512 



NATURE 



[September 12, 1907 



of gravity on the deposit of induced radio-activity : Mme. 

 Curie. Metallic plates were submitted to the action of 

 a fixed amount of emanation for a fixed time, and the 

 induced radio-activity measured. The results obtained 

 were as if the induced radio-activity suspended in the gas 

 surrounding the plates behaved as solid particles, possess- 

 ing weight, and falling through the gas. The activity 

 of plates turned towards the top of the vessel was always 

 greater (two to five times) than that of those turned towards 

 the bottom or hanging vertically. The presence of a gas 

 was found to be indispensable to this phenomenon, the 

 effects not being observed when the pressure was reduced 

 below 2 cm. of mercury. The presence of water vapour was 

 also a necessary condition. — The radio-activity of uranyl 

 molybdate : B. Skilard. In a recent note M. Lancien 

 stated that he had prepared a uranyl molybdate the activity 

 of which was much higher than that of the original uranyl 

 nitrate. In all previous researches on the subject the 

 activity of uranium preparations has always been found pro- 

 portional to the amount of uranium present in the salt, and 

 less than that of pure uranium. The author has therefore 

 repeated the experiment of M. Lancien, preparing the 

 molybdate in the same manner, but with opposite results. 

 The activity found was about 03 that of metallic uranium, 

 a normal figure for the amount of uranium present in the 

 salt. — The effect of metallic wire screens on the secondary 

 radiation of induced radio-activity : Ed. Sarasin and Th. 

 Tommasina. — Cyperus tiibcrosiis in the auriferous strata 

 of Madagascar : H. Jumelle and H. Perrier de la Bathie. 

 — Intra-organic oxidation and the electric charge of leuco- 

 cytes as important agents of immunisation : .Alexandre 

 de Poehl. — The relation which exists between the dis- 

 tribution of petroleum-bearing regions and the distribution 

 of seismic zones : L. C. Tassart. A comparison of the 

 seismic maps of M. de Montessus de Ballore and the map 

 of the petroleum-bearing regions of B. Redwood shows 

 that all the petroleum deposits which are found in 

 relatively recent strata are situated in the maximum 

 seismic zones or in their immediate vicinity. In these 

 seismic zones there may be petroleum deposits in relatively 

 ancient strata, but this is exceptional. Petroleum deposits 

 which are found outside the seismic zones are situated in 

 ancient strata, and in regions which at some time or other 

 have been the seat of important seismic disturbances. 



New South Wales. 

 Royal Society, June 5. — Mr. H. Deane, president, in 

 the chair. — Some peculiarities in our coastal winds and 

 their influence upon the abundance of fish in inshore 

 waters : H. C. Dannevig^, Careful comparison between 

 the catches of fish in certain coastal waters and the 

 number of men emploved has shown that the average 

 catch per man in each locality is greater in some years 

 than others. Also it is apparent that this fluctuation in 

 abundance of fish is uniform all along the coast ; thus in 

 1898 there was a general scarcity of fish ; each man then 

 captured less than during previous and succeeding years. 

 This was followed by a gradual increase until iqoi, when 

 a climax was reached ; a gradual decrease in the catches 

 followed, until in JQ05, when the results were as poor 

 as in 1898. Last year shows a tendency to improvement. 

 These periodic increases and decreases in the abundance 

 of fish all along the coast at the same time are not trace- 

 able to the action of the fishermen, but can alone be due 

 to certain climatic changes. A careful examination of the 

 wind records from this coast for the last twenty-four 

 years has furnished important evidence in explanation ; 

 it is this : by measuring the winds' influence by the 

 number of inches they blow from each point during a 

 twelvemonth, it is found that almost every year the atmo- 

 sphere is on this coast pushed iwrtlm'ards to the extent 

 of many thousands of miles, and not in the opposite direc- 

 tion as usually thought. But this northerly movement — 

 or the yearly dominating wind — as the resultant may be 

 called, does not invariably follow the same direction ; it 

 has an easterly or westerly tendency or direction from 

 the normal in different years. This difference in the 

 direction of the yearly wind-force has a corresponding 

 influence upon the coastal current ; the latter flows 

 normally along the coast in a southerly direction, and is 

 pushed on to the land or away from it according to 



NO. 1996, VOL. 76] 



circumstances. The current carries the bulk of our float- 

 ing fish eggs, and these, therefore, are some years kept 

 close inshore and at other times carried out to sea, in 

 which case they are lost to us. Year after year there 

 are good hatching seasons and bad ones, and in a number 

 of years afterwards there ought to be correspondingly 

 plenty of fish or scarcity. This is the case : most of our 

 market supplies consist of four years old fish — the average 

 of maturity — and by comparing the periodic deviations of 

 the winds on to the coast and away from it with the 

 richness of the catch of fish per man four years after- 

 wards, a very striking correspondence is found. This 

 comparison has been made over a period of ten years, 

 and in no case is there any important discord, so it would 

 seem that a very interesting and also important answer 

 has been found to the otherwise inexplicable fluctuation 

 in abundance of fish. It follows that as this year's winds 

 control the abundance of fish four years hence, it may be 

 possible some day to make a fairly accurate forecast as 

 to what the next succeeding years will bring. 



July 3. — Prof. Liversidge, F.R.S., in the chair. — Note 

 on action of nitric acid in neutralising alkaline soil : 

 R. S. Symmonds. Culture-pots were filled with alkaline 

 soil and treated with various proportions of nitric acid. 

 .Seeds of wheat were sown in these and in pots containing 

 untreated soil. Photographs of the plants were taken, 

 and show an enormously increased growth, due to the 

 neutralisation of the sodium carbonate and its conversion 

 into sodium nitrate. A further series of experiments is 

 being carried out on a large scale, which will form the 

 subject of a future communication. The author discusses 

 the possibility of the manufacture of the required nitric 

 acid on the spot from the atmosphere by utilising the 

 power derivable from the pressure given in the outflow 

 from the artesian bores. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Physical Life of Birds 489 



Animal Mechanics 489 



Gas Analysis 490 



Motor Engineering 491 



The Family and the Future. By E. H. J. S 491 



Our Book Shelf:— 



■ Thiene : " Temperatur und Zustand des Erdinnern. 

 Eine Zusammenstellung und krit'sche Beleuchtung 



aller Hypothesen " 492 



Gardner: " The Garden Anthology " ; Swale: "The 



Voice of the Sea " ; Benson : " The Wayfarer " . 492 

 Wilk^ : " The Relation of Man to the Animal 



World."— R. L 492 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Reenault's Experiments on the Joule-Thomson 



Effect.— Edgar Buckingham . " 493 



Genetics.— R. C. Punnett ; The Reviewer . . . 493 



Archxological Discoveries in Egypt. {Illustrated.') 494 



Science and Government. By A. T. S 497 



Notes 499 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



September Meteors S°3 



Daniel's Comet, 1907^ 503 



Comet 1881 V 503 



The Paris Observatory S°3 



The late Prof. S. P. Langley .... 503 



The Distribution and Control of Standard Time . . . 503 



Geography at the British Association 503 



Education at the British Association. By H. R. . 505 



Local Societies at the British Association .... 507 



Health and Education . 508 



The Institution of Mining Engineers 508 



Meteorological Observations 5°9 



Russian Scientific Works 5°9 



University and Educational Intelligence 510 



Societies and Academies 5" 



