Sept. 23, 1875] 



NATURE 



467 



Samoa, a distance of 1,360 miles. Half of the party on board 

 perished from want of food and water. In both these instances 

 the drifting was from east to west, before the trade winds. A 

 far more remarkable event occurred in Jan. 1 858, during the 

 prevalence of the violent easterly winds, when a numerous family 

 of adult natives drifted from Fakaofo, in the U nion group, north of 

 Samoa, to an uninhabited spot known as Nassau Island ; thence 

 to Palmerston's Island ; and finally to Maugaia, where Mr, Gill 

 lived ; altogether a distance of more than 1, 200 miles in a south- 

 easterly direction. (4) The colour, hair, general physiognomy, 

 habits, character, and especially the language, of the Polynesians 

 clearly indicate a Malay origin. This could not be accidental. 

 Mr. Gill's impression was that long ages ago the progenitors of the 

 present race entered the Pacific from the S.E. fork of New Guinea, 

 but were driven eastward by the fierce Negrito race. The greatest 

 distance from land to land, as they pressed eastward, would be 

 from Samoa to the Hervey group, about 700 miles, which had 

 been successfully performed by natives in their fragile barks 

 under Mr. Gill's own observation. 



In the subsequent discussion Prof. RoUeston expressed his 

 opinion that there was little difference between Papuans and 

 Australoids ; the superficial differences were outweighed by 

 great radical points of resemblance. He referred to the Rev. 

 S. J. Whitmee's paper in the Contemporary Review for February 

 1873 as of the highest value on this question of the origin of the 

 races of the Polynesian islands. This opinion was diametrically 

 opposed to Mr. Wallace's. — Dr. Hector described the three 

 chief race-types among the Maories. The first was rarely met 

 with except in the extreme south ; it was of the same type as the 

 aborigines of the Chatham Islands, with a distinct dialect, only 

 comprehensible by old Maories. They had a sloping forehead 

 and strong muscular ridges on their skulls, which were very 

 distinct from the great majority of Maori skulls. The other 

 two types were now pretty well intermixed. One was more 

 common in the northern extremity of the Northern Island, 

 having yellow shock hair and high cheek-bones. The third 

 was the ordinary Maori. He mentioned the fact that the 

 Maories had a much better knowledge of the natural history 

 of their country than any people he had ever heard of. The 

 older Maories had noticed and had distinct names for nearly 

 all their plants, not merely those that were of use ; and the same 

 names, with slight modifications, were universally in use 

 throughout a country a thousand miles in length. They had 

 generic names by which they grouped plants according to their 

 affinities in a way impossible to most people who were not 

 educated botanists. The Veronicas of New Zealand appeared 

 under a very great variety of external forms, yet they were all 

 identified by one name. — The Rev. W. Gill, in closing the dis- 

 cussion, said that difference in shade of colour was not to be 

 relied upon as a test of difference of race ; for he had seen the 

 most intense blackness produced in Polynesia in those of the 

 poorer classes who habitually spent much time in salt water, 

 while the wealthier classes remained of a much lighter hue. 



General H. B. Carrington, of the United States army, read a 

 very interesting paper On the Indians of the North- Western 

 States. 



The Anthropological Department has been one of the best 

 sustained this year, a result attained by its inclusiveness of a wide 

 range of subjects relating to the history of mankind, and by 

 reason of the high authority of many who addressed the depart- 

 ment on their respective studies. The President showed him- 

 self a worthy leader, illuminating most of the subjects discussed 

 and fostering discussions which were interesting alike to students 

 and to the general public. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



American Journal of 'Science and Art, September. — The 

 original articles are : On the formation of hail in the spray of the 

 Yosemite Fall, by \V. H. Brewer. The paper describes a visit 

 paid to the fall in April last. The amount of water passuig over 

 the fall was estimated at 250 or 350 cubic feet a second, and the 

 height is 1550 feet. In the spray, which stung the hands and 

 faces of the visitors, hail or ice-pellets were found. " It will be 

 noticed that at the time when this hail was observed, the sheet 

 was in the full blaze of the sun from top to bottom. . . . The 

 air near was of a temperature of 70°. Prof. Le Conte has sug- 

 gested that perhaps the cooled air wiihin the sheet is somewhat 

 compressed and condensed in the base of the fall, and when 

 liberated just outside by its expansion, freezes a part of the spray. " 



— On Southern New England during the melting of the great 

 glacier, by J. D. Dana : Part I. (we reserve our notice till the 

 completion of the article). — On the mechanical work done by a 

 muscle before exhaustion, and on the "law of fatigue," by the 

 Rev. S. Haughton, M.D. Dr. Haughton announces his aim is 

 be to show (i) That both series of experiments made by Profl 

 Nipher (given in the February number) are a valuable contribu- 

 tion to the facts of animal mechanics ; (2) That they are not only 

 consistent with " the law of fatigue " proposed by Dr. Haughton, 

 but illustrate both that law and his " Coefficient of Refreshment ; " 



(3) That Prof. Nipher's discussion of his own valuable experi- 

 ments is worthless, as it is based on an empirical formula, 

 which has no meaning and leads to no further consequences : 



(4) That the law of fatigue, which explains not only Prof. 

 Nipher's experiments, but so many other experiments also, is 

 entitled to be received provisionally as a law of animal mechanics, 

 and followed up by deduction to its legitimate conclusions.— 

 Earthquake of December 1874, by Prof. D. S. Martin. " The 

 general phenomena presented nothing peculiar." — On some 

 interesting equine calculi, by R. H. Chittenden. — Results of 

 dredging experiments off New England coast, by A. E. Verrill. 

 Four pages of tables are given, and a note is added on methods 

 of preserving specimens. Picric acid was found to be valuable. 

 — On the passage of two bolides in 1872 and 1874 over Middle 

 Kentucky, by J. Lawrence Smith. — Notes on the gases accom- 

 panying meteorites, by Prof. J. W. Mallett. The purpose is to 

 question whether Prof. Wright has sufficient evidence for his 

 conclusion, "the stony meteorites are distinguished from the 

 iron ones by having the oxides of carbon, chiefly the dioxide, as 

 their characteristic gases.instead of hydrogen." — On a new vertical 

 lantern galvanometer, by Prof. G. F. Barker. The arrangement 

 is for demonstration to a large audience, deflections obtained by 

 induction currents, thermo-currents, voltaic currents, &c. — On 

 another gigantic Cephalopod [Architeuthis) on the coast of New- 

 foundland, December 1874, by A. E. Verrill. The total length 

 is estimated at forty feet. 



The Journal of the Chejnical Society (June 1875) contains in 

 detail Prof. Clerk-Maxwell's paper On the dynamical evidence of 

 the molecular constitution of matter, which was duly published 

 in Nature. The other papers in this part are : — Researches on 

 the action of the copper-zinc couple on organic bodies, by Dr. J. 

 H. Gladstone and A. Tribe. The authors in this (eighth) paper 

 treat of chloroform, bromoform, and iodoform. — On the action 

 of nitrosyl chloride on organic bodies (second paper), by W. A. 

 Tilden ; the action on turpentine oil is considered. — A note by 

 Prof. Story Maskelyne on the crystallographic characters of 

 nitrosoterpene is given as appendix to the last paper. — Dr. H. 

 Armstrong contributes a note on isomeric change in the phenol, 

 series, which gives new proof of the energy and unceasing atten- 

 tion this gentleman bestows upon his interesting researches. — 

 The last paper is a note on the effect of passing the mixed 

 vapours of carbon disulphide and alcohol over red-hot copper, 

 by Th. Carnelley. It was found that the following bodies were 

 formed :CH3.COH, COS (carbon oxysulphide !) C2H4, C2H2, 

 CH4, and H, and neither HjS nor SOj. The copper is super- 

 ficially converted into sulphide, and amorphous carbonj is 

 deposited. 



Zeitschrift der Oesterreichischen Gesellschaft fiir Meteorologie, 

 Aug. I. — This number contains the concluding part of Herr 

 Wilczek's paper on the calculation of the arithmetical mean of 

 constant quantities. Also an account, by Plerr von Jedina, of a 

 cyclone encountered by the corvette Heligoland in the North 

 Atlantic, remarkable for the steadmess with which the wind blew 

 from east at its commencement, the great expansion of the front 

 in comparison with the rear, and the slow rise of the barometer 

 after passing the centre. — Among the Kleinere Mittheilungen is 

 a notice of the late Dr. Theorell, and a paper by Herr C. Braun, 

 on the theory of storms. 



Rendiconto delle Sessioni dell' accademia delle scienze deW istituto 

 di Bologna. — The longer papers read at the Academy during the 

 academical year 1874-5 were twenty-nine in number, besides 

 numerous notes and memoirs of smaller interest. We note the 

 following, as of special interest to our readers :— On some 

 phenomena consequent upon contusions of the abdomen and of 

 the spine, by Dr. P. Loreta. — On some argillaceous slate 

 of Miocene origin, by G. A. Bianconi. — Several papers Ly 

 Prof. F. Sclmi, on researches made on poisonous alkaloids, 

 their differences m properties, their determination when mixed 

 with others in organic matter^ and with innocuous alkaloids, 



