August 30, 1888] 



NATURE 



43i 



The original articles in the Nttovo Giornalc Botanico Italiano 

 for July comprise a description, with plate, of a singular proli- 

 ferous specimen of an Agpricus\ by Signor U. Martelli ; a sum- 

 mary of the characters of twenty-two of the principal varieties of 

 the vine grown in the neighbourhood of Arezzo, by Signor L. 

 Macchiati ; and contributions to the flora of Massana, by 9ignor 

 U. Martelli. In the Reports of the Proceedings of the Italian 

 Botanical Society, is an interesting article by Signor G. Arcaogeli, 

 on Kefir, an alcoholic and effervescing drink, prepared in* the 

 Caucasus by the fermentation of cows' milk. The author con- 

 firms the statement of previous observers that in the fermented 

 liquid there are always found a Saccharomytes very closely allied 

 to S. cerevisice, and several Schizomycetes. The organism of the 

 latter class described by previous writers as Dispora cawasica, 

 and regarded as peculiar to this kind of fermentation, he identified 

 with Bacillus subtilis, which is accompanied by B. acid* larttci. 

 Signors Martelli and Macchiati contribute papers on the fresh- 

 water diatoms of the district of Modena. 



Revue a Anthropologic, troisieme serie, tome iii., quatrieme 

 fasc. (Paris, 1888).— Continuation of the stratigraphic palaeonto- 

 logy of man, by M. M. E-oule. In this essay the writer treats 

 of the most recently established conclusions regarding the 

 chronological order of the erratic deposits of the valleys of the 

 Rhone, the Saone, and the Ain, which belong to the Quaternary 

 and the Upper and Middle Pliocene ages. He agrees with the 

 generally accepted opinion that the existence of interglacial 

 deposits has been established by scientific evidence, while the 

 identity of the animals and plants everywhere found in these beds 

 prove that they must be nearly contemporaneous. The dis- 

 covery last year by M. Tardy of a stone implement of the Saint- 

 Acheul type, which was embedded in the alluvial banks of the 

 Ain, and near intact moraine-;, would seem to connect the 

 presence of man with oik of these interglacial periods, while Dr. 

 Penck has shown that each retrogression of a glacier corresponds 

 to a period of alluvial deposit in valleys. Passing from the Alps 

 to the Pyrenees, M. Boule, again following the same authority, 

 shows that, while in the former region there is at many points 

 evidence of repeated glaciation, in the latter the moraines rest 

 directly on ancient rocks. Numerous other difficulties surround 

 the question of glaciation in the Pyrenean range, and the interest 

 of M. Boule's essay depends largely upon the care with which 

 he has sifted the evidence derived from the numerous writers to 

 whom he refers ; and the English student will find this section 

 of his work a useful guide to the bibliography of the subject in 

 regard to Auvergne, as well as to the Swiss and French Alps. 

 — The Afghans, by M. L. Rousselet. The excessive admixture 

 of races which is to be found in the land of the Afghans is con- 

 sidered by the author as one of the most curious features of their 

 ethnic history. The physic \\ characteristics of the Afghans of 

 il and Candahar point to an Aryan origin, and would seem 

 to ally them with the Sikhs and Rajputs of North- Western 

 India ; while the occasional appearance among the inhabitants of 

 the larger cities of what is commonly known as the Jewish type 

 of face is, according to M. Rousselet, sufficiently explained by 

 the important part which from the earliest period of Islamism 

 Arabs have taken iii converting the Afghans to the faith of the 

 Prophet. From Chinese authorities we learn, moreover, that 

 before the middle of the sixth century invaders of a Turcoman 

 race had entered the land of the Afghans, and subjugated some 

 of its tribes. . In the tenth century another Turcoman invasion 

 confirmed the domination of the Mohammedans, and since then 

 the Koran has constituted the national code ; but, although of the 

 Sunnite sect, the upper classes adhere to the tongue of their 

 heretical neighbours, the Chiite Persians. The theory advocated 

 by many English writers, that the Afghans are descended from 

 the ten lost tribes of Israel, is treated by the writer as unworthy 

 of all serious consideration. He cannot see in this people, of 

 variously composed ethnic elements, anything that demands the 

 establishment of a fan-fetched theory to explain their history or 

 character ; but he thinks that, in spite of their want of national 

 cohesion, they may — through their love of freedom, the independ- 

 ence secured to them by their geographical position, and their 

 warlike instincts— at n'o very distant dale be called upon to decide 

 the fate of India. — Contributions to the history of anomalous 

 muscles of the neck and back, *>y M. Ledouble. In this paper the 

 examples cited of such anomalies have been principally taken 

 from the printed reports of Mr. John Wood, Profs. Macalister, 

 Flower, Huxley, &c. —Notes on the Departement de l'Ain, by 

 Dr. Aubeit. These notes supply an interesting account of the 

 mode of formation and nature of the innumerable ponds and 



marshes which long gave so peculiar a • character to the 

 di-tncts of Dombes, Bresse, and Bugey, in which the great pre- 

 ponderance of standing waters has been for centuries a source 

 of poverty and disease to the unfortunate inhabitants. The 

 existence of Mich vast a-eas of more or less deep still-waters is 

 dependent upon a geological cause which must always have been 

 in force, since they owe their origin to the impermeability of 

 the soil beneath them ; but it would appear that prior to the 

 fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, when the process of so-called 

 evolage and asscc was first established in these districts, the 

 country was healthier and m re populous than it has been in 

 more recent times. This system — which consists in drawing off 

 the waters of certain ponds every third year, and sowing the wet 

 ground with barley and oats after the vast accumulations of fish 

 have been cleared off— naturally gives rise to mephitic effluvia, 

 inducing malarian diseases. These and other evils due to the 

 system of evolage had the effect of gradually reducing the popu- 

 lation lo twenty-four inhabitants to the square kilometre, and 

 giving an average longevity of less than twenty-one years. This- 

 state of things, which reached its maximum about the middle of 

 this century, has been steadily improving since the draining of 

 the ponds has been systematically taken in hand. At the pre- 

 sent time 6000 hectares of land have already been recovered, and, 

 while fevers have diminished, the tables of conscription show 

 that, whereas in some cantons the numbers of rejections among 

 the recruits were from 80 to 90 per cent, between 1837 and 1847,. 

 they had fallen between 1S72 and 1886 to below 10 per cent. 

 Dr. Aubert's notes supply an interesting commentiry on the 

 practical importance of applying scientific knowledge to the 

 elucidation and modification of the physical condition of the 

 soil, even where this seems to be dependent on apparently un- 

 alterable geological causes.— The formula for reconstructing the 

 human figure in accordance with dimensions of the long bones,. 

 by M. Topinard. This is little more than a critique of Dr. 

 Beddoe's paper on the stature of the ancient races of England. 



Rivista Scientifico-Inditstriale, June 30. — Note on microscopy 

 (continued), by Prof. Aser Poli. After a rapid survey of the 

 various improvements or modifications introduced by Huyghens, 

 Campani, Ramsden, and other oculists, the author proceeds to 

 examine critically the suggestions recently made by Mr. E. M. 

 Nelson in connection with Campani's eye-piece (Journal of the 

 Royal Microscopical Society, 1887, p. 928). By a simple calcula- 

 tion, in which numerals are substituted for letters in the well- 

 known formula, he shows that the theory is directly opposed 

 to Mr. Nelson's statement. The assertion is also questioned 

 thai his theoretical conclusions have been confirmed by practical 

 experiment. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, August 13. — M. Janssen, President, 

 in the chair. — Remarks in connection with the " Connaissancedes 

 Temps p >ur 1890 " (212th ye ;r of publication), presented to the 

 Academy by M. Bouquet de la Grye. Amongst the improvements 

 and additions made to this volume are : the semi-diameter of the 

 sun, the duration of its transit, the parallax and aberration for every 

 day in the year, the conditions of visibility of Saturn's ring, and 

 tables for calculating the phases of the solar eclipses for every 

 point on the surface of the globe. By means of certain typo- 

 graphical expedients, all these additions have been made without 

 increasing the size of the volume. — On a general property cf 

 elastic solid bodies, by M. Maurice Levy. A demonstration is 

 offered of the following theorem : If two systems of forces in 

 equilibrium be successively applied to an elastic solid body, 

 whether isotropous or crystallized, free or not (and consequently 

 to a system of similar bodies connected together in any way), 

 then the sum of the work produced by the forces of one of thc-**- 

 systems, for the elastic displacements due to the other, is equal 

 to the sum of the work produced by the forces of the latter for 

 the elastic displacements due to the first. — On the influence 

 exercised by antipyretic substances on the quantity of glycogen 

 contained in the muscles, by MM. R. Lepine and Ported. In 

 a previous note {Complcs lendus for April 3, 1888), the authors 

 showed that antipyretic substances act as an impediment to the 

 transformation of the hepatic glycogen into sugar. They now 

 give the results of their further researches on the influence 

 exercised by the antipyrine and acetanilide in determining 



