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work of an advisory nature was carried out. able research has been performed by Mr. E. A. Speyer, who has now accepted a forestry appointment in Ceylon, and by Mr. W. E. Hiley. The finances of the Forestry School are assisted by an annual grant of 250l. from the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries.

THE authorities of the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, may well be proud of the part which members, students, and past-students of the college are taking in the King's service in connection with the war. A list, confessedly incomplete, which has been issued, gives the names of 1023 officers, non-commissioned officers, and men, together with their rank, regiment, or ship, and the last year in college, all of whom have been thus connected with the college, and the names of forty-seven other men serving about whom particulars are as yet unknown.

A COPY of the calendar for the session 1914-15 of the University College of North Wales has been received. The new calendar follows on the same lines as those of previous issues. We notice that during 1913-14 the extension work in agriculture carried out by the college was placed, as regards organisation, on a new footing. In three of the North Wales counties served by the college, advantage was taken of the offer of Government help through the Farm Institute Fund to increase very greatly the sum annually devoted to agricultural instruction and to place the work in the hands of county organisers, appointed by the college, but working under the directions of the county agricultural committees. Special lecturers in horticulture, poultry-keeping, and dairy work are also provided by the college for county work.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES.

LONDON.

Royal Society, February 11.-Sir William Crookes, president, in the chair.-Dr. D. H. Scott: Lepidostrobus kentuckiensis, nomen nov., formerly Lepidostrobus Fischeri, Scott and Jeffrey.-A correction. The name Lepidostrobus Fischeri having been anticipated by Renault in 1890, it is necessary to give a new name to the Kentucky cone_described by Scott and Jeffrey (Phil. Trans., Ser. B., vol. ccv., 1914, p. 354). The fossil is now named Lepidostrobus kentuckiensis.-T. Lewis and M. A. Rothschild: The excitatory process in the dog's heart. Part ii.-The ventricles. (1) The excitation wave appears at the pericardial surface of the dog's heart at times which show no great variation relative to each other; but the distribution of the time values over the surface with such variations as they show is very fairly constant from heart to heart. (2) The time at which the excitation wave appears at the surface is controlled by the length of the Purkinje tract to the endocardium beneath the region tested, and by the thickness of the ventricular muscle in the same region. (3) The excitation wave is not propagated by simple spread from base to apex or apex to base through bands of muscle fibres, as has commonly been held hitherto. (4) The capacity of striated cardiac tissue to conduct appears to be related to the size of the cells composing it and to its load of contained glycogen. (5) The auriculoventricular bundle and its branches constitute a system of fibres specially endowed in regard to their arrangement and physiological properties to give quick distribution of the excitation wave throughout all parts of the ventricle.-A. J. Walton: The variation in the growth of mammalian tissue in vitro according to the age of the animal. Previous work has

shown that plasma of animals varies considerably in its value as a medium for the cultivation of tissue. The present experiments were carried out with a view of determining whether these differences were due to the age of the animal from which the plasma was obtained. The tissues and plasma of rabbits were alone used, and the majority of animals were of a known age. Tissues of young and old animals were used and were grown in pure plasma from the same animals. In all cases it was found that the young tissues grew better than the old, but the plasma of the young animal was not nearly so satisfactory a medium as that of the old animals. Hence the best results were obtained when young tissues were grown in the plasma of old animals and the worst results when old tissues were grown in young plasma.

Geological Society, February 3.-Dr. A. Smith Woodward, president, in the chair.-Prof. T. McKenny Hughes: The gravels of East Anglia. The author discusses the sources from which the subangular gravels that cover such large areas in East Anglia can have been derived. He points out that their great variety of fracture, colour, etc., proves that they cannot have come directly from the Chalk, or from Boulder Clay derived directly from the Chalk, or from the Lower London Tertiaries, none of which contain subangular gravels but only beds of pebbles, and those mostly of small size. The character of the flints in the gravels indicates that they have been derived from surface-soils which have been winnowed and shifted by soil-creep, rain, and streams, until arrested on the terraces and flats of the valleys. The dry land of Miocene age was the first over which the flints of our gravel-beds could have received that subaerial treatment which they all seem to have undergone.-E. Anderson and E. G. Radley: The pitchstones of Mull and their genesis. The pitchstones here discussed occur with extraordinary frequency, intruded into the Tertiary plateau-lavas of the eastern portion of the Ross of Mull, as well as in less number in other parts of the island. They fall into two main divisions, distinguished by the absence or by the presence of porphyritic felspars. The petrological characters of these pitchstones, and their more crystalline margins, are such that they seem to warrant the grouping of the rocks under a new type-name, and the name leidleite has been chosen. The porphyritic pitchstones occur as flat or gently-inclined sheets; they also are associated with a more crystalline phase, and have been grouped under the type-name inninmorite.

Zoological Society, February 9.-Mr. R. H. Burne, vice-president, in the chair.-E. G. Boulenger: An Aglyphodont Colubrid snake (Xenodon merremii), with a vertically movable maxillary bone. The vertical mobility of the maxillary bone in snakes had previously been regarded as essentially characteristic of the Viperidæ. Observations on the snake in question, which was recently received by the society from Mr. W. A. Smithers, showed that the mobility of its maxillary bones was so great that the fangs could be not merely erected, but were capable of being thrust forward and sideways, the mechanism being as perfect as in any of the vipers. Mr. Boulenger pointed out that the discovery of a solid-toothed Colubrid with vertically movable maxillæ went a long way towards settling the so often discussed problem of the derivation of the viperine maxillary bone. The author traced the probable evolution of the bone, expressing the opinion that the Viperidae were descended from the Opisthoglyph Colubrids, and that the old view, recently revived, that they were of Proteroglyph

ancestry, must be abandoned once and for all.-Dr. W. Nicoll: A new species of liver-fluke from the kestrel.

Mathematical Society, February 11.-Prof. A. E. H. Love, vice-president, in the chair.-G. H. Hardy and J. E. Littlewood: (i) The zeros of the Riemann zetafunction. (ii) An assertion of Tchebychef.-G. B. Jeffery: The steady motion of a solid of revolution in a viscous fluid.-S. T. Shovelton: Relations amongst Bernoulli's and Euler's numbers.-W. P. Milne: Apolar generation of the quartic curve.

CALCUTTA.

Asiatic Society of Bengal, January 6.-Maude L. Cleghorn: A note on the floral mechanism of Typhonium trilobatum. Describes the trap-mechanism of the spathe, by means of which beetles are ingeniously captured at night to ensure cross-pollination. The trap-mechanism of this plant resembles that of the Cuckoo-pint (Arum maculatum) in the entrance and exit of the trap being above and at the same opening, but differs from it in the deliberate opening and closing of the passage leading down into the trap. Its floral mechanism does not seem to be so perfect as that of the common Kachu (Colocasia antiquorum), but it appears to be an advance on that of the Cuckoopint.-F. H. Gravely: The evolution and distribution of Indian Spiders belonging to the sub-family Aricularinæ. The Ischnocoleæ found in the Indian Peninsula and Ceylon form a very compact group, probably related to those of other parts of the world through their most primitive species only. It is concluded that the Poecilotherieæ have originated from the Ischnocoleæ as a result of their adaptation to a new environment in the Indian Peninsula or Ceylon, to which they are still confined.

DUBLIN.

Royal Dublin Society, January 26.-Prof. H. H. Dixon in the chair.-Prof. W. Brown: The subsidence or damping of torsional oscillations in iron wires is much less than in nickel wires, and is greater in an alternating magnetic field than in a direct field, whilst the reverse is the case with soft nickel wires. With iron wires when the longitudinal load on the wire is sufficiently increased, the damping curves obtained in the direct and alternating magnetic field are identical. Results are also given for iron wires alloyed with silicon, chromium, and nickel, as well as for two non-magnetic wires.-Prof. H. H. Dixon and W. R. G. Atkins: Osmotic pressures in plants. V.-Seasonal variations in the concentration of the cell sap of some deciduous and evergreen trees. A series of cryoscopic nd conductivity measurements made on the sap pressed from plant organs after treatment with liquid air showed that the greater part of the osmotic pressure is due to dissolved carbohydrates. The concentration of electrolytes in leaves increases with age. A similar increase was not found in the roots of Ilex aquifolium. The concentration of carbohydrates fluctuates greatly, and causes large variations in the osmotic pressure. In the leaves of Syringa vulgaris it was found that the osmotic pressure rose from the opening of the buds and reached its maximum in August. The leaves of both Ilex and Hedera showed higher osmotic pressures in winter than in summer. The osmotic pressure of the tissues of the roots of Ilex attained its maximum in September.

PARIS.

Academy of Sciences, February 8.-M. Ed. Perrier in the chair.-A. Lacroix: The existence of grained nepheline rocks in the volcanic archipelago of Kerguelen.-G. Bigourdan: Application of the angular comparator to the determination of astronomical re

fraction and its constant. Details of the proposed method for using the instrument described in a recent paper to measure atmospheric refraction.-Armand Gautier: The influence of fluorine on plant growth. In certain rare cases the presence of fluorides in the soil inhibits growth, but in general it has a stimulating effect on growth, flowering, and the formation of seeds.-Ed. Delorme: Wounds of the external genital organs.-J. Guillaume: Observations of the sun made at the Observatory of Lyons during the second quarter of 1914. Observations were made on seventy-one days, and the results are given in three tables showing the number of spots, their distribution in latitude, and the distribution of the faculæ in latitude.-E. Goursat: A class of integral invariants.-Et. Delassus : The theory of unilateral finite linkages.-Léon Bloch : The theory of absorption of light in metals and in insulators.-F. Bodroux: The preparation of esters. Mixtures of alcohol, water, and formic acid give formates on slow distillation, but formic acid has very slight catalytic power in ester formation from other acids. The mixture of sulphuric and hydrobromic acids obtained by decolorising a mixture of bromine and water with sulphur dioxide is recommended as a catalyst, and details are given of its use in the preparation of propyl and isobutyl bromides.-L. Grimbert and O. Bailly: A method for distinguishing the glycerophosphoric mono-esters and on the constitution of crystallised sodium glycerophosphate.-A. Sartory and L. Spillmann: The bacteriology of gaseous gangrene. In agreement with the results of Weinberg, Doyen, and Yamanouchi, the authors find present in all cases Bacillus perfringens in the gangrene pus. Other organisms are present, but this bacillus appears to be the most important as regards pus formation.-P. Mazé: The determination of the rare mineral elements necessary to the development of maize. Boron, aluminium, fluorine, and iodine are necessary for the growth of maize.-Em. Bourquelot, M. Bridel, and A. Aubry: The biochemical synthesis of the B-monoglucoside of ordinary propylene glycol with the aid of emulsin.

THE gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society was presented, at the meeting of the society on February 12, to Prof. A. Fowler in recognition of his spectroscopic investigations of sunspots, stars, and comets, and related laboratory researches. In a short survey of Prof. Fowler's work, the president, Major E. H. Hills, referred to his association with, and extension of, the study under laboratory conditions, initiated by Sir Norman Lockyer, of various elements represented in celestial spectra. By these means he discovered that many of the band lines peculiar to the sun-spot spectrum are due to magnesium hydride, the existence of which, together with flutings of titanium oxide and calcium hydride, indicate that spots are regions of reduced temperature. This view was further supported by the observation that the "long" lines of the higher chromosphere are generally weakened in sun-spot spectra, while the "short" lines of the lower chromosphere are generally widened or strengthened. The arc spectrum of scandium was shown to consist of two distinct sets of

lines which similarly present a differential behaviour in the spectra of the sun, sun-spots, and chromosphere. In the field of stellar spectra, Prof. Fowler proved that the chief substance concerned in the production of the flutings characteristic of stars of the Antarian type is titanium oxide. The tail spectrum of comets was identified by him with the spectrum of carbon monoxide at extremely low pressures-o'or mm. or less; and during this research a new highpressure (100 mm.) spectrum of the same carbon compound was discovered. Investigations of spark spectra, and particularly of Sir Norman Lockyer's class of "enhanced lines," led to the discovery of a new ultra-violet series ascribed to "proto-helium," and also to a series of close doublets having the sparkline of magnesium, A 4481, as its leader. The bearing of these series upon theories of the constitution of the atom was discussed in the Bakerian Lecture delivered by Prof. Fowler before the Royal Society last year (NATURE, April 9, 1914, vol. xciii, p. 145).

PROF. CARL THEODOR LIEBERMANN, who died on December 28 of last year, at the age of seventy-two, left behind, in his numerous published researches, the record of a remarkably active scientific career. Carl Liebermann was born in Berlin in 1842, and spent the greater part of his life in his native town, first as assistant to Prof. v. Baeyer, and later as professor of chemistry in the Technical College of Charlottenburg, It was in Baeyer's laboratory in 1868 that young Liebermann, with his colleague, Carl Graebe, made the famous discovery of the synthesis of alizarin from anthracene, which, like modern synthetic indigo, revolutionised the colour industry of the time, and brought to a sudden end the cultivation of the natural product. It would be impossible in the course of a short notice to attempt to enumerate the variety of problems in organic chemistry to which Liebermann devoted his long life. Following up his first investigation, he made a comprehensive study of the various hydroxyderivatives of anthraquinone and the corresponding derivatives of naphthalene (naphthazarin), from which he was led to formulate a theory of coloured com

pounds and mordants. He included in his researches the study of many natural and artificial dyestuffs, such as brasilin, rhamnetin, quercetin, chrysarobin, cochineal, coerulignone, and a variety of phenol colouring matters, the structure of which he was able in many cases to ascertain. In later years he turned his attention to the alkaloids, especially the numerous constituents of the coca-leaf, which he isolated and studied. Among these constituents he examined cocaine, for which he devised a method of synthesis, cinnamylcocaine, the truxillines, which he also synthesised, and also ascertained the structure of the interesting pair of truxillic acids with which they are combined; benzoylecgonine; tropa-cocaine and hygrine. The latter he also found in Peruvian cusco-leaves, together with cuscohygrine. Prof. Liebermann received the honorary degree of D.Sc. of the University of Leeds in 1906, and was also an honorary fellow of the Chemical Society.

WHEN Columbus discovered and landed on Jamaica during his second voyage, in 1494, he found it populated by Arawak Indians, who, after some hesitation, followed by bribing, received the white men in a friendly spirit. The subsequent settlement of the island by the Spaniards, and the impressment of the natives for work in the gold-mines of Haiti, as well as for agricultural labour in their own island, soon led, however, to their extermination, and by 1558 the whole Arawak nation appears to have been completely wiped out. To recover traces and relics of this lost race has been the self-imposed task of Mr. G. C. Longley, of Pelham Manor, New York, who for the last half-dozen years has passed the winter in the island exploring the old kitchen-middens. The result is a collection of some 1500 celts, fragments of pottery, grinding-stones, stone-pendants, etc., all of which have been presented by the collector to the American Museum of Natural History. They form the subject of an illustrated article by Mr. Longley in the American Museum Journal for December, 1914.

A NOVEL kind of nesting-box made of bark in the shape of a slug, so as to be almost invisible when affixed to the trunk or arm of a tree, is described and illustrated in the Selborne Magazine for February.

A WELL-MERITED protest against the treatment of horses with the home troops in the early part of their training in certain districts is formulated in the February issue of the Animals' Friend, where it is stated that horses taken out of good stables were tethered in the open during wet and cold weatherin some cases even without rugs. Many fine horses, can testify from personal knowledge, were utterly ruined, if not actually killed, by such treatment.

as we

IN his annual fish-notes from Great Yarmouth, for 1914, Mr. A. H. Patterson, in the January number of the Zoologist, expresses the opinion that the fecundity of the herring is so great as to render it impossible for sea-birds, such as gannets and cormorants, even to reduce, let alone deplete, the shoals

that annually visit our coasts. The reduction in the numbers of cetaceans in recent years must also be taken into account, as well as the increasing capture of dog-fishes for food. Nothing can ever exhaust the shoals save the trawl-net, which in a few hours can destroy, in the shape of ova on the sea-bed, millions more potential herrings than those devoured in the adult state by birds in a twelvemonth.

THE most striking photographs in the January number of Wild Life are those of the head of a Guinea baboon and of a magnificent cluster of eggs of the large yellow underwing moth. In some instances a moth of that species will lay no fewer than two thousand of these beautifully sculptured eggs. which are at first white, but change to purple before hatching. Another good sample of photography is a badger just peering out from its "sett" beneath the trunk of a giant oak. The writer of the accompanying letterpress, or at all events the editor, should, however, have known that it is quite out of date to refer to the badger as "Ursus" meles. Indeed, the practice of introducing the scientific names of well-known animals in publications of this nature is altogether unnecessary.

THE Imperial Department of Agriculture for the West Indies has issued a useful pamphlet (No. 76) dealing with Indian corn (maize). The cultivation, husking, milling, etc., are described in detail, and the insect pests are fully treated with the aid of illustrations. Of these the corn-ear worm," Laphygma frugiperda, is the most serious.

INDIAN Forest Bulletin, No. 26, gives an account of the resin industry in Kumaon, the preliminary experiments for which were carried out by Dehra Dun officers twenty-five years ago. The oleo-resin

from the Chír pine (Pinus longifolia) is now successfully obtained by methods similar to those in use in the Landes district of France, and 43,000 maunds of crude resin were yielded in 1913-14.

THE buildings of the Forest Research Institute at Dehra Dun are described and illustrated in the December number of the Indian Forester. The buildings just completed consist of a main research institute in which the fine library is housed, a chemical laboratory with a separate distillery and separate gas-house, workshops for the economist and entomologist, an insectary, and a students' labora

tory.

The buildings are in red brick, uniform in style but unfortunately very far from beautiful.

THE Potamogetons of the Philippine Islands have been examined by Mr. A. W. Bennett, and his account appears in the same number of the Philippine Journal of Science. Only one new species is described. The almost world-wide range of some of the species of these aquatic plants is of interest,

P. angustifolius, for instance, being found in Europe,

North America, Cuba, Madagascar, India, China, and Luzon. P. pusillus is equally widespread. P. javanicus appears to be the only species found in the Philippines which extends to Australia.

IN 1901, amongst 2000 seedlings that were raised from the nuts of a certain black walnut (Juglans Californica) tree, growing at Santa Ana, in California, there were found twenty plants with peculiar foliage. The parent tree, which was normal, had large compound leaves, each composed of eleven to nineteen leaflets. The peculiar seedlings bore small leaves, each made up of three leaflets, or in rare cases reduced to a single leaflet. Mr. N. B. Pierce, of Santa Ana, writing in NATURE, September 10, 1914, p. 34, considered this sport to be a hybrid between the Californian walnut and the evergreen oak, Quercus agrifolia, which grows in the same region; and the occurrence of a supposed bigeneric cross created a sensation in California. The sport, while interesting, seems merely to be a case of arrested development, exactly similar to that of the simple-leaf ash well known in Europe, and figured in NATURE, January 7, 1915, p. 522. Prof. Babcock, of Berkeley University, has made an elaborate study of this sport, publishing the results in two profusely illustrated bulletins ("Studies in Juglans," i. and ii., Univ. of California, Pub. in Agri. Sciences, vol. ii., 1913, 1914), and comes to the conclusion that there is no evidence of hybridisation, and that the sport does not arise from visibly malformed flowers or fruits. He states that a normal tree has been found which annually produces a small percentage of the trifoliolate form. This is exactly the case with the simple-leaf ash, and the real cause of the arrested development which is present is as yet unexplained.

THE Monthly Meteorological Charts of the Atlantic and Indian Oceans for February, 1915, which have

recently been issued by the Meteorological Office, give

much detail of interest to the seaman, such as winds, currents, barometric pressure, temperature, and ice. The Atlantic chart mentions that the frequency of fog in February is similar to that recorded since October, and the maximum frequency in mid-Atlantic seldom exceeds 5 per cent., as against 40 per cent. in July. Steamers making the Transatlantic passage in February are not likely to be hindered by fog. Thick weather is, however, commonly experienced from December to February near the African land, due largely to dust blown seaward from the Sahara. Charts of mean salinity and surface temperature are given for the Atlantic and for the English Channel for October, 1914. The isohalines coupled with the sea surface isotherms will be of considerable scientific value with the extension of the period. The Indian Ocean chart has a copious note on submarine seismic disturbances. It mentions that some years ago the late Sir G. H. Darwin, member of the Meteorological Council, pointed out that probably the actual places of origin of earthquake shocks are usually situated under the sea in proximity to a coast. Numerous extracts are given from special meteorological logs kept on board ship, and in these the sensation is commonly described

as though the vessel was grinding over a rocky bottom or reef.

IN his address to the physics section of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in

We will leave our readers to make their own comments. There are a vast number of quotations like these, which seem to be stirred in at random. We believe Prof. Martin's countrymen have a prejudice against Greek, but in our opinion his book would have gained enormously in interest and value if he had included some Greek quotations, or at least translations of them. For instance, Homer's passage on the nightingale is even finer than Virgil's. (See Odyssey xix., 518.) But "a detailed study of the birds in the English poets is, perhaps, our most immediate need" (Preface, p. 1). Prof. Martin may be glad to see our own Laureate at his best in "Nightingales":

Alone, aloud in the raptured ear of men

We pour our dark nocturnal secret; and then,
As night is withdrawn,

From these sweet-springing meads and bursting boughs of May,

Dream, while the innumerable choir of day

Welcome the dawn.

We gladly acknowledge that Prof. Martin has done a great deal of hard spadework which will serve as a foundation for future writers. He has

written a modest, honest, and very painstaking book, displaying a German thoroughness which we should like to have seen turned to better account.

Many of his American quotations are extremely pretty, and it is a pity that his gold should suffer from contact with so much dross. Work of this kind should be done, as he confesses in his preface, "preferably by a native, on the ground; and it may well be the task of some future Thoreau or Burroughs." T. F. ROYDS.

DR

years the

FACTORY ECONOMICS. The Modern Factory, Safety, Sanitation, and Welfare. By Dr. G. M. Price. (New York: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.; London: Chapman and Hall, Ltd, 1914.) Price 17s. net. R. PRICE has been for some Director of the Joint Board of Sanitary Control in the mantle, costume, and blouse industries in the United States, a new experiment in the sanitary control of an industry by organised employers, organised workers, and representatives of the public. He was also director of the investigations of the New York State Factory Commission in 1912 and 1913, and his previous ex

perience as a sanitary inspector and as practitioner in a crowded section of the East End of New York entitles him to speak with authority on the close relation between factory conditions and industrial health. His book is one which should especially commend itself to employers, his clear style and practical knowledge enabling him to dispense with the technical terms which so frequently deter business men from profiting by scientific studies of health conditions.

The chapter on the rise, growth, and influence of the factory is as good as any history of all industries in all countries in all times contained in thirty-eight pages can possibly be. The coincidence of a great increase of population in England with an alleged increase in occupational mortality, both due to the same cause, does not receive either here or anywhere else the attention it deserves.

The rest of the volume has the freshness and originality which only practical knowledge can give. In a short notice it is only possible to direct attention to the wealth of detailed examination of means of improving factory conditions, and to give a few quotations bearing on questions of pressing importance in the United Kingdom.

With reference to underground bakeries and other employment in cellars, Dr. Price concludes: "Cellars cannot be kept clean as other parts of the house, for they are semi-dark, contain most of the plumbing pipes and fixtures, and are, as a rule, the dumping-ground of the whole house. Cellars are also the natural habitation of insects, rodents, etc., and are also in proximity to breedingplaces of flies, which are attracted to the foodstuffs" (p. 50).

The desirability of paying attention to beauty in architecture is urged, but rather from the point of view of the community living in the neighbourhood than of the worker. It must be remembered that money spent on front gardens and outsides of factories does not necessarily guarantee even good surroundings for the workers inside.

Fifty-seven pages with twenty-two illustrations are devoted to the causes and prevention of factory fires. The chapter on factory accidents and safety contains 103 pages and eighty-one illustrations. The estimates quoted of accidents in the United States (pp. 133-4) will not bear cross-examination and would be better omitted. The chapter itself is of the highest value. Attention should be paid to the section on accidents due to the physical unfitness of workers: "Not only should there be a routine physical examination of every worker in every establishment before employment, but there should be a periodical examination not less than once in three months, by competent medical men,