354 



SCIENTIFIC NEAVS. 



[April 13, 1888. 



Dt i|aper$, Hetturcsf, etc* 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 

 At the meeting held on the 2nd April a study on the con- 

 jugated sulphates of the copper-magnesium group by 

 Prafulla Chandra Ray was read. It dealt with the getting 

 of successive crops of crystals from nearly saturated 

 liquors, and comparisons were given of the different com- 

 positions of the several crops of crystals. 



Mr. A. Dickie, Glasgow, communicated through 

 Dr. John Murray some remarks on the chemical 

 analysis of water from the Clyde sea area. Dr. 

 Murray said it would be remembered that Professor 

 Dittmar, in his extensive memoir on the Challenges 

 observations, gave a large number of analyses of the 

 oceanic waters. But these specimens had been chiefly 

 collected in the open sea at the surface, at intermediate 

 depths, and at the bottom. The results obtained were 

 very interesting, but for purposes of comparison it had 

 been found that it would be exceedingly valuable to have 

 a series of similar analyses taken from places where the 

 ocean waters were considerably modified by the waters 

 flowing from the land. The Challenger analyses had 

 shown that not only were the ocean waters far away 

 from land characterised by a definite chemical composi- 

 tion, but there was a great uniformity in the kinds of life 

 found in other circumstances. The Challenger observers 

 had also found that when they came into estuaries, and 

 examined the animals that lived there, both in the sub- 

 surface waters and at the bottom, the forms of life 

 changed very considerably, and that the biological 

 character of the waters was considerably different from 

 that of the open ocean. A Government grant having 

 been obtained for investigation of the composition of the 

 shore waters, specimens of the water for analysis were 

 collected in the Clyde sea area, and Mr. Dickie, of Glas- 

 gow, undertook to make the analysis under the super- 

 intendence of Professor Dittmar. Mr. Dickie found, 

 starting from the Mull of Kintyre and proceeding up into 

 Loch Fyne, Loch Long, and Loch Goil, that the bottom 

 waters progressively were Salter than the surface waters. 

 Mr. Dickie left the discussion of the general result to 

 others more acquainted with the details of oceanography. 

 But the great point was that the results gave the data 

 for a more extensive comparison when any other investi- 

 gators chose to make use of them, and no doubt this 

 would be done before long. Mr. Dickie had not yet 

 completed the investigations committed to him by the 

 Society. He was now residing at the Clyde, and trying 

 to determine the amount of carbonic acid in the water, 

 and the committee of the Society hoped to have a further 

 communication from him on the subject. 



A letter from Professor His, of Leipzig, on the 

 principles of animal morphology was read. Professor 

 His gave details of observations he had made on the 

 development of the germ and the embryo, and of the 

 heart, the neck, and the nerves in the higher animals. 

 He made sections through the heart in its young develop- 

 ing condition, studied these, and pieced them together 

 again. The total value of a body, he maintained, was 

 found by adding together all the partial values. There 

 might be great developmental changes without increase 

 of bulk, and he gave examples of such. The general 

 scientific methods of measuring, weighing, and determin-i 



ing volume must not be neglected in embryology. That 

 science and morphology could not proceed independently 

 of all reference to the general laws of matter. The 

 various organs of the body were formed by the folding 

 of layers in the germ, and the study of these layers was 

 therefore of the greatest importance. He condemned 

 dogmatism in scientific teaching, and also the practice of 

 explaining all the characteristics of form in animals by 

 heredity alone. He did not undervalue heredity, but the 

 principle could not keep science from inquiring into the 

 mechanical formation of organisms. Direct explanation 

 could only come from studying the phases of individual 

 development. Every stage must be looked at as the 

 physiological consequences of a preceding stage. He 

 again pressed forward the importance of elementary 

 mechanical considerations in treating morphological 

 questions. 



Professor Tait contributed some mathematical notes. 



ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY. 

 At the meeting on March 26th, Mr. C. M. Woodford read 

 a paper, entitled " A Naturalist's Explorations in the 

 Solomon Islands." These islands are a group lying about 

 500 miles to the eastward of New Guinea, and extend for 

 600 miles in a north-west and south-east direction. The 

 total land area Mr. Woodford estimated at 15,000 square 

 miles. The islands are for the most part clothed from 

 the coast to the mountain tops with the densest tropical 

 forest, in which the immense ficus trees of several species 

 are often conspicuous objects ; their trunks covered with 

 creepers and ferns, the undergrowth consisting of small 

 palms, among which, and over the trees, the immensely 

 long rattans or climbing canes twine in and out in 

 inextricable confusion. The produce of the islands is 

 chiefly cocoanut, the sago nut (used for making vegetable 

 ivory buttons, etc.), and pearl and turtle shell. 



GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 

 On March 28th, W. T. Blanford, LL.D,, F.R.S,, 

 President, in the chair, the following communications 

 were read : — 



I. On some Eroded Agate Pebbles from the Sou- 

 dan. By Prof. V. Ball, M.A. 



The majority of the pebbles in a collection made by 

 Surgeon-Major Greene in the Soudan, and presented by 

 him to the Science and Art Museum in Dublin, are of 

 very similar character to the agate and jasper pebbles 

 derived from the basalts of India. It may be concluded 

 inferentially that they came originally from a region in 

 which basaltic rocks occur to a considerable extent. A 

 certain number of them are eroded in a manner unlike 

 anything noticed in India, though it is probable that 

 similar eroded pebbles will eventually be found there. 



Throughout India, wherever there is deficient subsoil- 

 drainage or excessive evaporation and limited rainfall, 

 salts are apparent either in supersaturated subsoil- 

 solutions or as crystallisations in the soil. They are 

 most abundant in basaltic regions, and in a lake occupy- 

 ing a hollow in the basalt in Berar carbonate of soda is 

 deposited in abundance from the water, which becomes 

 supersaturated during the summer. 



The author commented on the efficacy of such a liquid 

 as a solvent of silica, and noticed the selective action of 

 the agent which had affected the Soudan pebbles and 

 had corroded some layers more than others ; he sug- 



