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NA TURR 



\Oct. 20, 1887 



deposits. He maintained also that the evidence is equally clear 

 in regard to the implements found within the caverns, which he 

 said must have bean introduced before the glacial deposits 

 blocked up and covered over the caverns. The question as to 

 the direction from which pre-glacial man reached this country 

 is an exceedingly interesting one, and seems now to be fairly 

 open to discussion. It is admittedly fraught with difficulties, but 

 the facts recently obtained seem to require that an attempt should 

 be made. The evidence, so far as it goes, points to a migration 

 to this country from some northern source, as the human relics 

 found in the caverns, and also in the older river gravels (which 

 Prof. Prestwich is now disposed to assign also to the early part 

 of the Glacial epoch, when the ice-sheet was advancing), occur 

 in association with the remains of animals of northern origin, 

 such as the mammoth, rhinoceros, and reindeer. Up to the pre- 

 sent no human relics have been found in this country (and it is 

 very doubtful whether they have been found in any other part of 

 Europe) in deposits older than those containing the remains of 

 these northern animals. If man arrived in this country from 

 some eastern area, it is but natural to think that he would have 

 arrived when the genial Pliocene climate tempted numerous 

 species of deer of southern origin, and other animals suitable as 

 food for man, to roam about in the south-east of England. 

 Hitherto, however, not a relic has been found to show that man 

 had arrived in this country at that time. But in the immediately 

 succeeding period, with the advent of cold conditions and of the 

 northern animals, evidences of the presence of man become 

 abundant. Whether man at an earlier period migrated north- 

 ward from some tropical or sub-tropical area, and that he then 

 lived on fruit and such-like food, there is no evidence at present 

 to show ; but it seems certain that the man of the Glacial period 

 in this country had to live mainly on animal food, and that he 

 found the reindeer to be the most suitable to supply his wants. 

 He followed the reindeer in their compulsory migrations during 

 the gradually increasing glacial conditions, and kept mainly with 

 them near the edge of the advancing ice. 



Observations on Recent Explorations made by General Pitt- 

 Rivers at Rushmore, by J. G. Garson. — Dr. Garson began his 

 paper by defining the early British races ; he then proceeded to 

 describe the discoveries of General Pitt-Rivers at Rushmore, 

 near Salisbury, where he has found the remains of no less than 

 four British villages of the Roman period, besides many tumuli 

 and cists. The human remains are extremely interesting, and 

 throw much light on the characters of the people to whom they 

 belonged. The chief point of interest which they show is the 

 small stature of the people, the average of the males being 

 5 feet 4 inches, and of the females 4 feet 1 1 "8 inches, in the village 

 of Woodcuts ; while in that of Rotherly, the other village ex- 

 cavated this year, the heights are 5 feet i inch and 4 feet 10 inches 

 respectively. The skulls are of a long, narrow, oval form, with 

 one or two exceptions, when they are of rounder form ; these 

 were found associated with longer limb bones, showing them to 

 be of different race from the majority of the inhabitants. Two 

 forms of skull are frequently met with in lon^ barrows, both of 

 a long narrow shape, but differing from each other in one having 

 a regular oval outline, while the other broadens out from a narrow 

 forehead, and, having attained its greatest width, terminates 

 rapidly behind. The skulls found in these villages correspond 

 exactly to the first type. It is therefore probable that there were 

 two distinct races of the long-headed people which will have to 

 be distinguished in future. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 

 Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, October 10. — M. Herve Mangon in 

 the chair, — On the theory of outflow between narrow walls at a 

 low or a high level, by M. J. Boussinesq. The problem here 

 discussed deals with the discharge of water into a basin, which 

 is subjected from below to a constant pressure either less or 

 greater than that exercised by the atmosphere from above. — On 

 the grading of tubes intended for gasometric measurements, by 

 M. Berthelot. The author here studies some of the difficult 

 problems presented by the different forms of graduation in tubes 

 employed for the measurement of gaseous volumesl — On the 

 mechanical labour expended by the gull in its horizontal flight, by 

 M. Marey. — OnM. G. A. Zanon's memoir entitled " La Cinetica 

 combattuta e vinta da G. A. Hirn," by M. H. Faye. M. Zanon, 

 Professor of Naval Construction at Venice, here intervenes on 

 the side of M. Hirn in the controversy between that physicist 

 -and M. Clausius on the subject of the modern theory of kinetics. 



— Remarks accompanying the presentation of M. Rouvier's 

 seventeen charts of the Congo region, by M. Bouquet de la 

 Grye. These charts, prepared with the co operation of Capt. 

 Pleigneur, of the French Marines, comprise a general map of 

 the French possessions in the Congo basin, and special maps of 

 the lower course of the main stream and of its affluents on the 

 right bank. They embody the results of the first exact 

 surveys made in this extensive region over which the French 

 protectorate has recently been extended. — Observations of 

 Palisa's new planet, No. 269, made at the Observatory of 

 Algiers with the o'5o m. telescope, by MM. Rambaud and 

 Sy. The observations include the positions of the comparison- 

 stars and the apparent positions of the planet on September 23 

 and 24. — Apparent positions of Olbers's comet (Brooks's, 

 August 24, 1887), measured with the 8-inch equatorial at the 

 Observatory of Besan9on, by M. Gruey. The observations 

 cover the period from September 14 to October i. — A new solar 

 eruption, by M. E. L. Trouvelot. A description is given of a 

 protuberance of unusual size and brilliancy observed by the 

 author on June 24, 1887, at 267° on the western edge of the 

 solar disk. — Action of carbonic acid on some alkalies, by 

 M. A. Ditte. It is shown that under pressure carbonic acid 

 and aniline unite at equal equivalents, yielding a crystallized 

 carbonate below + 8°C., liquid, or at lejist in permanent super- 

 fusion, at 10° C. This carbonate, soluble in the aniline, does 

 not dissolve the carbonic acid, but dissociates when the pressure 

 is lowered. — On a new source of capric acid, bv MM. A. and P. 

 Buisine. — The tactile rays of Bathypterdis, Giinther, by M. Leon 

 Vaillant. The specialized organs of touch resulting in certain 

 fishes from a modification of the pectoral and ventral fins, are 

 shown to acquire quite an unusual degree of perfection in the 

 Bathypterdis captured during the Talisman Expedition, from 

 depths of 400 to 1000 fathoms. 



BOOKS, PAMPHLETS, and SERIALS RECEIVED. 



The Sailor's Sky Interpreter : S. R. Elson (Thacker). — Class-Book of 

 Algebra Examples, part 2 : John Cook (Madras). — Dix Annces dans L'His- 

 toire d'une Theorie : J. H. Van 't Hoff (Bazendijk, Rotterdam). — Report 

 of the Voyage of H.M.S. Challenger : Zoology, vol. xxii. (Eyre and Spottis- 

 woode). — Other Suns than Ours : R. A. Proctor (Allen). — Madras Journal 

 of Literature and Science. — Journal and Proceedings of the Royal Society 

 of New South Wales, vol. xxi. (Triibner). — Transactions of the Edinburgh 

 Geological Society, vol. v. part 3 (Maclachlan and Stewart). — Boletin de 

 la Academia Nacional de Ciencias en Cordoba (Buenos Aires). 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The EncyclopEedii Britannica 577 



The Motive Powers of the Mind 579 



Our Book Shelf :— 



Inglis : " Our New Zealand Cousins " 579 



Palgrave : " Pictorial Geography of the British Isles " 580 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



lYiQ Spectator iLnA Science. —Prof. Arthur W. Riicker, 

 F.R.S 580 



"Toeing" and "Heeling" at Golf.— T. Mellard 

 Reade ; P. G. T 580 



The Fertilization of the Coffee Plant.— T. F. Bour- 

 dillon. {Illustrated) 580 



Pearls oi Jasniinitm Sainbac. — Dr. E. Huth .... 581 



Action of River Ice. — Thos. W. Kingsmill .... 581 



Unusual Rainbow. — S. A. Hill 581 



Occurrence of Sterna a/tglica in Belfast Lough. — 



Prof. Robert O. Cunningham 582 



Modern Views of Electricity. Part II. — III. By Dr. 



Oliver J. Lodge, F.R.S. [Illustrated) 582 



Joseph Baxendell, F.R.S. By Prof. Balfour Stewart, 



F.R.S 



Notes 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



New Minor Planet 



Olbers's Comet 



Southern Double Stars 



Astronomical Phenomena for the Week 1887 



October 23-29 



Geographical Notes 



The Harveian Oration 



The British Association : — 



Section C. — Geology 



Section D. — Biology 



Section E. — Geography 



Section H. — Anthropology 



Societies and Academies 



Books, Pamphlets, and Serials Received 



