November 15, 191 7] 



NATURE 



219 



with invertebrate eggs, Bataillon hiis largely confined 

 his attention to the lower vertebrates. He was able 

 by pricking the frog's eggs to cause development, 

 which proceeded in three cases up to the tadpole stage. 

 The various theories which have proceeded from the 

 experiments were then discussed. Finally, it was 

 pointed out that although various substances were 

 capable of inducing development, no factor or factors 

 common to all these substances had been isolated, 

 and that until this was done the problem of fertilisa- 

 tion could not be said to have been solved. Further, 

 it was significant that up to the present no animal 

 had been raised to sexual maturity by artificial means. 

 October 30. — Mr. W. Thomson, president, in the 

 chair.— Prof. W. Boyd Dawkins : The organisation of 

 museums and galleries of art and technology in Man- 

 chester. The author gave an outline of the organisa- 

 tion of the Manchester Museum. The scheme of 

 classification is based upon the two great principles of 

 time and evolution. It begins with the ancient history 

 of the earth, dealing first with minerals built of 

 elemental bodies, secondly with the rocks built up of 

 minerals, and thirdly with the history of life as revealed 

 in the rocks. The history of life is represented in its 

 three great stages of evolution — primary, secondary, 

 and tertiary, the series ending with the groups illus- 

 trating existing Nature, plants, animals, and man. An 

 account was then given of art in Manchester at the 

 present time, and a scheme outlined for the organisa- 

 tion of a collection of new art in Manchester. The 

 needs of manufacturers and workers generally who 

 look for the best examples of mechanical processes and 

 handicrafts can only be met by the establishment of a 

 great industrial museum. 



P.'\RIS. 



Academy of Sciences, October 22.— M. Camille Jordan 

 in the chair. — E. Branly : Electro-metallic influences 

 exercised through insulating leaves of very small thick- 

 ness. An experimental study of the conditions under 

 which a very thin sheet of mica exhibits unipolar or 

 bipolar conductivity.— H. Douville : The Tertiary ot the 

 Aquitanian gulf and its differences of facies. — M. de 

 Sparre : The influence of the variation of wall thick- 

 ness on strokes of the ram in a constrained pipe. — G. 

 Charpy and S. Bonnerot : The heterogeneity of steel. 

 The specimens discussed were etched bv a copper re- 

 agent, the metallic capper being afterwards removed 

 by solution in ammonia. The advantages of the 

 method are shown by six illustrations reproduced from 

 photomicrographs, four showing the progressive effects 

 of roiling on the structure of the metal. — E. Goursat : 

 The integration of certain systems of differential equa- 

 tions. — S. Bays : The triple cyclic systems of Steiner. — 

 H. Larose : The uniform movement of a wire in a 

 resisting medium. — C. Camichel, D. Eydoux, and M. 

 Gariel : The strokes of an hydraulic ram. — M. 

 Mesnager : The thick rectangular plate, loaded at the 

 centre, and the corresponding thin plate. — J. C. Sold : 

 The parallax of the star P Ophiuchi. An appli- 

 cation of the stereoscopic method; the parallax found 

 for this star is 0-418'' ±0-24". — M. Brillouin : The elec- 

 tromagnetic field of an element of constant current in 

 a biaxial anisotropic medium. — A. Mailhe and F. de 

 Godon : The transformation of secondary and tertiary 

 fatty amines into nitriles. Dii5oamylamine, passed 

 over reduced nickel at 3oo°-32o°,' gives amylene, 

 hvdrogen. ammonia, tri/soamylamine, and tsoamyl- 

 nitrile. Triwoamylamine, under similar conditions, 

 also yields j.foamyinitrile. The formation of a nitrile 

 is unexpected, and further investigations will be made 

 to see if the reliction is a general one. — M. Guerbet : 

 Condensation, under the action of potash, of cvdo- 

 hexanol with secondary butyl alcohol. The synthesis 

 of 4-cvc?ohexyl-3-butanol. — L. F. Navarro : The struc- 



NO. 2507, VOL. lOOl 



ture and petrographic composition of the Pic du Teyde 

 (Teneri'ffe). — J. Deprat : Ihe presence of the Lower 

 Cambrian to the west of Yunnanfou. — H. Coupin : 

 The acid excretion of roots. The acid excretion is 

 due, not to the root-hairs, but to the superficial 

 cells of the outer layers, especially when the latter 

 have suffered lesions.— Em. bourquelot : The influence 

 of glycerol on the activity of invertine. Unsuccessful 

 attempts to synthesise sugar by the action of invertine 

 on solution of glucose and levulose led the author to 

 make a study of the hydrolysis of sugar by invertine 

 in presence of glycerol. Without glycerol the inver- 

 sion is practically complete in seven days; increasing 

 proportions of glycerol cause a progressive weakening 

 in the activity of the invertine, so that in 50 per cent, 

 glycerol solutions only 21-6 per cent, of the sugar was 

 hydrolysed.— M. Cazin and Mile. S. Krongold : The use 

 of commercial sodium hypochlorite solutions (eau de 

 Javel) in the treatment of infected wounds. Of 510 

 patients treated by this solution only three died. The 

 question of the supposed irritating properties of this 

 solution is discussed, and the results of comparative 

 experiments made with Dakin's solution and 05 per 

 cent, sodium hypochlorite solution are given. — C. Benoit 

 and A. Helbronner : The treatment of war wounds by 

 the combined action of visible and ultra-violet radia- 

 tions. 



October 29. — M. Ed. Perrier in the chair.— V. 

 Cremieu : Experimental researches on gravitation. 

 ■^P. Pascal :' The distillation of mixtures of 

 sulphuric and nitric acids. The boiling points 

 of mixtures of water, sulphuric acid, and nitric 

 acid have been studied and the results shown graphic- 

 ally. The diagrams give all the elements necessary 

 for the theory of the concentration of weak nitric acid 

 in retorts, and the denitration in towers of nitro- 

 sulphuric acid mixtures.— J. Bougault : The preparation 

 of acyl hydroxylamines, starting with the oximes of 

 o-ketonic acids. By the action of iodine and sodium 

 bicarbonate upon the oxime of an a-ketonic acid an 

 acyl hvdroxvlamine is formed, CO, being eliminated, 

 a nitrile being also formed by a secondary reaction. 

 Thus the oxime of phenylpyruvic acid, 



CeH,.CH,.C(NOH).CO,H, 



gives phenylacetylhydroxylamine, 



CeH5.CH,.CO.NH(OH), 



and phenylacetonitrile, CeHs.CH^.CN. Other examples 

 are given proving the generality of the reaction. — A. B. 

 Chauveau : The diurnal variation of potential at a 

 point in the atmosphere with clear sky. It is shown 

 that part, at least, of the diurnal variation is due to 

 dust particles. — F. Morvillez : The leaf trace of the 

 Rosaceae. — W. Kopaczewski : Researches on the serum 

 of Muraena helena : the toxic power and physical 

 properties of the serum. The toxic action of the serum 

 remains after thirty days' storage in the dark, but 

 sunlight exerts n destructive effect. The toxic effect 

 disappears after exposure to 75° C. — A. Licaillon : The 

 appearance of "bivoltins accidentels " in univoltine 

 races of silkworm, and the rational explanation of this 

 phenomenon.— J. Amar : Rational prothesis of the 

 lower member : a practical model of the leg. 



Melbourne. 

 Royal Society of Victoria, September 13. — Prof. W. A. 

 Osborne, president, in the chair. — Dr. C. Fenner : The 

 physiography of the Glenelg River. The Glenelg ori- 

 ginated in a post-Pliocene uplift forming the low- 

 western end of the main divide of Victoria. The uplift 

 having a westerly tilt, all the tributaries enter from 

 the east. Part of the asymmetry results frorn vigorous 

 tributaries crossing the divide and capturing head- 



