NOTES

WE greatly regret to have to announce that the state of the venerable Prof. Sedgwick's health is such that he will be unable to deliver his usual course of lectures during the ensuing academical year. His place will be filled pro tem. by Mr. John Morris, Professor of Geology at University College, London. Though we cannot but regret the cause which has taken Prof. Morris to Cambridge, his nomination by Prof. Sedgwick to serve as his deputy is a cause of congratulation to the University.

IN Sir John F. Burgoyne, F.R. S., who died on Saturday last, in the 90th year of his age, the English army has lost the most eminent man of science among her officers. In both civil and military capacities, as chairman of the Board of Public Works in Ireland from 1830 to 1845, and at the Siege of Sebastopol, he evinced engineering talents of no ordinary kind. Sir John Burgoyne's only son perished in the Captain, being in command of that ill-fated vessel.

DR. HENRY S. WILSON has been appointed Demonstrator of Anatomy at the University of Cambridge. Dr. Wilson formerly held a similar office in the University of Edinburgh.

THE Professor of Chemistry at Cambridge, Mr. Liveing, will give instruction in practical chemistry on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at I P.M. The instruction will be given at the University Laboratory. The Laboratory will be open for students daily from ten A. M. until six P. M. The Demonstrator (Mr. Hicks, B. A.) will attend to give in truction on mornings and afternoons alternately. The Professor of Chemistry will deliver a course of lectures in Spectrum Analysis and some other special banches of chemistry on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays at noon, commencing on October 26, in the Che nical Lecture-room, next Downing Street. No fee will be required of those who do not wish for a certificate.

THE Oxford School of Science and Art, in connection with the Science and Art Department of the Council on Education, South Kensington, has been granted the use of the New University Museum at Oxford, where lectures will be given this month on Mathematics (Elementary), Magnetism and Electricity, Animal Physiology, and Inorganic Chemistry. We regard this act of the University as one of very good omen.

THE combined examination held by Magdalen and Merton Colleges for scholarships in mathematics and natural science terminated on Saturday, when the following elections were declared :-Magdalen College: Demyship in Mathematics-Mr. R. R. Corkling, Manchester Grammar School. Demyships in Natural Science-Mr. E. Steel, Manchester Grammar School; Mr. G. R. Christie, Magdalen College School. Proxime accesserunt for natural science demyship-Mr. Hamsworth, Mr. Hopwood, Manchester Grammar School. Merton College: Mathematical postmastership-Mr. F. G. Stokes, Cowbridge. Natural Science postmastership-Mr. Lane, Cheltenham Grammar School. There were fourteen candidates for the mathematical and sixteen candidates for the natural science foundations.

At the Oldham School of Science and Art, three Queen's medals have been awarded by the Department to the artisan students of this school, the silver medal for mathematics to John Armitage; a bronze medal for machine construction and drawing to John Robertson; a bronze medal for applied mechanics to Thomas Marsden. Mr. Armitage has also gained a Whitworth Scholarship this year.

We have received the examination papers for the Scholarship and Exhibition in Natural Science recently award by St. Mary's Hospital Medical School. The questions appear to have been very carefully framed to show the attainments of the candidates in chemistry, physics, zoology, and botany, and we congratulate

this young school on setting so admirable an example to its older sisters in encouraging a real knowledge of science among its students.

EARL GRANVILLE has shown his interest in scientific instruc tion by offering prizes in chemistry, mechanics, and mathematics to the examinees at the Margate centre of the Oxford Local Examinations.

To Sir John Lubbock, who has recently been twitted on his predilections for prehistoric man, we commend a letter which has recently appeared in the Times to the effect that a large section of the old Temple of Avebury has just been parcelled off into building allotments, and that the remainder is likely to be similarly dealt with before long. It may be that from a utilitarian point of view this can no longer matter, inasmuch as this celebrated remnant of the "Stone Age" has been so thoroughly wrecked that scarce anything now remains of it. According to Dr. Stukely, the Temple was nearly perfect in the time of Charles II., who visited it, and had plans and drawings made, copies of which are reproduced in Dr. Stukely's works. There were then standing between 200 and 300 stones, and it was, in his opinion, as superior to Stonehenge as a cathedral would be to a parish church. All that now remains of this wonderful monument, and of the two avenues, each of nearly a mile in length, by which it was approached, is about two-thirds of the great circular earthen mound by which it was enclosed and about twenty of the stones. The rest have been utilised by the inhabitants of the village to build their cottages, erect their parish church, make bridges, stone fences, and mend the road. It is said that a beershop was built out of a single stone. This is encouraging!

THE death is announced of Mr. Thomas Pilgrim, engineer, who died on the 6th inst., at the age of seventy-one years, at his son's residence at Plumstead. For the last thirty-five years Mr. Pilgrim was intimately associated with Mr. Francis Pettit Smith, and with the introduction of the screw-propeller. He acted as chief engineer of the Archimedes, the first ship ever sent to sea propelled by the screw.

THE annual Exhibition of Fungi was held at the Royal Hor ticultural Gardens, on Wednesday the 4th inst., and was decidedly better than any of its predecessors. Nearly all the British edible and poisonous fungi were shown in a living state, including several rare species. The visitors showed the greatest possible interest in the plants exhibited, and the Fungus exhibition was one of the best attended of the year. The prizes for the best collections of edible and poisonous species, offered by Mr. W. W. Saunders, were in the first place awarded to Mr. English and Mr. W. G. Smith; but, through some informality on the part of these exhibitors, the first prize was ultimately conferred on Messrs. Hoyle and Austin, of Reading.

MARLBOROUGH COLLEGE has taken an honourable lead among our public schools in the cultivation of science, and we therefore turned over with more than ordinary interest the leaves of the Report of its Natural History Society for the half-year ending Midsummer 1871, just received. We do not look to these reports for papers of original research that materially advance our scientific knowledge; rather, for such as will in the first place show an accurate and careful observation of the phenomena of nature on the part of the writer; and, secondly, that will promote the study of natural history among his hearers. We are disposed, therefore, to agree with the secretaries that the production at the meetings of these societies of papers which show a very limited amount of knowledge, if only such knowledge as is shown be the result of honest work, is better than having no papers at all, and to endorse their remark in the preface, that "failure is the indispensable ingredient of success;

and that if the Society is worth anything at all, it is strong enough to outlive many unsuccessful papers." Judged by this standard, the Report before us is decidedly satisfactory. A few only of the papers read during the half are printed at length; but they contain evidence of much careful work in the various departments of natural science. Only one field day was held during the half; and the further publication of the new edition of the "Marlborough Flora" is postponed till the next number. The committee reports that the Botanical Garden, which was started last half in the corner of the Wilderness, has fully realised the hopes of its originators. We confidently expect from the Marlborough College Natural History Society a long career of usefulness, and no small share in moulding the scientific tastes of the rising generation.

In our last week's number we referred to the Burmese hairy woman. A correspondent of the Times has supplied some additional information. He writes: "When I was at Mandalay in 1859, I saw the same woman and three of her children. The eldest and youngest were hairy like their mother, while the second, like his father, presented no such peculiarity. The hus band was a man who report said had been induced to wed this woman to become possessed of the marriage portion which the King of Burmah had promised to bestow upon her on her bridal

day. The bridegroom was a plucky individual at any rate, though his motives may have been somewhat mercenary. The hairy woman, whose name I now forget, had a pleasant and intelligent face—there was nothing whatever repulsive in it. The hair on the face and breast was several inches long; on the forehead it was parted in the middle, and blended with that of her head. Of a light brown colour on her cheeks, it paled gradually towards the bridge of her nose, and the centre of her lips, chin, and neck. Those of your readers who have a copy of Colonel Yule's narrative of the embassy to Ava will see a good likeness of the woman and a description of herself and family."

THE Pall Mall promises a novelty in literary publications. An English periodical is to be printed in Berlin, bearing the title of The German Quarterly Magazine. Its object is to make the treasures of German learning accessible to the English speaking public. Two of the most eminent literary men of Germany, Profs. Virchow and Von Holtzendorff, have undertaken its joint management, conducting the editing alternately, so as to offer in one number articles chiefly on Natural Science under the great physician's direction, and in the following essays on historical and political subjects published under M. Von Holtzendorff's super. vision.

MESSRS. ASHER AND CO. announce for November, "Man in the Past, Present, and Future: a Popular Account of the Results of Recent Scientific Research, as regards the Origin, Position, and Prospects of the Human Race;" translated from the German of Dr. L. Büchner, by Mr. W. S. Dallas, F. LS. THE first two parts are published of a new edition of Griffith and Henfrey's "Micrographic Dictionary." The names of the editors, Dr. J. W. Griffith, the Rev. M. J. Berkeley, and Prof. T. Rupert Jones, are a guarantee that the treatment of the various subjects will be carried down to the present state of scientific knowledge; and that the book will be indispensable to every biologist and student of the microscope.

MR. ROBERT GRAY, late Secretary to the Natural History Society of Glasgow, has issued a prospectus of his work shortly to be published, "The Birds of the West of Scotland, including the Outer Hebrides, with Occasional Records of the Rarer Species throughout Scotland generally." Since the publication of the works of Sir William Jardine, Prof. Macgillivray, and Mr. Selby, nothing in a collected form on the Birds of Scotland has been brought under the notice of ornithologists, and the book seems likely to fill a useful place in ornithological literature.

A NEW description of lamp for street lighting has recently been experimented on in London, the principle of which is the application of reflectors, in order to bend down and utilise the amount of light which is at present wasted by upward radiation. It is manifest that the rays of light from a street lamp which now strike the eye of a spectator placed on the ground are only a small portion of those actually emitted by the flames. The rays which pass through the upper portions of the sides of the lantern, or through its sloping roof, are entirely dissipated, or at best, if partially and imperfectly reflected by clouds or atmospheric particles, become visible only in the form of the red glow which overhangs a distant town. Mr. Skelton, the inventor, calculates that about two-thirds of the light given by the gas flame are in this way lost, and he has arranged strips of looking. The upper half of each side of the lamp, and the whole of each glass in such a way that the loss will be effectually prevented. side of the sloping roof, are occupied by a frame, in which the strips are placed with their reflecting surfaces downwards, in a manner somewhat analagous to the laths of a Venetian blind. The precise character of the effect produced will depend upon the distance of the strips apart, upon their width, and upon their angle of inclination; but the general result is, subject to small variations, that the street receives three times as much light as would fall upon it through lanterns of the ordinary kind. The

frames holding the strips are glazed on both sides, and made dust-proof, so that the mirrors will not themselves become soiled or tarnished, and the reflector as a whole can be cleaned in the ordinary way, by simply wiping the glass. The plan is equally applicable to every form of lamp, and the patent includes the application of prismatic reflectors, which would present advantages in certain cases

WE learn from the Photographic News that a correspondent, writing from Florence, says :-"The Ruballino Society have lent their steamer Sardinia to Mr. Josellis for his marine explorations. Mr. Josellis has invented a marine photographic apparatus connected with a diving bell, by which photographs of the world below the sea' can be taken. This diving-bell can be made use of in many ways, but one can understand how useful to natural science a series of negatives (to be afterwards enlarged) of the myriads of zoophytes found in the subaqueous world would be." Good news this for the managers of the approaching four years' dredging expedition. We should like, however, to hear something more of the principles of the apparatus.

THE editor of the Scottish Naturalist proposes to do for the Lepidoptera of Scotland what has been so well done for British plants in the Cybele Britannica. He solicits the assistance of all persons acquainted with the subject in ascertaining the distri bution of the species throughout the country, which for that purpose is divided into thirteen natural districts. In addition to the district distribution, information is solicited on the following points :-The vertical range of each species; the relation between the range of a species and that of its food-plant; the relation between the range of a species and the geological formation of the district; the influence of the proximity of the sea, for some insects (as is the case with certain plants) appear to occur at a higher north latitude on the sea coast than inland; and local races or varieties. The list will be illustrated by a map of Scotland. It will appear primarily in the Naturalist, but a limited number of copies will be printed in a separate form,

THE ratio of suicides has been established by M. Decaisne recently before the French Academy of Sciences. It is in London only one in 175 deaths; in New York, one in 172; in Vienna, one in 160; but in Paris, it has reached one in 72. The number of suicides from drunkenness, which in 1848 was 141 for all France, reached 401 in 1866. We doubt the accuracy of all these figures.

IN

n ARGUS AND ITS SURROUNDING

NEBULA, &c.*

the last paper I had the honour of bringing before the Society, I referred to a correspondence which was then pending on the star 7, and the attached nebula, in the constellation Argo-Navis. It will be fresh in the minds of many of the members of this Society that authorities, previously quoted, have confirmed the alterations that have been recorded in this object. Mr. E. B. Powell, of Madras, writing to the Royal Astronomical Society some observations on the binary star a Centauri, has a concluding note thus :-"I have to observe that to Mr. Abbott must be ascribed the first publication of the fact that ʼn is no longer in the dense portion of the nebula, where it was seen by Sir John Herschel."-( Vide Monthly Notices R.A.S. vol. 24, p. 172.)

It was in March 1865, that I first pointed out the fluctuations in this object, through the Melbourne equatorial, to Mr. Ellery at the Observatory, when the star was out of the nebula, and the altered figure of the dark space was filled with 12th magnitude stars, richly coloured as described in Monthly Notices R. A.S., vol. 25, p. 192.

Nothwithstanding this in connection with all other evidence, strong opposing influences have been brought to bear against the movements which have been observed, although it is well known to every astronomer that there is nothing stationary in the universe. The distance of such objects as the nebula about n Argus is in all cases so immensely great, their position in the sky often unfavourable, and convenient times for observing so far apart, that any alteration or physical changes may for centuries remain unknown.

The late Sir William Herschel writes, and is followed by Sir John, thus :-" Gravitation still further condensing and so absorbing the nebulous matter, each in its immediate neighbourhood might ultimately become stars, and the whole nebula finally take on the state of a cluster of stars,' &c.-(VideOutlines of Astronomy," 5th edition, p. 640.) Mr. Proctor considers that an increased or decreased distance in space may account for the

fluctuations.

The present object was observed and faithfully recorded by Sir John Herschel, when stationed at the Cape of Good Hope in the year 1837. It is quite impossible to say what, if any, alterations may have taken place in the nebula before that time; but it is certain that changes have taken place both in the star and in the nebula since 1854, and these fluctuations have been so

great and unusual as to raise a doubt in the mind of Sir John Herschel as to their reality. This opinion, coming from such an authority, has influenced many others, who, notwithstanding all evidence, and without a single observation of their own, have refused to credit these recorded facts. Some also, who have but lately commenced observing, contrary to all scientific rule, ignore all previous observations made by others, in order to make an opening for their own.

To decide certain points of difference which are said to exist between the drawings made by Sir John Herschel, Lieut. Herschel, and myself respectively, referees have been appointed by the Council of the R. A.S. The present paper has relation to the observations made for, and the reply sent to, the referees, in answer to their queries on the points alluded to.

In carefully looking over the drawings taken at Bangalore by Lieut. Herschel, with the object n Argus, 15° above the horizon, and also the reversed copy of Sir J. Herschel's, and on consideration of the discussion given with the drawings, I do not think that Lieut. Herschel's observations tend to disprove any one of the alterations which I have previously communicated to the Society. The present drawing, and the answers given to the referees, will, I think, render this clear.

The present observations have been made with the same instrument as the former ones, the object in the same position approximately 80° above the horizon. The measures were taken with a bar micrometer by Cook and Sons, the bars being carefully traced in pencil on the drawing paper, in such a manner as exactly to fill the field of the telescope. All the stars visible were dotted down, the distances from ʼn of the 6th, 7th, and 8th magnitude stars were lettered, measured, and catalogued from a scale of equal parts, after which the micrometer pencil lines were rubbed out, and the nebula inserted.

The first question put by the referees relates to a comparison of the positions of the principal stars and smaller groups as shown

* Read at a meeting of the Royal Society of Tasmania, 9th May, 1871.

in my two drawings, which are said to have a sufficient general agreement with each other, considered as eye drafts, while they are irreconcilable with both Sir John's and Lieut. Herschel's configurations. A simple inspection of my drawing ot 1870 with the reversed drawing of Sir John Herschel (A. A., plate 4 in the Monthly Notices R.A.S.) will show that the following principal stars hold a relative position considered as eye drafts, but not with the Cape Monograph as expressed in the letter D.D., C.C., (B), (k), B. C., (E.), 522, 558, 640, 337, 383, 415, (7), (λ), &c., &c. There are many other stars in my copy of 1870 that are not laid down in plate 4, pricked off from Lieutenant Herschel's drawing.

66

The other question of note refers to my "having placed within II (on the scale of my drawing of n) five stars of magnitude at least equal to 7, that is, the 7th magnitude, while in Sir J. Herschel's monograph only one star of that magnitude (marked C.) occurs within that distance;" and continues, can you give any elucidation of the cause of the discrepancy? also if you would furnish some instrumental determination of the difference of R. A., and P.D., between ŋ and other stars of equal magni. tudes."

In my acknowledgment of this letter to Mr. William Huggins, F. R.S., &c., I mentioned that it was not my intention or desire to dispute either Sir John's or Lieutenant Herschel's configurations, but to call the attention of the astronomical world to the altered features of both the star and the nebula, with a view of obtaining a solution of the changes seen in this most remarkable object. I further stated that the above question was of a physical nature, and could only be answered as such.

On reference to my former papers, it will be seen that mention is made, more than once, of the fact that the increase of stars of the same magnitude as ʼn renders it difficult to know that star from others, but by its position, and a marked difference in the light.

It is to this cause I have so frequently referred the increase of light, which I think is now clearly confirmed by a comparison of Lieutenant Herschel's description with that of Sir John's. At one of the monthly meetings of the Society, Sir John Herschel considered the increase of light in the object, Cape the nebula could not be seen at all with the naked as recorded, very strange, and remarked, when I was at the eye." Lieutenant Herschel, when at Bangalore, compared the increased light, when the object was only 15° above the horizon, to that of Pleiades in Taurus.

66

Mr. Le Sueur, in his report on the Melbourne reflector, since Sir J. Herschel was at the Cape. The star shines with says "the nebula around Argus has changed largely in shape the light of burning hydrogen," and in his opinion "has consumed the nebula."

At the monthly meeting of the Royal Society of Victoria, held on the 13th of March, 1871, Mr. Fairlie McGeorge, who has now charge of the reflecting telescope at the Melbourne Observatory, read a paper in which he referred to some observations made with that instrument on the star 7 Argus, and the nebula; and stated that the object had evidently undergone great changes since Mr. Le Sueur made his sketches of it. It was now beyond a doubt that enormous physical changes were still taking place.” The catalogue accompanying my present drawing, made for the referees, and laid on the table, will show that there are now in four 8th, and nine of the 8 magnitude, and it is literally crowded the same field two stars of the 6th, two 6, three 7th, four 74, with others of from the 8 to the 12th magnitude. Those lying outside the field and occupying an area of about 14°, have their The small cluster I take to be Sir J. magnitudes attached Herschel's 3276, described as "a fine, bright, rich, not very large cluster," if so it is now a beautiful cluster of richly-coloured stars, quite equal to x Crucis.

It is almost impossible to define the boundary of the nebula, in outline as formerly. as it appears to be gradually fading away, and is not so distinct

The finest nights have always been selected for observing, and no delineation of the object has ever been given, but what was an accurate representation of its appearance through the telescope. The following is an extract from a letter addressed by Mr. Severn, of Melbourne, to the Astronomer Royal, and printed in the Monthly Notices, Royal Astronomical Society, for April, 1870-"I may say that I cannot confirm the new position given ton Argus in respect to the nebula. I have watched it for fourteen years, and it is just where it was; of course much less brilliant."

A letter dated 21st June in the same year which I received

from Mr. Severn contains the following passage :-"My present motive is to draw your attention to the injustice done you in the n Argus business; I have of course read all your letters in the Monthly Notices of the R. A. S. on the subject. You must not allow the Spectator, or Mr. Le Sueur, or any other man to deprive you of your discovery; you have at least done, and that years ago, what the 4ft. Cassegranians and Mr. Le Sueur are claiming as their discovery. I can't stand this, and therefore if you don't defend yourself, by writing to our papers, I must. I send you a Leader with my paper in it, also another re n."

On reading these two extracts, which are dated about the same time, it will appear that the writer must have very suddenly changed his mind.

In June 1869 I visited Melbourne for the purpose of seeing the new large reflecting telescope, and must confess to being much surprised on seeing the object ʼn Argus in such a small field with so large an instrument. Mr. Le Sueur thought at the time that he saw a faint shadow of a lemniscate; and what I saw was a dark path across the nebula, not unlike that portion of Eridanus, occupied by 188 and 198 1. C. and not far from the star Achernar. The object was only seen between passing clouds, and although the best speculum was in the instrument at the time, the definition was not good.

In June 1862 I brought before this Society a copy of the drawing made from observations on that beautiful cluster of coloured stars known as κ Crucis, the original drawing, &c., of which was at the time remitted to the Royal Astronomical Society, with notes on the variation of both colour and position when compared as eye drafts, with Sir John Herschel's observations made at the Cape of Good Hope. (Vide Monthly Notices, R. A.S., Vol. 23, p. 32.)

As the instrument used at the Cape was in every respect different from the one used in Hobart Town, and the effect of colour varying, as it does, so much in different persons, I discontinued observing to allow time for other changes to become known, and have now waited nearly nine years, in order to compare the object with the previous drawing by the same optical means. Sir John Herschel estimated this cluster to be formed of from 50 to 100 stars; in the drawing of 1862, a copy of which now lies on the table, there were laid down 75 stars to which the colour of each was given. It is now known that certain alterations have taken place since 1862, but a series of cloudy nights has prevented the possibility of preparing a sequent to the former drawing in time for the present meeting. F. ABBOTT

SCIENTIFIC SERIALS

Transactions of the Manchester Geological Society. Vol. ix., Parts 1, 2, and 3; Vol. x., Part I. We have in these first three parts the President's Address and the papers read before the society during the session 1869-70. The papers are twelve in number, and embrace a variety of topics. Mr. Boyd Dawkins gives an account of some explorations in the Denbighshire caves. In one of these a large quantity of human bones was found intermingled with remains of horse, goat, hare, rabbit, badger, large birds, wolves, wild cats, foxes, and Celtic shorthorns, roe and red deer. He is of opinion that this cave has been used as a burial place at different times in the preRoman era. The skulls found belong to that type which Professor Huxley terms the "river bed skull," and the tibia indicated the platycnemic character or the bandy-leggedness of the people to whom they belonged. There are other three papers on paleontological subjects - "On a Specimen of Homalonotus Delphino-cephalus," by Mr. Edward Holber; "On some Starfishes from the Rhenish Devonian Strata," by Mr. J. Eccles, and "On two Species of Productus," by the same author. To these may be added another by the president, Mr. J. Aitken, "On the Pholasboring Controversy," in which the author concludes, against the notion upheld by Mr. Macintosh, that the holes found in the faces of certain limestone rocks at many different levels, even as high as 1,435 feet above the sea, have been bored by pholades during a period of submergence. He inclines to the belief that the holes have been formed by land molluscs, as originally suggested by Dr. Buckland. There are several papers on physical geology, which will repay perusal. The longest of these is one by Mr. Spencer, " On the Millstone-Grit Rocks" of Halifax, which will be of use as a guide to that locality. The author distinguishes four beds of grit separated by intervening

thick shales. Lists of fossils are given, and these are not so meagre as one might have expected. Mr. J. Curry has a paper "On the Throw of the Pennine Fault," which he thinks is not so great as is commonly believed. Some interesting "Observations on the Temperatures at the Pendleton Colliery," by Mr. J. Knowles, are sure to be frequently referred to. "On some of

the Causes of the Different Modes of Working and Ventilating Coal Mines," by Mr. Warburton, contain some wholesome criticism. He maintains "that the systems of working coal, as at present practised, do not depend upon the nature or condition of either the coal or the roof, but upon the mining education of those who have the management.' Difficulties in the way of ventilation arise from ignorance and from the modes of working often interfering with well-known natural laws. Other papers in Vol. ix. are "On the Use of Gunpowder in Mines," by Mr. Greenwell; "On two Dykes in North Lancashire," by Mr. Eccles; and "Observations on some Specimens of Silver Ore from United States," by Mr. Fletcher. Part 1. of Vol. x. is occupied for the most part with the President's address, inaugurating the session 1870-71. Mr. Aitken treats of our coal supply in its various aspects, and a number of other, chiefly palæontological, topics. The other communications in this part do not call for any special remark. They are three in number, viz., "The Spirorbis Limestone in the Forest of Wyre Coal Field," by D. Jones; "On Faults in Drift," by J. Aitken; and “On_the_Underground Conveyance of Coals,” by G. C. Greenwell. We are glad to see from the report of the Council that the Society is flourishing, and that the number of contributors to the Transactions is increasing.

Verhandlungen der k. k. geologischen Reichsanstalt zu Wien. Nos. 8 and 9 (1871). No. 8 contains the usual short summaries of papers and reports, among which may be mentioned one on the last earthquake and the hotsprings and solfataras at Milo; and another on the Tertiary Land-fauna of Central Italy, by E. Suess. The other papers are more of local interest, but a number of useful analyses of minerals is given. Among the notices of contemporary publications is one of a work by Dr. Prestel, on the Climatal and other Changes which the Coasts of the North Sea have undergone since Glacial Times. In No. 9 will be found a short account of a Coast Survey of the Adriatic Sea. The survey when completed will, it is expected, make the bed of this sea as well known as that of any other which has been explored. The bottom of the south basin of the Adriatic is covered throughout, it would seem, with a yellow sludge or slime, which is brought down by the large rivers of Albania. In this same area a remarkable rocky plateau rises up from the slimy sea-bed, at a depth of from 325 to 370 fathoms to within 100 fathoms of the surface. Some details of other parts of the sea bottom are given. The number contains several other reports, among which we find some account of the Library of the Institute, which would appear to be in a flourishing condition. The usual literary notices and lists of books received conclude the number.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES
LONDON

Royal Microscopical Society, October 4.-Mr. W. Kitchen Parker, F. R.S., President in the chair. The first meeting of the session was held on Wednesday evening. Mr. Parker contributed a valuable paper "On the Development of the Facial Arches of the Embryo Salmon," at the conclusion of which he expressed his opinion that the development of the brain case of the osseous fishes demonstrates that group to be much closer allied to the Sauro. psida, or Birds and Reptiles, than it is to that of the Batrachia, or Frog tribe. Mr. Parker highly eulogised the use of chromic acid as a medium for hardening without distorting the substance of the brain when required for sec ions.-Dr. Spencer Cobbold handed in a report on some preparations of En1ozoa with accom panying notes, forwarded to the Society by Mr. Morris, of Sydney, and made observations on some of the most interesting forms. Of the five species collected by Mr. Morris, Dr. Cobbold stated that by far the grea est amount of importance was to be attached to the discovery in Australia of Stephanurus dentatus. This Entozoan was introduced to the scientific world as early as the year 1834 by Naterer, who found it in large quantities infesting the adipose tissues of a breed of Chinese pigs, on the Rio Negro in Brazil. Up to the year 1870 nothing further was heard of this parasite, when Dr. Cob bold received a communication from Prof. Fletcher, of New

PARIS

Academie des Sciences, September 25.-M. Faye in the chair. M. Dumas, the perpetual secretary, gave many interesting details of a report written by a committee of which he is a member, describing the Phylloxera vastatrix, the pest of the vine. A prize of 400/. was offered for its destruction by the French Government, and will be awarded in 1873. But two candidates have invented means which appear to be good. M. Faucon has suggested putting the whole vine garden under water for two days, which is sufficient to suffocate the insects with injuring the plant itself. When it is impossible to inundate, M. Blanthou suggested to water with a liquid composed of 1,000 parts water and one of impure phenic acid.-M. Fonssagrives has discovered that the mouldiness of Roquefort cheese, which is eaten by French gourmets only in a state of putrefaction, when placed on a piece of bread, developes the Oidium aurantiacum, which may account for the abundant appearance of this pest last summer.-M. Dumas reported upon the results obtained by microscopical selection, as suggested by M. Pasteur and practised by many French silkworm breeders for curing the silkworm plague known as pébrine. The results are magnificent, and the plague may now be considered as almost entirely suppressed. Last year one-tenth of the French silkworm breeders used the method invented by M. Pasteur, and the use of it will be almost universal in the course of a few years.-M. Grimaud of Caux, one of the veteran members of the Parisian scientific press, read a memoir "On the Smoke of Locomotives in the Mont Cenis Tunnel." M. Grimaud finds it to be a great objection, and to require much caution. But such is not the advice of people who are fresh from the tunnel.-M. Philips read a long paper, by a gentleman who does not belong to the Institute, "On the Integration of some Special Differential Linear Equations.' upon the paper, which he finds worthy of much consideration. He commented largely New communications "On the Spectrum Analogies of Simple Bodies "" were also read.

PHILADELPHIA

Academy of Natural Sciences, January 3-Mr. W. M. O. Vaux, vice-president, in the chair. Marsh, of Yale College, exhibited a tooth of a new species of Professor O. C. Lophiodon, from the Miocene of New Jersey, which was the first indication yet discovered of remains of the Tapiride on the Atlantic coast, or of the genus Lophiodon in this country, east of the Rocky Mountain region. The tooth, which was in a perfect state of preservation, was the first true molar of the left upper jaw. It measured across the crown seven lines in antero-posterior diameter, and eight and one-quarter lines in transverse diameter. This would indicate an animal intermediate in size between L. occidentalis and L. modestus of Dr. Leidy. From the latter

[Oct. 12, 1871

species it may readily be distinguished by the enamel of the crown, which is smooth and not wrinkled. As this species is evidently distinct from any described, Prof. Marsh proposed for rently at about the same horizon as the Elotherium Leidyanum, it the name Lophiodon validus. The specimen was found in the miocene marl of Cumberland County, New Jersey, and appaand Rhinoceros matutinus Marsh, from Monmouth County. January 24.-Mr. Vaux, Vice-President, in the chair.-Mr. Thomas Meehan presented a fruit of a pear, which presented the external appearance of an apple, gathered from a tree growing in the garden of Dr. Lawrence, of Paris, Canada, Dr. Lawrence had a Rhode Island greening apple near the pear Tyson pear tree, and some of the latter interlaced with it. many who had seen them supposed there must have been some was full of blossoms last spring, but only those interlacing bore fruit. They had all the appearance of apples, so much so, that The pear tree mistake as to Dr. Lawrence gathering them. ever, when he first saw them, obtained Mrs. Lawrence's aid in Dr. L., had, howseparating the branches, so that there should be no mistake. The specimens had been sent to Mr. Meehan, who regarded them as apples; but on cutting them open, found the seed to be of the pear. The granular matter characteristic of the pulp of the pear shaped, as in the apple, it was campanulate, as if the stem had also existed in the carpels, but none in the pulp, which was wholly fibrous, as in the apple; the insertion of the stalk, also, was that of the pear. Instead of the cavity being funnelbeen pushed in, carrying the epidermis and pulp with it. He had no doubt that the fruit had the pedicel, carpellary walls, and seeds of the pear, with the granular pear-pulp wanting; but with the fibrous pulp and epiderm of the apple. As to the law of its production, he disliked speculation, but it would seem influence, which plants at times exhibited, or by crossthat there were two ways in which it might be producedeither by a natural evolution of form, independent of sexual fertilisation with the apple. In the latter case, if found true, it impregnated, or whether change only appeared after the germiwould have an important bearing on the question often mooted, whether cross-fertilisation effected change immediately in the fruit generally believed some cucurbitaceous plants furni-hed similar netion of the impregnated seeds. facts; but he thought it had not been known in other plants, Indian corn, we know the change is immediate; and it was In the case of varieties of especially in the case of species as distinct as the apple and pear.

BOOKS RECEIVED

CONTENTS

Newspaper Science.-DAVID FORBES, F.R.S.
Cyclone in the West Indies. -Rev. Canon KINGSLEY

On the Solution of a certain Geometrical Problem.-RICHARD A.
PROCTOR, F. R.A.S..

Prof. Newcomb and Mr. Stone.-W. T. LYNN, F.R.A.S. Note on the Cycloid -RICHARD A. PROCTOR, F. R.A.S.

A Plane's?-J. K. LAUGHTON

Is B'ue a Primary Colour?-JOHN AITKEN. Anthropology and M. Comte.-J. KAINES.

465

465

465

Meteorological Phenomenon.-JOSEPH JOHN MURPHY, Lunar Rainbow

468

469

473

475

476

478

479

479