May 24, 1906] 



NATURE 



95 



region. — The Numatoda of the Scottish National Antarctic 

 Expedition : Dr. v. Linstow. Seven species were de- 

 scribed, five of the parasitic genus Ascaris, of which two 

 were new species, and one undetermined. The others were 

 a new species of Monorygnia and a free-living Thoreo- 

 stonia. Mi. Bruce e.xhibited the specimens, the 

 Monoryiima dcntaius found in the stomach of the W'eddell's 

 seal being specially interesting. — A I'fatl'ian identity and 

 related vanishing aggregates of determinant minors : Dr. 

 'rhornas Muir. 



['."VRIS. 

 Academy of Sciences, May 7. — M. H. I'oincare in the 

 chair. — I'he discovery of the proper motions of the stars 

 by the aid of the stereoscopic method of Dr. Max Wolf : 

 M. Loewy. The method consists of a comparison in a 

 stereoscope of two photographs of a given portion of the 

 sky taken at several years' interval. .Among the photo- 

 graphs shown was one bringing out the proper motion of 

 a star of the ninth magnitude in the constellation of Leo. 

 The proper motion can be evaluated stereoscopically with 

 a greater precision than by the ordinary micrometric 

 methods. — Remarks on the twelfth volume of the 

 " Annales de I'Observatoire de Bordeaux": M. Loewy. — 

 The methods for the detection of aggregations of luminous 

 particles, mixed with the gases and vapours in the lower 

 part of the solar atmosphere, at other times than during 

 eclipses : H. Deslandres. \'ery little has been done on 

 the composition and distribution of the non-gaseous portion 

 of the solar atmosphere. The author reviews the difficul- 

 ties of the subject, and gives suggestions as to the best 

 mode of attacking the problem. — The nidification of bees 

 in the open air : E. L. Bouvier. An account of two cases 

 in which domesticated bees have built hives in the open 

 air on the branches of trees, and of the modifications in the 

 structure necessitated by the exposure to wind and rain. 

 Owing to the neighbouring buildings, one side of the hive 

 was more. exposed than the other. This fact was appreci- 

 ated by the bees, and the exposed side was strengthened 

 accordingly. — The conglomerates from the explosions of 

 Vesuvius, their minerals, and their comparison with the 

 trachytic conglomerates of Mont Dore : A. Uacroix. — 

 Remarks by M. Albert Gaudry on the forthcoming Inter- 

 national Congress of Anthropology and Prehistoric .Archiv- 

 ologv at Monaco. — The svnthesis of penta-methvl-ethanol ; 

 Loui's Henry. The substance (CH,),— C— C(OH)— (CH,), 

 was obtained in an attempt to prepare 



(CH3)— CCl— C(OH)— (CH3),, 

 by the interaction of magnesium methyl-bromide and ethyl 

 chlorisobutyrate or the corresponding bromo-compound. 

 The method described is the most advantageous one for 

 the preparation of this alcohol. — Researches on the whiten- 

 ing of fur and feathers in winter : El. Metchnikoff. 

 Observations are given showing the probability of the 

 view that the blanching of the hair and feathers, in animals 

 periodically and in man through old age, is due to the 

 activity of living amceboid cells, chromophages, sensible to 

 external influences, and capable of moving and attacking 

 the pigment grains. — The generalisation of trigono- 

 metrical series : A. Buhl. — Certain asymptotic series : L. 

 Schlesing;er. — The acceleration of spherical waves of 

 shock : M. Jouguet. — The application of the principle of 

 superposition to the transmission of alternating currents 

 over a long line. Its graphical representation : A. Blondel. 

 — The interference effects produced by a grating limiting 

 a thin plate : Georges Meslin. The theory of interference 

 rings which appear when a grating is placed on the convex 

 surface of a lens of small curvature, and are distinct 

 from Newton's rings. These fringes can be applied prac- 

 tically to the verification of a surface without the use of 

 monochromatic light, and this testing can be carried out 

 without interrupting the working of the surface, owing to 

 the fact that the diffraction grating may be placed at a 

 distance of some millimetres from the surface without 

 interfering with the production of the fringes. — The action 

 of ammonia gas on anhydrous neodymium chloride : C. 

 Matigrnon and R. Trannoy. Neodymium chloride forms 

 seven different combinations with ammonia, containing re- 

 spectively one, two, four, five, eight, eleven, and twelve 

 molecules of ammonia to one of NdCl,. These compounds 

 form a further confirmation of the trivalencv of neodymium. 



NO. 1908, VOL. 74I 



as the assumption of divalency for this metal would lead 

 to improbable formuliE for these addition products. — The 

 existence of sulphides of phosphorus ; mixtures of phos- 

 phorus and phosphorus sesc|uisulphide : R. Boulouch. A 

 criticism of a paper on the same subject by H. (iiran, 

 and a discussion of the nature of the eutectic mixture 

 formed by phosphorus and the sulphide P,S,. — Some 

 special brasses ; L^on Cuillet. The addition of an element 

 such as aluminium to a brass containing copper and zinc 

 only yields an alloy possessing mechanical properties and 

 a micrographic structure corresponding to a pure copper- 

 zinc brass of quite different composition. From numerous 

 experiments on the addition of various elements, a quanti- 

 tative expression is developed referring the properties of 

 the alloys thus formed to the pure copper-zinc brasses of 

 corresponding properties. — A method for the detection and 

 estimation of small quantities of iron : A. Mouneyrat. 

 The method is based on the production of a green colour 

 in dilute solutions of iron salts by the action of sulphuretted 

 hydrogen in ammoniacal solution. It is shown that the 

 reaction is specific to iron and is of extreme delicacy, 

 serving to estimate this inetal between the limits of i/iooo 

 and 1/1,000,000. — The production of aromatic sulphamates 

 by the reduction of nitro-compounds with sodiuin hydro- 

 siilphite : A. Seyewetz and M. Bloch. Nitrobenzene is 

 reduced by sodium hydrosulphite in presence of sodium 

 phosphate to the sodium salt of phenylsulphamic acid. 

 The reaction is general for aromatic compounds, and has 

 been extended to the three nitrotoluenes, metanitroxylene, 

 and a-nitronaphthalene. — A seismic disturbance recorded at 

 the Observatory of Ebro on .April iS : P. Cirera. 



New SovTii Wales. 

 Linnean Society, March 28.— Annual General Meeting.— 

 Mr. T. Steel, president, in the chair. — .Annual address : 

 the President. The question of rabbit destruction 

 was dealt with, the proposal to introduce disease for 

 the purpose being condemned, on the grounds that not 

 onlv would it not affect the desired extermination, but 

 also that it was extremely undesirable to introduce a 

 foreign pathogenic microbe of unknown potency under 

 changed conditions, to be broadcasted over the land. 

 .Attention was directed to the indiscriminate destruction, 

 wilful as well as inadvertent, of useful and harmless 

 indigenous animals, and the deplorable results in loss of 

 crops through attacks of insects which are sure to follow 

 ihe killing off of insectivorous birds. Taking as the 

 special subject of his address that of oceanic physics, the 

 president briefly sketched the formation of the primary 

 ocean, showing .that it was in all probability highly saline 

 and that calculations of the age of the earth, based on the 

 present rate of transport of salt from the land to the sea, 

 are misleading. Regarding the observed rate of increase 

 in temperature downwards in the earth's crust, which has 

 been found to be about 1° F. for each 51 feet of descent, 

 reasons were given for considering that this rate is not 

 maintained, and that a maximum temperature of about 

 7000° F. is reached at a depth of some 800,000 feet, after 

 which the temperature to the earth's centre remains prac- 

 tically unaltered. Dealing with the phenomenon of wind- 

 raised waves, it was shown that these have well-defined 

 properties, waves of any given size having all their other 

 functions in unison, the' height, length, frequency, velocity, 

 &c., being fixed and invariable, relative to one another. 

 .Allusion was made to the enormous amount of energy 

 involved in the evaporation which takes place daily from 

 the ocean surface, and to the profound effect on climate 

 caused by the transference of heat absorbed in vapourising 

 water from the sea and again liberated at the places where 

 this vapour condenses to form clouds and rain. The address 

 concluded with an examination of the possibilities in re- 

 gard to the withdrawal of water from the ocean to be 

 stored as ice at the poles, and the result on the relation 

 of land and water levels, also on the adequacy of change 

 of land level at the poles to account for the know-n fornier 

 existence there of a comparatively mild climate. — The first 

 recorded occurrence of Blastoidea in New South Wales : 

 T. G. Taylor. The Australian Blastoids at present known 

 comprise three species from the Gympie beds (permo- 

 Carboniferous) of the Rockhampton district, and pro- 

 visionally referred to the genera Metablastus, Granato- 



