240 



NA TURE 



[January 4, 



I coo 



lation in solar light which has traversed leaves, by M. 

 Ed. Griffon. The pas<;age of light through a single leaf 

 causes a notable weakening in the activity of those rays which 

 are required for the chlorophyllian assimilation. The results 

 vary much with the conditions of temperature and lighting. — 

 On a bacterial zooglea of definite form, by M. Radais.— On the 

 elements of limited symmetry, by M. Walleront. — Observations 

 on the structure of the diluvium of the Seine, by M. Stanislas 

 Meunier. — On a new hypothesis on the nature of the physical 

 conditions of smell, by MM. Vaschide and Van Melle. The 

 authors combat the view that the sense of smell is due to the 

 emission of particles from the substance, and suggest that the 

 effect is produced by rays of short wave-length, analogous, but 

 not similar to, light rays, Rontgen rays, &c. They adduce len 

 arguments in favour of their hypothesis. — On a cranial campylo- 

 gram, by MM. Blin and Simon. A description of an instru- 

 nient for measuring the curves of the cranium in the living. — 

 Barometric movements caused on the meridian of the sun by its 

 movement in declination, by M. A. Foincare. 



Cape Town. 

 South African Philosophical Society, November 29, 

 1899 — Mr. L. Peringney, President, in the chair. — The 

 President recorded the deciphering, by Mr. Donald Ferguson, 

 of an old stone which has been in the South African Museum 

 since 1855. The stone was known to the late Dr. Atherstone 

 and Mr. C. A. Fairbridge as the Mossel Bay stone. It is a 

 rudely cubical block of sandstone with a cut inscription on one 

 surface, which, however, has been broken across. On the 

 fractured surface, at right angles to the inscribed face, there 

 is a peculiarly shaped cross. Mr. Sclater sent an impres- 

 sion (if the inscription to Mr. Ferguson, who translated it 

 as follows:- "Here was lost the ship Sao Gonzalo in the 

 year 1630. They made [built] two boats . . . ?" An account 

 of the fleet of which the Sao Gonzalo formed a part is given 

 in an old MS. in the British Museum, a transcript and trans- 

 lation of this being sent by Mr. Ferguson. The wreck occurred 

 at Bahia Fermoza, now Plettenberg Bay, and the stone had 

 originally marked the spot. Some of the present inhabitants of 

 Plettenberg Bay remember a stone having been sent to Cape 

 Town, and it is most probably this so-called Mossel Bay stone. 

 — Dr. Gilchrist read a paper on, and showed a specimen of, a 

 new Aplysia. The new species {Paraplysia Lowii), found at 

 East London, is the third known one of the group of the 

 Tcctibranchiata, characterised chiefly by the peculiar position of 

 the rhinophora. It differs from the other two species, 

 P. piperata (Smith) and P. monhoti (Gilchrist) in several 

 features which have been supposed to be characteristic of the 

 genus Paraplysia proposed by Pilsbury. — Messrs. Rogers and 

 Schwaiz gave an account of the " Orange River Ground 

 Moiaine" in the neighbourhood of Prieska. Sections near 

 Prieska show an ancient morainic conglomerate passing under- 

 neath the so-called Kimberley shales, and lying unconformably 

 on the older Jasper rocks, quartzites and granite. The con- 

 glomerate contains numerous striated boulders, and the under- 

 lying rock often presents a rounded, scratched surface, which 

 frequently forms distinct roches inoitlonnees. The ice pas.sed 

 from north to south. The authors could not say certainly what 

 the exact relation of this conglomerate to the Dwyka con- 

 glomerate is, but are of opinion that it partially at least repre- 

 sents the land-formed ground moraine of the ancient glacier 

 whose water-borne detritus has elsewhere formed the Dwyka 

 conglomerate. The paper was illustrated by photographs and 

 specimens of the striated boulders and floor. — An account of the 

 earthquake of September 15, 1899, presented by the secretary, 

 was taken as read. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



THURSDAY, }anvary j^. 

 Royal Institution, at 3 —Fluids in Motion and at Rest : C. V. Bovs 



F.R.S. 

 R'iNi'GEN Society, 

 Williani.s. 



FRIDAY, January 5. 

 f;Eoi.OGiSTs' Association, at 8.— Our Older Raised Beaches: Address 

 by Sir Arch-bald Geikie, F.R.S. — A New Rhaetic Section at Bristol : W 

 H. Wickes 



SATURDAY^ January 6. 

 RovAL Institution, at 3. — Fluids in Motion and at Rest: C. V Boys, 



-The Interpretation of Skiagrams : Chisholm 



F.R S. 



NO. 



575, VOL. 61] 



MONDAY, January 8. 

 Society of Chemical Industry, at 8. — Colour Photography: J. W, 

 Hinchley. — Cinchona: J. M. Vargas Vergara.— Microscopic Character 

 of Vicunna, Camel-hair, and Alpaca : R. M. Prideaux. 



TUESDAY, January 9. 



Royal Institution, at 3. — Fluids in Motion and at Rest: C. V. Boys, 

 F.R.S. 



Institution of Civil Enginkers, at 8. — The Purification of Water after 

 its Use in Manufactories : Reginald A. Tatton. — Experiments on the 

 Purification of Waste Water from Factories : W. O. E. Meade-King. 



'Vimthropological Institute, at 8.30. — The Oak and the Thunder 

 God : H. M. Chadwick. —Notes on some Caves in the Zitzikamraa, or 

 Outeniqua District, near Knysna, South Africa, and the Objects found 

 therein : Dr. H. D. R. Kingston. — Notes on Skeletons found in the 

 Zitzikamma and Knysna Caves : F. C. Shrubsall. 



WEDNESDAY, January io. 



Geological Society, at 8. — On a Particular Form of Surface, the Results 



of Glacial and Subaerial Erosion, seen on Loch Lochy and elsewhere: 



Dr. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S.— On the Geology of Northern Anglesey, 



Part II. : C. A. Matley.— The Formation of Dendrites : A. O. Watkins. 



THURSDAY, January ii. 



Mathematicai Society, ai 8.— a I icbUn in Pffcr?rce, illustrative of 

 the Mechanical Theory of Selective Absorption : Prof. Lamb, F.R.S. 



Institution of Electrical Engineers, at 8. — Report of the Institu- 

 tion's Visit to Switzerland. The Report will be taken as read, and the 

 discussion will be opened by Mr. Crompton by a Comparison between 

 British and Continental Practice in Electrical Engineering. 



.^i?/Z)^r, January 12 

 UoyalAstronomical Society, at S. 



Institution of CivilEngineers, at 8'.— The Theory of Structures and 

 Strength of Materials : Prof. T. Claxton Fidler. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



Physiology z'^j/j-zM Natural Selection: an Unnatural 



Antithesis. By E. B. P 217 



The Growth of Animal and Vegetable Organisms . 218 

 A Book on Mountains. By Prof. T. G. Bonney, 



F.R.S 219 



Our Book Shelf:— 



Schuyten : " Beginselen der Scheikunde " 220 



' Student's Edition of a Standard Dictionary of the 



English Language" ; "The Standard Intermediate 



School Dictionary of the English Language" . . 



Thoinot and Masselin : " Outlines of Bacteriology " . 



Wiillner : " L-hrbuch der Experimental Physik."— 



A. W. P. 



" Proceedings of the Eleventh Annual Meeting of 

 the Association of Economic Entomologists." — 



W. F. K. . . 



Baker: "Elementary Dynamics" 



Corbin and Stewart : " Handbook of Physics and 



Chemistry " 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Contemporary Meteor-Showers of the Leonid and 

 Bielid Meteor- Periods. {lUustraled.)—'9xoi. A. S. 



Herschel, F.R S. 



The Royal Society Catalogue and Psychology.— Prof. 



J. Mark Baldwin . . 



The Stockholm F'isheries Conference and British 



Fishery Investigations. — E. J. Allen .... 



Dr. W. Kobelt and the Mediterranean Fauna. — 



Prof. Henry H. Giglioli ; The Reviewer . . 



The Eclipse Expedition at Viziadurg. I. (Jlhis- 



traled.) By Sir Norman Lockyer, K.C.B., F.R.S. 



Notes {[litis traled.) 



Our Astronomical Column: — 



Holmes' Comet (1899 II.) 



Orbit of Eros . . 



The Solar Parallax 



Prizes proposed by the Paiis Academy of Sciences 



for 1900 . 



Geology of Jamaica By H. B. W 



University and Educational Intelligence 



Scientific Serial 



Societies and Academies 



Diary of bocieties 



220 



221 



221 

 221 



222 

 226 

 227 

 227 



229 



233 



236 

 236 

 236 



237 

 237 

 238 

 238 

 238 

 240 



