[December, 
812 Proceedings of Societies. 
Mr. Common stated that he had on five nights obtained obser- 
vations and measures of both the satellites of Mars with his 
37-inch reflecftor. 
Capt. Noble showed two sketches of the planet Jupiter, show- 
ing the great elliptical red marking in the southern hemisphere 
of the planet. 
Chemical Society, Nov. 20. — Dr. Gilbert, F.R.S., in the 
chair. 
“ A Chemical Study of Vegetable Albinism (Part II., Respira- 
tion and Transpiration of Albino Foliage),” by A. H. Church, 
M.A. The author has proved that white foliage does not 
possess the power, even in sunshine, of decomposing the carbon 
dioxide of the air, but adds largely to the normal amount of that 
gas in the air, thus resembling the petals of flowers and the 
adtion of green leaves during darkness. The best results were 
obtained with the maple (Acer negundo) i the holly, the ivy, and 
the Alocasia macrorhiza. The author has also studied the com- 
parative loss and gain of albino and green foliage. White holly 
sprays placed in water gained, in two hours, 0*29 per cent ; green 
holly, under similar conditions, gained 1-55 per cent. When no 
water was supplied the white holly lost 0-54 per cent; the green, 
10*26 per cent. The author promises further work on this in- 
teresting subject. He exhibited some dry specimens of albino 
and ordinary leaves, the albino leaves being thinner and alto- 
gether much less substantial in their structure. 
Geological Society. — The first meeting of the present 
Session was held on November 5th; the President, Mr. H. C. 
Sorby, F.R.S., presiding. 
The papers read included one by Robert Mallet, F.R.S., “ On 
the Probable Temperature of the Primordial Ocean of our Globe.” 
According to the latest hypotheses as to the quantity of water on 
the globe, its pressure, if evenly distributed, would be equal to a 
barometric pressure of 204*74 atmospheres. Accordingly water, 
when first it began to condense on the surface of the globe, would 
condense at a much higher temperature than the present boiling- 
point, under ordinary circumstances. The first drops of water 
formed on the cooling surface of the globe may not impossibly 
have been at the temperature of molten lead. As the water was 
precipitated, condensation of the remaining vapour took place at 
a lower temperature. The primordial atmosphere would be more 
oblate and less penetrable by solar heat than the present, and the 
difference of temperature between polar and equatorial regions 
would be greater ; so that, in the later geologic times, ice may 
have formed in the one, while the other was too hot for animal 
or vegetable life. Thus, formerly the ocean would be a more 
powerful disintegrant and solvent of rocks, mineral changes 
