January 20, 19 16] 



NATURE 



585 



will not equal it for another. The extraordinary thing 

 is that each of us does, as a matter of fact, employ a 

 determinate measure-system which remains the same, 

 except probably for very small variations, and that 

 the measure-systems of different human beings agree, 

 within the limits of our observations. This, how- 

 ever, is different in regard to time. Owing to the fact 

 that points of space are incapable of direct recogni- 

 tion, there is a difficulty in determining what is at rest 

 and what is in motion, and a further difficulty of 

 •determining a definite uniform flow of time. If all 

 physical influences require time for their propagation 

 in space, the idea of an immediate presentation to 

 us of an aspect of the world as it in fact is must be 

 abandoned. What we perceive at any instant must, 

 in that case, already be ancient history, with the 

 dates of the various parts hopelessly mixed. Again, 

 if all physical influence is electro-magnetic, all in- 

 fluences are propagated with the velocity of light in 

 vacuo. But what dynamical axes are we taking as 

 at rest ? There are two possibilities. We may assume 

 either (a) that one set of axes are at rest and that 

 the others will show traces of motion in respect to 

 the velocity of light, or (b) that the velocity of light 

 is the same in all directions whichever be the 

 dynamicial axes assumed. The first supposition is 

 negatived by experiment, and hence we are driven 

 to the second, which immediately lands us in the 

 whole theory of relativity. 



Geological Society, Januarv 5. — Dr. A. Smith Wood- 

 ward, president, in the chair.— E. B. Bailey : The 

 Islay anticline (Inner Hebrides). Other observations 

 in regard to the " Schistose Islands " of Scotland are 

 passed in review, and many of them confirmed. Cer- 

 tain new interpretations are offered, (i) An important 

 fault, perhaps the Great Glen Fault, passes through 

 the hollow separating Colonsay and the western penin- 

 sula of Islay from the rest of the archipelago. (2) The 

 dolomitic " Fucoid Beds " are not the highest geo- 

 logical subdivision of the district. They are earlier 

 than, and structurally they underlie, the greater part 

 of the Islay Quartzite, as well as the whole of the 

 Port Ellen Phyllites and Easdale Slates. (3) Several 

 '-'^rrelations must now be abandoned. Thus the Scarba 

 nglomerate is not the equivalent of the Portaskaig 

 -nglomerate, but is of considerably later date. (4) 

 Small-scale isoclinal folding is of less significance in 

 [1 the greater part of the district than has sometimes 

 \ been thought. The main feature of the tectonics of 

 eastern Islay is a comparatively simple isoclinal anti- 

 cline overthrown towards the north-west upon the 

 Loch Skerrols Thrust. (5) Finally, grounds are given 

 f'T believing that an accurate knowledge of the struc- 



Kand rock-succession of Islay is of crucial import, 

 in determining the tectonic plan of the West 

 lands generally. 

 Paris. 

 idemy of Sciences, January 3. — M. C. Jordan in 

 ;hair. — G. Bigourdan : The manuscrips of the 

 works of Jean de Ligniercs.^ — G. Humbert : Continued 

 fractions and indefinite binary quadratic forms. — Paul 

 \ppell : The hidden relations and the apparent gyro- 

 I'ljic forces in non-holonomial systems. — Henry Le 

 hatelier : The laws of solution. A reply to M.'Col- 

 :. — M. de Sparre : The projector\^ of projectiles shot 

 ih high initial velocity with an angle of projection 

 in the neighbourhood of 45°.— Pierre Delbet : The 

 action of antiseptics on pus. Exjx^riments on the 

 ' Iff'cts of antiseptics on pus in vitro gave unexpected 

 -ults, as even after twenty-four hours' contact 

 rilisation was the exception. A 2 per cent, solution 

 <ii carbolic acid was sterile in six cases out of fifteen; 



NO. 2412, VOL. 96] 



ether, corrosive sublimate, hydrogen peroxide, Dakin's 

 solution, Labarraque's solution, were all less effective. 

 — J. Cortias Soli : Some astronomical applications of 

 stereoscopic photography. Description of a special 

 apparatus, the " stereogoniometer." — Pierre Humbert: 

 The simplification of a formula of Liapounoff. — L. 

 TschugaeO and W. Lebedinski : A new series of platinum 

 compounds analogous with Cossa's salts. Acetonitrile 

 resembles ammonia and the organic amines in its 

 reaction with soluble chloroplatinites. — Domingo de 

 Orueta and S. Pifia de Rubies : The presence of 

 platinum in Spain. Between Malaga and Gibraltar, 

 in the Ronda massif, there is a series of rocks strongly 

 resembling the platiniferous rocks of the Urals. Bor- 

 ings made near Taguil gave proportions of platinum 

 varying from traces to 28 grams per cubic metre, the 

 average of fifty borings giving about 3 grams per 

 cubic metre. On account of its importance, the 

 matter has been taken up by the Spanish Government, 

 with a view to the thorough investigation and ultimate 

 exploitation of the deposit. — Emile Saillard : The attack 

 of beetroot by Cercospora beticola. — Jules Regnault : 

 A case of lateral thoracic cords, probable embryonic 

 vestiges of Wolf's band in a man. — Paul Godin : The 

 individual formula of physical growth for children of 

 both sexes. — Maurice Mendelssohn : Galvanotaxy of the 

 leucocytes. A description of changes of form and 

 motion observed in leucocytes when acted upon by 

 galvanic currents. — C. Houlbert and C. Galaine : The 

 formation of shell partitions (chambrage) in oysters 

 and the possible infection of these spaces by a parasitic 

 Annelid of the shell. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Fishery In- 

 vestigations. Series II. — Sea Fisheries. Vol. ii.. 

 No. 3. Pp. 31. Vol. iii.. No. i. Pp. 46. (London : 

 H.M.S.O. ; Wyman and Sons, Ltd.) 2s. and 35. 

 respectively. 



An Inquiry into the Statistics of Deaths from 

 Violence and Unnatural Causes in the United King- 

 dom. By Dr. W. A. Brend. Pp. v + 80. (London: 

 C. Griffin and Co., Ltd.) 35. 6d. net. 



A Student's Heat. Bv I. B. Hart. Pp. vii + 376. 

 (London : J. M. Dent and Sons, Ltd.) 4s. 6d. 



Applied Mechanics, First Year. By H. Aughtie. 

 Pp. 184. (London : G. Routledge and Sons, Ltd.) 

 2S. net. 



Textile Mechanics. By W. Scott Taggart. Pp. 

 vii+117. (London: G. Routledge and Sons, Ltd.) 

 2s. net. 



Proceedings of the London Mathematical Society. 

 Second Series. Vol. 14. Pp. xxxviii + 480. (London : 

 F. Hodgson.) 



Elementary Applied Mechanics. By Profs. T. 

 Alexander and A. W. Thomson. Third edition. Pp. 

 XX + 512. (London : Macmillan and Co., Ltd.) 15s. 

 net. 



An Outline of Industrial History, with special 

 reference to Problems of the Present Day. By E. 

 Cressy. Pp. xiv + 364. (London : Macmillan and Co., 

 Ltd.)' 35. 6d. 



Macmillan 's Geographical Exercise Books. Key to 

 I.— The British Isles. With Questions by B. C. 

 •Wallis. Pp. 48. (I>ondon : Macmillan and Co., 

 Ltd.) 25. 6d. net. 



Willing's Press Guide, and Advertiser's Directory 

 and Handbook, 1916. Pp. 472. (London : J. Willing, 



Ltd.) 15. 



