138 



NATURE 



[i/une 5, 1879 



faulted against Foreland grits, as no representative of the Lyn- 

 ton beds is present between Oaktrow and Timberscombe. In 

 traverse 2 the fault between the Hangman and Foreland grits ii 

 proved by the presence of the Lynton beds in the valley west of 

 Luccot Hill and their conformable infraposition to tlie Hang- 

 man series, and abrupt termination by fault against the Foreland 

 grits of Porlock and Oare Hills. At Oare a patch of schist of 

 the Lynton zone was noticed resting on the Foreland grits on 

 the north side of the fault. The 3rd traverse in the Tone Val- 

 ley gave the following succession of beds : — Culm-measures on 

 Pilton beds ; Pilton beds with grits, much flexured, on Olive 

 slates with Lingula and grits with CucuUcca, conformably over- 

 lying Pickwell-Down grits, which make a conformable junction 

 (following the feature) with the underlying quartziferous slates 

 of the Morte series (middle Devonian) ; the latter were observed 

 between Huish Champflower and Clatworthy ; but, as the middle 

 Devonian slates appear to extend considerably northward in the 

 Brendons, they were not traversed beyond Clatworthy. The 

 4th traverse from West Quantockshead to Cannington Park 

 proved the compo>ition of the Quantocks along that line to te 

 grits, in places associated with schistose shales, apparently be- 

 longing to the Hangman series (middle Devonian) ; whilst the 

 palaeozoic inliers, in the triassic area of Bridgewater, are unlike 

 the Quantock rocks in character. The limestones of Asholt 

 and Hollwell, associated with slates of the Ilfracombe series, are 

 very similar to varieties of the South Devon limestone, and are 

 quite unlike the limestone of Cannington Park. — The Whin 

 Sill of Teesdale as an assimilator of the surrounding beds, by 

 C. T. Clough, F.G.S. Owing to the general absence of mecha- 

 nical disturbance, the author is of opinion that "the Whin con- 

 sists in part of altered sedimentary beds, that it partly represents 

 beds which were once in the position it now occupies, that it did 

 not make room for itself simply by thrusting aside these bed^, 

 but also by incorporating them into itself." He proceeds to de- 

 scribe sections at Caldron Snout, Cronkley Fell, Noon Hill, &c., 

 which seem to him inexplicable on any other theory. The author 

 discusses objections on chemical grounds, holding that the gene- 

 ral uniformity in chemical composition of the Whin may be 

 explained by supposing the absorbed beds to have permeated a 

 large mass of the Whin, as an alloy does melted metal. He 

 thinks the explanation may be extended to other intrusive 

 masses. — On the silurian rocks of the valley of the Clwyd, by 

 Prof. T. M'Kenny Hughes, F.G.S. The author gives a pre- 

 liminary sketch of the silurian rocks of the southern and western 

 part of the Clwyd Valley. He describes first some beds below 

 the horizon of the Denbigh grits at Ffriddfawr which agree very 

 well in their characters with the base of the Coniston grit, and 

 others near agreeing with the passage-beds between these grits 

 and flags. He next describes sandstones in the Clywedog Val- 

 ley, the equivalents of the lower grits; and lastly, at Bod 

 Renail, flags, &c., the Pale States, which contain graptolites, 

 and are thus to be identified with the graptolitic mudstones of 

 the Lake-district. Thus he is of opinion there is a basement- 

 series here for the Silurian, corresponding in all its details with 

 that in the Lake-district. 



Zoological Society, May 20.— -Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Mr. Sclater called the attention of 

 the meeting to several animals and other objects of interest 

 observed by him during a recent visit to some of the zoological 

 gardens on the Continent. — Prof. Owen, C.B., read a paper in 

 which he gave the description of a portion of the mandible of a 

 large extinct kangaroo, proposed to be called Palorchestes crassus, 

 from the ancient fluviatile drift of Queensland. — A communi- 

 cation was read from Mr. M. Jacoby, containing descriptions of 

 new species of coleoptera of the family Ilaltidda. — Mr. Sclater 

 read a paper (the fourth of the series) on birds collected by the 

 Rev. George Brown, C.M.Z.S., on Duke of York Island, and 

 on the neighbouring parts of New Britain and New Ireland. 

 The present collection contained fifty-nine specimens belonging 

 to forty- two species, of which several were believed to be new 

 to science. — A communication was read from Prof. Garrod, 

 F.R.S., containing a series of notes on the anatomy of the 

 Gelada baboon (GV/ai/a >■?«//*■///), based on the examination of 

 a specimen that had died in the Society's Gardens. Prof. 

 Garrod came to the conclusion that Gdada must be considered 

 as a distinct generic form, more nearly allied to Cercopithccus 

 than to Cynocephalus. — Lieut. -Col. Godwin-Austen read some 

 notes on and gave a description of the female of Ceriornis blythi, 

 Jerdon. 



Physical Society, May 10. — Prof. \^ . G. Adams in the 

 chair. — New Member, Mr. J. Kestrell Evans. — Mr. WoUaston 

 explained the constrnction of Gower's improved form of Bell's 

 speaking-telephone. The older form, made of wood or ebonite,, 

 is open to the objections that it has a very weak voice, soon gets 

 out of adjustment from changes of temperature, and requires a 

 twisted hand-wire which is liable to break. Gower's form has a 

 comparatively loud utterance, is constant, and does not require 

 to be held in the hand, but may be laid on a table or hung on a 

 wall, a speaking-tube leading from it to the operator's ear or 

 mouth. The "call" for attracting attention is also within the 

 Gower telephone itself, whereas in the hand telephone it is an 

 auxiliary apparatus. Every organ of the old telephone has 

 been modified to form the Gower. The magnet A A in the 

 figure in the Gower is of a horse-shoe form, very powerful, 

 the two poles being brought very close together, and each, 

 pole is mounted with a small coil of fine wire, B B ; the dia- 

 phragm c c is much thicker and longer than the Bell diaphragm, 

 the case, D D, is of brass, to expand equably, and a speak- 

 ing-tube is fitted to the front of the diaphragm. F F is the inte- 

 rior and K K the exterior circumferencejof the box.- The call, E> 



consists of a musical reed attached to the diaphragm so as to be 

 opposite a small slit in the latter. To sound the call it is only 

 necessary to send a sharp puff of wind up the speaking-tube, and 

 the reed gives out a note which is heard throughout a room at 

 the distant end. Speaking and cornet music was transmitted by 

 the instrument exhibited, between the third storey over the halt 

 and the meeting. It was very distinct and audible several feet 

 from the receiver. Speaking done some thirty feet from the 

 transmitter was also sent. Conversation was likewise carried on 

 while considerable noise was being made in the room. Prof. 

 Macleod remarked that the timbre of this telephone was very good. 

 — Prof. Barrett then gave an account of some attempts which 

 he had made to overcome the induction clamour on telephones 

 caused by the ordinary telegraph currents on neighbouring wires. 

 He had tried recently the Bell telephone on a line from Dublin, 

 to Armagh, ninety-five miles long, but the induction noises com- 

 pletely stifled the speaking, whereas the Edison transmitter gave 

 good results. The climour could be got rid of either by neutra- 

 lising the induction currents, or by eliminating the noises from 

 the speech. He had tal en the second line of experiment. 

 Since the vocal currents differ from the induction ones in 

 potential and period, he attempted to make the latter discharge 

 across from the line to earth by fine needle points, and from a 

 heated spiral of wire, in a vacuum, leaving the vocal currents to- 



