which we are associated, the only way in which we can render them available to our numerous Fellows resident in our colonies, is through our publications, and heavy as have been of late years our printer's and artists' bills, they will and ought to become heavier and heavier still. To render fully available the assistance we have received from Government, we require continued and increased support from our Fellows, and from the scientific public. We reckon already among our Fellows the great majority of those who have acquired a name in zoology, or botany, and I sincerely hope that all men of means who take a sincere interest in biological pursuits will think it a pleasure as well as a duty to contribute directly or indirectly to the support of the Linnean Society of London. With regard to future arrangements in the new phases of life into which the Society has entered, the Council has kept in view three great objects, the endeavour to render our Meetings attractive, the extended usefulness of our library, and the steady maintenance of our publications. On meeting-nights the library will be open at 7 o'clock, the chair will be taken in the meeting-room at 8 o'clock, as at present, and after the meeting the Fellows will adjourn to tea in the Council Room upstairs, opposite to, and in direct communication with the library. The extended shelf-room in the library has enabled a classification of the books which will render those most frequently consulted much more readily accessible than heretofore; and as evidence that there is no relaxation in our publishing department, I have to announce that besides the two numbers of our Journal, one in Zoology, and the other in Botany, which have been sent out since our last meeting, two new parts of our Transactions are in the course of delivery, the concluding one of Volume XXVIII., and the second of Col. Grant's Volume XXIX. The first part of Volume XXX. is in the printer's hands. the room is provided with double windows there is a considerable noise from the street. The president, however, held out hopes of a wooden or asphalt pavement being before long laid down in front of the building, and we hope a point of such importance will not long be neglected by the authorities. The most noticeable point, however, is a laboratory, placed on the right-hand side of the meeting-room and opening into it with double doors immediately behind the lecture-table. This, though at present not quite ready for use, is supplied with every fitting of a good laboratory, and will shortly be provided with the necessary apparatus and re-agents. According to the president, "whatever may be its subsequent use, it is intended at present to place it at the disposal of those authors who may wish to illustrate their papers with experiments." We do not know whether the words of the president imply an intention on the part of the society to aid research by granting the use of its laboratory in such cases as it may think deserving, but in any case the society deserves the thanks of every scientific man for so admirable an innovation as a room for the preparation of experiments. Dr. Odling in his speech alluded to the "childish pleasure, childish in its earnestness and simplicity," with which a chemist looks upon a new experiment. We quite agree with him as to the fact of its existence, but we think that this desire to see answers a far higher purpose than that of mere pleasure. The science of the chemist is essentially a science in which, to quote a popular phrase, "seeing is believing," and nothing can be more wearisome than the constant repetition of the description of reactions, or the recounting of qualitative or quantitative results unenlivened by a single experiment. Such descriptions quite fail to lay hold upon the mind, except at the expense of a wearisome strain, and the consequence is that many a valuable paper loses half or all its effect when read (which should be to raise discussion), simply because in an attempt to describe facts the author INAUGURATION OF THE CHEMICAL SO- loses sight of the necessity of succinctly generalising CIETY'S NEW ROOMS therefrom. In the meantime what have the other societies affected ΟΝ N Thursday night last the Chemical Society met for by the changes in Piccadilly been doing to provide for the first time in the new apartments assigned to it the experimental illustration of papers? and especially in the right-hand front wing of Burlington House. The what has the Royal Society done in the direction to which event was a notable one, and it is not often that such an we have alluded? We are informed on the best authority occasion happens to the president of a hard-working body-nothing! The rooms of the latter consist as did the of scientific men as last Thursday fell to the lot of Dr. Odling when he rose to welcome the fellows to their new home, and he might well feel it his duty to break for once the tradition which imposes silence on the president on the first night of the session. Dr. Odling accordingly rose and proceeded to bid them welcome to the new rooms, and then to give in a few words a general statement of what had been done in relation to the taking possession of them by the society. This it seems had been by no means an easy matter, as but a few days back the society was still in its old quarters without a book of its library moved, and the present apartments were in a damp and generally unfinished state. Thanks, however, to the exertions of the Council and especially of the Junior Secretary (Dr. Russell), who were most kindly met and aided in their endeavours by Mr. Barry (the architect) and the Clerk of the Works; the new rooms were got into a habitable condition, the books in great part placed in their cases, and the mecting-room provided with seats in time for the first meeting of the session. The rooms in question at present in use consist of the library, a noble room on the second floor, well capable of holding the books of the society for some time to come. That for meetings, below the library and overlooking Piccadilly, is capable of seating nearly twice the number of listeners that could be provided for in the old quarters. The seats, however, are somewhat crowded, and though temporary ones, simply of those requisite for the accomodation of the library and for the reading of papers. Now is the Chemical Society right? If so the Royal Society is wrong. It has not done all when it has provided com fortable reading-rooms for its members, and a place where its secretaries can read the papers to a few silent Fellows who are sparsely scattered over the benches. The reading and publication of papers is not all that a great and wealthy society can or ought to do for the advancement of science. Why should its laboratories not exist as well as its library? There is no reason why the meetings of the societies instead of being, as some of them now are, dull reunions only attended by the Fellows as a matter of duty, should not be made more useful to men of science. What could be better than to see them attended by the more advanced of the younger students of science, as the meetings of the Chemical Society now very often are, who might there see how the better known workers demonstrate their discoveries, and how their papers are examined and discussed. Unless some attempt is made to give the other societies a greater grasp over the several classes of workers to which they more directly appeal, they will infallibly lose the guiding power they have hitherto had, and the advantages conferred by their organisation in the propagation of scientific knowledge will be lost. It behoves the Royal Society in particular to show the way to the others in tollowing in the steps taken with such signal success by the chemists. If it does not do so, but allows itself to be left behind, it must soon see many of the most important papers sent to the Chemical or to such of the other societies as may choose to provide the means of properly illustrating them. It may be urged that if papers are to be experimentally illustrated, all cannot possibly be read. We can only say so much the better. Why should not a society's council exercise a wise discretion, and relegate some classes of papers at once to the "Journal," the proper place for many a mass of numerical data now perforce read, but of which discussion is impossible? NOTES F. C. S. We regret to announce the death, on the 10th inst., of Mr. B. F. Duppa, F.R.S., well known for his numerous and important researches in organic chemistry. He was educated at Cambridge, and was afterwards, in the year 1857, a pupil in the Royal College of Chemistry. Within a period of eleven years he published, partly alone and partly in conjunctton with Mr. W. H. Perkin and Dr. Frankland, no less than twenty papers, most of which appeared in the Transactions and Proceedings of the Royal Society. The most important of these researches related to the action of bromine and iodine on acetic acid, the artificial production of tartaric acid, the formation of organic compounds containing mercury, and the synthetical production of numerous acids of the fatty and acrylic series. Mr. Duppa was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1867. Being a man of independent means, he never applied for, nor held, any scientific appointment, but formed one of that small band of enthusiastic and disinterested amateur workers of whom England may justly feel proud, and to whom she is so much indebted for a very large proportion of the contributions which she has made to the progress of science. MR. MITCHELL, of Old Bond Street, is, we believe, about to publish a portrait of the late Dr. Bence Jones, engraved by Holl from the beautiful drawing by Mr. George Richmond, R.A. THE following awards have been made by the French Geographical Society -2,000 francs to M. Dournaux-Dupéré, who has just set out for Timbuctoo; this gentleman has also received a similar sum from the Minister of Public Instruction; 2,000 fr. to M. Francis Garnier, to aid him in his explorations along the Blue River in China, and which have Yun-nan and Tibet for their objects; 1,500 fr. to MM. Marche and Compiègne, who have already proceeded a considerable distance along the course of the Ogowe with the design of penetrating as far as the great African lakes, and joining Livingstone. THE subject for the Le Bas Prize (Cambridge) for the present year is "The Respective Functions of Science and Literature in Education." Candidates must be graduates of the University of not more than three years' standing from their first degree when the essays are sent in, which date is fixed before the end of the Easter Term, 1874. The essays must each bear some motto, and be accompanied by a sealed paper bearing the same motto, and enclosing the name of the candidate and that of his college. The successful candidate is required to publish the essay at his own expense. Messrs. Trübner and Co. will publish, in about ten days, Mr. George Henry Lewes' new work, entitled "Problems of Life and Mind.” WITH reference to the paragraph in last week's NATURE on the discovery of the conversion of spherical into plane motion, Prof. Sylvester writes: "I feel it an act of simple justice to another to say that I should never have hit upon the instru ment which effects this, had it not been for the previous, wholly original and unexpected, discovery made nine years ago, by M. Peaucillier, of the conversion of circular into rectilinear motion, with which I was recently made acquainted by M. Tchebicheff, and which seems to have been little noticed in the discoverer's own country, and to have remained wholly unknown in this. M. Peaucillier has succeeded by the most simple means in solving a kinematical problem which had baffled the attempts of all mechanicians, from our James Watts downwards, to accomplish, and a simple Captain of Engineers in the French army has actually accomplished by a stroke of inspiration the mathematical solution of a question which many of the most profound and sagacious mathematicians of the age have been long labouring, but necessarily (as it is now obvious) in vain, to prove to admit of none. The conversion of circular into rectilinear motion before M. Peaucillier's discovery was gradually growing to be classed in the same category of questions as the quadrature of the circle, and by a great number of mathematicians was actually deemed to be equally impossible in the nature of things. A working model of Peaucillier's machine constructed by my friend M. Garcia, the brother of Malebran and the inventor of the laryngoscope, is in my possession at the Athenæum Club, and several copies of it have been already made by its admirers, which term comprises all who have seen it. The wonderfully fertile kinematic and mathematical results which I have succeeded in educing from the simple conception involved in this machine may form the subject of another communication to NATURE." PROF. JELINEK, of Vienna, writes us that the death of Prof. Donati is the only unhappy event connected with the Meteorological Congress of Vienna, which in all other respects has proved successful. The fact of all countries of Europe (France exce pted) and the United States of North America being represented at the Congres s, and the conciliatory spirit in which all the proceedings were held, the general desire to arrive at an uniform system of observation and publication make us hope, he thinks, that further decisive steps in this direction will be taken. The Congress has expressed the wish, that another Congress of Meteorologists shall meet in three years, and it has appointed a permanent Committee under Prof. Ruys Ballot of Utrecht, as President, and with Prof. Bruhns of Leipzig, Cantoni of Pavia, Jelinek of Vienna, Mohn of Christiana, Director Scott of London, and Director Wild of St. Petersburg, as members to prepare the solution of certain questions especially relative to the best form of publishing meteorological observations and to the extension of the existing system of meteorological observations. The permanent Committee has been also charged with the preparatory steps towards the convocation of a second Maritime Conference (the first having been held at Brussels in 1853). There will be three editions of the proceedings of the Congress. The one German, the other French, the third under the care of Mr. Robert Scott, in English. RATHER an unusual incident has recently occurred in the Belgian Academy of Sciences, about which, according to the two gentlemen most concerned, erroneous statements have been made in the Belgian papers and La Revue Scientifique. The common statement is that at the séance of June 7 last M. E. van Beneden, son of the well-known Professor of Zoology at the Catholic University of Louvain, and himself Professor of Zoology at Liége, by appointment of the present Catholic Ministry, read a paper on the results of a voyage which he had recently made to Brazil and La Plata. Speaking of the difficulty of obtaining a dolphin on account of the superstitions of the Brazilian fishermen, he is reported to have referred to the ancient belief in Europe that dolphins were in the habit of bringing dead bodies on shore, and to have said, "The fable of Jonah is an embodiment of this belief." Thereupon, it is said, M. Gilbert, Professor of Mathematics, and M. Henry, Professor of Chemistry at Louvain, in a letter to M. Quetelet, the secretary, protested against the expression being allowed to pass uncensured, as it was a violation of their religious convictions, and an infringement of the traditional law of the Academy, that nothing be said to hurt the religious convictions of any member. At the next meeting of the Academy, October 11, M. Gibert insisted on this note being read, but by the vote of the Academy the order of the day was at once proceeded with. Thereupon the two aggrieved professors felt called upon to resign their connection with the Academy. The real facts of the case are stated by MM. Gilbert and Henry in a long communication to the last number of the Revue Scientifique, from which it appears that the reference to "the fable of Jonah" was not in the paper at all as originally read, but was added in a note to the paper when subsequently printed in the Bulletin of the Academy. No doubt the two professors have a greater grievance than the irate Bishop Dupanloup had in the admission to the French Academy of M. Littré; and no doubt it is well in all scientific discussions in a mixed society to steer clear of "the religious difficulty" entirely, but after all it must seem to an outsider as if all this pother about "the fable of Jonah were a case of "much ado about nothing." A MEETING of the local executive of the British Association was held on Monday, at Bradford, and the financial account, which was submitted, showed the total expenses of the late meeting in that town to amount to about 3,300/. The guarantee fund subscribed amounted to 5,2007. AT a recent meeting of the Manchester Scientific Students' Association at the Royal Institution, Mr. George C. Yates, F.S.A., exhibited a unique specimen of a Neolithic Flint Celt, or axe, which he had obtained at Holyhead a few weeks ago. The specimen, we believe, has been thoroughly authenticated, and Mr. Yates has consented to deposit it in the British Museum. A SERIES of Birkbeck Scientific Lectures for the People was commenced last week at Leeds, by Mr. J. Norman Lockyer, F. R.S., to be continued by Dr. Carpenter, Mr. Miall, and Prof. Martin Duncan, till Christmas. We believe that the action of the Trustees in thus aiding the spread of scientific knowledge throughout the country will be attended with the best results. ON Tuesday last a deputation of the Harrow Vestry, representing the residents, tradesmen, and other classes of the parish, had a second interview with the Governors of Harrow School, for the purpose of lodging and explaining thirty-six objections in detail to the proposed statutes for the government of the school. One point most justly insisted on by the deputation is the fact that John Lyon, the founder of the school, intended it mainly for the benefit of the parishioners of Harrow, whereas the Governors, like the Governors of others of our public schools, notoriously throw every possible difficulty in the way of children of common parishioners reaping the benefit of the fund generously left for their education. The Governors try to silence the complainants with a pittance of 250l. a year to found a subordinate school. We hope the Harrow Vestry will not cease to agitate the matter, until they obtain all that rightly belongs to them. We have received a revised list of those who obtained Queen's Medals at the Science and Art Examinations, May 1873. A CORRESPONDENT at Cannes, France, informs us that on November 4, about 6 P. M., a beautiful and distinct, though faint, lunar rainbow was seen there, which lasted a quarter of an hour, and then suddenly disappeared just as the first drops of rain were felt. THE forthcoming number of Petermann's Mittheilungen will contain an article by Messrs. E. Behm and F. Hanemann on the most recent discoveries in South-east Australia, accompanied by a map in which these discoveries are embodied. MESSRS. W. AND A. K. JOHNSTON have published a very useful war-map of the Gold Coast of Ashantee and neighbouring countries, with a sketch-map of Guinea and a small map of the whole of Africa, all carefully disposed on one large sheet. FOR several winters past courses of lectures, intended mainly for the industrial classes, have been given on scientific subjects in the Edinburgh Museum of Science and Art, by the professors of the University and other gentlemen eminent in their particular departments. The charge for a course of six lectures, the number given on each subject, is only sixpence, and we believe the results have been extremely satisfactory. The following is the programme for the present winter :-"Chemistry of the Common Metals," by Prof. A. Crum Brown, M.D.; "Physiology and Public Health," by Dr. John G. M'Kendrick, F.R.S. E.; "Cosmical Astronomy," by Prof. Tait; The Carboniferous Formation of Scotland," by Mr. James Geikie, F.R.S. E.; "Weather and Climate," by Mr. Alex. Buchan, F.R.S.E. ; "The History of Commerce," by Prof. W. B. Hodgson, LL.D. THE same journal has the following details concerning the Italian Association of Men of Science :-Inaugurated in 1837 by the Grand Duke of Tuscany (twenty-five years before France had followed the parent movement in England), it fell under the ban of Pope and Bourbon alike, who saw in it the foster mother of revolution. In spite of police restrictions and other proofs of the dislike with which it was viewed, its meetings gained in attractiveness every year till, in 1846, favoured by the early liberalism of Pio Nono and Charles Albert's ill-will to Austria, it celebrated the centenary of Balilla's throwing off the German yoke in the Ligurian capital. Thanks to Piedmont, it outlived the reaction of 1848; and in 1859-60 it shared in the national jubilee it had assisted in consummating. Rome, proclaimed as the capital in 1861, was to be the scene of its reunion in 1862; but the Vatican, countenanced by Austria and France, frustrated the attempt. The storming of the Porta Pia in 1870 rendered possible the long-cherished design, and, under the appropriate presidency of the venerable Count Mamiani, formerly Prime Minister of Pio Nono during his short constitutional reign, it met on the 20th ult. in the capital. One hundred and fifty was the distinguished statesmen and savans in the kingdom. Donati had muster of members-not a numerous one, but counting the most quately represented by the Padre Secchi, who still clings to but lately fallen a victim to cholera, but his science was adethe Society of Jesus. WE have received from Mr. D. Mackintosh a reprint of his article from the Quarterly Journal of the Geological Society, “On the more remarkable Boulders of the North-west of England and the Welsh Borders." THE additions to the Zoological Society's collection during the past week include a Crab-eating Opossum (Didelphys cancrivora) from the West Indies, presented by Mr. G. H. Haw. tayce; a Common Parodoxure (Paradoxurus typus) from India, presented by Mr. C. Maurer; an Indian Jackal (Canis aureus) from Penang, presented by Mr. F. H. Fredericks; three Robbin Island Snakes (Coronella phocarum) presented by Rev. G. H. R. Fisk; a Little Grebe (Podiceps minor), British, presented by Mr. H. P. Hensman; a Black Wallaby (Halmaturus Ualabatus) from N. S. Wales, purchased; a Gazelle (Gazella dorcas) from Egypt, deposited; an Axis Deer (Cervus axis) and a Molucca Deer (C. moluccensis), bora in the Gardens. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY AND TERRESTRIAL MOLLUSCA OF THE BAHAMA ISLANDS A PAPER on this subject has recently been communicated to the Lyceum of Natural History, New York, by Mr. Thomas Bland. The northern end of the Bahama group lies opposite southern Florida, and from this point the islands stretch off in a double series, nearly parallel to the trend of Cuba and San Domingo, and terminate, properly, in the Turk's Island Bank, on which are the last and most easterly of the chain, which extends about 600 miles, from within 70 miles of the coast of Florida to within 100 miles of that of San Domingo. Several banks are distinguishable, and the islands are generally on the windward sides of these, never exceeding 200 ft. in height, and being almost universally environed with reefs or shelves of rock, which extend often to a considerable distance and usually terminate abruptly. The geological formation appears to resemble that of Bermuda ; their form and surface condition being largely due to prevailing winds and currents, but also owing much, probably, to the configuration of the land on which the coral reefs were built up. Lieutenant Nelson speaks of the Bahamas as the Gulf Stream Delta; thrown down where the stream receives a check from the Atlantic on emerging from the Gulf of Mexico. In a communication to NATURE, vol. vi. p. 262, Mr. Jones furnished evidence of the subsidence of the Bermudas. In excavations made for the great dock e.g., there was found, at 46 ft. below low-water mark, a layer of red earth, containing remains of cedar trees, and resting on a bed of compact calcareous sand : tone. Mr. Bland examines the evidence afforded (as to subsidence), by the distribution of land shells on the Bahama Islands. The total number of species known is about 80. Judging from both operculates and inoperculates, the landshell fauna of the Bahamas is essentially West Indian, and that of the Great Bank (especially), closely allied to the Cuban fauna. Mr. Bland gives a list of inoperculate species common to the Bahamas, the adjacent continent, Bermuda, and certain of the West Indian Islands; which shows in a marked manner the alliance referred to. The banks and islands of the Bahama chain diminish in size to the south-east, indicating greater subsidence in that direction. Similarly, the submerged Virgin Island bank, Sombrero and the Anguilla bank, terminate the parallel West Indies chain eastward from Cuba; and in Anguilla have been found remains of large extinct mammalia which must have inhabited at one time a much more extensive area. The author criticises Dr. Cleve's geological grouping of the slands north of Guadeloupe (in two groups, one comprising Bahamas, of post-pliocene date, another of the tertiary Eocene, Miocene, and Pliocene), and points out that the land shell fauna of Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Kitts and Nevis, of Redonda and Montserrat, and of Barbadoes and Antigua, is, in common with most of the islands to the south, to and inclusive of Trinidad, distinct from the fauna of the islands between and inclusive of the Bahamas and Cuba, and the Anguilla bank, on which are Anguilla, St. Martin and St. Bartholomew. This well-defined line of separation must be considered in connection with the past and present geological history of the islands. Dana traces parallel bands of greater or less subsidence in the Pacific Ocean, and analogous conditions in the Atlantic; the subsidence was probably, he says, "much greater between Florida and Cuba than in the Peninsula of Florida itself, and greater along the Carribbean Sea parallel with Cuba, as well as along the Bahama reefs than in Cuba." Recent soundings, cited by Mr. Bland, confirm this view. SCIENTIFIC SERIALS Ocean Highways, November.-In an article on "The Results of the Arctic Campaign, 1873," it is shown that the right direction for Arctic Exploration has been unmistakeably indicated, further proofs have been afforded of the practicability of attaining an advanced position by following that direction, and additional evidence has been accumulated against the route advocated by "unpractised theorists." These conclusions are rightly drawn from the eminently successful results obtained from the Polaris expedition and from Captain Markham's fruitful cruise in the Arctic, as contrasted with the comparatively unsuccessful attempts made in the Spitzbergen direction by the Swedish Expe dition and that of Mr. Leigh Smith. "The learned societies will be able to make their appeal to the Government with even stronger and more cogent arguments than were at their disposal in the end of last year; while in the present Prime Minister and Chancellor of the Exchequer they have an old and staunch supporter of Arctic expeditions, and one who has studied their history and appreciated their uses." There is a carefully constructed map illustrative of Captain Markham's voyage in the Arctic. Other articles are, 'On the Distribution of Coal in China," by Baron von Richthofen; "South American Progress" (Argentine Republic), by F. J. Rickard ; "Highways and Byeways of Naval History," the first of a series of articles by Mr. R. Lendall. = Gazetta Chimica Italiana, Fascicolo V. and VI.-The number commences with a paper on Santonin, by S. Cannizzaro and F. Sestini. Santoninic acid is described; it is derived from santonin by the addition of one molecule of water to one of santonin. The addition is effected by acting on santonin by means of a warm aqueous alkaline solution. The formula of the acid is C15H2004 C15H18O3 + H, O. The properties of the acids and its salts are described, and the action of nascent hydrogen on santonin is then considered.-New researches on benzylated phenol, by E. Paternò and M. Fileti.-On the chemical analysis of some wines grown in the Veronese province, by Prof. G. Dal Sie. The wines in question seem to be some. what strong, the percentage (volume) of alcohol ranging from 9'4 to 164. Very voluminous tables of analyses are given.-A paper on the dry distillation of calcic formate, by A. Lieben and E. Paternò concludes the original portion of the number, which concludes with 155 pages of abstracts from foreign journals. Annalen der Chemie und Pharmacie, Band 168, Heft 2 and 3, August 30.-The number commences with two papers from Prof. Beilstein's laboratory. The first by W. Hemelian is on a new method of preparing the sulpho acids; the method in question is a modification of that of Strecker. Dr. E. Wroblevsky communicates a paper on certain haloid derivatives of toluol; he describes a number of the meta-brom-toluol compounds, and also deals with the para-brom-toluols and the tri-brom-toluols. The other papers are: On selenic acid and its salts, by Dr. v. Gerichten. He finds that the seleniates are all isomorphous with the corresponding sulphates, and the double salts also agree with the double sulphates. On the action of tri-sulpho-carbonate and sulpho-carbaminate of ammonium on aldehyde and acetone, by E. Mulder. A number of the compounds resulting from these reactions are described.—On a new mode of forming ortho. toluilic acid, by R. Fittig and William Ramsay. On metatoluic acid, by C. Boettinger and W. Ramsay.-On ethyl and di-ethyl-allyamine, by A. Rinne. Ethyl-allylamine is isomeric with methyl crotonylamine, the two bodies having the formula— C3H5 CHT NCH and N CH, respectively. H The author describes several of the salts of the former. Di-ethylC3H5 allylamine NC,H, is produced by the action of ethyl iodide C2H5 on allylamine. The author describes it and its hydrochlorate and platino-chloride. -Researches on the isomers of cresol with regard to their occurrence in coal tar, by M. S. Southworth.— Researches on sorbic acid by E. Kachel and R. Fittig.—The number concludes with a very lengthy paper on the actions occurring in the inner non-luminous flame of the Bunsen burner, by R. Blochmann. The author has collected and examined the gases from various parts of the flame, and the memoir is illustrated with two plates showing the apparatus used, and the flames given by the burner under various treatments, and a diagram showing the percentages of CO2 and H2O, given by flames when burning, at various heights above the burner up to 120 millimetres. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES Zoological Society, Nov. 4.-Prof. Newton, F. R.S., vicepresident, in the chair. The Secretary read a report on the additions that had been made to the Society's menagerie during the months of June, July, August, and September. Mr. G. Dawson Rowley exhibited a singular malformed variety of the Domestic Duck, and the Secretary a collection of fishes (containing six examples of Ceratodus forsteri) made by Mr. Ramsay, in Queensland.-A communication was read from Mr. J. B. Perrin, containing an account of the Myology of the Hoatczin (Opisthocomus cristatus). A communication was read from Capt. R. Beavan, Bengal Staff Corps, containing a list of fishes met with in the River Nerbudda, in India.-A second communication from Capt. Beavan contained some remarks on certain difficulties involved in the acceptance of the Darwinian theory of evolution.-A communication was read from Mr. Montague R. Butler, containing descriptions of several new species of Diurnal Lepidoptera.-A communication was read from Mr. R. Swinhoe, H. B. M. Consul at Chefoo, on the Song-Jay of Northern China, with further notes on Chinese ornithology.-Mr. P. L. Sclater, F. R.S., exhibited and pointed out the characters of fourteen new species of birds collected by Signor Luigi Maria D'Albertis during his recent expedition into the interior of New Guinea.-A communication was read from Prof. J. V. Barboza du Bocage, on the Ground Hornbill of Southern Africa-Buceros carunculatus cafer of Schlegel. -A second communication from Prof. Barboza du Bocage contained a note on the habitat of Euprepes coctei, Dum. et Bibr.-A communication was read from SurgeonMajor Francis Day, containing descriptions of new or little known Indian fishes.-Mr. R. B. Sharpe, read a paper describing the contents of a collection of birds recently received from Mombas in Eastern Africa.-A second paper by Mr. R. B. Sharpe contained a list of a collection of birds from the River Congo. Mr. G. B. Sowerby, jun., communicated the descriptions of eleven new species of shells.-A communication was read from Dr. J. E. Gray, F. R.S., on the skulls and alveolar surfaces of Land Tortoises, Testudinata. Linnean Society, Nov. 6.-Mr. G. Bentham, president, in the chair.-Before the commencement of proceedings, this being the first occasion of the meeting of the society in its new rooms in Burlington House, the president gave an address on the present relation of Government towards the learned societies, which will be found elsewhere.-A resolution was then proposed by Dr. Hooker, seconded by Mr. Gwyn Jeffreys, and carried unanimously, recognising the obligations of the Linnean Society towards the Government for the handsome accommodation now for the first time provided independently for it.-On Hydnora americana, by Dr. J. D. Hooker. In his monograph of the Rafflesiace in De Candolle's "Prodromus," Dr. Hooker had thrown some doubt on the correctness of De Bary's description Hydnora, and on the close affinity which he traced between it and Prosobanche. Further investigation has, however, amply confirmed the accuracy of De Bary's description. A very great difficulty is presented, from the point of view of the theory of evolution, in the occurrence of two species of this genus, one in South Africa and one in South America, so closely resembling one another in every point of their structure, and both root-parasites, that it is impossible to look upon them otherwise than as very nearly related. The only possible connection between them would appear to be through Cytinus, another nearly allied genus of root-parasites, species of which are natives both of South Africa and of South and North America. Chemical Society, Nov. 6.-Dr. Odling, F. R.S., president, in the chair.-The president delivered a short address, to which we refer elsewhere, congratulating the Fellows on taking possession of their new rooms in Burlington House. A paper was then read by Mr. David Howard on the optical properties of some modifications of the cinchona alkaloids, being an elaborate investigation of the variations in the rotatory powers of this class of bodies when examined by the polarimeter. The other communications were-a preliminary notice on the oils of wormwood and citronella, by Dr. C. R. A. Wright; on the estimation of nitrates in potable waters, by Mr. W. F. Donkin; and a note on the action of iodine trichloride upon carbon disulphide, by Mr. J. B. Hannay. Royal Microscopical Society, Nov. 5.—Chas. Brooke, F.R.S., president, in the chair. A paper by the Rev. W. H. Dallinger was read, describing some further researches made by himself and Dr. Drysdale on the development of certain monads, in the course of which they had been able to trace the life-history of a species, although in their earliest stages these organisms were so minute as to require an objective of in. for their observation. A number of beautifully executed drawings accompanied the paper.-Mr. Alfred Sanders read a paper on the art of photographing microscopic objects, in which he described a simple and successful process of manipulation, and showed how the most satisfactory results might be obtained without the aid of expensive and complicated apparatus.—A paper was also read by Mr. S. J. McIntire, entitled "Some Notes on Acarellus," in which he minutely described a species found parasitic upon Obisium, and which he believed to be identical with Hypopus, described by Dujardin. Specimens both mounted and alive were exhibited under the Society's microscopes.Some photographs of Navicula lyra and Amphipleura pellucida, taken by Dr. J. J. Woodward, were also exhibited. PARIS 66 Academy of Sciences, November 3.-M. de Quatrefages, president, in the chair.-The following papers were read :An analysis and criticism of an Essay on the Constitution and Origin of the Solar System, by M. Roche," by M. Faye.—On the mutual action of voltaic currents by M. Bertrand. On the verification of Baume's hydrometer, by MM. Berthelot, Coulier, and d'Almeida.-On certain calorimetric values and problems, by M. Berthelot.-Observations of the solar protuberances during the last six solar rotations (April 23 to October 2, 1873) with some consequences affecting the theory of the spots, by Father Secchi. In this paper Secchi continued his observations, por tions of which appeared in the first half of the year. The author again asserted that the spots are the product of eruptions, and observed that some metals were more opaque than others, eg., a sodium eruption gave a very black spot. He admitted, however, that some spots existed without eruptions.-Researches on the thermic effects accompanying the compression of liquids, by MM. Favre and Laurent.-MM. Morin and Phillips presented a report on M. Graeff's paper on the régime of rivers and the effects of a multiple system of reservoirs.-Memoir on experimental terato logy, by M. C. Dareste.-On a map of the world on a gnomonic projection, &c., by M. B. de Chancourtois.-The following papers were presented to the Academy :-Observations on M. Dubois' paper on the influence of refraction at the moment of contact of Venus with the Sun's limb, by M. Oudemans.-On a new volatile saccharine matter extracted from Madagascar rubber, by M. Aimé Girard.-On the cooling effects produced by the joint actions of capillarity and evaporation: Evaporation of carbonic disulphide on porous paper, by M. C. Decharme.--Crigin and formation of the dental follicule in the mammiferæ, by MM. Magitot and Legros.-On capillary embolism and he morrhagic infarctus, by M. Bouchut.-Observations on M. Pellarin's note on choleraic dejections as agents in the propagation of that disease, by M. H. Blanc.-On the different practical problems of aerial navigation, by M. W. de Fonvielle.-On the formation of swellings on the rootlets of the vine, by M. Max. Cornu.Observations on M. Guérin Méneville's suggestion that the Fhylloxera is a result of the vine disease.-Note on the best dimensions for electro-magnets, by M. Th. du Moncel.-On a proeess for the preparation of active amylic alcohol, by M. J. A. Le Bel. -On the influence which certain gases exercise on the preservation of eggs, and on the influence of certain substances in the preservation of eggs, by Mr. C. Calvert.-On the metamorphism and physiological changeability of certain microphytes under the influence of media and on the relation of these phenomena to th initial cause of fermentation, &c., by M. J. Duval.-On the action of the respiratory apparatus after the opening of the thoracic cavity, by MM. Carlet and Strauss.-On the different properties and structures of the red and white muscle in rabbits and in rays, by M. Ranvier.-On scurvy and its treatment, by M. Champouillon. -On telluric intoxication, by M. L. Colin.-On the calcareous spar of the green marles of Chennevière, by M. Stan. Meunier. |