1911-12.] 
Meetings of the Society. 
513 
/ 
SIXTEENTH AND LAST ORDINARY MEETING. 
Monday , 15 th July 1912. 
Principal Sir William Turner, K.C.B., President, in the Chair. 
PRIZES. 
The Council having awarded : — 
1. The Neill Prize for the biennial period 1909-10, 1910-11, to James Murray, F.R.S.E., 
for his paper on “ Scottish Rotifers collected by the Lake Survey (Supplement),” and other papers 
on the “ Rotifera ” and “ Tardigrada,” which appeared in the Transactions of the Society — (this 
Prize was awarded after consideration of the papers received within the five years prior to the 
time of award : see Neill Prize Regulations) ; — 
2. The Keith Prize for the biennial period 1909-10, 1910-11, to Professor Alexander Smith, 
B.Sc. , Ph.D., of New York, for his researches upon “Sulphur” and upon “Vapour Pressure,” 
appearing in the Proceedings of the Society, — these Prizes were presented. 
On Presenting the Neill Prize the Chairman read the following statement: — 
The Neill Prize for the biennial period 1909-10, 1910-11, to James Murray, F.R.S.E.^, 
for his papers in the Society’s Transactions on “Scottish Rotifers collected by the Lake Survey,” 
and on Scottish and Arctic Tardigrada. 
Mr Murray took part in the systematic Bathymetrical Survey of the Scottish Fresh 
Water Lochs, under the superintendence of Sir John Murray and Mr Laurence Pullar, from 
1902-1907. 
During that time, in addition to the systematic sounding work and other systematic physical 
observations, Mr Murray found time to make a critical study of the Rotifera and Tardigrada, and 
devoted most of his leisure time to the microscopical examination and description of the forms found 
in the many lochs and ponds investigated by him. 
His principal results as regards these two classes of lowly organised animals are given in six 
papers, which have been published in the Transactions of the Royal Society during the years 
1905-1908. In these papers he describes twenty-six new species of Rotifera , including a repre- 
sentative of a new genus named Microdina, and of the Tardigrada he describes twenty new species. 
But probably of more interest are the distribution lists which he gives of these groups which are of 
the greatest interest to all students of these organisms. 
On presenting the Keith Prize the Chairman read the following statement : — 
The work on Sulphur was published in seven papers. At the time these investigations were 
begun, the published observations upon the behaviour of melted sulphur were full of apparent 
inconsistencies, and could not be formulated in harmony with physico-chemical theory. 
The first step was to settle the disputed question as to the relations of amorphous and soluble 
sulphur in the melt. Measurements of freezing-points and of the corresponding proportions of 
amorphous sulphur in the freezing liquid showed that Raoult’s law held rigorously. This 
established the existence of liquid amorphous sulphur dissolved, but distinct from the melted 
soluble sulphur. 
The fact that melted sulphur, when kept at a given temperature, gives, on chilling, very 
inconstant proportions of amorphous sulphur was next investigated. It was discovered that the 
introduction of sulphur dioxide and other foreign substances greatly influenced the proportions. 
These foreign bodies were proved to act catalytically, and retard or hasten the change from 
amorphous to soluble sulphur. The establishment of this conclusion at once afforded a basis for 
explaining a large proportion of the apparent inconsistencies in the older as well as the more 
recent observations. In connection with this work, the proportions of amorphous sulphur present 
in equilibrium at various temperatures were measured. 
In the fifth paper, studies of some other peculiarities in the behaviour of melted sulphur were 
described, and all the results were shown to harmonise with a theory of the relation of the two 
liquid forms as dynamic isomers. 
Precipitated sulphur was the subject of the sixth paper, and it was shown that, when first 
liberated, the sulphur consists of droplets of liquid amorphous sulphur. In presence of weak 
acids, or in neutral or alkaline solutions, this changes wholly to crystalline, soluble sulphur. In 
presence of active acids, the amount of amorphous sulphur surviving in the final product is propor- 
tioned to the concentration of the acid. 
In the seventh paper, the generally accepted melting-points (or freezing-points) of the various 
forms of sulphur, determined before the complex nature of the problem which such measurements 
involved was in the least suspected, were subjected to revision, and the correct values, in harmony 
with the theory, were given. 
The work on Vapour Pressures is described in seven papers. The first two deal with a simple 
device, named the “submerged bulblet,” by which boiling-points and vapour pressures of liquids 
and of non-fusing solids may be determined with the use of only minute amounts of material. 
In the third and fifth papers, forms of apparatus for the exact study of vapour pressures, and 
named respectively the static and dynamic “ isoteniscope, ” are described. To ascertain the 
vol. xxxii. 33 
