July io, 1890J 



NATURE 



26; 



In a paper entitled " A Contribution to a Scientific Phrenology," 

 Mr. Bernard Hollander presented the result of further investiga- 

 tion's into brain-functions— the first series of which has been 

 published in the Journal of the Anthropological Institute of 

 August 1S89 — showing again a striking similarity between 

 modern experimental researches and the observations made by 

 the founders of the phrenological doctrine, (rt) The centre for 

 visual perception and ideation [first occipital convolution] — con- 

 sidered by some physiologists to be the centre for the "con- 

 centration of attention " — corresponds with the localization of 

 " concentrativeness," by Geo. Combe. {h) Mr. Herbert 

 .Spencer, who in the Zoist, vols. i. and ii., published his 

 phrenological observations, considers the area, which Dr. Gall 

 noted to be connected with visions and hallucinations, to be the 

 centre for the revivification of ideas, which in its unnatural actions 

 is accompanied by a difficulty in distinguishing revived impres- 

 sions from real perceptions. The localization is the same as Dr. 

 Ferrier's centre [12], the excitation of which causes such move- 

 ments of eyeballs and head as are "essential to the revivification 

 of ideas." {c) Excitation of the third and fourth external con- 

 volutions in jackals and cats is accompanied by retraction of the 

 ear, a sudden spring or bound forward, opening of the mouth 

 with vocalization and other signs of emotional expression, such 

 as spitting and lashing the tail as if in rage. Dr. Gall located 

 in the same area the "carnivorous instinct," termed " destruc- 

 tiveness " by his followers, and considered by Prof. Bain to be 

 merely another name for the irascible emotion. Though the 

 investigations are by no means finished, Mr. Hollander expressed 

 the hope that an examination of his two communications to the 

 Institute may induce men of science to reconsider the antiquated 

 sy>tem of phrenology, which has hitherto failed to recommend 

 itself to the scientific world. 



Geological Society, June 18.— Dr. A. Geikie, F.K.S., 

 President, in the chair. — The following communications were 

 read : — The Borrowdale plumbago, its mode of occurrence and 

 probable origin, by J. Postlethwaite. — Notes on the valley- 

 gravels about Reading, with especial reference to the Palaejlithic 

 implements found therein, by O. A. Shrubsole. The following 

 deposits containing implements are described : — A. North of 

 tlie Thames, (i.) Gravel at Toot's Farm, Caversham ; 235 feet 

 above sea-level, (ii.) Clayey gravel by side of Henley Road, 

 Caversham ; 168 feet above sea level, (iii.) Subangular gravel 

 at Shiplake ; 200 feet above sea-level. - B. South of the Thames. 

 (i.) Gravel at Elm Lodge Estate, Reading ; 197 feet above sea- 

 level, (ii.) Gravel on disturbed beds at Redlands ; 157 feet 

 above sea-level. (iii.) Comminuted flinty gravel at Southern 

 Hill ; 223 feet above sea-level, (iv.) Gravel at Sonning Hill ; 

 185 feet above sea-level, (v.) Gravel at Ruscombe, Twyford ; 

 165-170 feet above sealevel. The author concludes that the 

 highest gravels (235-280 feet above sea-level) do not, so far as is 

 known, contain any traces of man, and that a considerable 

 amount of valley-erosion occurred before the deposition of the 

 earliest gravels which have firrnished human relics. Further, he 

 considers that the deposits indicate the occurrence of a severe 

 climate at an early stage, and its recurrence at a later one, viz. 

 during the deposition of the gravels found at a height of 197 feet 

 and 144 feet respectively above the sea-level. He believes that 

 many of the implements found- in the lower levels at Reading 

 have been derived from gravels of various dates and different 

 levels, which have been swept away by denudation, and that this 

 will account for the mixed character of the types of implements. 

 After the reading of the paper, Mr. Monckton said he had noticed 

 great variability of the gravels around Reading, and would like 

 to learn whether it was possible to trace the subdivisions shown 

 in the section of the pit at Grovelands for any distance laterally. 

 Mr. Abbott could not understand from the section displayed 

 that the Groveland gravel belonged to the Thames system. The 

 author maintained that the variations could, to some extent, by 

 traced laterally. The appearance of dip towards the Kennet in 

 the section referred to by Mr. Abbott was misleading. He did 

 not expect contemporaneous and identical valley-gravels to be 

 discovered on the Oxford and Berks sides of the river in the way 

 suggested. At the point in question the levels were very 

 different. — The next meeting of the Society will be held on 

 Wednesday, November 12, 1890. 



Royal Microscopical Society, June 18. — Mr. Frank Crisp 



in the chair. — Mr. Mayall mentioned, in explanation of the 



delay in bringing forward the report of the new objective, that, 



before the Committee met officially to examine the objective, it 



NO. 1080, VOL. 42] 



j it had been agreed to support the report by the production of 

 ! photo-micrographs of the various objects used as tests. They 

 j were, however, disappointed to find that the visual and actinic 

 foci were not coincident, and at the request of Prof. Abbe the 

 objective was returned to Jena. After a lapse of several weeks, 

 Dr. Czapski replied that he had not found any trace of a 

 "chemical" focus non-coincident with the visual focus, and 

 the objective was again forwarded to London. The Committee 

 then met, and the same fractured valve of P. angulattim was 

 focussed accurately and then photographed, and it appeared 

 quite sharp in the photograph. The transit of the objective 

 from London to Jena had somehow got rid of the " chemical " 

 focus. Unfortunately, the slide had become seriously deterior- 

 ated, so that the critical tests which they intended to photograph 

 could no longer be tried. They were therefore compelled to 

 await the arrival of another slide, which Dr. Van Heurck had 

 most kindly sent, but which the Committee had not yet been 

 able to examine. — In the absence of Mr. Pring!e, the new 

 photo-micrographic apparatus recently made to his instructions 

 by Messrs. Swift and Son for the Royal Veterinary College, was 

 described by Mr. Mayall. — Mr. E. M. Nelson exhibited upon 

 the screen two photographs of the bordered pits of pine-wood. 

 He thought these pictures showed clearly that the pits were of 

 the nature of clack valves, and probably served the purpose of 

 checking the downward pressure of fluid in the vascular system. 

 He also showed some new photographs of diatoms x 1350, in- 

 cluding one erratic form, which he proposed calling Craspedo- 

 discus piinchbotvlii, from its resemblance to a punch-bowl. — Mr. 

 Mayall gave a summary of the contents of a paper, by Dr. 

 Charles E. West, of Brooklyn, on early binocular instruments. 

 — Mr. Dowdeswell's paper, entitled " A Contribution to the 

 Study of Yeast: Part I., Baker's Yeast," was read. Culture- 

 tubes, containing specimens illustrative of the subject, were 

 handed round for inspection. — Mr. C. D. Sherborn read some 

 portions of a paper which had been prepared by himself, con- 

 jointly with Mr. H. W. Burrows and the Rev. G. Bailey, on 

 the Foraminifera of the Red Chalk of Norfolk, Lincolnshire, 

 and Yorkshire. 



Paris. 

 Academy of Sciences, June 30. — M. Hermite in the chair. 

 — On the partial eclipse of the sun of June 17, by M. J. Janssen 

 (see Our Astronomical Column). — On an attempt at oyster- 

 culture carried on in the fish-pond of the Roscoff Laboratory, 

 I by M. de Lacaze-Duthiers. — On the photographic spectrum of 

 Sirius, by Dr. Huggins. A new group of the ultra-violet 

 series of lines is described, extending from A. 3199 to A 3338. — 

 On the application to great falls, in canals, of locks with oscillating, 

 liquid columns, and on a method of utilizing the automatic oscil- 

 lating tube without its being blocked when the fall is considerably 

 increased, by M. A. de Caligny. — On the residual charge of 

 condensers, ty M. E. Bouty. The author describes some ex- 

 periments made with mica condensers. Among the results 

 obtained are : (i) That a charge absorbed between the times 

 e and e + ^ by a condenser which does not leak is identical 

 with the residual charge liberated between fl and fl -I- ^ by the 

 same condenser charged during a very long time. (2) This 

 residual or absorbed charge is proportional to the electromotive 

 force of the charging battery. — Researches on the application of 

 the coefficient of optical rotation to determine the nature of the 

 compounds which are produced by the action of malic acid on 

 neutral tungstates of soda and potash, by M. D. Gemez. 

 I The experiments show : (i) That, both with salts of soda and 

 potash, a regular increase of negative rotation occurs with 

 I solutions of increasing strength until a maximum of - 7° 7' is 

 reached, when equal equivalents of the two bodies are used.^ 

 (2) A diminution of the rotation with change of sign ami 

 a positive maximum of -}- 2° 42' for one equivalent of acid to 

 two equivalents of the salt. (3) A diminution of the rotation 

 with change of sign and a negative maximum of - 2''*i 

 when the solution contains one equivalent of acid to three 

 equivalents of the salt. — On the action of titanium chloride on 

 metals, by M. Lucien Levy. — On the decomposition of rocks 

 and the formation of arable land, by M. A. Muntz. — The 

 author has found nitrifying micro-organisms universally distri- 

 buted, even occurring on the bare rocks of mountain peaks, and 

 attributes to them a considerable share in the work of breaking 

 down rock-masses into soil. — On the development of the blasto- 

 derm in the isopodous Crustacea {Porcellio scaler, Latr.), by 

 M. Louis Roule.— Crystallographic and optical properties of 

 pyroxene obtained by means of superheated water, by M. A, 



