90 



NA TURE 



[November 19, 1908 



port the view of the formation of a definite compound of 

 the two elements. — The identity of ilicic alcohol with 

 a-ainyrine : E. Junefleisch and H. Leroux. Ilicic 

 alcohol was isolated by J. Personne from birdlime, and 

 was regarded by him as an alcohol of the formula 

 CjjHijO. This alcohol is completely identified by the 

 authors as identical with o-amyrine, an alcohol met with 

 in various resins, but the composition Cj^Hj^O is shown 

 to accord best with its analysis and that of its derivatives. 

 — Sparteine. A new method of cyclisation of a-methyl- 

 sparteine by the action of iodine : .^mand Valeur. — The 

 eruptive rocks of Gebel Doukhan (Red Sea) : M. Couyat. 

 — The discovery of a Quaternary human skeleton : limile 

 Riviere. The discovery of this skeleton was announced 

 in 1905. The present note is chiefly occupied with the 

 proof that the skeleton is really of the same age as the 

 deposits in which it was found. — Certain cutaneous spots 

 resisting the action of radium and disappearing under the 

 influence of the high-frequency spark : Foveau de Cour- 

 melles. — Concerning the anatomical characters of Brady- 

 pus torquatus : M. Anthony. — The presence of limestones 

 containing Productus giganteiis in Nova Zembla : G. W. 

 Lee. — A new type of petiole of the fossil fern : Fernand 

 Pelourde. — Contribution to the study of the transforma- 

 tion of sedimentary deposits into sedimentary rocks : J. 

 Thoulet. — The seismic movements of November 6, iqoS : 

 Alfred Ang^ot. — The subterranean river of La Grange, 

 Ariego : E. A. Martel. 



Cape Town. 

 Royal Society of South Africa, Sepiemher i6 —Mr. S. 

 Hough, F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The pollination 

 of Belmontia cordata : Dr. IMarioth. The flowers are 

 scented, and possess small appendages at their anthers, 

 called Brown's bodies. They contain a sugary fluid, and 

 this, it has been ascertained now, attracts a tiny, small 

 insect, hardly a fifteenth of an inch long, belonging to the 

 thrips family. The flowers possess two kinds of stigmas 

 for the reception of the pollen, a structure which is not 

 known from any other plant. This secondary stigma 

 secures pollination in case the terminal stigma should 

 not have received some pollen in time. — Embryo-sac of the 

 Penreaceae : Miss E. L. Stevens. The embryo-sac of this 

 order differs from that of the typical angiosperm in con- 

 taining sixteen nuclei instead of eight (these si.\teen nuclei 

 being organised into four egg-apparatus) and a definitive 

 nucleus formed by the fusion of four of the nuclei. The 

 early stagfes in the development of the sac show none of 

 the polarity considered to be so characteristic of the angio- 

 sperm sac, and the whole structure of the sac is con- 

 firmatory of Dr. Pearson's hypothesis regarding the origin 

 of the endosperm of angiosperms. — Endosperm : Prof. 

 H. H. W. Pearson. It is suggested that the endosperm 

 of the angiosperm is derived by a series of reductions and 

 degrees of specialisation from a primitive type, essentially 

 similar to that now found in Welwitschia. This hypothesis 

 is strengthened by the fact that stages in this process can 

 be identified in living angiosperms. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAV, November 19. 



Royal Society, at 4.30.— Memoir on the Theory of the Partitions of 

 Numbrrs. Part IV. : On the Probability that the Successful Candidate 

 at an Election by Ballot may Never at any Time have Fewer Votes 

 than the One who is Unsuccessful ; on a Gencralisat'On of this Question ; 

 and on its Connection with other Questions of Partition, Permutation, 

 and Combination: Major P. A. MacMahon. F.R.S.— The Propaga- 

 ti->n of Groups of Waves in Dispersive Media, with Application to 

 Waves on Water produced by a Travelling Disturbance : Dr. T. H. 

 Havelock. — On the Refraction and Dispersion of Kr>'pton and Xenon and 

 their Relation to those of Helium and Argon : C. Cuthbertson and M. 

 Cuthbertson.— Note on Horizontal Receiver- and Transmitters in Wireless 

 Telegr.aphy: Prof. H. M. Macdonald, F.R.S.— On Optical Dispersion 

 Formula; 1 Prof. R. C. Maclaurin.— <i) On the Accumulation of Helium in 

 Geological Time ; (2) On Helium in Saline Minerals and its Probable 

 Connection with Potassium: Hon. R. J. Strutt, F.R.S.— Note on the 

 Effect of Hydrogen on the Discharge of Negative Electricity from Hot 

 Platinum : Prof. H. A. Wilson, F. K.S. -On Measurement of Rotatory 

 Dispersive Power in the Visible and Ultra-violet Regions of the Spectrum : 

 Dr. T. Martin Lowry. 



Chemical Society, at 8.30. 



LiNNEAN Society, at 8.— On a New Species, Symphyla. from the Hima- 

 layas : Prof. A. D. Imms.— The Freshwater Crustacea of Tasmania, with 

 Remarks on their Geographical Distribution : Geoffrey Smith. 



NO. 2038, VOL. 79] 



■ at 8.- 



al Address by the 



Institution of Ei.eciricai, E^-GI^ 

 President : Mr. W. M. Mordey. 



FRIDAY, November 20. 



Institution of Mechanical Engineers, at 8.— The Resis .. 



Materials to Impact: Dr. T. E. Stanton and L. Bairstow.— Different 

 Methods of I mpact Testing on Notched Bars : F. W. Harbord. 

 MONDAY, November 23. 

 Royal Society of .4rts, at 8.— Twenty Years' Progress in Explosives : 

 Oscar Guttmann. 



TUESDAY, NovEjiBER 24. 

 Royal Anthropological Institute, at S. 15. —Primitive Pottery and 



Iron Making in British East Africa: W. Scoresby Routledge. 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, at i.— Further Discussion: Glasgow 

 Central Station Extension : D. A. Matheson. 



WEDNESDAY, November 25. 

 Royal Society of Arts, at 8.— The Goldfields of E.aste 



Bolivia : Sir Martin Conway. 

 British Astronomical Association, at 5. 



THURSDAY, Nove.mber 26. 

 i.->.o.—PrababU Pii/>ers 

 :t of Adrenal Corte 



Peru 



Royal Society, at ^.^o.— Probable Pa/iers: Some Experiments 



test the Action of Extract of Adrenal Cortex: S. G. Shattock and C. G. 

 Seligmann.— Further Results of the Experimental Treatment of Trypano- 

 somiasis ; being a Progress Report to a Committee of the Royal Society : 

 H. G. Plimmerand Caplam H. R. Bateman, R.A.M.C— A Trypanosome 

 from Zanzibar: Colonel Sir David Bruce, C.B,, F.RS., and Captains 

 A. E. Hamerton, D.SO., and H. R. Bateman.— The Proportion of the 

 Sexes produced by Whites and Coloured Peoples in Cuba : W. Heape, 

 F. K.S.— Further Researches on the Etiology of Endemic Goitre : Captain 

 R. McCarrison, I. M.S. 



Institution of Electrical Engineers, at 8.— Domestic Electricity 

 Supply (including Heating and Cooking) as affected by Tariffs: W. R. 



Cooper. 



FRIDAY, No 



CONTENTS. p.AGE 



Geology of China 61 



Flowers and What They Teach 62 



Cotton Weaving 63 



Electrical Testing. By Prof. Gisbert Kapp .... 64 



School Algebras 64 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Ducy.ir : "Agriculture for Southern Schools." — 



e: J. R 65 



Cariington : "Vitality, Fasting, and Nutrition." — 



W. D. H 66 



Fuhrmann : " Die Cestoden der Vcigel." — R. L. . . 66 

 Biddlecomhe : "Thoughts on Natural Philosophy, 



with a New Reading of Newton's Fiist Law " . . 66 



"The Ruskin Nature Reader " 06 



Letters to toe t£ditor. — 



.■\n Electromagnetic Problem. — D. F. Comstock . . 67 

 The Progress of .Aviation. — Herbert Chatley ; Prof. 



G. H. Bryan, F.R.S 67 



Potato Black Scab. — Prof. T. Johnson 67 



The Nature of 7 Rays. — J. P. V. Madsen .... 67 



The Origin of Spectra. — Albert Ea^le 68 



A Call-producing Dragon-fly. — W. F. Kirby ... 68 

 The Geology of the Grampians. (I/!:islratcd.) By 



J. S. F 69 



The Lick Observatory-Crocker Eclipse Expedition, 

 January, 1908. {Illustrated.) By William E. 



Rolston 70 



The Preservation of the Native Fauna and Flora in 

 -Australasia. (Illustrated.) By Prof. Arthur Dendy, 



F.R.S 75 



Prof. William Edward Ayrton, F.R.S. By Prof. 



John Perry, F.R.S. 74 



Notes 75 



Our Astronotnical Column : — 



Comet Morehouse, igo8i- 80 



A New Spectroscopic Laboratory at Pasadena .... So 



A Large Group of Sun-spots 80 



Biographical Memoir of Asaph Hall 80 



A Research on the Movement of Comet Wolf ... 80 

 The Manufacture of Artificial Graphite. {Illus- 

 trated.) By F. M. P S[ 



The Fauna of the Magellan Region 82 



Botany at the British Association 84 



Mr. Lloyd George on the Endowment of Univer- 

 sities. By G. H. B 86 



University and Educational Intelligence 87 



Societies and Academies 88 



Diary of Societies 90 



