August 12, 1920] 



NATURE 



7^3 



i[)ours. — M. Sauzin : The propagation of sustained 



U'ctrical oscillations in water and the dielectric 



instant of water. Oscillations with wave-lengths 



11 air of 444 cm. and 242 cm. gave 73 as the 



[ dielectric constant of distilled water — a little lower 



'than the usually accepted figure, Ho. — C. Zenghelis : 



New researches on the action of gases in a very fine 



state of division. A continuation of experiments 



i described in a previous paper on the same subject./ 



From a mixture of hydrogen and carbon dioxide, 



formaldehyde and its condensation products were 



identified. The reduction was favoured by light, 



especially by the ultra-violet rays. — J. Cournot : The 



annealing of electrolytic iron. The removal of 



hydrogen from electrolytic iron by annealing can be 



effected by heating for two hours at 950° C. or one 



hour at 1050° C. At 850° C. or lower temperatures 



niicrographic study and hardness determinations 



proved the annealing to be incomplete even after six 



lidurs' heating. ^ — L. Guillet : Some new researches on 



)icial brasses. Studies of brasses containing cobalt, 



iromium, silver, and gold. — G. Gire : The oxidation 



1 arsenious anhydride in alkaline medium in presence 



<i| ferrous sulphate. — G. Denigis : Iodic acid as a 



Miirrochemical reagent characteristic of gaseous am- 



iinia. A 10 per cent, solution of iodic acid gives 



i.iracteristic crystals of ammonium iodate on 



\posure to gaseous ammonia. .\s little as 



01 milligram of ammonia can be detected by 

 this means.— A. Desgrez and J. Meunier : The 

 incineration of organic matter with the view of 

 determining its mineral constituents; application to 

 blood anal>sis. — A. KorczynskI, W. Mrozinski, and 

 \V. Vielau : New catalytic elements for the trans- 

 formation of diazo-compounds. Salts of cobalt and 

 nickel may replace copper salts in certain applica- 

 tions of Sandmeyer's reaction. — J. Martinet and 

 O. Dornier : A new indigo colouring matter, 5-[dioxy- 



2 : 4-pyrimidine]-2-indolindigo.— H. Hubert : New con- 

 tact phenomena of the diabases in Western French 

 Africa. — .\. de Puymaly : A new small green alga, 

 Prasiola Uprosa. — A. Paillot : The Q£nocytoides and 

 Teracytes. — A. Dehorne : Atypical characters in 

 somatic mitosis in Corethra pliimicornis. — B. 

 Guerithault : The presence of copper in plants, i\J^d 

 particularly in food of vegetable origin. Copper was 

 present in forty-four materials of vegetable origin 

 (vegetables, seeds, and fruits) in amounts varying 

 between 9 and 63 milligrams per kilogram of dried 

 substance. — A. Krempf : The last phases of the 

 development of the endodermic metamerised organs 

 of the larvae of Anthozoa and the formation of the 

 pharynx. — E. Chatton : Palisporogencsis : a mode of 

 reproduction special to certain parasite Flagellae. — 

 [. Feytaud : Young colonies of the luminous Termite. 



A. Ch. Hollande and P. Vernier : Cocobacillus insec- 

 iiirutii, var. malacosomae, a pathogenic bacillus of the 

 blood of the caterpillar, Malacosoma castrensis. 



Philadelphia. 

 American Philosopliical Society, April 22.— Prof. 

 W. B. .Scott, president, in the chair. ^ — Dr. 1.. M. 

 Haupt : Beach-protection works. — Prof. D. W. 

 Johnson : Geographic aspects of the Adriatic problem. 

 — A. G. Mayor : The reefs of Tutuila, Samoa, in 

 their relation to coral-reef theories. — Prof. H. F. 

 Reld : Distribution of land and water on the earth. 

 The conception of the land of the earth as being a 

 deeplv dissected and loosely joined together mass, 

 with its centre about half-way between the equator 

 and the poles, explains nearly all the characteristics 

 of the distribution of land and water, such as the 

 antipodal relation, the concentration of land about 

 the North Pole and of water about the South Pole, 

 NO. 2650. VOL. 105] 



etc.— Prof. E. C. Kendall: Thyroxin.— Dr. S. J. 

 Meltzer : The duaiistic conception of the processes 

 of life. The duaiistic conception of the life-processes 

 may be presented as follows : Irritability is a charac- 

 teristic property of all living tissues. Irritability 

 means the property of the tissues to react with a 

 change in each slate to a proper stimulus. The 

 change may consist in an excitation — an increase in 

 activity, or an inhibition — a decrease in activity. 

 Each and every state of life of the plain tissues or 

 of the complex functions is a resultant from the com- 

 bination of the two antagonistic factors, excitation 

 and inhibition.— Dr. F. G. Blake : The relation of 

 the Bacillus inflvu^nzae to influenza. The experiments 

 described establish the etiological relationship of 

 Bacillus influenzae to the type of bronchopneumonia 

 with which the organism has been found constantlv 

 associated in man. They also prove that B. influenzae 

 can initiate an infection of the upper respiratory 

 tract and produce a disease that closely resembles 

 influenza and is associated with the same com- 

 plications as influenza. They do not prove that 

 B. influenzae is the primary cause of influenza, how- 

 ever, since it is impossible to determine whether the 

 disease produced in monkeys by inoculation with 

 B. influenzae was actually identical with pandemic 

 influenza. — Dr. W. E. Dandy : X-rays of the brain 

 after injection of air into the ventricles of the brain 

 and into the spinal canal.— Prof. J. D. Prince : Celt 

 and Slav. Slavs and Celts are strikingly similar to 

 each other in habits of mind and expression, although 

 far removed geographically. The Russians, Poles, 

 Czecho-Slovaks, Serbo-Croatians, and Bulgarians, all 

 speaking" Slavonic idioms, although racially very 

 various, have certain marked traits in common which 

 they all share with the Celts, viz. the Irish, Scottish, 

 and Manx Gaels, the Armorican Bretons of France, 

 the Welsh, still Celtic-speaking, and the Cornish, 

 whose Celtic language is now extinct. The similarity 

 between Slavs and Celts is twofold, viz. tempera- 

 mental discontent and morbid joy in sorrow. As a 

 concomitant of this discontent goes the spirit of quest 

 after the unattainable, which is manifest in both 

 Slavonic and Celtic trends of thought. The sun of 

 common sense has never risen on either the Slav or 

 the Celt, and it is doubtful whether the Slavs can 

 exist very long without the guiding hand of strangers. 

 The charm of the Celt and Slav is great and durable, 

 but it is charm and not character, feeling and senti- 

 ment rather than thought and reasoning, which 

 dominate the east and west of Europe alike.— Prof. 

 R. B. Dixon : .\ new theory of Polynesian origins. 

 The question of the racial origins of the Polynesian 

 peoples has long attracted the attention of anthropo- 

 logists. Previous studies have dealt mainly with 

 small portions of the area, and have not satisfactorily 

 correlated the various factors characterising physical 

 types, or the Polynesian types with those of the rest 

 of Oceania. The present study seeks to secure more 

 satisfactory results by including the whole of Oceania 

 and Eastern Asia in its scope. Following a method 

 differing from those previously emploved, a number 

 of fundamental phvsical types are defined, and their 

 distribution and that of their derivatives traced. One 

 of these fundamental typ)es unexpectedly proves to be 

 Negrito, the other two most important ones being 

 Negroid and Mnlavoid. The Negrito and ^ Negroid 

 tvpcs. being marginal in their distribution, are 

 orobably the older.— Prof. A. V. W. Jackson : The 

 Zoroastrian doctrine of the freedom of the will. The 

 purpose of this paixr was to show the sif^nificance 

 of the doctrine of the freedom of the will in th<' 

 duaiistic creed of Zoroaster more than 2500 vears 

 aeo. — Prof. M. Jagtrow, jun. : The Hittite civilisa- 

 tion. The Hittites seem to have been composed of a 



