290 



NATURE 



[June 7, 19 17 



for this paltry piece of economy is that ' it has been 

 ruled that the Ke-w Bitlletin is not essential, and its 

 publication has therefore been suspended ' owing to 

 the shortage of paper. The small amount of paper 

 needed to secure the continued publication of so useful 

 a periodical, which serves as a link between scientific 

 and economic botany, could well be spared by a trifling 

 reduction in the waste of paper in a single Govern- 

 ment department. Lop-sided actions of this sort bring 

 our Government into contempt, and indicate a narrow- 

 ness of outlook threatening the future of the country." 



Sir Ernest Shackleton has returned to this country 

 after lecturing in Australia and America on his return 

 from the Antarctic. In a brief interview he gave to 

 Renter's Agency Sir Ernest said that much scientific 

 work had been done despite the disaster to the expedi- 

 tion and the failure of the plan to cross Antarctica. 

 He confirms the opinion held by all who know the 

 Weddell Sea that it is the worst sea in the world for ice 

 congestion and pressure. The most interesting state- 

 ment he made, however, was with regard to Morrell 

 Land, or New South Greenland, which is supposed to 

 project northward from Antarctica into the Weddell 

 Sea. Since Morrell, in 1823, sighted part of the coast- 

 line of this land no voyager has definitely seen it, but, 

 on the othej- hand, no one has been able to sail over 

 its supposed position, while circumstantial evidence is 

 strongly in its favour. Sir Ernest claims to have 

 sailed over and so proved its non-existence. It would 

 be most interesting to have further details, with lati- 

 tude and longitudes, so that this problem can be 

 definitely cleared up. Morrell may have been a little 

 wrong in his longitudes, but it will be surprising if no 

 land exists in the western part of the Weddell Sea. 



The letter on " Plated Teeth of Sheep," published in 

 Nature of May 31, has brought us a copy of a paper 

 "On So-called Gold-coated Teeth in Sheep," by Prof. 

 A. Liversidge, formerly professor of chemistry, 

 University of Sydney, read before the Royal Society 

 of New South Wales on June 7, 1905. Prof. Liver- 

 sidge received the lower half of a sheep's jawbone, 

 the teeth of which were more or less completely en- 

 crusted with a yellow, metallic-looking substance, but 

 more like iron pyrites (marcasite) or brass than gold. 

 He found that the incrustation readily came ofif in 

 scales when even lightly scratched with the point of 

 a penknife. The surface of the tooth under the scale 

 was found to be black, but apparently not decayed; the 

 thickness of the deposit was apparently less than 

 I mm. The scale partly dissolved in dilute acid. The 

 residue consisted of filmy organic matter, still possess- 

 ing a metallic sheen, although white in colour instead 

 of yellow. When heated on platinum foil the scale 

 blackened, partly fused, and left a \<?hite residue solu- 

 ble in dilute hydrochloric or nitric acid. The residue 

 contained phosphoric acid, and apparently consisted 

 mainly of calcium phosphate. Under the microscope 

 the scale was seen to be translucent and of a pale 

 brownish colour, and under a 5-in. objective it was 

 seen to be made of thin layers, but with no recog- 

 nisable organic structure. Prof. Liversidge concluded 

 that " the metallic lustre is due to the way in which 

 the light is reflected from the surfaces' of the super- 

 ihtposed films. The Incrustation on the teeth is ap- 

 parently a deposit of tartar, and perhaps partly due 

 to superficial decay of the tooth-." 



The Royal Academy of Sciences and Letters of Den- 

 mark has, announced the subjects on which it invites 

 memoirs, with a view to the award of its medals and 

 prizes. The subject in history, for which the prize is 

 the academy's gold medal, is the origin and devek>p- 



NO. 2484, VOL. 99] 



ment of alchemy among the Greeks, based on the 

 examination of Greek literature. In astronomy the 

 society's gold medal will be awarded to the approved 

 memoir on the distances of stars of spectral class N 

 (Secchi's Type IV.), their distribution in space, and the 

 determination of their velocities. For the acaderhy's 

 gold medal in physics the subject is an experimental 

 research on the transparency and electrical conductivity 

 of thin metallic films, special importance being attached 

 to the determination 0/ the thickness of such films. 

 The prize of 800 crowns arising out of the Classen 

 legacy is offered for the approved memoir on the light 

 thrown on the habitats and the immigration into 

 Denmark of weeds, especially those of cultivated areas, 

 by palaeontology and history, and by the study of the 

 various means and routes of the migration of these 

 plants. In all these cases memoirs jnust be sent in 

 by October 31, 19 18. The prize of 8oo crowns derived 

 from the Thott legacy is to be awarded in connection 

 with a subject announced in 1914, namely, a descrip- 

 tion based on existing literature, as well as on per- 

 sonal research work, of the facts which ought to be 

 taken Into account in drying seeds, special attention 

 being given to the kinds of direct Interest to Danish 

 agriculture. These memoirs are to be sent in by 

 October 31 next. The essays may be written in any 

 one of seven specified languages, including English, 

 and are to be sent to Prof. H. G. Zeuthen, secretary 

 of the Academy. 



A STATUE of the eminent chemist. Prof. Marcelin 

 Berthelot, sometime professor at the Paris School of 

 Pharmacy, was unveiled in Paris on May 21. We 

 reprint from the Chemist and Druggist the following 

 Interesting account of the ceremony given by its Paris 

 correspondent: — "The Sorbonne, as the home of the 

 faculty of sciences and the heart of the Latin Quarter, 

 was appropriately chosen for the function, which 

 marked the close of the Exhibition of ' School and 

 War,' organised by the French Teaching League. 

 The great amphitheatre was filled to suffocation, and 

 on the platform were the representatives of ofificial and 

 Intellectual France — M, Raymond Polncare and his 

 Ministers of State, the Paris Municipal Council, and 

 the teaching staff of the University. The speakers 

 were the head of the College of France (to which 

 Berthelot was attached), the Prefect of the Seine, the 

 President of the Municipal Council, the Director of the 

 French Academy, the Vice-President of the Italian 

 Senate, and others. There was a war-time note in 

 many of the speeches. M. Armand Gautler, the 

 chosen orator of the Academy of Sciences, told how 

 during the 1870-71 siege of Paris he met Berthelot 

 returning from a visit to the outposts, where he had 

 accompanied a French general. . The savant had 

 shown the soldier how the defence of the city could 

 be Improved ; the general had hesitated for fear of 

 reprisals, not wishing to provoke the enemy to bom- 

 bard Paris. Shortly after, the Latin Quarter was ^ 

 shelled, and the College of France and the Museum were ' 

 damaged. M. Palnlev^, Minister of War, referred to ' 

 the same epoch. Not only did Berthelot show how- 

 chemical substances could be syntheslsed, but ' he 

 dared to apply scientific methods to these explosives, the 

 violence and terrible rapidity of which seemed to defy 

 all control, but of which the artilleryman must under- 

 stand the laws the better to regulate and subjuga,te.' 

 It was ' his long and obstinate research Into the 

 problems of waves of explosion which led up to M. 

 Vieille's discovery of smokeless powder.' The 

 speeches terminated, the official cortege proceeded to 

 the statue hard by — the work of M. Ren6 de Salnt- 

 Marceaux. When this was unveiled the Paris school 

 children and the Cadet Corps — some thousands of 



