98 



NATURE 



[April 3, 1919 



aiulae, of an unanalysed field of '•primary fact." 

 This is accomplished by the setting up of appropriate 

 conceptual constructions by the two processes of ab- 

 straction and of generalisation by analogy, the method 

 being sterilised by constant reference back to primary 

 fact. (2) It is then shown in detail that such syn- 

 thetic ordering of a primary field is both possible and 

 helpful in biology, political theory, history, and 

 aesthetics, though in the more concrete fields only 

 qualitative treatment is as yet possible. (3) Finally, 

 it is contended that the business of philosophy is the 

 analysis of the primary data accepted uncritically in 

 each field. Its method is thus a "reverse scientific 

 method." One is ready to increase hypothetical 

 entities for the purposes of economical description, 

 according to Mach's principle; the other limits entities 

 to those left after radical analysis, according to 

 Ockham's principle of parsimony. The two principles 

 are not contradictory, but complementary. 



Linnean Society, March 20. — Sir David Prain, presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — F. Lewis : Notes on a visit to 

 Kunadiyaparawitta Mountain, with a list of the plants 

 obtained and their altitudinal distribution. This 

 curious mountain is nearly due west of the sacred 

 "Adam's Peak," and rises abruptly to an altitude of 

 5186 ft. above the sea, and is surrounded by forest. 

 The summit is small in extent, surrounded by preci- 

 pices, in the path of the south-west monsoon, which 

 strikes on this isolated peak and by its force dwarfs 

 the vegetation on it. The rainfall on the eastern base 

 is about 230 in. per annum, and on the western side 

 about 330 in. yearly. The flora appears to be largely 

 endemic, animal life is practically absent, and wind 

 transport of seeds of those plants which are on the 

 summit seems unlikely. Forty-nine plants were col- 

 lected on the mountain-top in one day's visit, and 

 were determined at Peradeniya, and the names are 

 appended to the paper ; of the forty-nine, ten only are 

 found outside Ceylon, the remainder being endemic. — 

 Miss M. Rathbon'e : Specimens of plants preserved by 

 submitting them to the action of formalin vapour. In 

 plants preserved in this way, the microscopic characters 

 of the tissues and the form of the flower and relation- 

 ship of its parts are less altered than in dried speci- 

 mens, whilst for travellers the specimens are lighter 

 and more convenient to carry than plants preserved 

 in spirit.— H. R. Amos : Wheat-breeding in Argentina. 

 The paper deals with work done by Mr. W. O. Back- 

 house and the author in breeding wheats suitable for 

 the countrv and its diverse climates, the northern 

 portion being warmer than the southern, which is 

 subject to occasional frost ; consequently their require- 

 ments are not the same. Results were described of 

 crossing " Barletta " and "RIetl," both commonly cul- 

 tivated forms in the Argentine, with a Russian variety, 

 others between a Chinese! form and "Barletta," with 

 the view of obtaining forms Immune to rust and not 

 liable to shell out the grain on harvesting. 



Mineralogical Society, March 18. — Sir William P. 

 Beale, Bt., president, in the chair. — ^L. J. Spencer : Curva- 

 ture in crystals. The curvature of crystals is evidently 

 of many diff'erent kinds, and due to as many different 

 causes. Numerous examples, figured In the literature 

 and illustrated by specimens In the British Museum 

 collection of minerals, are grouped under the head- 

 ings : Curved crvstallltes and feathery microlites, 

 capillary habit, aggregations of crvstals, interfacial 

 oscillation, vicinal faces, bent crystals and plastic de- 

 formation, twisted crystals, and cylindrical (?) and 

 spherical (?) crvstals (a supposition leadlntf to a 

 rcductia ad abWdttm).— Lieut. A. B. Edge :^ Siliceous 

 sinter from Lustleigh, Devon. The district round 

 Lustleigh, near Bovey Tracey, Is mined on a small 

 scale for a very fine quality of micaceous haematite, 



NO. 2579, VOL. 103] 



which occurs there in well-defined lodes traversing 

 the granite. At the Plumley Mine (now disused) on 

 the walls of one of these lodes is found a peculiar 

 banded material, somewhat resembling lithomarge or 

 halloysite, which on analysis proved to be a siliceous 

 sinter or opal, with an approximate percentage com- 

 position of silica 70, water 21, haematite 6, alumina, 

 soda, and potash 3, and a low specific gravity 1-73. 

 It is hard and compact, and shows a beautifully 

 banded structure, the layers being tinted to varying 

 degrees by limonlte and finely divided flakes of 

 micaceous haematite. The general appearance of the 

 material and the presence of delicately overfolded 

 ripples in the bandlnf* suggest that It was originally 

 deposited on the walls of the lode in the form of a 

 jelly, and solidified by loss of water. Such loss con- 

 tinues at a very slow rate when specimens are kept 

 in a dry atmosphere, and after some years the surface 

 becomes soft and powdery. The sinter Is very fragile, 

 breaking concholdally even when most carefully 

 handled ; this may be caused, by the shrinkage strains 

 set up during solidification. The source of this 

 hydrated silica is rather doubtful ; it probably formed 

 part of the aqueous injection which deposited the 

 haematite, but may possibly have been leached from 

 the granite during the formation of the lode. — A. F. 

 Hallimond : An anorthic metasllicate from acid-steel 

 furnace slags. A description of the slags will be com- 

 municated to the Iron and Steel Institute. The sub- 

 stance is a metasllicate of iron, manganese, calcium, 

 and magnesium, and appears as flat, elongated 

 crystals with the following characters : — Forms 

 dloio), w(iio), M(iTo), /(il2), /(lol), «(3lo), con- 

 stants a 99° 37', /5 110° 57', 7 82° 3'; a:b:c=^ 

 i-ie,6 : I : 0-407; perfect cleavages parallel to m and M, 

 mM — g^° 95' ; colour clear amber-yellow, not pleo- 

 chroic;' optical characters, 2V = 65i°; negative, /3 = 

 1-701 ; axial plane nearly normal to the cleavage zone; 

 extinction on a, 5° ; acute bisectrix nearly normal to 

 a. — Dr. G. T. Prior : The meteorites Adare and 

 Ensishelm. The percentage amount of nickellferous 

 iron, and the ratio of iron to nickel in it, were found 

 to be respectlvelv 18 and 13 in the case of Adare, and 

 3§ and 35 In the case of Ensishelm, which results 

 support the view that in chondritic meteorites the less 

 the amount of nickellferous iron, the richer It Is in 

 nickel.— Dr. G. F. Herbert Smith : A students' gonio- 

 meter. This instrument, which was made by Messrs. 

 J. H. Steward. Ltd., is of the type in which the 

 direction of reference Is given by the reflection of 

 some distant object in a mirror, and in which the 

 axis of the graduated circle Is horizontal. A ball-and- 

 socket joint provides the mirror with all the necessary 

 adjustments In direction, and it Is also movable 

 vertically in the plane of the axis of the circle. The 

 crystal-holder is provided with a simple and convenient 

 form of adjustment, which enables a crystal to be 

 measured, as regards one half, without removal from 

 the wax. A pointer on a swinging arm facilitates the 

 setting of the crystal in the axis of the circle. 



Zoological Society, March 18. — Mr. A. Ezra in the 

 chair.— H. R. A. Mallock : Some points in Insect 

 mechanics. — H. F. Blaauw : The breeding of Oryx 

 gazella at Goollust. 



Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, March 20. — Mr. 

 H. F. Marriott, president, in the chair. — Sir Thomas 

 Kirke Rose : The volatilisation of gold. It is now 

 well known that gold is volatile at temperatures not 

 far above its melting point, both in vacuo and at 

 atmospheric pressures, and researches have shown 

 that the factors affecting volatilisation, apart from 

 time, temperature, and amount of exposed surface, 

 are (a) the composition of the bullion, (h) the com- 

 position of the gases In contact with the gold, and 



