204 



NATURE 



[June 30, 1904 



{\ohandl., 1903, p. 345) contributes a valuable paper on 

 pegmatites in the Ortler Alps, in which he opposes the 

 still popular view that such veins have been formed by 

 lateral segregation from the surrounding rocks. Dr. Rom- 

 berg (p. 365) adds yet another paper to the discussion of 

 the inter-relations of the Monzoni rocks, in which he tilts 

 vigorously against Dr. Doelter and his associated champions. 



.\ TKNTH edition of Mr. A. Jamieson's " Elementary 

 .Manual on Steam and the Steam Engine " has been pub- 

 lished by Messrs. Charles Griffin and Co., Ltd. 



M.ARCONi's Wireless Telegraph Company, Ltd., has pub- 

 lished a catalogue dealing with Rbntgen ray and high- 

 frequency apparatus, instruments and accessories. The 

 pamphlet, which is well illustrated, contains numerous useful 

 hints as to the use of induction coils and the charging of 

 batteries. Particulars as to the cost of instruments de- 

 scribed are conveniently arranged, and the catalogue should 

 be of service to workers in these branches of science. 



We have received a copy of the Bulletin for November, 

 1903, published by the Permanent International Council for 

 the Exploration of the Sea, the contents of the first part 

 of which were described in the issue of Nature for 

 June 9, p. 139. The present Bulletin is divided into 

 four parts, dealing respectively with the following 

 subjects : — the condition of the atmosphere and of the 

 surface water ; the temperature and salinity at various depths 

 expressed in metres; the nitrogen, oxygen, and carbonic 

 acid dissolved in sea-water ; plankton tables for Finland, 

 Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Holland, Belgium, England, 

 Scotland, and Russia. Attached to the several parts are 

 numerous charts showing the results arrived at by observers 

 of dilTerent countries. The Bulletin may be procured from 

 MM. Andr. Fred. H0st et Fils, of Copenhagen. 



The April number of the American Journal of Psychology 

 contains a paper by Mr. C. Spearman entitled " ' General 

 Intelligence' Objectively Determined and Measured." By 

 means of statistical methods of considerable refinement 

 and elaboration, the writer claims to have proved that an 

 absolute correspondence exists between the degree of 

 general intelligence and general power of sensorv dis- 

 crimination, and that there is a variable correspondence 

 between the latter and the more complicated intellectual 

 activities of practical life. He believes in an underlying 

 universal unity of the intellectual function, the psychical 

 nature of which is to be discussed in a later paper. 



The second part of the first volume of the British Journal 

 of Psychology was issued on June 10. It contains four 

 papers and the proceedings of the Psychological Society. 

 Dr. C. S. Myers writes on the taste-names of primitive 

 peoples, and refers to the results of a few experiments he 

 made with Dr. Seligmann in the islands of the Torres 

 Straits. He found that the literal meaning of the phrase 

 commonly used in the Torres Straits to denote sweetness is 

 "tasting good"; that the same phrase is applicable to 

 denote saltness, the usual word for which is derived from 

 sea-water ; the taste-names for salt and sour tend to be 

 confused ; and there is no specific name for the bitter taste. 

 Precisely similar features are found when the taste-names 

 of Indo-Germanic languages are examined. Dr. Myers 

 extends his inquiry to other primitive peoples, and the results 

 are given in his paper. Mr. W. H. Winch has a paper 

 on immediate memory in school children. Prof. R. Latta 

 contributes notes on a case of successful operation for con- 

 NO. 1809, VOL. 70] 



genital cataract in an adult, and Prof. W. McDougall deals 

 with the variation of the intensity of visual sensation with 

 the duration of the stimulus. 



A VERY readable paper on radium, by Mr. E. P. Poulton, 

 is contained in the March issue of the Transactions of the 

 Oxford University Junior Scientific Club. 



We have received Communications No. 87 and No. 88 

 from the physical laboratory of the University of Leyden. 

 In the first of these Dr. Kamerlingh Onnes describes the 

 methyl chloride circulation used in the cryogenic laboratory, 

 and in the second the results of the determination of the 

 isothermals of mixtures of oxygen and carbon dioxide by 

 Dr. W. H. Keesom are given. 



It is well known that the extension of the theory of 

 the asymmetric carbon atom by Wislicenus to account for 

 the isomeric relationships of ethylene derivatives is in many 

 cases unable to explain observed experimental facts. In 

 the current number of the Zcitschrift fur physikalisihe 

 Chemie, vol. xlviii. p. 40, Dr. Pfeiffer shows how it is 

 possible to account for many of these observations by a 

 modification of the van 't Hoff-Wislicenus theory. With 

 this modification the formation of the cis- or tciiiis-isomer 

 can be predicted, whether the ethylene compound i> obtained 

 from an ethane or an acetylene compound. 



The Carnegie Institute of Washington has just issued a 

 pamphlet (No. 7) containing an account of a new method 

 for determining compressibility by Messrs. T. W. Richards 

 and W. N. Stull. Bromine, iodine, carbon tetrachloride, 

 chloroform, bromoform, water, and mercury have been ex- 

 amined. In the case of a substance like bromine, the liquid 

 is hermetically enclosed in a very thin, flexible glass bulb, 

 and subjected to compression under mercury, correction 

 being made for the change in volume of the mercury and 

 the glass. A new form of high pressure manometer is 

 described the working of which depends upon the difference 

 between the compressibility of water and mercury. 



In a recent experimental investigation by Dr. I. \\u\S, 

 published in the Zeitschrift filr physikalische Chcmic (vol. 

 xlviii. p. 87), it is shown that the electromotive force at 

 which hydrogen ions are liberated from solution, when deter- 

 mined galvanometrically, is quite independent of the 

 pressure when this is varied between 001 and 800 atmo- 

 spheres. On the other hand, the polarisation of the 

 hydrogen electrode increases with the pressure, and this 

 increase is in quantitative agreement with Helmholtz's 

 formula. The experiments show very clearly that the 

 passage of a current through the solution is not necessarily 

 accompanied by the liberation of the gas in the form of 

 bubbles. 



The question as to whether the so-called colloidal or 

 pseudo-solutions are essentially different in character from 

 ordinary solutions has been the subject of much discussion 

 and experimental investigation of late years. By applying 

 the optical method of Tyndall to solutions, Messrs. Lobry 

 de Bruyn and Wolff, in the Kecueil des Travaux chimiques 

 de Pays-Bas, vol. xxiii. p. 21S, arrive at the conclusion that 

 there is no sharp line of demarcation between ordinary solu- 

 tions and pseudo-solutions. Solutions of bodies of high 

 molecular weight, such as tristearine and the hexabenzoyl 

 derivatives of mannite and dulcite in methyl alcohol, 

 chloroform and acetic ether, exhibit optical properties of the 

 same nature as colloidal solutions. Light is reflected 

 laterally from a beam incident on the solution, and this 

 reflected light is polarised. 



