May 25, 19 16] 



NATURE 



275 



r Royal Meteorological Society, May 17. — Major H. G. 



f Lyons, president, in the chair. — L. C. W. Bonacina : 



j The readjustment of pressure differences : two species 

 of atmospheric circulation and their connection. The 

 paper dealt with a dynamical connection between two 

 essentially distinct types of atmospheric circulation, 

 familiarly exemplified in cyclonic gales on one hand, 



\ and in thunderstorms on the other. 



DUBUN. 



Royal Dublin Society, April 18. — Prof. Hugh Ryan in 

 the chair. — Prof. G. T. Morgan : Utilisation of nitre 

 cake. Among many sources of economic waste occa- 

 sioned by the war. one of the most extensive is the loss 

 of sulphuric acid and alkali involved in the throwing 

 awaj' of enormous quantities of nitre cake (crude sodium 

 hydrogen sulphate), the by-product of the manufacture 

 of nitric acid from Chili saltpetre. Many proposals 

 have been made for the profitable disposal of this 

 waste product, some of which have been put into 

 practice. In experiments carried out by the author in 

 the Royal College of Science for Ireland this nitre 

 cake was converted into glass or into an insoluble frit 

 suitable for making glasses or glazes. Nitre itself is 

 difficult to transport or to store because of its highly 

 corrosive nature. When fused with sand it is con- 

 verted into an insoluble, innocuous frit. Preferably 

 it can be fused with sand and limestone, when soda- 

 lime glass is produced, and more than two-thirds of 

 the contained sulphur can be recovered as sulphuric 

 acid and free sulphur. Nitre cake can be used in 

 making soda-lead glass, which, when tinted with 

 coloured oxides, is suitable for ornamental glass. 

 Nitre cake should certainly not be dumped into the 

 sea, as at present practised, without the attempt being 

 made to utilise its contained soda and sulphur in a 

 profitable manner. The experiments were made 

 largely on materials obtained in Ireland, namely, nitric 

 cake iFrom .Arklow. sand from County Donegal, Sker- 

 ries limestone, and lead from Ballycorus. 



P.-VRIS. 



Academy of Sciences, May 8. — M. Camille Jordan in 

 the chair. — G. Humbert : Certain principal circle 

 groups connected with the quadratic forms of Her- 

 mite. — G. Lemoine : The catalysis of hydrogen peroxide 

 in heterogeneous medium. Third part : Experiments 

 with oxides. The catalytic effect of ferric oxide varied 

 greatly with the physical condition of the oxide. Data 

 are given for experiments with alumina, ceria, silica 

 (in two forms), and thoria. The possibility of the 

 formation of peroxides with the insoluble oxides is 

 discussed. — H. Le Chatelier and F. Bogitch : The esti- 

 mation of carbon by the Eggertz method. The ex- 

 periments var}- from the usual method of solution in 

 that the nitric acid is always kept at its boiling point. 

 Each of the factors — concentration of acid, speed of 

 attack, exposure to light, comparison temperature, 

 turbidit\- of the liquid, duration of heating, volume of 

 the acid liquid, and puritv' of the acid — has been 

 studied separately with respect to its effect on the 

 colour produced.— W. Sierpinski : The theory of en- 

 sembles : a general property of ensembles of points. — 

 M. Etienne : The working of the electrolytic detector. 

 — G. Lecointre : Some results of a geological expedition 

 in the Gharb (western Morocco) in 1914. — P. Lecene 

 and h. Frouin : New researches showing the reality of 

 latent microbism in cicatrised shot wounds. Twenty- 

 four cases of wounded were examined for the pre- 

 sence of organisms, capable of cultivation, at the sur- 

 face of projectiles enclosed in the tissues. In all of 

 these the wounds were perfectlv cicatrised, and after 



NO. 2430, VOL. 97] 



several months there was no trace of inflammation. 

 In three cases the projectile gave a sterile culture; 

 in seventeen various micro-organisms, including 

 staphylococci, streptococci, and bacilli, were obtained 

 from the bullet. In four cases the projectile and the 

 fibrous envelope were removed together, like a small 

 tumour. The projectiles themselves proved to be 

 sterile, but the internal wall of the fibrous clot gave 

 both cocci and bacilli on cultivation. The bearing of 

 these results on the surgical treatment of projectile 

 wounds is discussed. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



Department of Commerce. U.S. Coast and Geo- 

 detic Survey. Serial No. 19 : Results of Observations 

 made at the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Sur\^ey Mag- 

 netic Observatorv at Cheltenham, Maryland, 19 13 and 

 19 14. By D. L. Hazard. Pp. 98. (\Vashington : 

 Government Printing Office.) 



I The Stars as Guides for Night Marching in North 

 i Latitude 50°. By E. W. Maunder. Pp. 72. (Lon- 

 I don : C. H. Kelly.) 25. net. 



The Respiratory Exchange of Animals and Man. 

 By Dr. A. Krogh. Pp. viii-ri73. (London: Long- 

 mans and Co.) 65. net. 



Plants in Health and Disease. By Prof. F. E. 

 Weiss, Dr. A, D. Imms, and W. Robinson. Pp. 

 viii+143. (Manchester: The University Press; Lon- 

 don : Longmans and Co.) is. 6d. net. 



Agriculture after the War. By A. D. Hall. Pp. 

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Tuberculosis and the Working Man. By P. C. Var- 

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Board of Agriculture and Fisheries. Agricultural 

 Statistics, 1915. Vol. 1., part i. Acreage and Live 

 Stock Returns of England and Wales. Pp. 75. (Lon- 

 don : H.M.S.O. ; Wj-man and Sons.) [Cd. 8240.] 4^. 



Department of Commerce. Circular of the Bureau 

 of Standards, No. 58. Invar and Related Nickel Steels. 

 Pp. 68. Technologic Papers of the Bureau of 

 Standards. No. 71. Effect of Certain Pigments on 

 Linseed Oil. Pp. 16. By E. W. Broughton. Scien- 

 tific Papers of the Bureau of Standards, No. 273. 

 General Design of Critically Damped Galvanometers. 

 By F. Wenner. (Washington : Government Printing 

 Office.) 



The Effects of Radio-active Ores and Residues on 

 Plant Life. Bulletin No. 7. A Report of the Second 

 Series of Experiments carried out at Reading, 1915. 

 Pp. 20. (Reading : Sutton and Sons.) 2s, 6d. net. 



I University of Hongkong. Calendar, 1915-16. Pp. 

 j 124. (Hongkong.) 



j Annuaire general de Madagascar et Dependances. 

 I (Modifications a I'Annuaire, 1914.) Pp. 227. (Tana- 

 i narive.) 



Department of Agriculture and Technical Instruc- 

 tion for Ireland. Programme of the Irish Training 

 School of Domestic Economy. Session 1916-17. Pp. 

 21. (Dublin.) 



The Brooklyn Institute of Arts and Sciences. 

 Brooklyn Museum Science Bulletin, vol. iii.. No. i. 

 Long Island Fauna, iv.. The Sharks. Bv J. T. 

 Nichols and R. C. Murphy. (Brooklyn, N.Y.) 



Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology. 

 Vol. X., No. I. April 29. Pp. 164. (Liverpool : Uiii- 

 versit>- Press.) ys. 6d. net. 



