November 3, 192 1] 



NATURE 



325 



Societies and Academies. 



London. 



Association of Economic Biologists, October 14. — Sir 

 David Prain, president, in the chair. — Dr. W. 

 Brown : The physiology of the infection process. 

 The lecturer gave an account of recent work carried 

 ' out in the Imperial College of Science on the physio- 

 logy of parasitism, dealing chiefly with the fungus 

 Botrytis cinerea. Evidence was brought forward 

 showing that the actual penetration of the host- 

 tissue took place by mechanical means. The most 

 careful examination, both by chemical and cyto- 

 logical methods, failed to show evidence of a cutin- 

 dissolving enzyme. The mechanical theorj- of penetra- 

 tion was further supported by the fact that fungi 

 could penetrate membranes, such as gold-leaf, 

 paraflfin-wax, etc., on which the}" could not possibly 

 exert any chemical action whatsoever. The well-known 

 " action in advance " subsequent to penetration was 

 shown to be due to a toxic enzyme, the properties of 

 which had been studied in detail. Previous to pene- 

 tration the fungus exerted no action on the host. 

 On the other hand, a passive exosmosis of substances 

 took place from the host into the infection drop, 

 this leading in some cases to stimulation, in others 

 to inhibition, of fungal germination. The question of 

 the existence of tropic stimuli as a factor in infection 

 was discussed, and attention was directed to the 

 necessity of investigating the nutritional requirements 

 of particular fungi, in connection with which 

 numerous problems had arisen in recent work. 



Zoological Society, October 18.— Sir S. F. Harmer, 

 vice-president, in the chair. — Prof. G. Elliot Smith : 

 The habits of Tarsius. — S. Hirst : Some new para- 

 sitic mites. — Prof. J. P. McMnrrich : Note on the 

 systematic position and distribution of the Actinian, 

 Sagartia luciae. 



Man-chester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, October 14. — Mr. 

 T. A. Coward, president, in the chair. — Dr. I. 

 Langmuir : Molecular structure. The modern con- 

 ception of the atom is that of a nucleus surrounded 

 by electrons, and all the chemical and physical pro- 

 perties of the atom are due, in a large measure, to 

 the number of these electrons and their arrangement 

 around the nucleus. The author indicated three 

 postulates, and explained in certain cases how these 

 postulates accorded with the simple and well-known 

 properties of the atoms considered. He was able to 

 show wherein lay the fundamental difference between 

 organic chemical compounds and inorganic com- 

 pounds ; and he explained how the electrical con- 

 ductivity of certain substances in the molten state 

 •or in solution could be accounted for and whv some 

 elements are gaseous and others solid under ordinary 

 conditions. 



October 18. — Mr. T. A. Coward, president, in the 

 chair.— Prof. T. H. Pear : The visualisation of 

 numbers in space : some comments upon Galton's 

 theory of number- forms. The ability to picture 

 numbers mentally during calculation is not in- 

 frequently combined with a tendency to see them 

 •arranged in a definite pattern, each number occupying 

 •a fixed position relative to the subject's line of sight. 

 Such number-forms are by no means rare ; 7 per cent. 

 •of at large number of university students were found 

 'to possess them. The spatial relations of the numbers 

 are so definite and fixed that tri-dimensional wire 

 models representing them exactly can be made. Two 

 •such models, made by members of the society, were 

 exhibited. Most possessors of number-forms do not 



NO. 2714, VOL. 108] 



regard their gift as unusual, and are sometimes sur- 

 prised to discover that calculation is possible without 

 them. The lecturer discussed a number of aspects 

 of the subject, of which Sir Francis Galton's original 

 description in the " Inquiries into Human Faculty " 

 can now be supplemented or corrected. While 

 Galton believed that number-forms were hereditary, 

 the lecturer held that Galton's evidence was inadequate, 

 and he produced evidence to show that environmental 

 factors could produce resemblances between number- 

 forms amongst unrelated persons as great as, or 

 greater than, those found by Galton to occur in the 

 same family. Moreover, the common appearance in 

 number-forms of the clock-face, the statistical fre- 

 quency with which the turns occur at 10 and 12, and 

 the occasional representation of the negative values 

 support the view that they are acquired. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, October 17. — M. Georges 

 Lemoine in the chair. — A. Blondel : A vectorial equa- 

 tion, in complex notation, of the alternator with two 

 reactions. Its applications. — C. Camichel : Hydraulic 

 states of flow. An experimental study of the con- 

 ditions of steady and turbulent flow of water in tubes. 

 — C. Le Morvan : Photographic and systematic map 

 of the moon. Remarks on the second part of the map 

 of the moon, comprising the surface visible at the 

 phases between opposition and new moon. — M. 

 Baudonin : The material representation on stone of the 

 constellation of the Great Bear, belonging to the 

 polished stone period. A detailed account of five un- 

 doubted cases representative of the constellation 

 Ursa Major on bones of the neolithic period. — J. 

 Guillaume : Observations of the sun made at the 

 Obser\atorv of Lyons during the second quarter of 

 192 1. Observations were possible on 88 days during 

 the quarter : the results are given in tables showing 

 the number of sunspots, their distribution in latitude, 

 and the distribution of the faculae in latitude. — M. 

 Brillouin : Bohr's atom. The Lagrange circum-nuclear 

 function. — K. Ogura : The curvature of light rays in 

 the field of gravitation. — C. E. Brazier : The resistance 

 of the air to the movement of spheres, and the rate of 

 ascent of pilot balloons. From the experimental data 

 of Cave and Dines, Rouch, and La Porte, the values 

 of K, the coefficient of resistance, are calculated corre- 

 sponding to increasing values of N (Reynolds's num- 

 ber). — A. Dauvillier : Contribution to the study of the 

 electronic structure of the heavy atoms and their 

 spectral lines.— M. Dejean : The demagnetising field 

 of cylindrical bars of mild steel. Curves are given 

 showing the relations between the intensity of mag- 

 netisation and strength of field for a series of bars of 

 the same steel, varying in length from 5 mm. to 

 1200 mm. The demagnetising influence of the poles 

 is illustrated by a second series of cur\es derived from 

 the first set. — G. Claude : The manufacture of 

 hvdrogen by the partial liquefaction of water gas. 

 Experiments in the preparation of hydrogen suitable 

 for ammonia synthesis from water gas, commenced in 

 1908, were abandoned on account of the difficulties 

 encountered. The work has been taken up again and 

 the difficulties surmounted. The gas is allowed to do 

 external work on expansion, and the lubrication 

 troubles caused bv the low temperatures were pre- 

 vented bv the addition of 5 per cent, of nitrogen to 

 the hydrogen. A diagram of the apparatus is given. 

 A plant is now working at Montereau treating 500 

 cb.m. of water gas per hour, and giving 230 cb.m. 

 of hydrogen containing i-:^ i>er cent, of carbon 

 monoxide. The energy required can be cheaplv fur- 

 nished by the utilisation of one quarter of the liquefied 



