136 



NA TURE 



[Dec. 11, 1884 



had led to was that earthquakes having their focus in the east 

 of England would be likely to extend much further west than 

 those originating in the west would extend eastwards, this 

 depending upon the geological structure of the country and 

 being supported by the records of previous British earthquakes, 

 of which a complete catalogue was in course of preparation. 

 Mr. Meldola stated that the complete report, which was very 

 voluminous, was nearly ready for publication. 



With reference to the palaeontological discovery of a fossil 

 scorpion in the Upper Silurian formation of Gothland, recently 

 made by Prof. G. Lindstrom of the Academy of Sciences, 

 Stockholm, which has attracted considerable attention on the 

 Continent, we have received the following communication from 

 this savant: — "The discovery was made in the latest Upper 

 Silurian layer. Only the thin chitinous coat has been preserved, 

 all the soft membranes having decayed, and the body is com- 

 pressed, owing to the pressure of the superincumbent layers. 

 Like the scorpions existing at the present time, its body consists 

 of the cephalothorax, seven abdominal membranes, and seven 

 segments in the tail, of which the seventh is distinctly shaped 

 into a poisonous sting. Both the great claws (palpi) still 

 remain ; the number of legs was eight, those of the left side 

 being in perfect condition. They differ entirely from all known 

 scorpions, fossil or living, by the joints being thick and heavy 

 and the leg ending in a point instead of claws. There is a 

 marked respiratory cavity (stigma) on the right side, from which 

 I draw the conclusion that it was not only an air-breathing 

 animal but an animal living on terra firma. Its whole construc- 

 tion points to this. It is the oldest known land-animal, the 

 limits of our knowledge as to its existence during past ages 

 having been extended from the Middle Devonian strata of 

 Canada, where remains of Neuroptera have previously been 

 found, to the uppermost strata of the Upper Silurian for- 

 mations." 



The Mersey Tunnel is now completely arched in under the 

 river with the exception of the inverts. It is interesting to 

 geologists to know that, about three hundred yards from the 

 Liverpool side, the upper part of the tunnel intersected the pre- 

 Glacial bed of the river for a distance of about one hundred 

 yards. This "gully " in the rock was filled with hard Boulder- 

 Clay, with erratic boulders resting upon the hard denuded sur- 

 face of the Triassic sandstone. As showing the importance of 

 a knowledge of geology in engineering works, this pre-Glacial 

 gully was, in opposition to the prevailing opinion, foreseen and 

 predicted as one of the difficulties that would have to be 

 encountered in the tunnel-works in a paper by Mr. Mellard 

 Reade, entitled "The Buried Valley of the Mersey," published 

 in the Proceedings of the Liverpool Geological Society in 1872. 

 It is very satisfactory to know that this difficulty is now sur- 

 mounted, and the stability of this important and interesting 

 work placed beyond a doubt. 



As we anticipated some weeks ago, M. Joseph Bertram! has 

 been elected a Member of the Academie Francaise almost with- 

 out opposition, having obtained twenty-five votes out of a total 

 of twenty-six, the single dissentient voice having been given 

 in favour of a poet who could hardly be termed a candidate. 

 M. Bertrand's formal reception into the Academy will take place 

 in the course of a few months, and M. Pasteur is to reply to the 

 speech he will deliver on the occasion. 



M. Janssen is at present engaged in drawing up for the 

 Academy of Sciences a full report of his mission to the Prime 

 Meridian Congress at Washington. He is also to deliver a 

 lecture on the subject before the Geographical Society of Paris. 

 The learned astronomer still adheres to his scheme of a neutral 

 meridian. 



Many of our readers are aware that when Mr. Thiselton 

 Dyer, more than ten years ago, introduced at South Kensington 

 a system of instruction in botany based on the same principle as 

 the instruction in animal morphology already introduced by 

 Prof. Huxley, he intended to put together the results of his 

 experience in the form of a hand-book for the use of other 

 teachers. Pressure of other work prevented his carrying out his 

 intention, but Mr. F. O. Bower, now Lecturer in Botany in the 

 Normal School of Science, took the task in hand in conjunction 

 with Dr. Sydney Vines, and we are glad to be able to announce that 

 Messrs. Macmillan and Co. will publish a first instalment of the 

 work immediately. When complete, according to the original 

 scheme, the work is intended to contain a general introduction 

 by Mr. Dyer, introductory chapters on methods and on the 

 morphology of the cell by Dr. Vines, and then the description 

 of a series of types representing the various groups of the 

 vegetable kingdom. In each case a short general description 

 will precede the directions for investigating the type in the 

 laboratory. The instalment now promised will contain an ex- 

 planatory preface by Mr. Dyer, the two introductory chapters 

 by Dr. Vines, and the directions for laboratory work on vascu- 

 lar plants, as represented chiefly by the following types : — 

 Helianthus animus, Ulmus campestris, Zea Mais, Pinus sylvestris, 

 SelagincUa Markensii, Lycopodium claratum, Aspidium FUix- 

 mas, and Equisttum arvense. It is hoped to publish the labora- 

 tory directions for the remaining types, and the short prefaces 

 to each type, before very long. For the laboratory directions 

 Mr. Bower is mainly responsible ; the descriptive prefaces will 

 be contributed by Mr. Dyer ; but the whole work will have 

 undergone the minute supervision of all the three authors con- 

 cerned, and represent their united experience. 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co. promise immediately an 

 abridged edition, for popular use, of the "Life of Prof. J. 

 Clerk Maxwell." 



The following are the lecture arrangements at the Royal 

 Institution before Easter 1885 : — Six lectures (adapted to a 

 juvenile auditory) by Prof. Tyndall, on the Sources of Elec- 

 tricity, on December 27 and 30, 1S84, January 1, 3, 6, and 8, 

 1S85 ; five lectures by Prof. H. N. Moseley, on Colonial Ani- 

 mals, their Structure and Life-Histories, on Tuesdays, January 

 13 to February 10; four lectures by Dr. Arthur Garngee, on 

 Digestion, on Tuesdays, March 3 to 24 ; eleven lectures by Prof. 

 Dewar, on the New Chemistry, on Thursdays, January 15 to 

 March 26 ; three lectures by Dr. Waldstein, on Greek Sculp- 

 ture from Pheidias to the Roman era, on Saturdays, January 1 7 

 to 31 ; three lectures by Mr. G. Johnstone Stoney, on the Scale 

 on which Nature works, and the Character of some of her 

 Operations, on Saturdays, February 7 to 21 ; and five lectures 

 by Mr. Carl Armbruster, on the Life, Theory, and Works of 

 Richard Wagner (with illustrations, vocal and instrumental), on 

 Saturdays, February 28 to March 28. The Friday evening 

 meetings will begin on January 16, when Prof. Tyndall will give 

 a discourse on Living Contagia. 



The archaeologist M. Saillard, well known through his inde- 

 fatigable efforts for the preservation of dolmens, has discovered 

 the workshop of a prehistoric armourer or smith on a steep rock 

 by tlic sea on the south-west side of the peninsula of Quiberon 

 (Brittany). It dates from the Stone Age. Polished lances, 

 arrow-heads, axes, and other objects are represented in great 

 numbers and in every stage of manufacture, so that the discovery 

 i- most interesting, inasmuch as the objects illustrate the work- 

 man's method and process. Amongst the objects is also a 

 meteoric stone worked into an implement. The skeleton of the 

 workman was also found, the skull being very well preserved. 



Dr. Augustus Voelcker, F.R.S., died on Friday last, the 

 5th inst., at his residence, 39, Argyll Road, Kensington, in his 

 sixty-second year. He was born at Frankfort-on-the-Maine, 



