May 5, 19 lo] 



NATURE 



299 



uli 1908-Marz 1909 auf den Seychellen gesammelten 

 .nthomyidae, mit den Gattungen Rhinia und Idiella. — 

 )r. Malcolm Burr : The Dermaptera of the Seychelles. — 

 )r. J. J. Tesch : The Pteropoda and Heteropoda collected 

 y the Percy Sladen Trust Expedition in the Indian Ocean. 

 -Dr. G. Enderlein : Die pilzmiicken Fauna der Sey- 

 hellen. 



Mathematical Society, April 28. — Sir W. D. Niven, 

 resident, in the chair. — Dr. W. F. Sheppard : The 

 ccuracy of interpolation by finite differences (second paper). 

 -G. H. Hardy : Theorems connected with Maclaurin's test 

 or the convergence of series. — Lieut.-Colonel k. Cunniny- 

 uun : Two notes on the theorj* of numbers, (i) the 

 actorisation of 2"+i; (2) the indivisibility of 2'' — 2 by ^, 

 » being prime. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, April iS.— M. Emile Picard in the 

 he chair. — The perpetual secretary announced the death of 

 fiilius Kiihn, correspondant for the section of rural 

 Hionomy. — Arthur R. Hinks : The solar parallax deduced 

 Tom micrometric observations of Eros made in igoo and 

 1901. The final result of the micrometric observations is 

 «'=8-8o6' + ooo4'. The results obtained by the method of 

 passages are less exact. — M. Giacobini :" Halley's comet. 

 rhe comet was observed on April 17 at the Paris Observa- 

 tory. Its present magnitude is between 2 and 2-5. The 

 head of the comet is a circular nebulosity 30' to 35' in 

 diameter, with a strong central nucleus, and no tail could 

 be distinguished. — M. Tzitz^ica : A new class of surfaces. 

 — A. Blondel : The linear functional equation. — A. Petot : 

 The mode of action of driving wheels. — C. E. Guye and 

 fH. Schapper : The internal friction of metals at low 

 jtemperatures. The metals examined were copper, zinc, 

 Igold, nickel, palladium, and platinum, and the tempera- 

 jtures ranged from +100° C. to -195° C. — M. Menneret : 

 'The movements of a liquid in a tube. The damping of 

 the oscillations of a liquid column in a U-tube follows two 

 laws, according to the nature of the damping. Similar 

 results are found in the uniform flow of a liquid in a 

 rectilinear tube. — L. Bloch : lonisation by the pulverisation 

 of liquids. — MM. de Brogrlie and Briza'rd : lonisation by 

 bubbling and chemical reactions. — Louis Dunoyer : Con- 

 cerning the formation of the kathode rays. In the pro- 

 duction of the kathode rays the nature of the kathode is 

 usually regarded as unimportant. An experiment is 

 described in which the ordinary conditions of working are 

 followed, and in which the nature of the kathode directly 

 affects the phenomena obtained. — H. Baubigrny : The con- 

 stitution of the dithionates and sulphites. Dithionic acid is 

 regarded as HO,.S— SO3.H, and sulphurous acid as 

 H.SO3.H, the evidence on which these formulae are based 

 being given.— E. Fourneau : The alkaloid of Fseudo- 

 ctnchona africana and its saponification by alkalies. The 

 alkaloid of Pseudocinchona resembles yohimbine, and a 

 comparative study of the two bases has therefore been 

 made.— Marcel Guerbet : The constitution of the alcohols 

 resulting from the condensation of the secondary alcohols, 

 with their sodium derivatives. The oxidation products of 

 the condensation product from caprs'l alcohol have been 

 examined, and lead to the view that the alcohol is 



CH,.(CH,),.CH(CH3).CH,.CH(OH).(CH,),.CH3. 

 — .\. Bergr : The action of silver oxide upon elaterine. The 

 chief product of the reaction is a quinone, named elaterido- 

 quinone, acetic acid being also formed. — E. \.6ger : 

 .Moinose, a sugar from aloin. — L^n Brunei : Cyclo- 

 hexanetriols and their derivatives. — L. Blarinehem ' and 

 Paul VIgruier : A new species of shepherd's purse (Capsella 

 Fi^uteri) produced by mutation. — Silvanus P. Thompson : 

 The physiological effects produced by an alternating mag- 

 netic field. On placing the head inside a bobbin carrying 

 an alternating current (field 1400 C.G.S. units) and closing 

 the eyes, the effect of a feeble vacillating light is produced, 



the period of the fluctuation not being well defined. A. 



d'Arsonwal : Remarks on the preceding note by Silvanus 

 P. Thompson. The phenomena noted have been known 

 to physiologists since 1893.— Ch. Dh«r« and M. 

 Borgrolewski : A method of preparing a" serum very free 

 From electrolytes by electrical dialvsis. Bv electrical 

 iialysis the conductivity of the serum was reduced to one- 

 twelfth of its original amount. The purified serum was 



NO. 2 1 14, VOL. 83] 



very readily precipitated by the addition of small amount? 

 of alcohol ; the temperature of coagulation was much lower 

 for the purified product. — E. Bataillon : Complete embryo- 

 genesis produced in Amphibia by the puncture of the virgin 

 egg. The eggs of Rana fusca were punctured with a short 

 stylet of glass, manganin, or platinum, the size of the hole 

 being from 003 to 008 mm. Segmentation started in the 

 treated eggs as rapidly as in eggs impregnated in the 

 ordinary way. A dozen free lar\'3e resulted from nine sets 

 of operations. — J. Bridr6 and L. Mhgre : The nature of 

 the parasite of epizootic lymphangitis. The experiments 

 described favour the hypothesis of the blastomycelian nature 

 of the parasite. — E. Lesn^, R. Debrd, and G. Simon : 

 The presence of virulent germs in the atmosphere of 

 hospital wards. Diphtheria bacilli were proved to be 

 present in the air of the diphtheria wards. — F. Qa.rrigou : 

 A rapid and certain method for recognising in a mineral 

 water the presence of metalloids and metals. 



April 25. — M. Emile Picard in the chair. — H. 

 Deslandres : The distribution of the filaments in the 

 upper layer of the solar atmosphere. The observations 

 taken at the Meudon Observatory now include photographs 

 of the upper layer for twenty rotations with the calciun> 

 line and fourteen with hydrogen. The observations are 

 discussed in detail, and four diagrams given showing the 

 filaments on May 20, June 15, November 27, 1909, and 

 -April II, 1910. The observations may throw light on the 

 distribution and special variations of the protuberances, at 

 the present time not regarded as connected with any other 

 solar phenomena. — A. Haller and A. Lassieur : Study of 

 by-products from cocoa-nut oil. The composition of 

 essence of cocoa. In the purification of commercial cocoa- 

 nut oil by treatment with superheated steam a distillate is 

 obtained smelling strongly of oil of rue. From this mixture 

 a ketone, C,,Hj,0, has been isolated. The oxime and 

 semicarbazone are described, and the oxidation products 

 studied. The ketone was shown to be normal methylnonyl 

 ketone. Methylheptylketone was also obtained from the 

 fractions of the crude oil. — ^C. Eg. Bertrand and F. 

 Cornaille : The characteristics of the botryopteridian leaf 

 trace. — Ch. Andre : The effect produced on hailstorms by 

 the hail cannon. A statistical study of the effect of hail 

 cannon. Comparing the damage done by hail over the 

 years 1901 to 1908, and the number of hail cannon installed 

 during that time, the conclusion is drawn that no practical 

 j service is rendered by the cannon. — P. Lowell : A new 

 i method of planetary photography employed at the Lowell 

 Observatorj' at Flagstaff, Arizona. The method was 

 j devised by Lampland, and improved by E. C. Slipher. A 

 special screen is used in association with suitable plates, 

 ; so that the yellow rays near the D lines are the only ones 

 [ to act on the plate. Details of the results obtained with 

 I Jupiter and Saturn are given. — C. Russyan : The integra- 

 ! tion of a system of partial differential equations of the 

 \ first order by the generalised method of Jacobi. — ^Joseph 

 I Marty : The existence of singular solutions for certain 

 I equations of Fredholm. — Michel Fekete : The series of 

 Dirichlet. — M. Ouiwet : An application of birational trans- 

 I formations. — H. Verg^ne : The canonical changes of 

 variables. — B. Galitzine : The precision of apparatus 

 serving to study the vibration of buildings. In the 

 immediate neighbourhood of a Diesel motor the vertical 

 vibrations predominate, but in a building some distance 

 away both the vertical and horizontal movements are of 

 the same order of magnitude. The vibrations are greater 

 in the higher storeys of a building than in the lower. — 

 U. Schoop : A new principle of depositing metals. The 

 fused metal is turned into a fine dust and projected on to 

 the surface to be covered by means of an indifferent gas, 

 hydrogen or nitrogen, under high pressure. A sort of 

 metallic fog is produced, which, in spite of the high 

 temperature of the fused metal, has usually a temperature 

 of between 10° C. and 60° C. Tin, lead, copper, and 

 aluminium alloy, all of which are very fluid when fused, 

 can be deposited on wood, glass, metal, and other surfaces, 

 the thickness of the deposit being completely under control. 

 — C. Chdneveau : A simple arrangement for measuring a 

 magnetic field. .\* differential manometer containing a 

 paramagnetic liquid (an aqueous solution containing 30 per 

 cent, of manganese sulphate) and a diamagnetic liquid of 

 approximately the same density not miscible with the first 



