March 17, 19 10] 



NATURE 



89 



the Neanderthal and Spy crania. In the Gibraltar skull 

 the capacity was low, below iioo c.c, a small amount, 

 partly owing to the skull probably being that of a woman 

 and also to the fact that it was pre-Neanderthaloid in type. 

 Indeed, when rightly analysed, the Gibraltar individual, as 

 regards the type of cranium and size of brain, is inter- 

 mediate between Pithecanthropus and Palaeolithic skulls, 

 such as those of the La Chapelle man or the skull known 

 as. Spy ii. The mastoid of the Gibraltar skull is simian 

 in type ; the groove for the attachment of the digastr c 

 muscle is exposed laterally, as in the anthropoids, in place 

 of being covered by the mastoid processes. Palaeolithic 

 men were distinguished by the width of the attachment of 

 the skull to the neck, as well as by the simian supraorbital 

 ridges. The nose of the Gibraltar individual is unlike 

 anything yet seen in a human being. Although in certain 

 features it shows approximation to the gorilla, it is best 

 described as the precursor of the prominent European nose. 

 The jaw is remarkable for its width ; in length it does 

 not much exceed that of a modern European. The third 

 molar is larger than the second, at least one so infers 

 from the parts that still remain. This shows a ver>- robust 

 dental development. It is evident that Palaeolithic man 

 had reached quite a modern degree of brain development. 

 If the Gibraltar individual be assigned to a Palaeolithic 

 date, for we can assign its period only from its con- 

 formation, there being no accessory data, then it must be 

 assigned to a woman of a much lower brain development 

 than the men now assigned to that period ; but it is also 

 possible that it belonged to a much earlier date than the 

 Neanderthal-Spy men — to a race we know^ nothing of as 

 yet. Dr. Keith also pointed out that in the pathological 

 condition, known as acromegaly, the eyebrow ridges and 

 attachment of the skull to the neck became enormously 

 increased, thus reproducing a character which was normal 

 in Palaeolithic men. It seemed very probable that racial 

 characters were determined by secretions of the more 

 obscure glandular organs of the body, especially the sexual 

 glands. 



Mathematical Society, March lo. — Sir W. D. Niven, 

 president, in the chair. — J. W. Nicholson : The scatter- 

 ing of light by a large conducting sphere. — Miss H. P. 

 Hudson : The 3-3 birational space transformation. — 

 W. F. Sheppard : The expression of the sum of the 

 rth powers of the first n natural numbers and other 

 similar functions of n in terms of n + §, and forms for the 

 remainder in the Euler-Maclaurin sum-formula. 



Linnean Society. March ?. — Mr. H. W. Monckton, 

 treasurer and vice-president, in the chair. — W. Bickerton : 

 Our British nesting terns. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, February 28. — M. Emile Picard in 

 the chair. — Emile Picard : A general theorem of certain 

 integral equations of the third species. — ^J. Boussinesq : 

 The manner in which the potential of the velocities depends 

 upon the initial state in the problem of waves by 

 emersion. — A. Haller and A. Brochet : The oxidation of 

 methyl ricinoleate by ozone. The ester fixes four atoms 

 of oxygen on treatment with ozonised oxygen. The separa- 

 tion of the products formed by the interaction of this 

 substance with sodium carbonate is described in detail ; 

 the position of the double linkage thus determined is in 

 agreement with the constitution usually ascribed to this 

 acid. — M. Lannelongrue : S. supplementary function of 

 the foot in the yellow race. The foot in these races is 

 not exclusively used for the support of the body. It is 

 used for other functions, ,and becomes a prehensile organ, 

 as in grasping an par. — Emile Borel : A general condition 

 of integrability. — Emile Cotton : Asymptotic solutions of 

 differential equations. — Serge Bernstein : The conditions 

 necessary and sufficient for the possibility of the problem 

 of Dirichlet. — ^Joseph Marty : An integral equation. — 

 Leopold FejSr : A pair of conjugated Fourier's series. — 

 J. B. Fournier : A method of evaluating the temperature 

 of superheated vapour. Superheated steam differs from 

 saturated steam in that adjacent portions may have ver\- 

 different temperatures, and this fact has not beien suffici- 

 ently appreciated in many instances when fixing the posi- 

 tion of the thermometer designed to give the temperature 



NO. 2107, VOL. 83] 



of the superheated vapour. The error may amount to as 

 much as 75°. The whole of the bulb, or corresponding 

 portion of an electrical instrument, must be entirely 

 immersed in the direct current of vapour, and contact with 

 the walls of the pipe must be avoided. — Ch. Fdry : A 

 symmetrical coil for galvanometers with movable frame.-j- 

 G. Oabet : The results obtained in the radio-automatic 

 torpedo by a new telecommutator. The principles upon 

 which the apparatus is based were given in a previous 

 communication. Practical tests in the Seine have been 

 successfully carried out. — E. Louise : .A. new method of 

 analysis by miscibility curves. Application to essence of 

 turpentine. Aniline is a suitable solvent for this work, 

 four curves obtained with this substance being illustrated. 

 — E. Baud : Cryoscopy in concentrated solutions. The 

 concentration is taken as the weight of the solute dissolved 

 in a given volume (100 c.c.) of the solution, a non- 

 polymerised solvent being used. Results are given for 

 ethylene bromide, benzene, and nitro-benzene as solvents. 

 — G. Deniflffts : The detection of traces of formaldehyde 

 in presence of acetaldehyde by fuchsine bisulphite. In 

 liquids acid with sulphuric acid the red colour restored to 

 the decolorised fuchsine solution by the acetaldehyde is 

 much less stable than that produced by formaldehyde. The 

 latter tends to increase on standing, the former to fade 

 away. — F. Bodroux and F. Taboury : Syntheses effected 

 with benzyl cyanide. Nitriles in ethereal solution react 

 readily with sodium amide, giving sodium derivatives of 

 the tvpe R.CH.Na.CN. The latter can be converted into 

 compounds R.CHR'.CN by alkyl halides. Several 

 examples of the application of the reaction are 

 given. — ^J. Bougoult : a-Cyclogeranic acid. The acetate 

 of trimethylcyclohe.xenol is obtained in good yield by heat- 

 ing a-cyclogeranic acid with an acetic acid solution of 

 mercuric acetate. — Marcel Delepine : The constitution of 

 the dimeric aldehyde of crotonaldehyde. — A. Wahl and 

 C. SiiberzweiK : The methyl methoxybenzoylacetates. 

 The methyl esters, differing from the ethyl esters, can be 

 distilled undecomposed in a vacuum. These compounds 

 were prepared by Claisen's method. Details of the pre- 

 paration and properties of these compounds are given. — 

 A. Backe : A new compound contained in food products. 

 The reactions of this substance are sufficiently close to 

 those of salicylic acid to give rise to the suspicion that 

 the latter substance has been added. This body is formed 

 bv the action of heat on certain sugar and starches, and 

 resembles the maltol of Kiliani and Barlen. — Louis 

 Matruchot : A new group of pathogenic fungi causing 

 sporotrichosis.—^. Andr6 : The development of a bulbous 

 plant. Variations in the weight of the dry materiaL — Ed. 

 Urbain, CI. Seal, and A. Feigre : The sterilisation of 

 water by the ultra-violet rays. The source of light 

 employed was an arc formed between carbons containing 

 alumina. It is pointed out that it is useless to attempt to 

 utilise wave-lengths below i860 Angstrom units, since a 

 thin layer of quartz or water absorbs nearly all rays of 

 lower wave-length. — Mile. Cernovodeanu and Victor 

 Henri : A comparison of the photochemical and abiotic 

 action of the ultra-violet rays. — I. Chaine : The vertical 

 position and the thigh muscles. — C. Vaney and A. Conte : 

 Researches on the development of the egg of the silk- 

 worm. — Paul Hallez : The summer and winter spawning 

 of Prostoma lumbricoideum. — ^J. Nageotte : The micro- 

 scopical study, during life, of the activity of the myeline 

 in the course of the Wallerian degeneration of nerves. — 

 M. Favre and CI. Regaud : Certain filaments having 

 probably the signification of mitochondria in the generating 

 layer of the epidermis. — F. Bordas : The medico-legal 

 study of the benzidine reaction in the determination of 

 blood spots. If the reaction is negative, blood is certainly 

 absent ; it is shown, however, that a positive reaction is 

 given by substances other than blood. — E. Doumer and 

 G. Lemoine : Obstinate neuralgic pains observed in 

 patients suffering from excessive arterial tension. — Jean 

 Brunhes : The predominance of erosion on the right bank 

 of a river in times of flood. — Alfred Angrot : The secular 

 variation of the magnetic elements in the region of Paris. 



March 7. — M. Emile Picard in the chair. — Maurice 



j Hamy : The organisation of stellar spectroscopy at the 



Observatory of Paris, Details are given of the new 



