Striking Fashion Research Articles

Growth of monocrystals of germanium from an undercooled melt

Dissipation of latent heat being the main rate-controlling factor in crystal growth from the melt, a novel technique has been developed for the rapid growth of monocrystals of germanium and other materials with the diamond or zincblende structure. By dipping a properly orientated seed crystal into an under-cooled melt and withdrawing it at the same rate as it grows, monocrystals of indefinite length can be obtained with various shapes which are under reasonable control; in particular, crystals can be grown in the form of thin lamellae, demonstrating in a striking fashion that even in an isotropic medium of cubic symmetry, crystal growth can take place by the deposition of individual layers orientated along the close-packed {111} planes. Further evidence for growth by layer formation is deduced from etch experiments. The surfaces of some of these crystals have a high degree of perfection. Crystal surfaces as grown, and also after having been etched, have been examined in detail under the optical, phase-contrast and electron microscopes, as well as with a fine-focus X-ray beam; certain growth features are discussed and a possible mechanism is suggested for dendritic growth.

Contributions of Anthropology to Institutional Psychiatry

An examination of the practice of psychiatry in industry—and, for our purposes, this includes all hierarchically-organized institutions, whether business, industry, or government, or philanthropy or education—highlights in a striking fashion the present difficulties of psychiatry itself. It would be preferable, then, to take a look at psychiatry first, before discussing the contributions of anthropology to the practice of psychiatry in the institutional framework.

The role of the substrate in the detergency process

Experiments are described which demonstrate in a striking fashion the influence of the substrate on the process of removal of soil by a detergent. When metallic and nonmetallic substrates are coated with an oily-carbon soil, and immersed in solutions of a non-ionic surfactant of the alkylaryl polyether alcohol type, the metals promote rapid removal of the soil in finely dispersed form, whereas the same soil comes off the nonmetallic substrates very slowly and in fairly large clumps. For metals, fineness of soil dispersion depends upon the electrical character of the substrates, and is roughly proportional to their position in the electromotive series. The composition of the oily-carbon soil is shown to be unique, and makes these phenomena possible.

Browsing of Patella

THE food of Patella vulgata, so far as we know at present, consists mainly of small Algae including diatoms1 which it scrapes from the rocks by means of its radula, but it will also eat larger plants2. Orton3 included a note on Patella eating food-paths in green Algae on piers. Moore and Sproston4 noted that the growth of Algae was limited by the browsing of limpets, and Moore5 has estimated their food requirements from observations on individuals clearing an algal felt. The importance of this browsing habit in connexion with foreshore ecology does not, however, appear to have been sufficiently realized. The following experiment illustrates this importance in striking fashion.

Optical Images Formed by Conical Refraction

A PLATE of biaxial crystal cut approximately normal to the axis of single-ray velocity has the remarkable property of forming optical images of an illuminated object held in front of it. This effect was first observed with aragonite1 but is exhibited in a much more striking fashion by a plate of naphthalene prepared for the exhibition of conical refraction as described in a recent note2. The accompanying reproduction illustrates this phenomenon. 1 and 3 reproduce objects held in front of the crystal, while 2 and 4 are the corresponding images formed in the rear of the crystal and received directly on a photographic plate. The image recorded is in every case erect and of unit magnification. The distances of the object and of the image from the crystal faces may be independently varied from zero up to large values.

THE INTERNAL ENVIRONMENT AND BEHAVIOR

In this paper the importance of constancy in the internal environment for the stability and well being of the organism as a whole and the cerebral cortex in particular has been emphasized. Numerous illustrations were cited from studies at high altitude to demonstrate the basic rôle of oxygen in neural activity. The way in which psychological functions can be altered by changes in the oxygen tension was illustrated by reference to specific experiments in neuro-muscular control, memory and light sensitivity. The results showed in striking fashion how sensitive psycho-physiological processes are to oxygen changes in the internal environment. The application of these observations and experimental findings were then discussed in relation to certain mental disorders. By placing these familiar psychological and psychiatric problems in this new setting they are seen in broader perspective for further study.

INHERITANCE OF SMUT RESISTANCE IN HYBRIDS OF EARLY GOTHLAND AND MONARCH OATS

My strains of Early Gothland and Monarch oats differ in a very striking fashion in their behavior to the Missouri races of loose (Ustilago avenae (Pers.) Jens.) and covered (U. levis (K. & S.) Magn.) smuts. Early Gothland has consistently shown a high degree of susceptibility to the loose smut and, at the same time, it has been almost entirely resistant to the covered smut. The Monarch variety has reacted in exactly the opposite manner, proving to be extremely resistant to the loose smut, while showing complete susceptibility to the covered (I, 2, 3, 6, io). During the five years 1926-I930 various types of experiments have been carried out with these two varieties in which plants were inoculated with either the loose or the covered smut. Thirteen different experiments were made in which 279 plants of Early Gothland were inoculated with loose smut and of these 263 (94.2 percent) were infected; in ten of these experiments all the inoculated plants were smutted. In comparative experiments, 586 plants of this oat variety were inoculated with the covered smut and only 6 (about i percent) were infected. During the same years, 526 plants of Monarch oats were inoculated with loose smut in thirteen experiments, and only 6 (i. i percent) were infected. On the other hand, 452 plants were inoculated with the covered smut, and 445 (98.4 percent) were infected; in eleven out of the thirteen experiments all of the plants were smutted. The most obvious morphological difference between these two oat varieties is the color of the glumes or hulls of the ripe grain; in Early Gothland the glumes are white or pale yellowish, while in Monarch they are blackish brown. Early Gothland is a rather late maturing oat, with moderately large panicles, the branches of which droop slightly at the outer ends. The spikelets are usually two-grained, sometimes three-grained; the outer grains are rather long (I8-22 mm.), slender, and long pointed. Awns are rather numerous on the spikelets of the panicles, but usually they are not fully developed nor twisted at the base. Monarch is a somewhat earlier maturing oat. The stem and sheaths are dark green and quite glaucous at the time of heading. The panicles are rather wide-spreading, more or less lax, with the branches drooping from the middle outward. Awns are rather common in the panicle, but rarely 1 Brooklyn Botanic Garden Contributions no. 6I. Published at the expense of the Brooklyn Botanic Garden, out of the order determined by the date of receipt of the manuscript. 803

The Hon. N. C. Rothschild

BY the death on October 12, at the age of forty-six, of the Hon. Nathaniel Charles Rothschild, younger son of the first Lord Rothschild, Nature in a literal sense, entomology, and, it may be added, tropical medicine have each sustained a formidable blow. For Mr. Rothschild, whose career demonstrated in striking fashion that the pursuit of business is by no means incompatible with scientific achievement of the first rank, was at one and the same time an active partner in the firm of Messrs. N. M. Rothschild and Sons; the mainstay of the Society for the Promotion of Nature Reserves, to which he contributed practically all the funds at its disposal; and the leading authority on the Siphonaptera, or fleas, certain species of which are responsible for the dissemination of plague.