i66 



NATURE 



[June i6, 1904 



does not involve an adaptive action different in principle 

 from the well known assumption by secondary roots of the 

 characters of the primary root, althoug'h it is undoubtedly 

 a more elaborate provision, and one which seems more 

 unlikely to be called for in a state of nature. 



Geological Society, May 25.— Dr. J. E. Marr, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — On the occurrence of a limestone 

 with Upper Gault fossils at Barnwell, near Cambridge : 

 W. G. Fearnsides. The limestone is variable in thick- 

 ness, and is largely made up of comminuted shells of 

 Inoceramus. It occurs in flattened lenticles. It contains 

 abundant phosphate-nodules. Foraminifera, fragments of 

 lamellibranchs, brachiopods, small gastropods, echinoids, 

 and Crustacea are abundant. The fauna is not markedly 

 different from that of the underlying clay. A list is given 

 which shows that this fauna has been recorded from the 

 Upper Gault of Folkestone. As these fossils are obtained 

 40 feet below the upper surface of the Gault seen in the 

 section, it is clear that the whole of the Upper Gault of 

 Cambridge was not used up in the making of the " Cam- 

 bridge Greensand." — On the age of the Llyn-Padarn 

 dykes : J. V. Elsden. The paper suggests that the bulk 

 of the greenstone-dykes of this area belong to an earlier 

 period of eruption than has been generally assigned to 

 them. The greater part, if not actually of Bala age, seem 

 to have been intruded before the post-Bala crush-movements. 

 The evidence does not exclude the possibility that some of 

 the intrusions may be of later date. Petrographical con- 

 siderations make it impossible to separate these rocks from 

 the diabase-sills of Bala age occurring farther to the south 

 of this area. 



Chemical Society, June 2.— Dr. W. 11. Perkin, F.R.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair. — The following papers were 

 read : — Imino-ethers and allied compounds corresponding 

 with the substituted oxamic esters : G. D. Lander. A 

 description of the ethers obtained by the condensation of 

 various bases with oxalic esters is given. — The action of 

 heat on a-hydroxycarboxylic acids, part i., a-hydroxystearic 

 acid : H. R. Le Sueur. The principal product obtained 

 on heating this acid is margaric aldehyde. — lonisation and 

 chemical combination : J. Wallace Walker. The author 

 shows that the assumption now generally made that all 

 chemical action takes place between pre-existing ions is 

 unjustifiable, in view of the fact that reactions such as those 

 of the alkyl haloids with various compounds in presence 

 of aluminium chloride take place under conditions under 

 which ionisation cannot occur. Since ionisation is fre- 

 quently the result of such reactions, he concludes that, in 

 general, combination, as the result of the operation of 

 higher valencies, precedes ionisation or any other manifest- 

 ation of the occurrence of chemical change. — lonisation 

 and chemical combination in liquefied halogen hydrides and 

 hydrogen sulphide : J. W. Walker, D. Mcintosh, and 

 E. H. Archibald. — Some compounds of aluminium chloride 

 with organic substances containing oxygen : J. W. Walker 

 and A. Spencer. These two papers give descriptions of 

 compounds and experiments illustrating the arguments 

 advanced in the first paper of this series. — The constituents 

 of Chaulmoogra seeds : F. B. Power and F. H. Gornall. 

 These seeds, which are derived from the plant Taraktogcnos 

 Kursii, contain a cyanogen compound which is hydrolysed 

 by an enEyme also present in the plant or by dilute acids 

 into prussic acid and glucose, and may be a glucose-cyan- 

 hydrin. The fatty oil contained in the seeds furnishes on 

 hydrolysis glycerol and phytosterol, and a number of fatty 

 acids of which the most interesting is chaulmoogric acid 

 C.jHjjO,, which appears to contain a closed ring and one 

 ethylenic linking. — The constitution of chaulmoogric acid, 

 part i., F. B. Power and F. H. Gornall. A number of 

 derivatives and oxidation products of this acid are de- 

 scribed which have been prepared as a preliminary to the 

 investigation of its constitution. — Gynocardin, a new 

 cyanogenetic glucoside : F. B. Power and F. H. Gornall. 

 This substance was obtained from the seeds of Gynocardia 

 odorata, formerly believed to be the source of commercial 

 chaulmoogra oil. It is crystalline, and is hydrolysed by an 

 enzyme also existing in the plant furnishing prussic acid 



NO. 1807, VOL. 70] 



as one product. — isoNitrosocamphor : M. O. Forster. A 

 description of derivatives of this substance. — The basic 

 properties of oxygen. Additive compounds of the halogen 

 hydrides and organic compounds, and the higher valencies 

 of oxygen. Asymmetric oxygen : E. H. Archibald and 

 D. Mcintosh. — The fermentation of the indigo plant: C. 

 Bergrtheil. It is shown that the fermentation in the indigo 

 vat is produced principally by a specific enzyme. — The union 

 of hydrogen anti chlorine, .'\ction of the silent electric dis- 

 charge on chlorine : J. W. Mellor. — Studies on ethyl- 

 carboxyglutarate, part ii., action of ethyl bromocarboxy- 

 glutarate on ethyl sodiocarboxyglutarate. Formation of 

 ethyl carboxyglutaconate : O. Silberrad and T. H. 

 Easterfleld. — The vapour pressures of liquid mixtures of 

 restricted mutual solubility : A. Marshall. The vapour 

 pressures of mixtures of water with various organic liquids 

 have been experimentally investigated, and the results are 

 discussed in the light of theoretical work on the same sub- 

 ject by Ostwald and others. — The influence of solvents on 

 the rotation of optically active compounds, part v., the 

 optical activity of certain tartrates in aqueous solution : 

 T. S. Patterson. The rotations of a number of tartrates 

 have been determined in aqueous solution at various con- 

 centrations and temperatures, and the influence of the latter 

 on the numerical and sign value of the rotation is dis- 

 cussed. — The nitration products of the isomeric dichloro- 

 benzenes : P. Hartley and J. B. Cohen. The authors find 

 that the >He(a-law of substitution is followed, except in the 

 case of orf/iodichlorobenzene. 



Linnean Society, June 2. — Prof. W. A. Herdman, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. A. O. Walker ex- 

 hibited (i) viviparous plants of Cardamine prateiisis, which 

 phenomenon was unusually manifest this year, probably 

 due to the abnormal rainfall, and (2) a gall on the flower- 

 bud of the same plant, ascribed to Cecidomyia Cardaminis. 

 — Mr. W. T. Hindmarsh exhibited photographs of the 

 following plants : — Primula deorum, Velen., which he had 

 succeeded in flowering, he believed for the first time in 

 this country; Shortia tiniflora, Maxim., the Japanese re- 

 presentative of the genus, with larger flowers than the 

 original S. galacifoUa, Torr. and Gray, and showing a 

 tendency to vary in colour according to exposure ; and 

 Rhodothamnus Chamaecistus, Reichb., noteworthy for the 

 abundance of its flowers. — Papers : — On the species of 

 Impatiens in the Wallichian herbarium of the Linnean 

 Society : Sir Joseph Hooker. The introduction described 

 the material in question, consisting of 48 ticketed speci- 

 mens out of 200 known species of the genus ; though few 

 in number, these specimens foreshadow the remarkable 

 segregation of the species in the several phyto-geographicat 

 regions of India, which has no parallel in any other large 

 genus known to the author. The second part of the paper 

 consists of a detailed review of each sheet of the collection, 

 with a critical determination of the specimens. There is 

 one previously undescribed species, for which the 

 name Impatiens praetermissa is proposed. — .An account 

 of the Choetognatha collected on H.M.S. Research in the 

 Bay of Biscay in 1900 : Dr. G. H. Fowler. Sagitta 

 serrafo-dentata was plentiful in the epiplankton down to the 

 zone between 200 and 100 fathoms, with a maximum dis- 

 tribution about 50 fathoms ; in daylight it appeared to rise 

 to the surface, independently of the actual light-intensity 

 of the moment; at night it left the surface for rather deeper 

 water ; even on bright moonlit nights, or during or after 

 rain, it also deserted the surface, even in light daylight. 

 The distribution of other species was described. In hand- 

 ling the Chstognath population as a whole, the author 

 showed that it was thickest in the epiplankton, that below 

 100 fathoms there was a sudden drop in numbers, which 

 continued down to the lowest depth studied (2000 fathoms), 

 except for a possible slight local rise about 600 fathoms. 

 This result, obtained by the accurate method of closing 

 nets, directly contradicts the conclusion of Mr. R. T. 

 Giinther, deduced from the methods of open serial nets as 

 used on the Oceana, that the population is greatest in deep 

 water, the source of error with the open nets being intro- 

 duced by the specimens captured during the net's upward 

 journey to the surface from the depth nominally studied. 

 — The flow of fluid in plant-stems: Prof. R. J. Anderson. 



