416 



NATURE 



[June 19, 1913 



compressibility of solutions of certain salts. Dilute 

 solutions of NaOH, KOH, MgSO,, ZnSO,, and 

 Na.COj were investigated by the electrical-contact 

 method of measuring compressibility. The pressures 

 were from one to one thousand atmospheres, and the 

 temperature was 15 C. Within certain limits the 

 observed compressibilities were found to satisfv Tam- 

 tnann's formula, 



1 dv A 7 



v a dp li+fi + M-- z>^ 

 where Afe is the internal pressure due to the added salt 

 and A and B are constants. 



May 18. — Prof. T. Hudson Beare, vice-president, in 

 the chair.— J. H. Harvey Pirie : Deep-sea deposits of 

 the Weddell Sea and South Atlantic Ocean. The 

 Scotia collections included three main types, viz. 

 globigerina ooze, diatom ooze, and glacial muds and 

 clays. The latter differs from most blue muds of ter- 

 rigenous origin mainly in the character of its finest 

 constituents — "rock feons "— and in the irregular size 

 of its coarser components, this being due to its dis- 

 tribution by floating ice. A peculiar feature is the 

 absence of diatoms, although they flourish in the 

 surface waters over it. They seem* to be carried off 

 northwards by currents set up bv the melting ice to 

 be deposited in the diatom ooze band to the north. — F. 

 Gordon Pearcey : Foraminifera collected by the Scotia. 

 A record of 267 species, including eleven new forms, 

 separated from the deposits. The collection is very 

 rich in arenaceous forms (to which most of the new 

 species belong) from the glacial deposits. It includes 

 also examples of such rare forms as V erammosphaera 

 jusca. — Miss Margaret Moir : The effect of thermal 

 treatment and the effect of longitudinal strain in 

 inducing- a sensitive state in certain magnetic mate- 

 rials. Under certain conditions it was found that 

 longitudinal strain and heating had very similar effects 

 on the manner in which the steels experimented with 

 responded, as regards their induction, to the mag- 

 netising force acting on them. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, June 2.— M. F. Guyon in the 

 chair.— E. L. Bouvier : The genera Pseudibacus and 

 Nisto.— M. de Forcrand : The Trouton quotient and the 

 molecular heat of vaporisation of pure bodies boiling 

 at high temperatures. In connection with a modified 

 Trouton formula recently proposed by the author, the 

 experimental methods of determining the latent heat 

 of vaporisation at high temperatures are discussed, 

 and preference is given to the vapour-pressure method, 

 with application of the Clapeyron equation. Experi- 

 mental data for mercury, cadmium, zinc, bismuth, 

 lead, silver, tin, and copper are compared with those 

 deduced from the Forcrand formula. — M. Ciamician 

 was elected a correspondant for the section of chem- 

 istry in the place of the late Lecoq de Boisbaudran. — 

 J. Hosier : The spectrum of the Schaumasse comet 

 1913a. Three condensations are clearlv shown on the 

 spectrographs, the blue band of the Swan spectrum, 

 tlic cyanogen band (a. 388), and a large band A 400 to 

 * 407. — M. Borreily : Observations of the comet 1913a 

 (Schaumasse) made at the Observatory of Marseilles 

 with the comet-finder. Positions of the comet and 

 comparison stars are given for May 9, 10, 15, 22, 29, 

 and 30. — M. Coggia : Observations of the comet 1913a 

 (Schaumasse) made at the Observatory of Marseilles 

 with the Eichens 26-cm. equatorial. Positions for 

 May 26, 27, 28, and 29. — N. Lusin : The convergence 

 of Fourier's trigonometrical series. — Paul Levy : The 

 integration of functional partial differential equations. 

 — Jacques Cliapelon : The numbers of classes of positive 

 binary quadratic forms with negative determinant. — 

 Vasilesco Karpen : Hovering flight. — Louis Roy : Com- 



NO. 2277, VOL. i)ll 



plement to two recent notes on the movement of 

 indefinite viscous media. — Ernest Esclangon ; A tem- 

 perature regulator. The regulator consists of a 

 circular glass tube containing mercury and a volatile 

 liquid supported on a knife edge at the centre of the 

 circle formed bv the tube. It is in indifferent equili- 

 brium, and can be rendered extremely sensitive. 

 Curves are given showing the behaviour of this as 

 compared with an ordinary bimetallic regulator. — R. 

 Detrait : The slip of liquids on the walls of capillary 

 tubes. The flow of two liquids, petrol and water, was 

 studied in tubes of glass, wetted by both liquids, and 

 sulphur, wetted by the petrol only. — H. Parenty : The 

 reconstitution photographically of certain invisible de- 

 tails of ancient drawings. Lighting in various ways 

 a Decollation de Saint ]ca)i Baptisie, attributed to 

 Rubens, the signature Rubes appeared, the first two 

 letters in all the negatives, the last three in one or 

 other of them. — Pierre Weiss : The kinetic theory of 

 the paramagnetism of crystals. — G. Friedel : The 

 general la c of the diffraction of the Rcintgen rays by 

 crystals. -A. Perot : The movement of the light c ntres 

 in electric cli-( harges in Geissler tubes. — G. Malfit^r.o 

 and Mile. A. Moschkoff : The deflocculation of starch 

 and the sohtion of glucose. — Edouard Bauer : i-Binz- 

 ovl-2-phenvl--A-i \ r/opentene. With sodium amide 

 this compound behaves similarly to benzophenone, 

 breaking up partially into 2-phenyl-A 1 -c3'cZopentene- 

 i-carboxyiic acid and benzene and partially into 

 i-phenyl-A,-cyc/opentene and benzamide. — E. Leger 

 and Ferdinand Roques : Contribution to the study of 

 carpiline or pilosine. — M. Chaillot : Researches on the 

 morphologv of the bud in Labiates with subterranean 

 stolons. — E. Boucherie : The cytological phenomena 

 and sporogenesis in Barbuia muraLis. — M. Molliard : 

 Semi-parasitic Lepidium sativum produced experi- 

 mentally. — D. Chouchak : The penetration of different 

 forms of nitrogen in plants; adsorption phenomena. 

 N. Patouillard : A conidiferous Septobasidium. — J. M. 

 Lahy : The physical signs of professional superioritv 

 in dactylographs. — L. Bordas : The gizzard of the 

 Dytiscideae. — A. Gruvel : Fishing lor the large Ceta- 

 ceans on the western coast of Africa. The present 

 rate of destruction is so great that an international 

 control is suggested.- Edouard Chatton : Spontaneous 

 septicemia due to the cocobacillus in the cockchafer 

 and silkworm. — Auguste Lumiere and Jean Chevrotier : 

 The toxicity of antityphoid vaccines. The vaccines 

 studied proved to be very slightlv toxic for the guinea- 

 pig". — M. Dalloni : The marine Oligocene and its fauna 

 in Algeria. — Alphonse Berget : The exact position of 

 the continental pole of the earth. 



June 9. — M. F. Guyon in the chair. — E. Jungfleisch 

 and L. Brunei : The reactions between water and 

 sulphurous acid at varying temperatures. The forma- 

 tion of hyposulphurous acid. Aqueous solutions con- 

 taining from 20 per cent, to 21 per cent, of sulphur 

 dioxide were heated to various temperatures. At 

 about 1^0° C. sulphur and sulphuric acid were formed, 

 an equilibrium being reached in twenty days. A study 

 of the reaction at lower temperatures showed that 

 hyposulphurous acid was formed ; this then decom- 

 poses into sulphur and sulphuric acid. — Prince Albert, 

 de Monaco : The twenty-fifth scientific expedition 

 (Hirondelle ID. Results obtained in the neighbour- 

 hood of the Azores and Madeira in the summer of 

 1912. — Pierre Duhem : An elementary remark on the 

 problem of spherical waves. — Paul Sabatier and A. 

 Mailhe : The use of calcium carbonate as a catalvser of 

 the organic acids and their anhydrides. A column of 

 precipitated chalk, 15 cm. to 40" cm. long, and main- 

 tained at a temperature of 450 C. to 500 C, gives 

 a fair yield of ketones when the vapours of the acids 

 are led over it. Acetic acid and propionic acid give 



