August 15, 1918] 



NATURE 



479 



.1^ essentially similar. Both plants aie rootless and 

 It afless. They have a subterranean rhizome with a 

 simple stele, erect branched cylindrical shoots, and 

 terminal sporangia. Another plant of similar organisa- 

 tion is named Hornet Lignieri, and is united with 

 Rhynia in the family Rhynaceae. It also had neither 

 roots nor leaves. The subterranean rhizome was 

 protocormus-like, and from it erect dichoiomous stems 

 arose. At the tips of some of thtse were developed 

 sporangia, which differed from those of Rhynia in 

 having a columella of sterile tissue, making the spore- 

 sac dome-shaped.— A. G. Ramage : Notes on mirage 

 observed on the Oueensferry Road, lender the condi- 

 tions of a strong sun and not too strong a breeze, 

 apparent reflections of grass and passing vehicles were 

 observed in the highly heated surface of the bitu- 

 menised road. It was necessary to stoop so as to 

 bring the mirage phenomenon over the surface into 

 view. Sometimes a silvery streak was observed. The 

 author did not find the usual theorv of mirage suffi- 

 cient, and suggested the reflection from a swarm of 

 small particles as a vera causa. — Dr. \V. VV. Taylor : 

 (i) The rotatory commutator method of determining 

 electric^ conductivity, and an improved form of Mac- 

 Gregor's drum. This drum is a double reversing kev, 

 reversing the current continuously so as to make 

 it alternating through the electrolyte, and readjusting 

 if so as to make it continuous through the galvano- 

 meter. It is well known that with the usual form 

 of drum the apparent resistance varies with the condi- 

 tions, such as the rat? of rotation, and differs slightly 

 from the value obtained by the Kohlrausch method". 

 These defects are due to the construction of the drum, 

 and by a simple modification the defects have been 

 (Aercome. (2) The solubility of "insoluble salts" and 

 of silver oxide. There are large discrepancies between 

 the solubility of these substances as determined by 

 chemical analysis and physical methods, the latter 

 depending on the determination of the concentration 

 of an ion. The chemical me. hods give always the 

 greater values, owinj? to the presence of "sols" of 

 the substance in addition to the true solution. In the 

 case of silver oxide a yellow-brown solution was on 

 one occasion obtained; yet its total amount was less 

 than in a similarly prepared colourless solution. In 

 like manner, the increased sclubilitv of insoluble salts 

 in presence of substances like starch is to be attri- 

 buted to the protection of the sol by the emulsoid, 

 and not to adsorption at the interface, (t,) The electric 

 conductivity of sols. A series of determinations of the 

 electric conductivity of Kohlschiitter's silver sol led 

 to the conclusion that the small limiting conductivity 

 is dependv'nt on the electrolyte "impurity" derived 

 from the substances employed in the preparation of 

 the sol. (4) The titration acidity of urine. The estima- 

 tion of the acidity of urine by titration with alkali and 

 phenolnhthaleins • potassium oxalate is added "to 

 remove the calcium which interferes with the end- 

 point." Experiments show that the end-point is the 

 same in the absence of the oxalate, though perhaps 

 it is not Quite so easily fixed. The addition of neutral 

 calcium chloride is found to increase the acidity to a 

 certain definite extent, and this increased acidity is 

 removed by neutral potassium oxalate. It has not vet 

 been ascertained to what constituent of the urine this 

 is due. — R. A. Fisher: The correlation of relatives on 

 the supposition of Mendelian inheritance. The general 

 conclusions of this mathematical investigation are : — 

 (i) The fa.:ts of biometry do not contrad'ct. but in 

 many cases positively support, the theory of cumula- 

 tive Mendelian factors: (2) if the theory is correct, a 

 suflRcient knowledtfe of the correlation coefficients for 

 any one feature, between different pairs of relatives, 

 would enable us to analyse completely and estimate 

 numerically the percentage due to heritable factors ; 

 NO. 2546. VOL. lOll 



(3) a provisional examination of the existing data 

 shows it to be quite unlikely that more than 5 per 

 cent, of the variance of the physical measurements of 

 man is due to non-heritable causes. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, July 22.— M. P. Painlev^ in the 

 chair. — G. Bigourdan : The observatory of the Luxem- 

 bourg. An account of Delisle's work and instruments, 

 1712-15 and 1722-25.^1-1. Douvill^ : Are the foramini- 

 fera unicellular? Krom the evidence given it appears 

 that certain foraminifera are in the first phases of their 

 quadri- or bi-cellular development. — E. Leclainclie : 

 Serotherapy in gas gangrene. Historical account of 

 the use of polyvalent sera against gas gangrene in 

 France. — W. VV. ('ampbell was elected a correspondant 

 for the section of astronomy in succession to the late 

 Dr. Auwers, and G. Lecointe a correspondant for the 

 section of geography and navigation in succession to 

 the late Dr. Helmert. — R. Jonclilieere : Discovery of the 

 periodic comet of Max Wolf. This was found at 

 Greenwich on July 9 as a small nebulosity about 9" 

 diameter and of the 15th or i6th magnitude. The 

 difference between the calculated and actual positions 

 of the comet was much greater than was the case 

 with previous appearances.— J. Renaud : Deep ports 

 on French ocean and Channel coasts. Approaches to 

 ports should be at least twelve metres deep at low 

 water. Positions satisfying this condition are rare on 

 the French coasts, but exist at Brest, Pallice, and 

 Cherbourg. — P. Girault : A particular case of distribu- 

 tion of the current between transformer coils coupled 

 in parallel. — L. Tscliugaeff : The acid function of 

 osmium tetroxide. Osmium tetroxide gives a series 

 of well-defiued compounds with the hydroxides of 

 potassium, rubidium, and caesium of the general for- 

 mula 2MOH.OsO^. This is in opposition to the cur- 

 rent view that osmium tetroxide is devoid of acid pro- 

 perties. — -A. Valeur : A new volatile alkaloid from the 

 broom. This was isolated from the mother-liquors 

 from the recrystallisation of commercial sparteine sul- 

 phate. The name " genisteine " is proposed for the 

 new base, and methods of separating it from sparteine 

 are described. Its composition is C,„H,,N.., and the 

 properties of its hydrate, picrate, chloroplatinate. and 

 chloroaurate are given. — M. Steplianidis : Greek fire or 

 the " liquid fire " of the Byzantines. The view is put 

 forward that Greek fire was a crude petroleum. — 

 H. Hubert : Geology of the north of the Senegal.— P. 

 Garrigou-Lagrange : The general movements of the 

 atmosphere. .\n application of the kinemato^raph to 

 the studv of meteorological charts.— F. Maignon : 

 Comparative study of the influence of carbohydrates 

 and fats on the nutritive power of alimentary proteids. 

 Experiments on white rats show that albumin is better 

 utilised with fat than with starch. It follows from 

 these experiments that fats play an important part 

 in the utilisation of proteid materials. — I. Legendre : 

 The biology of Eleoiris gohoides.—V. Galippe : New 

 researches on the presence of living elements in normal 

 muscular tissue (normal parasitism and microbiosis). 



Washington, D.C. 

 National Academy of Sciences (Proceedings, vol. iv.. 

 No. t), January, 1918.— H. P. Armsby, J. A. Fries, and 

 Winfred W. Braman : The basal katabolism of cattle 

 and other species. The results show that the basal 

 katabolism of different species is substantially propor- 

 tional to their body-surface.— F. H. Scares, A. van 

 Maanen, and F. Ellerman : The location of the sun's 

 magnetic axis. In extension of the work of George E. 

 Hale, a large number of observations were undertaken 

 to determine the position of the sun's magnetic axis, 

 which is found to lie near the axis of rotation at an 

 inclination of about 6°, and to revol\< .ilxmt the axis 



