3io 



NA TURE 



{July 26, 1883 



Solonbjla. Nothing had been ascertained regarding the fate 

 of the steamer Varna or her crew. 



At the meeting of the Berlin Geographical Society on the 8th 

 inst. some communication's were made regarding the latest 

 undertakings of the German explorers now at work : — Dr. Paul 

 Giissfeldt had undertaken to ascend the Aconcagua, the highest 

 peak of the Chili Cordilleras (6934 metres) ; he failed on 

 acount of the extreme cold, but succeeded in taking a Dumber 

 of interesting photographs. Dr. Steiner, a member of the Ant- 

 arctic expedition had proceeded northward from Punta Arenas, 

 and had drawn a remarkable geological map of the country he 

 traversed. He intends to penetrate into Chile. Dr. Hettner is 

 ab nit to start on an exploring tour through Canada with a view 

 of discovering coal deposits. 



News of the German African traveller, Dr. Fischer, has just 

 a-rived from Zanzibar. He was at some days' distance from 

 Ngaren Erobi, had 800 followers, and had forced his way 

 through the Massai district. He thus seems to have joined 

 other caravans, as he had started with only 350 men himself. 

 Ngaren Erobi is to the west of the Rilima Ngaro, and under 

 36V E. long., and 3 S. lat. 



Lieut. Bove is just starting on a second expedition to Terra 

 del Fuego. Thence he intends to penetrate into Graham's Land. 

 The Italian Geographical Society bears the cost of this expedi- 

 tion, which will sail from Genoa and go by way of Monte Video. 



Dr. Oscar Lenz is now writing an account of his second 

 great African journey. It will be published by Brockhaus 

 (Leipzig), and will be entitled "Timbuktu, Keise durch Ma- 

 rokko, die Sahara und den .Sudan, ausgeftihrt im Auftrag der 

 Deutschen Afrikanischen Gesellschaft." 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



Bulletin de in SociHe d' Anthropologic 1 de Paris, tome vi. 

 fasc. I, 1883. — Presidential address. — Conditions to be ob- 

 served by the competitors for the annual "Godart Prize" 

 of 500 francs, founded in 1862; and for the " Broca Prize" 

 of 1500 francs for the best memoir on a question of human 

 or comparative anatomy, or of physiology referring to an- 

 thr ipology. This prize was founded by Madame Broca in 

 1881, and is biennial. — Report by M. Pozzi of a highly orna- 

 mented so-called medical pipe, found in an ancient mound in 

 Kentucky. This fine specimen of the workmanship of the pre- 

 historic mound-builders of the New World is identical with 

 those found in California, and supposed to have been used for 

 producing bli-ters and moxas. — M. Bail described the post- 

 mortem appearances of the brain of the Batignolles cretin, whose 

 abnormal condition had been brought to the notice of the 

 Society last year. — On social instinct, by Dr. Prat. — On sup- 

 posed human imprints found in clay beds at Carson in Nevada, 

 by Dr. W. Hoffman. — An interesting paper on the superstitions 

 and faith in sorcery still persisting in South Italy, by M. Mari- 

 court.— On an anomaly of the brachial biceps, by M. G. Herve. — 

 On M. Hamy's Case of anthropometric instruments, approved of 

 by the Society, for the use of travellers engaged in Anthropo- 

 logical determinations. — A case of hydrocephalus in a child of 

 ten years, by Dr. de Grandroont, considered specially in refer- 

 ence to the ophthalmic lesions associated with this condition, 

 and their probable joint dependence among other causes on too 

 near relationship between the parents, as intermarriage between 

 first cousins of degenerate constitution. — The reproduction in 

 man of a simian nmscle, the scalenus intermedius of the anthro- 

 poid apes, by Dr. Testut. — Observations on polyandry in Kouloo 

 and Ladak, by M. Ujfalvy, based on personal investigations 

 during his travels in the Western Himalayas. In Kouloo 

 polyandry and polygamy subsist side by side ; in Ladak with 

 si 'nilar physical and economic conditions, polygamy, which necessi- 

 tates a certain degree of material prosperity, is less frequent. 

 The prevalence of polyandry among savage tribes in ancient 

 times, and the organisation of matriarchy, or maternal supremacy, 

 in tribal and domestic rule, were considered by M. Rousselet in the 

 discussion which followed the reading of M. Ujfalvy's important 

 communication. — A discussion on the anthropological study of 

 the crania of great criminals, chiefly in reference to the connec- 

 tion of criminality with any fixed cranial malformation, by M. 

 Manouvrier. — Considerations of the nature of the arterial sulci 

 of the encephalon in man, by M. Danilo. — On the development 

 of the human skeleton, by M. de Merjkowsky, with special 



reference to the embryologicnl affinities -between the higher and 

 lower animals, the author belie ving that in the human fretus we 

 have a reproduction of a simian firm, which gives support to 

 the theory of development as applied to man. — An anomalous 

 formation of the first rib, by M. G. Herve. — On the brain of an 

 insane person, by M. Rey, in which the frontal and antero- 

 posterior circumvoluiions were extraordinarily developed, to- 

 gether with an excessive weight of the brain. — On a successful 

 attempt to inoculate a monkey with matter taken from an 

 indurated chain re, by M. Pozzi. — On the substance used by the 

 North American Indians to poison their arrows, by Dr. 

 Hoffman. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Geological Society, June 20. — J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., pre- 

 sident, in the chair. — Henry Yorke Lyell Brown, Edward St. F. 

 Moore, John Henry Nichols, and Henry Parker, were elected 

 Fellows, and Baron F. von Richthofen, of Berlin, a foreign 

 correspondent of the Society — The following communications 

 were read : — On the discovery of Ovibos moschaius in the forest 

 bed, and its range in space and time, by Prof. \V. Boyd I law kins. 

 F.K.S. The specimen described by the author formed part of 

 the collection of the late Rev. F. Buxton, nnd was obtained by a 

 fisherman from the f irest-bed of Trimingham, four miles from 

 Cromer. The edges are sharp, and the red matrix adhered in 

 places, so that the author regards its geological position as satis- 

 factorily established. It is the posterior half of the upper surface 

 of the skull of an adult female Ovibos moschaius. The author 

 describes the range in space and time of this animal, mentioning 

 the different instances in which its remains have been found in 

 Britain. These are, in some cases, undoubtedly post glacial ; 

 but he inclines to consider the lower brick-earth of the Thames 

 Valley, where the musk-sheep has been found at Cray ford, as 

 anterior to the boulder clay, which occupies the district to the 

 north. This deposit at Trimingham, however, is certainly pre- 

 glacial, and so Ovibos nioschatus belongs to a fauna which 

 arrived in our country prior to ihe extreme refrigeration of climate 

 which characterised the glaciil epoch, and afterwards retrea.ed 

 northwards to its present haunts, showing, with other evidence, 

 that this epoch did not form a hard and fast barrier between two 

 faums. — On the relative age of some valleys in Line ilnshire, by 

 A. J. Jukes-Browne, B.A. — On the section at Hordwell cliffs, 

 from the top of the Lower Headon to the base of the Upper 

 Bagshot Sands, by the late E. B. Tawney, M.A., and H. Keep- 

 ing, of the VVoodwardian Museum. Communicated by the Rev. 

 Osmond Fisher, M.A. The authors, after a brief sketch of the 

 literature of the subject and of the methid which they 

 have adopted in measuring the beds in the Hordwcll section, 

 passed on to describe these, viz. the freshwater Lower Headon 

 series, and the s i-called Upper Bagshot Sands of the Geological 

 Survey. They make the whole thickness of the firmer 83J 

 feet. The bed numbered thirty-two in their section they 

 identified with the Howledge limestone on the other side of the 

 Solent. It is almost the highest seen in the section, and under- 

 lies the true Middle Headon which is now no longer exposed. 

 The authors pointed out that in their opinion the late Mar- 

 chioness of Hastings and Dr. Wright have somewhat misappre- 

 hended the position of these several beds. 1 letails w ere then 

 given of the remainder of the section, and comparisons made 

 with the details published by former authors ; after which the 

 authors described the underlying estuarine series, or Upper Bag- 

 shot Sands, which has a thickness of 17A feet. — 1 'n some new 

 or imperfectly known Madreporaria from the G ral Rag and 

 Portland Oolite of the counties of Wilts, Oxf ird, Cambridge, 

 and York, by R. F. Tomes, F.G.S. — The geology of Monte 

 Somma and Vesuvius, being a study in vulcanology, by II. J. 

 lohnston-Lavis, F.G.S. The author, after referring to the vast 

 amount of literature which has appeared dealing with the same 

 subject, stated that his object was to l.iy before the Society the 

 results of his per. onal observations. The external form and 

 general features of Monte Somma having been de cribed, the 

 origin of the present condition of the vole mi wa discussed in 

 some detail, and the geological structure of the mountain and of 

 the surrounding plain, as revealed by well-sections, was carefully 

 considered As the result of his observations the author believes 

 that he is able to define eight successive phases in the history of 

 the volcano ; and the events which took place during these seve- 

 ral periods, with the products of the eruption daring each, were 



