Si4 



NATURE 



[December i, 1923 



cleaned and ; ' (I i)umping plants 



erected. \\\ ; . tTiu-.^t jionl had 



already di: 1>- 



portea a I ho 



lowest i.'hI Cjiu^iU- 111 liii luuldle 



pool, i'liic society. In tli<- middle 



pool t iilition an aquatic grass and a new 



filann ' smids and diatoms. In the lowest, 



Potain>>i;tii>,! jKiniutitus var. scopariits was flowering 

 and fruiting, almost rivalling the Chara for donunance. 

 At the dcciwr ciul ot tlic loucr {K)oI wore tufts of 



Riella helicoplnlli , " 



out into till- vv !' I 



depth. \\ 



lowest 1 X M 



dryiii 



Char. I 



Scirpui tn ■ 



bia alepp! 



" slacks " 111 1 iir I 



in boili 1 .isrs ii,i\ 

 solids, (si 

 Chapman 



Men... otv 



lull..';.- \v. 



leek, uilli 



till II ,|)ii,iil\ coiled thalli floating 



l(:()s( iiiM ties at a considerable 



til ".I ot the west side of the 



■(■(I oil .ii( oimt of the slo]K', the 



\rl<(i \Mlli Iilcn! 



/ 



l' tiirouj^li 



'charts p(i 



11 is sinu 



si lire s.uul 



Iii,l;1i pen 



( lilorides and carbonates. 



1 .11 bohydrate enzymes of 



i.ilh 



I hr 

 Ions. 'I'lic matcri.i 

 ■s ot the sno\\(iro| 



.^tarcii-formimr nl 



■i| )il, lilts of 



'7,v/ III 1 1 Jo/ la, 



.i\ l.nphor- 



ii.ii of the 



'ihe waters 



of dissolved 



-R. E. 



certain 



used was the L;rcen 



the onion, and tlie 



it, a coiuiuon dock. 



icaxcs wcix- air- 



IliiU'S. 



■iitage 



for purposes of comparison. I 

 dried, ]Hi\vdcrcd, and added to dilute solutions ol 

 si.iK h. dextrine, maltose, cane sugar, and aniygdalin, 

 nsinj.; (lualit.itivc tests and changes in the rotation of 

 lK)larised light for the detection of hydrolysis. I olnol 

 was used as ;in1ise])tie and the solutions incubated at 

 39° C. The results indicated that ol the live carbo- 

 hydrat<' en/ymes anijlase. dextrinase, iiialtase, in- 

 vertase, and eiiiulsin — maltase and einulsin were ab- 

 sent from the snowdrop, dextrinasi' from the onion, 

 amylase from the leek, but all five were present in 

 the dock. The formation of starch in the parenchyma 

 cells of the three Monocotyledons is thus prevented, 

 because the necessary set of enzymes is incomplete. 

 In certain cases {e.g. Galanthus and Narcissus) starch 

 is always present in the guard cells, and prolonged 

 starvation in darkness does not cause the disappear- 

 ance of this starch. In the snowdrop the adult leaf 

 has starch in the guard cells together probably with 

 diastase but not maltase, so that hydrolysis can pro- 

 ceed only to maltose, and the system, starch ^ 

 maltose catalysed by diastase, may be part of the 

 mechanism controlling the opening or closing of the 

 stomata. 



Royal Meteorological Society, November 21. — Dr. 

 C. Chree, president, in the chair. — L. F. Richardson : 

 Attempts to measure air temperature by shooting 

 spheres upward. Whilst making observations of the 

 upper wind by shooting polished steel spheres up- 

 wards in a direction slightly inclined from the vertical 

 so that the wind caused the returning sphere to fall 

 quite close to the gun, the time of absence of the 

 sphere can afford a measure of a mean temperature 

 of the air through which it has passed. The upper 

 air temperature was measured from the mean of six 

 shots with a standard error of 1° C. at sunrise in cakns 

 9r light winds. On such occasions, there is often a 

 layer of cold stagnant air near the ground, so that 

 the temperature in the Stevenson screen is a poor 

 guide to the temperature at 70 metres. Here the 

 projectile may be useful. — S. N. Sen : On the dis- 

 tribution of air density over the globe. Thirteen 

 charts of " isopycnics " or lines of equal air density 

 are drawn depicting the density distribution at the 

 various levels. The air density at the 8 km. level 

 all over the globe is illustrated by the caart for that 

 level. The air density is controlled by temperature 

 up to a height of about 8 km. and by pressure above 



NO. 2822, VOL. I 12] 



that leve .ermosphi 



todenotc i-II in win 



the controlling lacioi, . 



pressure is the controlli. 



the temperature i.s rising m um.: Ijchj 



diminution of air density in the thci 



incrca.se in the barosphere, 



ing temperature in the oti 



verse. These opiX)site thernioni'tin 



a mechanism f(jr the automatic brcai 



stratitK ation of tlu- '■ 

 or the " ( on\ (■< tr 

 estat'i- I" ■' i-twei ,, 

 aff{;i' IIS tor 



the L -iphcrcb. 



iosphcre. i •.. 

 which b post 



m\ <k, 



eftj 



Paris. 



Academy of Sri------ November 5. — .M. Albi 



lialli ! Ill the (h |)resident announced 



death of M. Aril 1 .rrimont, member of 



section of free \' mI' i i' 1 a (. Ferric, K. Jouat 

 and K. Mesny ; 1 Jic aiaj lUicaiKju of the current li 

 photo-electric cells and its applications. The current 

 produced by photo-electric cells are \erv sin.dl. 

 the order of lo"" amperes. T' \\i 



b\ the use of a three-elect rod' 1 loi 



in( itia. A magnification o: is been obla.ii 



w itli a lamp of the dimcnsioi. .rdinary recei^ 



lamp ; witli ■ :on lamp of 50 watts wori 



under loou \ , .iniplification of 10,000 



obtained. A more complicated method, based 

 the conversion of the photo-electric current into 

 alternating current and transforming up, is described: 

 this permits of amplifications up to the order of lo*.- 

 J. Costantin ; Tlic Pleurotus of the blue thistle of ' 

 Vanoise. — 1.. Maquenne : The theory of chlorophj 

 synthesis. A discussion of the Boussingault-Baej 

 theory of chlorophyll synthesis of the carbohydrate 

 An alternative hypothesis is put forward in wl ' 

 quadrivalent lu iL^nesiuin is assumed. Carbonic 

 is assumed to be taken up b\- direct addition to 

 : X M,u; - X : t:roui)s : the assumption of the intei 

 mediate^ formation ot tormaldehydc is unnecessary. 

 .Andre Bloch : Paratactic congruences and Dupin'| 

 c\chd. -.M. Angelesco : The trcncratinu functions 

 Hermite polynomials Bore! : Remarks 



the preceding coinmn J Wolff: NoH*" 



measurable en.sembles. ~.\. Gunther : .\ proh!' 

 of hydrodynamics. — .A. Foch : The dynamic; 

 similitude of an aspiration tube and its model. \ 

 discussion of the application of aspiration tubes : ■ 

 turbines, with especial consideration to the formui.e 

 governing the relations between models and the full- 

 size turbine. — Louis Breguet ; The calculation of the 

 weight of combustible consumed by an aeroplane 

 during ascent. The formuhu for the effective ranee 

 of an aeroplane have been worked out on the assump- 

 tion of horizontal flight. Modifications are intr - 

 duced into the Rateau equation showing the van .- 

 tions in petrol consumption during ascent and descent. 

 — C. Cheneveau and J. Callame : .A micropalmer. A 

 description, with di.itrram, of an instrument designe<i 

 for measuring tlie thickness of thin sheets or plates 

 of rubber or other jijastic material, with an accuracy 

 of o-ooi mm. — 1-. Brylinski. Michelson's cxp.'riment. 

 — Mile. Berlhe Perrette : .An arrangement of the 

 electric arc in a \aeuum allowing the spectra <<t 

 metals to be obtained with \cry small quantities of 

 material. The cathode is formed of tungsten (or 

 tungsten-thorium) wire, and tiic anode of a tungsten 

 plate in which a small ca\ ity is drilled to hold the 

 material. The cathode is raised to a high tem|>era- 

 ture by a current of 4 to 5 amperes from accumulators. 



