602 



NATURE 



[October 22, 1891 



South America by the Strasburg University some ten years 

 ago, and spent some two years making a most thorough research 

 in the geology of the continent, the tangible result being the 

 remarkably complete map exhibited. His researches in South 

 America prove that there is a most remarkable similarity between 

 the geology of the two Americas, and especially between the geo- 

 logy of the southern United States and the southern continent. 



The second paper was by Dr. August Rothpletz, of the Uni- 

 versity of Munich, Germany, on the Permian, Triassic, and 

 Jurassic formations in the East Indian Archipelago. The 

 doctor's paper was devoted to the description of sone Mesozoic 

 and Palreozoic fossils c dlected in two of the Indian islands by 

 his friend Dr. Wichmann, during a geological exploration of 

 the islands. Dr. Wichmann being geologist of the University 

 of Utrecht, Holland, the collection-; were of particular value, 

 and Dr. Rothpletz's description and classification of them, to 

 which he devoted his pape/, was thorough and minute. He 

 took occasion to ridicule some of the classifications of fossils 

 which put them in one category when found in one place and in 

 another when found somewhere else. 



" Thermometamorphism in Igneous Rocks" was the title of 

 the next paper presented. It was by Mr. Alfred Harker, of St. 

 John's College, Cambridge, England, and dealt with the effects 

 of high volcanic temperatures in the formation of rocks. He 

 described the results of his researches in the lake region of 

 England, where the volcanic forces of nature were particularly 

 well marked. 



Prof. Alexis Pavlow of the University of Moscow, Russia, 

 presented a paper entitled " Sur les Couches Marines terminant 

 le Jurassique et commen9ant le Cretace, et sur I'Histoire de 

 leur Faune." 



Another paper, also in French, presented by Prof. Max 

 Lohest, of .the University of Liege, Belgium, was enthled 

 "Sur I'Homme ccntemporain du Mammouth en Belgique." 

 The contemporaneous existence of man was supported by proofs 

 additional to those heretofore given. 



Baron Gerald de Geer, of Sweden, gave an interesting 

 :account of recent changes of level along the sea-board of the 

 Scandinavian peninsula. 



The most important new matter presented was a paper on 

 *'Foss;l Fishes of the Lower Silurian Rocks of Colorado," by 

 Mr. C. D. Walcott, of the United States Geological Survey. 

 The discovery of the fossil fish remains is of recent date, and 

 attracts great attention among zoologists and geologists from its 

 ■carrying back into the past, over a great time interval, our 

 knowledge of vertebrate life. They are the oldest vertebrate 

 remains known, and appear to be the ancestral types of the 

 great ichthyic fauna of the classic ' ' old red sandstone " of 

 Europe, and the Devonian group of America. 



In the discussion, Profs. Von Zittel, Jaekel, and F, Schmidt 

 compared the fish remains exhibited with those of the Devonian, 

 and stated that the Upper Silurian types were not represented 

 in the fauna. 



Second Day. — From the committee appointed to draft ap- 

 propriate resolutions relative to the death of Dr. Alexander 

 Winchell, the President of the Society, Prof. Orton made a 

 'report which was adopted. The resolutions reported paid a just 

 and touching tribute to the character of the deceased, and 

 fittingly acknowledged the great services which he had rendered 

 to the science in the course of the forty years of arduous and 

 unremitting toil which he had devoted to its investigation. To 

 his writings and lectures were attributed in a great degree the 

 growing liberality and enlargement of thought of the more 

 serious-minded portion of the community in regard to the theory 

 -of organic evolution as presented by Darwin and his successors. 

 Dr. Winchell, the report afiirmed, stated and defended with 

 marked ability and courage and pe-suasive power this the most 

 characteristic and far-reaching doctrine of modern geological 

 science. "The first enunciation of this doctrine," the report 

 stated, "was sure to awaken distrust and even bitter ho tility 

 among a large class of people because of its apparent in- 

 compatibility with Fome of their most fundamental convictions 

 and beliefs. To disregard the sincere apprehension of this 

 great class, comprising, as it doe>, so much of the moral and 

 intellectual force of the body politic, would be heartless. To 

 mock at its fears, ill foun'led though they were, would be worse. 

 What worthier service to science and the community than to 

 ■disarm hostility by showing that the evolutionary philosophy, so 

 far from degrading and dishonouring man, makes him in a 

 peculiar sense the head and crown of the creation?" 



NO. I 147, VOL. 44] 



In seconding the resolutions Dr, C. A. White paid a warm 

 tribute to Dr. Winchell, with whom he had been on terms of 

 intimacy for many years. As a further mark of respect the 

 resolutions were adopted by a rising vote. 



The first paper presented was by Dr. Frederick Schmidt, of 

 St. Petersburg, Russia. 



Prof. Gregoire Stefanescu, of the University of Bucharest, 

 Roumania, presented " Sur I'Existence du Dinotherium en 

 Roumanie," the next paper. The Professor read it in French, 

 illustrating it by drawings on the blackboard, and after he had 

 finished, Prof. Dr. Charles Barrois read it over again in English, 

 so that those who did not know French might not lose it. 

 Though quite short the paper was very interesting. It briefly 

 described a large number of bones of the Dinotherium found 

 widely distributed over Roumania, which indisputably pointed 

 to the existence of this almost unknown extinct animal in that 

 land countless years ago. This was probably the largest mammal 

 that ever inhabited the earth, its epoch being the Tertiary period. 

 It had enormous tusks, that curved downward and backward in 

 such a way that it could only hurt itself with them, and probably 

 had a massive trunk. In character it more nearly resembled the 

 elephant and rhinoceros of modern ages than any other known 

 animal. 



Prof. A. N. Krassnof, of the Charkow University, Russia, 

 read the next paper on the black earth of the steppes of Southern 

 Russia, its origin, distribution, and points of resemblance with 

 the soils of the prairies of America. The paper traced the 

 resemblance between the Russian steppes and the American 

 prairies to their similar origin in the layers of the vegetables 

 of years. Their remarkable fertility was touched on generally, 

 and a technical account of the origin of the two plains was 

 given. 



TECHNICAL CHEMISTRY. 



TN his Cantor Lectures on Photographic Chemistry, delivcel 

 last spring before the Society of Arts, and juat issued by the 

 Society in a separate form. Prof. Meldola opens with some 

 remarks on the special position of technical training in chemistry, 

 which should be carefully conisdered in connection with the 

 present widespread movement in the direction of technical 

 education throughout the country. He says : — 



"There are many who identify technical instruction with the 

 teaching of some handicraft, a notion which has no doubt arisen 

 from the identification of technical skill with manual dexterity 

 in some mechanical industry. By the adoption, either tacitly or 

 openly, of this narrow definition, the chemical industries have 

 suffered to a very large extent in this country, because their 

 progress is r^ore dependent on a knowledge of scientific prin- 

 ciples, and much less dependent on manual dexterity than any 

 of the other subjects dealt with in schemes of technical instruction. 

 Now, in order to give technical instruction in a subject like photo- 

 graphy, which is so intimately connected with chemistry, we may 

 adopt one of two courses. The student may become a practical 

 photographer in the first place, and may then be led on to the 

 science of his practice by an appeal to the purely chemical 

 principles brought into operation. This may be called the 

 analytical method. The other method is to give the student a 

 training in general chemistry first, and then to specialize his 

 knowledge in the direction of photography. This may be 

 regarded as a synthetical method. 



" In other departments of technology, and especially in those 

 where the underlying principles are of a mechanical nature, the 

 analytical method may be, and has been, adopted with success. 

 It is possible to lead an intelligent mechanic from his every-day 

 occupations to a knowledge of the higher principles of me- 

 chanical science by making use of his experience of phenomena 

 which are constantly coming under his notice. From this it is 

 sometimes argued by those who are in the habit of regarding 

 technical instruction fiOm its purely analytical side, that tech- 

 nical chemistry can be tau^^ht by the same method. Some 

 teachers may possibly succeed in this process, but my own 

 experience, both as a technologist and a teacher, has led me to 

 the conclusion that, for cheiiucal subjects, the analytical method 

 is both too cumbersome and circuitous to be of any real practical 

 use. No person engaged in chemical industry in any capacity 

 — whether workman, foreman, manager, or proprietor — can be 

 . taught the principles of chemical science out of his own 

 J industry, unless he has some considerable knowledge of 



