June 29, 191 i] 



NATURE 



609 



a-bromobutyric acid. Isobutylamine gives a-isobutylamino- 

 liLityric acid ; di-isobutylamine gives only a-oxybutyric acid. 

 — G. Vavon : The addition of hydrogen to limonene. In 

 presence of platinum black hydrogen is added to limonene 

 in two phases, a dihydride being first formed and a tetra- 

 hydride the final product. Some reactions of the dihydride 

 are given. — Andr^ Meyer : Azomethines derived from 

 phenylisoxazolone. — Ch. Mauguin : The orientation of 

 liquid crystals by the magnetic field. — Fernand Gu^gruen : 

 A new organ differentiated from the thallus of Mucor. — 

 A. Prunet : Various methods of plant pathology and 

 therapeutics. — Marcel Dubard : The classification of 

 LucumjE with functiform radicle. — L. Gain : Two new 

 species of Nostoc from the South American Antarctic 

 region. — Marc Bridel : Meliatine, a new glucoside hydro- 

 lysable by emulsin extracted from Menyanthes trifoliata. 

 — B. Sauton : Germination in vivo of the spores of 

 Aspergillus niger and A. fumigatus. — L. Launoy : Can the 

 guinea-pig be accustomed to strychnine? The tolerance of 

 the guinea-pig to strychnine can be increased experiment- 

 ally to a considerable extent. — K. Landsteiner, C. 

 Levaditif and C. Pastia : Research on the virus con- 

 tained in the organs of an infant attacked by acute poly- 

 myelitis. — M. Maisonneuve : The ovarian apparatus of 

 Cochylis. — P. A. Dang^eard : The fecundation of the 

 ciliated infusoria. — A. Mag^nan : The relation between the 

 ventricle and gizzard in birds. — A. Desg^rez : The toxicity 

 of two new nitriles and the antitoxic action of sodium 

 hyposulphite towards one of them. — A. Chauchard and 

 .Mile. B. Mazou^ : The action of ultra-violet light upon 

 amylase, invertine, and on a mixture of these two diastases. 

 — A. Joly : The existence of limestones with flints 

 (Eocene) in the Zarez Mountains, Algeria. — Raoul 

 Blanchard : The glacial deposits at Rives. — Louis 

 Gentil : A panorama of the Middle Mlouya (eastern 

 Morocco). 



June 19. — M. Armand Gautier in the chair. — ^J. 

 Boussinesq : Simple construction (having recourse only 

 to the two ellipsoids, inverse and direct) for light rays for 

 each of the two systems of plane waves of given direction 

 propagated in a transparent crystal. — C. Guichard : 

 Certain triple orthogonal systems deduced from curves 

 several times isotropic. — E. Vessiot : The kinematics of 

 continuous media of n dimensions.— J. Hadamard : Slow 

 permanent movement of a viscous sphere in a viscous 

 liquid medium. — E. Delassus : The material realisation 

 of linkages. — Louis Roy : Discontinuities of the first order 

 in the movement of flexible threads. — Jules Courmont 

 and Ch. Nog:ier : Progressive diminution of output in the 

 ultra-violet with quartz mercury lamps working at high 

 temperatures. The chemical, physical, and physiological 

 actions of the light from mercury vapour lamps in quartz 

 tubes falls off steadily when they are used at high tempera- 

 tures. This seems to be due partially to the formation, on 

 the interior surface, of a greyish coating (possibly a silicate 

 of mercury). The lamps should be cooled during use. — 

 Henri Malosse : Photometer for the control of the 

 illuminating power of public or private lamps. — A. 

 Quillet : A regulator depending on synchronisation. — 

 A. Leduc : New method for determining 7, the ratio of 

 the specific heats of vapours. — L. Decombe : The heat of 

 Siemens. — C. Caudrelier : Frequency of electric oscilla- 

 tions in sparks. — F. Grenet and P. Boulengrer : Porce- 

 lain filtering funnels. — J. Meunier : Spectra produced by 

 the combustion of hydrocarbons and of various metals. 

 The spectra produced by the combustion of magnesium, 

 zinc, cadmium, nickel, copper, lead, bismuth, and anti- 

 mony are described. — Georges Baume and F. Louis 

 Perrot : Melting-point curves for mixtures of gases : 

 systems formed from carbon dioxide and sulphuretted 

 hydrogen with methyl alcohol and methvl ether. Melting- 

 point curves for the systems (CH-XO — CO,, 



CM.OH— CO,, (CH,),0— II,S, and CH,OH— H,S 

 were obtained, but only in the case of (CH,).0 — HjS was 

 the existence of an oxonium compound, (CH,)30-|-H„S, 

 indicated. — Paul Bary : Osmotic phenomena in non-con- 

 ducting media. Experiments on solutions of indiarubber 

 and acetyl-cellulose proved that such colloids are to be 

 considered as solid solvents, and that the permeability, for 

 a given substance of a colloidal membrane, will be pro- 



NO. 2174, VOL. 86] 



portional to the solubility of that substance in the colloid. 

 — I^ierre Jolibois : The allotropic modifications and the 

 melting point of arsenic. Grey arsenic is stable at all 

 temperatures up to 850° ; arsenic deposited as a mirror 

 is unstable, and changes to grey arsenic at about 280° 

 with production of heat. The melting point of giey 

 arsenic determined by two methods is 850° ±10. — Max. 

 Wunder and B. Jeanneret : The action of syrupy phos- 

 phoric acid on various alloys obtained in the electric 

 furnace. Many metals and alloys thus obtained, although 

 very resistent to the action of most reagents, are attacked 

 by hot phosphoric acid of specific gravity 1-75. Silicon, 

 zirconium, ferro-silicon, ferro-titanium, ferro-vanadium, 

 manganese silicide, titanium nitride, nickel boride, and 

 even carborundum are all attacked. If carbon be present 

 it remains wholh' or partially undissolved. — Mile. Pauline 

 Lucas : Dehydration of alkyl and benzyl-isobutylphenyl- 

 carbinols. Tertiary alcohols are produced by the action of 

 organo-magnesium compounds on trialkyl acetophenones. 

 These on dehydration give hydrocarbons containing a 

 double bond. — L. H. Philiipe : Glucodecose and gluco- 

 decite. — Jakob Erikson : The mildew of mallow {Puccinia 

 malvacearuni) ; its nature and phases of development. — 

 Jacques de Lapparent : The Permian eruptive rocks of 

 the Pic du Midi d'Ossau.- — Paul Godin : Variations in the 

 size of the bodies of males during post-fcEtal growth. — 

 J. Le Golf: Glycosuria and saccharosuria in healthy sub- 

 jects, following the absorption of saccharose. — V. 

 Balthazard and Maurice Nicloux : Coefficient of toxicity 

 in poisoning by carbon monoxide. — Mme. Marie Phisalix : 

 Effects of the bite of a venomous lizard from Arizona 

 (Helodernia suspectum). — F. Picard : Some points in the 

 biology of Conchylis ambiguella and of Polychrouis 

 hotrana. — P. Sisley, Ch. Porcher, and L. Panisset : 

 The action of micro-organisms on some types of colouring 

 matters. — L. Cayeux : The transformations of the massif 

 of the Cyclades at the end of the Tertiary and the 

 beginning of the Quaternary epochs. — Maurice Lugreon : 

 A local inversion of the slope of the rocky bed of the 

 Rhone, below Bellegarde. — E. A. Martel : The exaggera- 

 tions of glacial theories. 



Calcutta. 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, June 7. — Rai B. A. 

 Gupte : Folklore of the origin of the constellation 

 Mrigashirsha. The folklore seems to have been based on 

 the shape of the constellation known as Mriga Nakshatra 

 in India and Orion in the west. It says that on the 

 borders of the southern land there was a hunter who was 

 locked up by his creditors in a Shiva's temple, and had 

 to fast. I^is creditor was paid out of a subscription raised 

 in the temple, and he was released. He went to Shikar, 

 During the night one antelope came to the Bael tree on 

 which he was sitting. She spoke to him in the human 

 voice, and was allowed to go on promising that she would 

 return. Another came ; she promised return, and was 

 allowed to go. Then came a black buck. He was also 

 allowed to go. Lastly came a doe with young ones. They 

 were members of one united family. They held consulta- 

 tion, and decided that they should all present themselves 

 before the hunter for being killed. But the sun rose, and 

 with it there came a change in the disposition of the 

 hunter, due to the fact that he had to fast and to keep 

 up all the night on the sacred Shivaratra-day, dropping 

 Bael leaves on a lingam. Shiva's agents came to the spot, 

 took the hunter to Kailas, and sent the antelope family 

 to the Starry Heaven, that is, Nakshatraliik, and blessed 

 them, saving that they would form in heaven a constella- 

 tion which should be known as Mriga Nakshatra. In 

 examining the constellations and the signs of the Zodiac 

 in connection with this story, the author found that the 

 position of Sagittarius the hunter suggests the origin of 

 the Shivapanchayatan, or five in one. in the four signs of 

 the Zodiac, viz. Taurus the Bull. Gemini the Ugma of 

 Shiva, Cancer his Gands, with their chief or ish Ganesh, 

 and Leo the Lion. Comparing these signs with the group 

 of Shiva and Parvati. the resemblance becomes so striking 

 that it would be difficult to call it a coincidence. Shiva 

 and Parvati ih'-refore have their origin in a myth basnd 

 on the Zodiac— W. Kirkpatrick : A vocabulary of the 

 P/fii Boli or Argot of the Kunc handiya Kanjars. Kanjar 



