bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
XVII.—The Distribution of Gene Ratios for Rare Mutations
Authors: Fisher R. A.
Published: June 2016

The discussion of the distribution of the gene ratio of the author's paper of 1922 is amended by the use of a more exact form of the differential equation to be satisfied. It appears that the time needed to halve the variance by random extinction of genes in the total absence of mutations should be 1·4 instead of 2·8 times the number of potential parents in each generation. Either value shows that the loss of variance due to this cause is too trifling to be appreciable in the balance of causes which maintain the actual genetic variability of species.

The same correction alters the distribution appropriate for the maintenance of variability at a fixed level by mutations in the absence of selection. The new solution closely resembles the form previously obtained and now confirmed for the practical case in which selection is present. The method of differential equations, however, fails to deal satisfactorily with these cases, owing to the failure of the integrals to converge at the termini representing cases in which one or other allelomorph is extremely rare.

A method of functional equations is developed for dealing with the termini, and is shown to lead to the same solutions as the amended differential equations in the central portion of the range for which the latter are valid, and further to give the terminal distribution of rare allelomorphs. The method requires the investigation of a continuous function uv of argument v satisfying the recurrence formula

From the asymptotic form of this function its expansion in the neighbourhood of u = 0 is derived, giving the frequencies of the required distributions.

Exceedingly minute values for the selective advantage or disadvantage make a great difference to (i) the chance of success of a mutation and (ii) the contributions of such mutations to the specific variance. The order of magnitude to be considered is the inverse of the population of the species. The neutral zone of selective advantage in the neighbourhood of zero is thus so narrow that changes in the environment, and in the genetic constitution of species, must cause this zone to be crossed and perhaps recrossed relatively rapidly in the course of evolutionary change, so that many possible gene substitutions may have a fluctuating history of advance and regression before the final balance of selective advantage is determined.
XX.—Certain Quinoline and Benzacridine Derivatives yielding Coloured Adsorption Compounds with Iodine
Authors: Kermack William Ogilvy , Slater Robert Henry , Spragg Walter Thomas
Published: June 2016

Certain derivatives of benzacridine and of 4-anilinoquinoline give a blue or red colouration with a solution of iodine in aqueous potassium iodide. In the case of the active anilinoquinoline compounds the colour is usually developed in presence of solutions containing iodine at a concentration of the order of N/10,000, whilst in the case of the benzacridine compounds the colour is still apparent at concentrations of N/100,000 or even less. The effect of variation of concentration of compound, iodine, and hydrogen ions has been investigated in certain instances. The action of certain inorganic salts has also been investigated, but in low concentrations these are without much effect. The methosulphates of the two active benzacridine bases also develop colours with iodine even with very low concentrations of the latter. It is suggested that these methosulphates form micellar, colloidal solutions. The chromogenic property appears to depend not on the nitrogen atom in these compounds but on the structure of the molecule as a whole. The compounds which have been investigated differ from most of those previously known to give colours with iodine, in that they are basic and form colloidal solutions in which the particles are positively charged.
XXII.—The Metabolism of the Frog's Isolated Heart
Authors: Clark A. J. , Stewart C. P. , Gaddie R.
Published: June 2016

Theories regarding the chemistry of the contraction process in striped muscle have been revolutionised during the last year. The Hill-Meyerhof theory was based on the assumption that the contraction process was due to the liberation of lactic acid by the break-down of glycogen, a non-oxidative reaction, and that the recovery process consisted in the oxidation of part of the lactic acid and the resynthesis of glycogen from the remainder. Meyerhof now believes (1, p. 305) that contraction is produced by the break-down of creatin-phosphoric acid (phosphagen), and that the energy produced by carbohydrate break-down is utilised to resynthesise phosphagen.
XXIV.—The General Form of the Orthogonal Polynomials for Simple Series, with Proofs of their Simple Properties
Authors: Allan F. E.
Published: June 2016

In Statistical Methods for Research Workers R. A. Fisher (1) has given a numerical method of curve fitting by means of orthogonal polynomials. It is proposed here to show how the properties of these polynomials and a general formula for them may be developed from the properties of their terminal differences, thus providing general proofs of the properties utilised in the numerical method.
2. On the Physiological Action of the Calabar Bean (Physostigma venenosum, Balf.)
Authors: Fraser Thomas R.
Published: June 2016

Although many able observers have, within the last few years, investigated the physiological action of the Calabar bean, a singular amount of discordance has characterised the results arrived at. An intention, in the first place, of adding proofs in confirmation of the views advanced in an investigation published in 1862, has induced the author to reconsider the subject. The result has been that the actions of this substance have been found to be much more complicated than was at first supposed, and this may be understood when it is stated that it acts on the spinal cord and on the motor nerves, and also on the sympathetic system, and that, in this manner, it directly influences nearly all the vital functions. It is not proposed, at this time, to examine what must be regarded as the most curious action of Physostigma, that, namely, on the pupil, which results from its topical application to the eyeball or to the mucous membranes which are anatomically connected with it. The theories of this action, though some of them have been advanced by men of such eminence as Donders, Graefe, Rosenthal and Bowman, are extremely unsatisfactory. It is hoped that a distinct conception of the general physiological effects will suggest a correct explanation of the myositic action, and there can be no doubt it will assist in arriving at this conclusion.
2. On the Musculus Sternalis
Authors: Turner William
Published: June 2016

In this paper the author described the results of his observations on the presence of the musculus sternalis in upwards of six hundred bodies dissected in the anatomical rooms of the University of Edinburgh. He had found it in nineteen individuals, i.e., in about 3 per cent of the bodies examined. It occurred nearly equally in the two sexes. It bore no relation to the general muscularity of the individual. In eleven subjects the muscle was single, in eight double, making together twenty-seven specimens of the muscle. The variations which it exhibited in its attachments, size, and shape, were then described. In no case were its fibres continuous with those of the rectus abdominis, or were tendinous intersections found in it, but it mostly arose either from the flattened tendon of the external oblique muscle of the abdomen, or from the cartilages of the lower true ribs, and in many instances it was continuous at its upper end with the sternal tendon of one or both sterno-mastoids, whilst in others it was inserted into the aponeurosis covering the pectoralis major. It was always superficial to the great pectoral muscle. Of the single specimens, four occurred on the right side, two on the left; whilst in the remaining five it arose on one side of the middle line, and was inserted either altogether or in part on the opposite side. It formed an excellent illustration of the truth of the general statement, that occasional and rudimentary structures are especially liable to variations in arrangement.
3. On Compensation Pendulums of two Pieces
Authors: Sang Edward
Published: June 2016

Three or four years ago, wishing to make some experiments on time-keepers, and desiring for that purpose to have a compensation pendulum fitted to my clock, I turned my attention to pendulums composed of two pieces, having different rates of expansion.

Such compensation pendulums are now pretty common; the idea which has led to their construction being this,—that if the pendulum rod be made of material having a very small rate of expansion, and if the bob or weight be of a substance much more expansive, then the upward expansion of the one may be made to compensate for the downward expansion of the other, and so the going of the clock may remain unaffected by changes of temperature.
1. On the Tertiary Volcanic Rocks of the British Islands
Authors: Geikie Archibald
Published: June 2016

This paper was in continuation of the series of memoirs on the volcanic rocks of Scotland previously read by the author before the Society, and contained the first portion of the results of a survey of the western region, extending from the south of Antrim to the north of Syke. The districts more especially dwelt upon were the islands of Mull, Eigg, and Staffa. After alluding to the writings of previous geologists upon these tracts, more particularly to the discovery by the Duke of Argyll of tertiary leaves under basalt at Ardtun Head, in Mull, the author remarked that up to this time the great mass of volcanic rocks in the Western Islands has been usually regarded as of Oolitic age—an opinion in which he himself had shared. His object in the present communication was to show that as regards Mull and the adjoining islets this opinion was erroneous, that the enormous volcanic accumulations of these islands belonged in reality to the Miocene period, and that, in all likelihood, the long chain of basaltic masses, extending from the north of Ireland along the west coast of Scotland to the Faroe Islands, and beyond these to Iceland, was all erupted during the same wide interval in the Tertiary periods.
2. Notice of an Easy Method of Preparing Nitroprussides
Authors: Playfair Lyon
Published: June 2016

Since I described the method of making nitroprussides by the action of nitric acid on yellow prusside of potassium, Hadow (Chem. Soc. Journal, 1866) has given a more productive process, by treating potassic ferridcyanide with an equivalent quantity of mercuric chloride, of sodic nitrite, and of acetic acid. Hadow contends that N2O3 substitutes Cy2 in this reaction, instead of NO as supposed by me. I am still of opinion that the formula of nitroprussides is FeCy5 NOM2. For if an equivalent quantity of an acid be added to a solution of potassic ferridcyanide, and a stream of NO be passed through this solution, at a temperature of between 70° C and 80° C, nitroprusside is slowly but abundantly formed, with the evolution of hydrocyanic acid.
2. On the Motions and Colours upon Films of Alcohol, Volatile Oils, and other Fluids
Authors: Brewster David
Published: June 2016

In a paper “On the Phenomena of thin Plates exposed to Polarised Light,” published in the Philosophical Transactions for 1841, the author observed certain motions and colours upon some of the volatile and fixed oils, the cause of which he did not attempt to discover. Their apparent similarity to the molecular movements and colours, described in a preceding paper, induced him to resume the subject.

When a drop of alcohol is placed upon an aperture the fifth of an inch in diameter or less, a concave lens will be formed upon it. As the alcohol evaporates, a very small plane film will appear in the centre, and will gradually increase till it fills the aperture.
1. On the Application of Relative, or Proportional, Equality to International Organisation
Authors: Lorimer
Published: June 2016

It is often regarded almost as a matter of admission, on the part of the cultivators of social and political philosophy, that their subjects defy scientific treatment; and that, when they talk of tracing out laws of social wellbeing or progress, they use words which indicate, at most, a very faint analogy between the methods which they affect to follow, and those really employed in the physical sciences. The reproach to which they are exposed, on this ground, would never have arisen, or would not have been merited, had they habituated themselves and others to regard their subject, as a science, in the ordinary sense of an inquiry into nature, and not as a series of random observations, in which the contingent and the necessary, the permanent and the accidental, were hopelessly and inextricably mixed up.
2. On the Sophists of the Fifth Century, B.C.
Authors: Blackie
Published: June 2016

The object of this paper was to controvert the views of Mr Grote as stated in his history of Greece and in his work on Plato. Professor Blackie, while admitting that the Sophists might have been somewhat hardly dealt with by certain extreme writers in modern times, and recognising gladly the view stated by Meiners and Hegel that their teaching was an important and necessary step in the intellectual development of Greece, nevertheless maintained that the current character of the Sophists, as handed down to us from ancient times, was in the main correct; and that all that could be said in defence of their teaching amounted to no more than a slight palliation of the charges brought against them by Plato and Aristophanes, not to an acquittal.
3. An Account of some peculiarly-shaped Mineral Concretions found near Carlisle
Authors: Barnes Henry
Published: June 2016

I have very great pleasure in presenting to the Society's museum a few very peculiarly-shaped stones or mineral concretions found near Carlisle, similar in external characters to those fairy stones found in Elwand Water, near Melrose, and described at a meeting of this Society, held 5th February 1866, by Sir D. Brewster. These stones or nodules were found about twenty years ago embedded in marl in a deep cutting at Wreay, five miles south of Carlisle, during the formation of the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway. They were found in great numbers by the workmen, but only in this particular cutting, and excited a great deal of curiosity at the time, but were soon laid aside and forgotten; and it was not until the account of those fairy stones described by Sir D. Brewster appeared, that my esteemed relative, Dr T. Barnes, F.R.S.E., remembered that he had them in his possession, and asked me to present them to the Society.
2. On a Derivative of Meconic Acid
Authors: Dewar James , Dittmar William
Published: June 2016

The meconic acid group of substances has always been regarded as peculiarly interesting. Situated, as it is, on the ill-defined limits of the fatty and aromatic compounds, and exhibiting interesting isomeric relations with other organic substances, the structure and derivatives of the whole group afford ample scope for theoretical speculation. Meconic acid has always been considered a tribasic acid, which, by the successive elimination of two molecules of carbonic anhydride, yields first a dibasic and then a monobasic acid. But chemists now know that the basicity of an acid may be less than its atomicity, and that even the former cannot be deduced from the composition of one or two isolated salts, but only from a comprehensive view of all the salts and ethers of the acid. As now a general review of the salts and ethers of meconic acid seems to point to an acid with an atomicity greater than its basicity, and as any additional proof of this constitution would help to explain many abnormal decompositions in the series, the authors have investigated the action of the general reagents on these compounds that enable us to distinguish between the basic and alcoholic hydroxyls.
2. On the Vapour Lines in the Spectrum
Authors: Brewster David
Published: June 2016

In the year 1842 I discovered that the luminous and brilliant lines in the spectrum of certain flames, since called vapour lines, corresponded to certain dark lines in the solar spectrum.

This observation was made for the first time by the spectrum produced by the deflagration of nitre, and I afterwards found that this was a property belonging to every such flame.

This result was obtained from experiments made at St Andrews in 1842, on nearly 180 substances, deflagrated in a platina cup by a mixture of oxygen and coal gas. A notice of these experiments was read at the meeting of the British Association at Manchester in 1842. The journal containing them was laid before the Physical Section, and one or two of the more interesting results were published in the reports of the Association for that year.
1. On Polyzomal Curves, otherwise the Curves
Authors: Cayley  , Tait
Published: June 2016

If U, V, &c., are rational and integral functions (*) (x, y, z)r, all of the same degree r, in regard to the co-ordinates (x, y, z), then is a polyzome, and the curve = 0 a polyzomal curve. Each of the curves (or say the curves U = 0, V = 0, &c.), is on account of its relation of circumscription to the curve , considered as a girdle thereto (ζωμα), and we have thence the term “zome” and the derived expressions “polyzome,” “zomal,” &c. If the number of the zomes , then we have a v-zome, and corresponding thereto a v-zomal curve; the curves U = 0, V = 0, &c., are the zomal curves or zomals thereof. Then cases v = 1, v = 2, are not, for their own sake, worthy of consideration; it is in general assumed that v is = 3 at least.
3. On the Antiquity of Intellectual Man: from a Practical and Astronomical point of view
Authors: Smyth C. Piazzi
Published: June 2016

The author of this paper confined himself entirely to the use of contemporary data; and amongst these, the only kinds found available for the very earliest ages, were buildings of one kind or another.

Examining these again, after their first approximate arrangement in chronological relative order by well-known archæologists, it was discovered that there resided a peculiar astronomical opposition between the chief structures in the valley of the Euphrates and those in the valley of the Nile.
4. On the best Arrangement for producing a Pure Spectrum on a Screen
Authors: Maxwell J. Clerk
Published: June 2016

In experiments on the spectrum, it is usual to employ a slit through which the light is admitted, a prism to analyse the light, and one or more lenses to bring the rays of each distinct kind to a distinct focus on the screen. The most perfect arrangement is that adopted by M. Kirchhoff, in which two achromatic lenses are used, one before and the other after the passage of the light through the prism, so that every pencil consists of parallel rays while passing through the prism.

But when the observer has not achromatic lenses at his command, or when, as in the case of the highly refrangible rays, or the rays of heat, he is restricted in the use of materials, it may still be useful to be able to place the lenses and prism in such a way as to bring the rays of all colours to their foci at approximately the same distance from the prism.
1. Observations on the Spores of Cryptogamic Plants, and on the Reproductive Process in some Algæ and Fungi
Authors: Balfour
Published: June 2016

In this paper the author alluded to the spore as the ultimate germinating cell of cryptogamic plants. The true spore is the product of impregnation, but there are also bodies called spores which, so far as known, do not depend on the process of fertilisation. Occasionally the term spore includes both the spore and the spore-case or sporangium. The structure of the spore was described, and its resemblance to the pollen grain, both as regards its anatomy and germination, was shown. Ciliated moving spores were considered, and reference was specially made to the movements of the non-ciliated spores of Helminthora, which, when discharged, continue to change their form for several hours like the Amœba, becoming in turn oblong, pyriform, rhomboidal, &c.,—lengthening and contracting, swelling at one point and shrinking at another.
On the Physiological Action of the Salts of the Ammonium Bases derived from Atropia and Conia
Authors: Brown A. Crum , Fraser Thomas R.
Published: June 2016

Atropia.—Atropia is a nitrile base. All we know of its constitution is, that by the action of strong acids and bases it is decomposed, in accordance with the equation.

So that atropia may be considered as tropia, in which one atom of hydrogen has been replaced by tropyl, the radical of tropic acid. Tropic acid belongs to the aromatic series, and is considered by Kraut to be phenylsarcolactic acid—HO · CH2 · CH(C6H5)COOH. Of the constitution of tropia we know nothing whatever, except that it is a nitrile base.
Address on the Progress of the Geological Survey of Scotland
Authors: Geikie
Published: June 2016

Before proceeding to the special subject of this address, I have thought that it might be of interest to the Society to lay before them a brief outline of the history of geological map-making in Scotland, previous to the time when the task was undertaken by the Geological Survey. I do not, indeed, presume to enter upon any general retrospect of the literature of Scottish geology, but will content myself with selecting for remark a few of the more eminent contributors, on whose labours the present general geological maps of the country are based. These maps are compiled from the results obtained by many different geologists, working independently during the last fifty or sixty years. Some of the men whose researches have in this way been made ase of, never themselves produced any map, but their descriptions of the districts traversed by them served afterwards as a basis for the maps of others.
On Traces in the Adult Heart of its transitions in form during Fœtal Life
Authors: Handyside P. D.
Published: June 2016

In this paper the author described in the adult human heart certain vestiges of structures which, during fœtal life, exist in an entire and perfect state. At birth, however, these, ceasing to be of use, generally disappear.

In allusion, first, to the Eustachian valve, he exhibited (and illustrated by the annexed sketch, fig. 1), an apparently unique specimen—obtained in his dissecting-rooms about six years ago—namely, a very large and reticulated Eustachian valve, prolonged at its middle third in the form of a semi-insulated cribriform fibrous lamina, taking a crescentic form continuously throughout, and after a valvular manner ending at the distance of three-sixteenths of an inch from the crest or rim of entrance of the superior vena cava.
On the Present State of the Sun's Distance Question—continued
Authors: Pitrie W.
Published: June 2016

This paper is a compilation and discussion of all the best determinations of the sun's mean distance and parallax within the last few years, and up to the present time. The comparative weights to be given to the different observations or results are entered into at length, on principles which are stated, and a final mean of the whole is arrived at, giving for the solar parallax 8·″877. This is then compared with the result of the so-called Great Pyramid Sun Distance, which, combined with the best modern determination of the size and shape of the earth, gives a parallax of 8·″876.
On the Growth, Development, and Situation of the Human Fœtal Heart
Authors: Macdonald
Published: June 2016

The earliest condition of the embryonic vascular system, as described by Wagner and other embryologists, consists of a venovascular chain of sinuses along the ventral surface of the serous or animal lamina of the embryonic germ disc, which, being suddenly arrested by a large projection of the germ vesicle at the anterior part beyond the vascular and mucous lamina, causes a stagnation in the form of a conical sac, whose apex points forward below the head of the embryo at that time consisting of the mesocrane and procrane, with the visceral segments of the face-kist, and exhibiting three facial clefts.
On the Development of the Flower of Pinguicula vulgaris, L., with Remarks on the Embryos of P. vulgaris, P. grandiflora, P. lusitanica, P. caudata and Utricularia minor
Authors: Dickson Alexander
Published: June 2016

The affinities of the order Lentibulariaceæ having hitherto been somewhat obscure, the author undertook the investigation of the floral organogeny of P. vulgaris, in the hope of being able to throw some light on the subject.

A plant of P. vulgaris, examined during the flowering season, exhibits a short axis with “radical” leaves spreading as a rosette, and terminated by an unstalked umbel of ebracteate flowers.
On the Affinities and Classification of the Nemerteans
Authors: M'Intosh W. C.
Published: June 2016

The immediate allies of the Nemerteans are evidently the Planarians, and Ehrenberg's class Turbellaria, as now amended, is therefore a very natural one. There is, however, a considerable divergence between the two groups; and since it is only through the Planarians that the Nemerteans can in any way be linked on to the Trematoda, it is found that there is little structural resemblance between the two last-mentioned types. The various parts of the organism in the Trematodes and Planarians (through which the connection of the Nemerteans with the former may be supposed to occur) were contrasted, and their homologies explained. The structural relations of the Planarians and Nemerteans were then considered; and, thirdly, the connections of the latter with the higher Annelids were alluded to.
On the Connection between Chemical Constitution and Physiological Action:—On the Physiological Action of the Salts of Ammonia, of Tri-niethylamine, and of Tetramethyl-ammonium; of the Salts of Tropia, and of the Ammonium Bases derived from it; and of Tropic, Atropic, and Isatropic Acids and their Salts. With further details on the Physiological Action of the Salts of Methyl-Strychnium and of Ethyl-Strychnium
Authors: Brown A. Crum , Fraser Thomas R.
Published: June 2016

In papers which the authors have already communicated to this Society, they have shown that there exists a very marked difference between the action of bases containing nitrogen as a triad and those in which that element is pentad. This result was obtained from an examination of the physiological action of substances having an unknown and complex constitution. It appeared to be necessary to institute a series of experiments with bodies having a simpler and fully known constitution. For this purpose, the salts of ammonia, tri-methylamine, and tetra-methyl-ammonium were selected. A comparison of the structural formulae of the hydrochlorates of these bases shows that tri-methylamine stands in the same relation to the salts of tetramethyl-ammonium as strychnia to the salts of methyl-strychnium.
Note on Electrolytic Polarisation
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2016

The following note refers to some experiments instituted at the request of Mr Dewar, who asked me to determine the polarisation of the Palladium electrodes whose singular behaviour he recently described to the Society.

I had just obtained one of Sir W. Thomson's most recent forms of quadrant electrometer, and it occurred to me that this must be the proper instrument for determining polarisation, as its indicacations are not affected by electric resistance, and give directly—that is, without assuming the truth of Ohm's law for reverse electromotive forces, and the consequent necessary determinations of resistance—the quantities required.
On the Thermal Energy of Molecular Vortices
Authors: Rankine W. J. Macquorn
Published: June 2016

In a previous paper, presented to the Royal Society of Edinburgh in December 1849, and read on the 5th of February 1850 (Trans. vol. xx.), the author deduced the principles of thermodynamics, and various properties of elastic fluids, from the hypothesis of molecular vortices, under certain special suppositions as to the figure and arrangement of the vortices, and as to the properties of the matter which moves in them. In subsequent papers, he showed how the hypothesis might be simplified, by dispensing with some of the special suppositions.
2. On Equidifferent Multiples of Irrational Quantities
Authors: Sang E.
Published: June 2016

Our attention, naturally, is most drawn to the difficult parts of an inquiry; the easier steps are apt to be overlooked. Thus, while much attention and deep thought have been bestowed on the solution of equations, on the computation of logarithms, on the construction of astronomical canons; such a simple process as the repeated addition of some known quantity, has not been considered worthy of the notice of arithmeticians. Yet the tables constructed by help of this process are much more numerous, and are as important as the others, often indeed serving as their foundation.

The case when the quantity to be added is expressed accurately in numbers, needs no remark; but when that quantity is represented only approximately, we have to consider the accumulation of that part which is unavoidably left off, and to see that this does not lead to an error of so much as the half of unit in the last place that is to be retained.
4. Note on an Electric Sonometer
Authors: Blyth James
Published: June 2016

The apparatus consists of an ordinary sonometer with five feet clear space between the two end bridges, and having a wire stretched from one end to the other. A current from eight or ten Grove's cells, interrupted by a tuning fork which vibrates 128 times per second, is sent through the wire. At a distance about a fifth of its length from the end of the wire a large electro-magnet, with pointed poles, is placed so that the line joining the poles is at right angles to the wires. The poles are also put close to the wire, but leaving it freedom to vibrate. When a current from eight Grove's cells is sent through the coils of the electro-magnet, the wire begins to sound, and by altering its tension the fundamental note of the wire comes out loud and clear. The wire is also seen to be vibrating as a whole; and the vibrations are also seen to be in the plane perpendicular to the line joining the poles. By shifting the electro-magnet a little, and regulating the tension of the wire, it is seen to divide into nodes and loops with one, with two, with three nodes in its length, thus giving the harmonics of the fundamental note.
5. Theory to account for certain movements exhibited by low forms of Animal Life, and termed Amœboid
Authors: Haycraft John B.
Published: June 2016

A large number of unicellular plants and animals, and many of the cellular units which make up the complex tissues of man and more evolved animals, exhibit certain movements. These are termed “Amœboid,” as they are well seen, and were at an early period studied in the Amœba.

If an amœba or a white blood corpuscle of the newt be examined with a good lens, the following facts, among others, may be made out. The corpuscle looks like a granular lump of jelly containing two or three nuclei, and it is, we will suppose, spherical to begin with. Soon the shape changes, for a little process is seen to protrude at one side, which may become retracted, or go on elongating. In the substance of the cell and in the processes, movements may be observed, consisting evidently of a flowing of the protoplasm, as indicated by the embedded granules which are carried along. The little processes are termed pseudopodia, and vary much in shape, some being thick and either pointed or club-shaped, others are filamentous, as in the perforated Foraminiferæ, where large numbers of these are seen radiating from the test. These movements may be automatic, and they are modified by various external forces; for example, heat and electricity.
5. On the Action of Haloid Compounds of Hydrocarbon Radicals on Phosphide of Sodium and on the Salts of Tetra-Benzyl-Phosphonium
Authors: Letts  , Collie N.
Published: June 2016

The difficulty of preparing tertiary phosphines either by heating alcohols with phosphonium iodide or by acting on zinc ethers with terchloride of phosphorus, of which we have had much experience, induced us to seek for other and less troublesome methods for obtaining these bodies in considerable quantity.

The ease with which phosphorus combines with certain metals, and the readiness with which the resulting compounds react on haloid ethers of hydrocarbon radicals led us to think that, if only comparatively pure metallic phosphides could be obtained by a simple process, we should have no difficulty in preparing the tertiary phosphines and phosphonium compounds.
6. Notice of an Easy Method for determining the Position of the Principal Focus of an Object-Glass
Authors: Sang Edward
Published: June 2016

Just as the past progress of astronomy has, in a great measure, been due to the improved construction of our instruments, so its future progress must depend much on the accurate confection of our telescopes, and most of all on the excellence of the object-glasses.

In the actual formation of a compound lens, after the thicknesses and curvatures have been fixed, we have to make the tools to the proper shapes and with those to grind and polish the glass. It is impossible, even with the greatest care, to bring the workmanship so close to the computations as that appreciable differences may not be found, and hence the finished lens hardly ever comes so near to our expectations as that it may not be necessary to test it by actual trial. One important matter to be so settled is the exact position of the principal focus, since that is needed for determining the length of the tube.
4. On the Cause of the Sounds produced in the Microphone Receiver
Authors: Blyth James
Published: June 2016

In the microphone, or loose contact receiver, we have two or more small blocks of carbon resting lightly against each other, through which the interrupted current from the transmitter is passed. At the points of contact, a strong heating and cooling effect must take place every time the current is interrupted or otherwise varied. This heating and cooling will cause corresponding expansions and contractions of the air or other medium surrounding the points. These produce undulations in the medium, which, striking against the sides of the containing vessel, set them also into a state of vibration, and so reproduce the sounds of the transmitter.
1. Note on a Phoronis dredged in H.M.S. ‘Challenger’
Authors: M'Intosh W. C.
Published: June 2016

This form, which in many respects is a most interesting intermediate type, was dredged at Station 212, south of the Philippine Islands, on the 30th January 1875, in lat. 6° 55′ N., long. 122° 51′ E., at a depth of 10–20 fathoms, on a sandy bottom. The total length is about 52 mm., with a variable diameter of about 2 mm. at the blackish anterior region, and 4 or 5 mm. at the posterior. The tentacular or branchial region has a length of 6 or 7 mm.
2. On an Iodine Battery
Authors: Laurie A. P.
Published: June 2016

This is a one fluid battery. The two plates are zinc and carbon. The solution is a solution of iodide of potassium in water, in which iodine is dissolved. The usual strength I use is 1 oz. of iodide of potassium in 2 oz. of water. In this dissolve ½ oz. of iodine, but the strength of the iodine and of the iodide of potassium can be considerably varied without affecting the electromotive force.

The iodine is meant to prevent polarization by uniting with the nascent hydrogen to form hydriodic acid, which will then unite with the caustic potash, to form iodide of potassium and water. In this way the iodide of potassium acts as a carrier of iodine, from the iodine in solution, to the zinc plate.
3. On Comenic Acid
Authors: Dott D. B.
Published: June 2016

In continuation of a short paper on meconic acid previously communicated to the Society, I submit the following notice of some of the salts of comenic acid.

As is well known, comenic acid is formed from meconic acid by elimination of carbonic anhydride, according to the equation -C7H4O7=C6H4O5+CO2. This change may be effected by heat alone, but a better product is obtained by the action of boiling aqueous hydrochloric acid. It was by the latter method that the acid used in my experiments was prepared. Comenic acid is easily purified by crystallisation from boiling water, in which it is sparingly soluble, and by conversion into ammonium salt, which is likewise purified by recrystallisation. Comenate of ammonia forms long well-defined prisms, which are much less soluble in water than the corresponding salt of meconic acid.
4. The Electric Discharge through Colza Oil
Authors: Macfarlane A.
Published: June 2016

The dielectric strength of colza oil (specific gravity ·91) was found to be 2·7, that of air at the ordinary pressure being unity- The rest of the paper is taken up with a description of the phenomena accompanying under different conditions the spark discharge through the oil.
1. On a Particular Case of the Symbolic Cubic
Authors: Plarr Gustav
Published: June 2016

§ 1. The method by which Hamilton has established the symbolical cubic

and more particularly the relation

is founded on a generalisation of the result

where ϕ represents a linear and vector function, and ϕ' its conjugate according to the definition

In the most general case of ϕρ the expression of this function is reducible to a vector sum of three terms of the form αSα1ρ, and the directions which ϕρ is susceptible of representing are generally not limited in space.
2. On Mirage
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2016

While seeking for a good elementary illustration of Hamilton's general methods in optics, the author was led to consider, from a somewhat novel point of view, the path of light in a medium whose refractive index is a function of the distance from a plane. This is, at least approximately, the case of the peculiar atmospheric arrangements to which are due the phenomena of Mirage, so long as the curvature of the earth can be neglected.

A considerable improvement in the usual theoretical treatment of this subject was introduced by Professor J. Thomson in 1872, and afterwards developed by Professor Everett in Phil. Mag., 1873.

The main feature of this improvement is the study of the curvature of the ray in terms of the rate of change of refractive index in the medium.
1. On the Application of the Rocks of Ben Nevis to Ornamental Art
Authors: Christison R.
Published: June 2016

Many hundred tourists annually climb Ben Nevis, and shudder when they cast their eyes down its profound precipices; but no one seems to bethink him that, to view a great precipice aright, he should behold it from below, rather than from above, and consequently that the great North-Eastern Precipice should be seen from the valley opposite its base. No one, tourist or guide, visits the narrow rugged glen into which it descends; few of the neighbouring gentry—of my acquaintance at least—have made the excursion; and the only visitors I have heard of have been a few solitary geologists at long intervals of time. Nevertheless, in the year 1810, in the first volume of the Edinburgh Wernerian Society Transactions, the late Reverend Dr. Macknight, one of the ministers of this city,—a gentleman of many accomplishments, and, among these, skilled in geology,—has interspersed his geological account of the rocks of the mountain with a description, in the most glowing language, of many magnificent scenes in its great North-Eastern Precipice. But he appears to have thus encouraged only his geological successors to follow his example.
3. Chapters on the Mineralogy of Scotland. Chapter VII
Authors: Heddle
Published: June 2016

In the present chapter Dr. Heddle considers the ores of manganese, iron, chromium, and titanium.

He finds that almost all the manganese in Scotland occurs in the form of an ore of little value—psilomelane.

Iron, he has observed in minute laminable specks, in the free or metallic condition, at two localities, but sheathed in both cases in magnetite. The quantity was too small for determining the presence or absence of nickėl, but he conjectures that these specks may have been minute meteorites, which had fallen into the ocean in which the rock was being formed.

He has found two ores of iron new to Britain,—turgite and martite,—the one near Oban, the other in Bute.
3. On some Points in the Anatomy of the Nervous System of the Pond Snails, Planorbis and Lymnæus
Authors: Beddard F. E.
Published: June 2016

The best figures of the nervous system of these animals are those of Lacaze-Duthiers, in his Paper Sur les Otocystes des Mollusques, and in that Sur le Système Nerveux des Gastéropodes. By a careful study of the nervous system of these two gasteropods, chiefly by cutting sections, I have discovered one or two small points in their anatomy which, as far as I can make out, have hitherto escaped attention.

These two types, though so closely allied, differ to a considerable extent in the arrangement and structure of certain of their ganglia; compare the figures given by Lacaze-Duthiers of the nervous system of Lymnæus on Plate xvii. in Volume i. of his Archives with that cf Planorbis on Plate iii. of the same volume. It will be seen at once that the cerebral ganglion of Lymnæus is far more complicated than that of Planorbis, consisting of five separate lobes, while that of Planorbis appears to be made up of not more than two.
5. On a Case of Dyspeptic Vertigo
Authors: Brown Crum
Published: June 2016

The dyspepsia was, as far as I know, of a very ordinary kind. It began with loss of appetite, discomfort after meals, and general sense of weakness and uselessness. Then came a crisis. Waking in the middle of the night with pain and nausea, an hour or two of this, thorough evacuation of the stomach, great discomfort next day, and then no symptom of any thing wrong as long as I adhered to the diet which experience soon led me to, viz., very simple food and very little of it. To this I adhered for about four weeks. Now and then, perhaps three times altogether, feeling quite well, I ventured to eat like other people, and was at once taught by abdominal pain and diarrhœa, that I must still consider myself an invalid, or at best a convalescent.
5. On the Formation of Serpentine from Dolomite
Authors: Dobbie J. J. , Henderson G. G.
Published: June 2016

Some time since, specimens of a peculiar-looking rock, found at Fintry, in the Campsie district, were put into our hands for analysis. The specimens were of a light chocolate-brown colour, and apparently homogeneous. They were somewhat harder than ordinary limestone, had a waxy lustre, and broke with a sharp-edged splintery fracture, translucent upon the thin edges. With hydrochloric acid they effervesced slowly, at the same time gelatinising. The specimens were weathered white to a considerable depth.
3. Some Experiments on a New Secondary Cell
Authors: Laurie A. P.
Published: June 2016

Last summer I communicated a paper to the Society on an Iodine Cell. This cell consisted of a carbon and zinc rod immersed in solution of iodine, in iodide of potassium. I found that iodide of zinc was equally suitable to dissolve the iodine in, as mentioned in that paper. While experimenting with this cell, the idea occurred to me of using it as a secondary battery. When the cell is exhausted, the whole of the iodine has combined with the zinc to form iodide of zinc. If an electric current is passed into this exhausted cell, the iodide of zinc is decomposed, zinc being deposited on the zinc plate, and iodine being set free at the carbon plate. The cell is now ready for use, and will give a steady current, having an EMF of 1·2 volts until the iodine is again combined with the zinc. I tried several experiments on this cell in Newcastle, with a view to testing its applicability to electric lighting as a storage battery.
5. The Heats of Combination of the Metals with the Halogens
Authors: Laurie A. P. , Burton C. I.
Published: June 2016

Professor Chrystal, in his article on “Electricity” in the Encyclopœdia Britannica, mentions the following formula of Sir William Thomson's, connecting the heats of combination in a voltaic cell with the EMF of the cell.

(Where E = EMF of the cell; J = Joule's equivalent; e = amount of zinc, dissolved by unit current in unit time; θ = heat of combination of one grm. of the metal in the cell.)

This formula has been tested for the Daniell and other cells.

It occurred to me that it was peculiarly applicable to the cuprous chloride cell and to the iodine cell recently described to the Society, on account of the simplicity of the reactions in both these cells, and that it could in this way he used as a simple method for the determination of the heats of combination of the metals with the halogens, by determining their electromotive forces, as the active elements in one or other of these cells. Mr. Burton and I accordingly set to work to investigate the matter.
3. On the Lowering of the Maximum Density Point of Water by Pressure
Authors: Marshall D. H. , Smith C. Michie , Omond R. T.
Published: June 2016

At the meeting of 17th April we gave an account of some experiments made at the request of Professor Tait on the lowering of the maximum density point of water by pressure. We called the notice we gave of these experiments at that time preliminary, because we were anxious to perform further experiments to satisfy ourselves thoroughly of the correctness of the important conclusions then arrived at. We desire now to state that we have repeated these experiments with some slight improvements in experimental details, and at different temperatures, and are glad to state to the Society that our further experiments quite bear out the conclusions previously arrived at. The following will suffice to show the nature of any day's experiment. [For description of the apparatus used, &c, see ante, p. 626.]
2. On the Rotation of the Plane of Polarization by Quartz, and its relation to Wave-Length
Authors: Peddie W.
Published: June 2016

The angular rotation of the plane of polarization of light-rays in their passage through quartz is a function of the wave-length, and is roughly represented by the formula

where A is a constant depending on the quartz. This formula is only approximate, however, and one object of the experiments described below was to ascertain how closely the rotation might be represented by three terms of the equation
On Properties of the Parabola
Authors: Anglin
Published: June 2016

In the following pages we propose to obtain expressions for the several parts of a parabola (axis, focus, vertex, directrix, tangent at vertex, and parameter), whose equation is expressed in the most general form in Cartesian co-ordinates.

Some of the results obtained have already appeared, in which cases we shall supply alternative proofs. We shall also endeavour to complete the investigation of the whole subject.
On the Compressibility of Liquids in connection with their Molecular Pressure
Authors: Tait
Published: June 2016

That liquids, if finitely compressible, must (at any one temperature) become steadily less compressible as the pressure is raised, seems to be obvious without any attempt at proof. Yet the assertion is even now generally made, mainly in consequence of an erroneous statement of Örsted, which has been supported by some comparatively recent investigations of Cailletet and others, that the compressibility of water (at any one temperature) is practically the same at all pressures not exceeding a few hundred atmospheres.
Data on the Phenomena of Colour-Blindness, chiefly derived from Foreign Sources
Authors: Pole William
Published: June 2016

In the course of an investigation into the “Present State of Knowledge and Opinion in regard to Colour-blindness,” it was found necessary to search for many data illustrative of various matters connected with the phenomena of the defect. These were obtained from a great variety of sources, chiefly from foreign publications not easily accessible; and as it was highly desirable to bring them forward in evidence, showing their bearing on difficult and controverted points, the plan has been adopted of collecting in this place the most important extracts, and of arranging them in a convenient manner for reference.