September 29, 1904] 



NATURE 



54; 



the attainment of some purpose of national or scientific 

 importance," Principal Griffiths advocated the publication 

 of a Journal of Corresponding Societies, towards the 

 expenses of which the various societies should contribute 

 according to the respective numbers of their members. 



The chairman's views were received with much favour 

 by the delegates and others attending the meeting. Sir 

 Norman Lockyer referred to his presidential address of last 

 year, in which he suggested that the organisation of the 

 corresponding societies might become a potent and valuable 

 machine for influencing public opinion on matters relating 

 to science throughout the country. He regarded the corre- 

 sponding societies as having before them an important and 

 undeveloped field of work. With regard to the Correspond- 

 ing Societies Committee, he advocated more frequent meet- 

 ings and a closer union with the central organisation of 

 the British Association. Mr. VV. Whitaker agreed with 

 the chairman that the time was come when it seemed 

 desirable to reconsider, and possibly revise, the old con- 

 ditions regulating the affiliation of local societies. He 

 considered that the maintenance of a good museum might 

 be as much a ground for union as the publication of a volume 

 of prcK;eedings. The Rev. W. Stallworthy advised the 

 appointment of a small number of competent members' as 

 inspectors, who should visit the various local societies and 

 report upon their work to the authorities at headquarters. 

 Prof. Ewing advocated the admission of the smaller 

 societies in outlying districts, where publication was not to 

 be regarded as the test of usefulness. Dr. G. Abbott sup- 

 ported the views of the chairman, and enlarged on the 

 advantage of uniting societies in local groups. Many 

 societies in the south-east of England had been strengthened 

 by such a union. He thought that the British Association 

 should get into touch with as many societies as possible, and 

 that no barrier should be raised, such as that of publication. 

 The Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing deprecated publication being 

 used as a test of the usefulness of a society. If the paper 

 were important, it ought to go to a central society, and 

 not be published locally ; if it were unimportant, it were 

 better not published at all. 



Ultimately a committee was appointed to consider the 

 present relation between the British Association and the 

 local scientific societies, and to make suggestions to the 

 council with a view to the greater utilisation of this relation- 

 ship, and the extension of affiliation to societies now 

 excluded. 



The subject of museums, which has often been discussed 

 at the annual conference of delegates, was brought forward 

 by the Rev. W. Johnson, of York, who read a paper on 

 the utilisation of local museums, w'ith special reference to 

 schools. He believed that provincial museums have often 

 failed in developing the scientific habit in visitors, because 

 they have given too much prominence to rarities, whereas 

 the beginner needs illustrations of common objects, such as 

 he is likely to find in his own study in the field. A large 

 amount of material now lies buried in our museums need- 

 ing judicious display and description to render it available 

 to the young student. Mr. Johnson held that every museum 

 should have attached to it a demonstration room, fitted 

 with lanterns and other lecture-room appliances, and he 

 considered that demonstrations by competent persons might 

 well be paid for by the State, in consideration of their value 

 in assisting the higher science teaching in our schools. The 

 excellent work of Mr. Crowther, the curator at Leeds, in 

 giving demonstrations to children from the local schools, 

 was referred to with warm approval. Mr. Johnson recom- 

 mended that during the winter-holidays museum-lectures 

 should be given on elementary meteorology, explaining the 

 nature and use of the various instruments which are used 

 at most museums for obtaining weather records. 



In discussing the paper, Mr. Rudler referred to the diffi- 

 culties incidental to museum demonstrations, and advocated 

 the delivery of the lecturette in a separate room, followed by 

 adjournment to the museum. The interest of the delegates 

 in the museum question centred in the point of contact 

 between the local museum and the local society, and he 

 referred to some of the ways in which the society might 

 assist the museum, such as the frequent display of fresh 

 specimens of wild flowers with instructive labels. Whilst 

 admitting the importance of taking children to the museum, 

 he held that it was equally desirable to take the museum 



NO. 182?, VOL 70] 



to the children, and he consequently favoured the practice 

 of circulating educational cabinets of specimens among the 

 local schools. 



At the second meeting of the delegates, Mr. J. Hopkin- 

 son, of the Hertfordshire Natural History Society, brought 

 forward a very practical subject relating to the publications 

 of scientific bodies. He denounced the insufficiency of the 

 title given in certain papers, and the absence of an index, 

 a table of contents, or a list of plates in the publications of 

 many societies. The date of publication of each part or 

 number of a volume of proceedings should always be given, 

 and in the case of reprints of papers, the original pagination 

 should be preserved, whilst the date and volume of the 

 publication from which they are extracted should invariably 

 be stated. Dr. Tempest Anderson, who presided at the 

 second meeting of the delegates, spoke strongly in favour 

 of securing uniformity in the size of the publications of 

 scientific societies. 



In the discussion on the aid which local societies could 

 give to the work of the committees of various sections, 

 of the British Association, Dr. H. R. Mill, ' as a 

 delegate from Section A, pleaded for increased interest in 

 meteorology, and urged the local societies to take regular 

 and systematic observations. Mr. Whitaker, on behalf of 

 Section C, solicited the aid of the societies in seeking the 

 derivation and precise significance of local terms relating to 

 geological and, geographical subjects — an appeal which was 

 supported by Dr. Herbertson, representing Section E. The 

 Rev. T. R. R. Stebbing, speaking for Section D, suggested, 

 as additional work for local societies, the study of over- 

 land lines of migration of birds, and the collection of slugs 

 from all parts of the British Isles. Miss Sargent solicited 

 information with regard to certain points in the growth of 

 British orchids. The conference was not favoured with 

 suggestions from any of the other sections. 



EOCENE WHALES. 

 A MOST important contribution to our knowledge of the 

 ■"■ extent and affinities of that group of Eoceine marine 

 mammals known as Archa^oceti has recently been made by 

 Prof. E. Fraas, of Stuttgart, in an illustrated memoir 

 entitled " Neue Zeuglodonten aus dem unteren Mitteleocan 

 vom Mokattam bei Cairo,'* published in Koken's Geo- 

 logische iind Palaeontologische Abhandlungen. The 

 Arch^eoceti, or zeuglodonts, which have hitherto been de- 

 finitely known only by various species of the typical genus 

 Zeuglodon, have been regarded by many zoologists as the 

 direct ancestors of the modern whales and dolphins, and 

 if this view be accepted, it has for some time been evident 

 (although this was not the opinion of the late Sir William 

 Flower) that the toothed whales, at any rate, are probably 

 the descendants of carnivorous mammals, as it seemed im- 

 possible that the zeuglodonts could be derived from a 

 herbivorous type. 



The carnivorous descent of the zeuglodonts is now fully 

 demonstrated by Prof. Fraas, who describes two new generic 

 representatives of the group — Protocetus and Mesocetus — 

 from the well known Middle Eocene nummulitic rocks of 

 the Mokattam range near Cairo. Of the former genus the 

 author figures a nearly complete skull, together with many 

 of the bones of the skeleton. In both genera the teeth are 

 of the typical mammalian number, and divisible into 

 incisors, canines, prentolars, and molars, the latter, in 

 Protocetus at any rate, being quite unlike the correspond- 

 ing teeth of Zeuglodon, and approximating to those of the 

 primitive Eocene Carnivora of the group Creodontia. The 

 skull, moreover, although much more elongated than in any 

 of the land forms, presents all the distinctive characteristics 

 of the latter group, and there can be little hesitation in 

 accepting Prof. Fraas 's view that Protocetus and Mesocetus 

 form connecting links between the terrestrial creodont 

 carnivores on the one hand and the marine zeuglodonts 

 on the other. They are, in fact, terrestrial animals in- 

 course of modification into purely aquatic ones. Prof. 

 Fraas does not, however, by any means stop at this, but 

 proceeds to argue that the ArchEEOceti are entirely uncon- 

 nected with either the whalebone or the toothed whales, and 

 merely form a marine group of Creodontia which died out 

 without leaving any descendants, .^s he rightly observes. 



