March 30, 191 1] 



NATURE 



167 



superseded by photographic methods. — Mr. Reynolds 

 showed photographs of Halley's comet taken by Mr. 

 Knox Shaw at the HelwSn Observatory, and pointed out 

 that when the comet was near the sun the tail seemed 

 formed from the envelopes round the nucleus, leaving a 

 dark streak in the centre. When farther from the sun the 

 dark streak was replaced by a bright one, the tail appear- 

 ing to spring from the nucleus itself. 



L,innean Society, March i6.— Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Mrs. D. H. Scott : New species 

 of the fossil genus Traquairia. — R. S. Adamson : An 

 ecological study of a Cambridgeshire woodland. 



Cambridge. 

 Philosophical Society, March 13. — Sir George Darwin, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S., president, in the chair.— Sir J. J. 

 Thomson : Exhibition of photographs of Kanal Strahlen. 

 — F. E. E. Lamploush : (i) Freezing point and depression 

 of freezing point of sodium chloride. The depressions of 

 freezing points of certain fused salts were measured by 

 the platinum resistance thermometer. In the case of 

 sodium chloride, the molecular depressions of the freezing 

 point for most salts examined were nearly the same ; that 

 of sodium bromide, however, was half as great as the 

 depression generally expected. In the case of calcium 

 chloride as solvent, no regular results were obtained. 

 Some unsuccessful attempts to measure directly the rate of 

 migration of a coloured ion in fused silver nitrate, which 

 led to the above research, were described. (2) A simple 

 form of electric resistance furnace. A resistance furnace 

 which may be easily set up, and is useful for many 

 operations, such as the determination of freezing points, 

 points of recalescence, and for slow cooling, annealing, 

 &c., was described. — J. A. Crowther : Some experiments 

 on scattered Rontgen radiation. Experiments have been 

 made to investigate further the unsymmetrical distribution 

 of scattered radiation already described by the author. 

 The distribution has been shown to be unaffected by strong 

 electric and magnetic fields. Experiments made near the 

 primary beam have failed to detect any direct diffusion or 

 irregular refraction of the primary beam itself. — H. E. 

 Watson : Regularities in the spectrum of neon. The 

 spectrum of neon, as previously measured by the author, 

 has been examined with the view of finding some connec- 

 tion between the wave-lengths of the lines composing it. 

 The existence of a number of triplets and quadruplets with 

 constant oscillation frequency differences has been dis- 

 covered, these being such that if A is the oscillation fre- 

 quency of the first line, those of the other members are 

 approximately A+1070, A+i42g, and A+1847. In the 

 case of the triplets, the second line is absent. These 

 regularities apply only to the brightest lines of the spec- 

 trum, which fall naturally into three groups of diminish- 

 ing intensity. The first group contains two very bright 

 lines, three quadruplets, and three triplets ; the second, two 

 very bright lines, three quadruplets, and four triplets ; and 

 the third, two bright lines, three quadruplets, and" five or 

 six triplets. This type of regularity is not like that of 

 helium, but is very similar to that part of the argon 

 spectrum investigated by Rydberg. The investigation of 

 the other lines is being continued. — J. C. Chapman : 

 Fatigue and persistence effects in the production of 

 secondary Rontgen rays. In these experiments a radiator 

 was fully excited by X-rays, and its power of emitting 

 secondary radiation was compared by a method only allow- 

 ing I /600th second for recovery from any fatigue which 

 might exist, with that of a radiator of the same material 

 not previously excited. The results with zinc, copper, and 

 aluminium fail to show that any such fatigue is present. 

 In addition, there is no measurable persistence in the pro- 

 duction of secondary radiation from aluminium 1 /8500th 

 second after the removal of the exciting beam. — J. E. 

 Piirvia : The absorption spectra of the vapours of some 

 sulphur compounds. The substances examined were 

 diethyl trithiocarbonate, diethyl thionthiocarbonate, diethyl 

 monothio-oxalate and dipropyl dithio-oxalatn. It was 

 found that (i) each of the vapours exhibited a Inrt^p .-ibsorp- 

 t tion band in the ultra-violet regions of the spectrum ; 

 (2) each band was comparable with the band -found in the 

 alcoholic solutions, except as regards position ; {-r^ there 

 was no series of narrow bands produced as a rrsiilt of the 

 freer vibrations ; and (4) the general absorption was shifted 

 towards the less refrangible regions as the temperature and 



NO. 2 161, VOL. 86] 



pressure were increased. A discussion of these results 

 from a consideration of the orientation of the atoms as a 

 closed ring. — J. C. Chapman and E. D. Guest: The 

 intensity of secondary homogeneous Rontgen radiation 

 from compounds. The results of these experiments indi- 

 cate that the same intensity of secondary homogeneous 

 radiation is produced whether the metal which gives rise 

 to it is combined or not, or whatever its compound. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, March 20. — M. Armand GauticF 

 in the chair. — M. Schloesing:, sen. : The mother liquors 

 from the salt marshes. A study of the mother liquors in 

 the salt works of Goulette, in Tunis. — E. L. Bouvier : 

 The decapod Crustacea collected by the Princesse Alice 

 during the voyage of 19 10. For the bathypelagic fauna 

 described, the modification of the Richard wire, due to 

 M. Bourse, has been found to be of great service. — M. 

 Hilbert was elected a correspondant for the section of 

 geometry in the place of M. Dedekind, elected foreign 

 associate. — Sigismond Janiszewrski : Continuities irre- 

 ducible between two points. — Ren6 Gamier : Differential 

 equations with fixed critical points and hypergeometric 

 functions of higher order. — G. Reboul and E. Gr^goire 

 de Bollemont : The transport of particles of certain 

 metals under the action of heat. If a sheet of platinum 

 is placed at a short distance from a sheet of copper, and 

 both heated to about 800° C, a black deposit is seen to 

 be formed on the platinum. This was proved to consist 

 for the most part of copper oxide. The magnitude of the 

 deposit under varying conditions has been studied. — 

 Samuel Lifchitz : Displacement of particles in the 

 Brownian movement with the aid of very rapid sound 

 vibrations. — E. Caudrelier : Researches on the constitu- 

 tion of the electric spark. The initial state of ionisation 

 of the gap in certain cases has an influence on the dis- 

 charge of transformers, but the action is very complex. 

 M. Guilleminot: The yield in secondary rays of X-rays 

 of different quality. — A. and L. Lumi^re and A. 

 Seyewetz : Differentiation by means of chemical develop- 

 ment of the latent images obtained with emulsions of 

 silver chloride and bromide. The special developer used 

 contained sodium quinone-sulphonate and sodium sulphite 

 in water. With this solution a latent image obtained in 

 a gelatinochloride emulsion could be developed in some 

 minutes, whilst no trace appeared in a gelatinobromide 

 emulsion, even strongly over-exposed. — G. Urbain and 

 C. Seal : Monovariant systems which admit of a gaseous 

 phase. — Marcel Dubard : The genus Planchonella, its 

 affinities and geographical distribution. — L. Lindet : The 

 elective power of plant cells towards dextrose and levu- 

 lose. Experfments on the behaviour of fungi towards 

 dextrose and levulose confirm the results previously obtained 

 with beetroot. Levulose is specially concerned with tissue 

 formation, whilst dextrose is more decomposable and more 

 easily split up by fermentation or burnt by respiration. — 

 G. Andrd : The conservation of saline materials in an 

 annual plant ; the distribution of the dry substance, total 

 ash, and nitrogen. — M. Marciile : The mode of action of 

 sulphur utilised for destroying oldium. The author's ex- 

 {>eriments show that neither the volatilisation of sulphur 

 nor its oxidation can be regarded as having any appreciable 

 effect on the fungus. Sulphur appears to act upon oidium 

 solely by reason of thn sulphuric .acid which it contains 

 ready formed. — M. Maie : The inffuenct- <if min.Mal sub- 

 stances which accumulate in the organs as ,i--i!ni!ation 

 residues upon the development of the plant. I !i ,;lw,irp- 

 tion of colloidal organic materials by the rooi. Mm ■. Z. 

 Gruzewska : Some characteristic properties of amylase 

 and amylopectino. — M. Tsvott : A new plant colouring 

 matter, thuyorhodinc. The analysis of tb-^ wint.M- pig- 

 ment of Thuya has shown tiiat ihorr is im in("lifir.iti<>n of 

 the a and rh'orophyllines, hut that thi !,■ is a now rod 

 colouring matter formod. for which the name tlnivorhodine 

 is proposed. The method of extraction ami properties of 

 this substance are tjiven in detail. — C. Delezenne and 

 Mile. S. Ledort : The action of cobra venom upon the 

 serum of the linrse, Tt^ relations with ha?molvsis. The 

 experiments .1 ■-nilw! I. .id to ihe cdiK-Iusion that snake 

 venom acts as a citahtir .1;;. Ill or a species of diastase 

 capable of liberating at the . xpm-e of certain materials 

 in the blood scrum a substam.- indowed with true hrrmo- 

 lytic properties; this catalytic actic^i is considerably limited 



