44 



SCIENTIFIC NKWS. 



[Jan. 13, If 



there was one mammal at least in which the pineal body 

 did not present itself in such a rudimentary and abortive 

 form as it did in the human frame, entirely concealed, and 

 only to be seen when dissected. 



Dr. B. Bramwell described a series of investigations 

 he had made, and an apparatus he had, by the assistance 

 of Dr. Milne Murray, prepared for graphically recording 

 the exact time relations of cardinal sounds and murmurs. 

 The impressions made upon smoked paper placed in the 

 apparatus, which embraced the use of a flexible tube 

 stethoscope, a telephone, and a species of graphophone, 

 were very satisfactory, and tracings of them were exhibited 

 to the meeting by means of a lantern. 



Professor Crum Brown described the contents of a paper 

 on " Benzyl Phospines," by Professor Letts. 



Dr. H.R.Mill read a criticism ofthe theory of subsidence 

 as explaining the origin of coral reefs, prepared by Dr. 

 Guppy, R.N., in which the writer sought to show that 

 Darwin, in his works on coral reefs, had accepted rather 

 than formed the subsidence theory, which, in the light of 

 later ocean investigations, was no longer tenable. An 

 examination ofthe barrier reefs of Solomon Islands and 

 other upraised coral formations had proved that they 

 could be formed without any subsidence, as shown by 

 Dr. Murray, of the Challenger Expedition. 



Professor Tait gave a communication on " The Compres- 

 sibility of Water, and of different Solutions of Common 

 Salt." He showed in algebraic formulas the results of certai n 

 experiments he had made to ascertain the effect of various 

 degrees of pressure upon water. In the interior of a mass 

 of water, he said, there was already a pressure of thirty- 

 two tons to the square inch. Sea water was less com- 

 pressible than ordinary water, the presence of a number 

 of particles of salt tending to pack them more closely 

 together, and increase the pressure, which in sea water 

 was thirty-five tons to the square inch. 



ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY. 

 At the meeting held on Wednesday, the 21st December, 

 Mr.W. Ellis, F.R.A.S., President, in the chair, the fol- 

 lowing papers were read : — 



(i) "The Mean Temperature ofthe Air at Greenwich, 

 from September, 181 1, to June, 1856," by Mr. H. S. Eaton, 

 M.A. This is a discussion ot the meteorological journals 

 of the late Mr. J. H. Belville and those ofthe Royal 

 Observatory. The general results of this investigation 

 are: — i. That there was no appreciable change in the 

 mean annual temperature of the air at Greenwich in the 

 period 1812 to 1855, inclusive. 2. That on the eminence 

 on which the Royal Observatory is situated the average 

 temperature in the early morning is, in all cases, higher 

 than over the lower grounds. 3. That with a north wall 

 exposure, higher maximum temperatures are found at 

 the lower stations. 4. That the movements of the ther- 

 mometer are retarded with a north-wall exposure, as 

 compared with an instrument on an open stand. 



(2) " Report on the Phenological Observations for the 

 year 1887," by the Rev. T. A. Preston, M.A. The past 

 season was a most exceptional one. For flowers it was 

 disastrous; fruit was generally a failure. Vegetables 

 were universally poor, roots were destroyed by insects 

 or drought, and green crops soon passed off. The wheat 

 crop, however, was better than was expected. Barley on 

 light lands was poor, but that which was sown early was 

 satisfactory. Meadow hay was not up to an average 

 crop, but clover and seed hay were much more nearly so. 



(3) " Earth Tremors and the Wind," by Professor 

 John Milne, F.R.S. From a comparison of the tremor 

 records of Tokio and the Japanese tri-daily weather 

 maps, the following conclusions have been drawn : — ^i. 

 Earth tremors are more frequent with a low barometer 

 than with a high barometer. 2. With a high barometric 

 gradient tremors are almost always observed. 3. The 

 stronger the wind the more likely it is that tremors should 

 be observed. 4. When there has been a strong wind 

 and no tremors the wind has usually been local, of short 

 duration, or else blowing inland from the ocean. 5. 

 When there has been little or no wind in Tokio, and yet 

 tremors have been observed, in most cases there has 

 been a strong wind in other parts of Central Japan. 6. 

 From 75 to 80 per cent, of the tremors observed in Tokio 

 may be accounted for on the supposition that they have 

 been produced either by local or distant winds. 7. The 

 only connection between earth tremors and earthquakes 

 in Central Japan is that they are both more frequent 

 about the same season. 



(4) "Pressure and Temperature in Cyclones and Anti- 

 cyclones," by Prof. H. A. Hazen. From a comparison 

 of the observations at Burlington, and on the summit of 

 Mount Washington, U.S.A., and as the result of a study 

 of about 4,000 observations from two days before till 

 two days after the passage of cyclone and anti-cyclone 

 centres, the following conclusions have been drawn : — 



1. In both cyclones and anticyclones the pressure lags 

 from 10 to II hours at the summit of Mt. Washington. 



2. The temperature change at the base precedes very 

 slightly the pressure change, but at the summit the 

 change occurs nearly twenty-four hours earlier. 3. The 

 temperature change appears earlier at the summit than 

 at the base, and varies much more rapidly at the former. 

 4. In a cyclone the difference in temperature between 

 base and summit is less than the mean before the storm, 

 but the difference rapidly increases after the centre has 

 passed. Just the contrary is true in an anticyclone. 5. 

 The total fall in pressure in a cyclone at the summit very 

 nearly equals that at the base, and likewise the rise in an 

 anticyclone. 6. The fluctuation of temperature, that is, 

 from the highest to the lowest, at the summit is double 

 that at the base in a cyclone, but it is only a little greater 

 in an anticyclone. 



ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 

 At the meeting of the Society, held. on the 20th De- 

 cember, Professor W. H. Flower in the chair, Mr. 

 Sclater read a letter from Dr. H. Burmeister, con- 

 taining a description of a supposed new humming bird 

 from Tucuman. Mr. Sclater proposed to call this species, 

 of which the type was in the National Museum of Buenos 

 Ayres, Chmtocercus burnieisteri . The secretary exhibited, 

 on behalf of Major Yerbury, a pair of horns of the oorial 

 (Ovis cycloccros), which formerly belonged to the Royal 

 Artillery Mess at Fort Attock, and were stated to have 

 been originally obtained in the Chitta Pahar Range, a few 

 miles south of Attock. These horns were apparently of 

 a form which has been described by some naturalists 

 as a distmct species. The secretary read an extract from 

 a letter received from Mr. H. M. Phipson, of the Bombay 

 Natural History Society, offering some living snakes for 

 the society's collection. Mr. F. E. Beddard read a paper 

 on Hooker's sea-lion, Otaria (Arctocephalus) hookeri, 

 based upon the specimens of the species recently received 

 by the Society, one of which had lately died. The author 

 called attention to the external features, visceral anatomy. 



