doubt that the protective use of tetanus antitoxin is the principal cause of the disappearance of tetanus among our wounded; there are but very few cases of it now. Sir William Osler, at the annual meeting of the Research Defence Society on June 30, rightly emphasised this point; it does not need to be emphasised for those of our readers who are medical men and have watched cases of tetanus.

After the meeting Dr. Andrew Balfour gave a demonstration of the protective treatment against typhoid, showing, with admirable ingenuity, how completely the resistance of the body to invading germs may be described in terms of human warfare. Not all men of science are skilful in the use of parables,

but he is.

Some day, those of us who live long enough will be able to read the medical and surgical history of the present war. It has been taken in hand by many writers of authority, and it will be fine reading. It will interpret to us one of the noblest records of science in practice. Interpreters of science, popularisers of science, are always useful, and the Research Defence Society has certainly done useful work by interpreting and popularising the methods and the achievements of modern physiology and pathology.

FERROMAGNETISM AND THE A2
TRANSFORMATION IN IRON.

RECENT years have witnessed a remarkable concentration of experimental research on the critical point A2 in iron. Moreover, whereas up to the year 1904 investigations of this character were carried out chiefly by metallurgists and engineers, since that date there has been a most welcome entry of physicists and physical chemists into this field of research, who in virtue of their different training and outlook have investigated the problem from a somewhat different point of view, and, it must be granted, by more rigorously scientific methods. The paper by Mr. Kotaro Honda, of the Imperial Tohoku University, Japan, on the nature of the A2 transformation in iron, presented at the spring meeting of the Iron and Steel Institute in London, is a valuable contribution by a physicist who has made a special study of this question for a number of years.

Broadly speaking, there are three views of the nature of the A2 transformation which the author summarises in the following language:

"(1) The transformation is an allotropic change (a to B) occurring at a definite temperature, or at least within a small range of temperature; (2) B-iron is not an independent phase but a solid solution of a and y iron; (3) the transformation is not an allotropic change but an intermolecular change taking place in the a phase within a considerable range of temperature."

The first view is historically the oldest, and is particularly identified with the late M. Osmond. It was warmly adopted by Roberts-Austen and his co-workers, and is apparently still supported by Tammann, Howe, Sauveur, Burgess, and Rosenhain, although it raises several difficulties in explaining the facts actually observed. The second view was enunciated in 1912 by Benedicks, but although at first sight a promising case was made out, and it appeared to be supported by a test research published by Carpenter in 1913, it is in conflict with many well-established facts, and has been practically abandoned. The view that A2 is not an allotropic or phase change was first put forward by H. Le Chatelier, and shortly afterwards by P. Weiss. It numbers among its additional supporters at the present time Benedicks, Hadfield, Carpenter, Edwards, McCance, and Honda. It is the most modern view of the nature of the transformation.

Mr. Honda's experimental contributions to the study of the nature of the A2 critical point as revealed in his paper relate to (1) the thermal changes associated with the transformation; (2) magnetisation at high temperatures; and (3) magnetic expansions at high temperatures. With respect to the first-named they confirm what has long been known, viz., that the heat evolution on cooling, and heat absorption on heating corresponding to the A2 transformation take place over a wide range of temperature, at least 100° C., although the greater part is evolved or absorbed within 30-40° C. The complete range, however, is probably considerably more than 100° C. A transformation extending over so wide an interval cannot properly be regarded as an instance of "one-phase allotropy." Neither is it correct to speak as Burgess and Crowe do of the temperature at which dq/de is a maximum, as the critical point or range. The author regards the temperature at which the heat evolution begins on cooling, or the heat absorption ends on heating, as the critical point, and uses the expression in this sense. It is also the temperature at which ferromagnetic iron becomes paramagnetic, or vice versa.

The most important section of Honda's paper is that dealing with magnetisation at high temperatures. Many metallurgists hold the view that the magnetisation of ferromagnetic metals undergoes an abrupt change at their critical points, but this is seldom the case. In fact, the course of the temperaturemagnetisation curves changes markedly with changes of strength in the magnetising field, and Honda's experiments on pure iron, nickel, and various kinds of steels show this clearly. In a very weak field the magnetisation of iron and nickel increases with temperature at first slowly, and then very rapidly, and after reaching a sharp maximum it falls extremely quickly at the critical temperature. If the strength of the magnetising field is augmented this effect of increasing magnetisation becomes continually less. In a field of several gauss the magnetisation remains constant up to the critical point and then falls very rapidly. With further increase of field the magnetisation begins gradually to decrease from a temperature which is lower as the field is stronger, and in a field of several hundreds the magnetisation begins gradually to decrease from the room temperature. In all cases the effect of temperature on magnetisation is twofold, and the observed change of magnetisation is the sum of these two effects. The first effect is specially conspicuous in weak fields, and becomes continually less as the field is increased. It is similar to the wellknown mechanical tapping on magnetisation, which it increases, the thermal agitation playing the part of mechanical shocks. The second is a reversible effect, and always acts in diminishing magnetisation. incessant thermal impacts the molecular magnets execute rotational vibrations about their mean orientations, and the mean magnetic effect is diminished by the vibration. It is easy to see therefore that the decrease of magnetisation increases with the amplitude of rotational vibration-i.e. with rise of temperature. In very strong fields the first effect no longer obtains and there exists chiefly the second reversible effect of temperature.

By

Mr. Honda has concerned himself only with the latter, which is much the more important of the two. With respect to iron, his conclusion is as follows:"In strong fields when the irreversible thermal effect is negligible the magnetisation begins to diminish from the lowest temperature, the change per degree of temperature increasing at first gradually but becoming always greater as the critical temperature is approached. If the change of magnetisation indicates that an intermolecular change is taking place in the substance which at the same time manifests itself

as the evolution or absorption of heat, then the two quantities q and I must vary parallel to each other. Strictly speaking, therefore, the heat should begin to be absorbed from the lowest temperature in the case of heating, though its amount is negligibly small, except in the A2 range.'

Mr. Honda also tested the question whether the magnetic and thermal changes are really different aspects of one and the same transformation taking place in the substance. This was done by making simultaneous observations of the magnetisation and the heat evolutions or absorptions in the critical range. Both for iron and nickel it was found that the temperature of the beginning of the magnetic "transformation" on cooling, and that of its ending on heating, coincide well with the corresponding temperatures of heat evolution and absorption respectively. In other words, the critical temperature as determined magnetically agrees with that as determined thermally.

ferro

The final section of the paper contains a summary of the author's theory of ferromagnetism, according to which the shape of the molecules of a magnetic substance is nearly spherical, whereas in a paramagnetic substance the molecule has an elongated or flattened form. The transformation of a ferromagnetic to a paramagnetic substance at high temperatures is explained as a consequence of the gradual deformation of the spherical molecules with rise of temperature. The paper is one which should certainly be studied by those who are interested in the A2 transformation, not only in pure iron but also in steels. H. C. H. C.

RECENT MARINE RESEARCHES.

THE report of the Danish Biological Station for 1914 contains two papers describing investigations which have been carried out at the station with a view of determining the importance of the detritus derived from the decay of Zostera and other sea-weeds as a source of food for the invertebrate bottom fauna in Danish waters. The idea was recently put forward by Dr. C. G. Joh. Petersen that in these waters this organic detritus is of much greater importance than the plankton. P. Boysen Jensen, in a paper entitled Studies concerning the Organic Matter of the Sea Bottom," deals with the question from a chemical point of view. By determination of the quantity of pentosan in proportion to the amount of organic matter it was found that Zostera was relatively far richer in pentosan compounds than the plankton organisms. The organic matter of the sea bottom occupied an intermediate position. The author conIcludes that in the more sheltered waters the organic matter of the sea bottom is almost exclusively derived from Zostera, whilst in more open waters plankton organisms are possibly of some importance.

The second paper is by cand. mag. H. Blegvad, on food and conditions of nourishment among the communities of invertebrate animals found on or in the sea bottom in Danish waters. The stomach contents of a great many animals from different localities have been studied, but unfortunately the discussion of the observations is somewhat illogical and unbalanced, so much so that it is difficult to avoid the fear that a certain amount of unconscious bias may even have crept into the observations on which the discussion is based. The author summarises his conclusions as follows:-"Detritus forms the principal food of nearly all the invertebrate animals of the sea bottom, next in order of importance being plant food from fresh benthos plants. The value of the living phytoplankton in this connection is absolutely minimal, amounting in any case to nothing more than an indirect significance through the medium of the plankton copepods." NO. 2384, VOL. 95]

A distinct advance in the study of the question of the determination of the age of fishes by the markings on the scales has been made by O. Winge in a paper on the value of the rings in the scales of the cod as a means of age determination, illustrated by marking experiments (Meddelelser fra Kommissionen Havundersøgelser, ser. Fiskeri, Bd. iv., No. 8). The work is based chiefly on material obtained from cod which were marked and liberated by Dr. Johs. Schmidt in the neighbourhood of the Faroes and of Iceland. Samples of the scales were taken before the cod were liberated, and again on their recapture, and the two have been compared. Considerably more than half the cod marked were recaptured, some of them after an interval of a year or more. A novel and very convincing method of recording the results of the examination of the scales has been used. The lengths of the individual sclerites on a line from the centre to the periphery of the scale have been measured, and the measurements recorded in the form of curves. These curves bring out with great clearness the difference between the summer and winter growth. The otoliths of the fish have also been studied, and the author finds that a very high degree of uniformity exists between the growth of the scales and that of the otoliths, both exhibiting growth rings by which the age of the cod can be determined.

In a paper entitled "The Salinity and Temperature of the Irish Channel and the Waters South of Ireland" (Fisheries, Ireland, Scientific Investigations, 1913, vol. iv. [1914]) Mr. Donald J. Matthews gives an account of the hydrographical investigations which were carried out by the Irish Fisheries Department between February, 1903, and May, 1912. The results are based chiefly on observations made on quarterly cruises, which took place in February, May, August. and November, supplemented by temperature records and salinities obtained at more frequent intervals from lightships. An excellent series of charts and sections is given setting forth the mean surface and bottom temperatures, and salinities for each of the months February, May, August, and November, and for the whole year. The saltest water enters the Irish area between Land's End and the Scilly Islands, and this current of salt, warm water is derived from a current which has already entered the English Channel from a south-westerly direction. This salt, warm current gives rise to a peculiar cyclonic circulation in the southern entrance of the Irish Channel, which may prove to be of considerable biological importance. The author considers it possible that a layer of high salinity water, traces of which are met with off the south-west of Ireland, may be connected with the salt intermediate layer which flows out of the Mediterranean into the Atlantic, and has previously been found far to the northwards of the Straits of Gibraltar. A salinity maximum which occurs off the south-west of Ireland in May is perhaps due to this Mediterranean water. The paper concludes with a discus sion of the annual temperature changes in deep water.

of consecration to the task of training young engineers for their highest service to mankind and to the country.

The institute owes its origin to a gift of 100,000 dollars from John Boynton, supplemented by another gift of 50,000 dollars from Ichabod Washburn. The fundamental idea of the latter was a commercial shop in which students should find laboratory practice in connection with the academic training necessary to make of them engineers and chemists. As Mr. Boynton said, "The benefits of the school are not to be confined to the theories of science, but as far as possible they shall extend to the practical application of its principles in the affairs of life." The shop was regarded as an experiment, but it has turned out to be successful, both as an educational department of a college, and as a successful commercial venture. At first, the opinion was widespread that the school would become a place for educating mechanics and foremen, on account of a peculiar apprenticeship system that prevailed in the early years. It has developed into a professional school for applied science, giving the degrees in engineering and in chemistry. The shop has taken its place as a natural and practical laboratory within a college, exactly as the clinic or hospital may be associated with the medical school. Its organisation is permanent, and it would remain as a manufacturing establishment if every student left the school. The students therefore do not take an essential part in manufacturing, but they use a large part of the shop as their laboratory in the science of manufacturing. The term "scientific management" is vague, but the essential parts of that management which teaches a young man all of the elements, including the actual work, the organisation, the accounting, and the cost systems, are found in the Washburn shops.

The addresses of the celebration laid especial emphasis on the higher education of men for applied science, using the Worcester Polytechnic Institute as a good example of what may be accomplished in that direction. The speakers on June 9 were Mr. A. Lawrence Lowell, president of Harvard University; Dr. John A. Brashear, president of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers; Hon. David I. Walsh, governor of the State of Massachusetts; Hon. John H. Weeks, Senator for Massachusetts; Howard Elliott, president of the New York and New Hampshire Railways; Major-General Leonard Wood, former chief of staff of the United States Army; Ira N. Hollis, president of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and others.

President Lowell's address was significant in the text of his subject. "The thing that abolished slavery," he declared, "was not so much the change in morals as it was the change in the control of the forces of nature, without which the change in morals could not have taken place. This enlarged control of the forces of nature is what has made it possible for us to live in modern civilisation. The threatened exhaustion of natural resources and the gigantic destruction of human life and of wealth in the world conflict presents a challenge as to whether we have intelligence enough to prevent the serious set-back to civilisation that may follow. In meeting this challenge, large trustworthiness must be placed upon the schools of applied science.”

He

General Wood's speech related almost wholly to the establishment and maintenance of a citizen soldiery behind a small regular army in the United States. commended the example of Switzerland as a country effectively prepared against war, securing a maximum of defence while avoiding a great military burden, the diversion of the people from their ordinary business, and the sacrifice of their ideals of democracy.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL

INTELLIGENCE.

LEEDS. The following honorary degrees were conferred at a Congregation held on July 3-Doctor of Laws: Dr. David Forsyth, headmaster of the Leeds Central High School. Doctor of Science: Mr. Harold W. T. Wager, F.R.S., one of H.M. Inspectors of Schools, who began his professorial career at the Yorkshire College, and is distinguished by his researches in cytology and cytology and other biological fields. Master of Science: Mr. T. H. Nelson, of Redcar, a distinguished ornithologist, author of "The Birds of Yorkshire "; Mr. W. Denison Roebuck, joint author of "Handbook of the Vertebrate Fauna of Yorkshire "; Mr. T. Sheppard, curator of the Hull Museums, author of "Geological Rambles in East Yorkshire,' The Lost Towns of the Yorkshire Coast," and many geological and archæological memoirs; Mr. J. W. Taylor, author of a "Monograph of the British Land and Freshwater Mollusca "; Mr. J. G. Wilkinson, past-president of the Leeds Naturalists' Club, distinguished by his extensive and exact knowledge of the structure of plants, though blind; Dr. T. W. Woodhead, lecturer in biology at the Technical College, Huddersfield, hon. secretary of the Yorkshire Naturalists' Union, and author of various biological memoirs.

OXFORD.-The Halley lecturer for the year 1916 is Prince Boris Galitzin, professor of physics in the Imperial Academy of Sciences, Petrograd. The subject of the discourse is not yet announced.

It will be remembered that at the time of the appointment of the present Waynflete professor of chemistry, Prof. W. H. Perkin, F.R.S., the University decided on the erection of a new chemical laboratory. The building, designed by Mr. P. Waterhouse, is now nearly finished. It occupies a site in the southwest angle of the Parks, close to the University Museum, and has a frontage in South Parks Road. The expense of the actual building was largely provided by the Endowment Fund presided over by 'Lord Curzon, as Chancellor of the University, and also by a timely and generous donation of 5000l. from Mr. C. W. Dyson Perrins, formerly of Queen's College. But Mr. Perrins's munificence has not stopped here. He has lately offered to present to the University a further sum of 25,000l., of which 5000l. is to be applied to the equipment of the laboratory, and the remaining 20,000l. is to form a permanent endowment fund for maintenance of the laboratory and for the encouragement of research and instruction in chemistry. The University is thus relieved from anxiety about the upkeep of the department—a matter which is frequently lost sight of by benefactors. There is now every prospect that the new laboratory will open in October next under the happiest auspices, and that the wise provision made by Mr. Perrins for research will bear ample fruit in the future.

By the will of the late Alderman Owen Ridley, University College, Reading, receives 1000l. for the building or equipment of new college premises, 250l. for the assistance of necessitous students, and 200l. for prizes for evening class students.

WITH the issue of the Athenaeum for July 3 is published the first instalment of a Subject Index to Periodicals, which our contemporary is undertaking at the request of a committee appointed for the purpose by the Library Association. To begin with, the progress of science and technology in 1915, with special reference to the war, is being indexed. We welcome this attempt to provide a much wanted guide to current literature, and trust that with competent scien

tific assistance a comprehensive and representative index will shortly be forthcoming.

Ar the last meeting of the council of the University College of Wales at Aberystwyth it was announced that Mr. S. G. Rudler has founded a scholarship in memory of his brother, the late Mr. F. W. Rudler, who was professor at the college from 1875 to 1879, before taking up his work at the Royal School of Mines. Mr. Rudler has also allowed the college to acquire at a small cost the collection of scientific instruments, minerals, fossils, gems, and curiosities, and the library formed by his brother during a period of fifty years. The library includes not only standard works on geology, but also collection of 3000 pamphlets on geological and kindred subjects.

a

THE issue of Science for June 18 announces the following gifts to American colleges. Two anonymous gifts of 30,000l. and 20,000l. to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology for dormitories; for funds to construct the mining building some 45,00ol. has been offered by Messrs. C. Hayden, T. Coleman du Pont, and S. Pierre du Pont, past and present presidents of the du Pont de Nemours Powder Co. Mr. Coleman du Pont, with a gift of 100,000l., made the purchase of the technology site in Cambridge possible. Messrs. C. A. Stone and E. S. Webster have undertaken to provide a residence for the president. Mr. J. R. Lindgren, of Chicago, has bequeathed half his estate, valued at 210,000l., to Northwestern University, subject to certain life annuities. From the same source we learn that the sum of 6000l. has been given to Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., towards the endowment of a chair of anatomy, and it is stated that in the near future the sum will be doubled.

THE Calendar for the Imperial University of Tokyo is instructive reading, tracing as it does the development of a highly organised University where scientific research lives and thrives from what was, a generation ago, little more than a high-class school. There are six colleges-law, medicine, engineering, literature, science, agriculture-with a staff of professors, assistant-professors, and lecturers numbering close on 400, who teach and train some 1500 students. Barely 5 per cent. of these are students of science, while the law students number nearly 40 per cent. of the whole. Some idea of the specialisation attained may be gained from the statements that there are twenty-six professorial chairs to about seventy students in the College of Science, and that of these there are four chairs in mathematics, three in physics, two in theoretical physics, four in chemistry, three in zoology, three in botany, two in geology, and one each in mineralogy, geography, seismology, and anthropology. The journal of the college, which began publication in the year 1887, has now reached its thirty-fifth volume, and contains many important memoirs, chiefly in English, on all branches of pure science, contributed for the most part by the Japanese themselves. With the exception of the Law College, all the other colleges also publish memoirs or bulletins. This is a remarkable record, and shows that the ideal aimed at is being successfully maintained.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES.
LONDON.

Challenger Society, June 30.-Dr. G. H. Fowler in the chair.-C. Tate Regan: The fishes of the Macquarie Islands. Attention was directed to the importance of these little-known islands from a faunistic

point of view, lying as they do near the boundary between the Antarctic and Subantarctic zones.-Dr. W. T. Calman: The distribution of Antarctic Pycno

gonida. This paper was based on a study of the collections obtained by the British Antarctic (Terra Nova) Expedition, 1910. No fewer than forty-three species were obtained, of which eleven will be described as new. These results accentuate the remarkable richness of the Antarctic Pycnogonidan fauna and its preponderance over that of the Arctic seas, regarded until recently as the headquarters of the group. Only a few species have been definitely proved to have a circumpolar distribution, but it is certain that the number will be greatly increased by further collecting, although some cases of more restricted range (e.g. the species of Decolopoda) are already known. isolation of the fauna is shown by the fact that not more than two or three species are definitely known to extend, in shallow water, into the Subantarctic zone. DUBLIN.

The

Royal Dublin Society, June 22.-Prof. W. Brown in the chair.-W. D. Haigh: A method for the estimation of hygroscopic moisture in soils. In the ordinary method of determining the hygroscopic moisture in soils difficulties occur from the fact that other vapours besides hygroscopic water may be given off by the soil when heated. The power of calcium carbide to act as a desiccating agent has of recent years been put to practical use. It has been applied to the determination of moisture in wool, explosives, etc. Calcium carbide possesses the advantage that the only ordinary substance which will react with it is water, and the acetylene evolved can be readily measured. The method consists of mixing the soil with an excess of finely powdered calcium carbide. The reaction is com plete in a few minutes, and the volume of acetylene is measured in a nitrometer over mercury. It has been found that the results obtained are consistent and agree fairly closely with those obtained by heating in the oven; but in an ordinary soil the carbide determination is generally from 0.1 per cent. to 0.3 per cent. lower than that obtained in the oven. This has been found to be due to the presence of volatile material other than water vapour in the soil, such material being included in the reckoning with the hygroscopic moisture in the ordinary method of determination.— Dr. J. H. Pollok: The presence of bromine in the salt lagoon at Larnaca, Cyprus. The lagoon is about three square miles in area and is situated about one mile from the port of Larnaca, on the southern shore of the island. In the winter the lagoon fills either by infiltration or otherwise, and during the hot months of summer evaporates almost to dryness, leaving a deposit of excellent salt, from which the Government derives a considerable revenue. At the time of greatest concentration, towards the end of August, there is a pool of mother liquor in the centre of the lagoon. having a width of 1800 ft., a length of about 3600 ft., and an average depth of about 3 in., giving an aggregate of about 60,000 cubic yards, or, say, 40,000 tons of liquor. The latter was found on examination to consist of an almost saturated solution of magnesium chloride, together with a small proportion of magnesium bromide. On estimation_the liquor gave 5.7 grams of bromine per litre, which is equivalent to about 10 lb. weight per ton. Owing to the war there is at present a very serious deficiency in bromides, and even in magnesium salts, the supplies of which have hitherto been largely derived from Stassfurt, Saxony. The new supply from Cyprus should go a long way to diminish the present shortage.

EDINBURGH.

Royal Society, June 7.-Sir T. R. Fraser, vice-president, in the chair.-Prof. Cossar Ewart: Development of the horse during the third week. Much progress had been made during the last fifty years in working

out the pedigree of the horse from the fossil remains of its ancestors; but with the exception of the attempt made by Hausmann in Hanover some eighty years ago no systematic study had been made of the development of the living horse. As early as 1876 it had occurred to Huxley that strong evidence of the fact of evolution would be forthcoming if it were proved that the modern horse passed through a hiparion or three-toed stage during development. He failed in his search, not because it did not exist, but because it appeared much earlier than he had expected. Later Bonnet and Martin had both described embryos which were believed to represent the stage reached at the end of the third week; and Bonnet concluded that a twenty-one days' plastocyst might vary from 13 to 35 mm. in length. An exhaustive inquiry had led Prof. Ewart to the conclusion that Bonnet's 13 mm. plastocyst represented the stage reached on the fourteenth or fifteenth day of gestation, that the age of Martin's plastocyst was seventeen or eighteen days, and that a twenty-one days' plastocyst measured not less than 50 mm., or 2 in. These conclusions were supported by some of Hausmann's figures. Many other details were given of the developmental changes which took place during the third week, the peculiarities in the Equidæ being accentuated by comparison with sheep embryos at like periods in the life-history. A magnified model which had been reconstructed by Dr. A. Gibson from Prof. Ewart's sections was exhibited and described by Prof. Robinson.-Prof. Whittaker The functions which are represented by the expansions of the interpolation theory. It is well known that there is an indefinite number of functions the values of which at points at finite intervals are the same as those of a given function. These being called cotabular functions, it is shown that there is a certain function belonging to the cotabular set which is represented by a well-known expansion in the interpolation theory. This function is called the cardinal function. Its properties are investigated, and a formula is given by which it may be constructed when any one function of the cotabular set is known.Prof. A. E. Letts and Miss Florence W. Rea: A modification of Pelouze's method of determining nitrates.Frank L. Hitchcock: Quaternion investigation of the commutative law for homogeneous strains. It has long been known that strains with three different roots are commutative only when the directional roots in the one are parallel to those in the other. When two roots are equal the law of commutation is not the same. Various cases were classified.

Academy of Sciences, June 28.-M. Ed. Perrier in the chair.-J. Boussinesq: The drawbacks of Fourier's solution in a trigonometric series for the calculation of the cooling of the earth's crust; and other methods of carrying out this calculation.-C. Guichard: The W congruences belonging to a complex of the second order. Case where the equation in S has a double root.D. Eginitis: Observations of the Mellish comet made at the Observatory of Athens with the Doridis equatorial. Positions are given for May 5, 10, 11, 12, 14, 15, 19, and 20.-Maurice Fréchet: The definition of an integral extended to an abstract ensemble. An extension of Radon's definition of an integral.-L. Tschugaeff and N. Wladimiroff: A new series of compounds of tetravalent platinum. The chloride of the base (Pt.5NH,C1)(OH),, or (Pt.5NH,CI)CI,, has been prepared by the action of liquid ammonia upon ammonium chloroplatinate at the ordinary temperature. The carbonate and sulphate of the new base are nearly insoluble in water, and only three atoms of chlorine are removed by silver nitrate in boiling solutions.

Fernand Camus: The mosses found in the stomach of a mammoth.-Artatnet de Vevey: Sun cures. An account of the diseases cured or ameliorated by sun treatment. The method proposed by the author has been used in the neighbourhood of Paris for twelve years. G. Tizzoni and P. Perrucci: Determination of the immunising and curative value of antitetanic serum. It is pointed out that there is a complete parallelism between the protective action of an antitetanic serum and its curative effect for tetanus: these two properties of a serum are not parallel with the antitoxic power in vitro of the same serum. From the physiological point of view it is probable that the mechanism of the action of antitetanic serum upon strychnine is identical with its action upon tetanotoxin. A method is proposed and given in detail for utilising strychnine for the standardisation_of_commercial preparations of tetanus antitoxin. F. Bordas and S. Bruère: Contribution to the study of the phenomena of putrefaction. A suggestion for the use of appropriate ferments for hastening the decomposition of dead bodies.

CALCUTTA.

Asiatic Society of Bengal, June 2.-H. C. Das-Gupta : Palæontological notes from Hazara. The author has described a few fossils obtained from the Triassic, Jurassic, and Tertiary beds of Hazara, and these fossils include one new species of Corbula (C. middlemissi) and another new species of Nautilus (N. hazaraenois).—Bimala Charan Batabyal: Dakshindar, a godling of the Sunderbuns. Dakshin Rai is a sylvan godling extensively worshipped in the districts in the neighbourhood of the Sunderbuns to scare away tigers. The procedure in his worship is the same as that of Ganapati. It seems to be a relic of aboriginal rites incorporated at a later period into Hinduism. A description of the idol is given with photographs.-Sarat Chandra Mittra: North Indian folk medicine for hydrophobia and scorpion sting. The author describes several charms and nostrums employed by the village ojhas or medicine men of northern India for the cure of hydrophobia and scorpion sting. He also publishes the texts, with translations and remarks, of two verbal charms for curing hydrophobia and one for exorcising the venom of scorpion sting.-Dr. B. L. Chaudhuri : The weighing beam called Bisá dángá in Orissa, with short notes on some weights and measures still current among the rural population of that division. The present paper gives a short description of two beams of the bismer" type from Ganjam, where this kind of weighing beam is still in extensive use, and is known by the name of Bisá dángá, a name strangely similar to the Scandinavian. Two other weighing beams of the same type from the collection of the Indian Museum are also described in the paper, and the probable meaning of the name Bisá is discussed.-J. Hornell: The recent pearl fishery in Palk Bay with biological notes upon pearl oysters. The acquisition, from the Rajah of Ramnad, of his fishing rights on the Indian side of Palk Bay has permitted of the commencement of a systematic survey of the sea bottom of this region. The existence of two beds of pearl oysters was proved, the oysters being confined to an area of a bed of muddy sand between the 5 and 5 fathom contours, and associated sedentary species being few in number. A conservative estimate makes the number of oysters on this bed approximately twenty millions. The oysters from the larger-the Tondi-bed were numerically deficient in pearls, but a small number of pearls were exceptionally large and often of fine quality; the oysters from the smallerthe Kanangadu-beds resembled those from Tinnevelly and Ceylon. The author believes that the Palk