74 



NATURE 



\Nov. 23, 1871 



they possessed physiological knowledge. Doubtless those who 

 regard this study as too difficult and technical for young men, 

 will decry it also for women ; yet it so happens that for them 

 nothing is so truly interesting as this science. The examination- 

 papers of school-girls of the Ewart Institution, Newton-Stewart, 

 contain an amount of information in physiology perfectly as- 

 tonishing. Seldom have medical students given better answers. 

 And yet it has been argued that physiology was far too diffi- 

 cult and technical a subject to be studied even by the students 

 in Arts of our University. Hence women in all ranks of 

 society should have physiology taught to them. It should be 

 an essential subject in their primary, secondary, and higher 

 schools So strong are my convictions on this subject, that I 

 esteem it a special duty to lecture on physiology to women, and 

 whenever I have done so, have found them most attentive and 

 interested in the subject, possessing indeed a peculiar aptitude 

 for the study, and an instinctive feeling, whether as servants or 

 mistresses, wives or mothers, that that science contains for 

 them, more than any otlier, tlie elements of real and useful 

 knowledge. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 

 Geological Society, November 8. — Joseph Prestwich, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. Mr. Henry Hicks was elected 

 a Fellow, Dr. Franz Ritter von Hauer, of Vienna, a Foreign 

 Member ; and M. Henri Coquand, of Marseilles, a Foreign 

 Correspondent of the Society. The following communications 

 were read ; — I. A letter from the Embassy at Copenhagen, 

 transmitted by Earl Granville, mentioning that a Swedish scien- 

 tific expedition, just returned Irom the coast of GreenLand, had 

 brought home a number of masses of meteoric iron found there 

 upon the suiface of the ground. These masses varied greatly in 

 size ; the largest was said to weigh 25 tons. Mr. David Forbes, 

 having recently returned from Stockholm, where he had the 

 opportunity of examining these remarkable masses of native iron, 

 took the opportunity of stating that they had been first discovered 

 l.st year by ihe Swedish Arctic expedition, which brought back 

 several blocks of considerable size, which had been f aind on the 

 coast of Greenland. The expedition of this year, however, has 

 just succeeded in bringing back more than twenty additional 

 specimens, amongst which were two of enormous size. The 

 largest, weigliing more than 49,000 Swedish pounds, or about 21 

 tons English, with a maximum sectional area of about 42 square 

 feet, is now placed in the hall of the Royal Academy ot Stock- 

 holm ; whilst, as a compliment to Denmark, on whose territory 

 they were found, the second largest, weighing 20,000 lbs., or 

 about 9 tons, has been presented to the Museum of Copenhagen. 

 Several of these specimens have been submitted to chemical ana- 

 lysis, which proved them to contain nearly 5 per cent, of nickel, 

 with from I to 2 per cent, of carbon, and to be quite identical, 

 in chemical composition, with many aerolites of known meteoric 

 origin. When polished and etched by acids, the surface of these 

 masses of met.allic iron shows the peculiar figures or marlcings 

 usually considered characteristic ol native iron of meteoric origin. 

 The masses themselves were discovered lying loose on the shore, 

 but immediately resting upon basaltic rocks (probably of Miocene 

 age), in which they appeared to have been originally imbedded ; 

 and not only have fragments of similar iron been met with in the 

 basalt, but the basalt itself, upon being examined, is found to 

 contain minute particles of metallic iron, identical in chemical 

 composition with that of the large masses themselves, whilst some 

 of tlie masses of native iron are observed to enclose fragments of 

 the basalt. As the chemical composition and mineralogical 

 character of these masses of native iron are cjuite different from 

 those of any iron of terrestrial origin, and altogether identical 

 with those of undoubted meteoric iron, Prof. Nordensckj.jld 

 regards them as aerolites, and accounts for their occurrence in 

 the basalt by supposing that they proceeded from a shower of 

 meteorites which had fallen down and buried themselves in the 

 molten basalt during an eruption in the Miocene period Notwith- 

 standing that these masses of metallic iron were found lying on the 

 shore between the ebb and flow of tide, it has been found, upon 

 their removal to Stockholm, that they perish with extra^ rdinary 

 rapidity, breaking up rapidly and falling to a fine powder. 

 Attempts to preserve them by covering them with a coat of var- 

 nish have as yet proved unsuccessful ; and it is actually proposed 

 to preserve them from destruction by keeping them in a tank of 



alcohol. Mr. Maskelyne stated that the British Museum already 

 possessed a specimen of this native iron, and accounted for its 

 vapid destruction on exposure by the absorption of chlorine from 

 terrestrial sources, which brought about the formation of ferrous 

 chloride. This was particularly marked in the case of the great 

 Melbourne meteorite in the British Museum ; he had succeeded 

 in protecting this, as well as the Greenland specimen, by coating 

 them externally, after previously heating them gently, with a 

 varnish made of shellac dissolved in nearly absolute alcohok 

 He considered it probable that a meteoric mass falling with 

 immense velocity might so shatter itself as to cause some of its 

 fragments to enclose fragments of basalt, and even to impregnate 

 the neighbouring mass of basalt with minute particles of the 

 metallic iron ; but he considered the question of meteoric origin 

 could only be decided by examining the same mass of basalt at 

 some greater distance from the stones themselves, so as to prove 

 whether the presence of such metallic iron was actually charac- 

 teristic of the entire mass of the rock. Prof Ramsay referred to 

 the general nature of meteorites and to their mineral relationship 

 t'j the planetary bodies, and remarked that, supposing the earth 

 to have in part an elementary metallic core, eruptive igneous 

 matter might occasionally bring native iron to the surface. Mr. 

 Daintree mentioned that he had been present at the exhumation 

 of the Melbourne meteorite, and that at that time there was little 

 or no trace of any exudation of ferrous chloride, the external 

 crust on the meleorite being not above Jjinch in thickness. 

 2. " On the Geology of the Diamond-fields of South Africa." 

 By Dr. J. Shaw, of Colesberg. Communicated by Dr. Hooker, 

 F. R. S. The author described the general structure of the region 

 in which diamonds have been found. He considered that the 

 diamonds originally belonged to some metaniorphic rock, pro- 

 bably a talcose slate, which occupied the heights during a late 

 period of the "trappean upheaval," to which he ascribed the 

 origin of the chief physical features of the country. This up- 

 heaval was followed by a period of lakes, the traces of which 

 still exist in the so-called " pans " of the region ; the Vaal river 

 probably connected a chain of these lakes ; and it is in the valley 

 of the Vaal and the soil of the dried up " pans " that the diamonds 

 are found. The author referred also to the frequent disturbance 

 and removal of the diamentiferous gravels by the floods which 

 prevail in these district? after thunder-storms. 3. "On the 

 Diamond-gravels of the Vaal River, South Africa." By Mr. G. 

 W. Ston', of Queenstown, Cape Coloay. Communicated by 

 Prof. T. Rupert Jones. The author described the general geo- 

 graphical features of the country in which diamonds have been 

 found, from Mamusa on the south-west to the headwaters of the 

 Vaal and Orange Rivers. He then indicated the mode of occur- 

 rence of the diamonds in the gi'avels, gravelly clays, and boulder- 

 drifts of the Vaal Valley, near Pniel, including Hebron, Dia- 

 mondia, Cawood's Hope, Gong Gong, Klip Drift, Du Toit's Pan, 

 and other diggings. By means of sections he showed the suc- 

 cessive deepenings of the Vaal Valley and the gradual accumula- 

 tion of gravel-banks and terraces, and illustrated the enormous 

 catchment area of the river-system, with indications of the geo- 

 logical structure of the mountains at the headwaters. The 

 specimens sent by Mr. Stow, as interpreted by Prof. T. R, Jones, 

 showed that both igneous and metamorphic locks had supplied 

 the material of these gravels. The author concluded that a large 

 proportion of these materials have travelled long distances, pro- 

 bably from the Draakensberg range ; but whether the original 

 matrix of the diamonds is to be found in the distant mountains 

 or at intermediate spots in the valleys, the worn and crushed 

 condition of some of the diamonds indicates long travel, pro- 

 bably with ice-action. Polished rock-surfaces and stiiated 

 boulders, seen by Mr. Gilfillan, were quoted in corroboration of 

 this view. Mr. Woodward mentioned that Mr. Gnesbach and 

 M. Hiibner had been over the country described in these papers, 

 and had communicated a map of it to Petermann's Journal. Mr. 

 Griesbach stated that the rock described as metamorphic in the 

 paper was by M. Hiibner regarded as melaphyre, and that in 

 some parts of the Vaal Valley the beds of the Karoo formation 

 might be seen in situ. He disputed the possibility of any ot the 

 gravels being of glacial origin. He was convinced that there 

 were no metamorphic rocks on the western side of the Draakens- 

 berg ; those regarded as such probably belonged to the Karoo 

 formation. Prof. Tennant commented on the large size ot the 

 diamonds from the Cape, of which he had within the last few 

 months seen at least 10,000, many of them from 30 to 90 carats 

 each. Some broken specimens must, when perfect, have been 

 as large as the Koh-i-Noor. Mr. Tobin corroborated the infor- 



