January 25, 19 12] 



NATURE 



437 



uniform functions of one variable connected by an 

 algebraical relation. — E. Vallier : The present position of 

 the ballistic problem. .\ resume of the formulae that have 

 been proposed to connect the air resistance with the 

 velocity of a projectile. — Augusta Rigrhi : Sparks in rarefied 

 air and under the action of a magnetic field. The effect 

 produced is illustrated by a photographic reproduction ; an 

 illustration of a special form of vacuum tube is also given, 

 by means of which the mechanical effects of the spark in 

 gases under reduced pressure have been studied. — The secre- 

 tary announced the death of Jacob Amsler, correspondant 

 for the section of mechanics. — J. Hadamard : A question 

 nlating to viscous liquids. An acknowledgment of priority 

 Id a paper by M. Rybczynski. — Louis Roy : The general 

 equations of flexible membranes. — M. de Brogrlie : The 

 observation of the Brownian motion in gases at low 

 pressures. Working with fumes of phosphorus in air at 

 about I mm. pressure, the independence of the Brownian 

 motion and the pressure has been appro.ximately verified 

 for pressures between wide limits, but starting from a 

 certain pressure (some millimetres of mercury) the agita- 

 tion tends to increase. — C. Leenhardt and A. Boutaric : 

 Cryoscopy in sodium thiosulphate crystallised with five 

 molecules of water. A direct determination of the latent 

 111 Tit of fusion calorimetrically gave L = 47-9 at the 

 !• niperature 485°, and using this value in the van 't Hoff 

 formula, the molecular lowering found is K = 42-8. The 

 direct determination of K with urea as the solute gave 

 K = 42-6. It is important that the solvent should contain 

 water of crystallisation corresponding exactly with the 

 formula NajSjO^.sH^O, and details of the method of 

 working are given. — Eugene Wourtzel : A new determina- 

 tion of the atomic weight of nitrogen. The method is 

 based on the determination of the weight of oxygen 

 n quired to convert a known weight of nitric oxide into 

 th<' pero.xide N^O^. Five experiments gave N = 14,007 

 (()=i6), the extreme values being 14,005 and 14,008. — 

 A. Season : The preparation of magnesium silicide and 

 ii-> decomposition by acids. A study of the reaction 

 Ixtvveen magnesium powder and finely divided quartz, and 

 of the conditions giving a maximum yield of magnesium 

 silicide. Hydrochloric acid was found to be the best acid 

 for attacking the silicide, the maximum yield of hydrogen 

 silicide obtainable being from f) per cent, to 7 per cent. — 

 I,. Hugronenq and A. Morel : The combinations of 

 ( liromium hydroxide with the amino-acids derived from 

 llir albumens.— A. Cuyot and A. Kovache : The action 

 of formic acid upon the triarylcarbinols. Triphenylcarbinol 

 (( ,,H,),.C(OH), heating with 20 times its weight of 

 anhydrous formic acid, is quantitatively reduced to the 

 hydrocarbon triphenylmethane, and the reaction is general 

 for triarylcarbinols. — A. Tison : The dichotomic nervation 

 in the Conifers. Dichotomy is shown to be the normal 

 nicidc of ramification in certain appendices of Conifers. — 

 Arnaud and Ed. FoSx : The form of Oulium of the 

 i< in I-rance. — .\. Marie and L6on MacAuliffe : The 

 rphological characters of 61 French murderers 

 i! suicides. — A. Magnan : Food and the length of the 

 inii'stine in mammals. Results of the dissection of 280 

 mammals show that the nature of the food is an important 

 fa( tor in the evolution of the alimentary canal.— M. Bixot : 

 Till brachio-antibrachial in the Cheiroptera. — -Mile. E. 

 Peyrega and F. Vl*e : An oxyhaemoglobin band in the 

 ultraviolet spectrum of blood. This band, in position 

 near Cd 12, was first noted by .Soret in 1883, but its 

 existence has since been denied by many investigators. 

 The authors' investigations confirm those of Soret, and 

 tiny consider that the negative results obtained subse- 

 1' ntly were due to too rapid variations of the concen- 

 ition. — E. Vasticar : The structure of the internal 

 pillars of Corti's organ. — .\. Trillat : The influence of 

 the gases evolved by putrefying organic substances on the 

 owth of bact(>ria. — Paul Vuillemin : A human parasitic 

 iigus, Glenosporti jt_'r(i/>/iii." P. Chausstf : A now dis- 

 H tive character of the human and bovine tubercle 

 < illus. The domestic animals, dog and cat, contract 

 licrculosis much more easily from the bovine tubercle 

 i ilkis than from that of human origin. — J. Bridr* 

 I .\. Boquet : \'accinalion of sheep against scab by 

 ' ans of a specially prepared virus. The process of 

 paring the modified virus is described in detail, and 

 un the results of experiments on 300 sheep the method 



NO. 2204, VOL. 88] 



would appear to be of general application. It has several 

 advantages over the method in current use, the main 

 one being that the closed local lesion is not contagious.— 

 h . Kerforne : The nature and origin of the iron minerals 

 of the forest of Lorges (C6tes-du-Nord). — Eniile Haugr 

 and L^on Bertrand : The geological structure in the 

 north of the department of Var. — J. Vallot : The measure- 

 ment of the subterranean excavation produced by the 

 spring of Fon Treboula. — .M. Thoulet : A bathy-lithol'ogical 

 map of the sea floor on the coasts of the Gulf of Lyons. 



New South Wales. 

 Linnean Society, November 2^, 191 1. — Mr. W. W. 

 Froggatt, president, in the chair. — P. Cameron : A 

 collection of parasitic Hymenoptera (chiefly bred) made by 

 Mr. W. W. Froggatt in New South Wales, with descrip- 

 tions of new genera and species. Part ii. Five genera 

 and nineteen species of the family Chalcidida; are described 

 as new. The type-specimens of three species were bred 

 from the codlin-moth. — R. E. Turner : A revision of the 

 Australian species of the genus Cerceris (Hymenoptera). 

 Eighteen species, including one described as new, are 

 treated of. The types of all the species, e.xcept the common 

 C. australis, Sauss., have been consulted. The dry con- 

 ditions prevalent over a large part of Australia are emin- 

 ently suitable for the members of the genus. Neverthe- 

 less, it may prove not to be so well represented as in 

 North Africa and India, for the section of the genus, 

 characterised by a raised plate at the base of the second 

 ventral segment, seems to be entirely absent from Australia. 

 — Dr. R. Greigr-Smith : Contributions to a knowledge of 

 soil-fertility. No. iv. The agricere and bacterio-toxins of 

 soil. Soils which have been heated to 65°-75° in order 

 to kill off the phagocytic protozoa of Russell and Hutchin- 

 son give a greatly increased bacterial growth after treat- 

 ment with the volatile disinfectants or fat-solvents. This 

 effect is obtained with the soil-bacteria and with added 

 test-bacteria. The treatment with disinfectants, therefore, 

 does something more than destroy the protozoa. One is 

 justified in ascribing the effect to the translation of the 

 agricere by the behaviour of the various layers of the soil, 

 following the treatment with ether or chloroform. The 

 top layers, which contain most translated agricere, give 

 lessened bacterial growths, and, conversely, the lowest 

 layers produce greater numbers of bacteria than the inter- 

 mediate soil. The action of the agricere cannot be so 

 clearly shown in soils heated at higher temperatures, on 

 account of the disturbing influences of the natural toxins 

 and the heat-toxins of Pickering. The volatile disinfectants 

 have no action upon the toxins of the soil, cither in destroy- 

 ing or translating them. The enhanced bacterial growth 

 after chloroform treatment could not be credited to traces 

 of disinfectant remaining in the soil. It was noted that an 

 abnormally toxic soil became normal after heavy rains, 

 and experimental work showed that the toxins were 

 washed from the upper into the lower layers. — D. 

 McAlpine : The fibro-vascular system of the pear (pome). 

 After maceration in water for five days, the elaborate fibro- 

 vascular system may be satisfactorily displayed. It has 

 the same general plan as that of the apple, described in 

 detail in a paper read at the last meeting.— A. H. 

 Walkom : Note on a new species of Favosites from the 

 Yass District, N.S.W. The fossil coral described occurs 

 in the Silurian beds of Derrengullen Creek, near Yass. 

 together with F. f<othlandica. Lam., and F. hasaltica, 

 (ioldfuss, var. salehrosa. It is more nearly allied to the 

 former, but has the corallite tubes generally larger, the 

 tabula; more closely spaced, the septa more regularly 

 arranged and shorter, and the mural pores usually in thne 

 vertical rows. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



\ Dictionary of Applied Chemistry. By Sir Edward 

 Thorpe, C.B., F.R.S., assisted by eminent contributors. 

 Revised and enlarged edition. Vol. i. Pp. viii + 75S. 

 (London: Longmans and Co.) 45*. net. 



Papers and Proceedings. Fifth Annual Mwting, 

 American Sociological Society, held at St. I-ouis. Mo.. 

 December 27-vy, u>io. Vol. v. Pp. vi + 267. (C h.cago : 

 Universitv of Chicago Press; Cambridge l-'"'vers.ty 1 ress > 



Scientific Features of Modern Medicine. By Prof. \r. >. 



