July i8, 1907] 



NA TURE 



287 



Iving between the Ochil Hills and the river Forth. There 

 were four shocks in 1900, one in 1903, ten in 1905, nine- 

 teen in 1906, and eight up to the end of April, 1907. The 

 strongest shock of the scries occurred on September 21, 

 1905 ; its intensity was 6, and it disturbed an area of 

 about 1000 square miles. The originating fault must be 

 directed from about E. 27° N. and W. 27° S., hading to 

 the north, and passing not far from the villages mentioned 

 above. It cannot therefore be identified with the great 

 Ochil fault, which in the district referred to runs from 

 about E. 13° N. to W. 13° S., and near Dollar hades to 

 the south, although it is possible that some or many 

 of the slighter shocks may have been due to slips along 

 this fault. 



Linnean Society, June 20. — Prof. W. A. Herdmnn, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — The distribution of conifers in 

 China and neighbouring countries : the late Dr. M. T. 

 Masters. — -A group of papers on the collections of 

 H.M.S. Sealark : J. .Stanley Gardiner. A group of [ 

 papers on collections obtained during the cruise of the 

 vacht Silver Belle. — The pre-Glacial flora of Britain : 

 Mr. and Mrs. Clement Reid. — Species and ovicells of 

 Tubucellaria : A. W. Waters. The collections dealt with 

 were from the Red Sea, Zanzibar, and the Atlantic. — 

 Cephalopoda of the Sudan : Dr. W. E. Hoyle. — Triassic 

 species of Zamites and Pterophyllum : E. A. N. Arber. — 

 Plants collected on Mt. Ruwenzori by Dr. A. F. R. 

 WoUaston (1906) : E. G. Baker, S. L. Moore, and A. B. 

 Rendle. The plants from the Ruwenzori range were 

 collected from two camps, one at about 3500 feet above 

 sea-level on the south-east slopes of the range between 

 the mountains proper and Lake Ruisamba, the other at 

 6500 feet in the Mubuku Valley on the east side of the 

 range. Expeditions were made to intermediate and higher 

 altitudes, the highest camp being at about 12,500 feet, 

 whence plants were collected up to the snow-level at about 

 14,500 feet on the east side. The time of year was January 

 to July. Dr. Wollaston gives notes on the vegetation at 

 different altitudes from 3000 feet to 15,000 feet, and has 

 brought back some photographs showing the nature of 

 the country and different aspects of the vegetation. The 

 plants at the lower elevations include some common tropical 

 weeds, with a fair percentage of more localised species 

 and some novelties. Cultivation ceases above 7000 feet, 

 and at from 7000 feet to 8000 feet is found the largest 

 forest of the range ; a large Dombeya is noticeable, and 

 one of the finest trees is a Podocarpus. Above 8000 feet 

 the forest thins out, and is gradually replaced by a belt of 

 small tree-heaths and Podocarpus. The bamboo zone 

 begins on the east side at about 8500 feet, and continues 

 up to 10,000 feet. The big tree-heaths begin about 9500 

 feet, at which level a number of terrestrial orchids were 

 found, with numerous ferns. From 10,000 feet to ii.ooo 

 feet moss is plentiful on the ground and trees, forming 

 cushions 2 feet deep ; here were found two tree Lobelias. 

 In the next thousand feet Helichrysums, Lobelias, tree- 

 heaths, and tree Senecios are the most conspicuous plants. 

 The heaths cease about 12,500 feet, but the Senecios con- 

 tinue .almost to 14,000 feet. .Another Lobelia appears at 

 about 12,500 feet, and is found on the steepest slopes 

 almost to the snow-line. Helichrysums, sometimes form- 

 ing bushes 4 feet or 5 feet high, grow luxuriantly. A 

 small Arabis was found at 14,000 feet, and a rush, a grass 

 (a new species of Poa), and mosses were found growing 

 up to the level of permanent snow. — The anatomy of the 

 Julianiaceje : Dr. F. E. Fritsch.— Certain critical fresh- 

 water algEE : G. S. West. 



Faraday Society, Tune 25.— Prof. S. P. U. Pickering. 

 F.R.S., in the chair.— The thermochemistry of electrolytes 

 in relation to the hydrate theory of ionisation ; W. R. 

 Bousfield and Dr. T. ^L Lowry. The process of 

 ionisation of a neutral salt in aqueous solution " is usually 

 attended with a development of heat " (Nernst, " Theo- 



-1- — 

 retical Chemistry," 1904, 659), e.g. KCl-^K4-Cl-(-250 cal. 

 (Arrhenius, Zeit. phys. Chem., 1889, iv., 106). Tt is 

 pointed out that the decomposition of potassium chloride 

 into molecular potassium and molecular chlorine involves 

 an absorption of 105,600 cal., and that a further absorption 

 must accompany the decomposition of the molecules into 



NO. 1968, VOL. 76] 



atoms. The electrification of the atoms is also probably 

 an endothermic action, and the change represented by the 

 above equation, so far from involving the liberation of 

 250 cal., must actually involve the absorption of more 

 than 100,000 cals. The process of ionisation must there- 

 fore in\'olve some powerful exothermic action not shown 

 in the ordinary scheme, and it is suggested that this is 

 supplied by the combination of the charged atoms or 

 " ionic nuclei " with the solvent to form hydrated ions. 

 — Influence of non-electrolytes and electrolytes on the 

 solubility of gaseb in water. The question of hydrates in 

 solution : Dr. J. C. Philip. The author supported the 

 view according to which the diminished power of a solution 

 to dissolve hydrogen and oxygen as compared with pure 

 water is due mainly to the hydration of the solute and 

 the consequent diminution of the " free " solvent. — 

 Hydrates in solution : discussion of methods suggested for 

 determining degree of hydration ; Dr. G. Senter. It is 

 pointed out that recent attempts to account for the proper- 

 ties of aqueous solution on the basis of association alone 

 have not only proved inadequate to afford a quantitative 

 representation of the facts, but in some respects do not 

 appear to be even in qualitative agreement with experi- 

 ment. The different methods of investigation indicate that 

 the degree of hydration varies with the atomic weight ; 

 for example, in the case of the chlorides of the alkalis, 

 the hydration decreases with increasing atomic weight of 

 the alkali metals. From a quantitative point of view our 

 knowledge of hydration is much less satisfactory, and the 

 results so far obtained must be regarded as of a pre- 

 liminary character. — The stability of hydrates as indicated 

 by equilibrium curves : Dr. A. Findiay. 



Chemical Society, July 4. — Sir Alexander Pedler, 

 F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — lioNitroso- and 

 nitro-dimethyldihydroresorcin : P. Haas. The first of 

 these substances is obtained by treating the potassium salt 

 of dimethyldihydroresorcin with potassium nitrite in acid 

 solution, and it is converted into the nitro-compound by 

 treatment with nitrous gases in ether solution. — The 

 structure of carbonium salts : F. Baker. ^-Rosaniline 

 and its monohydrochloride give absorption spectra con- 

 forming to the two types characteristic of carbonium salts 

 such as the triphenyl- and trianisyl-carbinol sulphates, 

 whence it is concluded that the magentas are carbonium 

 salts. — Studies of dynamic isomerism, part vi., the in- 

 fluence of impurities on the muta-rotation of nitrocamphor : 

 T. M. Lowry and E. H. Magson. The view previously 

 arrived at that the mutarotation of nitrocamphor in solvents 

 is conditioned by the presence of alkaline impurities is 

 confirmed. — The relation between absorption spectra and 

 chemical constitution, part viii., the phenylhydrazones 

 and osazones of a-diketones : E. C. C. Baly, W. B. Tuck, 

 Miss G. Marsden, and Miss M. Gazdar. E.xamination 

 of the absorption spectra shows that these substances, in 

 neutral solution, possess the ketonic structure, whilst 

 phenylhydrazones in alkaline solution tend to assume the 

 enolic configuration. — Permanganic acid : M. M. P. Muir. 

 .A solution containing 17 per cent, of this acid can be 

 obtained by adding the calculated quantity of dilute sul- 

 phuric acid to a solution of barium permanganate and 

 concentrating the filtrate in a vacuum. — Methyl dicarboxy- 

 aconitate : S. Ruhemann. Descriptions are given of 

 additive and condensation products obtained by the inter- 

 action of this ester with (a) phenylhydrazine and (b) 

 aniline. The action of heat on aa'-hydroxycarboxylic acids, 

 part iii., aa'-dihvdroxysebacic acid and its diacetyl de- 

 rivative : H. R. Le Sueur. Both these compounds are 

 decomposed at 25o°-27o° with the formation of carbon 

 monoxide and the dialdehyde corresponding to suberic 

 acid. — Dihydroxyadipic acid's : H. R. Le Sueur. Two 

 dihydroxya'dipic acids are formed when the bromine atoms 

 in oa'-di'broiTioadipic acid are replaced by hydroxy-groups. 

 These are probably stereoisomerides. — The relation between 

 absorption spectra and optical rotatory power : A. \\'. 

 Stewart. The absorption spectra of racemic acid in con- 

 centrated solution difi'er from those of the optically active 

 tartaric acids, but on dilution approximate to them in 

 character, indicating that the acid breaks down into its 

 two optical antipodes. — Experiments on the synthesis nf 

 the terpenes, part xi., synthesis of 4 : fsopropylideneryr/')- 



