62 



NATURE 



[March io, 192 i 



formed in Nature. The conclusions of Shibata and of 

 Shibata and Kasiwagi concerning the constitution of 

 the blue anthocyan pigments in Howers are compared 

 with those of Willstiitter and Everest. Important 

 differences exist between the complex salts formed 

 by the anthocyan pigments with the salts of such 

 metals as iron and the blue pigments present in 

 flowers. The blue plant pigments investigated are 

 probably comparable to the alkali phenolates of the 

 rtavonois. In plant synthesis the flavonols are prob- 

 ably first formed, and from them the anthocyans. 



Zoological Society, February 22. — Sir S. F. Harmer, 

 vice-president, in the chair. — A. Mallock : Colour- 

 production in relation to the coloured feathers of 

 birds. — E. D, Jones : Descriptions of new moths from 

 South-East Brazil.— Dr. J. Stephenson : The morphology, 

 classification, and zoogeography of the Indian Oligo- 

 chaeta. — Dr. R. Broom : The structure of the reptilian 

 tarsus. 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, February 7. — Prof. F. O. Bower, 

 president", in the chair. — T. B. Franklin : The relation 

 of the soil colloids to the conductivity of the soil. 

 Soil conductivity can be measured qualitatively by 

 the value R4/R0, where R4 and R, are the tempera- 

 ture ranges at the 4-in. depth and at the surface. 

 The effects of weather changes — rain, snow, frost, 

 surface mulch, evaporation, water content, and period 

 — on R4/R0 have been discussed in a previous paper, 

 and if these changes are all eliminated a constant 

 value for the ratio should be obtained in any soil. 

 Experiments with sand and clay loam showed that 

 this constant value was obtained in sand, but not in 

 clav loam ; in the latter soil it varies with changes 

 of the mean soil temperature. Thus when all other 

 weather changes had been eliminated, but the mean 

 soil temperature varied between 10° C. and 22° C, 

 R4/R, for sand lav between 050 and 052, while for 

 clay loam it lay between 037 and 045. Moreover, 

 ignited clav loam behaved exactly like sand, show- 

 ing that the cause of the variation was destroyed by 

 ignition ; it is suggested that the colloidal clay is the 

 cause of this temperature coefficient of conductivity in 

 clay soil. — J. M. Wordie : (i) The Shackleton .Antarctic 

 Expedition of 19 14-17 : Bathymetrical observations in 

 the Weddell Sea. (2) The natural history of pack-ice 

 as observed in the Weddell Sea, 1914 to .April, iqi6. 

 The oceanographical results of the Shnckleton .Antarctic 

 Expedition of 1914-17 are given. The pack-ice was 

 studied from the time that it formed and imprisoned 

 the Endurance in January, 191.^, until it finally melted 

 in April, 1916, 900 miles farther north. Prominence 

 is given to the fact that the pack is continually in 

 motion, to the orcssure phenomena which are the 

 result, and to the changes, particularly as regards 

 salinity, which take place as the floes become older. 

 The movement of the ice was governed bv the wind, 

 which drove the pack westwards round the Antarctic 

 continent and outwards to lower latitudes. Between 

 the Arctic and the .Antarctic pack-ice there was 

 apparently no difference except that of age ; Antarctic 

 floes were seldom more than two vears old. but other- 

 wise they resembled the ice of the polar basin, and 

 even the so-called " palaeocrvstic ice." The various 

 types of ice and pressure and the present-day termino- 

 logy were illustrated bv numerous photof^raphs. The 

 long series of soundings made in the Weddell S-^a 

 supplement those made by Dr. Bruce in the Scotia. 

 A new and unexoected feature was the discovery in 

 the south-west of a shallow area with depths about 

 200 fathoms over a distance of nearly 300 miles. The 

 abnormal depth of the continental shelf at this place 

 and elsewhere in the Antarctic was reijarded as the 

 result of earth-movement. The soundings and drift 



NO. 2680, VOL. 107] 



of the ice practically settled the vexed question of 

 Morrell's Land, the existence of which is now con- 

 sidered highly improbable. A description is given 

 of the deep-sea deposits of the Weddell Sea ; ... 

 form the only data for deducing the geological struc- 

 ture of the ice-covered Coats Land. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, February i4.^M. Georges 

 Lemoine in the chair. — H. Le Chatelier : Saline double 

 decompositions and their graphical representation. .\ 

 description of a method of plotting a system of 

 a pair of salts, taken in molecular proportions, and 

 the pair resulting- from their mutual decomposition 

 in a square. The system 



NaNO3+NH4Cl = NH4N03+NaCl 



is given as an illustration, the recent data of \|. 

 Rengade being used. — L. Lecornu : The varied move- 

 ment of fluids. — M. Louis Joubin was elected a 

 member of the section of anatomy and zoology in 

 succession to the late M. Yves Delage.^ — G. Giraud : 

 .'\utomorph functions.— T. Varopoulos : Some points 

 in the theory of numbers. — A. Egnell : The deter- 

 mination of congruences of right lines the mean plane 

 of which is given. — H. Villat : The cyclic movements 

 of a fluid limited by a wall and containing a solid. — 

 P. Ravigneaux : Graphical method for the study of 

 epicyclic trains. — B. Gambier : Articulate systems, 

 deformable or transformable. — E. (Ehmichen : A 

 series of flights with a free helicopter carried out 

 on January 15, 28, and 29, 192 1. About one-fifth of 

 the total dead-weight was carried by a small hydrogen 

 balloon, and the apparatus was lifted from 05 to 

 3 metres from the ground and maintained in equili- 

 brium. Landing was easy. — C. Fremont : The 

 fragility of some welded steel 'joints. .\s ordinarily 

 carried out, electrically welded steel is weaker at the 

 join than in the body of the metal, and this is due to 

 the inclusion of oxide. If sufficient pressure is applied 

 during welding to squeeze out some molten metal this 

 source of weakness is removed, but there is still ;i 

 weak blue zone some distance away from the weld. — 

 J. Guillaume : Observations of the sun made at the 

 Lyons Observatory during the fourth quarter of 1920. 

 Observations were possible on sixty-five days during 

 the quarter, and the results are grouped in three 

 tables, showing the number of spots, their distribu- 

 tion in latitude, and the distribution of the faculae in 

 latitude. — MM. P. Bernard and Barbe : An apparatus 

 for lighting and extinguishing public gas-lamps. .\ 

 description of an apparatus controlled by a slow 

 increase of pressure (about 3 in. of water) from the 

 gasworks. The cycle of three operations, lighting, 

 extinguishing, and resetting, is worked by three slow- 

 pressure waves.— MM. P. Jolibois, R. Bossuet, and 

 Chevry : Fractional precipitation. — R. Audubert : The 

 mechanism of the energy- exchanges in evaporation. 

 Evaporation is a discontinuous phenomenon. The 

 elementary quantum has a value near 10x10-" T, 

 ergs; it represents the work required to evaporate 

 a molecule, and can be expressed as a variation of 

 the superficial energy.— M. Barlot : The displacement 

 of metals in saline solutions. An experimental study 

 of the replacement of one metal by another in their 

 homogeneous layers. Four examples of the effects 

 produced are illustrated.— C. Matignon : ^ Reactions 

 producing magnesium.— Mile. Jeanne Levy : Some 

 retropinacolic transpositions. A discussion of the 

 causes of the transposition represented by 

 CR,.CH(OH).R'^CR, = CRR'. 

 —Mile. A. Roux and J. Martinet: The catalytic r(5Je 

 of mercury in the sulphonation of anthraquinone. — 

 MM. M. tiffeneau and Orekhoff : The pinacolic nature 



