666 



NA TURE 



[May 20, 1922 



Societies and Academies. 



London. 



Royal Society, May 4. — Sir Charles Sherrington, 

 president, in the chair. — C. Shearer : On the heat 

 production and oxidation processes of the echinoderm 

 egg during fertiUsation and early development. The 

 heat production during fertilisation and early develop- 

 ment of the egg of Echinus miliaris has been measured 

 by the differential micro-calorimeter, and the oxygen 

 consumption and carbon dioxide output by the differ- 

 ential manometer. In one hour, i miUion unfertilised 

 eggs (8 mgrm. egg N.) consumed 15-1 c.mm. of 

 oxygen at standard barometric pressure and 14-5° C, 

 and gave off 0-067 grm. cal. of heat. In a similar 

 interval the same quantity of fertilised eggs con- 

 sumed 86-4 c.mm. oxygen and liberated 0-397 grm. 

 cal. of heat. The ratio of the heat production in one 

 hour to the oxygen consumption gives a calorific 

 quotient Q, which is 3-07 in the unfertilised and 3-22 

 in the fertilised developing egg-cell. Thus very little 

 of the chemical energy liberated as the result of 

 fertilisation is expended in bringing about the 

 visible morphological structure of the developing 

 ovum. The heat liberation, oxygen consumption, 

 and carbon dioxide output of the ovum after 

 fertilisation rise progressively during development, 

 reaching the highest point when the free-swim- 

 ming stage is reached. — Johan Hjort : Observations 

 on the distribution of fat-soluble vitamins in marine 

 animals and plants. The periodical changes in the 

 size and quality of fish at different seasons oT the 

 year are associated with changes in the content of 

 fat. In cod the changes in quality are demonstrated 

 by inspection of the size of the liver, which is 50 per 

 cent. " cod-liver oil." The liver of full-grown cod 

 during the summer season, when the fish was feeding, 

 weighed three times as much as in winter, during the 

 spawning season. Seasonal variations in quality do 

 not coincide with temperature variations, nor, in the 

 case of the cod, with the availability of the animals 

 which serve it as food. The distribution of fat- 

 soluble vitamin in green algae (Ulva), diatom-plankton, 

 shrimps and prawns, and hard roes of herring and 

 cod was studied. These substances had a marked 

 effect in re-starting and maintaining the growth of 

 rats, previously on a diet free from fat-soluble vitamin. 

 — H. Hartridge and R. A. Pgters : Interfacial tension 

 and hydrogen ion concentration. The drop- weight 

 method, which gives results similar to the capillary 

 height and ripple methods, was employed for measur- 

 ing the interfacial tensions. A decrease in interfacial 

 tension between a fatty acid or glyceride and aqueous 

 fluids occurs with increasing alkalinity of the aqueous 

 fluid. It depends upon the concentration of the fatty 

 substance in the oil phase, the presence of a certain 

 concentration of alkaU in the aqueous phase, and the 

 hydrogen ion concentration at the interface. Only 

 substances having a COOH group (free or combined, 

 as tri-glyceride) gave these changes. — W. Cramer, 

 A. H. Drew, and J. C. Mottram : Blood-platelets : 

 their behaviour in " vitamin A " deficiency, and after 

 " radiation," and their relation to bacterial infections. 

 The absence of the fat-soluble vitamin from the diet 

 leads, in the rat, in every case to a progressive diminu- 

 tion in the number of blood-platelets known as throm- 

 bopenia. Thrombopenia occurs before any obvious 

 signs of ill-health appear. When profound throm- 

 bopenia has been estabhshed, addition of the missing 

 vitamin A to the diet is usually followed by rapid 

 increase in the number of platelets up to the normal. 

 Exposure to radium produces lymphopenia, which is 

 characteristic of vitamin B deficiency, and also, with 



NO. 272, VOL. 109] 



large doses, thrombopenia. Animals generally re- 

 cover rapidly if the application of radium is dis- 

 continued. If the number of platelets is reduced 

 below a certain critical level — about 300,000 in the 

 rat — the resistance of the animal to infection is 

 greatly diminished and infective conditions develop 

 spontaneously. Alterations in local or general resist- 

 ance to the infection are associated with local or 

 general changes in distribution of the platelets. 



Royal Microscopical Society, April ig. — Prof. 

 F. J. Cheshire, president, in the chair. — R. S, 

 Ludford : Morphology and ' physiology of the 

 nucleolus. Of the various functions which have 

 been attributed to the nucleolus, recent work 

 emphasises that it (i) represents secretory sub- 

 stances or enzymes elaborated by the chromosomes 

 (chromatin) to bring about metabolic processes in 

 the cytoplasm ; (2) is the accumulation of waste 

 products of nuclear activity which when extended 

 into the cytoplasm are broken down with the libera- 

 tion of energy, which is utilised for other purposes ; 

 (3) stands in some functional relationship to the 

 morphological changes which take place in the 

 chromosomes at different periods of cellular activity. 

 There is considerable evidence in favour of each of 

 these theories as to the function of the nucleolus. 



Physical Society, April 28. — Dr. Alexander Russell, 

 president, in the chair. — T. Smith : The position of 

 best focus in the presence of spherical aberration. 

 Focal variations of phase in the presence of spherical 

 aberration are calculated directly from the axial inter- 

 section points of rays of known incHnation. The new 

 graphical method employed shows that the focus for 

 which phase variations have a minimum value may 

 be found and interpreted when the finiteness of the 

 wave-length is disregarded. — F. Twyman and J. Perry : 

 The determination of the absolute stress-variation of 

 refractive index. The Hilger interferometer is em- 

 ployed in determining the stress-optical coefficients. 

 Young's modulus of elasticity and Poisson's ratio are 

 determinable simultaneously.— C. J. Smith : An ex- 

 perimental comparison of the viscous properties of 

 {a) carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, and (b) nitrogen 

 and carbon monoxide. Direct comparisons have been 

 made by observing the time required by a mercury 

 pellet to force an equal volume of gas through a 

 capillary tube at atmospheric and steam temperatures. 

 The times of fall for each gas are equal at 15° C. and 

 100° C, and hence it is shown that the viscous properties 

 are identical over this range. The absolute viscosity has 

 been obtained by comparison with air, and the mean 

 area of collision deduced by using Chapman's formula. — 

 F. Twyman : An optical sonometer. The object of 

 this instrument is to furnish graphs of the pressure 

 variation in sound waves. The sound is directed by 

 a trumpet upon a celluloid membrane a fraction of 

 a wave-length of light in thickness, which is silvered 

 at a point between its centre and periphery. Rays 

 from a pointolite lamp are concentrated on the silvered 

 surface, and are reflected thereby through an ordinary 

 and a cylindrical lens on to a photographic strip 

 carried by a spring-driven chronographic drum. The 

 duration and incidence of the photographic exposure 

 are controlled by adjustable devices revolving with 

 the drum. The constants of the membrane can be 

 determined by measuring its curvature with an inter- 

 ferometer when it is being stressed by gravity, pneu- 

 matic pressure or electrostatic attraction. Good 

 sound records can be obtained so long as the pitch 

 of the sounds investigated differs considerably from 

 the resonance pitch of the membrane, which is of the 

 order of 200 per second. 



