Nov. 30, 1 87 1 J 



NA TURE 



93 



down to the rowing seat, enable the Aleutian in his one holed 

 baidiirka to bid defiance to the fiercest stotm and roughest sea. 

 Unlike their neighbours, the Kamlschadales, vho, in their 

 aversion to come in contact with a corpse, throw their dead to 

 their dogs to be devoured and removed from sight, tlie Aleutians 

 devote much t'me and care to the preservation of the body after 

 death. This they do so effectually tliat Ihey can keep the corpse 

 in their dwellings for more than a fortnight without causing in- 

 jury or annoyance to the living, while long after death ti.e 

 features and e.xternal appearance of the deceased remain un- 

 changed. Dr. Erman supplies us with many valuable addi- 

 tions to our knowledge of the social habits, taste for 

 ornamentation, traditional lore, language, &c., of the Aleutians. 

 In counting the Aleutian employs 20 as his highest 

 numeral, making all larger quantities dependent upon that 

 number; thus, 40, 60, &c., are respectively 2, 3, tVc, twenties. 

 — In the second paper of the Zcitsihrifl, Dr. Robert Hartroann 

 continues his careful summary of the remains of Swiss 

 Lacustrine dwellings, passing in review the principal mammals 

 represented in the deposits, and entering fully into the often- 

 discussed i|uestion whether the diluvial Cave bear ( i 'rsiis sfclitiis), 

 is identical in species with our common bear {L\ aictos) or whether 

 and to what extent it differs from it. Dr. Hartmann seems dis- 

 posed in this inquiry to regard the question of identity as pos- 

 sessing strong claims to probability, although there may not be 

 sufficient ground at present to answer it affirmatively — "The 

 Kirvana and Buddhistic Morality " forms the title of a very com- 

 prehensive piaper by A. Bastian, which treats very fully of the 

 principles on which the faith of Buddha is based, the ideas under- 

 lying the various forms which it has assumed, and the special 

 phases of human thoughts and feelings to which it more par- 

 ticularly addresses itself. — In a paper by G. Rohlfs, entitled 

 " Henry Noel, of Bagermi," the writer gives an account of the 

 kingdom of Bagermi, which is situated on the N. E. of Lake Tsad, 

 in Central Africa. The Bagermi people are a pure Ethiopian 

 race, who, in point of moral and intellectual capacity, may be 

 said to form the link between the most highly-developed negro 

 kingdoms, and the numerous small negro states, lying to the S. 

 of them, of which we do not even know the names. The King 

 and Court of Bagermi, after a temporary adhesion to Islamism, 

 have relapsed into their old Fetish worship, in which trees appear 

 to form the principal objects of adoration. The practice of 

 taking sisters and daughters in marriage prevails in the reigning 

 family ; but, while the rich indulge extensively in polygamy, poor 

 men take only one wife. — Dr. Behrriauer, of Dresden, gives a 

 resume of an official paper by the Assistant-Resident, HerrJ. 

 Riedel, of Batavia, en the geographical, topographical, and 

 geological character of the districts of Holontalo, Limceto, Bone, 

 Boalemo, and Kattingola or Andagile in the Celebean Isthmus 

 of the Eastern Archipelago. To this is appended much useful 

 information in regard to the statistical, historical, and social con- 

 dition of these countries, from which, however, we are not 

 led to form a favourable opinion of the character, either 

 cf the Aborigines or of the Chinese and other foreign settlers. 

 There are different grades of nobility, and till lately slavery and 

 the slave-trade were allowed. Opium is undermining the health 

 and vigour of the upper classes, and the poor are si;nk in misery 

 in the midst of an abundant vegetation, and with numerous 

 sources of wealth around them ; the mountains and riverbeds 

 being rich in minerals. On the barks of the river Lcnceo lumps 

 of gold have from time to time been found as large as a hen's 

 egi;. — The last paper in this number of the Zcitsc/nijt that we 

 can notice is cne by Herr Neumayer en the intellectual and 

 n:oral qualities of the native Australians. 



The Amcruan Journal of Scifjicc anil Arts for' October. 

 The first paper in this number is "On the Connecticut River 

 Valley Glacier, and other examples of Glacier Movement along 

 the Valleys of New England," by James D. Dana. In former 

 papers by the author he has pointed out the existence of a Con- 

 necticut valley glacier in the glac:.al era, under.standing by this 

 expression that the under part of the great continental glacier, 

 lying in the Connecticut valley, moved in the same direction. In 

 the present paper the evidence with regard to this movement is 

 gone into more fully, and further evidence is given to show that 

 other large valleys of Central ard Western New England had, in 

 the s.ime serse, their ■valley glaciers, that is the valleys deter- 

 mined the direction cf the ice that lay within them. — Mr. R. 

 Pumpelly follows with a second contribution "On the Para- 

 genesis and Derivation of Copper and its Associates on Lake 

 Superior." He gives a number of observations as to the minerals 



occurring with copper in various mines. In many of the cases 

 in which calcite crystals are found enclosing copper, it is difficult 

 to distinguish as to the relative ages of the two. The author 

 has, however, conclusive proof that each of the following cases 

 occur: — (i) that the copper was present before the calcite be- 

 gan to form and became enclosed in the growing crystal ; (2) the 

 crystal of calcite was partly formed, then became incrusted with 

 copper, and was finished by a new gr.iwth of calcite over the metal- 

 lic film ; and (3) the copper has entered the ca'cite crystal since 

 its growth was finished. — A v.aluable paper follows, " On photo- 

 graphing Histological Preparations by Sunlight," by J. J. Wood- 

 ward. The arrangement which is found most suitab'e is to place 

 the microscope at the window of the dark room, the body being 

 horizontal, the achromatic condenser is then illuminated by a 

 solar pencil, which is reflected from a heliostat on to a movable 

 mirror. Between this mirror and the achromatic condenser there 

 is placed a 2-inch lens of ten inches focal length, at such a 

 distance that the solar rays are brought to a focus, and begin 

 again to diverge before they reach the achromatic condenser. 

 When a photograph is to be taken, a cell containing ammonia- 

 sulphate of copper is placed between the lens and condenser, 

 working with a power of 500 diameters ; the time of exposure 

 was but a fraction of a second. By allowing the solar rays to 

 crme to a focus before reaching the achromatic condenser, the 

 heat rays may be separated from the light rays by so adjusting 

 ihe'condenser as to bring the light rays to a focus, while the 

 heat-r.ays, after passing the second lens, became parallel, or 

 even divergent according to the position of the achromatic 

 condenser. The author finds that a right-angled prism may be 

 used instead of the heliostat, 'and in working with low powers 

 a piece of plain unsilvered plate-glass is sufficient instead of the 

 mirror. — The concluding original paper in this number is "On 

 the Discovery of a New Planet," by Dr. Peters, which will 

 probably receive the number 116 of the asteroid group. The 

 elements of the 114th asteroid have been computed, and are 

 giver, which show that this planet is not so small as was sup- 

 posed. It is found to be now in the remotepart of its orbit, 

 near its aphelion. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 



Royal Society, November 16. — General Sir Edward 

 Sabine, K.C.B., president, in the chair. 



"Contributions to the History of the Opium Alkaloids. -- 

 Part HI." By C. R. A. Wright, D.Sc. 



"On a Periodic Change of the Elements of the Force of Terres- 

 trial Magnetism discovered by Prof. Hornstein." 



" Corrections and Additions to the Memoir on the Theory of 

 Reciprocal Surfaces, Phih Trans, vol. clix. (iS6q)." By Prof. 

 Cayley, F.R.S. 



"Corrections to the Computed Lengths of Waves of Light 

 published in the Philosophical Transactions of the year 1868." 

 By George B. Airy, C.B., Astronomer Royal. The author, after 

 adverting to the process by which in a former paper he had 

 attempted the computation of the lengths of waves of light, for 

 the entire series measured in the solar spectrum by Kirchhoff, 

 from a limited number of measured wave-lengths, and to thedis- 

 cordanccs between the results of these computations and the 

 actual measure of numerous wave-lengths to which he subse- 

 quently had access, calls attention to his remark that means 

 existed for giving accuracy to the whole. The object of the 

 pre.'ent paper is so to use these means as to produce a table of 

 corrections applicable through the entire range of Kirchhofl"s 

 lines, End actually to apply the corrections to those computed 

 wave-lengths which relate to spectral lines produced by the 

 atmosphere and by many metals. Adopting as foundation 

 the com] ariscns with Angsticim's and Ditscheiner's measures 

 given in the former paper, and laying these down graphi- 

 cally, the author rcmaiks that in some piarts of the spec- 

 trum the agreement of the two experimenters is very close, 

 that in seme parts they are irreconcilable, and that in one part 

 (where they agree) there is a peculiarity which leads to the sup- 

 position that some important change w.as made in Kirchhoff's 

 adjustments. He then explains the considerations on which he 

 has drawn a correction-curve, whose ordinates are to give the 

 corrections applicable to his former computed numbers. A 



