33° 



NA TURE 



[Fed. 5, 1SN5 



shape to a shape is a shape, and that of a space to a space is a 

 space. The shape that shows the relation of a shape to a shape 

 is called a " ponograph." To form a poiograph the content of 

 each shape is neglected, and the shape is represented by a point, 

 each point being by its coordinates representative of the 

 properties of the shape considered. The resultant shape is a 

 " poiograph." 



Anthropological Institute, January 27. — Anniversary meet- 

 ing. — The retiring President, Prof. Flower, LL.D., F.R.S., in 

 his anniversary address, gave an outline of the classification of 

 the varieties of the human species which appeared to him to be 

 most in accordance with the present state of knowledge on the 

 subject, but which, he remarked, differed in its main outlines but 

 little from that adopted by Cuvier sixty years ago. It was first 

 stated that there were three extreme types, those called by 

 Blumenbach Ethiopian, Mongolian, and Caucasian, around 

 which all existing individuals of the species could be ranged, 

 but between which every possible intermediate form could be 

 found. The distinctive characters of each of these extreme 

 types were described and their subdivisions pointed out. The 

 Ethiopian or Negro branch was divided into (1) African Negroes ; 

 (2) Hottentots and Bushmen ; (3) Oceanic Negroes or Melane- 

 sians ; (4) Negritos, of which the natives of the Andaman Islands 

 are representatives. It was suggested that the Australians, who 

 have always presented a difficulty in classification of the races of 

 men, owing to the combination of negroid characters of face and 

 skeleton, with hair of a different type from that of the rest of the 

 group, were probably not a pure race, but descendants of a 

 cross between an original Melanesian population and later 

 intruders, probably from the South of India, and of Caucasian 

 descent. The Mongolian type was represented in an exaggerated 

 form by the Eskimo, in atypical condition by the greater number 

 of the inhabitants of Northern and Eastern Asia, the Tartars, 

 Chinese, Japanese, &c. , and in a modified or sub-typical form 

 by the Malays. The brown Polynesians were still further modi- 

 fications of the same type, greatly mixed with Melanesian and 

 possibly also Caucasian blood. The position of the native races 

 of America was next discussed. Excluding the Eskimo, they 

 all form one group, which, although inclining on the whole 

 nearer to the Mongolian than any of the three great types, had 

 so many special features that it might be looked upon as forming 

 a fourth primary division. The Caucasian, or white branch, 

 includes two sub-races now much mingled together, the Xantho- 

 chroi, with fair hair and eyes, and the Melanochroi, with dark 

 hair, eyes, and complexion. To the former belong the inhabi- 

 tants of Northern Europe, to the latter chiefly those of Southern 

 Europe, Northern Africa (greatly mixed in varied proportions 

 along their frontier line with Negroes), and South- West Asia, 

 the principal sub-divisions being the Aryans, Semites, and 

 Hamites. The address concluded by a reference to two mem- 

 bers of the Council lately deceased, Dr. Allen Thomson and 

 Mr. Alfred Tylor ; to the change of locality of the meetings 

 which had taken place during the year from St. Martin's Place 

 to Hanover Square, and to other matters relating to the affairs 

 of the Institute. The election of W. Pengelly, F.R.S., was 

 announced. The following gentlemen were elected officers and 

 Council for the year tSS5 : — President : Francis Galton, M.A., 

 F.R.S. : Vice-Presidents: Hyde Clarke, Tohn Evans, F.R.S., 

 Prof. W. H. Flower, F.R.S., Lieut. -Col. H. H. Godwin- 

 Austen, F.R.S., Major-Gen. Pitt-Rivers, F.R.S., E. B. Tylor, 

 F.R.S. ; Director: F. W. Rudler, F.G.S. ; Treasurer : F. G. 

 H. Price, F.S.A. ; Council : S. E. B. Bouverie-Pusey, E. W. 

 Brabrook, F.S.A. , C. H. E. Carmichael, M.A., W. L. Distant, 

 A. W. Franks, F.R.S., J. G. Garson, M.D., Prof. Huxley, 

 F.R.S., Prof. A. H. Keane, B.A., A. L. Lewis, Sir J. 

 Lubbock, Bart., M.P., R. Biddulph Martin, M.P., Prof. A. 

 Macalister, F.R.S., J. E. Price, F.S.A., Charles H. Read, 

 F.S.A., Charles Roberts, F.R.C.S., Lord Arthur Russell, 

 M.P., W. G. Smith, F.L.S., Prof. G. D. Thane, C. Staniland 

 Wake, M. J. Walhouse, F. R.A. S. — It was announced that at 

 the next meeting of the Institute, on February 10, a paper 

 would be read by Mr. H. II. Johnston, on the tribes of East 

 Equatorial Africa. 



Entomological Society, January 21. — Anniverary Meeting. 

 — J. W. Dunning, M.A., F.L.S., President, in the chair. — An 

 abstract of the Treasurer's accounts was read by Mr. H. T. 

 Stainton, F.R.S. (one of the Auditors) ; and the Secretary read 

 tin- Report of the Council. — The following gentlemen were then 

 elected as the Council for 1885 : — President : R. McLachlan, 

 F.R.S. ; Treasurer: E. Saunders, F.L.S. ; Secretaries: E. A 



Fitch, F.L.S., and W. F. Kirby ; Librarian : F. Grut, F.L.S. ; 

 other Members of Council : T. R. Billups, T. W. Dunning, 

 R. Meldola, J. W. Slater, H. Druce, H. Goss,' S. Stevens, and 

 J. Jenner Weir. — The retiring President then delivered an 

 address, and a vote of thanks was moved to him by Mr. Stain- 

 ton and seconded by Mr. J. W. May, and Mr. Dunning 1. plied. 

 — A vote of thanks to the officers was then moved by Mr. 

 McLachlan ami seconded by Mr. Waterhouse, and Messrs. 

 Saunders, Fitch, Kirby, and Grut replied. 



Victoria Institute, February 2. — A .paper on the origin of 

 savage nations by degradation was read by Mr. F. A. Allen, in 

 which he said he only desired to suggest that this was not an 

 unreasonable assumption, and he proceeded to show that 

 traces of a high degree of civilisation either recorded by history 

 or tradition existed amongst many of those peoples which were 

 now generally regarded as savages. 



EDINBURGH 



Royal Society, January 19. — A. Forbes Irvine, Vice-Presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — Mr. J. B. Readman gave a paper on the 

 ores of nickel and cobalt of New Caledonia. These o:es have 

 only recently been identified, although they are met with in 

 great abundance. — Prof. Tait called attention to the expressions 

 used by Newton in the scholium to his "Laws of Motion" 

 when speaking of Mariotte, as contrasted with the expres-ions 

 he used when speaking of Wren and Huyghens. — Prof. R. 

 Smith communicated a paper on the graphic analysis of the 

 kinematics of rigid-bar mechanisms. — Prof. Tait gave a commu- 

 nication on the necessity for a condensation nucleus. This in- 

 volves a modification of Prof J. Thomson's hypothetical form 

 of the isothermals of a true vapour. In the modified form the 

 isothermal shows at once the necessity for the condensation 

 nucleus. 



Royal Physical Society, Tanuary 21. — John A. Harvie- 

 Brown, F.R.S.E., F.Z.S., &c, President, in the chair.— The 

 following communications were read : — On the ova and the 

 ovary of Echidna, by F. E. Beddard, M.A.Oxon, F.R.S.E., 

 F.Z. S. — Investigations on the movements and food of tin 

 herring, with additions to the marine fauna of the Shetland 

 Islands, by Fred. G. Pearcey. — Notes on the birds of the Island 

 of Eigg, by William Evans, F.R.S.E.— Mr. B. W. Peach, 

 F.R.S.E., &c, read a paper by Mr. Robert Ridston, F.G.S., 

 on impressions of rain-drops, recent and fossil, with exhibition of 

 specimens. — Mr. J. A. Harvie-Brown, FZ. S., &c, exhibited, 

 with remarks, a specimen of Lai lis Kumlimi, from Cumberland 

 Inlet ; also of Larus Sabini, and other species of arctic gulls. 



Dublin 

 Royal Society, December 15, 1884. — Section of Physical 

 and Experimental Science. — Dr. W. Frazer in the chair. — On 

 a photometer made of paraffin, by J. Joly, B.E. If a prism be 

 cut from a translucent substance, such as paraffin, and so exposed 

 to a source of light that only one of its faces is illuminated, the 

 light diffused through the substance and reflected out throng h 

 the unilluminated faces of the prism gives it an appearance as if 

 lighted up internally. Two such prisms laid together on smooth 

 faces and receiving light from separate sources (placed so as to be 

 at opposite sides of the plane of division) have the appearance of 

 two luminous bodies laid side by side. When the quantity of light 

 received by each prism is the same, the effect is as if the whole 

 substance was uniformly self-luminous ; and if, further, the light 

 from each source is similar in colour, it is difficult to detect the 

 presence of a divisional plane. The prisms are so cut as to lie 

 symmetrically about the plane of contact, and shifted between 

 the sources of light til! the trace of the plane of division vanishes. 

 From the close juxtaposition of the surfaces under comparison, 

 the arrangement is a sensitive one. — On artificially-produced 

 gold crystals, by William N. Allen. A neutral solution of 

 chloride of gold and sodium deposited in the course of a few 

 hours lamellse of metallic gold, which, on examination, proved 

 to be perfectly-formed crystals similar to the native forms 

 figured in Muspratt's chemistry. The largest observed cryslal 

 was 3/1000 inch in diameter. — Recent advances in physical 

 science, by Prof. G. F. Fitz Gerald, F.R.S. : — (1) The transference 

 of energy in the electro-magnetic field (Prof. Poynting) ; (2) Tin 

 motion of an electrified sphere (J. J. Thompson). — Note on a 

 remarkable belt seen on Saturn on December 6 and on this 

 evening (15th), by G. Johnstone Stoney, D.Sc, F.R.S. The 

 belt consisted of a thin dark line, almost black, above the ring, 



