May 20, 1909] 



NA TURE 



549 



steel piston. The photographs show that the gases are 

 fired at a point, and are not fired instantaneously through- 

 out. — Dr. F. D. Chattaway, P.R.S. : Ammonium per- 

 halides. Although derivatives of ammonia in which 

 hydrogen attached to trivalent nitrogen is replaced by 

 halogen, such as nitrogen chloride, NCI,, and nitrogen 

 iodide, Nl3=NH3, are violently explosive, the ammonium 

 perhalides, which contain complexes of three halogen atoms 

 attached to pentavalent nitrogen, are perfectly stable. 

 They are highly coloured substances, which crystallise well 

 from water, in which they are very soluble. — Mr. Francis 

 Fo.x : Pitchblende, or radium ore, from Trenwith Mine, 

 Cornwall (St. Ives Consolidated Mines, Cornwall). In 

 1843 Prof. Henwood, F.R.S., drew up a report on the 

 Trenwith Mine with reference to its unproductiveness as 

 a copper mine. He reported that the mine contained large 

 quantities of pitchblende, at that time considered to be 

 valueless. Records exist describing the position of the 

 pitchblende in the mine, and vigorous steps are now being 

 taken for clearing the mine of water and working it for 

 pitchblende. The richer specimens contain 33 per cent, 

 of uranium oxide (UjOJ, and from 150 to 200 milligrams 

 of radium per ton of ore. 



The Director, Royal Gardens, Keiv : (i) Experiments 

 with Cyclamen seedlings. Cyclamen seedlings normally 

 have, only one cotyledon ; if this be entirely removed the 

 second cotyledon will develop. If only the lamina be cut 

 off a new lamina will bud out from the side of the leaf- 

 stalk near the apex, and on the removal of this second 

 lamina a third can be induced to grow out from its stalk 

 just below the apex. If the lamina be mutilated, and not 

 wholly removed, new growths will also be formed. 

 (2) Flowers of Sebaea (Gentianacc-E) with two stigmas. 

 The flowers of the genus Seb.ta (Gentianacese) from South 

 .Africa have been found to have two stigmatic surfaces on 

 the same style, one above and one below the position of 

 the anthers. The lower stigma has been fertilised after 

 removal of the normal one, and from the seeds thereby 

 formed seedlings have been raised at Kew. — Prof. 

 ]. Xl'. H. Trail, F.R.S. : Preparations to illustrate the 

 retention of colours, especially of green, in botanical speci- 

 mens exposed to light. The method employed is described 

 in the Kew Bulletin, iqo8. No. 2. — Dr. G. H. Rodman : 

 .\ series of photomicrographic transparencies of pollen 

 cells. — Mr. C. E. C. Fischer : A parasitic fungus on beech 

 iArmillaria mucida, Schrad). — Mr. W. Fawcett : Drawings 

 of Jamaica orchids. — Mr. R. A. Robertson : Photographs 

 for identification purposes of the transverse surface of 

 timbers. 



Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom: 

 The bottom deposits of the southern part of the North Sea. 

 The charts and sections illustrate the great predominance 

 of fine sand in most parts of the area, and the marked 

 contrast between the broad stretches of sand off the Con- 

 tinental shores and the irregular but coarse ground along 

 the English coast. They also show that the finest 

 materials increase towards the north. — Mr. W. Bagshaw : 

 (i) Photomicrograph showing abnormal striation of the 

 diatom, Navicula lyra ; (2) Frustule of diatom, exhibited 

 under the microscope with 1/12 oil-immersion lens. — Dr. 

 H. Gadow, F.R.S., and Mrs. Gadow : Rare specimens of 

 natural history from Mexico. — Mr. L. Doncaster : Case of 

 Abraxas grossulariata (currant moth) illustrating sex- 

 inheritance. — Dr. E. F. Bashford : Recent advances in 

 knowledge of cancer (see Nature, December 31, igo8). — 

 Lieut. -Colonel W . B. Leishman : The transmission of 

 tick fever. This relapsing fever of man, widespread in 

 .'\frica, is due lo the Spirochaeta duttoni, which is inocu- 

 lated by the bite of a tick, the Ornithodorus inoubata. 

 Infected ticks may transmit the virus through the eggs 

 lo the second and even to the third generations, which, 

 in their turn, may infect man by their bites. The 

 mechanism of this hereditary transmission is not certain, 

 but it appears possible that spirochaetes ingested by a tick 

 undergo a change of form, and, in this altered form, pene- 

 trate the young ova and infect the next generation, 

 developing anew into spirocha>te form under certain con- 

 ditions of temperature. — Dr. .4. F. Bilderbeck Gomess : 

 Chevletiis criidittis as an entozoon in man. — Dr. ,4. D. 

 Waller, F.R.S. : Demonstration of the electrical variations 

 NO. 2064, VOL. 80] 



of the human heart and of the dog's heart on Einthoven's 

 string galvanometer. — Mr. S. G. Shattock : A microscopic 

 section of the aorta of King Menephtah, traditionally re- 

 garded as the Pharaoh of the Exodus, showing senile 

 calcification. The mummy was found in 1898 by M. Loret 

 in the tomb of Amenhotep II., at Biban el Muluk, Thebes. 

 It was unwrapped in 1907 by Dr. G. Elliot Smith (act- 

 ing on the instructions of M. Maspero). The mummy 

 was wrapped in a sheet of fine linen, on which the name 

 was written in hieratic characters. The microscopic 

 sections show the presence of calcareous particles in the 

 middle coat of the artery, such as are met with in senile 

 degeneration. 



Mr. H. R. Knipe : Drawings of extinct animals, by Miss 

 Alice B. Woodward. — Dr. A. Smith Woodward, F.R.S. : 

 Ramus of mandible and teeth of a herbivorous dinosaur, 

 Trachodon, from the Upper Cretaceous of Wyoming, 

 U.S.A.— Dr. H. Gadow, F.R.S., and Mrs. Gadow : 

 Ethnological specimens from Mexico. (i) Prehistoric 

 implements from the States of Chihuahua and Michoncan ; 

 (2) throwing sticks, used by the Tarasco Indians of Lake 

 Patzcuaro. — Dr. C. G. Seligmann : Photographs of *he 

 Veddas of Ceylon and of their ceremonial dances. The 

 Veddas are now limited to the sparsely settled country 

 between the central hill massif and the eastern coast. A 

 few still subsist on game, yams, and honey, and live in 

 rock shelters, but the majority build huts and practise a 

 little rude cultivation. Their ceremonial dances are essenti- 

 ally religious, and are performed to obtain the assistance 

 of the spirits of their dead, who are called the Nae Yaku, 

 or of certain long dead Vedda heroes, of whom the most 

 important is the great hunter, Kande Yaka, who is also 

 Lord of the Dead.— Pro/. Karl Pearson, F.R.S., Mr. E. 

 Nettleship, and Mr. C. H. Usher: Illustrative plates to a 

 forthcoming monograph on albinism (Drapers' Company 

 research memoirs). — University of London, Francis Gallon 

 Laboratory for National Eugenics: Pedigree work in man. 

 —Sir Benjamin Stone, M.P. : Photographic studies of 

 Constantinople and neighbourhood. 



NOTES. 

 The annual visitation of the Royal Observatory, Green- 

 wich, will be held on Saturday, June 5. 



Profs. Yves Delage and M. G. Retzius have been 

 elected foreign members of the Linnean Society. 



The Bessemer medal of the Iron and Steel Institute was 

 presented to M. A. Pourcel at the meeting of the institute 

 last week. 



The Wolcott Gibbs memorial lecture of the Chemical 

 Society will be delivered by Prof. F. W. Clarke at the 

 meeting of the society on Thursday, June 3. 



The annual conversazione of the Royal Society of Arts 

 this year will be held at the Natural History Museum, 

 South Kensington, on Tuesday, June 29. 



A Times correspondent at Winnipeg reports that an 

 earthquake shock, lasting from thirty seconds to a minute, 

 was felt there and for 500 miles to the west at 10.17 p.m. 

 on May 16. 



The Royal Scottish Geographical Society has decided to 

 award the Livingstone gold medal of the society for the 

 current year to Lieut. Shackleton, for his work in the 

 Antarctic. 



Dr. G. a. Gibson, 3 Drunisheugh Gardens, Edinburgh, 

 who has undertaken to edit the medical and scientific 

 papers and articles of the late Sir William Tennant 

 Gairdner, and to preface the collection with a biography, 

 will be glad to know of any letters or other literary 

 remains possessed by friends of the late professor. 



