The composition of Sea-Water has been variously stated by different chemists, not only with regard to the proportions of the salts which it holds in solution, but with regard even to the ingredients themselves.

According to Lavoisier, it contains muriate of soda, muriate of magnesia, and muriate of lime, sulphate of soda, sulphate of magnesia, sulphate and carbonate of lime. The proportions he assigns are, in a pound of water, (French weights) 126 grains of muriate of soda, 14¾ grains muriate of magnesia, 23 grains muriate of lime mixed with muriate of magnesia, 7 grains of sulphate of soda and sulphate of magnesia, and 8 grains of sulphate and carbonate of lime.

In a recent paper published in these Transactions I gave an account of certain experiments upon the change of electric resistance of nickel due to magnetization at different temperature up to 100·C.

The sponge Suberites domuncula attracted the attention of the Italian naturalist Olivi almost a hundred years ago, but was on account of its firm india-rubber like consistency erroneously regarded as an Alcyonium. Beyond the general diagnosis of Nardo who erected the genus Suberites, the structure of the sponge has, I believe, remained virtually unknown. Not for this reason, however, but because the Monaxonia in general, of which Suberites is an example, are still for the most part but little known, Prof. F. E. Schulze of Berlin was good enough to ask me last winter to investigate the structure of this sponge. To him, therefore—perhaps the greatest living authority on the subject—I may be allowed to express my gratitude for the hospitable reception with which he welcomed a stranger to his laboratory, and for the constant interest and assistance with which he encouraged my work. That I have not succeeded in giving a perfect elucidation of the structure is largely due to the same cause which has kept it for so long almost wholly unknown. The crowded siliceous spicules, the compact consistence, the smallness of the ciliated chambers, make the histological analysis somewhat difficult. Such gaps as exist in my investigation I hope to be able to fill up by the study of related forms, and have with that end begun the study of Suberites mana.

The first impression upon the mind of the reader of the above title will probably be, that the subject has long since been exhausted. The explanation of these colours, as due to interference, was one of the first triumphs of the wave-theory of light; and what Young left undone was completed by Poisson, Fresnel, Arago, and Stokes. And yet it would be hardly an exaggeration to say that the colours of thin plates have never been explained at all. The theory set forth so completely in our treatises tells us indeed how the composition of the light reflected depends upon the thickness of the plate, but what will be its colour cannot, in most cases, be foretold without information of an entirely different kind, dealing with the chromatic relations of the spectral colours themselves.

Hitherto in matters craniological the student has been confronted with the primary difficulty that the series upon which he intends to work has been unearthed many years after burial. In consequence the question of age, sex, and nationality has remained a matter of doubt. In the present series of Hokien and Tamil skulls this difficulty has been entirely eliminated. As the skulls were collected immediately after death, the age, sex, and nationality of each is known. On removal from the body each skull had a metal tally attached to it, so that no error could arise in the process of preparation. In craniological and craniometrical work one frequently meets with the term “Chinese,” and the author is uncertain of the probable locality from which the skulls were obtained. China covers a vast expanse much larger than most people realise, and its inhabitants include a large variety of branches which vary widely in craniological features. Even in language and religion they differ, and it frequently happens that individuals living 100 miles from one another cannot understand each other's spoken language, although the written characters are identical. In fact the Hokiens call the Northern Chinese “foreigners.” The dissimilarity between the Cantonese Chinese and the Hylam Chinese skull is, I believe, as great as that between the Scottish and the German skull.

In April 1846, I communicated to the Royal Society a paper on a new organic base, to which I gave the name of Picoline, and which occurs in coal-tar, associated with the Pyrrol, Kyanol, and Leukol of Runge. In that paper I pointed out that the properties of picoline resembled, in many respects, those of a base which Unverdorben had previously extracted from Dippel's animal oil, and described under the name of Odorine; and more especially mentioned their solubility in water, and property of forming crystallisable salts with chloride of gold, as characters in which these substances approximated very closely to one another. And further, I detailed a few experiments on the odorine of Unverdorben extracted from Dippel's oil, with the view of ascertaining whether or not they were actually identical, but on too small a scale to admit of a definite solution of the question.

1. The science of Meteorology must be ranked, at the present moment, among the most rising branches of natural knowledge. The transition from the hasty generalization which always marks the embryo state of science, to the application of sober inductive analysis, is one so important, and so truly interesting, as to repay amply the philosophical abstinence which it imposes. No more important lesson, indeed, can be learned, than from the very examples of crude speculation, which, for centuries, the progress of this subject has afforded among the multitudes whose scientific acquirements are limited to the art of consulting a weather-glass, or registering a thermometer, little imagining that the very science they affect to cultivate, ranks among its phenomena the interwoven effects of remote and recondite causes,—a science which, to use the words of Mr Herschel, is “one of the most complicated and difficult, but, at the same time, interesting subjects of physical research: one, however, which has of late begun to be studied with a diligence which promises the speedy disclosure of relations and laws, of which, at present, we can form but a very imperfect notion.”

Considering the abundance of this gadoid, it is a matter for surprise that our knowledge of its life-history is not more complete. The work of Prof. Sars upon the cod in Norwegian waters is well known, and need not be referred to in any detail here. It is, however, important to avoid the assumption that his account will apply in every detail to the cod of British waters.

In 1883 Prof. M'Intosh showed that the cod spawned in early spring and that spawning was effected outside the territorial limit. Dr Fulton, from an examination of a number of captured specimens, was led to the same conclusion; and further, that the cod, whilst having an extended spawning period reaching from January to June, must be regarded as having a main period of February, March, and April, the great majority of individuals spawning in the month of March. Thus whilst 40 per cent, of the fish examined in March were mature, the proportion fell to 16 per cent, for February and April, and 10 per cent, for May. In estimating the growth of this species, by the method pursued below, it is probably most correct to regard the true spawning period as including the months of February, March, April, and May. A study of the distribution of pelagic eggs off the Frith of Forth leads to a similar conclusion. From this latter source the spawning period of the cod can be defined as extending from the third week in February to the second week in May, with a maximum in early April.

The following observations, which I have the honour to present to the Society, have arisen out of an inquiry into the structure and distribution of the nervous system throughout the animal creation. It will readily be imagined, that the nerves supplied to the organs of sense, did not fail strongly to attract my attention, and that those belonging to so important an organ as the eye, were considered by me as worthy of the most minute investigation. It was impossible to proceed in this inquiry without submitting the organ itself to a very careful examination, in executing which, several important facts presented themselves, which I believed to be novel, at least, to lead to views respecting the physiology of the eye, different from those generally adopted. It became my duty to search into authors of the present and of the past age, and to collect into view whatever had been previously written on the subject; but leisure being altogether wanting for such an undertaking, I have thought it best to describe what I have myself seen.

The type material of Orthocera gigantea J. Sowerby 1819 is refigured and redescribed. Specimens referred to this species by J. Phillips, J. Fleming, F. McCoy and F. S. Wallis have similarly been reinvestigated. The counterpart of the type of Actinoceras simmsii C. Stokes 1840 is also illustrated. Numerous other specimens from England, Scotland and Ireland have been studied. The material is found to be referable to the genus Rayonnoceras Croneis and to embrace a number of species. The calcification of the siphuncular structures is found to be variable in this genus.

The index flood/regional growth curve method is the most commonly used procedure for estimating a design flood at an ungauged site in the United Kingdom when only the instantaneous peak discharge is required. This paper summarises recent work in Scotland in which the authors have refined the equations for estimating the index flood from the physical characteristics of the drainage basin and have proposed new methods for classifying basins to increase the hydrological homogeneity of the regions on which the growth curves are based. A new algorithm for estimating regional growth curves is reported which allows for correlation between flood magnitude at different sites. Simulation experiments are described which highlight the consequences of the data failing to meet the assumptions of the models used.

Compounds of Ethyl-Thetine.—In the course of the investigations, the results of which are recorded in the preceding paper, Professor Crum Brown and I observed that sulphide of ethyl, like sulphide of methyl, forms a crystalline compound with bromacetic acid. This we called hydrobromate of diethylthetine, in conformity with the system of nomenclature we had proposed for such bodies—

Owing, however, to the extremely deliquescent nature of the substance, we did not at the time subject it to a closer examination, but devoted our attention to the methyl compound and its derivatives. The following are the results of an examination which I have since made of the hydrobromate of diethyl-thetine and its derivatives: —

Hydrobromate of Diethyl-Thetine.—50 grms. of sulphide of ethyl and 70 grms. of bromacetic acid were shaken together. The acid slowly dissolved, occasioning a fall of temperature in so doing from 20–14°. After about half an hour's standing, the mixture grew warm, and deposited a slightly brown, oily liquid. The reaction was very much less intense than in the case of the methyl compound, when the sulphide of methyl actually boils and the mixture has to be cooled to prevent loss of product.

The late Eocene mantis genus and species Protohierodula crabbi can be attributed to the extant clade Artimantodea incertae sedis sit. nov., but its original placement in the Manteidae is not supported. It remains the oldest reliable described Artimantodea.

This study is concerned with the relationship between carbonisation conditions and properties of the resultant bagasse char, and the challenging proposal for the use of fine bagasse char particles as high-performance solar light collectors. Bagasse char was obtained by carbonising raw bagasse at temperatures of 200–900°C for three hours in nitrogen (N2) gas. Characterisation of the resultant bagasse char was performed by elemental analysis (EA), scanning electric microscope (SEM) observation, estimation of colour, nominal bulk density and evaluation of specific surface area and pore structure by N2 gas absorption/desorption. The most typical property of the resultant bagasse char is its unique pore structure, which is clear in SEM observation. The largest specific surface area of bagasse char in this study was about 600 m2/g, which is as large as commercial activated carbon materials. Macro-, meso- and micro-porous structures in the bagasse char induce many important characteristics, such as increased hydrophilicity, very low bulk density and excellent light absorption and accumulation. We also suggest the use of bagasse char as an excellent heat insulation material. The energy used for air conditioning in a private house or office building can be decreased by more than 50–60% by use of this insulator on the roof or walls.

At the meeting of the British Association in Edinburgh, in August 1892, the President of the Biological Section, Professor W. Rutherford, M.D., F.R.S., F.R.S.E., gave an able opening address on “The Colour-Sense,” in which he took occasion to speak at some length on that remarkable defect of vision called Colour-Blindness. After alluding to the large share of public attention it had lately attracted, both on scientific and popular grounds, he pointed out the unsatisfactory nature of certain statements lately put forward, and gave good reasons why the views still largely held on it in this country required revision.

This paper sets the wider global and Scottish context for this Special Issue of EESTRSE. Climate change is inextricably linked to wellbeing, security and sustainability. It poses a fundamental challenge to the way we organise society and our relationship to the exploitation of the Earth's resources. Rising levels of CO2 in the atmosphere, linked to burning fossil fuels and land use, present a major risk of climate change, with serious but uncertain impacts emerging at a regional scale. A new industrial revolution is needed to achieve energy security and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with energy efficiency and energy production emitting low or no CO2 at its heart. At present, on a global scale, there is a mismatch between the emphasis on economic growth and the need to reduce emissions and achieve a sustainable use of resources. A more sustainable blueprint for the future is emerging in Europe and Scotland has much to gain economically and socially from this change. Scotland's ambitious emission reduction targets (42% cut by 2020 and 80% by 2050) are achievable, but require major commitment and investment. Despite success in cutting emissions from activities within Scotland, Scotland's consumption-based emissions rose by 11% in 1996–2004.

A study of a sample of hipparion teeth from Pliocene marine fossil deposits in Suffolk revealed two species, belonging to different genera of these three-toed horses. Hipparion sp. (of the H. crassum Group) and Proboscidipparion sp. have different stratigraphic ranges on the European continent. Their stratigraphic origin in the Suffolk deposits is discussed, based on a review of the occurrence of similar forms on the European continent.

It is not my intention to enter into any detailed description of the external characters of the several interesting organic remains which are found imbedded in the limestone of Burdiehouse, that being a task which belongs to their distinguished discoverer Dr Hibbert.

As little do I mean to describe the geological relations of the limestone bed, that being equally the province of Dr Hibbert. It will be sufficient to state generally, that it forms one of the lowest members of the carboniferous group, being inferior in position even to the Encrinal mountain limestone of its immediate vicinity; and that besides its numerous animal remains, some of which will be mentioned in the sequel, it contains throughout its entire mass numerous impressions of land and fresh-water tropical plants.

Chemical analysis of samples of the Older Granodiorite, Co. Donegal, Ireland, shows that it has a geographical variation in which Si, K and O increase, Na is about constant and all other major elements decrease in amount from east to west. There is a high degree of positive linear correlation between Mg and Fe2 + Fe3 which implies derivation of these elements from some previously existing ferromagnesiam mineral in which the appropriate ratio was maintained. There is a low degree of negative linear correlation between Na and K which implies that these elements are mobile and independent of each other.

The chemical relationships of the granodiorite to its pelitic country rocks are shown and discussed. The relations are such that the preferred hypothesis for the origin of the granodiorite is one of influx of Na, K and Ca ions in an alumino-silicate medium. Country rocks are diluted by this influx and it is unnecessary to assume any great migration of Mg and Fe. With time the nature of the influx changes—Ca decreases in amount whereas Na, K and Si all increase but K and Si to a very much greater extent than Na.

We are happy to receive constructive comments of our paper by Moczydlowska and thank her for adding new relevant data. We will attempt to reply to each of her points.