June 23, 1921] 



NATURE 



543 



Laevopimaric acid is readily isomerised by heat, acetic, 

 and hydrochloric acids, whilst the dextro-acid is un- 

 affected. With hydrochloric acid the change is effected 

 in two stages, first into a-pimarabietic acid, and this 

 into the stable form, /8-pimarabietic acid. The latter 

 acid has been isolated and identified with the pure 

 abietic acid isolated by Schultz.— N. A. Barbieri : 

 Anatomical study on the aretinal termination of the 

 optic nerv-e in the animal series. Results of anatomical 

 analysis are given which, in the author's opinion, 

 prove the complete and reciprocal independence of the 

 retina and the optic nerve in animals. This would 

 suggest the possibility of surgical intervention in the 

 posterior chamber of the eye. — R. Noel : Some func- 

 tional attitudes of the chondriome of the hepatic cell. — 

 L. M. Betances : Cells with eosinophil granulations of 

 histioid origin in the blood circulating in the embryo. — 

 C. Gorini : Sudden physiolojrical mutations in lactic 

 ferments by divergent individuals. — M. Dervieux : 

 Method of individual diagnosis of the blood and of 

 sperm. .\ serum is prepared bv sensitising' a rabbit 

 bv injections of human sperm. This serum gives pre- 

 cipitations with human sperm and human blood, and 

 various applications in diagnosis are suggested. By 

 its means it can be determined whether a given sample 

 of blood is that of a man or a woman. — W. 

 Kopaczewski : Food anaphylaxv and its therapeutics. 

 In cases where horse flesh has been taken as food, or 

 where infants have been nourished on the milk of the 

 horse, exceptionallv grave symptoms have been ob- 

 served to follow the injection of antidiphtheric serum 

 produced through the horse. It would appear to be 

 probable that the bodv can be sensitised to a serum bv 

 food. — R. Bayeux : The use of oxygen mixed with 

 carbon dioxide in subcutaneous injections, as a treat- 

 ment of mountain sickness and certain toxic dyspnceia. 



R. Sazerac and C. Levaditi : The action of bismuth 



on svphilis and on the Nagana trypanosome. Potass- 

 ium tartarobismuthate exerts a marked curative action 

 on experimental syohilis of the rabbit and on the 

 spontaneous spirillosis of the same animal. The cura- 

 tive effects on Nagana tryoanosomiasis, although clear, 

 are inferior to th<' two above mentioned. 



Books Received. 



British Museum (Natural History). British Ant- 

 arctic (Terra Nova) Expedition, iqio. Natural His- 

 torv Report. Zoologv, vol. iii.. No. 9, Insecta. 

 Part i. : Collembola. Bv Prof. George H. Carpenter. 

 Part ii. : Mallophaga. ' By James Waterston. Pp. 

 259-72 + 1 plate. (London : British Museum (Natural 

 History).) 2^. 6d. 



Proceedings of the Cambridge Philosophical Society. 

 Vol. XX., part iii. (Lent Term, 192 1.) Pp. 285-397. 

 (Cambridge : At the University Press.) 85. 6d. net. 



Traite de Dynamique. By Jean d'.Alembert. (Les 

 Maitres de la Pensee scientifique.) No. i. Pp. xl+ 

 102. No. ii. Pp. 187. (Paris : Gauthier-Villars et 

 Cie.) 



Les Mouvements des Vegetaux. Du Reveil et du 

 Sommeil des Plantes. By Rene Dutrochet. (Les 

 Maitres de la Pensee scientifique.) Pp. viii+121. 

 (Paris : Gauthier-Villars et Cie.) 



Contributions to West Australian Botany. Part iii.. 

 Additions and Notes to the Flora of Extra-Tropical 

 West Australia. By C. H. Ostenfeld. Pp. 144+ 

 xii plates. (Kobenhavn : A. F. Host and Son.) 



The Analvsis of Mind. By Bertran'd Russell. 

 (Library of ' Philosophy.) Pp. 310. (London: G. 

 NO. 2695, VOL. 107] 



Allen and Unwin, Ltd. ; New York : The Macmillan 

 Co.) i6s. net. 



Mediaeval Contributions to Modern Civilisation : A 

 Series of Lectures delivered at King's College, Uni- 

 versitv of London. Edited by Prof. F. J. C. Hearn- 

 shaw.' Pp. 268. (London and Sydney : G. G. Harrap 

 and Co., Ltd.) 10s. 6d. net. 



A Manual of Seismology. By Dr. Charles Davi- 

 son. (Cambridge Geological Series.) Pp. xii+256. 

 (Cambridge: At the University Press.) 21s. net. 



Studies on Arthropoda. By Dr. H. J. Hansen. 

 No. I. Pp. 80+ iv plates. (Copenhagen and London : 

 Gyldendalske Boghandel.) 



A History of Persia. By Brig. Gen. Sir Percy 

 Sykes. (In 2 vols.) Second edition. Vol. i. Pp. 

 xxviii+563. Vol. ii. Pp. xx+594. (London : Mac- 

 millan and Co., Ltd.) 70s. net. 



Greenwich Catalogue of Stars for 1910-0. Part i : 

 Fundamental Stars. Part 2 : Stars in the Zone, 

 + 240° to +320°. From Observations with the 

 Transit Circle made at the Royal Observatory, Green- 

 wich, 1906-1914, under the Direction of Sir Frank W. 

 Dyson. Pp. xvii+Axvii+A32 + Bxxxvii + B249. (Lon- 

 don : H.M. Stationery Office.) 



Condensed Description of the Manufacture of Beet 

 Sugar. By Dr. Franz Murke. Pp. v+175. (New 

 York : J. Wiley and Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman 

 and Hall, Ltd.) 155. net. 



Analvses and Energv Values of Foods. Bv Dr. 

 R. H.' A. Plimmer. ' Pp. 255. (London : H.M. 

 Stationery Office.) 6s. net. 



A Dictionary of Applied Chemistry. By Sir Edward 

 Thorpe. Vol.' ii. : Calculi to Explosion. Revised and 

 enlarged edition. Pp. viii+717. (London : Long- 

 mans, Green and Co.) 60s. net. 



Koninklijk Nederlandsch Meteorologisch Instituut. 

 No. 106. Ergebnisse Aerologischer Beobachtungen. 

 No. 7, 1918. Pp. x+76. No. no. Oceanographische 

 en Meteorologische \\'aarnemingen in den Atlan- 

 tischen Oceaan, December, Januari, Februari, 1870- 

 1914. Pp. ix+217. (Utrecht: Kemink & Zoon.) 

 7 florins. 



Publications of the Astronomical Laboratory at 

 Groningen. No. 30. Pp. vi+iio. No. 31. Pp. iii+ 

 83+2 plates. (Groningen : Hoitsema Bros.) 



Annalen van de Sterrewacht te Leiden. Deel X., 

 Eerste Stuk. Beobachtungen am Meridiankreis in 

 den Jahren 1899-1902 und Deren Bearbeitung. Pp. 

 A112+111. Bv Dr. E. F. van de Sande Bakhuyzen 

 and Dr. A. Pannekoek. Deel XII., Eerste Stuk. 

 Outlines of a New Mathematical Theorv of Jupiter's 

 Satellites. Bv W. de Sitter. Pp. 53. Deel XII., 

 Tweede Stuk. Analvtical and Numerical Theory of 

 the Motions of the Orbital Planes of Jupiter's Satel- 

 lites. Secular Terms. By Dr. A. J. Leckie. Pp. 

 iii+ioo. (Leyden.) 



Arabian Medicine : Being the Fitzpatrick Lectures 

 delivered at the College of Physicians in November, 

 19 19, and November, 1920. JSy Prof. Edward G. 

 Browne. Pp. viii+138. (Cambridge: At the Uni- 

 versity Press.) 12s. net. 



Prehistory. A Studv of Early Cultures in Europe 

 and the Mediterranean Basin. ' Bv M. C. Burkitt. 

 Pp. xx+438. (Cambridge : At the University Press.) 

 355. net. 



The Principles of Immunologv. By Prof. Howard 

 T. Karsner and Dr. Enrique E. Ecken. Pp. xvii+ 

 309+2 plates. (London : J. B. Lippincott Co.) 21s. 

 net. 



