Nature: I I vLU1 I I I

JANUARY 23, 1932] NATURE 133
unsymmetrical molecule, however, this would not be The suggestion is made that the above formula
the case, and Raman lines would be expected, though might be associated with a series of nuclear energy
perhaps with low intensity. levels in one of the light atoms which form the main
The observations of Bhagavantam 5 corroborate in bulk of living tissues.
a satisfactory manner our conclusions regarding W. MOFFETT.
asymmetry. He finds an intense Raman line with The University of Sydney,
the displacement 1283 cm. - 1 , and a rather weak line Oct. 12.
with the displacement 22-26 cm.- 1 , in verv good agree-
' }loppett, Proc. Roy. Soc .. R, 105, p. 402.
ment with our values for v 1 and v 3 • • The former
corresponds to the intense scattering in CO 2 as,;ociated
with the symmetrical and optically inactive vibration
at about 1338 cm. - 1 , but for the latter CO 2 has no Effect of Light on the Surface Tension of Boys's
counterpart, in spite of the fact that its strongest Soap Solution.
infra-red absorption band occurs at 2349 cm.- 1 • IN his letter in NATURE, 1 Dr. P. Lecomte du Noiiy
Because of the small energy and double weight of says : " As the concentration of the soap solution +
the first vibration state v 2 , a large fraction of the N 20 glycerin which he [L. D. Mahajan 2] uses is not stated,
molecules (about one-eighth) are excited to this level but may be as high as 2·5 per cent--which should give
at room temperature. The Raman displacements for a very small drop-it is indeed quite possible that
light scattered by these excited molecules would be illumination plays a part in this ease''.
slightly different from those for normal atoms, giving Dr. du Noiiv and others who are interested in the
rise to satellite lines. From combination relations subject may b·~ interested to know that I used Boys's
we are able to predicate the positions of these weaker soap solution and its various dilutions-even up to
lines, not yet observed; their displacements should one per cent of the Boys's soap solution in the dilu-
be 1278 cm. - 1 and 2210 cm. - 1 . Lines corresponding to tion. The minimum strength of the, sodium oleate
the stronger of these have already been observed in in the dilution which I studied was 2·5 x 10- 4 • In all
the Raman spectra of CO 2 and HCN precisely at the observations the results obtained were found constant
positions indicated by the infra-red observations. throughout for all dilutions. The details of the above
E. F. BARKER. work 3 are published in the Indian Journal of Physic8.
University of Michigan, I am now trying still higher dilutions, even up to
Nov. 30. 10- 8 • The results are appearing hopeful again, and
' Proc. Ro11. Soc., A, 128, 294; Hl30. interesting, and will shortly be published.
z Physical Retieu1, 38, l827; 1931
3 Ren. Jfod. Phys., 3,280; 1031. L. D. MAHAJAN.
• Z. Physik, 70, 84; 10~1.
'NAT\:RE, 127,817; 1!)31. Physics Laboratory, Mahindra College,
Patiala, India, Nov. 20.
1 P. L. du Noiiy, NATURE, Oct.. li, 1931, p. 674.
Selective Action of Living Tissue to Homogeneous ' L. D. Mahajan, NATURE, Sept. 19, l\l31, p. 496.
Radiation. 3 L. D. Mahajan, Indi/tn J. Phys., Calcutta, vol. 6, part ii., pp.
147-)(,3.
A SELECTIVE action has been observed 1 when the
allantoic membrane of the embryo chick is exposed to
homogeneous X-radiation obtained by crystal diffrac- An Agricultural Pamphlet.
tion.
The biological response, depicted in Fig. 1, A, may IN 1905, Wilfarth, Romer, and Wimmer published
be described in terms of a series of maxima con- in the Landw. Versuchs. Stat., vol. 63, a paper,
nected by an empirical formula ;>,. ==kn 2 , where :>. is "Uber die Nahrstoffaufnahme der Pflanzen in
expressed in cm., k is a constant equal to 3·2 x 10- 10 , verschiedenen Zeiten ihres Wachstums ". The im-
portance of this paper in
0 agricultural science was
A HOURS I JJ°\Iu l\.__ _) I J1I :\
J)f)Sf
--- . . . . r-- ·-·· /ITR PHY
/ A. :---._
soon recognised, and be-
fore long an English trans-
2.
I"- i ' ATl10
I / ..&,
lation was published in
B>..,.U I ! l I I Ipamphlet form. Copies of
C j(..SfRJfS vLU1 .... 1 . sU z, i -.,1 I ! i

this were obtained bv the
libraries at Rotha~sted
L . ..
'
I I lu I I .I PM I 111 w I ' I
. and at the Ministry of
Agriculture, but not ap-
0 2. 3
parently by the British
FIG. 1. Museum or the Science
Library.
and n is given successive integral values from 2 to 8 The Rothamsted copy was obtained in the days
(Fig. 1, B). when our library was not properly constituted ; we
A ' maximum ' is predicted at a wave-length of had only very few books and no librarian, and we did
3·2 x 10- 10 cm. by making n equal to 1, but un- not take the full bibliographical details. Our copy
fortunately the experimental investigation would be has long been missing, and on inquiry at the library
very difficult. of the Ministry of Agriculture we find that by a strange
The position of a ' biological maximum ' is only coincidence theirs also cannot be found, so that we
known within a margin of :c 0·25 x 10- 9 cm., owing to know neither the translator nor the publisher, and con-
the use of comparatively wide spectrometer slits, and sequently cannot take steps to obtain a new copy.
the experimental evidence is somewhat scanty for I should be grateful for bibliographical information,
high and low values of n. Nevertheless, there are or, better still, to learn where I can now obtain
great difficulties in associating the selective action another copy.
with the K and L levels of heavy atoms, some of E. J. RUSSELL.
which are present in minute quantities (Fig. 1, C). Rothamsted Experimental Station,
(Tungsten, silver, and bromine are not present, but of Harpenden, Herts,
importanee in energy measurement.) Dec. 21.
No. 3247, VoL. 129]
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JANUARY 23, 1932] NATURE 133

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