270 



NA TURE 



[August 26, 1909 



Haar and T. von 



determination of magnetic 

 induction-inclinometer : O. 



GOTTINGEN. 



Royal Society of Sciences. — The Naihriihteii (pbysico- 

 mathematical section), part ii. for 1909, contains the follow- 

 ing memoirs communicated to the society : — 



March d. — Seismic records at Gbttingen in 1907, with 

 an introduction on the working out of seismic diagrams : 

 Iv. Geigrer. — Contributions to the theory of tensions in 

 plastic and sand-lilce media 

 Karman. 



May 8. — Procedure for the 

 inclination by means of the 

 Venske. — New developments in linear differential ecjua- 

 tions : E. Hilb. — New members of the systems /3, 7, 5, 

 €, f UrsjE Majoris : E. Hertzsprung. — The notion of the 

 work of deformation in the theory of the elasticity of 

 solid bodies; J. J. Weyrauch. 



The " Business Communications," part i., 1909, include 

 the report of the Samoa Observatory for 1908, a com- 

 munication on certain notes of Riemann's lectures, and a 

 memorial address on Hermann Minkowski, by D. Hilbert. 



Cape Town. 

 Royal Society of South Africa, July 2t. — Prof. L. 

 Crawford in the chair. — Notes on the absorption of water 

 by aerial organs of plants : Dr. Marloth. Numerous 

 experiments were made with various I\arroo plants in 

 order to ascertain whether they are able to absorb water 

 by means of their leaves, and thus to utilise the dew, 

 which is of common occurrence in the Karroo every night 

 during the winter. The results showed that some plants 

 possess specially constructed hairs, like M eserubrianthenntm 

 barbatum and Crassula tomentosa ; others, peculiar stipules 

 like Anacampscros Tclephiastntm and Afilatnctitosa ; 

 others, an unusually modified epidermis like Crassula 

 decipiens ; and others, again, aerial rootlets like Cotyledon 

 cristata. These organs absorb sufficient moisture to supply 

 the requirements of the plants during a part of the year, 

 thus enabling them to exist in arid regions like some parts 

 of the Karroo or the desert coast-belt of Namaqualand. — 

 Evaporation in a current of air (part i.). : J. R. Sutton. 

 The results of previous observations upon the rate of 

 evaporation made under natural conditions at Kenilworth 

 (Kimberley) with gauges of various patterns suggest that 

 the relative humidity of the air is of more importance 

 than the absolute humidity in determining the loss of water 

 from a given surface, and that there is no simple corre- 

 spondence between the wind and the evaporation. In this 

 paper the author describes some experiments made to 

 determine the rate of evaporation under different conditions 

 of moisture and temperature in the forced draught 

 generated by an electrically driven fan. — The genesis of the 

 chemical elements : James Moir. The author has found a 

 relationship between the atomic weights, whereby the 

 accepted values can be calculated with remarkable accuracy. 

 The scheme brings out closer relationship between such 

 groups as the alkali metals and the halogens, and although 

 it follov.'s the periodic law, it would require the latter to 

 be modified in important particulars. — Some flowering 

 plants from the neighbourhood of Port Elizabeth : S. 

 Schonland. — Statement of Silayi, a Tembu of the Zemba 

 tribe, with reference to his life among the Bushmen : 

 W. E. Stanford. This communication contains interest- 

 ing information about a clan of Bushmen whose haunts 

 were in the Drakensberg Mountains, and could muster 

 forty-three men. It is a narrative of cattle lifting in 

 various ways and devices, as well as of their domestic habits 

 and mode of life, and also of the ultimate destruction of 

 the clan by the Tembu chief. 



Calcutt.^. 

 Asiatic Society of Bengal, August 4. — The constitution 

 of the roots of Arisacina conciiiiuim, Schott, and A. 

 speciosuni. Mart. : B. B. Dutta. These roots contain an 

 abundance of carbohydrates, and are used as food by the 

 Lepchas of Sikkim in case of need, after taking precau- 

 tions in the cooking to get rid of the irritant needle 

 crystals. — The ova of a Distoma found in the skeletal 

 muscles of Saccobranchits fossilis : G. C. Chatterjee and 

 T. C. Ghosh. Last year, during the small-pox epidemic, 

 a peculiar eruption was noticed on fish offered for sale in 



NO. 2078, VOL. 81] 



the Calcutta markets, and popularly connected with small- 

 pox. This fish disease, on examination, was found to be 

 due to a flat worm of the parasitic genus Distoma. The 

 authors have found tlie ova in various parts of the body 

 of the fish, but particularly near the dorsal fins in ihe 

 skeletal muscles towards the posterior third of the body. 

 Two actual moving worms were found in water whve 

 diseased fish were which are described as presumably the 

 adult form of the worm. — Chemical examination of 

 aurvedic metallic preparations, part i., " Shata-puta lauha 

 and Shahasra-puta lauha " (iron roasted hundred times 

 and thousand tinif s) : Panchanan Neogi and Birendra 

 Bhusan Adhicary. The method of preparing " Shata- 

 puta " and " Shahasra-puta " lauha, as given in 

 Rasendra-Shara-Shangraha, as well as that followed by 

 modern aurvedic physicians, are given in this paper. 

 Samples of iron heated - once, ten times, seventy-eight 

 times, 100 times, and 1000 times have been collected and 

 analysed. Samples which have undergone a fewer number 

 of '* putas " are magnetic, and contain ferroso-ferric oxide- 

 -As the number of roastings (puta) increases the amount 

 of ferrous oxide diminishes, and " Shata-puta " and 

 " Shahasra-puta " lauhas contain ferric oxide only, and 

 are not magnetic. " .Shata-puta " and " Shahasra-puta " 

 lauhas are almost identical in composition, the amount of 

 ferric oxide varying from 78-1 per cent, to 84-6 per cent. 

 Siliceous matter is present in considerable quantities, vary- 

 ing from 10- 1 per cent, to 34-1 per cent. These " lauhas " 

 are^very light and porous, and "swim on water like a 

 duck," but precipitated ferric oxide does not "swim." 

 It is on account of their fineness and lightness that these 

 " lauhas " are efiicacious. Ordinary ferric oxide is not 

 incorporated in the British Pharmacopoeia. Incidentally, a 

 method of estimating metallic iron in presence of ferrous 

 iron is given. 



CONTENTS. 



PAGE 



Tree-Flora of Java. I>y L. A. B 241 



Two American Mathematical Books. By A. L. . 241 



Elementary Petrology and Ore Formation 242 



Zoological Primers 243 



Some New Electrical Books. By M. S 244 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Mehrtens : " Gas-engine Theory and Design " . . . 245 

 Righi : " La materia radiante e i raggi niagnetici." — 



R. S. W 245 



Stichel : " Brassolidce."— W. F. K 246 



Fraser : "The Volcanic Origin of Coal and Modern 



Geological Theories " . 246 



" Cassell's ' Naiure' Copies (Wild Flowers)" .... 246 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



August Meteoric Shower. — W. F. Denning . . . 246 

 The Ringing of House-bells without Apparent 



Cause. — Dr. John Aitken, F.R.S 246 



Flying Animals and Flying Machines. A. Mallock, 



F.R.S 247 



The British Association at Winnipeg 248 



Inaugural Address bv Prof. Sir J. J. Thomson, 

 M.A., LL D., D.Sc, F.R.S., President of 



the Association 248 



Section A. — Matheitiatics and Phvsics. — Opening 

 Address by Prof. E. Rutherford^ M.A., D.Sc, 



F.R.S., President of the Section 257 



Notes 263 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Comet 1909/) (Perrine's 1896 vii.) 267 



The Recent Perseid Shower 267 



The Spectroscopic Binary /3 Oritnis . . ... 267 



Ephemeris for Comet 19091! (Borrelly-Daniel) . . . . 267 



Maximum of Mira, 1908 . . 267 



The Assumed Plantt, O, beyond Neptune 268 



Agriculture in the Transvaal 268 



Spontaneous Combustion 268 



Ethnology in America 268 



Purification of Water by Storage. By Prof. R. T. 



Hewlett 269 



University and Educational Intelligence 269 



Societies and Academies 269 



