70 GLEANINGS. 



Pibbonaj Si manes. The following figures are averages for British 

 male ind 50 years of age : Height, 68-84 inches ; Weight, 



in ll.s.. l.".l ; Chesl girth, 35-79 inches; Strength of Arm. {i.e., weight 

 that can be lifted by right arm,) 97*49 lbs. 



Cni,; Fossils. The gentlemau (Mr. W. Reed' whose munificence 

 we have recorded ahove, possesses heyond doubt the finest collection 

 extantof mo the Crag beds of Suffolk and Norfolk. Every 



uew and rare Bpeoies discovered in these newest Tertiary strata has 

 for many years found its way to York. 



v.y Books. — A most competent judge (Dr. Gunthor, 



of t)i«' British Museum) has recently estimated the cost of a complete 



natural history Library at £70,000. Government has sanctioned the 



i In mo of balf this amount for books for the new Natural History 



Museum at South Kensington. 



GzOLOOl OF WlLBS. In the last Report of the British Association, 

 (Swansea Meeting, L880,) there is a list, by Mr. W. Whitaker, of 667 

 rs, bo iks, maps, Jkc, by 27 ( J authors, which have been written on 

 the Geology of Wales, (including .Monmouthshire,) up to the end of 

 1873. These lists are a great boon to local workers, whose best thanks 

 are due to Mr. Whitaker for the great energy he has displayed in 

 geologioal bibliography. 



Kent's Cavbbn. — The exploration of this famous cavern, near 

 ; i , under the direction of a Committee of the British Association, 

 from whose funds £1,850 has been contributed for the work, came to 

 an end in June, 1880. One of the workmen, George Smerdon, was 

 c utinuously employed from the first day to the last on the work. 

 Employment in daylight must now seem strange to this honest fellow, 

 of whom the Superintendent (Mr. Pengelly) speaks in the highest 

 terms. During the hist few months deeper excavations than had 

 previously been attempted were earned on, but the basement deposit, 

 called i lie Cave J'.reccia. was continuous both* limestone floor of the 

 cave, so far as the work was conducted, and contained flint imple- 

 ments — the undoubted work of man, in even its lowest level. 



VmiK Mubeum.— Mr. W. Reel, F.G.S., has purchased for £720, and 

 presented to the Museum of the Yorkshire Philosophical Society, the 

 tine collection of fossils, consisting of about 10,001) specimens, formed 

 by the late Mr. E. Wood, F.G.S., of Richmond, Yorkshire. The collec- 

 ie e peoially rioh in carboniferous limestone fossils. Mr. Wood 

 was an indefatigable worker, and will be remembered as the discoverer 

 of a new genus of fossil crinoids. (Woodocrinus,) of which his collection 

 contains many Bplendid examples. 



Colour or the Etes. — The iris, on which the colour of tne eye 

 depends, is a thin membranous structure composed of unstriped 

 mlar flbreB, nerves, and blood vessels, held together by a delicate 

 network of (ibrous tissue. On the inner surface of this membrane 

 there is a layer of dark purple pigment, called the uvea, (from its 

 resemblance to the colour of a ripe grape,) and in brown eyes there is 

 an additional layer of yellow pigment on its outer surface also. In the 

 bhe pigment is entirely absent from both surfaces of the 

 the bright red blood is Been through the semi-transparent fibrous 

 tissues, of a pink oolour. In blue eyes, where the outer layer of pig- 

 ment is wanting, the various shades are due to the dark inner layer of 

 pigment the uvea -showing through fibrous structures of different 

 or degrees of opacity. Tbc eyes of new-born infants, of both 

 white mid black races, are dark blue, in consequence of the greater 



