January 8, 1920] 



NATURE 



491 



though the fundamental arts and crafts of civilisation 

 wure invented in one place, and that the knowledge 

 of them was carried to the outlying parts of the earth, 

 thus producing the various degrees of culture pos- 

 sessed by different communities. The study of archaeo- 

 logical remains supports this contention. If this con- 

 clusion be accepted, it becomes possible to regard the 

 study of human society from a point of view different 

 from that commonly adopted. We can examine the 

 effects of various social institutions on behaviour. 

 The hunting tribes, the most primitive men of whom 

 we have direct knowledge, display a uniform tvpe of 

 behaviour : they are peaceful, truthful, monogamous, 

 honest, kind to children and animals, and thus, pre- 

 sumably, represent the normal type of human be- 

 haviour. The people above them in culture have 

 adopted the institutions of civilised peoples to varving 

 degrees, and their modes of behaviour appear to cor- 

 respond to their historical experience. The wide range 

 of culture which exists in the world makes it possible 

 to examine in detail the effects upon human beings 

 of various social institutions, and thus to pave the 

 way for the foundation of a science of society, the 

 ultimate aim of which will be to determine which 

 institutions are fitted to develop men to the greatest 

 possible extent. — Prof. F. E. Weiss : Green jade work 

 by natives of New Zealand. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, December S, igig.—M. Leon 

 Guignard in the chair. — \. Laveran : Obituary 

 notice of Prof. R. Lupine, correspondant of the 

 -Vcademy of Sciences. — C. Moureu, C. Dufraisse, and 

 P. Robin : The stabilisation of .-jcrolein. Part 4. 

 Compounds hindering the formation of disacryl. — 

 C. Ricliet : Injections of gum or of plasma after 

 bleeding. X criticism of a recent comrriunication bv 

 M. Barthdiemy. The animal must have lost more 

 than 70 per cent, of its blood before the injection of 

 solution or plasma, or its survival cannot be regarded 

 as decisive.— V. Grignard, G. Rivat, and Kd. Urbain : 

 Researches on the chlorination of methvl formate and 

 methyl chloroformate. Details of a semi-industrial 

 method for the preparation of the ultimate chlorina- 

 tion product, CCl,CO,Cl.— M. Paul Janet was elected 

 a free .Vcademician in succession to the late M. 

 Landouzy. — G. Valiron : Regular ensembles of zero 

 measure.~M. Mesnager : Elementarv solution of the 

 rectangular plate fixed at the edges", carrying a load 

 uniformly distributed or concentrated at its centre. — 

 I-:. Belot : Possible causes of the light curve and the 

 pulsation of Cepheus. — I. Tarazona : Observation of 

 the solar eclipse of November 22, igig, at the astro- 

 nomical observatory of the University of Valencia, 

 Spain. The first contact was found to be 84 seconds 

 earlier than calculated. — J. Guillaume : Observations 

 of the sun made at the Lyons Observatorv during (he 

 secor\d quarter of iqig. Observations were made on 

 eighty-one days, and the results summarised in three 

 tables showing, the number of spots, their distribution 

 in latitude, and the distribution of the faculae in lati- 

 tude. — Ed. Fouclie : .Search for a characteristic equa- 

 tion applicable to atmospheric air. The equation is of 

 the Clausius form,- 



[^-*-(.fe*'-^' = '^'r' 



{v + n) 



in which \j/- is a function of the temperature only. 

 The constants n, 6, R are determined from experi- 

 ments by Witkowski, pressures ranging from i to 

 130 atmospheres and temperatures from -145° C. to 

 + 100° C— G. A. Hemsalech : The origin of luminous 

 radiations emitted by vapours in an electrical resist- 

 NO. 2619, VOL. 104] 



ance tube furnace. The spectrum results from two 

 independent emissions, one of which is of thermal 

 and the other of electrical origin. — P. Jolibois : .\n 

 apparatus for rapidly mixing homogeneous liquids. — 

 E. Mesnard : Cyclonic formations of the atmosphere. 

 — Ph. Flajolet : Perturbations of the magnetic declina- 

 tion at the Lyons Observatorv (Saint-Genis-Laval) 

 during the first and second quarters of 1919. — L. 

 Blaringhem : Floral anomalies observed in hvbrid 

 plants from IJnaria vulgaris x L. striata. — P. Des- 

 combes : The use of trees in extracting water from 

 the atmosphere. Evidence from various sources of 

 the increased deposit of rnoisture, as dew, caused by 

 trees. — A. Piedallu : The rSle of iron in the blue cai.se 

 of wines. — Mile. Lucienne Deliorne : Hermaphroditism 

 and scissiparity. — H. Bierry : Inanition, temperature, 

 and glvcemea. — A. Richaud : The action of ouabaine 

 and of strophantine on the salivarv secretion, and the 

 mechanism' of this action.— .\. Clerc and C. Pezji : 

 The antagonism of adrenalin and quinine. — C. 

 Oberthiir : The svmbiosis of ants and the caterpillars 

 of Lvcaena. — A. Paillot : Natural immunity in insects. 

 Studv of a case of humoral immunity. — C. Nicolle, 

 .\. Cn£nod, and G. Blanc : Experimental demonstra- 

 tion of the rdle of flies in the propagation of trachoma 

 (granular conjunctivitis). 



Cape Town. 

 Royal Society of South Africa, October 15. — Dr. 

 T. D. F. Gilchrist, president, in the chair. — Sir 

 Thomas Muir : Additional note on the resolvabilitv of 

 the minors of a compound determinant. — J. Moir : 

 Colour and chemical constitution. Part ix- An 

 empirical law of change of colour. The wave-lengths 

 of the absorption spectra of all the halogen deriva- 

 tives, and many other derivatives of phenolphthalein 

 and fluorescein, can be calculated from the formula 



" =, — I -o'olljw - 0-000037;// N, 



in which « = frequency, A = wave-length, m = number of 

 halogens, etc., and N=atomic number of halogen in 

 question. All the groups investigated have very 

 similar effects on the colour, a most remarkable fact. 

 —J. S. Tliomson : South .African .Mcyonacea. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Has the North Pole been Discovered? By T. F. 

 Hall. Pp. 539. (Boston, Mass. : R. G. Badger.) 

 2.50 dollars net. 



Glass Manufacture. Bv Dr. W. Rosenhain. Second 

 edition. Pp. XV-I-25S. (London: Constable and Co., 

 Ltd.) 12s. 6d. net. 



Cours de Chimie k I'usage des Etudiants P.C.N. 

 et S. P.C.N. Bv Prof. R. de Forcrand. Deuxe. edition. 

 Tome i. Po. viii-f 437. Tome ii. Pp. 527. (Paris : 

 Gauthier-Viilars et Cie.) 14 francs and 18 francs 

 respectively. 



Democracy and the Press. By Dr. F. H. Hay ward 

 and B. N. Langdon-Davies. Pp. xii-t-76. (Man- 

 chester and London : The National Labour Press, 

 Ltd.) is.,6d. 



The School Geometry : Matriculation Edition. Bv 

 W. P. Workman and A. G. Cracknell. Pp. xi -1-348. 

 (London : W. B. Clive.) ^s. 6d. 



Pensffes sur la Science la Guerre et sur des Sujets 

 tr^s Varies. By Dr. M. Lecat. Pp. vii-l-478. 

 (Bruxelles : M. Lamertin.) 



Pre-Palaeolithic Man. By J. Reid Moir. Pp. 67-!- 

 29 plates. (Ipswich : W. E. Harrison.) 7s. 6d. 



