ii8 



NA TURE 



[July 21, 1923 



or almost white clay (" toadstone-clay ") with the 

 composition 2A1^03 . eSiO^ . 3li.jO. — G. T. Prior : 

 (i) The meteoric stone which was seen to fall at 

 Ashdon, near Saffron Walden, Essex, on March 9, 

 1923. The stone, which weighed about 1300 grams, 

 is a white chondrite showing on one face well-marked 

 radiating lines of flow of the fused crust. {2) The 

 Sinai meteorite. The meteoric stone of 1455 grams 

 which was seen to fall near Kantara in the north of 

 the Sinai Peninsula in July 1916 is an intermediate 

 hypersthene-chondrite, having a percentage of nickel- 

 iferous iron of about 8-6 in which the nickel amounts 

 to about 15 per cent. — G. Greenwood : Communica- 

 tions from the Crystallographic Laboratory of the 

 University of Manchester. No. i. The detection 

 of rotatory polarisation in an orthorhombic crystal 

 exhibiting crossed axial dispersion. A plate per- 

 pendicular to the acute bisectrix of a crystal of tri- 

 phenyl-bismuthine dichloride when in the extinction 

 position transmits a brilliant green monochromatic 

 light due to circular polarisation. — A. F. Hallimond : 

 The chemical classification of the mica group. I. The 

 acid micas. 



Linnean Society, June 21. — Dr. A. B. Rendle, 

 president, in the chair. — E. Heron-Allen and A. 

 Earland : The Foraminifera of Lord Howe Island, 

 South Pacific. Some 199 species of Foraminifera, 

 identified from material collected by Prof. R. Douglas 

 Laurie at Lord Howe Island in 1914, and including 

 two new genera and seven new species, were described. 

 The chief feature of the collection is the prevalence 

 of forms in the condition of reproduction, (a) by 

 viviparity, and (fe) by budding. — T. A. Dymes : 

 Seeds of the marsh orchids. The marsh orchids fall 

 into two groups : (i) Maculatae, and (2) Latifohae. 

 The seeds of Maculatae differ from those of the 

 Latifoliae in that the testal cells are sculptured. 

 Seeds even from the same plant may vary greatly, 

 though Orchis majalis, Reich, has uniform seeds. 

 — A. Dendy and Miss Leslie M. Frederick : On a 

 collection of sponges from the Abrolhos Islands, 

 Western Australia. There are forty-eight determin- 

 able species, of which twelve are regarded as new. 

 The Calcarea identified include a number of fine 

 specimens of the rare Grantiopsis cylindrica, and 

 there is a new species of the rare and remarkable 

 " Pharetronid " genus Lelapia, and a new genus of 

 Leucascidae. The Tetraxonida form the bulk of the 

 collection. The sponge fauna of the Abrolhos Islands 

 is mainly intermediate in character between that of 

 the more westerly Indian Ocean and that of the more 

 easterly Australian coasts ; but it contains a small 

 element apparently derived from the north. — Ethel 

 N. Miles Thomas : Observations on the seedling 

 anatomy of the genus Ricinus. The presence of 

 alternate or root xylem in the hypocotyl and cotyledons 

 of several species of Ricinus, including R. communis, 

 is established. At an early stage the alternate or 

 radial elements alone are lignified. The tissue 

 groupings associated with root structure are only 

 found low in the axis, while above the collet eight 

 steni bundles are found which are continued upwards 

 as the four equally spaced bundles of the cotyledons. 

 In addition, there are alternate xylem elements in 

 the cotyledonary plane, i.e. that passing through 

 the centre of each cotyledon. The existence, as well 

 as the resorption, of these elements, which are usually 

 in direct continuity with the cotyledonary root poles, 

 has now been established in a large number of di- 

 cotyledonary species. — C. H. O'Donoghue : Opistho- 

 branchiata collected in the Abrolhos Islands. 



Royal Anthropological Institute, June 26. — Mr. 

 H. J. E. Peake in the chair. — Hazzledine Warren : 



NO. 2803, "^OL. I 12] 



The palaeolithic succession of Stoke Newington. 

 The latest group which is found upon the Stoke 

 Newington "floor" is a clearly-defined Mousterian 

 industry, with fine examples of both racloirs and of 

 the equally characteristic trimmed - flake p>oints. 

 Delicately finished pointed and ovate implements 

 are also found. This " floor " occurs in the upper 

 sandy beds of the terrace deposits, associated with 

 a temperate flora, Corbicula fluminalis, and the 

 northern migrating animals. The series of inter- 

 mediate age are found in the underlying gravels of 

 the terrace, and they con.stitute an equally well- 

 defined late Chellean group. They are contemporary 

 with the gravel. The third and apparently oldest 

 series are greatly abraded derivatives, and they 

 frequently exhibit a second .series of abrasions and 

 chips that are later than the patination of the flint. 

 The dominant form of implement is a rude, thick, 

 ovate type, made with a minimum of flaking, although 

 occasionally better - finished examples are found. 

 The pointed form occurs, but is less common. This 

 series is comparable with the " Hill group " described 

 by Prestwich from the Kentish plateau, and is con- 

 sidered by some to be of Early Acheulean date. 

 There is, however, much cumulative evidence from 

 other localities, besides Stoke Newington, which 

 would appear to suggest that the derivative series 

 of Stoke Newington may be older than the Chellean 

 group as defined by Commont from the Somme 

 Valley. 



Aristotelian Society, July 2. — Prof. A. N. White- 

 head, president, in the chair. — M. Ginsberg : The 

 category of purpose in social science. The interpre- 

 tation of purposive activity as consisting in the 

 reaUsation of conscious factors involved in voluntary 

 behaviour is misleading when appUed to creative 

 work and practical activity, and it breaks down in 

 the biology of the lower organisms. The purposive 

 must be related to the teleological. A comparison of 

 mechanical, organic and purposive wholes shows the 

 importance of viewing purposive wholes as a species 

 subsumed under a wider genus, conational wholes. 

 These may be defined as systems wliich maintain 

 themselves as wholes by the striving of their parts 

 towards mutual adjustment. They vary enormously 

 in the degree of integration achieved, and the ex- 

 plicitness with which the ends of the system are 

 realised by the parts of which they consist. Perhaps 

 organisms are conational wholes. There are all sorts 

 of organisms belonging to different levels of integra- 

 tion. So there are all sorts of social wholes, varying 

 in plasticity, articulateness, and comprehensiveness. 

 It is important to recognise integrations of different 

 orders or levels, and the kind of integration aclaieved 

 by societies is not the same as that which charac- 

 terises the holding together of mental processes in 

 one stream of consciousness. Institutions and tradi- 

 tion may be regarded as the result of trial-and -error 

 experiments towards mutual adjustment. 



Dublin. 



Royal Dublin Society, June 26. — Prof. J. A. Scott 

 in the chair. — H. G. Becker : Improved methods of 

 evaporation under laboratory conditions. A special 

 form of oil bath incorporating a wind-tunnel was 

 used to determine the rate of evaporation of distilled 

 water at different temperatures from 30° C. to 100° C, 

 and in currents of air of different speeds, the rate 

 of evaporation being measured by obserxing the fall 

 of a glass float in the Uquid. The rate is proportional 

 to the vapour pressure up to 90° C . ; above this 

 temperature it increases more rapidly. By maintain- 

 ing the water at 95° C. in a current of air of 500 ft. 



