March 19. 190S] 



NA TURE 



479 



and New Zealand ; (7) Chilio-Peripatus from Chili. The 

 author showed (1) that these geographical groups of species 

 are natural zoological groups, the members of which are 

 more closely allied to each other than to those of the other 

 groups ; (2) that the distinguishing specific characters are 

 distributed in an entirely haphazard manner among the 

 different specific groups, so that It is quite impossible to 

 show their phylogcnetic affinities by any tree-like arrange- 

 ment. — The method of impregnation in Peripatus : Prof. 

 Sedgwick. — Exhibition and description of Wehvitschia 

 collected by Prof. Pearson : Prof. Seward. — Note on a 

 method of demonstrating the syncytial appendages of the 

 placental villi : Dr. Duckworth. The placenta provides 

 material for a ready and quIcU method of demonstrating 

 the appearance of multicellular or syncytial masses of 

 protoplasm. Small portions of the placenta are stained in 

 bulk, and the syncytial appendages can be easily shown by 

 toazing out the villous processes from whence they spring. 

 — Six new species of the Ixodoidea : VV. F. Cooper and 

 L. E. Robinson. — Note on the protozoan intestinal para- 

 sites of frogs and loads : C. C. Dobeil. 



Edinburgh. 

 Royal Society, March 2. — Dr. Jehn Home, F. R.S., vice- 

 president, in the chair. — .\ preliminary notice of new iron- 

 bacteria : Dr. D. Ellis. Five new forms were described, 

 four being new species and one — Notofoliiim fernigiiieiim — 

 a new genus. They had all been discovered in the iron 

 waters of Scotland. The methods of reproduction were 

 the same in all, nameh', a process of conidia formation, 

 and also by transverse splitting of individuals. — The effect 

 of load and vibrations upon magnetism in nickel ; supple- 

 mentary communication : James Russell. In determining 

 the effect of off-and-on load the two important factors were 

 the position on the loop and the intensity of the vibra- 

 tions. In particular, tJie conditions under which the 

 X'illari reversal shows in nickel were studied and described. 

 — A simplified calendar : .Alex. S>hilip. The aim of the 

 author was to establish a perpetual calendar by arranging 

 so that any particular day of the month would be the same 

 day of the week. This was accomplished by making New 

 Year's Day a day apart, not to be reckoned in the months 

 or weeks. January would begin on what is now the 

 second. There would be exactly fifty-two weeks of seven 

 days, and by a slight re-arrangement four quarters of 

 three months of ninety-one days in all. The proposed 

 system did not interfere in any way with astronomical 

 principles, the odd day In Leap Year to be treated like 

 New Year's Day, as a midsummer holiday between June 

 and July. So far as the author knew, it violated no 

 scientific principle. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences. March 9. — M. H. Becquerel in 

 the chair. — The neutral alkaline and alkaline earth 

 carbonates : M. de Forcrand. .\ re-calculation, with 

 some new experimental data, of the whole of the thermo- 

 chemlcal data relating to the carbonates of sodium, 

 potassium, rubidium, c;esium, lithium, calcium, strontium, 

 and barium. The bearing of these results upon the 

 temperatures of dissociation of these carbonates Is also 

 discussed. — The Ordovician iron minerals of Lower 

 Normandy and Maine : M. OEhlert. — New researches on 

 variable stars : Charles Nordmann. The amplitude and 

 form of the luminous variation of the two variable stars 

 studied differ markedly according to the part of the 

 visible spectrum compared. — A hyperelliptic surface of the 

 fourth degree upon which are traced thirty right lines : 

 E. Traynard. — Problems of elasticity in two dimensions : 

 O. KolossofT. — A case of reduction of the differential 

 equations of the trajectory of an electrified corpuscle in 

 a magnetic field : Carl Stormer. — The increase in the 

 sensitiveness of electrolytic detectors under various in- 

 fluences : Edouard Branly. The effects produced by a 

 rise of temperature, mechanical agitation, and gaseous 

 disengagement in the electrolyte are separately discussed. 

 — The theory of Brownlan motion : P. Langrevin. A 

 simplified proof of Einstein's formula is given, and this is 

 shown to be identical with the formula of Smoluchowski. 

 — Singing flames reinforcing several notes : G. Athan- 



NO. 2003, VOL. 77I 



asiadis. — A spectrophotometric arrangement : J. Thovert. 



— The action of alkaline salts with fixed base on the 

 combustion of gases and fi.xed combustibles : M. 

 Dautriche. The effect produced on the heat evolved by 

 several nitro explosives by the addition of alkaline salts 

 was studied, with especial reference to the safe use of 

 these explosives in fiery mines. The salts of the alkaline 

 earths, according to these experiments, appear to prevent 

 the combustion of the carbon monoxide formed by the 

 detonation, and thus add to the safety of the explosive. — 

 Combustion without flame and the inflammation of gases 

 at the extremity of a metallic tube : Jean Meunier. — The 

 composition of the starch grain : Mme. Z. Gatin- 

 Gruzewska. A method is given for separating the 

 amylopectin and amylose by means of dilute alkali and 

 subsequent neutralisation with acetic acid. — Observations 

 on the preceding note : L. Maquenne. — The duration of 

 the peroxydiastases in seeds : MM. Brocq-Rousseu and 

 Edmond Gain. Seeds varying in age from two to up- 

 wards of 2000 years were examined for the presence of 

 peroxydiastases. These ferments may disappear in seeds 

 only twenty years old ; two exceptional cases were found 

 in which seeds more than 200 years old still gave the re- 

 action for peroxydiastase. — The metamorphism and tectonic 

 of the Paleozoic strata of Morvan and the Loire : Albert 

 Michel-Levy. — The eruptions of the Limagne. Seven 

 periods of volcanic activity from the Lower Miocene to the 

 Pleistocene : Ph. Glang^eaud. — Observation of a case of 

 ball lightning : Isidore Bay. This was observed on May 

 26, 1907, at Saint Georges-de-Reneins. An incandescent 

 ball was seen, lasting five minutes. On its disappearance 

 the disruptive effects of ordinary lightning were observed. 



GOTTINGEN. 



Royal Society of Sciences. — The Nachrichten (mathe- 

 niatlco-physical section), part v. for 1907, contains the 

 following memoirs contributed to the society : — 



July 20. — Difference-formulas for the calculation of optical 

 systems : K. Schwarzschild. 



October 26. — Contributions to the theory of atmospheric 

 electricity : E. Riecke. 



November 23. — The potential gradient in the positive 

 glow, from observations by H. .Schwienhorst : E. Riecke. 

 — Comparison of the magnitudes of horizontal magnetic 

 Intensity at Potsdam and Cheltenham in the year 1904 : 

 F. Linke. — A calculation of the wave-length of the Rontgen 

 rays from Planck's " energy-element " : \V. Wien. — 

 Langbelnite (KjSOj.aMgSO,,) and vanthoffite 



(3Na,SOj.MgSO,) : 

 R. Nacken. — The uniformisation of given analytical curves 

 (11.) : P. Koebe. 



December 7. — The nature and age of the geological dis- 

 placements in the neighbourhood of the Sackberg and in 

 the valley of the Leine at .Alfeld and EIze : A. won 

 Koenen. — The proper motions of the fixed stars : K. 

 Schwarzschild. 



December 21. — An application of the theory of invariants 

 to the development in series of integrals, particularly 

 rational, elliptic, and hyperelliptic : W. F. Meyer. 



The business communications (part ii., 1907) of the 

 same society Include a report by K. Schwarzschild on 

 Lambert's letters on cosmology. 



New SofTii Wales. 

 Royal Society, December 4, 1007. — ^fr. IT. D^are, presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — The effect of Polar Ice on the weather : 

 E. Du Faur. The author urged the necessity for frequent 

 accurate observations on the varying position of .Antarctic 

 ice, at points within easv access of Hobart, on account 

 of its influence upon southern climate. Provision should 

 be made for frequent, even annual, observations to be 

 taken for the future in the Victoria quadrant. — .A com- 

 parison of the rainfall of Sydney and Melbourne, 1876 to 

 1905 : A. Duckworth. The average rainfall of Sydney 

 is given as 47-36 inches, and that of Melbourne as 24-92 

 inches. In Sydney, the year 1888 was the driest and 1890 

 the wettest, whilst in >ielbourne i8q8 was the driest and 

 1887 the wettest. If we were to judge solely from the 

 amount of the annual rainfall of Sydney, without regard 



