374 



NATURE 



{August 1 6, 1888 



Ganda-Dravidians. This term the learned writer explains by 

 saying that the two special Ganda-Dravidian terms for mountain 

 are mala and ko, both being widely used and prevalent through- 

 out India. Those tribes, whose names are derived from mala, 

 he calls Dravidians, and those whose names are derived from ko, 

 Gandians. In this way the Mallas, Malas, Malavas, Malayas, 

 &c, and the Koyis, Kodulu, Kondas, Gondos, Kuruvas, &c, 

 are classified as Dravidians and Gandians respectively. The 

 presence of the Ganda-Dravidians in India can be proved at a 

 very early period " from the north-west across to the north-east, 

 and from both corners to the furthest south. On the arrival of 

 the Aryans on the north-western frontier, the Ganda-Dravidians 

 are already found in flourishing communities." In the present 

 instalment of his work, Prof. Oppert endeavours to prove the 

 antiquity of this race, especially of the Dravidian branch ; in 

 the next he will treat of the Gandians. His own summary of 

 his positions in the concluding section is to this effect : in follow- 

 ing the ramifications of the Dravidians throughout the peninsula, 

 he points out the connection which exists between several tribes, 

 apparently widely different from each other ; he has identified 

 the so-called pariahs of Southern India with the old Dravidian 

 mountaineers, and establishes their relationship with a number 

 of tribes forming, as it were, the first layer of the ancient 

 Dravidian stratum, and he endeavours to show that various 

 other different tribes are offshoots of the Dravidian race. He 

 thinks also that much that is now considered Aryan in name and 

 origin must be regarded as originally Dravidian. The various 

 Dravidian tribes scattered over India are separately introduced 

 into the discussion in order to establish their mutual kinship. 

 Prof. Oppert, in fact, labours to restore the Dravidian " to those 

 rights and honours of which he has so long been deprived." 

 The spirit in which he has undertaken what is obviously a great 

 work is sufficiently evident from the words with which he con- 

 cludes the present article : — " My errors, too, may not be with- 

 out use if, like stranded vessels, they serve to direct the explorer, 

 warning him away from those shoals and rocks that _beset the 

 inquirer in his search after truth." 



In the Berlin Meteorologische Zeitschrift for July, Dr. E. 

 Bruckner discusses the meteorological observations of the 

 German Polar station at Kingua Fjord (Cumberland Sound), 

 and also of the stations in Labrador and South Georgia, in the 

 year 1882-83. The results represent three distinct types of 

 winter climate. Kingua Fjord has a calm, severe winter, and 

 cool summer, the warmest month being Augu-t, whereas July 

 is usually the warmest month in Arctic North America. In 

 Labrador the cold is often accompanied by stormy west winds, 

 and although the temperature is higher than at Kingua Fjord, 

 the cold is much more keenly felt. South Georgia naturally 

 pat takes of the oceanic character, but the yearly temperature, 

 34°"5, is much lower than at the neighbouring stations on the 

 coast of South America, in the same latitude (54 31' S. ), and is 

 the lowest yet known in the southern hemisphere. Dr. P. 

 Schreiber contributes an instructive article on the question of 

 the deduction of true daily means of temperature from three or 

 four observations daily. He gives a series of nine combina- 

 tions, and their results, as compared with twenty-four hourly 

 observations at Chemnitz. The result shows that the somewhat 

 inconvenient hours of 6 a.m., 2 and 10 p.m., give the nearest 

 true daily temperature. The inquiry is interesting as bearing 

 upon the question of the necessity of continuing the expensive 

 process of continuous records for an unlimited period. 



Dr. Buys Ballot, the Director of the Meteorological 

 Institute of the Netherlands, has published an excerpt paper 

 from the Proceedings of the Amsterdam Academy of Sciences, 

 on the distribution of temperature over the surface of the earth. 

 Instead of representing the temperatures by the usual method of 

 isothermal lines, he gives the departures for each 5 of latitude and 



longitude from the normal temperature at the equator, by means 

 of figures, using ordinary and thick type to avoid the use of plus 

 and minus signs. The variations of temperature for the typical 

 months of January and July, and for the year, are very clearly 

 shown by this method. The work is also accompanied by 

 maps, connecting by curves all places having the same mean 

 differences of temperature in the summer and winter months. 



Among the contents of the new number of the Interna- 

 tionales Archiv fur Ethnographie (Band i. Heft 4) we may 

 note : a Singapore street scene, by Prof. G. Schlegel ; a paper, 

 by F. Grabowsky, on certain sacrificial customs in Borneo ; 

 another, by J. D. E. Schweltz, on South Sea relics ; and various 

 ethnographic notes from Mecca, by G. Snouck Hurgronje. All 

 the articles are admirably illustrated with coloured plates. 



Anew autumn edition of "Walks in Epping Forest," by 

 Percy Lindley, describing portions less known to pedestrians, is 

 in preparation. Prof. Boulger has contributed to the same 

 issue some notes upon the recent extensive tree-felling and 

 "forestry" operations in Epping Forest. 



A book on "The General Principles of Agriculture," by A. 

 Larbaletrier (Reinwald), has just been published in Paris. 



Gegenbauer's " Human Anatomy " is being translated into 

 French. The first quarter of the book was recently published 

 by Reinwald. 



The Odessa Gazette reports the discovery of the remains of an 

 ancient town on the right bank of the Volga. These remains 

 are traceable over an area about two miles long, by three- 

 quarters of a mile in width. The place has been visited by a 

 deputation from the Commission of Archives. A very consider- 

 able quantity of Arabian, Persian, and Tartar coins has been 

 found there, besides a multitude of other objects which bear 

 witness to the cultivated state of the inhabitants. There were 

 remains of marble blocks, of watercourses, &c. 



An exploring party of eight persons, led by Lieut. Israel, 

 have set out from South Australia to explore the country north- 

 east of Newcastle in Western Australia, and particularly the 

 territory around Lake Moore and Lake Manga. The objects of 

 the expedition are said to be partly scientific and partly com- 

 mercial, and the funds have been supplied by a number of 

 Australian capitalists. 



A correspondent— who says that everyone who looks 

 through the series of photographs of lightning in the possession 

 of the Royal Meteorological Society must be struck with the fact 

 that many of the flashes exhibit a ribbon-like structure, while the 

 appearance is totally absent from others — has made some experi- 

 ments in order to ascertain whether a similar appearance can be 

 produced by interposing a sheet of window-glass between a 

 narrow brightly-illuminated slit and the camera. So far as these 

 experiments have yet gone, he is not in a position to assert that 

 all the peculiar band-like appearances can thus be imitated, but 

 there is no doubt, he asserts, that a photograph of an unribboned 

 flash taken obliquely through a window must exhibit appearances 

 very similar, if not identical. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Weeper Capuchin (Cebus capuci>ius (J) from 

 Brazil, presented by Mr. Haddan ; two Common Genets {Genetta 

 vulgaris) from West Africa, presented by Mr. Philip Lemberg ■ 

 three Palm Squirrels {Sciurus palmarum) from India, presented 

 by Surgeon-Major W. G. King ; an Orange-winged Amazon 

 (Ckrysatis amazonica) from South America, presented by the 

 Hon. N. L. Melville ; two Fulmar Petrels (Fulmarus glacialis) 

 from St. Ki'da, presented by Mr. W. C. Gilles ; a Common 

 Chameleon (Chamaleon vulgaris) from North Africa, presented 

 by Mr. Underwood ; a Macaque Monkey {Macaeus cytumolgits 6 ) 

 from India, an Ocelot (Felis partialis), a Common Rhea (A'/iea 

 americana) from South America, a Ring-necked Parrakeet 



