June i i, 1S96] 



NA TURE 



141 



Upper staff, two chief assistants ami five assistants ; lower 

 staff, two higher grade established computers and six established 

 computers ; temporary staff, non-establi^hL■d computers. 



iMr. 1". H. Cowell was appointed the additional chief assistant 

 on April 20, and it is hoped that the appointments of the 

 established computers will very shortly be made. Mr. Criswick 

 has retired on pension after a useful .ind honourable service of 

 forty-one years at the Observatory, and .Mr. HoUis has been pro- 

 moted to fill the vacancy thus occasioned in the staft'of first class 

 assistants. 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA. 



'PIIE annual meeting of the Royal Society of Canada was 

 ^ held at Ottawa on May 18, and the three following days. 

 In addition to the papers read before the literary sections of the 

 Society, a large number of important papers were presented in 

 the two Science Sections. 



In Section III. (Mathematical, Physical and Chemical 

 Sciences), Profs. Cox and Callendar presented the results of 

 recent investigations carried on by them in the physical labora- 

 tories of McGill University, in which they have succeeded in 

 demonstrating that Rdntgen rays are not unaffected by magnetic 

 attraction, as Riintgen states, but on the contrary are affected 

 in a marked manner when tested experimentally under 

 favourable conditions, the approach of the magnet causing 

 a marked deviation of the kathode rays within the tube in one 

 direction, and at the same time a corresponding deviation of the 

 Kontgen rays without the tube in the opposite direction. These 

 observations are of especial importance as bearing on the 

 question of the relation of Rontgen rays to the kathode-rays, 

 Kontgen having considered the former as differing from the 

 latter in that they were not influenced by m.agnetism. 



In the same Section, papers were also read by Messrs. Alex. R. 

 Mellanby and John T. Farmer, Royal Commissioners' Scholars, 

 on investigations carried out in the laboratories of McGill 

 University ; the former, " on an investigation as to the thermal 

 and plant efficiencies of compound, triple and quadruple expan- 

 sion engines," and the latter, "on the efficiency of ^-inch jets 

 from circular orifices, impinging upon surfaces of different 

 forms." — Prof. Bovey communicated the results of a series 

 of experiments on the strengths of the w oods of the hemlock, 

 red pine, and white pine. — Mr. Howard Barnes presented the 

 results of a series of very accurate measurements of the 

 temperature of the waters of the .St. Lawrence, opposite 

 Montreal, during the coldest part of last w inter. It was shown 

 that the greatest variation in temperature did not exceed yij of 

 a degree Centigrade. The measurements were carried out with 

 a view to ascertaining whether the formation of frazil ice was 

 accompanied by any considerable changes in temperature, such 

 as have been described by some observers. It was found that 

 as the river <loes not vary throughout its depth by so much as 

 one-hundredth of a degreee from the freezing point, the formation 

 of frazil does not depend on any considerable lowering of the 

 temperature of the water. The formation of fine needles of ice 

 all through the water of the river is probably aided by fine 

 particles of sand and other suspended material acting as nuclei, 

 since earthy matter is found embedded in the frazil attached to 

 the under side of the surface ice. 



In Section IV. (Geological and Biological Sciences), Sir 

 William Dawson read a paper on fossil sponges and other organic 

 remains from the rocks of the Quebec Group at Little Metis. 

 — Prof. D. P. I'enhallow read a paper which embodied his final 

 deductions on the generic characters of the North American 

 Coniferie as exemplified in the microscopic structure of the woods. 

 — I'rof. Ramsay Wright gave the results of his studies of a great 

 number of minute forms of life obtained from certain of the 

 Canadian fresh-water lakes by means of a very fine tow-net, 

 among which he describes a number of new species, and com- 

 pares others with closely allied forms already recognised in the 

 lakes of Scandinavia and other parts of Europe. He also 

 communicated a paper by Mr. E. C. Jeffery, on the morphological 

 nature of the meduUate stellar structures of certain plants. — Dr. 

 George M. Dawson, in a communication on secular climatic 

 changes in British Columbia, showed from a study of the rainfall 

 of the Province, as evidenced by the varying height of lakes with- 

 out outlet, that the last few years have been more humid than 

 any preceding them in a period of about fifty years. 



Other papers were read by Prof. Edward E. Prince, Dr. A. 

 R. C. .Selwyn, Dr. William Saunders, and others. 



NO. 1389, VOL. 54] 



The usual public lecture was delivered by Proi. Prince, 

 Dominion Commissioner of Fisheries, Sn the fishery industries 

 and resources of Canada. 



The Society decided to petition the Dominion Government to 

 establish a marine biological station at some point on the 

 Atlantic Coast of Canada, as soon as possible, as recommended 

 in a recent report of the Dominion Commissioner of Fisheries. 



Prof. Ruttan and Prof. Adams, of McGill University, and Mr. 

 W. Bell Dawson, of the Hydrographic Service, were elected 

 Fellows of the Society, to fill three vacancies recently caused by 

 death. 



The meeting was well attended, and was successful in all 

 respects. At the conclusion of the meeting the Fellows of 

 the Society were entertained at a garden party, by their 

 Excellencies the Earl and Countess of Aberdeen, at Rideau 

 Hall. 



THE CIRCULATION OF ORGANIC MATTER. 

 A T the evening meeting of the Royal Institution on Friday, 

 ■^ April 24, Dr. G. V. Poore gave a discourse on the circula- 

 tion of organic matter. Without attempting to define " organic 

 matter," Dr. Poore began by saying that all organic matter was 

 combustible, and that all our combustibles were of organic- 

 origin. A comparison was made between combustion in a 

 furnace and the combustion of food in the body of an animal^ 

 and it was shown that whereas in the furnace the fuel was used 

 up and furnace wore out, in the animal there was increase of 

 size, while its droppings stimulate the soil to an increased pro- 

 duction of food. This apparent increase was probably due to 

 the holding in suspension by the extra growth of plants of both 

 water arui soluble salts, which otherwise would percolate the soil 

 and find their way to the sea. Recent experiments made it 

 certain, also, that some of the atmospheric nitrogen was appro- 

 priated by microbes in the soil. The animal was a true regenera- 

 tive furnace, and led to the increase of the herbage at the ex- 

 pense of the sea on the one hand, and the atmosphere on the 

 other. It was impossible to imagine an increase in one direction . 

 without some compensating decrease in another direction. When , 

 organic matter collected under water, fermentations were set up, , 

 and the organic matter was reduced instead of being oxidised. 

 The tendency of organic matter, when thus treated, to form com- 

 bustible bodies was very remarkable. The inflammable gases 

 which sometimes formed in cesspools, and the marsh gas evolvec'l 

 by mud in ponds and rivers, were familiar examples, as were also' 

 the alcohols formed by the fermentation of carbohydrates. 

 Our immense stores of coal and peat were due to the silting up 

 of marsh plants in past ages and in recent times, and so-called 

 mineral oils were certainly of organic origin, as were also the 

 nitrates which were so much used in the manufacture of ex- 

 plosives. If we were to judge what has been by what is, it was 

 impossible not to come to the conclusion that life must have pre- 

 ceded combustion in this world. This biological theory of the 

 cosmogony made the world subject, like all other things, to the- 

 processes of development, evolution and decay, and he believed.; 

 that such a theory had fewer drawbacks than might at first sight 

 appear. 



Organic matter was our capital in this world, and the moiie 

 frequently we could make it circulate the greater would be our 

 increase of material wealth. If we burnt it or threw it into the 

 sea, we thereby spent money for dissipating our capital; but if we 

 placed it on the land, we increased our capital and earned fre- 

 quent dividends. The role of microbes in the soil, in bringing 

 about the humification and nitrification of organic matter, was . 

 next dealt with. It was shown that farming without frequent; 

 additions of organic matter to the soil, must end in ultimate 

 failure. We found everywhere that vegetable organisms co- 

 operated with animals in the destruction and circulation of 

 organic matter, and it appeared to be probable that the correla- 

 tion of the biological forces was not less rigid than the correlation 

 of the physical forces. 



Allusion was made to the observations of M. Megnin on the 

 destruction of animal bodies by successive squadrons of insects 

 and microbes, and many facts were brought forward to show 

 that the comparatively new doctrine of symbiosis was probably 

 of universal application. The intestines of every animal 

 swarmed with microbes which were essential for digestion, during 

 life, and at death were active in starting the dead body upon the 

 cycle of events which led to its ultimate circulation and re- 



