June 4, 1908] 



NATURE 



119 



position of water and the re-conibination of hydrogen and 

 oxygen under the influence of radium emanation have 

 been confirmed. Carbon dioxide decomposes into carbon, 

 •oxygen, and the monoxide, and the last is changed into 

 carbon, oxygen, and the dioxide. Ammonia brealis up 

 into its components, as does also hydrogen chloride. The 

 rate of change in these reactions is in all cases propor- 

 tional to the rate of change of the emanation. — The 

 chemical action of radium emanation, part iv., on water : 

 .'\. T. Cameron and Sir \\'. Ramsay. The formation 

 of neon from radium emanation in presence of water is 

 •confirmed. — Titani-dihydroxymaleic acid, and the detec- 

 tion of titanium : H. J. H. Fenton. Dihydro.xymaleic 

 acid in aqueous solution gives an intense red-brown 

 colour with quadrivalent titanium compounds. The re- 

 action is sensitive enough to be used as a test for titanium, 

 and serves to distinguish it from vanadium. — The prepara- 

 tion of diselenides. ' Dibenzyl diselcnide, preliminary note : 

 T. S. Price and L. M. Jones. The diselenides are pre- 

 pared by the addition of a solution of sodium sclenosulpliate 

 to a solution of the alkyl chloride. — The optical and 

 sensitising properties of I'.socyanine dyes : S. E. Sheppard. 

 The results of an examination of the absorption spectra, 

 &:c., for gelatinobromide plates are given. — The polari- 

 metric study of intramolecular re-arrangement in inactive 

 substances :' T. S. Patterson and .A. McMillan, The 

 authors have applied their method tTrans. Chem. Soc, 

 iqo7, xci., 504) to measure the rate of inversion of 

 piperonaliVttoxime and similar "substances. — Mercuric zinc 

 cyanide : W. R. Dunstan. The formula Zn,Hg(CN)5 is 

 now given to this substance instead of Zn,Hg(CX),„, a- 

 formerly proposed (Trans. Chem. Soc, 1892, Ixi., 666). — 

 Ethvl 6-meth\ l-2-p\"ronp-3 : 5-dicarl30xylate and its deri- 

 vatives : J. L. Simonsen. — Contributions to the chemistry 

 of the amidines, part ii., 2-anilinobenzoxazole and the sup- 

 posed anilodihydrobcnzoxazole : G. Young and A. E. 

 Dunstan. — The slow decomposition of ammonium 

 chromate, dichrornate, and tricliromate by heat : W. C. 

 Ball. The dichromate evolves nitrogen, water, and 

 ammonia, and leaves eventually a black compound, 

 ;,CrO.,H,0. .\t an intermediate stage a black product 

 having the formula 2Cr03,Cr,03,2NH3,H,0 is formed. 



Royal Microscopical Society, May 20. — Mr. A. N. 



Disney in the chair. — .A series of lantern-slides of old 

 microscopes that the society will exhibit at the Franco- 

 British Exhibition was shown on the screen. Mr. 

 Rousselet, the curator, in giving a description of the 

 instruments, said the collection was illustrative of the 

 history of the microscope, and would consist of twenty- 

 eight microscopes mostly taken from the society's collec- 

 tion, several others being lent for the purpose by Sir 

 Frank Crisp and Mr. E. M. Nelson. The collection in- 

 cluded, with others, a model of Leeuwenhoek's microscope, 

 date about 1673 ; microscopes by Musschenbroek, 1702 ; 

 Wilson. 1702: Culpeper, before 1738; Lieberkuhn, 173S ; 

 John Marshall, 1744; John Cuff, 1744; Benjamin Martin, 

 1760, and one made for George III., 1771 ; Dellebarre, 

 1777; Jones's "Most Improved," 1798; Lister-Tulley, 

 1S26; Cuthbert's reflecting microscope, 1827; Chevalier, 

 1S34 and 1840 ; Hugh Powell, 1839 and 1841 ; Jas. Smith, 

 1841 ; Andrew Ross, 1842 ; Dr. Edwin Ouekett, 1S44 ; and 

 Powell and Lealand, 1848. — An old photomicrographic 

 apparatus designed by Dr. Maddox for Dr. Lionel S. 

 Beale : J. E. Barnard. There were two points of interest 

 about it, the first being the application of an arrangement 

 between the objective and the stage for excluding 

 extraneous light, the other was that the illuminating 

 apparatus was carried on a triangular bar, which had the 

 apex inverted, thus losing the advantage to be derived from 

 the application of the principle of the triangular bar. 



CAMBRIDGE. 

 Philosophical Society, May 4. —Dr. Hohson, nresi. 

 dent, in the chair. — The geographical distribution of the 

 acarine family Oribatidre : C. Warburton. It seemed 

 likely that if ever the Oribatida; of the world should be 

 widely investigated they would prove to be a very 

 characteristic fauna of the various zoological regions, for 

 they seem to possess none of the facilities for extensive 

 ■distribution exhibited by most of the other Arachnids or 



KO. 20I.i. VOL. 78I 



by insects. They are highly specialised mites, not parasitic 

 oil animals like' the ticks and Sarcoptidfe, nor attaching 

 themselves to other creatures for purposes of distribution 

 like the Tyroglyphida\ They are, of course, wingless, 

 nor have they the power of spinning silken parachutes 

 like spiders so as to utilise the wind. They are slow- 

 moving, vegetable-feeding mites, and in England their dis- 

 tribution is very local. Samples of moss containing the 

 living mites have been received from certain widely 

 separated localities, and the results are not at all what 

 were expected. On the whole there is a great resemblance 

 between all the collections, and some species seem to be 

 practically cosmopolitan. Moreover, these species are not 

 primitive in appearance, nor are they among the most 

 active of the group. The almost world-wide distribution 

 of certain forms seems difficult to account for unless the 

 creatures have remained unaltered for a very long period 

 of time. — Some new and obscure species of the genus 

 Haimaphysalis of the Ixodidae : C. Warburton. This 

 paper was an attempt to remove the confusion which had 

 arisen with regard to the species HaemaphysaUs flava, 

 H. bispinosa, and H. paptiana. Four species had been 

 .-onfused under the name of H. flava, and tw'o of these 

 ix-ere now described as new — H. japoiiica and H. campann- 

 'ata. Neumann's H. bispinosa was restored and separated 

 from H. hystricis, of which he considered it a synonym. 

 A species confused by Neumann with H. papnana was 

 described as new under the name of H. crassa. — The fauna 

 of the Bradford coke bed effluent : Dr. A. Meixner. 



M.ANCHESTER. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, April 7— Mr. 

 Francis Jones, vice-president, in the chair. — The occurrence 

 of quartz crystals in limestone, columnar coal, marble, &:c.': 

 R. Pettigrewi. Photographs, microscopic and lantern- 

 slides, were exhibited showing microscopic crystals of 

 quartz obtained from mountain limestone, columnar coal 

 from .•\irdrie, in Lanarkshire, and ordinary statuary marble. 

 — Note on the action of oxalic acid on cellulose : Prof. E. 

 Knecht. It appears that the action of o.xalic acid on 

 crilulose simply constitutes one example of a general mode 

 of formation of acidvl celluloses. 



.April 28.— Prof. H. B. Dixon, F.R.S., president, in the 

 chair. — Some observations on the chemical effect of tropical 

 sunlight : Dr. G. J. Fowler. The results show that the 

 greatest photochemical effect is obtained on the sea, the 

 highest record being on the .Arabian Sea (lat. 16'' 31', long. 

 54° 8') in the vicinity of the Arabian coast. Here_ the 

 chemical intensity of' the sunlight was forty-two times 

 what has been recorded on a bright sunny day in winter 

 in Manchester, and three times the highest summer record 

 in Manchester. The average record for Calcutta was about 

 double the highest for Manchester in 1892. There does not 

 appear to be anv relation between the photochemical effect 

 of sunlight and 'the liability to cause sunstroke, the records 

 in the Mediterranean being as high as in Calcutta, and 

 one record furnished by Dr. Bailey from Pontresina being 

 higher than the average for Cal'cutta. Evidence is also 

 mentioned which suggests that sunstroke is not purely a 

 heat effect. In the same wav sunburn does not seem to 

 depend entirely either on 'the photochemical or heat 

 intensity of sutilight. The full explanation of these pheno- 

 mena has not, it is believed, been yet given. The results 

 of the observations recorded show generally that the photo- 

 chemical effects of tropical sunlight do not difi'er in kind 

 from those observed under European conditions ; indeed, in 

 certain favoured European localities equally striking effects 

 mav be obtained. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences. May 21;.— M. H. Becquerel in the 

 chair.— The recent eruption of Etna (Taormina, May 15, 

 looS) : -A. Lacroix. This eruption broke out in a region 

 quite distinct from that of the eruptions of 18S3, 1S86, 

 and 1892. Details are given of the formation and appear- 

 ance of the new crater, of the lava, and the erosion pheno- 

 mena caused bv the lava.— The stimulating properties of 

 the serum of healthy and tuberculous animals,^ and of 

 animals treated with tuberculin, on cobra poison : .A. 

 Calmette, L. Massol, and C. Cuerin. A description of 

 experiments on the production of lecithin in blood serum 

 by experimental tuberculosis.— .A method of M. Goursat 



