Details

Titel

Societies and Academies

Ist Teil von

• Nature (London), 1928-08, Vol.122 (3068), p.261-263

Erscheinungsjahr

1928

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• LEEDS. Philosophical and Literary Society, June 19.-J. Ewles: A torsion magnetometer. A new instrument for laboratory use based on the principle that the couple required to hold a magnet of moment M at right angles to a field H is MH. Magnetic forces are removed by balancing against the torsion in a phosphor bronze strip supporting the 'needle.' All the experiments usually performed with both the deflection and vibration magnetometers may be performed with this instrument.-F. A. Long: Note on the behaviour of a neon-tube under heavy discharge. When using a neon ('Osglim') lamp in parallel with the coils of an electromagnet, the discharge through the lamp on breaking the current was of bright bluish-violet colour instead of the usual pink glow, and included two or more flashes. An examination of current voltage during the discharge shows that at the commencement a current of several amperes passes, while the voltage falls much lower than the usual extinction value.-C. W. Shoppee: On the possibility of ring-chain valency tautomerism and of a type of mobile-hydrogen tautomerism analogous to the Wagner-Meerwein re-arrangement. Part 5: Pina-colic electron displacement as an explanation of various intramolecular transformations. A discussion and an attempted correlation of various intramolecular transformations on the basis of tautomeric change. The general mechanism proposed gives a satisfactory explanation of many known changes, and where divergences occur between theory and fact, reinvestigation confirms the theoretical prediction.-L. R. Johnson and A. Wormall: Potassium thiocyan-ate and the diastatic action of saliva and plant-diastases. Potassium thiocyanate exerts an activating influence on the diastatic action of human saliva, and this effect is significant, even with concentrations of the salt which may be present in the saliva. The thiocyanate appears to accelerate the first stages only in the hydrolysis of starch, and the rate of formation of reducing sugars is not markedly increased. The stimulating effect of this salt on the germination of potatoes and barley is discussed in relation to its influence on diastatic action.-R. G. S. Hudson and F. W. Anderson: On the Lower Carboniferous corals. Hettonia fallax, gen. et sp. n. The genus Hettonia, a member of the Clisiophyllidse, is characterised by a solid central column built of an axial rod surrounded by tabular thickening. Hettonia fattax, the only species as yet described, is remarkable in that it possesses a distinct gerontic stage in which there is no cohrmella, and therefore simulates Can-inia. In addition, dedifferentiation is a common occurrence in this species. Certain new and un-described structures are recognised in the ephebic stage of the corallite, and are attributed to calicular gemination. The prototheca and part of the brephic structure are built while the young corallite is still attached to the parent individual, and remain there after separation of the young form.-Lorna I. Scott and Ada B. Whitworth: A structural peculiarity of the exodermis of the root of Pelargonium. In the root of Pelargonium the hypodermal cells develop a convex band of thickening, which runs round each cell on the radial and transverse walls. At maturity, the bands consist of lignified cellulose, with traces of silica, and show characteristic optical properties, which disappear on treatment with cellulose solvents. -W. Garstang and Margery I. Platt: On the asym-rmetry and closure of the endostyle in Gyclosalpa pinnata. The authors describe from sections the structure of the closed endostyle of Gyclosalpa pinnata. They confirm the absence of the left marginal band, and confirm it as due to the development of an interlocking mechanism by which the endostyle is firmly closed as a tube. The missing band, however, is present at both extremities with normal relations. The endostyle possesses a posterior growing point (cf. larval Amphioxus).