December 5, 1918] 



NATURE 



279 



Dublin. 



Royal Irish Uadem\, November n. Mr. T. J. 

 Westropp, vice-president, in the chair.- Mrs. L. 

 I'uricr : ["he attachment organs of some common 

 Pannelis. The author continues her investigations of 

 the attachment organs of corticolous lichens bj 

 examining selecti of the Parmeliae viz. 



/'. physodes, conspersa, saxatilis, borreri, ompha- 

 lodes, olivacea, caper ata, .md perlafa— and concludes 

 that, except in the rase ol the first-named species, 

 the organs are rhizines, i.e. strands of hyphae holding 

 the thallus more or less close); to the substratum; 

 the rhizim s, .1- a rule, expand at their apices into 

 cup- or disc-like outgrowths, which may fuse to form 

 a complete layer covering the substratum, and from 

 which hvphae maj enter and disintegrate the bark.- 

 R. \\ 1 vani Some types oi cave formation. Tliat 

 limestone caves owe their origin to the enlargement of 

 rock joints either by the solvent or by the mechanical 

 > .1 well-known fact. Either the one 

 " 1 may have been predominant in the 

 formation of any particular cave. After reviewing 

 the different types of cave formation Mr. Evans en- 

 deavours to show which of the above-mentioned forces 

 has played the most important part in the special 

 instances cited. Mr. Evans's examples of the types 

 oi '.< are almost entirely derived from Irish 



Leeds. 



Society of Glass Technolo>«\. November 20.— Mr. 

 I-'. \V. Branson in Lhe chair. \Y. J. Rees : Silica 

 refractories for glassworks use. The author first out- 

 lined the various uses to which silica refractories 

 could be put in glassworks, and dealt briefly with the 

 isional specification that is being set up by the 

 Glass Refractories Committee, lie 'next dealt' with 

 the raw materials required in the manufacture of 

 5, . tc, and the methods employed in this 

 manufacture. He showed that the presence of iron 

 in the form of magnetic oxide of iron was not detri- 

 perties of a silica brick. The lowest 

 silica limit was put at 94 per cent., and it was shown 

 that the presence of much alumina or more than 2 per 

 ■ 'in. of lime was not advisable, l.ime- is certain to 

 be a constituent of the silica brick, as lime slurry 

 is used as a "bind." It is of interest to note thai 

 in -..me cases lime has a bleaching action, and masks 

 air. colour likely to be set up by the presence of iron 

 compounds. Some users of silica bricks insist on a 

 white or light-coloured brick, and reject dark-coloured 

 reddish bricks. It has Keen proved that the colour of 

 a brick is not the least criterion of its refractoriness. 

 Silica bricks may be either coarsi 01 line in texture, 

 but tlie texture must be uniform throughout. Coarse- 

 textured bricks are better f,„- withstanding sudden 

 temperature changes, but they are worse from the 

 point of view of attack by chemical fumes. Great 

 lined in the manufacture of bricks if 

 25 per cent. ,,f the materials are in the form of im- 

 palpable silica powder and the remainder in the form 

 ain- with a maximum diameter id \ in. — f . H. 

 IhnidM.n. v In^lish. and Dr. \Y. E. S. Turner! The 

 properties of soda-lime glasses. I., The annealing 

 temperatures A series of fourteen allied glasses had 

 beer. nning with a simple soda-silicate, and 



the effect id adding increasing amounts of lime on 

 ral cd the properties of glass had been studied. 

 The bat. I).- used were communicated, and the le-uli- 

 obtained for the annealing temperatures. It was 



shown that the annealing temperatures increased with 

 sing amount of lime. Increasing the lime 



NO. 2562, VOL. 102] 



percentage also improved the durability, and caused 

 the glass to "set" more quickly. A batch for a bottli - 



was given, which showed little or no tendency 

 to "crizzle," thus being different from the majority 



la-lime silicate glasses. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, November 4. M. 1'. Painlevd 

 in the chair. — H. Dduville : The breccia oi Salles and 

 of Sere-Argeles.— H. Parenty : The genesis of a 



(artesian agitation in a jet of steam of which the 

 velocity is limited to the velocity of sound. \1. 

 Ifalland : The rapid alteration of palm-oil. Palm-oil 

 intended for consumption by colonial troops should 

 be used as soon as possible after its preparation, 

 since it undergoes a sort of spontaneous saponification 

 which, after some months, prevents its use for culinarj 

 purposes.— Sir Philip Watts was elected a corre- 

 Spondant for the section of geography and naviga- 

 tion in succession to the late Lord Brassey.— E. Gau : 

 The characteristics of partial differential equations of 

 the second order.— P. Seve : Magnetic gear-wheels. 

 Application to electric clocks.— A. Sanfourche : The 

 Curie point in pure iron and ferro-silicons. The 

 specially purified iron was melted in a quartz tube 

 under a layer of boiling common salt, air and other 

 gases being thus excluded. A mass of 80 grams of 

 fused iron showed a point at 1310 C. on cooling, and 

 1365 C. on heating. These points were lowered by 

 the addition of silicon, iron with 2-5 per cent, of silicon 

 living 1195° C. as the Curie point (cooling).— P. 

 Corabaz : The end of the glacial period in the Guiers 

 valley and the Chartreuse massif.— A. Nodon : An 

 electro-magnetic storm.— P. Bertrand : The great 

 paUeontological divisions of the Stephanian in the 

 Loire basin.— E. Gadeceau : The submerged forests of 

 Relle-Ile-en-Mer.— M. Mirande : A hydrocyanic acid- 

 producing fern, Cystopteris alpina. The leaves of this 

 fern contain a glucoside giving hydrocyanic acid by 

 enzyme action. Benzaldehyde is also a product of the 

 hydrolysis of this glucoside.-F. Gaud : Some points 

 on the biology of the m.crofilar,a.-S ■ MaAai. 

 Specific vaccino-therapy in dysentery.— C. Lepeae. \ 

 curative vaccine for pulmonary tuberculosis.-M. 

 I.espinasse : The application of the Cepede method to 

 the staining of the leprosy bacillus. This method 

 gives results more rapidly and certainly than the usual 

 Ziehl-Neelsen method. 



November 11.— M. P. Painleve in the chair.— Ch. 

 Barrel. P. Pruvost, and G. Dubois: The passage beds 

 from the Silurian to the Devonian in the Pas-de- 



cession to the late Leon Lobbe.— -U- • • KK 

 permitting the simultaneous P WM y S : 

 two different regions of the spectrum. . 

 Constitution of the nucleus and atmosphere ot me 

 s un -M Francois: A method of estimating metals b 

 e ctroiv ic depo-it without the use of external electric 



. , ' v The solution to be electrolysed is placed m 

 a tinum crucible, and a rod of zinc or aluminium 

 susoended in the liquid in such a manner as to be 

 S S contact with the crucible outside the elec- 

 trolyte The arrangement forms a miniature battery, 

 ffi Method ha- been applied to the estimation o 

 mercurv gold, and silver.-L. Gent.l : I It 



Ir ,dsn of the deposits and of the orogenic move. 

 m-nrsin the North Wti, a and South **£ S«g 

 (southern Spain and Morocco!.- C. Nl ™°; , 



genus Parkinsonia .generic characters, affinities, and 



