86 



NATURE 



[July 20, 191 1 



institution of an imperial bureau of anthropology, while a 

 cognati mattei will be discussed in a paper by Mr. H. 

 Peake, in which the author urges the desirability of insti- 

 tuting .111 anthropometrii survey of Great Britain. 



S n I (Physiology).— Presidential address, Prof. 



J. S. Macdonald ; discussion on ventilation in confined 

 quarters, especially in relation to ships, Dr. L. Hill, Prof. 

 N. Zuntz, Mr. L. Woolhard; discussion on inhibition. 

 opened b) Prof. C. S. Sherrington, followed by Mr. Keith 

 Lucas, conduction between muscle and nerve, with special 

 reference to inhibition, and Prof. J. S. Macdonald; fre- 

 quency of colour-blindness in males, Dr. Edridge-Green ; 

 heat production and body temperature during rest and 

 work, Prof. J. S. Macdonald and Dr. J. E. Chapman; 

 rhythmical stimulation of cooled frog's nerve, Dr. J. Tail ; 

 electrical stimulation of the frog's heart, Dr. J. Tait ; 

 photochemical changes in yohimbine solutions, Dr. J. Tait 

 and Dr. J. A. Hewitt; some considerations on the influence 

 of haemoglobin in the haemolysis of red blood corpuscles. 

 Dr. H. E. Roaf ; the chemistry of heat coagulation of 

 proteins, Dr. Harriette Chick and Dr. C. J. Martin ; new 

 researches on phagocytosis, Prof. H. J. Hamburger; a 

 photometer for hetarochromatic photometry, Prof. C. S. 

 Sherrington ; model to illustrate Listing's law of the move- 

 ments of the eyeball, Prof. C. S. Sherrington ; compari- 

 son between the nervous taxis of the cat's knee and that 

 of the anthropod claw, Miss S. C. M. Sowton and Prof. 

 C. S. Sherrington. 



Section K. (Botany).— Presidential address, Prof. F. E. 

 Weiss. Joint meeting with Sections C and E on the 

 relation of the present plant population of the British 

 Isles to the Glacial period, opened by Mr. Clement Reid. 

 Discussion on the principles of constructing phyto-geo- 

 graphical maps. Semi-popular lecture, by Mr. Francis 

 Darwin. Papers : Some petrified Jurassic plants from 

 Scotland, Prof. A. C. Seward ; recent work on the Jurassic 

 plants of Yorkshire, H. H. Thomas ; the structure of the 

 oldest known synangium, and its bearing on the origin of 

 the seed, Dr. M. Benson ; on the mode of formation of the 

 Pettycur material as gathered from internal evidence ; a 

 fifteen-year study of advancing sand-dunes, Prof. H. C. 

 Cowles ; new proposals in ecology, Prof. F. E. Clements ; 

 phytogeography as an experimental science, Prof. Massart ; 

 the vegetation of pebble beaches, Prof. F. W. Oliver ; the 

 brown seaweeds of a salt-marsh, Miss S. M. Baker; the 

 Swiss National Park and its flora. Prof. C. Schroter ; the 

 water-content of acidic peats, W. B. Crump ; the wilting of 

 moorland plants, W. B. Crump ; the presumptive hybrid 

 Anagallis carnea. Prof. F. E. Weiss ; the morphology of 

 leguminous nodules, Prof. Bottomley ; nuclear osmosis as 

 a factor in mitosis, A. A. Lawson ; nuclear division in 

 Spongospora, A. S. Home; the polyphyletic origin of the 

 Cornaceas, A. S. Home ; the transference of sugar from 

 the host plant to a parasitic Cuscuta, S. Mangham. 



Subsection Agrii i i m re, -Presidential address, Prof. 

 W. Bateson ; cidei sickness, B. T. P. Barker and Mr. 

 Hillier ; the effect of grass on apple trees, S. U. Picker- 

 ing; the inheritance <>l strength in wheat, Prof. T. B. 

 Wood ; crystalline nitrogenous constituents of mangolds, 

 Prof. T. B. Wood ; suggestions relating to the existing 

 system of imperial avoirdupois weights, J. Porter. Dis- 

 cussion on bacterial diseases of plants, opened by Prof. 

 M. C. Potter ; bacterial diseases of the celery and swede, 

 T. H. Priestlei ; bacterial yum diseases, F. T. Brooks ; 

 bacterial diseases of the potato plant in Ireland, Dr. G. H. 

 Pethybridge ; experiments on the wart disease of potatoes, 

 G. T. Malthouse ; potato disease, A. S. Home. Dis- 

 cussion: How best may the university agricultural depart- 

 ments come into contact with the farmer, Principal 

 Ainsworth Davis ; the American and Canadian systems, 

 R. Hart-Svnnot : the place nf the agricultural instructor, 

 J. H. Burton. Joint discussion with the Chemical Section. 

 The part played by enzymes in the economy of plants and 

 animals. Popular lecture by Mr. A. D. Hall, the soils 

 and farming of the Southdowns ; commercial ovariotomy 

 in pigs, F. H. A. Marshall and K. J. J. Mackenzie; 

 temperature variations during the cestrous cycle in cows, 

 F. H. ft. Marshall and K. J. J. Mackenzie; thi effects 

 of ventilation on the temperature and carbon dioxide of 

 the air of byres, J. Hendrick ; the effect of minute elec- 

 trical currents on the growth and metabolism of bacteria. 

 Prof. J. IT. Priestley and Miss F. M. Lee; the effect 

 J 17;. VOL. 87] 



of high tension electric discharges and current electricitv 

 on plant respiration, Prof. J. H. Priestley and Mr. R. C. 

 Knight ; the effect of pyrophosphates on animals, Dr. J. A. 

 Gardner; application of genetics to horse-breeding, C. C. 

 Hurst; the inheritance of milk yield in cattle, J. Wilson. 

 rhe ./in; features of the programme are: Discussions on 

 problems at present of great importance in agriculture : 

 (1) Bacterial diseases of plants; (2) the University Agricul- 

 tural Departments and the practical farmer ; (3) the rdle 

 cif enzymes in the economy of plants and animals; (4) some 

 important live stock questions ; (5) semi-popular lecture : 

 a scientific study of the local agriculture. 



NOTES. 

 1 in Brussels correspondent of The Times announces that 

 Prof. \Y. Spring, professor of general chemistry in the 

 University of Liege, died on July 17 after an operation on 



tli.' throat. 



The Council of the Royal Society of Arts attended at 

 Clarence House on Friday, July 14. when the Duke of 

 Connaught, president of the society, presented its Albert 

 Medal to the Hon. Sir C. A. Parsons, F.R.S., "for his 

 experimental researches into the laws governing the 

 efficient action of steam in engines of the turbine type and 

 fur his invention of the reaction type of steam turbine and' 

 its practical application to the generation of electricity and 

 other purposes." 



A meeting of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers will 

 be held on July 25 and 26, at Zurich. The meetings will 

 lie held in the Swiss Polytechnikum. Among the papers to 

 bi read may be mentioned: — Electric traction in Switzer- 

 land, by Mr. E. Huber-Stockar, of Ziirich ; results of 

 experiments with Francis turbines and tangential (Pelton) 

 turbines, by Prof. Franz Prasil. of Zurich ; some new types 

 of dynamometers, by Dr. Alfred Amsler, of Schaffhausen ; 

 rack-railway locomotives of the Swiss mountain railways. 

 by Mr. T. Weber and Mr. S. Abt, of Winterthur : high- 

 pressure water-power works, by Mr. L. Zodel, of Zurich. 



The annual general meeting of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry was held last week in Sheffield, under the presi- 

 dency of Mr. Walter F. Reid, a summary of whose address- 

 appears elsewhere in this issue. Dr. Rudolf Messel, of 

 London, was elected president for the ensuing year. The 

 applied science department of the University was visited, 

 .111.1 in an address given to the visitors, Prof. Arnold said 

 that for the future students of the Royal School of Mines, 

 il they wish to obtain the School of Mines diploma for iron 

 and steel metallurgy, must take their fourth year of study 

 in the metallurgical department of the University of 

 Sheffield, and must pass its examination. Numerous visits 

 were made to factories in and near Sheffield, and the visitors 

 were entertained at several receptions. 



An important Act has been adopted by the New York 

 legislature dealing with the sale in New York State of 

 wild American game. Owing to the efforts of Senator 

 II. R. Bayne to secure the passing of the Bill, the new Act 

 is often called the Bayne law. Stated briefly, the new law 

 prohibits in New York State, at all seasons, the sale, or 

 importation for sale, of any species of American wild game, 

 ,.i\. hares and rabbits. These rodents have been declared a 

 pest to fruit-growers. No longer will it be possible for 

 ruffed grouse, pinnated grouse, any American quail, wood- 

 ....k, snipe, or anj American shore-bird, wild goose, brant, 

 or wild ducks of any species, to be sold in the State of New 

 York, no matter where they may have been killed. The 

 law provides, however, that certain species of game 

 that can be reared successfully in captivity, and killed by 

 hand, maj be sold and consumed, under certain restrictions. 



