July 8, 1920] 



NATURE 



603 



coconut carbon from shell, and coconut carbon from 

 fruit. The solvents used were chloroform and ben- 

 zene. The activity of the carbon was shown to depend 

 on its previous treatment. In all cases a rapid con- 

 densation takes place in the first few minutes, fol- 

 lowed by a much slower sorption, which may con- 

 tinue for several years. The influence of the size of 

 the carbon particles was also studied. — F. H. Jeflery : 

 Electrolysis of solutions of sodium nitrite using a 

 copper anode. — Dr. A. M. Williams : The pressure 

 variation of equilibrium constant in dilute solution. 

 The apparent discrepancy between the expressions of 

 Planck and Rice rests on a misinterpretation of the 

 latter 's symbols. Another deduction is given. — Miss 

 Nina Hosali : Models illustrating crystalline form and 

 symmetry. 



Linnean Society, June 17.— Dr. A. Smith Woodward, 

 president, in the chair.— (The centenary of the death 

 of Sir Joseph Banks.)— Dr. B. Daydon Jackson: 

 Banks as a traveller.— Dr. A. B. Rendle : Banks as a 

 patron of science.— J. Britten : Banks as a botanist.— 

 Dr. A. Smith Woodward : Banks as a trustee of the 

 British Museum of paramount power. 



June 24.— Dr. A. Smith Woodward, president, in 

 the chair.— Dr. C. J. F. Sliottsberg : Botanical features 

 of the Juan Fernandez group of islands. — Dr. R. J. 

 Tillyard : The Cawthron Institute. This institute is to 

 be situated in the city of Nelson, N.Z. An account was 

 given of the early life and adventures of the founder, 

 showing how he rose from a low estate to become 

 a very wealthy man. In his later years he busied 

 himself with philanthropic enterprises, and on his 

 death it was found that he had left the greater portion 

 of his fortune for the purpose of founding- an institute 

 of scientific research. After all claims had been paid, 

 the Cawthron Trust was left with a capital of about 

 2oo,oooZ., which, wisely invested, would yield an income 

 of about 11,000?. a year. Prof. T. H. Easterfield, of 

 Wellington, N.Z., has been appointed director and chief 

 of the chemical department,* with Mr. T. H. Rigg, 

 late of Rothamsted, working under him as agricul- 

 tural chemist. In the biological department Miss 

 K. M. Curtis has been appointed mycologist, and Mr. 

 A. Philpott assistant entomologist. The librarv and 

 museum are under the care of the curator, Mr. W. C. 

 Davies. The activities of the institute will be directed 

 towards scientific research, both pure and applied, 

 with the view of benefiting the primarv industries of 

 New Zealand as a whole and of' the Nelson Province 

 in particular. 



Aristotelian Society, June 21.— Mr. A. F. Shand in 

 the chair.— Miss Edgell : Memory and conation. The 

 views of three writers approaching the subject from 

 the different viewpoints of ohilosoohical psychology, 

 biology, and psychiatry, viz. Prof. Ward, Dr. Semofi, 

 and Dr. Freud, were examined with reference to the 

 question : Does memory require the recognition in 

 mental life of a specific function, conation? Analvsis 

 shows that for Prof. Ward the activitv of the subject 

 of experience is essential both for the development of 

 memory and for manv of its manifestations'. If the 

 activitv of the subiect be understood as implvinn cona- 

 tion, then the author's theory of memorv does involve 

 conation. Dr. Senaon, following Herin'g and Butler, 

 regards memory as a function of all organic matter 

 and its laws as laws of organic life. Nevertheless, in 

 dealing with human memorv Semon recognises 

 " vividness " in imagerv as essential for memory and 

 association. Vividness is distini'uished from tntensitv 

 and made to denend on attention. The relation of 

 attention to the laws of organic life is still obscure, 

 and attention is treated as if it were an original force. 

 The rdle of conation in the ncvchology of Dr. Freud 

 NO. 2645, VOL. 105] 



is all-important. It is the conation of unconscious 

 wish which is regarded as explanatory, if not of the 

 fact of memory itself, at least of many of the pheno- 

 mena of remembering and forgetting in everyday life. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, June 21.— M. Henri Deslandres 

 in the chair. — The President announced the death of 

 Adolphe Carnot, free member.— L. Torres Quevedo 

 was elected correspondant for the section of mechanics 

 in succession to the late M. Boulvin. — P. Humbert : 

 Functions of the hyperparaboloid of revolution and 

 hyperspherical functions. — J. Villey : The choice of 

 the density of filling in the conception of aviation 

 explosion motors.— R. Jarry-Deslbges : Different 

 phenomena observed on the planet Mars in the 

 present opposition. Nix Olimpica was discovered by 

 Schiaparelli in 1879, but no measurements have been 

 taken since that date. Searches without result were 

 made in 1881 by Schiaparelli, and in other observa- 

 tions between 1907 and 19 16. The concordance 

 between the measurements made at Milan in 1879 

 and those taken at S^tif in 1920 leave no room for 

 doubt that Nix Olimpica has reappeared. — Mme. 

 Paule Collet : Two modes of rectification of currents 

 by galena. — E. Berger : Some reactions started by a 

 primer. The use of a primer to start a chemical 

 reaction instead of an external application of heat 

 was first used by Goldschmidt, a mixture of barium 

 peroxide and magnesium powder being employed to 

 start the reaction between ferric oxide and powdered 

 aluminium. The new primer proposed by the author 

 consists of 60 per cent, potassium nitrate (or sodium 

 nitrate) and 40 per cent, commercial calcium silicide. 

 This burns with a very high temperature, and can be 

 lit with a match. A description is given of the 

 applications of this method to the production of 

 phosphorus and arsenic, the reduction of the sulphates 

 of the alkaline earths by phosphorus, and the pre- 

 paration of the fluorides of silicon and boron. — A. 

 Recoura : The constitution of the grev lilac chromium 

 sulphate.— P. Jolibois and P. Bouvier': The precipita- 

 tion of mercuric salts by sulphuretted hydrogen. 

 The authors have applied the apparatus described in 

 an earlier communication to the study of the reaction 

 between mercuric chloride and hydrogen sulphide, the 

 reaction being carried 'out with the two reagents in 

 varying proportions. With excess of sulphuretted 

 hydrogen the precipitate has the composition HgS ; 

 with the mercuric, chloride in excess the precipitate 

 (white) has the composition 2HgS,HgCl2, and there 

 was no indication of the existence of anv other inter- 

 mediate compound. — P. Chevenard : The thermal 

 change of the elastic properties of nickel-steels. The 

 results of experiments on twenty-eight alloys of iron 

 and nickel are given graphically in two diagrarns. — 

 A. de G. Rocasolano : The catalytic decomposition of 

 solutions of hvdrogen peroxide bv colloidal platinum. 

 Bredig and his pupils concluded from their experi- 

 mental studies of this reaction that it was mono- 

 molecular. The author has used electrosols of 

 platinum as catalvst, and comes to the conclusion 

 that the reaction in this case is not monomolecular 

 or of the first order. During the reaction the catalvst 

 is changed. If some of this altered catalyst is added 

 to a fresh quantity of hydrogen peroxide, the ensuing 

 reaction is now monomolecular.^ — E. Hildt : The 

 hvdrolvsis of the oolysaccharides. Details of further 

 exDpriments on the use of a mixture of sulphuric 

 acid and sodium benzenesulphonate as a catalvst 

 iot the hvdrolvsis of the sugars. Glucose and £?alac- 

 tnse retain their rotatorv and reducing powers un- 

 changed under the action of this ratalvst ; non- 

 laevulosic sugars, such as lactose and maltose, are 



