MARCH 14, 1907 | 
NATURE 
479 
Ahabitants show no sensible difference in head measure- 
ments or in the degree of scatter of individual measure- 
ments about their average; (2) that the modern Copts 
throughout Egypt are less negroid than the modern 
Moslem population; (3) that both the Copts and the 
Moslems in Upper Egypt are more negroid than those in 
Lower Egypt; (4) that from the anthropometric stand- 
point there is no evidence of plurality of race in modern 
Egypt. 
Geological Society, February 27.—S x Archibald Geikie, 
Sec.R.S., president, in the chair.—The Lower Ordovician 
succession in Scandinavia: W. G. Fearnsides. The 
paper is a stratigraphical account of the Dictyonema 
shales, the Ceratopyge beds, the Didymograptus shales, 
and the Orthoceras limestone of Sweden and southern 
Norway, and is based upon field-observations of Scandi- 
the 
navian type-localities made by the author during 
summer of 1906. The beds are discussed under the 
following headings:—(c) | Didymograptus shales and 
Orthocerakalk, (b) Glauconite shales and Ceratopygekalk, 
(a) Dictyonema and Bryograptus shales, which are found 
to be applicable to all the sections visited. This strati- 
graphical evidence is considered in its bearing upon the 
question of the definition of the boundary between the 
Cambrian and the Ordovician systems, and the author 
follows the Scandinavian authorities in considering that, 
so long as the Dictyonema horizon is available, the 
evidence of sudden faunistic change within the series dis- 
cussed is too slight to warrant a paleontological separ- 
ation of the systems at any other horizon. A comparison 
of the British Tremadoc and Arenig series with these 
Seandinavian rocks concludes the paper, and it is main- 
tained that the time has now arrived for British geologists 
to come into line with their Continental brethren, and to 
include the Dictyonema and the overlying Tremadoc beds 
as the lowest series of the Ordovician system.—The 
occurrence of pseudomorphous pebbles of pyrites at the 
Crown Reef Mine (Witwatersrand): C. B. Horwood. 
Reference is first made to the existence of calcite 
“‘Debbles ”? in the Main Reef, which Mr. Julius Kuntz 
believes to be due to the replacement of quartz by calcite. 
Pellets of iron-bisulphide, known as “ buckshot,’’? occur 
at the Rietfontein ‘‘ A ’’ Mine in the Buckshot Reef; they 
exhibit radiate fibrous structure, and are ‘probably of 
concretionary origin. At the Crown Reef Mine a few 
“‘ pebbles? of pyrites, some measuring as much as an 
inch in length, occur in a narrow band of conglomerate 
at the contact of the reef with a basic dyke. 
DvBLIN. 
Royal Dublin Society, Fehruarv 19.—Prof. A. W. Conway 
in the chair.—Electrical seed-testing: Prof. T. Johnson. 
A demonstration was given of the method of using the 
apparatus devised by Dr. A. D. Waller, F.R.S., for test- 
ing for a ‘‘ blaze” current in electrical seed-testing.— 
Series in spectra: Prof. A. W. Comway. A sphere of 
positive electricity is supposed, capable of executing radial 
elastic vibrations of low frequency. In any mode a 
negative electron could at certain periods be at rest for 
some time at any one of the nodal surfaces. The fre- 
quencies of the oscillations of an electron at the various 
nodes would be connected by an equation 
Gscinp= se ( Op 3 6 on 
where n is a natural number. 
Paris. 
_ Academy of Sciences, |March 4.—M. Henri Becquerel 
in the chair.—The heats of combustion and formation of 
some nitrogenous principles playing a physiological réle : 
M. Berthelot and Ph. Landrieu. Thermochemical data 
for hzmatin, bilirubin, and hemoglobin from the horse. 
The phosphorescence of uranium salts in liquid air: Henri | 
Becquerel. At the temperature of liquid air the bands 
observed in the spectrum at ordinary temperatures are 
partly resolved into lines, and the bands not resolved into 
lines contract and are more sharply defined. The phos- 
phorescent spectrum is similarly modified.—The alcoholysis 
of castor oil: A. Haller. Castor oil was treated with 
various alcohols containing 1 per cent. of hydrochloric 
acid, and the esters obtained submitted to repeated frac- 
tional distillation in a vacuum. Methyl, ethyl, n-propyl, 
and isobutyl ricinoleates were obtained, the physical con- 
NO. 1950. VOL. 75| 
stants of which are given. ‘he presence in the oil of the 
glycerides of stearic, ricinoleic, and dioxystearic acids was 
confirmed.—The purification of sewage: A. Muntz and 
E. Lainé. In previous work the authors have found that 
for intensive nitrification peat forms the best medium for 
the work. This result has now been applied to the purifi- 
cation of sewage. The filter-bed consists of spongy peat, 
to which chalk has been added in sufficient quantity to 
neutralise the acidity, together with a little garden mould 
to supply the necessary nitrifying organisms. After pass- 
ing through two small septic tanks, the sewage is filtered 
through the peat-bed at the rate of 1 to 1:25 cubic metres 
per day per square metre of surface, and analytical data 
are appended showing the completeness of the purification. 
—The obliteration of the pleural cavity in the elephant: 
Alfred Giard. A continuation of the discussion raised by 
Mme. Phisalix.—Remarks on the preceding paper by M. 
Edmond Perrier.—The formula of addition of spherical 
functions: Niels Nielsen.—The constitution of the atom: 
HH. Petiat. Starting with the present theory of the con- 
stitution of the atom as being formed of a centre positively 
charged around which — gravitate negatively charged 
electrons, the calculation is made that for sodium, zinc, 
iron, and copper, the only light radiations possibly emitted 
by the vapours should be well in the ultra-violet. As this 
ig not in accordance with the known facts, it is pointed 
out that some of the fundamental assumptions of the 
theory must be modified.—The refraction of bodies: Jules 
Amar.-—Some new modes of formation and preparation of 
titanium tetrachloride : Em. Vigouroux and G. Arrivaut. 
Commercial ferrotitanium, from which the greater part of 
the iron has been removed by treatment with dilute hydro- 
chloric acid, is dried and heated in a current of chlorine. 
A good yield of titanium tetrachloride is thus obtained, 
and. details are given of the method of purifying _ it, 
especiaily from the accompanying ferric chloride.—The 
synthesis of tertiary amidines: phenyl-amido-ethane- 
oxymethane-phenylimino-phenylamine 5 Emm. Pozzi- 
Escot.—The constitution of hordenine: E. Léger.—A 
method of synthesis of non-substituted @-ketonic nitriles : 
Ch. Moureu and I. Lazennec.—A new method of 
estimating ammonia in waters: Albert Buisson. The 
method is based on the product of an insoluble compound 
by the addition of mercuric chloride and sodium carbonate. 
—The origin of the formation of aldehydes in cheese: 
MM. Trillat and Sauton. The bite in cheese has beer 
shown to be largely due to the formation of aldehydes. In 
the present paper the best means of preventing aldehyde 
formation is studied.—The toxic power of the definite 
principles in Tephrosia Vogelit: M. Hanriot.—The 
colloidal properties of starch: E. Fouard.—The relations 
existing between the oxyhemoglobin and the gases of the 
blood: MM. Piettre and Vila.—The influence of the 
physical nature of the walls on the increase of activity 
of the pancreatic secretion by calcium salts: Cc. 
Delezenne.—The structure of the cubical form of sodiunt 
chlorate possessing rotatory power : H. Copaux. The 
cubical crystals of sodium chlorate owe their rotatory 
power to the macles of a quasi-cubic orthorhombic form, 
slightly doubly refractive —A contribution to the anatomical 
study of the Raphia of Madagascar: P. Claverie.— The 
edible fishes of Lake Mélah (Algeria): J. Bounhiol.—A 
new form of anidian evolution: Jan Tur.—The existence 
in the Sipunculidze of Schizogregarians belonging to the 
family of the Selenidiideze : L. Brasil! and H. B. 
Fantham.—Reclamation of priority _on the subject. of a 
note by M. Maurice Dupont: Charles Henry.— [he 
physiology of the hypophysis of the brain : C. Paulesco. 
The intestinal absorption, the formation, and the 
utilisation of reserves in rotifers : P. de Beauchamp.— 
The function of the intestine in fibrinogensis : M. Doyon, 
Cl. Gautier, and A. Morel.—The lava and minerals of 
the volcanoes of the Puys chain; the age and cause of the 
eruptions: Ph. Glangeaud.—The graphitic schists and 
guartzites of Berric, and on their relations with those of 
Morbihan, of Sarzeau-Guérande, and Belle-Ile: M. 
Pussenot.—The cafions of Provence and the irregularities 
in the curves of equilibrium of underground water : Ide Ne 
Martel.—The diminution in the intensity of the earth’s 
magnetic field as a function of the altitude in the massif 
of Mont Blanc: A. Senouque. 
