390 



NA TURE 



[January 27, 191,0 



proportion of the antiseptic was increased in successive 

 cultures. Tlie bacteria adapted tliemselves to increasing 

 amounts of the poison, and attained a maximum resisting 

 power, followed by a rapid fall, losing the whole of the 

 acquired resistance. The tolerance was thus shown to 

 be a temporary phenomenon, an example of the resistance 

 of the species to variation. 



Calcutta. 



Asiatic Society of Bengal, January 5. — flem Chandra 

 Das-Gupta : A probable identity between Clypeaster coni- 

 planatus, Duncan and Sladen, and C duncanensis, 

 Noetling. The author gives reasons for thinking that 

 C. duncanensis, Noetl., was founded on large specimens 

 of C. coniplanattis, Duncan and Sladen. — I. H. Burkill : 

 Fashion in iron styles. A paper to show that the iron 

 styles used in India for writing on palm leaves are of 

 different types in different parts of the country. The iron 

 styles of the extreme south-west are heavy ; those of the 

 centre of the Coromandel coast are peculiarly long and 

 generally light ; those of Orissa are quite characteristic ; 

 the type which is like a clasp-knife is confined to the 

 south. The paper is a supplement to the account of Indian 

 pens published recently in the Agricultural Ledger, No. 6, 

 of 1908-9. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, January 27. 



Royal Society, at 4.30.— Long Period Determination of the Rate of 

 Production of Helium from Radium: Sir James Dewar, F.R.S.— Note 

 on Carbon Mono-sulphide: Sir James Dewar, F.R.S., and Dr. H. O. 

 Jones.— On the Extinction of Colour by Redurtion of Luminosity: Sir 

 William deW. Abney, K.C.B., F.R.S.-The Initial Accelerated Motion 

 of Electrified Systems of Finite Extent, and the Reaction produced by 

 the Resulting Radiation : O. W. Walker.— On the Nature of the Mag- 

 netokathodic Rays : H. Thirkill.— On the Velocity of Steady Fall of 

 .Spherical Particles through a Fluid Medium : E. Cunningham.— The 

 Photochemical Formation of Formaldehyde in Green Plants.:— Dr. S. B. 

 Schryver. 



Royal Institution, at 3.— Assyriology : Rev. C. H. W. Johns. 



Institution of Electrical Engineers, at 8.— Equitable Charges for 

 Tramway Supply ; H. E. Verbury. 



FRIDAY, January 28. 

 Institution of Civil Engineers, at 8.— Some Uses of Mechanical 

 Power in Engineering Construction : H. F. Donaldson. 



SATURDAY, J kt^vAKW ^q. 

 Essex Field Club (at Essex Museum of Natural History, Stratford), 

 at 6.— Trawl Fishing in the North Sea : S. H. Goodchild. 



MONDAY, January 31. 



Institute of Actuaries, at 5.— Some Points of Interest in the Opera- 

 tions of Friendly Societies, Railway Benefit Societies, and Collecting 

 Socielies : A. W. Watson. 



TUESDAY, February i. 



Royal Institution, at 3.— The Cultivation of the Sea: Prof. W. A. 

 Herdman, F.R.S. 



Royal Society of Arts, at 4.30.— Imperial Colonial Development : 

 C. Reginald Enock. 



Zoological Society, at 8.30.— On a Colleciion of FreshwatL. 



from the Transvaal ; Hon. Paul .\. Methuen.— (i) Littoral M; 

 Fauna : Kerimba Archipelago, Portuguese East Africa, collected by 

 J. J. Simpson. Sept., 1907, to May, tgoS. Holothurioidea ; (2) Marine 

 Fauna : Mergui Archipelago, Lower Burma, collected by J. J. Simpson 

 and R. N. Rudmose-Brown. Holothurioidea: Dr. Joseph Pearson.— 

 A Revision of the British Species of Ostracoda belonging to the Sub- 

 families Candonina; and Herpetocyphridinae : Dr. G. Stewardson Brady. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, at %.— Further discussion : The Re- 

 construction of the Tyne North Pier : I. C. V.^xXva^.— Probable Pafrrs : 

 Notes on the Sheffield Water-supply and Statistics relating thereto : 

 L. S. M. Marsh.— Statistical and Experimental Data on Filtration : 

 W. R. Baldwin-Wiseman. 



IVEDNESDAY, February 2. 



Royal Society of Arts, at 8.— An Improved Method of Electro-plating ; 

 A. Rosenberg. 



Society of. Public Analysts, at 8.— Annual Meeting, Presidents' 

 Address.— The Composition and Analysis of Tea : R. R. Tatlock.^nd 



NO. 2100, VOL. 82] 



R. T. Thomson.— The Examination of Turpentine Substitutes, and the 

 Determination in Turpentine of Hydro-carbons other than Terpenes : 

 J. H. Coste.— The Determination of the Acid Radical, and its Relation 

 to the Constitution of Commercial Bismuth Subnitrate : J. Bristowe P. 

 Harrison. — On Sheep Dips : J. S. Remington. 

 Entomological Society, at 8. — A Revision of the LabiduridEc, a Family 

 of the Dermaptera : Dr. Malcolm Burr. 



THURSDAY February 3. 

 Royal Society, at ^.^o.— Probable Papers : On the Relative Sizes of the 

 Organs of Rats and Mice bearing Malignant New Growths : Dr. F. 

 Medigreceanu. — The Thyroid and Parathyroid Glands throughout Verte- 

 brates : F. D. 1 hompson.— The Transmission of Trvpaiwsoma leiuisi 

 by the Rat-flea (Ceratofhyllus/asciatus) : Prof. E. A. Minchin and J. D. 

 Thomson.- Further Evidence of the Homogeneity of the Resistance to 

 the Implantation of Malignant New Growths: Dr. E. F. Bashford and 

 Dr. B. R. G. Russell ; The Contrast in the Reaction to the Implantation 

 of Cancer after the Inoculation of Living and Mechanically Disintegrated 

 Cells : Dr. M. Haaland. 



LiNNEAN Society, at 8.— Further Discussion of the Origin of Vertebrates 

 Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S., Prof. A. Dendy, F.R.S., and olhe 

 speakers, with Dr. Gaskell's reply. 



FRIDA Y, February 4. 

 at 9.— The Heredity of Hex: Prof. W. Bateson, 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



An American Agricultural Cyclopedia. By Dr. 



E. J. Russell 361 



Sir Joseph Banks. By W. B. Hemsley, F.R.S. . . 362 

 The Essentials of the Comparative Anatomy of 



Vertebrates. By W. N. F. W 362 



Three Text-books of Practical Chemistry. By 



G. T. M 363 



Our Book Shelf:— 



" Bathy-orographical Wall Maps of the Pacific, 



Atlantic and Indian Oceans" 364 



Easdale : "The Practical Management of Sewage 



Disposal Works."— E. A 365 



Kassner : "Das Reich der Wolken und Nieder- 



schlage " 365 



" Astronomische Abhandlungen der Hamburg Stern- 



warte in Bergedorf" 365 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Upper-air Temperatures Registered Outside and In- 

 side Balloons. — W. A. Harwood 366 



Avogadro's Hypothesis. — Prof. A. Smithells, 



F.R.S 366 



Sven Hedin's "Trans-Himalaya." {Ithislraled.) . . 367 



Colour-Blindness 369 



Nature Photography. (Illuslra/ed.) 371 



The New Comet (igioa). By W. E. Rolston . . . 372 



Notes 373 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Halley's Comet, igogc 378 



Other Periodic Comets due to Return this Year . . . 378 



Winnecke's Comet 378 



The Epoch of the Last Sun-spot Maximum 378 



" Annuario " for 1910 of the Madrid Observatory . . 37S 

 A Study of Bark-beetles. (Illttstratcd.) By G. H. C. 378 

 Atmospheric Electricity in Egypt. By Dr. C. Chree, 



F.R.S 379 



American Hydrology. {Illustrated.) By B. C. . . 379 

 Recent Work of Geological Surveys. \. By 



. G. A. J. C jSo 



Education Abroad and in England. By John C. 



Medd 382 



University and Educational Intelligence 383 



Societies and Academies 385 



Diary of Societies 390 



