July 28, 192 1] 



NATURE 



loz 



of the fluvial steps and river-banks. — R. Soueges : The 

 embryogeny of the Labiates. Development of the 

 embryo in Glechoma hederacea and in Lamium fur- 

 pureiim. — P. E. Pinoy : The germination of the spores, 

 the nutrition, and the sexuality of the Myxomycetes. 

 — Mme. Z. Gruzewska : The mucilaginous substances 

 of Laminaria flexicauiis. Nitrogen does not appear to 

 be an essential constituent of the mucilage ; hydro- 

 lysis is slow, the sugar formed being glucose or 

 galactose. — G. Bertrand and R. Vladesco : The varia- 

 tion in the proportion of zinc in the organism of the 

 rabbit during growth. The proportion of zinc con- 

 tained in the entire body of the rabbit is a maximum 

 at birth, diminishes during the period of lactation, 

 and then, after the twenty-fifth day, on weaning, the 

 zinc increases rapidly.— H. Bierry, F. Rathery, and 

 Mile. Levina : The proteid sugar in cancerous sub- 

 jects. The amounts of free sugar and proteid sugar 

 in the blood-plasma of ten cancerous subjects have been 

 determined. The proteid sugar is from twice to four 

 times the normal amount. — M. Aron : The existence 

 and r6le of an endocrinian tissue in the testicle of 

 some Batrachians.— C. Perez : A new Ceponian, 

 Onychocepon harpax, a branchial parasite of Pinno- 

 theres. — H. Faes and M. Staehelin : The resistance of 

 the adult cockchafer to low and high temperatures. 

 The adult cockchafer can be submitted to a tempera- 

 ture down to -8° C. and recover its activity on warm- 

 ing ; at lower temperatures it is killed. This insect 

 is more susceptible to high temperatures, since at 

 45° C. it is killed. 



Brussels. 



Royal Academy of Belgium, Januarj- 8. — M, A. Gravis 

 in the chair. — A. Demoulin : The equations of Moutard 

 with quadratic solutions. , 



February 5. — M. G. Ces^ro, president, in the chair. 

 — C. Julin : Report of the decisions taken at the meet- 

 ing of the section of biological oceanography of the 

 International Union of the Biolog-ical Sciences. — J. 

 Massart : The four steps of sexual conjugation. — P. 

 Stroobant : Complementary note on the nature of the 

 temporary stars. — C. S^rvais : A group of three tetra- 

 hedra. — P. Nolf : The action of chloroform on the 

 coagulation of the blood plasma of birds. Antithrom- 

 bosine is generally considered the physiological 

 antagonist of thrombine,, its function being to 

 neutralise this substance wherever it is in excess. 

 This is not found to be in accord with the experiments 

 described. It would appear that antithrombosine, in- 

 stead of neutralising thrombine, contributes to its 

 formation.— Th. de Donder : The gravific field. — 

 L. Godeaux : Researches on the cubic involutions be- 

 longing to an algebraic surface. — F. Carpentier : The 

 prothoracic endo-skeleton of Gryllotalpa vulgaris. 



March 5. — M. G. Ces^ro, president, in the chair. — 

 A. de Hemptinne : The law of Faraday, and the action 

 of the silent electric discharge on the metallic oxides. 

 An account of experiments in which the oxides of 

 lead, copper, nickel, and mercury are exposed to the 

 silent discharge in an atmosphere of hydrogen under 

 reduced pressures (10 to 30 mm.). — E. van Aubel : 

 (i) The atomic heat of the elements. According to a 

 recent communication by M. Felix Michaud, the 

 atomic heat should have the value 35 for a tempera- 

 ture corresponding to a maximum of the quotient 

 CA/T (where C is the specific heat. A the atomic 

 mass, and T the absolute temperature). An examina- 

 tion of the values for silicon, boron, rhombic sulphur, 

 thallium, magnesium, and chromium shows that these 

 substances are not in accordance with M. Michaud's 

 rule. (2) The density and refractive index of mixtures 

 of aldehyde with water or ethyl alcohol. — C. Servals : 

 Quadrics of revolution conjugated to a tetrahedron. — 



NO. 2700, VOL. 107] 



E. Henriot : The variation of the refractive index of 

 liquids with density. 



April 9. — M. G. Cesaro, president, in the chair. — G. 

 Cesaro : Some new forms of orpiment from Balia, 

 Asia Minor. — C. Servais : A curve of the third order 

 associated with a triangle. — P. Stroobant : Observation 

 of a shooting star at Brussels. 



May 3.— M. G. Cesaro, president, in the chair. — 

 M. Stuyvaert : An element analogous with a curvature 

 at a point external to a plane algebraic curve. — L. 

 Godeaux : Some linear congruences of skew cubics con- 

 sidered by M. Stuyvaert. — P. Bruylant* : The action of 

 the organo-magnesium compounds on glutaric nitrile. 

 This nitrile bdiaves as a pseudo-acid, and on acidify- 

 ing the reaction product nearly the whole of the 

 nitrile is recovered. There is a secondary reaction 

 producing a very small quantity of a ketone, prob- 

 ably C,H,.CO.(CHj),.CN.— H. Vanderllnden: The 

 gravific field of an electrified sphere. 



Rome. 



Reale Accademia nazionale dei Lincei, May 8. — 



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

 fellows : — C. Somigliana : Depth of glaciers, 1. 

 The equations of motion are found for a glacier, 

 and are identical in form with those of a viscous 

 liquid moving slowly in a tube inclined to the horizon. 

 This very natural conclusion is justified by the pro- 

 perty that the velocity of the glacier is considerably 

 less than the critical velocity at which fluid motion 

 becomes turbulent. It might be suggested, however, 

 to Prof. Somigliana that the cracking of the ice sub- 

 stitutes another effect limiting the applicability of the 



• equations in this case. — F. Severi : Integrals of first 

 species, v. — O. M. Corbino : Thermal analogue of 

 Oersted-Ampere effect, ii. — Papers communicated 

 through a fellow : — G. Abetti : Astronomical deter- 

 minations of latitudes and longitudes in Central Asia, 

 These were carried out in De Filippi's expedition in 

 1913-14 by the author and Comdr. A. Alessio, the 

 longitudes being referred to the meridian of the transit 

 circle of Dehra Dun by wireless signals from the 

 Trigonometrical Survey of India. The observations 

 were made at the following stations : In Baltistan at 

 Tolti, Wazul Hadur, Scardu, and Cirghil ; in Ladak at 

 Lamairu and Leh ; in Caracorum at Depsang and the 

 front of the Rimu glacier (altitude 4912 metres); and 

 in Turkestan at Sughet Carol, J^rcand, and C^shgar. 

 — C. Perrier : Presence of zinc in the malachite of 

 Chessy. A comparison of malachite and the new 

 mineral rosasite is given. — C. Gorini : Proteolitic 

 activity of lactic ferments, v. Phenomena of rapid 

 physiological mutation. — D. Maestrini : Enzymes, vi. 

 Protective power of starches and other substances on 

 phthalin in acid media. — J. Peres: "Transformations 

 qui conservent la composition." A sequel to the 

 author's previous contributions in the .Annales de 

 I'Ecole normale superieure and Bulletin de la Societe 

 tnathematique de France, published in 19 19. 



Sydney. 

 Royal Society of New South Wales, June i. — Mr. 

 E. C. Andrews, president, in the chair. — A. R. 

 Penfold : The occurrence of a new phenol in the 

 essential oils of the Leptospermum. In the course 

 of the examination of the essential oils obtained from 

 Leptospermum flavescens growing in various parts of 

 New South Wales, a phenolic body was found to occur 

 in amounts varying from 075 to 8 per cent., the latter 

 being obtained from material growing in the Lane 

 Cove (Sydney) district. It has been named "Lepto- 

 spermol." 



