520 



NATURE 



[September 24, 1903 



the part of the various polytechnics, and a growing dis- 

 position to give prominent attention to the industries in 

 their immediate neighbourhood. Thus at the Northampton 

 Institute in Clerkenwell there are, in addition to many 

 other classes, a department of electrochemistry to rneet the 

 needs of the men in the numerous workshops in the district 

 engaged in the electroplating industry, and a horological 

 department for the large numbers employed in clock and 

 watch making. At the Borough Polytechnic there are, 

 besides numerous other courses of study, a special school 

 of bakery and confectionery managed by the Association of 

 Master Bakers and Confectioners, and a branch institution 

 at Bermondsey is concerned with leather manufacture in 

 all its branches. Some other polytechnics, though not 

 perhaps specialised yet to the same extent as those men- 

 tioned, have numerous trade classes ; at the Battersea Poly- 

 technic, for example, the prospectus shows that mechanical 

 and electrical engineers, men in the building trades, and 

 those employed in technical applications of chemistry, can 

 all find classes designed to meet their requirements. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, September 14.— M. Bouquet de la 

 Grye in the chair. — The simplicity of the spectra of the 

 kathode light in gaseous compounds of nitrogen and carbon, 

 by M. H. Deslandres. The kathode ray spectra of carbon 

 monoxide, carbon dioxide, and acetylene have been studied. 

 In the luminous part already known, and in the first half 

 of the ultra-violet region (A 400 to A 300), the kathode light 

 gives nearly the same spectrum as the light from the 

 positive pole, but in the second half of the ultra-violet 

 (A. 300 to A 200) it gives a characteristic spectrum, a new 

 band spectrum in addition to the five band spectra of carbon 

 already known, characterised by a remarkable sirtiplicity in 

 the arithmetical relations of the bands. — The action of a 

 trace of water on the decomposition of the alkaline hydrides 

 by acetylene, by M. Henri Moissan. Dry acetylene gas 

 only reacts with . potassium hydride at a temperature of 

 42° C. or higher ; if the gas, however, contains a trace of 

 water, the reaction can take place at the ordinary tempera- 

 ture. This is attributed to the disengagement of heat 

 which occurs when the reaction is started at any one point, 

 which determines a rise of temperature to more than 42°, 

 after which the combination becomes total. — On equations 

 of differences possessing a fundamental system of integrals, 

 by M. Alph. Guiatterg. — Description of a localised storm, 

 by M. Jean Mascart. — On the resistance of Gasterosteus 

 aculeatus to changes of osmotic pressure in the surrounding 

 medium, by M. Michel Siedlecki. 



GOTTINGEN. 



Royal Society of Sciences.— The Nachrichten (physico- 

 mathematical section), part iv. for 1903, contains the 

 following memoirs communicated to the Society : — 



June 27. — Ed. Riecke : On the nearly-saturated current 

 in^ an air-space bounded by two concentric spheres. 

 W. Voist : Contribution to the theory of light for active 

 crystals. On specific optical properties of hemimorphous 

 crystals. Ph. Furtwangler : On the construction of a 

 certain Klassenkorper (domain). 



July II. — O. Wallach : Researches from the Gottingen 

 University Chemical Laboratory, xii. (i) On the trans- 

 formation of cyclic ketones into bases of nitrogenous ring- 

 systems ; (2) on a new cyclic base from methylheptenone ; 

 (3) on the behaviour and constitution of menthenone. 

 J. von Braun : Contribution to our knowledge of tetra- 

 valent oxygen. 



July 25. — Ed. Riecke : On nearly-saturated currents 

 between two parallel planes. 



New South Wales. 

 Linnean Society, July 29.— Dr. T. Storie Dixson, presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — The continental origin of Fiji, by Mr. 

 Walter G. Woolnoug^h. Part ii., petrology. The rocks 

 now described fall chronologically into two groups : — (i) 



NO. 1769, VOL. 68] 



a Palaeozoic, or even older group, of quartzites, slates, 

 jointed tuffs, granites and quartz-diorites ; and (2) a 

 Cainozoic group of andesites, olivine-andesites akin to 

 basalts, " soap-stones," and molluscan and coral limestones. 

 — The bacterial origin of the gums of the arabin group, 

 by Dr. R. Greig Smith, x. The pararabin gum of Ster- 

 culia. The gum of Sterculia diversifolia consists of a 

 mixture of arabin and pararabin. The arabin is produced 

 by Bact. acaciac. Another organism. Bad. pararabinum 

 n.sp., was isolated from the gummed fruits, &c. Upon solid 

 media and in solutions containing saccharose, dextrose, 

 levulose, galactose, mannite or glycerine, a slime was 

 formed. By appropriate treatment this yielded a pararabin 

 gum which was soluble in dilute acids and insoluble in 

 dilute alkalies. It was not hydrolysed by boiling 5 per 

 cent, sulphuric acid, but by treatment with concentrated 

 sulphuric acid the carbohydrate was converted into arabinose 

 and galactose. The bacterium did not secrete invertase, 

 and in solutions of saccharbse formed carbon dioxide, ethyl 

 alcohol, succinic, acetic, butyric and formic acids. — 

 Australian fungi, new or unrecorded, decades v.-vi., by 

 Mr. D. McAlpine. A new genus of Hyphomycete is pro- 

 posed, to include a form parasitic upon the flowering stems 

 of Lobelia gibbosa, Labill. ; also eighteen species, referable 

 to thirteen genera. Phoma lobeliae, B. and Br., and 

 Seynesia banksiae, Henn., are recorded. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Plant Physiology. By F. D 493 



The Mineral Resources of the French Colonies . . 494 

 Experimental Science for Beginners. By J. B. C. . 495 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



BUtschli : " Untersuchungen liber Amylose und 



Amyloseartige Korper " 495 



Buchanan and Gregory: "Lessons on Country 



Life" 496 



Letters to the Editor :— 



Radio-activity and the Age of the Sun. — Prof. G. H. 



Darwin, F.R S 495 



The Principle of Radium.— S. W 496 



Normally Unequal Growth as a Possible Cause of 



Death.— Frank E. Beddard, F.R. S 497 



Can Carrier-pigeons Cross the Atlantic ? — H. B. 



Guppy 497 



A Technical School for the Highlands of Scot- 

 land 497 



Resin-Tapping, illustrated.) 499 



The Southport Meeting of the British Associa- 

 tion 4,9^ 



Section E. — Geography. — Opening Address by 

 Captain Ettrick W. Creak, C.B., R. N., 



F.R.S., President' of the Section 500 



Section G. — Engineering.— Opening Address by 

 Mr, Charles Hawksley, Past President Inst. 



C.E., President of the Section 504 



The International Geological Congress 515 



Notes 516 



Our Astronomical Column :— 



The Rotation Period of Saturn 519 



Newly Determined Stellar Radial Velocities .... 519 



Report of the Cape Observatory 519 



Liverpool Astronomical Society 519 



University and Educational Intelligence 519 



Societies and Academies 520 



