286 
NAT ORE 
[JANUARY 21, 1904 
6c 
so-called cancer cells’? are not, indeed, 
gametes, but essentially of a similar character. 
They point out that the origin of gametogenic cells from 
somatic tissue is a common feature in plants, but its occur- 
rence is obscured in animals because it involves a patho- 
logical condition. They further point out that parasitic 
habit of the neoplasm finds its analogue in the normally 
parasitic character of the gametogenic tissue of plants. 
Linnean Society, December 17, 1903.—Prof. S. H. Vines, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair—The Rev. T. R. R. 
Stebbing, F.R.S., exhibited :—(1) A house-spider (Tegen- 
aria sp.) with its cylindrical dwelling in the coiled feather 
of an Indian fan. The fan which the spider adapted to its 
purposes had been hanging up in a drawing-room at 
Jerusalem. The spider, forwarded by Miss FitzJohn to Miss 
Grace Stebbing, reached England alive. (2) A solid gnaur 
or excrescence upon the root of Cupressus macrocarpa, sent 
for exhibition by Mr. F. G. Smart, of Tunbridge Wells; it 
was eleven inches in circumference.—On the Docoglossa ; 
an evolutionary study: H. J. Fleure. The Docoglossa are 
a division of gastropod molluscs for which the stout teeth 
oa the lingual ribbon have suggested a name literally mean- 
ing ‘*‘ beam-tongued.’’ The common limpet is a sufficiently 
familiar representative of this group. Mr. Fleure’s essay 
aims at showing that the group, within the limits which 
he defines, is a natural one. To arrive at the structure of 
the common ancestor, he uses “‘ the facts of comparative 
anatomy and the few known details of paleontology and 
embryology for the reconstruction of docoglossan history.”’ 
Admitting the preliminary character of this evolutionary 
study, based on the examination of comparatively few types, 
he appeals to zoologists for further material on ’which he 
may extend his researches.—A brief account of new re- 
searches in cancer: Prof. J. Bretland Farmer, F.R.S. The 
author referred to current theories of cancerous growth, and 
then proceeded to state his own discovery that the cyto- 
logical changes in malignant growth resemble those ex- 
hibited by sporogenous or gametogenous tissues in plants 
and animals, in the occurrence of the form of nuclear 
division known as heterotype, as distinguishéd from the 
more usual homotype division. 
Royal Astronomical Society, January $8.—Prof. H. H. 
Turner, president, in the chair—Mr. Conrady read a paper 
on the chromatic correction of object glasses.—Mr. Wm. 
Ellis read a paper on auroras and magnetic disturbances.— 
Mr. Maunder read a paper by Mrs. Maunder on a 
suggested connection between sun-spot activity and the 
secular change in magnetic declination.—Mr. Maunder 
also read a paper by himself (communicated by the 
Astronomer Royal) on the “* great ’’ magnetic storms from 
1875 to 1903, and their association with sun-spots, as re- 
corded at the Royal Observatory, Greenwich. The data 
given in the paper showed a remarkable number of co- 
incidences between the appearance of large spot groups and 
the occurrence of the greater disturbances in terrestrial 
magnetism.—Prof. Turner gave an account of the observ- 
ations of variable stars made under the direction of the late 
Sir C. Peek at Rousdon Observatory, Lyme Regis. _ Prof. 
Turner had undertaken to edit and discuss the observations, 
which would be shortly published in the Memoirs of the 
Society.—Mr. Tyson Crawford showed a new finder eye- 
piece and a sketching board arrangement for the telescope.— 
Mr. Wesley read a note on Mr. Ritchey’s photographs of 
the nebula in Andromeda. The transparency which Mr. 
Ritchey had sent to the Society had been taken from a 
negative in which the dense central portion had been re- 
duced with a weak reducing solution, so as to show on 
the same photograph the details both in the dense central 
and the faint outlying parts of the nebula. Mr. Wesley 
had. carefully compared this transparency with some 
untouched negatives which Mr. Ritchey had since sent, and 
concluded that the local reduction had produced no false 
detail or spurious effects.—Mr. Hinks showed photographs 
of the Orion nebula by Mr. W. E. Wilson, in which the 
detail in the central portion had been brought out by 
differential printing, instead of reduction of the negative. . 
’ 
functional 
EDINBURGH. 
Royal Society, December 7, 1903.—Dr. Robert Munro, 
vice-president, in the chair.—The Keith prize for 1899- 
No. 1786, VOL. 69] 
1901 was presented to Dr. Hugh Marshall for his dis- 
covery of the persulphates and for his communications on 
the properties and reactions of these salts, published in the 
Proceedings of the Society. The Makdougall-Brisbane 
prize for 1900-1902 was presented to Dr. Arthur T. Master- 
men for his paper entitled ‘‘ The Early Development of 
Cribella Oculata (Forbes), with Remarks on Echinoderm 
Development,”’ printed in vol. xl. of the Transactions of the 
Society.—In a paper on the bull trout of the Tay and of the 
Tweed, Mr. W. L. Calderwood discussed the identification 
of this important migratory species, and gave reasons for 
the view that the Tay bull trout was a true salmon, which 
has undergone modification of probably a temporary nature, 
while the Tweed fish was a trout regarded as the proper 
representative of S. eriox, now classed as a variety of 
S. trutta.—Mr. J. G. Goodchild read a paper entitled 
‘* Field Evidence Relating to the Modes of Occurrence of 
Intrusive Rocks,’’ in which he gave a detailed description 
of a number of cases in which intrusive rocks had clearly 
replaced their own volume of the rocks they invade. 
Hughes in 1868, and Clough in 1880, had indicated cases 
of this kind, and had considered that the country rock so 
replaced had been dissolved, and that the composition of the 
product had been equalised by circulation. Mr. Goodchild 
supported this view, and gave an outline of what appeared 
to be the modus operandi. The chief factors concerned 
were :—(1) the heat generated by dynamic causes, connected 
chiefly with terrestrial disturbance; (2) the presence of 
saline constituents existing in solution in sea-water or in 
the inland lakes of arid regions, which found their way to 
the foci of volcanoes and there underwent concentration by 
prolonged boiling ; and (3) the influence of pressure arising 
partly from the generation of steam and partly from the 
dynamic causes to which the volcanic heat was mainly due. 
He concluded with some remarks upon the differentiation 
of the magma originating in this way, and the possible 
effects which might arise from a potash magma invading 
an older set of rocks which had consolidated from an earlier 
soda magma. 
December 21, 1903.—Prof. Flint, vice-president, in the 
chair.—Prof. Schafer read a paper on the relative efficiency 
of certain methods of performing artificial respiration in 
man. After describing the apparatus he had devised for the 
accurate measurement of the air inspired and expired per 
minute, he proceeded to compare the various methods 
associated with the names of Sylvester, Howard, and 
Marshall Hall, and showed by actual numbers that these 
all fell short of the natural breathing, the least efficient 
being Sylvester’s, in which the chest is expanded and con- 
tracted by motion of the arms. This method, which was 
still in common use for resuscitation from drowning, was 
absolutely condemned. The Howard method was moder- 
ately efficient, and was most in favour among medical men. 
The Marshall Hall method was somewhat less efficient than 
the Howard, and had the further objection of being more 
complicated. More efficient than any of these, and remark- 
ably easy to perform, was the ‘‘ Schafer ’’ method, in which 
the subject was placed in the prone position and an inter- 
mittent pressure applied on the lower ribs by the mere 
weight of the operator’s body, which was swung backwards 
and forwards some thirteen times a minute. By this 
method 6760 cubic centimetres per minute were forced 
through the lungs as against 5850 cubic centimetres which 
passed in natural breathing.—Dr. C. E. Fawsitt gave an 
account of certain physicochemical investigations in the 
amide group. From determinations of the change of con- 
ductivity produced by the addition of an amide to acid, 
alkali, and neutral salts, he concluded that the amides have 
no acid character, but only basic properties. Accordingly, 
the amide group is better represented by the formula 
oO —C=NH 
I| than by the formula | 
—C—NH O—H 
of conductivity produced by the addition of an amide to a 
neutral salt is a viscosity effect. The viscosity of solution 
of acetamide and carbamide follows very closely the formula 
j'a=A*, where y is the viscosity with concentration a, and 
A is a constant.—In connection with Sir John Murray’s 
bathymetrical survey of the Scottish fresh-water lochs, Mr. 
James Murray gave a preliminary note on the biology of 
The change 
