ApriL 18, 1912] 
NATURE 183 
historic interest, but that they give important evidence 
relating to the structure and mobility of the earth. 
The spirit of maritime adventure born in the Scan- 
dinavian fiords gave the European races the mastery 
of the sea and a political predominance which is 
world-wide in its influence. The geological study of 
fiords leads to geographical problems that are 
also world-wide in their range, for the view that | 
fiords are due to local superficial agents chiselling | 
| quaire: Two combinations formed by iodine and the 
out furrows on an impassive earth explains neither 
their features nor distribution. Fiords teach more 
significant and far-reaching lessons; they point to 
deep-seated forces which affect the earth as a whole. 
However greatly fiords may have been moulded by 
ice, wind, and water, they are not primarily due to 
oe agencies, which have used the fiords, not made 
them. 
The ultimate cause of fiords is the rupture of certain 
wide areas of the earth by the pulsation of the crust 
Lonpon. 
Mathematical Society, April 11.—Dr. H. F. Baker, 
president, and temporarily Prof. A. E. H. Love, vice- 
president, in the chair.—A. Cunningham: Mersenne’s 
numbers.—G. N. Watson: A modification of Liouville’s | : ws 
aqueous solution the hydrolysis is not complete, about 
theorem.—G. H. Hardy and J. E. Littlewood : Contri- 
butions to the arithmetic theory of series.—G. B. 
Mathews: Complex binary arithmetic forms.—H. S. 
Carslaw : An application of the theory of integral equa- 
tions to the equation y*u+k?u=o.—H. F. Baker: 
(i) Some transformations of Kummer’s surface; (ii) 
the curves which lie on a cubic surface. 
Paris. 
Academy of Sciences, April 9.—M. F. Guyon in the 
chair.—E. H. Amagat: The variations of the pressure 
coefficient with temperature and on some points which 
depend on it in the study of the internal pressure of 
fluids. The pressure coefficients of argon are cal- 
culated from experimental data obtained in the labora- 
tory of Prof. Kamerlingh Onnes for temperature 
ranges, —1212° to —109'9°, —102'5°? to —57°7°, 
—57°7° to o'0°, and o’0° to +20°4°; for hydrogen at 
temperatures —217°4° to —182°8°, ~—182°8° to — 103'6°, 
—103°6° to o0°, and o’o° to 100°2°; for helium, at | 
temperatures —258'9° to — 182°8°, —182°8° to — 103'6°, 
—103'6° to 070°, and o’0° to 100°3°. All the results 
point to a small diminution of the pressure coefficient 
as the temperature increases. The changes observed 
are much larger than would be expected from the 
values of thé specific heat at constant volume.—E. L. 
Bouvier: The classification of the genus Caridina and 
the extraordinary variations of a species of this genus, 
Caridina brevirostris. The variations of this species 
have led the author to reject the existing classifica- 
tion of the Caridinz based on the rostral structure; 
suggestions for a new scheme are put forward.—Paul 
Sabatier and M. Murat: The direct addition of 
hydrogen by catalysis to the benzoic esters; the prepara- 
tion of the hexahydrobenzoic esters. The addition of 
hydrogen to methyl and ethyl benzoates by the cata- 
lytic action of reduced nickel requires the temperature 
of the reaction to be maintained exactly at 180° C. 
Good yields of ethyl and methyl hexahydrobenzoates 
are thus obtained.—Kyrille Popoff: The influence of 
the various methods of photometric measurements on 
the estimation of stellar magnitudes.—Ch. Jordan and 
R. Fiedler: Contribution to the geometry of convex 
curves and of certain curves which are derived from 
them.—A. Cotten and H. Mouton: New substances 
showing magnetic double refraction. The straight 
NO. 2216, vor. 89] 
chain carbon-compounds and some of their derivatives 
remain inactive in a strong magnetic field. Substi- 
tuted paraffins, however, containing the nitro-group 
or a halogen exhibit magnetic double refraction.— 
Albert Colson; The singular features of certain proofs 
in physical chemistry. A reply to a recent note of 
M. Langevin, dealing especially with the van’t 
Hoff theory of solution.—Ed. Griffon and A. 
Maublanc : The microsphcera of the oak.—Paul Mac- 
tyrosine obtained by the trypsic hydrolysis of albu- 
minoid materials. Analyses. are given of a definite 
diiodo-derivative of tyrosine; by the action of boiling 
water on this substance a new iodine derivative of 
tyrosine was obtained containing less iodine.—A. 
Desgrez and Mile. Bl. Guende: The influence of an 
excess of sodium chloride on nutrition and on renal 
elimination. An excess of common salt in food 
favours auto-intoxication.—Gabriel Bertrand and F. 
Medigreceanu: The normal manganese in the blood. 
Traces of manganese were found in blood from the 
| sheep and the horse; negative results were obtained 
with blood from man, rabbit, chicken, and duck. The 
amount of manganese present in the blood of man 
and the higher animals is much less than has hitherto 
been supposed.—Ed. Bourquelot and M. Bridel: The 
action of emulsion upon salicin in alcoholic solution. 
Salicin is hydrolysed by emulsion in solutions contain- 
ing proportions of alcohol up to 90 per cent. In 
5 per cent. of the salicin remaining unchanged. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Notes and Answers to Exercises in ‘‘A Shorter 
Geometry.”” By C. Godfrey and A. W. Siddons. Pp. 
16. (Cambridge: University Press.) 6d. 
Note sur le Vol des Oiseaux. By E. Delsol. Pp. 
iv+23. (Paris: Gauthier-Villars.) 1 franc. 
The Cause of Cancer. Being Part iii. of ‘* Protozoa 
and Disease.” By J. J. Clarke. Pp. xi+112+-viii 
plates. (London: Bailliére, Tindall and Cox.) 
7s. 6d. net. 
Mikroskopisches Praktikum ftir _systematische 
Botanilx. (1., Angiospermae.) By Prof. M. Mobius. 
Pp. viii+216. (Berlin: Gebriider Borntraeger-.) 
6.80 marks. 
Anleitung zur mikroskopischen Untersuchungen 
By Dr. G. Tobler-Wolff and 
(Berlin : Gebriider 
von Pflanzenfasern. 
Prof. F. Tobler. Pp. viii+141. 
Borntraeger.) 3.50 marks. 
Handbuch der vergleichenden Physiologie. Edited 
by H. Winterstein. 20 Lief. Band iv. (Jena: G. 
Fischer.) 5 marks. 
British Association for the Advancement of Science. 
Portsmouth Meeting, 1911—A Catalogue of Destruct- 
ive Earthquakes, a.D. 7 to a.D. 1899. By Dr. J. 
Milne. Pp. 92. (London: The British Association.) 
5S. 
Tithe Mafulu Mountain People of British New 
Guinea. By R. W. Williamson. Pp. xxiii+364+ 
plates. (London: Macmillan and Co., Ltd.) 14s. 
net. 
Oxford Gardens. Based upon Daubeny’s Popular 
Guide to the Physick Garden of Oxford: with Notes 
on the Gardens of the Colleges and on the University 
Park. By R. T. Giinther. Pp. xv+280. (Oxford: 
Parker and Son: London: Simpkin, Marshall and 
Co., Ltd.) 6s. net. 
Handbook of the Technique of the_ 
Capillary Glass Tube, and its Applications in 
and Bacteriology. By Sir A. E. Wright. 
202. (London: Constable and Co., Ltd.) 
net. 
On the Backwaiers of the Nile. 
Teat and 
Medicine 
Pp. xvi+ 
tos. 6d. 
Studies of some 
