July i6, 1896] 



NA TURE 



263 



The aiithi>r also gives a complete list of the unknown lines 

 so far as the observations have at present gone, indicating their 

 mineral origins, and whether or not lines nearly coincident in 

 position have been observed in any celestial body. 



This table includes about a hundred lines, a large number of 

 which have celestial coincidences. 



June iS. — "Complete Freezing-point Curves of Alloys con- 

 taining .Silver or Copper and another Metal." By C. T. Heycock 

 and \\ 11. Neville. 



From a study of dilute solutions of metals in copper, the 

 authors arrive at 50 calories as a probable value for the latent 

 heat of fusion of copper. The freezing-point curve of alloys 

 containing silver an<l copper does not indicate the existence of 

 any chemical compounds of these metals ; but the eutectic alloy 

 has exactly the composition Ag.jCuo. Lead copper alloys have 

 a freezing-point curve characteristic of substances which are 

 partially soluble in each other. The tin copper curve is re- 

 markable for a singularity near SnCu,,, and another at exactly 

 SnCuj. The compound .SnCuj is not clearly indicated in the 

 curve. 



F'or alloys whose composition is between SnCuu and SnCuj, 

 the freezing-point curve is perfectly straight, a feature that may 

 be due to the separation of isomorphous mixtures of these 

 bodies. Nickel and iron raise the freezing-point of copper, 

 whilst gold and .silver depress it. 



Geological Society, June 24. — Dr. Henry Hicks, F.R.S., 

 rresideiit, in the chair. — The I'resident referred to the death of 

 Sir Joseph I'restwich, and a resolution was passed assuring Lady 

 I'restwich of the Society's heartfelt sympathy with her in the 

 sad and irreparable loss that she has sustained. — Sir William 

 Uaw.son, F. K.S., exhibited specimens and lantern-slides 

 illustrating the general form, arrangement of laminre, and dis- 

 tribution of the canals and tubuli in characteristic specimens of 

 EozooN ianadeiise. He pointed out that an examination of these 

 specimens and photographs might prevent mistakes likely to 

 arise from the study of imperfect specimens, or from supposing 

 that laminated rocks resembled Eozooit, and also that they 

 exhibited additional peculiarities observed since the original 

 publication of the description of Eozoon in the Quarterly 

 /oiirnal of the Society in 1865. He did not wish to enter upon 

 any argument as to the nature of Eozoon, but merely to show 

 the appearance of the principal structures on which the con- 

 clusion that it was of animal origin had been based. He also 

 pointed out that these structures might be misunderstood when 

 studied in imperfectly-preserved specimens, and that the wonder 

 was not that so many specimens were imperfect, but that any 

 structure had been preserved. He also shortly noticed the 

 growing probabilities in favour of the existence of a rich marine 

 fauna in pre-Cambrian times, and some of the discoveries in this 

 direction 'already made or in progress. — Notes on the glacial 

 geology of .•\rctic Europe and its islands. Part H. Arctic 

 Norway, Russian Laplan.1, Novaya Zemlya, and Spitzbergen, 

 by Col. H. W. Feilden ; with an appendix by Prof. T. G. 

 Bonney, F. R.S. The author gave an account of observations 

 made in .Vrctic Norway, which tended to prove that the shell- 

 bearing terraces were true marine deposits indicating uplift since 

 their formation, and that they were not formed by ice-dams. 

 He then de.scribed terraces recently formed in Kolguev Island, 

 which illustrated the combined influence of pack-ice, sea-waves, 

 and snow on the formation of terraces in a rising area. The 

 glacial geology of the Kola Peninsula was next considered, and 

 the distribution of the boulders noticed. There was no doubt 

 that the.se boulders had been derived from local rocks, and that 

 no ice-sheet from the North ever passed through Barents Sea 

 or impinged on the northern coast of Europe. The author saw 

 no evidence of the former extension of an ice-sheet over the now 

 frost-riven rocks of Novaya Zemlya. He found wide-spread 

 deposits of boulder-clay with marine shells in this region, which he 

 attributed to the action of floating ice. In the Kostin Schar many 

 of the islands were connected by ridges covered with rounded 

 stones pushed up by floe-ice, with solid rock beneath glaciated 

 by the floe-ice. Several minor phenomena connected with 

 the glacial geology of Novaya Zemlya were also described. The 

 raised beaches of Franz Josef Land were noticed, and immense 

 deposits occurring in Spitzbergen, which were originally formed 

 under water in front of glaciers, alluded to. These, as well as 

 other submarine deposits of glacio-marine origin seen elsewhere 

 by the author, showed no signs of stratification. Prof. Bonney 

 described specimens brought by Col. Feilden from Norway, the 



NO. 1394, VOL. 54] 



Kola Peninsula, and Novaya Zemlya. From an examination of 

 the rocks obtained in situ in the latter region, Prof. Bonney 

 confirmed Col. Feilden's suggestion that the Kolguev erratics 

 may have come from Novaya Zemlya. — Extrusive and intrusive 

 igneous rocks as products of magmatic differentiation, by Prof. 

 J. P. Iddings. The author, after pointing out the propositions 

 concerning difi"erentiation of magmas, upon which he is in agree- 

 ment with Prof Brogger, discussed the points of difference, and 

 described the relation of the igneous rocks at Electric Peak to 

 all of those which took part in the great series of eruptions 

 which occupied almost the whole Tertiary period, and spread 

 themselves over a vast territory in Montana, Wyoming, ami 

 Idaho. The author enunciated the principle that in a region of 

 eruptive activity the succession of eruptions in general commences 

 with magmas representing a mean composition and ends with 

 those of extreme composition. 



Edindurgh. 

 Royal Society, July 6. — The Hon. Lord M'Laren in the 

 chair. — An obituary notice of the late Prof. James D. Dana 

 was read by Prof. Geikie. — Dr. R. H. Traquair, F.R..S., 

 read a paper on fossil-fishes from the Lower Devonian 

 {Hunsrikkschiefer) of Gmiinden, Germany. Two species were 

 described of which the first, Drepanaspis Gniiindenensis, though 

 named and briefly described by SchUUer in 1887, has hitherto 

 been very imperfectly known. It has a hard and bony carapace 

 composed of many tuberculated bony plates, a tail covered with 

 rhombic .sculptured scales, a heterocercal caudal fin bordered 

 above and below with strong fulcra, but so far as can be seen 

 there is no dorsal. There are no pectoral appendages. The 

 position of mouth and eyes is still undetermined. The fish 

 belongs undoubtedly to the Ostracodernii, and will form the type 

 of a new family, Drepanaspidii, whose position seems to be not far 

 from that of the Pteraspidie. The other species, Coccosteiis 

 angnstus, Traq , was described as new — the ventral carapace is 

 rather narrow, and the median dorsal plate shows evidence of 

 an elevated median crest. — In the absence of Prof. Tait, Prof. 

 Crum Brown briefly indicated the nature of his paper, a further 

 communication on the kinetic theory of gases. — Dr. A. Lock- 

 hart Gillespie made a preliminary communication on digestion 

 in some carnivorous plants. He gave a short resume of the 

 different classes of carnivorous plants, noting that the chief 

 characteristic of all of them was not the power of converting 

 native proteids into albumoses and peptones, but the complexity 

 of the apparatus devoted to that end. In many plants, 

 perhaps in all plants, peptonising ferments were present, 

 especially in the seedlings, by which native proteids were 

 resolved into diffusible forms which could be utilised in their 

 nutrition. Darwin and others had shown in the case of 

 Pingiiiciila and Drosera that many nitrogenous substances 

 caused the glands of these plants to secrete an actively digestive 

 juice. The author had investigated the action of the individual 

 lower proteids on them, and also some of the lower derivatives 

 of proteid digestion. He found that Pingiiiciila grew faster if 

 fed once a week with a small quantity of proto-albumose than if 

 nothing were given it, while raw egg-albumin, deutero-albumose, 

 and peptone rather retarded its growth, especially the last. 

 In fact, peptone (pure peptone, free from albumoses) killed the 

 part of the leaf to which it was applied, after a few hours, how- 

 ever small the quantity. This was probably due to over-feeding. 

 .Serum globulin was slowly absorbed. Fibrin, coloured with 

 carmine after Griitzner's method, was not digestible ; but egg 

 albumin, coagulated in a weak solution of carmine, was slowly 

 digested, and the glands could be seen coloured by the ingested 

 carmine. He gave notes of the different times taken to absorb 

 these various substances. Drosera rotiindifolia reacted in a 

 similar manner to these bodies. Its beh.aviour towards urea, 

 kreatinin, tyrosin, nucleic acid, glycogen, and asparagin, was 

 also investigated. Of these, only urea and asparagin were 

 absorbed. Crystals of kreatinin were dissolved, but in a few 

 days the leaf dried and the kreatinin could be seen crystallised 

 out again on its surface. Crystals of urea, if very small, were 

 readily absorbed ; but, if large, speedily killed the leaf Large 

 quantities of asparagin were absorbed without detriment to the 

 leaf, but these experiments were still in an unfinished state. 

 With regard to the aggregation of protoplasm, as described by 

 Darwin, Gillespie found that a very good way of obtaining 

 permanent records of the process was to place the whole plant 

 in a solution of some proteid weakly coloured with methylene 

 blue, the protoplasm taking on the stain while the plant 



