! UARY 20, I'H'lj 



NATURE 



499 



scenery, mammals, ind birds ol the South Polai zone. 

 I In author com ted on thi ui gi nl need ol inter- 

 national measures to preserve the fauna of thesi 

 I. gions. 



Mathematical Society, Februan i; Mr. J. E. 



Campbell, president, in the chair. Pro! II S. 



Carslaw D on ol waves bj a wedge ol any 



angle. T. C. Lewis: General or non-orthogonal 



sphei ii al co-ordinati -. 



,\1 1M III - i 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, Februan ) 

 Mr. W. rhomson, president, in the chair. R, S 

 Adamson and \. McK. Crahtmc : The herbarium of 

 John Dalton. The papei consisted of a shorl account 

 of the historj ol thi collection and of Dalton's 

 botanical wo - ol the more important points 



of botanical interest in th< collection were dealt with. 



Paris. 

 icademy ot Sciences, Februarj 3. M. L6on Guignard 

 in the chair. M. Pierre Viala was elected a member 

 of the section of rural economy in succession to the 

 late A. Muni/. \. Angeiesco : Two extensions ol 

 algebraic continued fractions. — E. Maillet : The 

 gradually varied movement and the propagation of 

 bores. — L. Decombe : Sadi Carnol and the principle 

 ol equivalence "I heal and work; his calculation ol 

 the mechanical equivalent of heal reconstituted with 



the aid of data taken exclusively from the " Reflexions 

 sur la puissanci motrice du feu." Following Clausius, 

 Hie reproach ha- Frequently been made against Carnot 

 hi adopted thi' material theory of heat, hut it 

 should not be forgotten that thi- was done with 

 serious reserves, and this is shown by passages from 

 his memoir. In the manuscript notes of Sadi Carnot, 

 quoted in full, is a series ol objections 10 the material 

 theory of heat, followed by a formal enunciation of 

 the principle ol equivalence, in the following terms : 



- \\ hich I 1 1 . 1 \ e foi Mled on tile till ui J 



ol heat, tli' production of one unit of motive power 

 necessitates the destruction id 2-70 unit- of heat." 

 Thi- figure of Carnot lead- to 370 kg. for the 

 in. , hanii 1 [ainsl the 365 kg. gi\ en 



at lea-i ti Mayei . ( 'arnol also 



>ki tehed out a programme of experiments practically 

 identical with those carried out fifteen or twenty 

 years later by foule, Colding, ami Iliru.- MM. 

 (iutton and Touh ; Non-deadened electric oscillatio 

 shorl wave-length. Thi which is described 



in detail and with a diagram, Furnishes wax.- of less 

 than two metres in length, and the harmonii vibra- 

 tions are extremely -mall. II. Claude: Amu applica- 

 tion of viscosity. \u accounl ol the use oi a verj 

 viscous liquid in connection with the recoil ol artillen 

 A diagram -how- the increased iccuraci oi shoo 

 obtained by this method of control when compared 

 with the gun in current use. I'. Gaubcrt : Liquid 

 ii i. .M id. P.-W. Stnart-Menteath : 

 The tectoni V Nodon : Researches 



on a new method of meteorological prediction ["hi 



lod i- based on 'he connection between the visible 

 disturbances of the sola cal and m;ii;- 



netii distut bani es on th of the atmo- 



sphere. M Mirande : The chondriome, th< chloro- 



-. and the nt 



\l Marage : Tin timbi 1 

 th.- partial!) .leaf. 



Washington, D.C. 



National Uademy of Sciences. November, 1 iiS (Pro- 



il. iv., Xo. mi 1.. I'.. \re\ and W. J. 

 Crosier : The "homing habits" ol monati 



mollusc Onchidium. O. floridamtm lives during high 

 M >. 2573. VOI . 102] 



tidi n ■ . , a\ ities, 1 ontaining a number 



viduals. I hi individuals Ii ave the m si in low^ 



feed, and ri urn simultaneously to il befon 



ce ol 1 iii 



\V. J. Crozier 1 1 1 Growth and duratio 

 life -I ( 'hiton tubei 1 th-curve is 



ed on the assumption that the age ol a (."hiton 

 may be estimated from the growth-lines upon its 

 shell. The mean duration ol life i- probably a little 

 less than eighl yeai (2) Growth ol Chiton tuber- 

 culatus in differenl environments. Growth-curves 

 I under differenl conditions an compared. — C. 



Barns : The interim mneli \ of vibrating systems. The 

 high luminosity of the achromatic interferences and 

 the occurrence of but two sharp fringes make it 

 possible to utilise them even in cases when the 

 auxiliary mirrors vibrate. The vibration interfero- 

 met.i is i[iiii' sensitive, provided thi iverage currents 

 are ol the order of several micro-amperes. — Sir Joseph 

 Larmor ; The essence of physical relativity. A genera! 

 discussion of the physics underlying relativity, with 

 particular reference to an article by Leigh Page. — C. 

 Barns : Gravitational attraction in connection with the 

 rectangular interferometer. The rectangular interfero- 

 meter is so sensitive in the measurement of small 

 angles that it may be used for the measurement oi 

 lb' Newtonian constant of gravitational attraction. — 

 \\ . P. White : The general character of specific heats 

 at high temperatures. The general law covering the 

 behaviour of atomic heats from the lowest tempera- 

 tun- up demands that at sufficiently high temperatures 

 all atomic heats at constant volumes should have the 

 5-96. A contrary hypothesis has been made, 

 namely, that atomic heats continue to increase with 

 the temperature. The substances here examined give 

 evidence thai the atomic heats do increase abovi 

 th. value sol'. <i. M- Green : Certain projective 

 generalisations of metrii theorems, and the curves of 

 Darboux and Segre. The continuation of earlier work 

 In the same autnor in the Proceedings.— C. Barus : 

 The rectangular interferometer with achromatic dis- 

 placement fringes in connection with the horizontal 

 pendulum. 



BOOKS RECEIVED. 

 Vstrographic Catajogue, 1900-0, Hyderabad Section. 

 Decembei t6° to -21. From photographs taken 

 ed at the Nizamiah Observatory, Hydera- 

 bad, undei the direction ol R. J. Pocock. Vol. ii. 

 Mea in'- "I Rectangular Co-ordinate- and Diameters 

 of 61,378 Star-images on Plates with Centres in 

 Di embei 18 . Pp. xlix+218. (Deccan, India: 



h Observi . 191- I t6s. net. 



Annuaire Astronomiqui el Meteorologique pour 1919. 

 Par Camille Flammarion. SS e annee. Pp. ;,6.i. 

 (Pari-: Librairie Ernest Flammarion, 1919O 3-5° 



tram -. 



vleddelanden Fran Statens Skogsforsoksansta'lt. 

 1: Pp.288 xxxii. (Stockholm: Aktiebolaget 



Hordiska Bokhandi In. 1918.) 4.50 kronor. 



! ays and I >iscourses. By Sir P. Chi 

 Ray. With .a biographical sketch and a portrait. 

 r, ...ii 549. (Madras: ti. A. Nathesan ami Co., 

 j 1 oi" es. 

 Organic Thio-compounds, with Special R 



and the Formation ol Poly- 



nium 'Di rivatives. Pat t i. B S I'. Chandra 



1, Pp. iii - 7". (Calcutta : The University, 



rraitement d. - Ps) 1 hone> — di ' iuerre. Par 

 G. Roussv, [. Boisseau, and M. d'Oelsnitz. Pp. 191. 

 1 1 . 1918.) • fram 



