The Ewing Flowmeter is a device which may be inserted in a circuit through which liquid is flowing, to give a continuous indication of the rate of flow of the liquid.

The authors, acting on behalf of the Engineering Committee of the Food Investigation Board, have carried out some further experiments, the results of which confirm and supplement those of Sir Alfred Ewing, described by him to the Society in June 1925 (Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xlv, p. 308). They have also endeavoured to discuss the results by applying the theory of similitude.

The twenty-year period, 1900–1920, shows a marked increase in the number of writings concerned with persymmetric determinants. There is, it is true, a still greater rate of increase of those of them that belong to the class of “solved questions,” but even taking this into account, we find a growth of interest in the subject that is distinctly striking. And then, too, we must guard carefully against accepting the belief that the members of this solved-question class are uniformly of slight importance, and that the others are never trivial.

In a previous paper the relation between the illumination I on a panchromatic plate, the duration t of the exposure, the wave-length λ of the light, and the resulting density D of the deposit on the developed plate was investigated.

It is generally accepted that one of the main causes of the rapid decay of stone and brick under modern conditions is the crystallisation of calcium sulphate below the surface, causing a break-up of the stone and brick.

The series of normal saturated dicarboxylic acids, their diethyl esters and mono-ethyl esters have been investigated by means of X-rays, and from the measurement of the principal spacings a definite chain structure has been assigned to each series. Mathematical formulæ derived by Shearer for similar series of compounds have been applied to these structures, and the intensity distribution among the several orders of reflection from the principal planes calculated. These calculated results have been compared with those actually observed from the plates, and the agreement was found to be good in every case, thus confirming the chain structures assigned by the authors to the above series of compounds.

The distribution of Anopheles in England has been the subject of two important memoirs, in the second of which were more than 650 records of the occurrence of Anopheline mosquitoes. The paucity of information on the distribution of Anopheles in Scotland is sufficiently emphasised by the statement that there are only twenty-one published records of the occurrence of the genus in this country.

1. The view is confirmed that the zona pellucida is not an essential factor in the formation of the fertilisation membrane (pp. 96–100).

2. Partial activation of the eggs of Asterias rubens is described with the formation of Seifriz's “protoplasmic papillæ” (pp. 100, 101).

3. Artificial activation of the eggs of Asterias rubens by isotonic solutions of NaCl, KCl, CaCl2, and MgCl2 is described. It was found that decrease in surface tension is not a necessary factor in causing artificial membrane formation (pp. 102–104).

4. The influence of the hydrogen ion concentration of the medium on the degree of extrusion of the fertilisation membrane of Echinus miliaris has been examined, and indicates that osmotic pressure due to the presence of a protein within the membrane is responsible for the extrusion (pp. 105–109).

5. From a study of the influence of salt concentration on the extrusion of the fertilisation membrane of Echinus miliaris, it is concluded that the fertilisation membrane is, from the moment of its formation, completely permeable to salts (pp. 109–112).

6. The origin of the fertilisation membrane has been examined, but in the absence of critical evidence it is concluded that the question cannot be regarded as settled (pp. 112–114).

Coefficients of inbreeding have been calculated for 676 stallions and mares, with the object of studying the part played by inbreeding in the development of the Clydesdale breed of horses. Wright's coefficient of inbreeding was used in this study.

It is found that during the early history of the breed very little inbreeding had been practised, and it is suggested that this may be due to the fact that the foundation stock contained many recessive factors for undesirable characters. The first marked rise in the average percentage of inbreeding for the breed occurs during the period 1880–1890, and from that time onwards there is a gradual but constant increase in the breed average, reaching its highest level at 6.25 per cent. for the period 1920–1925.

A method is outlined by which a measure can be obtained of the contribution of any particular sire to the graph of the average percentage of inbreeding for the breed. It also measures the degree of concentration of his blood in animals inbred to him and the rate at which his blood is diffused through the breed.

Sir Alfred Ewing exhibited some of the early models used by him in 1890 and subsequent years to demonstrate that the known characteristics of ferromagnetic metals were very completely reproduced by means of groups of pivoted magnets, free to turn on fixed centres, and constrained only by their mutual magnetic forces during the application or variation of an external field. He had been invited to present the models to the National Collection at South Kensington and they were now about to be sent there. The series included models illustrative of his theory of 1890 (Proc. Roy. Soc., vol. xlviii, p. 342) and others of later date which referred to the modified theory communicated to this Society in 1922 (Proc. Roy. Soc. Edin., vol. xlii, p. 97). The models were arranged to show effects of rotation in a constant field, as well as effects of varying a field of constant direction. A feature now shown for the first time, and incorporated in a new model, was to submerge the group of magnets in a liquid, with the effect that the irreversible movements which occurred when the magnets broke away from stable combinations and fell into other stable combinations, were made nearly dead-beat. The fluid in which the magnets were immersed damped out the oscillations, causing the energy dissipated through hysteresis to be quickly absorbed, and facilitated the study of unstable phases in the operation of the model.

The Grand Cascapedia is a noted salmon river of Quebec Province, and has a course of about eighty miles across Gaspé before it falls into the Bay of Chaleurs, south of the Gulf of St Lawrence. The Grand Cascapedia Club, composed of seven members, now fish the forty miles of the river which used to be reserved for the Governors-General of Canada, and, although they limit both the daily catch and the season's catch of each member, a very ample return results in the short angling season of about two months.

I. A series of experiments is described in which ovaries from litter sisters at the age of from 8 to 20 weeks old were grafted on to the surface of the kidney of male mice.

II. The grafts were examined at periods varying from 10 to 35 days after operation. It was found that in the majority of cases the graft had retained the typical ovarian structure; in one case corpora lutea were present (35 days after transplantation).

III. It is suggested that the survival of the graft is dependent primarily upon its vascularisation, and secondarily upon the degree of activity of the germinal epithelium.

IV. It is assumed that if the germinal epithelium is unimpaired it proliferates; proliferation occurs first sometime before the 10th day, and continues until the graft has attained the stage at which it was at the time of operation.

V. The original large follicles begin to degenerate soon after transplantation; the medium-sized and small ones develop for a certain period of time, but afterwards also undergo degeneration.

VI. Graafian follicles undergo degeneration at various stages of development.

VII. Interstitial tissue appears to be derived from the follicular cells of the atretic, or more probably of the primary and medium-sized anovular follicles.

VIII. It is concluded that the presence of the testis does not affect the vitality of the ovarian graft.

In previous papers (Proc. R. S. Edin., 1905, 1907, 1912) on the subject of crystalline magnetic quality, all questions of temperature were left aside. Molecular heat motions were regarded as non-existent, and the magnetic atoms or molecules were considered as representable by small ideal magnets centred upon a geometrical space lattice. No other mode of representation is possible until explicit notions regarding the origin and seat of molecular magnetic quality become definitely possible; and the general nature of magnetic actions and properties indicate that the general nature of the conclusions thus arrived at will not be fundamentally altered by particular assumptions regarding the nature of the magnetic molecules themselves. The crystalline quality of the magnetisation is due to the geometrical spacing of the atoms or molecules, and is manifested under the control afforded by the magnetic fields originating in surrounding molecules. This is essentially, when freed from the restriction to crystals, the statement of the modern Theory of Molecular Magnetism, which was definitely put forward by Weber in 1852, in all its features, and was recognised by Maxwell, who, in the state of experimental knowledge at the time, contented himself with an addition to Weber's representation of the law of force by postulation instead of by direct deduction. The first explicit applications to crystalline, or randomly crystalline, solid materials were made by Ewing, who obtained approximate quantitative results, relatively to ordinary magnetic materials such as iron, by neglecting the effect of all but closely neighbouring molecules, a condition which, though only strictly justifiable under the postulate of small pole clearance, is sufficient to give a good-elucidation of the effects. The action of his models was not so narrowly restricted.

A sensation of light is recorded in the brain not only when the retina is flooded with incident light, but also when the latter is withdrawn. There appears a heterogeneous pattern of bright areas, known as the chaotic light or the self light of the retina. Although no stimulus is given to the eye, certain processes must continue in the retina which excite a sensation of light in the brain. This jumble of white or coloured impressions has no definite form in the field of vision, unless the eye has previously been directed on to a particular defined object. The brain concentration involved in this action causes the patch of self light to reproduce more or less in form and dimensions the object fixated. This representation of the object is known as an after image.

The law of “all-or-nothing” does not hold in the case of comb volume. The comb volume in the two individuals described remained intermediate in size.

The degree of development of head furnishings is dependent not upon the amount but on the state of the gonadic tissue. It appears to be related to the spermatogenic activity of the testicular fragment.

Nicolas Théodore de Saussure was born in Geneva on October 14, 1767, the son of Horace Bénédict de Saussure, the celebrated naturalist, Alpine explorer, and professor in the University of Geneva. As a boy Théodore was educated by a private tutor and afterwards by his father, in preparation for entry into the Academy of his native city. His studies embraced medicine, mineralogy, and natural history, and he also acquired a keen interest in experimental chemistry from reading the earlier works of Lavoisier.

1. The experiments previously reported on the effect of salts at various hydrogen ion concentrations on the rate of sedimentation of kaolin suspensions have been extended so as to include the chlorides of the alkali metals, including ammonium but excluding rubidium.

In acid suspensions the action in inhibiting sedimentation is least in the case of cæsium and greatest in the case of sodium. The results are discussed in the light of the Gedroiz-Wiegner theory of base exchange in soils and stability of clay suspensions.

2. When kaolin suspensions contain a small quantity of colloidal silicic acid the normal effect appears to be one of slight protection.

3. Under certain conditions the effect of silicic acid is to produce precipitation of a film of insoluble material over the surface of the particles. In this case an abnormally rapid sedimentation of the particles results, and there ensues an extremely rapid and complete precipitation.

4. Under other conditions the presence of the silicic acid prevents the formation of a precipitate, and in this case the abnormal sedimentation occurring in the absence of silicic acid tends to disappear.

5. The meaning of the terms “abnormal flocculation” and “anomalous flocculation” is discussed, and it is pointed out that the use of these terms is sometimes attended with ambiguity.

Cows which develop the behaviour and conformation of the male are known as “bullers.” Information obtained from breeders, veterinary surgeons, and butchers would seem to indicate that the phenomenon of partial sex-transformation in the cow is by no means of rare occurrence. The appearance of this condition is recognised by breeders as indicative of the onset of functional sterility, and any animal showing signs of becoming a “buller” is usually separated from the breeding-stock and prepared for the butcher before the assumption of the male secondary characters has reached a marked degree of expression.

In a previous paper on the Cardinal Function it was proved that, calling

the cardinal function of the table of values αr at the point α + rw], “the cardinal function of the table of values [C(rw′) at the point rw′] is a function C1(x) which coincides with C(x) provided that 0<w′<w, and Σ | αn/n |, Σ |α−n/n| are convergent.”

1. By the application of the method of differential analysis it was possible to identify the fragment of a horse skull found in interglacial deposits as belonging to a horse closely allied to the Tarpan (E. ferus Ant.) or the “plateau type” (Ewart).

2. This method was found to be of the greatest help in craniological studies because it permitted a more exact classification of other fossil and non-fossil skulls used for comparison.

3. It must, however, be noted that the method has certain difficulties in calculations and especially in the arrangement of squares of the chessboard table in cases where the data are numerous.

The increased interest taken in Orthogonants during the period 1880–1900 is more than maintained in the period which we have now reached. Out of considerably more than 100 writings sought out and examined, as many as 65 have been found to deal directly with the theory of orthogonal substitution, and 35 to be more closely concerned with the practical applications of it. These numbers, 65 and 35, are what have to be set over against 38 and 12 in the earlier period referred to, note, however, at the same time being taken that the contrast is unfairly heightened by several papers of the first period, chiefly Magyar, having been received only in time to be joined with those of the second. These Magyar papers, it may be added, make also an appreciable contribution in the matter of quality.