24 



NA TURE 



[May 7, 1908 



definite crystallised uranium compounds, such as torbcrnitc, 

 autunite, and Californian carnotitc, give no helium. A list 

 of minerals containing uranium in which lielium has been 

 detected is given. — The direct use of copals in the manu- 

 facture of varnish without a preliminary heating- : Ach. 

 Livache. The necessity for preliminary heating of the 

 copal, with its accompanying loss, can be avoided by using 

 amyl alcohol containing some tenths per cent, of acid as 

 the solvent. — The levers in the organism : Aug. Michel. 



C.ALCUTT.*. 



Asiatic Society of Beneral. April i. — Skull of a 

 gigantic ray of the genus Ceratoptera : Captain R. E. 

 Lloyd. The specimen was cast ashore at Puri, on the 

 Orissa coast, and forms the type of a new species. The 

 genus does not appear to have been recorded hitherto from 

 Indian seas. — Fresh-water sponges from the Bombay Presi- 

 diMicy and Burma : Dr. N. Annandale. The two collec- 

 tions were made in November, 1Q07, in the Western Ghats, 

 and in March, iqo.S, at Rangoon ;in(I llie Amherst district 

 of Tenasserim. The Bombav collection includes several 

 species originally described by Carter from that Presi- 

 dency, as well as others new to science, not hitherto known 

 from India, or only recorded from Bengal. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDA r. May 7. 



Royal Society, at 4. — Election nf Fellows. — At 4.30. — Helimn and Rauio- 

 actiyityin Rare and Common Minerals; Hon. R. J Sfruir, F.R S. — The 

 Action of Resin and Allied Bodies on a Ph- lographir Plate in the Dark: 

 Dr. W.J. Russell. F.R.S.— Selenoaluniinium Bridaes : Prof- G. M. 

 Minchin, F. R.S. — A Tantalum Wave-detector, and its Application in 

 Wireless Telegraphy and Telephony : L. H. Walter. 



Royal Institution, at 3. — Mendelian Heredity William Bateson. F.R.S. 



Chemical Society, at 8.30.— The Interaction of Diaznnium Salts with 

 Mono- and Di-hydrin Phenols and with Na hfhols : K. T. P. Orton and 

 R. W Everatt.— The Condensation of Benzoin with Methyl Alrohol : 

 J. C. Irvine and D. McNicnll.— The Mutual Sohibility of <i-M»thyl. 

 piperidin and Water: O. Flaschner and B. MacEwen— The Meltine 

 Points of the .■Vnilides, /-Toluidides, and o-Naphthylamides of the 

 Normal Fatty Acids : P. W. Rohertsnn — The Refraction and Dis- 

 petsion of Triazocompounds : I. C. Philip. —The Dissociation Con- 

 stants of Triazoacetic and a-Triazopropionic Acids : J. C, Philip. — 

 The Ab.sorption Spectrum of Camphor: W. N Hartley.— The Viscosity 

 of Solutions: C. E. Fawsitt.— The Acrion of Fused Potassium Hydro.vide 

 and of Hydrogen Pero.\ide on Cholesterol, Preliminary Note : R H. 

 Pickard and j. Vates. — The Fermentation of Mannose and Fructose by 

 Yeast Juice, Preliminary Communication ; A. Harden and W. J. Youn?. 

 — The" Volumetric Estimation of Silver: W. R, I ang and T. O. Wood- 

 house.— The Constituents of Olive I eaves : F. B. Power and F. Tutin,— 

 The Constituents of Olive Bark : F- B. Po.ver and F. Tutin. 



LlNNEAN Society, at 8. —Colony-formation as a Factor in Organic Evolu- 

 tion : H. M. Bernard.— .\ntipatharia from the Voyage of H.M.S. Scalark : 

 C. Forster-Cooper.— .\ List of the Fr-sh-warer "Fishes, Eatrachians, anti 

 Reptiles obtained by Mr. T. Stanley Gardiner's Expedition to the Indian 

 Ocean : G A. Bouk-nger, F.R.S. —.A Cinematographic Representation of 

 the Movements of Pe-ipatus and other Invertebrate Animals : F. Martin 

 Duncan. 



Civil and Mechanical Engineers' Society, at 8.— Abbreviated Formula: 

 for Structural Engineers : E- Fiander Etcbells. 



Institution of Electrical Engineers, at 8.— The Manufacture of Elec- 

 trical Condensers : G. F. Mansbridge. 



FRIDAY, Mays. 



Royal Institution, at g.— Ice and Its Natural History : J. Y. Buchanan, 

 F.R.S. 



Royal Astronomical Society, at 5.— Theory of the Motion of the Moon ; 

 containing a New Calculation of the Expressions for the Coordinates of 

 the Moon in Terms of the Time : Prof. E W. Brown.— The Proper 

 Motion of Small Stars: S. W. Burnham— Secmd Index Catalogue of 

 Nebuire and Clusters of Stars found in the Years 1S05 10 1907: I. L. E. 

 Dreyer.— Results of Micr meter Observations of Double Stars made with 

 the 28-inch Refractor in the Year 1907 : Roval Observatory, Greenwich.— 

 Probable Papers : -\n Empirical Law of .4'stronomical Refraction : Prof. 

 H. H. Turner.-On the Practical Testing of Concave Parabolic Mirrors: 

 Rev. C. D. P. Davies. 



Physical Society, at 8 — .\ Modified Theorv of Gravitation : Dr C. V. 

 Burton.— An Examination of the Formula: for the Grading of Cables 

 C. S. Whitehead. -Illusirations of Geometrical Optics : R. M. Archer. 



SATURDAY. May 9. 

 Royal Institution, at 3.— Chile and the Chilians : G. F. Scott Elliot. 



mONDAY, May n. 

 "■jyAJ- Ge()GRAPHical Society, at 8.30.— Geographical Conditions and 

 Railway Construction in the Balkan Peninsula : Noel Buxton. 



'TUESDAY, May ij. 

 Royal Institution, at 3.— Why Light is believed to be a Vibration : Prof. 



F. T. Ttouton, F.R.S. 

 Zoological Society, at 8.30. 

 Faraday Society, at 8.— I'he Industrial Uses of Ozone in Connection with 



Water Purilication : F. Mollwo Perkin.— Deermination of Boiling Points 



of very small Quantities of Liquids: L. O'Dowd and F. Mollwo Perkin- 

 —An Apparatus for Measuring Dielectric Constants of Non-conductiuL' 

 Liquids: Dr. Veley, F.R.S. 



WEDNESDAY, May 13. 



Royal Society of Arts, at 8.— The Underground Water Supplies of th<.» 

 Thames Basis: Clayton Bcad'e. 



THURSDAY, May 14. 



Royal Society, at 4.30.— Croonian Lecture : The Structure of the Central 

 Nervous System of the Higher and Lower Animals : Prof Gustaf Relzius, 

 For. Mem. RS. 



Royal Institution, at 3.— Mendelian Heredity : W. Bateson. F.R.S. 



Mathematical Socieiy, at 5.30.— On the Invariants of the Genera 

 Linear Homogriphic Transformation in Two Variables : Major P. A 

 .MacMahon —On the Order of the Group of Isomorphisms of an AbeKar 

 (.roup: H. Hilton. 



Institution ok Ei.ecirical Engineers, at 8.— Switch Gear Crntro; 

 -Apparatus and Relays for Alternating-current Circuits : Dr. C. C. 

 Garrard. 



Ikon AND Steel Institute, at 10.30 am.— On Improvements in Plate Roll- 

 ■ ing Mills : A. Lamberton.— On the Physical Qualities of Steel in Relation . 

 to its Mechanical Treatment : J. E. York.— On a New Fatigue Test foi 

 Iron and Steel; Dr. T. E. Stanton— On an Experimental Electric Fur- 

 nace for the Smelting of Iron ; Prof. B. Igewsky. 



FRIDAY, May 15. 



Royal Institution, at 9.— The Past and Future of Tuberculosis; 

 H. T. Eulslrode. 



Iron and Steel Institute, at 10.30 a.m.— On Cast Iron in the Con- 

 struction of Chemical Plant; F. J. R. Carulla — On the -Application of 

 Colour Photography to Metallography : E. F. Law.— On the ITtilisation 

 of Blast-Furnace Slag lor Portland Cement : C. von Schwarz. — On the 

 Department of Metallurgical Chemistry in the National Physical Labora- 

 tory ; W. Ro.senhain. — On the Pyrometric Installation of the Ordnance 

 Factories, Woolwich: J. Wesley Lambert 



Royal Society of .Arts, at 8.— The Dangers of Coal Dust and their 

 Prevention ; W. E. Garforth. 



CONTENTS. PACK 



La Houille Blanche i 



Subterranean Studies 2 



Chemistry of Pharraacology. By A. C 3 



Two Recent Books of Evolution. By F. A. D. . . 3 

 Our Book Shelf;— 



Turner : " Graphics, applied to Arithmetic, Mensura- 

 tion, and Statics " . 4 



Sedgwick : " Man and his Future : A Glimpse from 



the Fields of Science " . 5 



Eckenstein: " Developpementet Progres de la Fabrica- 

 tion du Malt pendant les quarante dernieres Annees." 5 

 Grittilh: " The Romance of the Sky; the Story of Star- 

 gazing and .Star-tracing, being an Introduction to 

 the Study of Astronomy." — W. E. R. . . 5 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Life on Mars. — E. H. Hankin 6 



The Warm Stratum in the Atmosphere. — Prof. A. 

 Lawrence Rotch . . .... 7 



The Nature of X-Rays,— Dr. Charles G. Barkla . 7 

 Echelon .Spectroscopes and the Green Mercury Line. — 



H. Stantfield . 8 



Appearance of the Slug Tfstacella in a Flooded Dis- 

 trict. —M. D. Hill 8 



The Total Solar Eclipse of January 3, 1908. (Illus- 

 trated.) By Dr. William J. S. Loc'kyer ... 8 

 The Mutations of CEnothera. (Illtistrated.) By 



A. D. D 10 



The Indian Institute of Science .... .... 11 



Antarctic Ice . . . . .12 



Inauguration of the New Chancellor of Cambridge 



University . . 12 



Pierre Jacques Antoine Bechamp 13 



Notes. (JllustmteJ.) ... . 14 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Daniel's Comet 1907;^ . . 18 



The Solar Rotation determined from Hydrogen 



Phenomena . 18 



The Canals and Oases of Mars 18 



The Colour Sensibility of Selenium Cells . . .18 



The Astronomical Society of Antwerp . . 18 



Micrographic Study of Leather. {lllitstrated.) By 



J. T. ■W 18 



The Atomic Weight of Radium. By Dr. T. E. 



Thorpe, C.B., F.R.S 19 



Kinematography in Natural Colours. By C. J. . 21 



University and Educational Intelligence . .21 



Societies and Aca emies . 22 



Diary of Societies 24 



NO. 2010, VOL. 78] 



