I20 



NA TURE 



|_Mav 30. 1907 



in the condenser-spark, in the ordinary spark discharge 

 without condenser, in the electric arc, and in very hot 

 flames. -^Application of Trouton's law to the determination 

 of molecular rise of boiling point of solutions : D. E. 

 Tsakalotos. — Explosive mixtures of air and ether : J. 

 ''M«unier. The lower limit of inflammability is about 

 S8 to 60 milligrams of ether per litre of air, and the 

 ■upper limit is about 200 milligrams. From 100 to 175 

 milligrams per litre it is more or less explosive. — The 

 removal of water from alcohol by the catalytic action of 

 ■red phosphorus and the phosphates : J. B. Senderens. 

 — ^The action of magnesium amalgam on the aldehydes : 

 Andr^ Kling and Paul Roy. Certain compounds such 

 as polymerised formaldehyde (trioxymethylene) and chloral 

 do not react, but others, e.g. acetic and benzoic aldehydes, 

 react readily. — The double compounds of aluminium 

 sulphide with the protosulphides of chromium, nickel, 

 cobalt, and magnesium : Marcel Houdard. Al,S,MnS, 

 AljSjFeS, and AUSjCrS were isolated and analysed. They 

 are considered to be similar to spinels in crystalline form 

 and structure. — The dissociation of silicates of lithium : 

 Edgard Derome. — Study of the calcium salt of paraoxv- 

 benzoic acid : CEchsner de Coninck. — The products 

 formed by the condensation of ethyl oxalate with dimethyl- 

 aniline in presence of aluminium chloride : A. Guyot. — 

 .'Synthesis of ketones of the hexahydroaromatic series : G. 

 Darzens {c/. Comptes rcndus, vol. cxlii., p. 714). — 

 Metallic thiosulphocarbamates : preparation of sulpho- 

 carbiinides of the fatty series : Marcel Delepine. — The 

 respiration of the vegetative aerial organs of vascular 

 plants : G. Nicolas. The author summarises his results 

 as follows : — (i) the different aerial organs of vascular 

 plants have each their own intensity and special re- 

 spiratory quotient ; (2) the stalk and the petiole have 

 generally intensities and respiratory quotients similar to 

 each other ; (3) of all aerial organs, those which are 

 essentially charged with the assimilatory function are 

 those which have the greatest respiratory intensity and 

 the lowest respiratory quotient. — Properties of the pig- 

 ments of batrachians : A. Magnan. The properties, in- 

 cluding solubility, of green, yellow, brownish-yellow, red, 

 and black pigments are described. — The reaction of the 

 tissue of the iris to light: A. Nepveu. The iris is irritable 

 to light in cephalopods, fish, and birds, but not in 

 mammals. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES 



THURSDA V. May 30. 

 Royal Society, at 4.3D.-The Solubility of Air in 1 



to Caisson Disease: Dr. H. M. Vernon.— Mitosis ^ ^^, 



thelium : Dr. J. O. Wakelin Barratt.— .\n E.\perimental Inquiry into th 



1 and Armour : 



\, and its Relation 



Proliferating Epi 



nn Darrait. — i\Ti tL.vperimenls' ■ ■ ■ 



Nature of the Substance* in Serum which Influ. „„,...... „. ,. 



Dean.— The Correlation of Ovarian anH Uterine Functions : E. S. Car- 

 michael and Dr. F. H. A. Marshall.— Report of Private E.\pedition to 

 Philippeville, Algeria, to view the Total Solar Eclipse, August 50, lOos • 

 Dr. T. C. Porter and W. P. Colfo.x. ^ < V ^■ 



Royal InsTtTUTioN, at 3.— Chemical Progress— Work of Berthelot, 



Mendeliefr, and Moissan : Sir James Dewar, F.R.S 

 SoctETY OF Arts, at 4.3o.-Irrigation Colonies in India: Laurence 

 Robertson. 



FR/DAy,Mf.Vii. 

 Royal Institution, at 9.— Recent Journey Across Africa: A. Henry 

 Savage Landor. 



SATURD.4y, June »- 

 Royal Institution, at 3.— The Contest betwe 

 William H.White, K.C.B., F.R.S. 



MONDAY. June 3. 

 Society of Chemical Industry, at 8.— The Nature of. and Changes in 

 volved in the Production and Setting of Plaster of Paris : W. A. Davis - 

 The Analysis of White Lead : W. A. Davis and C. A. Klein.— A Caloii 

 meter for Volatile Liquid Fuels, specially adapted for Petrol ■ W. Hansel 

 Rawles.— Influence of Temperature of Dyeing on Resolution : W. P 

 nreaper and A. Wilson.— The Loss of Nitre in the Chamber Process 

 Part 111. : J. K. H. Inglis. 

 Institute of Actuaries, at 5.— Annual General Meeting. 



TUESDAY, June 4. 

 Royal Institution, at 3.— Malaria, Sleeping Sickne 

 Allied Diseases: Prof. G. F. Nuttall, F.R.S. 



WEDNESDAY, June 5.. 

 Entomological Society, at 8.— Bionomic Notes on 

 Insects: Dr. G. B. Longstaffand Dr. F. A. Dixey. 



-Brachiopod Morphology; Cincta, Eudesia, 



, Tick Fev 



South African 



Faun 



Geological Society, at 



and the Development of Ribs : S- S. Buckman.— A Ma.. 

 Basement-beds of the Bristol Coalfield : Herbert Bolton. 



Society OF Public An.\lysts, at 8.-Note on Horse Fat and " Animal- 

 Oil . H. Dunlop.— .\ Method for Determining Caustic Lime in Ferti- 

 hsers : J, Hendrick.— The Rapid Estimation of Total Solids in Milk ' 

 V; 1 t!l'•''•~''l^^, Reducing Action of Hydrogen, iii.. The Reduction of 

 Molybdic and Vanadic Acids : A. C. Chapman and H. D. Law. 



NO. iq6i, vol 76I 



THURSDAY, ivti'Ef,. 

 Royal Society, at 4.30.— /'>o/'a/>/c Papers : On the Two Modes of Coi. 

 densalion of Water Vapour on Gl.xss Surfaces,and their Analogy with Jam. s 

 Thomson's Curve of Transition from G.-iS to Liquid : Prof. !■. T. Troutoii, 

 F.R.S— The Mechanical Effect of Canal Rays: A. A. Campbell 

 Swinlon.— The Distribution of the Blue and Violet Light in ibe Corona 

 on August 30, 1905, as derived from Photographs taken at Kalaa-e^- 

 Senam, Tunis: Prof. L. Becker.— On ihe Velocity of Rotation of the 

 Electric Discharge in Gases at Low Pressures in a Radial Magnetic 

 Field: Prof. H. A.Wilson, F.R.S., and G. H. Marlyn.— The Osmotic 

 Pressure of Compressible Solutions of any Degree of Concentration : 

 A. W. Porter. 



Linnean Society, at 8.— Contributions to our Knowledge of the New 

 Zealand Holothurians : Prof. A. Dendy and E. H indie. — Observations on 

 Australasian PolycLids ; Prof. W. A. Haswell.— Report on the Marine 

 Fishes collecltd by Mr. J. Stanley Gardiner in the Indian Ocean: C. 

 Tate Regan. — The Liihoihamnia of the Sealark Expedition ; M. Foslie. 

 Notes sur les Ixcdida: recueillis dans les lies de I'Oc^an Indien, par 

 M. J. Slanley Gardiner: Prof. L. G. Neumann.— £jA;i5/.'/,v«: Oro- 

 banche Ritro, and some New Varieties of Plants from the Channc 

 Islands : G. Claridge Druce. 



Royal Institution, at 3.— Chemical Progress— Works of Berthelot, 

 Mendeletff, and Moissan : Sir James D.;war, K.R.S. 



Chemical Society, at 8.30. — The Relation between Absorption Spectra 

 and Chemical Constitution, Part vii., Pyridine and some of its Deriva- 

 tives : F. Baker and E. C. C. Baly — The Interaction of Methylei e 

 Chloride and the Sodium Derivative of Ethyl Malonate : F. Tulin.— 

 Molecular Weight ol ^-Naphlhol in Solution in Solid Naphthalene : E. P. 

 Perman and J. H. Davies — Synthesis of Hexatriene Deii%atives, Pre- 

 liminary Notice : I- Smedley. — The Constitution of the Diazo-Com- 

 pounds: J. C. Cain.-/-CresoI Sulphoxide and Sulphide: S. SmiUs 

 and T. P. Hilditch.— /-Dioxyphenylsulphoxide : S. Smiles and A. W. 

 Bain.— Coloured Azo-derivatives of i : 3-Diphenylbarbituric Acid. Dy- 

 namic Isomerism among the Hydiazones of i : 3-DiphenylaIloxan : 

 M. A. Whiteley.- Dibromoaminoazobenzene : J. T. Hewitt and N. 

 Walker. 



FRfDAY, June 7. 



Royal Institution, at o. — Studies in High Vacua and Helium at Lo,, 

 Temperatures: Sir James Dewar, F.R.S. 



Geologists' Association, at 8.— The Chalk of Surrey, Part ii., The 

 Western Area : G. W. Young. 



SATURDAY, June 8. 



Royal Institution, at 3.— The Contest between Guns and Armour : Sir 

 William H. White, K.C. B., F.R.S. 



CONTENTS. PAGf 



Alcoholism 97 



Bernthsen's Organic Chemistry. By J. B. C. . . 98 



Practical Physics. By S. S 99 



Classification of South African Stone Implements. 99 

 Our Book Shelf: — 



Moedebeck ; " Pocket-Book of Aeronautics " .... 100 



" Blackie's Nature-drawing Charts" 100 



Ives and Hilts: " Probleins in Surveying, Railroad 

 Surveying, and Geodesy, with an Appendix on the 

 Adjustments of the Engineer's Transit and Level." 



— W. E. P loi 



Kidd : "The Sense of Touch in Mammals and 

 Birds, with Special Reference to the Papillary 



Ridges." — R. L loi 



WehrU: " Zur Wirtschafts- und Siedlungs-Geographie 



von Ober-Burma und den Nordlichen Shan-Staaten " loi 

 Letters to the Editor: - 



International Investigation of the Upper Air. — 



Charles J. B. Cave 101 



Radium and Geology. — Prof. J. Joly, F.R.S. . . . 102 



Aerial Locomotion, (lllustralcd.) 102 



Malta Fever 104 



International Association of Academies 105 



The Small Planets 105 



Sir Benjamin Baker, K.C. B., F.R.S 106 



Notes 106 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Astronomical Occurrences in June no 



Magnitudes of Mira, December 14, 1906, to February 



16, 1907 no 



The International Eros Campaign 1 11 



Mars n I 



Catalogue of Variable Stars ni 



Abbreviations for the Names of Star Catalogues . . . in 



The Natal Observatory in 



Anniversary Meeting of the Linnean Society ... in 



The Jubilee of the Societe Chimique de France . . in 



Studies from a Northern University 112 



The Flowering Plants of the Mesozoic Age, in the 

 Light of Recent Discoveries. {Illustrated.) By 



Dr. D. H. Scott, F.R.S 113 



University and Educational Intelligence 117 



Societies and Academies 117 



Diary of Societies 120 



1 



