May 24, 1917] 



NATURE 



259 



sure* An attempt is now made to determine the rela- 

 tive importance of convection and diffusion. Some of 

 the heaviest elements appeared at high levels, not only 

 in the sun, which is a dwarf star, but also in some 

 of the giant stars. It is probable that convection 

 extends to a considerable depth within the star, rais- 

 ing some of the heavier elements to the surface 

 layer. (2) Thermal diffusion and the stars. It is 

 found that the thermal effect is far outweighed 

 by pressure diffusion, which tends to produce stratifi- 

 cation into layers of increasingly heavy elements to- 

 wards the centre. It is theretore probable that the 

 presence of elements of widely different atomic 

 weights in the solar atmosphere is mainly due to con- 

 vection. — G. J. Newbegin : Solar prominences, 1916. 

 Fe\ver observations than usual had been made, owing 

 to the bad weather in January and December. The 

 observations were plotted on a diagram, w^hich was 

 shown on the screen. A growth of activity all round 

 the limb was indicated ; even the polar regions were 

 more filled up than in 1915, and the general bright- 

 ness had increased. Dark absorption bands had been 

 observed on thirty occasions. 



Royal Meteorological Society, May 16.— Major H. G. 

 Lyons, president, in the chair. — J. E. Clark and H. B. 

 Adames : Report on the phenological observations for 

 iqib. The year as a whole was rather warm, exces- 

 sively wet, deficient in sunshine, and phenologically 

 disastrous. This arose mainly from the peculiar dis- 

 tribution of wetness and warmth. January was dry 

 in most parts, but February and March among the 

 wettest on record^ the precipitation largely as snow. 

 February was colder than January, March than 

 February, and in Ireland and England, S.W., April 

 than January. Cold nights with frosts continued 

 well into July, the former half of which and June 

 were so disastrously cool that the mean was lower 

 than in May, with a minimum of sunshine. Many 

 days were cooler than manv in January. The winter 

 warmth developed abnormal premature growth, 

 seriously damaged by the 'early spring-winter. The 

 extreme wet of that time almost stopped farm and 

 garden work ; the fxild nights later ruined much of the 

 fruit croD. and the cold summer greatly lessened the 

 qualitv of the harvest, being also largely responsible 

 for tlie serious failure of the potato crop, combined 

 with the most abnormal rainfall of the ripening-off 

 and littmg time in late October and November. The 

 tables largely retlect the above conditions, especially 

 in the earliness of the hazel (two weeks), bringing it 

 well mto January (26th), perhaps for the first time; 

 also the long range in date of the hazel, rnemone, 

 and blackthorn, averaging ninety-seven days com- 

 pared with forty-six days for the late spring and early 

 summer flowers, hawthorn, ox-eye, daisy, and dog- 

 rose. This long range is due to colder districts giving 

 dates after tne cold spring break, and the earlier some 

 records preceding it. A very important aspect has so 

 far not been worked out, namely, the areas of equal 

 date of ap{>earance, w-hich may be suitably denoted 

 as isophainal zones. In Great Britain the earliest, 

 before .April 29, appears to include South-West Wales, 

 Cornwall, Devon, a tongue stretching up from Hants 

 to Worcestershire, East Sussex, Surrev. and Kent. 

 All the rest south of the Mersey and Humber, except a 

 large East Anglian area round the Wash, falls in the 

 zone between 120 and 130 (May 9). The third zone 

 to the 140 isophain covers the rest of England oxcept 

 Northumberland and Scotland bordering on the Sol- 

 way. Northwards, dates later than May 19 prevail. 

 In Ireland we get the 130 isophain from near Limerick 

 to west of Dublin, and so on towards Newry, that of 

 140 passing from Clew Bay to Belfast Lough, with a 

 southward bend round Lough Neagh. 



NO. 2482, VOL. 99] 



I'.AKIS. 



Academy o! Sciences, May 7. — M. d'Arsonval in the 

 chair. — J. Boussinesq : The orientation of the principal 

 pressures in the state of slip (by plane deformations) 

 of a heavy sandy mass with a rectilinear upper profile. 

 — General Sebert : Further observations concerning the 

 possible influence of violent cannonades on the fall of 

 rain. The Central Meteorological Bureau has con- 

 tinued to publish its bulletins throughout the war, 

 but with a delay of one week. Observers on the con- 

 nection between the weather and gun-fire should bear 

 this fact in mind if they make use of the bulletins.— 

 L. Mangin : Chaetoceros criophilus, a characteristic ' 

 species of the Antarctic seas. — G. A. Boulenger : 

 Batrachlans connected with the genus Euproctus : their 

 ethological and phylogenic relations. — M. Balland : 

 Some experiments in bread-making in view of the 

 continuation of the war. A study of the effects of mix- 

 ing various proportions of barley, maize, rice, and 

 other materials with wheaten flour for the preparation 

 of bread. In case of necessity up to 10 per cent, to 

 15 per cent, of barley, oats, maize, rice, c«- manioc 

 mav be added to wheat flour, barley being preferable. 

 — M. E. Fournier was elected a member of the section 

 of geography and navigation, in succession to the late 

 M. Guyou. — M. Petrovitch : Some remarkable numerical 

 expressions. — B. Jelihowsliy : The development in series 

 of various algebraical expressions by means of Bessel's 

 functions of several variables. — M. Mesnager : Solution 

 of the problem of the thick rectangular plate, sup- 

 ported at its edges, and loaded with a single weight 

 at its centre. — MM. Fayet and Schaumasse : Obser\'a- 

 tions and provisional elements of the comet 19 17?^ 

 (Schaumasse). The observations were made on April 

 25, 26, and 27. On .April 25 the comet appeared to be 

 of 95 magnitude, showing a slight central condensa-' 

 tion. — M. St. Procopiu : Th6 concentration of electro- 

 lytes in the neighbourhood of the electrodes. — Ed. 

 Chauvenet : The fluorides of zirconium and the zirconyl 

 fluorides. — R- M. Gabrie : The commercial utilisation 

 of fumaroles and hot springs. Calculations on the 

 energy obtainable from steam jets issuing from the 

 soil and from hot water of geysers. — J. de Lapparent : 

 A Foraminifer from the chalk of the .\lps and . 

 Pvrenees. — A. Pezard : Regression of the erectile 

 organs, resulting from post-puberal castration in the 

 Gallinaceae. — Marie Goldsmith : The acquisition of a 

 habit in the octopus. — E. Kayser : Contribution to the 

 study of apiculate yeasts. — M. Cazin : Total helio- 

 therapy in the treatment of men wounded in the war. 

 An account of the results obtained by the sun treat- 

 ment of wounded. Ven.- favourable results have been 

 obtained. — Ch. Lambert : A method of writing and 

 reading easily accessible to the blind, and specially use- 

 ful to blind persons who have lost the hands or fore- 

 arms. — J. Danysz : Anti-luargol. Experiments are de- 

 scribed proving that a preliminary injection of luargol 

 provokes in the organism the formation of a precipi- 

 tating antibody. — H. Vincent : The infection of wounds 

 by the pvocyanic bacillus. Causes and treatment 



Sydney, 

 Linnean Society of New South Wales, March 28. — Dr. 

 H. G. Chapman, president, in the chair. — R. J. 

 Tillyard : The morpholog}.- of the caudal gills of the 

 lar\ae of zygopterid dragon-flies Three main types of 

 gills, according to the form of their cross-sections, are 

 recognised^o) the saccoid gill-type, presented by the 

 Epallaginae and the Protoneurinae ; (&) the Triquetro- 

 quadrate type, occurring only in the Calopteryginae ; 

 and (c) the lamellar type characteristic of the Lestidae 

 and most Agrionidae. There is also a reduced (non- 

 functional) tvpe, of w^hich the gills of Agrion asteliae. 

 Perkins (Hawaii), furnish a good example. Onto- 



