Societies and Academies

Abstract

PARIS. Academy of Sciences, October 1.—M. Maurice Léevy in the chair.—On the absorption of free oxygen by normal urine, by M. Berthelot. Normal urine absorbs free oxygen in amounts larger than those corresponding to the solubility of oxygen in water. The acidity is not altered by the absorption.—Remarks on the acidity of urine, by M. Berthelot.—On the distribution of the horizontal component of the earth's magnetism in France, by M. E. Mathias. As the result of work spread over a period of six years in the neighbourhood of Toulouse, it was found that a very simple formula would combine the results of all the observations, namely: δH= -1.26 (δ long.) - 7.42 (δ lat.), in which δH was the difference between the measurement for an element at a place X and that of the cprresponding element at Toulouse. It was further found that the above formula applies to the whole of France.—On the selenides of nickel, by M. Fonzes-Diacon. Nickel leaflets heated in a current of nitrogen carrying small quantities of selenium vapour give cubical crystals of a selenide of the composition NiSe. Another selenide approximating in composition to Ni3S4 is obtained by heating anhydrous nickel chloride in a current of hydrogen selenide at a dull red heat. At 300° C. the diselenide NiS2 is obtained as a greyish-black, friable mass. All these products heated to a white heat in a current of hydrogen give a sub-selenide, Ni2Se.—Oxycelluloses from cotton, flax and hemp, by M. Leo Vignon. Purified fibres of various textile material were submitted to the oxidising action of hydrochloric acid and potassium chlorate; the yield in all cases was the same, about 70 per cent.; phenylhydrazine furnished the same osazone. Small differences were observed in the reducing powers of the oxycelluloses from different sources.—On the mutability of (Œnothera Lamarckiana, by M. Hugo de Vries. This furnishes an example of the rare phenomenon of a state of mutability in a pure species. The new species appears suddenly without preliminary or intermediate stages; the transformed individual shows all the characters of a new type, although the parents and grand-parents are absolutely normal, The seeds of the transformed individuals give rise to the new type only, no tendency being observed to revert to the characters of Œ. Lamarckiana.—On the Eocene of Tunis and Algiers, by M. L. Pervinquiere.—The ravine of Chevalleyres and the retrogression of torrents, by M. Stanislas Meunierl Attention is drawn to the mode of formation of this col, the size of which would appear out of all proportion to the small stream to which the ravine is undoubtedly due. The transfer of rock masses, and other effects usually ascribed to glacier action, may be traced to this torrent.—Observations of a meteor which fell on the evening of September 24, by M. Jean Mascart. The meteor, the nucleus of which was star-like and very bright, was seen at 10.16 p.m. on September 24 between Meudon and Bellevue.