JUNE 1 6, I910J 



NATURE 



479 



.2 two salts in approximately equal proportions were 

 i;\ :d together and left to settle, and one mixture was 

 lade with quite different weights. Analysis showed that 

 lere was alwajs a considerable quantity of potassium 

 arbonate in the upper layer; but that the amount of 

 otassium ethyl di-propyl-malonate present in the lower 

 lyer was scarcely appreciable until the solutions were 

 Dmparatively dilute. When water was added drop by 

 rop, the liquid being kept well stirred, the two layers 

 Itimately disappeared, and one homogeneous solution was 

 .•ft. This disappearance of the two layers was quite well 

 larked, and was due to the potassium carbonate passing 

 ito the other layer. — Profs. Alex. Smith and A. W, C. 

 lenzies : A method for determining boiling points under 

 jnstant conditions. The apparatus consisted of a small 

 ulb with a bent capillary, the whole being attached to a 

 lermometer suspended in a beaker which contained water, 

 ilphuric acid, melted paraffin, &c., according to the 

 imperature to be measured. The method was especially 

 seful when only small quantities of the material could be 

 sed. The apparatus was also found to be very service- 

 ble in measuring vapour pressures. The authors gave 

 lustrations of its adaptability in a second paper, entitled 

 .'\ Simple Dynamical Method for determining Vapour 

 ressures." In a third communication by the same 

 jthors attention was directed to a common thermometric 

 ror in the determination of boiling points under reduced 

 ressure. It was found that appreciable corrections had 

 » be applied when the bulb of the thermometer was 

 idosed in an evacuated vessel. This was due to the 

 latation or deformation of the bulb. The error might be 

 5 much as one-fifth of a degree. — Dr. J. Brownlee : The 

 lathematical theory of random migration, and epidemic 

 slribution ; and the inheritance of complex forms, such 

 i stature, on Mendel's theorj'. In the former paper, 

 hich was a continuation of an earlier communication, 

 juations were formed which represented closely epidemic 

 stribution, and the distribution which small animals, such 

 small crustaceans, took up experimentally. The theory 

 d to the exponential curve as an approximate solution, and 

 le facts were in good accord with the theor>-. Experi- 

 ents were made with Daphnia, Pulex, Littorina, &c. In 

 le second paper it was shown that the distribution of 

 ich a complex as stature when the dominant elements 

 ere equally derived from both sides may be represented 

 ^ the terms of the trinomial (i + n+i)^.' In the case of 

 ndom mating and of equal fertility, n = 3-3. This point } 

 nomial was in Pearson's terminology leptokurtic, that is, 

 e apex had a smaller radius of curvature than the normal 

 irve fitted to the same sets of figures. — Prof. R. J. k. 

 y. Dr. \. W. D. Robertson, and K. S. Cross: 

 niological observations on the lengths, breadths, and 

 .^.w i of 100 Australian aboriginal crania; (2) a bio- 

 etrical study of the relative degree of purity of race of 

 e Tasmanian, .Australian, and Papuan ; (3) the place in 

 iture of the Tasmanian aboriginal as deduced from a 

 udy ol his cranium. These three papers formed a con- 

 'Cted series of anthropomorphic investigations, leading 

 ) to the determination of the Tasmanian race affinities, 

 he statistics throughout were treated in the recognised 

 odern method, in which variability about the mean, 

 •rrelation between pairs of dimensions, and the estima- 

 Jn of deviations were discussed by rigorous mathematical 

 lalysis. Dr. Robertson in the first paper concluded that 

 e difficulty of separating the skulls into sexes rendered 

 advisable to have resulting values obtained for crania 

 r races without reference to sex, and that the Australians, 

 ough less heterogeneous than some other races, were 

 )t as homogeneous or pure as some series which were 

 garded as homogeneous, and that the relationship of 

 eir cranial measurements, as indicated by the coefficient 

 correlation, was low, but was higher than most modern, 

 ough lower than primitive, races. In the second paper, 

 ter a general account of the many conflictinjj views ex- 

 essed by various writers, an elaborate comparison was 

 stituted between the cranial characteristics of 86 Tas- 

 anian, 191 Papuan, and the hundred Australian skulls of 

 e first paper. The coefficients of correlation for length- 

 eadth, breadth-height, and height-length showed that, as 

 ready recognised by other investigators, the greatest stress 

 ust be laid on the length-breadth coefficient and the 

 XO. 2120, VOL. 8i] 



least on the breadth-height. The whole investigation 

 proved that, of the three types considered, the Tasmanian 

 was the purest and the Papuan the least pure. The result 

 supplied a link in the chain of evidence concerning the 

 heterogeneity of the Australian as contrasted with the 

 homogeneity of the Tasmanian. Of the third paper, 

 part i. only had been presented. In this, on the basis of 

 a large number of cranial measurements, the relations of 

 the Tasmanian to the anthropoid apes. Pithecanthropus, 

 Homo primigenius, H. fossilis, and H. sapiens were con- 

 sidered. In part ii. the relations to the Australian 

 aboriginals will be discussed in similar fashion. Twenty 

 distinct measurements of the skulls of fourteen groups 

 were made and tabulated side by side, and from the com- 

 parison among these important conclusions were drawn as 

 to the relative evolutionary value of certain measurements. 

 The geneial results were that, of recent man, the Tas- 

 manian stood nearest to Homo fossilis (Briix and Galley 

 Hill remains), but morphologically had progressed a very 

 long way from Homo primigenius (Spy and Neanderthal 

 skulls) and the anthropoid apes, and that Pithecanthropus 

 stood nearer to the anthropoid apes than to Homo primi- 

 genius. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences. June 6. — M. Emile Picard in the 

 chair. — H. Poincare : Time signals intended for ships. 

 .\n account of the system adopted for sending wireless 

 time signals from the installation at the Eiffel Tower. A 

 simple form of receiving apparatus has been designed for 

 the ship, the cost of which is less than that of a chrono- 

 meter. Signals are sent at midnight and at two and four 

 minutes past midnight, each signal being preceded by an 

 introductor}- signal. — A. Haller and Ed. Bauer : The 

 preparation and properties of the /3-alkyl-a-hydrindones or 

 the 22-dialkyl-i-indanones. The chloride of the dialkyl- 

 benzylacetic acid is obtained from the acid by the use of 

 thionyl chloride. Benzyldimethylacetyl chloride in suspen- 

 sion in petroleum ether is treated with aluminium chloride ; 

 the dimethylindanone is readily isolated in good yield from 

 the reaction product. Indanone can be methylated directly 

 by the sodium amide reaction previously described by the 

 authors. — A. Chauveau and M. Contejean : The forma- 

 tion and elimination of nitrogenous waste in subjects in 

 the state of youth. — Pierre Termier and Jacques 

 de Lapparent : The monzonite of Fontaine-du-Genie, near 

 Cherchel, .'\lgeria, and on the micromonzonites of the neigh- 

 bouring region. — R. Zeiller : Some Wealdian plants of Peru. 

 — M. Luizet and J. Guillaume : The appearances of Halley's 

 comet. A detailed account of the varying aspects of the 

 comet from March i to May 26. — P. Cirera and Sl. Urbach : 

 Observations on the passage of Halley's comet made at the 

 Observatory of Ebra, Spain (see p. 470). — ^J. Comas Sola : 

 Halley's comet. Photographs taken on May 31 and June i 

 showed a double nucleus. — M. Giacobini : Halley's comet. 

 On June 2 the comet appeared doubled, with two nuclei. 

 Before its passage over the sun the nucleus was sensibly 

 elliptical ; after the passage the nucleus became reduced to 

 a point. — Jean Mascart : Photograph of Halley's comet. 

 An account of work done at Teneriffe at a height of 2715 

 metres.^ — -Joseph Marty : Singular values of an equation of 

 Fredholm. — A. Chatelet : The classification of a system ■ 

 of tables equivalent among themselves. — L. Zoretti : The 

 properties of Cantorian lines. — M. SaltykoM# : The 

 generalisation of the theorem of S. Lie. — E. Barre : .A 

 series of solutions of Lamp's equations of elasticity in a 

 homogeneous and isotropic medium. — Th. Rosset : A new 

 sound-recording instrument. A record on a wax cylinder 

 is copied directly on to another wax cylinder by a system 

 of levers. Mirrors are fixed to the levers, and a photo- 

 graphic enlargement of the phonograph trace thus obtained. 

 If the second wa.x cylinder gives sounds identical with the 

 first, then the photographed record is necessarilv a true 

 one. — P. Pascal : The accuracy of the methods of measur- 

 ing magnetic susceptibilities. The methods which have 

 been proposed by the author have about double the accuracy 

 of methods utilising a torsion balance. — A. Perot : The 

 mercury arc in a vacuum. The effects produced by varying 

 the conditions of working are described. — Daniel Berthelot 

 p.nd Henri Gaudechon : The oxidising effects of the ultra- 

 violet rays on gaseous bodies. The peroxidation of the 



