October 1, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



465 



the ability of Azotohacter to grow in the pres- 

 ence of ether consisted in placing cylinders of 

 potato in test tubes having plugs of absorbent 

 cotton in the bottom saturated with pure 

 ether. The slant of the potato was inoculated 

 with the organism and incubated at room 

 temperature. These cultures almost inrari- 

 ably had a growth at the end of from eight to 

 ten days. The growth on potato had a decided 

 stringiness. Stains from such a mass re- 

 vealed a dense zooglea. 



In the case of the cultures in liquid ether 

 the only apparent source of carbon is the ether 

 itself, and the bacteria are therefore under the 

 necessity of using this in their metabolic proc- 

 esses. When the flasks containing old cultures 

 were examined from day to day it was possible 

 to detect what appeared to be the odor of alco- 

 hol and ether alternately. The successive 

 hydration of ether and dehydration of alcohol 

 would account for this phenomenon, but the 

 probability of bacteria being able to induce 

 these changes is certainly extremely remote. 

 The oxidation of ether has recently been 

 shown to result in the formation of aldehyde 

 and acetic acid. Any attempt, however, to 

 explain the nature of the process taking place 

 in the flasks would be mere speculation, since 

 the matter has not been experimentally inves- 

 tigated. Maurice Mulvania 



Knoxville, Tenn. 



THE BOYAL SOCIETY OF CANADA 

 The thirty-fourth annual meeting of tlie Eoyal 

 Society of Canada was held in Ottawa, May 24 to 

 May 27, inclusive, under the presidency of Sir 

 Adolphe B. Eouthier. The attendance was one of 

 the largest in the history of the society, founded 

 in 1882 by the Marquis of Lome, at the time gov- 

 ernor general of Canada. The four sections into 

 which this national society is divided met under 

 their respective presidents: Section I., French lit- 

 erature, history, archeology, etc. (in French) ; 

 Section II., English literature, history, archeology, 

 etc. In this section the following papers are of 

 scientific value: "Some Notes upon the Discovery 

 of a Prehistoric Human Skeleton in British Co- 

 lumbia, ' ' by Charles Hill-Tout. This skeleton came 

 ' ' from Undisturbed Strata in the white silts of the 

 Interior Plateau" of that province, near Kam- 

 loops, and places the prehistoric history of man in 



western Canada back to the glacial period. "So- 

 cial Organization of the West Coast Tribes," by 

 Professor Adam Shortt, C.M.G., also forms an in- 

 teresting study. 



Section III., dealing with the mathematical, 

 physical and chemical sciences, comprises numer- 

 ous papers of special interest and value. 



Professor R. F. Euttan (McGill University), dis- 

 cussed ' ' The Chemistry of Adipoeere. ' ' 



This paper deals with the changes in animal fats, 

 as the result of prolonged action of moisture with 

 the exclusion of air. The adipoeere studied was 

 foimd in a recent Post-Tertiary deposit of wet soil 

 near Ormstown, Quebec. The material had the 

 general character and appearance of soft chalk to 

 the touch. 



Another paper by Dr. Euttan was entitled ' ' Gly- 

 col Esters of the Fat Acids, ' ' pointing out a new 

 series of fats formed by the replacement of ethyl- 

 ene glycol for the glycerol of ordinary fats. 



Dr. Harding presented the result of investiga- 

 tions by him and Messrs. A. E. Maclean and F. H. 

 S. Warnef ord, on ' ' The Ninhydrin Eeaction, ' ' 

 being a critical study of this reaction for alpha 

 amine acids, its quantitative relations and the 

 chemistry of the color produced. 



Then followed numerous contributions in the 

 physical and mathematical sciences, and in astron- 

 omy, spectroscopy, electricity, metallurgy, meteorol- 

 ogy, etc. These include: 

 A Comparison of Badium Standard Solutions: J. 



MoREAN. Presented by Professor A. S. Eve, 



F.E.S.C. 

 Notes on the Penetrating Badiation from the 



Earth: Professor A. S. Eve, F.E.S.C. 

 Some Experiments on the Thermionic Current: 



Professor A. S. Eve, F.E.S.C. 

 The Solar Botation: Dr. J. S. Plaskett, F.E.S.C. 



This paper gives the values of the spectroscopic 

 determination of the Solar Eotation from plates 

 made at Ottawa in the years 1911, 1912, 1913. A 

 summary of the rotation values at different lati- 

 tudes, the formula connecting the variation of ve- 

 locity with latitude and discussions of other im- 

 portant aspects of the question was given. 

 The Determination of the Distance of the Nearer 



Stars from their Proper Motions and Badial 



Velocities: Eeynold K. Young, Ph.D. Pre- 

 sented by Dr. J. S. Plaskett, F.E.S.C. 



From 167 stars whose parallax, radial velocity 

 and proper motion are known, the direction and 

 magnitude of the solar motion was found. The 

 mean distance of the stars was evaluated by a 

 comparison of the mean radial velocity and mean 



