432 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XXIII. No. 585. 



eight and one half inches aperture, made by 

 Repsold, and having many novel features. It 

 is mounted in a double-walled semi-cylindrical 

 dome with shutter ten feet wide; the masonry 

 piers have means for observing their stability. 

 The tube is of steel and is shielded. There 

 are three objective screens to reduce all stars 

 to the same magnitudes ; a reversion prism and 

 the new transit micrometer are provided. 

 Novel provision is made for determining the 

 errors in collimation, azimuth and level, from 

 flexure and irregularity of pivots, and in 

 graduation of the circle. Mr. Updegraff spoke 

 of the history of such instruments and stated 

 that the first steel-tube transit was made under 

 direction of Professor Harkness in 1889. 

 Messrs. Hayford and Abbe defended the accu- 

 racy of the spirit-level when properly used. 



Mr. L. W. Austin then spoke on ' The 

 Emission of Negative Particles Produced by 

 , the Impact of Canal Rays on Metals.' 



In the work described an attempt was made 

 to find whether the positively charged canal 

 rays which pass backward through a perforated 

 cathode in a vacuum tube give rise to reflected 

 rays when they come in contact with a metal 

 plate connected to earth. No reflection of the 

 canal rays was discovered, but it was found 

 that the impact gave rise to an emission of 

 negative corpuscles. Like the well-knovm 

 negative emission produced by cathode rays 

 this emission increases with the angle of in- 

 cidence of the canal rays, being about two and 

 one half times as great at 70° as at perpen- 

 dicular incidence. The negative corpuscles 

 appear to have some considerable velocity, but 

 how great this velocity is has not been de- 

 termined. ^ T^ TTT 



Charles K. Wead, 



Secretary. 



THE ONONDAGA ACADEMY OF SCIENCES. 



The academy held its regular monthly meet- 

 ing in Syracuse on February 16. 



Miss M. L. Overacker spoke of ' A Few 

 Devonshire Ferns,' and exhibited material 

 collected in England during the past summer. 

 Among other ferns, particular interest was 

 expressed in the abundance of Asplenium 

 Rutamuraria L. and in the abundance and 



variability of PhyllUis Scolopendrium (L.) 

 Newman. 



Mr. George T. Hargitt also presented a 

 paper on ' Regeneration and Growth,' an ab- 

 stract of which follows. 



A preliminary report of a series of experi- 

 ments which was started at Woods Hole dur- 

 ing the past siunmer, to determine the condi- 

 tions necessary for regeneration and growth. 

 The animals so far studied include several 

 species of hydroids and the medusa Gonione- 

 mus. The results obtained show the effect 

 upon regeneration of acid and alkali, and also 

 of various salts, especially those found in the 

 sea water. These solutions and salts were 

 added to normal sea water and also to a syn- 

 thetic sea water. 



The general results suggested were as fol- 

 lows : Acids have a tendency to retard or in- 

 hibit regeneration, while alkalies have a tend- 

 ency to accelerate regeneration. Both acids 

 and alkalies may sometimes act as disturbing 

 rather than as definitely accelerating or re- 

 tarding stimuli. The effect of these and 

 other chemical stimuli is largely dependent 

 upon the state of vitality and sejraal maturity 

 of the animals. Calcium and potassium seem 

 to be necessary for regeneration and growth, 

 but may be present in variable quantities, 

 especially the calcium. 



The experiments will be continued during 



the present year. ^ 



J. E. Kjkkwood, 



■ Corresponding' Secretary. 



the CALIPOHNIA branch of the AMERICAN 

 FOLK-LORE SOCIETY. 



The sixth meeting of the California Branch 

 of the American Folk-Lore Society was held 

 in the Unitarian Church, Berkeley, on Tues- 

 day, February 13, 1906, at 8 p.m. Mr. Charles 

 Keeler presided. 



The minutes of the last meeting were read 

 and approved. 



The following persons approved by the 

 council were elected to membership in the 

 society, the secretary being instructed to cast 

 the vote of the society for them : Mr. F. Rossi, 

 San Francisco; Professor O. M. Johnston, 

 Stanford Universit.v. 



