March 23, 191 1] 



NATURE 



I 



Philippine Islands, which had been submitted to him for 

 examination by the director of the Scientific Bureau of 

 the Philippines.- — R. Lydekker : (i) A rare beaked whale ; 

 (2) age phases of the rorqual. — Dr. P. Chalmers Mitchell : 

 Longevity and relative viability in mammals and birds, 

 with a note on the theory of longevity. The work was 

 based on a study of the records of the duration of life in 

 the society's gardens of more than 20,000 individual 

 mammals and birds. These were arranged systematically 

 so as to make possible a comparison of the average dura- 

 tion with the maximum duration and what was known or 

 could be inferred as to the potential longevity. Such a 

 method gave a measure of the effect of the conditions of 

 captivity on the duration of life. The memoir discussed 

 some of the results obtained by such a comparison, par- 

 ticularly with regard to the provision of artificial heat. In 

 the note on the theory of longevity, the author briefly 

 reviewed the contributions of Ray Lankester, Weismann, 

 and Metchnikoff, and stated his conclusion that potential 

 longevity was due to constitutional causes, that the con- 

 stitution was adapted to the average specific longevity, 

 and that the correlation between longevity and reproduc- 

 tion was the reverse of what had been suggested by 

 \\'i'ismann. 



Dublin. 

 Royal Dublin Society, February 28. — Prof. T. Johnson 

 in the chair. — \V. J. Lyons : The determination of density, 

 thermal expansion, and volume-change on fusion of waxes. 

 The author described a simple but effective apparatus for 

 the exact dete"rmination of the density of liquid and solid 

 fats and waxes at any temperature. The method can be 

 applied to examine the continuous change in volume on 

 change of temperature, and the abnormal volume change 

 on fusion. Some interesting results were shown for bees- 

 wax and other waxes. — R. J. Moss : A simple form of 

 apparatus for drying substances in vacuo at the tempera- 

 ture of boiling water. Finely powdered selenite lost 93-4 

 per cent, of the total water of crystallisation in one hour 

 by this method, whereas when dried for five hours in the 

 water oven in the ordinary way the loss was only 72-7 per 

 cent. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, March 13. — M. Armand Gau itr in 

 the chair. — H. Le Chatelier : The alterability of 

 aluminium. After some months' use, a marked altera- 

 tion in the surface of some aluminium utensils was noticed. 

 Photomicrographs are reproduced in the paper showing the 

 nature of the change. The metal developed a crystalline 

 structure, and the crystals tended to become isolated from 

 e:ich other. Some laboratory experiments made with a 

 view to imitate this cellular structure, and to obtain a 

 separation of the grains, have shown that aluminium con- 

 taining small quantities of calcium lends itself more easily 

 to the reproduction of this structure. — Gaston Bonnier, 

 Louis Matruchot, and Raoul Combes : Researches on 

 the determination of microscopic germs in the atmosphere. 

 Previous researches on this subject have been chiefly 

 directed to the determination of bacteria, and very few 

 have considered the question of the fungi. The apparatus 

 used in this work is described in detail, and a preliminary 

 account of the results is given. The work includes the 

 influence of the culture medium on the development of the 

 organisms, the influence of the surrounding vegetation on 

 the dissemination of the germs, and the influence of the 

 altitude. Amongst other results, the presence of numerous 

 colonies of moulds has been proved in a sample of snow 

 taken on the Pic du Midi at an altitude of 2860 metres. 

 As regards the effect of altitude, the fact already known 

 that the proportion of bacteria diminishes rapidlv 'with ill.' 

 altitude has been confirmed, but, so far as the moulds air 

 concerned, this diminution is less marked, as even at high 

 altitudes numerous mould spores are still found. — A. 

 Chauveau : 'I'iie battle of the visual fields in the stereo- 

 scope. A continuation of the work described in an earlier 

 communication (February 27). The results are summarised 

 in ten conclusions, too lengthy for reproduction. — Pierre 

 Termier: The age of the green rocks of the Belledonne 



rock-, 

 from 



chain. Tjie 



from the Lias nor 



'■'■-'"'■r than thr lall.T. 1 

 cata!yti<' splitliiiL; 11 



xo. 21O0, vol 



Talnn- arr not 



Trias, and a r^ 



1 1 Sabaticr ai 



of esters ti\ 



861 



'1 aiiiorjilios.'d 

 n(Lr(l, nuich 

 A. Mailho : 



lain metallic 



oxides. Esters may split up catalytically in several direc- 

 tions, forming ketone and carbon dioxide ; ethylenic hydro- 

 carbon and water ; ketone, carbon dioxide, hydrocarbon 

 and alcohol ; acid and hydrocarbon. Examples are given 

 of all these cases, and it is shown that the nature of the 

 acid, the temperature, and the nature of the metallic oxide 

 all have an influence on the course of the reaction. — M. 

 Pavlov was elected a correspondant in the section of 

 medicine and surgery in the place of the late M. Herrgott, 

 and S. Arrhenius a correspondant in the section of physics 

 in the place of the late M. Hittorf. — M. Nicolau : The 

 variation in the motion of the moon. — Zodrd de Geocxe : 

 Contribution to the quadrature of curved surfaces. — Henri 

 Villat : The problem of Dirichlet relating to a circular 

 corona. — Gustave Dumas : The resolution of the singu- 

 larities of surfaces. — C. Tissot : The exact determination 

 of the periods of electrical oscillations. A discussion of 

 the limitations of the method described in a previous paper. 

 — C. Gutton : A comparison of the velocities of propaga- 

 tion of light and of electromagnetic waves along a wire. 

 The comparison of the velocities of light and electro- 

 magnetic waves has hitherto been obtained by the deter- 

 mination of each magnitude separately. By utilising the 

 electrical double refraction of carbon bisulphide, the author 

 makes a direct comparison of the two velocities without 

 measuring either separately. The two velocities were 

 found to be equal within 1 per cent., or within the limits 

 of accuracy ot the experimental method employed. — Pierre 

 Weiss : .\lagneton in solid paramagnetic bodies. — Ch. 

 Moureu ana A. Lepape : A spectrophotometric method 

 for the estimation of krypton, especially of the yellow line 

 5871-12 and the green line 5570-50, and the regular in- 

 crease in the intensity of the yellow line in a mixture of 

 argon and krypton. This line is in the region of the 

 spectrum in which the eye has a maximum sensitiveness. 

 The results are based on the proportion of krypton in 

 atmospheric argon as found by Sir William Ramsay, but 

 experiments are in progress to make up standard mixtures 

 of pure krypton in pure argon. The minimum amount of 

 krypton that it has been found possible to estimate is about 

 o-ooi cubic millimetre in 4 four cubic centimetres of the 

 krypton-argon mixture. — A. Lafay : The utilisation of the 

 acetylene method for the measurement of the velocity of 

 the wind and the study of the aerodynamic field. Com- 

 parison of the velocities measured by the vane anemometer 

 and the Pitot tube, respectively, frequently give very dis- 

 cordant results. The method proposed by the autlior is 

 based on the high refractive index of acetylene. A jet of 

 acetylene is cut off periodically at known intervals of 

 time, and the regularly spaced nebulosities photographed. 

 The results obtained agree better with the indications of 

 the vane anemometer than with those of the Pitot tube. — 

 M. de BrogUe : The lowering of the differences of the 

 contact potential apparent between metals caused by the 

 removal of the adherent layers of moisture. — M. Dussaud : 

 New applications of low voltage bulbs. Some applications 

 of the intense light obtained by tungsten wires in a high 

 vacuum carrying i ampere at 15 volts. This lamp, using 

 only 15 watts, may replace for some purposes an arc 

 using 3000 watts. — Maurice Joly : Static frequency trans- 

 formers. — Andr6 Kling: : The influence of catalytic sub- 

 stances in the determination of vapour density. Different 

 results are obtained in a Victor Meyer vapmir density 

 tube according to the presence or absence ol a laver of 

 calcined sand at the bottom of the tube. The .and in 

 some cases causes a catalytic decomposition ol the sub- 

 stance vapourised, and the vapour density is thus found 

 too low. The replacement of the sand by other metallic 

 oxides known to possess catalytic properties has been 

 siudied.— M. Hanriot : The nature of adh -' ' .n 



Meunier : The modification of the m<'iliaiii.m .v 



convergent combustion. — Mil". 1'. Feytis : IM : a^. i.mu 

 of some complex salts.— W. cl rliMi. r do Coninck : An 

 attempt at the determination of the molecular wiiL;lu of 

 uranyl. Five determinations are given of the reduction of 

 uranyl chloride, UO^Cl , in hvdrogen at a <lull heat, the 

 residual UOa being w^ i.ii !. N'. AuR-cr : lli ..xilaiion 

 of iodine by hydrogen p.roxid-. In dilut- ..I'lr' >:! muI 

 in presence of a trace of cliloriil-, iodine is ipi Iv 



oxidised to iodic acid by InalroL^n p. roxiil . c 



acid is recovered in a pure -la;. !.\ -iinp'- am.— 



A. G. Vournasos : Sone '1' Tmi;. -. — K. 



