580 EEPOM — 1881. ■ 



exerting great force by their r.ombination are those which can undergo a great 

 diminution of the velocity of their internal motions, and reciprocally. 



The force of chemical combination is evidently a function of atomic motion. 



It has been shown that the relative velocities of certain atomic interchanges 

 afford a measure of the amount of chemical action between two substances ; but a 

 vast amount of work will doubtless be required to develop the atomic theory to 

 the point of explaining the force of chemical action in precise terms of atomic 

 motion. 



The general terms of chemistry are mere symbols. Each of them serves to 

 recall a group (usually a very large group) of facts established by observation. 

 The explanation of each term is afforded by a careful study of the facts which it 

 is used to denote; and, accordingly, a chain of evidence involving the use of 

 chemical terms can be fully understood only by chemists accustomed to the con- 

 sideration of such evidence. The general outline of it may perhaps be to some 

 general thinkers of sufficient interest to attract them to further study of our science. 



4. On the Chemical Action hettueen Solids. 

 By Professor T. E. Thorpe, Ph.B., F.E.8. 



The author drew attention to the extremely rare instances of such action 

 hitherto observed, showing how many of these might be explained on the sup- 

 position that combination actually occurred between the bodies, either in solution 

 or in a state of gas. He illustrated his subject by experiments on the formation 

 of several compounds by bringing together the components in their solid form, 

 choosing as examples such as would manifest the change by characteristic colours. 

 After a short reference to a memoir of Professor Spring, he said one of the most 

 i-emarkable results obtained by the Belgian professor was the formation of coal 

 from peat by subjecting the latter to high pressure. Peat from Holland and 

 Belgium, when exposed to the pressure of six thousand atmospheres, was, according 

 to Spring, changed into a mass which in all physical characteristics resembled 

 ordinary coal. Experiments of the same kind were made by the author, but with 

 a negative result. 



5. On the First Tiuo Lines of Mendelejeff's Table of Atomic Weights. 

 By W. Weldon, F.B.S.E. 



The object of this communication was to point out certain relations between 

 the atomic weights of the fourteen elements occupying the first two lines of 

 Mendelejeff's Table. The author showed that there is not one of these atomic 

 weights some power of which is not a simple multiple of the corresponding power 

 of the atomic weight of lithium. 



6. On the Occlusion of Gaseous Matter hy Fused Silicates at High Tem- 



peratures, and its possible connection with Volcanic Agencies. By 

 I. LowTHiAN Bell, F.E.S. 



7. On the Siliceous and other Hot Springs in the Volcanic District of the 



North Island of New Zealand. By Wm. Lant Carpenter, B.A., B.Sc, 



F.G.8. 

 The writer had visited New Zealand in December 1880, and through the kindness 

 of Dr. Hector, F.R.S., head of the Colonial Museum, had been put in possession of 

 much information with regard to this remarkable district. From the active 

 volcano Tongariro, in the centre of the North Island, three 'lines of fire' could be 

 traced in a N.E. direction, ending at White Island, in the Bay of Plenty. Super- 

 ficially the district consisted chiefly of post-tertiarj' sedimentary deposits and acid 

 volcanic rocks. Lake Taupo, 248 miles' area, 1,250 feet above sea-level, but whose 

 bottom was below sea-level, was the chief soiu'ce of water in the whole region, 

 and it had probably subterranean outlets. 



