July 12, 1906] 



NA TURE 



26- 



Edinbukgh. 



Royal Society, June i8.— Dr. Munro, vice-president, in 

 ihi' ihnir.— A sliidy of the dietaries of students' residences 

 in Kdinlnirgh : Dr. Isabella Cameron. The objects of 

 the inv.stigation wen- to compare the dietary of the middle 

 classes with that of the working; classes, which had already 

 been carefully studied, to ascertain how far this diet con- 

 formed to the various standard diets, and to investigate 



', the question of the reduction of cost through combination. 

 The dietaries of four men's residences and one women's 

 residency were studied for one week, which was equivalent 

 to ii2q men for one day. The average amount consumed 

 per man per diem was :— proteids, 143 grams ; fats, 13S 

 .grams; carbohydrates, 511 grams; fuel value, 3973 calories. 

 The expenditure came lo fully \s. 2d. per day per man, 



I nearly double the cost of the average labouring man's 

 diet. When compared with similar institutions in .\merica, 



■ the Hdinburgh residences were found to consume morc^ 

 proteid and carbohvdrato, but less fat. There was also less 

 waste.— The theory of epidemics : Dr. John Brownlee. 

 The growth and dt^cav of an epidemic seemed to depend 

 on the acquisition of a high degree of infectivity at the 

 start, this infectivilv being then lost at a rate expressible 

 mathematicallv as an exponential. This truth was realised 

 by Dr. Karr,'but the subject did not seem to have been 

 pursued with any definite scientific aim. Dr. Brownlee 

 had subjected various epidemic statistics to mathematical 

 analysis, and had found that the curves representing their 

 growth and decay could be well represented by Prof. Karl 

 Pearson's curve of type iv. The correspondence was very 

 close, except in the neighbourhood of the vertex. The 

 general conclusion was that the condition of the germ had 

 much more to do with the causation of an epidemic than 

 the constitutional peculiarity of the persons affected at the 

 moment. There was no evidence in favour of the idea 

 that the epidemic ended because of the lack of susceptible 

 persons.— The plant remains in the Scottish peat mosses, 

 part ii. : Francis J. Lewis. This part had to do with 

 the Scottish Highlands, the preceding part having dis- 

 cussed the peats of the Lowland Uplands. These Highland 

 peat mosses began later than the Lowland mosses, and did 

 not show the intercalated .Arctic condition after the retreat 

 of the ice-sheet. The bottom layers in the mosses in Caith- 

 ness and Inverness had Arctic plants, but these were lack- 

 ing in the Skye mosses, which accordingly were shown 

 to have begun still later. The succession of layers was 

 broadly similar to the succession already made out in the 

 Lowland mosses, but in the Highland peats of recent age 

 there were two distinct dry woodland mosses full of trunks 

 of Pinus syhcstris, separated by a layer of sphagnum moss. 

 The peat deposits over Scotland thus showed a definite 

 succession of changes which could be correlated with thf 

 later stages of the Glacial epoch. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, June 25. — M. H. Poincare in the 

 chair. — The formation of endothermic compounds at high 

 temperatures : M. Berthelot. .According to the current 

 thermodynamical theories, endothermic compounds can be 

 formed and are stable at high temperatures. The author 

 criticises the experimental observations adduced in support 

 of this view, and concludes that no exact observation has 

 been brought forward establishing, either in principle or In 

 fact, that very high temperatures can cause a reversal of chem- 

 ical aflfinitv by directly forming endothermic compounds by 

 simple heating. — The generalised problem of Dirichlet and 

 Fredholm's equation : Emile Picard. — The radio-activity of 

 gases evolved from the water of thermal springs : P. 

 Curie and A. Laborde. The data given in a previous 

 paper are corrected, and some additional determinations given 

 for some new springs. — The action of steam upon sulphides 

 at a red heat. The production of native metals : Armand 

 Gautier. The sulphides of iron give rise to magnetic iron 

 oxide, sulphuretted hydrogen and hydrogen. In the case 

 of lead sulphide, taken as a type of the sulphide of a metal 

 which does not decompose water, the primary products 

 would appear to be lead, sulphuretted hydrogen and sulphur 

 dioxide, the two latter substances reading to give free 

 sulphur. Copper sulphide gave copper, sulphur dioxide, and 



NO. 191 5, VOL. 74I 



hydrogen. These experimental facts are applied to the con- 

 sideration of volcanic phenomena. — The condensation of 

 0/3-dimethylglycidic ester with sodio-malonic ester. Syntheses 

 of terebic and pyroterebic acids : A. Haller and G. Blanc. 

 Dimethyl-glycidic ester, heated on the water bath with 

 sodio-malonic ester, gives 4-mi-thyl-2 : 3-dicarboxyl-pentan- 

 olide-4, and this, boiled with hydrochloric acid, gives terebic 

 acid, the latter being characterised by its conversion into 

 isocaprolactonc and pyroterebic acid. — The external work 

 created by the statical and dynamical actions of the internal 

 work of the Tuotor muscle : A. Chauveau. -Thi' tnatment 

 of pulmonary tuberculosis by serother.ipy : MM. Lanne- 

 iongue, Achard, and Gaiiiard. — The identification of 

 pathogenic Trypanosomes : attempts at diagnosis : A. 

 Laveran and V. Mesnili The serum of an animal which 

 has acquired immunity against a particular Irypanosome 

 frequently possesses to a high degree specific properties 

 which can be utilised for the identification of trypanosomes. 

 The authors give a detailed account of experiments made in 

 this connection, and show that the application of this 

 n\ethod is not without difficulties. — The indication for the 

 anti-tuberculous vaccination of young ruminants by the ali- 

 mentary canal : S. Arloing. Details of experiments on 

 young goats are given from which the author concludes that 

 complete immunisation can be effected by the aid of human 

 or bovine tubercle bacilli, suitably, modified, introduced 

 into the alimentary canal. — M. Gernez was elected a 

 member in the section of physics in the place of the late M. 

 Pierre Curie. — The deformation of certain tetrahedral sur- 

 faces : G. Tzitzeica. — .A theorem of algebraic surfaces of 

 the nth order : G. B. Guccia. — Differential equations of 

 the second order and first degree the general integral of 

 which is uniform : M. Gambier. — Diminution of velocity 

 and change of trim of ships by the reflex action of water 

 on the bottom : E. Fournier. — A simplified study of the 

 effects of capacity of alternating current cables : A. 

 Blondeia — Interferential photography : the variation of the 

 incidence : polarised light : M. Ponsot. — -An arrangement 

 permitting of placing simultaneously se\'eral prisms In the 

 position of minimum deviation : P. Lambert. — A simple 

 method for the study of the movements of metallic vapours 

 In the oscillating spark : G. .A. Hemsaiech. The sparks 

 are blown on one side by a current of air of known velocity, 

 resulting in curved lines in the spectrum, from measure- 

 ments of which the tangential velocities of the metallic 

 vapours can be determined. — The methods of photographing 

 the absorption lines of the colouring matters of the blood : 

 Louis Lewfin, .A. IMiethe, and E. Stenger. Details of the 

 apparatus used are given. The present note contains no 

 results. — The heat of formation of carbonyl-hydroferro- 

 cyanic acid : J. A. IMuiier. The heat of combustion, deter- 

 mined in the calorimetric bomb, was 3444 calories per 

 gram, from which the heat of formation was calculated 

 .'IS — 122 cal. — The kathodic phosphorescence of europium 

 diluted with lime. Study of the ternary system lime-gado- 

 lina-europia : G. Urbain. — The refractive index of sub- 

 stances dissolved in other solvents than water.: C. Chene- 

 veau. Results are given for solutions of lithium chloride 

 In water, methyl and ethyl alcohols, and in glycerol. — 

 The variations in state undergone by amorphous carbon 

 under the influence of a sudden variation of temperature : 

 O. Manviile. The variation In state was measured by 

 the alteration in the temperature at which the carbon com- 

 menced to give carbon dioxide in a current of oxygen. — The 

 double sulphate of Iridium and potassium, lr.,fSO,),. 

 3K.SO., : Marcel Delepine. — The properties of the sub- 

 stances formed by the action of hydrochloric acid upon cer- 

 tain metallic sillcides : M. Boudouard. These substances 

 contain hydrogen, and may be regarded as mixtures in vari- 

 able proportions of silicoformic anhydride and silico-oxalic 

 hydrate. — The crystallography of iron : F. Osmond and 

 G. Cartaud. — The action of oxygen on rubidiimi-ainmonia : 

 E. Reng^ade. The three metals potassium, ca?sium. and 

 rubidium, dissolved In liquid ammonia, give in presence of 

 oxygen a white dioxide and a yellow tetroxide. Potassium 

 and caesium give in addition a dark trioxide, but there is 

 no evidence of the formation of an analogous oxide of rubi- 

 dium. — Researches on the pyrazolones : new methods of 

 synthesis : Ch. IVIoureu and J. Lazennec. The reaction 

 between the arylproplolic esters and hydrazine, forming 



