6;6 



NATURE 



[February 6. 19 13 



studies. II., Variation in Lotus corniculatus and 

 TrifoUum repens (cyanoplioric plants). During the 

 past summer, by testing very carefully the apparently 

 acyanophoric form of L. corniculatus described in 

 part i., it has been found that this contains a minute 

 proportion of cyanide ; moreover, two varieties of this 

 form have been met with, in close proximity, the one 

 rich in enzyme, the other having little, if any, enzymic 

 activity towards linamarin. The manner in which the 

 plant has been found to vary, especially in different 

 parts of Scotland, is discussed at some length. Atten- 

 tion has also been directed to white clover in par- 

 ticular, on' account of its importance as the chief 

 leguminous plant in pasture lands. The authors have 

 been forestalled by Mirande (C.R., 1912, vol. civ., 

 p. 651) in the discovery that this plant is cyanophoric, 

 like L. corniculatus . But their observations go further 

 and show that whilst the wild form of T. repens is 

 uniformly more or less cyanophoric, the cultivated 

 form is destitute of cyanide. — T. G. Brown : The 

 phenomena of "narcosis progression" in mammals. — 

 Prof. C. S. Sherrington : Reciprocal innervation and 

 symmetrical muscles. — Dr. F. Medigreceanu : The 

 manganese content of transplanted tumours. — 

 Dr. J. W. VV. Stephens and Dr. B. Blacklock : The 

 non-identity of Trypanosoma brucci (Plimmer and 

 Bradford, 1S99) with the trypanosome of the same 

 name from the Uganda ox. In this paper the authors 

 deal with the T. brucei causing Nagana in Zululand 

 and T. brucei of Uganda. It lias generally been 

 accepted that these two trypanosomes are (morpho- 

 logically) identical, and that they are both of the 

 dimorphic type, presenting long free fiagellated forms 

 and short stumpy forms without free flagellum. The 

 name T. brucei was first given by Plimmer and 

 Bradford to the parasite, but they do not mention 

 short stumpy aflagellar forms. Again, Laveran re- 

 gards T. brucei as a monomorphic trypanosome which 

 always has a free flagellum. The authors have had 

 the opportunitv of examining both strains of T. 

 brucei, i.e. that from Zululand and that from 

 Uganda, and in addition have had access by the 

 courtesy of several observers to their films of the 

 Zululand strain. As a result of their investigations 

 they have come to the conclusion that the trypano- 

 some called brucei from Uganda presents very distinct 

 and obvious morphological differences from the Zulu- 

 land parasite. In order to avoid confusion, it is con- 

 sidered advisable that this Uganda trypanosome 

 should be re-named, and the name T. ugandae is 

 proposed. 



January 30. — Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — Prof. W. H. Young : The forma- 

 tion of usually convergent Fourier series. — R. V. 

 Southwell : The general theory of elastic stability. 

 The paper deals principally with the general principles 

 which govern the mathematical investigation of 

 problems in elastic stability, but two examples of 

 some importance are considered for purposes of illus- 

 tration, viz. the problems of the boiler flue and of the 

 tubular strut. — C. M. Stubbs : A spectro-photometric 

 comparison of the emissivity of solid and liquid copper 

 and of liquid silver at high temperatures with that of 

 a full radiator, (i) The emissivity of solid and liquid 

 copper and of liquid silver at high temperatures, 

 relative to that of a full radiator at the same tem- 

 peratures, has been measured throughout the visible 

 spectrum. (2) As in the case of gold, the emissivity 

 of copper is discontinuous at the melting point, the 

 "relative emissivity" curve of the liquid showing no 

 flexure. (3) The curve of " relative emissivity " of 

 solid copper at high temperatures differs considerably 

 from that of absorptivity at low temperatures. It 

 possesses a much less marked flexure in the green, 



NO. 2258, VOL. 90I 



and it is suggested that this is due to the same causes 

 which ultimately bring about the total absence of a 

 n'arked bend in the curve for the liquid. (4) Contrary 

 to Burgess's results, no appreciable temperature co- 

 efficient of " relative emissivity " w-as found for liquid 

 copper over a range of 100°. (5) The "relative emis- 

 sivity " of liquid silver is throughout remarkably low, 

 but seems to be somewhat greater than the corre- 

 sponding values of the absorptivity of solid silver at 

 ordinary temperatures. (6) " Black body " tempera- 

 tures of solid and liquid copper and of liquid silver 

 at the respective melting points are calculated.— G. W. 

 Walker : A new analytical expression for the repre- 

 sentation of the components of tlte diurnal variation 

 of terrestrial magnetism. Attention is directed to the 

 fact that Fourier analysis of the observed diurnal 

 variation of the components of terrestrial magnetic 

 force does not lead to a concise specification of the 

 data. Thus progress towards a knowledge of the 

 physical causes has been limited. It is suggested that 

 the phenomena are probably purely diurnal, that no 

 physical significance may attach to the twelve-hour, 

 eight-hour, &c., terms, but that the facts may be more 

 suitably expressed by a function that recurs only once 

 in twenty-four hours. — Prof. E. W. Marchant : An 

 investigation into the magnetic behaviour of iron and 

 some other metals under the oscillatory discharge 

 from a condenser. The method adopted in the inves- 

 tigation was to photograph by a revolving mirror the 

 spark caused by the discharge. In order to check 

 the accuracy of measurement spark photographs were 

 taken of the discharge from an air condenser through 

 an air-core inductance. The agreement between cal- 

 culated and observed frequencies was within i per 

 cent. With a glass condenser the capacity measured 

 by the frequency of the discharge through an air-core 

 self-induction was less than that obtained by ballistic 

 measurements. When the discharge from these con- 

 densers w-as passed round a coil having a core of fine 

 iron wires, the discharge consisted of a series of 

 oscillations, the time for each oscillation increasing as 

 the discharge died away. The discharge was much 

 more quickly damped w'lien the iron wire core was 

 inserted. From the measurements of the first half 

 oscillations of a number of discharges the "effective 

 permeability " of the iron wire core was calculated, 

 the " effective permeability " being defined as that 

 which the iron would have if it were constant, in 

 order to give an oscillation of the same periodic time 

 as that which was observed. From these results a 

 curve has been drawn giving the relation between 

 magnetising force and "effective permeability." This 

 curve has been employed to determine approximately 

 the resistance of the spark. — Florence Isaac : The 

 spontaneous crystallisation and the melting- and freez- 

 ing-point curves of two substances which form mixed 

 crvstals and the freezing-point curve of which exhibits 

 a transition point. Mixtures of /)-bromonitrobenzene 

 and /'-chloronitrobenzene. 



Geological Society, January 8.— Dr. .Aubrey Strahan, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — J. B. Scrivener : The 

 geological history of the Malay Peninsula. A brief 

 statement of the information bearing on the geological 

 history of the Malay Peninsula gathered since 1903. 

 During the Mesozoic era earth-movements took place 

 in a part of the crust now the site of the Malay 

 Peninsula. These movements resulted in two anti- 

 clinal folds. The folding admitted of th" intrusion 

 of two masses of granite, accompanied by faulting 

 of the rocks in the folds. The rocks affected by the 

 folding are the Raub Series of calcareous rocks, and 

 the Malayan Gondwana rocks. The pateontological 

 evidence cannot be reconciled with the field evidence. 

 No fixed horizon has been discovered in. these rocks, 



