48o 



NA TURE 



[June 17, 1909 



wheat : J. Huerr*. This maltasc acts between 3° C. and 

 70" C, the maximum effect being produced at 55' C. 

 The activity is increased either by a partial neutralisa- 

 tion of the alkalinity or by the addition of amino-acids or 

 acctamide. — Some Tertiary French basalts of the Alpine 

 Vorland : Albert Michel Ltfvy. — The reddening of the 

 branches of Salicornia : II. Colin, The accumulation in 

 the plant cells of a considerable proportion of mineral 

 compounds, such as sodium and magnesium chlorides, does 

 not prevent the production of anthocyanine. — The influence 

 of various nutritive media on the development of the 

 embryos of Piiiiis />«nea : J. Lefftvre. Sugar is the 

 essential food of the embryo ; small quantities of nitro- 

 genous materials, such as peptones, are only accessory 

 foods. — The phytogeographical subdivisions of the Kabylie 

 of Djurdjura : G. Lapie. — Some observations relating to 

 anaphylactic phenomena : P. Delanoe. — The effects of 

 chocolate and colTee on uric acid and the purins : Pierre 

 Fauvel, In a healthy man, on a vegetarian diet, chocolate 

 and cofTce increase the excretion of purins, diminish the 

 excretion of uric acid, and prevent the precipitation of the 

 latter, and this diminution of uric acid is not due to reten- 

 tion in the body. — The problem of kincmatographic vision 

 without vibrations ; C. de Proszynski. The frequency of 

 interposition of the shutter which cuts off the light during 

 the motion of the film is increased from fourteen to fifty- 

 six per second. In this way the painful vibratory sensa- 

 tion is completely suppressed. — The treatment of na?vus by 

 electrolysis and radium combined : Fouveau de Cour- 

 melles. Positive electrolysis with multiple needles followed 

 by the application of radium reduces the necessarv time 

 of treatment to three or four days. — The signification of 

 the Rhabdospora, supposed parasitic Sporozoa in fishes : 

 L. L^srer and O. Duboscq. The conclusion is drawn 

 that this is not a par.nsite, but a normal histological 

 element in fishes, a glandular secretion cell, and hence 

 that I\linhdosl>ora Ihclnhani should be deleted as a species. 

 — The madrepores of the islands of San-Thorn^ and Prince 

 (Gulf of Guinea) ; Ch. Gravier. — Contribution to the 

 experimental analysis of the process of fecundation in the 

 Amphibia : F.. Bataillon. — The skeleton of the trunk and 

 limbs of the fossil man of La Chapellc-aux-Saints : Mar- 

 cellin Boule. The characters of the skeleton show that 

 the fossil distinctly belongs to the human group. It pre- 

 sents, however, a mixture of characters ; some correspond 

 to those found in the lowest type of the existing races, 

 others belong more to the anthropoid apes. — Earth induc- 

 tion currents in the Polar regions : Kr. Birkeland. — The 

 compensation between the types of seasons in certain 

 regions of the earth : H. Hildebrand Hildebrandsson, 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, June 17. 



RovAL Society, at j.30.— On the Origin of Certain Lines in the .Spectrum 

 of ( Oiionis (AlniUim): .Sir Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S., F. E. 

 Baxandall, and C. P. Butler.— On Eleclrost.itic Induction through Solid 

 Insulators: Prof. H. A, Wilson, F.R.S.— The Effect of Pressure on the 

 B.lnd .Spectra of the Fluorides of the Metals of the ..\lkaline Earths : 

 R. Rossi.— The lonisalion produced by an a Particle. Part I. : Or. H. 

 Gciger.— On the Diffuse Reflection of the n P.irticles: Ur. H. GelKer 

 and E. Marsden.— The Decay of Surface Waves prodnccd hy a Super, 

 posed Layer of Viscous Fluid ; W. J. Harrison.— The Passage of 

 Eleclricily through Gaseous Mixtures: E. M. Wellisch.— A Study of the 

 Use of PholOEraphic Plates for the Recording of Position : Dr. C. E. K. 

 Mecs.— The Coefficients of Capacity ard the Mutual .\ttTactions or 

 Repulsions of Two Electrified Spherical Conductors when clo-c together : 

 fir. Alexander Russell.— On the Effect of Previous Magnetic History on 

 Magnetisation.- Prof. E. Wilson, G. F. ODell and H. W. K. 

 Jennings. 



LlUNKAN .Society, at 8— On the Growth of a Species of Batlarea : 

 J G. A. Tepper.— The Deposits in the Indian Ocean : Sir John Murray, 

 K.C.B., F.R.S.— The Sialark Perseidea, Stcnopidea, and Reptanlia : 

 L. A. Borradaile.— The Stalark Polych.T:ta. Part II. : F. A. Potts.— 

 The Stitlark Lepidoplcra: T. Bainbiigge Fletcher,- New Species of 

 Malesi.n and Philippine Ferns : Dr. H. Christ.-The African Species 

 of Triumfetla, Linn: T. A. Spr.igue and J. Hutchinson.— The 

 Acaulesceni Species of Malvaslrum : .X. Gray and A. W. Hill. 



RovAi. GeocbaI'Hical Society, at 5. — Rescirch Department. .Annual 

 Meeting. 



FRIDAY, JuxE 18. 



Royal Institutiom, at 9.— A Recent Visit to the P.in,ima Canal : A.M. 

 Savage Lander, 



MONDAY, JtNE Ji. 



VicTOniA Institite, at 4 —Annual Meeting : Presidential Addi 

 E.nrlof Halshur)', F R.S. 



; by the 



NO. 2068, VOL. 80] 



THURSDAY, June j4- 

 Royal Society, at 4.10. (Meeting at the Royal Astronomical Society).- 

 Pnhahit Papers : The Possible Ancestors of the Horses living under 

 Domestication. Part I., Introductory: Prof. |. C. Ewarl, F.R.S.— The 

 Electrical Ke.icliun of ( 'rrtain Bacteria, and an Application in the Detec- 

 tion nf Tubercle Bacilli in Urine by Means of' an Electric Curr.nt: 

 Charles Russ.— (1) On Pressure Perpendicular 10 the Shear Planes in 

 Finite Pure She.-irs ; .ind on the Lengthening of Loaded Wires when 

 Twiste<r: (3) The Wave Motion of a Revolvini; Shaft, and a Sugcestion 

 as to the Angular Momentum in a Beam of Circularly P' Lirised Light : 

 Prof. J. H. Poynting, F.R.S.— Thermal Conductivity of .Air and other 

 Gases: George W. Todd.— The Effect of the Injection of Inlra-cellul.ir 

 Constituents of Bacteria (Bacterial Endotoxins) on ihe Opsonising Action 

 of the Serum of He.ilthy Rabbits : R. T. Hewlet-.- On the Occurrence of 

 Protandric Hermaphrod ilism in CrefMula/omicala : J. H. Orion —The 

 Alcoholic Ferment of (Vea,et-juice. Pan iV., 'Ihe Fermentation of 

 Glucose, M.innose,'an & Fruclose-by Veast-juice : Dr. A. Harden, F.R.S., 

 and W. J. Young.— St udiesofihc Processes Operative in Solution. XL. 

 The Displacement of Sails from Solution by Various PrecipilanLs : Prof. 

 H. E. Armstrong, F.R.S., and Dr. J. V. Eyre.— And other Papers. 



FRIDAY, June 25. 



Physical Society, at 5.— A Transition Point in Zinc Amalgam : Prof. 

 Carhart. — A Method of Producing an Intense Cadmium Spectrum, wiiha 

 Proposal for the Use of Mercury and Cadmium as Standards in 

 Refractometry : Dr. T. M. Lowry.— On the Measurement of Wave- 

 length for High Frciiuercy Electrical Oscillations: A. Campbell.— 

 An Klectro-magncti<- Method of Studying the '1 hcory of and Solving 

 Algebraical K<|uations of any Degree : Dr. A. Russell and J. N. .\lly.— 

 The Sine Condition in Relation to the Coma of Optical Systems: S. D. 

 Chalmers.— Exhibition of a new Feiy Thermo-electric Calorimeter: 

 C. V. Drysdale,— An Instiumcnt for Mea.suring the Strenath of an 

 Intense Horizonal M.ignetic Field: F. W. Jotdan.-On a Method of 

 Determining the Sensibility of a Balance: Prof. Poynting, F.R.^.. 

 and G. W. Todd. -The Balance as a Sensitive Barometer: G. W. 

 Todd. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Experimental Embryology, lly B 451 



Elementary Botany 452 



An Essay in Palaeontology 452 



Two Books on Theoretical Chemistry. By 



A. N. M 453 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Parsons : " Malleable Cast Iron."— A. McW. . . . 454 

 Goodall and VVashbourn : " \ Manual of Infectious 



Diseases."— R. T. H 454 



Roosenburg : " Heschrijving en Onderzoek van den 

 gyroscopischen Horizon Fleuriais (Model Ponthus 



etTherrodc)" 455 



" Revue de Gc'Ographie annuelle " 455 



Greenhill : " Notes on Dynamics." — J. P 455 



Letters to the Editor : — 



The Tempcralure of the Upper Atmosphere. (With 

 Dic^,„m. — W. H. Dines, F.R.S. ; Charles 



J. P. Cave 455 



The Sense of Proximity. — Charles H. Melland . . 456 

 The Pollination of the Primrose. — John J. Ward ; 



W. E. Hart ; The Reviewer 457 



An Optical I'ht-nomfnon.— Charles E. Benham . 45S 



Dew-Ponds. L. Gibbs 458 



Spruce's Travels in South America. {/llmliaUii.) 



By A. W. H 458 



An Antarctic Album. (Illustrated.) I!y J. W. G. . 460 



American and Canadian Waterways 461 



The Problem of an Ultra-Neptunian Planet .... 463 



Note* 463 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Knsuini; Kciurn uf the Perseid Meteors .... 468 



The Solar Par:illax, from Observations of Eros . . . 46S 

 A Double-image Cielostat for determining the Moon's 



Position 468 



The Determin:ui..n of the Solar Constant 46S 



The Welsh Gorsec'd. By the Rev. W. Griffith . . 468 

 Scientific Work of the International Congress of 



Applied Chemistry. (fllustnitcJ.) 470 



The Supply of Secondary Education in England 



and Elsewhere. Hy A. J. Pressland 473 



The SouthEastern Union of Scientific Societies . 476 



University and Educational Intelligence 476 



Societies and Academies 477 



Diary of Societies 4S0 



