July i i, 1907] 



NA TURE 



26: 



on enzyme aeCion carried out at the Central Technical 

 College are discussed with reference to the general problem 

 of chemical interchange in solution. It is argued that not 

 only is the ionic dissociation hypothesis irrational and 

 unsupported by chemical evidence which compels its 

 acceptance but that proof is not wanting that it is un- 

 tenable ; that the selective action of enzymes as hydrolysts, 

 the action of salts and other dehydrants in promoting 

 hydrolysis by acids and the similar behaviour of non- 

 electrolytes and electrolytes in precipitating substances from 

 solution are all cases of change which it is easy to explain 

 on the assumption that association takes place, although 

 incompatible with the view that dissolution involves separ- 

 ation into free ions. The importance of the part played 

 by hydrates in solution is considered and the evidence 

 bearing on their composition is analysed — especially that 

 to be derived from the change in the solubility of gases 

 produced by salts, &c. It is contended that the values 

 deduced by the cane-sugar hydrolysis method are rational 

 values. Finally, reference is made to the nature of electro- 

 lytes and it is argued that it is incumbent on physicists 

 to reconsider the arguments which lead them to accept 

 the hypothesis of ionic dissociation, in order that they may 

 substitute some more suitable hypothesis. 



Royal Microscopical Society, June 19. —Lord Avebury. 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — A slide of cow's hair 

 presented by J. E. Lord. The hair, which showed a 

 wool-like structure, was taken from the flank of the cow. 

 Hair of this description is used in the manufacture of 

 felt for exportation to a foreign port, where, owing to the 

 prohibitive tariff, it has to be free from wool. The felt 

 was refused admittance, except on a higher scale of tariff, 

 on the ground that it contained wool. This led to an 

 examination of the constituents of the felt, and the wool 

 was traced to the cow. Hair is found on many goats, 

 the llama, and the camel, which is commercially known 

 as wool. — Slides of fluid crystals : Dr. Hebb. An inter- 

 mediate physical state exists between the solid and liquid 

 forms of matter, i.e. some substances present themselves 

 as liquids whilst retaining certain characteristics of their 

 solid state. This intermediate state has been found to 

 occur in animal tissues, and it is to Adami and Aschoff 

 that we owe the demonstration of potential fluid crystals 

 in certain organs, e.g. the adrenal gland. The slides ex- 

 hibited were sections cut from the fresh tissue of the 

 adrenal gland. In one illuminated by ordinary light the 

 sphero-crystals were indistinguishable from common fat 

 globules, but in one illuminated by polarised light they 

 evidently possessed the power of double refraction, and 

 exhibited a well-marked black cross. — A slide of a group 

 of six specimens of Stephanoceros, mounted : Mr. 

 Rousselet. — Eye-pieces for the microscope : E. M. 

 Nelson. The paper had reference to a new eye-piece 

 calculated by Mr. Nelson and described by him in his 

 presidential address in igoo. The author said that in his 

 own work these eye-pieces have quite superseded those of 

 the compensation form. There is no reason why they 

 should not be produced at a price only slightly in excess 

 of that of the ordinary Huyghenian, as they are composed 

 of only two biconvex lenses. In these eye-pieces the re- 

 fractions are equally divided between the two lenses, and 

 the equation for achromatism given by Coddington and 

 others is also satisfied. — The life-history of the tiger beetle : 

 F. Enock. 



Royal Meteorological Society, June 19. — Dr. H. R. 

 Mill, president, in the chair. — Weather and crops, 1891- 

 1906 : F. C. Bayard. An analysis was given of the 

 agricultural and horticultural tables which are included in 

 the annual phenological reports. The author had sorted 

 out the various crops into " good," " average," or " bad 

 for each district, and against each he had placed the 

 temperature, rain, and sunshine for the four seasons, and 

 whether these statistics were above or below the average. 

 Tables were given showing the general results with regard 

 to wheat, barley, oats, beans, peas, potatoes, turnips, 

 mangolds, hay, clover, apples, pears, plums, raspberries, 

 currants, gooseberries, and strawberries. — The relation of 

 the rainfall to the depth of water in a well : Dr. C. P. 

 Hooker. The .luthor gave the weekly measurements of 

 the depth of water in a v^ell 101 feet deep at Further 



NO. 1967, VOL. 76] 



Barton, Cirencester, compared with the weekly rainfall 

 for the years 1903-6. The results included the remark- 

 ably wet year 1903, and the droughty summer and autumn 

 1906. — The " step " anemometer, an instrument designed 

 to obviate the " sheltering " error of the Robinson's cups : 

 VV. Child. 



Royal Anthropological Institute, June 25. — Mr. F. W. 



Rudler, e.x-president, in the chair. — A series of lantern- 

 slides illustrating aboriginal rock paintings discovered by 

 him in Western Australia : F. S. Brockman. The 

 subjects depicted consist of human figures, animals, and 

 hands, the former being the more interesting. The 

 figures, which are dressed in a long jacket and trousers, 

 are very crudely drawn and painted in red, black and 

 white pigment. A peculiar feature is that the mouth is 

 not shown. There is some difiiculty in determining whom 

 the figures represent, but it is clear that they are not 

 Australians, and it seems most probable that a party of 

 shipwrecked Europeans served as the original model. — A 

 collection of so-called Kanaka skulls from the south of 

 New Caledonia : Dr. David Waterston. The skulls were 

 very varied in type, but some showed distinct Polynesian 

 and others Melanesian features, while one was of 

 .•Vustraloid and another of negroid character. — Instruments 

 employed to obtain contour tracings of the different aspects 

 of the skull ; Prof. Cunningham. The instruments in- 

 cluded Broca's original stereograph, Lissauer's instrument, 

 Rudolf Martin's Kubuskraniophor, and an American 

 periglyph. 



Challenger Society, Time 26. — Sir John Murray in the 

 chair. — Dr. Caiman exhibited and made remarks on some 

 plates of tropical Cumacea, followed by a discussion on 

 the comparative rates of growth of the fauna in warm and 

 cold seas. — The secretary reported on the commence- 

 ment of the society's " Bibliography of Marine Zoology, 

 1S46-1900," of which Mr. L. A. Borradaile has been 

 appointed editor ; the bibliography will enable a worker 

 to find readily the faunistic papers on any area or of any 

 group in which he is interested. 



Dublin, . 

 Royal Dublin Society, May 21. — Prof. S. Young, 

 F.R.S., in the chair. — Some devices for facilitating the 

 study of spectra : Prof. W. N. Hartley. The author 

 described the infusible materials used as supports instead 

 of platinum in high-temperature flames, such as carbor- 

 undum points and quartz fibres. For solutions, quartz 

 tubes with a capillary orifice were used. The use of the 

 Mecke burner was shown both with and without the air- 

 blast. For the production of chloride spectra, an arrange- 

 ment was shown by which a bye-pass carried a portion 

 of the gas supply through a bottle containing sponge 

 saturated with chloroform. The Mecke blast burner was 

 shown with the blast produced by a water-blower ; the 

 pressure should be 2 kilos, per sq. cm. Photographs were 

 shown of spectra of lime and calcium chloride taken with 

 two hours' exposure. — Note on the spectra of calcium and 

 magnesium : Prof. W. N. Hartley. In photographing the 

 spark spectrum of metallic calcium in an atmosphere of 

 hydrogen, and also in a vacuum, without a jar in circuit, 

 it was found always very difficult to obtain precisely the 

 same spectrum with the same exposure. The principal 

 features were the bands in the red, orange, and green, 

 with the line A 4226 ; also in one instance there appeared 

 the lines at 3968-6 and 3933-8, but these were very feeble. 

 At pressures less than 5 mm. there was no distinct 

 passage of the spark between the electrodes. They glowed 

 with a violet light ; bright stationary spots of white light 

 were seen on the negative electrode, and a great number 

 of scintillations, less bright on the positive electrode, not 

 in one spot, but all over it. .'\t intervals there was a 

 small flame of red light lasting a few seconds, evidently 

 due to the calcium, which apparently passed from the 

 positive electrode ; but this ceased after a few seconds. 

 Similar observations were made on magnesium electrodes 

 under the same conditions. The phenomena are believed 

 to be connected with discharge of negative electricity from 

 hot calcium and from lime, described by Dr. F. Horton 

 at the meeting of the Royal Society on January 31. — The 

 free gases contained in monazite : R. J. Moss. The gas 



