192 



NA TURE 



[June 25. 1908 



quantities of ice and by fog. Work was done in the fields 

 of meteorology, oceanography, geography, zoology, and 

 physics. A curious fact with regard to Lumi^re auto- 

 chrome plates is noted. .Commencing at about latitude 

 69° 40' N.; a blue veil appeared on the plates, increasing 

 in intensity with _ the progress north up to the highest 

 point reached, 79° N. The inverse effect was noted on the 

 return south. — Bilinear forms : M. de Seguier. — The 

 partial differential equation of vibrating membranes : S. 

 Sanielevici. — The flocculi of hydrogen photographed with 

 the rays Ha and H5 : G. .\. Hale. The flocculi appear to 

 move less rapidly than the gaseous atmosphere in which 

 they float.— The apparent dispersion of light in interstellar 

 space : Pierre , Lebedew, The experimental results on 

 variable stars obtained by Ch. Nordmann, and confirmed 

 by G. Tikhoff, have been explained by these authors by 

 the hypothesis that light undergoes a dispersion in inter- 

 stellar space comparable with the dispersion in air at a 

 pressure of 7mm. at 0° C. In the present paper this 

 hyfKJthesis is shown to be improbable and unnecessary. — 

 An arrangement for the study of the sensitiveness of 

 electrolytic detectors : P. Jegrou. The method described 

 does not require the mental comparison of the loudness of 

 a sound heard in the telephone with a sound previously 

 heard under another set of, conditions. The instrument 

 figured gives readings on an arbitrary scale corresponding 

 to no sound in the telephone. The apparatus has been 

 applied to studv the effect of temperature on the sensitive- 

 ness of the electrolytic detector. — The photography of 

 speech : M. Devaux-Charbonnel. A microphone is placed 

 in series with a battery and an oscillograph, and the move- 

 ments of the latter photographed. A study of the vowels 

 showed that the curves are always the same for each, pro- 

 vided that care be taken to pronounce them in the same 

 manner. This condition was easy to fulfil for I and U, 

 more difficult for .A, O, E', and most difficult for the 

 mute E. — The ultimate rays of the metalloids : trllurium, 

 phosphorus, carbon, silicon, and boron : A. de Gramont. 

 — Researches on the solubility of silver iodide in ammonia : 

 H. Baubigny. In previous determinations of this constant 

 sufficient care has not been taken to define the temperature 

 and the strength of the ammonia. At 16°, in ammonia 

 of density 0-926, the solubility is of the order of 1/6000, 

 or less than half the solubility usually accepted. — 

 Ammoniacal chloride of arsenic : MM. Besson and 

 Rosset. The composition of the compound formed by the 

 action of ammonia on AsCl, is held to be AsCl,.4NH,. 

 The products separated by M. Hugo by the action of 

 liquid ammonia do not correspond to the original com- 

 pound, the liquid ammonia behaving rather as a reagent 

 than as a solvent. — The alkaline chloroiridates and chloro- 

 iridites : Marce! Delepine. — The hydrates of the phos- 

 phoric acids : H. Gi'^an. — The hvdrates of the fatty acids: 

 D. E. Tsakalotos. — Colloidal barium sulphate : A. 

 Recoura. .\ solution of sulphuric acid in pure glycerol 

 is neutralised with barium ethylate. The liquid remains 

 limpid, and diluted with ten times its volume of water 

 gives a colloidal solution of barium sulphate, without any 

 precipitation taking place. Solutions of metallic salts, with 

 the exception of mercuric chloride and salts of barium, 

 determine the precipitation of the sulphate. — Constitution 

 of the tetramethyldiaminobenzhydrylmethylenic compounds. 

 The replacement of the hydroxvl of Michler's hydrol by 

 the alkylmethylenic residues : R. Fosse. — The action of 

 alkalis on mono- and di-methylarsinic acids and on their 

 iodo-substituted derivatives : M. Augrer. — The lactone of 

 3 : 4-dio.xybutyric acid : P. Carre. Details are given of 

 the most advantageous method of preparing the dioxy- 

 butyric acid from monochlorohydrin. and of the isolation 

 of the lactone. — The double phosphate of magnesia and 

 monomethylamine : Maurice FranQois. Magnesium phos- 

 phate cannot be employed to separate ammonia from 

 methvlamine, since the latter forms a double phosphate 

 analogous to the ammonio-phosphnte. Magnesium phos- 

 phate in excess can be used to separate ammonia or methvl- 

 amine from di- and tri-methylamlne. — S. modification of the 

 properties of gluten in presence of sulphurous acid ; J. 

 Du^ast. — The increase of the vital o.ipacity and thoracic 

 perimeter in children : M. lyiaraere. .A set of respiratory 

 movements was taken bv the children for five minutes 

 twice daily. The beneficial effects were very marked, and 



NO. 2017, VOL. 78] 



are set out in tabular form. — The action of the zinc ion 

 in microbial media: Joseph Mendel. — Contribution to' the 

 study of the constitution of proteid materials. A new 

 method of hydrolysis with hydrofluoric acid : L. Hugo- 

 nenq and A. Morel. Hydrofluoric acid at 20 per cent, 

 strength, and at the temperature of the water bath, 

 possesses many advantages as a reagent for tfie-hjiirolysis 

 of proteid materials. It gives a complete hydrolysis, and 

 causes less secondary changes than the reagents at present 

 used. — Researches on the hybrids of barley : I.. 

 Biaringrhem. — The hovering of birds : P. Amans. — Reply 

 of M. .Marcil Deprez to the criticism in the preceding 

 note. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, JcxE 25. 



RovAL Society, at 4.30.— Have Tr>'panosomes an Ulrra-microscopical 

 Stage in their Life-history? Colonel D. Bruce, C.E., F.R.S.,and Captail>| 

 H. R. Bateman- — \ Search for Possible New Members of the Inactive 

 Series of Gases (Introductory Note to the Papers by- Mr'. H. E. Wat- 

 son and Prof. R. B. Moore): Sir William Ramsay, K.C.B., F.R.S.— 

 A Further Investigation of the Lighter Constituents of the .Atmosphere : 

 H. E. Watson. — An Investigation of the Heavier Constituents of the 

 Atmosphere: Prof. R. B. Moore. — (In the Atomic Weight of Chlorine : 

 Dr. E. C. Edgar. — Nole on the Vapour Pressure and Osmotic Pressure of 

 a Volatile Solute : Prnf, H. L. Callendar, F.R.S. — Euteciics Research 

 No. I, Alloys of Lead and Tin : W. Rosenhain and P. A.. Tucker. — 

 The Emission and Transmission of Rontgen Rays: G. W. C. Kaye. — 

 Further Note on a Luminous Glow generated by Electrostatic Induction 

 in an Exhausted Vessel made of Silica : Rev. F. J. Jervis-Smith, F.R..S. 

 — The Action of Chlorine upon LTrea whereby a Dichloro LTrea is Pro- 

 duced : Dr. F. D. Chattaway, F.R.S. — On the Reflection of Waves from 

 a Stratum of Gr.adually Varying Pioperties, with Application to Sound : 

 Dr. J. W. Nicholson. — Preliminary Account of the Habits and Structure 

 of the Anaspididae. with Remarks on some other Freshwater Crustacea 

 from Tasmania : Geoffrey Smith. — The ii. Functions — a Class of Normal 

 Functions : E. Cunningham. — And other papers. 



MONDAY, June 29. 



Royal Geographical Society, at 8.30.— Some Aspects of the N;le 

 Valley: Capt. H. G. Lyons, F.R.S. 



WEDNESDAY, July i. 

 British A.stronomical Association, at 5. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Meteorology of Indian Seas. By M. W. C. H. . . 169 

 A Text-Book of Tropical Medicine. By Colonel 



David Bruce, C.B., F.R.S 170 



A Monograph of Bristle-Worms 171 



Direct-Curr-nt Electr cal Engineering. By L. C. . 172 



Education and Employment 173 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Dunraven : " Self-Instruction in the Practice and 



Theory of Navigation" 173 



Ilanbury: "The London Catalogue of British Plants" 174 



" lahrbuch der Naturwissenschaften, 1907-1908". . 174 

 Letters to the Editor: — 



Proininerce and Coronal Stiucture. {/l/iis/i-a/fd.) 



— Dr. William J. S. Lockver 174 



Mendelism : a Personal Explanation. — A. D. 



Darbishire 175 



The Research Defence Society 176 



Artificial Diamonds. By F. M. P 177 



Pictographs of Arrows in French Caves. (Ilhis- 



Inited.) By A. C, H 178 



Notes 178 



Our Astronomical Coluirn : — 



The Rings of Saturn 182 



The Forty-inch Objective of the Yetkes Observatory . 182 



The Temperature of the Sun 1S3 



The Variation of the Pole 183 



Observations of the Perseid Shower in 1907 .... 183 

 Recent Developments in Electric Lamps. (With 



Diapain.) By Maurice Solomon 183 



Russian Scientific Works 1S6 



The American Philosophical Society 187 



Some Recent Agricultural Publications. By 



E. J. R 188 



University and Educational Intelligence 189 



Societies anr Academies 19° 



Diary of Societies 192 



