July 27, 1916] 



NATURE 



455 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 London. 

 Royal Society, June 29. — Sir J. J. Thomson, presi- 

 i, in the chair. — Prof. A. Schuster: The determina- 

 of gravity at sea. Dr. Duffield has recently de- 

 bed some preliminary experiments on the measure- 

 it of gravity at sea by means of a new method 

 -finally suggested by Hecker, and, in the main, con- 

 ng in balancing the pressure of a column of gas 

 L at constant temperature and that of a column 

 mercury the length of which can be indirectly 

 rmined. The results are very promising, but as 

 ultimate success of the method must depend on 

 me elimination of errors due to unavoidable disturb- 

 ances, it seemed advisable to discuss the theory of the 

 apparatus a little more fully. The present paper deals 

 more particularly with the effects of the forced oscil- 

 lation of the mercury due to the vertical motion of the 

 ship, but other sources of error are also considered. — 

 Prof. J. Joly : The genesis of pleochroic haloes. Both 

 uranium-radium and thorium haloes develop according 

 to the same laws, certain internal structures appear- 

 ing first in the form of ring haloes. The addition to 

 these of the outermost feature due to RgC or ThCj 

 appears at an early stage. Intermediate details then 

 follow. It is clearly shown that some cause exists to 

 modify the effects of the divergence of the rays out- 

 wards. Haloes derived from emanation of radium as 

 primary substance have been identified ; also what 

 appear to be *" reversed" haloes. — C. T. R. Wilson: 

 Some determinations of the sign and magnitude of 

 electric discharges in lightning flashes. Measure- 

 ments have been made of* the sudden changes pro- 

 duced in the potential gradient at a point on the 

 earth's surface by lightning discharges, the approxi- 

 mate distance of the discharge being in many cases 

 determined by timing the resultant thunder. The 

 results of one thunderstorm (August 15, 1915) may be 

 interpreted as indicating that the discharges were 

 nearly all approximately alike, Q being about 33 

 coulombs and H of the order of 10 kilometres; the 

 range of variation in the distances of the discharges 

 was not quite sufficient to decide whether the dis- 

 charges reached the earth's surface or not, but the 

 value of Q is practically the same on either view. — 

 S. Chapman : The kinetic theory of a composite mon- 

 atomic gas : diffusion, viscosity, and thermal conduc- 

 tion. — Dr. T. Goodey : Further observations on protozoa 

 in relation to soil bacteria, (i) Protozoa, especially 

 amcEbae of the Umax groups, and other larger forms, 

 can lead an active existence and multiply in soil and 

 exert a depressing effect on bacterial numbers. (2) It 

 is probable that for a given soil a certain point must 

 be reached in protozoal numbers before the depression 

 in bacterial numbers is caused. (3) It appears to be 

 necessary to add the protozoa to a treated soil in a 

 small quantity of untreated soil to ensure their having 

 a suitable medium in which to grow and multiply. 

 Under these conditions it is shown that they can 

 increase in numbers and depress the numbers of bac- 

 teria. (4) It does not appear to be possible to carry 

 out mass inoculations of protozoa into a treated soil 

 in such a way that they come into action and limit 

 bacterial activity, and the explanation advanced to 

 account for this failure is that the treated soil affords 

 an unsuitable medium for the active trophic existence 

 of protozoa. — Dr. Marie C. Stopes : New Bennettitean 

 cones from the British Cretaceous. The present paper 

 describes two new types of well-preserved fructifications 

 of Bennettites in Britain. One is that of an entirely 

 new species from the Gault; the other is from a 

 Lower Greensand specimen, diagnosed from externals 

 bv Carruthers, but not hitherto described. — T. R. 

 Merton and J. W. Nicholson : Phenomena relating to 

 NO. 2439, VOL. 97] 



the spectra of hydrogen and helium, (i) A method 

 has been found for the accurate determination of the 

 photographic intensities of spectrum lines and the re- 

 duction of such intensities to absolute values by com- 

 parison with the continuous black-body radiation of 

 the carbon arc. (2) A study has been made of the 

 relative intensity distribution in the spectra of helium 

 and hydrogen under different conditions of excitation. 

 (3) It has been found that under certain specified con- 

 ditions there is a transfer of energy from the longer 

 to the shorter wave-lengths in any given series, and 

 that, under such conditions, the associated series, and 

 in particular the diffuse series, are relatively enhanced 

 at the expense of the principal series. (4) It has 

 also been found that the distribution of intensity 

 found in certain celestial spectra can be approximately 

 reproduced in the laboratory. (5) A study has been 

 made of the separations of the components of lines 

 of the Balmer series of hydrogen, and the mean 

 values of the separations of the doublets constituting 

 the lines Ho and Hy8 have been found to be respec- 

 tively 0132 A.U. and 0033 A.U. These values are 

 consistent with the separations appropriate to a prin- 

 cipal series, and the first is in precise agreement with 

 the value deduced by Buisson and Fabry. — F. P. 

 White : The period of a spherical resonator with a 

 circular aperture. In a recent paper in the Proceed- 

 ings of the Royal Society, Lord Rayleigh has carried 

 the determination of the wave-length of the funda- 

 mental aerial vibration in a spherical vessel with a 

 small circular perforation to a higher degree of 

 approximation than was done by Helmholtz. The 

 present communication employs Lord Rayleigh's 

 method to obtain a still closer appro.ximation to the 

 wave-length. — Capt. S. R. Douglas : The role of the 

 blood fluids in the intraleucocytic digestion. Rosenow 

 came to the conclusion that the variation in 

 the degree of digestion undergone by the 

 micro-organisms after their ingestion by the 

 leucocytes was due to a property of the serum 

 which was quite independent of the opsonic power. 

 Further, he concluded that the serum influenced the 

 digestion of the ingested bacteria by acting directly 

 on the leucocytes — not on the bacteria — stimulating 

 them, so that they had greater digestive powers. The 

 j experiments, of which details are given in the present 

 I communication, confirm Rosenow 's results as regards 

 I the blood fluids possessing the power of favourably 

 ; influencing the digestion of bacteria ingested by the 

 leucocytes, and that this property is quite independent 

 of the opsonic power; but, contrary to his conclu- 

 sions, these experiments defi.nitely prove that the 

 blood fluids act directly on the bacteria or on the red 

 blood cells, preparing them for digestion by the leuco- 

 cytic ferments. In addition to these conclusions, they 

 show that heating normal serum to 60° C. for a 

 few minutes completely destroys this propertv*. 



Washington, D.C. 

 National Academy of Sciences, June 15 (Proceedings 

 No. 6, vol. ii.). — W. L. Hart : Differential equations 

 and implicit functions in infinitely many variables. 

 Three problems are handled : First, certain fundarrKntal 

 theorems concerning a type of real-valued functions 

 of infinitely many real variables. Second, the problem 

 of infinite systems of ordinary differential equations. 

 Third, the fundamental problem of implicit function 

 theory in this field. — Jacques Loeb : The sex of par- 

 thenogenetic frogs. Two frogs obtained by artificial 

 parthenogenesis, one ten months old, the other thirteen 

 months old, were found to be males, and the thesis 

 that animals produced by artificial parthenogenesis 

 ire males is thus further corroborated. — J. A. Harris : 

 De Vriesian mutation in the garden bean. The origin 

 of the new race of beans seems most logically ex- 



