336 
NATURE 
[AucusT 3, 1899 
posed of the Chief Secretary, a vice- president and officials, for 
whose appointment powers are given. To them will be trans- 
ferred various powers now scattered over other boards. As to 
the financial resources to be placed at the disposal of the new 
department, it is calculated that the total income from all 
sources will amount to from 160,000/. to 170,000/. a year; and 
this money will be applied to aiding and encouraging agriculture 
and other industries and technical instruction. The board to be 
formed under the Bill will be aided and advised by three bodies 
to be called into existence—a council of agriculture, a board of 
technical instruction, and an agricultural board—which will 
have very wide and important duties to perform. Speaking 
broadly and generally, the income of the board is to be devoted 
as follows: 55,000/. to technical instruction ; 10,000/, to the 
improvement and development of the sea fisheries; and the 
remainder to agriculture and rural industries. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, July 24.—M. van Tieghem in 
the chair.—Presence of iodine in notable proportions in all 
plants containing chlorophyll of the Algze class, by M. Armand 
Gautier. Asa result of numerous estimations of iodine in Algze 
containing chlorophyll it was found that iodine is a constant 
element of the protoplasm of these plants, both in sea water and 
fresh water, the latter, however, containing much smaller quan- 
tities of iodine. Thus, where 100 grams of dried marine Alge 
give 60 mgr. of iodine, the same weight of fresh water Algze gave 
only 0°25 to 2.4 mgr.—On the theory of partial differential 
equations, by M. N. Saltykow. The author’s previous work on 
this subject was restricted to equations resolved with respect to 
partial differentials. Since, however, the solutions of the 
«equations may offer considerable difficulties from the point of 
view of practical applications, the theory of any equations 
whatever in involution is here given.—On_ indeterminate 
equations of the form 24+ 3*=cs*, by M. Edmond Maillet.— 
On a correspondence between two ruled spaces, by M. A. 
Demoulin.—On the magnetic field inside a hollow cylinder 
traversed by a current, by M. W. de Nickolaieve.—On the di- 
electric cohesion of rarefied gases, by M. E. Bouty. Ina pre- 
ceding note it has been -shown. that when a tube containing a 
rarefied gas is placed in an electrostatic field, there is a critical 
intensity of field, f, below which the gas acts as a perfect di- 
electric and above which the gas allows the passage of a dis- 
charge, In the present paper the relation between the critical 
intensity, 7, and the pressure of the gas, #, is quantitatively 
examined, and the result expressed in the form 
S=A(14 B+ >): 
where A, B, C, are constants, B, and perhaps C, being inde- 
pendent of the nature of the gas, and A increasing with the mole- 
cular weight of the gas.—The instantaneous disappearance of 
the Kerr phenomenon, by MM. H. Abraham and J. Lemoine. 
By the use of a rotating mirror M. Blondlot has shown that the 
time that elapses between the suppression of the electric field 
and the disappearance of the Kerr effect is less than 1/40,000 
of asecond. In the present paper it is shown by a different 
method that the time cannot exceed 1/10,000 of this, namely 
1/400,000,000th of a second.—On the isomeric states of chromic 
acetate, by M. A. Recoura. A detailed description of the 
mormal acetate, possessing the properties of an ordinary 
metallic salt, and the violet acetate, in cold solutions of which 
alkalis give no precipitate.—Mixed copper-silver salts, by M. 
Paul Sabatier. The salts described are the basic nitrates, 
3Cu(OH),.2AgNO,, and 2Cu(OH),.2AgNO,, two similar 
chlorates, the sulphate, 3Cu(OH),. Ago 5SO,, and the thio- 
sulphate 2Cu(OH),.Ag,S,03.—On the “purification of iridium, 
by M. E. Leidié. The method suggested is based upon the 
conversion of the metal into chlorides, and subsequent use of 
sodium nitrite. The iron and lead are first precipitated as 
oxides, and gold as the metal, the solution then containing 
double nitrites of ruthenium, rhodium, and iridium, and sodium 
osmiate. The ruthenium and osmium are eliminated as volatile 
peroxides, and the rhodium and iridium converted into the 
double chlorides with sodium chloride, these being readily 
separable.—On a double nitrite of ruthenium and potassium, by 
M. L. Brizard. The new salt described has the composition 
Ru,H,.(NO,),.3KNO,.4H,0.—On the reducing properties of 
boron and at Tia by MM. Duboin and Gauthier. —Oxid- 
NO. 1553, VOL. 60] 
ation of propylglycol by bromine water, by M. André Kling. 
By the reaction of bromine upon propyl-glycol, 
CH,.CH(OH).CH,OH 
in sunlight, an appreciable amount of acetol, 
(CH;.CO.CH..OH), 
is produced.—On some opium alkaloids, by M. Emile Leroy. 
—Determinations of the heats of combustion, neutralisation, 
and solution of codeine, thebaine, papaverine, and narcotine. 
—On the elimination of nitrogen and phosphorus in infants 
nourished at the breast, by M. CEchsner de Coninck.—On 
dichlor-3.4-butanoic acid, by M. R. Lespieau. Of the two 
possible formule for this acid, 
CH,.Cl. CH(OH).CH,.CN and CH,Cl.CH(CN).CH,.OF. 
experimental evidence is given in favour of the former.—Action 
of bromine on isobutyl bromide in presence of anhydrous 
aluminium bromide and aluminium chloride, by M. A. 
Mouneyrat. Starting with the monobromobutane, 
CH;.CH(CHsg).CH,Br, 
by the action of bromine in presence of aluminium bromide, 
four substances are obtained, isobutylene bromide, a tri- 
bromoisobutane, boiling at 130° under 26 mm. pressure, tetra- 
bromoisobutane, all in small quantities, and, as chief 
product, a tribromoisobutane boiling at 112°,. probably 
CH,.CBr(CHy).CHBr,.—On the composition of the albumen 
of the carob bean; production of galactose and mannose by 
hydrolysis, by MM. Ed. Bourquelot and H. Hérissey.—Experi- 
ments on the state refractory to the serum of the eel, by MM. 
L. Camus and E. Gley. The natural immunity of the hedgehog to 
the poisonous action of eel serum is now shown to be also 
possessed by other animals, such as the common frog, toad, 
chicken and pigeon. This immunity, which the authors have 
shown to be due to a specific resistance of the red blood 
corpuscles, is called by them cytologic immunity, to distinguish 
it from the humoral or acquired immunity resulting from the 
production of antitoxin in the immunised animal.—Experi- 
mental researches on an agglutinine produced by the albumen 
gland of Helix pomatia, by M. L. Camus. —Intra-uterine trans- 
mission of vaccinal immunity and the antivirulent power of the 
serum, by MM. Be eclere, Chambon, Ménard, and Coulomb,— 
On the branchial respiration in Diplopods, by M. M. Causard. 
—On the breccias of the Briangonnais, by M. W. Kilian. —On 
a bathymeter founded upon the use of Crusher cylinders, by 
MM. Charbonnier and Gay Aché. 
CONTENTS. PAGE 
Norwegian Marine Mareen nS By Ji XapBe 313 
Projective Geometry. By G. M. 314 
A System of eth ie rot Arthur Schuster, 
ENN as : 314 
Our Book Shelf :— 
Carpenter: ‘‘ Insects: their Structure and Life. A 
Primer of Entomology.” —W. F. 315 
**Year-book of the United States Department of 
Agriculture, 1898” . tye es 1S 
Rebuschini: <°Oreanglevapiaee.. . . . «) sahmemnmauO 
Letters to the Editor:— 
Undercurrents. — Rear - Admiral Sir W. a L. 
Wharton, K.C.B.,F.R.S. .. 7 316 
The Duties of Provincial Professors.—‘ Veritas” 316 
Photographic Researches on Phosphorescent 
Spectra, (//lustrated.) By Sir William Crookes, 
ERS os: : 317 
Mathematics of the Spinning- ‘Top. Aye 319 
Life-History of the Parasites of Malaria. By 
Major Ronald Ross ... o ws : cme 
Science and Education . q 
The University of London . 
Notes , 
Our Astronomical Column:— 
G2 Gs GI 
wNnN 
loon aS) 
Tempel’s Comet 1899 ¢ (1873 II.) . 330 
Mars during Opposition 1898-1899 : 330 
Photography of Nebulze and Star Clusters i ee 330 
Experimental Investigations on Telegony. By 
Prof, J.C. Ewart, Res: 330 
Investigations on Mosquitoes and Malaria. By 
Dr. Daniels : +, ees OS 
University and Educational Intelligence Me cB 
Societies and Academies ..*.....e-. 33 
