20O 



NATURE 



{Jan. 6, 1876 



of the Danube, and to the great laws which regulate the flow 

 of water, which he illustrated by diagrams. Hydraulics and 

 meteoiology must be studied in connection with the lines of 

 denudation and deposition ; and however difficult and incon- 

 venient these subjects might be, no results would be reliable 

 unless all the physical circumstances were taken into account. 



Anthropological Institute, Dec. 28, 1875. — Col. A. Lane 

 Fox, president, in the chair. — Major H. H. Godwin-Austin, 

 E. Willett, Mrs. T. Cowie, and A. L. Lewis, were elected 

 members. — Mr. John Evans, F.R.S., read a note on a proposed 

 international code of symbols for use on archiseological maps, 

 which had been prepared by the sub-committee appointed at the 

 Stockholm meeting of the Congress of Prehistoric Archaeology, 

 — Miss A. W. Buckland read a paper on divination by the rod 

 and by the arrow." The author endeavoured to prove : — i. That 

 from personal observation, rhabdomancy is still practised in 

 England in certain localities, and that it is a survival of a very 

 ancient superstition originating in the use of rods as symbols of 

 power. 2. That the staff as a sceptre was probably a later form of 

 the horn which was thus used in very early prehistoric times, and in 

 that character adorned the heads of gods. 3. That from the use of 

 rods or horns arose a veneration for them as possessing the inhe- 

 rent power of healing disease and even of restoring life. Hence 

 their use by magicians in all ages and countries, the chief instru- 

 ments employed by them being a ring or circle, and a staff and a 

 bifurcated stick. 4. That these symbols conjoined are found in 

 Egyptian, Assyrian, and Peruvian sculptures, and may be traced 

 in some of the stone circles of Britain, and in the shape of Irish 

 and African brooches and fibulre. 5. That from the belief in 

 the magical powers of rods perhaps arose tree-worship, or at 

 least such veneration for trees as is observable of the oaks of 

 Dordona and of the Druids, the ash of Scandinavia, and, for 

 some unexplained reason, more particularly of the hazel. 6. 

 That belomancy, or divination by marked arrows, said to 

 be of Scythic origin, was practised in Babylon, Judcea, and 

 Arabia, and that ti-aces of it may still be found in the 

 folk tales of Russia and Siberia. 7. That the mode 

 of using these arrows had a strong resemblance to the 

 very ancient custom of casting lots common to all peoples 

 ancient and modern. 8. That the invention of lots and dice, as 

 well as that of the divining rod, is ascribed to Hermes or Mercury 

 identified with the Woden of Scandinavia, and by some writers 

 also with the India Buddha. 9. That a strong resemblance 

 exists between the implements of magic and the ancient alphabets, 

 also the reputed invention of the same god or gods. 10. Thai 

 many of the signs or letters forming the Archaic- Phoenician, and 

 other alphabets, are found in the rock sculptures of Peru, thus 

 adding one more to the many proofs of a communication existing 

 between the hemispheres in prehistoric times. 11. That the arts 

 of magic and divination were not of Aryan origin, but remnants 

 of the Turanian or Pre- Aryan faith which once overspread the 

 world. 12. That this is proved by their present existence among 

 aboriginal non-Aryan races, and may, perhaps, even be used as 

 a test of race, so that those who in Somerset and Cornwall are 

 said to possess the power of divination by the rod may possibly 

 have some remote affinity with the aboriginal inhabitants of 

 Britain. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, Jan. 3. — Several new 

 members were elected. The yearly statement showed the insti- 

 tute's sphere of action had been much extended of late. The 

 Rev. R. Thornton, D.D., read a paper on "Scepticism," the 

 concluding one of a series of four. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, Dec. 20, 1875. — M. Fremy in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — Theorems in which 

 there are couples of segments having a constant relation, by M. 

 Chasles. — Formula of the quantity of magnetism removed from 

 a magnet by an iron contact, and of the portative force, by M. 

 Jamin. — Critical remarks on the theories of formation of saccha- 

 roid matters in plants, and particularly in the beet, by M. CI, 

 Bernard. — No^e on the order of Aug. 14, 1875, prohibiting the 

 importation of fruit and other trees into Algeria, by M. Blanchard. 

 — Expedition to Campbell Island ; memoir on the chiorination 

 of sea-water, by M. Bouquet de la Grye. The law enunciated 

 by Gay Lussac and Humboldt for the saltness of the Atlantic is 

 also true for the Pacific. Having represented graphically the 

 relation between dilatation, temperature, density, and chiorina- 

 tion, the author seeks to analyse some phenomena of equilibrium 



of the sea. — Exposition of a new method for resolution of numerical 

 equations of all degrees (second part), by M. Lalanne. — New re- 

 searches on the interior magnetism of magnets, by MM. Treve and 

 Durassier. — Researches on Eucalyptus globttlus,hy M. de Hartzen. 

 The resin o^ Eucalyptus contains tannin and several fatty matters. — 

 Action of mineral salts on the crystalHsation of sugar, and deter- 

 mination of their coefficients, by M. Lagrange. Of the various 

 salts contained in sugar, the chlorides are the least melassigcnous ; 

 next come the sulphates and carbonates. The nitrates of potash 

 and soda have the most prejudicial action to crystallisation. — 

 Action of nitric acid on the phosphates and the arseniates of 

 baryta and of lead, by M. Duvillier. — On the exchanges of 

 ammonia between natural water and the atmosphere, by M. 

 SchlcEiing. With the same tension of ammonia in the air, the 

 quantity of alkali dissolved in a natural water, up to equilibrium 

 of tension, decreases rapidly as the temperature rises. — On the 

 propagation of heat in rocks of schistous texture, by M. Jannettaz. 

 — On aniline black ; observations on a communication of M. 

 Coquillion, by M. Rosenstiehl. — Note on the action of ozone 

 on animal substances, by M. Boillot. Fifty grammes of beef 

 enclosed in ozonised air were fresh and unaltered at the end of 

 ten days. — On the myology of carnivora, by M. Alix. — On the 

 pathogeny of deaf-mutism, improperly called congenital, by M. 

 Tripier, Only about a fifth of those said to be born deaf are so 

 really. In the other four-fifths deafness comes suddenly about 

 two or three years of age. — On a crystallised boride of man- 

 ganese, and on the rSle of manganese m the metallurgy of iron, 

 by INIM. Troost and Hautefeuille. — On the oxyfluorides of 

 niobium and of tantalum, by JNI. Joly. — Determination of alka- 

 line metals in the silicates, and in matters unattackable by acids, 

 by means of hydrate of baryta, by M. Terrell. — On a new mode 

 of production of trichloracetic acid, by M. Clermont. — On the 

 classification and the synonymy of the stellarides, by M. Perrier. 

 On T nerve-tubes, and their connection with the ganglionic cells, 

 by M. Ranvier. — On the nerve-terminations in the electric plates 

 of the torpedo, by M. Ranvier. — Remarks on a memoir of M. 

 Tschermak, on the geology of meteorites, by M. Meunier. — M. 

 Milne Edwards presented the first volume of "The Natural 

 History of the Mammifers of Madagascar," by MM. Grandidier 

 and Alph. Milne Edwards. 



Vienna 



Imperial Academy of Sciences, Nov. 11, 1875. — MM. 

 Toldt and Zuckerhandl communicated a paper on the changes 

 of furm and texmre in the human liver during growth. 



Nov. 18, 1875. — A paper was read by M. Liebermann, on the 

 chlorophyll of the colouring matters of flowers and their relations 

 to the colouring matter of blood. He tlinks chlorophyll consists 

 of two substances, chlorophyllic acid and phyllochromogen. 

 The latter arises from chlorophyll through decomposition, and 

 is probably what gives the various colouring matter of flowers by 

 oxidation. 



CONTENTS pags 



Laslett's " Timber and Timber Trees." By John R. Jackson . iSi 



Recent French Experimental Physiology (IVith Illustrations) . i£2 



Dammann's " Race-Photographs." By Edward B. Tvlok, F.R.S. 184 

 Our Book Shelf: — 



Bax's " Eastern Seas " iSs 



Markham's " Commodore Goodenough " 185 



Letters to the Editmr : — 



Sir Thomas Millington and the Sexuality of Plants.— A. B. C. . . 185 

 Article " Birds " in the " Encyclopaedia Britannica." — Prof. Alfred 



Newton, F.R.S 186 



Fertilisation in the Basidiomycetes.— Worthington G. Smith 186 



The Late Eclipse.— Richd. A. Proctor 186 



-■' Blowpipe Analysis.— Major W. A. Ross 1S6 



i J- Meteor in the Daytime.— Rev. T. W. Webb' 187 



Protective Resemblance in the Sloths. — J. C. Galton .... 187 



Coffee in Dominica. — Edmund Watt 187 



The Law of Storms.— Joseph John Murphy 187 



The Glow-worm.— J Shaw 188 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Encke's Comet i83 



Occultations of the Planet Saturn 1S8 



Prof. Stokes on the Early History of Spectrum Analysis . . i83 



Science IN THE Argentine Republic • • ■ 189 



Some Unsolved Problems in the Management of the Marine 



Aquarium. By A. W. Wills • .... 189 



TheNzw OhSfRVATORV IN ViKNtiA .IVitA/llus/rations) .... 192 



The Royal Society Committees .... 193 



The French Academy Award of Prizes 19S 



Notes 196 



Scientific Serials ^9| 



Societies AND Academies ^9" 



