l84 



NATURE 



[December 3, 1914 



cutting near the eastern railway station. Its base is 

 about 55 ft. above mean sea-level, and it is covered 

 by a thick bed of yellow loamy clay. — Prof. S. J. 

 Shand : Tachylyte veins and assimilation phenomena 

 in the granite of Parijs (Orange Free State). The 

 district is the neighbourhood of Parijs township, 

 situated on the Vaal River, and lies upon the northern 

 portion of the Vredefort granite-mass. The so-called 

 "granite" near Parijs is a red and grey streaky 

 gneiss, often traversed by veins of red pegmatite ; 

 these are of a later period of consolidation than the 

 rest of the rock. The grey facies of the gneiss results 

 from assimilation of the country-rock by an ascending 

 magma; while the red facies represents the residual 

 portion of the same magma. The tachylytic veins every- 

 where intersect the granitic rocks. These veins range 

 from a fraction of an inch to 2 ft. in thickness, but 

 in the thicker veins there are numerous inclusions of 

 the country-rock. They are irregular in form, thick- 

 ness, and direction, and are due to the intrusion of a 

 basic magma which underlay the district. The author 

 brings forward evidence to prove that the position 

 occupied by the tachylyte is independent of tectonic 

 ■ features, but follows directly from solution and corro- 

 sion of the granitic rocks by the basic magma. 



Linnean Society, November 19. — Prof. E. B. Poulton, 

 president, in the chair.— A. J. Wilmott : Discovery of 

 Hydrilla verticillata, Casp., in Esthwaite Water. This 

 is a small lake to the west of Windermere; and the 

 discovery was made by Mr. Pearsall.— C. H. Wright : 

 The Mosses and Hepaticae of West Falkland Islands, 

 from the collections of Mrs. Elinor Vallentin. Having 

 made a collection of phanerogams and ferns, which 

 formed the basis of a paper published in the Journal 

 of this society, (Botany, vol. xxxix., 313-39), Mrs. 

 Vallentin returned to the Falkland Islands and made 

 collections of the lower Cryptogams. The present 

 paper contains the determinations of this collection 

 and attempts to bring together the information pre- 

 viously published on other collections. The genera 

 represented are either terrestrial or aquatic, and the 

 species much resemble those from the northern hemi- 

 sphere. Many are capable of resisting cold and 

 drought, such as they are exposed to in these wind- 

 swept islands. Very little affinity is shown with the 

 flora of New Zealand and the subarctic islands to the 

 south of it. — R. S. Bagnall : Thysanoptera of the West 

 Indies. 



Cambridge. 



Philosophical Society, November 9. — Prof. Newall, 

 president, in the chair.— Sir J. J. Thomson : Experi- 

 ments with slow kathode rays.— Prof. J. Zeleny : The 

 conditions of instability of electrified drops, with appli- 

 cations to the electrical discharge from liquid surfaces." 

 Experiments on the electrical discharge from liquid 

 drops formed at the ends of small tubes, show that 

 under some conditions the surface of the liquid is 

 subject to more or less agitation. When the surface 

 is examined under the instantaneous illumination of a 

 spark, small masses of liquid are seen to be pulled 

 away. This behaviour is shown to have no direct 

 connection with the electrical discharge but is ex- 

 plained by the surface becoming unstable under the 

 action of the electric forces, the observed electrical 

 current being carried across the gas gap by minute 

 electrified drops. The square of the potential at which 

 the instability begins is directly proportional to the 

 radius of the drop and to its surface tension, a relation 

 which has been verified by experiment. Whether an 

 electrical discharge, from a given surface, may begin 

 before the surface becomes unstable depends upon the 

 gas used and its pressure, since these quantities 

 determine the starting potential for the electrical dis- 

 charge. 



NO. 2353' VOL. 94] 



Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, November 3. — Mr. 

 F. Nicholson, president, in the chair. — W. C. 

 Jenkins : Note on the aerolite which fell at UphoUand^ 

 near Wigan, on October 13.— H. Day : Variation in sa 

 Carboniferous brachiopod. The species chosen for; 

 investigation was Reticularia ellipttca, as a commonj 

 and typical representative of the ''Spirifer glaber" 

 group, regarding which considerable doubt has existed 

 as to the distinction of species and genera. This type 

 is readily distinguished by its fine, reticulate orna- 

 ment, but great variation is shown by individuals in 

 respect of relative length, breadth, and thickness. 

 The length, breadth, and thickness of each of 1000 

 specimens, collected from one spot, were accurately 

 measured, and the ratios L/B and L/T were then 

 determined. Each of these ratios was found to vary 

 according to a symmetrical simple variation curve, 

 leaving no doubt as to the specific unity of the 

 assemblage. It was further ascertained that varia- 

 tion in respect of either ratio was nearly independent 

 of that in respect of the other. There is, however, a 

 slight tendency for breadth and thickness to vary 

 together in relation to length, in such a way that both 

 ratios on the average diminish as the individual 

 increases in size. 



November 17. — Mr. R. L. Taylor, secretary, in the^ 

 chair. — F. W. Atack ; The salt-formation of oximes^ 

 After outlining the current theory of oxime-isomerismi, 

 due to Hantzsch and Werner, the author pointed out 

 that there is a notable discrepancy between th? 

 formulse first deduced by Hantzsch and Werner if 

 support of their theory and those in agreement witj^ 

 the Beckmann change, and this discrepancy ha$ 

 never been explained. Tschugaev's statement thai 

 only the so-called a-dioximes form characteristic salts 

 with metals of the eighth group of the periodic 

 system is Incorrect, the author having obtained similar^" 

 salts with the so-called y-dloxlmes. It has been found 

 that in case an "oxime" group forms a hydrochloride, 

 it does not form such salts. New methods for the 

 purification of oximes were outlined. 



Dublin. 

 Royal Dublin Society, November 24. — Dr. J. H. 



Pollok, in the chair.— Prof. W. Brown : The fatigue 

 of nickel and iron wires when subjected to the influ- 

 ence of alternating magnetic fields of frequency 50 per 

 second. The results of some experiments showed that 

 it takes about three times longer to fatigue an iron 

 wire than a nickel one when tested under the same 

 conditions.- Nigel G. Ball : The action of pectase. 

 The action of the pectase of Syringa vulgaris on a 

 solution of pectin was investigated by determining 

 the change in viscosity of the mixture. In the pre- 

 sence of electrolytes the viscosity rose to a maximum 

 and then decreased.— W. R. G. Atkins and G. O. 

 Sherrard : The pigments of fruits in relation to some 

 genetic experiments on Capsicum annuum. In Cap- 

 sicum fruits red is dominant to j^ellow, chocolate, and 

 orange. The reds and chocolates have oily pigments 

 in plastids. These are distinguished from lycopin, 

 carotin and xanythophyll by their ready solubility in 

 cold alcohol and In petroleum ether. — W. R. G. 

 Atkins : Oxidases and their inhibitors in plant tissues. 

 Part Iv. Peroxidase reactions of related species of 

 Iris are similar, even though distribution of antho- 

 cyanln may be different. Alterations in peroxydase 

 due to rernoval from light are not rapid enough to 

 vitiate this conclusion. Anthocyanin is frequently 

 present where there is no peroxydase. Well-marked 

 inhibition patches are found in some species. Toluene 

 water is as effective in removing inhibitor as is 

 cvanide. 



