: 
_ other as falcons. 
there exists a very 

Marcu 31, 1923] 
NATURE 
451 

men as ‘“‘ my falcons,’’ and Montenegrins hail each 
In the traditional ballads of the 
people the falcon appears as the messenger. Between 
iss papular hero, Marko Kralyevitch, and the falcons 
great friendship. In other 
ballads the hero actually refuses to kill a falcon on 
the ground that it is kin to him, and in yet another 
the Tsar’s daughter is with child by a ‘“ bird man,” 
who is a falcon by day and who dies when his wings 
are taken from him, killed by the jealous Vilas who, 
in their turn, fly about in the guise of swans. The 
falcon and the swans dwell on the mountains where 
the sun rises, and magic lights herald their coming 
and going. The tale is obviously the remains of 
some ancient beliefs about the sun and the birds 
and recalls the quaint bronze bird chariots of the 
sun, found at Glasinatz in Bosnia. Ballads also 
describe warriors of the Middle Ages dressing them- 
selves up with eagle’s tails and wings, and a print 
from a book on Turkey by Nicholas de Nicolay (1568) 
shows such a warrior. Plume-wearing is extinct, 
‘but in the Eagle dance of the Montenegrin he leaps 
high off the ground, flaps his arms, and yells. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, February 26—M. Albin 
Haller in the chair—The president announced the 
death of E. Ariés, corresponding member for the 
section of mechanics.—André Blondel: The calcula- 
tion of the forced oscillations of an electrogenic group 
(or of an analogous apparatus) turning with a constant 
mean velocity, but submitted to periodic variations 
of the motor couple at the same time as an elastic 
tesisting force variable with the angle of deviation. 
—M. Louis Gentil was elected a member of the section 
of geography and navigation in succession to the late 
L. Favé.—Boris Delaunay: The geometrical 
interpretation of the generalisation of the algorithm 
of continued fractions given by Voronoi.—Maurice 
Lecat: Expression of the most general determinants 
of a matrix as a function of the sections—C. E. 
Traynard: Surfaces of the fourth degree with fifteen 
double points and singular Abelian functions.— 
René Lagrange: Varieties with zero total torsion in 
Euclidian space.—Stanislas Millot : A criterion of the 
es value of certain experiments.—J. Grialou : 
he rotational, but permanent, movement of liquids 
possessing viscosity, when the trajectories are plane 
and vertical—C. Flammarion: The increase of 
brightness of the star 8 Ceti. A sudden increase in 
the brightness of this star was notified on February 13 
by Mr. Abbott from Athens. This has been confirmed 
by observations at Juvisy by the author.—Emile 
Belot: The collective and discontinuous evolution of 
stars and nebule.—M. Holweck: The optical pro- 
perties of X-rays of great wave-length. Experi- 
mental evidence has been obtained of the diffraction 
of X-rays of aminimum wave-length \= 47 A (effective 
wave-length \=60A approx.). Evidence of the 
reflection of X-rays by a polished bronze surface is 
also given.—G. Laville: The propagation of electro- 
magnetic waves, maintained along two parallel wires. 
The theories of Kirchhoff and Lord Kelvin appear to 
explain the phenomena of propagation as exactly as 
the more complicated theories of Sommerfeld ‘and 
M. Mie.—V. Yléstalo: The measurement of high- 
pegueney coefficients of self-induction.—H. Copaux 
and Ch. Philips: The heat of oxidation of glucinum. 
A correction of an earlier result ; the new figure is 
131-3 calories in place of 151-5 calories.—Paul Riou : 
The velocity of absorption of carbon dioxide by 
ammoniacal solutions. Curves are given showing the 
‘NO. 2787, VOL. 111] 
influence of additions of ammonium chloride, sodium 
bicarbonate, and sodium chloride to the solution, and 
of changes of temperature.—L. J. Simon: The action 
of methyl sulphate and of potassium methyl sulphate 
on monobasic organic acids in the absence of water. 
The interaction of anhydrous organic acids with these 
substances in certain cases may be used with advan- 
tage for the preparation of methyl esters.—A. Roche 
and V. Thomas: Researches on picryl sulphide. 
Study of the binary mixture : tolite-picryl sulphide. 
This explosive was extracted from German bombs: 
it is very stable and stands a compression of 500 
kilograms per square centimetre without losing its 
property of detonating —Raymond Delaby: The 
preparation of some ethers and glycidic derivatives 
of alkyl glycerols. —Y. Milon: The fauna and age 
of the carboniferous limestone of Saint-Segal (Finis- 
tére)—Jean Piveteau: The morphology of the 
scapular arc of the Permian reptiles of Madagascar.— 
Methodi Popoff: The respiratory system of plants. 
According to the generally accepted view the respira- 
tion of plants is confined to the leaves. This view 
leads to difficulties, and it is suggested that plants 
have a respiratory system presenting analogies, from 
the physiological point of view, with the respiratory 
system of animals.—Marcel Mirande: The proteo- 
lipoid nature of the sterinoplasts of the white lily. 
By the application of various microchemical tests the 
central body of the sterinoplasts has been proved to 
be of a lipoid nature, covered with a thin external 
layer of proteid material——P. Delauney: New re- 
searches relating to the presence of loroglossin in 
native orchids. Loroglossin has been isolated, up to 
the present, from 17 species of native orchids belong- 
ing to five different genera.—Paul Becquerel : Observ- 
ations on the necrobiosis of plant protoplasm with 
the aid of a new reagent. The reagent consists of 
methylene blue (2 parts), Bismarck brown (1 part), 
and neutral red (1 part) in aqueous Solution (y5j050)- 
The death of the cell is accompanied by definite 
colour changes in the parts stained by this reagent.— 
G. L. Funke: Biological researches on plants with 
creeping stems.—Marc Fouassier: The influence of 
copper on the lactic fermentation. The minute 
traces of copper dissolved by milk in contact with 
that metal have a distinctly retarding influence on 
the growth of the lactic organism.—A. Desgrez and 
J. Meunier: The mineral elements of the blood.— 
L. Cuénot, R. Lienhart, and M. Mutel: Experiments 
showing the non-heredity of an acquired character.— 
Ed. Lesné and M. Vaglianos: The utilisation by the 
organism of the C vitamins introduced through the 
parents. From experiments on rabbits the authors 
conclude that it does not matter whether the C vita- 
mins are introduced by ingestion or by injection, the 
beneficial effect is the same in either case.—A. 
Pézard, Knud Sand, and F. Caridroit: The experi- 
mental production of bipartite gynandromorphism in 
birds. 
March 5.—M. Albin Haller in the chair.—G. 
Urbain and A. Dauvillier : The coexistence of celtium 
(element 72) and the yttria earths. The view of 
Coster and Hevesy regarding the improbability of 
element 72 being associated with the rare trivalent 
earths is said to be negatived not only by the work 
of the authors but also by the discovery of 
this element by Goldschmidt and Thomassen in 
malakon and in alvite—Charles Moureu and Charles 
Dufraisse : Auto-oxidation: attempt to explain the 
mechanism of anti-oxygenisers.—André Blondel: Ele- 
mentary calculations of the couples damping alter- 
nators with a forced regime in the theory of two 
reactions, when the resistances of the armature are 
neglected.—C. de la Vallée Poussin: Quasi-analytical 
