610 

The Mayor of Lyons hopes to secure as complete a 
collection as possible of papers relating to the war, 
so that students and investigators of diverse subjects— 
meteorologist or historian, hygienist or sociologist— 
will eventually regard it as the central bureau for 
their own particular studies of the times through 
which which we are now passing. All branches of 
human activity having relation to war questions or 
problems will be embraced by the library, and no 
article or other publication will be considered too un- 
important for inclusion. It is hoped that authors of 
all contributions upon these subjects will send copies 
of their works to the Bibliotheque de la Guerre of 
the city of Lyons, and will co-operate in other ways 
to make the collection complete. 
UnTIL recent years the personal side of academic 
scientific history has not attracted with us the general 
attention that its human interest deserves. A notable 
exception is, however, afforded by the accounts given 
in the biographies of Lord Kelvin of the relations 
between Glasgow and Cambridge in his early days. 
A very interesting narrative of about ten years later 
has now appeared in the form of a notice of G. M. 
Slessor, of Queens’ College, senior wrangler of 1858, 
and for a few years professor at Belfast, a mathe- 
matician of well-known achievement, whose high 
promise was cut off by early death at the age of 
twenty-eight. The biography, accompanied by a strik- 
ing portrait, is in the Aberdeen University Review for 
June, 1915; it is written by the Master of Emmanuel, 
Dr. P. Giles, largely from material contributed by Sir 
James Stirling, F.R.S., who was a pupil and friend of 
Slessor, and was himself an Aberdonian senior 
wrangler a few years later. It may be commended 
to the notice of all concerned with the preservation 
of the scientific and academic personal records of the 
period. 

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, July 19.—M. Ed. Perrier in the 
chair.—J. Boussinesq: The existence in our physico- 
mathematical sciences of fundamental chapters still 
in the same rudimentary state as the dynamics of 
Aristotle.—Georges| Lemoine: The catalysis of 
hydrogen peroxide in homogeneous media with acids 
and alkalis. Pure water acts as a catalyser on 
hydrogen peroxide. The addition of acids even in 
very small proportions, some ten-thousandths, reduces 
the rate of decomposition. Curves are given showing 
the relation between rate of decomposition and con- 
centration of acid for sulphuric and hydrochloric acids. 
Alkalis accelerate the rate of decomposition, and the 
results of experiments with soda, potash, and lithia 
are given.—C. E., Guye and Ch. Lavanchy: The ex- 
perimental verification of the Lorentz-Einstein formula 
by kathode rays of high velocity. Using the method 
of identical trajectories described in an earlier paper 
it was found that the Lorentz-Einstein formula on 
the variation of the inertia as a function of the velocity 
was verified with great precision by all the measure- 
ments.—E. Fleurent; Remarks on bread for prisoners 
of war. A method of preparing bread is described 
giving a product not liable to mould, and preserving 
its flavour intact even after keeping a month or 
longer in a moist, dark cupboard.—Louis Roule; Fish 
from the lower depths of the sea of the family of 
Brotulidez in the North Atlantic.—E. Vasticar : The 
nuclear formation of the external auditive cells and 
of Deiters cells. 
NO. 2387, VOL. 95] 
NATURE 

[JULY 29, 1915 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Chemistry of Familiar Things. By S. S. Sadtler. 
Pp. xiii+320. (Philadelphia and London: J. B. Lip- 
pincott Co.) 7s. 6d. net. 
A Text-Book on Practical Mathematics for Advanced 
Technical Students. By H. L. Mann. Pp. xii+487. 
(London: Longmans and Co.) 7s. 6d. net. 
Metropolitan Water Board. Eleventh Report on Re- 
search Work, together with Index to Research Re- 
ports. Nos. ix., inclusive. By Dr. A. C. Houston 
Pp. 52+vii. (London.) 
How Belgium is Fed. Pp. 28. (London: National 
Commission for Relief in Belgium.) 
The National Physical Laboratory. Report for the 
Year 1914-15. Pp. 136. (Teddington.) 
The National Physical Laboratory. Collected Re- 
searches. Vol. xii., 1915. Pp. iv+173+plates. (Lon- 
don: Harrison and Sons.) 12s. 
An Introduction to Mining Science. By J. B. Cop- 

pock and G. A. Lodge. Pp. ix+230. (London: 
Longmans and Co.) 2s. net. 
CONTENTS. PAGE 
The Study of Metals and Alloys. By Prof. H. C. H. 
Carpenter.) £00: ).::.. 2), cae en eum 583 
Pencil and Pen in Systematic Zoology. By Rev. 
deaReR Stebbing, F-RiS# nee waa a! Semen 
Chiefly Mongian Geometry. ........ * ne 5SO8 
Electrical Engineering Text-Books ..... «foe 586 
GuriBeokshelf! | ..c.).°5) See : =f ee gee 
Letters to the Editor:— 
More Early Animal Figures.  (J//ustrated.)—Dr. 
C. R. Eastman ime <caeer = 4-¢ictacereme 589 
The Magnetic Storm and Solar Disturbance of June 17. 
—Albert Alfred Buss pe Sat cea 589 
Cenient for Polarimeter Tubes.—Dr. T. S. Patterson 590 
Experiment on Sunset Colours. (Z//ustrated.)—F. W. 
Jordans... 0... .:t. See ee 590 
Non-Poisonous 
W. H. Martindale; ‘‘The Reviewer”... . 
The Principle of Similitude.—Dr. D, Riabouchinsky 591 ° 
Structure of Hailstones.—S, L. Elborne 3) ater ‘SOM 
Cotton as a High Explosive. By Bertram Blount 591 
The War and Chemical Industry ....... - 592 
The Royal Geographical Society’s Work on the 
Qne-Million. Map?., .:. 9. 235 Aer ee misc eye os G04 
Recent Studies in the Dynamics of Living Matter. 
By Prof. D’Arcy W. Thompson,C.B. ...... 594 
Simpsandfordskleming,, ..1-aeaeeaeene eae = 011590 
INIOLCS Ties oc so%s.s +s ee Pavers sss S 596 
Our Astronomical Column :— 
Astrographic Catalogue, Perth Section. ..... . 601 
aherscintillation of Stars 5 eam iene 601 
The University Observatory, Oxford. ....... 601 
A New Saccharimeter. (J/lustrated.) ..... 5 602 
Our Overseas Museums eee whey ee 602 
Entomological Work in Canada. By H. M.L.. . 603 
The} Suppiyjof (Optical (Glass aaa. sens eee 603 
The Government Scheme for the Organisation and 
Development of Scientific and Industrial Research 604 
Modern Munitions of War. By Prof. Vivian B. 
lOO0/ES 5-5 CG eae Mes 5 ae eaves OO 
University and Educational Intelligence So Woe) 
Societies;andvAcademies), — Gueueeemen tn ene 610 
BooksitReceiveds  . . | eee ieee) eee 610 


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