3H 



NATURE 



\Fcb. 15, 1872 



volume, now conducted by Dr. Ti-imen, assisted by Mr. J. G. 

 Baker. The original articles are as follows : — "On the Genus 

 Alhhzia, nearly allied to Acacia" by Baron Ferd. von Mueller ; 

 "The Eiysiphci o^ ■Cnft United States," by Mess-s. M. C. Cooke 

 and Peck ; a continuation of Mr. J. G. Baker's "Botany of the 

 Lizard Peninsula ;" and Lichenographical Notes, by J. A. Martin- 

 dale. Short notes, reviews, and reprints, complete tlie programme 

 of the number. 



The first article in the Qiiaiicrly Journal of Science for January 

 is by Captain S. P. Oliver, on "The Dolmen Mounds and Amor- 

 pholithic Monuments of Brittany," in which he details the his- 

 tory and analogies of these mounds, cla^sifying them into twelve 

 distinct varieties. The article is apparently not complete. Next 

 follows a short paper on " The Illumination of Beacons and 

 Buoys," detailing the most recent inventions in this direction. 

 The third article i> on " Natural and Artificial Fhght," detailing 

 M. Marey's investigations on this subject, with numerous illus- 

 trative woodcuts. A paper on "The Coal Commissioners' Re- 

 port" is simply a resiiine oi the evidence brought before the 

 Commission. Mr. Mungo Ponton, on " The Spectroscope : its 

 Imperfections and their Remedy," advocates the construction of 

 an instrument on the diffracting principle, without which the 

 writer maintains that accuracy, certainty, and uniformity of 

 results cannot be attained. The last and longest article in the 

 number is on " Modern Cannon Powder," with two steel plates. 

 A larger proportion than usual of this number is occupied by 

 notices of books, and details of the progress of the physical and 

 mechanical sciences. 



The last published part of the " Memoirs of the Natural His- 

 tory Society of Danzig" (" Schriften der Naturforschenden 

 Gesellschaft in Danzig," New Series, vol. ii., Keft 3 and 4) 

 contains but few papers of general interest, although the special 

 scientific importance of some of them is doubtless very great. 

 Thus a great part of it is occupied by a number of tables giving 

 the results of meteorological observations made in Danzig, with 

 great care and astonishing labour, by M. F. Strehlke, during the 

 years 1841-43, and by a series of tables of refraction for micro- 

 meters, by M. E. Kayser. Two other papers of almost purely 

 local interest relate to the chemical composition of the water sup- 

 plied to Danzig, and to its effects upon lead pipes. The preced- 

 ing papers occupy more than half the number before us ; the 

 remainder all relate to natural history matters. M. C. G. H. 

 Brischke continues his minor observations upon insects, the 

 greater part of his present communication relating to the enemies 

 of the rape-plant and their parasites. The dipterologist will find 

 a new species of PiiytomyM described under this head. The 

 same author contributes a list of the Rhynchota of the Province 

 of Prussia. The fourth section of M. A. Menge's Prussian 

 Spiders completes the list of zoological contributions. In it the 

 author describes the first two families of his third tribe (the 

 Tubitelre), ending with Argyroncla aqualica, as the 170th species 

 here described by him. M. A. Ohlert's " Lichenological 

 Aphorisms," the only botanical paper, contains some important 

 and interesting observations. 



The following are the most important articles in the A'iT'w 

 Sciciitifiqiic, Nos. 25 — 32. Prof. Lorain, of Paris, has an in- 

 teresting article on the report of the Committee of 1 870 on the 

 liberty of higher instruction; Mr. Herbert Spencer contributes a 

 paper on General Laws ; report of M. Quatrefage's course of 

 lectures on Anthropology at the Museum of Natural History ; 

 Helmholtz's address in memory of Pruf. Magnus at the .Academy 

 of Sciences at Berlin ; Herbert Spencer on the Classificadon of 

 the Sciences, an elaboration of h's essay "On the Genesis of 

 Science," published in 1854 ; Berthelot on the state of bodies in 

 solution ; report of Prof. Bernard's course of lectures at the 

 College of France on Experimental Medicine ; abstracts ol 

 paper read at the Indianopolis Meeting of the American Associa- 

 tion for the Advancement of Science ; translations of Lockyer's, 

 Maclear's, and Respighi's accounts of the Total Solar Eclipse, 

 together with reports of M. Janssen's observations; an article by 

 Herbert Spencer on the reasons why he dissents from the philo- 

 sophy of Comte, being a reply to a review in the Kk'ite dcs Deux 

 Mondes ; M. Verneuil on Smgical Pathology; report of the 

 committee appointed by the Society of Physicians and Surgeons 

 of the Paris Hospitals to visit the new Hotel Dieu ; M. Alglave 

 on the scientific reunions at the Assembly ; M. Hebert on the 

 "Tithonic Stage," and the new German school. There are 

 in addition a number of reports of proceedings of foreign 

 societies. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



London 

 Royal Institution, February 5.— Sir Frederick Pollock, Bart, 

 vice-president, in the chair. Messrs. Alexander Brodie, 

 John Cleghorn, Edward John Gayei", Arthur Edward Griffiths, 

 William Grogan, the Hon. Frederick H North, Messrs, Samuel 

 Wagstalif Smith, \V. Soames, Henry Virtue Tebbs, Buiney Yeo, 

 Henry Yool, were elected members. The special thanks of the 

 members were returned for the following donations to "The 

 Fund for the Promotion of Experimental Researches :" — Prof. 

 Tyndall (3rd donation) 30/., Mr. Arthur Giles Puller (5lh dona- 

 tion) 21/. The presents recifived since the last meeting were laid 

 on the table, and the thanks of the members returned for the 

 same. 



Geologists' Association. — A special general meeting was 

 held on the 2nd February, when a revised code of laws was 

 adopted. Subsequently, at the annual meeting, the report for 1871 

 was adopted, and the officers for the ensuing year elected. At 

 the ordinary meeting which followed, the Rev. J. Wiltshire, M. A. , 

 F. G. S., president, in the chair, a paper was read by the Rev. T. G. 

 Bonney, M,A., E.G. S, , tutor of .St, John's College, Cambridge, 

 "On the Chloritic marl, or Upper Grecnsand, of the'neighbourhood 

 of Cambridge." The author commenced by a brief sketch of the 

 geology of the Cam valley, and the position of the seam, barely 

 a foot in thickness, which rests upon the eroded surface of the 

 Gault, and is full of green grains and dark nodules, rich in 

 phosphate of lime. He described the matrix as a fine chalky 

 marl, full of foraminifera, and minute fragments of organisms, 

 with a consideral)Ie mixture of mud, insoluble in hydrochloric 

 acid. The composition of the green grains (commonly called 

 glauconite) was then discussed, and it was shown that they 

 differed consider.ably fi'om the typical mine-al of that name ; he 

 had not satisfied himself that any were casts of foraminifera. 

 After a few words on the phosphatic nodules, and some erratic 

 rocks in the bed, he gave a sketch of the palaeontology of the 

 deposit, calling attention to the condition of the various fossil 

 remains, and to the number and size of the plerodactyles and 

 turtles. He then gave his reasons for considering this deposit as 

 formed during the Upper Greensand epoch, but as containing 

 many fossils whrch had been derived from the Upper Gault by 

 slow denudation. The nodules he considered as mainly of 

 concretionary origin ; for they were too pure to be regarded as 

 clay saturated by phosphate. He concluded by sketching out 

 his conception of the physical geogi'aphy of the East Anglian 

 district in the Neocomian and lower part of the Cretaceous 

 epoch. — Prof. Morris, after some remarks on the value of the 

 paper, spoke of the composition of the green grains, and then 

 traced the range of the deposit, which he agreed with Mr. Bonney 

 in thinking was the formation of a vei-y long period of time. — 

 Mr. Lohley remarked upon the mineralogical and pal^eontological 

 differences existing between the Cambridge deposit and the 

 chloritic marl of Dorsetshire. — Mr. Bonney, in his reply, having 

 referred to the great scarcity of fossils in the Gault of Cam- 

 bridge, the Rev. T. WiUshire stated that the Gault of Kent was 

 n ome places devoid of organisms. 



Zoological Society, February 6,— Mr. R. Hudson, F. R.S. 

 V.P., in the chair. — A communication was read from Dr. J. S. 

 Bowerbank, F.R.S., containing the first portion of a series of 

 papers, entitled " Contributions to a general History of the 

 Spongiadas," in which descriptions were given of several species 

 ot Tethea, and oi Halispongia choanoiJes. — A communication was 

 read from Dr. John Anderson, containing notes on n young living 

 female of Rhinoceros suniatrcnsis, which had been captured in 

 Chittagong, in February 1868, and had been removed to Cal- 

 cutta on its way to England. These notes were accompatded by 

 a photograph of the animal from life. — A second communication 

 from Dr. Anderson contained notes on Manouria and Scapia, 

 two supposed genera of Land-Tortoises, which Dr. Anderson 

 showed to be identical with Tcstudo cmys of Schlegel and Midler. 

 — Mr. Sclater read a paper on Kaup's Cassowary [Casnarius 

 Kaupi)^ of which the Society's collection contained a living 

 specimen. To this was added a list of the other known species 

 of the genus Casnarius, and an account of their geographical dis- 

 tribution. — A communication was read from t)r. A. Giliitherj 

 F. R. S., on two specimens of Lizards of the genus Ilvdrosanrus^ 

 from the Philippine Islands, for one of which, being hitherto un- 

 described. Dr. Giinther proposed the na.me I/ydrosirurns nueia/is, 

 — A second communication from Dr. A. Giinther contained the 



