i66 



NA TURE 



[June 15. 1905 



ammonium magnesium and ammonium zinc sulphates and 

 selenates : A. E. H. 1 utton. With regard to molecular 

 volume, the topic axes, and molecular refraction, the 

 ammonium salt of any double salt group of the series 

 behaves almost exactly like the rubidium salt. — Camphoryl- 

 azoimide : M. O. Forster and H. E. Fieri. — Influence of 

 substitution on the formation of diazoamines and 

 aminoazo-compounds, part iii., azo-derivatives of the 

 symmetrically disubstituted primary mc(«diamines : G. T. 

 Morgan and W. O. Wootton. The following new 

 diamines have been prepared and characterised : — 6-chloro- 

 ^-nitro-m-phenylenediamine, S-bromo-n-nitro-m-phenylene- 

 diatnine, and di-iodo-m-phcnylctiediamine. — Di azo-deri- 

 vatives of monoacylated /laradiamines : G. T. Morgan 

 and F. M. G. Micklethwait. — The significance of optical 

 properties as connoting structure ; camphor-quinone- 

 hydrazones-oximes : a contribution to the theory of the 

 origin of colour and to the chemistry of nitrogen : H. E. 

 Armstrong and \V. Robertson, — Solubility as a measure 

 of the change undergone by isodynamic hydrazones. 

 (i) Camphorquinonephenylhydrazone ; (2) acetaldehyde- 

 phenylhydrazone : W. Robertson. — The design of gas- 

 regulators for thermostats : T. M. Lowry. Two new 

 patterns are described. By means of one of these the 

 temperature of a bath of water may be maintained within 

 io^-oi C. during several weeks, the average fluctuation 

 being about +o°oo2 C. — The constitution of barbaloin, 

 part i. : H. A. D. Jowett and C. E. Potter. The 

 authors have inade a number of analyses and molecular 

 weight determinations of carefully purified barbaloin and 

 tribromobarbaloin, and their results agree best with 

 Tilden's formula. — Influence of substitution on the form- 

 ation of diazoamines and aminoazo-compounds, part iv., 

 5 - bromo - 05(4) - dimethyl - 2 -4 -diaminotoluene ; G. T. 

 Morgan and .\. Clayton. — The action of magnesium 

 methyl iodide on pinenenitrosochloride : W. A. Tilden 

 and J. A. Stokes. Two principal products are obtained, 

 the oxime C,,H,,(CH,) : NOH (m.p. 103°), and a base 

 C,„H,jN(CH3). (m.p. 122°). — The action of hypobromous 

 acid on piperazine : F. D. Chattaway and W. H. Lewis. 

 — Racemisation phenomena during the hydrolysis of 

 optically active menthyl and bornyl esters by alkali : A. 

 McKenzie and H. B. Thompson. — Estimation of 

 hydrogen peroxide in the presence of potassium per- 

 sulphate : J. A. \. Friend. The author now shows that 

 if a slight excess of permanganate is rapidly added from 

 a burette to the mixture of peroxide and persulphate, and 

 the excess of permanganate estimated iodometricallv with 

 thiosulphate, accurate results may be obtained in the 

 presence of any weight of potassium persulphate not ex- 

 ceeding o 08 gram. — Some oxidation products of the 

 hydroxybenzoic acids and the constitution of ellagic acid : 

 A. G. Perkin and M. Nierenstein. — The reduction of 

 fsophthalic acid, part ii. : W. L. Goodwin and W. H. 

 Perkin, jun. The authors describe a convenient method 

 for the preparation and separation of the cis- and trans- 

 moditications of hexahydroisophthalic acid. — Complex 

 ammonium antimonious halides : R. M. Caven. — The re- 

 placement of hydroxyl by bromine: W. H. Perkin, jun., 

 and J. L. Simonsen. the authors find that good results 

 are obtained when the acetate of the alcohol is heated 

 at about 150° with a solution of hydrogen bromide in 

 acetic acid (saturated at 0°). — The ethereal salts and amide 

 of dimethoxypropionic acid derived from d-glyceric acid ; 



P. F. Frankland and N. L. Gebhard The "influence of 



phosphates on the fermentation of glucose by yeast juice. 

 Preliminary communication: A. Harden and W. J. 

 Young. It has previously been shown by the authors that 

 the amount of glucose fermented bv a given volume of 

 yeast juice is greatly increased by the addition of boiled 

 and filtered yeast juice. A similar initial rapid evolution 

 of carbon dioxide occurs when a solution of sodium or 

 potassium orthophosphate is added instead of the boiled 

 juice, but in this case no marked prolongation of the 

 fernipntation is observed. — A contribution to" the study of 

 alkylated glucosides : J. C. Irvine and A. Cameron. ' 



Linnean Society. Tur-ei. — Pmf >v. A HTdman, F.R S., 

 president, in the chair.— Models of restorations of some 

 extmct Dinosaurs, Ceratosaurus and Diplodocus, also of 

 Ichthyosaurus, Plesiosaurus, Scelidosaurus, and Stefo- 



NO 1859, VOL. 72] 



saurus : H. E. H. Smedley. — Two photographs of a palm, 

 Corypha data : J. F. Waby. At the general meeting of 

 June 18, 1903, photographs were shown of two specimens 

 of equal age ; one had normally flowered, fruited, and 

 died ; the other, instead of flowers, had thrown up a 

 secondary central growth of leaves. The information now 

 sent completes the record ; the survivor in its turn had 

 flowered and died, the inflorescences being developed from 

 the secondary crown of foliage. On being cut down it 

 proved to be 68 feet in height, diameter at base 3 feet 

 6 inches, diameter at base of secondary growth, x foot 

 10 inches. The secondary growth itself was 4 feet in 

 height, and the height of the spadix an additional 20 feet, 

 5 feet of this being bare stem, the remaining 15 feet 

 crowded with twenty-nine huge branches. The crop of 

 fruit numbered more than 51,000 and weighed half a ton, 

 most of the spadices being abortive. — The botany of Gough 

 Island, part ii., the cryptogams, exclusive of the ferns 

 and unicellular alg£E : R. N. Rudmose Brown. The 

 president reminded the meeting that when part i. of this 

 paper was read on May 4 it had been suggested that a 

 visit to the Tristan da Cunha group might form part of 

 the programme of the Cape session of the British Associ- 

 ation. The matter had, however, received so little outside 

 support that the project had been abandoned. 



Geological Society, June 2.— Dr. J. E. Marr, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — On the igneous rocks occurring 

 between St. David's Head and Strumble Head (Pembroke- 

 shire) : J. V. Elsden. The author finds that the con- 

 temporaneous lavas of the Llanrian area agree generally 

 in character with the eruptive rocks of apparently Ordo- 

 vician age in the Strumble Head and Prescelly districts. 

 These are all of an essentially acid type. The intrusivi- 

 rocks of the area are of later date, and belong to three 

 distinct types : — (i) the gabbros and diabases of the 

 Strumble Head area ; (2) the norites and associated rocks 

 of St. David's Head and the surrounding district; and 

 (3) the lime-bostonites and porphyrites of the Abercastle- 

 Mathry district. Detailed petrographical descriptions of 

 the different types are given, accompanied in many cases 

 bv analyses and comparisons with corresponding or related 

 roclcs of other areas. — The Rh^tic and contiguous de- 

 posits of Glamorganshire : L. Richardson. The chief 

 sections in the countv described in detail are those at 

 Lavernock (near Cardiff), Barry, Tregyff (near Cowbridge), 

 Ouarella (Bridgend), and Stormy Down. The Sully beds, 

 a name given to the fossiliferous portion of the " Grey 

 Marls " of Etheridge, are determined to belong to the 

 Rhactic series, on account of the fossils that they contain. 

 They are quite distinct from the " Tea-Green Marls," in 

 which fossils have not been observed. — On the occurrence 

 of Rhsetic rocks at Berrow Hill, near Tewkesbury 

 (Gloucestershire) : L. Richardson. About two miles south- 

 east from Chase-End Hill (Malvern Hills) there is a small 

 outlier of Lower Liassic and Rha>tic beds, in a basin- 

 shaped area, supported and surrounded by Keuper Sand- 

 stone. A detailed section is given, mainly obtained by 

 excavation, and this is compared with the nearest locality 

 where the whole of the Rhaetic mav be studied, namely, 

 at Wainlode Cliff. 



Cambridge. 



Philosophical Society, May 15.— Prof. Marshall Ward, 

 president, in the chair. — Exhibition of lantern slides of 

 fungi : Prof. Marshall Ward. — Infection phenomena in 

 various species of Uredinese : I. P. B. Evans. — The 

 abortive development of the pollen in certain cross-bred 

 sweet peas : R. P. Gregory. .Among the offspring pro- 

 duced by the self-fertilisation of a certain hybrid sweet 

 pea, Mr. Bateson obtained, during 1903, a certain number 

 of individuals the anthers of which were contabescent. 

 The same phenomenon was repeated in 1904, with every 

 indication that the sterility is a character which undergoes 

 segregation in accordance with Mendelian principles. The 

 above paper dealt with the abnormalities observed in the 

 nuclei of the pollen-mother-cells of the sterile plants. The 

 vegetative mitoses are perfectly regular, the first indication 

 of abnormality being observed in the prophase of the 

 heterotypc (reduction) division. From this point onwards 

 the distribution of the chromatin becomes more and more 

 irregular, with the result that no normal pollen is pro- 



