure of Radiation on a Clear Glass Vane — 



Prof. Gordon F. Hull g 



The Habits of Testacella. — M. D. Hill .L 



Nature and Man. By Prof John Perry, F R S ' ' iqo 

 A Life's Work in the Theory of Evolution im„i 

 irated.) By F. A. D 



Dr. William Thomas Blanford, F.R.S. By A G ^o" 



Notes ' 1 ■ ■ ■ -c- 



Our Astronomical Column :— ^°^ 



Astronomical Occurrences in July ^07 



New Observatory in Algeria. {Illustrated. ) . ', '. ' ' 207 



A Suspected Sudden Change on Jupiter . . . ' ' 20- 



Brightnessof Jupiter's Satellites ■-.!!' 207 



Elliptical Elements for the Orbit of Comet 19050 ! ' 207 

 Recent Positions of Eros .... 



Telescopic Work for Observers of Planets By 



W. F. Denning ' ' „ 



The Royal Society Converiazione 20S 



Submarine Navigation. By Sir William H 'White 

 K C.B., F.R.S 



The Institution of Mechanical Engineers ! ! ! ' 212 

 University and Educational Intelligence . . . . . -,14 

 Societies and Academies ' " ^ 



