NATURE 



[July 21, 1910 



the stroma and germ cells was mutually correlated through- 

 out the development of the ovary. The follicle cells were 

 derived from the oogonia, and not from the stroma, cells, 

 the latter being only supporting and vascular. The paper 

 contained many other important details, partly supporting, 

 partly correcting, the conclusions of other workers. — Dr. 

 Thomas Muir ; The theory of wronskians, recurrents, and 

 all other less common special forms of determinants up to 

 1S60. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, July ii.— M. i;mile Picard in the 

 ?hair. — .\. Lacroix ; General consequences to be drawn 

 from the study of the petrographic constitution of Tahiti. The 

 author shows the presence of granitoid rocks in this island 

 10 be of some importance, since no analogous rock has yet 

 been found in Polynesia. — Sir William Ramsay and Robert 

 VVhytlaw Gray : The density of the radium emanation. 

 .\fter two years' efforts, the authors have constructed a 

 balance sensible to a half-millionth of a milligram, and 

 by means of this have arrived at 220 as the mean value of 

 the atomic weight. — ^Edouard Heckel : The action of cold 

 and anaesthetics upon the leaves of Angtaecum fragrans and 

 the green husks of Vanilla. As a practical deduction from 

 these observations, it would appear useful, in order to 

 diminish the time necessary for the industrial extraction 

 of vanilla, to submit it first to the vapour of sulphuric ether 

 for 5 or 8 hours, afterwards drying by the usual processes.— 

 P. Puiseux : The origin of tlie " cirques " and angular 

 outline of the lunar crevasses. — G. Millochau and H. 

 Godard : Observations on Halley's comet from the Pic du 

 .Midi Observatory. — E. Study: The " Gtemi5trie des 

 feuillets " of MM. R. de Saussure and R. Bricard. — 

 .■\rnaud Denjoy : The continuous and the discontinuous. 

 — L. Amaduzzi : The variation of the appearance of a 

 discharge with the variation of the distance of explosion. — 

 Ettore Cardoso and Georges Baumes : Critical constants 

 of acetylene and cyanogen. The authors find the mean 

 values to be: acetylene, tc = 35-';° (308-5 abs.), ^^=61-5 

 atmospheres; cyanogen, 4^=128-3 (401-3 abs.), /i^ = 5q-b 

 atmospheres. — A. Lafay : The average pressures sup- 

 ported by a body maintained in a current of air of irregular 

 velocity. — P. Carre : Researches on the fixation of trioxy- 

 methylene by magnesium derivatives of homologues of 

 benzyl bromide. — M. Vandernotte : The brookite of an 

 albitic syenite from the neighbourhood of Ernee. — E. 

 Gourdon : Two deposits of zeolites in the Antarctic. — 

 Leclerc Du Sablon : The ascent of sap. It is shown 

 that the mechanism of the ascent is independent of the 

 height of the trunk, and that water has no more difficulty 

 in rising to the top of a tree of 300 metres than a plant 

 of some decimetres. — M. Radais and M. Sartory : Render- 

 ing a rabbit immune from the poison of mushrooms. — A. 

 Magnan : A certain law of variation of the liver and 

 the pancreas among birds. — Marcus Hartos : A new force : 

 mitoliinetism. — A. Perrier : The combustion of acetalde- 

 hyde by lower vegetable organisms. — J. Winter : The 

 quantity of secretion contained in a given gastric liquid. — 

 M. Doyen : The use of thermo-electric baths without 

 alteration of normal tissue. The author describes successful 

 experiments based on the fact that cancerous poison cannot 

 resist a temperature of 55° C, while normal tissue sup- 

 ports a temperature of 58°~6o°. — M. D'Arsonval : Remarks 

 on the previous paper. — .A. Briquet ; The succession of 

 cycles of erosion in the Franco-Belgian district. — Henri 

 IVIemery : Remarkable coincidences between the variations 

 ■of sun-spots, and the temperature variations at Paris, Bor- 

 deaux, and Pau during the winter and spring of 1910. 

 Cape Town. 



Royal Society of South Africa, March 18.— Mr. S. S. 

 Hough, F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Dr. R. Marioth : 

 Some further observations on the biology of Roridula. 

 Roridula deiitata, commonly called the fly-bush, is a shrub 

 I to 4 feet high, growing on the mountains near Tulbagh 

 and on the Cedar mountains. As the leaves are provided 

 with many stalked glands, which secrete a very viscid 

 fluid, numerous insects adhere to the leaves and perish 

 there, hence the shrublet is universally considered to be an 

 insectivorous plant. Experiments, however, have shown 

 ihat the fluid secreted by the glands does not possess any 

 liigpstive properties, and that it is quite different from the 

 fluid secreted by droseraceous plants. The fluid is a kind 

 NO. 2125, VOL. 84] 



of balsam, and probably affords protection to the plant 

 against the attacks of creeping animals, such as snails, 

 caterpillars, earwigs. Sec, and the capturing of other 

 insects is merely accidental, and of no advantage to the 

 plant. Roridula dentata and R. Gorgonias, the only two 

 species of this genus, are consequently to be excluded from 

 the list of insectivorous plants. — Dr. T. Moir : The 

 absorption spectrum of oxygen and a new law of spectra. 

 The AB and a lines of the solar spectrum, which are due 

 to absorption by terrestrial oxygen, have each a compli- 

 cated rhythmic structure. The author has discovered an 

 algebraical formula whereby each line can be calculated 

 from a fundamental, the differences being directly propor- 

 tional to the squares of the first fifteen or sixteen integers. 

 The agreement is practically in all cases within the 

 observational error. The o.xygen molecule is shown to be 

 very slightly unsymmetrical. — Dr. L. Peringuey : Notes 

 on some bushmen. The small, elf-like bushman was 

 legendary, with all the concomitants of the legend. If 

 careful comparison of the description of the old authors 

 such as .Sparrman, Barrow, and Burchell with the 

 remnants of that so-called bush race was made, it would 

 be found that such physical peculiarities in male or female 

 of which the authors spoke were most accurately described. 

 Yet the skull of the brother of one of the females exhibited 

 came within the measurements assigned to Hottentots. 

 This was another proof of the conclusion arrived at by 

 Shrubsall that the Hottentots and the so-called bush people 

 are closely allied, whereas the akin race, " Strand Looper," 

 show more differentiation. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



A Standard Treatise on Physics 65 



Flower Pollination 66 



Practical Work for Electrical Laboratories. By 



Prof. Gisbert Kapp . 67 



Ancient Hindu Chemistry. By T. K. R 68 



An Encyclopedia of the Sciences 68 



Our Book Shelf 69 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Experimental Study of Fulgurites. {Illustrated.) — 



Prof. R. W. Wood 70 



Ooze and Irripalion. — Rev. Hilderic Friend .... 70 

 The Sterilisation of Liquids by Li£;ht of very short 



Wave-lencth. — Prof. Theodore Lyman . . . 71 

 Elemental Weight Accurately a Function of the Volu- 

 tion of Best Space-symmetry Ratios. ( With 



D /a pa ///.)— H. Newman Howard 71 



Electrical Discharge Figures. (Illustrated.) — Prof. 



W. Lermantoff; Prof. Alfred W. Porter. . . 72 



An Interesting Occultation. — Arthur Burnet . . • 73 

 Pwdre Ser.— W. B. Grove and B. Millard 



Griffiths; C. Fitzhugh Talman 73 



House-flies and Disease. (Illustrated.) By Dr. C. 



Gordon Hewitt •73 



The Next Total Eclipse of the Sun. By Dr. William 



J. S. Lockyer 75 



Glaciers, Goldfields, and Landslides in North 



America. (Illustrated.) By G. W. L 76 



Mountaineering in the North-west Himalaya, (lllus- 



trate.l.) By Sir T. H. Holland, K.C.I.E., F.R.S. . 78 

 The East African Natural History Society. By Sir 



H. H. Johnston, G. CM. G., K.C.B So 



Notes So 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Photographs of Aurora; 86 



Displacement of Spectral Lines at the Sun's Limb . . 86 



The Pressure of Light on Gases . 86 



The Determination of Stellar Radial Velocities ... 86 



Halley's Comet 86 



Harvard College Observatory 86 



Colour of the Sea. By J. Y. Buchanan, F.R.S. . . 87 



Remnants of the Past 89 



Non-ferrous Metals S9 



The Association of Technical Institutions .... 90 

 The Position of University Education in Great 



Britain 91 



University and Educational Intelligence 96 



Societies and Academies 97 



