May 1 8, 191 6] 



NATURE 



255 



Washington, D.C. 

 National Academy of Sciences (Proceedings No. 4, 

 vol. ii., April 15). — By the committee of the National 

 Academy of Sciences appointed at the request of the 

 President of the United States : Preliminary report 

 upon the possibility of controlling the land slides adja- 

 cent to the Panama Canal. — H. Shapley : Discovery of 

 eight variable stellar spectra. It appears safe to 

 infer that all Cepheids (including the cluster-type), 

 besides being variable in light and in velocity, vary 

 periodically in spectral class. — G. M. Green : The linear 

 dependence of functions of several variables, and cer- 

 tain completely integrable systems of partial differ- 

 ential equations. The theory of linear dependence is 

 generalised to the case of n functions of several in- 

 dependent variables, and is applied to the study of an 

 important class of systems of partial differential 

 equations. — B. Bogs : Systematic motion among stars- 

 of the helium type. There appears to be a strong 

 tendency for the helium stars to move in their own 

 plane, which should therefore be preserved, at least 

 until the next step in the star's evolution. But there 

 are likewise strong tendencies on the part of helium 

 type stars to depart from the plane, so that the ten- 

 dency for the stars to spread in every direction has its 

 birth in the helium stage of evolution. — W. D. 

 Harkins : The abundance of the elements in relation 

 to the hydrogen-helium structure of the atoms. A 

 spiral form of the, periodic table is given. The 

 elements are found to arrange themselves in three 

 cycles containing respectively 4^, 6^, 8^ elements, the 

 last being incomplete. The even-numbered, or 

 helium-system, elements are very much more abundant 

 in nature than those of the odd-numbered, or lithium, 

 system. — C. Wissler : The genetic relations of certain 

 forms in American aboriginal art. The investigation 

 reveals several good examples of the genesis of speci- 

 fic decorative designs growing out of attempts to 

 embellish surfaces of fixed contour and to conceal un- 

 sightly lines. — C. E. St. John : The situation in regard 

 to Rowland's preliminary table of solar spectrum 

 wave-lengths. The general transformation from the 

 system of Rowland wave-lengths to the international 

 wave-lengths is a matter of the greatest difficulty, 

 even though the relative wave-lengths in each system 

 be free from error; and statistical comparison between 

 different systems is a procedure fraught with the 

 possibilities of introducing residuals that may be quite 

 misleading. — E. P. Hubble : Changes in the form of 

 the nebula N.G.C. 2261. The nebula appears to be 

 turning about its own axis after the manner of a top, 

 and there is some indication of a helical motion towards 

 the nucleus. The observed shifts seem to be rather 

 of mass than illumination, and are independent of the 

 variability of the nucleus. — Ruth B. Howland : The 

 effect of removal of the pronephros of the amphibian 

 embryo. Removal of both pronephroi leads to oedema 

 and death, though the presence of one is sufficient to 

 keep the embryo healthv, bringing about an increase 

 in size in the remaining organ. — ^R. Rnedemann : The 

 presence of a median eve in trilobites. The question 

 of the presence or absence in trilobites of the median 

 eye is of considerable phylogenetic importance. The 

 median eye appears in the majority of cases as a 

 single tubercle, and there is evidence for the visual 

 function of the tubercle.— W. J. V. Osterhout : The 

 nature of mechanical stimulation. In this conception 

 of mechanical stimulation the essential things are : — 

 (i) Substances which are more or less completely 

 prevented from reacting by semi-permeable surfaces ; 

 (2) a deformation of the protoplasm sufficient to pro- 

 duce in some of these surfaces a rupture which is not 

 at once repaired ; {y) a resulting reaction w hich pro- 

 duces the characteristic response to the stimulus. — 



NO. 2429, VOL. 97] 



R. E. Clausen and T. H. Goodspeed : Hereditary 

 reaction-system relations : an extension of Mendelian 

 concepts. The mechanical Mendelistic theory of Mor- 

 gan is applied in the study of Nicotiana, and it is 

 suggested that by the application of such conceptions 

 to Oenothera the occurrence of mutants and their sub- 

 sequent behaviour admit of logical interpretation. — 

 A. B. Coble : Point sets and allied Cremona groups 

 (part ii.). Theorems such as the following : — A pencil 

 of plane cubic curves can be transformed by ternary 

 Cremona transformation into only 960 projectively dis- 

 tinct pencils of cubics — are proved. — M. B. Porter : A 

 theorem of Lucas. A simple proof is given for Lucas's 

 theorem that the zeros of any polynomial Y\z) lie 

 inside any closed convex contour inside of w'hich the 

 zeros of F(s) are, and the theorem is extended to give 

 information concerning the distribution of zeros of the 

 derivative of certain relational or transcendental func- 

 tions. — E. J. Wilczynski : Interpretation of the simplest 

 integral invariant of projective geometry. — W. E. 

 Castle : Size inheritance in guinea-pig crosses. Pre- 

 liminary studies published in 1909 showed that size 

 and weight in rabbits do not follow the Mendelian 

 rules of dominance and segregation as unit-characters. 

 A large amount of material being now available upon 

 guinea-pigs, attention is invited to the nature of the 

 growth curves observed for the races crossed and to 

 non-genetic, as well as genetic, factors affecting size. 

 From these crosses there is no evidence showing either 

 the existence of numerous multiple Mendelian factors, 

 or of a few Mendelian factors, or of a single Mende- 

 lian factor affecting size. 



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Subtropical Vegetable-Gardening. By P. H. Rolfs. 

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The Mechanical Engineers' Pocket-Book. By W. 

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Theorv and Applications of Finite Groups. By 

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Modes of Research in Genetics. Bv Raymond 

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 No. 60, Geological .Series : The .Artesian Wells of 

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