May 2, 1907] 



NA TURE 



23 



Convoltila roscoffcnsis, and discussed the evidence for de- 

 scribing the green cells of the animals as an " infection " 

 by a flagellated vegetal organism. The nature and life- 

 history of this organism vi'ere described, and the signifi- 

 cance of the association of the organism and of the animal 

 Convoluta was discussed. — Bones of the great auli from 

 Funk Island, Newfoundland: F. Nicholson. The bones 

 exhibited were those of the now probably extinct species 

 of bird, the great auk, or gare-fowl, Alca impcnnis of 

 Linnaeus. There were seven bones in this collection, con- 

 sisting of : — one base of skull, one clavicle, one sacral 

 vertebra, two right humeri, two right tibiae. The bones 

 have been presented to the Manchester Museum at the 

 Victoria University. 



March 26. — Mr. Francis Nicholson in the chair. — An 

 apparent case of gaseous absorption caused by the action 

 of a few milligrams of radium bromide on the sides of 

 a glass tube containing the radium : T. Thorp. At first 

 there was an expansion, but later on, as the glass turned 

 purple, a contraction took place to less than the original 

 volume. Further investigations are being made, the results 

 of which will be communicated to the society. — A collec- 

 tion of fishes, batrachians, and reptiles made by Mr. S. A. 

 Neave in Rhodesia, north of the Zambezi, with field notes 

 by the collector : G. A. Boulenger. Thirteen species of 

 fish, one of which [Barilius neavii) was described as new, 

 seven batrachians, and forty-four reptiles were obtained. 

 The localities, dates of capture, and native names of the 

 various forms were given in the paper. — A new 

 class of organo-metallic compounds. Trimethylplatinimethvl 

 hydroxide and its salts : W. J. Pope and S. J. Peachey. 

 No alkyl compounds of metals belonging to groups i and S 

 of the periodic table have hitherto been described. The 

 authors find that the chlorides, or in some cases the 

 oxides, of iron, cobalt, nickel, ruthenium, rhodium, 

 palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum, belonging to 

 group 8, and of gold, belonging to group i, re.act vigorously 

 with magnesium methyl iodide. Trimethylplatinimethvl 

 iodide, (CH,),Pt.I, is formed by the action of platinic 

 chloride dissolved in ether upon magnesium methyl iodide 

 in ethereal benzene solution ; after treating with water and 

 extracting with benzene, the benzene solution yields the 

 new compound on evaporation. On boiling for several 

 hours with silver hydroxide in a moist mixture of benzene 

 and acetone, it is converted into trimethylplatinimethyl 

 hydroxide, fCH,),Pt.OH. Trimethylplatinimethyl nitrate, 

 (CII,),,Pt.Ne,, obtained by dissolving the hydroxide in 

 nitric acid, crystallises in colourless plates, and is freely 

 soluble In water. On adding an alkali chloride to its 

 aqueous solution, trimethylplatinimethyl chloride, 



(CH3),Pt.CI, 

 is precipitated. This salt crystallises from chloroform in 

 colourless rhombic dodecahedra belonging to the cubic 

 system. In a similar manner a number of other salts 

 have been prepared, including the bromide and the cyanide ; 

 the latter is hydrolysed on heating with caustic potash 

 with evolution of ammonia. 



.^pril 9. — Mr. Arthur McDougall in the chair. — Further 

 notes on the adventitious l^ora of the sandhills of St. 

 Anncs-on-the-Sea : C. Bailey. The author summarised 

 his observations on the alien plants which had appeared 

 during his five years' residence at St. Anncs-on-the-Sea. 

 The number of these aliens was quite worthy of a large 

 ballast-discharging port ; altogether between forty and fifty 

 species have occurred, as represented by herbarium 

 examples exhibited at the meeting. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, April 22. — M. A Chauveau in 

 the chair. — Primitive tuberculosis of the lungs and 

 bronchial and mediastinal ganglia communicated to young 

 cattle by the ingestion of tuberculous virus of human 

 origin : A. Chauveau. Tubercle of the lungs can arise 

 directly from the ingestion of human tubercle virus by 

 the digestive organs, and this is not necessarily accom- 

 panied by tuberculous lesions of the intestines, although 

 such may sometimes be the case. — The earthquakes of 

 ."^pril 15, 18, and 19, 1907, recorded at Paris : G. 

 Bierourdan. The records of April 15 indicate that the 



NO. 1957, VOL 76] 



epicentre was at a distance of 8500 kilometres to 9000 

 kilometres, about the distance from Paris to Mexico. It 

 IS known that there was a disastrous earthquake in 

 Mexico on this day.— The direct hvdrogenation of the 

 isocyanic esters : Paul Sabatier and A. Mailhe. The 

 vapours of ethyl isocyanate, carried off in a current of 

 hydrogen in excess, were passed over a column of reduced 

 nickel maintained at 180° C. to 190° C. The gases issuing 

 from the apparatus contained a little ammonia and 

 carbonic acid, but neither methane nor carbon mon- 

 oxide. The chief product of the reduction was methvl- 

 ethylamine, small quantities of cthylamine, diethvlamine 

 and triethylamine being also present. With phenyl iso- 

 cyanate a little aniline was obtained, but the main product 

 was diphenylurea.— Concerning the spectroheliograph : G. 

 Millochau. On a question of priority as to the u'le of a 

 second slit by M. Deslandres.— Differential equations of 

 the second order and first degree the general integral of 

 which has fixed critical points : B. Gambier.— Equations 

 with reciprocal integrals : C. Popovici.— The theorem of 

 Nernst and liquid chains with identical extremities: J. 

 CSuyot. An extension of the work of Negbauer and 

 Nernst on solutions of binary electrolytes "formed of 

 univalent ions to solutions of electrolytes of polyvalent 

 ions. The experimental results are compared with the 

 figures calculated by Planck's method.— Positive light and 

 Melde's experiment: P. Villard — The phosphorescence of 

 the rare earths: J. de Kowalski and C. Gamier. To 

 the nitrate of calcium or strontium is added a weak solu- 

 tion of the nitrate of the rare earth (praseodvmium, 

 neodymium, erbium, or samarium), the whole precipitated 

 as carbonate, and the latter heated to a red heat with 

 sulphur. The proportions of rare earth giving a maxi- 

 mum phosphorescence were determined in each case. — The 

 phosphorescence of manganiferous calcium compounds : L. 

 Bruning^haus. — The triboluminesccnce of substances con- 

 taining zinc : .Adrien Karl, — Some complementary observ- 

 ations concerning a property of platinum amalgam dis- 

 covered by M. Henri Moissan : Paul Lebeau. The 

 property of platinum amalgam of forming a stable emulsion 

 seems to be peculiar to that metal. Instead of shaking 

 the amalgam with water, the author used a 5 per cent, 

 solution of gelatin, capable of solidifving on cooling. 

 Sections were taken of the solidified mass with the view 

 of studying its microscopical structure. — Remarks on the 

 constitution of the copper alloys: L^on Gulllet. — A new 

 silicide of tungsten, Si,W : Ed. Defacqz. The new 

 silicide is formed by the action of amorphous tungsten 

 upon copper silicide (containing 50 per cent, of silicon) at 

 the temperature of the electric furnace ; the same com- 

 pound is obtained by reducing a mixture of tungstic 

 anhydride and silica with aluminium in the presence of 

 sulphur. — The condensation of sodium derivatives of 

 acyloines of the fatty series with acetic esters : L. 

 Bouveault and Ren^ Locquin. The authors have given 

 the name acyloines to compounds of the type 



R.CH(OH).CO.R. 



— Ethylidene-imine (aldehyde ammonia) and hexaethylidene- 

 tetra-amine : Marcel Delepine. The author has previously 

 given reasons for supposing that aldehvde-ammonia is 

 not CH3.CH(OH).NH,, as usually supposed, but the 

 hydrate of (CH,.CH : NH),. In confirmation of this view 

 the present paper describes the preparation and properties 

 of the trinitroso-derivative. — The detection and estimation 

 of ammonia in monomethylaminc and the more volatile 

 fatty amines : Maurice Francois. By the usual method 

 of a Nessler's reagent of defined composition, two parts 

 of ammonium chloride in 1000 of methylamine hydro- 

 chloride can be detected with certainty. A quantitative 

 method is developed on this basis. — The composition and 

 analysis of wolfram and hiibnerite : Paul Nicolardot. 

 A scheme for the rapid analysis of tungsten minerals, per- 

 mitting of the determination of all the constituents. — The 

 differentiation of the tissues of the stem and frond of 

 Equisetum : C. Queva. — The experimental genesis of vital 

 processes : J. Kunstler. — Some remarks on the food of 

 the sardine : Casimir Cepede. — The functions of the hypo- 

 physis and the pineal gland : M. de Cyon. 



