3i8 



NA TURE 



{Feb. 17, 1876 



Glaisher gave a brief sketch of a note by Mr. T. Muir, on the 

 transformation of Gauss' hypergeometric series into a continued 

 fraction. — The Chairman then dwelt in some detail on the parti- 

 tion of geometrical curves, the principal theorem being that, if 

 D is the deficiency, the maximum number of distinct parts of 

 the curve is D + i. Professors Cayley and Clifford and Mr. S. 

 Roberts took part in the discussion upon the paper. — Mr. J. 

 Hammond gave an account of his paper on the sums of the pro- 

 ducts of r different terms of a series. — Prof. Clifford made a few 

 remarks on pendular motion, in continuation of his paper read 

 at the preceding meeting of the Society. — The President read 

 part of a one-paged note on the pan-imaginary theory, by the 

 Comte Leopold Hugo. 



Royal Astronomical Society. — The Annual General Meet- 

 ing was held at the Society's Rooms, Burlington House, on the 

 afternoon of Friday, Feb. 11, Prof. Adams, president, in the 

 chair. — Amongst the lives of deceased Fellows given in the 

 Annual Report were those of Mr. Carrington, Prof. Selwyn, 

 Mr. Vignoles, and Sir Edward Ryan ; and amongst the deceased 

 Associates were Prof. Argelander, M. D'Arrest, and M. 

 Mathieu. Mr. Carrington has left the Society a legacy of 

 2,000/. He for many years served as secretary, and during that 

 period published two important works, the one upon sunspots, 

 and the other known as the Red-hill Catalogue of Circumpolar 

 Stars. Mr. Carrington was the first to show the existence of 

 the great drifts in the solar photosphere and to determine 

 accurately the position of tl.e sun's axis and the rotation 

 periods of the various heliographic latitudes. After reading 

 the Report of the Society, the President delivered his address 

 upon the presentation of the Gold Medal to M. Leverrier 

 for his investigations with reference to the perturbations of 

 the outer planets. — The Astronomer Royal referred to Prof. 

 Adams' address as one of a most exhaustive character, such as 

 could only have been delivered by the Professor. The meeting then 

 proceeded to the ballot for Officers and Council for the ensuing 

 year, and the following gentlemen were declared to be elected : — 

 President — Dr. Huggins. Vice-Presidents— Prof. J. C. Adams, 

 Sir G. B. Airy, Mr. De la Rue, and Mr. Lassell. Treasurer — 

 Mr. Whitbread. Secretaries — Mr. Dunkin and Mr. Ranyard. 

 Foreign Secretary — Lord Lindsay. Council — Capt. Abney, Mr. 

 Brett, Prof. Cayley, Mr. Christie, Mr. Glaisher, Mr. Knobel, 

 Mr. Knott, Capt. Noble, Rev. S. J. Perry, Prof. Pritchard, Earl 

 of Rosse, and Capt. Tupman. 



Anthropological Institute, Feb. 8. — Col. A. Lane Fox, 

 president, in the chair. — The President read his anniversary 

 address, in which the papers read before the Institute during the 

 past year were classified as follows : — Descriptive ethnology, 

 nine papers ; archseology, seventeen papers ; ethnology, one 

 paper ; biology, three papers ; comparative anatomy, four 

 papers ; psychology, one paper ; sociology, two papers ; philo- 

 logy, two papers. The remainder of the address was devoted 

 to matters relating to the policy and internal affairs of the Insti- 

 tute. The Rev. W. Wyatt Gill read two papers on some tradi- 

 tions of the Harvey Islands, and demonstrated, by the assistance 

 of genealogical tables of kings and priests, that the islands had 

 not been inhabited more than about six centuries, and gave some 

 instances from his own knowledge of canoes having drifted from 

 very distant islands as a cause for the spread of the Polynesian 

 race throughout the Pacific. — A paper by Mr. W. W. Wood, 

 on some megalithic monuments in the Island of Rotumah was also 

 read. 



Physical Society, Feb. 12. — Annual General Meeting. — 

 Prof. Gladstone, F.R.S., president, in the chair. — The following 

 candidates were elected members of the Society : — Mr. W. R. 

 Hodgkinson and Mr. H. M. Hastings. — The President read the 

 report of the Council, of which the following is an abstract : — 

 The Council points with satisfaction to the activity with which 

 the work of the Society has been carried on during the year, as 

 is shown by the number of papers read ; and special reference is 

 made to lectures which were delivered by M. Cornu, of Paris, 

 and Mr. J. Norman Lockyer. The election of many distiii- 

 guished physicists during the past year has given the Council 

 much satisfaction, as it affords undoubted evidence of the pro- 

 gress of the Society and of the position it has now attained. 

 The Society has to regret the loss of two members, Mr. Becker, 

 who died on the 3rd of April, 1875, from bronchitis, in the 

 fifty-lourth year of his age, and Mr. Waugh, who died on the 

 I2t[i of October, from epilepsy, in his fortieth year. The Society 

 has already published a work by Prof. Everett, on the Centi- 

 metre-Gramme-Second System of Units, and the Covmcil is now 



in communication with the family of the late Sir Charles Wheat- 

 stone with a view to the publication of his papers. Attention 

 is drawn to the benefit which the Society derives from the use of 

 the lecture-room, &c., which were generously placed at its 

 service by the Lords of the Committee of Council on Edu- 

 cation. It has been considered desirable to arrange that 

 the Council may grant admission to all meetings of a 

 session to approved persons who are not members of 

 the Society. In concluding the Council records its thanks for 

 the services which Dr. Guthrie has rendered in his office of 

 Demonstrator, an office which was formerly an important one in 

 the Royal Society, and the Council believes that much might be 

 gained if arrangements could be made for reproducing before this 

 Society the experiments described in original papers which appear 

 from time to time in this country and abroad. Several altera- 

 tions in the Bye Laws were then discussed and adopted, and the 

 following Officers and Council were elected for the 'ensuing 

 year : — President, Prof. G. C. Foster, F. R. S. Vice-Presidents : 

 Prof. W. G. Adams, F.R.S., and W. Spottiswoode, LL.D., 

 F.R.S. Secretaries: A. W. Reinold, M.A., W. C. Roberts, 

 F.R.S. Treasurer, Dr. E. Atkinson. Demonstrator, Dr. F. 

 Guthrie, F.R.S. Other Members of Council: Latimer Clark, 

 C.E., Prof. A. Dupre, F.R.S., W. Huggins, D.C.L., F.R.S., 

 Prof. H. M'Leod, Dr. C. W. Siemens, D.C.L., F.R.S., Dr. II. 

 Sprengel, Dr. W. H. Stone, Sir William Thomson, LL.D., 

 F.R.S., Prof. W. C. Unwin, B.Sc, and E. O. W. Whitehouse. 

 The proceedings then terminated with votes of thanks to the 

 President, the Lords of the Committee of Council on Education, 

 the Demonstrator, Secretaries, and Treasurer. 



Geologists' Association, Feb. 4. — Mr. WiUiam Carruthers, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — On the drift of 1 the North 

 Wales border, by D. C. Davies, F.G.S.— The covering [of drift 

 is most complete on the eastern slopes of the border down to the 

 plain of Cheshire and Salop. The greatest thickness is on a 

 north and south line between Wrexham and Oswestry, the maxi- 

 mum of 150 feet being attained between Ruabon and Wrexham. 

 The exceptions to this rule occur in certain hollows and valleys 

 of the hilly region. The best exposures are at old Oswestry 

 gravel-pit, 500 feet above level of sea, and the gravel ridge of 

 Gresford. The author also gave a line of pit sections ranging 

 from north to south. Five groups were described : — I. Deposits 

 of the Pre-Glacial period, due principally to meteoric action 

 upon adjacent rocks. 2. Stiff clay with boulders of local and 

 northern origin. Lower Boulder clay. 3. Sands and 'gravels, 

 with beds of mud and clay. Middle Glacial. 4. Stiff clay with 

 boulders of local and northern origin. Upper Boulder clay. 5. 

 Peat deposits, freshwater shell-beds, redistributed gravels, &c., 

 Post-Glacial. The Upper Boulder clay (group 4) fills up ine- 

 qualities in the preceding beds ; it varies in thickness from I to 

 20 feet, in places thinning out altogether ; the immense boulders 

 which strew the surface come from this rather than from the 

 Lower Boulder clay. Referring to these boulders generally, 

 besides representatives of most of the Welsh rocks, and notably 

 of the ashes, traps, and greenstones of Glyn Ceiriog, there are 

 three principal varieties of "Scotch granite." The first deep 

 red, with large crystals of red felspar ,- the second, pinkiib, 

 from an admixture of white quartz and red felspar, fine 

 in the grain ; the third is a greenish-grey rock, resenibling 

 specimens from Sutherland, Kirkcudbright, &c. A considera- 

 tion of the phenomena presented by the three groups of the 

 Glacial period leads the author to the following inferences :— I. 

 The majority of the deposits are of local origin, being derived 

 from the mountainous region of North Wales, then an archi- 

 pelago of islands. 2. But, from the plentiful admixture of 

 foreign matter, he infers a sea open to the north. 3. He insists 

 upon the necessity of aqueous conditions : the coast would be 

 partly ice-bound, but there was no general ice-cap. Besides the 

 general alterations of level there were local alterations of level ; 

 proofs of this were to be seen in the neighbourhood of Oswestry, 

 beyond which town the Scotch granites do not seem to pass. 

 This the author considered due to currents deflecting the ice- 

 rafts, &c. He concluded with an account of the redistribution 

 of Glacial material in Post-Glacial time.— On the first Irish cave 

 exploration, by G. S. Boulger, F.G.S. The author showed 

 how the direction of the chambers of caves is mfluenced by 

 joints, and drew attention to the distinction between caves and 

 rock fissures as influencing their fauna. Unnecessary to assume 

 that there was more carbonic acid in the air durmg the quaternary 

 period, as water containing 'oi per cent, is the most efficient 

 solvent of limestone, suggested that allowance might be made 



