Mat 26, 1916] 



SCIENCE 



757 



has inherited from its original protoplasmic 

 ancestor an adjustment of colloidal equi- 

 librium to those electrolytes which were pres- 

 ent in sea-water at the time that protoplasmic 

 material first came into being. In other words 

 we may say that electrolytes play, and always 

 have played, an extremely important role in 

 conditioning the form and structure, and 

 maintaining the equilibrium of the complex 

 colloidal system which we designate as living 

 protoplasm. For further details regarding 

 these and other experiments, and the methods 

 employed, reference must be made to a paper 

 in the May number of the Journal of Physical 

 Chemistry and to other papers which will 

 shortly appear in the Journal of Physical 

 Chemistry, the American Journal of Physiol- 

 ogy, etc. 



In conclusion the writer wishes to acknowl- 

 edge his great indebtedness to Mr. F. West 

 for his cooperation in the conduct of the ex- 

 periments recorded in this communication. 

 G. H. A. Clowes 



THE ORGANIZATION OF THE PACIFIC 

 PHYSICAL SOCIETY 



The first meeting of the Pacific Physical Society 

 was called to order by Professor Pernando San- 

 ford at 3 o'clock on March 4 in Eoom 370, Stan- 

 ford University Quadrangle. Forty members of 

 the various departments of physics, physical chem- 

 istry and chemistry of the Pacific coast universi- 

 ties were present. 



Professor E. P. Lewis, of the University of 

 California, was called to the chair, and the fol- 

 lowing program was presented: 

 The Electromotive Force produced by the Accele- 

 ration of Metals: Eichakd C. Tolman and T. 

 Dale Stewart. 



This paper described some experiments on the 

 mass or inertia of the carriers of electricity in 

 metals. Similar effects have been looked for by 

 previous investigators, Maxwell,i Lodged and 

 Nichols,^ without apparatus sensitive enough for 

 the purpose. 



1 Maxwell, ' ' Treatise on Electricity and Mag- 

 netism," 3d ed. (1892), Vol. 11., pp. 211 et seq. 



2 Lodge, ' ' Modern Views of Electricity, ' ' 3d 

 ed. (1907), p. 89. 



3 Nichols, PhysiTc. Z., 7, p. 640 (1906). 



A coil of wire was rotated about its axis and 

 suddenly brought to rest. The two ends of the 

 rotating coil were connected through an external 

 circuit with a highly sensitive ballistic galvanom- 

 eter and the deflection of the galvanometer noted 

 when the coil was stopped, the pulse of electricity 

 thus measured being produced by the tendency of 

 the electrons in' the wire to continue in motion 

 after the rest of the coil was at rest. A number of 

 serious accidental effects had to be eliminated.. 



Prom the results of the measurements it was 

 possible to calculate the effective mass of the elec- 

 tron in copper, silver and aluminum, the values ob- 

 tained being not far different from that of the 

 mass of the electron in free space. 



The authors believe that their results are in ac- 

 cord with the ' ' free electron ' ' theory of metallic 

 conduction and present serious obstacles to Sir J. 

 J. Thomson 's* recent theory of the conducting 

 process ia metals. 



Contact Electromotive Force of Amalgamated 



Metals: P. J. Rogers. 

 Electromotive Force of Metallic Sulphide Elec- 

 trodes: S. W. Young and W. E. Bueke. 

 Change of Potential of the Same Metal in Differ- 

 ent Electrolytic Solutions: Philo P. Hammond. 

 Voltaic cells were formed by using ' platinum 

 electrodes for both the cathode and the anode, but 

 with different salt solutions surrounding each elec- 

 trode, the two solutions being connected by a 

 capillary tube or a gelatine partition. One tenth 

 normal solutions were used in every ease. Each 



i'Sir J. J. Thomson, PUl. Mag., 30, 192 (1915) ; 

 see also Richardson, Hid., 30, 295 (1915). 



5 Ferric nitrate. 



6 Ferrous nitrate. 



