Oct. 23. 1879] 



NATURE 



617 



I 



approach that of Hants, the former possessing 176, the latter 

 174 of the 242 species found in Hants mainland bnt absent in 

 one or more of the adjacent floras ; the maritime or coast plants 

 being deducted, in order to compare a county not possessing a 

 coast with one possessing such." Regarding the second list the 

 author says: — " We should naturally suppose . . . the floras of 

 Surrey and Sussex would again be shown to approach the flora 

 of Hants mainland by thus possessing fewer species not found 

 in the latter, and that the floras of Wilts, Berks, and Wight 

 (which by the first list are shown to be most dissimilar from 

 Hants mainland, for Wilts possesses 1 2 1, Berks 109, and Wight 

 only 96 of the 242 species in List No. i) would possess many 

 more species not found on Hants mainland than would Surrey 

 or Sussex ; but the reverse is the truth, for these two last named 

 counties are shown by List 2 to possess more species not found 

 on Hants mainland than Wilts, Berks, Wight, or Dorset possess." 

 The author advances an explanation for this apparent contradic- 

 tion and concludes his "Notes" with "a few words on River 

 Basin Districts," explaining why he " would choose them for 

 showing the geographical distribution of plants in preference to 

 civil or artificial divisions." The value of such notes as these is 

 by no means slight ; those before us, we are told by the author, 

 have been published principally in the hope that they may be 

 seen by competent botanists who may have it in their power to 

 communicate additional species or perchance point out errors so 

 that their insertion may be prevented in the flora of Hampshire, 

 which Mr. Townsend hopes soon to publish. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens durii^ the 

 past week include two Rhesus Monkeys {Macacus erythrccus) 

 from India, presented respectively by Dr. Douglas and Mr. R. 

 C. Bonsfield ; a Macaque Monkey {Macacus cynomol^us) from 

 India, presented by Mr. T. Hobbs ; a Bonnet Monkey {Macacus 

 radialus) from India, presented by Mrs. Bonamy Dobree ; two 

 Arabian Gazelles {Gazella arabica) from Arabia, presented by 

 Capt. W. Bowden Smith, R.N. ; a Great Bustard {Otis tarda) 

 from Spain, presented by Mr. George G. Sandeman ; two 

 Chinese Tree Pies {Dendrocitta sinensis) from China, presented 

 by Mr. Chas. Rice ; a Common Waxbill (Esirelda cinerea) from 

 West Africa, presented by Mr. J. C. Thorowgood ; a Sun 

 Bittern {Eurypyga helias) from South America, deposited ; a 

 Bosman's Potto (Perodicticus potto) from Sulymah, South-West 

 Coast of Africa, two Crested Colins (Eupyschoriyx cristatus) 

 from Mexico, purchased. 



THE SANITARY CONGRESS 



'T'HE Sanitary Science Congress opened its proceedings 

 at Croydon on Tuesday under the presidency of Dr. 

 U. W. Richardson, F.R.S., who spoke of the success 

 which had attended the work of the Institute. In the 

 evening a general meeting was held in the great public 

 liall to hear the address of the president. As a sort of 

 complement to his previous address in an ideal city, under 

 the title of Hygcia, Dr. Richardson this year, under the 

 title of Salutland, sketched an ideal land, polity, and 

 people. He introduced his fancy sketch as follows : 



" On the 19th of July of this year, at the home of the Father 

 of modern Sanitary Progress, who has this moment resigned 

 the chair to me, I met the most illustrious of now living men of 

 science. Our conversation turned on m.iny subjects, all of which 

 were lighted up by the entrancing exposition which always gilds 

 the genius of him to whom I specially refer, Prof. Owen. One 

 subject peculiarly attracted the attention of us who listened to 

 him as he expounded it. We had entered into a discussion on 

 the question of the longevity and the natural duration of life of 

 (liflcrcnt classes of animals. With hLs usual scientific accuracy 

 and industrious research, Owen had on that day estimated, from 

 various data he had collected, the natural term of life of the 

 curious animal, the hippopotamus. He bad learned that its 



term of life was thirty years. He explained to us the mode by 

 which he had arrived at that fact : how into the calculation it 

 had been necesssary to take into account the dentition of the 

 animal ; the stages of development ; the natural wearing out of 

 the teeth ; the period of gestation ; the development of the 

 slicleton into the perfection of a bony fabric, with particular 

 reference to the combination of the epiphyses or loose ends of 

 the bones to the shafts of the bones ; and, lastly, the pathological 

 or diseased condition of the dead animal of the species that had 

 arrived at its full longevity, in order to determineiwhether or not 

 there was evidence of cause of death from disease of some 

 particular organ, or whether there was no such evidence, but 

 simply a history of general decay from old age pure and 

 simple. 



" We were told that in a hippopotamus which had recently 

 died, and which was known to have just turned thirty years of 

 age, the two sets of teeth had fulfilled their allotted duty ; that 

 the bones of the skeleton were duly consolidated ; and, that the 

 organs of the body were equally degenerated ; so that death had 

 occurred, not from failure of any particular organ, but from 

 failure of the organic parts altogether. In a sentence, the 

 animal had died a natural death, and the constant of the term 

 of life of it and its family was set down at thirty years, a con- 

 stant to whichraU the facts that could be collated in respect to 

 this species of animal definitely pointed. 



" From this line of facts In respect to one type of animal life 

 we were led to others, and the frule, laid 'down by the distin- 

 guished Flourens, by which the determination of natural old age 

 is calculated on the basis of perfected maturity, was brought 

 under review. The skeleton is perfected when the epiphyses or 

 loose terminal parts of long bones are firmly united with the 

 shaft of the bone. When the date of such perfection of 

 development is known in the mammalian class of animals, the 

 simple process of multiplying the age at that date by five, gives 

 the natural anatomical life of the animal. The elephant came 

 before us as an example. A young-elephant, whose history has 

 been related in the Philosophical Transactions, died at the age 

 of thirty years. At that age the epiphyses of its bones were 

 not completely united with the shafts. It was nearly but not 

 quite matured. Multiply thirty by five, and one hundred and 

 fifty years stand as the natural estimate of the life of the 

 elephant, so that really an elephant might exist w hich had itself 

 carried all the Governors-General of our Indian Empire. 

 Moving from this animal of long life, we turned to the camel, to 

 find full maturity at eight years, full life at forty. We turned to 

 the horse, to find full maturity at five years, full life at twenty- 

 five. We turned to the lion and the ox, to find full maturity at 

 four years, full life at twenty. We turned to the dog to find, 

 full maturity at two years of age, full life at tea We turned to 

 the cat, to find full maturity at eighteen months, full life 'at 

 seven and a half years. We turned to the rabbit, to find full 

 maturity at one year, full life at five. 



"From these contemplations our minds very naturally 

 reverted to the animal, man, [to the members of the human 

 family. Man, we learned, follows the same rule as the rest 

 of living beings. Judged by the same test, his full maturity and 

 full age may be calculated with equal precision. His maturity, 

 —perhaps not quite the full maturity,— is twenty years. His 

 full age, therefore, is one hundred years. This is the anatomical 

 estimate of human life, the surest and by far the best of all that 

 can be supplied, since it defines a law irrespective of and over- 

 riding all those accidental circumstances of social and physical 

 storm and strife, which may interfere, and indeed do interfere, 

 with tcvery estimate based on the career of life itself, as it [Is 

 shown in the ephemera by and through whom it is phenomenally 

 demonstrated. 



"This lesson, told with singular felicity of language from two 

 masters of science,— for Owen never forgot Flourens, — struck 

 Mr. Chad wick and myself with singular force. On a surer basis 

 th.in we ever trod, it corroborated a view we had ourselves pro- 

 mulgated from entirely different stand-points; and it further 

 corroborated a similar view which had been advanced by our 

 eminent friend. Dr. William Farr. We were led, in a word, 

 once again, to the inevitable conclusion that man, even m this 

 sta^c of his probation on the planet, is naturally destined to walk 

 upon it, endowed with sensibilities of life and intelligence, for a 

 period of one hundred years, and that until he realises this 

 destiny -practically, he is in value of physical life actually 

 degraded far below his earth-mates, whom he designates the 

 brute creation, and over whom he presumes to exercise his, to 



