44 



NATURE 



[September ii, 1919 



as the result of war conditions. The Oriental division 

 reports that in consequence of the break-up of the 

 Eurof)ean centres of Jewish learning and the increased 

 immigration of Jewish settlers in the United States, 

 Hebrew literature is reviving, and a great strain 

 has been thrown upon the services of the Oriental 

 department by its new clientele. The report is well 

 indexed. VVlien will our Departments take the hint 

 and supply proper indexes to the reports issued under 

 their authority? ■ 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, August 25. — M. L6on Guignard 

 in the chair. — .\. Lacroix : Report on the creation of, 

 an international council of scientific research by the 

 Conference of the Allied and Associated Academies 

 held at Brussels, July 18-28 last.— G. Humbert : The 

 representations of an integer by positive forms of 

 Hermite in an imaginary quadratic body. — G. 

 Bigourdan : The work of La Caille, particularly at the 

 observatory of the Mazarin College.— N. E. Norlund : 

 An equatio'n of finite differences. — P. L4vy : The notion 

 of the mean in the functional domain. — Ch. Platrier : 

 Interior forces in an isotropic homogeneous body in 

 elastic equilibrium. — B. Baillaud (telegrams) : Two dis- 

 coveries of comets, one by Metcalf at Harvard Ob- 

 servatory, the other by Borrelly at Marseilles.— M. 

 Giacobini -. Observations of the Metcalf and KopfT 

 comets made at the Paris Observatory with the east 

 tower equatorial of 40 cm. aperture. — P. Chofardet : 

 Observations of the Kopff periodic comet and the Met- 

 calf comet (1919b) made with the bent equatorial a.t the 

 Besancjon Observatory.— Ch. Maugin and L. J. Simon : 

 The preparation of cyanogen chloride by H eld's 

 method. Cyanogen chloride can be prepared by the 

 action of chlorine upon the double cyanide of sodium 

 and zinc in nearly quantitative yield.— Ch. Pussenot : 

 Remarks on a recent submersion of the coasts of 

 Morbihan. — .\. Guebhard : The prism formation of 

 basalt. — P. Parnientier : Irrigation in Syria and Pales- 

 tine. A new method of applying water directly to the 

 roots is suggested in the place of the usual methods 

 of irrigation or surface watering. Great economy in 

 water (8s per cent.) is claimed for the method.---Em. 

 De Wildeman : Macaranga soccifera. .\ discussion of 

 the relation of this plant with ants.— A. Paillot : Karyo- 

 kynetosis : a new reaction of natural immunity ob- 

 served in the caterpillars of the Macrolepidoptera. 

 Cape Town. 



Royal Society of South Africa, July 16. — Dr. L. 

 P^ringuey in the chair.— Dr. L. Peringuey : Bushman 

 engravings. A preliminary account of the author's 

 investigations of various Bushman engravings, and 

 consideration of the theories which may be advanced 

 as to their significance.— Dr. R. W. Shufeldt : Com- 

 parative study of certain cranial sutures in the 

 primates. The paper is based upon the examination 

 and comparison of several thousand human skulls in 

 the collections of the department of physical anthropo- 

 logy of the United States Natural History Museum 

 and the entire collection of skulls of primates in the 

 divisions of mamals of the same institution. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Shropshire : The Geography of the County. 



Bv 



Prof. W. W. Watts. Pp. x + 254. (Shrewsbury- 

 Wilding and Son, Ltd., 191Q.) 2.s. 6d. net. 



In the Wilds of South America : Six Years of 

 Exploration in Colombia, Venezuela, British Guiana, 

 Peru, Bolivia, .Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. B\ 



NO. 2602, VOL. 104] 



Leo E. Miller. Pp. xiv-(-428. {London: T. Fisher 

 Unwin, Ltd., 1919.) 215. net. 



A Treatise on British Mineral Oil. Foreword by 

 Sir Boverton Redwood, Bart. Editor: J. Arthur 

 Greene. Contributors : E. H. Cunningham-Craig, 

 W. R. Ormandy, and others. Pp. xi -(- 233 -h viii plates. 

 (London : Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd., 1919.) 21J'. 

 net. 



A Simple and Rapid Method of Tide Prediction 

 (including Diurnal Time and Height Inequalities). 

 By Sgt. M. E. J. Gheury. Pp. 53. (London : J. D. 

 Potter, 1919.) Si. 



Mineral Resources of Georgia and Caucasia : Man- 

 ganese Industry of Georgia. By D. Ghambashidze. 

 Pp. 182. (London : George Allen and Unwin, Ltd., 

 1919.) Ss. 6d. net. 



A Manual of the Electro-Chemical Treatment of 

 Seeds. By Dr. Charles Mercier. Pp. viii-fi34. 

 (London : University of London Press, Ltd., 1919.) 

 35. 6d. net. 



Secrets of .■\nimal Life. By Prof. J. Arthur Thom- 

 son. Pp. viii + 324. (London: Andrew Melrose, Ltd., 

 1919.) ys. 6d. net. 



Prof. Montgomery's Discoveries in Celestial 

 Mechanics. By L. ' A. Redman. Pp. 34. (San 

 Francisco: Pernau-Walsh Printing Co., 1919.) 



Race and Nationality : An Inquiry into the Origin 

 and Growth of Patriotism By Dr. John Oakesmith. 

 Pp. xix + 300. (London: William Heinemann, 191(1.) 

 lox. 6d. net. 



The Simple Carbohydrates and the Glucosides. By 

 Dr. E. Frankland Armstrong. Third edition. (Mono- 

 graphs on Biochemistry.) Pp. x + 239. (London : 

 Longmans, Green, and Co., 1919) 12s. net. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Zoology and Human Welfare. By Dr. J. F. Gemmill 21 



War Gleanings :!t 



Nervous Disorders : Two Points of View . . . . Z2 



Our Bookshelf . . . . ;!3 

 Letters to the Editor :— 



Luminous Worms.— Rev. S. Graham Brade-Birks :!3 

 The National Union of Scientific Workers and 



Research.— Dr. Harold Jeffreys . . . . . :!3 

 Wireless Navigation for Aircraft. (Uluitraied.) By 



Capt. J. Robinson, R.A.F. 24 



Prof. Alexander Macalister, F.R.S 26 



Prof. L. W. King. By H. R. Hall 27 



The Bournemouth Meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion 28 



Inaugural Address by the Hon. Sir Charles A. 

 Parsons, K.C.B., M.A., LL.D., D.Sc, F.R.S., 



President 28 



Summaries of Addresses of Presidents of 



Sections • 3^ 



Notes . .... 40 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comet Notes 43 



University and Educational Intelligence 43 



Societies and Academies 44 



Books Received 44 



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Editorial Communications to the ^itor. 

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