2 34 



NATURE 



\yan. 22, 1874 



lie in the suppression of the assimilative process. Mr. Sorby's 

 observations on tlie colour of plants are also given. — In physics 

 and chemistry, we have an account of experiments by M. Meyer 

 as to the influence of access of air on alcoholic fermentation, 

 MM. Favre and Valson's researches on work done in saline solu- 

 tions, those of M. Edlund on the electromotive and thermoelec- 

 tric forces of metallic alloys with copper, those of MM. Mach 

 and Fischer on reflection and refractionof sound. Prof. Maxwell's 

 lecture on molecules, and other papers. — In a physiological 

 paper, entitled "The internal mechanics of nerves," some addi- 

 tional light is thrown by M. Bernstein on the electrotonic state 

 investigated by Pfliiger, and a hypothesis is offered, to account 

 for the phenomena. There are also biological papers on the 

 apparatuses for production of sound in insects, and on the deep-ssa 

 fauna of the Swiss lakes. — We further note an interesting lecture 

 by M. Sandberger, on a portion of the geological history of the 

 Oberrhdnthttl ; and a quantity ot valuable information in the 

 liieitien Mitthiilungen. 



Journal of the Franldin Institute, Dec. 1873. — Inthisnumber 

 are given two reports of the Committee on the mode of deter- 

 mining the horse-power of steam boilers. A division of opinion 

 is indicated, a minority in the Committee holding, that the horse- 

 power of boilers for stationary engines is properly defined as 

 the capability to evaporate a cubic foot of water per hour from 

 and at the temperature of 212' F. and there is no reason for modi- 

 fying its normal value ; while the majority (4 against 3), consider, 

 that, in view o! variations of capacity of the same boiler under 

 varied conditions, the discontinuance of the term horse-power, 

 as descriptive of the size and capacity of the boiler, is advisable ; 

 purchasers and makers should, instead, describe fully and in 

 accurate terms, the evaporative capacity of boilers -poposed, 

 and the conditions under which they are worked and tested. 

 Considerations are urged in support of each of these views. — 

 Mr. Richards continues his " Principles of shop manipulation, 

 for engineering apprentices ; " this part treating chiefly of the 

 various kinds of motive machmery. — ^A paper read by Mr. 

 Ransome before the Franklin Institute gives an account of the 

 improvements which he has introduced into the manufacture of 

 artificial stone. — ^We also find notes on a new hydrsi.ulic railway 

 car-brake, by Mr. Henderson, and on the stability of towers 

 and chimneys, by Jfr. Evans. — Among the "Items and Novel- 

 ties " i-eference is made to some important results obtained by 

 Prof. Thurston, from experiments at the Stevens Institute of 

 Technology, as to the behaviour of metals under stress. The 

 following deduction was repeatedly confirmed : — Metal strained 

 so far as to take a permanent set, and left under the stress pro- 

 ducing it, gains in power of resistance up to a limit of time, 

 which in these experiments was about seventy-two hours, and to 

 a limit of increase which has a value, in the best iron, of 

 about 20 per cent., where the applied force is 80 per cent, of the 

 ultimate breaking force. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 



Mathematical Society, Jan. S.— Dr. Hirst, F.R.S., presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — i\Ir. J. W. L. Glaisher read a paper on the 

 transformation of continued products into continued fractions. 

 The paper had its origin in a remarkable continued fraction for 

 7r given by Prof. Sylvester in the Philosophical Transactions for 

 1869, viz. : — 



= I -f 



3-4 



,4:5 



which is there shown to be equivalent to Wallis's formul.c — 



■K _ 2. 2. 4. 4. 6. 6. 8.8. ., 



2 ~ I.3-3-5-5-7-7-9 • • ■ 

 Prof. Sylvester arrived at his result by means of a complete solu- 

 tion he had previously found of the equation of finite differences 

 Ux 



Ux 



= ^ -1- £/■.«■ 



(a "shaving" as the discoverer remarked from his method of 



" reducible cyclodes ") whereas the present jiaper arrives at the 

 result by a direct transformation.— Prof Clifford spoke upon the 

 foundations of the differential calculus and of dynamics. The 

 points dwelt upon were^all continuous quantity is expressed by 

 lines, therefore every fluxion is really velocity or the method of 

 fluxions and the beginning of kinematic is the same ; he then 

 dwelt upon Newton's definition of tangents and Hankel's remark, 

 and pointed out the necessity of a modification of the definition, 

 traced ou: certain analogies to the methods of Euclid and Archi- 

 medes (definition of fourth proportional and of area), and closed 

 his remarks with a proof of the composition of velocities. — The 

 secretary read a note from Prof. Crofton on a method of treating 

 the kinematical question of the most general displacement of a 

 solid in space. — Mr. Perigal made a few remarks on the subject 

 of link trammels (in connection with Prof. Sylvester's recent 

 paper), in the course of which he stated that Peaucillier's lozenge- 

 trammel is a modified reproduction of Jopling's " double cranks " 

 trammel, invented about 1S22. The statement was impugned 

 by Prof. Sylvester and Mr. S. Roberts. — The following papers 

 were taken as read : — On Hamilton's characteristic function for 

 a narrow beam of light, by Prof. J. Clerk-Maxwell. — Preliminary 

 account of investigations on the free motion of a solid in elliptic 

 space, by Prof. Clifford. 



Geological Society, Jan. 7. — Prof. Ramsav, V.P.R.S., 

 Vice-President, in the chair. The following communications 

 were read: — I. "The Origin of some of the ija,<e-ba-ins uf 

 Cumberland." — First Paper. By J. Clifton Ward, F.G.S. 

 After referring to the fact that the question of the orig n of lake- 

 basins cannot be satisfactorily discussed unless the depth of the 

 lakes anl the heights of the mountains are brought before the 

 mind's eye in their natural proportions, the author sketched out 

 the physical geography of the lakes under discussion (Derwent- 

 water, Bassenthwaite, Buttermere, Crummock, and Lowes water), 

 and pointed out what must have been their original size and 

 shape before they were filled up to the extent they now are. 

 These lakes were not moraine-dammed, but true rock-basins. 

 The belief that the present Lake-district scenery was the result 

 of the sculpturing of atmospheric powers, such as we see now 

 ill operation, varied by climatal changes and changes in the 

 height of tlie district above the sea, was enforced, and the 

 opinion given that the work of elaboration of the lake-country 

 scenery has been going on ever since Carboniferous or pre-Car- 

 boniferous times. When all the evidence was considered — the 

 fact of the lake-hollows under examination being but long shallow 

 troughs, the thickness of the ice which moved along the valley.s 

 m which the lakes now lie, tire agreement of the deepest parts of 

 the lakes with the points at which, from the confluence of several 

 ice-streams and the narrowing of the valley, the onward pressure 

 of the ice must havef been greatest, — the conclusion was arrived 

 at that Prof. Ramsay's theory was fully supported by these cases, 

 and that the immediate cause of the present lake-basins was the 

 onward movement of the old glaciers, ploughing up their beds 

 to this slight depth. — 2. ' ' On the Traces of a Great Ice-sheet in 

 the Southern part of the Lake-district and in North Wales." 

 By D. Mackintosh, F.G.S. In this paper the author brought 

 forward the evidence which seems to him to establish the e.\- 

 istence in the southern part of the Lake-district of a " valley- 

 ignoring and ridge- concealing ice-sheet." He gave a table of 

 the direction of ice-marks observed by him in the Lake-district, 

 and stated that about Windermere and Amhieside the general 

 direction is nearly N.N. W., round Grasmere between N. W. 

 and N.N. W., north-west and west of Grasmere in upland valleys 

 and on high ridges about N. 30° W., south of Grasmere and in 

 Great Langdale N. 35° W., and in the Coniston district a little 

 W. of N. In many places he recognised an uphill march of the 

 ice. The author also referred to the glaciatioii of North Wales, 

 some of the marks of which, observed by him in a district south 

 of Snowdon, seemed to him to indicate the southerly movement 

 of a great ice-sheet capable of ignoring or crossing deep valleys. 

 — 3. Notes on some Laraellibranchs from the Budleigh-Sal- 

 terton Pebbles. By Arthur Wyatt Edgell, F.G.S. 



Linnean Society, Jan. 15. — Mr. George Bentham, F.R.S., 

 in the chair. — Dr. Hooker, Pres. R. S., exhibited a very 

 beautiful series of specimens of Fossil Copal, the product of 

 Trachvlobiiim Honti'mannuinutii , some specimens of Recent 

 Copal from the same plant, and some fruits of a MomorJica, all 

 fowarded from Zanzibar, by Dr. Kirk, F.L.S. , for the Kew 

 Museum. -^Before proceeding to the regular business of the 

 Society, the president again read, and explained the purport of, 

 the alterations in the Bye-laws agreed to by the Council. The 



