March 14, 1878] 



NATURE 



395 



can take place either on one or the other, or the two can be so 

 combined as to give a circular motion ; or again, the pendulum 

 can be caused to vibrate in any given plane. The second pen- 

 dulum vibrates in the plane in which the two hang, and carries 

 at its upper end an arm terminating in a pencil over the table of 

 the other pendulum. A very ingenious adjustment renders it 

 possible to raise or lower the bob of the second-named pendulum 

 during its motion. If two pens be attached, about 2\ inches 

 apart, instead of the single one usually employed, and two 

 curves be traced, they are not precisely similar, and when viewed 

 in a stereoscope they are found to give the well-known appear- 

 ance of solidity to the figure. It was further shown that by 

 gradually changing the relative motions of the pendulums it is 

 possible to impart to the curve many of the forms observed in 

 biaxial crystals in the polariscope. — Mr. F. J. M. Page then 

 exhibited the action of the telephone on a capillary electrometer. 

 The construction of Lippman's electrometer as modified by 

 Marey was first explained, and the meniscus of the mercury in 

 the capillary tube was thrown on the screen by the electric light. 

 The delicacy of the instrument was shown by passing a current 

 of xc^Tsth of a Daniell, which caused a distinct movement of the 

 mercury. Resistance of S,ooo ohms and -^^th ohm gave ap- 

 proximately the same deflection ; so that, in practice, the instru- 

 ment may be considered to be independent of resistance, in 

 addition to which it possesses the great advantage of portability, 

 and its indications are almost instantaneous. To illustrate the 

 use of the electrometer for physiological investigations, a frog's 

 heart was connected by non-polarisable electrodes with the in- 

 strument ; each beat of the heart caused a considerable move- 

 ment of the mercury column. A telephone was now connected ; 

 on pressing in the iron plate the mercury moved, and on revers- 

 ing the wiies the movement was seen to be in the opposite 

 direction. On singing to the telephone each note produced a 

 movement, but the fundamental note of the plate as well as its 

 octaves and fifths had the greatest effect. On speaking the 

 mercury oscillated continually ; some letters of the alphabet had 

 scarcely any effect, and the 7£/ was especially curious, producing 

 a double movement. Reversing the wires did not alter the 

 character or direction of these movements. The same effect was 

 observed when the telephone was in the primary and the elec- 

 trometer in the secondary coil of a Du Bois Reymond's induction 

 coiL In conclusion, Mr. Page showed the contractions produced 

 in a frog's leg j on inserting under the sciatic nerve two platinum 

 wires coupled with the binding screws of a telephone and talking 

 to this instrument, violrnt contractions ensued. In the course of 

 the discussion which followed, Prof. Graham Bell expressed him- 

 self as highly gratified at the results of Mr. Page's experiments. 

 He has made very many attempts to ascertain the strength of the 

 current produced by the human voice in vain, but considers the 

 present method will in all probability give some most valuable 

 results. He was quite unable to account for the fact that the 

 motion of the mercury took place from the opening, but this 

 seems to depend on conditions not yet determined. — Mr. Wilson 

 then exhibited, for Prof. S. P. Thompson, a lantern slide galva- 

 nometer for showing the deflections of the needle to an audience. 

 It consists of a coil of insulated copper wire wound on a flat 

 bobbin, within which a needle is balanced on a horizontal axis ; 

 this needle carries a long needle of aluminium traversing a semi- 

 circular divided photographic scale, and as this is transparent 

 the index can be projected on to the screen. The whole is 

 inclosed between two glass plates. 



Geological Society, February 20. — Henry Clifton ' Sorby, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — ^James W. Carrall, Tientsin, 

 China, Edward Cleminshaw, Percy John Neate, Arthur Nicols, 

 John Snell, and John Spencer were elected Fellows of the 

 Society. — The following communications were read : — Notes on 

 the physical geology of the Upper Punjab, by A. B. Wynne, 

 F.G S. The author stated that crystalline rocks are rare in the 

 accession parts of the Upper Punjab district, and that when 

 present they consist of syenite and gneiss. The Cambrian and 

 Silurian formations are represented by more or less metamor- 

 phosed azoic slates in the Himalayan district, and in the Salt 

 Range by a zone less than 200 feet thick, containing either 

 Obolus or Siphonotreta, underlain by a thick unfossiUferous'sand- 

 stone, beneath which is a deposit of gypseous marl and salt. 

 Above the Silurian in the Salt Range, and conformable to it, 

 comes the magnesian sandstone group and a group of unfossili- 

 ferous sandstones and clays ; in the Himalaya these deposits are 

 probably represented by an unfossiliferous siliceous .dolomite, 

 which rests unconfomiably upon the slates. There are no fossils 



indicative of rocks of Devonian age. The carboniferous rocks, 

 are also conformably deposited on limestones, sandstones, 

 and shales, the last sometimes carbonaceous. These deposits 

 contain haematite in sockets, and the oldest known ammonites 

 have been found in them. An infra-triassic group occurring in 

 Lei Bau moimtain consists of red shales, sandstones, and red 

 quartzitic dolomites, overlain by lighter- coloured siliceous dolo- 

 mites, which in their turn are covered by haematite, quartz 

 breccia, sandstones, and shales. The author believes these 

 to have been deposited by the same waters which subse- 

 quently laid down the trias, which is largely composed 

 of limestones in the northern Himalayan area, and here 

 and elsewhere includes dolomites, shales, and sandstanes. 

 Numerous fossils occur in some of the beds, such as Dicero- 

 cardium, Megalodon, and Nerincea, In the western part of the 

 Salt Range conglomerates composed of great blocks are regarded 

 by the author as evidence of proximity of land. The Jurassic 

 deposits are local in their distribution, and consist o{ shales, 

 sandstones, and limestones, containing abundant fossils, such as 

 belemnites, ammonites, and saurians. A dark limestone con- 

 tains also Gryphecc and Trigonia. The cretaceous deposits, 

 when present, are conformable to the carboniferous ; they are 

 variable in thickness and fossil contents, and are not recognisable 

 near Attock between the Jurassic and nummulitic groups. 

 Further east a group, supposed to be cretaceous, includes clays 

 with boulders of crystalline rock, which the author regards as 

 derived from land to the south. One of these boulders presented 

 glacial striae. The eocene rocks are generally limestones, and 

 lie conformably upon the subjacent formations. The nummu- 

 litic series of the Salt Range includes gypseous and coaly shales. 

 The salt beds sometimes attain a thickness of over 1,000 teef. 

 The Miocene and Pliocene deposits are of immense thickness, 

 and contain only fossils of terrestrial and fresh- water origin, so 

 that the deposits were formed in lakes and inland seas. The 

 tertiary epoch closed with the elevation of the Himalayas and 

 Salt Range, which was followed by a long period of change, 

 during which various deposits were produced, some includ- 

 ing great quantities of erratics, which, however, the author 

 believes were brought to their present position rather by 

 floating ice than by the extension of glaciers. — Description and 

 correlation of the Bournemouth beds ; Part I., Upper or Marine 

 Series, by J. Starkie Gardner, F. G.S. The author comes to 

 the conclusion that the whole group is contemporaneous with 

 the Brackleshara beds, and is not of Lower Bagshot age. Similar 

 shore conditions probably extended into the London basin, and 

 the beds mapped by the Survey as Lower Bagshot are probably 

 of the same age as those at Boscombe, in which case nothing 

 more than the Bracklesham is to be met with in the London 

 basin. The similarity of the leaves, &c. , from Bovey Tracey to 

 those obtained by the author leads him to infer that the former 

 also are of eocene, and not of miocene age. The author 

 increases the thickness of the London clay at Alum Bay at the 

 expense of the Bagshot beds, and diminishes that of the 

 Bracklesham beds at Whitecliff Bay by transferring part of them 

 to the Lower Bagshot. — Notes on certain modes of occurrence 

 of gold in Australia, by Richard Daintree, F.G. S. — Notes on 

 the geology of the Island of Mauritius and the adjacent islets, 

 by W. H. T. Power, B.A. (Communicated by W. Whitaker, 



F.as.) ': , ;V 



Entomological Society, February6.—H.W. Bates, F.L.S., 

 F.Z.S., president, in the chair. — Prof. J. O. Westwood, Mr. J. 

 W. Douglas, and Mr. F. Smith, were nominated by the pre- 

 sident as vice-presidents for the year. — Mr. Rich. S. Standon and 

 Mr. T. W. Wonfor, were elected Members of the Society. — Mr. 

 J. Jenner Weir exhibited the following spiders : — three species 

 identified by Sir Sydney Saunders as Atypus sulzeri, taken at 

 Lewes ; a remarkable form from Madagascar, and a small 

 species beaten out of trees in the New Forest, which in marking 

 and coloration, resembled lichen. — Mr. McLachlan exhibited a 

 small collection of dragon-flies in illustration of a paper he com- 

 municated entitled " Calopterygina collected by Mr. Buckley in 

 Ecuador." The collection contained a fine series of a new 

 species, Euthore viirabilis. — Mr. Meldola exhibited a remarkablo 

 specimen of Lcucania cmiiga-a. The colour and markings of th© 

 fore-wings were reproduced in the lower half of the left hind- 

 wing. — Mr. Meldola, read extracts from a letter addressed to 

 Mr. Chas. Darwin from Dr. Fritz Miiller, St, Catharina, Brazil, 

 containing some valuable observations on the discrimination 

 exhibited by a number of butterflies for certain colours in flowers. 

 Mr. Miiller also described the odoriferous organ of a male sphinx- 



