126 



NATURE 



[January 26, 1922 



Societies and Academies. 



London. 

 Royal Society, January 19. — Sir Charles Sherrington, 

 president, in the chair.— L. Hill, H. M. Vernon, and 

 D. H. Ash : The kata-thermometer— a measure of 

 ventilation. The kata-thermometer is used in ven- 

 tilation inquiries to estimate (i) the cooling, (2) the 

 evaporative power of the air on a surface at body- 

 temperature, and (3) as an anemometer to indicate 

 the velocity of air-currents. Certain discrepancies 

 having arisen, the " kata " formulae have been re- 

 investigated, using the large wind-channels at the 

 National Physical Laboratory, and for low velocities 

 the method of moving the "kata" through the air 

 in a whirling arm, taking count of the effect of 

 " swirl. "—Lt.-Col, C. B. Heald and Major W. S. 

 Tucker : Recoil curves as shown by the hot-wire 

 microphone. The hot-wire microphone has been em- 

 ployed to measure bodv recoil as the result of heart 

 action, and the records measure quantities propor- 

 tional to the kinetic energy imparted to the body by 

 motions of the blood. Thus slow-moving displace- 

 ments, such as those of breathing, are not recorded. 

 The apparatus can be standardised, giving the same 

 responses from day to day for the same body recoils, 

 and the kinetic energy of the body can be expressed in 

 C.G.S. units. The results are consistent with physio- 

 logical data. — E. W. A. Walker : Studies in bacterial 

 variability : The occurrence and development of dys-, 

 eu-, and hyper-agglutinable forms of certain bacteria. 

 In the enteric and dysenteric groups of bacteria dys- 

 and hyper-agglutinable forms occur. Both may be ob- 

 tained from one eu-agglutinable strain of a bacillus. In 

 agglutination tests a highly dys-agglutinable bacillus 

 may fail to agglutinate with a serum that agglutinates 

 the culture from which it was derived up to i in 1000. 

 It may also fail to absorb from the serum the agglu- 

 tinins sf)ecific to that culture. Noteworthy differences 

 in behaviour thus exist between different individuals 

 of a single culture. These facts may help to throw 

 light on the problem of seriological strains. — Marjory 

 Stephenson and Margaret Whetham ; Studies in the 

 fat metabolism of the timothy grass bacillus. During 

 the growth of the timothy grass bacillus on a medium 

 of inorganic salts, including ammonia as the sole 

 source of nitrogen, glucose, and sodium acetate, the 

 formation of protein, nitrogen, and fat was followed 

 and correlated with the disappearance of glucose and 

 acetate. No intermediate decomposition products of 

 glucose were found. The growth of the organism 

 on possible intermediate products of the breakdown 

 of ^ glucose was then studied. The growth on lactic 

 acid was very similar to that on glucose alone. 

 Growth on acetic acid was negligible. Growth on 

 acetic and lactic acid showed that lactic acid enabled 

 the organism to utilise the acetic acid. The acetic 

 acid utilised in the presence of lactic acid or glucose 

 served to increase the proportion of lipoid material 

 formed, and not to increase the general growth of the 

 organism. Growth on propionic and butyric acids 

 was like that on lactic acid.^. A. Gardner and 

 F. W. Fox : The origin and destiny of cholesterol in 

 the animal organism. Pt. 12 : The excretion of 

 sterols in man. Measurements of the intake and out- 

 put of sterols in twenty-six cases on known diet show 

 that in every case, except one, there was an excess 

 of output over intake. The average daily negative 

 balance was 03 gram, but individual balances were 

 very variable. A considerable portion of the chole- 

 sterol of the food and of the bile is re-absorbed in the 

 intestine along with the bile salts, but this process 

 appears to be limited by the reduction of cholesterol 

 NO. 2726, VOL. 109] 



to bi-hydrocholesterol in the intestine, a process 

 especially characteristic of the adult human subject. 

 The excess of output of cholesterol over intake leads 

 to the conclusion that there is some organ in the body 

 capable of synthesising cholesterol. The intake of un- 

 saponifiable matter not precipitable by digitonin is 

 much larger than the output. — S. J. Lewis : The ultra- 

 violet absorption spectra and the optical rotation of 

 the proteins of the blood sera. The absorption curve 

 of pseudo-globulin is constant and the same for both 

 the horse and human varieties. The curve for eu- 

 globulin differs considerably from that for pseudo- 

 globulin in extinction coefficients, but not in general 

 form. The absorption curves for the horse and human 

 varieties of albumin are similar, except for a constant 

 ratio in their magnitudes, and this difference may be 

 due to the association of an aggregate possessing 

 little or no selective absorptive power, e.g. an aliphatic 

 amino-acid or a polypeptide, with the principal 

 aggregate. The close similarity in form of all the 

 curves when corrected to a common amplitude, and 

 the fact that the amplitudes are nearly all simple 

 multiples of a common factor, point to similarity of 

 constitution amongst these proteins and to a variable 

 "concentration" of the active group. Processes for 

 the separation and purification of the proteins have 

 been elaborated. 



Mineralogical Society, January 10. — Mr. A. Hutchin- 

 son, president, in the chair. — C. E. Tilley : Density, 

 refractivity, and composition relations of some natural 

 glasses. The glasses investigated fall into two groups, 

 (a) tektite glasses and (b) volcanic glasses. The 

 characteristics of the former confirm their divergence 

 from volcanic glasses, and support the theory of their 

 meteoritic origin. The specific refractivitieg of five 

 analysed glasses are compared with the values cal- 

 culated from the specific refractivities of their com- 

 ponent oxides, and a notable correspondence is re- 

 vealed. The influence of contained water on the 

 specific refractivity is discussed and some figures 

 bearing on the volume-change accompanying th* pas- 

 sage from the vitreous to the crystalline state are 

 given.— H. H. Thomas and E. G." Radley : The so- 

 called "avanturine" from India, with an analysis of 

 the contained mica. The stone is a quartz-schist, and 

 owes its colour to plates of green fuchsite arranged 

 parallel to the planes of foliation. The mica contains 

 177 per cent. Q,r„0^ and a little vanadium; its optical 

 characters are described. The probable source of the 

 stone is discussed and the deterioration of the stone 

 by heat and other causes is explained. — A. Russell and 

 A. Hutchinson : Laurionite and paralaurionite from 

 Cornwall. Laurionite associated with phosgenite and 

 anglesite in a cavity in limonite is described in a speci- 

 men obtained from the collection of John Hawkins, of 

 Trewithin, Cornwall. The locality is probably Wheal 

 Rose, Sithney. Paralaurionite occurs with phosgenite 

 in a very similar specimen in the collection of the 

 late H. J. Brooke, said to come from Wheal Con- 

 fidence, Newquay. — h.. Russell : A discovery of pitch- 

 blende at Kingswood Mine, Buckfastleigh, North 

 Devon. Pitchblende, occurring in a north and south 

 lode associated with chloanthite, and native bismuth 

 is described. The discovery shows promise of being 

 of some economic importance. — W. A. Richardson : 

 The distribution of oxides in Washington's collected 

 analyses of igneous rocks. Frequency curves are given 

 for all the oxides, and show considerable differences 

 from those previously published. The silica curve is 

 the most interesting, and shows two maxima, one at 

 52 per cent, and the other at 72 per cent. SiOo. The 

 frequency curve for SiOj can be matched by a com- 

 bination of two normal curves or error with origins 



