Au^. 5, 1875] 



NATURE 



283 



and shovel at fourteen shillings a week. " — This number contains 

 an interesting paper on the Hallucinations of Mahomet and 

 others, by W. W. Ireland, M.D. — In the April number we find 

 the Morisonian lectures on Insanity for 1873, this time written 

 entirely by Dr. Clouston ; the Morbid Psychology of Criminals 

 continues ; an article on the Family Care of the Insane in Scot- 

 land, by Prof. Friedrich Jolly, of Strasburg, is valuable, inas- 

 much as it helps us "to see ourselves as others see us," and 

 pleasing, as this time we may look and be not ashamed. "This 

 visit," says Prof. Jolly, "and the information furnished by these 

 gentlemen, as well as a more careful study of the Scottish Re- 

 ports and their appendices, convinced me that it is no ' Gheel 

 in the North ' with which we have to do, but an organisation 

 which rests on a quite different and much sounder basis." — 

 George Shearer, M. D., communicates notes to show that "Dis- 

 eases of the general nervous system are by no means infrequent 

 amongst the Chinese, but cases of ahenation of mind are com- 

 paratively iGVf.'" — Mr. E. Thompson continues and concludes 

 his paper on the Physiology of General Paralysis of the Insane 

 and of Epilepsy. The worst things in the paper are a few un- 

 seemly remarks directed against Dr. Hughlings Jackson. — The 

 July number opens with a Chapter on some Organic Laws of 

 Personal and Ancestral Memory, by J. Laycock, M.D. — The 

 Morisonian lectures on Insanity are continued from the previous 

 number. — David Nicholson M.B., furnishes his excellent articles 

 on the Morbid Psychology of Criminals, which we have always 

 read with much pleasure. — S. Messenger, F.R.C.S., writes under 

 the title, " Moral Responsibility," to show that we all are what 

 we are because, given our parents and our circumstances, we 

 could not have been otherwise. The moral of " this theory of 

 no-moral of responsibility " is very good, " we should be more 

 generally charitable in our judgments, more universal in our 

 forbearance." It is a pity that the men who are continually 

 claiming to be the only scientific men cannot reach such simple 

 conclusions without outraging language and common sense in 

 order to show, by the way, that they are not metaphysicians. 

 Mr. Messenger describes the manufacture of thought as similar 

 to the manufacture of gastric juice — the action of the brain is 

 like ' ' that of the stomach, whose peptic glands secrete the gastric 

 juice from the circulating blood, but need the stimulus ot food 

 to excite the process." It would be a great advantage to the 

 scientific men of this stamp if they would try " the means of ob- 

 servation which metaphysicians employ," or any other that might 

 help them to see that intelligence is not a juice. 



In the Scottish Naturalist for April and July 1875, ^^ difficult 

 subject of the relationship between the mental development of 

 man and of the lower animals occupies a rather prominent place, 

 in a series of articles by Dr. Lauder Lindsay, on " Illustrations 

 of Animal Reason," and one by the Rev. J. Wardrop, on 

 "Animal Psychosis." — The former writer also contributes a paper 

 on " The Auriferous Quartzites of Scotland," in which he brings 

 forward evidence in support of the view long since published by 

 him of the auriferous character of the whole Lower Silurian area 

 of Scotland ; the rocks being identical stratigraphically with those 

 of the gold-fields of the province of Otago, in New Zealand. — 

 There are several other good geological papers, especially one by 

 Mr. R. Walker, " On Clays containing Ophiolepis gracilis, &c., 

 near St. Andrew's." — The zoological and botanical papers are 

 mostly descriptive, and we have continuations of the " Lepido- 

 ptera of Scotland," by Dr. Buchanan White, and the " Coleo- 

 ptera of Scotland," by Dr. D. Sharp. 



The numbers of the Journal of Ikitany from March to July 

 contain many articles of interest ; and nearly every number is 

 now illustrated by at least one original drawing. Those in the 

 numbers now under notice are the fruit of the Bitter Cola, an 

 undescribed species of Clusiacete from Wesetm Tropical Africa, 

 nearly allied to Garcinia, several species or new or rare Hymeno- 

 mycelous Fungi (coloured), i9«V/a/«i<z Thompsoniatia, a remarkable 

 species of Passifloraceae, and Carex ornithopoda, a newly discovered 

 British species. Besides a number of abstracts and short notes, 

 the following are the more important original articles in these 

 numbers : — Descriptions of a number of new and unpublished 

 species by Dr. Masters, Dr. Trimen, Mr. J. G. Baker, Dr. 

 Hance, and others. In Cryptogamy, Mr. Worthington Smith 

 describes a number of new species of fungi ; the Rev. J. M. 

 Crombie the additions to the British lichen flora since his last 

 notice ; and Mr. J. G. Baker several new ferns. One of the 

 best papers in these numbers is by Mr. A. H. Church, with an 

 account of some recent investigations in phyto-chemistry at the 

 laboratory at Cirencester. An analysis of the dried substance of 



a fungus ( Geoqlossum difforme), and of a lichen {Collema furvum), 

 showed the former to contain 19 and the latter as much. as 

 28 per cent, of albuminoids ; while the former contains the very 

 large proportion of 13-87, and the latter 6-57 per cent, of ash. 

 Cotton, generally considered to be almost pure cellulose, was 

 analysed with the following result : — 



Water 7*56 per cent. 



Oil and fat o'5i 



Albuminoids 0*50 ,, 



Gummy matters o"i7 ,, 



Ash o-ii „ 



Cellulose 91*15 ,, 



The composition of the pollen of Cupressus Jragrans was deter- 

 mined as under : — 



Carbohydrates and undetermined 85 76 per cent. 



Oil and fat 1-87 „ 



Albuminoids ... ... ... 8 67 



Ash 



370 



Zeitschrift der Oesterreichischen Gesdlschaft fiir Meteorologie, 

 June 15. — This number contains a paper by Herr Hellmann, of 

 Berlin, on the extension of a short series of observations on tem- 

 perature by means of the long series of a neighbouring station. 

 It was one of Dove's result's that series of mean temperatures of 

 two neighbouring places derived from a different number of 

 years might be reduced so as to extend over equal periods. His 

 hypothesis has proved a fruitful one. The object of Herr Hell- 

 mann was to confirm its value, and this he did by taking mean 

 temperatures already obtained by observation for long and equal 

 periods at two neighbouring places ; then assuming that, say for 

 the last five years, no observations had been made at one of 

 them, and calculating from those of the other the required means 

 for the whole period. The difference between the real values 

 and those calculated expresses about the amount of error in- 

 curred, which is surprisingly small. Thus, out of eighty-four 

 monthly means for seven pairs of similarly situated stations, only 

 four differences exceeded one-tenth of a degree. But when a 

 hill station is compared with a valley station the agreement is 

 not so good, and it appears that with increase of height the 

 climate becomes more uniform ; between an inland and a coast 

 station the difference is still greater, but rarely exceeds half a 

 degree. We may conclude that observations made at a place 

 situated on a plain may safely be employed for the extension of 

 a shorter series of observations made at another place at no 

 great distance, similarly situated, and that the error will be 

 greater when stations different in position are compared. 



July I. — This number contains a review of Mr. Symons's pub- 

 lications on British Rainfall, by M. Raulin, of Bordeaux, and, 

 among the " Kleinere Mittheilungen," a paper on th« production 

 of centres of cold in winter. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Royal Horticultural Society, July 7.— General Meeting.— 

 Hon. and Rev. J. T. Boscawen in the chair.— The Rev. M.J, 

 Berkeley briefly alluded to Mr. Worthington Smith's paper be- 

 fore the Scientific Committee. 



July 21. — Scientific Committee. — M. T. Masters, M.D., 

 F.R.S., in the chair — Mr. Bennett exhibited a fine specimen of 

 a fasciated cucumber stem bearing two cucumbers. — Mr. W. G. 

 Smith made a further communication on the resting spores of the 

 potato fungus. — A letter was read from Mr. C. E. Broome, in- 

 cluding a sketch of DiplodiaASkz bodies met with in the mycelial 

 filaments. — Mr. Renny made a communication on the same sub- 

 ject, and exhibited a species of Pythium (Saprolegniea;), which, 

 without care, might be mistaken for the state of Peronospora 

 described by Mr. Smith. — A letter was read from Lady Mathi- 

 son, accompanying specimens of various larvae which proved very 

 destructive to the otherwise thriving plantation of Falkland 

 Island Tussock grass {Dactylis acspitosa) in the island of Lewis. 

 — Mr. Alfred Bennett called attention to the rapid growth of the 

 flower-stalk of Vallisneria spiralis, which he had observed to 

 grow as much as 12 inches in twenty-four hours. — A letter, com- 

 municated by Dr. Hooker, P.I^S., was read from Dr. Imray, of 



