lOO 



NA TURE 



[December i6, 1909 



addition to physical forces, the physiological or " vital " 

 •properties of the living capillary wall have to be taken into 

 account, and the secretory nature of lymph formation was 

 ably insisted upon by the late Prof. Heidenhain. A some- 

 'what similar set of factors has to be reckoned with in the 

 question of urine formation in the kidneys, and different 

 physiologists hold diverse views concerning the relative 

 importance of the physical and physiological factors con- 

 cerned. Those interested in the latest development of such 

 discussions, mainly in relation to the formation of lymph, 

 will find them ably discussed in a little pamphlet written 

 by Prof. Asher, of Berne, who has devoted much of his 

 ■research work in this direction. It is entitled " Der physio- 

 logische Stoffaustausch zwischen Blut und Geweben," and 

 though published separately it forms part of a larger work 

 which is being written by collaboration under the editor- 

 ship of Profs. Gaupp and Nagel, called " Sammlung 

 anotomischer und physiologischer Vortrage und Aufsiitze " 

 (Jena : G. Fischer). 



Miss E. B. Van Deman contributes to the Proceedings 

 of the Carnegie Institution of Washington an elaborate 

 monograph on the Atrium VestJE at Rome. This building 

 was first discovered in 1883 at the foot of the Palatine 

 Hill in the Forum, and the excavations have been since 

 ■carried on at intervals. The investigation of the site is 

 particularly difficult, because, owing to successive outbreaks 

 of fire, the building was reconstructed or restored no less 

 than five times from the Republican period down to that 

 ■of the later Empire. The most interesting point disclosed 

 by the excavations is that the dwelling of the Vestal 

 Virgins, who guarded the sacred fire, was an adjunct to 

 that of the early king and queen. The queen, as mater- 

 familias of the State, supervised the duties of the Vestals. 

 This fact furnishes strong evidence in support of the theory 

 enunciated by Prof. J. G. Frazer, some five-and-twonty 

 years ago, that the Vestals were originally the daughters 

 of the king, and as such were naturally placed in charge 

 ■of the sacred fire which was kept alight in the house of 

 the king, and on its maintenance the safety of the State 

 was supposed to depend. 



The December number of the Geographical Journal con- 

 tains a second interim report of the committee of the' 

 society on progress in the investigation of rivers, by Dr. 

 Aubrey Strahan. The chief work of the year includes 

 observations of flow, temperature and composition of water, 

 and estimations of dissolved and suspended matter, in the 

 rivers Exe and tributaries, the Medway, and the Severn. 

 A number of notes on special points is appended to the 

 report, and Dr. Mill contributes an extremely valuable 

 paper on the rainfall of the Exe Valley. 



Mr. V. Stf.fansson contributes a short paper on 

 northern Alaska in winter to the Bulletin of the American 

 Geographical Society. The author points out that whereas 

 driftwood was formerly abundant along the entire north 

 coast of Alaska, very little now comes ashore anywhere 

 west or south from Point Barrow, showing that this section 

 •of the coast depends for its driftwood on the Yukon River, 

 the banks of which have recently been deprived of much 

 ■of their tree-growth. A few years ago the Eskimos of 

 northern Alaska might have been broadly classified as 

 inlanders and coast people, but now most of the inlanders 

 have moved to the coast, starved out by the disappearance 

 of the caribou, which has been slaughtered indiscriminately 

 for about twenty years. 



In tlio Journal of the Scottish Meteorological Society for 



the year 1908 (vol. xv., third series) Mr. A. Watt, Secretary 



■to the society, gives a very interesting summary of the 



NO. 2094, VOL. 82] 



development of the exploration of the upper air by means 

 chiefly of kites and unmanned balloons, from the early 

 experiments of Wilson, Archibald, and others in Great 

 Britain, and Espy, Rotch, and others in the United States, 

 until the present time, together with a brief description of 

 the results relating (i) to the general circulation of the 

 atmosphere, and (2) to the temperature conditions at great 

 heights. It is not claimed that anything new is contained 

 in the paper, but it gives historical notes, and references 

 to original discussions that have appeared in our own 

 columns and other journals of a scientific character, which 

 will be very useful to anyone interested in this important 

 subject. The author thinks that these researches arc 

 " perhaps the most brilliant chapter in the history of 

 meteorology." 



In the Physikalische Zeitschrift for November 22 Dr. T. 

 Wulf directs attention to the advantages of using calcium 

 carbide as a drying material in electrostatic instruments 

 the insulation of which is to be maintained. He has found 

 that a small piece of the substance will keep the interior 

 of an electroscope he uses for measuring the 7 rays from 

 radio-active materials quite dry for several weeks, although 

 the instrument stands in the open exposed to rain. The 

 active surface of the material is kept free owing to the 

 dry powder due to its action falling from the surface as it 

 is formed. The efficiency of the carbide seems to be rather 

 better than that of sodium. 



Miss Laura L. Brant, of the Brown University, Pro- 

 vidence, gives in the November number of the Physical 

 Review the results of her re-measurement of the magnetic 

 and electrical properties of a score of steel rods which 

 were made glass-hard and then tested by Prof. Barus in 

 1885. They were again tested by him in 188S and in 

 1897, so that we now have a record of the change of the 

 properties of this steel when kept at ordinary temperatures 

 for twenty-four years. In all cases there has been a 

 diminution of the electrical resistivity of the steel of about 

 20 per cent, in the twenty-four years, the change having 

 taken place along an exponential curve. The same result 

 would have been reached in three hours if the rods had 

 been heated to 100° C. Miss Brant concludes that glass- 

 hard steel will, if kept at ordinary temperatures, be com- 

 pletely softened in 250 years. 



Mr. E. Merck, 16 Jewry Street, E.C., has issued his 

 annual report of recent advances in pharmaceutical chem- 

 istry and therapeutics for 1908, vol. xxii., dated from 

 Darmstadt, August, 1909. The present volume has grown 

 to nearly 400 pages, the index of authors alone covering 

 thirty columns, and including more than 1000 names. A 

 hundred pages are devoted to a monograph on organo- 

 therapy and organotherapeutic preparations, the remainder 

 of the report being occupied with detailed notes on pre- 

 parations and drugs, these being arranged in alphabetical 

 order for convenience of reference. 



Mr. L. Oertlino has sent us a copy of his new illus- 

 trated catalogue of assay, chemical, and bullion balances. 

 More than fifty balances are illustrated, ranging from a 

 bullion balance constructed to carry 10,000 oz. and turn 

 with 10 grains, to an assay balance carrying i gram and 

 weighing to 0-005 milligram. Among the new balances 

 not previously shown is the ampere balance made for the 

 National Physical Laboratory, weighing to a milligram 

 when loaded with 5 kilograms in each pan. In the case 

 of the weights, it would be desirable to indicate the 

 accuracy of adjustment, if only as explaining the apparent 

 anomaly, a sot of weights ranging from 50 grams to 

 I milligram being quoted at 2I. 5s. on p. 59 and at 151. 

 on p. 61. 



