94 



NATURE 



[March 17, 192 1 



ber 20, 1920, the production was 60 to 70 litres of 

 liquid ammonia per hour, or 125 tons per day. A 

 compressor has now been built capable of compressing 

 700 cubic metres of the gas mixture per hour to 

 900 atmospheres, equivalent to 5 tons of anhydrous 

 ammonia per day.— A. Portevin : The electrical re- 

 sistance of the nickel-steels. A comparison of" the 

 resistances of a series of nickel-steels published by 

 the author in 1909 with the measurements given later 

 by O. Boudouard for a similar series shows that the 

 figures are, in general, concordant, except in certain 

 alloys which present large differences. It is now shown 

 that the heat treatment is not without influence on 

 the resistance, the same bar giving different figures 

 according as it was allowed to cool down from 

 1000° C. in four hours or three days. — A. Damiens : 

 Contribution to the study of the system iodine- 

 tellurium. Study of the evaporation. The results 

 confirm the conclusions given in earlier com- 

 munications based on thermal or metallographic 

 analysis. No evidence of the existence of a tellurium 

 sub-iodide was obtained. — M. Chopin : Relations 

 between the mechanical properties of dough and the 

 lightness of the bread produced from it. — J. Bougault 

 and P. Robin : The iodamidines. Benziodamidine 

 undergoes an unexpected reaction when treated with 

 acetic anhydride, a compound of the latter with 

 benzdi-iodamidine being produced. This is stable in 

 air, but is instantly decomposed bv water with libera- 

 tion of iodine. — A. Guebhard : The orthogonality of 

 the systems of ridges of the earth's crust. — R. 

 Chudeau : The ancient hydrography of the Sahara. — 

 L. Cayeux : The idea of a general submarine meta- 

 morphism deduced from the alteration of the Jurassic 

 oolitic iron minerals, contemporary with their deposit. 

 — P. Glangeaud : The earthquake of October 3, 1920, 

 which affected a large part of the volcanic regions of 

 the Central Massif. This earthquake was not severe; 

 the second shock, at 4.57 a.m., woke the population 

 and caused oscillations of walls and furniture and the 

 ringing of church bells, but little damage resulted. 

 Earlier seismic disturbances (June to December, 1913) 

 in the same region are recalled, and another, more 

 severe, in August, 1892.— P. N6gris : The subsidence 

 of the Mediterranean coasts of France. — A. Briquet : 

 The lowlands of Picardy south of the Somme. — J. 

 Pavillard : The reproduction of Chaetoceros Eibenii. — 

 P. Delauney : New researches concerning' the extrac- 

 tion of the glucosides in some indigenous orchids ; the 

 identification of these glucosides with loroglossin. 

 This glucoside has been shown to be present in 

 Cephalanthera grandi flora, Ophrys apifera, and Orchis 

 bifolia. Its identity with the loroglossirt extracted by 

 Bourquelot and Bridel from Loroglossum hircinum 

 was proved by direct comparison of the melting 

 points and by its reactions. — M. MoUiard : The terato- 

 logical phenomena occurring in the fioral apparatus 

 of the carrot as the result of injuries.^ — H. Harle : A 

 double curve representing verv exactly sphvgmometric 

 oscillations. — MM. Chaffard, P. Brodin, and Grigaut : 

 The arrest of uric acid in the liver. During digestion 

 a proportion up to 50 per cent, of the uric acid enter- 

 ing by the portal vein is retained bv the liver. If the 

 animal is fasting, the proportion of uric acid in the 

 blood entering and leaving the liver is unaltered. — 

 A. Dehorne : The meiotic process in the spermato- 

 genesis of the salamander and the tiiton. — C. Champy : 

 The correlations between the male sexual characters 

 and the various elements of the testicle in amphibians. 

 Study of Triton alpestris.^^ Anna. Drzewina and G. 

 Bohn : Variations of susceptibility to harmful agents 

 with the number of animals treated. — E. Rabaud : 

 Variations in instinct and th'eir production at will in 

 various spiders. — P. Lesne : A breeding-ground of 

 NO. 2681, VOL. 107] 



the fruit-fly {Ceratitis capitata) in the neighbourhood 

 of Paris. In 1900, 1906, 1914, and 1919 the larvae of 

 Ceratitis were found in late pears at Asnieres and 

 Courbevoie, from which it would appear that this 

 insect, originating in tropical countries, has become 

 acclimatised near Paris. — E. Kayser : The influence of 

 luminous radiations on azobacter. — H. Spahlinger : 

 The treatment of human tuberculosis. — M. Rappin : 

 Vaccination in tuberculosis. 



Washington, D.C. 

 National Academy of Sciences (Proceedings, vol. vi.. 

 No. 6, June, 1920).— R. Pearl and L. J. Reed : The 

 rate of growth of the population of the United States 

 since 1790 and its mathematical representation. 

 Parabolic, logarithmic, and exponential curves of 

 population are discussed, the last giving a particularly 

 close fit and, presumably, being better suited to predic- 

 tion by extrapolation.— A. G. Webster : The Springfield 

 rifle and the Leduc formula. The rifle gives results 

 in accordance with the formula. — T. B. Johnson, 

 A. J. Hill, and E. B. Kelsey : Alkyl amides of iso- 

 thiocyanacetic acid. A report of a practical method 

 of synthesis by which anilides of isothiocyanacetic 

 acid may be obtained. It seems safe to conclude that 

 anv tsothiocyanate formed by interaction of potassium 

 thiocyanate with a secondary chloroacetanilide will 

 be unstable. — H. Shapley : Studies of magnitudes in 

 star clusters. XI. : Frequency curves of the absolute 

 magnitude and colour index for 1152 giant stars. The 

 clusters the stars of which are included in the dis- 

 cussion of absolute magnitude are Messier 3, 5, ti, 

 i3« 15' 3O' ^nd 68 and N.G.C. 4147 and 7006. The 

 present study is limited to stars brighter than zero 

 magnitude. For the luminosity curves it is restricted 

 to Messier 3, 11, and 13. The results have many 

 ooints of interest.— T. H. Gronwall : The distortion 

 in conformal mapping when the second coeflficient in 

 the mapping function has an assigned value. — A. G. 

 Webster : The connection of the snecific heats with 

 the equation of state of a gas. A critical discussion of 

 the statement that if a fluid obeys a characteristic 

 equation of the form V = F (P/T), the specific heats 

 are independent of the pressure. — F. E. Bartell : 

 Anomalous osmose. Anomalous pressures are those 

 which do not conform to the gas law; they may be 

 greater or less than the normal values, and abnor- 

 mality mav be so great as to result in so-called 

 negative osmose. Hypotheses as to the electrical 

 states which may be associated with the membrane 

 system and may account for abnormal osmotic 

 effects are discussed.- A. L. Foley : A photographic 

 method of finding the instantaneous velocity of sound- 

 waves at points near the source. The variation of 

 the velocity from 666 metres per second to 380 metres 

 is observed.— T. H. Gronwall : Conformal mapping of 

 a family of real conies on another.^S. Wright : The 

 relative importance of heredity and environment in 

 determining the piebald pattern of guinea-pigs. A 

 detailed analysis of an extensive series of experiments 

 carried on by the Bureau of Animal Industry since 

 1906. In the control stock, variations in pattern are 

 determined to about 42 per cent, by heredity and 

 58 per cent, by irregularity in development, leaving 

 nothing for tangible environmental factors. In the 

 inbred family the corresponding fieures are 3 per cent, 

 for heredity, 5 per cent, for tangible environment, and 

 02 per cent, for irregularity in development. The 

 fi;?ures for the mean square deviations check well 

 with theory. — E. W. Berry : Fossil plants from t"he 

 Late Cretaceous of Tennessee. The present dis- 

 coveries disclose the remains of 124 species complete 

 enough for descriptive purposes, of which 86 are new 

 to science. 



