240 



NATURE 



[November 21, 1918 



ness determinations, and described a new a] 

 which was designed Eor making hardness tests at 

 ratui Hi also gave data showing thai 



the hardness of pure solid elements is a periodic funs 



lion of their atomic weight. 



Sydnbv. 



Royal .Society of New South Wales, September 4. Mi. 

 W. S. Dun, president, in the chair. \V. (i. Wool. 

 nough : The Darling peneplain ol Western Australia. 

 The physiographic feature in Western Australia 

 called by Jutson the Darling peneplain repeats in 

 many respects the characters nl the Blue Mountain 

 uplands of Now South Wales. Ii extends as a mono- 

 tonous, laterite-covered plateau from the steep escarp] 

 ment twelve miles easl of Perth for nearly lout- 

 hundred miles through the eastern goldfields. The 

 monotony of the sui face is interrupted by occasional 

 hills representing residuals of a pre-existing plateau 

 from which the Darling peneplain has been eroded, 

 and by long, shallow valleys, forming the great win al- 

 beit of the Stale, which have been carved out of its 

 surface by rivers. — Prof. C. R. Fawsitt and A. A. 

 Pain : Experiments on the behaviour of iron in 

 contact with sulphuric acid. The very slow- 

 action of concentrated sulphuric acid on steel is 

 only accelerated to a moderate extent by dilution 

 with several per cent, of water. For' instance, 

 85 per cent, of acid has only a very slightly greater 

 action than 94 per cent, of acid. The' rate of 

 action increases rather suddenly when diluting from 

 85 per cent, to 80 per cent, of acid, and again from 

 70 per cent, to 65 per cent, of acid. The electrical 

 potential of iron with respect to concentrated sulphuric 

 acid falls noticeably after the iron has been lving in 

 the acid for a few minutes. The original potential 

 is largely restored by exposing the iron for a few- 

 minutes to the air. — H. G. Smith : The resinous earfM 

 occurring at the head of the Nambucca River, N.S.W. 

 This paper records the results of an investigation of 

 the earth from two localities. It is shown that the 

 ready ignition is due to the presence of the resin the 

 ■earth contains. That it is of organic origin is indi- 

 cated from the results of the analysis. The presence 

 of nitrogenous products, as well as of phosphoric acid 

 and a small amount of benzoic acid, also supports the 

 conclusion. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 



A Manual of Chemistry. Theoretical and Practical. 

 Inorganic and Organic." By Dr. A. P. Luff and 

 H. C. H. Candy. Sixth edition. Pp. xix + 745. 

 {London : Cassell and Co., Ltd.) 12.?. net. 



Petrol and Petroleum Spirits : A Description of 

 their Sources, Preparation, Examination, and Uses. 

 By Capt. W. E. Guttentag. Pp. xi,+ 135. (London: 

 E. Arnold.) 10s. 6tj. net. 



Surgery at a Casualty Clearing Station. By C 

 Wallace .,,icl J. Fraser. Pp. xi+320. (London : A. 

 and C. Black, Ltd.) tos. 6d. net. 



Folk-lore in the Old Testament: Studies in Com- 

 parative Religion, Legend, and Law. By Sir |. C. 

 Frazer. 3 vols. Vol. i.. pp. xx\--!-s>,; vol. ii.. 

 pp. xvi + 571; vol. iii., ,,p. xviii + ^66. (London: 

 Macmillan and Co.. Ltd.) 57s. 6d. net. 



Civic Biology. By Prof. C. F, Hodge and Dr. J. 

 Dawson. Pp. viii I-381, with plates. (London: (.inn 

 and Co.) 7s. net. . 



Projective Geometry. Bj Profs. O. Veblen and 

 J. W. Voung. Vol. ii. Pp. \ii • 511. (London : Ginn 

 and Co.) 21.?. net. 



Industrial Electrical Measuring Instruments. Bv 



K. Edgcumbe. Second edition. Pp. 



- table and Co., Ltd.) ids. ni t. 

 Junior Grade Science. By G. A. Watson. I 

 1S1. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.) 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, November ». 

 1 11 iv, at 4.30.— W. Stiles and tlr. F. Kidd : (1) The In- 



fluence of External Concentration on the Position of the I 



n the Intake of Salts by Plant Cells; (a) The Con,,, ..rat ve 

 f various Salts by Plant Tissue.- G. Marinesco : 

 i-Cliniques sur les N6vromes d'An 

 douloureux : Nouvelles Contributions a l'Etudede la Regeneration oerveuse 

 et du Neurotropisme. 

 LrNNRAN Society, at 5. — E. S. Goodrich.: A Fatherless Fro.:, with 

 remarks on Artificial Parthenogenesis.— Miss Muriel Bristol: A Review 

 of the Genus Chlorochytnum. Cohn.— A. S. Kennard and B. 11. Wood- 

 ward : The I.innean Species of Non-marine Mollusca that are represented 

 in the British Fauna, witfa Notes on the Specimens of these and other 

 British Forms in the I.innean Collection 

 ROYAL SOCIETV of Arts, at 4.30. — Sir Everard im Thurn : The Present 



State "f the Pacific Islands. 

 Institution of Miming and Metallurgy, at s.30. — K. R. Kalian : Re- 

 in, 1 rig Gold Bullion with Chlorine Gas and Air.— A. Yates: Effect of 

 Heating and Heating and Quenching Cornish Tin Ores before Crushing. 

 — R. J. Harvey: 'the Development of Galena Flotation at the Central 

 Mine. Broken Hill. 



. of Electrical Engineers, at 6—1. H. Shaw: The Use or 

 High Pressuie and High Temperature Steam in Large Power Stations. 

 Institution of Mining and Metallurgy, at 5.30. 



MOJVDAV, November 25. 

 Rovai. Geographical Society, at 8.— Arnold Hodson : Southern 

 Abyssinia. 



TUESDAY, November =6. 

 Royal Anthropological Institute, at 5- — F. G. Parsons : Anihropo. 

 logical Observations on German Prisoners of War. 



WEDNESDAY, November z 7 . 

 Royal Society of Arts, at 4.30 — Lord D'Abernon : Drink Control in 



THURSDAY, November i8. 

 Arts, a* 4.30. — Bhupendranath Ba 



1 : Some Aspects 



CONTENTS. page 



Principles of Reconstruction 221 



An American Chemical Directory 222 



Electricity and Health. By W. M. B 224 



The Radcliffe Foundations. By H. M. V 224 



Our Bookshelf 225 



Letters to the Editor:— 



The Perception of Sound. — Rt. Hon. Lord Ray- 



leigh, O.M., F.R.S. . 225 



Zeiss Abbe Refractometer. — F. Simeon 226 



British Thermometers.— Chas. R. Darling .... 226 

 Research on Health and Disease. By Prof. W. M. 



Bayliss, F.R.S .226 



War-time Beef Production, By C. C 227 



State Assistance to the Dye Industry 228 



Commercial Aviation 228 



Notes .... 229 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Tho Planet Saturn 233 



'I lie Origin of Comets 233 



Minor Planets 233 



The Occlusion of Gases in Metals 234 



Geology of the Persian Oilfields 234 



The Constitution of the Earth's Interior. By R. D. 



Oldham, F.R.S. 235 



Hydro-electric Power Supply. By R. B. Joyner . 236 



University and Educational Intelligence 237 



Societies and Academies 238 



Books Received 240 



Diary of Societies 240 



ST 



Editorial and Publishing Offices : 

 MACMILLAN AND CO., Ltd.. 

 MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON, W.C.2. 



NO. 2560, VOL. I02] 



Advertisements and business letters to be addressed to the 

 Publishers. 

 Editorial Communications to the Ediitr. 

 Telegraphic Address : Phusis, London. 

 Telephone Number Gerrard 8830. 



