470 Fy 
highly succes»f ul, and led to the discovery of many new species, 
During February Prof. Haeckel visited the ‘mountains, and by 
now is probably on his way back to Jena. 
THE existence in Northern Russia, and especially in the neigh- 
“bourhood of St. Petersburg, of a bottom-moraine, like that 
which covers Sweden, Finland, North Germany, and the north 
of Britain, was long doubted. The researches of Prof. Inost- 
rantzeff along the diggings of the new Ladoga canal (Memoirs 
of the St. “Petersburg Society of Naturalists, vol. xii.) do 
not leave, however, any doubt on this subject. The De- 
vonian rocks which appear between the rivers Syass and 
Svir (the geological map of Prof. Helmersen having to be 
modified in this respect) are covered with a thick sheet of 
‘typical bottom-moraine. It consists of a grey or reddish, 
unstratified and earthy mass of sand and clay containing both 
small rubbish and great boulders, sometimes 10 feet in diameter. 
The boulders consist of granite, gneiss, sandstone, and slates, 
_ these last being most numerous, and exhibiting beautiful polished 
and scratched surfaces. At some places the thickness of the 
bottom-moraine reaches 14 feet, and it is interesting to observe 
how the advance of the ice-sheet has folded and plaited the 
ends of the Devonian strata, the moraine matter being sometimes 
thrust between them. The washed and stratified sands which 
cover the bottom-moraine contain numerous remains of pre- 
historic man, These researches of Prof. Inostrantseff are com 
pletely confirmed by those of M. Dokcutchaieff, who has explored 
the ridges of sands and gravels (esa) on the eastern coast of the 
Gulf of Finland. While several of them are simple dunes, 
kames, or eskers, others are completely composed of typical 
glacial gravel (krossstensgrus of Swedish geologists), or of the 
same gravel covered with a mantle of more recent stratified 
sands. Both are of morainic origin. 
AT a recent meeting of the Asiatic Society of Japan, says the 
Japan Mail, Prof. John Milne, of Tokio, read a paper on the 
Koro-pok-guru, or Pit-dwellers of the Island of Yeso, Thi, 
name is that used by the Ainos, and means, literally, ‘* people 
having depressions.” According to the Aino accounts this race 
lived in huts built over holes, and knew the art of pottery. Mr. 
Milne found and examined pits on a small island near Nemuro, 
the north-east port of Yeso, and among the Kurile Islands. 
Near them were found flint airow-heads and fragments of 
earthenware, The Japanese say that the pits, which are 
rectangular in shape, were inhabited by a race of Kohito, or 
dwarfs, which was exterminated by the Ainos. In the extreme 
north of the Kuriles Mr. Milne met with the aborigines of these 
islands dwelling in huts built over pits, which were, in general ap- 
pearance, identical with the pits found farther south. In Saghalin 
and Kamschatka also, certain tribes dwell in pits. The general 
conclusion to which the writer comes is that the modern repre- 
sentatives of the rpit-dwellers are the Kurilsky, and some of the 
inhabitants of Saghalin and Kamschatka, who, like the Esquimo 
of the Atlantic sea-board, had in former times extended much 
farther south. Several facts were also adduced to show that the 
shell-heaps of Japan were of Aino formation. Mr. Milne 
suggested that the hairy Ainos were connected with the hairy 
Papuans, who at one time extended from their present home in 
the south in a continuous line through the Philippines to Japan. 
Malay races invaded this line in the Philippines, so that all that 
remain of the aboriginal stock are the hairy Aeta. In Formosa, 
Oshima, Satsuma, and other parts of Japan, links of the hairy, 
large-eyed, round-faced Aino type are still to be found. The 
modern Japanese invaded the line from the direction of Corea, 
and as they exterminated or drove the Aino towards the north, 
the Aino in his turn pressed upon the Avro-fok-guru, who re- 
treated to more northern regions, leaving behind him, as indica- 
tions of his former presence, the pit-like depressions found in so 
many parts of Yeso. In the discussion which followed, Mr, 
i 
4 
ae 
PR 
“NA Tl URE 
Satow remarked that the old Japanese Fira 
presence in Eastern Japan of other tribes of barbarians b 
the Ainos. He agreed with Mr. Milne’s theory of an 
Mongoloid immigration, which probably came by way of th 
Korean peninsula, and was established in the western province 
before the advent of the ancestors of the ruling family, w 
entered Japan from the south of Kiushiu, and were provahigg ; 
Malay origin. . f 
A society for the study of "the French ‘language whi 
been established amongst the Japanese in Tokio, is about t 
publish a complete history of the country in French. “> 
THE annual prize of the Russian Academy of Sciences, bear- 
ing the name of Academician Brandt, has been awarded to 
Prof. K. Meller, for his researches on the Russian Coal-basins. 
The prize of Prof. Bouniakovsky remained unawarded, fey 
larger works of value having been published last year in Russia 
in the Natural Sciences Department, ; ee 
Tn a paper on ‘‘Ozonised Air as an Anczesthetic,” by Dr. C. 
Binz, of Bonn, in the Berlin Medical Fournal (1882, 1 and 2s 
the author brings forward a number of interesting experiments 
on the effect of breathing small amounts of ozone. The gas was 
in all instances employed mixed with air and produced by the 
silent discharge. The effect on small avimals was very marked, — 
first becoming somewhat unquiet, and then the breathing less 
frequent, a state of torpor finally ensuing. No appreciable 
action on the heart appeared to have taken place at this stage. 
The bodily heat however becomes much lowered, and irritation 
and inflammation of the air-passages, causing vomiting, ensuing. — 
The experiments with human beings show considerable differ- — 
ences in effect on individuals. Generally sleep ensued in from — 
seven to twenty minutes, being preceded by a feeling of greater ~ 
ease in breathing. The sleep was generally also very deep, 
being followed by a tired sensation for some minutes. The — 
continuation of the experiments demonstrated, however, that 
although ozone is not by any means so irritating and destructive 
in its effect on delicate membranes as hitherto stated, it would — 
be quite impossible to employ it as an anesthetic to replace 
nitrous oxide. 
A RICH discovery of Lacustrine relics has been made at 
Steckborn, on Lake Constance. They consist of flint and bone 
implements, pottery, bones of animals now extinct, and a 
quantity of wheat and oats. The relics have been placed in the — 
Frauenfeld Museum. 
DuRInG last year the Council of the Meteorological Society, — 
having regard to the rapid progress of late years in statistical 
meteorology, and the uncertainty that still prevails regarding — 
important questions relating to the physics of the atmosphere, — 
considered it desirable that the Society should supplement the 
ordinary observations by a series of well-conducted experiments — 
destined to throw light on such questions as the vertical decre- 
ment of temperature, the rate of ascension of vapour, the height 
of cloud-strata, the variation in the velocity of the wind at dif- 
ferent elevations, &c, Steps have been taken during the past 
week to make observations on the first of the questions by the | 
placing of thermometers at the summit and base of Boston 
Church Tower, which is 270 feet high. This tower is admirably 
situated for making such experiments, as it is isolated and free 
from any obstructions, and the ground is quite flat for miles 
round. By permission of the vicar, Canon Blenkin, the instru- 
ments have been placed as follows :—At the summit one of Dr, 
Siemens’ electrical thermometers (kindly placed at the Society’s 
disposal by Messrs. Siemens Bros. and Co.) and an ordinary 
thermometer are mounted in a small screen fixed to one of the 
pinnacles of the tower ; on the roof of the belfry, which is 170 
feet above the ground, a Stevenson screen has been mounted 
containing maximum, minimum, dry and wet bulb thermometers, 
