330 



NATURE 



[May 12, 1 910 



zoology. — Ernest Esclang^on : The changes in Halley's 

 comet. On April 27 the most brilliant part of the nucleus 

 was ver\- close to a seventh-magnitude star in brightness, 

 but the comet as a whole would appear to be of a higher 

 magnitude to the naked eye. In the nebulous mass 

 surrounding the nucleus there are two clearly marked 

 surfaces of discontinuity, meeting at the nucleus at an 

 ■acute angle. — J. Haagr : Certain triple orthogonal systems. 

 — P. E. Gau : The integration by the method of M. 

 Darboux of the partial differential equations of the second 

 ■order of the form s = a{x,y,z)p-^h{x,y,z)q->rc(x,y,z). — A. 

 Chatelet : The summation of continued arithmetical frac- 

 tions. — Jean Chazy : The differential equations deduced 

 from certain invariants of linear forms. — S. Latt&s : The 

 •convergence of the relations of recurrence. — L6011 

 Lichtenstein : The general definition of analytical func- 

 tions. — Andrd Leaute : Superintensities and supertensions 

 ■due to the working of switches on the switchboard.— 

 Eugene Bloch : The curves of saturation in the Hertz 

 photo-electric effect. — M. de Broelie : The ionisation of 

 gases by the actions of mechanical division of liquids : 

 active and inactive bodies. — A. Besson and L. Fournier : 

 The action of the silent discharge on chloroform and carbon 

 tetrachloride in presence of hydrogen, and also upon 

 methyl chloride. The products isolated from the first of 

 these reactions include tetrachlorethylene, trichlorethylene, 

 hexachlorethane, hexachlorpropylene, and higher boiling 

 products. Methyl chloride (without hydrogen) gave a 

 complex mixtiJre which proved to /be very difficult to 

 separate by repeated fractional distillation. — G. Dupont : 

 The isomerides of some acetylene 7-glycols. The glycols 

 examined included 



and 



CCl3.CH(OH).C EE C.CH(OH).CCl,, 

 C,H,.CH(OH)— C =C.CH(OH).CeH5, 



(C,H3)(CH3).C(OH).C E C.C(OH)(C,H3)(CH3), 



two isomers of each glj'col being described. — H. Gault 

 and G. Thirode : The condensation of the secondary 

 amines with y-bromodimethylacetic ester. — ^J. F. Thorpe 

 and G. Blanc : The product of the methylation of 

 •diacetoapocamphoric ester of M. G. Komppa. It is shown 

 that the diketocam.phoric ester of M. Komppa, one link 

 in the synthesis of camphoric acid, has not the constitu- 

 tion assigned to it. — G. Vavon : The addition of hydrogen 

 to essence of turpentine. The fractions from French, 

 German, and American turpentine boiling under 165°, on 

 treating with hydrogen in presence of platinum black, all 

 gave a h3"drocarbon with the same density, boiling, and 

 melting points. Hence both a and jS pinenes give the same 

 liydride. — A. Arnaud and S. Posternak : The partial 

 h3"drogenation of the acids of the steorolic series and the 

 Isomerism of their addition compounds with hydriodic acid. 

 — M. Bieler-Chatelan : The function of micas in arable 

 soil. — H. Sereg:e : An experimental study of the specific 

 .action of the Vichy springs employed in thermal thera- 

 peutics. — A. Moutier : The role of the arterial wall in the 

 measurement for clinical purposes of the arterial pressure. 

 — H. Vallde and L. Guinard : The physiological proper- 

 ties of extracts of the Koch bacillus, condensed and 

 rendered sensitive. A study of the physiological proper- 

 ties of the precipitate obtained by adding serum from a 

 horse which had been subjected to a special immunising 

 treatment to culture solutions of the Koch bacillus.- — 

 Gabriel Bertrand and M. Rosenblatt : The temperature 

 at which the plant tyrosinases lose their diastatic activity. 

 The temperatures found varied between 60° and 95°, and 

 these differences cannot be attributed to the nature of the 

 solvent, but rather appear to be a specific property of the 

 ■diastatic substances. — L. Launoy : Certain protoplasmic 

 enclosures of the normal hepatic cell of the rabbit. The 

 author describes under the name of pigmented lipoid bodies 

 certain hitherto unnoticed corpuscles of complex structure 

 in the hepatic cell of the adult rabbit. — Jean Boussac : 

 The tectonic interpretation of the flysch of central and 

 eastern Switzerland. — F. Grandjean : Remarks on the 

 siphon of the ammonites and belemnites. The envelope of 

 the siphon consists chiefly of calcium phosphate, and not 

 calcium carbonate, as hitherto supposed. 



Calcutta. 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, April 6. — E. Brunetti : 



Review of our knowledge of the Oriental Diptera. The 

 paper is a comparison between our present knowledge of 

 the Oriental Diptera and that possessed by entomologists 

 at the date of Van der Wulp's " Catalogue of South Asiatic 

 Diptera" (1896). — Lieut. -Colonel D. C. Phillott : Vocabu- 

 lary of technical and sporting terms in Urdu, Persian, and 

 Arabic. — E. R. Watson, Monohar Gupta, and Satish 

 Chandra Ganeuli : A chemical examination of the butter- 

 fat of the Indian buffalo. — E. W. Vredenburg : Chondro- 

 donta hosei, a new species of fossil lamellibranch from the 

 hippurite-bearing beds of Seistan. The first bivalve mollusc 

 described in the Records of the Geological Survey, vol. 

 xxxviii., part iii., proves to be a Chondrodonta, here named 

 Chondrodonta hosei. — Hem Chandra Das-Gupta : Palze- 

 ontological notes on the Gangamopteris beds of Khunmu 

 (in Kashmir). On a visit to Khunmu, in Kashmir, re- 

 mains of a palaeoniscid and an ichthyod orulite fish were 

 found, which are briefly described. — H. E. Stapleton : 

 Contributions to the history and ethnology of north-eastern 

 India, ii. This paper deals with the coinage of Assam in 

 its relation to the history of Assam as given in the 

 Buranjis. The chief materials on which it is based 

 are : — (a) the find of nearly 1000 coins made in 1906 at 

 the Daflating Tea Garden, near Jorhat, in Assam ; (b) the 

 cabinet of Assamese coins in the possession of Mr. A. W. 

 Botham, C.S. ; (c) the recent catalogue of Assamese coins 

 in the British Museum, published in the Numismatic 

 Chronicle by Mr. J. Allan ; and (d) the writer's own collec- 

 tion of Assamese coins. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Death of the King. By The Editor . . 301 

 The New " Origin of Species." By Sir W. T. 



Thiselton-Dyer, K.C.M.G., F.R.S 302 



Physical Science in the Time of Nero, By 



A. J J.-B 305 



The Study of Immunity and its Practical Appli- 

 cations. By Prof. R. T. Hewlett 306 



The Caibonisation of Coal 307 



The Human Central Nervous System. By G. E. S. 308 

 Our Book Sh'-U:— 



Mennell : "The Miners' Guide" 309 



Green: "The Coccidse of Ceylon" 309 



McNeill: *' Col onsay, one of the Hebrides" .... 309 

 Letters to the Editor : - 



The Stability and Efficiency of Kites. — F. P. Fer- 



gusson ; W. H. Dines, F.R.S 310 



A Difference in the Photoelectric Effect caused by 

 Incident and Divergent Light. — Otto Stuhl- 



mann.Jun . 311 



A Link in the Evolution of the Bees. — Prof. 



T. D. A. Cockerell 311 



Fluorescent Absorption. — Prof. R. W. Wood . . 312 



Centre of Gravity of Annual Rainfall. — ^J. Cook . . 312 

 Impure Manganese Di-oxide. — Dr. J. Newton 



Friend . 312 



British New Guinea. {Illustrated.) By J. S. G. . . 312 



Some Recent Agricultural Field Trials 313 



The Total Solar Eclipse, May 9, 1910. By Dr. 



W. J. s. Lockyer 314 



Prof. E. F. W. ffluger. By Dr. A. D. Waller, 



F.R.S 314 



Notes. {Illustrated.) .... 315 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comet ary Orbits 320 



Measures of Double Stars 3^0 



Maximum of Mira, 1909 320 



Parallax of the Planetary Nebula G C. 4373 ■ • • • 320 



Halley's Comet and Meteorology. (Illustrateil.) . . 320 

 A New Telephone Re)ay and its Applications. 



(Illustrated.) By S. G. Brown 322 



The Iron and Steel Institute 325 



A Geological Suivry of Colorado. By J. W. G. . 326 



University and Educational Intelligence 326 



Societies and Academies 327 



NO. 2 II 5, VOL. 83] 



