5H 



NATURE 



[April 2$, 1872 I 



quakes could be traced to volcanic centres. The President in- 

 quired as to the distinction to l>e drawn lietween the primary and 

 secondary effects of earthquakes, and whether the author thought 

 that no fissures were attributable to the direct action of earth- 

 quakes. As to the cause of the sound, like that of a cart 

 carrying iron bars or of an artillery waggon, he wished for further 

 information. Mr. Mallet, in reply, explained that fissures only 

 take place where masses were comparatively free in one direction. 

 They might extend to enormous depths, though they often 

 closed in rapidly. With regard to the power of .predicting 

 earthquakes, he disbelieved in it wholly, and considered that 

 any fulfilment of such prophecies must be due to accident ; 

 earthquakes are so numerous, that the chances of such fulfil- 

 ments are great. The blow or impulse originating earthquakes 

 could not be attributed solely to one cause. It arose often from 

 deep subterranean volcanic action ; but it also — especially in the 

 case of long-continued tremors, like those of Comrie or Pignerol 

 — arose from the breaking up or the grinding over each other of 

 rocky beds at a great depth, through the tangential pressures 

 produced in the earth's crust by secular cooling. The arrested 

 impulse of the fall of the Rosberg in Switzerland produced a 

 sensible earthquake. Fissures in hard rock could not be pro- 

 duced tiireclly by the shock, because the velocity of impulse in 

 such rock greatly exceeded that of the elastic wave particle. 

 The earth's crust was at present not in a state of tension, but of 

 compression, through secular cooling. 



Zoological Society, April 16.— Dr. E. Hamilton, vice- 

 president, in the chair. A letter was read from Dr. I-t. 

 Schomburgh, of the Botanic Gaidens, Adelaide, South 

 Australia, containing an account of the apparently reasonable 

 conduct of a monkey kept in the gardens. — Mr. A. H. Garrod, 

 Prosector to the Society, read a paper on the mechanism of the 

 gizzard in birds, in which he endeavoured to show that the or- 

 dinary action of this organ was that of compression, and not of 

 trituration as usually understood. — .A communication was read 

 from Dr. John Anderson, on a supposed new monkey from the 

 Sunderbunds to the east of Calcutta, allied to Maccacus rhesus. — 

 A communication was read from Mr. W. H. Hudson, containing 

 remarks on the birds of the Rio Negro of Patagonia, as observed 

 during a recent visit to that locality. To this was added an 

 appendix, by Mr. Sclater, giving a scientific account of Mr. 

 Hudson's collections. — A communication was read from Mr. R. 

 Swinhoe, containing descriptions of two new pheasants (Phn^i- 

 anus ellioti and Pucrasia dat-it-niii) and a new Garrulax {G. pidi- 

 collis) from the vicinity of Ningpo, China. — A, paper by Mr. F. 

 Moore was read containing the descriptions of a large number of 

 new species of Indian Lepidoptera. — Mr. E. W. H. Holdsworth 

 read notes on a Cetacean observed on the west coast of Ceylon, 

 remarkable for possessing a long, straight dorsal fin, and known 

 to the natives as the " Palmyra fish." — Dr. A. Giinther read a 

 paper on a collection of reptiles and amphibians made at Metang, 

 in ihe district of Sarawak, Borneo ; to which was added a 

 synopsis of the known species of these class3s hitherto recorded 

 from that island. These were stated to be altogether 153 in 

 number. — Sir Victor Brooke, Bart., gave a description of a sup- 

 posed new species of gazelle from Ugogo in Eastern Africa, 

 which he proposed to designate Gau'/la gyanti. 



Linnean Society, April 18.— Mr. G. Bentham, president, in 

 thechair. Mr. M. E. Grant-Duff, M. P., was elected a fellow. — The 

 President announced the death of Prof. v. Mohl, one of the foreign 

 members of the society. — Prof. Oliver described four new genera 

 of plants recently received at the Kew Herbarium, i. A new 

 genus of Begoniacepj, from New Grenada, of special interest, as 

 the order at present consists only of the large genus Begonia, and 

 another monotypic one from the Sandwich Isles. It resembles 

 in habit the series of Begonia with thin membranous leaves not 

 cordate at the base ; but is very aberrant from the typical genus 

 in possessing a single monophyllous perianth, and being 

 monoecious, the male flowers possessing only four stamens, which 

 are apparently didynamous, and give the plant an external re- 

 semblance to Gesneracere, the ovary, however, is that of typical 

 Begonia. Prof. Oliver gives this new genus the name Begoniella. 

 It does not appe.w to throw any light on the diflicult affinities of 

 the order. The three other genera are from Dr. Maingay's 

 collection from the Malay Peninsula. The first is a new genus 

 of Hamamelid.-e, Maingaya, in which the calyx is perfectly closed 

 in tire bud, and afterwards ruptured. The order is of interest as 

 going back at least to the Miocene period, and still existing in 

 both hemispheres. The two[other new genera belong to the order 



Olacinea;. The first, Ctenolophon, is one of the few genera of the 

 order with opposite leaves. The second, Pteleoearpa, includes 

 two species from Malacca and Borneo. — Prof. Thiselton Dyer on 1' 

 the Assam tea-plant. The Chinese tea-plant is not known in the 

 wild state. The Assam tea-plant may be its indigenous form, but 

 presents well-marked differences. — Dr. Braithwaite on Zoopsis, '" 

 Hook, and Tayl., a genus of Hepaticece. 1 



Chemical Society, April iS.— The president, Dr. Frank- '■ 

 land, F. R.S,, in the chair. — The secretary read two papers by 

 Mr. E. A. Letts, " On benzyl isocyanate and cyanurate," and 

 "On a compound of sodium and glycerine." — Prof. Hunly, of 

 Kiel, who spoke in German, gave an account of a new method 1 

 of determining the carbonic acid in sea-wa!er, and of an appara- 

 tus for collecting the water at great depths, which could be im- 

 mersed to the required distance below the surface, and then ; 

 closed by means of stop-cocks. These are turned by powerful I 

 springs released at the proper moment by an electro-magnet. — Dr. 

 E. T. Thorpe followed with notes on the action of phosphorus 

 pentasulphide on tetrachloride of carbon, and on the degree of . 

 solubility of silver chloride in strong nitric acid. — Dr. Hofmann, , 

 F. R.S., then gave a brief account of the new phosphorus bases, , 

 which he had recently obtained by the action of alcoholic iodides 

 on iodide of phosphonium on the presence of zinc oxide, and 1 

 illustrate.l his remarks by several striking experiments. 



Mathematical Society, April 11.— Prof. Cayley, F.R.S., 

 vice-president, in the chair. — Prof. Cayley gave an account of a 

 paper " On the Mechanical Description of certain Sextic Curves. " 

 — Mr. Roberts then exhibited an apparatus for the description 

 of such curves as had been alluded to by Prof. Cayley ; and 

 further drew attention to an analogous manner in which certain 

 surfaces of the fourth degree may be generated. — A discussion 

 followed upon some questions proposed in which the chairman, 

 Prof. Crofton, Messrs. Cotterill, Merrifield, Sprague, and others 

 took part. 



Photographic Society, April 9.— James Glaisher, F.R.S., 

 in the chair. A paper on Merget's Mercury-Printing Process 

 was read, and some photographs produced by its means were 

 shown. The photographic image is produced by the reduction 

 of silver, or other precious metal, salts, by mercuric vapour, 

 which has been in the first place collected upon a cliche obtained 

 in the camera. The process is not yet sufficiently elaborated to 

 be of much practical value.— A paper "On the Photographic 

 Image upon a Bichromate Film " was read by Mr. H. Baden 

 Pritch.ard, who demonstrated by a few examples the rapidity 

 with which the image, once started by light upon a carbon tissue, 

 continues to acquire vigour after the latter has been withdrawn 

 from the action of the solar rays. 



Victoria Institute, April 15.— The Rev. J. G. Wood "On 

 the Rationality of the Lower Animals." He gave various 

 instances of the instinct and rationality of different animals in- 

 habiting various portions of the globe, and dwelt principally on 

 the latter, which he considered many animals to possess, though 

 in a very limited sense. An interesting discussion followed, in 

 which Captain Petrie pointed out that had the animal creation 

 no rationality, or rather intelligence, it would be without an 

 attribute, which helped to make it more subservient to man's 

 wants. The Rev. C. A. Roe pointed out that the reasoning 

 powers of man were different from the reason possessed by 

 animals, which was exceedingly limited, and of a peculiar 

 nature. 



Manchester 



Literary and Philosophical Society, March 5.— E. W. 

 Binney, F. R.S., president, in the chair. "On Changes in the 

 Distribution of Barometric Pressure, Temperature, and Rain- 

 fall under different Wmds during a Solar Spot Period," by 

 Joseph Baxendell, F.R.A.S. — "Further Experiments on the 

 Rupture of Iron Wire," by Mr. John Ilopkinson. 



Physieal and Alalheinalical See/ion, November 7, 1871. — 

 Alfred Brothers, F.R.A.S., vice-president, in thechair. "On 

 Changes in the Distribution of Barometric Pressure, Temperature, 

 and Rainfall, under different winds, during a Solar Spot Perioii," 

 by Joseph Baxendell, F. R.A. S. 



December 5, 1S71. — Mr. Thomas Carrick in the chair. " On 

 the Distribution of Rainfall under different Winds, at St. Peters- 

 burg, during a Solar Spot Period," by Joseph Baxendell, 

 F.R.A.S. 



February 27. — E. W. Binney, F.R.S., vice-president of the 

 section, in the chair. "Results of Observations, registered at 



