3^^ 



NATURE 



[November 17, 192 1 



Societies and Academies. 



London. 

 The Royal Society, November lo. — Prof. C. S. 

 Sherrington, president, in the chair. — A. J. Wilmott : 

 Experimental researches on vegetable assimilation and 

 respiration. XIV. — Assimilation by submerged water 

 plants in dilute solutions of bicarbonates and of acids : 

 an improved bubble-counting technique. The increase 

 of "bubble rate " of carbon dioxide liberated from the 

 cut stem of a water-plant when free acid is added to 

 the water covering the stem is due to the effect of 

 the acid upon carbonates present. No increase is found 

 when soft water is used. In "bubble rate " experi- 

 ments, solutions of carbonic acid and of sodium bicar- 

 bonate of known strength behave similarly. — E. G. 

 Young : The coagulation of protein by sunlight. — 

 E. G. Young : The optical rotatory power of crystal- 

 line ovalbumin and serum albumin.— A. R. Ling and 

 D. R. Nanji : The longevity of certain species of yeast. 

 Yeast cultures prepared in 1887 by the late Prof. Hansen 

 were found to be still living. The form in which they 

 have retained their vitality is not determined. A. 

 apiculatus hibernates in the soil ; since the yeast with 

 which Hansen worked does not form endospores it 

 may have been preserved as resting cells. — F. Kidd, C. 

 West, and G. E. Briggs : A quantitative analysis of 

 the growth of Helianthus annnus. Part I — The re- 

 spiration of the plant and of its parts throughout the 

 life-cycle. The respiration of the plant was investi- 

 gated (i) for calculating loss in dry-weight, due to 

 respiration under field conditions, and, with the in- 

 crease in dry-weight due chieflv to assimilation, to 

 construct a "balance sheet" for the plant; (2) to 

 determine effect of age of the plant (internal factor) 

 upon its respiration, which was measured under stan- 

 dard conditions at weekly intervals throughout the life 

 cycle. The amount of carbon dioxide (mgs.) per gm. 

 dry-weight per hour produced bv the respiring tissue 

 under standard conditions is called the " respiratory 

 index," which is a close measure of the "effective 

 amount of respiring cell-matter." The relation be- 

 tween respiration and temperature (0-25° C.) was 

 also determined. The *' respiratory index " of the 

 whole plant and of individual organs decreases 

 throughout the life-cycle, in the case of the whole 

 plant from 3 to about 0-3. Its fall follows closely the 

 fall in "relative growth rate." — G. S. Currey : The 

 colouring matter of red roses. 



Royal Microscopical Society, October 19. — Prof. John 

 Eyre in the chair. — Dr. L. T. Hogben : Preliminary 

 account of the spermatogenesis of Sphenodon. The 

 material of this research was preserved by Prof. 

 Dendy. Examination of sections of testes of Spheno- 

 don show : — (a) The diploid complex is markedly 

 heteromorphic. {h) Synapsis is effected by parallel 

 conjugation, (c) There is apparently no unpaired 

 chromosome, (d) The probable number of diploid 

 chromosomes is twenty-six, (e) Reptilian gameto- 

 genesis is at present an unexplored field that invites 

 attention for the study of heteromorphic chromosome 

 groups. 



Physical Society, October 2S._Sir W. H. Bragg, 

 president, in the chair. — S. Butterworth : The use of 

 Anderson's bridge for the measurement of the varia- 

 tions of the capacity and effective resistance of a 

 condenser with frequency. From an analysis of the 

 effect of residuals and earth capacities in Anderson's 

 inductance-capacity bridge, it is shown that if 

 balances are obtained bv balancing the bridge with 

 direct currents, and making the alternating current 



NO. 2716, VOL. 108] 



adjustments by means of a small .series resistance {$') 

 and parallel condenser (C) in the condenser arm, 

 then the changes required in s' and C to hold the 

 balance at different frequencies are equal and oppo- 

 site to the variations of the effective (series) resistance 

 and capacity of the condenser with frequency. The 

 assumptions made are that the residual inductances 

 and resistances of the "non-inductive" arms of the 

 bridge are invariable with frequency, and that the 

 resistance of the inductive arm varies as the square of 

 the frequency. S. Butterworth : Notes on earth 

 capacity effects in alternating-current bridges. An 

 earth capacity acting at any point in the arm of a 

 bridge may be replaced by two earth-impedances act- 

 ing at the ends of the arm together with an im- 

 pedance in series with the arm. By integration the 

 result is extended to small distributed capacities. 

 Two methods are given for the elimination of the 

 error due to the end impedances. Complete elimina- 

 tion can be obtained only by the use of shields con- 

 nected to the ends of the bridge arm. — F. G. H. 

 Lewis : An automatic voltage regulator. Automatic 

 voltage regulation to 015 per cent, may be obtained 

 for the operation of a photometric standard lamp on 

 an ordinary supply varying by 10 per cent, by placing 

 the lamp across an unbalanced Wheatstone bridge, of 

 which two opposite arms are composed of tungsten 

 filament lamps. The increase of resistance of these 

 lamps, when the outside voltage rises, causes a shift 

 in the balance such that the voltage across the photo- 

 meter lamp remains unaltered if the resistances in the 

 arms be properly proportioned. The power taken is 

 about forty times that used in the regulated circuit. — 

 A. S, Hemmy : The flow of viscous liquids through 

 slightly conical tubes, A formula is obtained by 

 neglecting terms containing the_ square of the 

 obliquity. Good agreement with viscosity found ex- 

 perimentally with tubes of differing degrees of coni- 

 cality is observed, 



Mineralogical Society, November i. — Dr, A, Hutchin- 

 son in the chair,— Prof. H, Hilton : The determina- 

 tion of the optic axes of a crystal from extinction- 

 angles. The problem of obtaining the positions of 

 the optic axes of a crystal from the extinction-direc- 

 tions on four known faces was discussed, and it was 

 shown from a purely geometrical point of view that 

 the solution is unique. Their position was also found 

 graphically as the "intersection in the gnomonic pro- 

 jection of two cubic curves, on which any number of 

 points can be obtained by the use of the ruler onlv.— 

 W. Campbell Smith : Some minerals from Leadhills. 

 Caledonite of pale blue colour and acicular habit has 

 been frequentlv described in the past as aurichalcite. 

 Examination of all available specimens of so-called 

 aurichalcite from this locality showed that all were 

 caledonite of this acicular habit. The optical proper- 

 ties were found to agree with those of caledonite of 

 the normal habit. It was shown that in caledonite 

 the plane of the optic axes is parallel to (010) and 

 the acute bisectrix is perpendicular to (100), and not 

 as stated in Dana and other text-books. Other 

 remarks referred to gold, linarite. minium, and the 

 rare mineral eosite.— Dr. J. Drugman : An example 

 of porphvrv-quartz from the Esterel Mountains 

 CFrance) twinned on the face (10T2). This twin-law 

 in quartz has previouslv been observed only by 

 O. Sella in 18x8, and has been regarded as doubtful. 

 An example of it has been found amongst the por- 

 phvritlc crystals in the "blue porphyry" of the 

 Esterel Mountains. A distinction is made between 

 the twins of low-temperature rhombohedral o-quartz 

 and those of hexagonal ^-auartz (stable at a tempera- 

 ture above 575° C,),— Dr, L. J, Spencer : Biographical 



