March 24, 1881] 



NATURE 



499 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Thk Jmeruan A'aturaUst, March, 1881. — D. S. Jordan and 

 Chas. H. Gilbert, observations on tlie salmon of the Pacific. — J. 

 Walter Fewkes, the anatomy and development of Agalma, part 

 2. — A. J. Cook, on the relation of agriculture to science. — Wm. 

 H. Holmes, glacial phenomena in the Yellovv.stone Pack. — E. 

 Holterhoff, jun., a collector's notes on the breeding of some 

 Western birds. 



Reale Istituto Lomhafdo di Scienzc e Lettere. Reiuikonti, 

 vol. xiv. fasc. iii. — Results of observations on the amplitude of 

 diurnal oscillations of the magnetic needle, made in 1880, at the 

 Brera Royal Observatory, Milan, by S. Schiaparelli. — On Prof. 

 Cantor's new History of Mathematics, by the same. — Some 

 observations on verglas and its theory, by Prof. Serpieri. — On 

 some post-glacial fis-^ures in the southern Alps, by Prof. Tara- 

 melli. — A physiological sign of trae deatli, by Doctors Verga'and 

 Biffi. — On sanguineous effusion in the bottom of the eye and in 

 the cavity of the tympanum through death by hanging, by Prof. 

 Tamassia. 



Berichte iiber die Vcrhandlangen der naturf. Gesells. zu Freiburg 

 i. B., Band vii. Heft iv., 1880. — On the optical structure of ice, 

 by Fr. Klocke. — On the behaviour of crystals in solution that 

 are but a little short of saturation, by the same. — On torsion, by 

 E. Warburg. — The forms of vibration of plucked and rubbed 

 strings, by F. Lindemann. — Contribution to a knowledge of 

 protozoa, by A. Gruber. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Royal Society, March 17. — A paper byC. Greville Williams, 

 F.R.S., was read " On the Action of Sodmm upon Chinoline." 



The author, after giving a historical sketch of «hat he had 

 previously done upon the subject, calls attention to the fact that 

 for a yellow oil-like dichinoline to give a red crystalline hydro- 

 chlorate is probably a unique reaction. He also states further on 

 that tlie colour of this hydrochlorate is so brilliant that the finest 

 Vermillion looks brown by comparison. His most successful 

 preparations were made from chinoline purified by conversion 

 into a crystallised chromate. The base so prepared is almost 

 colourless, and becomes yellow with extreme slowness as com- 

 pared with a product obtained without that precaution. On 

 treating chinoline with sodium, converting the resulting purplish 

 fluid into hydrochlorate, separating the scarlet crystals by filtra- 

 tion, and fractionally precipitating with platinic chloride, he 

 obtains several products, the most conspicuous being a salt of 

 the formula 2(C'»H"N2)HC1 . PtCl<. Sodium amalgam reacts 

 in a similar manner, and this appears to be the best way of 

 obtaining the scarlet hydrochlorate of dichinoline in its greatest 

 beauty. 



On recovering the chinoline unacted on from the mother 

 liquors it had the same boiling-point as before the treatment with 

 sodium, but on treating the recovered base again with sodium 

 amalgam it yields a solid yellow resinous base, instead of the 

 fluid one previously obtained. The author studies all the basic 

 products by conversion into hydrochlorates, and fractionally pre- 

 cipitating with platinic chloride, and points out the remarkable 

 similarity in the percentages of platinum obtained from the 

 mother liquors of the scarlet hydrochlorate of dichinoline, from 

 the scarlet salt itself, and from the hydrochlorate of the yellow 

 solid base. 



Zoological Society, March 15.— Prof. W. H. Flower, 

 LL.D., F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The Secretary read a 

 report on the additions that had been made to the Society's 

 Menagerie during the month of February, and called special 

 attention to a female Bactrian Camel (Canubis Bactrianus), 

 fonnerly belonging to Ayoub Khan, which Col. O. H. St. John, 

 F.Z.S., has purchased from its captors at Candahar and pre- 

 sented to the Society, and to a male Wild Sheep (Oivi- eyeloceros), 

 obtained from Afghanistan, and presented to the Society by 

 Capt. W. Cotton, F.Z.S. — Mr. A. G. More exhibited some eggs 

 of the Red-necked Phalarope, believed to have been taken in 

 England ; and an egg of the Tree-Pipit, taken near Dublin, this 

 bird having been considered only doubtfully Irish. Mr. More 

 also exhibited a specimen of the Red-created Pochard, obtained 

 near Tralee, being the first record of the occurrence of this 

 .species in Ireland.— Mr. R. Bovvdler Sharpe exhibited a speci- 

 men of the so-called Sabine's Snipe Gallinago Sabinii). This 



bird had been shot in July last by the Hon. W. W. Palmer at 

 Woolmer Pond, near Selborne, Hants. — Prof. F. Jeffrey Bell, 

 F.Z.S. , read the fourth of his series of observations on the 

 characters of the Echinoidea. The present paper dealt with 

 most of the genera of the Echinometiada- ; their systematic 

 affinities were discussed and their relations to the Echinidje 

 shown to be so intimate as not to justify their separation 

 into two distinct families. — A second paper by Prof. Bell gave 

 the description of a new species of the genus Mespilia, obtained 

 at Samoa by the Rev. S. J. Whitmee, which the author pro- 

 posed to name after its discoverer, M. Wliitmei. — Mr. W. A. 

 Forbes read the fourth of his series of papers on the anatomy of 

 Passerine birds. The present communication was devoted to 

 the consideration of some points in the anatomy of the genus 

 Conopophaga and of its systematic position. — A communication 

 was read from Prof. Newton, F.R.S., in which he proposed to 

 substitute the name Hypositta for Hypherpes, which he had 

 formerly proposed for a genus of Passerine birds found in Mada- 

 gascar. — A communication was read from Mr. M. Jacoby con- 

 taining descriptions of new genera and species of phytophagous 

 coleptera. 



Physical Society, March 12 —Sir W. Thomson in the 

 chair.— New Members : Mr. Colville Brown, Dr. J. P. Joule. 

 — Col. Festin read a paper by Capt. Abney and himself, on the 

 absorption spectra of organic bodies. The method of photo- 

 graphing the infra-red region of the spectrum gave better results 

 for absorption than thermopile. Organic compounds were 

 chosen as giving the larger molecules. The apparatus employed 

 consisted of a small Gramme machine driven by a Brotherhood 

 engine, and an electric lamp with a plevice for shifting the 

 negative pole so as to get the crater on one side of the other 

 carbon point. The image of the positive pole was allowed to 

 fall on the slit of the spectroscope : the light of the arc not 

 being used. Three prisms were used, and a camera with a 

 back-swing to it so as to get a considerable length of spectrum 

 in focus. Maps of the various spectra were made with six 

 inches of the substance examined inclosed in a glass tube. Alco- 

 hols, acids, oils, and water were examined, and gave spectra of 

 bands and lines. When hydrogen was absent in the compound 

 there were no lines, and the authors conclude the lines to be due 

 to hydrogen. Oxygen appeared to obliterate the space between 

 the lines and make it a band. The authors hope by this method 

 to detect the radicles present in a substance. They found corre- 

 spondences between some lines and lines in the solar map. Dr. 

 Coffin said that two kinds of chloroform, apparently the same, 

 produced different physiological results : the method might 

 distinguish between these. Sir William Thomson thought it 

 might throw light on the ultimate constitution of matter. — Mr. 

 Brown read a paper on the definition of work in text-books, 

 and gave reasons for preferring that in Rankine's books. 



Anthropological Institute, March 8. — F. W. Rudler, 

 F.G.S., vice-president, in the chair. — The election of Dr.G. D. 

 Thane was announced. — A collection of rubbings taken from 

 door-posts and window-frames in New Zealand was exhibited. 

 They were chiefly interesting from the proof which they 

 afforded of the clear influence of matted and woven materials 

 on the ornamentation of stone architecture, a parallel to the 

 influence of wood architecture on stone architecture pointed out 

 by Fellowes in Lycia and by Lepsius in E'.'ypt ; also from the 

 remarkable coincidence between some of these ornamentations 

 and the outlines on the tombstones of Mykensc, a near approach 

 to the triglyph in New Zealand. — A short note by Mr. S. E. 

 Peal, on Assam pile-dwellings, was read, and was illustrated by 

 a series of sketches by the author. — Lieut. -Col. R. G. Wood- 

 thorpe, R.E., read a paper on the wild tribes inhabiting the 

 so-called Naga Hills on our North-P'astern frontier of India. 

 The paper dealt only with the Angami N.igas, who, it was 

 stated, differ from all the other hill tribes of Assam in many 

 important particulars, such as appearance, architecture, mode of 

 cultivation, language, and dress. In appearance they are a 

 finer, cleaner, and better-looking race than their neighbours ; 

 they build their houses resting on the ground, and not raised on 

 piles as all the other hill tribes of Assam (except the Khasias) 

 do, and after a pattern not seen elsewhere. DiBerences in phy- 

 sical or topographical conditions do not account for this differ- 

 ence in the style of architecture, as the Angami villages are 

 found on the same ridges as, and often not a mile from, villages 

 constructed on the other principle. In dress the Angami differs 

 most strikingly from all the other tribes in the kilt or short 

 petticoat of dark cloth ornamented with rows of white cowrie 



