April 6, 191 6] 



NATURE 



^35 



; <-s are remarkable for their excessive overlap, an 



live character met with also in the Cetacea. 



vosaurus, though a true reptile, possesses many 



icters in common with the stegocephalous Am- 



i, so that a close comparison of the roof of the 



and the palate may be made with Loxomma, 



v% ell described by Dr. Watson. But it shares these 



; ^.racters with the Cotylosaurian reptiles^ also, and 



this group it is probably descended. The nature 



•:• material which enters into the composition of 



Ichthyosaur bones, when these are of a black or 



brown colour, has been investigated, and is found 



.nsist largely of coal. This had already been 



d in the case of Coccosteus. As the bones of the 



Lozoic Coccosteus have become converted into 



.e " coal of the same nature as that furnished by 



ozoic plants, so the bones of the Mesozoic Ichthyo- 



as have been converted into "brown" coal of the 



nature as that furnished by Mesozoic plants. — 



rhy J. Lloyd : The relation of excised muscle to 



-. salts, and bases, (i) Acids and alkalis both 



swelling in excised muscle. The degree of 



ing is not directly proportional to the concentra- 



of acid on alkali in the surrounding fluid, but 



maximum at 0C05 normal for hydrochloric acid 



for caustic soda. Alkalis first coagulate and 



re-dissolve the muscle substance. (2) The 



•Uorides of the alkali and alkaline earth metals all 



[Itimately coagulate the protoplasm of an excised 



luscle in isotonic solutions. The bivalent kations 



how this effect much more rapidly than the mono- 



alent. (3) The iso-electric point for muscle is between 



\ =5 and Pa =7. ,(4) It is suggested that the swell- 



ig and shrinking of muscles, both in the body and 



ut, is an osmotic phenomenon, and that the state 



f aggregation of the colloids of the muscle substance 



; the chief determining factor which fixes the degree 



f swelling. Lillie's demonstration that acids and 



Ikalis raise the osmotic pressure of gelatin, while 



jne neutral salts lower it, is in harmony with this view. 



15) The osmotic phenomena of muscle can be fullv 



xplained without assuming the presence of a semi- 



lermeable membrane round the rnuscle fibres. — J. C. 



iVillis ; The endemic iiora of Ceylon, with reference 



5 geographical distribution and evolution in general. 



I Physical Society, March 10.— Prof. C. Vernon Boys, 



\ resident, in the chair. — S. Skinner : Experiments illus- 



rating the flow of heat in conducting sheets. If a 



•heet of tinned iron be heated locally by means of a 



Ijunsen burner or blowpipe the tin' is melted for a 



jertain distance from the heated region. On allowing 



ihe sheet to cool the resolidified tin is separated from 



jhe unmelted tin by a very sharp line of demarcation. 



I his line gives the equi-temperature curve correspond- 



jOg to the melting point of tin. By pushing the heat- 



hg to a greater or less extent a series of such equi- 



lemperature curves can be obtained for a sheet of anv 



i articular shape heated at any given point. The case's 



^'^■wn illustrated the fiow of heat into a rectangular 



from a heated tongue ; into a circular disc from 



ated tongue; round the corner of an L-shaped 



and into the vanes of an air-cooled cylinder. The 



Its were shown to be closely analogous to the flow 



lectricity in similarlv shaped conductors.— Dr. 



>. WUI0W8 and H. T.' George : The absorption of 



.ases by quartz bulbs. The experiments are a con- 



inuation of those of Willows (P/nJ. Mag., April, 1901) 



nd HiU (Phys. Soc, December, 1912) on the absorp- 



lon of gas which is brought about bv electrical dis- 



harges. A new quartz bulb does not absorb air, 



'Ut if It be fed with repeated doses of hydrogen— 



vhich are absorbed when an electrodeless discharge 



"^ ^u^T^ — ^* ^^^" becomes verv active. If discharges 



n hydrogen are alternated with those in air the bulb 



NO. 2423, VOL. 97] 



j can be made to absorb large quantities of either gas, 

 j and the activity with each gradually increases. The 

 j authors reject the theory of surface absorption and, 

 I in their own experiments at least, also Swinton's 

 j theory that the gas is shot into the walls and held 



there. It is supposed that chemical actions occur 



with air, and oxidation products are formed; these are 



reduced by hydrogen. 



Linnean Society, March 16.— Prof. E. B. Poulton, 



president, in the chair. — C. C. Lacaita : Plants col- 

 ! lected in Sikkim, including the Kalimpong district, 

 j April 8 to May 9, 1913. The author gave an account 

 J of his circular journey from Darjiling to his starting 



point, part of it with the party of H.E. the Governor 

 . of Bengal. The monotony of the forest region was 

 i mentioned, and the manellous abundance of the 

 I Aroids. 



j P.\RIS. 



- Academy of Sciences, March 20. — M. Paul Appell in 

 • the chair. — Pierre Duhem : The hypothesis of Faraday 

 I and Mossotti, and on certain conditions verified at the 

 1 contact of two dielectrics. — J. Comas Sola : Some 

 I remarks on the great nebula in Orion (1976 N.G.C.). 

 i The results of stereoscopic observations and photo- 

 graphic comparisons are given, from which it would 

 appear that there is a proper movement of the more 

 brilliant parts of the nebula of the order of 0025" per 

 annum. Internal transversal movements of the fila- 

 ments of the above nebula and also of the nebula 

 H.V. 30, 1977 N.G.C. were also detected with cer- 

 tainty. — T. H. Gronwall : A functional equation in the 

 j kinetic theory of gases. — M. Riqaier : Partial systems 

 of the first order to which the Jacobi method of inte- 

 gration applies, and the analytical prolongation of 

 their integrals. — L. Rentier : Lacustral ambers. An 

 account of analyses of five pieces of amber of well- 

 authenticated origin, three from the Baltic, two from 

 Italy. Clear differences could be detected between 

 the German and Italian ambers. — X. Arabu : The 

 existence of the Hipparion fauna in the Sarmatian of 

 the basin of the Sea of Marmora and its consequences 

 for the classification of the Neogene in soutli-ea stern 

 Europe. — Maurice Lngeon : The rose coloration of cer- 

 tain rocks of the massif of the Aiguilles Rouges. The 

 coloration is shown to be due to iron and its peculiari- 

 ties are described. A theory of the cause of its origin 

 is proposed. — Ph. Glangeand : The Pavin crater lake 

 and the volcano of Montchalm, Puy-de-D6me. — Mile. 

 Yvonne Dehorne : A milleporoid Stromatopore of the 

 Portlandian.— Henri Fouque : The ferments of pine- 

 apple wine. Of four yeasts isolated, two were certainly 

 Saccharomyces, and two were doubtful yeasts between 

 Mycoderma and Torula. — E. Demonssy : The influence 

 of hydrogen peroxide on germination. Old seeds, 

 which may have preserved their germinating power, 

 may fail to germinate under conditions favourable to 

 the growth of young seeds if these conditions 

 are more favourable to the development of 

 parasitic micro-organisms requiring oxygen for 

 their growth. In the presence of dilute solu- 

 tions of hydrogen peroxide a considerable propor- 

 tion of such seeds will germinate. A result of prac- 

 tical importance follows from this, that tests of ger- 

 minating power carried out under laboratory condi- 

 tions may lead to seeds being regarded as bad, whilst 

 the same seed, grown in the soil, may prove to be of 

 average qualit\-. This conclusion is confirmed by 

 results obtained in practice with seeds of beetroot. — ^V. 

 Ferrand : A modification of the method for the sterilisa- 

 tion of drinking water by sodium hypochlorite. 

 Hydrogen peroxide is proposed for the removal of the 

 excess of hypochlorite instead of the commonly used 

 sodium thiosulphate. There is a saving of time in the 

 sterilisation. — MM. Dalimier and Levv-Franckel : The 



