AprIL 16, 1914] 
NATURE 
181 
DvuBLIn, 
Royal Dublin Society, March 24.—Dr. J. H. Pollok 
in the chair.—Prof. John Joly: The local application 
of radium in therapeutics. The method now very 
often adopted in treating malignant growths with 
radium or its emanation is to introduce the radio- 
active substance, heavily screened with lead, into the 
tumour. This is a wasteful method, as the lead screen 
causes a loss by absorption of from 25-30 per cent. of 
the rays. The use of the screen is, however, necessary 
in order to cut off the more easily absorbed rays 
which otherwise would produce injurious effects close 
to the tube. If tubes containing much smaller quan- 
tities are used, screening need not be resorted to. 
One strongly charged tube may be replaced by a 
number of small ones, if the latter are in the con- 
venient form of ordinary exploring needles. In con- 
junction with Dr. W. C. Stevenson the author has 
worked. out a system enabling such needles to be 
charged with any required quantity of the emanation 
sealed into capillary glass tubes. By the use of these 
radio-active needles local injury is avoided, and a more 
controllable and uniform radiation is attainable. They 
can be made of any required length to reach more 
deep-seated tumours. An apparatus was exhibited 
permitting any desired number of capillary tubes to be 
sealed off at once, each containing a known charge. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, April 6.—M. P. Appell in the 
chair.—Paul Sabatier and A. Mailhe: The use of 
manganous oxide for the catalysis of acids. The pre- 
paration of aldehydes and pentamethylene ketones. 
Formation of the cyclopentylamines (see p. 171). 
R. de Forcrand: Potassium trioxide and the stability 
of the alkaline peroxides. Pure potassium trioxide 
can be obtained by heating the tetroxide to 580° C., 
the pressure being maintained at about 1 mm. The 
heats of solution and formation of the trioxide were 
determined.—G. Charpy and S. Bonnerot : Iron nitride. 
Iron in very thin foil, heated in a current of ammonia 
at 650-700° C., can be completely converted into the 
nitride Fe,N. At higher temperatures the nitride 
dissociates, and it does not appear possible that this 
nitride could exist in the steel or iron of commerce.— 
A. Schaumasse; Observations of Kritzinger’s comet 
(1914a) made at the Observatory of Nice. Positions 
are given for March 30, 31, and April 4.—Paul Bruck : 
The elements of comet trg914a_ (Kritzinger).—P. 
Chofardet : Observations and calculation of the para- 
bolic elements of Kritzinger’s comet (1914a) made at 
the Observatory of Besancon. Positions are given for 
March 31 and April 4.—J. Guillaume : Observations of 
Kritzinger’s comet made at the Observatory of Lyons. 
Positions given for March 31 and April 4.—M. Esmiol : 
Observations of Kritzinger’s comet made at the Ob- 
servatory of Marseilles. Observation on April 4.—M. 
Coggia: Observations made at the Observatory of 
Marseilles on the same.—P. Salet and M. Millochau : 
The spectra of the chromosphere. The Stark effect 
due to the possible influence of the solar electric field 
is either absent or very small in the sun.—B. 
Fessenkoff : The distribution of the cosmic dust in the 
invariable plane of the solar system.—Arnaud Denjoy : 
Examples of derived functions.—A. Buhl: The integral 
form of the equations of Monge-Ampére.—A. 
Hurwitz : The critical forms of the inverse functions of 
integral functions.—Paul Lévy: The functions of 
Green and Neumann.—M. Hadamard : Remarks on the 
preceding paper.—G. H. Hardy: The zeros of the 
Riemann function € (s).—M. Moulin: The terminal 
curves of spirals: influence of the terms of the second 
order.—H. Bourget, Ch. Fabry, and H. Buisson: The 
atomic weight of nebulium and the temperature of 
the nebula of Orion. The strong’ double ultra-violet 
NO. 2320, VOL. 93] 
line AA 3726, 3729, is attributable to no known gas. 
From a spectroscopic study by interference methods 
the atomic weight of the element, named nebulium, 
is found to be about 3. The temperature of the nebula 
is of the order of 15,000° C.—Maurice Drecq: -The 
determination of the emissive power in the infra-red. 
Details of the construction of a very sensitive silver- 
bismuth thermocouple and of a new form of furnace 
for giving high black-body temperatures are given.— 
Jean Bielecki and Victor Henri: Contribution to the 
study of tautomerism. A quantitative study of the 
absorption of the ultra-violet rays by. fatty diketones. 
The constitution admitted for the second tautomeric 
form of acetylacetone,.CH,.CO.CH : C(OH).CH,, is 
incompatible with the absorption spectra. A more 
probable constitution is CH,.CO.CH,.C(OH) : CH,.— 
A. Portevin: The carbon equilibrium of steels in fused 
mixtures of potassium chloride and cyanide.—R. 
Devisé: The microsporocytes of Larix.—L. Massol : 
The effects of snake poisons on the coagulation of 
the serum of the horse by heating. Differentiation of 
the poisons of Viperideze and Colubridez. The effects 
of cobra poison are consistent with the view that it 
contains two diastases with contrary actions, one re- 
tarding and the other accelerating the coagulation.— 
Mme. Victor Henri: Study of the metabiotic action of 
the ultra-violet rays. The production of forms of 
mutation of the anthrax bacillus. The exposure . of 
spore-bearing anthrax bacilli to ultra-violet light causes 
profound changes in the organism. The surviving 
bacilli are transformed into new forms distinguished 
from normal anthrax bacilli by their morphological, 
biochemical, and biological characters.—Louis and 
Charles Fortineau : The treatment of anthrax by injec- 
tions of sterilised pyocyanic cultures. An account of 
the treatment of nine cases of malignant oedema and 
forty-one of malignant pustule by subcutaneous injec- 
tion of sterilised pyocyanic cultures : the mortality was 
reduced to 10 per cent.—Em. Bourquelot and Alexandru 
Ludwig : The biochemical synthesis of B-orthomethoxy- 
benzylglucoside and of £-metanitrobenzylglucoside. 
These syntheses were effected with the aid of emulsin 
in aqueous acetone solutions.—Adrien Guébhard : The 
tectonic in the neighbourhood of Castellane (Basses 
Alpes).—Sabba Stefanescu ; The origin of the cuneiform 
sheets of the molars of elephants.—Henri Bresson : 
Eight hydrographical maps of the Normandy region. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Australian Fossils. By F. Chapman. Pp. 341+ 
map. (Melbourne and London: G. Robertson and 
Co. Propy., Ltd.) 
Canada. Department of Mines. Mines Branch. 
Annual Report on the Mineral Production of Canada 
during the Calendar Year 1912. Pp. 339: By J. 
McLeish. (Ottawa: Government Printing Bureau.) 
Der Geist des Hellenentums in der modernen Physik. 
Antrittevorlesung gehalten am 17 Januar 1914 in der 
Aula der Universitat Leipzig. By Prof. A. E. Haas. 
Pp. 32. (Leipzig: Veit and Co.) 1.20 marks. 
An Account of the Crustacea of Norway. By G. O. 
Sars. Vol. vi., Copepoda. Parts 3 and 4, Cylclopidz 
(continued.) (Bergen: The Bergen Museum.) 
Simple Directions for the Determination of the 
Common Minerals and Rocks. By Prof. W. H. 
Hobbs. Pp. 31. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.) 
TS Mev 
Botanische Jahrbticher. Fiinfzigster Band. Supple- 
ment-Band. Fest-Band fiir A. Engler. Pp. 672+ xi 
plates. (Leipzig and Berlin: W. Engelmann.) — 55 
marks, 
The South African Institute for Medical Research. 
Specific Serological Reactions with Pneumococci from 
