May 30, 1912] 
NATURE 
39 
ios) 
spread over an interval of two months have been 
obtained. The wave-lengths were determined with 
higher accuracy than in previous work with the same 
instruments, owing to additional precautions taken 
in the photography of the comparison spectra. The 
ehanges in the spectrum observed during the two 
months are discussed in detail.—Patrick Browne : 
Some singular cases of Volterra’s equation.—E. 
Barré; The surfaces described by an indeformable 
helix which remains constantly an asymptotic to the 
surface which it describes.—Alphonse Berget: A total 
immersion areometer without capillary correction. A 
glass bulb is held completely under the surface of the 
liquid the density of which is required by means of 
a flat invar spring, and the rise or fall of the bulb 
measured by means of a cathetometer. The instru- 
ment is calibrated with solutions of known density, 
and will give the density with an accuracy of about 
one-millionth. It has been chiefly designed for deter- 
mining the density of samples of sea water.—Jean 
Effront: The action of hydrogen peroxide upon lactic 
acid and glucose. Lactic acid is transformed quanti- 
tatively by hydrogen peroxide into acetic and 
carbonic acids. Glucose gives alcohol, aldehyde, 
formic acid, and acetic acid.—J. Giraud: The eruptive 
rocks in the south of Madagascar.—V. Vermorel and 
E. Dantony: Surface tension and the moistening 
power of insecticides and fungicides. A means of 
conferring moistening power on cupric or insecticide 
solutions.—G. Arnaud and E. Foéx: The oidium of 
the oak, Microsphaera quercina. A discussion as to 
the correct classification of this fungus.—P. Gérard : 
The influence of the food on the amount of sodium 
and potassium in a dog.—Mlle. Robert: The method 
of fixing calcium by Aspergillus niger. Calcium is 
fixed by the mycelium of the mould in the form of 
calcium oxalate—M. Neveu-Lemaire: Congenital 
bronchial strongylosis in the sheep.—Mieczyslaw 
Oxner: New experiments on the nature of the 
memory in Coris julis, carried out by the method of 
substitution.—Georges Negre : Discovery of phosphate 
sands in the department of Yonne.—Ernest 
Esclangon : New researches on the value of the earth’s 
acceleration in the south-west of France. 
May 20.—M. Lippmann in the _ chair.—H. 
Deslandres: Relations between temporary stars and 
the sun. A. simple explanation of temporary stars. 
The author’s view of a temporary star is that it con- 
sists of a single body, already cooled with a solid crust 
relatively thin. A break in this crust, with the 
sudden eruption of incandescent gases under high 
pressure, is sufficient to explain most of the observed 
spectroscopic phenomena, A similar phenomenon, on 
a much smaller scale, has been previously noted by 
the author in the solar faculae. The final trans- 
formation into a nebula remains unexplained.—M. 
de Forcrand ; Some physical properties of cyclohexanol. 
A kilogram of the phenol was prepared by the cata- 
lytic method and carefully purified from traces of 
water, first by fractional crystallisations and after- 
wards by repeated treatments with anhydrous sodium 
sulphate. The pure substance boils at 160-9°, and 
melts at 22-45° C. The density and solubility in 
water were also determined.—A. Perot: The green 
line of the corona. The line was very large, un- 
symmetrical, and degraded towards the red. The 
mean wave-leneth was 5303-7 A.—MM. Durand, 
Levesque, and Viviez: Observation of the solar eclipse 
of April 17, 1912.—René Garnier; The limits of the 
substitutions of the group of a linear equation of the 
second order.—G. Bouligand: The small movements 
of the surface of a liquid in the field of a central 
attractive foree as a function of the distance.—Gaston 
Leinekugel Le -Cocq: A remarkable: property of tele- 
dynamic cables.—Jean Villey: Volta’s phenomenon 
NO. 2222, VoL. 89] 
| and the theory of Nernst.—L. Dunoyer: An apparatus 
for the rapid distillation of mercury in a vacuum. 
The mercury is heated electrically in a barometer 
forming an inverted U-tube. When the level of the 
undistilled mercury falls to a determined point the 
heating resistance is automatically cut out.—G. 
Sagnac: The direct measurement of the differences 
of phase in an interferometer with inverse pencils. 
Application to the optical study of transparent silver 
deposits.—H. Buisson and Ch. Fabry: The tempera- 
ture of sources of light. The width of the lines of 
the spectrum is used as a measure of the tempera- 
ture of the vapour. From these considerations the 
femperature of the vapour in a Cooper-Hewitt lamp 
| with a small current is about 1200° C., or even a 
lower value. An electric arc in a vacuum: between 
iron electrodes gives from the width of the lines a 
temperature of 2400° C.—Camille Matignon: The 
preparation and heat of formation of magnesium 
nitride. The nitride was prepared in a pure state 
by the action of ammonia, purified by liquefaction, 
upon heated magnesium powder. The material was 
| utilised for the determination of the heat of solution 
of the magnesium nitride in dilute sulphuric acid, 
from which the heat of formation is calculated as 
119-7 calories.—Cichsner de Coninck: A mode of 
formation of acrolein. This aldehyde is formed in 
the dry distillation of sodium formate.—P,. Lemoult : 
The question of the hexahydro-derivative of mala- 
chite green: an example of two different leuco bases 
giving the same colouring matter.—Marcel Guerhet : 
The condensation of the primary alcoholates of 
sodium with the secondary alcohols.—Ch. Mauguin : 
The internal “agitation of liquid crystals.—Marcel 
Baudouin : Osteo-arthritis in the polished stone age. 
A study of human bones found in the Neolithic re- 
mains of Vendrest show that these present lesions 
characteristic of the disease now known as 
osteo-arthritis.—Maurice Arthus: Anaphylaxy and 
immunity. Experiments on the rabbit with snake 
poison show that the states of anaphylaxy and 
immunity can co-exist in the same animal.—Jousset 
de Bellesme : The functions of pigment. A discussion 
of the relations between reproductive activity and the 
formation of pigment.—N. A. Barbieri: The non- 
existence in the retina of the chemical principles of 
the optic nerve.—J. M. Albahary: The metabolism of 
oxalic acid and the oxalates in the economy.—H. 
Labbé and G. Vitry: The non-dialysable urinary sub- 
stances eliminated during the diabetic condition.— 
Em. Bourquelot and M. Bridel: A synthetic action of 
emulsin.—Pierre Kennél: The adipolymphoid bodies 
in the. Batrachians. There is a seasonal development 
of these bodies in frogs, passing through a minimum 
about April.—L. Falcoz: The classification of the 
burrowing mammals.—Paul de Beauchamp: The 
evolution of Rhytidocystis Henne guyi.—Pierre 
Bonnet: The Mesozoic of the gorge of the Araxe, 
near Djoulfa. 
BOOKS RECEIVED. 
Spectroscopy. By Prof. E. C. C. Baly. New 
edition. Pp. xiv+687. (London: Longmans and 
Co.) 2s. 6d. pact 
Prodromus Flore Britannice. By F. N. Williams. 
Part ix. Pp. 477-532. (Brentford: C. Stutter.) 
2s. gd, 
tener der Thermochemie und Thermodynamik. 
By Prof. O. Sackur. Pp. viii+340. (Berlin: J. 
Springer.) 12 marks. 
The Montessori Method. Scientific Pedagogy as 
“The Children’s 
Revisions by the 
to Child Education in 
with Additions and 
Applied 
Houses,” 
