bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
5. Laboratory Note
Authors: Tait  
Published: June 2016

Last autumn I received from Mr Maclachlan of Lower Green, Mitcham, some specimens of india-rubber tape which had been for several years wound, under considerable tension, helically round copper Wire. At ordinary temperatures, after being peeled off, the material shows no tendency to contract; but Mr Maclachlan found that in hot water it almost instantly resumes its original dimensions.I have recently reproduced almost exactly the same results by stretching sheet india-rubber, slightly warmed, helically round glass tubes, and immersing it for a short time in a freezing mixture.
Observations on Boulders and Drift on the Pentland Hills
Authors: Somervail Alex 
Published: June 2016

Besides the boulders described by the late Mr Charles Maclaren in his “Geology of Fife and the Lothians,” and also by Professor Geikie in the “Edinburgh Memoir of the Geological Survey,” as having been carried from the Highlands, there are others which would indicate a transport from a different direction.On the highest summits of the Pentland Hills (Scald Law, Carnethy, South Black Hill, North Black Hill, and others which are composed of various varieties of porphyrites) are found numerous boulders of fine conglomerates, grits, and sandstones, intermingled with a few boulders of quartz, greenstone, and other rocks, all partially or entirely covered by a deposit of peat, which in some places on and near the summits of the hills attains a thickness of nearly six feet. The sandstone boulders vary in size from mere fragments up to large masses which I was unable to dig up.
1. Notice of the Death of the President of the Society
Authors: Grant Alexander 
Published: June 2016

Sir Alexander Grant said:—Gentlemen,—We cannot pass to the proceedings of this evening without some reference to the calamity which has befallen the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and under the sorrowful impression of which we now meet—the sudden death of our honoured and well-beloved President.We knew, alas! gentlemen, that his health had been failing of late, and that when, only six months ago, he first took his seat as President of this Society, his vigour was impaired, at all events for the time.
4. Additional Note on Minding's Theorem
Authors: Tait  
Published: June 2016

Professor Turner reported that in accordance with the remit made by the Society at last Ordinary Meeting, the Council recommended the following changes in the Laws of the Society:—“That Law XVII be cancelled, and the following Law be established in its place:—“That there shall be formed a Council consisting, first, of such gentlemen as may have filled the office of President, and, secondly of the following to be annually elected, viz., a President, six Vice-Presidents (two at least of whom shall be resident), twelve Ordinary Fellows as Councillors, a General Secretary, two Secretaries to the Ordinary Meetings, a Treasurer, and a Curator of the Museum and Library.”
2. On Comets
Authors: Forbes  
Published: June 2016

The author commenced by stating that although these researches lead him to believe in the existence of two planets revolving in orbits external to that of Neptune, and although there was a great deal of evidence to show that he had actually determined the elements of the orbits, yet the latter point, being dependent on a coincidence of probabilities only, cannot be considered a certainty until the planets are observed.The author accepts the theory of cometary orbits which supposes that these bodies, wandering through space, are attracted by the sun into the solar system so as to pursue parabolic orbits, and that some of these, in passing a planet, may have their velocity diminished, in which case they will afterwards describe an ellipse in a definite period.
4. On the Colouring of Maps
Authors: Tait  
Published: June 2016

AbstractSome years ago, while I was still working at knots, Professor Cayley told me of De Morgan's statement that four colours had been found by experience to be sufficient for the purpose of completely distinguishing from one another the various districts on a map.I had previously shown that if an even number of boundaries meet at each point on a diagram, two colours (as on a chess-board) will suffice for the purpose. But in a map, boundaries usually meet in threes.
6. Researches in Thermometry
Authors: Mills Edmund J. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractHaving had occasion in the course of my work to investigate some of the properties of the mercurial thermometer, I have obtained a series of results which are comprised in a memoir now submitted to the Society. A brief summary of these is given in the following abstract.1. After describing a simple method of calibrating a thermometer, I give a detailed proof (following Pierre) that the calibration unit gradually undergoes a slight diminution in value. In the course of five years this may amount, in a new thermometer, to as much as ·21 per cent. The 0°–100° interval, therefore, requires periodic verification.
5. On Two Masks and a Skull from Islands near New Guinea
Authors: Turner  
Published: June 2016

These specimens have recently been presented to the Anatomical Museum of the University, by J. Wharton Cox, Esq., who had received them from his father, Dr Cox of Sydney, the well-known Australian naturalist.The masks had been procured by Dr Cox from missionaries, and were either from the island of New Ireland or New Britain, in proximity to the north coast of New Guinea. They were both formed of the frontal and facial bones, on which a face had been modelled in a composition, formed of a mixture of a resinous substance with earth or clay. This artificial face had then been painted with red, black, and white pigments. The larger mask was hollowed out behind, by the removal of the sphenoid and ethmoid bones, so that it could be adapted to the face of a wearer, and a bar of wood was fastened transversely across the hollow, which the wearer had evidently used for holding the mask between his teeth; as the mask had both the eyelids and lips separated from each other, the wearer could both see and breathe through these openings.
2. Note on the Theory of the “15 Puzzle”
Authors: Tait  
Published: June 2016

[After this note had been laid before the Council, the new number (vol. ii. No. 4) of the “American Journal of Mathematics” reached us. In it there are exhaustive papers by Messrs Johnston and Story on the subject of this American invention. The principles they give differ only in form of statement from those at which I had independently arrived. I have, therefore, cut down my paper to the smallest dimensions consistent with intelligibility.—P. G. T.]The essential feature of this puzzle is that the circulation of the pieces is necessarily in rectangular channels. Whether these form four-sided figures, or have any greater (even) number of sides, the number of squares in the channel itself is always even. (This is the same thing as saying that a rook's re-entrant path always contains an even number of squares. This follows immediately from the fact that a rook always passes through black and white squares alternately. The same thing is true of a bishop's re-entering path, for it is a rook's upon a new chess-board formed by the alternate diagonals of the squares on the original board.) That there may be circulation in the channel, one of its squares must be the blank one.
5. On a New Telephone Receiver
Authors: Chrystal  
Published: June 2016

The experiment which forms the subject of this communication was originally devised as an illustration of the explanation of all kinds of microphone receivers, suggested by the beautiful experiments of Mr Blyth, on loose contacts. My idea was to replace Mr Blyth's heated point of metal by a continuous portion of the circuit which should act in the same manner.It was obvious, for two reasons, that this part must be of small diameter; 1st, in order that the resistance, per unit of length, might be great enough to make the variation of the heating sufficient to cause sensible longitudinal extension; 2d, in order that the section might be small enough to allow sensible cooling in, say the of a second. I had reason beforehand to believe that the second of these conditions could be fulfilled in practice; because, I found in my experiments on Ohm's Law (Brit. Ass. Rep. 1876, p. 58, et seq.) that, when currents of two different strengths alternated, even with great rapidity (60 times per second) in a fine wire, the resistance was sensibly higher during the passage of the stronger current.
2. On the Determination of the Specific Heat of Saline Solutions
Authors: Gray Thomas 
Published: June 2016

The object of the present paper is to describe the results obtained and the mode of experimenting adopted in some determinations which I have made of the specific heats of solutions of salts. These experiments form part of a series which I am at present carrying out on the physical changes produced when salts are dissolved in different amounts of their solvents. From such an investigation I believe much information may be gained regarding the nature of solution.The method of experimenting adopted in the experiments described below was that of mixtures; but as regards the mode in which the exact amount of heat added to the solution was measured, it differed from any process with which I am acquainted. This peculiarity consisted in using as heater a thin glass bottle of about 50 cubic centimetres capacity, and furnished with a long glass neck, just wide enough to allow an ordinary mercury-in-glass thermometer to pass through. This bottle was nearly filled with mercury, in which was immersed the bulb of a sensitive thermometer, and thus the temperature of the mercury in the bottle could be read off at any instant. The graduation of this thermometer was to fifths of a degree centigrade, and had been compared with the Kew standards. The distance between two consecutive divisions of its scale was about one millimetre.
4. On the Compressibility of Glass
Authors: Buchanan J. Y. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractThe experiments related in this paper were undertaken with a view to determine, by actual observation, the effect produced on solids by hydraulic pressure. The instrument used consists of a hydraulic pump, which communicates with a steel receiver capable of holding instruments of considerable size, and also with a second receiver of peculiar form. This receiver consists essentially of a steel tube terminated at each end by thick glass tubes fitted tightly. It is tapped at the centre with two holes, the one to establish connection with the pump and the other to admit a pressure-gauge or manometer. The steel tube may be of any length, being limited only by the extent of laboratory accommodation at disposal. The tube which I am using at present has a length of a little over six feet and an internal diameter of about three-tenths of an inch. The solid to be experimented on must be in the form of rod or wire, and must, at the ends, at least, be sufficiently small to be able to enter the terminal glass tubes, which have a bore of 0·08 inch, and an external diameter of 0·42 inch. The length of the rod or wire is such that, when it rests in the steel tube, its ends are visible in the glass terminations.
2. On Some New Crustacea from the Cementstone Group of the Calciferous Sandstone Series of Eskdale and Liddesdale
Authors: Peach B. N. 
Published: June 2016

AbstractThe species enumerated in this paper belong to the two orders Phillopoda and Decapoda.Of the Phyllopods, the author describes two species of Ceratiocaris (Salter), which differ from their Upper Silurian allies in the enormously-developed abdomen and in the small size of the carapace, also in the comparative insignificance of the side spines of the tail compared with the telson. As far as the author is aware, these are the first obtained from the Calciferous Sandstone series, although carapaces of Ceratiocaris have been got from the Mountain Limestone of England. (C. Scorpioides, 1½ to 2 inches long; C. elongatus, 5 to 8 inches long.)
3. Gaseous Spectra in Vacuum Tubes
Authors: Piazzi Smyth  
Published: June 2016

AbstractThe work described in this paper consists of rather careful measurements, but under low dispersion only, of the spectra of twenty gas-vacuum tubes, generally of different gases and illuminated by small induction sparks, but seen very brightly by the end-on method of viewing.A comparison of the different spectra thus obtained follows, and some curious results are elicited as to the prevalence of certain impurities among gases, as well as alterations and even transformations of some of them with time and use.These facts are contained chiefly in Appendix 1 and Appendix 2; while a third appendix, kindly contributed by Professor Alexander Herschel, contains some further observations of his with the same apparatus but higher dispersion introduced. See his account of the same.
12. Further Note on Graphitoid Boron and the Production of Nitride of Boron
Authors: Marsden R. Sydney 
Published: June 2016

This note is a continuation of the paper on the “Preparation and Properties of Pure Graphitoid and Adamantine Boron,” by Dr R. M. Morrison and myself, published in the Transactions of this Society, vol. xxviii. p. 689, and its object is to correct a mistake which we have made in giving the properties of this substance. We say—1st, It is not oxidised by air at a white heat, even superficially.2d, It does not alloy with platinum at a white heat.I have again prepared a quantity of this substance and examined its properties under Professor Wohler, and I find that the above statements are wrong. A very fine film of oxide does form on the surface of this substance when heated on platinum foil over the blowpipe, and this film, although very thin and difficult to observe, is sufficient to prevent all further action of the air, and also to prevent its combining with the platinum. This misled us when we previously examined it. If, however, a quantity of it be placed on a piece of platinum foil, and the foil folded over it and pressed down so as to exclude all the air, then on heating it intensely before the blow-pipe the boron at once combines with the platinum and perforates it.
XVII.—The Distribution of Gene Ratios for Rare Mutations
Authors: Fisher R. A. 
Published: June 2016

SummaryThe 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 formulaFrom 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

SummaryCertain 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.