April 13, 191 1] 



NATURE 



observed — much more requires to be known regarding the 

 circulation of the atmosphere in high southern latitudes. 

 There are no other portions of our globe, excepting 

 . equatorial regions themselves, which influence so greatly 

 „ the climate of the southern hemisphere than the Antarctic 

 ^ continent. It is a vast refrigerator condensing warm moist 

 overhead currents from the equator and speeding them back 

 at sea-level, frequently with hurricane velocity, much to 

 the consternation of Australian shipping. All such irregu- 

 larities in the regular anticyclonic cycle can be predicted by 

 an observing station on the coast of Antarctica, southward 

 of Australia. That the regular phases of barometric pres- 

 sure in the Antarctic regions are the dominating causes that 

 affect the climates of the southern temperate regions cannot 

 be denied, and by their study we shall become more capable 

 of predicting weather for Australia. 



It is very desirable that a permanent meteorological 

 station in connection with Australia and New Zealand be 

 erected either at Adelie Land or to the west of it. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 Birmingham. — As an outcome of the recent increase in 

 rate aid granted by the City Council, the University has 

 drawn up a scheme for bringing facilities for higher 

 education within the reach of the poorest scholars who 

 may have the requisite ability. Twelve entrance scholar- 

 ships, tenable for four years, are offered for competition 

 at the forthcoming matriculation and intermediate 

 examinations in July and June respectively. Candidates 

 must have been resident within the city boundaries for at 

 least one year, and must have attended one of the schools 

 in that area. Competitors must reach such a standard 

 .1-, in the opinion of the University, offers a reasonable 

 I):<>spect of a successful or distinguished career. Com- 

 )v titors may further apply for an annual grant (not exceed- 

 Inii 30Z.) towards maintenance, on the ground that they 

 ai - unable to avail themselves of such scholarships with- 

 oLit a maintenance grant in addition. It will be interest- 

 ir.:^ to see to what extent the maintenance grants increase 

 ill" number of suitable candidates, for hitherto the number 

 <.>t ':ntrance scholarships has been in excess of the number 

 cf properly qualified applicants. 



It is officially announced that Dr. Theobald Smith will 



be the Harvard exchange professor at Berlin University 



during the academic year of iqii-12. Dr. Smith has held 



in succession the chairs of applied zoology and comparative 



pathology at Harvard, and is a member of the board of 



directors of the Rockefeller Institute for Medical Research. 



I He Council of the City and Guilds of London Institute 



elected Dr. E. Frankland Armstrong a fellow of the 



itute (F.C.G.L), in recognition of his original research 



k and his contribution to the advancement of the 



I'^try, in which he has been engaged since he gained 



associateshitJ of the institute at the close of his regular 



course at the Citv and Guilds Central Technical College in 



1903. 



The I'niversity Extension Board of the University of 

 London has arranged a training course for lecturers to be 

 delivered in the University buildings. South Kensington, in 

 the Easter term. The course will consist of four lectures 

 ^y Prof. John Adams on "The Art of Lecturing," four 

 ■ctures by Dr. H. II. Hulbort on "The Delivery of 

 tectures," and six meetings for practical work. Each 

 member of the class will have an opportunity of delivering 

 a trial lecture, and will have the advantage of the criticism 

 ti Prof. Adams as regards material and arrangement, and 

 mf Dr. Hulbcrt as regards delivery. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 

 Royal Society April 6.— Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., 

 president, in the chair. — Hon. R. J. Strutt : The 

 Bakerian lecture. A chemically active nKKlification of 

 nitrogen produced by the electric discharge. The leading 

 facts established are : — (1) That pure nitrogen, from what- 

 ever source, subjected at a low pressure to the jar dis- 

 charge, undergoes some modification which causes it to 



NO. 2163, VOL. 86] 



glow for a short time after it has been sucked away from 

 the discharge. (2) The glow which is emitted while the 

 gas returns to its normal condition is not destroyed by 

 the removal of ions. It is weakened by heating, intensi- 

 fied by cooling. This seems to favour the view that it is 

 due to the recombination of dissociated atoms. (3) The 

 modified nitrogen acts on ordinary phosphorus, combining 

 with it, and at the same time forming much red phos- 

 phorus. (4) It combines with sodium and also with 

 mercury at a gentle heat (say 150° C), forming in the 

 latter case an explosive compound, and in each case 

 developing the line spectrum of the metal concerned. It 

 also develops the line spectra of other metals, probably 

 combining with them. (5) It develops the band spectra 

 of compounds, when these are vaporised in it, giving in 

 many cases spectra of substances too unstable to be 

 examined at the temperature of the Bunsen flame, (o) It 

 attacks acetylene, and substances like ethyl iodide or 

 chloroform, setting the halogen free when there is one, 

 and combining with the carbon to form cyanogen. This 

 is proved by the brilliant cyanogen spectrum produced, and 

 by direct chemical tests, such as formation of Prussian 

 blue. (7) It attacks nitric oxide, with formation, strangely 

 enough, of nitrogen peroxide, a more oxidised substance. 

 — A. Holmes : The association of lead with uranium in 

 rock-minerals, and its application to the measurement of 

 geological time. — Prof. E. T. Whittaker : The dynamical 

 value of the molecular systems which emit spectra of the 

 banded type. It is now widely believed that when the 

 spectrum emitted by a luminous body is of the banded 

 type, the small vibrators which give rise to the radiation 

 are the molecules of the substance, as distinguished from 

 atoms or ions. This result is applied in the main body 

 of the paper in order to suggest a dynamical system, which 

 is formed of two members in the same way as a diatomic 

 molecule may be supposed to be formed of two atoms, and 

 which has free periods of vibration related to each other 

 by the same formula as holds in the case of banded 

 spectra. This formula presents a certain peculiarity, in 

 that the frequency of vibration occurs in it linearly, 

 whereas in the equation for determining the free periods 

 of dynamical systems in general the frequency enters by 

 its square. It is shown that from this peculiarity in the 

 radiation of a molecule certain inferences may be drawn 

 regarding the dynamical character of the connection 

 between the atoms within the molecule. It is shown that 

 a somewhat modified mechanism would emit radiations 

 connected by the same law as that which Balmer found 

 for the hydrogen lines. 



Royal Meteorological Society, March 15.— Dr. H. N. 

 Dickson, president, in the chair. — Prof. H. H. Turner : 

 What can we learn from rainfall records? The 

 " periodogram " method has been applied under the super- 

 intendence of Prof. Schuster and the lecturer to the rain- 

 fall records of Padua (175 years) and Greenwich (qo years), 

 besides Klagenfurt and Oxford (50 years), all periods 

 between 20 months and 5 months having been examined, 

 as well as some others. The resulting indications are not 

 very positive, but include several features well worth 

 further study, especially in the Greenwich rainfall, where 

 periodicities of 597 days and 150 days (possibly a quarter 

 of the former) seem to be fairly persistent, as well as a 

 short one of 25 days ; but these are not reproduced in the 

 Padua records, at any rate not exactly. There are 

 doubtful periods of 591 days and 147 days, which again 

 are possibly related by the ratio 4 to i. (The shorter 

 periods near 25 days have not been investigated, as daily 

 records are required.) It 'is possible that the periodicities 

 change slowly with the latitude, in a manner suggested by 

 the cloud belts on Jupiter. 



Oeological Society, March 22.— Prof. W. W. Wait«, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Dr. A. S. Woodward 

 Some mammalian teeth from the Wcalden of Hastings. 

 Mr. Charles Dawson has obtained two imperfect molars, 

 apparently of Plagiaulax, from beds of grit in the Wealden 

 near Hastings, and his associates in the work of explora- 

 tion, Messrs. P. Teilhard de Chardin and F61ix Pclleticr, 

 have found a well-preserved multituberculate molar of the 

 form named Dipriodon by Marsh. These specimens are 

 described. — A. Wade : Some observations on the Eastern 

 Desert of Egypt, with considerations bearing upon the 



