40 



NA TURE 



\Nov. g, 1871 



Chester 

 Society of Natural Science, October 25. — President, 

 Rev. Canon Kingsley ; treasurer, Mr. Kinsman ; hon. secretary, 

 Mr. Manning. The society is divided into three sections: (i) 

 botany, (2) geology, (3) zoology ; and numbers nearly 200 mem- 

 bers. Mr. Alfred O. Walker read a paper on "Objects and 

 Organisation of Local Natural History Societies." 



Glasgow 

 Geological Society, October 19. — Mr. Edward A. Wiinsch, 

 vice-president, in the chair. The Annual Report and abstract 

 of the accounts for past year showed the society to be 

 in a flourishing condition. — Mr. James Thomson, F.G.S., 

 read a paper " On the Plagiostomous Fishes of the Coal 

 Measures," particularly Ofthacanthits Dcchenii Goldfuss. 

 He observed that Prof. Agassiz, in his " Poi-SJiis Fossiles" 

 published in 1837, described the genus Diplodus (sp. i;ibbosus 

 and minuttis] from specimens, chiefly of dissociated teeth, 

 found in the English coal-fields. Subsequently, a well-preserved 

 fish was discovered in Bohemia, and described in 1847 by Gold- 

 fuss, who named it Ortliacanthus Dcchenii. In 1848, Prof. 

 Beyrich, of Berlin, described the same fish, and named it Xeiia- 

 canthus Dcchenii, founding on the fact that the spine had a greater 

 similarity 10 Plcuyacauthus than to OithacatitJuis. At the meet- 

 ing of the British Association in Glasgow in 1855, Sir Philip 

 Egerton, from discoveries that had been ma-le in the interval, 

 pointed out that the spines of ricuracanthus and the teeth of 

 Diplodits belonged in fact to the same fish. The specimens from 

 which Sir Philip proved this to the .Association were obtained 

 from Carluke and Edinburgh. In 1867 Prof Kner went care- 

 /uUy over the remains of sucli fishes in the museums of Dresden, 

 Berlin, Breslau, and Vienna. Although none of the specimens 

 found in these museums were complete, yet in some of them he 

 found the teeth of Diplodus minutns of Agassiz in position, and 

 from the external aspect of the fossils he accepted Goldfuss's 

 generic name, Oithaccintlnis Dcchenii. The specimen which Mr. 

 Thomson now exhibited liad lieen for many years in his collec- 

 tion, and had been provisionally named Plcunuanthns minutus. 

 After a careful examination, however, of the micro--copIc struc- 

 ture both of the teeth and the sh green, he could find no relation 

 between the structure of Pleuracan'.hits and that now exhibited. 

 In the meantime he accepted Prof. Kner's identification, but 

 tliought It possible Iha; the discovery of better-preserved speci- 

 mens would show that the difference of structural character might 

 be due to difference cf sex, as he had found to be the case in the 

 recent rays' jaws of Raia clavala, both male and female, with the 

 teeth in poition, exhibited in support of this view. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, Octobtr 30 — M. P. A. Favre 

 read a continuation of his researches upon the thermal pheno- 

 mena of electrolysis, containing an account of his investigations 

 upon alkaline bases and sulphates ; M. Wurtz preheated the 

 continuation of a papfr, by M. G. Salet, on the spectra of 

 phosphorus and of the compounds of silicium ; and M. Le 

 Vcrrier communicated a note by M. Diamilla-M idler, on a 

 series of simultaneous magnetic observations which it is proposed 

 to make in various parts of the surface of the globe, on the 15th 

 of October, 1S72. This note is accompanied by a table of the 

 absolu'.e magnetic declinations calculated for the above date, at 

 a great number of places in all parts of the eastern hemisphere. 

 — iM.\I. iJumas and Chevreul and General Morin discussed the 

 right of Daguerre to be regarded as the inventor of photography, 

 and asserted ihe prior claims of Niepce de Saint-Victor. — M. 

 Faye read the conclusion of his memoir on the history and 

 present state of the theory of comets. — M. DcUunay pre en ed a 

 note by M. G. Leveau, giving the elements of the planet Hera 

 (103). — A note was read by M. Barbe, on the uses of dynamite. 

 — M. E. M. Raoult read a note on the transformation of dissolved 

 cane-sugar into glucose, under the influence of light. The 

 exposure lasted from May 12 to October 20. — M. Berthelot 

 communicated the third part of his investigations of the ammo- 

 niacal salts, in which he discussed the reciprocal actions of the 

 salts of ammonia and o! the oiher alkalies. — A note was reirt by 

 MM. A. Sclicurer-Kcstner and C. Meunier, on the composition 

 and heat of combustion of two Welsh coals (from Bwlf and 

 Powel.) — M. Daul.ree communicated a paper on the deposit m 

 which phosphate of lime has lately been discovered in the 

 departments of Tarn-et-Garonne and the Lot. — M. A. Daniour 

 presented a note on an idocrase from Arendal, in Norway, con- 



taining an analysis of the mineral, and also an analysis of a 

 garnet from Mexico. — ^L E. Blanchard communicated a note 

 by M. S. Jourdain, on the reproduction of Helix aspcrm, in 

 which the author described the arrangement of the reproduc- 

 tive organs and the mode in which their products are brought 

 together. 



BOOKS RECEIVED 



English — Tlic Letters of J. B, lukes : Edited by liis .Si=ter (Cfiajjmau 

 and Hall).— A Handbook of the IWineralogy of Cornwall and Devon ; J. H. 

 Collins (Longmans).— A Manual of Anthropology, or Science of Man: 

 C. Bray (Longmans).— Note-book of Practical and SoUd Geometric: J. H 

 Edgar (Macmillan).— Tlie Admiralty Manual of S:ientific Inquiry, 4th 

 edition: Kev. Vi Main (J. Mnrray).— Proceedings of the South Wales Insti- 

 tute of Engineers ; Vcj vii , No;. 2-4. — Insects at Home, being a popular 

 account of British Insects : Rev J. G. Wood (Longmans). 



American. — Three and Four place Tables of Logarithmic and Trigono- 

 metric Functions : J. M. Pelrce (Boston, GInn Brothers). — Seaside Studies 

 in Natural History ; Marine Animals of Massachusetts Bay, Radiates : 

 Elizabeth C. Agassiz and Alexander -Agassiz ( Boston, J. R. Osgood and Co.). 



Foreign, — (through William; and Norgate) — Lehrbuch der anorgan- 

 ischen Chemie : Dr. Th. Ph. Bu.:hner : i"= Abtheilung — Wdhler's Grundriss 

 der organischen Chemie: Dr. R. Filtig : 8>= Auflage -Die Zielpunkte der 

 physikalischen Wissensch.ift : E. Hagenbach. — Astronomische Tafeln-u. 

 Formein : Dr. C. F. W. Peters. 



London Mathi 

 Number into 

 Election of Co 



DIARY 



THURSDAY, NovEME 



8. -On the Partit 



F.R.S.— General Meeting ; 



SUNDAY, November 12. 

 Sunday Lecture Society, at 4. — Education in India : Jiraiu Row. 

 MONDAY, NoVEiiiDER 13. 



ROVAL GEOGKAPHtCAL SOCIETV, at S.^O. 



London Institution, at 4.— On Elementary Physiology (III.): Pr.f. 

 Huxley, F.R.S -Nervous Matter; its Structure and Properties: Piof. 

 Huxley, F.R.S. 



THURSDAY, November 16. 

 London Institution, at 7.30. — The Influence of Geological Phen 

 the Social Life of the People : Harry G. Seeley, F G.S. 



Roy 



i.30. 



Linnean Society, at &. — On the Floral Structure of Impatiens fulva, &c, 

 A. W. Bennett, F L S —Remarks on Dolichosuniflorus : N, A. Dalzell.- 

 Floia: Hongkongensis Supplementum : H. F. Hance, Ph. D. 



CONTENTS 



Page 



The Origin of Genera .... 



Mrss Nightingale on Lyinc-In In 



Our Book Shelf 23 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Proof of Napier's Rules.- -Prof. A. S. Herschel, F.R A.S. (HVM 



Diagrati:.) 24 



Reinar.kable Paraselene seen at Highfield House on October 25th, 



187).— E.J. Lowe, F.R.S. [With Diagram.) 24 



Structure of Lepidodendron.-Prof. W. T. Thiselton DiER. . . 25 

 Is Blue a Primary Coluur?-WiLLiAM Benson ; T. W. Backhouse 25 



A Shadow on the ^ky.— Charlotte Hall 25 



A Plane's Position.— RicHD. A. Proctor, F.R.A.S. ; Robert B. 



Ha 



Science and .A.rt Examinations.- Henry Uhlgren 



New Zealand Forest Trees.— John K.Jackson, A.LS 



The Glacial Dr.ft at Finchley.— Henry Walker 



Insects By Sir John Lubbock, Bart., M.P., 



26 



F.R.S 



Cha 



Bau 



Flame. {.With Diagr 



A New Form ok Se 

 Notes .... 

 The Geognosy of the Appalachians and the Origin of Crys- 

 talline Kocks.-II By Prof. T. Sterrv Hunt, F.R.S. ... 32 

 The Relations between Zoology and Pal.eontology. By Prof. 



Wvville Thomson, F.R. S 34 



On the Objects and Management of Provincial Museums. By 



G. Gulliver, F.R.S. • .35 



The Scottish .'CHOOL OF Geologv,—I. By Prof. A. Geikie, F.R.S. 37 



Scientific Serials . 3S 



Societies and Academies 39 



Books Received 40 



Diary 40 



NOTICE 



Wc beg leave to state that we decline to retii-n rejected conimuniea' 

 tioiis, and to this rule we can make no exccbtion. Communica- 

 tions respcctinsr Subscriptions or Advertisements must be addressed 

 to the Publishers, not to (he Editor. 



