November 17, 1904] 



NATURE 



71 



elliptic and Zeta functions of 5K in powers of c[ : Dr. 

 J. W. L. Glaisher. — Examples of perpetuants : J. E. 

 Wrisht. — Two simple results in the attraction of uniform 

 wires obtained by quaternions : Prof. Genese. — -V theorem 

 relating to quotient groups: Prof. Miller. — On certain 

 classes of syzygies : A. Young. 



Cambridge. 

 Philosophical Society, October 31. — Annual general 

 meeting, Dr. Baker, president, in the chair. — Prof. Marshall 

 Ward, F.R.S., was elected president for the session 1904-5. 

 — On the dimorphism of the English species of Nummulites : 

 J. J. Lister, F.R.S. Ihe author gave an account of his 

 examination of the characters of three English species of 

 Nummulites, iV. laevigata (Brug.), N. variolaria (Lam.), 

 and N. elegans (Sow.), with respect to dimorphism. It 

 appears that these species, far from invalidating the con- 

 clusion that the species of Nummulites are dimorphic, are 

 in complete accord with it. — A problem concerning wood 

 and lignified cell-walls : Prof. Marshall Ward, F.R..S. Dr. 

 W. J. Russell some time ago showed that if a block of 

 wood is laid on a photographic plate, and kept in the dark 

 for some time, a photographic image will be found on the 

 plate after ordinary development, although no light has had 

 access ; and he has summarised his numerous and important 

 observations in a recent paper in the Philosophical Trans- 

 actions. Since resinous woods were found especially active, 

 Russell suggested that some active body of resin-like nature 

 was the agent concerned, and that hydrogen peroxide was 

 developed. Prof. Marshall Ward's paper describes experi- 

 ments which were directed to the questions, (i) can this 

 photographic contact-method be utilised to obtain images 

 of thin and microscopic sections of wood? and (2) what 

 other substances, e.g. in woods devoid of resin, are active? 

 The author showed photographs, obtained without light, 

 of thin sections of many different kinds of wood, and demon- 

 strated that in most cases resin and allied bodies cannot be 

 the active agents. He also showed that a thin section which 

 gives a very faint image, or even no recognisable image 

 at all, if used dry and untouched, may give a very deep one 

 if soaked in a weak solution of tannin, gallic acid, pyro- 

 gallol, &c., and then dried before being placed on the plate. 

 A striking result is obtained if such solution is streaked 

 across the section ; the treated streak or figure comes out 

 deep black on a pale ground-work of the part untreated. 

 Xylol, clove oil, tannic acid, and some other bodies are also 

 active. The author thinks that a careful comparative in- 

 vestigation of all kinds of woods might lead to important 

 results regarding that very difficult question, the constitu- 

 tion of lignified cell-walls. — The pine-apple gall of the 

 spruce : note on the early stages of its development : E. K. 

 Burdon, The galls are caused by certain Aphid^-E belong- 

 ing to the genus Chermes. The insect drives its proboscis 

 into the bud, and sets up an irritation which results in the 

 young shoot becoming modified into a gall. The early 

 stages of the gall take place whilst the shoot is still enclosed 

 in the winter bud scales. The cells are forced into pre- 

 cocious growth, and a parenchymatous tissue, consisting of 

 swollen cells with vacuolated protoplasm and enlarged 

 nuclei, is formed. The chlorophyll, tannin, resin, resin 

 canals, and secretory cells all disappear, but an abundant 

 supply of starch is laid down which may possibly arise as 

 the ultimate product of the disintegration of the tannin. 

 The chromatin network of the nuclei becomes aggregated 

 into wart-like nucleoli. The mitotic figures appear to be 

 of the usual somatic type, and no indication of heterotypical 

 mitoses has yet been found. There is reason for believing 

 that the ultimate cause is an injection by the insect, and 

 that this injection will cause a gall growth only when it 

 acts on embryonic tissues which are not confined by other 

 lignified or cuticularised tissues. — On certain quintic sur- 

 faces which admit of integrals of the first kind of total 

 differentials : A. Berry. 



Manchester. 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, November i. — Prof. 

 W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., president, in the chair. — On 

 alkaline borates : C. H. Burgess and A. Holt, jun. The 

 authors found that nearly all the glasses obtained by fusing 

 boric anhydride with varying quantities of sodium carbonate 

 could be transformed, wholly or in part, into stable, crystal- 



line forms, which invariably melt at a higher temperature 

 than the glasses from which they were derived. The study 

 of the melting points of these mixtures, and the analyses 

 of the crystals and glasses, point to the probable existence 

 of both sodium metaborate and a further compound contain- 

 ing only a quarter equivalent of sodium. Anhydrous borax 

 itself does not appear to be a definite compound ; it is almost 

 a eutectic mixture of the solid solution of the two above 

 mentioned compounds. The glasses appear to be a super- 

 fused state of the crystals. The familiar colours of borax 

 beads seem to be due to the formation of a complex sodium 

 ion, and can be changed in tint by increasing or decreasing 

 the amount of alkali present. — Note on the electrolytic pre- 

 paration of titanous sulphate : W. H. Evans. The results 

 show that a low current density, high concentration, and 

 a temperature of about 70° C. are the most favourable for 

 obtaining an efficient yield in this reduction process. More- 

 over, the author has found that the preparation can be 

 carried out without the use of any diaphragm to separate 

 the anode from kathode chambers of the cell. 



Dublin. 



Royal Irish Academy, November 14. — Prof. R. Atkinson, 

 president, in the chair. — On the discovery of hyaena, 

 mammoth, and other extinct Mammalia in a Carboniferous 

 cavern in the county of Cork : R. J. Ussher. After re- 

 capitulating the work that has been done in Irish caves, Mr. 

 Ussher described an extensive cavern in county Cork, near 

 Doneraile, in every portion of which that he has examined 

 remains of extinct Mammalia have been found. Mammoths, 

 old and young, have been met with in several places ; bears 

 and reindeer were abundant ; Irish elk, wolf, and hyaena 

 were also found ; the last, identified by Dr. Scharff from a 

 portion of a skull with teeth, is an addition to the Irish 

 fauna. These remains were in red sand beneath a floor of 

 crystalline stalagmite, which was present in the various 

 chambers and galleries. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, November 7. — M. Mascart in the 

 chair. — Researches on the desiccation of plants and vege- 

 table tissues : final equilibrium, under average atmospheric 

 conditions : M. Berthelot. The rate of loss of moisture 

 is proportional at any instant to the quantity of water re- 

 maining in the plant. A further amount of moisture is 

 driven off at 110° C. — On the absolute desiccation of plants 

 and vegetable materials : period of artificial desiccation. 

 Reversibility by atmospheric moisture : M. Berthelot. — On 

 the preparation in a state of purity of boron trifluoride and 

 silicon tetrafluoride, and on some physical constants of these 

 compounds : Henri Moissan. The boron fluoride was pre- 

 pared in two ways, by heating a mixture of boric anhydride 

 and calcium fluoride with sulphuric acid, and by direct 

 synthesis from boron and fluorine. After purification, the 

 gas was frozen by liquid air, foreign gases pumped off, and 

 the solid allowed to volatilise. The boron fluoride melted 

 at —127° C. and boiled at —101°. Silicon fluoride, 

 purified in a similar manner, melts at —97°, and passes 

 into the gaseous state without melting. The experiments 

 establish the physical identity of BF, and SiF, prepared 

 synthetically with the compounds prepared by the ordinary 

 chemical m.ethods. — On the nature of charriagc : Ed. Suess. 

 — Remarks by Michel Levy on the preceding paper. — On 

 a hyperelliptic surface : M. Traynard. — On the comple- 

 mentary geodesic triangulations in the higher parts of the 

 French .^Ips : P. Helbronner. — On a new mode of con- 

 structing aerial helices : Ch. Renard. The helices de- 

 scribed are 2-5 m. in diameter, and are perfectly rigid when 

 rotated by power, although their weight is only 3 kilograms. 

 — On explosions in boilers ; L. Lecornu. — Retrograde 

 diffusion in electrolytes : E. Bose. The author points out 

 that the results obtained experimentally by Thovert were 

 predicted by .Abegg and Rose on Nernst's theory. — On the 

 estimation of temporary radio-activity for its therapeutic 

 utilisation : Th. Tommasina. — The proof of a radio- 

 activity peculiar to living beings, vegetable and animal : 

 Th. Tommasina. — The action of low temperatures on 

 colouring matters : Jules Schmidlin. An alcoholic solution 

 of rosaniline chlorohydrate shows a clear diminution in the 

 intensity of the red colour, and at the same time developes 

 a fine greenish-yellow fluorescence. — Heats of combustion of 



NO. 1829, VOL. 71] 



