5^4 



NATURE 



[Oct. 7, 1875 



lating animal matter, as stated by many observers in this and 

 other coimtries. He says that so far as Phiguiada longiJoUa 

 and Drosera roiundifolia are concerned, at least, he believes that 

 the glutinous excretions of their leaves simply hasten decomposi- 

 tion, which is moreover attended by the usual concomitant phe- 

 nomena. In very early stages he found monads, bacteria, the 

 mycelium of various fungi, and other conditions of putrefaction. 

 So far as the action of the mucus on the entrapped insects and 

 on coagulated albumen is concerned, he affirms that it is similar to 

 that of pure water, sugar-water, and the honey- secretions taken 

 from the flowers of Acchmea midiflora. Nevertheless he admits 

 having seen all the admirable contrivances for catching and re- 

 taining insects. 



Mr. G. M. Dawson, F.G.S., has just issued a'report to the 

 Canadian Government, on the geology and resources of the 

 region in the forty-ninth parallel, between the Lake of the 

 Woods, S.E. of I^ake Winnipeg, and the Rocky Mountains ; in 

 other words, of the western portion of the boundary of British 

 America. Much of the country traversed had been previously 

 quite unknown, geographically as well as geologically, which 

 fact adds greatly to the importance of the report, the bulk of 

 which is devoted to the account of the Cretaceous and Tertiary 

 strata of the plains between the Rocky Mountains, as they are 

 constituted at the boundary, and the Lake of the Woods. The 

 Survey of the United States Government to the south of the 

 above-mentioned region, when taken in conjunction with that 

 under notice, forms a vast addition to geologic knowledge. 

 Among tlie most important results arrived at is the discovery of 

 beds which seem to gap over the apparently considerable interval 

 between the Cretaceous and lower Tertiary periods. 



The following interesting statistics on the libraries of Europe 

 are taken from M. Block's recently published " Statistique de 

 la France comparee avec les divers pays de I'Europe" :— Paris 

 has six great libraries belonging to the State and open to the 

 public. Outside Paris there are in France 338 libraries which 

 possess more than 34 million volumes; of this number 41 are 

 open in the evening. Great Britain possesses 1,771,493 

 volumes, or six vols, to each 100 persons of the popula- 

 tion (this must surely refer solely to the British , Museum 

 library). Italy has 1 17 volumes per 100 inhabitants. In 

 France there are 4,389,000 volumes, or 117 per 100 persons; 

 in Austria, 2,488,000 vols, or 6'9 per 100; in Russia, 852,000 

 vols., or I "3 per 100 ; in Belgium, 509, 100 vols., or iO"4per 100. 

 Of all countries, France possesses the greatest number of volumes, 

 and Paris alone has one-third of them in its libraries. Since 

 1865 students' libraries have been formed over nearly the whole 

 of France. Since that year these libraries have increased from 

 4,833, containing 180,854 volumes, to (in 1870-1) 13,638, con- 

 taining 1,158,742 volumes. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens'during the 

 past -week include four Tigers {Felis tigris) from India, presented 

 by H.E. the Governor-General of India ; an Ocelot {Felis par- 

 dalis) from South America, presented by Mr. IT. Kirtley ; a 

 Golden Agouti {Dasyprocta aguli) from South America, pre- 

 sented by Mr. Henry T. Balfour; a Cuvier's Toucan {Ramphastos 

 cuvieri) from Upper Amazons, presented by Mr. A. Blumenthal ; 

 a Chilian Sea Eagle {Geranoacitis aguia) from Paraguay, pre- 

 sented by Mr. E. Nelson ; two Red and Yellow Mac aws {Ara 

 chloroptera) from South America, presented by the Misses Rix ; 

 three Tigers (7v//>'^zVm), a 'Lto^s.xd. [Felis pardus), 3. Caracal 

 [Felis caracal), two Musanga Paradoxures [Paradoxtirus mu- 

 sanga) from India, a Black Lemur (Lemur viacacd) from Mada- 

 gascar, a Crab-eating Opossum {Didelphys cancrivora) from 

 Central America, two Mexican Deer [Cerviis mexicanus), depo- 

 sited ; a Great-billed Parrakeet [Tanygnaihiis megalorhynchus) 

 from Gilolo, received in exchange ; an American Darter [Plotus 

 ajthinga) from South America, purchased. 



SOME LECTURE NOTES ON METEORITES* 



II. 



W 



E may next turn our attention to the nature of the substances 

 which fall on these occasions, and in the first place it may be 

 briefly stated that they are of three kinds : first, masses of iron, 

 alloyed with nickel, termed aorosiderites, or briefly siderites ; 

 secondly, stony meteorites (aerolites), which consist of sihcates 

 somewhat analogous to terrestrial rocks, but having nickeliferous 

 iron disseminated in small granules throughout them : and finally, 

 there is a sort of meteorite which is intermediate between these 

 iron and stone masses, consisting of a sponge-like mass of the 

 iron, containing in its hollows stony matter similar to that of the 

 aerolites. These are what are termed siderolites (or meso-side- 

 rites). These different kinds of meteorites— namely, siderites, 

 siderohtes, and aerolites— then, comprehend all the forms of 

 matter, as at present known, which fall to the earth .from the 

 regions external to its atmosphere. 



Of these difiFerent kinds of meteorites, national as well as 

 private collections have been formed in most countries in 

 Europe. The most celebrated and historical collection of them 

 is that at Vienna, formed by the gradual and generally contem- 

 porary acquisition of specimens of the meteorites as they have 

 fallen or been found from time to time, from the early years of 

 this century, and descriptions of them have been given by very 

 eminent Viennese mineralogists. Then we have in the British 

 Museum a not less complete collection, numbering now about 

 294 differen t meteorites. Next to these in completeness is the 

 collection at Berlin, founded on that formed by Cliladni. 



The importance of the study of such collections of meteorites 

 becomes evident, it we consider a remark of Humboldt's, in the 

 latter part of his " Cosmos," to the effect that there are only two 

 avenues to our knowledge of the universe outside of us, one being 

 light, by the agency of which the motions of the heavenly bodies 

 are revealed to us, while the other consists in the masses of 

 matter that come to our earth from that outer universe ; and 

 that these are the only means by which we are able to take any 

 cognisance of what is going on in the boundless regions of space. 



Since Humboldt's time, indeed, light has become a totally 

 different instrument in our hands to what it was. No longer 

 are the heavens for us without speech or language, for 

 light is indeed the language of the universe, though man has only 

 yesterday begun to interpret the voices whereby one star calleth 

 to another star. 



Our interpreter is the prism, that most subtle and sensitive 

 implement for probing the character of the most distant matter 

 provided only it be luminous. In Humboldt's time light merely 

 enabled us to record and calculate the mute motions of the orbs 

 around us. Now not only are we able so to tell their motion?, 

 but we may feel new trutlis ' ' trembling along that far-reaching 

 line " which connects our eye with a star, and take cognisance of 

 the physical conditions and chemical composition of the matter 

 in active change upon the surface of that star. And this alto- 

 gether new source of knowledge throws an entirely new interest 

 around the question of the origin or sources of meteoric matter. 

 Let us then next inquire of the meteorites themselves what they 

 have to tell us in elucidation of these questions. 



The first aspect of a meteorite is that of a fragment. One 

 cannot look at it without saying so. But as to the question 

 whether it came as a fragment into our atmosphere, or whether 

 it became a fragment after it had entered it, we can at least say 

 that its present fragmentary form is mainly due to the action of 

 that atmosphere itself. Still, it is eminently probable, from other 

 grounds, that meteorites encounter our earth, and probably our 

 system, in the guise of fragments, or rather of angular and un- 

 shaped masses — chips, as it were, thrown off in the great work- 

 shop ; matter flung out into space, not yet used up in the making 

 of the worlds. It will be well first to consider what an exami- 

 nation of their physical characters and general internal structure 

 will reveal to us. For the incrustation and pitted surface of 

 aerolites already described an explanation was sought on the 

 hypothesis of external fusion arising from the sudden develop- 

 ment of enormous heat on the surface of a mass internally brittle 

 and contracted, owing to its very low temperature. And among 

 the more purely mechanical characteristics, we must not pass 

 over the general want of compactness in meteorites. Thus, 

 though a meteorite generally seems very compact, if it be sus- 

 pended in chloride of mercury to dissolve the iron without affect- 

 ing, or with*only slight effect on, the other minerals in it, you 

 * Continued from p. 487. 



