530 



NA TURE 



{Oct. J 8, 1 8} 7 



the annual address", before a large gathering. A practical exhi- 

 bition of the telephone as well as an extensive display of late 

 scientific inventions andobjects illustrative of the natural history of 

 the district, rendered the entertainment pleasant and profitable. 

 The programme of the session for the next six months offeis 

 an attractive list of lectures, including a series of six from the 

 president on Geology; six from Mr. A. Kitchin, F.G.S., on 

 Light and Spectrum Analysis, and single lectures by fourteen 

 other gentlemen. Among the titles we notice The Chalk, its 

 Origin, Characteristics, and Scenery ; How an Animal is Built 

 Up : Flowers, their Shapes, Perfumes, and Colours ; &c., &c. 

 The Association is in a flourishing financial condition, owning a 

 house of its own, and is not only popular but succeeds in infusing 

 a healthful love for science into the district about. A library, a j 

 museum, and frequent field-days in the picturesque and geolo- 

 gically interesting neighbourhood, evidence the activity of the 

 Society. 



The European Bureau of Longitude held its annual conference 

 at Stuttgart, September 27, General Ibannez, of Spain, pre- 

 siding. Representatives were in attendance from Austria, 

 Bavaria, Belgium, France, Hesse, Italy, Norway, Prussia, 

 Saxony, Switzerland, Spain, and Wiirtemberg. Gen. Baeyer, 

 of Prussia, was elected president for the coming year. 



At the meeting of the German Anthropological Society at 

 Constance on September 24, Prof, von Virchow described the 

 results obtained by him in his researches on the^colour of eyes, 

 hair, and skin of German school-children, and to which we have 

 already referred. lie examined no less than 2,114,153 children. 

 In the whole of North Germany the fair, blue-eyed type with 

 light skin is prevalent. In Mid-Germany the darker individuals 

 become more numerous and reach their maximum frequency at 

 the south-west and south-east corners. The passages from 

 one type to another in a geograpiiical sense are perfectly 

 gradual. Upper Bavaria and Alsace are the extremes, be. 

 tween wichh the fairer type reaches southwards-like a wedge. 



At the same meeting Dr. Gross, of Neuveville, on the Lake 

 of Biel (Switzerland), exhibited a number of objects dating from 

 the lake dwellings of the earlier stone period, amongst which 

 some hatchets made of nephrite, a mineral now only found in 

 China, were of special interest. Prof. Desor expressed his opinion 

 that these relics were originally brought from Asia by the lake 

 inhabitants ; he believed it quite possible that they may have 

 carried their vaiualjles with them, and this hypothesis would 

 explain the raiity of nephrite hatchets. A keen discussion was 

 raised with regard to the discoveries in the Thayingen cave. It 

 will be remembered that Ilerren Merk and Messikommer had 

 found several bones from the prehistoric reindeer upon which 

 diawings of animals were carved, besides a rough piece of 

 sculpture representing the head of a musk buffalo. These 

 objects are now in the Rofgarten collection, and many naturalists 

 had believed them to be mere imitations. The result of the 

 discussion, proved them to be perfectly genuine. This, how- 

 ever, is not the case with other pieces sent to France and 

 England, and said to have been found at the same place. 



A SPECIAL division of the Paris International Exhibition will 

 be devoted to electiicity, so that all the systems of electric 

 lighting may be tested comparatively. Tlie electric light con- 

 tinues to create the greatest interest in Paris. The experiments 

 which we mentioned some lime ago have been conducted during 

 forty consecutive days at the Lyons railway station. A force 

 of about 40 horse-power is sufficient to keep going twenty-eight 

 electric lamps, each of which gives a light equal to eighty gas 

 lamps, and works with regularity for ten and a-half hours. The 

 effect is splendid, the whole of the station, except the waiting- 

 room, being lighted a gioruc. The question of economy, how- 

 ever, is not yet settled. It is not known whether the company 



will agree to pay a somewhat higher price in order to multiply 

 the power of its illumination. These experiments have been 

 tried on Lontain's system, a modification of Wilde's and Siemens' 

 jirinciple. M. Lontain has contrived to send the current 

 generated by an ordinary Wilde's machine into an electro- 

 magnetic engine called a distributor. The central part being 

 strongly magnetised by the current from a Wilde's machine, a 

 number of electro-magnets are influenced by its rapid rotation, 

 and in each of these an induction-current is generated. These 

 induction-currents are powerful enough to feed three electric 

 lamps, and as there are two series of twelve magnets a single 

 machine could, theoretically, feed seventy-two lamps. Actually, 

 however, it feeds only twenty-eight. Lontain uses a new regu- 

 lator, which works very well by the dilatation of a small silver 

 wire. By its dilatation this part of the apparatus woiks a lever 

 system, and brings the carbon electrodes into contact. The 

 French Northern Railway has purchased a number of Gramme 

 magneto-electric machines. They intend to use them at their 

 goods terminus and stores. 



Among works of scientific . interest announced for pub- 

 lication during the coming season we note the following : — 

 Messrs. Macmillan and Co. are about to publish a new work 

 by Prof. Clifford, F.K.S., " Elements of Dynamics ; an Intro- 

 duction to the Study of Motion and Rest in Solid and Fluid 

 Bodies." This book is intended for engineers and students of 

 physical science who are unable or unwilling to devote much 

 time to mathematics. Its method consists in making use of the 

 simpler ideas of motion to teach so much of mathematical pro- 

 cesses as is required for understanding the more advanced parts. 

 Also, by the same publishers, "An Elementary Treatise on 

 Spherical Harmonies, and Subjects connected with them," by 

 the Rev. N. M. Ferrers, M.A., F.R.S. Messrs. Longmans 

 have just published of the London Science Class-Books Series, 

 "Astronomy," by Dr. Ball, and "Thermodynamics," by Dr. 

 Wormell. Other volumes to follow are "Algebra," by Prof. 

 Henrici ; "Botany," by Prof. McNab ; "Biology," by Prof. 

 Mq.Kendrick ; and "Zoology," by Prof. McAlister. Messrs. 

 Chapman and Hall promise two new volumes of " The Hbrarj' of 

 Contemporary Science" — "Biology," by Dr. Charles Letourneau 

 and "Anthropology," by Dr. Topinard. Messrs. Triibnerand Co. 

 announce: " The Epoch of the Mammoth and the Apparition 

 of M.an upon the Eartli," by James Southall ; "The Purthian 

 Coinage," by Percy Gardner, M.A., and " The Ancient Coins 

 and Measures of Ceylon," by T. W. Rhys Davids, being Parts 

 5 and 6 of " The Intern.ational Numismata Oiientalia ;" "The 

 Birds of Cornwall," by Edward Hearle Rodd ; "The Barents 

 Relics," by C. L. W. Gardner; " Chemistry in the Brewing 

 Room," by C. H. Piesse ; " Origin and Migrations of the Poly- 

 nesian Race," by Abraham Fomander, Circuit Judge of the 

 IsUnd of Maui; "Dr. Beke's Discoveries of Sinai," by Mrs. 

 Beke ; "A Statistical Account of Bengal," by Dr. Hunter. 

 Mr. Stanford premises: "Africa," edited by Keith Johnston, 

 being the first volume of "Stanford's Compendium of Geography 

 and Travel," a work founded on Ilellwald's "Die Erde und 

 ihre Volker ;" other volumes to follow "Africa " will be "Europe," 

 by Prof. A. C. Ramsay, "North America," by Dr. F. V. 

 Hayden, and " South America," by Mr. H. W. Bates ; "Fifteen 

 Thousand Miles on the Amazon and its Tributaries," by C. 

 Barrington Brown and William Lidstone; " The Physical Geo- 

 graphy and Geology of Ireland," by Edward Hull ; an English 

 edition of M. De Fonvielle's " Aventures Aeriennes." Messrs. 

 Kegan Paul and Co., successors to Messrs. H. S. King and Co., 

 promise " Hygiene and the Laws of Health," by Prof. Corfield ; 

 and of the International Series, "Studies in Spectrum Analysis," 

 by J. Norman Lockytr, F.R.S. ; "The Physical Geography of 

 the Sea," by Dr. W. B. Carpenter, F.R.S., "The First Prin- 

 ciples of the Exact Sciences," by Prof. Cliflbrd, F.R.S., and 

 " The Brain as an Organ of Mind," by Dr. Charlton Bastian, 



