cS76 



NA J ORE 



[December 15. 192. 



Research Items. 



ip. ! m 



ii. I 



of ti> 

 (SCCth 

 HoltllNcllil 



relating' !■ 



( licini 



thr I, 



place 

 part ■ 



XTiluilllii' h: 



, .(jsaess 

 iirated 



i|>lHai.s t luring 



tli centii; birth- 



'a'- Ii\c<l ,it i\ t least 



.ii-.(. ,it I ',A\" was a 



IM I . I H, i IIHlsl 1,1 '■ ,,M- lO'.-t 



\li. 1 |i>liii\,ii'l -i\c- ,1 I1-.I <il till J.ihir il' 



ll.i\\,iii. with niiW' '"■■ Mtirs , : |.!iiii;iri! . 



a llirllllst. lie UIc' '11 inriJKlIlr-, ;,'( ■( i| 1 1< ' 1 I \ , 



asllOIKHllW |ilill.>. I'tKs, .ill 1 ;M,,ti\. \',.(S 



inttTfst'-' I 111 1 ;iiiil 111- -Ihiw that 



hf \va^ .1 111,11. iiitcliij^i-i I liciniial 



wiitiiiL;^ iiiilKatc an extensive pr.Ktnal kiiMwieclgC 

 ot the Usual i iieuin al <)|)crationS, wliieli in- atti-mpted 

 to exiiliin, ami the tiieory of tlie conipcjsition of 

 metals tioin suliilmr ami mercury found in the Latin 

 wiitmi^s III "(lelxi ' Mr Mohiuani leaves open 

 the (lltluult (luesti.iii .1 l- Ihc Itlelltityol the latter 



with Jaliir ilm lla\\an, hut he shows conclusively 

 that the ar;;uiiiiMts sii lai- addurcd to prove the con- 

 trary are often incorrect and are wholl)- iiiade(|uate. 



Pink and Blue Floweks. — Dr. W. K. Gelston 

 Atkins has a verv interesting contribution to the 

 problem of colour in flowers in a paper upon the pink 

 and blue flowers of the llydran^e.i m the Scientific 

 Procecflin'^s of the Royal Dublin Society, vol. 17, 

 pages j<ii .:i(i. It appears that the pink form is 

 usualh louiii! in soils with a Pn of 6 or more. Above 

 P„ 7 3, pink llowers appear to be the rule, while 

 blue tiouers predominate in" more acid soils. 

 Examination of the flowers shows that difference in 

 colour is not due to a difference in reaction of the 

 flowers themselves, but experiment showed that pink 

 flowers contain far less iron than blue ones. In the 

 more alkaline sdils ferric salts are no longer available 

 to the plant, and 1 )r. Atkins's work seems to give 

 good grounds for thinkin?; that difference in colour 

 of these flowers depends in some way upon the 

 greater availability of the iron to the plants growing 

 in the more acid soils. 



Plant Physiology and Vitalism. — Prof. Walter 

 Stiles, of Reading, makes a brief contribution from 

 the point of view of the plant physiologist to the 

 discussion in progress in the pages of Scientia for 

 November upon the subject of vitalism and 

 mechanism. His main theme appears to be that 

 both morphology and physiology seem to be in 

 agreement at the moment that the most hopeful line 

 of attack upon the problem presented by the form 

 and structure of the organism is along the lines of 

 development. The species may be regarded as a 

 special physico-chemical aggregate of substance 

 which provides a definite range of possibility in the 

 Una I form and structure of the mature organism, 

 depending upon conditions both external and internal 

 prevailing during its development. Engaged in the 

 task of tracing the connexions between this original 

 species substance, the conditions under which it 

 develops and the structures to which it gives rise, 

 physiology is so far from having solved even its most 

 immediate problems, even in those cases where there 

 is little reason to doubt that greater understanding 

 will show that a physico-chemical explanation is 

 adequate, that it has as yet paid little attention to 



\ I I 1911. — In a paper 



; ul.hsh. terly Journal of the 



(.jreuiogu ill Stjciety ^'^'•. />, •'.y'.i, PP- 2,^ ,' Mr 



R. D. Oldham urges that the Pamir ea of 



'•■"•'ruarv 18, 191 1, w;i.s the cause and not, .1-. in.: mie 



(• Calitzin c<jn.sidered, the result of the great 



1 dip which ()< rnrred at the .same tii' 



III, p. 682). Tin- disturbed area of 

 (juakes, as in the Ischian t-.irthcpi.i 

 always small ; that of t i .-arthtiu; 



vr>!. 



than 200 miles in dia 

 strui iu e intensity 

 The laiihquake \'. 

 numerous landslips d 

 central distrii t. Moi 

 important point th.' 

 the cast end of iIkiI d 

 eludes that the ear 

 though he reganl- 

 development < •" ' 

 in part to th. 



i 1 UI i r 

 cover 

 ■.^real 

 i-trii t 



iiile the !■ 



least 40 mile 1 



ed by after- ,;id 



1 in other parti* of the 



and this 18 the most 



landsli]) f)ccurTed close to 



Mr Oldham thus con- 



'. ,is of dt-ep-seated origin, 



is,il)l<- th.it the unusual 



NO. 2824, VOL. I 12] 



Comagmatic Regions and \\ livj.- 



THESis. — Prof. H. S. Washington has coinpiete<i his 

 studies of the lavas of the Hawaiian Islands by an 

 account of the succession of olivino-basalts in Kilauea, 

 and by a general sunmiarv of his analvtical results 

 {Amer. Journ. Sci., vol. 20b, p. ^^i^S, Oct. 1923). The 

 inclusions brought up from the depths are lumps of 

 peridotte and picrite, and nothing whatever has been 

 found I0 justifv Wef^ener's suggestion that the Pacific 

 volcanoes are Iniilt over residual cru.st-blocks left 

 behind by driftuig continents. Prof. Washington 

 directs attention to this point in a paper on " Co- 

 magmatic Regions and the Wegener HypKJthesis " 

 (Journ. Washington Acad. Sci., vol. 13, p. 339, 1923), 

 and he cites a number of cases in which the igneous 

 rock-types, in districts regarded hv Wegener as having 

 been formerly united, ddfer markedly on opposite 

 sides of the Atlantic. The Triassic plateau -basalts 

 of the later Karroo series resemble those of S. 

 America, from Brazil to Argentina ; but such islands 

 as occur in the S. Atlantic contain sodic and not sodic- 

 calcic (basaltic) lavas (p. 346). An example of two 



identical comagmatic regions, separr' ' ' nic 



waters, appears in the description of es 



of King George Land and Adelie Lai.w. on i>i. W. 

 R. Browne Australasian Antarctic Exped., Sci. Rep., 

 Ser. A, vol. 3, pt. 3. 10^3). The resemblance between 

 the igneous series m 1 asmania and that in the region 

 due south of it iu Antarctica appears to be complete. 

 Prof. Washington has sought such identity in vain 

 in his study of the opposed coasts of the North 

 Atlantic. 



Weather of Australia — A report of the Meteoro- 

 logical Service of the Coninionwealth of Australia has 

 just been issued for the vear 1921-22 by Mr. H. A. 

 Hunt, the Commonwealth Meteorologist. Like many 

 other meteorological and scientific establishments in 

 different parts of the world, the funds available for 

 the work are not sufficient to allow of desirable and 

 much needed extension. The author has pointed out 

 the direct monetary value derived by the general 

 public and special trades and employments from the 



