The following symbols may be used to designate the well-characterised forms of sulphur: SI, rhombic; SII, ordinary monosymmetric; SIII, soufre nacré; SIV, Muthmann's fourth modification; Sλ, liquid soluble sulphur: Sμ, insoluble sulphur.

1. Graham states that when nitric acid of specific gravity greater than 1·4 acts on copper oxide a basic nitrate is obtained. We were unable to obtain a basic salt under these conditions.

2. Copper oxide and approximately 100 per cent. nitric acid yield copper nitrate trihydrate, nitrogen peroxide, and oxygen. The equation for the reaction is probably CuO + 6HNO3 = Cu(NO3)2, 3H2O + 4NO2 + O2.

3. The only basic nitrate of copper appears to be Cu(NO3)2·3Cu(OH)2. The product obtained by heating the trihydrate to 100° has this composition, and is not Cu(NO3)2·2Cu(OH)2, as stated by Graham.

4. Dehydration of copper nitrate does not yield anhydrous copper nitrate, but results in decomposition, with formation of basic copper nitrate, whether the dehydration is performed at ordinary or higher temperatures.

5. Copper oxide does not interact with nitric anhydride.

6. The only hydrates of copper nitrate appear to be the trihydrate and hexahydrate. The transition temperature is 24·65° (±0·05) corr.

7. Concentrated nitric acid dehydrates the hexahydrate, while dilute nitric acid hydrates the trihydrate. It was not found possible to determine the concentration of nitric acid, which would be in equilibrium with both hydrates.

So many papers have appeared on this subject that some apology seems desirable before making an additional contribution. The amount of published work on reduction with sulphurous acid is in itself an indication that many workers have found difficulties. It has been shown that the reduction does not take place in presence of large excess of hydrochloric or sulphuric acid, but the reduction will still occur while the reaction of the solution is strongly acid. On the other hand, Hillebrand (“Analysis of Silicate and Carbonate Rocks,” U.S. Bulletin, 442, p. 113) states if the solution after addition of sulphite is red in colour, it is too alkaline and acid must be added.

The device shown in the accompanying sketch has been in use in the Chemistry Department of the University of Edinburgh for some time. It consists of a silica plate, 5 inches square, with a hole bored in it of such size as to admit a crucible to one-half of its depth. The silica plate is held in an inclined position by a clamp.

By this means the flame gases are excluded from the interior of the crucible during an ignition. With this device calcium carbonate in a platinum crucible is quickly reduced to oxide with a good bunsen burner, while with a Mecker burner the reduction is complete in a few minutes even when a porcelain crucible is used. The device is also useful for cases such as the ignition of nickel oxide, where there is a danger of reduction. For the estimation of sulphur in coal some such device is absolutely necessary to exclude the flame gases.

Observations were made on the body temperature of a large number of diving and swimming birds of eighteen different species in the Orkney Islands and Firth of Forth, Scotland, and on and around Cayuga Lake, N.Y., U.S.A., immediately after they were killed by shooting.

1. In all the species examined, where the sex was determined, it was found that the rectal temperature of the male was slightly below that of the female.

2. Of the orders examined the highest temperatures were found in the Longipennes and the lowest in the Tubinares. When arranged according to body temperature the series does not run parallel with the zoological series.

In conclusion, I wish to express my indebtedness to Dr H. D. Reed and Dr A. H. Wright for help in identifying the specimens obtained from Cayuga Lake and the surrounding district.

In a simple class of ternary alloys the solid phases are the three component metals, each holding in solution a relatively small proportion of the other two. Any one of the three phases may be present as a separate constituent, any two may be associated together as a binary eutectic, and the three together form a ternary eutectic. The structural constituents of such a ternary alloy are—

(1) Primary crystals of one phase,

(2) Binary eutectic of two phases,

(3) Ternary eutectic of three phases.

The research described in this article was undertaken with the double purpose of testing new apparatus and of making a rapid survey of the absorption of light by salts of the first periodic group.

The results described in the previous articles were obtained by three separate methods, viz. the thermopile in the infra-red, the spectrophotometer in the visible spectrum, and the photographic spectrophotometer in the ultra-violet. It would be a great simplification if the same apparatus could be used throughout the whole spectrum, and I therefore first of all devoted my attention to seeing if this were practicable.

In No. II. of this series of papers, measurements were given of the striking change shown by cobalt chloride when an aqueous solution was heated or was altered in concentration, and it was announced that a more accurate investigation was being made in the hope of finally determining its cause. Chemists suppose the cause to be the dehydration of the hexahydrate, but the matter is not beyond doubt.

First of all, aqueous solutions were used. Except in regard to the heating arrangements the methods and apparatus were those used in the previous research. The heater in this case was a rectangular copper casting 8 cm. long, 2·5 cm. broad, 4·5 cm. high, which at one end was attached to a tin in which water was boiled. At a distance 1·2 cm. from the other end a rectangular hole was cut down through the casting, of dimensions such that it was just filled by the cell containing the solution to be heated. At each side of the hole from the base upwards a part of the casting 1·6 cm. high and 1·1 cm. broad was cut away. This permitted the transmission of light horizontally through the lower part of the vertical cell, which was of the ordinary rectangular type, and obviated the use of mirrors. As in the previous research glasses were inserted in the cell to reduce the thickness of the layer of solution examined, and the temperature of the solution was read by a thermometer.

The genus Branchiomaldane, represented by a single species vincenti, was founded by Langerhans to contain certain small Polychætes, which he discovered living in sand-covered tubes, among algæ, on the northern shore of Teneriffe. Professor Mesnil has since found specimens, inhabiting mucous tubes situated on the lower side of the calcareous alga Lithothamnion, in rock-pools at St Martin, near Cape la Hague, and has given an account of some of the structural features of these worms, which he showed to be adult and hermaphrodite. Professor Fauvel considered B. vincenti to be a dwarf Arenicola, arrested in development; he therefore merged Branchiomaldane with Arenicola, and designated the worm Arenicola vincenti. The writer has investigated the anatomy of several specimens of this worm, kindly sent to him by Professor Mesnil, and has concluded that the genus Branchiomaldane should be retained; the original name of the worm—B. vincenti—is therefore employed in the following account.

Among the problems which confront the psychiatrist in arriving at a judgment upon a mental case, few are more difficult than the estimation of the patient's mental working capacity. A rough approximation may be attained by careful observation of the patient's daily reaction to his surroundings—by the attitude he adopts to the little problems of his daily life; but such is, at best, only a very vague and unsatisfactory measure. To impose simple tasks for the purpose of obtaining objective criteria upon which to base our judgment is unusually difficult, and patients who were incapable of comprehending the new task would have to be excluded from its action; and to interest the patients in such a task sufficiently to persuade them to do their best is often not possible. The estimation of the working capacity of a large proportion of patients would thus seem at first sight to be beyond our powers to ascertain.

Monthly observations, extending over one year, were made on the rectal temperature of 114 domestic fowls (Gallus gallus, ♀) and records from forty-one of these were obtained for two years. Six different breeds were used, each located in a separate pen, all under similar conditions, and the mean temperatures for each group were plotted out to form an annual temperature curve. It was found that—

1. The lowest temperatures occur in December, January, and February, and the highest in June, July, and August, corresponding in a general way with the temperature of the external air.

2. Barometric pressure does not appear to have any influence on the body temperature of the hen.

3. The curve of egg-production does not coincide with the annual temperature curve, the former reaching its highest level in April and May, the latter in June, July, and August.

If we compare the mean rectal temperature at two periods of the year when the external or weather conditions are approximately the same (April-May and September-October), but when the vitality of the birds, as indicated by the curve of egg-production, moulting, etc., is at a maximum and minimum respectively, we find that the figures are practically identical. This would seem to show that cyclical bodily changes have little effect on body temperature as compared with outside influences.

Robert's theorem concerns the circulant C whose elements are the terms of the expansion of

and is to the effect (1) that there are no odd powers of t in the development of the circulant, and (2) that if in the said development ξ be put for t2, the equation in ξ

The complete integral of the differential equation

φ(xyzpq) = 0

is a relation among the variables, which includes as many arbitrary constants as there are independent variables. But it is important to distinguish carefully between differential equations which have been formed by the elimination of constants from some complete primitive, and those whose origin is quite unknown, or which may have been constructed by some method totally different from the first.

In the original case, the differential equation can always be integrated in finite terms, while in the latter, only under the conditions laid down in Cauchy's Existence Theorem can an integral be obtained, and even then usually as an infinite series.

The present paper contains the first part of a series of notes on general dynamics which, if it is found worth while, may be continued. In § 1 I have shown how the first Hamiltonian differential equation is led up to in a natural and elementary manner from the canonical equations of motion for the most general case, that in which the time t appears explicitly in the function usually denoted by H. The condition of constancy of energy is therefore not assumed. In § 2 it is proved that the partial derivatives of the complete integral of Hamilton's equation with respect to the constants which enter into the specification of that integral do not vary with the time, so that these derivatives equated to constants are the integral equations of motion of the system.*

Among optical phenomena which originate over the surface of water there is one so ill-defined and ill-observed as to be still mysterious; till now it has received no valid explanation. The Italians call it the Fata Morgana. Under conditions still lacking precise description, there appear on the far side of the Straits of Messina certain fantastic visions, fortresses and castles of unknown cities, which seem to emerge from the sea, soon to vanish again. These are the “palaces” of the “fairy Morgana,” which appear and disappear at the capricious stroke of the magician's wand.

I Fear that most, on reading the above title, will think it is either a printer's or an author's error, and that the title ought to have been “The Sun as a Fog Disperser.” We are familiar with the sun's power of clearing away fogs; we so often see fogs clear away as the sun rises, that we seem to have shut our eyes to another side of the question, which is, that under certain conditions the very opposite of this happens, the air thickening and fogging as the sun rises. Some years ago it was noticed at Falkirk, especially during the winter months, that on many mornings on which the air was clear before sunrise it gradually thickened to a dense haze, or to a dense fog, while in pure country air the observer never noticed similar changes. The question naturally suggested itself, what was the cause of this difference between the air at Falkirk and that of the country? A series of meteorological observations was therefore begun to ascertain whether this occasional fogging after sunrise was merely an accident, or if it had any connection with the sun; that is, to ascertain whether its appearance was what we call fortuitous, or if it appeared according to any law in nature.

1. It is well known that the molar theory of magnetism, in which the magnetic medium is regarded as being continuous in its ultimate structure and properties, is of very limited applicability to the elucidation of magnetic phenomena. The fact of the impossibility of isolating one kind of magnetism from the other by any process based on inductive action makes evident the essentially molecular nature of magnetism. This was recognised even in the early development of the theory by Poisson, who presumed that the molecules only became magnetic under the action of an external field. Weber recognised the necessity for the ascription of permanence to the magnetic quality of the molecule in order to account for the phenomena of magnetic saturation; and his theory was modified by Maxwell so that it might also include in its range the phenomena of residual magnetisation. In Maxwell's discussion of Weber's theory, we have the first explicit statement of the distinctive feature of the modern theory of molecular magnetism.

It has been shown by numerous experiments (see Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., 1911) that the equation yn(x + a) = b holds very accurately for wires of different materials, where y = range of oscillation, x = number of oscillations, n, a, and b, constants depending on the metal under the given conditions. In the following experiments a magnesium wire was subjected to various conditions, e.g. extensional strain, torsion, change of temperature, etc., and in each case the above law was tested. The method of procedure was as follows :— A magnesium wire of known dimensions and under ordinary physical conditions was fixed at its upper end to a clamp, and to its lower end was attached centrally a long horizontal heavy cylinder. To the cylinder a circular scale divided into millimetres was attached concentrically with the wire. When the upper end of the wire was turned round the cylinder was made to rotate round the wire as an axis, and the reading on the scale, when the maximum angular deflection was reached, was taken by means of a telescope. Similarly, consecutive maxima were read until the oscillations became small, when the zero was taken, and thus successive values of y were found.

In a previous publication (1) allusion was briefly made to the difficulty which had been experienced in preserving sterility in material during a series of auto-digestion experiments. Contrary to expectation, it was found that a mixture of ground barley and water, when incubated at 37° for a few days, developed, even in the presence of chloroform or toluol in excess, a strong butyric acid fermentation.

Since this question was one not only of vital interest to the work in hand but also of great general importance, it was decided to carry out a series of experiments in the endeavour to determine the position with regard to the use of antiseptics in the study of biochemical processes.

I have been entrusted by Sir John Murray, K.C.B., with the examination of some of the coarser materials, more especially the rock-fragments, obtained from the bed of the Atlantic by Sir John Murray and Dr Hjort during the recent Michael Sars Expedition in 1910, and also with the re-examination of the collections dredged from the Wyville Thomson ridge and the Faroe Banks during the former expeditions of H.M. ships Triton in 1882 and Knight Errant in 1880