June 7, 1906J 



NA TURE 



143 



Ncwsholme has shown diphtheria to be affected in a 

 similar manner. Dr. Marsden asks : Is it possible that 

 scarlatina and diphtheria are " allotropic " (onus of the 

 same disease? In ihe case of typhoid, the number of cases 

 occurring seems to be independent of whether it is a wet 

 or dry year, but there seems to be a slight tendency for 

 the number of cases to fall after rain. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, May 21. — M. II. Poincare in the 

 chair. — The president announced the loss by death of M. 

 BischofTscheim. — The discontinuity of the specific heats at 

 saturation and Thomson's curves : K. H. Amagat. — 

 Simple relations between the dynamical reactions of Tiiusde 

 and the energy which produces them : .\. Chauveau. — 

 Geometrical loci of centres of gravity : llatun de la 

 Goupilli^re. — The intestinal origin of tuberculous tracheo- 

 linmrhial adenopathy : A. Calmette, C. Gu^rin, and .\. 

 Oelearde. The work communicated in the present paper 

 has ;in important bearing on the question of the spread of 

 tuberculosis by milk. It has been shown experimentally 

 in the case of animals, and clinically in twenty-four cases 

 of children, that whenever tuberculous infection is mani- 

 fested by tracheo-bronchial adenopathy, tuberculous bacilli 

 exist in the mesenteric ganglions, even when the latier 

 appear to be healthy. These bacilli make their way inlo 

 the system by the intestine. — Geodesic and magnetic work 

 in the neighbourhood of Tananarive : Ed. El. Colin. The 

 magnetic elements are given in tabular form for forty-nine 

 stations round Tananarive. — A magnetic collimator which 

 transforms a binocular into an instrument for taking bear- 

 ings : .\. Bergfet. \ compass with a collimating lens 

 and a system of totally reflecting prisms is fitted to one 

 of the telescopes of the binocular, allowing the position of 

 the needle of the compass to be read off to about 0-25 of a 

 degree if held in the hand, or more, closely if a support 

 is used. The right-hand telescope is directed at the object 

 the position of which is to be examined ; the magnetic 

 azimuth is read off directly at the same time in the left 

 limb of the binocular. — The correlation between the vari- 

 .-ilions of the absorption bands of crystals in a magnetic 

 field and the magnetic rotatory polarisation ; Jean 

 Becquerei. — The sulphides, selenides. and tellurides of 

 tin: 11. Pelabon. The effect of the gradual addition of 

 sulphur to tin on the melting point has been studied, and 

 the relation between the percentage of added sulphur and 

 the melting point given in the form of a curve. The corre- 

 sponding curves for selenium and tellurium are also given. 

 — The direct oxidation of ca-sium and some properties of 

 the peroxide of cjesium : E. Reng^ade. Oxygen, even 

 when well dried, attacks caesium energetically at the 

 ordinary tetnperature. .At —40° C. the metal blackens, but 

 there is no incandescence; at —80° C. the action is verv 

 slow, and it is only after some minutes that the metal 

 commences to tarnish. The action of an excess of oxygen 

 gives caesium peroxide, Cs,0,, a yellow oxide, easily dis- 

 sociated at high temperatures. Water acts on it at 

 ordinary temperatures, giving the hydroxide CsOH, oxygen, 

 and hydrogen peroxide. Gently heated in carbon dioxide, 

 ciesium carbonate and oxygen are produced. Dry hydrogen 

 commences to reduce the peroxide at about 300° C. — New 

 methods of preparing some organic compounds of arsenic : 

 \'. Auger. Methylarsinic and cacodylic acids can now be 

 obtained commercially at a moderate price, and with these 

 substances as starting points the author shows how various 

 .irsenic compounds can be readily prepared, including 

 methvlarsine iodide, CH.,.-\sI, ; ' methvlarsine oxide, 

 CHj.AsO ; methylarsine chloride, CH,AsCU ; cacodvl 

 chloride, (CH ,),AsCi ; cacodvl, .'\s,(CH,'), :' and teiramethyl- 

 arsonium Iodide, (CH3),,AsI. — Researches on diazo-com- 

 pounds. The transformation of azo-orthocarboxvlates into 

 i-oxyindazylic compounds ; P. Freundler. — The gases from 

 thermal springs. The determination of the rare gases : 

 general presence of argon and helium : Ch.irles Moureu. 

 .\nalyses are given of the g.ases from forty-three springs of 

 mineral waters, .\rgon has been recognised in the whole of 

 the forty-three samples examined, and helium in thirty-nine. 

 It is possible that helium is also present in the remaining 

 four, but in proportions so small that its, presence is masked 

 by the argon spectrum. — The elasticity of organic tissues : 



NO. I 9 10, VOL. 74] 



Ad. Goy. The apparatus described allows of six determin- 

 ations being carried out nearly simultaneously on separate 

 samples of muscle, the latter being surrounded by a fluid 

 appropriate to its preservation. Drying in the course of 

 the measurements is thus avoided. — The regenerator of 

 fibrin and comparative estimations of this substance in 

 different vascular territories of the dog after defibrination : 

 M. Doyon, A. Morel, and N. KarefT. — \ reaction of the 

 o.xydase type presented by the halogen coinpounds of the 

 rare earths : E. Fouard. The oxidation of hydroquinone 

 was determined in the presence of equimolecular solutions 

 of the chlorides of thorium, cerium, lanthanum, neodymium, 

 praseodymium, and samarium. The presence of the salts 

 increased the rate of oxidation, samarium being the most 

 active in this respect. The action is comparable to an 

 oxydase. — The effect of adren.ilin on the amount of glycogen 

 in muscle : Mme. Z. Catin-Gruzewska. The injection 

 into a rabbit of a solution of adrenalin (containing i ing.) 

 caused the total disappearance of the glycogen both in the 

 liver and muscles. When the effect of the injection has 

 passed off, the animal, if fed, has not lost the power of 

 producing glycogen. — The identity of Hcniipygiis tubercu- 

 losis and Hemicidadis crenularis ; M. Seguin. 



Calcutta. 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, May 2. — The relative pro- 

 portion of the sexes in Hclotieltis theivora : H. H. Mann. 

 Hitherto no careful investigations have been made as to 

 the relative number of males and females in any species 

 of Heteropteron, but the fact that Helopeltis theivora is 

 a serious pest of tea has given the chance for ascertaining 

 details in its case. The paper summarises the result of 

 daily catching of the insects for three years, and it is 

 concluded that (i) the females are always much more 

 numerous than the males ; (2) the proportion of males 

 increases as the conditions of life become more difficult. — 

 Notes on the freshwater fauna of India, No. 5, some 

 animals found associated with Spongilla cartcri in Cal- 

 cutta : Dr. N. Annandale. Several animals have been 

 observed to use the dead skeleton of the sponge as a shelter 

 for themselves or for their eggs, while an Oligochcete 

 worm {Chaetogaster spongillae, sp.nov.), two chironomid 

 larvae, a coleopterous larva, and a larva of the neuro- 

 pterous genus Sisyra appear to have a more intimate con- 

 nection with the living organism. The advantage of this 

 connection is in some cases reciprocal. — The life-history of 

 an aquatic weevil : Dr. N. Annandale and C. A. Paiva. 

 A general account of the mode of life and metamorphosis 

 of a weevil which feeds on and lays its eggs in the sub- 

 merged parts of the water-plant Limnanthemum. — A new 

 goby from fresh and brackish water in Lower Bengal : 

 Dr. N. Annandale. .An account of a minute fish of the 

 genus Gobius, which appears to have escaped notice owing 

 to its retention of juvenile characters. — Preliminary note 

 on the rats of Calcutta : Dr. W. C. Hossack. The author 

 shows that the subject of rats has become of practical 

 importance owing to the part they play in the propagation 

 of plague. He names and gives chief characters of the four 

 varieties found in Calcutta. He shows that colour is very 

 variable and not a trustworthy distinction, and gives a 

 table of the principal measurements of the four varieties 

 found. 



GOTTINGEN. 



Royal Society of Sciences.— The NachricHten (physico- 

 mathematical section), part i. for 1906, contains the follow- 

 ing memoirs communicated to the society : — 



December 23, 1905. — The calculation of chemical 

 equilibrium from thermal measurements : W. Nernst. — 

 Determination of the velocity of propagation and absorp- 

 tion of earthquake waves which have traversed the anti- 

 point of the original focus : G. Angenheister. — Com- 

 parison of the seismic diagrams, from Upsala and 

 Gottingen. of earthquake waves which have encircled the 

 globe : F. Akerblom. 



January 13. — The equilibrium of the sun's atmosphere: 

 W. Schwarzschild. 



February 3. — The number and dimensions of the taste- 

 buds in the circumvallate papillae of man at various periods 

 of life : F. Heiderich. — The action of luminous rays upon 



