July 21, 192 1] 



NATURE 



671 



Morocco. — S. Stefanescu : The phylogenetic and evolu- 

 tive value of the lamellar formulae of the last molars, 

 M|, Mf, Mg, of mastodons and elephants. — C. 

 Stormer : The aurora borealis of May 13, 1920. 

 Simultaneous photographs from pairs of stations 

 formed a basis for calculating the heights of various 

 points of the aurora. The distances from the earth 

 were between 192 and 470 kilometres. — E. Delcambre 

 and Ph. Schereschewsky : A new method for predicting 

 barometric variations. — A. Guilliermond : The micro- 

 somes and the lipoid formations of the plant cell. 

 The microsomes appear to be simple products of cell 

 metabolism. They are usually constituted by lipoids, 

 sometimes with neutral fats. Hence the terms micro- 

 some and spherome are unsuitable, and should be re- 

 placed by lipoid granulations. — E. Couvreur and P. 

 Chosson : The mode of action of plant rennets. — S. 

 Tchahotine : The microscopic radiopuncture of mobile 

 cells.— J. Lopez-Lomba and P. Portier : The physio- 

 logical mechanism of the resistance of the rabbit to 

 avitaminosis. Adult rabbits resist indefinitely a diet 

 sterilised at a high temperature; this appears to be 

 due to the bacteria which normally develop in the 

 lymphoid tissue, these providing the vitamins missing 

 from the food.— A. Dehorne : The mechanism of 

 somatic metaphase and anaphase, and its consequences 

 in Corethra plnmicornis. — A. Weber : Grafts of the 

 eggs of tritons in the peritoneal cavitv of sala- 

 manders.— A. Labbe : The evolutive cycle of Dunaliella 

 salina. — Mile. Lucienne Dehorne : Conditions of the 

 development of the durable egg in Phyllooods. — A. Ch. 

 Hollande : The presence of a new Spirochastoid, Cristi- 

 spirella caviae, with well-developed undulating mem- 

 brane, in the intestine of the guinea-pig. — P. Cour- 

 mont, A. Rochain, and F. Laupin : The purification 

 from bacteria and the coli bacillus in the course of 

 treatment of sewage by the activated sludge method. 



Rome. 



Reale Accademia nazionale dei Lincei, April 17.— 

 F. D'Ovidio, president, in the chair. — Papers bv 

 fellows :— C. Segre : Principal lines of a surface of S5 

 and a characteristic property of Veronese's surfaces, ii. 

 In Safe+i, when fe is even the infinitesimal order of 

 contiguity of two Sfe's is always odd. — F. Severl : 

 Theory of simple integrals of first species belonging 

 to an algebraic surface, iii. Every Abelian function 

 of the bodv "omega" is a holomorphic or mero- 

 morphic function of y about every value which is 

 neither singular nor critical. — A. Abetti : Applications 

 of vectorial calculus to astronomv. Two formulae are 

 obtained agreeing with those of Chauvenet for the 

 annual precession in longitude. — A. Angeli (fellow) and 

 A. Pieroni : A work by Prof. E. Salkowski on 

 melanin. --Papers communicated through a fellow :— 

 O. Lazzarino : Limiting motions of a semi-rigid body 

 about a fixed point under no forces. A continuation 

 of previous work on motion of a solid with cavities 

 containing viscous liquid. The ultimate motion is 

 what one would necessarily expect. — M. Pascal : 

 Superficial circulation, iii. Expressions for the force 

 of sustentation in the case of a fluid current in space. 

 The expressions for the force components of sustenta- 

 tion represent a generalisation of the ordinary hydro- 

 dynamical problem from two- to three-dimensional 

 motions. — E. G. Togliatti : Three-dimensional varieties 

 of fourth order which are loci of at least "infinity 

 squared " straight lines, i. — L. Pieragnoli : Pathology 

 of Pliocene and post-Pliocene mammals of Tuscany. 

 Specimens in the museum at Florence of Equus stenonis, 

 E. caballus, Cervus (sp.). Rhinoceros etruscus, and 

 Bison priseus show various lesions, but without traces 

 "of tuberculosis except in one bone of Cervus. The 



NO. 2699, VOL. 107] 



specimens in question mostly came from Valdarno. 

 The author compares these results with the remains 

 from Equi, in which tuberculosis was prevalent in 

 Ursus spelaeus, while the lesions of the Florentine 

 remains were there lacking. 



May 2. — V. Volterra, vice-president, in the chair. — 

 Papers by fellows: — A. Angeli: "Various observa- 

 tions " (action of pyridin on nitric ethers, coagulation 

 of solutions of nitro-cellulose, production of certain 

 sparks, experiments to show explosive properties of 

 certain nitro-derivatives). — C. De Stefani : Ligurian 

 fossil sponges, vi. : Internal strata of the western 

 crystalline zone (Costa di Sant' Alberto, Voltri Station, 

 Mele, Campo Ligure). — L. De Marchi : Vertical tem- 

 perature gradient in the atmosphere. A modification 

 of the usual thermodynamic formula in order to meet 

 certain objections. — G. Fubini : Projective theory of 

 congruences W. — F. Severi : Integrals of first species, 

 iv. — G. Bruni : A new process for the cold vulcanisa- 

 tion of rubber. The specification refers to the process 

 of generating the thiocarbanilide or other accelerator 

 by a chemical reaction within the mass of rubber to be 

 vulcanised instead of adding it in its final form. The 

 author also cites an analogous process described in 

 America by Scott and Bedford, who, however, use 

 another accelerator. — In the next paper, communi- 

 cated by Bruni, E. Romani shows that bisulphide of 

 thiouramine is capable of vulcanising rubber even 

 without the addition of free sulphur, a result not 

 recorded by the American writers. — Prof. Volterra 

 announced the death on April 16 of Prof. Gino- 

 Galeotti. 



Lahore. 

 Philosophical Society, October 15, 1920.— Dr. B. 

 Sahni, president, in the chair.— G. S. D. Ahluwalia : 

 The prevention and cure of plant diseases. 



November 24, 1920. — Dr. B. Sahni, president, in 

 the chair.— C. V. Raman : Ripp'es. 



December 13, 1920. — Dr. B. Sahni, president, in 

 the chair. — M. L. Bhatia : Some observations on the 

 Lahore centipedes. 



March 14, 192 1. — Dr. B. Sahni, president, in the 

 chair. — N. A. Yajnik and D. R. Sarma : Some inves- 

 tigations on indigo textile hydrosulphite vat-dyeing. As 

 a result of careful investigations it was found that indigo 

 can be best reduced by hydrosulphite NF in alkaline 

 medium ranging from o-i per cent, to 5 per cent. 

 NaOH in the ratio of i : 1-5 by weight. Unfavour- 

 able influence of the slight excess of free alkali in the 

 vat can be to a great extent controlled by the addition 

 of acetic acid, boracic acid, etc., and it was found 

 that very small quantities (up to about i per cent.) of 

 these gave greater absorption coefficient and better 

 shades. The nature of the action is not yet clearly 

 understood, but the effect of these additions is likely 

 to be of great technical importance. 



March 21. — Dr. B. Sahni, president, in the chair. — 



A. Chandra : Chemical constitution and optical 

 activity, with special reference to camphor-amide 

 derivatives.— B. K. Singh and M. Singh : 1:4- 

 Naphthylene bisiminocamphor. This substance pos- 

 sesses the highest rotatory power hitherto observed. — 



B. Sahni : The cuticular structure of Glossopteris 

 angiistifoUa, Brongn. From the form and venation 

 alone it is so diflicult to distinguish G. indica, 

 Schimp., and G. angustifolia, Brongn., that the 

 specific distinctness of the two has been doubted. The 

 structure of the cuticle of G. indica was described by 

 Zeiller in 1896; that of G. angustifolia now inves- 

 tigated shows well-marked differences which help tO' 

 establish the two forms as distinct species. 



May 19. — Dr. B. Sahni, president, in the chair. — 

 B. I. Das : Sidelights on modern science from the 



