176 



NATURE 



\Dec. 28, 1871 



laws of Ireland. It was simply a rudimentary scoring of num- 

 bers, such as had taken place amongst all nations in the earliest 

 s'ages of civilisation. There was no substantial reason for at- 

 tributing to the Irish, who, even at the time of Giraldus Cam- 

 briensis, had scarcely emerged from barbarism, the formationof an 

 alphabet, and the attempts to decipher the inscriptions by at- 

 tributing to them an alphabetic character were si nply absurd. 

 Dr. Ferguson, Q.C., said he was sure that if Mr. Westropp 

 knew anything of the circumstances in which these inscriptions 

 were found he would not have put forward such a theory. One 

 of the very examples to which he referred in his paper proved 

 the inaccuracy of his statement that these stones had not been 

 found in connection with gravel. It was quite evident that in 

 his illustrations he had worked from very imperfect copies, for 

 his illustrations misrepresented the inscriptions. This was a 

 case of a wild theory started without a fact being adduced in 

 support of it. 



Koyal Geological and Zoological Societies of 

 Ireland. — A joint meeting of tliese societies was held on Wed- 

 nesday, the 13th of December, 1871, William Ogilhy, M.A., 

 F.G.S., in the chair. W. H. Baily, F.T, S., read some addi- 

 tional notes on the .Fossil Flora of Ireland. The author first 

 described a new fossil plant from shale in the carboniferous 

 limestone of Whitestone Quarry, near Wexford, under the name 

 of Filicites pIiimifoiDtis. He then gave the results of his exami- 

 nation of the collections made from upper Old Red sandstone 

 strata at Kiltorcan, Co. Kilkenny, which collections had 

 excited considerable attention among the Continental and Ame- 

 rican botanists, and brought forward some strong facts to prove 

 that the Irish palaeontologists had not misled Prof. Heer, as stated 

 by Mr. Carruthers at a recent meeting of the London Geological 

 Society. — I'rof. Traquair read some notes on the genus Phaiicro- 

 plntron. 



VlENN.i 



I. R. Geological Institution, November 21. — The Director, 

 Fr. Ritt. v. Hauer, read the anniversary report on the progress 

 made by the Institute. The surveyors were occupied in the 

 course of the last year on two diflerent regions ; the military 

 frontier, where the geological maps of the country between Brod 

 in .Slavonia, and the shore of the Adriatic were finished, and 

 Tyrol, where parts of the crystalline central mountain region 

 and of the northern limestone ranges were surveyed. At the 

 request of private proprietors, the members of the Institute were 

 occupied besides wilh particuUr inquiries as to the nature and 

 extent of coal-seams, strata and veins of ores and other 

 useful minerals in almost all parts of the empire, and a very 

 accurate examination of the rocks which are to be perforated 

 by the Arlberg Tunnel, between Tyrol and Varalberg, was made 

 by M. H. Wolf. In the museum of the Institute the larger 

 collections of minerals from the different mining districts of the 

 empire were completely re-arranged, and a magnificent collection 

 of fossil Mammalia, from the tertiary brown coal of Eibiswald in 

 Styria, was exposed under glass. More than forty different persons 

 have contributed by donations to the increase of the various col- 

 lections. In the Chemical Laboratory more than looanalysesand 

 assays have been performed for about fifty parties. Anew arrange- 

 ment of the library was finished in the course of the year ; with 

 the end of 1870 it numbered 6,500 different works, with about 

 16,500 volumes ; in the first ten months of 1871 the increase 

 amounted to more than 12,000 volumes. The collection of Maps 

 (besides those which were made by the Institute itself) consisted, 

 at the end of 1870, of 2,850 sheets, and has since increased by 

 nearly 300 sheets. The publications of the Institute were en- 

 larged by a new periodical, the " Mineralogischen Mittheilungen," 

 which is edited by Dr. G. Tschermak, the director of the Im- 

 perial Mineralogical Museum ; they appear separately as well as 

 in the form of a supplement to the "Jahrbuch." The publica- 

 tion of the memoirs (" Abhandlungen") of the Institute, which 

 had been interrupted, was also recommenced this year by the 

 publication of two memoirs : one by Dr. Neumayer, " On the 

 Cephalopods of the Jurassic Beds of Balin, near Krakaw ;" the 

 other by Dr. Bunzel, "On the Vertebr.ita of the Cretaceous 

 Formation of Griinbach in Austria." Of the general geological 

 map of Austria, ediied by Fr. v. Hauer, appeared sheet No 3 

 (the northern Carpat'iians), and the printing in colours of sheet 

 No. 7 (the Hungarian plain) was finished. Dr. Neumayer noticed 

 the discovery of ihesi't i.rmation in the valley of Hall in Tyrol, 

 at a point far below the -a It mines now being worked. Here 

 the mining work would meet with considerably less difficulty. 



arising from the great height of the 'old mine (5,000 feet above 

 the level of the sea) the access to which in winter time is 

 always dangerous, often even impossible. — M. Charl. v. Hauer 

 read a note on a very successful biv>rin;j for coal in the tertiary 

 basin near Fohnsdorf in Styria. On the northern edge of this 

 basin, many years since, a large seam of coal ha 1 been worked. 

 The bore-hole had been opened in the midst of the basin, 300 

 fathoms from the nearest point of the mine. At the depth of 155 

 fathoms the coal was reached in two seams, having together a 

 thickness of 5^ fathoms. This discovery is of great impor- 

 tance for the industry of Upper Styria. — Dr. E. Tietze ' On the 

 Eocene Formation south of Glina, in Croatia." It consists of 

 three members ; the lowest a fresh- water depo-it, w th Planorbis, 

 and traces of coal ; the middle, green sandstones alternating with 

 marly beds, probably identical wall the so-called Albarese or 

 Galestro of the Appennine mountains ; and the upper, formed of 

 slaty sandstones with fucoids. 



DIARY 



THURSDAY, December 28. 

 t 3. — On Ice. Water, Vapour, : 



:id Air, 



ROVAL Institut 

 Jofin Tyndall, F.R.S. 



London Institution, at 4. — The Philosopliy of IMagic 

 theTlieatre: J. C. Brougfi, F.C.S. 



SATURDAY, December 30. 



Royal Institution, at 3,— On Ice, W.iter, Vapour, : 

 Prof. John Tyndall, F.R.S. 



MONDAY, January i. 



Anthropological Institute, at 8. — On the Hereditary Tj; 



Endowments: George Harris. — The Adamites: C. Staniland Wake. 

 TUESDAY, January*. 



Zoological Society, at 9. 



Society of Biblical Archeology, at 8.30 — Hebrseo .^Egyptiaca ; or, 

 Hebrew and Egyptian Analogies : M. Francois Chabas. — Some Observa- 

 tions upon the Inscription of Daly (Idalion) : S. Birch, F.S. A. 



lYEDNESDAY, January 3. 

 lliCROScopiCAL Society, atS.— Fossiliof the C^al Measures; W. C.irru- 

 thers, F.R.S.— Fermentation and its results : James Bell. 



THURSDAY, January 4. 

 London Institution, at 4. — The Philosophy of Jflagic. 3. The Magic of 

 the Mediums : J. C. Brough, F.C.S. 



CONTENTS Page 



Technical Education in House Construction 157 



Sutton's Volumetric Analysis 150 



Morelet's Travels in Central America 159 



Our Book Shelf 160 



Letters to the Editor: — 



Dr. Carpenter and Dr. Mayer.— Dr. W. B Carpenter, F.R.S. . 161 

 The "North British Review" and the Origin of Species — X. 



S. Davis i6t 



Prof. Tait on Geological Time.— P. W. Stuart Menteath . . 162 



In Re Fungi 162 



A Shadow on the Sky 162 



Coal Measures of Ireland.— G. Henry KiNAHAN, F.G.S. ... 162 



Recent Changes in Circumpolar Lands. — Henry H. Ho\vORTH . 162 

 The English Governaient Eclipse Expedition. By Commander 



J. P. Maclear, R N 163 



Arctic Explorations. (;F/M C/Mrj') By Dr. J. Rae.F.R.G.S. . . 165 

 The Typhoon of jnd September, iSzr. (IVitk Cliart.) By 



Frank Armstrong 166 



Notes . 169 



Numeric Relations of the Vertebr.\te System. By Dr. T. C. 



Hilgard 171 



Siemens' Dynamo-Electric Light 172 



Physics: Note on the Spectram of the Aurora. By G. F. Barker. . 172 



Scientific Serials 173 



Societies and Academies 174 



Diary 176 



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