quent acquisition of extended and more definite patho. logical knowledge, the field of greatest surgical activity has been the abdomen-abdominal surgery, as we now know it, has been created. Tens of thousandspossibly millions-of human lives have been saved in this field alone, and the amount of pain and discomfort alleviated has been enormous.

Surgeons of all countries have contributed to this beneficent result, and have vied one with another in restoring health and comfort to the community, thus adding greatly to the economic prosperity of the

nations.

Compound fractures, so fatal in pre-Listerian days, were not only robbed of their fatality, but surgeons became emboldened to make compound fractures for the rectification of malformation of the limbs.

Compound fractures, under the heading of osteotomies, have been performed aseptically in thousands -the bones healing aseptically. A portion of bone which has been fractured and displaced may be removed, placed in aseptic solution, pared, rearranged, and returned to its proper place in the body, where it will live and grow, and become restored to its functional use. Defects in the bone of one person may be made up by grafting on a portion of bone removed from another. A transplanted bone may be divided into little pieces, and a mosaic work of new bone may be placed in another animal to restore defects.

Asepsis, along with better knowledge of the physics of the pleura, has enabled surgeons to penetrate into the lungs and to remove therefrom pathological products, with a gratifying amount of success. Portions of lung have been removed, and several times the whole of one lung has been successfully taken away- | the patients still continuing to enjoy life, working for their own living and one, at least, for that of his family.

Aseptic surgery has enabled operations upon the brain to be safely undertaken, and brain surgery has kept pace with the localisation of cerebral function. Its further development rests with the increase of precise data on that subject. Direct experiment on the brains of lower animals furnished excellent data on the localisation of the motor functions, but in. formation as to the localisation of the higher intellectual functions must be gathered by patient clinical observation.

The discerning eye and the discriminating sense guiding the educated finger with its softness and lightness of touch have, under asepsis, carried out many operative procedures on diseased brains, where the tangled skeins of that delicate fabric have been unravelled.

Considering the delicacy of the organ, and the fact that in many instances life has been sapped at the governing centres of energy by the pathological lesions, operations on the brain have been very successful, many of them veritably snatching the patient from the brink.

The consummation of all that surgical activity has been attained by the introduction of aseptic practice, surgery having been re-developed since the introduction of Listerian principles and treatment.

Personal Teaching and Demonstration versus Books. It is fashionable nowadays to decry university teachers and professors, many regarding them as an effete remnant of antiquity. It is contended that all that is required is to issue a paper or a book and allow the students to read at their own firesides instead of compelling them to attend lectures and demonstrations in a university.

It is true that formerly the teaching extended only

so far as the teacher's voice could carry, but now one can write in one's own laboratory, and, if the message be important, it will be borne to the limits of the civilised world, and thus it is possible to instruct an audience of unlimited size.

There is, however, a difference between teaching by books and viva voce teaching and demonstration. Some things may be explained by means of clear writing and may be understood by correct reading, but there are other things difficult of comprehension in detail without the aid of practical demonstration. More especially is this the case when one has not the opportunity of personal contact with the introducer or with one who has seen his practice and followed his methods. No matter how well a statement may be written, impressions are drawn from it which differ according to the preparedness and previous experience of the mind of each individual reader. Personal observation produces a much more vivid impression and generally corrects individual misconstruction.

As professor of surgery in Glasgow, Lister followed the Scottish method, teaching the principles of surgery in the University, and afterwards demonstrating his methods in the wards of the infirmary. His lectures in the University and his observations in the wards were complementary to each other, and gave a groundwork more thorough than could otherwise have been obtained. Those who had been so taught found his methods simple and easy of execution, and were often astonished at seeing others less fortunate falling into serious errors in their attempt to carry out the antiseptic practice after reading Lister's papers alone.

There were many earnest men-professors of Continental universities, amongst others-who were well qualified to read correctly what had been written, yet who, having read, were not satisfied, but straightway desired to be brought into personal contact with the professor, in order that they might hear his teaching from his own lips and see the practice carried out by his own hands.

Prof. Saxtorph, of Copenhagen, was amongst the first of the many distinguished visitors to the Glasgow Royal Infirmary to see Lister's practice and to study his methods. After a few days he remarked that the seeing of the practice persuaded him of its feasibility, and that it then seemed much easier than it did when he had only read Lister's papers. So it was with many others.

Lister as a Scottish and as a London Professor.

Lister's teaching was more rapidly propagated among the students he had in Scotland than among the London students. The position which he occupied as a Scottish professor aided in this, as it was different from that held by him as professor of surgery in a London hospital.

In London in those days, the bulk of students desired, naturally, to take the membership of the College of Surgeons, and most teachers at that time taught to the requirements of the Board of Examination, otherwise their prelections were not specially sought after. In London, Lister was teaching a new doctrine, not yet generally homologated, and his wards were attended by few students compared with the numbers that surrounded him in the Scottish universities. On the other hand, Lister had less time to devote to the teaching of students, as London was more accessible to foreign visitors, and many of his days were devoted to demonstrations for their benefit.

As a Scottish professor, Lister's position offered the greatest advantage for the dissemination of his doctrines. He could teach his own students what he

believed to be true, and, if necessary, teach them in advance of the time, as the teaching and the examination were both under his supervision. Hence Glasgow students were the first to become imbued with the spirit and to grasp thoroughly the principles of antiseptics, which they carried into practice. Scottish students thronged his wards and lecture-theatres in the infirmaries, an eager, critical, and ultimately an enthusiastic crowd, bringing inspiration to their teacher, whose principles and practice they afterwards bore to the ends of the earth, even before many examining boards were prepared to accept his teaching.

Lister's Influence on the Scottish Students. Lister's presence in the Scottish universities was of the utmost value. By him teaching was maintained at a high level; he used the universities to stimulate thought, and therein aided them to perform their highest function. It was an inestimable blessing to a university to have such a man in it, and a priceless privilege to the students-to those of them who could appreciate it to be allowed to stand silently by and watch the habit of mind and see how the brain worked. He was a man in earnest, and therefore he taught. His teaching was supported by direct appeal to nature. He accumulated data by observation and experiment, from both of which careful deductions were drawn. As a thinker, Lister did good by laying bare the difficulties he encountered in carrying out his projects, and his modes of overcoming these difficulties. In this way he stimulated and propagated the thinking faculties of the student. He showed his methods and thereby paved the way for others to follow.

In Glasgow Lister not only promulgated the theory of antiseptic surgery, but he worked out and thoroughly established its utility in practice, leaving behind him a body of enthusiastic disciples. After spending, as Regius professor of surgery, nine of the most active years of his life, and those fullest of scientific fruition, Lister passed quietly from Glasgow without public recognition of his services, the general body of citizens being unaware that a great scientific achievement had been wrought in their midst. It was long afterwards, when "all the world wondered,” that Glasgow became alive to what it had possessed-and lost.

The Students' Appreciation of Lister.

As to the manner in which Lister was viewed by the Glasgow students, the following is an extract from a letter written me by a friend and fellowstudent, which so well expresses my own views that I give it in his words:

"We students were all very much impressed by the personality of Lister. His mild expression and his grave demeanour gave him benign dignity which could not fail to command respect. Even the impediment in his speech, which in another man might have been a source of annoyance to his hearers, seemed in his case only to add to the weight of what he said; and as he spoke slowly not a word of his lecture was lost. You remember how his students more or less unconsciously fell into a way of speaking which was a

manifest echo of the master's voice. This affectation on the part of the students was simply an indication of the hero-worship which pervaded Lister's class, for there is no doubt we all idolised him.

"I understand it has been said of Lister that he was not a good lecturer, and that he was not a brilliant operator. You and I can laugh at such statements. Lister's lectures were all that could be desired. His subject-matter was always interesting-generally intensely so; his thoughts were clear and well defined,

and he conveyed them to his hearers in choice and vivid language which left no doubt as to his meaning. As to his operating slowly, did he not tell us that the advent of anesthesia by chloroform had rendered it unnecessary and undesirable to hurry through the work? Lister was thinking out and developing the antiseptic system at that time, and we were privileged to listen day by day as he informed us of his difficulties and how he proposed to overcome them; and so we watched the progress of those early stages which laid the foundation for the final triumph. .. Above and beyond all petty details rises the towering personality of the man while the mind dwells fondly on the grandeur and beneficence of his achievements." (J. W. Allan.)

From another of Lister's Glasgow students, and one who was his house-surgeon in the Royal Infirmary, Dr. J. Coats (now Colonel Coats), who was among the first to practise antiseptic surgery in private, an interesting letter of reminiscences has been received, from which the following is culled :—

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'One day when Lister was visiting his wards in the Glasgow Royal Infirmary, there was a little girl whose elbow-joint had been excised, and this had to be dressed daily. Lister undertook this dressing himself. The little creature bore the pain without complaint, and when finished she suddenly produced from under the clothes a dilapidated doll, one leg of which had burst, allowing the sawdust to escape. She handed the doll to Lister, who gravely examined it, then, asking for a needle and thread, he sat down and stitched the rent, and then returned the dolly to its gratified owner."

On one occasion on which Lister visited my wards in the Royal Infirmary, after he had been for some time in London, we were walking together from a ward in one part of the building to a ward in another, by means of a gangway of wood and glass, when Lister remarked: "Macewen, do you find this bridge a convenience to your work, for if so, you have to thank me, as I was instrumental in getting it put up?" I replied, "Yes, it is a convenience, but it is nothing compared to the greater gangway you provided, by which the patients after operation cross directly from the wards into the midst of life and health." I received a kindly look, a suppressed smile, and a pressure of the arm.

In Edinburgh, though his system was met by some with determined opposition, it was adopted more or less thoroughly by others, and by many of the younger men enthusiastically. The students, though doubtful at first, began to observe his results, and soon became admirers of Lister and his work.

When Lister entered the clinical theatre of the old infirmary to deliver before a crowded audience his last lecture there, he was presented with a farewell address from the students. As he rose to reply, the air was rent with a rousing cheer that shook the building to its foundation. A cheer such as only British students —at rare moments-know how to give. It is spontaneous, and bursts like a blast from the throat of a whirlwind. Lister was fairly overcome. One who was near him, as a quiet observer, saw that he first became pale, and then a blush covered all his visible anatomy to the tips of his fingers. In a few moments he recovered, and said: "Gentlemen, I can recall my reception in the surgical theatre in Munich, on my visit to Nussbaum, where I was greeted with a German Hoch.' It was to me almost overpowering in its enthusiasm, but it was as nothing compared to this." (Dr. Young.)

That spontaneous outburst issuing from four hundred throats made amends for much. laurel crown offered by the students.

It was the That rousing

cheer reverberated through his whole being, and left such deep impression as doubtless would be with him to the end.

In the evening of his long life, when he stood apart from the honours which had been showered upon him, there remained to him the greatest of all rewards, a clear conscience and the knowledge that he had devoted his life to and had achieved a great work for the good of humanity.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE.

DR. A. D. Ross, lecturer on natural philosophy in the University of Glasgow, has been appointed to the chair of mathematics and physics in the University of Western Australia.

Ar a special meeting of the council of Hartley University College, Southampton, held on December 30, Dr. Alexander Hill, late master of Downing College, Cambridge, was unanimously elected principal at a salary of 1000l. a year.

MR. FRANK Roscoe, who for the past twelve years has been master of method in the Day Training College of the University of Birmingham, has been appointed secretary of the Teachers' Registration Council.

THE general meeting of the Association of Public School Science Masters will be held at the London Day Training College, Southampton Row, W.C.,_on January 8 and 9; in connection with the meeting Dr. T. P. Nunn will deliver a series of addresses on the afternoons of January 6 and 7, upon "The Theory of Science Teaching, with Special Reference to the Conditions in Boys' Schools." On Wednesday, January 8, the president of the association, Sir Archibald Geikie, K.C.B., P.R.S., will deliver an address, and there will be a discussion upon the aims and uses of school science societies. On January 9 the subjects to be discussed are:-Practical examinations in science, the teaching of mechanics, and the value of presenting the historical aspect in teaching science. A paper urging that the teaching of density should be placed in the background and be superseded by the idea of "Roomage," or specific volume, will be read by Mr. G. F. Daniell.

WE learn from Science that by the will of the late Prof. Morris Loeb, formerly professor of chemistry in the New York University, large bequests are made to scientific and educational institutions. Subject to the life interest of Mrs. Loeb, 100,000l. is bequeathed to Harvard University for the advancement of physics and chemistry, 5000l. is left to the American Chemical Society for the establishment of a type museum of chemicals, to be established in the Chemists' Club of New York City, the U.S. National Museum, or the American Museum of Natural History, and 5ool. is bequeathed to the National Academy of Sciences. The Hebrew Technical Institute receives 10,000l. The residuary estate, subject to Mrs. Loeb's life interest, is to be divided equally among the Smithsonian Institution at Washington and certain New York institutions, including the American Museum of Natural History, the Hebrew Technical Institute, and the Educational Alliance. The Smithsonian stitution receives its bequest to further the exact sciences. The American Museum of Natural History is to secure a collection for the illustration of the industrial use of natural products in ancient and modern times. The Hebrew Technical Institute is to establish technical courses for mechanics.

In

was

THE report of the hundred and sixteenth session of the Royal Technical College, Glasgow, which used to be known as the Glasgow and West of Scotland Technical College, is a record of satisfactory progress. The number of day students for the session 1911-12 was 572; of evening students, 4691; and of students in affiliated continuation classes, 8682. The college is therefore the centre of an organisation responsible for the education of 13,945 individuals. The corresponding number for the preceding session 13,473. The increase in the number of day students was twelve. The roll of students contained the names of 157 graduates of the four Scottish universities, and of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, London, Manchester, Durham, Leeds, Sydney, Adelaide, Calcutta, Allahabad, and Heidelberg. Although seven large laboratories were provided for pure and applied chemistry in the new buildings recently opened, they have already proved insufficient, and, in consequence, an additional chemical laboratory, to accommodate seventy-two students, has been provided by transferring to the corridors on the same floor the contents of the museum of technical chemistry. Such rapid development of an industrial department is good evidence that the college maintains its position as possessing one of the leading schools of applied chemistry. The new lectureship in sugar manufacture, founded with the aid of subscriptions from firms and individuals interested in this industry, has been established. Proposals have been made for the establishment of a lectureship dealing with leather-tanning, but the governors are obliged to postpone taking steps in this direction until subscriptions are forthcoming to meet at least one-half of the probable expense, as was done in the case of the lectureship in sugar manufacture. In other departments of the college there are similar developments, and the report makes it clear that under its new name this Scottish technical college is entering on a career of increased usefulness.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES.

LONDON.

Linnean Society, Derember 19, 1912.-Prof. E. B. Poulton, F.R.S., president, in the chair.-Cecil H. Hooper Experiments on the pollination of hardy fruits, with observations on the insect visitors to the blossoms. Strawberries, provided there is wind, set fruit well without insects. Raspberries and loganberries set fruit imperfect in shape if insects are excluded. Currants and gooseberries, owing to the construction of their flowers and pollen, cannot be pollinated and set their fruit without the visits of insects. All these plants set fruit perfectly with pollen of the same variety or even of the same flower; but in the case of the apple, pear, plum, and cherry, this is not always the case, many varieties being selfsterile, and almost all produce more abundant and finer fruit with pollen of another variety. In these trees there is little transference of pollen by the wind, and even if a self-fertile tree is enclosed in muslin whilst in blossom (there being ample movement of the wind, insects only being excluded), it is the exception for any fruit to set; it is the same with gooseberries and currants. In trials with apples, only nineteen varieties out of sixty-five proved self-fertile; in pears, four out of thirty; in plums, twenty-one out of forty-one; in cherries, five out of twelve; whilst, when cross-pollinated, in three-quarters of the trials one or more fruits set on a truss. There seems to be a preference as to pollen, some varieties setting better with pollen of one variety than with that of another;

and some varieties will not set with certain pollen. Out of nearly 3000 insects observed last spring visiting the blossoms of the various fruit bushes and trees, 88 per cent. were hive-bees, 5 per cent. bumble and other wild bees, and 6 per cent. flies, ants, beetles, wasps, and other insects; but the latter group have not fluffy bodies for carrying pollen, and amuse themselves eating the pollen.-H. M. Chibber: The morphology and histology of Piper Betle, Linn.

MANCHESTER.

Literary and Philosophical Society, November 26, 1912.-Prof. F. E. Weiss, president, in the chair.— Prof. F. E. Weiss: The root-apex and young root of Lyginodendron. This genus, one of the CoalMeasure plants, the remains of which are frequently preserved in the calcareous nodules of the Lancashire coal seams, is of peculiar interest, owing to the position assigned to it and allied genera. Fern-like in appearance, it is known to have borne seeds of considerable complexity, and it has therefore been placed in a newly established group of Pteridosperma, between the true ferns and the flowering plants. As among other characters, these two groups are distinguished by the possession of a single cell or multiple group of such cells at the apex of their roots, an investigation of the root-tip of Lyginodendron is of some interest. Careful examination of numerous sections tends to prove that the structure of the root-tip of Lyginodendron agrees more closely with that of the ferns than that of the flowering plants.-Dr. Kurt Loewenfeld: The importance of autograph documents for the history of science (part ii.). The author dealt chiefly with letters by Priestley and Lavoisier. These included letters to Sir Joseph Bank and Josiah Wedgwood, and others relating to the Birmingham riots in 1791. The draft of a letter of the French chemists, offering to make good all Priestley's losses through the riots, was read. It is noteworthy, especially considering the scientific relations between Lavoisier and Priestley, that this draft had corrections by the hand of A. L. Lavoisier, which makes it evident that this letter originated from him.

DUBLIN.

Royal Dublin Society, December 17, 1912.-Prof. James Wilson in the chair.-J. Adams: The germination of the seeds of some dicotyledons. Investigations were made to determine how long the seeds of a particular species of plant remain in the ground before they germinate. Observations were made on 278 different species of plants belonging to 190 genera, and representing fifty-eight families. In some cases the seeds germinated after a few weeks, while in others, such as the hawthorn, a year and a half was required. The characters of 158 species not included in Lubbock's treatise are given. The majority of the seeds used were of British species, but a few exotic_species, such as almond, fig, &c., were included.-Prof. T, Johnson Bothrodendron (Cyclostigma) Kiltorkense, Haughton, sp. The paper treats of specimens

obtained by the author at Kiltorkan, co. Kilkenny, and of others in the collections in Dublin and London. An attempt is made to prove that B. Kiltorkense, abundant at an epoch when Lepidodendron and Sigillaria were either non-existent or, if formed, still relatively rare, and showing pronounced calamitoid characters-including transverse zonation (nodal diaphragms?) and vertical fluting-is the earliest and best representative of the ancestral stock from which the Lycopodiales and Equisetales took their common origin.-Prof. J. Joly: A method of microscopic

measurement. This is one which apparently has not hitherto been applied in microscopy; it consists observing with the camera lucida the object to t measured, in such a manner that its image appear upon a sheet of paper on which two lines have bee drawn slowly diverging from a point. By shifting the paper the image is made to fit exactly betwee the lines, the position where it fits being marked A similar operation is performed with a suitab divided millimetre scale. From the data so obtained a simple calculation gives the diameter of the_object. -Prof. H. H. Dixon and W. R. G. Atkins: Osmotic pressures in plants. (a) Methods of extracting se; from plant organs; (b) osmotic pressures and electrical conductivities of the saps of plant organs. (a) Various methods of obtaining sap for microscopic conductivity measurements are discussed. It is shown that the sap pressed from living tissues may have è concentration very different from that in the vacuoles of the cells, the protoplasm of which must be rendered permeable before the unaltered sap can be pressed Exposure to heat, toluene vapour, or chloroforms open to objection. Treatment with liquid air seems free from objection, renders the membranes permeable, and allows the unaltered sap to escape. Cryoscopic and conductivity measurements on this true sap show that it is usually much more concentrated than that pressed from the untreated organs. An extreme example of this is afforded by the leaf of Chamaerops humilis. (b) The fundamental error in previous cryoscopic and conductivity measurements of the sap of plants, which was pointed out in the foregoing paper (a), renders revision of previous results necessary. The present paper contains a number of results of cryoscopic determinations, osmotic pressures resulting from them, and conductivity measurements made on saps obtained from organs treated with liquid air.

EDINBURGH.

Royal Society, December 16, 1912.-Prof. Bower, vice-president, in the chair. Irvine Masson: The precipitation of salts by corresponding acids. If B is the initial solubility in pure water, and b the solubility for acidity a, then within fairly wide limits it is found that the ratio a/(B—b) is a constant, on which the change of temperature seems to have little effect. Its value is very nearly unity for the chlorides and nitrates experimented with. The main object of the paper was to connect by means of this empirical formula the two recognised methods for studying experimentally these relations, namely, the "solubility" method, which determines directly the solubility of a salt in water containing the acid in varying concentrations, and the precipitation" method, as used by Gibson and Denison, which aims at ascertaining the minimum concentration of aqueous acid which when added in small quantities to the saturated aqueous salt solution causes deposition of salt. Prof. Seward and N. Bancroft Jurassic plants from Cromarty and Sutherland. The material included Hugh Miller's collection in the Royal Scottish Museum, a section of a cone in Dr. Kidston's collection, petrified wood from Helmsdale lent by Dr. Horne, and two fossils found by Dr. Nathorst on the Sutherland coast. The examination of the material had led to the recognition of six new species, Thinnfeldia scottica, Brachyphyllum eathiense, Masculostrobus Woodwardi, Conities Juddi, Cedroxylon Hornei, and Strobilites Milleri. Prof. F. J. Cole: A monograph on the general morphology of Myxinoid fishes, based on a study of Myxine. Part V. The anatomy of the gut and appendages. Tate Regan: Antarctic fishes of the Scottish

C

National Antarctic Expedition. The fishes, which were collected in the vicinity of the South Orkneys, Falkland Islands, and Gough Island, include forty-eight species, of which ten are new to science. The report is supplemented with a monograph on the Nototheniidæ and related families, a revision of the Qoarcidæ, and notes on the systematic position and distribution of the Galaxiidæ. It also includes an account of a new genus taken in South Georgia, and named Chaenocephalus salveseni. Prof. Émile Topsent: the Porifera of the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition. Several new genera and many new species are described from high southern latitudes and also from great depths.

PARIS.

Academy of Sciences, December 23, 1912.-M. Lippmann in the chair.-Gaston Darboux: Surfaces of translation.-G. Lippmann: An electric time-measuring apparatus for the comparison of two periodic phenomena. An arrangement of two electrical contacts on a tube rotating at a known uniform rate, and each separately adjustable, so that the time elapsing between the two contacts can be made any fraction of a second, read directly from the instrument. As examples of applications of the instrument are given the comparison of two sidereal clocks, the reception of Eiffel Tower signals, and the emission of time signals. -Th. Schlosing, Jun.: The detection and estimation of free white phosphorus in phosphorus sesquisulphide. The method is based on extraction with a low boiling petroleum ether, and subsequent determination of the ratio of phosphorus to sulphur in the residue left after evaporating the ether.-M. Gouy: The spontaneously ionised gases. A reply to some criticisms by C. G. Darwin.-M. Guntz was elected a correspondant for the section of chemistry in the place of the late M. Cannizzaro, and M. Lehmann a correspondant in the section of mineralogy in the place of the late M. Zirkel. Kr. Birkeland: The source of the electricity of the stars. A discussion of the possibility of the stars and the sun becoming negative by the loss of positive electrons.-E. Belot: The material of satellites with respect to the density of the planets, their time of rotation, and their superficial structure.-D. Th. Egoroff: The integration of functions.-N. Lusin: The properties of Denjoy's integral.-P. Montel: The existence of derived functions.-W. H. Young: Fourier's series convergent nearly throughout.-S. Lattès: The reduction of linear substitutions.-M. Nörlund: Linear equations with finite differences.-Witold Jarkowski: The equation of the barogram of the ascent of an aeroplane.-Jules Roux: The law of Stokes and the charge of an electron. A study of the fall of sulphur spheres of small radius in xylene and the application of Stokes's formula, modified by Cunningham, to the results.-M. Jouguet: The stability of equilibrium of a system enclosed in a cover impervious to heat.-E. Briner and E. L. Durand: The action of temperature on the equilibrium of nitric and nitrous acids, formed by starting with the oxides of nitrogen and water. An increase in the pressure of the NO and lowering of temperature both favour the formation of nitric acid.-Auguste Piccard: The constitution of water and the thermal variation of its magnetisation. On the assumption that any body has a constant diamagnetism so long as there is no change of state the temperature coefficient of magnetisation described in an earlier paper has been applied to determine the constitution of water. The results are in general agreement with those deduced from the change of density with temperature.—J. A. Muller: The mode of ionisation of sulphuric acid in dilute aqueous solution. A discussion of the experimental data given appears to show that in dilute aqueous solution sulphuric acid

ionises into the ions H and HSO1, and this ionisation takes place with evolution of heat within the limits of temperature studied.-M. Hanriot: Tempering of metals without deformation.-Marcel Ostwald: Some properties of the alkaline nitrites. A description of the mode of preparation of the pure nitrites, followed by data relating to the appearance, melting points, densities of solids and solutions of sodium and potassium nitrite.-Daniel Berthelot and Henry Gaudechon: The photolysis of various bioses and trioses by the ultra-violet rays.—Jacques Duclaux: The polymerisation of bodies at low temperatures.Echsner de Coninck: The determination of the atomic weight of uranium. The value 2384 is derived from the ignition of the oxalate.-Léon Guillet: The copperzinc-nickel alloys.-Léo Vignon: The fractional distillation of coal. Five samples of coal were heated successively to 400°, 600°, 850°, 1000°, and 1200° C., and analyses made of the gas given off at each temperature. Maurice Lanfry: The action of hydrogen peroxide on oxythionaphthene, oxythionaphthenecarboxylic acid and thioindigo.-P. Carré : Contardi's glycerotriphosphoric acid. An adverse criticism of Contardi's results. Marcel Godchot and Félix Taboury: The bromination of cyclopentanone.—A. Mailhe: The nitro-derivatives of the oxide of metacresyl.-Georges Tanret: The presence of stachyose in the bean and in the seeds of some other Leguminosæ. Stachyose forms a strontium compound, and this was utilised in the detection of this sugar in various Leguminosa.-G. André: The hydrolysis and displacement by water of the nitrogenous and mineral matters contained in leaves.-Marin Molliard: The hypertrophiant action of the products elaborated by Rhizobium radicicola. An account of comparative experiments on the growth of the pea in water and in water containing the secretory products of the above-named parasite.-L. Armand Germination and development of the embryo in the Lobeliaceæ.-Pierre Teissier and Pierre Louis Marie: Attempts at variolic serotherapy. —J. Renaut: The direct connective filiation and development of arterial muscular cells.-Jacques Mawas: The form, direction, and mode of action of the ciliary muscle in man.-Jacques Pellegrin: New contribution to the ichthyological fauna of Lake Victoria (Africa).-A. Magnan: The functional adaptation of the intestine in ducks. A reduction in the length of the intestine has been obtained experimentally by change of food.-D. Keilin: The structure of the pharynx in the larvæ of some Diptera as affected by the nature of the food.-M. Javillier: The substitution of various chemical elements for zinc in the culture of Sterigmatocystis nigra. Cadmium is the only element analogous to zinc in its action on the growth of this fungus. The presence of a ten-millionth part of cadmium increases the yield 2'6 times.—Em. Bourquelot and H. Hérissey: The synthetical reaction between galactose and ethyl alcohol under the influence of kephir.-L. C. Maillard: The formation of humus and of mineral combustibles without the intervention of atmospheric oxygen, of micro-organisms, of high temperatures, or of strong pressures. The interaction of amino-acids with sugars gives brown condensation products containing nitrogen, and regarded by the author as analogous with the humus extracted from soil. Carbon dioxide is evolved in this reaction, which takes place in the absence of oxygen. This reaction is regarded as explaining the natural formation of humus.-Gabriel Bertrand and F. Medigreceanu: The temporary fixing and mode of elimination of manganese in the rabbit.-H. Bierry and Mme. Z. Gruzewska: A new method for the determination of glycogen in the liver. A modification of Pflüger's method, permitting more rapid estimations without loss of accuracy. Comparative figures are given for