In my paper under the same title, to which I shall refer in future as I‡, I generalized the Vitali covering principle from the case of Lebesgue measure to the case of any non-negative additive function. This allowed me to establish the relative differentiation of additive functions. The convergent sequences of sets in this generalized form of the covering principle were restricted to sequences of concentric circles, and therefore the differentiation arrived at was that in the symmetrical sense. In the present paper, I extend the principle to the case of any regular convergent sequences of covering sets; and then establish the relative differentiation of additive functions in the general sense, and in particular the differentiation of indefinite integrals with respect to any measure function. This problem has a complete solution. It is established that indefinite integrals are differentiable at almost all points. In the case of the general measure function, it is not true that the derivative is equal to the integrand at almost all points, but necessary and sufficient conditions are given under which this is true.

A curve Γ has been defined as a normal multiple of a curve C if it contains an involution In, of order n, which has the properties: (1) the sets of In are in (1–1) correspondence with the points of C; (2) each set In consists of n points which are distinct in the birational sense; (3) In is generated by an Abelian group G of order n of birational transformations of Γ into itself. We shall denote the field of complex numbers by k, the function field of C by k(C), and the function field of Γ by k(Γ). Conditions (1) and (3) imply that k(Γ) is a commutative normal (i.e. Galois) extension of k(C). The object of this note is to show how, given the curve C and the Abelian group G of order n, we can construct a curve Γ with the properties (1), (2), (3).

Consider bounded sets of points in a Euclidean space Rq of q dimensions. Let h(t) be a continuous increasing function, positive for t>0, and such that h(0) = 0. Then the Hausdroff measure h–mE of a set E in Rq, relative to the function h(t), is defined as follows. Let ε be a small positive number and suppose E is covered by a finite or enumerably infinite sequence of convex sets {Ui} (open or closed) of diameters di less than or equal to ε. Write h–mεE = greatest lower bound for any such sequence {Ui}. Then h–mεE is non-decreasing as ε tends to zero. We define

1. The reflexion of a simple harmonic train of surface waves by a rigid plane barrier inclined at an angle α to the undisturbed free surface of the water is considered in the particular case in which 2sα = π, where s is an integer. The solution if s = 2 has been given by Gourret(1), while the solution if s = 1 is well known; the solution for any integral value of s is given here.

1. In a recent paper(1) expressions were found for the elastic stresses produced in a semi-infinite elastic medium when its boundary is deformed by the pressure against it of a perfectly rigid body. In deriving the solution of this problem—the ‘Boussinesq’ problem—it was assumed that the normal displacement of a point within the area of contact between the elastic medium and the rigid body is prescribed and that the distribution of pressure over that area is determined subsequently. The solutions for the special cases in which the free surface was indented by a cone, a sphere and a flat-ended cylindrical punch were derived, but no attempt was made to give a full account of the distribution of stress in the interior of the medium in any of these cases.

The paper considers the application of Dirac's classical theory of radiating electrons to examine the motion of an electron in a uniform magnetic field. The non-relativistic equations of motion are solved exactly. It is shown that for the particular case when the motion is confined to a plane, the physical motion is such that the electron describes an equiangular spiral with velocity which steadily decreases as

exp {negative constant × t};

and in the non-physical motion the electron spirals outwards with velocity which steadily increases as

exp {positive constant × t},

and ultimately the electron escapes to infinity. The relativistic equations of motion are solved approximately as a series in ascending powers of the field. It is shown that in the physical motion the velocity begins to decrease, and hence after a time the motion is given correctly by the non-relativistic solution.

I take this opportunity to express my deepest gratitude to Prof. Dirac, who suggested this problem, for his patient guidance and supervision.

1. Introduction. Recent experiments by Amaldi and his collaborators on the scattering of high-energy neutrons (of 10–15 MeV.) by protons(2) have disclosed a considerable anisotropy in the angular distribution of the scattered particles. Theoretical discussions of this problem show an interesting feature in that the results depend sensitively on the basic assumptions involved with regard to the charge dependence of the neutron-proton interaction. This can be seen in particular from calculations by Rarita and Schwinger(3) and by Ferretti(4). The former authors started from the assumption of a distance dependence of this interaction represented by a square well, while the angular and spin dependence included terms of the axial dipole type. If the charge dependence was further assumed to be of the ‘symmetrical’ type, they found a value for the anisotropy in strong disagreement with experiment, whereas the total cross-section agreed with the measured value; a ‘neutral’ theory, on the other hand, yielded agreement as regards anisotropy, but a total cross-section too large by a factor of the order of 1·5. Ferretti investigated the scattering on Bethe's neutral meson theory(5) and found satisfactory agreement with regard to both angular distribution and total cross-section. It should be stressed that all calculations mentioned were performed in the approximation in which only the contributions of the S- and P-waves are considered.

The paper considers the solution of the general variational equation of relativistic dynamics using the methods of Mathisson with a generalization at one stage. The solution gives us two equations describing the translational motion and rotational motion. The rotational equation is also investigated by setting up a variational equation using the conservation of angular momentum, and this is found to be of the same form as that obtained from Mathisson's variational equation.

Few papers presenting a theory of operation of thermostats can be found. This may be explained by mathematical difficulties which are met when considering the rather complicated construction, from the thermal point of view, of most thermostats. There is, however, a relatively great number of papers describing various mechanical constructions of thermostats. In many cases designers obtain very good practical results by making use of some approximate theories only.

It is shown that anomalously large and anomalously small values of the constant A in the thermionic current formula for metals can be explained by the usual statistical equilibrium theory provided proper account is taken of the fact that free electrons may be shared by two competing overlapping energy bands. When this theory is developed there arises a comparatively large temperature variation of the statistical parameter ζ which occurs in the Fermi function, and when the exact formula is forced into the empirical form with a constant work function, the temperature factor appears as a multiplying factor of the current constant, this factor being greater or less than unity depending upon the nature of the overlapping bands. In particular the observed values of the constant A for nickel and for hafnium are well explained.