NATURE 



[March 27, icjr 



Cambridge. 



Philosophical Society, February 24.— Prof. Pope, vice- 

 president, in the chair. — Prof. Pope and J. Read: The 

 ten stereoisomeric tetrahydroquinaldinomethylene- 

 camphors.— J. E. Purvis and A. E. Rayner : The chem. 

 ical and bacterial condition of the Cam above and 

 below the sewage effluent outfall. The river was 

 investigated at various points extending from 100 ft. 

 above the outfall and at 8 ft. from the outfall, and 

 at \ of a mile, \ a mile, J of a mile, \\ miles, 2 miles, 

 2|- miles, 3 miles, and 4 miles below the outfall. 

 Chemically, the river purifies itself moderately well 

 from the contaminating effluent, for at about three- 

 quarters of a mile below the effluent, the albuminoid 

 ammonia and the oxygen absorbed figures were lower 

 than at 100 ft. above the effluent outfall. Bacterially, 

 the dangerous pollution, as indicated by B. coli, is 

 well marked at between three and four miles below 

 the outfall. The potential danger of such contamina- 

 tion is in the direction of cattle quenching their 

 thirst, of bathers, .and of watercress. — F. " E. E 

 Lamplough and Miss A. M. Hill : Some experiments 

 on the slow combustion of coal dust. — F. R. Ennos : 

 The oxidation of ferrous salts. Air or oxygen was 

 bubbled through ferrous salt solutions and the rate of 

 oxidation measured by withdrawing portions at known 

 intervals and titrating with KMnO", or K.,Cr,,0 7 . For 

 the chloride, sulphate, and acetate the rates are 

 approximately as 1 : 10 : 100, the reaction in the case 

 of the sulphate being proportional to the square of the 

 ferrous salt concentration, and to the partial pressure 

 of the oxygen. The oxidation seems to depend on the 

 non-ionised part of the ferrous salt molecule. — W. H. 

 Mills and Miss A. M. Bain : The optically active semi- 

 carbazone and benzoylphenylhydrazone of cydo- 

 hexanone-4-carboxylic acid. — Dr. G. F. C. Searle : Ex- 

 periments illustrating "flare spots" in photographv. 

 When light from a point S falls on a simple thin lens 

 of focal length /, most of it passes through the lens 

 and forms an image of S. But some of the light 

 suffers two reflexions within the lens, and this light 

 gives rise to a second image of S of small intensitv, 

 the corresponding- focal length being (m — i)//(3M— 1), 

 where /» is the refractive index. This image is called 

 a "flare spot." When two lenses are used there are 

 six flare-spot images of any object formed by twice 

 reflected rays and with / lenses there are t (2t—i) such 

 images.— J. G. M. Dunlop : Effect of heating para- 

 formaldehyde with a trace of sulphuric acid. The 

 author finds that in the preparation of a-trioxv- 

 methylene (Pratesi, Gaz., xiv., 139), by heating para- 

 formaldehyde (trioxymethylene) with a trace of con- 

 centrated sulphuric acid in a sealed tube for some 

 hours at 115 C, a considerable amount of the form- 

 aldehyde is converted to methyl formate. 

 Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, March 10.— M. P. Appell 

 in the chair. — The president announced the 

 death of M. Alfred Picard.— C. Guichard : A 

 particular class of Moutard's equations. — Paul 

 Sabatier and M. Murat : The direct hydrogena- 

 tion of the hydrocinnamic esters ; preparation of 

 S-rvr/ohexylpropionic acid. The reaction is effected 

 with an active nickel at a temperature of 170 to 185 . 

 Four esters have been prepared, and also /3-('vr?ohexyl- 

 propionamide. — R. Lepine and M. Boulud : The secre- 

 tion of the two kidneys compared. In the healthv 

 dog one of the ureters generally furnishes less urine 

 than the other; there are also differences in the com- 

 position of the urine. — Henri Renan : Results of the 

 discussion of observations made by MM. Delporte and 

 Viennet, to determine by wireless telegraphy the 

 difference of longitude between the Roval Belgian 

 Observatory and the Observatory of Paris. The ob- 



NO. 2265, VOL. 91] 



servations extended from May. 1 to August 2, 1912, 

 and comprised twenty determinations by wireless tele- 

 graphy and nineteen by ordinary telegraphy. The 

 mean error of a single observation was ±00245 sec - 

 by wireless and ±0-0285 sec - by ordinary telegraphy. — 

 J. Clairin : The invariants of the characteristics of 

 partial differential equations of the second order with 

 two independent variables. — Vasilesco Karpen ; The 

 flight of birds called hovering flight. A calculation 

 showing that hovering flight is possible when the 

 mean geometric acceleration of the wind reaches 

 30 cm. to 50 cm. per second. — J. de Boissoudy ; The 

 law of radiation of a black body and the quanta 

 theory. — Albert Turpain : Extra-sensitive relays for 

 wireless telegraphy. The relay dscribed has a sensi- 

 bility of the order 001 microampere. — C. Tissot : The 

 reciprocal influence of two neighbouring antenna?. — 

 F. Bodroux ; Some liquid mixtures particularly suitable 

 for th.2 observation of Christiansen's phenomenon. A 

 suitable mixture is made by pouring 15 gr. of ethyl 

 acetate and 10 gr. of water into 50 gr. of satu-ated 

 sodium chloride solution. — E. Rothe ; The reception of 

 radio-telegrams by multiple antennas with or without 

 contact with the soil. — A. Guyau ; An interferential 

 oscillograph. The apparatus figured was designed to 

 register photographically oscillations of the magnitude 

 of those of a telephone membrane. — B. Szilard : A 

 spiral electrometer. — Ch. Fabry and H. Buisson ; The 

 absorption of ultra-violet light by ozone, and the 

 extremity of the solar spectrum. The authors' results, 

 taken with those of Cornu on absorption by the 

 atmosphere, are in accord with the hvpothesis of the 

 absorption of the ultra-violet rays by ozone in the 

 atmosphere. — B. Bianu ; The secondary radiation pro- 

 duced by the a rays. — Camille Matignon ; Chemical 

 equilibrium in the action of hydrochloric acid gas on 

 zinc sulphate. — E. Rengade and X. Costear.u ; The 

 anhydrous monosulphides of the alkaline metals. The 

 pure sulphides, Na,S, K 2 S, and Rb,S, were obtained 

 by allowing the vapour of sulphur to react upon the 

 metal, with special precautions against the access of 

 air. These sulphides are^ very easily oxidised ; it is 

 sufficient to touch one at a point with a hot glass rod 

 for the mass to become incandescent and burn like 

 tinder. — E. E. Blaise : The migration of chlorine in 

 the chloroketones. — A. Lassieur : The catalytic hydro- 

 genation of acetone. At temperatures between 200 

 and 300 C. hydrogen in presence of reduced nickel 

 gives with acetone neither isopropvl alcohol nor 

 pinacone, but methylisobutylketone in large quanti- 

 ties, smaller amounts of valerone and other higher 

 condensation products. — P. Lebeau and A. Damiens : 

 The composition of coal gas. An application of the 

 general method of analysing complex mixtures in- 

 volving the use of very low temperatures recently 

 described by the authors. The presence of ethane, 

 propane, and butane was proved with certainty. — L. 

 Ravaz and G. Verge ; The germination of the winter 

 spores of Plasmopara viticola. — L. Blaringhem : The 

 phenomena of xenia in wheat. — C. L. Gatin and C. M. 

 Bret : The varieties of Elais guineensis, of the Ivory 

 Coast, and their parthenocarpic fruits. — Paul Bec- 

 querel : Vascular ontogeny of the plantule of the lupin 

 and its consequences for certain theories of the class- 

 ical anatomy. — Anna Drzewina and George Bonn : 

 Anoxybiose and chemical polarity. An account of the 

 effects of deprivation of oxygen on various species of 

 invertebrates. — E. Bataillon : Demonstration of inocu- 

 lation superposed on puncture in traumatic partheno- 

 genesis. — Mile. Chevroton and M. Faure-Fremiet : .1 

 kinematographic study of the cytoplasmic phenomena of 

 the division of the egg- of Ascaris. — G. J. Painvin ; The 

 siphon of the Spirulae. — H. Vincent : The action of 

 polyvalent antityphoid vaccine in subjects in the incu- 



