576 



NATURE 



{Sept. 26, 1878 



other caves hitherto known, the Mammoth Cave not excepted. 

 Some human remains, resembling Egyptian mummies, were also 

 found in the cave. They were contained in stone sarcophagi of 

 rough structure. The floor of the cave is extremely uneven, full 

 of fissures and irregularities, so that it seems as if violent volcanic 

 phenomena had taken place here. The new cave has been bap- 

 tised with the more or less appropriate name Grand Crystal 

 Cave. Our readers are doubtless aware that the Mammoth 

 Cave is also situated in the vicinity of Glasgow Junction, 

 Kentucky. 



Among the resolutions passed by the International Congress 

 on Weights, Measiu-es, and Coins, at Paris, was the follow- 

 ing : — The Congress learns with pleasure the progress of the 

 metric system ; it deplores that England, Russia, and the United 

 States have not yet entered into the same path ; and it is of 

 opinion that the Governments of those countries should be soli- 

 cited to give effect as early as possible to an act of progress so 

 eminently useful to science, commerce, and international rela- 

 tions." The British and American members had a separate 

 meeting, and resolved to petition their respective Governments 

 to appoint a mixed commission to consider the adoption of the 

 metric system by both countries, and to make all necessary 

 recommendations for the proper legislation to secure the desired 

 end. ?' 3?. ii 



The conchological collection formed by the late Dr. Marie, 

 of New Caledonia, has been purchased by Mr. Bryce-Wright. 



At the Royal Foundry of Munich a colossal monument cast 

 in bronze was exhibited from Septembers to il. It is intended 

 for St. Louis, U.S., and represents Alexander von Humboldt; 

 the design is by Herr von Miiller, jun. The figure is some 3J 

 metres in height, and represents Humboldt in the freshness of 

 manhood, leaning against a stump of a tree, upon which he has 

 deposited his mantle ; in the right hand he holds a map. The 

 statue will be placed upon a stone pedestal, which is in course 

 of construction at St. Louis, and which will be adorned by 

 three relief medallions by the same artist, the one on the front 

 showing the features of the founder of the monument, Mr. 

 Henry Shaw, of St. Louis. 



The following are the more important addresses delivered 

 and papers read at the sectional meetings of the German Natu- 

 ralists' Association at Cassell : — Mathematical and Astronomical 

 Section : On some new solutions of the problem of the division 

 of the ball, by Prof. E. Hess (Marburg) ; On the old calcu- 

 lating machine of Leibnitz, by Prof. Listing (Gottingen) ; On 

 the solar parallax, by the same. Prof. Listing gives the value 

 •jr = 8" '8786 as the most correct one at present. — Physical and 

 Meteorological Section : On some new magnetic phenomena, 

 by Dr. Fromme (Gottingen) ; On the influence of interior 

 friction upon resonance, by Dr. Auerbach (Breslau) ; On a new 

 method of employing the induction of the earth for the deter- 

 mination of the magnetic inclination, by Dr. Schering (Got- 

 tingen) ; On a new apparatus for the distillation of mercury, by 

 Dr. Weber (Kiel) ; On a case of pleochroism, by Prof. Staedel 

 (Tubingen) ; On a new method and apparatus to determine low 

 tensions of vapours, by Dr. Moser (Berlin) ; On some appli- 

 cations of total reflexion, by Prof. Kohlrausch (Wurzburg) ; On 

 the theory of the exchange of air through porous walls, by Prof. 

 Recknagel (Kaiserslautern) ; Remarks on galvanometry, by Prof. 

 Topler (Dresden) ; On the point of gravitation in curves, planes, 

 and solid bodies, by Dr. Feussner (Marburg) ; Record of obser- 

 vations of solar spots and protuberances, by Prof. Sporer (Pots- 

 dam) ; On the behaviour of different heat colours in the reflection 

 of polarised rays from metals, by Prof. Knoblauch (Halle) ; 

 On the mathematical theory of friction electricity, by Dr. 

 Schering (Gottingen) ; On an improvement in the hair hygrome- 



ter, by Dr. Nippoldt (Frankfort-on-the-Main). Chemical Sec- 

 tion : On the chemical constitution of the turnip molasses, by 

 Prof. Gunning (Amsterdam) ; On some new platina compounds, 

 viz., platinofulminates, by Prof, von Meyer (Leipzig) ; On p)n:o- 

 meconic acid, by the same ; On a new apparatus for the com- 

 bustion of organic substances containing halogens, by Dr. 

 Kopfer (Bonn) ; On the conversion of starch into sugar, by Dr. 

 Salomon (Brunswick) ; On a physically isomeric modification of 

 dinitrochlorobenzol, by Prof. Daubenheimer (Giessen) ; On the 

 conditions of life of the lower organisms, by Prof. Gunning 

 (Amsterdam) ; On a new method in the preparation of bromine, 

 by Dr. Frank (Stassfurt) ; On some new phenomena concerning 

 gases, by Prof. Mitscherlich. Geological and Palseontological 

 Section : On the heat of the earth, by Herr E. Dunker (Halle) ; 

 On some animal footmarks in the coloured sandstone of Carls- 

 hafen, by Dr. Hornstein ; On the geological condition of the 

 BUdingen forest, by Dr. Biicking ; On an explanation of earth- 

 quakes, by Herr von Diicker ; On the tridymit of Friedrichroda 

 (Thuringia), by Dr. Luedecke ; On basalt and its decay, by Dr. 

 Franke ; On the geological condition of the Kyffhauser moun- 

 tain, by Dr. Moesta. Geographical Section ; On the botanical 

 aspect of the Caucasus, by Dr. Radde ; On an exploring expe- 

 dition to San Jose de Cucuta (South America), by Dr. K. 

 Miiller (Halle) ; On mountain and valley winds and their effect 

 upon the vegetation of volcanic mountains, by Prof. Rein (Mar- 

 burg) ; Ethnological researches in the Island of Cyprus, by 

 Herr Schmolder (Frankfort) ; On the progress of the commer- 

 cial relations between Europe and Western Siberia, by Dr. M. 

 Lindemann (Bremen). Numerous papers and treatises were 

 read at the zoological, botanical, anatomical, and physiological 

 section-meetings, but by far the greater part were of minor in- 

 terest, most of them having special reference to medicine only. 

 The medical sections were as numerous as last year at Munich, 

 and the attendance was, if anything, greater than on any previous 

 occasion. 



The Aeronautical Society has issued its twelfth annual report. 

 To it, in accordance with the expressed intention to reprint any 

 matter of interest which might be otherwise unattainable, is 

 annexed a reprint of a pamphlet printed in the year 1810 by 

 Thos. Walker, of Hull, its title being "A Treatise on the Art 

 of Flying by Mechanical Means." Mr. Walker was a portrait 

 painter. An American would say that the treatise was a little 

 "mixed." 



The physicists of the French Central Bureau of Meteorology 

 are engaged in establishing a nomenclature to diminish the 

 number of letters used in signalling. 



The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is pro- 

 bably one of the most active and efficient scientific societies 

 anywhere ; its Proceedings will bear comparison with those of 

 any society in the old country. The part before us, including 

 the period from November, 1877, to May, 1878, contains a 

 number of papers of great value, the titles of which we shall 

 give meantime, in the hope of being able to notice some of them 

 in detail shortly. The Moon's Zodiacal Light; Undulations 

 Observed in the Tail of Coggia's Comet, 1874 ; Sudden Extinc- 

 tion of the Light of a Solar Protuberance ; On Saturn's Rings, 

 by L. Trouvelot ; Supplementary Note on the Theory of the 

 Horizontal Photoheliograph, by Prof. William Harkness, U.S. 

 Navy ; Researches on the Substituted Benzyl Compounds, by 

 C. Loring Jackson ; Remarks on the Brain, illustrated by the 

 Description of the Brain of a Distinguished Man, by Thomas 

 Dwight, M.D. ; Theory of Absorption-Bands in the Spectrum, 

 and its Bearing in Photography and Chemistry, by Dr. Robert 

 Amory ; Surfaces of the Second Order, as treated by Quater- 

 nions, by Abbott Lawrence Lowell ; On the Synonymy of some 

 Species of Uredinea?, by W. G. Farlow ; Metasomatic Deve- 



