I 



356 



NATURE 



[March 2, 1876 



round which they were generated, somewhat nearer to our 

 doors. 



There is yet one point on which, before quitting the subject, I 

 may add a few words. Sir J. W. Lubbock, in the paper from 

 which I have already quoted so much, has hinted at the possi- 

 bility of some want of homogeneity in the constitution of the 

 globe, so that in cooling, the position of the axis of rotation may 

 have changed. The varying amount of subterranean heat and 

 volcanic energy in the same region at different periods of the 

 earth's existence has frequently been commented on, as has 

 also the varying degree of subsidence or elevation in the same 

 tract at different times. The forces, whatever they may be, to 

 which these upward and downward movements are due, have, as 

 Sir Charles Lyell has remarked, "shifted their points of chief 

 development from one region to another, like the volcano and the 

 earthquake, and are all, in fact, the results of the same internal 

 operations to which heat, electricity, magnetism, and chemical 

 affinity give rise. " 



Whether changes in the specific gravity of enormous masses of 

 rock in consequence of their being heated would be of sufficient 

 degree to disturb the equilibrium of the globe, is a difficult 

 question ; but the remarkable position of the magnetic poles of 

 verticity with regard to the actual poles of the earth, and the 

 distribution of the magnetic force over the earth's surface may, 

 as has been suggested to me by Capt. F. J. Evans, F.R.S., have 

 some geological significance. These poles are in lat. 70° N., 

 long. 96f° W., and in lat. 73 i° S., long. 1475° E. If we draw 

 a circle around the globe, cutting these two points, we find 

 that the magnetic poles, instead of being 180° apart, are 

 only about 165° distant in one direction, while they are 

 about 195° in the other. In like manner the magnetic equa- 

 tor, or line of no dip, differs considerably in position from 

 the terrestrial equator, being drawn about 15° to the south over 

 South America, and about 10° to the north over Africa, and in 

 passing the great Asiatic continent. There is also this singular 

 circumstance, which was insisted upon by Sir Edward Sabine 

 nearly forty years ago — viz. , that if the globe be divided into an 

 eastern and a western hemisphere by a plane coinciding with 

 the meridian of 100° and 280°, the western hemisphere, or that 

 comprising the Americas and the Pacific Ocean, has a much 

 higher magnetic intensity distributed generally over its surface, 

 than the eastern hemisphere, containing Europe and Africa and 

 the adjacent part of the Atlantic Ocean. The points of the 

 greatest intensity of the magnetic force, moreover, do not corre- 

 spond with the magnetic poles, as there are two such foci in the 

 northern hemisphere (those of America and Siberia) making it 

 probable that there are two also in the southern hemisphere. 



Such facts would seem more in accordance with a want of 

 uniformity in the inner constitution of the globe than with its 

 being a body all the parts of which are arranged in perfect 

 symmetry. Some abnormal features in the direction of gravity 

 in different parts of the world seem also to afford corroborative 

 evidence to the same effect. The subject is one of perhaps too 

 theoretical a character for the geologist to approach ; but if any 

 definite connection could be established between terrestrial mag- 

 netism and the internal constitution of the globe, we might, 

 possibly, be justified in drawing the inference from its pheno- 

 mena, that there are forces in operation in the interior of the 

 earth by which its equilibrium may have been disturbed, and its 

 axis of revolution thus caused to change in position. 

 {To be continued.') 



NOTES 



The Italian naturalist Beccari is again in New Guinea, ex- 

 ploring the north coast near Humboldt's Bay, along with an 

 expedition sent out by the Governor-General of the Dutch 

 Colonies. Of his former companion, D'Albertis, now at Yule 

 Island, near the south-eastern extremity of New Guinea, we 

 regret to hear that one of his collections from that district, con- 

 taining about 35,000 insects and 700 reptiles, has been lost on 

 its transit from Cape York. The bird-skins were, fortunately, 

 not sent by the same vessel, and are therefore safe. 



The Paris Observatory has received for January last Meteor- 

 lological observations made six times each day, at the Norma 

 Schools, at the following thirty-four places: — Albertville, 

 Alen9on, Amiens, Aurillac, Avignon, Beauvais, Besan^on, Bourg, 

 Bourges, Caen, Carcassonne, Chalons, Chartres, Chaumont, 



Clermont, Commercy, Dragnignan, Foix, Grenoble, Le Mans, 

 Le Puy, Loches, Lons-le-Saulnier, Macon, Melun, Mirecourt, 

 Nimes, Orleans, Parthenay, Perigneux, Privas, Rouen, Troyes, 

 and Villefranche. The importance of this valuable system of 

 observation in its bearings on the peculiarly difficult problem of 

 the meteorology of France, it would be difficult to over-estimate, 

 especially when taken in connection with the numerous observers 

 of thunder-storms and other phenomena requiring few or no 

 instruments for their observation, whose services are being 

 secureil in different departments. 



Prof. Cantoni has intimated to the Permanent Committee 

 appointed by the Meteorological Congress of Vienna that the 

 Italian Government has been pleased to intimate its readiness to 

 invite the countries which were represented at Vienna to attend 

 a Meteorological Congress in Italy in the autumn of 1877. 



The Permanent Committee of the Vienna Meteorological 

 Congress have announced their intention to hold their next 

 meeting in London, in Easter week, commencing April 18 

 next. 



Nine Lectures on the Shoulder-Girdle and Fore Limb of 

 Vertebrata, will be delivered in the Theatre of the Royal College 

 of Surgeons, on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, at 4 p.m., 

 commencing on Monday, March 6, 1876, by Professor W, K. 

 Parker, F.R.S.— Lecture I. March 6. The Vertebrate Skeleton. 

 II. March 8. Shoulder-girdle and Fore Limb of Fishes. III. 

 March 10. Shoulder-girdle and Fore Limb of Fishes. IV. 

 March 13. Shoulder-girdle, Fore Limb, and Sternum of 

 Amphibia. V. March 15. Shoulder-girdle, Fore Limb, and 

 Sternum of Reptiles. VI. March 17. Shoulder-girdle, Fore 

 Limb, and Sternum of Birds. VII. March 20. Shoulder-girdle» 

 Fore Limb, and Sternum of Mammals. VIII. March 22, 

 Shoulder-girdle, Fore Limb, and Sternum of Mammals. IX. 

 March 24. Summary and conclusion. 



The following is the business to be brought before the Half- 

 Yearly General Meeting of the Scottish Meteorological Society 

 to-day : — i. Report from the Council of the Society ; 2, Report 

 from the Ozone Committee ; 3, The Salmon, Grilse, and Trout 

 Fishings of the Tweed, in relation to Meteorology, by G. L. 

 Paulin, Esq., and the Secretary ; 4, Report from the Herring 

 Committee. 



The following memoirs and reports of the United States Geo - 

 logical and Geographical Survey of the Territories, under the 

 direction of Prof. Hayden, are now in the press, and will be 

 issued during 1876 : — i. Monograph of the Rodentia of North 

 America, by Elliott Coues and J. A. Allen. Quarto, about 500 

 pages, with numerous illustrations. 2. Monograph of the 

 Geometrid Moths, by Dr. A. S. Packard, jun. 350 pages quarto, 

 with 13 plates. 3. The Fossil Invertebrata of the Western 

 Territories, by J. B. Meek. 600 pages quarto, and 45 plates, 

 with numerous woodcuts in text. 4. The Fossil Flora of the 

 Lignitic group of the Western Territories, by Leo Lesquereux. 

 65 plates, quarto. 5. The Ethnography and Philology of the 

 Hidatsa Indians (Minnetarees of the Upper Missouri). 400 

 pages, octavo. 6. Annual Reports of the Survey for 1S74 and 

 1875. 7. Bulletin of the Survey for the year 1876 ; several im- 

 portant articles in press. Other works are in process of pre- 

 paration, and may be printed before the close of the year. 



The Bulletin of the United States Geological and Geogra- 

 phical Survey of the Territories, Prof. Hayden in charge, has 

 just issued Nos. 5 and 6, which close the year 1875. In No. 5, 

 there are nine articles on various subjects of Geology and 

 Natural History. In No. 6 there are four articles, with table 

 of contents and complete index. It is suggested by Prof. 

 Hayden that the two Bulletins of 1874 be bound with those of 

 1875, as Volume I. The index and title-page have been made 

 with this idea in view. Volume I. will then comprise about 600 

 closely printed 8vo. pages, with 26 plates, sections, &c. 



