May 21, 1908J 



JVA TURE 



61 



research has demonstrated the presence of scandium in 

 comparative abundance in the sun and some of the brighter 

 stars. To enable its spectrum lines to be identified with 

 certaintv, especially in some of the fainter celestial bodies, 

 a thorough examination of its spectrum has been under- 

 taken. — .1/i'siTi. Johnson, Matthey and Co., Ltd. : 

 (i) .Apparatus in transparent fused silica; (2) various vessels 

 of pure iridium. 



Miss Amy Barrington and Prof. Karl Pearson, F.R.S. : 

 Specimens of the hair of chestnut horses. Samples of hair 

 from the ribs, mane, and tail of chestnut horses to show : — 

 (i) the wide range of chestnut coats; (2) that " chestnut " 

 is not a simple I'nit character; and (3) that the mane and 

 tail of chestnuts can be sensibly black. — Marine Biological 

 Association of the United Kingdom: (i) Living representa- 

 tives of the Plymouth marine fauna ; (2) photographs illus- 

 trating methocis of dredging and trawling (North Sea in- 

 vestigations). — The Grouse Disease Commissioners : Speci- 

 mens illustrating certain aspects of the work of the Grouse 

 Disease Committee, 1905-8. A committee of inquiry into 

 the causes of disease in the red grouse (Lagopiis scoticiis) 

 was constituted in iqo4 at the suggestion and under the 

 chairmanship of Lord Lovat ; the work and results, of 

 which the exhibit represented a part, will be published by 

 the Zoological Society of London. — Mr. C. Gordon Hewitt : 

 The large larch saw-flv (Ncmatus erichsonii, Hartig). The 

 larch saw-fly has increased during the last few years to 

 so great an extent in many of the large larch plantations 

 in Cumberland as to become a serious pest. Many 

 hundreds of acres of larches were completely defoliated in 

 iqo". Except in the voung plantations, it will be necessary 

 to rely on natural means of control, of which birds and 

 voles are at present the most important. — Mr. F. Enoch : 

 f.iving specimens of MymaridiE-ovivorous parasites (new 

 to Great Britain). 



Prof. R. T. Heivlctt and Mr. J. E. Barnard: A method 

 of disintegrating bacterial and other cells. The machine 

 consists of a phosphor-bronze vessel, revolving at a high 

 speed, containing hardened steel balls, which are kept in 

 position at the periphery of the vessel by a central steel 

 cone. Bv retarding the revolution of the central cone, a 

 drag is put on the balls, so that a grinding action takes 

 place between them and the internal surface of the vessel. 

 Rise of temperature is prevented by the use of liquid 

 carbonic acid or other means. — Dr. Ernest F. Bashford. 

 for the Executive Committee, Imperial Cancer Research 

 Fund: Cancer as a manifestation of cell-life throughout the 

 vertebrates, and the biological properties of cells which 

 have become cancerous. — Prof. W . B. Bottomley : Bacterial 

 treatment of non-leguminous plants, (i) Specimens show- 

 ing effect of nitrogen-fixing organisms upon growth of 

 oats, barley, turnips, radishes, tomatoes, &c. ; (2) cultures 

 and microscopical preparations of nitrogen-fixing bacteria 

 {Psetidomonas radicicola, .izotobacter heyerinckii, &c.). 



Prof. J. Milne, F.R.S. : Seismograms recorded by a 

 Milne seismograph in the Isle of Wight, (i) These seismo- 

 grams illustrate the difference in character of records 

 obtained from the same instrument. The Mexican earth- 

 quake of March 26, iqoS, was obtained on quickly running 

 paper. The earthquakes of ."August 9, 1901, were obtained 

 on slowly moving paper. In the former halation effects do 

 not eclipse the first preliminary tremors, and an open 

 diagram is obtained. (2) The three earthquakes which 

 occurred on August 9, Tqor, indicate the value of seismo- 

 grams in correcting cablegrams. The interval of time 

 between the preliminary tremors and the maximum motion 

 shows that the origins of the first and third disturbances 

 were 6000 miles distant, while the second was nearly 7000 

 miles distant. The first and last came from Japan, while 

 the second came from the East Indies. In American and 

 European newspapers it seems to have been universallv 

 stated that the origins were in Alaska. — Dr. C. W. 

 Andrews, F.R.S. : Restored model of the skull and mandible 

 of Prozeuglodon atrox. Prozeuglodon atrox is a primitive 

 whale (Z^-uglodont), and is one of the forms w'hich unite 

 the true Zeuglodonts wnth the early land-carnivores known 

 ns Creodonts. — Mr. ]. Y. Buchanan, F.R.S. : Features of 

 land-ice illustrated bv photographs and stereoscopic slides 

 in the taxiohote. These slides, taken last winter in the 

 grotto of the Morteratsch glacier, illustrate the internal 

 structure of the ice in winter. — Mr. .1. Flutchinson : Pro- 



tractors for constructing stercographic and gnomonic pro- 

 jections of the sphere. The protractors exhibited are 

 intended for the use of students of crystallography, and 

 are designed to facilitate the construction of great and 

 small circles in the stereographic projection. 



Mr. Henry Balfour: Stone implements of very early date 

 from the Zambezi River and some of its tributaries. A 

 large proportion of the implements of chalcedony, quartzite, 

 &c., are of forms exactly similar to types characteristic of 

 the river-drift period of western Europe and Great Britain. 

 These were found associated with, and evidently forming 

 part of, ancient terrace gravels deposited as drifts by the 

 Zambezi at a remote period. Several implements were 

 found by e.xcavation in undisturbed gravel deposits at depths 

 varving from 6 inches to 2 feet. — Prof. W. M. Flinders 

 Petrie, F.R.S. : Drawings of ancient zodiacs. — Prof. W. 

 Gowland, F.R.S. : Megalithic monuments in Japan (see 

 Nature, February 14, 1907, vol. Ixxv., p. 382). — Mr. 

 Francis Fox : The saving of Winchester Cathedral and 

 other ancient buildings, (i) Specimens of the beechwood 

 logs on which the cathedral stands ; (2) block of the peat 

 found beneath the walls, in some cases 8 feet in thickness ; 

 (3) sample of the gravel bed down to which the under- 

 pinning is carried by a diver ; (4) old box-wood rule found 

 during the operations. — Mr. J. Gray : An instrument for 

 measuring the colour of the hair, eyes, and skin (Nature, 

 February 27, vol. Ixxvii., p. 406). 



Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson, F.R.S.: Drawings of e.irly 

 rnmpass cards and windroses. The compass card was 

 developed from windroses drawn on the Portulani, or sail- 

 ing charts, at the points of intersection of the loxodromic 

 lines. The drawings shown were from old Portulani or 

 other early works dating from 1375 to 15S4. — Messrs. T. 

 and R. .Annan and Sons : Photographs of Lord Kelvin. — 

 Mr. J. Stewart, Largs : Photographs of Lord Kelvin, and 

 relating to him. 



Prof. .4. H. Church, F.R.S. : Documents and specimens 

 of historical interest referring to the Royal Society, in- 

 cluding an unpublished letter of Captain James Cook, 

 F.R.S., the circumnavigator, dated Rio de Janeiro, 

 September 30, 1768, and seventeen portrait medals, struck 

 at the Paris mint, of foreigners who were members of the 

 Roval Society. 



Messrs. B. J. Hall and Co.. Ltd.: Ordoverax copying 

 process. This process is one for rapidly and accurately 

 producing facsimile copies of line drawings and tracings 

 on any materials. The original is first copied on ferro- 

 prussiate paper ; the copy is placed before development, 

 f.ice downwards, on a plate of ordoverax composition 

 previously prepared. The portions of the ferro-prussiate 

 paper not affected by light act upon the ordoverax com- 

 position, causing it to take up printers' ink from a roller, 

 whereas the parts of the plate not so acted upon do not 

 take up anv ink. — Mr. Donald Cameron-Sivan : .\ new 

 method of reproducing pencil and other drawings. This 

 method (which is being employed for the Memoirs of the 

 National .'\ntarctic Expedition) differs from most photo- 

 mechanical processes of reproduction in that the drawings 

 are reproduced in exact facsimile, without any background 

 of tone where none exists in the originals. 



NOTES. 

 The British associates and correspondants of the Insti- 

 tute of France will attend at St. James's Palace on 

 Wednesday next. May 27, at 11 a.m., to present an address 

 to the President of the French Republic on the occasion 

 of his visit to this country. 



The Roval Society of London invites applications for 

 two Mackinnon research studentships, each of the annual 

 value of 150?. These studentships, which are restricted 

 to British subjects, are offered for the purpose of researches 

 in physical and biological sciences, one being awarded for 

 research in the group of the physical sciences, including 

 astronomy, chemistry, geology, mineralogy, and physics, 

 the other for research in the group of the biological 

 sciences, including anatomy, botany, paljEontolo"v. path- 



NO. 2012, VOL. 78] 



