544 



REPORT — 1889. 



Table II. — Showing the Method of Removing the Anomaly of expressing hy 

 a negative quantity the Combining Heat of Salts and Water. 



(The figures in this table for the heat represent calories given by the equivalent 

 weights in grammes of each salt.) 



12. The Composition of Water hy Volume. By Dr. A. Scott. 



13. A Spectroscope without a Lens. By Philip Beaham, F.O.S. 



The instrument consists of a taper tube with an adjustable slit 2 J inches long, 

 similar to a parallel ruler at one end and a prism at the other. The length of the 

 tube should allow the slit to be at the distance of distinct vision. 



Although the spectroscope is without a lens, the eye acts the part, and produces 

 the image on the retina, which is dispersed by the interposed prism. 



Comparison prisms or mirrors can be easily placed before the slit, and the in- 

 strument can be easily made by anyone with ordinary constructive ability at a 

 small cost, enabling those whose means are limited to experiment, verify facts, and 

 penetrate the charmed circle of brass and glass, to the popularisation and advance- 

 ment of science. 



TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 17. 



The following Reports and Papers were read : — 



1. Fourth Report of the Committee for investigating Isomeric Naphthalene 

 Derivatives. — See Reports, p. 172. 



2. Report of the Committee for conferring with the Committee of the American 

 Association with a view of forming a uniform system of recording the 

 results of Water Analysis. — See Reports, p. 65. 



3. Contributions to the Study of Pure Fermentations. By Professor Percy 

 F. Frankland, Ph.D., B.Sc., Grace C. Frankland, and J. J. Fox. 



The authors pointed out how very few of the bacterial fermentations hitherto 

 studied have been performed with ferments of undoubted purity, as well as the 

 insufficiency of the description of the morphological characters of the organisms in 

 question. Such scanty descriptions generally render it impossible for other in- 

 vestigators to know whether they are dealing with the same or with different 

 ferments. 



