H4 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[Aug. 3, 1888. 



&fc;stract* 

 of papers, Hectare*, etc. 



ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 



At a special meeting held on the 9th ult., under the 

 presidency of Professor Sir Douglas Maclaren, a paper 

 was read by Dr. T. G. Nasmyth on the air in coal-mines 

 considered especially in regard to its influence upon the 

 health of the miners. Before entering on the results ol 

 his own observations he described the condition ot ventila- 

 tion in coal mines twenty years ago, which he showed was 

 such as no miner would now be expected to work in ; and 

 said he had been told personally by miners of the air 

 being often so bad that lamps would not continue to burn 

 themselves, but had to be constantly trimmed by small 

 boys, who were engaged for this purpose. Dr. Nasmyth, 

 in his observations, had employed means, which he 

 described, for ascertaining the conditions of temperature, 

 and estimating the amount of organic matter, and for 

 determining the quantity of carbonic acid gas and of 

 micro-organisms present in the mines. He then referred 

 to the means of ventilating coal mines at present in use, 

 the arrangement of downcast and upcast shafts, and the 

 distribution of air to the working faces by branches, 

 instead of the old method of circulating it by a single main 

 gallery, where if an obstruction occurred anywhere it 

 affected the whole of the workings. He pointed out among 

 other defects of the present system that the production of 

 micro-organisms and carbonic acid in the stables rendered 

 it desirable to have these near the upcast shaft. Giving 

 the results of his observations, which in his paper were 

 -feeorded in a tabulated form, he showed that the tempera- 

 tures tateri at a thousand yards from the downcast shaft 

 differed but little, and that only in the direction of greater 

 uniformity, from the temperature observed in the open 

 air, while he found that the air was nearly always satu- 

 rated. The tests for carbonic acid showed that a coal mine 

 in this respect was in no worse condition than that of one- 

 roomed houses and badly-ventilated schoolrooms and 

 factories. With regard to the effect of the miner's 

 occupation upon his health, Mr. Nasmyth gave statistics 

 showing the improvement made in recent years in this 

 important matter, and the comparative immunity at 

 present of the miner from chest diseases. In the parish 

 of Brith, the population of which is almost entirely 

 composed of miners, the death rate from pulmonary 

 consumption was upon the average 1-33 per thousand 

 per annum — i*oi among men and 172 among women. 

 It was shown from returns for twelve years that the 

 mean age of death was 43-1 among miners. 



Summing up, he argued that the state 'of the air in 

 coal mines was wonderfully good, and, taking into con- 

 sideration the nature of the products which go to vitiate 

 the air in them, that it would not be easy to ensure its 

 being as good if the work were carried above ground. 

 His own experience was that phthisis was not common 

 among miners, and he knew of no disease either peculiar 

 to them or existing to excess among them. His belief 

 was that the miner's occupation was surrounded by 

 conditions as favourable as those of any other workmen. 



At the meeting held on the 16th ult., the Rev. 

 Dr. Flint in the chair, Dr. Traquai^ read an obi- 

 tuary notice of Mr. Robert Gray, one of the Vice- 



Presidents of the Society, who died in February, 1887. 

 There was laid on the table a paper " On Some Relations 

 between Magnetism and Twist in Iron and Nickel," by 

 Professor Cargill G. Knott, of the Imperial University of 

 Japan. Professor Crum Brown announced a communi- 

 cation by Mr. Alexander Johnstone on the action of 

 carbonic acid on olivine. Two communications by Mr. 

 George N. Stewart were also laid on the table — the one 

 entitled " Is Talbot's Law True for very Rapidly Intermit- 

 tent Light ? " the other being on certain colour pheno- 

 mena caused by intermittent stimulation with white 

 light. Lord M'Laren laid on the table a paper on " The 

 Solution of Homogeneous Equations between Variables." 

 Mr. R. Kidston gave a summary of a communication on 

 the fossil plants in the Ravenhead collection in the Liver- 

 pool Museum. The plants, he said, had been obtained 

 some years ago by the Rev. H. H. Higgins during the 

 cutting of the railway at St. Helens, near Liverpool, and 

 presented by him to the Museum. Some of them showed 

 a construction which made it difficult to fix their relation 

 to existing species. Dr. H. R. Mill made a communica- 

 tion on the specific gravity of the water in the Firth of 

 Forth and the Clyde sea area. He explained the mode 

 in which the observations had been taken on board the 

 yacht Medusa of the Scottish Marine Station, by means 

 of one of the Challenger hydrometers. In all, 850 

 observations had been taken. After showing on a bathy- 

 metrical chart the depth of the water in various parts of 

 the Clyde sea area, he explained the distribution of 

 salinity in the region. The observations pointed to the 

 conclusion that the salinity on the surface varied accord- 

 ing to the rainfall, and most notably in the districts shut 

 in by high mountains, such as Loch Fyne, Loch Long, 

 and Loch Goil. In those districts where the hills were 

 lower, as in Gairloch, the variations were less pronounced. 

 The saltest surface water in the Clyde occurred, not in 

 the neighbourhood of the sea, but in the Otter Spit in 

 Loch Fyne. Off the Mull of Cantyre the water at the 

 bottom was frequently found to be less saline than on 

 the surface. This occurred in no other part of the 

 system, and was apparently due to the strong tides. 

 Some very salt water was found at the top of the Arran 

 basin, but much depended on the weather in the locality. 

 Mr. Buchan pointed out that the district of which Dr. Mill 

 had spoken was the rainiest part of Scotland. Dr. J. 

 MacDonald Brown read a paper, which he illustrated by 

 the use of diagrams, on " Arrested Twin Development," 

 making special reference to the case of an Indian boy at 

 present being exhibited in this country. In the course 

 of some remarks on concluding the session, the Chairman 

 said it was extremely gratifying that the supply of appro- 

 priate papers had never been more abundant than 

 during the session now closed. They had numbered in 

 all 105, or 25 more than those of last session, and had 

 been in every way worthy of the reputation of the 

 Society. The Society had been promised a series of 

 e»mmunications on the results of the investigation carried 

 on in the physiological laboratory recently instituted in 

 the Royal College of Physicians, which would be of 

 great value. The membership during the year had 

 increased by the number of 38. After some observations 

 on the aims and objects of the Society, Dr. Flint con- 

 cluded by referring in some detail to the losses it had 

 entailed by the death of a number of its members, 

 specially mentioning Colonel Balfour, Professor Dickson, 

 Dr. Charles E. Wilson, Robert Chambers, Professor 

 Wilson, and R. Mackie Smith. 



