June 9, 19 10] 



NAIURE 



449 



optical properties of the holocrjstalHne phosphorites of 

 Ouercy. — A. Miintz : The struggle for water between 

 living organisms and natural media. Different soils re- 

 quire different amounts of water for saturation, and if the 

 water actually held is under the saturation figure no w-ater 

 can be absorbed by a seed, and no germination takes place. 

 Several cases are considered at length. — Albert, Prince of 

 Monaco : The twelfth scientific campaign of the 

 Princesse Alice, and also the oceanographic work of the 

 Monaco Museum. — M. de Forcrand : The heat of forma- 

 tion of caesium peroxide. A thermochemical stud)- of the 

 solution of caesium peroxide in w^ater and dilute acids. — 

 Lecoq de Boisbaudran : Can the truffle be replanted? 

 The separation from the mycelium hinders the growth of 

 the truffle, but does not altogether stop it. — M. Perez was 

 elected a correspondant for the section of anatomy , and 

 zoology in the place of the late M. Lortet. — Fn-i t 

 Marchand : Phenomena observed at the Pic du Midi on 

 May 18-19 (passage of Halley's comet across the sun). 

 From the whole of the observations no clear conclusion 

 can be drawn as regards the possible electric action of the 

 cometary material. — K. PopofT : Observations of Halley's 

 comet made at the Observatory of Sofia, Bulgaria, May 

 18, 1910. — D. Esrinitis : Observations of Halley's comet 

 made at the Observatory- of Athens. The changing aspect 

 of the tail is discussed from the point of view of its 

 curvature and the change in the curvature on approaching 

 the sun. No sign of the comet was visible as it crossed 

 the sun's disc. — ^Jules Baillaud and G. Demetresco : 

 Photographic observations of Halley's comet at the Paris 

 Observatory'. The conditions were unfavourable, photo- 

 graphs being possible on May 23, 24, and 28 only. — P. E. 

 Cau : The search for the intermediate integrals of the 

 equation s-f{x, y, z, p, q). — S. Lattds : Taylor's series with 

 recurring coefficients. — ^J. Le Roux : The distribution of 

 torsion in the infinitesimal deformation of a continuous 

 medium. — H. Larose : Two sets of solutions of the equa- 

 tion of telegraphists. — W. Duane and A. Laborde : 

 Quantitative measurements of the radium emanation. The 

 relation between the initial value of the saturation current 

 due to the presence of a given amount of the radium 

 emanation, the interior surface and volume of the con- 

 denser given by W. Duane in 1905 has been confirmed, and 

 the constants in the equation re-determined. When these 

 constants are known for a given condenser, a single deter- 

 mination of the initial saturation current is sufficient to 

 determine the amount of radium emanation present. — 

 L. Boutan and J. Feytaud : Stereoscopic colour photo- 

 graphy and its scientific applications. The arrangement 

 described permits the use of artificial light ; photographs 

 in colour of a medusa and of a branch of coral were made. 

 —Maurice de Brpelie : The electrification of the air by 

 the carbon monoxide flame and by the radium rays ; com- 

 parison of the mobilities of the ions present in the two 

 cases. The ions liberated by chemical action and high 

 temperature in the combustion of carbon monoxide and 

 those which are produced by the radium rays have verj- 

 similar mobilities, and are probably identical. — M. Driot : 

 Some six zinc oxychlorides have been described, but by the 

 direct action of zinc oxide upon solutions of zinc chloride 

 only two distinct substances have been indicated, accord- 

 "? to the author's experiments. These are 



ZnCL,4ZnO,6H,0 and ZnClj.ZnO.i-sH.O. 



— Gustave Vavon : The rotatory power of pinene hydro- 

 chloride. The results given are in complete accord with 

 the h>-pothesis first put forward by Semmler, and developed 

 by .\hlstrom and by Aschan, according to which the o and 

 b pinenes give the same solid hydrochloride. The vields 

 furnished by the two hydrocarbons are the same. — P. L. 

 Viguier : a-Bromocrotonic aldehyde. Crotonaldehvde Is 

 treated with bromine, and then the product distilled with 

 a solution of sodium acetate. From the distillate the 

 bromocrotonic aldehyde can be isolated. The vield is not 

 verv- good, about 25 per cent., but the method is rapid. 

 The oxfdation and condensation of the bromaldehyde with 

 malonic acid is described. — Fr. Reverdin : \ trinitro-/)- 

 anisldine.— L. TchoueaefT and W. Fomin : Some 

 cholesterin derivatives. Two cholestenlenes have been 

 prepared by heating methyl cholestervlkanthogenate, and 

 formulae given for the constitution of 'these hydrocarbons. 



NO. 2 1 19, VOL. d>:^'] 



— Paul Becquerel : Experimental researches on the latent 

 life of the spores of Mucorineae and Ascomycetes. — ^J. E. 

 Abelous and E. Bardier : The influence of bleeding on 

 the resistance of animals to uroh)rpotensine. — M. Lioret : 

 The transformation of phonograph traces into curves. — 

 L. Cu^not and L. Mercier : Studies on the cancer of 

 mice. Heredity and sensibility to cancerous grafting. — 

 Pierre Girard : The electrostatic mechanism of the semi- 

 permeabillt)- of living tissues to electroh-tes. — J. Chaine : 

 Spinal curvature. — ^Armand Dehorne : The number of 

 chromosomes in batrachlans and In the parthenogenetic 

 larvae of the frog. — ^Jules Courmont, Th. Nogrier, and 

 M. Rochaix : Does water sterilised by the ultra-violet rays 

 contain hydrogen peroxide? The sterilising power of 

 hydrogen peroxide. The first question is answered in the 

 negative, and it is shown that considerable proportions 

 of hydrogen peroxide acting for some hours are not 

 equivalent to the sterilising power of ultra-violet light act- 

 ing for a few minutes only. — L. Fortineau : The curative 

 treatment of anthrax by pyocyanase. The injection of 

 pyocjanase has a curative effect on malignant pustule. — 

 A. Besredka : .■\ means of avoiding anaphylactic accidents. 

 — Marcellin Boule and R. Anthony : The encephalus of 

 the fossil man of La Chapelle-aux-Salnts. — Fr. de 

 Zeltner : The decorated grottos of the French Soudan. — 

 .'\. _ Quidor : Protandr>' in the Lernoeopodidae. — Louis 

 Gentil : The Tertiary movements in the Moroccan Haut- 

 Atlas. 



New South Wales. 

 Linnean Society, March 30. — Mr. C. Hedley, piesident' 

 in the chair. — C. Hedley : Presidential address. The sub- 

 marine slope of New South Wales, (i) The Notonectian 

 Current. — Past Sydney there flows south a warm and rapid 

 current well known to sailors and fishermen. Neither its 

 origin nor its conclusion has been satisfactorily determined. 

 Two recent maps give contradictory views of its course. 

 It has been assumed, rather than proved, that this current 

 is derived from the south equatorial current, the path of 

 which, after encountering the Melanesian Islands, is in- 

 definite. The investigation of this current is the largest, 

 most fruitful, and fascinating problem within the reach of 

 the Sydney marine biologist. (2) The Continental Shelf. — 

 The continental shelf may be defined as that area extending 

 outwards from the land to a depth of about one hundred 

 fathoms. This distinction is not arbitrary, for at or about 

 this point the sediment alters to finer, and the slope of the 

 sea-floor to steeper. These features indicate the approaching 

 limit of sediment. Wherever the profile of the New South 

 Wales, coast be examined, a terrace is found to project 

 from the beach to the hundred-fathom line, whence the 

 ground quickly changes to a steeper grade. Compared with 

 most other coasts, the continental shelf is here exception- 

 ally narrow, resembling in this respect that of western 

 South America. Off Cape Dromedary' the shelf contracts 

 to a dozen miles, and off Newcastle it broadens to thirty- 

 four. This narrowness of the shelf renders it impossible 

 that extensive trawling grounds may be discovered in the 

 waters of the State. It is now suggested that the con- 

 tinental shelf of New South Wales owes its profile to the 

 Notonectian current. (3) The Continental Base. — In illus- 

 tration of the slope below the shelf, here termed the con- 

 tinental base, a profile is selected extending seventy miles 

 east-south-east of Ulladulla, and produced backwards to 

 include the coast range. Without excluding faulting as a 

 minor agent, it is suggested that the whole sweep of the 

 diagram portrays an earth-fold of the first magnitude — 

 that it represents the further wall of a pressure-trough 

 driven by a thrust from the east, a gigantic buckle which 

 Is bending down the whole eastern coast of Australia. If 

 so, it must be a component of a vast system. The uniform 

 and recent subsidence which extends from Torres Strait 

 to Tasmania is In harmony with this suggestion. — Dr. R. 

 Greigr-Smith : The slime of the household bath-sponge. 

 The formation of slime is due to the action of bacterla- 

 a'tacklng spongin, the chief constituent of the sponge, and 

 producing a slime. One of those which produced the 

 phenomenon in experimental sponges is described. The 

 slime contains one of the galactan class of gums. — Dr. R. 

 Greigr-Smith : The bacterial flora of rachitic stools. 



April 27. — Mr. C. Hedley. president, in the chair. — 

 E. J. Goddard : Contribution to a knowledge of .Australian 



