NovEMBER 27, 1913]| 
NATURE 391 
series, but gas passed in addition over heated platinised 
asbestos, gave I-42905. The final mean of the fifteen 
observations of the first and third series was 1-42906. 
—Eug. Wourtzel: The decomposition of hydrogen 
sulphide by the radium emanation. The amount of 
gas decomposed was studied with respect to the effects 
of temperature and pressure.—Paul Pascal : Complex 
salts of uranium.—N. D. Costeanu: The action of 
carbon dioxide upon boron sulphide. The reaction 
was found to correspond to the equation 
B.S,+3CO.=B.0,+3CO+3S. 
—Albert Granger: The colorations arising in glasses 
‘containing copper. A satisfactory blue colour is 
obtained in a glass containing only 0-05 CuO for one 
molecule of the base. A larger proportion of copper 
gives a greenish shade, especially in glass with a 
high proportion of alkalies.—F, Bodroux : The catalytic 
esterification in aqueous solution of some primary 
alcohols of the C,,H,,,,.O series——H. Mech: The pro- 
ducts of condensation of the nitro-benzyl chlorides with 
acetylacetone, methylacetylacetone, and the cyanacetic 
esters.—Roger Douris: The action of mixed organo- 
magnesium derivatives upon the dimeric aldehyde from 
crotonaldehyde.—MM. Desgrez and Dorléans: The 
antagonism of the properties of guanine and adrena- 
line. The toxicity of adrenaline is diminished to a 
certain extent by the action of guanine, the adrena- 
linic glycosuria being notably reduced—R. Fosse: 
The identification of urea and its precipitation in 
extremely dilute solutions. The reagent proposed is 
xanthydrol. This precipitates dixanthylurea, of high 
molecular weight.. In a solution containing one- 
millionth part of urea, oor mgr. can be detected 
microscopically. From 0-03 to 0-05 gram of urea 
can be separated and identified by analysis. Details 
of the technique are given.—Henri Piéron: The 
mechanism of the chromatic adaptation of Idotea 
tricuspidata.—Albert Michel-Lévy : The limiting age of 
the granite in the Maconnais and Beaujolais moun- 
tains.—O. Mengel: The eastern termination of the 
synclinal of Mérens-Villefranche—G. Depape: The 
presence of Ginkgo biloba (Salisburya adiantifolia) in 
the Lower Pliocene of . Saint-Marcel-d’Ardéche.— 
Arthur L. Day and E. S. Shepherd: Water and mag- 
matic gases. It has been stated that the gases 
emitted by the crater of Kilauea do not contain 
water. Gas samples were taken directly from a lava 
fountain at the bottom of the crater, and proved to 
contain steam in considerable quantity, in addition to 
large proportions of sulphur dioxide and carbon 
dioxide. Carbon monoxide, hydrogen, and nitrogen 
were also present in these gases. Analyses are also 
given of the solid matter contained in the water 
deposited from the gas samples. 
Care Town. 
Royal Society of South Africa, October 15.—The 
president in the chair.—R. Marloth: A new mimicry 
plant (Mesembrianthemum lapidiforme). 
the plant consists only of two fleshy bodies (the 
leaves), which are half buried in the sand. Each 
leaf is about 1 in. to 1} in. in length and width, 
shaped like a tetrahedron with blunt edges and angles, 
and brownish-red in colour, like the angular frag- 
ments of stone among which the plant grows. It is 
consequently very difficult to detect even in localities 
where its occurrence is known. In spring the plant 
produces two flowers, ome at each side, which are 
joined to the parent plant by a very thin connection. 
The ripe seed vessel is consequently easily detached 
at this spot and can be carried away by the wind— 
a mode of dispersal unique among the nearly 400 
species of the genus Mesembrianthemum. The plant 
was discovered in the Ceres Karoo by Capt. Edward 
NO. 2300, VOL. 92] 
In summer | 
Alston._—J. P. Dalton: An experimental modification 
of van der Waals’s equation. The a of van der 
Waals’s equation is considered to be a function of the 
temperature only, and the b to be independent of the 
temperature. The function is then determined for a 
typical normal substance (isopentane) from the ex- 
perimental isothermals, and it is shown that the law 
loga=a+AT is accurately obeyed. The equation is 
modified accordingly. The new saturation constants 
are obtained, and the modified vapour pressure curve 
is found to represent experimental, results for both 
normal and abnormal substances much more closely 
than the original. The new values agree well with 
the van der Waals vapour pressure formula, and the 
value of the constant at the critical point is prac- 
tically equal to that which is given by carbonic acid 
and by isopentane. The modified equation is also 
used with quite satisfactory results for the calculation 
of latent heats and also for obtaining the curve of 
inversion of the specific heat of saturated vapours.— 
J. R. Sutton : Barometric variability at Kimberley and 
elsewhere. An attempt to determine working con- 
stants which shall represent the ‘‘cylonic activity” 
at various places in South Africa and such other 
places outside as have available information regarding 
the barometer. Tables are given showing the monthly 
mean constants, with maximum and minimum values, 
or barometric variability. One deduction is that the 
‘‘equinoctial gales,"’ so far as barometric changes can 
represent them, have no existence in fact. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Les Zoocécidies des Plantes d’Europe et du Bassin 
de Ia Méditerranée. By C. Houard. Tome Troisiéme. 
Supplément 1909-12. Nos. 6240 a 7550. Pp. 1249- 
15360. (Paris: A. Hermann et Fils.) 10 francs. 
Die Stammesgeschichte der héheren Pflanzen. By 
Dr. W. Breitenbach. Pp. 77. (Brackwede i.W.: 
Dr. W. Breitenbach.) 1.50 marks. 
Vergleichende Physiologie und Morphologie der 
Spinnentiere unter _besonderer Beriicksichtigung der 
Lebensweise. By Prof. F. Dahl. Erster Teil. Pp. 
vit113. (Jena: G. Fischer.) 3.75 marks. 
Handbuch der Vergleichenden Physiologie. Edited 
by H. Winterstein. Band iii. Erster Heft. (Jena: 
G. Fischer.) 5 marks. 
Handworterbuch der Naturwissenschaften. Edited 
by E. Korschelt and others. 62 and 63 Lief. (Jena: 
G. Fischer.) 2.50 marks each Lief. 
The Romance of the Newfoundland Caribou. By 
A A. Radclyffe Dugmore. Pp. viiit+191+plates. 
(London: W. Heinemann.) 12s. 6d. net. 
The Waters of the North-Eastern North Atlantic : 
Investigations Made During the Cruise of the Frith- 
jof, of the Norwegian Royal Navy, in July, r910. By 
F. Nansen. Pp. 139+xvii plates. (Leipzig: Dr. W. 
Klinkhardt.) 
The Nummulosphere. By R. Kirkpatrick. Part 2. 
The Genesis of the Igneous Rocks and of Meteorites. 
Pp. xv+plate. (London: Lamley and Co.) esvanett 
Principles and Methods of Teaching Geography. 
By F. L. Holtz. Pp. xii+359- (London: Macmillan 
and Co., Ltd.) 5s. net. 
Practical Surveying and Elementary Geodesy. By 
Prof. H. Adams. Pp. xii+276. (London : Macmillan 
and Co., Ltd.) 4s. 6d. 
Manures and Fertilizers. By Dr. H. J. Wheeler. 
Pp. xxi+389- (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.) 
7s. net. 
Lepidoptera Indica. By Col. C. Swinhoe. 
Part exxii. Pp. 313-336+plates. part cxxiii. Pp. 
-337-364+x. (London: L. Reeve and Co., Ltd.) 10s. 
plain; 15s. coloured; and 15s. respectively. 
