June 5, 1890] 



NATURE 



M; 



contemporary with it. The electrical change may therefore so 

 far as concerns the time at which it occurs in muscle, be im- 

 mediately connected with that sudden change of the elastic 

 properties of muscle of which the contraction is the sign. 



The author exhibited at the Society photographs in proof of 

 all the facts above stated. Further details, particularly those 

 relating to the character of the "electrical response" to in- 

 stantaneous stimulation, for which the photographic method of 

 recording the movements of the capillary electrometer on a 

 rapidly moving surface has afforded new facilities, will be the 

 subject of a later communication. 



Anthropological Institute, May 13.— Dr. J. G. Garson, 

 Vice-President, in the chair.— Mr. Francis Galton exhibited a 

 nevy instrument for measuring the rate of movement of the 

 various limbs. The method adopted was explained by referring 

 to the action of a spring measuring-tape. When the end of one 

 of these is pulled out and then let go, it springs sharply back, 

 the tape running cleanly through a slit. If it runs back more 

 quickly than the hand could follow it, then, if the end of the 

 tape be retained in the hand that gives the blow, the tape 

 w'ill run through the slit at the exact rate at which the blow is 

 given. The hand need not be near the tape ; it may be con- 

 nected with it by a long thread, and the instrument will thus be 

 guarded from injury. The thread, during part of its course, is 

 arranged to travel vertically, and passes through a small inverted 

 cone which is fixed to it ; it then passes loosely through a 

 cylindrical bead of white ivory, the lower end of which rests 

 on the base of the cone. When the moving thread is suddenly 

 arrested, the bead is tossed up to a height dependent on the 

 velocity of the thread at the time and place when it was stopped. 

 The momentary pause of the white bead when it ceases to 

 ascend, and before it begins to descend, enables the height it 

 has attained to be read off upon an appropriate scale, which 

 tells at how many feet per second the thread was moving at the 

 time it was checked.— Dr. G. W, Leitner read a paper on the 

 ethnographical basis of language, with special reference to the 

 customs and language of Hunza. The Hunzas are nominal 

 Mohammedans, and they use their mosques for drinking and 

 dancing assemblies. There is little restriction in the relation 

 of the sexes, and the management of the State, in theory, is 

 attributed to fairies. No war is undertaken unless the fairy 

 gives the command by beating the sacred drum. The people 

 are not true Mohammedans, but represent what is still left of 

 the doctrine of the Sheik-ul-JabI, or the Ancient of the 

 Mountain, the head of the so-called Assassins. The language 

 of the Hunzas is one of the most primitive, and has not yet 

 emerged from the state in which it is impo.ssible to have such 

 a word as "head," as distinguished from "my head," or "thy 

 head, or "his head;" for instance, ak is "my name," and jk 

 is "his name." Take away the pronominal sign, and k alone 

 is left, which means nothing. Aus is "my wife," and giis 

 "thy wife." The s alone has no meaning, and in some cases 

 it seemed impossible to arrive at putting anything down cor- 

 rectly ; but so it is in the initial stage of a language. In the 

 Hunza language that stage is important to us as members of the 

 Aryan group, as the dissociation of the pronoun, verb, adverb, 

 and conjunction from the act or substance only occurs when the 

 language emerges beyond the stage when the groping, as it 

 were, of the human child between the meum and tuum, the 

 first and second persons, approaches the clear perception of the 

 outer world, the suum, the third person.— Mr. A. P. Goodwin 

 read some notes on the natives of the interior of New Guinea, 

 and exhibited a fire-stick.— Mr. G. F. Lawrence exhibited two 

 crania from the Thames. 



Geological Society, May 21.— Dr. A. Geikie, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — The following communications were 

 read :— On some Devonian and Silurian Ostracoda from North 

 America, France, and the Bosphorus, by Prof. T. Rupert Jones, 

 F.R.S. After the reading of this paper Dr. Hinde said he 

 wished to express the obligations of geologists to Prof. Jones 

 for the excellent work which he had done amongst the Entomo- 

 straca ; and particularly on the present occasion, for the clear 

 manner in which he had explained the wide distribution of some 

 of the species. The President alluded to the long years of 

 arduous labour which Prof. Jones had bestowed on these minute 

 fo.-:sils, and to the interesting results he had obtained from them. 

 — On the age, composition, and structure of the plateau-gravels 

 of East Berkshire and West Surrey, by the Rev. Dr. A. Irving. 



NO. 1075, VOL. 42] 



—Further note on the existence of Triassic rocks in the Englisl* 

 Channel off the coast of Cornwall, by R. N. Worth.- On a new 

 species of Coccodus {C. Lhidstromi, Davis), by J. W. Davis. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, May 27.— M. Hermite in the chair. 

 —Note on the works of M. Louis Soret, by M. A. Cornu.— 

 On the recent work done in Algeria, by M. J. Janssen (see Our 

 Astronomical Column).— On meteorological observations made 

 at mountain stations in Europe and the United States, by M. H. 

 Faye. The author discusses some observations of temperature 

 at various altitudes during cyclones and anticyclones, and the 

 conclusions arrived at by M. Hann at Vienna, and Prof. Hazen 

 in the United States, with respect to the variations found.— On 

 the Turonian flora of Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhone), by M. 

 A. F. Marion. — On the automatic resolution and integration of 

 equations, by M. H. Parenty. An extract of a memoir pre- 

 sented by the author is given.— On the nutation of the 

 axis of the earth, by M. Folic.— On the theory of heat, by M. 

 Appell.— On the elliptical double refraction of quartz, by M. F. 

 Beaulard.— On the conductivities of compounds of ammonia and 

 aniline with the oxybenzoic acids, by M. Daniel Berthelot. One 

 circumstance worthy of attention is that, in spite of the difference 

 of conductivities of the three oxybenzoic acids, the conductivity 

 of the mixture of equivalent parts of each acid and am- 

 monia is almost the same for the three isomerides as for benzoic 

 acid. The author has previously called attention to a similar 

 fact in the case of salts of sodium. It is also noted that 

 the conductivities of ammonium salts are superior to those of 

 the corresponding salts of sodium. — Experiments on magnetiza- 

 tion by single and double touch, by M. C. Decharme.— 

 Researches on the dispersion of organic compounds (alcohols of 

 the fatty series), by MM. Ph. Barbier and L. Roux. The 

 authors show— (i) In the alcohols of the fatty series that they 

 have examined, the dispersive powers are continuous functions- 

 of the molecular weights, and, contrary to what occurs in the 

 aromatic series, the dispersive fevers increase zvith increase 

 of ^ mohcular weight. (2) The long-chain isomeric alcohols, 

 primary and secondary, have sensibly the same dicpersive power 

 and obey the same laws ; but the primary alcohols studied, other 

 than normal, possess less dispersive powers, without, however, 

 departing far from the values shown by long-chain alcohols. 

 (3) The abstraction of hydrogen is accompanied by a consi- 

 derable increase in the dispersive power.— M. Ed. Grimaux 

 discusses the formula and reactions of homofluorescem. — On 

 the employment of artificial sea- water for the preservation 

 of marine animals, particularly oysters, in great aquaria, by 

 M. Edmond Perrier. The solution recommended contains 8i' 

 grams sodium chloride, 7 grams magnesium sulphate, 10 grams 

 magnesium chloride, and 2 grams potassium chloride, dissolved 

 in 3 or 4 litres of water. — Observations on submarine vision, 

 made in the Mediterranean by means of a diving apparatus, by 

 M. H. Fol. — Two new hermaphrodite Pelecypodes, by M. Paul 

 Pelseneer. — On the chemical examination of mineral waters, 

 from Malaysia ; the formation of tin ore, note by M. Stanislas 

 Meunier. An incrustation from the hot spring of Azer-Panas 

 possesses the following composition: SiOg, 91 "8; HoO, 75; 

 SnOs) 0'5 ; Fe^Og, 0-2 ; and traces of alumina. This is the 

 first instance of the present formation of a tin-ore. — Observa- 

 tions on the structure of some ferruginous deposits of the 

 Secondary rocks, by M. Bourgeat. — Discovery of a Turonian 

 flora in the neighbourhood of Martigues (Bouches-du-Rhone), by 

 M. G. Vasseur. — On the employment of copper salts as a remedy 

 for the potato-disease, by M. Aime Girard. The author demon- 

 strates that a solution of sulphate of copper used as a preventive 

 of the disease is very efficacious, and results in a gain in the 

 quantity of the crop such as more than pays for the expens* 

 of treatment. Even when used purely as a curative agent, the 

 yield of healthy potatoes is increased by 20*2 to 22 9 per cent. 



Berlin. 

 Meteorological Society, May 5.— Prof. Schwalbe, President^ 

 in the chair. — Dr. Kiewel spoke on the diurnal periodicity of 

 the wind with special reference to Dr. Sprung's theory of the 

 rotation of its direction. It appeared from his investigation that 

 in addition to the influence of the sun's radiation, the variations 

 of barometric pressure also produce a distinct effect, as also docs 

 the difference in the rate of the wind in the upper and lower 

 layers of the atmosphere. A discussion followed, in which Dr^ 



