I =;2 



NA TURE 



[July 28, 1923 



^ood conditions for working and firing with easy 

 installation and economy of space. In one type 

 described, water is kept dripping on the firebars 

 and on a plate arranged in front of them, thereby 

 producing a certain amount of steam ; this helps 

 to retard the drying of the suiface parts and allows 

 the inside to evaporate its moisture at the same 

 rate as the outside. This type takes up little space 

 with proportionately less building cost, and results 

 in practice are satisfactory. — S. English : Notes 

 on the Ashley bottle machine. To one familiar only 

 with modern glass-forming machines, it is surprising 

 to learn that the home of bottle-making machinery 

 is on this side of the Atlantic, The first machine 

 to make narrow-mouth bottles at all satisfactorily 

 was designed and built by H. M. Ashley at Ferry- 

 bridge (Yorkshire), about 1886. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, July 2. — M. Albin Haller in 

 the chair. — Auguste B6hal : The fourth International 

 Congress of Pure and Applied Chemistry. An account 

 of the conference held at Cambridge on June 16-21. — 

 Ch. Gravier : The adaptation to tree life of a Mada- 

 gascan crab. — Henri Villat : A singular integral 

 equation and a problem in the theory of vortices. — 

 J. B. Senderens : The manufacture of ethyl and 

 methyl ether. A study of the conditions (temperature 

 and strength of sulphuric acid) for maximum yield 

 of these ethers from their respective alcohols. For 

 methyl ether, with sulphuric acid of the strength 

 H2SO4 . 2H2O and at a temperature of 160° C.-i65° C, 

 the ether can be made continuously at the rate of 

 250-300 c.c. per minute. — Bertrand Gambler : The 

 curves of Bertrand and the deformation of quadrics. — 

 Richard Birkeland : The resolution of algebraic 

 equations by a sum of hypergeometric functions. — 

 J. Haag : Certain particular states of a gaseous mass, 

 agreeing with Maxwell's law. — A. Lafay : The 

 arborescences traced out by the positive silent 

 discharge. — Felix Michaud : The electrical properties 

 of jellies. In an earlier communication the author 

 showed that a jelly, when traversed by an electric 

 current, contracts at the anode and swells at the 

 cathode. From this it follows that a jelly submitted 

 to a pressure gradient should show potential differ- 

 ences. This conclusion is verified experimentally. — 

 F. Wolfers : The deviation of the X-rays at the 

 surface of bodies, and the effects produced by a slit. — 

 A. Lepape and A. Dauvillier : The fine structure of 

 the limits of high-frequency absorption. The L 

 limits of xenon. — M. Marsat : A combination of 

 reflectors. An account of^n optical arrangement of 

 mirrors for use on motor cars, satisfying the condition 

 that a beam should be cast at least 100 metres in front 

 of the car, but with no dazzle at a height more than 

 one metre from the ground. — Xavier Wache : 

 Quantitative researches on the ultra-violet spectrum 

 of copper in aluminium. With aluminium contain- 

 ing 5 per cent, of copper, 35 copper lines were photo- 

 graphed for wave-lengths between 2179 and 3274 

 international units. Alloys containing i, 0-5, 0-2, 

 0-05, o- 01, and 0-005 percent, of copper (in aluminium) 

 were examined with the same Hilger spectrograph, 

 and the gradual disappearance of the lines shown. 

 For the 0-005 P^"* cent, alloy only the two lines 

 3247-5 and 3273-9 remained. — A. Marcelin : The 

 isothermal compression and expansion of superficial 

 solutions. By superficial solutions is meant such 

 systems as a monomolecular layer of oleic acid on 

 water. Two forms of apparatus are described for 

 measuring the changes in the surface tension. — M. 

 ^olweck : A helicoidal molecular pump. A descrip- 

 tion, with diagram, of a modified form of Gaede pump, 



NO. 2804, VOL. I 12] 



with details of the results obtained by it. — E. Carrt^re 

 and Cerveau : Determination of the lx)iling-point and 

 dew-point curves of mixtures of hydrobromic acid and 

 water under a pressure of 760 mm. — E. Darmois : 

 Polarimetric observations on tartar emetic, and 

 tartrate and malate of uranyl. The precipitation of 

 antimony oxide from ordinary tartar emetic solution 

 by the gradual addition of potash has been followed 

 by means of the jwlarimeter. The first reaction is tin 

 precipitation of SbjO, and formation of potassium 

 tartrate : beyond a certain point the addition of mor< 

 potash leads to the formation of a new la;vorotator> 

 compound, not yet isolated. The same method 

 applied to the study of uranyl tartrate and malate 

 leads to the conclusion that complex acids resembling 

 tartar emetic are formed. — Mme. N. Demassieux : 

 The equilibrium between lead iodide and the iodides 

 of potassium and ammonium in aqueous solution. — F. 

 Bourion and E. Rouyer : The association of mercuric 

 chloride. From a study of the rise of the boiling 

 point of solutions of mercuric chloride of varying 

 concentration, evidence of the existence of the 

 molecule (HgCl2)s has been obtained. — Andre Job and 

 Rene Reich : The existence of organo-magnesium 

 compounds containing arsenic. — ^L. Hackspill and 

 G. de Heeckeren : A new volumetric method of 

 elementary analysis. The organic compound is burnt 

 with copper oxide in a silica tube in vacuo, the water 

 formed condensed at - 80° C, and the carbon dioxide 

 and nitrogen pumped out and analysed. The water 

 is afterwards allowed to react with calcium hydride, 

 and the hydrogen measured. In this way the whole 

 operation is reduced to a gas analysis. — Paul Woog : 

 The hydration of hydrocarbons. The carefully dried 

 oils were allowed to take up moisture from moist air, 

 and the amount of water taken up was measured by 

 the resulting change in the electrical conductivity. 

 Difference in the amounts of water taken up under 

 these conditions was observed for different classes 

 of oil. — F. Ehrmann : Discover)' of evidence of the 

 Tyrrhenide in the region west of Bougie (Algeria). — 

 G. Pontier : The fossil elephants of England : the 

 presence of Elephas trogontherii at the extreme base 

 of the forest bed of Cromer. — Pierre Dangeard : 

 Remarks on the state of the oil in the interior of 

 oleaginous seeds. — L. Blaringhem : The mosaic of 

 the sexes in a hybrid of wild sorrel {Rumex Acetosa x 

 R. scutatus). — Emile Haas : Experiments on the 

 states of regional and relative adaptation of the retina. 

 — Emile Devaux : The pace of development in 

 interfecundity. — A. Pezard and F. Caridroit : G>-n- 

 andromorphism in the Gallinaceae. — Anna Drzewina 

 and Georges Bohn : Retarded effects of the dilution 

 of the sperm on the development of the egg of the 

 sea urchin. — Edouard Chatton and Andre Lwoff : 

 The evolution of the Infusoria of the lamellibranchs. 

 The primitive forms of the phylum of the thigmo- 

 trichs : the genus Thigmophrya. 



Official Publications Received. 



The Animal Products Research Foundation of the University of 

 Adelaide. Second Annual Report, IP'22. Pp. 6. (Adelaide.) 



City and Guilds of London Institute. Report of the Council to the 

 Members of the Institute, 19'23. Pp. liii-fS9. (London: Grcsham 

 College.) 



Sudan Government : Scientiflc Research Committee. Report of the 

 Committee for the Year H>22. Pp. 9. (Khartoum : Sudan Printing 

 Press.) 2 piastres ; orf. 



The Institution of Civil Engineers. Engineering Abstracts prejared 

 from the Current Periodical Literature of Engineering and Applied 

 Science, published outside the United Kingdom. Edited by W. F. Spear. 

 Supplement to the Minutes of Proceedings of the Institution. New 

 Series, No. 16, July. Pp. 210. (London: The Institution of Civil 

 Engineers.) 



Bishops Stortford College. Report of the Proceedings of the Natural 

 History Society, 1922. Pp. 16. (Bishops Stortford.) 



Technical College, Bradford, Diploma and Special Pay Ck>urses. 

 Prospectus, Session 1923-24. Pp. 189+26 plates. (Bradford.) 



