Oct. 28, 1 875 J 



NATURE 



567 



— M. Righi contributes a paper on an electroscope with very 

 sensitive dry piles ; its use in some experiments on electricity of 

 contact, and on the electromotive force of heat. The journal con- 

 cludes with a number oi abstracts from other serials. 



Bulletin de la Scciele d^ Anthropolog'ie de Paris, 1875. — I" 

 fascicule 4'^'"', tome ix. ii« stirie, M. G. de Rialle, in considering 

 the present state of our knowledge in regard to the races in- 

 habiting Central Asia, invites travellers to turn their attention 

 to the study of the Herazehs, who occupy the most easterly 

 spurs of the chain of the Paropamisus, and who still preserve 

 many traces of the habits and traditions of the northern steppes, 

 from which they have probably been driven by Mongol invaders. 

 Little is known of these people, who are dreaded by the 

 Afghans for their bravery and ferocity, and who regard them- 

 selves as allied to the Calmuks of Cabul. In the course of the 

 discussion on M. de Rialle's paper, Madame C. Royer drew atten- 

 tion to the important service which travellers might render to the 

 sciences of Comparative Ethnology and Anthropology, if they 

 would make young children, in whom distinctions of race are 

 most prominently exhibited, the special objects of their observa- 

 tions. M. Topinard, in conclusion, called upon the members of 

 the Central Asiatic Expedition to discover whether any survivors 

 could still be traced of the fair-skinned people described by the 

 Chinese as inhabiting the western portion of the central plain of 

 Asia two or three centuries before our era, and as having green 

 eyes and red hair. Tchihatcheff asserts that he has met with 

 red-haired individuals among the nomad Turkomans of Asia 

 Minor, and Desmoulins believes that they are typical represen- 

 tatives of the primitive Turks. — In the same number of the 

 Bulletin we have a summary of the views entertained by M. A. 

 de Bertrand and others in regard to the definition and classifi- 

 cation of prehistoric eras. M. de Bertrand, in considering the 

 age of the Reindeer of Thurigen, suggests that we may refer the 

 period of the introduction of polished stone into Gaul to about 

 3,400 years before the Christian era, and that we may possibly 

 assume 3,000 years as the maximum of the duration of this age. 

 His attempted determination of these periods was strongly 

 opposed by MM. Leguay, Roujon, and others. — Several inte- 

 resting reports have been laid before the Paris Society, of 

 the numerous caves and grottoes which have been examined 

 in the course of 1874, by M. Louis Lartet, Lagarde, and 

 other members. The finds at Cumieres, near Verdun, hava 

 been especially rich, while the explorations made at the cemetery 

 of Curanda (Aisne) are valuable from the great variety of objects 

 intermingled with the human remains, but owing to the succes- 

 sive occupation of the ground by Gallic, Romano-Gallic, and 

 later populations, the results yield no certain evidence of the 

 antiquity of the earlier races, whose remains are interspersed 

 among those of definite and determinable historical character. 

 An examination of the remains in situ has, however, led M. 

 Millescamps to the important conclusion that flint instruments 

 were cut and used as recently as the Merovingian age in France. 

 — M. P. Broca has proposed to adopt the word " Stercometrie " 

 for that branch of craniometric science which treats of the deter- 

 mination of cranial capacities. In his paper M. Broca explains 

 the various methods which he has found best adapted for the 

 purpose. He considers that, of all the substances tried, bullet- 

 lead, although not perfectly free from sources of error, is tha 

 most reliable, the results yielded by repeated experiments vary- 

 ing not more than five cubic centimetres for the same skull. No 

 absolutely correct method has as yet been devised, and hence 

 we must content ourselves for the present with approximate 

 results. 



Sttzungsherithte der Kgl. hohtn. Ges. dfr Wissenschaften in 

 Frag. — The publication of this Society comprises the whole of 

 1874, during which period some thirty important papers were 

 read in the Natural Science Department of the Society. We 

 notice the following :— On the independent representation of the 

 «th derivative of broken functions of a variable, by Prof, 

 Dr. Studnicka. — On the chemical composition of microsommite, 

 by Prof. Safarik. — On harmonic systems of points on rational 

 curves of the third and fourth order, by K. Zahradnik. — On the 

 discovery of diluvial animal remains in the Elbe Loess, near 

 Aussig, by Dr. Laube. — On some minerals from Kuchelbad, near 

 Prague, by Dr. Safarik. — On the different forms and the signi- 

 fication of the changes in generation of plants, by Dr. L. 

 Celakovsky. — Researches on the hyetography of Bohemia, by 

 Dr. Studnicka.— On the inflorescences of Borragineae, by Dr. 

 L. Celakovsky. — The solution of the problem of seat and 

 essence of attraction, by Dr. Studnicka.— On the laws regulating 



incandescence of wires by electric currents, by Prof. A. von 

 Waltenhofen. — Contradiction of Stieda's criticism on the author's 

 work " On Hair," by Dr. J. Schobl.— On ahyrena skull, by Dr. 

 A. Fric— On the Myriopoda hitherto observed in Bohemia, by 

 "Prof. F. V. Rosicky. — On a new universal microscope, by Prof. 

 Zenger. — On a new photographic process to enlarge photographs 

 correctly and to any size, by the same. — On curves of the fourth 

 order, by Prof. E. Weyr.— On the travels of M. Emil Holub in 

 Southern Africa, by Prof. C. Koristka.— On a new mineral 

 mixture, named Parankerite, by Dr. Boricky. — On the theory of 

 Cardioids, by Dr. K. Zahradnik. — On the discovery of an 

 Ichthyomorphous Ceratodus Barrandei in the gas coal of the 

 Rakonitz deposit, by Dr. A. Fric— On the elements of a 

 mechanical theory of ocean currents, by Prof. G. Blazek. — On 

 the Cladocera-fauna of Bohemia, by B. HeUich. Preliminary 

 researches on the Annelida of Bohemia hitherto observed, by 

 F. Vejdovsky.— On the integration of differential equations of 

 the first order, by Dr. E. Weyr.— On the pseudoscorpiones- 

 fauna of Bohemia, by Prof. A. Stecker.— On the coal deposit of 

 Pilsen, by Prof. J. Krejci.— Report on the chalk deposits of 

 Perutz, in Bohemia, and their fossil remains, by the same. — On a 

 new simple method of determining tautozonal planes of crystals, 

 by the same. 



The August number of the Bulletin de la Sociiti d'' Acclimata- 

 Hon de Paris contains a very instructive paper, by Dr. Vidal, on 

 the fauna and flora of Japan. The useful indigenous animals of 

 that country are not so numerous as the geographical position of 

 the islands would seem to indicate ; the principal are a small 

 species of ox, goats, rabbits, and wild boars. Imported animalsj 

 such as sheep and pigs, are rare, the former, indeed, not appear- 

 ing to thrive in the climate, although they exist in considerable 

 quantities on the opposite coasts of Northern China. A species 

 of small black bear, and monkeys, are prized by the natives as 

 articles of diet. Horses are abundant, though the ass and the 

 mule are unknown in the country. Birds, both useful and orna- 

 mental, are very numerous, the principal being several varieties 

 of duck and common " barndoor fowls," pheasants, and quails ; 

 wild geese are abundant, but the domestic variety and the turkey 

 are almost unknown. Of fish there is a plentiful supply, and 

 the fisheries form one of the most important industries of the 

 country. Salmon are very common and highly prized. — M. L. 

 Faton gives a summary of experiments with several kinds of 

 vegetables and useful and ornamental plants, which is valuable 

 as indicating the species which best repay the trouble of scientific 

 cultivation. — At the July meeting of the Society a letter was 

 read from M. C. Naudin, enclosing seeds of Cytistis proliferus 

 from the Canary Islands, a plant which is cultivated there fbr the 

 sake of its leaves, which are used as food for cattle. M. Naudin 

 suggests that it might be usefully cultivated in France, or at any 

 rate at the Cape of Good Hope, and in Austraha. — Another 

 plant {Reana luxurians), called in Guatemala Teosinte, and cul- 

 tivated there for the same purposes as the one above named, is 

 recommended by M. J. Rossignon. 



Reale Istituto Lombardo di Scienzc t Lettere. Rendiconti, vol. 

 viii. fasc. xvi. The first portion of this number contains the fol- 

 lowing among other papers : — On the hydrological map of the 

 department of Senna e Mama, by M. Curioni. — On two benzol- 

 bisulphuric acids and their relations to other compounds, by 

 MM. Koerner and Monselise. — The second portion of these 

 Rendiconti contains reports by M. Carcano and M. Hajech, on 

 the work of the Institute during the year ; accounts of prize 

 awards, with reports of committees on the competitive memoirs ; 

 and an announcement of prizes to be competed for within the 

 next three years. Among the subjects of the latter we note the 

 following : — Actual mean longevity of man in Italy, compared 

 with other peoples ; What are the best antifermentatives and 

 antiseptics, disinfectants and deodorizers ? Indicate a good method 

 of cremation ; Respective merits of animal and human vaccina- 

 tion ; Embryogeny of silkworm ; History of the progress of the 

 anatomy and physiology of the brain, in the present century. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



Manchester 

 Scientific Students' Association, Oct. 20. — Mr. John 

 Plant, F.G.S., in the chair.— Mr. Wm. Gee lectured on Poly. 

 trichuDi commune (the common Hair-moss), as a type of moss- 

 structure, commenting on the points of differentiation between 

 true mosses and cryptogams erroneously associated with them, 

 tracing the life-cycle, the ifinute anatomy of the organs, andithe 



