hand. The writer lived, not before, but after Dionysius Exiguus, in the sixth century, whom he copies. His manuscript, therefore, could not have been written "shortly after the termination of the fourth council." It is not "the oldest manuscript of the oldest collection of canons in Latin known." The collection to which it be longs is not the oldest known, it is not even the oldest but one.

I called it a mistake to talk of the Prisca Versio of the Sardican canons. Mr. Ffoulkes says that the fact of their being included in the Prisca Versio rather indicates that, as they stand there, they were translated like the rest in this volume by its author from a Greek version." The whole of this rests upon exploded error. They are not included in the Prisca Versio. The rest of the volume was not translated by its author from a Greek version. It has been proved to demonstra

two more ancient texts.

tion that the so-called Prisca Versio of the Nicene decrees is no version at all, but a compilation from One of these texts is the version sent by Atticus of Constantinople to the African church, and the other is an extremely ancient version, contained in the Codex Teatinus -the same MS. to which Mr. Ffoulkes alludes at p. 142 of his article, under its designation as MS. Vatican, Reg. 1997. It is not wonderful that he sees a likeness in its text to what, after De Marca, Justel, and Ballerini, he calls the Prisca, but he reads the likeness the wrong way. It is the parent, not the offspring of the Bodleian text, as far as regards the Nicene decrees. Its text is exactly the same as that of the Bodleian as regards the decrees of Ancyra, Gangra, &c., but not of Sardica. In this Codex Teatinus, the Sardican decrees immediately follow the Nicene, "in consecutive numbers," and without being distinguished from them in any way. The last Sardican canon is followed by the catalogue of the Nicene bishops, and this by the final clause Explicit concilium Nicaenum. Of the four different recensions which are known of the Sardican deerees that contained in the Codex Teatinus appears to have been that upon which the Commonitorium of Pope Zosimus was based. The present MS., of course, is more recent than the time of Zosimus, but the recension is demonstrably much more ancient than the MS., because it has been made use of by Gaulish collections of great antiquity. This is not the only collection in which the Sardican canons immediately follow the Nicene, either "consequentibus numeris," or without any numbering. There is actual proof of the existence of such a method in every collection which can be traced to an earlier time than Dionysius Exiguus, and this is in perfect harmony with the fact that even the most learned Latin writers of the fifth century like St. Jerome, knew the Sardican decrees only under the name of Nicene.

This

Mr. Ffoulkes, at p. 142 of his article, is shocked at the omission of the last Nicene canon. canon is omitted in a large number of Latin versions perfectly independent of each other. It must, therefore, have been omitted in the Greek copy or copies from which these versions were made.

Mr. Ffoulkes says that he is aware of the copies of the Bibliotheca Juris Canonici possessed by the Bodleian Library, and of the one to which I refer in particular. "But this copy contains more than Dr. Maassen gives it credit for containing, and thereby disposes of his conclusions." Will Mr. Ffoulkes excuse me for saying that this is no sufficient reply to my objection. He must be more explicit. I assert that De Marca's intervention consisted in compelling the editors of the Bibliotheca against their will to insert the Sardican fragments, not, as he suggests, to suppress a portion of them. It is known that the edition was already

fectly visible. In the unique copy of the Bodleian the Sardican decrees are suppressed. In every other copy certain Sardican fragments are inserted, and the room for them is obtained by printing the names of the Nicene bishops in small type and in three columns. Does Mr. Ffoulkes mean to deny that the Bodleian copy represents the older and suppressed edition? How does he account for the difference between the copies? I do not know what he means when he says "this copy contains more than Dr. Maassen gives it credit for containing." It probably contains the prefaces of the revised edition; Maassen's observations and mine only refer to the contents of the leaves which have been altered. The old leaves may have accidentally been bound with the revised volume.

"There is not a particle of reason," I have said, "for doubting the strict accuracy of Baluze's narrative." There is surely no inconsistency in my speaking "in the same breath" of "a mistake of Baluze, who confounds the MS. now in the Bodleian with another MS. of C. Justel." This mistake is no part of the narrative beginning with the words, "When those very distinguished men, W. Voel," &c. What Mr. Ffoulkes calls "repeating the fiction of consecutive numbers" is not to be explained by supposing that Baluze took De Marca's account of the MS. upon trust, and did not see it, otherwise we should have to believe that he never saw the printed copy, which disproves the "consecutive numbers" quite as effectively as the manuscript itself.

My denial of the identity between the Bodleian MS. and that described by De Marca is no "theory of my own," propounded for the purpose of invalidating certain reasons of Mr. Ffoulkes. The characteristics of the two MSS. are completely different, and this is a sufficient reason for denying their identity. One represents a higher degree of antiquity than the other. Where the MS. described by De Marca can be found I cannot say, for the elder Justel's rich collection of MSS. was dispersed, and some of them may be lost. But others like that in question are perfectly well known. In the "Freisingen fragment," for instance (which is found in two MSS.), Incipit Nicenum Concilium is followed by Nicene and Sardican canons "consequentibus numeris, sub antiquo titulo," without any mention of Sardica.

How many Sardican canons were included in this

collection I cannot say, but the Freisingen MS. which contains the fragment I have just mentioned also gives a collection which contains "canones unum et viginti concilii Sardicensis duobus capitibus in unum compactis." And it is not the only one.

I conclude, like Mr. Ffoulkes, with a reference to the assertion, sanctioned by De Marca, that the

missing leaves of the MS. "vetustate perierunt." I deny that this is "absolutely false on his own showing." Mr. Ffoulkes has not refuted my suggestion that the MS. may have been imperfect long before it came into Justel's possession, and that De Marca's assertion that Justel cut away the Sardican canons is as easily understood of fragments as of the entire text. "On his own showing," what had been cut away was actually restored to its place. You must explain one portion of his words by another, unless there is a contradiction between them. And there really is

8 p.m. Royal Albert Hall: Ballad Concert (Sims Reeves, Wilhelmj).

5 p.m. London Institution: Professor

Ferrier, II.

8 p.m. Medical.

PLATTS' HINDŪSTĀNĪ GRAMMAR.

A Grammar of the Hindustani or Urdu Language. By John T. Platts. (London: W. H. Allen & Co., 1874.)

FEW languages have more claims upon our consideration than the Urdú, or, as it is more commonly called, the Hindústání. Its political importance as the lingua franca of the whole of our Indian Empire, as well as the mother-tongue of the greater part of the Mohammedan inhabitants of the NorthWestern Provinces, cannot be over estimated, while to the philologist it presents many most interesting points for investigation. It was long the fashion to speak slightingly of the "jargon of the Moors," as a previous generation of Anglo-Indians termed it, and the eminent De Sacy himself is credited with having spoken of it as "cet idiome méprisable," although his pupil, M. Garcin de Tassy, the well-known author of the Histoire de la Littérature Hindoustanie, has vindicated his master's reputation from the suspicion of such a blunder.

very

A composite language Hindústání unstance that it owes its copious vocabulary doubtedly is, but it is to this circumand vast power of expression. Like English in this respect, it borrows words and idioms freely from languages belonging to distinct families, and this naturally makes it difficult here and there to account satisfactorily for a form or construction; but, as Mr. Platts says, "there is little in the structure of Urdu of the loose and arbitrary character which some recent writers on the grammar have attributed to it."

Maassen, who certainly never foresaw this con

note. See also p. 55.)

mous extent, and as it consists chiefly of

translations or imitations from English or Persian, it is peculiarly interesting as a point where Eastern and Western ideas can meet upon common ground. M. Garcin de Tassy has done ample justice to this development of the literature of the language both in his Histoire (above alluded to), and in his annual discourses at the Ecole Spéciale des Langues Orientales Vivantes, which contain a complete record of its progress from year to year; but until the appearance of the present work, nothing like a scholarly or exhaustive treatise has ever been attempted to be written upon the language itself.

The older grammars of Gilchrist and others were merely the first attempts to bring order out of chaos. Forbes's grammar (like most of the lamented Doctor's works) was sadly deficient in scholarship and research; the more recent grammars of Monier Williams and Professor Dowson approach much nearer to the modern standard of excellence; but Mr. Platts is the first who appears to have thought of teaching the language rather by an analytical investigation of its structure than by a synthetical

Comparative philology and comparative grammar are no doubt interesting for their own sake; but a science without practical application would attract but few votaries, and the legitimate use of the sciences just mentioned is surely that of facilitating the acquisition of languages.

As Urdú has materially altered during the last few years, the author has done well in selecting his examples from modern works and newspapers, as well as from the old standard books, the style of which is often obsolete. Indeed, it was impossible for such works as the Bagh Bahar and the like to maintain the position of classics which it was sought to thrust upon them; in the first place, the books were mere translations; and in the second place, the language itself is in too transitional a state to have a standard classical style at all at present.

The article on the derivation of the numerals (p. 49) is a very useful one, and brings into order what appears at the first glance to be hopeless confusion. Without some such intelligent analysis to guide him, it is exceedingly difficult for a beginner, even with a good memory, to use the Urdú numerals with anything like facility. The nicely lithographed table of the rakm, or numerical ciphers used by the Indian accountants, is also an acquisition to the learner; here, again, the memory is greatly assisted by the fact being pointed out that these apparently arbitrary signs are in reality abbreviations of the Arabic words for the numerals which they represent.

In the account of the pronouns Mr. Platts is quite right in putting un ne as a singular form, but I doubt whether there is any good authority for its use in the plural without some word intervening between the pronoun and the post-position. The formative unhon would, I believe, be always used with such post-position. Major Ottley was the first to point out that un ne was a euphonic change for us ne, and not, as all previous grammars asserted, a plural form.

Another correction in the present work is giving yih and wuh as alternative plural forms for ye and we; but this, perhaps, is rather a change introduced by modern usage than the correction of an error.

There is room for improvement in the explanation given of the function of the agent in ne with the past indefinite tense of a verb. No doubt this peculiar construction was originally passive, and represented the Sanskrit instrumental case with the passive verb. But, in Urdú at least, it has long ceased to retain a passive signification; the particle ne has become the true sign of the agent, while the very fact that it can only be used with the past tense of a transitive verb proves that the construction is now essentially an active one. Mr. Platts (p. 141) translates the words rājā-ne shernī mārī, "by the king a tigress was killed;" but if we follow out the analogy of this translation, we shall meet with constant anomalies and exceptional constructions. The literal rendering would rather be the king (agent) tigress-killed, where the action and the subject thereof are considered together as in our own phrase tiger-killing. If the action of killing be predicated of the agent, and the object on which such action falls be separately and subsequently considered, the verb instead of being made to agree in number and gender with a subject, is used in the simple uninflected form, and the object is expressed by the use of the proper objective case; e.g., rājā-ne sherni-ko mārā.

Mr. Platts deserves much praise. I do not know any other writer who appears more thoroughly to have grasped the nature of this construction. In most Aryan languages the words for to be and to go have a great tendency to interchange, and the word jānā is no exception to the rule; thus it is that verbs construed with this auxiliary may very often be rendered by a passive, but very useful is the warning (p. 372) against mistaking such expressions as mujh-se dekhā nahīn jātā, "I cannot bear to see it," for passives, as most of the previous grammars do. Pp. 61-113 are occupied with a dissertation on Persian and Arabic constructions which occur in Urdú; this part of the work is concise, though sufficiently full; but its value would have been much enhanced by tabulating the forms to a greater extent than has been done. This remark applies especially to the Arabic forms, particularly the broken plurals; these when discussed in separate paragraphs are quite formidable enough to frighten most beginners, but when the principle of their formation is explained, and the whole are presented in a tabulated form, they are as simple as the paradigm of an ordinary verb. In a work of the kind it was scarcely possible to avoid misprints, and we have reason for knowing that most of those which are not already corrected in the table of errata have been detected with a view to correction in a second edition. But there are a few errors of orthography for which the author himself is responsible, which should also be rectified; thus minkär forä minkär with the error per

petuated in the transliteration is a bad mistake; but much worse is the retention of the absurd letter to represent the Arabic by those who designed the old fashion types alif maksurah. This letter was invented

first used in India. But it is founded upon

an entire misconception, the upright alij belonging not to the ya but to the previous letter of the word.

ی

Whatever may be the etymological history of the construction, it is certain that the above is practically the principle on which it is employed, and that attention to the A very considerable saving of time and space distinction between the subjective and ob- might have been attained had the author given jective cases will prevent many misconcep- more attention to the principles of euphonic tions upon a rather puzzling set of idioms. change and less to the detailed account of I must add that by subject, I mean the thing forms. Following the example of older gramin connection with, or by reason of which marians, European as well as Oriental, he the action takes place as distinguished gives long lists of irregular forms (as the alike from the agent or the mere nominative. causal verbs, p. 161); whereas, if the leadHalf the difficulties in explaining Oriental ing euphonic principles which modify the idioms arise from the assumption that the pronunciation of certain words were satis rules and terminology of European gram-factorily explained, there would be no need matical systems apply to, or are identical to set down such a thing as an irregular with, those of the Oriental systems. To verb as existing. ensure accuracy we must investigate, if not indeed follow, the system by which natives are guided in their estimate of the correctness of an idiom, and we must be very careful that in translating its terminology we do not make use of terms borrowed from our own system, and possessing technical significations which really mislead. For this reason it would be well, if in future grammatical works on Oriental languages the use of such terms as nominative, accusative, adjective, &c., were discarded in favour of some more precise and less technical terms.

For the paragraph on the passive voice

Much remains yet to be done for Urdú grammar in spite of the present voluminous treatise; but Mr. Platts may at least lay claim to being the first who has attempted a really scientific account of the principles of the structure of the language. Such being the case, we could scarcely hope to find the material very carefully arranged; and, indeed, the worst fault of the book is a little want of method and symmetry, especially in the tabulation of forms and the arrange ment of syntactic rules. For all that, I have no hesitation in saying that Mr. Platt's Grammar of the Hindustani or Urdu Lan

guage is the best that has hitherto appeared, and as such I would cordially recommend it both to beginners and more advanced students. E. H. PALMER.

SCIENCE NOTES.

METEOROLOGY.

Weather Study in the United States. - The veteran Professor Loomis-whose paper, published in 1859, "On certain Storms in Europe and America," was one of the most suggestive of the early memoirs which laid the foundation of what is well called modern meteorology-has submitted the Signal Service weather maps for 1872-73 to a careful discussion, and has published the results in a condensed form in Ŝilliman's Journal for July, 1874, and January, 1875. He picked out all the instances in which a clearly-defined area of either low or high pressure was traceable within the region covered by the telegraphic system, and studied them on a uniform plan.

As regards the former class, the storm areas, he finds their mean direction of motion in the twenty-four hours to be N. 82° E. and the mean velocity 25-6 miles per hour; but this average result gives but little idea of the true motion of the storm from day to day, as the centres take every possible direction, and the hourly rate of progress varies from fifteen miles to the westward to sixty miles to the eastward.

Professor Loomis is of opinion that the direction of advance of the storm is regulated by the position of the rain-area which surrounds it, and which is, on the whole, asymmetrically disposed around it, spreading out most on the eastern side.

The mean velocity of the wind is greatest (ten

being in Dutch, has rendered them less useful to the general public than they deserved. M. Estourgies therefore has done good service to the science by publishing a French translation of Buys Ballot's paper "On the Currents of the Sea and the Atmosphere," which was issued in 1855, but whose contents, although well worth attention, have been hitherto almost unknown to meteorologists out of Holland.

issued a small pamphlet of 17 pp., Programme THE Geographical Society of Paris has recently d'Instructions aux Navigateurs pour l'Etude de la Géographie Physique de la Mer, which has been drawn up by a committee of five of its members. It is impossible, as the manual embraces such a wide scope of enquiry, that in such brief compass it should give more than scanty notes, and the portion relating to meteorology only occupies a page and a half.

Additional Meteorological Returns for the United Kingdom.-We learn from the address of the President of the Meteorological Society, read at their anniversary meeting on the 20th ult., that arrangements have been concluded between that Society and the Meteorological Office, in virtue of which the Society will, in return for an annual allowance, furnish returns from certain stations recently organized by it, to be published by the Office, in combination with certain returns received by the latter directly, as supplementary to the results already printed for its seven observatories. It is of importance to see that some of these supplementary stations are in Ireland, from which country the meteorological information hitherto published has been of the most scanty description. Effect of Rainfall on the Barometer.-In the first number of the Austrian Journal for Meteoro

possibility of certain deductions from it as to the presence, e.g., of hydrogen in considerable quantity in the upper strata of the atmosphere.

GEOLOGY.

Ir is rumoured that the Geological Society's Wollaston medal will this year be presented to Professor de Koninck, of Liége; and that the Murchison medal will probably be awarded to Mr. W. Jory Henwood, of Penzance.

DURING the past month the Geological Society has issued a thick supplementary number of its Quarterly Journal, containing no fewer than seventeen original papers. The necessity for publishing this special part, and the high character of many of the papers which it contains, are sufficient proof of the healthy activity of this Society. In the opening paper Mr. Allport, of Birmingham, gives the result of his researches "On the Microscopic Structure and Composition of British Carboniferous Dolerites." Having prepared and studied a collection of 230 sections of these rocks, he is able to assert that it is impossible to establish any mineralogical or structural difference between the augitic eruptive rocks of Palaeozoic age and those of Tertiary date. It has hitherto been the fashion among petrologists in naming a given rock to allow some weight to its geological position: while, for example, a certain volcanic rock of Tertiary age is called basalt, a similar rock of Palaeozoic age is termed melaphyre. Mr. Allport argues with much justice that the mineralogical constitution of eruptive rocks, and not their geological position, should rule their nomenclature. He protests, too, against the practice of naming a rock according to its texture, since one and the same rock may exhibit mass; thus, petrologists are in the habit of applying to a certain rock the various names of basalt, anamesite or dolerite, according as its texture is compact, fine-grained, or coarsely-crystalline, although it is possible to collect samples of all these varieties in a single quarry. On these and other grounds Mr. Allport proposes to discontinue the use of the terms melaphyre, aphanite, anamesite, diabase, and greenstone; and to group together all these basic eruptive rocks under the generic haps, less abuse than most of those terms which name of dolerite-a name which has suffered, perit is intended to supplant.

creases gradually through the southern and eastern to a minimum (of 7.6 miles per hour) in the northern.

The stronger the wind in the west quadrant the less is the speed of the storm's progress, and, conversely, an increase in the velocity of the wind in the east quadrant accelerates the advance of the storm. The rate of advance is also shown to bear a sort of proportion to the rate of rise of the barometer in the rear of the storm; in fact, Professor Loomis thinks that, being given a weathering

map showing the position of a storm centre for a certain hour, it seems possible to predict where the centre will be at the end of twenty-four hours; but

he admits that numerous and striking exceptions are found when we attempt to apply these rules to particular cases.

The second paper refers to areas of high barometer, and as to the direction of the wind it is shown that this is nearly directly opposite in each quadrant to what prevails in the case of areas of low pressure, and in both cases is almost exactly midway between a tangential and a radial movement. Inasmuch as in the instances of a high barometer the drain of air flowing out must be supplied from above, it is evident that the intense cold prevailing in anticyclones is due to the descent of air from the upper strata of the atmosphere, and this is abundantly shown by the instances cited in the paper.

In conclusion the Professor seeks to establish a relation between the velocity of the wind and the distance between the isobars, but finds the discrepancies between the results very great. This he truly attributes to the difficulty of ascertaining the correct velocity of the wind on land.

The whole investigation, though it does not lead to any very decided conclusions, shows us what advantages the American meteorologists enjoy over the European in their facilities for studying weather over an extended land area, as compared with the sea-indented western coasts of the Old Continent.

Atmospheric Circulation.-It has long been a matter of regret that the fact of the publications of the Royal Meteorological Institute of Holland

Hann's reasoning on this subject, which was noticed in the ACADEMY for January 2. He points out that while he fully accepts the conclusion that a heavy rainfall can only be due to an ascending current of air, he disputes the assertion that the barometer rises as the rain falls, inasmuch as the heaviest, or, at least, the most persistent rain occurs in the front of an advancing cyclone, where naturally the barometer is falling: Dr. Hann, the accuracy of the facts cited by Hoffmeyer, in the same number, rejoins that, without disputthe reasoning does not render untenable the position which he himself has taken up-that the rainfall is not the cause of the fall of the barometer. He shows that the distribution of rain in the windrose bears no relation to that of barometrical pressure, the maximum fall and the minimum pressure falling on different points of the wind.

Aqueous Vapour in the Atmosphere.-In the number of the Austrian Journal for Meteorology for January 15, Dr. Hildebrandsson, of Upsala, gives an account of some experiments conducted by himself and Professor Rosén, which have hitherto only been noticed in the Swedish journals. We have only space to give his conclusions, which are as follows:

1. The permanent gases in the atmosphere do not form independent atmospheres, but have effected a complete mutual interpenetration, as all experiments show that the constitution of the air is the same at all heights.

2. The incessant evaporation and condensation which are in progress render impossible the existence of an independent vapour atmosphere, or of a homogeneous mixture of the vapour with the permanent gases, and must cause the vapour to diminish rapidly with height.

3. It is not allowable to subtract the vapourpressure from the barometer reading to obtain the pressure of dry air.

For the experiments and reasoning by which these conclusions, already held by many physicists, have been attained, we must refer to the paper, which is followed by some interesting observations by Dr. Hann on Dalton's law, and the theoretical

Among the other papers in this number of the Geological Society's Journal, we may especially refer to Mr. G. W. Stow's "Geological Notes on Griqualand West." The observations recorded in these notes were made in 1872, during an official tour of inspection of the new territory. Much of the interest of this paper lies in the fact that it tends to throw light upon the geological structure of the great area of Olive Shales, which form so marked a feature in the South African diamond-fields. The rock-specimens collected during the tour have been described by Professor Rupert Jones.

SOME "Geological Notes" on the Noursoak Peninsula, Disco Island, and the country in the vicinity of Disco Bay, North Greenland, have been laid before the Geological Society of Glasgow by Dr. Robert Brown, of Campsie, and are printed in a recent number of the Society's Transactions. These valuable notes record the results of a voyage specially undertaken to explore the Miocene beds of the Waigat Strait, but as this expedition was undertaken as far back as 1867, it is curious that the notes have not been published earlier. It appears that it was mainly upon specimens collected by Dr. Brown during this exploration that Professor Heer founded his conclusions on the Arctic Miocene flora enunciated in his memoir in the Philosophical Transactions of 1869. As a consequence of the delay in publishing Dr. Brown's Report, we find that much of his matter has been anticipated by the researches of subsequent explorers, and it is therefore unnecessary to analyse the present com

AN illustrated lecture on "The Geology of the Clyde Valley," by Professor John Young, of Glasgow, has recently been published. This lecture was delivered last November at the opening of a ladies' class, which, since 1868, has met annually under some of the Professors of the Glasgow University. The present lecture, which gives a masterly sketch of the geological structuregian of the country around Glasgow, was introductory to a course on the general Principles of Geology.

IT is generally supposed that the pterodactyls, or flying reptiles, must have possessed an integumentary expansion supported by the ulnar digits of the anterior extremities, and more or less resembling the patagium of a bat. Dr. T. C. Winkler, of the Teyler Museum at Haarlem, believes that he has found traces of the former presence of such a membrane in a specimen of Pterodactylus Kochi (Wagn.) recently acquired by this institution. The skeleton of this pterodactyl lies on a slab of fine-grained lithographic limestone from Bavaria. The stone is tinted brown by means of hydrous peroxide of iron, and it is notable that, where this colouring-matter has met with any obstacle, its diffusion has been prevented, and it has consequently accumulated locally, thus giving a more pronounced tint to certain parts of the stone than to others. In this way the several bones are surrounded by a brown margin, while between the bones of the anterior limbs are a number of brown bands, which, Dr. Winkler suggests, may have been caused by a plicated membrane having arrested the diffused colouring-oxide, and thus determined its local deposition. It may be remarked that the Teyler Museum is fortunate in also possessing the celebrated specimen of Pterodactylus crassipes, described by Hermann von Meyer, which is said to be the only known example of a pterodactyl showing anything approaching to the structure of an integumentary expansion. Dr. Winkler's memoir on the new specimen has appeared in the Archives du Musée Teyler.

IN the February number of the Annals and Magazine of Natural History, Professor Nicholson describes and figures a small group of Lower Silurian fossils from Ohio, including two new species of Alecto, described as A. auloporoides and A. confusa. The same naturalist has contributed to a recent number of the Geological Magazine descriptions of several new species and one new genus of Polyzoa from the Palaeozoic rocks of North America. The new genus, which has received the name of Heterodictya, closely resembles the genus Ptilodictya, from which it differs in the very anomalous feature that its cells are regularly tabulate, a feature of interest, since it serves to establish a connecting link between the Polyzoa and the Tabulate Corals. Heterodictya is at present represented by only a single species, H. gigantea, from the Carboniferous Limestone of Ontario.

THE last part of the Nouveaux Mémoires of the Imperial Society of Naturalists of Moscow is devoted to two geological memoirs by Professor H. Trautschold, of Moscow. One of these is a

critical examination of the fossil-fish from the Upper Devonian rocks of Malowka, in the government of Toula. The second memoir describes the quarries of carboniferous limestone at Mjatschktowa, near Moscow.

To the last number of the Bulletin of the same society, Herr H. Abich contributes some interesting "Geologische Beobachtungen auf Reisen im Kaukasus im Jahre 1873." The first journey, commenced in May of that year, was directed to localities on the south side of the Kaukasus, and

The Ecstatic Louise Lateau.-We find in the Revue Scientifique, January 23, 1875, a report of Professor Virchow's address to the Association of German Naturalists and Physicians, assembled at Breslau, on the subject of miracles, with special reference to the case of Louise Lateau, the Belgirl, whose ecstacies and exhibitions of the stigmata have excited much attention for several years. In 1870 M. Hartsen, a Dutch physician, sent to Professor Virchow a publication by M. Lefebvre, entitled Louise Lateau, sa Vie, ses Extases, ses Stigmates, which greatly astonished him; but he took no notice of the matter until Professor Rohling, of the Academy of Münster, thought proper to issue a pamphlet entitled, Louise Lateau, la Stigmatisée de Bois d'Haine, d'après des Documents Médicaux et Théologiques authentiques, à l'usage des Juifs et des Chrétiens de toutes les Confessions. This pamphlet has gone through nine editions, and it is said that 50,000 copies have been distributed among the public. It treats the appearances as miracles that confirm the Roman Catholic faith, and affirms that all Protestants who read it may that God the Father calls upon them to reenter the bosom of the Church." The like invi

see

66

tation is addressed to Jews.

Professor Virchow was invited to go and see Louise Lateau, which he refused to do, but offered to examine her case thoroughly if she was removed from her home and placed under his care. He said that his long experience in attending prisoners who feigned all sorts of disorders had acquainted him with the difficulties of discovering their frauds and convinced him how useless it was to make such an endeavour when all the conditions were regulated by other persons.

IIe pronounced the whole affair "a very gross imposture," for which he gave many reasons. According to MM. Rohling and Lefebvre, on Friday, rarely on Thursday, a blister (ampoule) began to form on the girl's hands and feet, raising the skin. During the night of Friday this blister is completely developed, two and a half centimètres long, and one and a half wide; the adjacent skin is neither swollen nor reddened; the blister then splits and pours out its fluid clear and transparent; at the same time blood flows from the skin, without the best magnifying glasses permitting any lesion of the epidermis to be

seen.

The epidermis opens by a longitudinal slit, sometimes cruciform, sometimes triangular. Had the matter stopped here, he might, he said, have thought it worth while to undertake a journey to the spot; but "hardened by success, the miracle assumed such a development and such an aspect as to render such a step quite useless." Louise had fits of great excitement, and then passed into states of complete insensibility, even to powerful electric shocks, though some doubted it. In this condition she had visions, and only kept up communication with the outer world through a special ecclesiastical influence. Since the day of the Seven Sorrows of Mary, March 30, 1871, she is reported to have taken no food except spoonfuls of water a week, and this abstinence one consecrated wafer (hostie) a day, and a few of more than three years has not prevented her from enjoying good health.

The authority of M. Schwann having been cited in confirmation of these allegations, Profes

sor Virchow called upon him for explanations, which he gave, as we shall see presently. When Louise is in the state of insensibility to electric shocks," she is very sensitive to the influence of superior ecclesiastics, but only to those regularly constituted, that is to say, the curé, the bishop

his immediate chief, and the archbishop. They alone can excite the miracle. All other bishops and strange priests are powerless, but her own bishop, of Tournay, can temporarily transmit his power to another person, and permit him to exercise it. One day, MM. Lefebvre, Schwann, and the bishop went together to Bois d'Haine. The bishop transferred his power to Schwann, who called to the girl, who was lying on the ground, 'Do you hear me?' upon which she raised her head to listen. He then ordered her to get up, which she did. The bishop in his turn commanded her to sit down, which she immediately obeyed."

Dr. Schwann's reply to Professor Virchow, dated Liége, September 25, 1874, states that "his name has been abused, and that the words atadmitted in the fifth edition of his pamphlet. He tributed to him are entirely false," as Dr. Rohling adds that "the conditions indispensable to a scientific examination of the phenomena at Bois d'Haine were in nowise fulfilled," and that he only "assisted as a spectator on the express condition of preserving his incognito." Dr. Rohling throws Looy, from whose pamphlet, he says, he borrowed the blame of this misrepresentation on M. van

it. The Professor adds "that it remains to be proved that Louise Lateau is not a cheat; and that

her examiners are honest men and friends of truth." Alluding to the ecclesiastics and their abettors, he exclaims" and it was in such society that I was to undertake the investigation!"

M. DE VOGUE, French Ambassador at Constantinople, has recently made a communication to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, of which he is himself a member, on a Phoenician inscription found at Byblos, the biblical Gebal. It contains fifteen lines, the sixth and the seventh of which are much damaged on the right-hand side, and many letters in other parts of the inscription are scarcely to be recognised. We are informed by M. J. Dérenbourg that the bas-relief represents the goddess Baaltis, in the shape and with the emblems of the Egyptian Isis, the King Yehu melekh in a Persian costume facing her, and offering her a cup which he holds in his hand. Since we know that the Kings of Gebal are represented in Greek costume on other bas-reliefs, we may date the present inscription from the Persian time. As far as we are informed, the inscription does not contain historical facts, but important contributions to Phoenician grammar and lexicography, which we shall enumerate, partly according to the kind communication of M. Dérenbourg. 1. The pronoun and in the inscription, such being a composition of the Hebrew

of and the Aramaic and of 7 and 17. 2. The occurring for the first time in Phoeni cian inscriptions as the possessive pronoun of the 3. n," to live," for , root which we find in the name of Hava (Eve), and probably in the avo in the Poenulus of Plautus. The root , in the sense of carving, and

person.

with the meaning of "grandson." WE are delighted to see the first Sanskrit text printed at Leyden. It is the manual of Astronomy ascribed to Aryabhata, with the commentary Bhatadipika by Paramadisvara (Trübner & Co.). The date of Aryabhata, or rather of his manual, is 499 A.D. The book is edited by Dr. Kern, one of the best living Sanskrit scholars, well-known by his excellent edition and translation of Varihamihira's Brihatsanhitā. The MS. materials commentary, one belonging to Dr. Burnell, the were scanty: two Malayalim MSS. of text and other to the Royal Asiatic Society, London; and another MS. of the text only, No. 60 of the Whish collection, likewise in the library of the Royal Asiatic Society. There is another commentary, the Bhataprakasa, by Suryadeva. Copies of it exist in the Mackenzie and in Dr. Burnell's collections. Two MSS. in the library of Trinity College. Cambridge, contain an abstract of Suryadeva s work, but these MSS. are so specimens given in the Catalogue

corrupt, and the

so full of mis

takes, that Dr. Kern's extracts, taken from a better MS., will be read with great interest by all Sanskrit scholars. We are sorry that Dr. Kern should not have given a translation of both the text and commentary. There is no scholar better qualified for such a work, and it would have given him but little trouble. On page vii. Dr. Kern places a sign of exclamation after siksha, the doctrine of metres, instead of siksha. The spelling is, no doubt, strange in a modern author, but it is the old spelling of the word. (See Max Müller's History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature, 2nd ed., p. 113.)

PROFESSOR HILGENFELD, of Jena, has just published a large volume of 828 pages, which will be found indispensable by all critical students of theology. It is an Historico-Critical Introduction to the New Testament, and is published by Fues of Leipzig. Fulness of information, originality of treatment, and conscientiousness in registering the phases of critical opinion, seem to place this work at the head of all extant introductions to the "higher criticism" of the New Testament. It is excellently arranged; Part I. containing "The Canon and its Criticism," Part II. "(Introduction to) the Separate Books," Part III. "The History of the New Testament Text." It is nothing less than dry, but presupposes, of course, an acceptance of a method of Biblical criticism which has made greater progress in Germany than in England.

THE Jahrbücher published by the members of the theological faculty at Jena have opened their career in a way which justifies the best hopes of their success. They are not intended in the interests of sect or party, but of free enquiry. And the subjects discussed are of the most modern description. No less than four articles are devoted to the new question of the origin of religion, and especially the Hebrew religion, regarded from various sides. Thus Holtzmann opens the number by describing the lines in which modern theology will have to move, or rather is beginning to move. It must abandon its isolated position, and investigate elementary questions, like the origin of religion, in an historical spirit. High praise is awarded to Albrecht Ritschl's great work on the Doctrine of Justification, as throwing much light on this subject. A few pages are also devoted to Hartmann the philosopher and Strauss. Nitzsch estimates the historical significance of the Aufklärungstheologie, the form presented by rationalism in the second half of the last century-an interesting essay, which is well supplemented by Lipsius' conscientious and thorough examination of Schleiermacher's famous Reden über die Religion. Pfleiderer discusses the subject only touched upon in the opening essay, viz., the beginning and development of religion. It is chiefly taken up with a criticism of the theory of Fritz Schultze, that religion originates in fetishism. Schrader gives a popular summary of the remarkable parallels between the Israelitish and Mesopotamian religion and civilization. His researches have led him to believe that the outward form of parallelism, the notion of Sheol or Hades, the deep sense of sin, which have been thought peculiar to Hebrew poetry, are really of Babylonian, or more precisely Accadian- and therefore non-Semitic origin. English and French students are already familiar with the leading results of this essay, and we cannot help desiderating some acknowledgment of the priority of foreign scholars (e.g., on the relation of Accadian to Hebrew, and, among minor points, the discovery of the god Rimmon, or rather Ramman). A short paper on Luke v. 1-11, by Lipsius, concludes the number.

Ar the Meeting of the Anthropological Institute on Tuesday next, a paper by the Rev. Wentworth Webster will be read, entitled "An Examination of a Paper by Mr. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S., on The Northern Range of the Basques,' in the Fortnightly Review for September, 1874."

MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES.

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (Monday, Jan. 25). SIR HENRY RAWLINSON, the President, announced that Messrs. Watson and Chippendale, two young Engineer officers who left London last summer to join Colonel Gordon's expedition in Central Africa, had arrived at Gondokoro on November 14, and purposed to proceed to explore the Albert Nyanza lake towards the end of that month, a small steamer for the purpose having been previously conveyed to Duflè, a station above the falls which obstructed navigation between Gondokoro and the lake. The duties of these two officers would be exclusively exploration and survey, and to that end they had been furnished with instruments by the society. M. Linant, another member of the expedition, was under orders to proceed to the Somerset Nile of Speke and Victoria Nyanza. The Khedive had given permission for the geographical results of the mission to be communicated to the Society, and early intelligence might be looked for.

A paper was then read by the Rev. J. Mullens, D.D., of the London Missionary Society, on the Central Provinces of Madagascar. The island, according to Dr. Mullens, is 818 geographical miles long, and 354 broad in its widest part. The central mountain mass commenced with

F.S.A. Vice-Presidents: Professor Geo. Busk, F.R.S.; John Evans, Esq., F.R.S.; A. W. Franks, Esq., M.A., F.R.S.; Francis Galton, Esq., F.R.S.; Geo. Harris, Esq., F.S.A.; Sir John Lubbock, Bart., F.R.S. Directors: E. W. Brabrook, Esq., F.S.A.; F. W. Rudler, Esq., F.G.S. Treasurer: Rev. Dunbar I. Heath, M.A. Council: J. Beddoe, Esq., M.D., F.R.S.; W. Blackmore, Esq.; H. G. Bohn, Esq., F.R.G.S.; Hyde Clarke, Esq.; J. Barnard Davis, Esq., M.D., F.R.S.; W. Boyd Dawkins, Esq., F.R.S.; Robert Dunn, Esq., F.R.C.S.; David Forbes, Esq., F.R.S.; Sir Duncan Gibb, Bart., M.D.; Charles Harrison, Esq., F.R.S.L.; J. Park Harrison, Esq., M.A.; Professor T. McK. Hughes, F.G.S.; T. J. Hutchinson, Esq., F.R.G.S.; Professor Huxley, F.R.S.; F. G. H. Price, Esq., F.R.G.S.; J. E. Price, Esq., F.S.A.; Russell, M.P.; Right Hon. D. H. Stone; E. C. R. Des Ruffières, Esq., F.R.S.L.; Lord Arthur Burnet Tylor, Esq., F.R.S.

GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Wednesday, January 27). J. EVANS, ESQ., F.R.S., President, in the Chair. A paper "On the Structure and Age of Arthur'sSeat, Edinburgh" was read by Mr. J. W. Judd. It is generally supposed that the volcanic series of Arthur's Seat may be referred to two distinct geological periods; the earlier eruptions must certainly have been of Lower Carboniferous date, but lofty hills at its northern end, and retained them the later period of activity has been variously retill not far from the southern cape. In the higher garded as Tertiary, Secondary, and Permian. parts the chief formation was gneiss or granite. The hypothesis of two distinct epochs of eruption, The central province had been the scene of volca-originally suggested, but subsequently abandoned, nic eruptions on an enormous scale. To the south- by Charles Maclaren, has been since advocated by west of the capital lay the Ankarat Mountains, Professor Geikie and other Scotch geologists. Mr. covering a space of 600 square miles. The chief Judd pointed out the great difficulties which this inhabitants are the Malagasy people, a single race, view presented; such as the extreme improbability divided into three principal tribes; as a rule, they volcanic action breaking out on precisely the same of are backward, but peaceful, hospitable and in-site at widely-separated geological periods. He dustrious. The prince was their chief and the owner and lord of all. All obligations were paid by feudal service, and remunerations were made by assignment of lands and of service of inferior men. The queen was an excellent Christian lady, and possessed a warm affection for her people. Many thousands had proved by their example that they were not only intelligent but sincere. Sir Bartle Frere spoke of the beautiful climate of the island and the interest attaching to the flora and fauna. The missionaries, he could bear witness, were exercising a beneficial effect on the islanders, who were fast becoming a civilised people. Sir Henry Rawlinson then announced that the subject of the next meeting would be a paper by Admiral Sherard Osborn, on the approaching Arctic expedition.

then suggested an explanation, which involved far less difficulty, inasmuch as it referred the whole of this volcanic series to one general period of activity. It would appear that in the middle of the Calciferous-Sandstone series a vast accumulation of trachytic and doleritic lavas was poured forth from a submarine volcano, which was gradually elevated so that the eruptions ultimately became subaerial; the volcano after its extinction being again submerged.-Mr. J. Clifton Ward read "The Glaciation of the his second paper on Southern part of the Lake District, and the Glacial Origin of the Lake Basins of Cumberland and Westmoreland." Having extended the observations recorded in his previous communication, he was enabled to show the probability of some of the larger Cumbrian lake-basins having been formed by the agency of moving ice. By means of sections drawn to a true scale he showed the comparative depths of the lakes, and the thickness of ice which must at one time have travelled over their sites, as testified by the heights to which glacial markings extend up the sides of the surrounding hills.

ROYAL SOCIETY OF LITERATURE (Wednesday, January 27). MAJOR-GENERAL SIR COLLINGWOOD DICKSON, K.C.B., V.C., V.P., in the Chair. Mr. Percy Gardner read a paper "On a Greek Inscription found by Mr. Calvert in 1874 at Hissarlik (Ilium Novum)." In this paper Mr. Gardner gave a transcript and a translation of this decree of the people of Ilium in favour of Malusius of Gargara, confirming to him the grant of a crown of gold worth 1,000 drachmas, in return for the good deeds he had done for that city, for the temple of Athene, at Ilium, for the festivals held there, and for the league of cities; and, especially in that he had lent free of interest 300 gold staters towards the equipment of an embassy to Antigonus (King of Asia), with a further addition of 450 similar coins. The decree in addition granted to him and his descendants complete immunity from taxation, with the order that it should be engraved