PROCEEDINGS

OF THE

LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY

OF

MANCHESTER

VOL. XIII.

Session 1873 — 74.

MANCHESTEll :

rUINTED BY THOS. SOWLER AND CO., RED LION STREET, ST. ANN’S SQEARE.
LONDON ; H. BAILLIERE, 219, REGENT STREET.

3874.

NOTE.

The object which the Society have in view in publishing their
Proceedings is to give an immediate and succint account of the
scientific and other business transacted at their meetings to the
members and the general public. The various communications
are supplied by the authors themselveS;, who are alone responsible
for the facts and reasonings contained therein.

INDEX.

Bailey Charles. — On some Sx>ecimens of Carex punctata, p. 34.

Binney E. W., F.E.S., P.Gr.S., V.P. — On the Bar at the entrance into the
Queen’s Channel, Liverpool, i). 53. On a Specimen of Magalichthys
Hihherti, p. 57. On the Drainage of Burial Orounds, p. 91. On
Professor Eenault’s genus Myelox3teris, p. 99. A few Observations
on Coal, x>. 125. On the Corrosion of Cast Iron by Sulphuric Acid,
Carbonaceous matter, and Water, p. 129.

Bowman Henry. — On a remarkable Thunderstorm which occurred at
Brockham Green, Surrey, on the 7th of November, 1873, p. 37.

Carson S. — On Crystalline Sublimed Cupric Chloride, j). 61, 98.

Clarke Major E. Trevitt. — Memorandum on Brown-Stapled Cotton,

p. 62.

Darbishire E. D., F.G.S. — On Collections of Shells from the Worden
Gravel Pit, near the Leyland Station, near Chorley ; the Eailway
Cuttings near Edgehill; and Cuttings in Toxteth Park, p. 72.

Dawkins W. Boyd, M.A., F.E.S. — On a Post struck by Lightning on the
2nd June, 1873, p. 5. The Northern Eange of the Basques, p. 81.

Heelis Edward. — Eesults of Meteorological Observations taken at
Langdale, Dimbula, Ceylon, during the Years 1868-72, p. 78.

Herford Eev. Brooke. — On some of the Perplexities which the Art and
Architecture of the Present are preparing for the Historians and
Antiquarians of the Future, p. 119.

Howorth Henry H.— -Does the Earth receive any Heat directly from
the Sun ? p. 131.

Johnson William H., B.Sc.~On the Influence of Acids on Iron and
Steel, p. 60. Further Observations and Experiments on the
Influence of Acids on Iron and Steel, j). 100. On the Action of
nascent Hydrogen on Iron> p. 130.

Joule, J.P., D.C.L., LL.D., F.E.S.; President. — On a new Syphon Barom-
eter, p. 11. Method of Construction of a new Barometer, j). 40.
On a Mercurial Air Exhauster, p. 58. Eemark on Mr. Howorth’ s
paper, ^^Does the Earth receive any Heat directly from the Sun,”

p. 166.

VI

Mackeeeth Thomas, F.R.A.S. — Eesnlts of Eaiu-Gauge ODservations
made at Eccles, near Ivlancliester, during the year 1873, p. 113.
On the Eatios and Frequency of Eainfall, deduced from Observa-
tions made at Eccles, p. 167.

Melvill J. C., M.A., F.L.S. — Eemarks upon the British locality for
Lobelia urens, p. 35.

Molesworth Eev. W. N., M.A. — On some Eoman and Celtic Antiquities,
p. 17.

Morgan Thomas M. — On a Source of Error in Mercurial Thermometers,
p. 67.

Eansome Arthur, M.D., M.A. — On the Graphical Eepresentation of the
Movements of the Chest-Wall in Eespiration, pp. 64, 80, 96.

Eeynolds Professor 0., M.A. — On the Eelative Work spent in Friction
in giving Eotation to Shot from Guns rifled with an increasing
and a uniform Twist, p. 5. On the Biu’sting of Trees and Objects
struck by Lightning, pp. 14, 21. On the Destruction of Sound by
Fog and the Inertness of a Heterogeneous Fluid, p. 43. On the
Effect of Acid on the Interior of Iron Wire, p. 93.

Eogers Thomas. — On the Introduction of Planorbis dilatatus, p. 174.

Schorlemmer C., F.E.S. — An Improved Method for preparing Marsh
Gas, p. 29. The Chemical Constitution of Bleaching Powder, p. 49.

ScHUNCK Edward, Ph.D., F.E.S., V.P. — On the Colour of Nankin Cotton,

p. 22.

Sidebotham Joseph, F.E.A.S. — On Lymexylon Navale, p. 35. On the
Similarity of certain Crystallised Substances to Vegetable Forms,
p. 73. On a Specimen of Hypothenenius eruditus, p. 148.

Smith E. Angus, Ph.D., F.E.S., V.P. — On Vitrified Forts, p. 19.

Smyth C. Piazzi, F.E.S,, Astronomer Eoyal of Scotland. — On the Ex-
plosion of Water, p. 41.

Stewart Professor Balfour, LL.D.,F.E.S. — Eesultsof certain Magnetic
Observations made at Manchester during the year 1873, p. 111.

Vernon G. V., F.E.A.S.—Mean Monthly Barometric Eeadings at Old
Trafford, Manchester, from 1849 to 1872, p. 75. Eainfall at Old
Trafford, Manchester, in the year 1873, p. 89.

Waters Arthur William, F.G.S. — Notes on Fossil Lithothamuia (so
called Nulliporse), p. 68.

Williamson Professor W. C., F.E.S.—Address to the Microscopical and
Natural History Section, p. 29,

Yll

WiNSTANLEY David — Atmospliei'ic Eefraction and tlie last Eays of the
Setting Sun, p, 1. On the Theory of the Tides, p. 8(1, The
Meteorological Theory of Cometary Phenomena, p, 141. The
Cause of Solar Heat, p. 169.

Meetings of the Physical and Mathematical Section — Annual, p. 141, Ordi-
nary, pp, 75, 86, 113, 167.

Meetings of the Micro scogiical and Natural History Section. — Annual, p. 175,
Ordinary, pp. 29, 35, 72, 73, 147, 148, 174.

Rejport of the Council. — April 21st, 1874, p. 149.

PROCEEDINGS

OF

THE LITERARY AND PHILOSOPHICAL

SOCIETY.

Ordinary Meeting, October 7th, 1873.

E. W. Binney, F.RS., F.G.S., Vice-President, in the Chair.

Mr. Samuel Broughton was elected Treasurer of the So-
ciety in place of the late Mr. Thomas Garrick.

Atmospheric Refraction and the last rays of the Setting
Sun,” by David Winstanley, Esq.

It is recorded in the Proceedings of this Society that a
letter dated from Southport and written by Dr. Joule was
read at the meeting held on the 5th October, 1869. In that
letter it is remarked that “ Mr. Baxendell noticed the fact
that at the moment of the departure of the sun below the
horizon the last glimpse is coloured bluish green.” Dr.
Joule also observes that on two or three occasions he had
himself noticed the phenomenon in question and that “just
at the upper edge where bands of the sun’s disc are separated
one after the other by refraction, each band becomes coloured
blue just before it vanishes.”

During the past eighteen months the writer, from his resi-
dence in Blackpool, has had frequent opportunities of observ-
ing the setting sun, and has noticed the phenomenon of the
final coloured ray certainly more than fifty times. To the
naked eye its appearance has generally been that of a green
spark of large size and great intensity, very similar to one
of the effects seen when the sun shines upon a well cut
diamond. The colour however is by no means constant,
being often, as in the case of Mr. Baxendell’s observation,
bluish green, and at times as mentioned by Dr. J oule, quite
Proceedings — Lit. & Phil, Society, — Vol, XIII. — No. 1 — Session 1873-4.

blue. The period of its duration too is likewise variable.
Sometimes it lasts but half a second, ordinarily perhaps a
second and a quarter, and occasionally as much as two
seconds and a half

When examined with the assistance of a telescope it be-
comes evident that the green ray results at a certain stage
of the solar obscuration, for it begins at the points or cusps
of the visible segment of the sun, and when the setting” is
nearly complete extends from both cusps to the central
space between, where it produces the momentary and in-
tense spark of coloured light visible to the unaided eye.

From the fact of the green cusps being rounded I appre-
hend that irradiation contributes to the apparent magnitude
of what is seen. The range of colour too as seen in the
telescope is more varied, and the duration of the whole phe-
nomenon more extended, than when the observation is made
only with the naked eye.

Of the objective nature of the phenomenon it is needless
to offer evidence ; for it needs to be but seldom seen to pre-
clude the idea of an optical illusion. That the waters of
the ocean have nothing to do with the production of the
colour is made manifest by its visibility when the sun sets”
behind the edge of a well defined cloud. On the 14th and
15th of June, for instance, it was seen at upper contact of
the solar limb with clouds. On the earlier date in question
a thin band of cloud stretched across the setting sun, and
under a power of fifteen diameters the green effect was seen
at upper contact with the cloud and again at final disappear-
ance below the horizon. On the later date it was again seen
at upper contact with each of several filaments of cloud
and again at final disappearance. And on several other
occasions the writer has observed the effect when the dis-
appearance of the sun has taken place at an elevation of six
or eight degrees behind a heavy bank of clouds.

Respecting the increased range of colours seen when the

3

phenomenon is observed with telescopic aid, I may mention
that on the 28th of June the sea was calm and the sky
quite cloudless at the setting of the sun. Of the final
coloured rays fifteen diameters showed the first to be a full
and splendid yellow, which was speedily followed by the
usual green, and then for a second and a half by a full and
perfect blue. Respecting the increased duration of the
colour I have found that when the atmosphere is sufficiently
favourable to allow a power of 60 diameters being employed
with a three-inch object glass, the green effect is seen at
that part of the sun’s limb in contact with the horizon even
when one half the sun is still unset, and of course from then
till final disappearance.

The different colours seen, together with the order of
their appearance, are suggestive of the prismatic action of the
atmosphere as the cause of their production, and the inter-
ception of the horizon or the cloud as the cause of their
separation.

Assuming the correctness of this view, it becomes evident
that an artificial horizon would prove equally efficacious in
separating the coloured bands, and also that if employed
during an inspection of the sun’s lower limb, the least
refrangible end of the spectrum would be disclosed. Accord-
ingly I introduced into an eyepiece of my telescope a black-
ened disc of metallic copper, having a slit cut in it of about
the one hundred and fiftieth of an inch in width, and pro-
ceeded to make an observation in July when the sun was
about one half of its meridian height. The blinding glare
however of that portion of the sun seen through the slit
rendered the observation futile. By projecting a large
image of the sun into a darkened room I was enabled to get
the whole of the spectrum produced by the prismatic action
of the atmosphere in a very satisfactory manner. In this
case a semicircular diaphram was used, so placed that its
straight edge divided the field of view into equal parts, from

4

one of which it obscured the light. The diaphram was
placed as before in the focus of the eyepiece, and by rotating
it every portion of the sun’s limb could be in turn examined,
and that too in the centre of the field, so as to be equally
subjected to the minimum of the peculiarities of the instru-
ment. When the sun’s lower limb was allowed to descend
into the field of view the first rays were intensely red. After
a momentary duration they gave place in succession to
orange, yellow, and green, which were then lost in the ordi-
nary refulgence of the sun. The upper limb gave green, blue,
and finally purple, which latter colour I have thus far never
seen upon tlfe natural horizon. It should be remarked that
the colours seen were vivid and unmistakeable, and each one
of them easily detained at will or the whole phenomenon
recalled by the adjusting screws of the instrument. I appre-
hend that the results here given sufficiently prove that
atmospheric refraction is the cause of the coloured rays
seen at the moment of the sun’s departure below the horizon.
I have however thought it worth while to examine the light
proceeding from the moon’s limb by the aid of the artificial
horizon and of course by direct observation. The results
were decisive and satisfactory, the spectral colours being
easily observed. The green effect I have also frequently
seen on the departure of the moon beneath the edge of a
dark and well defined bank of clouds. Telescopic aid has
however in every instance been required.

The rapid changes in colour observable in the case of
almost any large fixed star at an elevation of twenty or
thirty degrees above the horizon, and which changes vary
between red, green, and blue, may I think be fairly attri-
buted to the same cause as the colour in the sun’s final ray.
Particles of dust floating in the air act, I apprehend, for the
moment in the capacity of diaphram or horizon, and thus
enable the eye to perceive even in the light of the stars the
prismatic action of our atmosphere.

Ordinary Meeting, October 21st, 1873.

Edwakd Schunck, Ph.D., F.E.S., F.C.S., Vice-President,

in tbe Chair.

W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., exhibited a fragment of a post
struck by lightning on 2nd June, 1873. It formed one of
three about 8 feet high and 15 feet apart in the garden of
11, Norma Road, Rusholme, and stood under a cherry tree
of which the stem was 10 feet away. It was completely
shattered, fragments being driven as far as the walls of the
house, 25 yards off, and the downward direction of the
loose splinters implied that the explosive force was exerted
from below upwards, instead of from above downwards.
People in the Dickenson Road observed what they termed
a “thunderbolt” fall, as they thought, on the house, and
some of the inhabitants describe it as a flame of light fol-
lowed immediately by a crash of thunder. It is very probable
that the explosion was produced by an electric current pass-
ing from the earth upwards, and not vice versa.

Professor Reynolds attributed the shattering of the post
to the explosive or repulsive action of an electrical discharge
of unusual intensity.

Mr. Baxendell thought it was most probably due to the
sudden conversion of a portion of the moisture in the post
into steam of high tension by the heating action of the
electrical discharge, and mentioned instances in which con-
densed vapour was said to have been seen rising from trees
immediately after they had been struck by lightning.

“On the Relative Work spent in Friction in giving Rota-
tion to Shot from Guns rifled with an Increasing, and a
Uniform Twist,” by OsBOENE Reynolds, M.A., Professor of
Engineering, Owens College, Manchester, and Fellow of
Queens’ College, Cambridge.

The object of this paper is to show that the friction
between the studs and the grooves necessary to give rota-
tion to the shot consumes more luorh ivitli an increasing

Peoceedings— Lit. & Phil, Society —Vol. XIII,— No, 2— Session 1873-4.

6

than with a uniform twist ; and that in the case of grooves
which develope into parabolas, such as those used in the
Woolwich guns, the waste from this cause is double what it
would be if the twist was uniform. I am not aware that
this fact has ever been noticed. It must not be con-
founded with the questions already at issue respecting the
Woolwich or French system of rifling guns. The advocates
of the gradually increasing twist maintain that it relieves
the pressure between the studs and the grooves at the breech
of the gun, where it would otherwise be greatest, while the
opponents argue that in order to obtain this otherwise
advantageous result, the bearing surface of the studs has to
be so much reduced that they are not so well able to with-
stand the reduced pressure as they are to withstand the full
pressure with the plane grooves. Now I bring forward a
collateral point, which has no bearing on the previous ques-
tion, but which is, in itself, of sufficient importance to
influence the decision in favour of one or other of these
systems. I show that apart from any undue wedging or
shearing of the studs, that with nothing but the legitimate
friction, the amount of work wasted in imparting rotation
to the shot is nearly twice as great with the parabolic as
with the plane grooves. This is important, for, although
the magnitude of this waste does not appear as yet to have
been the subject of direct inquiry, it will be seen from what
follows that with the plane grooves it amounts to more
than one per cent of the whole energy of the shot, and, con-
sequently, with the parabolic grooves it will amount to two
per cent of the energy of the shot ; this is, to say the least,
important as regards the effect of the discharge ; and when
we consider that all the work spent in friction is spent in
destroying the gun and the shot, we see that it becomes a
matter of the very greatest importance whether the gun
spends one or two per cent of its power on self-destruction.
It was established as a fact in the trials of 1863-5, that the
guns with an increasing twist gave a lower velocity than
those with the uniform twist. In the trial with the two
seven-inch guns made especially to test this point, the dif-

7

ference of velocity was such as to make three per cent
difference in the energy of discharge — a result somewhat
greater than what would have been due to the legitimate
friction, unless the coefficient of friction between the studs
and the grooves was excessively high from some cause, such
as the cutting of the studs into the grooves. However, it
would seem that the conclusions at which I have arrived
are in accordance with actual experience, and help to explain
what was otherwise to a certain extent anomalous.

Although these conclusions cannot be definitely proved
without the aid of mathematics, they may be shown to be
true (or reasonable) under certain circumstances, as follows ;

The work spent in friction will, both with the parabolic
and plane grooves, be equal to the coefficient of friction mul-
tiplied by the mean pressure on the studs and again by
the length of the grooves (or by the length of the
gun — nearly). Now, the coefficient of friction and the
length of the gun are the same in both cases ; hence this
work will be proportional to the mean pressure on the
grooves throughout the gun. Again, if the pressure on the
parabolic grooves is constant (which it is the object of these
grooves to make it), then the mean pressure in both cases
will be inversely proportional to the angle which the shot
turns through while in the gun. This follows directly from
the fact that the speed and consequently the energy of
rotation with which the shot leaves the gun is the same in
both cases; for this energy is nearly equal to the mean
pressure multiplied by the arc through which the studs
turn,* and hence the mean pressure is equal to the energy
divided by the arc.

We have then the work spent in friction proportional to
the mean pressure ; and the mean pressure inversely pro-
portional to the angle turned through by the shot in the gun ;
therefore the work spent in friction is inversely propor-
tional to the angle turned through by the shot in the gun.

Now, the angle turned tlirough with parabolic grooves is

* This is always true for plane grooves, but it will only be true for para-
bolic grooves when the pressure on the studs is constant all along the grooves.

8

half the angle turned through with plane grooves (by a pro-
perty of the parabola) ; hence the work spent in friction
with the parabolic grooves is double what it is with the
plane grooves. This may be shown mathematically as
follows : —

I. To estimate the actual work spent in friction ivitli

plane grooves.

Let jjL — coefficient of friction.

1 = the inclination of the grooves.

K = work spent in friction.

2 = the energy of discharge or the striking force with which

the shot leaves the gun.

Then, K =

For if K - the mean pressure on the grooves, I = the length of
the gun, then K = ^ R Z Jp + \ . . (i)

A j ,, V ± R n

And the energy oi rotation = -^2= /-

^ V + 1

Jl^+ 1

(2)

Hence (with a gun making one turn in 35 diameters) where

. 1 .

^ = pj- and fi = *3.

K=|| = -0132.

The equation shows, what is otherwise quite

obvious, that with the plane grooves the work spent in
friction is independent of the distribution of the pressure
within the gun, and is proportional only to the energy of
discharge ; and hence will be the same, whether the powder
is quick or slow, provided the shot leave with the same
velocities.

This, however, is not the case with the parabolic grooves*
It is obvious that the friction will involve the law of pres-
sure in the gun. Consequently, we cannot calculate this
work unless we make some assumption with regard to the
law of pressure.

9

II. To estimate the actual work spent in friction with
parabolic grooves when the pressure on the studs is
constant.

Let x = -^hc the equation to the developed grooves, and let s be the

d 'll

length of the grooves. Then, if we assume that / = 1, and that

as

(the work spent in friction with the parobolic grooves) 1 -
we have the work of rotation

dx

I

And the work of rotation

2hfi

K;

Since i =

Kj, — ^ '2/ S,

And for plane grooves K == —
K&

i 2

K

-2.

An expression for this work might have been obtained
without assuming ^ = I, but so long as i is less than ^
the difference is very small.

Hence we see that on this assumption the work spent in
friction with the parabolic grooves is twice as great as with
the plane grooves. This assumption is not an unreasonable
one, for the declared object of the increasing twist is that it
may equalise the pressure of the studs on the grooves
throughout the gun. However, it is not to be supposed
that this object is always attained, for one kind of powder
has a different law of force from another. It is necessary
therefore to consider other laws of force. We cannot obtain
a general expression which y^ill include all, but we may ex-
amine several laws of force which will enable us to see how
far the law of force affects the results.

In all cases the force diminishes from the breech to the

muzzle, and the law inay be roughly expressed by P — — ^

y

10

where y is the distance of the shot from the breech, and
a and X are constants for each class of powder.

Although with this value of P the equations of motion
cannot be solved rigorously, an approximate solution may
be found as follows : —

III. To find the ratio of work spent in friction tuith
parabolic and grooves luhen the laiv of

force is

X

P-

a+ij

The equations of motion are

(1)

(2)

'ds^'' ^ ^ ds

_ dx ir
P = P^ +

d8 p

Neglecting the ju R as small in (1), and taking p (the radius of
curvature) = 6, we have if = 1

/R<^y-=/p|rf^ + ^log. “ + ^

orKj = iy^R(^2/ = ^| (2Z + a) log.

a

(X 1 - (

a /
d X

And for plane grooves p is infinite and prp-i

'll

/I ... I Cl

.*. / ^dy = fiXi log.

1

a

^‘ = 2 + --
K I

log. (l + 0

If a = 0 so that P = -

. y

^-^=2.

K

If a is very great, so that P = -

ct

h

K

3

2

And the former law more nearly expresses the condition

of most guns.

11

TV. If we take a law of force.

P-

- 2 yu tan.

y

the equations ©f motion can be solved.

And = tan.~ ^ i.

We get = _^

( 0 a

6 ^^-l-2^0 + /.^log.(l+r)

And for the plane curve K = -^e

l-‘ - e^^^-l-2^9 + ;unog.(l + t^)

And therefore

K

From which, for any given value of 6, we may obtain the actual
value of

When d is small, so that where we may neglect high powers

without error = ;:«•

K 2

Which result is in exact accordance with those previously
obtained, for, it must be noticed, that with this law P is
nearly constant. Hence we arrive at the following con-
clusions : —

(1) That when the pressure of the powder is constant.

Work spent in friction with parabolic grooves 3
Work spent in friction with plane grooves “2

(2) That when the pressure diminishes rapidly the above
ratio = 2.

(3) That this ratio may have any values between these
two, but that it cannot go beyond these limits.

Mr. Baxendell read the following extract from a letter
he had received from the Pkesident : —

You will see that I have put a little drying apparatus to
the short limb of my syphon barometer. I believe that a
long open tube attached to the short end by a bit of india-

12

rubber tube will do just as well. This I am going to try,
and also to exclude the air more perfectly than I find it is
in the instrument at the Rooms. The principal fear was
that the sulphuric acid would slowly act on the mercury.
I think the barometer has been put up long enough to
decide this, and I feel convinced that the plan will succeed,

13

Ordinary Meeting, November 4th, 1873.

R. Angus Smith, Ph.D., F.R.S., &c.. Vice-President, in the

Chair.

Mr. Joseph R. Bridson, Mr. James Watkins, and the Rev.
William Marshall, B.A., were elected Ordinary Members of
the Society.

The Chairman said that the death of Dr. Calvert, one of
the most distinguished members of the Society, called for
more attention than he was able to give it, but this meet-
ing of the society could not be allowed to pass over without
a few words regarding the loss which all chemists must feel.
It will no doubt be the pleasant duty of some of his friends
to prepare a more detailed account of his labours. Mean-
time he (the Chairman) would express the opinion of all
who knew Dr. Calvert by saying that a more diligent
student of chemistry has rarely if ever been found in any
country. It has been remarked that Dr. Calvert’s knowledge
of the literature of science was something marvellous. This
was doubtless owing to his devotion to the subject and his
untiring activity and strength. The memoirs which he
has written are too numerous to be characterized at present,
and already several journals have given the heads of the
most important. As a medium of communication between
scientific men, manufacturing and professional, in France
and England, he was no doubt the means of doing much good
in both countries. In the former country he felt almost as
much at home as in the latter, having lived there from the
time he was fourteen years of age until he was twenty-eight,
Peoceedings — Lit. & Phil. Society, — Vol. XIII. — No. 3 — Session 1873-4,

14

and having married a French lady. It was this intimate
connection with France which gave him his French accent,
which he could never entirely get rid of. He was hoTrever
entirely English by birth. His habits contracted there may
have led also to that excessive activity which seems to have
told at last in a very unexpected manner upon his health, as
he seemed powerful and of sound constitution. The fatigues
he underwent during a visit to the Vienna Exhibition, and
the climate there, must, however, be blamed, so far as we
can hear, for the evils both direct and indirect which pro-
duced a fatal result.

Dr. Calvert had, shortly before his death, completed a
revised edition of his lectures on some departments of
manufacturing chemistry. His practical experience, com-
bined with his profound knowledge of the theory of the
subject, must render such a work of great value, and keep
his name for a long time fresh among chemists.

His later investigations, especially those connected with
germs or the beginnings of life, were of a purely scientific
character.

He may be said in every sense to have been a successful
man until that illness which destroyed a life which pro-
mised to be very long. He had many friends, and amidst
an excessive amount of work he was able to be obliging and
kind to a large number.

He was a Fellow of the Koyal and the Chemical Societies
and of several foreign Academies, and in the scientific circles
of London and Paris he was as well known as in his adopted
city, Manchester, where many lament him as a man who
knew little of him as a chemist.

“On the Bursting of Trees and Objects struck by Light-
ning,” by Professor Osboene Reynolds, M.A.

The results of the experimeuts referred to in this Paper
were exhibited to the meeting.

15

The suggestion thrown out by Mr. Baxendell at our last
meeting — that the explosive effect of lightning is due to
the conversion of moisture into steam — seemed to me to be
so very probable that I was induced to try if I could not
produce a similar effect experimentally.

1. I first of all tried to burst a thin slip of wood by dis-
charging a jar through it, taking care so to arrange the
wood that the discharge should be of the nature of a spark
and not a continuous discharge ; this was done by making
the wood to form part of a discharging rod with balls on
the ends.

This experiment was successful in the first attempt,
although the results were on a small scale.

It should be mentioned that the wood had been damped
with water.

This experiment was repeated with larger pieces of wood
with various results.

2. It then occurred to me to try with a glass tube. This
I did at first wdth a very small tube, passing wires from
the ends of the tube until they were within ^ inch of each
other.

The small tubes burst both with and without water.

3. I then used a larger tube (about iV inch bore), using it
in a similar manner. The discharge without water pro-
duced no effect on this, even when repeated several times,
but when the tube was full of water (with the ends open)
the first discharge shattered that part of the tube opposite
the gap in the wire. This tube was bent in the form of a
syphon, and the water stood about 1 inch beyond the gap
in the wire on each side of it.

4. I then tried a stronger tube which I had been using
for insulation. It had a bore of ^ inch and was f inch
in external diameter. It was capable of sustaining a pres-
sure of probably 10,000, and certainly 5,000 lbs. on the
square inch, that is to say, a pressure of from 2 to 5 tons

16

per square inch. It was about 14 inches long and bent in
the form of a square-ended siphon. The gap in the wire
was about J inch, and the water extended about IJ inches
on each side of the gap. The ends of the pipe were open,
and the jar charged in the same manner as before with
about 100 turns of a 12 inch plate machine. The surface
of the jar is about a square foot, and the discharge when
effected with the common rod took place through about
2 inches of air.

This tube was shivered at the first discharge. That part
opposite the gap and for some way beyond is completely
broken up into fragments which present more the appear-
ance of having been crushed by a hammer than of being the
fragments of a pipe burst under pressure. Some of the
fragments show that the interior of the pipe has been
reduced to powder.

These fragments were scattered to some feet on all sides,
but there was nothing like an explosion. I held the pipe
in my hand at the time of the discharges, and the sensation
was that of a dead blow. There was no noise beyond the
ordinary crack of the discharge.

The manner in which this pipe was destroyed clearly
showed that a larger one might have been broken. But as
it was two o’clock and my fire was out, I did not continue
the experiments.

It is not easy to conceive the precise way in which a
pressure of probably more than 1,000 atmospheres could be
produced and transmitted in a pipe of water the ends of
which were open. It might have been caused by the sud-
den formation of a very minute quantity of steam, or by
the expansion of the water; but whichever way it was, its
effect was due to its instantaneous character, otherwise
there would have been an explosion,

When we consider the great strength of this pipe (which
might have been used for a gun without bursting), and when

17

we see that it was not only burst but that the interior of
the glass was actually crushed by the pressure, and all this
by the discharge of one small jar, we must cease to wonder
at the bursting power of a discharge from the clouds.

The Rev. W. N. Moles woeth, M.A., said, that in answer
to an appeal that had been made to him by the chairman,
he would bring under the notice of the society some Roman
and Celtic antiquities, to which he thought that sufficient
attention had not been given in this country.

1. He believed that few people in Manchester were aware
that on the side of Blackstone Edge, and within a little
more than fourteen miles from their city, there was a Roman
road, which was one of the most perfect and remarkable
that existed anywhere in the world. A thin coating of
earth and heather had so completely preserved it that in
parts it was as fresh and new in its appearance as if it had
been quite recently constructed. It was composed of two
distinct ways, each just broad enough for a rather narrow
cart to pass along it, so that it would seem that in the
construction of this road our railway system had been
anticipated, and that there was what may be called a
double line, one for ascending and the other for descending
carriages. These two ways were separated by stones nearly
a yard wide, and in which a deep groove was cut, apparently
designed for an aqueduct. At the top there was what was
described in the ordnance map as a fort, but what he
believed to be merely the quarry from which the stone used
in the construction of the road had been obtained. Mr.
Molesworth stated that he had inquired of many antiquari-
ans both in this country and in France, but had not been
able to meet with any one who had seen a Roman road that
resembled that which he had described.

2. The next monument to which he wished to call atten-
tion was the Cite de Limes, or de Lenies, otherwise called

18

the Camp de Cesar, about two miles to the north east of
Dieppe. It is a vast Celtic camp of triangular form, capable
of containing a population larger than that of the city of
Manchester. It is bounded on one side by inaccessible
cliffs of great height ; on the second side, where it is partly
defended by nature, with an earthen wall about 36 feet
high; and on the third side, which is less defended by
nature, with an earthen wall about 56 feet high, and as
thick as a railway embankment. The two walls together are
probably about three miles in length. They are supposed
to have been constructed by the Celts, and the space they
enclosed to have served as a place of refuge for the inhab-
itants of the neighbouring country, who, when invaded,
probably fled into, taking with them their families and all
their moveable possessions. Mr. M. stated that he had
seen a great number of flint implements that had been
found within the enclosure. There is a very good model of
it in the museum of Dieppe. There are two similar monu-
ments in Normandy : one at Caudebec, on the Seine. It
is in the form of a very long isoceles triangle, the two
sides of which are inaccessible cliffs, and the base protected
by a wall similar to that just described.

3. Mr. Moles worth also referred to the vitrified camp
which exists in the neighbourhood of St. Brieux in Brittany.
This camp is enclosed by a wall of granite, which has been
completely calcined by the action of fire. It was supposed
by the Archaeological section of the Congres Scientifique of
France who visited it that it had been occupied by persons
whose conduct had rendered them so obnoxious to the inhabi-
tants of the country that they were determined to destroy their
camp so completely as to prevent it from affording them
shelter at any future time. It was very extraordinary that
in these times in which the fort was thus burnt heat could
have been obtained sufficiently intense to destroy the
nature of the granite. In answer to an inquiry as to

19

whether the effects described might not have been produced
by long exposure, Mi\ M. stated that he believed that the
French archaeologists who visited it were unanimously of
opinion that it had been acted on by fire. There were also
some vitrified camps of a similar character in the north of
Scotland.

Dr. Angus Smith said that he could certainly confirm from
personal observation the opinion that Mr. Molesworth had
given, by saying that vitrified forts generally, and probably
always, are the result of premeditated firing. He had seen
none in France, but their chief seat was in Scotland, where
there were many. He had spent some time in examining
Dan Macuisneachan or Macsniochan in Argyleshire, and
having seen the vitrified matter resting on the unaltered
rock below, there was no room for belief that internal fire,
to which some persons attributed the combustion, had ever
interfered. Although Mr. Molesworth had not seen actual
vitrified matter at the fort he visited at St. Brieux, but had
found only granite which had evidently been acted on by
fire, he (Dr. S.) had specimens where the vitreous matter
had evidently been ready to drop at the moment of its cool-
ing and congealing. Many tons of vitrified matter may be
seen on the Top of Noath, north of Aberdeen, and on Knock-
farrel, near Strathpeffer, and indeed in many places. On
one in Hungary, described by Dr. Stuart of Edinburgh and
others, the layers of charred wood are seen alternating with
the stones. None of this kind were known to Dr. Smith as
being in Scotland. He had analysed the vitrified matter
of a small fort in Bute, and one on West Loch Tarbert,
Argyle, and found an increase of bases over the matter of
the stones not vitrified. The ashes of the combustible
would no doubt help to vitrify the surfaces and so cause
adhesion, whilst the heat which penetrated the whole mass
often broke up even sandstones, and bent or made brittle
almost every species of the mixed rocks used. There seems

20

however to have been an inclination to have some basaltic
rocks to assist fusion. The vitrified walls are often very
extensive and the plan is systematic ; no conceivable siege
fires or other violent and fitful work would produce the
result. But as he (the speaker) had written three papers
more or less bearing on this subject, he need not say more.

21

Ordinary Meeting, November 18th, 1873.

E. W. Binney, F.K.S., F.G.S., Vice-President, in the Chair.

Mr. Arthur William Waters, F.G.S., Professor Arthur
Gamgee, F.KS., and Mr. Arthur Schuster, Ph.D., were
elected Ordinary Members of the Society.

“ On the Bursting of Trees and Objects struck by Light-
ning,” by Professor Osbokne Reynolds, M.A.

In a paper on this subject read at the last meeting of this
society I stated that the tube which was burst by a dis-
charge from a jar would probably withstand an internal
pressure of from 2 to 5 tons on the square inch ; and I made
use of the expression the tube might be fired like a gun
without bursting. These statements were based on the cal-
culated strength of the tube, and with a view to show that
there was no mistake, I have since tried it in the following
manner.

I made 3 guns of the same tube. No. 1, which was 6
inches long, had its end stopped with a brass plug containing
the fuze hole. No. 2 and No. 3 were 5 inches long and had
their breeches drawn down so as only to leave a fuze hole.
These tubes were loaded with gun-powder and shotted with
slugs of wire which fitted them, and which were all f inch
long.

No. 1 was first fired with | inch of powder, the shot
penetrated J inch into a deal board, and the gun was
uninjured.

No. 2 was then fired with 1|^ inches of powder, and the
shot went through the 1 inch ■ deal board and inch into
some mahogany behind, thus penetrating altogether
inches ; the tube, however, was burst to fragments. Some
of these were recovered, and although they were small they

Peoceedin&s— Lit. & Phil, Society. — Vol. XIII. — No, 4— Session 1873-4.

22

did not show cracks and signs of crushing like those from
the electrical fracture.

No. 8 was then fired with | inch of powder, and the shot
penetrated J inch into the deal board.

It was again fired with 1 inch of powder, and the shot
penetrated 1 inch into the deal.

Again it was a third time fired with 1 J inches of powder,
when it burst and the shot only just dented the wood.

These experiments seem to me to prove conclusively the
great strength of the tube and the enormous bursting force
of the electrical discharge.

“ On the Colour of Nankin Cotton,” by Edwakd Schunck,
Ph.D., F.RS.

Among the numerous varieties of cotton existing in
commerce there is one which cannot fail to strike the most
unpractised eye, in consequence of the peculiar colour, vary-
ing from a pale yellow or rather fawn to a brown or reddish-
brown, which it exhibits. This kind of cotton is generally
called “Nankin” cotton in consequence of its having been
used at an early period by the Chinese for the manufacture
of the fabric called nankin or nankeen, the peculiar colour
of which is so well known as to need no description.
Specimens of raw cotton of the colour referred to from other
countries, such as India, America, the West Coast of Africa,
and the shores of the Mediterranean are, however, found in
all extensive collections, so that it cannot be considered as
a product peculiar to China. In Malta it is, I am informed,
especially abundant, more so than the ordinary white kind.
Whether it is produced by a peculiar variety (not to say
species) of the cotton plant or whether the colour is owing
to peculiarities of climate, soil, or method of culture in-
fluencing the plant is, on the other hand, a question not
easily determined. Considerable doubt indeed prevails as
to the number of species embraced by the genus Gossypium

23

and the characters by which they are distinguished from
one another, some authorities admitting only four species,
whilst others describe more than twenty. Among the
former is Dr. Forbes Koyle, who says^: “The result of our
investigation of the species of the genus Gossypium is, that
there are at least four distinct species which may be easily
distinguised, and that the great mass, probably the whole
of the cotton of commerce, is yielded by three of these
species and their varieties.” Attempts have been made to
distinguish the various species of Gossypium according to
the colour of the cotton produced by them, but as might be
anticipated with little success, since the colour of the organs
of plants seems to be one of the least persistent of their
characteristics. Anyone, indeed, examining a collection of
specimens of cotton fibre must see that there are few marked
distinctions between them as regards colour, none being
absolutely white, and the greater number exhibiting various
shades of cream colour, verging to fawn. Nankin cotton
may be considered as being placed, as far as colour is con-
cerned, at the extreme end of the scale, at the other end of
which we find Sea Island and other almost pure white
kinds. Several authorities assert, it is true, that Nankin
cotton is produced by one species of the genus only, viz.,
G. religiosumy but others say it is found on more than one
species. Among the latter I may again quote Dr. Forbes
Boyle, who says : “ G. religiosum of Linnseus seems to be
distinguished from other species only by having tawny-
coloured cotton ; but we have seen that both the common
Indian cotton, the Chinese cotton, the arboreous species, and
G. harhadense all occasionally produce nankeen-coloured
cotton, and that, therefore, it cannot be considered as char-
acteristic.” Beferriiig to “ China cotton” the same author
says'!*: “ The specimen in Herb. Hook., from Mr. Fortune, is

* On tlie Culture and Commerce of Cotton, &c., p. 151.

t On tlie Culture and Commerce of Cotton, &c., p. 143.

24

less hairy than most Indian specimens, though clothed with
a number of short hairs. Mr. Fortune states, in a note with
some specimens that he sent to Dr. Lindley, from China,
that the white-coloured and the nankeen-coloured cotton
are yielded by the same species and even by the same plant,
and that the two kinds are separated by the Chinese.
Besides India and China, this species is cultivated in
Persia, Syria, Asia Minor, and the Islands of the Mediter-
ranean, as well as in the north of Africa and the south of
Europe. The kind yielding the nankeen-coloured cotton in
Malta is probably a variety.” Fortune, in his Travels,*
makes the following statement regarding the cotton plant
of China: “The Chinese or Nanking cotton plant is the
Gossypium herhaceum of botanists, and the ‘ Mie ^uha’ of
the northern Chinese. It is a branching annual, growing
from one to three or four feet in height, according to the
richness of the soil, and flowering from August to October.
.... The yellow cotton, from which the beautiful Nanking
cloth is manufactured, is called ‘ Tze mie wha ’ bv the
Chinese, and differs but slightly in its structure and general
appearance from the kind just noticed. I have often com-
pared them in the cotton fields where they were growing,
and although the yellow variety has a more stunted habit
than the other, it has no characters which constitute a
distinct species. It is merely an accidental variety, and
although its seeds may generally produce the same kind,
they doubtless frequently yield the white variety, and vice
versa. Hence specimens of the yellow cotton are frequently
found growing amongst the white in the immediate vicinity
of Shanghai ; and again a few miles northward, in the fields
near the city of Poushan, on the banks of the Yang-tse-
Kiang, where the yellow cotton abounds, I have often
gathered specimens of the white variety.” The opinion
here expressed is confirmed by Parlatore,j* who affirms,
Yisits to the Tea Countries of China, vol. I., p. 199.
t Le Specie dei Cotoni, Firenze, 1866.

25

without hesitation, that the plant bearing red or reddish
cotton is merely a variety either of G. arhoreum or G.
hirsutum.

Mr. Thomas Clegg, of this city, who is familiar with the
properties of the various kinds of cotton and well acquainted
with their commercial value and places of growth, has
kindly lent me some of his specimens for exhibition on this
occasion, and in a communication received from him he has
given me some information regarding Nankin cotton which
will no doubt be of interest to the meeting.

Mr. Clegg says ; “ I found Nankin cotton abundantly at
Malta, many parts of Tunis, and in great quantities on the
West Coast of Africa. Dr. Livingstone has sent me many
samples of it, and I have frequently had specimens of it
from other, but always arid, dry, and hot parts of the world.
The Maltese has however always been the best. It is very
short in staple, coarse and of little value in itself, especially
as so little of it is produced. Being high coloured, of course
if used alone it would give a high peculiar colour to the
cloth, and as mixing it with whiter cotton generally stripes
and spoils the cloth, it is in very bad repute. In China and
Japan it gets more dusky and dark and even lower in staple.
On the West Coast of Africa it seems to be hybridized and
modified in colour. The seed, when cleaned from the cotton,
is generally only half clothed with the fibre, the other half
being black. But whether entirely Nankin-coloured or a
little whiter, it is always on that coast much longer in staple,
and though rather coarse, still a good useful cotton. Indeed
the generality of the West Coast Cotton is a nice cream-
coloured cotton, a little higher than the old Demerara cotton
used to be, and of staple on an average fully equal to Ameri-
can bowed upland, or the lower class of New Orleans, and
I hardly think can be classed as Nankin at all, though high-
coloured. If it could be had in quantity it would, in my
opinion, soon supersede all the lower qualities of American

26

cotton. Nankin cotton is always, so far as I have seen,
from fibrous-coated seed. As to the colour, I cannot tell,
being no chemist, whether it is fast or not, but it never

seems to fade with me According to my experience

it is only in very hot countries, and on a rather arid soil,
that the really dark Nankin is produced. I think if experi-
ments were tried for three or four years together, Maltese
on the West Coast of Africa would resemble African, and
West African seed sown at Malta would become Maltese
cotton; and I almost think that West African seed which
at home produces yellow-tinged cotton, would, in one or two
years, in the New Orleans district, produce white cotton.
And I further think that pure New Orleans seed sown at
Malta in three or four years would give cotton of the red
tinge of ordinary Maltese.” Mr. Clegg seems therefore to
agree with those who think that the variations in colour
observed in cotton are entirely owing to differences of
climate and soil, and are not peculiarities attaching to
different species of the plant.

These remarks will suffice to give a general idea of the
properties of Nankin cotton and its supposed origin. I pro-
pose in this communication to give a short account of some
experiments made to ascertain the cause of the peculiar
colour by which it is characterized.

The colour of Nankin cloth having been successful^
imitated in this country by depositing oxide of iron on and
within the fibres in the manner well known to dyers, it
might be supposed that the colour of the raw cotton was
due to iron in some form. The simplest experiments prove
this however not to be the case. The cotton on being
incinerated leaves an ash which does not contain a larger
proportion of iron than that of ordinary cotton, and the
colour is not removed by treating the cotton with dilute
mineral acids capable of dissolving oxide of iron, whereas
the colouring matter dissolves, though slowly, on boiling it

27

with caustic soda lye. Another mode of imitating the
colour consists in mordanting the fabric with alum and
then dyeing with oak bark, the process resembling that
by which calico is ordinarily dyed of a yellow or fawn
colour. It is evident however from its resisting the action
of acids, that the colour of Nankin cotton cannot be due to
the presence of a lake of alumina or any other base. In
order to arrive at some conclusion regarding the nature of
the colouring matter, it was necessary to employ large quan-
tities of material, for though the colour looks intense when
the cotton is viewed in mass, it is in reality produced by a
small quantity of substance spread over a large extent of
surface, in this respect resembling the colour of the petals
of some flowers. I therefore had recourse to the plan
adopted on a previous occasion, and described in a paper I
had the honour of reading before this Society several years
ago.* A quantity of yarn made entirely of Nankin cotton
(from the coast of Coromandel) was submitted to the
usual process of bleaching, and the dark brown liquid ob-
tained by treating the yarn with boiling alkaline lye was
mixed with an excess of acid which produced a dark brown
flocculent precipitate. This was filtered off, washed with
water, and then treated exactly in the manner described in
the paper just referred to. It was found to contain the
same substances as the precipitate obtained in the same
way from alkaline lyes with which ordinary Indian or
American cotton had been treated, viz., cotton wax, fusing
at the same temperature and having the same general pro-
perties as that from ordinary cotton, a white crystalline
fatty acid (probably margaric acid) pectic acid, parapec-
tic acid, and lastly colouring matters. It is to the latter
that the cotton owes its colour, for this colour is removed
to a great extent by treatment with alkali, while the
colouring matters are thrown down from the liquid

* Memoirs, 3rd Series, vol. lY,, p. 95

on the addition of acid, and I therefore examined them
with more care than the other constituents of the
precipitate. These colouring matters I found to be at
least two in number. One of them is easily soluble in
alcohol and is obtained on evaporating the solution as
a dark brown, shining, transparent resin. The other
is almost insoluble in cold alcohol, but dissolves in boiling
alcohol, and is deposited on the solution cooling in the form
of a light brown powder. Their properties are in genera]
the same as those of the analagous colouring matters from
ordinary cotton. They contain, like these, C, H, N, and O,
but in somewhat different relative proportions. Their com-
position in 100 parts I found to be as follows :

A. B.

Colouring matter
soluble in
cold alcohol.

C 58-22

H 5-42

N 3 73

0 32-63

Colouring matter
insoluble in
cold alcohol.

C ..... 57-70

H 5 60

N 4-99

0 31-71

The composition of the analogous colouring matters from
American cotton according to previous determinations was

as follows : —

A.

C 58-42

H 5-85

N 5-26

0 30-47

B.

C 58-36

H 5-71

N 7-60

0 28-33

The difference in composition, in the first case at least, is
not greater than may be expected with substances of the
purity of which, in consequence of their not occurring in a
crystallized state, one can never be perfectly sure. On the
whole, I think these experiments justify the conclusion at
which I have arrived, viz., that the colour of Nankin cotton
is due to the presence of bodies which are very similar to,
if not identical with, those which cause the much fainter

29

tints of the ordinary kinds. They skow too that the
substances accompanying the cellulose (whether clothing
the fibres, or contained in their interior) are the same
with this variety of cotton as with all those previously
examined.

“ An Improved Method for preparing Marsh Gas,” by C.
SCHOELEMMER, F.RS.

Everyone who ever had to prepare soda-lime knows that
the preparation of this substance is a troublesome as well
as a laborious process. Chemists will therefore hail with
pleasure a paper “ On the Determination of Nitrogen,” by
S. W. Johnson {Liebig's Ann., 169, 69). He has found
that in using the method of Varrentrapp and Will, soda-lime
may be replaced by an intimate mixture, of about equal
weights, of anhydrous sodium carbonate and dry slaked
lime. It occurred to me that such a mixture might also be
employed instead of soda-lime in the preparation of marsh-
gas, and I found that by heating an intimate mixture of
anhydrous sodium acetate with more than twice its weight
of lime and sodium carbonate, a very regular and quiet
evolution of marsh gas took place. The gas, thus obtained,
always contains some acetone, which is easily removed by
shaking it with water, or, better still, with a solution of
acid sodium sulphite.

MICROSCOPICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SECTION.
October 13 th, 1873.

Professor W. C. Williamson, President of the Section,

in the Chain

The President delivered the following address :

It being the wish of your Council that I should open our

30

new session by a few preliminary remarks upon our position
in reference to the work which lies before us, I have not
felt myself at liberty to decline acceding to their request.

I think we can scarcely meet in this hall without being
in some degree stimulated to effort by the associations which
cling to it. It is the hall rich in memories of White and of
Perceval, of Dalton and of the two Henrys. It is the hall
in which most of their discoveries were announced — dis-
coveries which have given Manchester so distinguished a
place in the scientific annals of Great Britain. It is to me
a matter of no small pride and satisfaction that the present
age will add its contribution to that illustrious roil of names,
and that Joule and Fairbairn, Binney and Boscoe, will be
remembered bv our successors as men who in their several

t/

spheres of labour carried the torch of science with no un-
certain grasp, and handed it on to their posterity shining
with a light as brilliant as it gave forth when they received
it from their distinguished predecessors.

Stimulated by these remembrances, we do well from time
to time to take a conscientious view of our position in re-
lation to the work which awaits us. We do not occupy our
places in this room in the capacity of educators, but of inves-
tigators. Whatever duties of the former class may devolve
upon some of us elsewhere, in this place we neither profess
to be the teachers of the young, nor popularisers of science
for the benefit of the adults who join in our assemblies. It
is true that we may, in some humble measure, fulfil both
these functions, but such fulfilments are but the collateral
incidents of our position. Our proper duties are those of
pioneers, endeavouring to carry light where all is as yet
dark, — to dispel the thick mists of our own ignorance which
stiU envelop us as with a pall, and which can only be dis-
pelled by vigorous and combined efibrts. It is our duty to
try to discover unknown truths, to ascertain hitherto unob-
served facts, and, if possible, to trace the relations which

31

subsist between them, as well as those which they bear to
facts previously known. In this search for truth no new
fact is so insignificant as to be unworthy of observation,
since it may prove to be the falling apple capable of suggest-
ing a law of the universe, — or the kite-drawn spark from
the passing cloud which opens out a new world of light and
force. If, then, in our researches we catch a faint glimpse
of some such truth, let us pursue it diligently until we
succeed in bringing it into clearer view. The ultimate use
of which such truth is capable must not be the primary
object of our pursuit. Many of our investigations must be
carried on without reference to mercenary aims. At the
same time whilst we thus follow truth for her own sake,
let us not ignore the vital importance of applied science, or
forget that those who so apply it are honoured instruments
in alleviating the toils and increasing the joys of humanity.

How the existing band of active scientific workers is to
be increased is one of the problems now occupying the
minds of some of our ablest thinkers. The need for such
an increase, especially in our own country, is admitted by
all, but men differ as to the efficiency of the means suggested.
Some, whose names stand high on the roll of the learned,
think that the endowment of fitting men to be set apart as
discoverers, will best meet the difficulty. I confess I have
many fears as to the success of such a plan. Scientific
research is rarely the child of wealthy leisure. It is true
that you have, here and there, a Murchison or a Lyell,
whom a fortunate combination of circumstances has freed
from the necessity of labouring to win the means of
existence, but who were yet more fortunate in possessing
the vigorous energy which rendered powerless the paraly-
zing influences of wealth and station. As a rule, the
W'ealthy classes have done but little scientific work, and
such as have entered the field as vigorous labourers have
rarely been those whose leisure was co-extensive with them

32

wealth. They were usually men, who, like the two
Lubbocks, were actively engaged in the engrossing pursuits
of the office or of the counting-house, but who still found
time to labour in the scientific field and established their
claim to stand abreast of the foremost in the army of work-
ers. The fact is that too much leisure tends to enervate
the mind, whilst the busy commercial or professional life
stimulates the brain into ceaseless activity. This habitual
vigour is restless for action, even in what with most men
would be idle hours, and expends its surplus energy upon
literary labours or scientific research. Such facts make me '
very dubious as to the advantages which would arise from
the special endowment of men whose sole occupation in life
should be scientific enquiry.

Except in some special departments of science accidental
circumstances rather than a pre-arranged plan have much
to do with determining the direction in which original
investigations are carried on. Some small incident primarily
directs an observer’s attention to a special field of labour,
and as he follows its leads the area expands before him and
he ultimately finds himself deeply engaged in a career of
important research. Of course I presume that early training
has prepared him for the work. Now these facts appear to
me to suggest the real remedy for the present scarcity of a
high class of workers, and I think the times shew signs,
however faint, of prospective improvement in this matter.
We want a larger supply of sufficiently well endowed pro-
fessorial chairs in which the obligatory duty of teaching
shall stimulate a man to keep himself abreast of his age, but
in which that duty shall not be so all-engrossing as to occupy
the whole of his time. By such arrangements many needful
things would be provided. We should have an enlarged
body of men who would be competent to pursue original
researches, because the previous training which their official
position would involve would prepare them to recognise

33

what the Arctic navigator would term new leads, as well as
give them the intelligent power to follow them out. I am
satisfied that the two kinds of mental energies respectively
involved in teaching and in pursuing new investigations
act and re-act upon each other. That the man actively
engaged in teaching is undergoing the best of preparations
for other work, whilst the original investigator is of all men
most likely to fulfil well the duties of a teacher, because he
is more likely than other men to be animated by zeal and
enthusiasm for the work upon which he is engaged. Origi-
nal research, I believe, furnishes the best of training schools
for the teacher, whilst the students will benefit by drinking
at the running stream instead of at the stagnant pool. That
a growing demand for teachers of phy sical science is spring-
ing up is obvious. The grammar schools of Manchester,
Bradford, and Giggleswick may be taken as examples of the
change which a more enlightened public opinion is producing
in the respective various parts of the kingdom. When we
remember at how recent a period a small band of workers
like Huxley and Brodie first insisted upon the necessity for
a great change in both the primary and the higher education
of the youth of Great Britain I confess I marvel at the
wondrous results that have already been attained, and I
look forward into the future with sanguine hope. Mean-
while we experience a pressing want of a larger army of
young workers. The case is one in which the old political
maxim appears to be reversed in which supply will increase
demand. It appears as if there were many great and vener-
able educational establishments in this country which would
enter heartily into the work of science teaching if they could
obtain competent and judicious teachers — men who would
not merely cram their pupils’ minds with isolated details but
who were competent to make such teaching a real educa-
tional instrument and not merely an exercise of the memory.
This want appears to me to indicate the more immediate

34

duty of government at the present time. The brief experi-
ment tried at South Kensington, a short time ago, by Prof.
Huxley, aided by Dr. Kay Lankester and Professor Michael
Foster, is one which from its costliness must be prosecuted
by the Government if carried on at all, because if it is to be
productive of the full measure of the benefit to the nation
of which it is capable, it must be carried on in a prolonged
manner and on a very large scale. Such a work would, it
appears to me, be accepted by the members of the House of
Commons as involving a legitimate expenditure of the public
finances, because it would be in strict accordance with that
system of training of teachers to which they have already
given their official sanction. Such a system, if regularly
organised and perseveringly sustained, would tend to
create an army of men competent to become original
workers, and if this method was followed up by the estab-
lishment of local colleges in all the great centres of industry,
there would be found permanent spheres of labour for the
students thus trained. Two things needful to our national
well-being would thus be attained; we should enrich the
country by an extension of those scientific researches which
within our own lifetime have proved to be so fertile a source of
national wealth, and we should extend a scientific educa-
tional organisation which the fashionable quackeries of the
day shew to be a necessary adjunct to that almost
exclusively literary one which has so long monopolised the
teaching functions in this country.

Mr. Chakles Bailey exhibited specimens of Garex
punctata, Gaudin, which he had collected in August last
on the damp, narrow ledges of perpendicular rocks near a
water-fall, on the north side of a small bay, named Water-
winch, about a mile north of Tenby, Pembrokeshire. This
Garex, although it has long held a place in English floras,
on the authority of some Cornish specimens seen by Dr.

35

Boott, has generally been admitted with doubt as an
indigenous plant ; many botanists believing that varieties of
Car ex distans had been mistaken for it. There are several
localities in Ireland recorded as stations for Gaudin’s plant ;
it has also been found recently in Scotland, and the Tenby
locality above referred to re-establishes its right to be
considered a British species.

November 10th, 1873.

Chakles Bailey, Esq., Vice-President of the Section,

in the Chair.

“ Ptemarks upon the British locality for Lobelia urens,”
by J. C. Melvill, M.A., F.L.S.

The author being in the neighbourhood of Taunton this
summer, determined to visit Axminster, the only known
locality for this species in Britain, and set out for that pur-
pose on the 1st of August.

The common where it was said to grow in 1836, has now
been cultivated, and the old landmarks removed, and no
trace of the plant was to be seen ; however, a mile or two
further on, beyond Shute Hill, he met with the lobelia in
tolerable plenty, but exceedingly local. The flowers were
in perfection, showing that the time of flowering mentioned
in the various Botanical works is erroneous, where Autumn
is stated to be the time. Mr. Melvill exhibited some dried
specimens and distributed them among the members.

“On Lymexylon Navale,” by Joseph Sidebotham,

F.B.A.S.

Mr. Sidebotham referred to the various authors who have
written about this species, the first and probably only
British example of which was taken by Mr. Griesbach, in

36

Windsor forest, in tlie year 1829. It is said formerly to
have been so abundant in the naval dockyards of Sweden,
that Linnseus was consulted as to the best mode of stopping
the injury done by it to the timber, an account of which he
published in his Iter Westrogoth.

Last year several specimens of this insect were taken in
Dunham park by Mr. J oseph Chappell, and Mr. Sidebotham,
on visiting the tree, found the larvae feeding in the wood.

In July of the present year the author visited the park
again, and found various specimens, of both sexes, in the
tree, and also on the wing, and expressed an opinion that
the species would be found in other places now that its
mode of life and habits had been investigated, of which he
gave various particulars. He also exhibited specimens of
the insects, and of the wood bored by them.

Mr. Sidebotham exhibited various forms of Helix insana,
from Tenby, and distributed specimens among the members.

37

Ordinary Meeting, December 2nd, 1873.

Rev. William Gaskell, M.A., Vice-President, in the Chair.

Mr. Henry H. Howarth, F.S.A., was elected an Ordinary
Member of the Society,

The following letter from Henry Bowman, Esq., of
Brockham Green, Surrey, dated 27th November, 1873, was
read : —

Seeing the report of Prof Reynolds' experiments on the
nature of the explosive force of lightning, it occurred to me
that the Society might be interested in an account of a
remarkable thunderstorm which took place here on Friday
the 7th inst.

I was not at home at the time, and did not hear of the
storm until my return the following week.

The Vicar of this place sent a short notice of the storm
to the “ Times," copy of which is inclosed, together with
some fuxTher particulars which he has kindly jotted down,

(copy.)

Times of Nov. 12, 1873 :

The Rev. Alan Cheales writes to us a remarkable

storm burst over the valley between Dorking and Reigate on

Nov. 7 In general we have a remarkable immunity from

thunderstorms, w^hich draw away along the Downs to the north of
us. The storm came up suddenly from the N.W. ...... I have just

returned from inspecting an oak tree in Betchworth Park ......

which was completely cleft in two ... . . the tree has been chopped

down within about 10 feet of the ground the girth is about

8 feet."

My dear Sir, Nov. 20, 1873.

In reply to your enquiries relative to the very remarkable
thunderstorm of Nov. 7, mentioned in the Times of Nov. 12, I

PfiocEEDiNas— Lit. &Phil, Society. — Yoe, XIII. — No. 5 — Session 1873-4.

38

have much pleasure in putting before you such other particulars
as I have been able to gather.

There was no warning whatever, a black cloud rolled up, a little
rain, and then two tremendous flashes.

The tree struck was a fine young oak, half covered with ivy, in
a row with other oaks, some also having ivy on them.

E. Batchelar, painter at Dorking, 2 miles off, describes a tre-
mendous flash of blue light, and thunder instantly.

Eev. G. E. Kensit, walking in fields about 1 mile off, describes a
ball of blue fire which seemed to fall on his foot.

Martha Eapley, coming home through Betchworth Park with
perambulator and two children, was only 300 or 400 yards from
the tree ; was so stunned and blinded that she saw nothing — per-
ambulator seemed wTapped in flames — she did not know whether
the children were dead or not until she got home. Neither in-
jui’ed.

J. C. Eichards, Esq., of Boxhill Farm, had a sheep killed about
J a mile off ; he seemed to think it was killed by the same flash
that split the tree. There was only one other flash.

The tree, unfortunately, was removed at once by Mr. Hope’s
woodreeve. I could not see that any part was blackened. Mr.
Eichards observed to me that no conceivable human force could
have so split it.

Part of the fibre had been made to writhe round in a most
remarkable manner.

Huge splinters (3 feet by 3 or 4 inches) were chopped out and
lay a few feet off.

The tree was divided and hung on each side of the fence about
8 or 10 feet from the ground. The lightning seemed to have run
down thence along the outside bark into the ground; but the
marks were slight. The tree was still solid below the cleft.

I am yours faithfully,

Alan Cheales.

39

Ordinary Meeting December 16tb, 1873.

E. W. Binney, F.RS., F.G.S., Vice-President, in the Chair.

Mr. James Heelis was elected an Ordinary Member of the
Society,

The Chairman said that since the last meeting: the
Society had lost one of its most illustrious members by the
death of Professor Louis Agassiz, the great naturalist, who
had been an Honorary Member for above thirty years. He
(the Chairman) had the honour of being personally ac-
quainted with the deceased, having been brought into com-
munication with him during the publication of his great
work, ‘'Kecherches sur les Poissons fossiles,” and having
had the pleasure of supplying him with specimens for its
illustration. In the Eoyal Society’s Catalogue is a list of
130 scientific memoirs he gave to the world. The reputa-
tion of Agassiz as one of the foremost men of his day in
natural history is too well known to need any tribute from
me, but after a lapse of thirty years his amiable manners
and his great kindness in cheerfully imparting his vast
stores of knowlege to the humblest student are fresh in my
memory. He was one of the kindest and heartiest of men,
and his fine and manly countenance at that time was the
picture of health and good nature, and truly reflected the
genial soul within. In great and small matters he was
equally punctual and correct. All who ever allowed him to
make use of their specimens must well remember the ample
acknowledgments he made and the scrupulous care with
which they were returned; and some of the first living
palaeontologists might learn a useful lesson in this respect
from the illustrious dead. With Agassiz it may be traly
said that it was hard to decide whether his head or his

40

heart most deserved our admiration. The world has to
lament the death of a great and good man, and this Society
one of its greatest ornaments.

‘'Method of Construction of a New Barometer,” by J. P,
Joule, D.C.L., LL.D., F.KS., &c.. President.

The condition of the instrument placed on the 18th of
March in the Society’s Hall proves that it is possible to use
sulphuric acid on the top of the mercurial column without
chemical action taking place. I have therefore proceeded
to prepare other tubes with a view to test, by practical
work, the merits of the new contrivance.

A tube of about i% inch bore is selected. It is first
cleaned by drawing a knotted string through it. It is then
bent to the siphon shape; and near the longer end it is
drawn to a capillary tube. It is then washed with nitric
acid ; afterwards with sulphuric acid. The sulphuric acid
is then drained off. Mercury is then poured into the short
limb. The end of the longer limb is then attached to my
mercurial exhauster. On working this the mercury rises in
the tube, and, being replenished by pouring it into the short
limb, soon arrives at the height due to the atmospheric
pressure. It carries with it the acid left adhering to the
sides, so that after a few hours half, or, what is better, one
third of an inch of acid stands above the mercury. Small
bubbles of air are seen to arise; but by leaving the tube in
connexion with the exhauster for a day or two these finally
cease. Mercury is then poured into the short limb until
that in the longer rises nearly to the capillary part of
the tube. This is then sealed and detached from the ex-
hauster. Mercury is then removed from the shorter limb
until it stands in the long one at a convenient height.
Sulphuric acid is then introduced into the short limb until it
forms a column equal to that in the longer limb. A small
tube is finally attached to the short limb, and dipping a

41

little way into a small bottle containing a small quantity of
sulphuric acid, prevents the access of moist air into the
short limb.

The tube thus completed possesses the following advan-
tages : — 1st. There is the utmost facility in the movement
of the column, so that the most minute changes of pressure
are at once registered without any dragging. 2nd. The
depression produced by capillary action is reduced to one
half, so that the siphon arrangement can be satisfactorily
used as affording an accurate neutralization of capillary
action.

Mr. Brothers exhibited the plates forming the first part
of the Holborn Society’s photolith reproduction of Hans
Burgman’s Triumphs of Maximilian I. The designs are
engraved on wood and printed on separate sheets, but the
set shown were mounted so as to exhibit the artist’s inten-
tion— that of a triumphal procession. This remarkable
work is considered to be one of the finest specimens of
wood engraving.

Mr. Baxendell read the following letter from Professor
C. PiAzzi Smvth, F.R.S., Astronomer Royal of Scotland : —

Referring (as the prompt and frequent publications of your
Society so easily and agreeably enable one to do) to Professor
Osborne Reynolds’s triumphant proof, on November 18th,
that his glass tubes were strong enough to act as guns, — and
also that 1 *5 inches depth of powder produced nothing like
the force exerted by the electrical discharge; and that that
electrical discharge acted by means of conversion of water
suddenly into steam, as when lightning rends a tree; —
may I beg to offer two remarks ?

(1) The soundness of the discussions before the Society
on the recent wood-struck case near Manchester, is evident
by a similar conclusion arrived at by the British Associa-

42

tion when at Edinburgh in 1850. For a tree in the neigh-
bourhood having been struck and specially shattered into
thin plates of wood, during the week of congress, was formally
examined by a deputation of the Association, and the light-
ning was held to have exploded the watery matter of the
sap-vessels.

(2) That water is a far more powerful exploder than gun-
powder if you can get it (the water) to explode at all, is now
experimentally proved by Professor Osborne Keynolds’s
electrical experiments; and did occupy my attention many
years ago, on comparing the far larger increase of space
occupied by exploded water in the shape of steam, than by
exploded gunpowder in the shape of its permanent gases.

The difficulty however is, to get the water to explode,
and not to pass off merely into steam ; a difficulty well illus-
trated by any and every accession of dampness to gunpow-
der fired in the usual way, decreasing, instead of increasing,
the gunpowder’s explosive force.

In order to try to explode water, at that time, I melted a
large ladle full of lead ; put upon the fiuid and almost red-
hot surface a drop of water and tried various devices to
bring it under the influence of the heat ; but even when
forcibly attempted to be pushed under the melted lead, the
water ran with vehemence up the substance of the wooden
probe employed, and refused to have anything to do with
the fluid lead, which consequently remained undisturbed.

But when I next took a smaller iron ladle, put a drop of
water on the bottom of it, and gave therewith a little pat
to the surface of the melted lead, instantly the whole con-
tents of the great ladle were scattered to the winds, and
only a few grains were recovered. Explosion of water had
apparently taken place with excellent effect.

Then came a question as to repeating such an explosion

43

at small intervals of time, in a safe manner, so as to have
an explosion engine ; in which, if all the heat of the coal
could be used in exploding water, rather than in raising
steam, a surprising economy of fuel should result.

But as no progress was made in such an engine, I can
only refer to some old accounts of an explosion in a copper
foundry, where the great establishment was literally blown
up, it was said, by a workman simply spitting into a vessel
of melted copper. The mere amount of steam raised from
the saliva would evidently have been of no practicable avail
for either good or evil, even if employed in the best modern
expansive engine on the thermo-dynamic principles ; but, as
an explosive, its energy would seem to have been so vast, that
I must hope for further development of the subject at the
hands of the able men of science in the Manchester Literary
and Philosophical Society.

“On the Destruction of Sound by Fog and the Inertness
of a Heterogeneous Fluid,” by Professor Osborne Eey-
NOLDS, M.A.

1. That sound does not readily penetrate a fog is a matter
of common observation. The bells and horns of ships are
not heard so far during a fog as when the air is clear. In a
London fog the noise of the wheels is much diminished, so
that they seem to be at a distance when they are really
close by. On one occasion during the launch of the Great
Eastern the fog was reported so dense that the workmen
could neither see nor hear.

2. It has also been observed that mist in air or steam
renders them very dull as regards motion. This is observed-
particularly in the pipes and passages in a steam engine.
Mr. D. K. Clark found in his experiments that it required

from 3 to 5 times as much back pressure to expel misty
steam from a cylinder as when the steam was dry.

3. My object in this paper is to give and to investigate
what appears to me to be an explanation of these pheno-
mena; from which it appears that they are intimately
connected, that, in fact, they are both due to the same
cause. This explanation will be the clearer for a few pre-
liminary remarks.

4. The nature of a fog and the manner in which the small
spherical drops are suspended against their weight is well
understood. So long as the fog is at rest or moving uni-
formly, the drops being heavier than the air tend to sink
like a stone in water, and consequently they are not at
rest in the air but are moving through it with greater or
less velocities according as they are large like rain or small
like haze. This motion is caused entirely by the difference
in the specific gravity of the air and water, if the drops were
merely little hard portions of air they would have no ten-
dency to descend.

In some fogs the drops are so fine that they appear to
be absolutely at rest, and will remain for a long time with-
out any appreciable motion. The force which retards the
downward motion of the drops is the friction of the air, and
this is proportional to the surface of the drop and the square
of the velocity. As the drops get smaller their weight
diminishes faster than their surface, and consequently the
friction will balance the weight with a less velocity. The
exact law is that the velocity caused by the weight of a
drop is proportional to the square root of its diameter.

This is the general explanation of what goes on under the
action of gravity when the fog is at rest or moving uni-
formly, and we may make use of it to illustrate what goes on
when the fog is subjected to accelerating or retarding forces.

45

5. If we imagine a vessel, full of such a compound as the
fog is made of, to be set in motion or stopped, the acceler-
ating or retarding force will have to be transmitted from
the sides of the vessel to the fluid within it by means of
pressure. These pressures will act equally throughout the
fluid, and if the fluid were homogeneous they would produce
the same effect throughout it, and it would all move together
but the pressures will obviously produce less effect on the
drops of water than they do on the corresponding volumes
of air, and the result will be that the drops of water will
move with a different velocity to the air-— that the drops of
water will in fact move through the air just as they do under
the action of gravity. In fact, if the air is subject to an
acceleration of 32 feet per second the effect on the drops
(their motion through the air) will be the same as that
due to their weight. It is easy to conceive the action
between the air and the drops of water. If a mass of
air and water is retarded it is obvious that the water, by
virtue of its greater density, will move on through the air.
This property has, in fact, been made use of to dry the steam
used in steam engines. The steam is made to take a sharp
turn, when the water, moving straight on through it, is
deposited on the side of the vessel.

6. Owing to this motion of the water through the air it
would clearly take longer with the same force to impress
the same momentum on foggy air than on the same when
dry. This is obvious, for at the end of a certain time the
particles of water would not be moving as fast as the air,
and consequently the air and water would have less momen-
tum than the same weight of dry air all moving together :
that is to say, if we had two light vessels containing the
same weight of fluid, the one full of dry air and the other
full of fog, and both subjected to the same force for the same

46

time, at the end of this time, although they would have
exactly the same motion, their contents would not, for the
drops of water in the fog would not be moving so fast as the
vessel. Now the energy expended on each of these vessels
would be the same, but, inasmuch as the effects are different,
the energy acquired by the foggy air would be less than that
acquired by the diy air, the difference having gone to move
the water through the air : that is to say, it would require
more pressure to impress in the same time the same velocity
on foggy air than on dry air of the same density.

7. This then fully explains the dulness with which foggy
air acquires motion. In the passages of a steam engine the
steam is subjected to continual accelerations and retarda-
tions, each of which requires more force in the manner
described with misty than with dry steam, and at each of
which the particles of water moving through the steam
destroy energy in creating eddies.

8. Although not so obvious, the same is true in the case
of sound. The effect of waves of sound traversing a portion
of air is first to accelerate and then to retard it. And if
there are any drops of water in the air these will not take
up the motion of the air so readily as the air itself. They
will allow the air to move backwards and forwards past
them, and so cause friction and diminish the effect of
the wave as it proceeds, just as a loose cargo will diminish
the rolling of a ship.

9. It is important to notice that this action of the par-
ticles of water is not analogous to their action in reflecting
the waves of light.

It has been assumed as an explanation of the action of
fog on sound that the particles of water break up the wave
of sound by small reflections in the same way as they
scatter the waves of light. The analogy however is not

47

admissible ; for in the case of light the wave length is
shorter than the thickness of the drops, and the surface of
the drop acts in the same way as if the drop were of large
extent ; but in the case of sound the wave's length may be
thousands of times the thickness of the drop, and instead of
the whole wave being reflected it will only be a very small
portion of it. Even this portion can hardly be called a
reflection ; it is due to the motion of the air past the drops
like the waves of sound caused by a bullet, or the waves
thrown off by the bow of a ship.

10. A certain portion of the resistance which the air offers
to the motion of the water through it is this — what is called
iu naval science wave resistance; but it can be shown
that the proportion of this resistance to the resistance in
causing eddies diminishes with the velocity, and conse-
quently it can have very little to do with the effect of the
drops of water on the waves of sound, in which the velocity
of the water through the air must be very small.*

11. So far, then, I have shown the manner in which the
fog diminishes the sound ; it remains to consider the con-
nection between the size of the drops and their effects.
I am not aware that any observations have been made
with respect to this. I do not know whether it has ever
been noticed whether a fine or a coarse mist produces the
most effect on sound. It does not appear, however, that
rain produces the same effect as fog ; and considering rain
as a coarse fog, we must come to the conclusion that a cer-
tain degree of fineness is necessary.

If we examine theoretically into the relation between the
size of the drops and the effect they produce, always assuming

* This reflection has nothing to do with the reverberation from clouds which
occurs in a thunderstorm, which is probably due to the different density of the
clouds, and takes place at their surfaces.

48

the same quantity of water in the air, we find in the first place
that if the air is subjected to a uniform acceleration, which
acts for a sufficient time for the drops to acquire their maxi-
mum velocity through the air, the effect of the drops in a
given time — that is to say, the energy dissipated in a given
time — is proportional to the square root of the diameters of
the drops. This appears from the action of gravity. As
previously stated, the maximum downward motion of the
drops ; and hence the distance they will have fallen in a
given time and the energy destroyed is proportional to the
square root of their diameters. Hence where the accelera-
tion acts continuously for some time, as would be the case
in a steam pipe, the effect will increase with the size of the
drops.

This effect may be represented by a parabolic curve in
which distances measured from the vertex along the axis
represent the size of the drops and the corresponding ordi-
nates represent their effect in destroying energy.

If on the other hand the acceleration alternates very rapidly
then there will not be time for the drop to acquire its maxi-
mum velocity, and if the time be very short the drop will
practically stand still, in which case the effect of the drops
will be proportional to the aggregate surface which they
expose. And this will increase as the diameter diminishes,
always supposing the same quantity of water to be present.

This latter is somewhat the condition when a fog is tra-
versed by waves of sound, so long as the drops are above a
certain size ; when, however, they are very small, compared
with the length of the waves, there will be time for them to
acquire their maximum velocity. So that starting from
drops the size of rain, their effect will increase as their size
diminishes, at first in the direct proportion, then more and
more slowly until a certain minuteness is reached, after

49

which, as the drops become still smaller, their effect will
begin to diminish, at first slowly, but in an increasing ratio,
tending towards that of the square root of the diameter of
the drops.

This effect may be represented by a curve which coincides
with the previously described parabola at the vertex, but
which turns off towards the axis, which it finally approaches
as a straight line.

This completes the investigation, so far as I have been
able to carry it. The complete mathematical solution of the
equations of motion does not appear to be possible, as they
are of a form that has not as yet been integrated. However,
so far it appears to me to afford a complete explanation of the
two phenomena, and further to show, a fact not hitherto
noticed, that for any note of waves of sound there is a certain
size of drop with which a fog will produce the greatest
effect.

“The Chemical Constitution of Bleaching Powder,” by
C. SCHOKLEMMER. F.R.S.

In his classical research “ On the Compounds of Chlorine
with Bases,” ^ Gay Lussac has shown that the bleaching
compounds formed by this reaction are not direct combina-
tions of chlorine and a base, as Berthollet believed, but that
a hypochlorite and a chloride are produced simultaneously,
according to the equation

2KOH + Cb = KOCl + KCl + H^O.

When to the compounds thus formed a small quantity of
a mineral acid is added, hypochlorous acid is set free, whilst
by adding the acid in excess chlorine is obtained; be-
cause in the latter case the hydrochloric acid acts on the
hypochlorous acid in the following way ;

CIH + CIOH-CL + HA

* “ Comptes Eendus,” XIV. 927,

50

As a ready method for preparing a dilute solution of
hypochlorous acid, Gay Lussac recommends to distil a solu-
tion of bleaching powder with a quantity of dilute nitric
acid which is just sufficient to liberate the hypochlorous
acid.

According to Gay Lussac’s view, bleaching powder is a
mixture of calcium chloride and calcium hypochlorite, and
the same view is held by most chemists. Professor Odling
has however pointed out that, calcium being a dyad metal,

r Cl

the constitution of bleaching powder was probably Ca |

or it was at the same time a hypochlorite and a chloride. Of
course both views explain equally well the formation of
hypochlorous acid by Gay Lussac’s method. I read there-
fore with great surprise a paper by Goepner (Dingler’s
Polytechn. Journ, 209, 204), in which he states that bleach-
ing powder is nothing but a simple combination of lime and
chlorine, which by acids is again resolved into its consti-
tuents without the least trace of hypochlorous acid being
formed. He says that, although the preparation of hypo-
chlorous acid by this method is described in all hand books
as if this experiment had been made hundreds of times, this
is a mistake, and the reason why this error has maintained
itself so long in chemical literature is that hitherto no
reaction was known by which free chlorine and hypochlo-
rous acid could be readily distinguished. But such a re-
action has now been found by Wolters, who has shown that
when chlorine-water is shaken with an excess of mercury
only mercurous chloride is formed, while with aqueous
hypochlorous acid it yields a brown crystalline oxychloride
of mercury, which is readily soluble in hydrochloric acid,
and thus offers a ready means of the qualitative as well as
quantitative determination of hypochlorous acid in the pre-
sence of free chlorine.

51

In employing this reaction for detecting hypochlorons
acid in the liquid which was obtained by distilling bleach-
ing powder with a small quantity of hydrochloric or sul-
phuric acid, Goepner could not find a trace of hypochlorons
acid, but only free chlorine.

I have already mentioned that he says the preparation of
hypochlorons acid by this method is described in the books
as if this experiment had been repeated hundreds of times.
Now this experiment has been repeated many hundred
times in our laboratory only. Professor Roscoe shows it
every year in his lectures, and all our students in the course
of their practical work- perform it, and find that the per-
fectly colourless distillate is a much more powerfully bleach-
ing agent than freshly prepared chlorine-water. This is
quite sufficient to show that the liquid contains hypochlo-
rous acid. But why did Goepner fail in detecting it ?
Perhaps it was the fault of the analytical method ? To
decide these questions I prepared hypochlorons acid by dis-
tilling solutions of bleaching po wder with dilute nitric and
sulphuric acid and shook the colourless distillates with mer-
cury. In every case the brown oxychloride was formed in
quantity and possessed all the properties which Wolters has
assigned to it, while by shaking chlorine-water with mer-
cury only calomel was formed. From a careful perusal of
Goepner’s paper I was unable to find the cause of his
failure.

Another argument against the existence of a hypochlorite
in bleaching powder is, according to Goepner, the following.
The chlorine which is used in the manufacture of bleaching
powder always contains free hydrochloric acid, and thus in
bleaching powder more calcium chloride will always exist
than would correspond with Gay Lussac’s formula. Now
when bleaching powder is exhausted successively with

52

small quantities of water, the excess of calcium chloride is
always found in the first solutions, whilst those following
contain calcium and chlorine in the proportions correspond-
ing to the empirical formula CaOCl2. This fact, however,
only proves that bleaching powder is not a mixture of cal-
cium chloride and hypochlorite, but that the bleaching
compound contained in it has the constitution which Pro-
fessor Odling has assigned to it.

Professor Williamson has shown that an aqueous solution
of hypo chlorous acid may also be obtained by suspendin
finely divided calcium carbonate in water and passin
chlorine into the liquid until the carbonate is dissolved and
then distilling the solution. In this reaction the compound
Ca(OCl)Cl is probably also first formed and acted on by an
excess of chlorine in the following way : —

Ca QQi -f- CI2 = Ca "I Q] d“ CI2O.

aq aq

53

Ordinary Meeting, December 3Cth, 1873.

Rev. Wm. Gaskell, M.A., Vice-President, in the Chair.

Mr. E. W. Binney, F.KS., F.G.S., said that in the Liverpool
papers a good deal of discussion had lately taken place on
the rapid growth of the bar at the entrance into the Queen’s
Channel. This is a subject not only of local but of national
interest. Having had occasion to pass over the bar fre-
quently in his passage to the Isle of Man, he had his atten-
tion directed to the matter, and his friend our worthy
President had supplied him with a copy of an interesting
article from the Liverjpool Albion of the 18th November
last. Adam Evans appears to attribute this evil to the
emptying of mud into the Mersey, and the writer in the
newspaper states as follows : Nothing is so important to

the prosperity of the port of Liverpool as the maintenance
of its entrance channels at sufficient depth. Several times
lately the question has been named at the Dock Board, and
more particularly at the meeting of the Board last week. It
appears that Admiral Evans, acting Conservator of the
River Mersey, has been for a long time urging the construc-
tion of steam barges to take the deposits from the docks
(which deposits consist not of soluble kinds only, but also
of coal, coal dust, and all other matter which happens to
fall overboard from the ships in the docks), and to convey
them outside the port. That this is no new view of Admi-
ral Evans’s is shown by the fact that in his report for 1843,
as to the impropriety of discharging mud and other matter
from the flats into the river, he pointed out the dangers
attending the practice ; and if at that time he considered
the system bad, how much more so is it now ? The deposits
Peoceedings. — Lit, & Phil, Societt. — Vol. XIII. — Xo. 6 — Session 1873-4.

54

then were about 200,000 tons annually ; now — the acreage
of the docks having increased from about 100 to 500 or 600
acres — they are probably at least 600,000 tons annually,
and all this refuse is discharged into the river. To eluci-
date the matter we may give the following extracts from
Admiral Evans’s report of 1843 relative to the causes which
to the extension of the Victoria Bar, and of the effects of
depositing mud and other substances in the bed of the river :
The extension of Victoria Bar is occasioned by a greater
quantity of detritus being held in suspension by the ebb
than by the flood tide, which causes the point of deposit to
continually extending outwards to where the stream of ebb
is exhausted. Although this to a certain extent is of com-
mon occurrence at the mouth of all estuaries, yet the excess
of matter held in solution by the ebb over the flood tide in
the Mersey is in a great measure to be attributed to the
habit of throwing into the river the whole of the mud and
sand ^ daily’ extracted from the Liverpool docks, amounting
from January, 1843, to January, 1844, to 213,000 tons !
This enormous quantity is taken out of the docks by steam
dredges, discharged into mud fiats, which are towed out by
steamers every tide, day and night, except on Sundays, and
emptied into the middle of the river at the worst possible
time of tide — namely just before high water, so that part of
the mud is taken up the river to feed the Pluckington and
other banks ; part is precipitated to the bottom, taking with
it the sand held in suspension by a full tide ; and the re-
mainder is filtered through the different seaward channels,
leaving a portion of its silt in them.

This practice, so mischievous to the navigation of the
Mersey, and detrimental to the best interests of Liverpool, is
continued under the sanction of a local Act of Parliament
(6th of George IV., cap. 117), which was passed in the year
1825. Since the passing of that Act the dock space of Liver-
pool has not only been doubled, and annually increasing, but

55

the ships are of a much larger class, requiring a greater depth
of water both in the docks and channels. If, therefore, the
Act of Parliament above alluded to applies to the docks made
and deepened since its passing in 1825, to those docks now
in progress, and to all that may be hereafter be constructed^
the amount of clay and mud thrown into the river will be
enormous, endangering the navigation at the very time, and
in proportion as the increase both in size and number of
the ships requires the channel to be kept as deep and clear
of deposit as possible.’ In consequence of this report the
practice of discharging mud boats on the flood tide was
abandoned, and they have since been discharged during the
first quarter of ebb. That the views then adopted by Ad-
miral Evans were right is shown by the present condition
of the main or Queen entrance channels into Liverpool,
which are now only about seven to eight feet on the bar at
low water spring tides, instead of about twelve feet, so that
small tug boats cannot now get in and out where compara-
tively large steamers used to be able to pass. An illustration
of this fact was afforded the other day, when one of the Isle
of Man boats had to wait some time before she could cross
the bar. With regard to Rock Channel, the depth of water
on the bar is now only 18 inches at low water spring tides.
It may be thought that in going back to Admiral Evans’s
report for 1843 we have travelled out of our way to manu-
facture arguments against the present system of depositing
mud in the Mersey; but if we return to the Admiral’s
report for 1872, we find the views of 1843 confirmed.”

No doubt the throwing in of about 2000 tons of mud into
the Mersey near Liverpool every working day is a thing
which ought not to be allowed by the conservator of that
river, but it is highly probable that this is only one of the
causes of the decreased depth of water over the bar of the
Queen’s channel. It is now pretty well known that encroach-
ments and embankments on estuaries and river courses

56

cannot be made without some detriment to such places.
The natural flow of water is generally the best for cleansing
and sweeping out a river or estuary, and such agency may be
helped and diverted, but it can never be opposed or ob-
structed with impunity. Owing to the want of reliable
experiments it is not yet well known at what speed a
current of water ceases to cut a bed of clay and begins to
lift up the course of such water. All we know binadly is
that mountain streams deepen and low country streams raise
their beds.

The estuary of the Mersey and its deep channels have
been kept open chiefly by the ebb tide and the back waters
of the Mersey, Weaver, and other streams. Of late years
the shores on both sides of the Mersey have been extended
into the water way by the construction of new docks and
other works so that the channel is now considerably less in
width than it formerly was, and consequently less water
enters the river from the sea and flows up it than used to do,
and thus diminishes the power of the ebb tide. True it is that
the contraction of the river has made the current of the ebb
for some time stronger opposite to Liverpool, and thereby
increased the scour and cutting power there, but the
materials removed soon fall to the bottom when the water
course becomes wider and the current less, so this increased
scour will not compensate for the loss of water caused by
the obstructions to the flood tide but actually increase, to a
considerable extent, the deposits of the removed materials
in the vicinity of the bar. It is quite clear that the empty-
ing of dock mud into the river is an evil, but what is it
when compared to the solid matter brought down daily
and in freshes by the inland streams feeding the Mersey.

My object in making these remarks is to direct attention
to the subject of the lowering of the depth of water over
the Queen’s Bar, which is of the utmost importance to
steamers leaving and arriving at the tidal harbours about

57

high water and reaching the bar at near low water. This
is especially the case with the Isle of Man steamers during
the greater part of the year. No doubt that particular
winds may at one time increase and at another diminish the
sand on the bar, but it appears pretty certain that for some
considerable number of years the water has gradually
become shallower at the entrance of the Queen’s Channel.
The true cause of this evil has first to be ascertained and then
no doubt the authorities at Liverpool will lose no time in
remedying it.

Mr. Binney also exhibited to the meeting a very perfect
specimen of a fossil fish, measuring from head to tail 14
inches. It was discovered in the cannel seam of the Pirnie
Coal Company at Methill in the county of Fife. He con-
sidered it to be a small MagalicJithys Hihherti. Although
fragments of this fish are very frequently met with in the
coal measures, it is not often that a, specimen is found in so
good a condition.

58

Ordinary Meeting, January IStli, 1874.

E, W. Binney, F.B.S., F.G.S., Vice-President, in the Chair.

Mr. Rooke Pennington, of Bolton, was elected an ordinary
Member of the Society.

A drawing was shown representing some further improve-
ments of Dr. Joule’s mercurial air exhauster described in
the Proceedings of February 18, 1873.

In the section represented by Fig 1, W W is a wooden
frame ; P a pulley for raising or lowering a flask of mercury
held in a wooden box, M, working in a slide ; s s s s are
india rubber stoppers ; E is the exhauster ; t, e the entrance
and exit tubes ; g the gauge ; / a funnel to admit sulphuric
acid ; B, B moveable brackets to support any apparatus.

In Fig 2 the exhauster is drawn to a larger scale-
t, e are the entrance and exit tubes, fitting tightly in an
india rubber disc a, which disc is kept tightly pressed
against the exhauster by means of the ring, 6, h. The
mercury is represented sunk below the entrance tube, as is
the case when the moveable flask is in its lower position.
On raising the flask by means of the pulley, the mercury
rises in the exhauster and forces any air it may contain
into the upper part of the exhauster by raising the india
rubber plug. The air then makes its exit through the pipe e.
This latter is also used for withdrawing the acid which
gradually accumulates.

Fig 3, also drawn to a large scale, represents a convenient
means of introducing sulphuric acid for removing aqueous
vapour, or to let air into the apparatus. The orifice at the
bottom of the funnel is about tw of an inch diameter to
prevent violent action.

It may be useful to mention that the junctions are made
with black india rubber tube fastened by softened iron wire.

60

“On the Influence of Acids on Iron and Steel/’ by
William H. Johnson, B.Sc.

In a paper published in the Proceedings of the Society
for March 4th, 1873, I mentioned that if a piece of steel
wire be immersed in hydrochloric or sulphuric acid for ten
minutes or more, and then well washed with water and
dried, that on breaking it bubbles were not seen to rise
through the moisture on the surface of the fracture as was
the case with iron wire. Subsequent experiments made
under the microscope with a power of 250 diameters, how-
ever, show that very small bubbles are given off with great
rapidity, sometimes from the whole, sometimes from part
only of the fractured surface.

This difference in the behaviour of iron and steel is most
likely connected with the difference of molecular sti'ucture.
Thus the fracture of a steel wire containing say *75 per cent
of carbon, when seen under the microscope presents a toler-
ably flat surface, composed of innumerable small, sharp
crystalline points, while that of iron is rough, more or less
fibrous or mossy, and the fibres do not end in sharp points.
These fine crystalline points in the steel, as is well known,
must facilitate the evolution of bubbles ; consequently they
are very small, rapidly given off, and hence invisible to the
naked eye, whilst the absence of these points in iron causes
the small bubbles to collect into larger ones, which are
readily seen.

The less carbon a steel contains the more its fracture will
resemble iron, so in a steel containing only ’21 per cent, of
carbon, small bubbles may sometimes be seen by the naked
eye.

About 5 oz. of iron wire T25 in. diameter, after 10 days’
immersion in hydrochloric acid 1'20 s.g., was well washed in
water, dried and placed in a glass tube heated to a tempera-
ture of a little over 100° C. by a sand bath. Each end of
the tube was connected with a bottle containing nitrate of

61

silver solution. A current of air was then slowly drawn
through the tube for two to three hours without forming
any precipitate however of chloride of silver ; but the
surface of the iron was covered with a coating of oxide, or
in all probability, oxichloride of iron.

Thick pieces of iron *450 in. diam. were found to redden blue
litmus paper slightly when applied to the fracture after the
iron had been immersed 12 hours in hydrochloric or
sulphuric acid.

Mr. J. Carter Bell communicated a series of meteoro-
logical observations which had been made daily during the
months of May, June, July, and August, 1873, at Tumaco,
New Granada, S. America, by Mr. G. Wilcynski.

“On Crystalline Sublimed Cupric Chloride,” by S. Carson,
(Student in the Chemical Laboratory of the Owens College).

Cupric Chloride prepared by burning copper in dry chlorine
gas or by heating the anhydrous salt to 200° is obtained
either as a brown sublimate or as a brownish yellow powder.

A mass of a copper compound crystallized in needles,
many exceeding 5mm. in length, as found in the decomposer
of the Deacon-Chlorine process was forwarded to Professor
Koscoe, by Mr. Worsley, of the Netham Chemical Works.
The crystalline mass was collected from the space above the
marbles, impregnated with copper sulphate at the top of the
compartments. The temperature of this space is always
necessarily a little lower than that of the spaces between the
marbles where the action takes place, and to this is attributed
the deposition of the compound.

I have made several analyses of these crystals, the results
of which show that they consist of anhydrous cupric chloride,
mixed with a small quantity (about 2 per cent) of an
insoluble oxychloride. The following is a mean of several
analyses of the soluble portion : —

62

Calculated. Found.

Copper 47*172 46*909

Chlorine 52*828 53*091

100*000 100*000

The formation of this crystalline sublimate appears to
take place as soon as the temperature of the marbles covered
with sulphate of copper reaches about 800°. In all pro-
bability a formation of copper chloride is constantly
occurring as a necessary step in the decomposition of the
hydrochloric acid and air, and when the temperature reaches
the volatizing point of the chloride these crystals appear.

As the greatest amount of decomposition of the hydi’o-
chloric acid takes place close upon the temperature at which
the chloride sublimes, the formation of this salt and the
consequent loss of copper has been a fertile source of annoy-
ance to the manufacturer.

Mr. Deacon has recently completely overcome this dijffi-
culty by the addition of sodium sulphate to the copper
sulphate with which the marbles are impregnated.

The presence of this salt prevents any formation of copper
chloride, sodium chloride being volatilized, and copper
sulphate remaining behind. This reaction is well seen by
the change of colour from green to blue produced when a
solution of sodium sulphate is added to one of cupric
chloride.

“Memorandum on Brown-stapled Cotton,” by Major R.
Trevor Clarke. Communicated by Dr. E. Schunck, F.R.S.

The nankeen colour, in cotton staple may be considered,
I think, as a normal variational state, rarely met with in
the present day, but very probably natural to the wild
forms now nearly extinct and very imperfectly known.
The two plants which have the best claim to be considered
wild species that I have met with, namely, the Polynesian
plant of Nuttall, and the Santo Paulo one of Mr. Aubertin,

63

have both of them yellov/ cotton. The coloured state how-
ever is common to several cottons, probably to all. We
find it in the hill cotton of Assam and in samples from
China (Ning-Po), both Goss, herbaceum proper, and I am
told it is not unfrequently found in the fields of this species
in India and elsewhere.

In India however the sort actually in cultivation is the
yellow form of G. hirsutvm (Orleans), and my samples from
Malta are of the same kind. The only use that I know of
for this staple is to make the cotton blanket clothing of the
Afghans, and I think also the Kabyles use it for the same
purpose.

It seems to be an object of regard, and even veneration,
amongst the aborigines of various countries. In Peru the
country people weave a striped cloth, white and yellow, from
it, and the bodies of their ancient princes the Incas were
found to have been buried enveloped in the rich brown
wool of a coloured form of the large native plant.

The paler brown staple alluded to as coming from Africa
is the produce of a coarse kind of Egyptian, and is of
stronger quality than most. The curious kidney cotton also
assumes this appearance, as I have samples of it from Para-
hyba del Norte, and have raised plants from its seeds. In
all cases the staple suffers an unfavourable change when
assuming this state, and is invariably more or less weak and
short.

The occurence of the yellow state in so many different
kinds will go far to account for the diversity in quality
alluded to.

A tendency to brown coloration seems peculiar to the
genus ; it shows itself in the dark hue of the expressed oil,
and when injury to the seed and capsule, by insects or
otherwise, has occurred, the extravasation has resulted iu
stains upon the, properly, white fibre.

In the green seed capsule will be found two distinct

64

series of colorific glands ; one yellow, soluble in alcohol, the
other purple, soluble in water ; the brown is probably made
up of these two.

“On’ the Graphical Eepresentation of the Movements of
the Chest-Wall in Kespiration,” by Arthue Kansome, M.D.,
M.A.

A stethograph has been constructed which gives an
accurate tracing of the course described by any point on
the chest-wall, in the forward and upward directions, i.e.
in the vertical plane at right angles to the anterior surface
of the chest.

With this instrument many tracings have been made
both in health and disease. The following, chiefiy from
the anterior ends of the third ribs, are selected as specimens
of the results obtained, and to illustrate the conclusions
drawn from them.

It has been observed —

1. That the anterior end ot the rib takes a different course
in its ascent from that of its expiratory descent. (Figs.
1 and 2.)

2. That in most cases the upper-
most line is that of inspiration.

8. That this course is liable to
variation in consequence of the
action of the will. (Figs. 3 and 4.)

4. That in the action of cough-
ing, after the inspiratory stroke,
there is a slight forward bulging

65

of the rib, perhaps from the compression of
the air in the lungs by the action of the
Diaphragm, then a downward fall for a
space of about 0’2 in., and afterwards an
almost horizontal in-drawing of the rib
(Fig. 5) quite unlike anything that could
be produced by the simple angular move-
ment of the rib.

5. That in sneezing the course of the
rib is similar to that taken in the act
of coughing, except that there is no for-
ward bulging at the commencement of
expiration (Fig. 6), and in the latter part
of its course the rib only drops about
0T5 in. for 0*8 in. of in-drawing.

6. That in the dead subject, the
movement of the end of the ribs, when
simply raised and depressed (fig. 7),
approximates to a segment of a circle.

7. That as age advances there is an approach to the form
of curve traced by the unyielding rib, and the upward and
downward strokes are more nearly alike.

From the above facts it follows that the horizontal in-
drawing of the rib, in the spasmodic actions of coughing and
sneezing, is impossible without an inbending of the rib itself,
and that the variations in healthy breathing are chiefly to be
ascribed to the influence of the muscles of forced expiration,
which produce more or less bending of the rib during their
action.

In disease a comparative feebleness of the respiratory track
is to be noticed, and the want of elasticity of the chest is
evidenced by the tendency to similarity in the upward
and downward course of the ribs,

66

In acute Phthisis there is a degree of tremulousness in
the tracings, and in Pleurisy is seen the effect of adhesions
in the very small extent of forward push on the affected
side.

The tracing of the cough of Phthisis is, however, similar
in its form to that of the healthy chest (fig. 5) though much
smaller and more feeble.

67

Ordinary Meeting, January 27th, 1874

B. Angus Smith, Ph.D., F.RS., &c., Vice-President, in the

Chair.

Mr. John Watts, Ph.D., was elected an Ordinary Member
of the Society.

On a Source of Error in Mercurial Thermometers,” by
Thomas M. Morgan, Student in the Laboratory of Owens
College.

While engaged in distillation, a fact has come under my
observation which, although it has been noticed before, does
not appear to be very generally known, and has not so far
as I have seen been recorded.

The thermometer, which was placed in a Wurtz tube so
that the column of mercury was entirely surrounded by the
vapour of the distilling liquid, was found after some days
to indicate three degrees too little — a discrepancy caused by
volatilization from the surface of the column of mercury and
condensation on the upper part of the tube. By causing
the mercury to how to the end of the tube and back, the
condensed portion was gathered up and the correct tem-
perature indicated. It has since been observed that after
each day of distillation, with liquids boiling between 60°
and 100° Q, a quantity of mercury equal to 1° or 1°'5 vola-
tilizes, and that this quantity is scarcely perceptible when
condensed on the surface of the bore. The thermometer in
use was about the ordinary size with a scale of 360°.

1 am informed that Geissler sometimes encloses a little
hydrogen in his thermometers in order that volatilization
may not go on so rapidly.

Peocbedings. — Lit. & Phil. Society. — Yol. XIII. — No. 7 — Session 1873-4.

68

“ Notes on fossil Lithothamnia (so-called Nulliporse),” by
Arthur Wm. Waters, F.G.S.

The organisms on the table before us have been assigned
very various places in the organic or inorganic kingdoms at
different times. The recent ones have perhaps most often
been placed among the corals, while the fossil forms have
passed more frequently as concretionary.

After shortly reviewing the opinions of some of the
leading naturalists of this century, Mr. Waters drew atten-
tion to a paper of Eosanoff, published in 1866,* on the
Melobesiacea, which he divides into three sections, the
Melobesia, Lithophyllum, and Lithothamnium. In this
paper full description is given as to their mode of gTowth
and their reproduction. Since then Gumbel*f has published
in 1871 an excellent monograph on the fossil forms under
the title, “Die sogenannten NuUiporen,” in which he estab-
lishes 15 species. This paper has been largely used in pre-
paring the present notes.

As most present will know, they attain their greatest
development in the the Leithakalk, a meiocene formation
which is principally, in some cases almost entirely, composed
of this algae. Unger says he has never seen any which
contains less than two thirds. Thus formations of vast ex-
tent and many hundred feet thick, perhaps in some places
thousands, are so largely composed of this limestone sea-
weed. But it is in no way confined to the Leithakalk, being
also very abundant in the eocene, especially the upper
division ; the so-called granit-marmor, or Bavarian marble,
a numulitic formation, is very largely composed of this con-
cretionary-looking body. In North Italy it abounds in the
eocene formations which are so largely developed in the
Veronese and Vicentin. In many places the formation is
some hundred feet, muc more than half composed of the

I

* Mem. de la Soc. Imp. des Sc. nat. de Cherbourg, t. xii. i

t Abhand. d^ E. Bay Ak. der Wissen, x., part i., 1871. |

i

69

Lithothamnium. It occurs abundantly in Hungary and
Switzerland. The so-called pisolithic limestone of Paris is
according to Giimbel about eight tenths stone algse ; also
M. Mario, Astrup; the pleiocene of Castel Arquato; and in
fact it seems to be found in most of the tertiaries on the
continent. It is further found in the chalk at Maestricht,
and in the Jurassic sponge beds at Schwabenbergs.

Doubtless when geologists have paid more attention to
the question we shall find it has a very wide distribution,
and has formed rocks of equal importance in other parts of
the world"

Taking the Eastern Alps, with which I have a fair
acquaintance, viz., the Bavarian, Austrian, and North Italian
Alps, in which, as you know, the tertiary deposits attain
extraordinary importance, I do not think it is too much to
say that one sixth of the whole tertiary rocks of this district
are composed of Lithothamnium. This is not given in any
way as an exact calculation, but merely to give an idea of
its importance.

The recent Melobesiacea seem to have a very general dis-
tribution. They grow at but moderate depths.

The Lithothamnium belongs to the family Melobesiacea
of the order Floridese or Bhodospermese ; a large number of
this order are limesecreting, but these (Lith.) difier very
materially from the Corallina, since in the former the car-
bonate of lime is deposited in and between the cell structure,
while with the Corallina the plant is filiform, and the lime
is deposited round this, entirely encrusting it. It seems the
structural difference is sufiicient to separate them into two
entirely distinct classes.

Giimbel, after saying how the stems and branches of a
species are subject to variation as well as the superficial
characteristics, says, But by far che most important and
numerous species can scarcely be distinguished by any other
method than by the form and relative size of the cells.

70

which can only be made out by transparent sections.” We
must be very careful how we accept this, for in a piece
which I prepared from Torbole, on the Lake of Garda, a
drawing of which is shown, we find the same plant pro-
ducing distinctly three sizes of cells at right angles to one
another, in the proportion 5 ; 3 ; 2.

According to Kosanaff the form of the young is always
orbicular.

Giimbel gives the average of various analyses of the
Lithothamnium nodosum from Vienna and M. Mario.

Lime 47 ’14

Magnesia 2*66

Alumina and Oxide of Manganese 2*55

Phosphoric Acid 0*06

Carbonic Acid 40*06

Insol. in Acid 4*96

Water and Loss 2*57

100*00

The chief point to notice is the large amount of magnesia,
representing 5^ per cent carbonate of magnesia. Giimbel
points out the important bearing the large amount of mag-
nesia which plants and animals can take up from the water
may have upon the question of the formation of dolomitic
rocks.

The fossil Lithothamnia are often much altered in colour.
One rock on the Lake of Garda might almost be* described
as a black rock with white spots ; an infiltration having
taken place from the outside, turning all but the central
portion a dark color, so that each piece when broken
through shows the centre white, the rest dark. I bring this
before your notice to show the great care that is required
when judging from lithological characteristics, as no one
would at first sight, and often not without microscopical
examination, consider such a pure white rock and one
almost black to be composed of the same material,

71

In conclusion, the object of this paper is to draw attention
to the great masses of these bodies and the importance of
always noticing their occurrence in geological formations,
since it should be a very material help in regard to the cli-
mate, and the conditions of the coasts and currents, besides
being of great stratigraphical assistance; nor is it of less
importance to note carefully the growth of recent ones, for
only through a knowledge of the present can we interpret
the past.

/

72

MICROSCOPICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SECTION.

December 8th, 1873.

Charles Bailey, Esq., Vice-President of the Section, in

the Chair.

Mr. R D. Darbishire, F.G.S., exhibited a collection of
shells and fragments of shells, lent for this purpose by Miss
M. H. Earington, of Worden Hall. The collection was in
itself one of remarkable extent and beauty, as a representa-
tive of the fossil fauna of the Drift, and had lately been the
subject of a Note read at a meeting of the Geological Society
of London. Tlie specimens were found in the Worden
gravel pit near the Leyland Station, near Chorley, in a bed
of shingle 240 feet above the sea level, shewed 42 species.
Amongst these one, Fusus craticulatus, was decidedly Arctic,
and the only form of that character. Cytherea chione, and
Cardium rusticum were Southern, as was also Mactra
glauca. These latter connected the list with that of the
Macclesfield Cemetery beds. Fusus propinquus and Fusus
antiquus, var. contrarius, which latter appeared here for the
first time in English lists of this date, are found in the
so-called manure gravels of Wexford.

He also exhibited similar collections made by J. Millard
Reade, Esq., F.G.S., in the cuttings of the railway near Edge-
hill, and in cuttings in Toxteth park, both near Liverpool,
89 species at the former and 29 at the latter place. The
Edgehill list includes, like the Leyland list, Saxicava norve-
gica, Cytherea chione, and Cardium rusticum.

The two latter species occurred in comparison with other
species ‘"frequently”; and had now been noted at Edgehill

73

ill ‘^glacial” clay and at Ley land and Macclesfield in gravels.
Neither of them had yet been recognised in the Blackpool
bedS; from which also a small collection was exhibited.

January 19 th, 1874.

Joseph Baxendell, F.B.A.S., ^Vice-President of the Section^

in the Chair.

Mr. Peecival exhibited specimens in fruit of Hypnum
heterophyllum, gathered this month on wet rocks, Turton,
near Bolton, a species which has very rarely been found in
fructification.

Mr. SiDEBOTHAM exhibited a specimen of silicious num-
mulitic rock, from the banks of the Euphrates, the polished
section of which exhibited the structure of the shells in a
remarkable manner.

Joseph Sidebotham, F.RA.S., read a paper on “The
similarity of certain Crystallised substances to Vegetable
forms.”

The author alluded to the many well known dendritic
markings in shale and slate, which are often mistaken for
sea-weeds and mosses, and to the leaf-like forms in various
crystallisations. He then called special attention to some
experiments carried on by the late Mr. Petschler and
himself, on the crystallisation of bichromate of ammonia?
nitrate of silver, and other salts, when in combination with
gelatine and other colloid substances. The results of these
experiments were brought before this society in the year
1861, but so far as he was aware the subject had not been
pursued further.

74

The author then called attention to the formation of
verdegris on insect pins, in old Entomological collections.
This substance makes its appearance where the pins pass
through the thorax of the insects, and in length of time
grows into a considerable mass of flocculent matter, of a
brilliant green colour, and often breaks up the insects and
also destroys the pins. It consists mainly of acetate or
formiate of copper in combination with fatty or oily matter-

On examination of various specimens under the microscope,
they were found to present a great variety of forms, filamen-
tous and ribbon-like structure, often resembling various
fungi, in some cases so nearly, that it was difficult to believe
that the fibres and fruit-like forms are not really organic
bodies.

Drawings, and specimens under the microscope, were
exhibited, and the author expressed his opinion that these
bodies were simply crystals, modified in their formation by
the oil contained in the insects, with which the crystals is
in some way combined. Some of the specimens exhibited
were taken from insects collected twenty-five years ago.

An interesting discussion followed the paper, in which
the Chairman, Mr. Plant, Mr. Rogers, and other members,
took part.

75

PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SECTION.

October 14th, 1873.

E. W. Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S., in the Chair.

Mr. Samuel Broughton was elected Treasurer of the Sec-
tion, in place of the late Mr. Thomas Garrick.

“Mean Monthly Barometric Headings at Old Trafford,
Manchester, from 1849 to 1872,” by G. V. Vernon, F.B.A.S.,
F.M.S.

Having a tolerably complete register of barometric read-
ings, and knowing of no published normal values for any
station in or near Manchester, I have reduced and tabulated
the monthly means for the period above named.

The barometer with which the observations were made
was a standard by Negretti and Zambra,. No. 266, and
which had been compared at Greenwich.

All the observations have been corrected for capillarity
and index error to reduce them to the Greenwich standard,
and then reduced to 32° F.

In the earlier part of the series I have unfortunately some
months deficient, but in the latter part of the series I have
been able to fill up the gaps by the use of the very careful
series of observations made at Eccles by my friend Thomas
Mackereth, Esq., F.B.A.S., by applying corrections deter-
mined by comparing the months in which the observations
were simultaneous.

I found that the two series of observations were nearly
identical after allowing for difference of level.

The mean annual pressure for the entire series was 29 '780
inches, which, corrected for an altitude of 123 feet above
the mean sea level, and assuming the mean annual tempei'a-

76

ture to be 50° F., gives us 29*912 inches as the mean yearly
value reduced to sea level.

If we take the complete period of the last eleven years
we have a mean reading of 29*838 inches, which is 0*074
inches below the value given for the entire period 1849 to
1872.

. In the earlier series the month of August was generally
wanting in the observations except for a few years, but this
month having a reading generally in excess of the yearly
value would tend if anything to make the annual value
somewhat higher, and the result would tend to show that
during recent years the pressure has been lower than during
the earlier part of the series.

The variation between the highest and lowest mean
yearly readings during the last eleven years is 29*828 inches
(1870) and 29*624 inches (1872), or equal to 0*204 inches :
this would appear greater than probability would point out,
1872 having had an exceptionally low mean reading ; leav-
ing 1872 out, we have a difference of 0*118 inches between
1870 and 1866.

Looking at the mean monthly values, we find that the
maximum occurs in J une and the minimum in J anuary ; the
order beginning with the minimum is January, October,
March, December, November, September, February, July
and April equal, also May and August equal. If fine
weather depends upon barometric pressure, the above shows
that May and August should be the finest months as a rule,
and January and October the worst : May is next to the
driest month, April, and October bears off the palm for
being the wettest, at least in this district.

The remarkable year for rain, 1872, would appear to have
been also remarkable for deficient atmospheric pressure, as
the table annexed will show, every month except August
having had a pressure below the average, and August was
only a few thousandths of an inch above the average.

77

1872.

Difference from Mean.
Inches.

January . .
February

March

April

May

June

July

August . .
September
October . .

-0-315
-0-205
-0-139
-0-032
-0-050
-0-107
-0-017
+ 0-006
-0-161
-0-195

November -0-291

December - 0-367

Comparison of these departures below the average with
the separate monthly values of the rainfall for 1872 does
not show that the greatest rainfall occurred in those months
in which the pressure was the most below the average, but
the almost constant depression throughout the year cer-
tainly does so. It is probable that if a longer and more
complete register could be examined, that 1872 had a lower
mean pressure than any year over a very long period, just
as it had a greater rainfall than any year for a very long
period, say 80 years.

Barometer Means at 32° F., Corrected for Index Error, but

STILL EeQUIRING THE EeDUCTION TO THE LeVEL OF THE SeA.

Height of Barometer Cistern 123 feet above Mean Sea Level.

Year.

' Jan.

Feb.

Mar.

April

May.

June.

July.

Aug.

Sep.

Oct,

Nov.

Dec.

[Mean.

ins.

ins.

ins.

ins.

ins.

ins.

ins.

ins.

ins.

ins.

ins.

ins.

1849

1

29-549

29-784

29-885

29-779

29-830

29-758

29-704

29-843

1850

29-876

29-752

30-069

29-580

29-740

29-890

29-856

29-958

29-715

29-775

29-889

1851

29-540

29-883

29-573

29-930

29 720

30-079

29-701

29-837

30-137

18^2

29-524

29-873

30-072

30-109

29-819

29-527

29 '885

• • . .

29-793

29-718

29-420

29-463

1853

29 527

29-598

29-801

29-702

29-843

29-710

29-671

29-820

29 923

29-857

1854

29-562

30 042

30-160

30-027

29-648

29-718

29-789

• • • •

30-004

29-682

29-689

29-7' 4

1855

30-044

29-665

29-548

29-954

29-729

29 850

29-7I8

29-994

29-475

29-896

29-709

1856

29-456

29-877

3i -069

29-612

29-686

29-865

29-797

29-766

29-637

30 003

29-938

29 599

1857

29-656

29-925

29-723

29-648

29-835

29-894

29-829

29-878

29 845

29-717

30-001

30-085

1858

30-145

29-898

29-787

29-804

29-950

29-799

29-854

29-843

29 846

29-810

29-727

1859

29 '963

29-772

29-758

29 629

29-904

29 812

l^-968

29-680

29-536

29-804

29-604

1860

29 464

29.898

29-622

29-859

29-779

29-599

29 -871'

29-761

29 810

29-748

29-527

1861

30-011

29-656

29-561

30-053

29-983

29-823

29-554

29-666

29-861

29-520

29 959

1862

29-667

29-950

29-522

29-839

29-735

29-700

29'715

29-800

29-888

29-669

29-831

29-804

29-760

1863

29-567

30-101

29 727

29-814

29-889

29 720

29-994

29-710

29 599

29-583

29-817

29 864

29-782

1864

29 957

29-775

29-503

29-951

29-885

29 -778

29-873

29-950

29-726

29-737

29-612

29 >-78

29-802

1865

29-392

29-741

29-784

29-994

29-729

30-092

29-790

29-730

30-100

29-470

29-714

30-053

29-799

1866

29 663

29*524

29-546

29-790

29-870

29-782

29-795

29-619

29-501

29-965

29-74-2

29-728

29-710

1867

29-508

29-787

29-696

29-573

29-782

29-976

29-733

29-796

29-905

29-737

30-173

29-891

29-796

1868

29-735

29-918

29-775

29-791

29-S35

30-009

29 950

29-738

29 735

29-796

29-851,

29-290

29 785

1869

29-779

29-741

29 745

29 842

29-712

29-949

29-930

29-994

29 -.5641

29-897

29-708!

29-631

29-791

1870

29-812

29-735

29-938

29-989

29-894

29-981

29-863

29-865

29-892

29-534

29-639

29-793

29 828

1871

29 665

29-804

29-859

29 643

29-947

29-820

29-664

29-868

29-784

29-761

29-864

29-902

29-798

1872

29-375

29-599|

29-620

29-773

29-763

29-713

29-788

29-819

29-640

29-522

29-479

29-396

29-624

Means

29-690

29-804|

29-759

29-805

29-813

29-823

29-805

29-813

29-801

29-717

29-770

29-763|

78

“ Results of Meteorological Observations taken at Lang-
dale, Dimbula, Ceylon, during the years 1868-72,” by
Edward Heelis, Esq. Communicated by Joseph Baxen-
DELL, E.R.A.S.

The approximate situation of the place of observation is
6° 57' N.; 79°42'E.; and elevation 4,600 feet above sea
level.

Mean Temperature.

•

1869.

1870.

1871.

1872.

Mean. I

January

63*78

64*13

65*52

64*48

February

. . .

65*27

64*79

65*88

65*31 i

March

67*26

66*84

66*84

66*98 '

April

68*36

68*14

67*73

68*08 '

May

68*33

67*65

69*03

68*34 j

June

66*15

64*66

66*55

65*78 ;

July

64*48

62*99

65*78

64*42

August

64*02

64*73

65*55

65*40

64*92

September

64*55

64*07

64*12

64*66

64*35

October

64*25

63*85

65*21

64*63

64*48

November

64*59

64*08

65*77

65*18

64*90

December

65*06

64*32

65*64

65*34

65*09

Means

65*39

65*45

i

66*04

65*59

1

Mean Daily Range of Temperature.

1

1 1869.

1870.

1871.

1872.

Mean. '

January

15*73

14*94

17-49

. 16*05 1

February

• . •

20*39

21*89

19*24

20*51 i

March

21*19

18*62

23*05

20*95

April

21*49

18*15

15*80

18*48 '

May

• * •

14*56

12*76

16*71

14*68

June

• • (

11*44

7*45

9*56

9*48 1

July

• . •

9*55

7*08

10*12

8*92 1

August

8*95

10*63

11*10

9*43

10*03 '

September

9*29

9*81

11*55

8*74

9*85

October

12*46

11*07

15*70

9*52

12*19

November

13*95

17*27

13*41

13*13

14*44

December

17*15

16*43

15*53

14*52

15*91

Means i

14*96

14*01

13*94

14*29

79

Eainfall.

1868.

1869.

1870.

1871.

1872.

Mean,

Mean
No. of
Rainy
Days.

Greatest
Pall in
24 hours.

January

in.

in.

2-48

in,

10-03

in.

8-98

in.

0-65

in.

5-53

13

in.

2-48

February

1-30

2-15

1-40

1-34

1-55

7

1-07

March

1-49

2-43

2-12

093

1-74

11

1-30

April

7-94

2-93

6-01

9-46

6-58

15

2-96

May

4-68

4-93

3-46

7-85

5-34

5-25

17

2-17

June

11-60

20-02

11-44

21-67

15-64

16-07

25

5-10

July

9-27

18T9

10-52

34-05

8-69

16-14

25

3-77

August

5-53

10-54

8-79

11-04

9-54

9-09

24

1-50

September ...

13-52

14-38

16-99

9-17

24-29

15-67

25

5-85

October

8-57

17-92

16-62

9-87

1285

13-16

24

3-14

November ...

4‘56

9-17

6-85

8-56

10-42

7-91

20

2-06

December

6-55

6-37

2-48

2-55

3-58

4-31

15

1-42

Sums

114-73

94-69 'l23-27
1 /

CO

1 o

103-00

221

Diffeeence between Mean Maximum Temperature in the Sun
AND Mean Maximum Temperature in the Shade,

1871.

1872,

Mean.

O

O

O

January

• • .

27-4

27-4

February

. . t

31-1

31-1

March

27-6

27-6

April

. , •

28-8

28-8

May

31-6

25-4

28-5

June

18-6

15-6

17-1

July

17-0

15-7

16-3

August

25-6

14-8

20-2

September . . .

24-4

14-5

19-4

October

29-2

21-8

25-5

November ...

24-6

30-9

27-7

December

30-0

27-6

28-8

In a letter dated 22nd June, 1873, Mr. Heelis says, “ The
monsoon came in this year some 10 days before its usual
time, a very unusual circumstance, as in the six previous
years I have never known it to vary more than 2 days
before or after the 1st of June. This year it burst on the
23rd of May, as far as I could determine, but so mildly
that for some weeks I doubted its being really the monsoon.
Since this date we have not had a single day without rain.”

80

Erratum. — In the abstract of Dr. Ransome’s paper “ On
the Graphical Representation of the Movements of the
Chest- wall in Respiration/’ given in the last number of the
Proceedings, the references to three of the figures are erro-
neous. The figure representing the act of coughing is No.
6, that of sneezing No. 7, and the motion of the dead rib is
given in fig. 5.

4

%

81

Ordinary Meeting, February lOtli, 1874.

K Angus Smith, Ph.D., F.KS., &C., Vice-President, in the

Chair.

“The Northern Range of the Basques,” by W. Boyd
Dawkins, M.A., F.R.S., F.S.A.

The northern extension of the Basque race from their
present boundary, in ancient times, is demonstrated by the
convergent testimony of history, ethnology, and the re-
searches into caves and tombs.

The Evidence of History as to the Peoples of Gaul

and Spain.

In the Iberian peninsula the Basque populations (Yas-
cones) of the west are defined from the Celtic of the east by
the Celtiberi inhabiting modern Castille. In Gaul the pro-
vince of Aquitania extended as far north, in Caesar’s time, as
the river Garonne, constituting the modern Gascony, to which
was added, in the days of Augustus, the district between
that river and the Loire, a change of frontier that was pro-
bably due to the predominence of Basque blood in a mixed
race in that area similar to the Celtiberi of Castille. The
Aquitani were surrounded on every side, except the south,
by the Celtae, extending as far north as the Seine, as far to
the east as Switzerland and the plains of Lombardy, and
southwards, through the valley of the Rhone and the region
of the Yolscrn, over the Eastern Pyrenees into Spain. The
district round the Phocsean colony of Marseilles was inhabi-
ted by Ligurian tribes, who held the region between the
river Po and the Gulf of Genoa, as far as the western boun-
Proceedixgs. — Lit. & Phil. Society. — Tol. XIII. — No. 8 — Session 1873-4.

82

dary of Etruria, and who probably extended to the west
along the coast of Southern Gaul as far as the Pyrenees.
They were distinguished from the Celt?e, not merely by their
manners and customs, but by their small stature and dark
hair and eyes, and are stated by Pliny and Strabo to have
inhabited Spain. They have also left marks of their pre-
sence in Central Gaul in the name of the Loire (Ligur), and
possibly in Britain in the obscure name of the Lloegrians.
Their stature and swarthy complexion, as well as the ancient
geographical position conterminous with the Iberic popu-
lation of Gaul and Spain, confirm this conclusion. The
non-Aryan and probably Basque population of Gaul was
therefore cut into two portions by a broad band of Celts,
which crosses the Eastern Pyrenees, and marks the route
by which the Iberian peninsula was invaded.

The ancient population of Sardinia is stated by Pausanias
to be of Libyan extraction, and to bear a strong resemblance
to the Iberians in physique and in habits of life, while that
of Corsica is described by Seneca as Ligurian and Iberian.
The ancient Libyans are represented at the present day by
the Berber and Kabyle tribes which are, if not identical
with, at all events cognate with the Basques. We may
therefore infer that these two islands were formerly occupied
by this non -Aryan race, as well as the adjacent continents
of Northern Africa and Southern Europe.

The Basque Population the Oldest.

The relative antiquity of these two races in Europe may
be arrived at by this distribution. The Basques, or Ligu-
rians, are the oldest inhabitants, in their respective districts,
known to the historian ; while the Celts appear as invaders,
pressing southwards and westwards on the populations
already in possession, fiooding over the Alps, and, under
Brennus, sacking Borne, and by their union with the van-
quished in Spain constituting the Celtiberi. We may

83

therefore be tolerably certain that the Basques held France
and Spain before the invasion of the Celts, and that the
non- Aryan peoples were cut asunder, and certain parts of
them left — Ligurians, Sikani, and in part Sardinians and
Corsicans — as ethnological islands, marking, so to speak
an ancient Basque non- Aryan continent which had been
submerged by the Celtic populations advancing steadily
westwards.

At the time of the Roman conquest of Gaul, the Belgse
were pressing on the Celts just as the latter pressed the
Basques, the Seine and the Marne forming their southern
boundary, and in their turn being pushed to the east by the
advance of the Germans in the Rhine provinces. Thus we
have the oldest population, or Basque, invaded by the Celts,
the Celts by the Belgae, and these again by the Germans ;
their relative positions stamping their relative antiquity in
Europe.

The Population of Britain.

The Celtic and Belgic invasion of Gaul repeated itself, as
might be expected, in Britain. Just as the Celts pushed
back the Iberian population of Gaul as far south as Aqui-
tania, and swept round it into Spain, so they crossed over
the Channel and overran the greater portion of Britain,
until the Silures, identified by Tacitus with the Iberians,
were left only in those fastnesses that formed subsequently
a bulwark for the Brit- Welsh against the English invaders.
And just as the Belgse pressed on the rear of the Celts as
far as the Seine, so they followed them into Britain, and
took possession of the “Pars Maritima,” or southern coun-
ties. The unsettled condition of the country at the time of
Caesar’s invasion was, probably, due to the struggle then
going on between the Celts and Belgae.

84

Basque Element in present British and French

Populations.

The Basque non- Aryan blood is still to be traced in the
dark-haired, black-eyed, small, oval-featured peoples in our
own country in the region of the Silures, where the hills
have afforded shelter to the Basque populations from the
invaders. The small swarthy Welshman of Denbighshire
is in every respect, except dress and language, identical
with the Basque peasant of the Western Pyrenees, at
Bagneres de Bigorre.

The small dark-haired people of Ireland, and especially
those to the west of the Shannon, according to Dr. Thurnam
and Professor Huxley, are also of Iberian derivation, and,
singularly enough, there is a legendary connection between
that island and Spain. The human remains from the
chambered tombs as well as the river-beds prove that the
non- Aryan population spread over the whole of Ireland as
well as the whole of Britain. The main mass of the Irish
population is undoubtedly Celtic, crossed with Danish,
Norse, and English blood.

The Basque element in the population of France is at the
present time centered in the old province of Aquitaine, in
which the jet-black hair and eyes, and swarthy complexion,
strike the eye of the traveller, now, as in the days of Strabo,
and form a vivid contrast with the brown hair and grey
eyes of the inhabitants of Celtica and Belgica. The map
published by Dr. Broca (“ Memoires d’ Anthropologic,” t. I.,
p. 330) shows at a glance the average complexion prevailing
in each department, and the relative number of exemptions
per 1,000 conscripts, on account of their not coming up to
the standard of height (1‘56 metre = 5 feet IJ inches), and
it will be seen that the only swarthy people outside the
boundary of Aquitaine, constitute five ethnological islands.
Of these Brittany is by far the largest, probably because its
fastnesses afibrded a shelter to the Basques, who were being

85

driven to the south-west. The department of the Meuse
in the north, and those of Tarn and Arriege, in the south,
are also sundered from the main body, while those of the
Upper and Lower Alps present us with the descendants of
the ancient Ligurian tribes.

The people with dark-brown hair, considered by Dr.
Broca to be the result of the intermingling of a dark with a
fair race, are scattered about through Aquitaine, and occur
only in two departments in northern Celtica. The fair
people, on the other hand, are massed in northern Celtica
and Belgica.

The relation of complexion to stature may be gathered
from the following table of exemptions per 1,000 for each
department : —

Departements noirs

98-5

to

189

„ gris fonces

64

97

„ gris clairs

48-8

63-8

„ blancs

23

5)

48-5

From this table it is evident that the swarthy people are
the smallest and the fair the tallest, the intermediate shades
being the result of fusion between the two extremes.

The distribution, therefore, of the small swarthy Basque,
and tall fair Celtic and Belgic races in* France at the present
time, corresponds essentially with that which we might have
expected from the evidence of history.

When we consider the many invasions of France, and the
oscillations to and fro of peoples, the persistence of the
Basque population is very remarkable. It is not a little
strange that the type should be so slightly altered by inter-
marriage with the conquering races.

Researches in Neolithic Caves and Tombs.

The evidence offered by an appeal to history and ethnology,
as to the former northern extent of the Basque peoples, is
confirmed by an examination of the human i*emains in the

86

Neolithic caves and tombs, scattered throughout the area
under consideration. The discoveries in the caves of Gib-
raltar and of the Spanish Mainland prove that a small, long-
headed race, with delicate features and orthognathic profile
identical with the Basques who buried their dead in the
modern cemetery of Guipuscoa ranged throughout the Penin-
sula, using with indifference caves and chambered tumuli
for their tombs. And on the same grounds their former
range through France, Britain, and Ireland, is demonstrated,
and as far to the east as Belgium. They occupied the whole
of this region in the Neolithic age, in which they were in-
vaded and driven to the westward, and broken up into islands
by the Celts, a fair, tall, broad-headed race. The Basques,
therefore, have lived in Europe since the Neolithic age,
history, ethnology, and researches in caves and tombs, offer-
ing independent and convergent testimony. At the present
time the Basque blood asserts itself in the physique of cer-
tain isolated populations, and within the historic period is
demonstrated to have been more strongly defined, and to
have occupied larger areas, and lastly in the prehistoric
period to have formed one continuous race from the
Pillars of Hercules, as far north as Scotland, and as far to
the east as Belgium.

PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SECTION.

February 3rd, 1874.

Alfred Brothers, F.B.A.S., President of the Section,

iii the Chair.

“ On the Theory of the Tides,’’ by David Win Stanley, Esq.

According to that theory of the tides which appears to
have met with something like general acceptance, the waters
of the ocean are heaped up on opposite sides of the earth
by those differences of lunar attraction which result from

87

inequalities of distance, the waters being pulled from the
earth on the one side and the earth from the waters on the
other.”

In any of those expositions of this theory which have
come under my notice I have failed to observe any mention
of that resistance to the lunar attraction without the consider-
ation of which it appears to me that the theory in question
must be regarded as incomplete. One of the known results
of the mutual gravitation of the earth and moon is found
in the instance of the former body in an oscillation of its
major portion on both sides of a given line, viz. the orbital
path pursued by the centre of gravity of the binary system.
The oscillation in question is certainly resisted by the
tendency of the earth's particles to continue their motion in
right lines, and the amount of thi^ resistance clearly in-
creases with the extent or violence of the oscillation, which
attains its maximum at that portion of the earth’s surface
most remote from the moon, and sinks to zero at the com-
mon centre of gravity of the system. Without these differ-
ences of resistance to the forced oscillation caused by the
lunar influence, it seems to me the differences of lunar attrac-
tion would fail to produce the effects ascribed thereto.

If this be so, there can be no doubt as to the desirability
of making mention in any exposition of the tidal theory
both of the resistance I have mentioned and its differences
in extent, and the more especially as we know on the high-
est modern astronomical authority that strange difficulties”
are experienced by many of those who attempt from the
expositions now in use to gain a knowledge of the modus
operandi of the tides. The tendency to continued recti-
linear movement to which I have alluded as a resistance to
oscillation is however well known by the name of “ cen-
trifugal force,” which term, or any of its modern substitutes,
may, it seems to me, be conveniently employed in consider-
ing the theory of the tides.

88

If we discard for the time all considerations of how it has
come to be so, and regard only the fact that the earth and
moon together constitute a system which revolves upon its
common centre of gravity, I am of opinion that we shall
have unmixed with distracting matter all the facts that are
necessary for theorising on the production of the lunar tides.
It will be clear that the revolution in question will be
accompanied by the development of centrifugal force, and
the whole point to which attention is now directed is whe-
ther or no the said centrifugal force contributes in any
material manner to the phenomena of the tides. It is need-
less to complicate the matter by any attempt to reduce the
value of this centrifugal force to an expression of the motion
or pressure of a number of tons or pounds. We know that
at the earth’s centre it is just sufficient to overcome that
tendency to juncture which is the simple resultant of the
gravitation subsisting between the earth and moon. Were
it greater, the interval of separation would increase ; whilst
were it less, it would diminish. The constancy of this
interval proves the equality at the earth’s centre at any
rate of the attraction which perturbs and the centrifugal
force which offers resistance to perturbation.

For convenience of expression we may apply the term
“ lunar unit” to indicate the quantity of either of the forces
we have named. It will at once be evident that on the
side of the earth nearest the moon there will be experienced
the effect of more than a lunar unit of attraction and less
than a lunar unit of resistance. Indeed the centrifugal
force which at the further side of the earth is opposed to
the attraction of the moon here augments the effects pro-
duced thereby, so that we have a tide-producing force equal
to the sum of the forces in question. On the other side of
the earth, however, we have less than a lunar unit of attrac-
tion, and more than a lunar unit — in fact more than two lunar

* The writer is not unaware of the ellipticitj of the moon’s orbit.

89

units of resistance ; so that we have there a tide -producing
force due to the resistance alone and equal in amount to
the difference between that resistance and the amount of
the lunar attraction.

A very little reflection will suffice to show that in what-
ever part of the earth’s figure the common centre of gravity
of the system may be found, the tide-producing energy result-
ing from the forces here named will be substantially the
same on both sides of the earth. For instance, if we regard
the figures representing the earth’s diameter, the moon’s
distance, and the mass of both bodies, as being correctly
given in the tenth edition of Herschel’s “Outlines,” we
shall find the centre of gravity of the system to be 1249
miles below the surface of the earth. Here we have no
centrifugal force at all, but at a distance beyond of 2713
miles (i.e. at the centre of the earth) we have one lunar unit
and no more. Under the moon, where the attraction is
1*034 lunar units, the augmenting centrifugal force is *46 of
a lunar unit, and the tide^producing force equal to the
amount of their sum, or 1*494 times the same standard of
measure. On the further side of the earth, however, the
centrifugal force equals 2*46 times the amount experienced
at the centre, whilst the attraction of the moon at the same
place is *968 of that amount. The difference of these forces
or 1*492 lunar units indicates the comparative amount of
force available for raising the external terrestrial tide.

“ Eainfall at Old Trafford, Manchester, in the year 1873,”
by G. V. Veenon, F.E.A.S., F.M.S.

The rainfall of 1873 was 5*950 inches below the average
of the last 80 years, and no less than 21*877 inches below
the great fall of 1872.

The total fall in 1873 was 29*815 inches, and fell upon
198 days; although the fall was below the average it fell
upon an unusual number of days, and was 6 days above the
average of the last twelve years.

90

January had a rainfall in excess of the average; February,
March, April, and May had a fall below the average ; June,
July, and August were all in excess, and this joined to very
little hot weather, excepting a short period in July, spoiled
the prospects of the harvest; September had a fall below the
average, October was above; November and December had
a rainfall greatly below the average of the season, December
especially, and excepting April was the driest month of the
year.

The rainfall for the first quarter of the year was 1*628
inches below the average; for the second ' quarter, 1*914
inches below the average; for the third quarter, 0*937 inches
above the average; whilst for the fourth quarter it was
3*445 inches below the average.

This distribution of the rainfall was unfortunate as the
heaviest amounts fell at the time when the crops generally
should have been ready for cutting : fortunately the weather
suited the hay crop, which was generally a very good one,
and there was plenty of after-grass.

Rain Grange 3 feet above the ground and 106 feet above sea level.

Quarterly

Periods.

1873.

Pall

in

Inches.

Average
of 80
Years.

Differ-

ence.

No. of
Days
Pain
fell in
1873.

Quarterly Periods.

1872.

1873.

80 Years.

1 1873.

Differ’nce

ins.

ins.

ins.

ins.

ins.

ins.

r

January. .

3-136

2-544

+0-592

21

56

48]

February.

0-666

2-388

—1-722

11

[ 7-220

5-592

—1-628

(.

March

1-790

2-288

—0-498

16

)

r

April

0-516

2-045

—1-529

12

>

50

43 ]

May

1-910

2-297

—0-387

17

y 7-207

5-393

—1-914

(

June

2-967

2-865

+0-102

14

)

r

4-649

3-572

+1*077

20

59

64]

August . . .

4-199

3-509

+0-690

27

^ 10-388

11-325

+0-937

G

Septemb’r

2-477

3-307

-0-830

17

)

■

r

October...

4-441

3-899

+0-542

20

63

43 ]

November

2-283

3-765

—1-482

13

V 10-950

7-505

—3-445

December

0-781

3-286

-2-505

10

228

198

29*815

35*765

—5-950

198

35-765

29-815

—5-950

t

91

Ordinary Meeting, February 24fch, 1874.

Rev. William Gaskell, M.A., Vice-President, in the Chair.

Mr. A. Brothees, F.R.A.S., referring to a statement made
by Mr. Dawkins, F.R.S., at the last meeting, that the
sinking of a deep well recently at Sheerness had lowered
the water in a well at Southend, read the following extract
of a letter dated February 21st, 1874, which he had
received from Mr. Joseph Beard, of Southend : —

I have seen the agent of our water works and gleaned
what particulars I could. Nothing has occured of recent
date affecting our water at Southend ; but about fifty years
ago a well was sunk in the dockyard at Sheerness which by
excessive pumping did drain all the deep wells at Southend.
Our well at the water works was sunk fourteen years ago.
It is 905 feet deep, dug to 385 feet, the rest a boring. The
last 300 feet is through chalk, above that a layer of green
sand. The water is particularly soft, and in washing you
can’t distinguish it from rain water. Nothing from Sheer-
ness has disturbed this well since it was sunk, but the com-
pany had an accident at their beginning which may have
given rise to what you have heard. They sank their first
well 400 feet, and all at once broke into water that rose 200
feet. They tried to pump it out, but could not do so, and
at last the bottom gave way and their pumping apparatus
slipped down, where it remains unrecoverable at the present
moment. They then started their labour again at a distance
of 40 feet, but had great trouble with the quicksand through
which they had to get to the chalk.”

Mr. E. W. Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S., stated that of late years
much had been said and written on the advantages of
drainage in improving the sanitary condition of towns.
PROCEEDixas. — Lit. & Phil. Society. — Yol. XIIT.— IS'o. 9 — Session 1873-4.

92

Now this, like many other good things, can be carried
too far, especially in districts situate on a sandy soil and
where the owners of crowded graveyards are permitted
to bury corpses near to the public highway, a proceeding
occasionally yet allowed by sanitary authorities. Some
years since a main sewer was excavated on the Cheetham
Hill Eoad. From the Workhouse to Temple it was made
in strong brick clay or “till,” but when it reached the
latter place it came into a mass of quicksand and drained
St. Luke’s churchyard and took the water down to Man-
chester. The sewer was then continued in the sand all the
way to the Bird in the Hand public house, where it stopped.
Within the last month a main drain has been made from
the turnpike road up Kobin Hood Street so as to drain the
water from part of St. Mark’s churchyard. This drain runs
into a new main sewer which joins the old one near the
Bird in the Hand, and thus the drainage of part of St.
Mark’s churchyard is made to join that of St. Luke’s, and
both go down to Manchester. No doubt sand possesses a
great filtering power, and will in some measure purify
the water drained from churchyards ; but water derived
from such sources ought to be examined carefully before it
is conveyed even into sewers connected with dwelling-
houses. Probably our officers of health may have done so,
and think that there is no harm in water flowing from
graveyards, but as yet, so far as known to me, no informa-
tion has been given to the public on this subject. The
making of sewers in sandy soils near to burying grounds is
a matter that deserves the attention of sanitary officers
more than it has done up to this time.

Burial grounds cannot well be removed when once estab-
lished, but their owners can be prevented from burying
close to roads and streets having sewers under them, and
caution can be used in making new burial grounds near to
roads and sewers. When burial grounds adjoin churches,

93

whatever the consequences, some people will build houses
near them, preferring the contiguity of the church to any
fear of the evils of a crowded cemetery.

On the Effect of Acid on the Interior of Iron Wire,’’ by
Professor Osboene Reynolds, M.A.

It will be remembered that at a previous meeting of this
Society Mr. Johnson exhibited some iron and steel wire in
which he had observed some very singular effects produced
by tlie action of sulphuric acid. In the first place the
nature of the wire was changed in a mai'ked manner, for
although it was soft charcoal wire it had become short and
brittle; the weight of the wire was increased; and what
was the most remarkable effect of all was that when the
wire was broken and the face of the fracture wetted with
the mouth it frothed up as if the water acted as a powerful
acid. These effects, however, all passed off if the wire were
allowed to remain exposed to the air for some days, and if
it were warmed before the fire thay passed off in a few
hours.

By Mr. Johnson’s permission I took possession of one of
these pieces of wire and subjected it to a farther examina-
tion, and from the result of that examination I was led to
what appears to me to be a complete explanation of the
phenomena.

I observed that when I broke a short piece from the end
of the wire the two faces of the fracture behaved very dif-
ferently— that on the long piece frothed when wetted and
continued to do so for some seconds, while that on the short
piece would hardly show any signs of froth at all. This
seemed to imply that the gas which caused the froth came
from a considerable depth below the surface of the wire,
and was not generated on the freshly exposed face. This
view was confirmed when on substituting oil for water I
found the froth just the same.

94

These observations led me to conclude that the effect was
due to hydrogen, and not to acid as Mr. Johnson appeared
to think, having entered into combination with the iron
during its immersion in the acid, which hydrogen gradually
passed off when the iron was exposed.

It was obvious however that this conclusion was capable
of being further tested. It was clearly possible to ascer-
tain whether or not the gas was hydrogen ; and whether
hydrogen penetrated iron when under the action of acid.
With a view to do this I made the following experiments.

First, however, I would mention that after 24 hours I
examined what remained of the wire, when I found that all
appearance of frothing had vanished and the wire liad reco-
vered its ductility, so much so that it would now bend
backwards and forwards two or thi’ee times without break-
ing, whereas on the previous evening a single bend had
sufficed to break it.

I then obtained a piece of wrought iron gas pipe 6 inches
long and | inch external diameter, and rather more than
-Je of an inch thick ; I had this cleaned in a lathe both
inside and outside ; over one end I soldered a piece of cop-
per so as to stop it, and the other I connected with a piece
of glass tube by means of indiarubber tube. I then filled
both the glass and iron tubes with olive oil and immersed
the iron tube in diluted sulphuric acid which had been
mixed for some time and was cold. Under this arrange-
ment any hydrogen which came from the inside of the glass
tube must have passed through the iron.

After the iron had been in the acid about 5 minutes
small bubbles began to pass up the glass tube. These were
caught at the top and were subsequently burnt and proved
to be hydrogen. At first, however, they came off but very
slowly, and it was several hours before I had collected enough
to burn. With a view to increase the speed I changed the
acid several times without much effect until I happened to

95

use some acid which had only just been diluted and was
warm ; then the gas came off twenty or thirty times as fast
as it had previously done. I then put a lamp under the
bath and measured the rate at which the gas came off, and
I found that when the acid was on the point of boiling as
much hydrogen was given off in 5 seconds as had previously
come off in 10 minutes, and the rate was maintained in both
cases for several hours.

After having been in acid for some time the tube was
taken out, well washed with cold water and soap so as to
remove all trace of the acid ; it was then plunged into a
bath of hot water, upon which gas came off so rapidly from
both the outside and inside of the tube as to give the
appearance of the action of strong acid. This action lasted
for some time, but gradually diminished. It could be
stopped at any time by the substitution of cold water in
place of the hot, and it was renewed again after several
hours by again putting the tube in hot water. The volume
of hydrogen which was thus given off by the tube after it
had been, taken out of hot acid was about equal to the vo-
lume of the iron.

At the time I made These experiments I was not aware
that there had been any previous experiments on the sub-
ject; but I subsequently found, on referring to Watt’s
Dictionary of Chemistry, that Cailletet had in 1868 disco-
vered that hydrogen would pass into an iron vessel immersed
iu sulphuric acid. See Comp. rend. Ixvi, 847.

The facts thus established appear to afford a complete
explanation of the effects observed by Mr. J ohnson.

In the first place, with regard to the temporary character
of the effect, it appears that hydrogen leaves the iron slowly
even at ordinary temperatures — so much so that after two
or three days’ exposure I found no hydrogen given off when
the tube was .immersed in hot water. Witli regard to the
effect of warming the wire — at the temperature of boiling

96

the hydrogen passed off 120 times as fast -as at the tempera-
ture of 60'". Also when the saturated iron was plunged into
warm water the gas passed off as if the iron had been
plunged into strong acid ; so that we can easily understand
how the hydrogen would pass off from the wire quickly
when warm, although it would take long to do so at the
ordinary temperatures. With regard to the frothing of the
wire when broken and wetted — this was not due, as at first
sight it appeared to be, simply to the exposure of the inte-
rior of the wire, but was due to warmth caused in the wire
by the act of breaking. This was proved by the fact that
the froth appeared on the sides of the wire in the imme-
diate neighbourhood of the fracture, when these were
wetted, as well as the end ; and by simply bending the wire
it could be made to froth at the point where it was bent.

As to the effect on the nature and strength of the iron I
cannot add anything to what Mr. Johnson has already
observed. The question, however, appears to be one of very
considerable importance, both philosophically and in con-
nection with the use of iron in the construction of ships
and boilers. If, as is probable, the saturation of iron with
hydrogen takes place whenever oxidation goes on in water,
then the iron of boilers and ships may at times be changed
in character and rendered brittle in the same manner as
Mr. Johnson’s wire, and this, whether it can be prevented
or not, is at least an important point to know, and would
repay a further investigation of the subject.

Dr. Ransome, M.A., demoustrated the movements of the
chest in respiration, showing the remarkable mobility of its
several parts, and the consequent facility with which its
cavity can be inflated.

Its motions are conditioned by the shape and mode of
articulation and degree of movement of the bones composing
it.

97

The motions of points on its anterior wall on either side
of the breast bone may take place in an upward, forward,
and lateral direction, and a stethometer has been con-
structed by means of which these movements may be
measured during any one act of breathing, in three planes
at right angles to one another.

From the records obtained with this instrument it has
been observed that the ratio of the forward to the upward
and outward movements varies very greatly, not only in
different individuals but in the same person, and that by
the constraining influence of the will it is possible to cause
at one time the forward and at another the upward motion
to predominate.

The upper ribs have sometimes more forward movement
than the lower ; in childhood its extent is very large, but
with the advance of age the movement in this plane be-
comes comparatively very small. In disease the ratios of
the motions in the three planes are much altered — especially
in the early stages of consumption and in pleurisy after the
effusion has been absorbed.

By means of an instrument for ascertaining the angles
made by the plane of the rib-circuits with the vertical it
may be demonstrated mathematically —

1. That the upward dimensions of the movements of the
anterior ends of the ribs are sufficiently accounted for by the
upward rise of the ribs, their chordlengths being taken as
radii, their vertebral attachments as centres.

2. The outward indications are also probably to be
accounted for by the radial rise of the costal cartilages, the
sternal articulations being taken as centres.

3. But from the above-mentioned observations it is obvious
that the forward thrust of the anterior ends of the ribs can-
not be accounted for by their simple rise from a more to a
less oblique position. From the records of the chest move-
ments it appears that there is no constant relation to be

98

found between the amounts of forward and upward move-
ments, and from the measurement of the angles made by
the ribs with the spine it may be shown, that these angles
are not such as to permit of the degree of forward motion
recorded by the three-plane stethometer.

In some instances the discrepancy between the observed
and the calculated forward movement amounted to O’oin.
for the fifth rib and 0*7in. for the third rib.

From these facts the conclusion has been drawn that in
forced breathing the extreme efibrt of expiration causes a
certain degree of inbending of the ribs.

This explanation was further shown to be correct by the
use of a pair of callipers, especially devised for measuring
the diameters of the rib-circuits in the two positions of ex-
treme inspiration and forced expiration. In the case exhi-
bited to the Society the difference between the chordlength
of the right third rib in expiration and inspiration was
proved to be about 0‘4in.

Further confirmation of these views was found in the
tracings of the stethograph, shown to the Society four weeks
ago.

Diagrams of these tracings, prepared by the Kev. Brooke
Herford, were exhibited to the meeting.

Mr. Carson desires to correct a statement which appears
in a notice read at the meeting on January I3th last, “On
a Crystalline Sublimed Cupric Chloride,’’ in which, through
a misunderstanding, he stated that sodium chloride was
volatilized in Deacon’s chlorine process when sodium sul-
phate is added to the copper salt. He since has learnt from
Mr. Deacon that no such volatilization of sodium chloride
has been observed.

99

Ordinary Meeting, March 10th, 1874.

E. W. Binney, F.B.S., F.G.S., Vice-President, in the Chair.

The Chairman said that at a meeting of the Society on
the 9th day of January, 1872, in presenting to the notice of
the members specimens of fossil woods from the lower
coal measures of Lancashire, he stated that from some ex-
amples in his cabinet he was led to believe that Cotta’s
Medullosa elegans was merely the rachis of a fern or a
plant allied to one.” Now, Professor Kenault, of Paris, to
whom we owe so much for his researches in fossil botany,
has lately read a memoir before the French Academy on
the 26th January last, which has since been printed in the
Gomptes Rendus, that completely confirms this opinion.

The genus Medullosa was first given by Professor Cotta
to some specimens of fossil plants found at Chemnitz. M.
Brongniart changed the genus into Myeloxylon, and M.
Renault has now altered it into Myelopteris and made two
species, M. radiata and ilf. Landriotti.

The fossil is found in great abundance in the calcareous
nodules of the Upper Brooksbottom coal in Lancashire, and
varies in size from one tenth of an inch to an inch in dia-
meter. In this district no leaves of ferns have been found
attached to it, but in the strata adjoining the seam of coal
where the nodules occur specimens of Neuropteris, with
other ferns, have been met with. Professor Renault states
that M. Grand’ Fury refers the petioles of Myelopteris to
Neuropterides, which comprehend the Neuropteris, the
Odontopteris, &c. Side by side in the same nodules the
most common plant found with Myelopteris is Calamoden-
dron commune and the small cone which from similarity oi
structure has been supposed by me to be the fructification of
that plant.

Peoceedings. — Lit. &Phil. Society. — Yol. XIII. — No. 10— Session 1873-4.

100

Professor Renault lias been so fortunate as to have ob-
tained a fine collection of specimens in a most perfect state
of preservation from Autun, and they could scarcely have
fallen into better hands. After describing them at length
he comes to the following conclusion :

“ D’apres ce qui precede, il est done a pen pres certain que
ces petioles de Myelopteris sont des petioles de Fougeres,
ayant eu le mode de croissance et le port actuel de nos
Angiopteris, dont ils differaient pourtant a certains dgards,
et Ton pent les consid^rer comme ayant form^ un genre
d’une grande importance a Tepoque carbonifere, mais actu-
ellement compldtement dteint, que Ton doit ranger dans la
famille de Marattiees.”

Further Observations and Experiments on the Influence
of Acids on Iron and Steel,” by William H. Johnson, B.Sc.

At the last meeting of the Society Professor Reynolds
in an interesting paper “ On the Effect of Acid on the Inte-
rior of Iron Wire,” appears to think that I did not attribute
to hydrogen any portion of the remarkable change produced
in iron and steel by immersion in acid. That immersion in
acid is the primary cause no one, I think, will dispute ; but
that hydrogen plays an important part in producing these
changes and is the cause of the bubbles, the following para-
graph from a paper I read before the Society, March 4th,
1873, will prove :

“The experiments of Professor Graham in 1867, and
more recently those of Mr. Parry, show that hydrogen, car-
bonic oxide and carbonic acid, and nitrogen, are evolved
from wrought iron, cast iron, and steel, when heated in
vacuo. Therefore it seems probable that a part of the
hydrogen produced by the action of the acid on the iron
may be absorbed by the iron, its nascent state facilitating
this. And when the iron is heated by the effort of breaking
it, the gas may bubble up through the moisture on the
fracture,”

101

The supposition that the absorption of hydrogen is the
sole cause of the change in the breaking strain, diminution
in toughness, etc., attendant on the immersion of iron in
hydrochloric or sulphuric acids, and that there is no ab-
sorption of these acids into the interior of the iron, does not
account for the following phenomena : —

1. — The gain in weight of a piece of iron by immersion
in hydrochloric acid is less than by immersion in sulphuric
acid, as is proved by experiments described in my first
paper on this subject.

2. — Iron after immersion in hydrochloric acid sooner
regains its original state than after immersion in sulphuric
acid.

3. — 'If acid iron, i.e., iron which has been immersed in
hydrochloric or sulphuric acids, be steeped in an alkaline
solution it sooner regains its original state than with
immersion in water alone.

4. — Take two pieces of iron alike in size and quality, and
immerse one in hydrochloric acid and the other in sulphuric
acid for some hours, then wash them well in water and dry
them gently, and leave them in a temperate room for some
hours more. At the end of that time it will be invariably
found — that the piece which was in hydrochloric acid is
covered with a dark-brown red oxide of iron, while the
piece which was in sulphuric acid will be only slightly
rusted.

5. — Litmus paper when applied to the moistened fracture
of acid iron is slightly reddened.

All the above phenomena have been observed so often
and so carefully as to leave no doubt of their invariable
recurrence if the conditions of experiment be only properly
observed.

It seems to me the only satisfactory way of explaining
all the phenomena is to suppose that when a piece of iron
is immersed in acid two actions go on, viz. ; An absorption

102

of the nascent hydrogen into the interior of the iron, which
hydrogen may subsequently be given off by gentle heat or
immersion in a liquid, etc. Secondly, an absorption of the
acid itself, possibly in a very concentrated form by the

interstices between the fibres or crvstals of the metal.

«/

That it is possible for a liquid to pass into the interior of
a piece of iron is I think proved by the sweating of the
cylinders of hydraulic presses, and also the known diffusion
of gases through iron. The structure of iron as revealed by
the microscope and the changes it undergoes during manu-
facture, by Avhich a spongy mass is by hammering aud
rolling squeezed together, all go to prove that there are
numerous cavities in iron and steel.

It will however be said, the acid must act on the walls of
the cavity and form a salt of iron with liberation of hydro-
gen. This may go on to a small extent, but in opposition
to this view we may bring the experiments of Prof. Bequerel
on solutions separated by a cracked tube {Comptes Rendus,
LXXVI), where he shows that no precipitate is formed on
placing a cracked tube filled with nitrate of lead in a solu-
tion of potassium sulphate within the crack, thus making it
probable that chemical interchanges do not take place in
very minute spaces.

By this theory we may easily explain the decrease in
toughness after immersion in acid. For toughness implies
a certain ease of mobility of the particles. When a piece of iron
is bent the particles of one side are compressed, thus dimi-
nishing the minute cavities between the fibres, while those
of the other side are stretched, and the minute cavities
elongated. Now if we fill these cavities with a liquid
this mobility of the particles is prevented, for the cavities
cannot ^low be diminished in size and the compression of
the one side cannot now take place, consequently the piece
tears or breaks off just like a piece of frozen rope.

It will also explain the acid reaction of the moistened

108

fracture, and furthur, as hydrochloric acid is much more
volatile and of less specific gravity than sulphuric acid, it is
only natural to expect that the effect of immersion in hydro •
chloric acid will pass off more rapidly than of immersion in
sulphuric. This experience fully confirms.

Influence of Immersion in Acid on the Tensile Strain

and Elongation.

With a view of determining these interesting points a
number of experiments were made in the following way,
viz. : Small coils of iron wire were immersed in hydrochloric
and sulphuric acids for different lengths of time, and then
carefully tested for tensile strain in a very accurate machine,
so constructed that the elongation of the wire while under
strain could at any moment be ascertained. The weights
could also be added quickly and without imparting any
shock to the wires, points to which great importance should
always be attached in experiments of this kind, as a slight
shock or jar on the addition of a weight will often cause
the rupture of a piece which otherwise would have stood a
much higher strain. The length of the pieces tested was in
all the experiments 10 inches between the dies of the
machine, and their temperature at the time of experiment
about 16° C.

After the ultimate elongation and breaking weight had
been ascertained with this machine, the coils were placed
on warm plates or in hot chambers for some hours and sub-
sequently tested in the same way.

Experiments, the results of which are shown in tables
A, B, C, were made in this way, and lead us to the follow-
ing conclusions :

1st. That immersion in hydrochloric acid for 1 hour
diminishes the

Tensile strain of annealed iron 29 Tibs, per sq. inch of section.

5, unannealed iron 2,3891bs. „ „

104

and diminishes the

Ultimate elongation of annealed iron 0’8 per cent.

„ unannealed iron 0*83 „

2nd. That immersion in hydrochloric acid for 6 hours
diminishes the

Tensile strain of annealed mild steel 2,5631bs. per scp in. of section,
and increases the

Ultimate elongation of annealed mild steel 4 '7 per cent.

When first I discovered that a decrease of ultimate elon-
gation under strain was the result of immersion of steel in
acid, I thought there must he some experimental error, and
accordingly carefully selected 8 coils, all of uniform temper,
and made 3 tests from each coil, the results of which are
given in detail in table C. The singular regularity of these
tests must be said to remove all doubt as to the truth of
the results of the first experiment.

It then occurred to me that possibly lyrolonged immer-
sion in acid might so decrease the breaking strain that the
wire would not recover its original strength. For this pur-
pose I carefully tested the elongation and breaking strain of
the wire before immersion in acid and again after heating for
5 days on a hot plate. The results of these experiments as
given in tables D and E confirm this view, showing that
there is

1st. A permanent decrease in breaking strain after pro-
longed immersion in

Sulphuric acid of 12,2051bs. per sq, inch of section.

, Hydrochloric „ 31,2751bs. „ „

Both these results are doubtless too high as the surface of
the wire was pitted by the acid, consequently its actual sec-
tional area was less than that calculated from the diameter
as measured.

2nd. A permanent increase in the elongation after pro-
longed immersion in

Sulphuric acid of 1 ‘7 per cent.

Hydrochloric ,,2*17 „

Having examined the effect of acid on annealed steel it
was next thought advisable to try the effect on unannealed.
This was done with results as in table F, showing that the

105

immediate effect of immersion in acid was to

Decrease the tensile strain of unannealed steel 4,0451bs. per
square inch of section.

And increase the ultimate elongation of „ ,, 1’14 per cent.

The change is thus similar to that which takes place in
annealed steel as shown in table C. It is, however,
interesting to observe that 12 hours at a temperature of
40° — 100° C. not only restores but actually increases its
original breaking strain and elongation, while a still more
prolonged submersion of 7 days to the same temperature
still further increases them. These last experiments also
show that some considerable time is required to overcome
the change produced by the acid.

In conclusion I may say that the numerical results
arrived at, though based on experiments conducted with
considerable care, must not be taken as more than approxi-
mations to the truth, for experimental errors and variations
arising from the imperfect homogeneity of structure of all
iron falsify the results and are only lost by multiplying
experiments almost indefinitely.

Table A.

Effect of Hydrochloric Acid on Annealed Iron Wire.

Description.

Diametr

inches.

Ultim’te

Elonga-

tion.

Increase in
ditto.

Breaking

strain.

Breaking
strain per
sq. inch of
section.

Increase

in

ditto.

No. of tests
of wh. the
meau is giren

Annealed Iron

lbs.

lbs.

lbs.

Wire immersed ]
in acidl hour... ^

•150"

22-4“/„

918-4

51,890

9

Same piece as"
above after be-

ing 48 brs. on a
hot plate of a

»

•150"

22-3%

-O'lVo

922-8

52,140

250

9

temperature of

40°-200° C

Annealed Iron '
Wire immersed
in acid 1 hour... ,

1

164"

1105-3

52,389

3

Same piece as"
above being 12
hrs. on a hot
plate of a tem-
perature of 40°
-200° C

>

•164"

20-3°/„

-t-l-77o

1112-6

52,733

344

3

Average decrease in B. strain after immersion in Acid ~ 297 lbs. jicr sq. in.
„ „ ultimate elongation „ „ “0’8°/o

106

Table B.

Effect of Hydrochloric Acid on Unannealed Iron Wire.

Description.

Diam-

eter,

inches.

Ulti-

mate

Elonga-

tion.

Increase

in

ditto.

Breaking

strain.

Breaking
strain per
sq. inch of
section.

Increase

in

ditto.

No. of te.sts
of wh. the
mean is given

Unanneal’diron '
wire immersed
in acid 1 hour.. ^
Same piece as"
above after be-

•

•136"

i2-0°/o

lbs.

1193

lbs.

82.150

3 ;

i

ing 12 hours in
hot chamber of
tern. 40°-200°C^

>

■136"

2'83°/„

0-83°/o

1226-6

84,539

2,389

3

’ Dec. in B. strain after immersion in acid=:2,3891b8. iier sq. in. or abt. 3°/^,
„ elongation „ „ =0-83°/q

Table C.

Effect of Hydrochloric Acid on Annealed Mild Steel
(about '22°/o Carbon),

Number

of

1 piece.

Diameter,

inches.

Elongation
after immer-
sion in Hydcl.
for 6 hours.

Elongation
after being
heated 12 hrs.
to a tern, of
100 C.

B. strain after
immersion in
Hycl. for 6 hrs.

B. strain after
being heated
12 hom’s to a
tern, of 100 C.

1

1 '

(

•135"

197o

167o

828 lbs.

840 'lbs. ,

•135"

19 „

17 „

824 „

836 „

•135"

20 „

16 „

836 „

860 „

r

•135"

20 „

14 „

730 „

780 „

2 ]

•135"

20 „

13 „

730 „

754 „

(

•135"

20 „

16 „

770 „

820 „

c

•135"

21 „

16 „

728 „

770 „

3 ]

•135"

20 „

17 „

742 „

800 „

1

•135"

22 „

14 „

736 „

794 „

Average.

•135"

20-1

15-4 «/o

769-3 lbs.

538001bs.pr.sq.in.

806 lbs.

563631bs.pr.sq.in.

Decrease in B. strain after immersion =: 2,563 lbs. or 4‘56°/o
Increase in elongation „ = 4'7°/o

107

Table D.

Comparative Eepect op Sulphuric and Hydrochloric Acids on
Unannealed Charcoal Iron Wire.

De-icription.

Diame-

ter

inch.

Ulti-

mate

Elonga-

tion.

Decrease

in

ditto.

Break-

ing

Strain.

Break-
ing
Strain
per sq.
inch.

De-

crease

in

ditto.

No.of
tests
ofwh.
result
is a
mean

Charcoal Iron before
immersion in acid. . .

•049"

2-3%

lbs.

147-3

lbs.

78,200

lbs.

3

Ditto after 12 hoiu’s
in hydrochloric acid
and subsequent 5
hours in air at a
temperature ofl2°C.

•047"

1-17%

1-13%

122-7

71,930

6,270

3

Last piece after being
on hot plate for 5
days at a tempera-
ture of 40 — 140°C...

•047"

3-5%

_l-2%

81-3

47,954

30,246

3

Charcoal Iron after 1 2
hours in sulphuric
acid and subsequent
5 hours in air at a
temperature of 12°C.

•045"

1-3%

1-0%

98-

61,800

16,400

3

Last piece after being
on a hot plate for 5
days at a tempera-
ture of 40— 140°C...

•045"

4^0%

-1-7%

104-6

65,995

12,205

3

1

All the above 15 tests were made from one coil.

Permanent decrease in B. strain after prolonged

immersion in hydrochloric acid=30,2461bs. per sq. in.
,, ^ ^ ,, sulphuric „ =12,205 „ „ „

„ increase in ultimate elongation after pro-
longed immersion in hydrochloric acid=l'2 per cent.

„ „ „ sulphuric „ =V7 „

108

Table E.

Effect of Hydrochloric Acid on Unannealed Charcoal Iron Wire.

Description.

Diame-

ter.

inch.

Ulti-

mate

Elonga-

tion.

Decrease

in

ditto.

Break-

ing

Strain.

Break-
ing
Strain
per sq.
inch.

De-

crease

in

ditto.

No. of
tests
ofwh.
result
is a
mean

Charcoal iron before
immersion in acid...

•046''

1%

lbs.

134

lbs.

80,240

lbs.

6

Ditto after immersion
in acid for 5 hours...

•045"

1-83%

110-6

68,616

6

Last piece after 7
days on hot plate...

•045"

3-00%

—2-0%

94-6

59,700

30,540

6

Charcoal iron after
immersion in hy-
drochloric acid for
5| hrs., then washed
and dried in air 6
hours and again im-
mersed 5hrs. in acid

•045"

1%

86-

53,320

6

Same piece as last
heated for 7 days
on hot plate

•045"

5-3%

—4-3%

90-6

56,172

34,068

6

All the above 30 tests were made from one coil.

Average permanent decrease in B. strain after

prolonged immersion=32,3041bs. per sq. in,
„ „ increase in elongation „ =r3*15 per cent.

Table F.

Effect of Hydrochloric Acid on Unannealed Mild Steel.

Description,

Diame-

ter.

inch.

Ulti-

mate

Elonga-

tion.

Decrease

in

ditto.

Break-

ing

Strain.

Break-
ing
Strain
per sq.
inch.

De-

crease

in

ditto.

No. of
tests
ofwh.
result
is a
mean

Mild steel before im-
mersion in acid

•0905"

1-66%

lbs.

656-3

lbs.

102024

lbs.

6

Ditto after immersion
in dilute acid 5 hrs..

•0893"

2-8%

—1-14

613-3

97979

-1-4045

6

Last piece heated in
hot room 12 hours
to a temperature of
40— 120°C

•0893"

2-16%

-•5% ■

671-6

107295

—5271

6

Last piece heated 7
days in same hot
chamber

•0893"

3-42%

—1*76%

701-

111992

-1-9968

6

Decrease of Breaking strain on immersion=:4,0451bs. per sq. in.
Increase of Elongation „ „ =:1-14 per cent.

Each result is the mean of 6 tests on different coils.

109

Extension of the Influence of Acid beyond the part
immersed in the liquid.

Hitherto all the experiments have been made on iron
totally immersed in acid solutions. It appeared to me,
however, that very possibly the changes produced in iron
and steel by immersion in acid might not be confined to the
part in contact with the liquid only, but might also spread
beyond and produce effects similar in quality but less in
degree. With this view the following experiments were
made.

Pieces of carefully selected charcoal iron, mild steel (about
*22 carbon), and hardened and tempered steel wire (about
•65 carbon), each about 85 centimetres long and of same
thickness, were partly immersed in 4 tubes 13*5 centimetres
deep, filled respectively with dilute sulphuric, hydrochloric,
and nitric acids, and a saturated solution of common salt in
water. After 72 hours the pieces of wire were pulled out
and examined, when considerable differences became appa-
rent.

1st. The pieces immersed in salt solution were freed from
a very slight coating of rust on them before immersion,
where they were in contact with the liquid, but above the
surface of the liquid the rust remained as before. No
decided alteration in toughness was apparent, and no bubbles
were given off from the moistened fracture of the wire either
of the part in the liquid or that out.

2nd. The pieces in nitric acid were slightly eaten away
on the surface, the hardened steel least and the mild steel
most, and the surface was covered with a fine black dust in
the case of the charcoal and hardened steel. The moistened
fracture did not bubble, however, in any of the pieces either
in the part in or out of the acid, and no alteration in tough-
ness was apparent from that before immersion, except in
that part of the hardened steel covered with acid, where a
possible though undecided diminution seemed to exist.

110

3rd. The surface action of hydrochloric acid was rather
more marked than with nitric acid, and seemed to develope
fibrous markings, while the nitric acid only fretted the surface.

The hardened steel was very little eaten away indeed,
while the mild steel was half eaten away, the action being
irregular and much more marked in some places than in
others. The action on the charcoal was intermediate
between the mild and hardened steel.

On moistening the fracture of the charcoal iron bubbles
were given off in great abundance from the whole surface
of the fracture. On trying the same experiment with the
part adjacent, but not actually immersed in the acid, a few
small bubbles were seen to rise from the surface of the
fracture, even at a distance of I7c.m. from the surface of the
liquid. These bubbles were found to increase in number
and the toughness to decrease as you approached the surface
of the acid. Moreover, when that part of the wire not
immersed in the acid was broken, the bubbles arose almost
exclusively from the centre of the fracture ; while from the
part immersed in the acid they arose from the whole surface,
and took less time to attain their maximum.

No bubbles were visible to the unaided eye on the
moistened fracture of the mild steel or on the hardened
steel. That part of the mild steel immersed in the acid
broke when bent like a pipe stem, 1 centimetre above the
surface of the acid it was a little tougher, and at 2 centimetres
distance it was as tough as before immersion, and would
stand bending to and fro many times before breaking.

The hardened steel, immersed in acid broke very short,
but a little tougher than the mild steel ; perhaps because it
was not so much eaten away. At 1 centimetre above the
surface of the acid it broke less short than in the acid, and the
toughness seemed to increase with the distance from the
acid until at 4 centimetres it broke as tough as before

immersion.

Ill

4th. The effect of sulphuric acid was almost the same as
that of hydrochloric, except that its surface action, particu-
larly in the case of mild steel, was not so marked.

It thus appears that the fibrous nature of the charcoal iron
allows the acid and absorbed hydrogen to pass up through
the interior of the mass for some 17 c.m. above the surface .
of the acid, thus decreasing its toughness. The closeness of
the grain of the steel and absence of fibre appear on the
other hand to prevent this action. This difference in
the behaviour of steel and iron is the more remarkable as
the decrease of toughness consequent on immersion in acid
is much greater with steel than with iron.

Further, it is well worthy of notice that nitric acid, which
does not evolve hydrogen on contact with iron, does not
appear to perceptibly diminish the toughness of iron or steel
immersed in it, nor do bubbles arise from the moistened
fracture of these metals after immersion in it, as they do
with acids which give off hydrogen by their action on iron.

In view of the constantly increasing consumption of mild
steel, and the proposal to introduce it in place of iron for
ship building, the greater corrosive action of acids on mild
steel than on iron has considerable interest. For it would
seem to indicate that mild steel will more rapidly corrode
than iron, and possibly this may render its use in shipbuild-
ing to be attended with greater risk.

Mr. R D. Darbishire, F.G.S., gave an interesting account
of Dr. Schliemann’s Excavations and Discoveries on the
Site of Troy, and exhibited some selected Photographs from
his collections.

“Results of certain Magnetic Observations made at
Manchester during the year 1873,” by Professor Balfour
Stewart, LL.D., F.R.S.

These observations were made in a small wooden house,

112

the property of The Owens College, erected in the garden of
Professor Stewart, no iron whatever being used in its
erection.

The latitude of the house is 53° 26' N., and its longitude
2° 13' W. The observations were chiefly made by Mr. F.
Kingdon, assistant at the Physical Laboratory of Owens
College, in the presence of students who were receiving
instruction.

These conditions are not so favourable to minute accuracy
as where the observations made are not combined with
instruction to pupils : nevertheless it is believed that the
following table will exhibit fairly accurate values of the
magnetic dip and horizontal force for the year 1873.

The instruments used had been previously verified at the
Kew Observatory. They consist of a Dip circle by Dover
and a Unifilar by Elliott Bros. The dips are generally the

mean results from two

needles.

1873.

Dip.

Horizontal Magnetic
intensity.

January ...

.. 69° 19'-5

February ...

... 69° U'*6

March

... 69° 17'-6

3*693

April

... 69°18'-9

May

... 69° 17'-7

3*686

June

... 69° 16'-1

3*684

July

... 69°14'-6

3*704

August

... 69°20'-2

3*704

September...

... 69°23'-8

3*715

October

... 69° 16'-8

3*661

November...

... 69° lF-4

December . . .

... 69° 18'’3

3*686

113

PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SECTION.

March 3rd, 1874.

Alfeed Beothees, F.R.A.S., President of the Section,

in the Chair.

Results of Rain-Gauge Observations made at EccleSj
near Manchester, during the year 1873,” by Thomas
Mackeeeth, F.R.A.S., F.M.S.

The rainfall of 1873 was much below the average fall,
and very different in result from that of the previous year.
Whilst the rainfall of 1872 was about 3 6 ’7 per cent above
the average fall, the fall of the past year was about 12 per
cent below the average. It is remarkable how little this
deficiency of rainfall was noticed by persons who had no
means of ascertaining the fact. Frequently I was asked
during the year if the rainfall was not greater on the whole
year than usual. This doubtless arose from the fact that
the summer months, the only enjoyable season of the year,
had a considerable excess of rainfall. The excessive fail in
August had a bad effect upon the potato crop in the neigh-
bourhood of Eccles. The least amount of rain fell in the
spring and autumn months, though the greatest deficiency
was in December. The number of days on which rain fell
during the year was in excess of the average ; but this ex-
cess was between April and September ; the number of days
of rainfall in the remaining months was below the average.

The following table shows the results obtained from a
rain-gauge with a lOin. round receiver placed 3ft. above the
ground.

Quarterly Periods

1873.

i

Fall

in inches

Average

of

13 years.

Difference,

Quarterly Periods

Average

of

13 years

1873.

Average

of

13 years.

1873.

i

Days

Days

i

c

January

. 3-808

2-779

-1-1-029')

1

51

45 j

February ..

. 0-551

2-250

—1-699 [

7-481

7-047

March

. 2-688

2-452

4-0-236;

(

April

. 0-699

2-078

—1-379;

46

52^

May

. 2-052

2-085

—0-033 [

6-911

5-677

(

June

. 2-926

2-748

4-0-178 ;

(

July

. 4-324

3-122

4-1-202;

52

671

August

. 4-148

3-089

4-1-059 [

10-296

10-783

t

September.

. 2-311

4-085

—1-774 ;

C

October

. 4-587

4-271

4-0-316;

57

55 \

November..

. 2-265

3-128

—0-863 >

10-387

7-620

1

December . .

. 0-768

2-988

—2-220 )

206

219

31-127 35-075

j

—3-948

In the next table is given the results obtained from rain-
gauges of two different kinds placed in close proximity in
the same plane and 3 feet from the ground. The one has a
lOin. round receiver and the other a 5in. square receiver.
The large receiver had an excess over the small one in most
of the months of the year, the exceptions being J anuary,
July, August, and October. The total difference of the fall
in the two gauges was very small, being even less than the
difference in 1872. The total difference in 1872 was over
four tenths of an inch, but in 1873 it was barely over three
tenths of an inch. And an average fall in both gauges over
a period of six years shows a difference of only about the
same amount. Thus the two gauges, though of different
characters as regards their receivers, are good checks upon
nach other.

1873.

Rainfall in
inches in
lOin. round
receiver,
3ft. from
ground.

Rainfall in
inches in
Sin. square
receiver,
3ft. from
ground.

Differences

From 186

Average of
6 yeais’
rainfall in
inches in
lOin. round
receiver,
3ft. from
ground.

8 to 1873.

Average of
6 years’
rainfall in
inches in
Sin. square
receiver,
3ft. from
ground.

Differences

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September . . .

October

November ...
December

3- 808
0-551
2-688
0-699
2052
2-926

4- 324
4-148
2-311
4-587
2-265
0-768

3- 823
0-543
2-660
0-641
2-000
2-880

4- 359
4-176
2-188
4-630
2-207
0-713

— -015
+ -008
+ *028
4- *058
4- *052
4 *046
— -035
— -028
+ -133
— -043
■f -058
4- *055

2-987

2-250

2-380

2-192

1- 906

2- 600
2-902

2- 857

3- 931
5-124
2-828
3-308

2-976

2-209

2-347

2-162

1- 871

2- 557
2-890

2- 797

3- 868
5-097

2- 851

3- 291

+ -Oil
4- *041
4- *033
4- -030
+ -035
4- *043

-i- -012
+ -060
4* *063
+ -027
— -023
+ -017

31-127

30-820

+ -307

35-265

34-916

q- -349

In the next table I give the results obtained from two
exactly similar gauges placed at different heights from the
ground and free from every interference. Each gauge has
a oin. square receiver, and the one is placed 3 feet and the
other 84 feet above the ground. The total fall in the one
3 feet from the ground was 30*820 inches, and in the one
34 feet from the ground it was 25*401 inches, for the year
1873. The difference between the fall in the two gauges is
5*419 inches, or about 17 per cent less rain fell in the higher
than in the lower gauge. In the following table I give the
average fall in the same gauges for 6 years, and by com-
paring the results it will be found that the rate per cent of
the difference of the rainfall in the two gauges is the same
as it is for last year.

116

1873.

Rainfall in
inches in
5in. square
receiver,
3ft. from
the ground.

1873.

Rainfall in
inches in
5in. square
receiver,
34ft. from
the ground.

1873.

From 186

Average
fall of rain
in inches
for 6 yrs. in
Sin. square
receiver,
3ft. from
the groimd.

8 to 1873.

Average
fall of rain
in inches
for 6 yrs. in
Sin. square
receiver,
34ft. from
the ground.

January

3-823

2-799

2-976

2-130

February

0-543

0-349

2-209

1-656

March

2-660

2-142

2-347

1-846

April

0-641

0-570

2-162

1-858

May

2-000

1-750

1-871

1-583

June

2-880

2-633

2-557

2-288

July

4-359

3^793

2-890

2-566

August

4-176

3-378

1 2-797

2-378

September . . .

2-188

1-894

1 3-868

3-322

October

4-630

3-804

j 5-097

4-228

November ...

2-207

1-764

2-851

2-177

December

0-713

0-525

1 3-291

2-760

30-820

25-401

34-916

i

28-792

I thought it might be interesting if the ratios were given
of the excesses of rainfall measured at 3 feet from the
ground over the amount measured at 34 feet above the
ground. These ratios appear in the following table. It is
curious to observe that the ratios of the total amounts that
fell in these gauges, both for 1873 and for an average of
6 years, are identical, the ratio of the difference between
the fall in the upper gauge and that in the lower being
0'824. And even in the heavy rainfall of 1872 it will be
found that the ratio of the deficiency between the fall in
the two gauges was nearly similar, being 0’855. But when
the monthly ratios are examined, either for the year 1873
or for the average rainfall in the gauges for 6 years, it will
be seen that the greatest difference of fall happens in Janu-
ary and the least in J une. The oscillations, too, of the dif-
ferences between the fall of 1873 and the average fall of
6 years is very marked. On the theory that the excess of
rainfall in the lower gauge is due to the particles of invisible
vapour in the air between it and the higher gauge coalescing
with the falling rain drops, the table seems to show that in

117

the summer months, and particularly in June, there is rela-
tively less of this vapour in the air below a height of 84
feet, and that there is relatively more of it in the winter
months, and particularly in January. -Hence the maximum
of dry air on the ground is in June, and the minimum in
January. This can only be due to a very rapid convection
of warm air with its attendant vapour from the surface of
the ground upward. A consideration of this law in its
action upon public health cannot be too much regarded.

Monthly and Annual Eatios or the Excess oe Eaineall measuked

AT 3 EEET EEOM THE GEOUND OVEB THE AMOUNT MEASUEED AT 34
EEET EEOM THE GEOUND.

Ratios of such
rainfall for
1873.

Ratios of such
rainfall for an
average of 6 years
from 1868 to
1873.

January

•732

•715

February

•642

•749

March

•805

•786

April

•889

•859

May

•875

•846

June

•914

•894

July

•870

•887

August

•808

•850

September

•865

•858

. October

•821

•829

November

•799

•763

December

•736

•838

Annual ratios...

•813

•822

In the next table I give the fall of rain during the day
from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., and the fall during the night from
8 p.m. to 8 a.m. The amount of rain that fell during the
day exceeded, as usual, the fall during the night, and this
happened in every month of the year excepting January,
February, and December. The total excess of the day over
the night fall for last year was 2*846 inches. In 1871 the
excess was 4*136 inches, and in 1872 it was 1*891 inches.

118

1873. ^

Bainfall in Rainfall in
inches from inches from
8 a.m.to 8 p.m. to

8 p.m. 8 a.m.

Differences
between
Night and
Day fall.

January ...

1-113

2-710

+1-597

February ...

0-249

0-294

+0-045

March

1-579

1-081

—0-498

April

b-502

0-139

—0-363

May

1-165

0-835

—0-330

June

2-194

0-686

—1-508

Jnly

2-565

1-794

—0-771

August

2-424

1-752

—0-672

September. .

1-218

0-970

-0-248

October

2-423

2-207

-0-216

November...

1-153

1-054

—0-099

December...

0-248

0-465

+0-217

16-833

13-987

—2-846

In the next table I present the average day and night
rainfall for 6 years. An examination of this table conti-
nues to confirm the experience of previous years, that the
day fall exceeds the night fall so far as the amount of the
whole year is concerned. But curiously enough this table
of 6 years’ average gives an excess of night fall in the same
months that were shown in a table of 5 years’ average
which I read at the Section last year, those months being
January, February, August, September, November, and
December. It is however remarkable how close the total
day and night rainfalls are to each other, for though the 6
years’ average shows a difference of double that of the
5 years’, yet it is only about 4 per cent on the total fall.

Average of Six Years from 1868 to 1873.

1

' 1873.

Rainfall in
inches from
8 a.m. to
8 p.m.

Rainfall in
inches from
8 p.m. to
8 a.m.

Differences i
between Night
'and Day
faU.

January

February

March .■...

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

1-321

0- 919

1- 375
1-279
1-206
1-447
1-713
1-350

1- 773

2- 634
1-367
1-448

1-655

1-288

0-970

0- 883
0-666

1- 110
1-177

1- 447

2- 094
2-463
1-484
1-843

+0-334

+0-369

—0-405

—0-396

—0-540

—0-337

—0-536

+0-097

+0-321

—0-171

+0-117

+0-395

17-832

17-080

—0-752 '

119

Ordinary Meeting, March 24th, 1874.

Kev. William Gaskell, M.A., Vice-President, in the Chair.

“ On some of the Perplexities which the Art and Archi-
tecture of the Present are preparing for the Historians and
Antiquarians of the Future,” by the Rev. Bkooke Herford.

One of the most interesting elements in historical and
antiquarian studies is the consideration of the age of the
various remains which have come down to us from the past.
It continually occurs that points of great importance depend
upon our being able to assign an approximate date to a
document, an inscription, or some architectural feature of a
building. It is thus that vague tradition is often eked out
by corroborative fact, and questionable chronicles become
susceptible of verification. Even in cases in which it is out
of the question to assign actual dates, it is something to be
able to be sure of the general period to which an object
belongs ; and even the iron, bronze, and stone periods
afford distant landmarks by which we may grope our way
back into an antiquity which may not always be so dim as
it is at present.

Now all who have gone into the study of the dates or
periods of ancient remains or monuments, must have been
struck by one feature which is almost universally character-
istic of them. I refer to the marvellous reliability of
whatever indications they carry in themselves of style or
stage of development. Once get back beyond a certain
borderland of confusion and deception, and almost every-
thing speaks for itself You can tell — approximately, of
course — when it was done, by the Iwiu it is done. The fact
is that as the arts of life gradually developed men did
Pboceedings. — Lit. &Phil. Society. — Y ol. XIII. — Xo. 11 — Session 1873-4.

120

everything simply according to the best idea they had
attained. They worked by the clearest light of their own time.
There was a sort of sturdy self-respect in their workman-
ship. They did not think that their own best forms were
prosy and commonplace, and when they wanted something
unusually beautiful run after the ruder forms of an earlier
age. They had the thought of the beautiful, but they seem
to have been happily innocent of that sentimental distortion
of the sense of beauty which leads to the artificial manufac-
ture of the picturesque. So you tread confidently and
firmly as you trace back the ways of the ancient life. You
may be walking among rude and imperfect things, but at
any rate you are not walking among shams. The student of
old manuscripts will tell you the age of a Greek codex by
the uncial or cursive character in which it is wi'itten. If
you find a tomb inscribed in the old, so-called “Lombardic”
characters, you feel pretty sure that it is not later than the
13th or beginning of the 14th century, nor can it be
much earlier, for previously the tombstones, coffin lids, had
crosses, but not inscriptions on them. When you come
across a rude circle of stones upon the moors above Ilkley,
you may doubt if it was a hut circle, or a Druid Temple ;
but at any rate you are not haunted by a misgiving that it
was only a freak of some early monk of Bolton Priory, with
a taste for the picturesque. If you are pointed to an apparent
date of 1174, like that which stands on the gable of an old
house near Sowerby Bridge, you know, at any rate, that it
cannot really be of 1174, because the Homan numerals were
still universally in use, and the so-called Arabic figures
hardly even known in England, till two centuries later.
If you meet with an early undated specimen of printing
and find some words in it in italics, you know that it can-
not be earlier than 1501 when the great Venetian printer
Aldus Manuzio first introduced the new slanting letters
which he had had cut, in the series of works which have

121

given the Aldine classics an imperishable name. Or, again,
if you meet with an old parchment engrossed in the curious
black-letter which is known as balloon writing, you can
form a pretty fair conjecture that it dates back to the time
of the Edwards.

But it is in Architecture that we come upon the most
striking . and important illustrations of the way in which
each age, going a little beyond the age before, believed in
its own improvements, and did simply the noblest thing it
knew. I hesitate to speak of an art of which I know so
little technically, but even the knowledge that an ordinary
lover of old buildings attains suffices to illustrate my point,
and also to show its value. You can trace our architecture,
from the great Norman builders, who first taught the English
how really to build, down to the exaggeration of the 16th
and the debasement of the l7th centuries, by unbroken
steps, — Norman, Transitional, Lancet, Geometrical, Curvi-
linear, Perpendicular,-— every one of which opens up new
studies of interest.

And even later still, though the architecture of Elizabeth’s
time is only reckoned of the poorest (and in ecclesiastical
architecture there is nothing, for the church was too much
weakened by the Beformation to do much building), yet in
domestic architecture we have a type of house with many
and sometimes fantastic gables, and massive mullioned and
transomed windows, which at any rate stands for itself,
and is an interesting study in many of our halls and manor
houses.

Of course, all these cannot be divided by sharp and un-
erring lines of date. They cannot be divided, precisely
because they are the outcome of true growth, and growth
implies continuous and indivisible processes. But the order
of growth is wonderfully observed. Sometimes even its
minuter steps can be apportioned to their special dates with
a curious exactness. I remember hearing Mr. Edmund

122

Sharpe, an architect and antiquarian who has studied the
old Cistercian abbeys as no other living man has done,
pointing out at Furness Abbey one special moulding — the
plainest possible inverted volute — as really dating the capi-
tals on which it appears to within about 20 years. It is
seldom, of course, that any such exactness can be attained.
The rate of progress was not equal everywhere, and in
remote country places the old forms lingered after the great
monastic builders had left them behind.

As to the practical value of all this in the study of history,
one or two illustrations will suffice. Often it happens that
much of the history of a church or an abbey is contained in
the silent testimony of the successive stages of its architec-
ture, or in the remains of older work embedded in more
recent masonry.

For instance : you visit some little country church. Its
general character is that of Henry VII. ’s time — you know
it by the Perpendicular windows and the spandrelled door-
ways. But look a little closer. In the chancel perhaps are
a couple of simple Lancet windows, and above them are two
or three quaint corbels, which never originally supported
-that late battlemented parapet ; and underneath the com-
paratively recent porch is an old semicircular arch, and if
you look cavefully about the walls you will probably find
here and there, built in, fragments of carved stone — perhaps
pieces of old stone-coffin slabs with crosses visible upon
them — which tell of a much earlier church ; and sometimes
you find fragments of old interlacing scroll work, such as
that upon the Punic crosses of Ilkley, which carry back the
interest still further, and tell of Saxon worshippers.

And now if you have gone with me in this appreciation
of the self-respect which in old times men shewed for the
best art of their own day, and of the value of the trust-
worthy indications of date, arising out of this orderly develop-
ment, which everywhere present themselves, it will hardly

123

need that I should enter very much into detail as to the
perplexities which the art and architecture of the present
are preparing for the students of future times. For
every step in which I have been shewing these trustworthy
characteristics of the past must have reminded you how
different things are to-day. I tremble sometimes to think
of the curses which may some day be heaped upon this self-
complacent nineteenth century, with its great affectation of
taste and art, by those who in some remote future may have
the task of disinterring, and endeavouring to interpret our
monuments ! They will find inscriptions in every variety
of character, Lombardic, old English, the antique Roman type
of the end of the 17th century, and — but very sparingly —
in the beautiful characters which our modern type founders
have elaborated, — such type as never was in the world
before, but of which modern Englishmen seem ashamed.
They will find drinking fountains of Queen Victoria’s reign
inscribed in characters which would betoken an origin under
the Plantagenets ; and ridged tombstones of decent Manches-
ter merchants hardly distinguishable from those of the old,
spurred and belted border-knights who compounded for
their sins by leaving estates to the monks on condition
of burial within the cloisters. They will find books printed
in carefully imitated types of the sixteenth century referring
to matters which ordinary history would have led them to
believe happened in the nineteenth.

But it is in matters of architecture that they will experi-
ence the most bewildering perplexity. Imagine, if it is
possible, Manchester disinterred from the superincumbent
mould of three thousand years by some enterprizing relative
of Mr. Macaulay’s celebrated New Zealander, who has read
of “ the Manchester School,” and desires, like another Dr.
Schlieman anent Troy, to prove to his incredulous country-
men, that Manchester was a real place, and its school a
veritable seat of learning ! Imagine the curious wonder

124

with which the Cyclopean architecture of the shops under-
neath the Exchange would he compared with the fragments of
the friezes and mouldings which might he found among the
ruins. Imagine the perplexity with which the portico of
the Infirmary would he compared with the facades of some
of the Portland street warehouses, and all attempted hy
some systematic thinker to he co-ordinated with the Assize
Courts and the New Town Hall. As for the endeavour to
ascertain anything about our domestic architecture, that
would he hopeless indeed. But there is one consoling
thought. It is possible that with regard to this at any rate
the perplexity may never occur ; for it is few indeed of our
modern houses that will stand into a second or third
century !

Perhaps the most important feature in this matter is that
what we are doing by this artistic and architectural confusion
will not stop with the perplexity which it will cause concern-
ing the remains of our own time. That might he suffered. Some
may say, our buildings, at least our considerable public build-
ings, are all dated — so are our books, and our sculptured in-
scriptions. True. But the difference between those of our day
which are dated, and those of six centuries ago, which are
not dated, will grow less distinguishable every century,
until at last they will all be touched with one equal aspect
of antiquity, and the utter confusion which will then appear
among those which are dated, can hardly fail to bring equal
confusion, and at last discredit upon those which are not.

I do not think that this is a light matter, though I have
pointed out in passing a certain ludicrous aspect which it
undoubtedly possesses. I think it points to deeper defects
in the mental and moral life of the age : to a craving for
the excitement of the picturesque rather than an apprecia-
tion of the really beautiful ; to a want of originality in the
higher forms of art, that is poorly compensated by the skill
with which we can lay Etruscan and Pompeian vases or

125

mediseval cathedrals under contribution ; and to a miserable
depreciation of our own contemporary forms, even when,
as in the case of our printed characters, they are really of
surpassing clearness and excellence.

“ A Few Observations on Coal,” by E. W. Binney, V.R,
F.R S., F.G.S.

Of late years much has been written on the structure of
coal and the various vegetable remains of which it is com-
posed. Observers examining different coals under the
microscope have, as might be expected, come to different
conclusions. Some of them have found little else than the
remains of spores and spore cases, others only scalariform and
cellular tissues and a few spores, and a third class little trace
of any structure whatever in the specimens they examined.
Splint or hard coal would generally afford the results first
named, soft caking or cherry coals the second, and cannel
coals the third.

Soft coals yielding a large amount of charcoal enclosed in
bright coal nearly always show plenty of structure in the
“ mother coal,” as well as a few macrospores in the bright
portions. Macrospores are nearly always found in abun-
dance in splint and hard coals. In cannel coals they are
sometimes found as well as the cellular and scalariform por
tions of plants.

For many years macrospores were known by the names
of spore cases and spores. They could be easily observed
by the naked eye in the black parts of the coal, and they
were generally considered as sporangia, but Professor
Adolphe Brongniart in 1868 described a cone (Lejyidostrobus
Dahaclianus) having sporangia full of very minute spores,
in fact microspores, in the upper portion, and sporangia full
of macrospores, which had been so long known, in the lower
part. These observations of Brongniart have been amply
confirmed by specimens from the British coal fields.

126

Thirty years ago it was considered that the soft or cherry
coals were chiefly composed of the remains of large plants
such as SigillctTia, Lepidodendron, &c., while caking coals
were formed of plants of a lesser size and much hark, for it
had then been observed and since confirmed, that the out-
sides of Sigillaria and other fossil trees, sometimes reaching
to two or three inches in thickness, were chiefly composed
of bright soft coal showing little traces of structure.

In the great lawsuit which was tried at Edinburgh more
than twenty years since as to the nature of Boghead coal,
much evidence was given as to its structure, some witnesses
finding in it scarcely anything else than the remains of
vegetables, whilst others found only_a stray portion of scala-
riform structure or a macrospore. Both Boghead and the
other brown cannels of Scotland are now generally consi-
dered to afford but little evidence of vegetable tissues under
the microscope, although numerous remains of Sigillaria
and other common coal plants can be seen by the naked eye
in them. Not witstanding that they are so rich in volatile
matter, and far exceeding other coals in their yield of
paraffine and paraffine oils, they contain from 25 to 30 per
cent of mineral matter in the form of ash. This circum-
stance has induced certain scientific men to class them as
shales rather than coals, notwithstanding that they have the
specific gravity of coals.

Some years since, when describing several fossil cones
affording both kinds of spores, he expressed an opinion that
the yellow matter seen in the vesicles of Boghead coal was
nothing but microspores composed of paraffine or a similar
hydrocarbon, and that they were driven off by heat in the
form of a yellow vapour, leaving nothing behind but a
spongy mass of earthy and carbonaceous matter. The evi-
dence that caused him to come to this conclusion was
that the microspores contained in the upper sporangia of
Lepidostrohus Harcourtii had all the appearance of crude

127

paraffine, and were of the same yellowish brown colour as
powdered Boghead coal, and that the latter substance was
composed nearly altogether of microspores and mineral
matter. So far as his observations extended, microspores had
not been observed in coal, although plenty of macrospores,
which are generally aVth to ah th of an inch in diameter, and
easily seen by the naked eye, had long been noticed.

He had some time since directed his friend Mr. J. W.
Kirkby, of the Pirnie Coal Company, to examine the Fife-
shire seams of coal in search of microspores, most of those
beds yielding macrospores in great abundance, and that
gentleman had lately furnished him with the specimens now
exhibited, both splint and soft coals, but especially the
former, affording the two kinds of spores. On burning the
yellow coal composed of microspores, a most brilliant dame
« and a peculiar empyreurnatic odour like that from burning
Boghead coal were produced, whilst the splint coal full of
macrospores only burnt and smelt like ordinary hard coal,
thus clearly showing that these two kinds of spores differed
very much in their inflammable properties and odours given
off, and that such properties were certainly not due to the
larger spores but most probably to the smaller ones.

The compressed lenticular bodies in the splint coal were
formerly of oval and spherical forms with a triradiate ridge
on one half, and although their exterior was composed of a
brown coriaceous substance, their interior was full of white
carbonate of lime or bisulphide of iron according to the
nature of the matrix in which they were found ; thus sug-
gesting the idea of their having been filled with granules of
starch when in a living state, which it is probable they
would have been in case of their being germinating spores.

He and his late partners at Bathgate, when manufacturing
paraffine oil there, had tried various means, by subjecting
Boghead coal to the action of ethers and naphthas, to
dissolve out paraffine from it, but they had never succeeded,

128

so the yellow matter in the coal may probably be
changed into paraffine by the heat employed in distillation.
Dr. Schorleimer, F.KS., who has been so kind as to
examine the microspores found in the Muiredge splint coal,
is of opinion that they are not composed of paraffine, but
some other hydrocarbon. This may, therefore, change into
paraffine by the application of heat in a similar way to what
the yellow matter in Boghead coal does.

The macrospores are about 320 times the size of the
microspores and constituted the germinating spores, while
the microspores were the fertilizing agents, both having
been contained in one cone.

Several specimens of fine bright soft coal, between 2 and
8 inches in thickness, taken from the outsides of Sigillaria
and other fossil trees, were exhibited. In these there was
no appearance of charcoal, spores, or vegetable structure,
and in every respect they resembled the black shining
parts of soft cherry and caking coals, which generally
afibrd no distinct traces of vegetable structure. Hence
from his observations he was led to conclude that soft or
cherry coal was chiefly composed of the bark, cellular tissue,
and vascular cylinders of coal plants with some macrospores
and microspores.

That caking coal had much the same composition, except
that it contained a greater proportion of bark in it.

That splint coal had a nearly similar composition, but
with a great excess of macrospores.

That cannel coal, especiaJly that yielding a brown streak,
was formed of the remains of different portions of plants
with a great excess of microspores, which had long been
macerated in water.

These conclusions were arrived at merely as to the com-
position of the different kinds of coal. No doubt each seam
would be materially affected by the nature of the roof,
whether the latter was an open sandstone or a close and air-

129

tight black shale or blue bind, for the former would allow
the free escape of gaseous matter, and the latter would
prevent its escape. It is well known that the character of
the roof has a deal to do with the quality of the coal
under it.

Ordinary Meeting, April 7th, 1874.

E. W. Binney, F.B.S., F.G.S., Vice-President, in the Chair.

Mr. J. Sidebotham and Mr. J. A. Bennion were appointed
Auditors of the Treasurer s Accounts.

The Chairman exhibited to the meeting some portion of
the cast iron roof from the Salford Station of the Lancashire
and Yorkshire Railway, which after having been up for a
period of four years was so much corroded and damaged
that it had to be taken down. He attributed the effects to
sulphuric acid and soot arising from the combustion of the
coal used in the locomotives passing under it, aided by the
action of steam and vibration. He referred to a paper by
himself communicated to the Society and published Yol. II.
(2nd series) of its Memoirs, on the effects of old coal pit
water on cast iron, where similar results had been produced
by sulphuric acid, carbonaceous matter, and water; also
to a case alluded to by one of the most distinguished mem-
bers of the Society, the late Dr. W. Henry, F.R.S., of the
rotting of cast iron by the escape of steam from the junction
of a pipe embedded in charcoal. Of course the rate of decom-
position much depended on the quality of the iron ; but as
that metal was now so much employed in building and
mining operations, he considered it desirable to bring before
the public every instance that came to his knowledge where
it had been damaged or decomposed.

130

“On the Action of nascent Hydrogen on Iron/’ by
William H. Johnson, B.Sc.

In a paper read before the Society last year, I showed that
a piece of iron immersed in hydrochloric, sulphuric, or other
acid which evolves hydi^ogen by its action on the metal, on
breaking gives off bubbles of gas from the surface of the
fracture. It subsequently occurred to me that these
bubbles might be produced by subjecting the metal to the
action of nascent hydrogen for some time, and without the
aid of acid at all.

To test this I connected two pieces of iron wire *07"" diam.
respectively with the copper and zinc plates of a battery
of 50 Daniell’s cells and immersed them in a vessel of
Manchester town’s water at a distance of one inch apart.
On closing the current, bubbles of hydrogen were given off
from the wire connected with the zinc, but none from the
wire connected with the copper, the oxygen liberated at the
pole apparently forming oxide of iron which in 12 hours
formed a thick smudge at the bottom of the vessel. After
24 hours the surface of the wire connected with the zinc
was unchanged, but on moistening the fracture bubbles
were given off abundantly just as if it had been immersed
in acid. The other wire, on the contrary, though much
oxidised and eaten away, did not give off bubbles when
broken.

A variety of experiments were made in the same way
with pieces of wire varying from 3 to 20 inches long and
immersed from 5 to 24 hours, J inch to 4 inches apart in
pure Manchester town’s water, all with similar results-
With this exception, that when the wire connected with the
zinc was of steel, no bubbles were visible to the naked eye,
just like steel after immersion in acid. Twenty-four hours
in a warm room restored the iron to its original state, and
no bubbles were seen on fracturing it.

The water in the last experiments was then replaced by

181

an aqueous solution of caustic soda, when after two hours
the moistened fracture of the wire connected with the zinc
pole of the battery was found to bubble. Twenty two hours’
longer immersion, the battery working all the time, caused
the bubbles to be more abundant ; the toughness of the wire
was also diminished, and its surface was blackened. The
wire at the positive pole was however unchanged either on
the surface or in toughness.

Three pieces of wire, each 12 inches long, were immersed
in hydrochloric acid about 1*2 sp. gr., one being connected
with the positive pole, the other with the negative pole of
the battery, and the third unconnected with the battery.
At the expiration of half an hour the two last pieces were
found to bubble on being fractured, and were also more
brittle. The one however connected with the positive pole
was not in the least affected. Thus showing that simple
immersion in acid is not sufficient to produce in iron the
remarkable changes before described, unless it be accom-
panied by evolution of hydrogen.

In conclusion, if the oxidation of the surface of iron be as
a rule accompanied by the absorption of nascent hydrogen
into the interior of the iron, then the diminution of strength
and toughness consequent on this will affect iron ships,
telegraph cables, and other structures in which iron is
largely used and which are constantly immersed in water.

“Does the Earth receive any Heat directly from the
Sun,” by Henky H. Howorth, Esq.

The term heat is one of unusual ambiguity. It has at
least two meanings, which, if they do not exclude one
another, are at least not commensurable. Their indefinite
and careless use has created great confusion. The first
meaning connotes the feeling heat, a purely subjective
matter, whose investigation is a proper subject for meta-
physical students, but with which we have nothing to do

132

at present. The second meaning connotes objective heat,
the force heat, that phenomenon of matter whose effects we
can measure in certain definite ways. It is with this
second meaning that we are concerned to-night. Having
limited our subject somewhat, I wish to limit it further.
The science of heat concerns itself with two main subjects,
first, the transcendental problems which deal with the
nature of heat, which endeavour to explain it as a form of
motion, &c., 8zc. These conclusions may or may not be
eventually confirmed by experience. At present they are
powerful and ingenious theories which enables us to map
out our knowledge to arrange and classify it, but I humbly
crave permission to doubt whether any of them may be
considered a final solution and pro tanto, I must have my
hands free. This is not really of consequence in our dis-
cussion to-night, for I have no intention of entering into
such a difficult and crooked controversy. The nature of
heat is, in fact, outside our present subject. Eschewing the
transcendental problems we shall very briefly consider only
the direct effects of heat upon matter. So far then as our
experience can take us heat is a peculiar condition or
phenomenon of matter, which we can modify, increase, or
lessen, which is universally present in greater or lesser
intensity, and which we measure relatively by a com-
parison with a certain fixed standard. However
duced, whether by chemical action, by percussion, by
friction, &c., &c., there is one result which seems uni-
versal and which may be considered to be the corre-
lative of heat. This result is universally present and
modified in various ways it is probably the only result. So
that if we- exclude the feeling of heat we may define heat
by using this result as an alternative term. The addition and
abstraction of heat are correlative respectively with an in-
crease and decrease in the bulk of the matter operated upon.
If we add heat we increase the bulk of the substance ope-

133

rated upon; if we abstract heat we cause the portion of
matter to contract and slirink, and the bulk is increased
and diminished in certain definite proportions ; and not only
so, but the opposite holds good also, namely, that if we cause
a portion of matter to shrink we must in doing so abstract
heat from it, while if we increase its bulk in any way with-
out adding more matter we must, willingly or unwillingly,
add a corresponding portion of heat. I believe this is accepted
as an axiom in physics by the best judges and accepted as uni-
versally true. Formerly some substances, such as bismutln
water between certain temperatures, &c., were quoted as
exceptions to this rule, inasmuch as they expand in solidify-
ing; but they are only apparent exceptions, for their aber-
rant behaviour has been shown, as I think beyond doubt,
to be a phenomenon of crystallisation. Speaking of the
most notorious case, that of water, Tyndal says : “ The
arrangement of the atoms of water when solid require more
room than they need in the neighbouring liquid state. No
doubt this is due to crystalline arrangement. The attract-
ing poles of the molecules are so situated that when the
crystallising comes into play, the molecules unite so as to
leave larger interatomic spaces in the mass ; we may suppose
them to attach themselves by their corners, and in turning
corner to corner to cause a recession of the atomic centres.
At all events their centres retire from one another when
solidification sets in. By cooling then this power of retreat
and of consequent enlargement of volume is conferred.” —
Tyndalls Heat as a Mode of Motion, 107. These excep-
tions then I hold to be no exceptions at all. There is one
substance, namely indiarubber, whose behaviour is eccentric
and not explainable in this way, nor at present, so far as I
know, explainable at all ; but with this solitary exception,
whose raison d’etre I have no doubt will be shown to be as
consistent with the general law as those of substances such as
water, bismuth, &c.> we may safely conclude from our experi-

134

ence of matter that it is a universal law that heat and ex-
pansion, cold and contraction are correlative terms.

Having laid down an abstract axiom, let us now apply it
to a concrete example, namely, the earth.

The old notions about the stability of the earth when
compared with the mobility of the sea have been long since
exploded. We now know that there is no such thing as
absolute terra firma. We know that the earth in a less
degree is mobile like the water, rising here and sinking
there in apparently restless pulsations, waves, swellings, and
subsidings. This being so, it becomes an interesting problem
to determine whether these risings and sinkings compensate
one another; that is, whether a rising in one neighbourhood
corresponds to a sinking elsewhere, or whether the whole
periphery of the earth is undergoing enlargement or dimi-
nution, is stretching or shrinking. To decide this by direct
experiment is not easy, for since water is our gauge the
same relative effect will be produced either by the sinking
of an ocean-bed or the rising of an adjacent continent. But
we have a considerable amount of evidence notwithstanding
which points, so far as I know, in one direction and one
only. There is first the a priori evidence.

There are two sciences which deal with the inner consti-
tution of the earth : astronomy, which deals with it as a
part of the great macrocosm, the universe ; and geology,
which deals with its inner life as a universe of its own. The
question of the alteration in the earth’s bulk has naturally
been discussed by both astronomers and geologists, and dis-
cussed too from very different points of view, but both are
agreed in one conclusion, namely, that the earth is shrinking.

Since the days of La Place the Nebular hypothesis has
been generally received by astronomers as the one which
best meets observed facts. This hypothesis predicates the
existence of gravitation everywhere, and shows how by its
influence the various heavenly bodies have become con-

185

densed from nebular matter. It predicates that this force
is iatill active everywhere, and that everywhere within our
observation we have a condensation of matter in progress,
matter condensing from a highly diffused condition to one
of greater density. Thus each member of our system, it is
argued, is gradually and surely nearing the sun and at the
same time is shrinking, and the various planets are in fact
in so many stages of evolution, and exhibit for us the
various phases which the earth has passed through and will
pass through before it is landed in the sun. And the most
ingenious and successful of our analytical astronomers and
physicists combined. Sir William Thomson, has compared
our universe to an elaborately constructed clock which is
inevitably and surely running itself down, until it has
exhausted its various forces and until each component
member has fallen into the common centre. This is
elementary enough. I only quote it to show that the
evidence of astronomy is, that the earth is contracting, and
that its periphery is diminishing in area.

The conclusion of geology for our purpose is the same.
It is argued by geologists that the earth was originally in
an incandescent state, and that it has assumed its present
shape after a gradual cooling, that is, a gradual contraction,
which is still in progress. These are the words of Mr.
Geikie, one of the most recent and competent authorities :
“Among the geologists of the present day there is a growing
conviction that upheaval and subsidence are concomitant
phenomena, and that viewed broadly they both arise from
the effects of the secular cooling and consequent con-
traction of the mass of the earth.” On both grounds there-
fore, namely, those upon which astronomical and geological
arguments are based, is it established that the earth is
shrinking.

As the fire syringe discharges a certain amount of heat
when sudden pressure is applied, wiiich heatbve can collect

1/ ■

136

and measure, so we ought to be able to measure the amount
of heat produced by the contracting of the earth’s crust, al-
though we cannot measure that contraction with a plummet.
As we go down through the crust we ought to meet with
evidence that the pressure of the strata has increased the
temperature, and this we in fact do. In going down towards
the centre of the earth we find an increase of temperature
so wonderfully constant in all latitudes that we are con-
strained, if we accept the nebular hypothesis, to argue that
this results, as it ought theoretically to result, from the
pressure of tlie strata, i. e., from the force of gravity. In
some letters that I have recently written to “Nature,” I have
tried to show how the areas of upheaval and subsidence on
the earth are distributed, my conclusion being that the areas
of depression are distributed about the Equator, while the
areas of upheaval have their foci at the Poles, that the earth
is being strictured about the Equator, and thrust out in the
direction of its shortest axis ; in other words, is shrinking
in the region where the temperature is the highest, the
tropics, and is stretching out in the regions of cold, or the
Polar regions.

Now let us see how far we have travelled. We have
postulated that all shrinking matter is giving out heat. We
have shown that the a iwiori evidence is conclusive that
the earth is a shrinking mass. We have also adduced evi-
dence which shows that the earth is in fact hot where it
should be hot, and cold where it should be cold, in accord-
ance with the law of contraction ; and it seems to me to
follow necessarily that the earth is giving out heat, — is in
fact a furnace, a heat producing substance. This seems
to be inevitable.

I need not stay to argue that both popularly and also
among scientific men it is held as a cardinal doctrine that

O

the earth receives a large quantity of its heat directly from
the sun, and elaborate calculations have been made to show

137

the terrific quantity of heat so received and the terrific
energy which this represents. We are taught that of the
sun’s heat which beats on the earth one portion is refiected,
another is absorbed, and that the latter is what we can
alone recognize by our instruments, and whose energy is
the subject of calculation. But the absorption of heat
means, as we have argued, an increase of bulk, therefore
whatever heat the earth absorbs must go to increase the
earth’s size. It is only on this condition that the earth can
absorb heat at all, and it is only by the increase in bulk
that we can in fact measure or gauge the heat.

But if the earth be shrinking it is clear that it must give
out more heat than it absorbs, it must in fact produce
enough heat to neutralize the expansion caused by the sun
and some besides. The excess being measured by the
amount of contraction that the earth is undergoing. But
this means that any heat it receives from the sun is more
than neutralized by its own heat, so that if the sun gave
us no heat at all and the earth continued to contract, as it
does now, it would not be affected in temperature, save
perhaps in becoming even hotter, for if we receive heat
from the sun which, when absorbed makes the earth ex-
pand, it is clear that a portion of the contracting'^force of
the earth is spent and exhausted in neutralizing this expan-
sion, which would be set free in the form of heat if this had
not to be neutralized. But I confess that having brought
the argument to this point I am constrained to go a step
further, and to say that if the earth be independent of the
sun for its heat, that if independently of the sun altogether it
is throwing out an amount of heat equivalent to the amount
of its contraction, that it is unnecessary and unphilosophical
to postulate the sun as a source of heat, and that we are
bound, paradoxical as it may seem, to conclude that the
earth does not receive any heat directly from the sun. This
conclusion seems inevitable, and if it be, we must face the

138

various difficulties that suggest themselves at every turn
and find a solution to them consistent with it.

I believe these difficulties are not hard to meet. It will
be noticed that in the question I propounded at the head of
this paper I use the word directly or immediately. When
I say that the earth is itself the furnace which supplies the
phenomena of heat which we study and feel I do not mean
that it does so entirely per se, and without any assistance
from without. I predicate all through that such heat as
the earth possesses is induced in it by the force which is
contracting it, by the gravitating force, and this force, so
far as our evidence goes, is derived nearly altogether from
the sun. My argument is that the heat of the earth is
mediately, but not immediately due to the sun’s influence,
that the sun’s influence causes the earth to contract, and
that in contracting heat is squeezed out of it. That we
derive no heat whatever qua heat from the sun, or to use a
simile, the voltaic battery supplies the electric current
which induces the magnetism in the iron but does not itself
furnish the magnetism.

This at once removes a vast quantity of apparent difficulty
for wherever the sun beats there it exercises its influence of
gravity, and the result is invariably an induction of heat,
so that winter and summer, day and night, are dependent
for their varying temperature on the sun, although in a
different manner to that popularly supposed.

There is another and a more palpable difficulty that
obtrudes itself at once upon one’s notice in defending the
position I am arguing for. It is said : surely, if we step out
of the sunshine into the shade, or vice versa, and exclude
the radiated heat from the ground we shall find direct evi-
dence both from our feeling and from the usual effects of
heat that the sun’s rays are distinctly hot, that in beating
on our hand, on a moist surface, &c. &c., symptoms of absorp-
tion of heat at once present themselves — the hand grows

hot, the moisture evaporates, &c. And this is true in a
larger way of the superficial layer of the ground, which feels
the intermittent effects of day and night, summer and
winter, hy absorbing more or less heat. How then do wo
account for this, for the heat must be absorbed from some-
where, and the only practicable source is the direct sun-
shine. My answer to this is very short. If we ascend
through the atmosphere we rapidly find the temperature
becomes lower, that as we get nearer the verge of the
atmosphere, and therefore nearer the point where there is
no atmospheric absorption of the solar rays we find the
temperature to lower so rapidly that we are justified in
concluding that if we could get outside the atmosphere
altogether we should find the scorching of the hand, the
absorption of moisture, and the various effects we attri-
bute to heat reduced to a minimum, and are justified
in concluding that if the envelope of the atmosphere
were removed, if the earth were to be, such as the moon
is, without an atmosphere, that its surface temperature
would be but slightly affected by the direct sunshine. The
effects of the sun’s attraction would be distributed through-
out the mass of the earth, causing a general contraction and
a general relative temperature with its focus at the centre,
but there would be no surface layer of an aberrant and
peculiar temperature, and few or none of the effects we now
find in the direct sunshine. I argue, and I think I am
justified in arguing, that these peculiar effects are due
entirely to our having an atmosphere, to the fact of there
being a medium between the sun and ourselves. If this be
so, it is clearly most consistent with our contention, for the
sun’s contracting force acts not only on the earth’s solid
matter but on its gaseous envelope also, and in the latter
case with much more powerful results. So that any surface
exposed to the sunshine is exposed also to a column of air
undergoing contraction or pressure on the part of the sun,

140

and as this compressed air must give out its heat if it is in
contact with any body at a less tension, it gives it out to
my hand or to the moisture exposed to it, which in the
one case feels hot and in the other experiences an effect of
of heat, namely evaporation. It is the column of air that is
giving out heat, each ray that pierces it squeezes it and
squeezes out of it a certain amount of heat which we attri-
bute directly to the sun’s influence, while in fact it is only
mediately due to it. This I think satisfactorily explains
the great and elementary difficulties of my position. I am
not aware of any other difficulty which cannot be as easily
met, and as I cannot see my way from escaping from the
main conclusion at which I have arrived, I have ventured,
paradox though it be, to present it for your criticism. To
sum up this conclusion in a phrase, I hold that the earth
receives no heat directly from the sun, the sun only supply-
ing the contractile force which induces terrestrial heat.

141

PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SECTION.

Annual Meeting, March 3 1st, 1874.

Alfred Brothers, F.R.A.S., President of the Section, in

the Chair.

The following gentlemen were elected Officers of the
Section for the ensuing year : —

ALFRED BROTHERS, F.R.A.S.

E. W. BINNEY, F.R.S., F.G.S.

JOSEPH BAXENDELL, F.R,A.S.

a. V. VERNON, F.R.A.S., F.M.S.

^xzunmtx,

SAMUEL BROUGHTON.

'‘The Meteorological Theory of Cometary Phenomena/’
by David Winstanley, Esq.

On the 16th April, 1872, I had the honour of bringing
under the notice of this Society the outline of a theory by
which I showed, or endeavoured to show, that in the
instance of bodies surrounded by abnormally voluminous
atmospheres and subject to sudden and violent thermal
changes, certain phenomena indistinguishable from the im-
posing aspects frequently presented by comets must of
necessity ensue as the ordinary phenomena of their meteor-
ology. So far as I have seen no criticisms have been
advanced disputing the correctness of this deduction. If,
therefore, I am able to satisfy you that any particular

comet really was surrounded by an abnormally voluminous
atmosphere, that it was subjected to sudden and violent
thermal changes, and that it also exhibited the imposing
aspects to which I have alluded, I think I am eutitled to
ask you to regard the phenomena in question as meteor-
ological phenomena, and to regard the meteorological theory
as affording a satisfactor}^ explanation of the appearances
presented at any rate by that particular body.

The analyses of meteorites falling upon the surface of the
earth from the regions of external space have not, it appears,
led to the discovery of any new chemical body*, whilst the
spectroscope has shown that chemical substances, common
enough upon the earth, exist in the solar atmosphere, in the
atmospheres of his attendant planets, in the fixed stars
themselves, and in the far distant nebulae. In short, we
have direct evidence that whatever quantitative differences
there may be, qualitatively the community of matter
extends throughout the fields of nature.

This fact at once disposes of those cometary theories
which assume the existence of some new chemical body as
a necessary agent in the production of cometic phenomena,
and it also disposes of those objections to other theories
founded upon the supposition that the ordinary operation
of physical laws as observed upon the earth may be ren-
dered inoperative in the case of comets b}^ a non-community
in their chemical nature.

We have, it is true, very little special evidence as to the
chemical constitution of comets. Wiiat little we have has
been furnished by comparatively insignificant members of
the family, in unfavourable circumstances of luminous in-
tensity, and with indications as yet unsatisfactorily inter-
preted, j* Evidence has however been adduced that comets
for the most part consist of matter moving between us and

* Giiillemin’s “Heavens,” Eng\ trails., page 175.

t See “Nature,” Jan. 8tli, 1874.

143

certain distant stars, matter wliicli is picked up and appro-
priated by onr system in its onward progress tlirougli the
depths of space.^ This in itself removes any ground for
regarding comets as possible non-partakers in the universal
community of matter. The spectroscope has shown how-
ever— and this is strictly to the point in the present in-
quiry— that of whatever ingredients comets may be com-
posed they certainly are not as a class destitute of volatiliz-
able ingredients."!* The physical condition of all terrestrial
substances — and in view of the community of matter the
physical condition also of extra-terrestrial materials is
merely a question of temperature and pressure. In short,
given a sufficiently high temperature and a sufficiently low
pressure and anything will vaporise.

The great periodic comet of our system, the body named
after the illustrious Edmund Halley pursues an orbital path
of such eccentricity that it is sixty times more remote from
the sun in aphelion than in perihelion and is therefore sub-
jected three thousand six hundred times more to the in-
fluence of the solar radiance in the latter position than in
the former, a circumstance very suggestive of meteorological
phenomena on a grand scale, when we consider that those
terrestrial changes which to us seem so momentous are
merely local circumstances resulting from local variations of
presentation to the sun, from which, as a whole, the earth
maintains an all but constant distance. The great comet of
1(S43 came from an aphelion point, at which the sun’s ap-
parent magnitude would only be the two hundredth part of
one degree, and the influence of his light and heat one ten
thousandth part of that which we enjoy. But this same
body in its perihelous passage almost grazed the very suiface
of the sun approaching the photosphere within one-seventh
of the solar radius, J and being there exposed to the teriific

* See ^'Nature,” Jan. 22nd, 1874, p. 239.

t See “Eoscoe’s Spectrum Analysis,” p. 290.

X Herscliel’s Outlines,” tenth edit., p. 400.

144

glare wbicli the earth would feel were it illuminated hy
47,000 suns instead of one. A far inferior degree of heat
has been found to melt the most refractory rocks and dis-
sipate materials of prodigious fixity, and there can be no
doubt that this comet acquired “a temperature high enough
to convert even carbon into vapour.”^

The a evidence is complete. There can be no

doubt the comet of 1843 possessed an atmosphere, and the
only question now is one of its extent. I believe the actual
depth of the terrestrial atmosphere is still unknown, though
it is estimated as extending to a distance from the surface
of more than seventy miles.*!* Were the mass of the con-
densed portion of the earth by any means diminished so as
to lessen the coercive power exercised thereby over its gase-
ous parts, the volume of the latter would, according to
Herschel, be increased in a proportion exceeding that in
which the central mass had been diminished. The mass of
comets is so small as to have furnished, so far as I can find,
no data for its determination in any individual case. What-
ever mass we may suppose the comet of 1843 to be possessed
of consistent with this fact, it is clear its atmospheric limits
must have been prodigiously remote from the solid matter
of the nucleus. Indeed if we consider the recession result-
ing from increased distance from the central gravitating
mass, no volume of atmosphere containable within the known
extension of our system would seem too great to be attii-
buted thereto.;|: The deduction from this is that the pheno-

mena resulting to a body of extended atmosphere and sub-
jected to violent thermal change are phenomena which

Eosooe’s “ Spectrum Analysis,” p. 352.

t Hersohel’s ^'Outlines,” tenth edit., p. 711.

X “ Newton, with the view of illustrating this point, calculated that if
a globe of common atmospheric air one inch in diameter was expanded
BO as to have an equal degree of rarity with the air situated at an eleva-
tion above the earth’s surface equal to the earth’s semidiameter, it would
fill the whole planetary regions as far as Saturn.” — Grant’s ‘‘ History of
Astronomy,” p. 298,

145

should have been exhibited in an exceptional degree by the
comet of which we speak. And all accounts agree that it
presented a stupendous spectacle.” Its tail stretched to a
hitherto unheard of distance, and so brilliant an object was
this body that it could be seen by daylight and in the im-
mediate neighbourhood of the sun.

It is however only on the gratuitous assumption that
comets are composed of the most refractory materials in the
universe that any close proximity to the sun is needed as
an argument in favour of their having atmospheres. Ad-
mitting the community of matter and considering the rigor-
ous cold they must experience in aphelion, it is but reason-
able to suppose that as a rule the production of their
atmospheres by the evaporation of their nucleii is com-
menced at distances from the sun even greater than the
distance of the earth, and there is plenty of evidence to cor-
roborate this view. The great comet of 1 81 1 presented
irrefragable evidences of the existence of a transparent
atmosphere certainly several thousands of miles in extent,^
and yet its nearest distance from the sun exceeded the dis-
tance of the earth ! whilst during the last return to peri-
helion of Halley’s comet in 1835 Sir John Herschel observed
appearances which satisfied him that the nucleus of the
comet was “ powerfully excited and dilated into a vapourous
state by the action of the sun’s rays, escaping in streams
and jets at those points of its surface which oppose the
least resistance, and in all probability throwing that surface
or the nucleus itself into irregular motions by its reaction
in the act of so escaping.”'f* Yet the perihelion distance of
this comet was as much as 0'58 of the mean distance of the
earth.

The close approximation to identity observed in the orbital

^ See observations of Dr. William Herscliel in Pliil. Trans., vol. 102,
pp. 134 to 136.

t Herschers Outlines/’ p. 382.

146

paths of certain comets and certain meteoric streams is a
matter of too serious moment to be passed over without
attention by a cometary theorist. The physical connection
which it indicates is one to be accounted for. It may be,
firstly, that meteors are the uncollected elements or particles
from which comets are built up, or secondly, that meteor
streams and comets are identical.^ or thirdly, that by disin-
tegration and dispersion the constituents of a comet have
become a meteor stream.

So far as I have found no evidence has been adduced that
comets aggregate material in their journeys round the sun
whilst their supposed identity with meteor streams is merely
an hypothesis built upon no observation and failing to
explain with clearness any of their distinguishing pheno-
mena. There is however evidence enough that sub-division
is not uncommon amongst bodies of the cometic class.*f*
Bi-partition is recorded in the Chinese annals four centuries
before the birth of Christ, whilst of modern evidences of
disintegration the separation of Biela’s comet into two in
1846 places the phenomena of sub-division beyond the
reach of doubt. The fact of Biela’s total loss and the exist-
ence of a meteor stream along its former path seem to
establish complete disintregation as a known result and a
meteor stream as an observed effect. During the apparition
of Donati’s comet in 1858 an appearance was remarked in
connection with the tail which Bond considered due to a
quantity of scattered and abandoned gas.J But according
to that theory which it is the object of this paper to advance
the disintegration of cometic bodies is not a matter for
surprise. For considering the enormous distances to which
according to that theory some portion of the cometic matter
is removed aud the manner in which it is dispersed it is

* See “Kature,” vol. 4, p. 268.

t See “Kirkwood on Disintegration.” Nature, vol. 6, p. 148.

X “ Annals Harvard College,” vol. 3, p. 158 — 60.

147

quite inconceivable that it should ever be wholly re-absorbed.
When its vapourous condition ends a flight of meteors must
result whose densest part will lie along the comet’s former
path.

It was a favourite speculation of the elder HerscheF
that in their perihelion passage comets lose some portion
of their more elastic matter, so that what remains behind
assumes a condition of greater consolidation, whilst other
astronomers have believed that at each return a comet loses
something of its former splendour. Upon whatever evi-
dence these beliefs may rest, the circumstances which tliey
indicate are a necessary sequence if the theory here advanced
be true.

MICROSCOPICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SECTION.

Februar}^ 16 th, 1874.

Joseph Baxendell, F.RA.S, Vice-President of the Section

in the Chair.

Mr. Bailey brought under the notice of the Section a
method which he had used for some years of exhibiting
slides under microscopes, the audience being seated. This
was described and explained, and it was proposed that the
Council be requested to take the matter into consideration
with a view to its being put into use at the meetings of the
Section.

Mr. T. S. Pease exhibited and explained a series of slides
which he had brought for examination, showing the internal
anatomy of the cockroach.

"Observations at tlie Cape,” p. 411.

t Smyth’s " Cycle,” vol. 1, p. 235,

148

March 16 th, 1874.

Joseph Baxendell, F.RA.S., Vice-President of the Section

in the Chair.

Mr. Huest laid on the table some of the expensive
Natural History works it had been decided to purchase
with the fund given by the Manchester Natural History
Society.

Mr. SiDEBOTHAM exhibited an old book cover of the date
1683, mined by a very rare beetle, Hyj^othenemus eruditus.
This species was discovered more than 40 years ago by
Professor Westwood and named by him, since which time
no other specimen has been seen until this year, when it
was met with by Mr. Janson. Mr. Sidebotham met with
several specimens in this old book cover, one of which was
living.

Mr. Sidebotham also mentioned that during the frost last
week he noticed the steam from an engine at London-road
Station speedily converted into snow, and on examination
of the crystals with a pocket lens found them to consist of
unusual forms of the most simple description, equilateral
triangles, reels with triangular ends, &c., and a total absence
of all wheel-like forms.

149

Annual Meeting, April 21st, 1874.

E. W. Binney, F.RS., F.G.S., Vice-President, in the Chair,

The following Report of the Council was read by one of
the Secretaries :

The Treasurers Account for the past year shows that
the general balance has increased from £407 Is. 4d. on the
31st of March, 1873, to £435 13s. Id. on the 31st of March
last. It must however be remarked that this increase is
due to the fact that no expenditure has been incurred during
the year for binding books, in consequence of the Hon.
Librarian having been unable to give his attention to the
business of the Library as heretofore.

The number of ordinary members on the roll of the
Society on the 1st of April, 1873, was 169, and eleven new
members have since been elected ; the losses are, deaths, 4 ;
resignations, 3; and defaulters, 2. The number on the roll
on the 1st of April instant was therefore 171. The deceased
members are Thomas Garrick, Peter Higson, Thomas Turner,
and Frederick Crace-Calvert.

fjL

Mr. Thomas Carrick was born at Rockcliffe House, five
miles from Carlisle, on the 12th of April, 1816. He was
the eldest son and third child of David Carrick; Jun.,
banker, Carlisle, and Sarah his wife, n^e Brockbank, of
Ulverstone. When three years old his life was nearly lost
by fire ; his clothes were ignited in nursery play, and he was
severely burned. For many succeeding years he was a
suffering and delicate boy, naturally shy and diffident,
quiet and fond of books, and not joining much in the active

Proceedings — Lit. & Phil, Soc. — Yol. XIII. — No. 12. — Session 1873-4.

150

sports of boys of his own age. His father died in 1821. In
1825 and 1826 he occasionally attended a mixed school in
the village of Stanwix, Carlisle, taught by a master in
reading, writing, and arithmetic. In December, 1826, he
was placed at a boarding school of the Society of Friends, at
Wigton, Cumberland, and remained there till October, 1829.
After an interval at home he was two years at the late
Samuel Marshall’s boarding school at Kendal. Mr. Mar-
shall was interested in his pupil, and sent specimens of his
writing and drawing to William Johnson and Sons, then
land surveyors in Manchester. These specimens, with
Samuel Marshall’s recommendation, procured him a favour-
able entrance as an apprentice into Wm. Johnson and Sons’
office, in 1832, and to their honour they received him without
premium because his mother was a widow. At the close of
his apprenticeship he took offices in Brown Street on his own
account as land surveyor, and was much engaged on railways
by C. F. Cheffins, of London. His home was with the late
John B. Brockbank’s family, Salford, and at J. B. B.’s death
the partnership of Carrick and Brockbank commenced. He
was a most dutiful son to his widowed mother up to her
death in 1844, and at all times a considerate and loving
brother.

Mr. Carrick became a member of the Literary and Philo-
sophical Society in January, 1857 ; he was elected treasurer
on the 6th of October, 1868, and continued to fill this office
till the time of his death. May 27th, 1873. He contributed
the following papers to the Society :

Feb. 22, 1859.— “On the grouping of unexplained Cosmical Phe-
nomena.”

Oct, 13, 1859.— “ On Orbit Inclination.”

Dec. 8, 1859. — “On the Sun’s Orbit plane.”

Feb. 2, 1860. — “On the Moon’s Orbit plane.”

Oct. 11, I860.— “On the Atomic Constitution of Water and Ice.”
Apr. 30, 1863. — “On the wave of High Water : a new Theory of

Tides.”

151

In this paper he certainly accounted for many tidal pheno-
mena, and brought together many curious facts gleaned from
a wide circle of reading. His views of cosmical phenomena
were original, and he frequently took part in discussions
from his own peculiar point of view.

Mr. Thomas Turner, F.E/.C.S., was born at Truro, the
23rd August, 1793. His father, Mr. Edmund Turner, was a
banker in that town. His mother was descended from an
old Cornish family named Ferris. Mr. Thomas Turner was
the youngest of three sons. The eldest, Edmund, succeeded
his father as a banker, and became a member of Parliament,
representing his native town in the Liberal interest for 20
years. The second son, Charles, a lieutenant , in the East
India service, was killed by a sunstroke in India. There
were also two sisters older than Mr. T. Turner, both of
whom are dead. Educated at Truro Grammar School, he
left for Bristol, in 1811, to be apprenticed to Mr. Duck, who
was surgeon to St. Peter’s Hospital in that town. Mr.
Turner left Bristol for London in 1815, and entered as
student under Sir Astley Cooper at the United Hospitals of
Guy’s and St. Thomas’s. He passed at the Eoyal College of
Surgeons and Apothecaries’ Hall in 1816. After this he
studied in Paris, and became acquainted with most of the
eminent men who flourished in the Parisian schools at the
time. He left Paris in 1817, and it was through the influ-
ence of relatives then residing in Manchester that he was
appointed resident house surgeon to the Manchester Work-
house. He remained there until the autumn of 1821, when
he commenced practice in Piccadilly, opposite the Koyal
Infirmary.

Mr. Turner was appointed secretary to the Manchester
Natural History Society in 1821, and continued for veiy
many years to take an active interest in its progress. The
Koyal School of Medicine and Surgery, heretofore in Pine
Street, and which Mr. Turner has lived to see united to

152

that noble academical establishment, the Owens College,
owes its first complete organisation to Mr. Turner. In the
autumn of 1822 he commenced his first course of lectures.
They were given at the rooms of the Literary and
Philosophical Society, in George Street, on the anatomy,
physiology, and pathology of the human body. These
lectures Mr. Turner regularly continued till October, 1824,
when he established the Medical School, with the object of
enabling local practitioners to study their profession com-
pletety without the necessity of going to London. Dr.
Dalton became the lecturer on chemistry at Mr. Turner’s
Institution.

In 1831 Mr. Turner was elected surgeon to the Manches-
ter Royal Infirmary, the duties of which office he zealously
performed for 25 years, when he resigned, and was appointed
honorary consulting surgeon. This position he held to the
last. In 1843 he was appointed honorary professor of
physiology to the Royal Institution, when he annually
delivered a course of lectures — the last course being delivered
12 months ago. Mr. Turner has also been honorary surgeon
to the Manchester Deaf and Dumb School from its founda-
tion till now. Of the Infant Deaf and Dumb School he was
the chief promoter, and he laid the foundation stone of the
building at Old Trafibrd in 1859. He also originated the
Manchester and Salford Sanitary Association in 1851, and
was always one of its most earnest supportei-s. His loss
will be very widely felt, from the systematic beneficence
which he practised as a medical man.

Mr. Turner was made Fellow of the Royal College of
Surgeons of England in 1843, and elected to the Council of
the College in 1866. He resigned his seat there last July
In addition to those already enumerated, Mr. Turner held the
positions of Fellow of the Linnsean Society, and honorary
member of the Harveian Society, London. He was the
author of “ Outlines of Medico - Chirurgical Science

“ Observations on Aneurism and Hsemorriiage/’ Provincial
Medical Education,” “ Treatise on Dislocations of the
Astragalus and Injuries of the Foot,” “ Retrospect of
Anatomy and Physiology,” and other publications.

Mr. Turner married, in 1826, Anna Mary, daughter of
Mr. James Clarke, of Needham, near Newport, Isle of
Wight. One of Mr. Turner’s sons is a clergyman at Stock-
port ; another a lieutenant in the army. One daughter,
married, is resident in Shropshire. The youngest daughter
was her father’s devoted nurse at home. His illness lasted
many weeks, during which there was no hope of his
recovery. He was in his 81st year.

Dr. Frederick Grace -Calvert, F.R.S., was born near
London on the 14th of November, 1819.

In the year 1835, when 16 years of age, he left London
and went to France, where he commenced the study of

chemistry under the celebrated chemist Gerardin, at Rouen,

►

and continued with him for two years. At the expiration
of this time he went to Paris, and carried on his studies at
the Jardin des Plantes, the Sorbonne, College de France,
and Ecole de Medecine, his attention being principally
given to the Natural Sciences.

About the age of 21 he was appointed to manage the
well known works of Messrs. Robiquet h Pelletici, where
the manufacture of pure chemicals and pharmaceutical
products is carried on. This position, however, he soon
vacated on being offered that of “ Demonstrateur de Chimie
Appliquee,” under the eminent chemist Chevreul, and here he
remained from 1841 till 1846, when he left France. From
the former date his career as a chemist began and continued
with untiring energy during the succeeding 32 years.

He published his first paper, “ Sur I’extraction de quinine
et cinchonine,” in September, 1841.

In 1843^ in conjunction with M. Ferrand, he elaborated
an interesting paper on the analysis of gases enclosed in

154

some organs of plants, tlie gases being taken from the same
plants at different times of the day and year to demonstrate
the action of the sun s rays. This paper is entitled “Memoir
sur la Vegetation,” and may be found in Volume V. of “The
Comptes Rendus.” In the following year the diseases of
beer engaged his attention, and some interesting facts were
embodied by him in a paper read to the Societe de
Pharmacie, “ Sur la fermentation visqueuse de la biere.”
From 1843 till the time of his leaving France he was
engaged in a research on some compounds of lead which
first brought him into note. One of the papers consequent
on this may be found in the “ Comptes Rendus ” of 1848,
entitled “Precede au moyen duquel on obtient un protoxyde
de plomb cristallise et ayant la couleur du minium.”

In 1844, he wrote “On the presence of indigo in the
Orchidaceous plants ;” in 1846, “On the preparation of
Calomel on the large scale ;” and, in the same year, a
compilation of facts relating to the properties of animal
black.

On returning to England at the latter end of 1846 he was
first appointed to the chair of the honorary professorship
of chemistry at the Royal Institution, and afterwards to
that of lecturer on Chemistry at the School of Medicine in
Pine Street, Manchester.

In 1847 he published a paper “ On Bleaching Powders,”
and in, 1848 one “On the Bleaching of Cotton and Flax.”
About this time Dr. Calvert gave a long series of lectures
on his favourite subject at the Athenseum, Mamchester,
“The Application of Chemistry to Manufactures.” These
were recorded in the daily papers.

During the following years many other subjects engaged
his attention, but we may notice the following publications
as some of the results of his labours.

In 1849, “Process for the Preparation of Chlorates, parti-
cularly the Chlorate of Potash.”

I

In 1851 “On the Oxides and Nitrates of Lead.”

In 1854 “A case of Poisoning by the Sulphate of the
Protoxide of Iron.”

In 1855 “ On the Adulteration of Tobacco.” — “ On the
Action of Organic Acids on Cotton and Flax Fibres.” — “ On
the Actions of Gallic and Tannic Acids in Dyeing and Tan-
ning.”

In 1856 “ On the Solubility of Sulphate of Baryta in dif-
ferent Acids.” — “ On the Purification of Polluted Streams.”

About this time he commenced an enquiry, in conjunction
with Mr. Kichard Johnson, on the physical and chemical
properties of different alloys. The publications resulting
from these investigations were ;

In 1858 “ On the Hardness of Metals and Alloys.” — “ On
the Conductibility of Metals and Alloys.” — “ On the Chemi-
cal Changes which Pig Iron undergoes in its Conversion
into Wrought Iron.”

In 1861 a series of papers “ On the Expansion of Metals
and Alloys.”

In 1862 “ On the Composition of a Carbonaceous Sub-
stance existing in Grey Cast Iron.” — “ On the Employment
of Galvanised Iron for Armour Plated Ships.”—- On the Con-
ductibility of Heat by Amalgams.”

In 1863 “ On the Preservation of Iron Plated and other
Ships.”

The interest he took in the preservation of ships from the
action of sea water never ceased ; many unrecorded experi-
ments were carried on by him at intervals on this subject
till the last days of his life.

In 1865 Mr. Richard Johnson and he published “On the
Action of Sea Water on certain Metals and Alloys,” and in
1866 “On the Action of Acids on Metals and Alloys.”

In 3 870, two papers appeared by Dr. Calvert, one “On the
Composition of Iron Rust,” the other “On the Oxidation of
Iron,” and a third on the same subject in 1871.

156

In 1858 we find a publication of his “On a New Method
of preparing Hydrochloiic Acid.”

In 1859 “On the Analyses of Wheaten Flours.” — “Influence
of Science on the Arts of Calico Printing.” — “On Starches:
the purposes to which they are applied, and improvements
in their Manufacture.”

During this year, his attention was called by the late Dr.
Ransome to hospital gangrene, and in seeking its cause he
was led to investigate the compounds produced during
putrefaction.

Two papers, descriptive of his results, appeared in I860,
the first “ On Products of Putrefaction.” The second
“On New Volatile Alkaloids eiven off during Putrefaction.”

O O

He continued, during the following two or three years,
with these researches, and had collected about an ounce of
a precipitate, produced by combining the gaseous products
of putrefaction with platinum, by passing the gases emitted
by the putrefying meat through bichloride of platinum, by
means of aspirators, during many months. This accumula-
tion of precipitate was unfortunately destroyed before its
examination could be completed, through the carelessness
of one of his assistants, which caused him much regret ever
afterward^

In 1861 he wrote “ On Improvements in the Manufacture
of Coloring Matters,” and “On the Chemical Composition of
Steel.” A report followed “On the Action of Water supplied
by the Manchester Corporation on Lead of different kinds,”
in connection with the Manchester Sanitary Association.

In 1862 he gave a series of lectures to the Society of Arts,
“ On the Improvements and Progress in Dyeing and Calico
Printing since 1851 ;” in 1864 “ On Chemistry as applied to
the Arts;” in 1866 “On Discoveries in AgTicultural
Chemistry,” and “On Discoveries in the Chemistry of Rocks
and Minerals.”

These were the beginning of the Cantor lectures, which
are now continued every year by different lecturers.

Ili this same year we find anotlier paper by him, On
Wood for Shipbuilding.”

In 1863 he patented and worked at his process for the
separation of sulphur from coke, by use of common salt, for
the purpose of the manufacture of iron of superior quality.

The following is a list of some of his further publications :

In I860 “On the Action of Silicate and Carbonate of
Soda upon Cotton Fibres.”— “ On the Crystallized Hydrate
of Phenic Alcohol.”

In 1866 “On the Hydraulicity of Magnesian Limestone.”
“ On the Preparation of Acetylene.”

About this time he interested himself with the properties
of phenic or carbolic acid, and being satisfied of its valuable
disinfecting properties, built works for its manufacture,
and to him belongs the honour of having first brought it in
a pure state into commerce.

In 1867 he wrote papers “On Oxidation by means of
Charcoal.”— “ On the Presence of Soluble Phosphates in
Cotton Fibres, Wheat, and other Seeds,” and five articles
“ On the Synthesis of Organic Substances.”

In 1867 “Carbolic or Phenic Acid and its Properties”
(three articles).

In 1869 “Presence of Soluble Phosphates in Seeds.”—
“ Preparation of Nitrogen.”

In 1870 “Testing Petroleum.”

In 1872 “Sulphur in Coal and Coke;” and papers on
“Protoplasmic Life;” “Vitality of Disease Germs,” &c. Part
of the latter series remains yet unpublished.

In concluding the list of Dr, Crace-Cal vert’s various
researches we may mention that, besides the above, many
others were made by him, but their unfinished state does
not justify publication. Among these may be mentioned
one on “Light,” which cost him much labour, and one
“On the Action of different Gases on each other under
Enormous Pressures.”

158

He was a Fellow of the Royal Society, of the Chemical
Society, and of many other societies both at home and
abroad.

Dr. Calvert sliowed remarkable devotion to the science he
studied, and his knowledge of its literature was such as
very few have attained, and such also as could only
be obtained by a most unusual amount of reading,
accompanied with strong interest, and in all probability
much pleasure. He showed this knowledge more in the
departments referring to industry, and, as might be ex-
pected, he intended to give his experience to the public in a
more convenient form than his lectures presented. One of
these works, that relating to “ Colours other than Aniline,’’
was nearly completed — if not entirely so — before his last
illness, and is expected to be published shortly. Whilst
rather exhausted with this work, added to the attention
required for the manufactures in which he was engaged, he
was chosen as one of the jury of the Vienna Exhibition.
The summer of 1873 was sultry and unpleasant, and
other causes may have operated to make it unhealthy;
but whatever the reason or combination of reasons may
have been (and we cannot doubt that work and anxiety
contributed), the result was that Dr. Calvert returned in a
very enfeebled state, and a few days after his arrival in
Manchester was seized with a fatal illness, which terminated
on the 24th of October of the same year.

He was a firmly built man, of middle height, and appar-
ently of unusual strength. His hair was dark, and he
seemed to be younger in constitution than his years indi-
cated. His manner was animated, and he had great pleasure
in communicating information. It is not attempted in this
notice to say to what extent his writings have contributed
to the advance of science or the knowledge of manufactures^
but in the latter department it is certain that his influence
was widely felt, and his friendly disposition enabled him

159

to become a frequent medium of communication between
scientific men in England and in France, in both of which
countries lie felt equally at home. With these combined
characteristics the position he made for himself was
peculiar, and of its importance we may judge partly by the
fact that, although one to which many would be glad to
attain, it is not yet filled up.

In accordance with the resolution passed at the last
annual meeting the Council has entered into an arrangement
with the Manchester Geological Society to afibrd accommo-
dation for its meetings and room for its library, &c., the
Geological Society to pay an annual rent of £25, and also a
further sum of £5 per annum for the services of the Keeper
of the Rooms.

Steps have been taken for procuring the Incorporation of
the Society under the provisions of the “Companies Acts,”
but a question having arisen whether it may not be neces-
sary to alter the rules of the Society, it has been thought
desirable to obtain counsel’s opinion on this point before
proceeding further in the matter.

An application having been received from the “Scientific
Students’ Association” for permission to hold its meetings
in the rooms of the Society, a resolution will be submitted
this evening for the approval of the members, authorising
the Council to negotiate the terms and conditions of an
arrangement with the Association.

The following papers and communications have been read
at the ordinary and sectional meetings of the Society during
the present session : —

October Itli, 1873. — “Atmospheric Refraction and the last rays
of the Setting Sun,” by David Winstanley, Esq.

October 1873. — “On Specimens of Carex punctata,” by

Charles Bailey, Esq.

October lull, 1873. — “Mean Monthly Barometric Readings at
Old Trafford, Manchester, from 1849 to 1872,” by G. V. Vernon,
F.R.A.S., F.M.S.

160

‘“Results of Meteorological Observations taken at Langdale,
Dimbiila, Ceylon, during the years 1868 — 72,” by Edward Heelis,
Esq. Communicated by Joseph Baxendell, F.R.A.S.

October 21s^, 1873. — “On the Relative Work spent in Friction
in giving Rotation to Shot from Guns rifled with an Increasing,
and a Uniform^Twist,” by Professor Osborne Reynolds, M.A.

November Uh, 1873. — “On the Bursting of Trees and Objects
struck by Lightning,” by Professor Osborne Reynolds, M.A.

“On some Roman and Celtic Antiquities,” by the Rev. W. N.
Moles worth, M.A.

“On Vitrified Forts,” by Dr. R. Angus Smith, F.R.S., V.P.

November lO^A, 1873. — ‘‘Remarks upon the British locality for
Lobelia urens,” by J. C. Melville, M.A., F.L.S.

“On Lymexylon Navale,” by Joseph Sidebotham, F.R.A.S.

November 1873 — “On the Bursting of Trees and Objects
struck by Lightning,” by Professor Osborne Reynolds, M.A.

“ On the Colour of Nankin Cotton,” by Edward Schunck, Ph.D.,
F.R.S., V.P.

“ An Improved Method for preparing Marsh Gas,” by C. Schor-
lemmer, F.R.S.

December 2nd, 1873. — “On a Remarkable Thunderstorm at
Brockham Green, Surrey, on the 7th November, 1873.

December 1873.—“ On a Collection of Shells from the
Worden Gravel Pit, near the Leyland Station, near Chorley,” by
R. D. Darbishire, F.G.S.

December 1873. — “ Method of Construction of a New

Barometer,” by J. P. Joule, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R.S., &c., President.

“On the Explosion of AVater,” by C. Piazza Smyth, F.R.S.,
Astronomer Roval of Scotland.

V

“On the Destruction of Sound by Fog and the Inertness of a
Heterogeneous Fluid,” by Professor Osborne Reynolds, M.A.

“ The Chemical Constitution of Bleaching Powder,” by C.
Schorlemmer, F.R.S.

December 30th, 1873. — “On the Rapid Growth of the Bar at
the Entrance into the Queen’s Channel, Liverpool,” by E. AV
Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S., A^.P.

January 13^A, 1874. — “On Further Improvements in a

161

Mercurial Air Exhauster,” by J. P. Joule, D.C.L., LL.D., F.R,S.,
&c., President.

“ On the Influence of Acids on Iron and Steel,” by William H.
Johnson, B.Sc.

“On Crystalline Sublimed Cupric Chloride,” by S. Carson
(Student in the Laboratory of the Owens College). Communicated
by Professor H. E. Roscoe, F.R.S.

“Memorandum on Brown-stapled Cotton,” by Major R. Trevor
Clarke. Communicated by Dr. E. Schunck, F.R.S., V.P.

“ On the Graphical Representation of the Movements of the
Chest Wall in Respiration,” by Arthur Ransome, M.D., M.A.

January 19th, 1874. — “On the Similarity of Certain Crystal-
lised Substances to Vegetable Forms,” by Joseph Sidebotham,
F.R.A.S.

January 1874. --“On a Source of Error in Mercurial

Tliermometers,” by Thomas M. Morgan, Student in the Laboratory
of Owens College. Communicated by Professor H. E. Roscoe,

F. R.S.

“Notes on Fossil Lithothamnia (so-called Nulliporee),” by
Arthur Wm. Waters, F.G.S.

February ^rd, 1874. — '“On the Theory of the Tides,” by David
Winstanley, Esq.

“Rainfall at Old Trafford, Manchester, in the year 1873,” by

G. V. Vernon, F.R.A.S., F.M.S.

February 10^7^, 1874. — “The Northern Range of the Basques,”
by W. Boyd Dawkins, M.A.,- F.R.S., F.S.A.

February 247/i, 1874. — “On the Drainage of Churchyards and
Burial Grounds,” by E. W. Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S., V.P.

“ On the Effect of Acid on the Interior of Iron AVire,” by Pro-
fessor Osborne Reynolds, M.A.

“ On the Movements of the Chest in Respiration,” by Dr.
Ransome, M.A.

March 2>rd, 1874, — “Results of Rain-gauge Observations at
Eccles, near Manchester, during the year 1873,” by Thomas
Mackereth, F.R.A.S., F.M.S.

March \^th, 1874. — “On Professor Renault’s Memoir on Speci-
mens of Fossil Plants of the Genus Myelopteris,” by E. W.
Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S., YM.

162

“ Further Observations and Experiments on the Influence of
Acids on Iron and Steel,” by William H. Johnson, B.Sc.

“On Dr. Schliemann’s Excavations and Discoveries on the site
of Troy,” by R. D. Darbishire, F.G.S.

“Results of Certain Magnetic Observations made at Manchester
during the year 1873,” by Professor Balfour Stewart, LL.D., F.R.S.

March \Qth, 1874. — “On Some Specimens of Hypothenemus
Eruditus,” by Joseph Sidebotham, F.R.A.S.

March 2ithy 1874. — “On Some of the Perplexities which the
Art and Architecture of the Present are preparing for the His-
torians and Antiquarians of the Future,” by the Rev. Brooke
Herford.

“A Few Observations on Coal,” by E. W. Binney, F.R.S.,
F.G.S., V.P.

March 2)lsty A:. — “The Meteorological Theory of Cometary

Phenomena,” by David Winstanley, Esq.

Aprillth,\^1A. — “On the Corrosion of some portions of the
Cast Iron Roof of the Salford Station of the Lancashire and
Yorkshire Railway,” by E. AY. Binney, F.R.S., F.G.S,, V.P.

“ On the Action of Nascent Hydrogen on Iron,” by William H.
Johnson, B.Sc.

“ Does the Earth receive any Heat directly from the Sun by
Henry H. Howorth, Esq.

April IWi, 1874. — “On the Introduction of Planorbis dilatatus
from America into Lancashire,” by Thomas Rogers, Esq.

Several of these papers have already been printed in the
current volume of Memoirs, and others have been passed by
the Council for printing.

Although the system of electing sectional Associates has
not yet met with the success which its promoters antici-
pated, the Council consider it desirable to recommend that
it be continued during the ensuing year.

The Librarian reports that having been -unable to give
much personal attention to the working of the library, the
Council found it necessary to secure some paid help to bring
up many arrears, and prepare the parcels of Memoirs and

163

Proceedings now being distributed to the honorary and
corresponding members, and to the various learned bodies
with whom the Society exchanges it transactions. These
parcels are now on the point of being dispatched to their
various addresses. No progress has been made in the bind-
ing of the books, and the number needing to be bound is
now so large as to demand early attention, prompt and
regular binding being of great importance in a public
library. Considerable shelf space will be required to pro-
vide for the accumulation of works which have no fixed
place in the library. Themumber of Societies holding rela-
tions with the Society continues as was reported last year.

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165

On the motion of Mr. F. Nicholson, seconded by Mr. J.
A. Bennion, it was resolved unanimously : — “ That the
Beport just read be adopted and printed for circulation
among the members of the Society.”

On the motion of the Rev. Joseph Freeston, seconded
by Mr. D. Winstanley, it was resolved unanimously
“ That the system of electing Sectional Associates be con-
tinued during the ensuing session.”

On the motion of Mr. 0. Bailey, seconded by Mr. J.
Baxendell, it was resolved unanimously: — “That the
application of the Scientific Students’ Association for per-
mission to hold its meetings in the Society’s buildings in
consideration of a payment to be fixed be acceded to, and
the Council be authorised to negotiate the terms and con-
ditions of such arrangement.”

On the motion of Mr. E. W. Binney, seconded by Dr.
SCHQNCK, it was resolved unanimously: — That the thanks
of the Society be given to Mr. Bailey for his valuable
services as Honorary Librarian.”

The follov/ing gentlemen were then elected Officers of the
Society and Members of Council for the ensuing year : —

EDWARD SCHUNCK, Ph.D., F.R.S., F.C.S.

JAMES PRESCOTT JOULE, LL.D., F.R.S., F.C.S., &c.

EDWARD WILLIAM BINNEY, F.R.S., F.G.S.

ROBERT ANGUS SMITH, Ph.D., F.R.S., F.C.S.

REV. WILLIAM GASKELL, M.A.

JOSEPH BAXENDELL, F.R.A.S.

OSBORNE REYNOLDS, M.A.

/3

166

SAMUEL BEOUeHTON.

^§xhxKxmx.

FEANCIS NICHOLSON, F.Z.S.

M thx Counril

EOBEET DUKINFIELU DAEBISHIEE, B.A., F.O.S.

WILLIAM BOYD DAWKINS, M.A., F.E.S., F.G.S.

BALFOUE STEWAET, LL.D., F.E.S.

ALFEED BEOTHEES, F.E.A.S.

EEV. BEOOKE HEEFOED.

CHAELES BAILEY.

The following commimi cation from Dr. Joule, F.RS.,
was read by Mr. Baxendell : —

“ Will you permit me, in reference to Mr. Howortli’s com-
}nunication to the last meeting, to refer to my papers in the
Phil. Trans., 1859, p. 91 and p. 138, in which experiments
are described proving what had previously been shown by
Sir W. Thomson to be corollaries to the dynamical theory of
heat, viz. : — That the heat evolved by substances on being
compressed is never exactly equivalent to the force of com-
pression ; is generally very different therefrom ; while in the
case of water taken between the limits 82° and 89° Fahren-
heit, cold, not heat, is the result of compression. I cannot
therefore, admit the axiom on which Mr. Howorth builds his
ingenious theory.”

167

PHYSICAL AND MATHEMATICAL SECTION.
April 28th, 1874.

Alfred Brothers, F.B.A.S., President of tlie Section, in

the Chair.

“ On the Ratios and Frequency of Rainfall, deduced from
Observations made at Eccles,” by Thomas MackeReth,
F.R.A.S., F.M.S.

A few weeks ago Thomas Glazebrook Ry lands. Esq., of
Thelwall, near Warrington, was kind enough to draw my
attention to the amount of rainfall at that place for the
years 1872 and 1873. The amount which fell there in
1872 was 47'52 inches, and in 1873 it was 24*53 inches.
These amounts Mr. Rylands considers extremes of rainfall
for that district, and he was led to make several comparisons
between them. The results of these comparisons show
curiously enough that “ the amount of excess in rainfall
increases with the amount of rain, and therefore that the
increase is due mainly to the maximum falls.”

In putting the falls of the two years mentioned into
ratio they stand thus, 1*940:1. But the number of days
of rainfall in the two years stand thus, 1.235 : 1. Mr.
Rylands then introduces into comparison the ratios that
exist between other elements; but as those results only
apply to his own register, I will not now mention them. I
will merely state, having mentioned the rainfall for the two
years at that place, that the number of days on which rain
fell there in 1872 was 233, whilst in 1873 the number of
days was 189. But if the number of days on which rain
falls in a wet year is to bear any comparison with those of
a dry year the result must be very different, for the ratio

168

of the amounts of rain and the niimber of days I have given
stand thus, 24*53 :47'52: 1189 :: 366, so that if the number
of rainy days at Thelwall in 1872 had any proportion with
the rainfall it would have rained there on every day in the
year instead of on only 233 days.

Seeing that some information might be derived from a
similar consideration of all the years of rainfall I had regis-
tered at Eccles, I have made the requisite comparisons and
beg now to submit the results to the section.

In the following table I present the rainfall at Eccles for
the last thirteen years, in the order of the amount of fall in
inches, together with the number of days in each year on
which rain fell.

RAINFALL AT ECCLES.

Amount of

Number of

Year.

Fall

Days of

in inches.

Rainfall.

1865..

27*809 ...

177

1870..

30-404 ....

178

1864..

30-874 ....

180

1873..

31-127 ....

219

1868..

32-922 ....

208

1871..

33-161 ....

192

1861..

33-674 ...

202

1867..

211

1869..

35-701 ....

210

1863..

36-216 ....

221

1862..

37-664 ....

225

1866..

43-076 ...

232

1872..

48-416 ....

264

Mean

35-119 ...

209

Now, if the extremes of rainfall and number of days on
which rain fell, as shown in this table, be placed in com-
parison, their ratios will stand thus :

27*809: 48*416:: 177: 308.

Now the numbers of days on which rain fell, in 1872
was only 264; whereas, if this number had been in propor-
to the rainfall, it should have been 308.

From the foregoing table I have deduced by means of the
average amount of rainfall, and the average number of days
on which rain fell, the ratios of the rainfall of each of the
last 13 years, and placed each ratio opposite the ratio of

1G9

the number of days of rainfall of each year. They are as fol-
lows, column (b) representing the ratios of rain-fall, and (c)
the ratios of the number of days on which rain fell.

Year.

(C.)

1865

•794

-847

1870

•868

-851

1864

•882

-861

1873

•889

1-047

1868

•940

-955

1871

•947

-918

1861

-962

-966

Mean

•897

-920

1867

1-014

1-009

1869

1-020

1-004

1863

...... 1-034

1-057

1862

1-076

1-076

1866

1.230

1-110

1872 ..

1-383

1-263

Mean

1-126

1-086

From the above table it will be seen that the ratios of the
first Means are inverse to those of the second Means ; and
that when the rainfall was below the average there was a
relative increase of the number of wet days ; but when it
was above the average there was a relative decrease in the
number of wet days. So that in wet years, as a rule, more
rain falls at a time than in dry years ; and we have more
rainy days in proportion to the fall in dry years than we
have in wet ones.

“ The Cause of Solar Heat,” by David Winstanley, Esq,

When a body possessing the visible energy of mechanical
translation is arrested in its course, that energy, according
to the laws of conservation, is not destroyed, but becomes
apparent in another form, generally in the form of heat.
Should a body receive two equal impulses in diametrically
opposite directions at the same time, mechanical translation
as a result thereof is impossible, and the energy thus ex-
pended, it appears to be agreed, will in the main assume the
form of heat. Should a body however receive two equal
impulses in directions inclined to each other mechanical
translation will ensue, but the value of the energy of visible

170

motion thus communicated to the body in question is not
equal to the sum of the impulses, being, as is well known,
justly represented by the diagonal of a parallelogTam the
length of whose sides is proportioned to the value of tlie
primal impulses. What then in this case becomes of the
residue of energy applied and not converted into visible
motion ? I apprehend it assumes the form of heat. If so
in the instance of a body receiving equal impulses in direc-
tions inclined to each other at an angle of 120 degrees, the
resulting visible motion will just account for the energy of
one of these impulses, and the resulting heat for the energy
of the other. If then a body having a certain amount of
visible energy observable as rectilinear movement have a
series of impulses imparted at an angle of 120 degrees in
each instance to the line of motion and equal in value to
the visible energy of the body at the time of application,
the body in question will gain nothing in visible motion
through the application of these impulses, but will simply
alter the direction of its movement at each application and
acquire at the same time an amount of heat of which the im-
pulse is the mechanical equivalent. Adopting this view, it
matters not at what angle the impulse may be given, for so
long as the figure representing its amount yields with that
representing the visible motion of our body a parallelogram
whose resultant is equal to the line of visible motion, it fol-
lows that the energy of mechanical translation remains
unaltered and the energy of the impulse becomes wholly
transformed into heat. This condition of things however is
what obtains in the instance of a body in planetary revolu-
tion in a circular orbit. It is continually receiving impulses
through the instrumentality of gravitation at or nearly at
right angles to its line of flight, and its energy of visible
motion does not increase, whence I infer that the mechani-
cal energy by which its rectilinear movement is destroyed
is converted into an equivalent of heat which elevates the

temperature of the planet so far as its conditions of i-adia-
tion will permit. The aggregate value of the impulses
required to make a body describe a circle and return to its
primal position and direction without loss or gain of visible
energy I have endeavoured to determine graphically by
means of the mechanical parallelogram. The result at which
I arrive is that the aggregate in question exceeds the mo-
mentum of the body to be deviated in the same proportion
as the circumference of a circle exceeds its radius, and this
irrespective of the circle’s size, I have not attempted to
calculate the temperature to which the matter of the earth
would be elevated by a sudden stoppage in its orbital
path, for it appears to me that satisfactory data for doing
this do not exist. The number of thermal units to which
such a stoppage would give rise if multiplied by 6*28
indicate the amount of heat which upon the . present
hypothesis the earth annually receives through the in-
strumentality of solar gravitation. This amount will
I apprehend, amply account for a certain initial tempera-
ture of the terrestrial matter, and for that excess of
internal heat which appears to have been pretty well
made out. It will be evident that any heat which in
virtue of this hypothesis may be supposed to fall to the lot
of our earth will in some calculable proportion fall to the
lot of the other planets also. That proportion I apprehend
to be directly as the planet’s mass multiplied into its velocity
in orbit and divided by its periodic time. Of course this
amount of heat will be distributed over the entire matter of
the planet, the temperature of which will depend on the
capacity for heat of the matter composing it and on its
facilities for radiation. These latter will clearly diminish
with the comparative diminution of superficies enjoyed
by the larger planets and with the extension of their
atmospheres. In the case of bodies moving in elliptic
orbits the amount of energy which according to this

172

hypothesis will he transformed to heat in a single revolu-
tion will he practically as before, i.e., 6*28 times the planet’s
visible energy of motion at its mean distance from the sun.
There will, however, he this difference between the two
cases. In the instance of a body moving in a circular orbit
the accession of heat will be a constant quantity in equal
increments of time and in all parts of the orbit, whereas in
the case of a body moving in an ellipse the accession will
be least in appioaching the perihelion and greatest in
receding from it, inasmuch as the solar gravitation produces
an increase of mechanical translation in the former instance
and a diminution in the latter. Assuming the theoiy to be
correct this circumstance is one which will greatly mitigate
the extremes of heat to which, apart from such a considera-
tion, we should expect cometic bodies to be subject. Indeed,
in spite of the enormous distances to which they recede
from the sun, the voluminous nature of their atmospheres
by which radiation must be diminished, may, in conjunction
with this view of the case, afford an explanation of the
unexpectedly high temperature Avhich, in the case of these
bodies, the spectroscope certainly seems to indicate.

The application of the views herein advanced to an
explanation of the cause of solar lieat is briefly this : —
As the mutual and ever-acting gravitation of the sun and
his attendant planets produces in the instance of the central
luminary no more acceleration of visible motion than in
the instance of the planets themselves, the gravitation must
result in the exhibition of some other form of energy, which in
the one case as in the other will, I apprehend, be the form
of heat. Carrying, however, this idea to the extreme, we
should be led to infer that the force of gravitation, which in
some circumstances is certainly capable of transference into
the form of mechanical translation, and thence into the
form of heat, is in others just as capable of transformation
in the opposite order. Indeed, if heat is to be regarded as

the individual movement of a multitude of particles whose
simultaneous movement is observable as mechanical trans-
lation it IS but reasonable to suppose that a force acting
upon all, but from the circumstances of the case incapable

o Proaucmg a simultaneous and concordant movement will

produce an individual and in a sense discordant motion of
ose same particles. Looking at the matter in this way
any aplomeration of particles whatever must have somj
imtial heat as a result of that gravitation which is unable
uo evmce itself as mechanical translation. And as in our
experience gravity is unceasing, this heat so far as we can
see shmild be never ending during the continuance of those
conditions which prevent the movement of translation.
And a never ending supply of heat must cause an elevation
of temperature which will only cease when a point is reached
at which the rapidity of radiation equals the rapidity of
supply. The more numerous the particles composing the
aggomerated body the less become the opportunities of
radiation and the more elevated the temperature, which
latter attains its maximum in our own system in the
instance of the stupendous body which maintains the super-
ficial mundane heat by iiTadiation from its fires.

_ It wiU be seen that the theory here projected places itself
in antagonism with the doctrine that “a stone high up” has
anything which can be justly termed “the energy of posi-
tion.” But I have already occupied sufficient time without
staying now to combat further the doctrine I have named.

To those who have been accustomed to regard gravitation
as a property which enables bodies to act where they are
not, the present considerations will present difficulties not
encountered by others who accept the beautiful, and to my
thinking more rational, hypothesis that the simple mechani-
cal movement of infinitesimal particles is the immediate
cause of that grand effect the law of universal gravitation

MICEOSCOPICAL AND NATURAL HISTORY SECTION.

April 18th, 1874.

Professor W. C. Williamson, F.R.S., &c., President of the

Section, in the Chair.

Mr. Plant, F.G.S., exhibited some bones of the extinct
Auroch (Bison prlscus), which had been taken from a deep
fissure in the limestone above Castleton, where nearly the
whole of the skeleton had been found, together with the
bones of the reindeer.

Mr. Thos. Rogers read a paper “ On the Introduction of
Planorbis dilatatus ’’ (Gould), a North American fresh water
mollusk, which lie discovered (June, 1869) adhering to the
stones immediately below the surface of the water in the
Bolton canal at Pendleton, and in close proximity to the
blowing room refuse discharge, and warm water discharge
from the engines of Messrs. Armitage s cotton mill. He also
afterwards found the same species under similar conditions
in the canal adjoining the mills of Messrs. Ry lands, at
Gorton. After examining all the circumstances under which
the mollusk was found (the details of which he placed before
the members of the section), he was led to believe that its
introduction into this country was by means of American
cotton, which had been used for such like war purposes as
barricades for steamboats or river defences by the soldiers
in the civil war during the presidency of Abraham Lincoln,
and which had been accidentally submerged in water and
redried with the fry or spawn masses of the Planorbis
attached to its fibres previous to its exportation to England,
and this ultimately finding its way through the cotton
refuse into the canals adjoining the aforementioned mills.

He also remarked the abundance of the beautiful fresh water
Zoophyte Plumatella repens, which is found in both habitats
of the Planorbis, and on the dead branches of which it seems
to find its favourite food. Mr. Rogers said that since the
year 1869 (when the mollusk was found in small quantity)
it had increased its area of distribution, and multiplied so
much as likely to become one of the commonest of our local
shells.

Annual Meeting, May 4th, 1874.

Joseph Baxendell, F.R.A.S., Vice-President of the Section,

in the Chair.

The following report of the Council for the year ending
May 4th, was read and passed :

The following papers and subjects have been brought
before the meetings during the session : —

November 10th, 1873. — “On Lobelia urens,” by J. C. Melvill,
M.A., F.L.S., &o.

“ On the Occurrence of Lymexylon navale in Dunham Park,’^
by Joseph Sidebotham, F.R.A.S.

December ^th, 1873.—“ On a Collection of Shells from the Drift,”
by R. D. Darbishire, B.A., &c.

“ On Moths and Butterflies captured at Sea 300 miles from the
coast of Brazil,” by James Linton.

“ On an old Microscope made by Benjamin Martin, a celebrated
Mathematician of the last century,” by J. B. Dancer, F.R.A.S.
The microscope was exhibited by Mr. Plant.

January IWi, 1874. — “On the Similarity of certain Crystallised
Substances to Vegetable Forms,” by Joseph Sidebotham, F.R.A.S.
Illustrated with drawings, and specimens under the microscope.

February IQth, 1874. — “On a Method of Exhibiting Slides
under the Microscope to a number of persons seated at a meeting,”
by Charles Bailey^

176

“ On the Anatomy of the Cockroach,” by J. S. Peace.

March 16^A, 1874. — “On Hypothenemus eruditus,” by Joseph
Sidebotham, F.R.A.S.

A'pril 13^^, 1874. — “On the Introduction into Lancashire from
America of Planorbis dilatatus,” by T. Rogers.

“'On a Bone Cave at Castleton,” by J. Plant, F.G.S.

Besides these papers various matters of interest have been
brought before the members at the meetings, notices of
which appear in the Proceedings.

The Council have to report the donation, by Mr. Rideout,
of the valuable old microscope which was exhibited to the
members in February, 1873, and a figure and description of
which appear in the Proceedings of that date.

The Council have had notice of the payment by the
Owens College Trustees of the first interest on the £1500
given to this Section by the Manchester Natural History
Society, and as soon as this money has been received by our
Treasurer, it is purposed to purchase some valuable Natural
History works for the library which are much wanted for
reference.

From the accompanying statement of accounts it will be
seen that the financial position of the Section is satisfactory,
the Treasurer having a balance in hand of £43 19s. 9d.

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Examined and found correct,

(Signed) Joseph Sideboth^vm, (Signed) H. A. Hurst, Treasurer.

John Barrow.

178

Mr. SiDEBoTToM exhibited a cut flower of Primula Japo-
nica the result of Hybridisation.

The election of officers for Session 1874-5 was then pro-
ceeded with, and the following gentlemen Avere ap]iointed :

prcsihcnt.

H. D. DARBISHIEE, B.A., &c.

JOSEPH BAXENDELL, F.E.A.S., Ac.

W. BOYD DAWKINS, F.E.S., Ac.

W. C. WILLIAMSON, F.E.S., Ac.

HENEY ALEXANDEE HUEST.

SPENCEE H.' BICKHAM, June.
JOSEPH SIDEBOTHAM, F.E.A.S.

Of tljB Cotmril.

CHAELES BAILEY.

JOHN BAEEOW.

ALFEED BEOTHEES, F.E.A.S.
THOMAS COWAED.

J. COSMO MELAHLL, M.A„ F.L.S.
THOS. H. NEVILL.

EOBEET B. SMAET, M.E.C.S.

The following- is the List of Members and Associates :

ITisf of

Alcock, Thomas, M.D.

Bailey, Charles.

Barrow, John.

Baxendell Joseph, F.E.A.S.
Bickham, Spencer H., Jun.
Binnet, Edward Wm., F.E.S.,
F.G.S.

Brockbank, W., F.G.S.

Brogden, Henry.

Brothers, Alfred, F.E.A.S.
CoTTAM, Samuel.

Coward, Edward.

Coward, Thomas.

Dale, John, F.C.S.

Dancer, John Benj., F.E.A.S.
Darbishire, E. D., B.A.

Dawkins, W. Boyd, F.E.S.

Deane, William K.

Gladstone, Murray, F.E.A.S.
Heys, William Henry.

Higgin, James, F.C.S.

Hurst, Hrnry Alexander.
Latham, Arthur George.
Maclure, John Wm., F.E.G.S,
Melvill. J. C., M.A., F.L.S.
Morgan, Edward, M.D.
Morris, Walter.

Nevill, Thomas Henry.

Piers, Sir Eustace.

Eideout, William J.

Eoberts, William, M.D.
Sidebotham, Joseph, F.E.A.S
Simpson, Hrnry, M.D.

Smart, Eobert Bath, M.E.C.S.
Smith, Eobert Angus, Ph.D.,
F.E.S., F.C.S.

Vernon, George Venables,
F.E.A.S.

Williamson, Wm. Crawford,
F.E.S., Prof. Nat. Hist., Owens
College.

Wright, William Cort.

Hardy, John.
Hunt, John.
Labrey, B. B.
Linton, James.
Meyer, Adolph.
Peace, Thos. S.
Percival, James.

ITisf nf §ismiafes..

Plant, John, F.G.S.
Eogers, Thomas.

Euspini, F. 0.

Stirrup, Mark.

Tatham, John F, W.
Waterhouse, J. Crewdson.

J

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