May 27, 1922] 



NATURE 



699 



double resonators for use with hot-wire inicrophones 

 in order to increase sensitivity and also, if desired, 

 to widen the range of response were investigated. 

 Two types of resonator were dealt with : (a) The 

 " Boys double resonator," consisting of a " stopped 

 pipe " in series with a Helmholtz resonator ; and (b) 

 the " Helmholtz double resonator," consisting of 

 two Helmholtz resonators in series. — J. C. McLennan 

 and D. S. Ainslie : On the structure of the line 

 X = 6708 A of the isotopes of Uthium. A vacuum arc in 

 the vapour of the metal together with Lummer plates 

 and a 30-plate Echelon grating crossed with a Lummer 

 plate to effect the resolution were used. With 

 strong arcs, X = 67o8 A consists of two doublets, 

 with a separation pf the doublet components of 

 0-128 A and 0-165 A respectively. The, mean dis- 

 placement of the two doublets is 0-32 A, which is 

 3-4 times that demanded on Bohr's theory for 

 isotopes of lithium having atomic weights 6, and 7. 

 Merton and also Aronberg in studying X = 4058 A, in the 

 spectrum of ordinary' lead, and in that of lead having 

 a radio-active origin, found that the observed difference 

 in wave-length was between 80 and 90 times as great 

 as the difference to be expected from Bohr's theory. 

 With both lead and lithium, in what would appear 

 to be isotopic spectral displacements, the value 

 found by observation is about the atomic number 

 times the value obtained by calculation on the 

 basis of Bohr's theory. 



Zoological Society, April 25. — Sir S. F. Harmer, 

 vice-president, in the chair. — A. Loveridge : Lions at 

 their kill. — R. J. Ortlepp : A new species of the 

 nematode genus (Esophagostomum from the rodent 

 Xerus setosus. — R. Broom : On the persistence of the 

 mesopterygoid in certain reptilian skulls. — C. F. 

 Sonntag : On the anatomy of the drill {Mandrillus 

 lencophcBus). — A. Loveridge : New reptiles from 

 Tanganyika Territory. — Miss L. E. Cheesman : 

 Observations on the land-crab, Cardisoma armatum, 

 with especial regard to the sense organs. 



May 9. — Dr. A. Smith Woodward, vice-president, 

 in the chair. — C. F. Sonntag : The comparative 

 anatomy of the tongiies of the MammaUa. — VII. 

 Cetacea, Sirenia, and Ungulata. — D. W. Devanesen : 

 Notes on the anatomy of Cacopiis systoma, an Indian 

 toad of the family Engystomatidae. — E. A. Elliott : 

 Monograph on the family of the Stephanidae (Hymen- 

 optera). 



Linnean Society, May 4. — Dr. A. Smith Woodward, 

 president, in the chair. — H. Downes : A relic of Henry 

 Lyte's library. The volume consists of two works of 

 Antoine Mizauld, the French Physician (1520-1378), 

 " Alexikerus " and " Nova et Mira Artificia," bound 

 together (Paris, 1564). It contains Henry Lyte's 

 autograph, and various notes. At the end of the 

 volume are two pages of MS. notes, mostly medical 

 definitions or short descriptions of diseases. Henry 

 Lyte was the translator of Dodoen's Herbal, the first 

 edition of the translation being dated 1578. He was 

 a member of the ancient family of Lyte of Lytes 

 Cary, in Somersetshire, and according to Pulteney he 

 became a student of Oxford in 1546. — J. Lloyd 

 Williams : The life-histories of Laminaria and Chorda. 

 Two kinds of gametophytes, producing eggs and 

 antherozoids respectively, exist in the Laminariacea;. 

 Cultures of Laminaria three weeks old, and of Chorda 

 three or four months old, almost invariably show the 

 presence of two kinds of multicellular germlings, one 

 large celled, the other consisting of cells many times 

 smaller. The liberation of the sexual cells and the 

 process of fertilisation have now been observed. 

 Drew's observation of the sexual nature of the 



NO. 2743, VOL. 109] 



" Zoospores " was incorrect. The organisms de- 

 scribed by him could not have been the zoospores of 

 Laminaria, but must have been colourless monads. 

 The Laminariaceae thus show distinct alternation of 

 generations : the plant is the sporophyte ; reduction 

 of chromosomes takes place in the sporangium ; there 

 are two kinds of gametophytes — a male and a female — 

 and the difference in size between the generations is 

 exceedingly great. The sporophyte may be gigantic, 

 as compared with other algsc, whereas the gameto- 

 phyte is microscopically small. 



Royal Anthropological Institute, May 9. — Dr. W. 

 H. R. Rivers, president, in the chair. — Capt. M. W. 

 Hilton- Simpson : Ethnographical researches among 

 the Berbers of the Aures Mountains in South-East 

 Algeria. Physical features make the Aures massif 

 a cultural island, in which there are many instances 

 of the survival of ancient crafts among the Shawia, 

 as these Berber tribes are termed. A method of 

 manufacturing olive oil, the existing system of com 

 milling, and perhaps, the " waterclock " for measur- 

 ing times of irrigation, evidently crept into the massif 

 in Roman times, to remain unaltered to this day. 

 Some arts are much older still, as witness the wheel- 

 less manufacture of pottery, which probably dates 

 back to about goo b.c. Being accompanied by his 

 wife, the author was able to observe in detail the 

 occupations of the women. Their weaving is of a 

 very archaic kind. Traces of pre-Islamic cults can 

 still be observed among the Shawia which, though 

 individually slight, seem to point to a survival of 

 the worship of a great goddess of motherhood and 

 fertility. 



Dublin. 

 Royal Irish Academy, May 8. — Prof. Sydney Young, 

 president, in the chair. — H. H. Poole : Isotopes. An 

 account was given of the discovery of the existence of 

 isotopes among the radioactive and later among non- 

 radioactive elements. The bearing of these dis- 

 coveries on our views as to the nature of the atom 

 was described, and the vast store of energy implied 

 by the deviation of hydrogen from the whole number 

 rule was mentioned as a possible future source for 

 human use, and as a source of solar radiation. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, March i. — M. Emile Bertin 

 in the chair. — P. Painleve : The classical and the 

 Einstein theory of gravitation. A statement of the 

 postulates of the classical theory of mechanics and 

 of the modifications implied in the Einstein theory. — 

 G. Mittag-Leffler : Gauchy's theorem on the integral 

 of a function between imaginary limits. — J. Andrade : 

 The mechanical problems of regulating springs in 

 chronometry. — P. Vuillemin : Relations between the 

 chlamydospores and the mycelian loops. — E. O. 

 Lovett : The generalisation of a problem of Sophus 

 Lie in the geometry of contact transformations. — 

 A. Seguin : An automatic multiplying machine. — 

 J. Chazy : The astronomical verifications of the theory 

 of relativity. The following consequences are 

 deduced : If the radius of the universe, supposed 

 cylindrical or spherical, is of an order greater than 

 1000 years of light, the correction discussed in this note 

 of the longitudes of the planetary perhelia is impossible 

 to observe, but if the radius is of the order of 1000 

 years of light, the correction considered is nearly 

 comparable with the actual observations, but it is 

 impossible that the radius should be of the order of 

 100 years of light or less. — J. Trousset : The laws of 

 Kepler and the relativist orbits. The deviation 

 between the Einstein and Kepler orbits is of the 

 order of one kilometre, and this, at the planetary 



