that might have seemed so remote from them. A consciousness of the connexion is felt by everyone who attempts from any point of view to probe the basis, or test the guides, of his daily life. Now this more complete inlinking of the theory of our sensuous perception with all the practical questions which most intensely command the soul of man, is a fact of great significance. A guarantee is thus given for the expenditure upon that problem of man's utmost powers. It is placed in the fore-front of his necessities. No more a matter of curiosity, that might be relegated to the special predilections of a few, it stands as a matter of primary importance to every one; and it is certain that no effort man can put forth will be wanting to his final answer. And it is surely a visibly good thing that this intensity of energy should be thus secured for the investigation of this particular question. For, inviting as it is as a purely intellectual study, one may almost see that its intellectual interest alone could hardly have sufficed for its adequate pro a clear, steadfast knowledge of the external fact. But these are the author's words : "Had our writers more carefully considered the materials found in Consciousness, and, instead of joining with the unthinking portion of mankind in assuming the existence of an unknown entity called Matter, which is quite inadequate to account for the operations of Nature, and which has for centuries barred all attempts at a rational explanation of natural phenomena-had they, we say, examined a little more carefully, they would have discovered that the physical properties of which we are conscious are but different modifica tions not of matter, but of force. The apprehension of such a fact as this is most important to philosophy, for when we properly see and believe meaningless mass of matter, but as a magnificent it, the world at once opens out to us, not as a exhibition of power-a system or economy in which the Supreme Being, the source of power and being, by subjecting his absolute power, qua the physical world, to fixity and law, fulfils his purposes of sustaining living and conscious beings under the peculiar conditions which we observe in the physical world. . . . By merely assuming those mysterious elements, the chemical atoms, which no man has seen or can see, to be centres of force, and presenting physical substance as an aggregation of such dynamical atoms, the whole theory is complete, without deranging a single fact or principle of science." (p. 541.) secution. If there is a natural interest in the subject, there is also a natural tendency, immensely strong, to treat it with superThat is, Boscovich's suggestion of the where does the self-confidence of ignorance material substance, is the key to open the ficiality; even with levity. Scarcely any-atom as a centre of force alone, without so unsuspectedly assume the place of know- prison-door of scepticism, and make "the ledge; and when that spell is happily theory of perception at once simple and broken in its first form, and we discover apparent; for our knowledge of the world that everything is not settled by knocking is immediately seen to be the result of a on the floor with a stick, where else does connexion between the Supreme Mind and the very same feeling so easily and inthe mind of the creature. . He reveals His sidiously re-enter, under an opposite form, the very mind that had expelled it; and power by suffering our power to come into direct connexion and counterpoise with His the conviction that we knew all about the (and also by making us recipients of those subject, and there was nothing more to arbitrary signs which we call sensations)." enquire into, resume its sway under the thinly-disguised form that we cannot know anything and there is nothing more to enquire into? Undermined by this treacherous impulse, on either hand, to treat the question as one settled and fixed-either as known, or as never to be known; but anyhow not to be enquired into the intellect would never, perhaps, by its own impulses alone, have fairly and thoroughly addressed itself to the question: What does our perception of the external world truly mean? But the soul cannot let it go; and thus the intellect cannot quit her task so lightly. Mr. Wyld's book shows us this, in what we may, without offence, call almost a pathetic form. So glad man's jaded Thought would be to leave this barren and unhopeful ground, explored over and over again, until what more is there to say? every conceivable thing that is to be said turning out to be some horrid inconceivable at last. But here She is, clutched once more by her departing vestments, and bidden still to tarry, there is a solution yet: and we turn to listen; for if useful studies are hindered by the delay, still he who bids us has a claim; since there is good scientific work in the earlier portions of the volume. And what we find is, that if the world be considered as God's power expressed in physical laws, meeting our power as expressed in our own mental effort, and matter be no entity but merely the vehicle through which this divine power is transmitted, then we have less acute than any other, that he overlooks Now it is not because Mr. Wyld's mind is the obvious reply that the proposal of centres of force as constituting physical things does but shift, and not at all remove, the intellectual difficulty. How force without matter? Does force occupy space, is it impenetrable, and has it weight? If so, it is matter. If not, how do unextended centres of force make up physical extension? Our author, when treating of the ether, p. 205, writes thus: "As this subtle, though powerful, medium penetrates all bodies, even the densest, it is thus, as it were, the cushion on which the ultimate atoms of all things rest. It surrounds every atom and keeps each one apart from its fellows, and by its movements, which never cease, it maintains them in constant though invisible vibration," &c. If there are only centres of force, how is ether a medium, how does it keep these centres apart; above all, how keep them in constant vibration? What is a centre of force if it wants keeping in movement? Is it not evident that the ether here serves our author as matter serves other men? That the chemical atoms are conditions--even dynamic conditions-of the ether is a view which has much to commend it (if only the ether itself would but be a thing one could really believe in as existing); but assuredly it does not help us over the difficulty externally of "matter." In short, the external physical world will not be conceived. It insists on landing us in a contradiction; it Does it follow, then, that we do not and cannot know anything about the cause of our perceptions, the real source of our experience? Or is there not a third possibility, namely, that we have yet to recognise the true method of treating the problem? It has been so little considered, especially is remarkable that this view of the case when we recall how full human history is of instances to the point; how full of cases in which persistent failure-leading men to despair-has been simply the precursor to the adoption of a truer method. Science itself is one great example. Men "could not know" the order and connexion of physical events (of phenomena themselves) until, after a long period of vain trying, they adopted a method they had overlookeď. Socrates urged the impossibility of knowing the laws of the heavenly bodies in their day to prove it.* motions, and quoted the astronomy of his Failure to accomplish-if we are guided by experience, and that which the history of the past proves to be probable -should lead us to believe that we have yet to recognise the true method for our attempt. And this, we venture to suggest, is the proper inference from the failure man has hitherto encountered in his attempt to discover the true nature of the external world; or, as we should prefer to say, the true cause of his experience. He has not bethought him of the true method. would be the fitting opinion, even if it had to be held in mere vagueness, with no indications as to the direction, even, in which a But the truer method might be sought. case is not so. Quite definite suggestions for a truer method challenge our attention. This One, for instance, is to try and gain guidance in the larger problem of perception as a whole, by carefully studying the phenomena of particular perceptions, which are more within our grasp. As, for instance, we find that, in very many perceptions at least, there is given us a knowledge of ourselves or of our relations, as well as of the object; and that we must take account of the former elements as well as of the latter in order to know rightly respecting the thing perceived. So all sightperceptions, for example, challenge us to recognise our distance; all perceptions of touch, to remember the activity of our own muscles. And in general, in every act of ordinary perception we have to remember two things: one, that modified conditions of our own-as our being moved, our hands having been chilled or heated, &c.-affect the mode of our perceiving; and another, that our impression frequently differs from the truth by involving a non-perception on our part. Even such simple facts as these have not been called on yet to help us in the wider *Mr. Wyld reminds us in this volume how Newon held chromatic aberration irremediable, through not having recognised the different refractive powers of various kinds of glass. 66 problem of our perception of the whole. Nor have we duly recalled to mind the fact that we learn to know particular objects by the study of them by more than one means; by uniting two senses, e.g., or sense and thought; and that the imperfect apprehension of the object by one of these means is the very circumstance that renders this union of different means of investigation easy. And we have laid little weight also on a fact to which our author rightly attaches great importance, namely, our consciousness of possessing mental and animal power," as a source of knowledge. For, simple as this fact may seem, upon the hypothesis that external nature is as it appears to us, or is conceived by us, it assumes a new significance when it is held that the world that exists (if any) is different from that which we can apprehend. For then we come straight upon this fact, that we feel things to exist that do not exist; we consciously live our life in a world that is not. Is there no significance, no suggestion as a guide to farther thought, in that? We may well thank Mr. Wyld for reminding us again that the question of our perception of the external world is not yet closed. And to anyone who is interested in a careful, clear, scientific exposition of the functions of the senses, we can also recommend his volume. In ch. xviii., a suggestion of real value is made as to the method by which single vision is secured, by means of a possible arrangement of the fibres of the optic nerve in the central ganglion. JAMES HINTON. SCIENCE NOTES. PHYSICS. the platinum wire the globule increases in size, The author observes that cases of globular Acoustic Reversibility.-Professor Tyndall has shown that when a sensitive flame is placed immediately behind a cardboard screen 18 inches by 12, and a reed-pipe sounded at a distance of 6 feet from the screen, the flame is violently agitated. When the positions of the flame and reed are reversed, the latter being now close behind the screen, and the former at a distance of 6 feet from it, the sonorous vibrations are without sensible action on the flame. This experiment affords an explanation of a difficulty experienced by Arago and others when in of 100 elements, and thus always exhibit a constant difference of potential. The conductor whose electrical capacity or potential is to be investigated is connected with the wire carrying the needle, and the deflections of the needle observed and measured by means of a telescope and scale. The instrument so used gives constant and satisfactory results. Changes Produced in Iron and Steel by the Action of Hydrogen and Acids. - Mr. W. H. Johnson has communicated the results of his experiments on this subject to the Royal Society (Proc. xxiii. No. 158). A piece of iron wire which has been immersed for a few minutes in strong hydrochloric or dilute sulphuric acid becomes more brittle; a piece breaking after being bent once on itself, while before immersion it could be bent backwards and forwards several times without breaking. If the fractured part, while still hot from the effort of breaking, be wetted, it froths, bubbles of gas being given off from the whole surface of the fracture for thirty or forty seconds, making the water on the fractured surface appear to boil violently. It is remarkable that steel when treated in the same manner does not froth, though the action of acids on steel is more rapid and more marked than on iron. The toughness of steel, however, is greatly diminished by a short immersion in hydrochloric or sulphuric acid; so much so that ten minutes' immersion in dilute sulphuric acid will sometimes cause a coil of highly carbonised tempered steel to break of itself into several pieces while in the liquid. The apparent absence of frothing in the case of steel was ascertained by the author to arise from the bubbles of gas being so small as to be invisible to the naked eye. On microscopic examination, numbers of minute bubbles were seen to arise from the moistened fracture. The frothing is not due to oxidation, for the bubbles are still seen if oil be employed instead of water, and no matter how numerous the bubbles, the closest examination fails to show any formation of oxide. That hydrogen is the sole cause of these changes produced in iron, or inseparably connected therewith, is shown by the fact that only those acids which evolve hydrogen by their action on acid having no effect. iron produce any change in iron or steel, nitric Again, if acids be dispensed with altogether, and pieces of iron be subjected to the action of nascent hydrogen (produced by the electrolysis of water or caustic soda), the same results are obtained. A trial was made to ascertain whether similar effects could be obtained in iron by leaving it in an atmosphere of hydrogen gas. The result, however, showed that hydrogen is only occluded by iron when in the nascent state. Experiments were conducted with the view of determining the change produced in the breaking strain and ultimate elongation of iron and steel wires by hydrogen occluded in them after immersion in hydrochloric and sulphuric acids; the experiments show that the tensile strain both of iron and steel is diminished under these circumstances, but that the Quadrant Electrometer.-In the Journal de Phy-tain limit. The electrical conductivity of iron wire elasticity of steel wire is increased up to a cersique (May, 1875), appears a short account by M. is slightly diminished when it contains occluded Terquem of a simple and inexpensive modification hydrogen, as Graham also found in the case of of Sir. W. Thomson's quadrant electrometer, palladium. which has been employed by Dr. Angot and others in experimental researches in statical electricity. This modification, though similar in many respects to that devised by the late Mr. C. Becker, differs from it in one important particular. In Becker's form the aluminium needle is maintained at constant potential by means of a Leyden jar, with the inner coating of which it communicates; of the brass quadrants one pair is connected with the earth, the other with the body whose electrical condition is to be studied. In the form used by Dr. Angot there is no Leyden jar, and the aluminium needle is suspended by a metallic wire. The quadrants are connected in opposite pairs with the two poles of a battery (zinc, water, copper) and Montlhéry in 1822. It was noticed that Phenomena produced in Liquids by Electric Cur-vestigating the velocity of sound between Villejuif rents of High Tension.-M. G. Planté (Comptes Rendus, lxxx., p. 1133) has produced some extraordinary effects with his secondary battery which are very interesting for other reasons and also because they seem to throw light on the origin of fire-balls, of which no rational explanation has hitherto been given. A secondary battery of forty elements, each formed of plates of lead in acidulated water, is charged by two Bunsen's cells. The current from this battery, though only temporary, has sufficient duration to exhibit in all their details the effects produced by the passage of the electricity through imperfect conductors, such as the liquids of voltameters. Platinum wires connected with the two poles are dipped into acidulated water. In the circuit is introduced also a platinum wire eighty centimètres long and one-tenth of a millimètre in diameter. If the positive terminal be immersed first and then the negative, the latter is surrounded by an envelope of light, but there is no sensible disengagement of gas, nor does the platinum wire become visibly heated. At the end of two or three minutes the luminous envelope disappears, an abundant disengagement of gas takes place at the two electrodes, and the platinum wire at the same time becomes red throughout its whole length. M. Planté employed also a secondary battery of 200 elements, the discharge current of which was equal to that of 300 Bunsens arranged in series. This battery may be charged in about an hour by two Bunsen's cells. When discharged through a voltameter containing a saturated solution of common salt, the negative electrode being first immersed, the approach of the positive wire into contact with the liquid determines the formation around it, with a roaring noise, of a small luminous globule of perfect sphericity. On raising Superposition of Magnetic Layers in Steel.-In a recent number of the Comptes Rendus (lxxx., p. 417) is a notice by M. Jamin of experiments on the depth of magnetic layers and their superposition in steel. A steel rod was introduced into a steel tube, and the system magnetised in a helix, in which passed a galvanic current of gradually increasing strength. So long as the current was feeble it acted only on the tube, leaving the core in its natural state. When the current attained a certain strength magnetism began to be imparted to the steel core, and increased in intensity with the current strength, until it finally became what it would have been had the tube been absent. current is weak, but that with a battery of five or BOTANY. It thus appears that the magnetism penetrates to Position of the Poles of a Magnet.-M. C. G. Müller (Pogg. Ann. cliv., p. 474) investigates the position of the poles of a long steel magnet of small cross-section in the following manner:The magnet (a magnetised knitting-needle, for example) is attached to two pieces of cork, so as to be perfectly horizontal and place itself in the magnetic meridian when floated in water. A fine-pointed iron wire is then approached vertically from above over one of the ends of the needle, which moves until the resultant of all the acting the iron wire. If now the wire be cautiously depressed it will touch the needle at the point of maximum attraction, i.e. at the pole. M. Müller's experiments show that for such magnetic needles, of given length, the poles approach the extremities as the thickness diminishes; that for needles of constant diameter, but varying length, the poles are nearer the extremities as the needle is shorter, but that the ratio of the distance of a pole from the extremity of the length of the needle is not constant. magnetic forces coincides with the direction of Polariscope.-In the June number of the Phil. Mag. Mr. Spottiswoode describes a new revolving polariscope. The instrument consists of a Nicol's prism, or other ordinary polariser, and a double image prism as analyser. The latter is so cut as to show one image in the centre of the field of view, the other excentric; and the peculiarity of the arrangement consists in giving to the analyser a rapid motion of rotation. If the speed attains eight or ten revolutions per second, the image will remain persistently on the retina during an entire revolution, and all the phenomena which are usually seen in succession will appear displayed simultaneously in a ring by the excentric image. The principle of the revolving analyser is applicable alike to a table polariscope for eye-observations and to one constructed for projection. Zinc Electrodes.-It was shown by Du BoisReymond, in 1859, that amalgamated zinc plates in solutions of zinc salts exhibit no phenomena of polarisation. Patry afterwards showed that the solutions must be neutral. M. A. Overbeck (Pogg. Ann. cliv., p. 445) has made some experiments on the subject, employing currents of gradually increasing strength, the result of which is to show that amalgamated zinc electrodes are not susceptible to polarisation only when the electrolysing very remarkable; and the position and shape of Flore Bryologique de Belgique.-The Bulletin de 164 mosses are described; therefore this contribution to Muscology will be specially welcome to those who interest themselves in the distribution of plants. Economic Botany.—A new edition of the Official Guide or Handbook to the Museums of Economic Botany of the Royal Gardens, Kew, gives us an opportunity of referring to the rich collection of vegetable substances, both in the raw and manufactured states, to be seen at Kew. The first edition was compiled by Professor D. Oliver, and the additions and corrections to subsequent editions have been done by Mr. J. R. Jackson, the Curator of the Museums; and therefore, although by no means a complete catalogue of the objects exhibited, it is perfectly trustworthy, and contains most of the latest discoveries relating to the sources of valuable drugs, oils, fibres, &c. Thus: Trachylobium Hornemannianum is now known to be the tree that produces the copal of East Africa, Rheum officinale the source of some of the medicinal rhubarb, Euryangium Sumbul of sumbul, Broussonetia Kaempferi of the best quality of the paper mulberry fibres employed by the Japanese in an infinite variety of manufactures, and the true Esparto grass is said to be a species of Macrochloa, &c. An interesting scrap of information, too, is that canary-seed (Phalaris canariensis and other species) is now extensively used for feeding race-horses, as it contains a large percentage of nutritive matter unmixed with less desirable properties. A complete work on applied botany is, however, one of the greatest desiderata in this class of literature. The Potato Disease.-Mr. Eccles Haigh has published a small pamphlet on the cause and prevention of this dreadful malady, as well as of the now almost extinct "curl." Although this essay appears to be based upon some sound notions respecting the economy of plant-life, yet we regret, for the sake of the community at large, that we cannot join with the author in his sanguine belief that he has discovered the solution of a problem which has baffled all the scientific and practical men of our day. Mr. Haigh lays no claim to practical knowledge, and assuredly his scientific attainments have not stood him in good stead. He has full faith and confidence in a pet theory of the functions of nitrogenous matters in the economy of plant-life, and upon this hinges the utter fallacy, or otherwise, of his presumed cause and prevention. His assumptions and misconceptions fit in together admirably, nevertheless we shall be well pleased if experience show that we have misjudged his essay. The Alliums.-Dr. Regel, Director of the St. Petersburg Botanic Garden, has recently filled up a very important gap in systematic botany, in a monograph of the large genus Allium, which he has just published. A very large number of the 256 species he describes are indigenous in Russian territory, or in countries bordering thereon, which have been very little explored except by Russian travellers. Hence Dr. Regel had far more complete materials at his disposal than could be found in any other establishment, and as compared with some other monographs from the same pen, the present is much more carefully and exhaustively worked out; and it is certainly a most welcome addition to the literature used by those employed in determinaconsistencies, which those who are acquainted tion of species. But the author betrays some inwith his previous writings will not be surprised at. His views regarding species and genera seem to undergo a change with each work he publishes, when we consider his monographs of Vitis, Tulipa, and other genera. Nothoscordium, regarded by some as a well-defined genus, he refers to Allium, not even according it the status of a section, for he says that although the majority of Alliums have only two ovules in each cell, in A. nigrum and its allies they are numerous. ANTHROPOLOGY. Natives of Western Australia. - Mr. John Forrest, on Tuesday last, brought before the Anthropological Institute an account of the natives of Western Australia, whom he visited. They are divided into two great tribes, called the Jornderuss and the Ballavook, which are again divided into innumerable sub-tribes. These great tribes are exogamous; a Jornderuss may not marry a Jornderuss, but must take a Ballavook. Wife stealing is a constant source of quarrelling among them, and the women are. frequently speared or killed. If a husband dies, his wife belongs to the oldest man of his family, who either marries her or gives her to some one else. The children always belong to the mother's tribe. These natives do not wash, but grease themselves with ochre to keep away the flies. Tattooing and marking on the shoulder and breast is almost universal among them, and the rite of circumcision is practised by all the tribes that Mr. Forrest met with, except those of the south-west corner of Australia. It is a religious ceremony, and the men and women part for a fortnight upon the occasion of it. The natives of the interior are entirely without clothing and suffer much from the cold. They sleep in the open, except in wet weather, when they build small huts. Mr. Forrest believes that they have a sort of belief in a Supreme Being, but can give very little information about him. In the south-west corner of Australia the name for father and mother is the same as for god and sun. They do not believe in natural death, but always assume that some other native has been the cause of it, and frequently kill him for it. Cannibalism is common among the natives of the interior; their weapons are identical with those used in other parts of Australia. Ethnological Papers for the Arctic Expedition. Mr. Clements Markham, F.R.S., has contributed to the papers reprinted for the use of the Arctic Expedition, and published by the Geographical Society immediately previous to the departure of the Expedition, several notes on the origin and condition of the Greenland Esquimaux. Although the whole of the Esquimaux race may be regarded as one people, having its origin in Northern Asia, Mr. Markham believes the Greenland Esquimaux to have started from the banks of the Indigirka and Kolyma in Eastern Siberia, at a later period than their brethren who now inhabit the northern coast of America and Labrador. Between the eleventh and fourteenth century there was a great movement among the people of Central Asia. Shaibani Khan, a grandson of Jingiz Khan, led 15,000 families into the northern wilds, and their descendants, the Jakhuts, pressed on until they are now found at the mouth of the rivers falling into the Polar Ocean. But these regions were formerly inhabited by numerous tribes, which were driven away further north over the frozen sea. Mr. Markham gives evidence to show that between Cape Chelagskoy and Melville Island there is a bridge of islands, the existence of which is proved by the accounts of the natives, by the flight of birds, and by the position of the pack ice in this region. Across this chain of islands the aborigines of northern Siberia fled from their southern invaders, and traces of their subsequent migrations are to be seen in the ruins of Yourts, similar to those still existing in the neighbourhood of Cape Chelagskoi, on Melville Island, Byam Martin Island, Bathurst Island, Cornwallis Island, on the shores of Wellington Channel, and in North Devon. The whole of this chain of islands having been proved by recent explorers to be unfit for permanent habitation, the fugitives pressed on towards the east and passed over to Greenland by Smith's Sound. Here a portion may have turned northward into the region to be explored by the expedition. Others, known as the Arctic highlanders, are now found on the eastern shore of Smith's Sound, between the Humboldt and Mel age, inasmuch as these flint flakes must have been deposited in their present position after the ditch had been partly filled up by the débris from the rampart. The excavations have been conducted under the superintendence of the president of the Institute, assisted by a committee of members, and will be renewed in July, when it is hoped that further evidence will be forthcoming. ville Glaciers, and others pass southward into southern Greenland. This part of Greenland, lying between Cape Farewell and Disko Island on the west coast, was colonised by the Norsemen under Erik the Red in the end of the tenth century. This colony continued to flourish for three centuries and a half, upwards of 300 small farms and villages were built along the sea-shore, and Greenland became the see of a bishop. During the whole of this period no indigenous race was seen in the land, and no one appeared to dispute possession with the Norman colony. But in the middle of the fourteenth century a horde of small men resembling those known to inhabit the coast of Labrador, whom the Normans called Skroellings, appeared on the extreme northern point of the settlement at a place called Kindelfjord, and eighteen Norsemen were killed in an encounter with them. News of the invasion having been sent to the eastern settlement of Norsemen, one Ivar Bardsen came to the rescue in the year 1349, but found that the whole of the western Norsemen had disappeared, and that the Skroell-hybridised very freely and alluded to their pairing ings were in possession. This Mr. Markham believes to be the final achievement of the Green land Esquimaux in their wanderings from the landers who constitute the remaining portion of northern shores of Siberia. The Arctic high this horde are found between latitudes 76° and 79°, on the verge of the unknown polar region. They are described as a good-humoured race, of small stature, with scanty beard and coarse black and are on the whole intelligent. They have no hair. They possess great strength and endurance, canoes, nor have they bows and arrows, but their habitations are built of stone, and resemble those found along the belt of islands through which they are supposed to have migrated, and are different from those of the Esquimaux of America, who live in snow huts. A considerable number of words in the language of the Greenland Esquimaux are identical with those of the Siberian tribes near the Gulf of Anadyr, such as the words for sun, earth, water, fire, father, eye, head, and the numerals as far as five. The ethnological portion of the volume concludes by a series of questions drawn up by a committee of the Anthropological Institute for the use of the expedition. Excavations in Cissbury Camp, near Worthing, Sussex.-During the past week excavations have been carried on in this camp by a committee of the Anthropological Institute, with the view of ascertaining the relative age of the entrenchment, and the pits sunk for the purpose of obtaining flints for implements. These pits occupy the slope of the hill in the interior of the fort on the west side, and also extend in a belt for about 200 yards on the outside. As none of the rings which mark the mouths of these pits cut into the line of the rampart, it was evident that if the pits were in existence before the rampart, all trace of them must have been obliterated by the latter, and it was therefore determined to excavate a portion of the ditch at the point of intersection of the rampart and the belt of pits above mentioned. The result has been the discovery of a pit in the bottom of the ditch, no trace of which was observable on the surface. This pit, or rather shaft, cuts into a portion of the escarp of the ditch in such a manner as to prove that it was constructed previously to the formation of the ditch, and it extends to about 6 feet beneath the latter. At the bottom several galleries were found branching in different directions by means of which the flints had been obtained from the chalk. The result of these excavations, although it has proved satisfactorily that this hill was the site of an extensive flint factory before it was occupied by the ancient Britons for the purposes of defence, has not as yet brought to light any satisfactory evidence of the date of either of these works. The discovery of a large collection of flint flakes about half way down in the silting of the ditch leads to the supposition that the entrenchment, although later than the camp, may still be of the neolithic MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Monday, June 7). SIR S. S. SAUNDERS, C.M.G., President, in the Chair. Mr. Briggs exhibited some bred specimens of Zygaena meliloti, bearing a strong resemblance to Z. trifolii, and mentioned several instances in which the offspring of Z. meliloti exhibited a taint of trifolii blood; he suggested that Z. meliloti might be only a stunted variety. Mr. McLachlan remarked that the insects of the genus several times. Mr. W. A. Lewis had noticed that Z. meliloti was by far the most common insect in only discovered of late years, it seemed to support the New Forest and as it appeared to have been had been recently developed there. Mr. Weir the idea that it was only a stunted variety which said that he had taken the insect twenty years ago in Tilgate Forest. Mr. McLachlan exhibited a portion of a vine leaf on which were galls of Phylloxera vastatrix, the leaf having been recently plucked in a greenhouse near London. The Rev. A. E. Eaton exhibited the insects which he had recently captured in Kerguelen's Island. There were about a dozen species belongbeside some specimens of bird-lice and fleas. They ing to the Coleoptera, Lepidoptera and Diptera, were all either apterous or the wings were more or less rudimentary. One of the Diptera possessed neither wings nor halteres. Mr. Briggs exhibited specimens of Halias several times distinctly, and at the same time, a prasinana which, when taken, was heard to squeak slender filament, projected from beneath the abdomen, was observed to be in rapid motion, and two small spiracles close to the filament were distinctly dilated. The President called attention to a larva which he had recently discovered at Reigate in the body of a stylopised female of Andrena Trimmerana, this larva having a long telescopic process at the anterior extremity, and two reniform processes behind, similar to Conops, an insect which had frequently been reared from Pompilus, Sphex and Odynerus, and had also been met with in Bombus, although he had never before heard of its being found in Andrena. The Secretary exhibited some specimens of a minute Podura, forwarded to him by the Secretary of the Royal Microscopical Society, having been found on the snow of the Sierra Nevada in California. Mr. F. H. Ward exhibited some microscopic slides showing specimens of a flea attached to the skin of the neck of a fowl. Professor Westwood communicated a description of a new genus of Clerideous Coleoptera from the Malayan Archipelago. Mr. McLachlan read a paper entitled "A Sketch of our present knowledge of the Neuropterous Fauna of Japan (excluding Odonata and Trichoptera)." Part I. of the Transactions of the Society for 1875 was on the table. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON (Thursday, June 10). PROFESSOR MIVART, F.R.S., in the eighth lecture at the Society's Gardens, treated of Kangaroos. He drew attention to the minute size and absolute helplessness of the young at the time of birth, and to the manner in which the mother's milk is forced into its mouth, describing the mechanism by which the windpipe communicates directly with the nostrils, by which all danger of choking is obviated. The family Macropodidae consists of four genera, the species of which are all natives of Australia and the adjacent islands. They all agree in having the hind-limbs longer than the fore, they have no inner metatarsal bone, all the toes of the fore-feet are provided with claws, and they have only two lower incisor teeth. It is now 105 years since kangaroos were discovered by Europeans, they having been first seen by Captain Cook on his return from the Transit of Venus Expedition of 1769. The kangaroos along with six other families constitute the order Marsupialia, the other members being the bandicoots, the phalangers, the wombats, the dasyures, and the opossums. The order is remarkable for the great diversity of structure observed among its members, but is distinguished by several important characteristics, as the inflection of the angle of the lower jaw, the presence of "marsupial bones" and the peculiarities of their reproductive system. In recent times they are confined to the Australian region, excepting some opossums which are found in America; but in the Triassic and Oolitic Ages they ranged over the Northern hemisphere, and one genus lingered in Europe up to the Eocene period. ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY (Monday, THE paper read before the Society was the deferred one by Sir Leopold M'Clintock on "Arctic Sledge Travelling." Sir Henry Rawlinson, the president, occupied the Chair, and in the course of his opening remarks announced the intention of the Sultan of Zanzibar to be present at a special meeting of the Society on the 28th instant. Sir L. M'Clintock commenced by giving a sketch of the rise of sledge travelling in the second and third voyage of Parry and the second of Sir John Ross, between the years 1821 and 1834. The object was then nothing more than how to exist in the Arctic Regions, and all appliances were copied from those of the Esquimaux. It was not till the time of Admiral Sir James Ross that the most important modifications were made, and his designs for sledging are substantially those in use now. Sir Leopold described the nature of the ground to be traversed during the spring months, and then furnished statistics showing the gradual increase of work achieved by a systematic economy and diminution of the weights carried. A rate of twenty miles per diem had thus at last been attained. Dogs were an important auxiliary, as they could drag more than a man, could stand more exposure and only required half as much food. The perfection to which sledge-travelling had been brought would enable a crew to escape from any known position in the Arctic regions. He had the satisfaction of hearing from Lieutenant Payer that the successful retreat of the Austrian Expedition was due greatly to the encouragement derived from this formerly expressed dictum of his. There was so little room for improvement in the equipment of sledging parties, that it would be unfair to expect the results of 1853 and 1854 to be surpassed in 1875. There was only one condition which barred progress, and that was ice too thin to sledge over. It was to be hoped that the expedition would not encounter this obstacle. To sledging they owed the actual survey of many thousand miles of coast line and the discovery of the record of Franklin's expedition, and to it they would also owe the principal share of whatever work might be accomplished by the brave men who had recently left them. The lecturer concluded with a warm expression of confidence in the resolute efforts of the Expedition to attain complete success. A discussion followed in which Admiral Sir R. Collinson, Dr. Rae and Admiral Richards took part. ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON (Tuesday, June 15). the resulting electricity would be discharged disruptively as lightning, the foregoing observations show that the greatest rise is under the greatest uptake. Some meteorologists attribute the low pressure at the equator to the ascending current attribute the 10 A.M. maximum of the diurnal formed at the junction of the trades, while others range of the barometer to the reaction of an ascending column of air due to the increasing heat of the day. The above observations tend to strengthen the view that an ascending column of air gives rise to a reactionary pressure downwards, and more generally to the idea that though the total pressure shown by the barometer is principally statical, or due to the weight of a definite column of air, a small portion is dynamical, or due to the reaction of air motion in that column. "Notes on Solar Radiation in its relation to PROFESSOR NEWTON, F.R.S., in the Chair. Among the communications of general interest were two papers by the Rev. S. J. Whitmee, of Samoa, in the first of which he described a remarkable change in the habits of Didunculus strigirostris, which has lately become much more arboreal, roosting and breeding in trees instead of on the ground; the probable reason is the introduction of cats and rats into the island. In the second paper a very interesting account was given of Palola viridis, a marine worm which appears on the coasts invariably during the last quarter of the moon in the months of October and November, observing lunar time with wonderful regularity. It is also remarkable for its mode of reproduction, both sexes break up simultaneously into sections, Cloud and Vapour," by J. Park Harrison, M.A., and the ova and melt are thus liberated in the water. Professor Owen, F.R.S., described the bones of the huge extinct bird of prey of New Zealand, Harpagornis Moorei. Sir Victor Brooke, Bart., gave an interesting account of the various races or species of wild sheep which are peculiar to the different mountain ranges of Central Asia, and exhibited several specimens, among them a magnificent skull of the gigantic Ovis polii. Other papers were read by Messrs. Sclater, Meyer, Dawson, Rowley, Dobson, Gulliver, and Bowerbank. This was the last scientific meeting of the present session. METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY (Wednesday, June 16). DR. R. J. MANN, President, in the Chair. The following papers were read:-"On a White Rain or Fog Bow," by G. J. Symons, F.M.S.; “On a proposed form of Thermograph," by Wildman Whitehouse, F.R.A.S.; "On the Rainfall at Athens," by Professor W. Raulin (translated by R. Strachan, F.M.S.). These observations were made by M. Julius Schmidt, director of the Greek Observatory, and embrace a period of twelve years and a half, viz., from August 1859 to December 1871. The average yearly fall is 15.83 inches, and the average number of wet days ninety-three. The wettest year was 1864, when 28-30 inches fell, and the driest 1862, with 9.63 inches. "On the Barometric Fluctuations in Squalls and Thunderstorms," by the Hon. Ralph Abercromby, F.M.S. There are two classes of storms in this country: in one the barometer rises, in the other it falls. The author in the present paper only refers to the former. After mentioning some of the phenomena which accompany storms of this class, he proceeds to give two instances as typical of their general character. In conclusion, he makes the following remarks on their origin: Though in this country squall-storms are almost always associated with primary or secondary cyclones, those in India and Africa are not connected with cyclones, and hence the source of the barometric rise cannot be due to any special phenomenon of cyclone motion. Since the rise is always under the visible storm, it is propagated at the same rate, and in the same manner as thunderstorms. Enough is known of the course of the latter to be certain that they are not propagated like waves or ripples, and hence these small barometric rises are not due to aërial waves, as has sometimes been suggested. Since the general character of the rise is the same whether there is thunder or not, it is evident that electricity, even of that intensity which is discharged disruptively, is not the cause of the rise. If we look at a squall from a distance, we always see above it cumulus, which is harder and more intense in the front than in the rear of the squall. Since cumulus is the condensed summit of an ascensional column of air, it is evident that the barometric rise takes place under an uptake of air. If we consider further that a light ascensional current would give rise simply to an overcast sky, a stronger one to rain, while a still more violent one would project the air suddenly into a region so cold and dry that F.M.S. Mr. Scott also exhibited and described Lowe's Graphic Hygrometer. PHILOLOGICAL SOCIETY (Friday, June 18). DR. J. A. H. MURRAY in the Chair. Mr. Henry Jenner, of the British Museum, read a paper on the Manx language, in which he gave a short sketch of its grammar, comparing it with the Gaelic of Ireland and Scotland, and an account of the scanty literature of ballads and carols (with a list of all printed Manx books, amounting to about twenty-five), and of the translations of the Bible and Prayer-book. He then traced the gradual decline of the language from the seventeenth century to the present time, chiefly by quotations from Camden, Speed, Challoner, Bishop Wilson, and others, and ended with an account of the present state of the language, including the result of a paper of statistical questions sent by him to the clergy of the Isle of Man last autumn, from which it appeared that the Manx speakers now amount to nearly one-third of the present population, and those who know no English to about 200. Mr. Fennell read a paper on the "Triple Gradation of A in Gothic." FINE ART. Memoir of the Life of William Müller. By H. Neal Solly. (London: Chapman & Hall, 1875.) THE common saying about the unhappiness of the man who has a biographer may be repeated with very special emphasis in the case of the artist. And English artists have, for the most part, fared even worse than their brethren in the matter of biographers. There are, of course, exceptions, but in the main the business of recording an English artist's life and work has fallen either into the hands of a mere book-maker, who has probably failed to be picturesque, and has certainly failed to be critical, or of some gushing friend, who, starting on the assumption that the artist's work was supreme work, has withheld from us no trivial circumstance, and so, instead of presenting us with an ordered essay, in which the man's life and achievement was estimated in relation to his time, has merely emptied into a gaudy volume the ill-digested contents of a memorandum book, These things-and the last especially-are not literature, for literature is not that which is written, but that which is written on high impulse or with a fine carefulness. And who is there that has done for a great English artist what Mr. Brooke has done for a great English preacher? Mr. Neal Solly is not new to the task of |