156 



NA rURE 



[Dec. 2 1, 1871 



English was not a mere invasion of one race by another, but as 

 complete a dispossession as could possibly be imagined. The 

 j5cu lon^if'i^jis lingers in Wales, afier having once occupied tNe 

 whole country, just as its Celtic owners still linger, while the urus 

 is an invader just in the same sense as their English possessors. 

 The Bos !on!;if ons is of a sock foreign to Europe, and the urus 

 W.1S most pre ba'ily domesticated in some other region by those Neo- 

 lithic people. Both these animals have probably been derived from 

 an ;:rca to the south p.nd east of Europe, and were introduced by 

 tlie Neolidiic herdsman an! farmers at a very remote period. 



Dur.LiM 

 Royal Dublin Society, November 20. — Prof. R. Ball, M. A., 

 in tire chair. Mr. Maurice Cole exhibited and explained a working 

 model of an improved seed sowing machine. — Prof. Edward Hull, 

 F. R S., read some notes of a recent visit to Vesuvius. — Dr Emer- 

 son Reynolds exhibited a new apparatus for gas analysis, and Mr. 

 A. G. More exhibited some specimens of well-stuffed birds 

 from the museum of the Society. 



Royal Irish Academy, November 30. — Rev. J. H. Jellett, presi- 

 dent, in the chair. The Secretary read a paper by M. Donovan on 

 Earl Stanhope's alleged imperfections of the tuning fork ; al-o 

 for Dr. Whitley Stokes a paper on a fraijnrent of Cormac's 

 glossary. — Mr. G. H. Kinahan read a paper on and exhibited 

 sketches of what appeared to him a new type of Clochan, 

 observed in the county of Mayo, South of Louisburgh. The 

 structure was composed of large fligs inc ining inwards to form 

 sloping sides and roof, the very apex of which was covered by 

 horizontal flags. He also exhibited a sketch of a form of cross 

 observed in the same neighbourhood, and which was unlike any- 

 thing he had ever seen. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, December 11. — M. J. Boussinesq 

 read a paper on a remirkable property of the points where the 

 lines of greatest slope of a surface have their oscuUtory planes 

 vertical, and on the difference which generally exis's at the 

 surface of the earth between the lines of the ridge or the thalweg, 

 and those along which the slope of the soil is a minimum — M. 

 Becquerel presented a third memoir on the discoloiation of 

 flowers by electricity, and on the cause of the phenomenon, in 

 which he shows that electricity acts in this cise by destroying 

 the envelopes of the cells containing the coloured materials. 

 Heat produces the same effect. The author remarked upon 

 some general applications of these facts. — A paper on the diffu- 

 sion and deleterious influence of mercurial vapours, by M. Merget, 

 was read. The author disputed the conclusions of Faraday, 

 founding his opposition upon experiments and observations which 

 show that the vaporisation of mercury is a continuous pheno- 

 menon not even interrupted by the solidification of the melal, 

 and that the vapours emitted by it are capable of great diffusion, 

 nearly in accordance with the dynamic tlreory of gases. M. 

 Dumas called attention to some observations on this subjecl 

 by M. Boussingault. — M. C. A. Valson presented a note on 

 the part played by space in the phenomena of solution, in 

 which he discussed ttie contraction produced by the solution 

 of various salts in water. — A note on different acoustic pheno- 

 mena observed during balloon-ascents, by M. W. de Fonvielle, 

 was read. The author remarked upon the fact that certain 

 acute but very feeble sounds are often heard in balloon 

 ascents, and accounts for the phenomenon by the reverbera- 

 tion of the balloon itself. — M. Serret presented a note by 

 M. de Tastes on a new propeller, consisting of a plate or fan 

 worked in the manner of the tail of a fish or whale. M. A. 

 Barthelemv presented a memoir on the vibrations communicated 

 to mercury and liquids in general, in which he described and 

 figured the curious effects produced by these vibrations in vessels 

 of various fjrms. — M. Delaunay read a note on the cold of the 

 9th December, conaining some interesting observations on the 

 range of this extreme cold over the Continent of Europe ; and 

 M. C. Sainte-Claire Deville presented a second note on the pre- 

 cocity of the cold in the present year. — M. P. P. Deherain pre- 

 sented a memoir on the intervention of the nitr igen of the 

 atmosphere in vegetation, in which he demonstrated by experi- 

 ment the absiorption of the atmospheric nitrogen by decomposing 

 organic matters, and suggested that by this means nitrogen may 

 be absorbed by the soil. — M. Wurtz presented a note by MM. C. 

 Friedel and R. D. Sylva, on the action of chlorine upon chloride 

 of isopropyl ; and a note by M. E. Grimaux on derivatives of 

 chloride of tollylene.— A note was read by M. Dubrunfaut on 

 the combustibility of carbon, in which he maintains that carbon 



is combustible only in gases containing water ; and another by M. 

 F. Jean on the quantitative determination of glucose, recom- 

 mending a process depending on the precipitation of metallic 

 silver by pro ochloride of copper, prepared from the protoxide 

 precipitated by glucose. — The deposits of phosphate of lime in 

 France formed the sabject of three papers, namely, a note on 

 the composition of that recently worked in the Departments of 

 Tarn-et-Garonne and of the Lot, by M. A. Bobiere ; an 

 account of the deposits of Saint-Antonin and Caylux, in 

 the former department, by M. Trutat ; and a short note 

 on the organic origin of the deposits in the Quercy, 

 by M. MalinoAxaki. M. Trutat described the structure of the 

 deposits, and noticed the remains of certain mammalia found in 

 them. — M. Daubree communicated a note by M. P. Fischer on 

 the existence of Lower Tertiary strata in Madagascir. These 

 beds, belonging apparently to the great Nummuhtic formation, 

 occur on the west and south-west coast of the island. No 

 nummulites have been found in them. — M. E. Blanchard pre- 

 sented a note by M. A. Milne-Edwards on the structure of the 

 placenta in the Tamandua. The author describes this placenta 

 as differing in various respects from those of other Edenta'a, and 

 remarked that the diversity in the fcetal envelopes of those 

 mammals w^ould lead to the supposition that either the characters 

 derived from them are not so important among the Edentata as 

 in otiier groups, or the forms united in the Edentata are less 

 nearly related than is generally supposed. He is inclined to the 

 latter opinion. — M. Duchartre communicated a note by M. J. de 

 Seynes on Pcnici/liuin bicolor, Fr. ; and M. Robin presented a 

 note by M. Rabuteau on the physiological properties of various 

 chlorides. 



BOOKS RECEIVED 



English. — Nature; or, ttie Poetry of Earih and Sea: From the French 

 of Madame Michelet ; f. Nelson and Son;,).— The Mount.iin : From the 

 French of J. Michelet (T. Nelson and Sons).— Keautitul Birds in Far-off 

 Lands : M. and E. Kirby (F. Nelson and Sons).— Text Books of .Science ; 

 Theory of Heat : J. Clerk Maxwell (Longmans). — A Manual of Zoology : 

 H. A. Nicholson ; 2nd ed tcon (Black*ood).— Comparative Metaphysics : 

 Part 11. : S. H. Hennell (Irubner). 



Foreign. — (Through Williams and Norgate.)— Handbuclt der verglei- 

 chenden Anatomic ; E. O. Schmidt. — Mineralogische Mittheilnngen, Jahrg. 

 L, He t I : G, TschermaV. 



DIARY 



THURSDAY, December 21. 

 Royal Society, at S.30. — Contributions to the History of Orcin. No. H. 



Chlorine and Bromine Substitution Compounds of the Orcins : Note on 



Fuedsol: Dr. Stenhou^e, F.R S.— On seme recent Discoveries in SoLir 



Physics ; and on a Law regulating the Duration of the Sunspot Period ; 



W. De La Rue, F.K.S., B. Stewart, F.R.S , and B. Loewy. 

 LiNNEAN SociETV, at 8. — On the Anatomy of the American King-Crab 



(Limulus folypnaniis, Latr.) : Prof, Owen, F.R S. 

 Chemical Society, at 8. 

 London Institution, at 4. -The Philosophy of J^Iagic. i. The Magic of 



Modern Conjurers : J. C. Brough, F.CS. 



FRIDAY, December 22. 

 QtiRicETT Microscopical Cll'B, at S. 



THURSDAY, December 2S. 

 Royal Institution, at 3.— On Ice. Water, Vapour, and Air. No. I. Prof. 



John Tyndall, F.R.S. 

 London Lnstitution, at 4. — The Philosophy of Magic. 2. The Magic of 



the Theatre : J. C. Brough, F.CS. 



CONTENTS Page 



The Copley Medalist of 1S70. By Prof. J, Tyndall, F.R.S. . 137 



The Brown Institution 13S 



Foreign Year-Books 140 



Our Book Shelf 141 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Proof of Napier's Rules {lVil>i Z>/,r»->v!w). -Prof. A. S. Hekschel 141 



Alternationof Generations in Fungi. — M. C. CoOKE 142 



In Re Fungi 142 



Mr. Lowne and Darwinian Difficulties.— Prof. L. S. Beale, F.R S. 142 



The Auditory Nerves of Gasteropoda. — E. R. Lankester . . . 143 



Dr. Carpenter AND Dr. Mayer. By Prof. J. Tyndall, F.R.S. . 143 



The Geology of Oxford. {IVith Iliitstraiiofts.) 145 



Parthenogenesis among the Lepidoptera 149 



Results of Sanitary Improvement in Calcutta 150 



Notes 15^ 



The Monocotyledon the Universal Type of Seeds. By Thomas 



Meehan 153 



Scientific Serials 153 



Societies and Academies 154 



Books Received 156 



Diary 156 



, line 36 from top, for " or Di 



