Feb. 12, 1880] 



NATURE 



36: 



Chemical Society, February 5. — Mr. Warren De la Rue, pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — It was announced I hat a ballot for the election 

 of Fellows would be held at the next meeting of the Society 

 (February 19). — The following papers were read :— Note on the 

 assumed formation of ozone by the atmospheric oxidation of 

 phosphorus, by C. T. Kingzett. The author criticises a paper 

 recently read on the above subject by H. McLeod, and contends 

 that his arguments fall to the ground because he has made a 

 mistake in calculating the results of his experiments. — Contribu- 

 tions from the laboratory of Tokio, Japan, by R. W, 

 Atkinson ; II. On persulphocyanate of silver. When this 

 yellow salt is boiled with water it turns black ; a mixture of 

 sulphide and undecomposed persulphocyanate being formed in 

 proportions which vary with time, temperature, and the quantity 

 of free acid present, at the same time cyanogen disulphide is 

 probably formed. — On methylated dioxethylenamines, by II. F. 

 Morley. The author Ins prepared, by the action of mono and 

 dimethylamines on glycollic chlorhydrin, mono- and di-methyl- 

 e, and analysed their platinum salts. — Note on 

 igasurin, by W. A. Shenstone. The author has prepared this 

 substance, obtained by Desnoix, and finds it to be a mixture of 

 brucine and strychnine. — On some reactions of tertiary isobutylic 

 iodide, by I.. Dobbin, By prolonged shaking with a 12 per 

 cent, solution of hydrocyanic acid or water at the ordinary 

 temperature, trimethyl carbinol was obtained ; by the action of 

 zinc oxide at 15° i-otributylene was formed; no isodibutylene 

 could be separated. The author has also studied the action of 

 sodium on tertiary i-obutylic iodide. Isobutylene, isotributylene, 

 and hydrogen were formed with small quantities of a hydro- 

 carbon not absorbed by fuming sulphuric acid. 



Zoological Society, February 3.— Prof. Flower, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Capt. W. Vincent Legge, R.A., ex- 

 hibited and made remarks upon some specimens of the Little 

 Ringed Plovers of India and Ceylon. — A communication was 

 read from Dr. G. Ilartlaub, F.M.Z.S., containing the description 

 of a new species of Heron, obtained in Mohambo in Northern 

 Madagascar, which he proposed to name Ardtarutmbt 

 Oldfield Thomas read a note on a specimen of A/jva , 

 Temminck, w liich had been obtained by Mr. II. Pryer, near 

 Yokohama, Japan. — A communication was read from Air. II. 

 N. Moseley, F.R.S., containing the description of a new species 

 of Sim 1 ile Coral, which he proposed to call Dcsmophyllum 

 lamprostcic'uis.—Vroi. F. Jeffrey Bell gave an account ol Palao- 

 lampas, a new species of irregular Echinoidea, which presented, 

 among others, the following archaic points: — (1) The rows of 

 pores were completely parallel, and extended regularly to the 

 ambitus ; (2) some of the pores exhibited an elongation indicat- 

 ing the appearance of the connecting grove ; (3) the outer row 

 of each pore-series was continued uninterruptedly to the actini- 

 stome ; and (4) two of the ocular pores retained indications of 

 their primitively double character.— Messrs. C. J. Danford and 

 E. R. Alston read a paper on the mammals of Asia Minor, 

 Part II., in which they added certain species to their former 

 list, and described a new species of Vole, under the name of 

 Arvicola gtttfttAeri.—Mr. Sclater exhibited and made remarks 

 on a fifth 1 birds from Duke of York Island and its 



vicinity, which he had received from the Rev. George Brown, 

 C.M.Z.S. Four species were described as new, ami 

 to be called M gu/urus interscafularis, Pacitodryas tethiois, 

 Munia melana, and Rattus insignis. 



Physical Society, February 7. — Annual conversazione. 



The museum of King George III., the Wheatstone Laboratory, 

 and other halls of King's College were occupied by a fine display 

 of physical apparatus and artistic furniture, including numerous 

 relics of Sir Charles Wheatstone. There was a large number of 

 ladies and gentlemen present, and during the evening selections 

 of music were played by the Musical Association of the Royal 

 School of Mines. The apparatus was peculiar to the whole 

 range of physical science, and was furnished in part by the col- 

 lege and in part by the various instrument-makers and electric 

 engineer, of the Metropolis. The Telephone Company and the 

 British Electric Light Company contributed telephones and 

 electric lamp-, and Ilerr Faber exhibited his ingenious speakin". 

 ma chine. 



Meteorological Society, January 21.— Mr. C. Greaves, 

 president, in the chair.— Dr. Tripe read the Report of the 

 Council for the year 1879, which showed that the Society was in 

 a very satisfactory condition. Eighty-four new Fellows have 

 been'elected, and the total number at the end of the year was 



473. The great local differences in temperature and humidity 

 require to be more accurately ascertained than they are at present, 

 and this remark applies not only to sea-side places, but also to 

 inland districts in their relation to hills and valleys. It is with 

 a view to obtaining better knowledge on this subject that the 

 Council have instituted a new class of stations of a third order, 

 to be termed " Climatological," at which observations of tem- 

 perature, humidity, cloud, and rainfall are taken daily at 

 91. A.M. only, with certified instruments, the thermometers 

 being in Stevenson screens, so that the observations of tem- 

 perature at the different stations may be js'rictly comparable. 

 The total receipts for the year were 799/. 6^. qd., and the 

 expenditure 621/. 19^. 5</., leaving a balance in favour of the 

 Society of 177/. ys. 40'.— The President then delivered his 

 address, in which he advocated a more attentive inquiry by the 

 students of meteorology into the subject of hygrometry. The 

 appearance and disappearance of moisture, its diffusion, its 

 origin in and withdrawal from the vaporous form, were matters 

 which could now be readily defined through the increa 

 of good observations, especially those -o widely circulated by tl e 

 Meteorological Office, and those recorded by the observers of 

 the Meteorological Society. In furtherance of this object he 

 produced a digest of all the observations published by the 

 Meteorological Office for the year 1879, a year of 

 moisture, and one which could hardly fail to afford traces of the 

 constancy or inconstancy of beds of moisture, if they were per- 

 manent anywhere, or of their coming and ijoing viewed sub- 

 stantially as to their own existence, rather than as borne by the 

 force of the wind, or acted on by the power of the air in its 

 baric relations. The preparation of this digest from the hygro- 

 metric elements for 1879 proved such a laborious work that, 

 being still incomplete and wanting the customary corrections 

 for the various observations, he refrained from conn 

 deductions and gave the digest itself for the u-e of any students 

 who might desire to work at the subject. The tables contained 

 the calculated dewpoint, vapour-tension, relative humidity, and 

 thermometric dryness throughout. Thee various and full data 

 exhausted all the aspects of humidity in i's vaporous state, and 

 would supply means for a thorough study of the British climate 

 in a year of maximum humidity. — The following gentlemen 

 were elected the Officers and Council for the en.suing year : — 

 President: George James Symons, F.K.S. Vice Pre idents : 

 Edward Ernest Dymond, Charles Greaves, F.G.S., Rev. William 

 Clement Ley, M.A., Capt. Henry Toynbee, F.R.A.S. 

 Treasurer: Henry Perigal, F.R.A S. Trustees: Sir Antonio 

 Brady, F.G.S., Stephen William Silver, F. K.G.S. Secretaries: 

 Robert Henry Scott, F.R.S., John William Tripe, M.D. 

 Foreign Secretary : John Knox Laughton, F.R.A.S. Council: 

 Arthur Brewin, F.R.A.S., William Ellis, F.R.A.S , 

 Field, B.A., Frederic G aster, Joseph Henry Gilbert, F. U.S., 

 William John Harris, M.R.C.S., Haldol:, Latham, F.G.S., 

 Robert John Lecky, F.R.A.S., Hon. Francis Alb, 

 Rus-ell, Richard Strachan, Henry Samuel Tabor, George 

 Mathews Whipple, F.R.A.S. 



Anthropological Institute, January 27. — Am 

 Meeting.— Mr. Edward B. Tylor, D.C.L., F.R.S., president, 

 in the chair. — The following gentlemen were elected to serve as 

 Officers and Council for the year 1S80 : — President : E. B. 

 Tylor, E.R.S. Vice-Presidents: Hyde Clarke, John Evans, 

 F.K.S. , Prof. W. H. Flower, F.K.S. , Major-Gen. A. lane 

 Fox, F.K.S. , Francis Galton, F.R.S., ]>r. Allen Th 

 F.K.S. Directors and Honorary Secretaries : E. W. ISrabrook, 

 F.S.A., W. I.. Distant, T. E. Price, E.S.A. Treasurer : F. G. 

 H. Price, F.G.S. Council : Lt.-Col. Godwin Austen, J. Beddoe, 

 F.K.S., Prof. George Busk, F.K.S. C. H. E. Carmichael, 

 M.A., \V. Boyd Dawkins, F.K.S., Sebastian Evans, I.L.D., 

 A. W. Franks, F.R.S., Prof. Huxley, F.K.S., A. H. Kerne, 

 B.A., A. L. Lewis, Sir J. Lubbock, Bart., M.P., R. Biddulph 

 Martin, The Earl of Northesk, F.S.A., Prof. Rolleston, F.K.S. , 

 F. W. Rudler, F.G.S., Lord Arthur Russell, M.P., Kev. Prof. 

 Sayce, M.K.A.S., Alfred Tylor, C. Staniland Wake, M. J. 

 Walhouse, F.R.A.S. — The President delivered his annual 

 address, in which he gave an outline of the progress of anthro- 

 po ogieal science during the last forty years, with special refe- 

 rence to the work now being done in Germany. 



Entomological Society, anniversary meeting, January 21. 

 — J. VV. Dunning, M.A., F.L.S., vice-president, in the chair. — 

 The following gentlemen were elected as officers and council for 

 the ensuing year: — President, Sir John Lubbock, Bait., M.P., 

 F.R.S.; Treasurer, E. Saunders, F.L.S. ; Librarian, !•'. Grut, 



