December i, 1892J 



NATURE 



119 



that the question how these things got into diatoms was one still 

 under consideration. As to the movements of the spores he was 

 not at present perfectly certain that they moved at all more than 

 a very short distance from the orifice of the beak, but he had not 

 yet had time to examine them sufficiently to be able to answer 

 the question as to whether they were ciliated. Diatoms were by 

 no means the tightly shut-up boxes which they were suppo-ed 

 to be ; they could not live or absorb nutnment unless there was 

 some sort of passage, and he thought there was very likely a 

 means of penetration all over them to admit of the diffusion of 

 fluid throughout.— Mr. E. M. Nelson called attention to the fine 

 adjustment of Messrs. W. Watson's Van Heurck microscope, 

 which he said had been wrongly described as being on Zent- 

 mayer's plan ; he found that Messrs. Watson's adjustment was 

 provided with spring stops, which obviated all the evils com- 

 plain<d of in Zentmayer's system ; the adjustment-screw was also 

 left-handed, so that the apparent and real motions were made to 

 coincide, which was a great advantage when working with high 

 powers. 



Oxford. 



University Junior Scientific Club, November 9. — The 

 President, Dr. J. Lorrain Smith, in the chair. — The President 

 gave an exhiiiit to illustrate the relation of ventilation to 

 respiratory products, after which he called on the Rev. F. J. 

 Smith for his paper on the inductoscript and spark photography. 

 The paper, which was illustrated with experiments, and a large 

 and varied selection of lantern slides, dealt with the recent 

 researches of the writer and others in an exhaustive manner. 

 It was shown how impressions of coins, &c., could be taken 

 on photographic plates and paper by means of the electric 

 spark, and the various results produced by changes of pres- 

 sure, &c., in the atmosphere. The second part of the paper 

 dealt more with the instantaneous photography produced by the 

 electric spark, and the exhibits included photographs of bullets 

 and other rapidly-moving objects, which had been taken by the 

 reader of the paper. — Mr. G. C. B )urne read a paper on 

 Biitschli's researches on protoplasm, which was followed by an 

 animated discussion in which Prof. Burdon- Sanderson and others 

 took part. 



Cambridge. 



Philosophical Society, November 14. — Prof. T. McKenny 

 Hughes, President, in the chair. — The President exhibited (l) 

 a live tarantula, (2) quartz crystals of unusual form. The 

 following communications were made : — -(i) Preparations were 

 exhibited showing the division of nuclei in the sporangium of 

 a species of Trichia, one of the Myxomycetes. The nuclei 

 divide throughout the sporangium, with clearly recognizable 

 karyokinetic figures, immediately before the formation of the 

 spores, by J. J. Lister. (2) On the reproduction of Orbitolites. 

 Mr. H. B. Brady has described specimens of Orbitolites, which 

 he obtained in Fiji, showing the margin of the disc crowded 

 with young shells. Mr. Brady's material was worked at in the 

 dry state, and it was at his suggestion that the author collected 

 specimens preserved in spirit from the Tonga reels. Examina- 

 tion of this material shows that large brood chambers are 

 formed at the margin of the disc during the later stages of 

 growth. These are at first lined with a thin layer of protoplasm. 

 At a later stage the central region of the disc is found to be 

 empty, and the whole of the protoplasm is massed in the brood 

 chambers in the form of spores. The spores have the structure 

 of the " primitive disc," which during the early stages of growth 

 of the Orbitolites occupies the centre of the shells. They are 

 liberated by absorption of the walls of the brood chambers, 

 and each becomes the centre of a new disc, which is built up by 

 additions of successive rings of chamberlets at the margin. The 

 reproduction of Orbitolites therefore takes place by spore forma- 

 tion. The spore contains a single nucleus, lying in its * ' primordial 

 chamber. " After several rings of chamberlets have been added, 

 a stage is reached at which the nucleus appears to be represented 

 by numbers of irregular, darkly staining masses scattered through 

 the protoplasm of the central part of the disc. In the later 

 stages numbers of oval nuclei are found in the protoplasm, often 

 arranged in pairs, and in favourable preparations they may be 

 seen to be undergoing amitotic division — I he fragmentation of 

 the oospern nucleus in certain ova, by S. J. Hickson. — On 

 Gynodioecism in the Labiatse (second paper), by J. C. Willis. 

 — The observations made in 1890-91 on Origanum (see Reporter, 

 No. 937, June 7, 1892) were continued, chiefly on female 

 plants. Six of these, derived from seed of the hermaphrodite 

 plants of 1890, were observed, and their variations noted. It 



seems possible that some of the six, at any rate, were derived 

 not from the normal, but from the abnormal (female) flowers of 

 the parent. Attempts were made to determine if the occur- 

 rence of female flowers or flowers with one, two or three 

 stamens only, on hermaphrodite plants, was due to lack of 

 nourishment. A string was tied tightly round the main stalk of 

 an inflorescence, about the middle, and it was found that more 

 variations (12 : i) occurred above than below. Analysis of the 

 three years' observations shows that the abortion of the stamens 

 tends to occur symmetrically rather than not, i.e. most common- 

 ly all four abort, and next in frequency is the abortion of the 

 two anteriors : then of the two posteriors. These observations 

 are still in progress, and it is hoped to publish full details in 

 1896 or later. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, November 21. — M. d'Abbadie in 

 the chair. — Observations of the minor planets, made with the 

 great meridian instrument of the Paris Observatory, from 

 October i, 1891, to June 30, 1892, by M. Tisserand.— Deter- 

 mination of the centre of the mean distances of the centres of 

 curvature of the successive developments of any plane line, by 

 M. Haton de la Goupilliere. — Observations of Holmes' comet 

 (November 6, 1892) made at the great equatorial of the Bor- 

 deaux Observatory, by M. G. Rayet. — Exploration of the 

 higher regions of the atmosphere by means of free balloons 

 provided with automatic recorders, by M. Gustave Hermite. 

 Small balloons were filled with coal gas and provided with 

 recording barometers and minimum thermometers. The former 

 consisted of metallic aneroid boxes on Vidi's system, re- 

 cording the pressure by the motion of a smoked plate 

 in front of a glass style. These aneroids weighed less 

 than 100 grs. The writer hopes to reduce their weight 

 to 10 grs. Some of the balloons were lost or de-troyed, but 

 most of them were returned, after a journey exceeding in 

 many cases 100 km. Two successful registrations of tem- 

 perature have been made so far, giving a fall of 1° C. for 

 every 260 m. and 280 m. respectively. — Observations of Holmes' 

 conit-t made at the Algiers Observatory {^equatorial cotidi), by 

 MM. Trepied, Rambaud, and Sy. — Observations of Holmes' 

 comet (November 6) made with the equatorial coude of the 

 Lyon Observatory, by M. G. Le Cadet. — Elliptic elements of 

 Holmes' comet of November 6, 1892, by M. Schulhof (see our 

 Astronomical Column). — On the calculation of inequalities of a 

 high order. Application to the long-period lunar inequality 

 caused by Venus, by M. Maurice Hamy. — Distribution into 

 four groups of the first n numbers, by M. Desire Andre. — On 

 electric oscillations, by M. Pierre Janet. A gap in a circuit 

 containing a high resistance of some 20,000 ohms is bridged by 

 another containing a coil resistance with self-induction and a 

 bridge resistance without. The terminals in the same gap are 

 also connected with a condenser, and a Mouton's disjoncteur 

 is introduced in the circuit, rotating at a high speed. The 

 differencesof potential between the terminals of the two resistances 

 are measured by an auxiliary condenser and a ballistic galvano- 

 meter. It is thus possible to determine the form of the oscillations. 

 On suddenly breaking the short circuit in the gap, it was found 

 that the ends of the resistance without self-induction reached a 

 constant difference of potential in a series of oscillations which 

 were always of the same sign, whereas those of the other showed 

 a series of positive and negative oscillations. — On some results 

 furnished by the formation of soap 'oubbles by means of a resinous 

 soap, by M. Izarn. Very thm and permanent bubbles are 

 obtained by pounding together 10 gr. each of colophonium and 

 potassium carbonate, adding 100 gr. of water and completely dis- 

 solving by boiling. For use, it must be diluted with four times 

 its bulk of water. — Action of piperidine upon the haloid salts 

 of mercury, by M. Raoul Varet. — On the exchanges of carbonic 

 acid and oxygen between plants and the atmosphere, by M. Th. 

 Schloesing, jun — A new case of living Xiphopage, the Orissa. 

 twins, by M. Marcel Baudouin. — Notes on the feet of batra- 

 chians and saurians, by M. A. Perrin. — On asymmetric growth 

 in polychaetous annelids, by M. de Saint Joseph. — Influt-nce of 

 moisture on vegetation, by M. E. Gain. Experiments with soils 

 kept in a given state of humidity have led to the following con- 

 clusions : For each plant there exists a certain proportion of 

 moisture most favourable to its growth. A high comparatiTe 

 moisture in the soil accelerates the growth, especially of the 

 stem and leaves. The air being dry, fructification is slower with 

 a dry than with a humid soil. Infloiescence is retarded either 

 by dry soil or by moist air, and is hastened by the reverse cob- 



NO. 1205, VOL. 47] 



