Nature. Vol. IV, No. 91 July 27, 1871

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“To the solid ground Of Nature trusts the mind which builds for aye.”/—WORDSWORTH

No. 91, VOL. 4] THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1871 ;

Registered as a Newspaper at the General Post Office} (All Rights are Reserved BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE/LONDON INTERNATIONAL EXHIBI- ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. TION of 1872. z The General Rules for the exhibition of Selected Specimens of all varieties The next ANNUAL MEETING of this ASSOCIATION will be held at | of Fine and Decorative Art with Scientific Inventions, and the manufactures EDINBURGH, commencing on Wedoesday 2nd, ard continuing till Wed- | of Jewellery, Cotton, Musical Instruments, Paper, and Printiag, with their nesday, oth August, 1871. Machinery, may now be had of the Attendants in the present year’s Exhibi- The Excursions will take place on Thursday, roth August, 1871, the par- | tion, and by letter addressed to the Secretary. Offices, 3, Royal Hall, ticulars of which will be duly notified. ensington. President-Elect—Professor Sir Wi.t1am Tuomson, M.A., D.C L, LL.D. TE WREILERVY IN THE INTERNA. Glasgow. F.R.S.L. & E., Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of TIONAL JE WELLERY EXHIBITION of 1872.—The IN Trades TH E interested INTERN in Jewellery A- and 2 Poe 7 its Machinery—Selected Specimens of which will be exhibited in 1872—may New Members and Associates are « lected by the Executive Committee at | obtain the General Rules at the present year's Exhibition, or by written ap- Edinburgh, on the following conditions :— plication to the Secretary. Offices, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington, New Annual Subscribers, for a payment of £2 for the first year. —_— oo oo Associates for this meeting cnly, for a payment of £1. COTTON IN THE INTERNATIONAL .. H " sti EXHIBITION of 1872.—Trades interested in Cotton and its Machinery— dew Life Membersi for a composition of £10: Selected Specimens of which will be exhubited in 1872—may obtain the General Ladies may become Members or Associates on the same terms as Gentle- | Rules at the present year's Exhibition, or by written application to the Sec- men, and Ladies’ Tickets (¢r.ansferable to Ladies only) may be obtained by | retary. Offices, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington. Members on pay ment of £1. Gentlemen who have ia any former year becn admitted Members of the Assocation, may on this occasion renew their Membership, without being | . PRINTIN G, PAPER and STATIONERY c alld upon po! for atrears, » On on Pay payment of & Lt; in : the INTERNATIONAL ‘ EXHIBITION 2 of i 1872.—Trades interested ne . . : in Printing, Paper and Stationery, and their Machinery—Selected Specimens Tickets can now be had, and informat’on about local arrangements and | of which will be exhibited in 1872—may obtain the General Rules at the facilivies afforded by the Railway and Steaml:oat Companies will be obtained | present year’s Exhibition, or by written application to the Secretary. Offices, cn applicaticn to the Local Secretaries, at their Chambers, 14, Young Street, | Royal Albert Hall, Kensington. Edinburgh. - ee _ Notices of Papers proposed to be read must be sent to G. Griffith, M.A., . IN THE Assistant Ceneral Secretary of the British Association, 14, Young Street, ioe oe MENTS Edinburgh, before rst August. NAL 3 of r 872. — rades interested in Musi- cal Jnstruments “Selected Sperimens of which will be exhibited in 1872—may obtain the General Rules at the present year's Exhibition, or by written ap- ST. MARY’S HOSPITAL MEDICAL plication to the Secretary. Offices, Royal Albert Hall, Kensington. ® SCHOOL.—OPEN SCHOLARSHIP AND EXHIBITION IN NATU- | — ae ES RAL $CIENCE. ’S UNIVERSITY, GLAS- A SCHOLARSHIP of the value of £40, tenable for three years, and an | GOW.—CHAIR OF NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. EXHIBITION of the value of £20, for one year, will be awarded by open The Trustees invite Candidates for the Chair of Natural Philosophy, competitive Examination in Natural dcicnce, at St. Mary's Medical School, | vacant by the appointment of Professor Herschel to the Professorship of Ex- on September 26th and following days, perimental Philosophy in Durham University in connection with the new A ‘ll be eligib! didate who h dan E. ination College of Physical Science at Newcastle. ny person will be eligib-e as a candidate who has passed an Kxamin Applications to be Lodged on or be‘ore the 26th of August with the Secre qual completed fy ing a him full to year register of medical asa Medical study Student at a recognised provided Hospital. he has not previously peri zi furnish aac information wee regarding e the duties t and terms of the ap-

Cardidates are requested to call personally upon the Dean on Monday, 50, West Regent Street, J. B. KIDSTON, Sceretary, Sept. 25th, and to bring with them a certificate of having passed the required Glasgow, 2oth July, 1872. preliminary Examination. 3 Norg.—The Trustees do not bind themselves to appoint any of the appli- Further information as to the subjects of Examination, and the conditions cants. under which the Scholarship and & xhibition will be held, may be obtaimed | rr from Dr Cheadle, the Dean, cr from Mr Knott, the Registrar, at the Hospital. THE REV. GEORGE HENSLOW, , W. B. CHEADLE, M.D., Dean of the School. M.A., F.L.S., F.G.S., Lecturer on Botany to St. Bartholomew's Hospital, gives private Instruction in GEOLOGY, PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY, se MINERALOGY, and BOTANY. THE HARTLEY INSTITUTION, South- ‘ NB EOURTEEN of the 35 Successsul Candidates for the India Civil emptcn —Next 7 ces Sept.17. Three Exhibitions, giving free | Service (1871), as well as several of the year 1870, were prepared by him in educatina ar a tea the ‘depart menle of General Literature and Suence, those subjects, besides many of the non-successful. cr of Engineering and Technical Science, will be open to New Students. The Rev, G, H.’s Lectures are well illustrated by the collections of Dia- Special preparation for the Indian Enginecring, Forest, and Telegraph Ex- | grams of the late Professors Henslow and (of Lona, Inst.), 17, aminations, and for University of London degrees. Address the Principal. Colville Terrace West, Notting-hill, W. | NATURE (¥uly 27, 187 eee CURRENT fri NUMBERS OF SCIENTIFIC PERIODICALS. a eee THE Price 4s. 6d., Price 15., JOURNAL OF PHILOLOGY.— Edited by Ww, & Crark. M.A., Fellow of Trinity College, John E. B. THE MESSENGER OF MATHEMATICS. Te ocn?, Canoe John’s College, W. Atpis WRIGHT, M.A, No. III. NEW SERIES. JULY, 1871.

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THURSDAY, JULY 27, 1871 influencing another, or whether a man or body of men may not be capable of influencing themselves. To come now to the class of events which Mr. Crookes MR. CROOKES ON THE “PSYCHIC” FORCE | has witnessed. It is greatly to his credit that he has Witt a boldness and honesty which deserve the | come forward so frankly and honestly ; and since he has greatest respect, Mr. Crookes has come forward as | begun to investigate the peculiar class of facts, we are an investigator of those mysterious phenomena which | Sure that he will consider it his duty to continue the have now been so long before the public that it is unne- investigation in such a way as to convince those men of cessary to name them, more especially as their generally | science who may not themselves be able to take up the received name is very objectionable. question— outsiders in fact. Mr. Crookes will, we are sure, Two things have contributed to retard our knowledge | 2°t object to a few critical remarks honestly made with of these strange events. Inthe first place, until lately few | the scle view of finding out the truth, and we would there- men of name have been associated with their occurrence, fore express a wish that, in order to facilitate operations so that outsiders have not had the facts put before them | the experiments should in future be conducted by only in a proper manner. In the next place, we are inclined to | by such men as Mr. Crookes himself, and that it should endorse the remark of Mr. Crookes, that men of science | @!ways be absolutely superfluous to investigate whether have shown too great a disinclination to investigate the | ™achinery, apparatus, or contrivance of any sort, be existence and nature of these alleged facts, even when | Secreted about the persons present. We should thus start their occurrence had been assetted by competent and | froma higher platform, and the investigation would gain credible witnesses. in simplicity, although perhaps something might be lost Before adverting to the results obtained by Mr. Crookes, | 12 the marked nature of the results obtained. a few words may be said about our mode of procedure in | _ Allowing, however (as we are disposed to allow), that accepting testimony. things of an extraordinary nature are frequently witnessed Let us suppose that a man comes before us asa witness | © Such occasions, yet we are by no means sure that these of some strange and unprecedented occurrence. Here it constitute external realities. The very fact that the is evident that we are not entitled to reject his testimony | Tesults are uncertain, and that, as far as we know, they on the ground that we cannot explain what he has seen in | ave never yet been obtained in broad daylight before a accordance with our preconceived views of the universe, | J@tge unbiassed audience, would lead us to suspect that even although these views are the result of a long ex- they may be subjective rather than objective, occurring in perience ; for by this means we should never arrive at any- the imaginations of those present rather than in the out- thing new. Our first question is manifestly one regarding ward physical world. Nor can this doubt be removed by the man’s moral character. Is he an honest and trust- | 29Y precision of apparatus ; for what avails the most per- worthy man, or is he trying to deceive us? fect instrument as long as we suspect the operator to be Let us assume that we have convinced ourselves of his | U2dera mental influence of the nature, it may be, of that honesty ; we are then bound to believe that he chought he | which is witnessed in electro-biological experiments ? The saw what he described to us; not necessarily, however, , Problem is, in fact, one of extreme difficulty, and we do that the occurrence which he described actually tork | not see how it admits of proof, provided the influence place. Convinced, already, that he is not deceiving us, | Cannot be exerted in broad daylight and before a large we next question whether he may-not be deceived himself, | 2Udience. There is, however, a cognate phenomenon Let us, however, assutme that, upon investigation, the | Which admits of easy proof. We allude to clairvoyance, circumstances are such that collusion of any kind is out | 224 have in our mind at the present moment a man of of the question, and that the man is neither trying to | Science who if not himself a clairvoyant has yet the power deceive us, nor that it is possible that he himself can have | to command the services of one who is. Now, were he been deceived by others. Even yet we have an alternative | @t once to communicate to a journal such as NATURE, in in our judgment of the event. The phenomenon may be | CiPher if necessary, the knowledge derived through the subjective rather than objective, the result of an action | influence, giving the proof afterwards when obtained in upon the man’s brain rather than an outstanding reality. | 29 ordinary manner, the public would soon be ina position For nothing is more certain than the occasional occurrence | tO Judge whether there is any truth in the influence or not. of such strange impressions; and the cat or the dog or It is, in fact, somewhat hard upon the writer of these the skeleton by which the patient is haunted is frequently | ‘marks and some others who are disposed to allow the recognised even by himself as having no external exist- possibility of something of this nature, but have not the ence, Of late years we have been able to produce instances | OPPortunity of investigating it, that those who have will of this depraved consciousness almost at will. The | 29 Satisfy the public with a convincing proof. author of these remarks considers it certain that the B, STEWART electro-biologist has frequently caused them. The unim- | =—=————————~—— peachable character of the patient, combined with thefact |} TYNDALLUS FRAGMENTS OF SCIEN CE that he has sometimes pronounced water to be wine, or a . , snow storm to be taking place in a room, can only be Fragments of Science for Unscientific People. By Prof. accounted for on the supposition that he has been put into Tyndall, LL.D., F.R.S. (London : Longmans : 1871.) a peculiar state, during which his evidence of events is Tas volume is a reprint of a number of detached utterly worthless. But beyond the bare fact, we know essays, lectures, and reviews, by Prof. Tyndall, pub- next to nothing of the laws that regulate this action, nor | lished at various times and in various places during the can we tell under what conditions one man is capable of | last ten years. Besides a few shorter pieces collected at VOL, IV. oO 238 NATURE [Fuly 27, 1871 the end, there are in all thirteen articles. These con- | from page 58 of the article on “ Miracles and Special sist of two classes of a totally distinct nature. Thelarger | Providences :”— number constitute considerably the greater bulk of the “The mind is, as it were, a photographic plate, which volume, deal entirely with scientific subjects, and are of a | is gradually cleansed by the effort to think rightly, and special scientific nature. The remainder deal either di- which when so cleansed, and not before, receives impres- rectly or indirectly with the question of the opposition or | S!0ns from the light of truth.” concordance of science and religion. To this question, Again, at page 101 we find the following : Prof. Tyndall brings that same remarkable clearness and “ We live upon a of matter 8,o00 miles in diameter, definiteness of statement which characterises his writings | swathed by an atmosphere of unknown height. This on purely scientific subjects. It is a highly desirable ball has been molten by heat, chilled to a solid, and thing for all parties that it should be distinctly stated what sculptured by water. are the issues, in their ultimate form, to which our various | There is the touch of a master’s hand in the way in hypotheses may lead. Prof. Tyndall, from the scientific | Which these few words ‘fling us the picture of the fight,” side, makes this statement clearly and distinctly. He and enable us vividly to realise that which they would views an hypothesis, so to speak, in its widest generalisa- have us realise. . . ; tion, and does not shrink from it or its consequences. If, Prof. Tyndall, however, has evidently given less atten- he would say, you hold these or those views, then this is tion to spiritual than to natural questions. Indeed, it is not what they st imply, and what, if these views be true, | 2° to be wondered at that a man now-a-days should you mst come to ; and so you need not be afraid, and if | have time to pay attention to everything. It is some- you hide it from yourself you only cloak the truth in the times, however, to be lamented, though perhaps hardly to too much. one case, or hinder the exposure of error in the other. be wondered at, that a man should write about consist of two As an example, let us take the statement of the Natural The articles of a purely scientific character Evolution hypothesis in the lecture on “The Scientific | 09 “ Radiative and Radiant Heat,” one on “The Light of Use of the Imagination” (page 163 of the present volume). the Sky,” and one on “ Dust and Disease.” Speaking of the evolution of the present world from a The articles on the “ Life and Letters of Faraday” will nebulous mass he says :— well repay the perusal of those who have not already read ‘“‘ For what are the core and essence of this hypothesis? them in the Academy, and will even well merit a re-perusal, Stripit naked, and you stand face to face with the notion that as everything does which gives US any insight into the not alone the more ignoble forms of animalcular or animal character of that great-and child-like man. life, not alone the nobler forms of the horse and lion, not The last of the series is a lecture on Magnetism, ad- alone the exquisite and wonderful mechanism of the human | dressed to the teachers of primary schools, at the South body, but ine human mind itselt— emotion, intesect, wi Kensington Museum. Prof. Tyndall tells us, in a short an — er w|: : : But the hy pathesis will probably go even further than this, introduction to it, that he had at first some dou bts as ‘o Many who held it would probably assent to the position the propriety of its insertion. ™ But, on reading it,” he that at the present moment ali our philosophy, all our | Says, “it seemed so likely to be helpful that my scruples poetry, all our science, all our art—Plato, Shakspeare, disappeared.” Weare exceedingly glad that it has been Newion, Raphael—are potential in the fires of thesun. | so, The lecture is a beautiful example of true teaching, We long to learn something of our origin. If the Evolution | and of that excellent union of logic and experiment which hypothesis be correct, even this unsatisfied yearning must | ; h d : hich physical sci . 1 have come to us across the ages which separate the un- is the true education wAlch physical science Is so WS conscious primeval mist from the consciousness of to-day. | Calculated to supply. JAMES STUART I do not think that any holder of the Evolution hypothesis . would say that I overstate it or overstrain it in any way. | —————————______——— I merely strip it of all vagueness, and bring before you, unclothed and unvarnished, the notions by which it must DALL’S BRACHIOPODA OF THE UNITED stand or fall ne Evolut . STATES COAST SURVEY on, a way ourselves in oe esen J Says farther Report on the Brachiopoda obtained by the United States mate triumph of that truth which was expressed by old Coast Survey £ apediiion, in charg ey L. de ne Gamaliel when he said, ‘If it be of God ye cannot tales, with a Revision of the Crantide and Disciniag. overthrow it; if it be of man it will come to nought.’” By W. H, Dall. (Bulletin of the Museum of Compara This is the true scientific spirit; and the beautiful tive Zoology, at Harvard College, Cambridge, Mass) daring with which Prof. Tyndall launches upon an un- With two plates. (Cambridge, U.S., 1871, 8vo) known sea trusting to this guiding principle, is an instance vee is another important instalment of the published of that noble faith which has lived through all phases of results of the deep-water dredgings made by our Gulf of Mexico. the human mind alike in scientific and unscientific ages. | Transatlantic cousins and friends in the To have a faith in something seems to be the ultimate | The first was issued in 1869, and consisted of a Pre- necessity of all humanity. Let all of us beware how we liminary Report on the Echini and Starfishes, by Prof. call that faith, as it exists variously in each of us, false. Agassiz. A report by Dr. Stimpson on the is announced Prof. Tyndall always writes in a beautiful, clear, and | Crustacea procured in the same expedition pointed style. Not the least excellent part of it, and that | as nearly ready ; and that distinguished zoologist has also which probably as much as anything else constitutes him | undertaken the still greater charge of a report on the great scientific teacher he is, is his unbounded power | the Mollusca. It is impossible to over-rate the of apt illustration. He carries this into every subject | impulse which will be every where given by such with which he deals. Asan example, take the following | explorations to the study of marine Natural History. Fuly 27, 1871 | NATURE 239

We are now entering on quite a new phase of research, | cuted in a most scientific and conscientious spirit the and commencing a survey of the hitherto unknown | somewhat difficult task allotted to him ; and he has con- world beneath the waters. Regarded not merely in a | tributed much valuable information to our scanty know- biological, geological, or physical aspect, but also as a | ledge of the life-history of these remarkable animals. I basis of sound education, these investigations ought not | regret that I cannot accept his conclusions as to the to be neglected by any civilised nation, especially by | difference of certain so-called species (7erebratula vitrea Great Britain, which, it is hoped, will never cede her well- | and cudenszs, T.septata and floridana), nor asto the generic earned maritime prestige, and her laudable ambition of | value of Zerebratulina and Waldheimia. But this is not discovery. This has been forcibly urged as a duty on the | the place for discussing such questions. That part of the Government in an admirable article which appeared in | Report which treats of the Cranzide and Discinide is | the Spectator of the 22nd of July. In the pages of | equally well done, and the plates are capital. NATURE (meaning, of course, the present periodical, and J. GWYN JEFFREYS not the mythical book to which fanciful writers are wont to allude), some of the results obtained in our deep-sea | © explorations of the North Atlantic and Mediterranean OUR BOOK SHELF have been already noticed ; and next year will in all PO” | The Year-Book of Facts in Science and Art. By John bability inaugurate an expedition on a more extensive Timbs. Pp. 288, (London : Lockwood and Co. 1871:) scale, and worthy of this rich and intellectual country. Annual of Scientific Discovery, or Year-Book of Facts Sweden has performed her part most nobly, by sending in Science and Art for 1871. Edited by John Trow- out, in 1869, the Fosephine frigate for the exploration of | bridge, S.B., aided by W. R. Nichols and C. R. Cross. the sea-bed lying between the coast of Portugal and the Pp. 349. (Boston: Gouldand Lincoln. London: Triib- Azores, and this year a corvette and tender to Baffin’s ner and Co. 1871.) Bay and Davis’s Straits. Russia despatched, last year, a | THE opinion that we expressed on a former occasion re- frigate to New Guinea for a similar purpose, under the | garding the relative value of these Year-Books, remains scientific charge of an experienced naturalist, Mr. N. M. | ¥naltered. Mr. Timbs, as of old, still wields the scissors _ Maclay. We are now informed on good authority that | 24 the paste-brush with unabated zeal, and his Year- v y- 6 ey Book for 1870 presents all the faults of its predecessors. Drs. Noll and Grenacher, two German naturalists, are Considering that “Science and Art” are not the only projecting a dredging expedition along the coasts | subjects to which Mr. Timbs devotes his attention, but that of Portugal and Morocco to the Canaries. Even | a new book on (we may almost say of) “ Popular Errors,” France, in the midst of her troubles, devoted some | or on “ Curiosities,” seems to be always springing from of her energy and vast resources to the peaceful ob- | his fertile pen, his “ Year-Book” does him no discredit, . . . although non-critical readers may wonder at some of the ject of dredging in the lower part of the Bay of | « Facts,” as well as at some of the omissions, which they Biscay, under the personal superintendence of the Mar- | encounter. Why he should place “The Entozoa Egg” quis de Folin, the Commandant at Bayonne. In Canada | (on which we suspect his ideas are somewhat obscure,) a Government schooner has been lately placed at the | “ Protoplasm,” the ‘‘Germ-Theory of Disease,” and disposal of the Natural History Society of Montreal for , Sleep,” under the head of “Natural P hilosophy ;” or dredging the deeper part of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Conult Taking: a Preventive for_ Bronchitis or [and ?] . . onsumption,” under that of ‘Chemical Science,” we But the United States, not content with the laurels she | Cannot pretend to say ; but, possibly, the following para- had gained in the Gulf of Mexico, has this year promoted graph, taken from the heading “ Astronomy and Meteoro- two separate expeditions ; one, under the charge of the | logy” may afford a clue to his mysterious system of clas- veteran and celebrated Professor Louis Agassiz, and | sification :—* Dr. F, G. Bergmann has projected from his Count Pourtales, to proceed along the south-eastern coasts Seve loved itself” ne beings from which the human race of the Atlantic from Bermuda, through the Straits of lived OPE itselt. Their name is ‘Anthropiskes,’ and they . . ived in Central Africa. They developed out of apes, Magellan to the Galapagos and San Francisco, dredging p. 265. The appalling idea cannot be repressed that the all the way ; and the other, under the charge of Mr. Dall, | intellect 0: our venerable instructor in “Science and Art” the author of the Report above cited, has already gone | must be fai ing from over-work, so as to lead him to con- from California to the Aleutian Islands. found Anthropology with Astronomy ! ; The Brachiopoda, which form the subject of the present | , tig, American Annual has the great advantage over its Report il ‘dered an abnormal class of the ritish rival of being compiled by men who understand port, are usually considere ad .. | the subjects on which they are engaged. The editor, John Mollusca; although some systematists place them in Trowbridge, S.B., is Assistant Professor of Physics in another group or sub-kingdom, the Molluscoidea, along | Harvard College, and one of his assistants, WW. R. Nichols, with the Tunicata and Polyzoa. Mr. Morse, an Ameri- | is Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the Massachusetts can naturalist, has recently endeavoured to show that the vapiitute of Technology. rae Subjects embraced . in ms ; . +s € are nearly the same as those included in Mr. Timbs’s Prachiop roe ane, Annelids. ee "he cebateabe Year-Book : Mechanical and Usetul Arts, Natural Philo- n. ’ » GISp ; sophy, Chemistry, Natural Hisiory or Biology, Geology, the Brachiopoda remain among the Mollusca, to which | and Astronomy and Meteorology, being common to both, they appear to be allied through the Axoméa family. while the present work has additionally Geography and Their mode of reproduction, bivalve shells, and | Antiquities,and the English annual makes Electricity a general habits, evince a much closer affinity to the | S¢parate subject. Conchifera than to the Tunicata, Polyzoa, or Anne-| into the culece pec filly in future volumes lida. Other points of resemblance between the Brachio- recommend the suppre ka oh oF this department. On the poda and the three last-named groups may savour of | present occasion it is simply compiled from the proceed- ‘analogy, not of homology. The author has exe- ! ings of the Geographical Section of the British Association, ATURE

27,187

49 N. (Ful 2 RE (7 ul Ly 71 mo 7,18

es D i do ref to ar otc ontai er a's ies il lu int tw ok pl tl F Gera ence Four. nal, Thi speci e stra ted be to he re or vrma og fe le nch an Ge oci nor even es or m ost pa rt re desired red, to th A rbical. eties , n/t sur the | th aphi g nothing er bee meri ican G ica ety. . ar th e pa avingn Wit coer D rea te r rt n ith on for not . this EXC the" ual iSC be e, or the Pp peut ren Oo r a is cept ur ofS cient ific Ty pubishe entit led to Hon om nd nual n. The ma me on good Cant hare’ hi an th he. onl ntic pesutia sa ssist on is wel e y Aon g h emi ne ria clr art Cus J; ‘ich “tacos have is. an tants Ww ion of th e d stro S a , edito i en d Ins erti aw cont and d sa in otied ts wo scp arta len (se € PP. 122 a tethers 8 er ful some ec “oN arate a th e mphid I raph dit or” t col mm Sige stable census ale tl ote of an com astocnn oen sur Vv are cedi In the nt of o e in pre g yea rs ite con ti aera ha nd oO the e d olum inuane e. The: in f di cat el co m edi t and dai space ving of din the. crepe € ae ’ ar e incr easi 1en expecially shor Sie aily spac th robe of Sci ce for rth € c above en lV’ - e e s year § i tte tha sb een received the the in ki w F ze some e ind ly ord edc rit S, Til: 1st, ratt bl, crt. | | My teal tio ns ? ing and Des is nt ne a s ubj ex d e R £ ieur F d ription the hich re ei N ew ai za Ty men E of s e rie east \ iC tre un Wy, ite by. rom a on uch wide expe mu V Wi n pers of not no ilso Sa ers 4a nd Wor rthi ers aor me § ol ,an S ea PLS. ine to F Gund ia W . to eve Ty myc 1 mi .L . ass gonu an or the 3 by’ Benn net Sc., ,m ore to the South Lon ; us so = LS. as ,t oe ssured callt US zauthors Cr. HEU bet nV . ab. (Lan ° orti: hi liste =A itches rE wagreeing Foe Voor St. ‘391). pit nd ex: in aries th plan of ? ) ; wi an have xa ctly in abi t Si nt bu TH in A yee OSU ¢ are t en an col our . po li1 f tim ate ca Cc sie made ese ewmat Bo ingi o mos e iti a maru us Fr C "econ species studs i sine gest and tha t He m 8 act é bilts. _He he “C: at es he. imo rst mpossible bl spe ly tho e- vala: i ies t to der it es adn ‘moder asb lon g fe wit fi eri th Agar t gur €s ved my p th inte: f wi especial tence cei wi rable s rom to th ey ibut abl ree a0 th m attri 1 pleasure author them rho are Ww It ing ne gular + CG, tar us, r eee er im ctl 8 rm hors eir med iat el P received A cous rea ts n . oly onan was b to m ycol ogists naths, garicy oon st when] de rof. ER nt som me six ty ck an , tert min seis EY in 5 h cing gu J.B KEL ve It m use ockh of ——— them um at hi res | ion th rib a y elf. se — == ie oO ses es desc vr a of peci Ww, ec iffi TH. O es, ty the LE TT. ED IT) rt extu and wth oolty ER S TO E R soite ve of { ny w hic eel c hi. a rb ariu ire, E res. sk e of ti (77 ve He ait do 0 sponsi ynstb, Sor opinia ori etches. have ve m tim equentl | b 25 hol mself M 0 ne fro ly his. ° 0 for ed thi 1S ntr y os as tice ous original nsmi cour . illust the m- Corrs orrspnen cad Ss a cou f com rans in iculi hs 7s] o the asci M ha aire. lre ap sblicato leone, se r _H rth m s ady ones owo re a lect y evn Hy fey my n ? i all m to . F olat eato or cont aining ou vari ft pl a nondum two OOo inct WIL i last nu, fey y pri t rm ore p n one Tg ie of th distinct peared Hon ver to oP grate ki al om i ng fon I be oped at nc ull ully me are urt I mt m mc Lies ’ ee reve su ogi ncreasi vine g cat e’s letter. Postpo De. ele it ontinuin so sea eleva: us va si ppl nti a s $s n obl ns se espe brio work, jementin doe ic i fu ‘rie ms to bie och mpa whi to them ‘and the iga gift u svamo ich jerstand. be dt ae r,” it rises er t yon 0 tes of seve cri pee Staal ent far, that ar red pla whi fest . a of ral publica ical torial om n icati the and fr the. f the li , a Mr d ough tion as wn a. Ss. | r, 10n, er the n ae Us census ed positi wel 2 the reas umber WwW ca ye ou bef i t rt e have av VO of much cei | sy popalate , am d now wre whic av f in uxu ry : ire ) He popu corre sa i ch f are the ction work igh ed b char © Gea ced lin Th, l me stu $0 ei ear eens Sin wi he dy ors mabe lust ev y i sa OPP str = me such erous of ed ong ei ume nee S1nc reas ith Swe coraid ider able Ww om an rti stic a numb on SO h bee in ealth Mr. fe I clan ss ave the rthi t ual c crea im gto eign eR te. sed Wo ing onj Mr. Baus e pu th Lax Wi with I bli return ns I on der, to cor « een ils Caun ms h no Board mit npesned he eal the toad ner cased met h limi iets a | r, y on has ce fs ociet nd ranks ncwled wledg e wt h that its ce t subject th € t a rec a ee r of ndin gly and to the subject t crated the t si tai ined w psc sible e od ay’s arg at the gland und mination it ors stariona. b popu poner t al the v et Cc} ee was ry th ic ery was. . in i whi tionary the. i cen rally se ile that of ne in an general Va rel ven tur sare 0 abner tlo e and n ast in, at in t € two . some e the a I 1n rhife ous rate be n wa do ub or ‘no se icat caus nt. matt ed 1 a eped nd laws tter ne where ot inv ab V2 am rguing ow ial inere gener eral exis , p 1 anes Me pout doubt ed a . No Ww, of t the b j fom oll. SW ans athe ee as his ous jst f hich ha ito t c Grity "ie that Fries fro m vork be efo u ve of the i lls i n- nas 1 S,a st thrifty well ia not is tne nd s and an Wil eo ev stock his rifty which dierent ith in urs alw. wa aced chil the cs ys con creasing clement l rows rep! the the of dre the which tha t usp ach ypu the or cere € let cer qua the otal 3 sis tainl yn rom (v rters of red in bi and h ood, acters a unt wo tk Trish, - very V fig on esc alent “dential! vhi he vision not said em Weh av en tt cri 4 . ca causa aed nt)c ant 5 av ucl po right ngs 0 itici anne hel n usa ome. B tbe ra the san nof hi ise e elp cans nc ce wh c nae ct1o Frie es im aa asle b » ere self Dut ari At Venice limite See it a rh class | ited °c ge ure yl al tha t n al cainnot i : nit tw Oo ( wa Sven ot t sem ratic out, r b fi res remark does An aristocrat was h cre s ( othe th C e ven nsk ani As reg ards or arii m nly ch by ations we d Bot k.” ost Prat led , ~p S2I) I es 5 a e details Doub ay; as. 2). n all th ec Pe ase esl irabl th at rare to auc a a the youn e i figu red in fi not to su su rv ey of erage Co or e, appe crea or perf cial re se bri ot are ted ou wn a vtinar - cant, ‘Ty. he c ghte ca imi eo ro cqu aint an ce 1 € an r Mr. fr co lou fi Th eres i th Th p2 ssa. ge qu b y r. Ty! er althu ; he ents A. h be. cn D Sat of as onc 1V an quoted b y Oo ubl er condit ition. ; figure re lusi el I © red (chapter , and , r ‘ t seen t oO vt) lus in not m S, ° Ic oll which = usta it sele ss re his ar gu ent foueday this P hyd. O on ace form peat oint ayarophit ing 1, . ne ors re wl sid ob e era bl e, "etre Th ther ert una nsw of . m 5 ere M cle me revisio, in eat s the odd ee T st . r call rict er r. ST ep ch ge ° ¢; 1S whi Lo th alt evisio wne om e, hich th pu th e ca’ rtb efo re e. latte att er wh crerical re other r atin S. at I t eh ct e eman, Le s of the phrases. 4 Suly 27, 1871} NATURE 241 eee I have not yet answered, cited against me the elementary case of | of the conversion of varieties into species, the latter says: ‘* The cipons and other creatures of that ilk. They are entirely beside | inevitable result is an ever recurrent struggle for existence. It the question. It is as reasonable to quote them in this discussion | has been truly said that all nature is at war, the strongest ulti- as to conclude that all chaste people must be cowardly and | mately prevail, the weakest fa-l, and we well know that myriad 5 cffeminate because mutilated animals are so. He also said that | of forms have disappeared from the face of the earth” (‘* Varia- I mistook the whole rationale of the question, and that it is in- | tion of Animals and Plants under Domestication,” i. 5). Les fertile creatures that grow fat, and not fatness that causes sterility. | me especially commend this extract to Dr. Lionel Beale, for The only test of the question is the one I have not shrunk from | whom I entertain the profoundest respect, notwithstanding his applying in this argument (which, by the way, has not to do so | vituperation of myself. much with the fat as the hearty and strong). This test is thatin I find a difficulty in meeting Mr. Wallace’s latest arguments, a great number of cases we can make strong and vigorous but | because they are entirely a priori, and Mr. Wallace asks me to sterile plants and animals fertile by starving or bieeding them, | admit as premisses the very thing I dispute, namely, the relative which proves that it is not the organs that are defective, but that | sterility of strong and hearty animals and plants. I cannot see the creatures are too hearty. the relevancy of his quotation of the effects of cross-breeding to The experience of Mr. Lownes on the fecundity of consumptive | the present argument, unless he means to infer that crosses are patients, and of the poorest classes as compared with the richest, | more vigorous and stronger than pure bred animals, on which is at issue with that of the doctors and midwives whom I have | position I should like to be furnished with a little evidence. access to, and of rtions of our towns, the population as a rule is more fertile than | view, and that in the cases we can experiment upon, not the Jeast in the less crowded neighbourhoods. The case he cites of poor | satisfactory of which is the case of man himself, the condition women losing their children early and ceasing to give milk, and, | most favourable to fertility, as 1 have quoted many examples to in c nsequence, soon becoming pregnant again, is counterbalanced | show, is that of comparative depletion. by the fact that among the richest the proportion of those who Mr. Wallace, as before, is spare of instances. I can only suckle their children is small, and this not because of fastidious- | extract two dond fide ones from his letter. He tells us the ness, but because they secrete little milk. Mr. Lownes once | strongest bull leads the herd ; this proves nothing, unless we are more drags out the Indian and the backwoodsman, but he has | to in'er from it that his progeny is the most numerous, and that overlooked the answer I gave to Mr. Wallace in my furmer letter, | the biggest and strongest therefore survive. I prefer to quote which needs no alteration to meet the case as he has put it. It | Mr. Darwin himself where I can. If Mr. Wallace's instance be is the case of the meat-eaters against the vegetable-feeders, the | worth anything, how does he account fur the following: ‘ The strong and hearty and active against the comparatively stolid | decrease in size of the Chillingham and Ifamilton cattle must and low-cenditioned, and as in such cases all the world over the | have been prodigious, fur Prof. Rutimeyer has shown that they former are not so fertile as the latter. Mr. Lownes objects to | are almost certainly the descendants of the gigantic Bos primi- savages being cited, because of qualifying circumstances; he | geius. No doubt this decrease in size may be largely attributed mav as well say that it is not fair to test natural selection by | to less favourable circumstances. Yet animals roaming over large wild animals, but only by domesticated ones. Histreatment ofthe | parks and fed during severe winters can hardly be considered as case of the Patagonian women is convenient but flippant. Mr, | placed under very unfavourable conditions” (‘* Variation of Ani- L-wnes’ experience in breeding both cattle and sheep and fowls | malsand Plants under Domestication ” ii.119). What Mr. Darwin and in rearing plants must be extremely limited, or he would | says of the wild cattle is equally true of the rcindeer kept by the hardly have made so rash an assertion as that contained in his | Laplanders compared with the wild ones on the Samoyede tun- last sentence. The starving of plants and animals to induce them | dras, of the red deer of our larger forests compared with the to breed is one of the elementary axioms of both gardeners and | skeletons of red deer from the turbaries, and is, perhaps, gene- stockkeepers. rally true of semi-wild races where man has not intervened with I now come to Dr. Ross’s letter, which, although somewhat | the special object of increasing the size by breeding from the patronising in parts, is altogether more to my taste than some | largest individuals only. others. He has properly referred me to Mr. Herbert Spencer, In regard to the carnivora, I know of no reliable facts. I am but I am afraid of venturing into his book, for fear that I should | not proposing the monstrous paradox that those animals which are open upon myself the floodgates of Evolution. It is not the | so weak, diseased, ordecrepid that they cannot sustain life at all, general problem of Evolution about which we are now at issue, but | are the only ones that keep up the succession of the animal that limited form of it called Natural Selection. Jt is satisfac- world. The toothless tigress, who cannot kill her food and is tory, however. to find that, according to Dr. Ross, Mr. Herbert | starving, will most certainly not be the mother of a long race. Spencer admits the main facts upon which my argument is | She cando nothing but die. But I say that, judging from analogy, founded. His doing so is quite a relief after the jaunty manner | it is probable that the lean and comparatively ill-led tigress will in which some of your correspondents have spoken about the | breed more freely than the man-eater supphed with regular and matter. To speak of its being late in the day to be now defend- | abundant food. ing Mr. Doubeday, to tell one that ‘‘ what one says is ludicrous,” The banks of the Chinese rivers and the rough country in the ‘a monstrous error,” &c., &c., is surely a sign that the crowing | south and south-west of Ireland are buth inhabited by teeming of the Gallic cock has been mistaken for more substantial argu- | populations, remarkable for their poverty and fertility, and re- ments. Iam very sorry that Mr. Spencer’s book is not in my | markable further for sending out immense colonies, which sup- library, and that I cannot meet with it at the Manchester Free plant wherever they go, in Mantchuria, in Songaria, in Glas- Library or Mud’e’s, so that until Iam aware of Mr. Spencer’s | gow, in Manchester, in New York, the strong hea:ty, indigenous arguments I cannot say how far they affect the position I main- | races. This being so (and I only quote these two as examples tain. If the facts are admitted, as Dr. Ross says they are, I | of a whole class), when Mr. Wallace asks the question, ‘‘ Eluw confess that I cannot see any other interpretation of them can weak and sickly parents provide for and bring up to maturity than the one given by Mr. Doubleday. Will Mr. Ko:s do | their offspring, and how are the offspring themselves (undoubtedly me the favour of pointing out what other explanation they are less vigorous than the ofispring of strong and healthy parents) to capable of ? maintain themselves ?” I can only reply that they actually do so: Mr. Wallace has misunderstood me if he thinks me capable of | / cv, vidt, et credt. sneering at the good and sound work that has been done by I must correct a Wrong impression that Mr. Wallace has got himself for many years, the value of which I am as conscious cf hold of. In this controversy I have no theory ; my only theory as I am of the worthlessness of mere Olympian dogmatism. | is that Natural Selection is an ingenious but fallacious explanation Sneers are only justifiable in answer to contempt, and if he feels | of the varieties of life. aggrieved with any of my words I withdraw them. I cannot understand Mr. Wallace’s last sentence if it be meant Mr. Wallace says my criticism of the phrase Survival of the | for an argument; while if it is only a jeu @esprit and witticism, Fittest is satisfactory. In regard to the phrase I used, and for | it requires a commentary to tell us where the point is. which I was severely flouted by Mr. Wallace, he says it is un- Lastly, I will consider Mr. Wallace’s reiterated complaint that known to Darwinians ; that may be, but it can hardly be said to | I have only treated of what is in most cases the least important be unknown to Mr. Darwin himself. Speaking of the problem | factor in determining the continuance of species, Let me tum 242 NATURE [Fuly 27, 1871 geen very briefly to another of these factors put prominently forward | crous.” He thinks Mr. Howorth’s misrepresentation of the by both Mr. Wallace and Dr. Beale, namely, ‘‘ Obscure Colour.” | Darwinian theory ‘‘ very curious and even ludicrous,” and in the We are not arguing about exceptional and individual cases, we | closing sentence of his letter in NATURE, he appears to havea are dealing with a general law, applicable or supposed to be | bit of fun to himself which ordinary mortals cannot understand ; applicable to the great majority of cases. Canit be said gravely | and if he can prove that Natural Selection is a mere abstract that obscure colour has tended to the preservation of particular | statement of the fact that species are in some way or other forms of life to the exclusion of others, not in a few exceptions, | formei, the Darwinian theory is the most “ ludicrous ” ever pre- but as a general biological law? sented to mankind. Probably Mr. Wallace may take a different Daylight, it will be admitted, is more likely to disclose an | view of the subject, and he may even think that the objection is object than darkness. If we compare diurnal forms of life with,| more ludicrous than the theory ; at any rate, no harm can result nocturnal ones, we ought to find, if I read the tendency of the | from bringing Dr. Beale and the champions of Natural Selection Darwinian argument rightly, that in the daylight when a sombre, | face to face, so that stricter tests than the ‘‘ ludicrous” may be obscure, or indifferent colour, would be of great service to hide | applied to ascertain whether the truth lies in the theory or in the an object, that there area much smaller proportion of conspicuous | objection. JAMES Ross forms of life abroad than at night when there would be no such Newchurch, July 24 need for obscurity, and a bright colour might be worn with im- —_——— punity. Is such the fact ? ; Again, if we compare the animals and plants that live in | _ THE last paragraph of Mr. Howorth’s letter in NATURE of tropical climates, where the light is intense, with those found in July 13 reminds me of a fact which I have often noticed, and temperate and severe ones where the light is not so great and which is, I suppose, well-known to botanists, viz. that certain objects are not so prominent, do we find that the former has a | Creeping plants which root at the joints, flower sparingly unless comparative monupoly of conspicuous objects, or do we find the sprays are so disposed that they cannot take root. I refer rather that the reverse is the case, and that all the brightest especially to_the Lysimachia nummularia (larger moneywort or objects we know in nature—the parrots, macaws, humming Creeping Jenny”). This plant blossoms comparatively little birds, butterflies, orchids, &c.—are found in the greatest profusion when allowed to trailin the moist soil which is its natural Aaditat, inthe tropics, while we proverbially console ourselves for the and in which alone the leaves look healthy and thriving. A absence of colour in our birds by boasting of their singing, and | SPFray trained off the flower bed on to a flag-stone, or a plant hang the beetles of Brazil in necklaces round our sisters’ and | 8TOWN 1n a pot so as to hang over the edge and not be able to wives’ necks, while we crush our sombre representatives of the take root, will look sickly, but will be covered with flowers, I same class under our heels? Is it not equally true of the sea? think I have noticed the same thing in connection with the In the Mediterranean, for instance, do not the brightly decked periwinkle. out gurna-ds and mullets far outnumber the dingier fish, while Gardeners cut off the runners of strawberries and the suckers of on the banks of foggy Newfoundland the sober tinted cod and fruit trees to increase the crop, because, as they say, runners ex- ling are the prevailing types? In the former we have the clear haust the plant. wats . blue water that washes round Sorrento pierced through and | But is not the case, rather, that the possibility of continuing through by the blazing sun, while in the latter we have everything | 1S own life by taking root at the runners makes the plant’s con- gloomy except the fisherman. stitution, as it were, lazy about propagating its kind? If we separate the animal world into flesh eaters and vegetable tt is, perhaps, worth noticing that the cutting off the runners eaters, we ought to find, if this theory be true, that the former | © suckers does not in any way weaken the plant, or cause it to (which as a rule are not themselves the prey of other animals) become sickly, but it does prevent the indefinite prolongation of are more conspicuous than the latter, since they have less reason the individual life. « i, for adopting a secret costume. But is itso? Are the hawks THE OWNER OF A ‘‘ WEED GARDEN and owls and carnivorous beetles as classes more conspicuous than —_—— their victims? Is it a not fact that the most beautifully coloured Recent Neologisms creatures are aS a rule the most helpless, weak, and accessible ; , . j 5 that those animals which are supplied by na:ure with weapons WRITING, as I did, from a little Midland village, where access of defence or are strong and can defend themselves, are as classes | t0 20 English dictionary was impossible, I am not surprised to more obscure in colouring than those not so protected, and that find that three words, which I treated as recent coinayes, were the same rule applies to plants which are poisonous, nauseous, only re-introductions. Sarzival, impolicy, and indiscipline, are or protected by thorns? If these facts be true in the great all so naturally formed, that, whether old or new, they are majority of cases, we have another factor in Mr. Darwin’s theory welcome to stay . My end was answered by putting a brand which is not satisfactory, and the cases quoted to support it | 0” Mr. Wallace’s pr olificness, by way of contrast. If he is bent become mere exceptions, which, by being exceptions, disprove | 0 using that monster, he will help to naturalise it by spelling 1t the particular law he is maintaining. This letter has already with cé (instead of ¢) like thickness. But surely he is not driven exceeded reasonable limits, and I must postpone a further con- | between the Scyllaand Charybdis of prolifickness and prolificacily, sideration of this and other objections to another occasion. when prolicity is starmg him in the face. For my part, I pray Derby House, Eccles Henry H. Howorrn | that the whole family will (to quote Sylvester again) “shake swift wing,” and be no moreseen, By-the-bye, I find the verb —— to handwrite in the Quarterly Review, April 1871, p. 332. That is a good, if not a new word, and well deserves re-introduction. Mr. Howortn’s objections to the theory of Natural Selec- _ C. M, INGLEBY tion have been fully answered. I therefore wish to direct wee woe Lo. Lo attention to another objection which has been recently advanced, The British Association and Local Scientific Societies and which has not, so far as I know, been specially refuted. IT is to be regretted that the British Association does not exert The objection is stated by its author in the following terms :— | its influence in stimulating local scientific sucieties towards greater ‘And ic has been affirmed that to ‘the primitive properties of | efforts for tne formanon in their museums of collections repre molecules’ and ‘ Natural Selection’ may be referred all the vary- | senting the Geology and Natural History of their respective ing forms and structures known to us, as well as all the phe- | neighbourhoods, so that they might constitute local monographs, nomena of the living world. But such terms explain nothing. | Such a system, combined with a central museum in London, By their use further inquiry is discouraged, and the mind bent | representing an epitome of the collections throughout the upon investigating the secrets of Nature is misled at the very | country, would tend to the advancement of science with greater outset, Can any one of these very pretentious phrases be re- | rapidity and accuracy than at present, when the provincial solved into anything more than the statement of a fact or facts | museums are little better than overstocked curiosity-shops, and in the form and language of an explanation? Natural Selection | with no recognised plan of arrangement which is greatly wanted, is the formation of species, and species are produced by Natural | In general there is little space tor additions of importance, from Selection. Crystallisation is the formation of crystals, and | the fact that the museums already contain large miscellanevus crystals are produced by the operation of crystallisation.” collections, unconnected with the neighbourhood, and of lute This passage is extracted trom p 58 of “ The Mystery of | use to anybody. Many valuable private collections exist through- Life ””—a little work by Dr. Beale, which was published a few | out the country, representing the geology, &c., of various months ago. Dr. Beale has a keen appreciation of the ‘ludi- | localities, which are eventually too often dispersed and lost to Fuly 27, 1871] NATURE 243 the district where they would be most useful and instructive. | the place where the Ocean Currents have their birth, or whether Private collectors would probably show more public spirit, if | the view I have advocated be preferable, that the chief source greater zeal and better judgment were shown by local societies. of the oceanic circulation is to be recognised in the effects of F. GS. tropical and subtropical heat, it is clear that we are rather con- : --— cerned with the integrated effects of one or other cause (or of . . . both causes combined) than with the amount by which tempera- Science Teaching in Schools ture increases per mile of distance towards the equator. As I IN the number of NaTurE for April 20, there is an article | have already remarked, I conceive that any reasoning by which containing an account of a “ Plan for Teaching Science in Ordi- | the contrary could be maintained would subvert the accepted and nary Schools, submitted to the London School Board by Mr, J. | surely sufficient explanation of the trade and counter-trade C. Morris.” winds, (The experiment described in illustration of this expla- I will ask you to give me a little space for some details respect- | nation in Daniell’s Meteorology is open to much graver objec- ing an educational experiment I made in 1867, 1868, and 1869. | tionsthan Mr. Laughton has urged against Dr. Carpenter’s ex- My object was to test the value of a plan much resembling that | periment) And I note that here Mr. Laughton agrees with referred to. By means of circulars, addressed to more than a | me, except that on the strength of his thermometric gradient hundred of the London clergy, I obtained permission to have the | he is as ready to give up one theory as the other, whereas I see children in seven large schools instructed in science. Four com- | no objection to retaining both. petent teachers put their services at my disposal. One of these The very word ‘‘ gradient” should suggest the true answer to gentleman is n»w chemist in iron works, two are art masters, and | Mr. Laughton’s reasoning. A gradient of one in ten (say) will the fourth, having obtained one of the Whitworth Scholarships, | produce little velocity in a rolling body traversing such an incline is a student at Owen’s College. I mention these facts to show | for a distance of only a few feet, but if the incline be a few miles the sufficiency of their knowledge. Three of them had had con- | long the body rolling down it would acquire a velocity exceeding siderable experience in teaching. Twenty-two classes were | that of our swiftest express trains. Or again, suppose Dr. Car- formed, the total number of pupils exceeding 800. The principal | penter, desiring to illustrate the subject of springs of water, em- subjects taught were chemistry, geology, physical geography, | ployed a conduit-pipe inclined 45 degrees to the vertical, would practical geometry, and mechanical drawing. The lessons were | it be any valid objection to the illustration to urge that in most from one to two hours in duration on two days in the week at | natural springs the water gradients are very much less? He each school. But my plan differed from Mr. Morris’s, inasmuch | could surely answer that the principle of his illustration was ia as thirty-five to fifty-five lessons were generally given in a subject | no way affected by this circumstance, for if the water-gradients before proceeding to a new one. He suggests that ‘‘a single | in nature are small, they act over a much longer range than could teacher could get through three or four subjects annually, so that | be employed in his experimental illustration. So with Mr. in two or three years he would have completed the full course | Laughton’s temperature-gradients ; they are very small indeed, in each school.” This plan would give from twenty-two | but their action extends over a very great distance ; and as in the to thirty lessons per subject if I rightly understand his | two former cases the total fall measured vertically is to be looked meaning. We fixed a small fee, but seldom obtained it, as | upon as the true cause of the resulting motions, so I conceive we found that any attempt to press for payments would have | that the total difference of temperature between Polar and Equa- reduced very materially the numbers in the colleges. The pupils | toriel waters is to be considered in discussing the temperature were frequently examined, and those who appeared likely to | theory of oceanic circulation. . satisfy the minimum requirements of the science department were I note, by the way, that ‘‘solar light” (by misprint or through sent in to the May examinations. a lapsus calami) was substituted for ‘‘solar heat” in my former The followiug are some of the observations I made at the | letter. Idid not think it necessary to correct this earlier, as I time :— imagined the error would mislead no one. Like Mr. Laughton 1. Few of the children appeared to obtain anything like sound | I ‘‘do not see what effects solar light can ever be supposed to and comprehensive knowledge of the facts the teachers put | produce,” on the ocean, at least, in producing circulation. before them. I venture to remind Mr. Laughton that Dr. Carpenter’s posi- 2. The great majority failed to express clearly on paper any | tion in this matter is very different from his or mine. FV have ideas which an oral examination showed they had gained. theorised on this snhject, whether with more or less soundness 3. Most of them appeared to forget a subject within a few | time willshow. But Dr. Carpenter has brought striking and im- weeks after the discontinuance of instruction, or the substitutiou | portant facts to our knowledge ; and z/there has been ‘‘an air of of another branch of science. The utter forgetfulness shown by | triumph both in Dr. Carpenter’s lectures and writings” about whole classes was sometimes almost startling. ocean currents, he has had better cause for triumph than the 4. The papers worked by the girls at the examinations were | mere success of a lecture-room experiment could have afforded superior to those produced by the boys, showing a more intelligent | him. RtcHARD A. PROCTOR knowledge of the subjects they had been taught. This fact may, Brighton, July 21 however, have resulted from accident, as comparatively few girls —_— received The College, instruction. Stony Stratford T. J JONES Western Chronicle : of Science : I WOULD beg to be allowed one or two remarks with reference Ocean Currents to the very favourable review of the ‘‘ Western Chronicle of Science” which appeared in last week’s NATURE. Mr. LAUGHTON does not seem to observe that the subject of It is not a ‘common Cornish habit to hang heavy jackets, great- Ocean Currents involves several distinct issues, which may be | coats, &c., on the lever of the safety-valve,” and the farmers do discussed apart from each other. It is, of course, obvious that | not, asa rule, “mix guano with limea few days before applying if the temperature explanation of the vertical circulation fails, | the manure.” The editor has seen both these absurdities per- then no illustration of the horizontal circulation, if founded on | formed, and has used them as beacons to warn young men what the temperature theory, can be really effective. But it is admis- | to avoid. I may also remark that Mr. Williams’s Paper is on sible to inquire separately whether the horizontal circulation | Scientific A/iz:ng and not Scientific Nursing. would result from a vertical circulatioa such as the tempera- Falmouth, July 22 J. H. Counins ture theory suggests. For an objection has been urged against _ the theory on account of the nature of the horizontal circulation (see Herschel’s ‘‘ Physical Geography.”) The express object of Formation of Flints the experiment I have suggested is to show that this particular NOTHING can be more annoying to a reporter than to find he objection is unsound, or rather to illustrate the theoretical con- | has not satisfied those whose statements it has been his duty to siderations argued in my essay on the Gulf Stream in the Student | condense. I have therefore carefully examined the report to for July 1868. ; which Mr. Johnson takes exception in his letter to you of the But even in so far as my suggested experiment, like the similar | 11th inst., and I regret that I am unable to acknowledge any one carried out by Dr. Carpenter, illustrates the production of a § error. vertical circulation, I deny that Mr. Laughton’s objection is If Mr. Johnson will be good enough to consult some of those valid. It is quite unnecessary to havea thermometric gradient | who were present at the meeting to which he refers, he will, I resembling that in the terrestrial oceans. Whether Dr. Carpen- | think, be more inclined to admit the accuracy of the report. ter’s view be correct, according to which the Arctic regions are THE WRITER OF THE REPORT 244 NATURE [Fuly 27, 1871

NOTES alluded to, and that they, by this and other means, will not only | Tre arr . fc rescuc geography from being badly taught in our schools, but : HE arrangements are now completed for the session of the will raise it to an even higher standard than it has yet attained. British Association, to commence on Wednesday next ; and we T . in the Schcol of Law and may fairly expect a success‘ul meeting. The large number of | |, ford examiners In the oth, i othe nest Modern oxamin Hist ory at foreign savants who have announced their intention of being De ord have given notice that at tant branel anon 1n present will add greatly to the interest of the meeting, and the ecember, Geography wil form an Eeoesi a aa and that inhabitants of the pleasant Scottish capital seem determined to papers will be set in the Honours Fxamination on this subject display to the utmost their well-known hospitality, both in a alone. public and private capacity. The President’s Address, as we By the appointment of Mr. Alexander Herschel to the Pro- have already announced, will be delivered on Wednesday evening | fessorship of Experimental Philosophy at the Newcastle College at 8 o'clock ; and at the first meeting of the General Committee, | of Physical Science, a vacancy occurs in tLe chair of Natural at 2 P.M. on the same day, the Presidents, Vice-presidents, and | Philosophy at Anderson’s University, Glasgow. Applications Secretaries of each Section will be appointed. On Thursday | must be sent to the secretary by the 26th of August. morning at eleven, the different sections will assemble in the In a letter to the A/icncum, the widow of the late Prof, De rooms appointed for them, for the reading and discussion of re- | 4 organ invites those who possess letters or other mementoes of ports and other communications ; and the sittings will be resumed | the jjJustrious mathematician to lerd them for the purpose of at the same hour each day till Tuesday, August 8. All further preparing a biography. information may be obtained by those wishing to be present from the local secretaries, 14, Young Street, Edinburgh. Pror. Marsh, of Yale College, has just started out on a i. i. ; : second expedition for scientific exploration and discovery in the THE Emperor of Brazil has signified his intention of being far West, which we trust will be still more fruitful in interesting present at the approaching meeting of the British Association, results than the first one which brought to light so many extra- Tue Indian Civil Engineering College at Cooper’s Hill will be ordinary forms of fossil animals, that have been briefly described opened by the Secretary of State and members cf the Council of by him in the American Journal of Science, and referred to from India on Saturday, August 5th. time to time in our pages. His party for the present season will . . . . consist of thirteen besides himself, embracing quite a number of WE have great pleasure in recording the inauguration of an his companions of last year, and it is his intention to spend five effort to raise a memonial to the memory of the late Prof. or six months in searching the cretaceous and tertiary strata of William Al’en Miller, and desire to call thereto the attention of the Rocky Monntain region and the Pacific coast for vertebrate all our readers who appreciate the valuable contributions to | fossil remains. With the experience of the past year and ample science . for whicli : we are indebted vy to that eminent chemist. The facilities. , he expects pects t to make kk very extensive tensive collections, collectior committee consists of Dr. Miller’s fellow-professors at King’s College and fellow-labourers in science, with the Rev. Principal THE New York Commissioners of Fish and Fisheries seem Barry as chairman, Profs. Bentley and Bloxam, and Messrs. | unwearied in their efforts to stock the waters of the State with Cunningham and Tomlinson as secretaries, and Prof. Guy as! the best varieties of fish. Among other results obtained by treasurer. The intention is to raise a fund to be devoted, first, | them, has been the hatching out during the past season of to the preparation of a bust or portrait of the late Dr. Miller, | 3,000,000 shad eggs, or three times the total catch of the Hudson and, seccndly, to the institution of a prize or scholarship in con- | River. They have also bred several millions of white-fish, a nection with King’s College, and bearing his name. The ordi- | million of salmon-trout, while of such fish as the bass, pike, nary amount of subscription is to be one guinea, and the list of | perch, and other variet’es, they have supplied large numbers to subscribers will be published w.thout any statement of the | those who would take and protect them. The period of their anounts subscribed. appointment will expire in the course of a year; but by that ¢ Tue International Congress of Prehistoric Anthropology and time, even if the commission should not Le renewed, they will Archeology, which was last year postponed on account of the have made a most important impression upon the subject of the war, will be held this year at Bologna under the presidency of produc:ion of the fresh-water food supply. Count Gozzadini, and with Prof. Capellini as organising secre- COLLECTORS of scarce works in Natural History, curiosities, tary. The siltings will commence on the Ist of October, and | stone imylements, 1are specimens, &c., should not neglect the will continue during the following week. Mr. John Evans, | opportunity of inspecting the collection of a well-known collec- F.R.S., of 65, Old Bailey, has consented to receive the subscrip- | tor, which will be sold at Thurgood and Giles’s Auction Room, tions of English members, the amount of which has been fixed | 7, Argyll Street, Regent Street, on July 31st and three follow- at ten shillings, and the payment of which entitles the member ing days ; and will be on view two days before the first day’s to the volume of proceedings, sale. THE President and Council of the Royal Geographical Society THE old adage akout civilisation, or at least science, softening have addressed a letter to the Vice-Chancellors of the Univer- | manners, is certainly being exemplified just now in France. M. sities of Oxford and Cambridge on the subject of the teaching of | Paul de Saint-Victor having given utterance to a violent tirade of Physical and Political Geography. They observe that in the | undying hatred against Prussia, M. de Quesneville thus replies scheme now under the consideration of the Universities for the | in the A/onitcur Scientifique :-—“ L’humanité veut qu’on oublie ; examination of Loys between the ages of sixteen and eighteen | l’interét des peuples, qui sont tous fréres, la raison, le bon sens, from all the first-grade schools of England, neither branch of | tout nous dit que dans cette guerre qui vient de finir, la France, geography is included in the list of subjects out of which the | qui a succombé, doit chercher sa revanche, non dans la puissance boys are at liberty to choose any five fur examination. They | de la force brutale, mais dans sa régénération sociale, et quwelle point out that geography has always been regarded as an essential, | doit demander a son génie de prouver sa supériorité dans les though subordinate, element of liberal education, and that it has | sciences, dans les lettres, et dans les arts, et que ce doit étre la been more and more frequently selected as their subject by can- | sa seule vengeance. C’est par ]4 que la France est vraiment in- didates who pass the examination of the Science and Art De- | vincible, c’e-t par la qu’elle doit rester la grande nation, la nati.n partment of South Kensington. They hope that the Universities | aimée et préférée, et non dans une lutte d’obus et de chassepots.” may see reason to repair the omission in the scheme above | Noble words these, and full of the most rare form of genercsily, Suly 27,1871} NATURE 245

that of the vanquished towards the victors ; a fitting response to | prejudicial effect. In the same manner the death of marine the note of reconciliation given forth by the venerable Baron | animals in fresh water appeared due to the giving off of sea- Liebig, to which we referred some weeks since. salt from their bodies to the surrounding fluid. All these facts NorFok has always been noted for its devotion to ornitho- he believes explicable from the laws of endosmose and diffusion. logy. The “ Transactions of the Norfolk and Norwich Naturalists’ “A Kuy to the Natural Orders of British Wild Flowering Society for 1870-71” contains several interesting and useful | Plants,” by Thomas Baxter, is designed to provide an ‘‘ easier, papers, among which we may especially mention ‘‘On the | although perhaps less scientific, method of identifying the orders Ornitholugical Archzeology of Norfolk,” by T. Southwell, ‘‘On | of British Wild Flowering Plants than is generally found in a Method of Registering Natural History Observations,” by | analytical keys.” There isno royal road to botany, and we Prof. Newton, “A Natural History Tour in Spain and Algeria,” | doubt whether it is any real advantage to the student to sacrifice by J. H. Gurney, and ‘‘On Certain Coast Insects found exist- | scientific in favour of superficial characters. ing inland at Brandon, Suffolk.” The author of this last paper A CORRESPONDING member of the Glaszow Natural History believes that these species must have survived for several thousand Society, having been lately in Panama, has contributed to a years, since the great valley of the fens was submerged. The | },.9) journal in the latter city an interesting account of the ants insects found are peculiar to coast sand-hills, the nearest of which of the country. He describes a curious covered way or tubular are at a distance of forty miles; and yet, “‘in spite of their bridge. In tracing one of these covered ways he found it led isolation and alteration of condition, the species are as true and | over pretty wide fracture in the rocks, and was carried across as clearly defined as those of our present coast.” in the air in the form of a tubular bridge of half an inch in Mr. W. G. M‘Ivor, Superintendent of the Cinchona Planta- clameter. It was the scene of busy traffic. ones was near'y a tions of the Bengal Government in British Sikkim, has published oot of unsupported tube from one edge of the cliff to the other. a lengthy report, of which the following is an abstract :—‘‘ The Mr. THWAITES, in his ‘‘ Enumeration of Ceylon Plants,”’ says plantations are situated in the Valley of Rungbee in the | that from the large extent of forest land which has been and is Himalayas, about thirteen miles frem Darjeeling, which seems | now being appropriated to coffee cultivation, there is little doubt admirably adapted for the growth of cinchona. ‘The climate is | that some of the indigenous plants will in time become exceed- very moist, being rarely free from rain. Nevertheless the state | ingly rare, if not altogether extirpated, or exist only in the of the plantations is reported as very unsatisfactory ; the plants | Botanic Garden, into which as ‘many as possible are being intro- have nothing like the luxuriant foliage which characterises those | duced. The obtrusive character, too, of a plant brought to the grown in Southern India on the Nilgheries. They seem to thrive | island less than fifty years since is helping to the character for three or four years at the most, and then become diseased.” | of the vegetation up to an elevation of 3,000 feet. This is the Mr. M‘Ivor says that trees of equal height do not produce so | Zaytana mixta, a verbenaceous species introduced from the West much bark as in the South of India, being of more s‘ender | Indies, which appears to have found in Ceylon asoil and climate growth, and the bark being thinner. exactly suited to its growth. It now covers thousands of acres A GREAT demand for the English sparrow in various parts of ; With its dense masses of foliage, taking complete possession of the United States has induced their importation from England | land where cultivation has been neglected or abandoned, pre- and Germany in large numbers; but in many instances where | venting the growth of any other plants, and even destroying small] this has been done in large cages, most of the birds have died on | trees, the tops of which its subscandent stems are able to reach, the passage. In one instance, where four hundred were placed The fruit of this plant is so acceptable to frugivorous birds of all in two cages, only. seven were safely landed in New York. Per- kinds that, through their instrumentality, it is spreading rapidly, sons who have given this subject their attention, advise that the to the complete exclusion of the indigenous vegetation from spots importations be made in long low cages, known as store cages, where it becomes established. which are two or three feet long, about nine inches high, and | --——-—————————————-— twelve from to front, with perches within two inches of the METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATORIES bottom. In a cage of this kind three or four dozen can, it is said, be readily transported, provided they be supplied with proper I% the part of the Quarterly Weather Report of the and fine gravel and plenty of water. Meteorological Office just issued, for J anuary—March, food, ? as well as with sand . 1870, the following information is given with regard to the M, Wurtz has announced to the French Academy of Sciences | observatories from which the observations are recorded, that a young chemist in his laboratory has succeeded in trans- | accompanied by the illustrations which the courtesy of the forming lactose, or the uncrystallisable sugar of milk, into dul- | committee enables us to reproduce. As correct an idea cose or dulcine, the sugar of mannite, which may easily be | as possible is thus given of the value of the thermo- obtained in very beautiful crystals, by the successive reaction of metrical and anemometrical observations published by hydrochloric acid and sodium-amalgam. them, and the local influences which may exert an effect M. FELIx PLATEAU has recently undertaken a number of ex- VALENCI A.The observatory is situated close to the periments to determine the question whether the cause of the | shore on the south side of the island, about three miles death of fresh-water animals when removed to sea water, and | from the open sea. of marine animals when removed to fresh water, is the dif- The anemograph is on the roof of the house, which ference in the density or in the chemical constitution of the | is two stories high. Its exposure is fairly good, for water. His observations were made mostly on various species al though it is situated in a valley, with hills of the of Articulata; he found that those fresh-water species which height of about 1,000 feet to the south and south-east es + ae . of it at a distance of three miles, and with a slight hill possess an aérial respiration can survive the change to salt water, about 700 feet high di h f il th wale hile those those which which p possess only ya” a branchial and cutaneous respi- north-west . of it, high the distant country three-quarters towards the of a other mile points on the ration die quickly. By experimenting on water made denser by | of the compass is quite open, and the situation for the solution of sugar, M. Plateau came to the conclusion that | wind is as favourable as can be obtained on that very the density of the water is not the ‘lestructive agent, but a portion | rugged coast. The only point from which the wind is of the salts held in solution. The chlorides of sodium, potassium, | materially deflected or checked by local influence is the and magnesium, he found to be very quickly fatal to fresh-water | north-west. The house is an ordinary dwelling house of species, while the sulphates of magnesium and calcium had no | small size, 246 NATURE [Fuly 27,187

The thermograph is on its north side, facing due N.W. ABERDEEN.—The observatory is at King’s College in 34.N., and on the first story. The bulbs of the instru- | Old Aberdeen, and lies on a plane gradually rising from ments are at a height of twelve feet above the groutd, and about twenty feet above the sea level. The exposure ET is very good, as there are no buildings or trees in the a IZ em vicinity to affect the readings. Ey = 22 == 2 ARMAGH.—The observatory is on a rising ground close SS fy ee to the town ; it is situated in the centre of an pay a garden and pleasureground, containing trees and shrubs | [SSE Egj of moderate size. SS Se ae The anemograph is erected on the roof of the house, ier ames = and raised seventeen feet above it, and is thoroughly well pe = — = exposed to all points, excepting that the country about is == eZ = aa undulating and fairly well wooded, which has the effect of SS SSS meee retarding the motion of the air. . ee The thermograph screen is erected on the north side of a ————— the meteorological observatory; the bulbs are at the SS |e ee distance of four feet from the ground, and about 206 feet Sa Ss above the sea level. The exposure of the screen is good, 2S 4 ee == eae though there are trees and shrubs about it. However, 2a === 4 = p= a

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A Ne eth yy erieeeeeeeteree| "INE | SM ne ST —— 2 ea a le ee ae er ire BS eer OC ea ayaa a ie wee ee 7 | a= ae a | i PUES) — 3a eae ‘J anes | =a a a Dr. Robinson has satisfied himself by an independent| = == ae a ote series of observations that the record taken in the screen | (222 ======e a Sean gives the true temperature of the place. SS | nt oo i GLascow.—The instruments are at the astronomical | _ === == a a= a a THRO observatory, which is placed on a slight rising ground at | = === = aya Bl i cD the west side of the town, and commands a clear view of | === 3 5 == a af the horizon in all directions, It occupies a central posi- | [=$-3\// #2499 ae SS tion in the valley of the Clyde, which is about 16 miles | |=egsesapea a] ‘ et a : in breadth at that place. The bounding hills to the te wey ra aera i cn i north are about 800 feet in height, those towards the | |faaiimg ey gees an Tecan |e i south are about 4ooft. high. i ele a a) HN The prevailing south-westerly winds sweep along the Pew Lore 2mm, CN ) estuary of the Clyde and reach the observatory without seal Altes ———— SE : much interruption. TE ENO NN i ae The exposure both of the anemograph and of the Fee SOF AE OD POTN REE ay thermograph screen is very satisfactory. The former is euAscow : on the roof of the building, the latter is attached to the north wall of the tower in which the equatoreal is placed. | the sea, from which it is distant about a mile. There are The bulbs are 7ft. above the ground, and about rgoft. | no irregularities of surface in the vicinity, excepting the above sea level. two river valleys of the Dee and Don, which are not Fuly 27, 1871 | NATURE - 247 4

great importance. The ground sn i iaely i abou t the font Great thermograph difficulties i i screen. were enc countered ‘The north in aide cotaeaty obtaining o a a site te buildings is 46 ft, above the mean sea level. (opp :

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j eer 1) é ae itll rie. Lt oon a Boner a 5 We. [ea = Le xe y Sy eae P ana Rees 2 Z a sea scar in ee I ff ti Nis Nib Saas Seo x <= Aa A 1 reeenileres eee net ag ram L MU a eee ae rE CARA 07 | eee == NRW eee ! |

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ild- | is almost entirely i occupied i by the chapel. 1. One wall of : anemograply is: crested of seound Iti is well well | | the the building building in whic ich the phy physical cabinet and Pits lecture ng, exposed a 2 on height all sides, of rates Seams the ground It room are situated also affords a north aspect, NATURE

187

27,

Luby [ TU A U 871 248 a Ly : us sho | R EC PS E* th e€ tr r T. 14 ECE SO LI fo rt tel er ; E una i y are gr0 at of . m ich Ww ou the r fro at whi eck ema) ued page 2 33) the lation fom abo ou t th el fee . jet] OB 6 feet a ee SCOPI c SER VA usu al ele it eroun .—P 5 of W po b A elec O seco Sr ry the re isati ion ex th winds the laris y kind of t the ness cl e Mr to La nab ments 0 the ve ey the con ex po rd de me v ry eae Ww. t aroun vé eer ott he f is a affords ove evund, valso c ob ions mad ,b he , riscopi 80 e ; and forme rme were i gro b evel . ° i e opi vie Th con one 1S it : Wi , a nd it no pcre * oe” urs e able ton er T toni mad T] intention to the eer hav eh ny la pi P etri © rec § nge ment mp, th the ric So ad rmi oe a at tha may see ne oF mine Seve Th e of or y how etic th OE polar no FaLa va observat t1es ; e ref ght at ”9 and | w: as et sid ulti thi 1 bes P 10n cMlected ime this sn re- i as ornw oly tec reflec s Te nich Ro all t to 1 partil the he , fle ing n clos ct- farce: uns to h ect e the aren h ted or near i tefl oci e etin ui u le ect ed ty ing ght to j a nN. A cco rdin gl w uc lar W er clos et gical Oo oe ‘0 see of ere h H co rn f i air av ac the -east ng is rep ita icle ing the hills "ereeh : refetor ofthe to th th one of e ill whi wn 1S mi e fa e the and the n c the rete “hese 3s, oO iy tions ret yout uilt . of if an i th to angle condo e ,t oO ogr. aph lamp eee e em te e ce re asain, sum to rticl e and in Oo al l si but ro ammit fa th n , of imagine, € €xpo sed yn 74 . rind ct ground r ti n ord ores opi pic in th en el is unevel en fore presenta ne arise d the ie tp arti maximom ati c ow n our it he rom icle it see sae ta th iy from S 0 arbo ms is is ta i co dee to oat ng wet ans t N limp. arbour, spe ally it ow wi ableange ord “hina set ‘th i quite en pon rs easter! y- f I the 0 Ov n stn 50 Posi i r ro reflect to T siti oO m th 1c r at rn W lace re arti an e qui sat e ur tmos bentie g ’ thermo better ec be. oo that nat th sati ‘own nosh, h Ite however other all Pre no ra a th e val angle ee ation the anily be The scree pol 4 ele. ee ° om Su whi 1 wi n ed. ta bo ur ari of feet north ’ is. the ris as ; great . 29 ev ground, pa ve c at a M se "en a sw ve by ve or 3 ry el , Sa . he . i th re tek angie 4 d this m agni whick h d about amet 1S the dw im » scan, pla sack pa 0 gr S hae e ne at ur no to th verlin 0 s sta e ofa wi y disposal 5 at possi i of oan good plac. an b s sal i a 1 be > reat um en tb hich wane re Ww Spt «ath cat vou : nd ny po Fight, ion, rt the . “ane fi ircu 1 ea whethe is olarsed the atio ee Hance y “Lee i cee there s co A pene ON Y HU obser Vv ds e there ve stan ; ¢¢ eon the am of a he sy oO he coure brilli & polari which TT a ount the © stands Now lancy havi n ce! rs scan imagi aginary S gard rs m pa our r ge cvel, 1, S cer a rt 5 we sbove di ograp oh stands t et oreo ere - it i 5 scr t sun's in and ch es creen eee a 0 oe rical cet h near Pa the or ur org cjlind e e or iS hich ours a root lh cups ae ove ngle esent ncy vl pean © . in ight ext sma rillia 30 ™ ground entir el disa el 0 : . disa as S 1S t the c are. 1s a peat " co r oll 3 distir bat pened. “The Bee unt inclu 8 rounds ° colo 0 le, ve, brillianc very rs, the i ery Vv thi SO, th are gen er f eed whic ood ed not includin y nd 5 e ny cry trees the a e al That on a wit mo sm “ut mn the mere ou wh hei ateri lal elab tha De we a r € t tr 3 Os e tot rona j in of a lyin Seite ngly ea ent ath anemoer height stro of ‘tu gum fro re "alstance a bout yinfluene yards, r a a Fb . avou polarised ar e, D ar rgu bes ine nograph . Wt by iF coron 1g foun cee : a stren wa also nd to be ro At mai the col .W The: ain a pla ; ma er vat ° build d lege is aoe Sa * obs tha t ha at ang a een a tl the re of Sa angula e tt aa ot nd ho et ohser oo istan 1° . th ave h N of nce Yardy ¢ scor: btai a oo N f servator 5 eing and have ose eo i fo be ae W. ” She my a n i height ae som -b 0 er i is one. e th Fell ect he is te ge had y Oo imperfect i § the who itt ortuni nit cussi tos poi nt cares bill Longrde 2 neares Ind ad JI h sub: we an an se sh esi itate f . W by No , olleg 1 1’, h M 1861 hi ol r. ‘ets t by y an jc ea | shoul ing rom ya We of N. fi i “N Gi ‘lis li th s rT fang > peas r. SS at rato 58 at a open y Liai hem ge heiet Wo B e hi e y is di an po tion wi in he height Between thes n. c i M. inh ° east . a ou in 868, : east rmiles ist an ce a Gillis, he the abo there ) ee i 0 aw an i ‘sation , whi led eli ieve . To igh t i LW. tne sl Ww. the It eee i eve ry | seer ae at th hich be og gra ph | had whole Se la Yr € en em e airl y SO or ren t points of th Cc hi that ication of 5 is, S ome ass sae tw er 0 wer r bul a ch ed mi ee peer att ek ere the the at venee ‘h s wi of Thi e ato S ar an on the 1 y; ulb re at n el evation vation not accor ne e w beg con of n e in in usion ‘canoes e Th e X nee rom ora sl 101 vn let me ade the is E18 i tied EW ob S erv a 1S ott wings 10 n at nat wi ame. P a whe situated well is m 0 n atory he 1S astm erie ve t ene ees ich tis a that no sens reflec cted sunli n the to t ne sid ee pol ari LS ha ve en osed the ind tree: the sto ects observed. ed. th er ei i a ow of on ee sen — A seo MA DL sc T HE m of which P AS RES ULIS u is ve y yards’ R oe R VA at the Oe THE SPE BSER TION S eria the ed wind “The CTROSCOPI a 8 p Ss th e unt assi g to s ob , Lwi Ist ced opic ervati wil ate The’: th rick 0 tons . Ma adl on usio sa no a and M scre tes thea t contlnete Astr ake Royal e . he 1 W arri da th n so 1860 ec cn red th T vatio of mer gath ogee a ory fe € Ww north wal at we R Oo a l ec el ive the hie a a er val n tur ed ree ore wally hei ol feet rice Vv eth ? not out Brith seaeae Oo na est eri in 186 I , sta ass um p: ten x ground ociati at m vanch it the the abov u of an xt endi to ‘noon a ob- y ight pos he ol ion ng ennlaine ined be neve of \ nosph m 0 ic he » ained hop a no the evi on ur whi ould ’ tho ou ght. expl oppor cage lewin the servali of lantame » R I we g eli tt he nsti Fri rida M 18 716 volum itself. *L deli ver oyal or n, arch 17) me So ecture eda stituti Y) Fuly 27, 1871 | NATURE 249

in no other way, and he held also that the polarisation experi- | again faded away. Five of these lines were visible, but two ments seemed to show the same thing. The Astronomer Royal | decidedly superior to the rest... .. The readings of the two was content to find the reflection, which so many now insist must | brightest were secured. It struck me as strange that these be at the sun, taking place somewhere between the earth and | brightest lines should appear at a part of the spectrum not cor- . responding to any very conspicuous dark lines in the solar -M. Madler’s verdict is in the same direction, and though he | spectrum. . . . . [These lines are a little less refrangible than does not perhaps express so decided an opinion, he maintains | IE..] The third line seen in order of brilliancy must have been that the atmosphere plays a principal part in the phenomenon ; | either coincident with, or very near the place of the sodium line and after detailing experiments to show this, he remarks of the | D, but it was much fainter than the two measured, while the solar and atmospheric portions, ‘‘ Both cover each other and | fourth and fifth lines were extremely faint.”” [They were very unite in one phenomenon, so that the corona is a mixed phe- | faint and DOUBLED, and near F. I have seen F give way toa nomenon.” double line in our hydrogen experiments, though I am not I shall shortly show you that the spectroscope, leaving the | prepared to say this is an explanation of Mr. Pogson’s ob- telescope out of consideration, has taught us that this is true ; | servations. ] though I shall not be able to show you that it is the whole truth ; The fact that we have here the first observations of the spect- we are not yet ina position to do that. Madler concludes his | rum of the sun’s corona is one beyond all doubt ; and why M. observations by remarking :—‘‘ We cannot share the doubts of | Rayet and Mr. Pogson thought they were observing prominences those who are afraid to surround the sun with too many envelopes; | when they were observing above them, is explained by a remark neither do we find anything unnatural in the statement that the | made by Captain Tupman, of the Royal Marine Artillery, who sun has as many atmospheres as Saturn has rings ; but we gladly | acted as jackal to Prof. Harkness, and picked out the brighter admit that we cannot yet say anything positive. We have here | spots of the corona for his observation. Prof. Harkness observ- a large field of probabilities, and the decision may yet be | ing the prominence bright lines, said to Captain Tupman, ‘‘ You distant.” have turned the telescope on to a prominence; I want the We can speak with more certainty now! corona.” ‘‘No,” said Captain Tupman, ‘‘I am giving you the corona as well as I can.” It was certainly the corona in IV.—SPECTROSCOPIC OBSERVATIONS both cases. Here you see, dimly and darkly, the first outcome : of the spectroscope on the nature of the corona; a record as a.— Spectrum of the Corena first observed by Tennant, Pogson, fairly written as mn nythi ng at the sun can write it; and I am and Kayet more anxious to lay stress on these observations, since they have We now come to the consideration of those observations in | lain fallow for two years, and show the importance of observa- which we are aided bya most powcrful and our most recent ally, | tions, not only in extending our knowledge, but in explaining the spectroscope, first used on the eclipsed sun, as you know, in | prior observations ; and it is an additional reason for never re- the eclipse of 1868. You all know that in that year the question | jecting an observation. What was, however, dim and dark in of the nature of red flames was for ever settled by M. Janssen, | 1868, shone out brightly in 1869, thanks to the skill of the Major Tennant, Captain Herschel, and others, who observed | American observers of the eclipse of that year. that eclip:e in the most admirable manner ; but we have nothing b,—Lab : heari J . to do with the red flames now, we have to do with something -—Laboratory Experiments bearing on these Observations outside them. But before I proceed to refer to the admirable observations Now, most of you are under the impression, and it was mine | made in America during this eclipse, I wish to introduce you to until the day before yesterday, that the only thing we learnt about | some work which was commenced in 1868, and has been done the corona in the eclipse of 1868, was that its spectrum wasacon- | quite independently of eclipses. In a lecture which I delivered tinuous one ; and I need not tell anyone in this theatre that the as- | here about two years ago, I described to you some of the facts sertion that it was continuous was one that was extremely embarrass- { observed by the spectroscope in the bright-line region which had ing, and implied that we had something non-gaseous outside the red | been spectroscopically determined to exist all round the sun, and flames, which seemed very improbable to those who know anything | which, as in it all the various coloured effects are seen in total about the subject. But some of you will no doubt remember that, eclipses, I had named the Chromosphere. It was clear that by besides Major Tennant, who made this observation, we had a | the new method of observing this without any eclipse, by partially French observer, M. Rayet, who gave us a diagram of the | killing, so to speak, the atmospheric light, we got a percentage spectrum of one of the prominences, and Mr. Pogson, who has | only of the phenomenon, as the atmospheric light could only be now been for some time in India, and is a well-known observer, | killed by an amount of dispersion which enfeebled and shortened who gave us, nominally as the spectrum of a prominence, a | the chromospheric lines ; so that although we could say that an spectrum with some curious variaticns from M. Rayet’s diagram. | envelope of some 5,000 or 6,000 miles in height existed round the I exhibit a copy of M. Rayet’s diagram of the spectrum of a | sun, we could not fix this asa maximum limit. Further, when prominence, as he called it. At the bottom is what he con- | we examined the spectrum of this envelope we got long lines and sidered as the spectrum of the lower portion of the prominence ; short lines; and I told how the short lines indicated a low while in the higher portion, where we get fewer lines, as he con- | stratum, and how a long line indicated a higher one. To explain sidered, is the spectrum of the higher portion of the prominence. | this, I will show you an observation made long before the new The spectrum of the lower portion contains the lines B, D, E, | method was thought of. Even before that time we had abun- and F, and some other lines, in all nine, while the spectrum of | dant evidence of such strata, if we could not determine their the upper part of the prominence, as he thought it, only con- | nature: we had distinct evidence either of one thing thinning tains three lines. It was at first difficult to account for these | out, and then another, or that various substances were situated observations. In the first place, one could not understand | at different levels, under different conditions ;. on the first hypo- the line B being given, because I soon found that the line | thesis, at the extreme outside of the chromosphere the last thing B was not seen as a bright line in the chromosphere spectrum ; it | would thin out, and then there would be an end of all things as was clearly the line C that was intended. Hence doubt was | respects the sun. thrown on the other lines ; it seemed as if M. Rayet was wrong I will show you a drawing made by Prof. Schmidt of the about his elongated lines D, E, and F, and probably meant C | eclipse of 1851. I do not wish to call your attention to the near Dand F. And so it was explained—I am ashamed to say | strange shape of the large prominence, but to the fact, that as by myself—that there was no particular meaning in these elon- | the moon passed over this region we get a thin red band, first gated lines, exc2pt that the spectrum of the prominence some | along the edge of the dark moon, and after the moon had passed distance away from the sun was simpler than it was nearer the | over still further, we see this red layer, suspended as it were in the sun, as happens in all prominences, as we may now determine | chromosphere, with a white layer below it. This is the explana- any day we choose to look at the sun by means of the spectro- | tion of the long and short lines visible in the spectrum of the scope. chromosphere ; in the red layer we have hydrogen almost alone ; Now let us hear Mr. Pogson. He gave a diagram showing five | below, its red light was conquered by other light with bright lines in the spectrum of what he thought a prominence, and he | lines in all parts of the spectrum, and we get white light. writes :—‘* A faint light was seen (in the spectroscope), scarcely Lord Lindsay tells me he has a distinct indication, written by coloured, and certainly free from either dark or bright lines. | thesun himself, that in one particular part of the chromosphere, as While wondering at the dreary blank before me, and feeling recorded photographically in Spain, there were three such layers. intensely disappointed, some bright lines came gradually into And over and over again we find recorded white light close to view, reached a pretty considerable maximum brilliancy, and | the sun, then red alone, or red mixed with yellow, then violet, 250 NATURE [Fuly 27, 1871 er and lastly green. And M. Madler remarks on this very admir- | bottom of one tube, and the green tinge at the bottom of the other; ably, ‘‘ The violet band is the link between the prominences and | and if there were time to continue this experiment by increasing the corona.” the density of the vapours now associated with the hydrogen, I Before going further, I will show you the difference in the | could make the bottom portion of each tube where the vapours appearance of what we may term hot hydrogen and cold hydro- | are densest shine out almost like the sun, while the cool hydrogen gen, that is, hydrogen which we drive into different degrees of | at the top would remain not more brilliant tian it is at present, incandescence by means of the spark. After Dr. Frankland and | We should have as it were a section of the chromosphere. myself were able to determine that the pressure in these solar V,—ConcLusIon regions was small, we came to the conclusion that outside the . : . hot hydrogen there must be some cooler hydrogen, in order that I will proceed now, if you will allow me, to some of the the phenomena we observed, both in the laboratory and in the general results obtained during the last eclipse. observatory, should agree. _ I think that, although the work has been very unfortunately I have in this tube hydrogen ata certain pressure, and here we | interrupted, still the result has been most satisfactory. By putting have a coil which will enable us to send a spark through it ; you together observations here and observations there, I consider our see we get a certain amount of redness in that tube, and if you knowledge of the sun 15 enormously greater than it was a few look on one side or above you will see a sort of bluish-greenish | months ago. For instance, we are enabled to understand the light. Now that redness represents the condition of the hydro- long-neglected observation of Rayel, and the equally long- gen in the region of the sun where Dr, Schmidt gave us that ex- | neglected observation of Pogson ; and we lew that outside the tremely thin red ring, and the combination of the blue and red | hydrogen there is, in all probability, a new element existing in a would give you something very like violet. state of almost infinite tenuity. And we are sure of the existence But here I have hydrogen under a different condition. In the of cool hydrogen above the hot hydrogen, a fact which seemed tube its rareness is not excessive ; but in this globe, of which I am | to be negatived by the eclipse of 1869. h . about to speak, you have the nearest approach to a vacuum ever | _ I think if we had merely determine t at there was this cool obtained through which a spark will pass; and I beg to call your hydrogen, all our labour would not Bu ‘the in vain, as it shows attention to what will now happen. This globe contains the | the rapid reduction of temperature. But there is more behind, same chemical element prepared at the same time as the I told you that M, Madler, in “tusion tt up the observations chemical element you have in the tube, but you see that, so | Made up to 1860, came to the conclusion that part of the corona far as colour goes, we have something perfectly different in this | Was certainly solar, and that whether the ner portions were or case. Now we send the spark through it. I would beg Prof. | Were not solar, was a matter o out. do not say that we frm, evidence that Tyndall, if he will be good enough, to observe the spectrum have settled that absolutely, but we ave of this hydrogen in this globe. [Prof. Tyndall did so.] You | s2”e of the light of the cor oe to rellexton between will see that there is one line? [Prof Tyndall: Yes.] Anda the earth and the moon. e outer corona was observed continuous spectrum? [Prof Zyndal7:; And a continuous | have a rosy tinge as d the Pe many tn and the spectrum spectrum.] Cool hydrogen gives us only the bright line F, plus of the, Prominences was etecte wen rrnnutes above them, a continuous spectrum, and many of you will know the extreme 8 os as he the f are moon. | eon d not have got this importance of that observation. It accounts for the F line being | CHOUr a tHe sun, for Its Fel oe then our is green, and the red observed without the C line in 1868 and last year, and also for light of the hydrogen supplied at the sun is abolished altogether, he continuous spectrum observed in the Indian eclipse. as eae liek and can only reach the corona at the sun, so to speak, e.—Lhe diurican Leclipse It is a great fact that we are sure, as far as observation can When we come from the Indian to the American eclipse with | make us sure, that there is a glare round the hydrogen which the considerations to which I have drawn your attention, namely, | gives us the spectrum of hot hydrogen on the corona, where we the existence of these different layers due to the different ele- | Aow that hot hydrogen does not exist. Assume the hot hydrogen ments and conditions of the same element thinning out, we shall | which gives us the red light to be only two minutes high, the see the extreme importance of the American observations, for | spectroscope has picked it up eight minutes from the sun! The they establish the fact that outside the hydrogen layer there was | region of cool hydrogen is exaggerated in the same way. We a layer giving only a line in the green, the line which Rayet and | get it where there is no indication of the cool hydrogen existing. Pogson had observed associated with the hydrogen spectrum and | And then with regard to the element which gives us the line of the spectrum of the yellow substance. Here obviously we have, | the green, we get that twenty minutes or twenty-five minutes I think, merely an indication of another. substance thinning out, | away from the sun, Well, no man who knows anything about in spite of the extraordinary suggestion which was put forward | the matter will affirm that it is certain that the element exists at that the corona was nothing but a permanent solar aurora. that distance from the sun. ; I need hardly tell you that the idea of a permanent aurora any- Therefore I think we have absolutely established the fact that where was startling, and that of a permanent solar aurora more | as the sin—the uneclipsed sun—gives us a glare round it, so each startling still; but what I claim is, that during last year’s obser- | layer of the chromosphere gives us a glare round it. Thats vations we made this very startling idea into a most beautiful | exactly what was to be expected, and that it is true is proved by fact, namely, that this outer layer of the chromosphere is in all | the observation—a most important observation made in S pain— probability nothing more nor less than an indication of an element | that the air, the cloud, ever between us and the dark moon, gives lighter than hydrogen, although this is not yet absolutely estab- | us the same spectrum that we get from the prominences lished, for the line is coincident with one of the lines in the | themselves. spec rum of iron. Given, however, the layers and elements in the chromosphere . en: , . extended as far as you will, and apparently increased or not by d.—The layers inci the a rapidly in Density. Reproduction | resection not at the Sun, We have etill to y ccount for rays, rifts, of the Coloure enomend and the like. If anyone will explain either Mr. Brothers’s photo- Dr, Frankland and myself were early drawn to consider the | graph or Mr. Gilman’s picture of the eclipse of 1869, containing solar nature of the large coronas, to which I have called your | those dark bands starting from the moon and fadmg away into attention, as extremely questionable, even on the supposition of | space, and the bright variously-coloured rays between them, on cool hydrogen, because we did not see how, with its temperature | any solar theory, he will render great service to science. But in and pressure, it could extend very far: and an experiment which | the meantime I must fall back upon M. Madler’s opinion of I have to make here will probably make that clearer. 1860, with the addition to it that I have stated that we have We have in these glass vessels hydrogen a little more brilliant | found, at all events, that some of the doubtful light is non-solar ; now the spark passes through it than that you saw in the globe, | we have turned the opinion into a fact. because I have been compelled to mix with it acertain amount of Bear in mind that close to the sun you have a white layer com- mercury vapour. Below, we have at the present moment sodium posed of vapours of many substances, including all the outer vapour being generated from metallic sodium in one tube, and | ones; outside this isa yellow region ; above that a region of mercury vapour in the other. I hope, if the experiment suc- | hydrogen, incandescent and red at the base, cooler, and therefore ceeds, you will see that a good many of the coloured phenomena | blue, higher up, the red and blue commingling and giving us seen in the chromosphere during eclipses may be easily repro- | violet; and then another element thinning out and giving us duced by such experiments as this; and not only the coloured | green. Take these colours in connection with those which are phenomena but ¢he zncrease of brilliancy accompanied by changes | thrown on our landscapes or on the sea during eclipses, each of colour recorded. You can now all see the yellow tinge at the | region being lit up in turns with varying, more or less mono- Fuly 27, 1871] NATURE 251 eee chromatic light, and that light of the very colour composing the | Let us then first inquire for 2 moment what the phenomena various layers, each layer being, as I have shown, so much : are which we are called upon to correlate and to explain. There brighter than the outer ones that its light predominates over them. | is no dispute about these facts, and a glance at the chart will Ts it too much to suggest to those who may be anxious to attempt | at once recall them to your recollection. In the first place, to elucidate this subject, that probably if they would consider | the lines of equal mean annual temperature, instead of showing all the conditions of the problem presented by that great screen, | any tendency to coincide with the parallels of latitude, run up the moon, allowing each of these layers by turn to throw its light | into the North Atlantic and into the North Sea, in the form earthwards, the inequalities of the edge of the globular moon | ofa series of long loops. This diversion of the isothermal lines from allowing here light to pass from a richer region, here stopping | their normal direction is admittedly caused by surface ocean- light from even the dimmer ones, they would be able to explain | currents conveying the warm tropical water towards the polar the rays, their colours, variations, apparent twi-tings, ard change | regions, whence there is a constant counter-flow of cold water of side? Ido not hesitate to ask this question, because it isa | beneath tu supply its place. This phenomenon is not conhned difficult one to answer, since the whole question is one of enor- | to the North Atlantic. A corresponding series of loops, though mous difficulty. But difficult though it be, I wrust I have shown | not so well defined, passes southwards along the east coast of you that we are on the nght track, and that in spite of our bad | South America, and a very marked series occupies the north- weather, the observations made by the English and American | eastern angle of the Pacific, off the Aleutian Islands and the coast Government Eclipse Expedition of 1870 have largely increased | of California. The temperature of the land is not affected di- our knowledge. rectly by the temperature of the sea in its immediate neighbour- With increase of knowledge generally comes a necessity for | hood, but by the temperature of the prevailing wind, which is changing the nomenclature belonging to a time when it was im- | determined by that of the sea. Setting aside the still more im- perfect. The researches to which I have drawn your attention | portant point of the equalisation of summer and winter tempera- form no exception to this rule. A few years ago our science was | ture, the mean annual temperature of Bergen, lat. 60° 24’ N., sub- satished with the terms pruminences, sierra, ai.d corona, to re- ; ject to the ameliorating influence of the south-west wind blowing present the phenomena I have brought before you, the nature of | over the temperate water of the North Atlantic, is 6°7° C. while both being absolutely unknown, as is indicated by the fact that | that of Tobolsk, lat. 58° 13’, is —- 2°4° C. the term sverra was employed, and aptly so, when it was imagined | But the temperature of the North Atlantic is not only raised the prominences might be solar mountains! We now know | greatly above that of places onthe same parallel of latitude many of the consti uent materials of the-e strange things; we | having a continental climate by this inerchange of tropical and know that we are dealing with the exterior portion of the solar | polar water, but it is greatly higher than that of places appa- atmosphere. and a large knowledge of solar meteorology is al- | rently similarly circumstanced as to a general interchange of ready acquired, which shows us the whole mechanism of these | water in the Southern Hemisphere. Thus, the mean annual prominences. But we also know that part of the corona is | temperature of the Faroe Islands, lat. 62° 2’N.is71°C. nearly not at the sun at all. Hence the terms /eucosphere and halo have | equal to that of the Falkland Islands, lat. 52°S., which is 8 2°C., been suggested to designate in the one case the regions where the } and the temperature of Dublin, lat. 53° 21’ N., is 9°6° C., while general radiation, owing to a reduced pressure and temperature, | that of Port Famine, lat. 53° 8'S, 1s 5°3°C. Again the high is no longer subordinate to the selective radiation, and in the | temperature of the North Atlantic is not equally distributed, but other, that part of the corona which is nen-olar. Neither of | is very marked in its special determination to the nortt-east these terms is apt, nor is either necessary. Afi purposes will be | coasts. Thus, the mean annual temperature of Hatifax, lat. served if the term corona be retained as a name for the exterior | 44° 39’, 1s 6°2° C., while that of Dublin, lat. 53°21’ isy6C., region, including the rays, rilts, and the like, about which doubt | and the temperature of Boston (Mass.) lat. 42° 21’is exactly the still exists, though it is now proved that some part is zo2-solar, | same as that of Dublin. while tor the undoubted solar portion the term Chromosphere— We thus arrive at the well-known general result, that the tem- the biight-line region—as it was defined in this theatre row two | perature of the sea bathing the north-east shores of the North years ago, exactly expresses its characteristic features, and | Atlantic is greatly raised above its normal point by currents in- differentiates it fr. m the photosphere and the associated portion | volving an interchange of tropical and polar water ; and that the of the solar atmosphere. lands bordering on the Nurth Atlanuc participate in this ameliora- Here my discourse would end, if it were not incumbent on me | tion of climate by the heat imparted by the water to their prevail- to state how gra.eful 1 teel to Her Majesty's Government for | ing winds. giving us the upportunity of going to the eclipse; to place on We shall now examine this distribution of ocean temperature record the pleasure we ail felt in beiny so closely associated in | a little more minutely. During the last many years a prudiyious our work with the distinguished American astronomers who from | amount of data have been accumulating with re erence to the fir-t to last aided us preatly ; and to express our great grati'ude | detailed distribution of heat on the surface of the No th Atlantic to all sorts of new friends whom we found wherever we went, | bisin, and last year M. Petermann, of Gotha. published in his and who welcomed us as if they had known us from our child- | “ Geographische Mittheilungen ” a series ot invaluable temperature hood. J. NORMAN LOCKYER charts embodying the resuits of the reduction of upwards of 100,000 ubserv ations derived mainly from the following sources :— eee Ist. Fromthe wind and currentcharts of Lieut. Maury, em- ON THE DISTRIBUTION OF TEMPERATURE | b: ,,30,,f%0% dying about 30,000 $0,900 observations distinct tempcrature male Ly observations. Dutch sea captains IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC * 3rd. From the journal of the Cunard steamers between Liver- At the request of the Council of the Scottish Meteorological Pompny between Glasoow Ct Me steamers of the Montreal Society, I beg to bring before you a sketch of the more 4'h. From the data collected by our excellent secretary, Nr. recent results of investigations into the causes of the abnormal Buchan, with regard to the temperature of the coast of climate of the surface of a great portion of the North Atlantic | scotland. Ocean, and of the lands which form its north-eastern borders ; sth. From the publications of the Norwegian Institute on sea and especially the results of the deep-sea exploriny expeditions temperatures between Norway, Scotland, and Iceland. of the last three years, in which I have taken a part, so Jar as they 6th. From the data furnished by the Dani-h Rear-admiral bear upon this point. . Irminger on sea temperatures between Denmark and the Danish In arecent valuable report on the Gulf Stream in the ‘‘Geo- | ccttlements in Greenland . . . 2” - . gr apliische Mittheilungen, of last year, pr. Fetermann severely 7th. From the observations made by Lord Dufferin on board and, I think, too justly, reflected upon us students of ocean tempe- | his yacht Foam between Scotland, Iceland, Spitzbergen, and ratures for giving ourselves up to wild and gratuitous speculation. | yy, way. } wih if possible, by ae presen naire ae avoid all risk of _ And finally from the recent observations collected by the Eng- uch Impeachment, by “mung quiry rigidly jor the ’ew | jish, German, Swedish, an! Kussian expeditions to the Arc'ic minues Ihave at my disposal to the present condition of our | Regions and tow: ~ fair] knowledge ge dered of facts, proved and to such deductiuns from these as may y be egions Dr. Petermann and towards has the devo:ed North the Pole, special | attention . of a great part y considered proved. of his life to this question, and the accuracy of his results in every * Address deiivered to the Meteorological Society of Scotland at the | “etail is beyond the shadow of a doubt. Every curve of equal General Meeting of the Society. Tulv s. temperature, whether for the summer, for the winter, or for the 252 NATURE [Fuly 27, 1871 ee whole year, instantly declares itself as one of a system of curves | of 2,435 fathoms in the Bay of Biscay, that down to 50 fathoms which are referred to the Strait of Florida as the source of heat, | the temperature of the sea was greatly affected by direct solar and the warm water may be traced (and this is not begging the | radiation ; from 100 to goo fathoms the temperature gradually question, for the temperature is got by dipping the thermometer | fell from 10° C. to 4° C., and from goo fathoms to 2,435 the fall in the water), in a continuous stream, indicated where its move- | of temperature was almost imperceptibly gradual from 4° to ment can no longer be observed by its form, fanning out from the | 2°°5 C, neighbourhnod of the Strait across the Atlantic, skirting the The comparatively high temperature from 100 fathoms to 900 coasts of France, Britain, and Scandinavia, rounding the North | fathoms I am certainly inclined to attribute to the northern accu- Cape, and passing the White Sea and the Sea of Kari, bathing | mulation of the water of the Gulf Stream. The radiant heat dc- the western shores of Novaja Semla and Spitzbergen, and finally | rived directly from the sun must of course be regarded as a con- coursing round the coast of Siberia, a trace of it still remaining | stant quantity superadded to the original temperature of the water to try to find its way through the narrow and shallow | derived from other sources. Taking this into account, the surface Behring’s Strait into the North Pacific. Now it seems to me | temperatures in what we were in the habit of calling the ‘‘ warm that if we had these observations alone, which are merely de- | area” coincided precisely with Petermann’s curves indicating the tailed and careful corroborations of many previous ones, and could | northward path of the Gulf Stream. depend upon them, without even having any clue to their It is scarcely necessary to say that for every unit of water which rationale, we should be forced to admit that whatever might | entersthe basin of the North Atlantic, an equivalent must return, be the amount and distribution of heat derived from a general | From its low velocity, the Arctic return current or indraught will cceanic circulation, whether produced by the prevailing winds of | doubtless tend slightly to a westerly direction, and the higher ihe region, by convection, by unequal barometric pressure, by | specific gravity of the cold water may probably even more power- tropical heat, or by arctic cold, there is besides this some other | fully lead it into the deepest channels ; or possibly the two causes source of heat at the point referred to by these curves sufficiently | may combine, and in the course of ages the currents may tend to powerful to mask all the rest, and, broadly speaking, to produce } hollow out deep south-westerly grooves, At all events, the main of itself all the perceptible deviations of the isotherms from their | Arctic return currents are very visible on the chart taking that normal course. direction, indicated by marked deflections of the isothermal lines, But we have no difficulty in accounting for this source of | The most marked is the Labrador current, which passes down heat. As is well-known,: about the equator, the north-east | inside the Gulf Stream along the coasts of Carolina and New and south-east trade winds reduced to meridional directions | Jersey, meeting it in the strange, abrupt “cold wall,” dipping by the eastward frictional impulse of the earth's rotation, drive | under it as it issues from the Gulf, coming to the surface again on before them a magnificent surface current of hot water, the | the other s de, and a portion of it actually passing under tne Gult cquatorial current, 4,000 miles long and 450 miles broad, at an | Stream as a cold counter-current into the deeper part of the Gulf average rate of thirty miles a-day. This current splits upon | of Mexico. Cape St. Roque, and one portion trends southwards to deflect Fifty or sixty mites out from the west coast of Scotland, I the isotherms of 21° 15°5°, 10°, and 4°5° C. into loops, thus | believe the Gulf Stream forms another through a very mitigated carrying a scrap of comfort towards the Falklands and Cape | ‘‘cold wall.” In 1868 Dr. Carpenter and I investigated I{corn. While the remainder, “having made the circuit of the | a very remarkable cold indraught into the channel between Gulf of Mexico, issues through the S:raits of Florida, clin.ing | Shetland and Faroe. In a lecture on deep-sea climates, which in shore round Cape Florida, whence it issues as the Gulf Stream, | was published in NaTURE, in July last, I stated my belief that in a majestic current upwards of 30 miles broad, 2,200 feet | the current was entirely banked up in the Faroe channel by the deep, with an average velocity of 4 miles an hour, and a tempera- | Gulf Stream passing its gorge. ture of 86° Fahr.” (Herschel.) Since that time I have been led to suspect that a part of the I need scarcely follow the course of the Gulf Stream in detail, | Arctic water oozes down the Scottish coast much mixed, and it is generally so well known. After leaving the Strait of Florida, | sufficiently shallow to be affected throughout by solar radiation. it strikes in a north-easterly direction conformable generally to | About sixty or seventy miles from shore the isothermal lines have the easterly impulse given by its excess of diurnal rotation, to- | a slight but uniform deflection. Within that line types charac- wards the coast of Northern Europe. About 42° N. a large | teristic of the Scandinavian fauna are numerous, and in the course portion of it, still maintaining the high surface temperature of | of many years’ use of the towing net, I have never met with any 24°C., turns eastward and southward, and, eddying round the | of the Gulf Stream pteropods, or.of the lovely Polycystine Sargasso Sea, fuses with the northern edge of the equatorial | and Acanthometrinz, which absolutely swarm beyond that limit. current, and rejoins the main circulation. The main body, how- | The differences in mean temperature between the east and w st ever, moves northwards. Mr. Croll, in a very suggestive paper | coasts of Scotland, amounting to between 1° and 2° Fahr., ‘s in the SAilosophical Magazine on Ocean Currents, estimates the | also somewhat less than might have been expected. Gulf Stream as equal to a stream of water fifty miles broad and There is another point which is worthy of consideration. It 1,000 feet deep, flowing at a rate of four miles an hour, with a | is often said that about the latitude 45° N. the Gulf Stream thins mean temperature of 18°C. I see no reason whatever to believe | out anddisappears. The course of a warm current is traced far- this calculation to be excessive, and it gives a graphic idea of | ther on the maps, even to the coast of Norway and the North the forces at work. Cape, but this north-easterly extension is called the Gulf Stream The North Atlantic and the Arctic Seas form together a basin | dnft, and is supposed to be a surface flow caused by the pre- closed to the northward, for there is practically no passage for a | vailing S.W. anti-trades. There seem to me to be several body of water through Behring’s Strait. Into the corner of this | arguments against this view. The surface of the sea, at all events basin, as if it were a bath, with a north-easterly direction given | between 40° and 55° N., has a mean temperature higher than to it, as if the supply pipe of the bath were turned so as to give | that of the air, and that could scarcely be the case unless there tte hot water a definite impulse, this enormous flood is poured | were a constant supply, independent of the wind, of water from day and night, winter and summer; almost appalling in its | a warmer source ; and any question is, to my mind, entirely set volume and the continuity of its warmth, and its blueness, and | at rest by our establishment of the mass of warm water moving bri liant transparency 27 s@cula saculorum ! to the north-eastward, whose curves of excess of temperature, The hot water pours, not entirely from the Strait of Florida, | so far as they have as yet been ascertained, correspond entirely but partly from the Strait and partly ina more diffused current | with those of the Gulf Stream. outside the islands, with a decided, though slight, north-easterly I cannot at present enter at any length into the very funda- impulse cn account of its great initial velocity. The North | mental question which hasJately given rise to so much discussion, Atlantic is with the Arctic Sea a cz/-de-sac. When this basin | whether the Gulf Stream is actually the agent in conveying is full—and not till then—overcoming its northern impulse, the | heat to thé North Atlantic and ameliorating the climate water tends southwards in the southern eddy, so that there isa | of its north-eastern shores, or whether these results are not certain tendency for the hot water to accumulate in the northern ; rather produced by a ‘‘ general oceanic circulation.” basin. It is to this tendency, procuced by the absence of a free As, however, I am frequently quoted by my friend and col- outlet to the Arctic Sea, that I would be inclined to attribute the | league in much scientific work, Dr. Carpenter, as holding an special excess of the warmth of the north-eastern shores of the | opinion different from his, and as my present remarks place my North Atlantic. views beyond doubt, it may be well to give a reason for my want When ascertaining with the utmost care and with the most | of faith. Dr. Carpenter’s view, if I understand him rightly, is trustworthy instruments, by serial soundings, the temperature of | that there is a great general convective circulation in the ocean, on the area surveyed by the Porcupine in 1869, we found at a denth | the principle of a hot-water heating apparatus, and that the Gulf Fuly 27, 1871] NATURE 253

Stream is only a modified and partial cause of this general circula- | PHYSIOLOGY tion. Now in the first place, as I have already said, it seems to me | , that the distribution of warm water in the North Atlantic has | The Mouse’s Ear as an Organ of Sensation” been traced to its source, and all the general phenomena of the | Dr. ScHoBL, of Prague, who lately published a remarkable Gulf Stream, its origin, its course, its extension, and its depth at paper on the wing ot the bat, has made similar researches certain points, have been proved by the careful observations of | on the ear of the white mouse, with very interesting and sur- many years, which I see no reason wha‘ever to doubt. The | prising results (in ‘‘ Schultze’s Archiv,” vol. vii. p. 260.) The constant impulse of the trade wind drives a broad current of | first thing which struck Dr. Schobl was the immense and equatorial water against the American coast. A great part of | “fabulous” richness of the ear innerves. Even the bat’s wing this current is observed to turn northwards through the Strait and | is but poorly supplied in comparison. The outer ear was care- round the islands, and to pour an eternal flood of hot water in a } fully divided horizontally through the middle of the cartilage into certain direction, under known laws, into the closed basin of the | two laminze, each of which was found to be equally supplied North Atlantic, and as a natural consequence the temperature is | with nerves, and was then examined by removing the epidermis very considerably raised. and the Malpighian layer of the skin. In each of these lamin We are undoubtedly most deepty indebted to Dr. Crr- | were discovered three distinct strata of nerves, which are thus penter for the forcible way in which he has brought for- | described : The first or lowest stratum lies immediately upon the ward the arguments on the other side; and, alter carefully | cartilage ; it consists of the largest trunks which enter the ear, considering everything, I am thoroughly willing, with Sir | 5 to7 in number, and their next branches, varying from ‘074 mm. John Herschel, to cede that ‘‘there is no refusing to admit | to ‘o28 mm. in diameter. The mode of division of these trunks that an oceanic circulation of some sort must arise from mere | is mainly dichotomous, but they are connected by several different heat, col-l, and evaporation as vere cause ;” and that ‘* hence- kinds of anastomoses ; as, for instance, by decussation of two forward the question of ocean currents will have to be studied | adjacent trunks, by transverse or oblique connecting branches, under a twofold point of view ;” but my strong conviction is that | by plexuses, by loops, &c. ; while branches also perforate the if the sagacious philosopher whose loss we now deplore, had | cartilage, and bring the nerves of the two halves of the ear in‘o been spared so to study it, he would have only been strengthened | connection. The general distribution agrees with that of the in his verdict of 1861 as to the Gulf Stream, that there can be no | larger blood-vessels. The second stratum lies immediately ove: ‘“ possible ground for doubting that it owes its origin entirely to | the first, and is connected with it by a multitude of small the trade-winds.” Dr. Carpeuter attributes the general oceanic | branches, and by a fine marginal plexus at the outer border of circulation, of which he regards the Gulf Stream as onlya modi- | the ear, which may be regarded as common to both. The fied case, to tropical heat and evaporation, and arctic cold, | diameter of its nerves is from ‘0185 mm. to ‘oog8 mm. ; it lies possibly aided by differences of barometric pressures ; or to con- | immediately under the capillary vascular network of the skin, vection pure and simple, as illustrated in his experiments before | and has a generally reticulated arrangement, forming plexuses of the Royal Institution and the Geographical Society. Now | very various shapes. The third stratum of nerves, developed what we expect of Dr. Carpenter before we are called upon | out of the very finest twigs of the second, lies at the level of the to accept to the full his magnificent generalisation, is a calcula- | capillary network ; it is composed of branches ‘oo98 mm. to tion and demonstration of the amount of the effect cf the causes | ‘0037 mm. in thickness, which (like those of the other strata) con- upon which he depends acting under the special circumstances. | tain medullated nerve-fibres, It forms an extremely delicate We must remember that heat is received by the ocean at the sur- | network, like the second layer, but its finest branches may ter- face only, and that owing to cold indraughts all over the globe, so | minate in two ways, Some of them, each containing two to far as we know the temperature falls the deeper we go; that all | four medullated fibres, run directly to the hair follicles, and form our observations tend to show that the temperature of the sea is | a nervous ring round the shaft of the hair, terminating below the only influenced by direct solar radiation to any amount to the | follicle in a nervous knot. Others, again, consisting of not more depth of fifty fathoms, so that all currents depending upon dif- | than two medullated fibres, bend towards the surface where the ference between equatorial and polar temperatures must be pro- | fibres lose their double outline, and form, immediately under the duced and propagated in a film of water about the depth of the | Malpighian layer of the skin, a fine terminal network of pale height of St. Paul’s and 6,000 miles long. The black line | fibres, which is the fourth and ultimate stratum of nervous struc- bounding that chart represents pretty nearly the depth of the | tures. The terminal ‘‘knots” or corpuscles, and the nervous ocean, and even where the whole of the water supposed to be | rings, are inseparably connected with hairs and their sebaceous involved in the movement, it would be difficult to imagine a per- | glands, so that through the whole of the external ear no hair can ceptible current to be produced in so thin and wide a sheet by | be found without this nervous apparatus, and vce versd. The such feeble cause. It would be impossible to indicate by the | connection of the hair follicle with the nerve termination finest hair line the tenuity of the film which is actually affected | is as follows:—Under the bulk of the hair in each by the direct rays of the sun. How differences in barometric | follicle is a more or less conical prolongation, com- pressure can produce constant currents I do not see. Rapid | posed of distinct nucleated cells, which run vertically down- fluctuations in pressure in places within a short distance of one | wards, and is enclosed within the limiting membrane of the another will doubtless produce readjustment by a wave motion ; | follicle. The nervoustwig which, as has been said, runs to each but constant differences of pressure will simply produce constant | hair follicle from the third stratum of nerves, makes several turns differences of level and no currents. Varying pressures at very | round the shaft of the hair, and from the ring thus formed two to distant points cannot possibly produce a constant current. I | four nerve-fibres run vertically downwards to the prolongation freely admit that I am quite incapable of undertaking the investi- | of the follicle, immediately beneath which they form a knot. gations which might lead to the estimation of the relative or | These knots are almost always spherical, sometimes oval, and actual importance of these causes of currents. I have several | about ‘ol5 mm. in diameter. In each square millimetre of the times put the question to specialists in such physical inquiries, | marginal part of the ear there are about 90 such bodies, and near but they have always said that it was a matter of the greatest | the base perhaps 20, so that the average number may be 30. difficulty, but that their impression was tbat the effects would be | Calculating from the average size of the ear of a common mouse, infinitesimal, it is then found that there are on the average 3,000 nerve termi- I fear then that, in opposition to the views of my distinguished ! nations on each of its surfaces, making 6,000 on each ear, or colleague, I must repeat that I have seen as yet no reason to | 12,000 altogether. The function of this elaborate arrangement modify the opinion which I have consistently held, that the re- | would seem to be, like that in the wing of the bat, to supply by markable conditions of climate on the coasts of Northern Europe | means of a very refined sense of touch, the want of vision to are due in a broad sense solely to the Gulf Stream; that | these subterranean animals. is to say, that while it would be madness todeny that ina great | ody of water at different temperatures, under varying barometric pressures, and subject to the. surface drift of variable winds, SCIENTIFIC SERIALS currents of all kinds variable and more or less permanent must PaRT ii. of the Zei‘schrift be set up, yet fiir Ethnologie contains No. 6 ot the influence of the great current which we call | Dr. Hartmann’s “ Studies of the History of Domestic Animals,” the Gulf Stream, the reflux in fact of the great equatorial cur- on the yak or grunting ox (Bos grunniens) living wild at immense rent, is so paramount as to reduce all other causes to utter | altitudes in the insignificance. mountains of Central Asia north of the Himalaya, ; and largely used in a domesticated state in Mongolia and WYVILLE THOMSON * From the “ Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science” for July. 254 NATURE [ Kuly 27; 1871 et Siberia. The cross between the yak and commori ox has the advantage of thriving in a milderclimate than that of the moun- SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES tainous region of the yak. Dr. Hartmann also continues (No. LONDON 2) his summary of the available information as to ‘‘ Lake Dwellings,” here discussing their cultivation and preparation of Geologists’ Association, July 7.—Prof. Morris, vice- grain and other vegetables. He reaffirms the usual conclusion | president, in the chair: Mr. J. R. Pattison read a paper ‘‘On that the cultivated plants of the lake dwellers of Central Europe the Upper Limits of the Devonian System.” The author did indicate connection with the Mediterranean and even Africa. | not wish to reopen the controversy which had taken place be- Perhaps the most remarkable point in the paper is the compari- | tween the late Prof. Jukes and the supporters of the classification son of their large earthen jars for store corn, and their stone of the older geologists, but simply to lay before the Association grain rubbers for mealing it, with similar jars and grain rubbers | 4 few facts as a prelude to a more complete paper which he in modern Africa.—Prof. Meinicke’s *‘ Remarks on Wallace’s | hoped to bring forward during the next session, Mr. Pattison Views as to the Population of the Indian Islands” are written | referred at some length to the fauna of the continental Devonian in strong opposition to the English naturalist’s theory as to the ; rocks, and strongly opposed the view recently put forward, that ethnological relations of Malays, Polynesians, and Papuans, | the Petherwin series is Lower Devonian and not Upper as With regard to Mr. Wallace’s argument from contrast of the | generally supposed. He quite agreed with the older geologists Malay character with the Papuan as proving difference of race, | in their classification, and concluded by recommending the sec- geolo- Prof. Meinicke argues that the Malay’s couriesy and reserve may | tons exposed in Nurth Devon to the attention of young not be a race-character at all, but an effeet of conversion to gists.— After some remarks by Prof. Tennant, Mr. Henry Mohammedanism ; while revenge and bloodthirstiness belong to Woodward, and Mr Lobley, Prof. Morris described the distri- some Pauans as much as to Malays. In opposition to Mr. bution of the Devonian rocks throughout Europe, and remarked Wallace’s view of Malays and Papuans being two distinct races, | 0n the ahsence of vertebrate remains in the Devonian rocks of and of the Moluccas being largely populated by their inter- the South of England, in which corals and brachiop»ds abound, mixture, Prof. Meinicke claims the natives of the Moluccas as and the abundance of vertebrate remains in the Devonians or intermediare varieties forming a link of connection between the | Old Red sandstones of Scotland, in which neither corals nor extreme Malay and Papuan types. As tothe relation between brachiopods have been detected. In the province of Oranburg, Malays and Polynesians, Prof. Meinicke maintains the old and j 19 Russia, however, the Devonian rocks contain both a vertebrate generally received view of an ethnological connection between and a molluscan fauna.—A note “On a New Section of the them. —It is good evidence of the activity with which the science Upper Bed of the London Clay,” by Mr. Caleb Evans, drew of man is now being pursued that Dr. W. Koner’s useful biblio- | the attention of the Association to an interesting exposure of a graphy of Anthropotogy. Ethnology, and Prehistoric Archzeology | Very fossiliferous bed of the London clay at Child’s Hill, Hamp- for 1869-70 extends to twenty pages of the journal.—Dr. stead. From an inconsiderable excavation at this place, Mr. Bastian’s review of Darwin’s “Descent of Man,” expressing | Evans had collected in a short time twenty-three species, chiefly high admiration for its hypothetically-arranged evidence as a | gasteropoda, in a fine state of preservation. This bed Mr. contribution to science, protests against the exaggeration of Evans considers to be the uppermost bed of the London clay, Darwinism, or rather, the return to Lamarckism prevalent among and immediately underlying the Bagshot sands, which form the too impetuous followers of the development the» ry. summit of Hampstead Heath. In the July number of the Groloyical Alagasine (No. 85) the ; M.AvRITIUS editor, Mr. Woodward, publishes a most interesting summary | _, Meteorological Society, April 28.— The Honorable of the evidence extant as to the existence of limbs in the | Colville Barclay, vice-president, in the chair.—The fullow- Trilobites, with a discussion of the significance of a remarkable | ing lette.s and publications were Jaid upon the table:—1. A specimen of Asuphus, lately described by Mr. Billings in the letter from Mr. James Duncan, Government Surveyor, for: Quarterly Fournal of the Geological Society. From a personal warding a copy of observations taken at the Survey Camp, examination of the specimen, Prof. Dana was led to declare | Vacoas, during the month of March last, at about 1,850 feet above that the objects described by Mr. Billings as legs were merely the sea-level. 2. A Ivtter from Mr. G. Jenner, Rodrigues, for- calcified portions of the ventral integument destined to support warding observations taken there in December, January, Feb- branchial appendages. Mr. Woodward shows, and we think | Mary, and March last. 3. From Mr. F. Timperley, Pample- satisfactorily, that Prof. Dana is in error here. This valuable | MOUSSES, giving a description of a meteor seen by him on the paper is illustrated with a plate contrasting the lower surface of 22nd March. 4. Queensland Observations for October, Mr. Billings’s Trilobite with that of the Norway lobster.—Mr. November, and December 1870, by Mr. Edmund MacDonnell. Hull contributes some observations on the general relations of | 5. Singapore Observa ions for January 1871, by Dr. H. L. the drift deposits of Ireland to those of Great Britain, in which Randell —‘*On the Converging of the Wind in Cyclones.” the author confirms and extends the views adopted by Prof, | The Secretary read the following letter addressed to him on the Harkness as to the correlation of the Irish drift deposits with | #bove subject by Captain Douglas Wales, Harbour Master :— those of Britain, and the accordance of the whole with the prin- ‘Some remarks of yours respecting the uncertainty of the real ciples laid down by Mr. Searles V. Wood, jun. A tabular | Position of the centre of a cyclone set me thinking, and I send statement of the phenomena of the three stages of the drift ) YoU 4 few ideas on the subject, which, as a sailor, I think worthy period in Britain concludes this paper.—From Mr. G. A. the serious attention of seamen, and the correctness of which they Lebour we have a note on the submergence of Is in western | ™ay put to the test of experience, whenever they have opportu have no intention Brittany, in which, after referring toa Breton tradition that a nities of doing SO. Allow me to premise that I town named Is was submerged in the Bay of Douarneney some of dogmatising. I believe our knowledge of the cause of these fifteen hundred years ago, he adduces certain evidence to show fearlul tempests, of their origin, their progress in this or that that a gradual depression is taking place along this coast. He direction, their rate of progression, their recurving, the reasons their ultimate dispersion, to be still in notices a submerved forest in the small Bay de la Forét.—Mr. of those recurvings, and his paper on the drifts of the west and | 's infancy. No doubt, the knowledge already acquired has Mackintosh continues in these storms, south borders of the Lake district; Mr. A. G. Cameron saved many a good ship from becoming entangled caverns at Stainton in Furness ; especially ships approaching them on their equatorial sides ; but describes the recently-discovered more than one intelli- the relation of the Red tothe | 2 the same time it must be admitted that and Mr. J. E. Taylor discusses subject, has Norwich Crags. gent seaman, who thought himself well up in the actually run into the very centre of a cyclone, when, by all known THE first part of the fourteenth volume of the .4é: della | rules, he ought to have been certain of avoiding it. There must Societd Italiana di Scienze Naturali, published in April of the | be some reason for such an error, and it is that reason that I present year, contains only three papers, more than one-third of have been seeking for, and which, I trust, I have to some extent its pages being occupied by the annual report, list of members, discovered. I send you a diagram on a large scale, whicn will I &c. The papers are a description of a new species of Dalmatian explain my views more cleariy than any written description. shell, by MM. A. and G. B. Villa, to which the authors give | assume that within a diameter of 40, 50, 60, 70, or 80 miles, a the name of Clausilia de Cattani« ; a long memoir on rennet and | true circular storm of terrific violence must be found in every 50 distance outside and caseification, by M. C. Besana, and a short notice by Dr. C. | called hurricane, and that to a considerable collected in Lom- around this central and circular storm winds are to be found Marinoni, of some new prehistoric remains the bardy. . gradually decreasing in force from 11, near the outer edge of Fuly 27, 1871] NATURE 255

cv] 5] GVyeKeQyqQqee A SS central storm, to 7 and 6, at the outer edge of the bad weather, | Ships running into cyclones on their equatorial sides are to but which, instead of blowing in ever enlarging circles farther | great extent without excuse. There are, however, some ex- and farther out from one common centre, are always converging | ceptional instances ; but they are very rare.” The chairman, in to that centre, and on all sides gradually increasing, until, at a | thanking Captain Wales for his interesting and valuable com- certain distance from the central calm, they acquire the force of | munication, expressed the hope that the important suggestions it a hurricane (12), and thence inwards blow with great violence in | contained would be taken advantage of by seamen, and proveto what, in all probability, is as nearly as may be a circle. It is | be serviceable to them in their attempts to avoid the dangerous these converging lines of wind that are, I think, likely to lead | parts of cyclones. The diagram prepared by Captain Wales men into error as to the position of the centre of the storm. | fully explained how it might happen that a vessel, by seeking to In the remarks I make I shall, to prevent confusion, confine ; keep away from the centre of what was considered a circular myself to cyclones south of the equator, every one acquainted | storm, would be actually running into it. The secretary was glad with the cyclonic theory knowing that the inverse of rules for , that the subject had been taken up by a sailor of long experience the guidance of seamen in the southern hemisphere will be the | and of great practical knowledge and skill, and he had no doubt rules for their guidance in the northern hemisphere. Let us | that Captain Wales’s remarks would receive the serious attention suppose that a ship bound to Europe arrives at the point marked | they merited. In various papers published during the last fifteen * in the outer converging curve traced on my diagram, the wind | years, he (the secretary) had often called attention to the incurv- being N.E. with force 7, that is, double reefs and jib—barometer | ing of the wind in cyclones, and to the losses occasioned by falling, sky overcast, confused swell, and, in short, every appear- | acting upon the supposition that the bearing of the centre was ance of bad weather—lat. 12° S., long. 70° E.—What ought | at right angles to the direction of the wind; and he believed her commander todo? ‘ Heave to onthe port tack,’ says one, | that it was now beginning to be admitted that the movement of ‘and wait for the weather to clear.’ ‘ Run to the S.W.,’ says | the air in a cyclone was not at all represented by concentric another, ‘and make use of the storm.’ Being a pushing fellow, | circles, but by a figure similar to that sketched by Captain Wales, he makes up his mind to run, and, truth to say, there are as | The description given by Captain Wales of the way in which many reasons for approving that proceeding as for finding fault | vessels might get involved in a cyclone, whilst acting according with it. If he succeeds in making use of the hurricane, he is | to accepted rules, applied to many cases which actually occurred. considered a smart fellow ; if he runs into it, and is dismasted | Captain Wales had framed a practical rule based upon observed or worse, ‘rash,’ ‘headstrong,’ ‘ignorant,’ &c., are the best | facts, and it was for seamen to test its value. terms he can look for; and yet he might as easily have been | wrong in heaving to as in running. The wind being N.E., he | PaRIS infers that the centre bears N.W. He considers that the baro- Academie des Inscriptions et Belles Lettres, July 14. meter and weather indicate that he is on the S.E. edge of | Two seats of associds libres, vacant by the death of MM. a cyclone—the N.E. wind upon which he is running forming Prosper Merimée and Deheque, have been filled at the recent part of a circular storm, and that necessarily the centre is | sittings. M. Merimée’s seat was given to M. de Robert, and N.W. of him. Considering, further, that in that lat. and! 3, Deheque’s to M. Thomas Henry Martin, director of the long. the storm is probably travelling W.S.W., he thinks | Academy at Rennes. This gentleman has written many valuable that if he runs S.W. he will be diverging from it, and, | volumes on interesting points of listory ; among others, ‘On that by making use of the storm he will get fine runs per- | the Physical Opinions of the Greeks and Romans.” He was haps for days te fearful Pat vauing Went wind be only converg- ' one of the few French savants opposed to M. Chasles’ famous ing nt he towards first the place, fearful bears storm W. by rag N. £N., r instead of N.W., , so that , | letters of Newton, r and has written : a pamphlet on the subject. ‘ the vessel, by steering S. W. is not diverging from the centre, as Academie des Sciences, July 17.—M. Faye in the chair. A was supposed, but is really drawing nearer to it. In due time | committee was appointed to discuss the respective merits of the weather gets worse from this very cause ; the wind veers | several candidates for a free associate membership. The com- more to the eastward, the barometer continues to fall, and the | mittee was composed of MM. Combes and Bertrand for the sec- captain begins to doubt whether the storm may not after all be | tion of mathematical sciences, MM. Chevreul and Boussingault progressing more to the southward than he supposed ; whether, | for the section of physical sciences, MM. Raulin and Bussy for indeed, it may not, although so far to the eastward, be actually | the free members. ‘The chairman of the committee is dv jure recurving, and he naturally becomes anxious and uncertain what | M. Faye. When a report is to be drawnjon the respective merits todo. If he decides on running at all risks, he finds the wind | of ordinary members, the committee is composed from the sec- still drawing at first more and more easterly, and then more and | tion to which the late member belonged in his lifetime. In the more southerly, always increasing in fury, and the sea becoming | secret committee held after the public sitting, a discussion was more and more heavy and tumultuous. But run he must now, | raised as to several candidatures, and it was impossible to come and he must run dead befure it, and being on what I have sup- | to any definite conclusion.—_M. Lacaze Duthiers, a professor at posed a line of wind converging to a centre, he finishes by getting | the museum, who claims a seat in the section of zoology, read a into the real hurricane, and loss and disaster are imminent. He | paper on a new organ of nervous power which he has discovered may, however, if his ship be tight and staunch and runs well, | in certain gasteropods living in water. This organ is placed get round to the N.W. side of the storm, and so get clear, | behind the cesophagus, and at all events its dimensions are very probably with loss of spars and sail ; but he has clearly runinto | small indeed. The Academy has appointed a committee to report what be was running to avoid, because he was under the im- | on the prize Bordin, which is to be awarded this year for the pression that winds within the influence of a cyclone, although | best paper on the function of the stomata in the leaves of plants. far from its centre, blew in circles round that centre, the wind | —On the 3rd of October, 1870, M. Egger proposed the transla- everywhere clearly indicating the exact, ornearly exact, position tion of the four books on Optics by Ptolemy, which were trans- of that centre. These opinions I submit with very great diffi- | lated from Arabic into Latin, and of which two copies exist dence for the consideration of seamen and cyclonists. Iam not ; amongst the MSS. in the National Library. This suggestion going to attempt the setting up of any dogmatic theory of my ! was not lost, as the Royal Academy of Turin passed a resolution own, but I am inclined to think this theory of converging winds | to raise the funds required for its publication. Other copies of will probably account for the manner in which many vessels | the same Latin translation are also to be found in the have become entangled in hurricanes when seeking toavoid them , Ambrose Library at Milan, and will be usel for the pur- according to cyclonic rules. Like all other theories on this very | pose. The translation is very difficult, having been un- important subject, it requires very careful consideration ; but | successfully attempted once in Italian, and once in there can be no possible risk in deducing from it the rule that French.—M. Leverrier presented a report on the observation vessels on approaching what the barometer, the state of the of falling stars, for August 1869. The phenomenon was observed weather, and the force of the wind, clearly indicate as the | in twenty-seven different stations, viz. Agde, Barcelona, Bor- dangerous side of a cyclone, should, in seeking to avoid it, keep deaux, Chartres, Chebli (Algiers), Genoa, Grenoble, Le Guerche the wind quite four points on the port quarter. With the wind thus | (Cher), Larenore (Basses Pyrenées), Le Mans, Lyons, Mar- free, a fast ship would run with great rapidity through the water, | seilles, Mer (Loire et Cher), Meiz, Moncalieri, Montpeliex, Nice, and, unless the storm were advancing on her in a direct line, | Orange, Perpignan, Rochefurt, Sainte Honorine (Calvados), would be always increasing her distance from its centre, and | Toulon, Toulouse, Tremont, Turin, Valencia. Observations getting into finer weather, and, in any case, would have a very | were made by competent observers with correct chronometers, good chance of running across_its track and thus avoiding it. | and special maps prepared by the Association Scientifique de 256 NATURE [Fuly 27, 1871 ee France, of which M. Leverrier is now the chairman. The dis- positions on the equilibrium of heat, and another on the main cussion en the observations is a long work which is not yet proposition of the mechanical theory of heat. — Prof. E. Weiss finished in consequ:nce of the late war. The observations could | furnished the elements and ephemeris of the comet discovered by not be completed in 1870, but the Association Scientifique de | Winnecke at Carlsruhe on the 7th April. France is resuming its labours, and will be ready to make obser. April 20. —Prof. C.von Ettingshasuen presented a memoir onthe vations by August 1871 on the former principles.—M. Leverrier | jor cveleton of the Loranthacee. —Prof. Simony noticed some sent the description of a bolide observed at 1oh. 6m. in the peculiarities of the glaciers of the Dachsteingebirge. The Gosau afternoon, 1° 30’ higher thane Andromede, and exploding in glacier descends to an elevation of 6030 fect, the Hallstatt Pegasus. He asks for some observations from the astronomical glacier to 6115 feet, and the Schladminger Fern-r to 6935 feet. public.—The sam2 question is put as to a magnificent falling | Pye snost instructive moraine phenomena are presented by the star seven times larger than Jupiter observed by M. Chapelas | tower part of the Hallstatt glacier.—Prof. Seeger presented a 1th, 12m, in the afternoon, on the 18th July, from ¢ Pegasus | jemoir on the methods at present employed for detecting small to the horizon in the north-west. It must have been seen | quantities of sugar in the urine, which he regards as unsatisfac- in England.—At the last sitting we omitted to mention the tory.—A paper on the perforations in the vessels of plants, by presentation of some grains of wheat, &c., burned by elec- ) p, Tangl, was communicated by Prof. Ad. Weiss. tricity in a storm, a few years ago and preserved as a great April Prof Lane communicated some remark th curiosity. —M. Bert, Professor of Physiology at the Museum, pri 27. trol, “ang ed b Christi ik at on the formerly a prefect of Lille during the latter part of the war, sent abnormal dispersion obser "e y H ch wed that h undt in solu- a most interesting paper on the influence that the diminution of one of fuchsine. aah Ce tiem ot the hasan € naa pressure exerts’ on animal life. Living frogs were placed under S hae R hs f € nara he ecutvence ae Dr _F. the air-pump, and proved to be killed very soon if pressure is | SCRWaCKDOler reporls hej R ee atoll : e of forma- diminished quickly to seven or eight inches, but if diminished Mon of Phosphorite ba in ussian ‘ Foe ed ie stated that gradually, they can live ina more perfect vacuum if proper pre- | t ae a 5 ed a Oh: te of lime formed b te line lon, cautions are taken to renew the residual air offered to them for | 24 converted into phospia oa h th ed by fe ixiviation wh ich contains respiration. Certainly the same thing can be said of aéronauts, or the Silurian clay. slate in wi ic ; they occur, ie formu who cannot reach a high level without inconvenience, except by | PnOSpaokie an Ca FP ysis with that cof very gradual ascent—M. Dumas presented a smull pamphlet | 3 (Ca? P? O*) + Ca Fi’, agreeing with that ‘of apatite in the fron M. Janssen, narrating his ascent on December 2 with proportion of fluorine. Volta. Dr. Janssen was himself the aéronaut, and his ascent was the occasion of some interesting observations. He was ap- PHILADELPHIA pointed a commissioner for visiting the meteorological establish- American Philosophical Society, April 21.—Dr. Geuth ments in England, and reporting upon them, and is now on his | described the results of recent investigations by himself into way to London.—M. Beaugrand, an engineer in the Parisian | Corundun pseudomorphs of Hersinite, an aluminate of oxide hydraulic service, presented a report on Roman aqueducts. He | o¢ iron, from specimens from Bengal. He reported find- has written a very long essay on the matter, which would have ing specimens of Hersinite in N. Carolina Corunduns, and been burned by the Communists with his office at the Hotel de | believes the emery of Massachusetts is to be referred to the Ville, if he had not brought it home on purpose to write out of | cane mineral. In Chester County, Penna., “ Corundun pseu- it a paper for the Academy. domorphs” occur which are quite soft like talc or scaly talc, VIENNA which prove to be Margarite. A third pseudomorph very much . . . foliated has not yet been determined.—Prof. Cope presented a Imperial Academy of Sciences, April 13.—Prof. von paper entitled, ‘‘ A preliminary report on the Vertebra discovered Reuss reported on the fossil remains of a crab found in the | j, tne Port Kennedy Cave.”—Prof, Cresson stated that the young Leithakalk of the Rauchstallbrunn pit near Baden. The fossil most | 354 tender shoots of the Sy mplo car pus fortidus (skunk cabbage) nearly approaches the living genera Acteon and Daira.—Prof. | had forced themselves through a solid asphaltum composition A. von Waltershofen reported on a new thermopile of great | }avement two inches in thickness in many places in “‘ Belmont efficacy. —Prof. V. Graber communicated a memoir on the physio- Glen,” Park. The road was used for heavy hauling at the time. logy and minute anatomy of insects, especially the Pediculina, | _ prof. J. P, Lesley described a discovery which he had made in in which he treated chiefly of the Malpighian vessels and trachez. | Fast Tennessee of a sharp anticlinal axis crossing the coal The former in many cases consist merely of prolongations of | Weasures of the Cumberland Mountains at right angles to the the peritoneal membrane.-—Prof. V. von Lang presented @/ gominant system of disturbances, and showed its important memoir containing researches upon the influx of gases, under- | bearing on the question of the conversion of the northern anti- taken for the purpose of testing the laws which have been | ctinals of the Alleghanies, into the southern system of dows- established for the dependency of inflowing gases upon the | throws. Also its relationship to the latter and to the cross undu- presented a first memoir | jations worked out by Joseph Lesley in his instrumental survey upon pressure.—Prof. the flora of C. Sagor von in Ettingshausen Carniolia, in which he described nu- | of ¢ Kentucky thirteen years ago; and to the N.W.-S.E. merous species of fossil plants from the brown coal of that locality. system of faults described by Owen Hall. and other geologists This memoir included the Thallophytes, vascular Cryptogams, | in the Valley of the Mississippi ? ? Gymnosperms, Monocotyledons, and Apetalz. The Thallophytes | © y PPI. include a Sffiaria nearly allied to the Greenland species, and a Laurencia, which is the only marine plant found in the deposit. | =<. NNN eee Of the Coniferze Glyptostrobus europaeus and Sequoia Couttsia are the most abundant, and of the latter genus three other species occur. A Cunninghamia, very like ‘ SLHENSTS, AS remarkable CONTENTS Pace as adding a new genus to the Tertiary flora. Grasses are rare, | Mr. Crookes on THE “‘Psycuic” Force. By Prot. B. Stewart, but Naiadz are abundant and remarkable. A Pandanus and peck S. FRAGMENTS OF SCIENCE. By JStuarg 2 2 ol! ay a species of palm occur. Among the Apetalz the author noticed DALL’s BRACHIOPODA OF THe UNITED Sires Coast Survey. By two species of Casuarina, one of which is new and allied to C. J. Gwyn Jerrreys, F.R.S 2... ee ee ee ew wt 28 guadrivaliis, The other orders represented are Myricaceez 3 | Our Book SHELF se ee ee ee ee 29 species, Betulaceze 6, Cupuliferee 15, Ulmaceze 4, Celtidez 2, pT te Themorth on Danwinism,.—Hrnrv H Howortn; Dr J. Ross 240 Artocarpez 2, Salicineze 2, Nyctagineze 1, Monimiacee 1, San- Recent Neologisms.—Dr. C.M. INGLEBY ...... + + 24? talaceze 4, Daphnoidece 2, Proteaceze, 21, Moree 19, and ghe British Association and Local Scientific Societies. . . + - a Laurinex ° 18.—Prof. Carl Koritska . exhibited sh; and explained : a Onene c1ien Curentae eaching in Rn PaocrowrR —i. Ag eo 6 tg «© © © @ © 8 8 hypsometrical map of the Alban Mountains, with profiles and Western Chronicle of Science.—J. H. Coruins . . . 1 es + 283 views. He regarded the district as particularly instructive, from Formation of Flints. . . 2 6 1 1 ee ee ee ee the intimate collocation of the three forms of volcanic craters | NOTES: + - - Opemnvarorizs.” (WK insiectioney 07 mt and their apparent transition one into the other which prevails ee aeay Souaw Retires. Cindy aeons) ‘NorMAN * there. —Dr. E. Klein communicated a contribution to the Lockyer, F.RS. 2... ee ee ee ee 28 knowledge of the Malpighian corpuscles in the human kidney, by | ON THE DisTRIBUTION OF TEMPERATURE IN THE NORTH ATLANTIC. Dr. Victor Seng ; and acontribution to the knowledge of the finer Oye The IM ousoN: F Rs Organ of Sensation’ et 233 nerves of the buccal mucous membrane, by Dr. E. Elin.—Prof. | Scrgnriric SeRIALS . ws ee et ee ew kk ww le el 883 Ludwig presented a memoir containing several pro- | SocigTIES AND ACADEMIES. . «2. 5 0 ee ee ow wo tt 254 . . . Fuly 27, 1871] NATURE 4 li é BOOKS OF TRAVEL, NATURAL HISTORY, ETC. SCIENTIFIC CLASS-BOOKS.

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A PERSONAL NARRATIVE of a YEAR’S LESSONS in ELEMENTARY PHYSI- JOURNEY through CENTRAL and EASTERN ARABIA in | OLOGY.—With Numerous Illustrations. Bv Professor HUXLEY. Six- 1862-3. By W. Girrorp PaGcrave. Fifth and Cheaper Edition, with | teenth Thousand. 18mo, 4s. 62 Questions on the same, 15. 6d. Map and Plan. Crown 8vo, 6s. ‘A small book, but pure gold throughout. There is not a waste sentence, or a superfluous word, and yet it is all clear as daylight.”——Guardian., THE POPULATION of an OLD PEAR TREE ; or, Stories of Insect Life. From the Frenchof E, Van Bruys- SEL. Edited by the Author of ‘‘ The Heir of Redclyffe.” Crown 8vo, with POLITICAL ECONOMY for BEGIN. ustrations by Becker, 6s. NERS.—By MILLICENT GARRETT FAWCETT. With Questions. 18mo, 25. 6a, SCENERY OF SCOTLAND, Viewed in connection with its Physical Geology. By ArcHIBALp Gerxig, F.R.S, . With Illustrations and a New Geological Map. Crown 8vo, ros. 6a. LE SSON S in ELE MENTARY PHY-.- ' . . . SICS —By Professor BALFOUR Geikie's “Few things could be more delightful than a Scotch tour, with Mr. | © STEWART. : With numerous num s T}ustra- J}lustra book Bs the knapsack."—-Guardian fiom and chromolitho of the Spectra of the Sun, Stars,and Nebulz. 18mo,

. MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON. MACMILLAN & (OQ. LONDON, lit NA IURE CFuly 27, 1871 oe OBSERVATORIES, EQUATORIAL TELESCOPES, ASTRONOMICAL CLOCKS, LEVELS, ETC. - - —T COOKE&S0NS,- Opticians to H.R.H. the late Prince Consort, the Royal Family, and Her Majesty's Home and Indian Governments BUCKINGHAM WORKS, YORK. Illustrated . Catalogues of Observatories, ries, Equatorial and all other descripti ptions of Telescopes, Astronomical] i Clocks, Theodolites, i Levels, Clinometers, Geld Band Aneroids, &c., manufactured by T. COOKE and SONS. may be had on application to the Works. ves _ ___ ee ane RAY SOCIETY. The Annual General ; Shortly will be published, te Meeti mee ftheR ay Society i will rill bz b: held held in i Edinburgh 1 on Friday, i August s 4, | PAPE RS ON ELECTRICAL SUB. H. T. STAINTON, F.R.S. , Secretary. JECTS. _ By Sir WILLIAM THOMSON, LL.D., F.R.S., President elect a CN er | of the British Association. SCHOOL OF CHEMISTRY, _— . _____ MACMILLAN & CO., LONDON. 20, GREAT MARLBOROUGH STRE&T, ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY’S LATEST LONDON. W. PUBLICATIONS. , ’ ° PROCEEDINGS OF THE SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS OF THE DIRECTED By ARTHUR VACHER. SOCIETY for 1871, part I., containing the papers read at the Scientific Meet- + __| ings. With Coloured Plates, 15s.; with Uncoloured Plates, 4s, Natural History and Early-Printed Books, Original Blake Drawings and Index to the Proceedings of the Zoological Society from 1830 to 1847, and rhe Saree Collection of Foreign and British Birds, Stone Implements, from 1848 to 1860, in two volumes. Price 6s. each. ade Savege Armsand Musical Instruments, Barbaric Carvings, ‘‘ Lusus , Nature,” Superb Collection of Agates and Agate Geodess Heads of Vol. VII TRANSACTIONS OF THE SOCIETY. Horns, Fine Minerals, Fossils and Rare Shells. Also handsome Cabi- 0" » part 6. Price 36s. Containing Papers by— nets, formerly the property of the late Earlof Derby, Duchess of Portland, Dr. J. Muriz. Researches upon the Anatomy of the Principedia, part I. Mr. Buckland, and many other Collectors. On yne Walrus (Trichechus rosmarus Linn) Illustrated with five plates. r. J. Murre. On the Dermal and Visceral Structures of the K Sun- MESSRS. THURGOOD AND GILES bittern, and Boat-bill. Illustrated, three plates. agn, Sun will SELL BY AUCTION at the “' Palais Royal,” 7, Argyll Street, Regent ; | ‘These may be obtained at the Society’s Offices, 11, Hanover Square, W.; at any Bookseller. Street, on the 31st July, Aug. x, 2, and 3, commencing at One o’clock pre- Messrs. Loncmans’, Paternoster Row, E.C. : or through cisely each day, a very extensive collection of the above, which will be on | Felfowe ny Pee eS cube Society's Publications, in the fase of view 2 days before the first day’s Sale. Admission by card or catalogue only, . n mibers Ol tne Society, 1s now reduced to the to be obtained of the Auctioneers, 123, Chancery Lane, W.C. ot ee agth of April in ES such Subscriptions be paid in advance ToD eee N.B.—The Publications cannot be sent out by Post, but are delivered NEW SOLAR EYE-PIECE.—This con- | Gratis at any address within the Metropotitan Districts. ome trivance, proposed by Prof. Pickering, is the most efficient yet made ; the . : : TTT greater portion of the Sun’s rays are allowed to pass away in a direct line This week, in 8vo, price 12s. 6d. with the tute of the telescope ; the small amount of light reflected is polarised, . and the quantity of light received by the eye can be regulated by turning an | bei LIGHTHOUSE ILLUMI N ATIO N ° and of Azimuthal Condensing analysing i. prism, diameter which is » above placed 6in. over di the eye-piece. Price for Telescopes 2 and eing other a Description New Forms of of the Lighthou-e Holophotal Apparatus. System, By THOMAS STEVEN. up , to 6in » £5 i above : Gin. diameter, : £10. SON, , F.R.S.E, F.R.S.E, M.LCE., M.LCE., Civil Engineer. er. Second econ Edition, n, illustrated e JOMN BROWNING. Optical and Physical Instrument Maker to the Royal | with numerous Woodcuts and Plates. . mony mens Ss ervatory, at ? &c c Kc. Coy z11, Manories, Ss, ° ongen ’ E. . Prize i Medal 1862 . Edinburgh: . ADAM & CHARLES BLACK.

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