yuly 20, 1876] 



NATURE 



263 



by Mr. Moseley in Kerguelen's Land. — Prof. Duncan then deli- 

 vered an oral epitome of a joint research by himself and Major- 

 General Nelson, R.E., on some points in the histology of cer- 

 tain species of Corallinacete. Quekett, about 185 1, gave a good 

 account of the minute textural peculiarities of the hard struc- 

 tures of corallines generally, and in 1866 Rosanoff published a 

 memoir on the Melobesise, therein bringing to light many details 

 of the softer structures omitted by the former. Major-General 

 Nelson and Prof. Duncan now supplement the foregoing by 

 further microscopic investigations on the living forms of Bermuda 

 and Britain. On the shores of the former island the high and 

 constant temperature conduces to a development and growth of 

 the corallines not witnessed on our own sea-board, and the 

 colours, moreover, are rich in proportion ; for these and other 

 reasons a more complete study of their development and physio- 

 logy has been made. Starting from Quekett's and RosanofTs 

 labours, the recent researches show the presence of remarkable 

 filamentous appendages to the dermal layer, which latter is com- 

 posed of a loose cellular envelope, permitting the existence of 

 large sub- dermal ^reas. The interior more aggregated cellular 

 substance has certain radiating fibres running through, and which 

 are modified at the joints. The growth of the cell-structure, 

 semilunar bodies developed in the primordial utricle, the manner 

 in which the deposition of carbonate of lime takes place, and 

 other interesting facts, the authors elucidate and place on record. 

 — Mr. R. B. Sharpe, in exhibiting a collection of birds from 

 South-east New Guinea, collected by the Rev. S. McFarlane, 

 and now deposited in the British Museum, pointed out that 

 most of the foTms had already been obtained by former travellers, 

 though one species, Grancalm augustijrtns, was new to science, 

 as probably was a Bird of Paradise, so injured, however, as to 

 prevent a correct description being made. The nest of a Bower- 

 bird was also commented on. — A memoir on the Oxystomatous 

 Crustacea, by Mv. E. I. Miers, was taken as read, also two 

 papers on New Zealand Ferns, by Mr, J. H. Potts ; and notes 

 on algce collected by Mr. Moseley, of the Challenger Expedition, 

 by Prof. Dickie ; besides a paper by the Rev. J. M. Crombie, 

 on lichens from the Island of Rodriguez, obtained by Dr. I. 

 B. Balfour, 1874. — In an additional note relative to the Nor-^ 

 wegian Lemming, Mr. W, Duppa Crotch referred to some 

 recent information obtained supporting his formerly expressed 

 views. — In the form of an oral abstract, Mr. S. H. Vines gave 

 a lucid account of some late experiments and chemico-physio- 

 logical investigations of his into the nature of the digestive 

 iexvcvexitoi ISieptnthes. In the Pitcher plant, at least, be pretty 

 clearly proves that a secretion and other phenomena equivalent 

 to the digestive process of animals obtains. 



Anthropological Institute, June 27. — Col. A. Lane Fox, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The election of two new mem- 

 bers was announced. — Mr. Walhouse exhibited arrow-heads from 

 Southern India, closely resembling forms met with by Lieut. 

 Cameron in Central Africa. — Remains of red deer, wolf, with 

 portions of a human skull, from the foundation of the Bath gas- 

 works, were exhibited by Miss A. W. Buckknd. — Mr. Hyde 

 Clarke read a paper on serpent and siva worship and mythology 

 in America, Africa, and Asia. The first part of the paper was 

 devoted to an account of the Brihri and other Indians of Costa 

 Rica in Central America, ana 01 Jie immediate relations of their 

 languages to those of Western Africa. This furnishes another 

 connection of language besides the Caribwith the Dahomey, the 

 Guarani with the Agan and Alkhass, and the Quichua, Aymara 

 and Maya, with Accad and Cambodian, The rest of the paper 

 ■was devoted to trace the Central American one god Sibu, and 

 his mythology to the old world. This word, as Sowo and Nebo, 

 is in company found with Kali in West and Central Africa, 

 over a wide area, representing god, spirit, idol, navel, &c. It 

 was then illustrated with Siva and Kali, and the cosmogony and 

 serpent worship in India ; and further with Nebo in Babylonia, 

 Seb in Egypt, Seba in Arabia and Phrygia. The title Sabaoth 

 was referred to. The American legend appeared to point to a 

 unity of God in the prehistoric epoch. — Mr. Park Harrison 

 described marks found last summer on the chalk at Cissbury, 

 some upon the walls of the galleries, and the remainder on 

 rounded pieces of chalk. — Dr. Gillespie read a short note on 

 the use of flint cores as tools. — The remaining papers were " on 

 the term Mediterranean," as applied to a part of the human 

 race ; and a minute account of the Javanese, Mr. Kuhl. 



Physical Society, June 24. — Prof. G. C. Foster, president, 

 in the chair. — The following candidates were elected members 

 of the Society : — Prof. James Dewar, F.R.S.E,, and the Hon, 



F. A. Rollo Russell. — Prof. Guthrie showed the action of Prof. 

 Mach's apparatus for exhibiting to an audience the effect of 

 lenses on a beam of light passed through then. It consists of a 

 long rectangular box wiUi glass sides, in which are several 

 movable lenses. A parallel beam of light falls on a grating at 

 one end of this box and is thus split up into a number of small 

 beams, which are rendered vitible by filling the box with smoke. 

 After passing through the first lens the rays fall on a movable 

 white rod, which may be placed to indicate the focus. The light 

 then falls on another lens partly covered with red and partly 

 with blue glass in order to more precisely exhibit the paths of the 

 rays. — Baron Wrangell exhibited the apparatus employed by 

 Petrochovsky in his magnetic experiments. These experi- 

 ments had reference to (i) normal magnetisation, (2) the mea- 

 surement of the distance of the poles of a magnet from its ends, 

 and (3) a thermo-electric apparatus. The determinations were 

 Very much simplified by employing a unipolar magnetic needle, 

 fornied by bending a small bar magnet at right angles at about 

 a quarter of its length from one end. The needle is then sus- 

 pended by a fibre attached to the end of the short arm, 

 and the longer arm is maintained horizontally by a brass counter- 

 poise weight. It will be evident that as one pole is in the axis 

 of rotation, it cannot have any effect on the motion of the needle. 

 By turning up each end in this manner the moment of the 

 magnet may be ascertained without knowing the exact positions 

 of the poles. If a magnetic needle be so placed that a bar 

 magnet parallel to it has no effect in deflecting it from the meri- 

 dian, and the bar be then struck with a brass hammer, the state of 

 equilibrium virill be disturbed, as is shown by the motion of the 

 needle. This, however, is not the case with a piece of solt iron 

 round which an electric current is passing. The apparatus em- 

 ployed in the experiments on " normal magnetisation " consisted 

 of an arrangement for passing a current round rods of soft iron 

 of varying lengths, so constructed that any number of the sur- 

 rounding coils can be removed in the manner of an ordinary 

 rheostat. After the current has been passed round the bir, it is 

 moved imtil its residual magnetism has no effect in deflecting a 

 delicate unipolar needle from the meridian. The current is then 

 passed round it, and the coils are adjusted until the magnetised 

 bar has still no effect on the needle. The effect of the coils 

 themselves is counteracted by means of a subsidiary coil. When 

 the current is thus aidjusted, the bar is said to be " normally " 

 magnetised, and M. Petrochovsky has ascertained that this con- 

 dition is satisfied when the length of the coil is o'8 times 

 that of the bar, and this is independent of the strength 

 of current. This, then, is the only case in which the 

 position of the poles is the same as when the bar is charged 

 with residual magnetism. For the determination of the posi- 

 tions of the poles of a bar magnet a somewhat complicated 

 apparatus was employed. A large unipolar magnet about eight 

 inches in length, provided with a bifilar|suspension, was enclosed in 

 a glass box. A fine silver wire was stretched parallel to the axis 

 of the needle between two projections on it, and it also carried 

 a fine index at the horizontal end. The wire is focussed in a 

 telescope which can be made to travel along rails parallel to the 

 magnet, and the index at the end can be observed by another 

 telescope. A small magnet at right angles to the large magnet 

 can be moved with the first telescope, and the point at which its 

 effect in deflecting the unipolar is the greatest is ascertained by 

 varying its position parallel to itself along a graduated scale aud 

 then observing the space through which a subsidiary magnet must 

 be moved in order to restore the unipolar to its original position, 

 as observed in the second telescope. When this point is reached 

 it must be exactly opposite the pole of the large magnet. It 

 was thus found that the poles are at a distance of one-tenth of 

 the length of the magnet from its ends. To determine the 

 position of the poles of a horse-shoe magnet a delicate magnetic 

 needle is placed below a fine wire in the meridian and a horse- 

 shoe magnet is brought so that its two ends are immediately 

 below the wire and near the needle. In the case of an electro- 

 magnet the point at which its effect is greatest is found to 

 vary when the coils are moved towards the ends, and is 

 nearest to the ends when the coils project slightly beyond 

 them. The third series of researches referred to was on the 

 influence of an electric current on the thermo-electric action 

 of soft iron. A number of strips of iron are connected by 

 means of copper studs, and when currents are passed round the 

 alternate strips it is found that the system acts as an ordinary 

 thermopile. This question is, however, still under investigation. 

 In reply to a question of the President, Barou WrangeU stated 

 that the effects of increasing the number of coils in the horse-shoe 



