144 



NA TURE 



[June 6, 1901 



as precipitous chasm*. — Observations on the eucalypts of New 

 South Wales, Part 8, by Henry Deane and J- H. Maiden. — 

 Bacteria and the disintegration of cement, by R. Greig Smith. 

 Stutzer and Hartleb considered that the disintegration of the 

 cement work of water reservoirs might be caused by the action 

 of the nitrifying organisms. The author has investigated a 

 case where the cement work of a water canal was disintegrating. 

 Nitrifying organisms were found in the .surface mud, but not 

 deeper inio the cement where disintegration was in active pro- 

 gress. The nitrifying bacteria appear when disintegration is 

 complete. Other bacteria were separated by selective methods. 

 One of these, Bact. croceuiii, can grow in bouillon with 5 per 

 cent, sodium carbonate, but neither it nor the others separated 

 had any action upon experimental cement blocks. Since the 

 disintegrated cement contained alkali soluble in water equal to 

 I '4 per cent, lime, the disintegration is probably purely 

 physical. — Notes on Vibrio deuitrijicans, Sewerin, by R. Greig 

 Smith. This is not a vibrion, but an organism morphologically 

 similar to Rhizobiiim legtintiiwsayiiiii. In media containing 

 potassium phosphate, branching and irregular forms are found 

 in young cultures. It appears to be a budding rod, and the 

 variety of forms of the organism is caused by the mother and 

 daughter cells being contained in a branching capsule. 



Cai'E Town. 



South African Philosophical Society, April 24. — Mr. 

 L. Peringuey, president, in the chair. — Mr. Garwood Alston 

 showed three photographs of stones standing erect about six 

 miles south of Port Nolloth, near which Mr. R. Colson found 

 certain kitchen-middens, from which a skull and several native 

 pots and grinding stones were obtained. The stones form en- 

 closures of four feet by two, running north and south. Two of 

 ■the enclosures were dug into, but yielded nothing. The under- 

 lying indurated sand seemed to be quite undisturbed. Mr. 

 Alston emphasised the absence of evidence as to the meaning of 

 'the enclosures, and said that the small size was against the view 

 'that old buiial places are indicated. — Prof. J. T. Morrison com- 

 municated a paper on some pressure and temperature results 

 for the Great Plateau of South Africa, by Mr. J. R. Sutton. 

 The author discusses the annual run of daily maximum and 

 minimum temperatures, and of daily barometric pressures at 

 Ivimberley and Durban, as deduced from observations made 

 during the ten years 1S8S-97, the pressures at Kimberley 

 being, however, available only for 1S90-97. The object was to 

 discover the outstanding features of plateau meteorology. 

 The results suggest to the author that " we might adopt the 

 working theory (not forgetting how easy it is to theorise 

 ■when facts are few), which, however, is rather a geome- 

 trical conception than a mechanical possibility, that there is a 

 certain temperature factor — if we may so call it — travelling 

 round the earth from west to east, while a pressure factor is 

 going the opposite way." 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, June 6. 



lRoval SiiclETV, at 4.— Election of Fellows.^ — At 4.30.-011 the Electric 

 Response of inorganic Substances, Preliminary Notice: Prof. J. C. 

 Hose.— On Skin-Currents. Part I. The Frog's Skin : Dr. Waller, 

 F.R.S.— Vibrations of Rifle Barrels: A. M.illock.— The Measurement 

 of Magnetic Hysteresis : G. F. C. Searle and T. G. Bedford.— A Con- 



jugating Yeast: B. T. P. Barker. Papers to be read in title only : 



Thermal Adjustment and Respiratory Exchange in Monotremes and 

 Marsupials: a Study in the Development of Homo-thermism : Prof. 

 C. J. Martin.— On the Elastic Equilibrium of Circular Cylinders under 

 Certain Practical Systems of Load : L. N. G. Filon.— The Measure- 

 ment of Ionic Velocities in Aqueous Solution, and the E.\istence oi 

 Complex Ions : B. D. Steele. 



Royal Institution, at 3. — The Chemistry of Carbon : Prof. J. Dewar, 

 F.R.S. 



LtNNEAN Society, at 8. — On the Necessity for a Provisional Nomencla- 

 ture for those Forms of Life which cannot be at once arranged in a 

 Natural System (Adjourned Discussioni : H. M. Bernard. 



Chemical Society, at 8. — A Laboratory Method for the Preparation ol 

 Ethylene : G. S, Newth.— Oroxylin : W A. H. Naylor and C. S. Dyer. 

 —Some Relations between Physical Constants and Constitution in Benz- 

 enoid Amines, II. : P. Gordon and L. Limpach.— The Constitution -il 

 the Acids obtained from a-Dibromocamphor : A, Lapworth and W. H. 

 Lenton.— The Decomposition of Chlorates. IV. The Supposed Me- 

 chanical Facilitation of the Decomposition of Potassium Chlorate ; 

 W. H. Sodeau.— Condensation of Phenols with Esters of the Acetylene 

 Series. V. Homologues of Benzo-y.pyrone : S. Ruhemann.— On the 



.Action of Sodium Methoxide and its Homologues on Benzophenone 

 Chloride and Benzal Chloride : J. E. Mackenzie. — Preliminary Note on 

 Hydrides of Boron : W. Ramsay and H. S. Hatfield.— Gum Trag.-icanth : 

 C. O'Sullivan. 



RoNTGEN Society, at 8.30. — X-Ray Diagnosis of Aneurism: Dr. 

 Hush Walsham. 



FRIDAY. June 7. 



Royal Institution, at 9.— Mimetic Insects: Prof Raphael Meldola, 

 F.R.S. 



Geologists' Association, at 8.— The Geysers of the Yellowstone: 

 John Parkinsjn. 



SATURDAY, June 8. 



Royal Institution, at 3. — The Biological Characters of Epiphytic 

 Plants: Prof. J. B. Farmer, F.R.S. 



MONDA Y, June 10. 



Royal Geographical Society, at 8.30. — Travels in Search of Waves in 

 1900 : Vaugban Cornish. 



Victoria Institute, at 4.30. — Annual Meeting. — Address by Sir Robert 

 Ball, F.R.S. 



TUESDAY, June ii. 



Royal Photographic Society, at 8.— Notes from Five Years' Work 

 with X-Rays : W. Webster. 



THURSDAY, June 13. 



Royal Society, at 4.30.— Bakerian Lecture : Prof. James Dewar, F.R.S. 

 —The Nadir of Temperature and MUed Problems, (i) Physical Proper- 

 ties of Liquid and Solid Hydrogen : (2) Separation of Free Hydrogen 

 and other Gases from Air; (3) Electric Resistance Thermometry at the 

 Boiling Point of Hydrogen ; (4) Experiments on the Liquefaction of 

 Helium at the Melting Point of Hydrogen ; (5) Pyro-Electricity, Phos- 

 phorescence, &c. 



Mathematical Society, at 5.30. — Remarks on the Quartic Curve 

 2(i^S+inp3y+„ySa=o: A. B. Basset, F.R.S.— The Theory of Cauchy's 

 Principal Values, II. : G. H. Hardv.— The Rational Solutions of the 

 Equation «s+Ti3+m3+/i>=a : Prof. Steggall. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Water-Power 121 



An Anglo-American Work on the Market Garden 122 



Libyans and Egyptians 123 



Old Weather Records 124 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Lecomte: "LeCoton." — Prof. Roberts Beaumont 124 

 "Taxidermy; Comprising the Skinning, Stufling and 



Mounting of Birds, Mammals and Fish." — R. L. . 125 

 Lyons : " A Treatise on Electromagnetic Phenomena 

 and on the Compass and its Deviations aboard 

 Ship. Mathematical, Theoretical and Practical" . 125 

 Peabody : " The Steam-engine Indicator " .... 125 

 Byrn : "Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth 



Century" 125 



Letters to the Editor ; — 



Vitrified Quartz.— W. A. Shenstone, F.R.S. . . 126 

 A Raid upon Wild Flowers.— Prof. L. C. Miall, 



F.R.S. ; Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S 126 



The Reported Earthquakes in the Channel Islands 

 and South Devon on April 24. — Dr. Charles 



Davison 126 



Foreign Oysters acquiring Characters of Natives. — 



J. M. Tabor 126 



The Cape Viper.— Claude E. Benson 126 



Some Scientific Centres. I. The Leipzig Chemical 



Laboratory. (llliistyaUd.) 127 



The Centenary of the Discovery of Ceres. By 



W. E. P 129 



Syntonic Wireless Telegraphy. (Illuitrated.) . . . 130 



The Antarctic Expedition 131 



Notes. (Illuslyated.) 132 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Recent Total Eclipse of the Sun 136 



Snow on the Moon's Surface 136 



Oxford University Observatory 136 



The Royal Observatory, Greenwich 136 



The Mechanical Forces of Nature and their Ex- 

 ploitation 137 



The Colour and Polarisation of Blue Sky Light. 



By Dr. N. E. Dorsey 13S 



University and Educational Intelligence 140 



Societies and Academies I4> 



Diary of Societies I44 



NO. 1649, VOL. 64] 



