4o6 



NAT URL 



[December i8, 1919 



Mofiy is of vital importance to the well-being of the 

 industries of the district and county, the executive 

 committee of the Manchester District Branch of the 

 Federation of British Industries confidently commends 

 the appeal for 150,000!. (of which 26,000/. has been 

 promised absolutely and conditionally) to extend the 

 College of Technology to the .sympathetic consideration 

 of all Lancashire producers, being of opinion that lack 

 of whole-hearted support will be to the prejudice of 

 Lancashire industry-" This welcome change in the 

 attitude of great industrial firms towards technical 

 training and research leads to the hope that this appeal 

 mav meet with the cordial support which its serious 

 and essential importance demands 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London'. 



Royal Society, December 4.— Sir J. J. Thomson, 

 president, in the chair. — A. M. Williams : The adsorp- 

 tion of gases at low and moderate concentrations. 

 Part i. : Deduction of the theoretical adsorption iso- 

 stere and isotherm. Part ii. : Experimental verifica- 

 tion of the form of the theoretical isosteres and iso- 

 therms. — A. M. Williams : The adsorption of gases at 

 low and moderate concentrations. Part iii. : Experi- 

 mental verification of the constant in the theoretical 

 adsorption isostere. — T. R. Merton : The secondarv 

 spectrum of hydrogen. It has been found that the 

 presence of a large quantity of helium in vacuum tubes 

 containing hydrogen modifies the secondary hydrogen 

 spectrum in the sense that the relative intensities of 

 the lines are completely altered, some_ lines being 

 extremely weak in the spectrum of the mixture, whilst 

 others are greatly enhanced and a number of new 

 lines appear. Measurements have been made of the 

 lines which are enhanced or unaffected by the admix- 

 ture of helium ; the changes are shown in a reproduc- 

 tion of a photograph of the two spectra in juxtaposi- 

 tion with a wave-length scale, by means of which the 

 lines which are weaker in the spectrum of the mixture 

 can be identified by reference to Watson's measure- 

 ments of the spectrum. The secondary hydrogen 

 spectrum is of such complexity that the segregation of 

 its lines into series of mathematically related lines is 

 a task which offers great difficulties. These difficulties 

 can doubtless be lessened by the aid of physical 

 methods of separating the lines into different 

 classes. — T; R. Merton : The spectra of isotopes, 

 (i) Interferometer measurements of the principal line 

 in the spectrum of ordinary lead and lead from pitch- 

 blende show that in the latter case the line is less 

 refrangible by 00050 .\. ±00007 .\., in close agreement 

 with the results of .'\ronberg. (2) In the case of lead 

 from Ceylon thorite it has been found that the line is 

 more refrangible than in ordinary lead by 00022 .A. ± 

 o-oob8A. (3) The positions of the lines are arranged 

 in the order of their atomic weights. (4) Spectro- 

 scopic measurements seem to provide a favourable 

 method of distinguishing isotopic elements. (5) A 

 comparison has been made of the wave-lengths of the 

 principal line in ordinary thallium' and thallium from 

 pitchblende residues. The wave-length of the line in 

 the spectrum of thallium from pitchblende has been 

 found to be more refrangible than the line in ordinarv 

 thallium by 00055 A. ±00010 A. In the case of 

 thallium the measurements may possiblv be affected 

 by certain disturbing factors which do not applv to 

 the measurements of the lines of lead. Unless the 

 results are affected by these disturbing factors, it 

 would seem likely that the thallium in pitchblende is 

 an isotope of ordinarv thallium. — E. F. Armstron(5 

 and T. P. Hilditch : A study of catalvtic actions at 

 solid surfaces. Part ii. It is shown that the catalytic 



NO. 2616, VOL. 104] 



action of • metals, like that of <erlain enzvmes, is 

 reversible; in other words, compounds which are 

 saturated in the ordinary sense are capable of intir- 

 acting with the metal to form a system which breaks 

 down into a more stable equilibrium consisting of 

 hydrogen and a less saturated compound. This i^ 

 readily demonstrated in the case of cvclohexanol ; when 

 a mixture of cyclohexanol and methvl cinnamate is 

 heated at 180° in presence of nickel, a considerable 

 transference into cyclohexanone and methvl /3-phenvl 

 propionate is effected. It is necessary that both com- 

 ponents of the system should be present in the liquid 

 state. Dchydrogenation has also been effected in the 

 case of hexahydroxylene and dihydropinene mixed with 

 methyl cinnamate in presence of nickel ; in these cases 

 a temperature of 230° is required. .At this temperature 

 small quantities of an ethyl oleate of unknown struc- 

 ture are obtained from ethyl stearate.. — F. Horton and 

 .\nn C. Davies : .<\n experimental determination of the 

 critical electron velocities for the production of radia- 

 tion and ionisation on collision with argon atoms. 

 The critical velocities for electrons in argon were 

 investigated by methods similar to those emploved in 

 a previous research for the determination of the cor- 

 responding values in helium, the earlier form of ap- 

 paratus being modified somewhat to facilitate the 

 detection of the beginnings of radiation and ionisation. 

 .\s the result of many experiments under different 

 conditions, the values 11-5 volts and 15-1 volts were 

 obtained for minimum radiation velocity and minimum 

 ionisation velocitv respectively. \o sudden increa.se of 

 radiation at the second critical velocity was detected, 

 and it was shown that no detectable amount of ionisa- 

 tion was produced at 11-5 volts. The limiting wave- 

 length of the argon spectrum, calculated from the 

 value, 15-1 volts, found for the minimum ionisation 

 velocity, is in agreement with the limit observed 

 spectroscopically in the recent experiments of Lyman. 



Royal Microscopical Society, November 19.— -.Mr. 

 J. E. Barnard, president, in the chair. — H. M. 

 Carleton : Note on the Cajal formalin-silver nitrate 

 impregnation method for "the Golgi apparatus. The 

 theory of silver impregnation in general was briefly 

 outlined and the technique of the Cajal method 

 described. Mention was made of the impregnation of 

 cell-constituents other than the Golgi reticulum, while 

 the problem of the production of artefacts by the ] 

 various methods used for demonstrating the Golgi 1 

 apparatus was discussed. Finally, mention was made 

 of the various changes undergone by the Golgi 

 apparatus during certain physiological processes, 

 i.e. glandular secretion, intracellular fat formation, 

 ossifraction, etc. — F. 1. G. Rawlins: Report on the 

 collection of metallurgical specimens recently pre- 

 sented by Sir Robert Hadfield, Bart. In 1918 a sug- 

 gestion was made that the society might further 

 interest, and perhaps research, in metallography. To 

 this end Sir Robert Hadfield presented the .society 

 with a collection of specimens. These were polished 

 at the Royal School of Mines by permission of Prof. 

 Carpenter, and it is intended that they shall be avail- 

 able for microscopic examination by fellows, in much 

 the .same wav as the general collection. .\ catalogue is 

 being prepared, which will be ready shortly, giving 

 brief details of the microstructures, etc. 



Linnean Society, November 20. — Dr. A. Smith Wood- 

 ward, president, in the chair. — Dr. G. C. Druce : The 

 occurrence in Britain as native plants of Ajuga gene- 

 vensis and Cenfaurium scilloides, Druce, var. porteti.te 

 (Brot,). .Although there are previous records of Ajuga 

 geueven.'ii.s from Britain, the records are probablv 

 mistakes for pyramidali.t or other species, and in one 

 instance due to a garden-escape of the true plant. 



