420 



NA TURE 



[February 4, 1909 



to show, at a glance, the annual rainfall of many years for 

 all Australia, as taken from the official returns. Geraldton, 

 Queensland, holds the record for great rains, while the least 

 rainfall of Australia appears to be that of Lake Eyre and 

 its vicinity. The lake, now, is mostly a dry bed, and is 

 below sea-level. A second chart shows the daily rainfall of 

 Sydney for the past fifty years, together with other details. 

 — Revision of the Australian Orectolobidje : J. D. Ogilby 

 and A. R. McCulloch, An account of the Australian 

 members of the family, which includes the wobbegongs or 

 carpet sharks, cat sharks, &c. Diagnoses of the genera 

 and species are given, and a new name, Cirrhorhinus, is 

 proposed for Brachaeliirus colcloughi, Ogilby. The extra- 

 ordinary egg-case of ChiloscylUum punctatiim, M. and H., 

 is described for the first time. Whereas in most other 

 sharks the egg-case is attached to surrounding weeds, &c., 

 by long tendriliform processes at either end, that of C. 

 puiictatum hangs by a median loop, the parts of which are 

 woven round the support by the lips of the parent after 

 deposition. The paper is illustrated with plates of several 

 of the species. — Some geological notes on the country 

 behind Jervis Bay : Dr. H. I. Jensen. The writer shoivs 

 that the country between the Upper Shoalhaven and the 

 sea has the character of a raised marine plain subsequently 

 dissected by faulting and erosion. The Sassafras Table- 

 land and Currockbilly Range he considers to be a " horst " 

 or " block mountain." — Vocabulary of the Ngarrugu tribe. 

 New South Wales : R. H. Mathews. — The sedimentary 

 rocks of the Lower Shoalhaven River : C. F. Laseron. 

 In this paper it is intended primarily to show the geo- 

 logical sequence of the various formations in the district 

 and the local geographical changes which took place at 

 the close of the period, during which the Clyde Coal- 

 measures were deposited. — The discontinuity of potential at 

 the surface of glowing carbon : J. A. Pollock, A. B. B. 

 Ranclaud, and E. P. Norman. In a circuit with one 

 heated electrode in air at ordinary pressure, the projection 

 of ions from the hot surface necessitates the establishment 

 of a potential difference between the electrodes if the 

 current in the circuit is to be zero. This potential differ- 

 ence in certain circumstances may be taken as a measure 

 of the surface discontinuity, and values have been obtained 

 in the case of glowing carbon at various temperatures. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY. Feiirc^ky 4. 

 RovAL Society, at 4.30.-00 the Electricity of Rain and it.s Origin in 



Thunderstorms: Dr. George C. Simpson.— The Effect of Pressure upon 



Arc Snectra, No. 3, Silver. A4000-A4600: W. Geoffrey Huffield- . 



The Tension of Metallic Films deposited by Electrolysis : G. Gerald 



Stonev.— A Further Note on the Conversion of Diamond into Coke in 



High Vacuum by Cathode Ray.s : A. A. Campbell Swinton. 

 Civil .wd Mkchanicai. Engineers' Society, at 8.— The Stability of 



Arches : Prof. Henry Adams. 

 LiNNEAN Society, at 8.— On Fiicus spiralis, Linn. : Dr. F. Boreesen.— 



Economy of Ichnaimon mnni/estatcr, Linn. : C. Morley.— On the Polyzoa 



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

 RiiNTGEN Society, at 8.15— The Transport of Ions: Dr. Howard Pir'.e. 



FRIDAY, Febeuarv 5. 

 Royal Institution, at q.— The Influence of Superstition on the Growth of 



Institutions : Prof. J. G. Frazer. 

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



of Docks : Sir Whately Eliot. 

 Geologists' Association, at 7.30.— Annual General Meeting.— Presidenti'^l 



Address : The Jubilee of the Geologists' Association : Prof. W. \V. 



Watts, F.R.S. 



MONDAY, FEnRUARY 8. 

 RnvAL Geographical Society, at 8.30. — My Recent E.xpedition in 



Tibet : Dr. Sven Hedin. 



TUESDA Y, February 9. 



-The Architectural and Sculptural Antiquities 



■. J. W. 

 I Sewage 



koyal Institution, 



of India: Prof. A. A. lVf.irdc 

 Koval Anthroi'OLOgical Institute, at 8.15. — Deneholes : Re 



Hayes. 

 Faraday Society, at 8.— Applications of Electrolytic Chlorine I 



Purification and Deodorisation by the " Oxychlorides " Proc _ 



S. Rideal.— A New Electrical Hardening Furnace : E. Sabersky. 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8.— /^KrMcr Z'/V^xmon : On Heat- 

 floiv and Temperature-distribution in the Gas-engine : Prof. B. Hopkinson. 

 Cold Storage and Ice Association (Royal Society of .Arts), at 7.30 — 



Some Scientific Problems in the Preservation of Food by .Artificial 



Refiigeration : C. T. Tabor. 



lYEDNESDAV, Feoruarv 10. 

 Geological Society, at 8.— Geological Features observable at the 



Carpalla China.CIay Pit, Cornwall : I. H. Collins.— Recent Observations 



on the Brighton Cliff-formation : E. A. Martin. 

 Royal Society of Arts, at 8.— Bosnia and Herzegovina : A. R Colquhonn. 



THURSDAY, February ii. 



Royal Society, at ^.y,.— Probable Papers: The Nerves of the Atrio- 

 ventricular Bundle; J. Gordon Wilson.— .An Experimental Estimation of 

 the Theory of Ancestial Contributions in Heredity: A, D. Darbishire.— 

 On the Determination of a Coefficient by which the Rate of Difl^usion of 

 Stain and other Substances into Living Cells can be measured, and by 

 which Bacteria and other Cells may be Differentiated : H. C. Ross.— The 

 Origin and Destiny of Cholesterol in the Animal Organism. Part III., 

 The .\bsorption of Cholesterol from the Food and its Appearance in the 

 Blood : C. Doiie and J. A. Gardner —On the Origin and Destiny of 

 Cholesterol in the Animal Organism. Part IV., The Cholesterol Contents 

 of Eggs and Chicks : G \V. Ellis and J. A. Gardner. 



Institution of Electrical Engineers, at 8.— Use of Large Gas 

 Engines for Generating Power : L. Andrews and R. Porter. 



Mathematical Society, 315.30— On the Relation between Pfaff's Pro- 

 blem and the Calculus of Variations : Prof. A. C. Dixon. -On Implicit 

 Functions and their Difl^erentials : Dr. W. H. Voung.-On a Certain 

 Family of Cubic Surfaces : W. H. Salmon.— Some Fundamental Pro- 

 perties of Lebesgue Integrals in a Two-dimensional Domain : Dr. E. W. 

 Hobson.— Modular Invariants of a General System of Linear Forms : 

 Prof. L. E. Dickson. 



NO. 2049, VOL. 79] 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



A Surgeon and a Pathologist on Cancer. By 



E. F. B 391 



Man's Ancestry. By Prof. G. Elliot Smith, F.R.S. 392 



An Atlas of Geographical Exercises. By J. W. G. 393 



Graphical Hydraulics 394 



British Oak Galls . 394 



Practical Astronomy. By A. S. E 395 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Ciibson : " Water Hammer in Hydraulic Pipe Lines" 395 



Peabody : " Valve-gears for Steam Engines" . . . 396 

 Kidd : " The Bull of the Kraal and the Heavenly 



Maidens, a Tale of Black Children " 396 



Pickering and Theobald : " Fruit Trees and their 



Enemies, with a Spraying Calendar " 396 



" Die Fauna Siidwest-Auslraliens. Ergebnisse der 

 Hamburger siidwest-australischen Forschungsreise, 



1905" 396 



Strasser ; " Lehrbuch der Muskel- und Gelenk- 



mechanik " 397 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Diurnal and Semi-diurnal Atmospheric Variations. — 



Henry Helm Clayton . . 397 



A Method of Solving Algebraic Equations. — Georg 



Sattler; Prof. Ronald Ross. C.B., F.R.S. . . 398 



A February Meteoric Shower. — W. F. Denning . 399 

 Women and the Fellowship of the Chemical Society — 



Dr. M. A. Whiteley and Others 399 



Fog and Rime on January 27-2S. — L. C. W. 



Bonacina 399 



Germination of the Broad Bean Seed. — E. Heber 



Smith 400 



" Veiiiges of the Natural History of Creation." — 



F. Wyville Thomson 400 



The Radium Institute . 400 



Through the Heart of Labrador. {[lliislratid.) By 



J. G. Millais ... 401 



A Tropic Isle. (Illustrated.) ByJ. S. G. . 403 



Chemistty in Japan. By Dr. Edward Divers, F.R.S. 404 



The Ageing of Ste 1 405 



Notes. [Illustrated.) 405 



Our Astionomical Column ;- 



Astronomical Occurrences in February 410 



Jupiter's Eighth Moon . . . . 410 



The Problem of Several Bodies 410 



An Eccentric Variable Star 410 



The Minor Planet Patroclus (617) 410 



Determination of the Apex and Vertex from the Stars 



in the Porter Catalogue 410 



Colours of Stars in Galactic and Non-galactic Regions 410 



P.ipular Astronomy 410 



School-work and After-life. By G. F. D 411 



A Proposed North Polar Expedition 412 



The Geological Society of Glasgow 412 



1 he Winnipeg Meeting of the British Association 413 

 Mechanical Flight. (With Diai^raiiis.) By Herbert 



Chatley . 413 



University and Educational Intelligence 417 



Societies and Academies 418 



Diary of Societies 420 



