446 



NATURE 



[December i, 1921 



Journal of October 29, Prof. M. C. Potter, of New- 

 castle, develops his previous researches in which he 

 showed that the fermentation of cane-sugar by ^east 

 develops an electromotive force. He urges that during 

 the photosynthetical production of carbohydrates from 

 CO2 and water, electrical as well as thermal energy 

 becomes latent, which is liberated again when the 

 carbohydrate is decomposed, e.g. in muscular action, 

 when the E.M.F. developed is proportional to the 

 quantity of carbohydrate used. Similarly, from the 

 fact that the carbon dioxide bubbling off from fer- 

 menting sugar is ionised, he proposes that the CO2 

 coming from the tissues into the blood is in the same 

 state. Measurements of the E.M.F. of the body as a 

 whole gave very varying results. 



Anode rays produced by means of an anode com- 

 posed of powdered carbon mixed with a halogen salt 

 of the metal to be investigated, may, according to a 

 paper by Mr. G. P. Thomson in the November issue 

 of the Philosophical Magazine, be used successfully to 

 determine the isotopes which are present in lithium, 

 and to show that beryllium is apparently single, but 

 they cannot be used to settle the question for the other 

 alkali and alkaline earth elements. The method used 

 is that in which an electrostatic field of the order of 

 1000 volts per cm., and a magnetic field of the order 

 of 2000 gauss, act at right angles to the initial path 

 of the anode rays, and produce parabolas on a photo- 

 graphic plate. These parabolas show that lithium con- 

 sists of isotopes of atomic weights 6 and 7, but no 

 trace is shown in any of the experiments of doubly 

 charged or negatively charged metallic atoms. Para- 

 bolas due to the gas in the tube, e.g. carbon monoxide, 

 water, fluorine, and iodine, were also detected and 

 measured. 



Nos. I and 2, for March and June last, of Terres- 

 trial Magnetism and Electricity have been com- 

 bined. Nearly half the combined issue is occupied 

 by a paper by the editor. Dr. L. A. Bauer, on measure- 

 ments of the electric and magnetic activity of the sun 

 and the earth and interpretations. Various measures 

 of solar activity based on areas of sun-spots, promin- 

 ences, and faculae are considered and illustrated 

 graphically. Bidlingmaier's formula for the earth's 

 magnetic activity is criticised adversely, and other 

 measures proposed. The absolute daily range of the 

 horizontal force finds most favour with Dr. Bauer. A 

 deduction from observations made on board the sur- 

 veying ship Carnegie, which if confirmed would be of 

 fundamental importance, is that the diurnal variation 

 of atmospheric electricity potential gradient at sea 

 consists chiefly of a single wave, which progresses ac- 

 cording to universal — not local — time, the minimum 

 occurring about 4 a.m., the maximum about 7 p.m. 

 Greenwich civil time, A second paper of consider- 

 able interest is an abstract in English of a memoir 

 by Mr. L. Steiner, presented to the Hungarian 

 Academy of Sciences in January last, discussing "a 

 special form of magnetic disturbances " shown by 

 the O'Gyalla magnetograms of the years 1906-17. 

 These are of the "bay" type, but the changes in 

 the several elements differ in phase, so that the 



NO. 2718, VOL. 108] 



force vector rotates. Steiner finds that the vector 

 in the horizontal plane usually rotates clockwise in 

 the morning hours and anti-clockwise in the after- 

 noon. His results appear in general agreement with 

 those derived some years ago from disturbances at 

 Greenwich by Mr. R. B. Sangster, of whose work 

 he seems unaware. There is a portrait and obituary 

 notice of the late Dr. E. Leyst, of Moscow, a 

 voluminous writer on terrestrial magnetism. 



We have received two recent issues of the Spanish 1 

 popular scientific weekly Ihirica, which follows ■ 

 somewhat in its make-up the French La Nature. It 

 contains scientific notes from Spanish and Latin- ■ 

 American sources and brief, interesting articles on 

 general scientific subjects. The two issues before 

 us contain a description of the radio-therapeutic 

 laboratory at Granada University and of the bio- , 

 chemical section of the Faculty of Sciences at Sara- 

 gossa ; an account of the excavations carried out in 

 1920 at AUseda (Cdceres) and the discovery of 

 Phoenician relics ; also a description of discoveries 

 dating back to the Carthaginian age in Spain (at the 

 Tutugi necropolis), as well as interesting notes culled 

 from foreign sources. This publication should form 

 a valuable medium for the advertising of British 

 scientific instruments and products in Spain and Por- 

 tugal. The magazine is published in two editions (a 

 cheap edition, and one on special laid paper), the 

 address of the publishers being Apartado 9, Tortosa. 



At a meeting of the Newconien Society held at 

 Caxton Hall, Westminster, on November 16, a paper 

 was read by Mr. C. F. Dendy-Marshall on "The 

 Liverpool and Manchester Railway." Though built 

 a few years later than the Stockton and Darlington 

 Railway, the Liverpool and Manchester was the first 

 considerable enterprise in railway engineering, and 

 the date of its formal opening, September 15, 1830, 

 may be regarded as the inauguration of the railway 

 systems of the world. On that day eight trains left 

 Liverpool drawn by eight of Stephenson's engines, 

 among the drivers being George Stephenson, Robert 

 Stephenson, Joseph Locke, Thomas Longridge 

 Gooch, and Frederick Swanwick. The famous 

 trial when Stephenson's "Rocket" beat the 

 "Novelty," "Perseverance," and "Sans Pareil," had 

 taken place a year before, October 6, 1829. Costing 

 about 8oo,oooL, the line was thirty-one miles long and 

 had a double track throughout. Just as Boulton and 

 Watts's works at Birmingham became the training- 

 ground of the early mechanical engineers, so the 

 Liverpool and Manchester Railway was the school in 

 which many of the greatest railway engineers gained 

 their first experience. Mr. Dendy-Marshall not only 

 gave much interesting information regarding the line, 

 but he exhibited a fine collection of prints and illus- 

 trations, drawings, medals, china, etc., all of which 

 added greatly to the interest of his paper. ^ 



We have received from Messrs. Watson and Sons 

 (Parker Street, Kingsway, W.C.2) their Bulletins 

 Nos. 37 S and 40 S. The former gives particulars of 

 the "Canny Ryall " portable diathermy apparatus. 



