iiS 



NA TURE 



[June 4, 1896 



grants and niral asjricullural instruction. The programme for the 

 year also makes the following provisions : — For dairy instruction, 

 £,z^0 ; for manual instrviction in woodwork, £'2.i'& ; for nursing, 

 ambulance, and general hygiene, £\<iO\ for dressmaking, .,£^100 ; 

 for instruction in poultry-keeping, ^^35 ; for hedging and thatch- 

 ing, £2y We are very sceptical as to the wisdom of so diffuse 

 a syllabus of work, and would again point out that no efforts 

 should be spared to coordinate and systematise all the educational 

 projects of a County Committee. 



A PROSPECTUS referring to the Faculty of Applied Science of 

 McGill University, Montreal, announces that, through the 

 munificence of Mr. W. C. McDonald, a Department of Archi- 

 tecture has been established in the Faculty, and the regular work 

 of the new department will commence with session 1896-97. 

 During the summer, a Professor of Architecture is to be appointed, 

 and the efficiency of the Drawing Department is to be much 

 increased by the addition of a lecturer in freehand drawing and 

 descriptive geometry. The same benefactor has also rendered 

 it possible for the University to place the Departments of 

 Chemistry and Mining in a thoroughly efficient condition. The 

 erection of a large building is to be proceeded with immediately, 

 and the building will be equipped in the most approved manner, 

 including not only provision for the several branches of chemistry, 

 but also for mineralogy, mining, and metallurgy. The Mining 

 and Metallurgical Laboratories alone will have a floor space of 

 about 10,000 square feet, and will be supplied with the most 

 recent appliances for the milling and metallurgical treatment of 

 ores, &c. A Professor of Mining will be appointed during the 

 summer, and other important changes in the staff, all leading to 

 increased efficiency, are to be made. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Symons's Monthly Meteorological Magazine, May. — The worst 

 gale of the nineteenth century in the English midlands. This 

 storm occurred on March 24, 1S95, and has not been fully 

 discussed, although some local scientific societies have pub- 

 lished short papers upon it. The present number contains 

 part of the list of damage done in various countries ; in the 

 next number it is proposed to complete it, and to offer some 

 general remarks upon the subject. Mr. Symons considers that 

 the damage done is without parallel since "the great storm" 

 of 1703. It is a curious coincidence that it occurred on the 

 same day of the year, and nearly at the same hour, as that of 

 the Eurydice squall in 1878, in which, it will be remembered, 

 Her Majesty's ship was lost. This latter storm was discussed 

 by the late Mr. W. C. Ley.— Fog, mist, and haze, by " F. R. 

 Met. Soc." In the hope of initiating a discussion upon the 

 e.\isting absence of unanimity as to the meaning attached to the 

 different words in general use, the author has suggested certain 

 definitions, which are briefly as follows : — Fog ; an obscuration 

 due to condensation of aqueous vapour when the particles are 

 too small to be seen with the naked eye. Mist ; when the 

 particles are large enough to be seen with the naked eye. 

 Smoke-fog; obscuration without water particles. Haze; an 

 obscuration of distant objects, so slight that the cause is not 

 visible to the observer. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Chemical Society, May 7.— Mr. A. G. V. Harcourt, 

 President, in the chair. — The following papers were read : — 

 Carbon dioxide, its volumetric determination, by W. H. Symonds 

 and F. R. Stephens. The authors describe a trustworthy method 

 of estimating carbon dioxide in air. — On certain views concerning 

 the condition of the dissolved substance in solutions of sodium 

 sulphate, by R. F. D'Arcy. Experiments on the viscosity of 

 strong solutions of sodium sulphate confirm the generally 

 accepted view that the condition of sodium sulphate in aqueous 

 solution is always the same, whether the solutions are prepared 

 from the anhydrous salt or one of its two hydrates. — Luteolin, 

 II., by A. G. Perkin. The results of the further examination of 

 luteolin are given ; it is isomeric with fisetin, and probably has 



C(OII).CH:C.CO C.CoH^COH)^ 



the constitution || | || . — Morin 



CH.C(OH);C.C(CO).CII 

 Part I., by H. Bablich and A. G. Perkin. Morin, a yellow 



NO. 1388, VOL. 54] 



colouring matter occurring in old fustic and in Jackwood, is iso- 

 meric with, and has a very similar constitution toquercitin. — Syn- 

 thesis of pentacarbon rings. Part I. Anhydracetonebenzil and its 

 homologues, by F. R. Japp and G. D. Lander. Anhydracetone 

 benzil has been fully investigated, and is shown to be adiphenyl- 

 CPh^-=CH . 



hydroxycyclopentane of the constitution 



CPh(OH).Cnj' 



CO.— 



Synthesis of pentacarbon rings. Part II. Condensation of benzil 

 with acetonedicarboxylic acid, by F. R. Japp andG. D. Lander. 

 The behaviour towards reagents of anhydracetonebenzilcarboxylic 

 acid, which is obtained by the condensation of benzil with 

 acetonedicarboxylic acid, is described. — Reduction of desylene- 

 acetic acid, and the constitution of Zinin's pyroamaric acid, by 

 F. R. Japp and G. D. Lander. Desyleneacetic acid yields 

 Meyer and Oelker's desylacetic acid on reduction and B-^- 

 diphenylbutyric acid on boiling with hydriodic acid and phos- 

 phorus ; this acid is identical with Zinin's pyroamaric acid. — 

 Electrolysis of potassium allo-ethylic camphorate, by J. Walker 

 and J. Henderson. — Flourene and acenapthene, by W. R. 

 Hodgkinson. The red substance obtained by the oxidation ol 

 flourene and acenaphthene is not a hydrocarbon, but contains 

 oxygen ; no coloured hydrocarbon can be prepared by oxidising 

 these substances. 



Mathematical Society, May 14. — Major MacMahon, R.A., 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair. — Mr. H. F. Baker spoke upon 

 the bitangents of a plane quarti<: curve and the straight lines of a 

 cubic surface. — A paper by Prof. E. W. Brown, on the applica- 

 tion of the principal function to the solution of Delaunay's 

 canonical system of equations, was taken as read. — Short com- 

 munications were made by the President, Colonel Cunningham, 

 Prof. Hill, F.R.S., Mr. Hammond, and Mr. Tucker. 



Cambridge. 

 Philosophical Society, May 11. — Prof. J. J. Thomson, 

 President, in the chair. — Note on the formation of the layers 

 in AmphioxHs, by Mr. E. W. MacBride. — Note on the 

 continuity of the mesenchyme cells in Echinoderms, li)' Mr. 

 E. W. MacBride. — Mr. ' F. C. Shrubsall read a paper on crania 

 froin Teneriffe, embodying the measurements of sixty-one 

 skulls and two hundred long bones. The average height of 

 the islanders, calculated from the latter, was for males 

 1642 mm. and for females 1552 mm. 



Edinhurgh. 

 Royal Society, May 18. — Prof. Chrystal in the chair. —Mr. 

 W. G. Robson, St. Andrews, exhibited some X-ray photo- 

 graphs, and described the progress of the study at St. Amlrews 

 University. Some of the exposures were long compared with 

 what has been done recently, notably by Dr. Macintyre; but the 

 photographs were all very good, and the definitions rem irkably 

 clear. Some of the pictures shown were very interesting. A 

 photo of a mummy's foot was exhibited, and Mr. Robson 

 remarked that the rays must have had some effect on the skin, 

 for, at the end of the experiment, it was found to be quite soft. 

 A photograph of what looked at first sight like some insect, but 

 turned out to be a St. Andrews "bulger" with the lead showing 

 very clearly, caused some amusement. Prof. Chrystal thought 

 that uranium would be of great use in intensifying X-ray photo 

 graphs. — Prof. D'Arcy Thompson made a short preliminary com- 

 munication on the bird and beast names in Albertus Magnus. 

 There were very many barbarous-looking names for beasts and 

 birds in Albertus Magnus, which have a certain resemblance 

 to words in Aristotle. The Dominican friar did not know 

 Greek, but used an Arabic translation of Aristotle. If the 

 Greek words were transliterated into Arabic, they were found to 

 be ])arallel with the words used by Albertus when treated in the 

 same way. — Prof. Thompson also read a paper on the 2 of 

 Diophantus. Diophantus used 2 for an unknown quantity. 

 Most commentators take this to be the s of h^Afjiis ("6 oiJ/jkttos 

 opiS;H((s"), but there are difficulties attached to this interpretation. 

 Sometimes the 2 has the sign of the genitive or plural written in 

 small letters beside it, pointing rather to the fivct of its being an 

 initial letter. Prof. Thompson suggested craiptir, a heap, con- 

 nected with the heap-calculus of the Egyptians, and gave varicjus 

 reasons for his suggestion. If true, this hypothesis, in linking 

 Diophantus on to the Eastern culture, deprived him of his 

 position as the father of mathematics, and helped to prove that 

 many of his problems, as was conjectured long ago by -Morgan 

 and Bonnycastle, were not original but were collected from 



