April 2% 1872J 



NATURE 



515 



Eccles, on the Direction and Range of the Wind for 1S69, as 

 made by an Automatic Anemometer for Pressure and Direction," 

 by Thomas Mackereth, F.R.A.S.— "On Black Bulb Solar 

 Radiation Thermometers exposed in various Media," by G. V. 

 Vernon, F.R.A.S.— Note " On the Relative Velocities of diffe- 

 rent Winds, at Southport, and Eccles, near Manchester," by 

 Joseph Baxendell, F.R.A.S. 



Cambridge 



Philosophical Society, March 11. — Mr. E. H. Morgan, of 

 Jesus College, and Mr. J. W. Cartmell, of Christ's College, 

 were elected fellows. The following communications were 

 read : — (i) By Mr. Hiern, "A monograph of the Ebfuacea:.'" 

 This elaborate paper will shortly appear in the Society's Trans- 

 actions. (2) By Dr. Bacon, "The influence of human genera- 

 tions on the production of insanity." The author brought for- 

 ward statistics to prove that insanity was proportionate to poverty 

 — the greatest number of insane persons being found in the 

 poorest districts. Hence he considered that ameliorating the 

 condition of the people was of the first importance in the attack 

 on this disease. (3) By Mr. J. W. L. Glaisher, " Supplement 

 to a table of Bemouilli's numbers. " 



Edinburgh 



Royal Society, March '18. — Sir Robert Christison, Bart., 

 president, in the chair. — "On the Extraction of a Square Root 

 of a Matrix of the Third Order," by Prof. Cayley. — "Second 

 Note on the Strain- Function," by Prof. Tait. — "Note on the 

 Rate of Cooling at High Temperatures," by Prof. Tait. — "Notice 

 of a Whinstone Boulder with Artificial Markings and Grooves 

 on it," by Mr. D. Milne Home, LL.D. — "Notice of the 

 Fruiting of the Ipecacuan Plant in the Edinburgh Royal Botanic 

 Garden," by Prof Balfour. 



Royal Physical Society, March 27. — Mr. C. W. Peach, 

 president, in the chair. Note on the occurrence of the Hoopoe 

 \Upiipa Epops) at Freugh, Stoneykirk, Wigtownshire, by Rev. 

 George Wdson. The specimen, a male in perfect plumage, was 

 shot by Mr. Cunningham on March Il5. — Notice of a species of 

 Mason Ant on the Isle of May, by James M'Bain, M.D. Dr. 

 M'Bain visited the Isle of May on Feb. 16, and obtained speci- 

 mens of the ants, with eggs, larvae, and attendant aphides. The 

 ants since then had been kept in glass vessels, and one of the 

 artificial Formicarias was exhibited to the Royal Physical Society. 

 There appeared to be two species of ants in the colonies, one of 

 which corresponded with the specific characters of the yellow 

 ant, Formica Jlava, and, being in doubt as to the specific name 

 of the brown ant, specimens of each were sent to the rBritish 

 Museum. Mr. F. Smith, a distinguished authority on the Hymen- 

 optera, stated that "there are two species and two genera in 

 the quill — one is Formiia Jlava, the other is Myrmka riigiinn/cs. 

 The Formica is at once known by its single lamina, node (or 

 scale) between thorax and abdomen ; the Myrmica has two nodes, 

 and also a sting. These ants commonly occupy opposite sides of 

 the same hillock." — "On the Vegetable and Animal Life found 

 in Natural Waters," by Dr. Stevenson Macadam. — Notes of a 

 Tour in Auvergne, with an exposition of some of the most 

 illustrative minerals of Central France ; and remarks on the 

 nidification of some species of the family MytiUdiT, by Mr. D. 

 Grieve. — Analysis of "The Albert Limestone," Balmoral, by 

 Mr. J. Falconer King. — Prof Walley exhibited a curious ex- 

 ample of malformation in a newly-born calf The upper part of 

 the skull was undeveloped, it had no apparent forelegs, only 

 rudimentary and imperfect hindlegs, a rudimentary tail, and was 

 otherwise imperfectly developed. 



Glasgow 

 Geological Society, March 21.— Mr. James Thomson, 

 vice-president, in the chair. — " Some Recently-exposed Sections 

 in the Paisley Clay-beds, and their Relation to the Glacial 

 Period," by the Rev. William Eraser, of Paisley, These clays 

 presented the following general order : — (i) Underlying all was 

 the old boulder clay or till, the conditions of which were alto- 

 gether unfavourable to life. It represented a cold, bleak, and in 

 part tumultuary period. (2.) Immediately above this was a lami- 

 nated clay, whose texture was in every way distinct from the 

 preceding. It was generally shell-less and stoneless and beauti- 

 fully laminated, the structure being at times so regular as to re- 

 semble the edge of a closed book, and specimens kept for a year 

 or two have shown a texture and taken a polish like jasper. (3.) 



Above the laminated clay, which was useful in brickmaking, 

 there occurs a thick bed in which shells of arctic and boreal 

 types are found — TcUiiia froxima, Pauopira twrzcgiiii, Paten 

 islaih/i, IIS, Cypiiua ialaiuliia, and others too numerous to 

 specify. Geologists loved the layer for its shells, which 

 the brick-field proprietors regarded with an intense dislike. 

 (4.) Next in order is the clay chiefly used in brickmaking. In 

 it the glacial shells are not to be found ; the last which dis- 

 appears is the Cyprina islandica. But in these clays, indeed in 

 all above the laminated clay, small and large stones, up to 

 boulders of several tons in weight, are abundant. In some in- 

 stances they bear longitudinal scratches, but they are deposited 

 so irrcgulaily that their lines lie in every direction ; showing that 

 while the origin of the lines or strix was to be ascribed to the 

 period and the processes of the boulder clay, the transport and 

 distribution of the materials was connected with subsequent 

 movements and the melting of floating masses of ice. At the 

 close of the formation of this clay, and on its surface, appeared 

 patches of a well-known shell, Mylilus eJulis, the common 

 mussel. (5,) Closing the series is a covering of varying thick- 

 ness, and composed of various materials. There sometimes 

 appeared near the surface a coarsely laminated clay, which had 

 occasionally been mistaken by observers for the more finely 

 laminated clay to be found at the commencement of the series. 

 A long period, however, must have intervened between the two, 

 and he suggested a careful scrutiny as to the facts connected with 

 these two distinct clays. 



Dublin 



Royal Geological Society of Ireland, February 14. — 

 Francis M. Jennings, F.C. S., in the chair. The honorary secre- 

 tary. Dr. Alexander Macalister, read the annual report of the 

 council. The following officers for the ensuing year were 

 then elected by ballot : — President — Dr. Alex. Macalister. Vice- 

 presidents — Earl of Enniskillen, Colonel Meadows Taylor, J. 

 Emerson Reynolds, Rev. H. Lloyd, F.R.S., and Sir Richard 

 Griffith, Bart. Treasurers — William Andrews and Dr. Samuel 

 Downing. Secretaries — Rev. S, Haughton, F. R. S., and Edward 

 Hull, F.R.S. Council -Sir Robert Kane, F.R.S., Alphonse 

 Gages, B. B. Stoney, W. Frazer, Dr. Alex. Carte, W. H. S. 

 Wgstropp, C. R. C. Tichborne, F, C.S., Rev. Maxwell Close, 

 Francis M. Jennings, F.C.S., Dr. Ramsay H. Traquair, Dr. 

 J. Barker, J. Ball Greene, W. H. Baily, F.G.S., W. Ogilby, 

 F.G.S., and R. A. Gray.— Prof Hull, Director of the Geo- 

 logical Survey of Ireland, read a paper on a remarkable 

 fault in the New Red sandstone of Whiston, Cheshire. 

 The position of this fault is marked on the geological survey 

 maps of Lancashire {one inch map 80 N.W.) as forming the 

 boundary between the little isolated tract of coal measures, one 

 mile west of Rainhill Station and the New Red sandstone. The 

 fault ranges in a nearly meridional direction, and on the west the 

 upper coal measures, with spirorbis limestone (first discovered by 

 Mr. Binney, F.R.S.), are brought to the surface, and on the east 

 the upper mottled sandstone of the Bunter division of the Trias. 

 The Corporation of St. Helen's, in order to increase the water 

 supply of the borough, commenced sinking a well, on Mr. Hull's 

 recommendation, at a distance of 200 yards from the fault in the 

 New Red sandstone close to Cumber Lane Bridge.* This well 

 was carried down 75 yards, and from the bottom a bore hole, 

 i8in. diameter, was driven 35 yards farther ; but at 104 yards 

 from the surface it passed through the fault, and entered hard 

 micaceous sandstone of a purple colour belonging to the upper 

 coal-measures. As the horizontal distance from the outcrop of 

 the fault where it crosses the railway is 200 yards, and the depth 

 104 yards, it appears that the slope of the fault is about two 

 horizontal to one vertical, or 28° from the horizontal. The usual 

 slope of the faults in South Lancashire being two vertical to one 

 horizontal, such a result was unexpected, and as the thickness 

 of New Red sandstone was thus reduced below the calculated 

 amount the quantity of water obtained (about 400,000 gallons 

 per day) was consequently much less than that required and 

 anticipated. 



February 22. — A paper was read from Mr. G. H, Kinahan 

 " On the Formation of Valleys and Lake-basins, with special 

 reference to Lochlomond." The author dissented from the 

 views which had been put forth by several eminent geologists as 

 to sub-aerial denudation ; and held that the principal valleys 

 both in Scotland and Ireland lay along lines of faults or fissures 



* This site was selected, not as being the best for water supply, butthebesi 



