390 



NA rURE 



[January 28, 1909 



New South Wales. 

 Linnean Society, iNuvMubcr 25, iGoS. — Mr. IleniyDeane, 

 vice-president, in the cliair. — Tlie rble of nitrogen and its 

 compounds in plant-metabolism, part i., historical : Dr. 

 J. M. Petrie. A summary of the recent advances made 

 in the study of proteins and their antecedents in the plant. 

 An account is given of the nitrogen compounds which occur 

 in seeds, and the modern views of their function in 

 germination. — The rile of nitrogen and its compounds in 

 plant-metabolism, part ii. : Dr. J. M. Petrie. Deals 

 with the non-protein nitrogen compounds of seeds, and 

 gives the results obtained from the analyses of the seeds 

 of thirty different plants. Previous investigators have 

 seldom found less than 90 per cent, of the total nitrogen 

 existing as protein, whereas the author finds as much as 

 45 per cent, of non-protein nitrogen compounds in ripe 

 Acacia seeds. E.xact descriptions of the methods employed 

 are also given. — Contribution to a knowledge of Australian 

 Hirudinea, part ii. : E. J. Goddard. A new genus is 

 proposed for a leech from a fresh-water pool at Oberon, 

 New South Wales. — Contribution to a knowledge of 

 Australian Oligoch^ta, part ii. : E. J. Goddard. Another 

 phreodrilid worm, from pools on the Mt. Wellington 

 plateau, Tasmania, is described. It is of interest because 

 its Tasmanian habitat completes the circuit of distribution 

 of the family — from South America to New South Wales. 

 — Illustrations of polycotyledony in the genus Persoonia 

 (N.O. Proteacea;) : J. J. Fletcher. In 1882, as the result 

 of his examination of the fruits of twenty-three out of a 

 total of si.xty-one described species of Persoonia, the late 

 Baron von Mueller was able to announce that the embryos 

 ■of nineteen of them were polycotyledonous. The object of 

 the present paper is to supplement the Baron's observations 

 in so far as these relate to the species of Persoonia to be 

 found in the neighbourhood of Sydney and on the Blue 

 Mountains, from a study of seedlings, and whenever it 

 was possible of a considerable number of them. The 

 cotyledons of about 700 seedlings, representing ten species, 

 four of which are not in the Baron's list, and, in addition, 

 the embryos of two species of which seedlings were not 

 procurable, one of which is not in the Baron's list, were 

 examined. The only seedlings or embryos with two coty- 

 ledons met with were those of P. ferruginea, Sm. Not 

 only is the number of cotyledons in all the other species 

 examined inconstant, but about to per cent, of the total 

 number of seedlings were found to possess one, occasion- 

 ally two, or rarely three notched, bifid, or bipartite cotyle- 

 ■donary members ; .some of these possibly may have been 

 cases of connate cotvledons. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, January 28. 



Royal Society, at 4. w-— The Action of the Venom of Sepedan haciiiachales 

 of South .Africa: Sir Thoma'i R. Fraser. F.R S.. and Dr. J A. Gunn.— 

 The Colour?; and Pigments of Fliwers with 'Special Reference to Genet rs : 

 Miss M. Wheldale.— The Variations in the Pressure and Composition 

 of the Blood in Cholera ; and Iheir Bearing on the Success of Hypertonic 

 Saline Transfusion in its Treatment : Prof. Leonard Rogers, I.M.^. — 

 The British Freshwater Phytoplankton, with Special Reference to the 

 Desmid-plankton and the Distribution of British Desmids : W. West and 

 G. S. West.— The Selective Permeability of the Co-erings of the Seeds of 

 Hordcum vulgnrc : Prof. Adrian J. Brown.— The Origin of Osmotic 

 Effects. II. Differential Septa : Prof H. E. Armstrong. F.R.S. 



Royal Institution, at 3.— Mvsteries of Metals : Prof J. O. Arnold. 



Institution of Electrical Engineers, at 8.— The Parallel Operation of 

 Alternators : Or. E. Rosenberg. 



Royai, Society of Arts, at 4.30.— Some Phases of Hinduism : Krishna 

 Gobinda Gupta. 



FRIDAY, January 29. 



Royal Institution, at q. — Improvements in Production and Application 

 of Gun-cotton and Nitroglycerine: Sir Frederick L. Nathan. 

 SATURDAY. January 30. 



Royal Institution, at 3— Sight anH Seeing : Sir Hubert vn Herkomer. 



Essex Field Club, at 6 (at Essex Museum of Natural History, Romford 

 Road, Stratford).— Subsidence of Eastern England and Adjacent Areas : 

 W. H. Dalton.— Some Notes on " Moorlog." a Peaty Deposit dredged 

 up in the North Sea: H. Whitehead and H. H. Go;dchild. 

 MONDAY, February i. 

 Arts, at 8.— Electric Power Supply: G. L. Addenbrooke- 



Zoological Society, at S. 30.— Notes on the Fauna of Christmas Island : 

 Dr. C. W. .\ndrews, F.R.S.— Report on the Pathological Observations at 

 ihe Society's Gardens during 1Q08 : Dr. H. G. Plimmer. — Preliminary 

 Account of the Life-history of the Leaf insect, Phylthiiu ci-jiri/ointm 

 Serv. : H. S. Leigh.— The Mammals of .Matabeleland : E. C. Chubb. 



Royal Society of Arts, at 4.30.— The Production of Wheat in the 

 British Empire: Albert E. Humphries. 



In.stitution of Civil Engineers, at 8.— On Heat-flow and Temperature- 

 distribution in the Gas-engme : Prof. B. Hopkinson. 

 WEDNESDA Y, February 3. 



Society of Public Analysts, at 8. — The use of Quartz Combustion Tubes 

 especially for the Direct Determination of Carbon in Steel : B. Blount and 

 A. G. Lew. — The Composition and Analysis of Chocolate : P. .\, Ellis 

 Richards, C. H. Ciibb, and N. P. Booth.— Note on some Commercial 

 Samples of .Monobrombenzene : J. H. Coste. 



Entomological Society, at 8. 



THURSDAY, February 4. 



Royal Society, at ^.-^o.—PfobabU Papers: On the Electricity of Rain 

 and its Origin in 'I hunderstorms : Dr. George C. Simpson. — Ihe Effect of 

 Pressure upon Arc Spectra, No. 3, Silver. X40C10-A4600: W. G. 

 DuHield.— The Tension of Metallic Films deposited by Electrolysis : 

 G. Gerald Stoney. 



Civil and Mechanical Engineers' Societ 

 Arches : Prof. Henry .\dams. 



Linnean Society, at 8.— On Fucus spiralis, Linn. : Dr. F. Biirgesen.- 

 Economy oi Ichneumon maiti/estatcr, Linn. : C Morley. — Un thePolyzo; 

 of Madeira : Rev. Canon Norman, F.R.S. 



ROntgen Society, at 8.15. — The Transport of Ions : Dr. Howard Pirie. 

 FRIDAY, February 5. 



Royal Institution, at 9.— The Influence of Superstition ( 

 Institutions : Prof. J. G. Frazer. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8. — The Design and Consti 

 of Docks : Sir Whately Eliot. 



8.— The Stability of 



1 the Growth of 



Royal Society 



Society op Chemical Industi 

 cellulose : Sir Frederick Nathan 



TUESDAY, Feb 

 Institution, at 3. — The Architectural 

 iia: Prof A. A. M.acdonell. 



NO. 2048, VOL. 79] 



8.— The Manufacture of Nitro" 



nd Sculptural Antiquit 



CONTENTS. P.\GE 



Religious and Sexual Psychology. By N. W. T. . 361 



The Bone Marrow 362 



Progress of Climatology. By R. G. K. L 363 



Some New Text-books of Inorganic Chemistry. By 



J- B. C 363 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Davies : " The Theory and I^ractice of Bridge 

 Construction in Timber, Iron and Steel." — 



T, H. B 36s 



Gulliver : " Metallic Alloys : their .Structure and 



Constitution'' 365 



Rust: " Ex-nieiidian, Altitude, Azimuth, and Star- 

 finding Tables"; Putnian : " Naulical Charts"; 

 Park : " A Text-book of Theodolite Surveying and 

 Levelling." — Captain H. C. Lockyer . . 365 



" Pentose's Pictorial Annual : a Review of the Craphic 



Arts"; " The Process Year Book " 366 



" The Edinburgh School Atlas" 366 



Letters to the l<.ditor — 



The Product and Rays of Uranium X. — Frederick 



Soddy 366 



The Oiigin of the -Aborigines of Tasmania. — H. Ling 



Roth'; J. W. G 367 



Warm Months in Relaiion to Sun-spot Numbers. 

 (/;V/v /i/,H'niOT.)— Alex. B. MacDowall .... 367 



Recent Earthquakes. By R. D. 368 



Gravitational Theories 369 



Mountaineering in Northern Norway. (Illiis/raled.) 



ByJ. W. G 369 



A Nat'onal Scheme of Afforestation 370 



Dr. Francis Elgar, LL.D., F.R.S. By Sir W. H. 



White, K.C.B., F.R.S 372 



Notes 374 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Recent Brilliant Fireballs 378 



Martian Features 378 



Atmospheric Polarisation 378 



Making a Forty-centimetre (i5"7 inches) Cassegrain 



Reflector 378 



The Poles of Double-star Orbits 378 



Remarkably Daik Penumbral Eclipse of the Moon . 378 

 L'Annuaire astronomique et meieorologique, 1909 . . 379 



The British Science Guild 379 



System and Science in Education 382 



The World of Life; as 'Visualised and Interpreted 

 by Darwinism. By Dr. Alfred Russel Wallace, 



0,M., F.R.S 384 



Long-distance Telegraphy. By J. L. M 386 



University and Educational Intelligence 386 



Societies and Academies 387 



Diary of Societies 390 



