6i8 



NATURE 



[January 6, 192 1 



The Tertiary accumulation is greatly broken up by 

 intense block-faulting; between the fault-blocks are de- 

 ferential displacements of many thousands of feet. An 

 important movement probably occurred along a great 

 fault-belt parallel with the Andes. — H. Woods, Dr. 

 T. W. Vaughan, Dr. J. A. Cujhman, and Prof. H. L. 

 Hawking : Palseontology of the Tertiary deposits in 

 north-western Peru. The fauna of the Negritos 

 formation is of shallow-water gastropods and lamelli- 

 branchs, with a small number of teeth of fishes, 

 decapod Crustacea, corals, and one Echinoid. Aturia 

 is also present. The number of species is large, and 

 nearly all are new. By the stages reached in the 

 evolution of Venericardia of the Planicosta group 

 correlation is made with the Tejon group of Cali- 

 fornia ; but the relation to the Wilcox and Lower 

 Claiborne groups of the Eastern and Gulf States of 

 .America is more marked, and is sufficient to indicate 

 the existence of a sea-connection between the Pacific 

 and the Atlantic. The Lobitos formation is distin- 

 guished by Foraminifera of the genera Lepidocyclina 

 and Orthophragmina. In the Zorritos formation 

 Miocene age is indicated by the similarity of some of 

 the gastropods and lamellibranchs to those of the 

 Miocene of Panama. — Dr. T. O. Bosworth : Geologv 

 of the Quaternary period on a part of the Pacific 

 coast of Peru. Throughout the Quaternary period the 

 littoral has undergone a series of vertical oscilla- 

 tions having a hinge-line in the Andes. The ocean- 

 soundings show a steep 2000-ft. submarine clifT at 

 the edge of the continental shelf. This cliff is taken 

 to be a submarine fault-scarp, marking the important 

 fracture (Pacific fault) which was the western 

 boundary of the Quaternary uplifts. The oldest and 

 highest of the raised sea-floors now has an elevation 

 of 1 100 ft. It extends 20 miles inland, and, within 

 the territory discussed, covers an area of 700 square 

 miles. The inland boundary of each "tablazo" is a 

 raised sea-cliff. The original western limit of each 

 one of them was probably the edge of the continental 

 shelf. The depth, 27 miles from the present coast, 

 is 12,000 ft. The Quaternary deposits formed upon 

 it are presumably deep-sea oozes. The events on 

 the east side of the Pacific fault are grouped into 

 four similar episodes. Each consists of a subsidence 

 accompanied by marine transgression, followed by 

 an uplift causing emergence of new land. Thev are : 

 (i) The Mancora, (2)' the Talara, f^) the Lobitos, 

 and (4) the Salina episode. Four episodes have left 

 their mark. The most substantial of the deposits 

 formed during these marine transgressions is 250 ft. 

 thick. The material ranges from shell-limestone to 

 beach-pebbles. The shells have been examined bv 

 Col. \. L Peile, who pronounces them (probablv all) 

 to be living species. On the land extensive breccia- 

 fans and vallev-terraces were produced under desert 

 conditions during these oscillations. It is considered 

 that not one ten-thousandth part of the Quaternary 

 history outlined can have taken place within the last 

 five hundred years. 



P.'VRIS. 



Academy of Sciences, December 13.— M. Henri 

 Deslandres in the chair. — C. Guichafd : Networks 

 which comprise a family of- geodesies, and such that 

 their reciprocal polar with respect to a linear com- 

 plex is a network O. — H. Parenty : The waves of 

 shock of A. D^v^.— P. Vuillemin : The inflorescence of 

 Fuchsia coccinca. — .\. Buhl : Double integrals in which 

 the pseudo-lines at infinity are zero lines. — T. Varo- 

 poulos : A class of functions with an infinite number of 

 branchf>s. — M. Takagi : Bodies resolvable algebraically. 

 — M. La Porte : The utilisation of tidal currents on 

 the coasts of France. Instead of holding back the 

 water by a dam, involving costly constructive work, 



NO. 2671, VOL. 106] 



it is proposed to make use of the horizontal current 

 to move a wheel or turbine. A list of suitable channels 

 on the French coast is given, with details of the cur- 

 rent velocities.— A. Danjon : New determination of the 

 solar period based on the law of luminosity of the 

 eclipses of the moon. By this method the solar period 

 is found to be 1087 years between 1583 and 1912.^ — Z. 

 Klemensiewicz : Contribution to the theory of thermal 

 radiation. — S. Postemak : The hexabasic polymolyb- 

 dates. — L. Moret : The lilhological constitution of the 

 Nummulitic and the Upper Cretacean of the Arache 

 plateau (Plat^ massif, Haute-Savoie). — L. Cayenx : 

 The cause of the high phosphorus content of the Lor- 

 raine minerals. Reasons are given for supposing that 

 the high phosphorus content of the Lorraine iron-ore is 

 of organic origin ; remains of fishes are exceptionally 

 abundant. — C. Oorceix : Traces of man in the Voglan's 

 lignites (Savoie). The fall of a roof in the lignite 

 mine exposed a layer of wood-charcoal, considered 

 by the author as caused by human agency.— P. 

 Ulangeaud : The traces left in the central French 

 massif by the glacial invasions of the Pliocene and 

 Quaternary : the extent and multiplicity of these 

 invasions. To the parts of the central massif on which 

 glacial action has been proved must now be added the 

 mountains Margeride (at the head of the valleys of 

 the Allier and the Truy^re) and Lozfere, a part of the 

 Hautes C^vennes, and the Velay. Altogether, more 

 than an eighth of the central massif must have dis- 

 appeared under ice, snow, or n^v^. The factors 

 which have contributed to the attenuation or eflace- 

 ment of traces of glacial action in this region are dis- 

 cussed.— Mile. Y. Boisse de Black and P. Marty : The 

 origin of certain claux of Cantal. — C. E. Braiier : The 

 measurement of the vertical component of the velocity 

 of the wind with the aid of anemometric vanes. The 

 instrument known as the clino-anemometer has led 

 to the paradoxical conclusion that the air, instead of 

 flowing horizontally, has an average movement at all 

 seasons of the year of a vertical velocity- of about 

 0-5 metre per second. An experimental study of this 

 instrument in the laboratory has shown that the 

 velocity of rotation, instead of being, as previously 

 assumed, proportional to the vertical component of 

 the wind velocity, is proportional to a fraction of this 

 component, which is smaller as the inclination of the 

 wind to the horizon is reduced. The meaning of the 

 older observations is discussed in the light of these new 

 facts. — .\. Piedallu, P. Matvezin, and L. Grandchamp : 

 The action of oxygen on the musts of red grapes. 

 The oxygen in these experiments was passed into the 

 liquid in very minute bubbles through the walls of a 

 porous cell. Practically the whole of the red colouring 

 matter was removed bv this treatment. — R. Wurmser 

 and Mme. J. Ductaux : Photosynthesis in the algae 

 Chondrus crispus and Rhodymenia palmata. — P. de 

 Beauchamp : Biogeographical researches on the zone 

 of tides at the Island of R6. — M. Doyon : The 

 mechanism of the action of morphine on the 

 coagulability of the blood. The effect is not produced 

 in vitro. The property of incoagulability is due to the 

 presence of a nucleoorotein secreted by the organism 

 under the action of morphine, and the circulating 

 blood is capable of preventing, in vitro, the coagula- 

 tion of the blood of a normal subject. — S. Tchahotine : 

 The method of microscopic radio-puncture : a means 

 of analysis in experimental cytology. The production 

 of a mechanical lesion of a single cell offers great 

 experimental difficulties. In place of this the author 

 acts on the cell with an extremely thin bundle of ultra- 

 violet rays- of a diameter not greater than 5tf. Details 

 of the technique are given. — A. Sallmbenl : The nature 

 of the bacteriophage of d'Herelle. — P. Siguin : Culture 

 of the buccal spirochaeta favoured by some bacteria. , 



