M4 



NA TURE 



[June 7, 1883 



services, to us in particular and to our science in general, I ask 

 you to confer upon him a title which will be a standing record 

 of the esteem in which we hold him, and which throughout the 

 evening of his days shall assure him of our affectionate respect." 

 The proposal was carried by acclamation, and Prof. Westwood 

 was declared honorary life-pre ident of the Society. 



Anthropological Institute, May 22. — Mr. Hyde Clarke, 

 vice-president, in the chair. — Mr. G. P. Raihbone exhibited 

 and described a collection of ethnological objects from Bolivia. 

 — Major H. YV. Feilden read a paper on stone implements from 

 South Africa. The specimens exhibited form part of a collec- 

 tion made by the author in Natal, the Transvaal, and Zululand 

 during the years 188 1 and 1S82. Out of the large number of 

 worked stones and implements that have passed through the 

 author's hands he had seen scarcely any with water-worn edges. 

 It would appear, therefore, that these implements, chiefly made 

 of comparatively soft materials, must have been used and lost in 

 the immediate vicinity where they are now found, and the 

 large numbers found in certain spots seem to indicate settle- 

 ments on stations at such spots ; moreover, the most prolific 

 spots are generally just those which would be most advantageous 

 for procuring game. On the summit range of the Drakensberg 

 and in its rocky kloofs, where game must always have been 

 scarce, stone implements are scarce, if not altogether absent, 

 whilst on the lower levels of the Newcastle district, which even 

 in the memory of middle-aged colonists swarmed with countless 

 herds of antelope, we find abundant traces of the Stone period. 

 The conclusion at which the author arrived was that the users of 

 the stone implements found in the more recent of the superficial 

 alluviums were not separated from the present day by any great 

 lapse of time. On several occasions crystals of quartz were 

 found in company with stone implements in the alluviums, and 

 the author believed that the Stone age people had carried these 

 cry tals either as charms or ornaments. Possibly the Stone age 

 existed for a lengthened term in South Africa, and may resolve 

 itself into Palaeolithic and Neolithic periods, but at present we 

 have hardly sufficient data at command to enable us to arrive at 

 definite conclusions. — The Rev. C. T. Price read a paper by the 

 Rev. James Sibree on relics of the sign and gesture language 

 among the Malagasy. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, May 22. — Mr. Brunlees, 

 president, in the chair. The first paper read was on the Edin- 

 burgh Waterworks, by Mr. Alexander Leslie, M.Inst.C.E. — 

 The second paper read was on the waterworks of Port Elizabeth, 

 South Africa, by Mr. J. G. Gamble, M.A., M.Inst.C.E.— The 

 third paper was on the water-supply of Peterborough, by Mr. 

 John Addy, M.Inst.C.E. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, May 28. — M. E. Blanchard, presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — The following papers were read : — General 

 considerations on scientific methods with special reference to the 

 a posteriori method of Newton and the a priori of Leibnitz, by 

 M. E. Chevreu'. The author concludes that the experimental 

 inductive method, as practised by Newton and his successors, is 

 unquestionably the cause of the progress of the physico-chemical 

 sciences, while the absolute a priori liie'hod, as conceived by 

 Leibnitz, barred the way to all further progress. While Ne» ton 

 sought the proximate cause in order gradually to ascend to a pos- 

 sible first cause, Leibnitz started from the first cause, which for him 

 was everything. The study of the material world accessible to 

 the senses led, according to the German philosopher, to nothing 

 real, while the spiritual world, without parts or dimensions, as 

 represented by monads, numerical unities endowed from their 

 creation with motion, was the object of pure knowledge, that is, 

 of God Himself. — An account of the meteorological station of 

 Aigoual in the Cevennes, where an observatory for the systematic 

 study of atmospheric phenomena is about to be erected, by F. 

 Perrier. — Remarks on the violet sulphate of iridium in the heated 

 state, due apparently to oxidation, by M. Lecoq de Boisbaudran. 

 — On the physical and chemical constitution of the vine-growing 

 lands treated by the method of submersion in the lower Rhone 

 valley and Languedoc, by M. P. de Gasparin. — Experimental 

 researches on the action of various alcohols applied slowly and con- 

 tinu jusly to the pig, by MM. Dujardin Beaumetz and Audige. The 

 alcohols invariably produced sleep, prostration, lassitude, while 

 absinthe gave rise to phenomena of excitation somewhat analo- 

 gous to epilepsy. During the experiments, begun in June, 1879, 

 and concluded in July, 1882, some pf the animals died from the 

 effects of the alcoholic poison, and others were sacrificed in 



order to study its action on the vital functions. This was in all 

 cases found to be injurious. — Observations on the great couiet of 

 September, 1882, made at the Paris Observatory, by M. G. 

 Bigourdan. — On the relations existing between the covariants 

 and invariants of the binary form of the sixth order, by C. 

 Stephanos— On the relations existing between solar eclipses and 

 terrestrial magnetism, by P. Denza. — Note on the hydrates of 

 baryta, by H. Lescceur. — Constituents of the Montrond (Loire) 

 mineral water, by M. Terreil. — On some combinations peculiar 

 to the kreatine and kreatinine groups of substances, by E. Duvil- 

 lier. — On the fermentation of bread-stuffs, by M. Chicandard. 

 — On some features in the structure of the placenta of the 

 rabbit, by M. Laulanie. — On the origin of the follicular cells 

 and of the ovula in Ascidians and other animals, by M. H. 

 Fol. The author considers that these cells are genetically 

 the strict homologues of the spermatoblasts in zoosperms, 

 while the ovula itself corresponds 10 the polyblast or 

 male ovula of Duval. — On the formation of the cystoliths 

 and their reabsorption in plants, by M. Chareyre. — On 

 the shingle, sind, and mud formations along the beach of 

 geological seas, by M. Stan. Meunier. — Fresh observations on 

 the dimorphism of the foraminifera, with four illustration-, by 

 MM. Munier-Chalmas and Schlumberger. — On a saccharine 

 substance extracted from the lungs and phlegm of consumptive 

 patients, by M. A. G. Pouchet. — On condiments, especially salt 

 and vinegar, studied from the point of view of their influence on 

 the dige-tion, by C. Husson. The author's experiments confirm 

 the conclusions of Wurtz, Dumas, Beclard, Claude Bernard, and 

 others, that taken moderately these condiments are useful, espe- 

 cially in stimulating the formation of the gastric juice. In 

 excess they render the food more indigestible, and are irritating 

 to the coats of the stomach. The proportion of salt should not 

 exceed 5 or 10 grams to o"5 kilograms of meat ; of acids 1 to 4 

 per n 00. 



CONTENTS page 



Wiedemann's "Electricity" 121 



Flora of Hampshire. By James Britten .... 122 

 Letters to the Editor : — 



On Real and Pseudo-Reversals of Metallic Lines. — 



Prof. W. N. Hartley 123 



The Northern Zoogeographical Regions. — Prof. Theo. 



Gill 124 



Deductive Biology. — William White 124 



Science and Art.— Dr. John Rae, F.R.S. . . . 125 

 Transit Instrument. — Latimer Clark (With Dia- 

 gram) 125 



Sea-Shore Alluvion, Dnngeness. — J. B.Redman . 125 



Sheet Lightning.— N. W. Taylor 126 



Curious Nest-building — "Scarecrows. — M. . . . I2(> 



Ground Ivy. — S. S. Dowson 126 



Meteor. — A. Hall 126 



Recent Ornithological Works. By R. Bowdler 



Sharpe 126 



The Aurora Borealis, III. By Prof. Selim Lem- 



strb'm (With Diagrams) 1 28 



Historical Notes in Physics. By Prof. Silvanus P. 



Thompson (With Illustrations) 130 



Squalls. By Rev. W. Clement Ley 132 



Notes 133 



Local Scientific Societies. By Francis Galton, 



F.R.S 135 



The Royal Observatory 136 



On the Dark Plane which is Formed over a Heated 

 Wire in Dusty Air. By Lord Rayleigh, F.R.S. 



(With Diagram) 139 



On the Morphology of the Pitcher of " Cephalotus 

 follicularis." By Prof. W. C. Williamson, LL.D., 



F.R.S. (With Illustrations) 140 



University and Educational Intelligence .... 141 



Scientific Serials 141 



Societies and Academies 142 



