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NATURE 

A WEEKLY ' / ^"^ 

ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 



VOLUME XVII... 

NOVEMBER 1877 to APRIL 1878 .^ 



" To the solid ground 
Of Nature trusts the mind which builds ^or aye,"— Wordsworth 



MAC MILL AN AND CO. 

1878 Digitized by CiOOQIC 






LONDON 
R. CLAY, SONS, AND TAYLOR, PRINTERS, 
BREAD STREET HILL, QUKBN VICTORIA STREET 



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Google 



Kaiure^ May 30, 1878] 



INDEX 



AACHy the, and the Dftiiitbe, 233 

Abercromby (Hon. Ralph), the Eurydice Squall, 466 

AbnCT (W. de W., F.R.S.), "A Treatise on Photography," 
378 ; the Acceleration of Oxidation caused by the Least Re- 
frangible End of the Spectrum, 518 

Absdnte Pitch, Lord Raylelgh, F.K.S., 12 

Ackroyd (W.), on theTdephone, 330 

Acoustic Repulsion, 515 

Acoustical Effects of Atmospheric Pressure, G. Rayleigh Vicars, 

244 

Adulteration : in Berlin, 91 ; Anti- Adulteration Society at 
Leipzig, 91 

i&>lian Harps, 33 

Africa : H. M. Stanley's Exploration of, 17, 49, 90, 193, 270, 
297; International African Exploration Society, 71, 346; 
French Exploration of, 91 ; Italian Expedition to, 132 ; Ex- 
ploration of Lake Albert Nyanza, 192, 364; the Belgian 
Expedition to, 193, 346, 467 ; Dr. Hildebrandt's Expedition, 
194; Herr Gerhard Kohlfs Expedition to the Sahara, 211 ; 
the Marquis Antinori's Expedition, 211, 249; an Early African 
Explorer, 270; Mr. Stanley in England, 270; D'Anvers' 
History of Ncwth African Discovery, 280 ; Proposed Language 
Map of, 293 ; Herr Schiitt's Expedition, 308 ; Prof. Oliver's 
'•Flora of Tropical Africa," 319; German Exploration of, 
324; Mr. Stanley's New Work on, 364; Exploration of 
Soutii-West Africa, 364; African Dwarfs, 364; Proposed 
New Expedition, 383 ; Ancient Maps of Central Africa, 383 ; 
Dr. Efiendi's Expedition, 408 ; the Lake Nyassa Region, 435 ; 
Exploration of Angola, 453 ; Dr. Bastian on African 
Weapons, 455; TroUope's "South Africa," 463; Church 
Missionary Society Expedition, 467; Exploration of, 279, 
583, 468; Geographical Notes, 489; New Map of» 489; 
Froich Expedition to, 508 

Agasdz (Alex.), North American Starfishes, 98 ; Cruise in the 
Gulf of Mexico, 151, 192, 454 

Agriculture, Henderson's Manual of, 280 

Agricultural Society, the Royal, 301 

Air-Pnmp, Improvement of the, 310 

Aitken (John), on a Means for Converting the Heat Motion pos- 
sessed by Biatter at Normal Temperature into Work, 260 

Aix-la-Chapelle, the Polytechnic at 335 

Albert (Herr Josef), Photography of Natural Colours, 92 

Albert Nyanza, Exploration of, 364 

Aldebaran, New Companion to, 488 

Algae, Green* 289 

Algae of the White Sea, 345 

Algebra and Chemistry, Prof. J. J. Sylvester, F.R.S., 284, 309 

A£eria, Proposed Schools in, 393 

Alkn (J. A.), on the American Bison, 127 

AUoys of Tin, ^c.. Hardening of, 311 

AUnaxd's New Condensine H^jometer, 14, 28 

Alpine Club^ German, 4W 

Ainber, Production of, 132 

Ambiyorms ifwrnata^ IIO 

Amenca : American Journal of Science and Art, 18, 293 ; 
American Science, 18, 39, 113, 213, 293, 438, 497 ; American 
Association for the Advancement of Science, 37 ; American 
Bison, 127; American Philosophical Society, Proceedings 
ofy 199; Entomology in, 222; American Naturalist, 232, 
293; American Jomiial of Mathematics, 293; American 
G«>grapliical Society, 346, 409 ; the Inland Fisheries, 382 ; 
American Longitudes, 408; American Geological Surveys, 
Pirof. A. Gdkie, F.R.S., 431; Bibliographical Index of 



North American Plants, 514. See also United States, NeW 

York, Philadelphia, &c. 
Amines, Halogen, Derivatives of, 151 
Amsterdam and St Paul, the Islands of. Prof. E. Perceval 

Wright, 326 
Analogies of Plant and Animal Life, Francis Darwin, 388, 41 1 
Ancient History from the Monuments, George Smith, 119 
Angara, Exploration of the, 308 
Angola, Exploration of, 453 

Annual and Plant Life, Analogies of, Francis Darwin, 388, 41 1 
Animal ^sgs, the Earliest Chuiges in, 509 
Annalen Skc Physik und Chemie, 39, 214, 254, 294, 394 
Annuaire Bureau des Longitudes of France, 211 
Anthony (John G.), Death of, 39, 133 
Anthropology: Anthropological Exhibition in Moscow, 16; 

Anthropological Institute, 76, 171, 176, 215, 315, 355, 415, 

470* 499 f Anthropological Literature, 1876, 133; Anthro- 

pologische Gesellschaft of Berlin, 438 ; Anthropology in 

Moscow, 171 ; of Central Asia, 172; Russian Collection at 

the Paris Exhibition, 350 
Antibes, Thuret's Garden at, 351 
Antimony, Atomic Weight of, 293, 439 
Antinori (Marquis), Supposed Death of, 71, 1 10; his African 

Expedition, no, 211, 249 
Antiquity of Man, 315 
Antiseptic Vapours, the Action of Certain, on the Ripening of 

Fruits, 150 
Ants, the Habits of, Sir John Lubbock, F.R.S., 355 ; the 

Agricultural Ants of Texas, 433 
Apiculture at the Paris Exhibition, 309 
Apothecaries, Society of. Prizes in Botany, 109 
Appunn and Koenig — Beats in Confined Air, Alex. J. Elli«, 

F.R.S., 26 
Aquatic Respiration, 290 

Ararat, Prof. Bryce's, Prof. A. Geikie, F.R.S., 205 
Archibald (E. D.), Indian Rainfall, 505 
Archiv for Mathematik og Naturvidenskab, 172 
Arctic Aurone, J. Rand Capron, 162 
Arctic Exploration: 1^2, 271, 290, '324, 408, 468; Prof. 

Nordenskjold's Expedition, 90 ; Discovery of Arctic Fossil 

Plants, 115; the Howgate Expedition, 153 
Arctic Fauna, 155 
Arctic Map, the Zenis', 71 
Artesian Well at Pestb, 109 

Articulate Speech, Elements of. Dr. W. H. Corfield, 447 
Artificial Flowers and Insects, 133, 162 
Arthropods, Sound-producing, W. Saville Kent, 11 ; Origin of 

Tracheae in, 284, 340 
AscidiauF, Deep Sea, 289 
Asseline (M.), Death of, 490 
Astronomy: Proctor's "Myths and Marvels of Astronomy," 

180 ; Wolfs History of Astronomy, J. R. Hind, F.R.S., 

259; En|:lish Translation of, J. R. Hind, F.R.S., 359; 

Astrononusches Jahrbuch, Berlin, 507 ; Our Astronomiod 

Column, 14, 36, 46, 63, 82, 104, 129, 149, 163, 189, 209, 

231, 247, 269, 288, 306, 323, 343, 363, 381, 407, 432» 452» 

418, 507 ; Astronomical Society, see Royal 
Atlantic Shells, Wollaston's, 503 
" Atlas C^este," Ch. Dien, 141 
Atmospheric Movements, 307 
Atmospheric Pressure of Europe, 15 
Atmospheric Pressure, Acoustical Effects of, G. Rayleigh VicarF, 

244 O 



INDEX 



[Nature^ May 30, 1878 



Aurora Anstralis, Spectrum of, Commander J. F. Madear, 11 
Amx>ra Borealis, Extent and Principal Zone of the, 373 
Australia : C. H. Eden's " Fifth Continent with the Adjacent 

Islands/' 121 ; Exploration of, 271 ; Meteorology of Western, 

363 ; Bees in, 372 ; Australian Monotremata, E. P. <Ramsay, 

401 
Austria : the Austrian Comet Medal, 129 ; Education in, 155 ; 

University Libraries of, 374 
Autopsy, the Society of Mutual, 490 
Avalanches in Styria, 273 
Aveling (E. B.), Physiological Tables, 5 
AzimuUi Instrument, a New, 308 

Babylonia, the Primitive Culture of, 415 

Bacteria: Prof. J. Burdon Sanderson, F.R.S., 84 ; Prof. Tyndall 

on, 134 ; in Water, G. F. Dowdeswell, 323 ; in Oxygen, 393 
Baker (J. G.), "The Flora of Mauritius and Seychelles," 77 
Balfour (Prof.) Pro^wsed Portrait of, 393 
Balloon, the Tuileries Captive, 330, 454, 491 ; Balloons and 

Arctic Exploration, 171 
Ballot (Dr. Buys), on the Mean Atmospheric Pressure of 

Europe, 15 
Baltic and German Oceans, Physiography of, 411 
Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University, Anniversary of, 459; 

Fellowships at, 517 
Barkas (T. P.), the Daylight Meteor of March 25, 1878, 467 
Barnard and Mayer, the Sources and Reflection of Light, 405, 427 
Barometric Osculation, 13 C 
Barrett (Prof. W. F.), a Cheap Telephone, 193; New Form of 

Gasholder, 253; Early Electric Telephony, 510 
Bary (Dr. Erwin von). Death of, 71 
Barvta, lime, and Strontium, Cr^allisation of, 372 
Bashforth (Rev. Francis), Trajectories of Shot, 401, 506 
Batchelor's Patent Working Ehrawings— Trunk Engine, 160 
Bathing-Place at Harrow School, Arthur G. Watson, 487 
Beachbury, Earthquake at, 212 
Becquerel (Antoine C^r), Obituary Notice of, 244 
Beer, Adulteration of, 251 
Bees killed by Tritoma, Alfred R. Wallace, 45; Bees and 

Flowers, John B. Bridgman, 102 ; and Gentiana asclepiadm, 

F, M. Burton, 201 ; Apiculture at the Paris Exhibition, 309 ; 

Australian Bees, 372, 411 
Beetles of St. Helena, E. C. Rye, 338 
Beibl'atter za den Annalen der Fhysik und Chemie, 39 
Belgrand (M.), Death of, 473 
Bell (Prof. Graham), on the Telephone, 135 
Bell (I. Lowthian, F.R.S.), Separation of Phosphorus from 

Pi&iron, 459 
Bdl (Prof. T.,.F.R.S.), *« White's Natural History 6f Selbome," 

399 
Bentham's "Flora Australiensis," 212 
Bemn, proposed University at, 95 
Berlin : Death of Pongo at the Aquarium, 70 ; Geographical 

Society of, 91, 194, 271, 409, 411 ; New Polytechnic at, 155 ; 

University Intelligence, 175, 214, 254; the University 

Library, 194 ; the Telegraphs in, 251 ; Academy of Science, 

252 ; Arms and Weapons at the Royal Museum, 330 ; Anthro- 

polo^psche Gesellschaft, 350 ; " Commers " at, 393 ; Botanical 

Specmiens in, 454 
Beruner astronomisches Jahrbuch and the Minor Planets, 507 
Bermudas, the Fauna of the, 18 ; Bermuda Lizard, G. Brown 

Goode, 425 
Bern, University Statistics, 374 
Bernard (Claude), Obituary Notice of, 304 ; Funeral of, 329 j 

Monument to, 370, 409 
Bessemer (Henry), Glass for Reflectors, 241 
Bettany and Parker's «* Morpholep of the Skull,** 3 
Biggs- Wither (T. P.), " Pioneering in South BrazU," 423 
Binazy-Star Castor, the, 105 
Biological Notes, 127, 221, 289, 344, 382, 433, 508 
Birchall (Edwin), the Insects of Chili and New Zealand, 221, 

260 
Birds : the Protection of, in Germany, 251 ; Mimicry in, 361, 

380, 438 ; Poaching, 509 
Birkbeck Institution, 334, 39^ 
Bismarck (Prince) and the Telephotie, 91 
Bison, the American, 127 
Blackbirds, Exportation of, from Corsica, 309 
Blakesley (J, H.), Phoneidoscopic Representation of Vowels 

and Dipmong!;,'486 



Bland (Thos.), Great Waterfalls, 361 

Bleeker (Dr. P.), Obituary Notice of , 286 ; his "Atlas," 309 
Blood Corpuscle, the Structure of, 20 
Bolivia, Capt. Musters on, 90 

Bonavia (Dr. E.), Contribution to die Sun-spot Theory of Rain- 
fall, 61 ; Nocturnal Increase of Temperature with Elevation, 

lOI 

Bone, Transformation of Cartilage into, 345 

Bonomi (Joseph), Death of, 370 

Bonn, Prof. Kekul^'s Address on Chemistry, 55 

Booth (Rev. James, LL.D., F.R.S.), Death of, 513 

Boradc Acid, Origin and Formation of, 150 

Borneo, Volcanic Phenomenon in, A. H. Everett, 200 

Bosanquet (J. Whatman), Death of, 212 

Botanical Exchange Society at Buda-Pesth, 437 

Botanical Specimens in Berlin, 454 

Botany : in Germany, 158 ; Prizes in, for Young Women, 314 

Boulders, Preservation of, in France, 391 

Bournemouth, the Eocene Flora of, J. S. Gardner, 47 ; Fossil 
Hunting at, J. S. Gardner, 369 ; the Bournemouth Beds, 395 

Brahe (T^cho), Star of 1572, 129 

Brain of a Fossil Mammal, 222 ; Prof. O. C. Marsh on, 340 

Brake, the Westinghouse, 410, 507 

Brandeis (Dr. Ridbueuxl C), Philadelphia Diplomas, 221 

Braun (Alex.), Sale of his Herbarium, 410 

Brazil, Mr. H. H. Smith's Exploration of, 308 

Brazil, Pioneering in South, T. P. Biggs- Wither, 423 

Breaks, the Telephone as a Means of Measuring the Speed of 
High, J. E. H. Gordon, 424 

Brehm (Dr. A. E.), Thierleben, '* Die Saugethiere," 41 

Breslau, University Statistics, 374 

Bridgman (John B.), Bees and Flowers, 102 

Brisbane, Hailstorm at, 455 

Bristol : Museum and Library, 16 ; University College, 20, 134 ; 
Naturalists' Society, 193, 292, 311 

British Archseologicfd Association, 350 

British Association, 1879 Meeting, 192, 232 

British Channel Tunnel, 109 

British Flora, the Future of our, A. Craig- Christie, 62 

British Medical Association, Grants of the, 90 

British Museum, the Salaries of the Officers in the, 197 

Broun (J. Allan, F.R.S.), the Sun's Magnetic Action at the 
Present Time, 183; Sun-spots and Terrestrial Magnetism, 
262, 280 

Broun (Prof. W. Le Roy), Terrestrial Magnetism, 281 

Browning's Absorption Bands Apparatus, 513 

Briiggemann (Dr. F.), Death of, 473 

Brunswick, New University Buildings at, 7S 

Brussels, the Royal Observatory, 288 

Bryce (James, LL.D.), ** Transcaucasia and Ararat," 25, 205 

Bryozoa, the Shell of the, 355 

Bnchan (Alex.), Sun-spots and Rainfall, 505 

Buda-Pesth, Centenary of the University, 195; Botanical Ex- 
change Society at, 437 

Buddhism, T. W. Rhys Davids, 239 

Buchanan (J. Y.), Oxygen in Sea- Water, 162 

Burbidge (F. W.), "Horticulture," 142 

Burial-Ground, Discovery of a Prehistoric, near Berlin, 391 

Burton (Capt.), Exploration of the Land of Midian, 53, 132 

Burton (F. M.), Insects and Artificial Flowers, 162 ; Gentiatta 
. ctscle^adea and Bees, 201 

Bushnum Drawings, Ptof . G. Fritsch on, 350 

Butterflies in Iceland, No, 243, 260 

Byrne (Oliver), the Geometry of Compasses, 199 

Byssos in the Mussel, 289 



Cairo, Geographical Society, 468 

Callao, Waterspouts in, 372 

Calmy (Dr.), Eucalyptus, 283 

Cambridge : University InteUigenoe, 39, 74, 95, 134, 154, 294, 
393 ; Science at, 39 ; Philosophical Society, 96, 416 ; the 
Mathematical Tripos, 275 ; Science Exhibitions, 334 ; Wood- 
wardian Geological Museum, 354 ; Report of the University 
Commission, 415 ; Report on the Teaching of the University, 

497 
Cameron (J.), Sound and Density, ^07 
Canada, Extraordinary Rain-storm m, 490 
Cape of Good Hope Observatory, 269 
Capello (Joas), Sun-spots ai^d Terrestrial Magnetism, 488 



Nature, May 30, 1878] 



INDEX 



Capron (J. Rand), Arctic Aurora, 162 ; " Photographic 

Spectra," 259 
Carbon of Plaiits, J. W. Moll's Researches on, 344 
Camac, Archaeological Researches at, Tames Miln, 379 
Carnivorous Plants, Francisco Ginez, 63 
Carpenter (Dr. P. P.), his Collection of Shells, 513 
Carpenter (Wm. B., F.R.S.)y the Radiometer and its Lessons, 

26, 61 ; Mr. Crookes and Eva Fay, 81, loi, 122 
Carpmael (W.), Telephone Experiments, 342 
Cartilage, Transformation of, into Bone, 345 
Caspian, Prof. Grimm on the Fauna of the, 345 
Cassell's Natural History, Vol. i , 365 
Castleton, Local Museum at, 454 
Castor, the Binary Star, 105 
Caucasus, Prof. Abich's Work on the, 309 
Causation of Sleep, 124 

Cavendish (Henry), his Writmgs on Electricity, 75 
Cazin (Prof.), Death of, 16 
Cecil (Henry), Hearing and Smell in Insects, 102, 381 ; the 

Wasp and the Spider, 448 
" Celestial Atlas," Dien's, 141 
Cerf (Mdlle. Henrietta), Death of, 71 
Cesnola (Gen. L. Palma di), "Cyprus,** 397 
Chadwick Museum, 272 

ChaUenzerj the. Estimates of the Volume of the Gulf Stream, 

T. Mellard Reade, 144; in the Atlantic, Sir WyviUe 

Thomson's Account of, 145, 185 ; Laboratory Experiences on 

the, 394 

Channel Islands, a Zoolc^cal Station for the, W. Saville Kent, 

102, 475 
Chappell (Wm., F.S.A.), Music a Science of Numbers, 32 
Charkow, University of, 195 
Chamwood Forest, the Rocks of, 294 
Cheeseman (T. F.), Fertilisation of Glossosiigma^ 163 
Cheijan (Omer), Translation of the Poems of, 351 
Chemistry : Chemical Society, 40, 7?, 134, 215, 255, 315, 394, 
439f 499f 519; the Research Fund, 291, 309, 454; Anniver- 
sary Meetii^ of the Society, 479; a Problem in Chemical 
Affinity, 151; Chemical Notes, 150, 269; Die chemisdie 
Industrie, 251 ; Fowne's Manual of, 24 ; Prof. Kekul^ on the 
Position of, 55 ; N. N. Lubavin on Physical Chemistry, 240 ; 
Institute of, 291, 309 ; Chemistry and Algebra, Prof. J. J. 
Sylvester, F.R.S., 284, 309; Frankland°s Researches in, 
IVof, J. Emerson Reynolds, 318; Dictionaries of, 455, 514 
Chester Society of Natural Sciences, 16 

Chili: Insect-Fauna of, R. McLachlan, F.R.S., 162; A. R. 
Wallace, 182 ; the Insects of Chili and New Zealand, 221, 
260 
Chimpanzee at the Westminster Aquarium, 153 
China : Telegraphy in, 310 ; Exploration of, 346 ; the Tele- 
phone in, 392 ; Mr. Baber*s Report of the Grosvenor Mission, 
j 434 ; Geographical Notes, 452 ; Chinese Remedy for Cynanche 

I tonsillaris, 475; "Gray's China," 484; Chinese Plants and 

Animals in Paris, 513 
I Chloride of Silver Battery, Dr, De la Rue's Researches on the 

Electric Discharge with, 214 
j Chronometers, Trial of German and Swiss, 409 
I Cinchona, Cultivation of, 410 

Cissbory : Exploration of the Cave-Pits, 53, 171, 215, 409 
Qark (Xenos), Singing in the Ears, 342 
' Qeopatra's Needle, 251 

Cliff-Dwellers in the United States, 409 

Climatology : of the Spanish Peninsula, 248 ; of the Fiji Islands, 

248 ; or India, 307 ; of English Sea-side Resorts, 356 
Clock, a Watchxnan-Controlling, 292 
Clusters and Nebulae, Literature of the, 288 
Cobalt and Nickel, lodates of, 150 
Cochin China, the French Colony in, 492 
Coggia's Comet, 497 

Cohesion Figures in Liquids, Difiusion of, 124 
Cole (Alan S.)f State Aid to Music, 474 
"Coleoptera Sanctae-Helenae," WoUaston's, 338 
I Colley (Prof. R.), Electrical Experiment, 282 
' Collieries, Telegraphic Warnings in, 16 
Colonies, Exploring, 290 
Colorado, Atlas of, 371 

Colours, Comparison of the Intensity of Light of Various, 438 
Colour Sense of the Greeks, Prof. W. Robertson Smith, 100 
Columbus, the Burial-place of, 17 
Comets : De Vico's, 15 ; of Short Period of 1878, 36 ; of 1873, 



46 ; the Comet of 1672, 63 ; the Austrian Comet-Medal, 129 ; 

Donati's Comet of 1858, 149; the Comet 1106, 189; the 

Comets of 1618, 247; the Pericklical Comet 1873, 344; 

Tempel's Comet of Short Period, 408 ; Coggia's Comet, 497 '• 

Encke's Comet in 1878, 507 ' 

Compass Adjustment in Lron Ships, Sir WiUiam Thomson, 

F.R.S., 331, 352, 387 ^ . ^ 
Compasses, the Geometry of, Oliver Byrne, 199 
Congo, the Yallala Rapids on the, 62 
Connaissanoe des Tempe for 1879, 70 
Conrad (Timothy Abbott), Death of, 39 
Conservation of Energy, Lecture Experiment, W. A. Shen- 

stone, 45 
Cooke (C. J.), Landslips near Cork, 425 
Cooke (Conrad W.) Cumulative Temperature, 322, 448, 486 
Cooling Powers of Various Liquids, 132 
Cooper (Robt.) Mr. Crookes and Eva Fay, 183 
Copeland (Ralph), Meteor, 29 
Corbett (Dr. Joseph Henry), Death of, 410 
Cordoba Observatory, 83, 209 

Corfield (Dr. W. H.), Elements of Articulate Speech, 447 
Cork, Landslip near, C. J. Cooke, 425 
Corpse, Spasms in a Guillotined, 437 
Corsica, Exportation of Blackbirds ^m, 309 
Coryphodon, Brain of a Fossil Species of, 222 
"Cotton Goods, the Sizing of," Thomson, 4 
Cotton (Dr. R. P.), his Collection of Ilford Fossils, 231 
Crabs, Horse- Shoe, 289 

Craig-Christie (A.), the Future of our British Flora, 62 
Crawfish, Artificial Culture of, 133 

Cremmen, Discovery of a Prehistoric Burial Ground near, 391 
Croll (Dr. James, F.R.S.)» Age of the Sun in ReUtion to 

Evolution, 206, 321, 464 
Crookes (William, F.R.S.), the Radiometer and its Lessons, 7, 

43^; and Eva Fav, 81, lOI, 122, 183, 200 
Cruelty to Animals^ Act and Physiological Teaching, Frank W. 

Young, 45 
Crustaceans, Classification of Decapod, 127 . . 
Cryptogams, Hofmeister's work on, 344 ; Cryptogamic Society 

of Scotland, 133 ; Cryptogamic Society of Italy, 491 
Cxuiberland Assoaation of Literature and Science, 133 . 
Cumulative Temperatures, 308, 322, 448, 486 
Curious Phenomenon, 10 
Cyanide of Gokl, Double Salts with, 151 
Cycadeae, Structure of, 222 
Cyclones and Anti-Cyclones, 134 
Cynanche tonsillaris, Chinese Remedy for, 475 
'* Cyprus," General L. Pahna di Cesnola, 397 

D'Albertis' and Beccari's Voyage Round the World, 53 

D'Albertis' Exploration of New Gumea, 383 

Danish Greenland, Dr. Hen^ Rink, 57 

D'Anvers (N.), " History of North African Discovery," 280 

Danube, the, and the Aach, 233 

D' Arrest's Spectroscopical Researches, 311 

Darwin (Charles, F.R.S.), Conferring an Honorary Degree on 
at Cambridge, 52, 64 ; Fritz MiiUer on Flowers and Insects, 
78; Proposed Memorial to, 95, 350; "Different Forms of 
Flowers," 445 

Darwin (Francis), Insectivorous Plants, 222; Analogies of 
Plant and Ammal Life, 388, 411 

Darwin (G. H.), Geological Time, 509 

Davids (T. W. Rhys), Buddhism, 239 

Davyum, Sergius Kern, 245, 292 

Dawson (G. M.), Drowned by a Devil Fish, 282 

Deaf and Dumb Language, 479 

Decapod Crustaceans, Classification of, 127 

t)eclination Ranges and Sun-spots, Prof. Balfour Stewart, 
F.R.S., 326 

Deep-Sea Ascidians, 289 

Deer, Prof. Boyd Dawkins on the, of the Miocene and Pliocene 
Strata, 255 

De la Rue's Diaries and Calendars, li 

De la Rue (Warren, F.R.S.), Researches on the Electric Dis- 
charge with the Chloride of Silver Battery, 214 

Dendritic Gold, 283 

Denning (W. F.), Meteor of October 19, 1877, lo; Shooting 
Stars, 201 

Density and Sound, J. Cameron, 507 

Development in Plants, the First Stages of, 433^ T 

igitized by V3OOQ Ic 



VI 



lyDEX 



{Naiure^ May 30, 187S 



De Vice's Comet of Short Period, 15 

Devil Fish, Drowned by a, 27, 282 

Dien's " Celestial Atlas," 141 

Diet, A Physician's Experiment, 305 

l)if]^ion Figures in Liquids, 87, 102, 124 

Diffusion of Gases, 92 

Digital Reduction, the Laws of, 128 

Digits, Hereditary Case of Six, 372 

Dimetian and Pebidian Rocks of Pembrokeshire, 155 

Dispersal, Means of, W. L. Distant, 124 

Distant (W. L.), Means of Dispersal, 124; Oriental Affinities 

in the Ethiopian Insect Fauna, 282 
Distillation of Organic Liquids by Means of Steam, 270 
Dixon (Charles), Towering of Wounded Birds, 45 
Doberck (Dr. W.), Ole Romer, 105 
Dog- Fish, Capture of a, 251 

Dohrn (Dr. Anton), the Zoological Station, Naples, 329, 360 
Donati's Comet of 1858, 149 

Donisthorpe (Wordsworth), Change of Habits in Toads, 242 
Dorpat, University Intelligence, 354 
Dorset, Earthquake in, 38 
Double Salts with Cyanide of Gold, 151 
Double Stars, 407 

Dowdeswell (G. F), Bacteria in Water, 323 
Downing (A. W.), Sun-spots and Terrestrial Magnetism, 242 
Draper (Dr. Henry), Oxygen in the Sun, 339 
Dresden, the Polytechnic, 354 
Dtosera totundifoliat the Nutrition of, 222 
Drought in the Southern Hemisphere, 436, 447, 454 
Drury's "Chronolo^ at a Glance," 253 
Dublin, the Royal Society, 46 
Dumas' Lectures on Chemical Philosophy, 193 
Duncan (Dr. P. Martin), Cassell's Natural History, 365 
Dundee Naturalists' Society, 54 
Dun Echt Observatory Publications, 432 
Dust, Explosive, 283 
Dwarfs, African, 364 
Dyer (Prof. W. T. Thiselton), the Rain-Tree of Moyobamba, 

349 

Early Man, Traces of, in Japan, 89 

Ears, Singing in the, Xenos Clark, 342 

Earth, Age of the, W. M. Flinders Petrie, 465 

Earthquakes, 330; at Lisbon, 17 ; in Dorset, 38; New York, 38 ; 
at Iquique, 90 ; in Canada, 90, 1 10 ; in Nebraska, 1 10 ; the 
" Ionia Volcano," no; at Beachburg, 212; in Jersey, 272;. 
of January 28, 1878, 292 ; at Liesthal, 475; at St. Stefano,' 

514 

Earthquakes and Seiches, Dr. F. A. Forel, 281 

Earthworm in Relation to the Fertility of the Ground, 18, 28, 
62 

Earthworm, Supposed Gigantic, 325 

Earwigs, 128 

Easter, the Date of, 433 

Eastern Excavations, 397 

Eclipse Photography, the Use of the Reflection Grating in, J. 
Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 354 

Eclipses : Solar of February 2, 1878, 36 ; Total Solar Eclipse 
of A.D. 418, 163 ; the Total Solar Eclipse of July 29, 1878, 
250, 269, 381, 452, 453 ; the Coming Total Solar Eclipse,* J. 
Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., 481, 501 

Eden (C. H.), "The Fifth Continent with the Adjacent 
Islands," 121 

Edinburgh : University Buildings Extension Scheme, 95, 114; 
University Intelligence, 154, 294, 517 ; University Statistics, 
214 ; Royal Society, 216, 276, 439, 480 ; University Chemi- 
cal Society, 296, 500, 526 ; New School of Medicine at, 354 ; 
Proposed Portrait of Dr. Balfour, 393 

Edison's Phonograph, 90^ 190, 291, 469 

Educational Travel, 324 

Education, Female, in Germany, 47S 

Education in France, 170 

Education, Technical, Prof. Huxley on, 97 

Edwards (M. Milne), appointed President of the French Scien- 
tific Association, 152 

Eggs, the Earliest Changes in Animal, 509 

Egypt, Flint Flakes, &c., from, 215 

Eidum, a Submerged Village, 232 

Euuer (Prof.), on the Nervous System of Medusa:, Geo. J. 
Romanesy 200 



Elasmobranchs, the Fins of, Prof. St. G. Mivart, F.R.S., 355 
Electrical Analogies with Natural Phenomena, 226, 385 ; Elec- 
trical Experiments, 180, 282 
Electrical Nerves, Social, 305, 346 
Electric Battery, a New, 455 
Electric Lighting, 156, 310, 437 

Electricity, Gas Lighting by, 495 ; and Light, Experiment on, 
233; and Railway Collisions, 371 ; and Railway Working, 
W. E. Langdon, 461 

Electro-Generator, Electromotive Force of, 514 

Electro-Magnets, 20, 40, 56, 76, 96 

Electrometer, New Form of Absolute, 115 

Electromotive Force, 252 

Electrostriction, Prof. Mills, F.R.S,, on, 235 

Elliot (James), a Meteor, 425 

Ellis (Alex. J., F.R.S.), Appunn and Koenig— Beats in Con- 
fined Air, 26 ; the Phonograph, 4, 85 

Elton (Capt.), Death of, 383 

Encke's Comet in 1878, 507 

English Lake-Dwellings 4uid Pile Structures, Prof. T. Rupert 
Jones, F.R.S., 424 

Entomology : Entomological Society, 75, 176, 256, 395, 459 ; 
Entomology in America, 229; Entomological Eschibition at 
the Westminster Aquarium, 351, 391, 402; Entomological 
Queries, 467 

Eocene Flora of Bournemouth, J. S. Gardner, 47 

Erlangen, University Statistics, 214 

Esquimaux in Paris, 54, 309 

Ethiopian Insect Fauna, Oriental Affinities in the, W. L. 
Distant, 282 

Ethnography, Lectures on, in Paris, 330 

Ethnological Literature of 1876, 133 

Ethnology of North America, 53 

Ethylen Okide, New Modes of Forming, 150 

Eucalyptus: Prince Pierre Tnmbitzkoy, 10; Arthur Nicols, 
loi, 342; used for Checking Fire, 38; Dr. Calmy, 283 ; as 
Fuel, 392 ; the Uses of, 514 

Euplectdla Sponges, 222 

Euphrosyne, the Minor Planet, 36 

Eutydice, the Meteorological Conditions Affiscting the Wreck of 
the, 437, 466 

Eva, the Minor Planet, 2to 

Everett (A. H.), Volcanic Phenomena in Borneo, 200 

Everett (Prof. J. D.), " Shorthand for General Use," 17 ; Under- 
ground Temperature, 476 

Evolution, Age of the Sun in Relation to, J. I. Plummer, 303, 
360 ; Dr. James Croll, F.R.S., 321, 464 

Evolution of Heat during Muscular Action, Prof. A. Fick, 285 

Exner (Prof.), on the Diffiision of Gases, 92 

Exploring Colonies, 290 

Explosions in Mines, W. Galloway, 21 

Explosions, A. Mackennah, 123 

Explosive, Discovery of a New, 436 

Explosive Dust, 283 

Eyck (Jan van). Colossal Bronze Statue of, 490 

Eye-brows, Supplementary, W. Ainslie Hollis, 124 

Eye-motions during Sleep, &c.| 371 

Falb (Dr. Rud)., his Travels in South America, 513 

Faraday (Prof.), Bust of, 291 

Faraday's " Experimental Researches," Sylvanns P. Thompson, 
304, 361 ; Bernard Quaritch, 342 

Faunas and Floras, the Comparative Richness of, tested Numeri- 
cally, Alfred R. Wallace, 100 

Fay (Eva), Mr. Crookes and Dr. W. B. Carpenter, F.R.S., 81, 
122 ; Alfred R. Wallace, loi 

Faye (A. E. A.), elected Minister of Instruction for France, 
91 

Female Education in Germany, 478 

Ferment in Plants, 455 

Ferns and Mosses, Hofmeister's work on, 344 

Ferns, J. Smith's British and Foreign, 43 

Fertilisation in Thyme and Marjoram, 127 

Fertilisation of GiossosHgma^ J. F. Chesseman, 163 

Fertilisation of Plants, 221 

Fetichism in Animals, Geo. J. Romanes, x68; C. G. O'Brian, 402 

Fick (Prof. A.), on the Evolution of Heat During Muscular 
Action, 285 

Fielden (Capt.), on the Geology of the Arctic Regions, 473 

Field-mice, or Rats, Plague of, in Smyrna, 437 

O 



HaiMre^ May 30, 1878] 



INDEX 



VU 



"Fifth Continent and the Adjacent Islands," C. H. Eden, 121 

Figuicr's •• Les Six Parties du Monde," 17 

Fiji Islands, the Climatology of the, 248 

Films, Experiments on Fluid, 44, 61 

"Firc-BaU,"Fallofa, 10 

Fire-damp, Commission on Explosions from, 252 

Fires, Tel^praphic Warnings of, in Paris, 91 

Fisharief", of the Rhine, 212 ; the American Inland, 382 

Fishe?, the EHstribution of Freshwater, 128 ; Prof. E. Perceval 

Wr^ht on Fishes' Tails, 286 ; Glacial and Post-glacial Fishes 

of Nonn-ay, 509 
Fittig's " Organic Chemistry," French Translation of, 233 
Fit2;^rald (Geo. Fras.), the Radiometer and its Lessons, 199 
Flame, Vibrations of a. Experiments on, 54 
Flame Spectra, Observing the Coloured Lines of, 273 
Flames, Temperature of, 269 
Flammarion (M.) on Stellar Systems, 82 
Floating Magnets, Alfred M. Mayer, 487 
Flora, British, the Future of Oiu*, A. Craig-Christie, 62 
"Flora of Tropical Africa," Prof. D. Oliver, F.R.S., 319 
Floras and Faunas, the Comparative Richness of. Tested 

Numerically, Alfred R. Wallace, 100 
Flower (James), Death of, 37 
Flower (Prof., F.R.S.), Hunterian Lectures, 350 
Flower?, Darwin's Different Forms of, 445 
Flowers and Bees, John B. Bridgman, 102 
Flowers and Insects, 1 1 ; Fritz Miiller on, 78 
Fog-Signals, Dr. Tyndall, F.R.S., 456 
Forbes (Henry O.), Selective Discrimination of Insects, 62 
Forbes (Prof. Geo.), the Telephone as an Instrument of 

Precision, 343 
Ford (Dr. F. A.), Seiches and Earthquakes, 281 
Forests, the Air of, 515 
Forficulidse (Earwigs), 128 
Fossils: Discovery of Fossil Plants in Grinnell Land, 115; 

Fossil Fungus, 127 ; the Brain of a Fossil Mammal, 222, 340 ; 

Preparing Fossils, 369; Fossil Hunting at Bournemouth, 

J. S. Gardner, 369; London Clay Fossils, 487; Fossil 

Insects, 508 
F(»ter (Prof. G. Carey, F.R.S.), the Radiometer and its 

Lessons, 5, 43, 80, 142 
Foacault's Pendulum Experiments, 108 
Fownes* " Manual of Chemistry," 24, 46 
Fox (Gen. A. Lane, F.R.S.), the Arrangement of Museums, 

484 

France: French Geographical Society, 17; Association Poly- 
technique, 54 ; Statistics of Suicides in, 54 ; Bequest to the 
French Institute, 70 ; Universities in, 1 14 ; French Acclima- 
tisation Society, 132; Education in, 193, 214; the Scientific 
Association of, 232, 271 ; French Association for the Ad- 
vancement of Science, 251, 350 ; FVench Academy of Sciences, 
273; Distribution of Prizes, 271 ; Proposed Exploring Expe- 
ditions, 329 ; Agricultural Weather Warnings, 371 ; Statistics 
of Wine I^oduction, 372 ; Preservation of Boulders in, 391 ; 
Brought in the South of, 475 ; Soci^tes Savantes, 490. See 
also Paris, &c. 

Frankland's Researches in Chemistry, Prof. J. Emerson 
Reynolds, 218, 318 

Frdborg, Umversity Statistics, 334 

French Guayana, 508 

French Popolar Science, 120 

Freshwater Fishes, the Distribution of, 128 

Fries (Elias Magnus), Death of, 329; Obituary Notice of, 343 

Frnit, Fungoid Disease of, 91 

Fruits, the Action of Certain Antiseptic Vapours on the Ripen- 

^h^of, 150 

Fu^id Disease of Frait, 91 

Fungus, a Fossil, 127 

Gabb (W. M.), Sense in Insects — Drowned by a Devil Fbh, 282 

Gtfarid (M. Delafosse), Illness of, 370 

(Uileo, was. Tortured ? Sedley Taylor, 299 

Galloway (W.), Explosions in Mines, *2I 

Gannistcr Beds of Northumberland, Marine Fossils in the. Prof. 

G. A. Lebour, 320, 352 
"Gardener Bird, '^ the, no 
Gardner (J. S.), the Eocene Flora of Bournemouth, 47 ; Fossil 

Hunting at Boomemoutb, 369 
Ganett (William), Leidenfrost's Phenomena, 466 
Gas-Holder, New Form of, Prof. W. F. Barrett, 253 



Gas-Lighting by Electricity, 495 

Gases : Diffi^ion of, 92 ; the Liquefaction of the, 117, 265 ; the 
Last of the, 177 ; Experiments on Spread of, through Bodies, 
393 

Geikie(Prof. A., F.R.S.), Prof. Bryce's Ararat, 205 ; American 
Geological Surveys, 431 ; the Old Red Sandstone of Western 
Europe, 471 

Gems from Russia, 72; the Production of Artificial, 55, 136, 
152 

Geneva, Lake of. Earthquake near, 234 

Geneva Society of Physics and Natural History, 136 

Gentiana asclepiadea and Bees, F. M. Burton, 201 

Geography : Geographical Notes, 249, 270, 290, 308, 324, 364, 
383, 408, 434, 452, 467, 489, 508 ; Geography at French 
Railway Stations, iio; Geographical Magazine, 132, 293, 
468 ; Geographical Bibliography, 324 

Geology : Geological Congress, International, 65 ; Hauer's 
" Die Geologic," 78; Geological Society, 115, 136, 155,255, 
294. 335» 374» 395» 5^8; Geological Work of the United 
States Survey under Dr. Hayden during the Summer of 1877, 
129; Geological Surveys of America — ^Missouri, Prof. A. 
Geikie, F.R.S., 431 ; Geologists' Association, 475 ; Geologi- 
cal Time, G. H. Darwin, 509 

Geometrical Teaching, the Association for the Improvement of, 
89, 251 

" Geometry of Com^sses," Oliver Byrne, 199 

Geometry of Three Dimensions, Theorems Relating to, Prof. S. 
Newcomb, F.R.S., 240 

Germany : German Universities, Stal istics of, 103 ; German 
Chemical Society, 131, 273; Botany in, 158; German Scien- 
tific Association, Report of the Munich Session, 350 ; Uni- 
versity Libraries of, 374 ; German Polytechnic Congress, 394; 
German Alpine Club, 468 

Ghinozzi (Dr. Carlo), Death of, 170 

Gibraltar, the Geology of, Prof. A. C. Ramsay, F.R.S., and 
James Geikie, F.R.S., 518 

Giessen, the Ph. Degree at, 75 ; University Statistics, 478 

Gilchrist Educational Trust, 334 

Gillmore (Parker), '* The Great Thirst Land," 360 

Ginez (Francisco), Carnivorous Plants, 63 

Giraud (Dr. H.), Death of, 513 

Glacial Geology of Orkney and Shetland, S. Laing, M.P., 123 ; 
Prof. M. Forster Heddle, 182 

Glass for Reflectors, Henry Bessemer, 241 

Glass, the Engraving of, 372 ; Compressed Hard, 392 

Glassy Sponges, 222 

Glossostigma, Fertilisation of, T. F. Cheeseman, 163 

Goethe, Proposed Monument to, 211 

Gold, Dendritic, 283 

Gold in Teheran, 115 ; in New Guinea, 408 

Goode (G. Brown), the Bermuda Lizard, 425 

Gordon (J. E. H.), the Telephone as a Means of Measuring the 
Speed of High Brakes, 424 

Gore (G., LL.D., F.R.S.), the Thermo-Electric Properties of 
Liquids, 479 

Gorilla, Dissection of the Berlin, 89 

Gottland, Discovery of Ancient Bronze Weights in, 351 

Gottingen, Royal Academy of Sciences, 156, 296, 480; Uni- 
versity Statistics, 214 

Government Research Fund, 403 

Grapes, Frost-Bitten, 132 

" Gray's China," 484 



Great Pyramid, J. G. Jackson, 243 

"Great Thirst Land.'^Parker Gillmore's, 360 

Greek Cities and Islands of Asia Minor, W. S. W. Vaux, 119 



Greeks, the Colour Sense of the. Prof. W. Robertson Smith, 100 
Green Algse, 289 

Greenland, Danish, Dr. Henry Rink, 57 
Greifswald, University Statistics, 354 
Greyhounds, Turkoman, 434 
Grimm (Prof.), on the Fauna of the Caspian, 345 
Grinnell Land, Fossil Plants found in, 115 
Groshans (Dr. J. A.), Photography Foreshadowed, 202 
Grove's Gas Battery, 394 

Grove's Dictionary of Music, Dr. W. H. Stone, 422 
Gnadaloupe Island, the Birds of, 128 
Guildhall, Public Standards at the, 454 
GuiUemard (Arthur G.), Great Waterfalls, 221, 242 
Gulf Stream, the Challenger Estimates of the Volume of the, ^ 
T. Mdlard Reade, 144 ^ . ^ - 



Vtil 



INDEX 



[Nature^ May 30, 1878 



Gunther (Dr., F.R.S.), Gigantic Land Tortoises, 483 

Hailstones, Rain-drops, and Snow-flakes, the Formation of. 
Prof. Osborne Reynolds, F.R.S., 207 

Hailstorm at Brisbane, 455 

Hair, Human, the Colouring Matter of, 355 

Halle, University Intelligence, 235, 478 

Haller (Albert von), 90, 223 

Halogen Derivatives of Amines, 1 51 

Handwriting, Restoration of the, of Old MSS., 351 

Hanover, the Polytechnic at, 335 

Harmonograph, 394 

Harrison (Park), Exploration of the "Cave Pit," Cissbury, 53 

Harrison (W. H.), *' Lazy Lays," 38 

Harrison (W. J.), Geology of Leicestershire and Rutland, 58 

Harrow School Bathing-Place, Arthur G. Watson, 487 

Hartiauh's ** Birds of Madagascar," Prof. A. Newton, F.R.S., 9 

Harvard College, U.S., Observatory, 363 

Harvey (WUliam), Notice of, by Prof. T. H. Huxley, F.R.S., 
417 ; the Proposed Statue of, 435 

Hatfield (H.), Meteor, 342 

Hauer (F. R. von), ** Die Geolt^e,'* 78 

Hayden (Dr.) Geological Work of the U.S. Survey in 1877, 129 

Head-Masters on Science Teaching, Rev. W. TuckweU, 317 

Hearing and Smell in Insects, Henry Cecil, 102, 381 

Heat, B. Loewy, 43 

Heat, Evolution of, during Muscular Action, Prof. A. Fick, 285 

Heat-Motion, on a Means of Converting the. Possessed by 
Matter at Normal Temperature in Work, S. Tolver Preston, 
202 ; John Aitken, 260 

Hebrides, Low Barometric Readings in the, Nov., 1877, 307 

Heda, Mount, Eruption of, 454 

Heddle (Prof. M. Forster), Glaciation of Orkney, 182 

Heidelberg, University of, 195 

Helmholtz (Prof. H., F.R.S.), Lord Rayleigh's " Theory of 
Sound," 237 ; Helmholtz's Vowel Theory and the Phonograph, 
384, 411, 423 

Henderson (Richard) Manual of Agriculture, 280 

Hennessey (J. B. N., F.R.S.), Optical Spectroscopy of the Red 
End of the Solar Spectrum, 28 

Henry Telephone, 437 

Hensen (M.), the Earthworm in Relation to tiie Fertility of the 
Ground, 18 

Henslow (Rev. G.), on the Self- Fertilisation of Plants, 221 

Hering (M,), on the Sense of Temperature, 372 

Hermann (Otto), Hungarian Spidersj 128 

Herring Fisheries and the Telegraph, 351 ; the Swedish, 391 

Herschel (Prof. A. S.), the " Phantom" Force, 302, 321, 340 

Hicks (Henry), Dimetian and Pebidian Rocks of Pembroke- 
shire, 155 

Higgins (H. H.), " Notes by a Field Naturalist in the Western 
Tropics," 121 

High Tides, Prediction of, 38, 45, 58, loi 

Hildebrandt (Dr. J. M.), Ascent of Mount Kenia, 72 \ Explo- 
ration of Africa, 194 

Hilgard (J. E.), Transatlantic Longitudes, 244 

Hind g. R., F.R.S.), Wolfs "History of Astronomy," 2S9 
(Translation), 359 

Hinde (G. J.), Eiithquake in Canada, 90 

Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam, 239 

Hippopotamus, Death of, in the Zoological Gardens, 392 

Hissarlik, Antiquities from, 397 

Hofmann (Prof. A.), a " Commers " in Honour of, 393 

Hofmeister's Cryptogamia, 344 

Holden (J. Sinclair), Strychnia and its Antidote, 360 

Hollis (W. Ainslie), Supplementary Eye-brows, 124 

Hopkins, Johns, University, Baltimore, Anniversary, 459 ; Fel- 
lowships at, 517 

Horology, Modern, M. Claudius Saunier, 484 

Horse- Shoe Crabs, 289 

" Horticulture," F. W. Burbidge, 142 

Hovelacque (Abel), the Science of Language, 464 

Howgate (Capt.), Arctic Expedition, 153, 171 

Hubbard (E,), the Wasp and the Spider, 402 

Humboldt Institution for Naturalists and Travellers, 311 

Hung^ary: Spiders of, 128; Rotifers of , 128 

Hunter (Dr. W. W.), Rainfall in the Temperate Zone in Con- 
nection with the Sun-spot Cycle, 59 ; Great Waterfalls, 242 

Hunterian Lectures for 1878, 350 

Huxley's " Physiography," 178 



Hydrophobia, 117, 139 

Hygrometer, a new Condensing, 14, 28; M. AUuard's, 132 

Ice : as an Electrolyte, 56 ; R. Pictet on the Formation of 154 ; 
Production of, 212 

Iceland : Volcanic Eruption in, 171 ; no Butterflies in, 243, 
260 

Ilford Fossils Dr. R. P. Cotton's Collection of, 231 

Index Society, 37 

India : Methods for Determining Solar Radiation in, 131 ; the 
Rainfall of, 273, 505 ; the Climate of, 307 

Indium in British Blendes, Prof. N. S. Maskelyne, F.R.S., 5 

" Inductive Metrology," Flinders Petrie, 357 

Indus River, 38, 250 

" Industrial Art," 272 

Inflexible^ the, 131, 137 

Ingleby (Dr. C. M.), Philadelphia Diplomas, 183 

Injurious Insects, Report on, 330 

Innsbruck University Statistics, 254. 

Insectivorous Plants, Francis Darwin, 222 

Insects : and Flowers, ii ; Fritz MUller on Insects and Flowers, 
78 ; Insects, Hearing and Smell in, Henry Cecil, 102, 381 ; 
Insects and Artificial Flowers, 133, 162 ; Selective Discrimina- 
tion of Insects, 62, 163, 402, 425 ; Insect Fauna of Chili, 
R. McLachlan, F.R.S., 162; A. R. Wallace, 182; Insects 
of Chili and New Zealand, 221, 260 ; Sense in, W. M. Gabb, 
282; Report on Injurious, 330; Digestion in, 411 

Institute of Chemistry, 273, 291, 309 

Institute of Civil Engineers, 54, 76, 156, 215, 276, 356, 416, 
460, 500, 520 

International Geological Congress, 65 

International Polar Expeditions, E. J. Reed, C.B., M.P., 29 

lodates of Cobalt and Nickel, 150 

Iquique, Earthquake at, 90, 272 

Iron and Steel Institute, 436, 458 

Iron, Red-hot and Light, 17 

Iron Ships, Compass Adjustment in. Sir William Thomson, 
F.R.S., 331, 352, 387 

Iron, the Fracture of, 491 

Islam and its Founder, J. W. H. Stobart, 239 

Island, a Volcanic, 194 

Isomerism, Influence of, on the Formation of Ethers between 
Adds and Alcohols, 151 

Italian Cryptogamic Society, 491 

Italian Geographical Society, 37, 132 

Jack (Robert L.), Research in Libraries, 486 

Jackson (J. G.), the Great Pyramid, 243 

Jahrbiicher f. wissenschaftlicie Botanik, 158 

Jahresbericht fiir Chemie, 171 

Janssen's Researches on the Sun's Photosphere, J. Norman 
Lockyer, F.R.S., 23 

Japan : Edward S. Morse on Traces of Early Man in, 89 ; 
Exploration of, 171 ; Archseological Society in, 271 ; Geo- 
graphical Work in, 290 ; Japanese Students in England, 491 

Jena, University Statistic?, 254 

Jenkins (Prof. Fleeming) and J. A. Ewing on Hehnholtz*s 
Vowel Theory and the Phonograph, 384, 423 . 

Jenkins (B. G.), Expected High Tides, 45, loi ; Sun-spots and 
Terrestrial Magnetism, 259 

Jersey, Earthquake in, 272 

Jewell (Lieut. Theo. F.), Sounding Apparatus, 230 \ 

Johns Hopkins Scientific Association, 113 

Joliet (M. L.), French Polyzoa, 382 

Jordan (Dr. D. S.), the Distribution of Freshwater Fishes, 128 

Journal de Physique, 294, 314 

Journal of Forestry, 153 

Judd (Prof. J. W., F.R.S.), the Strata of the Western Coast 
and Islands of Scotland, 335 

Jupiter's Satellites, 149 

" Kames " in Connecticut, 213 

Kampf (Dr. Frederick), Death of, 513 

Kant (Immanuel), Proposed Monument to, 391 

" Katzen, Das Buch der," 351 

Keane (A. H.), Translation of Hovelacque*s Science of" 

Language, 464 
Kekule (Prof.), on the Position of Chemistry, 55 
Kelsief (M.), Exploration of Russia, 38 py | /> 

Kenia, Mount, Dr. J. M. Hildebrandt's Ascent M,*^ 7^ 



ifature. May 30, 1878] 



INDEX 



IX 



Kent (W. Saville), Sonnd-producing Arthropods, 1 1 ; a Zoolo- 
I gical Station for the Channel Islands, I02 

Kern (Sergins), Davyum, 245, 292 
I Key (Rev. Henry Cooper), the Earthworm in Relation to the 
Fertility of the Soil, 28 

Kieff, University Intelligence, 374 
I Kirtland (Dr. J. P.), Obituary Notice of, 232 
I Knots, Trefoil, 421 

Kcenig and Appunn — Beats in Confined Air, Alex. J. Ellis, 
F.R.S., 26 

KonigsbCTg, University Intelligence, 55, 478 

Korostovtseff(M.), Exploration of the Northern Pamir, 249 

Kosmos, 20, 254, 374 

Krapp's Workshops, Statistics of, 351 

Kuhlmann (Prof.), Collection of his Researches, 437 

Kun (Sulhiz), Death of, 391 

Lapai^ Ae^tetue of, 53 



Laing (S. M. P.), Glacial^Geology of Orkney and Shetland, 123 

Lake-Dwellings, English, and Pile Structures, Prof. T. Rupert 
Jones, F.R.S., 424 

Lakes, Depths of, 468 

Lalande, the Star, 382, 488 

Lamps, Lighting by Electricity, 108 

Lamy (Prof. A.), Death of, 436 

Landslip near Cork, C. J. Cooke, 425 

Land-Tortoises, Gigantic, Dr. Giinther, F.R.S., 483 

Landvort (M. Schoun), Death of, 170 

Langdon (W. E.), the Application of Electricity to Railway 
Working, 461 

Lai^fuage, the Science of, Abel Hovclacque, 464 

L'Ann^ G^ographique, 1876, 489 

Lapland, Exploration of Russian, 345 

Laplanders at the Westminster Aquarium, 70 

Last of the Gases, 177 

Lava, Mineral Oil in, at Mount Etna, 150 

Lcbour (Prof G. A.), Marine Fossils in the Gannister Beds of 
Northumberland, 320, 352 

U*ds, Yorkshire College of Science, 175 

Leicestershire and Rutland, Harrison's Geology of, 58 

Leidenfrost's Phenomena, Wm. Gamett, 466 

Leipzig, University Intelligence, 9$ 

Levek, Bubbles of Air in, 233 

Levcnricr, the Pension to his Widow, 52 ; Proposed Monument 

, to, 350, 391 

Levemer (Madame), Death of, 37 

Lexington, U.S., Endowment of the University, 175 

bT)rary, Statistics of the Paris National, 92 

libraries of German and Austrian Universities, 374 

Libraries, Research in, Robert L. Jack, 486 

Licbig, the Propel Monument to, at Munich, 16 

Ijebreich (Dr. R.), the Deterioration of Oil Paintings, 493, 515 

Licsthal, Earthquake at, 475 

l^bting Lamps by Electricity, 108 

Ligbt, Chemic^ Action of, 151, 436 ; the Sources and Reflec- 
tion of, Mayer and Barnard, 405, 427 ; Action of, on a 
Selenium (Galvanic) Element, Robert Sabine, 512 ; Experi- 
mcnt on Light and Electricity, 233 

Lmc, Strontian, and Baryta, Crystallisation of, 372 

Limestone Rock, the Origin of a. Prof. W. C. Williamson, 
F.R.S., 265 

Lindsay (Lord), his Dun Echt Observatory Publications, 432 

Lingnla, Structure of, 383 

Linnc, Centenary of his Death, 210, 271 

Lianean Society, 55, IS5, 175, 2?5, S'S, 355, 394. 439, 499, 
.519 ; and the Centenary of Linne, 309 

Liquefaction of Air and of the so-called Pennanent Gases, 
Prof. T. E. Thorpe, F.R.S., 384 

Liqacfaction of Oxygen, &c., 169, 177, 265 

Liquids, Compressibility of, M, Amagat on, 91 ; Thermo-elec- 
tric Properties of, G. Gore, RR.S., 479; Volume of and the 
Absorption of Gases, 514; the Concentration of, and their 
Electromotive Force, 515 

Lisbon, Earthquake at, 17 

Littrow (Carl von). Obituary Notice of, 83 

Liveii^ and Dewar (Profs.), on the Reversal of the Lines of 
Metallic Vapours, 498 

Liver, the Glycogenic Function of the, 439 

Liverpool Historic Society, 193 

Luttd, the Bermnda» G. Brown Goode, 425 



Lloyd (W. A.), the Proposed Channel Islands' Zoological Sta- 
tion, Aquarium, and Piscicultural Institute, 143 

Lloyd (Dr.), Scientific Papers of, 272 

Lob-Nor, Lake, Expedition to, 234, 434 

Lockyer (J. Norman, F.R.S.), the Sun's Photosphere, 23; the 
Modem Telescope, 66, 125, 188, 225 ; the Use of the Reflec- 
tion Grating in Exilipse Photography, 354 ; the Coming Total 
Solar Eclipse, 481, 501 

Locomotive Engine, Quick Mounting of, 438 

Locust Plague in America, Andrew Murray, 377 

Loewy (B.), '* Heat," 43 

Lohrmann's Lunar Charts, 343 

London, University of, 19 

London Clay Fossils, 487 

Longitudes, Transatlantic, 244, 408 

Lubavin (N. N.), "Physical Chemistry,'' 240 

Lubbock (Sir John, F.R.S.), Habits of Ants, 355 

Lunar Charts, Lohrmann's, 343 

Lunar Landscape, Winkler's, 469, 514 

Lyons Observatory, 149 

Macalister (Prof. Alex.), Royal Dublin Society, 183 

McCook (H. C), the Agricultural Ants of Texas, 433 ; the 

Aeronautic Flight of Spiders, 434 
McKendrick (Prof. J. G,), Telephonic Alarum, 181 
Mackennah (A.), Explosions, 123 
McLachlan (R., F.R.S.), Insect Fauna of Chili, 162, 182 5 on 

some Pecular Points in the Insect Fauna of Chili, 260 
Maclear (Commander T. P.), Spectrum of Aurora Anstralis, 11 
McNab (Prof. W. R.), Bako^s Flora of Mauritius and Sey- 
chelles, 77; Botany in Germany, 158; Oliver's Flora of 

Tropical Africa, 319 
Macrosilia clu^nHus, Dr. Hermann Miiller, 221 
Madagascar, Hartlaub's Birds of, 9 
Madrid, Annual Report of the Observatory of, 70 
Magnet, a New, 252 
Magnetical Measurements in Russia, 153 
Magnets, Floating, Alfred M. Mayer, 487 
Mahwa Tree, 394 

Maisonneuve (M. C. Durieu de), Death of, 436 
Male Nurse, a, 222 

Malt, Explosion of, A. Mackennah, 123 
Mammal, the Brain of a Fossil, 222 
Mammoth Remains in Tomsk, 153 
Mammoth, Discovery of a Fossil, in Hanover, 273 
Man, Traces of Early, in Japan, 89 ; Antiquity of Man, 315 
Manchester, Chemical Society at Owens College, 114; Literary 

and Philosophical Society, 96, 176, 296 
Manjean (M.), Bequest to the French Institute, 70 
Manfredonia, a Buried City near, 21 1 
Manuscripts, Restoration of the Handwriting of, 351 
Maps of the Balkan Peninsula, 346 
Maps, Ancient, of Central Africa, 383 
Marburg, University Statistics, 478 
Mareotis, Lake, Proposed Draining of, 212 
Marine Fossils in the Gannister B^ of Northumberland, Prof. 

G. A. Lebour, 320, 352 
Marjoram and Thyme, Fertilisation in, X27 
Marmora (Gen. La), Death of, 211 
Mars, the Satellites of, 15, 190, 231, 288, 433 ; the Planet, and 

B.A.C. 8129, 105 ; the South Polar Spot of, 209 
Marseilles, Proposed Zoolog^ical Garden at, 474 
Marsh (Prof. O. C), Brain of a Fossil Mammal, 340 
Marshall (Dr. A. M.), the Development of Nerves, 382 
Martini (Prof. Tito), Diffusion Figures in Liquids, 87 
Maskelyne (Prof. N. S., F.R.S.), Indium in British Blendes, 5 
Mathematical Society, 95, 155, 254, 336, 400, 459 
Mauritius and Seychdles, the Flora of, by J. G. Baker, 77 
Maxwell (Prof. Clerk, F.R.S.), an Electrical Experiment, 180 ; 

Tail's "Thermodynamics," 257, 278 
Mayer (Alfred M.), Edison's Talking Machine (the Phonograph), 

469 ; Floating Magnets, 487 
Mayer and Barnard, the Sources and Reflection of Light, 405, 

427 
Mayer (Robert Julius v.). Death of, 435 ; Obituary Notice, 450 
Mayer (Dr. Paid), Entomological Query, 467 
Mechanical Analysis of the Trevelyan Rocker, Samuel H. 

Frisbee, 242 
Medusae, Prof. Eimer on the Nervous System iS^ George^ J ^ 

Romanes, 200 igitized by VJniJOv IV^ 



INDEX 



[Naturt^ May 30, 1878 



Meldola (R.)» Oxygen in the Sun, 161 

Meldrum (C, F.R.S.)» Sun-spots and Rainfall, 448 

Mello (Joaquim Corr&i de), Death of, 309 

Mdo-Piano, the, 453 

Memorie della Society degli Spettroscopisti Italian!, 314 

Mercury, the Transit of, on May 6, 1878, 46, 69, 363, 370, 488 

Merriman (Mansfield), List of Writings on the Method of Least 
Squares, 219 

Merten, Excavations at, 475 

Metallic Vapours, the Reversal of the Lines of the. Professors 
Liveing and Dewar, 498 

Meteorites, see Meteors 

Meteorology: Meteorological Notes, 15, 248, 307, 362,489; 
Meteorological Society, 134, 235, 295, 356, 499 ; Meteorology 
of New York, 15 ; Meteorology in Russia, 16; Prof. Monier 
Williams on Indian, 53 ; Meteorological Phenomena, 82 ; 
New Meteorological Observatory at Fiesole, no; Daily 
Warnings in France, 133 ; French Meteorology, 170, 193 ; 
Climatology of the SpanisJi Peninsula, 248 ; Climatol(^ of 
the Fiji Islands, 248; United States Volunteer Weather 
Service, 248 ; Rainfall of India, 273 ; the Progress of Meteo- 
rology, 313 ; Bulletin of the Montsouris Observatory, 362 ; 
Meteorology of Western Australia, 363 ; Agricultural Weather 
Warnings in France, 371 ; Proposed French Institute of, 391 ; 
Scottish Meteorological Society, 440 ; Meteorology of Stony- 
hurst, 489 ; Weekly Statistics of the Weather, 489 ; Missouri 
Weather Reports, 490 ; Comparative Atmospheric Pressure 
of New Zealand and Great Britain, 490; Popular Meteorology 
in Switzerland, 492 

Meteors: 29, 94, 124, 221, 342, 425, 454, 467, 487; of 
October 19, 1877, lo » Meteorite of July 20, i860, 104 ; 
Meteorite of Tune 14, 1877, 150; of December 6, 1877, 152; 
the Meteor of November 23, 1877, 94, 113, 183, 246; Meteor 
in Virginia, 214 ; the Daylight Meteor of Mar& 25, 467 

Method of Least Squares, Merriman's List of Writings Relating 
to, 219 

Metrolc^, Flinders Petrie on Inductive, 357 

Metropolitan Sewage, 157 

Meudon Observatory, 392 

Mexico, New, Exploration of, 489 

Meyer (Dr. A. B.), Mittheilungen aos dem k. zoologischen 
Museum zu Dresden, 142 

Mice, Singing, 11, 29 

Michaud (M. Nardsse), Death of, 474 

Michel (Gustov), " Die Buch der Katzen," 351 

Microscopical Society, see Royal 

Microscopical Journal, Decease of the, 152 

Midian, Capt. Burton's Exploration of, 53, 132 

" Midland Naturalist," 233, 438 

Millar (W. J.), a Telephone without Magnetism, 242 

Millepora, Effects of the Urticating Organs of, on the Tongue, 
L. P. Pourtales, 27 

Mills (Prof., F.R.S.), Electrostriction, 235 

Miln (James), Archa&ological Researches at Carnac, 379 

Mimicry in Birds, 361, 380, 478, 486, 507 

Minchin (G. M.)i Potential Energy 27 

Mineral Oil in a Lava of Mount Etna, 150 

Mineralogical Society, 376 

Mines, Tel^aphic Warnings in, 16; Explosions in, W. 
Galloway, 21 

" Minhocao," the, 325 

Minor Planets, 36, 46, 63, 83, 210, 306, 344, 382, 488, 507 

Missouri : Geological Survey of. Prof. Arch. Geikie, F.R.S.. axw 
Weather Reports 493 

Mittheilungen aus dem k. zoologischen Museum za Dresden, 
Dr. A. B. Meyer, 142 

Mivart (Prof. St. G., F.R.S.), on the Finsof Elasmobranchs, 355 

Mohn (Dr. H.), Norwegian Deep-Sea Expeditions, 30; Meteoro- 
logical Observations in the North Atlantic, 235 

Moll (J. W.), Researches on the Carbon of Plants, 344 

Molybdenum, 270 

Mongolia and Siberia, Exploration of, 435 

Monistic Philosophy, Prize for Treatise on, 70 

Monotremata of Australia, E. P. Ramsay, 401 

Monster, a New Underground, 325 

Monteiro (Joachim John), Death of, 391 ; Obituary Notice of. 
425 

Montsouris Park and Observatory, 132 ; Meteorological Bulletin 

of, 362 
Monuments, George Smith's Ancient History from the, 119 



Moon, a Lunar Landscape, 469, 514 

Morning Dawn^ the Expedition of the, 153 

Morphologische Jahrbudi, 39, 294, 478 

" Morphology of the SkulV' Parker and Bettany's, 3 

Morse (Edward S.), Traces of Early Man in Japan, 89; the 

Structure of Lingola, 383 
Moscow, AnthronSogicai Exhibition in, 16, 171 
Moscow and the V ol^ Communication between, 91 
Moseley(H. N., F.R.S.), "Drowned by a Devil Fish," 27; 

Oregon, 302 ; Origin of Tracheae in Arthropoda, 340 
Mosquitos and Filarix, 439 
Mosses and Ferns, Hofmeister's Work on, 344 
Moths, Smell and Hearing in, 45, 62, 82 
Mott (F. T.), Meteor, 467 
Mount Etna, Mineral Oil in a Lava of, 150 
Mount Tongariro, N.Z., 346 
Moving Diagrams of Madiinery, 158 
Moyobamba, the Rain-Tree of. Prof. Thiselton-Dyer, 349 
Muir (M. M. Pattison), Proctor's "Spectroscope and its 

Work," 360 
Miiller (Fritz) on Flowers and Insects, 78 
Miiller (Dr. Hermann), Fertilisation in Thyme and Marjoram, 

127 ; Macrosilia cluentius^ 221 
Munich, University Statistics, 275, 478 
Miinster, University Intelligence, 354 
Murphy (J. J.), Meteorological Phenomena, 82 
Murray (Andrew), Obituary Notice of, 232 ; the Locust Plague 

in America, 377 
Musacese, Products of Assimilation in, 127 
Muscular Action, the Evolution of Heat during. Prof. A. Fick, 

285 
Museums, the Arrangement of. Gen. A. Lane Fox, F.R.S., 484 
Music: Music a Science of Numbers, Wm. Chappell, 32; 

Musical Association, 331 ; Grove's Dictionary of Music, Dr. 

W. H. Stone, 422; an Organ-Piano, 453; Stote Aid to 

Music, Alan S. Cole, 474 
Musk-deer, Discovoy of a Skeleton of the Prc-historic, 455 
Mussel, the Byssus in the, 289 
Musters (Capt.) on Bolivia, 90 
"Mycenae," Dr. Schliemann's, 397 
Myopia in Germany, 310 
" Myths and Marvels of Astronomy," R. A. Proctor, 180 

Naples, the Zoological Station at. Dr. Anton Dohm, 329, 360 

Natural History, Cassell's, vol. i., 365 

Natural History Journal, 392 

Natural Phenomena, Electrical Analogies wth, 226, 385 

Nautical Almanac for 1881 

Navicula (?), Mr. W. W. Wood on a Si>ecies of, 392, 437 

Neander Valley, the Collection of Remains from, 108 

Nebulae and Clusters, Literature of the, 288 

Nebulae, Variable, 306 

Nemirovich-Danchenko (M.), "The Land of Cold," 211 

"Nerthus," the, of Tacitus, 250 

Nerves, the Development of, 382 

Nettle, the Common, Experiments on the Fibre, 351 

Neumagen, Excavations at, 292 

Neumayer (Dr. G.), the Progress of Meteorology, 313 

New Guinea, 250, 383 ; Gould in, 408; Exploration of, 435 

New Mexico, Exploration of, 489 

New South Wales, Royal Society of, Proceedinjis, 17 

New York, Meteorology of, 15; Proposed Zoological Garden 

in, 192 ; Natural History Museum, 232 ; Survey of, 508 
New Zealand, Mount Tongariro, 346; Comparative Atmospheric 

Pressure of, and Great Britain, 490 
Newcomb (Prof. S.), elected F.R.S., 150; Lunar Researches, 

209 ; Theorems relating to Geometry of Three DimensioDS, 

240 
Newton (Prof. A., F.R.S.), Hartlaub's "Birds of Mada 

gascar," 9 ; No Butterflies ^in Iceland, 260 ; Mimicry ii 

Birds, 380. 507 * ^ . „,. 

Niagara Falls, the Horseshoe, 109 ; Curious Phenomenon at 

454 
Nias Island, 290 

Nickel, M. H. Wild's Researches on, 393 
Nickel and Cobalt, lodates of, 150 
Nicols (Arthur), EucalyptiLs, 10, 342 
Nicotin, Physiological Action of, fss^ j 

Nightingale, the, 487 .[tizedbv CjOOQ IC 
Nitrification, R. Warinlfwi^W. 4^ O 



Natm, May 3o> 1S78] 



INDEX 



XI 



Nitrobenzoic Acid, the Fourth, 151 

Niven (W. S.), Trajectories of Shot, 466 

Nocturnal Increase of Temperature with Elevation, Dr. £. 

Booavia, loi 
Koeg;erath (Prof. Jacob), Proposed Monument to, 170 
Nofdenskjold (Prof.), Expedition to the Arctic Regions, 90 
Nortbmnberland, Marine Fossils in the Gkuinister Beds of, Prof. 

G. A. I>ebour, 320, 352 
Norway, Glacial and Post-Glacial Fishes of, 509 
Norwegian Deep-Sea Expeditions, H. Mohn, 30 
Norwegian North Sea Expedition, 253 
Nova Cygni, 46 

Novsjra Zemlya, Colomsation of, 109 
Noye (Thos.), a Doable Rainbow, 262 
NuttaU Ornithological Club, Bulletin of, 498 
Nyassa, the Lake of, 435 

O'Brien (C. G.), Fetichism in Animals, 402 ; Discrimination of 

Insects, 402 
Obserwtories : Paris, 69, 109, 131, 152, 193, 232, 473; 

Madrid, 70; the Cordoba, 83, 209; Montsouris, 131; 

Lyons, 149 ; Cape of Good Hope, 269 ; Brussels, 288 ; the 

Temple, 324; the Radcliflfe, 363; Harvard College, 363; 

Meodon, 392 ; Dun Echt, 432 
Octopus, Drowned by an, 27, 282 

Oil Paintings, the Deterioration of. Dr. R. Liebreich, 493, 515 
Old Red Sandstone of Western Europe, Prof. A. Geikie, 

F.R.S., 471 
OBTer(Prof. D., F.R.S.), "Flora of Tropical Africa," Prof. 

W. R. McNab, 319 
Olympia, the Excavations at, 330 
Oolaiio, Report of the Registrar-General, 455 
Optical Spectroscopy of the Red End of the Solar Spectrum, 

J. B. N. Hennessey, F.R.S., 28 
Oregon, H. N. Mosdey, F.R.S., 302 
OrpaPiano, an, E. J. Reed, M.P., F.R.S., 453 
O^anie Liquids, Distillation of, by Means of Steam, 270 
(Mental Aifinities in the E^opian Insect-Fauna, W. L. 
I Distant, 282 
'OrlaKj and Shetland, Glacial Geology of, S. Laing, M.P., 123 ; 

Prof. M. Forster Heddle, 182 
Onnthoric Add, 270 
Cbgraph, a new Form of, 156 
(feton (Prof. James), Death of, 90 

"Our Native Land," 491 

Oven (Prof., F.R.S.) on the Modification of a Lower Form of 

life by a Higher, 375 
Owens College, Chemical Society at, 114 
Owls, M. A. Milne-Edwards on, 345 
Oifoid: University Commission, 19; proposed High School 

J«. 19. 39; University Intelligence, 114, 194, 334, 393, 415 ; 

University Statistics, 354 
Oiidation, Acceleration of, caused by the least Refrangible End 

ofOie Spectrum, Capt. Abney, F.R.S., 518 
Oiyg«n, the Presence of, in the Sun, Dr.. Arthur Schuster, 

F.R.S., 148 ; R. Meldola, 161 ; Dr. Henry Draper, 339 ; 

ia Sea- Water, T. Y. Buchanan, 162 ; Liquefaction of, 169, 

I77> 265 ; the Density of Liquid, 217 ; the Influence of, on 

^piration, 252 

hc(F. J. M.), Demonstration of Currents Originated by the 
oiee m Bell's Telephone, 283 ; the Action of the Telephone 
« a Capillary Electrometer, 395 
wen on the Morphology of the Tracheal System, 284, 340 
tar, the Exploration of the, 249, 324 
pg Trade;, International Exhibition of the, 371 
f^Ba Plants, 289 

m» and Bettan/s '* Morphology of the Skull," 3 
"ris: Acadeow of Sciences, 20, 40, 56, 70, 76, 96, 116, 136, 
156, 195, 216, 236, 251, 256, 276, 316, 356, 376, 396, 409, 
4J6, 440, 460^ 480, ,500, 520 ; Vacancy in, 70 ; Prizes of 
^ 394, ^73 ; the Eloge on Buffon, 474. Geographical 
Society of Paris, 17, 346, 384, 468. Paris International 
l^xbibition, 37 ; Uie Russian Division in, 350 ; Representation 
rf Sdenoe at, 357 ; " fitudes sur TExposition de 1878," 371 ; 
Anbs at, 454. Congresses at Paris, 474 ; Paris Observatory, 
^ '09f I3if 152, 193, 232, 473 ; the New Transit Circle at, 
^ Statistics of the National Library, 92. Telegraphic 
Warnbgs oi Fires in, 91. Ethnol<^cal Museum in the 
Calais de I'lndustrie, 272. Lectures on Ethnography in, 330. 



Soci^te d*Hygiene, 310. Statistics of the Press, 311. Elec- 
tric Lighting in, 437. Association d'Excursions Scientifiques, 
454. Museum of the Jardin des Plantes, 455. the Tuileries 
Captive Balloon, 454, 491. Underground Railway in, 492 

Pears, Fungoid Disease of, 91 

Pembrokeshire, Dimetian and Pebidian Rocks of, 155 

Peronospora, the Fossil, as a Primordial Plant, Worthington G. 
Smith, 144 

Persimmon, the Persian, 508 

Pesth, Artesian Well at, 109 ; Centenary of the University, 134 

Petermann's Mittheilungen, 17, 90, 253, 408 

Petrie (W. M. Flinders), "Inductive Metrology," 357; Age of 
the Earth, 465 

Petty (T. S.), the Meteor of November 23, 183 

"Phantom" Force, the. Prof. A. S. Herschel, 302, 321, 340 

Pharmaceutical Society, 410 

Phenological Observations during 1877, 236 

Philadelphia : Academy of Natural Science, 296 ; Philadelphia 
Diplomas, Dr. C. M. Ingleby, 183 ; Dr. Richard C. Bran- 
deis, 221 

Phipps (Geo. H.), the Earth-worm in Relation to the Fertility of 
the Soil, 62 

Phoneidoscopic Representation of Vowels and Diphthongs, 447, 
486 

Phonograph : Edison'.«, 90, 190, 291, 415, 469, 485 ; and Helm- 
holtz's Vowel Theory, Prof, Fleeming Jenkin and J. A. 
Ewing, 384, 423 

Phosphides of Tin, 151 

Photography : Photography of Natural Colours, 92 ; Photo- 
graphic Society, 195, 276, 376, 479 ; Photography Fore- 
shadowed, Dr. J. A. Groshans, 202 ; J. Rand Capron's 
"Photographic Spectra," 259; Abney's "Photography," 
378 ; " Photographic Rays of Light," 438 

Phylloxera in Germanv, 211 

" Physical Chemistry,'' N. N. Lubavin, 240 

Physical Society, 55, 115, 135, 175, 295, 394, 415; Annual 
Meeting, Officers, &c., 315 

Physician s Experiment, 305 

"Physiography," Huxley\ 178 

Physiological Tables, Dr. E. B. Aveling's, 5 

Physiological Teaching and the Cruelty to Animals' Act, Frank 
W. Young, 45 

Piano, an Ot^, E. J. Reed, M.P., F.R.S., 453 

Pic-du-Midi Observatory, 409 

Pictet (M. Raoul), on the Liquefaction of the Gases, 292; 
Honorary Degree to, 436 

Pidgeon (D.), the Phonograph, 415 

Pig-iron, Separation of Phosphorus from, 459 

Pigott*s Observations of Variable Stars, 323 

Pile-Dwellings, and English Lake-DwelliDgs, Prof. T. Rupert 
Tones, F.R.S., 424 

" Pioneering in South Brazil," T. P. Biggs- Wither, 423 

Pirani (Prof. F. J.), an Electrical Experiment, 180 

Piscicultural Institute, the Proposed Channel Isles, W. A, 
Uoyd, 143 

Pitch, Absolute, Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S., 12 

Pitury, the new Stimulant, 492 

Planets, Minor, 46, 63, 83, 210, 306, 344, 382, 488, 507 

Plant and Animal Life, Analogies of, Francis Darwin, 388, 41 1 

Plants (M. Gaston), Electrical Analogies with Natural Pheno- 
mena, 226, 385 

Plants : Ferment in, 455 ; the Carbon of, 344 ; Self -Fertilisa- 
tion of, 221 ; the First Stages of Development in, 433] 

Plateau Fibns, Permanent, 175 

PlesHodon longirostris, 425 

Plummer (J. I.), Aid of the Sun in Relation to Evolution, 303, 360 

Poaching Birds, 509 

Polar Expeditions, International, E. J. Reed, C.B., 29 

Polyzoa, French, 382 

Pongo, Death of the Gorilla, 70 ; Dissection of, 89 

Potential Energy, 9, 27, 81 

Pouchet, Monument to, I08 

Pourtales (L. P.), Effects of the Urticating Organs of Millepora 
on the Tongue, 27 

Powell (Major J. W.), Ethnology of North America, 53 

Preston (S. Tolver), on a Means of Converting the Heat Motion 
Possessed by Matter at Normal Temperature into Work, 
202 ; on the Diffusion of Matter in Relation to the Second 
Law of Thermodynamics, 31 ; the Age of the Sun's Heat ia 
Relation to Geological Evidence, 423 



Xll 



INDEX 



[Nature^ May 30, 1878 



Pringsheim (Dr. A.), Jahrbucher fur wissenschaftliche Botanik, 

158 
Prjwalsky*s Journey to Lob-Nor and Tibet, 153, 434 
Proctor (R. A.), "Myths and Marvels of Astronomy/* 180; 

'* The Spectroscope and its Work," 360 
Protection of Animals, Vienna Society for the, 293 
Prussia, the Universities of, 55, 294 
Ptolemy's Geography of English Coast, 193 
Punjab, the Upper, the Geology of, 395 
Purple Dyes of Antiquity, 133 
Pyramid, the Great, J. G. Jackson, 243 

Quaritch (Bernard), Faraday's "Experimental Researches," 342 
Qtiarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, 37, 214, 254 

Radcliffe Observatory, 363 

Radiant Heat, the Thermo-electric Pile and the Radiometer, 310 

Radiometer: and its Lessons, 5, 7, 26, 27, 43, 44, 61, 79, 121, 

142, 143, 181, 199, 220, 261 ; Prof. G. G. Stokes, F.R.S., 

on Certain Movements of Radiometers, 172, 234; and the 

Thermo-electric Pile, 310 
Rae (Dr. J.), Tuckey, and Stanley, the Yallala Rapids on the 

Congo, 62 ; No Butterflies in Iceland, 243, 260 
Railway Brakes, 410, 507 
Railway Collisions and Electricity, 371 
Railway Working and Electricity, W. E. Langdon, 461 
Railways, Underground, in Paris, 492 
Rainbow, a Double, Thos. Noy^, 262 
Raindrops, Hailstones, and Snowflakes, the Formation of, Prof. 

Osborne Reynolds, F.R.S., 207 
Rainfall in the Temperate Zone in Connection with the Sun-spot 

Cycle, Dr. W. W. Hunter, 59 
Rainfall, Contribution to the Sun-spot Theory of Rainfall, Dr. 

£. Bonavia, 61 ' 
Rainfall of India, 273, 505 
Rainfall and Sun-spots, 443 ; C. Meldrum, F.R.S., 448 ; Alex. 

Buchan, 505 
Rain-tree of Moyobamba, Prof. T. Thiselton Dyer, 349 
Ralton (Dr.), " Handbook of Common Salt," 302 
Ramsay (E. P.), Australian Monotremata, 401 
Ramsay (Prof., F.R.S.), and James Geikie, F.R.S., on the 

Geology of Gibraltar, 518 
Raspail (M. F. V.), Death of, 212 
Ratti (Aurel de), the Telephone, 380 
Rayleigh (Lord, F.R.S.), Absolute Pitch, 12; "Theory of 

Sound," Vol. I., Prof. H. Helmholtz, F.R.S., 237 
Reade (T. Mellard), the Challenger Estimates of the Volume of 

the Gulf Stream, 144 
Reale Istituto Lombardo di Scienze e Lettere, 294, 374, 478, 498 
Reed (E. J., C.B., F.R.S.), International Polar Expeditions, 

29 ; an Organ Piano, 453 
Reflection Grating, the Use of, in Eclipse Photography, J. Nor- 
man Lockyer, F.R.S., 354 
Reflectors, Glass for, Henry Bessemer, 241 
Rep^ault (M. Victor), Death of, 250 ; Obituary Notice of, 263 
Reichenbach's Odyle and Mr. Wallace, 8 ; Wm. B. Carpenter, 

F.R.S., 8, 44 
Reilly (P. W.), a Meteor, 221 
Research Fund, the Government, 403 
Research in Libraries, Robert L. Jack, 486 
Respiration, Aquatic, 290 
Revue Internationale des Sciences, 152, 212 
Reynolds (Prof. J. Emerson), Frankland's Researches in Che- 
mistry, 218, 318 ; Discovery of a New Explosive, 436 
Reynolds (Prof. Osborne, F.R.S.), the Radiometer and its 

Lessons, 27, 61, 121, 220; on the Formation of Hailstones, 

Raindrops, and Snowflakes, 207 
Rheostatic Machine, 40 
Rhine, the Fisheries of the, 212 ; Method for Determining the 

Impurities of, 131 
Rhinoderma darmnii, 222 
Rhizopods in an Apple Tree, 434 
"Rider," the, in Egyptian Balances, 455 
Riley (Charles V.), the Locust Plague in America, 377 
Rink (Dr. Henry), Danish Greenland, 57 
Roads, Machine for Levelling, 392 
Roberts (Edward), Expected High Tides, 58 
Rocky Mountains, Geology of the, 39 
Rohlfs (Herr G.), Expedition to the Libyan Desert, 290 



Romanes (G. J.), Singing Mice, 29; Smell and Hearing in 
Moths, 82 ; Fetichism in Animals, 168 ; Prof. Eimer on the 
Nervous Sjrstem of Medusae, 200 

Romanis (Tames M.), on a New Form of Telephone, 20i 

Romer (Ole), Dr. Doberck, 105 

Rontgen (Dr. W. C), a Telephonic Alarum, 164 

Rosthom (Francis von). Obituary Notice of, 11 

Rotifers or Wheel -Animalcules of Hungary, 128 

Royal Astronomical Society, 76, 195, 275, 309, 4S9 

Royal Dublin Society, 46, 183 

Royal Geographical Society : and the Public, 381 ; Medals of 
the, 467 ; School Prize Medals, 497 

Royal Institution, 170, 291, 371 

Royal Microscopical Society, 56, 156, 236, 336, 416 

Royal Society : 37, 134, 214, 235, 314, 335, 354, 415, 479. 49^, 
518 ; Council of, 37 ; Medals of the, 69 ; the Times on the, 
108 ; Election of Foreign Members, 151 ; New Fellows, 513 

Royal Society of Edinburgh, 153 

Rubies, the Artificial Production of, 152 

Rugby, the Temple Observatory, 324 

Ruhmkorff* (Henry David), Obituary Notice of, 169 ; Sale of 
his Workshop, 351 

Russell (Mr., Astronomer-Royal at Sydney), Attempt on his 
Life, 152 

Russell (Hon. Rollo), Telephonic Experiments, 292 

Russia : Meteorology in, 16 ; Exploration of, 38 ; Russian 
Geographical Society, 53, 153, 171, 194, 213, 324; Primary 
Education in, 53 ; Gems from, 72 ; Magnetical Measure 
ments in, 153; St. Petersbui^ Society of Naturalists, 194; 
University of Charkow, 195 ; Nemirovich-Danchenko's " The 
Land of Cold," 211 ; Russian Chemical Society's Journal, 
251; Russian Anthropology at the Paris Exhibition, 350; 
Ethnology of, 468. See also St. Petersburg, Moscow, &c. 

Rudand and Leicestershire, Harrison's Geology of, 58 

Ryder (John A.), the Laws of Digital Reduction, 128 

Rye (E. C), Wollaston's "Coleoptera Sanctae-Hellense," 338 

Sabine, (Robert), the Telephone, 379 ; Action of Light on a 
Selenium (Galvanic) Element, 512 

Sachs (Prof.), called to Berlin, 75 

St. Andrews, University Intelligence, 95 

St. Elmo's Fire, 436 

St. Helena, Wollaston's "Coleoptera Sanctse Hellense," 338 

St. Paul and Amsterdam, the Islands of, Prof. E. Perceval 
Wright, 326 

St. Petersburg, University Intelligence, 55 ; Society of Natural- 
ists, 194 ; New High School for Ladies, 195 ; Education rf 
Women at, 195, 334 ; New Archaeological Institution, 329; 
the Central Physical Observatory, 330; Ne%y Hygienic 
Society, 330 ; University Statistics, 374 

St. Stefano, Earthquake at, 514 

Salmon in Germany, 392 

Salt, Ratton's Handbook of Common, 302 

"Salzkammergut," Snow in the, 292 

Sanderson (Prof. J. Burdon, F.R.S.), Bacteria, 84 

Sanitary Institute, 38 

Satellites, the, 129 

Saunier's " Modern Horology," 484 

Saxony, Educational Statistics, 394 

Schliemann (Dr. H.), Trojan Treasures, 132 ; "Mycenae," 397; 
" Troy and its Remains," 397 j "Antiquities from Hissarlik," 



397 
chmi 



Schmidt's Lunar Chart, 408 

Schoolmasters, Congress of, in Paris, 314 

Schuster (Dr. Arthur, F.R.S.), Vogel's "Spectrum Analysis, 
99 ; the Radiometer and its Lessons, 143 ; the Presence of 
Oxygen in the Sun, 148 

Schwann (Theodore), Festival in Honour of, 436 

Schweinfurth (Dr.), Proposed Return to Africa, 90 

Science : Prof. Rudolf Virchow on the Liberty of Science in the 
Modem State, 72, 92, iii; Science and Art Department 
Examinations, 134 ; Science in Training Colleges, 262 ; the 
Head-Masters on Science Teaching, Rev. W. Tackwell, 317 » 
Science at the Paris Exhibition, 357 

Scientific Research, Grants of the British Medical Association, 9^ 

Scientific Serials, a New Catalogue of, 272 

Scientific Worthies, XIL— -William Harvey ( ff%* Portrait), 

Scotland, Prof. J. W. Judd, F.R.S., on the Strata of lh< 
Western Coast and Islands of, 335 30QIC 



Nature^ May 30, 1878] 



INDEX 



Xlll 



Scottish Meteorological Society, 440 

Scottish Universities Commission, 441 

Sea-Sediments, Movements of, 293 

Sea- Water, Oxygen in, J. Y. Buchanan, 162 ; as a Specific, 234 

Sccchi (Father), Illness of, 291 ; Death of, 350 ; Obituary 

Notice of, 370 
Sediments in the Sea, Movements o^ 293 
"Seiches" on the Lake of Geneva, 234 ; and Earthquakes, Dr. 

F. A. Forel, 281 ; the Law of, 475 
"Selbome," Prof. BeU's White's, 399 
Selective Discrimination of Insects, 62, 163 
Selemnm, Action of Light on, Robert Sabine, 512 
Semirechensk District, Exploration of, 252 
Sense in Insects, W. M. Gabb, 282 
Sewii^ Machines, Effects from Using, 71 ; a New, 371 
Sewage, the Metropolitan, 157 

Seychelles and Mauritius, the Flora of, by J. G. Baker, 77 
Skdows, Observations on, 351 
Shelly Atlantic, Wollaston's 503 ; Dr. P. P. Carpenter's Col- 

kction of, 513 
Shenstone (W. A.), Conservation of Energy — Lecture Experi- 
ment, 45 
Shetland and Orkney, Glacial Geology of, S. Laing, M.P., 123 
Shooting Stars, 201, 212 

I "Shorthand for General Use," Prof. Everett, 17 
Slot, IVajectories of. Rev. Francis Bashforth, 401, 506 ; W. 

D. Niven, 466 
Siberia: Sea Trade with, 324; the University of, 354; and 

Mongofia, Exploration of, 435 
Sidebotham (Joseph), Singing Mice, 29 
SOesian Society, Proceedings of, 219 
Sihrer Salts, Relations between the Volumes of, 260 
Simon Testimonial Fund, 371 
'* Shaple Lessons for Home Use," 25 
Singm^ia the Ears, Xenos Clark, 342 
Singrag Mice, ii, 29 

i Si{^Iite, a New Mineral containing Niobium, 269 
** Sizing of Cotton Goods," Thomson's, 4 
Skin, Human, and Mineral Waters, 252 
SknH, the Morphology of the, Parker and Bettany, 3 
Slater (H. H.), Singing Mice, 11 
Sleep, Causation of, 124 
&neu and Hearing in Insects, Henry Cecil, 381 
fenth (A. Percy), the Telephone, 380 
Smith (George), Ancient History from the Monuments, 119 
Smith (Worthington G.), a Fossil Fungus, 127; the Fossil 

Peronospora as a Primordial Plant, 144 
Smith (Herbert H.), Exploration of Brazil, 308 
Smith (J.), " Ferns, British and Foreign," 43 
Soith (Prof. W. Robertson), the Colour Sense of the Greeks, 

100 
Smithsonian Institution : 18, 39 ; Annual Report, 192 
Smyrna, Plague of Field-mice or Rats in, 43 
Smyth (Prof. Piazzi), Sun-spots and Terrestrial Magnetism, 220 
Siake Poison, 337 

Snow in the " Salzkammei^t," 292 
Sacnrflakes, Hailstones, and Raindrops, the Formation of. Prof. 

C^bome Reynolds, F.R.S., 207 
Soap-Fihns, the Acoustiod Properties of, Prof. Silvanus P. 
I Ihompson, 486 
|5ocbJ Electrical Nerves, 305, 346 
Sod^ des Colons Explorateurs, 290 
iSoeJet^ d*Hjgiene of Paris, 310 
goJir Corona, Early Observations of the, 14 
polar EcKpses: The Total Solar Eclipse of July 29, 1878, 36, 
• ^SP, 269, 381, 452, 453; J. Norman Lockyer, F.R.S., on, 

4S1, 501 ; Solar Eclipse of A.D. 418, 163 
jScIv Radiation in India, Methods for Determining 131 
wokr Spectrum, Optical Spectroscopy of the Red End of the, 

I.B. N. Hennessey, F.R.S., 28 
Usr, see aiso Son 
to (M.), Death of, 455 

maad Tnrbot, Consignment of, to America, 212, 311, 
5«ty (H. C, F.R.S.), the Colouring Matter of Human Hair, 

355 

Wad: Experiment on Vibrations, 194; "Lord Rayleigh's 

Theofv of Sound," Prof. H. Hehnholtz, F.R.S., 237 ; Velo- 

I oty of, 410 ; Sound Colour- Figures, Sedley Taylor, 426, 447 ; 

' «Dd Density, J. Cameron, 507 ; the Transmission of, by 

Wires, 519 



Sounding Apparatus, Lieut. Theo. F. Jewell, 230 

Spain, Science in, 91 ; the Telephone in, 437 

Spalding, Douglas A., Obituary Notice of, 35 

Spanish Peninsula, the Climatology of the, 248 

Spectroscope, the, and its Work, R. A. Proctor, 360 

Spectroscopical Researches of D' Arrest, 311 

" Spectrum Analysis," Vogel's, 99 

Spherules, Coloured, in the Retina of Birds, 473 

Spiders, Hungarian, 128; the Aeronautic Flight of, 434; 
Spider and the Wasp, 402, 448 

Spitzbergen, Maps of, 290 

Sponges, Glassy, 222 

Standards, Public, at the Guildhall, 454 

Stanley (H. M.), Exploration of Africa, '49, 90 ; at the Cape, 
109 ; his Arrival in England, 232, 249, 291 ; Dinner to, 
270 ; at St. James's Hall, 297 ; his new Work on Africa, 364 

Starch in Plants, 269 

Starfishes, North American, Alex. Agassiz, 98 

Stars : Tycho Brahe's, of 1572, 129 ; Variable, 163, 210, 231, 
288 ; Shooting, 2or, 212 ; c Indi, 231 ; the Star Lalande, 
I9»034t 306; Double, 407 

Steam-Engine, a Remarkable Small, 214 

Steel Plates, Gigantic, 436 

Stellar Systems, 82 

Stewart (Prof. Balfour, F.R.S.), Sun-spots and Declination 
Raises, 326 

Stobart (J. W. H.), Islam and its Founder, 239 

Stockholm, the Royal Library at, 273 

Stockdale (William), the Telephone, 380 

Stokes (Prof. G. G., Sec. R.S.), Certain Movements of. Radio- 
meters, 172, 234 

Stone (Ehr. W. H.), Grove's Dictionary of Music, 422 

Stoney (G. Johnstone, F.R.S.), the Radiometer and its Lessons, 
79, 181, 261 

Stonyhurst, Meteorology of, 489 

Strassborg, New University Buildings, 55 ; University Intelli- 
gence, 195 ; Discovery of Prehistoric Remains in, 492 

Strawbories in December, 193 

Strontian, Lime, and Baryta, Crystallisation of, 372 

Striimpell (Dr.), Causation of Sleep, 124 

Strychnia and its Antidote, J. Sinclair Holden, 360 

Styria, Avalanches in, 273 

Subsidence of Soil in France, 513 

Suicides in France, 54 

Sumatra : Death of the Leader of the Dutch Expedition to, 170 ; 
Exploration of, 290, 409 

Sun : the Sun's Distance, I ; the Sun's Photosphere, J. Norman 
Lockyer, F.R.S., 23 ; Sun's Magnetic Action at the Present 
Time, J. Allan Broun, F.R.S., 183 ; Photographs of the, 195 ; 
the Presence of Oxygen in the, Dr. Arthur Schuster, F.R.S., 
148 ; R. Meldola, 161 ; Dr. Henry Draper, 339 ; Age of the, 
in Relation [to Evolution, 206, 303, 321, 360, 464; Age 
of the Sun's Heat in Relation to Geological Evidence, S. 
Tolver Preston, 423 

Sun-spots : Rainfall in the Temperate Zone in Connection with 
the Sun-spot Cycle, Dr. W. W. Hunter, 59 ; Sun-spots and 
Terrestrial Magnetism, Prof. Piazzi Smyth, 220; A. W, 
Downing, 242; B. G. Jenkins, 259 ; J. Allan Broun, F.R.S. 
262, 280; Joas CapeUo, 488; Sun-spots and Declination 
Ranges, Prof. Balfour Stewart, F.R.S., 326; Sun-spots and 
Rainfall, 61, 443, 448, 505 

Supplementary Eyebrows, W. Ainslie HolHs, 124 

Swinhoe (Robert, F.R.S.), Deatiiof, 16; Obituary Notice of, 35 

Sydney, International Exhibition at, 233 

Sylt, the Island of. Discovery of a Submerged Village, 232 

Sylvester (Prof. J. J., F.R.S.), Chemistry and Algebra, 284, 3C9 

Symons (G. J.), AUuord's Condensing Hygrometer, 28 

Tacitus, the "Nerthus" of, 250 

Tait (Prof. P. G.), " Sketch of Thermodynamics," Prof. Clerk 

Maxwell, F.R.S., 257, 278; ZoUner's Scientific Papers, 420; 

Thermal Conductivity, 480 
Talking Machine, Edison's, 469 
Tanner (Prof. H. W. Lloyd), Potential Energy, 81 
Taschenbei^ (Dr. E.), Die Insekten, 41 
Tasmania, 508 

Taunton College School, 16, 154, 214, 354 
Taylor (Sedley), Fluid Films, 44 ; Was Galileo Tortured ? 299 ; 

Phoneidoscopic Representation of Vowels and Diphthongs, 

447 ; Sound Colour-Figures, 426, 447 , 



XIV 



INDEX 



[Nature^ May 30, 1878 



Technical Education, Prof. Huxlev on, 97 

Technical University, the Proposed, 154 

Teheran, Gold in, 115 

Telegraphy : Telegraphic Warnings in Mines, 16 ; without 
Wires, 153; Tele^phs in Berlin, 2Ji ; the Society of 
Telegraphic Engineers, 277; Granfelds Apparatus, 292; 
Social Electrical Nerves, 305, 346 ; and the Herring Fishery, 
351 ; Telegraphic Warning Apparatus, 351 

Tdephone, the : 48, 135, 379 ; in Germany, 52, 71, 91 ; and 
the Post Office, 109 ; German Postal R^ulations for, 131 ; 
Prof. Bell's Lecture on, 131 ; Telephonic Alarum, Dr. 
W. C. Rontgen, 164, 181 ; Experiments between Dublin 
and Holyhead, 170; Prof. Barrett on the, 193; James 
M. Romanis on a New Form of, 201 ; Telephone without 
Magnetism, W. J. Millar, 242 ; its Use in Warfare, 251 ; 
*^ Demonstration of Currents originated by the Voice in 
Bell's Telephone, F. J. M. Page^ 283; Experiments with 
the, 292, 310, 342 ; W. H. Precce on the, 295 ; W. Ack- 
royd on the Mechanism of, 330; the Telephone as an 
Instrument of Precision, Prof. Geo. Forbes, 343 j Telegraphic 
Warning Apparatus, 351 ; and the Post Office, 352 ; and 
the Telegraph, 372; in China, 392; Action of the, on a 
<— Capillary Electrometer, 395 ; as a Means of Measuring the 
Speed of High Breaks, J. E. H. Gordon, 424 ; the Henry 
Telephone, 437 ; in Spain, 437 ; Application of, for Testing 
the Hearing, 475 ; Signalling by the, 491 ; a Mercury Tele- 
phone, 491 ; Early Electric Telephony, Prof. W. F. Barrett, 
510 

Telescope, the Modem, J. Norman Lockyer, 66, 12$, 188, 225 

Tempel*s Comet of Short Period, 408 

Temperature: Nocturnal Increase of, with Elevation, Dr. E. 
Bonavia, loi ; Average Annual, at Earth's Surface, D. 
Trail, 202 ; of November, 1877, 249 ; Temperatm-es, Cumu- 
lative, 308, 322, 448, 486 ; the Sense of, 372 ; Undei^ound, 
Prof. J. D. Everett, 476 

Tenby: Mr. Smith's Collection from the Caves, 212; Local 
Museum at, 391 

Terrestrial Globe, a Self -Moving, 71 

Terrestrial Magnetism, Prof. W. Le Roy Broun, 281 

Terrestrial Magnetism and Sun-spots, Prof. Piazzi Smyth, 220 ; 
A. W. Downing, 242 ; B. G. Jenkins, 259 ; J. Allan Broun, 
F.R.S., 262, 280; Joas Capello, 488 

Texas, the Agricultural Ants of, 433 

Thermal Conductivity, Prof. P. G. Tait, 480 

Thermodynamics, on the Diffiision of Matter in Relation to the 
Second Law of, S, Tolver Preston, 31 

"Thermodynamics," R. Wormell's, 25; Prof. Tait's, Prof. 
Clerk Maxwell, F.R.S., 257, 278 

Thermopiles, Relative Value of, 437 

Thierleben, Brehm's, 41 

Thiers (M.), his Work on Trigonometry, 16 

Thompson (Prof. Sylvanus P.), Faraday's "Experimental 
Researches," 304, 361 ; the Acoustical Properties of Soap- 
Fihns, 486 

Thomson's " Sizing of Cotton Goods," 4 

Thomson (J. Stuart), Mimicry in Birds, 361 

Thomson (Dr. Thomas, F.R.S.), Death of, 513 

Thomson (Sir William, F.R.S.), Compass Adjustment in Iron 
Ships, 331, 352, 387 

Thomson (Sir WyviUe, F.R.S.), "The Voyage of the 
C*^j//«J^ir"— the Atlantic, 145, 185 

Thorpe (Prof. T. E., F.R.S.), Note on the Liquefaction of 
Air, and of the so*called Permanent Gases, 384 

Thunderstorms : the Law and Origin of, 362 ; in Iceland, 475 ; 
Artificial, 515 

Thuret's Garden at Antibes, 351 

Thyme and Marjoram, Fertilisation in, 127 

Tibet, Notes on, 132 ; M. Prshvalsky's Exploration of, 153 

Tides, High, Prediction of, 38, 45, 58, loi 

Titan, Transit of the Shadow of, across Saturn, 105 

Toads, Change of Habits in, Wordsworfli Donisthorpe, 242 

Tomlinson (C, F.R.S.), Fluid Fihns, 61 ; Diffiision Figures in 
Li<]uids, 102 

Tomlinson (Herbert), the Telephone, 380 

Tornado in Chester County, U.S., 362 

Toronto, Earthquake near, 90 

Torpedo Warfare, Modem, 50 

Torpedoes, 361 

Tortoises, Gigantic Land, Dr. Giinther, F.R.S., 483 

Toucy, Belfry at, struck by Lightning, 392 



Towering of Wounded Birds, Chas. Dixon, 45 

Tracheal System, Palm^n on the Morphology of the, 284, 340 

Trail (D.), Average Annual Temperature at Earth's Surface, 

202 
Training Colleges, Science 4n, 262 
Trajectories of Shot, Rev. Francis Bashforth, 401, 506 ; W. 

D. Niven, 466 
Transatlantic Longitudes, J. E. Hilgard, 244 
"Transcaucasia and Ararat," J. Bryce, 25 
Transit Circle, the New, at the Paris Observatory, 165 
Transit of Venus, English Report on, i ; French Reports of, 

69 ; German Expedition, 392 ; the Transit of 1882, 507 
Travel, Educational, 324 
Trevelyan Rocker, Mechanical Analysis of the, Samuel H. 

Frisbee, 242 
Tritoma, Bees Killed by, Alfred R. Wallace, 45 
Trollope (Anthony), South Africa, 463 
Troubitzkoy (Prince Pierre), Eucalyptus, 10 
"Troy and its Remains," Dr. Schliemann's, 397 
Trunk Engine, Batchelor's Patent Working Drawing of, 160 
Tubingen, University Statistics, 354 
Tuckey and Stanley — The Yallala Rapids on the Congo, Dr. J. 

Rae, 62 
Tuckwell (Rev. W.), and Taunton School, 16 ; Presentation to, 

214 ; the Headmasters on Science Teachii^, 317 
Tuning Forks, Prof. McLeod's Experiments on, 55 
Tunnd, the Proposed British Channel, 109 
Tupman (Capt.), on the Meteor of December 6, 1877, 152 ; th< 

Great Detonating Meteor of November 23, 1877, 246 
Turbot and Soles, Exportation to Massachusetts, 311 
Turkoman Greyhounds, 434 
Tycho Brahe's Star of 1572, 129 
Tyndall (Dr., F.R.S.), Fog-signals, 456 
Tyrol, Anthropology and Ethnology of South, 438 

Underground Monster, a New, 325 

Underground Railways in Paris, 492 

Undei^ound T emperature. Prof. J. D. Everett, 476 

United States : American Science, 18, 39 ; the Smitksonia] 
Institution, 18, 39; the American Association for the Ad 
vancement of Science, 37 ; Ethnology of the, 53 ; the John 
Hopkins Scientific Association, 113 ; Geological Work of tb 
U.S. Survey under Prof. Hayden, during the Sunrmer 
1877, 129; Lexington University, 175; Geol(^cal Survv 
of, 192 ; Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society 
199; Entomology in America, 229; Extension of Vcdun 
teer Weather Service in the, 248; Tornado in Cheste 
County, Penn., 362 ; Atlas of Colorado, 371 ; Prof. Hay 
den's Expedition, 351 ; Harvard Coll^je Observatory, 363 
the Geological Survey, 409 ; Cliff-dwellers in the, 409 
American Chemical Society, 475 ; Survey of New York 
508 ; Proposed Catalogue of the Plants of North Amerioi 
514. See also America, New York, Philadelphia, &c. 

University and Educational Intelligence, 19, 39, 55, 74, 95, 11^ 
»34. 154, 17s. I94» 214, 235. 254, 275, 294, 314, 334, 354 

^374. 393. 415. 459, 478. 497. 5i7 

University, Proposed New, 478 

Upsala, University Statistics, 55, 478 

Uranian Satellites, 323, 363 

Variable Nebulae, 306 

Variable Stars, 163, 210, 288 ; R Aquarii, 231 ; Pigott's 01 

servations of, 323 
Valence or Atomicity, Discovery of the Law of, 309 
Vaux (W. S. W.), tie Greek Cities and Island of Asia Mino 

119 
Venus Transit, English Report on the, i ; French Reports o 

69 ; German Exmdition, 392 ; the Transit of 1882, 507 
Verne (Jules), the Works of, 197 
Venezuela, tk, Sachs on, 250 
Vibrations, Experiments on, 194 
Vibrations of a Flame, Experiments on, 54 
Vibrations of Solid Bodies, M. Dubois on, 330 
Vicars (G. Rayleigh), Acoustical Effects of Atmosphei 

Pressure, 244 
Victoria Institute, 136, 216, 296, 416, 520 
Vienna : University Intelligence, 55 ; Academy of Science 

116, 176, 196, 276, 296, 376, 500; Vienna Geographic 

Sodetv, 211 ; Temperature of, 249; Sodetv for the Prote 

tion of Anhnak, 293 (^ ^^ ^^ ^T . 

iigitized by V3OOQ It 



Skim^Mjy^ 1S7S] 



INDEX 



XV 



Vine-leaves, the Functions of, 20 

Vines (S. H.), the First Stages of Development in Plants, 433 

Virchow (Prof. Rudolf), the Liberty of Science in the Modem 

State, 72, 92, III 
Virginia Creeper, the Climbing of, 508 
Viticoltural Society at Cassel, 411 
Vogcl's " Spectrum Analysis," Dr. Arthur Schuster, 99 
Vohl (Dr.)f Method for Determining the Impurities of the 

Rhme, 131 
Volcanoes: Volcanic Eruptions in Iceland, 171; Volcanic 

Island, 194 ; Volcanic Phenomena in Borneo, A. H. Everett, 

200 ; Submarine, 372 ; in South America, 468 
Volga and Moscow, Communication between,^-9i 
Volta, the Statue of, 490 

Volame of Liquids and Absorption of Gases, 514 
Vowel Theory, Helmholtz*s, 411 

Wallace (A. R.), and Reichenbach's Odyle, 8; Wm. B- 
Carpenter, F.R.S., 8, 44 ; the Radiometer and its Lessons, 
44 ; Bees Killed by Tritoma, 45 ; the Comparative Richness 
of Faunas and Floras tested Numerically, 100 ; Mr. Crookes 
and Eva Fay, loi ; Northern Affinities of Chilian Insects, 182 

War, New Applications of Science to, 361 

Warington (R.), Nitrification, 367 

Wasp and die Spider, 402, 448 

Watchman-Controlling Clock, 292 

Water, Specific Heat of, 252 

Waterfalls, Great, 221, 242 

Waterspouts in Callao, 372 

Watson (Arthur G.), Harrow School Bathing-Place, 487 

Waagh (Gen. Sir Andrew Scott, F.R.S.), Death of, 350 

Waves, the Progression of, 95 

Weather, Weekly Statistics of the, 489 

Weber (Prof. Ernst Heinrich), Obituary Notice of, 286 

Wei^its, Discovery of Ancient Bronze, 351 

Wcffington Philosophical Society, 296 

West Indies, Higgins* " Notes on the Western Tropics," 121 

Westii^rhouse Brake, 410, 507 

WestBunster Aquarium : 70, 193 ; Seals at the, 38 ; Laplanders 
at the, 70; Chimpanzee at, 153; Entomological Exhibition 
^ 3S*» 39i> 402 ; American Fishes at the, 392 

Whale, New Species of, no 

Wheel-Animalcules (Rotifers) of Hungary, 128 

White Sea, Algae of the, 345 

"White's Selbome," Prof. BeU's, 399 

Whitmce (S. J.), the Southern Drought, 447, 486 

Wild (M. JI.), Res&urches on the Magnetic Properties of 
Nickel, 393 

Wffliams (Prof. Monier), on Meteorology in India, 53 

WiHianison (Prof. W. C), the Origin of a Limestone Rock, 
265 



Willmanns (Prof. Gustav), Death of, 436 

Wilson (A. Stephen), the Earthworm in Relation to the Ferlitlty 
of the Soil, 28 

Wine Protection of France, 372 

Wines, Adulteration of, in Berlin, 91 

Winkler's Lunar Landscape, 469, 514 

Wires, the Transmission of Sounds by, 519 

Wisby, Discovery of Ancient Bronze Weights at, 351 

Wisteria, the Seeding of, 439 

Wojeikoflf(Dr.), Travels in Japan, 171 

Wolf (M. C), the New Paris Transit Circle, 165 

Wolfs History of Astronomy, J. R. Hind, F.R.S.^ 259 ; (Trans- 
lation), 359 

WoUaston (Thos. Vernon), Obituary Notice of, 210 ; " Colcop- 
tera Sanctse-Helense,'* E. C. Rye, 338 ; Testacea Atlanricn, 

503 
Wolves in France, 233 

Women, Higher Education of, 314 ; Prizes in Botany for, 314 
Work, Relation of, and the Decomposition of Albumen, 515 
Wormell (R.), «* Thermodynamics,^* 25 
Wright (Prof. E. Perceval), About Fishes' TaiLs 2S6j the 

Islands of St. Paul and Amsterdam, 326 
Wurzburg, University Statistics, 334 



Vallala Rapids on the Congo— Tuckey and Stanl(^y, Dr, J, 

Rae, 62 
Yenissei, Exploration of the, 38 
Yorkshire College of Science, 175 
Young (E. D.), "Nyassa," 99 
Youi^ (Frank W.), Cruelty to Animals' Act and Physiological 

Teaching, 45 
Young (J.), Mimicry in Birds, 486 



Zeitschrift fUr wissenschaftliche Zoologie, 254, 479^ 394 
Zenger (Prof. Ch. V.), the Law and Origin of Thunderstorms, 

362 
Zeuthen (Dr. H. G.), Quatre Modeler, 240 
Zollner's Scientific Papers, Prof. P. G. Tait, 420 
Zoological Gardens, 68 
Zoological Gardens : Additions to the, 18, 38, 54* 72, 92, 1 10, 

I33» 154, 172, I94» 213, 234, 253, 273. 293, 311. 331, 352, 

373, 411, 438, 456, 493, 515 ; Death of the Hippopotainas 

392 
Zoological Society, 95, 115, i35» '70, 275» 355» 37Si 460, 499. 

520 
2^ological Station, Naples, 329, 360 
Zoological Station for the Channel Islands, W. SavUle Kent, 

102 ; W. A. Lloyd, 143 
Zurich, University Statistics, 374 



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PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS. 

The FELLOWS of the ROYAL SOCIETY are hereby informed that the 
xst Part of the PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS, Vol. x66, for the 
year 1877, will be published, and ready for delivery on Saturday at the 
Office of the Society in Burlington House, between the hours of xo 
and 4. WALTER WHITE, 

Burlington House. Assistant Secretary R. S. 

LANCASTER SCHOOL. 

Head Master -Rev. W. E Prvce. M A., St. John's College, Cambridge, 
X4th Wrangler, x866. 
Second Master— Rev. W T. Nkwbold, M.A . Fellow of St. John's 
College, Cambridge, 5ch Classic, 1873. 
Assistant Masters— J. H. Flather, Esq , B. A , Emmanuel College, Cam- 
bridge, X4th Classic X876, and Lightfoot Modem History Scholar in the 
University ; J. C, Witton, Esq., B.Sc. Lend., &c , &c. 

New Buildings, including a LABORATORY, were opened 00 September 
94, by the Bishop of Manchester. 

There are University Scholarships, which may be given for proficiency in 
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For Prospectus, &c., address Rev. the Hbad Mastbk, School. House, 
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UNIVERSITY of LONDON ist M.B. and 

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H. BADEN PRITCHARD, Hon. Secretary. 

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CASTLETON, DEBYSHIRE. 
JOHN TYM is now enabled to offer the 

following rare and interesdni; Collections : — 
Palseolithic. 30 Specimens (including Teeth, &c., of Rhinoceros, C s. d. 

Bison, Reindeer, Hyaena, &c , and Casts of Implements)... zoo 

Cresswell Caves, x8 Specimens o 10 o 

Windy Knoll Fissure, 15 Specimens ... 076 

Pleistocene Fauna (a splendid setX 100 Specimens 500 

Flint Flakes from td. each. 

Catnlogues post free. 

LONDON CLAY FOSSILS from SHEPPE Y. 

Fruits, Bones, Shells, Crustaceans, Corals, Starfish, ftc zoo good 
Specimens with neat labels (50 or more Species), zor. ; half the quan« 
tity, 5x. Carriage paid to London. 
The fossils of yegetable origin, being liable to decay, are subjected to an 
efficient preservative process. 

Specimen Fruit, and Copy of Papers on ''Geolof^y of Sheppey," post 
free for three penny stamps. List, with Copy of Testimonials, m prepara- 
tion.— W. H. Shrubsolb, Sheemess-on-Sea. 

GEOLOGY.— In the Preface to the Student's 

ELEMENTS of GEOLOGY, by Sir Charles Lyell. price or., he says : 
— " As it is imposuUe to enable the reader to recognise rocxs and aime- 
rals at sght by aid of verbal descriptions or figures, he will do well to 
obtain a well-arranged collection of specmtens, such as may be procured 
from Mr. TEN N ANT (149, Strand), Teacher of Mineralogy at King's 
CoU^Q, London." These Collections are supplied on the foUowing 
terms, in plain Mahonnv Calnnets:— 
zoo Specimens, in Cauiiet, with 3 Traya •« •« •« ;(« a o 
aoo Specimens, in Cabinet, with 5 Trayi •« •« •m 550 
3ao Specimens, in Cabinet, with 9 Drawers m. .m zo » o 
400 Specimens, in Cabinet, widi Z3 Drmwera .•« •« az o e 
More extensive Coltoctioas at 50 to 5,000 Gninaas each. 

THE POPULAR SCIENTIFIC POCKET CABINET 
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Illustrative of Mineralogy, Palseontology, Petrology, Condiol^gy, MatsJ- 
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Whisldn Street, London, E.C 
a5 Specimens to illustrate Geikie's "Geological Primer," in Cabinet, 
a«. fid, \ a5 da to illustrate the Rot T. G. Bonney's " Elementary Geology," 
a/. 6«^ ; as do. British Fossils, in Cabinet, at. 6dL ; ss do. British Rocks, 
da, a*, fid, \ 35 da Earthy Minerals, da. ax. fid, ; as da Metallic Minerals, 
da, at. ^d, \ %$ da Recent Shells, do., ax. fid, ; as do. Metals, do , ax. &/. ; as 
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or Cheque must invariably accompany all orders. Trade supplied. 

To Geologists and Naturalists. 

ORPORD CASTLE FOSSILS. 

The Cutting near Orford Castla in which theae rare and beantilbl Foasfls 
have been found, as advertised in Natuk> last year, is still open, and nsora 
than twelve thousand Specimens^ aU carefiilly determined by Mr. Charlea- 
worth, have been distributed among the Subaoiben. Papers containing tha 
garticttlais of Subscription may be obtaizied by writing to Thomas Floyd, 
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dressed envelope. 

MUSEUMS AND COLLECTORS. 
Mr. DAMON, of WEYMOUTH, wiU forward an 
abridged Catalogue of his Collections in SHELLS 
(British and Foreign), FOSSILS, MINERALS, and 
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and of which he has typical and other sets in the Loan 
and Educational Museums of South Kensington. 

W. LADD & CO., 
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II & 12, BEAK STREET, REGENT STREET, W. 

LADD'S IMPROVED SELFCHARQINQ HOLT2 ELEC- 
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The above improvements can be applied to Holt% Machines of 
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MRS. SPOTTISWOODE*S POCKET POLARISING APPA- 
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CRYSTALS, showing Ans, Dichroism, &c, monnted for abovei 
in similar case. 

ALSO^ 

PhiloBopblcal Apparatus of eveiy Description. 



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Scientific and Miscellaneous Property. 

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perty, oonsisdng of Plate, Electrical Machines, and a variety of Appa- 
ratus, Dissolving-view Lsmtema and Slides, Models of Steam Engine*, 
an expensive set of Wheatstooc^s ABC Telegraphs, Telescopes, Micro- 
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On View Morning of Sale and Catalogues had. 

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KR. CAMERON (Science Schools, South 

Kensiiigtott Museum) prepares Students fai Chemistry and Botany for 
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KENSINGTON MASTER gives efficient 

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THE QUARTERLY REVIEW, 

No. a88. Is published THIS DAY. 

CONTBNTS. 

I.-ODILON-BARROT. 
II. -HISTORY OF THE MONGOLS. 
Iir.-OESARISM, ROMANISM, SOCIALISM. 
IV. —CARRIAGES, ROADS, AND COACHES, 
v.- CONTEMPORARY ITALIAN POETS. 
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FR ASE R'S MAGAZINE, 

No. XCV. NOVEMBER. 

CONTBNTS. 

Psychological Curiosities of Spiritualism. 

English Orthography. 

Rambles. By Patricius Walker, Esq. — In Devon and Cornwall 

Studies in Russian Literature. XII. 

Garibaldi in France. II. 

An Old Story Now. 

Buddhist Schools in Burmah. 

Three Weeks with the Hop-Pickers. 

The West India Question. 

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The Flower Gardea. 



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\Nov. I, 1877 



THE CHANNEL I8UND8' MUSEUM (& INSTITUTE OF PISCICULTURE SOCIETY, LIMITED. 

CAPITAL-^S,ooo IN 5,000 SHARES OF £\ EACH. 
(With power to increase.) 

This Society is estabUshed on an entirely sdentific basts, with the object of fosterinK and T>romoting the science of Economic Pisciculture, and 
of supplying Engfi^ and other naturalists and natural history students with facilities, not hitherto accessible, for pursuing Marine Biological Investigatioo. 
The aim of the Society is, in fact to provide, in a conveniently accesdble and suitable locality, an institution which uiall fulfil for the entire nwth of 
Europe that sphere of utility which the well-known Naples Aquarium and Zoological Station now does for the south. Mature consideration has led 
to the selection of a most eligible and advantageous site in the neighbourhood of St. Helier's, Jersey, for this purpose. 

As with the Naples In.stitution there will be embodied in this undertaking the following several features of utility and attraction : — Firstly, for tkc 
entertainment of the public and as a source of income for the defrayment of the general working expenses, a Saloon will be set apart for the pub& 
display of the living denizens of the ocean, and of which it may be said that the shores of the Channel Islands produce an unparalleled wealth of numbefl 
and var ety. Adjoining the Saloon there will likewise be a Museum, available both as a Lecture-room and for the exhibition of a typical Natural Hisloq 
Collection, more especially representative of the luxuriant Marine Fauna and Flora of the Channel Islands. 

The more important Technical Department will include Laboratories, with all suitable Apparatus and Instrumsnts, Tanks for GxperimeBta] 
Pisciculture^ and a Library of Standard Scientific Worics and Serials for the use of naturalists and students who shall repair here for the parpoM 
of prosecuting Marine Biological Research. With the Institution will also be associated a D^pot for the supply of liviog or carefully-presenped 
roarme specimens to British or other Universities, Museums, Sci<5nce Schools and Aquaria, or to naturalists that may require the same for musetun types, 
class demonstration, or for private investigation. 

In view of a desire already expressed by many wishing to asmt in the establishment of this Institution without becoming Shareholders, the Sodetj 
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The technical control of the Institution will be undertaken, as Naturalist Director, by Mr. W. SAVILLE KENT, F.L.S.. F.Z.S., &c., formeriv 
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eminently qualifies him for this position. 

In registering the Memorandum and Articles of Association of this Sodety, special care has been taken to secure for the undertaking a purely 
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SOUND and MUSIC: a Non-Mathei. 

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THURSDAY, NOVEMBER i, 1877 



THE SUN'S DISTANCE 

A MO ST interesting state paper has just been issued ; we 
refer to the Report by the Astronomer- Royal on the 
Tekscopic Observations of the Transit of Venus of 1874, 
made by the Expeditions sent out by the British Govern- 
ment and the results deduced from them. The Astro- 
nomer-Royal suggests that another report may be called 
for when the photographs of the transit have been com- 
pletely measured and worked out, if possible in combina- 
tion with the results of similar observations made in the 
expeditions organised by other governments. 

It will be seen from the present Report that the plan of 
operations actually pursued has been very nearly that 
proposed by the Astronomer- Royal in his communication 
to the Royal Astronomical Society on December 11, 1868, 
when for the third time directing attention to the arrange- 
ments which it would be necessary to make for the 
efficient observation of the transits of 1874 and 1882. 
The method of absolute longitudes was to be applied for 
observations both of ingress and egress ; it being therefore 
essential that the longitudes of the observing-stations 
should be determined with precision ; and the longitudes 
recommended to be fixed by Great Britain were Alex- 
andria, stations in New Zealand and in the Sandwich 
Islands, Kerguelen's Land, and Mauritius or the two 
islands of Rodriguez and Bourbon. 

The stations eventually selected for observations by the 
British expedition were fixed upon "entirely by considera- 
tion of the influence which their positions would have in 
determining with accuracy the necessary alteration of 
parallax." They were : Egypt, the Sandwich Islands, the 
Island of Rodriguez, New Zealand, and Kerguelen's Land. 
It was intended to adopt in each of these districts one fun- 
damental station, the longitude of which was to be inde- 
pendently determined, for conversion of local times into 
Greenwich times, and subordinate to this primary station, 
: <to stations were proposed to be ' selected at such 
distances that advantage might be taken of different 
states of weather that might possibly prevail 
In Egypt his Highness the Khedive rendered every 
Vol. XVII. —No. 41S 



possible assistance, tents being supplied with military 
guards for the protection of the observers and their in- 
struments, and telegraph wires erected. The Astronomer- 
Royal acknowledges the obligations of the expedition to 
the liberality of the Eastern Telegraph Company, in 
affording the means of determining with extreme ac- 
curacy and great facility the longitude of the principal 
station Mokattam. Greenwich was easily connected with 
Forth CumO| in Cornwall, whence there is an unin- 
terrupted line to Alexandria, the longest submarine line 
in the world ; Alexandria was connected with Mokattam 
by aid of the special line constructed by the Khedive 
from Cairo to the station. It is further stated that time- 
conununication was also made from Mokattam through 
Cairo to Thebes, and to Suez by the ordinary telegraph, 
Thebes and Suez being the other Egyptian stations where 
the transit was observed. 

In the Sandwich Islands much assistance was received 
from King Kalakaua and members of the reigning family. 
The principal station was at Honolulu, the longitude of 
which was determined partly by meridian-transits of the 
moon and partly by ^transits of the moon observed with 
the Altazimuth instrument. Waimea, in the island 
Kauai, where observers were also placed, was connected 
with Honolulu by means of chronometers carried in 
H.M.S. Teredos. At the Island of Rodriguez the longi- 
tudes were determined in the same manner as for the 
Sandwich Islands stations, for three positions, viz., Point 
Venus, the Hermitage, and Point Coton ; and com- 
munication was further made with the Mauritius and with 
Lord Lindsay's expedition with the aid of H.M.S 
Shearwater^ the preliminary results being stated by Sir 
George Airy to agree closely with those given by the 
lunar observations. At Kerguelen's Land, again, the 
operations were similar ; Supply Bay and Thumb Peak 
being the stations chosen. 

In New Zealand unfavourable weather much interfered 
with the observations, and Sir George Airy had at first 
been led to suppose that all useful observation had been 
lost ; it subsequently appeared, however, that this was 
not the case, one phase of the transit being well seen at 
Bumham, the longitude of which was fixed by meridian 
transits of the moon. 

The Report is divided into three sections or tables. 



NATURE 



[Nov. I, 1877 



In the first are given the descriptions of the various phe- 
nomena, in the words of the observers, with the 'Green- 
wich sidereal times of the different phases, obtained from 
accurate reduction of the observations for longitude here 
particularised ; where such longitudes d^end vspon Imiar 
observations the places of the Nduiichl Almnnac were 
carefully corrected by observatiotfs on nearly the s|me 
days at Greenwich, Paris, Strasburg, and KcJnigsberg. 
In studying these original descriptions. Sir George Piixry 
was led to infer that it was " possible to fix upon ttree 
distinct phases for the Ingress and four for the Egress,^* 
though it might have been supposed that E|;re9s and 
Ingress would exhibit the same number of distinct phases 
in inverse order ; this was not the case in practice. The 
first phase, a, utilised in the calculations is the appear- 
ance of the planet just within the sun's disc, but the light 
between the two limbs being very obscure. After an 
interval of about twenty seconds " the light begins to 
clear, and the observers generally think that the contact 
is passed ; '^ this is phase fi. About twenty seconds later, 
the light which at phase /3 was not equal to that of the 
sun's limb, is free from all shadow, and the phase is 
called y. Sir George Airy finds that of these phases fi is 
the most exact, observers, even in the presence of clouds 
of moderate density, agreeing within three or four 
seconds, though for other phases much greater discord- 
ances are exhibited. Similarly at the Egress, the first 
appearance of a fine line or faint shadow is called 5, 
this becoming definite, or a "brown haze ** appearing, is 
called r. When most observers record "contact," the 
shadow having reached a maximum intensity, the phase 
is called Ci a^d ^^ this phase there is an agreement 
amongst observers, much closer than in other phases at 
Egress. The "circular" contact at Egress is called »;. 

In the second section of the Report, or Table II., these 
" adopted phases are massed for each district in which 
the parallax- factor is nearly identical," and several of the 
details of reduction are included. With the longitudes 
determined as above, the recorded times of the various 
phases of the transit were converted into Greenwich 
sidereal times. With the calculated apparent places of 
the sun and Venus in the Nautical Almanac, as deduced 
from Leverrier's Tables, an ephemeris was prepared ex- 
hibiting the predicted geocentric places for every tenth 
second of Greenwich sidereal time throughout the transit, 
and from these numbers the apparent positions of sun 
and planet at each station were computed. Calculations 
were further made, showing how the predicted places 
would be affected by alteration of the local longitude, by 
change in the tabular places of the sun and Venus, and 
by alteration of their tabular parallaxes ; the first two 
alterations were not essential in these reductions, but the 
determination of alterations of the third class, as it is 
remarked, constituted " the special object of the expe- 
dition." The form of the reductions was " entirely de- 
termined by the consideration that such alterations must 
be made in the parallaxes as will render the observations 
of the same phenomena in different parts of the earth 
consistent with each other." In Table III. we have 
" the mean solar parallax deduced from every available 
combination." Thus Ingress accelerated at the Sandwich 
Islands is compared with Ingress retarded at Rodriguez 
and with Ingress retarded at Kerguelen's Land ; Egress 



retarded at Mokattam and Suez with Egress retarded at 
Rodriguez, and likewise with Egress accelerated at the 
two stations in Kerguelen^ ; and again the retarded 
Egress at Thebes is compared with Egress retarded at 
Rodriguez and with Egress accelerated at Kerguelen's. 
The greatest separate value of the solar parallax re- 
sulting from these different comparisons is 8*'*933 and the 
least 8""407. Weights are given to the various deter- 
minations depending, firstly, upon the number of observa- 
tions and the magnitude of the parallax-factor; and 
secondly, upon the particular phase a, /9, y, d, €, and C 
being included. iThus it is found that all the combinations 
for Ingress give the mean solar parallax 8"739, weight 
1 0*46, and all the combinations for Egress give 8"'847, 
weight 2*53, whence the general result is 8"76o, from 
which Sir George Airy finds the mean distance of the sun 
equal to 93,300,000 miles. The New Zealand observa- 
tions were not included in these calculations ; their mean 
result is 8"'764, almost identical with the above. It is 
remarked that many persons may perhaps consider that 
the more closdy-agreeing phases and C should be em- 
ployed in deducmg the i^ue of the parallax to the 
exclusion of the others. If this be done we shall have 
from the Ingress 8"748, and from the Egress 8" '905, or 
with their due weights a mean value 8"773. 

In this outline of the details contained in the Astro- 
nomer-RoyaFs first Report upon the observations of the 
transit of Venus, and the conclusions to be drawn from 
them we have adhered closely to his own words. Pending 
the appearance of the deductions to be made from the 
complete measuring of the photographs, the results before 
us are perhaps to be regarded as provisional ones only, 
or we have not yet learned all that may be done from the 
work of ^the British expeditions, so laboriously organised 
by Sir George Airy. Many astronomers we can imagine 
will regard with some suspicion so small a parallax as 
8''76, which is a tenth of a second less than has been 
given by the most reliable previous investigations, upon 
different principles. In illustration we may quote the 
separate results from which Prof. Newcomb obtained his 
value of the parallax, now adopted in most of our 
ephemerides : — 

From meridian observations of Mars, 1862 ^'855 

From micrometric observations of Mars, 1862 ... 8*842 

From parallactic inequality of the moon £'838 

From the lunar equation of the earth 8*809 

From the transit of Venus, 1769 (Powalk/s reduc- 
tion) 8-86o 

From Foacault*5 experiments on light 8*860 

To these may be added Leverrier's value subsequently 
deduced from the planetary theories, which is also 8"*86. 
Newcomb's mean figure, taking account of weights cor- 
responding to the probable errors is 8"'848, which, with 
Capt. Clarke's measure of the earth's equator, implies that 
the mean distance of the sun is 92,393,000 miles. Sir 
George Airy's 8 "760 would similarly place the sun at a 
mean distance of 93,321,000 miles. 

It is well known that some astronomers have not 
expected our knowledge of the sun's distance to be greatly 
improved from the observations of the transit of Venus, 
regarding such an opportunity as is presented by a close 
opposition of Mars as affording at least as favourable 
conditions, [and the result of Mr. Gill's expedition to 

O 



Nov. I, 1877] 



NATURE 



Ascension to utilise the late opposition will be on this 
accwrnt awaited with much interest Nevertheless, what- 
ever degree of opinion might be entertained by competent 
authorities, it appears to have been felt by those imme- 
diately responsible for action, in different civilised nations 
where science is encouraged, that so rare a phenomenon 
as a transit of Venus could not be allowed to pass with- 
out every exertion being made to utilise it, and this 
country may lay claim to an honourable share in the great 
scientific effort, thanks mainly to the long-continued and 
admirably-directed endeavours of the Astronomer-Royal 
to secure this result. 
Several of the stations occupied during the transit <rf 

; 1874 will be available for the transit of 1882, Kerguelen's 
Land in particular, where at Ingress the sun will be at an 
elevation of 12', the factor of parallax being o*98. In that 
year there will also be the advantage of observations 
along the whole Atlantic sea-board of the United States 
and Canada, where, as pointed out by the Astronomer- 
Royal in 1868, the lowest factor is 0*95, and the smallest 
altitude of the sun 12° for observing the retarded Ingress ; 
and for observing the Egress as accelerated by parallax, 
the factors are about 0-85, the sun's elevation varying 

I from 4® at Halifax, to 32"* at New Orleans, or Jamaica. 
Australian and New Zealand stations are important for 

j retarded Egress. 

As is well known, the transit of Venus on December 6, 
1882, will be partly visible in this country. 

PARKER AND BETTANY'S ''MORPHOLOGY 

OF THE SKULL'' 
The Morphology of the Skull, By W. K. Parker, F.R.S., 

and G. T. Bettany, M.A. (London : MacmiUan and 

Co., 1877.) 

IN the minds of most of those who have paid no special 
attention to the subject the skull is regarded as a 
hony case formed to contain the brain, together with the 
iace. There is also a constancy in the number and posi- 
tion of these bones which lead to the ai^Mirently necessary 
conclusion that occipital, sphenoid, parietal* and other 
elements are fundamental cranial structures ; so that an 
exhaustive study of their relationships and variations 
might be thought entirely to cover the subject of skull 
stracture. 

That such is not the case has dawned upon us since 
the elaborate researches of Rathke and other able em- 
hryologists, among the foremost of whom must be placed 
ProCs. Huxley and Gegenbauer, who have been followed by 
Mr. Parker, the author of the work under consideration, 
who on account of his peculiar aptitude for manipulation, 
his untiring zeal and his immense experience, has placed 
the subjecrt of cranial morphology upon a footing infinitely 
iDore satisfactory than it has previously been. His 
Bumerous memoirs in the Transactions of the Royal, 
Zoological, and Linnean Societies form a mine of biological 
&cts, so beautifully supplemented by their accompanying 
iHnstrations. The perusal of them all; in their proper 
sequence, is however a taskTonly to be undertaken by the 
specialist^ and it is on this account that we have no small 
d^ree of pleasure in being able to give a notice o( ^ The 
Mnphology of the Skull," a work of less than four 
IniDditd pages, in which is collected, condensed, and 



digested the mass of information spread through the 
larger memoirs. 

The work consists of a series of chapters on the skulls 
of carefully-selected types of the five classes of the ' 
Vertebrata. Those chosen are :— 

1. The Dog-fish and Skate. 

2. The Salmon. 

3. TheAxolotL 

4. The Frog. 

5. The Common Snake. 

6. The Fowl. 

7. The Pig. 

These are each described in allj stages from their « 
earliest appearance in the blastoderm to their adult con- 
dition. Following each chapter is a brief risumi of the 
peculiarities which have been observed in other members 
of each group, in such a manner that the student of any 
particular form can learn almost all he may require with 
reference to any special member of the sub-kingdom. 

The primitive trabeculae cranii, together with the para- 
chordal cartilages and the branchial arches are traced from 
their earliest development until ossification in and around 
them has reached the limits of the different types. The 
insufficiency of our data for the determination of the 
cranial segments is prominently brought forward, although 
the moniliform constrictions of the anterior extremity of 
the notochord in the fowl and in the urodeles is stated, and 
thought to suggest a segmentation. On the subject of 
the vertebral theory of the bony skull, Mr. Parker tells us 
that '^ only one bony segment, the occipital, can be said to 
be clearly manifest in the skulls of fishes and amphibians. 
And in these forms there are no good grounds for 
assigning to the cranial bones special names indicating a 
correspondence to particular parts of vertebras. From 
the study of adult structures in the mammalian groups 
skull-theories have been devised, lacking the basis of 
embryology ; and gi anting that they express some of the 
truth respecting the highest forms of skull, there is only 
injury to knowledge in arbitrarily interpreting the lower 
forms by them. In reptiles the skull becomes much more 
perfect, but with wide variations in the different groups, 
such that they cannot be merely subordinated to and 
explained by the mammalian type. A careful study of 
the growth- of the bird's skull, again, will show that it is 
impossible to express its composition on a simple formula 
derived from vertebral structures. But from the lower to 
the higher forms of vertebrates we can discern a growing 
away from the primordial type of skull towards and into a 
loftier development." This result of the extensive investi- 
gation upon which it is based is somewhat paradoxical. 
The ''loftier development" of the highest types results in 
a skull some of whose components may be compared in 
detail with some expression of truth to vertebrae, whilst in 
the lower forms a similar comparison cannot be said to 
hold. And yet true vertebrae themselves, fully developed 
as far as their essential details are concerned, are found 
in forms far from high in the scale. 

Mr. Parker's invaluable investigations besides their 
importance in a comparative anatomical point of view, 
have done much to demonstrate the degree of stress 
which must be * laid on facts of cranial structure in 
problems relating to classification. His labours have led 
him to elaborate the instructive classification of birds > 

O 



NATURE 



\N&b. I, 1877 



promulgated by Prof. Huxley in 1867, and so to bring out 
many points of special interest in avian cranial osteology, 
demonstrating most clearly the principle which may be 
arriyed at from the study of any special organ or single 
structure, that a fact which is of the greatest significance 
in determining the relationships of some one collection of 
species or genera, may be valueless in attempting to 
classify others. As an instance of this we may take the 
skull of the woodpeckers and wrynecks, the peculiarities 
of which have led Mr. Parker to place them in a division 
by themselves of primary importance, whereas there is 
nothing more certain than that their differences from the 
Toucans and Capitonidse are only just sufficient to separate 
them as a family from either. And yet among almost all 
other orders of birds the cranial structure is invaluable in 
the determination of their affinities. 

The uniformity of the nomenclature and the absence of 
any laxity in the expression of the mutual relations of 
parts, greatly increases the facility with which the great 
number of facts brought forward by the authors can be 
grasped, and no doubt it is Mr. Bettany whom we have 
in great measure to thank for the general selection and 
classification of those which have been chosen to form 
'*Thc Morphology of the SkulL" 

In conclusion we feel certain that all who read the work 
under consideration, the very nature of which makes it 
almost impossible for us to discuss the details with refer- 
ence to any of the points which it brings forward, will 
realise how important an addition it is to biological 
science, and no thinking student will lay it down without 
recognising how much scope there is for still further 
investigation in the same field, especially in that direction 
which leads to the explanation of the reason why car- 
tilages grow and bones form in certain definite directions 
and situations and in them alone ; in other words, the 
next book of the kind required is one on the dynamics of 
the developmentof the skulL 



THOMSON'S ''SIZING OF COTTON GOODS'* 
The Sizing of Cotton Goods, By Wm. Thomson. (Man- 
chester : Palmer and Howe.) 
IN weaving cotton cloth it is necessary that the warp, 
which has to withstand a considerable strain in the 
process of manufacture, should be artificially strengthened 
by " sizing," that is, by dressing the thread with some 
adhesive material so as to enable it to resist the pulling 
and wearing action of the healds and shuttle. In the earlier 
days of cotton manufacture the weaver contented himself 
with the use of a mixture of fiour-paste and tallow ; the 
first ingredient gave the thread the desired extra strength, 
the second removed the harshness which the use of flour 
alone would have given. But the manufacturer soon 
discovered that by a judicious selection of the components 
of his '' size,'' and by alterations in the mode of applying 
it, he could confer upon the cloth the appearance of being 
fuller and stouter than it actually was, judging from the 
amount of cotton contained in it. The great scarcity of 
the raw material during the cotton famine which sprung 
out of the American civil war had a powerful effect in 
developing the ingenuity of a certain set of manufacturers, | 
and there is no doubt that their machinations have had a 
lasting influence upon the mode of manufacture of grey 



cloth. As the weight of a piece of calico is one of the 
chi^f elements in determining its value, attempts were 
quickly made to increase that weight by mixing such 
bodies as powdered heavy-spar, or, worse still, of deli- 
quescent salts like the chlorides of magnesium and 
calcium, with the sizing material Occasionally the 
manufacturer in thus attempting to palm off water or 
a worthless mineral in lieu of good cotton over-reached 
himself and a* just retribution overtook him in the shape 
of heavy damages for mildewed or rotten goods. 

The results of many of these attempts afford excellent 
illustrations of the proverbial danger of a little knowledge ; 
the manufacturer somehow acquired the information that 
chloride of calcium, an almost worthless bye-product in 
many chemical operations, was an excellent absorbent of 
atmospheric moistiure ; its advantages as an ingredient of 
the sizing mixture were therefore obvious ; unfortimately he 
knew nothing of eidium oranteacum or puccitUa graminis^ 
and had probably never heard of peticilium glaucum^ or 
he might have known that he was preparing a mixture 
specially suited to the development of these fungu 
Silicate of soda or water-glass doubtless appeared at first 
sight to be an excellent substance for dressing warp, but 
a painful experience was needed to teach some manufac- 
turers that these alkaline silicates rapidly absorb carbonic 
acid, and that the resultant products, namely, free silica, 
and sodium carbonate, together occupying a larger volume 
than the original silicate, exerted a disruptive action upon 
the hollow i^cotton-fibre and made the cloth rotten and 
useless. Mr. Thomson does not altogether shirk the 
consideration of the moral aspects of the question of 
sizing ; he makes no secret of the fact that the operation 
is often done with fraudulent intention. He expresses his 
opinion distinctly enough that the introduction of an 
undue amount of size into goods intended for the home 
trade can serve no useful purpose, but we think he will 
find it difficult to convince ordinary or unbiased people 
that a composition consisting, to the extent of half its 
weight, of a mixture of putrid flour, or British gum, China 
clay, barytes, or magnesium chloride, tallow, or palm-oil, 
with a sufficient amount of chloride of zinc or carbolic 
acid to prevent the whole from running into absolute 
nastiness, is a fit material to clothe even the patient 
Hindoo or the prudent Chinaman. Mr. Thomson, how- 
ever, takes this business of sizing as a fact which, of 
course, cannot be ignored, and he tries to make the best 
of it. In the outset he shows that, as it now stands, the 
process is one of the clumsiest, most unscientific, and 
least understood of all the operations with which the 
manufacturer has to deal, and he points out, clearly and 
concisely, ' wherein it is faulty, and how it may be 
amended. 

The book is, of course, designed primarily for the use 
of grey-cloth manufacturers, calico-printers, and gene- 
rally of those whose business it is to buy and sell 
calico ; and the subject is mainly treated from the 
point of view of a chemist perfectly familiar with the 
objects sought t<9 be gained by legitimate sizing. In 
plain and albeit scientific language he describes the 
various pieces of apparatus employed in ascertaining the 
value o{ the different ingredients in size ; he points out 
the qualities, good and bad, of the materials employed to 
give adhesive and softening qualities to the size ; how the 

O 



Nov. t, 1877^ 



tfATVRB 



S2e is to be applied to the yam ; to what diseases or modes 
of decomposition it is liable ; and how it may be pre- 
served firom mildew or mischievous changes. The book 
has every right to be regarded as the only important 
treatise on the subject which has yet appeared, and, as 
sttchywe would recommend it to all who. are interested in 
the production of one of our chief staples. T. 



OUR BOOR SHELF 

Physiological Tables for the Use of Students, Compiled 
by Edward B. Aveling, D.Sc, F.L.S. (London: 
Hamilton, Adams, and Co.) 

We are at a loss to find any excuse for the publication of 
these tables, which no one, we presume, would attempt to 
justify except on the plea that they may be useful in cram- 
ming students so as to pass the multifarious superficial 
examinations which are a blot upon our educational 
sy^em. 

They are unphilosophical in their plan, and altogether 
unreliable in their details. Some idea of the nature and 
value of the information which is here put up, as it were, 
into separate pigeon-holes for the use of the unwary, 
maybe gathered from the following quotations. Nervous 
tissue, we are told, contains 15 per cent of fats, thus 
classified : — 
r-*- , ,. ^^* ^-.«* :« -,k;fo ( Oleo-phosphoric acid. 

( Cholestenn. 



$ per cent, in gray. 



Would Dr. Aveling like to write a short essay upon 
oleo-phosphoric acid? Has he never heard of such 
bodies as glycerin-phosphoric acid and its derivative 
lecithin? 

Or to quote from Table IV., where Dr. Aveling writes 
on the causes of the circulation :— 



/Impulse of heart 
Elasticity of arte- 
ries. 



Cadsss or 

CttCULATION. 



"^^^ 



Force. 



Muscular pressure 
i on yews. 



z. Alterations in diameter of cipU- 

laries. ^ 
2. ^Alterations of velocity of blood 

flowing through them. 

3. Movement of blood after excision 
of heart in cold-blooded amimals. 

4. Empt^ring of arteries after death. 

5. Secretion after death. 

6. First movement of blood in em- 
bryo towards, not from, the heart. 

7. Foetus without heart has organs 
developed. 

S.'iDegeneration of heart during life 
without much alteration in the 
circulation. 

9. Heart working well, and yet cir- 
culation through some part ceases. 

xa Asphyxia. 



I Would it not be an admirable exercise to set the above 

linesto intending candidates in physiology and ask them 

to criticise them ? Our readers will do so for themselves. 

In the table referring to the sense organs we are con- 

^ fidently told that the nerve centres for the special sense 
of touch are the thalami optici, that the centres of the 

I special sense of smell are the olfactory lobes, that the 
centres of sight are the corpora cjuadrigemina, the corpora 

i geniculata, and the thalami optici. 

r But the above examples are more than sufficient to 

I prove how dangerous a catalogue of mistakes Dr. AveUng 

f has presented us with. 

f If science is to be used as a discipline in education, let 
it be fully and accurately taught ; let us not imitate the 
old scholastic routine which forced unpalatable jargon in 
the form of "propria quae maribus," &c., upon the un- 
willing student, and refuse to follow it in that which is its 
merit— its accuracy. A. G. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

[The Editor dees fkft hold himself responsible for opiidons expressed 
by his correspondents, N^either can he undertake to return^ 
or to correspond with the writers of rejected manuscripts* 
No notice is taken of anonymous communuations. 

The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as 
short as possible. The pressure on Ms space is so great that it 
is impossible otherwise to ensure the appsarance even of com-* 
munications containing interesting and novel facts, "l 

Indium in British Blendes 

It will be a matter of some interest to English mineralogists 
and chemists to know that certain blendes of Durham and, I 
believr, of Cumberland contain Indium in appreciable quantities. 
This fact has been made out by a very skilfully-conducted analysis 
by Dr. Flight in the laboratory attached to this department 

The work in the laboratory has, through the past two years, 
been almost exclusively devoted to the analysis of minerals 
selected from the division of the collection which is in process of 
being catalogued, and for which the ciystallographic work has 
long been in progress. 

When I gave the particular blendes in question to Dr. Flight 
for analysis, the grounds for their selection were that they were 
British, and that one of them in particular resembled certain 
foreign blendes which contain the rare metals found in association 
with this mineral. 

The object of this letter b to secure a prompt announcement 
of Dr. Flight's having found Indium in the blende in question. 
He will in due time communicate farther deta.l8 of the analysis 
of the blende and of an elegant process by which he at once 
separates the Indium Sulphide from the blende. 

Nevil Story Maskelynb 

Mineral Department, British Museum, October 30 

The Radiometer and its Lessons 

Will you allow me to make a few remarks in reply to to Dr. 
Carpenter's letter on " The Radiometer and its Lessons," pub- 
lished in the last number of Nature, and to try to show that I 
had good grounds for the opinion I expressed at the late meeting 
of the British Association in reference to his article on the same 
subject in the Nineteenth Century ? 

Nearly the whole of the first three columns of Dr. Carpenter's 
letter is devoted to proving that he " was not influenced, when 
writing on the radiometer, by any animus arising from [his] per- 
sonal antagonbm to Mr. Crookes on another subject." As I 
never in any way charged him with being thus influenced, I do 
not think that this part of his letter calls for any further remark 
on my part than an expression of my sincere regret that it should 
have been possible for him to think that I intended to make 
such a charge. 

Dr. Carpenter devotes the rest of hb letter to showing that he 
had " adequate justiflcation " for ''making it appear that Mr. 
Crookes had put a wrong interpretation on his own results," and 
thus proves very conclusively that I had '< adequate justification " 
for.supposix^ it possible that he may have intended to make 
this appear in his article in the Nisteteenth Century, 

In order to make out bis '* justification," Dr. Carpenter sets 
himself to prove (i) that Mr. Crookes puts forward the *' direct 
impact of the waves" as afibrding "a definite interpretation " of 
the motion of the radiometer, and (2) that he claimed "the 
discovery of a ' new force ' or ' a new mode of force.' " 

With regard to the first of these points, I think that few per- 
sons can have read or heard Mr. Crookes's accounts of his 
investigations without having observed how careful he was to 
reserve his judgment as to the cause of the remarkable effects he 
had discovered, and neither to give out as conclusive any ex- 
planation of his own, nor to adopt any of those suggested by 
others until, chiefly through his own further experiments, one of 
them had been shown to rest on sufficient evidence. It is true 
that on one occasion he uses the following words (quoted by Dr. 
Cirpentex) : — '* My own impression is tlmt the repulsion accom- 
panying radiation is directiy due to the impact of the waves on 
the surface of the moving mass, and not secondarily through the 
intervention of air-currents, electricity, or evaporation and con- 
densation," and that, in several places in his earlier {Mipeis, 
he shows a leaning towards the same hypothesis ; but this is a 
very different thing from having adopted this view as a <' definite 
interpretation " of the phenomena. Even Dr. Carpenter does 
not attempt to show that Mr. Crookes ever, in so nuuiy words, 
committed himself to this theory, but concludes that he held it > 

O 



NATURE 



[_Nov. I, 1877 



from considerations which, for fear of misrepresentation, I must 
give in Dr. Carpenter's own words : — 

" After pointing out that * there is no real difference between 
heat and light, all we can take account of [I presume he means 
physically, not physiologically] being difference ot wave-length,* 
he [Mr. Crookes] thus continues : * Take, for instance, a ray of 
definite rcfrangibility in the red. Falling on a thermometer it 
shows the action of heat ; on a thermopile it produces an 
electric current ; to the eye it appears as light and colour; on a 
photographic plate it causes chemical action; and on the sus- 
pended pith it causis motion,* Now (i) this motion being else- 
where spoken of as due to the impetus given by a ray of light^ 
(2) a set of experiments being made to determine tJie mechanical 
values of the different colours of the spectrum^ (3) an observation 
being recorded on the weight of sunlig/U (without the least inti- 
mation that he was * speaking figuratively ' as Mr. Crookes says 
that he did to his audience at the Royal Institution), (4) the term 
light-mill being used by himself as a synonym for 'radiometer,' 
and (5) no hint whatever being given of the dependence of the 
result (as argued by Prof. Osborne Reynolds) on a * heat-reaction' 
through the residual vapour, I still' hold myself fully justified in 
attributing to Mr. Crookes tiie doctrine of the direct mechanical 
action oflig/it,** 

Taking these points in order and using Dr. Carpenter's 
numbers for reference, I may observe as to (i) that this seems to 
refer to Mr. Crookes's statement of an " impression " in a passage 
already quoted; with regard to (2) that Mr. Crookes having 
found that "every ray from the ultra-red to the ultra-violet " 
produced a mechanical effect under the circumstances of his 
experiments, it was very natural that he should hope to get some 
clue as to the nature of the action by finding what rays produced 
the ^eatest effect ; of Dr. Carpenter's arguments (3), (4), and 
(5), It is difficult to speak with the seriousness befitting their 
author's many valuable services to the cause of science, and the 
"due consideration of . . . ^w* and w^ relative positions." To 
conclude that Mr. Crookes must have held a particular theory 
from the fact that, when he had constructed an apparatus whidi 
spun round on exposure to light, he called it a "Light-mill ; " 
from his having neglected to give warning that he was " speaking 
figurativeljr " when he talked of " weighing a beam of sun-light,'' 
or from his having given no hint that he had adopted a rival 
theory, is certainly not to exemplify the " strict reasoning based 
on exact observation " which Dr. Carpenter recommends in the 
paragraph with which he concludes both his article and his letter 
to this J oumaL 

A few sentences before the' passage I have quoted. Dr. 
Carpenter refers ^to the " whole phraseology " of Mr. Crookes's 
papers of January 5 and February 5, 1876, as indicating "that 
he then considered [the motion of the radiometer] as directiy due 
to the impact of the waves upon the surface of the moving mass." 
This again seems to me a very unsound conclusion. The effect 
to the elucidation of which these papers were devoted was un- 
questionably due to the incident radiation, but whether as a 
primary or as a secondary effect, was still a matter for discussion. 
In my opinion the phraseology used in them implies no more 
than this : it indicates a relation of cause and effect, but, for the 
most part, leaves the question as to how the latter follows from 
the former, entirely untouched. If, however. Dr. Carpenter will 
refer to § 195 of the paper of February 5, as it is printed in the 
Fhil. Trans, for 1876, he will see that Mr. Crookes did not then 
attribute the motion to direct impact of the rays upon the surface 
of the moving body, but rather to an elevation of its temperature, 
and a consequentiy increased radiation of heat from its surface. 
At the same time he will see that this suggestion is put forward in 
a tentative and entirely undogmatic way. 

Dr. Carpenter next undertakes to show that Mr. Crookes laid 
daim to the discovery of a "new force" or a " new mode of 
force," finding his proof of this in a passage included in the 
quotation from his letter that I have given above. Commenting 
on this passage in the Nineteenth Century (p. 248), he says : 
"To the Mr^ attributes of radiation universally recognised by 
physicists, Mr. Crookes proposes (in the passage already cited) to 
add a fourth, the power of producing an electric current in 
a thermopile ; and a fiftlt, the power of producing mechanical 
motion when acting on light bodies freely suspended in a 
Tacuum." Again, if Dr. Carpenter had consulted the Philo* 
sophical Transactions for 1876 (p. 361), he might have done Mr. 
Crookes more justice and might have ^iven him credit for the 
discovery of a sixth attribute of radiation — (Mr. Crookes there 
mentions one more effect which the same ray can produce : 
^concentrate it on the band by a lens, it raises a blister accom- 



panied with pain "),— and, if he had read a few lines further, he 
might have spared himself the trouble of explaining to Mr. 
Crookes that the electric current of a thermopile is not directly 
excited by tiie incident radiation, for he would have found that 
this action, in Common with the pain and the blister and the 
motion of the mercury in a thermometer, is there spoken of as 
being an effect of heat, I think it must be evident to any one 
who will read this passage attentively with its context (either in 
Froc, Roy, Soc, [February 10, 1876], firom which apparently Dr. 
Carpenter quotes, or in the jPhil, Trans,, loc, cit,), that it has 
nothing at all to do with either one or more new forces, but that 
tiie whole gist of it is to assert that, whatever may be the mode 
in which radiation produces mechanical force, the result is to be 
attributed to it as a whole and not to a particular constituent 
assumed for the purpose. 

As though with the object of covering a retreat, Dr. Carpenter 
says, near the end of his letter, that " Prof. G. Carey Foster will 
doubtiess be able to pick out points of detail in my article, as to 
which faults may be found by a severe critic." I may therefore 
point out that I have so far carefully confined myself to what he 
nimself singles out as the " main issues " of the question between 
us, and that, in my further remarks, I shall treat the matter from 
a still more general point of view. 

In speaking (in my address at Plymouth) of the " tendency ** 
of Dr. Carpenter's article, I meant to indicate that I referred in 
what I said about it to what seemed to me to be its general drift 
and tone, rather than to any particular passage or passages. And 
my judgment of the drift of the article was formed not only fr-om 
what I found in it, but also firom what I did not find there. For 
example, if Dr. Carpenter had thought as highly as I do of Mr. 
Crookes's work he would almost inevitably have pointed ont 
more emphatically than he did the really astonishing number, 
variety, and laboriousness of his experiments ; he would also, I 
think, have pointed out that (with the important exception of 
Dr. Schuster) scarcely one of the numerous investigators, who, 
in consequence of his researches, have occupied themselves more 
or less with the radiometer, had obtained any significant experi- 
mental result which Mr. Crookes himself had not anticipated ; 
and he would have shown that the discovery of the radiometer, 
while affording a remarkable illustration of the importance ot 
following up unexplained though apparently trivial phenomena, 
illustrates no less forcibly the truth that scientific discoveries are 
not chance revelations, coming now to one and now to another, 
but that they are made only by those who have eyes to see a clue 
when it is offered them, and patience and skill to follow where 
it leads. 

Turning to what the article did contain, I think it is not incor- 
rect to say that it tended to produce tiie impression that Mr. 
Crookes, more or less obstinately, and on insufficient grounds, 
rejected a satisfactory explanation of his results. I will tiierefore 
try to state, as shortly as I can, what seems to me to be the tme 
state of the case in relation to this point 

Prof. Reynolds (in his paper read before the Royal Society on 
June 18, 1874) undoubtedly showed that a mechanical reaction, 
such as might account for the results obtained by Mr. Crookes, 
might arise when heat is communicated from a solid surface to a 
vapour or gas, but he did not (then at least) show that in Mr. 
Crookes's vacua there was enough residual gas to produce the 
results he ascribed to it. M*-. Crookes, widiout disputing the 
possibility of the action pointed out by Prof. Reynolds, made 
experiments from which he concluded that it was insufficient to 
explain the movements he had observed. (I must here remark 
that Mr. Crookes did not say, as Dr. Carpenter asserts that he 
did, that the explanation offered by Prof. Reynolds was one 
that " it is impossible to conceive." His words were: "It is 
impossible to conceive that in these experiments sufficient 
condensable gas or vapour was present to produce the effects 
Prof. Osborne Reynolds ascribes to it. After the repeated 
heating to redness at the highest attainable exhaustion, it is diffi- 
cult to imagine that sufficient vapour or gas should condense on 
the movable index to be instantly driven off by a ray of hght, or 
even the warmth of the finger, with recoil enough to drive tack- 
wards a heavy piece 9f metal"— /%«i 7 ram,, 1875, p. 547. But 
although Prof. Reynolds is unquestionably entitied to the credit 
of having originated the fundamental idea and worked out many 
of the details of the explanation that seems now to be generally 
adopted, his explanation not only rested on a somewhat slender 
experimental basis, but was theoretically incomplete, and in par- 
ticular it did not show clearly why so high a degree of rare- 
faction should be needed for the production of the phenomena in 
question. An important step towards supplying this deficiency 



Hov. r, 1877] 



NATVkH 



was taken by Profr. Tait and Dewar (July, 1875), who showed 
liow the increase, resulting from rarefaction, in the mean length 
of the path of the gaseous molecules would favour the action, 
bat the explanation in the form which they gave to it required 
that the rarefaction should be carried far enough to make the 
mean length of path of a molecule of gas great as compared 
with the dimensions of the inclosing vessel. It has, however, 
bttn pointed out by Prof. ZoIIner {Po^. Ann., February, 1877), 
and more recently by Mr. Tolver Preston {PAi/. Mag., August, 
1S77), that, in the mpjority of cases, this condition is far 
fifOiB being fulfilled. On the other hand, the residual-gas 
tbeoiy of the action of the radiometer received very im- 
poitant experimental support from Dr. Schuster's beautiful 
demonstration (February, 1876) that the force exerted on the 
discs was correlative with an equal opposite force exerted 
vpco the glass envelope. The complete proof that the action 
was doe in some way to the presence of residual gas was furnished 
by Mr. Crookes's own discovery (June, 1876) that it rapidly 
diminishes when the exhaustion is carried beyond a certain point 
depending on the nature of the gas. The outstanding defect in 
the theory was removed by Mr. Johnstone Sioney, who {Phil, 
Mag., March and April, 1876) showed that the observed pheno- 
mena might arise at a degree of rarefaction at which the mean 
length of path of a molecule was still much below the distance 
from the discs to the envelope, it being sufficient that this distance 
should not be too great to allow the warming of the discs to cause 
a sensible increase in the velocity with which the molecules struck 
the glass. Mr. Stoney's form of the theory answers to all the 
kcts of the case, so far as I am acquainted with them, and it has 
been confirmed and illustrated by Mr. Crookes with a numerous 
series of remarkably beautiful and ingenious experiments. 

My object in thus tracing the chief stages in the growth of the 
accepted theoretical explanation of the radiometer has been to 
pcnm out that the quality of mind which led Mr. Crookes to 
reject the various suggested explanations of the phenomena he 
bad observed, so long as they were only approximate and did not 
account for ail his facts, vras merely a further exemplification of 
the quality which led him to the original discovery. If he had 
been content to disregard a seemingly trivial fact he would never 
bare made this discovery at all, and if he had disregarded slight 
defects in the explanations that were offered he would have 
missed some of its most important consequences. I think that 
this also might have been suitably included among the "Lessons 
of the Radiometer. " G. Carey Foster 

University College^ London, October 27 



Has Dr. Carpenter'allowed himself to become possessed by 
a "dominant idea?" From his letter in Nature (vol xvi. 
p. 544), I infer that he might have taken the trouble to reply to 
my article in the July number of the Nineteenth Century^ had 
be not thought that my assertions '* were well known in the 
scientific world to be inconsistent with fact'' 

Some remarlcs, however, made by Prof. G. Carey Foster at 
the Britii^ Association seem to have forced upon Dr. Carpenter 
the conviction that he may have underrated my character for 
^racity, and that the " scientific world," at all events, is not 
vnaoimousin regarding my '* assertions " as falsehoods. Dr. 
Carpenter therefore seeks in your columns to justify the state- 
ments contained in his article on '' The Radiometer and its 
Lessons," in the Nineteenth Century for April last. 

When Dr. Carpenter declares my "assertions (i) . . . (2) 
• • • (3) " to be fake, I have a right to demand that Dr. 
Carpenter give my identical words, and not his own interpre- 
tation of my words— an interpretation which is "inconsistent 
with fact" 

To show Dr. Carpenter's inaccuracies in small things as well as 
great, I may point out that he does not even quote correctly 
the tide of my article in the Nineteenth Century. His careless- 
ness in more important matters is of deeper consequence. In 
otder to enforce one of his domif<ant ideas "yet more fully 
and emphatically," he tells us th^t he applied himself to a 
"carefid reperusal of " my papers * * with the most earnest desire 
to present a true history of the whole inquiry." A most laud- 
w determination ! And where, will it be believed, did Dr. 
Cttpcnter, a FeUow of the Royal Society, go for information ? 
To the Philosophical Transactions, where my papers are printed 
«tfnU length? No ! He only referred to the " Proceedings of 
^ Royal Society," a record, as every one know?, that contains 
^*H and therefore imperfect abstracts of what is published in 
Wl in the Transactions, 



In his "justification" Dr. Carpenter quotes a passage from 
a lecture I delivered in 1874, on The Repulsion Accompanying 
Radiation, commencing, "my own impression is," &c. Had 
Dr. Carpenter quoted the next paragraph, which is necessary 
to a correct interpretation of the sentence he did quote, your 
readers would have been enabled to judge how far I advanced 
theories of my own. My words were these : " I do not wish to 
insist upon any theory of my own. . . . The one I advance is, 
to my mind, the most reasonable, and, as such, is useful as a 
working hypothesis, if the mind must have a theory to rest upon. 
Any theory will account for some facts, but only the true 
explanation will satisfy all the conditions of the problem, and 
this cannot be said of either of the theories I have already dis- 
cussea.'' My next paragraph concludes with the following quo- 
tation from Sir Humphry Davy : — " When I consider the 
variety of theories which may be formed on the slender founda- 
tion of one or two facts, 1 am convinced that it is the business of 
the true philosopher to avoid them altogether. It is more 
laborious to accumulate facts than to reason concerning them ; 
but one good experiment is of more value than the ingenuity of 
a brain like Newton's." 

With regard to my having " theorised on the subject," I have 
never denied having done so, although I have on five or six 
occasions specially stated that "I wished to keep free from 
theories," and "unfettered by the hasty adoption" of theories. 
But I do deny that I ever stated that my results were definitely 
eacplained by the direct mechanical action of light. Your readers 
wUi understand that an experimental research is necessarily and 
slowly progressive, and that the early provisional hypotheses 
have to be modified, and perhaps altogether abandoned, in 
deference to later observations. Until my experiments confirmed 
the explanation given by Mr. Johnstone Stoney, I adopted no 
definite theory, and I contend that a trained physicist would fail 
to gather from my published papers that I desired my first 
impressions to be regarded as final 

Dr. Carpenter again attributes to me the terms "anew force," 
or a "new mode of force," as applied to the repulsion accom- 
panying radiation. Unless Dr. Carpenter can pomt these words 
out in my published papers, he has no right to place them between 
inverted commas. 

But the chief burden of Dr. Carpenter's song is that " Mr 
Crookes has another side to his mind, which mak«» Mr. Crookes 
the spiritualist almost a different person from Mr. Crookes the 
physicist" I fail to see how the investigation of certain pheno- 
mena called spiritual can make a man a spiritualist, even if he 
comes to the conclusion that some of the phenomena are not due 
to fraud. My position in this matter was clearly stated some 
years ago, and I ask your permission to quote the following 
passages from an article I published in 1871 : — *' I have desired 
to examine the phenomena from a point of view as strictly 
physical as their nature will permit. ... I wish to be considered 
in the position of an electrician at Valentia examining, by means 
of appropriate testing instruments, certain electrical currents and 
pulsations passing through the Atlantic cable ; independently of 
their causation, and ignoring whether these phenomena are pro- 
duced by imperfections in the testing instruments them -elves, 
whether by earth currents or by faults in the insulation, or 
whether they are produced by an intelligent operator at the other 
end of the line ." 

From this stand-point I have never deviated. Can Dr. 
Carpenter say that his position and mine, in respect to the 
investigation of the phenomena ascribed to spirituaUsm, are so 
very different ? He asserts that he has shown beyond doubt that 
it is all imposture. But I would ask if this was proved to his 
satisfaction twenty years ago, why does he still waste valuable 
time in interviews and sittings with so-called mediums ? If I am 
to be censured for having devoted time to this subject, such 
censure must be doubly applicable to a man who commenced the 
investigation when I was a child, and who cannot let the subject 
drop whenever a new "medium" comes in his way. Does he 
regard the subject as his own special preserve, and may his 
demonstrations against other explorers in this domain of mystery 
be looked upon as the conduct of a gamekeeper towards a 
suspected poacher? 

To impress on the world that he has no " ammus,*^ Dr. Car- 
penter says he "cordially" and " personally congratulated " me. 
His words bring vividly to my mind the conversation, of which, 
by the by, he has omitted an important part. It was at the 
annual dinner of the Fellows of the Royal Society on November _ 
30, 1875, when the royal medal was awarded to me. Dr. Car- 
penter accosted me with great apparent cordiality, and said. 



8 



NATURE 



[Nov, I, 1877 



"Let us bury the hatchet 1 Why should scientific men quarrel?" 
I ugnified my full acceptance of the offered peace, and great was 
my surprise soon after to find that, unmindful of the under- 
stood compact, he had exhumed his hatchet and was dealing 
me unexpected and wanton strokes, tempered by a certain 
amount of half praise which reminds me of the sort of caressing 
remonstrance of Maiendie in the pre-anaesthetic days, to the dog 
which he had on his operating table — " Taisez vous. pauurt 

btur 

In all seriousness, however, I must again ask, what is the 
meaning of the <* personal antagonism,'' and the persistent 
attacks which Dr. Carpenter, for the last six years, has directed 
against me ? In his recently published book, in the Nineteenth 
Century^ and in his last letter to you, the key-note struck in the 
Quarterly Review six years ago is sustained. We have the 
same personalities, the same somewhat stale remark about my 
double nature, and the same exuberance of that most dangerous 
and misleading class of averments, half truths. Dr. Carpenter, 
indeed, condescends to admit that I have pursued "with rare 
ability and acuteness a delicate physical investigation in which 
nothing is taken for granted without proof satisSictory to others 
as well as to himself," and that I have "carried out a beautiful 
inquiry in a manner and spirit worthy of all admiration ; " but, 
after granting so much, he dissembles bis love and proceeds to 
"kick me down stairs." I am damned with faint praise, 
and put to rights in such a school-masterly style, that I 
could almost fancy Dr. Carpenter carries a birch rod concealed 
in his coat-sleeve. He admits that in an humble and sub- 
ordinate sphere I have done uieful work, only I must not 
give myself airs on that account Dr. Carpenter reminds me of 
Dr. Johnson defending Sir John Hawkins, when he was accused 
of meanness. " I really believe him," said Johnson, " to be an 
honest man at the bottom \ but to be sure be is penurious, and 
he is mern, and it must be owned he has a degree of brutality, 
and a tendency to savageness, that cannot easily be defended." 
In the same magnanimous spirit Dr. Carpenter allows that I 
have contributed a trifle to science, but he does not forget to 
add that I am the victim of cerebral duplicity, and I am again 
held up to illustrate the sad result of neglecting to train and 
discipline "the whole mind during the period of its develop- 
ment," &c. 

I have, it appears, two allotropic personalities, which I may 
designate, in chemical language, Ortho-Crookes and Pseudo- 
Crookes. The Ortho-Crookes, according to Dr. Carpenter, has 
acquired " deserved distinction as a chemist." He carries out a 
" beautifiil inquiry in a manner and spirit worthy of all admira- 
tion." He has shown " ability, skill, perseverance, and freedom 
from prepossession." He pursues " with rare ability and astute- 
ness a delicate physical investigation." He evinces the "spirit 
of the true phQosopher," and he has "deservedly" ifeceived 
"from the Royal Society the award of one of its chief dis- 
tinctions." , 

But Pseudo-Crookes, whose career Dr. Carpenter has evidently 
watched almost from his cradle — as he professes to know the 
details of his early education— unfortunately took a "thoroughly 
unscientific course," and developed into a " specialist of 
specialists." He had "very limited opportunities " and " never 
had the privilege of associating" with scientific men, al- 
though he displayed ** malus animus^* "towards those with 
whom he claims to be in fraternity." He is " totally desti- 
tute of any knowledge of chemical philosophy, and utterly 
untrustworthy as to any inquiry " not technical. His "asser- 
tions " are " well known in the scientific world to be inconsistent 
with fact" He enters on inquiries "with an avowed fore- 
gone conclusion of his own," He has "lent himself to the 
support of wicked frauds." He has "prepossessions upon 
which clever cheats play." His "scientific tests" are not 
"worthy of trust." He is a believer in "day dreams," and 
the supporter of a "seething mass of folly and imposture;" 
whilst, to crown all, he actually thinks that the radiomefer is 
driven "by the direct impetus of light." In short, this Pseudo- 
Crookes is a compound of folly and knavery such as has rarely, if 
ever, previously been encountered. 

William Crookes (The Ortho-Crookes?) 

London, October 29 



Mr. Wallace and Reichenbach's Odyle 

I AM amazed that Dr. Carpenter should think it necessaiy to 
make public, with such haste. Prof. Hoffmann^s statement that 
Baron Reichenbnch's facts and theories are not accepted by the 



body of scientific men in Germany. Of course they are not 
But how this affects their intrinsic .accuracy I fail to see. Less 
than twenty years ago the scientific men of all Europe utterly 
disbelieved in the co- existence of man with extinct animals ; yet 
the facts adduced by Freere, Bou^, McEnery, Godwin Austen, 
Vivian, and Boucher de Perthes, are now admitted to have been 
trustworthy and deserving of the most careful examination. The 
whole history of scientific discovery from Galvani and Harvey 
to Jenner and Franklin, teaches us, that every great advance in 
science has been rejected by the scientific men of the period, with 
ani amount of scepticism and bitterness directly proportioned to 
the novelty and importance of the new ideas suggested and the 
extent to which they run counter to received and cherished 
theories. Rejection is one thmg, disproof is another ; and I 
have in vain searched for anything like disproof, or even rational 
explanation, of Reichenbach's facts : his theory, or " Odyle- 
doctrine," I have never "attempted to rehabilitate," as Dr. 
Carpenter, with his usual misconception, says I have done. In 
my review of Dr. Carpenter's lectures {Quarterly Journal of 
Science^ July, 1877, p. 396), I adduce five tests employed by 
Reichenbach, and also the independent and simultaneous con« 
firmation of Dr. Charpignon in France ; and the only reply I 
get is : " All men of science disbelieve them." With the facts 
of history above alluded to in my mind, and believing that 
human nature is very much the same in the nineteenth century 
as it was in the eighteenth, I can only say, " so much the worse 
for the men of science." 

Dr. Carpenter's reference to the believers in a flat earth, as a 
parallel case, is unfortunate, because the two cases are really of 
a totally different nature. Those who maintain the earth to be 
flat do not deny the main facts which we rely on as proving it to 
be round, but they attempt to give other explanations of thenu 
The dispute is on a question of reason and inference ; and every 
intelligent and fairly educated man is able to decide it for him- 
self. But in Reichenbach's case it is the facts that are rejected 
without disproof or adequate explanation. The two cases are 
therefore quite distinct, and Dr. Carpenter's attempted parallel, 
as well as his setting up of scientific disbelief as a conclusive 
reply to evidence, is m conformity with his whole treatment of 
this subject. 

I trust that such of the readers of Nature as may feel any 
interest in the questions at issue between Dr. Carpenter and 
myself will read my article above referred to, and not allow 
themselves to be influenced by Dr. C.'s repeated appeals to 
authority and to prejudice. Alfred R. Wallace 

I HAVE to request your insertion of a post-card I have this 
morning received, for two reasons ; firsts because, as it is ano- 
nymous, and as the writer of it is obviously a reader of Nature, 
no other way is open to me for replying to it except that which your 
columns may afford ; and secondly^ because it is a very curious 
example of the misconceptions into which men are apt to fall 
who allow themselves to become " possessed " by " dominant 
ideas." 

" If Mr. A. R. Wallace has to choose between being either 
'a fool or a knave,' there is at all events no choice left for the 
man who deliberately and maliciously makes incorrect assertions 
and suppresses the truth to further his own views. I dare say 
you know what most people would call such a man. Yours, 
" One who was at Plymouth " 

Now, in the first case, it must be perfectly obvious to any one 
who is capable of reasoning logically, that nothing which I said of 
Mr. Wallace in your last number can be twisted into the implication 
that he is either " a fool or a knave." John Hampden is continu- 
ally saying this of Mr. Wallace and of everybody who upholds the 
rotundity of the earth. And I mildly suggested whether, in 
putting himself in opposition to the whole aggregate of scientific 
opinion on the value of Rpichenbach's Odylism— not because he 
had himself repeated them, but because he believes in Reichen- 
bach — Mr. Wallace is not assuming an attitude in some degree 
similar, that is, setting himself up as the one wise and honest 
man who duly appreciates Reichenbach, and therefore implying 
that everybody else is either stupidly or wilfully blind to 
the evidence he presented. If anyone thinks it worth while 
to read Mr, Wallace's review of my lectures on "Mes- 
merism, Spiritualism," &c., in the last number of the Quarterly 
Journal of Science^ he will be able to judge whether I have or 
have not wronged Mr. Wallace in this matter. 

The writer's appreciation of my own character, which has fre- 



Nov. I, 1877] 



NATURE 



quently been expressed to me before in the same manner and in 
the like terse and elegant language, is now eoforced by what he 
deems to be Prof. Carey Foster's judicial opinion, delivered at 
die Plymouth meeting ; and I find myself, therefore, fully justi- 
fied in my opinion that by his introduction of the word '* inten- 
tionally " Prof. Carey Foster made his judgment legitimately 
bear a meaning, which, as he has stated, he would consider 
insulting to my character. And I cannot but believe that 
Piof. G. Carey Foster will regret having thus given a new 
handle to a man who obviously wishes to insult me on account of 
my antagonism to spiritualism. As the writer of the post- card 
continues to use Prof. G. C. Foster's authority, after that gentle- 
man's explicit disavowal of the offensive meaning here attached 
to it, and as I may, of course, expect that he will continue to 
avad himself of that authority, I should like him to know 
through your columns that it is scarcely worth whUe for him to 
trouble himself to repeat Uiese attacks, since they have long 
since ceased to do anything else than amuse me, and will only 
famish me with materials for amusing other people. 

It teems much to be regretted that neither spiritualism nor 
attendance at the meetings of the British Association, nor even 
the reading of Nature seems able to teach this person to behave 
tike a gentleman. William B. Carpenter 

October 29 



Potential Energy 

Your correspondent *'X." has described some of his troubles 
respecting potential energy. Many a learner could describe 
similar troubles respecting force and energy in general. They 
who earnestly contend for definiteness and accuracy do not 
always teach with definiteness and accuracy. For example : in 
his "Treatise on Heat," p. 137, Dr. Tyndall tells me that by 
raising a weight from the floor I have conferred upon the weight 
potential energy. Presently he tells me that this energy is 
derived (not from me, but) from the pull of gravity. He next 
tells me that we might call the energy with which the weight 
descends, moving force, ue, he teaches me to confuse force and 
energy ; and afinr idl this he bids me remember that " exactness 
is here essentiaL We must not now tolerate vagueness in our 
conceptions." 

Take another example. In his lecture on <* Force " (Nature, 
vdL xiv. p. 462), Prof. Tait teaches that force is a mere name, 
and that it has no objective existence ; he also teaches that the 
product of this non-existence by its displacement has an objective 
existence. Few learners would say that is a very lucid state- 
ment Again, in the same lecture he says " there is no such 
thk^ as centrifugal force, and accelerating force is not a physical 
idea at all;" but in his <'Nat Phil." he speaks of both these 
forces^ and describes their effects (Nos. 185, 187, 598, 248). 

When teachers deservedly eminent make statements like' the 
foregoing, so likely to mystify and confuse a novice, it is no 
wonder that there is a good deal of smattering in popular 
science. 

Prof. Tait sajrs "the so-called accelerating force is really no 
force at all, but another name for the kinematical quantity accele- 
ration." I venture to entirely disagree with this statement, and 

for the 'following reason : — -—^ is a number^ and may be that 
a t 

number of units oiforce^ or that number of units of occeleraHatt, 
When it is called accelerating force it is the representative of 

m y-f when m = i, and m does not appear in the expression ; 



•rf? 



dv . 



and it means ^-- units oiftftre. When it. is called acceleration 
a t 



di 



units of acceUration, Accelerating force is just as 

real as moving force, for it is, in fact, the mth part of the 
moring force. In like manner v may mean either v units of 
velocity, or v units of momentum ; in the latter case it is the 
lepretentative of mz^, when f» = i, and means the momentum 
of a unit of mass which has v units of velocity. In like manner 
m may mean either m units of mass, or m units of momentum^ or 
m miits of Idnetic energy ; in the two latter cases it is the 
representative of tnv or of mv^ when z/ = I, and means the 
momentum, or the vis viva of m units of mass moving with unit 
of velocity, 
A few simple definitions would remove the difficulties re- 
peoing force. Thus : If a mass of m units of mass ii at any 



instant receiving an acceleration of a units of acceleration in 
any given direction, the force which is acting on it at the given 
instant in the given direction \& ma units of force. The force 
acting on the mass in the direction of its motion is called the 
moving force. The force in the normal to the direction of its 
motion and towards the centre of curvature is called the 
centripetal force. An equal and opposite force is called the 
centrifugal force. The fvth part of the moving force is called 
the accelerating force, which is the moving force acting on a 
unit of mass. 

In the case of a planet^s orbit it is too common to give the 
name centrifugal force to two forces which generally differ both 
in magnitude and in direction, one of them being in the direction 
of the normal, the other in the direction of the radius-vector. 
This is the last instance which I shall give of sins against 
definiteness and accuracy. £. G. 

Bardsea 



Hartlaub's << Birds of Madagascar" 

The excellent review, exhibiting traces of a master's hand, of 
the above-named useful work, which appeared in Nature 
(vol. xvi. p. 498) prompts me to offer some remarks on the orni- 
thology ot Madagascar and its neighbouriag islands, and to take 
exception on two points therein laid down. 

The first of these is propounded by your reviewer and seems 
to me absolutely contrary to fact He says : — " Compared with 
Madagascar itself the appendent island groups are poor in 
species, although in every case there are many interesting forms 
among their winged inhabitants. The Comoro Islands muster 
only some forty-four species of birds, Mauritius about sixty, of 
which fifteen or sixteen have been introduced by man's agency, 
and Bourbon about the same number, while Rodriguez appears 
to have only about twenty-five species now existing in it, of 
which four or five are certainly recent introductions." 

Now twenty years ago my friend, Mr. Sclater, in that remarkable 
paper of his on the geographical distribution of birds (,J^r». Linn., 
Soc, Zoology, ii. p. 130), which so happily laid the true foundation 
for our present researches into the subject, showed that the 
proper mode of comparing the wealth or poverty of one fauna 
with another was to state the proportion ^diich the number of 
species composing it bears to the area over which they range. 
The same view was adopted very shottly after by Mr. Wallace, 
who took occasion {Ibis, 1859, p. 449) to question certain of 
Mr. Sclater's results, and its correctness seems to have been since 
generally admitted. Yet, applying this test to Madagascar and 
its neighbouring islands, we find a state of things to exist very 
different firom that which your reviewer has alleged. The area 
of Madagascar is said^ to be 10,751 German square miles, that 
of the Comoros collectively 38 '57, of Mauritius 3476, ot Bourbon 
42*05, and of Rodriguez 5. It will be sufficient for my purpose 
to compare the first and last of these. Your reviewer is willing 
to allow twenty indigenous species to Rodriguez ; then— 



Area of Area of 

Rodriguex. Madagascar. 

5 • io»75i 



Species in Species in 
Rodriguez. Madagascar. 
20 : X 



But instead of an avifauna of 43*004 species, or about four 
times the number known to exist tiirooghout the whole world, 
Dr. Hartiaub rives it 218, and your reviewer generously adds 
two more, making 220 1 Suppose (an extravagant supposition) 
that future explorations enable us to double the last number, it 
is Madagascar that will still be out of all proportion " poor in 
species compared with '' the appendent island groups, " and 
not these with Madagascar. 

The next point to which I must demur is that "the indi- 
viduality of the £Biuna of Madagascar is so unique that even that 
of New Zealand can hardly be compared with it." I will leave 
to fitter hands than mme to show that this is not the case gene- 
rally, and shall only remark here that it is not so with birds. Of 
the sub-class RaiUa there have been until lately Jive strongly 
marked groups, each of which is equivalent to an " order '^ 
among the Carinatce, Now two of these groups were peculiar to 
New Zealand, and one {Apierygida) is so now, while the other 
(containing the families Dinornithida and Palaptery^a) is but 
recently extinct Willingly granting that j^pyomis^ when we 

* Behm'nnd Wagner, "Area! und BevOlkerung der Krde" (Petennann s, 
Ge^gr^ MittJkeilungen, Erg&mingsheft, November 20, 1876). 

B 2 



lO 



NATURE 



{Nov. I, 1877 



know more about it, may prove to form a sixth group» the 
balance of "individuality," if I understand the meaning of the 
v^oid, will still be on the side of New Zealand. Turning to 
the Carinate birds, Harpagornis stands alone, while Cnemiomii 
will certainly connt for as much as the Didida, The extraordi- 
nary Mascarcne Rails {Misery thrus and Aphanapteryx) are well 
represented by Ocydromus, which so much resembles Uiem, and 
Strigops is undoubtedly a more abnormal form than, so far as 
we can judge, either Lophopnttacus or Nicropsittacuf ; juit as 
A^estt^ is more aberrant than Coracopsis^ and Heterolocha than 
either Fregilupus or Necropsar, But there is no need to con- 
tinue the list, and in conclusion I will only declare that I think 
far too highly of the fauna of Madagascar and of the Mascarene 
Islands to wish that its extraordinary peculiarities should be 
undervalued, though I do not want them to be unduly magnified 
at the expense of Uiose of the fauna of New Zealand. 

Alfred Newton 
Magdalene College, Cambridge, October 27 



Eucalyptus 

Having read withlgreat interest the article io'your journal 
(vol. xvi. p. 443) on the Eucalyptus I take the liberty of shading 
you a pamphlet on the same subject, in which I have endieavoured 
) o unite all the arguments likely to persuade and convince the 
Italians of the immense utility of the above-named tree, the 
cultivation of which would be of the greatest importance for the 
Agro Romano, • 

As is well remarked in the article in Nature, the Ewalypius 
is extensively cultivated in France, Spain, and Portugal, Bat in 
Italy, where it prospers almost all over the country and might be 
cultivated with facility, in spite of the most earnest efforts on my 
part during my residence here for the last ten years, in spite of 
its being recommended in Parliament by one of thie most iafuuBOtial 
members, it has not been adopted. 

In my gardens on the Lake Maggiore^ I cultivate fctfty difiercnt 
varieties of the Eucalyptus, Of these the amygdalina and the 
globulus have attained, in eight years, the height of 17 metres. 
It is to be remembered that the temperatire has sometimes been 
as low as 7° C. below zero without injury to these plants. 

If you consider it probable that these few worda could be ef 
interest to your readers I willing authorise you to publish them 
in your estimable journal. Prince Pierre Troubit^koy 

Villa Troubitzkoy, near Intra, Lago Maggiore, October 15 



least forty feet high, and many of them measured thirty'«» 
inches in circumference at three feet from the ground. Thejr 
had a profusion of foUage such as I have never seen on the sane 
trees in Australia. This was right out on *' pampa " laod, in 
deep alluvial soil. These trees had fought their way up, in 
spite of the black ants so destructive to foliage— the owner told 
me that they had at first stripped the young trees— and the titt'- 
mendous gales which sweep over this open country. Those to 
the westward and south-westward of the plantation were far 
inferior in size to those on the east and north. This was the 
only grove of Eucalypti in the Banda, and it demonstrates the 
possibility of covering the naked pampas to any extent with 
forest, English settlers in the River Plate countries should note 
this fact, and I am sure the enlightened owner of the Estand* 
** Sherenden " would supply any of his countrymen with seed. 

Arthur Nicols 



Meteor of October 19, 6.15 p.m. 

The large meteor described by two correspondents (Nature, 
vol. xvL p. 551) was observed also by several persons in this 
district, but most of the accounts are so meagre and doubtful as 
10 possess little scientific value. The meteor appears, however, 
to have been well seen by Mr. W. Watkins Old, of The Parade, 
Monmouth, and his notes are so interesting that I b^ to tran- 
scribe them. He says :— 

<*The meteor fell at 6.15 exactly. It appeared to me to 
descend perpendicularly some degrees from and to the west of 
Arcturus (which was shining brightly), and it disappeared behind 
a bank of dark cloud above the horizon at a point in a Une pro* 
jected beyond Arcturus, half the distance between that star and 
(he last of those in the tail of Ursa Major, as roughly shown in 
the dia^am below : — 



These trees are now attracting so much attention tiiat even 
the small amount of experience I may be able to offer may not 
be unacceptable to your readers. Considerable stress is laid 
upon their influence in dissipating malaria ; but I have not found 
this to be the case in Queensland, one of the head-quarten of the 
tree. I have personally suffered from malaria in the very heart 
of a forest extending for many miles in every direction, and com- 
posed mainly of all the varieties of Eucalyptus, and not by any 
IT. cans remarkable for the extent of swampy ground, and have 
known many instances of febrUe attacks among shepherds and 
stockmen in the locality. Moreover I was told on inquiiy that 
these attacks were not confined to any particular year, but that 
every year some cases might be expected. I was greatly surprised 
at reading in your ** Notes " (Nature, vol. xvi. p. 557) that the 
mosquitoes had disappeared with the introduction of the ** gum'' 
trees into .Algeria. This would not be the experience of anyone 
who has lived in Australia, I believe. I have found these pests 
so intolerable on high land, where almost the only tree 
to be found was one variety or other of Eucalyptus^ and 
sometimes all, that sleep was impossible while camping out 
at night, and life a burden in the day by reason of these pests. 
The gums emit a most decided odour, especially in strong sun- 
light. When riding across the great Queensland plains and 
approaching wooded spurs I have [ScotttW)' " felt " the charac- 
teristic smell of the gums at a considerable distance. These 
plains — ten miles in breadth— are not crossed in a short time, 
and the resinous odour of the gums, omnipresent in the forest 
and scarcely noticed there, strikes one forcibly when approadi- 
ing the trees after the olfactory organs have been for some time 
deprived of it "Whether this odour has any effect or whether it 
is tAc preservative against malaria, I do not know. The growth 
of these trees in South America is very rapid. When in the 
Banda Oriental some years ago I examined a plantation of 
led and blue gums, then eight years old. The trees were at 



Ufm .M^ior. 



Axctunis. 



Thus it remained stationary, like a dazzling white wand, while I 
counted twenty, during which time I could perceive the vapour, 
of which the trail was composed, as it were in ebullition. It 
then gradually curved towards the north as depicted in the 
foUowmg sketch ; and drifted slowly away during eigAt minutes. 



h 



P^rcttirvLt 



^Areturu^ 



0^' 



until it lay almost horizontal though still brightly illuminated, 
while the clouds gradually rose and covered it from my view. 
Altogether I observed it over eight minutes by my watch. There 
was much tmlight in the west and the moon was shining brightly 
from which one may judge the extreme brilliancy of the meteor. 
I should add that when it appeared there was simultaneously a 
sensible rent or flip, like one sometimes hears with a sharp flash 
of lightning, and which may possibly be due to the appulse of 
light, as it could scarcely be the sound of explosion if there was 
any. It was too simultaneous to be the report of the descent of 
the meteor through the air, but it was sufficiently loud ^to be 
pronounced and caused some people standing near me, with 
their backs to the west, to inquire what it was, though they 
evidently saw nothing of the meteor nor even turned towards its 
direction. I listened but heard no further sound." 
Ashleydown, Bristol, October 26 W. F. Denning 



Curious Phenomenon during the Late Gale 

Your correspondent, "G. A. M." (vol. xvL p. 551), may be 
interested to know that the " ball of fire " he saw descend on 
the evening of the 14th inst. was seen here by me, and by those 
who accompanied me, at precisely the same time (6.50 p.m.) 
that^he mentions. We were walking in a south-easterly direc- 
tion, and it seemed to fall from about half-way between that 
point of the compass and the moon, which was due south of us, 
and shining brightly. The ball itself appeared to us luminous 
white, while the " wake " left in its passage through the air, was 
bluish green. It was visible, I should say, for twenty seconds. 

O 



Nov. r, 1877] 



NATURE 



1 i 



Oecumag, as it did, at a time when thonsands were wending 

their way to church, it must have been very generally observed. 

Hanow, October 26 A. W. B. J. 

Singing Mice 

When at school a friend and I used to keep tame mice, and 
tnxMigst our large stock was one of the so-called singing mice. 
The mouse in question was not one we bred ourselves, but was 
bought from a London dealer, so we had no opportunities of 
knowing whether it had ever been kept near a singing bird or 
not ; but it was not at all averse to performing in broad day- 
light, and would chirp whilst a knot of boys were standing round 
it as freely as when the cupboard was closed. 

As M. Brierre describes it (vol. xvL p. 558), the mouse used 
to sit with its snout more or less elevated, but not at all to an 
UDComfoi table height, and its throat used to throb like that of 
a bird whibt singing, the far of the one being ruffled like the 
feathers of the other ; and the song was something between that 
of a wren and that of a shrew mouse, and rather pleasing than 
otherwise. 

At first we were bclined to attribute the nuiie to disease of the 
hmgs or throaty but were unable to hold that opinion long, as 
there never seemed to be any pain or. gasping connected with it, 
hot the noise was always produced at periods of greatest rest, 
and chiefly when the mouse came out of its sleeping place to 
vash its face and paws, at which times it generally clurped at 
inteivak It never had the power of imparting the art to others, 
nor did any of its numerous progeny inherit its powers. Neither 
was it all short lived, but ra^er the contrary, and its death 
was caused by an accident. We were unable to consider the 
power of emitting' the sounds at all the result of weakness or 
disease. Henry H. Slater 

Sound-Producing Arthropods 

I HAVE read with much interest the brief abstract given in 
Nature (vol- xvi. p. 567) of Mr. Wood Mason's announce- 
ment to the Entomological Society of the discovery of stridulating 
origans in association with scorpions ; reference being made at 
the same time to his recognition of similar sound-producing 
(tructures among other Arthropoda, including certain Crustacea. 
In this latter case no mention is made of the particular types with 
which these sound-organs have been observed, and I therefore 
hazard the relation of an instance that has recently fallen under 
my own observation with the chance of its proviug a newly- 
leoorded eaample. 

The crustacean in question, which I have ascertained to possess 
Bonnd-producing properties to an eminent degree, is a species of 
Sphavma, belonging to the Isopodous order of the class. I have 
Bot as yet ascertained the exact method in which sound is pro- 
duced nor whether the animal has organs specially adapted for 
the purpose ; on numerous occasions, however, my attention has 
heen attracted to the glass jar of which, with the exception of 
microscopic Copepods and Protozoa, a single specimen of the 
species is the sole animal occupant, by a little sharp tapping 
stand produced three or four times consecutively with intervals 
of about one second's dmation, and which I can almost exactly 
imiute by gently striking the side of the jar with the pointed end 
of a pipette. On being approached the little creature always 
endeavours to elude notice by passing to the opposite side of the 
stalk of seaweed, upon which it usually reposes in the same way 
that a squirrel dodges round the branch of a tree, and on no 
occasion so far have I been able to catch the little fellow 
flagrante ddictc, or in the act of producing the sound which it 
most undoubtedly emits. The character and intensity of the 
soQ&d produced associated with the small size of the animal, 
•carcely one quarter of an inch in length, induces me to believe 
that it is caused by the sudden flexion and extension of the 
creature's body. A more prolonged observation will no doubt 
dear up this point, but Mr. Wood Mason may possibly be in a 
position to throw further light upon the subject by means of the 
e^ndence he has collected in reference to other crustacean t3rpes. 

Among the higher Decapodous crustacean order one species, 
Alpheus ruher, frequently collected by me in Guernsey, produces 
a snapping noise beneath the water by the sudden extension of 
the terminal jobt of its larger daw that can be heard at a con- 
siderable distance, and that at once betrays its lurking place to a 
pnctised ear. The large sea crayfish {Palinurus quadricomii) 
again, often emits when handled what may be fitly described as 
a shxiil squeaking sound by the rubbing together of the spinous 



abdominal segments. It would seem indeed that a closer study 
of the life lurbits of the aquatic Arthropoda is likely to reveal 
among its members as infinites variety of sound-producers as has 
hitherto been determined to exist among their more familiar 
terrestrial congeners. W. Saville Kent 

SL Heliers, Jersey, October 27 



Inseets and Flowers 

In reference to the question whether insects are most attracted 
to flowers by scent or colour, may I mention that while staying 
at the hotel at Cettinge lately I was amused by the behaviour of 
some humming-bird sphinx moths. My room was roughly 
stencilled with a "spotty" pattern of porplish brown on the dull 
white plaster. Every morning these moths, with their probosoes 
extended, used toaUack the dabsof colour, hovering before therr, 
just as though they were real flowers, but starting back with 
apparent amazement on finding that they were not This seems 
the more remarkable because the wond^ully abundant aro- 
matic herbs of that region, which must have supplied their usual 
food, have all, so far as I know, very inconspicuous flowers. 

Notting Hill, October 27 A. J. H. 



FRANCIS VON ROSTHORN 

"PRANCIS VON ROSTHORN, who died June 17, 
■■• 1877, was the son of Matthew Rosthorn, of 
Lancashire, who went to Vienna in 1765, at the invita- 
tion of the Empress Maria Theresa, to establish the 
manufacture of metal buttons. He constructed the first 
rolling-mills in Austria ; one at Vienna, another (in 1792) 
at Fahrafeld, in Lower Austria. Matthew von Rosthorn 
was ennobled by the EmperorJoseph.il. in 1790, and died 
at Vienna January 3, 1805, leaving five sons. The 
youngest of these, bom April 18, 1796, at Vienna, is 
the subject of this notice. These five brothers joined in 
creating extensive metallurgic establishments ; the first 
(1817) at Oed; and another (1823) in Carinthia, for 
smelting zinc (then high in price) out of the Raibi and 
Bleyberg ores, by means of brown coaL Having pur- 
chased (1826) the state demesne of Wolfsberg, in 
Carinthia, with extensive metallurgical works, they con- 
structed there a large rolling-mill, together with a puddling 
furnace. Francis von Rosthorn, having prepared him- 
self for his practical career by attending the Mining 
Academy of Schenmitz, in Hungary (1814 to 18 18), soon 
became acquainted with several eminent geologists, and 
obtained the patronage of the late Archduke John. «He 
made several scientific tours in Carinthia, Camiolia, 
Styria, Salzburg, and the Hungarian border; in 1827 
with Prof. Keferstein, in 1828 with Archduke John, in 
1829 with Escher and Schrotter, and in 1832 with Dr. 
Bou^. His annual visits to Archduke John at Gastein 
(1829 to 1836) were always connected with Alpine explo- 
ration. His later travels (1842 to 1847) were chiefly 
southward. In 1832 he communicated the results thus 
obtained to the Meeting of German Naturalists at Vienna ; 
and in 1836 to the meeting at Freiburg. In 1848 he was 
elected into the Legislative Assembly (*' Landtag") of 
Carinthia ; and from 1852 to 1870 held the office of 
President of the Commercial and Industrial Board of 
that province. Francis von Rosthorn's constitution was 
exceptionally robust, so that up to his seventy-sixth year 
he was able to undertake arduous Alpine ascents. 
His conversation with persons of any social station was 
unaffectedly amiable ; but he could be sarcastic when he 
met with affectation or baseless pretensions. 

SPECTRUM OF AURORA AUSTRALIS 

AS I believe no account of spectroscopic observations 
of the Aurora Australis have as yet been published, 
I venture to send this description of two aurorse observed 
during the stay of H.M.S. Challenger in high southern 



■ Obituaiy Notice by Prof. E. Suett(" Report of the Im^cHaiG^gic^ 

^... « M * .__. ngitized by VaOOQ 1^ 



Institute, Vieona," August %i, 1877). 



12 



NATURE 



{Nov. I, 1877 



latitudes. The opportunities of observing were not 
frequent, either from the rarity of the phenomena (which 
is very possible) or because the dense mass of cloud which 
is the prevailing feature of those regions prevented their 
being seen except when exceptionally bright. 

Altogether four appearances were noted. The first was 
1.30 on the morning of February 9, 1874, in lat. 57° S. 
and long. 75** E., bar. 290 in., then 35°. There were 
brilliant streaks to the westward ; no spectroscopic obser- 
vations were taken. The second was on February 21 at 
9.30 P.M., lat. 64° S., long. 89° E., bar. 28 8, ther. 31** ; one 
bright wliite curved streamer extended from Jupiter, 
which appeared \o be near the focus, through Orion and 
about as far beyond. Under this was what appeared to 
be a black cloud, but the stars were visible through it 
Real cumulus clouds hid great part of the remainder, but 
there were two vertical 'flashing rays that moved slowly to 
the right (west), generally the aurora was still and bright. 

On examining the streamer with the spectroscope I 
found the usu^ three prominent lines, namely, one 
yellow-'green, one green, the third blue or purple. I 
looked lor the red line but could not find it. 

The third aurora was seen on March 3, lat. 53** 30' 
S., long. 109° E., bar. 29*1, ther. 36°, after some days 
wet and stormy weather. Soon after 8 p.m. the sky 
began to clear and the moon shone out Noticmg the 
light to the southward to be particularly bright I applied 
the spectroscope and found the distinguishing auroral 
line. About midnight I was called as there were very 
briniant auroral clouds. The sky was almost clear, but 
south were two or three brilliant light clouds, colour very 
white yellow, shape cumulus stratus ; from about west to 
near south extended a long feathery light of the same 
colour, parallel with the horizon, and between south and 
west there appeared occasionally brilliant small clouds, 
the upper edges seemed hairy, and gave one tbe idea of 
a brigfht light behind a doud. The forms changed, but I 
did not notice any particular order, perhaps because my 
attention was particularly directed to examining the light 
with the spectroscope, and the great cold, for my fingers 
seemed almost frozen, and the motion of the ship made 
my ta^k rather difficult I could trace four lines, three 
bright, and one rather faint, and by reference to the moon, 
which was shining brightly, roughly determined their 
places. They must have been exceedmgly bright to show 
so .plainly in full moon. The spectroscope used was one 
of orubb's single prism with long collimator. A needle 
point in the eye-piece marked the position of the lines, 
and a corresponding needle point carried on a frame with 
the point in the eye-piece and moved by a coarse thread 
screw, scratched the lines on a plate of blackened glass. 
Itook two plates ;— on the first I scratched the auroral 
lines and the telluric lines visible in the moonlight ; on 
the second I scratched the auroral lines, the telluric Unes 
shown by the moon, and the lines given by carbon in the 
flame of a spirit lamp ; the next morning I verified the 
lines in sunlight The lines marked A. are those shown 



ID 



:F 



••& 



\ \ 


Car. 




<ar. 




\ 


Oir. 












1 


A 


c 


A 


c 


A 




A^ 



by the aurora, those marked D, ^, F, and G are the 
telluric lines, and those marked car. were given by the 
carbon in the spirit lamp. 

The spectrum has been magnified five times from the 
plates. I cannot account for the different position of the 



auroral lines in the two plates, as the prism was not 
moved during the observations that I am aware of. 

The fourth aurora was a slight one seen to the south- 
ward on March 6 at 8 P.M. It would be worth investi- 
gating whether the low barometer has anything to do 
with the absence of red in the spectrum, the normal state 
of the barometer is an inch lower in those regions than ia 
more temperate latitudes. 

I may as well add that on February 9 the aurora was 
preceded by a watery sunset, and the day broke after- 
wards with high cirrus clouds and clear horizon. Oa 
February 21 the aurora preceded a fine morning, cumulus 
stratus clouds. On March 3 there was a brilliant sunset 
followed by a fine morning ; and on March 6, after the 
slight appearance of aurora, the clouds changed to high 
cirrus. J. P. Maclear 



ABSOLUTE PITCH 

AT the present time the question of absolute pitch is 
attracting attention in consequence of the discrepancy 
between Kdnig's scale and the numbers determined by 
Appunn's tonometer. This instrument is founded upon the 
same idea as Scheibler's fork tonometer, and consists of a 
s.ries of sixty-five harmonium reeds, bridging over an 
entire octave, and so tuned that each reed gives with its 
immediate neighbours four beats per second. The appli- 
cation to determine absolute pitch, however, does not 
require precision of tuning, all that is necessaiy being to 
count with sufficient accuracy the number of beats per 
second between each pair of consecutive reeds. The sum 
of all these numbers gives the difference of frequencies of 
vibration between the first reed and its octave, which is, 
of course, the same as the frequency of the first reed, 
itself. 

The whole question of musical pitch has recently been 
discussed with great care by Mr. Ellis, in a paper read 
before the Society of Arts (May 23, 1877). He finds by 
original observation with Appunn's instrument 258*4 as 
the actual frequency of a Kdnig's 256 fork, and Prof. 
Preyer, of Jena, has arrived at a similar result (258 2). 
On the other hand, Pro£ Mayer in America, and Prof. 
Macleod in this country, using other methods, have 
obtained numbers not differing materially from K5nig's. 
The discrepancy is so considerable that it cannot well be 
attributed to casual errors of experiment ; it seems rather 
to point to some defect in principle in the method 
employed. Now it appears to me that there is such a 
theoretical defect in the reed tonometer, arising from a 
sensible mutual action of the reeds. The use of the 
instrument to determine absolute frequencies assumes 
that the pitch of each reed is the same, whether it be 
sounding with the reed above, or with the reed below ; 
and the results arrived at would oe vitiated by any mutual 
influence. In consequence of che ill- understood opera- 
tion of the wind, it is difficult to predict the character of 
the mutual influence with certainty ; but f * Theory of 
Sound," §§ 1 1 2- Hi) there is reason to think that the 
sounds would repel one another, so that the frequency of 
the beats heard when both reeds are sounding, exceeds the 
difference of the frequencies of the reeds when sounding 
singly. However this may be, in view of the proximity 
of consecutive reeds and of the near approach to unison,^ 
the assumption of complete independence could only be 
justified by actual observation, and this would be a matter 
of some delicacy. If the mutual influence be uniform 
over the octave it would require a difference of one beat 
per minute only to reconcile KQnig's and Appunn's 
numbers. 

As to the amount of the influence I am not in a position 
to speak with confidence, but I may mention an obser- 

s It must not be forgotten that the vibration of the tongue involves a 
transference of the centre of inertia, so that there is a direct tendencr to 
set the sounding-board into motion. 

O 



Nov. I, 1877] 



NATURE 



13 



vation which seems to prove that it cannot be left out of 
accottnt. If two sounds of nearly the same pitch are 
going on together^ slow beats are heard as the result of the 
superposition of vibrations. Suppose now that a third 
sound supervenes whose pitch is such that it gives rapid 
beats with the other two. It is evident that these rapid 
beats will be subject to a cycle of changes whose fre- 
quency is the same as that of the slow beat of the first 
two sounds. For example^ in the case of equal inten- 
sities of two sounds there is a moment of silence due 
to the superposition, of equal and opposite vibrations, 
and at this moment a third sound would be heard 
alone and could not give rise to beats. The experiment 
may be made with tuning-forks, and the period of the 
cyde will be found to be sensibly the same whether it be 
determined from the slow beat of the two forks nearly in 
unison or from the rattle caused by the simultaneous 
sounding of a third fork giving from four to ten beats per 
second with the other two. In the case of forks there is 
no fear of sensible mutual action, but if it were possible 
for the third sound to affect the pitch of one of the others 
the equality of the periods would be disturbed. The 
observation on Appunn's instrument was as follows : — 
The reeds numbered o and 64 being adjusted to an exact 
octave, it was found that the beats arising from the simul- 
taneous sounding of reeds o, 63, and 64 were by no 
means steady, but passed through a cycle of changes in a 
period no greater than about'^five seconds. In order to work 
with greater certainty a resonator of pitch corresponding 
to re^ 64 was connected with the ear by a flexible tube 
and adjusted to such a position that the beats between 
reeds o and 64 (when put slightly out of tune) were 
as dtttinct as possible, indicating that the gravest tone of 
lecd 64 and the octave over-tone of reed o were of equal 
intensity, ^yflatteninz reed 64 (which can be done very 
readily by partially cutting off the wind) the beats of the 
three sounds could be made nearly steady, and then when 
reed 63 was put out of operation, beats having a 5 
seconds' period were heard, indicating that reeds o and 
64 were in tune no longer. It would appear, therefore, 
that when reed 63 sounds the pitch of reed 64 is raised, 
bat in interpreting the experiment a difficulty arises from 
the amount of the disturbance being much in excess of 
what would be expected from the performance of the 
instrument when tested in other ways.^ 

I come now to an independent determination of abso- 
Inte pitch, which it is the principal object of the present 
conmiunication to describe. The method employed may 
be regarded as new, and it appears to be capable of giving 
excellent results. 

The standard fork, whose frequency was to be measured, 
is one of Konig's, and is supposed to execute 128 com- 
plete vibrations in a second. When placed on its stand 
(which does not include a resonance Dox) and excited by 
a violin bow, it vibrates for a minute with intensity suflEi- 
cient for the counting of beats. The problem is to 
compare the frequency of this fork with that of the 
pendulum of a clock keeping good time. In my experi- 
ments two clocks were employed, of which one had a 
pendulum making about i^ complete vibrations per second, 
and the other a so-called seconds' pendulum, making 
half a vibration per second. Contrary to expectation, 
the slower pendulum was found the more convenient in use, 
and the numerical results about to be given refer to it 
alone. The rate of the clock at the time of the expcri- 
ments was determined by comparison with a watch that 

« The value of my instrument has been greatly enhanced by the Taluable 
assxstance of Mr. Ellis, who was good enough to cowt the entire series of 
bcat». and to compare the pitch with that of the tuoing-forVs employed by 
him in previous investigation?. Mr. Ellis, however, is not responsible for 
the ficts and opinions here expressed. It may be worth mentioning that 
the steadiness or uosteadioess of the beats heard when three consecutive 
reedj are sounding simultaneously is a convenient t*'st of the equality of the 
consecutive intervals. The frequency of the cycle of the four a second 
heats is equal to the diflTerence of the frequencies of either of the actoal 
extreme notes and that which, in conjunction with the other two, would 
wake the intervals exactly equal. 



was keeping good time, but the difference was found to 
be too small to be worth considering. In what follows it 
will be supposed for the sake of simplicity of explanation 
that the vibrations of the pendulum really occupied two 
seconds of time exactly. 

The remainder of the apparatus consists of an elec- 
trically maintained fork interrupter, with adjustable 
weights, making about 12^ vibrations per second, and a 
dependent fork, whose h-equency is about 125. The 
current from a Grove cell is rendered intermittent by the 
interrupter, and, as in Helmholtz's vowel experiments, 
excites the vibrations of the second fork, whose period is 
as nearly as possible an exact submultiple of its own. 
When the apparatus is in steady operation, the sound 
emitted from a resonator associated with the higher fork 
has a frequency which is determined by that of the 
interrupter, and not by that of the higher fork itself; 
nevertheless, an accurate tuning is necessary in order to 
obtain vibrations of sufficient iit tensity} By counting the 
beats during a minute of time it is easy to compare the 
higher fork and the standard with the necessary accuracy, 
and all that remains is to compare the frequencies of the 
interrupter and of the pendulum. For this purpose the 
prongs of the interrupter are provided with small plates 
of tin so arranged as to afford an intermittent view of a 
small sHvered bead carried by the pendulum and suitably 
illuminated. Under the actual circumstances of the 
experiment the bright point of light is visible in general 
in twenty-five positions, which would remain fixed, if the 
frequency of the interrupter were exactly twenty-five 
times that of the pendulum. In accordance, however, 
with a well-known principle, these twenty-five positions 
are not easily observed when the pendulum is simply 
looked at ; for the motion then appears to be continuous. 
The difficulty thence arising is readily evaded by the 
interposition of a somewhat narrow vertical slit, through 
which only one of Uie twenty-five positions is visible. In 
practice it is not necessary to adjust the slit to any par- 
ticular position, since a slight departure from exactness 
in the ratio of frequencies brings all the visible positions 
into the field of view in turn. 

In making an experipient the interrupter is tuned, at 
first by sliding the weights and afterwards by soft wax, 
until the interval between successive appearances of the 
bright spot is sufficiently long to be conveniently ob- 
served. With a slow pendulum there is no difficulty in 
distinguishing in which direction the pendulum is vibrat- 
ing at the moment when the spot appears on the slit, and 
it is best to attend only to those appearances which 
correspond to one direction of the pendulum's motion. 
This will be best understood by considering the case of a 
conical pendulum whose niotion, really circular, appears 
to be rectiUnear to an eye situated in the plane of motion. 
The restriction just spoken of then amounts to supposing 
the hinder half of .the circular path to be invisible. On 
this understanding the interval between successive ap- 
pearances is the time required by the fork to gain or lose 
one complete vibration as compared with the pendulum. 
Whether the difference is a loss or a gain is easily deter- 
mined in any particular case by observing whether the 
apparent motion of the spot across the slit (which should 
have a visible breadth) is in the same or in the opposite 
direction to that of the pendulum's motion. 

In my experiment the interrupter ;^fl/«^r^ one vibration on 
the clock in about eighty seconds, so that the frequency of 
the fork was a thousandth part greater than 12*5 or 12-51. 
The dependent fork gave the ninth harmonic, with a 
frequency of 125*1. The beats between this fork and the 
standard (whose pitch was the higher) were 180 in sixty 
seconds, so that the frequency of the standard was as 
nearly as possible i28-i,agreeing very closely with K6nigs 

I This tuning is effected by prolonging as much ^^^"^^^^^^^ 
the beat heard when the d^endent fork starts jrom rMt.T*is beat may^ i-^ 
regarded as due to an interference of the forced and natufal notes. ^ 



H 



NATURE 



\Nov. I, 1877 



scale. The error of the determination may amount to 'i, 
but could not, I think, exceed '2. 

I ought to add that the approximate determination of 
the frequency of the interrupter must be made indepen- 
dently, as the observation on the pendulum does not 
decide which multiple of \ nearly coincides with the 
frequency of the fork. Also the relation between the two 
auxiliary forks was assumed^ and not determined ; but as 
to this there can be no doubt, unless it be supposed that 
KOnig's scale may be in error to the extent of a whole 
tone. Rayleigh 



A NEW CONDENSING HYGROMETER 

NEW apparatus of this kind, invented by M. 
Alluard, and described by him in La Nature, is dis- 
tinguished from all those hitherto employed by the two 



A 




Alluard's CondensiDg Hygrometer. 

following points : — (i) The part on which the deposit of 
dew is to be observed is a plane well-polished face a, of 



silver or gilt brass ; (2) This plane face is set in a plate 
of silver or brass v, itself gilt and polished, which does 
not touch it, and which, never being cooled, always pre- 
serves its brightness. It results from this arrangement 
that the deposit of dew is observed with the greatest 
facility, in such a manner that there is scarcely any differ- 
ence between the temperatures of the instants when the 
dew commences and ceases to appear on the instrument 
properly cooled by the evaporation of ether. 

The form of the instrument is that of an upright prism 
with square base. Its height is eight centimetres and the 
side of its base eighteen millimetres. Three small copper 
tubes pass through the upper lid ; the first reaches the 
bottom, and the two others, one surmounted by a funnel 
for introducing the ether, open only above. Two small 
windows enable us to judge of the agitation of the ether 
by the aspiration or driving back of the air intended to 
produce coolness by the evaporation of tlie volatile liquid ; 
it is best to work with an aspirator, the aspiration of 
which we can regulate as we wish. A central tube per- 
mits the introduction of a thermometer, /, which, placed 
in the middle of the evaporating liquid, gives the tem- 
perature at which the deposit of dew occurs. A smaU 
sling thermometer, fixed on the side of a brass support, 
enables us to determine with precision the temperature of 
the air whose hygrometric condition we wish to ascertain. 

Daniell's condensing hygrometer was formerly modified 
by M. V. Regnault. He made it an instrument of pre- 
cision ; but his apparatus has not been much used on 
account of its delicate construction. The deposit of dew, 
being made on a cylinder of polished silver, is difficult to 
observe. In the plane face hygrometer of M. Alluard this 
deposit is very easily seen by contrast, even at some 
metres distance, especially if care is taken to observe in 
such a manner as to avoid all reflection from the gilt 
faces, when they will appear a beautiful ebony black. Its 
employment being very simple, without losing anything of 
its precision, there is no reason why it should not come 
into general use. 

Since meteorological observations have multiplied on 
all sides, the hygrometer has assumed an importance 
which it had not l^fore. The psychrometer is at present 
almost exclusively employed. But all physicists know 
that below zero we cannot trust the results which it gives ; 
it is the same when the air is much disturbed. And yet, 
almost everywhere, it continues to be emplo> ed on these 
conditions. We hope that the plane face hygrometer, 
furnished during the winter cold with an aspirator filled 
with glycerine, will be able to yield accurate results to all 
who do not fear to devote a few minutes to its working. 

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

Early Observations of the Solar Corona.— 
Referring to Mr. Dreyer's letter in Nature (vol. xvi. 
p. 549), the note in this column relating to the solar 
eclipse of 1605 was by no means intended to imply that 
it afforded one of the earliest observations of the corona, 
nor can the eclipse of Stiklastad, as it h?s been usually 
called, on August 31, 1030, be so characterised. Prof. 
Julius Schmidt, of Athens, had called attention in 1870 to 
a record of the eclipse of December 22, 968, in Corfu, 
where he found a reference to the corona, but a much 
earlier date is assigned by Prof. Grant for the first mention 
of this phenomenon. It occurs in Philostratus' " Life of 
Apollonius of Tyana," Book VIII., chap, xxiii., in the 
Leipzic edition, and runs thus : — Tl€p\ de rov xP^^^^i ^^ ^^ 
rfj *£XXadi kv€aiFovba(^€Vy tntlx^ ^^^^ ovfMvbv Bioarjfiia rounrnj, 
r6v Tov *HXtov fo/JcXov nepitXdav arif^Mvoi, coixoir "iptdi, rijv 
oKTiva rifiavpov. Prof. Grant considers that ''the words 
here quoted refer beyond all doubt to a total eclipse of 
the sun, and that the phenomenon seen encompassing 
the sun's disc was really as well as verbally, identical wi£ 
the modem corona." He also points out that Plutarch, 



^o^>. I, 1877] 



NATURE 



who was contemporary with ApolloniuSy refers to a total 
eclipse of the sun which had recently occurred, and 
remarks of total solar eclipses in general that ^ a certain 
effulgence is seen round the circumference," so that 
although the sun mav be wholly covered by the moon 
" still Uie eclipse is deficient in duration as well as in 
amplitude/' this surrounding effulgence not allowing of a 
very intense shadow. These remarks of Philostratus and 
Plutarch Prof. Grant thinks may probably apply to the 
same eclipse, and afford ''the earliest allusions to the 
coroQa recorded in history." Several attempts have been 
made to discover the date of the phenomenon, but so far 
as* we know without success. 

The earliest distinct and more accurate account of the 
corona is that given by MM. Plantade and Capias, who 
observed at MontpeUier on the occasion^of the eclipse of 
May 12, 1706. 

The Outer Satellite of Mars.— Our ephemeris of 

the satellite of Mars is here continued ten days further 

from the elements employed last week, though much 

greater difficulty must now attend observations than when 

the discovery was first announced. In the middle of 

August the distance of the planet from the earth was less 

than 0*4 ; on November 12 it will have increased to o'68. 

At the next opposition in 1879, the least distance of Mars 

I vill be 0*482, at a north declination of upwards of 18^, so 

that observations may be made at many observatories in 

\ this hemisphere, probably without greater difficulty than 

\ about the late opposition ; at the following one in 

; December, 188 1, the planet will attain a declination of 27° 

I N., but its distance from the earth will be at no time less 

thano'6o2. 
\ Prof. Asaph Hall's complete discussion of the observa- 
tions of the satellites of Mars, made in the present year, 
vill be k>oked for with much interest ; it is only fitting 
I that this investigation should be left in the hands of their 
discoverer, who has made the year 1877 a very notable 
I epoch in the history of practical astronomy. 

The following positions of the outer satellite are for 8h, 
\ G.M.T. 



Nov. 3.. 


.P08.358.. 


. Dist. 21 


Nov. 8 . 


. Pes. 27 . 


.Dist 


% 


,. 4.. 


. » 69.. 


. » 52 


„ 9.. 


. ,, 75 


•• >i 


» 5.. 


• n 122. 


. n 25 


M 10.. 


. i> 150. 


• >» 


20 


» 6.. 


. *> 236. 


. tf 42 


„ II.. 


. I, 243. 


•• j> 


^S 


» 7-. 


• „ 272. 


• ,> 37 


„ 12.. 


. » 285;. 


t» 


28 



De Vico's Comet of Short Period.— The year to 
^ which we drew attention some time since (i876-9-i877*9) 
as one Trhich might possibly witness the re-discovery of 
De Vico's comet of 1844 is drawing to a close without its 
having been remarked, and the chance of detecting it at 
this season if the perihdion passsige be not already 
passed, is smalL We nmst therefore probably place the 
comet in the class which, though undoubtedly moving in 
dliptical orbits of small dimensions when imder observa- 
tion, are now " lost" Whether in the case of De Vico's 
comet this arises from a larger error in the determination of 
the mean motion in 1 844 than at present appears admissible, 
or whether the action of the planet Mars, to which allu- 
sion has been made in this column, may explain it, or 
3gain, whether the comet has encountered one of the 
minor planets, and thereby been deflected or disintegrated, 
^ot be at present ascertained. It was hardly to have 
■^ anticipated that the laborious investigations of Prof. 
\ Brimnow idating to the motion of this comet from 2844- 
S5 woukl not have resulted in its re-observation. 



METEOROLOGICAL NOTES 
Mean Atmospheric Pressure of Europe.— A 
^eat contribution to this very important subject has 
heen made by Dr. Buys Ballot in the second volume of 
™e "Nederlandsch Meteorologisch Jaarboek voor 1872," 
which has just been published. The first 130 pages of 



the volume are occupied with a very careful and in certain 
directions exhaustive discussion of the barometric obser- 
vations made at about no places situated in different 
parts of Europe from 1774 to 1874. The method of dis- 
cussion is identical with that adopted by Dr. Buys Ballot 
in his . recently published paper on the Meteorology of 
Holland (Nature, vol xvi. p. 89). This method consists 
in accepting as the normal mean atmospheric pressure at 
Greenwich, Vienna, and Palermo, the arithmetic means 
of the observations made at these places which embrace 
periods of loo, loi, and 84 years respectively. The 
normal values for the other stations have been determined 
by the process of differentiation, that is, by a comparison 
of the means of all the observations made at the place 
with the corresponding means of one or more places at 
the nearest available stations whose normals have been 
already determined, and thereafter applying the necessary 
correction. Thus the normals which have been arrived 
at in this very laborious manner are substantially the 
average which would have been obtained if the obser- 
vations at each of the stations had been made during 
precisely the same terms of vears. The thirty years' 
averages should probably have been accepted as the best 
normals for Stykldsholm in Iceland, instead of correcting 
these averages from the Greenwich and Christiania 
observations, seeing that a low average barometer at 
Stykkisholm is frequently coincident with a high baro- 
meter at either or both of these stations, and vice versd. 
The resulting differences, however, are but slight. This 
work of Dr. Buys Ballot, particularly when looked at with 
reference to future discussions, may be said to take, a 
place at once as a classic of meteorology. The next step to 
be taken in this field of European meteorology is the discus- 
sion of ^ all good barometric observations made in Europe 
during the meteorological lustrum ending with 1875. To 
the results of this discussion corrections could be applied 
from Du Buys Ballot's normals, which are sufBciently 
numerous for the puipose, and thus a graphic representa- 
tion could be made of the closest possible approximation 
to the true mean atmospheric pressure of Europe. In 
this way, by disclosing the striking, and in a large 
measure still unrecognised, influence of large masses of 
land and water on the barometric pressure, much light 
would be thrown on the origin and history of those great 
atmospheric currents which, flowing or sweeping over this 
continent, are mainly instrumental in determining the 
climates of its different regions. 

Meteorology of New York, U.S.-— The "Annual 
Report of the New York Meteorological Observatory for 
1876" gives, in addition to the individual observations 
made daily, and their monthly and annual averages, a 
more than usually full statement of rain and wind obser- 
vations. On pp. 39-88 are given the details of the 
amount of rain and snow-water which fell each hour 
froqi 1870 to 1876, together with the hourly averages of 
each month for these seven years. These hourly means 
show inaximum amounts during winter, from 11 A.M. to 
3 p.'m. ; during spring, from 9 p.m. to i a.m. ; during 
summer, from 5 to 10 P.M. ; and during autumn, from 
3 to 8 A.M. The irregularity of these periods and the 
irregular occurrence of secondary maxima indicate that 
seven years is too short a time for the determination of 
the hourly curve of the rainfall at New York. There 
appears, however, a tendency to a double maxim im 
varying considerably with season. Extended observation 
alone can give this curve. The influence of the daily 
fluctuation of temperature and of the sea breeze which 
sets in very decidedly from south-east during the hot 
months on the rain-curve, can then be studied. During 
the same seven years the duration of each shower has 
been noted in the number of minutes, the average 
result of which is that the minimum time of fall, a 
small fraction less than two days, occurred in June ; ^ 
from this time it slowly but steadily rose to 3 days 



i6 



NATURE 



[Nov, I, 1877 



17 hours in January, fell a little in February, and 
rose to 4j days, the annual maximum in March, from 
which it rapidly declined to the minimum in June. 
On a mean of the past forty-one years the monthly 
averages are in excess from May to August inclusive, 
August and May being decidedly the months of maximum 
rainfall, whilst January and February are the months of 
least rainfall From 1836 the annual amounts show with 
some interruptions a decided increase in the rainfall up 
to 1868, since which year there has been as decided a 
decrease. This result is generally corroborated by the 
rainfall at Washington, Philadelphia, and Providence, 
which Mr. Draper adds to his Report A valuable table 
of the monthly amounts from 1836 to 1876 is printed at 
p. 6. In accordance with the suggestion thrown out by 
Mr. Hill (Nature, vol. xvi. p. 505) the amounts for the 
winter months have been picked out, averaged for the 
eleven-years sun-spot period, and bloxamed. The results, 
thus worked out, are in inches these, beginning with the 
first year of the cycle :— 22*57, 22*26, 22*92, 23*31, 22*24, 
2103, 2198, 21*05, 21*14, 22*i8, and 23*56. 

Meteorology in Russia.— The St. Petersburg Agro- 
nomical Society has appointed a special committee for 
the purpose of elaborating, in accord with other Russian 
scientific bodies, a scheme for establishing throughout 
Russia an extensive net<vork of meteorological stations. 
Owing to the interest manifested in the subject by a great 
number of agriculturists, it is expected that the plan 
will soon be put into execution. 



NOTES 

We much regret to have to announce the death, on Sunday, 
last, of Mr. Robert Swinhoe, F.R.S., a naturalist whose 
numerous contributions to our knowledge of the n^itmii^iilj^ and 
birds of the Chinese Empire have proved invaluable to zoolo- 
gical science. We hope, next week, to give an account of 
Mr. Swinhoe's work. 

The International Committee for the erection of a monument 
to Liebig at Munich, having now at their disposal a sum of 
120,000 marks, invite sculptors of all nations to send in models 
for their acceptance. A prizLC of 2,000 marks will be given to 
the model which takes the first place, and 1,500 to the second. 
' The model of the statue should be forty centimetres, and of statue 
and pedestal about one metre in height. Models should be 
addressed to the '^Castellan der koniglichen Akademie der 
Kiinste, 38, Unter den Linden, Berlin," where they, will be 
received from June i to 15, 1878, to be exhibited first at Berlin 
and then at Munich. The Committee bear all the expenses of 
transport. 

It has been noted in the French papers h propos of the recent 
colliery explosion, that M. Leverrier, when presiding at the 
meeting of the French learned societies at Easter, proposed to 
extend the telegraphic warnings of the • International Meteo- 
rological System to the several French pits. The question of the 
illumination of mines by electricity has been revived by these ter- 
rible tragedies, and a number of interesting communications con- 
nected with that important topic will be presented and fully 
discussed at the next meeting of the French Academy of Sciences. 

It was stated by one of the speakers at the last quarterly 
meeting of the French Academies that M. Th crs had written a 
complete work on Spherical Trigonometry when quite a 
young man. 

We regret to record the death of M. Cazin, Professor of 
Physics at one of the Paris Lyc^es, and an active member of the 
Paris Physical Society. M. Cazin was sent to the Island of St. 
Paul by the Academy of Sciences under the command of Capt. 
Moucher to mtke physical observations during the last transit of 



Venus ; he there contracted the germ of the illness which has 
proved fatal at the early age of forty years. He had been 
admitted to the Observatory by M. Leverrier to execute a series 
of delicate researches on magnetism, which have been left 
unfinished. 

The Harveian Oration at the Royal College of Physicians ot 
London will be ^delivered in 1878 by Dr. J. Burdon Sanderson, 
F.R.S. 

An anthropological exhibition will be opened at Moscow in 
1879, in connection with the society of Friends of Natural 
Science. Many objects of great scientific valae, almost exclu- 
sively of Russian origin, 'are aheady in the hands of the'oiganising 
conunittee. 

Mr. Tuckwell, recendy |head-master of Taunton College 
School, has issued a circular addressed to head-masters, giving 
an account of his connection vrith the school whose reputation he 
did so much to raise, and which has treated him so nngratefiilly. 
Our readers are already familiar with the details of this unhappy 
matter, and we are sure will all wish with us that Mr. Tuckwell 
may soon find a field for the exercise of his powers as a successfiil 
teacher unfettered by the narrowness of uneducated and narrow- 
minded directors. Mr. Tuckwell gave Taunton School a status 
and a name ; the Coundl of the school have undone all his work, 
and left the school nowhere. 

The winter session of the Chester Society of Natural Science 
opened on October 25 with a lecture on *'The Arctic Regions," 
by Mr. de Ranee, of H.M. Geological Survey. The upper 
sUurian, lower carboniferous sandstones, moontain limestone, and 
lias of the Pany Archipelago, as well as the oolites, cretaceous 
and miooene rocks of Greenland and Grinnel Land, were de- 
scribed as occupying hoUows in the old Laurentian Mountains, 
and the existing cold climate was stated to have probably only 
prevailed since the last glacial epoch. The range of the 
northern mammals, and the discovery of remains of the Eskimo 
by Capt Feilden, R.N., naturalist of the AUrt^ near Cape 
Beechey, far north of the present limit of human habitation, and 
further north than any previous discovery of man or his works, 
were commented on ; and a laxge collection of Arctic fossils 
were exhibited by Sir Phillip Egerton, collected in Grinnel Land 
by his nephew, Lieut Egerton, R.N., of the late British Arctic 
Expedition. 

An unusually interesting scientific soirie was recently held at 
the Bristol Museum and Library, which has been characterised 
as "the headquarters of scientific research in the west of 
England." Many of the most recent scientific experiments were 
8hown,^the most attractive probably being Prof. Graham Bell's 
exhibition of the wonders of the telephone. During the winter 
a course of lectures has been arranged for at the museum, mostly 
scientific, as follows :— November 19— A. R. Wallace, F.R.G.S., 
F.L.S., the Dbtribution of Animals as indicating Geographical 
Changes; November 29— Prof. Ball, F.R.S.,a Night at Lord 
Rosse's Telescope, illustrated by the Oxy-hydrogen Lantern. 
December 10— Frederick Wedmore, Rembrandt ; his Life and 
Work. January 14— Prof. Marshall, M.A., Principal of Uni- 
versity College, Bristol, The Economic Condition of America. 
January 28— Prof.. W. C, Williamson, F.R.S., Coal and Coal 
Plants. February ii— C. T. Hudson, M.A., LL.D., The 
Larger and Rarer Rotifers ; illustrated with Transparent Dia- 
grams. February 26— Prof. Rowley, M. A., of University Col- 
lege, Bristol, Francis Bacon : his Personal Character and 
Pohtical Career. March 11— Dr. J. H. Gladstone, F.R.S., 
Fiery Meteors and Meteoric Stones. March 25— J. Norman 
Lockyer, F.R.S., Sun Spots in Relation to Indian Famines, 
with Spectroscopic Experiments an4 Oxy-hydrogen Lantern 
Illustrations. Digitized by LjOO 



/Vi>if. I, iSjrJr] 



IfATVRB 



i7 



Thb Royml Society of New South Wales, originated in 1821 

nthe Philosophical Society of Anstralia; after an interval of 

Rpoie it was lernred in 1850 as the Australian Philosophical 

Society, hy i^ch designation it was known until 1856, when 

the name was again changed to that of the Philosophical Society 

of New South Wales, and finally, about ten ydirs ago, by the 

anction of her Majesty the Queen, it assumed its present title. 

Judging by its present list of members it would seem to be 

prospering, but judging from the volume of its Proceedings (vol. 

X. for 1876) its scientific life might be higher, and we would 

Tcntttre to express the hope that fixture volumes may give us a 

higcr number of memoirs treating of that vast quadrilateral of 

vbich Sydney is the acknowledged capital. Of the articles in 

this volume we would notice the following: On the Deep 

Oceanic Depression off Moreton Bay, by the Rev. W. B. Clarke, 

F.R.S. ; 0^ some Tertiary Australian Polyzoa, by the Rev. 

J. £. T. Woods. The species were with one exception derived 

from the Mount Gambier polyzoan limestone. South Australia, 

lad are all described as new ; ten are described and figured as 

belonging to the genus Eschara, two species of the genus 

Postolipora are described, and one Tubulipora. On the forma- 

ticm of Moss Gold and Silver, and on a Fossiliferons Siliceous 

Deposit from Richmond River, is the title of a paper by 

hoi Liversidge. The composition of this deposit shows 

tfait it answers to the common siliceous sinters or geyser 

deposits. The weathered surfaces are usually marked with 

the remains of ferns which stand out in relief, and more 

nidy through the mass. [are to be found the remains of 

certain fruits and seeds. These latter have been described 

bf Baron Miiller su belonging to a plant {Lhersidgiea oxyspora) 

tUied to Capparideae and Bixacese, the fruits are from two-thirds 

I to nearly an inch in diameter, divided into four turgid lobes, 

placentas parietal ; seeds turgid ; oval towards one extremity and 

tttennated at the other ; both fern and fruits are Ggured. In the 

d'scosyon foilowing the reading of a paper by the Rev. W. B. 

Qarke, F.R.S., On the Effects of Forest Vegetation^on Climate, 

many interesting statements were made as to the condition of the 

ferests in the neighbourhood of Sydney at the present time, and 

<o long back as forty years ago. 

Petekmanm's Atittheilungtn for November contains a paper 
^ Dr. G. Radde describing the journey of himself and Dr. 
Sievers from Erzeronm to the Bin-Gol-Dagh ; the paper is full of 
details ooDceming the botany of the region traversed. Under 
the title of '* Tekna and Nnn," Dr. Rohlf s gives some valuable 
mfonnation on the part of the Sahara about the south-west of 
Morocco, showmg that it is by no means so barren as is gene- 
lally thonght, and that even the most recent maps of the region 
are unsatisfactory. 

One of the most interesting papers in the September number 
^ih^BuLOin of the.French Geographical Society is an account 
^ M. Brau de St-Pol-Liais of his visit to the French Colonial 
ttadons recently established on the coast of Sumatra, in the 
porinoe of Deli. The author gives many interesting observa- 
^ on the people and the products of the part of the island 
which he visited, and speaks hopefully of the colony, which 
ae considers an excellent basis for the exploration of the island. 
|» the same number Dr. Harmand gives some account of recent 
JQunejrs he made in Cambodia. 

The first map showing the whole of Stanley's' route from 
"ORomayo to the mouth of the Congo has been published by 
^* Exploration (October 21). In this map the course of the 
^0 b ronghly shown as indicated in Stanley's letter, and that 
■** «f the Ogov^ according to the explorations of de Brazza, 
Jj«tt| and llarche. The trend of the Ogove to the south-east is 
^"OVB, and ia probaUe junction with the Congo by two arms 

"teGeognphicsl Sodety of Paris has received letters from 



the French Consul at Zanzibar informing them that a road ii 
being opened from Zanzibar to Tanganyika, for carting by oxen.. 
It is expected that ere long explorers will be able to dispense 
with native porters. 

A Geographical paper has been started at Lyons by M. du 
Mazet, one of the staff of the Courrier de Lyon, It will record the 
transactions of all the provincial geographical societies of France. 
The Lyons Geographical Society wiU have the advantage of a 
number of communications from the Roman Catholic mission- 
aries who have an old-established special seminary and college 
in that city. 

In the Times of Wednesday last week appeared a long story 
about the discovery of the remains of Columbus in St. Domingo. 
At Madrid, the Tima Paris correspondent now states, the story 
is declared to be a hoax, inasmuch as "a Spanish squadron 
years ago escorted the remains to Havannah, where they lie in 
the Cathedral." 

Under the title of " Pictorial Geography for Young 
People," Messrs. Griffith and Farran have published a neat little 
map intended to exhibit graphically the significance of the 
various terms used in geography — continent, island, river, lake, 
mountain, volcano, city, &c. It is necessarily exaggerated, but 
in the hands of a judicious teacher might be a valuable and 
attractive help to the teaching of the elements of geography. 

Two severe shocks of earthquake were experienced at Lisbon 
at 6.45 A.M. of October 25. No damage was reported. 

Under date October 17, it is reported from Smyrna, in Asia 
Minor, that there had been, during a i^m day?, several earth- 
quake shocks doing'no Airther harm but cracking some walls. 

It has been affirmed by P. Secchi of Rome, that iron heated 
red is transparent to light. This is denied by M. Govi of Turin, 
who, in a paper to the French Academy, describes some experi- 
ments on the subject, and shows how one may be deceived in study- 
ing the phenomena. If a mixture of borax and carbonate of soda 
be fused in a thin platinum crucible raised to a red heat, there 
will be seen on the exterior of the vessel the form of the liquid 
mass with all its accidents of [rapidly varying form, indicated by 
a zone of less brightness than the upper portion of the metallic 
surface. At first sight it is natural to infer a transparence for 
light of the heated platinum, but (M. Gov! points out) the case 
is really one of transparence for radiant heat ; that is to say, a 
phenomenon connected with the good conductivity of platinum. 
The liquid, liberating carbonic acid, is less hot than the crucible, 
and b constantly borrowing heat from it. It is inevitable, then, 
that at every point where the liquid touches the metal, the latter 
relatively cooled, should appear less luminous than in the neigh- 
bouring region. M. Govi gives some other examples of the 
phenomenon. 

" Shorthand for General Use " is the title of a little 
volume by Prof. Everett, of Belfast, published by Marcus Ward 
and Co. Prof. Everett's system claims several advantages over 
Pitman's, one being that the vowels can be written continuously 
with the consonants, and thus the word has not to be gone over 
a second time to insert the vowels. The system appears to us 
decidedly worth the attention of anyone wishing to learn short- 
hand. 

We have received the eighth edition of Prof. Atkinson's 
translation of Ganot's " Physics." About sixty pages of addi- 
tional matter, with an equal number of iilus rations, have been 
added to this edition. Messrs. Longmans and Co. are the 
publishers. 

Another scientific play is now being performed at the Cluny 
Theatre, Paris, under the title of the '* Les 6 Parties du Monde." 
It ii written by M. Figuier, the well-known scientific story-teller. > 
The sixth part of the world is supposed to be the AnUrctic - 



i8 



NATURE 



\JNav. I, 1877 



contioent, where Damont Durville i$ made to land. It is a 
masterly panorama of a number of climes and countries, enlivened 
by a well-constructed plot 

Dr. Hoek, of Ley den, sends us the following additions to the 
list of dealers in zoological specimens given by Prof- Ray 
Lankester in a recent number of Nature :— i. Hilinar Liihrs, 
Fischer f. Zoologen und Aquarien, Helgoland (Unterland), for 
fish and invertebrates (alive and in spirits, specimens of all 
classes). 2. The 2kx>logical Station of Dr. Anton Dohrn, 
Naples, for fish and invertebrates (spirit specimens). 

The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 
past week indude three Tigers {Felis tigris), bom in the 
Gardens, but did not survive; a Common Genet {Genetia vtd' 
garis) from North Africa, presented by Mr. P. V. Carletti ; two 
Hyacinthine Porphyrios {^Porphyria hyacinihinus) from West 
Asia, presented by Mrs. Henry Cobb ; two All-Green Parakeets 
{Brotogerys tiriacula) from South America, presented by Miss 
Rowe; two YcUow-bellied Liothrix {Liothrix luteus) from 
India, presented by Gen. Breton ; two ^common Marmosets 
{Hapale jacchus) from South-east BrazU, presented by Mrs, 
Clayton ; three Darwin's Pucras {Pucrasia darwini), a Chinese 
Blue Magpie (Urocissa sinensis) from China, a Sun Bittern 
(Eurypyga helias) from South America, deposited; a Moose 
(Alas machlis) from North America, purchased. 



AMERICAN SCIENCE 

pROF. HENRY'S portion of the rvport of the Smithsonian 
*'' Institution for the year 1876 has been printed in separate 
pamphlet form, in advance of the entire volume, and gives the 
usual record of operations for the period. It draws attention 
to the fact that it is the thirtieth of the annual series made by 
him, and that the policy advised at the first meeting of the board 
has been carried out with scarcely any modification. The 
original fund of 541)379 dols. has been increased to 714,000 
do&, although a building costing nearly 500,000 dols. has been 
erected. There is a library of 70,000 volumes of the most 
valuable class of books, namely, the serial scientific publications 
of learned societies. The museum has grown until it now ranks 
among the best in existence. This embraces copious collections 
illustrating the ethnology and natural history of the world. The 
institution has published twenty-one quarto and forty-two octavo 
volumes of transactions and reports. It has carried on 
successfully a great system of meteorological observations (only 
intermitted on the successful operations of the Signal Service), 
the results of which have been issued by a number of stately 
volumes. It is now prosecuting a great system of international 
exchanges, for the benefit of the whole world. Its correspon- 
dence, both at home and abroad, requires a large number of 
clerks and specialists ; and the name of Smithson is universally 
known in consequence. 

Details have been recenUy published {Proc, Acad. Nat. Sci. 
Philadelphia, 1877, p. 255) of the exploration of a specially 
interesting mound at Coup's Creek, Macoupin County, Illinois. 
Four skeletons sat within it, considerably enveloped in a peculiar 
granulated but exceedingly tenacious earth. They were placed 
two and two, their arms crossed, the knees of one pair pressing 
sharply against the backs of the other, and the faces of all turned 
direcUy toward the east. Though the greatest care was taken, 
only one skull was removed comparatively perfect The whole 
grave measured but six feet in length by three in width, and it 
contained in addition to the skeletons four large marine shells of 
Pyrula {Bmycon) perversa (Luin.), each similarly placed in rela- 
tion to tiie bodies. The smaller end of one sheill was placed in 
the right hand of each individual, while the larger portion rested 
in the hollow above the left hip. But, still more remarkable, 
within each shell bad been packed what appeared to be the 
bones of a child ; the skull, crushed before burial, protruded 
beyond the aperture. The suggestion is made that these infants 
were sacrificial offerings in honour of the dead. The graves in 
these naounds are constructed of stone slabs from the lo<^it^, and 
hence they are known as stone graves. The builders give evidence 
of decided constructive ability, and of having been careful culti- 
vators of the soil. The grave-mounds are found upon ridges, 



while others on which dwellings were supported are near streams. 
A systematic series of mounds of similar origin extends from the 
foot of Lake Michigan to the mouth of the Illinois river, a 
distance of two hundred and fifty miles. Unfortunately the 
remains are scarcely ever capable of being preserved, or even of 
being examined satisfactorily on exhumation. 

The following are notes of papers in the October num- 
ber of the American Journal of Science and Arts : — The 
nickel plates now largely used as anodes for nickel plating 
are prepared by fusing commercial nickel, generally with 
addition of charcoal, and castii^ in suitable form. From an 
analysis of several specimens of cast nickel by Mr. Gard, it 
appears that silica may be reduced and retained as silicon, 
and that a considerable amount of carbon may be present {e^.^ 
1*9 and 1*8 per cent.). One experiment made wita a view to 
ascertain how much carbon nickel may take up under conditions 
to which it is more or less exposed m the processes of manu- 
facture and casting, was to pack half-a-pound of granular com- 
mercial nickel in layers with charcoal in a Hessian crucible, in 
which it was exposed to a full red-beat twelve hours. No fusion 
took place. The temperature was then raised till there was com- 
plete fusion. The resulting metal was strongly magnetic, quite 
soft, and to a considerable extent malleable. Its specific gravity 
was 8 '04, and it had a fmcture like that of fine-grained pig-iron, 
scales of graphite being plainly visible. It was found to contain 
of total carbon 2*105, ^'130; graphitic carbon, 2,030, 1^90; 
silicon, '360. Mr. Gard also made some experiments on the 
deportment of nickel and cobalt towards hydrocarbon at a hi|;h 
temperature, the substances being placed in a platinum trough 
within a porcelain tube and treated with a slow current of pure 
dry marsh-gas at a full red heat. In one case thin plates of 
pure electroplate nickel ('8597 gr.) were found at the close to 
have gained 10*649 per cent. ; in another i '2697 gr. of cobalt 
gained 12758 per cent. 

Among other chemical contributions we note one on the 
iodates of cobalt and nickel, by Mr. Fullarton^ who finds that 
the true normal iodates contain really six molecules of water of 
crystallisation, and that they are essentially different from the 
salts obtained by Rammelsberg. Several specific-gravity deter- 
minations follow (by students of Cincinnati University), including 
those of a series of chromates, by Miss Abbot Pettersson has 
lately shown that selenates have molecular volumes exceeding 
those of the corresponding sulphates by six for each molecule of 
the acid radicle. On comparing the chromates with Pettersson's 
selenates, it is found that the two series of salts have approximately 
equal molecular volumes ; the difference, if .any exists, being very 
slightly plus for the selenates. If regularities of this kind can be 
thoroughly established, it will be easy (Prof. Clark suggests), 
having the density of a chromate, to calculate that of the corre- 
sponding sulphate or selenate, or vice versa, 

A preliminary catalogue of the reptiles, fishes, and Lepto- 
cardians of the Bermudas is furnished by Mr. Brown Goode, 
comprising 148 out of 163 known species. The Bermudan fanna 
shares wi£ the West Indies x 16 species (or 79 per cent), of 
which 58 (or 40 per cent) are peculiar to the West Indies, while 
many others have their centres of distribution in that region. 
With the Eastern United States Bermuda shares 47 species, and 
with the waters of the Pacific and Indian Ocean 32 species. 
Mr. Goode also gives a description of four species of fishes 
believed to be new. 

Prof. Dana draws some lithological and orographic condu- 
sions in his (continued) paper on the relations of the geology of 
Vermont to that of Berkshire, and the fournal also contains 
some information on the Archaean of Canada and the geology of 
New Hampshire, &c 



THE EARTHWORM IN RELATION TO THE 
FERTILITY OF THE GROUND 

T7ROM observations extendingover a number of years, M. Hensen 
^ is led to the conclusion that infertile undersoil is rendered 
valuable by the action of worms in two ways, viz., by the opening 
of passages for the roots into the deeper i»rts, and by the lining 
of these passages with humus. This will be more fully under- 
stood from the following facts regarding the Ufe-habiis of ihe 
worm {Lunibricus Urresiris) given in M. Hensen's piper in the 
Zeitschrift filr wissenschaftliche Zoologie, 

It is known that the adult animals in wet weather come up to 
the soiiace by mght, and, with their hinder end in thdr tube. 



Nw. I, 1877] 



NATURE 



19 



search the ground round abont. They then draw whatever 
T^etable matexial they can find into their tubes — fallen stems 
and leaves and small branches. In the morning one then finds 
little heaps of plant-fragments projecting at various parts of the 
surface, and each of them penetrating the tube of a worm. On 
doser examination it is found that the leaves have each been 
rolled together by the worm, and then drawn into the tube in 
such a way that the leaf-stalk projects. The portion of the 
leaf in the tube is moist and softened, and only in this state are 
plants consumed by the worm. There are distinct indications 
that the worm gnaws them, and after some days the meal is 
ended. The food is never d^wn deeper down into the ground. 
In digging the ground at various seasons it was only very rarely 
that plant remains were,found in the subsoil, and probably they 
got there by accident 

With reference to the structure of the worm-tubes, some in- 
teresting facts were established in these researches. In humus 
&eir character is difficult to make out, owing to the looseness of 
^ mass. In sand they proceed almost vertically downwards 
ihree^ four, or even six feet, whereupon they often extend some 
distance horizontally ; more frequently, however, they terminate 
vidiout bending. At the end of the tube the worm is found 
with his head upwards, while round about him the tube is lined 
with small stones. On the sandy wall of the tube one observes 
more or less numerous black protuberances which make the sand 
fertile. These are the secretions of the worm, which, after being 
lemoved out of a tenanted tube, are found next morning replaced 
ly fresh matter. Th^ are observed after a few days, when a 
wonn is put in a vessel with clean sand, and allowed to make a 
tube for itself. Older abandoned tubes are pretty regularly lined 
vith the earth formed by the worm, and some passages are 
densely filled with black earth. This black substance appears 
to diffuse somewhat into the sand. 
In about half of the tubes, not quite newly nmde, M. Hensen 
\ fannd roots of the plants growing at the surface, in the most 
I vigorous development, running to the end of the tube and giving 
I aff fine root-hairs to the walls, especially beautiful in the case of 
kaff vegetables and com. Indeed such tubes must be very 
6:vourable to the growth of the roots. Once a root-fibre has 
leached such a tabs it can, following the direction of gravity, 
grow on in the moist air of the passage^ without meeting with 
tiie least resistance, and it finds moist^ loose, fertile earth in 
abondance. 

The question whether all roots found in the under-soil have 
originally grown in the tubes of worms, cannot be answered with 
certainty. It is certain that the roots of some plants penetrate 
ftemselves in the sand, but not to great depths. M. Hensen is 
of opinion that the tap-roots, and in general such root-forms as 
pow with a thick point, can force a path for themselves, while 
tltt fine and flexible suction-roots have difficulty in obtaining a 
path into the depths other than what has been previously made 
lor them. Roots of one year's growth especially can penetrate 
deep mtQ the sub-soil, only where there are earth-worms. 

A microscopical comparison of the earth deposited by the 
wonn shows that it is like the two-year leaf-mould prepared by 
gardeners for the fiUing of flower-pots. Most of the plant-cells 
are destroyed ; still there are present some cells and shreds of 
tissue^ browned and friable, mixed with many sand grains and 
Wown Gdgaoic fragments. The chemical composition of the 
vorm-earth shows much similarity to that of fertile humus 
groand. Its fertility, therefore, cannot be doubted, though direct 
experiments with it are wanting. 

With regard to the niunerical value of this action of the 
caithwocm, the following observations by M. Hensen aflbrd 
tame information. 

Two worms were put into a glass pot \\ foot in diameter, 
vliich was filled with sand to the height of i4 foot, and the 
nrfice covered with a layer of ^eillen loives. The worms were 
qnddy at work, and after i^ month many leaves were down 
3 bches deep into the tubes ; the surface was completely covered 
«itb humus i cm. in height, and in the sand were numerous 
vonn-tnbes partly fresh, partly with a humus wall 3 mm. thick, 
partly quite filled with humus. 

Coontii^ when an opportunity offered, the open worm-tubes 
ii \asi garden, M. Hensen found at least nine in the square foot, 
b O'lS square metres two or three worms were found in the 
flttper parts each weighing three grammes : thus in the hectare 
ftes would be 133,000 worms with 409 kilos, weight. The weight 
tf the secretions of a worm m twenty-four hours was 0*5 
While these numbers are valid only for the locality 



referred to, they yet give an idea of the action of this worm in 
allplaces where it occurs, 

The assertion that the earthworms gnaw roots is not proved by 
any fact ; roots gnawed by worms were never met with, and the 
contents of the intestine of the worms never included fresh 
pieces of plants. The experience of gardeners that the earth- 
worm injures pot plants may be based on the uncovering or 
mechanical tearing of the roots. 

'* Let us take a retrospective glance," concludes the author, 
"over the action of the worm in relation to the fertility of the 
ground. It is clear that no new manure material can be pro- 
duced by it, but it utilises that which is present in various ways. 
I. It tends to effect a regular distribution of the natural manure 
material of fields, inasmuch as it removes leaves and loose plants 
from the force of the wind and fixes them. 2. It accelerates 
the transformation of this materiaL 3. It distributes it through 
the ground. 4. It opens up the undersoil for the plant roots. 
5. It makes this fertile. 

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELUGENCE 

Oxford. — ^The University Commissionen are at present occu- 
pied in taking evidence on the subject of University requirements^ 
The Dean of Christ Church, the Master of Balliol, the Master of 
University, the Librarian of the Bodleian, Profs. Clifton, 
Bonamy Price, Bartholomew Price, Stubbs, and others have 
appeared, or are to appear during the present week, before the 
Commissioners. 

Mr. Lazarus Fletcher, B. A., of Balliol, has been elected to 
the vacant Fellowship at University College. Mr. Fletcher 
obtained a first class in the School of Mathematics in 1875, a 
first class in that of Natural Science in 1876, and the senior 
mathematical scholarship in 1876. 

It is proposed to found a high school for the City of Oxford, 
the mayor, aldermen, and citizens having long felt it a re- 
proach that, befaig the site of one of the most ancient and 
famous of tiie Univenities of Europe, it has been absolutely 
without any recognised grammar school avsulable for the sons of 
the citizens. 

London.— Prof. W. K. Clifford, F.R.S., is at present 
delivering at University College a very interesting course of 
Lectures on Quaternions. The main object of the course is to 
bring the physical applications of quaternions as much as possible 
within the reach of mathematicians of moderate attainments. 

A requisition is in course of signature to the chairman of 
Convocation of London University, Dr. Storrar, asking that an 
extraordinary meeting of that body may be convened for the 
purpose of considering and discussing the following resolution?, 
and for deciding with reference thereto in such manner as to 
Convocation may seem fit: — "That it being manifestly inex- 
pedient that frequent application should be made to the Crown 
for new and additional charters, it is desirable that provision 
should be made in any such charter for all changes in the con- 
stitution of the University, either at the time urgent or likely to 
be soon re<|uired ; and that it being probable that initiative 
measures vnll be shortly taken towards procuring such a new or 
additional charter, the following proposals require the serious 
consideration of Convocation and the Senate :— (i) An enlarge- 
ment of tile powers directly exercised by Convocation ; (2) An 
increase in the proportion of senators to be nominated or elected 
by Convocation, and the limitation of the tenure of office in the 
case of all senators to a term of years ; (3) The encouragement 
of mature study and original research among the members of the 
Univcrsiiy, by the establishment of University lectureships, of 
limited tenure, in different departments of learning and science ; 
(4) The introduction into the constitution of the University of 
such modifications as may remove all reasonable ground of com- 
plaint^ on the part of any of the affiliated colleges, with respect 
to the absence of means for expressing opinion and giving advice 
to the Senate on the exanrination regulations, and on the changes 
proposed to be made therein from time to time. And that a 
Special Committee of ten members of Convocation be appointed 
to consider the above-mentioned proposals, and to report thereon 
to Convocation as speedily as possible. ''' 

The Entrance Science Scholarships in St Thomas's Hospital 
have been awarded this year as follows : — The Scholarship ot 
60/. to Mr. Wansborough Jones, B.A. Oxon., and B.Sc, 
London ; and that of 40/. to Mr. A. E. Wells, f^ ^^^\, 

igitized by VaOOyiv 



'gi 



20 



NATURE 



\Nav. I, 1877 



BwsTOl ^A well-printed and well-arranged Calendar of 

Umyeriity Coll^^e has been published. It extends to npwatds 
of sixty pai^es, and contains all the information nsnally found in 
n^ publicatioDS, including full details as to the Medical 

Dean Stanley's address on Education, at University College, 
on Saturday, attracted an audience of about 1,700 people, who 
lutened with the closest attention. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
Kosmos, Part 2 (May) opens with an article by I* Overzier, 
on "Heredity'* (Part i), aiming at the discovery of the real 
cause of inheritance. >-ProC Jager, commencing a series of 
articles on " The Origin of Organs," deals with the development 
of the eye, showing bow the laws of optics and the properties of 
living substance mutually influence one another.— Hermann 
Miiller, treating on " The Origin of Flowers," considers the Erst 
metasperm (or angiosperm) to have been diclinous and fertilised 
by the wind, that is, supposing the metasperms to hive oriri- 
nated from a single stock.— W. O. Focke deals with "The 
Conception of Species in the Vegetable Kingdom," especially in 
relation to the genus Rubus. He shows how far the different 
spedet are from being of equivalent value and that the term 
vanety has no definite signiacance. He exposes the futility of 
much botanical " research," owing to imperfection of methods 
and lack of comparative study ; Daririn has few imitators. Such 
work requires an entire devotion of time and complete botanical 

gardens, for the multiplication of which the author calls. A. 

Lang, on Lamarck and Darwin (L), expounds lAuiaick's con- 
ceptions of natural history. 

Kosnios^ Part 3 (June).— L. Overzier continues his discussion 
of heredity, reviewing Darwin's theory of pangenesis, Haeckel's 
pengenesis, and Jager's chemical theoiy ; he cousiden the latter 
to be of great value.— Carl du Prel, on the needed remodelling 
of the ncbuU hypothesis.— Prof. Jager treats of the origin of the 
oigan of hearing, tracing it from the simplest condition where 
spicules diffused through the entire protoplasmic body of an 
animal serve to gather up and conduct vibrations of sound. He 
bnngs forward the remarkable theory that in animals possessing 
nerve fibres, the organs of hearing is but a specialisation from 
the ^eral tactile sense.— W. von Reichcnau, on the colours of 
birds eggs, makes the generalisation that birds having open 
nests have coloured eggs, while those with covered or concealed 
nests have white ones ; further, that in open and ground nests 
the colour of the eggs has a protective object— A. Dodel-Port, 
on the lower limit of sexuality in plants, gives an account of the 
sexual processes in Uhlhrix tonata, but appears not to have 
heard of the researches of Dallinger and Drysdale on the monads. 
—-A. Lang, on Lamarck and Darwin, expounds Lamarck's 
"hydro-gffology." 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
Paris 
Academy of Sciences, October 22.— M. Peligotin the chair. 
—The following papers were read :— M. Leverrier's Ubles of 
Uranus and Neptune, by M. Tresca.— On some appUcations of 
elliptic functions (continued), by M. Hcrmite.-^/j««/ of a 
history of matter (first article), by M. Chevreul. This is an 
extract from a work commenced about the end of last year and 
occupying 418 pages of the Memoires de rAcadimie, t xxxia^ A 
sketch of the principles of alchemy u given.— On one of the 
causw of red coloration of Uie leaves of Cunis quinquefolia, hy 
M. ChevreuL This oiuse is sunlight. The greS iolour U 
retained m Uie leaves that are shaded by oUiere.-On the order 
of appearance of the first vessels in the shoots of some LegumU 
nosae, by M. Tf^ul.— Modifications in the conditions of maxima 
of ele<^o-magnets by tiie sUte of more or less complete satuxm- 
Uon of their magnetic core, by M. Du MonceL The law of 
proportionality of the attractive forces to Uie squares of Uic 
intensities of the current is true only within certain limits, and 
under certam conditions ; and electro-magnets through which die 
« w*!J "^^^"^^ at very short intervals, are (mo^ or less) not 
subject to it. Wh«« the forces are proportional to (say) the 
cubes of the electric mtensities, the heUces must always be less 
resistant Uian the exterior circuit In the case of multipUed 
Interruptions, the resistance of electro-magnets must always be 
Iws the shorter the duration of closures of tiie current : and for 
thia reason (also because of defective insulation uid extra 
curreuU) telegraph electriciani reduce considerably the resistance 
of clectro-magneU appUed (o Jong dicnits. Reverting to the 



quationinthetitle,tfaethidaiessof the magnetising spiral buit 
bemcreased incase of defective saturation of the magnetic con : 
becommg double Uie dUmeter of Uits if the foroemcreases ts 
the cube of the intensides.— Prepintions of sulphide of arbott 
brought to the S5lid stUe by mrans of gelatine, by M. Cassius. 
100 grammes of gelatine are dissolved in i,oc» gnunoies of witer, 
and sulphide of carbon (25,50^ or 75 per cent) is mixed ataten- 
perature of 15 to 20*, and Uie>ixtnre let codL VL Cassius thinki 
the preparation might be useful in viticulture: The sulphide is 
liberated slowly, the time varying according to the proporttoa of 
sulphide absorbed.— EcperimenU on the formation of artifidtl 
ultramarine, by M. Plicque. He finds (in opposition to soms 
German authors) that uUramirine does not contain nitrogen. 
Blue ultramarine^ properly so called, is formed by an oxy- 
geoated conpound of sulphur, anl it is probable that this 
compound is fixed both by sodium and by aluminium.— Oa 
the catediines and their constitution, by M. Gautier.— Oa 
acid acetates, by M. ViUiers. The increase of weight of 
some neutral aceUtes, dried and placed, in a summer month, 
under a bell jar with crystallisable acetic acid, was, in the 
case of acetate of soda, 404 per oenL, or neariy su equivalents of 
acetic aad ; acetate of potash, 264 per cent ; of baryta, 179 per 
cent ; of lead, 134 per cent, &c. The solutions of neatrsl 
acetates in orystallisable acetic acid, have much less tension of 
vapour than that of acetic acid.— Researehes on bntylene 
and Its derivatives^ by M. Puchot— Note oa Uie cmse of 
anUirax, by M. Klebs.— On the structure of the blood corpuscle, 
and the resistance of its envelope to the action of water, by MIC. 
J. Bechamp and Baltus. The demonstration of the membrane 
(by action of soluble fecula) is here given in the cases of the 
frog, the ox, the pig, and the sheep. Water does not destroy 
the globules ; it merely renders them invisible^ and they may 
always be discovered with the aid of picrocarmia itc^ even iu 
extremely dilute media, and after several weeks of contact THe 
blood of sheep (like that of the hen in M. A. Bechamp's experi- 
ments) contains globules of more delicate structure than those of 
the other bloods examined. — Researches on the functions of 
leaves of the vine, by M. Macagno. Glucose and tartaric add 
are formed prelerably in the upper leaves of the fruit-bearing 
vine-branch ; this production of sugar progresses with that of 
^c S^P^ 'nd is much reduced (even to disappearance) after the 
vinuge. The green branches are conductors of glucose. These 
fact* explain the evil of " pinching " or removing the tops of the 
grape-bearing branches, with too great zeaL Where there is au 
abundant productim of grapes, a sufficient quantity of leaves 
should be left for preparation of the necessary glucose.— Reply 
to a recent note of M. Bays Ballot, on the division into time and 
into squares of maps of nautical meteorolo^, by M. Brault. 



CONTENTS 



Thx Sum's Distance 



Pace 



Pakkbk AMD Bsttany's '*MoiiPHOLOGY OP THE Skull". .11' ■» 

Thomson's " Sizing or Cotton Goods " ' J 

OoK Book Shblp :— . . . . ♦ 

AyeUng's " Phrsiolopcal Tables for the Use of Students."— A G. s 

Letters to the Editok :— * 

Indium in British Blendes.— Prof. Nbvil Stoky Maskeltnb, 

K. R.S. ... ••••.••,...•..,., e 

The Radiometer and its Leooos —Prof. G. Caeby Foster.' F.'r.*S. *: 

William Crookbs (The Ortho-Crookes a r.RS « 

Mn Wallace and Reichenbach's Odyle.— Alfred R. Wallace : 

Dr. William B. CARrsMTBR, F.R.S. f 



Potential Enercrv.— £. G 
wOiubs "Birds of MRdagas:^.''-.Prk'ALpRBD NBirroN^ 



Uartlaub's 

K.R.S. . 

Eucalyptus.— Prince Pierre Troubitzkoy ; Arthur Ni'cols ." . .« 
Meteor of October xg^ dis P.M.-W. F. Dbnning {IViik lUmstru* 

iiMU) j^ 

Curious Phenomenon during the Late Gale.-A. W. R J. .* .* .* so 

Singing Mice.— Henry H Slater „ 

Sound-Producing Arthropods.— W. Savillb Kent * » 

InsectsandFlowers.-A. J. H \\ 

Francis vom Rosthorn. By Prof. K. Subss x. 

^^?ii7.^^^.P' Aurora Australis. By Commander J. P. Maclbak 

ilVttk Illmimti^) . . ,- 

Absolute Pitch. By Lord Raylbich. F.R.S. ! ' x* 

A New Condensing Hvcrombter. By M. Alluard {Vmk IUms- 

trttium} ••.....♦, xa 

Our Astronomical Column :— * 

Early Observations of the Sobu- Corona t^ 

The Outer SateUite of Mais 'J 

DeVico's Comet of Short Period " ,Z 

Metborological Notes . ,r 

Notes ................. *'''iS 

American Science *.*.'!.'.'! T S 

The Earthworm in RjiLATicfti to the Fertility of the* Ground 18 

UNXVERSITT AMD EDUCATIONAL InTBLLXCBNCB rt% 

Scisktisic Sbwals 2 

SOOBTIBS AMD ACAOBMtBS . . . . ^ ! ' ' ' * I^ 



Nov. I, 1S77] 



NATURE 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



London 

THURSDAY, Novkmbbr i. 
LiNVKAM SociBTV, at 8.— On the Source of the \Vlnged Cardamom ol 

Nqal: Dr. G. Kiasr— Note oa Australian Finches ef the Genus 

PcffJdU : Capt W. Armit.— On the Self-Fcnihs^tion of Plants : Rev. G. 

Henslow.-— Revision of the Hippidea (a Group of Anomourous Crustacea) : 

Ed. J. Miers. 
Chemical SoaxTV. at 8.— On some Hydrocarbon^t obtained from the 

Homoloeaes of Onnamic Acid: W. H. Perkin, F.R.S.— On Anethol 

and its Homologues : W. H. Perkin. F.R.S.--On two new Methods f>r 

estiaating Bismuth Volunetrically : M. M P. Muir. 

FRIDAY, NOVBMBBK 2. 

GnfjOGiSTB* AssociATiOK, at 8.— President's Inaugural Address. * 

SATURDAY, Novkmbbr 3 
Phtsical Socibtt, at 3. — Ice as an Electrolyte: Prrfessors Ayrton and 
Peny. 

SUNDAY, Novkmbbr 4-, 
SuRDAY Lbcturb Socibtv, at 4.— The Principles of the System of 
Reformatory and Preventive Discipline, as worked out in Theory and 
Pncbce by Mary Carpenter: Dr. W. B. Carpenter, F.R.S. 
MONDAY, Novkmbbr 5- 
XbTAL lasirniTlOM, at 3.— General Monthly Meetlns. 

TUESDAY, NovEMBBR 6. 
Zoological Socibty. at 8.3a— Reports on the Additions to the Society's 
Menagerie during the Months of June, July, Au^st, and September, 
1877: The Secretary. — Description of New Reptiles from the Madrcs 
P»csdency: Lieut. -Col. R. H. Beddome, C M.Z.S.— Notes on a Collec- 
tion of Birds made by Mr. A. H. Everett in the Island of Luron, Phil- 
I &Hies : The Marquis of Tweeddale, F. R S. — A Further Contribution to 
I tae Knowledge of the Exis.ing Ziphioid Whales. Gentis Mesoylodon : 
i Ph>f.W.HrFk»wer, F.R.S. 

WEDNESDAY, Novbmbbr 7. 
SoTAL M1CBO8COPICAL SociBTY, at 8.— An Intioduction to the Study of 

Evergreens by the Micro-Spectroscope : Thos. Palmer. 
BoRTicuLTURAL SociBTV.— Scientific Committee at i. 
Xrtomolocical Socibty, at 7. 

THURSDAY, Novbmbhr 8. 
Uatrbmatical Socibty, at 8.- Annual Meeting. >- Paper by Prof. Cayley. 

Watford 

THURSDAY, Novkmbbr 8. 

Vatvial Hutoxt Soobtt, at 8.— The Birds of Our District : John E. 

Latleboy. 

DUPRE'S APPARATUS 

For the 

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By means of hypobromide. 
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HOW ft CO.'S GEOLOGICAL DIA- 
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Groups of Fossils, Restorations of Extinct Animals, &c. 
Catalogues on ApplicaHon. 

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LIGHTN ING CO^D UCTOBS. 

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LONDON, W.C ^ 



VI 



NA JURE 



[Nov. T, 1877 



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A PERFECT BLOWPIPE 

FOR ALL PURPOSES 

FLETCHER'S PATENT, 1877. 

ILLUSTRATED LIST ON APPLICATION. 



THOS. ELETCHEB, 

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RUPTURES.—BY ROYAL LETTERS PATENT. 

WHITE'S MOC-MAIN LEVER TRUSS 

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2 inches below the hips, being sent to the Manufacturer, 




JOHN WHITE, 228, PICCADILLY, 



Price of a Single Truss, i6f., aw., 36*. &/., and 31*. 6d.\ 
„ Double ., 31J. 6rf., 42J., and szr. 6d. 
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Post Office Orders to be made payable to John White, Post Office Piccadilly. 

ELASTIC STOCKINGS, KNEE-CAPS, 

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Sprains, &c. They are porous, light in texture, and inexpensive, and drawn 
on over an ordmary stocldng. Price \s. 6d,, 7*. 6</., lof., and i6s. each. 
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See Treatise on the efficacy, medicinal action, and composition of the 
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Becently published in 8vo, zor . 6<^. 

The GERM THEORY APPLIED to the 

EXPLANATION of the PHENOMENA of DISEASE. By T. 
MACLAGAN, M.D. 

" We think it well that such a book as this should be written. It places 
before the reader in clear and unmistakable terms what is meant by the germ 
theory of disease." — Lancet. 

** An able and exhaustive inquiry."-— Px^/tV Ifeetlih, 

'* A book of a veiy high order of merit. We cordially recommend it to 
all. It is a book that is full of suggestions, and one which aU phyadans who 
claim to have an opinion mn the germ theory are bovnd to read carefully.—- 
Medical Examiner. 

" Brings before us in a simple and clear form what the fiicts are which 
must be accounted for. The profesKon should be natefbl to Dr. Maclag;an 
for showing the actual position of the advocates of t*e germ theory at the 
present time."— J&#Mi£m Medical Record. 

MACMILLAN ft CO., London- 

THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY, 

BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 

Edited by Hbnkv Trimkn, M.B., F.L.S., British Museum ; assisted by 

S. le M. Mocks, F.L.S., Royal Herbarium, Kew. 

Subscriptions for 1877 {w, post free in the United Kingdom) payable in 
advance to the publishers. Messrs. Ranken and Co., Drury House, St. 
Mary-le-Strand, London, W.C, of whom may be obtained Uie volume for 
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On the zst of every Month, price One Shilling. 

THE ZOOLOGIST; 

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
New Series, Edited by 

,_ . , . , J. E. Hasting, F.L.S., F.Z.S. 

Original Artidee by well-known Naturalists in every branch of Zoolery • 
Occasional Notes on the Habits of Animals ; Notices of the Arrival and 
Derarture of Migratory Birds ; Records of the Occurrence of Rare Birds 
^ .* .*. ^J"**"* Islands ; Observations.-on the Distribution and Migration 01 
British l^esh-witer Fish ; Notices of the Capture off the British Coasts of 
New or Rare Manne Fish ; Reports and Notes from Local Aqaaria ; Con- 
tributions to the Natural Histoiy of British Reptiles ; Local Lisu of 
Bnush Land and Fresh-water Mollusca, with Remarks on the HaunU and 
Habits of the Species ; and other matters of general interest to those who 
dehght m Natural History. Reports of the Scientific Meetinn of Uie 
Lmnean, Zoolopcal, and Entomological Societies ; Reviews and Notices of 
Natural History Books. 

JOHN VAN VOORST, i, Paternoster Row. 

FRENCH HYGIENIC SOCIETY, 40, Hay. 

market.— Electro-Dosimetric Institution. Treatment of all Chronic 
Diseases pronounced incurable by the combined therapeutic methods 
of Drs. Bui:g«aeve and P. A. Desjardin. Hours of ConsulUtion from 
3 ^ 5 '•>«. Treatment by correspondence. Mondairs, Wednesdays, 
and ]<ridays, consultations free from zo.30 to za. Chemical and Medi- 
cal Analyses made. Depdt for 0)ntGiental Hygienic ProducUons. 
Medical Belts, &c. 

The dosimetric systeih of medicine is the connecting link placed by I>r 
B jrsgraeve between the old, or Allopathic, and the new, or Hahneraanian' 
or Homeopathic schools. * ' 

This system, which is now well known and much used by doctors in 
Europe and South America, where it is steadily ji^aining ground, consists o€ 
a treatment that is at the same time convenient, agreeable, and sure It 
depends -upon the purity of the medicine and exactitude of the doses. 
and IS applied to the nature and causes of diseases both chronic and acute 
In a word, it is the realisation of the hopes and researches of the alchemists 
of the middle ages. 

These medicines are administered in the form of granules, which are talcea 
by aU, even children, easily and without the least repugnance. 

This system rejects the ordinary forms of the old Pharmacy— apozemes. 

Sotions, opwtes, electuaries, &c., in short, all the compUcated nurtured 
rugs of nauseous odour and taste, respected by the old formularies, 
but which now, m the face of the progress of modem science, have no lonra 
the necessity of existence. ^ 

It is, above all, in chronic diseases (the "non possumus" of the old 
schools), rheumatism, gout, dyspepsia, fiver complaints, affections of the 
spleen and kidneys, walysis, scrofula, &c., that the system ol Dr. Bure^. 
graeve, oombmed with that of Dr. P. A. Desjardin, gives the molt 
remarkable results. -»«»* 

A large number 01 cmres, obtained in a comparatively short time, highly 
confirm the therapeutic value of the electro-dosunetric system. 

If we consider that chronic maladies are caused by a diathesis, which 
always produces a change in the vital and nutritive organs, and \(, on the 
other band, we consider carefully the electro-magnetic ^enomena. and the 
subtle nature of that agent, which, if it be not life itselffis one of its most 
active and important principles, we easUy perceive the therapeutic value of 
a method which acts durectly upon the viulity of the patient, by employing 
those agente which are essentisdly vital *~ . j^ ** yia^ 

. It is thus that in charging the electric currents, which penetrate dirocUv 
into the organism, witn molecules of iodine, iron, gold, Ac., we can, almo^ 
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But it must be understood that for a treatment of this kind a wide experi 
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In esmbhshmg the " Electro-Dosimetric Institution of London.** we fill 
up a ijasm, and thus render a signal sendee to aU doctors, who wiU 
tnd With us the readiest and most active concurrence in the treatment of 
that mifortunatdy laife class tf persons afflicted by chronic diseaset. 



yov. I, 1877] NATURE vii 

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viii NATURE [A^iw. i, 187) 

PARKINSON & FRODSHAM, 

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Extract from the Report of the Director of the Portsmouth Obfervatory concerning Parkinson and Frodsham's Chronometer oi 
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On the Uses of Wine in Health and Disease. By FRANCIS K anstie, m.d., f.r. 

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A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 

" T> the solid greunJ 
Of Naturt tnutt U* ndud wkieh hiUds Jor a^a"— Wokdsworth 

No. 419, Vol. 17] ^ THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1877 [Prior Fourpence 



Rcijbtered as m Newspaper at the General Post Office.] 



[All Rif hts are Reterred. 



BROWNING'S 

AGHEOMATIC TELESCOPES. 

Achromatic Telescope, with 2j-inch object-glas 
of the best quality, 36 inches focus, with 
celestial and terrestrial eye-piece, on Brown- 
ing's improved equipoised tripod stand, 
which enables the observer to command the 
zenith, the Telescope in case 

£10 

Achromatic Telescope, with 3-inch object-glass 
of the best quality, 48 inches focus, two 
celestial eye- pieces, powers 60 and 1 50, and 
one terrestrial eye-piece, fitted with the 
improved equipoise tripod stand, the Tele- 
scope packed in case 

£20 

Achromatic Telescope, with 4-inch object-glass 
of the best quality, 60 inches focus, three 
celestial eye-pieces, powers 60, 150, and 200, 
and one terrestrial eye-piece on equipoise 
stand, the Telescope packed in case 

c830 




Catalogue of Achromatic Telescopes, Astronomical and Terrestrial, sent free by post. 

JOHN BROWNING, 

OPTICAL AND PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER TO H.M. GOVERNMENT, THE ROYAL SOCIETY, THE 
ROYAL OBSERVATORY OF GREENWICH, AND THE OBSERVATORIES OF KEW, CAMBRIDGE, 
MELBOURNE, THE US. NAVAL OBSERVATORY, CAMBRIDGE AND HARVARD^ 
UNIVERSITIES, HOBOKEN COLLEGE, &c, &C. 



63, STBAND, W.C. oiatizedbv 

FACTORY-SOUTHAMPTON STREET, LONDON, W.C. ESTABLISHED 100 YEARS. 



GooqIc 

IRS. O 



NATURE 



[Nov. 8, 1873 



MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS 

Of the highest attamable perfection, iDustrating Amuomj, Physiolocy, 
Botany, Entomology, and erery branch of Microscopical Science. J. JD. 
Miller's New Typen Plates and Objects. Nobert's Lines. All materials 
and requisites for mounting. Unequalled Studmt's Microscope, with £ng- 
* — - • - ■ s. New Edition, 1876, 



Ksh x-inch and ^inch objectives, Five Guineas. Catalogue, 

Smtis and post free, and Objects delivered in U.S.A. and isntian i^ounues. 
DMUND WHEELER, 48N, ToUin^ton Road, HoUoway, London, N. 

THE TELEPHONE. 

The Public is requested to take notice that the Patentees have granted to 
the India Rubber, Gutta-Percha, and Telegraph Works Company, Limited, 
the exclusive right to manufacture BELL'S PATENT SPEAKING 
TELEPHONE in this country, and that legal proceedings will be taken 
against all infringers of the Parent, whether makers, sellers, or users. ^ 

All communications with reference to licences to use the Te'ephone in the 
United Kingdom should be addressed to Col. Wm. H. Rbvnolds, the 
general agent for the Patent, at the address given below. 

12, Queen Street, London, E.C., November i, 1877. 

SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY.— LEC- 

TURES at ST. GEORGE'S HALL, LANGHAM PLACE, each 
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, commencing at Four o'clock precisely.— 
Sunday, Nov. ix.— Richard A Proctor, Esq., B.A, F.R.AS. 
(Author of " Other Worlds," &c.), on *' Mars and Saturn ; their present 
near Approach ; the newly- discovered Moons, ftc." With oxy hydrogen 
Lantern Illustrations. — Members' Annual Subscription, £t. Payment 
at the Door— One Penny, Sixpence, and (Reserved Seats) One Shilling. 

UNIVERSITY of LONDON ist M.B. and 

PRELIMINARY SCIENTIFIC EXAMINATIONS.— Classes m all 
the subjects required are now being formed at St Thomas's Hospital 
Medical School, which are not confined to .^tudents of the Hospital 
For particulars apply to Dr. Gillespie, Secretary, at the Hospital. 

PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION, 

5. PALL MALL EAST. 
The Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Society is now open from 
9 till du^k. Admission, One Shilling : also Monday and Saturday Evenings, 
M. Ooses November 15. 

H. BADEN PRITCHARD, Hon. Secretary. 



TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION, on Wednes- 

day, November 14, at the Auction Mart. Market Street, Leicester, a 
very valuable Collection of PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
in Chemistry, Crystallography, Electridtv, Galvanism, Magnetism, 
Polarisation of Light, &c. Photographic Apparatus. Newman's Stan- 
dard Barometer, Aquarium, Ross Ai Achromatic Microscope complete, 
&c. The whole on view Tuesday, X3th inst 

QUEENWOOD COLLEGE, near STOCK- 
BRIDGE, HANTS. 

Sound General Education for Boys. 

Special attention to Science, particularly to Chemistry, both theoretical 
and practical 

References to Dr. Debus, F.R-S. ; Dr. Frankland, F.R.S. : Dr. Roscoe. 
r.R.S. ; Dr. Angus Smith, F.R.S. ; Dr. Tyndall, F.R.S. ; Dr. Voeldcin^ 
F. R. S. : Dr. Wilfiamson, F. R. S. 

The Autumn Tem commences Tuesday, September asth. 

C. WILLMORE, Principal. 

ROYAL POLYTECHNIC and BERNERS 

COLLEGE in conjunction. — ^The Laboratories and Qass-roonu for 
Private and Class Study are Open' ever^ Day and Evening. Gentle- 
men prepared for Matriculation, Woolwich, and the various£xaniining 
Beards. Fees moderate.— Apply to Prof. Gakonbit. at the RoysH 
Polytechnic, or 44, Bemers Streec, W. 

LANCASTER SCHOOL. 

Head Master -Rev. W. E. Prvkk, M A , St. John's College, Cambridge. 
14th Wrangler, 1866. * ' 

Second Master— Rev. W. T. Nbwbold, M A , Fellow of St. John's 
College, Cambridge, 5th Classic, 1873. 
Assistant Masters— J. H. Flather, Esq , B A , Emmanuel College, Cam- 
bridge, 14th Classic. 1876, and Lightfoot Modem History Scholar in the 
Universiry ; J. C. Wittom, Esq., B.Sc. Lond., &c , &c. 

New Buildings, mcluding a LABORATORY, were opened on September 
34, by the Bishop of Manchester. 

There are University Scholarships, which may be given for proficiency in 
Sdence. 

For Prospectus, &c., address Rev. the Hbad Mastbx, School House, 
Lancaster. 

FOR SALE, a SET of 

" N A T U R E," 

Up to end of last month. Price ^9. Advertiser would take in part pay- 
ment the 

"ENGLISH M ECHANIC." 

From Na X94> vol. 8, to No. 361, vol. 14. bound or unbound, and also 
No. 406. to complete his set. Address— ALFRED M. BOX, Sdssett, 
near Huddersfield. 



NOTICE TO SCIENCE TEACHERS, Src 
In future the Publishers 4^ Nature will insert AnH^er* 
tisements of Teachers^ dfc.^ seeking appointments^ iz£ iMu 
special Rate ofis,6d. for one insertion ^ or 3^. for thrw^ 
insertions. Each Advertisement not to exceed tMzr'ty 
words. These Advertisements must be Prepaid^ anef sen^ 
to the Publishing Office by Wednesday mornings. jTJki 
money may be sent in postage-stamps. 

Office : 29, Bedford Street, Strand, W.C 

MR. CAMERON (Science Schools, South 

Kensington Museum) prepares Students in Chemistry and Botany ibr 
London Examinations, at his private laboratory every evening, 7 tjo xa. 
Highest references. Terms on application. 

WANTED, by a SCIENCE TEACHER 

who has received instruction under Professors Huxley and Franlcland, 
and holds Certificates in Chemistry, Geology, &c.. Evening Employ. 
ment— Address J. T. U., 63, Lisson Grove, N.W. 

CHEMISTRY, PHYSICS, GEOLOQY. 

MINERALOGY, STEAM. &c , bv a most successful Teacher from 
Cornwall. Exhibitioner and Medallist. Terms (visiting Paddii\s^OD. 
Kensington, and neighbourhood), ai. 6(L per hour.— Chbmicus, a. 
Stanley Street, Paddington, W. 

The TELEPHONE.— A well-known PRO- 

FESSOR can accept a few ENGAGEMENTS to Lecture, wiih 
Experimental Illlistrations on this popular and interesting Invention. 
For Terms, &&, address OMICRON, zio. Cannon Street. £.C. 



7 6 



CASTLETON, DEBYSHIRE. 
JOHN TYM is now enabled to offer the 

following rare and interesting Collections : — 
Palaeolithic, 30 Specimens (including Teeth, &c., of Rhinoceros, £ *. €L 

Bison, Reindeer, Hysena, &c , and CasU of Implements)... zoo 

Cresswell Caves, 18 Specimens o 10 

Windy Knoll Fissure, 15 Specimens ^ o 

Pleistocene Fauna (a splendid set), xoo Specimens 5 

Flint Flakes from td. each. 

Cat<ilogues post free. 

LONDON CLAYFOSSILSfromSHEPPKY. 

Fruits, Bones, Shells. Crustaceans, Corals, Starfish, ftc 100 good 
Spedmens with neat iabel» (50 or more SpedesX zor. : half the quan- 
tity, 5f . Carriage paid to Loudon. 
The fossils of vegeuble origin, being liable to decay, are subjected to an 
efficient preservative process. 

Specimen Fruit, and Copy of Papers ou *' Geology of Sheppey," post 
free for three penny stamps. List, with Copy of Testimonials, in prepara- 
tion. — W. H. Shrubsolb, Sheemess-on-Sea. 

GEOLOGY.— In the Preface to the Student's 

ELEMENTS of GEOLOGY, by Sir Charles Lyell, price or., he sajs: 
— '* As it is impossible to enable the reader to recognise rocks and nune- 
rab at sight by aid of verbal descriptions or figures, he will do w«U to 
obtain a well-amnged collection of speamens, such as may be procured 
from Mr. TEN N ANT (149, Strand), Teacher of MineralcHgry at Kin^a 
College, London." These CoUecoons are supplied on the following 
terms, in plain Mahogany Cabinets:— 
100 Specimens, in Cabinet, with 3 Trays ^ m. m» £% • o 
aoo Spedmens, in Cabinet, with 5 Trays .« •» — 550 
300 Specimens, in Cabjnet, with 9 Drawers -. •- xo xo o 
400 Specimens, in Cabinet, with 13 Drawers ... .^ ai o o 
More extensive Collections at 50 to 5,000 Guineas each. 

ECHINODERMS FROM MADAGASCAR. 

THOMAS D. RUSSELL has lately received a magnificent Collection 
of ECHINI and STAR-FISHES from Madagascar. The series includes 
splendid examples of Heterecentrotus trigonaria. and H. mamtniUaris, 
besides other rare and fine species. 

A Prize Medal was awarded for this Collection at the Maritime Exhibidoo, 
Royal Aquarium, Westminster. 

The Collection is now for sale, either as Single Specimens or in Sets. 

Collections of British and Foreign Shells, Fossils, Minerals, Rodcs, 
Microscopic Objects, &c. 

Catalogues post free. 

THOS. D. RUSSELL, 

48, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C. 



THIN GLASS FOR MICROSCOPIC 

MOUNTING of best quality. Circles. 3^. M. per ounce ; Squares. 
2«. gd. ; post free 9d. extra : also oth r Mounting Materials and Objects 
prepared for mounting. -CHAS. PETIT, 151, High Street, Stoke 
Newlngton, N. ^ , 



Kw. 8, 1877] 



NATURE' 



XI 



To Gaologbli asd NttiinWm. 

ORFORD CASTLE FOSSILS. 

Ik CtattiDK near Orford Ca^e in whidi these tare tsd bamttiibl T6tt9> 



tbcen finmd, as advertised in Natuxb last Tear, is still . . 
tvthre tbotuand Specimens, aL carefully detennined by Mr. Charles- 
isrth, have been distributed amon^ the SobacribeEi. Papers omtaining the 
sracdais of Subscripdon may be obtiuned by writing to Thomas Floyd, 
M.,SasKzHoase, Howard Road, South Norwood, S.S., enclosing ad- 
■ned envelope. 

|hE popular 8CIEHTIFIC POCKET CABINET 
[ SERIES, 

IhitnHTe of Mineralogy, Palaeontology, Petrology, Conchology, MetaU 
bir, &fr, anaoged by THOMAS J. DOWNING, Geologist, ftc, 38, 

Whisldn Street, London, E.C. 
\ 95 Specimens to illustrate Geikie*$ " Geological Primer," in Cabinet, 
II. &£ : 15 da to illustrate the Rev T. G. Bonney's " Elementary Geology," 
b.6r£ ; 15 do. British Fossils, in Cabinet, ■* . &^ ; 95 do. British Rocks, 
pk, St. &/. ; 35 da Earthy Mmerals, da, ai. 6</. ; 25 da Metallic Minerals, 
fcijU 6^. : ^^ do. Recent Shells, do., ^i. 6d. ; 35 do. Metals, do , ax. 6</. ; 35 
fek Rough Gems and Stones, do. , ar. 6d, Catalogues free. N. 6. *P.O. O. 
r Cheque must invariably accompany all orders. Trade supplied. 



THE TELEGRAPHIC JOURNAL 

AND 

ELECTRICAL REVIEW. 

hbSiMoa the xst and zsth of the month* {Mice 4^ ; SubscriptioB per 
Annum, post free in Great Britaiui gf. 

CONTSNTS FOR NOVBMBEK Z. 

■Slectro-Magnetic Quackery. 
i-Report of the Trinity Hou«e on the Comparative Trials oi.EIectric 

Lights at the South Foreland. (Illustrated.) 
^.-Duplex Partial Earth Test. (I llustrated. ) 
f-Influesce of Light on the Electric State of Metals. 
k-Notes. 
l-Gty Notes. 

T.-Gtteral Science Columns. 
L-Conespondence. 

London: HAUGHTON ft CO^ xo, Pateraoster Row. 
To whom also Communications for the Editor may be sent. 



"That esoettott periodical Tm Gaxdbm."— Professor Owbh. 

THE GARDEN : A Weekly Illustrated 

Joeaal of Gardening in all its Bfanches. Founded and Condncted by 

W. ROBINSON, P.L.S., Anthor of "Alpine Flowers for SngUsh 

GndM,''ft& 

A O)loiued Plate ia now issued with every number of Tks Gardm. 
"Mr. Robinson's Tsdnahlo and elegant weekly."— sSo/amCcr^ Rtvint^ 
A«|.ndi,s87a. 
IhefcOoving are aone td the nbjecti regularly treated of in its pages 



Iki riover GardsB. 
TeiMknpe Gardening. 
The Frat Garden. 
iMiwca snucnorea* 
aoQB and Window GnrdaBt. 



Madcet Gardening. 
Tines and Shrabs. 



Asa Gray says : " It 1 



Hardy Flowevsi 

Town Gardens. 

The Conservatory. 

Public Gardens. 

The Greenhouse and Stow* 

The Household. 

The Wild Garden. 

The Kitchen Garden. 

s admirably adanted to the wants and 



littM of gentlemen who are interested in rural a&irs. By such we hear it 
ViUy spoken of; and we think we do a fovour to those of that dais wh» 
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Price 6dL Weekly. Spedmen Copy, PoelHfree. thd. 
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Tke AGRICULTURIST is pubUshed every Wednesday afternoon in 
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. ^ Vdcrinaiy Department is edited by one of the leading Veterinarians 
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THE '^HANSA," 

Published sinoa 1864, in Hamburi^, is the onljr independent professional 
paper in Gorraany, dedicated exclusively to Maritime Objects. Essays, Cri- 



thedeve- 



_., _ , , - ._ . iption 

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THE ENTOMOLOGIST'S MONTHLY 
MAGAZINE. 

Price Siacpenoe, monthly, a4 pages 8vo, with occasional Illustrations 

Conducted by J. W. Douglas, R. McLachlan, F RS., E. C Rvm, F.Z.S. 

and H. T. Staintok, F.k.S. 

This Magarine, commenced in 1864, contams standard articles and notes 

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Subscription— Six Shillings per Volume, post-free. The vofaunas com- 
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Vols. I. to V. (strongly bound in clbth) may be obtained by pnrdiasers of 
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vols, may be had separately or together, at ft. each. 

~ ' JOHN VAN VOORST, i, Paternoster Row. 

IS, fta, should bo sent tn the Bditosa at the above 

THE BEST FARMERS' NEWSPAPER. 

THE CHAMBER OP 
AGRICULTURE JOURNAL 

AND FARMERS' CHRONICLE, 
Edited by John Algkrmon Claxkb, Secretary to the Central Chamber 

of Agriculture, 
Devotes special attention to the discussions and proceedings of the Chambers 
of Agriauture of GnaX Britain (which now number upwards of z8,ooo 
members), besides ^ving original p^>era on practical farmwg, and a maA of 
intelligence of particular value to the agriculturist. 

The London Com, Seed, Hop, Cattle, and other Markets of Monday are 
specially reported in this Journal, which is despatched the same evening so 
as to ensure delivery to counbry subscribers by the first post on Tuesday 
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Published by W. PICKERING, si. Amndd Street, Soand. W C 

On the xst of every Month, price Sixpence. 

THE ENTOMOLOGIST: 

AN ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF BRITISH ENTOMOLOGY. 
Edited by John T. Cakrington, 
With tho asrisfanrr of 
Frbdkrick Bond, F.Z.S. I Frbderick Smith. 

Edwakd a Fitch. I J. Jknnkk Wkik. F.L.S. 

John A. Powsk, M.D. | F. Buchanan Whitb, M.D. 

During the year 1877 it is intended to publish an Epitome of Novelties 
and Rareties which have occurred since 187^ Also fre()uent Biographical 
Notices accompanied by Photographic Portraits. Many mteresting articles 
on all branches are promised by eading Entomologists. There ^tKl be 
numerous Woodcuts. 

SIMPKI N, MARSHALL, ft CO.~, Stationers' HaU Court. 

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A FortnightlT Paper devoted to the Protection of Breweis* Interests, 
Liceiuing, Legal, and Parliamentary Matters. 

RSTIKW OF TMB MaLT AND HOP TrADBS .' AMD Wim AND SPXIXT TkADK 

Record. 
The Official Organ of the Country Brewers' Sodety. 
(Founded xSaa.) 
" The Brewers' Guardian ** is published on the Evemnn of eveiy alternate 
Tuesday, and is the only journal officially connected wiuk brewing interests. 
Subscription, r6r. &/. per annum, post free, dating from any quarter-day. 
Sini^ O^ues, ir. each. Registered for transmission abroad. 
Office»-5, Bond Court, Walbrook, London. E.C 

THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY, 

BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 

Edited by Hbnrv Trimen, M.B., F.L.S., British Museum; assisted by 

S. le M. MocRB, F.L.S., Royal Herbarium, Kew. 

Subscriptions for X877 (zaj. post free hi the United Kingdom) payable in 
advance to the pubUshers, Messrs. Ranken and Co., Drury House, St 
Mary.Ie-Strand, London, W.C, of whom tnay be obtained tiie volume for 
1876 (price z6s. 6d. bound in doth), also covers for the volume (price u.), 
and back numbers. 

FM^ ^ ^^ **A most and delicious valuable article."— 

[2 \X ^ O Standard. 

m\ I ^J "The Caracas C:ocoa of such choice quality." 

■ — /Vwd; »'a/*r,««/^fV,editedbyDr.HassaU. 

CARACAS 

AMERICAN' T 

CENTENNIAL PRIZE MEDAL f^pgl^efEi Q jD^^^^ 
AWARDED. ^^ ^^ ^^ ^^ r^O 



Xll 



NATURE 



[Nov. 8, 1 8; 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS' ZOOLOGICAL STATION AND MUSEUM AND INSTITUTE ( 

PISCICULTURE SOCIETY, LIMITED. 

CAPITAL-£5,000 IN 5,000 SHARES OF £1 EACH. 
(With power to increase.) 

This Society is est aVi«hed on an entirely scientific bans, with the object of fostering: and promoting the science of Economic Pisdcultore, ai 
of supplying English and other naturalists and natural history students with facilities, not hitherto accessible, for pursuing Marine Biological Investi^attia 
The aim of the Society is, in fact to provide, in a conveniently accessible and suitable locality, an institution which shall fulfil for the entire north 
Europe that sphere of utility which the \iell-known Naples Aquarium and Zoological Station now does for the south. Mature consideration hais 1 
to the selection of a most eligible and advantageous site in the neighbourhood of St. Helier's, Jersey, for this purpose. 

As with the Naples Institution there will be embodied in this undertalcing the following several features of utility and attraction : — Firstly, lor C) 
entertainment of the public, and as a source of income for the defragment of the general working expenses, a Saloon will be set apart for the pobl 
display of the living denizens of the ocean, and of which it may be said that the shores of the Channel Islands produce an unparalleled wealth of Diintbc 
and var'ety. Adjoining the Saloon there will likewise be a Museum, available both as a Lecture-room and for the exhibition of a typical Natural Hiata 
Collection, more especially representative of the luxuriant Marine Fauna and Flora of the Channel Islands. 

The more important Technical Department will include Laboratories, with allsuiuble Apparatus and Instruments. Tanks for Experiment 
Pisciculture, and a Library of Standard Scientific Works and Serials for the use of naturalists and students who shall repair here for the purpo 
of prosecuting Marine Biological Research. "With the Institution will also be associated a D^pot for the supply of living or carefully-presem 
marine specimens to British or other Universities, Museums, Science Schools and Aquaria, or to naturalists that may require the same for museum, type 
class demonstration, or for private investigation. 

Following the syrtrm adopted at the Penikese Island Station, it is further proposed, for the full development of the scientific resources of di 
In.'iitntion, to maugumtfi Summer Qasses for the attendance of Students, and to hold out sufficient inducements for the most eminent authorities < 
various biological subjects to deliver Lectures and a Course of Instruction to these Qasses upon that branch o£ Natural HistOT with which the 

reputation is more especially associated. In view of the Laboratories and Lecture Arrangements being complete by the Summer of 1878, those \ ^ 

to avail themselves, as Students, of the advantages held out, are re<iuested to communicate with the Secretary. 

In view of a desire already expressed by many wishing to assist in the establishment of this Institution without becoming Shareholders, the I 
is empowered to receive Contributions towards the establishment and further development of the Institution. Such moneys contributed will be devote 
entirely to the uses above-mentioned, and will not be applicable for the purposes ot a Dividend or otherwise for the personal advantage of the ordinar 
Shareholders. Fspecial privileges will be granted to all such Donors ; Sub<cribers of ;f 10 and upwards receiving in return the advantage of a Life-mesnbei 
ship and free admission to the Institution upon all occa^ons on which the building is open to the public. 

The technical control of the Institution will be undertaken, as Naturalist Director, by Mr. W. SAVILLE KENT, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c. formetli 
Assistant in the Natural History Department of the British Museum, and whose experience as Naiuraliit for some years to the leading English Aquari 
eminently qualifies him for this position. 

In registering the Memorandum and Articles of Association of this Society, special care has been taken to secure for the undertaking a purel; 
scientific status, and to permanently exclude from it all those supplementary attractions of an irrelevant nat jre usually associated vdch public exhibitioa 
of the living wonders of the deep. It is only under such restrictions and reservations that patronage and subscriptions are here invited. 

For Prospectuses and further particulars apply to the Secrrfary or to the Naturalist Dirbctor, 16, Royal Squve, St. Helier's, Jersw. 

Contributions of Books and Serial literature relating to Biological Subjects suited for the Library, of J nstruments and Apparatus for Che Laboratocy; 
or of Natural History Specimens for the Museum, will be most gratefully accepted 

An especial appeal for support is here made to the Fellows and Members of the various Metropolitan and Provincial Scientific Societies, and whi 
have now placed before them an unprecedented opportunity of advancing the prestige and interests of English Marine Biological Science. 

DONATIONS RECEIVED :— From Mr. Charies Darwin, F.R. S. , £^o. 

All further Contributions to the " Donation Fund " for the founding of the Channel Islands' Zoological Station and Museum and Institute o 
Pisciculture will be duly acknowledged in these columns. 

W. SAVILLE KENT, How. S«c. 



CONSUMPTION: 

Its Proximate Cause and Specific Treatment bjr the HYPOPHOSPHITES 
upon the Principles of Stcechiological Medicine, by 

JOHN FRANCIS CHURCHILL, M.D., 
With an Appendix on the Direct Treatment of Respiratory Diseases 
(Asthma, Bronchitis, ftc) by Stcechiological Inhalants. And Reporu of 
nearly IVo Hundred Cases by Drs. Churchill, Campbell, Heslop, Sterling, 
Bird, Santa Maria, Gomez, Maestre, Parigot, Reinvillier, Galvez, Leri- 
verend, Denobele, Feldman, PfeifTer, Vintras, Bougard, Tirifahv, Lana, 
Fabbri, Panegrossi, Cerasi, Gualdi, Todini^ Ascenzi, Regnoli, Valentini, 
Casati, Blasi, Borromeo, Fiorelli, and FedelL 

London : LONGMANS & CO. 
Now ready, 8vo, a*. 6d, 

NOTES on EMBRYOLOGY and CLASSI- 
FICATION, for the Use of Students. With 20 Illustrations. By E. 
RAY LANKESTER, M.A , F.R.S., Professor of Geology and Com- 
parative Anatomy, University College, I^ndon. 

J. & A. CHURCHILL, New Burlington Street. 

THE MICROSCOPE IN PRACTICAL 

MEDICINE. By LIONEL S. BEALE. M.B., F.R.S. 
The Fourth Edition will be ready in October. Two Hundred Pages and 
Thirty Plates have been added to this Edition, and the work has been 
revised throughout 

London : J. & A. CHURCHILL, New Burhngton Street. 

Recently published in 8vo, zor. td» 

The GERM THEORY APPLIED to the 

EXPLANATION of the PHENOMENA of DISEASE. By T. 
MACLAGAN, M.D. 

*' We think it well that such a book as this should be written. It places 
before the reader in clear and unmistakable terms what is meant by the germ 
theory of disease."— Zr««cr/. 

•* An able and exhaustive inquiry."— i*«^&V Htmiik, 

** A book of a vei7 high order of merit. We cordially recommend it to 
all. It is a book that is full of suggestions, and one which all physicians who 
claim to have an opinion en the germ theory axe bound to read carefully.— 
Medical Examiner. . , , 

'* Brings before us in a simple and clear form what the ucts are which 
must be accounted for. The profession should be nateful to Dr. Maclagan 
for showing the actual position of the advocates of toe germ theory at the 
prQs^t tim^ "—Lffndm Mtdical Record, 

MACMILLAN ft CO., London. 



GEMS AND PRECIOUS STONES. 

MR. BRYCE M. WRIGHT begs to call the attention of Collector* td 
his Stock, which includes White Aquamarines, Andalu&ites, Cymophanc 
Cats' Eyes, Pink, bellow, and Whire Topazes, the new Green Garnets^ 
Spodumenes, Red and Blue Ipinek^ Alexandr>tes (green by day and red b« 
night). Star Sapphires, Iphenes, Diop&ides, Phenakites, and other out-o^ 
the- way Gems. 

BRYCE M. WRIGHT, F.R.G.S., fto., 

90, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, BLOOMSBURY, 
LONDON, W.C. 

IN Svo, PRICE 6r. 

MUSICAL INTERVALS AND 
TEMPERAMENT, 

AN ELEMENTARY TREATISE ON. 

With an Account of an Enharmonic Harmonium exhibited at the Loaa 

Collection of Scientific Instruments at South Kensington, 1876 ; also of 

an Enharmonic Organ exhibited to the Musical Assodauon erf" Londoob 

May, 1875. 

BY R. H. BOSANQUET, 

Fellow of St John's College, Oxford. 
MACMILLAN and CO., Londoni 

In Crown Svo, price qs, 

SOUND and MUSIC: a Non-Mathemati- 

cal Treatise oa the Physical Constitution of Musical Sounds and Hai^ 
mony, induding the Chief Acoustical Discoveries of Prof. Helmholta 
By SBDLEY TAYLOR, M JL. late Fellow of Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge. 

MACMILLAN an > CO.. LONDON. 

WANTED Clean Copies of NATURE, 

No. 5&— Additn Natvu Ofiooi 99. Bedlbrd Straet, Strand, W.C. 



NATURE 



21 



THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1877 



EXPLOSIONS IN MINES 

AFTER the occurrence of great colliery explosions 
such as those which took place recently in Pern* 
berton and Blantyre collieries, one very general and 
pertinent question presents itself to most minds, namely, 
What has been done or attempted with the view of 
preventing these disasters ? It would be impossible to 
condense into an article like the present all that could be 
said in reply to this question, but I shall endeavour to 
give a brief outline of the subject, and point out, as well 
as I can, what appear to be its most prominent features. 

Before the invention of the safety-lamp, the only means 
of guarding against the ignition of firedamp consisted in 
the employment of an apparatus called the *' stf'el mill/ 
The light obtained by its aid was feeble and uncertain, 
and Mr. Buddie informs us that explosions were known 
to have been caused by the sparks emitted by it. When 
Davy made his brilliant invention in 181 5-1 6, the 
steel mill was laid aside for ever, and it was then 
imagined that colliery explosions had also become phe- 
nomena belonging to a past order of things. So con- 
fident, indeed, was Davy in the ef!icacy of bis lamp, that 
he believed it could be safely employed for carrying on 
work in an explosive atmosphere ; and he even went so 
far as to propose to make use of the firedamp itself as 
ihe light-giving combustible. These fond expectations 
were soon roughly dispelled, as one explosion followed 
another in an apparently unaccountable manner ; and at 
length they were succeeded by a feeling of positive dis- 
trust, which found expression in the report of a select 
committee appointed, in 1835, to inquire into the nature 
of accidents in mines. 

In 1850 Mr. Nicholas Wood made a series of experi- 
ments, which proved that when a Davy lamp is subjected 
to an explosive current travelling at the rate of eight or 
nine feet per second, the flame soon passes through the 
*ire gauze. This was corroborated about 1867 by experi. 
mcnts conducted by a committee of the North of England 
Institute of Mining Engineers. 

I-asdy, in 1872-73, the writer demonstrated, also by 
experiment, that when a lamp burning in explosive gas is 
traversed by a violent sound-wave, such as that produced 
hy ablastbg shot, the same result follows, that is, ignition 
is communicated to the outside atmosphere. These are 
weak points inseparable from the construction of the 
ordinary Davy and Clanny lamps ; but as it is now a 
thoroughly-recognised maxim that work must never, 
under any circumstances, be continued in an explosive 
atmosphere, they are seldom put to the test. 

The atmosphere of part of a mine may, however, become 
^cplosivc before the men can escape, either by the sudden 
influx of a quantity of firedamp from some natural cavity 
^ which it had existed in a state of tension, or by a partial 
w total cessation of the ventilating current ; and I propose 
^^e next place to consider how such an event could 
produce an explosion supposing all the men to be pro- 
ved with safety lamps. 

This will happen, firstly, if the inflanmiable gas 
passes over a furnace at the bottom of the upcast \ 
Vou ^11,— -Na 419 



secondly, if it is carried against a Davy or Clanny lamp 
at a greater velocity than seven feet per second, or if the 
lamp is traversed by a sound-wave ; thirdly, if a blasting 
shot is fired directly into it ; and lastly, if it reaches a 
safety lamp that has been opened by one of the men. 

The means that have been provided for guarding 
against these contingencies are as follow : — i. Furnaces 
have to a large extent been replaced by ventilating fans 
in fiery collieries. 2. Davy and Clanny lamps are still 
almost universally employed, and little importance seems 
to be attached to their known imperfections by those who 
are supposed to be capable of deciding the question. 3. 
Shot-firing having been found to originate many explo- 
sions, although probably in a manner not yet understood 
by most people, is now carried on under certain re- 
strictions which it could easily be shown are still 
insufficient 4. Much nonsense has been talked and 
written about miners opening their lamps. That they 
sometimes do so is beyond a doubt ; but why should this 
state of matters be allowed to continue when it can be 
easily put an end to ? The present flimsy pretence for a 
lock is not a necessity but a cheap convenience ; and who 
is responsible if say a hundred men are killed through its 
being opened by one ? Is there no responsibility attach- 
ing to the owners or the legislature for placing the lives 
of ninety-nine innocent men in danger ? I think surely 
there is. 

The influence of changes of weather on the internal 
condition of mines has been jremarked since the remotest 
times, and for the last fifty or sixty years at least many 
have asserted that firedamp is more prevalent when the 
barometer is low than in the opposite case. The 
explanation of theFe phenomena is easily found by any- 
one who has an elementary knowledge of the physical 
properties of gases. On the other hand, when vigorous 
artificial means of ventilation are employed, and ordinary 
skill practised in distributing the air, the effects of changes 
of weather become much less perceptible. 

Hence if a large proportion of explosions can be shown 
to occur simultaneously with, and therefore, presumably, 
in consequence of, those atmospheric changes that would 
tend to augment the amount of firedamp in the workings, 
there is a strong argument in favour of the supposition 
that they are preventible, and cannot therefore be consi- 
dered as accidents in the true sense of the term. With 
this object in view diagrams have been made from 
time to time by Mr. R. H. Scott and myself, and also by 
one or two others, showing the connection that exists 
between the two classes of phenomena, and an examina- 
tion of these is sufficient to convince unbiased persons 
that there is a striking coincidence between the explo- 
sions and the favourable atmospherical conditions. As 
might, perhaps, be expected, some persons engaged 
in mining either fail to see the connection, or possibly 
they do not understand it. Nevertheless a general rule 
was inserted in the Coal Mines' Regulation Act (1872) 
making it compulsory for mine- owners to place a baro- 
meter and thermometer at the entrance to every mine in 
the coal-measures. 

It has always been difficult, and sometimes impossible, 
for mining men to give an adequate reason for the extent 
of great explosions, and more especially when it is^ 
known that, inmiedisitel^beforpl^and, little or no inflam- 



22 



NATURE 



[Nov. 8, 1877 



mable gas has been present in the workmgs. The reports 
of the Inspectors of Mines bear ample testimony to the 
correctness of this statement It has therefore been cus- 
tomary in the absence of any other tenable hypothesis to 
assimie that a large volimie of firedamp had been suddenly 
poured into the workings. But these so-called '^out- 
bursts of gas ** are entirely unknown in some localities in 
which great explosions have occurred ; and therefore it is 
much to be marvelled at that some other explanation was 
not at least sought for. 

In September, 1844, before the appointment of inspec- 
tors of mines, Lyell and Faraday were sent to Haswell 
Colliery by the Home Secretary to report on an explosion 
that had just taken place there. I am unable to quote 
from their official report, but I am firmly convinced that 
the following sentences taken from their article on the 
subject in the PhiL Mag, 1845, is the true key to absolution 
of Uie problem as regards both the mode of occurrence 
and means to be used for the purpose of avoiding great 
explosions in future ; and, moreover, I believe that it has 
been highly unfortunate, both for the cause of the miner 
and his employer, that these two philosophers were not 
induced to prosecute their investigations further than they 
did. 

The sentences referred to are these : — " In considering 
the extent of the fire for the moment of explosion, it is 
not to be supposed that firedamp is its only fuel ; the 
coal-dust swept by the rush of wind and flame from the 
floor, roof, and walls of the works, would instantly take 
fire and bum, if there were oxygen enough in the air to 
support its combustion ; and we found the dust adhering 
to the face of the pillars, props, and walls in the direction 
of, and on the side towards, the explosion, increasing 
gradually to a certain distance as we neared the place of 
ignition. This deposit was in some parts half an inch, 
and in others almost an inch thick ; ^ it adhered together 
in a friable coked state ; when examined with .the glass it 
presented the fused round form of burnt coal-dust, and 
when examined chemically, and compared with the coal 
itself reduced to powder, was found deprived of the 
greater portion of the bitumen, and in some cases entirely 
destitute of it." 

About three years ago M. Vital, Ingdnieur des Mines in 
France, showed that a flame resembling that produced by 
a blasting shot which blows out the tamping is greatly 
lengthened in an atmosphere containing a cloud of coal- 
dust ; and soon afterwards the writer ascertained that air 
containing a small proportion of fire-damp (less than one 
per cent, by volume) becomes highly inflammable when 
coal-di;st is mixed with it 

These discoveries complete what Lyell and Faraday 
began, and show how explosions of any conceivable mag- 
nitude may occur in mines containing dry coal-dust. A 
blasting shot or a small local explosion of firedamp, or a 
naked light exposed when a cloud of coal>dust is raised up 
by a fall of roof in air already containing a little fire- 
damp is sufficient to initiate them, and, when once they 
are begun, they become self-sustaining. 

These remarkable facts are either not yet sufficiently 
well known or their true significance is not yet fully ap- 
preciated. In conclusion I may state that out of many 

I In the reports of the Inspectors of Mines, human bodies, timber, and 
coal, are described as being charrtdois burHt where thoy an coveted with 
this deposit.— W. G. 



hundred collieries known to me there is not, to my kno^sr- 
ledge, a single damp one in which a great explosion lia3 
happened ; while, on the other hand, there is a con- 
siderable number of very dry ones in which explosions 
causing the deaths of from 12 to 178 men at a time have 
occurred. W. Galloway 



THE SUN'S PHOTOSPHERE 

DR. JANSSEN has just made a communicatioa to 
the French Academy of Sciences, which will l>e 
received with interest, not only by students of solar physics, 
but by all who follow the various triumphs achieved 
by modem scientific methods. It seems a paradox that 
discoveries can be made depending on the appearance of 
the Sim's surface by observations in which the eye applied 
to the telescope is powerless ; but this is the statement 
made by Dr. Janssen himself, and there is little doubt that 
he has proved his point. 

Before we come to the discovery itself let us say a little 
concerning Dr. Janssen's recent endeavours. Among the 
six large telescopes which now form a part of the equip- 
ment of the new physical observatory recently established 
by the French government at Meudon, in the grounds of 
the princely Chiteau, there is one to which Dr. Janssen 
has recently almost exclusively confined his attention. It is 
a photoheliograph giving images of the sun on an enormous 
scale — compared with which the pictures obtained by the 
Kew photoheliograph are, so to speak, pigmies, while the 
perfection of the image and the photographic processes 
employed are so exquisite, that the finest mottling on the 
sun's surface cannot be overlooked by those even who are 
profoundly ignorant of the interest which attaches to it. 

This perfection and size of image have been obtained 
by Dr. Janssen by combining all that is best in the prin- 
ciples utilised in* one direction by Mr. De la Rue, and in 
the other by Mr. Rutherfurd. In the Kew photohelio- 
graph, which has done such noble work in its day that it 
will be regarded with the utmost veneration in the future, 
we have first a small object-glass corrected after the 
manner of photographic lenses, so as to make the so- 
called actinic and the visual rays coincide, and then the 
image formed by this lens is enlarged by a secondary 
magnifier constructed, though perhaps not too accurately, 
so as to make the actinic and visual rays unite in a second 
image on a prepared plate. Mr. Rutherfurd's beautiful 
photographs of the sun were obtained in a somewhat 
different manner. In his object-glass he discarded the 
visual rays altogether and brought only the blue rays to 
a focus, but when enlargements were made an ordinary 
photographic lens — that is, one in which the blue and 
yellow rays are made to coincide — ^was used. 

Dr. Janssen uses a secondary magnifier, but with the 
assistance of M. Pragmowski he has taken care that both 
it and the object-glass are effective only for those rays 
which are most strongly photographic. Nor is this all ; 
he has not feared largely to increase the apertures and 
focal length, so that the total length of the Kew instru- 
ment is less than one-third of that in operation in Paris. 

The largely-increased aperture which Dr. Janssen has 
given to his instrument is a point of great importance. 
In the early days of solar photography the aperture used 
was small, in order to prevent over-exposure. It was 



i\fep. 8, 1877] 



NATURE 



23 



soon found that this small aperture, as was to he expected, 
produced poor images in consequence of the diffraction 
effects brought about by it. It then became a question 
of increasing the aperture while the exposure was reduced, 
and many forms of instantaneous shutters have been 
suggested with this end in view. With these, if a spring 
be used, the narrow slit ^ which flashes across the beam 
to pay the light out into the plate changes 'its velocity 
daring its passage as the tension of the spring changes. 
Of this again Dr. Janssen has not been unmindful, and 
lie has invented a contrivance in which the velocity is 
constant during the whole length of run of the shutter. 

By these various arrangements the plates have now 
been produced at Meudon of fifteen inches diameter, 
showing details on the sun's surface of less than one 
second of arc 

So much for the modus operandi. Now for the branch 
of solar work which has been advanced. 

It is more than fifteen years ago since the question 
of the minute structure of the solar photosphere was one 
of the questions of the day. The so-called "mottling" 
had long been observed. The keen-eyed Dawes had 
pointed out the thatch-like formation of the penumbra of 
spots, when one day Mr. Nasmyth announced the dis- 
covery that the whole sun was covered with objects 
resembling willow leaves, most strangely and effectively 
interlaced. I here quote from Sir John Herschel.' 

"According to his observations, made with a very fine 
telescope of his' own making, the bright surface of the 
sun consists of separate, insulated, individual objects or 
ttiVfg-j, all nearly or exactly of one certain definite size 
and shape, which is more like that of a willow leaf, as 
he describes them, than anything else. These leaves 
or scales are not arranged in any order (as those 
on a butterfly's wing are), but lie crossing one another 
in all directions, like what are called spills in the 
game of spilikins ; except at the borders of a spot, 
where they point for the most part inwards, towards the 
middle of the spot, presenting much the sort of appear- 
ance that the small leaves of some water-plants or sea- 
weeds do at the edge of a deep hole of clear water. The 
exceedingly definite shape of these objects ; their exact 
similarity one to another ; and the way in which they lie 
across and athwart each other (except where they form a 
sort of bridge across a spot, in which case they seem to 
affect a common direction, that, namely, of the bridge 
itself), all these characters seem quite repugnant to the 
notion of their being of a vaporous, a cloudy, or of a 
fluid nature. Nothing remains but to consider them as 
separate and independent sheets, flakes, or scales, having 
some sort of solidity. And these flakes, be they what 
tbey may, and whatever may be said about the dashing 
of meteoric stones into the sun's atmosphere, &c., are 
evidently the immediate sources of the solar light and 
^ai, by whatever mechanism or whatever processes they 
may be enabled to develop, and as it were elaborate these 
elements from the bosom of the non-luminous fluid in 
which they appear to float. Looked at in this point of 
view, we cannot refuse to regard them as organisms of 
some peculiar and amazing kmd , . , , " 

Here, then, was a discovery with a vengeance I and 
absolute endorsement from the man above all others who 

^ llavereoeDtly been making some experiments with a view of getting 
ndof tV.e narrow aperture in general use, as it has appeared to^ me that the 
oiBraction effects produ<xd by it must be as injurious to definition as those 
«e to a mall object-glass. I have found that a circular aperture, allowing 
w.whole beam to be flashed on the plate in conjunction with a plate of 
2J*^T pore yellow glass nearly in contact with the photographic plate can 

.'"fi^'^out overexposure. 

• f MaBw Lectutes." p. 87. 



had a right to express an opinion. Nevertheless, the 
organisms have since disappeared, and the work of 
many careful observers has established that the mottling 
on the sun's surface is due to dome-like masses, 
and that the " thatch" of the penumbra is due to these 
dome-hke masses being drawn, either direcdy or in the 
manner of a cyclone, towards the centre of the spot. In 
fact the " pores " in the interval between the domes are 
so many small spots, while the faculae are the higher 
levels of the cloudy surface. The fact that faculae 
are so much better seen near the limb proves that the 
absorption of the solar atmosphere rapidly changes 
between the levels reached by the upper faculae and the 
pores. 

These masses are in all probability due to a rapid 
increase of pressure in the portion of the solar atmo- 
sphere occupied by the photosphere; we know, or think we 
know, that they are not due to reduction of temperature. 

Thus much presumed we now come to Dr. Janssen's 
discovery. 

An attentive examination of his photographs shows 
that the surface of the photosphere has not a constitution 
uniform in all its parts, dut that it is divided into a series 
of figures more or less distant from each other^ and pre- 
senting a peculiar constitution. These figures have con- 
tours more or less rounded, often very rectilinear, and 
generally resembling polygons. .The dimensions of these 
figures are very variable ; diey attain sometimes a minute 
and more in diameter. 

While in the interval of the figures of which we speak 
the grains are clear, distinctly terminated, although of 
very variable size, in the interior the grains are as if half 
effaced, stretched, strained ; for the most part, indeed, 
they have disappeared to make way for trains of matter 
which have replaced the granulation. Everything indi- 
cates that in these spaces, as in the penumbras of spots, 
the photospheric matter is submitted to violent move- 
ments which have confused the granular elements. 

In an article recently contributed by Dr. Hunter and 
myself to the Nineteenth Century^ the following pas- 
sage occurs : — 

" The spots may be taken as a rough index of solar 
energy, just as the rainfall may be taken as a convenient 
indication of terrestrial climate. They are an index but 
not a measure of solar activity ; and their absence indi- 
cates a reduction, not the cessation, of the sun's energy. 
WhetJier this reduction means one in a hundred or one in 
a thousand we do not knowP 

With the same idea in his mind Dr. Janssen points out 
that this fact throws light upon the forms of solar activity^ 
and shows that that activity, in the photosphere, is always 
very great, although no spot appears on the surface. 

We have already referred to the paradox that the sun's 
appearance can now be best studied without the eye 
applied to the telescope. This is what Dr. Janssen says 
on that point 

The photospheric network cannot be discovered by 
optical methods applied directly to the sun. In fact, to 
ascertain it from the proofs, it is necessary to employ 
glasses which enable us to embrace a certain extent of the 
photographic image. Then if the magnifying power is 
quite suitable, if the proof is quite pure, and especially it 

« " Sun-spots and PamUies,- NimUmih <^*^|^^|[f ^l^'(5x! 



H 



NATURE 



[Ndv. 8, 1877 



it has received rigorously the proper exposure, it will be 
seen that the granulation has not every wheie the same dis- 
tmctness, that the parts consisting of well- formed grains 
appear as currents which circulate so as to circum- 
scribe spaces where the phenomena present the aspect 
we have described. But to establish this fact, it is 
necessary to embrace a considerable portion of the 
solar disc, and it is this which it is impossible to realise 
when we look at the sun in a very powerful instrument 
the field of which is, by the very fact of its power, very 
smalL In these conditions we may very easily conclude 
that there exist portions where the granulation ceases to 
be distinct or even visible ; but it is impossible to suppose 
that this fact is connected with a general system. 

We have written enough to show that when the daily 
history of the sun comes to be recorded another method 
and another point of view have now been added as the 
first fruits of Dr. Janssen's labours in his new observatory. 

J. Norman Lockyer 

FOWNES' ''MANUAL OF CHEMISTRY*' 

Fowne^ Manual of Chemistry, Vol. 1 1. Chemistry of 
Carbon Compounds, or Organic Chemistry. Twelfth 
Edition. By H. Watts, B.A., F.R.S. (London: 
Churchill, 1877.) 

ORGANIC chemistry is now progressing with such 
rapid strides, that a work on this subject becomes 
antiquated, at least in some parts, in the course of a few 
years. A new edition of a well known and favourite book 
must therefore be most welcome to students of this branch 
of chemical science, and more so when edited by a man 
whom we may justly call " the English Gmelin." 

The old familiar, bulky Fownes has now been divided 
into two handy volumes, enabling the editor to devote 
the same space to the carbon compounds as to inorganic 
chemistry. 

The arrangement of the subject is in principle almost 
the same as in the last edition ; organic compounds being 
divided into hydrocarbons, alcohols, ethers, amido- com- 
pounds, organo- metallic bodies, acids, &c., the compounds 
of each group being arranged in homologous series. 

Physiological chemistry is omitted, and this must be 
considered as an improvement, as that branch of chemical 
science now requires special treatment in a separate work. 

The name of the author is a sufficient guarantee for the 
soundness of the knowledge which this book imparts, and 
we hope to see it soon in the hands of numerous students 
who will find it a most useful and trustworthy guide, 
embracing as it does the most important recent researches. 
The book is singularly free from misprints, and the few 
which we have found can be easily corrected by a student 
who is accustomed to think for himself. 

As a reviewer is expected to point out any faults, we 
will do so, but *' sine irae et studia/' and only for the 
benefit of the students who will largely use this work. 

Thus we miss an account of the normal sulphuric ethers, 
which are found by the action of sulphuryl chloride, or 
oxychloride on the alcohols and phenols. Perhaps these 
parts were written before the researches we allude to 
were published, and the same may be the case with 
phenyl-sulphuric acid, and its homologues, compounds 
which . possess such interest both for the chemist and 



physiologist To lactide, the author still assigns the 
old formula CsH^Og, although Henry has proved, by 
determining its vapour density, that its molecular formula 
is C6Hg04. On page 285 we find a statement ^which 
might lead a beginner in practical work to disappoint- 
ment, it is there said that ''crude acetyl chloride is 
purified by heating it with water and dilute soda solu- 
tion." *' Quandoque bonus dormitat Homerus." 

We were much pleased to find that Mr. Watts has 
given particular attention to the study of isomerism, 
especially among the derivatives of benzene, and he justly 
says in the preface : '^ This part of the subject is liere 
presented in a form in which it has not yet appeared ia 
any English publication, except in the Journal of the 
Chemical Society." 

Speaking of the disubstitution products of benzene, the 
following definition is given : '' A di-derivative of benzene 
is para-, ortho-, or meta-, according as it can give rise to, 
or be formed from, one, two, or three tri-derivatives. 
This definition is, however, incomplete, and only holds 
good if in the di-derivative the substituting elements or 
radicals are the same. For it is easily seen that, to 
take the most simple case, a para-compound containing 
two different groups such as paranitrobromo benzene 
can give rise to or be formed from two different amido- 
nitrobromobenzenes. The oversight is, however, a matter 
of small importance, and an attentive student will not be 
led astray by it. 

The theory of structure or position which Mr. Watts 
treats so fully has been lately attacked by eminent 
chemists who seem to overlook or forget the great im- 
pulse which this theory has given to the progress of 
organic chemistry. The " modern chemists," as they 
sneer ingly have been called, know well enough that the 
structural formulae which they use do not pretend to give 
a picture of the real position of atoms in space, and do 
not mean more than the parallelogram of forces in me- 
chanics, «>., they only express the manner in which the 
different forces of the atoms attract each other. They 
fully understand that their present theory, with the pro- 
gress of science will have to undergo many modifications, 
and it is not a dogma, but will stand or fall on its own 
merits. 

The opponents of the modern school remind us of the 
last followers of the phlogistic theory who got hold of 
any fact which the antiphlogistonists were not able to 
explain as a proof that the latter were in the wrong. We 
can easily imagine how pleased Priestley was when it 
was found that when heating certain metallic calces with 
charcoal an inflammable air was formed, whereas, accord- 
ing to Lavoisier's school, only carbonic acid could be 
produced. Just in the same way the opponents of the 
structural theory point out that the existence of four lactic 
acids is incompatible with it ; and Mr. Watts himself, 
although a strong adherent of the theory of structure, 
shirks the discussion of this point, and rusticates one of 
the four in a foot-note, in which he expresses his doubts 
as to its existence. 

The recent researches of Wislicenus, however, hardly 
leave any doubt that four such acids exist. We must 
confess that we are not able to explain the difference 
between hydracrylic acid and ethenelactic acid, and quite 
agree with Mr. Watts that Wislicenus* explanation of the 



O 



Iw. 8, 1877] 



NATURE 



^5 



of their isomerism is improvable and far-fetched, 
there exist other isomeric compounds which, like 
two acids, have apparently the same chemical 
itntion, and in some of these cases it has lately 
shown that the bodies are not chemical isomerides 
physical isomorphides, or differ from each other in 
bactiy the same way as calcite differs from arragonite. 
hTe have not the least doubt that the cause of the 
jkomerism of the lactic acids will, at no distant time, 
dso find a satisfactory explanation, because we are con- 
rinced that organic chemistry is working in the right 
firection. Time will show whether we prophesy truly 
or not. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 

Jranuaucasia and Ararat; being Notes of a Vacation 
Teur in ike Autumn of 1876. By James Bryce. 
(London : Macmiilan and Co., 1877.) 

Although in this narrative Prof. Bryce takes the reader 
over pretty well-known ground, about parts of which, at 
least, much has been written, still even the best-informed 
leaders will read his book with pleasure and profit. Prof. 
Brfce used his own eyes, and as he is a good and 
^qiendent observer, there is an unusual freshness about 
pis narrative. He journeyed down the Volga, crossed the 
KMithem steppe and the Caucasus to Ararat, which he 
fnoended, thence to the shore of the Black Sea, sailing 
bloDg the coast to Constantinople. Nijni Novgorod Fair, 
rke thinks, lias been much over-estimated in some respects, 
and he has a i^ood word to say of the recently much- 
abased Cossack. Prof Bryce is a good geologist, and his 
work abounds with interesting notes on die geology as 
jweQ as the flora of the regions which he traversed. Per- 
[saps the most interesting chapter in his book is that in 
Ivluch he describes his ascent of Mount Ararat. In a 
jpRvious chapter he has collected much valuable informa- 
raoQ concerning the mountain, the legends connected with 
b, its geology, volcanic phenomena, meteorology, vegeta- 
kion, and animals. Prof. Bryce, with a companion, six 
rCbssack soldiers, and an interpreter, set out from Aralyk, 
a little to the north of the mountain, at 8 A.M., on 
September 11 last year, to attempt the ascent. About 
noon they were fairly on the side of Ararat, and at 
about 6,000 feet came upon a snudl Kurd encamp- 
aKnt, some of the* Kurds, with their oxen, being induced 
to act as baggage-bearers. At the well of Sardar- 
bidakh they camped late in the afternoon, about 7,500 
feet above the sea. About one A.M. they started again, 
thirteen in all, but as they proceeded, with many 
vexatious halts, the Cossacks dropped off one by one. 
and at last, at about 12,000 feet. Prof. Bryce resolved 
lo take what he wanted in the way of food, and start at 
his own pace. Two Cossacks and a Kurd accompanied 
Urn to Uie height of about 13,600 feet, when they too 
dropiped ofi^ and Prof. Bryce resolved to accomplish the 
icnuunder of the 17,000 feet alone, a hazardous under- 
taking even for a trained Alpinist. Partly up a rocky 
ibpe which seems to extend considerably beyond the 
snow-line, and partly over the soft snow itself, and 
enveloped much of the time in cloud, Prof. Bryce 
coBtinned his solitary and fatiguing climb, until about 
half-past two p.m., he became convinced that he 
vas really on the top of Ararat, at least one of the 
tops, for there are two, one about thirty feet higher 
wn the other, and he did not descend until he 
had set his feet on both. There were difficulties and 
dangers both in the ascent and descent, though they do 
not seem to be nearly so great, judging from Prof. Bryce's 
description, as those which attend the ascent of a moderate 
Alpine sununit, Prol Bryce reached his companions again 



in safety. Notwithstanding he had to make all haste to 
reach the summit, he had time to make several interesting 
notes of what he saw by the way, the evidences of volcanic 
action particularly attracting his attention. To show the 
superstitious awe with which the sacred summit is regarded 
in the region around. Prof. Bryce tells that when the 
Archimandrite of Etchraiadzin was told that the English- 
man had ascended to the top of " Massis,** the venerable 
man replied, smiling sweetly, " No, that cannot be. No 
one has ever been there. It is impossible." Prof Bryce's 
is the sixth known ascent of Ararat, the first having 
been made in 1829 by Dr. Frederick Parrot, a Russo- 
German professor in Dorpat University. 

Thermodynamics, By R. Wormell. (The London 
Science Class-books. Elementary Series. Long- 
mans, 1877.) 
This work is one of the earliest published of a series 
"adapted for school purposes,** and '* composed with 
special reference to use in school teaching,'' as we are 
told in the general preface. 

We feel very strongly that no good can come of the 
introduction of such subjects as the dynamical theory of 
heat into school- teaching. That an average school- boy 
can be taught the elements of such subjects as astronomy, 
botany, and natural history, and that he will to a certain 
extent profit by such teaching, may probably be true; 
but only in so far as his powers of observation are 
concerned. We believe that it is a complete mistake in 
practical education to try to carry the process farther than 
the elements, even in the case of the comparatively easy 
subjects just named. 

Some elementary experimental facts connected with 
heat might, no doubt, be added to the list. But it is 
simply the work of the era nmer to stuff a school- boy's head 
with such utterly unassimilable materials as reversible 
engines, absolute temperature, and the kinetic theory of 
gases. This is education run mad. 

This obvious consideration decides at once our opinion 
as to the value of the work before us. It is beyond the 
intelligence of schoolboys, and in the hopeless endeavour 
to sink it to their level it has been deprived of much that 
might have made it a serviceable work for more mature 
minds. 

After what we have said, it would be superfluous to 
criticise the book minutely, for nearly all our objections 
would be mere repetitions in part of the first and general 
one. We note, however, a want of strictness, or at least 
of completeness, in some of the mathematical proofs. 
The first example we meet with may serve as a type. 
Thus (p. 4) it is assumed, without any attempt at expla- 
nation, in fact without a word to warn the reader that a 
distinct step has been taken, that in uniformly accelerated 
motion the mean velocity during any period is half the 
sum of the initial and final velocities — a truth, and a very 
important one, but most certainly not seL^-evident to the 
average schoolboy. 

Simple Lessons for Home Use. (London ; E. Stanford, 

1877.) 
These simple lessons are intended for younger children 
than those for whom the primers published by Messrs. 
Macmiilan have been written, and they appear admir- 
ably adapted for the purpose they have in view. Mr. 
W. E. Forster, in his recent speech at Huddersfield, 
referred to the importance of teaching the elements 
of science in primary schools by means of appropriate 
reading books. The Uttle books before us, so far as 
they go, meet the wish expressed by Mr. Forster. The 
print is clear, the language on the whole simple, and the 
price (threepence) places them within the reach of the 
humblest Perhaps there is a little too great a tendency 
to moralise in parts of the otherwise capital little lessons 
on birds and money. The author of the last-named— the 
Rev. T. E. Crallan— tells in a simple and interesting way j 

igitized by ^'-^ 



26 



NATURE 



{Nov. 8, 1 8 



how money grows, and writes for younger minds than 
does the Rev. G. Henslow, who contributes lessons on 
flowers, where too many technical terms, are, we think, 
introduced, especially in the first chapter. Miss Fenwick 
Miller's lessons on the human body, and on ventilation, 
are excellent, and so are Mr. Philip Sevan's on food, and 
Dr. Mann's on the weather. Altogether, we congratulate 
the publisher on the subjects selected, and the authors he 
has chosen : no doubt the remainder of the lessons that 
are to be issued will confirm the high opinion we have 
formed of those already before us. W. F. B. 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

\The Editor does not hold kimself responsible for opimms expressed 
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return^ 
or to correspond with the writers off rejected manuscripts. 
No notice is taken of anonymous communications. 

The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as 
short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it 
is impossible otherwise to ensure the appsarance even of com- 
munications containing interesting and novel facts.} 

Appunn and Koenig. — Beats in Confined Air 
In my letter published in Nature (vol. xvi. p. 227), I stated 
that I should re-examine the question of the discrepancy between 
Appunn and Koenig, and inform you of the result. Daring the 
whole month of September I was engaged in very carefully 
counting and recounting Appunn*s tonometer in the South Ken- 
sington Museum, the reeds of which had got a little out of order, 
a circumstance which did not interfere with the ascertainment of 

?itch, but disposed at once of any errors in Appunn's pendulum, 
employed one of Webster's ship chronometers, which was rated 
to lose one second daily, and counted each set of beats repeatedly 
through one or two minutes. I ascertained by this means that 
the objections made by Koenig on the score of false pendulums 
and false counting were entirely groundless, and that the former 
determinations of the relative pitch of Koenig's forks and 
Appnnn's reeds, made by Dr. Preyer and myself, were prac- 
tically correct. 

But as Lord Rayleigh pointed out in Nature (vol. xvii. p. 12) 
the practical agreement of the results obtained by Professors 
Mayer and MacLeod, and by his own new method there de* 
scribed, with Koenig's, serves to show that there is a physical 
phenomenon to be accounted for. Mr. Bosanquet had drawn 
my attention to the subject several months ago, and my own 
experiments on the beating of disturbed consonances had led 
me to the same conclusion. Accordingly I had devised a series 
of experiments for ascertainmg the fact, the nature of which I 
lately communicated to Ix>rd Rayleigh ; but as they required 
the use of two tonometers excited by separate bellows, there 
were difficulties in the way of making them, which I did not 
overcome till this week. To-day I made the first of these 
experiments, lasting four hours or more, and ascertained — 

1. That the beats of the harmonium reeds in Appann's tono- 
meter are affected by taking place in a confined space of air. 

2. That they are accelerate, and 

3. That the acceleration, being roughly about one per cent., 
will probably, when completely ascertained, account for the 
discrepancy observed. 

Details have been sent privately to Lord Rayleigh ; they are 
too incomplete for publication. The experiments will require 
many weeks to complete with the necessary accuracy. But in 
the meantime I hasten to communicate an important acoustical 
fact which may bear upon many other phenomena besides the 
ascertainment of absolute pitch. Alexander J. Ellis 

25, Argyll Rood, Kensington, November 3 

The Radiometer and its Lessons 
As I now learn for the first time what are the grounds on 
which Prof G. C. Foster based his inculpation of me, I mav ask 
for a very few last words. I fully admit that in giving a sketch 
of the history of the Radiometer, I intended to attribute to Mr. 
Crookes that he had in the first instance put a wrong interpre- 
tation upon his own results ; because I believed that this was a 
simple fact, well known to eveiybody who had followed the 
history of tiie inquiry. And Prof. Carey Foster has not called 
in question the correctness of my statement of the general im- 
pression which prevuled among sdentific men, alike when Mr. 
Crookes first exhibited his radiometer at the soir/e of the Royal 



Society, and when its phenomena were discussed at the sut 
quent meeting. Havmg followed that discussion with 
greatest interest, I cannot now recall one word that was not 
harmony with the "direct impact " doctrine, or that suggested I 
idea of ** heat reaction " through residual gas. If the qiiesti 
had been then asked, whether the rotation would continue 
take place in an open vacuum (were such possible), or in a > 
feet vacuum, — so as to eliminate all " reaction," through resid 
gas, between the vanes and the containing flask, — ^I bdieve t 
the general, if not the unanimous, verdict would have 1 
the affirmative. Certainly I heard nothing from Mr. Crookes] 
the other side, he having previously spoken of the depende 
of the "Repulsion resulting from Radiation on the pieseno 
residual gas as 'impossible to conceive.* " 

It is clear, then, that in referring to this then prevalent \.^ 
I no more wished to put Mr. Crookes in the wrong, than I wisli 
to put in the wrong my very excellent friends among the ot^ 
eminent Physicists who shared it ; the special purpose of 1 . 
part of my paper being to bring out, as strongly as I could, i 
thoroughly scientifc and philosophical methSd in which Ml 
Crookes afterwards worked himself right. If this is not expressd 
in as much detail as Prof. G. C. Foster would have approve! 
it surely afforded no adequate ground for his going out of M 
way to charge me with having "depreciated Mr. Crook^ 
merits." Yet this is the only ground that I can find in the whol 
of Prof. Carey Foster's statement, for what I could not but regi^ 
as a very grave imputatiou. 

On Mr. Crookes s reply I shall make but a single remark, wijij 
reference to his perfectly correct citation of the latter part of n 
conversation with him,* on the occasion of his receiving tl 
Royal Medal. If I had not found, after the publication of li| 
Lectures (in which I said nothing but what yr^s respectfiil to m 
Crookes), that he had himself been "di^ng op the hatchet' 
which I was quite disposed to keep buried, by giving his pubB 
attestation to the " spiritualistic " genuineness of what had bee 
proved to be a most barefaced imposture, I bhouldnot have«g^ 
brought his name into the controversy. But I felt that his grea^ 
increased reputation as a Scientific man would do an inovasiii 
injury to what I honesdy believed to be the cause of reason an 
common sense, not only in this country but still more in th 
United States. 

Since the death of Prof. Hare, not a single sciendfic man < 
note (so far as I am aware) has there joined the Spiritualisti 
ranks; but the names of the "eminent British scientists," Messr 
Crookes and Wallace, are a " tower of strength ** to the varioi 
orders of "mediums" — trapping mediums, writing medio mi 
drawing mediums, materialismg medioms, test mediums, phot* 
graphic mediums, trance mediums, heahaig mediums, and tl 
lyke— whose names form many columns of the ** Boston Trade 
Directory." And the now notorious impostor, Eva Fay, has be< 
able to apjpeal to the "endorsement "given to her by the " sciei 
tific tests applied to her by "Prof. Crookes and other Fellov 
of the Royal Society," which had been published (I now find) 1 
Mr. Crookes himself in the Spiritualist m March, 1875. With 
two months of that date, as Mr. Maskelyne has publicly state 
an offer vras made him (I have mjself seen copies of the lettei 
by Eva Fav's manager, that for an adequate sum of money ti 
" medium " should expose the whole affair, scientific tests and sii 
\complicating at host six biggums, the F,R,S, poople,'^' as she ^ 
not properly supported by the Spiritualists* . 

I have therefore felt it incumbent on me to show that in dealii 
with this snbiect Messrs. Crookes and Wallace have follow 
methods which are thoroughly f#»>scientific ; and have been led 
their " prepossession " to accept with implicit faith a number 
statements which ought to be rejected as completely u 
trustworthy. 

My call to take such a part — which I would most gladly ] 
aside for the scientific investigations which afford me the pun 
and most undisturbed enjoyment — seems to me the same as 
made upon every member of the Profession to which I have t 
honour to belong, that he should do his utmost to cure or 
mitigate bodily disease. The training I originally received, aad t 
theoretical and experimental studies of forty years, have given 1 
what I honestly believe (whether righdy or wrongly) to be a ra.tl 
unusual power of dealing with this subject Since the appear at 
of my Lectures I have received a large number of poblip as&uran^ 
that thej are doing good service in preventing the spread ol 
noxious menial epidemic in this country; and I have be 
privately informed of several instances, in which persons >w 
had been " bitten " by this malady, have owed their recovery 
my treatment. Looking to the danger which threatens us &% 



,JViw. 8, 1877] 



NATURE 



27 



fhe United States, of an importation of a real spiritualistic mamoy 
fftr iac»e injurious to our mental welfare, than that of the 
Colorado beetle will be to our material interests, I should 
be untrue to my own convictions of duty if I did not do what in^ 
me lies to prevent it. That I do not take an exaggerated view 
of the danger, will be obvious to any reader of Mr. Home's book. 
I know too well that I thus expose myself to severe obloquy, 
which (as I am not peculiarly thick-skinned) will be very un- 
plea^int to myself, and unfortunately still more so to some who 
are nearly connected widi me. But I am content to brave all, if I 
can believe that my exposi will be of the least service either to 
individuals or to society at large. W. B. Carpenter 

The high scientific position which Prof. Foster holds, as well 
as the decided manner in which his letter ivas written, must lead 
the otherwise unbiassed reader to the conclusion that not only 
has a satisfactory explanation of the action in question been 
found and generally adopted, but that this explanation turns 
upon certain considerations, and particularly on the mean length 
of the path of the gaseous molecules as influenced by the degree 
of lareiactlon. 

I feel my position, therefore, particularly unfortunate in 
having, for the sake of truth, to show that the explanation 
which Prof. Foster has adopted, and supposes others to have 
adopted, is, if judged by the statements in his letter, inconsistent 
with wdl-established laws. 

Prof. Foster gives me credit for having originated the funda- 
mental idea of the explanation, but states that my "explanation 
was theoretically incomplete; in particular it did not show 
dearly why so high a degree of rarefaction should be necessary 
for the production of the phenomenon in question ; " and then 
lie proceeds to explain how this asserted deficiency was supplied 
hf other thinkers, who showed that "the increase, resulting 
from rarefaction, in the mean length of the path of the gaseous 
molecules, would favour the action." 

It is this supposed completion of my explanation that is 
orooeous. It is contrary to the law of the diffusion of heat in 
nses that " the increase, resnlting from rarefaction, in the mean 
length of the path of the gaseous molecules would favour the 
actiOT," and so far from supplying any deficiency in my explana- 
tion it is incompatible with it. The only result from such an 
increase is to diminish the action — a result which rises into 
importance onl^ when the rarefaction is carried so far that the 
mean length of'^the path of a molecule becomes comparable with 
the dimensions of the inclosing vessel 

In my first paper I gave a definite proof, which has nowhere 
been questioned, that according to the kinetic theory the force 
arising from the communication of heat from a surface to adjacent 
gas of any particular kind depends only on one thing, the rate at 
wfaidi heat is communicated, and to this it is proportional. If 
therefore the hicreased rarefaction increased the f iv.e it ipnst 
increase the rate at which heat is communicated, but according 
to the law established by Prof. Maxwell the rate at which heat 
is communicated is independent of the density of the gas, whence 
it follows that the increase in the mean length of the path of the 
gaseous molecules, resulting from rarefaction, cannot favour the 
action which remains approximately constant until the gas 
becomes so rare that the law of diffusion no longer holds, after 
vhich it may easily be shown the communication of heat, and 
hence the action in question, diminishes but never increases. 

The Cauct that in the radiometer the force caused by the com- 
munication of heat only causes motion when the surrounding 
gas becomes extremely rare is, as I pointed out in my first 
papers, fiiUy explained by the action of what I have callcid con- 
vection currents, which action depends on the weight and 
density of the gas. The gas adjacent to the hot surface is hotter 
than that which is more remote, and hence the former rises form- 
ing an ascending column, to supply which the gas is drawn in 
laterally on all aides, and tends to carry the surface forward 
^th it With the *same difference of temperature and surround- 
ing circumstances the speed of these convection currents is the 
ttme whatever may be the density of the gas, and hence the 
force which they exert on the surface is proportional to the 
density of the pas. 

Thb force is opposite in direction to that arising from the 
commuucaiion of heat to the gas, and since the former dimi- 
nishes with the density while t^ latter is constant, there must 
be some density for wluch they balance, and below which the 
CQ<MtBnt force will predominate, while above this point the con- 
^^ctioQ currents wiU carry the surface with them. The fact that,. 



starting from low densities, the motion of the vanes in the radio- 
meter does not only diminish as the density increases, but is 
actually reversed at higher densities, requires explanation, and 
no other than this has yet been offered. 

I have gone into the subject at considerable length, as I felt 
bound, when venturing to differ from so high an authority as 
Prof. Foster, to state my reasons. There is, however, nothing in 
what I have said here which I have not said elsewhere, in the 
same or other words; and however incomplete in theory the 
explanation given in my first papers may be, I can onlv say that 
it included idl the £acts known to me at the time these were 
written ; it has led me to predict many of the experimental 
results which have since been obtained, and I have not been 
able to find one fact with which it is not in accordance, nor has 
it been, so far as I azn aware, controverted in any particular. 

Osborne Reynolds 



Potential Energy 

I have reason to believe that the "grievous error" with 
which I charged "John O'Toole '' in his reference to the clock 
is not meant by him to be his own view of the matter at all, but 
merely a legitimate deduction from the confused and inconsistent 
language of " the doctors." Such an erroneous view on his part 
is, indeed, obviously out of harmony with the extensive know- 
ledge of the subject of energy displayed by him in letters which, 
without doubt, will convince *' the doctors " of the necessity of 
adopting consistent and strictly logical phraseology. 

G. M. MiNCHIN 

Royal Indian Engineering College, Cooper's Hill 



Effects of Urticating Organs of Millepora on the 
Tongue 

An article by Mr. Moseley, in Nature (vol, xvi. p. 475), 
reminds me of an experiment I made some years ago in Florida. 
In collecting corals on the reefs, I had of course become 
familiar with the disagreeable, though not very painful, effects 
of contact of the hands with Millepora. But the vulgar names 
of Pepper-coral or Sea ginger induced me to try the effect on 
the tongue, to find out how far the taste resembled those condi- 
ments. I accordingly broke off a fresh piece and applied it to 
the tongue. Instantly a most severe pain shot, not only through 
that organ, but also through the jaws and teeth. The whole 
course of the dental nerves and their ramifications into every 
single tooth could be distinctly and painfully lelt I can com- 
pare the sensation to nothing better, than to the application of 
the poles of a pretty strong galvanic battery. The pain re- 
mained severe for about half an hour, then became duller, 
leaving a sensation still perceptible five or six hours later. The 
whole impression was much too violent to allow the distinction 
of any particular taste. 

Such an experiment made with Physalia might be positively 
dangerous, considering the much more powerful urticating effects 
of its polyps. Indeed, a friend of mine once related to me that 
when a boy he had come in contact with one of the long tentacles 
of a Physalia, when bathing, and had to be carried out of the 
water almost fainting. L. F. Pourtales 

Cambridge, Mass., October 22 



Drowned by a Devil Fish 

The following account of the destruction of a human being by 
a cuttle fish at Victoria, in Vancouver Island, has all the appear- 
ance of authenticity about it. It occurs in the Weekly Oregonian 
of October 6, 1877. The Oregonian is the principal paper of 
Oregon, and is published at Portland. 

The insertion of the account in Nature may lead to further 
information on the subject. I know of no other authentic instance 
of the kind. 

An account of the habits of the huge octopus of the Vancouver 
Island Sounds and also of the Indian method of hunting and 
killing the beasts for food is to be found in John Keast Lord's 
" Naturalist in Vancouver Ish^id and British Columbia," vol. i. 
p. 192. Mr. Lord measured specimens which had arms five feet 
in length, with a thickness at their base as great as his wrist, and 
he once collected a detached sucker of one of these cephalopoda 
as large as an egg cup in mistake for a huge actinia. 



Digitized by 



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28 



NATURE 



[A^oz/. 8, 1877 



" British Columbia 
'^ Drmuned hy a Devil Fisk 

" Victoria, September 27. —An Indian woman while bathing 
was palled beneath the surface of the water by an octopus or 
devil fish and drowned. The body was discovered the following 
day in the bottom of the bay in the embrace of the monster. 
Indians dived down and with their knives severed the tentacles 
of the octopus and rescued the body. This is the first recorded 
instance of death from such' a cause in this locality, bat there 
have been several narrow escapes." 

Exeter College, Oxford H. N. Moskley 

The Earthworm in Relation to the Fertility Oif the 
Soil 

In Nature, vol. xvii., p. 18, there b an account under the 
above heading of M. Hensen*s investigations of this subject, to 
which I wish to add a note. , He says . the assertion that the 
earth-worms gnaw roots is not proved by any fact ; roots gnawed 
by worms were never met with by kirn, and the contents of the 
intestines of the worms neve/r included fresh pieces of plants. 
The experience, of gardeners that the. earth-worm injures pot 
plants may be .based on the oncovieriogioc mechanical tearing of 
the roots, • ^ 

I should have thought that the universal experience of 
gardeners is that earth-worms never eat vegetable matter until it 
has decayed, and that their instinct leads them to draw the 
points of leaves as far as they can into their tubes for the purpose 
of setting up the decaying process, and likewise to sever the 
roots of pot plants with the same object. I can hardly under- 
stand how earth-worms have any mechanical means of severing 
the roots of plants except by gnawing. 

But there is an omission in M. Hensen's account of the ferti- 
lisation of the subsoil by earth-worms which surprises me. He 
mentions but two ways in which this is effected, viz., by the 
opening of passages for the roots into deeper parts, and by the 
lining of these passages with humus. 

I thought it was a well-known fact that worms, by means of 
their "casts," effect a complete retwenetnent of the soil of 
meadow land down to a certain depth i^ the course of a few 
years. But whether wJl-known or not I met with a demon- 
stsation of this important fact in 1857. When putting down a 
considerable extent of iron fencing in the alluvial meadows near 
my house (consequent upon an exchange of land) I had occasion 
to cut a ditch two or three feet deep, and when the workmen 
had finished the ditch — a quarter of a mile long in all — I was 
astonished to see in one portion, of about sixty yards in length, a 
distinct and very even narrow Hneof coal-ashes mixed with small 
coal in the clean cut surface of the fine loam of the ditch faoe» per- 
fectly parallel with the top^ward. It immediately occurred to me 
that this was the work of the earth-worms, and upon inquiry I 
found that the farmer, who had occupied this land for many 
years, remembered having once, and only once, cat ted oat some 
coal-ashes and. spread it at this spot not many years. before. I 
forget the exact number of years, but I believe it .was about 
eighteeen. I have a distinct recollection, however, that the 
depth of the line of coal-ashes below the surface was at least 
seven inches, and that this seemed to confirm the general belief 
that the depth to which the earth-worm usually burrows is about 
that amount. I may add that the colour of the loam above tlie 
line of coal-ashes was decidedly darker than of that helow. 

" Henry Cooper Key 

Stretton Rectory, Hereford, November 2 



In Nature, vol. xvii. p> 18, some detaib are given of 
observations made by M. Hensen on the relation of the earth- 
worm to the fertility of the ground. He has observed, as 
everyone must have observed, that the earthworm during night 
draws into its tube or hole the loose leaves and fibres which may 
be lying about But this operation of the earthworm has a 
significance in relation to the vegetable world of even a pro- 
founder kind than that of the fertilisation of the soiU Some 
months ago, in searching for young ash plants with three 
cotyledons, I found that in a great many cases the samara or 
seed of the ash bad been drawn into a worm's hole, and had 
there found moisture ftnd other essential conditions of growth ; 
while the same seeds lying dry upon the surfiioe had not germi- 
nated. There can thus be no doubt that many seeds of all 
kinds are drawn under the surface of the ground, or covered by 



the ea«th thrown up by worms. They are thus preserved ^om 
birds and tariaus enemies, and are placed in the proper positioii 
for germhiation. The dead plant is perpetuated from its fiaUen 
panicle by the earthworm. An ash tree, or^ a wh(^e forest of 
ash trees, may have been- planted by earthworms. 
. North Kinmuudy, November 5 A. SrSPHEN Wii^ON 

M. AUuard's Condensing Hygrometer 
The notice of the above instrument in last week's Nature 
(p. 14) is an excellent illustration of the necessity for increased 
communication between the scientific men of all countries. The 
labour which is at present wasted by repeating what has been 
done before is enormous, and until international intercommuni- 
cation is- improved It must be so. 

I quite agree with you in your appreciation of M, Atluard's 
hygrometer, but I think it is desirable to state that it b not the 
first in which **the part on which the deposit of dew is to be 
observed is a plane well-polished face a, of silver or gilt brass." 
The artnexed engravings represent the form of plane- faced 
hygrometer invented by Mr. G. Dines, F.M.S., described by 
him in the Meteorological Magaziru for October, 1 87 1, and 
exhibited at the Brighton Meeting of the British Association, 
1872. 

The action is extremely simple ; no ether is required nor any 
aspirator. Water colder than the dew point is the only requisite 
— it is poured into the reservoir A, passes through the regulating - 
tap B into the chamber d ; it is, by the black diaphragm, thrown 
past the bulb of the thermometer c, and then allowed to escape. 
The cooled plane surface e of silver or black glas?, is excessively 
thin, and the space between it and the thermoaieter-bulb is 
wholly occupied by the effluent water, so that the great essentral 




of all hygrometers, a true indication of the temperature of the 
cooled surface, seems to he reached. The plate s can be kept 
within o°'2 or o°*3 for a length of time by adjusting the screw b, 
and as the condensation usually takes an eUiptical form over the 
thermonteter-bulb, and in the middle of b, the advantage of an 
adjacent bright surface is usually attained. I am, however, not 
sure that M. Atluard's surrounding plate might not be a con- 
venience, although for the reason above given I have not found 
it necessary; G. J. Symons 

62, Camden' Square, N.W., November 2 



Optical Spectroscopy of the Red End of the Solar 
Spectrum 

Nature, dated August 2 (vol. xvi. p. 264), containing Pro*^ 
Piazzi Smyth's communication on " Optical Spectroscopy of the 
Red End of the Solar Spectrum," reached me on the 2ist ult, 
when I had no leisure to avail myself of the outgoing mail and 
reply immediately to the subject of his last paragraph. Inqnity 
is there made of "anyone" (besides the Royal Society), in 
association more or less with my name, whether more recent 
particulars \aLV^ been published, of the spectrum in question, 
than "those (/>. my) Indian observations," "printed in the 
Philosophical Transactions so long ago as 1874" {Le. 1 875). 

2, The Astronomer- Royal for Scotland is presumably in a 
better position to reply for "any one," than myself, located in 
latitude N. 30*>, longitude E. 78° ; and so far as the inquiry 
relates to the Royal Society, his penultimate paragraph in itself 
furnishes the informfition sought, because the Soaety's pubHca- 



Digitized by 



Google 



Nm. 8, 1877] 



NATURE 



29 



tion prominently alluded to by himself is ike last publication. 
' As respects myself, I have printed no further particulars in 
addition to those which the Professor dismisses, briefly for the 
preieot, with the announcement of having discovered, ** total 
contmdidions " to certain "conspicuous features." 

3. It is necessary to point out, that the designation for my 
obsenrations adopted by the Professor of ** the Royal Society's 
sod Mr. Hennessey's high-sun series " suggests existence of the 
^SvmAi/ responsibility which is plainly disavowed in the *' Adver- 
tiieaient" to the Philosophical Transactions^ 1875, Part I., and 
ebewhere ; for the professor can hardly intend that two separate 
tnd independent high-sun series taken on the Hinudaya Moun- 
* tains, one by the Royal Society, and the other by myself, have 
appeared in the Transactions, 

4. 1 shall look forward with interest to the perusal of Prof. Piazzi 
Smjth's promised complete account of his sun-high observations 
at Lisbon ; meanwhile I may be pardoned for my inability to 
follow his prompt and brief announcement of " total contradic- 
tioiis," written while yet on his return voyage. 

J. B. N. Hennessey 
N.W. Pkovinoes, Xndia, Dehra Doon, October 3 

Singing Mice 

PiEHAPS the following account of a singing moose may be of 
bterest to your readers : — 

lAst winter we occupied the rooms we now do at Menton. 
Early in February we heard as we thought the song of a canary, 
and fimded it was outside our balcony ; .however we soon dis- 
covered that the singing was in our salon^ and that the songster 
was a mouse ; at that time the weather was rather cold, and we 
had a little fire, and the mouse spent most of the day under the 
fender, where we kept it supplied with bits of biscuit ; in a few 
days it became quite tame, and would come on the hearth in an 
evening and sing for several hours, sometimes it would climb up 
the diiffonier and ascend a vase of flowers to drink at the water, 
and then sit and sing on the edge of the table and allow us to go 
qaite near to it without ceasing its warble ; one of its favourite 
kaimts was the wood basket, and it would often sit and sing on 
the edge of it. On February 12, the last night of the carnival, 
we had a number of friends in our sahn^ and the litde mouse 
Bog most vigorously much to their delight and astonishment and 
was not in the least disturbed by the talking. In the evening 
the mouse would often run about the room and under the door 
into the cotridor and adjoining rooms and then return to its own 
hearth ; after amusing us for nearly a month it disappeared, and we 
nspect it was caught in a trap set in one of the rooms beyond. 
The mouse was small and had very laige ears, which it moved 
about much whilst singing ; the song was not unlike that of 
the canary in many of its trills, and it sang quite as beautifully 
as any canary, but it had more variety, and some of its notes 
were much lower, more like those of the bullfiuch. One great 
peculiarity was a sort of double song, which we had now and 
then— an air with an accompaniment ; the air was loud and full, 
the notes being low and the accompaniment quite subdued. Some 
of our party were sure that there was more than one mouse 
nntil we had the perfortnance from the edge of the wood basket, 
and were within a yard or two of it. My son has suggested 
that many or all mice may have the same power, but l^at the 
notes are usually so much higher in the scale that, like the cry 
of the dormouse and the bat, they are at the verge of the pitch 
to which the human ear is sensitive ; this may be so, but the 
notes of our mouse were so low and even the highest so far 
within the limits of the human ear, that I am inclined to think 
the gift of stnging in mice is but of very rare occurrence. 

Joseph Sidbbothau 

Hotel de Menton, Menton, S. France, October 31 



Several years ago I received some of these an'mals from a 
frienj, and kept them in confinement for one or two months. 
The description which your correspondent gives of their per- 
formance leaves very little to be added by me, as in all respects 
this description agrees perfectly with my own observations. I 
write, however, to remark one curious fact about the singing of 
these mice, naunely, that it seemed to be evoked by two very 
o,)po»ite sets of conditions. When undisturbed, the litile animals 
lied for the most part to remain quiet during the day, and begin 
to stng at night ; but if at any time they were -alarmed, by 
handling them or otherwise, whether during the day or night, 
they were ^nre to sing vigorously. Thus the action seemed to 



be occasioned either by contentment or by fear. The charjuster 
of the song, however, was slightly different in the two cases. 

That these mice did not leam this art from singing birds there 
can be no doubt, for they were captured in a house where no 
such birds were kept It may be worth while to add that this 
house (a London one) seemed to have been suddenly invadei, 
so to speak, by a number of these animal?, for although my 
friend has lived in this house since the year 1862, it was only 
during a few months that singing mice were heard in it, and during 
these few months they were heard in considerable numbers. 

Regent's Park, November i George J. Romanes 



Meteor 

The following account of a meteor seen here may perhaps 
interest some of your readers : — > 

On October 29, at 8h. im. 30s. Greenwich mean time, a 
brilliant meteor exploded in right ascension 268°, declination 
«h 6o' (equator of 1855) ; it left a bright crooked train scarcely 
half a degree long, which remained visible for about ten seconds, 
and pointed towards ( Draconis. The course of the meteor 
must have been directed downwards, almost exactly towards 
this observatory. The flash of the explosion was seen by the 
assistant-astronomer, Mr. Lohse, although he was sitting in such 
a position as to be unable to see the meteor directly. 

Lord Lindsay's Observatory, Ralph Copbland 

Dunecht, Aberdeen, November 3 



INTERNATIONAL POLAR EXPEDITION 

IN February, 1875, when the Arctic Expedition was 
being prepared, I asked the First Lord of the 
Admiralty, in Parliament, whether, in view of the small 
value for scientific purposes of isolated observations in 
the Arctic regions, in comparison with simultaneous 
observations at different places, and in view, also, of the 
interest now taken in Arctic science by foreign Govern- 
ments, he would postpone for one season the departure 
of the proposed Arctic Expedition, and in the interval 
communicate with foreign Governments with a view to 
the organisation of other expeditions to make observa- 
tions simultaneously with our own at fixed times? The 
First Lord said that he considered the preparations for 
an expedition too far advanced to admit of this, and 
added : ** I should regard the project of combination with 
other powers to attain the objects in view as one beset 
with difficulties *— in which, I think, he was in error. In 
the following month, when the Supplementary Estimate 
for the Arctic Vote was under discussion, I again drew 
the attention of the Government and Parliament to 
the advantages of simultaneous Arctic expeditions (see 
Hansard^ voL ccxxii. p. 1354), and in Naval Science for 
April of the same year, in an article on '^ Foreign Polar 
Expeditions/' I drew still further attention to the matter, 
concluding with an extract from a paper by Capt* 
Weyprecht (who so greatly distinguished himself in the 
Austro- Hungarian polar expeditions of 1871 and 1872-74), 
in which he pointed out in the clearest manner the desira- 
bility of extending future Arctic researches far beyond 
mere geographical exploration, and pressing forward with 
our studies of magnetism, electricity, the best of meteoro- 
logy, &c. " The solution of these questions cannot," he 
said, *' be expected until all nations which claim to come 
up to the present high standard of civilisation unite to go 
hand in hand, setting aside all national rivalries. To 
bring about decisive scientific results it will be necessary 
to make a number of simultaneous observations, so con- 
ducted that they will furnish a yearly rhumk of observa- 
tions made in different parts of the Arctic regions with 
exactly similar instruments^ and from exactly similar 
instructions." 

Upwards of a year ago Nature gave details ot Wey- 
precht's project for the scientific exploration of the Polar 
regions. It was referred to on several occasions, and 
pointed out that Wey precht's plan was the only satisfactory^ 
method of obtaining results of real and perm inent value^ 

C2 



30 



NA TURE 



{Nov. 8, 1877 



The programme has noiv been extended and completed, 
and was prepared for submission to the International 
Meteorological Congress which was to have met at Rome 
in September, but which has been adjourned to next year. 
I have just received from my friend Weyprecht a copy, 
and may summarise its contents as follows : — 

The enterprise proposed by Count Wilczek and Capt 
Weyprecht has for its aim strictly scientific exploration, 
purely geographical discovery being a secondary matter. 
It will be the first step towards a systematic scientific 
investigation of the regions around the poles of the 
earth and the minute observation of phenomena pecu- 
liar to these regions — phenomena the earnest investi- 
gation of which is of the highest importance in con- 
nection with a great number of problems with regard 
to the physics of the globe. The international expedi- 
tion will have for its aim to make in the Arctic and 
Antarctic regions, or in the neighbourhood of these 
regions, and at as many stations as it is possible to 
establish, synchronous observations according to a pro- 
gramme mutually agreed upon ; for the purpose, on the 
one hand, of deducing by comparison from observations 
collected at different points, independently of the pecu- 
liarities which characterise the years of different obser- 
vations, the general laws of the phenomena investigated ; 
and, on the other hand, of arriving by probable induc- 
tions at- a knowledge of the chances of penetrating 
further into the interior of the unknown regions. For 
this purpose each of the states participating in the work 
will undertake to equip at its own expense, and send out 
an expedition to one of the points designated. Each 
state will of course be at liberty to authorise its ex- 
pedition to carry on work outside of that mutually 
agreed on. 

The investigations to be made in common bear only 
on meteorological phenomena, those of terrestrial mag- 
netism, aurora borealis, and on ice phenomena. At each 
station the observations must be continued one year, 
from September i to August 31. The meteorological 
observations will be made in conformity with the resolu- 
tions of the permanent International Committee, and will 
relate to atmospheric pressure, the temperature and 
humidity of the air, the direction and force of the wind, 
the state of the sky and its degree of clearness, and also 
to phenomena of condensation. The programme then 
gives detailed instructions as to methods and instruments 
of observation, all being arranged to secure accuracy, 
fulness, and uniformity. 

It is probable that each station will be near a coast, 
and one of the chief objects of the expedition will be to 
observe the connection between the movements of the ice 
and the winds and currents, and if these are observed 
regularly, important results will no doubt be obtained as 
to the movements of the ice in the Arctic regions, and 
therefore as to the routes most favourable for reaching 
the pole. The best ice- observations will of course be at 
those stations where local conditions have the least 
influence. 

The magnetic observations are divided into absolute 
determinations and determinations of the three elements. 
Minute directions are given in the programme as to the 
method to be followed in taking these observations, the 
fixing of the positions of the various instruments, the 
kinds of instruments to be used, the methods of verification 
and testing, the construction of observatories, &c. These 
directions, if faithfully carried out, would give the ob- 
server plenty of work to do, but the result would be 
of unprecedented value. In consequence of the per- 
sistent perturbations which prevail in these regions, 
isolated readings made only from hour to hour, even when 
carried on for long periods, are not sufficient to give with 
precision the hourly, daily, and monthly magnetic 
character of the place of observation. It is necessary, 
consequently, to multiply these observations. Ten obser- 



vations per hour for each of the three elements will be 
sufficient, and to insure a rigorous synchronism it is 
stipulated that the three instruments of variation be read 
during ten minutes, from minute to minute, viz., at the 
full muiute (~ h. 56m. os.) the declination, ten seconds 
after (— h. 56m. los.) the horizontal intensity, and ten 
seconds after that (- h. 56m. 20s.) the indinatioB. 
Before and after each observation, viz., — h. 52m. os., and 
at — h. 69m. OS. the form and position of the aurorae 
should be noted. Immediately after the meteorological 
observations should be proceeded with in the following 
order: — Temperature, humidity, winds, clouds, atmo- 
spheric pressure. (For magnetic observations it is 
proposed to use Gottmgen mean time.) Besides obser- 
vations of the regular magnetic variations, it will be of 
great importance to have made, by three observers, 
rigidly synchronous readings of the three elements in 
order to obtain precise data of the total intensity. For 
this purpose there will be made, during one hour each 
day, by these observers, from minute to minute, from 
— h — m. OS., readings of the three instruments. The 
hours of these observations should be advanced an hour 
each day, so as to return to the point of departure at the 
end of every twenty-four days. 

The aurorse should be observed as to their form, their 
intensity, and their position. The programme then 
names and describes the various forms assumed by 
aurorae— arches, streamers, beams, corona borealis, haze, 
waves, flashes — for the adequate and scientific observation 
of which the programme gives directions. 

The most favourable time for this joint expedition will 
be October and November, when the teihperature is not 
so low as to necessitate special preparations. 

As the absolute simultaneity of the observations is of 
the utmost importance, each station must be fiimished 
with the means of obtaining the exact longitude ; good 
chronometers will also be necessary. To carry out the 
above observations to their fullest extent, four observers 
will suffice for each station, if among the subordinates 
there are men who can perform the purely mechanical 
duty of reading the instruments. 

The programme concludes with three propositions, the 
purpose of which is to insure the possibility of the exact 
comparison of the magnetic observations. 

The following are the points proposed as most favour- 
able for the various observations referred to above : — In 
the northern hemisphere — The north coast of Spitz- 
bergen ; north coast of Novaya Zemlya ; Finmark, near 
the North Cape ; the mouth of the Lena, on the north 
coast of Siberia ; New Siberia ; Point Barrow, on the 
north-east of Behring Strait ; the west coast of Green- 
land ; the east coast of Greenland, about 75° N. lat In 
the southern hemisphere — The neighbourhood of Cape 
Horn ; the Kerguelen or Macdonald Islsmds ; one of the 
groups south of the Auckland Islands. 

I wish that in the influential pages of Nature this 
great international scientific subject could be again urged. 
I cannot help thinking that in the present Hydrographer 
of the Navy we have an officer who would be at once 
most able and willing to take part in giving, in the way 
suggested, true scientific direction and scope to future 
Arctic research. My confidence in the great value of 
simultaneous observations in comparison with the meagre 
results of isolated expeditions must be my apology for 
thus writing. 

E. J. Reed 



THE NORWEGIAN DEEP-SEA 
EXPEDITION 

FROM soundings taken by the second German Polar 
Expedition, and kindly communicated by Capt. 
Koldewey, of Hamburgh, I have been induced to alter 



O 



AW. 8, 1877] 



NATURJS 



3> 



my views about the configtiration of the sea-bottom | around Jan Mayexv The f^r$ of the bottom which I at 




present find the most probable I have given in the 
chait which I send herewith. It will be observed that 
it is the pait of the sea between Jan Mayen and Ice- 



land which is to be corrected on the small chart which 
was published in Nature, vol. xvi. p. 527. 
Christiania, October 23 H. MoHN 



OS THE DIFFUSION OF MATTER IN RELA- 
TION TO THE SECOND LA W OF THERMO- 
DYNAMICS 

I- 'pHE purpose of this paper is to call attention to a 

-*- natursd process that appears to constitute an 

c^Eception to the second law of thermodynamics, and 

which, if noticed by others, would at least appear from 

its importance to merit a more general recognition. The 

^bject may be best dealt with by means of a simple 

illustration, the principles involved in the action of which 

are already perfectly well known. 

2. Let the ani^exed figure represent a cylinder, contain- 

p 



o H 



^H 2 piston, p ; a suitable (plumbago) porous diaphragm 
'^ used for diffusion experiments) being fitted into the 



piston. The piston can be connected conveniently with 
any outer arrangement for doing work. Suppose the one 
half of the cylinder to be filled with oxygen, the other 
half with hydrogen. Then, as is known, according to 
the kinetic theory, the molecules of O and u are im- 
pinging continually against the porous partition or 
diaphragm, P, and the molecules in their impacts thus 
occasionally encounter vacant spaces or pores, and so 
continue their motion on across the diaphragm into the 
opposite compartment. Owing, however, to the fact that 
the molecules of hydrogen are moving four times as fast 
as the molecules of oxygen, they strike the diaphragm 
correspondingly more frequently, and thus four times as 
many hydrogen molecules pass through into division o, 
as oxygen molecules pass through into division H. [The 
piston is supposed fixed at present, so that no work being 
done, there is consequently no heating or cooling of the 
gas.] But on account of the excess of molecules passing 
into division O, the pressure there will rise. If, then, after 
the pressure has risen to a certain degree, the piston Jbe 



32 



NATURE 



{Nov. 8, 1877 



suddenly released, it will be driven by the excess of pres- 
sure in the direction O H, and in that act the gas in will be 
chilled and the gas in H heated, which is contrary to the 
second law of thermodynamics, since in this process work 
is derived from matter all ai a uniform temperature, or 
work is derived by cooling a portion of gas below the 
coldest of surrounding objects. In the same way the 
piston might have been connected to some external 
mechanism, and so part of the work be done externally 
(in a self-acting manner). 

3. There can be little doubt that such work is done in 
natural processes (in the animal and vegetable world) 
since plants and organic tissues are distinguished for 
their /^r^TJi'/y, and such tissues are permeated with the 
various gases of the atmosphere, carbonic acid, &c. It 
may be observed that even without any porous diaphragm 
at all, or when two gases whose molecules possess dif- 
ferent velocities are allowed to diffuse into each other, 
there is inVariably a transference of heat, which is con- 
trary to the second law of thermodynamics, which law 
assumes that heat cannot pass between two bodies origi- 
nally at the same temperature, or heat cannot pass from 
a colder to a hotter body. Yet it is evident that as soon 
as the heat has begun to pass from one of the diffusing 
gases to the oth^r, the one from which the heat com- 
mences to pass is already the colder. 

4. Such a principle is evidently capable of an enor- 
mously wide application in nature. It is only necessary 
for example for the constituents of the universe to be 
diverse^ to get any amount of work by diffusing them 
together, even if all originally at the same temperature. 
The principle of the tendency to the uniform diffusion of 
Matter^ is capable of completely overthrowing the tendency 
to the uniform diffusion of Energy ; for even if energy 
were uniformly diffused, the uniformity could be upset by 
the diffusion of matter (;>. provided matter were not 
already all uniformly diffused or homogeneous) : and, as 
we have seen, the quantity of work to be derived by the 
diffusion of matter is limited only by the quantity of 
matter at disposal.^ In order that all capacity for work 
might cease in the universe, it would be necessar}' not 
only that there should be a uniform diffusion of energy, 
but also a uniform diffusion of matter. Heterogeneity 
confers a capacity for work, as well as inequality of tem- 
perature. Heterogeneity, as far as is known, is one of the 
distinguishing characteristics of the material universe. 
Any dissimilarity of molecular mass, which (by equality 
of temperature) is necessarily attended by dissimilarity of 
molecular velocity^ confers a capacity for work. The dis- 
similarity of velocity is evidently the efficient cause in 
determining the work, and therefore in the exceptional 
case where dissimilarity of molecular structure is not 
attended by inequality of mass (and consequently not by 
inequality of velocity), work could not be derived. We 
may note, therefore, that inequality of molecular velocity^ 
as well as inequality of molecular energy ^ confers a 
capacity for work, and in order that all capacity for work 
should cease, not only must molecular energy^ but also 
molecular velocity be uniformly distributed, or the mole- 
cules of matter which (by equality of temperature) possess 
unequal velocities, must be uniformly diffused. 

5. We may observe that gravity which does not inter- 
fere With the uniform diffusion of energy^ does interfere 
with the uniform diffusion of matter. Thus, for ex- 
ample, the energy (heat) of the atmosphere tends to be 
uniformly diffused throughout a vertical column of the 
•atmosphere, in spite of the action of gravity. But the 

uniform diffusion of matter (/.^., the uniform mixture of 
Ihe gases of the atmosphere through each other) is pre- 
vented by gravity. For by the well-known law of Dalton 

■ Swce the first draft of' this paper mras written, I have been informed that 
the question of the Quantity of work to be deri%-ed by diffusion gases has 
been treated of by Lord Kay leigh iPhil. Mag.^ April, 1875), but he does 
not apparently mendoa the bearing of the case on the second law of thentfo- 
dynamics. 



(which accords with the result of the kinetic theory 
of gases), each gas arranges itself as a layer upon the 
earth's surface, precisely as it would do if no other gas 
were present. Thus (as is known), owing to [the fact 
that a greater quantity of nitrogen exists in the atmo- 
sphere than oxygen, the nitrogen consequently rises to a 
greater height than the oxygen, so that at considerable 
heights the nitrogen predominates. Thus the uniform 
diffusion of the constituents of the atmosphere through 
each other is prevented by gravity. It may, perhaps, be 
just as well to note in connection with this point that 
those gases which are observed at the surface of nebulae 
are not necessarily at the surface because of their greater 
lightness^ but this is also determined by quantity ; for 
as we have observed, each g^ (according to the known 
conditions of equilibrium) arranges itself about a centre 
as if no other gas were present ; and therefore each gas 
must penetrate to the centre of the nebula, and thererore 
could not reach as far as the surface unless its quantity 
were sufficient (though, no doubt, by a greater lightness 
a less quantity of gas will suffice for that purpose). There 
might possibly be a tendency to assume (unless the conse- 
quences of the above principle were rigidly kept in view) 
that the light gas observed (such as hydrogen) was 
floating on the surface of the nebula. We know that 
according to the conditions of gaseous equilibrium this is 
wrong, and that each gas (if freed from other disturbing 
causes) will have its basis at the centre of the nebula, 
where, therefore, the composition or mixture of gaseous 
matter is uniform, but nowhere else (excepting in the 
very improbable case where the quantities and densities 
of all the graseous cocstituents are the same). If gravity 
were to cease (and the gaseous constituents of the nebula 
were supposed confined or prevented from expanding), 
the constituents of the nebula would uniformly diffuse 
themselves throughout the entire mass, and this act 
of diffusion would be attended by a transference of heat, 
even if all the gaseous constituents were at the same 
temperature. 

6. Thus we may observe that by merely modifying the 
action of gravity or by altering the position of a portion 
of gas relatively to gravity, work may be derived through 
diffusion. Thus if we suppose a portion of gas to be 
moved to different positions in a nebula, the constitution 
of the portion of gas or the mixture of its constituents is 
changed according to its position, and in these changes 
work is derived, or available. Only when the portion of 
gas is situated at the centre of th: nebula are its con- 
stituents uniformly diffused through each other ; less and 
less so towards the outside. 

7. It would thus appear to follow that, as far as present 
knowledge goes, a uniform diffusion of matter as well as 
a uniform diffusion oi energy would be at least required, 
in order that all capacity for work and physical change 
should cease in the universe. At the same time does it 
not rather behove us to look to a time when, through 
increase of knowledge y a means for recurrence may 
possibly be discovered, whereby physical change is con- 
tinued, rather than to look to the purposeless end of a 
chaos of uniform temperature and uniform distribution of 
matter ? Humboldt says relatively to this point (Preface 
to " Cosmos '0 : " I would therefore venture to hope that 
an attempt to delineate nature in all its vivid animation 
and exalted grandeur, and to trace the stable amid the 
vacillating ever-recutting alternation of physical meta- 
morphoses, will not be wholly disregarded at a future 
age." S. ToLVER Preston 



MUSIC A SCIENCE OF NUMBERS^ 
T^HE subject which I submit for your consideration this 
"*• afternoon is the influence of numbers in music, as in 
the various combinations of consonances and dissonances 

>'Read before the Musical Association of London, November 5, 1877, tr 
W. Cbappell. F.S.A. - O 



Hov. 8, 1877] 



NATURE 



33 



which we hear every day, and* to show how these ar^ 
explained by the fundamental laws of the science. 

Although music has appeared to many persons a diffi- 
cult subject, it is really one of the most easily intelligible 
and one of the most firmly grounded of sciences. It is 
purely a science of numbers. 

The consonances which charm the ear, such as the 
octave, tMrelfth, fifth, fourth, and the major and minor 
thirds, have two concurrent sets of vibrations ; the one 
set produced by the lower string or pipe, and the other 
by the upper. Although they vibrate at different rates, 
yet there are periodical coincidences of vibration between 
them, and these coincidences sound with much more 
power upon the ear than the vibrations which are non- 
coincident, or sound apart. It Has been calculated that 
two hammers striking simultaneously upon an anvil have, 
through the greater displacement of air, fourfold loudness, 
instead of merely double. The same law applies to 
musical sounds. Coincidence of vibration is more briefly 
expressed by its synonym, " consonance ; ^* and all non- 
comcident vibrations are included in "dissonancefs,** 
meaning only that they sound apart. In a musical sense, 
dissonance is the medium between concord and discord, 
ninningfirom one into the other; for, in the most pleasing 
mtervals, there are some non-coincident vibrations, and 
when these become very numerous, they overpower all 
concord. • This will be shown in the sequel. 

Suppose we take one long pianoforte string or an organ- 
ptpe. The lowest sound it can produce will be that of 
Us whole length, and this may be made the foundation of 
an entire scale of consonant notes, for every aliquot part 
of the length, being such as will measure without any re- 
mainder, will be also a multiple of the vibrations of No. 
I. Thus No. 2, the octave, is half the length and vibrates 
twice as fast as the whole string. No. 3, the so-called 
twelfth, or octave and fifth, is a third of the length of 
Na I, and it vibrates thrice as fast. Then, if we sound 
No. 3 with No. 2 instead of No. i, we throw off the lower 
octave and have the fifth only, or 3 to 2. It is essential 

y for consonance that the intervals should be aliquot parts 
of No. I, for if otherwise, we should only create discord. 
The musical law is expressed very simply, that the 
number of vibrations is in inverse ratio to the length of a 
string. 

The scale of all consonances is called the harmonic 
scale, copies of vhich are before you. It is exemplified 

j by string or pipe. Let us consider, first, the -/Eolian 

I Imp, on which the winds alone produce the consecutive 
sounds. The strings are tuned in imison, except the two 

I outmost, one on each side, and those are covered with 
vire, and tuned an octave lower. When the wind blows 
quickly enough to sound the bass strings, which we will 
suppose to have tuned to C on the bass clef, with 128 
vibrations in a second of time, it is the whole string 
which sounds first, and the rapidity of the wind must be 
doubled before the harp will sound any change of note, 

^ and that note will be the octave^above the first. It has 
aheady been said thSat the octave is produced by half the 
length of a string, and that it vibrates twice as fast as the 
whole— but mark the coincidence between the music and 
consecutive numbers; 1 and 2 have no note between 
them, although the sound jumps from the whole length 
tothatof the half! When the bass strings sound the half 
length they have divided themselves into. equal halves 

. by a node, and that node creates tension in opposite 
directions, the one ventral segment pulling, as it were, 
against the other.' These self-forming nodes may be 
easily seen by daylight, and at night by throwing a light 
opon the string. They were shown at our first conver- 
^tuione in these rooms by Mr. Spiller, and at the Edin- 
burgh meeting of the British Association by Mr. Ladd. 
The gust of wind which sounds the octave, or half length 
<rf the bass strings of the JEoWsco. harp, sounds at the same 
time the whole length of the gut strings, because they are 



tuned to that pitch. Then, as the wind rises, subdivision 
goes on in both with every multiple of 128 vibrations for 
the bass, and of 256 vibrations for the tenor strings. 

The reason for tuning the ^Eolian harp to a low pitch 
is, that the strings may be more easily acted upon by the 
wind. We read, poetically, of hanging one in a tree, but 
it requires a much stronger draught than it will get there, 
except during a hurricane, when no one will care to go 
to listen. Our late lamented Vice-President, Sir Charles 
Wheat stone, F.R.S., fixed a single violin string under a 
very draughty door, as an -^olian harp, and he calculated 
the increase of draught caused by lighting a fire in the 
room, and by the opening of an outer door, by the rising 
pitch of the note. The varieties produced by this string 
have been described as " simultaneous sounds," but they 
were purely consecutive. Anyone may satisfy himself 
that it could only be so, by repeating the experiment with 
a good violin string. The change of note is simultaneous 
with the change of nodes in the string. Mere undula- 
tions, or irregularities of vibration, will not change the 
note, but injure the quality of the tone. All the curves 
that a string may describe in vibration have been cal- 
culated by mathematicians, but only when nodes are 
formed are they of any importance in music. 

Often have I experimented upon harmonics or natural 
sounds, in former years, and have watched the changes of 
node, and have heard the simultaneous change of note. 
The experiments may be tried by any one who has access 
to a harpsichord, or a very old grand pianoforte. The 
tension is too great in modem instruments to allow free 
play to the string. Raise the damper and strike one of 
the longest uncovered strings with a hard pianoforte 
hammer near the bridge. The changes follow in nu- 
merical order, i, 2, 3, 4, 5, as in the paper before you, and 
the sounds ascend by octave, fifth, fourth, major and 
minor third, harmonic seventh, to the third octave, and 
then to the major and minor tones. It is difficult to 
attain the highest of these numbers, but the harmonic 
seventh. No. 7, is readily distinguished by its unusual 
sound. 

In the i^olian harp the rising pitch of the sounds is 
caused by the increasing rapidity of the wind ; but it is 
not so on a pianoforte. It is there due to gradual 
contractions of the string till it ceases to vibrate, and 
sinks to rest. The vibrations of a long string are widely 
discursive, but they become gradually more and more 
contracted as the nodes of the string diminish in length. 
The point to be remarked is that the sounds jump over 
intermediate discords — all are consonances — all aliquot 
parts : all the sounds are multiples of No. i. It matters 
not whether it be wind, string, or pipe ; in each of them 
nature teaches us the scale which is to resolve all musi- 
cal doubts, all disputed chords. She indicates all the 
basses for musical intervals, the more remote ones adapted 
only for melody, and the nearest for consonant harmony. 

To prove the case further we may take an illustration 
from a pipe. It must not be from those which have 
lateral openings, or keys, because they shorten the 
column of air artificially, but from such instruments as 
the coach horn, or hunting horn, the so-called French 
horn, or the trumpet without valves. 

The fundamental tone. No. i, or lowest sound it can 
produce, is derived from the whole column of air within 
the tube. To produce No. 2 the rapidity of the breath* 
ing must be doubled, and then the column of air within 
the horn divides itself into two equal halves, and the 
sound is an octave above ; so that, if the first note be 
tenor C with 256 vibrations in a second of time, this 
treble C requires to be blown at the rate of 256 vibrations 
to produce it. Here, again, we arrive at the identification 
of sounds withTiumbers ; for, just as there is no inter- 
mediate number between i and 2, so is there no inter- 
mediate sound between i and 2, its double in vibrations, 
produced by half its length, upon the horn. The 

O 



34 



NATURE 



{Ncrv. 8, 1877 



numbers run both ways. They are fractions as to length 
of tube, and multiples as to vibrations. Again, just as 
there is an intermediate number between 2 and 4 (the 
second octave), so is there one intermediate sound, and 
one only ; it is No. 3, which is produced by a third of 
the length of the tube, and is the fifth above No. 2. 
The fifth and fourth divide the vibrations of the octave 
equally between them, so that the fifth is three times 
No. I, and the fourth immediately above it is four 
times; — this, notwithstanding the diminution of the 
musical interval. The names which we have 
adopted for musical intervals are usually calculated 
from the keynote, as from C to E a third, from C to F a 
fourth, and from C to G a fifth, but these names are not 
real quantities, and are rather confusing than an assist- 
ance. The octave is not an eighth, but half, and the 
double octave is not a fifteenth, but a quarter of the 
length of No. i, and vibrates four times as fast. Octaves 
are powers of 2, thus 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32 are successive 
octaves. But the octave 4 to 8 has only four sounds, 
and these are our major and minor third, and two 
others, divided by the harmonic seventh, which we do 
not use. From 8 to 16 are eight sounds, of which we use 
three, the major and minor tones, and the so-called 
diatonic semitone, as from B to C. It is really the 
smallest of the eight tones, and not a semitone. The 
next octave is from 16 to 32, and that is all of semitones, 
while 32 to 64 is all of quarter-tones. After that, the 
octave is divided into eighths, sixteenths, and thirty- 
second parts of tones, among which it is only useful to 
note (and that only among musicians and mathemati- 
cians, that the so-called " comma," having the ratio of 
80 to 81, is the eighth of a tone above the third of any 
key — as it is above E in the key of C. We have lately 
had mathematicians among us who are not fiova-ucoi, and 
who have, therefore, proposed to divide an octave into 
" twelve sgual semitones." This is pure geometry, and 
not music. In music there cannot be even two equal 
semitones within an octave. If our friends will only 
change their theme from twelve equal semitones into 
twelve equally tempered semitones, and give us their 
experience of. the proposed sounds when heard with the 
bass (which seems not to have yet been taken into ac- 
count), we shall gladly avail ourselves of their research, 
on the grounds of modem expediency. In the meantime 
we must be content to leave the tempering of a scale in 
the hands of experienced practical men, who, judging 
only by their ears, as they always will, have hitherto 
satisfied our immediate requirements. 

The interval of a fifth is 2 to 3 in ascending and 3 to 
2 in descending, but, as the figures are usually placed 
over the upper note in scales, the 3 is written above the 
2 as in the scale in your hands (the third of them), where 
it appears over G, referring to C as 2. 

And now for the practical use of these figures, for 
although the harmonic scale may be referred to, they 
are most easily remembered. All young pupils are taught 
the difference between an octave, a fifth, a fourth, and a 
third, upon the pianoforte, and it is only to associate the 
numbers with those intervals, to find out the best bass, 
and every admissible bass. All octaves are in the ratio of 
2 to I, whether it be 4 to 2, 8 to 4, or 16 to 8. All fifths 
are in the ratio of 3 to 2, all fourths in that of 4 to 3, all 
major thirds 5 to 4, and minor thirds 6 to 5. 

For instance, in the key of C, C to the F above it is a 
fourth, and F is No. 4, therefore, the F, two octaves 
below, is the consonant bass ; whereas, if we strike G 
with the C above, C becomes the natural bass to that 
interval. The most consonant basses are always found 
in the lowest numbers, because the proportion of con- 
sonant vibrations is there greatest. Thus, from D to G 
is also a fourth, in the key of C, but the numbers are 9 
to 12, with a remote bass in C, and there will be 21 vibra- 
tions, of which only two will coincide in every cycle — i 



of the 8, with i of the 9. Then, the proportion of non- 
coincidence will be so great as to make the sound un- 
pleasing to the ear. But as 9 to 12 is in the ratio of 3 to 
4, we have the best bass in these lowest numbers, and 
take G. By the various basses to intervals we modulate 
into other keys. 

At the International Exhibition, held at South Ken- 
sington in 1862, Mr. Saxe, the eminent inventor of Saxe 
horns, exhibited an fmmense horn with an exceedingly 
long coil of tube, and perhaps standing six feet in height. 
When asked by the jury the object of this excesssive 
size and length, he answered, " Cest pour jouer dans le 
cinquitee ^tage " — " It is for playing in the fifth octave,* 
and he produced with facility any of the sixteen tones and 
semitones of that octave from it. Half the length of any 
open conical tube is expended upon its second note, the 
octave. No human power could have blown the low 
notes of that horn. Supposing it to have been tuned to 
the lowest C upon the pianoforte, with thirty-three vibra- 
tions in a second, as the usual French pitch, it would 
have had 66, 132, 264, and 528 for its first, second, 
third, and fourth octaves, while its fifth octave would 
commence on treble C, with 528, and extend to C above 
the lines with 1056 vibrations in a second of time. It 
would thus be within the power of the lungs. He 
utilized only from the i6th to the 32nd part of his 
enormous tube, but it gave him the command of the 
semitones. 

This great incumbrance of length is not necessary in 
a cylindrical stopped tube. It will take up its own 
octave according to the ratio of its length to its 
diameter. We have here an example in a resonating 
tube invented by Charles Wheatstone just fifty years 
ago. The lecture for which he invented it was after- 
wards reported in the twenty-fifth volume of the 
Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature, and Art^ 
January to March, 1828. Both he and I knew Eulen- 
stein, an accomplished musician, whose admirable skill 
in playing upon the Jew's harp was the inducing cause of 
that particular lecture. Eulenstein had a peculiar facility 
for contracting and expanding the cavity of his mouth, 
through the pliability of his very thin cheeks and by the 
management of his tongue, so that he could fit them for 
any harmonic note within a certain compass. Wheat- 
stone then gave the law, that a perfect harmonic scale 
might be drawn from a single tuning-fork, or from the 
vibrating tongue of a Jew's harp, by resonators adapted, 
or adapting themselves, to multiples of the original 
number of vibrations. "I took," said Sir Charles, " a 
tube, closed at one end by a movable piston, and placed 
before its end the branch |or prong] of a vibrating tuning- 
fork of the ordinary pitch— C. The length of the column 
of air [within the tube] was six inches. On diminishing 
the length of the column of air to three inches [by moving 
up the pistonjK the sound of the tuning-fork was no longer 
reciprocated [in unison], but its octave was produced." 
"It is therefore evident from experiments," says he 
" that a column of air may vibrate by reciprocation, not 
only with another body whose vibrations are isochronous 
[or in unison] with its own, but also when the number of 
its own vibrations is any multiple of the sounding body." 
Again, he says : " No othersounds can be produced by 
reciprocation from a column of air, but those which are 
perfectly identical with the multiplications oi the original 
vibrations of the tuning-fork or the tongue of the JeVs 
harp." I produced the original tube in this room about 
two years ago, to check a recent theory — that reso- 
nators strengthened the ear, and answered only in 
unison, and Sir Charles ordered this one for me, made 
by Mr. Groves, under his own superintendence. The 
improvement in this is, that the piston now works in a 
groove and is not liable to stick. Two octaves are pro- 
duced from the tongue of one Jew's harp as rapidly as 
the piston can be moved up and down. There is 
Digitized by 



Nov. 8, 1877] 



NATURE 



35 



HQ slurring between one sound and another, but clear 
jumps from one multiple to another, and every one of 
them may be arrested and heard by itself by checking the 
piston. But, although I am glad to produce this tube 
before those who were not present on the la§t occasion, 
and to do honour to the memory oif our eminent vice- 
president, who declined to refer in any way tp himself, I 
have another motive also. This is a principle which has 
never been utilised. We have .had pipes stopped at the 
top, like the usual pitch-pipe, but they have been found 
too slow in action to be suitable for any other purpose. 
This is rapidity itself, and might surely be utilised for 
some such purpose as pedal-pipes for an organ. The 
piston can be balanced outside to the greatest nicety, 
and one such pipe will take the scale of C, and 
another that of F. All that is required is to blow across 
the top in the manner of the Pandean pipes, or, as it 
appears, better still, to set free a fan or cogged wheel at 
the mouth tuned to each of the two fundamental notes. 
The wheel might be set free by the action of the foot 
upon the pedal. It is now well known that the length 
of a 32 or a 16 foot pipe may be greatly reduced by breadth 
of scale. We Europeans have made little, if any, use of 
resonators, and yet they have been long in use in Java. 
The drawing on the wall is of an instrument brought 
from Java by Sir Stamford Raffles more than half a 
century ago. There is one of the same kind in the 
British Museum. But this is perhaps of greater interest, 
as it may have suggested to Wheatstane .the ^rtfu- 
cipie of the resonating tube. The natives of Java cast 
metal plates which they suspend in a row upon strings, 
and strike them with drum-sticks, which are fitted into 
circular heads. As all cast metal is more or less false in 
tone, owing to inequalities and lack of homogeneity, they 
place some of the largest bamboos, cut to short lengths, 
and placed upright, under the metal to make the true 
sotmds of these resonators to overcome the false har- 
monics of the metal plates. 

Resonators were used in the theatres of ancient Greece 
—we here find them used in Java ; but these powerful 
auxiliaries to tone still await their development in modem 
Europe. 

And now, in conclusion, permit me to draw your atten- 
to a harmonium . with, two keyboards, the upper one 
having four octaves of our scale tuned without tempering, 
and the lower with the five octaves of the harmonic scale, 
and the sixteen notes in the fifth octave. Much has been 
said of the hartnonic scale, and this is perhaps the only 
instrument on which the harmonics can be fully heard 
and sustained for experimental use. 

ROBERT SWINHOE, RR,S. 

WITHIN the last thirty years or so their respective 
vocations happen to have called two able lovers of 
natural history in the direction of the Celestial Empire 
—Mr. Robert Swinhoe, from England, and tlie P^re 
Artnand David, a Frenchman. The simultaneous inves- 
tigations of these two biolojgists have added inomensely 
to our knowledge of a country whose fauna not long ago 
was thought to oe in no way interesting, because the huge 
popidation had succeeded in extirpating all the indige- 
nous species. How jDeu: from the truth such an assumption 
is, has been demonstrated by the researches of the two 
naturalists above mentioned, the lamented death of the 
former of whom, at the early age of forty-one years, wc 
recorded last week. 

Mr. Swinhoe was bom at Calcutta on September i, 
1836, and was educated at King's Collie, London, 
whence he matricidatcd at the Ui^versity of London, in 
1853. The next year he went, as supernumerary inter- 
preter, to Hong Kong, being transferred to Amoy m 1855, 
and to Shanghai Iq i8c8. In the same year he was 
attached to the Earl of Elgin's special mission to China, 



an4 afterwards to H.M.S. Inflexible as interpreter in a 
circumnavigating expedition round Formosa, in search 
of certain Europeans said to have been held in captivity 
at the sulphur mines on the island. 

In i860 Mr. Swinhoe attended Gen. Napier, and after- 
wards Sir Hppe Grant, the Commander4n-Chief,.a$ intcrr 
preter, and received a medal for war service. At the end 
of the same year he was appointed Vice-Consul at Taiwan, 
Formosa, and in 1865 to the full Consulship. In 1866 he 
was Consul, temporarily, at Amoy, and in 1868 went to 
explore the Island of Hainan. From May^ X871, to 
February, 1873, ^^ was acting Consul at Ningpo, and at 
Chefoo until October of the latter year, when he .had to 
retire from the service, on account of increasing para- 
plegia, from which he died on October 28 last. 

Mr. Swinhoe was a Fellow of the Asiatic Societies of 
China and of Bengal, as well as of many other societies, 
having beeu elected imp the Royal Society in 1876. 

By far the majority of Mr. Swinhoe's scientific com- 
munications — fifty-two in number — mostly on the mam- 
malia and birds of China, are to be found in the Proceedings 
of the Zoological Society of Lqp^pn between 1861 and 
1874. Other papers .appealed in the Ibis and the Annals 
and Magasifie of Natural History within the same 
period. Among. the most; important of these are the 
** Catalogues '' of the mammals and birds of China and 
its islands, ia which are to be found descriptions of many 
new species of both classes, among which are St. John's 
Macaque {Macficus saficti-Johannis), the Water Deer of 
Shanghai {flydropotes incruris)^ the Mantchurian Deer 
{Cervus mantcJiuricus\ the Orai\ge-bellied Helictis 
\Helictis subaurantiacd^y the Superb Flying Squirrel 
{Pteromys grandis), Boyce's Stork {Ciconia boyciand)^ 
together with a great number pf other birds, for a com- 
plete account of which we cannot do better than refer our 
readers to a work upon the birds of China^ by M. I'Abbd 
David and M. £. Oustalet, published at Paris a week ago. 

Mlchie's Detx ijiopkotragus michianus) is the name 
given by Mr, Swinhoe to a small deer from Ningpo, with 
antlers more diminutive than mai\y other species. This, 
or a very closely-allied species, was previously sent to 
Paris by P6re David, and described by M. A. Milne- 
Edwards under the name Elaphodus cephalophus. 

Mr. Swinhoe, besides , the coUecdons which he made, 
was indefatigable and particularly successful in his 
endeavours to send living animals from China to this 
country, and there are many species, including Cervus 
swinhoii, Hydropotes itururis^ and Ciconia boyciana^ 
which were first procured by him. 

It will be some time, we fear, before so enterprising a 
naturalist as Mr. Swinhoe takes up his residence in 
China, and employs every available opportunity for the 
prosecution of his favourite line of research* 



DOUGLAS A. SPALDING 

OUR readers [must be familiar with this name as that 
of an occasional contributor to Nature of thought- 
ful and acute articles in the department of mental 
science ; they will be sorry to hear — but those who knew 
him will not be surprised-^that Mr. Spalding died on 
October 31^ at Dunkirk, just as he was preparing to go to 
the Mediterranean coast to spend the winter. Not much 
is known of Mr. Spalding's early life, but we are told by 
one who ought to know that his parents, belonging to 
Aberdeenshire, were in veiy humble circumstances, and 
that he was. bom in London about the year 1840. He 
himself spent his early years in Aberdeen as a working 
slater, doing his best to educate himself. By the kind- 
ness of Prof. Bain Mr. Spalding wa^ allowed to attend 
the classes of Literature and Philosophy in Aberdeen 
University free of charge, in the year 1863. After that 
he got some teaching about London* *nd worked very 
^ard to support himselGjand even managed to keep his 



36 



NATURE 



{Nov. 8, 1877 



terms as barrister, though he never practised. It 
was during this period of privation that he contracted 
disease of the lungs, from which he suffered greatly up to 
the time of his premature death. The first thing that 
brought him to the notice of the scientific world was his 
experiments on the instinctive movements of birds, which 
were first described at the Brighton meeting of the British 
Association in 1872, and published in MacmillafCs Maga- 
zine for February, 1873. From a series of interesting 
experiments on chickens he showed that the only theory 
in explanation of the phenomena of instinct that has an 
air of science about it is the doctrine of inherited associa- 
tion. Instinct, he maintained, in the present generation 
of animals, is the product of the accumulated experiences 
of past generations. In another paper at the Bristol 
meeting of 1875 he communicated the results of further 
experiments, some described in Nature, vol. viii. p. 289, 
bearing out still more strongly the conclusions he had 
already reached, and which he summed up in the statement 
that "animals and men are conscious automata." The 
Brighton paper brought Mr. Spalding into deserved repute. 
"While travelling in France he became acquainted with 
John Stuart Mill, and through him afterwards with many 
other distinguished men, who all treated Spalding with 
great respect. Through Mill also, we believe, he became 
acquainted with Lord and Lady Amberley, with whom he 
lived as companion and tutor to their children from 1873 
until the death of Lord Amberley. Mr. Spalding was 
appointed guardian to the children, but was ultimately 
compelled to withdraw from this office owing to his 
religious opinions. Earl Russell, however, allowing him 
to retain for life the salary settled upon him by Lord 
Amberley. For the last two years Mr. Spalding has lived 
mostly in the south of France, bearing his fatal and pro- 
tracting illness with the greatest equanimity, regretting 
only his po werlessness to work and his enforced absence 
from London, 

As to the value of his scientific work our readers having 
the material before them are able to judge. By his expert^ 
ments on animals he did much not only to clear up the nature 
of what is call -d instinct, but also to shed a new light on 
certain mental phenomena in man himself. His papers in 
Nature, mo.tly reviews of works connected with psycho- 
logy, on the metaphysics of instinct and evolution— of the 
latter doctrine he was a warm advocate — ^were good speci- 
mens of clear and close reasoning. That he had a tender 
side to his character is evident from even his Association 
papers, and still more so from the interesting letters written 
by him to NATURE, last April, on the swallows and 
cuckoos at Menton. All who knew him felt that had his 
health permitted he would have added largely to scientific 
knowledge in the special department to which he had 
devoted himself — physiological psychology. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 
The Solar Eclipse of 1878, February 2.— The 
eclipse of the sun in February next will be annular, but 
the central line passes at such high southern latitudes that 
the annular phase is not likely to be observed unless it be 
in the western parts of Tasmania near sun-set. Thus the 
central eclipse will commence in longitude 103^0' west of 
Greenwich, latitude 73° 8' south, and will end in longi- 
tude 149** 25' east, latitude 40° 58', and the eclipse is cen- 
tral at noon in longitude 112° 27' west, and latitude 84® 3' 
south. Another point upon the central line is in longitude 
145° 25' east, and latitude 42° 25', where the sun's altitude, 
however, will be less than 4° ; this point lies on the west 
coast of Tasmania. Launceston is near the central line, 
but at the middle of the eclipse the sun at that place is 
ahnost in the horizon. 

A large partial eclipse will be visible over the southern 
parts of Australia. At Melbourne it will commence at 
oh. im. P.M. local mean time, at 120** from the sun's north 



point towards the west, and will attain its greatest magni- 
tude 0*91, just before sunset, or at 7h. 4. At Adelaide the 
eclipse wdl beg^n at 5h. 44m. local time and will be greatest 
about 6h. 45m., when the magnitude will beo'85, with the 
sun at an altitude of between 5^ and 6®. At Perth, in 
Western Australia, the whole eclipse will be visible ; 
greatest about 5h. 25m. local time, magnitude 0*66^ with 
the sun at an elevation of 23^ 

The next total eclipse of the sun visible in those parts 
of the earth will take place on the morning of September 
9, 1885. At Wellington, New Zealand, the eclipse begins 
about a quarter of an hour after sunrise ; totality com- 
mences at 'jYl. 42m. A.M., but continues only about forty 
seconds ; in 175® 3' east, and 40® 34' south, on the central 
line, the duration of totality is im. 54s. It should be 
stated that these figures are founded upon the tables of 
Damoiseau and Carlini. 

The Minor Planet Euphrosyne.— It does not 
frequently happen that we have to look for a planet at 60^ 
of north declination ; such, however, will be the case at 
the end of the present year, and in the first days of 1878 
as regards Euphrosyne, No. 31 of the group, which was 
discovered by Ferguson at Washington, on September i, 
1854. The planet will be in opposition on December 18, 
with the brightness of a star of the tenth magnitude. 
The following are its calculated positions when passing 
its greatest northern declination. 

Distance 
xah. Berlin M.T. Right Asoeasion. Dedinatioo. finom th« 

n. m. s. o / « Earth. 

1877, December 31 ... 52017-1 ... 60256 ... 1*613 

1878, January i ... 51849*5 ... 60259 ... 1*614 
„ „ 2... 51724*1 ... 60238 ... I*6i8 

The star L. 10067 in Camelopardus, which Lalande 
calls an eighth, and Argelander a seventh, will be a good 
guide for identifying the planet in this position. At 
midnight at Greenwich on January i, by calculation, 
Euphrosyne will precede the star seven seconds in R.A., 
seven minutes to the south of it 

The latest elements of this body which, it will be seen, 
approaches much nearer to the pole of the equator than 
the generality of the small planets, are as follows, 
according to the computations of Mr. S. W. Hill :— 
Epoch 1877, December 18 o M.T. at Berlin. 



90 1023 
93 17 30 
31 33 as 
26 28 ^ 



Mean Longitude 

Longitude of Perihelion 

„ Ascending Node 

Inclination 

Eccentricity 0*222786 

Semi-axis major 3*14902 

Comets of Short Period in 1878.— Of the comets 
known to be performing their revolutions in periods of 
less than ten years, two are due in perihelion again in the 
ensuing year, probably within a few days of each other. 
According to Dr. von Asten's elements of Encke's comet 
at its appearance in 1875, the' next perihelion passage, 
neglecting perturbation, would fall about July 27*0, 
which involves an apparent track in the heavens un- 
favourable for observation. In 1845, when the con- 
ditions were more nearly the same than at any of the 
comet's returns since its periodicity was first ascertained, 
only four observations were secured between July 4 and 
14— at Rome, Philadelphia, and Washington. If the 
comet is not observed [before the perihelion in 1878, 
while at a considerable distance from the earth, it may 
be found at the observatories of the soutliem hemisphere, 
after perihelion, or in the latter part of August, when it 
makes its nearest approach to us, although its distance at 
that time will not be less than the mean distance of the 
earth from the sim. The second comet, which is due in 
perihelion in 1878, is that discovered by Dr.Tempel on 
July I, 1873. The period of revolution assigned by Mr. 
W. E. Pltunmer from observations extending to October 
20, is 1,850 days ; and the comet, neglecting perturbattions 



Nov. 8, 1877] 



iTATUkB 



37 



which are not likely to be material, would be in perihelion 
again about July 20 ; this date, however, will be uncer- 
tain, as thus far no definite discussion of the observations 
in 1873 1^^ y^^tVL published Some time since it was 
stated that Herr Schulhof, of the Vienna Observatory, 
was at work upon this comet. With the above date for 
perihelion passage, the apparent path would be favourable 
for observations, and the comet would approach the earth 
almost as closely as is possible with the actual form of 
orbit 



NOTES 
The session of the Royal Society opens next Thursday with the 
Btkerian Lecture On the Organisation of the Fossil Plants of the 
Coal Measures, Part ix., which will be delivered by Prof. W. 
C. Williamson, of Manchester, F.R.S. 

We leaio from the Times that the following is the list 
of the new Council which will be submitted to the Royal 
Society for election at their anniversary meeting on St 
Andrew's Day next, the 30th instant :— President, Sir 
Joseph Dalton Hooker, C.B., K.C.S.I, M.D., D.C.L., 
LL.D. ; Treasurer, William Spottiswoode, M.A., LL.D. ; 
Secretaries, Prof. George Gabriel Stokes, M. A. D.C.L., LL.D., 
Prof. Thomas Henry Huxley, LL.D. ; Foreign Secretary, Prof. 
Alexander William Williamson, Ph.D. ; other members of the 
Council— Frederick A. Abel,. C.B., V.P.C.S., WillUm Bow- 
man, F.R.C.S., Frederick J. Bramwell, M.I.C.E., William B. 
Carpenter, C.B., M.D., LL.D., William Carruthers, F.L.S., 
William Crookes, V.P.C.S., Prof. P. Martin Duncan, M.B., 
P.G.S., William Farr, M.D., D.C.L., Prof. William H. Flower. 
F.R.C.S., Prof. G. Carey Foster, B.A., F.C.S., John Russell 
Hind, F.R.A.S., Lord Rayleigh, M.A., Vice-Admiral Sir G. 
H. Richards, C.B., Prof. Henry J. Stephen Smith, M.A., 
Prof. Balfour Stewart, M. A., and Prof. Allen Thomson, M.D., 
r.R.S.E. 

Mr. F. M. Balfour, Fellow and Lecturer of Trinity College, 
Cambridge, has joined the editorial staff of the Quarterly Journal 
of Microscopic Science, The journal will in future be conducted 
by Prof. Ray Lankester as responsible editor, with the co-opera- 
tion of Mr. Archer in Dublin, Mr. Balfour in Cambridge, and 
Dr. Klein in London. The volume for the year just concluded 
shows an increase in the number and efficiency of the lithographic 
plates. Instead of sixteen octavo plates as usual four years ago, 
there are twenty-five, many of which are double sized, and some 
coloured. 

Madame Leverrier, the i^idow of the astronomer, died on 
November I, at the age of fifty-eight years. This lady was 
safifering from a protracted illness, when the loss of her husband 
produced a shock from which she was not able to recover. She 
WIS a daughter of M. Choquet, an eminent professor of mathe- 
matics in Paris. Her father, about eighty years old, was present 
at the funeral. On the very day that Madame Leverrier died, 
the Journal Officiel published a decree, signed by M. Brunet, 
the Minister of Public Instruction, ordering the bust of Leverrier 
to be placed in the Palace at Versailles, where are to be collected 
the memorials of the great Frenchmen of the nineteenth century. 
This honour has been decreed to a number of other men who 
have ranked foremost amongst litUrateurs, artists, or politicians. 

J M. Leverrier, it is strange to say, has been chosen as the only 

I repiesentatlTe of science. 

I The French Academy of Medicine has been authorised by the 

\ nimstry to accept a legacy of 4,000/. bequeathed by Dr. Demor- 
qnay, to help them to build a hall of meeting. 

M. Faye, Inspector-General in Science of Secondary Edu- 
cation in France, has been appointed to a »milar office for 
npcrior education in succession to the late M. Leverrier. M. 
Fernet has succeeded to M. Faye's post 



M. Watteville, director of Arts and Sciences in the French 
Ministry of Public Instruction, has issued a circular notifying 
that a special exhibition will be held at the Champ de Mars, for 
collecting the results of the scientific missions granted by the 
French Government in 1867. Almost every country, civilised 
and barbarian, near or remote, has been visited. 

M. Bertrand, the perpetual secretary of the French Academy 
of Sciences, has been appointed by M. Bonnet member of the 
International Metric Commission. 

Commander Guiseppe Tslfbner has announced his inten- 
tion of placing at the disposal of the Italian Geographical 
Society a sum of 40,000 francs to found a secdon of conunercial 
geography and organise at Rome a museum to contain specimens 
of all the products which Italy exports and imports. 

At a meeting held at the London Library on October 26 
(Mr. Robert Harrison in the chair), it was determined to form 
an Index Society, with the immediate object of compiling subject 
indexes and indexes of standard books of facts, to be printed 
and circulated among the members ; and with the ultimate 
object of building up a general index of universal literature, 
which can be referred to at the office of the society during com- 
pilation. The great aim of the society will be the gradual 
accumulation of aids towards the preparation of a key to all 
knowledge, and with this object a library of indexes will be 
commenced. The subscription will be one guinea. Subscribers* 
names and suggestions on the subject of the proposed society will 
be received by Henry B. Wheatley, hon. sec. pro tem.^ 5, 
Minford Gardens, West Kensington Park, W. The utility of 
such a society and such au index to scientific men of all classes 
and grades will be obvious, and the effort now being made 
deserves their hearty support. 

The system under which the official addresses are made at the 
annual meeting of the American Association for the Advance- 
ment of Science seems curiously complicated, and sometimes is 
a puzzle even to the old members of that body. The retiring 
president, who has been the presiding officer in the preceding 
}ear, makes the opening address, which is the presidential 
address for that year. The presidents of the sections, on the 
other hand, who have just entered on their dutief, open their 
sections respectively with an address. There are only two sec- 
tions, A and B ; other divisions are parts of these, and are 
characterised as sub-sections. Section A has charge of mathe- 
matics, astronomy, physics, chemistry, and microscopy ; Section 
B of zoology, botany, geology, palaeontology," ethnology, and 
archaeology. There is a further complication in the circumstance 
that the presidents of the sections are also the two vice-presidents 
of the Association. To illustrate this anangement, we may cite 
proceedings at the meeting of last August at Nashville. Prof. 
W. B. Rogers, who was the president of the Association last 
year, and president at the Buffalo meeting, was expected to open 
the Nashville meeting with the presidential address, but was 
prevented by illness. Professors E. C. Pickering and O. C. 
Marsh are respectively presidents for the present year of Sections 
A and B, and also vice-presidents of the Association. The 
address on "The Introduction and Succession of Vertebrate 
Life in America," by Prof. Marsh, which we recently published 
in full, was his official address as the president of Section B, 
delivered at the opening of the Section. To carry the illustra- 
tion further,' it may be added that Prof. Marsh, who was elected 
at this year's meeting, president of the Association, will not 
preside till next year at St. Louis, and will not be expected to 
deliver his presidential address until the meeting of the following 
year, 1879. 

The death is announced of Dr. Henry Lawson, until recently 
editor of the Popttlar Science Review, 

Mr. James Flower, for many years the articulator of the 
skeletons at the Royal CoUege of Surgeons, has just di^from 



38 



NATURE 



\Nov. 8, 1877 



carcinoma of the rectum, from which he had been suffering 
for some time past. Mr. James Flower was seventy-seven years 
of age, and had served in the army in his younger days. 

From statements made at a meeting of the California Academy 
of Sciences, the eucalyptus tree may be enumerated among the 
means for checking fire. Eucalyptus shingles are said to be 
fire- proof. A tree of this species was exposed to the San Fran- 
cisco fire of 1876, and is still flourishing. The notion is urged 
that the spread of fires in cities could be checked by setting out 
such trees for shade and ornament. All varieties of the euca- 
lyptus are said to possess this valuable property. 

The first examination of Surveyors and Inspectors of Nubances 
by the Sanitary Institute of Great Britain, took place on Monday, 
October 29. Eight candidates presented themselves, five of 
whom were successful in obtaining certificates of competence, 
namely, Mr. H. M, Robinson, Surveyor, Ulverston ; Mr. J. 
Parker, ditto, Bridgwater ; Mr. F. Booker, Inspector of Nui- 
sances, Bradford ; Mr. W, S. PrebbleS, ditto, Blackburn ; Mr. 
Thomas Blanchard, ditto, Evesham. Fifteen candidates have 
already entered their names for the next examination. 

News has been received, the Geographical Magazine states, 
from M. Kelsief, who has been making researches during the 
past summer along the Muimanian coast and. in Lapland, for 
the Moscow Anthropological Exhibition of 1879. M. Kelsief 
had been travelling with M. Singer, secretary of the Natural 
History Society; and the two had, up to the time of their 
parting company on the borders of the White Sea, made a good 
collection of stone implements and other prehistoric remains, 
M. Kelsief then took a cruise in a small vessel, and traversede 
with considerable difficulty, about 800 versts in all in the White 
and Polar Seas, and passed the whole of the summer within the 
Arctic circle. Along the Murmanian coast he visited the Lapps, 
who inhabit there subterranean dwellings, grouped at intervals 
of between 70 and 100 versts. He was accompanied by only 
one servant, and after enduring considerable hardships through 
exposure and insufficiency of food, he started on August 29 for 
the north of Finland, where he proposes to visit the Lapps of 
Lake Enara, and to return to St. Petersburg by way of Tornea. 

The portion of the Indus River where it emerges from Kash- 
mir territory and flows through the mountainous region of Gilgit 
and Chilas to rejoin our frontier near Darband— a strip in all of 
about 120 miles in length— has just received, we learn from the 
Geographical Magazine, detailed exploration at the hands of a 
Punjab surveyor. This piece of work will complete our geo- 
graphical knowledge of this river, and will contribute useful 
topographical information to our future maps, though it must 
be remembered that the general course of the river had been 
pretty accurately determined in 1870 by Capt. Carter's careful 
triangulation of the peaks flanking its eastern and western 
banks. 

The London papers contain frequent announcements of 
expected high tides, which are no doubt useful to many as fore- 
warnings of danger. But we cannot understand why the burden 
of such predictions should fall solely upon Capt. Saxby. Is he 
the only one qualified and concerned to make such predictions ? 

We have received a reprint of four important papers which 
originally appeared in the New York Tribune^ and which are 
now sold separately by that paper at the insignificant price of 
10 cents. The papers are on the Evolution of Life, by Dr. 
Draper ; Ancient Life in America, by Prof. Marsh ; Catas- 
trophism and Environment, by Mr. Clarence King; and the 
Peabody Museum (illustrated), by Mr. Wyckoff. This is No. 
37 of these science numbers of the Tribum ; evidently, then, 
it is the interest of the management to find splice for so much 
science. 



I A COMMITTEE has been formed in Holland under the patron- 
age of Prince Henry of the Netherlands, and 24,000 florins have 

I been collected, to send out in May of next year a small but strong 
sailing vessel to the west coast of Spitzbergen, with the view of 
reaching the mouth of the Yenissei. The objects of the expe- 
dition are to explore the new commercial route to. the Siberian 
rivers, to train sailors who might ultimately be intrusted with 
the formation of a scientific station, and to erect a few monu- 
ments to the memory of the early Dutch arctic navigators. 

The celebrated mammalian and reptilian remains obtained by 
I Mr. Beckles from the base of the middle Purbecks at Durdle- 
! stone Bay, and described by Prof. Owen in the Palaeontographical 

Society's Memoirs were acquired last year by the British 
, MuscunL Under the care of Mr. Davis they have been carefully 
; cleaned, mounted, and labelled, and are now being placed in 

cases. The total number of specimens acquired was about 2,000, 

but only some of the best are exhibited. 

The tank prepared at the Westminster Aquarium for the 
whale is now used as a seal pond. Its large size gives ample 
scope for the gambols of the young seals, which can now be 
seen under circumstances more &vourable than have before been 
offered in London. 

Mr. O. H. a. Moggs writing to the Times from Bullpits, 
Bourton, Dorset, states that that place was visited on Friday 
last by what seemed to be two shocks of an earthquake. The 

I first occurred at about 8.IOA.M., and was accompanied by a 
rumbling sound, which lasted about ten or twelve seconds. The 
vibration of the ground was very slight, although it could be dis- 
tinctly felt. The second shock was felt at 1 1 . 20 A. M. The vibration 
of the ground was very violent, causing houses to shake and the 
windows to rattle. This lasted about six second?, and was 
accompanied by a rumble like the former, only heavier, which 

I lasted about eight or ten seconds. 

A SLIGHT shock of earthquake was felt on Sunday afternoon 
at New York. It was also felt in New Brunswick and Quebec. 

Messrs. J. and A. Churchill have published in a sepaijitc 
form, for the u<e of btudents, the valuable '* Notes on Embryology 
' and Classification *' by Prof. Lankester, from the current number 
of the Quarterly yournal of Microscopic Science* 

\ Under the title of " The Lazy Lays and Prose Imaginings, 
written, printed, published, and reviewed by William H. 
Harrison," of Great Russell Street, the author has published a 
collection of verse interspersed with short prose pieces partly 
sentimental but mostly intended apparently to be funny. Scien- 
tific men and matters are in one or two cases alluded to, and the 
imprint bears that the work is published "a.d. 1877 (popular 
chronolog^') ; a.m. 5877 (Torquemada) ; a.m. 50,800,077 
(Huxley)." We believe our readers may derive a little amuse- 

I ment from a perusal of the volume. 

The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 
: past week include an Anubis Baboon (Cynocephalus anubis) from 
! West Africa, presented by Mr. Ward; a Macaque Monkey 
. {Macacus cynomolgm) from India, presented by Dr. W. B. 
. Stirling ; a Grey Ichneumon i^Herpestes griseus) from India, pre- 
sented by Mrs. Henry Jephson Mello ; a Central American 
Agouti {Dasyprocta isthmica) from Central America, presented 
by Mr. A. Stradling; three Sclater*s C\iX9JBao^s {Crax sclatert) 
from Paraguay, presented by Mr. Alex. F. Baillie ; a Puff Adder 
{Vipera ariefans) from South Africa, presented by Mr. A. Biden; 
a Pike (Esox Indus) from British Fresh Waters, presented by 
Mr. A. D. Bartlett; an Axis Deer {Cervus axis) from India, a 
Three-banded Armadillo {Tolypeutes conurus) from La Plata, 
I deposited ; a Cape Buffalo (Buialus caffer\ two Coatis {Nastta 
I nasica), bom in the Gardens. 



Vm 8, 1877] 



NATURE 



39 



AMERICAN SCIENCE 

THE chief signal officer of the U.S. army has been urging that 
physical observations of the snn be made, as of sun-spots, 
ikalseiprotuberanoee, &&, in reference to their supposed influence 
opOD terrestrial meteorology, and has offered to publish the results 
montfaly, or such of them as may be considered desirable by the 
obtcrrer, in the Manthiy IVeather Revitw, The United States 
NsTstl ObiervHtory at Washington has already accepted this 
proposition, md it is considered very desirable that some other 
observatories in the east, and at least one on the western coast, 
ovoperate in this undertaking. 

Dr. C. A. "White, palaeontologist to the United States Geo- 
logiail and Geographical Survey of the Territori», has spent the 
past season making a critical study of the mesozoic and calnozoic 
strata of the great Rocky Mountain Region, and the results have 
tended to confirm in a remarkably clear manner the statement 
to often expressed by Dr. Hayden in his'annual reports, that the 
entire series of deposits are consecutive from the Dakota group 
of cretaceous age below, to the Bridger group of tertiary age 
above. Hie sedimentation was evidently continuous through all 
the (changes, from marine to brackish, and from brackish to 
fresh waters, that successively took place in that great region, 
although those changes in aqueous conditions produced corre- 
iponding changes in the then prevailing forms of invertebrate life. 

The annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian 
bstitution for 1076 has been published, and, as usual, contains 
t gnat deal of matter interesting to men of sdence. The por* 
tioDS of the volume detailing the operations of the institution for 
1876 is more especially occupied with an account of what was 
done in connection with the International Exhibition of 1876, 
It Philadelphia, and cspedally of the very extensive and valuable 
pRients made to the United States by the various foreign com- 
msioiis, and taken cha^ of b^ the institution, in accordance 
vith the law of Congress. Reference is made to an application 
fbr ta appropriation to erect an additional building to acoommo* 
date these objects, for which it is estimated that a floor space of 
Sc^ooo square feet will be required. Until this is done the col- 
lections in Guestion must remsin in their original packages, more 
than 4,000 m number, which are stored on foor floors of a sepa- 
ntebdlding, 50 by 100 feet, and filling them completely from 
floor to ceiling. As usoa], the funds of the institution are 
reported as being in a fiivonrable condition, the income 
not being exceeded by the expenditure^ and an available 
Uance even remaining in hand at the end of the fiscal year. 
The second part of the volume embraces biographical notices of 
Dom Pedro II., and also of Gay-Lussac articles on the kinetic 
theories of gravitation, the revolutions of the crust of the earth, 
the asteroids between Mars and Jupiter, and a number of papers 
on ethnology and archaeology. Of these the most im|)ortant is 
hy Prof. Mason on the I^timer collection of antiquities from 
Porto Rico^ in which the more interesting objects of this unique 
Kries are figured. Other papers on ancient mines and mounds, 
implements of various kinds, &c., are also contained in the volume. 

We have to record the death of Mr. Timothy Abbott 
Conrad, one of the oldest and most accomplished palaeontologists 
of the United States. Mr. Conrad was bom in 1803, and com- 
laenoed his investigations early in the century, beginning with the 
tcitiazy and cretaceous formations of the United States. In 
1832 he commenced an illustrated work on the '* Fossil Shells 
of the Tertiary Formations of the United States," which was, 
however, preceded in 1831 by his "American Marine Con- 
chology." Most of his papers appeared in the American Jtturnal 
cfSdenct and Aris^ and in the Proceedings and Memoirs of the 
Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia. He also contributed 
^gely to the reports of the various government exploring 
expeditions. 

The Nation announces the death of Mr. John G. Anthony, for 
■nj jears a devoted coadjutor of Agassiz in the Museum of 
Connpaxative Zoology at Cambridge, where he had cha^e of the 
concnological department. Long residence and extensive travel 
iB the Ohio Vidley had made him the first authority in the 
United States on fresh-water shells. He accompanied the 
l^ycr expedition to Brazil, but sickness prevented him from 
taldag part in it after its arrivaL In addition to his special work 
Mr. Anthony always maintained an interest in Botany and horti- 
coltme. He was a native of Rhode Island, and was in the 
ftveaty-foorth year of his age. 

^vA. Mnih makes the annooncement of the interesting dis- 



covery of the remains of two species of fossil bison in the lower 
pliocene of Nebraska and Kansas. They were much larger than 
the existing bison, with more powerful horns! 

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE 

Cambridgs. — ^The Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Atkinson, on resign- 
ing his office on November 3 (he has been re-elected) spoke 
of the progress of scientific teaching in the Universitv. The 
efficiency of the University as a sdiool of natural science lias been 
greatly promoted. Dr. Atkinson stated, daring the past year by 
the erection of the new buildings for the department of compara- 
tive afiatomy and physiology. Although the whole building is 
not yet completed, many of the rooms are already in use,' and 
the accommodation which is thus provided for both teachers and 
students will be of the greatest advantage. In connection with 
this subject Dr. Atkinson referred to Prof. Clerk Maxwell's 
announcement that His Grace the Chancellor has now conipletely 
equipped the Cavendish Laboratory with all the apparatus and 
instruments which the professor considers that a first-class insti- 
tution of this kind ought to possess. This singcdar munificence^ 
continued so steadily and ungrudginglv for such a number of 
years, is but one of the many proofs whicn His Grace is constantly 
giving of his unwearied care and concern for the welfare of the 
University. 

The following gentlemen have been elected to fellowships at 
St. John's College :— Arthur Milnes Marshall, B.A., Senior in 
Natural Science Tripos, 1874, and Donald M*Albter, B.A., 
Senior Wrangler and First Sndth's Priseman, 1877. 

Oxford. — At a special meeting of the Town Council held at 
Oxford on Monday it was resolved to establish a fir&t-class 
grammar school, the Cori)oration granting a ^te in the centre of 
the city of nearly an acre in extent, 4,000/. towards the building, 
and 100/. per annum towards its maintenance. There are to be 
filty free scholat^hips tenable for three years, thirty of which are 
to be filled up from the public elementaty schools. 

London.— The Council of University, College, Xiondon, have 
appointed the Rev. T. G. Bonney, B.D., of St. John's College, 
Cambridge, Professor of Geology and Mineralogy for five years. 

St. ANDRKWS.»Mr. George Chiystal, B.A.^ FeUow and 
Lecturer of Corpus Christ! Collie, Cambridge, has been 
appointed to succeed Prof! Fischer in tiie chair of mathematiGS. 

Among the names likely to be brought forward by the students 
for the honorary and honourable post of rector of the Univenity, 
that of Prof. Tyndall is mentioned.' 

SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 

Morphologisches Jahrbuch, voL iiL Part 3. — R. Bonnet, on 
the structure of, and circulation in, the gills of Acephala, pp. 45, 
three plates.— C. Hasse, fossil vertebrae (the Squatinae), two 
plates.— R. Wiedersheim, the skull of Urodeles, pp. 97, five 
plates ; a most valuable memoir on Menobranchus, Siren, Pro- 
teus, Amphiuma, Cryptobranchus, Menopoma, Salamandrina, 
Triton, Axolotl, Plethodon, Spelerpes, £llipsoglcssa, Ambly- 
stoma.— M. FUrbringer, on the cephalic skeleton of Cephalopoda. 

Annalen dor Fhysik und Chemie^ No. 9. — On discontinuous 
liquid motions, by M. Oberbeck. — Explanation of Dufour's and 
Meiget's experiments on the difiusion of vapours, by M. Kundt 
— On the difiusion of liquids, by M. JohannisgiiBz. — On the 
internal friction of solid bodies^ by M. Schmidt.— On the photo- 
electricity of fluorspar, by M. Hai^cel.— On the lesistance of 
flames to the galvanic current, by M. Hoppe. — On the electro- 
chemical process at an aluminium anode, by M. Beetz. — Further 
experiments on galvanic expansion, by M. Exner. — Reply to 
Zollner's objections against my electro-dynamic views, by M. 
Clausius.— On a mode of inference employed by; ProC Taitin 
the mechanical theory of heat, by M. Clausius. — On the sounding 
of air in pipes, by M. Ciamician. — ^The spectrum of nitrons and 
hyponitric acid, by M. Moser.— On optical illusion, by M. 
Trappe. 

BeibldUer zu den Annalen, &c, No. 8.— On the equilibrium 
of a drop between two horizontal plates, by M. Bosscha. — On 
cylindrical sound-waves, by M. Grin wis, — Application of the 
mlvanic current to investigation of the spheroiaal state of some 
Equids, by M. Hesehus.— On tie tenacity of copper and steel, 
by MM. Pisati and Saporita Ricca. — On the polymorphism of 
crystah^ by M. Moutier. — ^The heat of solution of chlorine, 
bromine^ and iodine compounds, by M. Thomsen, — New 



40 



NATURE 



\Nov. 8, 1877 



saccharimeter, by M. Laurent. — Lecture experiment on the 
colour-change of certain double iodides, by M. Boettger. 

No. 9. — On ph3^ical isomerism, by M. Lehmann. — On the 
elasticity of gypsum and mica, by M. Coromilas. — On the influ- 
ence of pressure on the temperature at which water shows a 
maximum density, by M. Van der Waals. — Apparatus for 
measurement of the expansion of rigid bodies by heat, by M. 
Reusch. 

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
London 

Chemical Society, November i. — Dr. Gladstone in the 
chair. — The following papers were read : — On some hydro- 
carbons obtained from the homolc^es of cinnamic acid, by 
W. H. Perkin. These hydrocarbons were prepared either by 
heating the acids or by treating the hydrobromo adds with 
bases. The following acids were prepared and examined : — 
Hydrobromocinnenylacrylic, hydrobromocinnenylcrotonic, hy- 
drobromocinnenylangelic. The following hydrocarbons were 
obtained : — Isopropylvinylbenzene, isopropylallylbenzene, iso- 
propylbutenylbeozene, allylbenzene, and butenylbenzene ; the 
dibromides of these bodies were also prepared and examined. — 
On anethol and its homologues, by W. H. Perkin. By heating 
methylparoxyphenylacrylic acid, vinylic anethol was obtained, 
similarly allylic or ordinary anethol and butenylic anethol were 
prepared. In conclusion the author discusses the formation of 
the hydrocarbons from the hydrobromo acids, and concludes 
that they are formed simply by the separation of hydrobromic 
acid and carbonic anhydride. — On two new methods for esti- 
mating bismuth volumetrically, by M. M. P. Muir. To a 
solution of bismuth in nitric acid an excess of sodium acetate is 
added, and then a measured volume of standard sodium phosphate 
solution also in excess ; the bismuth is precipitated, the precipi- 
tate filtered off, and the excess of phosphoric acid determined in 
the filtrate by uranium acetate. The other method given does 
Aot yield such accurate results. — On the oxidation of ditolyl, by 
T. Camelly. By the oxidation of solid ditolyl the author 
obtained diparatolylphen^lcarbonic acid and diparadiphenyldi- 
carbonic acid ; liquid ditolyl yielded orthoparatolylpbenylcar- 
bonic acid, orthoparadiphenylcarbonic acid, and finally tere- 
phthallic acid. — On a new manganese reaction, by J. B. Hannay. 
If a solution of a manganous salt in strong nitric acid is warmed 
in the presence of an iron salt with some crystals of potassic 
chlorate, the iron and manganese are precipitated as a double 
manganate of iron and manganese. The author proposes this 
reaction for separating iron firom aluminium, &c. 
Paris 

Academy of Sciences, October 29. — M. Peligotin the chair. 
— The following papers were read \—Risumi of a history of 
matter (second article), by M. Chevreul. — On the solar photo- 
spheric system, by M. Janssen. — The telephone of Mr. Graham 
Bell, by M. Breguet. — On the determination of the quantity of 
mud contained in current water, by M. Bouquet de la Grye. He 
uses an instrument named a pelometer (ir^A.of, mud), consisting 
of a V-shaped vessel whose rectangular faces, inclined one-tenth, 
are of thin glass, while its sides are of copper or white iron. One 
glass face has a centimetre scale commencing from the angle. 
The pelometer is filled and held vertical ; it then presents a suc- 
cession of vertical layers of increasing thickness upwards, and, by 
comparison with glass-ended tubes containing muddy water of 
various known densities, the proportion of mud may be ascer- 
tained. Other methods are given. Experiments made atRochelle 
/show that the quantity of mud per litre varies from one to ten 
times according to the depth. d. 
One-eighth page^ or quarter column .... o 18 6 

Quarter page^ or half a column i 15 o 

Half a page^ or a column 3 5 o 

Wnolepage 660 

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BURGOYNE, BURBIDGE8, CYRIAX,& PARRIES, 

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16, COLEMAN STREET, E.G. 

vPrize Medal Paris Exhibition. 1867.) 

Manufacturers of every description of Pure Acids, 

Chemicals, and Reagents for 

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Sole AgSnts for C, A. Kahlbaum, Berlin. 

Price Lists and Special Quotations upon application. 

MICROSCOPES, OBJECTIVES, ftc. 

CXNTKNNIAL EXHIBITION, PHILADELPHIA, U.SJL 

The Medal and Highest Award has been given for Design, 
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FnllT Illtistxatwl Catalogue and fiill InttnuStons liyPost, 6 S^nV^ 
'^-\ Mailed abroad fr^. 



XIV 



NA TUBE 



\Nov. 8, 1877 



DUPRE'S APPARATUS 

For the 

ESTIMATION OF UREA 

By means of bypobromide. 
HOW & CO.'S STUDENT'S MICRO- 

SCOFE, C<, 5^. 
HOW & CO.'S MICROSCOPE LAMP. 
HOW & CO.'S GEOLOGICAL DIA- 
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Groups of Fossils, Restorations of Extinct Animals, &c. 
Catalogues on Application, 

JAMES now AND CO., 
5, St Bride Street (late 2, Foster Lane), London. 

W. LADD & CO., 

Scientific Instrument Manufacturers 

{By App<nntnunt to thi R^yml IntHtuti^ of Gnat BrttatM.) 

II & 12, BEAK STREET, REGENT STREET, W. 

LADD*S IMPROVED SELF-CHARGING HOLTZ ELEC 
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TAe above impravetntnts can be applied to Holt% Machines oj 
old foTtn, 

MRS. SPOTTISWOODE'S POCKET POLARISING APPA. 
RAT US, complete in Case, post firee $/. %s, 6d, 

CRYSTALS, showing Axis, Dichroism, &c., mounted for above, 
in similar case; 

ALSO, 

Philosophical Apparatus of every Description. 

lUustrattd Catulfigue* Sixpence, 

FRENCH HYGIENIC SOCIETY, 40, Hay- 

market. — Electro-Dosimetric Institution. Treatment of all Chronic 
Diseases pronounced incurable by the combined therapeutic methods 



of Drs. BuTf craeire and P. A. Desjardin. Hours of Con»ulution from 
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Ireatment by correspondence. Mondays, Wednesdays, 



and I'ridays, consultations free from 10.30 to I a. Chemical and M«di- 
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M«dical Belu, ftc 

The dosimetric system of medidne is the connactinr link placed by Or. 
Barggraeve betw^^the old, or Aliopaihic, and the new, or Uahnemanian, 
or Homeopathic schools. 

This system, which is now well^ known and much used by doctors in 
Europe and South America, where it is steadily gaining ground, consists of 
a treatment t^t is at the same time convenient, agree^le, and sure. It 
depends upon the purity of the medicine and exactitude of the doses, 
and is apphed to the natiuv and causes of diseases both chronic and acute. 
In a word, it is the realisation of the hopes and researches of the alchemists 
of the middle a^es. 

These medicmes are administered in the form of granules, which are taken 
by all, even children, easily and without the least repugnance. 

This system rejects the ordinary forms of the old Pharmacy— apozemes, 
potions, opiates, electuaries, &c., in short, all the complicated mixture of 
drugs of nauseous odour and taste, respected by the old formularies, 
but which now, in the face of the progress of modern sdeoce, have no longer 
the necessity of existence. 

It is, above all, in chronic diseases (the "non i>ossumus'* of the old 
schoolsX rheumatism, 'gout, dyspepsia, liver complaints, affections of the 
spleen and kidney*, paralysis, scrofula, &c, that the system ot Dr. Burg- 
graeve, combined with that of Dr. P. A Desjardin, gives the most 
remarkable resulu. 

A large number of currs, obtained in a comparatively short time, highly 
confirm the therapeutic value of the electro-dosunetric system. 

If we consider that chronic maladies are caused by a diathesis, which 
always produces a change in the vital and nutritive organs, and if, on the 
other hand, we consider carefully the electro-magnetic phenomena, and the 
subtle nature of that agent,. which, i£it be not life itself, is one of its most 
active and important principles, we easily perceive the therapeutic value of 
a method which acts directly upon the vitality of the patient, by employing 
those agents which are essentially vital. 

It is thus that in charging the electric currents, which penetrate directly 
into the organism, wit a molecules of iodine, iron, gold, Ac, we can, almost 
instantaneously, soothe pains and spasms, re-establish or stimulate the circu- 
lation of the fluids, and restore that equilibrium of which health is the 
result. 

But it must be understood that for a treatment of this kind a wide experi- 
ence u necessary : the usual means of ordinary medicines are utterly 
insufficient, an exclusive attention being demanded for this speciality. 

In establishing the *' Electro-Dosimetric Institution of London," we fill 
up a chasm, and thus render a signal service to all doctors, who will 
find with us the readiest and most active concurrence in the treatment of 
that unfortunately large cla»; of persons afflicted by chronic disea.ses. 



JAMES WOOLLEY, SONS, ft CO., 

69, MARKET STREET, MANCHESTER. 

CHEMICAL APPARATUS AND REAGENTS 

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For drawbg Lissajous' and Meide's figures (graphic drawings of Harmonic 

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Specimen Curves drawn on card, post free, 31. per dosen. 

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UPPER ST. MARTIN'S LANE, W.C 

See Treatise on tfie efficacy, medicinal action, and compcsition 0/ ths 
'*Pick Me- Up," by the Proprietor^ 

RUPTURES.-BY ROYAL LETTERS PATENT. 

WHITE'S MOC-MAIN LEVER TRUSS 

is allowed by upwards of 500 Medical Men to be the most effec- 
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descriptive circular may be had, and the Trusi (which cannot 
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a inches below the hips, being seat to the Manufaaurer, 

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Price of a Single Truss, z6r., 3ix., 26;. 6(/., and^ix. &/.) 
„ Double ,, 3 XX. 6^, 43x., and sax. oa. 
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Post Office Orders to be made payable to John While, Post Office -Piccadilly. 

ELASTIC STOCKINGS, KNEE-CAPS, 

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JOflN WHITE, Manufacturer, 228, Picc?.dilly, London. 



Nov. 8, 1877] 



NATURE 



XV 



CLARENDON PRESS PUBLICATIONS. 

DescriptiYe Astronomy. A Handbook for the 

Gcner& Reader, and also for pnurtical Obserratory work 
With innstiatioiis and nnmerons tables. By G. F. 
Chambers, F.R.A.S. Third Edition, enlarged, 8Ta 28^. 

"There is modi m this handbook to mtereit die genenl reader, while 
the inrtiol woclccr vill find an invaluable maai of infonnatioQ on odestial 
nbiccts, besides anple references to astrooomicai anthorities.'— /*«// Mmii 

An Elementary Treatise on Heat, with 

irameroiis Woodcuts and Diagrams. By Balfour 

Stewart, LL.D., F.R.S., Professor of Natual Philosophy 

in the Owens College, Manchester. New Edition. Extra 

Fcap. 8va Price ^s. 6d, 

"The pubficatioa of this mannal is exceedingly weil-tiocd ; it includes 

vhlmi namnr liouts the leading facts and principles of this younger-bom of 

the Sciences, and for the mastery of the greater portion of tbe contents only 

nqoires ordinary intelligence on the part of the nmAer.'''-S/eetalffr. 

Chemistry for Students. By A. w. Wil- 
liamson, PhiL Doc, F.R.S,, Professor erf Chemistiy, 
University CoU^e, London. TUrd Edition. Extra Fcap. 
8to. Price 8^. & 
"A too rare example of what a good elementary text-book in any sdence 
, «^ to be : the mnEuage brief, simple, exact ; the arrangement logical, 
i devdnang in lucid order principles from facts, and keeping theory always 
dtpeadenc upon obserratioa ; a book that keeps the reason of the student 
aam while he strives to master details difficult but never without interest." 

Exercises in Practical Chemistry. By A. 

G. Vernon Harcourt, M.A., F.R.S. , and H. G. 

Madan, M.A. Series L: Qualitative Exercises. Second 

Edition. Crown 8vo, doth. Price Js. dd. 
To the numerous classes formed throughout the country for the study of 
'—with eq)ecial reference to the Science and Ait and the University 
'- — -we strongly recommend this Ktde volume." — Atken^um, 

Forms of Animal Life, illustrated by De- 

icriptions and Drawings of Dissections. By G. Rolleston, 
M.D., F.R.S., Linacre Professor erf Physiology, Oxford. 
^ Demy 8vo, doih. Price i6x. 

"To ttudenm attending dasses in our Universities and dsewhere, to those 
*<>fciBg in their own studies, to all interested in any bmnch of Comparative 
^^tomy, we most earnestly, and with the confidence which comes of 
^pcricaoe, commend * Forms of Animal Life ' as a thorough iwece of work, 
■Ki ccitainiy the best book on Comparative Aoatomy in our language. " — 
Y'^'rierfy ymtrtuU if MicmcopictU Science. 

Oeology of Oxford, and the Valley of 

THE THAMES. By John Phillips, M.A., F.R.S., 

^ Professor of Geolc^, Oxford. 8vo, doth. i/. u. 

_j"l< Bay be cordially and confidently recommended to all geologists to 

VMS the Scoondary rocks of England are a subiect of interest.' —Academy. 

A most important contribution to the knowledge of the ancient history 

the eaith, ajad supplies a need which happens just at this time to be 

ncalyfidL-— AToi^vrr. 

OXFORD, printed at the CLARENDON PRESS, and 
P^Wisbed by MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON, Publishers 
to the University. 

Draper's ink idichroio. 

TH£ NEW BLACK INK 

DirriHINO FROM ANYTHING BLSS KVER PRODUCED. 



*"fH bfrm i u i a oleaaiire when this Ink it used. It has been adopted 
*rtKpncipalBflaika,Pnblic Offices, and Raihrav Compamaa thronghoat 
Irelamii. 

\y^ alaKM instantly Full Black. 
^Mtoonodc Steel Pen». 
'■^M^tonaa^andBOt laahla to 



Ireland. 

Flow* easily from the Pea. 
Blottittg-paper may ba appliad at tha 
moment of writmg. 

^^beobcaiMd ia Londoo, through Meisn. Bakcuiv ft Sons, Farriat- 
£«M: W. BDWAaof, Old Change: F. Nswaaav ft Sons, Newgate 
?"^: Wh. Matksb, Londoo and Manr**^n— ; J. Austin ft Ca, Duke 
2^u«cipoal; and Sriunr ft Cook, PMaraoater Row ; and to ba had of 



HOLLOWAYS PIILS 



THIS 

MEDicnrB 

\ C tttoia C mm tor aU DiMrdm of the LIVSB, 8T0KACH 

MWSU. A enat nnOFISR df the BLOOD; a 

i I&vigorfttor of tho Byitem, in eaios of WSAXHSSS 

* SKBOIITv wbA It vaoqiiaUod in Fomalo OompUi&tt. 



LATELY PUBLISHED, MEDIUM 8vo, PRICE aix. 
Wiik TTkree Humdrtd lUuOraimu. 

PERU: 

Incidents of Travel and Exploration in the 
Land of the Incas. 



E. GEORGE 8QUIER, M.A., F.8.A. 

LATE U.S. COMMISSIONER TO PERU, 

AUTHO& OF 

'Nicaragua," ''Aiident Monnments of Mississippi Valley," 
&C., &C., &c 



T/Af£S, 

'* No more solid and trustworthy contribution has been made 
to an accurate knowledge of what are among tbe most wonder- 
ful ruins in the world than the work just published by Mr. 
Squier. . . . Mr. Squier's work is really what its title implies. 
While of the greatest importance as a contribution to Peruvian 
archeology, it is also a thoroughly entertaining and instructive 
narrative of travel . . . Not the least important feature of Mr. 
Squier's work must be considered the numerous (about 300) 
well-executed illustrations." 

A7HENMUM. 

" It is not often that a traveller brings to the performance ot 
a difficult task so many excellent qualihcationi as we find in Mr. 
Sqnier. . . . And now we must, somewhat reluctantly, take 
leave of what we do not meet with every day — a book written 
by a man thoroughly competent to handle his subject, and a 
corresponding power of expressing what he wishes to say." 

ACADEMY. 

'* For the first time we have a complete, and, 011 the whole, a 
thoroughly trustworthy and coDscientious account of Peruvian 
ruins executed by one who is thoroughly competent to undertake 
the task. . . . Mr. Squier has done valuable service as regards 
the survey of the arcbitec.ural remains of Peiu. His book is 
agreeably written and well illustrated, and it is undoubtedly 
the best that has yet been published on that branch of the 
subject to which he has especially directed his attention." 

GRAPHIC, 

*' No work of recent years about Peru can compare in our 
judgment with this in general scope and interest l^ew, if any, 
have ever searched the country so thoroughly and weU. . . . 
The Peru, not of the nitrate and guaao dealer, but of the his- 
torian and romsmcist, stands out from his pages in all its arcbseo- 
logical and geographical features. ... It is a volume admirable 
in all respects, for its vigorous descriptions of scenes that every- 
where attest the past experience of superior dviUsation." 

DAILY NEWS. 

'* Enriched with copious and well-executed illustrations, which 
add sensibly to the value of a book rich in suggestioiks and 
surprises for students of arcfascology who have not been accus- 
tomed to look to the new world to redress the balance at least 
in antiquarian discovery." 



Diaitized by 
MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON, 



yGooQle 



^ NATURE \Nov. 8, 187 7 

TRUE TIME BY OBSERVATIONS OF THE SUN, 

DENT'S PATENTED DIPLEIDOSCOPB Reflecting Tnuisit Instmment) in its sifflplat finm 
(price £1 1$.) will detennine true time to within two second*. Short iUastiated Pamphlet post ftee upon 
appbcation. 

E. DENT & CO. 

MANUFACTURERS OF CHRONOMETERS, &c., TO HER MAJESTY, 

61, STRAND, AND 34. ROYAL EXCHANGE, LONDON. 

(FACTORY— GERRARD STREET.) 



PARKINSON & FRODSHAM, 

CHRONOMETER AND WATCH MAKERS, 

4, CHANGE ALLEY, CORNHIl_U LONDON; 

Extract from the Report of the Director of tbe Portanonth ObierTatocy conccniiiig FUkmsoii and Frodsham's Chrooometer oa 
board the Discovery ^ in the Arctic Expedition of i875>d 

** Not. 7th, 1876. — Captain Beanmont, who was Flrit Tirnifrni^y^t and Navigating Officer of the Discovery^ informed me that 
your Watch, No. 5,838^ was the best ont of the five Pocket Chronometers that they had on board that vesseL" 

MAOMILLAN & OO.'S NEW BOOKS. 

To be Published in November and December. 



Stargazingi Past and Present. Lectures delivered at the Royal Institution by J. NORMA! 
LOCKYER, F.R.S. With Notes and Additions by G. M. SEABROOKE, F.R.A.S. With nnmerons lUnstzaUoa 
Medium 8va 

Physiography. By Professor HUXLEY, F.R.S. With Illustrations and Coloured Plates. Crown 8v< 

^s, 6d. [Shorti 

China : a History of the Laws, Manners, and Customs of the People. By the Venerab 

J. H. GRAY, Archdeacon of Hong Kong. With 150 Full Page Illustrations, being Fac-simUes of Drawmgs by a Chine 
Artist. 2 vols. Demy 8vo. 

The Voyage of the ''Challenger." The Atlantic, a Prelimmary Account of the Genei 
Resttlu of the Exploring Voyage of H.M.S. " Challenger/' during the Year 1873 ^^ ^^ ^^^y P^'^ o^ the Year 1876. 
Sir C. WYVILLE THOMSON, F.R.S. With a Portrait of the Author, engraved by C. H. Jebns, many Coioored Ma] 
Temperature-Charts, and Illustrations. Publidied by Authority of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty. 2 to 
Medmm 8vo. 

Ancient Society; or, Researches in the Lines of Human Progress from Savage: 

through Barbarism into Civilization. By LEWIS H. MORGAN. 8vo. i6s, [jfusi rea 

Studies in Comparative Anatomy. I. The SKULL of the CROCODILE. A Manual for Studei 
By. L. C. MIALL, Professor of Biology in the Yorkshire Collie, and Curator of the Leeds Museum. 

On the Uses of Wine in Health and Disease. By francis £. anstie, m.d., f«r.c 

late Physician to Westminster Hospital, and Editor of the PracHdoner. 

Natural Philosophy for Beginners. By i. todhunter, m.a., f.r.s. Part ii. soxji; 

LIGHT, and HEAT. i8mo. 

MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON. ^ ^ 

Printed by R. Clay, Sons, and Tayloi, at 7 and 8, Braad Street Hill, Queen Victoria Street,^ &L^8S l^tv^li^Jbif.^i pabUsh^tl by 
Macmillam ajid Co., at tka Office, eg and 30^ Bedford Street, Coreat Gardea-^THuasDAV, November 8, i8n* 



/'X-W • >^iJ 



A /^ 




A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 

" To the solid ground 
Of Nature trusts the mind which btdids for aye" — WORDSWORTH 



No. 420, Vol. 17] ^ THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1877 [Price Fourpence 



Rcgiftered af a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] 



[AU Rights are Reterred. 




BROWNING'S 
ACHEOMATIC 
TELESCOPES. 



Achromatic Telescope, with 4-inch object-glass of 
the best quality, 60 inches focus, mounted on 
Browning's improved double-jointed tripod stand, 
having quick and slow screw motions in altitude 
and azimuth, with three celestial eye-pieces, 
powers 60, 150, and 200, one terrestrial eye- 
piece and finder, the Telescope paeked in solid 
mahogany case 

£45 

This instrument was designed at the request of, 
and was approved by, the Astronomer- Royal, Sir 
G. B. Airy, K.C.B. 

Catalogue of Astronomical and Terrestrial Tele- 
scopes Bent post free. 



JOHN BROWNING, 

OPTICAL AND PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT 
MAKER TO H.M. GOVERNMENT, THE ROYAL 
SOCIETY, THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY OF 
GREENWICH, AND THE OBSERVATORIES 
OF KEW, CAMBRIDGE, MELBOURNE, THE 
U.S. NAVAL OBSERVATORY, CAMBRIDGE 
AND HARVARD UNIVERSITIES, HOBOKEN 
COLLEGE, &a, &c. 

63, STBAND, W.C. 

Factory—Southampton Street, London, Ij^C^ 
ESTABLISHED 100 YEARS. 



XVIU 



NATURE 



\Nov. 15, 187 



MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS 

Of tlM U£hMt attainabltt parfectUm, fflostnuiiic Anaumijr, Fliyiiolocy, 
B«tuiT. Entomology, and ereiy brandi of Ificroscopical ScMnce. J. D. 
Millar's Naw Typen Plates and Objects. Noberf s lines. All materials 
and rtquisitas for mountinfr. Unequalled Student's Microscm, with Eng- 
lish x4ndxand ^inch objectiTes, Five Guineas. Catalogue, New Edition, 2876, 

Edm 



and past free, and Objects delivered in U.S.A. and British Colonies. 
P WHEELER, 48K, ToUitt^ton R oad, HoUoway, London. N. 

LANCASTER SCHOOL. 

Head Master-Rev. W. E. Prykb, MA, St. John's College, Cambridge, 

Z4th Wrangler, x866. 

Second Master-Rev. W. T. Newbold, M.A , Fellow of St. John's 

College, Cambridge, sth Qassic, 1873. 

Assistant Masters— J. H. Flathkr, Esq., B.A , Emmanuel College. Cam^ 

bridge, Z4th Classic 2876, and Lightfoot Modem History Scholar in the 

University ; J. C. Witton, Esq., B.Sc. Lond., &c , &c. 

New Buildings, including a LABORATORY, were opened on September 
a4, by the Bishop of Manchester. 
There are University Scholarshiin, which may be given for proficiency m 

For Prospectus, &&, address Rev. the Hsad Master, School House, 
Lancaster. ^__ _^___ 

UNIVERSITY of LONDON ist M.B. and 

PRELIMINARY SCIENTIFIC EXAMINATIONS.— Classes in aU 
the subjects required are now being formed at St Thomas's Hospital 
Medical School, which are not confined to Students of the Hospital 
For particulars apply to Dr. Gillxspib, Secretary, at the HospitaL 



PHOTOGRAPHIC EXHIBITION, 

5, PALL MALL EAST. 
The Annual Exhibition of the Photographic Society is now open from 

Ltill dusk. Admission, One Shilling ; also Monday and Saturday E\'enings». 
{. Closes November 15. 

H. BADEN PRITCHARD, Hon- Secretary. 

SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY.— LEC- 

TURES at ST. GEORGE'S HALL, LANGHAM PLACE, each 
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, commencing at Four o'clock precisely.— 
Sunday, November xS.— Miss Katr Fibld, on " Charles Dickens."— 
Membera' Annual Subscription. £i» Payment at the Door— One Penny, 
Sixpence, and (Reserved Seats) One ShiUmg. 

THIN GLASS FOR MICROSCOPIC 

MOUNTING of best quality. Orcles, 31. 6<£ per ounce ; Squares, 
as. od. ; post free ad. extra : also oth^r Mountbg Materials and Objects 
mepared for mounting.— CHAS. PETIT, 251, High Street, Stoke 
f^ewington, N. 



THE TELEPHONE. 

The Public is requested to take notice that the Patentees have granted to 
the India- Rubber, Gutta-Percha, and Telegraph Works Company, Limited, 
the exclusive right to manufacture BELl/S PATENT SPEAKING 
TELEPHONE in this country, and that legal proceedings will be taken 
against all infringers of the Patent, whether makers, sellers, or users. ^ 

All communications with reference to licences to use the Telephone in the 
United Kmgdom should be addressed to Col. Wm. H. Reynolds, the 
general agent for the Patent, at the address given below. 

xa. Queen Street, London, E.C., November i, 1877. 

FOR SALE, a SET of 

" N A T U R E," 

Up to end of last month. Price £9. Advertiser would take in part pay- 
ment the 

"ENGLISH M EC HANI C." 

From No. 194* voL 8, to No. 361, vol 14, bound or unbound, and also 
No. 406. to complete his set. Address— ALFRED M. BOX, Sdssett, 
near Huddersfield. 



TO BE SOLD BY AUCTION, on Wednes- 

d V. Kovember 14, at the Auction Mart, Market Street, Leicester, a 
very valuable Collection of PHILOSOPHICAL INSTRUMENTS 
in Chemistry, Crystallography, Electridty, Galvanism, Magnetism, 
Polarisation of Light, &c. Photographic Apparatus, Newmairs Stan- 
dard Barometer, Aquarium, Ross Ax Achromatic Microscope complete, 
&c The whole on view Tuesday, X3th inst 

QUEENWOOD COLLEGE, near STOCK- 
BRIDGE, HANTS. 

Sound General Education for Boya. 

Special attention to Science, paxtionlariy to Gbtmistry, both theoretical 
pnJ practical. 

References to Dr. Debus, F.R.S. ; Dr. Frankland, F.R.S. : Dr. Roscoe, 
F.R.S. ; Dr. Angus Smith, F.R.S. ; Dr. Tyndall, F.R.S. ; Dr. Vodcker, 
F.R.S. : Dr. Wliriamson, F.R.S. 

The Autumn Term commences Tuesday, September asth. 

C WILLMORE, Prindpal. 

ROYAL POLYTECHNIC and BERNERS 

COLLEGE in conjunction.— The Laboratories and Oast-rooms for 
Private and Qass Stud^ are Open eveij Day and Evening Gentle- 
men prepared for Matriculation, Woolwich, and the various Exa 
Boards. Fees mederate.— Apply to Prof. Garoi^bv^ at the 
Polytechnic, or 44, Bemen Sb«et, W. 



ABEBDEEN FOEEST TBEE NT7RSEBIES. 

LARCH and SCOTS FIR (from native Seed) are grown here 

on high-lying grounds by the million, of robust growth and abundant root 
fibre ; also, various ages and sires are grown for f ale in similar larve 
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Uov. 15, 1877J 



NATURE 



XIX 



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>g| 



XX 



NATURE 



[Nov. 15, 1877 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS' ZOOLOGICAL STATION AND MUSEUM AND INSTITUTE OF 

PISCICULTURE SOCIETY, LIMITED. 

CAPITAL— £5,000 IN 5,000 SHARES OF £1 EACH. 

(With power to bcrease.) 

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The aim of the Society is, in fact, to provide, in a conveniently accessible and suitable locality, an institution which shall fulfil for the entire north of 
Europe that sphere of utility which the well-known Naples Aquarium and 2^1ogical Station now does for the south. Mature consideration has led 
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As with the Naples Institution there will be embodied in this undertaking the following several features of utility and attraction : — Firstly, for the 
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Assistant in the Natural Ni.«tory Department of the Briti>h Museum, and whose experience as Naiurali»t for some years to the leading English Aquaria 
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NATURE 



41 



THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 1877 



BREHM'S THIERLEBEN 
Dii Sauj^e/Atere, von Dr. A. E. Brehm, 2 vols. ; and Die 
InsekUHy von Dr. E. Taschenbcrg, i vol (Leipzig: 
Vcrlag des bibliographischen Instituts, 1877.) 
I'^HE three fine volumes of Natural History with the 
A above titles form part of Brehm's well-known 
■Thierleben," a book which has had a well-merited 
tuacss in Germany and on the Continent generally. The 
rohimes on the mammalia, of which those under con- 
pideiation are new and enlarged editions, and which 
contain the Quadrumana, Chiroptera, Camivora, Insec- 
liTora, Rodentia, Edentata, Marsupialia, and Monotremes, 
kad been well appreciated in this country on account of 
ps excellent illustrations, trustworthy anecdotes, and 
Ipneral literary merits. The new edition issued in 1876 
jtopasses the old, for not only are the additional and 
kew drawings of first class art and most truthful, but 
kuch of the context is more decidedly scientific than 
before Brehm, with his practical knowledge of animals, 
specially of some important groups, and his literary 
K)wcrs and judicious choice of illustrative anecdote, was 
Bst the man to undertake a popular natural history; 
ind the success of the very bulky attempt not only is 
peatly to his credit, but is a testimony of the love of 
good reading amongst the mass of his countrymen. A 
familiarly written introduction on the structure and 
physiology of the Mammalia occcupies the first chapter, 
and then the Primates are considered. There are 
tvo plates of sitting, standing, jumping, climbing, 
nd swinging Anthropomorpha which are exquisite, 
■nd evidently carefully taken from the life. The rare 
Troglodytes Tschiego, the Nsehie^o mbouvS anatomised 
by Duvemay, is delineated in four attitudes, and the 
R2ch of the fingers below the knee is well shown ; below 
it are three capital chimpanzees, but none of them 
qvalliDg Wolf's admirable swinging chimpanzee in the 
possession of the Zoological Society of London. The 
orsmgs with their globular heads, projecting lips, and 
^Qte arms, are drawn with great force, and three 
tibbons, spidery and dangling, complete the show. A 
plate of hands and feet illustrates this part of the book, 
and the transition from the highest hand, probably that 
of r. tschiego y for it is more symmetrical than that of 
Corilla,to the lowest paw amongst the American marr 
nosets is admirably shown. The dwindling of the thumb, 
the gradual equalisation in length of the three middle 
fiogeis, and the march first on the knuckles, and then, 
in the lower groups, on the palms are carefully demon- 
strated. Osteological anatomy is not much cared for, 
and therefore the skeleton of gorilla is not worthy of 
the book ; but in the chapter on this great ape there are 
some Tery remarkable plates which enable us to approach 
tbetnth. 

The chimpanzee comes next — and oh ! there is such a 
sly-faced fellow in a woodcut, utterly beyond the capacity of 
anyBritishcutteron wood— illustrating the genial species, 
after which, instead of before, as one would think ought to 
^ been done, comes Du Chaillu's bald Troglodyte, the 
T, tschiego. With regard to this little-known beast, 
Vou rviL^Na 430 



Brehm gives some more information about its size and 
general zoology, but he does not enlarge on the Troglo- 
dytes aubryi of Gratiolet and Albc A group of Entellus 
monkeys, with their forehead tufts rather exaggerated, 
illustrates in part the few pages on the Semnopitheci, and 
the Macaci are finely delineated, a life-like savagery being 
given to the Rhesus and pig-tailed kinds. Brehm's anec- 
dotes about the baboons are first-rate, and although the 
drawings of Hamadryas and the mandrill are slightly in 
exaggeration of what is common, they give a capital idea 
of the impudence of the one and the brutality of the 
other. 

Brehm has collected all the good anecdotes and descrip- 
tions from Humboldt, Schomburgk, Rennger, and Henfel 
about the Howlers, and in spite of the silence of those in 
captivity in Europe we can imagine the terrific noise of a 
tree full of the adults of Mycetcs caraya. Bartlett is fully and 
deservedly quoted in illustration of the natural history of 
the spider monkeys, and the delineations of the group are 
fairly done, ease of position being often wanting in the 
illustrations, however. The short-tailed Brachyures are 
for once described and drawn not in caricature ; the 
context is mainly from Bates, and the sketch looks like a 
monkey and not like the distressed old man with a tail 
like an American vegetable marrow which is usually given 
in books. The Saimaris are introduced under the generic 
title Pithesciurus to which, and indeed to much Of 
Brehm's zoological nomenclature, we demur. The mar- 
mosets are grouped, as by Huxley, as Arctopitheci, a name 
given to some sloths by Gray, and there is much con- 
fusion in introducing new generic terms to the genera 
Hapale and Midas. The use of the term Leopithecus for 
Hapale, of Hapale for Midas, for instance, shows the 
necessity for a final zoological arrangement of these small 
monkeys. No less than 239 pages are devoted to the 
apes and monkeys, and then the Lemuroida are com- 
menced under the old-fashioned terms Hemipitheci or 
Prosimii. Sonnerat, Pollen, and Peters are Brehm's 
authorities for the natural history of this group, and he 
does not appear to have had the advantage of studying 
Mivart, Murie, Grandidier, and Owen ; nevertheless the 
article is of good scientific value and of course the illus- 
trations are superexcellent. There is, however, the old 
jumble of synonyms for the genus Indris, and Lichanotus 
and Propithecus are put in most unadvisedly. The queer 
Stenops, oddly named gracilis^ Galago with his ears on the 
move and a bogie of Tarsius spectrum— \i it were as big as 
a man how truly hobgoblin-like it would be — are excellent 
pictures. There is nothing new, however, about the group, 
and really more good information on anatomical and 
physiological subjects might have been given without 
detracting from the popular nature of the book. The 
Chiroptera are arranged in rather an old-fashioned 
manner, and are rather curtly treated ; and then the 
second part of the volume opens with the Camivora, to 
the exclusion of the Insectivora. The lion of course 
comes first, and although there is nothing to notice 
particularly in the context, every one must admire Leo 
capensis and the lioness of Leo senega lensis^ although the 
specific determinations should sink into those of varieties. 
The sequence of species then becomes rather strange to 
English natural history, the puma and Felts eyra pre- j 
ceding " Tigris regalis'' or Felts tigris. The doudedQlC 



42 



NATURE 



\Nov. 15, i87i 



tiger comes next as " Neofelis,'' and the illustration is 
hardly that of the short-legged meek- looking creature in the 
Zoological Gardens. The jaguar, as drawn in the next 
page is too long in the neck, but the rounded top to the 
head is well given ; the anecdotes and general history of 
this fine South American beast are beyond ordinary praise. 

Brehm has paid unusual attention to the smaller cats, 
and the pages devoted to them are amongst the most 
interesting in the book, and when telling of the lynx, he 
gives a wood engraving by Beckmann of the common 
form which is wonderfid in its details of face-expression 
and for (p. 490). The Cheetahs, so interestingly numerous 
just now in our Zoological Gardens, are fully considered, 
and in the illustration there is the upward whisk of the 
tail given to perfection, but the muzzle of the beast is too 
long, and the fore legs hardly long and stilty enough. 
Cryptoprocta concludes the Felidae, and Canis primcevus 
of Cashmir commences a most interesting article on the 
dogs. Amongst other beauties there is " Der Bulldogg oder 
Boxer," and Mr, Bill Sykes would have been surprised to 
have learnt that it is called Canis familiaris tnolossus 
gladiator. It is "ein wiithendes, unzugangliches und 
stumpfsinniges Thier." Then there is its relation, Mops^ 
with its sharply curled-up tail and black short nose, the 
tiny tongue tip not, however, being shown in the engrav- 
ing, which tells the ladies of the period that Pug's real 
name is Canis familiaris molossus fricator. Amongst 
other dogs a sketch of a pointer by Beckmann is capital ; 
he is pointing, and just a little in doubt, the tail dropping 
slightly and the head being not over-expectant The first 
volume concludes with the natural history of Otocyon and 
Canis procyonides. 

The second volume commences with a notice of the 
hyaenas, and although there is not much to be said in 
praise of this contribution to their literature, still the 
delineations of H, crocuta and H, brunnea place the dis- 
tinctions between the species plainly. H, crocuta is 
admirably drawn and the artist has managed to give it 
the peculiar weak look of the hind legs and drooping 
quarters of the caged animal. The Viverridae are shortly 
treated, and one of the few doubtful drawings of the work 
is in illustration of Cynogale benfiettii. The genus 
Herpestes^ the habits of some of Avhose species have taxed 
the imagination of Europeans as well as that of Eastern 
races, follows ; it is judiciously described and the anecdotes 
are good. The fur-yielding martens and their allies and 
other small carnivora valuable to the furrier are well 
illustrated, but Brehm had not the valuable volume on 
their natural history, lately issued by the American 
Survey, to learn from. The bears form a very interesting 
part of the book, but many of the illustrations have the 
positions of the animals rendered awkward by the 
attempt to give prominence to specific and peculiar 
structural points. Thus the polar bear in the water is 
wretchedly done, thanks to the endeavour to render the 
claws and narrowish snout very definitely comprehensible. 
The moles and hedgehogs are fairly noticed, but want of 
space begins to affect the treatment of these lower groups, 
but Galeopithecus, very shortly described, is properly 
placed at the head of the Insectivora. The Rodentia 
are of course full of anecdote and light literature, but 
Brehm's illustrations are by no means as good as those of 
the other groups; perhaps the most striking is that of 



Cercolabes prehensilis. A capital plate of the sloth showi 
the short snout which almost looks moist, and for once in 
a way amongst books of this kind, there is a truthful 
rendering of the long narrow wrist with its two claws 
The essay on the sloths and ant-eaters is admirable, bul 
the anxiety to show the ^peculiar progression of the lasi 
group, on the anterior extremities and the position of th< 
claws, has often led the artist to exaggerate. The Mar 
supials are well illustrated and with great ability, but v< 
miss some of Gould's most life-like sketches so familiar ii 
most popular works. The pages devoted to the Mono 
tremes contain the usual stories, and unfortunately wen 
written before those important additions to their natura 
history were published, and which have lately been noticc< 
in Nature. 

The othervolume (the ninth of the work) before us is b; 
Taschcnberg, of Halle, and is a second edition of the pai 
containing the Insecta, Myriopoda, and Arachnida. Th 
species representing groups are of course well chosen a 
types, and the author has often taken pains to place novel 
ties before the reader, especially in the way of illustratioi 
The short anatomical introduction is sufficient for th 
general reader, but barely so for the young studen 
Amongst unusual forms, or rather unusual to the commo 
routine of book making, is Mortnolyce pkyllodes, from th 
upper hill country of Java, with its wide leaf-looking elytx 
and long antennas, and the very common and opposit( 
looking Scarites pyracmon. The burying propensities < 
Necrophorus are told and illustrated, and there is a va 
curious and striking plate of a mole hanging by the nee 
in a trap, with a crowd of Silphidae (shield beetles) an 
larvae, besides blow- flies, on and about it, doing the! 
best to turn its protoplasm into theirs. Some pests { 
museum-keepers and housekeepers are especially figure 
in the act of working away at a hare's foot which res 
on pen, ink, and paper Anihrenus musccrum larva an 
adult, Atiagenus pellio and Vermes tes lardarius a 
there in full enjoyment of their mischievous propensitie 
The natural history of Lampyris, Meloe, and Sitaris, is ci 
too short, doubtless for want of space, but their interes 
ing life cycles merit more attention than that of mai 
others which are barely more than mentioned by nan 
and might be left out. Apoderus longicollisy a Javane 
species looking like a cameleopard amongst beetles, ai 
unfortunately little known, has an interesting engravin| 
and equally good is that of the langkafer Brenthv 
Amongst the Hymenoptera the habits and nests 
Bombus terrestrisy of Odynerus parietum, and of tl 
curious Belonogaster and the Sandwasp are very >v^< 
explained and drawn ; and great praise must be given 
the delineations of the life cycle of Othalia and Cimbo 

The only fault to be found in the treatment of i 
Lepidoptera is that the article is too short, but the ilh 
trations are very good. A plate of a rush of a myriad 
the maggots of Sciara militaris is a strange subject, t 
very effective, and the long crowd of closely-packed dai 
headed long things looks as if short work was to be raa 
of carrion. Amongst the leaf insects there is ATaji 
religiosa preying rather than praying with a fly in 
clasp, and a host of larvae escaping from a mass of egg 
and there is an equally interesting cut of Bacillus Ras^ 
one of the Phasmodea. A short chapter on the imsavou 
subject of Pediculi precedes a sketch of the CochiiK 



Jev. 15, 1877] 



NATURE 



43 



^BCts, and then, after'noticing the Chermes that attacks 
it very strong food the larch, we come to a full descrip- 
in of Phylloxera vastatrix. The Hemiptera are shortly 
ntioned, and then the Myriopoda. There is a good 
ietare of Geophilus clinging around its great prey, a 
Ige earthworm, and also of a Polydesmus. Amongst 
b Scorpions the long-armed Phrynus and Gonoleptes, 
id amongst the Spiders a long Tetragnatha and the 
Braordinary-beliied Gasteracantha, form admirable illus- 
ions. A short chapter on Pycnogonum and Nymphon 
Mdudes this really wonderful volume. P. M. D. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 

fej/. By B. Loewy (Lardner's Handbook of Natural 
Philosophy. Crosby Lockwood and Co., 1877.) 

hiis, though not a bulky book, is a sort of miniature 
tncydopaedia of the subject. So far as we have read it 
I seems to have all the faults of the original (?) work to 
mich Lardner's name was prefixed, with the important 
bKeption of the inaccuracies. These have been to a 
^t extent removed, and the work has been brought up 
^ date, but there is still the woeful want of order, or 
bdeed of any guiding principle whatever which distin- 
Isbed the former editions. It is a very curious mixture 
good and bad, and cannot be called, in any sense, 
Ive to the reader. Numerous tables of expe- 
ital data are g^ven, but they are in many cases 
ied to a number of places of figures quite beyond the 

tsent power of experimental science. Two, or perhaps 
% of the figures m the earlier places of each number 
ire probably correct ; the others give a show of minute 
Icoiracy which may altogether deceive the beginner. The 
iRatment of the theoretical part is very meagre, but in 

t experimental part many curious facts not usually 
wn are given. The book may be useful as a work of 
feeference to those who are not in possession of Balfour 
llewart's treatise, but we cannot say more in its favour. 

ftmsy British and Foreign, The History^ Organography^ 
Classification^ atid Enumeration of the Species of Garden 
FernSy loith a Treatise on their Cultivation. By John 
Smith, A.L.S., Ex- Curator of the Royal Gardens, Kew. 
New and Enlarged Edition. (London : Hardwicke 
and Bogue, 1877.) 

That Mr. Smith's ** Ferns, British and Foreign " should 
bve reached a new edition in a comparatively short 
ibe is no small tribute to its value as a book of reference 
k amateurs and fern cultivators. The chief portion of 
ftis very neatly got up work is occupied by an enumera- 
tkm of cultivated ferns. The different genera, as under- 
stood by the author, who was one of the foremost pteri- 
blogistsiof his day, are described and figured, while a list 
if the cultivated forms, with synonyms and range of 
geographical distribution, follow imder each genus, no 
tttempt being made to give a diagnosis of the species, 
rhe scope of the work is therefore entirely different from 
that of the '' Synopsis Filicum ^ of Hooker and Baker. 
The dassification adopted is that propounded by Mr. 
Smith in his early publication on ferns, an arrangement 
Dot much used by modem writers. An appendix of 
recently-introduced ferns is given. These have been col- 
lected and arranged under their respective genera and 
tribes, as their names have from time to time been 
noticed in the horticultural journals and in nurserymen's 
Gttabgues. The Hst has thus no pretensions to be a 
critical one. The most interesting part of the book is the 
Ha teTY of tihe introductio njofjxfiti^ *'^*'^°j a subject about 
^k, probably, no mainliving knows more than Mr. 
Smith. This is followed by an explanation of terms used 
^ describing ferns, perhaps the least satisfactory part of 
^ vhole v^ome, as many of the terms are more or less 



obsolete, or only used in the book now before us. In this 
section nothing is said about the recent researches into 
the nature of the prothallus, construction of the reproduc- 
tive organs, and morphological nature of the sporangia. 
The last part of the work is occupied by an essay on the 
cultivation of ferns, reprinted without alteration from the 
first edition, but giving the results of long expeiience of 
the successful cultivation of all groups of ferns. As a 
work of reference and guide to the cultivation, this book 
will most undoubtedly be of great service to the fern- 
growing public. 

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

[The Editor does not hold himsdf responsible for opinions expressed 
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return^ 
or to correspond with the writers of rejected manuscripts. 
No notice is taken of anonymous communications. 

The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as 
short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it 
is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even of com^ 
munications containing interesting and novd facts.} 

The Radiometer and its Lessons 

I HAVE litde doubt that Prof. Osborne Reynolds is much more 
competent than I am to say what is or is not consistent with the 
kinetic theory of gases, bat I hardly think that he gives evidence 
of this in his letter to last week's Nature (p. 27). Unless my 
ignorance of the matter is more complete than I am aware of, 
the law that the rate of communication of heat to a gas is inde- 
pendent of the density, applies only when the space occupied 
by the gas is so great, or the variations of density so small, 
that these variations do not alter the temperatures of those 
portions of the gas which are at each instant respectively re- 
ceiving and giving out heat. This condition cannot, I imagine, 
be fulfilled in the radiometer, where it seems to me inevitable 
that an action of the kind to which Mr. Johnstone Stoney 
called attention must take place. G. Carey Foster 

P.S. — Since writing my previous letter to Nature, a fort- 
night ago, I have read a paper by Mr. R. Finkener, in Poggen- 
dor^*s Annalen (vol. clviii. pp. 572-595). This paper coatains, 
beiides a theoretical investigation of the motion of the radio- 
meter founded on the kinetic theory of gases, an experimental 
proof that the action becomes much less when an extremely high 
degree of rarefaction is reached. The paper itself is not dated, 
but, as the Part of the Annalen which contains it was " closed " 
on July 31, 1876, the experiments described in it cannot have 
been mucb^ if at all, subsequent to those (communicated to the 
Ro>al Society, June 13, 1876) which led Mr. Crookes to a like 
result. G; C. F. 

Until I read Dr. Carpenter's letter in your issue of the 8th 
inst., it had never occurred to me that his ''special purpose" 
was to bring out strongly myf " thoroughly scientific and philo- 
sophical method ! " This is an act of disinterested kindness 
which recalls to me the exquisite truth oi Dean Swift's remark, 
** No enemy can match a friend.' 

Dr. Carpenter's only reply to my letter which appeared in 
your issue of the ist inet. is contained in the following passage : — 
**If I had not found," he says, "after the publication of my 
Lectures, that he had himself been 'digging up the hatchet,' which 
I was quite disposed to keep buried, by giving his public 
attestation to the ' spiritualistic ' genuineness of w£it had been 
proved to be a most barefaced imposture, I should not have 
again brought his name into the controversy." 

Further on Dr. Carpenter paraphrases passages from his article 
in Fraset^s Magadne for this month, in which he goes more into 
detail touching this " pubUc attestation," of which in his eyes I 
stand accused. 

" Eva Fay," he says, " returned to the United States, carrying 
with her a letter from Mr. Crookes, which set forth that since 
doubts had been thrown on the Spiritualistic nature of her 
' manifestations,' and since he in common with other Fellows of 
the Royal Society had satisfied himself of their genuineness by 
' sdentmc tests,' he willingly gave her the benefit of his attesta- 
tion. This letter was published in facsimile in American 
newspapers." ^^-^ j 

My answer to this calumny shaU be brief.... ^.., ( tOjOCT I P 

It is untrue that I dug up the hatcl^if-^t^.^ W^fcr^^ ^^ 



44 



NATURE 



[Notf. 15, 1875 



expKssion — in the interval between November 30, 1875, when 
he proposed it should be buried, and the time of his first 
subsequent attack upon me. 

It is untrue that during this interval, or at any other time, I 
gave my *' public attestation to the spiritualistic genuineness of 
what had been proved to be a most barefaced imposture." 

It is. untrue that I gave Eva Fay a letter, speaking of the 
"Spiritualistic nature of her manifestations," and referring to 
" Fellows of the Royal Society." 

It is untrue that Eva Fay ** returned to the United States 
carrying with her " such a letter. 

It is untrue that " this letter was published in facsimile in 
American newspapers." 

When Dr. Carpenter limits himself to definite statements, my 
task is not difficult. It is, however, less easy to answer a ruvumr 
of something which somebody told Dr. Carpenter I privately 
admitted. 

"It has been rumoured," says Dr. Carpenter, in Eraser's 
Magazine, "that Mr. Crookes has privately admitted that some 
of his 'mediums,' when they could not evoke the 'manifesta- 
tions * by fair means, have done so by fotdJ** 

I admit that such a rumour respecting Eva Fay was circulated 
in the United States, and a Boston gentleman wrote and asked 
me if there was any truth in this statement. I replied as follows 
under date Novembers, 1875 : — 

" In reply to your favour of October 25, which I have received 
this morning, I beg to state that no one has any authority from 
me to state that I have any doubts of Mrs. Fay's mediumship. 
The published accounts of the test siances which took place at 
my house are the best evidence which I can give of my belief in 
Mrs. Fay's powers. I should be sorry to find that any such 
rumours as you mention should injure Mrs. Fay, whom I always 
found most ready to submit to any conditions I thought fit to 
propose." 

Considering that this was a private letter from one gentleman 
to another, written currente calamo without any thought of sub- 
sequent publication, few of your readers, I believe, will see 
much harm in it. Not being aware that private communications 
were less sacred in America than in England, I was certainly 
surprised one mo^'ning to receive a copy of an American news- 
paper containing a facsimile of this private letter. 

It will be observed that this letter is dated November 8, 1875, 
whereas the " bury-the-hatchet " episode took place on Novem- 
ber 30, 1875 ; this therefore cannot be the letter which convicts 
me of attesting to a "barefaced imposture "subsequent to 
November 30. 

Moreover, this letter does not contain the words " Spiritual- 
istic nature of her manifestations." Neither does it allude 
to " Fellows of the Royal Society." Nor did Eva Fay return to 
" the United States, carrying with her this letter." Nor was it 
even addressed to Eva Fay. It is then impossible that this can 
be the letter to which Dr. Carpenter refers, and I demand that 
he prove the truth of his allegation by producing a copy of the 
"American newspapers" containing 2i facsimile of a letter 
written by me answering his description, containing the words 
which he professes to quote from it, and justifying his defamatory 
remarks. 

In your bsue of last week (p. 26) Dr. Carpenter says nothing 
about this facsitnile letter, but lays stress on an article written 
by me ten months previously. Does he seriously mean that the 
publication in March, 1875, of an account of some test experi- 
ments is a breach on my part of hb "bury-the-hatchet" offer 
made the following November? 

I have evidently been labouring under a misapprehension as 
to what Dr. Carpenter meant when he proposed to " bury the 
hatchet" I supposed he intended to cease misrepresenting my 
views and falsifying my experiments at his public lectures, and 
never afterwards to repeat such calumnies on my scientific posi- 
tion as he had anonymously contributed to the Quarterly Review 
for October, 187 1. It seems, however, that Dr. Carpenter really 
meant that I was no longer to go poaching on his own special 
preserve, and was to abstain for the rest of my life from writing 
even a private letter on a subject which he has investig^ated for 
more tlum thirty years, and about which he is now writing and 
lecturing with redoubled vigour. 

Dr. Carpenter refers to an offer made in May, 1875, "by Eva 
Fay's manager, that for an adeauate sum of money the < medium' 
should expose the whole afiEair," and he vouches for its truth by 
saying he has seen ''copies of the letters." I can supply, not 
copies^ but original letters. I have before me letters from Eva 
Fay, dated Birmingham, May, 1875, speaking bitterly of the 



temptations and persecution to which [she was being subjected 
to induce her to join in the scheme, to which she was no party. 

But how, may I ask, does an abortive conspiracy to complicate 
" six big guns " prove that my " scientific tests "—which with 
all deference to Dr. Carpenter's "good authority "can notht 
evaded by a "dodge" — ^were useless, and that in spite of them 
Eva Fay cheated me ? 

I am weary of protesting against the imputation which Dr. 
Carpenter conveys in the words "scientific advocates of tlw 
system." I emphatically deny that I have ever advocated an| 
"system" in connection with the phenomena ascribed to 
spiritualism. I have never for one moment doubted that thb 
name has covered an enormous mass of fraud and trickery ; bat 
being convinced that amidst all this falsehood— which it is Dr, 
Carpenter's mission to denounce in the most fervid eloquence al 
command — there was a soUd nucleus of fact, and believing thai 
every unrecognised fact is a reproach to science, and every nnio' 
vestigated phenomenon is a probable mine of discovery, I cxa^ 
sidered myself not merely entitled, but almost bound in scientific 
honour, to attempt the solution of the question. My attempt tc 
bring the so-called supernatural within the realm of fact, to ton 
the light of science on a problem that required investigation, ha! 
exposed me to many misrepresentations, but especially to the in 
of Dr. Carpenter, who never tires of repeating every idle tali 
from hearsay evidence. I look back to the days of the aldiemists; 
and find the very same kind of fraud, mysticism, and trickery, 
differing but little from the impostures of the present day. Bu 
then, as now, there were a few earnest students who detectd 
the germs of truth amidst the ravings and juggleries of the goU 
makers ; they cherished these germs, and although the Dr.^Car 
penter of that period would doubtless have denounced tho« 
students as " scientific advocates of the system " of alchemy, am 
felt it his duty to " undermine " their reputations, they perseveret 
through calumny and ridicule, and thereby laid the foundatioB 
of our modern science of chemistry. 

The readers of Nature have now before them ample ilia; 
tration of the falsity of the accusations with which I have beei 
persecuted for so many years. A calumny once born, said thi 
Great Napoleon, can never be killed. I have, however, done m; 
utmost to prove the groundlessness of the very serious charges 
Dr. Carpenter has brought against me, down to the grave indict 
ments in your issue of last week (p. 26). There is not a singh 
charge which Dr. Carpenter has ever brought against me that \ 
am unable to answer with like completeness ; and, judging froo 
long experience, I venture to say that any future charges he mai 
bring will be equally unfounded. But I cannot, out of regan 
for your readers, to say nothing of the sacrifice of time, continui 
to defend myself from every petty accusation ; and unless reall] 
forced by some imputation too serious to pass over, this must b 
my last letter on a subject which to me involves painfully toi 
much self-reference. I have been constrained, in self-defence 
to speak in somewhat downright fashion, but Dr. Carpenter' 
industrious misconstruction has drawn this protest from me 
Misstatements expressed in a few lines may require pages i\ 
refute them. A calumny which takes a minute to write ma; 
demand days to answer. Memories of half-forgotten occarrence 
have to be revived, conversations recalled, old letters hunted out 
journals exhumed, and, in fact, as much time and trouble ex 
pended as if getting up evidence for an important l^[al trial. & 
great a tax for so trivial a purpose is monstrous in its dispropoi 
tion, and I can waste on this firuitless discussion no more preaoii 
time — time stolen from my physical work in the laboratoT3 
already too much curtailed by the pressure of outward business. 

November 10 William Crookes 

The latter half of Dr. Carpenter's letter in last week's Natur 
(p. 26) consists of almost verbatim extracts from his article in thi 
month's Eraser, I beg to refer your readers to a reply to Di 
Carpenter's attack, and a full exposure of his £dse accosatlon 
against Mr. Crookes and myself, which will appear in the nex 
issue of that magazine. They will then see who has been led b 
"prepossession" to adopt "methods which are thoroughly un 
scientific," and whose are "the statements which] ought to b 
rejected as completely untrustworthy." 

ALFRSD R. WALLiLCS 



Experiment on Fluid Films 

I AM experimenting on the optical phenomena exhibited b 
thin fluid nlms in a state of vibration, »and have jnst obtainei 



Nov. 15, 1877] 



NATURE 



45 



some beautiful results, including the formation of fixed straight 
and cnnred coloured bands, arranged in symmetrical figures, and 
of pairs of colour-vortices rotating in opposite directions. 

Unless these results prove to have been already described, I 
shall shortly publish an account of my experiments. 

Sedley Taylor 

Trinity College, Cambridge, November 12 



Expected High Tides 

In vour ' *Notes " last week you say that you cannot understand 
why the burden of such predictions should fall solely upon Capt. 
Saxby. This is what many of the public also do not understand. 
Why does not, say, the Meteorological Office take the matter in 
hand, and not leave it to some private individual ? There can be 
no doubt the forewamings are often of the greatest service and have 
saved the public tens of thousands of pounds and prevented a great 
deal of misery. What I think Capt. Saxby is to be blamed for 
is the desire — it may be only appuent — to make a mystery ot his 
predictions with the general public ; and what gives weight to 
this is the fact that the Astronomer- Royal and the heads of the 
Meteorological Office and Society do not offer the public any aid 
in what is a purely scientific and eminently practical subject, in 
which Londoners are more interested than in the transit of Venus, 
and quite as much as in the storm-warnings for the Channel. 

When in March, 1874, Capt. Saxby came forward and in an 
oracular way predicted a grc»it tide on the 20th, he gave no 
reasons. This many felt was unsatisfactory. Knowing that it 
must result from the action of natural laws curiosity led me to 
Investigate the matter, and I found that the subject of extraordi- 
nary tides was a matter of much simplicity ; that the chief factors 
reside in the moon with its varying distances and declinations ; 
the next in the sun and the seasons ; the next in the winds and 
atmosphere ; and the next, perhaps, in the action of the planets, 
as Veous and Jupiter, the former of which we know affects the 
oibit of the earth, and both have probably some power_in pro- 
ducing the atmospheric disturbsmces in the sun. 

With these factors I predicted a year in advance the extra- 
ardinary tide of November, 1875, which had escaped Capt. 
Saxby's notice. I was also able to say that there are two un- 
usually high tides revolving through the year, exactly six-and-a- 
half synodic months apart, each focty-eight days after the same 
tide of the previous year ; that these with the preceding and 
succeeding tides are chiefly those which may with bad weather 
develop into extraordinary ones > and that the next great one — 
a very giant among tides — will be on March 20, 1878. 

If CapL Saxby has some knowledge on the subject which 
others have not, how is it he did not predict the unusually 
high tide of October 26 last, which happened when the moon 
was neither full nor new, nor in perigee ? Why it happened is 
somevdiat of a mystery ; the only explanation I can suggest is, 
that the moon had her highest northern declination on that day, 
and that a barometric depression passed over the North Sea the 
previous day, both which would tend to heighten the tide. 

November 12 B. G. Jenkins 



The Towering of Wounded Birds 

Last season I fired at a song thrush at a distance of fifty 
yards, but the bird continued its course, as if uninjured, for 
vpwaids of 200 yards, when it suddenly " towered " in the air, 
and as snddenly fell to the ground. Upon examination the bird 
was found to have been shot through tne lungs alone, and had 
bled internally, the throat being full of clotted blood. The 
head was totally free from any injury. I have known similar 
instances occur in the pigeon, swallow, and starling. In all 
these cases the head remained uninjured, and death occurred 
throogh internal haemorrhage. In the case of the starling one 
pellet entered the spine ; the bird continued its course for a few 
yards, towered, and suddoily fell to the ground dead. 

Should yon consider these instances bearing on the matter of 
sufficient importance for an insertion in Nature they may prove 
acceptable to those who are interested in the subject. 

Heeley, near Sheffield Charles Dixon 

Cruelty to Animals* Act and Physiological Teaching 

I AM desirous of knowing through your many readers if, 
aacN^pt; physiologists, the bdief is anything hke general, that 
diowiiig under the microKOpe tiie circulation of the blood in a 



web of a frog's foot is a contravention of " The Cruelty to Animals' 
Act, 1876. ''^ 

Dr. M. Foster, in his " Primer of Physiology " (Macmillan and 
Co., 1877), advises the reader to " go and look at it at once ; you 
will never know any physiology till you do ; " and some naturalists 
here say if no incision is made, the animal being merely tied 
down, the exhibition of the phenomenon is quite legitimate, while, 
on the other hand, Piof. Huxley, in his paper before the Domestic 
Economy Congress (reported in Nature, voL xvi. p. 234) states 
it as his opinion that a teacher is "open to the penalty of fine 
and imprisonment if he uses** a frog "for the purpose of exhi- 
biting one of the most beautiful and instructive of physiological 
spectacles." 

It was this, the expressed opinion of so distinguished an 
authority as Prof. Huxley, which caused me first to doubt -the 
teacher's right to exhibit the experiment, and it is because of the 
differences of opinion I have mentioned that I seek to know 
through your column«, if a teacher is or is not at liberty to 
illustrate the blood circulation by this harmless experiment. 

Frank W. Young 

High School, Dundee, November 12 



Smell and'Hearing in Moths 

Numbers of moths, of many different species, are attracted 
into my room on summer evenings by the light ; and they are 
fond of resting on the lamp shade. One night I was using some 
very strong ammonia solution — ^and by way of driving them off I 
held a 3-ounce bottle of it with the open mouth almost close to 
them. To my surprise they seemed quite unconscious of it oj a 
snull : they would bear it unmoved for a minute, or sometimes 
for two or three minutes, and they then merely walked an inch 
or two further away from it. I have since tried the experiment 
repeatedly, and with several different species ; but none of them 
seem to detect the presence of ammonia except as a man might 
detect the presence of carbonic acid or of nitrogen in excess, that 
is, by their effects on his system generally. 

The common black and white "magpie moth," it is well 
known, often feigns death when capture!. I caught two, one 
after the other ; both pretended to be dead, and I laid them 
gently en the table a few inches apart They had remained 
motionless for ten minutes, when I took up a wine glass by the 
stem, and gave it one sharp stroke with a pencil, about six inches 
away from them. Both moths flew off at the instant the sound 
was heard. I repeated this many times with the same result — 
both with these and with other individuals of the sime species; 
and I also found that merely holding the glass near them and 
waving the pencil about noiselessly, did not arouse them. 

Loughton J. C. 

Bees Killed by Tritoma 

In a friend's garden here where there are quantities of Trl- 
tomasor ''red-hot-pokers," hundreds of bees have been this 
year destroyed by them. The honey produced by the flower is 
very abundant, and the bees enter the tube of the corolla to get 
at it ; but the tube, which is only just large enough at the 
mouth, tapers gradually, and so the bee gets wedged in and 
cannot extricate itself I saw numbers so caught, some in the 
fresh flower, while others remained in the completely withered 
and decaying blossoms. Perhaps it may be due to the fine warm 
days we have had this autumn, inducing the bees to work too 
late after our native honey-producing flowers have been destroyed 
by the wet and frosts ; or is it a r^nlar thing which happens 
every year ? If so bee-keepers should discourage the Tricoma, 
or set to work to select vaneties with flowers large enough not 
to kill their bees. Alfred R. Wallace 

Dorking, November 3 

Lecture Experiment 

The experiment described below illustrates in a very striking 
manner the particular instance of the " conservation of energy " 
exhibited by the equilibrium of liquids of unequal densities, in 
communicating ve^els. 

The apparatus consists of a two-necked bottle, having in one 
neck a very strong glass tube half a metre, or more, in length, 
and terminating alK>ve in a funnel of 200 c.c. capacity, while Jts 
lower end n«iriy reaches the bottom of the bottie ; in the other 
neck is a piece of gUsi tube, drawn to a jet, and pareing only a 
short distance into the bottle. As the pressure made thc^P*- 



46 



NATURE 



{Nov. 15, 1877 



ralus is considerable, the corks by which these tabes are fixed 
must fit very tightly. 

In using the arrangement the bottle is filled with water, the 
jet is then closed with the finger, and the fannel, ' which should 
be supported on the ring of a retort stand, is filled with mercury ; 
on removing the finger from the jet the mercury falls into the 
bottle, expdling the water which rises in a fountain to a height 
depending upon that of the column of mercury, but rather less 
than is theoretically possible, the height of the fountain being 
ten or eleven times that of the fall of mercury. By employing 
mercury as the falling liquid in Hero's fountain a similar Increase 
of effect may be obtained with that apparatus. 

W. A. Shenstone 



Pownes' ''Manual of Chemistry" 

In my review of Fownes' "Manual of Chemistry" are two 
mistakes which I beg to correct. On page 25, Ime i, read 
improbable instead of improvable ; and line 6, dimorphidts 
instead of isomorphides. The Reviewer 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

The Transit of Mercury, May 6, 1878.— The 
transit of Mercury, which will occur on May 6 in the 
ensuing year, is the last during the present century in 
which the plaiiet can be observed upon the sun's disc for 
any length of time in this country, and on that occasion 
the nearest approach of centres will take place only half 
an hour before sunset ; owing, however, to the long dura- 
tion of the transit, 7h. 35m. geocentric, Mercury will have 
been upon the disc more than four hours and a quarter 
when the sun sets. Reducing to Greenwich by the 
Nautical Almanac data it appears the first external 
contact will occur at 3h. lom. 58s. mean time, and the 
first internal contact at 3h. 14m. 4s., or the planet will be 
3m. 6s. in wholly entering upon the d-'sc. The least 
distance of centres will occur at 7h. cm., and sun-set at 
7b. 29m. The duration of the transit is longer than in 
any other of this century, or indeed than in any one that 
has occurred since the year 1756. 

Up to the present year twenty-four transits of Mercury 
have been more or less observed ; in this number are 
included that of 1631, November 7, predicted by Kepler, 
when the planet was seen upon the sun's disc for the first 
time by Gassendi, at Paris, who observed on the dark- 
chamber method — by allowing the sun's light to pass into 
the room through a small aperture in the window, and 
throwing his image upon a white screen ; that of 1651, 
November 3, imperfectly seen by Shakerley at Surat, and 
that of 1707, May 6, which was observed through clouds 
by Roemer at Copenhagen near the rgress. Of these 
twenty-four transits it is singular that only eif^ht have 
taken place at the descending node or in May, as will be 
the case next year. Two-thirds of the number have 
therefore occurred in November, when we might have 
expected the hindrances to observation to have operated 
unfavourably in these latitudes. 

Of the three transits of the present century subsequent 
to 1878, that of 1 88 1, November 7, will be wholly invisible 
in this country, the ingress taking place at loh. i6m. and 
the egress at ifih. 37ni. ; in the transit of 1 891, May 10, 
the egress occurs soon after sun-rise ; and in that of 
1894, November 10, it occurs near sun-set The reader 
who is curious respecting the transits of Mercury in the 
next century may consult a communication from the Rev. 
S. J. Johnson to the Royal Astronomical Society in the 
Monthly Notices^ vol xxxvii. p. 425 ; and for an account 
of Gassendi's long watch for the transit of 163 1, and his 
successful observation of it, he may be referred to Prof. 
Grant's classical work, the " History of Physical Astro- 
nomy.** 

Nova Cygni, 1876.— Prof. Julius Schmidt mentions 
that the star which he first remarked on November 24^ 
1876 (and which is not found in the Durchmusterung) 



diminished very regularly from January to August ot 
the present year ; it exhibited none of the slight oscilla- 
tions in brightness which are still seen in T Coronae, and 
we may add in other " Novae." With the Athens re- 
fractor he has observed three small stars near the 
variable, with the following differences of right ascension 
and declination : — 

s. « 

13m ... y = Nova — i*o ... Nova — 45 

13 ... « = „ - 1*6 ... „ - 81 

12*5 ... ^ = „ + 4'6 ... „ + 20 

It will be remembered that this star suddenly shone out of 
3*4 magnitude, and had dimmished to the limit of naked- 
eye vision soon after the middle of December. Its mean 
place for i88o-o is in R.A. 2ih. 36m. 50*QS., N.P.D. 
47° 42' 16". 

Comet 1873, IV.— M. Raoul Gautier has worked out 
definitive elements of the comet discovered by M. Borrelly 
on August 20, 1873, and finds the observations best repre- 
sented by an ellipse with a period of 3,27 7J years, the 
probable errors of perihelion distance and eccentricity 
limiting the period between 3,012 and 3,585 years. This 
comet, however, was observed for one month only, or 
through an orbital arc of only 58°, and such results of 
calculation in the present case are not perhaps to be 
allowed any great weight. There are many other comets 
which we imagine would better have repaid the labour 
expended by M. Gautier upon Comet 1873, IV. Express- 
ing his best parabolic elements in the manner adopted 
in catalogues of comet-orbits, we have the following 
figures : — 

Perihelion Passage, 1873, September 10 83679 M.T. at Berlin. 

Longitude of perihelion 36 48 40 ) ,, ^ « 

„ ascending node ... 230 38 4 { ^^' ^^ ^^73 o 
„ inclination 84 o 50 

Log. perihelion distance 9 "899956 

Motion — retrograde. 

Minor Planets. — A remark in this column some time 
since upon the probabihty of several discoveries of so- 
called new planets proving to be observations of bodies 
previously detected, appears to be justified by recent 
experience. Thus the object announced as a new planet 
by Prof. Watson and M. Borrelly in August last was 
shown by Herr Knorre, of Berlin, to be identical with 
No. 141, detected by M. Paul Henry at Paris, on January 
i3> 1875, and it is now stated that the small planet 
remarked by Herr Palisa at Pola on October 2 is really 
No. 161, which was discovered by Prof. Watson on 
April 18, 1876, and received the name Athor, As was to 
be expected from the rapidity with which discoveries of 
small planets have succeeded one another of late years, 
calculation is now considerably behind observation, and 
we are still without published elements of a number of 
the bodies lately brought to light.- -Prof. Peters states 
that he has proposed the name IditJina for the planet 
discovered by him on October 14, which is No. 175, a 
name which he says will be understood by those members 
of the " Astronomische Gesellschaft." who, at their late 
meeting at Stockholm, participated in the hospitality of 
" Ydun." — There is now a strange confusion of mytho- 
logies and systems of nomenclature in the minor-planet 
group, a state of things that at one time might have been 
readily avoided. 



THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 

A SCHEME for the reorganisation of this society as 
•^^^ a branch of the National Museum of Science and 
Art established by the Government has been under con- 
sideration for some time, and a report of the council on 
the subject was submitted to the society at its meeting 
on November 8. The scheme includes a recommenda- 



Nov. 15, 1877] 



NATURE 



47 



tion in favour of the amalgamation of the agricultural 
department of the society and the Royal Agricultural 
Society, under the title ot the Royal Irish Agricultural 
Society; alter some discussion the report was carried. 
The following are the principal points involved in the 
reorganisation : — 

In accordance with the agreement entered into with 
the Government, the principal conditions of which are 
embodied in the '^ Act for the Establishment in Dublin 
of a Science and Art Museum and the Development of 
tiie Library of the Royal Dublin Society into a National 
) Library," Uie property of the society in land, buildings, 
and collections has ps^sed into the possession of the 
Government. The society will, in accordance with such 
agreement, receive the sum of 10,000/., which will be in- 
I invested in such security as, subject to the approval of 
' the Treasury, may be selected ; it will continue to be 
provided with the requisite accommodation in Leinster 
House ; the members will have free access to the several 
departments as heretofore, whilst the existing members, 
as well as all those who shsdl be admitted before January i 
next, will have the right to borrow books from titie 
National Library. In order to assist in the more com- 
plete development of that part of the sodet/s work 
which is devoted to the promotion of science and the 
usefol arts, it has been arranged that all the scientific 
serials and transactions of learned societies, as well as all 
duplicates in the library, shall remain the property of the 
society ; the Lecture Hsill and Laboratory will be reserved 
for its use ; and the collections in the Botanic Garden 
and Museum of Natural History will be available as for- 
merly for the illustration of papers read before the society. 
The most important condition, however, for the success- 
ful prosecution of the society's scientific work, pure as 
well as applied, is that for five years the cost of printing 
the scientific papers read before the society will be de- 
frayed by the Government Concessions equally favour- 
able have been obtained for the agricultural department 
llius in lieu of the premises around Leinster House, 
which will be required for museum buildings, &c., the 
Government has undertaken to provide accommodation 
for agricultural shows elsewhere, and to reimburse the 
society for any pecuniary loss it may sustain in conse- 

nce of the change of site from the city to the suburbs, 
rder to develop the scientific work of the society, and 
i thus secure to the fiillest extent the great advantage of 
having the scientific papers read before it, printed, the 
I Committee of Science have submitted a scheme for the 
complete reoiganisation of the department under their 
I superintendence. Thus, the meetings for the discussion 
I of subjects connected with science pure and applied will 
' be held in these sections : — i. For the physicsd and ex- 
' perimental sciences. 2. For the natural science, includ- 
' ing geology and physical gec^raphy. 3. Science applied 
\ to the useful arts and industries. The papers to be read 
at these sectional meetings will be published in 8vo, as 
the Scientific Proceedings, the more important to be 
published in 4to, under the title of '* Transactions.'' In 
order to consolidate and economise both work and time 
other scientific bodies have been invited to associate 
themselves with the work of the sections, the meetings 
of which will be held simultaneously on the third Mon- 
\ day of each month, an invitation to which the Royal 
Geological Society and the Scientific Club have re- 
^ sponded. A special committee is now engaged in con- 
sidering the measures most advisable to adopt with regard 
to the future of the society, so as to maintain it as an 
* object of attraction to the educated classes, and a pre- 
hminary report has been presented to the council, in 
which it is advised that in addition to the more complete 
organisation of the scientific department steps should be 
taken to render the reading-rooms more efficient, to 
eataUi^ a lending library for the use of future as well as 
present members, to arrange for the delivery of lectures 



for the elucidation of the latest discoveries in science, 
and to hold occasional conversaziones. Accordiag to 
one of the conditions contained in Lord Sandon's letter 
of February 9, 1876, the National Library will be placed 
under the superintendence of a council of twcdve trustees, 
eight of whom are to be nominated by the Royal Dublin 
Society and four by the Government 

Then followed the Report of the Committees of the 
Royal Dublin Society and of the Royal Agricultural 
Society on the subject of amalgamation, which, as we 
have said, was adopted. The two societies will to some 
extent remain connected ; the Agricultural Society, Lord 
Powerscourt stated, would be a branch of the Royal 
Society, though under different management. 



D^ 



ON THE EOCENE FLORA OF BOURNEMOUTH 

URING this last summer and autumn I have seized 
several opportunities of continuing my examination 
of the Bagshot Beds of Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, 
some of tiie results of whidi I think may interest your 
readers. This series is, as is now well known, of great 
importance from the fact of its being almost the only 
senes from the tertiaries whose absolute relative geological 
age is positively known, it being under and overlapped on 
the mainland bv the London clay and Braddesham beds 
respectively, whilst in the Isle of Wight, occurring in a 
complete series of eocene strata, upheaved vertically, its 
true position is even still more plainly seen. It is further 
important as exhibiting in gradual sequence the change 
from an upland to a swamp flora, and represents very 
fairly the local flora of a long period and of an entire 
continent that has passed away. Of the richness and com- 
pleteness of the flora an idea may be formed from the fact 
that I can reckon in my own collection not less than 10,000 
selected specimens, many of large size, exclusive of twice 
that number which I have discarded, whilst there are also 
local collections at Bournemouth, a splendid series in the 
Cambridge Museum, and a scarcely less important one 
from Alum Bay, at the. British Museum. But perhaps 
the most valuable discovery — to the botanist, at all 
events — ^is that of various beds containing well-preserved 
fruits above the horizon of the leaf-patches, identifiable 
with fruits from Sheppey which are found in the London 
day, and therefore below the leaves. We thus appear to 
have at Bournemouth the leaves of trees which may be 
descended from those whose fruits are imbedded at 
Sheppey. The assistance, it will be readily seen, of the 
Sheppey fruits will be of the greatest value in deter- 
mining the genera of the Bournemouth leaves and flowers. 
At Bournemouth about sixteen kinds of fruit may be 
collected in the seed-beds just mentioned, including 
Nipadites, Hightea, Cucumites, and Petrophiloides, quite 
sufficient to establish the fact that no break took place in 
the succession of the London clay flora. 

The number of forms also common to Bovey Tracey 
is worthy of note. The most abundant fern at either 
locality is Pecopteris libitum (now believed to be an 
Osmunda). Patmacites dasmonorops of Heer, from Bovey, 
is no other than the Cactus of which I have frequently 
made mention. The dicotyledons of Bovey ascribed to 
Laurus, Ficus, Daphnogene, Dryandroides, &c., appear 
also to be identical with those of the Bagshots, and it is 
therefore not at all improbable that the miocene age of 
the Bovey Tracey beds, determined, as it seems to me, 
on most slender grounds, will have to be reconsidered. 

The extremely local distribution of the leaves in patches, 
each with its distinguishing group of plants, has again in 
fresh instances come prominently under my notice. At 
Studland, in one bed, fan palms with a three-foot radius 
lie massed together, but in a decomposed state ; and I 
only succeeded by using the utmost care in extracting 
one specimen showing the full length optbe leaf. jAt 

Digitized by V3OOQ IC 



48 



NATURE 



\Nov. 15, 1877 



Bournemouth a small bed of dark clay was found full of 
leaves of feather palm, crossing each other in every direc- 
tion ; the tip of a frond in my collection measures four 
feet in length, by three feet broad. Amongst other 
interesting specimens is a Smilax leaf of larger dimensions 
than any now living, and a twig of Dryandra, with many 
leaves attached, from Alum Bay, which unites in itself 
several of M. Watelet's species from the Gr^s du 
Soissonnais. The discovery of a finely preserved neurop- 
terous wing, and of two apparently hemipterous abdomens, 
are of interest in connection with the laj:ge series of insect 
remains from Gurnet Bay, Isle of Wight, lately deposited 
in the British Museum. 

The history remains to be written) of the subsidence of 
the great continent, whose further hmits Edward Forbes 
surmised are yet traceable in the banks of Gulf Weed, 
ranging between the 15th and 45th parallels. Many, 
however, have written on Atlantis, but lacking the direct 
proof of its former existence in comparatively recent 
times, which has since come to light. The disappearance 
of almost an entire continent, is not a more startling 
proposition than the elevation of the Alps, Pyrenees, 
Apennines, and Carpathians, over whose highest summits 
the sea rolled at this period. Of the history of this dis- 
appearance Bournemouth presents us with but a page, 
still a page full of meaning. The incoming and disap- 
pearance in succession of oaks and beeches, figs and 
laurels, palms and delicate ferns, the swamp-loving aroids 
and Eucalyptus, Chrysodeum and Osmunda, on the same 
spot ; the appearance in masses of the fruit of Nipa, 
which is stated by travellers to be found in brackish 
estuaries ; the incoming of shore crabs and mud-boring 
Crustacea, sea-shells and Flustra, shingle beeches and 
deeper sea deposits, are each well-marked stages in the 
history of the disappearance of this continent, whose 
existence at this and a later period may be gathered from 
the writings, made from different standpoints, of Prestwich, 
Godwin-Austen, Sorby, and many others. The Bourne- 
mouth and Sheppey vegetable {remains were brought 
down by one of the rivers draining this continent, which 
at a later period silted over the reptiles of Hordwell and 
the estuarine shells of the fluvio-marine series. That the 
oscillations which gradually led to the disappearance of 
the land, vestiges of which remain in Cornwall, the 
Channel Isles, Brittany, Madeira, &c., have not ceased, 
even in historic times, there is ample local evidence to 
show. This branch of the subject, however, is scarcely 
yet ripe for discussion, nor would space here allow it to be 
fully entered into. 

Baron Ettingshausen and myself are preparing a 
monograph upon the ferns of this flora which I hope very 
shortly to place in the hands of the Palaeontographical 
Society. J. S. Gardner 

THE TELEPHONE 

AT the Society of Telegraph Engineers on the evening 
of October 31a lecture of great interest was given 
by Prof. Graham Bell on the Telephone, with the inven- 
tion and improvement of which his name is so intimately 
connected. The lecture was largely illustrated by dia- 
grams, to which Prof. Bell made constant reference, and 
with these illustrations will be published ^at length in the 
forthcoming part of the Journal of the Society. We 
have already given a full account of the telephone and its 
principles, and will only now refer to some of the 
interesting episodes which occurred in the course of Prof. 
Bell's experiments. 

Prof. Bell's account of his experiments for devising 
methods of exhibiting the vibrations of sound, specially 
for use in teaching the deaf and dumb, is very interesting. 
For some time he carried on experiments with the mano- 
metric capsule of Koenig, and with the phonautograph of 
Ldon Scott, He was led to the idea of constructing a 



phonautograph modelled closely on the mechanism of the 
human ear, and at the suggestion of Dr. C. J. Blake, he 
made use of the human ear itself, a specimen of which 
was prepared by Dr. Blake, for conducting these experi- 
ments. 

It occurred to him that if a membrane as thin as tissue 
paper could control the vibration of bones that wer^ 
compared to it, of immense size and weight, why should 
not a larger and thicker membrane be able to vibrate a 
piece of iron in front of an electro-magnet, in which case 
the complication of steel rods in his first form of telephone 
could be done away with, and a simple piece of iron 
attached to a membrane be placed at either end of the 
telegraphic circuit 

The form of apparatus he was then employing for pro- 
ducing undulatory currents of electricity tor the purposes 
of multiple telegraphy he describes thus : a steel reed was 
clamped firmly by one extremity to the uncovered leg of 
an electro-magnet, and the free end of the reed projected 
above the covered leg. When the reed was vibrated in 
any mechanical way, the battery current was thrown into 
waves, and electrical undulations traversed the circuit, 
throwing into vibration the corresponding reed at the 
other end of circuit. He immediately proceeded to put 
his new idea to the test of practical experiment, and for 
this purpose he attached the reed loosely by one extremity 
to the uncovered pole of the magnet, and fastened the 
other extremity to the centre of a stiretched membrane of 
goldbeater's skin. He presumed that upon speaking in 
the neighbourhood of the membrane it would be thrown 
into vibration and cause the sted reed to move in a 
similar manner, occasioning undulations in the electrical 
current that would correspond to the changes in the density 
of the air during production of the sound ; and he further 
thought that the change of the intensity of the current at 
the receiving end would cause the magnet there to attract 
the reed at that end in such a manner that it should copy 
the motion of the reed at the transmitting end, in which 
case its movements would occasion a sound from the 
membrane there similar in timbre to that which had 
occasioned the original vibration. 

The results, however, were unsatisfactory and discour- 
aging. With a reduction, however, in the size and weight 
of the spring employed, distinctly audible effects were 
obtained. " I remember," Prof. BeU said, " an experi- 
ment made with this telephone, which at the time gave 
me great satisfaction and delight. One of the telephones 
was placed in my lecture-room in the Boston University, 
and the other in the basement of the adjoining building. 
One of my students repaired to the distant telephone to 
observe the effects of articulate speech, while I uttered the 
sentence, * Do you understand what I say?' into the 
telephone placed in the lecture-halL To my delight an 
answer was returned through the instrument itself, articu- 
late sounds proceeded from the steel spring attached to 
the steel membrane, and I heard the sentence, * Yes, I 
understand you perfectly.' It is a mistake, however, to 
suppose that the articulation was by any means perfect, 
and expectancy no doubt had a great deal to do with my 
recogmtion of the sentence ; still, the articulation was 
there, and I recognised the fact that the indistinctness was 
entirely due to the imperfection of the instrument" After 
a time he produced a form of instrument which served 
very well as a receiving telephone ; and it was in this 
condition his invention was exhibited at the Centennial 
Exhibition in Philadelphia. It was in this condition also 
that Sir William Thomson exhibited the instrument to 
the British Association in Glasgow. 

In pursuing his investfgations Prof. Bell has come across 
many interesting facts which we regret we cannot refer to 
in detaiL It has long been known that when an inter-' 
mittent current of electricity is passed through the coils 
of an electro-magnet a musical tone proceeds from the 
magnet. " I have discovered," he said, " that these sounds 



yov. 15, 1877] 



NATURE 



49 



^are not due wholly to sudden changes in the magnetic con- 
dition of the iron core, as heretofore supposed, but that a 
portion of the effect resuhs from vibrations in the insulated 
copper wires composing the coils. An electro-magnet 
was arranged upon circuit unto an instrument for inter- 
rupting the current, the rhpotome being placed in a 
distant room so as to avoid interference with the experi- 
ment Upon applying the ear to the magnet a musical 
note was clearly perceived, and the sound continued after 
h the iron core had been removed from the coils. The effect 
may probably be explained by the attraction of the coils for 
I one another during the passage of the galvanic current 
I and the sudden cessation of such attraction when the 
I current ceased. It is probable, too, that a molecular 
i vibration is occasioned in the conducting wire by the 
I passage of an intermittent current. I have found that 
very distinct sounds proceed^from straight pieces of iron, 
\ steel retort-carbon, and plumbago, when an intermittent 
current is passed through them.^ 

When a powerful current is passed through the body a 
musical note can be perceived when the ear is closely 
applied to the arm of the person experimented upon, 
llie sound seems to proceed urom the muscles of the fore- 
arm and from the biceps muscle. Mr. Elisha Gray has 
also produced audible effects by the passage of electricity 
through the human body. An extremely loud musical 
note is occasioned by the spark of a Ruhmkorff's coil 
when the primary circuit is made and broken with suffi- 
] dent rapidity ; when two rheotomes of different pitch are 
caused simultaneously to open and close the primary 
circuit a double tone proceeds from the spark. 

A curious discovery has been made by Prof. Blake. 

He constructed a telephone in which a rod of soft iron, 

about six feet in length, was used instead of a permanent 

magnet. A friend sang a continuous musical tone into 

the mouth-piece of a telephone, which was connected 

with the soft iron instrument alluded to above. It was 

^ iband that the loudness of the sound produced in this 

telephone varied with the direction in which the iron rod 

^ was held, and that the maximum effect was produced 

when the rod was in the position of the dipping needle. 

This curious discovery of Prof. Blake has been verified 

by Prof. Bell. 

" Prof. Peirce has observed the most 'curious sounds 
produced from a telephone in connection with a tele- 
} graph- wire during the aurora borealis ; and I have just 
heard of a curious phenomenon lately observed by Dr. 
Channing. In the City of Providence, Rhode Island, 
there is an over- house wire about one mile in extent with 
a telephone at either end. On one occasion the sound of 
music and singing was faintly audible upon one of the 
tdephones. It seemed as if some one were practising 
Tocal music with a pianoforte accompaniment. The 
natural supposition was that experiments were being 
made with the telephone at the other end of the circuit, 
hot upon inquiry this proved not to have been the case. 
Attention having thus been directed to the phenomenon, 
a watch was kept upon the instruments, and upon several 
subsequent occasions the same fact was observed at both 
ends of the line by Di:. Channing and his friends. It was 
proved that the sounds continued for about two hours, 
and usually commenced about the same time. A searching 
^ examination of the line disclosed nothing abnormal in its 
condition, and I am unable to give you any explanation 
of this curious phenomenon. Dr. Channing has, how- 
ever, addressed a letter upon the subject to the editor of 
one of the Providence papers, giving the names of such 
songs as were recognised, with full details of the 
observations, in the hope that publicity may lead to the 
discovery of the'performer, and thus afford a solution of 
the mystery." 

ProC Bell referred to some experiments made by Mr. F. 
A. Gower and himself to show the slight earth connection 
ivquired to establish a circuit for the telephone. 



'^ One experiment which we made is so very interesting 
that I must speak of it in detail. Mr. Gower made earth 
connection at his end of the line by standing upon a grass 
plot, whilst at the other end of the line I .stood upon a 
wooden board. I requested Mr. Gower to sing a con- 
tinuous musical note, and to my surprise the sound was 
very distinctly audible from the telephone in my hand. 
Upon examining my feet I discovered that a single blade 
of grass was bent over the edge of the board, and that my 
foot touched it The removal of this blade of grass was 
followed by the cessation of the sound from the telephone, 
and I found that the momeiit I touched with the toe of 
my boot a blade of grass or the petal of a daisy, the sound 
was again audible." 

Prof. Bell concluded as follows : — " The (]^uestion will 
naturally arise, through what length of wu:e can the 
telephone be used ? In reply to this I may say that the 
maximum amount of resistance through which the undu- 
latory current will pass, and yet retain sufficient force to 
produce an audible sound at the disturbed end, has yet 
to be determined ; no difficulty has, however, been expe- 
rienced in laboratory experiments in conversing through 
a resistance of 60,000 ohms, which has been the maximum 
at my disposal. On one occasion, not having a rheostat 
at hand, I may mention having passed the current through 
the bodies of sixteen persons, who stood hand in hand. 
The longest length of real telegraph line through which I 
have attempted to converse has been about 253 miles. 
On this occasion no difficulty was experienced so long as 
parallel lines were not in operation. Sunday was chosen 
as the day on which it was probable other circuits would 
be at rest. Conversation was carried on between myself, 
in New York, and Mr. Thomas A. Watson, in Boston, 
until the opening of business upon the other wires. When 
this happened the vocal, sounds were very much dimi- 
nished, but still audible. It seemed, indeed, like talking 
through a storm. Conversation, though possible, could 
be carried on with difficulty, owing to the distracting 
nature of the interposing currents. 

" I have had the opportunity of testing the telephone 
upon the artificial cable owned by Sir W^illiam Thomson. 
No difficulty was experienced in conversing through the 
equivalent of 120 miles of submarine cable. Vocal 
sounds were audible when the equivalent of the whole 
Atlantic cable was interposed between the two telephones, 
but the sounds were so faint that conversation could not 
be carried on. Songs that were sung into one telephone 
were readily recognised at the other end of the circuit, and 
the articulation of pre-arranged sentences was readily 
recognised. That the sounds were electrically produced 
was evident from the fact that they ceased when the cir- 
cuit was broken and when the coils of the telephone were 
short circuited. No difference was observed between the 
pitch of the note which was transmitted through the arti- 
ficial cable and the same note when transmitted directly 
through the air. The artificial cable experimented upon 
had four times the resistance of the Atlantic cable, and 
one-fourth its electrostatic capacity. I am informed by 
my friend, Mr. Preece, that conversation has been success- 
fully carried on through a submarine cable, sixty miles in 
length, extending from Dartmouth to the Island of 
Guernsey, by means of hand telephones.'' 

In a lecture on the 8th inst. at Glasgow, Prof. Bell, 
referring to the use of the telephone in mines, pointed out 
how the instrument might be of the greatest service in 
determining whether the ventilation of a mine was perfect 
or not ; for by listening to the telephone, if the mine was 
in good order, a little sound could be heard every moment. 

AFRICAN EXPLORATION 

MR. STANLEY'S letter and the map in the Telegraph 
of Monday enable us to realise somewhat more 
fully the nature and extent of the discoveries made by the 

O 



50 



NATURE 



\Nov. 15, 187J 



intrepid traveller. Mr. Stanley is bent on calling the 
great river, so much of which he has explored, by the 
name of Livingstone. As a rule we think it a mist£^ to 
change native geographical names where these can be 
satisfactorily ascertained In the case of the Lualaba- 
Congo, however, the river seems to have quite as many 
names as there are tribes or villages on its banks, and it 
would be a happy solution of the difficulty to confer upon 
it the most memorable name among African explorers. 
Mr. Stanley himself has taken great pains to obtain accu- 
rately the native names of tribes and places, and he 
animadverts with severity on geographers for crowding 
the map of Africa with names that probably correspond 
to nothing. For this they cannot be greatly blamed, 
neither need he be too hard on previous travellers for 
misunderstanding the significance of native words. 

A glance at the map, notwithstanding that it is based to 
some extent on conjecture, shows at once the vast import- 
ance of Mr. Stanley's discovery. Great tributaries join 
the main river from both sides, and we are assured there 
are many more besides these shown on the map. For 
more than 800 miles of its course, above the YellaU Falls, 
the river looks more like a long winding lake than any- 
thing else, forming a magnificent channel for navigation. 
Above the upper cataract, again, about the equator, many 
other long reaches are capable of navigation, while the 
affluents will afford over 1,200 miles, and perhaps much 
more. Some idea of the increasing magnitude of the 
river below Nyangwe may be obtained from Stanley's 
statement that at Nyangwe the volume is 124,000 cubic 
feet per second, while l^m's calculation on the basis of 
Tuckey's trustworthy observations makes its volume at 
the mouth to be 1,800,000 cubic feet per second Poor 
Tuckey comes in for a share of Stanley's castigation, 
because, according to Stanley, the former mistook the 
number of stages of the Yellala Rapids ; even if Tuckey 
was a little out in his counting, which we doubt, 
he will still be found to have been, all circumstances 
considered, an accurate observer. Many points, also, in 
connection with the map, show how true was Living- 
stone's geographical instinct^ and how near the truth his 
inferences came from the information obtained from the 
Arabs and natives. Stanley is probably right in conjec- 
turing that the Aniwimi, coming from the north-east, and 
joining the Livingstone a little north of the equator, is the 
Welle, and that the Ikdemba is the lower course of the 
KasaL The water of the latter is of the colour of tea, 
and does not thoroughly mingle with the main stream 
until after 130 miles below the confluence. The banks of 
the great river are thickly populated by what appear to 
be industrious people living in extensive and well laid out 
towns, and naturally jealous of intruders. The three most 
powerful tribes on the middle and lower rivers are the 
Wa-Mangala, the Warunga, and the Wyanzi. 

The Livingstone, Mr. Stanley found, is subject to periodi- 
cal rises mainlyowing to the rains, and varying from eight 
to fifty feet The entire length of the Livingstone Mr. 
Stanley calculates at 2,900 miles, and its basin at 860,000 
square miles. The extreme sources of the Bemba Lake, 
from which the Luapula flows, arc in 33** E. long. Lake 
Bemba, or Bangweolo, Stanley states — ^and there appears 
to be good ground for the belief— >is the residuum of an 
enormous lake that in very ancient times must have 
occupied an area of 500,000 square miles, "until by some 
great convulsion the western maritime mountain chain 
was riven asunder, and the Livingstone began to roar 
through the fracture." As to the "great convulsion" 
and the "fracture," geologists may be able to decide 
when they are in possession of fuU information as to Mr. 
Stanley's observations. Nyangwe, Mr. Stanley informs 
us, is in 4^ 16' S., and 26° 5' £. ; but by an unaccount- 
able mistake in another place he gives the latitude as 26'' 
'S" 45^9 s^d that, too, while pointiilg out, in his peculiar 
way, a slight mistake in the position on Stanford's map of 



1874. The position then was perfectly correct accordinf 
to the data, and in the latest editions tiie position is 
exactly as Stanley gives it. 

Mr. Stanley insists on the importance of the rivet 
as a commercial highway, the country traversed by it 
being abundantly rich in products that would find a ready 
market in Europe. Naturally, on Monday night, Afria 
was the burden of the president's address at the opening 
of the Geographical Society. Sir Rutherford Alcock ia< 
sisted that it now remained with the merchant, aided if need 
be by Government, to open up Africa still further. Indeed 
the country is now being attacked by national and private 
expeditions on aU sides, and if a basis for minute explo* 
ration were formed by trading stations under govemmenl 
sanction and regulation, along the Livingstone, our know- 
ledge of the country would grow rapidly, and die benefits 
to conmierce would be incalculable. Only, however, 
could the natives have fair play by governmental regU' 
lation of private enterprise. There is no danger ol 
extinction for ,the native African, and it would be botii 
prudent and just to protect him from the horrible crudtie 
at which Mr. Stanley hints in the conclusion of his letter, 

It is worth noticing that in the map the Lukuga runs 
boldly from Lake Tanganyika and joins the Lualaba, and 
the source of the Alexandra Nile is brought to near 4* 
south on the east side of the lake. 

According to latest intelligence Mr. Stanley is at the 
Cape wanting to get his followers sent back to Zanzibar. 
In his letter in yesterday's Telegraph he gives an inter* 
esting account of his companion, Frank Pocock, of whoa 
he speaks in the highest terms, and whose death is a real 
loss to African exploration. 

The Daily News Alexandria Correspondent writes (01 
the 5th) that Signori Gessi and Matteucci have just 
started from Cairo for Khartum, vid Assouan, by th< 
Nile, instead of taking the shorter route by the Red Sea 
to Massowa. They are provided with the newest and 
most improved scientific instruments, and having promisee 
to keep up constant communication with the Geographical 
Society at Rome, interesting accounts of their movement 
and progress will be looked for. 



MODERN TORPEDO WARFARE 

n^WO elements have contributed to make torpedi 
^ warfare what it is : electricity and the new explosivK 
compounds. It is true that in the Whitehead or fisl 
torpedo recourse is had only to the latter of these, but i 
is the sole material exception, and all the mischief effecte< 
by this branch of marine warfare has been, so far, thi 
result of electric torpedoes. Both on the Danube and ii 
the last American war, when no less than twenty-fiv 
ships were sunk by the Confederates, the electric torpedi 
has worked extensive injury, and it is no wonder therefor 
that a keen interest should be taken in all that pertain 
to so novel and destructive a method of killing ani 
wounding. 

We have called the torpedo a novel weapon, and th 
instruments that go by the name to-day undoubtedly ar 
so. At the time of the Crimean war, we had to do wit) 
torpedoes of a kind ; nay, even so far back as tb 
beginning of the seventeenth century, floating char^ges 
called petards, were employed, but these were of to 
insignificant a nature to merit attention. The " infema 
machines" strewn in the Baltic by the Russians twent; 
years ago were small canisters of powder containing b 
way of igniting arrangement a mixture of chlorate o 
potash and sugar, together with a glass bulb with sul 
phuric acid ; and the latter, escaping from its envelon 
when this was broken by a shock or collision, broagh 
about an inunediate explosion, lliese mechanical tor 
pedoes had two disadvantages ; the igniting arrangemen 
was of such a character that it could be set in action jus 
as well by friend as by foe^ and the exjdosion of the gun 



^Orj, 15, 1S77] 



NATURE 



51 



Hrder was insufficient to effect any material injury. All 
is has been remedied. Electricity is nowadays em- 
bfed as the igniting agent, and those terribly violent 
qtlosives^ gun-cotton and dynamite, replace the com- 
ifatively innocuous gunpowder. 

Electric torpedoes may be broadly divided into two 
aes : offensive aisd defensive torpedoes. The latter 
employed for the protection of harboursj channels^ and 
Isteads ; the former, in the shape of drifting or spar- 
Hoes, are carried to the attack in small s^vift-sailing 
-launches. In this country we are favourably dis- 
to the employment of compressed gun-cotton in our 
hines, while on the Continent they seem lo entertain a 
titection for nitroglycerine, or rather dynamite. Both 
pounds arc what chemists term nitro-compoirnds, in 
itradj^tinction to gunpowder, which comes under the 
iS of nitrate-compounds, and appear to exercise an ex- 
iive force*of almost similar violence, measuring the sub- 
ices weight for weight. Compressed i^^un-cotton, we 
hardly say, is cotton yarn acted upon by nitric and 
uric acids and then pulped and wjished^ so thit the 
t is a finely-divided mass which may be made to 
nc any shape or form. As a rule the material is 
;ed into cakes of difc-likc^fomi, which weigh from a 
ounces to a pound, and while still wet the slabs are 
d/awayjn the magazines. In this moist condition 



•— "* * *>«- 




FiG, 1 y — Fish Torpedo cxptcKling against a ^Kip* 



I compressed pulp is not only non- explosive, but actu- 
tion*iniiammable, except one possesses the key to its 
detonation* This is nothing more than a dr>' cake of the 
**?Tnf mr»ieri?*l, or as the Inltei \^ tetn^vl in niililary par- 
lance, a *^ primer/^ which on being detonated by a few 
grains of fulminate, brings about the explosion of any 
wet gun-cotton in its immediate neighbourhood. Thus 
if simply a net is filled with gun-cotton slabs and 
thrown into the sea, the whole charge may be ignited 
by a primer contained in a waterproof bag having 
an electric fuze and wire attached. The possibility 
of communicating explosion in this way by vibration 
instead of by spark or flame is, too, as we shall presently 
see, the germ of a system of counter-mining, or torpedo 
annihilation, which bids fair to develop into a particularly 
effective means of defence against these terrible machines. 
Dynamite is similarly exploded to gun-cotton. The 
active principle in this case is nit ro- glycerine, or, if 
you will, liquid gun-cotton, prepared by simply allowing 
^cerine to fall drop by drop into nitric acid. As a solid 
is usually more convenient to handle than a liquid, the 
use of pure nitro-glycerine has given way to dynamite. 
which may be described as siliceous earth impregnated 
with the explosive fluid. 

Dynamite and gun-cotton explode with something like 
four or five times the force of gunpowder, and for this 
reason a very destructive charge may be confined 



within a comparatively small space. Moreover they are 
peculiarly adapted to submarine mines, since nitro- 
glycerine is no more affected by water than gun-cotton ; 
and the old adage "to keep your powder dry" does not 
apply to either of them. In the case of moored torpedoes 
which are connected with batteries to the shore or carry 
their own means of generating electricity, as in the Herz 
topedo of our German cousins, there is no limit to size, 
and machines containing as much as 500 lbs. of gun-cotton 
have, in fact, been constructed ; but for a spar- torpedo, 
or in other words one which is thrust under an enemy's 
keel by means of a thirty-foot pole projecting from 
the prow of a launch, the charge must be con- 
siderably smaller, and for two reasons. A great weight 
at the end of such a lever could not be properly ma- 
nipulated, while the explosion, if the charge were a very 
large one, would destroy both the attacking and attacked. 
A big moored torpedo of 500 lbs. has been found, when 
sunk in thirty or forty feet of water, to be fatal to a strong 
ironclad if the latter happens to be within this distance of 
the source of explosion ; or, in other words, a cushion of 
water forty feet in thickness is not sufficient to secure the 
immunity of such a vessel. What would happen if this 
terrible volcano were to erupt— if we may use the word — 
in contact with the sides of an armoured ship, must be 
left to the imagination ; but despite Mr. Ward Hunt's 
opinion to the contrary, we do not think it would require 




Fig. 2.— a moored Torpedo explodiiig. Height of column 60 feet, base 
220 feet. 

three such torpedoes successfully exploded, to bring our 
boasted Inflexible to grief. And in this opinion our 
readers, we suspect, will fully agree, when we inform them 
that a heavy torpedo hke this throws up a cone of water 
sixty feet in height, with a diameter at its base of no less 
than 220 feet. Such an heaving of waters, if it did not 
break the back of an ironclad, as there is every reason 
to suppose it would, must inevitably capsize her with- 
out more ado. But it is, of course, only on very rare 
occasions that such a monster torpedo could be brought 
to bear, and in all cases of attack the ch irge must needs 
be considerably less. The smaller Whitehead torpedoes, 
which, as our readers know very well, are narrow cigar- 
shaped weapons, that move through the water by the 
agency of compressed air, do not in all probability carry 
more than a 40 lb. or 50 lb. charge in the head, while a 
spar or drift torpedo of 100 lbs. is already as large as 
would be convenient to handle. At the same time either 
of these would quite suffice to fracture an iron plate 
several inches in thickness, and therefore be fatal, pro- 
bably, to any ironclad afioat, supposing there was no 
water-cushion between the craft and the torpedo. We 
have no definite information respecting the size or weight 
of the torpedoes which sank the Turkish monitor in the 
Matchin Canal, but as the expedition was hastily arranged 
and organised, the charges were, no doubt, not very large. 
The fish torpedo is a rare example of a complicated 
apparatus coming into practical use, and its elaborate^ 



52 



NATURE 



\Nov. 15, 187; 



construction and fine workmanship may be imagined 
when the reader is informed that the machines cost 500/. 
a piece to manufacture. The long tube is divided into 
three compartments : the head, which contains the 
explosive charge, the reservoir, in which the compressed 
air is stored, and the machinery by means of which the 
stored-up energy is converted into a propelling force. 
The air is compressed to the extent of 6co lbs. on the 
square inch, and to bring about this result an exceedingly 
powerful air-pump is necessary, which forms an addi- 
tional item of expense in the case of this torpedo. The 
latter when properly charged will do a joum^ of a mile, 
or mile and a half, under water, the first 1,000 yards being 
got over at a rate of no less than twenty miles an hour, 
and if unaffected by tide or current, the machine will 
proceed in a perfectly straight direction. It floats at any 
distance under water that may be desirable, but is usually 
made sufficiently buoyant to swim at eight feet from the 
si^ace ; it explodes on striking any object, but the 
machine is so contrived that if it fails to strike, then it 
floats to the surface, and a trigger guard renders the fish 
at the same time innocuous, and permits of its recapture 
without risk. Ingenious as the little creature is, there has 
been, we repeat, no authenticated employment of it during 
the present war. 

On the Danube the spar-torpedo 'alone seems to have 
been used against Turkish monitors. As in the case of the 
ThornycroftXzMVL^^ of which we are to have a flotilla of thirty 
in the firitish navy, the torpedo is projected at the end of a 
spar, and is ignited either by concussion or by electricity. 
The Turkish ironclad at Matchin was the victim of two 
torpedoes of this class, the first of which, we are told, was 
ignited by the crew of the launch by electricity, and the 
other on concussion with the vessel attacked. These 
Russian torpedoes are said to be innocuous at a distance 
of ten feet from the seat of explosion, and hence those in 
the launch do not suffer much except from the water that 
is thrown into the air. From the fact that small batteries 
in the boat are used to fire the charges, we may safely 
conclude that their explosion is brought about by a 
platinum wire fuze, which, together with a few grains of 
fulminate, would determine the detonation of dynamite or 
gun-cotton. Each launch is provided with a pair of these 
spar torpedoes, carried, when not in action, on each side, 
running the length of the boat, and only on making an 
attack is one or other projected at the bow, the torpedoist 
being stationed behind a shield, or under an iron screen, 
where he can make his observations tolerably free from 
danger. 

In the case of moored torpedoes depending for their 
ignition upon electricity, many points of scientific interest 
have recently been brought to light Some experiments 
undertaken in Denmark two or three years ago showed 
most conclusively that dynamite torpedoes cannot be 
placed close together without incurring the danger of one 
charge bringing about the explosion of others. A dyna- 
mite torpedo of 150 lbs. ignited in ten feet of water, was 
found capable of exploding other charges at a distance of 
300 feet by the mere vibration imparted to the water ; so 
that in constructing coast defences with dynamite tor- 
pedoes it is absolutely necessary to keep them far apart 
from one another. Another point was also noted. A 
current of electricity, if it emanates from a powerful fric- 
tional electric machine, traversing one of a bundle of 
wires, will induce a current in the other wires, and thus 
bring about the explosion of torpedoes other than that 
which the operator on shore desires to ignite. It is these 
facts particularly which have led to the development of a 
system of counter-attack and have enabled our sailors to 
devise a means of defending themselves from the terrible 
sea-monsters. Both dynamite and gun-cotton are pecu- 
liarly sensitive to vibration — indeed their detonation, as 
we have seen, is brought about by no other cause — and 
hence a captain of a man-of-war by exploding counter- 



mines in his vicinity may soon get rid of any lurking 
torpedoes lying in wait for him, at any rate if they contain 
a nitro-glycerine compound, and so speedily clear a way 
for his ship. 

This is certainly subject for * congratulation, for it 
seemed at one time as if the poor sailor was absolutely 
defenceless against these submarine abominations. A 
crinoline of spars and wire rope may be employed to 
catch the fish torpedo and explode the vermin harmlessly 
in its toils, provided the ingenious brute is not a very 
large one, and the net is at some distance from the ship ; 
but heavy moored torpedoes have been hitherto con^ 
sidered too dangerous to approach, so that marine coun- 
termining must prove invaluable. The spar or drifting 
torpedo cannot be dealt with by nets or booms alone, and 
in this case the only plan would seem to be to meet attack 
with attack and beat off launches with other small boats, 
That all ironclads in time of war will have to be sur- 
rounded by lesser craft as a protection is a matter that 
we may now take for granted, as also that such vessel! 
must be provided with some powerful means of iilumina- 
tion->-the electric light, for mstance — ^to prevent swift, 
low-lying torpedo launches from approaching unperceived 
at night time. 

Special schools of instruction for acquainting officers 
with the science of electricity and explosives have foe 
some time past been established, and there is indeed 
scarcely a naval power which has not paid attention to 
submarine warfare ; consequently we may expect to see 
future battles upon the sea carried on just as much under 
water as above it. In this country we have a torpedo 
school on board H.M.S. Vernon at Portsmouth, whUeat 
the Royal Naval College at Greenwich instruction in the 
experimental sciences now forms one of the most important 
items in the curriculum. France has its naval torpedo 
school at Boyardville, where both officers and seamen are 
made acquainted with the principles of submarine warfare. 
Germany, as aU the world knows, practised torpedo war- 
fare to such good purpose seven years ago that the mag- 
nificent fleet of the French never once ventured to visit the 
coast of the Fatherland. Both at Kiel and at Wilhelms- 
haven are to be found torpedo depdts and a well-orga- 
nised staff of instructors. Lastly the news comes to us 
from Russia that the Czar has sanctioned the organisatioo 
of a distinct torpedo service, and two dep6ts and instruc* 
tional schools are to be formed at Kertch and Cronstadt, 
whence torpedo appliances are to be issued for the 
defence of the Baltic and the Black Sea. 



NOTES 

Mr. Darwin will receive the honorary degree of LL.D. a1 
Cambridge on Saturday next, at 2 p.m., at a congregatioii 
specially convened for the purpose. In the evening the annus) 
dinner of the Philosophical Society will take place in the Hall ol 
Clare College, when a brilliant gathering is expected to meet th< 
illustrious visitor, among the non-resident guests being Profs. 
Huxley, Tyndall, and Parker, and Sir John Lubbock. 

The Postmaster-General of the German Empire is about to 
have an extensive series of experiments made with a view to the 
introduction of the telephone into the telegraphic service. Several 
hundred specimens of the telephonic apparatus manufactured b] 
Siemens and Halake have been ordered. 

The French Ministry had granted a pension to the widow oi 
Leverrier. Unfortunately the lady died, as we mentioned in out 
last number, before the first monthly instalment became due. It 
ib hoped that a part of the pension will go, against ordinary nxk^ 
to the son and daughter of the astronomer. 

The Minister of Public Instruction has been authorised by > 



Digitized by 



Google 



Nov. 15, 1877] 



NATURE 



53 



decree of the President of the French Republic to accept a sum 
of S,ooo/., bequeathed by Madame Thuret, in order to establish 
at Antibes, in the Department of Alpes Maritimes, an agricul- 
tnial station connected with the lectureship on Agriculture and 
Botany of the Paris Museum of Natural History. 

Mk. Park Harrison has completed the exploration of 
the galleries belonging to the "Cave Pit" at Cissbury— in 
which rune-like characters were found in 1875 — and found 
that they communicate with galleries connected with other 
shaftSy at distances of from 20 to 30 feet, on tlie north, west, 
and east sides. Mr. Harrison thinks there, appears to be 
sufficient eyidence that they were used for purposes of shelter or 
concealment long after they were originally excayated. Que of 
the shafts last cleared out, was found to have been left in an 
incomplete state, as if the work had been for some reason inter- 
rupted. On the south of the cave pit, and immediately adjoining 
it, Mr. Harrison has discovered several small pits, the largest 
being 5 feet in diameter, and 4 feet 6 inches deep. All con- 
tained flint flakes, sling-stones, and a few bones. In some there 
were small ornaments, pots of good quality, bone combs, terra- 
cotta beads, and hard polishing-stones. In one pit there was an 
iron hook. 

Thk following testimony from so competent and disinterested 
an observer as Prof. Monicr Williams to the necessity for syste- 
matic meteorological observation in India is valuable, and we 
hope will have weight with the proper authorities. In the last 
of his series of articles on his second tour in India, in the Times 
of November 7, Prot Williams writes thus : — " One thing re- 
quires instant attention. The connection between agriculture, 
meteorology, and astronomy is now admitted on all hands, and 
no country in the world would be benefited more than India by 
systematic meteorological and astronomical observations carried 
on under Government direction. Much is already being done in 
this way. Yet I could only find one efiective astronomical 
observatory, and that not adequately supported by Government, 
though I travelled from Cashmere to Cape Comorin. It is not 
generally known that from his observations of the present con- 
dition of the disc of the sun, in connection with various atmo- 
spherical phenomena, the Madras astronomer, Mr. Pogson, pro- 
phesied in 1876 a recurrence of the drought and famine in 

1877." 

On October 24, we learn from Z'iS'ar/^rd/ii^if, Signor D*Albertis 
and Prol Od. Beccari left Genoa in the steamer Australia for a 
year's voyage round the world. They will first visit Egypt, and 
thence to India, China, and Japan, returning to Europe by New 
York. They intend to collet^ during their voyage birds, 
Tnfl"*"'«lg, and insects for the museums of Italy, principally for 
that of Genoa. 

For several years past Major J. W. Powell, in charge of the 
United States Geographical and Geological Survey of the Rocky 
Mountain R^on, has been paying particular attention in his 
researches, to the ethnology and philology of the American 
Indians ; and having received from the Smithsonian Institution 
an immense mass of material on this subject, collected during a 
period of many years, he has called to his assistance numerous 
experts for the purpose of preparing a series of memoirs on these 
topics. We have now a partial result of his labour in the first of 
a series of quarto volumes, entitled "Contributions to North 
American Ethnology," and published in most excellent style, 
with numerous illustrations, at the Government Printing-office^ 
The present volume is occupied with the Indians of North-western 
America, embracing several papers by Mr . Dall and others on 
the tribes of Alaska and adjacent territories, and a number of 
vocabularies, principally by the late Mr. George Gibbs. 

OUK. readers may remember that last spring Capt. Burton 
made an cipcdition into the Land of Midian, which lies to the 



south-east of the Gulf of Akaba, in the Red Sea. He was 
accompanied by a mining engineer, M. Marie, and the two 
explorers came upon traces of extensive mining operations, the 
ruins of ancient towns, and many other evidences of a flourishing 
mining district They brought back specimens containing gold, 
silver, copper, and other metals, and were most sanguine as to 
their discovery. Capt. Burton is now again in Egypt, the Timei 
Alexandria correspondent writes, preparing another expedition 
to Midian. He is now determined to investigate thoroughly that 
biblical country of which he only got a superficial idea in his 
twenty-day visit last spring. His intention now is to penetrate 
to the mountains in the interior, and thoroughly satisfy himself 
as to their nature and capabilities. He estimates the distance 
under twenty days' march. It is a curious fact that these mines 
were known to the ancients so long ago as the time of Ramses 
III., whose cartouche is inscribed on the Needle which is on its 
way to England. In the Harris Papyrus in the British Museum 
is a passage referring to the copper mines of Akaba. 

At the last meeting of the Russian Geographical Society, the 
Secretary gave some account as to this year's expeditions sent 
out by the Society. The results of Prshevalsky's expedition are 
a survey from Kuldja for 800 rniles into the interior of the country, 
seven determinations of latitudes and longitudes, many baro- 
metrical measurements of heights along the route, a botanical 
collection of about 300 species, a zoological collection, numbering 
85 mammalia, 180 species (500 specimens) of birds, 50 speci- 
mens of fishes, 150 reptiles, and 2,000 insects. The most im- 
portant objects in the collection are four skins of wild cameU. 
All the collections sure now in Kuldja, and will be forwarded to 
St. Petersburg during the winter. About the end of August M. 
Prshevalsky* had started for Tibet. M. Potanin has returned 
without having penetrated far into the interior of Mongolia. He 
proposes now to go to the sources of the Yenisset. M. Mainoff 
has returned firom his travels among the Mordva population of 
Eastern Russia with very valuable materials. He has obtained 
anthropological measurements according to the 1 26 queries of the 
programme, of 5 10 individuals, and he brings detailed answers on 
the queries of the programme as to the ethnographical and 
juridical customs of the Mordva, as well as numerous skulls, 
photographs, tools, and dresses. 

A RAILWAY official in Berlin was lately fined by the district 
courts for appending to his name the title of doctor juris 
utriusque^ on the strength of a diploma from the University of 
Philadelphia. An appeal to a higher court resulted in a confir- 
mation of the sentence. 

Wk notice a very useful Russian work, just published by the 
St Petersburg Committee of Primary Education, being a review 
of all works that have appeared in Russia in the department of 
primary instruction. The book, 640 pages, gives a complete 
catalogue of such works, with critiod notices on each of any 
importance^ and it is sold at a very low price, for the use of 
primary teachers. 

A YOUNG schoolmistress of Tlemcen (Algeria) has successfully 
passed her examinations before the Faculty of Aix for Bacca- 
laureate in Letters, and has been warmly congratulated by the 
Board. 

The statue of Lagrange, the celebrated mathematician, bom 
in Italy, but a naturalised Frenchman, was erected last week in 
the hall of the Bureau des Longitudes. * 

At a recent meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences a 
letter from M. Fabre to M. Dumas, was read, referring to 
an American vine which he had cultivated for a long 
tim^ in the very heart of phylloxeric oenfciai but which has 

igitized by VaOO 



54 



NATURE 



[Nov. 15, 1877 



escaped the least sign of infection. It flourishes under the 
most unfavourable circumstances, grows rapidly, and readily 
receives grafts from French vines. 

The French Association Poly technique, created in 1830, has 
just published its programme for 18 77- 1878. Lectures are given 
by this institution to working men] in each of the twenty 
municipal districts of Paris, and in almost every manufacturing 
district of Fmnce. For the first time the programme of lectures 
is uniform, and special text-books are pubUshed at a 'cheap rate 
under its authority. No salaries are given to teachers, and no 
fees taken from pupils. It is called ''La Sorbonne de TOuvrier." 
All expenses are covered by voluntary contributions. M. Dumas, 
the perpetual secretary of the Institute has been elected pre- 
sident of the Association. He has filled this important position 
for a number of years. 

The Jardin d* Acclimataiion of Paris, as we recently stated, 
has received a family of Esquimaux, who are quartered alongside 
the Nubians, who were recently in London. They consist of 
three men, a woman, and two children, and have charge of a 
collection of phocas, white bears, and trained dogs. The 
customary Esquimaux huts have been erected for their accommo- 
dation, and their time is spent in the ordinary occupations to 
which they are accustomed in the Polar regions. The SocUti 
d'*Antkropologie de Paris has appointed a commission to study 
these unusual visitors, consisting of Dr. Broca, president, and 
MM. Bordier, Dolly, Girard de Rialle, Mazard, and Topinard. 

The Ministry of Public Instruction has just established, in 
Paris, a " Biblioth^que Universitaire," containing all works 
appearing from the pens of the professors of the French 
University. 

Among the medals awarded by the Photographic Society in 
connection with their Exhibition, are one for the best micro- 
photograph, " Proboscis of a Blowfly," to Mr. Edward Viles, and 
a special medal to Mr. W. J. A. Grant for his Arctic Views. 

The Institution of Civil Engineers resumed its meetings on 
Tuesday. Among the papers announced to be read early in the 
session are, a " Review of the Progress of Steam Shipping 
during tke last Quarter of a Century," by Mr. Alfred Holt, 
M. Inst. C.E. of Liverpool, whilst the latest development of 
electrical invention and its application to lighting purposes, will 
be discussed in a paper by Dr. Paget Higgs and Mr. Brittle, 
Assocs. Inst. C.E., entitled " Some Recent Improvements in 
Dynamo-Electric Apparatus." 

The fourth annual meeting of the Dundee Naturalists' Society 
was held recently. Mr. Grothe, the president, occupied the 
chair. The secretary read the coundl's report for the past 
year, which showed that it had been one of great activity and 
prosperity. The year began with a membership, including all 
classes, of 232, but at the date of the report this number had 
increased to 401, being an increase of 169. The property of the 
society had also been considerably increased during the year, 
chiefly by gifts of books and specimens for the society's museum . 
During the last winter nine original papers had been read by 
members at the ordinary meetings of the society, treating of 
geological, biological, physical, and archseological subjects. 
During the summer the interest in, and work of, the society was 
kept alive by a series of very attractive excursions. One excur- 
sion was a sea-dredging expedition, and opened up for the society 
a new field for its energies. In order to secure a more ex- 
haustive and systematic treatment of the various branches of 
natural science, the society was formed into sections, three in 
number, viz.:—!. Physical and Chemical; 2. Geol(^cal ; 3. 
Biological. From this arrangement it is hoped that much good 
will result. The society is in a very h«ilthy and vigorous 
condition. 



The following modification of an experiment of Prof. Tyndall'c 
is described by M. Terquem in the Journal de Physique for 
October. A trumpet-bell connected by a thick caoutchouc tube 
with one of Konig's manometric flames, is fixed vertically over a 
square plate, which is vibrated so as to give two nodal lines as 
in Tyndall's experiment If the axis of the bell be placed 
exactly over the centre of .the plate, the flame remains quite 
motionless, and the same if the bell be placed above a nodal 
line. On the other hand, the flame vibrates when the bell is 
displaced, however little, and the vibrations become very strong 
when [the bell b placed above a ventral segment With two 
similar trumpet-bells placed over two ventral segments having 
similar, or contrary movements, the vibrations may be united on 
a single flame, by means of a Y*tube, a drawing-tube being 
placed in the passage of one of the vibratory movements. The 
advantage of this arrangement consists in producing very strong 
separate vibrations ; moreover, it is possible to give them exactly 
the same intensity by displacing laterally one of the bells. To 
obtain absolute motionlessness in the flame the two combined 
movements must have exactly the same amplitude. To render 
the flame more brilliant M. Terquem passes the gas through 
pumice-stone soaked with benzine or the like, and incloses the 
jet in a tube through which a current of oxygen is sent. A 
cylinder of mica blackened interiorly, except on the side next the 
revolving mirror, surrounds the flame. 

A RECENTLY- PUBLISHED report by the Criminal Admimstra- 
tion of France gives some curious statistics with r^[ard to 
suicides in 1874. There were in that year 5,617 suicides, the 
highest number ever recorded in the country. Of these 4,435 
(79 per cent) were committed by men, and 1,182 (21 per cent.) 
by women. The ages of 105 of the suicides are unknown. The 
5,512 others are thus divided : — Minors of 16 years, 29 ; 16 to 
21 years of age, 193 ; 21 to 40, 1,477 > 4^ to 60, 2,214 ; ^cl 
beyond 60, 1,599. Among the suicides there are enumerated 
1,946 celibates (36 per cent.), 2,645 (4^ per^cent) were married, 
and 88 X (16 per cent) were widowed. Of the number of those 
forming the last two categories there were 2,259, <>f nearly two- 
thirds, who had children. The civil state of 145 individuals 
could not be ascertained. More than seven-tenths of the suicides 
were by strangulation (2,472), or by submersion (1,514). The 
suicides were, as always, more frequent in spring (3 1 per cent.) 
and in summer (27 per cent) than in winter (23 per cent ) and in 
autumn (19 per cent). As to the motives, there is no informa- 
tion about 481 of the suicides ; the others are classed as fol- 
lows : — Misery and reverses of fortune, 652 ; family troubles, 
701 ; love, jealousy, debauchery, misconduct, 815 (of which 572 
were brought about by drunken habits) ; physical sufferings, 
798 ; various troubles, [489 ; mental maladies, 1,622 ; suicides 
of persons guilty of capital crimes, 59. 

At the meeting of the Eastbourne Natural History Society, 
of October 19, Mr. Roper read an important paper on "The 
Addition to the Flora of Eastbourne since 1875." 

The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 
past week include a Tiger {Felis ii^) from China, presented by 
Mr. A. Forbes Angus; a Macaque Monkey (Macacus cyn^molgus) 
from India, presented by Mr. H. W. Hendeison ; a Saker Falcon 
(Falco sacer) from Egypt, presented by Mrs. Arthur Coote ; two 
Grey Plovers (Squatarola helvetica), a Ringed Plover (CEgiaUtis 
hiaticuia), a Dunlin ( Tringa cinclus\ European, presented by 
Mr. F. Cresswell; a Calif omian Quail (Callipepla califimica) 
from California, presented by Mrs. A. H. Jamrach; a Ring 
Hals Snake {Sepedon hamachates) from South Africa, presented 
by Mr. Eustace Pillans ; a Brown Pelican (Pelecanus fuscus) from 
West Indies, a Cape Zorilla (Ictonyx zorilla) from South Africa, 
purchased; five Reindeer (RatUfcr tarandus) firom Lapland, 
deposited ; a Cape Buffalo (Bubalus cafet^ from South Africa, 
received in exchange. ngitized by V3OO 



Nov. 15, 1877] 



NATURE 



55 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE 

Edinburgh. — ^The Marquis of Hartiogton has, by a laxge 
majority over Mr. Cross, been elected Lord Rector of Edmburgli 
Univeisity. 

Prussia. — ^We notice from the last report of the Prussian 
Minister of Instruction that the present number of instructors in 
the ten universities amounts to 896, yiz., 466 ordinary professors, 
7 honorary, 199 extraordinary, and 224 frwat-^ocenten. The 
philosophical faculties include 400, the medical, 250, the legal, 86, 
and the theological, I la The number of instructors Taries from 
29 at Miinster, to 201 at Berlin. The number of students is 
about nine times that of the professors, viz., 8,209, and includes 
1,080 from other countries than Prussia. According to their 
faculties they are divided as follows : evangelical-theological, 684, 
catholic-theological, 289, legal, 2,261, medical, 1,349, and philo- 
sophical, 3,62^ The attendance at the univernties during the 
past summer was Berlin 2,237, Breslau, 1,245, Gottingen, 917, 
Bonn, 897, Halle^ 827, KOnigsberg, 620, Greifswald, 503, 
Marburg, 401, Miinster, 3 1 5, and Kiel, 241. 

In the budget submitted to the present Prussian House of 
Deputies are the following items :^£fection of the German 
Inmistrial Museum, 998,000 mk. \ erectioff ofa Polytechnic in 
Berlin, 8,393,370 mk. ; erection of an Ethnological Museum' in 
Berlin, 1,800,000 mk. ; and for the Berlin University, erection 
of a Herbarium, 422,cxx> mk. ; of a Clinic, 1,9^5,000 mk. ; 
of a new building for a second Chemical Laboratory, as well as 
of a Technical and Pharmaceutical Institute, 967,000' mk. 

Bonn. — On entering upon the duties of rector of the Univer- 
sity, Prof. Kekule, the distioguished chemist, delivered, on 
October 18, a brilliant address on the scientific position of che- 
mistry, and the fundamental principles of this science. He 
made the following definition of chemistry as distinct from 
physics and mechanics : — " Chemistry is the science of the statics 
and dynamics of atoms : physics that of the statics and dynamics 
of molecules ; while mechanics considers the masses of water con- 
sisting of a large number of molecules." After rapidly sketching 
the giowUi of the present atomic theory, he claimed that the 
mass of results now obtained showed that chemistry was slowly 
bat surely approaching its goal, the knowledge of the constitu- 
tion of matter. In opposition to the opinion that theory should 
be banished from the exact sciences, he regarded it as an actual 
fdt necessity of the human mind to classify the endless series of 
individual facts from general standpoints— at present of a hypo- 
thetical nature — and tiiat it was precisely the discussion of these 
hypotheses which often led to the most valuable discoveries. 

Vienna. — In Vienna the question is being agitated of 
separating the natural sciences at the University into a separate 
fsculty, apart from the [philosophical faculty, as is the case in 
Strassburg and a few other universities, which have risen superior 
to the old mediaeval classification. 

Strassburg. — ^The imperial authorities have finally decided 
upon extensive appropriations for the new buildings of the Uni- 
versity. They will embrace edifices for lecture-rooms, chemical 
and physical laboratories, and chirurgical and psychiatric clinics. 
The new observatory will be completed next year, and the 
botanical gardens are rapidly being laid out. In 1882 the 
University expects to occupy its new buildings. 

KoNiGSBERG. — Prof. W. Loflsen, of Heidelberg, well known 
by his researches on hydroxylamine, has accepted a call to the 
Chair of Chemistry at the University of Konigsberg. 

Upsala. — The University is attended at present by 1,395 
stndents, of whom the half are included in the philosophical 
Realty. The corps of teachers embraces sixty-three ordinary 
and extraordinary professors, and fifty-four prvvat-docenten. Of 
these eighty-two are in the philosophical faculty. 

St. Pxtersburg.— The lectures at the St Petersburg Ladies' 
High Medical School re-opened this year on October 13. One 
hundred and eighteen students were admitted, though a far larger 
nmiber of appHcants passed the examination. The number of 
the students admitted, however, was limited as above because of 
want of room. A fifth class has now been added, and the 
stndents receive, after having finished the studies, the degree of 
SQigeons. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
London 
Linnean Society, November i.— Prof. Alhnan, F.R.S«» 
president, in the chair. — Messrs. S. M. Samuel and P. Wyatt 
Squire were duly elected fellows of the Society. — A communica- 
tion was read by Dr. G. King on the source of the wioged 
cardamom of Nepal. By Dr. Pereira it had been regarded as 
the produce of ^m^m^m mctximum^ Roxb.; but this is indigenous 
to Java. Roxburgh named two Indian species, A. aromaticum 
and A, subulaium, and Dr. King shows tnat the latter is the so- 
called winged cardamom of Nepal, its true habitat being the 
Morung mountains and not the Khasia hills as asserted by Voigt. 
— There followed a paper by Capt. W. Armit on Australian 
finches of the genus PonphUa, Mr. Gould had recognised two 
birds, P, gouldiiB and P, mirabilis^ as good and distinct specific 
forms, a statement questioned bv Mr. Diggles at the QueensL 
Phil. Soc, 1876. Capt Armit having studied the live birds in 
their native haunts gjlves his evidence in favour of Mr. Gould as 
to the just separation of the said Australian finches. — The 
self-fertilisation of plants formed the subject of an interesting 
paper by the Rev. G. Henslow, a notice |of which we shall give 
elsewhere.— Mr. Ed. J. Miers gave a revision of the Hippidea." 
This group of the Anomourous Crustacea, although, by their 
elongated carapace and antennae bearing considerable resem- 
blance to certain of the Corystoldea, to wit the Chilian, Ble- 
pharipoda spinnimana ' and PsmdocorysUs sicarius^ yet the 
author Considers their true affinities to be with the Oxystomatous 
Dradhyurii, through the Raninidrc. ' The Hippidea inhabit all 
the Warmef teinperate and tropical seas of the globe! Their life 
history and habits lately have received considerable elucidation 
at the hands of Mr. S. J. Smith, of Connecticut, in a study of 
the development of the common species of the eastern shores of 
the United States. Their limits are restricted northwards 
by the cold winters. The H, talpoidea lives gr^;ariously, 
burrowing in the loose, changing sands near low-water mark. 
Other species, however, inhabit deep water, such as the Albunta 
guerinii in the' Gulf of Algiers, &c.— Mf] E. M. Holmes 
laid before the meeting the late Dr. Hahbury's collection 
of cardamoms (from the Pharmaceutical Society) in illus- 
tration of Dr. King's paper above mentioned; he also drew 
attention to an undetermined fungus in a sugar cane, which mould 
had caused the destruction of a plantation in South India. 
— The Rev. T. H. Sotheby exhibited branches of two remark- 
able shrubs, Colletia crucicUa^ Hook., and C Bictomnsis^ 
Lindl., grown in Lady Rolles' garden at Bicton. These South 
American plants it seems, are not unknown in this country (one 
Fellow present stating he possessed them now in flower), but the 
history of their introduction, nevertheless, is a curious one. — Dr. 
Masters showed an unusual specimen of a grape within a grape, 
viz., adventitious fruit developed in place of the normal seeds ; 
he also explained the rationale of adventitious tubers producing 
buds on the root of some examples of Brassica Rapa exhibited 
by him. — Some twigs and flowers of British grown gum trees 
were shown by Mr. A. O. Walker, among others Penstemon 
CUvelandii said to have flowered here for the first time. 

Physical Society, November 3.— Prof. G. C. Foster, pre- 
sident, in the chair. — The following candidate was elected a 
member of the Society : Alexander Jesseman. — Prof. McLeod 
described some experiments he has recently made to determine 
the exact number of vibrations of tuning forks by means of the 
apparatus he exhibited to the Society on April 28 last, and 
which was designed for determining slight variations in the 
speed of machinery or other analogous purposes. He has 
studied two sets of forks belonging to the Physical Laboratory at 
South Kensington, and a new set just received from Konig, and 
his results exhibit a remarkable concordance, the extreme results 
in the worst set of observations on a fork of 256 complete vibra- 
tions only differing by 0*005 V^ cent., and in a good set they 
agreed within 0*00078 per cent. Examining the new series 
firom 256 to $12, he found them to give from 0*3 to 0*5 of a 
vibmtion more than was anticipated, but as this variation may 
be due to a difference between the temperature and that at which 
they were adjusted, he is waiting to ascertain what this was. He 
considers also that the manner in which the fork is held has an 
effect on its vibrations, and he hopes to be able to get some 
information as to the effect of temperature on elasticity. — Dr. 
Huggins exhibited some artificial gems recently prepared by M. 
Fcdl, the well-known glass manufacturer of Pans, who has 
succeeded in ciystdlising stones^ of the corundum cla^s. 



56 



NATURE 



\N<w. 15, 1877 



Rnbiei, as wdl as a tdpoz and emerald, were exhibited. Dr. 
Huggins believes that the colour is imparted by small quantities 
of metallic oxides, and that the mass is muced with boracic add 
and maintained in a fused condition for a considerable period. 
M. Feil hopes to obtain larger stones by maintaining the heat 
constant for several weelcs consecutively. — Dr. Lodge then read 
a communication from Professors Ayrton and Perry, of the 
Imperial College. Japan, in continuation of one read to the 
Society on May 26 last, on ice as an electrolyte, and since pub- 
lished in the Philosophical Magasine. The experiments therein 
described led them to expect a very sudden rise in the specific 
inductive capacity as the temperature of the ice increased through 
zero and it became water. Recent results have shown that, 
though rapid, this increase is not as great as they anticipated, 
and, whereas at - I2f* C. the capacity is o'oo2 microfarads, at 
+ 5° C. it is O'l 185 micro&rads, and after this temperature the in- 
crease was so rapid as to render exact readings difficult Referring 
to Prof. Clerk Maxwell's theory in which he compares electro- 
magnetic disturbances with light vibrations, they point out that he 
exclusively regards a conducting medium. But they showed in 
a former paper that no dielectric can be considered non-conduct- 
ing, hence they conclude that the measured specific inductive 
capacity can never be even approximately equal to the square of 
the index of refraction. Prof. Foster mentioned that he re- 
cently had occasion to collect as many results as possible on 
specific inductive capacity and refractive index, and he found 
that, where these figures were low, die agreement with the law 
was fairly dose, but with greater ^ues me inductive capadty 
and the square of the refractive index separate very rapidly. — 
Prol Guthrie descrit>ed a simple means for showing the inter- 
ference between two plane waves by means of two long cords 
vibrating side by side. If a vibration of considerable amplitude 
be imparted to them, and the plane in which they travel be care- 
fully examined, two faint black lines will be seen, which cross 
and recross each other more rapidly as the cords are less and 
less in unison, and with perfect nnison remain stationary. 

Royal Microscopical Society, November 7.— Mr. H. C. 
Sorby, president, in the chair. — A paper was read by Mr. 
Thos. Palmer on the study of evergreens oy means of the micro- 
spectroscope, in which he described the results of his examination 
of solutions of the colouring matters, oils, &c., from the leaves 
in various stages of growu. The paper was illustrated by 
drawings and by the exhibition under the micro-spectroscope of 
some of the solutions referred to. — A paper by Mr. F. A. Bedwdl 
on the building apparatus of Mdicerta ringens, was read by the 
secretary. It minutdy described the structure and frinctions of 
those organs, and was an important addition to the number of 
contributions to the history of this beautiful rotifer. The paper 
was illustrated by drawings, some of which were enlarged upon 
the black board by Mr. Charles Stewart. — A paper was taken as 
read on the laduymal gland of the turtle, by Mr. Charles 
Stewart. 

Paris 

Academy of Sciences, November 5. — M. Peligot in the 
chair. — The following papers were read :— On some applications 
of elliptic functions (continued), by M. Hermite.— ^^m/ of a 
history of matter (third artide), by M. ChevreoL This comprises 
from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century. — On the hydr^- 
nation ot benzine and aromatic compounds, by M. Berthelot. The 
experiments show that the action (sufficiently intense and pro- 
longed) of hydriodic add brings all these carburets to the com- 
position of carburets absolutely saturated, such as hydride of 
hexylene, CxsH^^, volatile about 69^ — Reply to a recent note of 
M. de Parvillc, ''On the semi-diurnal variation of the baro- 
meter," by M. Faje. — ^The echidna of New Guinea, by M. 
Gervais. This anmial is very different from the echidna of 
Australia. Inter alia, it b larger and has darker hair; the 
claws (which are strong and adapted for digging) number three 
on the fore as on the hind feet ; and the (black) muzzle is much 
longer than in E. aculeata, and sensibly arched ; the tongue is 
also much longer and very slender, and the homy papUlse are 
differently arranged ; the number of vertebrae and ribs is dif- 
ferent, &C. M. Gervais r^ards the animal as bdonging to a 
separate genus, termed Acanthoglossus, — On a project of an inter- 
oceanic canal ; studies 'of the international commission of the 
Isthmus of Darien, by M. de Lesseps. This relates to a report 
of recent sdentific exploration by Lieut. Wvse (of the French 
Navy). The project comprises a tunnd of about 17 kilometres, 
the remainder of the length bdng aboat 55 kilometres. The 



total cost is estimated at 6o(\ooo,ooo francs. — Stellar systems 
formed of stars associated in a common and rapid proper motion, 
by M. Flammarion. — On the order (or class) of a plane algebraic 
curve, of whidi each point (or each tangent) depends on a corre- 
sponding point of another plane curve and on the tangent at that 
point, by M. Fouret — Applications of a mode of plane repre- 
sentation of dasses of ruled surfaces, by M. Mannheim. — On the 
liquefaction of acetylene, by M. Cailletet. The gas was com- 
pressed by means of a hydraulic pump through mercury, in an 
ap(>aratus of spedal form. Acetylene is liqueSed, e.g. , at -h i<* 
under 48 atm., at 18" under 83 atm., at 37* under 103 atm. The 
liquid is colourless and extremely mobile ; it seems very refringent, 
and is lighter than water, in which it can be largdy dissolved. It 
dissolves paraffin and fatty matters. Hydride of ethylene was 
liquefied in the apparatus at a slightly higher pressure than that 
of acetylene. The tensions of thoe two carburets and ethylene 
are but little different about zero. Reaction of chlorhydric add 
on two isomeric butylenes and on defines in general, by M. Le 
BeL The ethylenic carburets combine with cold chlorhydric 
add ; on the contrary, the hydrocarbons CH, = CHR and pro- 
bably those with the formula CHR = CHR' are not attacked. — 
On the alteration of eggs produced by mould from without, by 
MM. B^champ and Eustache. Hen's eggs may remain long in 
a medium filled with infusoria without Uiese organisms pene- 
trating. The shell and its lining membrane can l^ traversed by 
mucedinese, which develop abundantly on the inner £ace of the 
latter. The yolk-membnme, however, is impenetrable by muce- 
dinese or any other microzoa or microphytes. The mediate 
rdationf^of mucedinese with the yolk produce a trae fer- 
mentation apart from any organic ferment except micro- 
zymas. The acidification of the white is due exdusively 
to the mycelium of the mould. The production of bacteria in 
the yolk b due to devdopment of the normid microzymas of the 
yolk. — On a new function of the genital glands of sea-urchins, 
by M. Giaid. During part of the year these glands play the 
part both of excretory organs and of deutoplasmigenic organs. 
This frurt presents a new point of relation between echinodenns 
and annelids, and even arthropods. — Causes which determine 
the liberation of agile bodies (zoospores, antherozoids) in the 
lower plants, by M. Comu. The exit is not the result simply of 
a physical phenomenon of endosmose, but is at least partly due 
to the activity of the corpusdes themselves. This activity re- 
quires a suffident temperature, or a certain quantity of oxygen 
(furnished directly or by oxidation of the green parts), for its 
exercise. — Meteorological observations made in a balloon, by 
M. Terrier. This ascent was made on October 18, at 3.30 p.m., 
from Paris. It is affirmed that the temperature of the atmo- 
spheric layers at sunset decreases nniformly with increase of 
height (the decrease was i** per 100 metres). The lower winds 
are less stable than the upper, and it is necessary to interpret 
the latter for weather prognostication. The aerial corrents of 
small height and velodty are inflnenoed and notably deflected by 
the inequalities of the ground. 



CONTENTS Pack 

Brbhm*s Thibruebbh 41 

Ova Book Shblp :— 

Loewy's "Heat" 43 

Smith's " Ferns, British and Foreign. The History, Organo- 
gn4>hy. Classification, and Enumeradon of the Spedes of Garden 

Ferns, with a Treatise on their Ciiltivati<Mi " 43 

Lkttbks to thb Editor :— 

The Radiometer and iu Lessons.— Pkof G. Cakky Fostbb, F.R.S. : 

William Ckookis, F.R S. ; Alpked R. Wallace 43 

Experiment on Fluid Films.— Sbdlby Taylor 44 

Expected High Tides.— B.G Jbnkins 45 

The Towering of Wounded Birds.— Charlbs Dixon 45 

Cruelty to Animals' Aa and Physiological Teaching.— Frank W. 

Young 45 

Smell and Hearing in Moths.— J. C 45 

BcesKilledbyTntoma.— Alfred R. Wallace . 45 

Lecture Experiment.— W. A. Shbnstone 45 

Fownes' " Manual of Chemistry."— Thb Revibwbr 46 

Oux Astronomical Column :— 

The Transit of Mercury, May 6^ 2878 46 

Nova Cygni, 1876 46 

Comet X873. IV. 46 

Minor Planets 46 

The Royal Dublin Sooiety 46 

On thb Eocenb Flora op Bournemouth. By J. S Garonbr . . 47 

ThbTblbphonb 4B 

Aprican Exploration 49 

Modern Torpedo Warfare {Jl¥ith lUmiraiwnsX 50 

Notes ; 5a 

U nivewu tt and Educational lNTaLLiGENa->.. • . . .1^ . . . 55 

•.igitlzedbyti-OOgle- ' » 



Nov. 15, 1877] 



NATURE 



XXI 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



London 

THURSDAY, Novbkbbr 15. 

RoTAL SoacTT, at 8.30.— Orxaaisadon of the Fossil Plants of the Coal- 
Measures, Put IX. ; Bakerian Lecture : Prof. W. C Williamson, F.R.S. 

LiHMAN SociBTT, at 8.— Report on the Tnsecta (including Arachnida) 
CoUected by Capt. Feilden and Mr Hart during the h ecent Arctic Expe- 
dition : R, McLachlan — On the Surfece Fauna of the Arctic Se is as 
observed in the Recent Arctic Fxpedition : Dr Ed. L. Moss. — On the 
Amelias of the English North Polar Expedition (2875-^ : Dr. W. C. 
Mcintosh.— On Certain Organs of the Cidaridx : Chas. Stewart. 

CauiCAi. SoovTV, at 8.— On Gallium : Prof. Odling. — First Report to the 

Cbemicai Society on some Points in Chemical Dynamics : Dr. Wright and 

Mr. Luff.— On the.Influence exerted by Time and Mass in certain Reactions 

- b which Insduble ^alts are produced : C T. Kingzett and Dr. Paul — On 

Two New Fatty Adds of the Series C„H,nOa. 

FRIDAY^ NovBMBBR t6. 

QlTEKBTT MiCBOSCOFICAI. ClUB, at 8. 

SATURDAY, Novbmbbb 17. 
Pbtsical SoaBTT, at 3. 

SUNDAY, Novbmbbb »8. 

SvMDAT Lbctubb Socibty, at 4.— Charles Dickens : Miss Kate Field. 
TUESDA K. NovEMBBR so. 

ZoOLOGKAi. SoOBTV, at 8.3a— Contrbutious to the Ornithology of the 
Philippines, No. IL On the Collection made by Mr. A. H. Everett in the 
Lland of Zebu : The Marquis of Tweeddale, F.R.S —On a Collection of 
Hirds from £oa, Fiienoly Islands: Dr. O. Finsch, C.M.Z.S.-On the 

i Taenia of the RJiinoceros of the Sunder bunds, Plagioteunia gigatUea: 
Prof. Garrod, F.R.S.— On the Anatomy of the Chinese Water Deer, 
UydrapaUsinerm's: Prof Garrod. F.R.S. 

IssTiTUTiOM ov Civil \ nginbbbs. at 8. 

SODTB LONDOM MICROSCOPICAL SoClRTV, at 8. 

WBDNESDA Y, Novbmbbb ar. 
GaoLOGiCAi. Socibtv, at 8.— The Moffat Series : C Lapworth —On the 
Glacial Deposits of West Cheshire, together with Lists ofthe Fauna foimd 
in the Drift of Cheshire and adjoii irg Counties : W. Shone.— Notes on 
the Physical Geology of the Upper Punjab, India : A. B. Wynne. 
' Mbtbobological Socibtv, at 7. — Oo the (ienr ral Character and Principal 
Sources of Variation in the Weather at any Part of a Cyclone or Anti- 

3 done: the Hon. Ralph Abercromby. F.M.S.— Ihe "Arched Squalls" 
the Neighbourhood of the Trade Winds : Capt. A. SchQck.— On a 
Rcaaikable Barometric Osdllation on January 30, Z876 : Robert H. Scott, 
F.R.S. 
SoGBTT OP AjtTSf at 8.— Opemng Meeting. 

THURSDAY, Novbmbbb aa. 

ROVAL SOCXBTV, Bt 8.3a 

FRIDAY, NoVBMBBR 23. 

QcsKBTT Micbosco?ical Club, at 8. — A New British Sponge : J. G. 
Waller. 

I Dublin 

f MONDAY, Novbmbbb 19. 

I Soyal Socibtv, at 8.— Section I. ; On some Remarkable Instances of Com- 

i pressed Crookcs's Layers at Ordinary Atmospheric Tensions: G. J. 

f Sioacy, F.R.Sl— On hhenol-phthalein as a Test of Alkalinity: Pro£ 
Eaeraon Reynolds, M.D — On the Chemical CompoMtion of the Coal dis- 
covered by the Late Arctic Expedition : R. J. Moss. — Seaion IL ; On 
tibe Limiu of Geological Time: Rev. Dr. Haughton, F.R.S.— Notes on 
the Character of the Skeleton of the Aborigmes of Australia : Prof. 

I MacAfister, M.D. -On a Fragment of a Human Skeleton from 8xo 42'N. 
latitude : Dr. Ed. Moss, R.N. 

Croydon 

lYEDNESDAY, Novbmbux az. 
MicioscopiCAL Club, at 8.3a 



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''NATUREr 

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XXll 



NATURE 



\Nov. 15, 1871 



W. L A D D & CO., 
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ruSr IDDitniUd Catalofne md fiill Inatnictloiu by FMt, 6 Stampf. 
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Price of a Single Truss, x6j., au., 26*, &/., and 31*. 6d.\ « 
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FRENCH HYGIENIC SOCIETY, 40, Hay. 

maiket. — Electro-Dosimetric Institution. Treatment of aU Omsk 
Diseases pronounced incurable by the comlnned therapeutic mediod 
of Drs. Burggraeve and P. A. Desjardin. Hours of Consultauon fnd 
3 to 5 P.M. Treatment by correspondence. Mondays, Wedoesdajr^ 
and Fridays, consultatioDS free from zo.30 to 13. Chemical and Mnii 
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Medical Belts, &c 

The dosimetric system of medicine is the connecting link phced by Di) 
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or Homeopathic schools. 

This system, which is n»w well known and much used by doctors i 
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a treatment that is at the same time convenient, agreeable, and sure. 1 
dep^ds upon the purity of the medicine and exactitude of the dostfj 
and is apphed to the nature and causes of diseases both chronic and aoitfl^ 
In a word, it is the realisation of the hopes and researches of the aJchemisI 
of the middle ages. 

These medicines are administered in the form of granules, which are takq 
by all, even children, easily and without the least repugnance. 

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potions, opiates, electuaries, &c., in short, all the complicated mixture 
drugs of nauseous odour and taste, respected by the old formularie 
but which now, in the face of the progress of modem science, have no lonje 
the necessity of existence. 1 

It is, above all, in chronic diseases (the "non ])ossumus'* of the oU 
schools^ rheumatism, gout, dyspepsia, liver complaints, affections of thi 
spleen and kidneys, paralysis, scrofula, &c, that the system of Dr. Burg* 
graeve, combined with that of Dr. P. A. De^jardiii, gives the moil 
remarkable results. 

A large number 01 cures, obtained in a comparatively short time, higfal| 
confirm the therapeutic value of the electro-dosunetric system. 

If we consider that chronic maladies are caused by a duitbesls, whidk 
always produces a ch.^nge in the vital and nutritive organs, and if, on the 
oth«r hand, v^e consider carefully the electro-magnetic phenomena, and tht 
subtle nature of that agent, which, if it be not life itself, is one of its most 
active and important principles, we easily perceive the therapeutic value o( 
a method which acts directly upon the vitality of the patient, by employing 
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ladon vf the fluids, and restore that equilibrium of which health is the 
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In establishbg the "Electro-Dosimetric Institution of London," we fiS 
up a chasm, and thus render a signal service to all doctors, who will 
find with us the readiest and most active concurrence in the treatment o( 
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With an Account of an Enharmonic Harmonium exhibited at the Loa 

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an Enharmonic Organ exhibited to the Musical Association of Londoi 

May, 1875. 

BY R. H. BOSANaUET, 

Fellow of St. John's Collego, Oxford. 
MACMILLAN and CO., London. 

Text-Book of Botany. Morphologies 

AND PHYSIOLOGICAL. By Dr. Julius Sach! 

Professor of Botany in the University of Wiirzburg. Traiu 

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published by MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON, Publishr 

to the Univcrsitj'. 

Digitize __ 



Vov. 15, 1877] 



NATURE 



• •• 

XXlU 




Messrs. MAWSON and SWAN desire to call the atten- 
tion of Physicists and others to the merits of STEARN & 
SWAN'S COMPOUND SPRENGEL AIR PUMP, and to 
notify that they are ready to supply the Instrument The new 
pump is a combination of the ordinary Cylinder. and Piston Air- 
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with the thorough exhausting power of the other. It possesses 
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to work than the Sprengel of the ordinary construction. 

As an illustration of the power of the Pump the following 
experiment is given : — A small vacuum tube, with aluminium 
electrodes; 3 mm. apart, was exhausted in about twelve minutes, so 
perfectly that an induction coil giving a spark of half-an-inch in 
air would not cause the faintest luminosity in the tube ; and with a 
radiometer of about 33 cc. capacity attached, the same result was 
obtained, after the contents of the reservoir (about 12 lbs. of 
mercury) bad passed through the pump four or five times« 
These results were obtained with an instrument having a single 
fall-tube ; but with a triple fall-tube, as shown in sketch, die 
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Directions for using, and any other particulars, may be ob- 
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PARKINSON .& FRGDSHAM, 

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4, CHANGE ALLEY, CORNHILU LONDON. 

Extract from the Report ot the Director of the Portsmouth Observatory concerning Parkinson and Frodsham's Chronometer on 
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TV Tima of May 21st says : — " Altogether it is a wonderful and fascinating story, whatever objections may be taken to theories 
^^ upon it. Mr. Wallace has not attempted to add to its interest by any adornments of style ; he has eiven a simple and 
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f 



XXIV 



NATURE 



[Nov. 15, i8;j 



MESSRS. CASSELL, FETTER, AND GALPIN WILL PUBLISH IN MONTHLY PARTS, Id., 

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R. MACLACHLAN, F.L.S., Secretary to the Entom 

logical Society. 
JAMES MURIE, M.D., LL.D., F.L.S., F.G.S. 
Professor W. K. PARKER, F.R.S., F.L.S. 
Professor HARRY G. SEELEY, F.G.S. 
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Printed by R. Clay, Sons, ahd Taylor, at 7 and 8, Bread Street Hill, Queen Victoria Street, in the City of London, and published by 
Macmillan and Co., at the Office, 99 and 50, Bedford Street, Corent Qarden.^THUssDAY, No\'cmber 15, 1877. 



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XXVI 



NATURE 



[Nov. 22, 1877 



MODELS OF DIA MONDS. 

I. 

Facsimiles of 28 of the most celebrated White and Coloured Diamonds, wrought in Crystal Glass, of great *uf r 

2. 

Models of Natural Crystals of Diamonds, with other Models of Crystals of Coloured Precious Stones, so. re fiom. 

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The above are artistically and beautifully cut in imitation of the originals both in surface and colour. 

Each Set in Handso me Morocco Case with d escriptive Catalogue. 

SUPPLIED BY 

MR. R. DAMON, WEYMOUTH, ( 

*J^ Sets of these have been admitted into the Loan Collections of Scientific Apparatus, South Kensington Museum. 



ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT 
BRITAIN, 

ALBEMARLE STREET, PICCADILLY, W. 

LECTURE ARRANGEMENTS BEFORE EASTER, 1878. 

Lecture Hour, Three o'dock. 

Christmas Lectures. 

Prof. Tyndalx, D.C.L., F.R.S.— Six Lectures adapted to a Juvenile 
Auditory, on " Heat, Visible and Invisible ;" on December 37 CThursday), 



39, 1877 ; January i, 3, s, 8, 1878. 
Prof. Alfred H. Garrod, M.A-, F.R.S.— Twelve Lectures on 



'The 



Protoplasmic Theory of Life and its Bearing on Phytiology ; " on Tuesdays, 
January aa to April 9. 

Jambs Dbwar, Esq.. M.A., F.R.S.— Twelve Lectures on "The Chemis- 
try of the Oi^^anic Worid ;" on Thursdays, JanuvY 84 to April ix. 

R. BoswoRTH Smith, Esq., M. A.— Seven Lectures on ^'Carthage and 
the Carthaginians ; " on Saturdays, January 36 to March 9. 

Rev. W. Houghton. —Three Lectures on "The Natural History of the 
Ancients ; " on Saturdays, March x6, 33, 30. 

Ernst Paubr, Esq. — ^Two Lectures on "The Clavecinistes and their 
Works (England and Italy ; France and Germany) ; " with Musical Illus- 
trations : on Saturdays, April 6, 13. 

ProC TvNDALL will give a Course of Lectures after Easter. 

Subscription to all the Courses in the Season, Two Guineas ; to a Sinele 
Course, according to length. One Guinea, or Half-a-Guinea : to the Christ- 
mas Course, Children under Sixteen, Half-a-Guinea. Tidcets now issued 
daily. 

The Friday Evening Meetings will begin on January 35, at 8 r.M., 
when. Prof. TyiiJall will |^ive a Discourse at 9 p.m. Succeeding Dis- 
courses will probably be given by W. H. Preece, Esq. ! Matthew Arnold, 
Esq. : Dr. Philip L. Sclater, Dr. Warren De la Rue, Dr. R. Liebreich, 
Prof. Goldwin Smith, Lord Kayleigh. Professors Huxley and Dewar, and 
Sir Jo&eph D. Hooker. To these Meetings Memben and their Friends only 
are admitted. 

Penons desirous of becoming Members are requested to apply to the 
Secretary. When proposed, they are admitted to all the Lectures, to the 
Friday Evening Meetings, and to the Library and Reading Rooms ; and 
their Families are admitted to the Lectures at a reduced charge. Pay- 
ment : First Year ; Ten Guineas ; afterwards. Five Guineas a Year : or a 
comDObition of Sixty Guineas. 

•The WINDS, OCEAN CURRENTS, and 

TIDE<?.'— A LECTURE on the above subjects, in illustration of the 
new Theory of Vis-Inertiac, or the Confliciing Action of Astral and 
Terrestri*! Gravitation, will be delivered by WILLIAM LEIGHTON 
JORDAN, Esq., F.R G.S.. at Willis'* Rooms, commencing at 8 o'clock 
on the evening of THUKSDAY, December 3a Seats ^ , 2f. 6(/., and 
IS. For tickets apply, by letter, to W. Lbighton Jordan, Esq., 
Scientific Club, No. 7, Savile Row, W. 

To LECTURERS and SCIENCE 

TEACHERS.— DIAGRAMS (Anatomical, Physiological, Microscopic) 
carefully prepared and coloured, of any sijse. Prices moderate. Saen- 
tific accuracy guaranteed. Specimens sent. — A. Rbdland, 9, Bladud 
Buildings, Bath. 

ECHIN0DERM8 FROM MADAGASCAR. 

THOMAS D. RUSSELL has lately received a magnificent Collection 
of ECHINI and STaR-FISHES from Madagascar. The series includes 
splendid examples of Hcicrecentrotus trigonaria and H, mammiUariSt 
besides other rare and fine species. 

A Prize Medal was awarded for this Collection at the Maritime Exhibition, 
Royal Aquarium, Westminster. 

I'he Collection is now for sale, either as Single Specimens or in Sets. 

Collections of British and Foreign Shells, Fossils, Minerals, Rocks, 
Microscopic Objects, &c. 

Catalogues post free. 

THOS. D. RUSSELL, 

48, ESSEX STREET, STRAND, W.C. 



MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS 

Of Um highett attainable peifectkm, illustradng Anatomy, Phynolorr, 
Botany, Entomology, and every brandi of Microaoopical Sciwice. J. D. 
MeUlar's Mew Typen Plates and ObjecU. Nobertfs lines. All materials 
ai^ reqiusitn for motmtin|;. IMeqiuIled Student|s Microsoo^ widi Eng- 



SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY.— LEC- 

TURES at ST. GEORGE'S HALL, LANGHAM PLACE, eedi 
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, commencing at Four o'clock predaely.— 
Sunday, November 35.— Charles Waldstbin, Esq., Ph.D., on '■The 
Balance of Emotion and Intellect in Man."— Members' Annual Sub^ 
scription, ;£i. Payment at the Door— One Penny, Sixpence, and 
(Reserved Seats) One Shilling. 

UNIVERSITY of LONDON ist M.B. and 

PRELIMINARY SCIENTIFIC EXAMINATIONS.— Classes in all 
the subjects required are now being formed at St. Thomas's Hospital 
Medical School, which are not confined to Students of the Hosp' * 



lospitaL 



For particulars apply to Dr. Gillespie, Secretary, at the Ho^ii 



LANCASTER SCHOOL. 

Head Master-Rev. W. £. Prvkb, MA , St. John's College, Caaabvidlge, 

Z4th Wrangler, 1866. 

Second Master— Rev. W. T. Nkwbold, M.A . Fellow of St. John s 

College, Cambridge, 5th Classic, 1873. 

Assistant Masters— J. H. Flather, Esq , B.A, Emmanuel Cbllege, Gara- 

bridgr, Z4th Classic, 1876, and Lightfoot Modem History Scholar in the 

Univeisity ; J. C, Witton, Esq., B.Sc Lond., &c , &c. 

New Buildings, including a LABORATORY, were opened on September 
94, by the Bishop of Manchester. 

There are University Scholarships, which may be given for proficiency in 
Science. 

For Prospectus, &c., address Rev. the Head Master, School House, 
Lancaster. 

QUEENWOOD COLLEGE, near STOCK- 
BRIDGE, HANTS. 

Sound General Education for Boys. 

Special attention to Science, particularly to Chemistry, both theoredcel 
snd practicaL 

References to Dr. Debus, F.R.S. : Dr. Fkankland, F.R.S. : Dr. Roaooe. 
F.R.S. : Dr. Angus Smith, F.R.S. ; Dr. TyndaU. F.R.S. ; Dr. Voekker, 
F.R.S. : Dr. WUHamaon, F.R.S. 

The Autumn Term commences Tuesday, September asth. 

d WILLMORE, Prindpal. 

ROYAL POLYTECHNIC and BERNERS 

COLLEGE in conjunction.— The Laboratories and Classrooms for 
Private and Class Study are Open eva^ Day and Evening. Gentle- 
men prepared for Matriculation, Woolwich, and the various Sxamining 
Boards. Fees moderate.— Apply to Prof. Gaxdmu, at the Rc^al 
Polytechnic, or 44, Bemets Street, W. 

The TELEPHONE.— A well-known PRO- 

FESSOR can accept a few ENGAGEMENTS to Lecture, with 
Experimental Illustration!!, on thisj^pular uid interesting Invention. 



^. 



For Tenns, &c.. address OMICRON, ito. Cannon Street, E.U 

THIN glass for MICROSCOPIC 

MOUNTING o£ best quality. Circles, 3X. 6<^ per ounce ; Squares, 
ar 9<^. ; post free ad. extra ; also oth r Mounting Materials and Objecu 
prepared for mounting.— CHAS. PETIT, 151, High Street, Stoke 
Newington, N. 

WANTED Clean Copies of NATURE, 

No. 5&— Address Nxryu Office, 99^ Bedfqpd Street, Stnnd, W.Q. 



Nov, 22, 1877] 



NATURE 



xxvu 



Scientific and Miscellaneous Property. 

Mr. J. C. STEVENS will seU by Auction at 

his great Rooms, 38, King Street, Covent Garden, W.C, on FRIDAY, 
November 33, at half-past 12 o'clock precisdy, Dissolving* view Lanterns 
and Slides, Microscopes and a variety of objects /or same. Cabinet of 
Mounting Apparatus, Stereoscopes and Slides, Telescopes ; also, a lot 
of eapensive Kiectrical Apparatus, the property of ARTHUR £. 
G&SVILLE, Esq., of Towcester, including two large Engines, Bunsen 
and other Batteries, Vacuum Tubes, Induction Coils,. &c, &c. 
On view moniing of Sale, and Catak^^ues had 



I Yaloable Collection of Permanent Autotypes of Classical Subjects, from 
I the Works o£ the Great Masters. 

Messrs. HODGSON will SELL by AUC- 
TION at their Rooms, X15, Chancery Lane, W.C. (Fleet Street end), 

j on MONDAY, December 3, at x o'clock (by order of the Autotype 

I CooipanyX a Large and Interesting Collection of PERMANE^fT 
AUTOTYPES, mounted on Cardboard m Portfolios, and in Albjms. 

I comprising Facsimile Cofttcs of the Drawings, and Reproductions in 
Monochrome of the Painting of the Great Masters, illustrating all the 
lemarlcable Schools of Classic Art, from the most Notable Treasures in 
the Galleries of Europe, well suited for Public Libraries or Art Collec- 
tions. Three Original Drawings by W. Cavb Thomas, and upwards of 

I xco Fhuned AutotyfMs. To which is added the Entire Remaining 



Stodc (about aio Copies) of Day & Son's Chromolithographic Facsimile 

of DA VINCrs GREATEST 

(pub. 6r. 6d.y 



of DA VINCI'S GREATEST WORK. "THE LAST SUPPER" 



lls7 be viewed two da^ prior and morning of Sale, and (Catalogues 
forwarded on application. 



LONDON CLAY FOSSILSfromSHEPPEY. 

Fmiti^ Bones. Shells, Crustaceans, (jorals. Starfish, ftc. xoo good 
I Spedmeas vrith neat labels (50 or more Species), lof. ; half the quan- 
I tity, 5r. Ckrriage paid to Ixmdon. 

I The fossils of vegeuUe origin, being liable to decay, are subjected to an 
aaeat preservative process. 



^le^n Fruit, and Copy of Papers on "(^logy of Sheppey," post 
i i^JS^ penny stamps. List, with 0>py of Testunonials, in prepara- 
I POB.—W. H. Shkubsole, SheemessKm- Sea. 

CASTLETON, DEBYSHIRE. 
JOHN TYM is now enabled to offer the 

ftllowmg rare and mteresting O>llections :— 
oMtfaic. 30 Specimens (including Teeth, &c., of Rhinoceros, £ s, d, 
^Hsoo, Reindeer, Hyaena, &c. , and Casts of Implements)... xoo 
uocwtU Caves, x8 Specimens 0x00 

, gady KnoU Fissure, 15 Specimens 076 

g«ocene Fauxxa (a splendid set), xoo Specimens 500 

F&BtFlakesfronaedLeach. 

I GatAlogues post free. 



GEOLOGY.— In the Preface to the Student's 

ELEMENTS oT GEOLOGY, by Sir Charles Lyell. price or., he says : 
—"As it is impossible to enable the reader to reoQgniie rocks and mme- 
Btt at tight by aid of verbal descriptioas or figures, he will do well to 
ottada a weQ-arnuiged collection of specunens, such as may be procured 
from Mr. TENNAN T (149^ Strand), Teacher of Mineralogy at King's 
uOcg^ Loodon." These CoUectiona are supplied on t£s following 
tems, in plain Mahocanv Cabbets:— 
100 ^pectmens, in Cabinet, with 3 Trftyi ^ ^ — j(a a o 
soo Spe c i mm s, in Cabmet, with 5 Trays ^ ^ m, 550 
jso Spedmena, in Cabinet, with 9 Drawers «. «. 10 10 o 
400 S pe c imens , in Cabinet, witb 13 Drawcn ». ^ ax o o 
Mo^e extensive Collections at 50 to 5,000 (juineaa each. 

TEE POPULAR SCIENTIFIC POCKET CABINET 
SEBIESi 

ftrtfTiim of Mjneralogy, Palaeontology, Petrology, C^onchology, Metal- 

I»Cr. ftc, axnmged by THOBiAS J. DOWNING, (^logist, ftc, 38, 

Whiskin Street, London, S.a 

ssSpedmens to iUustrate GeOde's "(Geological Primer," in <>ibinet, 

«• fi^ ; 95 do. to iOustnte the Rev T. G. Bonne/s " Elementary Geology," 

*• V ; as do. British Fossils, in Cabinet, ef. 6d. ; 95 do. British Rodcs, 

^1 «. 6^ ; as da Earthy Minerals, da, ar. 6d. ; 95 da Metallic Minerals, 

^ St. 6d: ; 95 da RecentShetls, do., sx. 6d. ; as do. Metals, do , ar. &/. ; 25 

^ KMigh(3ems and Stones, da, ar.&/. Catalogues free. N.B. -P.O.O. 

? ^^^«P»e m ust invariably accompany all orders. Trade supplied. 

THE TEJLKGRAPHIC JOURNAL. 

^ AND 

ELECTRICAL. REVIEW. 

'■**■' «■ Cha sat and tph of the noaith, price 4J, ; Sabacriplmi ptr 
Annnsi, post free uDi Great Britain, 9(. 

CONTXMTS worn NOVBVBU Z. 

]^HBCtxo>Magnetic quackery. 

*^P?* ^ "« Trimty House on the 0>mpaEative Trials of Electric 



Metals. 



Umdoni HAUGHTON ft (X)., zo^ PUenoster Row, 
T^ whwtaJgo OwmMn i csti ooi for tha Editor nuty ba seat. 



J;:Gty Notes. 

J-Jeaena Sdcnoe Columns. 



ROYAL GARDENS. KEW. 

THE GARDENER'S CHRONICLE for 

NOVEMBER 17 contains a large Working Plan (z8 inches by 23 
inches), illustrative of the 

NEW HEATING APPARATUS, 

Lately erected by Mr. E. G. Rivers, C.E., in the 

PALM HOUSE, ROYAL GARDENS, KEW; 

Together with Illustrated Articles on New or Interesting Plants, Descrip- 
tive Notice and Illustration of the Gardens at Pierremont House, Darling- 
ton, the seat of Henry Pease, Esq., ftc. 

Price sd., post free, s\d. 

W. RICHARDS, 4X, Wellington Street, Strand, W.C 

"That ezoelient periodical Thb Gardbn."— Professor Owen. 

THE GARDEN : A Weekly Illustrated 

Joiurnal of Gardening in all its Branches. Founded and Conducted by 
W. ROBINSON, F.L.S., Author of "Alpine Flowers for English 
Gaurdens," &c 

A Coloured Plate is now issued with every number of TAg GanUn, 
"Mr. Robinson's valuable and elegant wwidy.**-^Saturday Review, 
Aug. zoth, 1873. 
The foUowiag are some of the subjects regularly treated of in its pages :•* 
The Flower Garden. 
Landscape Gardening. 
The Fruit Garden. 



Garden Structures. 
Room and Window Gardens. 
Notes and Quettions. 
Market Gardening. 
Trees and Shrubs. 



Hardy Flowers. 

Town Gardens. 

The Conservatory. 

Public Gardens. 

The Greenhouse and Stove. 

The Household. 

The Wild Garden. 

The Kitchen (harden. 



Professor Asa Gsay says : " It seems admirably adapted to the wants and 
tastes of gentlemen who are interested in rural anairs. By such we hear it 
highly spoken of; and we think we do a favour to those of that class who 
know it not as yet, by calling attention to it" 

Price 6d. Weekly. Specimen Copy, Post-free, 6i</. 

Terms of Subscription.— Sent direct from the Office in London, post free, 
payable in advance— For One Year, 36r. ; Half a Year, z4x. ; Quarter of a 
Year, 7«. Address all letten concerning Subscriptions to — The Publisher of 
The Garden, yjt Southampton Street, Covent Garden, London, W.C 

NORTH BRITISH AGRICULTURIST, 

Is the only Agricultural Journal in Scotland, and drcnlates extensively 
amongst landed proprietors, factors, farmers, fiurmrbaili£Es, and othen 
intarMted in the management of landed property throughout -Qrt>t^id and 
Uie Northern rv>i^ n^jj^ of England. 

The AGRICULTURISTlias also a vary considerable drcolatioa on the 
Continent of £un»e, America, Australia, and the Colonies. 

The AGRICU [JURIST is published every Wednesday afternoon in 
lime forthe Evening Mails, ted contains Reports of all the principal British 
and Irish Markets of the week, besides telegn^khic reparts of those held on 
the day of publication. 

The Veterinary Department is edited by one of the leading Veterinarians 
m the country, and is invaluable to the breeder and feeder as a auide to the 
rearing ttS animals, and their treatment when labouring under &eaae. 

PullReparts are given of the Meetings of the Royal Agricultural Society 
of England, the Rc^ Anicultural Society of Ireland, the Highland and 
Agricultural Society of Soodand, the Scottish Chamoer of Agriculture, 
and all the principal Agricultural Associations throughout OrMt Britain 
and IrelaiML 

For Adverdsacs andressing themselves to Fannen a bettar medium does 
not exist. 

Prica 3dL By post, j|dl Annual Sobscriptiona payable in advance, Z4«. 

Office.— 377f Hiffh Street, Ediaboigh. 

Post-effica Orden payable to Charles Aadanon, Jun^ Kdinbngh. 
ESTABUSHSD 1S43. 

THE BEST FARMERS' NEWSPAPER. 

THB CHAMBER OF 
AGRICULTURE JOURNAL 

AND FARMERS' CHRONICLE, 
Edited by John Algbxnov Claxkx, Secretary to the Central Chamber 

of Agriculture, 
Devotes spedal attention to the discussions and proceedings of the Chamben 
of Agricujtura of Great Britain (which now number upwards of z8,ooe 
members), besides |:iving original papen en practical fianiiug, and a maa of 
latelligenee of particular value to the agricuUurist. 

The London Cora, Seed, Hop, Cattle, and other Maikeu of Monday ara 
apadally reported in thia Journal, whidi is despatched the same evening so 
as to ensure delivery to country subscribers by the first post on Tuttday 

a year post free, 
sz, Arundel Street, Scraad, W.C. 



Btoming. Prica yL, or psepaid, 151. 
PnbSshed by W. PICKSrING, 



THE "HANSA," 

Publiahad dnoa sS&i, fa Hambwib ^ tba only indspendent professional 
paper in Germany, dedicated exduavcly to Maritime Objects. Essays, Cri- 
tiques, Reviews, Rep(^rt& Advertisements. Strict eye kept upon the deve- 
lopment of Maritime Aniin in every ttsgwX. Every seoood Sunday one 
Number in 4to. at least ; frequent supplements and draaringa Subscnptioi 
at any tame ; preceding nnmbeis of the year furnished subwquently. Pno 
laf. tor twelve months. Advertiseme 
p^w * considerable abatement for 3< 



Office : Ang. Meyer and Dieckmann. liambui& Altarv 
W. T. run»M,lf.R., Haaibuixh.Al«aBderSieet, 8. 



mts 44/. a lincu widely spread by this 
i, 6y I* moBtfas* insordoB. Business 



Altenrall,a8. Edited by 



> 



XXVIU 



NATURE 



{Nov. 22, 187J 



THE CHANNEL ISLANDS' ZOOLOGICAL STATION AND MUSEUM AND INSTITUTE 0( 

PISCICULTURE SOCIETY, LIMITED. 

CAPITAL-£5,000 IN 5,000 SHARES OF £1 EACH. 

(With power to increase.) 

This Society is established on an entirely scientific baas, with the object of foitenn£ and promoting the sdenoe of Economic Pisdcu^ an 



of supplying English and other naturalists and natural history students with fatties, not hitherto accessible, for pursuing ACarine Biological lnic>i - 
The aim of the Society is, in fact to provide, in a conveniently accessible and suitable locality, an institution which uiall fulfil for the entire r --^ 1 
Europe that sphere of utility which the well-known Naples Aquarium and Zoological Stadoo now does for the south. Mature consideratic- /. -i 
to the seleciion of a mo&t eligible and advantageous &ite in the neighbourhood of St. Heller's, Jersey, for this purpose. 

As with the Napless Institution there will be embodied in this undertaking the following several features of utility and attraction : — Firstly. .1 

entertainment of the public, and as a source of income for the defragment of the general working expenses, a Saloon will be set apart for the ^..4 
display of the living denizens of the ocean, and of which it may be said that the shores of the Channel Islands produce an unparalleled vrealih of iit. ^«l 
and variety. Adjoining the Saloon there will likewise be a Museum, available both as a Lecture-room and for the exhibition of a typical Natural Hi ''ii\ 
Collection, more especially representative of the luxuriant Marine Fauna and Flora of the Channel Islands. 

The more important Technical Department will include Laboratories, with al 1 suitable Apparatus and Instruments, Tanks for Cxpericic-.:t 
Pisciculture, and a Library of Standard Scientific Works and Serials for the use of naturalists and students who shall repair here for the pairi 
of prosecuting Marine Biological Research. With the Institution will also be associated a D^pot for the supply of livmg or carefuUy-pre&o-'i 
marine specimens to British or other Universities, Museums, Sdtnce Schools and Aquaria, or to naturalists that may require the same for museum typ4 
class demonstration, or for private investigation. 

Following the system adopted at the Penikese Island Station, it is further proposed, fcr the full development of the scientific resources of tU 
Inftitution, to inaugurnte Summer Classes for the attendance of Students, and to hold out sufficient inducements for the most eminent authorities a 
various biological subjects to deliver Lectures and a Course of Instruction to these Classes upon that branch of Natural History with which thd 
reputation is more especially associated. In view of the Laboratories and Lecture Arrangemenu being complete by the Summer of 1878) those pnposiai 
to avail themselves, as Students, of the advantages held out, are requested to communicate with the Secretary. 

In view of a desire already expressed by many wishing to as»i&t in the establishment of this Institution without becoming Shareholders, the Societ 
is empowered to receive Contributions towards the establishment aiMl further development of the Institution. Such moneys contributed will be devote 
entirely to the uses above-mentioned, and will not be applicable for the purposes ot a Dividend or otherwise for the personal advantage of the ordinar 
Shareholders. F special privileges will be granted to all such Donors ; Subscribers of j^io and upwards receiving in return the advantage of a Life-noaba 
ship and free sdmission to the Institution upon all occasions on which the building is open to the public. 

The technical control of the Institution will be undertaken, as Naturalist Director, by Mr. W. SAVILLE RENT, F.L.S., 7.Z.S., &c.. fonnerli 
Assistant in the Natural History Department of the British Museum, and whose experience as Naturalist for some yean to the leading English Aquari 
eminently qualifies him for this position. 

In registering the Memorandum and Articles of Association of this Society, special care has been taken to secure for the undertaking a puzd; 
scientific status, and to permanently exclude from it all those supplementary attractions of an irrelevant nature usually associated with public exhioidoa 
of the living wonders ot the deep. It is only under such restrictions and reservations that patronage and subscriptions are here invited. 

For Prospectuses and further particulars apply to the Sbcrrtary or to the Naturalist Dirbctok, x6, Boyal Square, St. Helier's, Jersev. 

Contributicns of Books and Serial Literatuie relating to Biological Subjects suited for the Library, of Instruments and Apparatus for the Laboratof] 
or of Natural History Specimens for the Museum, will be mo«t gratefully accepted 

An especial appeal for support is here made to the Fellows and Members of the various Metropolitan and Provincial Scientific Societies, and whi 
have now placed beiore them an unprecedented opportunity of advancing the prestige and interests of English Marine Biological Science. 

DONATIONS RECEIVED :— Mr. Charles Darwin, LL.D., F.R.&, jCm ; Dr. J. MUlar, F.LS., £9\ ProC R. O. Cunnmgbam, F.L.S., £s 
Mr. C. Le Feuvre, £9 ; Mr. A. de Gruchy,;Cio ; Mr. F. Voism, ^xo ; Mr. J. Macready, £z. 

All further Contributions to the "Donation Fund" for the founding of the Channel Islands' Zoological Station and Museum and Institute 01 
Puciculture will be duly acknowledged in these columns. 

W. SAVILLE KENT, Hon. Sbc 



CONSUMPTION: 

Itt Proxunate Cause and Specific Treatment \rf the HYPO PHOSPHITES 
upon the Principles of Stoethiological Medicine, by 

JOHN FRANCIS CHURCHILL, M.D., 
With an Appendix on the Direct Treatment of Respiraiorv Diseases 
(Asthma, Bronchitis, &c.) by Stoecbiological Inhalants. And Keports oi 
nearly Two Hundred Cases oy Drs. Churchill, Campbell, Heslop, Sterlin|[, 
Bird, Santa Maria, Gomez, Maestre, Parigot, Reinvillier, Calves, Leri- 
verend, Denobele, Feldman, Pfeiffer, Vintras, Bou^ard, Tinfahy, Lanzi, 
Fabbri, Panegrossi, Cerasi, Gualdi, Todini^ Ascenzi, Regnoli, Valentini, 
Casati, Blasi, Borromeo, Fiorelli, and Fedeli. 

London : LONGMANS & CO. 

Just published, Svo, 8r. 6«L, with Diagrams and Tables of Results in Inches 
and in Metres. 

INDUCTIVE METROLOGY ; or, The Re- 

covery of Ancient Measures from the Monuments. By W. M. FLIN- 
DERS PETRIE. 

" A very interesting and pregnant book, the result of much reading and 
patient research." — Builder. 

" Through these almost imperceptible variations there may be found a 
unity, reducing the chaos of existing standards to something like order."— 
Saturday Review. 

London : HARGROVE SAUNDERS, a*, Tichbome Street, Piccadilly 
Circus. 

Now ready, price One Peimy each Lecture. 

THE BEGINNINGS OF LIFE ILLUS- 
TRATED. A LECTURE by Prof. P.MARTIN DUNCAN, F.R.&. 
being the Firtt of the Manchester Science Lectures for 1877. 

Manchester: JOHN HEVWOOD. London: F. PITMAN, 
Now ready, price Sr. 6</. 

SOME CHEMICAL DIFFICULTIES OF 

EVOLUTION. By J. J. MACLAREN. 

" The author, after setting forth his view of the nature of chemical action, 
fust, where life is absent, and next, «here living beings are concerned in 
inducing the changes observed, applies his reasoning to the doctrine of evo- 
lution, and deduces the difficulties that occur to him." 

LoodonI: EDWARD BUMPUS, 5 and 6,Holbom Bars, £ C 



THE " BRYCE-WRIGHT " DIAMONDS 



These Magnificent Gems, forming the largest 

SUITE OF DIAMONDS 

In the World, are at present on View. 



BBTCE M. WRIGHT, F.R.G.S.1 fto., 

90, GREAT RUSSELL STREET, BLOOMSBURY, 

LONDON, W.C. 

This day, six. Founh Edition. 

THE MICROSCOPE IN MEDICINE 

Pp. 550, nearly 600 Figures By LIONEL S. BEALE, M.B., F R i 
Two Hundred Pages and Thirty Plates have been added to this Editia 
and the work has been revised throughout. 

London : J. & A CHURCHILL, New Burlirgton Street. 

FOREIGN BOOKS AT FOREIGN PRICES. 

WILLIAMS and NORGATE'S FOREIG^ 

SCIENTIFIC BOOK CIRCULAR. No. 34. Post frei>. One Suu^ 
(Natural History, Physics, Astronomy, Chemistry, Medicine, an 
Surgery.) 

14, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, London ; and 20, South Frederidc 
Street, Edinburgh. 

Text-Book of Botany^ Morphologica 

AND PHYSIOLOGICAL. By Dr. Julius Sachj 

Professor of Botany in the University of Wiirzbuig. Tram 

lated by A. W. Bennett, M.A., Lecturer on Botany, Si 

Thomas's Hospital, assisted by W. T. Thiselton Dyer, M.A. 

Ch. Ch., Oxford. Royal Svo, half morocco. 31J. 6</. 

" The want of a good text-book of Botany ^ one that would give a 

accurate idea of the present state of botanical science, has long been feh b 

English students. We therefore heartily welcome the appearance of th 

translation, because we feel certain that it will supply that want so long fel 

and be of the greatest value to both teachers and students. '*>-A'a/jwv. 

OXFORD, printed at the CLARENDON PRESS, an 
published by MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON, Publishci 
to the University, ^ 



NATURE 



57 



THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 1877 



DANISH GREENLAND 

Dsnish Greenland; its People and its Products, By Dr. 
Henry Rink. Edited by Dr. Robert Brown, F.L S. 
With Illustrations by the Eskimo and a Map. (London : 
Henry S. King and Co., 1877.) 

THERE is a strange fascination about Greenland, 
which may be partly owing to the mystery that 
shrouds its early history, — partly to its being an almost 
Arctic country, the scanty population of which seems to 
famish an example of a nation in the enjoyment of a very 
primitive culture ; and partly because it seems very prob- 
able that it was from it started the voyagers who were 
the first discoverers of what is now called America. 

Our knowledge of the early history of Greenland is 
limited to what we can gather from the Icelandic sagas 
or popular tales, and from these we find that about the 
year 986 an Icelander called Erik the Red, who had been 
outlawed, sailed to the west to look for some land which 
had some years previously been sighted by Gunbjom, the 
son of Ulf Kraku, another Icelander who had once been 
driven far westward by a very fierce stomi. Erik found 
the hind, made a two winters' stay thereon, giving names 
\Q many places, and returning to Iceland called this new 
country Greenland, because, said he, people would sooner 
be induced to go thither in case it had a good name. 

This first colonisation of Greenland seems at the 
thne to have been fairly successful, and several ruins 
are still to be found which throw a light on the habits 
of these seafaring people. The present Eskimo station, 
Jgaliko, situated on an isthmus between two fjords, is 
thoDght to have been the ancient residence of Erik. One 
of Erik's friends, named Herjulf, had a son called Bjami, 
a promising youth, and very fond of travelling abroad. 
One year he would spend in Iceland, another with his 
^ther in Greenland. Wishing, however, to spend one 
Yule-tide with his father, he set sail for Greenland, where 
his £ither was, with a crew who had never been in the 
Greenland Ocean before, and the consequence seems to 
have been that he found himself after many days near a 
country covered with wood, which was certainly not 
Greenland, and turning his back upon it to hasten to find 
his parent, he succeeded in landing at the very spot 
where his father lived. It is probable that during this 
n>]rage he had discovered the tract of country stretching 
from Connecticut to Newfoundland. 

The news of Bj ami's venturesome voyage spread to 

Icehmdand to Norway, and Leif, the son of Erik the 

Red, bought his ship, and set sail for the new country, on 

which they landed, and which, from finding on it a species 

«f ** fox-grapes," they called Vinland. Returning the 

not year to Greenland, it was no wonder that Vinland 

was all the talk, and Thorvald, about 1002, went to settle 

there and finally had a battle with the natives, in which he 

was killed. This Vinland was probably the present Massa- 

dwselts. Half a century later tidings from the Green- 

hnd colonies suddenly became rare, but in 1126 the 

^ pope sent them a bishop, the ruins of whose church 

9ie still pointed out, and about 1261 the Greenlanders 

Ifccame subjects of Norway. From this date to 

Vou XVII,— No. 4^1 



1450 tidings of the colonists, stories of their doings, 
and records of their misfortunes, came less and less 
frequently to Europe. The very sailing route passed 
into oblivion, and the country was only again re- dis- 
covered in 1 585 by John Davis, whose name will be for ever 
remembered in connection with the Straits also discovered 
by him. Another century-and-a-half passed away before 
the present European stations in Greenland were founded 
by the well-known Danish missionary, Hans Egede, 
who in 1721 landed on an island at the mouth of the 
Godthaab-fjord and founded a regular colony. From 
then until now, with many a vicissitude ; an epidemic 
of small-pox in 1734, a total interruption with Den- 
mark (1807-1814} on account of the war ; the colonies 
have struggled on. The trade was for some part of 
the former century made a private monopoly, but in 
order to keep up the commerce, the government was 
finally obliged to take it in hand, and since 1774 it has 
continued to be a royal monopoly. Following the steps of 
the extending trade, the missionary institutions have 
gradually incorporated the whole population into Christian 
communities. 

Dr. Rink's book tells us in a very succinct though 
most interesting manner, of the results of the European 
transactions thus carried on in Greenland, for now over a 
century, and be describes the present state, and hints at 
the future prospects of the population. More than this, he 
gives us in well- written chapters, an account of tha 
configuration and general physical features of this almost 
frozen up island, he tells of its '' inland ice," and of the 
origin of the " floating icebergs." We read of the tempera- 
ture, prevailing winds, the wonderful changeableness of 
its weather, and we find here a risumi of all that is 
known about its lakes and streams, its mysterious fjords, 
and of its great fields of drifting ice. Nor is the natural 
history of the country overlooked, for we have a chapter 
on its geological and mineral products. Of these latter 
cyolite appears to be the only one that has become a 
regular article of trade, about 10,000 tons thereof being 
exported each year. There are also chapters on its plants 
and animals, with special ones on the capture of whales 
and seals, and on the Greenland fisheries. 

From an Eskimo point of view the commercial import- 
ance of the seal and whale fisheries is very great The 
fiesh and blubber of these animals not only supply the 
Greenlanden with nutritious food, but also provide him 
with heat and light. The sealskins too afford material 
for clothes, boats, and tents, and whaleskin called 
'* matak,'' yields a favourite article of diet It may give 
some idea of the vast numbers of these animals killed 
yearly to summarise the average annual catch as follows : 
Of Phoca foetida, 51,000 ; of P. vitulina, 2,000; of P. 
groenlandica, 33,000 ; of P, barbata^ 1,000 ; of Cystophora 
cristata, 3,000; and of narwhals, white whales, and 
walruses nearly 1,000. The right whale has nearly dis- 
appeared and the mean annual catch of the '^ humpback" 
whale is scarcely over two. 

The most important fisheries in addition appear to be 
those of the cod fish, the halibut, and the capelm. 

Perhaps there was not much to be said about the ma^T^ 
ners and customs of the people in the olden time ; the ^^ 
change in religion seems to have very early modified the 
social condition of the people, and this portion of Dr. 



58 



Rink's book is the one that satisfied our curiosity the 
least. The sketches of Greenland life by natives, as 
translated from the " Greenland Journal,'' are interesting, 
but they tell us of very little except marvellous escapes 
from snowstorms and icebergs. The great endurance of 
suffering, as detailed in some of these stories, demon- 
strates that heroes can be found even in Greenland ; the 
sublime spirit of martyrdom seems to breathe in the 
account of the " Kayakers cast ashore in a snowstorm." 

Scattered through this volume are some sixteen plates, 
representing Greenland ways of life. These are exact 
copies of partially coloured drawings executed by natives 
entirely after their own ideas. The greater number are 
the work of a seal-hunter living in Kangek, who, falling 
sick, could not leave his bed. With the drawing which 
forms plate i6, he wrote to say that increasing illness pre- 
vented him from doing more, and he ended the letter with 
''from exhaustion I must cut my letter short, this too will 
be my future fate," and shortly after he died. 

E. P. W. 



OUR BOOK SHELF 

A Sketch of the Geology of Leicestershire and Rutland* 

By W. J. Harrison. (Sheffield : W. White.) 
This is a creditable compendium of what is known 
regarding the geology of the two countries of which 
it treats. It was originally prepared by its author for 
White's " History and Gazetteer of the Coimties," and has 
been reprinted in a separate form. It can be had 
embellished with twelve photographs of various parts of 
the crystalline nucleus of^ Leicestershire. These are not 
particularly successful Mr. Harrison has done well to 
put the best of them as a frontispiece. It represents the 
" coarse ashy slates " of Chamwood Forest As a local 
guide this book may no doubt be useful ; fuller informa- 
mation can be fbund in the works which Mr. Harrison 
cites, and especially in the maps and memoirs of the 
Geological Survey. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

\Thi Editor does not hold himsdf responsible for opinions expressed 
by his correspondents. Neither can he undertake to return, 
or to correspond with the writers of rejected manuscripts. 
No notice is taken of anonymous communications. 

The Editor urgently ^sowsts correspondents to ke^ their letters as 
short as possible. The pressure on his space is so great that it 
is impossible otherwise to ensure the appearance even of com* 
munications containing interesting and novel facts,] 

Expected High Tides 

If I may judge from the note published in your issue of 
November 8 (p. 38), and Mr. Jenkins' letter in the last number 
of Nature (p. 45), it would appear that the general public are 
unaware of publicatioos which contain information respecting 
high tides. 

The Admiralty tide tables contain the time and height of 
every tide in the year for twenty-four of the principal ports of 
the United Kingdom.' There are also numerous other tide 
tables published, which give the heights as well as the times of 
high water. Amongst these may be mentioned Holden's Liver- 
pool tables, which contain, besides Liverpool, eight other ports 
(London included), and at Liverpool are held in higher estima- 
tion than the Admiralty tables, inasmuch as Holden's predictions 
take into account the effect of the diurnal inequality at Liver- 
pool, which heretofore has been neglected in the Admiralty 
tables. There are also published at South Shields, Ainsley's, 
and at Hartlepool, Pearson's tables, and at Bristol, Arrowsmith's 
tables (formerly Bunt's), which have deservedly a high xcputa- 
tation for Bristol and the Bristol Channel ports generally. 

Any one who will select from these publications the highest 



NATURE [Nov. 22, 1877 

perigean spring tides about the time of the equinoxes, and will 
send them to the papers, can apparently earn for himself till 1 
credit of " predicting " high tides. . -i 

The increased range of tide in the Thames of about twetih ] 
inches during the last twenty years, is undoubtedly dae» amop^ | 
other improvements, to the construction of the embankments, v ^ i 
increased water-way at the bridges at Westminster, and not?' .7 ! 
at Blackiriars, the improved line of wharfage continually beia^ I 
carried out, and the removal from the Pool of the colliers, which ' 
at low water acted as a dam, and prevented the improvement of 
the bed of the river. 

An overflow in the Thames at 'above-average 8priug-tid^ - !i 
now a matter of meteorological circumstances only. It nas b >■': 
observed, I believe, without exception that the overflows have 
been caused by a strong northerly wind ; the most disastrous 
overflows, however, have followed a strong south-west wind, 
changing suddenly to a stiff" north-west wind. The reason is 
obvious. An increased amount of tidal water with a south-west 
wind and generally low barometer, is carried from the Atlantic 
to the norSiem parts of the North Sea, a sudden change in the 
wind to north-west brings the whole of this water to the south- 
ward, with probably litue or no disastrous effects until it reaches 
the mouth of the Thames, where it meets with the tidal water of 
the EngUsh Channel brought through the Straits of Dover. It 
then rushes up the Thames, and an additional height is given to 
the water, amounting sometimes to as much as four feet or more 
if there is much flood water meeting it, and an overflow is the 
consequence. I find the effect of a south-west wind on the tide 
in the Thames, as traced on a self-zegbtering tide-gauge I have 
placed at Greenwich pier, is to depress the water considerably. 
The high water of Monday morning succeeding the hea.vy gale 
of Sunday, November 1 1, was neariy two feet below the pre- 
dicted height, the extreme pressure of wind, as registered at the 
Royal Observatory, being 31 lbs. on the square foot In the 
middle of October the effect of a south-west gale was still greater, 
probably owing to its longer continuance, although the registered 
pressure did not exceed 23 lbs. No overflow need therefore be 
feared from a continued south-west gale. 

Mr. Jenkins is perhaps unaware that Mr. Saxby has "predicted " 
high tides for many year% and that on one occasion, I believe 
in September or October, 1869, the Astronomer- Royal wrote 
reassuring the public that there was nothing extraordinary in the 
then forthcoming spring tides to occasion unnecessary alarm. If 
Mr. Saxby has (Usoovered some law by which he can foretell the 
direction and force of the wind he will undoubtedly confer an 
inestimable boon by its publication, but from the following 
extract from the TYmcs of November 5 he does not appear to 
claim any such knowledge :— -*' Capt. Saxby further states : ' If 
the wind should blow from a northerly quarter on either the 
7th of November or 22nd of December next, very full tides may 
be reasonably expected.' " The spring tides about December 22 
are slightly below average, and as no overflow has yet occurred 
with below-average spring tides, but litde apprehension need 
be felt respecting them. 

With respect to the actions of Venus and Jupiter ; although 
theoretically they cause tides, the Rvalues have hitherto not been 
evaluated, being almost insensible* 

The high tide of October 26th was entirely due to the northerly 
wind ; the effect due to the maximum northern dedination of the 
moon is very small in the Thames, and is more than counter- 
balanced by its effect in decreasing the value of tiie lunar semi- 
diurnal tide. 

Mr. Jenkins' statement respecting two great tides revolving 
through the year exactly six-and-a-half synodic months apart is 
merely on account of .thirteen semilunations being very nearly 
equal to seven anomalistic months, and therefore the lunar perigee 
has again the same phase with respect to new or full moon. I 
may mention that ninety-nine semilunations exceed four years by 
about eighteen hours only, and also fifty-three anomalistic 
months by less than thirty-three hours. So that after a cycle of 
four years the perigean spring-tides fall very nearly on the s^me 
days of the year. This of course fails to take into account the 
variations due to' the moon's declination. 

The following table of the heights of the above-average spring- 
tides for London for next year may be useful not only to river- 
side owners and dwellers, but also to marine naturalists, who will 
on these days have unusually favourable opportunities at low- 
water of engaging in their pursuits. If at such times the baro- 
meter should t>e high the low- water level will be still further 
depressed. It will also act as a guide to tourists wbbing to avail 
themsdves of the best chances o7 witnessing the bore m riven» 



Nov. 2 2, 1877] 



NATURE 



59 



notably on the Serem, whicb, according to Mr. Alfred Tylor, 
F.G.S., Is seen to best advantage with a rising sun from Stone- 
hench Inn, abont three miles below Gloucester* 







Height 






Height 






Height 


1 


878. 


above 


1878. 1 


above 


1878. j 


above 







average- 






average. 






average 




ft. 


in. 






ft 


in. 






ft. in. 


Jan. 20 p.m. 





4 


April 


17 a.m. 





8 


Sept. 


I a.m. 


I 3 


»• 


21 a.m. 





7 


If 


„ p.m. 





II 


ff 


fi p.m. 


II 


»» 


ff pm. 





9 


If 


18 a.m. 


I 


I 


If 


2 a.m. 


7 


i> 


22 a.m. 





10 


ff 


If pm. 


I 


3 








» 


„ p.m. 





II 


ff 


19 a.m. 


I 


3 


ff 


26 a.m. 


I 


tf 


23 a.m. 





ID 


ff 


If pm. 


I 





ff 


ff p.m. 


7 


»» 


» pn». 





7 


ff 


20 a.m. 





9 


ff 


27 a.m. 


I 


i» 


24 a.m. 





4 


fi 


If p.m. 





5 


II 


„ p.m. 


I 4 










ff 


21 a.m. 





I 


ff 


28 a.m. 


1 1 


Feb. 18 a.m. 





5 










ff 


If P.m. 


>» 


„ p.ni. 




II 


May 


16 a.m. 





I 


II 


29 a.m. 


I 7 


»> 


19 a.n. 




4 


ff 


ff P"n. 





2 


ft 


If pm. 


I 4 


f> 


99 P*™* 




5 


ff 


17 a.m 





3 


ff 


30 a.m. 


I I 


»» 


20 a.m. 




6 


ff 


ff p.m. 





3 


If 


ff p.m. 


9 


»> 


f* Pm. 




6 


ff 


18 a.m. 





3 


Oct. 


I a.m. 


4 


If 


21 a.m. 




5 


ff 


„ p.m. 





2 








» 


ff P-m. 




3 










ff 


25 a. m. 


2 


f» 


22 a.m. 





10 


July 


31 pm. 





3 


If 


f, p.m. 


6 


» 


„ p.m. 





4 


Aug. 


I a.m. 





5 


ff 


26 a.m. 


10 










ff 


fi p.m. 





7 


ff 


fi pm. 


I 


Mar 


. 18 p.m. 





3 


ff 


2 a.m. 





9 


ff 


27 a.m. 


I 2 


i> 


19 a.m. 





9 


f> 


,f pm. 





9 


ff 


,, p.m. 


I 4 


»» 


ff pm. 




3 


ff 


3 a.m. 





9 


ff 


28 a.m. 


I 2 


99 


2oa.m. 




6 


ff 


f. pm. 





6 


ff 


ff pm. 


II 


tl 


„ p.m. 




9 


ff 


4 a.m. 





3 


If 


29 a.m. 


8 


»» 


21 a.ni. 




9 










ff 


ff p.m. 


4 


If 


ff pm. 




7 


ff 


28 p.m. 





I 








ff 


22 a.m. 




5 


ff 


29 a.m. 





6 


Nov. 


24 a.m. 


I 


If 


ff P-m 




I 


If 


II p.m. 







>i 


fi P.m. 


3 


ff 


23 a.m. 





8 


If 


30 a.m. 




3 


ff 


25 a.m. 


4 


ff 


•f P-m- 





I 


ff 


If pm. 




5 


ff 


„ p.m. 


4 










If 


31 a.m. 




5 


If 


26 a.m. 


5 


April 16 p.m. 





4 


If 


If P^m. 




5 


ff 


ff pm. 


3 



From the above table it appears that the highest tides of the 
yor will occur on March 20-21 and September 28. The heights 
win be found probably to exceed those of the Admiralty TaUes, 
IS I have employed larger factors in the necessary corrections to 
tbe semi-menstrual inequality. 

As a London tide table appears to be a desideratum, I have 
been induced to publish one for next year, in which the *' dan- 
cer" tides will be distinguished in a new, bold, and unmistak- 
able manner. ' Edward Roberts 

3, Vernlam Buildings^ Gray's Inn, November 17 



Rainfall in the Temperate Zone in Connection with 
the Sun-spot Cycle 

This month's nux^ier of the NineUenth Century contains an 
ttticle on the connection of rainfall with the eleven years' cycle 
of tnn-spob. It takes a carefully-selected area in which such a 
cnnddence, if it existed, would be well marked. The great 
tnurt of water spreading southwards from Asia to the southern 
pole affords an arena for the undisturbed play of solar activity. 
H may readily be understood that any excess of solar enexgy has 
\ direct and uniform influence upon the rainfall gathered 



fiom this vast aqueous expanse, than it would have upon smaller 
>Ras of water inteimingled with tracts of land,, and cut off from 
each other by nnges of mountains, as in the European and 
^^Bcrican continents. Other reasons exist which would render 
solar influence a more directly potent factor in the rainfall 
pibered from the Indian Ocean than in that of the temperate 
'One* Without doing more than alluding to the fact that sun- 
(pot activity is confined to a belt of considerable thickness on 
otber side of the smi's equator, there are several well-ascertained 
«»» which would render an excess of solar activity more 
<*>>Ktly felt in the equatorial regions of our earth than in those 
Bcuer the poles. While, therefore, I believe that the coind- 
^^ of a lain cycle and of a cycle of wind disturbances with 
wdeven jean* cyde of sun-spots^ has now been established as 



regards the Indian Ocean and the Madras rainfall, I am anxious 
to guard against the conclusion beinj; pushed too far. The 
article in the Nineteenth Century proves much, but it would be 
a misfortune at this still early stage of the inquiry, if wider 
inductions were drawn from it than are justified by the evidence 
which it brings forward. 

' It seems right, therefore, to state that so far as my investiga- 
tion of the rain returns of the temperate zone yet enables me to 
form an opinion, the cydic coincidence of the rainfall with the 
eleven years' cycle of sun-spots, seems to shade off in extra- 
tropical r^ons until it ceases to exist at all. This opinion is 
based upon an examination of the returns of between one and two 
hundrect stations in different parts of the world, but only with 
regard to one-third of them is the evidence suffidently complete as 
to raise more than a presumption dther for or against Uie exist- 
ence of a cycle. Further, I -have not yet been able, except in 
comparatively small groups of stations, to examine the monthly 
returns or to separate the winter from the summer rainfall. This 
separation forms one of ^he first essentials to arriving at a final 
opinion on the (question. Subject to these remarks, I beg to 
state the facts with regard to the rainfall of the northern extra- 
tropical zone in India, Europe, and America. It is chiefly with 
the first and last-named countries that the present contribution 
will deal. 

In my '' Cycle of Drought and Famine," printed in India on the 
commencement of the late dearth, I mentioned that the rainfall 
which, in periods of minimum sun-spots, passes uncondensed over 
the Southern Presidency, might possibly '' fall in the temperate 
zone. The excessive rain, if it takes plaoe anywhere, will protmbly 
be found in India between the 22nd and 32nd degree of north lati- 
tude, to the south of the great Himalayan partition wall." The 
conjecture was based upon the configuration of the Indian con- 
tinent, which, in its lower and middle regions, receives the rainfall 
^thered from a vast ocean, and is provided with a barrier at 
Die upper end to arrest the rain-clouos on their further progress 
northward. Prof. Archibald's examination of the rainfidl in 
Northern India now throws a clear light on this side of the 
question. He has published in the leading Calcutta paper, the 
Englishman^ a series of carefully-compiled returns from stations 
within the ten degrees of latitude above mentioned. He shows 
that the rainfall of the sub •tropical region, from 22° to, say, 30**, 
is in some respects (but only m some respects) complementary 
to the rainfall of Southern India, and in a recent letter to me he 
thus summarises his condusions :— Fiist, the winter-rainfall of 
Northern India varies inversel^r with the sun-spots in a well- 
marked manner at all the stations. Second, the summer rain- 
&11 varies directly with the sun-spots, in a manner well marked 
in the north-western provinces, by no means marked in the 
lower provinces of Bengal, but sufficiently wdl marked when 
the returns of the several stations are combined. 

Let us examine the meaning of these facts. The returns from 
Madras and Bombay (latdy published in Nature and elsewhere) 

grove that when the summer monsoon strikes Southern India, 
s aqueous burden varies directly with the sun-spots. Prof. 
Archibald's returns now show that the rainfall brought by the 
summer monsoon to Northern India also varies directly with the 
sun-spots. But they prove more than this. They show that 
the rain-donds whidi, in years of minimum sun-spots pass over 
India without dropping their watery burden, are found, on their 
being stopped by the Himalayan partition wall, to be charged 
with a more than average surplus (so to speak) of moisture. In 
Northern India, therefore, the summer monsoon, on its passage 
up, brings, as in Southern India, a rainfall varying directly with 
sun-spot activity ; but the winter ramfall, 1.^., the immediate 
rebound of the rain-clouds from the Himalayan barrier, varies 
inversely with sun-spot activity. I say the immediate rebound, 
for it must not be forgotten that the north-eastern moasoon 
(October to December), when it strikes Madras in its full develop- 
ment, after collecting its aqueous freight from the Bay of Bengal, 
follows the same law as the summer monsoon (May to Sep- 
tember), and varies directly with the sun-spots. 

Passing from the sub-tropical region of Northern India (22" to 
32** lat.) to the temperate zone, we find the evidence of a cyde 
dther very faint or altogether wanting. With regard to Europe, 
I am not vet prepar^l to offer any new facts. The existing 
evidence only amounts to this : (i) Mr. Baxenddl, from observa- 
tions for a comparativdy short period but very carefully recorded 
and scrutinised, came to the oondusion that even at an English 
station, notwithstanding the manifold disturbing influences 
incident to our insular meteorology, changes take plaoe in the 
xaiofiEai as well as in the temperiSue and barometric pressore^^ 

O 



6o 



NATURE 



\N0V. 22, 1877 j 



which correspond doMly in their maxima and minima periods 
with those of snn-spots. (2) A more comprehensive survey of 
the European rainfall has so far failed to establish this 
correspondence. Dr. Telinek's examination of fourteen sta- 
tions, from 1833 to 1069, showed that the coincidence held 
jjood in fifty-two cases, but failed in forty-two. While 
frankly accepting this as evidence against a real coinci- 
dence, it should be remembered that a general law such as 
a common periodicity in sun-spot activity and terrestrial rainfall 
will be subjected to, and sometimes overruled by, the local 
surroundings of individual stations. (3) On the other side, 
Gustav Wex, from the recorded depths of the Elbe, Rhine, Oder, 
Danube, and Vistula, for six sun-spot cycles (1800- 1867), found 
that the maximum amount of water occurred during periods of 
maximum sun-spots, while the minimum levels were reached in 
the periods of minimum sun-spots. The evidence, as regards 
Europe, is, therefore, conflicting ; and it is safer for the present 
to reckon it as against a well-marked common periodicity. I 
hope at no distant date to submit the results of a new and more 
exhaustive examination of the European rain- register. 

I now proceed to the North American rainfall. Here, as in 
Europe, the question is complicated not merely by disturbing me- 
teorological influences, such as the Gulf Stream, but by the uncer* 
tain value of the rain-returns. These are causes which even at a 
carefully supervised station render it difficult to estimate the 
number of inches yielded by long-continued or very violent snow- 
storms. At badly supervised stations, or in the case of private 
gauges where the supervision is apt to be of a still more hap- 
hazard character, these difficulties often suffice to render the 
returns quite worthless. Yet it is the latter class of records on 
which we have chiefly to depend in an attempt to deal with the 
American rainfall during a long series of years. Nowhere does 
meteorology now receive more careful and scientific study than 
in the Western Continent, but in many of the most valuable 
series the element of time is still necessarily wanting. The 
tvidenoe hitherto received from America has, on the whole, 
been favourable to the existence of a common periodicity. Mr. 
Dawsoo, Geologist to the British North American Boundary 
Commission, found a correspondence, although by no means an 
absolute one, between the fluctuations of the great lakes and the 
sun-spot periods. This question has been hitely revived and 
interpreted afresh by a distinguished meteorological observer in 
Northern India. Prof. Brocklesby's contributions to the Ame- 
rican Journal of Science also point to a connection l>etween 
variations in the sun-spot area and annual rainfall. 

It was with a knowledge of these statements that I undertook 
a systematic inquiry into the American rain-returns. I ought at 
once to say that the result of that inquiry altogether fails to 
establish the existence of a common cycle, so far as concerns the 
temperate zone. I divided the American stations into four 
groups. The first group consisted of eleven stations in east 
coast or Atlantic States, lying between 40° and 45*" N. latitude. 
The second group consisted of seven stations in Inland States, 
fiom 38*^ to 48*. The third group was intended to consist of 
s'ations in the West Coast or Pacific States, but I have obtained 
the returns (and those for a period altogether too brief) for only 
a single West Coast Station, San Francisco. I give them, how- 
ever, fur what they are worth. The fourth group consists of 
three coast-stations in the Southern States, between 30** and 
33* \ or just above the sub- tropical region with ^which Mr. 
Archibald's returns for the Bengal stations deal. 

The results of the examination of the four American groups 
may be summarised thus : (i) Taken as a whole, the returns from 
the twenty-two stations do not exhibit any common periodicity 
between the rainfall and the sun-spots ; nor do they disclose an 
eleven year's cycle corresponding to the one which I have shown 
to exist in the rainfall (at Madras and elsewhere) gathered from 
the Indian Ocean. (2) That as regards the three northern 
groups, stretching across the continent from 38* to 48^ N. lat., 
the rainfall, so far as any symptoms of periodicity can be detected 
at all, tends to vary inversely with the sun-spois ; but that it is 
impossible to discover any r^ periodicity whatever. (3) On the 
other hand, that as regards the southern group, bet^eea 30** and 
33**, there are symptoms of a periodicity tending to coincioe with 
the sun-spot variations ; but that these symptoms are not suffi- 
ciently uniform in the small number of southern stations which I 
have examined, to justify an^ conclusion. 

The calculations on which these results are based would 
occupy many pages, but their general line may be indicated in a 
few sentences. Tims the mean rainfall at the twenty -two stations 
during the years of maximum sun-spots for which the records 



have been obtained, was 37} inches, while during the years of 
minimum sun-spots it was 39. The years of maximum sun-spots 
together with the years immediately preceding, had a mean fall 
at the twenty-two stations of 40*2 inches ; while the minimum 
years of sun-spots, taken together with the years immediatelv 
preceding, had an almost exactly equal rainfall of 40*1 jr. 
In the northernmost group of eleven Atlantic stations the ip .>> 
rainfall of the years of maximum sun-spots was 39 inches, ag . 
an average of 41 inches in years of minimum suu-spots ; i i 
second group of seven inland stations (38"* to 48") the mean i:x - 
fall of Che years of maximum sun-spots was precisely equi! tj 
that of years of minimum sun-spots, being 33} inches in t>otti ; 
in the third group, San Francisco, the mean rainfall years o' 
maximum sun-spots was 21 inches against 23^ inches in 
minimum years ; in the fourth group of three soucnern stc.(^;r. > 
(30* to 33 ) the returns for the minimum and maximum yt'2i'% x. - 
broken ; but taking these years and the preceding ones t . -• • , 
the mean rainfall of the years of maximum sun-spots ^v ^,. rh«s 
years immediately preceding was 51 inches, against 48^^ m'*. ^ 
in the years of minimum sun-spots and immediately preceding 
ones. 

The returns have also been examined by another method. I 
have shown elsewhere that the rainfall at Madras, and other 
stations around the Indian Ocean, follows a well-marked cycle of 
eleven years, with a miximum, minimum, and intermediate 
period, corresponding with the maximum, minimum, and inter- 
mediate period of sun-spots. The American stations not only fail 
to show such a correspondence, but as regards the three northern 
groups so far as any symptoms of periodicity exist, they point in 
the opposite direction. The fourth or southern group of stations^ 
on the other hand, so far as they disclose a periodicity, tend to 
coincide with the periodical variations in the sun-spots. The 
following table will show this. The Madras rainfall in the 
tropics discloses a cycle closely corresponding with the eleven 
cycle of sun-spots ; speaking generally, the American rainfall 
in the temperate zone discloses no such cycle ; but the aouthera 
stations begin to furnish symptoms of such a cycle. 

Tad/e of Madras and American Rainfall Compared with the 
Eleven Years* Cycle of Sun-spots 





J 


p. 


111 




Rainrall and sun-spots shown in 






the miuimum, intennediate, and 
maximum groups of the eleven 


.3-2 -3 

\j fo 


III 
If 


Remarks. 


years' cycle. 


Is 


|o^ 






y 






s 


•^a 


a 




Eleven years' cjcle of sun-spots 










(from Wolfs hsu) 


126 


43 5 


768 


^ 


Eleven years' cycle of rainfall at 


Inches. 


Inches. 


Inches. 


1 CommoQ 


Madras 


40'3 


4;'o 


53 "5 


I Period- 


Eleven years' cycle of rainfalls- 








f idty well. 


mean of three stations around 








1 marked. 


the Indian Ocean ... 


43'4 


48-1 


Saa 




North American Rainfall, 










Mean of eleven stations in East 










coast States, 40' to 45*. N. lat... 


40*t 


41*6 


40'z 


1 No 
I commoa 


Mean of seven stations in Inland 








States, 38' to 48* N. lat 


35*3 


35 '8 


34t. 1 


San r'rancisco; West Coast Sta- 






, Period- 
J idty. 


tion, 38* N. lat 


aa9 


X99 


93*3 1 


Mean of three stations in Southern 










States, 30' to 33' N. lat 


470 


rra 


491 


Symptoms 
of commoa 
Periodicity. 



NoTB.— The sun-spot fifures represent the relative numbers, reduced from 
Wolf. I he rainfall is expressed in inches. The San Francisco returns deal 
with only iweoty-oae years, or not auite two complete cycles ; much too 
short a period for any definite conclusion. 

The records of the twenty-two American stations extend over 
brief periods compared with the Madras returas. Several of 
them disclose breaks or gaps ; few of them have been kept with 
the minute care bestowed by the professional astronomical staff 
on the rain gauge at the Madras Observatory, and the valne of 
most of the eighteen northern ones is rendered in some degree 
uncertain by snow-storms. It is probable, moreover, that better 
and much more complete returns are available to American 
meteorologists than I posses for the twenty-two stations which 
igitized by 



VW. 22, 1877] 



NATURE 



61 



kftve exammed. They will come to the criticism of my results 
oth fiiQer materials thaa are available to me here* but so far as 
bte materials enable me to form an opinion, the result is against 
heezistenoe of a common periodicity in the sun-spots and in the 
Unerican rainfiedl within the temperate sone. 
I iUlanton, Lanarkshire, November 4 W. W. HunT£R 

Contribution to the Son-spot Theory of Rainfall 

Tiu Lncknow Meteorological Observatory has been estab- 
iihed since 1868, and regular observations have been recorded 
iBoe that year under my superintendence. 

In Natuke of December 12, 1872, Mr. Lockyer published a 
Hdce of Mr. Meldmm's discovery of the coincidence between 
ibe maximum and minimum sun-spot periods, and the maximum 
nd mimmum rainfall in certain places. After reading it I 
Kimmed the annual rainfall at Lucknow from 1868 to 1872, 
nd found that there was reason to believe that the rainfall at 
Locknow followed the same cycle as that of the sun-spots. The 
Ipres were :— 

1868 27'6mches. 

1869 41-9 „ 

1870 64*6 ,, 

1871 650 „ 

1872 414 M 

Hie equal amount of rainfall (41 inches) on both sides of the 
Bsximum fall of 1870 and 1 87 1 was very striking, and as there 
|ns a rise in the rainfall from 1868 to 1870-71, and after that a 
^ease, and having just read Meldrum*s discovery, I conjectured 
|ftat the annual rainfall would continue to decrease till it reached 
jits minimam. In my annual abstract, which I submitted to 
Government in April, 1873, and on the slender evidence of five 
Teal's rainfall, I ventured to state that if Meldram's law be true^ we 
W in Lncknow lately passed the period of maximum rainfall, 
t&d were descending towards a minimum, so that during 1877, 
1S78, and 1879 there would be a scarcity of rain, and in one of 
tbose years the minimum rainfall of the cycle would occur. I 
am Doir able to give the annual rainfall of almost a complete 
cjde, and the figures will speak for themselves : — 

1867 was a sun-spot minimum period. 

1868 276, 

1869 419 I 

1870 64-6 I 

1871 65-01 

1S72 ... 41*4 1 Inches of 

1873 35*1 \ rainfall 

1874 51*4 ! in Lucknow. 

1875 43*5 I 

1876 236 1 

1877 "7 : 

(Up to date October 22). ; 
Tin is October 22, 1877, and the total fall up to date has been 
orlj 117 inches, about a third of which fell in the months of 
Jauiaiy, Februaxy, and March. The fall during the rainy season 
of 1877 has been so small that great fear of a (amine has been 
Ut I oonsideTed Meldnun's discovery so important that at the 
od of my annual abstract of neteorological observations for 
1872, I inserted a long abstract of Mr. Lockyer's article in 
Mature, in order to make the theory more widely known. 

1 believe meteorologists are on the track of a most important 
kv. I would not expect the maximum and minimum rainfalls 
in efery place to coincide with the sun-spot maximum and mini- 
Qom so completely as that given abontt. Possibly in some places 
^ figures might be reversed, owing to a changed direction in 
^ vater-beuing currents of the atmosphere ; but that the 
c^^Bges occurring in the sun have a direct influence on rainfall 
tbcre cannot, I think, be any doubt. £. Bonavia 

Udknow, October 22 



The Radiometer and its Lessons 

j I WISH that Prof. G. C. Foster had been more explicit in his 

^>vtr to my letter ; for as it is I cannot understand to what 

^stiatioiis of density " he refers. So far as I know there are 

t so variations of density in the gas in question except those which 

*ae from variations of temperature; but these varia'ions of 

y^^ certainly do not affect the rate at which heat di£fuses 

Jjjjuid through the gas, for this rate is independent of the 

^''^ and for the same gas depend only on the absolute tem- 

P^^ and on the degradation of tempeiatuxe in the direction 

*^^ the difiusion takes place. The variations of tempera- 

^ooaftct the rate of commonication but only in propcotion 



to the square root of the absolute temperature, and hence, in the 
case of the radiometer, only to an inappreciable extent 

It is obvious that the law of diffusion holds good only so long 
as the gas is undisturbed by convection currents. Such currents, 
which certainly exist, increase the rate at which heat is communi- 
cated to the gas that is to say, the hot surface instead of being 
exposed to the action of still air is exposed to a wind which 
t-;nds to increase the rate of cooling. Bat the velocity of the 
wind does not increase with the rarefaction, and the cooling effect 
of a wind of a certain velocity does increase with the density of 
the air. Hence, as I pointed out in my first paper, the motion 
of the air will favour the force resulting from the communication 
of heat less and less as the rarefaction is increased. 

As regards Mr. Johnstone Stoney*s theory. The post which 
brought me this week's Nature brought me also a paper from 
Mr. Stoney, on which I venture to comment. In doing this, 
however, I may say that I have no wish to criticise what Mr. 
Stoney has written. The fact that Mr. Stoney has in no way 
referred to my work, although I preceded him by some two 
years, has relieved me from all obligation to discuss Mr. Stoney's 
theory ; and I certainly should not do so now were it not that, 
as Prof. Foster has instanced this theory as disproving what I 
believe to be the truth, I feel bound either to show wherein it is 
wrong or acknowledge my inability to do so. 
. In the paper which I have just received, 1 Mr. Stoney starts 
with an assumption that, hut for the effect of gravitation, " a flat 
stratum o' gas in contact with a hot surface, A," and " everywhere 
subject to the same pres-<ure*' can exist iu a state of equilibrium 
"except at the limits," without any passage of heat from the 
hotter to the colder part, although '* within the stratum the 
temperature gradually decreases, from within outwards, from 0^ 
the temperature of a to 6, the temperature of the surrounding 
gas." 

In support of this assumptiou 1 cannot fin 1 that any proof b offered 
except that which is contained in the following portion of a sen- 
tence:— ''We know, from familiar experiments, which show 
gases to be bad conductors of heat, that after the brief interval of 
adjustment a permanent state would ensue in which there would 
be no further change of density, or motion of heat, except by 
radiation." 

Now this assumption and the statement in support of it — in 
both of which Mr. Stoney seems to have ignored the very exist- 
ence of diffusion of heat in gases — ^are contrary to all experience 
as well as to the deductions from the kinetic tbeorv of gases ; 
for it follows directly from the kinetic theory, and has been 
abundantly established by experiment, that under no circumstances 
can there exist a variation in the temperature of a continuous layer 
of gas without heat diffusing from the hotter to the cooler part. 

I think that I need say no more. This assumed condition of 
gas forms the base of all Mr. Stoney's reasoning, and although in 
a subsequent part of his paper he appears to me to have arrived at 
deductions which contradict his fundamental assumption, still this 
assumption may be held accountable for the anomalies which he 
has found. Osborne Reynolds 

November 17 ■ ■ 

I BEG to call the attention of the readers of Nature to the 
following passage at the commencement of Mr. Crookes's lec- 
ture at the Royal Insritution on February 11, 1876, <*0n the 
Mechanical Action of Light '' : — 

" To generate motion has been found a characteristic common, 
with one exception, to all the phases of physical force." [Illus- 
trations are then given of the production of motion by heat, 
magnetism, electricity, gravitation, sound, and chemical force.] 

'*But light J in some respects the hii^hest of the powers of 
nature, has not hitherto been found capable of direct conversion into 
motion; and such an exception cannot but be regarded as a singular 
anomaly. 

''This anomaly the researches which I am about to bring 
before you have now removed ; .and, like the other form? of 
force, light is found to be capable of direct conversion into motion^ 
and of being most delicately and accurately measured by th^ 
amount of motion thus produced." 

1 cannot but suppose that Mr. Crookes and Prof. Carey 
Foster have alike forgotten the existence of this passage. If 
it does not convey an interpretation of the phenomena of the 
radiometer which is now admitted on all hands to be wron^, 
and imply a claim to the discovery of " a new mode of force," I 
amlincapable of understanding the meaning of word5. 

I may add that one after another of my eminent scientific 

» "On the Penetration of Heat across Layers of Gas," Scientific Trm 
actions of the Royal Dublin Society, November^ 1877. 



§k 



62 



NATURE 



\N0V. 22, 1877 



friends has assured me that I was perfectly justified in my 
statement on this point ; and it was vij one of these, who was 
present at the lecture in question, that I was informed of the 
very explicit statement made on that occasion by Mr. Crookes 
of the views he then held, which were universally understood in 
their plain common-sense meaning. 
November 20 William B. Carpentxr 

Fluid Films 

With reference to Mr. Sedley Taylor's interesting note on 
Fluid Films, allow me to say that if a drop of water, dinging to 



the outside of a glass goblet, be lightly dusted with lycopbdium 
powder, and a fiddle-bow be drawn across the edge of the glass, 
the drop will exhibit vortices, rotating in opposite directions. 
Highgate, N., November 19 C. Tomlinson 



Tuckey and Stanley.— The Yallala Rapids on the 
Congo 

Capt. Tuckey is dead and gone and cannot answer for him* 
self; it may therefore, perhaps, serve to dear his memory In some 
measure of a doubt about the correctness of his description of 
the Yallala Rapids in 1816, arising from the very different 
account of them given by Stanley sixty years afterwards, if I 
mention one of several facts in connection with American rivers. 

The late Sir J. Franklin, in his first and disastrous overland 
journey to the Arctic Sea in 1821, describes the " Bloody Fall" 
on the Coppermine River as " a shelving cascade about three 
hundred yards in length, having a descent of ten or fifteen feet." 

Between 1848 and 1851 this "fall" was visited five times ; on 
one or other of such occasions the water was either at high spring 
flood, at low summer level« or at an intermediate elevation, yet 
under none of these conditions was the "fall " found to be more 
than thirty yards long^ if so much, the height being about fifteen 
ieet 

Franklin and the ofiicers with him were most carefiil and cor- 
rect observers, so that I can only attribute this wonderful chuige 
(from three hundred yards long to thirty) in the form of the cas- 
cade to the wearing away of the material forming the bed of the 
river, by the action of the water, assisted in a great measure by 
the large masses of ice and the stones carried down with it during 
the breaking up of the navigation in the course of thirty seasons, 
only half the interval of time between Tuckey's and Stanley's 
visits to the Congo. 

Supposing a somewhat rimilar attrition, but in a less rapid 
manner, to have been going on at the Yallala Rapid, the 
description given by the former as he kaw it may be equally 
correct as that of the latter when he visited it in its altered shape 
In 1877. 

May I add that a cataract may become a fall or a series of 
falls, and vice versd, according as the water in a river is in flood 
or at low level, J. Ra« 

Sdentific Club, November 16 



The Future of our British Flora 

It may interest Mr. Shaw to know that the stations given by 
Lightfoot in his " Flora Scotica, 1777," still exist (as far as I am 
aware, and I have visited by far the mater number of them) at 
the present day. Experience has led me to the condosion that 
a plant however maltreated, does not become extinct unless the 
natural conditions are changed^ as by the draining of a marsh, 
&c. I have over and over again found plants In stations mhext 
they were reported as *' extinct years ago." Perhaps if Mr. 
Shaw visits his station for the "Lizard Orchis" (is this Orchis 
hircina, L. ? if so it is, I fancy, new to Scotch botanists) in the 
course of a year or two he may find it in as large quantity as ever. 
As regards the maltreatment of plants, I agree with what Mr. 
Shaw says respecting professors ot botany. £adi teacher of the 
sdence ought to teach his students that it is a crime to extermi- 
nate a plant, and that thev can best learn botany from the 
observation of the common plants of their district ; there is great 
room for improvement in this respect 

While a student I was often disgusted bv seeing rare plants 
torn up and then cast away as if they had been a han&il of 
grass, or, worse still, put in the vascnlum and foigotten till the 
next Saturday, when they were'thxown away ; and aU this without 
a word of remoostcanoe from those who ought to have exeidsed 



authority, ''that's villainous, and shows a most pitiful ambit 01 
in the man who uses it" 

. Provided we reform a little, I do not think that, judginj? of 
the future bv the past we have any reason to expect a U>,?e 
decrease in tne ranks of our native flora. I do not suppose ^oy 
species given by Lightfoot 100 years ago has become extinct c vea 
in his stations, and on the other hand we have bad a coni-i<^er- 
able number added to it since his time. 
Edinburgh A. CRAiG-Cmas:; f s 

Selective Discrimination of Insects 

In continuation of the interesthig observations of '' S. B.' oa 
selective discrimination of insects in Nature, vol. xvi. p. 5:. 2, 
permit me to send you^ the following notes firom my journal, 
made in August last : — 

"Watched by the roadside near Kew Bridge Station, seve:^ 
species of Hymenoptera, of the genus Bombus prindpally ; otm 
visited thirty flowers of Lamium purpureum in succes.'^'tm, 
passing over withoutlnotice all the other plants in flower ur th'* 
same bank— spedes of Convolvulus, Ruhis, Solanum, Twjp <j her 
species of Bombus and a Pieris rapce also patronised the Lamium^ 
seeking it out deep in the thicket, thrusting thdr probosces even 
into withered cups, although the Rubui flowers were far*more 
accessible and seemed much more attractive, being fresh and 
well-expanded. 

" On the same bank several species of Diptera~5)r/iitf chiefly 
— ^were visiting the Rubus, ignoring the Lamium, On another 
bank, some distance removed from the first, I observed, how- 
ever, that the diptera were visiting the Lamium (one spedes 
was veiy busy on the convolvulus, applving its proboscis to the 
external aspect of the anther) while the Hymenoptera, species 
of wasp, were giving thdr attention to the Rubtis.*' 

I am sorry not to be in a position to identify the species of 
Hymenoptera and Diptera, being unable to capture spedmens of 
either. Henry O. Forbes 

Highgate, N. 

The Earth-worm in Relation to the Fertility of the Soil 

In vour number of the 8th instant there are some interesting 
remarks upon the habits, &c., of the common earth-worm. 
From frequent observations I fully concur with the remark that 
the worm does not consume living vegetation but only vegetable 
matter undergoing decomposition. 

I am also rather inclined to the opinion that there are (or may 
be) two reasons for the drawing in to their holes dead leares, 
&c., the one being, for use as food, and the other to protect the 
holes from a too plentiful supply of water. 

In this same connection I may mention what I have not before 
seen mention of, namely, the little mounds of small gravd stones 
which the worms heap up around the entrance to thdr holeSi 
The8€ are verr curious and may be partly to prevent the entrance 
of water ; and also, as I think, jMirtly for rubbing against the 
worm's slimy body, as fish do. 

It is very remarkable the extent to which loose gravel-stonei 
(some as large as a hazd-nut, and even laiger)'are removed from 
a graveUwalk from distances quite beyond a foot, leaving the 
walk pitted all over. I have never seen a worm in the sict oi 
moving these stones and it is difficult to imagine how it is don^ 
but as it generally takes place in wet weather, it may probablj 
be by an adhesion of the stone to the slimy body of the worm. 

As regards fertilising effects, it would be interesting to know 
whether the earthy matter composing worm*casts had passec 
through the worm's body, as the writer supposes, for in thatjcaae i 
would probably have more fertilising properties than if consiatini 
merdy of the natural soil thrown up as by moles. 

The remark by one of your correspondents as to his observatio] 
of a line of darker soil thrown up by worms from a substratum c 
ashes deposited a considerable time before, would almost maki 
it appear that the mole-like action above referred to took place 
The writer, however, repeats his conviction that the matte 
composing worm-casts has passed through its (the worm's) body 

31, Stockwdl Park Road Geo. H. Phipps 



Smell and Hearing in Moths 

"J. C" seems to draw inferenoes that moths have not th 
power of smell bat have that of hearing. I fed quite certai 
they possess the former, bat am in doubt about the latter. Fc 
the purpose of catching moths I use a preparation of beer aa 

O 



NW. 22, 18177] 



NATURE 



63 



SQgu boiled together, to which (after boiling) is added a UttJe 
^irit, placing rags several folds thick, saturated in the pre- 
paration, upon gaiden-scats, low branches of trees, &c. I have 
in one evening taken as many as thirty-six moths (including red-, 
yellow-, crimson-underwing, swordgrass, angleshade, &c., &c.). 
What has attracted them imless smell ? or what generally leads 
tiiem to their food ? 

With reference to the sound of the glass, is It not the quick 
motkm of the hand which disturbs the moth ? £. H. K. 

Carnivorous Plants 

Prof. Serrano F atiga ti, of Ciudad Real (Spain), has made 
some investigations upon two insect-feeding plants which he 
found during his last excursion to the |Tovince of Cordova, and 
OD the general peculiarities of viscous plants during their flower- 
ing. The first of these plants is Ononis natrix ; it grows at Sierra 
Palados. The second appears to be StUne viscosa^ and was found 
on the hill which connects the village of Belmery with the station. 
The experiments made upon these plants prove that when alive 
they wereboti^ covered abundantly with a viscous fluid, which in 
SUene was still visible after the specimens had been dried for 
four months. Prof. Fatigati has observed in several instances 
that every insect which touches their surface, and remains 
adherent to them, dies in a very few minutes. Remains of ani- 
mals in different stages of decomposition may be seen on the 
plants he possesses. 

The microscopical study of these plants has enabled the struc- 
ture of their secretory glands to be examined. The glands of 
the plant Ononis are at the extremity of hairs comoosed of cylin- 
drical cells, and are ovoid and multicellular. Toe protoplasm 
of the cylindrical cells always forms a parietal coating to the 
odl-walL The glands of the Silene are simply conical epider- 
mical protuberances, and are divided into two cells at the close 
of their development 

Prof. Serrano Fatigati has observed that in these species and 
ID dstus ladaniferus the secretion of the viscous fluid increases 
during th^ir period of flowering ; he is studying this matter, in 
order to ascertain whether this circumstance l^ars any connec- 
tion with the production of heat and carbonic acid possessed by 
plants during the flowering period. Francisco Giniz 

E^ar.eros 9, Madrid 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 
Minor Planets. — Mr. J. N, Stockwell, of Cleveland, 
Ohio, who has had much experience in calculations re- 
hting to the small planets, draws attention to a curious 
circumstance connected with the observations of Gerda, 
discovered by Prof. Peters at Qinton, N.Y., on July 31, 

1872. It had been supposed that this planet was ob- 
served again in 1873, 1876, and 1877, but on forming 
equations of condition for the correction of the elements, 
Mr. Stockwell foimd that the observations of 1873 are 
quite irreconcilable with those of the other oppositions, 
or that some incompatible conditions had been introduced 
into the equations. *^ The discovery of these incom- 
patible conditions,'' he writes, '^ has been the occasion of 
an unusual amount df trouble and annoyance, and will be 
the source of future mortification, should the explanation 
at which I have arrived ultimately prove to be erroneous." 
Mr. StockweH's conclusion is this, that notwithstanding 
the planet observed from September 27 to November 12, 

1873, ^^^ '^^^ ^^^"^ ^^ computed place of Gerda, it was 
leally another body that was observed in that year. To 
decide this point he calculated an orbit upon the observa- 
tions of 1873, which it appears are very well adapted to 
iimiish reliable results, and finds the following elements, 
pladng the elements of Gerda, as perturbed to the same 
date, in juxtaposition for the sake of comparison. The 
epoch is 1873, November 7*0 M.T. at Washington, longi- 
tudes from M.Eq. 18730 :— 

Planbt of 1873. Gerda. 



Meanloi^. 

« 

d 

i 

^ 

M 



35 4 57 

213 H 38 

178 S3 9 

I 36 3 

I $8 40 

6i3''*6390 



35 47 14 
208 19 29 
178 56 40 

1 36 19 

2 o 51 
6i4"-3842 



It will be seen that four of the elements of the planet of 
1873 are almost identical with those of Gerda, while the 
lines of apsides differ about five degrees. The actual 
distance of the planets from each other on November 7 
would be o'oi88 of the earth's mean distance from the 
sun. Mr. Stockwell adds, " if there are really two planets 
moving in orbits so extremely near together, it must 
happen in the course of time, unless the mean distances 
are exactly the same, that they will approach each other 
so closely that their mutual perturbations will cause them 
to unite and form a s'mgle planet" 

A similar case of near coincidence between the orbits 
of two minor planets is that of Fides and Maia, to which 
attention was first directed we believe by M. Lespiault, of 
Bordeaux. In 1876 the elements were as follow : — 

Fides. Maia. 

Epoch July 270 Berlin^M.T. Oct. 45 Berlin M.T. 



Mean long. 



326 33 33 

66 27 20 

8 15 15 

3 6 49 

10 II 21 

826"-44i7 



27 37 21 

48 8 26 

8 17 I 

3 5 40 
10 4 31 
824"*6400 



Here, however, the planets are much further from each 
other than in the case of Gerda and the planet of 1873. 

At present Gerda and its companion will not be favour- 
ably placed for observation, but in the ensuing year no 
doubt an effort will be made to decide if there are really 
two bodies revolving in such near proximity to each 
other. Questions c? much interest may arise if this 
should prove to be the case. 

The discoveries of minor planets during the present 
year now stand as follow : — 
No. 170, Myrrha, January 10, by Perrotin, at Toulouse. 

„ 171, Ophelia, January 13, by Borrelly, at Marseilles. 

„ 172, Baucis, February 5, „ „ 

M I73» August 2, „ „ 

„ 1 74i September 2, by Watson, at Ann Arbor, U.S. 

„ i7Si October 14, by Peters, at CUnton, U. S. 

„ 176, November 5, by Paul Henry, at Paris. 

„ 177, November 6, by PaUsa, at Pola. 

A planet, November 12, by Watson, at Ann Arbor. 

We adopt Prof. Peters' name for No. 170, instead of the 
inappropriate one proposed in France. 

The Comet of 1672.— Madler has pointed out a 
distant resemblance between the elements of the comet of 
1672 calculated by Halley, and those of the comet of 
1 812, which has been found to have a period of revolution 
of about seventy years, and which therefore might have 
been in perihelion in the former year. The comet of 
1672 was observed by Hevelius from March 6 to April 21, 
and also by Richer off the coast of Africa during his 
voyage to Cayenne, from March 15 to the end of the 
month, though he only described its position roughly. 
The observations of Hevelius are published in the rare 
volume of his " Machina Coelestis '' (of which, by the 
way, the British Museum possesses two copies), and we 
believe in the small special publication issued at Dantzig 
in the same year, and entitled, " J. Hevelii, Epistola de 
Cometi, anni 1672, .Gedani observato, ad Henricum 
Oldenburgium." 

Halley's orbit gives for three dates of observation by 
Hevelius, adopting his corrected times, the following 
positions : — 

G.M.T. Right Ascension. Decl'uutioa. 
h. m. o , ^ / 

1672, March 6, at 15 39 ... 353 16 ... 34 57 N. 
n f, 15, at 7 4k ... 18 2 .., 37 25 
„ „ 29, at 8 8 ... 5221 ... 3021N. 
Without attempting an acciurate reduction of the 
Dantzic observations, it may be seen that they agree 
sufficiently well with the positions deduced from Halley's 
orbit to render it probable that his elements would not be 
so far changed by a calculation from the improved places ^ 
as to bring them materially closer to those of the comet of ^ 



64 



NATURE 



\Nav. 22, 187J 



1 812, the re-appearance of which is shortly expected. 
We have aheady mentioned that sweeping^phemerides 
hare been prepared by Herr Mahn, of Strasbuig, and 
may be fotind in '' Vierteljahrsschrift der Astronomischen 
Gesellschaft, 12 Jahrgang, 2 Heft'' 



A' 



i 



MR. DARWIN AT CAMBRIDGE 



we intimated last week, the honorary degree 
of LL.D. was conferred on Mr. Charles Darwin 
at Cambridge on Saturday. The occasion was in 
many ways remarkable, and suggestive of reflections 
that must occur to all, and which need not be put 
formally into words. The university seems to have been 
conscious of the honour Mr. Darwin was doing it, and 
seldom, it is said, was a more exciting scene seen in the 
senate-house. To appoint a special congregation of the 
senate for the transaction of no other business but the con- 
ferment of a solitary degree, although it be honoris causAy is 
only resorted to in exceptional and important cases. The 
step taken by the university evidently has met with general 
approval to judge by the tone of the assembly in the 
senate-house on Saturday. The building was packed, and 
the inevitable pastime of the undergraduates assumed a 
form extremely appropriate, however questionable its 
taste may have been. 

The appearance of Mr. Darwin entering the senate- 
house by a side door, with the Master of Christ's, of 
which College Mr. Darwin is a member, was the signal for 
a burst of applause which was evidently the result of 
genuine enthusiasm, and was certainly thoroughly hearty. 
At two o'clock the Vice- Chancellor took his seat on the 
raised dais, and the business of the day began. Standing 
side by side with Mr. Darwin in the centre of the senate- 
house, Mr. Sandys, the Public Orator, commenced the 
delivery of the customary Latin oration. Interruptions from 
the galleries occasionally interfered with the orator's efibrts 
to make himself heard, but the pleasant manner of his 
delivery, combined with great tact and judgment, helped 
to quiet the undergraduates"' chafT,"^ and assisted him 
materiaUy in getting through his task. 

We have been favoured witii a copy of the Public 
Orator's address, which our readers will no doubt read 
with interest, both on account of the elegance of its 
Latin, and for its neat summary of Dr. Darwin's work ; 
indeed, in its way, it is somewhat of a literary curiosity. 

" ORATIO AB ORATORE PUBLICO HABITA CANTABRIGIAE 
DIE XVII° NOVEMBRIS A. S. MDCCCLXXVU 

'* DiGNlssiME domine, domine Procancellarie, et tota 
Academia : — 

'* Meministis Horatlanum illud, ' fortes creantur forti- 
bus ' ; vix igitur necesse est commemorare viri huius de 
rerum natura optime meriti patrem fuisse medicum egre- 
gium, avum poetam quoque insignem. ' Doctrina sed 
viin promovet insitam ' ; iuvat igitur recordari pueritiam 
huius ^fovisse scholam celeberrimam Salopiensem ; adu- 
lescentlam aluisse non modo Caledonicas illas Athenas, 
sed in hac etiam Academia Miltoni nostri Collegium. 
Tanti in laudem alumni, nisi fallor, ipsa patemi Quminis 
nympha, non immemor hunc 't)rl6iuth'patefecrisse insu- 
larum corallinarum originem, ilia inquam' Sibrina ^uae 
Miltoni in carmine vivit, 

caralib nltida roseam caput exseret unda, 
frontemque tam veneifabilem sua praecinget corolla. 

" Quanta cum voluptate acc^pimus insularum iHarum 
circulos, sese e v^dis: sensim ;attoUentes, quasi florum 
immqrtalium palmaruQique vi8tri$:ium corona locos illos 
virides pladdgsque in jOceani <jampo designare, ubi 
priores insulae depressae et sepultae sunt. Quam facete 
describit, quo modo varios sensuum affectus exprimant 
indices illi \u!tus et ipsa tacitorum oculorum eloquentia ; 
quo more apes, dum dulce illud nectar e flore delibant, ' 
quod continuandae floris stirpi utile sit, ipsae aliunde 



referant. Quam venuste explicat, quo modo captet Venus 
ipsa muscas ; quali ex origine sint Veneris volucresi 
' raucae, tua cura, palumbes ' ; quibus cantuum illecebris, 
quo splendore plumarum, concilientur volucrum amores, 
Quam familiariter, velut rex ille excellent! sapientia, d( 
tot rebus disserit, quicquid volat, quicquid natat, quicanul 
serpit humi ; quam varia eruditione disputat dc 12b r i^?i 
iUolepadum balanorumque marinorum genere, ... i r^^ 
tium igneorum miraculis, sed idem de gracili ^n. " p u- 
pino et lentis hederarum bracchiisin apncumecuc&ti . 
quanta hberalitate in patrocinium suum vindicar tuji 
modo 'aurea pavonum saecla,' sed etiam minus pulC'ir >7i 
simiarum famUiam. Qua de re quanquam pOwU y^.^-v. 
dixit, ' simia quam similis nobis ' ; nobis taru-: , \ A 
Academici, cum oratore Romano, viro Academic, e fnie 
sertim philosophiae dedito, gloriari licet, ' mores ' esse is 
utroque dispares.' 

" Illud certe extra omnem controversiam cons ' vil- 
chrum esse tantam rerum naturae varietatem conttir 7uri 
regiones remotas invisere, silvarum incaeduarum so' tu« '• > 
nem penetrare, insularum prope ignotarum recessus per- 
scrutari, varias denique animalium formas comparare 
inter se et distinguere ; pulchrius, haec omnia accura- 
tissime observata aliorum in usum voluptatemque lit- 
terarum mandare monumentis ; omnium pulcherrimorn, 
infinita talium rerum multitudine ad leges quam paucissi- 
mas revocata^ ipsum fontem et originem omnium repetere. 
Quanta igitur laude vir hie dignus est, qui adhuc iuvenis, 
aliorum ma^is quam suo commodo, tot terras lustraveri^ 
lustratas feliciter descripserit ; qui maturiore aetate, tot 
generibus animantium et earum rerum quas terra gignit 
diligenter investigatis, illi praesertim legi constituendae 
operam dederit, qua docere conatus est, ita e perpetuo 
prope ad intemecionem debellantium certamine aptissi- 
mam quamque novae stirpi propagandae speciem vivam 
victricemque superesse, ut tot species inter se diversae 
alia ex alia minutatim per immensam annorum seriem 
generari potuerint. 

' Usus et impigrae simul experientia mentis 
paulatim docuit pedetemtim progredientes. 
sic unumquicquia paulatim protrahit aetas 
in medium ratloque in lumtnis erigit eras, 
namque alid ex alio clarescere et ordine debet 
omnibus^ ad summum donee venere cacumen.' 

'^Tu vero, qui leges naturae tam docte illustraveriSi 
legum doctor nobis esto. 
*' Duco ad vos Carolum Darwin." 

The conclusion of this oration was greeted with loud 
applause, and the proceedings ended with the Vice- 
Chancellor conferring the degree on Mr. Darwin in the 
usual formal manner. 

In the evening the anniversary dinner of the Cambridge 
Philosophical Societv was given in the Hall of Clare 
College. The president of the Society, Prof. Liveing, 
occupied the chair, and among the visitors present were 
Professors Huxley, Ramsay, Tyndall, Parker, Burdon 
Sanderson, Drs. Giinther, Wilks, Pye Smith, Mr. Francis 
Galton, &c. Prof. Ramsay proposed the toast of the 
University of Cambridge, and Prof. Huxley responded to 
that of Mr. Darwin, who was unable to be present. In 
his speech Prof. Huxley sarcastically spoke of the Uni- 
versity as reserving its highest honour till all other 
distinctions had been heaped on Mr. Darwin, that its own 
chaplet might crown the whole, and not be covered up. 
Prof. Huxley spoke of Mr. Darwin as the foremost 
among men of science, with one exception^ since the days 
of Aristotle. 

A special meeting of the Philosophical Society is to be 
held next Monday in the combination room of Christ's 
College, to consider the best means of making a permanent 
memorial of Mr. Darwin in the University. Would not 
a Darwin Professorship of Gene^ Biology be a very 
suitable memorial ? ^^.^.^^^ ^^ COO^ 



HOV. 22, 1877] 



NATURE 



65 



INTERNATIONAL GEOLOGICAL CONGRESS 

AT tbe late meeting of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science at Nashville, Tenn., Dr. 
T. Sterry Hunt presented a report on the above subject, 
of which at the time we gave a brief note. The following 
extracts, which have been sent us, wUl no doubt be more 
satisfactory to geologists : — 

" The committee to arrange for an International Geo- 
logical Exhibition and Congress, to be held in Paris in 
1878, was appointed by this Association at Buffalo in 
August, 1874 and consisted of Messrs. W. B. Rogers, 
James Hall, J. W. Dawson, J. S. Newberry, T. Sterry 
Hunt, R. Pumpelly, and C. H. Hitchcock, together with 
T. H. Huxley for England, O. Torrel for Sweden, and 
£. H. von Baumhauer for Holland. At a meeting of the 
committee at Buffalo on August 25, 1876, James Hall was 
chosen chairman, and T. Sterry Hunt secretary. It was 
then agreed to prepare a circular setting forth the plan of 
an lotemational Geological Exhibition, which . should 
form a part of the general exhibition to be held at Paris 
in 1878, and indicating a scheme for the organisation of 
the geological collections to be sent thereto by the nations 
taking a part in that exhibition, and moreover, proposing 
an International Geological Congress to be held at Paris. 

** The circular in accordance with this plan was duly 
prepared, and printed in English, French, and German, 
and before the end of the year had been sent by the 
secretary to the principal scientific societies and academies, 
as well as to the workers in geology throughout the 
world. The response to this invitation has been most 
gratifying. The Geological Society of France has for- 
maUy recognised the great importance of the objects 
proposed, and promised its hearty co-operation, while 
private letters from its president to the secretary of the 
committee, and from ProC Hubert to Prof. Hall, give 
cordial assurances of the same kind. Spanish and Italian 
geologists have translated and published the circular in 
their respective languages, and have communicated to 
the secretary their hearty approval of the plan. Prof. 
Capellini has, in this connection, published an interesting 
correspondence, calling attention to the fact that in 1874 
he had laid the project of a similar International Geolo- 
gical Congress, to be held in Italy, before the Italian 
Mbister of Agnculture^ Industry, and Commerce. 

^ The Geological Society of London and the Geological 
Survey of Great Britain have also formally signified their 
approval of onr objects, and the co-operation of Norway, 
Sweden, Russia, and Austro- Hungary, is promised. It 
is to be regretted that Germany has declined to take a 
part in the International Exhibition of 1878, but we trust 
that this will not prevent her geologists from joining in 
the proposed Congress. The director of the Geological 
Survey of Japan promises to aid in our work, and we 
have the same assurance from Brazil, where the circular 
has been translated into Portuguese. Chili and Mexico 
have abo responded, and promise an ample representa- 
tion of their geology at Paris next year ; while Canada, 
both through her Geological Survey and in the person of 
Dr. Dawson, will probably be represented there. 

"The Government of the United States has as yet 
^ed to accept the invitation of France to take a part in 
the Exhibition of 1878, so that American geologists are not 
ttftatnthat they will be able to participate in the Interna- 
tional Geological Exhibition of 1878. We are, however, 
ttsvred that the Government is very desirous to have our 
country duly represented at Paris ; and it is to be hoped 
that at the approaching extra session of the United States 
Congress, measures will be taken for accepting the French 
iavitation, and appointing a commission, so that our 
people may secure a representation in Paris. I am 
assured, on all sides, that our geologists desire to con- 
tnbute largely to the International Geological Exhibition, 
Ukd even at this late day it will be possible to do much. 



In any event it is probable that several members of our 
committee will be present at the proposed Geological 
Congress. The precise date of this has not yet been 
fixed, though your secretary is now in correspondence 
with the Secretary of the Geological Society of France 
upon this point, and believes that with the co-operation 
of that body a time convenient to all will be agreed 
upon. 

" It is recommended b)r the Standing Committee of the 
Association that, in addition to the names of Prof. J. P. 
Lesley, of Philadelphia, and Prof. A. C. Ramsay, director 
of the Geological Survey of Great Britain, already added 
to the International Committee, the presidents for the 
time being of the Geological Societies of France, Lon- 
don, Edinburgh, and Dublin, of Berlin, of Belgium, 
Italy, Spain, Portugal^ and the Imperial Geological In- 
stitute of Vienna, be mvited to form part of our Com- 
mission. T. Sterry Hunt 

" Secretary of the International Committee.'' 

Shortly after the presentation of the above report, the 
secretary received official notice that the Geological 
Society of France had, in co-operation with the above 
plan, appointed at Paris a local committee of organisa- 
tion for the proposed Congress, constituted as follows : — 
Hubert, President ; Toumouer and Albert Gaudry, Vice- 
Presidents ; Bioche, Treasurer ; Jannetaz, Secretary- 
General ; Delaire, Sauvage, Brocchi, and V^lain, Secre- 
taries ; with the following : Belgrand Bureau, de Chan- 
courtois, G. Cotteau, Damour, Daubr^e, Delafosse, 
Delcsse, Descloizeaux, Desnoyers, Fougu^, V. Gervais, 
Gruner, De Lapparent, Mallard, Milne- Edwards, Pellat, 
Marquis de Roys and L. Vaillant, Members of the 
Committee. 

A circular issued by this committee bearing date July 
31, invites all those interested in geological, mineralogical, 
and palaeontological studies to take part in the approach- 
ing congress, and to subscribe the sum of twelve francs 
each, which will give a card of admission to the Congress, 
and right to all the publications thereof. All those who 
intend to be present are at the same time invited to send, 
as soon as possible, a list of the questions which seem to 
them worthy of general discussion, as well as of the 
communications which they propose to make touching 
these questions. They are also invited to indicate the 
date which appears to them most convenient for the 
meeting of the Congress. 

As regards an International Geological Exhibition, the 
Paris Committee of Organisation state that the difficulty 
of finding a suitable locality seems to them an obstacle in 
the way of realising this part of the programme. They 
hope, however, that there will be many special collections 
sent, and beg the exhibitors of such to give the committee 
due notice of these, in order that a special catalogue of 
them may be prepared. 

The secretary of the International Committee desires, 
in this connection, to call attention to the fact that his 
circular did not contemplate the holding of an Inter- 
national Geological Exhibition apart from the universal 
exhibition, but, in the language of that circular, the 
making as complete as possible the geolot^ical department 
of the universal exhibition. It is certain that, as at all 
previous similar exhibitions, the different nations will 
contribute more or less of geological material, and it was 
conceived that such collections, extended and syste- 
matised in accordance with the plan set forth in the 
circular, would, while forming a part of the universal 
exhibition, without farther cose meet all the requirements 
of an International Geological Exhibition. To the ac- 
complishment of this end it will only be necessary for 
the exhibitors of all nations to send a list of their geolo- 
gical contributions to the Local Committee of Organisation 
at Paris. f 

All correspondence relating to^^^Congress should^|^ 

K 2 O 



66 



NATURE 



[Nov. 22, 1877 



I 



addressed to Dr. Jannetsz, S^r^Uire-g^D^ral, rue des 
Grands Augustins, 7, Paris, France ; and all moneys sent 
to Dr. Biodie, at the same address. 



THE MODERN TELESCOPE 

THE gain to astronomy from the discovery of the 
telescope has been twofold. We have first, the gain 
to physical astronomy from the magnification of objects, 
and secondly, the gain to astronomy of position from the 
magnification, so to speak, of space, which enables minute 
portions of it to be most accurately quantified. 

Looking back, nothing is more curious in the history of 
astronomy than the rooted objection which Hevel and 
others showed to apply the telescope to the pointers and 
pinnules of the instruments used in their day ; but doubt- 
less we must look for the explanation of this not only in 



the accuracy to which observers had attained by tLe old 
method, but in the rude nature of the telescope itself '1 
the early times, before the introduction of the micror \e'f^ ■ 
the modem accuracy has been arrived at step \ , ter 




Fig. i.~A portion of the constellation Gemini seen wuh the nakc -.'Vf. 

Let us see what the telescope docs for us !n >e 
domain of that grand physical astronomy whic3\ i '•> 
with the number and appearances of the various • ' ii'^s 
which people space. 




, Fig. 3. — The same region, as seen through a large telescope. 



Let us, to begin with, try to see how the telescope helps 
us in the matter of observations of the sun. The sun is 
about 90,000,000 of miles away; suppose, therefore, 
by means of a telescope reflecting or refracting, whichever 
we like, we use an eyepiece which will magnify say 900 
times, we obviously bring the sun within 100,000 miles of 
us ; that is to say, by means of this telescope, we can 
observe the sun with the naked eye as if it were within 
100,000 miles of us. One may say, this is something, but 
not too much ; it is only about half as far as the moon is 
from us. But when we recollect the enormous size of the 
sun, and that if the centre of the suxi occupied the centre 
of our earth the circumference of the sun would extend 
considerably beyond the orbit of the moon, then one must 
acknowledge we have done something (to bring the sun 
within half the distance of the moon. Suppose for looking 
at the moon we use on a telescope a power of 1,000, that 
is a power which magnifies 1,000 limes, we shall bring the 
moon within 240 milts of us, and we shall be able to see 



the moon with a telescope of that magnifying power pretty 
much as if the moon were situated somewhere in 
Lancashire — Lancaster being about 240 miles from 
London. . 

It might appear at first sight possible in the case of all 
bodies to magnify the image formed by the object-glass 
to an unlimited extent by using a sufficiently powerful eye- 
piece. This, however, is not the case, for as an object is 
magnified it is spread over a larger portion of the retina 
than before ; the brightness, theref )re, becomes diminished 
as the area increases, and this takes place at a rate equal 
to the square of the increase in diameter. If, therefore, 
we require an object to be largely magnified we must pro- 
duce an image sufficiently bright to bear such magnifica- 
tion ; this means that we must use an object-glass or 
speculum of large diameter. Again, in observing a very 
faint object, such as a nebula or comet, we cannot, by 
decreasing the power of the eye-pie ae, increase the bright- 
ness to an unlimited extent, for as the power decreases, 



^s'of. 22, 



I877I 



NATURE 



67 



thr ibcal length of the eye-piece also incre^seSi and the 
cyc'piece has to be larger, the emergent pencil is then 
larger than the pupil of the eye and consequently a 



portion of the rays of the cone from each point of the 
object is wasted. 
' We get an immense gain to physical astronomy by the 




Fig. 3. — Oiioo and the neighboiiring coastellations. 



revelations of the fainter objects which, without the tele- 
scope, would have remained invisible to us ; but, as we 
know, as each large telescope has exceeded preceding 
ones in ilium mating power, the former bounds of the 
visible creation have been gradually extended, though 
even now we cannot be said to have got beyond certain 
small limits, for there are others beyond the region which 
the most powerful telescope reveals to us ; though we 
have got only into the surface we have increased the 
3,000 or 6,000 stars visible to the naked eye to something 
kke twenty millions. This space-penetrating po^er of 



the telescope, as it is called, depends on the principle that 
whenever the image formed on the retina is less than 
sufficient to appear of an appreciable size the light is 
apparently spread out by a purely physiological action 
until the image, say of a star, appears of an appreciable 
diameter, and the effect on the retina of such small points 
of light is simply proportionate to the amount of light 
received, whether the eye be assisted bv the telescope or 
not ; the stars always, except when sufficiently bright to 
form diffraction rings, appearing of the same size. It 
therefore happens that as the apertures of telescopes 




Fic. 4.— The Nebu'a of Orion, reduced from Lord Kosie's Dm wing. 



increase, and with them the amount of light (the eye- 
pieces being sufficiently powerful to cause ail the light to 
enter the eye), smaller and smaller stars become visible, 



while the larger stars appear to get brighter and brighter 
without increasing in size, the image of the brightest star 
with the highest power, if we neglect rays and diffraction 



68 



NATURE 



{Nov. 22, 1877 



rings, being really much smaller than the apparent size 
due to physiological effects, and of this latter size every 
star must appear. 

The accompanying woodcuts of a region in the con- 
stellation of Gemini a^ seen with the naked eye and with 
a powerful telescope will give a better idea than mere 
language can do of the effect of this so-called space- 
penetrating power. 

With nebulae and comets matters are different, for 
these, even with small telescopes and low powers, often 
occupy an appreciable space on the retina. On increasing 
the aperture we must also increase the power of the eye- 
piece, in order that the more divergent cones of light 
from each point of the image shall enter the pupil, and 
therefore increase the area on the retina, over which the 
increased amount of light, due to greater aperture, is 
spread ; the brightness, therefore, is not increased, unless 
indeed we were at the first using an unnecessary high 
power. On the other hand, if we lengthen the focus of 
the object-glass and increase its aperture the divergence 
of the cones of light is not increased and the eye-piece 
need not be altered, but the image at the focus of the 
object-glass is increased in size by the increase of focal 
length, and the image on the retina also increases as in 
the last case. We may therefore conclude that no comet 
or nebula of appreciable diameter, as seen through a tele- 
scope having an e>e- piece of just such a focal length as 
to admit all the rays to the eye, can be made brighter by 
any increase of power, although it may easily be made to 
appear larger. 

Very beautiful drawings of the nebula of Orion and of 
other nebulae, as seen by Lord Rosse in his 6-foot 
reflector, and by the American astronomers with their 
26-inch refractor, have been given to the world. 

The magnificent nebula of Orion is scarcely visible to 
the naked eye ^ one can just see it glimmering on a fine 
night ; but when a powerful telescope is used it is by far 
the most glorious object of its class in the northern hemi- 
sphere, and surpassed only by that surrounding the 
variable star i\ Argds in the southern. And although, of 
course, the beauty and vastness of this stupendous and 
remote object increase with the increased power of the 
instrument brought 'to bear upon it, a large aperture is 
not needed to render it a most impressive and awe- 
inspiring object to the beholder. In an ordinary 5-foot 
achromatic many of its details are to be seen under 
favourable atmospheric conditions. 

Those who are desirous of studying its appearance, as 
seen in the most powerful telescopes, are referred to the 
plate in Sir John Herschel's ^' Results of Astronomical 
Observations at the Cape of Good Hope,'' in which all its 
features are admirably delineated, and the positions of 
150 stars which surround ^ in the area occupied by the 
nebula laid down. In Fig. 4 it is represented in great 
detail, as seen with the included small stars, all of which 
have been mapped with reference to their positions and 
brightness. This, then, comes from that power of the 
telescope which simply makes it a sort of large eye. We 
may measure the illuminating power of the telescope by a 
reference to the size of our own eye. If one takes the 
pupil of an ordinary eye to be something like tlie fifth of 
an inch in diameter, which in some cases is an extreme 
estimate we shall find that its area would be roughly about 
one-thirtieth part of an inch. If we take Loni Rosse's 
speculum of six feet in diameter the area will be some- 
thing like 4,000 inches ; and if we multiply the two to- 
gether we shall find, if we lose no light, we should get 
120,000 times more light from Lord Rosse*s telescope 
than we do from our unaided eye, everything supposed 
perfect 

Let us consider for a moment what this means ; let us 
take a case in point. Suppose that owing to imperfec- 
tions in reflection and other matters two-thirds of the light 
is lost so that the eye receives 40,000 times the amount 



given by the unaided vision, then a sixth magnitude stsur — 
a star just visible to the naked eye — ^would have 40,000 
times more light, and it might be removed to a distance 
200 times as great as it at present is and still be visible 
in the field of the telescope iust as it at present is to the 
unaided eye. Can we judge how far off the stars are that 
are only just visible with I^rd Rosse's instrument ? Light 
travels at the rate of 185,000 miles a second, and from the 
nearest star it takes some 3^ years for light to reach us, 
and we shall be within bounds when we say that it will 
take light 300 years to reach ns from many a sixth magni- 
tude star. 

But we may remove this star 200 times further away and 
yet see it with the telescope, so that we can probably see 
stars so far off that light takes 60,000 years to reach us, 
and when we gaze at the heavens at night we are viewing | 
the stars not as they are at that moment, but as they were \ 
years or even hundreds of years ago, and when we call to . 
our assistance the telescope the years become thousands ' 
and tens of thousands — expressed in miles these distances 
become too great for the imagination to grasp ; yet we 
actually look into this vast abyss of space and see the 
laws of gravitation holding good there, and calculate the 
orbit of one star about another. 

J. Norman Lockyer 
(To be comtinued,) 

ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS 1 

THE lists and reports of the various zoological gardens 
now before us show that much progress has lately 
been made by these as by other institutions connected 
with natural history. For though zoological gardens are 
looked upon by many as a simple form of amusement 
there can be no question that, when rightly conducted, 
they are not only mstructive in the highest degree, but 
also tend materially to advance the interests of the higher 
branches of natural science. All persons, therefore, who 
take an interest in the progress of science will be glad to 
see the number of zoological gardens increasing among 
the dependencies of this country and in other States. 

Of the first of the five works on our list we need say 
but little. The Gardens of the Zoological Society of 
London, in the Regent's Park, arfe too well known to 
most of our readers to require a lengthened notice. The 
chief additions to their unrivalled menagerie are recordt d 
every week in our columns. The volume now before us 
contains a catalogue of all the species of vertebrated 
animals, of which examples have been exhibited during 
the past fifteen years, arranged in systematic order. The 
various specimens are distinguished by letters, and the 
date and mode of acquisition of each individual are added. 
Thirty-five woodcuts, most of which have originally 
appeared in the Society's Proceedings ^ illustrate some of 
the more remarkable forms. The result shows that from 
the conunencemeat of the year 1861 to the close of 1875, 
there have been obtained for the collection in the Regent's 
Park, examples of no less than 2,143 species of vertebrated 
animals. Of these 570 were mammals, 1,224 birds, 227 
reptiles, 39 batrachians, and 83 fishes. 

The catalogue of the animals in the newly-established 
Zoological Gardens at Calcutta, concerning the foundation 
and progress of which we have written at full length not 
long since,^ is next upon our list It is drawn up after 

^ (t) List of Vertebrated Animals now or lately living in the Gtudens of 
the Zoological Society of London. Sixth Editi 



_Jtion. 1877. 

Longmans). 

(9) Li^t of Vertebrated Animals living in the Zoological Gardens, Calcutta, 
April, 1877. Printed at the Bengal Secretarial Presv. 1877. 8vo. 

(3) A Guide to the People's Park, Madras, with a description of the 
Zoological Collection contained therem. (Aiadras : Higginbo«ham and Cj , 
1876) 

U) The Fiftb Annual Report o( the Board of Directors of the Zoological 
Society of Philadelphia. Read at the Annual Meeting of the Members abd 
Loanholders of the Society, April 26, 1877. 8vo. (Philadelphia, 1877 ) 

(5) Report of the Director ol the Central fark Menagerie, Depanmeni of 
Public Pa.ks, Cuy of Now York, fur year 18 j6, iNcw Yoik, 1877 : a M. 
Lees. Printer, 9x0, Fulcon St*eet. I 

* Natvev, vol. xvL p. 98. 

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tbe fashion of the preceding, and has been prepared by 
Dr. John Anderson, the Superintendent of the Imperial 
Maseam at Calcutta. It shows that though so recently 
Ii actual operation these gardens have already made con- 
ifi.derable progress, and are able to show a good series of 
f\\ e better-known Indian animals for the instruction and 
. Qusement of the Calcutta public. Amongst others we 
r ay notice the Indian Otter {Luira hptonyx) and the 
Isabelline Bear, as animals which have not yet reached 
the Gardens of the Zoological Society of London. Alto- 
gether there are 77 species of mammals in the collection, 
!X> of birds, and 17 of reptiles. 

The " Guide to the People's Park " shows that Madras 
docs not intend to be left behind the sister-city of Calcutta, 
and that she too will have a zoological garden. As its name 
imports, this little work is more of the nature of a " Guide '' 
than a Catalogue. It appears that Madras is indebted to Sir 
Giarles Trevelyan for the People's Park. Prior to 1 859 the 
piot of ground which it now occupies formed " an im- 
mense sivamp." In that year the enlightened governor 
of the day first suggested, and subsequently put into 
execution, the conversion of it into a park of about 116 
English acres. (How glad would be the Council of the 
Zoological Society of London to have such an area at their 
disposal !) The collection of animals does not yet, it is 
tme, s^pear to be very extensive ; but space, at any rate, 
does not fail them, and there is, at all events, plenty of 
room for additions, which cannot be said of some of the 
sister institutions. 

We must now turn to the western hem'sphere, and see 
what our Anglo-Saxon relatives on the other side of the 
Adantic have done in the way of zoological gardens. In 
this matter, we must say, our usually energetic cousins 
I seem to have moved a little slowly. Such vast and 
I weaHhy populations as those of New York and Phila-. 
I delphia might well have started zoological gardens for 
I the instruction and amusement of their citizens years ago, 
and they would by this have been in possession of well- 
organised institutions. But although the subject has 
been mooted in both these cities for many years, it is 
only within these last few years, we believe, that anything 
very practical has been effected. 

The Zoological Garden of New York forms a part of 
the Central Park of that city, and the report now before 
OS is addressed by Mr. W. A. Conklin, the director, to 
the Board of Commissioners of the Department of Public 
Paries of New York. It gives us an account of the affairs 
of the Zool<^ical Garden during the year 1876, and not 
^parently a very satisfactory one — since a reduction of 
the sum usu2.lly appropriated (by the City of New York, 
we presume) to the Park was made that year, which 
rendered it impossible to keep up the Gardens on their 
usual footing. It was resolved " not to receive any animal 
for exhibition in the menagerie unless the owner furnished 
tbe necessary food." This measure and the diminution 
of the sum expended in new purchases seem to have 
caused a sad decrease in the number of animals exhibited 
^ 1876. In spite of this the number of visitors was larger 
^^ in any previous year, which, however, is accounted 
feby the concourse of visitors passing through New York 
to and from the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia. 

While the Zoological Garden of New York is kept up 
out of public moneys that at Philadelphia is, like ours in 
^ndon, the property of a private society, and appears to 
^ in a much more flourishing condition.' Here the ** Cen- 
tamial" told still more largely on the mimber of visitors 
^atNew York,raising'them to a grand total of more than 
w,ooo for the year ending April 30 last. The extra receipts 
^ this source have not only enabled the society to make 
*any important additions to its menagerie, but also to 
fi^ a considerable sum in improvements and new build- 
'^ Amongst the latter we notice " a house for the 
^*<^«nmodation of warm-climated (!) hay-eating animals" 
(^2ebras and antelopes ?) now under construction at an 



estimated cost of 18,000 dollars, which will apparently 
exceed in dimensions even the new lion-house of the 
Zoological Society of London. This is pretty well for a 
society only now issuing its fifth annual report. It is 
evident that in zoological gardens, as in other scientific 
institutions, Philadelphia means to *' go-ahead " of her 
more populous neighbour. 

NOTES 

We take the following from the Times :— The Royal Society 
medals for the present year have been awarded by the President and 
the Council as follows :— The Copley Medal to Prof. James D wight 
Dana, for his biological, geological, and mineralogical investiga- 
tions, carried on through half a century, and for the valuable works 
in which his conclusions and discoveries have been published. A 
Royal Medal to Mr. Frederick Augustus Abel, F.R.S., for his 
physico-chemical researches on gun-cotton and explosive agents. 
A Royal Medal to Prof. Oswald Heer, of Zurich, for his nume- 
rous researches and Writings on the tertiary plants of Europe, of 
the North Atlantic, North Asia, and North America, and for his 
able generalisations respecting their affinities and their geological 
and climatic relations ; and the Davy Medal to Robert Wilhelm 
Bunsen and Gustav Robert -Kirchhoff, for their researches and 
discoveries in spectrum analysis. This is the first award of the 
Davy medal, which, as will be remembered, was founded by the 
proceeds of the sale of the service of silver plate bequeathed for 
the purpose by Sir Humphry Davy. The medals will be pre- 
sented at the Society's anniversary meeting on the 30th inst 

A F£W days ago the French Minister of Public Instruction, by 
a decree which has not yet been published, appointed a Com- 
mission to deliberate with the members of the council of the 
Observatory of Paris, as to the improvements which are pos- 
sible in the organisation of the establishment without inter- 
fering with existing decrees. Among the commissioners are 
Dr. Janssen, Director of the Meudon Physical Observatory, M. 
Herv^ Mangon, President of the Meteorological Society of 
France, and M. Marie Davy, the Director of the Montsouris 
Observatory. M. Yvon ViUarceau and M. Loewy have been 
appointed as councillors. The first meeting of the Commission 
took place last Saturday, under the presidency of M. Domesnil, 
one of the heads of the ministry, representing M. Bnmet. M. 
Yvon Villarceau, the astronomer delegate, read a long and 
elaborate report on the improvements which it was considered 
desirable to make in the establishment. The Conunission came 
to no decision, and the meeting adjourned to Saturday, Dec I. 
Some of the members are desirous of separating the meteoro- 
logical department from the observatory, and either transfer it 
to Montsouris or establish a Meteorological Institute ; to accom- 
plish this long- desired change it would be necessary to suppress 
the decrees signed by M. Thiers and approved by M. Leverrier. 
The intentions of the Government are not to alter radically tl^ 
existing state of things, which works satisfactorily, but to im- 
prove it as far as possible. PabUc opinion is strongly in favour 
of the organisation consecrated by M. Leverrier's administration. 

Two volumes of the French Transit of Venus Reports are now 
going through the press, and will be distributed in a very few 
days. The first U a compU rendu of the mission in China, com- 
manded by Capt Fleurian. The second is a/r^i^r verbal of the 
sittings, of the Transit Commission, which was presided over by 
M. Dumas. It is known that M. Leverrier abstained from being 
present at its deliberations, the illustrious astronomer bein ^ one 
of the few opponents of the transit observation. He preferred 
the opposition of Mars or direct measurements as taken by 
Comu in his experiments on the velocity of light. 

The French Government intends to send out an expedition to 
San Francisco in order to observe the next transit of Mercury, 



which will take place on May 6, 1878. 



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\p^av. 22, 1 8^7 



At the meeting of the Paris Academ^r of Sciences, on Novem- 
ber 12, M. Faye presented the ▼olnme of the " Connaissance des 
Temps " for 1879. Thb pnblication has reached, according to 
M. Faye, the highest degree of perfection desirable, and the new 
volume is marked by two important improvements both due to M. 
Loewy. The first consists in a new method which enables longi- 
tudes to be calculated according to occultations of stars by the 
moon, and that with such facility that sailors will make use of 
them with great benefit. The second improvement consists in 
tables which enables the latitude to be obtained by observation 
of the polar. 

The death of von Bacr has made a foreign associateship 
in the Paris Academy of Sciences vacant, and MM. Bertrand, 
Fizeau, Becquerel p^re, Claude Bernard, Dumas, and H. St. 
Claire Deville, have been appointed a commission to prepare a 
list of candidates for the vacant ** fauteuil." 

A PRIZE of 1,000 marks (50/.) is offered through Dr. Her- 
mann J. Klein, of Cologne, for the best treatise on "The 
Development of Monistic Philosophy from Spinoza down to the 
Present Time." The treatise must be written in the German lan- 
guage, and must contain a complete account of the relation of 
Spinoza to the Cartesian philosophy, a description of the progress 
and changes in the monistic theory brought about by Leibniz, 
Schopenhauer, Lazarus Geiger, and Ludwig Noir^, and a clear 
definition of the differences between the materialistic and monistic 
theories. All details can be obtained from Dr. Klein. The 
term up to which treatises will be received is fixed for July 30, 
1878. 

By a recent will, M. Maujean has bequeathed to the French 
Institute the capital producing a sum of 1,200 francs, designed to 
form a biennial prize of 2,000 francs, to be awarded alternately by 
the Acad^mie Fran9aise, and by the Academic des Sciences. To 
obtain it of the latter, it is necessary to have published the work 
which shall be pronounced the most useful to hygiene, con- 
sidered in all its branches. 

The Berlin Aquarium suffered, on November 13, the loss of 
what was certainly, from a scientific and from a financial stand- 
point, the most valuable zoological specimen in Europe, viz., 
the famous gorilla Pongo, whose human-like form and playful 
antics became so familiar to Londoners during the past summer. 
The visit to England, and stay in its warm moist climate, was 
regarded as having had the best effect on Pongo's health, when he 
returned to Berlin on September 21, and there was every pros- 
pect of the animal's being able to live through his second northern 
winter. Five weeks later, a lessening of appetite and slighr 
diarrhoea were observed, but were not regarded by the physician 
as of sufficient importance to prevent Pongo's appearance in public. 
The consternation was great when a few days later, the gorilla died 
suddenly, without any apparent increase of dangerous symptom?. 
The loss to the Berlin Aquarium is no small one, as it had lately 
refused an offer of 2,500/. for the animal^ and, taken in connec- 
tion with the late deaths of their orang-outang and chimpanzee, 
will check somewhat the tendency to invest capital in anthro- 
poidal apes. Not less severe is the loss to the scientific public, 
for no animal of late years has so attracted the attention ot 
zoologists as Pongo, and theorists were looking forward with no 
slight degree of interest to the possibilities connected with his 
growth and education. After a dissection, which will probably 
reveal the cause of the sadden death, the skin will be handed 
over to the Berlin Anatomical Museum. 

We have received from Dr. Agnilar the annual volume of the 
Observatory of Madrid for the last year, 1876. It is a little 
late in the day, but we may call attention to the long and inter- 
esting article on geographical discovery with which the book 
terminates, seemg that that commences so early, <*240o (?) a&os 
A. des J. C. Dispenion de las gentes despaes del Deluvio. 



Del caos consiguiente k tan immensa catdstrofe smgen a poco 
tiempo los ties grandes reinos de Babilonia, Ninive y Egipto." 

Already studied by two geologists, the Crimean peninsula 
has been recently visited by M. Ernest Favre, of Geneva. M. 
Hebert presented to the Paris Academy of Sciences, on Nov. 12, 
the results of this new examination, consisting of numeioas 
sections on a very complete map. 

Hachette and Co. are about to publish an important 
work of reference in Chemistry containing such important 
matter as the coefficients of dilatation, the specific weight of 
vapours, refrigerating mixtures, numerical documents on quali- 
tative, quantitative, and spectral analysis, &c We may state 
that the Smithsonian Institution are about to publish a similar 
work. 

There are now " on view " at the Westminster Aquarium 
four Laplanders — two men and two women — who have wiA 
them reindeer, dogs, an Arctic fox, a tent, sledges, and nomeroos 
articles of dress of home manufacture. They have been brought 
to England by Mr. Carl Bock, through the enterprise of Mr. 
Farini, so well known as the " inventor" of Luln's "upward 
bound,'' Zazel's '* lightning flight," and Maraz's "eagle ffwoGp." 
Any entertainment announced by one whose greatest successes 
hitherto have been to puzzle the public as to " how it b done" 
will naturally be looked upon with the same kind of suspicion 
that was bestowed on the " Egyptians " in the recent Lord 
Mayor's show. In some cases the public enjoys being puzzled, 
and this adds a zest to the enterprises of those who devise how 
to puzzle them. In the case of these Laplanders there does not 
appear to be the slightest ground for any suspicion as to genuine- 
ness. It will be recollected that Mr. Farini's whale at the 
aquarium was genuine, and when ^^post-mortem was held under 
the direction of Prof. Flower it was shown beyond doubt that it 
was not made of vulcanite and kept going by clock-work as was 
popularly supposed. We draw attention to the visit of thee 
Laps because there is much of interest to be learnt from seeing 
them, and we do so with all the greater pleasure because the 
aquarium, looked at from a scientific point of view, has £idlen 
from its high estate. We cannot pretend to make it a com* 
plaint that it is in the evening practically a large music hall with 
a miscellaneous entertainment by comic performers and sword 
swallowers. The place cannot be kept open without money, 
and if the public vrill not pay to go to an aquarium pure and 
simple, the management must provide what the public will take 
to, or shut up the place. But what we fear is that the manage- 
ment has been too much neglecting that part of the public, the 
minority certaiidy, who do care for an aquarium. Occasionally, 
especially during the control of Mr. Carrington, the aquarium 
has been in good order and well-stocked. It is again getting 
very unsatisfactory, perhaps because Mr. Carrington b in Naples. 
We gladly mentioned such recent improvements as throwing 
several tanks^into one to make a place for large fish, and the 
removal of the seals to the whale tank, where their gambols io 
swimming can be better seen, and we have on several occasions 
recorded interesting arrivals, and if we could honestly do so we 
would gladly recommend the tanks generally as affording a good 
opportunity for studying the habits of the occupants. Though 
the Laps are not especially coimected with aquarium objects the 
building affords a centrally located home for them. The pe^ 
formance, if it may be so called, through which they go, is an 
illustration*of their quiet life, and happily there is no attempt to 
make it sensational They show, among other things, how rein* 
deer sinew is worked into a continuous thread, a process of 
interest to those who have examined collections from bone caves 
containing implements which it is believed were used either with 
such threads or strips of reindeer hide. The size of some of the 
eyes of the bone needles is more suggestive of thread than strips- 
Their monotonous singing on the syllables wa wa wa, if ^ 



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fmov. 22, 1877] 



NATURE 



71 



L eantifiil, has an interest of its own as representing their secular 
irr^sic, especially when contrasted with their capability for singing 
' utheran hymns. Schaferias gives the translation of some of 
t dr love songs. Have these died out since his time ? Mr. 
\ xk says they have no secular songs. We are glad to know 

at the Zoological Society has given a friendly hand to Mr. 
! arini in offering a temporary home to five of his reindeer 

i the gardens. Mr. Bock states that the place from which he- 
xonght the party is Kautokeino, N. 69*1, £. 22*56. 

A EEPORT has recently been presented to the State Board ot 

Health ia Massachusetts by Dr. Nichols, regardiiag the health 

^.pf people who work with sewing machines. From observations 

' Iff the medical men engaged it is inferred that a healthy person of 

•rerage strength who does not maike abusiness of sewing with the 

ttcb ine , may woxk from three to four hours daily without much 

&tfgue or perceptible injury to health. Among work people, on 

the other hand, one frequently meets with disorders of digestion, 

doe to sedentaxy life and bad ventilation, abo pahis in the 

mnsdes of the trunk and the lower limbs, because these latter 

are always in motion. There occur a^so congestions of the 

ventral organs, weakness, and in some rare ca$es neuralgias of the 

! legs and spinal irritations. It is recommended to the proprietors 

I of works in which the sewing machine is used, to have (i) a good 

ventilation ; (2) a shorter time for wotk, with periods of rest- ; (3) 

mother motor force than that of the feet, ^.f ., a steam en^ne. 

An Indo-Chinese Society has just been formed in Paris for 
promotiog the study of Transgaogetic India and developing the 
tnde of France in that region. 

TuK Juvenile Christmas Lecture at the Society of Arts will be 
by Prof. Barff, on " Coal and its Components.'* 

The Momteur Universd publishes an article on the manufac* 
ttire of types for printing with hardened glass ^aem trempi)^ 
tt appears that the new types have worked adndcably on the 
improved revolving press for continuous paper. 

Tux death is announced of Mdlle. Henrietta Cerf, who was 

I bom in Jamaica in 1810^ and died in Brussels on the 22nd ult. 

Mdlle. Cer^ who for some years resided near Dinant, communi- 

oted various articles on the botany of Kent and Belgium to the 

PhytologUU 

Prince Bxsiiaacic's study at Varzin has been connected with 
the Foreign Office at Berlin by a telephonic apparatus. The 
demand for these instruments is said to be immense in Germany. 

A MONK of the monastery of Raigem, between Brann and 
Vienna, has completed a very curious mechanical work, a 
idf-moving terrestrial globe, fourteen metres in diameter. A 
toBibination of wheels effects a revolution similar to that of the 
urtb, and which lasts for thfee weeks. At the axis of the Noith 
Pole there are dials which indicate the days, months, &c. ; above 
this axis is another smaller globe which shows the rotation of the 
earth aroond the sun. The large globe is set in motion by a 
dozen, wheels. This ingenious mechanism has cost ten years' 
Ubonr, and has only been achieved after many experiments. A 
inap drawn upon the globe shows geographical details, and 
^ndes the most recent discoveries, routes of steamers, railways, 
tekgntphi^ mountain-heights, depths of the sea, &c. 

Wk have received a reduced photo-electrotype facsimile, by 
^•G. E. Emery, of Lynn, Mass., of the map which accom- 
panied the narrative of the brothers Zeni, published at Venice in 
155s* The Zeni it will be remembered made a voyage to die 
Arctic regums in the fourteenth century, and one of the problems 
'^Seogaphy is to identify the places mentioned in theirnarrative 
«ad map. This hl» already been ably attempted by Mr. Major, 
tad iHiQe Mr. Lynn's identifications agree in the main with those 



of Mr. Major, there are some important differences. '' Icaria," 
e.g.<, which Mr. Major makes out to be* Kerry, Ireland, Mr. Lynn 
identifies with the Rock^l Islands. The lost East Greenland 
O^ny, the latter places on the east of Spitzbergen, apparently 
on Wiche Land, and most extraordinary of all, Crolandia, he 
maintains .is the recently-discovered Franz-Josef Land. These 
two last Identifications are very daring, and geographers will 
look with interest for Mr. Emery's reasons, which no doubt he 
will publish. 

Intelligence has reached the Royal Itah'an Geographical 
Society that the.Marquis Antinori, heading the Italian expedition 
of discovery in Africa, is dead. Chiarini, his fellow-traveller, is 
a prisoner in Abyssinia. 

A SECOND edition of Capt Luigi Gatta's Italian translation of 
Maury's '* Physical Geography of the Sea" has just been 
published at Rome. It contains extensive and valuable footnotes 
by the translator. Capt Gatta is, we understand, engaged in a 
translation of Lyell's " Principles of Geology." 

Dr. Harm and, who has been exploring in Cochin China, has 
arrived in France, bringing with him, we believe, results of much 
value. 

On October 18, the first pioneers of the International African 
Exploration Society, consisting of the two Belgian officers, 
Capts. Crespel and Cambier, and the naturalist, Dr. Maes, left 
Southampton for Lake Tanganyika vi& Port Natal, on one of the 
vessels of the Union Mail Steamship Company. This Com- 
pany, with praiseworthy generosity, conveys the first party entirely 
free, and will make a deduction of twenty per cent, in the fares of 
all subsequently sent out by the society. The royal auspices under 
which the society enters upon its field of activity have ensured to 
it support in a variety of dhections. The Sultan of Zanzibar has 
promised to render the utmost assistance possible, and the com- 
mercial house of Roux de Fraissinet and Co., has instructed its 
widely-spread agencies on the east-coast to second the efforts of 
the exploring party. There seems to be no lack of funds in the 
treasury of the society. Among the late,subscriptions are 3,000 
francs from the Hungarian African Society, while the collections 
in France amount already to 32,000 francs. Belgium, small as it 
is, contributed 300,000 francs outright in June last, while yearly 
subscriptions to the amount of 100,000 were given in addi- 
tion. There is every prospect that this magnificent united eOfort 
will succeed in solving some, at least, of the problems connected 
with the remaining terra incognita of equatorial Africa. 

We regret to record the untimely end of the well-known geolo- 
gist and African explorer. Dr. Erwiii von Bary, whose recent 
explorations have frequently been referred to in our columns. 
Dr. V. Bary started in August, 1876, from Tripolis, on his 
journey into the interior of the Sahara, supported partly by the 
Karl Ritter Endowment Fund, and partly by the Berlin Afrikan- 
ische Gesellschaft The aim of this expedition was to make a 
thonMigh study of these almost unknown regions, with especial 
reference to topographical and geological questions, more par- 
ticularly the age and formation of the great desert. The chief 
results of this first journey were the observations leading to the 
conclusion that the Sahara was not formeriy the bed of an inland 
sea as hitherto supposed. The traveller returned from this very 
exhaustive and fatiguing tour to the Berber town of Chat to 
recruit his impaired energies, and prepare for a more extended 
trip into the district of the Tuarcj Hoggar, which has not as yet 
been visited by Europeans. Here he met the sad fate of so 
many African explorers, and died on October 2, from the effects 
of excessive exposure and privation. Von Bary's varied quahfi- 
cations and complete devotion to tiie cause for which he perished, 
had led to high cxpecUtions among his fdlow German geologists, 

O 



72 



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\NoV, 22," 1877 



and a general feeling of regret is felt over his early death, away 
from home and friends. The French geologist, M. Largeao, is 
at present endeavouring to penetrate into the Taarej region from 
the north, and the interest previously centred on von Bary's 
investigations will now gather about his efforts. 

In the spring of the present year we referred briefly to the 
attempt being made by Dr. J. M. Hildebrandt, under the 
auspices of the Berlin Academy of Sciences, to ascend the snow- 
covered summit of Mount Kenia. The question as to the per- 
manent snow covering of the two equatorial mountains, Kenia 
and Kilimandscharo, has been a subject of so much controversy 
among geographers, that the results of this expedition have been 
looked for with great interest It is with regret that we learn 
from a communication of Dr. Hildebrandt's, dated Suez, 
November 2, that he has been compelled to return, leaving the 
summit of Kenia still untrodden by the foot of a European. He 
left Mombassa on January 10 with forty attendants, and after 
two months of exhaustive travel amidst hostile tribes, reached 
Kitui, in Ukamba. Here, in full sight of Kenia, he was com- 
pelled to pause and retrace his footsteps, his followers utterly 
refusing to venture among the maraud ;i«7 tribes intervening 
between him and his journey's goal, and he himself being only 
saved by the swift application of an antidote from death by 
poison given by the natives. On reaching Zanzibar the physicians 
declared his health impaired to such an extent that restoration 
conld only be hoped for in a more temperate clime. Dr. Hilde- 
brandt has suffered unusually from the two invariable concomitants 
of the African explorer—sickness and the hostility of the abori- 
gines, his two expeditions from Zanzibar in the spring and 
•utunm of 1875 being both shortened and hampered by these 
causes. 

Hkrr Schutt, a civil engineer, has been despatched by the 
German African Society to^St Paul de Loanda to undertake an 
expedition through the region lately traversed so successfully by 
the hunter, Dr.,Pogge. 

One of the effects of the war in the east appears tj be the 
discovery in out-of-the-way towns in Russia, of gems of unsur- 
passed size and beauty, which doubtless have been jealously 
hoarded by their possessors, and only brought to light in times, 
like the present, of national necessity. Some of these gems have 
naturally found their way to this country ; perhaps the most 
remarkable are— an aquamarine, far superior to anything before 
seen in England, weighing over six ounces and a half, without 
the slightest blemish, and of a deep sea-green tint ; also a topaz 
rivalling that purchased for the Grand Mogul at Goa for 
11,260/. These two remarkable gems were received from 
Moscow by Mr. Bryce M. Wright, Miacralogist, of Great 
Russell Street, the possessor of the unique suite of diamonds 
called the '* Bryce Wright Diamonds," valued at 21,000/. 

Wk are requested to state that in the abstract of Mr. Perkin's 
paper read at the meeting of the Chemical Society on November 
I the word "cumen/r' was, by a slip, written *'cinnenyr' 
throughout the report. 

Thb additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 
past week include a Common Squirrel (Sciurus vulgaris)^ 
European, presented by Mr. T. Massey, F.Z.S. ; a Greater 
Sulphur-Crested Cockatoo (Cacatua galerita\ from Australia, 
presented by Mr. F. |Lablache ; a Radiated Tortoise {Testudo 
radiata) irom Madagascar, presented by Mr. H. Harrison ; two 
Red-backed Squirrel Monkeys {Saimaris cersUdt)^ two Black- 
handed Spider Monkeys {Ateles meianochir), a Derbian Opossum 
(Didelphys derbiamU) from Central Ameiica, a Bonnet Monkey 
(Macacus radiatus) from India, a Rufous-vented Guan (Pmelope 
cristaia) from Costa Rica, deposited ; a Bay Antelope {Cepka' 
lophus dorsalis) from West Africa, received in exchange. 



THE LIBERTY OF SCIENCE IN THE MODERN 
STATE"^ 

TXTHEN the honourable request was addressed to me by our 
^^ committee to deliver a lecture to the meeting upon Uits 
occasion, I asked myself whether I should not treat of a 
special department of the latest development of science, in 
accordance with that point of view to which I drew attentioo 
originally, and of which you were reminded by Prof. Klebs 
only the other day. But I decided this time to give expression 
to a more general want, principally because it seems to me that 
the time has come when a certain explanation must take place 
between science as we represent it and work in it, and general 
life as a whole, and because in the special history of the conti- 
nental nations of Europe the moment is rapidly approaching 
when ttie mental fate of nations bv decisions in the highest 
quarters may be determined perhaps for a long time to come. 

It is not for the first time, gentlemen, *that upon the occasion 
of a meeting of this Association I have been able, as a wamii^, 
to point out almost dramatic events happening in our neigh- 
bouring state. On a former occasion I could draw atten- 
tion to occurrences which had just taken place beyond the 
Rhine, and which, however far they may apparently be removed 
from our task, yet concern the same contested domain after all, 
that namely upon which a decision must be made with regard to 
determining what position modem science is to occupy in the 
modem state. Let us be sincere — ^here we may perhaps be 
doubly 80, — ^it is the question of nltramontanism and of ortho- 
doxy, which moves us continually. I may say that I look forward 
with real fear to the events which will happen among ov 
neighbours m the course of the next years. We here, at this 
moment, may look round with a certain pride and we may observe 
the course of things with a certain calmness. But to-day, whoi 
we are celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of this Association, it 
is certainly becoming to remember how great a change has taken 
place in Germany, and specially at Munich, since the days when 
Oken assembled German naturalists and physicians fo^the first 
time. 

I would only refer shortly to two facts ; they are well-known 
enough, but then they are also important enough to be mentioned 
again. The one is that when, in the year 1822, the handful of men 
who constituted the first meeting of the German Assodation of 
Naturalists met at Leipzig they thought it still so dangeroas to 
hold a meeting of that description that it was really held in per- 
fect secrecy. The names of the Austrian members could indeed 
be published only thirty-nine years later, viz., in 1S61. The 
second fact which strikes us when we remember Oken \Zt 
that he, the valued and renowned teacher, the ornament of 
the Munich high school, died in exile in the same canton of 
Switzerland in which Ulrich von Hutten ended his life full of 
troubles and contests. Gentlemen, the bitter exile which 
oppressed the last years of Oken's life, which caused his death 
far away from those scenes where he had sacrificed the best 
powers of hb life, this exile will remain the signature of the time 
which we have gone through. And as long as there is a German 
Association of Naturalists, we shall thankfully remember that this 
man bore all the signs of a martyr until the time of his death, we 
shall point him out as one of those who with their blood conquered 
and obtained for us the liberty of science. 

Nowadays, gentlemen, it is easy to speak of the liberty of 
science in Germany; now we are perfecdy f ecure even here, 
where, only a few decades back, the fear was great that a new 
change of things might perhaps produce the extreme reverse, 
and we can in all calmness discuss the highest and most difficult 
problems of life and the hereafter. The addresses which were 
delivered at the first and second general meetings certainly prove 
sufficientiy that Munich is now a place which can bear to hear 
the representatives of science in the most perfect liberty. I was 
not able to listen to all these addresses, but I have since read 
those of Professors Haeckel and Nageli, and I must say we 
cannot ask more than to be allowed to continue to discuss with 
such liberty. 

If it were only a question of rejoicing over this possession I 
should indeed not have claimed your attention for that object. 
But, gentiemen, we have arrived at a pouit when it becomes 
necessary to investigate whether we may hope to retain secuxdy 
for the future the possession which we actually enjoy. The fret 
th§t we are enabled to discuss, as we do to-day, is not a sufficient 

' Address deltvered at the Munich meetiiiir of tfie German Aaaociatioab 
by Prof. Rudolf Viichow, of Berlin. 



JOgk 



Hov: 2«, 1877] 



NATURE 



73 



security that it will always remain so for one who, like myself, 
has had many years' experience of pttblic life. Therefore I think 
that onr efforts should not only tend to claim the attention of all 
[ for the moment, but I believe we ought also to ask ourseWes 
what we are to do to maintain the present state of things. I will 
tdl yon at once, gentlemen, what I would represent to you as 
the chief result of my observations, what I would like to prove 
here principally. I would like to show that for the present we 
have nothing more to ask, but that on the contrary we have 
annred at the point when we must make it our special task to 
render it possible, through our tnoderaHon^ through a certain 
nsignaiion with regard to personal opinions and predUections that 
the iiavourable disposition of the nation towards us, which we sow 
enjoy, does not cnange to the contrary ! 

In my opinion we are really in danger of doing harm to the 
iuture, by making use too amply of the liberty which the present 
slate of things offers us, and I would warn you not to continue 
in the arbitrariness of personal speculation, which now claims 
prominence in many domains of natural science. The explana- 
tions which my predecessors have given you, those of Prof. 
Nageli in particular, will yield a series of the most important 
points of view, with regard to the course and limits of natural 
knowledge^ to all who read them, and it cannot be my task to 
Kpeat them. But I must point out in reference to them, and I 
would like to adduce a few practical instances from the experience 
of natnral science, how great a difference there is between what 
we give out as real science in the strictest sense of the word, and 
lor which alone we may in my opinion claim the totality of all 
those liberties which we may designate as liberty of science, or, 
if we express onrstlves still more exactly, as liberty of scientific 
teachings — and that larger domain, which belongs more to specu- 
hitive expansion, which sets problems, and finds the tasks to 
which modem investigation is to be applied, and which antici- 
patively formulates a series of doctrines, which are siill to be 
proved, and the truth of which must yet be found, but which in 
the mean time may be taught with a certain amount of proba- 
bility, in order to fill certain gaps in knowledge. We must not 
forget that there is a limit between the speculative domain of 
natural science and that which is actually proved and perfectly 
determined. The demand is addressed to us that this limit shall 
he not only occasionally pointed out, but fixed with the greatest 
exactness, so that each single worker shall at all times be per- 
fectly conscious of where the limit is drawn, and how far he may 
be requested to admit that what is taught is actual truth. That, 
gentlemen, is the problem which we have to work out in 
mrsdves. 

The practical questions which are connected with this, lie 
very near. It is evident that for whatever we consider to be 
ttcnrtd scientific truth, we must demand the complete admission, 
mto the scientific treasure of the nation. This the nation must 
admit as part of itself— it must consume and digest it, and 
coDtinne to work at it. Just in this lies the double promotion 
which natural science offers to the nation : — On the one lumd the 
material progress, that enormous progress which has been made 
in modern times. Everything which the steam engine, tele- 
graphy, photography, chemic^ discoveries, the research into 
colotirs, &&, have produced, all this is essentially based on this 
^that wcy the men of science, complete the doctrines entirely, 
and when they are perfectly complete and secure, so that we 
know with certainty that they are natural scientific truths, 
that we then give them to the nation at large ; then others can 
work with them as well, and can create new things, of which 
formerly nobody had any idea, of which nobody dreamt, which 
come info the world as perfect novelties, and which reform the 
condition of society and of states. This is the material signifi- 
cance of our labours. The mental importance, on the other hand, 
is similar. If I present the nation with a certain scientific truth 
which is completely proved, to which not the least doubt 
attaches, if I demand that everybody shall convince himself of 
the correctness of this truth, that he shall assimilate it, that it 
fchall become part of his thought, then I suppose as a matter of 
course, that his conception of things generally must be affected 
hy it. Each essentially new truth of this kind must necessarily 
influence the whole method of conception of man, the method of 
tkiftUng. 

If, for instance, to refer to a case in point which lies near, 
we consider the progress which has been made during recent 
years with regard to the knowledge of the human eye, b^inning 
at the time when the single component parts of the. eye were 
fintanatondcally separated, when these smgle and anatomiodly 
Mparated parts were first examined microscopically and their 



different arrangement shown, down to the time when we 
gradually learned to know the vital qualities and the physio- 
logical functions of the different parts, until at last, by the 
discovery of the retina-purple {Sehpurpur) and of its photographic 
properties, a progress was made of which but a year ago we 
hardly had an idea, then it is evident that with each progressive 
step of this kind a certain part of optics, particularly the doctrine 
of vision, is determined and changed. By this we learn in a 
perfectly certain manner how the action of light takes place in 
the interior of the human body hself, and that it is quite an 
outside organ of the human body, not the brain, but the eye 
which experiences this action. We learn by it that this photo- 
graphic process is not indeed a mental operation, but a chemi- 
cal phenomenon, which occurs by the help of certain vital 
processes, and that in reality we do not see the external things, 
but their images in our eye. We are thus enabled to gain a new 
analytical fact for the knowledge of our relations to the world 
outside of us, and to separate more distinctly the purely mental 
part of vision. from the purely material part. Thus a certain 
part of optics, and through it one of psychology, is entirely 
reformed. Chemistry now steps in to investigate questions 
which up to the present were entirely out of its range, particu- 
larly the highly important questions. What is retina-purple? 
What substance is this ? How is it formed, how decomposed, 
and how again formed ? The solution of these questions will 
not fail to open an entirely new field for investigation ; let us 
hope that also on the field of technical photography we shall 
soon make some progres.1, that we shall learn how to produce 
many-coloured photographs. Thus a mixture of steps of pro- 
gress is formed, which belong! partly to the material and partly 
to the mental domain. And I therefore say, that with each 
true step of progress . in natural knowledge a series of changes 
must necef sarily take place in the internal relations of the human 
race as well as in the external ones, and nobody can prevent new 
knowledge from influencing him ,in a certain sense. Each new 
part of real knowledge works on in man, it produces new con- 
ceptions, new trains of thought, and nobody can avoid, after 
all, placing even the highest problems of the mind into a certain 
relation with natural phenomena. 

But there is still another side of practical consideration which 
lies far nearer to us. Everywhere in the entire German Father- 
land we are now occupied in remodelling educational affairs, in 
enlarging and developing them, and in determining their precise 
forms. The new Prussian educational law is on the threshhold 
of coming events. In all German states larger school-houses are 
being erected, new institutions are founded, the universities are 
enlaced, high schools and middle schools are established. At 
last the question arises. What is to be the principal tenor of 
what is taught? Where shall the school lead to? In what 
directions shall it work? If natural science demands, if we 
have been exerting ourselves for years to obtain an influence in 
our schools, if we demand that natural knowledge shall be ad- 
mitted into education in a much larger measure, so that this 
fertile material be offered tarly to the youthful minds, in order 
to form the basis of a new conception, then we must indeed own 
that It is high time that we understood one another with regard 
to what we can and will demand. If Prof. Haeckel says that 
it is a question for pedagogues whether the theory of descent 
is now to form the basis of instruction, whether the plasti- 
dule soul is to be adopted as the basis of all considerations 
regarding mental phenomena, and whether the phylogeny of 
man is to be followed up into the lowest classes of die organic 
empire, and even beyond it up to spontaneous generation, then 
this is, in my opinion, a mere shifting of tasks. If the theory of 
descent is as certain as Prof. Haeckel thmks it is, then we must 
demand its admission into the school, and this demand is a 
necessary one. How could we imagine that a doctrine of 
such importance, which influences the conscience of everybody 
in so revolutionary a manner, which creates directly a sort 
of new religion, should not be entirely incorporated into the 
educational plan ! How would it be possible to ignore such a 
revelation — as I may indeed call it — in our scliools, ani to kill it 
by silence as it were, or to leave the transmission of the greatest 
and most important steps of progress, which our conceptions have 
made in the whole century, to the option of the pedagogue ? 
Indeed, gentlemen, that would be a resignation of the most 
severe kind, and in reality it would never be exercised. Every 
schoolmaster who might receive this doctrine in his mind would 
teach it as well, even unconsciously. How could he do otherwise? 
He would have to simulate altogether, he would have to rob 
himsflf at times of his own knowledge in the most artificial 

O 



74 



NATURE 



\NoV. 22, 1877 



manner, in order not to show that he knew and recogniaed the 
theory of descent, and that he knew exactly how man has origi- 
nated and whence he comes. If indeed he did not know where 
man goes to, yet he wculd at least believe that he knew for certain 
how in the course of aeons the progressive series shaped itself. 
Therefore I say that if we really did not demand the admission 
of the theory of descent into the educational plan, this would 
yet be accomplished of its own accord. 

We certainly should not forget, gentlemen, that what here we 
express, perhaps still with a certain timid reserve, is propagated 
by those outside with a confidence increased a thousand-fold. 
For instance, I have once pronounced the phrase — in opposition 
to the doctrine ti^en reigning of the development of organic life 
from inorganic matter— that each cell had its origin in another 
cell, indeol at that time with special reference to pathology, and 
principally with regard to man himself. I may remark here that 
m both reUtions I still to<day consider this phrase a perfectly 
correct one. But when I had pronounced this doctrine and had 
formulated the origin of the ceil from the cell, others were not 
wanting who extended this phrase not only in the organic world 
far beyond the limits for which I had intended it, but who put it 
down as generally valid even beyond the limits of oivanic life. 
I have received the most wonderful communications both from 
America and Europe, in which the whole of astronomy and 
geology were based upon the cellular theory, because it ¥ras 
bought impossible that something which was decisive for the life 
of organic nature upon this earth should not be equally applied 
to the heavenly bodies, which were said to be round bodies after 
all, and which had shaped themselves into globes and represented 
so many ccdis flying about in universal space and playing a 
part there similar to that of the cells in our body. 

I cannot say that the authors of these communications were 
all decided fools and simpletons ; on the contrary, from some 
of their explanations I gained the idea that many an other- 
wise educated man, who had studied much and finally attacked 
the problems of astronomy, could not understand that the utility 
of heavenly phenomena should be based upon something else 
than the utility of human organisation, so that he, in order to 
gain a monistic conception eventually arrived at the supposition 
that the heaven must also be an oreanism, that indeed the whole 
world must be an organism of useful arrangement, and that no 
other principle but that of the cells could apply to it I cite this 
only in order to show what shape things take outside, how 
*' tiieories " are enlarged, and how our own doctrines may return 
to us in a form fearful to ourselves. Now only imagine how 
the theory of descent may be shaped to-day Jn the head of a 
socialist ! 

Indeed, gentlemen, this may seem ridiculous to many, but it 
is very rerious, and I only hope that the theory of descent may 
not bring all those horrors in our country which similar theories 
have actually brought to our neighbours. Anyhow this theory, if 
carried through to its consequences, has an extremely dangerous 
side and that the socialists have a certain notion of it already, 
you will doubtless have remarked. We must make this quite 
clear to ourselves. 

Nevertheless the matter might be as dangerous as possible, 
the confederates might be as bad as they could be, and yet I 
say, from the moment when we are convinced that the theory 
of descent is a doctrine perfectly proved, so certain that we could 
swear by it, that we could say, thus it is, — ^from that moment we 
must not hesitate to introduce it into general life, transmit it not 
only to every educated person, but teach it to every child, make 
it the basis of our whole conception of the universe, of society, 
and of the state, and found our educational system upon it. 
l^his I consider a necessity. 

In saying this I am not at all afraid of the reproach, which to 
my astonishment has made a great noise in my Prussian Father- 
land, while I was absent in Russia, I mean the reproach of half- 
knowledge. Strange to say, it was one of our so-called liberal 
journals which asked the question whether the great faults of our 
time, and socialism in particular, were not based upon the diffu- 
sion of half-knowledge. With reference to this I would like to 
state here, in the midst of the Naturalists' meeting, that all 
human knowledge is only piece-work. All of us who call ourselves 
naturalists, only possess pieces of natural science ; none of us 
is able to come here and represent each science vrith the same 
right, or participate in the discussions of any scientific section . On 
the contrary, it is just because they have developed themselves 
in a certain one-sided direction, that we esteem the special scientific 
men so highly. On the other fields we are all in half-knowledge 
as it were. Oh ! that we could only succeed in dififiunng this 



half-knowledge more and more, if we could succeed in causing at 
least the majority of educated persons to progress far enough to 
be able to survey the principal directions which the single depart- 
ments of natural science are taking, and to follow their develop- 
ment without meeting difficulties too great to be overcome, so 
that they would at least be aware of the general progress of 
science, if, indeed, they were not acquainted, at every moment, 
with the totality of all single and special proofe. We do not 
get much further ourselves. I, for instance, have honestly tried 
during mv rime of life to obtain chemical knowledge ; I have 
even worked in a laboratory, but I feel thoroughly uicompetent 
to sit down at some chemical meeting without preparation, tnd 
to discuss modem chemistry in all directions. Neverthelesi I 
am able to penetrate, after a time, so fiir into any chemical 
novelty that it does not strike me as incomprehensible. Bat I 
must always first acquire this understanding, I have not got it to 
start with ; and when I want it again I must acquire it agiin. 
That which honours me is the knowUdge of my ignorance. The 
most important part is that I know penectiy well what I do not 
know of chemistry. If I did not know that then of course I 
should always be wavering to and fro. But as I imagine that I am 
tolerably well aware what I do not know, I say to myself every 
time I am obliged to enter a domain which is stdl closed to me : 
" Now I must begin again to learn, now I must study afresh, 
now I must do as anybody does who enters the domain of 
science." The great error, which is equally shared by many 
educated people, consists in not remembering that with the 
enormous extent of natural science and with the inexhaustible 
quantity of detailed material, it is impossible for any single person 
alive to command the totality of all these details. That we get 
far enough to know the foundations of natural science and the 

taps which exist in our own knowledge, so that every time we 
nd a gap of this kind we say to ourseWes, — '* Now you enter a 
domain which is unknown to ]rou," — that is what we must 
arrive at. If everybody was only sufficiently aware of this, many 
a one would beat his breast and own that it is a dangerous thing 
to draw general conclusions with regard to the Mstory of ail 
things when one is not even entirdy master of the material from 
wliich these conclusions are to be drawn. 
{To he continued,) 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL 
INTELLIGENCE 

Cambridge. — This term has witnessed the election of two 
new Natural Science fellows. Mr. A. M. Marshall, Senior in 
the Tripos of 1874, has been elected at his own College, St 
John's. His able papers on Embi^logy have been an im- 
portant addition to the researches which are making the British 
school again famous in this subject, and he is the firat Doctor of 
Science in Comparative Anatomy in the University of London. 
Two of the newly-elected fellows of St. John's are taking to 
Medicine, viz.. Dr. Marshall and Mr. McAUster, the last Senior 
Wrangler. At Trinity theopen fellowship has been adjudged for the 
first time to a non-member of the College, Mr. J. N. Laneley, 
B. A., of St John's, whose services as Demonstrator of Phyti^ogy 
to Dr. Foster are most highly appreciated, while his originality and 
perseverance in research will, before long, be much more widely 
known than at present. I understand that the aid of Pio£ Huxley 
was called in, giving the highest guarantee to the examination in 
Biology, and that several candidates showed themselves in every 
way worthy of a fellowship, especially in the original memoiri 
which were sent in before the examination. 

The new buildings for anatomy and physiology are advandng 
to completion and are partially occupied, Mr. Bilfonr's two prac- 
tical courses of Comparative Anatomy being accommodated in 
them. Dr. Foster will transfer much of his work here after 
Christmas. The new buildings will be almost too small as soon 
as completed, for Dr. Foster has fifty men and several ladies 
working in his elementary classes this term, a very lai^ number 
when it is considered that this is voluntary and not prescribed 
work. It is but a just tribute to Dr. Foster's rare value as a 
teacher who makes his students think, who sacrifices his time 
most indefatigably for their interests, and who cultivates the 
powers of investigation developing in his pupils with all the 
care of a parent Instead of engrossing authority to hhn- 
self, he sets his senior pupils to lecture on the subjects 
they make a special study ; thus duriiu^ the present winter the 
advanced class will receive lectures from Dr. Gaskell, Mr. Langley, 
and Mr. Lea. Mr. Vines has returned from working inGemuBy 

O 



Nov. 22, 1877] 



NATURE 



75 



with Stcfas, and is lectnripg to a laige class on Vegetable phy- 
siology. Next year he will start the first practical course of 
\muiky, and, being unable to induce his college to provide appa- 
ratus for a laboratory, intends to furnish it at his own expense. 
Among other lectures in natural science Prof. Dewar's on 
Physical Chemistry are taking high rank. It is to be noted that 
Mr. Apjohn, the late lamented Prselector of Chemistry at Caius 
College, was to have received a fellowship this term b]f special 
vote of the whole of the fellows. The prselectorship is to be 
cantinaed mostly in its old form, but it is worthy of note that the 
prosecution of original research is put prominently among the 
duties of the office, as well as the instruction of students from the 

I Univexsity generally. There are nearly a score of candidates, 
indudiDg sudi well-known names as Mr. W. Noel Hartley, Dr. 
J. T. Bottomley, and Dr. Dittmar. 

Prof. Qerk Maxwell greatly interested the Philosophical 
Society at its last meeting by an account of Henry Cavendish's 
unpublished writings and experiments on electricity. He was 
not generally known to have done much electrical work, and 
his papers were long in the hands of Sir W. Snow Harris, who 
is declared by Prof. Maxwell, after careful examination, to have 
made no use of Cavendish's work without full and adequate 
acknowledgment These writings are left in a form ^uite titted 
for publication, and will greatly advance the reputation of the 
great philosopher. His exactness, his candour, hif grasp of the 
subject, his notable achievements with the small variety of instru- 
ments available in his time, were fully shown by the examples 

I cited to the Society. Yet these were less than his remarkable 
insight into electrical laws, his correct conception of potential, 
his ideas of investigating the total charges of bodies, and the 
resistance of electrolytes. Prof. Maxwell thought that nobody 
had ever possessed so large and various a collection of condensers 
of known capacity as Cavendish, but his family taciturnity pre- 
vented his merits from being fully known. He trained himself 
to be his own galvanometer, and the general value of his results 
is remarkable when compared with those obtained by modem 
instruments. 

In regard to university reform, it appears that in some colleges at 
least there is a danger of the non-resident fellows,, who form the 
largest proportion of the governing body under the act, endea- 
vouring to maintain at a very high number the fellowships to 
which no duties are attached ; of course every such fellowship 
diminishes the funds available for definite association with the 
progress of research and education. Some men hold very strongly 
to the " start in life " theory of fellowships ; viz., that they ought 

I to receive three hundred a year for > number of years in oider 
tkat they may gain three thousand a year in a profession the more 
speedily. 

Glasgow. — ^Mr. Gladstone has been elected Lord Rector of 
Glasgow University in succession to the Earl of Beaconsfield. 

Berlin. — ^The well-known botanist, Prof. Sachs, of Wiirz- 
boxg^ has received a very flattering call to Berlin. Neither pains 
nor money seem to be spared by the Prussian Government in 
attracting to the capital the foremost talent of Germany ; and 
oertunly in this chc^ce of a successor to Alexander Braun no 
change of policy is shown. 

GdTTiNGEN. — ^The sum of 50^000 marks has recently been 
appropriated for the erection of a phyto*physiological institute 
in the Botanical Gardens. 

GixssEN. — In consequence of the late discussions excited by 
Prof. Mommsen's articles on the Ph.D. examinations in Ger- 
many, the University of Giessen has issued an announcement 
itating that for the future no faculty can bestow the title of 
Doctor, except on the basis of a thesis and oral examination. 

DoRPAT. — The winter attendance at the university is 853, of 
vbom but seven are non-Russian. 

Brunswick. — On October 16 interesting ceremonies took 
place at the opening of the magnificent new buildings of the 
Carolo-Wilhelminum Polytechnic, in which representatives of 
^ Government, and delegates from all the great German poly- 
technics, took part. The new edifices are of great extent, and 
^ly equipped with all possible adjuncts for modern technical 
^cation, so that this well-known institution will be able to 
yttintain its well-earned reputation. The Carolo-Wilhelminum 
is the oldest polytechnic in Germany, having been founded in 
^745} snd the list of its students embraces many distinguished 
^'^iBes, snch as Gauss, the mathematician, Christopher Codring- 
^ the English commander at the naval victory of Navarino, &c 



SOCIETIES AI4d academies 

London 

Chemical Society, November 15.— Dr. Gladstone in the 
chair. — The following communications were made :— First report 
to the Chemical Society on some points in chemical dynamics, 
by Dr. Wright and Mr. Luff. An elaborate series of experi- 
ments was made to find out the temperatures at which the actions 
of carbonic oxide, hjrdrogen, and free amorphous carbon on 
oxide of iron or oxide of copper are first perceptible. The 
aiuthors find that this temperature varies with the physical con- 
dition of the oxide used, that hydrogen acts, on agivenroxide, at 
a lower temperature than carbon and carbonic oxide, at a lower 
temperature than hydrogen, and that a given reducing agent 
begins to act on copper oxide at a lower temperature than on 
iron oxide. — On the chemistry of cocoa butter, Part I. ; two 
new fatty adds, by C. T. Kingzett. The first acid is a low acid 
of the series, CqII^O,, having the ^formula CigH^fO,, ue.^ 
lanric acid, but it melts at 57°'$. The second sicid is a high 
acid having the formula Cg^H^ssOs* crystallising in microscopic 
needles or granules, melts at 72 *2, and at a lugh temperature 
distils apparently unchanged. The author proposes for it the 
name of theobromic acid. It is pointed out that the usual state* 
ment in books, "that cocoa butter yields almost exclusively 
stearic acid " is entirely incorrect — ^The third paper was on the 
influence exerted by time and mass on certain reactions in 
which insoluble salts are produced, by Mr. M. P. Muir. The 
author has taken solutions containing known quantities of calcium 
chloride and potassium or sodium carbonate mixed, .allowed to 
stand for a certain number of minutes, and then estimated the 
quantity of calcium carbonate formed. He has arrived at the 
following conclusions : — ^That the greater portion of the chemical 
change takes place during the first five minutes ; the reaction 
then decreases in rapidity. The relative masses of the salts exert 
an important influence. Thus if the mass of sdkaUne carbonate 
be four times that required, the action is completed in five 
minutes, but if an equi^ent quantity only be present the action 
is not finished in forty-six hours, rotassium carbonate yields 
more calcium carbonate in a given time than sodium carbonate. 
An increase of temperature increases, whilst dilution, especially 
with solutions of potassium or sodhim chloride, diminishes the 
rapidity of the action. Some experiments are given on the action 
of solutions of calcium sulphate and sodium cmoride. 

Entomological Society, November 7. — Prof. Westwood, 
president, in the cfaair.^Mr. McLachlan exhibited ten of the 
thirteen species of Lepidoptera collected by Capt Feilden and 
Mr. Hart inGrinnell Land, between 78** and 83° N. lat, during 
the recent Arctic Expedition, and made some remarks upon the 
general insects of the Arctic Reeions. — The Rev. A. Eaton also 
made some observations upon the same subject. — Mr. Meldola 
exhibited a five-winged specimen of Gonepteryxrhamni^ taken in 
Norfolk by Mr. John Woodgate ; likewise a gynandromorphic 
specimen of Pieris brassicay caught in OxfordsMre by Mr. J . B. 
Watson. The right half of the latter insect was female and the 
left half male. — ^Mr. H. Goss exhibited a gynandromorphic speci- 
men of G. rhatnni^ captured in Sussex ; in this insect also the 
light'side was female and the left side male. — Mr. J. W. Douglas 
exhibited a specimen of Polyphylla fuUo^ Linn., which had flown 
on to a steamer at Antwerp, and been thus brought to this 
country. Mr. Douglas also exhibited a specimen of the rare 
TeUigpHieira impreisopunctata 9xA one of Typhlocyba debilis^ both 
taken on Sanderstead Downs ; and likewise, for comparison, an 
example of 71 Utterritna, — Mr. W. C. Boyd exhibited a larva 
of Pisris rapa attacked by Mierogasttir, — ^The president read 
notes on exotic Coleoptera, and exhibited specimens of Calo^ 
meti^us Nyassff, Amhlyodus Nicaragua and drawings of other 
Species. — Prof. Westwood also remarked upon an Indian Mantis 
{fiangylus gpngylodes) which had been recently described by Dr. 
Anderson in the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of jBengal for 
August, 1877, as being a simulator of a fiower to a remarkable 
degree of perfection. — Mr. Wood- Mason also made remarks upon 
the same subject and upon stridulating organs in crustaceans 
with reference to a letter on this subject by Mr. SaviUe Kent in 
this journal (vol. xvii. p. ii). Mr. Wood-Mason likewise 
announced the discovery of a stridulating apparatus in a Phasma. 
—Sir Sydney Saunders read a note on the specific identity of the 
Hampstead Atypus. Mr. F. Enoch exhibited and made re-> 
marks upon a male and female of this spider. —.The following 
papers were read :— Descriptions of new species of the coleop- 



76 



NATURE 



\NoV. 22, 1877 



teroQs genus, CalUrhipis {Rkipuhcerida), in the British Mosettm^ 
by C. O. Waterhouse. — Descriptions of a new genus and two 
new species of Sphingida, with remarks on the family generally, 
by A. G. Butler. — Descriptions of HaltidtuXy by J. S. Baly.— < 
Descriptions of new species of CUrida, with notes on the genera 
and corrections of synonymy, by the Rev. H. S. Gorham. 

Royal Astronomical Society, November 9. — Dr. Huggins, 
F.R.S., in the chair. — A very large number of papers were 
presented. — Lord Lindsay was called upon to read Mr. Gill's 
report upon the expedition to Ascension to obtain the parallax 
ef Mars, from which it appeared that in spite of meteorological 
difficulties and many causes of anxiety most satisfactory results 
had been obtained, and Mr. Gill had gone up a mountain 
to recruit his health. — Several important mathematical papers 
were then read ; one by the Astronomer-Royal on the solar 
parallax, as deduced from telescopic observations of the transit 
of Venus, 1874- — Next a paper by Prof. Adams on the motion 
of the moon's node, and a paper by Mr. Neison on three small 
inequalities in the mean motion of the earth, and a small inequality 
in the mean motion of Mars. These were followed by three 
observational papers on the recent opposition of Mars; one 
by the Astronomer- Royal, read by Mr. Christie, giving the 
summary of what was seen at Greenwich both with the telescope 
and spectroscope ; the next by Mr. N. E. Green, giving an 
account of his expedition to Madeira and what he saw of Mars 
w^itha fine 13 inch reflector. This paper was accompanied by a 
series of beautiful drawings of the planet by the author. The 
third paper, on Mars, was by Mr. John Brett, being a discussion 
of a series of telescopic observations made in Cornwall, the 
purport of which was to show that the generally received hypo- 
thesis of the physical condition of Mars was altogether fallacious, 
neither the snows nor the seas having any foundation in fact. 
This paper was also illustrated by a series of drawings. — Then 
followed a paper by Lord Lindsay, on a new form of spectro- 
scope, and the meeting adjourned. 

Anthropological Institute, November 13. — Dr. John Evans, 
F.R.S., president, in the chair.— The Rev. T. A. Bennett and 
F. V. Dickins were elected members. — An interesting series of 
casts of skulls made of papier-mache were exhibited, and a 
special vote of thanks was ordered to be sent to Prof. Bogdanow, 
of Moscow, [.by whom they were presented to the Institute. — 
Major-Gen. A. Lane Fox, F.R.S., exhibited some flint flakes 
from Egypt, and a note from Capt. R. F. Burton was read on 
the same. — The director then read a paper by Mr. H. H. 
Ho worth, F.S.A., on the spread of the Slaves: Patt I., the 
Croats.— This was followed by a paper on the Castilieri d'Istria, 
by Capt R. F. Burton, H.M.'s Consul at Trieste. — Mr. Hyde 
Clarke, the President, Major-Gen. A. Lane Fox, and Mr. 
Moggridge took part in the discussions. 

Institution of Civil Engineers, November 13.— Mr. George 
Robert Stephenson, president, in the chair. — The paper read 
was a review of the progress of steam shipping during the last 
quarter of a century, by Mr. Alfred Holt, M. Inst. C.E., of 
Liverpool 

Paris 

Academy of Sciences, November 12. — ^M. Peligot in the 
chair. — M. Faye presented the volume of the Connaissance des 
Temps for 1879. — On some applications of elliptic functions (con- 
tinued), by M. Hermite.— -^/jww/of a history of matter (fourth 
article) by M. ChevreuL This relates to the views of Lavoisier, 
Stahl, Scheele, Cavendish, and Priestley. — Observations on the 
principle of maximum work and on the spontaneous decomposition 
of hydiated bioxide of barium, by M. Berthelot.— On the limits 
of etherification, by M. Berthelot. In experimenting en etheri- 
fication sixteen years ago he put aside a number of mixtures to 
be kept a considerable time, in order to ascertain the limit of 
the reactions produced at ordinary temperatures. The mixtures 
consisted of acetic acid and alcohol (equal equivalents), acetic 
acid and glycerine, tartaric acid and alcohol, valeric acid and 
alcohol. He has now examined these. The general laws of 
eiheriflcation are confirmed, and especially the identity of the 
limits of combinations between acids and alcohols, from ordinary 
temperatures up to 260*.— On the order of appearance of the 
first vessels in the shoots of some Legumfaiosse (second part), by 
M. Trecul. — The Academy elected a commission to present a 
list of candidates for the vacancy among the Foreign Associates, 
caused by the death of M. von Baer.— On the numeration of 
globules of milk for the analysis of woman's milk, by M. Bouchut, 



A drop of milk is mixed with 100 drops of slightlj saline water 
(distilled). A drop of the mixture is placed under the microKope, 
whose eye-piece is divided into squares ; the number of gloholes 
in each square is counted, and the average taken ; from this may 
be deduced the number in one cubic mUlimetr?. Tlie globules 
were thus counted in milk of 158 nurses, before, during, and 
afto: suckling. The average of globules is about 1,026^000 per 
cubic millimetre of milk, or a hundred and two milliards ax 
hundred millions per litre ; bat between 800,000 and one million 
per cubic millimetre, the milk is considered of good qnality. 
In one table are given the density and the quantity of batter 
corresponding to given numbers of globules of cow's milk. — 
New tormulse for tSe study of the motion of a plane figure, by 
M. Haton de la GoupiUi^re. — On the migration of the pucercm 
of the cornel tree and its reproduction, by M. Lichtenstein. 
This puceron comes from the roots of graminese, and returns 
to them. Its mode of reproduction is that termed by the 
author fl«M<?^««ij.— Observations on the fubject of a recent 
communication from M. Fabre, by M. Millardet The secreUry 
announced a new biennial prize, founded by M. Maujean. — 
Discovery of a small planet at the Observatory of Paris, by M. 
Paul Henry.— Discovery of a small planet at the Observatory 
of Pola, by M. Palisa. —Observations of planets 125 and 176 
made at the Paris Observatory (equatorial of the garden), by MM. 
Paul and Prosper Henry.— New stellar systems, by M. Fiam- 
marion. — On the equation with partial derivatives of the third 
order expressing that the problem of geodesic lines, considered 
as a problem of mechanics, supposes an algebraic integral of the 
third degree, by M. Levy. — On the evolution of red corpuscles 
in the blood of oviparous vertebrates, by M. Hayem. The red 
corpuscles proceed from a peculiar colourless element, which 
from the first phases of development is distinct from the white 
corpuscles; the name of hematoblast is given it The white 
corpuscles are foreign to the formation of the red, both in 
oviparous vertebrates and in the higher animals ; but whereas in 
the latter the red corpuscles of new formation are coloured, what- 
ever their minuteness, in the oviparous, the embryonic cor- 
puscles are at first quite without hsemoglobin. — On the spots 
an4 crevices of pears, by M. Prillieux. These are due to the 
growth of a small parasitic champignon. — On the semi-dhimal 
variations of the barometer, by M. De Parville. He thinks it 
improbable that aqueous vapour has a prepondertiting influence 
in these variations. — On the quantities ot heat liberated in mix- 
tures of sulphuric acid and water, by M. Maumen^. Stdphnric 
acid recently heated does not liberate, with water, the same 
quantity of heat as the same acid kept several months. This 
phenomenon, denoted as a tempering of liquids, seems to him 
a source of error in researches on thermo-chemistry not hitherto 
considered. 



CONTENTS i»AGa 

Danish Grbbnlamd • 57 

Qua Book Shblf :— 

Harrison's ' ' Sketch of the Geology of Leicestershire and Rutland ** 58 
Lbttbks to the Editok :— 

Expected High Tides— Edward RoBBSTS 58 

Rainfall in the Tern Derate Zone in Connection with the Son-«pot 

Cycle -Dr W. W Huntbr 99 

Contribution to the Sun-spot Theory of Rainfall. — ^Dr. E Bonavia. 61 
The Radiometer and its Lessons — Prof Osbornb Rbvnolds ; Dr. 

William B. Carpbntbr, P.R.S 61 

Fluid FUms—CToMLiNSOM, F.RS. 6« 

Tuckey and Stanley.— The Yallala Rapids on the Congo —Dr. J. 

Rab 61 

The Future of our British Flora. ~A Craig-Ckristib .... 6a 

Seleaive Discrimination of Insects.— Hbnry O Forbes .... 6a 
Ths Earth-worm in Relation to the Fertility of the Soil.— Geo. H. 

Phipps 69 

Smell and Hearing in Moths — E. HK 6a 

Carnivorous Plants.— Francisco Gimbz 63 

OuK Astronomical Column :— 

Minor Planets 63 

The Comet of 1672 63 

Mr. Darwin at Cambridge 64 

International Geological Congress 65 

The Modern Tblbscopb. By J. Norman Lockybr, F.R.S. {With 

niustratums) 66 

Zoological Gardens 68 

Notes 69 

The Liberty op Scisncb in the Modern State. By Prof Rudolf 

ViRCHOW \>Vi^T* • • • 7« 

University AMD Educational Intbxxigbncb •lO'Qi* • • • 74 

SociBTiESAia>AcAQB|im .;...' * - . • . 75 



Nov. 22, 1877] 



NATURE 



XXIX 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



London 

THURSDA r, NovBMBKR m. 
RovAL Socimr, at 8 30. — RemaHcs on the Attributes of the Gen&inal Par- 
ticles of Bacteria, in reply to Pfof. Tyndall : Dr. Sanderson, F.R.S.— 
Observations on Hermetically-s^a'ed Flasks opened in the Alps : Dr. 
T\ ndall, F.R S.~Researches on the Effect of Ligh' upon Bacteria and 
ocber Orgamsms : Drs. Downes and T. P. Blunt— Oa the Tides at Malta : 
• The Astrooomtr-Royal, F. R. S. 

FRIDAY, NovHMBKB 33. 
/reicBTT MiCBOSCOPiCAi. Club, at 8.— A New British Sponge : J. G. 
V/aller. 

SUNDAY, November 25. 
- . ^AY LacTUKB SociBTV, at 4.— The Balance of Emotion and Intellect in 
. Man : Vt. Waldstein. 

MONDAY^ November a& 
SociBTV OF Arts, at 8.— Cantor Lectare ; Mamfacture of Pkper : Wm. 
Amot, F.CS. 

TUESDAY, November 27. 

AjfTfOKOPOLOGiCAi. IwOT i T U T E , at 8. — Notes on Sccotra : F. M. Hunter. 

—Notes on the Z&paros : Alfred Simson.— On the Malays and Polynesians : 

Rev. S. J. Whitmee. 

West London Sciemtific Absoqation, at 8.— The Age of the HiUs : 

J. Lw Lobley.— Geoloffv of HunsUoton : The Hon. Librarian. 

lESTlTUTlOM OP CiVIL ENGINEERS, at 8. 

WEDNESDAY, November a8. 
SocTKTV OF Arts, at 8. 
RovAi. SociETT OF LITERATURE, at 8.— Oa Roman Wax tablets receintly 

CcHind at Pompeii : Mr. Vaux. 
Society of TEi-ECRArH Engineers, at 8. 

FRIDAY, November 30. 
RoTAL Society, at 4 —Anniversary. 

SATURDAY, December x. 
Phvsicai. SoaETY, at 3. 

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NATURE 



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Vav. 22, 1877] 



NATURE 



XXXI 



PICK-ME-UP. 

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^t'Upr by tht Proprietor^ 



FRENCH HYGIENIC SOCIETY, 40, Hay- 

market. — Electro-Dosimetric Institution. Treatment of all Chronic 
Diseases pronounced incurable by the combined therapeutic methods 
of Drs. Bnrggraeve and P. A. Desjardin. Hours of Conmltation from 
3 to 5 P.M. IVeatment by correspondence. Mondays, Wednesdays, 
and Fridays, consultations free from zo.30 to la. Chemical and Medi- 
cal Analyses made. DepOc for Continental Hygienic Productions, 
Medical Belu,&c. 
The dosimetric system of medicine is the connecting link placed by Dr. 
ilarnraeve between the old, or Allopathic, and the new, or Hahnemanian, 
Iflr Homeopathic schools. 

I This system, which is now well known amd much used by doctors in 
jKuiape and South America, where it is steadily gaining ground, consists of 
• treatirent that is at the same time convenient, agreeable, and sure. It 
iqmids upon the purity of die medicine and exactitude of the doses, 
I a»i is apphed to the nature and causes of diseases both chronic and acute. 
: la a vora, it is the realisation of the hopes and researches of the alchemists 
I «f the middle ages. 

I These medicines are administered in the form of granules, which are taken 
V all, even children, easily and without the least repugnance. 

This system rejects the (ndmary forms of the ola Pharmacy— apoxemes, 
potioos, opiates, electuaries, &c., in short, all the complicated muiture of 
ttiigs of nauseous odour and taste, respectni by the old formularies, 
lot vhicfa now, in the face of the progress of modern science, have no longer 
ifac necessity of existence. 

It is» above all, in chronic diseases (the "non possumus" of the old 
idioQlsX rheumatism, gout, dyspepsia, Uver complaints, affections of the 
^ileenand kidneys, paralysis, scroAila, ftc, that the system ot Dr. Biug- 
gricre, combined with that of Yix. P. A Desjardin, gives the most 
Rmaikable results. 

A huge number oc cures, obtained in a comparatively short time, highly 
fioofirm the therapeutic vahie of the electxo-dosimetric system. 

Ifveconnder that chronic maladies are caused by a diathesis^ which 
always produces a change in the vital and nutritive organs, and if, on the 
•die hand, tie consider carefully the electro-magnetic phenomena, and the 
ttbtle nature of that agent, which, if it be not Ufe itself, is cme of its most 
active and important principles, we easily perceive the therapeutic value of 
a Biethod which acts directly upon the vitality of the patient, by employing 
ttose agents which are e»sentially vitaL 

, h is thus that in charging the electric currents, which penetrate directly 
Mo die organism, witn molecules of iodme, iron, f(old, &c., we can, almost 
[^Btaataneously, soothe pains and spa.«(ms, re-establish or stimulate the cirou- 
«ioB of the fluids, and restore that equilibrium of which health is the 
leadt. 

But it must be understood that for a treatment of this kind a wide experi- 
caoe is necessary ; the usual means of ordinary medidncs are utterly 
"wHScien t, an exclusive attention being demanded for this speciality. 

In establishing the " Electro-Doaimetric Institution of London," we fill 
fg>x chasm, and thus render a signal service to all doctors, who will 
nd vitk OS the readiest and most active concurrence in the treatment of 
wat mfeitimately large class of persons afflicted by chronic diseases. 



RUPTURES.— BY ROYAL LETTERS PATENT. 

WHITE'S MOC-MAIN LEVER TRUSS 

is allowed by upwards of 500 Medical Men to be the most effec- 
tive invention in the curative treatment of Hernia. The use of 
a steel spring, so often hurtrid in its effects, is here avoided 




soft bandage being worn round the body, while the requisite 
resisting-power is supplied by the MOC-MAIN PAD and 
PATEN r LEVER, btting with so much ease and closeness 



that it cannot be detected, and may be worn during sleep, 
descriptive circular may be had, and the Tru&» (which cannot 
fait to fit) forwarded by post, on the circumference of the body, 
a inches below the hips, being sent to the Manufacturer, 



JOHN WHITE, 228, PICCADILLY, 



Price of a Single Truss, x6r., axj., 96«. 6</., and 31^. 6(/.} 
„ Double ., 3if. 6<£, 49J'., and sm. oa. 
Umbilical „ 



Post 
free. 



, ^Aas. and sar. 6</. 
^ Oflkie Orders to be made payable to John White, Post OfRce Piccadilly. 

ELASTIC STOCKINGS, KNEE-CAPS, 



JOHN WHITE, Manuft^turer, 298, PiccadUly, lA>iidon, 



To Gc6lo|^t> ii^A NaturaliaCi. 

ORPORD CASTLE FOSSILS. 

The Cutting near Orford GftsUa in which these rare and beautifiU Foasili 
have been found, as advertised in Naturb last year, is still open, and mora 
than twelve thousand Specimens, all carefully determined by Mr. Chaxles- 
wotth, have been distributed among the Subsaibers. Papers containing th« 
particulars of Subscription may be obtained bv writing to Thomas Fu>vd, 
Esq., Sussex House, Howard Road, South Norwood, S.K., enclosing ad- 
dressed envelope. 

DRAPER'S INK (DICHROIC). 

THE NEW BLACK INK 

DIFFERING FROM ANYTHING ELSE EVER PRODUCED. 

Writing becomes a nleasure when this Ink it used. It has bees adopted 
by the principal Banks, Public OfficM, and Railway Cmnpanies throoghoal 



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Flows easily fraa the Pea. 
Blotting-paper may be applied at th* 
■K>ment oT r-^— 



It writes almost instantly Full Black. 
Does not corrode Steel Pens. 
Is cleanly to use^ and not liable to 
Bloc 

Can be obtained in London, throogfa Messrs. Bakclav ft Sons, Farring. 
don Street ; W. Edwasos, Old Change : F. Nbwbkrv ft Sons, Newgate 



Street ; Wm. Mathbs, London and Alanchester ; J. Austin ft Co., Duke 
Street, Liverpool ; and Stacv ft Cook. Paternoster Row : and to be had of 
all Stationers. 



HOLLOWAYS PUIS 



THIS 
MEDICINE 



I8 a Certam Core for aU BUordors of the LIVEB, STOMACH 
AVD BOWELS. A Great FUBIFIXE ef tke BLOOD; a 
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On the ist sf evwy Month, price One Shilling. 

THE ZOOLOGIST; 

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
New Series, Edited by 
J. E. Harting. F.L.S., F.Z.S. 
Original Articles by well-knewn Naturalists in every branch of Zoology ; 
Occasional Notes on the Habits sf Animals ; Notices of the Arrival and 
Departure of Migratory Birds ; Records of the Occurrence of Rare Birds 
in ue British Isliutds; Observations^n the Distribution and Migradon ot 
British Fresh-water Fish ; Notices of the Capture off the British Coasts of 
New or Rare Marine Fish ; Reports and Notes from Local Aqnaria ; Con- 
tributions to the Natural Histerv of British Reptiles: Local Lists of 
Bridsh Land and Fresh-water Mollusca, with Remarks on the Haunts and 
Habiu of the Species : and other matters of general interest to these who 
delight in Nataral History. Reports of tke Scientific Meetinn of the 
Linncan, Zoological, and Entomological Societies ; Reviews and Notices ol 
Natural History Books. 

JOHN VAN VOORST, x. Paternoster Row. 

THE JOURNAL OF BOTANY, 

BRITISH AND FOREIGN. 
Edited by Henry Tkimkn, M.B., F.L.S., British Museum ; assisted by 
S. leM. MocRK, F.L.S., Royal Herbarium, Kew. 
Subscriptions for z977 (xsi. post free in the United Kingdom) payable in 
advance to the publishers^ Messrs. Ranken and Co., Drury House, St. 
Mary- le-Stzand, London, W.C. of whom may be obtained the volume for 
1876 (price z6r. UL, bound m cloth), also covers for the volume (price z«.), 
and back numbos. 

THE BREWERS' GUARDIAN: 

A Fortnighthr Paper devoted to the Protectkm of Brewers' Interats, 
licensing. Legal, and Parliamentary MattarSi 
Rsvuw or mm Malt anb Hop Tradbs ; amd Wink and Sfiut TAadb 
Rbcoxd. 
The Offidal Organ of the Countrr Brewers' Society. 
(Founded x8s3.) 
*' The Blowers' Guardian " is published on the Eveninn of eveiy alternate 
Tuesday, and b the only journal officially connected with brewing interests. 
Subscription, z6s. 6tf. per annum, post free, dating from any quanor^y. 
Single Copies, x«. each. Registered for transmission abroad. 
Offices— s. Boad Court. Walbrook. London. E.C. 

On the xst of every Month, price Sixpence. 

THE ENTOMOLOGIST: 

AN ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF BRITISH ENTOMOLOGY. 
Edited by Iohm T. Caskingtom, 
With the assistance of 
Fkxdbxicic Bond, F.Z.S. I Feedkrick Smith. 

Edward A. Fitch. I J. Jenner We^ F.L.S. 

John A. Power, M.D. . , I F. Juchanan White, M.D. 
During the year 1877 it is mtended to pubhsh an Epitome of NovelQes 
and Rareties which have occurred since 1873. Also fr«<)uent Biographical 
Notices accompanied by Photographic Portraits. Many mteMing sitides 
on aUl^chSwe iSimised^ ^»ding Entomologists. There wiU bo 

nunerous Woodcuts. 

SIMPEIN, MARSHALL, A CO., Station^nT HaU Cooit. 



XX3C11 



NATURE \Nov. 22. 1877 



TRUE TIME BY OBSERVATIONS OF THE SUN. 

DENT'S PATENTED DIPLEIDOSCOPE Reflecting Transit Instniment) in its simplcat form 
(price £1 IS.) will determine true time to within two seconds. Short illustrated Pamphlet post free upon 
applicatioa 

E. DENT & CO. 

MANUFACTURERS OF CHRONOMETERS, &c., TO HER MAJESTY, 
61, STRAND, AND 34, ROYAL EXCHANGE, LONDON. 

(FACTORY— GERRARD STREET.) 

PARKINSON & FRODSHAM, 

CHRONOMETER AND WATCH MAKERS, 

4, CHANGE AI_I_EY, CORNHII_l_, LONDON; 

Extract from the Report ot tlie Director of the Portsmoath Obsemtory concemiag Paildiison and Frodsham's Chronometer o* 
board the Distmery, in the Arctic Expedition of 1875-6. 

" Nov. Ttb, 1876. — Captun BeanmoDt, vho was First Lieutenant and Navigating Officer of the Discovery, inforoMd me tlut 
your 'Watch, No. 5,838, wai the best ont of the five Pocket Chronometer* that they had on board that Testel." 

THIS DAY, IN 2 VOLS., MEDIUM 8to, PRICE 45/., THE 

VOTAQE OP THE "CHALLENGER" 

THE ATLANTIC; 

A PRELIMINARY ACCOUNT OF THE GENERAL RESULTS OF THE VOYAGE OF H.M.S 
"CHALLENGER" DURING THE YEAR 1873 AND EARLY PART OF THE YEAR 1876. 

By Sir C. WYVILLE THOMSON, F.R.S,, 

Director of the Sckniific Staff of the Expedition. 

With a Portrait of the Author engraved by C. H. Tebns, numerous Coloured Maps, Temperature Charts, and othe 

Illustrations. 

Published by Authority of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty, 



UNIFORM WITH THE ABOVE, BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 

THE DEPTHS OF THE SEA. 

AN ACCOUNT OF THE GENERAL RESULTS OF THE DREDGING CRUISES OF H.M.SS 
"LIGHTNING" AND "PORCUPINE," DURING THE SUMMERS OF 1868-69-70. 

Under the Scientific Direction of Dr. CARPENTER, F.R.S., J. GWYNN JEFFREYS 
F.R.S., and Sir WYVILLE THOMSON, F.R.S. 

With numerous Illustrations, Coloured Maps, &c. Second Edition. Medium 8to. 31X. (td, 

" It is not too much to say that all who wish to follow what the Challenger does must be ac(juainted with what has been dow 
by the other vessels pieviously lent by the Admiralty. .... When the Challenger Expedition is over we shall be better able ti 
approach the consideration of the theories which are advanced or quoted by Sir Wyville in this copiously illustrated, mos 
interesting, and valuable record of invaluable research."— .S/airi/tfn/. 

MACMILLAN AND CO., LONDON. .^.^^^ ^^Qq^qJ^ 



Printed by R. Clav, Sons, and Taylob, at 7 and 8, Bread Street Hill, Queen Victoria Street,. in the City of London, and pnblifhcd by 
Macmillan and Co.* at the Office. 99 and 30, Bedford Street, C6vent Garden.— Thursday, November ;3, 1877. 



&^- 1 



y 







A WEEKLY ILLUSTRATED JOURNAL OF SCIENCE. 

" To the solid ground 
Of Nature trusts the mind which builds Jar aye.^ — Wordsworth 



No. 422, Vol. 17J 



THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1877 [Price Fourpence 



Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office.] 



[All RighU are Reserved. 




BROWNING'S 
ASTRONOMICAL TELESCOPES. 



Silvered Glass REFLECTING TELESCOPE with 
Mirror 4J in. diameter, 5 ft. focus, mounted on a Paral- 
lactic Stand for following the heavenly bodies with one 
motion by means of an endless driving screw and Hook's 
joint with two eye-pieces magnifying respectively 100 and 
200 diameters. 

PRICE £24 4s. Od. 



LIST OF PRICES OF TELESCOPES FREE, 



Just published, Sixth Edition, with much New Matter. 

PLEA for REFLECTORS : being a 
Description of the New Astronomical Telescopes, with 
silvered glass specula, and instructions for using and 
adjusting them, with many Illustrations and Coloured 
Frontispiece of Jupiter. By JOHN BROWNING, 
F.R.A.S. One Shilling, post free. 



j! 



JOHN BROWNING, 

OPTICAL AND PHYSICAL INSTRUMENT MAKER 
TO H.M. GOVERNMENT, THE ROYAL SOCIETY, 
THE ROYAL OBSERVATORY OF GREENWICH, 
AND THE OBSERVATORIES OF KEW, CAM- 
BRIDGE, MELBOURNE, THE U.S. NAVAL OBSER- 
VATORY, CAMBRIDGE AND HARVARD UNIVER- 
SITIES, HOBOKEN COLLEGE, &c., &c. 

63, STBANP, W.C., LONDON. 

Factory^-^uthampUm Street and Exeter Street^ London, 

Prize Medal 1862. Established 100 Y^»^ 

MICROSCOPES, SPECTROSCOPES, OPERA 
GLASSES, ^C, Sr*c. 



XXXIV 



NA TURE 



[^tCov. 29, 1877 



MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS 

Of the highest attainable perfection, illustrating Anacomr, Physioloffv, 
Botany, Eatomolofnr, and every branch of Microscopical Science. J. D. 
Mailer's New Typen Plates and Objects. Nobert*8 Lines. All materials 
and requisites for mounting. Unequalled Stud<*nt's Microscope, with Eng- 
lish z-inch and J-inch objectives. Five Guineas. Catalogue, New Edition, 1876, 
gratis and post free, and Objects delivered in U.S- A. and British Colonies. 
EDMUND WHEELER, 48K, ToUintrton Road, Holloway, London, N. 

QUEEN'S COLLEGE, IRELAND. 

The Professorship of Materia Medica in the Queen's College. Galway, 
being ab'Ut to become varant. Candidates for thac office are requested to for 
V ard th'ir Testimon-als 10 the Under- Secretary, Dublin Castle, on or before 
the xsih DECEMBER, proximo, in order that the same may be submitted 
to hia Grace the Lord Lieutenant. . 

The Candidate who may be selected for the above Professorship will have 
to enter upon his duties at the commencement of the next Term, the 7th of 
Januarjr, 1878. 

Dubhn Ca&tle, 24th November, 1877. 

PHYSICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON. 

Prof. GRAHAM BELL will exhibit and describe the TELEPHONE at 
the Meeting of the Society on SATURDAY, the ist of December, at 3 p.m., 
in the Science SchooLs South Kensington Museum. Strangers who widi to 
be present are requested to apply to either of the Secretaries, who have a 
limited number of seats at their disposal. 

A. W. REIN OLD. M.A., Royal Naval College, Greenwich \ Hon. 

W. CHANDLER ROBERTS, F.R.a, Royal Mint, E. / Sees. 



UNIVERSITY of LONDON ist M.B. and 

PRELIMINARY SCIENTIFIC EXAMINATIONS.— Classes in aU 
the subjects required are now being formed at St Thomas's Hospital 
Medical School, which are not confined to Students of the Hospital. 
For particulars apply to Dr. Gillbspib, Secretary, at the Hospital. 



SUNDAY LECTURE SOCIETY.— LEC- 

TURES at ST. GEORGE'S HALL, LANGHAM PLACE, each 
SUNDAY AFTERNOON, commenciog at Four o'clock precisely.— 
Sunday, December 3.— Dr. G. G. Zbrffi, F.R.HistS., F.R.S.L., on 
"Jesuitism and the Priest in Absolution." — Members' Annual Sub- 
scription, ^x» Payment at the Door^One Penny, Sixpence, and 
(Reserved Seals) One Shilling. 



LANCASTER SCHOOL. 

Head Master-Rev. W. E. Prykb, MA-, St. John's College, Cambridge, 
Z4th Wrangler, 1866. 
Second Master— Rev. W. T. Nhwbold, M.A , Fellow of St. John's 
College, Cambridge, 5th Classic, 1873. 
Assisunt Masters— J. H. Flathkr, Esq , B.A , Emmanuel College, Cam- 
bridge, X4th Classic 1876, and Lightfoot Modem History Scholar in the 
University ; J, C. Wiiton, Esq., B.Sc, Lond., &c , &c. 

New Buildings, including a LABORATORY, were opened on September 
94. by the Bishop of Manchester. 

There are University Scholarships^ which may be given for proficiency in 
Science. 

For Prospectus, &c., address Rev. the Hkad Mastbk, School. House, 
Lancaster. 

QUEENWOOD COLLEGE, near STOCK- 
BRIDGE, HANTS. 

Sonnd General Education for Boyv. 

Special attention to Science, partioularly to Chemistryi both theoretiod 
and practicaL 

References to Dr. Debus, F.R.S. ; Dr. Frankland, F.R.S. : Dr. Rosooe, 
F.R.S.; Dr. Angus Smith, F.R.S. ; Dr. Tyndall, F.R.S. ; I>r. Vodcker, 
F.R.S. : Dr. Williamson, F.R.S. 

The Auttunn Term commences Tuesday, September acth. 

C. WILLMORE, PtinchMd. 

ROYAL POLYTECHNIC and BERNERS 

COLLEGE in conjunction.— The Laboratories and Qaas-rooms for 
Private and Class Study are Open eterjr Day and Evening, Gentle- 
men prepared for Matriculation, Woolwich, and ^e various Examining 
Boards. Fees moderate.— Apply to Prof. Gasdnbs. at the Roysd 
Polytechnic, or 44, Bemers Street, W. 

The REV. L. HENSLEY, Vicar of Hitchin, 

Herts, formerly Fellow and Assistant Tutor of Trinity College, Cam- 
bridge, receives four PUPILS to read for.Cambridge, and has now one 
Vacancy. 



GEOLOGY. 

JOHN TYM'S Collections to illustrate Text-Books a« catefully elected 
W iih a view to following the method taken by each author. 

To illu&trate Bonoey's " Geology," advanced CoUection of 150 Specimens, 
*3 : Elementary of 54 x^. To illustrate Skertchley , '»• ElemenU of 
Ueology, advanced CoUecUon of 140 Specimens, ;Ca 15*. ; Elementary of 
64, X7X. orf* 

Catalogues post free. 
.. .. •': Address -CASTLETON viA, SHEFFIELDi 



GEOLOGY.— In the Preface to the Student's r 

ELEMENTS of GEOLOGY, by Sir Charles Lyell. price or., he sa^: 
— " As it is impossible to enable the reader to recognise rocxs and mine- 
rals at sight by aid of verbal descriptions or figures, he will do well t» 
obtain a well-arranged collection of specimens, such as may be procned I 
from Mr. TEN N ANT (149, Strand), Teacher of Mlnenlocyat Kiog^ ^ 
College, London." These Collectioas are supplied on t£ie fioUoviag , 
terms, in plain Mahogany Cabinets:— 
xoo Specimens, in Cabmet, with 3 Trayi m. ^ „, jQa 9 • 
aoo Specimens, in Cabinet, with 5 Trays m. m. »• 550 
300 Specimens, in Cabinet, with 9 Drawers m« m. xo n o 
400 Specimens, in Cabinet, with 13 Drawers ..• m. ax 00 
More extensive Collections at 50 to 5.000 Guineas eadi. 



THE POPULAB SCIENTIFIC POCKET CABINET 
SEBIES, 

Illustrative of Mineralogy, Palaeontology, Petralogy, Conchologj, Metaki 
lurgy, &C., ananged by THOMAS J. DOWNING, Geolosisi. Ac., A 
Whiskin Street, London, E.C 
95 Spedmens to illustrate Geikie's "Geological Primer," in Cabbet, j 
2S.6d,; 2S do. to illustrate the Rev T. G. Bonney's ** Elementary Geology,* 
at. 6d, ; 25 do. British Fossils, in Cabinet, af . 6^ ; 95 do. British Rodcii 
do., as, 6d. ; 95 do. Earthy Minerals, do., as. €d, ; 95 do. Metallic Mineiafa^ 
da, 9S. 6d» ; 95 do. Recent Shells, do., as. 6d. ; 95 do. Metals, do., as.6d.;ts 
do. Rough Gems and Stones, do., as. 6(L Catalogues free. N.B. ^P.0.0. 
or Cheque must invariably accompany all orders. Trade supplied. 



LONDON CLAYFOSSILS from SHEPPEY. 

Fruits, Bones, Shells, Crustaceans, Ouals, Starfish, ftc. zoo good 
Specimens with neat labels (50 or more SpeciesX zotf. ; half the qnaii* 
tity, 5f . Carriage paid to London. 
The fossils of vegetable origin, being liaUe to decay, are subjected to is 
e£ficient preservative process. 

Specimen Fruit, and Copy of Paper on "Geology of ShMppey," peat 
free for three penny stamps. — ^W. H. SHRUBSOX.B, bheemess^m-Sn. 



THIN GLASS FOR MICROSCOPIC 

MOUNTING of best quality. Circles, 3*. 6d. per ounce ; Squares, 
as. gd. ; post free ad. extra : also oth-r Mounting Materials and Object! 
prepared for mounting.— CHAS. PETIT, 151, High Stroet, Stoke 
Newington, N. ^ 

To Geologists and Naturalists. 

ORPORO CASTLE FOSSILS. 

The Cutting near Orford Castle in which these rare and beantifiil Foidi 
have been foiudi as advertised in Naturb last year, is still ope^ and more 
than twelve thouiind Specimens, all carefuUy deternined by Iw. duaks- 
worth, have been distrioated among the Subsoibets. Papers «w>»«8«wig the < 
particulars of Subscription may be obtained by writing to Thomas TuffOt 
Esq., Sussex House, Howard Road, South Norwood, S.S., cackmnf ad* 
dressed envelope. 

THE BEST FARMERS' NEWSPAPER. 

THE CHAMBER OF 
AGRICULTURE JOURNAL 

AND FARMERS' CHRONICLE, 
Edited by John Algbrnoh Claxks, Seeretaiy to the Central Cbamb* 

of Agriculture, 
Devotes spedal attention to the discussions and proceedings of the QoDaben 
•f Agriculture of Great Britain (ti^ch now number upwards of lifOB 
members), besides f^ving original papers on practical fazmuig, and a mas of 
inteUigence of parucular value to the agriculturist. 

The London Cora, Seed, Hop, Cattle, and other Markets of Monday sit 
specially reported in this Journal, whidi is despatched tlie saase evening ts 
as t* ensure delivery to coundy subscriben by the first post on Tocsaaj 
moraine. Price 3^, or nrepaid, xsr. a year post fitsa. 

Published by W. PICKERING. «», Anmdel Street, Sonnd. W.C 

On the zst of every Month, price One Shilling. 

THE ZOOLOGIST; 

A MONTHLY MAGAZINE OF NATURAL HISTORY. 
New Series, Edited by 
J. E. Hartino, F.L.S., F.2.S. 
Original Articles by well-known Naturalists in every branch of Zoolsgy { 
Occasional Notes en the Habits of Animals ; Notices of the Arrival and 
Departure of Migratory Birds ; Records of the Occurrence of Rare Birds 
in the British Islands ; Observations on the Distribution and Migratioa ot 
British Fresh-water Fish ; Notices of the Capture off the British Coasts ol 
New or Rare Marine Fish ; Reports and Notes from Locad Aquaria ; Con- 
tributions to the Natural Histenr of British Reptiles ; Local Lbts of 
British Land and Fresh-water Mollusca, with Remarks en the Haunts and 
Habits of the Species : and other matters of general interest to these who 
delight in Natural History. Reports of the Scientific Meetinn of the 
Linnean, Zoological* and Entomological Societies ; Reviews and Notioflsof 
Natural History Books. 
JOHN VAN VOORST, i. Paternoster Row. 

Geology of Oxford, and the Valley of 

THE THAMES. By John Phillips, M.A., F.R.S., 

Professor of Geology, Oxford. 8vo, cloth, i/. ij. 

" It may be cordially and confidently recommended to all geologists to 

whom the Secondary rocks of England are a subject of 'mtcnat.'^Acndnmy' 

"A most important contribution to the knowledge of the ancient histoiy 

of the earth, and supplies a need which happens just at this time to be 

keenly kit." -^Aafure. 

MACMILLAN ft CO., LONDON. . 



Nov. 29, 1877] 



NATURE 



XXXV 



nORTH BRITISH AGRICULTURIST, 

Is tfaa only Agricnhiml Jonnal in Soodaad, and dicnlates exteaii^ly 
iBOQCit landed proptie to M ^ fiKtovs, taxnmn, fiunii-buliili» and others 
■tomted in the mana g wiiimt of Umded prapeity throochoot Sovdaad and 
■M Noruiera O mirtjts of itywif^n d T 

TU AGRICULTURISTlutf also a very oonddemble draiUtion on the 



MBt of Europe, America, Ansciafia, and the Colonies. 

The AGRICULTURIST is puhSshed every Wednesday aftemoon hi 
Vaelbrthe Eyenmc BlaSs^ and contams Reports of all the principal British 
•adlridi MaiMsof the week, besides telegraphic reperts of those held on 
Itedayof lyWicarion. 

The Veterinary Depattmeot is edited hy one of the leading Veterinarians 
« theooimb7, and is invaluable to the breeder and feeder as a cuide to the 
Wngflf animals, and their treatment when labouring under disease. 
. FnlTRepoits are given of the Meetings of the Royal Agricultural Sodety 
m lariand. the Royal Ajnricultnral Society of Ireland, the Uighfamd and 
ivncahmal Sodety of Soothoid, the Scottish Chamber of Agriculture, 
fad all the principal Agricultural Associations throughout Great Britahi 
sad Iraand* 

Tor Advertbtts lAdretdqg themselves to Farmers a bettvmedinm does 

PoM^fioe Orders payable to Charies Anderson, Jun., Idinbuigh. 
ESTABUSHS) 1843. 

On the zst of every Month, price Sixpence. 

THE ENTOMOLOGIST: 

AN ILLUSTRATBD JOURNAL Of BRITISH SNTOMOLOOY. 

Sdited by JoHii T. Camimgton, 

Withthes * ' 



That excellent periodical Thk Gasdbn."— Professor Owen. 

ITHE GARDEN : A Weekly Illustrated 

Joonal of Gardening in all its Branches. Founded and Conducted by 
W. ROBINSON7F.L.S., Author of "Alpine Flowers for English 
Gardens,- &c 

A Coloincd Plate is now issued with every number of Tkt Garden, 
Mr. Robinson's valuable and elegant weekly."— .S'a/«n/a>' Review, 
nc. locb, 1874. 
The following are some of the suldects regularly treated of in its pages :— 



fBDmoE BoKD^ r.Z.S. I FixDBRioe Smttr. 

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5cxxVi 



NATURE 



\Nov, ^9, 1877 



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NATURE 



11 



THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 29, 1877 



FLORA OF MAURITIUS AND SEYCHELLES 

Flora of Mauritius and the Seychelles : a Description of 
the Flowering Plants and Ferns of those Islands, By J. 
G. Baker, F.L.S. (London : L. Reeve and Co., 1877.) 

THIS compact volume of nearly 6c6 pages, adds 
another to the already long list of colonial floras 
prepared at Kew and issued under the authority and at 
the expense of the Colonial Government. It is arranged 
on the same plan as the other floras, many of them so 
well known, giving first, some general remarks on the 
physical geography and botany of the islands, and then that 
admirable outline of elementary botany prepared by Mr. 
Bentham, and which contains every definition necessary 
in descriptive botany, thus enabling the student to follow 
the technical descriptions given in the '^ Flora " itself. 
The work is almost entirely from the pen of Mr. J. G. 
Baker (the Orchids being by Mr. Le Marchant Moore, 
and the Palms and Pandani by Dr. I. B. Balfour), and is 
only another example of the indomitable industry so 
characteristic of Mr. Baker. The materials at the disposal 
of the author have been ample, and probably there is but 
I little left to discover in Mauritius, the Seychelles, and 
Rodriguez, although many forms have not as yet been 
folly determined owing to the want of perfect specimens. 
Hence it is desirable that naturalists visiting the islands 
should endeavour to complete our knowledge of these 
imperfectly known plants. The smaller dependencies of 
Mauritius have not been explored botanically, hence 
there is probably a rich field for the investigator of these 
numerous islands. It is, moreover, all the more desirable 
to have these islands explored as the native flora of the 
islands already known has been completely altered by the 
introduction of cultivated plants and w^eds as well as by 
the destruction of the native forests. - Thus it is probable 
that in some of the undisturbed islands a rich native flora 
may be met with, or that some of the forms either rare or 
extinct on other islands, may yet be comparatively 
abundant 

Mauritius is about 39 'miles by 35, and has an area of 
700 square miles, or a little smaller than the County of 
Surrey. It is situated at a distance of about 500 miles 
from Madagascar and 100 miles from Bourbon, and is 
just within the Tropic of Capricorn. The northern part 
of the island is a low plain covered with sugar plantations. 
In the centre is an elevated plateau rising to about 1,500 
feet above the searlevel, the great mass of the rocks being 
entTcly volcanic. Outside the central plateau, and within 
a short distance of the sea, rise the three principal moun- 
tain ranges, the highest portions being from 1^900 to 2,900 
feet in height There are two small lakes in the central 
plateau, the Grand Bassin and the Mare aux Vacoas. 
There are six rivers, about ten to twelve miles in length, 
and numerous small rivulets. The climate is warm, and 
at Port Louis the mean annual temperature is 78^ F. As 
a result, the vegetation has a decidedly tropical character. 
There are however, a few south temperate plants present, 
^ also a number of the widely- spread temperate forms, as 
^^hrodiumfilix-mas^ Cardamine hirsuta^ Juncus effusus^ 
(Convolvulus arvensis, Plantago majors and P. lanceolaia, 
Vou xyn.*Noii 423 



Sugar is extensively cultivated in Mauritius. The increase 
in the cultivation of sugar has led to the destruction of 
the forests, which at [one time covered the island to the 
water's edge. As a result of the destruction of the forests, 
the indigenous flora has almost become destroyed. The 
orchids, ferns, pandani, and the shade-loving plants, and 
the curious endemic trees and shrubs have, within 100 
years, been either entirely exterminated, or else have 
become exceedingly rare and local. The native vegeta- 
tion thus partly exterminated has been replaced by a 
number of introduced trees, shrubs, and weeds, to an 
extent only exceeded by the destruction of the indigenous 
flora of St Helena. There 'seem to be about 269 intro- 
duced plants in Mauritius, and 869 undoubted native 
species, making a total flora of about 1,138. 

The Seychelles are situated 900 miles nonh-east of 
Mauritius, in 3°-6'' south latitude, and consist of a group 
of about thirty islands, most of them of very small size. 
The islands are entirely granitic. The largest of the 
group, Mah^, has an area of 30,000 acres ; the best culti- 
tivated and most populous is La Digue, with an area of 
2,000 acres. The mountains range from about 1,500 to 
3,000 feet in height The seasons are similar to those of 
Mauritius. Cotton was at one time extensively cultivated, 
and the aboriginal forests were destroyed to make room 
for cotton plantations. Now cotton is hardly cultivated, 
the chief exports from the island being cocoa-nut oil and 
fibre. The vegetation is wholly tropical ; the few tempe- 
rate species found in Mauritius being absent from the 
Seychelles. The number, of flowering plants and ferns 
from these islands is 338. Five genera of palms and one 
genus of Temstroemiaceae are endemic. The endemic 
palms are mostly well known, and belong to the genera 
Deckenia, Nephrosperma, Roscheria, Verschaffeltia, 
Lodoicea, and Stevensonia. The total number of 
endemic species is sixty. The rest of the flora consists 
chiefly (250) of widely distributed tropical plants, and be- 
tween twenty and thirty are of characteristic Mascarene 
types. The flora was expected to have been much richer 
in endemic forms from the isolated position and peculiar 
geological construction of the islands thanjt has proved 
to be after the most careful examination. 

Rodriguez is situated 300 miles to the north and east of 
Mauritius, and is an island about eleven miles by five, with 
the hills in the interior reaching an elevation of little over 
1,000 feet The rock is entirely volcanic, and the climate 
similar to that of Mauritius. The flora must have 
undergone great changes, as the earliest records of the 
island state that it was entirely^ wooded. The plants of 
the island number about 202 wild flowering plants and 
ferns, nearly all collected^by that rising young botanist, 
Dr. I. B. Balfour, one of the staff of the Transit of Venus 
Expedition to Rodriguez. Of the 202 wild species, thirty- 
six are pectdiar to the island ; and there are three 
endemic monotypic genera, one Mathurina having been 
discovered and described by Dr. I. B. Balfour. 

The total number of species as given by Baker may be 
thus summarised :~There are 1,058 native species in the 
" Flora," 869 natives of Mauritius, 338 natives of Sey- 
chelles, and 202 native in Rodriguez ; 269 are naturalised 
in these islands, thus giving a total number of 1,327 
species included in the ''Flora of Mauritius and the 
Seychelles.'^ The distribution of the species in the flora 



78 



NATURE 



\Nov. 29, 1877 



is also interesting. Thus there are 304 endemic species, 
232 Mascarene species, />., plants confined to Bourbon, 
Mauritius, Madagascar, and the Comoros ; 66 African 
but not ^ian, 86 Asian but not African ; 145 common to 
Asia and Africa ; and 22 $ common to the Old and New 
World. If we take the percentages we have the following 
results :— 29 per cent, endemic, 22 per cent Mascarene, 
21 per cent common to the Old and New World, 14 per 
cent common to Asia and Africa, 8 per cent Asian but 
not African, and 6 per cent. African but not Asian. From 
this it is evident that one-half of the wild plants of ^he 
flora are restricted to the Mascarene Archipelago. 

The orders containing the greatest number of species 
are the following : — Orchidacese, 79 ; Gramineae, 69 ; 
Cyperaceae, 62 ; Rubiaceae, 57 ; Euphorbiaceae, 45 ; 
Compositae, 43 ; Leguminosae, 41 ; Myrtaceae, 20. There 
also 168 species of Filices, but it is rather unfair to con- 
sider the Filices as an order equivalent say to the 
Euphorbiaceae or Myrtaceas in the above enumeration. 

The descriptive part of the flora is elaborated in the 
same manner as the colonial floras already published, 
and is, as already mentioned, almost entirely the^work of 
Mr. Baker, with the exception of the Orchids, Palms, 
and Pandani. Any one acquainted with Mr. Baker's 
work will know that any detailed notice of the descriptive 
part of the present volume is superfluous. 

W. R. McNab 



OUR BOOK SHELF 

Die Geologie. Franz Ritter von Hauer. (Vienna : A 

. Holder, 1877.) 
It is a good sign both of the progress of geological study 
in Austria and of the value of this manual by the director 
of the Austrian Geological Survey, that a second edition 
of the work has been called for within three years of the 
date of its publication. A sample of the revised issue 
which has been sent to us fully bears out the description 
on its title-page Uiat it is enlarged and improved. The 
original work, besides its clearly- expressed introductory 
chapters on general dynamical and mmeralo|;ical geology, 
is especially a valuable repertory of information regarding 
the structure and palseontolc^ of the Austro- Hungarian 
monarchy. la the new edition, Ritter von Hauer is evi- 
dently doing his ^t to keep his manual abreast of the 
time. The book is well-printed, but the author is still in 
the hands of a very poor wood-engraver. The^new cuts 
are as rude and feeble as ever. 



LETTERS TO THE EDITOR 

\7^ EdUordoanathoUkimselfres^afwNeforopiniomex^ 
fy Ait corrapondtftfs, Ndthtr ta» he tmdertake to relmm^ 
or to corre^ond with the wriiers of^ rgectei manuscripts^ 
No ' notice is taken of anonymous commuuicaiions. 
The Editor urgently requests correspondents to keep their letters as 
: short eu possihU, The pressure on his ^^ is so great that it 
^ is impossible otherwise to ensure the apfearanct even of com* 
munications containing interesting^ ana novel facts,\ 

I . Fritz Muller on Flowers and Insects 

' Thx endof ed letter from that excellent observeiv Fritx Miiller, 
contains some miscellanfioiu]! observations on cerUin plants and 
insects of South Brazil^ which are so new and carious that they 
will probably iiiterest your naturalist readers. With respect to 
h|s ca^ of bees getting their abdomens dusted with pollen while 
gnawing the glands on the calyx of one of the Malpighiaoese, 
and thus effecting the cross-fertilisation of ttie flowers, I will 
remark that this case is closely analogous to thatof Coronilla 



recorded by Mr. Farrer in your journal some years ago^ in whidi 
parts of the flowers have been greatly modified, so that bees maj 
act as fertilisers while sucking the secretion on the outside of the 
calyx. The case is hiteresting in another way. My son Fnuids 
has shown that the food-bodies of the Bull's-hom Acacia,, wbidi 
are consumed by the ants that protect the tree from its enemies 
(as desciibed by Mr. Belt), consist of modified glands ; and he 
suggests that aboriginally the ants licked a secretion from the 
glands, but that at a subsequent period the glands were rendered 
more nutritious and attractive by the retention of the secretion 
and other changes, and that they were then devoured by the 
ants. But my son could advance no case of glands being thus 
gnawed or dcYOured by insects, and here we have an example. 

With respect to Solanum palinacanthum^ which bears] two 
kinds of flowers on the same plant, one with a long style and 
large stigma, the other with a short style and small stigma, I 
think more evidence is requisite before this species can be con- 
sidered as truly heterostyled, for I find that the poUen-gruns 
from the two forms do not differ in diameter. Theoretically it 
would be a great anomaly if flowers on the same plant were 
functionally heterostyled, for this structure is evidently adapted 
to insure the cross-fertilisation of distinct plants. Is it not more 
probable that the case is merely one of the same plant bearing 
male flowers through partial abortion, together with the original 
hermaphrodite flowers ? Fritz Miiller jusUy expresses surprise 
at Mr. Leggett's suspicion .that the diflierenoe in length of the 
pistil in the flowers of Pontederia cordata of the United States 
is due to difference of age ; but since the publication of my 
book Mr. Leggett has fully admitted, in the Bulletin of the 
Torrey Botanical Club, that this species is truly heterostyled and 
trimorphic. The last point on which I wish to remark is the 
difference between the males and females of certain butterflies 
in the neuration ^of the wings, and in the presence of tufts of 
peculiarly-formed scales. An American naturalist has recently 
advanced this case as one that cannot possibly be>ccounted for 
by sexual selection. Consequently, Fritz Miiller's obseirations 
which have been published in foil in a recent number of Kosmos^ 
are to me highly interesting, and in themselves highly remark- 
able. Charlbs Darwin j 
Dowo, Beckenham, Kent, November 21 

You mention («* Different Forms of Flowers,** page 331), the i 
deficiency of glands on the calyx of the deistogamic flowers ot 
several Malpighiaoese, suggesting, in accordance with Kemer's 
views, that tins deficiency may be accounted for by the deisto- 
gamic flowers not requiring any protection from crawling insects. 
Now I have some doubt whether the glands of the calyx of the 
Malpighiacese serve at all as a protection. At least, in the one 
species, the fertilisation of which I have very often witnessed, 
they do not. This species, Bunchosia gaudichaudiana^ is regu. 
larly visited by several bees bdongiog to the genera Tetrapedia 
and Epicharis. These bees sit down on the flowers gnawing the 
glands on the outside of the calyx, and in doing so the under side 
of their body is dusted with pollen, by^which, afterwards, other 
flowers are fertilised. 

There are here some species of Solanum (for instance S, paHna* 
canthum) bearing on the same plant long-styled and short-styled 
flowers. The short-styled have papillae on the stigma and appa- 
rently normal ovules in the ovary, but notwithstanding they are 
male in function, for they are exclusively visited by pollen-gather- 
ing bees (Mdipona, Euglossa, Augochlora, Megadlissa, Eophila, 
n. g., and others), and these would probably never insert thdr 
proboscis between the stamens. 

In a few months I hope to be able to send you seeds of our 
white-flowered violet wi£h subterranean deistogamic flowers. 
I was surprised at finding that on the S^rra (about 1,100 metres 
above the sea) this violet produced abundant normal fruits as 
well as subterranean ones, while at the foot of the S^rra, though 



Nov. 29, 1877] 



NATURE 



79 



it had flowered prohudy^ I could not find a single nonnal ihiit| 
and nbterranean ones were extremely scarce. 

Aoocording to Delpino the dunging colours of certain flowers 
would serve to show to the visiting insects the proper moment 
for effecting the fertilisation of these flowers. * We have here a 
I^mtana the flowers of which last three day% being yellow on 
the first, orange on the second, purple on the third day. This 
plant is visited by various butterflies. As feur as I have seen the 
puple flowers are never touched. Some species inserted their 
proboscis both into yellow and into orange flowers (Danais 
ai^pus^ Pieris aripa), others^ as far as I have hitherto observed, 
e»:lusivdy into the yellow flowers of the first day (Htlicomus 
apseudtSf Colanit Julia, Eurema ieuce, Thislis, I think, a rather 
interesting case. If the flowers fell ofi* at the end of the first day 
the inflorescence would be much less conspicuous ; if they did 
not diange their colour mudi time would be lost by the butterflies 
inserting their proboscis in already fertilised flowers. 

In another Lantana the flowers have the colour of lilac, the 
entrance of the tube is yellow surrounded by a white circle ; 
these yellow and white markings disappear on the second day. 

Mr. Leggett's statements tboMt Pontederia cordata appear to me 
rather strange, and I fear that there is^some mistake. In all the 
five species of the family which I know the flowers are so short- 
lived, lasting only one day, that a change in the length of the 
style is not very probable. In the long-styled form of our high- 
and Pontederia die style has its full length long before the flowers 
open. In my garden this Pontedaria is visited by some spedes 
of Aogochlora collecting the pollen of the longest and mid-length 
stamens ; they are too large to enter the tube of the corolla, and 
have too short a proboscis to reach the honey fthey can only fer< 

I tilise the long-styled and mid-styled forms, but not the short- 

! styled. 

Among the secondary sexual characters of insects the meaning 
of which is not understood, you mention ("Descent of Man,'* 
vol. ]., p. 345) the different neuration in the wings of the two sexes 
of some butterflies. In all the cases which I know this diflerence 
in neuration is connected with, and probably caused by, the deve- 
lopment in the males of I spots of peculiarly-formed scales, 
pencils^ or other contrivances which exhale odours, agreeable 
no doubt to their females. This is the case in the genera 
Mechanitis, Diroenna, in some species of Thecla, &c. 

Fritz Muller 
Blnmenan, St. Catharina, Brazil, October 19 

The Radiometer and its Lessons 

Prof. Osborne Reynolds's" letter in Nature (vol. xvii. 
p. 26) has directed attention prominently to the circumstance 
that two hjTpotheses have been submitted to the sdentific world 
as explanations of the force and motions which Mr. Crookes had 
shown to exist— one by Prof. Osborne Reynolds, the other by 
mjsdf. 

ProC Osborne Reynolds's explanation is based on the fact that 
when a cUsc with vertical sides is heated on one side and exposed 
to a gas, a convection current sets in, which draws a contmuous 
supply of oold gas into contact with the hot surface of the disc 
As this cold gas reaches the disc it is expanded, and thus its 
centre of gravity is thrownffnrther from the disa Accordingly, 
the disc, if freely suspended, will move in the opposite direction 
so as to keep the centre of gravity of the gas and disc in the 
suae vertical line as before, and, if not freely suspended, will 
nfler a pressure tending to make it move in that direction. If I 
have understood Prof. Reynolds aright, this is both a correct and 
^ description of his explanation as last presented. 

My explanation, on the other hand, is based on molecular 
notions which go on in the gas without causing any molar 
motioD, and is independent of convection currents. Prof. Rey- 
nolds is therefore, I concdve, fully justified in denying that my 
theofy has supplied any defidency in his explanation. As he 
points out, the two explanations are incompatible ; if dther is 
coned, the other is wholly wrong. 
It is easy to apply comparative tests to the tival hypotheses by 



making a sdectlon from Mr. Crookes's incomparable experi- 
ments, from the experiments by Mr. Moss and mysdf, and from 
instances of compressed Crookes's layers in the open atmosphere ; 
but it is not easy to make-the choice so as to brmg ^e abundai^ 
evidence within the compass of a letter. 

These tests might take various forms, of which perhaps the 
most direct is to ascertain whether the force is affected by varia- 
tions in the convection current, as required by ProE Reynolds's 
hypothesis, or is independent of convection, but increased when 
the heater and cooler are brought nearer together, as required 
by mine. 

To test this Mr. Crookes mounted a radiometer in a receiver 
consisting of two unequal bulbs connected by a large tube. The 
movable portion could be transferred from one bulb to the other 
through the tube. In the small bulb the convection current is 
most impeded, and at the same time the heater and cooler.are 
dosest together. Mr. Crookes found that the motion of the 
radiometer was more rapid in the small bulb than in the large 
one, in conformity with my theory, and in opposition to Prof. 
Reynolds's. The same is the uniform drift of a vast number of 
other experiments by Mr. Crookes, and of those by Mr. Moss 
and myself, from which it appears that whenever the heater and 
cooler are made to approadi there is an increase in the force, 
and that the force is not appreciably affected by variations of the 
convection current, or by its suppression. 

This may also be proved, ana quite conclusively, by observa- 
tions not requiring apparatus. Drops in the spheroidal state 
and the drops which are often seen floating on the surface of 
volatile liquids, as, for examine, the drops which run about on 
the surface of the sea in certain states of the weather when water 
drips from an oar, are supported by Crookes's layers of air interf 
vening between them and the liquid beneath. Similarly a red- 
hot copper plate will float on water, supported on a Crookes's 
layer, and many other instances of a like kind might be adduced. 
In such cases, where the film of air is thhi and for the most part 
horizontal, it is manifest that ^there is no opportunity for those 
convection currents to arise which are required by Prof. 
Reynolds's hypothesis, while in all of them there are the peculiar 
molecular motions of my theory. 

The absence of convection currents whidi could produce an 
appreciable effect may also be proved in those radiometers of 
which the arms whisk round at a very rapid speed, and in many 
other cases that would take too much space to describe here. 

Again, a tangential force which mav be rendered considerable 
is an immediate consequence of my tneory, but has no place as 
a consequence of Prof. Reynolds's. Now its presence has been 
verified by Mr. Moss and myself, and by Mr. Crookes in an 
exquisitdv beautiful apparatus suggested for this purpose by 
Prof. Stokes, as well as, in a less ai^ee, in all Mr. Cfrookes's 
apparatus with curved or crumpled discs. 

Hence Prof. Osborne Reynolds's hypothesis is not the ex* 
planation of Crookes's stress. It alleges a cause which is in 
certain cases a vera causa, but not M/ cause of what is to be 
explained. So far as I can form a judgment, its merit was col- 
lateral, and not intrinsic. It was the first attempt at a reduction 
of the observed phenomena to known physical laws. Though 
not accounting for them, it was sufficiently plausible to attract 
the attention of Prof. Reynolds and other physicists. It thereby 
had the important effect of suggesting Dr. Schuster's most valu*- 
able experiment, which was the first that established the cardinal 
fact that the forces within a radiometer case are balanced. 

The conclusion to which we are thus led by a purelv expert' 
mental inquiry is supported by an examination of the chief 
theoretic assertions of Prof. Osborne Reynolds's letter, vis., 
I. That an essential part of my explanation ** is contrary to the 
law of the diffusion of heat in gases ; " and 2. *' That the force 
arising from the communication of heat from a surface to adjacent 
gas of any particular kind depends only on one thing, the rate at 
which heat is communicated, and to this it is proportional." 

Both of these statements have been set down by Pro^ Osborne 
Reynolds in error ; the first from not observing that the ordinary 
laws for the propagation of heat through a gas do not apply to 
compressed Crookes's layers; and the second from a misap- 
prehension of the actual agency at work in radiometers and 
other similar apparatus. I will proceed to establish these two 
positions. 

I. So long as a gas is in its ordinary state the distribution of 
the vdodties of the molecules is the same in all directions^ and 
when heat is imparted to the gas it does not disturb this uni- 
formity of structure. The heat simply increases the me in 
velocity, and the actual velocities continue to be distributed about 



8o 



NATURE 



\Nav. 29, 1877 



their mean value according to the well-known exponential law, 
and are alike in all directions. Bat the gas of a compressed 
Crookes's layer is not in the ordinary state ; it is under con- 
straint, as I have elsewhere shown, owing to the proximity of the 
heater and cooler between which it is confined. In consequence 
of this constraint there are what I have described as processions 
going on in the layer of gas : in other words, the vdoctties of the 
tnolecttUs at any situation within the layer are not alike in all 
directions^ but are greatest in the direction of the cooler^ least in the 
direction of the heater ^ and of intermediate values in lateral dire:- 
tions. The heat in crossing the layer from the heater to the 
cooler maintains this polarised molecular structure, and if the 
flow of heat is increased it does not simply increase the mean 
velocity of the molecules, but also augments the disparity of the 
velocities in different directions. 

Now the ordinary laws of the communication of heat to and 
through gas are based on the opposite suppos'tion that when heat 
reaches any portion of the gas aJl the molecules of that portion are 
equally affected, that though their mean velocity is increased the 
laves of the distribution of the velocities about that mean, and in 
different directions, are not changed. Hence Prof. Osborne 
Reynolds has fallen into an error in applying the ordinary " law 
of the diffusion of heat in gases " to the case of compressed 
Crookes*8 layers. The law employed by Prof. Reynolds does 
not prevail unless there is sufficient room in front of the heater for 
the development of a complete unrestricted Croukes's layer; 
Crookes's force only presents itself when the thickness of that 
layer is restricted by a cooler. 

The transmission of heat across Crookes's layers is made the 
subject of investigation in a memoir which I laid before the Royal 
Dublin S tciety last May, which has recently been printed in the 
Transactions of that body, and of which a copy will shortly 
appear in the Philosophical Magazine, The law proves to be 
ennrely different from any of the laws for the propagation of heat 
hitherto known, and I have therefore called this mode of trans- 
ferring heat by a new name — the penetration of heat. Moreover, 
the restults of theory had been verified by anticipation more than 
thirty years before by MM. De la Provostaye and Desains, in 
two elaborate experimental investigations into what we now 
know to have been the penetration of heat ; so that our know- 
ledge of its laws, which are entirely different from the laws of the 
diffusion of heat, quoted by Prof. Reynolds, already stands on 
both a deductive and experimental basis. 

2. Prof. Osborne Reynolds further states that with each gas 
the force depends only on one variable, viz., the rate at which 
heat is communicated by the heater to the adjacent gas, and that 
it is proportional to this rate. Probably owing to a mere slip 
on Pro^. Reynolds's part, he has here omitted a second variable, 
viz., the temperature of the gas, which is implicitly contained 
in the equation of his first paper to which he refers. With this, 
however, I have no concern ; what I have to point out is that 
in making the statement, whether in an amended or in its actual 
form. Prof. Osborne Reynolds has overlooked the fact that the 
machinery of Crookes's stress consists of a cooler as well as of the 
heater and intermediate gas, and that a sufficient proximity of the 
cooler is essential. Accordingly, the true expression for the force 
(of which I hope to publish an investigation .made some time 
ago, as soon as my health will allow) is not so simple as Prof. 
Reynolds supposes, but is a function of the temperatures of the 
heater and cooler, and of the rate at which heat reaches the 
> ooler by penetration, in addition to the single variable which 

one Prof. Osborne Reynolds admits. The vice of the mathe- 
matical reasoning, on which Prof. Reynolds bases his statement, 
is that it starts from a kinetic expression for the pressure of gas, 
which is only true when the mean of the squares of the velocities 
of the molecules is the same in all directions. Accordingly, his 
discussion does not reach the phenomenon it professes to 
explain ; it is irrelevant to the case of compressed Crookes's 
layers, in which the gas is polarised, and where the degree of 
polarisation is itself a lunction of Prof. Reynolds's variable along 
with other thermal variables. 

Thus, in all parts of his inquiry, Prof. Osborne Reynolds has 
been led into enor by having reg;arded the gas of compressed 
Crookes's layers as gas in its ordinary state ; in other words, 
because he has not had a glimpse of that peculiar molecular 
structure in the gas, which is the real source of Crookes's stress. 
From a review of the whole subject I think myself justified in 
submitting that the only discovery which brought with it any 
knowledge of the cause of Crookes's stress and of penetration, 
was the discovery that gas could assume this polarised con- 
dition ; and I must say that it does not appear to me that 



to this diacovety Proi Odborne Reynolds has in any degree 
contribute. 
Dublin, November 15 G. Johnstone Stonky 

Postscript, November 23 —Prof. Osborne Reynolds his 
written a further letter to Nature (vol. xvii. p. 61), in which he 
says :— "The fact that Mr, Stoney has in no way referred to my 
work, although I preceded him by some two years, has relieved 
me from all obligation to discuss Mr. Stoney's theory." I am 
sorry Prof. 0>bome Reynolds should have thought me capable 
of discourtesy or inattention to the claims of a fellow-worker, and 
forttmately I am not conscious of being liable to the imputation. 
I became acquainted with Prof. Reynolds's paper in the interval 
between the publication of my first and second papers, but did 
not refer to it in my second paper because X found on reading it 
that Prof. Reynolds's explanations of Crookes's force were all 
erroneous (viz., the evaporation of mercury or other vapour, 
and heat communicated to diffused particles of gas, or to gas 
brought by convection currents) ; because the mathematical 
analysis with which he supports his |hypotheses is irrelevant 
to the problem with which he is dealing ; and finally, because for 
the purposes of my inves igation I had no occasion to point out 
these mistakes, inasmuch as Prof. Reynolds had not approached 
the subject ot polarised layers of gas and their mechanical pro- 
perties, which was the subject matter of my papers. 

I ought to add a word in reference to the criticism of my 
memoir on penetration, which is contained in Prof. Osborne 
Reynolds's last letter. He seems to overlook a condition laid 
down in the second paragraph of my memoir, which disposes of 
the criticism, viz. : "Let us further re^^ard this gas as a perfect 
non-conductor of heat," Your mathematical readers will at once 
perceive that this condition is a Intimate simplification of the 
problem, because the diffusion or conduction of heat in gases is 
very sluggish compared with penetration, the phenomenon with 
which I was dealing. 

It appears from Prof. Osborne Reynolds's last letter that my 
wish to make my note to Nature (voL xvii. p. 43) a fortnight 
ago short, led me to make it obscure. I will therefore, with 
your permission, try to state the matter more clearly. 

As I understand the scientific question in discussion before us, 
it is this :— Assuming (i) that, when heat is commuuic&ted from 
a solid surface to a gas in contact with it, a force arises (equiva- 
lent to a pressure against the surface) which is proportional to 
the rate of communication of heat, and (2) that the conducting 
power of a gas for heat is independent of its density. Prof. 
Reynolds concludes th\t the driving-force on the vanes of a 
radiometer does not increase with the rarefaction of the air, but 
that rarefaction favours the motion only in so far as it lessen? the 
opposing force due to convection- currents. I, on the other 
hand, while admitting Prof. Reynolds's premisses, do not admit 
his conclusion. On the contrai^, I believe tha% in the radio- 
meter, rarefaction must increase the rate of communication of 
heat, and hence also the force. To see how this may be, let A B 
represent the thickness of a stratum of gas contained between 
two parallel solid surfaces, whose temperatures, measured from 
any zero, are represented respectively by A c and B D. Then, 
I imagine, the flow of heat through the gas will take place as 
though there were, in contact with each solid surface, a layer of 
gas whose temperature is throughout the same as that of the 
contiguous solid, and whose thickness is equal (or at least pro- 
portional) to the mean length of path of the molecules. The 
virtual thickness of the stratum of gas, whose conductivity comes 
into account in determining the rate of transmission of heat, is 
then the actual thickness diminished by the aggregate thicknesses 
of these two hyeis. For example, if A a and B^ represent the 
thicknesses of the hot and cold layers respectively, the virtual 




thickness of the stratum across whic'i conduction takes place is 
ab, and the distribution of temperature from side to side of 
the whole quantity of gas is given by the ordinates of the 



Hov. 29, 1877] 



NATURE 



Si 



broken line ccdn. If now] the gas is rarefied, the mean 
I len^h of path of the molecules, and consequently the thickness 
I of each of the layers of uniform temperature, is increased, 
\ aod the thickness of the stratum across which true conduction 
\ takes place is dimiuished. If, for example, the thicknesses 
I of the layers become A a' and b b*, the thickness of the con- 
ducting stratum b reduced to c^b\ and the distribution of tem- 
\ Fratore is represented by the ordinates of the broken line c/d'n. 
The rate of flow of heat in the two cases will be proportional 
I oonjointly to the inclination of the line cd or dd to ab, and to 
I the conductivity of the gas ; but as the latter factor does not 
i varf with density, the result is proportioual to the former only. 
I It is CYtdent that if this view of the matter is approximately 
{ correct rarefaction must increase the rate of transmission of heat 
I across a stratum of gas whenever the increased length of path of 
1 the molecules, resulting from rarefaction, bears an appreciable 
I proportion to the thickness of the stratum, but that it will have 
! no sensible effect of the kind when the stratum of gas is very 
\ thick or the rarefaction itself very small. 

I r I ought to acknowledge that precisely' this mode of representing 
I the e£fect of rarefaction occurred to me only as I was thinking 
bow I could comply with Prof. Osborne Reynolds's wish that I 
should be "more explicit." When I wrote my last note I haul 
in mmd a somewhat different mode of action whereby it seemed 
that an equivalent result to that here pointed out would be 
brought about The further consideration which Prof. Rey- 
nolds's letter in this week's Nature has caused me to give to the 
subject has, however, led me to think that the view given above 
is not only clearer, but also a nearer approach to a correct repre- 
sentation of the facts than the one I had previously adopted. 
Bat apart from the accuracy of any particular explanation of how 
snch a result 'can occur, the experimental evidence seems to me 
to prove conclusively ^at the force in the radiometer does in- 
crease (up to a certain point) with rarefaction. The action of 
convection currents depends to so great an extent on such con- 
ditions as the size and shape of the envelope and the position of 
the fly, and they must be so much disturbed as soon as the vanes 
begin to move, that if they played the essential part which I 
understood Prof. Reynolds to attribute to them, I cannot think 
that the effect of rarefaction would present anything like the 
degree of regularity that has been actually observed. 
November 24 G. Carey Foster 



Mr. Crookes and Eva Fay 
The precise nature and grounds of the attestation given by 
Mr.' Crookes to Eva Fay's "mediumship" appear in an 
utkie entitled "Science and Spiritualism" in the Daily Tde- 
graph for March 13, 1S75, embodying a communication made by 
Mr. Crookes himself to the Spiritualist of the preceding day. 

The readers of Nature will be able to judge for themselves by 
the following extracts from this article, whether Eva Fay was not 
folly justified in announcing her ** mediumship " to the American 
pnblic as having received Mr. Crookes's '* endorsement." 

"In the Spiritualist of yesterday, Mr, William Crookes, 
F.R.S., prints an account of a siatut at his house in which Mrs. 
Fay exhibited some remarkable phenomena while under severe 
scientific conditions. The sitting took place on Friday evening, 
February 19^ in the presence of several well-known men of 
science ; and, on Mr. Crookes's suggestion, the medium was so 
placed as to form part of an electrical current connected with a 
galvanometer, indicating on a graduated circle the exact deflection 
prodnoed by the current. In each hand Mrs. Fay held the ter- 
minal of a wire, and the fact that she kept continuous hold of 
the teiminals was guaranteed by the amount of deflection of the 
galvanometer needle, and by the flashes of light which accompany 
«adi change of position or break of contact. This method was 
tgreed to by the savants present, as affording absolute certainty 
tMt the medium could not remove her hand or body from the 
vim, whether in a trance or otherwise, without the fact being 

I nadc known by the galvanometer. The sitting was held in a 
^U-lighted drawing-room, the medium thus 'tied down by 

1 *J«ctricity' being screened by a curtain. What followed is thus 
dw:nT)edby Mr. Crookes :— 

"We commenced the tests at 8- 55 p.m. ; the deflection by the 
g^ranometer was 211 deg., and the resistance of Mrs. Fay's 
°ody 6,600 British Association units. At 8.56 the deflection was 
^[4 deg., and at this moment a handbell began to ring in the 
hwaiy. At 8. 57 the deflection was 2 1 5 deg. A hand came out 
« the cabinet on the side of the door farthest from Mrs. Fay." 

A miinber of other occurrences of the like kind are then 
Kcotded ; the hand reappearing from time to time, and presenting 



different members of the purty with books and other articles 
severally appropriate to each, of which Mr. Crookes considered 
it impossible that Mrs. Fay could herself have gained possession. 

He adds :— ** Before Mrs. Fay came to the house that evening, 
she only knew the names of two of the guests who would be 
present ; but during the evening the intdligence at work dis- 
played an unusual amount of knowledge about the sitters and the 
labours of their 1 ivcs. * ' 

The entire extract (which I should have reproduced in full if 
the space of Nature had permitted) would show that — i. It is 
true that Mr. Crookes gave his public attestation to the genuine- 
ness of the so-called spiritualistic manifestations which occurred 
in his house through the ** mediumship " of Eva Fay. 

2. It is true that Eva Fay went back to the United States 
armed with Mr. Ctoo]^.^^*^ public attestation of the genuineness of 
the performances which took place at his house. 

3. It is true that Mr. Crookes wrote a letter to a gentleman in 
the United States, giving a similar attestation, which letter was 
published in facsimile in an American newspaper. — ^The only 
thing that was fr^/true in my statement, was that (through having 
mislaid the slip containing it) I spoke of this letter as having been 
addressed to Eva Fay herself, and having been written before 
her departure. 

4. It is true that Eva Fay's public performances in London 
were imitated at the time by Messrs. Maskelyne and Cooke; 
and further, that her business agent spontaneously offered Mr. 
Maskelyne to expose (for a sum of money) the tricks by 
which she cheated "the F.R.S. people."— If Nature thinks it 
worth while to admit into its columns the full particulars of that 
offer, Mr. Maskelyne is quite ready to furnish them. His general 
assertion of the fact has been long before the public (" Modem 
Spiritualism," p. 122), and has remained unchallenged, so far as 
I am aware, until now. 

5. It is true that the whole modus operandi of Eva Fay's public 
"manifestations" in the United States has been publicly exposed 
in New York and Boston by Mr. Washington Irving Bi^op, as 
stated in Fraser's Magazine for the present month. 

It was not only in entire ignorance of these proceedings, but 
under the influence of a report in circulation amon^ the Fellows 
of the Royal Society — that " Mr. Crookes had given up Spiri- 
taalism," that I expressed to Mr. Crookes, on the occasion of his 
receiving the Royal Medal, my desire to ''bury the hatchet" 
But I most assuredly did not consider myself thereby pledged to 
keep silence in regard to any further proceedings of the like kind ; 
and only learned at the beginning of the present year that Eva 
Fay had been trading on the " endorsement " given her by '* Mr. 
Crookes and other Fellows of the Royal Society," which she natu- 
rally " improved " into that of " the Royal Society of England." 

November 19 William B. Carpenter 

Potential Energy 

Will you permit me to express a certahi amount of scep- 
ticism as to the reality of Mr. O'Toole's troubles on this subject? 
That some statements made in the text-books quoted are not 
clear— that by an ingenious collocation of isolated passages from 
different authors some absurd conclusions may be drawn — we 
admit, but it may be doubted whether a Fublius with the keen 
critical power of Mr. O'Toole would not be able to eliminate 
these errors or ambiguities by a reference to the context In 
support of this position let us take the points raised by Mr. 
O'Toole in the order adopted by him. 

A. — Potential E., as meaning Energy in posse. 

The ** doctors" quoted, with one exception, represent poten- 
tial E. — not as energy in posse, but as kinetic eneiqgy in posse — a 
very different thing. Just as gold coin — though certainly not 
money in posse— mxj correctly be called silver coin (another 
form of money) in posse. 

But it is said this name — and certain phrases employed by the 
doctors — ^imply that potential E. is ''energy of about-to-su- 
pervene motion, or that it does not perform work except 
through the resulting E. of motion." Mr. O'Toole is so dis- 
tressed because poor Fublius is susceptible to this impression, 
that I feel some hesitation in asking what is wrong in Kxi How 
can work be done without motion? How can the poten- 
tial E. of a system change without a change in the con- 
figuration — f>., motion of the system? Where is the mistake 
in the conception of potential E. continuously changing 
into kinetic energy, and this into work, as suggested by poor ^ 
" P. M.," wholwas so summarily treated by this terrible O'Toole w 
that I quake in my shoes as I think of my fate. O 



8a 



NATURE 



{Nov, 29, 1877 



The exception mentioned above is an extract from Clerk 
Maxwdl, mich is certainly erroneous, and from which Mr. 
O'Toole gets a good deal of fun. We will not suggest that the 
addition of a single word would make the passage correct, for 
we should be told that text-books ought to be perfect But it is 
only just to mention that the error occurs in an explanation of the 
name ; in the definition of the thing the error does not occur ; 
nay, it is expressly contradicted. 

After this is it not unkind to condemn those doctors who drop 
the name "potential £." and replace it with such phrases as 
" £. of repose," &c., implying that the energy in question is not 
due to motion ? By-the-by where is the bull in " passive 
energy''? and what is the ''action" that may be confounded 
with kinetic energy ? 

'Z,— 'Potential E, as meaning '* Energy related to Potential 
Functions^* 

The word Potential may be used in a second sense. This of 
itself is a trouble to Mr. O'Toole ; but— remembering that your 
reaiders may not sympathise with his undisguised antipathy to 
verbal skylarking—- he hastens to add that the two meanings are 
not only heterogeneous but incompatible. " Surely there is no 
occasion to stop to prove this." Please do, Mr. O'Toole ; we 
should like to hear you prove something. 

It may be noted that in this opinion and in paragraph 9 he 
appears to differ from Thomson and Tait (See their definition 
of Potential, Nat, PhU,, vol. L, § 485). 

C^Potential E, as meaning " Energy of Potency " 
' It appears from a foot-note that " potency " may mean a force. 
If so, it is strange that the O'Toole— who, throwing off his thin 
disguise, at the end of bis letter undertakes the "duty" of a 
doctor, and tells us that potential E. should be the " energy of 
a force "—it is strange that Dr. O'Toole should object to the 
name on this ground. 

But the remarks under this head are chiefly interesting, as 
indicating the modus operandi of our pseudo-Publius. He does 
not trouble to examine the definitions of ''potential energy." 
He only looks for explanations of the word " potentiaL" Fmd- 
ing scant material in the doctor's utterances, he resorts to his 
dictionary, hunts up the different meanings of " potential," adds 
to these their antitheses, and rends his phantoms to pieces. It 
is scarcely a parody upon his letter to say — ^we won't trouble 
about what a dvil engmeer is, but let us examine the meaning 

of civil. Now civil has]) ^^meanings : ( A. ) polite, (B.), &a 

Therefore "civil E." means "polite K," and "civil E.'^used 
as a distinguishing title cannot mean anything' else than this, 
that the other £. is unpolite £. 

As to the whereabouts of Potential Energy, 
" We shall now pass from tha perplexities [connected with this 
unlucky name, ' potential £.,' to consider the behaviour of our 
teachers towards the thing itself." At last Mr. O'Toole will 
deign to discuss the definitions given bv the doctors. Nay, he 
wanders away into an examination of such rash — but perhaps not 
inexcusable— phrases as "the potential E. of a raised weight," 
&c. The proper remedy for the troubles arising on this point 
is " to use words discreetly and consistently." But this is not 
sufficiently heroic. A local habitation must be found for this 
"potential £.," although it would seem as vain to inquire into 
the whereabouts of potential E. as into the whereabouts of Mr. 
O'Toole's scientific erudition. It is proposed to lodge this £. 
in the forces, and perhaps it won't do much harm, as we don't 
know where the forces are. It is proposed, moreover, to sub- 
stitute " eneigy of tension " for " potential £." This done, the 
doctor's millennium will have come. Never mind about altering 
your conception of this kind of energy ; call it by another name ; 
give it Siweisnichttoo lodging. Hiere will be no more " confusion 
about fundamental principles ;" there will be no more slips of 
the pen or tongue ; there will be no more puzzled Publii ; and 
last, but not least, there will be no more O'TooIes to bother the 
doctors. Well may " verbal skylarking " be despised. What 
is.it beside such gigantic fun as this? 

And yet I am sceptical. We started bv hearing that it was 
" principally— though not entirely — the aoctors who were to 
blame for this comnsion about fundamental principles." Is 
this proved? Is not another cause indicated in the letter of 
of '* £. G." (vol. xvii. p. 9) ? And shall the doctors expect to 
be rightly understood when Dr. O'Toole's amanuensis admits 
(vol. xvi. p. 520) that Dr. O'Toole himself has been misappre- 
hended upon almost evexy point by one reader at least ? 
Cirencester, November 13 H. W. Llovd Tanner 



Smell and Hearing in Moths 

In Nature (voL xviL p. 72) yonrconespoodent " £. H. K." 
observes : " ' J. C seems to draw inferences that moths bive 
not the power of smell, but have that of hearing. I fed quite 
certain they possess the former, but am in doubt about the 
latter. .... 

" With reference to the sound of the glass, is it not the quck 
motion of the hand which disturbs the moth ?" 

May I draw the attention of both your correspondents to some 
experiments of mine on this subject which were published io 
""■ ■ I re ■ 



Nature about a year ago ? These experiments, 
were quite sufficient to prove to me that moths have the 
power of hearing shrill notes ; and, until I read the qnciy of 
" £. H. K." above quoted, I thought that my account of these 
experiments must have been equally conclusive to any one who 
read them. On now referring to that account, however, I find : 
that I there omitted to state one of the experiments which was 
resorted to for the purpose of avoiding the possible objectioa 
which " £. H. K." now advances. This experiment was a very 
simple one, consisting merely in making a sudden shrill v^tk 
with my mouth by drawing the breath inwards, so as not to 
disturb the air in the neighbourhood of the insect. The latter, 
however, always responded to this as to other sounds in the way 
described, although throughout the experiment I took care not 
to move any part of my body. 

George J. Romanes 



It was because of my knowledge of facts like those 
by " £. H. K." that I was surprised at the apparent inability of 
moths to smell ammonia. Being no physiologist, I ventured to 
draw no inferences ; but it occurred to me to wonder whether 
the sense of smell differs in kind with different organisations ; 
whether, for instance, some substances strongly odorous to us 
may be quite inodorous to insects, and vice versd. 

As to the experiment on hearing, I do not think it was the 
movement of the hand which startled the moths. It may coa- 
conceivably have been the vibration of their wings set up by tiie 
sound ; but tbe experiment can easily be repeated with variations 
by any one interested in the subject. J. C 

Loughton 

Meteorological Phenomenon 

This morning at about a quarter before ten the sky here pre- 
sented a most unusual appearance. The air was calm and the 
sun shining, but not brightly, through a slight veil of duo- 
stratus. The sky was mostly covered with fibrous clouds of 
cirrus or cirro-stratus (I am not quite sure which I ought to call 
it), the fibres being quite parallel to each other, but in two 
different strata ; those of one stratum were approximately from 
north-east to south-west, those of the other from north-west to 
south-east — so that they seemed to cross each other like the 
threads of a woven fabric I think the fibres from north-east to 
south-west were the highest, but am not quite sure, though it 
seemed the same to another who was looking on with me. 

Joseph John Murfhy 

Old Forge, Donmurry, Co. Antrim, November 25 

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 

Stellar. Systems. — M. Flammarion, in various notes 
communicated recently to the Paris Academy of Sciences^ 
has been drawing attention to stars which appear to be 
affected with a common proper motion, or a motion similar 
in amount and in its direction. Several of his cases, 
however, are by no means to be styled *' Nouveaux 
syst^mes Stellaires." Thus the large and uniform proper 
motions of the southern stars ^ and C Reticuli, to which 
be refers in the Comptes Rendus of November 5, were the 
subject of remark in ^Nature, vol. xi. p. 328. That 
there was a probability of a common proper motion in 
Uiese stars would be evident to any one who inspected the 
columns in the British Association Catalogue, published 
in 1845, ^ut as Taylor had not observed them, and the 
comparison was consequently dependent upon Lacaille 
and Brisbane only, there was a possibility of mistake. 
The first confirmation of the large proper motion of the 
B.A.C. in f was afforded in Jacob's "mean places of 
1440 stars "—from the Madras observations 1849-53, and 



Hov. 29, 1877] 



NATURE 



83 



the earliest proof of a common translation in space was 
given by the same observer from the Madras observations 
1853-58, which formed a part of vol. xxviii. of the Memoirs 
of the Royal Astronomical Society. Not having seen any 
distinct reference to the veiy large and uniform motions 
of these stars in astronomical treatises, we adverted to 
them in Nature as above. 

Again, the common proper motions of Regulus and 
Lalande I9749i mentioned by M. Flammarion in the same 
communication have been long remarked. The same 
may be said in the case of 9 and 10 Ursae Majoris, one of 
the systems to which he refers in a paper presented to the 
Academy on November 12. Any one who has carefully 
utilised the very valuable fourteenth volume of the Dorpat 
observations must have been familiar with this case, and, 
we may add many similar ones, though the proper 
motions involved may be to smaller am ount. This volu me 
contains Madler's laborious work upon 3222 of Bradley's 
stars, of which he gives positions reduced to 1850, and 
where all the catalogues available at the time and con- 
sidered deserving of confidence were brought to bear. 
Not the least important feature in this work is the addition 
of two columns, not usually found in catalogues, contain- 
ing the amount of secular proper motion in arc of great 
circle (r) and the angular direction of this motion ((/>) 
counted from north round by east to 360°. On p. 155 we 
have — 

For 9 I Ursae Majoris ... r = 52"'5 ... ^ « 238*'9 
„ 10 „ ... r - 52"-6 ... <^ = 238'-5 

Bat, as we have stated, other similar cases are readily 
detected by an inspection of these columns. For in- 
stance : in y and 58 Tauri, distant 35', where r = 13", 
♦ = 97** ; in 66 and 68 Draconis, distant 43', r = 13" '5, 
^ about 69° and for wider stars, in 26 and 34 Pegasi, dis- 
tant 4° 25', where r = 30*, </> = 84° ; in r) and 10 Arieiis, 
distant y 11', r= I5"*5,<^ = 86°, with other neighbouring 
stars, moving in nearly the same direction, and again in 
fi and 54 Aquilae, distant 5" 13', r = 27", <^ =» 121**. The 
list might be largely increased. 

It is nevertheless to be expected that the researches 
which M. Flammarion is so industriously following up 
with respect to stellar systems may lead to a considerable 
addition to our knowledge of them, in cases which are 
not thus easily discovered from existing catalogues, par- 
ticularly by determining the proper motions of stars, not 
yet submitted to such investigation. 

The Minor Planets.— A letter from Prof. Watson, 
of Ann Arbor, U.S., to M. Yvon Villarceau, dated 
November 5, deranges the ordinal numbers of the small 
I planets given in this column last week, from No. 175 
onwards. - It appears that on October i he discovered a 
I planet lom., which he duly notified by telegraph to the 
I Smithsonian Institution, but by some unexplained cir- 
\ cumstance the information was not transmitted by cable 
to the Observatory of Paris, as usual with such dis- 
coveries. Supposing this object to be really a new 
planet, it will be No. 175, and the subsequent discoveries 
, mentioned last week will be on the same supposition, 
advanced a unit. Elements of No. 172 appear mAstron, 
Nach^ No. 2,176, and of No. 176 in the Paris Bulletin 
Intemational of November 25. 

The Cordoba Observatory.-— Within the last few 
days, Mr. John M. Thome, the zealous co-operator with 
Dr. B. A. Gould in the important astronomical work 
carried on for several years past at the Observatory of the 
\ Argentine Republic, has visited this country on his return 
to Cordoba from the United States. We have seen in his 
h^ds proofs of the charts of the Argentine '* Urano- 
metria,^ which are on a much larger scale than those of 
Argelandcr, Heis, and Behrmann. They have been 
engraved in New York. This work is expected to be 
soon pnblished ; also large lunar photographs taken at 
Cordoba. All the stars in the " Uranometria " have been 
lueridionally observed. 



CARL VON LITTROW 
p ARL LUDWIG VON LITTROW, whose death has 
^^ been announced during: the past week, was born at 
Kasanon July 18, i8ir. His father, Joseph J ohann von Lit- 
trow, the eminent astronomer, afterwards Director of the 
Imperial Observatory at Vienna, was at that time Professor 
of Astronomy in the University of Kasan, where he founded 
an observatory. The son was educated under the father's 
direction, and in 1831 was appointed assistant at the 
Observatory at Vienna, of which institution the elder 
Littrow had taken the superintendence in 1819, removing 
thence from Ofen. In 1835 he first appeared as an 
astronomical writer, having in that year published an 
account of Hell's Journey to Wardoe and of his Obser- 
vations of the Transit of Venus in 1769 at that place, 
from the original day-books ; also a History of the Dis- 
covery of General Gravitation, by Newton, and Treatises 
upon Comets, more especially on Halley's, which was 
then appearing. In 1839 he published at Stutgard a 
Celestial Atlas, and a work which in the Catalogue of the 
Pulkova Library is called a Translation of Airy's " Popu- 
lare physische Astronomic," by which is most probably 
intended the well-known Treatise on Gravitation pub- 
lished by the Astronomer-Royal in 1834, though elsewhere 
Littrow's work is stated to refer to the history of Astro- 
nomy during the early part of the nineteenth century, 
presented to the British Association in 1832. 

In 1842 Carl von Littrow succeeded his father as 
Director of the Observatory of Vienna, and the establish- 
ment has continued in vigorous activity under his charge. 
He has principally devoted the energies of the Obser- 
vatory to equatorial astronomy, following up with dili- 
gence the observations of comets and planets, and* with 
the aid of able assistants determining their orbits. 
Some of the most complete cometary discussions have 
emanated from the Observatory of Vienna while under 
his charge. The Annalen der SUrnwarte in IVien, 
have been continued, and valuable astronomical work 
is contained in them, as for instance in the first volume of 
the third series, which appeared in 1851, where we have 
the positions of the stars in Argelander's Northern Zones 
reduced by Oeltzen to 1842, the epoch for which elements 
of reduction were given in the Bonn volume. Littrow was 
a frequent contributor to the publications of the Vienna 
Acadeniy. In one of his memoirs — ** Bahnahen zwischen 
den periodischen gestirnen des Sonnensystems," printed 
in the ^itzungsberichte of the Academy far January, 1854, 
he applied an original process of investigation of the 
points of nearest approach amongst the orbits of the 
small planets discovered up to that time, and the orbits of 
the periodical co i.ets — a troublesome work in which 
me hanic il aid was introduced ; the result was the dis- 
covery of many close approximations of planets with 
planets, planets with comtts, and of comets with comets ; 
amongst the latter near approaches of Biela's comet to 
the orbit of Halley's in 35° and 198" heliocentric longitude. 
When interest was excited relative to the expected return 
of the comet of 1556, which at that period was supposed 
to have been previously observed in 1264, Littrow was 
the means of bringing to light an unknown treatise by 
Heller, which, with the chart of Fabricius, has allowed of 
a much improved determination of the orbit, and similarly 
he made known interesting particulars with reference to 
the remarkable observation by Steinheibel and Stark of 
a rapidly-moving black spot upon the sun's disc on 
February 12, 1820. Littrow was a constant contributor to 
the columns of the Astronomische Nachrichten. The 
names of Homstein, Oeltzen, Weiss, Schulhof, and others 
are well known in connection with the work of the 
Vienna Observatory during Littrow's direction. His death 
occurred on the i6th inst. 

Von Littrow's wife, Auguste Littrow-Bischoff, is one of 
the best known Austrian authoresses of the present time? 
The genial qualities of the astronomer and his wife made 



84 



NATURE 



[Nov. 29, 1877 



them the centre of a large and admiring circle, and their 
residence was one of the mo5t favourite gathering-places 
of the literary and scientific celebrities of Vienna. 



BACTERIA ' 

IN a short paper communicated to the Royal Society at 
the close of last session, Prof. Tyndall did me the honour 
to criticise certain words reported to have been used by 
me at a meeting of the Association of Medical Officers 
of Health in January last. Although I am much indebted 
to him for the opportunity he has thus afforded me of 
discussing an important subject before this Society, I 
cannot refrain from expressing my regret that he should 
have thought it desirable to quote at length, and thus to 
place on permanent record in the Society's Proceedings, 
the expressions used on the occasion above mentioned. 
I regret this because these expressions occur in an abbre- 
viated and incomplete abstract of a hastily prepared 
discourse not intended for publication. 

As, however, I am well aware that Prof. Tyndall*s 
purpose in his communication was not to criticise the 
language, but the erroneous views which the language 
appeared to him to contain, I shall make no further 
reference to the quotation ; but shall regard it as the 
purpose of the present paper, first to reply to the reason- 
ing embodied in his last communication, and secondly 
to corroborate certain statements previously made by me, 
to which he has taken exception in the more extended 
memoir published in the i66th volume of the Philosophical 
Transactions, 

It will be my first object to enable the Fellows of the 
Royal Society to judge how far the views I entertain 
differ from those which have been entmciated here and 
elsewhere by Prof. Tyndall. Biologists are much indebted 
to him for the new and accurately observed facts with 
which he has enlarged the basis of our knowledge, as well 
as for the admirable methods of research with which he 
has made us acquainted. As regards the general bearing 
of these facts on the doctrine of Abiogenesis, I imagine 
that we are entirely agreed. So far as I can make out, 
the difference between us relates chiefly to two subjects, 
namely, the sense in which I have employed the words 
" germ " and " structure," and the extent of the knowledge 
at present possessed by physiologists as to the structure 
and attributes of the germinal particles oi Bacteria, 

Although Dr. Tyndall, in the title of his paper, refers 
to my " views of ferment," yet as he makes no further 
allusion to them, I will content myself with stating that 
in the passage quoted, the first sentence (from the words 
" In defining" to the word "living") has nothing to do 
with the following sentences, having been placed in the 
position which it occupies in the quotation by the 
abstractor. The paragraph ought to begin with the 
words ** Ten years ago." • 

Of the meaning which attached itself to the word 
" germ " in the days of Panspermism a c<MTect idea may 
be formed from the following passage from M. Pasteur's 
well-known memoir " Sur les Corps organises qui existent 
dans I'Atmosph^re." " There exist " says he, " in the air 
a variable number of corpuscles, of which the form and 
structure indicate that they are organised. Their. dimen- 
sions increase from extremely small diameters to one- 
hundredth of a millim., 1*5 hundredth of a millim., or even 
more. Some are spherical, otiiers ovoid. They have 
more or less marked contours. Many are tran^ucent, 
but others are opaqu^ with granulations in^their interior. 
.... I do not think it possible to affirm of one of these 
corpuscles, that it is a spore, still less that it is the spoie 
of a particular species of microphyte, or of another, that 
it is an eg^ or the ^%% of a particular mictoaoon* I 
confine myself to the declaration that the corpuscles are 

* '* Kcoifirks on the Aitiibutes of the Germinal Particles tf ^rtr/^ftV?., in 
reply to Prof. Tyndall," by J. Burdon-Sandenon, M.D., LL.I>., F.R.S. 
Paper read at the Royal Society, November aa. 



evidently organised ; that they resemble in every respect 
the germs of the lower organisms, and dififer from each 
other so much in volume and structure that they unques- 
tionably belong to very numerous species." Such are the 
" germs " of M. Pasteur, and such is the conception of a 
germ which was entertained by informed persons up to 
1870, and is very generally entertained up to the present 
moment.' It is obvious that these " corpuscules organises" 
were, if they had any relation to Bacteria, not bacterium 
germs in Dr. TyndalPs sense, but " finished organisms," 
and yet it was of these that M. Pasteur said that it was 
" mathematically proved " that they were the originators 
of the organisms which are developed in albucninous 
liquids containing sugar, when exposed to the atmosphere. 

With reference to the word " structure " I would point 
out that in the passage quoted from my lecture it is dis- 
tinctly stated that the bacterial germ is endowed with 
structure in the molecular sense^ but not in the anatomical 
sense. The meaning of the expression ^'anatomical 
structure" was, naturally, not defined,, considering that 
the persons whom I was addressing might be supposed to 
be familiar with it. As, however, my failing to do so has 
apparently led to some uncertainty as to my meaning, I 
must, to avoid future misimderstandings, define more com- 
pletely the difference between the two senses in which the 
word was used by me. 

The anatomical sense of the word structure may be 
illustrated by referring to its synonyms, to the English 
words texture and tissue, to the Greek word toriov, and to 
the German word Gewebe, from which two last the words 
in common use to designate the science of structure, viz., 
histology and Gewebelehre are made up. What I have 
asserted of the germinal particles of Bacteria is, that no 
evidence exists of their being endowed with that par- 
ticular texture which forms the subject of the science of 
histology. In biological language there is a close relation 
between the words structure and organization, the one 
being an anatomical, the other a physiological term ; 
either of these words signifies that an object to which 
it is applied consists of parts or structural dements, 
each of which is,* or may be, an object of obser- 
vation. As the observation is unaided or aided, the 
structure is said to be macroscopical [or microscopical 
The biologist cannot recognise ultra-microscopical 
structure or organisation except as \ matter of inference 
from observation, «>., from observing either that other 
organisms, which there is reason to regard as similar to 
the object in respect of which structure^ is inferred, actually 
possess visible structure, or that the object can be seen to 
possess structure at a later period of its existence. As 
mstances in which the existence of structure is inferred 
the following may be mentioned : — The i>rotoplasBi of a 
Rhizopod is admitted to have structure because, although 
none can be seen in the protoplasm itsielf, the comi£- 
cated form of the calcareous shell which the proto- 
plasm makes or models can be seen. By analogy 
therefore other organisms which are allied to the Rhizo- 
pod are inferred to ha'^e structure, and from these, or 
from similar cases, the inference is extended to all kinds 
of cells, with respect to which it is taught by physiologists 
that although, in certain-' cases, no parts can be distin- 
guished, the living material of which they consist is 
nevertheless endowed with- strttctvre or organisation. 
Similarly, we assume, that a Bacterium possesses a more 
complicated structure than we can 'actually observe, 
because in other organisms which are allied with it by 
form and life history, such complications can be seen. 
Again, in all embryonal organs we admit the existence of 
structure before it can be seen, because in the course of 

' Before I became aware that the contaminating particles of water are 
ultra-microscopical I myself was engaj^ed earnestly in bunting for gains 
both in wnterond air. Tber search has been contsoued by others up to a 
much later period. Those who desire information oix the oirgatused particles 
of the atmosphere will find the subject exhaustively treatedby Dr. Doaglas 
Cunningham in a report entitled ** Microsodpical Examinations of /&," 
lately issued by H.M. Indian Government. O 



Vov. 29, 1877] 



NATURE 



85 



development we observe its gradaal emergence. So fau-, 
inference of the existence of structure from historical 
evidence is justifiable ; but if we were to carry this 
inference back to the ovum itself, and say that the cha- 
racteristic structures of nerve, of muscle, or of gland, 
exist in the ovum at the moment after impregnation, 
every physiologist would feel the assertion to be absurd. 

In the familiar comparison of the origin of the elephant 
with that of the mouse, in which the perfect anatomical 
similarity of the ova in the two species is contrasted with 
the enormous difference of the result, we should be justi- 
fied in saying that the difference of development is the 
expression ofstructural difiierence between the primordium 
•f the one and the primordium of the other ; but inasmuch 
as it is not possible to indicate any anatomical distinction, 
it is understood that structural difference of another kind 
is meant, namely, difference of molecular constitution. In 
other words, we assume that the potential difference 
between the one and the other is dependent on an actual 
difference of molecular structure. "V^Tiether this is accom- 
panied with an anatomical difference, such as we might 
expect to be able to see if we had more perfect instru- 
ments, we do not know. 
From the moment that it is understood that the word 
I stracture means anatomical structure, the argument used 
j by Dr. Tyndall loses its relevance. Afiter referring to the 
I "germ limit," he says, "some of those particles" (by 
I which, I presume, is meant atmospheric particles) ^' de- 
velop into globular Bacteriay some into rod- shaped 
Bacteria^ some into long flexile filaments, some into 
impetuously moving organisms, and some into organisms 
widiout motion. One particle will emerge as a Bacillus 
anthracis, which produces deadly splenic fever ; another 
win devdop into a Bacterium^ the spores of which are 
not to be microscopically distinguished from those of the 
former organism ; and yet these undistinguishable spores 
are absolutely powerless to produce the disorder which 
Bacillus anthracis never fails to produce. It is not to be 
imagined that particles which, on development, emerge in 
organisms so different froni each other, possess no struc- 
tural differences. But if they possess structural differences 
they must possess the thing differentiated, viz., structure 
itself." Throughout this passage it isf evident that it is 
not anatomical but molecular structure that is referred to. 
In fo!t other passages relating to the subject, I venture 
to think that Dr. Tyndall has overiooked the distinction 
made by me between anatomical organisation and mole- 
cular structure. When, for example, he speaks of " germ 
structure" in the passage quoted from his Liverpool 
Address, he evidently refers to molecular structure exclu- 
sively, for he gives ice as his first example, and argues 
that as ice possesses structure so do atmospheric germs — 
a proposition which I should not have thought of ques- 
tioning. 

The experimental evidence which we have before us 
goes to prove that in all the known cases in which Bac- 
teria appear to originate de novo^-HcaX is to say in liquids 
which are at the moment of their origin absolutely free 
from living Bacteria — they really originate from " par- 
tides great or small,* which particles are therefore germs 
in the sense in which that word is used by Prof. Tyndall. 
To ittottrate the views I myself entertain, and always have 
entertained on this question, I need only refer to my 
paper on the origin of Bacteria, published in 1871. The 
experiments made by me at that time brought to light 
the then new fact, now become old by familiarity, that all 
exposed aqueous liouids, even when absolutely free from 
. visible particles, and all moist surfaces, are contaminated 
and exhibit a power of communicating their contami- 
nation to other liquids. As regards water and aqueous 
hqoids in general, I insisted on the ^* particulate " nature 
of the contaminating agent, and coined for the purpose 
the adjective I have Just employed (which has been since 
adopted hy other writers), at tae same time pointing oat 



that the particles in question were ultra-microscopical, 
and consequently that their existence was matter of in- 
ference as distinguished from direct observation. Dr. 
Tyndall has demonstrated by the experiments to which I 
have already alluded, that the ordinary air also contains 
germinal particles of ultra-microscopical minuteness. Of 
the completeness and conclusiveness of those experiments 
I have only to express the admiration which I, in common 
with all others whose studies .have brought them into 
relation with the subject, entertain. That such particles 
exist there can be no question ; but of their size, struc-' 
tural attributes, or mode of development, we kaow 
nothing. 

Prof. Tyndall, I am sure by inadvertence, has accused 
me of assuming that there is some relation between the 
limit of microscopical visibility and what he calls the 
molecular limit, by which I presume to be meant the size 
of the largest molecule. Nothing that I have said or 
written could justify such a supposition. My contention 
is not that the particles in question are of any size which 
can be specified, but, on the contrary, that we are not in 
a position to form any conclusion as to their size, except- 
ing that they are so small as to be beyond the reach of 
observation. Dr. Tyndall has taught us, first, that the 
optical effects observed when a beam of light passes 
through a particulate atmosphere are such as could only 
be produced by light-scattering particles of extreme 
minuteness ; and, secondly, that by subsidence these par- 
ticles disappear, and that the contaminating property of 
the atmosphere disappears with them. He has thus 
approximately determined for us the upper limit of mag- 
nitude, but leaves us uncertain as to the lower ; for we 
have no evidence that the. particles which render the 
atmosphere opalescent to the beam of the electric lamp 
may not be many times larger than those which render it 
germinative. Consequently, the fact that the air may be 
rendered sterile by subsidence, while affording the most 
conclusive proof that germinal matter is not gaseous, 
leaves us without information as to the size of the par- . 
tides of which it consists. 

Of each germinal particle, whether inhabiting an 
aqueous liquid or suspended in the atmosphere, it can 
be asserted that under conditions which occur so fre- 
quently that they may be spoken of as general (viz., 
moisture, a suitable temperature, and the presence of 
dead proteid matter, otherwise called organic impurity), 
it produces an organism. If, for the sake of clearness, 
we call the partide a and the organism to which it gives 
rise A9 then what is known about the matter amounts to 
no more than this, that the existence of A was preceded 
by the existence of a. With respect to A we know, by 
direct observation, that it is an organic structure ; but 
inasmuch as we know absolutely nothing as to the size 
and form of a, we cannot even state that it is transformed 
into A, much less can we say anything as to the process 
of transformation. 

Considering that it is admitted on all hands that there 
exist in ordinary air particles which are potentially germs, 
it might at first sight appear needless to inquire whether 
or not this fact is to be regarded as carrying with it the 
admission that they must necessarily possess the other 
attributes of organised structure. Very little considera- 
tion, however, is requisite in order to become convinced 
that this question stands in relation with another of 
fundamental importance in biology— that, namdy, of the 
molecular structure of living material^ It is not neces- 
sary for my present purpose to do more than to indicate 
the nature of this relation. As regards every form of 
living matter, it may be stoted that, quite irrespectivdy of 
its morphological characteristics, ^ich, as we have seen, 

» Tlie reader who is intcresled in thit ~'>i«*^wffl ««! U ^cujjed jn^ 
fnmx ingouity by Prof. Pttflger. m ^y^^^^^SZJTA^Z^^r!!^ 



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must be learnt by the application of the various methods 
of visual observation at our disposal, it possesses mofe- 
cular structure peculiar to itself. We are certain of this, 
because the chemical processes of which life is made up 
are peculiar, that is, such as occur onl^ in connection 
with living material. Even the simplest mstance that we 
can mention, that of the elevation of dead albumin into 
living (a process which in the case now before us must 
represent the very earliest step in the climax of develop- 
ment) is at the present moment beyond the reach of 
investigation ; for as yet we are only beginning to know 
something about the constitution of non-living proteids. 
But this want of knowledge of the nature of the difference 
# between living and non-living material in no wise impairs 
the conviction which exists in our minds that the 
difference is one of molecular structure. 

The sum of the preceding paragraphs may be stated in 
few words. Wherever those chemical processes go on, 
which we collectively designate as life, we are in the habit 
of assuming the existence of anatomical structure. The 
two things, however, although concomitant, are not the 
same ; for while anatomical structure cannot come into 
existence without the simultaneous or antecedent existence 
of the kind of molecular structure which is peculiar to 
living material, the proof is at present wanting that the 
vital molecular structure may not precede the anatomical. 
At the same time it must be carefully borne in mind that 
there is no evidence of the contrary. It is sufficient for 
my purpose to have shown that the existence of organised 
partides endowed with anatomical structure in the 
'^ atmospheric dust" has not been proved. I do not 
dispute Its probability. 

Before leaving this subject I may be permitted to add a 
word as to the bearing of this discussion on a question 
which, to myself, is of special interest — that oi contagium 
vivum. According to the view which these words are 
understood to express, the morbific material by which a 
contagious disease is communicated from a diseased to a 
healthy person consists of minute organisms, called 
^'disease-germs." In order that any particle may be 
rightly termed a ^sease> germ two things must be proved 
concerning it, vis, first, that it is a living organism ; 
secondly, that if it finds its wa]^ into the body of a healthy 
human bein^, or of an animal it will produce the disease 
of which it IS the germ. Now there is only one disease 
affectine the higher animals in respect of which anything 
of this kind has been proved, and that is splenic fever of 
cattle. In other words, there is but one case in which the 
existence of a disease-germ has been established. 

Comparing such a germ with the germinal particles we 
have been discussing, we see that there is but little 
analogy between them, for, first, the latter are not known 
to be organised ; secondly, they have no power of pro- 
ducing disease ; for it has been found by experiment that 
ordinary Bacteria may be introduced into the circulating 
blood of healthy animals in considerable quantities with- 
out producing any disturbance of health. So long as we 
ourselves are healthy, we have no reason to apprehend 
any danger from the morbific action of atmospheric dust, 
except in so far as it can be shown to have derived 
infectiveness from some particular source of miasma or 
contagium. 

I now proceed to the second part of my communica- 
tion, which relates to Prof. TyndaU's serious, but most 
courteously-expressed, criticisms of my experiments on 
spontaneous generation.^ 

« The expressions referred to are the following :— " I have worked w[th 
of prcd 



in vol. vii, p. 180 of Nature. It will there be seen that though failure 
attended some of his efforts, Dr. Bastian did satisfy Dr. Sandenon that in 
boiled and hermeticallv sealed fla&ks BtuUria sometunes appear in swarms. 
With purely liquid infusions I have vainly sought to reproduce the evidence 

which convin^d Dr. Sanderson I am therefore compelled to con- 

elude that Dr. Sanderson has lent the autboritv of his name to results whose 
aatecedentt be bad not sufficiently ezaminea." 



PfUL Trans., voL dxvL 



The fact that Dr. Tyndall blames me for incautiously 
vouching for is, " that in boiled and hermetically-sealed 
fiasks Bacteria sometimes appear in swarms." From 
nmlti plied experiments he concludes that this is not true, 
and infers that I who vouched for it was incautious. The 
paper referred to was one in which I, as a bystander, gave 
an account of certain experiments which Dr. Bastian 
performed in my presence. So far as relates to the hxx 
above quoted, these experiments were, to my mind, abso- 
lutely conclusive ; but inasmuch as I was unable to admit 
with Dr. Bastian that they afforded any proof of sponta- 
neous generation, I followed them as soon as practicable 
by a series of experiments (Nature, vol. viiL p. 141] 
(the only ones which I myself ever made on this subject), 
in which I tested the influence of two new conditions, 
viz., of prolonged exposure to the temperature of ebul- 
lition, and of exposure for short periods to temperatures 
above that of ebullition at ordinary pressure. The ex- 
periments accordingly consisted of two series, in the first 
of which a number of retorts or fiasks charged with the 
turnip-cheese hquid, i,e. with neutralised infusion of turnip 
of Uie specific gravity 10 17, to which a pinch of pounded 
cheese had been added, and sealed hermetically while 
boiling, were, after they had been so prepared, subjected 
to the temperature of ebullition for longer or shorter 
periods. In the second series the period of ebullition 
was the same in all cases, but the temperature was varied 
by varying the pressure at which ebullition took place. 

The conclusion arrived at, as expressed in the final 
paragraph of the paper, was, that in the case of the 
turnip-cheese liquid, the proneness of the Uquid to produce 
Bacteria can be diminished either by increasing the tem- 
perature employed to sterilise it, or if the ordinary tem- 
perature of ebullition be used, by prolonging its duration. 

I did not think it necessary after 1873 to occupy myself 
further with the subject for two reasons, first, that I had 
accomplished my object, which was to show that as a 
ground for believing in spontaneous generation the turnip- 
cheese experiment was a failure; but secondly, and 
principally, because in the meantime the subject had been 
taken up by the most competent living observers, who 
had in every particular confirmed the accuracy of my 
results. I conclude this paper by referring shortly to 
some of these researches. 

The first was made by P. Samuelson under the direc- 
tion of Prof. Pfliiger 1 in 1873. Its purpose was to ascer- 
tain whether it is true that certain liquids can be boiled 
for ten minutes without being sterilized, and secondly, to 
determine the influence of prolonged periods of exposure. 
The fiasks employed were charged with the neutral 
turnip- cheese liquid, and sealed while boiling in the way 
already described. Some were subjected to the tem- 
perature of ebullition for ten minutes, the rest for 
an hour, the result being that whereas those heated 
for the longer periods remained without exception barren, 
an exposure of only ten minutes was followed, in the 
majority of cases, by an abundant development of 
Bacteria? At about the same period a similar series of 
experiments was made under the direction of Prof. Hoppe- 
Seyler at Strasbuig. The results were essentially the 
same .3 

5. 57. In the abstract <A a lecture delivered at the Royal InstitutioB. 
anuary 21, 1876, similar words occur, as also in a letter to Nati;rb, dated 
'ebruary 27, 1876. in which Dr. Tyndall, after remarking that the experi- 
ments ot Dr. Bastian, witnessed by me, were too scanty and too little in 
harmony with each other, to bear an inference, suggests that I should repeat 
them. 

* •• Ueber Abiogenesis," von Paul Samuelson aus KSntfesberg, P/Uge/t 
ArchiVt voL viii. p. 377. The paper is designated as a report of experiment 
made " im Auftrag und unter der Leituag des Gch.-Rath Prof. PflQ^cr." I 
refer in the text only to those ex periment^i which were virtually repetitions o< 
my own. The research actually extended over a wider field. 

3 " Als Re^ultat dieser Versuchsrdhe, ergab fich eine massenhafte Ent- 
wickelurg von Bacterien in den meisten nur 10 Minuten lang gekochtea 
Flflssikeitsmengen nach 3-4 Tagen " {loc. cit. p. aRsX . 

3 " I eber die Abiogenesis Huizinga's," von Felix Putxeys. aus LOttica 
^us dem chemisdi-piiysiologischen i.aboratorium de« Herm Prof. Ho^*' 
Seyler). PfiOger's Arckiv, vol. ix. p. 391. In a note appended by Prtt 
Hoppe-Seyler to this paper ho states that he has recommended its publics- 

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87 



During the next year the second question which I had 
attempted to solve, viz., the influence of temperatures 
above loo*^ C, was taken up with much greater complete- 
ness by Prof. Gscheidleu, of Breslau. ' After a rksumd of 
the proofs already given by his predecessors, that certain 
flai<& are not sterilised by boiling ; and, secondly, that as 
means of sterilising such liquids the action of prolonged 
exposure and that of increased temperature may be re- 
garded as complementary to each other, he proceeds to 
relate his own researches, the purpose of which was 
rather to fill up defects in the evidence than to establish 
new conclusions. 

The flasks employed were capable of containing 100 
cub. centims. (three and a half oz.) ; they were charged 
in the usual way with the turnip-cheese liquid, and exposed 
for short periods in chloride of calcium baths, of which 
the strengths were .carefully adjusted so as to obtain 
the requisite temperatures. It was thereby definitely 
proved that whereas the germinal matter of Bactiria can 
stand a temperature of 100^ for five or ten minutes it is 
destroyed by temperatures varying from 105° to 1 10°.* 

In an appendix to my first paper, published in Nature 
in the autumn of 1873, I showed that the solution of dif- 
fusible proteids and carbo-hydrates employed by Prof. 
Huizinga, of Groningen, in the first of the valuable series 
of experiments ^ published by him, relating to the subject 
of spontaneous generation, require a temperature above 
that of ebullition under ordinary pressure to sterilise 
them. This observation has since been established by 
Pro! Huizinga himself on the basis of very carefully made 
experiments,^ by which he has proved at the same time 
that the hquids in question are rendered completely 
incapable of producing Bacteria without extrinsic con- 
tamination by exposing them to higher temperature. The 
only points of difference between us, either as regards 
method or result, are, first, that the sterilisation limit 
(Grenze zur Bacterienerzeugung) fixed by me was too 
low — the true limit being no*' C— and secondly, that the 
experiments from which I had inferred that the liquids in 
question had been sterilised at lower temperatures than 
this were, in Prof. Huizinga's opinion, rendered incon- 
clusive by the fact that my fiasks were sealed hermeti- 

tion notwithstandbg that the results obtained were mere confirmations of 
those of former obeervers ; adding **lfir den wissenschaftlichen Fortschritt 
hat nicbt die Priorit&c des eioen odor des anderen Beolmchters, wohl aber 
die Zahl, Mannigikltigkeit, und Zuverl&ssigkeit der Beobachtuogen eine 
hohe WichtigkeiL" 

X ** Ucber die Abiogenesis Huixinga's,'* von Richard Gscheidten, PflUgtr's 
Arckiv, vol ix p. 163 ^ 

> " £s folgt aus den eben angegebenrn Versachen, nach meiner Meinung, 
dass in Huiziaaa's Gemengen die Bacterien einer Temperatur von no** 5 10 
Minutcn laog zu widerstehen vermOgen, nicbt aber einer von 105°- no" in 
eiogeschmoJzeoem (^lasruhre w&hrend der n^mlicben Zeit" ijoc. cit. p. 167). 
Here the author clearly &its to make the necessary distinction between 
BacUria (which, as is well known, lose their idtality at a much lower tem- 
peraiure) and the material out of which they spring. The mixtures referred 
to were either the cheese and turnip liquid or solutions contamiog peptones 
and grape sugar, to be ioimediatrly referred toi As affording an elegant 
demonstration that in the turnip-cheese hquid it is the cheese and not any 
oiher constituent which contains the resi&tant element, the following; form of 
experiment is worthy of notice :^-A tube a drawn out and closed at both 
enos is fused into the open mouth of a second tube a, of which the opposite 
end is drawn out and closed in a similar manner. In this way a compound 
tube is formed wbich is divided by a conical septum into two chambers A 
and B A small knob of glass haviug been previously introduced into the 
chamber B, the septum can be easily broken by shaking the tube. With 
tubes so prepared two experiments are made. In Experiment i, compart- 
meat a is charged with infusion of cheese, sealed, aad then exposed to a 
temperature of xzo^ before it is united to the compartment b. In like 
Banner b is charged with neutral decoction of turnip, so that when the com- 
pound tube is complete it contains cheese in one compartment, turnip in the 
other. If. after boihng for ten minutes, it is placed in the warm chamber its 
contents xemuin barren. In Experiment a the experiment is varied by simply 
omitting the prehmiaary heating of a. The compound tube is boiled as 
before, but now its contents promptly give evidence that the conditions are 
piesenc for an abundant development uf Bacteria, 

3 Pro£ Huizinga's papers on the Question of Abiogenesis are four in 
number. The references are as follows X—PfiAgtr't ArchiVf vo]..vii. p. 225, 
ToL viiL pp 180, 551 ; vol x. p. 63. 

4 1 he solution employed in these experiments was neutral, and contained, 
in addition to the requisite inorganic salts, 2 per cent of grape sugar, o 3 
per cent, of soluble starch, 03 per cent, of peptones, and x per cent.^ of 
aoinomc tartrate. As in my experiments, the flanks were heated in a Papin*s 
pot, of which the temperature was loa** C. Even after half an hour's ex- 
posure to this temperature all the flasks became in two or three days " stark 
trObc und vcU B acterid," third paper, p. 555, January, 1874. 



cally, whereas in his exchange of air was allowed to take 
place during the period of incubation, through a septum 
of porous porcelam. To this last objection I might per- 
haps have thought it my duty to answer, had it not been 
shown by the]subsequent researches of Gscheidlen to have 
no bearing on the question at issue. As regards the limit 
of sterilisation I can entertain no doubt as to the accuracy 
of Huizinga's measurements, and am quite willing to 
accept las'" C as the lowest temperature which could be 
safely employed under the conditions laid down by him. 

It will be understood that in bringing these facts before 
the Society my only purpose is to show, as I trust I have 
done conclusively, that the statements which Dr. Tyndall 
in 1876 characterised as incautious, and which he virtually 
invited me to retract, had been two years before confirmed 
in every particular by ezpeiimenters of acknowledged 
competence. 



DIFFUSION FIGURES IN LIQUIDS^ 

IN making some experiments on the mixture of liquids 
entering into another liquid at the extremity of a tube 
of t'small diameter, a phenomenon presented itself which 
attracted my attention as both new and singular. A 
certain quantity of coloured alcohol, remaining in sus- 
pension in the centre of a body of water, assumed, by 
spreading gradually out, a form resembling that of a 
shrub having its trunk and its branches terminated by 
leaf-like expansions. I sought to reproduce the pheno- 




Fic. I.— Apparatus of PMf. MartinL 

menon, believing at first that this mode of diffusion was 
purely accidentia ; but the phenomenon always recurrine 
very nearly in the same manner, I devised a mode of 
experimenting which enabled me to study it more 
advants^eously. 

C (Fig. i) is a sort of cylindrical funnel of glass, to the 
neck of which is fitted a small capillary thermometrical 
tube T, about eight centimetres long. The capillary tube 
communicates by means. of a caoutchouc tube a by with a 

> FromananicteinZaJVa^^vfvbyFra£TitoM«i^ofV«nioe. 

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NATURE 



\Nov, 29, 1877 



small funnel i, which maybe raised or lowered at pleasure 
by means of its support Pour into I a certain quantity 
of alcohol coloured say with a red solution of aniline. 
The liquid will traverse the capillary tube, from which it 
will flow unless prevented by compressing the india^ rubber 
tube with a small pincers. This being done, fill with 
water the vessel C about three-fourths full ; then by means 
of a funnel whose lower extremity reaches a little below 
the middle of the water, introduce a liquid denser than 
water, a concentrated solution of sea-salt or a thick syrup, 
until the vessel is filled up. Sulphuric acid may also be 
used^ and in that case a less volume of liquid will suffice. 




Fig. t.^EzperimenU of Prof. Martini on the diffusion of coloured liquids m s 
sirupy liquid. 

The liquid more dense than water wiD collect at the bottom 
of C ; and there will thus be two layers of liquid superposed, 
the exact separation of which may be observed after being 
allowed to stand for an hour. If at the end of that time 
we raise the funnel i to a suitable height and reheve the 
pincers which compress the tube ab^ the coloured alcohol 
which flows from the extremity of the capillary tube will 
enter die liquid in the vessel c, forming^ ascending vein 
which usually has a spiral form. The alcohoUc vein 
traverses the thickest layers of the liquid and is stopped 
at the boundary whickaepamtei the denser from the less 



dense part which floats above. At the point where the 
column of coloured alcohol is arrested, it will be seen to 
agglomerate into a mass at first formless ; but, gradually, 
that mass elongates and extends, then is seen to throw 
out fluid threads in the form of foliage, sometimes similar 
to the petals of a flower, sometimes analogous to the 
leaves of a tree. After an hour the coloured alcohol has 
assumed a stable and regular figure. That figure varies 
in form with the liquids employed ; it sometimes resembles 
a flower, sometimes a shrub, and sometimes it takes the 
form of a parasol of bright and vaporous colours, which 
add to its beauty. 

The figure, so far as its form is concerned, 
attains its maximum of development three hoars 
or more after the fluid vein begins to flow ; but 
after that time the leafy expansions dilate more 
and more, and approach each other so as to 
form a mass of continuous layers, which remain 
suspended in the midst of the liquid. This hap- 
pens even when the inflow has been arrested, 
either by applying the pincers to the india-rubber 
tube, or even by lowering suitably the funnel, i. 
It should also be remarked that around the vein 
of ascending liquid there very often forms a very 
fine tube, which assumes the aspect of the stalk 
of the flower, or rather the trunk of the liquid 
shrub ; from different points of that stal|( ex- 
pansions in the form of leaves will be seen to 
proceed. 

In order that the experiments I have devised 
may be successful, the tube through which the 
coloured liquid enters the vessel ought to be 
capillary, the flow ought to be gentle, and the 
ap{)aratus maintained in a state of complete rest 
It is necessary, moreover, to be careful first to 
expel the air from the india-rubber tube, since 
air-bubbles disturb the formation of the pheno- 
menon. The following is a succinct rSsume of 
some of the results I have obtained with different 
fiquids : — 

Colours of Aniline Solution. — I made use of 
aniline red, brown, green, and violet, dissolved in 
alcohol, being careful that the solution was not 
too concentrated. Thje forms obtained in sugared, 
salted, and acidulated water, are those represented 
in Fig. 2, Nos. i and 2. The figures obtained 
resemble, as will be seen, leaf-Uke expansions; 
the ramifications are turned downwards in sug^ared 
water (No. i) ; in salt water, on the contrary, 
tiiey are always raised, and at the commencement 
even more so than is shown in the figure. When 
acidulated water is used, the aniline colours are 
modified by the action of sulphuric acid; the 
green becomes pale yellow, the red becomes 
brown, and the violet acquires a beautiful g^reen 
colour ; but in all cases the shrub-like figure No. 2 
is formed with perfect regularity. 

Litmus, Aqueous Solution, — With this solu- 
tion we obtain in acidulated water the figure 
represented in No. 3 (Fig. 2), which resembles a 
small parasol. Looked at from above, it has 
the aspect of a disc from the periphery of which 
proceed many equidistant rays very close to 
each other. In the salt water the same aqueous solution 
£[ives a different figure. In general, when aqueous solu- 
tions are employed to form the figures a space of time is 
required longer than that which is necessary in the case 
of alcoholic solutions. 

A Icoholic Solution,— Wvih this solution there are formed 
in salt or sugared water, figures analogous to Nos. i and 
2 ; in acidulated water there is produced a shrubby 
appearance similar to No. 2. 

Lake, — The aqueous solution of lake forms in salt 
water a figure similar to that of_Na 4.; in acidulated 



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vater Fig. 3 is produced, but more delicate and more 
i^ruiar than that obtained with litmus. 

Azure Blue. — ^The aqueous and alcoholic solutions of 
arate-blue or pearl form figures similar to those already 
described. In acidulated water we obtain a very regular 
I spheroidd nucleus of a very dark blue, surrounded by a 
spheroidal layer with an inferior stem (No. 6). 

Cochineal, — The aqueous solution forms in acidulated 
water the figure No. 3, regular, like that of litmus and 
of lake. In salt water, cochineal, not being soluble, is 
fredpitated and the phenomenon is not produced. 

Iodine, — ^Tfae alcoholic tincture of iodine forms, in 
mgared, salt, or acidulated water, beautiful figures almost 
identical with those of the colours of the aniline solution. 
. Bichrotnate of Potash, — To make the experiments with 
[bichromate of potash succeed I changed the arrangement 
I of the experiment on account of the very great density of 
the solution in comparison with the density of water. I 
fill the vessel in the usual manner, then I place above the 
vessel a small funnel, fitted with a capillary tube which 
partly enters the liquid. The aqueous solution of bichro- 
mate of potash being poured into the small funnel, flows 
out, forming a smaU descending spiral, which usually is 
arrested in the division between the more and less dense 
parts of the liquid. In acidulated or salt water two very 
oeaotiful figures arejormed resembling those of Nos. 2 
and 5, but reversed. 

The various experiments described above have been 
ttpeated several times for each colour, and I have always 
Obtained the same results. This persistence of form 
ibows that the phenomenon is regulated by a law which 
I shall seek to discover. I believe I may conclude from 
tliese first attempts that the form of the figure depends on 
tlieliqaid in which the colour is dissolved, more than on 
the colour itself. By employing other acids and other 
salts, not such, however, as precipitate the colour, it is 
probable that other figures would be obtained. 



TRACES OF EARLY MAN IN JAPAN 

much interest is felt in the origin of the Japanese, 
that any information regarding earlier races in Japan 
tin interest the readers of Nature. 

The discovery and examination of a genuine kjockken- 
noeddmg, or shell heap, enables me to give positive 
evidences regarding a prehistoric race who occupied this 
isiand. Whether autocthonous or not it would of course 
be i]i^)08sible to say. On my first ride to Tokio, in June 
of this year, I observed, from the car window, near a 
station called Omori, a fine section of a shell heap, which 
*as recognised as such at once, from its resemblance to 
(bose I had often studied alonj^ the coast of New England. 
On September 16, accompamed by Messrs. Matsumura, 
HatSQia, and SasaJd, three intelligent Japanese students, 
1 made an examination of it, and a few days afterwards, 
B company with Dr. David Murray, Superintendent of 
^ohlic Instruction, and Mr. Vukuyo, with two coolies to 
^ the heavy digging, made an exhaustive exploration 
of it 

llie deposit is composed of shells of various genera, 
jych as Vusus, Ebuma, Turbo, Pyrula, Area, Pecten, 
^^>^diQra, two strongly marked species of Ostrea, and 
corioosiy enough, Mya arenaria^ not to be distinguished 
: ^ the New England form, as wdl as other genera. 
^bese shells, so far as I know^ still live in the Bay of 
I Yedo. The heap is about 200 leet wide, and varies from 
^v? to five or six feet in thickness, with a deposit of earth 
t ^e^ at least three feet in thickness. It is now nearly 
balf a nule firom the shore of the Bay, though in accord- 
ance with the usual position of these heaps in other parts 
^ tbe worid, it must have been formed near the shore, 
^d this fact indicates a considerable elevation of the land 
?ace the deposits were made. I may add that other 



evidences of a geological nature indicate a wide-spread 
upheaval in past times. 

The peculiarities of the typical shell-heap, such as 
fragments of bones, rough implements worked out of 
horn, and pieces ot pottery, are all here. The heap, 
however, b marked by certain features which render it 
peculiar. 

First, the immense quantity of pottery and its diversity 
of ornamentation, some of it extremely ornate, but very 
rude. 

Second, the absence of bone-implements, the few 
found-^ight or ten in number— being of horn, with the 
exception of an arrow-head of diminutive proportions, 
made of the tusk of a wild boar. All the implements are 
very simple ; two of them are like blunt bone awls, with 
the end very obtuse, and a constriction worked around 
the end. Another one is made from the natural termina- 
tion of a deer's antler. A few fiagments of horn were 
found which had been cut off at the ends. 

Third, the entire absence of fiint flakes, or stone imple- 
ments of any kind, if we except a small stone adze found 
near the top of the heap, and made out of a soft sand- 
stone. The frequent occurrence of isolated tusks of the 
wild boar would seem to indicate that these teeth were 
used for implements, and one piece of antler, having a 
hole in the end, is worked in the form of a rude handle. 
By far the most common bones found were those of the 
deer and wild boar, and curiously enough Steenstrup 
shows the same proportion in the Danish shell heaps. 
No human bones have yet been found. 

An analysis of the red pigment found on some of the 
pottery shows it to be cinnabar. With its removal from 
the shore, its elevation above the level of the sea, the 
absence of stone implements, and the great thickness of 
the earth deposits above, we have reasons for believing 
that the deposit is of high antiquity. 

Through the intelligent interest manifested by Mr. 
Kato and Mr. Hamao, Director and Vice-Director of the 
Imperial University 01 Tokio, every facility for a thorough 
investigation of these deposits will be given me. 

Toldo, Japan, September 21 Edward S. Morse 

NOTES 

It is proposed to hold the next annual meeting of the Asso- 
ciation for the Improvement of Geometrical Teaching (under the 
presidency of Dr. Hirst) at UniYersity College, Gov<rer Street, 
on January 11, 1878, at 10.30 A.M. Four resolutions are to 
be submitted to the Association : — i. That in the opinion of 
this Association it is both reasonable and expedient that candi- 
dates at all examinations in elementary geometry should be 
required to give evidence of such ability as is necessary for the 
solving of easy geometrical exercises ; and that the secretaries 
of the Association be instructed to send a copy of this resolution 
to the leading examining bodies of the country. The other 
resolutions relate to the proposed formation of sub-committees 
for drawing up a syllabus of (i) Solid Geometry, (2) Higher 
Plane Geometry (Transversals, Projection, &c.), (3) Geometrical 
Conies. It may be in the recollection of our r^ers that the 
report of the British Association Committee (in 1876, published 
at the time in Nature) ^was highly favourable to the work of 
this Association. 

The dissection of the Berlin gorilla was performed last week by 
Prof. Virchow and Prof. Hartmann in the presence of several pro- 
minent Berlin physicians, and it was ascertained that the sudden 
death of the animal was caused by acute inflammation of the 
bowels, the same :disease which carries off young children so 
rapidly. The dissection explains the cause of his previoas illnesses 
and supplies valuable information with regard to the treatment of 
anthropoidal apes. The button of a^glove, iron wir^,4ind pins ^ 
were found in Pongo's stomach. ig itized by V^3 O Q^ IC 



90 



NATURE 



\Nov. 29, 187; 



During the past week the Emperor of Germany received a 
deputation of the members of the German Expedition for 
observing the transit of Venus, who presented him with a 
handsomely-mounted album containing copies of all the photo- 
graphs taken during the transit 

Bkrn celebrates on December 12 the looth anniversary of the 
death of its famous citizen, Albert Haller, who was equally 
renowned as physiologist, botanist, and poet. 

Thx New \o\\i Nation informs us that news has been received 
of the death of the Rev. James' Orton, professor of natural 
history at Vassar Collie, and] well known as the author of 
" Comparative Zoology" and "The Andes' and the Amazons.*' 
Prof. Orton made his first expedition to South America in 1867, 
crossing the Andes eastward fron Peru, and descending the 
Napo to the Maraiion. His second expedition in 1873 was the 
reverse of the former one, b^ianlng with the ascent of the 
Amazon. He was on his way home from a third expedition 
when he died, September 25, on board a small schooner on 
Lake Titicaca. He was greatly esteemed by all who knew him. 

The New York Tribune states that Mr. Edison, the inventor 
of many improvements in telegraphy, is hard at work in the 
endeavour to make the telephone record the sounds it transmits. 
His apparatus at present consists chiefly of a steel point attached 
to the disk of a telephone and pressing lightly on a strip of paper 
passed beneath the point at a uniform rate. The vibrations of 
the disk are thus recorded, and can be translated. Mr. Edison 
has already achieved some success in this attempt, but as yet 
finds difficulty with the more delicate vibrations. The invention 
suggests an ultimate possibility of recording a speech at a 
distance, verbatim, without the need of shorthand. 

Not one of the designs sent in in competition for the monu- 
ment to. Spinoza at the Hague has satisfied the judges. A new 
term for receiving designs will therefore be fixed. 

Another letter from Mr. Stanley appears in the Telegraph 
of Thursday last^ in which he gives many interesting details of 
his journey down the Lualaba-Congo, but does not add 
essentially to what we already know from previous letters. It 
will be well at present to rest satisfied with the fact that he has 
solved a great geographical problem ; discussion will be appro, 
priate and to some purpose when we are in possession of the 
full details. In the December number of Petermann's MUthdl- 
ungen that keen geographer discusses the bearings of Stanley's 
discovery, and on the basis of the earlier letters identifies Uie 
Lualaba-Congo with the discoveries of Browne, Barth, Nachti- 
gal, and Schweinfurth ; but on the map which ace am panics ths 
paper he carries the great river north to about 4** N. lat In a 
postscript on Stanley's own map Dr. Petermann seems to think 
that his identifications may require modification. Dr. Petermann 
cannot find terms strong enough in which to speak of the merit 
of Stanley's work. He calls him "the Bismarck of African 
exploration," who has united the disjecta membra xil previous 
explorations as Bismarck has made one great empire out of a 
number of isolated states. He is evidently inclined to place 
Stanley alongside of Columbus. 

The December number of Petermann's MitthcUungen contains 
a long paper on the Iquique earthquake of May 9 last, in which 
much Suable data are given on the earthquake and on the wave 
which was simultaneous with it over so wide a stretch of the 
Pacific Ocean. 

The Daily News correspondent at Rome writes that no news 
has arrived Uiere as to the death of the African explorer, the 
Marquess Antinori, the inference being that he is still alive; A 
long letter has been received by the Italian Geographical So- 
dety from Signor Matteucci who, with Signor Gessi, is bound 
for Inner Africa ; the two expect to be in Khartotim in the 



be^ning of December. They were splendidly equipped befoi 
leaving Italy. 

Dr. Schweinfurth, the celebrated African traveDer,vh 
has been staying at Berlin since the beginning of August, «j 
shortly return to'Afirica, as he finds that the European dimsl 
no longer agrees with his health. At present he has left Berlil 
for Weimar. 

At the Geographical Society, on Monday night, Commmdi 
Musters, R.N., read a paper on Bolivia, in which he gave mm 
valuable information about a country, its products and its peopli 
about which we are extremely ignorant Commander Hostel 
lived in the coantry for a considerable time. Mr. Clements I 
Markham read a paper on the still unexplored parts of So«l 
America. The facts is we are almost as ignorant of Centd 
South America as, until recently, we were of Central Africa, ai 
there is here a practically virgin field for a second Stanley, if xA 
indeed for Stanley himself. 

In a recent number we referred to the preparations which vk 
being made for Prof. Nordenskjold's expedition to the Arcdj 
regions next summer. The Handds och Sjdfarts Tidning of Gotbe^ 
buig publishes further details, giving the plan of the expedition a 
presented to the King of Sweden by Prof. Nordenskjold. W 
now learn that the steamer Vega is being fitted up at the ro|i 
wharves of . Carlskrona, and will take provisions for two yean 
The Professor intends to leave at the beginning of July next, aa 
his staflf will consist of four scientific men besides himself, fbl 
Norwegian sailors who are well acquainted with the Arctic Sei 
a ship's officer, eighteen marines, and a ship's doctor. Tli 
first halt will be made at the mouth of the Yenisei River ; the 
the expedition will proceed to Cape Tscheljuskin, and try t 
penetrate as far as possible in a north-easterly direction. 

Mr. G. J. Hinds, of Toronto, Canada, writes us thi 
a shock of earthquake, unusually severe for that part of tl 
world, occurred along the valleys of the St. Lawrence ai 
Ottawa Rivers, Lakes Champlain and St George, and throu( 
New Hampshire, Vermont, and Western Massachusetts, at * 
near 2 A M. of Sunday, the 4th instant. The limits along whi( 
it has been noticed are Pembroke on the Upper Ottawa to tj 
north-west, Montreal on the east, Boston and Providence to tl 
south-east, and Toronto to the west The shock appears to ha 
been most severe on the line of the Ottowa valley between Pa 
broke and Montreal, and between Ottawa city and Cape Viuce 
on the St. Lawrence, foUowmg in a general direction the 01 
crops of the Laurentian range. It was but very slightly felt 
Toronto, but at Montreal the shocks are stated to have last 
twenty seconds, and to have shaken movable articles about t 
rooms. 

The followmg grants in aid of researches have been mnde tl 
year by the Comnuttee of Council on the report of the Scienti 
Grants' Committee of the British Medical Assodation :— H 
Gaskell, in aid of a research on the reflex action of the vascu 
system and muscles and reflex vasomotor action generally, 30 
Mr. Langley, in aid of a research on the changes produced 
the salivary glands by nerve .influence,' 25/. ; Dr. Rutherfo 
F.R.S., for a continued research on the action of Cholagogu 
50/. ; Drs. Braidwood and Vacher, for engravings for illustrat 
the third report on the life history of contaglum, 40/. ; Mr. ] 
in aid of a continued research for the investigation of the re 
tion that the retinal circulation bears to that of the brain, 
15^. ; Mr. Bruce Clarke, in aid of a continued research on s; 
cope and shock, 10/. ; Mr. A« S. Lee, Heidelberg, in aid c 
research on the quantitative determination of digestive produ 
obtained by the action of pancreatic ferment upon the varii 
albumens, 25/. ; Dr. McKendrick, Glasgow, in aid of a e 
tinned research into the antagonism of drugs, 30A ; Dr. McK 
drick, Glasgow, ifi aid of an investigation into the dialysis 



Nov. 29, 1877] 



NATURE 



91 



Uood (renewed), 10/. ; Dr. John Barlow, Muirhead Demonstra- 
tor of Physiology, Glasgow, in aid of an experimental inyestiga* 
tion into the changes produced in the blood-Tessels by alcohol, 
10/. ; Dr. Joseph Coats, Dr. McKendrick, and Mr. Ramsay, 
the committee upon the investigation of anaesthetics, 50/. ; Dr. 
McKenzte, a research on pysemia, 25/. ; Mr. Callender, F.R.S., 
Dr. J. Burdon Sanderson, F.R.S., Dr. T. Lander Brunton, 
F.R.S., and Mr. Ernest Hart, the committee appointed for the 
inTCstig^tioA of the pathology and treatment of hydrophobia, 
IOC/. Total, 413/. ly. 

Tklsgbaph warnings are to be employed all over Paris for 
givmg alarms of fires to all the fire-engine stations. The 
alaim is given by breaking a small jpane of glass facing the 
ifaneets, being a variation of the system employed on railways 
for signalling the engine-driver or guard. 

In the November session of the Berlin Geographical Society, 
Banm v. Richthofen was re-elected president The evening 
was chiefly occupied by an address from Dr. Nachtigal, on 
the resnlts of Stanley's lately accomplished expedition, which 
he regarded as the most prominent event among ater African 

, explorations. Prof. Orth gave a short description of a new 

^ met hod of cartography. 

i Lieut, de Semell^ has intimated to the Paris Geographical 
Society that he intends to cross Africa]from west to east, ascending 
I the Niger and.Bina^ making for Lakes Albert and Victoria, and 
I reaching the east coast at Mombasa or Malinda. He states that 
\ he has already obtained sufficient resources. 

' The chemists of Berlin have been occupied lately in analysing 
the wares of the wine merchants, and no little excitement has been 

' caosed by the discovery that the entire stock of one of the largest 
booses dealing in wines for medicinal purposes, consisted entirely 

I of artificially prepared mixtures of spirit and sugar solutions* 

I flavoured with various herbs. 

^ At Leipzig a " General German A nti- Adulteration Society '* 

' has been formed, which has for its main object the prevention of 

' the adulteration of food. A periodical is to appear, or has already 

' appeared, as the organ of this society. At some fifly other 

' German towns branch societies are being established. All 

' political or religious matters are excluded from the programme 

* of the society, while one of its statutes prescribes the special 
prosecution of the makers and sellers of so-called secret remedies 

' and medicines. 

In evidence of the interestynow being ^taken ^by Spain in 
scientific subjects we may draw attention to the Boletin de la 
Ifuiitttdon libre de EnstHanza (Madrid, 1877), the first five 
numbers of which, from March 7 to June 17, now lie before us. 
We notice Geometria y mocfologia natural, Prof. De Linares ; 
Investigacion de los propiedades opticas, Prof. Calderon ; La 
leHgioii de los Celtas espaiioles, Prof. Costa; Principios y 
Dcfiniciones de la Geometria, Prof. Jimenez ; Predpitacion de los 
melales puros por los sulfuros naturales. Prof. Quiroga. There 
are acoowits of papers read at meetings under the headings 
" Rcsumenes de Enseiianzas, " and " Conferendas. " The Boletin 
is in shape not quite so large as Nature, and each number 
contains four pages. 

The Minister of Instruction in the cabinet chosen by Marshal 
HacHahon last week is M. A. E. A. Faye, the well-known 
astroDomer, who is spoken of as Leverrier's probable successor. 
M. Faye is at present in his sixty-third year, and is chiefly known 
throB^h his discovery of the comet named after him, in 1843. 
Sisoe that time he has devoted his attention principally to the 
coBsidefBtion of the problems of physical astronomy, the solar 
coosdtntion, &c. Hi^ most important works are " Le9ons de 
Cosmograp^ie," 1S52 ; and a translation of Humboldt's 
*' Cosmos." M. Faye is probably the best known in what is 



ironically termed the cabinet des ineonnus, French politics 
allure an unusually large number of scientific men. Naquet, 
the chemist, is now a leader of the radical wing of the 
Republican party, Dumas and Scheurer-Kestner are life 
members of^the senate^ and Wurtz was proposed as a candidate 
for the senate a few weeks since. 

The communication of the dty of Moscow with the river 
Volga, leavmg the railway out of account, was, up to the present, 
only possible in the spring of each year, on account of the 
shallowness of the Moskwa River. The boats were dmwn by 
horses from Moscow to Kolomna on the river Oka, which fidls 
into the Volga at Nishni-Novgorod, and this means of commu- 
nication, on account of the great time it occupied, not to 
mention its cost, was a very imperfect one. A series of locks has 
recently been constructed on the Moskwa River, and tug steamers 
are now running between the capital and the Oka. 

W£ have already refened to the proposed introduction of the 
telephone into the German tdegraphic service. Dr. Stephan, 
the enterprbiog Postmaster-General of the German empire, who 
has brought the German postal service to such efficiency, and 
fairly created the present international telegraphic sjrstem, ap- 
pears to have definitely settled the question of the practicability 
of the general introduction of the new method. For the past few 
weeks the telephone has been in constant use between the Geneml 
Post Office and the General Tel^aph Office in Berlin, and has 
superseded the telegraphic communication between Berlin and 
some of the neighbouring villages. The results have been so 
satisfactory that a few days since a consultation of leading tele- 
g^raphic offidals was held to make arrangements for the establish- 
ment of a large number of telephonic stations. Since the equip- 
ment of these stations is so inexpensive, and the long and costly 
preliminary training of a telegrapher is avoided, it can easily be 
undeistood with what readiness the new invention is put into 
practical use. Interesting in this connection is the recent adoption 
of the telephone by Prince Bismarck. He has caused, as we 
stated last week, the establishment of a telephonic means of 
communication between the Chancellor's office in Berlin and his 
country residence at Varzin, in Pomerania, 230 miles distant ; 
and finds that he is perfectly able to give instructions and receive 
reports without leaving his favourite castle. No subterranean 
wires, but the ordinary telegraphic wires on poles, are used for 
this purpose. 

A SERIES of researches on the compressibility of liquids has 
recently been described by M. Amagat in the Annates de Chimte 
ct de Phyiique. Among other results, thQ compressibility is 
found to be far from depending on the volatility of liquids, as 
might be supposed. The presence of sulphur, chlorine, bromine, 
and probably also iodine, tends to diminish the compcessibilicy 
(a fact sufficiently explained by the corresponding increase oif 
density). With i^ard to alcohols, the compressibility diminishes 
from the first member of the series, methylic alcohol, at least at 
ioo<*. At 14° common and methylic alcohol have nearly the 
same compressibility ; and at zero the common alcohol is perhaps 
more compressible than methylic alcohol. Of the ethers, ethyl- 
acetic ether is more compressible at 14*' and at lOO** than methyl- 
acetic ether (an inverse order to that of the densities, which 
decrease as you rise in the series. Widi regard to hydrocarbons, 
the compressibility decreases regularly both at ordinary tempera- 
ture and at 100° as you descend in the series. 

A MICROSCOPICAL study has recently been made by M. Prih 
lieux, of a disease of fruits, and especially of pears, whicfa 
consists in the appearance of spots, then of crevices, issuing in 
complete disoiganisation. From Uie facts described, it «ippears 
that the cause of this evil is a fimgns, the spores of which are 
developed on the skin of the fruit with the appearance of a thin 
filament. At a certain time this filament penetrates the epider-> 

O 



92 



NATURE 



[Nov. 29, 1877 



mis and produces a myceliom, which deyelops in the very mass 
of the fl^y tissue. Later there appear, in addition, fructiferous 
filaments, which bear about twenty-five spores each. The cells 
of the fruit, on passage of the parasite, are destroyed, and it is 
thus that the crevices are formed. 

Ths diffusion which takes place between two gases separated 
from each other by an absorbent film (^.f., a soap film) was 
studied a short time ago by Prof. Exner, of the Vienna Aca- 
demy. He has recently extended his inquiry to the case of 
vapours from easily volatile liquids, using the same apparatus as 
for permanent gases. The experiments were made with sulphide 
of carbon, chloroform, sulphuric ether, benzine, alcohol, and oil 
of turpentine, and they show that the diffusion from such vapours 
follows the same laws as those of gases, i.e,^ that it depends both 
on the coefficient of absorption of the film and on the density of 
the gas being directly proportional to the former, and inversely 
pro p ortional to the square root of the latter. Thus it appears 
that the greater or less distance of a gas from its liquefiiction 
point has at least no influence on this kind of diffusion. 

It is reported that Herr Josef Albert, the eminent Munich 
photographer, has made the highly important invention of pho- 
tographing the natural ooLoars of objects by means of a combina- 
tion of the ordinary photographic process with 'a photographic 
printing press oonstracted by the same gentleman some time ago. 
The images are stated to be so perfect that not the least improve- 
ment with the brush is required, as the finest shades of colours 
are faithfully reproduced. The secret of the invention is said to 
be based on the separation of white light into yellow, blue, and 
red rays, and in the artificial application of the same colours in 
the printing press. The first n^ative b taken upon a plate 
which is chemically prepared in such a manner that it only 
receives the yellow tints or shades of the object ; this is then 
passed through the printing press, the roller of which is impreg- 
nated with a yellow colouring matter. On the print only the 
yellow tints reappear more or less distinctly ; the object b then 
again photographed, and this time a n^ative is prepared^which 
only receives the blue shades and tints ; a second printing press 
has its roller impr^nated with some blue colour, and the plate 
of course gives a print with only the blue tints reproduced. In 
the same manner a third print is obtained which only shows the 
red shades and tints. The final manipulation now consists in 
printing the three images upon the same pkte, when the three 
tolours intermingle and the natural colours and shades of the 
objects are obtained. We need hardly point out the enonnous 
importance of this invention. 

A PAMPHLST just published by the Director of the Paris 
National Library contains some interesting statistical data re- 
specting one of the finest libraries in the world. It has been 
foond that the library contain; 86,774 volumes on catholic 
theology, 44,692 volumes on the science of languages, 289,402 
vcdnmes on law, 68,483 volumes on medicine, 441,836 volumes 
00 French history, aud 155,672 volumes of poetry. The works 
on natural science are not yet catalogued. During 1876 the 
library received no less than 45,300 French additions and 
V^xf^^aai^ 4f 565 foreign books. 

The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 
pest week indode two Black-eared Marmosets i^Hapale penkillata) 
from South America, presented by Miss Quain ; a Black-backcd 
Jackal (CMBf mesomdes) from South Africa, presented by Capt 
Fnltoo, S.8. Taynumih CastU ; a Common Boa {Boa constricto^) 
from SoQt^ America, presented by Miss AUce Leith ; a Brown 
Tree Kangaroo {Dmdroiagus inustus) firom New Guinea, a Slow 
Loris {Nycticdms tardi^adus) from Malacca, a River Jack Viper 
{^tran rMinoeeros) from West Africa, purchased; a Green 
Monkey (Cjr«5^'i«»xfii/ttrr/V>Jia) from West Africa, deposited. 



I 



THE LIBERTY OF SCIENCE IN THE MODERN 

STATED 

II. 

T is easy to say : "A cell consists of small particles, 
and these we call plastidules ; plastidules, however, are 
composed of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen, and are 
endowed with a spedal soul ; this soul is the product or thesam 
of the forces which the chemical atoms possess." Indeed this 
is possible ; I cannot judge of it exactly. This is one of those 
points which are yet unapproachable for me ; I feel there like a 
navigator who gets upon a shallow, the extent of which he cannot 
guess. Bat yet I must say that before the properties of carbon, 
hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen are defined to me in sudi a 
manner that I can understand how, through their combination a 
soul resulti, I cannot admit that we are justified in introducing the 
plastidule soul into the educational programme or to ask gene- 
rally of every educated mm that he should recognise it as a 
scientific truth to such a degree as to operate with it logically, 
and to base bis conception of the universe upon it. Tbis we 
may really not ask. On the contrary, I think that before we 
designate such theses as the expression of srienoe, before we say 
this is modem sdenoe, we ought first of all to complete a whole 
series 'of lengthy investigation*. IVe must therefore say to the 
schoolmasters^ do mot teach this. This, gentlemen, is the re- 
signation which in my opinion, tho% ought to exercise vho 
deem such a soluticm in itself to be the probable end of scientific 
investigation. We can certainly not differ on that point for a 
moment, that if this doctrine of the soul were really true it conli 
only be confirmed by a long series of scientific investigati(»s. 

There is a series of events in the field of the natural sciences, 
by which we can show, for how long certain problems are in 
suspense, before it is possible to find . their true solution. If 
this solution ia found at last, and found in a direction of which 
there was a presentiment perhaps centuries ago, it does not 
follow that during those times which were occupied only by 
speculation or presentiment the problem might have been taught 
as a scientific fact 

Prof. Klcbs spoke of €onta>ium animatum the other day, ue, 
the idea that in diseases the transmission takes place by means 
of living organisms, and that these organisms are the causes of 
contagious diseases. The doctrine of conta^ium animitHm loses 
itself in the obscurity of the middle ages. We have had this 
name handed down to us by our for&thers, and it is very 
prominent in the sixteenth century. Certain works of that 
period exist, which put down cofttagimm animatum as a scientific 
dogma with the same confidence, with the same kind of justi- 
cation, as nowadays the plastidule soul is set up. Neverthdess 
the living causes of diseases could not be found for a long time. 
The sixteenth century could not find them, nor could the seven- 
teenth and the eighteenth. In the nineteenth century we have 
begun to find some contagia animata bit by bit Zoology 
and botany have both contributed to them : we have found 
animals and plants which represent contagia, and a special 
part of the knowledge of contagia has been absorbed into 
zoology and botany, quite 'in the sense of the theories of the 
sixteenth century. But you will already have seen from the 
address of Prof. Kiebs that the end of proofs has not yet 
ended. However much we may be disposed to admit 
the general validity of the old doctrine, now that a series of 
new living contagia have been found, now that we know 
cattle disease and diphtheria to be diseases which are caused 
by special organisms, still we may not yet say that now aU 
contagia or even all infectious diseases are caused by living 
organisms. After it has appeared that a doctrine, which 
was formulated already in the sixteenth century, and which has 
since obstinately emerged a^ain and again in the ideas of men, 
has at last, since the sec:>nd decade of the present century, 
obtained more and more positive proofs for its correctness, we 
might really think that now it was our duty to infer, in the 
sense of an inductive extension of our knowledge, that all con- 
tagia and miasmata are living organisms. Indeed, gentlemen, 
I will admit that this conception is an extremely probable one. 
Even those investigators, who have not yet gone so iax 
as to regard the contagia and miasmata as living beings 
have yet always said that they resemble living beings very closely, 
that they have properties which we otherwise know in living 
beings only, that they propagate their kind, that they increase 

' Advlress drlivf red at the Minch meeting of the Geimaa Asaodatioa, 
by Prof. Rudolf Virchow, of Bcrl :u Coatinucd firom p. 74. 



Nov. 29, 1877] 



NATURE 



93 



tod are regenerated nnder special circumstances, that, indeed, 
they appear like real organic bodies, — these men, nerertheless, 
have waited, and rightly, until the proof of their being living 
oiganisms was furnished* And thus caution oonmiands reserve 
even now. 

We must not foiget that the history of science presents a number 
of facts which teach us that^very similar phenomena may happen 
in a very different manner. * When fermentation was reduced to 
the presence of certain fungi, when it was known that its begin- 
nmg was closely connect«l with the development of certain 
species of fungi, then it was reaUy very obvious to imagine that 
all processes related to fermentation happen in the same way ; I 
mean all those processes which are comprised under the name of 
"catalytic," and which occur so frequently in the human and 
animal body as well as in plants. There were, indeed, some 
scientific men who imagined that digestion, whidi is one of the 
processes which closely resemble the fermenutive ones, was 
broaght about by certain fungi which occur frequently (in the 
special case of cattle the question has been practically discussed), 
and which were supposed to cause digestion in the stomach in 
the same way as the fermentation fungi cause fermentation 
elsewhere. We now know that the digestive juices have 
absolutely nothing to do with fungi. Much as they may p >ssess 
catalytic properties, we are yet certain that their active substances 
are chemical bodies which we can extract from them, which we 
can isolate from their other component parts, and wtkich we can 
caose to act iu the isolated state free from any admixture of living 
oganisms. If the human saliva has the property of being able 
to change starch and cextrine into sugar in the shortest time, and 
if every time we eat bread this new formation of "sweet" 
bread takes place in our month, then no fungus takes put in 
this nor any fermentation organism, but there are chemical 
flibstances which, much in the same way as it happens in 
the interior of the fungus, bring about chemical change in 
matter. We see, therefore, that two processes which are 
I enremely similar, the one in the interior of the fermentation 
'' fimgus and the other in the process of human digestion, are 
I brought about in different ways ; the same process in the one 
I instance is connected with a certain vegetable organism, while in 
\ the other it takes place without any such organism and simply 
throngh a liquid. 

I should consider it a great misfortune if we were not to con- 
tinue in the same way as I have done now, to examine in each 
tiogle case whether i}ait supposition which we make, the idea 
vhich we have formed and which may be highly probable, is 
really true, whether it is justified by facts: With regard to this 
I would remind you thiat there are cases also amongst the 
infectious diseases where most undoubtedly a similar contrast 
exists. My friend. Prof. Klebs, will no doubt pardon me if I, 
even now, in spite of the recent progress which the doctrine of 
infecting fungi has made, still remain in my reserve, and that I 
only admit that fungus which has been proved by demonstration, 
vbile I deny all the other fungi as long as I do not hear of facts 
whidi attest them. Amon^^st infectious diseases there is a 
cmain group which are caused by organic poisons — I will only 
ncfltion one of them, which,^. according to my opinion, is very 
instructive — I mean the poisoning by a snake-bite, a very cele- 
bitied and most remarkable form. If this kind of poisoning is 
compared with those kinds of poisoning which are generally 
GaUed infectious diseases (infection does not signify much else 
than poisoning), then we must admit that in the courses both 
cues generally take the greatest analc^es exist With regard to 
the course of the illness nothing would oppose the supposition 
that the total sum of phenomena which occur in a human body 
after a snake-bite, were caused by fungi which entered the body 
and which produced certsrin changes in diflerent organs. Indeed 
veknow certain processes, septical ones, for instance, where 
phfnwnfTta. of a completely similar nature occur, and it 
annot be denied that certain forms of poisoning by snake-bite 
resemble certain forms of septical infection as much as one egg 
resembles another. And yet we have not the least cause to 
nspea an importation of fungi into the body in the case of 
madte bite, while in the case of septic processes we, on the 
contrary, acknowledge and recognise thisjmportation. 

The history of our natural science has numerous examples, 
vhidi ought always to cause us more and more to confine the 
vaMty of our doctrines in the most stringent manner to that 
domain only in which we can actually prove them, and that we do 
■at by way of induction, proceed so far as to extend doctrines 
M Mnea s u rably which have only been proved for one or severid 
Nowhere the necessity of such a restriction has become 



more apparent than on the field of the theory of evolution. The 
question of the first origin of organic beings, this question which 
also forms the basis of progressive Darwinism, is an extremely 
old one. It is not known at all who first tried to find the 
different solutions for it. But if we remember the old popular 
doctrine, according to which all possible beings alive, animals 
and plants, could originate from a clod of clay — from a littie 
clod under circumstances — then we ought to remember at the 
same time that the celebrated doctrine of generatio aquivoca, 
of epigenesis, is closely connected with it, and that it has 
been a common idea for thousands of years. Now with 
Darwinism the doctrine of spontaneous generation has been 
taken up again, and I cannot deny that there is something yexy 
seductive in the idea of closing the theory of descent in this way, 
ani, after the whole series of living forms has been constructed, 
from the lowest protozoa upwards to the highest human organism, 
to connect this long series with the inorganic world as well. 
This corresponds with that direction to generalise, which is so 
entirely human, that it has found a place in the speculation of man- 
kind at all times, backwards to the most obscure periods. We have 
the undeniable desire not to separate the organic world from 
the universe, as a something which is divided from it, but 
rather to insure its connection with the universe. In this sense it 
is pacifyini^ if one can say, the atom-group carbon and company 
— ^this is perhaps speaking too collectively, but yet it is correct, 
since carb )n is to t>e the essential element— therefore, this asso- 
ciation, carbon and company, has at some special time separated 
itself from the ordinary carbon and founded the first plastidule 
under special circumstances, and continues to found it in the pre- 
Sen t. But in the face of this we must mention that all real scientific 
knowledge of the phenomena of life has proceeded in an opposite 
direc'ion. We date the beginning of our real knowledge of the 
development of higher organisms from the day when Harvey 
pronounced the celebrated phrase, ** Omne vivum ex ovo," every 
living being comes from an egg. This phrase as we now know, 
is incorrect in it< generality. To-day we can no longer recognise 
it as a fully justified one ; we know that, on the contrary, a 
whole number of generations and propagations exist without ova. 
From Harvey down to our celebrated friend Prof, von Siebold, 
who obtained the general recognition of parthenogenesis, there 
lies a whole series of increasing restrictions, all of which prove 
that the phrase, '* Omne vivum ex ovo " was incorrect speaking in 
a general sense. Nevertheless, it would be the highest ingratitude 
if we were not to acknowledge that in the opposition, which 
Harvey assumed against the old generatio aquivoca^ the greatest 
progress was made which has been made by science in this 
domain. Later on a great number of new forms were known, in 
which the propagation of the different kinds of living beings is 
going on, in which new individuals originate— direct separation, 
gemmation, metagenesis. All these forms, parthenogenesis 
included, are data which have caused us to give up every single 
{einheHliche) system for the generation of organic individuals. 
In place of a single scheme we now have a variety of data ; we 
have no uniform system left by which we could explain once for 
all how a new animal being begins. 

Generatio aquivoca, which has been disputed and refuted 
as many times, nevertheless faces us again and again. It is 
true that not a single positive fact is known which proves tiiat 
generatio aquivoca has ever occurred, that spontaneous genera- 
tion has ever taken place in such a way that inorganic masses, 
let us say the association carbon and company, have ever spon- 
taneously developed into an organic substance. Nevertheless, I 
admit that if we indeed want to form an idea how the first 
organic being could have originated by itself, nothing remains but 
to go back to spontaneous generation. This is clear. If I do 
not want to suppose a creation-theory, if I do not want to believe 
that a spedal creator existed, who took the clod of clay and blew 
his living breath into it, if I want to form some conception in my 
own way, then I must form it in the sense oi generatio eequivoca^ 
Tertium non datur. Nothing else remains if once we say '* I do 
not admit creation, but I do want an explanation.'' If this is the 
first thesis, then we must proceed to the second and say " Ergo, 
I admit generatio aquivoca.** Bat we have no actual proof for 
it. Nobody has ever seen generatio aquivoca occurring in 
reality, and everyone who maintained that he had seen it, has 
been refuted, not by theologians indeed, but by naturalists. I 
hiention this, gentlemen, in order to let our impartiality appear 
in the right light, and this is very necessary at times. We 
always have our weapons in ourselves and about us, to fight 
against that which is not justified. j 

I therefore say that I must admit the theoretical justification 



94 



NATURE 



\N&v. 29, 1877 



of such a formula. Wlioever will have a formnla, whoever says 
" I absolutely want a fomniU, I wish to be perfecdy at onie with 
myself, I must have a oohereitt conception of the univeise," must 
eUier admit eemratio aquvvoca or creation ; there is no other 
altenuitive. U we want to be oiit^)oken we may indeed own 
that natmalists may have a slight predilection for generatiQ 
aquivoca. It would be very beautiful if it could be proved. 

But we must admit that it is not yet proved. Proofs are still 
wanting. If any kindof proof wereto be suocessfally given we would 
acquiesce. But even then it would have to be determined first, to 
what extent we could admit generatw eequhoca. We should 
quietly have to continue our investi^ions, because nobody will 
think that spontaneous generation is valid for the totality of 
organic beings. Possibly it would only apply to a single series 
of beings. But I believe we have time to wait for £e proof. 
Whoever remembers in what a regrettable manner, quite recently, 
all attempts! to? find a cert^n basis for genfratio aquvvoca in the 
lowest forms of the transition from the inorganic to the organic 
world, have failed, should c ns'.der it doubly dangerous to 
demand that this ill*reputed doctrine should be adopted as a 
basis for all human conceptions of life. I may, doubtless, 
suppose that the story of the BathyHus has become known to 
nearly all educated persons. With this Bathybius the hope has 
again vanished that generatio aquivoea can be proved. 

I think, therefore, that with regard to this first ponit, the 
point of the connection between the organic 'and the inorganic, 
we must simply own that in reality we know nothing about it. 
We may not set down our supposition as a certalntjTt our 
problem as a dogma ; that cannot be permitted. Just as in the 
progress of the doctrines of evolution it has been far more 
certain, more fertile, and more in accordance with the progress 
of accredited natural science, to analyse the original single doc- 
trine part by part, we shall also have first to keep apart the 
organic and inorganic things in the old well-known . analysing 
way, and not to throw them^together prematurely. 

Nothing, gentlemen, has been more dangerous to natural 
sdenoe, nothing has done more harm to its progress and to its 
position in the opinion of nations than premature syntheses. 
While laying stress upon this, I would po&t out specially how 
our Father Oken was damaged in the opinion not only of his 
contemporaries, but also in that of the following generation, 
becaose he was one of those who admitted s^theses into their 
conceptions to a far greater extent than a stricter method would 
have allowed. Do not let us lose the example of the natural 
philosophers ; do not let us forget that every time that a doctrine 
which has assumed the air of a certain, well-founded, and reliable 
one, of one which claims general validity, turns out to be faulty 
in its outlines, or is found to be an arbitrary and despotic one in 
essential and great points, then a great number of men lose 
their faith in science entirely. Then the reproaches begin — 
" You are not sure even vourselves ; your doctrine, which is 
called truth .to-day, is a folsehood to-morrow ; how can you 
demand that your doctrine shall become the object of instruction 
and of the general consciousness ? " From such experiences I take 
the warning that if we wish to continue to claim the attention of 
all we must resist the temptation of pushing our suppositionv, 
our merely theoretical and speculative structures into prominence 
to such a dcqpree that from them we would construct the concep- 
tion of the whole remaining universe. 

{To be continued,) 



THE METEOR 

A METEOR of unusual brilliancy was seen on the evening of 
*^ Friday, the 23rd mst., from various parts of the kingdom. 
Mr. F. A. Buxton writing to us from Hertford states that he saw 
it two miles [north of that town at 8.26 p.m. He says :— ''I 
was attracted \j its glare notwithstanding the moonlight, and 
saw it moving vertittlly downwards. I could not accurately 
observe its paUi, but it passed, nearly or exactly, over a small 
star, just visible in the moonlight, which I think is ir Herculis, 
and oisappeared suddenly before it reached the horizon, in about 
N.P.D. 60 and R. A. 16 '4a By comparing notes with another 
observer (half a mile north of Hertford) it appears to have been 
visible much nearer the zenith than I had seen it ; probably I saw 
the last 1 5^ of its path. From the apparent slowness of its motion 
and complete absence of sound I gather that it was far off. My 
puess at the moment was fifty miles. In consetjuence of its 
brightness its apparent diameter was probably illusory. It 

\ttained two ntaxima of splendour, one about over the star 



named, the other at its disappearance Scaxpely any ' tnul ' vis 
left ; what Oere was almost immediately vanished. 

Mr. T. Mellard Reade writes that he saw it from BInnddl- 
sands, Liverpool, at 8.20 P.M. Looking up he saw a splendid 
broad streak of blue light terminating in a bill of red fire rushing 
across the sky in a north-westerly direction. The 'first flash 
seemed directly overhead ; if so, Mr. Reade states, the meteor 
must have travdled through at least 45**. Shortly afterwards the 
moon being intensely bri^t and a shower coming on from the 
west, across the sea a most splendid " moon " rainbow made its 
appearance, finishing as a perfect arch of vivid colours with a 
second and a perfect lx>w alx>ve it. 

Mr. W. B. Fei^^uson writes from Edinburgh that while 
walking down Princes Street about 8*25 P.M. he saw a 
most brilliant meteor which appeared to fiedl almost vertically 
and bmst with great brilliance apparently just behind the castle; 
Its direction from where he observed it was 10^ west of south. 

Mr. C. H. Dance, writiuf; from Manor House, Ardwick, Man- 
chester, gives the time ss 8h. 25m. p.m. Greenwich mean time. 
The meteor, he states, appeared to come from the constellatioii 
Cassiopeia, and after traveUtng in a direction a little to the west 
of north, finally burst behind a cloud about thirty degrees above 
the horizon. The apparent size of the meteor was considerably 
greater than that of Mars during the late opposition, and the 
light which it emitted was intensely bright and of a blnish-greet 
colour, leaving a decidedly red impression on the retina. Tha 
period of visibility would be about five seconds, and the sparks 
m the train were also visible for some seconds. 

Mr. Plant, the Curator of the Salford Museum, observed the 
meteor at the same time, visible to the north of Manchester. 

Dr. S. Drew, of Sheffield, saw it at about 8.30 p.m. Hegtvei 
the apparent diameter as two minutes ; path, from the sauare of 
Pegasus to near Altair ; motion, slow ; shape, at first giobidar, 
afterwards elongated, with tail. It then appeared to break up. 
Colour, at first blue-green, afterwards ruddy ; light, brilliant. 
He heard no sound accompanying the meteor, and from the 
absence of sound and slow apparent motion, he infers the real 
distance and size of the bolide to have been great Dr. Drew 
was, at the time of observation, a little to the west of the towtt 
of RotherhauL 

Several correspondents write to the Times describing what 
they saw of this remarkable meteor, for it is evidently the sam^ 
body which has been seen by the various observers. The Liver* 
pool correspondent of the Times saw it about 8*3a ** Alaxjge 
ball of fire shot from the sky, exploding and throwing off in- 
numerable variegated sparks as it descended in a northerly 
direction. The track of sparks gave the meteor the appearance 
of a brilliant comet with a long tail. Some spectators state that 
they heard the hissing noise made in its course, and others allege 
that it descended into the water near the bar of the Mersey with 
a great noise, sending up a column of steam and spray." 

Mr. Donald Mackay saw it from Victoria Street, London, 
shortly before 8*30 p.m. "It travelled with great rapidity foi 
about 20° from the zenith to the horizon, bursting in a white 
ball as large as twelve of the planet Mars in one, lighting up all 
the houses surrounding Victoria Street, the point of observation^ 
and leaving a large tail behind of the shape of a spear^head, witt 
all the colours of the rainbow in it." 

The Rev. J. Hoskyns-Abrahall writes from Combe Vicarage, 
near Woodstock, that about 8.20 the northern sky wai 
suddenly lighted up with a glow that outshone that spread 
over the south-eastern sky by a moon nearly fulL ^* Lookin| 
northwards I saw a globular' meteor of a pale orange coloni 
descending perpendicularly. Its apparent size was scarcely less 
than that of the moon. Just above the slope on which I was, 
and seemingly not half a mile off, it burst into huge fragments, 
which flared forth with a fierce, lie htniog-like, reddish ghu^e^ 
and scattered sparks of surpassing splendour." 

Mr. D. Aldred writes from Milford, Derb^, to the same efiRwt 
He saw the meteor about six miles north of Derby, about 8.25. 
" It was almost due north, and travelling from the zenith to the 
horizon, the point of dispersion beiiig about 45° above the nortl 
point of the horizon. In shape it was conical, the greatest 
breadth about one and a half times the diameter of the moon. Il 
left a trail of considerable length, and the colours detadied wer6 
of most remarkable brilliancy." 

"R. M. C" .writes from Cathedine, Brecknockshire, giving 
the report of two reliable witnesses who were walking in an 
easterly direction at 8.25 P.M. Looking back, the moon being 
at the time obscured by a cloud, they saw a ball of the most 
intense white light, "about the size of a cannon-ball," travers- 



N 



Nov. 29, 1877] 



NATURE 



05 



ag a space between two eloods, kaying behind it a fiery track 

A Woroester correspondent gives the time as 8.20. He 
docnbes tbe<»kmr as brilliant bke and orange, and behind 
ns a itieamiog trail of brilliant sparks, which remained yisible 
ibr a few seconds after the brighter light had disappeared. 



UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL • 
INTELUGENCE 

Cambridge.— At a Congregation on November 22, the 
Unrverdty seal was ordered to h^ affixed to a letter of thanks to 
til Grace the Chancellor of the University for his munificent 
sift of a complete apparatus of scientific instruments for the 
Ckfodish Laboratory. 

A meeting of the members of the University to consider the 
vropriety of lecormg a personal memorial of Dr. Darwin, was 
leti on Monday in the combination room of Christ's College, 
fhe Rev. Dt. CartmeD, Master of the College, presiding. It was 
mosed by Prof. Humphry and seconded by Prof. Fawcett, 
"That it is desirable thatjthe University should^possess a personal 
■anorial of Mr. Charles Darwin, LL.D." Proposed by Prof. 
Xewton and seconded by Mr. Piele, of Christy "That the 
voBbera of the Uniyenity now present form themselves into a 
OBBiQittee^ with power to add to their number, for the purpose 
of oJlectiiig subscriptions from members of Uie University to 
ciny out the foregoing resolution." Proposed by Prof. Livemg, 
leeonded hr Mr. J. W. Clark, "That Mr. A. G. Dew-Smith, 
if Trinity College^ be treasurer and secretary to the committee, 
•dbeauthorised to receive subscriptions." It w 
fht the memoiial should assume the form of a 
>kvt 75A was subscribed in the room. 

KDiNBUSGE.^The subscriptions to the Edinbuigh University 
btensioo Fond now amount to 82,000/., and Government has 
HMr promised, to add 80,000/. to the amount on condition that 
%ooq/. is raised by public subscription^ of whic^ the sum of 
i^ooQ/. most be subscribed by December 31st next. The 
Uaifasity Professors at Edinburgh have already ocmtributed 
iBOQg Uiemsdves 5,360/. towards the additional 25,000/. 
icqoiredi 

St. Andrews. — Lord Selbome has been elected Lord Rector 
If dds University. The students had much difficulty in getting 
ayemnent man to allow himself to be nominated, and it was 
«^QQ the day prev&ons to the election that it was resolved to pit 
M Sdbome against the Right Hon. Gathome Hardy. 

M. AUnme Nicholson has been appointed Swiney Lecturer 
« Geology by the Trustees of the British Museum. 

UiPZiG.— Prof. Leuckhart, the newly-elected Rector of the 
vitvmity, was installed into the duties of the office on October 
3|>iDd delivered on the occasion an able address *' On the Deve- 
hpaestof Zoology up to the Present Time, and its Importance." 



aiuui.tcc, 

was tmderstood 
portrait, and 



Iv stndents already number nearly 3,200, an attendance, as 
•«I, &r above that of any other German univer»ty. 

^MSTERDAM. — ^The new University of Amsterdam has lately 
^ a most flattering offer to Prof. Gegenbaur, of Heidelberg, 
*Alias; however, been declined. * 

.Bii6KN.r-It is intended to establish a new university in the 
f^yepan town of Bergen, ^^y thousand crowns have 
"ttiy beeu subscribed towards thisjobject. . 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

London 

Mathematical Society, November 8.— Lord Rayleigh, 
**&, pce^dtat, m the chair.— The following were elected to 
yy tte Coftncil during the session ;— President ; lK>rd Rayleigh, 



J.K.S. Vice-Presidents: Piof. J. Clerk Maxwell, KR.S., 
S' C. W. Meniaeld, F.R.S., Prof. H. J. S. Smith, F.R.S. 



j__^--r, Mr. S. Roberts. Hon. Secretaries : Messrs. M. 
ff*y «nd R. Tucker. Other membcra, Prof! Cayh^, F.R. S., 
•J^T^Cotterill. Mr. J. W. L. Glaisher, F.R.S., Mr. H. Hart, 
rjarid, F.KS., Dr. Hirst, F.R.S., Mr. Kempe^ Dr. 
'P^Bwoode, F.R,S., Mr.J.J. Walker.— ProfcCayley made 

^^wnamuiicationsi on the function ^ {x) = <?£Jl^ • (a sin- 

■u ex -^ d 

P*iy neat expresuon was got for ^ (jr), the late Mr. 



Babbage had considered the matter in 1813), and on the theta 
.fahctions. — ^Mr. Tucker read a portion of a paper by Mr. Hugh 
MacColl (communicated by Prof. Crofton, F.R.S.) entitled the 
calculus of equivalent statements. A short account of this 
analytical method has been given in the July and November 
numbers (1877) of the Educational Ttmes^ under the name of 
Symbolical Language. The chief use at present made of it is 
to determine the new limits of integration when we change the 
order of integration or the variables in a multiple integral, and 
also to determine the limits of integration in (questions relating to 
probability. This object^ the writer asserts, it will accomplish 
with perfect certainty, and by a process almost as simple and 
mechanical as the ordinary operations of elementary algebra. — 
The president read a paper on progressive waves. It has often 
been remarked that when a group of waves advance into still 
water the velocity of the group is less than that of the individual 
waves of which it is composed ; the waves appear to advance 
through the group, dying away as they approach its anterior 
limit. This phenomenon seems to have been first explained by 
Prof. Stokes, who regarded the group as formed by the super- 
position of two infinite trains of waves of equal amplitudes and 
of nearly equal wave-lengths advancing xn the same direction. 
The writer's attention was called to the subject about two years 
since by Mr. Fronde, and the same explanation then occurred to 
him independently. In his work on " The Theory of Sound " 
(§ 191), he has considered the question more generally. In a 
paper read at the Plymouth meeting of the British Association 
(afterwards printed in Nature), Prof. Osborne Reynolds gave 
a dynamical explanation of the fact th^t a |[roup of deep-water 
waves advances with only half the rapidity of the individual 
waves. Another phenomenon (also mention^ to the author by 
Mr. Froude) was also discussed as admitting of a similar expla- 
nation to that given in the present paper. A steam launch 
moving ouickly through the water is accompanied by a peculiar 

2 stem ot diveiging waves, of which the most striking feature is 
e obliquity of the line containing the greatest elevation of 
suocessiTe wares to the wave-ironts. This wave-patlern may be 
explained by the superposition of two (or more) infinite trains of 
waves, of dightly difTeiing wave«lengths, whose direction and 
vdocity of propagation are so related in each case that there is 
no change of position relatively to the boat, The mode of com- 
position will be best understood by drawing on paper two sets of 
parallel and equidistant lii^esy subject to the above conditionsi to 
represent the crests of the component trains. In the case of twj 
trains of slightly different wave-lengths, it may be proved that the 
tangent of the angle between the line of maxima and the wavc- 
fronts is half the tangent of the angle between the wave-fronts 
and the boat's course. — Prof. Clifford, F.R.S., communicated 
three notes, (i) On the triple generation of three-bar curves. . Ij 
one of the three-bar systems is a crossed rhomboid^ the other two are 
kites. This follows frOm the known fact that the path of the 
moving point in both these cases is the inverse of a conic. But 
it is also intuitivelv obvious as soon as the figure is drawn, and 
thus supplies an elementary proof that the psith is the inverse of 
a conic in the case of a kite, which is not otherwise easy to get. 
(2) On the mass-centre of an octahedron. The construction was 
suggested by Dr. Sylvester's construction for the mass centre, of 
a tetrahedral frustum. (3) On vortex-motion. The problem 
solved by Stokes as a general question of analysis, and subse- 
quently by Helmholtz for the special case of fluid niotiou may be 
stated as follows : given the ex|>ansion and the rotation at every 
point of a moving substance, it is required to find the velocity at 
every, point The solution was exhibited in a very simple form. 

Zoological Society, November 6. — Mr. A. Grote, vice- 
president, in the chair. — A letter was read from Mr. R. Trimen, 
containing remarks on the African species of Sarcidiornis.^A 
letter was read from Mr. A. O. Hume, containing some remarks 
on Mr. Howard Saunders' recent' paper on the Steminse, — ^The 
secretary exhibited, on \ihfi part of Mr. Geo. Dawson Rowley, 
an tgg of Pattxis ^aleata, laid by a black female:— Prof. W. H. 
Flower, F.R.S., read a paper entitled ** A Further Contribution 
to the Knowledge of the existing Ziphioid Whales of the Genus 
MesoptodoHy containing a Description of a Skeleton and several 
Skulls of Cetaceans of that Genus from the Seas of New Zea- 
land." — A communication was read from Lieut. -Col. R. H. Bed- 
dome, containing the descriptions of three new species of reptiles 
from the Miidras Presidency. These were proposed to be called 
Otigodon travancaricum, Xrymnddactylusjeyporensis^ and Bufo^ tra - ^ 
vancoricus, — A communication was read from the Marquis of\ I p 
Tweeddale, F.R.S., conUining an account of a collection o§ *^^ 



96 



NATURE 



\JNdv. 29, \%fi 



birds made by Mr. A. H. Everett in the Island of Luzon, Philip- 
pines. Three new species were named Afegalurus ruficeps^ 
Dicaum xanthopygium^ and Oxycerca everetti. — Mr. t). G. Elliott 
read some remarks on Felis iigrina^ Erx., and its synonomy, show- 
ing that F, mitis, F. Cuv., and/*, macrura, Pr. Max., are iden- 
ti«d with that species.— Prof. Garrod, F.R.S., read a paper on 
some points in the visceral anatomy of the rhinoceros of the 
Sunderbunds {Rh. sottdiacus), — A second communication from 
Prof. Garrod contained a note on an anatomical peculiarity 
in certain storks.— Mr. Edgar A. Smith read a paper in which 
he described some shells from Lake Nyassa, and a few marine 
specie^ from the mouth of the Macusi River, near Quillimane, 
on the East Coast of Africa.— A communication from Dr. O. 
Finsch contained the description of a new species of petrel from 
the Feejee Islands, which it was proposed to name Procdlaria 
albigularis, — A second communication from Dr. Finsch con- 
tained a report on the collections of birds made daring the 
voyage of H.M.S. Challtn^er at Tongatabu, the Fiji Island?, 
Api, New Hebrides, and Tahiti— Mr. Edward R. Alston read 
a supplementary note on rodents and marsupials from Duke of 
York Island and New Ireland. Afacropus lugens, Alst., was 
shown to be a synonym of Helmaturus bratvnU, Ramsay, while 
Mr. Ramsay's Mus, echimyoides and M. musavora were respec- 
tively identical with Mus, brawnii and Uromys rufescens of 
Alston. — A communication from Mr. L. Taczanowski contained 
a supplementary list of birds collected in North- Western Peru 
by Messrs. Jelski and Stolzmann. Two species were new, and 
proposed to be called Rallus cvpereti and Pendope albipennis, 

Cambridge 

Philosophical Society, October 22.— A communication was 
read by Mr. Balfour, on the development of the vertebrate 
ovum. The points dealt with in this paper were (i) the nature 
of the stroma of the ovary, and (2) the relation of the perma- 
nent ova to the large cells of the germinal epithelium, named 
primitive ova by Waldeyer. 

October 29.— Mr. Bonney read a paper on the rocks of the 
Lizard District (Cornwall). The author brought forward evi- 
dence to prove that the serpentine of this district was clearly 
intrusive among the hornblende schists. 

November 5. — Pro£ Clerk Maxwell communicated to the 
society an account of the unpublished papers of the Hon. Henry 
Cavendish, which contain his experiments in electricity. 

Manchester 

Literary aud Philosophical Society, October 2. — Rev. 
William Gaskell, M.A., in the chair. — A case of flowering of 
Chamerops fortund (Hook) at Alderley, by Arthur W. Waters, 
F.G.S. The fact of CAamerops /oriuna (Hook) flowering so 
far north as near Manchester seemed to the author to be of 
sufficient interest to be worth mentioning to the Society.— Table 
of eflect of movement of the surface of the globe on the shifting 
of the axis of the earth,by Arthur W. Waters, F.G.S. 

Paris 

Academy of Sciences, November 19.— M. Peligot in the 
chair : — The following papers were read : — Meridian obser- 
vations of small planets at the Greenwich and Paris Observatories 
during the third quarter of 1877, communicated by M. Villarcean. 
— New remarks on the quantities of heat liberated by mixture of 
water with sulphuric add, by M. Berthelot. He affirms that 
sulphuric add always liberates the same quantities of heat 
whether it have been recently heated or kept a considerable 
time. — Risumi of a history of matter (fifth article), by.|M. 
Chevreul. — On the theory and the various manoeuvres of the 
economising apparatus constructed at the dam of Aubois, 
by M. de Calignv.- On the use of refined neutral oils 
for lubrication of pistons in engines with surface con- 
densers, by M. Allaire. Lime causes decomposition of neutral 
fatty matters and unites with thdr adds, the result bdng 
a greater deposit than if lime had not been used. Doubt- 
less the deposit is oleate of lime instead of oleate of iron, and the 
boiler is preserved from attack; but the inconveniences in con- 
densing engines are aggravated, for the condenser ceases to act 
as the tubes get covered. M. Allaire commends the use of 
refined neutral fatty matters which are undecomposable under 
the ordinary pressure of boilers. — Various observations on phyl- 
loxera, by M. Boiteau. The winter egg is deposited exclusively 
on the exterior of the stock.- Discovery of a small planet at 



Ann Arbor, by Mr. Watson. — (jreneral map of the proper 
motions of stars, by M. Flammarion. One result of this oom« 
parison is contradictory of some common views as to the diBtanoe 
of stars relatively to thdr order of brightness ; for the greatest 
proper motions do not belong to the most biimant stuii but 
indifferentlv to all sizes. Again, the author cannot support BeseTs 
and Struve s view that double stars are carried through sptce 
more rapidly than simple stars. — On the equation with putiil 
derivatives of the fourth order, expressing tha^ the problem 
of geodesic lines, considered as a problem of mechanics, 
supposes an algebraic integral of the fourth degree, by 
M. Levy. — New applications of a mode of plane represen- 
tation of classes of ruled surfaces, by M. Mannhdm.— Oa 
the laws which rule the order (or ckss) of plane algebruc 
curves, of which each point (or each tangent) depends at once on 
a variable point and tangent in a given curves by M. Fouret— 
Extract from a letter (mathematicaH to M. Hex mite, by M. 
Fuchs. — On the decomposition into first factors of the nnmbos 
2°:t I, by M de Longchamps. — Reproduction of orthose, byK. 
Hautefeullle. Orthose can be obtained by raising to from 900 
tu 1,000 deg. a mixture of tungstic acid and a very alkaliiie 
silico-aluminate of potash containing one equivalent of alumina 
to six of silica. The tungstic acid farms tungstate of potash, and 
the silico-aluminate is thus brought to the composition of orthose.— 
On the composition and industrial use of gases from metallurgiad 
furnaces, by M. Cailletet These gases, if suddenly cooled, arefoand 
to contain an important quantity of combustible prindples whidi 
can easily be lit again and burnt by passing, &^., through a grate 
with burning fuel, and having their vdocity diminished. — Forma- 
tion of iodous acid by the action of ozone on iodine, by M. Qgier. 
— On the solubility of sugar in water, by M. Courtonne. A 
saturated solution of sugar at I2'5<* contains 66*5 gr. per oesL 
of sugar ; one at 45** contains 71 gr. per cent— On the prodncti 
of oxidation of camphor, by M. Montgolfier. — Note on the 
accessory discs of the thin discs in striated muscles, by M. 
Renaut Muscular striation is formed of a succession of thick 
discs alone contractile, and of clear bands traversed each by a 
thin disc and two accessory discs similar to each oUier as regards 
form, and probably having similar functions. — A nalgesia ob- 
tained by tne combined action of morphine and chloroform, by 
M. Guibert A subcutaneous injection of chlorhydrate of 
morphine is made at least fifteen minutes before inhalation of 
chloroforoL — On the causes of violet colour in oysters of the 
basin of Arcachon, by M. Descoust The colour is found to be 
due to the presence of a small algal of the family of Rhodo- 
spermese and Floridese. This becomes more abundant in time 
of drought, and probably acts by absorbing moisture. — Oa the 
migrations and metamorphoses of the taenia of shrew mice, by 
M. Villot.— On certain monstrosities of Asterocanthion rubens, 
by M. Giard.— On the embryogeny of the cestoides, by M. 
Moniez. — On the bismuth ores of Bolivia, Peru, and Chili, by 
M. Domeyko. 



CONTENTS Pagi 

Floxa of Mauritius and Sbychbllbs. By W. R. McNab ... 77 
Oua Bootc Shblf >-^ 

Von Hauer't "Di« Geologic" ?« 

Lbttbrs to tkb Editor :— 

Friti Mailer on Flowers and Inflecta.-»Ci(ARi.Bs Darwim, F.R. S. . 7I 
The Radiometer and its Lessons.— G. Johmstomb Stonry ; Fkof. 

G. Carry Fostbr, F.R.S -fy 

Mr. Crookes and Eva Fay.—Dr. William B. Carprmtrr, F.R.S. St 

Potential Energy.— Prof. H. W. LlovU TAhnbR fit 

Smell and Hearing in Moths— Gborcb J. Romanrs ; J. C . . . 8> 

Meteorological Phenomenon.— JosRPH John Murphy . . . . 8s 
Our Astronomical Column :— 

Stellar Systems • ......8a 

The Minor Planets 83 

The Cordoba Observatory 83 

Carl VON Littrow ^i 

Bactbria. By J. Burdon-Sanobrson, M.D.y LLD., F.R.S. . . . 
Diffusion Figurrs in Liquids. By Prof. Trro Martini {JVith tU^a- 

tratioHs) 87 

Tracbs of Early Man in }kykih. By Edward S. Morsr . . . . S9 

NOTBS 89 

Thr Libbrty of Scirncb in thb Modrrn Statb, II. By PraC 

Rudolf ViRCHOW 9* 

ThrMrtbor -Cr\/Tl/5 • • • • W 

ITNrrBRsiTVAND Educational iNTRLLiGBNcdOV 16 .... 95 

SOORTIRS AMD ACADBMOn 95 



fCdv. 29, 1877] 



NATURE 



>CXaVI1 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



London 

THURSDAY, Novbmbkr 29. 

Sorimr OF Antiqvakibs, at 8. ?ia— -Churchwardens' Accounts of Stratton : 
E. Peacockp F.S. A.— Alleged Tomb of John Baliol, the Competitor for the 
Crown of Scotland : C K. Watson. M.A., F. and Sec. S.A. 
FRIDAY, November 30. 

RoTAL SociXTT, at 4 —Anniversary. 

SATURDAY, December x. 

Physical Society, at 3.— The Telephone : Prot. Graham Bell. 
SUNDAY, December 2. 

Sunday Lecture Society, at 4. — Jesuitism and the Priest in Absoluiiin : 
Dr. G. G. Zerffi. 

MONDAY, December 3. 

ROTAL iHSTiTtiTiON, at 2.— General Monthly Meeting. 

SodBTV Kiit Am, at 8.— Cantor Lecture ; Maouracture of Paper : W. 
Arnott 

Victoria Im8titutb, at 8. 

TUESDAY. December 4. 

Zoological Society, at 8.30.— On Additions to the Menagerie in November, 
1877: The Secretary.— -Exhibition of and Remarks upon a Series of Rare 
Egg^ and Birds from Northern Siberia : H. Seebohm.— On the Capture 
of a Specimen of Risso's Grampus at Sidlesham, near Chichester : H. Lee, 
F.Z.S. 

Institdtion op Civil Ekgikbrrs, at 8. 

WEDNESDAY, Decfmber 5. 

SoaiTV or Axts. at 8. 

HoBTicuLTURAL SociSTY. — Scientific Committee at i. 

Entomological Society, at 7. 

GioLOGisTS* Association, at 8. 

Royal Microscopical Society, at 8. 

GsoLOGiCAL SoaBTY, at &->On the Building up of the White Linter 
Terraces of Roto-MSih^Lnk, New Zealand : The Rev. R. Abbay.— 
Additional Notes on the Dimetian and Pebidian Rocks, Pembrokeshire : 
H. Hicks. With an Appendix by W. H. Hudleston.— On some Pre- 
Cambrian (Ditaetian and Pebi<Jian) Rocks in Carnarvonshire : H. Hick^ — 
On the Pre-Can&brian Rocks of Bangor : Prof. T. McK. Hughes. 
THURSDAY, December 6. 

Royal Society, at 8. 30. 

IjNiiEAK SociSTV, at 8. —Observations on the Qvsi\i& Pctndanus with an 
Enumeration of all Species hitherto described, Habitat, &c. : Dr. L Bailey 
Balfour.— On Certain Orrans of the Cidarida : Chas. Stewart — Notes on 
the Rev. Mr. Crombie's Paper on the Lichens of the Challens^er Expedi- 
tion : Dr. J. Stirton. — On Insects obtained by Dr. J. C PJOem in Java : 
Chas. O, Watcrhouse. 

CuBMiCAL Society, at 8.— On Gallium : Prof. Odling. — On the Constitution 
of the Terpeces and of Camphor : Dr. Armstrong — On Potable Waters : 
Dr. Mills. 

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INDUCTIVE METROLOGY ; or, The Re- 

covery of Ancient Measures frona the Monuments. By VV. M. FLIN- 
DERS PJETRIE. ^ 

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