Abstract
Royal Society, June 27.—Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., president, in the chair.—Lord Rayleigh: Electrical vibrations on a thin anchor ring.—Hon. R. J. Strutt: The molecular statistics of some chemical actions, (1) Where ozone acts on a silver oxide surface, every collision results in the destruction of the ozone molecule concerned. (2) An active nitrogen molecule must, on the average, collide 500 times with an oxidised copper surface before it is destroyed. (3) Two molecules of ozone at 100° C. must, on the average, collide 6×1011 times, before the right sort of collision occurs for chemical union.—C. V. Boys: Experiments with rotating films. An apparatus is described whereby a film may be rotated in its own plane, and in which air at atmospheric pressure above and below the film is rotated also at the same speed. Twenty experiments are described which refer mainly to the ring and spiral patterns of colour that may be produced to the development of black films and patterns and to the instability of the margin of the black.—Prof. H. E. Armstrong and E. H. Rodd: Morphological studies of benzene derivatives. III. Para-dibromo-benzene-sulphonates (isomorphous) of the “rare earth” elements—a means of determining the directions of valency in tervalent elements. Para-dibromo-benzene-sulphonates of lanthanum, neodyv rriium, praseodymium, cerium, gadolinium, and samarium are described.—Karl Pearson: The intensity of natural selection in man. The following statement has recently received much currency:—A high infant death-rate in a given community implies in general a high death-rate in the next four years of life, while low death-rates at both age-periods are similarly associated. The evidence in support of the statement is not valid; it consists solely in showing that a bad environment raises both infant and child death-rates. The statement is not true even when no correction is made for differential environment. The question of a selective death-rate is the question of whether natural selection—Darwinism—applies to man. The present paper does not determine how far a rising infant death-rate is really the cause of a falling child death-rate, but its aim is to show that there is no such general rule as that stated to hold. If that rule were a demonstrable truth, then we might confidently assert that Darwinism did not apply to civilised man. As a matter of fact, others methods of inquiry indicate that at least 60 to 70 per cent, of the deaths in civilised human communities are selective, i.e. due to the elimination of those with inferior constitutional powers of resistance.—Dr. T. M. Lowry: Optical rotatory dispersion. Part i. The natural and magnetic rotatory dispersion in quartz of light in the visible region of the spectrum.—J. J. Manley: The apparent change in mass during chemical reaction.—Dr. W. H. Eccles: The diurnal variations of the electric waves occurring in nature, and on the propagation of electric waves round the bend of the earth.—The natural electric wave train radiating from a lightning discharge produces, it is well known, a* disturbance in apparatus for the reception of wireless telegraph messages. Normally these disturbances form a steady stream of faint or loud clicks in the receiving telephones. The rate at which they are received at a station varies from hour to hour during the twenty-four hours, and also with the season, but as a general rule the disturbances or “strays” as they are often called-heard at night are stronger and more frequent than those heard in the day. The change from day to night and from night to day conditions is very noticeable at sunrise and sunset. It is chiefly this transition period that is investigated in the present communication. In order to explain the phenomena the author develops a hypothesis which is based on a proposition to the effect that the velocity of electric waves through ionised air increases with.increasing ionisation.—Rev. A. L. Cortie: Report on the total solar eclipse of 1911, April 28. Communicated by the Joint Permanent Eclipse Committee.—W. Hamilton Wilson; An experimental investigation of the influence of the condenser on the working of a Ruhmkorff coil, together with a practical outcome thereof.—Prof. D. Fraser Harris and Dr. H. J. M. Creighton: Studies on the reductase of liver and kidney. Part i.-Prof. M. W. Travers and | Ramu Chandra Ray: Borohydrates. Part i.—Prof. G. N. Stewart: The specific conductivity of solutions of oxyhajmoglobin.—J. W. Gifford; The existing limits of uniformity in producing optical glass.—Prof. A. C. Seward: A petrified Williamsonia from Scotland.—Prof. A. W. Porter and Dr. F. W. Edridge Green: Negative after-images and successive contrast with pure spectral colours. A definite portion of the retina was fatigued by steadily crazing at an isolated region included between two definite wave-lengths in the Edridge green colour perception spectrometer. After the fatiguing light had been viewed for a period of about 20 seconds, the eye was turned to a screen on which a spectrum was situated, so that the after-image formed a band running right across the spectrum on the screen and occupying its centre. Experiments were also made with the spectrum replaced by monochromatic bands, and on the appearance of the sodium flame after fatigue to various colours. It is held that the facts described cannot be explained on either the Hering or Young-Helmholt theories. The explanation on the Edridge-Green theory of colour-vision is the same as that given for other facts of simultaneous contrast (Proc. Roy. Soc., B, vol. Ixxxiv., 1912, p. 546).—Leonard Hill and M. Flack; The relation between capillary pressure and secretion. 11. The secretion of the aqueous and the intra-ocular pressure.—Prof. W. B. Bottomley: Some conditions influencing nitrogen fixation by aerobic organisms.—J. G. Wilson and F. H. Pike: The effects of stimulation and extirpation of the semicircular canals of the ear and their relation to the motor system.—W. Wilson: The absorption and reflection of homogeneous particles.—Prof. H. M. Macdonald: The effect of an obstacle on a train of electric waves.—Dr. Walter Wahl: Optical investigations of crystallised nitrogen, argon, methane, and some of the simpler organic compounds of low melting points. A quartz glass vessel, holding a very thin layer (0*05 mm.) of substance between polished quartz glass plates, has been constructed. In this vessel N, A, CH4, &c., ‘have been’ crystallised and investigated crystal-optically:—(i) Nitrogen crystallises in the regular system; (2) argon is regular; (3) methane is regular; (4) ethyl-ether is rhombic. Ethyl alcohol, acetone, methyl alcohol, and carbon bisulphide are monoclinic or tri-clinic. Methylalcohol occurs in two polymorphic forms, changing reversibly into each other.—Sir W. de W. Abney: Colour-blindness and the trichromatic theory. Part iv. Incomplete colour-blindness. In this communication the author shows how a simple test is capable of giving a quantitative measure of the degree of colour-blindness which a colour-blind person possesses. By matching a single colour of the spectrum with the colour of the light coming from such a solution as of chromate of potash the degree of colour-blindness can be immediately determined. Further, he gives a method by which any displacement of the green or red sensation curves can be measured with great accuracy.—Prof. W. H. Young:— The multiplication of successions of Fourier constants.—C. E. Haselfoot: The diffusion of ions into gases at low pressure.-Prof. J. S. Townsend and T. T. Tizard: Effect of a magnetic force on the motion of negative ions in a gas.
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Societies and Academies . Nature 89, 493–496 (1912). https://doi.org/10.1038/089493a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/089493a0