i22 



NATURE 



{July 15, 1875 



—On the normal spectrum of the sun, the ultra-violet part, by 

 M. A. Cornu, with a plate. 



Nachrichtcn von dcr Konigl. Gcsellschaft der Wissenschaftm 

 und der G. A. ihtivej-sitdt zu Gottingen (Nos. 11-16, 1875).— 

 From these publications we note the following papers :— Re- 

 searches on the magnetism of steel rods, by Dr. Carl Fromme. — 

 On the oscillations of a magnet under the resisting influence of a 

 copper ball, by Franz Himstert.— On the determination of the 

 specific conducting resistance of gas coal, by Ed. Riecke. — On 

 hyperelliptical integrals, by L. Koenigsberger.— On the irregu- 

 larities and fundamental numbers of plane curves of the third 

 order with points, by Dr.'Hermann Schubert.— On the symmetric 

 functions of weight (XI.), by Prof. Faa de Bruno.— On the 

 volcanic ashes of Turrialba (Costa Rica), by Heinr. O. Lang. — 

 On the structure of German ferns, by H. Conwentz, 



Gotthigen Royal Society of Sciences. — Nos. i to 10 of this 

 society's Nachrichten contain the following among other papers : 

 On some cut stones (flints) hitherto unknown, by Fr. Wieseler. 

 — On elastic after effects, by Fr. Kohlrausch.— On Asa Grey's 

 group oi Diapcvsiacecc, by Dr. O. Drude.— On a new genus of 

 Palma: of the Arecineic group, called Griscbachia, by the same 

 and II. Wendland.^ — On the proof of Cauchy's theorem for 

 complex functions, by G. Mittag-Leffler. — On the curvature of 

 some planes, by A. Enneper. — On Rabuteau's law of the toxical 

 cflect of elements and the action of lithium, by Prof. Husemann. 

 — On a fundamental theme of PlUcker's geometry, by Dr. A. 

 Voss. — On the ends of sensitive nerves in the skin, by Prof. 

 F. Merkel.— On dibromobenzoic acids, by A. Burghard. — On 

 iodojuiphotoluol, by H. Glassner. — On mononitrobenzonaphty- 

 lami. es, ainitrobenzonaphtylamide and their derivatives, by P. 

 Ebell. — On Fuctis vesiculosus, by J. Reinke. — On the action of 

 a weak acid upon the salt of a stronger acid, by H. Hlibner and 

 PI. Wiesinger.- On magnetism in steel rods, by Herr Fromme. 

 — On the specific resistance of gas-coal, by Herr Schrader. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Geological Society, June 23.— Mr. John Evans, V.P.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Some observations on the Rev. O. 

 Fisher's remarks on Mr. Mallet's theory of volcanic energy, read 

 May 12, 1875, by Robert Mallet, F.R.S. The subject of the 

 Rev, O. Fislier's paper has been anticipated by one from Prof. 

 Hilgard (Geol. (Jniv. of Michigan) published in the American 

 Journal of Science (vol. vii., June 1874). The pith of the Rev. 

 O. Fisher's communication is to a great extent comprised in the 

 two following sentences : — i. That "if crushing the rocks can in- 

 duce fusion, then the cubes experimented upon ought to have been 

 fused in tlie crushing ? " 2. *' If the work (of crushing) is equally 

 distributed throughout, why should not the heat be so also? or 

 if not, what determines the localisation ? " In his reply Mr. 

 Mallet controverts the views of the Rev. O. Fisher by bringing 

 them mto contact with acknowledged physical laws. He shows 

 that "crushing alone of rocky masses beneath our earth's crust 

 may be sufficient to produce fusion. He also shows that the 

 heat developed by crushing alone cannot be equally diffused 

 throughout the mass crushed, but must be localised, and that 

 the circumstances of this localisation must result in producing 

 a local temperature far greater than that due to crushing. 

 Lastly, he shows that after the highest temperatures have been 

 thus reached, a still further and great exaltation of tempera- 

 ture must arise from detrusive friction and the movements of 

 forcible deformation of the already crashed and heated material. " 

 He therefore expresses his conviction that " there is no physical 

 difficulty in the conception involved in his original memoir (Phil. 

 Trans. 1873), but not there enlarged upon in detail, that the 

 temperatures consequent upon crushing the materials of our 

 earth's crust are sufficient locally to bring these into fusion. " 



On the physical conditions under which the Cambrian and 

 Lower Silurian rocks were probably deposited over the Euro- 

 pean area, by Mr. Henry Hicks. The author indicates that the 

 base line of the Cambrian rocks is seen everywhere in Europe 

 to rest unconformably upon rocks supposed to be of the age of 

 the Laurentian of Canada, and that the existence of these Pre- 

 Cambrian rocks indicates that large continental areas existed 

 previous to the deposition of the Cambrian rocks. The central 

 line of the Pre- Cambrian European continent would be shown 

 by a line drawn from S.W. to N.E. along the south coast of the 

 English Channel, and continued through Holland and Denmark 



to the Baltic. Its boundaries were mountainous ; they are indi- 

 cated in the north by the Pre- Cambrian ridges in Pembroke- 

 shire, in the Hebrides and Western Highlands, and by the 

 gneissic rocks of Norway, Sweden, and Lapland. The southern 

 line commenced to the south of Spain, passing along Southern 

 Europe, and terminated probably in some elevated plains in 

 Russia. Between these chains the land formed an undulating 

 plain, sloping gradually to the south-west, its boundary in this 

 direction being probably a line drawn from Spain to a point 

 beyond the British Isles, now marked by the loo-fathom line. 

 The land here facing the Atlantic Ocean would be lowest, and 

 would be first submerged when the slow and regular depression 

 of the Pre-Cambrian land took place. The author points out 

 that the evidence furnished by the Cambrian and Lower Silurian 

 deposits of Europe is in accordance with this hypothesis. In 

 England they attain a thickness of 25,000 to 30,000 feet ; in 

 Sweden not more than 1,000 feet ; and in Russia they are still 

 thinner, and the earlier deposits seem to be wanting. In Bohe- 

 mia they occupy an intermediate position as to thickness and 

 order of deposition. The author discusses the phenomena pre- 

 sented by the Welsh deposits of Cambrian and Lower Silurian 

 age, and shows that we have first conglomerates composed of 

 pebbles of the Pre-Cambrian rocks, indicating beach conditions, 

 then ripple-marked sandstones and shallow-water accumulations* 

 and then, after the rather sudden occurrence of a greater depres- 

 sion, finer deposits containing the earliest organisms of this 

 region, which he believes to have immigrated from the deep 

 water of the ocean lying to the sotith-west. After this the de- 

 pression was very gradual for a long period, and the deposits 

 were generally formed in shallow water ; then came a greater 

 depression, marked by finer beds containing the second fauna • 

 then a period of gradual subsidence, followed by a more decided 

 depression of ptobably 1,000 feet, the deposits formed in this 

 containing the third or "Menevian" fauna. This depression 

 enabled the water to spread over the area between the south of 

 Prussia and Bohemia and Norway and Sweden, there being no 

 evidence of the presence of the first and second faunas over this 

 area. The filling up of this depression led to the deposition of 

 the shallow-water deposits of the Lingula-Flag group, followed 

 by another sudden depression at the commencement of the Tre- 

 madoc epoch, which allowed the water to spread freely over the 

 whole European area. The author next discusses the faunas of 

 the successive epochs, and indicates that these are also in favour 

 of his views. He indicates the probability that the animals, 

 which are all of marine forms, migrated into the European area 

 from some point to the south-west, probably near the equator 

 where he supposes the earliest types were developed. Both the 

 lower and higher types of invertebrates appear first in the western 

 areas ; and the groups in each case as they first appear are those 

 which biologists now recognise as being most nearly allied, and 

 which may have developed from one common type. The lower 

 invertebrates appear at a very much earlier period than the 

 higher in all the areas. In the Welsh area the higher forms 

 (the Gasteropods, Lamellibranchs, and Cephalopods) come in 

 for the first time in Lower Tremadoc rocks ; and with the ex- 

 ception of the presence of a Gasteropod in rather lower beds in 

 Spain, this is the earliest evidence of these higher forms having 

 reached the European area. At this time, however, no less than 

 five distinct faunas of lower invertebrates had already appeared • 

 and an enormous period, indicated by the deposition of nearly 

 i5,oco feet of deposits, had elapsed since the first fauna had 

 reached this area. The author points out also that a similar 

 encroachment of the sea and migration of animals in a north- 

 westerly direction occurred in the North American area at about 

 the same time, the lines indicating the European and American 

 depressions meeting in Mid-Atlantic. 



On a Bone-cave in Creswell Crags, by the Rev. J. Magens 

 Mello. In this paper the author describes some fissures contain- 

 mg numerous bones, situated in Creswell Crags, a ravine 

 bounded by cliffs of Lower Permian limestone on the north- 

 eastern borders of Derbyshire. These cliffs contain numerous 

 fissures. The principal one described by the author penetrates 

 about fifty yards into the rock, and has a wide opening, but is 

 very narrow throughout the greater part of its length. It runs 

 nearly north and south, and inclines slightly from west to east 

 from the top downwards. The organic remains found in the 

 first fissure belong to fourteen mammals at least, besides a bird 

 and a fish. The mammalia are : Man, Lepus timidus, Gulo lus- 

 ciis, Hycsna spelcea, Ursus, sp., Canis lupus, Cams vtilpes, Canis 

 lagopus, Elephas primigenius, Equus caballus, Rhinoceros ticho' 



