562 



NA TURE 



{Oct. 3, 1889 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



~'t American y mniil of Science, Saple nbar. — From expari- 

 ■raents hare de^jribed, Mis;rs. A. A. Michelson anl E. W. 

 Morley i ifer tha p Visibility of establishing a material standard 

 a matre long, wha^e length in light-waves is known to within 

 one pirt in one million, and perhaps one in ten millions. — Mr. 

 H. Crew has mja^urei sp3Ctro;copically the solar rotation for a 

 zone soma 60"' wider faan any before observed, getting the equa- 

 torial value 26'23 days, and finding no certain variation of pariod 

 with latitude by this method. A comparison of the results from 

 various methods appears to suggest a decrease of angular velocity 

 •outwards. — Stretching suddenly soft annealed wires by descent 

 of weights'through a trap door, and measuring thermo-electrically 

 the heat evolved, Mr. C Birus finds that as much as one-half the 

 ■work done in stretching up to the limit of rupture may be stored 

 up permanently. The work thermally dissipated varies ieg. 

 75 per cent, for copper, 60 for brass, and 50 for iron ) ; and with 

 a given metal, there is large potentializing in the first stages of 

 ■strain, and large dissipation in the final stages. — Mr. J Trow- 

 bridge shows reason for thinking that short waves of electrical 

 energy are mt absorbed by a 1 approximately perfect dielectric. 

 — A determination of the value of the B.A. unit of resistance in 

 absolute measure by the mjthod of Lorenz, by Messrs. Dancan, 

 Wilkes, and Hutchinson, yields the value 0-9853 ohms. — The 

 ■Carboniferous Echinodermata of the Mississippi basin are studied 

 by Mr. C. R. Keyes. Crinoidea greatly predominated in the 

 first part, and Blastoidea in the later part, of the period. 

 Abrupt differentiation and extinction of genera towards the end 

 of the Keokuk formation, point to decided changes in the 

 environment. — Mr. M. Carey Lea continues his interesting 

 account of the proparties of allotropic silver. No other metal 

 5eem> capable of such a variety of appearances. Inter alia, he 

 notes the remarkable beauty of colouring in rings produced by 

 a small crystal of iodine placed on paper that has been coated 

 with allotropic silver in its mvist and plastic state. — There are 

 also papers on the "Grand Gulf" formation of the United 

 States (Mr. L. C. Johnson) ; paragenesis of allanite and epidote 

 as rock-forming minerals (Mr. W. H. Hobbs) ; a fossil spider 

 <Mr. C. E. Beecher), &c. 



Revui cF Anthropologic, troisieme serie, tome iv., quatrieme 

 fasc. (Paris, 1889). — Scientific anthropometry and artistic pro- 

 iportions, by Colonel Dahousset. In treating of the origin of 

 anthropometric canons of proportion, the writer considers that 

 while there is no doubt of the influence exerted by the Egyptians 

 on Hellenic art, the beauty of their own people must early have 

 led Greek artists to adopt, as typical models for the representa- 

 tions of their divinities, the most highly developed specimens of 

 the human form, as it was manifested in their immediate neigh- 

 "bourhood. It would appear that the most ancient canon of 

 teauty recognized by the Greeks was derived from Polycletus 

 (452-412 B.C.), whose celebrated statue, "Doryphorus," the 

 spear-bearer, was long known as " canon " from its perfect 

 •embodiment of the ideal of the male figure. A century later 

 ■this type gave place to the more idealized representation of 

 Lysippus, who in his statues of the gods raised the height 

 •of his figures from the ordinary proportion of 7| to 8 heads. 

 ■Under Vitruvius the proportions of Lysippus received greater 

 precision, and became the type that has essentially served 

 through later ages as the true canon for the perfect human form. 

 The purpose of the writer is to compare this artistic type with a 

 scientific canon, for the establishment of which our recent 

 progress in anthropology now for the first time supplies the 

 necessary materials. — In a subsequent article, M. Topinard, fol- 

 lowing up the relations between these two canons of proportion, 

 treats of the differences between the methods followed by the 

 artist and the anthropologist. He considers that the establish- 

 ment of a scientific canon demands a careful study of the 

 skeleton and the body immediately after death, as well as of 

 the living subject, and his observations, elucidated by numerous 

 tables, will be found of great value to the artist. He suggests, 

 ■e.g., that the decimal system of measurement should be used in 

 determining the proportions of the several parts of the body to 

 the whole body, while racial and sexual differences should be 

 taken into account before the height of the figure is determined. 

 This preliminary step is of importance, for while all races have a 

 general similarity in the proportion of the height of the head to 

 the whole body, the yellow races have comparatively '"high" 

 heads. Women, moreover, in all races, other things being 

 equal, have higher heads than men. M. Topinard concludes that 



there is no fixed relation between variations in the height of the 

 head and those of other parts of the body, and that, conse- 

 quently, the artistic method of taking the head as a standard for 

 the relative proportions of the rest of the body is erroneous. 

 Hence thee is no absolute type of beauty, the canons of pro- 

 portion varying with sex, age, race, and individuals. — On 

 vestiges of pagan practices among the Pr.^venfals of our own 

 days, by Dr. B. Ferand. The Proven9als, who from their 

 origin were powerfully influenced by the Greeks and Romans, 

 still retain in their modes of worship, and their social and 

 domestic habits, numerous traces of paganism. Curious instances 

 of this are supplied by the practice of libations, still followed by 

 the peasants of Provence, who, after having concluded some 

 unusual transaction, or an agreement of importance, commem' 

 orate the event by pledging those present, after which they 

 invariably extend the right arm and turn their glass down, so as 

 to let the last drop fall to the ground. Similarly, at the festival 

 of Christmas, which is locally known as " Leis Festos de 

 Caleno " (the Calends), a solemn repast is partaken of, known as 

 " Lou gros Soupar," at which the eldest and the youngest 

 member of the assembled family perform, amid a profound 

 silence, the ceremony known as the "benediction of the fire." 

 This act is performed by pouring wine three times upon the 

 burning log, which must be of oak or olive wood. 'I'his is 

 accompanied by the singing of some verses, in which the 

 excellence of fire is praised, and God is thanked for having 

 given man beneficent heat. These verses vary in different 

 localities, but everywhere the ceremony of the silent libations 

 precedes the supper of which the combined household partake. 

 — On lacustrine and other pile-structures in Northern Italy, by 

 M. P. Castelfranco. The writer gives an interesting summary 

 of the various works which have appeared in Italy in recent 

 years, regarding the different forms of pile-structures discovered 

 in the Parmese and neighbouring lowlands. In Italy such 

 explorations date back only to 1861, when MM. Pigorini 

 and Strobel discovered extensive remains of prehistoric pile- 

 dwellings at Castione. Since then other explorers, more 

 especiallv Dr. Chierici, have followed up these researches in 

 the province of Reggio, where the latter discovered traces of a 

 chaussk raised above the level of the ground on closely adjusted 

 piles. The remains of some of the pile-dwellings showed, 

 moreover, that there had been in course of time as many as 

 three distinct structures raised the one upon the substructures of 

 the others. The animal remain ^ and the flint implements found 

 in the debris belonged to the Bronze Age. M. Castelfranco's 

 summary is worihy of the careful attention of our most distin- 

 guished palaeontologists, while the important facts which he 

 adduces appear to warrant the interesting conclusion that in these 

 palustrine habitations of Northern Italy we have the most ancient 

 Italian stations of the tribes, from whom descended those 

 prehistoric peoples whose occupation of the country is attested 

 by the celebrated cemeteries at Villanova, Bologna, &c., which 

 belong to the earliest period of the Iron Age. M. Pigorini 

 believes that the civilization of the palustrine and land-pile 

 dwellings — the ierrcniare of Northern Italy — is identical with 

 that of prehistoric Hungary, which gradually penetrated to 

 Central Europe by the Danube and its great affluents, the Drave 

 and the Save, but never advanced to the western districts of 

 France, or to Britain, where there is no trace of any but 

 lacustrine pile habitations. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London, 



Entomological Society, September 4. — Captain H. J. 

 Elwes, Vice-President, in the chair. — Prof C. H. Fernald and 

 Mr. C. J. Fryer were elected Fellows ; and Prof C. V. Riley 

 and Dr. A. S. Packard were admitted into the Society. — Mr. G. 

 T. Baker exhibited two remarkably dark specimens of Acroiiycla 

 ligustri taken near Llangollen. — Dr. P. B. Mason exhibited and 

 remarked on a collection of Lepidoptera which he had recently 

 made in Iceland. The following species, amongst others, were 

 represented, viz. : — Cry modes exulis, Trip/ucna pronulia, Afoctua 

 conjiua, Plusia gamma, Larentia acsiata, Eupithecia scoriata, 

 Melanippe sociata, Coremia munitata, Phycis fiisca, and Crambus 

 pascnellus. — The Rev. Dr. Walker also exhibited a number of 

 Lepidoptera, iJiptera, and Hymenoptera, recently collected by 

 himself in Iceland. — Mr. W. White exhibited, on behalf of Mr. 

 G. C. Griffiths, a specimen of A'ephronia Iiippia, Fab., sds.gaa, 



