bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Note on Mr Alfred Graham's Method of producing Sound by an Electrical Arrangement
Authors: McKendrick John G.
Published: June 2019

During the past year I have had many opportunities, in connection with a research on the phonograph, of observing the efficacy of Mr Graham's method of electrically producing sound, and as it is not generally known, a short explanation may be useful.

Two or more cells are connected to a mass of granular carbon whose resistance can be varied by vibration, and the circuit is then completed through the coils of an electro-magnet. In front of the electro-magnet is a diaphragm sensitive to the variations of current flowing through the electro-magnet. This diaphragm is so placed relatively to the circuit of variable resistance, that any vibration imparted to it is transmitted through a column of air to the circuit of the variable resistance or its diaphragm. The granular carbon, similar to that in telephonic transmitters, is contained in a box or chamber closed at one end by a diaphragm of carbon, with which the granular carbon is in electrical contact. The carbon resistance box is so placed that its diaphragm is acted on by the vibrations set up by the diaphragm of the electro-magnet. To effect this, a flexible tube passes from the front of the diaphragm of the transmitter to the front of the diaphragm of the electro-magnet. Thus, when the various parts of the apparatus are connected, as seen in the figure, and when the circuit is completed by closing a key, the vibrations set up in the telephone diaphragm are caused to act upon the circuit of variable resistance, which, in turn, again acts upon the telephone or receiver diaphragm. A continuous musical sound is then emitted.
On the Seasonal Death-rate from Certain Diseases in Edinburgh during the Period 1878–94, with Remarks on the Relation between Weather and Mortality
Authors: Mossman R. C.
Published: June 2019

This inquiry embraces the seventeen years beginning with 1878 and ending with 1894, the material utilised being the weekly mortality returns published by the Registrar-General for Scotland. Particulars are given in these returns of the number of deaths from small-pox, measles, scarlet fever, diphtheria, whooping-cough, diarrhœa, fever, croup, laryngitis, bronchitis, pneumonia, and pleurisy. Some of the diseases are classed together, viz., typhus and typhoid fever, croup and laryngitis, and bronchitis, pneumonia, and pleurisy. The data discussed also embraces returns of deaths from all causes, deaths of infants under one year of age, and of persons aged sixty years and upwards. The deaths have all been entered as having occurred during the calendar weeks in which they were registered, but as notification usually follows decease by several days, a slight element of error is introduced. Since the returns do not give any information as to the duration of the illness, we are unable to ascertain whether specific weather types are in casual relationship to disease. There are every week a number of deaths from uncertified and unspecified causes. These omissions are subsequently rectified, but their presence in the returns does not affect the general results of the investigation. It is our intention merely to discuss some of the broader results of the inquiry, the chief object of which is to give a first approximation to the seasonal death-rate of the diseases under review. In discussing the relation between weather and disease, it is well to keep in mind the fact that different diseases exhibit varying degrees of sensitiveness to weather influences, and that climatic changes take some little time to affect the human subject.
Note on Clerk-Maxwell's Law of Distribution of Velocity in a Group of Equal Colliding Spheres
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2019

The sarcastic criticism which M. Bertrand (Comptes Rendus, May 4 and 18, 1896) again bestows on Clerk-Maxwell's earliest solution of the fundamental problem in the Kinetic Theory of Gases, together with Prof. Boltzmann's very different, but thoroughly depreciatory, remarks (ib., May 26), have led me to reconsider this question, already discussed by me at some length before the Society. Both of these authorities declare Maxwell's investigation to be erroneous:—but, while Prof. Boltzmann allows his result to be correct, M. Bertrand goes further, and bluntly calls it absurd. He had, in his Calcul des Probabilités, (1888), already given Maxwell's proof as an example of illusory methods. I have the misfortune to agree with Maxwell, and to hold that his reasoning, though not by any means complete, is (like his result) correct. (Trans. R.S.E., vol. xxxiii. pp. 66 and 252.)

I have not found anything in these communications of mine (so far at least as the present question is concerned) which I should desire to retract; but they can be considerably improved; and I think that, by the introduction of the Döppler- (properly the Römer-) principle, the true nature of a part of the argument can be made somewhat more immediately obvious. Also I will venture to express the hope that Prof. Boltzmann may at last recognise that I have, in this matter at least, not deserved the reproach of having reasoned in a circle.
On the Structure of Actinotrocha considered in relation to the suggested Chordate Affinities of Phoronis
Authors: Masterman A. T.
Published: June 2019

Some little time ago a preliminary note upon Phoronis was read before the Eoyal Society, and therein it was stated that a study of the anatomy of this group had led one to believe that its nearest phyletic allies were to be found in the Hemichorda, a group comprising a few species with primitive chordate characters.

In attempting to class Phoronis with these, an important difficulty presented itself. It has been usual to define the Chordata as having three essential characters in common, either temporarily in ontogeny or permanently throughout life, i.e., a dorsal nervous system, paired gill-slits, and a notochord.

With regard to these features, there can be no doubt that the nervous system of Phoronis is dorsal in position, and its arrangement is exactly comparable to that of Balanoglossus; but, on the other hand, there are no gill-slits in the adult Phoronis, and the notochord is as certainly absent.

In the case of the gill-slits, we find upon critical examination that they are extremely variable in extent of number and position in the different Chordata, and in one species, Rhabdopleura, they are, according to present knowledge, entirely absent. For these reasons it is well not to insist on the presence of gill-slits as an essential character. With respect to the notochord a different condition prevails-the hypoblastic origin and vacuolated character of this organ mark it out from all other skeletal structures, and it figures more or less prominently in all the Chordata.
On the Relation between the Hall Effect and Thermoelectricity in Bismuth and in various Alloys
Authors: Beattie J. C.
Published: June 2019

I have, in a previous communication to the Society, given results for a number of alloys; these I propose to discuss from the point of view suggested by the title of this paper; I shall also discuss the results published by other experimenters, which relate chiefly to the behaviour of the Hall effect by constant field and variable temperature.

In attempting to explain the transverse effect, we have two things to consider. (1) The direction, and (2) the magnitude. In the following table the metals are arranged in a thermo-electric series as given by Wiedemann; and in the second column the direction and magnitude of the transverse effect in terms of the rotatory coefficient R, according to Ettingshausen and Nernst's results, are given.
On the Electro-magnetic Wave-Surface
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2019

We may write the electro-magnetic equations of Clerk-Maxwell as

For plane waves, running with normal velocity vα= −μ−1, we have

whence at once

[For the moment, we assume that φ and ψ are self-conjugate, so that a linear function of them is also self-conjugate. And we employ the method sketched in Tait's Quaternions, §§ 438–9.]
Chairman's Opening Address, Session 1896–97
Authors: McKendrick John Gray
Published: June 2019

The Council has done me the honour of requesting me to open the 114th Session of the Society, and to offer some remarks that may be deemed appropriate to the occasion.
On the so-called “Hypoiodite of Magnesium”
Authors: Walker James , Kay Sydney A.
Published: June 2019

The following investigation was undertaken in connection with a series of experiments on absorption at present being carried out in this laboratory.

In Gmelin's Handbook (Cavendish Edition, vol. 3, p. 240) it is stated, on Gay-Lussac's authority, that magnesia, when shaken up with a solution of iodine, absorbs the latter and assumes a reddishbrown colour. The production of this brown “hypoiodite of magnesium” is accompanied by the formation of small quantities of magnesium iodide and magnesium iodate, which pass into solution. When the brown compound is boiled with water, magnesium iodido and magnesia are formed, and when it is heated by itself, iodine is given off and magnesia remains.

The same compound is produced when magnesia is precipitated in presence of iodine, and its characteristic appearance makes it an excellent means of identifying a magnesium salt. The test is described as follows in the Notes on Reactions of Salts, used in the Practical Chemistry Class in the University of Edinburgh. “When a solution of iodine in potassium iodide is added to a magnesium salt, and a few drops of caustic potash are added to the mixture, a reddish-brown precipitate is produced; excess of caustic potash decolorises the precipitate.”

The state of the magnesia has apparently little effect on the production of the brown substance. It is formed indifferently with freshly precipitated magnesia, magnesia dried at the ordinary temperature, magnesia dried at 100°, and magnesia ignited over the blow-pipe.
Abstract of Paper “On Intermediary Links between Man and the Lower Animals”
Authors: Munro Robert
Published: June 2019

Dr Munro maintained in this paper that, by the attainment of the erect posture and the consequent conversion of his limbs into hands and feet, man became homo sapiens, and inaugurated a new phase of existence, by means of which the manipulative organs became correlated with the progressive development of the brain. In the evolutionary career of man two stages were therefore to be recognised. First, that during which his physical transformation had been effected, so as to adapt him to bipedal locomotion; second, that during which his mental organisation had become a new governing force in the universe. The one, being readily effected in accordance with the laws of morphological adaptation, had a short duration. The other, an extremely slow process, consisted of small increments to his knowledge, acquired by repeated experiences of reasoning from causes to effects and from means to ends. The one was merely an adjustment of physical contrivances to physical ends, comparable to that by which the bird, the bat, and the whale had converted their limbs to their special purposes. The other had to be relegated to the mystic laboratory, where thought was converted into its material equivalent in the form of increased brain substance. The transition from the semierect to the erect posture could not, in point of duration, be at all paralleled with the ages during which this erect being had lived on the globe. It was also probable that this transformation took place in a limited area, so that the chances of finding the intermediary links of this stage were very small.
On the Linear and Vector Function
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2019

In a paper read to the Society in May last, I treated specially the case in which the Hamiltonian cubic has all its roots real. In that paper I employed little beyond the well-known methods of Hamilton, but some of the results obtained seemed to indicate a novel and useful classification of the various forms of the Linear and Vector Function. This is the main object of the present communication.

It is known that we may always write

and that three terms of the sum on the right are sufficient, and in general more than is required, to express any linear and vector function. In fact, all necessary generality is secured by fixing, once for all, the values of α, β, γ, or of α1, β1, γ1, leaving the others arbitrary:—subject only to the condition that neither set is coplanar. Thus as a particular case we may write either

In either case we secure the nine independent scalar coefficients which are required for the expression of the most general homogeneous strain. But forms like these are relics of the early stage of quaternion development, and (as Hamilton expressly urged) they ought to be dispensed with as soon as possible.

2. A linear and vector function is completely determined if we know its effects on each of any system of three non-coplanar unit-vectors, say α, β, γ. If its cubic have three real roots, these vectors may, if we choose be taken as the directions which it leaves unaltered; if but one, we may take a corresponding system in the form

α, βcosa ± ιγsinα,

where ι is But it is preferable to keep the simpler form α, β, γ, with the understanding that β and γ may be bi-vectors, of the form just written.
A Contribution to the Comparative Anatomy of the Mammalian Organ of Jacobson
Authors: Broom R.
Published: June 2019

In this paper the author confines his attention to the relations of the organ, and especially to the structure of Jacobson's cartilage, the nasal floor cartilage, and the different developments to which they give rise. From the study of a large series of forms he has been led to the following general conclusions:—(1) That the organ is generally well developed in the primitive groups, and feebly developed in the higher forms; (2) that among allied animals the organ is, as a rule, better developed in the small species than in the large; (3) that in the various members of each Natural Order the organ is constructed on a common type, which admits of only very slight variation; and (4) that, even when the organ is quite absent in certain members of an Order, the nasal floor cartilages are constructed on the same type as in those members in which the organ is developed.

From the very slight tendency there is in the organ and its cartilaginous adjuncts to vary with changing habits, the author concludes that the anatomy of the region affords a valuable factor in classification. A study has been made in most of the Mammalian orders, and the relationships and inter-affinities of the different types have been critically examined.

In the Monotremata the organ is very well developed. The simple nasal floor cartilage in front gives rise behind to Jacobson's cartilage and a well-developed outer nasal floor cartilage, which latter passes inwards and supports Jacobson's cartilage. In this order Jacobson's cartilage differs from all other mammals, and resembles lizards in forming a well-marked turbinal process.
On Ethane prepared from Ethyl Iodide, and on the Properties of some Mixtures of Ethane and Butane
Authors: Kuenen J. P.
Published: June 2019

In a paper on mixtures of ethane and nitrous oxide, read before the Physical Society of London in May 1895, I communicated a set of observations with regard to the condensation and the critical state of ethane. This substance was prepared by electrolysing sodium acetate: it was purified with fuming sulphuric acid, caustic soda, and phosphorus pentoxide, and condensed in a small copper cylinder, where it was subsequently boiled at low temperature in order to expel all permanent gas. The ethane with which the glass compression-tubes were filled was drawn from the liquid contained in the copper cylinder. Its condensation-pressures and critical constants are contained in the following table, which is taken from the paper mentioned (comp. fig. 3):—

The values of p and of the critical constants in Table I. are not absolutely correct. The observations showed the substance to contain some impurity, the condensation-pressures not being quite constant, but showing a slight increase, as is always the case for mixtures. The difference of the pressure at the beginning and at the end of the condensation amounted to 0·43 atmospheres at 15° C. It is, however, unlikely that this impurity in the ethane can have affected the values for p by more than a few tenths of an atmosphere. Nor will the value for the critical temperature differ by more than 0·1 or 0·27° C. from the true value, considering that Andrews' carbonic acid showed changes in vapour-pressure of over two atmospheres under the same circumstances, and that his value for the critical temperature, 30·9° C., is only about 0·4° C. too low.
Our Perception of the Direction of Sound
Authors: Gray Albert Alexander
Published: June 2019

Our power of estimating the direction of sound is much less accurate than that of estimating the direction of light; and, further, our knowledge as to the way in which this perception of direction occurs is much more limited in the case of sound. We judge with the greatest accuracy the direction of a ray of light, and we know that we do so almost entirely by the aid of the muscular sense. How do we judge the direction of a sound?

Before attempting a reply to this question it will clear that matter up, to a certain extent, by giving a statement of a few facts which have been found out by experiment, and are well attested by various writers:—

(1) Individuals who are deaf of one ear have little power of estimating the direction of sound.

(2) Individuals who are blind of both eyes generally show a power of judging the direction of sound far superior to those gifted with sight. This is particularly true if the eye affection dates from childhood.

(3) The power of estimating the direction of sound depends upon its pitch and its quality. A pure tone of low pitch is very difficult to localise; with the higher notes this becomes easier, and with a compound sound it is also easy.

(4) The accuracy with which we estimate the direction of a sound is greatest when the sound is in the line of axis of the two ears, and least when it is in the median plane of the body.
The Antivenomous Properties of the Bile of Serpents and other Animals; and an Explanation of the Insusceptibility of Animals to the Poisonous Action of Venom introduced into the Stomach
Authors: Fraser
Published: June 2019

In a paper communicated to this Society I stated that, when, introduced into the stomach of an animal, serpents' venom produces no obvious injury, even when the quantity is so large as to be sufficient to kill 1000 animals of the same species and weight if the venom were injected under the skin. The failure of so highly toxic a substance to produce poisoning when it is administered by the stomach might be due to chemical changes produced upon it by the secretions of the stomach and intestines, or to non-absorbability into the blood from the stomach and intestines. It is already known that the toxicity of venom is not materially reduced by gastric digestion. Although at first sight incompatible with the innocuousness of stomach administration, this fact is not in reality a contradiction of it, for the absorbing power of the stomach for many organic substances—even for strychnine—has been shown to be extremely slight, and their entrance into the circulation appears to occur not in the stomach but in the intestines.

As serpents' venom introduced into the stomach is not rendered innocuous by the stomach secretions, while, notwithstanding, it fails to cause poisoning, it may be assumed that the stomach walls are incapable of absorbing it. If, like other poisons, it can be absorbed from the intestines, the explanation of the failure to produce toxic symptoms when it is administered by the stomach might depend on a chemical or physiological destruction of its toxic properties by some substance or substances which it encounters soon after entering the intestinal canal, and most probably, therefore, by the bile or the pancreatic secretion.
On the Electrification of Air by Uranium and its Compounds
Authors: Beattie J. Carruthers , Kelvin Lord
Published: June 2019

§ 1. It is proposed in the following paper to describe experiments made to test the electric state of the air in the neighbourhood of metallic uranium, or of other metals on which a salt of uranium had been deposited from a solution, when these were charged to a positive or a negative potential.

§ 2. Method employed. To test the electric state of the air the electric filter method* due to Kelvin, Maclean, and Gait was employed. The special filter used in the experiments to be described was a block-tin pipe, 10 cms. long and 1 cm. diameter, filled with brass filings. This was insulated on two tunnelled pieces of paraffin, and put in metallic connection with the insulated pair of quadrants of a quadrant electrometer. From one of the tunnelled pieces of paraffin a metal tube led to an air pump; from the other a piece of india-rubber tubing led to the place where the air to be tested was. This air was then drawn through the electric filter, and the deviation from the metallic zero of the electrometer, when the two pairs of quadrants were insulated, was noted. To give some idea of the efficiency of the filter, the results obtained when air was pumped away from the neighbourhood of the electrodes of a Ruhmkorff inductorium (Apps. pattern, 10-inch spark) will be given.
Notes on the Total Eclipse of the Sun, 8th August 1896
Authors:   Astronomer-Royal for Scotland, Ramsay A. J.
Published: June 2019

In the Total Eclipse of 8th August last year, the line of totality began at a point to the north of the Shetlands, passed across the north of Norway, from Bodo on the west to Vadso in the north-east, then traversed Novaya Zemlya, Siberia, and Yesso, the northern island of Japan, ending finally in the North Pacific Ocean. Both Bodö and Vadsö are easily accessible by the Nor-wegian mail-boats, the former being, however, some four days nearer than Vadsö. At the first glance one would naturally inquire:—Why was not Bodö chosen for our station in preference to the more distant Vadsö ? The chief reason was the very important one that at Vadsö the sun, at the time of total eclipse, attained an altitude of 15° above the horizon, while at Bodö the altitude was only some 7°; at Vadsö, too, the duration of totality was 106 seconds, as compared with 101 seconds at Bodö. As regards the chances of a clear sky, there was not much to choose between the two stations; on the west coast the rainfall was reported to be relatively large, while fogs were said to be of frequent occurrence at Vadsö. Vardö, some 40 miles east of Vadsö, was declared unsuitable on account of a still greater likelihood of trouble from sea fogs in the early morning, during summer. We therefore fixed on Vadsö as our observing station, and communicated with Professor Mohn of Christiania, the well-known meteorologist, as to the best steps to be taken for securing a favourable site for our instruments. We are indebted to him for much valuable advice, and to Dr Caspersen of Vadsö for his very material help in securing comfortable rooms for us there.
On the Velocity of Graded Actions
Authors: Walker James
Published: June 2019

The theory of mass action leads to very simple consequences when applied to the determination of the velocity of chemical processes which take place in homogeneous solution. If the reaction is pure and irreversible, the initial concentrations of the reacting substances have only to be known in order to obtain an expression which shall give for every value of the time (measured from the beginning of the reaction) the corresponding extent to which the action has taken place, one constant being involved. This constant, which is characteristic of the reaction, is called its velocity constant, and for a given medium and a given temperature is invariable. Reactions have been classified by Van't Hoff into unimolecular, bimolecular, trimolecular, etc., reactions, according to the number of molecules which interact; and to every class there corresponds an equation by means of which the velocity constant is determined, the expressions for the constants differing from each other in form from class to class. For example, if the initial concentration of each of the reacting substances be A, the time t, and z the extent to which the action has progressed at the end of the time t, then the following expressions will be constant:—
Preliminary Note on a Characteristic of Certain Chemical Reactions
Authors: Gibson John
Published: June 2019

In a paper, communicated to the Society in February 1897, the author drew attention to increase in electrical conductivity as a characteristic of photo-chemical action.

This increase in electric conductivity may be explained by assuming that light acts either in the direction of increased conductivity, or as a disturbing agent on molecular systems having an inherent tendency towards rearrangements involving increased conductivity.

It may be that both assumptions are correct.

Since making this communication the author has been engaged in experimental investigation, undertaken in order to elucidate this subject further—more particularly in its chemical aspect.

The behaviour of nitric acid with respect to light appeared especially suggestive. Nitric acid on progressive dilution with water becomes less and less subject to decomposition by light, until, as that dilution which corresponds to maximum conductivity is approached, the action of light seems to cease altogether, so that nitric acid at all dilutions greater than that corresponding to its maximum electrolytic conductivity appears to be unaltered by light. It seemed, therefore, desirable to investigate experimentally the purely chemical behaviour of nitric, hydrochloric, and sulphuric acids at different degrees of dilution with water. The investigation is now sufficiently far advanced to justify the communication to the Society, in this preliminary note, of some of the conclusions which have been arrived at.
Notes on some Additional Fossils collected at Seymour Island, Graham's Land, by Dr Donald and Captain Larsen
Authors: Sharman George , Newton E. T.
Published: June 2019

Dr Donald, who sailed on board the “Active” in the voyage of 1892–3, has given a short account of the discovery of a number of fossils by Captain Larsen on Seymour Island, to the north of Snow Hill, in January 1893 (Geographical Journal, vol. ii. p. 438, 1893). Some of these fossils were sent to Professor James Geikie, and at his request we gave an account of them to the Royal Society of Edinburgh, June 4, 1894 (Trans. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xxxvii. p. 707; see also Dr Murray, Geog. Journ., vol. iii. p. 11, note, 1894). The fossils do not appear to have been found in situ. Captain Larsen reports of the locality “that he found no traces of vegetation there, the surface being formed of volcanic débris and numbers of these fossils” (Dr Donald's notice, p. 438, loc. cit.).

The condition of the fossils, however, would seem to indicate that the mother rock from which they were derived could not be at any great distance from the spot where they were picked up.

As the few species of Mollusca represented by these fossils seemed to us to find their nearest allies among Lower Tertiary forms, and to be near to certain species known from Patagonia (Darwin, Geol. Obs. Sth. Am., 1846), we were led to conclude that these new discoveries indicated the occurrence of Lower Tertiary rocks in Seymour Island.
Notes on some Specimens of Rocks from the Antarctic Regions
Authors: Geikie Archibald , Teall J. J. H.
Published: June 2019

Towards the end of the year 1893, I received from Captain Thomas Robertson of Dundee, master of the steamship “Active,” a number of specimens of rocks which he had collected in the Antarctic regions during a sealing expedition. In letters to me he gave the following particulars regarding these specimens:—“They were all taken from one place in Dundee Island. We had not time to land and take specimens from other parts. Dundee Island, so named by me, is a separate piece of land, close to Joinville Island, and all the stones I sent you were picked up on a beach at its south-west end. I had a boat sealing on Joinville Island, but they brought no specimens of rock on board. The round flat piece of light-coloured granite I broke off a piece the size of a man's head, the day I sent off the box to you. The small piece of blue basaltic rock I broke off at the same time, not to make the box too heavy. You have all the others as they were found. The southwest end of Dundee Island is a long low point which I named ‘Welchness.’ There are high cliffs up from the ness, from which the pieces of granite could have come, or they might have been carried by the ice.
Observations on the Theories of Vowel Sounds
Authors: M'Kendrick John G.
Published: June 2019

The quality of the human voice depends on the same laws as those determining the quality, klang-tint, or timbre of the tones produced by any musical instrument. Tones of a mixed character, that is to say, composed of a fundamental and partials, are produced by the vibrations of the true vocal cords, and certain of those partials are strengthened by the resonance of the air in the air-passages, and in the pharyngeal and oral cavities.

So strongly may certain of these partials be reinforced, as to obscure or hide the fundamental tone, and give a peculiar character to the sound. These, however, are only general statements, and there are still many difficulties in the way of a true interpretation of voice-tones. In the first place, we observe that we may sing a scale, using one sound for each note, such as la, la, la, etc. Or, by putting the mouth in a certain position, we can pronounce the so-called vowels, a, e, i, o, u (ou as the u in prune), uttering the sounds ah, ā, ē, o, ou. As we do so, we notice that each sound appears to the ear to have a pitch of its own, different from that of the others.
On Electric Equilibrium between Uranium and an Insulated Metal in its Neighbourhood
Authors: Kelvin Lord , Beattie J. Carruthers , de Smolan M. Smoluchowski
Published: June 2019

The wonderful fact that uranium held in the neighbourhood of an electrified body diselectrifies it was first discovered by H. Becquerel. Through the kindness of Prof. Moissan we have had a disc of this metal, about 5 cm. diameter and ½ cm. thickness, placed at our disposal.

We made a few preliminary observations on its diselectrifying property. We observed first the rate of discharge when a body was charged to different potentials. We found that the quantity lost per half-minute was very far from increasing in simple proportion to the voltage, from 5 volts up to 2100 volts; the electrified body being at a distance of about 2 cm. from the uranium disc. [Added March 9, 1897.—We have to-day seen Prof. Becquerel's paper in Comptes Rendus for March 1. It gives us great pleasure to find that the results we have obtained on discharge by uranium at different voltages have been obtained in another way by the discoverer of the effect. A very interesting account will be found in Prof. Becquerel's paper, which was read to the French Academy of Sciences on the same evening, curiously enough, as ours was read before the Royal Society of Edinburgh.]

These first experiments were made with no screen placed between the uranium and the charged body. We afterwards found that there was also a discharging effect, though much slower, when the uranium was wrapped in tinfoil. The effect was still observable when an aluminium screen was placed between the uranium, wrapped in tinfoil, and the charged body.
Heat of Combination of Metals in the Formation of Alloys
Authors: Galt Alexander
Published: June 2019

In the course of his valuable researches on the heats of combination and decomposition of bodies, the late Professor Thomas Andrews, of Belfast, arrived at the conclusion that “If three metals, A, B, C, be so related that A is capable of displacing B and C from their combinations, and also B capable of displacing C; then the heat developed in the substitution of A for C will be equal to that developed in the substitution of A for B, added to that developed in the substitution of B for C; and a similar rule may be applied to any number of metals similarly related.” A tabular statement of experimental results is given, and from them illustrations of the above conclusion may be obtained. For example, let A represent zinc, B lead, and C copper; then, for equivalent quantities of the metals, it was found that the number of (grammewater) heat units centigrade developed when zinc displaces copper is approximately equal to the number developed when zinc displaces lead, added to that obtained when lead displaces copper. But, in contact electricity, the electromotive force between zinc and copper is equal to that between zinc and lead added to that between lead and copper. These facts led Andrews to make the following important remark:—“Electromotive forces which are really due to contact of dissimilar bodies are also the very forces which cause heat when chemical combination ensues, potential energy being converted into kinetic energy by the rushing together of the particles under attracting forces.”
A Problem of Sylvester's in Elimination
Authors: Nanson E. J.
Published: June 2019

1. Denoting by A, B, C, F, G, H the co-factors of a, b, e, f, g, h, in the determinant

the problem in question is to eliminate x, y, z from the three equations

and it lias been discussed by Sylvester, Cayley, Muir, Tait, and Lord M'Laren.

Sylvester deduces from (1) this new system

and hence finds the dialytic eliminant

the expansion of which (an obvious error being corrected) he states to be

where

so that “rejecting the special (N.B., not irrelevant) factor abc, we obtain”
On the Ellipse-Glissette Elimination Problem
Authors: Nanson E. J.
Published: June 2019

The problem in question is to determine the equation of the curve traced out by any point of an elliptic or hyperbolic disc which touches two fixed rectangular axes. Mechanically constructed figures of different forms of the curve have been given by Tait, who also showed that the same glissette can be traced either by means of an ellipse or a hyperbola. If p, q are the coordinates of the tracing point referred to the axes of the disc as axes of coordinates, the glissette is clearly the θ eliminant of

and Cayley stated that it would be found to be of order 8 in x, y. The actual elimination was first performed by Muir, who obtained in the first instance an equation of order 10. On dividing by an extraneous quadratic factor a lengthy equation of order 8 was obtained; and subsequently Lord M'Laren verified the accuracy of the terms of highest order in this equation.
On the Directions which are most altered by a Homogeneous Strain
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2019

The cosine of the angle through which a unit vector ρ is turned by the homogeneous strain ϕ is

This is to be a maximum, with the sole condition

Differentiating, &c, as usual we have

Operate by S.ρ and we have

Hence the required vector, its positions after the strain, and after a subsequent application of the conjugate strain, lie in one plane; and the tangent of the angle between ρ and its first distorted position is half of the tangent of the angle between it and its doubly distorted position.

When the strain is pure, the required values of ρ are easily found. Let the chief unit vectors of ϕ be α, β, γ, and its scalars g1, g2, g3.
On the Nature of “Palladium Hydrogen”
Authors: Shields John
Published: June 2019

Ever since the remarkable discovery by Graham in 1866 that palladium possesses the power of occluding hydrogen gas in large quantity, various views have from time to time been put forward to explain the true nature of the phenomenon. Whilst some observers regard hydrogenised palladium as an alloy or solid solution, others again consider it to be, or at least to contain, a definite chemical compound or hydride. Those who hold the latter opinion, however, are not agreed as to which compound or hydride is formed, as is proved by the fact that different formulae have been ascribed to it. Graham himself recognised the possibility that a definite chemical compound might be formed, for he says (Researches, 287) that in fully-charged palladium there exists one equivalent of palladium to 0·772 equivalent of hydrogen, or an approximation to single equivalents which would be represented by the formula PdH. His opinion was, nevertheless, opposed to the idea of such a definite chemical combination, one of his chief objections being that no visible change is occasioned to metallic palladium by its association with hydrogen. He regarded the product simply as an alloy of the volatile metal hydrogenium, in which the volatility of the one element is restrained by its union with the other, and which owes its metallic aspect equally to both constituents.

Considerations of a purely chemical character have up to the present time proved insufficient to decide which of these views is correct.
On Torsional Oscillations of Wires
Authors: Peddie W.
Published: June 2019

This paper is in continuation of two others, on the same subject, previously communicated to the Society. It consists of two parts, the first experimental, the second theoretical.

The wire which was experimented upon was the one which was used in the previous experiments, and the apparatus was that described in the latter of the communications above referred to.
On Consonant-Sounds
Authors: Lloyd R. J.
Published: June 2019

The prime object of the following paper is to assist in deciphering the irregular traces which represent the consonants in a phonographic record, by investigating a priori, from the causes which create the consonant, the elements which probably lie entangled in the tracing to be interpreted. Accurately speaking, the difference between vowel and consonant is not one of nature, but of function. To define either vowel or consonant, it is necessary first to define a syllable. All human speech proceeds in rapid alternations of louder and softer, more sonorous and less sonorous. These alternations vary considerably in energy; any one of them may be twice as long, or twice as loud, or twice as sudden in its rise or in its fall as its next neighbour. They seem, in fact, to tend both in duration and in form and in energy rather to a successive change than to any regularity; but each of them is a syllable. A syllable, then, is a wave of sonority, one climax of sound, with its accompanying rise and fall. Accurately speaking, this climax is a subjective one.
Note on Crystalline Hydrates of Sodium Thiosulphate
Authors: Taylor W. W.
Published: June 2019

During the winter session I had occasion to prepare several supersaturated solutions for lecture demonstration. Among them, was a solution made by fusing crystals of sodium thiosulphate. Next day this solution had deposited a considerable quantity of crystals, but had not solidified. The crystals were separated from, the liquid, washed, dried, and analysed. Their composition agreed approximately with the formula Na2S2O3, 2H2O. Other crystals having this composition were then obtained by driving off part of the water from fused crystals of the pentahydrate, and allowing the solution to cool.

They were analysed by conversion into sodium sulphate.

I.—1·2186 gm. substance gave 0·9027 gm. Na2SO4= 24·02 percent. Na.

II.—1·3977 gm. substance gave 1·0320 gm. Na2SO4 = 23·95 percent. Na.

In order to find out the temperature condition for the formation of this hydrate, a solubility curve was constructed from the data given by Mulder and by Kremers. There appeared to be a change in the curve between 50° C. and 60° C., but the data were insufficient to fix the temperature with accuracy.

I therefore made a series of solubility determinations, extending, from 0°C. to 100°C. The form of apparatus used was that described by van't Hoff. The stirrer was driven at about 3000 revolutions a minute by means of an electric motor; and the temperatures were constant to 0·1°C. Below 50°C. the solutions were in contact with Na2S2O3, 5H2O; above 50°C. in contact with Na2S2O3, 2H2O; and at 50°C. solutions were prepared in contact with each of them, and found to have the same concentration.
On a supposed Resemblance between the Marine Faunas of the Arctic and Antarctic Regions
Authors: Thompson D'Arcy Wentworth
Published: June 2019

The view that a peculiar likeness exists between the northern and southern extra-tropical faunas, and particularly between those of the Arctic and Antarctic regions, was suggested by Théel in discussing the remarkable deep-sea group of the Elasipoda, whose discovery we owe to the Challenger Expedition. A somewhat similar view is hinted at or referred to more than once in other Reports of the same Expedition. It was afterwards stated in an ampler way by Pfeffer (Versuch über die Erdgeschichtliche Entwickelung der jetzigen Verbreitungsverhältnisse unserer Thierwelt, 1891), and has of late been dealt with in great detail, and in relation to the antecedent causes that might have led to such a phenomenon, by Sir John Murray. On the other hand, Dr Ortmann, considering the hypothesis from the point of view of our knowledge of the distribution of Crustacea, has rejected it entirely (“Uber Bipolarität in der Verbreitung mariner Thiere,” Zool. Jahrb., 1896; cf. also “Marine Organismen und ihre Existenzbedingungen,” ib., 1897), and Dr Chun, dealing with the pelagic fauna (“Die Beziehungen zwischen dem arktischen und antarktischen Plankton,” Stuttgart, 1897), while showing how in truth a certain small number of forms are common to far northern and far southern seas, holds that the facts are sufficiently accounted for by the continuous distribution or gradual intermixture of forms in the depths of the intervening oceans under present conditions, without our needing to have recourse to an explanation of the phenomenon in the different conditions of a former age.
The Action of Persulphates on Iodine
Authors: Marshall Hugh
Published: June 2019

When solutions of potassium persulphate and potassium iodide are mixed, iodine is liberated and potassium sulphate formed. The reaction takes place somewhat slowly in the cold, much more rapidly on warming. It has generally been supposed that the equation

2KI + K2S2O8 = I2 + 2K2SO4

completely represents the action which takes place, and although I have had occasion to try the reaction very many times since I first noted it as a reaction for persulphates, it was only about a year ago that I observed a further change.

A solution of potassium iodide was being boiled with ammonium persulphate (which is much more soluble than the potassium salt) in order to decompose it and drive off the iodine by sublimation. It was observed that the free iodine in the liquid seemed to disappear very rapidly, more so than corresponded to the amount volatilised, and that the final disappearance of the brown colour took place with unexpected suddenness. This pointed to the possible conversion of the iodine into some compound, probably by the oxidising action of the persulphate. This proved to be the case, because, on the cautious addition of sulphurous acid to the colourless solution, iodine again appeared; on standing, the liquid again became decolourised, and was again turned brown by sulphurous acid. These operations could be repeated so long as persulphate remained in the solution. The action takes place slowly in the cold, and at high temperatures there is considerable volatilisation of iodine; when a solution of potassium iodide was corked up with ammonium persulphate in a test tube at the ordinary temperature, the iodine which separated in the solid form gradually dissolved on further standing, and had entirely disappeared in the course of several days.
Determination of the Sign of a Single Term of a Determinant
Authors: Muir Thomas
Published: June 2019

(1) As is well known, the first rule given for ascertaining the sign of a single term of a determinant was made known by Cramer in his Introduction à l'Analyse des Lignes Courbes algèbriques, published at Geneva in 1750. On page 658 he says—

“On donne a ces termes les signes + ou −, selon la Règle suivante. Quand un exposant est suivi dans le même terme, médiatement ou immediatement, d'un exposant plus petit que lui, j'apellerai cela un derangement. Qu'on compte, pour chaque terme, le nombre des dérangements: s'il est pair ou nul, le terme aura le signe +; s'il est impair, le terme aura le signe −. Par ex. dans le terme Z1Y2V3 il n'y a aucun dérangement: ce terme aura done le signe +. Le terme Z3Y1X2 a aussi le signe +, parce qu'il a deux derangements, 3 avant 1 & 3 avant 2. Mais le terme Z3Y2X1 qui a trois derangements, 3 avant 2, 3 avant 1, & 2 avant 1, aura le signe −.”

According to Cramer, therefore, If δ be the number of derangements in the permutation corresponding to any term, the sign of the term is (−)δ.

Instead of the word “dérangement,” Gergonne in 1813 used “inversion” in speaking of Cramer's rule: Cauchy did the same in 1841: and, consequently, the latter term or “inversion of order” has come into pretty general use. “Inverted-pair” is probably a still better expression.‡
Tidal Currents of the North Sea
Authors: Buchan Alexander
Published: June 2019

In the article “Tides” in the Encyclopœdia Britannica, Professor George Darwin, quoting Sir George B. Airy, remarks that the tides of the North Sea present a very remarkable peculiarity. Along the eastern coast of England as far as the mouth of the Thames, the tide-wave, coming from the Atlantic round the Orkney Islands, flows towards the south. Thus, on a certain day, it is high water in the Moray Firth at 11 a.m., at Berwick at 2 p.m., at Flamborough Head at 5 p.m., and so on to the entrance to the Thames. Thus, on the day supposed, it will be high water off the Thames at 11 p.m., the tide having travelled in twelve hours from the Moray Firth.

It is further stated that the North Sea is considerably deeper on the English side than on the German side; so much so, that the tide-wave coming from the north runs into a deep bay of deep water, bounded on the west side by the Scottish and English coasts as far as Newcastle, and on the east side by the great Dogger Bank. As far as the latitude of Hull, the English side is still the deep one; and though a species of channel through the shoal there allows an opening to the east, yet immediately on the south of it is the Wells Bank, which again contracts the deep channel to the English side.

It is not stated here that the deeper water of the North Sea close to the Scottish and English coasts determines the course of the southward tidal flow to be close to these coasts; but for that course taken, no other cause is suggested.