192 



NA TURE 



[December 2 1, 1905 



Salet. The spectrum of the prominences showed lines 

 characteristic of helium, coroniurn, hydrogen, cerium, 

 titanium, calcium, and iron. — On the new Giacobini 

 comet : M. Giacobini. Observations and elements ol a 

 comet discovered at Nice on December 6. — On the con- 

 vergence of the regular continued fractions of the 

 function F(h,i,h',u) : 11. Pade.— On the problem of 

 the motion of a homogeneous fluid ellipsoid all parts 

 ol which attract each other according to the law 

 of Newton : W. Stekloff. — The theory of a solitary 

 wave which is propagated along a horizontal elastic 

 tube : A. Boulanger. — The evaluation of the magnify- 

 ing power of microscopic objectives : L. Malassez. 

 — On the co-existence of paramagnetism and diamagnetism 

 in the same crystal: Georges Meslin. Experiments are 

 described proving the existence of both para- and dia- 

 magnetism in tiie same crystal of pyrrhotine, and the 

 continuous variation of the magnetic susceptibility with 

 the direction. The action of a magnetic field on the 

 Goldstein rays (Canal-strahlen) : Henri Pellat. Some 

 curious and somewhat paradoxical experiments on the 

 Goldstein rays are described. In magnetic fields of low 

 intensity the rays behave exactly like positivelj charged 

 particles. As the intensity approaches iooo Gauss, the 

 whole tube appears uniformly luminous, and if the mag- 

 netic field is still further increased, the luminosity con- 

 tracts, but the deviation is in the opposite sense to that 

 which is produced in magnetic fields of lower intensity. 

 The author is at present unable to offer any explanation 

 of the phenomenon. — A new arrangement for obtaining 

 a monochromatic image of a source of light: Albert 

 Nodon. — On the solution of platinum in sulphuric acid : 

 Marcel Delepine. The action of sulphuric acid contain- 

 ing potassium sulphate upon platinum foil has been studied. 

 The action increases with the amount of potassium sulphate 

 present, probably on account of the higher boiling point 

 of the mixture thus obtained. Ammonium sulphate re- 

 duces the solvent effect. — On two iodomercurates of 

 lithium : A. Dubbin. — On a new compound of fluorine 

 and bromine : Paul Lebeau. Fluorine unites directly 

 with bromine giving a compound BrF,,. This trifluoride, 

 in which the bromine may be considered as trivalent, is a 

 colourless liquid solidifying on cooling, and melting at 

 4° C. The chemical activity of this substance is very 

 great, resembling that of fluorine. — Researches on the 

 formation of metallic lustre on the surface of pottery : I.. 

 Franchet. — On the bromoborates of calcium : L. 

 Ouvrard. — On the limiting states of some dissolved 

 chromic salts : Allien Colson. — The action of phosphorus 

 pentachloride on j8-naphthol : E. Berger. Phosphorus 

 pentachloride acting on /3-naphthol at temperatures below 

 130 C. gives a good yield of the ether, C n ,H r — O — C' IM 11. ; 

 at temperatures above 135° C. ^-chlornaphthalene is 

 formed. The vields are not high, but on account of the 

 low prices of the materials it forms a good preparative 

 method. — On some derivatives of anthracene octahydride 

 and on the perhydride of anthracene : Marcel Godchot. 

 The synthesis of dihydrocamphoric acid: G. Blanc. — On 

 acetylcyclohexanone : Georges Leser. — Anatomical and 

 physiological modifications produced in certain tropical 

 plants by a change of the place of growth: 1). Bois and 

 1. Gallaud. The necessity of taking into account the 

 anatomical changes produced by a change in the environ- 

 ment of a plant is pointed out, and the errors in classifi- 

 cation which may arise. The study of the factors pro- 

 ducing these changes is also important in the acclimatisa- 

 tion of plants "I commercial value. — Studies on the 

 influence of light on the development of green plants, 

 carbon dioxide being absent and amides added to the soil : 

 Jiihs Lefevre. -The granular eruptive rocks collected in 

 Grahamsland by the Antarctii expedition of Dr. Charcot 

 Ernest Gourdon. — Exploration in eastern Africa : Maurice 

 de Rothschild. On crystallised hamatin : MM. Piettre 

 and Vila. Crystallised oxyhemoglobin, from the horse, was 

 split up into an albumenoid, globin, and crystallised 

 hasmatin, the pigmented material of the blood, analyses of 

 the latter being given and compared with earlier analyses 

 of amorphous haematin ol oilier observers. — The moderating 



action of catalas 1 the oxidations produced by extracts 



from animal tissues: ]•". Battelli and Mile. L. Stern. — 

 On some mineral compounds which behave like the liquefy- 



ing diastase of malt : J. Wolff. — The diastatic hydrolysis 

 of wl.ine : ( .aston Seilliere- In some molluscs and insect 

 larvae there exists a diastase capable of hydrolysing xylane 

 to xylose, and for which the name of xylanase is pro- 

 posed. It is probable that this substance plays an 

 important part in the nutrition of these animals. — The 

 geology of the eastern Pyrenees : Leon Bertrand. — On 

 Fontaine-lEveque and the caverns of the plain of 

 Canjuers : E. A. Martel and M. Le Couppey de la 

 Forest. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, December 11. 



Linnean Society, at 8. — Report on the Vienna Botanical Congress : 

 Dr. A. B. Rendle.— Cyrtandraccae Vlalayanae novae: Dr. Franz 

 Kranzlin.— On Characffi from the Cape, collected by Major A. H. 

 Wolley-Dod : H. and J. Groves.— Note on the Distribution of Shortia, 

 Ton- and Gray: B. Daydon Jackson. 



Chemical Society, at 8.30.— The Relation of Position Isomerism to 

 Optical Activity. Part V. The Rotation of the Menthyl Esters of the 

 Isomeric Dibromobenzoic Acids : I. B. Cohen and I. H. Zortman.— Azo- 

 derivatives from a-Naphtho-methylconmarin : I. T. Hewitt and H. V. 

 Mitchell.— The Supposed Identity of Dihydrolaurolene and of Dihydro- 

 «olaurolene with 1:1- Dimethylhexahydrubenzene : A. W. Crossley and 

 N. Renouf.— The Slow Combustion of Carbon Disulphide : N. Smith. 



CONTENTS. page 



The Jar and the Genie. By Maurice Solomon . . . 169 



Hygiene at School 170 



Regeneration in Roots 170 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Saleeby: " Heredity."— J. A. T 171 



" The Practical Photographer " 172 



Wade: "Introduction to the Study of Organic 



Chemistry."— J. B. C 172 



Selous : " The Romance of Insect Life. Interesting 

 Descriptions of the Strange and Curious in the 



Insect World" 172 



Rankin : " The Art and Practice of Laundry Work 



for Students and Teachers" 172 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Radioactivity of Ordinary Matter in Connection with 

 the Earth's Internal Heat. — Hon. R. J. Strutt, 



F.R.S 173 



Magnetic Storms and Aurora. — Dr. Charles Chree, 



F.R.S 173 



The Toial Solar Eclipse of August 30.— J. Y. 



Buchanan, F.R.S ... 173 



The Engineer's Unit of Force. — Prof. G. H. Bryan, 



F.R.S. ; The Reviewer 174 



" Mathemaiics " Applied to Chemistry. — Geoffrey 



Martin ; The Reviewer 175 



Heat a Mode of Motion in the Seventeenth Century. — 



Sir W. R. Gowers, F.R.S 175 



The Pulse of the Atmospheric Circulation. (With 



Diagram.) By Dr. W. N. Shaw, F.R.S 175 



Two Books on Animal Biography. (Illustrated.) . . 177 



Secondary Schools and Endowments 17S 



Notes. (Illustrated.) 17S 



Our Astronomical Column ; — 



Discovery of a Third New Comet, 19051/ 1S2 



Comets 1905/) and 1905c 1S2 



The Recent Aurora and Magnetic Disturbances . . . 182 

 Photographs of Jupiter's Sixth and Seventh Satellites 182 



The Intrinsic Light of the Corona 182 



Suggested Name for Neptune's Satellite 182 



The " Companion to the Observatory," 1906 .... 182 

 Hydrology in the United States. (Illustrated.). . 183 

 The Percy Sladen Expedition in H.M.S. " Sealark" 

 to the Indian Ocean. (Illustrated.) By J. Stanley 



Gardiner 1S4 



Forestry in Belgium. By Prof. W. R. Fisher . . . 186 

 The Cape Geological Survey. By W. Gibson . . . 187 



University and Educational Intelligence iSS 



Societies and Academies 188 



Diary of Societies 19 2 



NO. l886, VOL 73] 



