Juty 8, 1915] 
NATURE 
529 


out the pedigree of the horse from the fossil remains 
of its ancestors; but with the exception of the attempt 
made by Hausmann in Hanover some eighty years 
ago no systematic study had been made of the develop- 
ment of the living horse.. As early as 1876 it had 
occurred to Huxley that strong evidence of the fact of 
evolution would be forthcoming if it were proved 
that the modern horse passed through a hiparion or 
three-toed stage during development. He failed in his 
search, not because it did not exist, but because it 
appeared much earlier than he had expected. Later 
Bonnet and Martin had both described embryos which 
were believed to represent the stage reached at the 
end of the third week; and Bonnet concluded that a 
twenty-one days’ plastocyst might vary from 13 to 
35 mm. in length. An exhaustive inquiry had led 
Prof. Ewart to the conclusion that Bonnet’s 13 mm. 
plastocyst represented the stage reached on the four- 
teenth or fifteenth day of gestation, that the age of 
Martin’s plastocyst was seventeen or eighteen days, 
and that a twenty-one days’ plastocyst measured not 
less than 50 mm., or 2 in. These conclusions were 
supported by some of Hausmann’s figures. Many 
other details were given of the developmental changes 
which took place during the third week, the peculiari- 
ties in the Equide being accentuated by comparison 
with sheep embryos at like periods in the life-history. 
A magnified model which had been reconstructed by 
Dr. A. Gibson from Prof, Ewart’s sections was 
exhibited and described by Prof. Robinson.—Prof. 
Whittaker: The functions which are represented by 
the expansions of the interpolation theory. It is well 
known that there is an indefinite number of functions 
the values of which at points at finite intervals are 
the same as those of a given function. These being 
called cotabular functions, it is shown that there is a 
certain function belonging to the cotabular set which 
is represented by a well-known expansion in the inter- 
polation theory. This function is called the cardinal 
function, Its properties are investigated, and a 
formula is given by which it may be constructed when 
any one function of the cotabular set is known.— 
Prof. A. E. Letts and Miss Florence W. Rea: A modi- 
fication of Pelouze’s method of determining nitrates.— 
Frank L. Hitchcock ; Quaternion investigation of the 
commutative law for homogeneous strains. It has 
long been known that strains with three different roots 
are commutative only when the directional roots in 
the one are parallel to those in the other. When two 
roots are equal the law of commutation is not the 
same. Various cases were classified. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, June 28.—M. Ed. Perrier in the 
chair.—J. Boussinesq: The drawbacks of Fourier’s 
solution in a trigonometric series for the calculation 
of the cooling of the earth’s crust; and other methods 
of carrying out this calculation.—C, Guichard ; The W 
congruences belonging to a complex of the second 
order. Case where the equation in S has a double root.— 
D. Eginitis: Observations of the Mellish comet made 
at the Observatory of Athens with the Doridis equa- 
torial. Positions are given for May 5, 10, 11, 12, 14, 
15, 19, and 20.—Maurice Fréchet: The definition of an 
integral extended to an abstract ensemble. An exten- 
sion of Radon’s definition of an _ integral.—L. 
Tschugaeff and N. Wladimirofi: A new series of com- 
pounds of tetravalent platinum. The chloride of the 
base (Pt.5NH,Cl)(OH),, or (Pt.5NH,CI)Cl,, has been 
prepared by the action of liquid ammonia upon ammo- 
nium chloroplatinate at the ordinary temperature. The 
carbonate and sulphate of the new base are nearly 
insoluble in water, and only three atoms of chlorine 
are removed by silver nitrate in boiling solutions.— 
NO. 2384, VOL. 95] 

Fernand Camus: The mosses found in the stomach of 
a mammoth.—Artatnet de Vevey: Sun cures. An 
account of the diseases cured or ameliorated by sun 
treatment. [he method proposed by the author has 
been used in the neighbourhood of Paris for twelve 
years. G, Tizzoni and P. Perrucci: Determination of 
the immunising and curative value of antitetanic 
serum. It is pointed out that there is a complete 
parallelism between the protective action of an anti- 
tetanic serum and its curative effect for tetanus : these 
two properties of a serum are not parallel with the 
antitoxic power in vitro of the same serum. From the 
physiological point of view it is probable that the 
mechanism of the action of antitetanic serum upon 
strychnine is identical with its action upon tetano- 
toxin. A method is proposed and given in detail for 
utilising strychnine for the standardisation of com- 
mercial preparations of tetanus antitoxin. F. Bordas 
and S. Bruére :; Contribution to the study of the pheno- 
mena of putrefaction. A suggestion for the use of 
appropriate ferments for hastening the decomposition 
of dead bodies. 
CALCUTTA. 
Asiatic Society of Bengal, June 2.—H. C. Das-Gupta : 
Paleontological notes from Hazara. The author has 
described a few fossils obtained from the Triassic, 
Jurassic, and Tertiary beds of Hazara, and 
these fossils include one new species of Corbula (C. 
middlemissi) and another new species of Nautilus 
(N. hazaraenois).—Bimala_ Charan Batabyal: Dak- 
shindar, a godling of the Sunderbuns. Dakshin Rai 
is a sylvan godling extensively worshipped in the dis- 
tricts in the neighbourhood of the Sunderbuns to scare 
away tigers. The procedure in his worship is the 
same as that of Ganapati. It seems to be a relic of 
aboriginal «rites incorporated at a later period into 
Hinduism. A description of the idol is given with 
photographs.—Sarat Chandra Mittra: North Indian 
folk medicine for hydrophobia and scorpion sting. 
The author describes several charms and nostrums 
employed by the village ojhas or medicine men of 
northern India for the cure of hydrophobia and 
scorpion sting. He also publishes the texts, with 
translations and remarks, of two verbal charms for 
curing hydrophobia and one for exorcising the venom 
of scorpion sting.—Dr. B. L. Chaudhuri : The weigh- 
ing beam called Bisé déngd in Orissa, with short 
notes on some weights and measures still current 
among the rural population of that division. The 
present paper gives a short description of two beams 
of the “bismer’’ type from Ganjam, where this kind 
of weighing beam is still in extensive use, and is 
known by the name of Bisdé danga, a name strangely 
similar to the Scandinavian. Two other weighing 
beams of the same type from the collection of the 
Indian Museum are also described in the paper, and 
the probable meaning of the name Bisd is discussed.— 
J. Hornell: The recent pearl fishery in Palk Bay with 
biological notes upon pearl oysters. The acquisition, 
from the Rajah of Ramnad, of his fishing rights on 
the Indian side of Pall Bay has permitted of the com- 
mencement of a systematic survey of the sea bottom 
of this region. The existence of two beds of pearl 
oysters was proved, the oysters being confined to an 
area of a bed of muddy sand between the 53 and 55 
fathom contours, and associated sedentary species 
being few in number. A conservative estimate makes 
the number of oysters on this bed approximately 
twenty millions. The oysters from the larger—the 
Tondi—bed were numerically deficient in pearls, but 
a small number of pearls were exceptionaily large and 
often of fine quality; the oysters from the smaller— 
the Kanangadu—beds resembled those from Tinne- 
velly and Ceylon. The author believes that the Palk 
