August I, 1878] 



NATURE 



357 



refers to in his letter in Nature, vol. xviii. p. 329, are of not 

 unfrequent occuiTence on the west coast of India, in the plains 

 as well as the highlands. Moreover I can recollect being much 

 struck with the appearance whilst travelling in Ireland in the 

 autumn of 1863. The convergence of rays in the east, while 

 the sun was setting, was then new and singular to me, but I have 

 since often observed the phenomenon. 



On some occasions the atmosphere has seemed clear, until 

 sunset, when the blue sky has literally reddened, and it is then 

 that the cloud shadows show best as bands of blue stretching 

 from west to east, and visible in the zenith as well as nearer 

 their converging points. E. H. Pringle 



Clevedon, July 27 



Taunton College School 



In your last number, in an article by Mr. Shenstone, of 

 Exeter School, on the formation of a laboratory, he inci- 

 dentally speaks of the council of this school, of which I am 

 headmaster, as having "quenched the torch of science in the 

 west." As this statement may be prejudicial to me, and can only 

 arise from Mr. Shenstone's being imperfectly acquainted with 

 the facts, I trust to your spirit of fairness to allow me to state 

 publicly (i) that the senior half of the school in the last six 

 months has been through a course of electricity and magnetism 

 illustrated by experiments, and has just passed a creditable 

 examination in those subjects under a Cambridge examiner of 

 high reputation ; (2) that there has been a course of lectures on 

 botany this term ; (3) that all those boys whose interests require 

 it have been taught chemistry ; {4) that Me have had a very 

 favourable report of the boys' proficiency in mathematics, which 

 I presume, has some claim to be considered science, though to 

 my great surprise at the present day it is often spoken of as if it 

 had none. The council have left me perfectly free to teach as 

 much or as little science as I choose ; I choose, and in all proba- 

 bility always shall choose, to give every opportunity of acquiring 

 scientific knowledge to my pupils, consistent with their instruc- 

 tion in other necessary subjects, and if I find any with strong 

 scientific tastes, to foster them to the utmost. As my aca- 

 demical position was mainly, though not entirely, due to my 

 scientific knowledge, it would be strange if I acted otherwise. 



Henry Pearce Knapton 



Taunton College School, July 27 



\ 



Deep-sea Dredgings off the Gulf of Mexico 



I WISH to correct an omission of mine in a notice of the work 

 of the United States schooner j9/«/&£? (Nature, vol. xviii. p. 198). 

 Capt. Sigsbee's modification of Thomson's wire-sounding machine 

 was used for the deep-sea soundings. The steel wire was No. 20 

 American gauge, and the time required to reel in with it was 

 always one minute per 100 fathoms. The steel wire rope used 

 for dredging, which was made expi-essly at the suggestion of 

 Prof. A. Agassiz, was the one mentioned in the notice as being 

 of galvanised steel, with a hemp core (not coil, as printed), and 

 which in the notice appears as if it were the same wire rope 

 that was employed for sounding. The sentence will read correctly 

 if the words "used for dredging" be inserted after the words 

 "the wire I'ope" in the paragraph. The importance of this 

 suggestion of Prof. Agassiz will be best understood when the 

 immense saving of space gained — one coil of 3,000 fathoms of 

 this wire rope occupying on the reel only a space of 5 feet long, 

 5 feet high, and 4 wide — and the immense saving in time of 

 lowering and hoisting the dredge, are taken into account. 



E. P. W. 



ANTHROPOLOGY IN FRANCE ^ 



T N the numbers of the Bulletins of the French Anthro- 

 ■*• pological Society for 1876 are many papers of 

 importance, some of which we shall briefly bring before 

 our readers. 



An admirable series of photographs of natives of New 

 Caledonia, taken by order of the local French authorities, 

 has been made the subject of some interesting notices by 

 M. Paul Topinard. Comparing these pictures and a 

 number of the skulls of indigenous New Caledonians with 

 those of native Australians, he finds that while the former 



' Bulletins de la Society d' Anthropologic de Paris. Tome onzifeme, 1876. 



exhibit a greater unity of type than the latter, they also 

 differ from them in presenting a roundness in the contour 

 of the face, due to a predominance of the cellular tissue, 

 which contrasts strongly with the well-marked muscles of 

 the Australian. Their affinity with the negro and New 

 Guinea Papuan types is incontestable. M. P. Topinard 

 discusses in another paper the relative merits of the cranio- 

 metric and facial modes of measurement, adopted the one 

 by Daubenton and Camper, the other by Blumenbach, and 

 Prichard, and the results obtained by M. de Quatrefages 

 with the instrument invented by him, and named gonio- 

 metre parietal. The speaker considers Prichard in error 

 when he attempts to include all Mongolian groups generally 

 under his so-called "ogival" cranial form, this form 

 belonging, in fact only to the Esquimaux. — M. Lagneau 

 wishes to draw the attention of anthropologists to the 

 peculiarities still observable in the people of some parts 

 of La Gironde, known as " Gavaches," or " Marotins," 

 who are descended from certain Angevins, called into the 

 district in about 1525, to repair the ravages caused by a 

 virulent epidemic. In their indolence and slowness they 

 differ strikingly from the vivacious Gascons, among whom 

 they live. — The discovery in the lacustrine houses of 

 Switzerland and Savoy, and in the Lake of Bourget of 

 bronze rods, surmounted with movable rings, has called 

 forth explanations from all quarters. Carl Vogt, among 

 others, has come forward in response to M. Mortillet's 

 invitation to supply him with a clue to their use, and 

 according to him we still have a similar instrument in the 

 " Ringelstock " of the German herdsman, which is formed 

 of a stout nut-stick, terminating in a lateral branch, on 

 which are hung several metal rings. If the noise 

 is not successful in bringing back the animal, th& 

 instrument is thrown at its head with an alarming clatter 

 of bells. M. Hamy entertained the members of the 

 society with an account of the eccentricities of Siamese 

 and Chinese fashion in the development of the finger- 

 nails, which, according to some of the fac-similes laid 

 before the meeting, at times attain a length of forty, and 

 even forty-five centimetres, although usually only that of 

 ten or twelve centimetres ; in most instances this process 

 of lengthening carries with it a corresponding twisting 

 and interlacing of the nails, which acquire the semblance 

 of antlered horns. — M. Bertillon has for some time beeiv 

 engaged in a careful analysis of the preponderance of one 

 sex over the other in first or second legitimate, and 

 illegitimate births in France, and some other countries, 

 more especially Austria. He finds that in France' ta ■ 

 every 100 females bom alive, there are 105 males ; while 

 in regard to still-born births the excess is as 137 to 100. 

 These relations are, however, found to differ essentially 

 ^hen illegitimate births are considered alone, in which 

 case the proportion is as 1,031 males to 1,000 females. 

 In Austria, where the official reports kept of the sex of first 

 and second births admit of more precise calculations in 

 regard to this point, it is found that first births are more 

 frequently masculine, in the proportion of iio'3 to 100; 

 second births being as 105 "2 males to 100 females, while 

 the general relation of the sexes for all births is as 106 

 males to 100 females. This, however, applies only to 

 legitimate births ; the proportion falling in the illegitimate 

 to 105 males against 100 females. MM. Lagneau, Broca^ 

 and others, took part in the discussion which followed on 

 the reading of M. Bertillon's paper on the Influences of 

 Primogeniture on Sex. In relation to this subject we 

 may refer to M. Sanson's report (laid before the society 

 on May 4, 1876) of the influence of age, vigour, &c., on 

 the offspring, as noted by himself, on sheep and other 

 domesticated animals. — French local archaeology and 

 palaeontology have received careful attention from the 

 society during the past year. M. Pommerol has de- 

 scribed the curious megalithic monuments which are to 

 be found in close vicinity to the mineral springs, ancient 

 mortuaries, and church at Saint-Nectaire, in Auvergne. 

 A dolmen, hitherto known only to the local peasantry 



