56 



NATURE 



[Nov. 1 8, 1875 



fact, we may, perhaps, in conclusion, be permitted to indulge in 

 a short flight of fancy. Let us endeavour to realise how great is 

 the distance in time which separates the savage of Craven from 

 our own day. We have the history of much of it in the Victoria 

 Cave itself, and we may restore some of the missing pages from 

 the surrounding district. 



At the cave, Roman times are separated from our own by 

 sometimes less than one, but not more than two, feet of talus, 

 the chips which time detaches from the cliffs above. The Neolithic 

 age, which antiquaries know was a considerable time before the 

 Roman occupation, is represented by a layer in some places four 

 or five feet beneath the Roman, in others even running into it. 

 Then comes a thickness of 19 feet of talus without a record of 

 any living thing. Judging by the shallowness of the Roman 

 layer, this must represent an enormous interval of time. And 

 this takes us down to the boulders, the inscribed records of the 

 Glacial Period. They must represent a long series of climatal 

 changes, during which the ice was waxing and waning, advancing 

 and melting back over the mouth of the Victoria Cave. This 

 period saw the Reindeer and the Grisly Bear occasionally h\ 

 possession. Then we have an unconformity, a break in the 

 continuity of the deposits, the boulders lying on the edges of 

 the older beds. Time again ! and that time long enough for 

 changes to take place which allowed the district to cool down 

 from a warmth suitable to the Hippopotamus, and become a 

 fitting pasture-ground for the Reindeer. It was in that warm 

 period that the early Craven savage lived and died. 



But these are not all the changes which occurred in the North 

 of England since that time. The age of the great submergence 

 represented by the sea beaches of Moel Tryfaen and Maccles- 

 field, and by the Middle-Sands-and-Gravels of Lancashire, has 

 left no record up at the cave. Your reporter is of opinion that 

 the submergence did not attain in that district a greater depth 

 than six or seven hundred feet, and this would still leave the 

 cave 750 i&ti above the sea, though it would cut up the land 

 into a group of islands. The fact is sufficient for us, the depth 

 is immaterial. 



Upon no fact are geologists better agreed than upon the exist- 

 ence of a wide-spread submergence and emergence of land to- 

 wards the close of the Glacial Period. No tradition is common 

 to more races and religions than that of a great deluge. Where 

 back in the past is the common pomt whence these two far- 

 travelled, almost parallel rays of truth had their origin ? In the 

 opinion of your reporter the Craven savage who lived before the 

 Great Ice-sheet, and be/ore the Great Submergence, may form an- 

 other of the many strong ties which bind together the sciences 

 of Geology and Anthropology. 



GERMAN SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL 

 ASSOCIATION* 



'T^HE following communications were made to the various 

 •^ sections. Of many of these papers our space permits us to 

 give little more than the titles and names of authors : — 



Section i. Astronomy a7id Mathematics. — The laws of comets, 

 by M. von Hauenfels. — On the idea of space, by Prof. Hoppe. 

 — On properties of tetragons between hyperbolas, by Prof. 

 Reitlinger. — On the criteria of maxima and minima in definite 

 integrals, by Prof. Zmurko. — On Voigtlandei's newest tele- 

 scopes, by A. Martin. — On the mathematical series called chains, 

 by Dr. Giinther. 



Section 2. Physics and Meteorology. — The new polariscope of 

 Mach, by Dr. Subic. — The glimmer combination of Reusch 

 and their significance for theoretical optics, by Dr. Sohnke. — 

 The relation between the temperature and the inner friction of 

 gases, by Capt. Obermeyer. — Dr. Prestel showed his climato- 

 graphical atlas of Germany. — On changes of induction-currents 

 through iron nuclei, by A Ettingshausen. — On the isogonic 

 lines in Transylvania, by G. Schenzl. — On microscopical photo- 

 graphy, by A. Martin. — On the increase of the velocity of evapo- 

 ration through electricity, by Dr. Reitlinger. — On the tempera- 

 ture of steam given off by solutions of salts, by L. Pfaundler. — 

 Method of representing the various constituents of weather in a 

 short and exact manner, by Dr. Prestel. — The conducting powers 

 of several acids for electricity, by Prof. Kohlrausch. — On mirror 

 observations with minute mirrors, by Prof. Boltzmann. 



Section 3. Chemistry. — On a new colouring matter, phlo- 

 rein, by R. Benedict (already pubished in the Annalen der 

 Chemie). — R. Bottger proved that Gore's inflammable antimony 

 * Continued from p. 34, 



contains not only chloride of antimony, but also occluded hydro- 

 gen, transforming, as it does, ferr/cyanide into ferrocyanide of | 

 potassium. The same chemist has found glycerine to preserve } 

 palladium-hydrogen for three months or longer. The same | 

 chemist also showed a new solvent for tri-nitro-cellulose, viz., j 

 sodic sulphydrate. — Dr. Schwartz showed the oxidation of am- | 

 monia to nitric acid by means of hypermanganate of potassium. '; 

 — Dr. Meusel proved the transformation of ammonia in water 

 into nitrites to be due to the presence of bacteria, and to be 

 prevented by benzoic, carbolic, or salycilic acids, that kill the 

 bacteria. — A. Mitscherlich showed a new air-thermometer. — A. 

 Butlerow presented observations on the transformation of hydro- 

 carbons Cnll^n into alcohols. — The same chemist has found a 

 phenol C15II24O in the juice of Cynanchum acutum. — L. v. Pebal 

 showed new apparatus for disengaging gases, and new thermo- 

 meters for lecture purposes. — A. Michaelis reported on the con- 

 tinuation of his experiments on aromatic compounds of phospho- 

 rus. — H. V. Richter on tlie action of cyanide of potassium on 

 nitro-compounds, and on the transformation of aromatic amides 

 into bromides.— M. Conrad on dichloro-aceto-acetic ether. — 

 H, Schacherl demonstrated that hydrochloric acid and chlorate 

 of potassium yield hypochlorous acid : — 



2KCIO3 -I- 4HCI = 2CIO2 V 2H2O -f CI2 + 2KCL 



— E. Urban communicated that phosphoric anhydride trans- 

 forms allylic alcohol, not into allylene, but marsh-gas. — Prof. 

 Butlerow insisted upon the necessity of introducing dynamical j 

 views into the constitution-theory of chemical molecules, and 

 explained his intentions by drawing attention to the various 

 decompositions which both cyanic and hydrocyanic acids offer 

 under different circumstances. — I. lobst sent a communication | 

 on a Bolivian bark Qiiina cota, which is free from quinine, but 

 contains li per cent, of a new crystalline body not yet analysed. 



Section 4. Mineralogy and Geology. — On a Labyrinthodont 

 found near Briinn, by A. Markowsky. — Geology of the Vienna 

 Waterworks, by F. Karrer. — On minerals enclosed in th^ 

 volcanic conglomerates of the Swabian Alps, by Prof. Nie 

 — On the Brown-coal Flora of Styria, by C. von Ettings 

 hausen. — On Baer's law respecting the flowing of rivers 

 a southern direction, by A. Dunker. — On the influence 

 plants for diminishing the surface of lakes, by Dr. Senf^ 

 — On a fossil resin, Hartit, by Dr. Hofman. — On the mag 

 nesites of Styria, by Prof. Rumpf. — On the results of dee 

 borings in the North German Plain, by Dr. Huysser. — On th| 

 granites of the mountain-range, Bohmerwald, by Dr. Woldrich ■ 

 On earthquakes (trying to demonstrate the action of the moon oii 

 subterranean volcanic eruptions), by R. Falb. — On the falling ' 

 of abandoned coal-mines in Konigshiitte (Silesia), by Dr. Seria 

 — On eruptive formations in the Fassa-valley and Fleimserl 

 valley, by C. Dolter. — On a discovery lately made near S.utt 

 gart, of eighteen Saurians, partly measuring as much as 0*9 metre 

 in length, by Dr. Karpff. — On corals in Tertiary sediments 

 Krain, by W. Linhart. 



Section 5. Botany. — C. von Ettingshausen communicated 

 phyto-paljeontological studies in their bearing on the transfor4 

 mation of species ; also a paper on the transformation of Cas 

 tanea ataz'ia into Castanea vesca. — Dr. Eidam described the deveJj 

 lopment of the sexual organs of Plynienomycetes. — On higU 

 pressure in the cells of plants, by Dr. Pfeffer. — On morphologj 

 of cryptogamea, by Dr. Prantl. — On the flora of Australia and 

 of the Cape, by C. v. Ettinghausen. — On the sexual life 0% 

 plants, by E. Strasburger. — On the vegetation of Mount Etna^ 

 by G. Strobl. — On Theophrastus as a botanist, by O. KirchnerJ 

 - — On a monstrous organ in Marchantia polyjuorpha, by ProC 

 Leitgeb. — On acclimatising Rheum Ribes in Vienna, by Prof 

 FenzL — Morphology of mosses (Lebermoose) and application 

 phenol and essential oil of cloves for botanical preparations, bj 

 H. Leitgeb. 



Section 6. Zoology and Comparative Anatomy. — On the zook 

 gical station at Trieste, and on a sponge, Sycandra raphantt 

 Haeckel, by F. E. Schulze — On the genus Myzostomum, bt 

 L. Graff. — On the penis of Scolytides and the chewing apparatu 

 of the same genus, by Prof. Lindemann. — On Ffyckoptera con-^ 

 taminata, by C. Grobben. — On the circulation of molluscs, by 

 Prof KoUmaim, — On the curves described by the legs of insects, 

 by V. Graber. — On noctilucous Dipteras at the Aral lake-district, 

 by W. Aleuitzin. — On the ear of Heteropodes, by Prof. Claus^ 

 — On Podocoryne caniea, by C. Grobben. — The typical forms < 

 the skulls of cattle, by Dr. Wilckens. — On the difTerentiation 

 in certain species of beetles {Carabus monilisy arrogans, and 



I 



