142 



NA TURE 



[December 7, 1905 



is probably due to the differential growth of a crust-fold 

 along a fault which intersects it transversely, the first 

 movement, as a rule, being one of rotation of the middle 

 limb, accompanied by the almost simultaneous slip of the 

 two arches, and followed soon afterwards by a shift of the 

 middle limb. 



Zoological Society, November 14. — Mr. G. A. Boulenger, 

 F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. — Exhibitions. — (1) The 

 mounted head and skin of a white water-buck (Kobus 

 ellipsiprymnus) from British East Africa; (2) two mounted 

 heads of the rhinoceros, one of which showed abnormal 

 growth of the anterior horn, whilst the other bore four 

 horns, viz. two on the nose, one between the ears, and one 

 nearlj at the back of the head : Colonel W. H. Broun. — 

 (1) Specimens of a very rare and interesting marsupial, 

 hitherto unique, in the Paris Museum, viz. Dactylopsila 

 palpator, Milne-Edw., which differed from />. trivirgata by 

 the extremely thin prolonged second finger; (2) two tusks 

 which had been obtained by Baron Maurice de Rothschild 

 during his recent expedition to Abyssinia : Hon. W. 

 Rothschild.- Microscopic preparations of a new liremo- 

 sporidian from the blood of an African stork (Leptoptilus 

 crumeniferus) : A. S. Hurst. The exhibitor pointed out 

 that this parasite belonged to the genus Halteridium, but 

 differed from //. danilewskyi in its greater size (stade 

 moyen 7-10 fil, and also in its method of speculation, in 

 which the merozoites were more numerous, smaller, and 

 arranged in a ball-like rounded mass. The name 

 Halteridium crumenium was proposed for the new species. 



A letter hum Mr. William Rodier, of Tambua Station, 

 Cobar, N.S.W., concerning the continued success of Mr. 

 Rodier's plan for counteracting the rabbit pest : Dr. P. L. 

 rclater. The plan consisted simply in catching the rabbits 

 alive and killing the females only, letting the males go 

 free. — The Satyrits indicus of Tulpius, said to be the type 

 of the genus Simia : H. Scherren. Remarks were made 

 with the view of showing that the animal was a gorilla, 

 and was recognised before the middle of the eighteenth 

 century as differing from a chimpanzee. The distinction 

 between the tschego and the ngina was, he said, known in 

 England in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. — 

 Papers. — On the papillary ridges in mammals, chief!) 

 primati - : Dr. W. Kidd. The arrangements of the ridges on 

 the hand and foot of twenty-four species were shown ami 

 described, and their functions discussed. Arguments wen 

 brought forward to show that their primary function was 

 to increase the delicacy of the sense of touch. — On the 

 mammals brought back by the Tibet Mission : J. L. 

 Bonhote. The collection was very small, containing 

 examples of onlj some eight species, three of which were 

 described as new, viz.: — (1) Vulpes vulpes waddelli, 

 subsp.n. Similar to J', v. flavescens, but the whole color- 

 ation much brighter, especially the median dorsal area, 

 whi.h was deep red and markedl) distinct from the colour 

 ol the flanks. (2) Cricetulus lama, sp.n. Allied to 

 C. phaeus, but much greyer in general coloration, and the 

 tail somewhat longer .and stouter. (3) Microtus (Phacomys) 

 waltoni, sp.n. Closely allied in skull characters to Ph. 

 blythi. The general coloration, however, was fulvous- 

 grey, slightlj greyer ovei the anterior pari of thi body 

 Notes on the geographical distribution oi the okapi : Dr. 

 E. Lonnbcrjr. — Observations on the Goral (Cemas goral) 

 in Burma : Major G. F. Evans. — A collection of the 

 mammals of Crete : Miss D. M. A. Bate. Examples of 

 sixteen forms, of which six were described as new sub- 

 species, were contained in the collection, and these were 

 'numerated and remarked upon in the paper. 



Physical Society, November 24.— Prof. J. H Poynting, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The dielectric strength of 

 air : A. Russell. The author makes the assumption that 

 for distances apart greater than about a millimetre when 

 the disruptive voltage is Y kilovolts the effective P.O. 

 between the ends of the Faraday tube which is subject to 

 tin maximum stress is V — 6, where e is the minimum 

 sparking voltage. Applying formula; which he has deduced, 

 using this assumption, to tests of Heydweiller, Steinmetz, 

 Algermissen, &c, the author finds that they agree in 

 making the dielectric strength of air 38 kilovolts per cm. 

 approximately. A knowledge of this quantity enables us 

 to find, not only the disruptive voltages between electrodes 

 NO. 1884. VOL. JT,'] 



of many geometrical shapes, but it also enables us to find 

 the " critical " pressure for overhead electric-power trans- 

 mission at high pressures. — On the electrical conductivity 

 of flames for rapidly alternating currents : Dr. H. A. 

 Wilson and E. Gold. The following is a summary of 

 the results : — (1) For rapidly alternating currents a flame 

 containing an alkali salt vapour behaves like an insulating 

 medium of high specific inductive capacity. (2) The con- 

 ductivity of different alkali-salt vapours in a flame for 

 rapidly alternating currents, as measured by the apparent 

 capacity of platinum electrodes immersed in the flame, 

 varies as the square root of the conductivity of the same 

 salt vapours for steady currents. This result confirms the 

 view that the negative ions from all salts have the- same 

 velocity. (3) The apparent capacity varies nearly inversely 

 as the square root of the maximum applied P.D. (4) The 

 apparent capacity is nearly independent of the number of 

 alternations per second. (5) The apparent capacity is 

 nearly independent of the distance between tin electrodes. 

 (0) The results (1) to (5) are in agreement with the 

 ionic theory of the conductivity of the flame for rapidly 

 alternating currents when the velocity of the positive ions 

 and (he inertia and viscous resistance to the motion of the 

 negative ions are neglet ted in comparison with the effects 

 due to the number of ions per c.c. (7) The apparent 

 capacity per sq. cm. area of the electrodes is equal to 

 ijne S7r\ m , where n is the number ol positive ions per 

 c.c, e the charge on one ion, and V the maximum applied 

 P.D. (8) Not more than one molecule in ten of salt 

 molecules is ionised at any instant, but each molecule is 

 probably ionised and re-combines several million times per 

 second. (9) The steadv currents observed through salt 

 vapours in flames are very far from the maximum possible 

 currents corresponding to the number of ions produced per 

 second. — On the lateral vibrations of loaded and unloaded 

 bars : J. Morrow. This is a continuation of the work 

 previouslv communicated by the author on the vibration of 

 bars of uniform and varying sectional area. By means of 

 a method of continuous approximation the elastic displace- 

 ment curves and the frequency <<i the lateral vibrations of 

 liars can be determined to any required degree ol accuracy. 

 The method is first applied to some cases of unloaded bars, 

 and also to massless liars carrying concentrated loads. 

 The paper then deals with the principal problems of loaded 

 bars which are themselves of appreciable mass. 



Manchester. 



Literary and Philosophical Society, October 31. — Prof. 

 W. Boyd-Dawkins, F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair. 



On a biological aspect of cancer: F. J. Faraday. The 

 author directed attention tec a paper with this title read by 

 him in 1899, and printed in vol. xliii. of the society's 

 Memoirs. Several of the conclusions recently arrived at 

 by the cancel research committee were therein fore- 

 shadowed, e.g. that earner is not a microbic disease, but 

 is due to an arrest of development and differentiation 

 among tin- somatic cells, growth being restricted to mere 

 gemmation. — Some recent researches into the nutrition of 

 tin- egg cell in certain plants : Dr. Marie C. Stopes. The 

 spec ial gri up of plants on which the author worked was 

 that including the pine trees, < ,inkgo, and the Cvcads, 

 viz. the Gymnosperms. Though the egg cells in this group 

 are in many ways different from those of the flowering 

 plants, the- results have some hearing on the question of 

 nutrition of egg cells in general, as well as some points 

 of general technique. Much of the work was done in 

 conjunction with Prof. Fujii, of Tokio, with whom the 

 author is publishing a joint paper on the subject in 

 Germany.— A model to illustrate the propagation of sound 

 waves: llr. 11. Ramsden. The model consists of a 

 series of magnetised needles, suspended vertically so as to 

 vibrate in the same plane with their like poles downwards, 

 and is d, 'signed to show (since the needles were constructed 

 and regulated to have equal times of oscillation) most of 

 the phenomena of the longitudinal transmission of waves. 



November 14. — Sir W. II. Bailey, president, in the chair. 

 — Seaweed : C. L. Barnes. The author read some extracts 

 from the classical writers which showed in how little 

 esteem seaweed was held by the ancients, it being re- 

 garded by them as the most useless of things. He then 

 showed, by an enumeration of some of the uses tec which 



