^2 



NATURE 



[June 15, 191 1 



mosquitoes, mechanical i)roteclion ujiainsi ilicir biti-s, and 

 the systematic use of quinine. — Pierre T*rnii«r and Joan 

 Bouasac : 'J'hc mylonites of the Savone region. — M. 

 do Forcrand : 'J lie fluorhydrates of thn aii<aline lluoridcs. 

 Ail the alkali metals form salts of the type MF.llF, some 

 thermochcmical data of which are given. — Ch. Lalle- 

 mand : Ihe changes of level of the soil in Provence 

 resulting from the earthquake of June ii, 1907. A re- 

 survey of the district showed that the changes of level 

 were very slight, not exceeding 4 cm. in the neighbour- 

 hood of the €|.i:entre. — Louis Manengr : Elements of the 

 orbit of a new small planet. — Maurice Oevrey : The 

 solutions of certain partial differential equations. — S. 

 Latt** : 'Jhe reduced forms of point transformations with 

 two variables. Application to a remarkable class of 

 Taylor's scries. — Jean Perrin and Niels BJerrum : Mole- 

 cular agitation in viscous liquids. For liquids the viscosity 

 of which is 100 times that of water the laws of perfect 

 gases are applicable. — Andr6 Blondel : A new method of 

 hydro-telegraphy. — F. Croze : Tiie second spectrum of 

 hydrogen in the extreme red. The lines photographed, 

 after three hours' exposure, included wave-lengths from 

 X 8000 to X 6836. No well-defined regularity in the dis- 

 tribution of the lines could be detected. — M. Chanos : 

 The physical development of a radiographic image after 

 fixing with sodium hyposulphate and prolonf,'(d washing 

 of the exposed sensitive plate. — L. Briininghaus : 

 Stokes's law and a general relation between absorption 

 and phosphorescence. — ^Jacques Duclaux and Mme. E. 

 Wollman : The osmotic pressure of colloids. — L. C. 

 Maillard : The action of colloidal sulphur upon sulphide 

 metabolism. Contribution to the study of sulpho- 

 conjugation. — H. Colin and A. S6n6chal : The catalytic 

 action of ferric sulphocyamide. The oxidation of phenols 

 by ferric sulphocyanide in presence of hydrogen peroxide 

 is due only in part to the specific catalytic action of the 

 iron ; the formation of persulphuric acid by oxidation of 

 the sulphocyanide group also has an important bearing on 

 the reaction. — A. Berar : The chromotellurates. — Marcel 

 Del^pine : The pyridinopentachloroiridates. — A. Dufour : 

 Some new types of iridoxalic acids and complex 

 iridoxalatcs. — F. Bodroux : The action of acid chlorides, 

 of acid anhydrides, and of acetones on the monosodium 

 derivative of benzyl cyanide. — M. Hanriot and A. Kling : 

 The action of ammonia on the chloraloscs. — Ernst 

 Zerner : Some ethyl derivatives of acetone. — G. Darzens : 

 The action of thionyl chloride in presence of a tertiary 

 base on some esters of hydroxyacids. Ethyl lactate treated 

 with thionyl chloride in presence of pyridine gives a good 

 yield of ethyl a-chloropropionate. The method has been 

 also applied to ethyl malate. — A. Arnaud and \'. Hasen- 

 fratz : The oxidation of the higher acetylenic fatty acids. 

 —Henry Hubert : The microlitic rocks of the loop of the 

 Niger. — L. Blaringhem : The function of traumatisms in 

 the production of hereditary anomalies in plants. A replv 

 to some recent criticisms by P. Becquerel. — M. Gerber : 

 The diastases of the latex of liroussonetia papyrijcra. 

 This latex contains three active ferments. Of these, the 

 proteolytic ferment is remarkable for its resistance to high 

 temperatures and to the action of poisonous ferments. — 

 A. Chevalier : An attempt at a botanical, forest, and 

 pastoral map of French Western Africa. — Eugene Pittard : 

 Castration in man and the resulting modifications in size 

 of different parts of the body.— Jules Amar : Observations 

 on the yield and evaluation of mechanical work in man. 

 — Pierre Achalme : Viscosity and diastatic actions. 

 Hypothesis on the nature of diastases. — M. Mazd : Re- 

 searches on the formation of nitrous acids in the living 

 cell. Up to the present, the cholera comma bacillus is 

 tho only micro-organism capable of producing nitrous arid 

 m oro.uiio media deprived of nitrates. The author has 

 succeeded in isolating some species possessing the same 

 property from plant juices. It has been proved that atmo- 

 spheric nitrogen does not take part in this operation.— 

 C. Alliaud and F. Vies : The electrocution of fish and 

 hydrostatic stability. Specimens of Labrus, Crenilabrus, 

 ■Gobius, and Motella temporarily paralysed by electric 

 shock, showed that the centre of gravity was above the 

 centre of hydrostatic pressure, and it is onlv bv a constant 

 muscular effort that the animal retains its normal posi- 

 tion. Tliese results confirm the views put forward bv 

 NO. 2172, VOL. 86] 



Dunoyer in 1866. — Henri Bierry, Victor Henri, and 

 Albert Ranc : The action of ultra-violet light on] 

 saccharose. Under the action of the rays from a quartel 

 mercury lamp, cane sugar is first partially hydrolysed, and^ 

 the liexoses thus formed undergo a further change, result- 

 ing in the formation of formaldehyde and finally carbon 

 monoxide.— Charles Micolle, E. Coneeil, and A. Conor: 

 Experimental typhoid in the guinea-pig.— P. and N. 

 Bonnet : .\ cretaceous layer in the vall<v of N.ikhitrhr-v.an 

 (Charour-Daralagoz, Transcaucasia). 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, Junk 15. 



RovAL Society, at 4.30.— Croonian I.ectiire : A New Conception of the 

 Glomerular Activity : Prof. T. G. Brodie. F.R.S.— On i' ' 

 Senecio Alkaloidii and the Pausation o' Hepatic Cirrh. 

 Preliminary Note: Prof. A. R. Cushny, F.R..S.— Noe on I- 

 Forms of T. brucei (pecauiii) in the Internal Orcans, Axill.irv (.lan.U, 

 and Bone-marrow of the Gerhil : G. Buchanan.— A Preliminary Note on 

 the Extrusion of Granules by Trypanosomes : Capt. W. B. Fry. 



LiNNEAN Society, at 8.— The Anatomy of Enhalux acoroitits. Rich.: Miw 

 H. M. Ciinnington.— On the Lifehistorv of Croct filiffnuis, Westw.: 

 Prof. A. D. Imms.— Eight I»aper.< relating to the Fauna of the Sey- 

 chelles : (i) Cynipidae ; (2) Proctotrupoidea : Prof. J. J. Kieffer.— 

 Apodea: Prof. T. I). A. Cockerell. — Kepidur-tera : J. C. F. Fryer.- 

 Wasps: G. Meade-Waldo.— (i) Borborids ; (j) Pboridx : J. E. Collin.— 

 Culicidae : F. V. Theobald. 



RovAL Geographical Sociktv, at 5.— Research Meetin;. Report on 

 River Investigation : Dr. A. Strahan. 



CONTENTS. 



Rural Denmark ^ 



The Sewage Problem. By Edward Ardern . 



Fact and Hypothesis in Biology . 



An American Colloquium. By G. B. M. . . 



Impressionist Astronomy 



Snakes of Ceylon 



PAGE 



• 509 

 . 510 



• 510 

 5" 



• 5'2 



• 512 

 The Methods of Anthropology. By Prof. G. Elliot 



Smith, F.R.S. . 513 



Prof. Groth's Chemical Crystallography 514 



Applications of Physical Chemistry .... . 514 



Our Book Shelf 515 



Letters to the Edito' : - 



Breath Figures.— Dr. John Aitken, F.R.S. . . . 516 

 The "Vernal Phytoplankton Maximum." — Prof, 



W. A Herdman, F.R.S 517 



On the Action of the Latex oi Euphorbia ptplus on a 

 Photographic Plate. — H. G. Chapman and Dr. 



J. M. Petrie r\-j 



Mu.'ical Sands of EiiTg.— Cecil Carus-Wilson . . 518 

 Botanical Re.<iearch in Ceylon. — Prof. Wyndham R. 



Dunstan, F.R.S 518 



The Extinction of the Egret. — Wilfred Mark Webb 518 



The National Experimental Tank. (/lluslraUj) . 519 



University Education in London 522 



British Shepherds and their Hock*. {Illustrated.) 



By R. L 523 



Dr. Alexander Bruc; 524 



Notes 524 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



A Remnrkable Meteoric Phenomenon 52S 



The Different Quality of the Light Reflected from 



Different Parts of the Moon's Surface . ... 528 



The Silver Disc Pytheliometer 529 



The Photographic Deteiminaii n of Stellar Magni- 

 tude's 529 



Jupiter's Eighth Satellite . 529 

 The British Solar Eclipse Expedition. ( With Dia- 

 gram.) By Dr. W. J. S. Lockyer 529 



Science at the White City . 530 



Anthropological Expedition to New Guinea . . . 530 



Some American Ore Deposits. By J. W. G. . . . 531 



Recent Contributions to the Study of Heredity . 532 

 The American Philosophical Society. By Prof. 



Arthur W. Goodspeed 533 



Photography an Aid to Astronomy. By S, S. 



Hough, F.R.S 534 



University and Educational Intelligence 537 



Societies and Academies 539 



Diary of Societies 542 



