

_ practically constant at 4-778 calories per 
~ oe 
APRIL 21, 1923] 
during the last few weeks the weights were practically 
constant. The animals remained active, but the 
“seg dropped from 44 to about 28. Maintenance 
evel of metabolism in control beasts was 2150 calories 
r 24 hours per square metre of body surface ; 
or the underfed animals it was 1475. On refeeding, 
the animals rapidly regained weight and were readily 
fattened. The energy value of the feces rom 
ays 
water-free substance under all feeding conditions.— 
_C.G. Darwin: A quantum theory of optical dispersion 
(see NaturE, December 23, 1922, p. 841).—W. H. 
Cole: Circus movements of Limulus. The animals 
_ were subjected to diffuse and non-directive illumina- 
tion, and only one lateral eye was allowed to function. 
In accordance with Loeb’s tropism theory, the 
diameter of the circles traced out was inversely 
proportional to the intensity of the light. 
(Proc. Vol. 9, No. 2, February).—R. W. G. Wyckoff: 
On the hypothesis of constant atomic radii. Starting 
from cesium dichloro-iodide, values have been 
calculated for the “ spheres of influence ’’ or atomic 
radii of several atoms. These values are compared 
with the corresponding observed interatomic distances. 
Many discrepancies occur, showing that it is not in 
accord with experiment to assign a definite size to each 
atom. In some groups of isomorphous compounds 
composed of two kinds of atoms a law of constant 
atomic radii sj re to hold. In compounds of 
different crystal structure, in which the manner of 
arrangement of the atoms of one kind about those 
of another (atomic environment) is different, the 
interatomic distances are unlike.-—A. Van Maanen: 
Photographic determination of parallaxes with the 
too-inch reflector (Mount Wilson). Four fields 
have been measured, including the helical nebula 
(N.G.C. 7293). Using the parallax derived, +0-058, 
the object appears to have a diameter 375 times 
that of the solar system.—H. Shapley: Light and 
colour variations of Nova Aquile 1918.4. The 
nova was a star (I0-1r mag.) at least 30 years before 
its discovery. Rise in brightness began on June 7, 
1918, reached a maximum, at visual magnitude - 1-2, 
in two days, when it was brighter than any star in 
the sky except Sirius, and decreased four magnitudes 
by June 25. Semi-periodic fluctuations occurred 
until October, with decreasing brightness, and since 
then it has continued to decrease until it is now 
about magnitude 10o.—E. H. Hall: A theory of 
- the Hall effect and the related effect for several 
metals. When a magnetic field acts at right angles 
_ to a current flowing along a thin strip of metal, 
the equipotential lines are no longer at right angles 
to the line of flow (Hall effect) and a transverse 
; ee eanire gradient is set up (Ettingshausen effect). 
Analogous effects are obtained if heat is flowing 
along the strip. The explanation offered assumes 
that conduction implies the existence of two streams, 
one of free electrons and the other of associated 
electrons, which oppose each other.—F. B. Sumner : 
Studies of sub-specific hybrids in Peromyscus. Three 
different crosses between geographic races of deermice 
were studied in respect of 17 quantitative characters. 
The mean values for any character in the hybrid 
is usually between the parental values. Means for 
the two hybrid generations (F, and F,) generally 
agree. There appears to be a tendency towards 
increase of variability which is not due to environ- 
mental factors. Most of the elements of the total 
sub-specific complex seem independent of each 
other in inheritance, and no single character behaves 
in obvious Mendelian fashion.—G. A. Miller: Sets of 
conjugate cycles of a substitution group.—A. Carrel: 
NO. 2790, VOL. III] 
NATURE 
09 
Leucocytic secretions. Evidence was obtained of 
the production of substances promoting growth 
of homologous fibroblasts and destroying foreign 
erythrocytes, both in vitro and in vivo. This supports 
Renaut’s view that the function of the white corpuscles 
of the blood is to bring nutritive substances to the 
fixed cells of the tissues, and it also appears that the 
can bring regenerative substances to injured adult 
tissue. A foreign protein added to leucocytic cul- 
tures increases the production of growth-activating 
substances ; in vivo this may precede the production 
of anti-bodies—W. M. Davis: Drowned coral reefs 
south of Japan. Some of the Riu Kiu and Bonin 
Islands are on the margin of the coral seas of to-day ; 
they have no regular sea-level reefs, though their 
shore-lines resemble those of the embayed islands 
of the coral seas. The islands may have been pro- 
tected by reefs while suffering erosion during a period 
of greater emergence followed by relatively slow 
submergence. Continued upward growth of the 
protecting reefs has possibly been inhibited by 
decrease of ocean surface temperature. A tempera- 
ture high enough for the growth of the suggested 
coral reefs may have been caused by the deflexion of 
the North Equatorial current of the Pacific when the 
ocean surface was lowered during the Glacial epochs. 

CALCUTTA. 
Asiatic Society of Bengal, March 7.—Lily Strick- 
land-Anderson: Music and the Hindu Pantheon. 
An attempt to apply the principle that Hindu 
mythology represents a kinetic or fluidic and not a 
static or concrete mode of thinking, to the Hindu 
Pantheon, specially relating to music.—K. G. Sinha : 
On some Maithili dramas of the seventeenth and 
eighteenth centuries. An attempt is made to explain 
the nature and importance of the dramas as throwing 
light on the development of Mithila art and culture.— 
C. V. Raman: (1) A theory of the viscosity of 
liquids. An attempt is made to calculate the vis- 
cosity of liquids theoretically on the basis of the 
molecular hypothesis. (2) The molecular zlotropy of 
liquids. The optical anisotropy of the molecules 
evidenced by experiments on the scattering of light 
is discussed, and an attempt is made to find how the 
molecules influence each other’s position and orienta- 
tion—N. Annandale: Bivalve molluscs injuring 
brickwork in the Calcutta docks. A note on injury 
done to brickwork by the boring mollusc Martesia 
fluminalis and on other molluscs associated with it.— 
P. Briihl and K. Biswas: On a new species of 
Cylindrospermum from Bengal. Description of a 
new species, Cylindrospermum doryphorum, sp. nova, 
Briihl et Biswas. Comparison with known species.— 
L. Dudley Stamp and L. Lord: A preliminary note 
on the ecology of part of the riverine tract of Burma. 
The area dealt with embraces a zone of country on 
either bank of the Irrawaddy river between Prome 
and Yenangyaung, which covers more than 4000 
square miles. The inter-relationships existing be- 
tween the geological formations, soils, climate, and 
the distribution of the vegetation are traced in detail. 
The plant formations are classified into 13 groups and 
the investigation revealed that climate, especially 
rainfall, is really the main determining factor in the 
development of any particular type of vegetation 
within this region.—S. L. Hora: Zoological results of 
a tour in the Far East. (Fish, Part I.) The first 
part of a report on a collection of fish from a maritime 
lagoon connected with the Gulf of Siam which 
contains water of very variable salinity. Forty-eight 
species of the Selachii and of seven teleostean orders 
