512 



NA TURE 



[September 24, 1891 



criminal belongs to a decaying race, and is only met with in 

 families whose other members show signs of degradation ; in 

 fact, instinctive criminality is bnt one of the many known signs 

 of family decay. Not only is criminality hereditary, but it is 

 interchangeable with other degenerate conditions, such as idiocy, 

 epilepsy, suicide, insanity, scrofula, &c., and it is a mere chance 

 whether the insanity or drunkenness, say, of the parent, will 

 appear as such in the child, or be transmuted in transmission to 

 one or other of the above-mentioned degenerate conditions. 

 Alcoholism is the most fruitful source of instinctive criminality, 

 but insanity, epilepsy, and suicide are often transmuted to crime 

 in passing to the children. Senility and immaturity of parents 

 are also fruitful sources of crime in the enfeebled descendants, 

 as is proved by the statistics of Marro, Korosi, and others. The 

 present system of treatment has proved a disastrous failure ; 

 short periods of punishment can have no effect upon the 

 instinctive criminal, either curative or deterrent. Everything 

 points in the direction of prolonged or indefinite confinement in 

 industrial penitentiaries. This system has been tried with 

 success in America, and life-long detention has not been found 

 by any means necessary. 



Nicobar pottery, by E. H. Man. In this paper Mr. Man 

 stated that the little island of Chowra has held for generations a 

 monopoly of the manufacture ; and the entire work of preparing 

 the clay, as well as of moulding and firing the finished utensil, 

 devolves on the females of the community. The inhabitants of 

 the island appear to guard their art jealously, and the value of 

 trade-marks is recognized. No vessels are made especially by 

 the Nicobarese for funeral purposes, but cooking pots are among 

 the personal and household requisites which are laid on a 

 grave after an interment. They have no knowledge of any 

 implement answering the purpose of a " potter's wheel." 



The following communications were also received : — E. 

 Seward, on the formation of a record of the prehistoric and 

 ancient remains of Glamorganshire ; Dr. J. S. Phene, on recent 

 Hittite discoveries ; Mrs. S. S. Allison, account of the 

 Similkameen Indians of British Columbia ; Report of the 

 Anthropometric Laboratory Committee ; Report of the Anthro- 

 pological Notes and Queries Committee ; and the Report of the 

 Indian Committee. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



Paris. 



Academy of Sciences, September 14.— M. Duchartre in the 

 chair.— Recent discussions on the subject of cyclones, by M. H. 

 Faye. — A contribution to the botanical history of the truffle — 

 Kamnii, from Damas {Terfezia Claveiyi), by M. A. Chatin. A 

 description of a new species of truffle— the white truffle of the 

 desert, known in Syria under the name KammS. It has a wide 

 range, the same species as this found near Damas having been 

 also seen in the desert 400 miles south of Biskra. It forms an 

 important article of food. — On the incandescence of platinum 

 wires under water, by M. Paquelin. A mixture of hydro- 

 carbon vapours and air is led over a specially arranged platinum 

 apparatus, which becomes heated almost to its fusion point, and 

 will then remain luminous if suddenly plunged into water. — Ob- 

 servations of the Comet Wolf, 1884 III., made by the coudS 

 equatorial (o'36 m.) of the Lyons Observatory, by M. G. Le 

 Cadet. — On the yeast of wine, by M. A. Rommier. Experi- 

 ments made on the production of wines from vines of the same 

 stock grown in different districts lead to the conclusion that the 

 ferments producing the characteristic bouquet in wines of different 

 districts, are peculiar to those districts and are not carried to new 

 districts readily by the transplantation of the vines. — On the 

 determinism of sexuality in Hydatina senta, by M. Maupas. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 

 The American Meteorological Journal for September con- 

 tains the concluding part of an article on mountain meteorology, 

 by A. L. Rotch. The subjects specially treated of are wind and 

 temperature in connection with atmospheric pressure, as observed 

 chiefly at the Blue Hill Observatory. The wind velocity is found 

 to be two-thirds greater there than at Boston, about 500 feet 

 lower, but the difference changes for various hours of the day. At 

 low levels the wind force generally increases from the early 

 morning until the afternoon, but the conditions are reversed at 

 higher levels. This fact was pointed out by Prof Hellmann 

 in 1875, when studying the Mount Washington observations, 

 and the same fact has since been observed at Ben Nevis and 

 other Observatories. The wind has also a vertical as well as a 

 horizontal motion, which has amounted to seven miles an hour 

 in a storm. The normal temperature at the summit of Blue 

 Hill is 2° lower than at the base, giving a decrease of 1° for each 

 220 feet of ascent, but inversions frequently occur, when the 

 temperature of the base is lower than at the summit. Instances 

 of this are given, together with records obtained during balloon 

 ascents. — The aspiration psychrometer and its use in balloons, 

 by Dr. R. Assmann. Such an instrument was first used by 

 Welsh in 1853, but it was not fully adapted to use in balloons. 

 The apparatus invented and described by Dr. Assmann, which 

 is intended to register the changes, which ordinary thermometers 

 do not show quickly enough, is made by Fuess, of Berlin. The 

 aspirator may be driven by a small electric motor, instead of by 

 clockwork. — The Bergen Point tornado, by W. A. Eddy. The 

 track was about nine miles south-west of New York City, on 

 June 16 last. The tornado was preceded and followed by 

 showers of large hailstones, and extended only for about two 

 miles. — The hot winds of California, by Lieutenant J. P. Finley. 

 The period during which these winds occur is from May to 

 September ; the thermometer has been known to reach 118° in 

 the shade, and the winds generally occur during entire absence 

 of clouds. — Altitude and hay fever, by Dr. W. J. Herdman. 

 Special attention is drawn to the curative influence of mountain 

 stations. 



NO. I 143, VOL. 44] 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Physical Units and Constants. By Prof. John 



Perry, F.R.S 489 



Oysters 490 



The Destruction of Mosquitoes. By A. E. S. . . . 491 

 Our Book Shelf:— 



King : " Materials for a Flora of the Malayan 



Peninsula."— W. B. H 492 



"Zoological Wall Pictures," and "Animals of the 

 World, arranged according to their Geographical 



Distribution" 492 



" Crozet's Voyage to Tasmania, New Zealand, the 

 Ladrone Islands, and the Philippines, in the Years 



1771-72" 492 



Johnston; "Livingstone and the Exploration of 



Central Africa " 492 



Letters to the Editor :— 



The National Home-Reading Union. — Dr. Alex. 



Hill 493 



Notoryctes typhlops. — Prof. Alfred Newton, F.R.S, 493 

 "W = M^."— W. Larden; A. G. G. ; Tommy 



Atkins, Senior 493 



Sleep Movements in Plants.— A. G. Tansley . . . 494 

 An Oviparous Species of Peripatus. — Prof. A. Sedg- 

 wick, F.R.S. .. • 494 



A Rare Phenomenon. — Dr. Ralph Copeland ; W. 



E. Wilson 494 



Some Notes on the Frankfort International Elec- 

 trical Exhibition. 1 494 



Some Points in the Physics of Golf. II. By Prof. 



P. G. Tait 497 



Hooker's " Icones Plantarum " 498 



On Van der Waals's Treatment of Laplace's 

 Pressure in the Virial Equation : A Letter to 



Prof. Tait. By Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S 499 



Notes 534 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Lightning Spectra 504 



A New Asteroid 504 



The International Geological Congress : Washing- 

 ton Meeting 504 



The Society of Friends of Astronomy and Cosmic 



Physics 507 



The Protective Device of an Annelid. {Illustraled.) 



By Arnold T. Watson 507 



Geography at the British Association 508 



Mechanics at the British Association 509 



Anthropology at the British Association 510 



Scientific Serials 512 



Societies and Academies 512 



