March 25, 1920] 



NATURE 



123 



many novelties. Miss L6rrain Smith gave an account 

 (if the lichens, which include a new genus and a fair 

 proportion of now species. Miss E. M. Wakefield 

 referred to the fungi, the geographical distribution of 

 \\ hich showed points of interest ; and Miss G. Lister 

 described the small collection of Mycetozoa. 



Geological Society, March lo.— Mr. R. D. Oldham, 

 president, in the chair.— Prof. A. H. Cox and A. K. 

 Wells : The Lower Palaeozoic rocks of the Arthog- 

 Dolgelley district (Merionethshire). This paper gives 

 in account of the geology of the country between the 

 ( ader Idris range and the Mawddach Estuary. The 

 physiography of the district was described, and' a sum- 

 mary of the work of previous investigators given. 



Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, February 17.— Sir 

 Henry A Miers, president, in the chair.'— Dr. T. 

 (iraham Brown : The function of the brain. The 

 activity of an animal, as seen by an observer, consists 

 in movements of its limbs, changes of its attitude, 

 changes in its expression, and so on. This activitv is 

 usually called "behaviour." In itself the action is 

 a physiological one, and may be analysed and 

 described in terms of physiological mechanism. It 

 is also used as an index of the mental processes. 

 The separate movements of the parts of the body are 

 integrated by the nervous system in the total be- 

 haviour. This integration rnay occur at different 

 levels in the central nervous system. The great brain 

 must be present if the animal is to exhibit all the 

 finer shades of behaviour which characterise the 

 normal animal. The two general methods of examina- 

 tion were described and illustrated by experimental 

 observations. Brain injuries and their results in men 

 and animals, with consequential paralysis, and the 

 theory of the " cerebral localisation of functions " 

 were discussed. 



Literary and Philosophical Society (Chemical Section), 

 February 27. — Mr. R. H. Clayton, chairman, in the 

 chair. — J. Allan : Engineering as applied to the build- 

 ings and plant in chemical works. 



Dublin. 

 Royal Dublin Society, February 24.— Dr. F. Hackett 

 in the chair.— Prof. Wm. Brown : Note on the decay 

 of magnetism in bar magnets. Twenty-one bar 

 magnets of different chemical composition were re- 

 tested for magnetic moment per gram after being 

 laid aside for ten years. The most retentive were 

 found to be magnets with about i per cent, of C. 

 and those with about 3 per cent, of Cr. The general 

 results show that in ten years the manganese group 

 lost about 25 per cent, of their magnetism, the 

 tungsten group 20 per cent., and the chromium group 

 about 28 per cent.— T. G. Mason : The inhibition of 

 invertase in the sap of Galanthus itivalis. The inver- 

 sion of sucrose in the sap extracted from the leaves of 

 Galanthus nivalis takes place with extreme slowness, 

 so that at the end of five days, at a temperature of 

 29° C, it is still incomplete. The delay is observed 

 whether the sap is pressed from untreated leaves or 

 from leaves the cells of w^hich have been rendered 

 permeable by exposure to intense cold or to toluene 

 vapour ; but the delay is least marked in the sap 

 extracted by the first method. It is shown that inver- 

 sion such as occurs is due neither to the acids of 

 the cell-sap nor to the enzymes of organisms external 

 to the cells, and hence the presence of invertase in 

 the sap seems established. Efforts were made to 

 demonstrate the presence of an invertase-inhibitor bv 

 dialysis, and by testing the effect of the sap on 

 \ east-invertase, with negative results. Possibly the 

 NO. 2630, VOL. 105] 



greater part of the invertase of the sap is thrown 

 down with the colloids coagulated by extraction, 

 especially during exposure to col<l or to toluene 

 vapour. The inversion of the sucrose was traced by 

 thermo-electric observations of the depression of 

 freezing point of the sap. These observations usuallv 

 showed a comparatively rapid inversion during the 

 first few hours, followed by a slight reversal or sus- 

 pension of the process for the next few hours, and 

 then a steady inversion at a very slow rate. The 

 reversal is remarkable, and may be attributed to a 

 condensation of hexoses to form sucrose or to oxida- 

 tion of the hexoses. 



Books Received. 



Spring Songs. By T. J. W. Henslow. Pp. 54. 

 (London : Electrical Press, Ltd.) i,s-. 6d. net. 



The Propagation of Electric Currents in Telephone 

 and Telegraph Conductors. By Prof. J. A. Fleming. 

 Third edition. Pp. xiv + 370. (London : Constable 

 and Co., Ltd.) 215. net. 



The Arctic Prairies. By E. Thompson Seton. 

 Pp. xii+308. (London ; Constable and Co., Ltd.) 

 8s. 6d. net. 



Paper Making and its Machinery. By T. W. 

 Chalmers. Pp. xi+178+vi plates. (London: Con- 

 stable and Co., Ltd.) 265. net. 



Mathematical Papers for Admission into the Royal 

 Military Academy and the Royal Military College, 

 and Papers in Elementary Engineering for the Royal 

 Air Force for the Years 1910-1919. Edited by R. M. 

 Milne. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.) 105. 6d. 



Annual Reports on the Progress of Chemistry for 

 1919. Vol. xvi. Pp. ix+234. (London : Gurney and 

 Jackson.) 4s. 6d. net. 



A Manual of Elementary Zoology. By L. A. Borra- 

 daile. Third edition. Pp. xviii + 6i6+xxi plates. 

 (London : Henrv Frowde and Hodder and Stoughton.) 

 iSs. 



The Ghost World : Its Realities, Apparitions, and 

 Spooks. By J. W. Wickwar. Pp. 158. (London : 

 Jarrolds, Ltd.) 2s. 6d. net. 



Treatise on General and Industrial Inorganic 

 Chemistry. By Prof. E. Molinari. Second edition. 

 Translated from the fourth Italian edition by T. H. 

 Pope. Pp. xix + 876+2 plates. (London : J. and A. 

 Churchill.) 425. net. 



Industrial Organic .Analysis. By P. S. Arup. 

 Second edition. Pp. xi + 47'i. (London: J. and A. 

 Churchill.) 12s. 6d. net. 



Electricity : Its Production and Applications. By 

 R. E. Ne'ale. Pp. viii+136. (London: Sir Isaac 

 Pitman and Sons, Ltd.) 2.s-. 6c/. net. 



Aviation : Theorico - Practical Text-book for 

 Students. Bv B. M. Carmina. Pp. ix+172. (New 

 York : The Macmillan Co. ; London : Macmillan and 

 Co., Ltd.) 115. net. 



The Link between the Practitioner and the Labora- 

 tory. Bv C. Fletcher and H. McLean. Pp. 91- 

 (London : H. K. Lewis and Co., Ltd.) 4s. 6d. net. 



A Memorial Volume containing an Account of the 

 Photographic Researches of Ferdinand Hurter and 

 Vero C. Driffield. Bv W. B. Ferguson. Pp. xii + 

 374. (London : The Royal Photographic Society of 

 Great Britain.) 255. 



Common Diatoms. Bv T. K. Mellor. Pp. 16 + 

 plates. (London : W. Weslev and Son.) 6s. net. 



Legal Chemistrv and Scientific Criminal Investiga- 

 tion. By A. Lucas. Pp. viii+i8i. (London: E. 

 .Arnold.) los. 6d. net. 



.\ Man of Eurooe and Africa (on Mercator's Pro- 

 jection), " having Special Reference to Forest .Areas 



