February 13, 19 13] 



NATURE 



66- 



trypanosomes from the blood and lymphatic glands, 

 improvement in nutrition, mental state, &c. — Major 

 W. B. Fry and Capt. H. S. Ranken : Further re- 

 searches on the extrusion of granules by trypanosomes 

 and on their further development. With a note by 

 H. G. Plimmer on a new method of blood fixation. 

 Following a short description of methods used in these 

 investigations, the paper deals with the subject of 

 granules in general in trypanosomes. Two classes of 

 granules are referred to : — (a) Those representing 

 probably stored food material, and (b) those of nuclear 

 origin and character, with which latter only tlie paper 

 is concerned. Descriptions of the mechanism of ex- 

 trusion are detailed as observed to take place in human 

 and animal varieties, and the influence of drugs and 

 other effects are discussed in this connection. A 

 description of the free granule and its after-develop- 

 ment and fate is given. A section on fixed and 

 stained snecimcns follows, the earlier sections of the 

 paper dealing in general with observations made of 

 the pa.-asite in the living state. 



Geological Society, January 22. — Dr. Aubrey Strahan, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — H. H. Tliomas : The 

 fossil flora of the Cleveland district of Yorkshire. 

 I., The flora of the Marske Quarry. With notes on 

 the stratigraphy, by the Rev. G. J. Lane. Several 

 plants collected in the Cleveland district of Y'orlcshire 

 are described. Other specimens dealt with were 

 obtained from the Marske Quarry. The Marske 

 flora, which includes several types not hitherto re- 

 corded from the Jurassic plant-beds of Yorkshire, is 

 believed to be of Middle Jurassic age. A note is 

 appended on the stratigraphy of the Marske Quarry, 

 situated on the northern face of the Upleatham out- 

 lier, about a mile distant from Marske-by-the-Sea. 

 The Marske beds are assigned to the Lower Estuarine 

 Series. — C. Thompson : The derived Cephalopoda of 

 the Holderne«;s Drift. It is claimed that about iSn 

 species of ammonites are already in hand from the 

 Glacial Drift. A large number are new to Y'orkshire 

 lists hitherto published, and the matrix of many of 

 them cannot be matched now by our land exposures. 

 The whole of the Lower Lias is represented by all its 

 genera, and the rocky matrices are characteristic, 

 and it is urged that the ice plucked them from out- 

 crops in the bed of a former North Sea ; also these 

 outcrops show the continuity of the North Y^orkshire 

 Basin with that of north-western Germany. The 

 Middle and the Upper Lias afford much material, 

 but the types are closer to those of North Y'orkshire. 

 The Oolites are scantily represented, although the 

 Lower Cretaceous is abundantly represented both by 

 ammonites and by belemnites. The Chalk belemnites 

 belong to a zone higher than any known in Y'ork- 

 shire ; therefore, they probably came from the sea- 

 bed. 



Cambridge. 



Philosophical Society, January 27. — Mr. J. E. Purvis 

 in the chair. — Sir J. J. Thomson : Further applications 

 of positive rays to the study of chemical problems. 

 The author described the application of positive rays 

 to the detection of the rare gases in the atmosphere. 

 Sir James Dewar supplied two samples of gases ob- 

 tained from the residues of liquid air. One sample 

 which had been treated so as to contain the heavier 

 gases was found on analysis to contain xenon, kryp- 

 ton, argon. There were no lines on the photograph 

 unaccounted for, hence there are no unknown heavy 

 gases in the atmosphere in quantities comparable 

 with the known gases. The other sample, which had 

 been heated so as to contain the lighter gases, was 

 found to contain helium and neon, and, in addition, a 

 new gas with the atomic weight 22. The relative 



NO. 2259, VOL. 90] 



brightness of the lines for this gas and for neon shows 

 that the amount of the new gas is much smaller than 

 that of neon. The second part of the paper contained 

 an investigation of a new gas of atomic weight 3 

 which this method of analysis had shown to be pre- 

 sent in the tube under certain conditions. The gas 

 had occurred sporadically in the tube from the time 

 of the earliest experiments, but its appearance could 

 not be controlled. After a long investigation into the 

 source of this gas, it was found that it always occurred 

 in the gases given out by metals when bombarded by 

 kathode rays ; a trace of helium was also usually 

 found on the first bombardment. The metals used 

 were iron, nickel, zinc, copper, lead, and platinum; 

 the gas was also given off by calcium carbide. Vari- 

 ous experiments were described which illustrated the 

 stability of the gas (see also p. 645).— R. D. Kleeman : 

 The atomic constants and the properties of substances. 

 Formula are developed by means of which the critical 

 quantities of a substance can be calculated in terms of 

 atomic constants, given the nature of a molecule. 

 These constants are the atomic volumes and the 

 atomic attraction constants obtained in a previous 

 paper. Knowing the critical constants, the pressure of 

 the saturated vapour, its density, the internal heat of 

 evaporation, &c., can be obtained from the law of 

 corresponding states. Applications in chemistry are 

 given. — H. C. Pocklington : Some diophantine impos- 

 sibilities. — A. E. Oxiey : The variation of magnetic 

 susceptibility with temperature. Part ii.. Aqueous 

 solutions. Starting from Curie's laws and taking 

 into consideration the various complexes which exist: 

 in solution, and the way in which these complexes 

 dissociate with rise of temperature, the formula 

 ;f = A/5-1- B + C. i9 is deduced; where j' is the suscepti- 

 bility 6 the absolute temperature, and A, B, and C 

 are functions of the concentration. This formula re- 

 presents the results of observation accurately. — R- D. 

 Kleeinan : The properties of a substance connected 

 with its surface tension. Deductions are made from 

 fundamental formute developed in previous papers in 

 connection with surface tension. It is shown that the 

 various relations that have been found connecting 

 surface tension with other quantities have as founda- 

 tion certain fundamental relations. A new method 

 of obtaining the absolute mass of the hydrogen atom 

 was developed. It gave for the quantity in question 

 1-56 X lo-^* grams. 



Manchester. 

 Literary and Philosophical Society, January 21. — Prof. 

 F. E. Weiss, president, in the chair. — Prof H. B. 

 Dixon and H. iNI. Lowe : Experiments on Abel's theory 

 that incombustible dusts act catalytically on igniting 

 weak mixtures of methane and air. The use of fine 

 incombustible dusts as a means of preventing explo- 

 sions of coal dust in mines has brought into promin- 

 ence the conclusions arrived at by the late Sir 

 Frederick Abel, viz., that the presence of such incom- 

 bustible dusts in a mine may bring about the explo- 

 sion of small percentages of fire-damp in air which 

 would not otherwise be inflammable. While Abel's 

 experiments have been repeated on a similar scale 

 at the Home Office Experimental Station at Eskmeals 

 during the past year with negative results, the ex- 

 planation advanced by Abel has also been examined 

 experimentally in the Manchester University chemical 

 laboratories. Abel's explanation is that the finely 

 divided dust, heated up by the lamp flame, allows 

 chemical action to take place on its surface — just a? 

 platinum brings about the combination of hydrogen 

 and oxvgen — and that the oxidation of the fire-damp 

 proceeds with increased rapidity as the dust becomes 

 more highly heated. The dust particles are thus 



