January 5, 1893] 



NATURE 



239 



which, judging from the manner in which it is formed, may be 

 regarded as tetramethyldihydroxyheptamelhylene. 

 ^CH., . CHMe . CMe . OH 

 CHj< 



CH, . CHMe . CMe . OH 



— The products of the interaction of zinc chloride or sulphuric 

 aci 1 and camphor (third notice), by H. E. Armstrong and F. 

 S. Kipping. The authors have previously shown that the crude 

 product obtained on heating camphor with sulphuric acid or 

 zinc chloride contains 1:2:4 acetylorthoxylene. On oxidizing 

 the oil remaining after the separation of the latter substance, 

 o-methylglutaric acid is formed. This acid being the charac- 

 teristic oxidation product of the phorone obtained by distilling 

 calcium camphorate, it is probable that a homologue of this 

 phorone is present in the camphor product.- -The Griess-Sand- 

 meyer interactions and Gattermann's modification thereof, by 

 H. E. Armstrong and W. P. Wynne. In employing the 

 GriessSandmeyer methods for displacing the amido-group by 

 halogens, the authors find that, in very many cases, much 

 better results may be obtained by operating at relatively low 

 temperatures instead of at the boiling point. It appears also 

 that the Gattermann process affords a larger yield than the 

 Sandmeyer process, only because it is carried out at a lower 

 temperature. — Methods of observing the spectra of easily volatile 

 metals and their salts, and of separating their spectra from those 

 of the alkaline earths, by W. N. Hartley. Persistent flame 

 colourations of easily volatile metals, such as lithium, potassium, 

 rubidium, cresiun, and thallium, may be obtained by heating 

 beads of their fluosilicates, borates or silicates, on platinum 

 wires in the Bunsen flame. If the substance to be spectroscop- 

 icaily examined be converted into a borate, the spectra of the 

 alkali metals may be first observed, and on subsequently 

 passing hydrogen chloride into the flame, the spectra of the 

 alkaline earth metals may be rendered visible. — Manganese 

 borate, its constitution and properties, by W. N. Hartley and 

 H. Ramage. Mantjanese borate, after drying in vacuo over 

 sulphuric acid has the composition MnH4(B03)2. H.,0. On 

 heating at 100° it loses one molecule of water, and at a red heat 

 two molecules more of water are lost, leaving a salt of the com- 

 position Mn(B02)2- From the rate of loss of water with rise of 

 temperature the existence of a number of intermediate salts is 

 inferred. Manganese borate possesses a maximum of solubility 

 in water at 18°, and a minimum at 80°. This is probably due 

 to dehydration of the compound having the composition 

 MnHj(B03)..Il20. 



Anthropological Institute, December 13. — Edward B. 

 Tylor, President, in the chair. — Mr. Arthur J. Evans read 

 a paper on the prehistoric interments of the Bahi Rossi 

 caves near Mentone and their relation to the Neolithic cave- 

 burials of the Finalese. He described the recent discovery of 

 three skeletons in the cave of Barma Grande, and showed that 

 the character of the sepulchral rites practised, the relics found, 

 and the racial type of the human remains agreed with the earlier 

 discoveries made by M. Riviere and others in the same caves. 

 Mr. Evans, however, opposed the theories that had been put 

 forward as to the Palaeolithic date of "Mentone Man." The 

 bones of extinct Pleistocene animals and implements of the 

 Moustier and Magdalenian types found in the cave earth above 

 the interments proved nothing, for the simple reason that they 

 were interments. No remains of extinct animals had been 

 found in actual juxtaposition with the skeletons. On the other 

 hand the complete absence of pottery, of polished implements, 

 and of bones of domesticated animals in this whole group of 

 interments and the great depth at which they occurred proved 

 that the remains belonged to a very early period. Evidence 

 was here supplied of an earlier Neolithic s'age than any yet 

 authenticated. Still the remains belonged to the Later Stone 

 Age and to the days of a recent fauna. Mr. Evans compared 

 some bone ornaments found with the so-called hammer-heads of 

 the chambered barrows of Scandinavia and the decorative 

 system with that found on Neolithic p )ttery in northern Europe. 

 He further showed that interments of the same tall dolicho- 

 cephalic race in a more advanced stage of Neolithic culture were 

 to be found in the cave-burials of the Finale district further up 

 the Ligurian Coast. The physical form and the character of 

 the sepulchral rites was essentially the same. Only the skele- 

 tons were here associated with polished axes, pottery, and bones 

 of domesticated animals. The direction from which the new 

 civilizing influences had come was indicated by imported shell 



NO. I 2 10, VOL. 47] 



ornaments from the southern and eastern Mediterranean ; in the 

 Mentone caves the imported shells were <"rom the Atlantic. In 

 conclusion Mr. Evans showed that the latter Finale interments 

 exhibited forms of pottery and implements identical with those 

 of the Italian terremare of the other side of the Apennines, and 

 included ceramic shapes which seemed to be the prototypes of 

 vessels found in the early Sikel tombs of Mycemean age. The 

 Italic culture here revealed fitted on not only to that of the early 

 pile-settlements of the Po Valley and the Lake-dwellings of 

 Switzerland, but might be traced to the Danube valley, to 

 Thrace, and the Troad. Amongst other parallel forms owl- 

 like idols bearing a strong resemblance to those described by 

 Dr. Schliemann from the site of Troy had been found by Padre 

 Morelli of Genoa in one of the Finale caves. — Dr. H. Colley 

 March read a paper in which he sought to prove that the 

 peculiar features of Polynesian ornament are due to a mytho- 

 graphy which is, in the main, a symbolism of origin and descent. 

 Thus regarded, unattractive and bewildering designs are re- 

 solved into emblems of divinity and demonstrations of lineage. 

 He traced the evolution and defined the attributes of Tiki, ex- 

 plained the nature of oromatuas and the meaning of unus, 

 described the various methods of recording pedigrees, whether 

 along a male or along a female line, and illustrated the mythical 

 use of tapa and sinnet. He discussed, as modes of origin, 

 totemism, gemmation, and generation, of which Polynesian 

 examples were given, tabulated the kinship of the superior gods, 

 set forth in full the Tane cult, especially in relation to the axe 

 and the drum, and endeavoured, in conclusion, to account for 

 the development of the complicated Mangaian adze. 



Edinburgh. 

 Royal Society, Decembers- — Sir Douglas Maclagan, Presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — After an introductory address by the President,' 

 a note by Prof. Cayley, on uniform convergency of series, was 

 read. — Prof. Tait communicated a note by Prof. P. H. Schoute, 

 of Groningen, on the locus of a uniformly revolving line, which 

 always passes through a point moving uniformly round a circle, 

 and which always lies in a normal plane passing through the 

 centre of that circle. The degree of the locus is found by an 

 elegant and very simple method. — Dr. C. Hunter Stewart gave 

 notice of a paper on the further development of Kjeldahl's 

 method of organic analysis. The carbon, as well as the nitrogen, 

 present can be determined by the same analysis in the developed 

 method, and much smaller quantities than formerly of the sub- 

 stance analyzed lead to results as accurate as those previously 

 obtained. — Prof. Tait read a note on the division of space into 

 cubes. He gives a different, and more direct and short, solution 

 by quaternions than that given by him some years ago. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, December 26. — M. d'Abbadie in 

 the chair. — Thermal elevation under the influence of injections 

 of soluble microbian products, by MM. Bouchard and Charrin. 

 An elevation of temperature recalling that observed by Koch is 

 produced in a marked degree in tuberculous patients by injec- 

 tions of the toxic substances secreted by the pyocyanic bacillus. 

 — Vessels and clasmocytes of the hyaloid in the frog, by M. 

 Ranvier. — Observations of Holmes's comet (November 6, 1892) 

 made with the great equatorial of the Bordeaux Observatory, 

 by MM. G. Rayet and L. Picart, report by M. Rayet.— Obser- 

 vations of Swift's comet (1892, 1.) made with the great equatorial 

 of the Bordeaux Observatory, by MM. G. Rayet, L. Picart and 

 F. Courty, report by M. Rayet. — On the laws of dilatation of 

 fluids at constant volume; C)efficients of pressure, by M. E. 

 H. Amagat. — Observations of Holmes's comet, made with the 

 equatorial coiidc (32 cm.) of the Lyon Observatory, by AL G. 

 Le Cadet. — New experimental researches on the personal equa- 

 tion in transit observations, by M. P. Stroobant. — On conju- 

 gate systems and couples of applicable surfaces, by M. A. 

 Petot. — On infinitesimal deformation and Bianchi's associated 

 surfaces, by M. E. Cosserat. — On contiguous surfaces relative 

 to the hypergeometrical scries with two variables, by M. 

 Levavasseur. — Test for the convergence of series, by M. A. de 

 Saint-Germain. — Criterion of divisibility by any number, by M. 

 Fontes. — On the motion of a particle in the case of a resistance 

 proportional to the velocity, by M. Elliott.— General form of 

 the law of vibratory motion in an isotropic medium, by M. E. 

 Mercadier. — Employment of springs in the measurement of 

 explosive pressures. If errors due to the inertia of the moving 

 parts of the indicator are to be avoided, the amplitude of the 



