November 25, 1922' 



NATURE 



72. 



about 85 per cent, of the total morphine is in the 

 lower layer ; 2 such extractions remove more than 

 99 per cent. The alcohol retards or prevents the 

 crystallisation of the base from the upper layer, and 

 ensures a rapid separation. — R. L. Morris : Further 

 notes on the estimation of potassium : by perchlorate 

 and cobaltinitrite methods. A modification for the 

 direct estimation of potash in the presence of phos- 

 phates of calcium, magnesium, iron, etc., is described. 

 Sulphates should be removed by precipitation with 

 barium chloride. Drushel's modification of the 

 cobaltinitrite-permanganate process gives trustworthy 

 results. Half - saturated sodium chloride solution 

 should be used for the final washing of the pre- 

 cipitate. 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, November 6. — Prof. F. O. Bower, 

 president, in the chair. — J. H. Ashworth : On Rhino- 

 sporidium seeberi, with special reference to its sporula- 

 tion and affinities. Rhinos poridium seeberi is para- 

 sitic in the connective tissue of the nasal septum of 

 man, and causes proliferation resulting in the produc- 

 tion of polypoid growths, a case of which has been 

 under observation for four and a half years. The 

 trophic stages of Rhinosporidium may be intracellular, 

 but the great majority lie between the connective 

 tissue cells. As growth proceeds, granules of protein 

 and fat-globules appear in the cvtoplasm and increase 

 in number and in size. When the organism ap- 

 proaches o-i mm. in diameter the nucleus divides by 

 mitosis. There are four chromosomes. Other nuclear 

 divisions follow ; the nuclei (with few exceptions) 

 divide synchronously. About the time 128 nuclei are 

 present the cell-wall, hitherto chitinoid, becomes much 

 thickened, except at one point, by deposition of 

 cellulose on its inner surface. The nuclear divisions 

 continue, and, after the twelfth, cleavage of the 

 cytoplasm takes place and rounded cells are formed, 

 which undergo two further divisions to form the 

 spores (about 16,000). Usually a proportion of these 

 are arrested in development, but the remainder en- 

 large, and in each, ten to sixteen refringent spherules 

 of protein are formed in vacuoles in the cytoplasm. 

 By this time the sporangium has reached a diameter 

 of 0-25 to 0-3 mm.; its wall has become stretched, 

 and at the point where cellulose was not deposited 

 the wall eventually gives way, and the spores are 

 launched into the tissues or escape through the 

 ruptured surface of the polypus to the exterior. The 

 spores which become lodged in favourable positions 

 in the connective tissue grow, become sporangia, and 

 produce a fresh crop of spores. Hitherto the nature 

 of the spore has been misunderstood — the refringent 

 spherules have been mistaken for spores. In view 

 of the character of the nuclear divisions and the 

 cellulose envelope of the sporangium, Rhinosporidium 

 is regarded, not as a Sporozoon belonging to the 

 Haplosporidia, but as belonging to the lower fungi 

 (Phycomycetes) and in or near the Chytridineas. — 

 J. Stephenson : On some Scottish Oligocha^ta, with 

 a note on encystment in a common freshwater 

 oligochaite, Lumbriculiis variegatus (Mull.). Descrip- 

 tions of certain new and comparatively little known 

 species of Microdrili are given ; the limits of vari- 

 ability in certain organs and systems of the En- 

 chytraidse are discussed, particularly with reference to 

 Lumbricillus lineatus (Mull.) ; and an account is given 

 of the encystment of Lumbriculus variegatus (Mull.), 

 a hitherto - unrecorded occurrence, on the margin 

 of a Scottish loch in the dry summer of 1921. — 

 Elsie I. MacGill : On the life-history of Aphidius 

 . (Hal.), a braconid parasitic on the Nettle aphis 

 [Macrosiphum urtica). 



NO. 2769, VOL. I IO] 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, October 30. — M. Albin Haller 

 in tin- chair. — M. d'Ocagne : The plane representation 

 of space. — M. de Seguier : The divisors of certain 

 linear Galoisian groups. — C. Camichel : The turbulent 

 regime. An account of some experiments on the 

 turbulent flow of water in tubes. — M. Maggini : The 

 role of anomalous dispersion in the spectra of stars. 

 Displacements of lines in the spectrum of a star may 

 be due to pressure, radial velocity (the Doppler 

 effect), anomalous dispersion, or a difference in the 

 potential of gravitation. Displacements have usually 

 been attributed to the Doppler effect, but it is shown 

 that certain cases are more probably due to anomalous 

 dispersion. — R. Goudey : An annual periodic varia- 

 tion of the rate of a pendulum. — M. Giacobini : 

 Observations of the Baade comet, made at the Paris 

 Observatory. Positions of the comet and comparison 

 stars given for October 23, 24, and 25. The comet is 

 small, about 10" in extent, and with a nucleus of about 

 magnitude 12. — P. Chofardet : Observations of the 

 Baade comet (1922c) made with the coude equatorial 

 of the Observatory of Besancon. Two positions are 

 given for October 24. — A. Schaumasse : Observations 

 of the Baade comet, made with the coude equatorial 

 of Nice Observatory. Positions of the comet are 

 given for October 23, 26, 27. It was of 10-5 magni- 

 tude, with a nebulosity i''5 in diameter, and present- 

 ing an elongation in the direction opposed to the sun. 

 — M. Poivilliers : A new " stereo-autograph." A 

 description of a modified stereoscope which permits 

 of the preparation by mechanical means of a plan 

 showing contour lines or vertical sections from two 

 photographs. The scale may be varied at will and 

 the apparatus is suitable for railway surveys. — I.ouis 

 de Broglie and A. Dauvillier : Analogies of structure 

 between the optical series and Rontgen series of 

 lines. From the point of view of Bohr's theory, 

 the analogy of structure between the optical series 

 and Rontgen series is explained by the fact that 

 the internal levels, K, L, M, etc., respectively are 

 characterised by the same total number of quanta 

 as the first virtual exterior levels at the last electronic 

 layer. These last levels are responsible for the 

 optical series. — A. Sellerio : The axial effects of the 

 magnetic field, analogous with those of Righi-Leduc 

 and Ettingshausen. — Carl Benedicks : A study of the 

 deformability of the photographic layer. It has been 

 proved by astronomers that no sensible deformation 

 of the photographic film takes place in ordinary 

 star photography, but it is possible that the more 

 intense light of the solar corona might produce a 

 deformation and this would seriously affect such 

 delicate measurements as the deviation of light 

 passing through the field of gravity of the sun. 

 The experiments described, designed to measure such 

 a deformation, gave negative results, but the desir- 

 ability of repeating the work with apparatus capable 

 of giving higher precision is pointed out. — J. A. 

 Muller : The degree of molecular polymerisation of 

 substances at the critical state. — Rene Dubrisay : 

 The action of boric acid on mannite in alkaline 

 solution. To solutions containing equivalent pro- 

 portions of boric acid and soda, increasing proportions 

 of mannite were added and measurement made of 

 the temperature of miscibility with phenol, the 

 rotatory power, and the surface tension. No definite 

 conclusions can be drawn from the experimental 

 results. There always remains some soda uncom- 

 bined, and there would appear to be at least two 

 distinct compounds with mannite in the solutions. — 

 M. Bonnier : The estimation of alkaline carbonates 

 in presence of phenolphthalein. A statement of the 



