500 



natXjre 



[August 22, 1918 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL , 

 INTELLIGENCE. 

 We have received a copy of the prospectus of the 

 Merchant Venturers' Technical College, which pro- 

 vides and maintains the faculty of engineering of the 

 University of Bristol, and we note that the courses 

 include schemes of study for persons intending to 

 engage in civil, mechanical, and electrical engineering. 

 The department of automobile engineering has been 

 closed for the duration of the war, as the professor of 

 that department is doing important work in connection 

 with munitions. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, July 29. — M. Ed. Perrier in the 

 chair. — G. Humbert : Ternary indefinite quadratic 

 forms. — J Boussinesq : The fundamental formula of 

 Tresca for punching a cylindrical block of lead. — G. 

 Bigourdan : Delisle at the Hdtel de Taranne ; Lalande, 

 Bailly, and Coulvier-Gravier at the Luxembourg. — M. 

 Balland : The use of lime-water in the preparation of 

 munition bread. An account of some experiments 

 made in 1917 by order of the Minister for War on the 

 use of lima-water in bread-making.^ — P. Bruere and 

 Ed. Chauvenet ; Zirconium nitride. Starting with the 

 ammonia compound of zirconium chloride, ZrC1^.4NH,, 

 a 'rise of temperature gives successively the amide, 

 Zr(NH2)^, the imide (impure), Zr(NH)„, and finally, at 

 about 350° C, the nitride, ZrjN^. This last appears 

 to be the only nitride, and no evidence of the com- 

 pounds Zr.,N, and Zr^Ng has been obtained. ^ — M. 

 Verzat : The measurement of temperature in very 

 deep soundings. Two thermometers were cut at a 

 temperature (40° C.) lower than that expected; after 

 remaining at the bottom lor an hour they were raised, 

 and some mercury was found to have escaped. Com- 

 parison with a standard then showed the temperature 

 (62-5° C.) at which the mercury exactly filled the tube, 

 and thus gave indirectly the temperature at the 

 bottom, 1616 metres from the surface. This gives a 

 rise of 1° C. for «verv 323 metres depth. — F. Mor- 

 villez : The leaf-trace of the Caealpine Leguminosae.- — 

 H. Colin and Mile. A. Cliaudun : The law of action of 

 sucrase. The deviation from Wilhelmy's formula is 

 less marked as the ratio of saccharose to sucrase 

 diminishes. — F. Ladreyt : Epithelial regeneration. Be- 

 sides normal physiological renovation, epithelium may 

 abnormally be regenerated at the expense of con- 

 junctive tissue. — A. Besredka : Experimental paratyphoid 

 fever B. The mechanism of immunity in paratvphoid 

 B. Vaccination bv the mouth.— H. Bordter : A 

 radio-therapic unit of quantity. The unit is based on 

 the amount of iodine set free from a 2 per cent, solu- 

 tion of iodoform in chloroform. It has been proved 

 that the iodine liberated is regular, and proportional 

 to the time of irradiation by the X-rays. The unit is 

 then defined as the quantitv of X-ravs capable of 

 setting free 01 milligram of iodine in i c.c. of a 

 2 per cent, solution of iodoform in chloroform, thick- 

 ness I cm., and in the dark.— A. Paine and A. Peyron : 

 Seminome of the testicle of the rabbit, with _graft and 

 generalisation to the second generation. 



Victoria. 

 Royal Society, Mav o. — Mr. J. A. Kershaw, presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — G. F. Hill : Relationship of insects 

 to parasitic diseases in stock. Part I. Life-histories 

 of three nematode parasites of the horse, Hahrx)nema 

 muscae, H. microstoma, and H. niegasioma. Part IL 

 Certain points in the life-historv of Melophagus ovinus, 

 the sheep " louse-fiv " or sheep "tick." — F. Chapman: 

 Ostracoda from the Upper Cambrian Limestone of 



NO. 2547, VOL. lOl] 



South .Vustralia. Three new species of Leperditioid 

 Ostracoda are described from the Archaeocyathina 

 Limestone of Curramulka, namely, Leperditia iatei, 

 L. capsella, and Isochilina sweeti. L. tatei has its 

 nearest analogue in L. anna of the Upper Cambrian of 

 St. Ann's, Canada, whilst L. capsella bears a certain 

 resemblance to L. canadensis of the Canadian Lower 

 Palaeozoic. The species of Isochilina is of large size 

 (length more than 7 mm.), and has a general re- 

 semblance to some forms of Aristozoe (cephalic region), 

 but is a true Ostracod ftom its swollen proportions and 

 thickly calcified carapace. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Studies in Electro-Pathology. By A. W. Robertson. 

 Pp. viii + 304. (London: G. Routledge and Sons, 

 Ltd.) 125, 6d. net. 



Wealth from Waste. By Prof. H. J. Spooner. 

 Pp. xvi+316. (London : G. Routledge and Sons, Ltd.) 

 7s. 6d. net. 



Sir William Ramsay. By Prof. T. C. Chaudhuri. 

 Pp. ix+66. (Calcutta : Butterworth and Co. (India), 

 Ltd.) Rs.i.8 net. 



On the Determination of the Principal Laws of 

 Statistical Astronomy. By W. J. A. Schouten. Pp. 

 128. (Amsterdam : W. Kirchner.) 



Modern Dyeing Methods. By C. M. Whittaker. 

 Pp. xi+214. (London :^ Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox.) 

 7s. 6d. net. 



Industrial Electrometallurgy, including Electrolytic 

 and Electrothermal Processes.' By Dr. E. K. Rideal. 

 Pp. xii+247. (Bailliere, Tindall, and Cox.) 75. 6d. . 

 net. 



The Science of Health and Hortie-making. By E. C. 

 .Abbott. Pp. xv+302. (London : G. Bell and Sons. 

 Ltd.) 3s. 6d. net. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Sir Joseph Hooker . 481 



Tycho Brahe's Studies of Comets. By Dr. A. C. D. 



Crommelin . 482 



Our Bookshelf 483 



Letters to the Editor:— 



Science and the Civil Service.— Prof. J. B. Cohen, 



F.R.S 484 



The Royal Institution : a Retrospect. By Sir T. E. 



Thorpe, C.B., F.R.S 484 



The Drift of the " Endurance." By R. C. Mossman 487 



Notes 488 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Wolf's Periodic Comet . 491 



Faint Stars v^ith Large Proper Motions 492 



Periodicity of Solar Radiation ■ 492 



The Spectrum of Mira 492 



The New Star in Aquila . 492 



The Development of Scientific Industries ... 493 



Treatment of Crops by Electric Discharges ... 495 



Iron-Ore Occurrences in Canada . . ^. 495 



-British Scientific Products Exhibition . . * 495 



The Eruption of Katmai. (Illustrated.) By Prof. 



Robert F. Grige;s • • 497 



University and Educational Intelligence 500 



Societies and Academies 500 



Books Received 5°° 



Editorial and Publishing Offices: 



MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd., 



ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON. W.C.2. 



Advertisements and business letters to be addressed to the 

 Publishers. 



Editorial Communications to the Editor. 

 Telegraphic Address : Phusis, London. 

 Telephone Number : G-errard 8830. 



