January 5, 1905J 



NA rURE 



239 



" zymotoxic. " As bearing on the general biology of the 

 subject, the following may be quoted : — " No one has yet 

 succeeded in producing an anti-substance or immune-body 

 by injecting an animal with its own corpuscles or cells — 

 such a body as with the aid of complement would produce 

 destruction of these cells. This is manifestly a provision 

 against self-poisoning, and Ehrlich has applied to it the 

 term auto\oxicus horror. The results which we have 

 brought forward, if they were found to hold generally, 

 would go to show that even if some substance should appear 

 which acted as an immune-body, there is a provision where- 

 by the complement of an animal should produce compara- 

 tively little harmful effect." 



Chemical Society, December 14, 1904 — Prof. W. A. 

 Tilden, F.R.S.,. president, in the chair. — The following 

 papers were read : — Hydrolysis of ammonium salts : V. H. 

 Veley. It is shown that when aqueous solutions of 

 ammonium salts are heated the evolution of ammonia and 

 the concomitant acidity of the solutions are due not to dis- 

 sociation, but to hydrolysis. — The viscosity of liquid 

 mixtures, part ii. : A. E. Dunstan. The author's con- 

 clusions, given in a previous paper (Chem. Soc. Trans., 

 1904, Ixxxv., 817), are confirmed by the present series of 

 viscosity-concentration measurements for a number of 

 binary mixtures containing hydroxy-compounds. — The diazo- 

 reaction in the diphenyl series, part ii., ethoxybenzidine ; 

 J. C. Cain. The author has examined the action of heat 

 on the solution of the diazonium salt prepared from ethoxy- 

 benzidine, and has shown that the diazonium group, 

 adjacent to the ethoxy -group, is normally substituted by 

 hydro.xyl, whilst the other remains intact. — The sulphate 

 and the phosphate of the dimercurammonium series : P. C. 

 Ray. When dimercurammonium nitrite, NHgjNO,, is 

 treated with an oxyacid, the dimercurammonium complex 

 remains intact. In this way, the author has succeeded in 

 preparing the sulphate and the phosphate of the series. — 

 A method for the direct production of certain aminoazo- 

 compounds : R. Meldola and L. Eynon. The authors 

 have found that most diazotised amines when treated in 

 aqueous solutions with a strong solution of sodium dichrom- 

 ate give crystalline precipitates of diazonium chromates. 

 These chromates are more or less explosive w'hen dry, and 

 it is suggested that some of them might find technical 

 application as high explosives. — The combination of 

 mercaptans with olefinic ketonic compounds: S. 'Ruhe- 

 mann. — Studies in optical superposition, part i. : T. S. 

 Patterson and F. Taylor. Menthyl acetate, /-menthyl 

 i/-tartrate, and /-menthyl diacetyl-d-tartrate have been pre- 

 pared and their rotations examined between 0° and 100°. 

 It is shown to be possible by analogy to trace the separate 

 effects of the different active groups composing menthyl 

 tartrate and its diacetyl derivative. 



Linnean Socieiy, Decern I ler 15,1904. — Prof. W A.I Ii rdman, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The ecology of woodland 

 plants in the neighbourhood of Huddersfield ; Dr. T. W. 

 Woodhead. The plant-associations of this portion of west 

 Yorkshire having been dealt with on broad lines by Smith 

 and Moss, the author has endeavoured to carry the study 

 a stage further by paying special attention to a very limited 

 area. A small wood (Birks Wood, near Huddersfield) was 

 e-xamined in great detail, and the main factors determining 

 the distribution of the more important plants of the under- 

 growth studied, such as soil, shade produced by the 

 dominant tree, moisture, exposure, and wind. The results 

 thus obtained were then tested by an examination of the 

 woodlands in an area of 66 square miles to the south and 

 west of Huddersfield; special attention was also paid to the 

 distribution of these species beyond the limits of the wood- 

 lands. — Experimental studies in heredity in rabbits : C. C. 

 Hurst. The studies were based on breeding between a 

 Belgian " hare " and an albino Angora ; the second gener- 

 ation showed but little outward variation from the Belgian 

 parent, but the third generation displayed great diversity 

 of colour — albino, grey, black, and variegated. These 

 experiments tallied in a very close degree with the numbers 

 expected according to the Mendelian laws. 



Faraday Society, December 19. 1904. — Mr. J. Swinburne, 

 vice-president, in the chair. — The electric furnace : its 

 origin, transformations, and applications, part ii. : M. 



NO. 1836, VOL. 71] 



.\dolphe Minet. — Electrolytic analysis of cobalt and nickel : 

 Dr. F. Mollwo Perlcin and W. C. Prebble. Cobalt. — 

 The aim of the experiments was to obtain bright deposits 

 of the metal that should be quantitatively accurate. The 

 most satisfactory results were obtained with a solution con- 

 taining an alkali phosphate and a little phosphoric acid, 

 the latter to prevent the precipitation of the double 

 sodium cobalt phosphate. Nickel. — Similar solutions 

 were tried for nickel deposition. In this case good 

 results were obtained with a borate solution, while a phos- 

 phate solution, which gave good figures in the case of 

 cobalt, was not at all satisfactory. — (1) The electrolytic 

 preparation of tin paste; (2) note on the electrolytic recovery 

 of tin : F. Gclstharp. The electrolytic process is less costly 

 than other processes in spite of the low current efficiency {^o 

 per cent.), and it can be worked continuously. The process 

 consists in dissolving anodes of tin, roughly cast from com- 

 mercial ingots, in dilute hydrochloric acid, and depositing 

 the metal in the form of sponge on kathodes of block tin 

 or tinned iron. In the second note an experiment is de- 

 scribed that has some bearing on the conditions necessarv 

 for electrolytically stripping tin plate. 



P.4RIS. 



Academy of Sciences, December 26, 1904. — M. Mascart. 

 in the chair. — On the theorem of areas and conservative 

 systems : Paul Painleve. — Groups of negative bands in 

 the air spectrum with a strong dispersion : H. Deslandres. 

 A detailed examination under high dispersion of the ultra- 

 violet band A 3914. This band is intense round the 

 negative pole in vacuum tubes filled with air or nitrogen, 

 and it constitutes nearly exclusively the kathode light 

 of gases ; it is found in the aurora borealis and in 

 the radium light. — On the constitution of the sodium 

 salts of certain methenic and methinic acids : A. 

 Haller and P. Th. Muller. .\ differential optical method 

 has been employed in this work, comparing the molecular 

 refraction of the sodium salt with its corresponding acid, 

 so far as possible in the same solvent and at equal con- 

 centrations. The substances studied included cyanacetic 

 ester, propionyl-cyanacetic ester, malonic and cyanomalonic 

 esters, malonitrile, and cyanocamphor. The results in- 

 dicate that all the sodium salts examined have a different 

 constitution from that of the generating acid, and hence 

 that the latter should be classed as pseudo-acids. — On 

 some new geological discoveries in the Soudan : A. 

 de Lapparent. The fossils found present a fresh proof 

 of the existence of an arm of the sea penetrating into the 

 Soudan. — On the new Giacobini comet : M. Giacobini. 

 Observations, the elements and ephemeris of the new 

 comet, discovered on December 17, 1904, at the Observ- 

 atory of Nice. — The provisional elements of the Giacobini 

 comet (December 17, 1904) : G. Fayet and E. Maubant. 

 — Observations of the Tempel comet (1873, 2) made at the' 

 Observatory of Algiers with the bent equatorial of 31-8 cm., 

 aperture : MM. Rambaud and Sy. — On the stability of 

 aerostats fitted with steering apparatus : G. A. Crocco. 

 — On the fragility of certain steels : A. Perot and Henri 

 Michel Levy. A study of the effect of shock on notched 

 test-pieces, a photographic method of recording the results, 

 being adopted. — On the kathode rays and the laws of 

 electromagnetism : P. Villard. Diagrams are given sho\v- 

 ing the comparison of the theoretical curves with those 

 actually obtained, and it was found that none of the experi- 

 mental results present anomalies requiring the assumption: 

 of a magnetic friction. — On the thermoelectricity of th<' 

 aluminium alloys : Hector Pecheux. Alloys of aluminium 

 with tin, lead, bismuth, magnesium, antimony, and zin*- 

 were studied at 100", 180°, and 380° C. — On the theory 01 

 magnetism : P. Lang^evin. An application of the hypo- 

 thesis of electrons to the explanation of the phenomena of 

 para- and dia-magnetism. — On a phenomenon of retinal 

 adaptation relating to visual perception of faintly illumin- 

 ated colours : A. Polack. — On the reduction by amorphous 

 boron of the oxides of manganese, and on the preparatiort 

 of a new boride of manganese : Binet du Jassonneix. 

 The composition of the new boride studied is represented 

 by the formula MnB. It fits into the series of well defined 

 and crystallised borides FeB, NiB, and CoB prepared by 

 M. Moissan by means of the electric furnace. — On quadri- 



