SEPTEMBER 27, 1918] 
Mobilities of ions in vapors: K1a-Lox YEN, 
Ryerson Physical Laboratory, University of 
Chicago. A continuation of the study of the 
vapors SO,, C,H,O, C,H,O, O,H,,, ete., with 
the conclusion that the small ion theory is 
further corroborated. 
A contribution to the petrography of the 
South Sea Islands: J. P. Ippines and E. W. 
Morty, Brinklow, Md., and West Hartford, 
Conn. Thirty detailed chemical analyses of 
lava from the South Pacific Islands are given, 
with a discussion of the results. 
The law controlling the quantity and rate of 
regeneration: Jacques Lors, Rockefeller In- 
stitute for Medical Research, New York. The 
- quantity of regeneration in an isolated piece of 
an organism is under equal conditions deter- 
mined by the mass of material necessary for 
growth circulating in the sap (or blood) of 
the piece. The mystifying phenomenon of an 
isolated piece restoring its lost organs thus 
turns out to be the result of two plain chemical 
factors, the law of mass action and the pro- 
duction and giving off of inhibitory substances 
in the growing regions of the organism. 
National Research Council: Minutes of the 
first meeting of the Executive Board of War 
Organization; Research Information Com- 
mittee. 
Tue fifth number of Volume 4 contains the 
following articles: 
Some spectral characteristics of cepheid va- 
riables: W. S. Apams and A. H. Joy, Mt. Wil- 
son Solar Observatory, Carnegie Institute of 
Washington. The hydrogen lines are abnor- 
mally strong in Cepheid spectra, which are 
classified first on a basis of the hydrogen lines, 
and, second, on the more general features of 
the spectra. 
Types of achromatic fringes: Cart Barus, 
Department of Physics, Brown University. 
Interference of pencils which constitute the 
remote divergences from a slit: Cart Barus, 
Department of Physics, Brown University. 
A study of the motions of forty-eight double 
stars: Ertc Doonitttr, Flower Observatory, 
University of Pennsylvania. A classification 
of the stars is set up for the purpose of deter- 
SCIENCE 
323 
mining those pairs upon which observations 
are most urgently needed. 
The structure of an electromagnetic field: 
H. Bareman, Throop College of Technology, 
Pasadena. All electrical charges are supposed 
to travel along rectilinear paths with the 
velocity of light. When electricity appears to 
move with a smaller velocity, it is made up of 
different entities at different times. 
Invariants which are functions of param- 
eters of the transformation: Ouiver E. GLENN, 
Department of Mathematics, University of 
Pennsylvania. A general discussion of a sys- 
tematic theory and interpretation of invari- 
antive functions which contain the parameters 
of the linear transformations which leaves in- 
variant a binary quadratic form, including 
the invariants of relativity. 
Tue sixth number of Volume 4 contains 
the following articles: 
Effects of a prolonged reduction in diet on 
twenty-five men: I. Influence on basal metab- 
olism and nitrogen excretion: Francis G. 
Benepict and Paut Roru, Nutrition Labora- 
tory, Carnegie Institution of Washington, 
Boston. IJ., Bearing on neuro-muscular proc- 
esses and mental condition: WALTER R. Mies, 
Nutrition Laboratory, Carnegie Institution of 
Washington, Boston. III., Influence on effi- 
ciency during muscular work: H. MonmoutH 
Swirn, Nutrition Laboratory, Carnegie Insti- 
tution of Washington, Boston. 
Possible action of the sea-determining mech- 
anism: C. E. McCuune, Zoological Labora- 
tories, University of Pennsylvania. 
The study of the sediments as an aid to the 
earth historian: Evior BLACKWELDER, Depart- 
ment of geology, University of Illinois. 
The growth of the Alaskan fur seal herd 
between 1912 and 1917: G. H. Parker, United 
States Seal Investigation, 1914. Since 1912 
the steady increase in the numbers of pups 
born, and of harem bulls and the decrease 
since 1913 of the average harem are most 
favorable signs in the growth of the herd. 
The one unfavorable feature during this period 
is the considerable increase in idle bulls in 
1915, 1916 and especially in 1917. This in- 
