June i, 1911] 



NATURE 



473 



the plant differs from all described species of Arthro- 

 cnemum and Salicornia in habit, colour, vegetative seg- 

 ments, flowers, and seeds. Moreover, A. macrostachyum 

 is not known outside the Mediterranean region. As 

 Arthrocnemum (Moquin-Tandon, Mon. Chen. Enum., 

 1840) is better regarded as a subgenus of Salicornia than 

 as a separate genus, it is proposed to describe Welwitsch's 

 Angolan plant under the name of Salicornia angolensis. — 

 S. Mang^ham : The detection of maltose in the tissues of 

 certain angiosperms. By the method of forming osazones 

 in situ introduced by Senft in 1904, it is possible to dis- 

 tinguish between maltose and other plant sugars. The 

 formation of maltose phenylosazone in definite crystalline 

 masses closely associated with the phlcem of the vascular 

 bundles in the midribs and petioles of several starch-form- 

 ing plants, together with the occurrence in the sieve-tubes 

 of a yellow semi-crystalline liquid like that from which 

 the crystals arise, suggests that maltose is translocated as 

 such in the sieve-tubes. It has been observed that while 

 the distal portions of the sieve-tubes frequently contain 

 only the yellow, syrupy liquid, this to some extent is re- 

 placed by definitely crystalline osazones [dextrose?] further 

 down the sieve-tubes, as if in the course of translocation 

 the maltose were hydrolysed. 



Manchester. 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, April 25. — Mr. 

 Francis Jones, president, in the chair. — Dr. Henry 

 Wilde : The periodic times of Saturn's rings. In the 

 paper on the origin of Saturn's rings, read by the author 

 last year, a new determination was made of the periodic 

 times of the rings based on the commonly accepted 

 distance of Mimas, 3-36 Saturnian units, from observa- 

 tions made by Herschel, and subsequently adopted by all 

 astronomical writers. Recent observations of American 

 astronomers have reduced the distance of Mimas to 3-16 

 units, with the consequent increase in the times of rota- 

 tion of the rings. The difference between the older and 

 later determinations is sufficiently large to induce the 

 author to place on record the results computed from both 

 observations and Kepler's third law. The later result 

 shows for the outermost circumference of the outer ring 

 a periodic time of i4h. 4m., and for the inner edge of the 

 dusky ring a period of 5h. 45m. It is evident that the 

 rings are ejectamenta from the interior of Saturn. The 

 same conclusion may also be drawn with reference to the 

 origin of the two satellites of Mars. — Dr. A. N. 

 Meldrum : The development of the atomic theory : (7) the 

 rival claims of William Higgins and John Dalton to the 

 chemical t'neory. The resemblance between William 

 Miggins's chemical theory, published in 1789, and John 

 Dalton's, formed in 1803, is so close that there is no 

 denying that Dalton was forestalled by Higgins. The 

 closeness of the resemblance is accounted for by the fact 

 that in their speculations Higgins and Dalton each took 

 Newton's atomic theory as a starting point. Dalton's 

 unquestionable merits in connection with the atomic theory 

 are based, first, on his persistent efforts to bring the theory 

 to bear in every direction both in physics and chemistry. 

 He was the first to draw up a table of atomic weight^. 

 Again, the utmost credit is due to Dalton for his atteni])!^, 

 again niul .i^ain renewed, to arouse the attention of 

 scientilK mp n to the value of the theory. 



Dublin. 

 Royal Irish Academy, April 24. —Rev. Dr. J. P. 

 Mahaffy, president, in the chair. — James Murray : Clare 

 Island Survey— Arctiscoida. The author adopts this name 

 mstead of the better known Tardigrada, which is pre- 

 occupi<>d. Thirty-three species were collected in the Clare 

 Island district, of which five arc described as new species — 

 Macrohiotus richtersii, M. scahrosus, M. hibernicus, 

 Echinisciis inilitaris, and E. coltttninis. In the list are 

 several ( .nKidian species hitherto unknown in Eurojv. 

 Ec}ti>iis( oiiii-s sii^iswiindi is the first marine water-bear rr- 

 rorded from the British Isles. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, May 22. — M. Armand Gantier in 

 the chnir. — Pierre Tormlor and Jean Bouasac : The 



existence, in the Ugurian .Apennines to the norih-west of 

 fienes, of a lateral passage of the crystallophyiiian series, 



NO. 2170, VOL. 86] 



the so-called scliistes lustres. — A. Perot and Mile. 

 Lindstedt : The wave-length of the solar line b.^. The 

 wave-length measurements of the magnesium line 'b., were 

 obtained by the interference method previously used by 

 Perot for one of the iron lines. The method has the 

 great advantage of not making use of the terrestrial line, 

 which cannot be produced under the same conditions of 

 temperature, pressure, and density. If the centres of 

 absorption of the line are animated by a centripetal move- 

 ment in addition to their movement of rotation, the wave- 

 lengths at different points would be of the same order as 

 those actually found. — L6on Autonne : Certain commuta- 

 tive groups and pseudo-zeros of hypercomple.x quantities. 

 — L. Creux : The transformation of the movement of 

 expansion into a movement of rotation by the development 

 of the circle. — L. Ritfty : The electromotive force pro- 

 duced by the flow of a solution of sulphate of coppei' 

 through a capillary tube. A solution containing i per 

 cent, of crystallised copper sulphate, when forced through 

 a capillary tube under a pressure of 90 atmospheres, 

 develops a difference of potential of about 0-03 volt. The 

 potential is proportional to the difference of pressure 

 between the two ends of the tube. For solutions contain- 

 ing between 0-2 and 2 per cent., the product of the con- 

 ductivity by the potential difference reduced to one atmo- 

 sphere is practically constant. — Georges Claude : Lumin- 

 escent neon tubes. The use of an electromagnetic valve, 

 proposed by .Moore, for the automatic admission of fresh 

 neon to a tube which has been in use for some time, 

 although ingenious, the author regards as impracticable, 

 and proposes, a simpler alternative arrangement. The 

 disappearance of the neon is directly connected with the 

 vaporisation of the metal of the electrodes, and if the 

 j dimensions of these are increased, the vaporisation is corre- 

 spondingly reduced, and the life of the tube increased. — 

 I Jean Perrin : New measurements of molecular niagni- 

 ' tudes. Starting with .ni > imilsion of gutta fiiin-il ]<\ []],■ 

 precipitation of an aKoholir solution by wain, ii\ a pro- 

 longed process of fractional cenfrifugation, particles of 

 magnitudes between 0-5 /i and 2 fi were obtained. A 

 further process of fractionation gave particles of a 

 uniform size, 0-75 micron. The application of Einstein's 

 formula to measurements of Brownian motion made with 

 these particles gave for the electrostatic charge of the 

 electron the value 4-2x10-'". — M. Bancelln : The 

 viscosity of emulsions. In an emulsion formed of a liquid 

 with a coefficient of viscosity k, containing small solid 

 spheres in suspension of total volume ^, the roetlicienl 

 of viscosity of the emulsion k', according to ih' i aKula- 

 tions of Einstein, will be k'=k(i + <f>). The author gives 

 a'n experimental verification of this formula with uniform 

 emulsions of gutta obtained by the methotis of Jean Perrin, 

 described in the preceding paper. In accordance with 

 the Einstein theory, the increase of viscosity is found to 

 be independent of the size of the particles, and depends 

 only on the total volume of the particles per unit volume. 

 Instead of the increase of viscosity, however, being pro- 

 portional to (1 + ^), it was found to be in the ratio 

 h + 2-q<l>). A colloidal solution of methylene blue gave 

 analogous results. 1 Honrlot : The radiation from 

 luliidium. .As in tli' .1- •>! i)otassiuni, the greater portion 

 of the radiation is dihiiiut from the a rays. The 10 per 

 (int. of the radiation which is more easily absorbed may 

 be the a rays, but the examination of the salts did not 

 admit of the prcHif of the existence of these rays by their 

 radiations. .As showing the atomicity of the phenoinenon, 

 various salts from different sources were examined, and 

 there was found to be a good proportionality between the 

 radiation and the percentage of rubidium. — Paul Bary : 

 The mode of solution of colloidal materials. — Jacques 

 Duclaux : The constitution of water. .According to the 

 conception of Riintgen. now generally admitted, water is 

 a solution of ice in hydrol. Ice would have the formula 

 i((irO), and the accepted value for n is 3. 1\ 1 ne is 

 adduced to show that this is too low a value, [.• ii ng a 

 more probable value, if it ho assumed that ice retains its 

 density in solution. — Marcel DelApine : The pyridinepenta- 

 chloro-iriditrs. — .A. DufTour : Some new complex deriva- 

 tives of iridium : iridoletrachloroxalates and tetrachloro- 

 iridites. — L. Barthe : Phosphates of uranyl and amines. 

 Definite compounds of urany! phosphate with methylamine. 



