February 24, 1921] 



NATURE 



851 



roctilincar diameter of hydrogen. Supplementing 

 earlier work, the densities of liquid hydrogen between 

 -239-91° C. and the boiling point, -25275° C., have 

 been studied. The cryostat used consisted in a bath 

 of superheated hydrogen vapour, obtained from the 

 evaporation of the liquefied gas and heated by elec- 

 trical means. The automatic current regulator em- 

 ployed permitted control of the temperature to within 

 001° C. for several hours. The experiments required 

 the preparation of about 170 litres of liquid hydrogen 

 and 400 litres of liquid air. The ordinate of the dia- 

 meter was found to be -006351-0000394026. The 

 critical density was 003 and the critical coefficient 

 V276. Hydrogen obeys the law of the rectilinear dia- 

 Jneter. — .'\uguste Behal was elected a member of the 

 section of chemistry in succession to the late Armand 

 Gautier. — G. Fubi'ni : Automorphic functions. — T. 

 Varopoulos : A class of multiform functions. — \. 

 Veronnet : The variation of a conical trajectory under 

 the action of the resistance of a medium. — J. Villey : 

 Exptirimental installations for aerodynamical re- 

 searches. A discussion of the recent proposal by M. 

 Marfjoulis, suggesting the use of carbon dioxide 

 under high pressures and at low temperatures as the 

 circulating gas in the testing of aeroplane models. 

 Apart from certain difficulties of construction which 

 would add to the cost of the apparatus, the author 

 is of opinion that the use of carbon dioxide could 

 only be complementary to the use of air, and could 

 not safely be employed instead of the latter. — M. 

 Curie : The action of red and infra-red rays on phos- 

 phorescent substances. .\n account of experiments in 

 which zinc sulphide and other phosphorescent sub- 

 stances were submitted to the simultaneous action of 

 ultra-violet ravs . (mercury lamp with nickel oxide 

 glass filter) anii infra-red rays (arc lamp with cuprous 

 oxide glass filter). The sulphides examined behaved 

 differently from fluorescent bodies such as uranium 

 nitrate, barium platinocvanide, and fluorescein. — M. 

 de Broglie : The corpuscular spectra of the elements. — 

 A. Leaute : Complement to the theory of the induced 

 reaction for saturated alternators. — H. Colin and 

 Mile. .'\. Cliaudun : The application of the law of 

 hydrolysis to the determination of molecular weights. 

 — .\. Mailiie : The catalytic preparation of secondary 

 amines and an attempt to introduce the alkyl group 

 into these bases. Schiff's bases, mixed with a small 

 quantitv of finely divided nickel and heated to 170° C., 

 are reduced smoothly to secondary amines by hydrogen. 

 .'\n attempt to prepare tertiary amines by passing a 

 mixture of the .secondary amine and alcohol over 

 alumina heated to •x8o°-4oo° C. was not successful, 

 as the bases were split up in contact with the catalyst. 

 — R. Saillard : The balance of chlorine during the 

 manufacture of sugar and the proportion of chlorine 

 in the beetrcKit. — I,. MacAuliffe and K. Marie : The 

 studv and mensuration of 117 Belgians. — P. Audige : 

 The growth of fishes maintained in a medium at a 

 constant temperature. — E. Raband : The paralysing 

 instinct of the spiders. — R. Bayenx : Respiratory in- 

 sufficiencv at vorv hifrh altitude and its correction bv 

 subcutaneous iniections of oxygen. — \. Lumiire and 

 H. Couturier : The nature of the anaphylactic shock. 

 Further experiments tending to show that the causes 

 of the anaphylactic shock arc the same as those of 

 the anaphvlactoid crises resulting from the sudden intro- 

 duction of insoluble substances into the circulation. — 

 Et. and Ed. Serjjent : Attempts at vaccinating against 

 ijaludism in birds due to Plasmodium rehctinn. — E. 

 Woolman : Jhe rdle of flies in the transport of patho- 

 genic germs studied bv the technique of aseptic cul- 

 tivations. These experiments show that contaminated 

 flies remain infected for some davs only. Removed 



XO. 2678, VOL. 106] 



from the source of contamination, they free them- 

 selves very rapidly, probably mechanically, from the 

 infecting germs. — MM. Kohn-Abrest, Sicard, and 

 Paraf. 



Melbourne. 

 Royal Society of Victoria, November. — Mr. F. Wise- 

 would, vice-president, in the chair. — E. Ashby : A 

 description of the Bracebrid-'e Wilson collection of 

 Victorian Chitons, with a description of a new species 

 from New Zealand. This collection was made by the 

 late Mr. J. Bracebridge Wilson, working in connec- 

 tion with the Port Phillip Exploration Committee of 

 the Royal Society, and was dealt with by E. R. Sykes 

 in the Proc. Malac. Soc. in 1896. In addition to the 

 five species described by Sykes as i;ew, the author 

 notes four other species then undescribed, Callochiton 

 rufus, .\shby, which has hitherto been known only by 

 a single type-specimen dredged in South Australia, 

 and a new species of Lepidopleurus from New 

 Zealand. — Dr. J. M. Baldwin: Application of genetics 

 to plant-breeding. The problems of genetics are those 

 which grow out of a study of the resemblances and 

 differences in individuals related by descent. There 

 are four general lines of attacking the problems : 

 (a) The method of observation usikI by Darwin in 

 marshalling evidence in favour of the evolution 

 theorv ; (b) biometrical methods employed with such 

 success bv Pearson ; (c) cytological methods, which 

 are primarily concerned with a study of cell- 

 mechanism ; and (d) experimental breeding, which 

 involves the raising of pedigreed cultures of plants. 

 From the last method have come many stimulating 

 ideas of hereditv and variation, including the 

 Mendelian theory of heredity, the pure-line theory of 

 Johannsen, and the mutation theory of De Vries. 



Books Received. 



Journal of the Royal Statistical Society. New 

 Series. Vol. Ixxxiv., part i, January. Pp. x+165. 

 (London.) 75. 6d. 



A New Bristol Flora : British Wild Flowers in 

 their Natural Haunts. By A. R. Horwood. (In 

 6 vols.) Vol. i. Pp. ix-)-244. Vol. ii. Pp. xi-(-243 + 

 xvii plates. (London : Gresham Publishing Co.) 

 12s. 6d. net per vol. 



Principles of Human Geography. By E. Hunting- 

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 Hall, Ltd.) 21S. net. 



Rapid Methcxls for the Chemical .\nalysis of Special 

 Steels, Steel-making- Alloys, their Ores and Graphites. 

 By C. M. Johnson. Thir-d edition, revised and en- 

 larged. Pp. xi-+-552. (New York : J. Wiley and 

 Sons, Inc. ; London : Chapman and Hall, Ltd.) 36s. 

 net. 



The Health of the Industrial Worker. By Prof. 

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 (London : J. and A. Churchill.) 30X. net. 



Poverty and its Vicious Circles. By Dr. J. B. 

 Hurrv. Second and enlarged edition. Pp. xvi-f-4ii. 

 (London : J. and A. Churchill.) 15.'!. net. 



The Mother and the Infant. By Edith V. Eckhard. 

 (Social Service Library.) Pp. viii-l-256. (London : 

 G. Bell and Sons, Ltd.) 65. net. 



The Microscope : Its Design, Construction, and 

 Applications. Edited by F. S. Spiers. Pp. v+26o-(- 

 plates. (London : C. Griffin and Co., Ltd.) 2ix. net. 



II Regime delle Acque nel Diritto Publico e Private 

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