1 64 



NATURE 



I'/une 12, 1879 



some five or six years' assiduous collecting, and to have contained 

 altogether about 3,500 specimens of birds, which were refer- 

 able to 469 species. — Mr. G. French Angas gave an account of 

 the land-shells collected by the late Dr. W. M. Gabb. in Costa 

 Rica. The collection was stated to contain examples of forty -two 

 species, of which ten or twelve were believed to be new to 

 science. 



Anthropological Institute, May 27. — Mr. E. Burnett 

 Tylor, D.C.L., F.R.S., president, in the chair. — A paper by 

 Mr. Hodder M. Westropp was read, entitled notes on fetichism, 

 in which the views of Prof. Max Miiller on the subject of 

 fetichism as expressed in his late lectures on the development of 

 religion were combated, and Mr. Westropp advanced an 

 opposite theory of his own. Having stated all the points of 

 difference between himself and Prof. Max Miiller, the author 

 explained his position thus : — that those who believe in a pri- 

 mordial fetichism must take it for granted that human beings 

 passed through a rude and primitive phase when their minds 

 were naturally and instinctively endowed with certain v.igue 

 ideas of spirits and ghosts, which seem to be the spontaneous 

 outgrowth of minds in a rude and primitive condition in all 

 countries and in all ages. In the same way it must be taken for 

 granted that all human minds have passed through a state of 

 infancy. — A paper was also contributed by Mr. J. Matthew, of 

 Little River, Victoria, on the Kabi dialect of Queensland. 

 Although the Australian dialects are usually spoken of as 

 agglutinative, the author considered that if it were possible for 

 a language to be classed as isolated, although having the 

 majority of its words composed of two syllables, such a language 

 is iCabi. 



Mineralogical Society of Great Britain and Ireland, 

 June 3. — Prof. T. G. Bonney in the chair. — The election of 

 fourteen Corresponding Members, eight Ordinary Members, and 

 two Associates, was announced. — The following papers were 

 read : — On abriachanite, a new Scottish mineral, by Prof. M. 

 F. Heddle and Dr. W. H. Aitken. — On haughtonite, a new 

 mica, by Prof. M. F. Heddle. — On brechite and xantholite from 

 Scotland, by Prof. M. F. Heddle.— On christophite from St. 

 Agnes, Cornwall, by J. II. Collins, F.G.S. — Minerals from 

 Japan, by John Milne.— On some gold occurrences, by the Rev. 

 J. Clifton Ward, F.G.S. — Additional note on penwithite, by 

 J. H. Collins, F.G.S. — Measurements of angles of basaltic 

 columns from the Giants' Causeway, by Professors Jellett and 

 O'ReiUy. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, June 2. — M. Daubree in the chair. 

 -^A telegram from the Emperor of Brazil stated that Tempel's 

 comet had been seen on the 24th and 25th ult. — On the magnetic 

 impenetrability of iron, by M. Jamin. The experiments prove 

 that a given current through coils magnetises a bar much less 

 when the latter is inclosed in a tube than when exterior to the 

 tube (placed beside it) ; and the tube is more magnetised in the 

 former case than in the latter. 6 mm. of concentric thickness of 

 iron suffices to arrest almost completely the magnetic effect of an 

 exterior spiral. — On the ultra-violet limit of the solar spectrum, 

 by M. Comu. Taking fine days, a collodion of constant com- 

 position, and a constant time of exposure, very comparable 

 observations are had. The extent of the spectrum diminishes 

 with the altitude of the sun, which tends to prove that the 

 limitation is due to absorption by the atmosphere. The furthest 

 limit obtained was at wave-length 293 ; this was only twice, on 

 Jime 24 and August 18, 1878, about noon. M. Cornu discusses 

 the causes of error, the conditions of extending the limit, and the 

 variation of the limit with the height of the place of obsei-vation. 

 The limit is pushed back one-millionth mm. in wave-length as 

 you rise 663'3 m. (a small gain ; becoming only 6 millionth mm. 

 for 4,000 m. altitude, or about half the difference between winter 

 and summer). — On alkaline amalgams, and on the nascent 

 state, by M. Berthelot. A thermal study of the reducing action 

 of these amalgams on organic compounds. They always 

 liberate, in hydrogenising reactions, more heat than free hydro- 

 gen V, ould, the respective excesses for amalgams of sodium and 

 potassium being 32-8 and 27-5. — On stannpropyls and isostann- 

 propyls, by MM. Cahours and Demarjay. — On the quantity of i 

 nitric acid contained in the water of the Nile before and after [ 

 flood, by M. D'Abbadie. Having observed that thunderstorms 

 accompanied most of the Ethiopian rains, he thought traces of 

 the nitric acid formed would be found in the river at Cairo. 

 Samples were taken before, diu-ing, and after the flood time, at 

 about two months' intervals from July 10. The several numbers 



(for nitric acid) were, unexpectedly, o'oi, 0-0038, and OC02 

 grammes per litre (of the last there is some doubt). He thinks 

 the flooding of the Nile offers abundant material for study. — On 

 the origin of sounds in the telephone, by M. Du Moncel. In 

 most experiments showing that speech may be reproduced simply 

 by a magnetic core surrounded by a helix, a microphonic trans- 

 mitter with battery has been used. M. Du Moncel now shows 

 the effect may be had with the induced currents of the Bell 

 telephone, (made by Breguet). The receiver was a small strongly 

 magnetised piece of watch-spring, fixed to a deal board, and 

 surrounded by a small helix of fine wire. The diaphragm in the 

 telephone, serving as armature, exalts the magnetic force of the 

 bar, and is itself affected by the vibrations of the telephonic case 

 fixed to one of the ends of the bar. — On the inter-oceanic 

 maritime canal, by M. de Lesseps. He recounts the steps leading 

 to the recent decision of the Congress ; speaks hopefully of the 

 work to which he is designated, and announces his purpose to 

 make an appeal in all countries for a capital of 400,000,000 

 francs. — On the lines of sodium vapour, by Mr. Lockyer. 

 Sodium vapour, after long distillation in vacuo, no longer gives 

 the line D near the metal. — Widmanstaetten figures on artificial 

 iron, by Prof. Lawrence Smith. He obtains them by heat- 

 ing a siliciuret of iron on lime with the gas blowpipe ; the 

 metallic button, after cooling, is placed in wann nitric acid. 

 — M. Schiaparelli was elected Correspondent in Astronomy 

 in room of M. Tisserand, and Prof. Huxley in Anatomy 

 and Zoology in room of M. de Baer. — On a mode of transfor- 

 mation of ruled surfaces, by M. Mannheim. — Solar observations 

 during the first quarter of 1879, by M. Tacchini. Of 35 days 

 utilised, 32 figure without spots and cavities. The mean fre- 

 quency per day was o"33 (relative proportion greatest in January) ; 

 this is less than in 1878, showing extension of the minimum. 

 The hydrogenic protuberances also show diminution ; they are 

 nearly all in the northern hemisphere ; the facula; in the equa- 

 torial zone. — New arrangement for increasing the sensibility of 

 the vibrating plate in the telephone, by M. Decharme. This 

 consists in fixing the plate by its centre point alone, in- 

 stead of by its border. — On a combination of alumina 

 with carbonic acid, by MM. Urbain and Renoul. The 

 composition (very unstable) is alumina, 52, carbonic acid, 

 II, water, 37; a hydrated sub-carbonate of alumina. Prof. 

 Smith stated that the mineral, Dawsonite found at Montreal, is 

 composed of carbonate of alumina and soda. — Influence of the 

 pneumogastric and action of digitaline on the movements of the 

 heart in sharks, by M. Cadiat. Digitaline acts as poison directly 

 on the heart, causing tetanisation of the ventricle and diastole 

 of the auricle. — On evolution of the embryo in eggs subjected to 

 incubation in warm water by M. Dareste. He got such evolu- 

 tion to some extent in repeating the experiment of Reaumur 

 (whose results were negative). — On a case of trichinosis observed 

 in a young hippopotamus of the Nile, which died in captivity, 

 by M. Haeckel. — M. Delecheneau described a modification 

 the phonograph. 



Pask 



^^ 



CONTENTS 



Evolution, Old and New. By Alfred R. Wallace 141 



Our Book Shhlf: — 



Ricks's " Elementary Arithmetic and How to Teach It'* . . . . 144 

 Letters to the Editok : — 



A Machine for Drawing Corapouad Harmonic Curves.— Prof. W. E. 

 Aykton 



Lightning Conductors.— Charles S. Tomes; R, S. Newall, 

 F.R.S li 



Bud- Variation in Bananas. — Fkitz MOller 



Fertilisation of ^r/i:*? (:ar«(r(7.— Dr. Herman>j MCller .... 



Early Sun Spot Records.— Rev. Samuel J. Johnson 



A Meteor and the Weather in New Caledonia.— Consul E..: It* 

 Layard ^ . ,, 



Intellect in Brutes.— Dr. Lawson Tait ; Dr. Andrew Wilson'; 



Charles Baillis Hamilton; H.D.Barclay 



William Froude , 



The Cold Weather OF Last Winter AND Spring 



The lea Cavekn of Dobschau. By W. Bezant Lowe {IVith 



Jllustrations) . 



The Visitation of the Royal Observatory 



Natwral Science Degrees at Oxford 



On SOME Marine Alg.«. By Ed. Bornet 



OwR Astronomical Column; — 



Biela's Comet 



Geographical Notes • 



The Eruption of Etna. By G. F. Rodwhll iJVith Ilhairation) . 



Notes 



Schliemann's Trojan Excavations 



On the Origin of the Solau Pkotucerances 

 University and Educational Intklligence , 

 Societies and Acapsmies 



\% 



»SI 



'53 

 '55 

 155 



156 



I5« 

 159 



161 

 i6j 

 '63 

 .63 



