September 9, 1920] 



NATURE 



07 



and malting; in the histon", cultivation, and use 

 of the hop; and in the micro-biology of the 

 fermentation industries. These courses are arranged 

 for persons engaged in the practical and scientific con- 

 trol of breweries, maltings, and other fermentation 

 industries who desire to acquire a knowledge of the 

 technology and principles underlying their daily opera- 

 tions. A connected series of lectures on fuel and 

 power is also included in the syllabus of the chemistry 

 department for the forthcoming session. In the de- 

 partment of physics and mathematics special courses 

 of lectures will be given in colloids, the methods 

 employed in their investigation and their relation to 

 technical problems ; in differential equations and 

 vector analysis; and in the theory and application 

 of mathematical statistics. Full details of the courses 

 are given in the syllabus of the institute, which can 

 be had on application at the office of the institute or 

 by letter to the principal. 



.\lthough the scientific study of human and animal 

 nutrition is of even greater importance to this countrv 

 than to the United States of America, it has attracteti 

 fewer workers and received far less financial support 

 h*;re than on the other side of the Atlantic. Con- 

 sequently, the public-spirited munificence of Mr. John 

 Quiller Rowett in contributing 10,000/. towards the 

 endowment of an Institute for Research in Animal 

 Nutrition in connection with the University of .Aber- 

 deen and the North of Scotland College of Agricul- 

 ture is especially to be commended. The new institute, 

 which will appropriately be named the Rowett 

 Research Institute, has already secured the services 

 of two first-rate investigators. Dr. J. B. Orr, the 

 director, was recently associated with Prof. E. P. 

 Cathcart in the conduct of a verv important studv 

 of the energy output of soldiers, while Dr. R. H. .\. 

 Plimmer, chief biochemist in the institute, has had 

 .T distinguished career as a research worker in the 

 Physiological Institute of University College, London. 

 \n agricultural correspondent, writing in the Aher- 

 •ifcn Daily Journal of July 9, directs attention to the 

 •nornious economic loss,' estimated at 30 millions 

 ^I'-rling per annum, due to diseases of animals and 

 plants, while the unsatisfactory state of knowledge 

 respecting problems of human nutrition and food- 

 supply was the subject of a criticism bv a committee 

 of the Royal Society. It is obvious that no single 

 institute can cope with the mass of work which 

 urgently needs to be done, but the precedent just 

 • -t.iblished is valuable, and the scientific colleague;, 

 •■f Drs. Orr and Plimmer will look forward with con- 

 fidence to their future successes in a field of research 

 so far inadequately cultivated. 



Societies and Academies. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sclencei, August 2.- M. Henri Dcslandrcs 

 in the chair.— The president announced the death of 

 Armand Gautier. — G. Hnmbcrt : The repres<ntation of 

 an integral by indefinite Herniite forms in .in 

 imaginary quadratic body. — M. Michkovltch : Obser- 

 vations of the periodic comet Tenipel II. made at 

 the Marseilles Observatory with the Rirhens equatorial 

 of afvcm. aperture. Positions for Julv 10 and 21 are 

 iven, with those of comparison stars. ' The comet was 

 irrular, diameter 5 to 6 seconds of arc, and magnitude 

 102. The nucleus wa.s well defined. — R. Jarry- 

 Dedoftcf : Contribution to the studv of telescopic 

 ini.i;^r,.s._p. Dltlthelm : The determination of tlie dif- 

 f<i. lire of longitude fjetwcen Greenwich and Paris by 

 hronometers carried by aeroplane. The regular acro- 

 NO. 2654. VOL. 106] 



plane service between London and Paris was utilised 

 for the transport of twelve chronometers. The general 

 mean of sixty-one operations was 9m. 20-9473. 

 ±00275. for the difference of longitude between Green- 

 wich and Paris. — J. VlUey : The application of Righi's 

 method to the discussion of Michelson's experiment. — 

 G. de Rocasolano : The ageing of colloidal catalysts 

 (platinum, palladium). in the decomposition' of 

 hydrogen peroxide solutions by colloidal solutions of 

 platinum, the velocity constant increases with the 

 time between the preparation of the catalyst and its 

 use, reaches a maximum, and then falls. Hydrosols 

 of palladium exhibit similar phenomena. — Er. Tor- 

 porescu : The removal of copper oxide and nickel oxide 

 from solutions bv precipitates of ferric oxide. — Ch. 

 Deperet and P. Mazeran : The Bresse of Chalon and 

 its Quaternary terraces. — L. Mayet, P. Nugue, 

 and J. Dareste' de la Chavanne : The discovery of a 

 skeleton of Elephas planifrons in the Chagny sands 

 at Bellecroix, near Chagny (Sa6ne-et-Loire). This 

 species has not, up to the present, been identified 

 amongst the Pliocene elephants of Western Europe. — 

 G. Zell : Tectonic earthquakes and variations of lati- 

 tude. — O. Mengel : Tectonic of the secondary synclinal 

 of .Amilie-les-Bains. — H. Colin : Crystallisable sugar 

 and free acids in plants. — R. Anthony and J. Liou- 

 vllle : The characters of adaptation of the kidney of 

 Ross's seal (Ommatophoca Rossi) to the conditions 

 of aquatic life. The kidney of this seal presents the 

 maximum of characters of specialisation, with resjject 

 to its aquatic life, met with amongst Pinnipeds. It 

 is comparable with the kidney of Cetaceans of a 

 primitive type, such as Mesoplodon. — L. M. Bitancis : 

 The existence of thrombocytes in Asiacus fluxtiaiilis. 

 — C. Ge»«ard : A pyocyanic culture. — J. Danytz and 

 Mme. St. Dany«z : .Attenuation of the pathogenic 

 effects of certain micro-organisms by mixture with 

 dead organisms of the same race. — M. Foua»fler : The 

 micro-organisms persisting in milk after pasteurisa- 

 tion : their rdle in the decomposition of hydrogen 

 [K-roxide. 



SVDNEV. 



LInnean Society of New South Wales, June 14. — Mr. J. J. 

 Fletcher, president, in the chair. — A special general 

 meeting " in commemoration of the centenary of the 

 birth of Sir William Macleay." The meeting was 

 devoted to the presidential address, "The Society's 

 Heritage from the Macleays," followed by an exhibit 

 of mementoes of the Macleays. The many claims 

 which the memory of S.ir' William Macleay has on 

 the members of the society were recalled ; cletails of 

 the development of their interest in science of the 

 direct line of the family, and the history of the 

 Macleay collections up to 1874, were given. The 

 mementoes exhibited consisted of portraits and copies 

 of books and drawings of zoological interest, most 

 of which had been presented to members of the 

 Macleay family by their authors. Later, Prof. J. T. 

 Wilson unveiled the society's Honour Roll, on which 

 are inscribed the names of members who served 

 abroad during the Great War. 



June 30. — Mr. J. J. Fletcher, president, in the chair. — 

 H. J. Carter : Notes on some .Australian Tencbrionidae, 

 with descriptions of new spccws ; also of a new genus 

 and species of Buprestidae, Thirty-three species of 

 Tenebrionidae belonging to eighteen genera (of which 

 one is proposed as new) are described as new. As a 

 result of the comparison by Mr. K. G. Blair of 

 specimens with the types in' the British Museum, a 

 number of mistaken ioentifirations are corrected and 

 further synonymy is suggested. \ re-exnminnfion 

 of the species of the closely allied f^encra Dafdrosis, 

 Licinoma, Brycopia, and tlielr allies has led to con- 



