22 



NATURE 



{May 2, 1889 



(2) This enzyme can be isolates!, and its peptonizing action j 

 demonstrated, apart from the microbes which produce it. j 



(3) The most active enzyme is that formed in meat broth. ! 



(4) Acidity hinders, alkalinity favours, its action. 



(5) The bacteria which form a peptonizing enzyme on proteid ; 

 soil can also produce a dia^tatic enzyme on carbohydrate soil. 



(6) The action of the diastatic enzyme can be demonstrated 

 apait from the microbes which produce it. 



(7) The diastatic enzyme has no effect on gelatine, and vice 

 versa. 



(8) The microbes, for purposes of nutrition, can form a 

 ferment adapted to the ^oil in which they grow. 



(9) The putrefactive micrococcus gave negative results. 



Linnean Society, April 18. — Mr. Carruthers, F. R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — In view of the approaching anniversary 

 meeting, the following wt re appointed auditors : — For the Coun- 

 cil, Dr. John Anderson and Mr. Jenner Weir ; for the Fellows, 

 Mr. T. Christy and Mr. D. Morris. — The President called at- 

 tention to a valuable donation of books on fishes, including the 

 celebrated work of Bloch, recently presented to the Society's 

 library by Mr. Francis Day, who, he regretted to say, was lying 

 seriously ill at Cheltenham ; upon which a cordial vote of sym- 

 pathy and thanks was unanimously accorded. — Mr. J. R. Jack- 

 son, Curator of the Museum, Kew Gardens, exhibited speci- 

 mens illustrating the mode of collecting at Ichang, China, the 

 varnish obtained from RJms Termicifcra, so largely used by the 

 Chinese and Japanese for lacquering. He also exhibited some 

 Chinese candles made from varnish seed-oil. — On behalf of Mr. 

 Henry Hutton, of Kimberley, some photographs were exhibited, 

 showing the singular parasitic growth of Ciiscuta appendicidata 

 on Nicotiana glauca. — Dr. Cogswell exhibited specimens of 

 vegetables belonging to four different families of plants, to illus- 

 trate the symmetrical development of rootlets. — Prof. Martin 

 Duncan exhibited, under the microscope, and made remarks 

 upon, the splueridia of an Echinoderm. — Dr. Masters gave a 

 summary of a paper on the comparative morphology and life- 

 history of the Conifei'a?, a review of the general morphology of 

 the order based upon the comparative examination of living 

 specimens in various stages of development. These observa- 

 tions, made in various public and private " pineta," supple- 

 mented by an examination of herbarium specimens, demon- 

 strated the utility of gardens in aid of botanical research. The 

 mode of germination, the polymorphic foliage, its isolation or 

 " concrescence," its internal structure, the arrangements of the 

 buds, the direction and movements of the shoots, were all 

 discussed. In reference to the male and female flowers, the 

 author described their true nature, tracing them from their 

 simplest to their most complex or most highly differentiated 

 condition ; and showed that, so far as known, the histological 

 structure and development were essentially the same thioughout 

 the order. Various special forms, such as the needles of Pinus, 

 the phylloid shoots of Sciadopitys, and the seed-scales of 

 Abietincd, were described, and their significance pointed out. 

 The phenomenon of enation with the correlative inversion of 

 ;he fibio- vascular bundles in such outgrowths was considered in 

 relation to the light it throws upon certain contested points in 

 the morphology of the order ; the chief teratological appear- 

 ances noted in the order were detailed, and their significance dis- 

 cussed ; the various modifications were shown to be purely 

 hereditary or partly adaptive, and dependent on permanent or 

 intermittent arrest, excess, or perversion of growth and deve- 

 lopment, and to various correlative changes ; lastly, the poly- 

 morphic forms of the so-called genus Ketinospora, suggested 

 that in studying them we might be watching the development 

 and fixation of new specific types. 



Chemical Society, April 4.— Dr. W.J. Russell, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — The following papers were read : — 

 The rate of dissolution of metals in acids, by Mr. V. H. Veley. 

 The dissolution of copper in a solution of potassium bichromate 

 acidified with sulphuric acid was investigated as affording a case 

 in which no gas was evolved as such. The copper was 

 employed in the form of metallic spheres which by various 

 mechanical devices were rolled about continuously and regularly 

 in the acid liquid, and the products of the changes continuously 

 removed from the immediate neighbourhood of the metal. The 

 author finds (i) that if the temperature be varied between 21^ 

 and 41° in an arithmetical proportion the amount of chemical 

 action varies in a geometrical proportion ; (2) that if the 

 amount of sulphuric acid be varied in an arithmetical proportion 



between the limits of 41 "3 and 23 '5 grammes per litre, the amount 

 of ch.nnge also varies in an arithmetical proportion ; and (3) 

 that the amount of change is at first considerably increased by 

 increase of proportion of potassium bichromate, but the effect 

 afterwards gradually diminishes to nil, at which point the 

 bichromate can be considered to be so much inert material : 

 the amounts used varied from 22'i to66'3 grammes per litre. — 

 Note on the interaction of metals and acids, by Prof, H. E. 

 Armstrong. When a metal forming an element in a voltaic 

 couple is dissolved, the rate of dissolution is in accordance with 

 Ohm's law, C = E/R : and this should apply also to the case in 

 which a metal is dissolved without any precaution being taken 

 to arrange it as an element of a couple, as the action is con- 

 ditioned by the formation of, and takes place within, "local 

 circuits." The changes attending the dissolution of metals may, 

 therefore, in a certain sense be said to be purely electrical in the 

 first instance ; yet within recent years it has been argued by 

 various chemists that the phenomena are only in part electrical 

 and in part chemical — whatever this may mean. The author 

 discussed the various phases of such changes, anl criticized the 

 conclusions arrived at by Spring and Aubel and others. 

 Referring to Mr. Veley's experiments Prof. Armstrong expressed 

 the opinion that the results were in no way commensurate with 

 the labour expended in obtaining them : although by introduc- 

 ing bichromate polarization by hydrogen had been prevented, 

 its use had introduced complications which made the analysis of 

 the results impossible; in fact the information likely to be 

 obtained from such experiments was not of the kind required in 

 the present state of chemical science. Thus the proof obtainetl 

 that a copper sphere dissolved uniformly in a mixture of 

 sulphuric acid and bichromate was but a proof of the efficiency 

 of the stirring apparatus : such would necessarily be the case, as 

 the values of E and R remained almost unchanged throughout 

 the experiment owing to the relatively small proportion of the 

 agents used up. In the course of his reply Mr. Veley mentioned 

 that he had had occasion to verify Dr. Russell's observation that 

 silver is not dissolved by nitric acid free from nitrous acid, to- 

 which reference had been made, and stated that in experiments 

 with copper and nitric acid he had observed that the action took 

 place at first more slowly, and only attained a maximum rate 

 when a certain small amount of nitrate was formed. Prof. 

 Armstrong remarked that this was a really important observa«^ 

 tion, proving that the dissolution of copper in nitric acid was 

 dependent on the presence of a third substance — perhnps cupric 

 nitrate. — A zinc mineral from a blast furnace, by Mr. J. T. 

 Cundall. 



Zoological Society, April 29. — Sixtieth Anniversary 

 Meeting.— Prof Mower, C.B., F.R.S., President, in the chair. 

 — In the Report of the Coundlon the proceedings of the Society 

 during the year 1888, it was stated that the number of Fellows 

 on January i, 1889, was 3076, showing a decrease of twenty- 

 eight as compared with the corresponding period in 1888. The 

 total receipts for 1888 had amounted to ^24,025 los. 8d., show- 

 ing an increase oi £()2Z 15^-. zd., as compared with the previous 

 year. The receipts from admissions to the Gardens had risen 

 from ^12,138 to ^13,284. The ordinary expenditure for 188& 

 had been ;^2i,439 165. a,d., which was ;^2436 les-s than the 

 corresponding amount for 1887. Besides this, an extraordinary 

 expenditure of ;^7oo had been incurred^ which had brought up 

 the total expenditure for the year to ^22, 139. The sum of 

 ;^icoo had been employed in repayment of a temporary loan, 

 from the bankers, and a further sum of ;^ 1000 had been devoted 

 to the diminution by that amount of the debt on the Society's 

 freehold premises, which now stood at ;^70C0. After deducting: 

 these payments from the income of 1888, and adding to 

 it the balance of ;^ii58, brought over from the previous year, 

 a balance of ;^I043 was carried forward for the benefit 

 of the present year. The usual .'•cientific meetings had 

 been held during the session of 1888, and a large number of 

 valuable communications had been received upon every branch 

 of zoology. These had been published in the annual volume of 

 Proceedings for 1888, which contained 717 pages, illustrated 

 by thirty-two plates. Besides this, Part 7 of the twelfth volume 

 of the Society's quarto Transactions, illustrated by eight plates,, 

 had been issued. The volume of the "Zoological Record " for 

 1888, containing a summary of the work done by British and! 

 foreign zoologists in 1887, had been issued early in the present 

 year. It had been edited, by Mr. F. E. Beddard, the Prosec- 

 tor to the Society. An important event in connection with the 

 Librr ry during the past jear had been the receipt from the 



