December 15, 1923] NATURE 



of the gesso below. On this pure white gesso panel i 

 the picture was drawn in detail and laid out either in 

 monochrome or partly in colour with pigments prob- 

 ably mixed with size.' Upon this were laid the pig- 

 ments ground in oil, or it may be an emulsion of varnish 

 and egg, care being taken to paint the high lights 

 very thinly as compared with the rest of the picture. 

 In course of time the oil yellows and the pigments, 

 more especially the white lead, get more translucent. 

 By painting the picture in this way the artist ensures 

 that the increased translucency of his white lead will 

 correct the yellowing of the oil owing to the white 

 light being reflected from the gesso, and that his 

 contrast of light and shade will be maintained. 



There is much more yet to be discovered as to these 

 early methods, and the question as to whether varnish, 

 emulsion, or oil was used, has still to be finally cleared 

 up, but our knowledge of the general methods of 

 procedure is growing. 



The Geological Society of China. 



THE Geological Society of China is one of the 

 scientific institutions founded since the estab- 

 lishment of the Chinese Republic in 191 1. The first 

 two Bulletins of the Society promise well for its 

 future. One of the first papers deals with the his- 

 tory of geology in China, which it carries back to 

 early times ; but it shows that independent Chinese 

 work on the subject on scientific lines dates from 191 1, 

 when V. K. Ting and H. T. Chang returned to China 

 from their western studies. Mr. Chang, the first 

 president of the Society, organised a department and 

 school of geology under the Ministry of Commerce at 

 Nanking in 191 2. The Geological Survey of China 

 was established in 191 6 with Mr. Ting as its director, 

 and he also secured in 191 8 the reopening of Mr. 

 Chang's geological school, which had been discontinued 

 in 191 6. To Messrs. Ting and Chang is due the 

 establishment of the promising school of Chinese 

 geologv. They have been aided by Mr. Lee, a 

 Chinese student who was trained at Birmingham, Prof. 

 Grabau, the well-known American palaeontologist, 

 now professor at Pekin, and Dr. Gunnar Andersson, 

 formerly head of the Geological Survey of Sweden, 

 and now mining advisor to the Chinese Government 

 and director of the Geological Survey Museum. 



The iv.o r.ullitiiis contain a valuable series of 

 contribuuon-, to the 'geology of China. They include 

 a lecture given to tiic Society by Prof. Berkey, of 

 Columbia Iium i.^it\ , New York, on " the New 

 Petrography," which attaches most iinjiortance to 

 the mode of origin of rocks ; Prof. I'xrkcx proposes a 

 plethora of new names such as reactionitc, saturite, 

 evaporite, disintegrationite, and recrystallisationite. 

 The new petrologv must be vigorous to sustain such a 

 nomenclature. I he sci lion of this paper of most 



interest is its cxprc-^ ' the reaction in America 



against IIk- iiiL;tiiioi tative arrangement of 



r(wl.--^ M hi, 11 1- i.lii ■ '' till- \m('rir:in r1,TSsi- 



Ml rc;il ])i'l Io1ol:\ . 



Ml! . I ri* I il >n; ■ 1 lirri- ] 1,1 ])i-i ■-., ( il which 



-\ -iriii ; he protests 



, ii.it triiii proposed by 



I'lot. |;.Mi.\ Wilii^.. \'.lio, \\\\\\ the ten : i i^rec- 



iiicii! o| ^,.n K'l. lit !io|.-ii, iiitcrpii'tcil Si: ' owet 



Pal ■ ■ ■|i'!i , ho\M'\ CI", .ip} " 



to th.it ino(hliiMt 1" 



ter; ■ ■ ■\-\- 1 h.it I Im' !■ 1 :!'. IS \n 



th.i ipphi-. It to th'' sedi- 



mciii;ir' ■' ■! -M:! 1 1- iii Ml ( iiii:.i ol ))ic< .1 in 1 >ri,i 11 atjr. 



In that sense it is equivalent to the Toridonian, 

 which, as well as the Sinian, Prof. Grabau includes 

 in the Palaeozoic. 



Mr. Wong contributes a short note upon Chinese 

 earthquakes and on the distribution of the chief 

 seismic centres. The red beds in China are discussed 

 in three papers. Mr. Wong shows that those in 

 Shansi belong to two horizons, one. pre- Jurassic and 

 the other later than the Jurassic Coal Measures. Mr. 

 Hsieh shows that in Kansu these deposits range from 

 the Jurassic to the Kainozoic. Mr. Tan describes a 

 marine red series of Eocene age as widely developed 

 in Shantung, and its discovery is one of the most 

 interesting recent additions to Chinese geology. 



Three papers by students of the University of Pekin 

 on observations during an excursion to the Nankou 

 district add materially to the knowledge of that now 

 classical section. Prof. Grabau describes from their 

 collections three new species of Collenia, which he 

 explains are based only on the external characters ; 

 in the absence of microscopic evidence it must be 

 quite doubtful whether these supposed calcareous 

 algae are of organic origin. Prof. G. B. Barbour, of 

 the Pei-yang University, Tientsin, describes an 

 intrusive sill in Shantung which, according to his 

 interpretation, shows the effect of gravitational 

 differentiation. The intrusion is pre-Cretaceous, and 

 the later folding and faulting in this region are now 

 definitely identified as Oligocene or Miocene, as the 

 movements are later than the newly discovered 

 Eocene deposits and earlier than the Pliocene. 



The two volumes are in English, with a title-page 

 and contents and a summary of one paper in Chinese. 

 Chinese characters are given of the personal names. 

 The titles of some papers which are to be published in 

 future bulletins suggest that the interest of this serial 

 will be well maintained. J. W. Gregory. 



University and Educational Intelligence. 



Aberdeen'. — The Senatus Academicus has awarded 

 the following research scholarships : Fullerton scholar- 

 ship in science to Mr. Charles Bisset ; Robbie scholar- 

 ship in chemistry to Miss Margaret F. Aitken. 



A mural tablet in memory of the late Prof. James 

 W. H. Trail, F.R.S., professor of botany in the 

 University from 1877 until his death in 1919, has been 

 placed in the classroom of the new Department of 

 Botan>-, and was unveiled and presented to the 

 University, on behalf of the subscribers, by Sir David 

 Prain, on Friday, December 7. The tablet is mounted 

 on a slab of slate. A portrait placjue in dull green 

 bronze i> suitdimded by a wreath of oak leaves, 

 acorns, and -'I's It is flanked by two Brazilian 

 pahii-. a I 111 a decorative panel shows other natural 

 ol)j<ei:^ npit .->e!itiiig the varied interests of Prof. 

 Trail. The tablet is the work of Miss Alice B. 

 Woodward. The subscribers have also issued a 

 memorial Noluiiie which, be^idi^s l)ioL:;?aplncai and 

 bibhn^ra])hic,il iiiatter. lllehl(le-^ tiic " Moim ol' the 

 ("i* i ' li of Abenk'eii," ;i comp,ir,it i\'- .md ln--toric,i] 

 eat detail wIimIi hail occupied I'rof. IimiI 

 ioi i:i,in\ vears, and liad been completeil siionlv 

 lielore his (lealh. 



( \Mi:i;M>(,r. .\ fellowship h.is lie;n tomuled at 

 Chi isi '.s ( olle,L;e t)\- .Mf. |. i'leiiiont .\ h i!'._;,! 11 . ,1 meiuher 

 of the CoUcL^e. Tins is the lirsi ,iddition lo the 

 number of fellow :-.hip> m the Colle-e Mine loS.:. .md 

 represents a valuable endowment all too ran m these 

 modern times. 



The I'aiipire ("otloii Growin.g Corporation has 

 oilefed to tiie 1 in\erMt\- ,1 sum o{ looo/. aycaf for 

 fi\e \( ais to be devoted lo the I'lant Genetics Depart- 



N« I. 2.S2.}, VOL. I I 2] 



