192 



NA TURE 



[June 23, 1904 



monoxide by weight : Ph. A. Guye and St. Bogdan. The 



ratio of nitrogen monoxide to the oxygen it contains, deter- 

 mined gravimetrically, gives a value 14007 for the atomic 

 weight of nitrogen. — On the decomposition of a mi.xture 

 of calcium carbonate and an alkaline carbonate under the 

 action of heat in a vacuum : P. Lcbeau. The decomposi- 

 tion by heat in a vacuum of mixtures of calcium carbonate 

 and the carbonates of caesium, rubidium, potassium, and 

 sodium was complete. The amount of carbon dioxide 

 obtained corresponded exactly to the amount of carbonates 

 taken, and in ail cases pure calcium oxide was left behind. 

 — On some cuprous salts : A. Joannis. Details are given 

 of the preparation of cuprous formate and benzoate. — On a 

 basic ferric phosphite : E. Bergcr. — On the alloys of mag- 

 nesium with bismuth and magnesium : Hector Pecheux, 

 — Iodine compounds obtained with metanitraniline : P. 

 Brenans. — On a spontaneous alteration product of oxal- 

 acetic ester : L. J. Simon. A sample of oxalacetic ester 

 which has been kept for some time gives a violet colour 

 reaction when placed in contact with an alkaline solution. 

 This is not given by the freshly prepared substance, and is 

 probably due to a dioxyquinone, formed by the elimination 

 of one molecule of water between two molecules of oxal- 

 acetic ester. — Polyacid salts of rosanilines : Jules 

 Schmidlin. — On the variations shown in the composition 

 of seeds during their maturation : G. Andre. — The distribu- 

 tion of some organic substances in orange flowers : Eug. 

 Charabot and G. Laloue. The petals contain the greater 

 part of the essential oil. — On zymase and alcoholic ferment- 

 ation : P. Maze. — On Mitsukiiriiia Owstoni : L^on 

 Vaillant. This only differs from the elasmobranchs, with 

 which it has been compared, by characters of the second 

 order, and the author regards it as belonging to the family 

 of LamnidK. This is not in accord with the views of 

 Jordan, who regards it as a distinct type. — On a transform- 

 ation of the tentacular apparatus on certain species of 

 Madrepora : Armand Krempf. — Some polytaxic characters 

 in species in the wild state : G. Coutasne. — Chains of 

 force : M. Hartog. A description of a model reproducing 

 certain phenomena of cell formation by the motion of 

 niagnetisable particles placed in a magnetic field in a 

 viscous medium. — On the morphology of the root of plants 

 with mutilated embryo : P. Ledoux. — The discovery of 

 fossil-bearing layers in DJoua, to the east of Timassanine, 

 Sahara : F. Foureau. — On the fauna of the Cretacean 

 Ceratodus layers of Djoua, near Timassanine, Sahara : 

 Emile Haug. — On the fauna of the Lydian of the Vosges 

 sandstones ; C. Noel. — The survival of a negroid type in 

 the modern populations of Europe : Eugene Pittard. The 

 examination of skulls from the Rhone Valley, dating from 

 the thirteenth century up to the commencement of the nine- 

 teenth century, shows evidences of a well marked negroid 

 type, which may be a simple survival or a case of atavism. 

 — The structure of the muscular fibres of the heart in 

 molluscs : Pierre Vigier. — On the muscular fibres of the 

 heart in Nassa reticulata : M. Mader. — The effect of the 

 chromatism of the eye in colour vision : A. Polack. — A new 

 example of physical adaptation between a natural stimulus, 

 a sound vibration, and a central perceptive organ : Augustin 

 Charpentier. By the use of phosphorescent screens a third 

 example is given of an influence exercised directly by a 

 natural agent upon the corresponding nervous centre. — The 

 action of the n-rays upon an isolated nerve trunk : Paul L. 

 Mercanton and Casimir Radzikowski. The sciatic 

 ner\"e of the frog is not excitable by exposure to the n-rays. 

 — Researches on the physiological effects of radium : C. J. 

 Salmonson and G. Dreyer. — The relations between intra- 

 organic combustions and tlie proportion of oxygen contained 

 in the arterial blood ; J. Tissot. Intraorganic combustions, 

 measured by the values of the respiratory exchanges, are 

 independent of the proportion of oxygen contained in the 

 arterial blood. — Researches on the blood of Selachians. The 

 toxic action of the blood of TnrpcJn inarinorata : E. Gley. 

 — The use of calcium sulphide against dodder and other 

 injurious parasites : F. Garrigou. 



New South W.^i.es. 



Linnean Society, April 27. — Mr. Thomas Steel in the 



chair. — Descriptions of new species of Australian Coleoptera, 



part vii. : A. M. Lea. Thirty species are described as new. 



Three previously unnoticed blind species from Tasmania 



NO. 1808, VOL. 70] 



are recorded — Aniioniatus j2-striatus, Miill., introduced 

 from England, probably with pot plants ; Phycochus 

 graniccps, Broun, found also in New Zealand ; and P. sulci- 

 pcnnis, n.sp. The number of blind species known from 

 Australia and Tasmania is thus brought up to a total of 

 eight. — Contributions to a knowledge of Australian Entozoa. 

 No. iii. On some species of Holostomidae from Australian 

 birds : S. J. Johnston. Five species, all parasites of 

 .Australian birds, are described as new. — .Australian fungi, 

 new or unrecorded. Decades vii.-viii. : D. McAPpine. Of 

 the twenty species recorded, seventeen, referable to thirteen 

 genera, are described as new. Myriangium, formerly 

 classed with the lichens, is represented by two species, and 

 a new genus, Amphichjeta, allied to .Monochsta, Sacc, is 

 proposed. The favourable condition of the specimens ex- 

 aq:iined has made it possible to give a description of the 

 spores of a species of Hexagonia — apparently the first to 

 be recorded. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



FRIDAY, June 24. 

 Physical Society, at 5.— Chemical Bissociatio 

 ductivity : A. E. Garrett .ind Dr. R. S. Willo 

 of Iron in Bulk : Dr. W. M. Thornton. 



MONDAY, June 27. 

 Royal Geographical Society, at 8.30. — The Anglo-French Boundary 

 Commission in Nigeria: Colonel G. S. McD. Elliot. R.E. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Life Work of a Scientific Engineer. Bv Prof. 



W. E. Ayrton, F.R.S 169 



Reminiscences. By Lord Avebury, F.R.S 172 



The Method of Nature Study. By A. D. H 173 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Haanel : " On the Location and Examination of 

 Magnetic Ore Deposits by Magnetometric Measure- 

 ments " 174 



Nicolas : " Spokil, an International Language" . . . 174 

 Merrill : "The Non-Metallic Minerals : Their Occur- 

 rence and Uses" 174 



Gages : " Essais des Metaux, Theorie et Pratique." — 



A. McW 175 



Kuhling : " Karl Huemann's Anleitung zum Experi- 

 mentiren bei Vorlesungen iiber anorganischen 



Chemie."— J. B. C 175 



Campbell- Hyslop and Cobbold : "Church Stretton " 175 

 Kirkpatrick : "Fundamentals of Child Study." — »; 



C. S. M 175 M 



Letters to the Editor : — ^ 



Residual Affinity. — Sir Oliver Lodge, F.R.S. . . 176 

 On a Dynamical System illustrating Spectrum Lines. — 



G. A. Schott 176 



A Correction.— Dr. C. V. Burton 176 



A World-wide Barometric See-Saw. (IVith Dia- 

 grams.) By Dr. William J. S. Lockyer 177 



English Field-Anthropology. [Illustrated.) By 



Ernest Crawley 179 



Progress in Wireless Telegraphy. By Maurice 



Solomon iSo 



Report of the Meteorological Grant Committee . . 181 



Notes ... 1S2 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



The Government Observatory, Bombay 186 



Nebulous Areas of the Sky 186 



Light Curve of 8 Cephei 186 



Position of the Axis of Rotation of Mars . ... 186 

 The Structure of Metals. By Dr. J. A. Ewing, 



F.R.S 1S7 



The Gas Supply of the Metropolis 188 



Seismological Notes 189 



University and Educational Intelligence 190 



Societies and Academies . . 191 



Diary of Societies 192 



