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January 4, 1917] 
NATURE 303 
and with elements not clearly differentiated. | The 
fields of experience from which science starts are 
of a radically untidy and ill-adjusted character, whereas 
the neat, trim, tidy, exact world which is the goal of 
scientific thought is a world of ideas. The first great 
steps in the organisation of thought were due exclu- 
sively to the practical source of scientific activity, with- 
out any admixture of theoretical impulse. The whole 
apparatus of common-sense thought arose in this way : 
concepts of definite material objects, of the determinate 
lapse of time, of simultaneity, of recurrence, of definite 
relative position, etc. Science is rooted in the appa- 
ratus of common-sense thought. Science is essentially 
logical; the nexus between its concepts is a logical 
“nexus, and the grounds for‘its detailed assertions are 
logical grounds. Four departments of logical theory 
may be discriminated, which by analogy may be called 
the arithmetic section, the algebraic section, the sec- 
tion of general-function theory, and the analytic sec- 
tion. The last, which is concerned with the investiga- 
tion of the properties of special logical constructions 
* —that is, of classes and correlations of special sorts— 
includes the whole of mathematics. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, December 11, 1916.—M. Camille 
Jordan in the chair.—M. P. Painlevé was elected vice- 
president for the year 1917.—A. Lacroix: The pheno- 
mena of exomorph and endomorph contact phenomena 
of the zgyrine and riebeckite granites of North-West 
Madagascar.—G. Bigourdan: The position and co- 
ordinates of the observatories of Boulliau, of Gassendi, 
and of P. Petit.—E. Ariés: The determination of free 
energy by the equation of Clausius.—C. E. Guillaume : 
Wire-drawing and the expansion of invar.—G. Charpy 
and M. Godchot: The oxidation of coal. Fourteen 
samples of coals from St. Eloy, Ferriéres, and Noyant 
were heated at 100° for periods of from two to three 
months. After this heating there was a gain in 
weight due to oxidation of from 3 to 5 per cent. 
Comparisons were made of the ash, volatile matter, 
and calorific value before and after heating. The loss 
of calorific power varied from 3 to 13 per cent. The 
ash and volatile matter were practically unaltered, and 
hence it follows that the deduction of the calorific 
value of a coal from its ash and volatile matter must 
be liable to grave error, since a similar. oxidation 
process is often found to have occurred in stored coal, 
and sometimes even in the coal in the mine.—M. 
Mesnager : Formulz of the thin plate fixed on a plane 
rectangular contour.—C. Benedicks: A new effect rela- 
tive to thermo-electricity and to the thermal conduc- 
tivity of metals. From theoretical considerations the 
author has arrived at the conclusion that the well-known 
deduction from the Wiedemann-Franz law made by 
Drude is inadmissible, and experimental evidence in 
support of this is given in the present communication. 
—R. Ledoux-Lebard and A. Dauvillier : The K series of 
tungsten and the production of the X-rays from the 
point of view of the quanta theory. The relation be- 
tween the frequency and the voltage according to the 
quanta theory should be linear; for voltages between 
24 and 140 kilovolts the experimental data give a 
curve, the deviation from the theoretical straight line 
increasing with the voltage. The K series appears 
at about 80 kilovolts instead of the 95 indicated by 
Whiddington’s formula.—G. A. Hemsalech ; The group- 
ing of the lines of the iron spectrum under the selec- 
tive influence of thermal and chemical actions. The 
lines in the iron flame spectrum can be arranged in 
three groups: lines emitted by the external flame of a 
Bunsen burner and reinforced in flames of higher tem- 
perature, lines produced under the influence of chem- 
ical actions, very marked in the cone but feeble in the 
NO. 2462. VoL. 98] 
| 
flame, and the third group, the lines of the ** supple- 
mentary” spectrum. Examination of the normal 
| spectra has shown the existence of curious groups of 
lines in each of the three classes, distributed according 
to a law as yet unknown.—A. de Gramont: Remarks 
on. the preceding communication, emphasising the 
importance of the results obtained by G. A. Hemsalech 
and pointing out the desirability of the study of a more 
extended portion of the iron spectrum by the same 
method.—J, Deprat: The discovery of numerous fossil- 
bearing horizons in the Middle and Upper Cambrian 
of South Yunnan, and on the succession of the fauna 
in these strata.—Ph. Glangeaud: The first volcanic 
eruptions (Oligocene) in the lacustral geosynclinal of 
Limagne (Cétes de Clermont, Chanturgue).—J. Amar : 
An instrument for measuring and re-educating the 
movements of pronation and supination, the gyro- 
graph.—A, Lardennois, P. Pech, and J. Baumel: Study 
of the gangrenous infections of wounds by means* of 
radiography. The information which can be obtained 
by the radiographic examination of gas gangrene is 
useful not only for the study of the process of destruc- 
tion and its localisation in the muscle, but also it is use- 
ful for the diagnosis of the focus of a gangrene, and 
especially for determining its extent.—J. Beauverie : 
New experiments on the influence of osmotic pressure 
on bacteria. Studies of the effects of increasing pro- 
portions of common salt on the growth of bacteria.— 
A. Paillot : New parasitic micro-organisms of the cock- 
chafer. 
New Sourn WaALgs. 
Linnean Society, October 25, 1916.—Mr. A. G. Hamil- 
ton, president, in the chair.—E. F, Hallmann: Revision 
of the genera with microscleres, included, or provision- 
ally included, in the family Axinellidae (Porifera). 
Part iii, The genera Thrinacophora, Dragmatyle, 
Holoxea, and Higginsia are revised; five genera and 
one species are described as new.—A. H. S. Lucas: 
An efflorescence on some New Zealand kelps.—C. 
Hedley: Studies on Australian Mollusca. Part xiii. 
Six species referable to the genera Arca, Loripes, Sole- 
cardia, Tellina, and Tugalia are described as new, and 
figured; additional particulars and illustrations of a 
number of imperfectly known species are supplied.— 
F. H. Taylor: Australian Tabanide. Part ii. One 
genus and twelve species are proposed as new; a 
change in the names of tivo is made, and notes on, and 
additional localities for, known forms are recorded.— 
A. M. Lea: Descriptions of new species of Australian 
Coleoptera. Part xii. Twelve species of the family 
Curculionidze and eight of the Cerambycide are de- 
scribed as new.—G. F. Hill: Notes on the bionomics 
of Lyperosia exigua, de Meijere. The_buffalo-fly, a 
formidable pest to cattle and horses in the Northern 
Territory, is believed to have .been introduced with 
early shipments of buffaloes, cattle, or ponies from the 
East Indies, so far back as 1824. The local distribu- 
tion, habits, oviposition and life-history, natural 
enemies, and methods of control are discussed. 
VICTORIA. 
Royal Society, November 9, 1916.—Mr. W. A. Osborne, 
president, in the chair.—F, Chapman; The probable 
environment of the Palzozoic genus Hercynella in 
Victoria. The complete fauna of the Yeringian beds 
containing this supposed pulmonate mollusc in Vic- 
toria was recorded, and, from the presence of corals 
and many gasteropods, it was shown that these sedi- 
ments must have been laid down under fairly deep 
water marine conditions, as in Bohemia. - The thin- 
shelled fauna of the Yeringian sea was probably due to 
the marked terrigenous element in the deposits pro- 
duced by fluviatile action: This evidence was com- 
pared with that given by Miss O’Connell, of Buffalo, 
