December 2, 1910] 



SCIENCE 



807 



many rules have been formulated in all ages and 

 by all peoples for foretelling coming cliaiiges of 

 weather, some of which rules have more or less 

 to support them and are worthy of careful consid- 

 eration and study, since they have in them accu- 

 rate descriptions of the phenomena and state the 

 events following them. 



Although most countries now have a national 

 weather service which gathers accurate informa- 

 tion of meteorological conditions all over a con- 

 tinent, yet, in general it is not practicable to fore- 

 cast the weather conditions for definite hours, nor 

 for particular farms and villages; also it is not 

 possible in many places to get official forecasts or 

 maps upon which to base one's own conclusions, 

 and under such circumstances certain weather 

 signs are of special value. 



Several classes of proverbs were quoted by the 

 speaker and were discussed at some length. 

 Among these were those in reference to the sea- 

 sons, the sun, sky color, coronas and haloes, the 

 moon, the stars, the wind, the clouds, sound, etc., 

 especial reference being made to those which are 

 concerned with sky coloring, including the physical 

 justification for the opposite meanings of a red 

 sky in the evening to that of a red morning sky. 



R. L. Fabis, 

 Secretary 



THE CHEMICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 201st meeting of the society was held at 

 the Cosmos Club on Thursday, November 10, 1910. 

 No papers were read. The election of officers re- 

 sulted as follows: President, W. W. Skinner; First 

 Vice-president, J. A. Le Clerc; Second Vice-presi- 

 dent, Reid Hunt; Secretary, H. S. Bailey; Treas- 

 urer, F. P. Dewey; Councilors of the American 

 Chemical Society, W. D. Bigelow, Percy H. 

 Walker, S. F. Acree. The election of the members 

 of the e.xecutive committee was postponed one 

 month. Resolutions of sympathy were passed in 

 regard to the late Dr. Wm. H. Seaman. After the 

 adjournment, a smoker was given in honor of the 

 Association of Official Agricultural Chemists, 

 about 150 participating. The attendance at the 

 election was about 100, President Failyer pre- 

 siding. 



J. A. Lb Clebc, 



Secretary 



THE BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The 472d regular meeting of the society was 

 held in the new hall of the Cosmos Club, on 



October 15, with Vice-president E. W. Nelson in 

 the chair. 



The principal communication of the evening was 

 by Ch. Warden Stiles on " Work of the Committee 

 on Nomenclature at the Graz Zoological Con- 

 gress." Dr. Stiles told of the organization, meth- 

 ods of procedure and future plans of the com- 

 mittee. It is hoped that with cooperation of the 

 leading zoologists of the world decided progress 

 toward stability of nomenclature will soon be 

 made. The paper was discussed by L. O. Howard, 

 Marcus W. Lyon, Theodore Gill, E. W. Nelson 

 and others. 



The 473d regular meeting was held in the hall 

 of the Cosmos Club on October 29, with President 

 T. S. Palmer in the chair. The following com- 

 munications were presented, both illustrated: 

 Some Foreign Entomologists and their Work: 



L. O. HOWAED. 



Periodic Movements of Birds in Relation to the 

 Weather: W. W. Cooke. 



The communications were discussed by a number 

 of members. Fifty-six persons were present. 

 D. E. Lantz, 

 Recording Secretary 



THE BOTANICAL SOCIETY OF WASHINGTON 



The sixty-fourth regular meeting was held in 

 the Assembly Hall of the Cosmos Club, Friday, 

 October 28, 1910, at eight o'clock P.M. President 

 Wm. A. Taylor presided. Thirty-eight members 

 were in attendance. 



Mr. H. C. Gore reported new facts developed 

 during the study of the processing of Japanese 

 persimmons. In experimenting with a modifica- 

 tion of the Japanese method in which alcohol was 

 used as the active agent instead of saki, it was 

 found that the fruits often become soft and that 

 the alcohol seemed to stimulate the softening as 

 well as increase the rate of the disappearance of 

 soluble tannin. Prinzan-Geerligs has observed that 

 on keeping bananas in an atmosphere deprived of 

 oxygen, the fruit remained firm, and the use of 

 some inert gas in which to keep the persimmons 

 during the processing suggested itself. Experi- 

 ments were therefore tried in which the air was 

 displaced by carbon dioxide. A marked retarda- 

 tion in softening occurred while the fruits proc- 

 essed successfully, both in vapors of alcolinl nnd 

 also in presence of carbon dioxide alone. Alcohol 

 therefore is unnecessary in processing persimmons. 

 Whether the fruits become non-astringent as a 

 result of the exclusion of oxygen, or because of the 

 specific activity of carbon dioxide, is as yet uude- 



