Sept. 25, 1879] 



NATURE 



521 



About the same time Gaudry, Hebert, and Desnoyers also ex- 

 plored the same valley, and announced that the stone imple- 

 ments there were as ancient as the mammoth and rhinoceros 

 found with them. Explorations in the Swiss lakes and in the 

 Danish shell heaps added new testimony bearing in the same 

 direction. In 1863 appeared Lyell's work on the "Geological 

 Evidences of the Antiquity of Man," in which facts were brought 

 together from various parts of the world, proWng beyond ques- 

 tion the great age of the human race. 



The additional proof since brought to light has been extensive, 

 and is still rapidly increasing. The quaternary age of man is 

 now generally accepted. Attempts have recently been made to 

 approximate in years the time of man's first appearance on the 

 earth. One high authority has estimated the antiquity of man 

 merely to the last glacial epoch of Europe as 250,000 years, and 

 those best qualified to judge would, I think, regard this as a fair 

 estimate. 



r Important evidence has likewise been adduced of man's exist- 



I ence in the tertiary, both in Europe and America. The evidence 

 ' today is in favour of the presence of man in the pliocene of this 

 country. The proof offered on this point by Prof. J. D. 

 ^Vhitney, in his recent work,' is so strong, and his careful, 

 conscientious method of investigation so well known, that his 

 conclusions seem inevitable. Whether the pliocene strata he 

 has explored so fully on the Pacific coast corresponds strictly 

 with the deposits which bear this name in Europe, may be a 



?|uestion requiring further consideration. At present the known 

 acts indicate that the American beds containing human remains, 

 and works of man, are at least as old as the pliocene of Europe. 

 The existence of man in the tertiary period seems now fairly 

 established. 



In looking back over the history of palaeontology, much seems 

 to have been accomplished, and yet the work has but just begun. 

 A small fraction only of the earth's surface has been examined, 

 and two large continents are waiting to be explored. The "im- 

 perfection of the geological record," so often cited by friends 

 and foes, still remains, although much improved, but the future 

 is full of promise. In filling out this record America, I believe, 

 will do her full share, and thus aid in the solution of the great 

 problems now before us. 



I have endeavoured to define clearly the different periods in 

 the history of pala;ontoIogy. If I may venture, in conclusion, 

 to characterise the present period in all departments of science, 

 its main feature would be a belief in universal laxas. The reign 

 of Law, first recognised in the physical world, has now been 

 extended to Life as well. In return. Life has given to inanimate 

 nature the key to her profounder mysteries — Evolution, which 

 embraces the universe. 



What is to be the main characteristic of the next period ? No 

 ime now can tell. But if we are permitted to continue in 

 imagination the rapidly converging lines of research pursued to- 

 day, they seem to meet at the point where organic and inorganic 

 nature become one. That this point will yet be reached I cannot 

 doubt. 



THE EFFECT OF SUNLIGHT UPON 

 HYDROGEN PEROXIDE^ 

 YXTE believe that it has not been previously observed that 

 • ' hydrogen peroxide in solution is decomposed by sunlight ; 

 it may therefore be of interest to state that during the continua- 

 tion of our investigations on the chemical effects of sunlight, we 

 found that ( I ) after about ten months insolation aqueous solutions, 

 containing about 8 ])er cent, of hydrogen peroxide, were entirely 

 destroyed, and that (2) corresponding solutions shielded from 

 !i;;ht proved much more stable than is commonly supposed . We 

 re inclined to think that the insolation needs to be prolonged — 

 Ithough we have made no direct observations on this point— 

 >ccause some of the solution, exposed in a thick glass bottle 

 landing in a window, was found to be still of considerable 

 irength after a period sufficient to destroy a corresponding 

 ample in a thin test-tube. 

 We have elsewhere' shown that oxalic acid is destroyed by 

 inlight Ijy the oxidation of its hydrogen by ejc/ernal oxygen, 

 'Iius : — 



C,0,H, -f O - = 2CO, + H,0. 



' "Auriferous Gravels of the Sierra Nevada of California." 1879. 

 ' By Arthur Downes, M.D., and T. P. Blunt. M.A. 

 ■* Froc. Roy. Soc, vol. xxvtii, p. 304. 



There is not, we believe, any analogy whatever between that 

 case jnd this. There we have the "chlorous radicle" CjOj in 

 combination with the basylous Hj, the latter being seized upon 

 by the superior affinity of the external oxygen stimulated under 

 sunli5;ht. Here we may regard the hydrogen peroxide as made 

 up of two atomic groupings of the chlorous radicle HO and, if 

 the theory we suggest be correct, the decomposition in this case 

 is brought about by the dissociation of these radicles. We 

 believe that the tendency of sunlight is to dissociate (or 

 "weaken the internal bonds" between) what we have termed 

 "chlorous radicles," whether these be simple, as oxygen or 

 chlorine, or compound as HO, and thus to promote their com- 

 bining energy, or to bring about a more stable arrangement of 

 their coirstituent atoms. 



THE FRENCH ASSOCIATION 



AMONG the addresses at the Montpellier meeting we mat 

 ■*^ notice that of Col. Laussedat, on geography considered 

 from the point of view of protecting national independence, and 

 on the creation of a French Signal Corps, in imitation of the 

 well-known United States organisation. 



M. Broca airived just in time to give information relating to 

 the Congress of Anthropology which had taken place in Mo - 

 cow, and at which he had assisted with eleven other French 

 savants. The expenses of the journey were paid by the Moscow 

 Anthropological Society and by private donations. The session, 

 the proceedings of which will appear in \.\\e Journal des Missions dn 

 Ministere de I' Instruction publique, and were reported in several 

 French papers, lasted twelve days. M. Quatrefages was consi- 

 dered the head of the party, and gave in their name the loyal 

 Russian toasts in the Kremlin. It is the first time that French 

 savants have been entertained in this historical edifice, which 

 was burnt to thwart the designs of the great French conqueror. 



M. Chauveau, the Director of the Veterinary School of Lyons, 

 was elected the President for the exceptional meeting at Algiers, 

 The Secretary appointed for this occasion was M. Maunoir, the 

 Permanent Secretary of the Geographical Society of Paris. This 

 election shows that geographical questions will take a prominent 

 place in April, l88l,at the capital of the French colony in North 

 Africa. Much will be heard of the Transaharian, and it is ex- 

 pected that work will be begun on a large scale in the desert on 

 this occasion. The" nomination of M. Chauveau took place 

 against the wish of the Council of the Society, who had 

 presented as their candidate M. Baillon, the author of the 

 Botanical j ic.ionary. The appointment of M. Chauveau is 

 considered as a protest against the Haeckelian tendencies of the 

 committee and a revival of the old Montpellier vitalist opinions. 

 At all events, it has created some sensation. 



The meeting for 1880 will take place in Rheims, as usual in 

 the month of August, and is sure to be attended by a number of 

 foreign visitors. Great preparations are being made by the local 

 committee to give to the guests an unprecedented reception and 

 to impress upon them a great idea of the peculiarities of the 

 city. 



SPECTROSCOPICAL OBSERVATIONS OF 

 SHOOTING STARS 



pROF. VON KONKOLY, of the Astro-physical Observatory 

 ■'• of O-Gyalla (Hungary), contributes an interesting paper on 

 the spectra of shooting stars to a recent number of the Aslronomische 

 Nachrichten, from which we note the following data :— On July 

 26 and 28, and again on August 12 and 13, the Professor had 

 the opportunity of observing some bright shooting stars spectro- 

 scopically, and, with a few exceptions, he arrived at the result 

 that the heads of shooting stars give a continuous spectrum 

 generally, upon which very often the bright sodium line appears 

 projected. Since this, however, is not always the case. Prof, 

 von Konkoly inclines to the belief that considerable differences 

 of elevation exist amongst shooting stars, and that those which 

 do not show the sodium line are travelling in very much higher 

 regions than those which do show the line in question, since he 

 looks upon the sodium line as not belonging to the shooting star 

 itself, but as resulting from the atmospheric air which the 

 meteorite condenses and renders incandescent. It is evident 

 that in very high regions there must be very much less (if any) 

 chloride of sodium stispended in the atmosphere than in lower 

 strati. 



