440 
NATURE 
‘at Sa 
i 
[DECEMBER II, 1913 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
Lonpon. 
Royal Society, December 4.—Sir William Crookes, 
O.M., president, in the chair.—Sir Francis Darwin : 
A method of studying transpiration. The method is 
to close the stomata by coating the surface of the 
leaf with vaseline or some other grease, and then to 
place the intercellular spaces in connection with the 
outer air by cutting the leaf into strips. It is found 
by experience that such leaves transpire at rates com- 
parable to those observed in natural leaves, and that 
they appear to behave normally in relation to external 
influences. In the present paper the effect of the 
relative humidity of the air is considered.—Sir Francis 
Darwin: The effect of light on the transpiration of 
leaves. The object of the research was to get a 
general idea of the differences in transpiration pro- 
duced by alternate periods of diffused light and dark- 
ness. The experiments were made on the laurel 
(Prunus laurocerasus) and the ivy (Hedera helix), 
either by weighing or with the potometer. The 
results proved variable, and only by taking an average 
of a considerable number of experiments were figures 
of any sort of value obtained. For Prunus the average 
transpiration-rates in light and darkness are as 
132: 100; for ivy the figures are 136: 100.—Prof. 
J. B. Farmer and L. Digby: Dimensions of chromo- 
somes considered in relation to phylogeny. It is not 
possible to maintain that the width of chromosomes 
is a feature constant for the large phyla of the animal 
kingdom, inasmuch as not only are there appreciable 
individual differences, but in closely related species, 
e.g. lobster and prawn, this difference amounts to at 
least 60 per cent.—J. H. Mummery: The process of 
calcification in enamel and dentine. Although much 
has been written on the calcification of teeth, the 
actual mode of deposition of the lime salts has been 
very little investigated. The author shows that both 
in dentine and enamel the lime salts are deposited in 
the globular form, despite the chemical composition 
of the finished tissues——A. Compton: The optimum 
temperature of salicin hydrolysis by enzyme action is 
independent of the concentrations of substrate and 
enzyme. The optimum temperature of the enzyme in 
question is independent alike of the concentration of 
the substrate and of the concentration of the enzyme. 
—C. F. U. Meek: The ratio between spindle lengths 
in the spermatocyte metaphases of Helix Pomatia.— 
Dr. A. P. Laurie, W. F. P. McLintock, and F. D. 
Miles: Egyptian blue. The purpose of the research 
is to decide the exact conditions under which the 
blue, manufactured and used in Egypt from the fourth 
dynasty to classical times, is produced, and to clear up 
the doubts as to its nature and constitution. The 
results of the investigation are to confirm the con- 
clusion come to by Fouqué that the blue is a double 
silicate consisting principally of calcium and copper, 
but in which these metals can be partially replaced by 
alkalies. When soda, lime, and copper carbonate are 
heated with an excess of sand, a green glass is formed 
round the quartz particles at about 800° C. At about 
840° the double silicate begins to crystallise out of 
this magma, again completely dissolving to form a 
green glass at 890° C. The discovery.of this com- 
pound by the Egyptians is doubtless due to their 
practice of glazing small articles carved out of sand- 
stone with a green copper glaze. 
Royal Meteorological Society, November 19.—Mr. 
C. J. P. Cave, president, in the chair—W. H. Dines : 
The daily temperature change at great heights. When 
‘observations by means of registering balloons were 
first started in England in 1907, it was soon found 
that the effect ‘of solar radiation upon the thermo- 
graph was a matter that must be reckoned with. To 
NO. 2302, VOL. 92] 
avoid the trouble, balloons were mostly sent up a little 
before sunset, and this policy continued until the 
meeting of the International Committee at Monaco in 
the spring of 1909. At that mé@eting the time of 
7 a.m. was fixed for the international ascents, 7 a.m. 
being the time for which the morning weather chart — 
is drawn. Since then, ascents have been made in — 
England at the specified time, viz. 7 a.m., on the 
But other — 
ascents have also been made on the international days 
ry 
ae 
twenty-three specified days per annum. 
and on days of special meteorological interest, such 
as the occurrence of thunder, or of a very high or — 
very low barometer, and such ascents are mostly 
made in the evening. Some 200 good observations 
have been made in the British Isles, reaching to about 
16 kilometres, concentrated into two nearly equal 
groups, one with its centre two hours after sunrise, 
and the other about a quarter of an hour after sunset. 
Mr. Dines has carefully discussed these records, and 
finds that above two kilometres and up to the iso- 
thermal column, the daily range of temperature, if it 
exists at all, does not exceed 2° C., and that the 
maximum is in the afternoon or evening.—H. 
Harries: The eddy winds of Gibraltar. The Rock 
rises to 1400 ft., and is very exceptionally situated at 
the entrance to the Mediterranean, and consequently 
gives rise to great eddies of wind. Mr. Harries on 
two visits to Gibraltar made some observations on 
these eddies at the summit signal station, 1310 ft., 
by means of small balloons and pieces of wadding and 
wool. As the observations were carried out under 
nearly calm and also very windy conditions the results 
are both curious and interesting, and may help to- 
throw light on some of the atmospheric disturbances 
which are a source of trouble to aviators. 
Linnean Society, November 20.—Prof. E. B. Poulton, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair—H. J. Elwes: The 
travels of Sir Joseph Hooker in the Sikkim Himalaya. 
Hooker received in all r1ool. from Government, and 
the return was marvellous in comparison with that 
modest subsidy. The first year, 1849, was devoted to 
work to the westward, including a part of Nipal, as 
far as the Yangma valley, and ending in late autumn; 
the second year was spent in northward exploration 
as far as the Tibetan boundary at the Donkia pass. 
Besides the collection of a vast number of plants, 
Hooker observed the geology and meteorology of the 
country traversed, and plotted the map which was 
published in his ‘‘ Himalayan Journals.’’ A subordinate 
part was the despatch of more than 1000 packets of 
seeds to the elder Hooker, by whom they were dis- 
tributed to many private gardens and nurseries, by 
which means European cultivators became possessed, 
amongst other things, of the Himalayan Rhododen- 
drons. Of the literary results of these investigations 
may be mentioned the two volumes of the ** Himalayan 
Journals,”’ 1854, the splendid ‘Illustrations of Hima- 
layan Plants,”’ 1855, and the noble ‘‘ Rhododendrons 
of the Sikkim Himalaya,” brought out in 1849-51 by 
Sir William Hooker during his son’s absence in India. 
Zoological Society, November 25.—Prof. E. W. Mac- 
Bride, F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair.—Orjan 
Olsen: A new Rorqual from the coast of South Africa. 
A detailed account was given of external characters, 
biology, and distribution.—Miss Marie V. Lebour: A 
new species of Trematodes of the genus Lechriorchis. 
The species was found in the body-cavity of a dark 
green snake (Zamenis gemonensis) that had died in 
the society’s gardens.—T. H. Withers: Cirripede re- 
mains from the Cenomanian Chalk Marl in the neigh- 
bourhood of Cambridge. The greater number of the 
specimens are referred to two species of the family 
Pollicipedidze, and add materially to our knowledge of 
the phylogeny of the pedunculated Cirripedes. Both 
