December i8, 1919] 



NATURE 



407 



This discovery of genevensis on the Berkshire downs 

 is an undoubted evidence of it as a British species. 

 Centaurium scilloides is the Erythraea diffusa of 

 Joseph Woods, who discovered it near Morlaix, in 

 Brittany. It occurs on the edge of a headland near 

 Newport, Pembroke.— Prof. R. C. jMcLean : 'Sex and 

 soma. The author enkirged upon the recentlv dis- 

 covered phase of multinucleosis in the developing 

 soma cell of higher plants. The genetic interest of 

 the phenomenon has not received suflKcient considera- 

 tion, and the present paper was designed to direct 

 attention to the possibilities involved. 



.Aristotelian .Society, December i.— Prof. Wildon Carr, 

 vice-president, in the chair.— G. Cater : The nature of 

 inference. The logic of the concrete universal as the 

 medium of judgment and inference was criticised. It 

 was shown by analysis of examples that it does not 

 really succeed in making contact with its differences; 

 their content is only imputed to it. On the other 

 hand, the instrument of inference is always an inter- 

 mediating representation, particular and not universal. 

 .Absolutism, the outcome of the theorv that the active 

 dominant concrete universal is the instrument of 

 inference, ends in the concept of reality, under the 

 form of eternity, as an exhaustive system of differ- 

 ences, without character, a contentless limit. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, November 24.— M. Leon 

 Guignard in the chair. — L. Maquenne and E. 

 Demoussy ; The richness in copper of cultivated soils. 

 The soils e.xamined were in two classes, ordinary 

 arable soil and soil on which fruit-growing had been 

 carried out, and which was therefore liable to contain 

 copper from the liquids used for spraying. .-Ml the 

 soils contained copper, but the arable soils some 

 millionths only of their weight. The soil from vine- 

 yards was compared with soil from the same district 

 untreated with preparations, and the results from a 

 considerable number of districts are tabulated. One 

 fact was brought out by these investigations : the 

 copper applied in spraying is mainly found in the 

 surface layers, and [penetrates the ground with great 

 difficulty. .At 30 cm. below the surface the soil of a 

 vineyard contains no more copper than .soil from a 

 similar depth in a field growing cereals.- — .\. Blondel : 

 The amplitude of the oscillating current produced by 

 audion generators. — Ch. D. Walcott was elected a 

 foreign associate in succession to the late M. Metghni- 

 koff.— E. Kogbetliantz : The unicity of ultra-spherical 

 developments.— L. E. J. Bronwer : The classification 

 of closed ensembles situated on a surface. — M. 

 Portevin : Study of the influence of various factors 

 on the creation of internal longitudinal strains during 

 the rapid cooling of steel cylinders. The determina- 

 tion of the internal longitudinal strains was carried 

 out by measuring the variations in length produced 

 during the removal of concentric layers of the cvlinder 

 by turning. The strains produced depend on a number 

 of factors, including the temperature of immersion, 

 the nature of the liquid (oil, water), the temperature 

 of the water, time of immersion, and diameter of the 

 cylinders. The results are summarised qualitativelv 

 in the present communication ; full numerical data 

 will be published elsewhere. — R. Bayeux : The ozo- 

 genic power of the solar radiation at the altitude of 

 the Mont Blanc Observatory. .At an altitude of 

 4360 metres sunlight does not produce ozone from 

 oxygen. Hence it is concluded that the ozone found 

 at lower altitudes is not formed by the direct action 

 of the sun, and the therapeutic effects of the sun- 

 cure cannot be attributed to ozone. — E. Henriot : The 

 calculation of double refraction. — M. de Broglie : The 

 X-ray spectrum of tungsten.— MM. I.edoux-Lebard and 



NO. 2616, VOL. 104] 



A. Dauvillier : The reticular distance of calcite ana 

 its influence on the determination of h. A re- 

 calculation of some data given in an earlier com- 

 munication.— G. Baume and M. Robert : Some pro- 

 perties of pure nitrous anhydride and of its solution 

 in nitrogen peroxide. The fusibility diagram of the 

 system (N.O3— NjO^) is normal, with a single eutectic 

 near the freezing point of pure nitrogen peroxide. 

 Pure nitrous anhydride does not appear to be capable 

 of existence except at very low temperatures in the 

 solid state, or in the liquid state under a pressure of 

 nitric oxide. .At temperatures above -100° C. N2O3 

 dissociates, the liquid phase containing NjO^, and the 

 gaseous phase NO.— W. .A. Noyes, jun. : The potential 

 necessary for electrolysing solutions of iron. In a 

 cell composed of iron anode and cathode and a solu- 

 tion of a ferrous salt absolutely free from ferric salt, 

 it is impossible to deposit iron with a lower voltage 

 than 0-66 volt. This is reduced by increase of tem- 

 perature, falling to a minimum value of 013 at 

 109° C. — L. Chelle : The detection and estimation of 

 traces of hydrocyanic and thiocyanic acids in a com- 

 plex medium. Hydrocyanic acid can be completely 

 removed by a rapid current, and retained by washing 

 the air with alkali. Chromic acid converts thiocyanic 

 acid into hydrocyanic acid. The results of quantitative 

 experiments are given. — .A. Goris and Ch. Vischniac : 

 The constitution of primeverose, prlmeverine, and 

 jirimulaverine. — J. Bouganlt and P. Robin : The 

 oxidation of the hydramides. A studv of the oxida- 

 tion of benzhydramide, anishydramide, and piper- 

 hydramide by iodine and sodium carbonate. The cor- 

 responding cyanidine is produced in each case. — G. 

 Mouret : Some effects of the lamination of rocks 

 observed in the western part of the Central Massif of 

 France. — P. Morin : The coefficients of flow of the 

 watercourses in the Central Massif. — M. Dechevreng : 

 Modification and complement to the method of ob- 

 servation of telluric currents with the aid of naked 

 subterranean conductors. — L. Daniel : Experimental 

 researches on the causes of the immersion of the leayes 

 of the water-lily. The immersion of the leaves instead 

 of floating on the surface is not due, as has been sug- 

 </esfed, to the effect of the depth of water. — M. 

 Molliard : The action of acids on the composition of 

 the ash of Sterigmalocystis nigra. — H. Gnilleminot : 

 The second postulate of the calculus of probabilities 

 and the law of option in the evolution of living 

 matter. — L. Boutan : The rotation of the anal region 

 of the larval shell in Gasteropods. — .A. Pizard : The 

 modifxing factor of normal growth and the law of 

 compensntion. -M. Barfhdlimy : The definite survival 

 of dogs bled white, obtained by a means other than 

 blood transfusion. The solution injected was a 6 per 

 cent, solution of gum arabic containing 6 parts of 

 sodium chloride per 1000. 



Sydney. 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales, September 24. — 

 Mr. J. J. Fletcher, president, in the chair. — K. G. 

 Blair : Notes on the .Australian genus Cestrinus, Er. 

 (fam. Tenebrionid.ie), and some allied genera. The 

 paper discusses the synonymy of the somewhat 

 obscure genus Cestrinus, Er. (fam. Tenebrionidae;, 

 as well as .Achora, Pasc, and Adelodemus, Haag. — 

 Dr. H. S. H. Wardlaw : The venous oxygen content 

 of the alkaline reserve of the blood in pneumonic 

 influenza. The skin of persons suffering from pneu- 

 monic influenza often assumes a distinctly bluish or 

 plum-coloured tinge, and several hvpotheses have been 

 put forward to account for this. One question which 

 arises is whether this colouring of the skin is a 

 cyanosis in the gcnerallv accepted sense of the word. 

 I.e. whether the colour is due to an abnormallv large 



