November lo. 1910] 



NATURE 



65 



examination, with negative results, of the central nervous 

 system in a case of cured human trypanosomiasis. A 

 Sikh belonging to the 4th K.A.R. (aged thirty at death) 

 was found to be suffering from trypanosomiasis in June, 

 1905, and received treatment with inorganic arsenic. The 

 drug was given intermittently for eighteen months or 

 more, and pushed until toxic symptoms of neuritis and 

 mental dullness rendered further energetic treatment 

 impossible ; trypanosomes were then no longer obtained by 

 puncture of the glands. Unfortunately, there is no note 

 "if lumbar puncture having been performed until a few 

 hs before death. Sir David Bruce, in December, 

 . saw this man, and stated that he appeared to be in 

 lent health. .A year later he was seen by Captains 

 erton and Bateman, who reported no symptoms of 

 ping sickness. They made a very careful investigation 

 3f the blood, both by microscopic examination and by 

 experimental injection into monkeys ; the results were 

 negative. In June lumbar puncture was performed, and 

 17 c.c. of fluid withdrawn ; the centrifuged fluid 

 '-"•ved no lymphocytosis or tr\panosomes ; injection of 

 :luid into a monkey was followed by negative results, 

 patient was attacked with pneumonia in August, 

 and died three days after admission to the hospital. 

 Post mortem the brain was found quite normal in appear- 

 and there was no excess of fluid. Histological 

 'lination. — Sections were prepared of portions of the 

 rum, cerebellum, and medulla oblongata by all the 

 ads which the author had previously adopted for the 

 .ination of sleeping-sickness cases. He found no trace 

 he characteristic meningeal and perivascular infiltra- 

 nor of gliosis. It may therefore be asserted that this 

 proves that human trypanosomiasis is curable, but it 

 not prove that sleeping sickness is curable, for the 

 >r contends that the diagnosis of " sleeping sickness " 

 mly be made when there is a proof that the tr>pano- 

 ^ had invaded the sub-arachnoid space. The tissues 

 forwarded to the author by C. A. Wiggins, the acting 

 ipal medical officer of Uganda. — Miss M. P. ritx- 

 serald : The origin of the hydrochloric acid in the gastric 

 ubules. — Dr. A. Harden and R. V. Norris : The 

 ::ntation of galactose by yeast and yeast juice (pre- 

 ary communication). — ^\V. M. Thornton: The oppo- 

 electrification produced by animal and vegetable life. 

 — R. Kirkpatrick : A remarkable pharetronid sponge 

 Irom Christmas Island. 



Challf'nger Society, Oc^ber 26.— Dr. A. E. Shipl.y in the 

 'hair. — Mr. Earland exhibited and made remarks upon 

 "ilulina jeffrey'ni, a rare species of Foraminifera dredged 

 vest of St. Ki'da by the Goldseeker, which had onlv been 

 '-'Hrorded once since its discovery by the Porcupine in 1869. — 

 •Ir. Tate Regan discussed the evolution of the flat-fishes, 

 vhich he regarded as asymmetrical perches ; from some 

 orm not unlike Psettodes, indifferently dextral or sinistral, 

 lad arisen two well-marked groups, and each of these 

 'lad split into two series, a sinistral and a dextral. 

 I'arker's resea.ches on the optic nerves had made it clear 

 reversal to the asymmetn,- of opposite sign was 

 idar}- in the Pleuronectidae. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, Ocnbei qi -M. Eimle Picard in 



hair. — The president announced the loss by death of 



' lernez. — Henri Douville : Some cases of adaptation. 



origin of man. A discussion of some modifications 



uced in various species by change in the conditions 



te, including changes which may possibly have been 



jced in the anthropoid apes by lower temperature, 



ed rainfall, and consequent destruction of forests. — 



Cogrgia : Observations of the new Cerulli planet 



iqio. made at the Observaton,- of Marseilles with 



Hichens equatorial of 26 cm. aperture. Observations 



Ojven for October 21 and 22, and also the positions of 



comparison star.— H. Larose : The extinction of the 



ntinuities by reflection at the extremities of a tele- 



nic line. In a previous paper the expressions f<M- the 



tial and current on a telegraphic line of indefinite 



h were given; the case of a line of limited length 



vorked out in the present communication. — G. A. 



;lemsalech : iThe influence of the magnetic field on the 



"ration of t!- ; lines of the spectrum emitted bv luminous 



-urs in tfe electric spark. In a magnetic field the 



NO. 2 141, VOL. 85] 



durations of nearly all the lines are diminished, and the 

 intensity of the action on the different lines appears to be 

 selective. Nearly all the lines diminish in intensity except 

 in the immediate neighbourhood of the electrode. — 

 Georges Claude : The preparation of argon. Compressed 

 oxygen prepared by the fractional distillation of liquid air 

 is now an article of commerce. If the proportion of 

 oxygen is more than 95 per cent., as is always the case 

 in practice, the chief impurity is argon, the volatility of 

 which is intermediate between that of oxygen and that of 

 nitrogen. Since the oxygen is very readily absorbed, such 

 a mixture forms an advantageous starting point for the 

 preparation of argon. — L. Gay : The osmotic equilibrium 

 of two fluid phases. — M. David : A method of analysis of 

 fatty bodies by the separation of the solid fatty acids 

 from the liquid acids. This method is based on the fact 

 that, at a temperature of 13° to 14° C, the ammoniacal 

 salts of the solid fatty acids are absolutely insoluble in a 

 large excess of ammonia, whilst the ammoniacal salts of 

 the liquid acids are completely soluble. Results are given 

 of the appRcation of the method to the separation of 

 stearic or palmitic acid from oleic acid. — G. Darzens and 

 H. Rost : The synthesis of ketones in the tetrahydro- 

 aromatic series. Cyclohexene is treated with an acyl 

 chloride in presence of aluminium chloride, and the pro- 

 duct of the reaction heated with an excess of diethyl-" 

 aniline. The physical properties of four ketones prepared 

 by this method are described. — Em. Bourquefot and M. 

 Bridel : A new sugar, verbascose, extracted from the 

 root of Verbascum Thapsus. The mode of extraction 

 employed is given in detail. The new sugar is analogous 

 to stachyose, of which it would appear to be an isomer 

 and from which it differs by its higher melting point and 

 its greater rotator\" power ; it gives levTilose, glucose, and 

 galactose on hydrolysis. — G. Friedel and F. Grandjean : 

 Liquids with focal conies. Liquids of the group of ethyl 

 azoxybenzoate are characterised by the existence of groups 

 of focal conies in their mass or at their surface.— P. A. 

 Dang^eard : Two lower organisms met with in the 

 Roscoff laboratory-. — A. Imbert : The influence exerted 

 by pain on the form of ergographic diagrams of fatigue. 

 — H. True and C. Fleigr : The experimental and chemical 

 ocular action of bitumen dust and vaf>our. Bitumen dust 

 can rapidly produce various lesions of the eye in man. 

 The condition of the eye before exposure is an important 

 predisposing cause, and the action of sunlight is also 

 prejudicial. The lesions resulting from the action of 

 bitumen vapour upon the eye are comparatively slight. 

 — M. Urbain, CI. Seal, and A. Feiee : The sterilisation 

 of water on the large scale by ultra-violet light. The 

 water is caused to circulate spirally round a source of 

 light in such a manner that with a flow of 20 cubic 

 metres per hour the water is exposed for three minutes 

 to the rays. With this device complete sterilisation of 

 water has been obtained with an expenditure of twenty 

 watts per cubic metre. — Ch. Gravier : The duration of 

 life in the Madrap<M-es. — Henry P^nau : The c\-tology of 

 Endomices albicans. — ^Y. Deprat : The geographical distri- 

 bution of the different layers recognised in Yun-nan (Geo- 

 logical expedition. 1909-10). — ^Julius Schuster : The 

 geological age of the Pithecanthropus of the pluvial period 

 in Java. From a study of the fossil plants collected from 

 the Quaternary deposits of Lasem, Java, the author is 

 able to confirm his earlier estimate of the age of Pithecan- 

 thropus. If with Penck the age of Homo heidelbergensis 

 be taken as 300,000 years. Pithecanthropus lived at least 

 400,000 years ago. — Louis Gentil ; Geological sketch of the 

 massif of Kebdana (Eastern Morocco). — E. A. Martel : 

 The chasms of the Pyrenees. A short description of seven 

 groups of subterranean fissures, eighty-four in all. together 

 with a discussion of their effect on the water supply of the 

 district. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, November 10. 

 Royal SocrBTV, at 4.50- — The Tidal Observations ot the BritUh Antarctic 

 Expedition, 1007 : Sir George Darwin, K.C B., F.R S.— Conduction of 

 Heat throueh Rarefied Gases: F. Soddy F.R S., and A. J. Berrv.— Ihe 

 Chemical Ph>-sics involved in the Precioitation of Free Carbon from the 

 -Alloys of the Iron Carbon System : W. H. Hatfield.— A Spectroscopic 

 Investigation of the Nature of the Carriers of Positive Electricity froo* 



