ig 
the strength of a small number of lines reversed, zinc and | 
aluminium (and possibly strontium) to the Jast list of solar ele- 
‘ments given by Thalen, who rejected zinc from Kirchhoff’s list, 
d agreed with him in rejecting aluminium. It need scarcely 
be added that these lines are in each case the longest lines in 
the spectrum of the metal. 
_ The help which these determinations afford to the study of 
the various cyclical changes in the various solar spectra is then 
referred to. 
_ _ Geological Society, Dec. 18.—Mr. Warington W. Smyth, 
F.R.S., vice-president, in the chair—The following communi- 
cations were read :—‘‘ Further Notes on the Punfield Section,” 
by C. J. A. Meyer. This paper was supplementary to one read 
before the society by the author in March of the present year 
* (see “ Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.” xxviii. p. 245), and contained 
the results of a fresh examination of the section at Punfield, and 
__ of the Wealden and Neocomian strata of the Isle of Wight. He 
_ described the section exposed at his visit to Punfield as present- 
ing :—1, True Wealden beds ; 2, a grit-bed with limestone and 
paper-shales, containing fish-bones and Cyprides ; 3, apparently 
_ argillaceous beds ; 4, a thin band of hard ferruginous sandstone 
with Atherfield fossils ; 5, a clay bed, the upper part regarded 
as representing the ‘‘ Lobster Clay” of Atherfield, the lower 
sandy portion containing an abundance of marine fossils belong- 
ing to common Atherfield species; 6, the so-called ‘‘marine 
- band ;” and 7, laminated clays and sands with lignite. The 
_ author indicated the accordance of this arrangement with what 
is observed elsewhere, and maintained that the grit-bed (No. 2), 
with its limestone and paper-shales, containing Cygris and 
Cyrena, was really to be regarded as the passage-bed between 
the Wealden and the Neocomian.—‘‘On the Coprolites of the 
Upper Greensand Formation, and on Flints,” by W. Johnson 
Sollas. The first part of this paper was principally occupied 
in an endeavour to explain the perfect fossilisation of sponges 
and other soft-bodied animals. It was shown that the hypothesis 
which considered that sponges had become silicified by an at- 
traction of their spicules for silica was altogether untenable. 
Mr. H. Johnson’s supposititious reaction, according to which the 
carbon of animal matter is directly replaced by silicon, was 
shown to be inconsistent with the known facts of chemistry. The 
author's explanation was not intended to be final. The first fact 
pointed out was the very remarkable way in which the silica or 
calcic phosphate of the fossils under consideration followed the 
former extension of organic matter. This was explained for 
silica by the fact that, when silicic acid is added to such animal 
matters as albumen or gelatin, it forms with them a definite 
_ chemical compound ; and it was assumed that in process of time 
this highly complex organic substance would decompose, its 
organic constituents would be evolved, and its silica would re- 
_main behind. In such a way flints might be produced, and 
dialysis would lend its aid. The same explanation was applied 
to account for the connection between calcic phosphate and 
animal matter in the case of the “ Coprolites.” The Blackdown 
silicified shells were next explained, and it was reasoned that the 
state of their silica offered arguments tending to prove a passage 
of silica from the colloidal to the crystalline state. The second 
“part of the paper discussed the Coprolites specially; their 
exterior appearance is extremely sponge-like, almost exactly 
resembling some species of modern sponges. They are marked 
by oscules of peculiar characters. The so-called ‘‘pores” of 
paleontologists are well marked. Spicules, triradiate, hex- 
Tadiate, sinuous, defensive and connecting, have been observed. 
They are siliceous in composition. On dissolving the coprolites 
in acid, the spicules are set free, associated with Polycystina 
“(Haltomma hexacantha, &c.) and Xanthidia (N. furcatum). 
‘The genera and species of coprolites described were as follows : 
—Khabdospongia communis, Bonneyia bacilliformis, B. cylindri- 
cus, B. Fessoni, B. scrobiculatus, B. verrongiformis, Acantho- 
_ phora Hartogii, Polycantha Etheridgii, Retia simplex, R. costata, 
" Ulospongia patera, U. calyx, U. Brunii. The external appear- 
ance of these forms, which constitute a vast number of the copro- 
a 
ites, their curious oscules and siliceous spicules, were said to 
leave no doubt as to ther spongious origin. 
Chemical Society, Dec. 19.—Prof. Williamson, F.R.S., 
vice-president, in the chair.—Analyses of water of the river 
Mahanuddy, by Mr. G. Nicholson. The author finds that the 
water of this river contains less dissolved matter than that of any 
other river in India——Researches on the polymerides of morphine 
and their derivatives, by Mr. E. Ludwig Mayer and Dr. €. R. A. 
‘Wright ; an account of the various derivatives obtained from 
_ NATURE 
morphine by acting on it with zinc chloride, hydrochloric acid, 
and sulphuric acid respectively, and also of the physiological 
properties of the compounds produced.—Three communications 
by Dr. H. E. Armstrong, from the laboratory of the London 
Institution, were then read. Derivatives of 8-dinitrophenol ; 
note on the action of bromine in presence of iodine on trinitro- 
phenol (picric acid) ; preliminary notice on iodonitrophenols. 
The last paper, by Mr. C. E. Groves, was on the formation of 
napthaquinone by the direct oxidation of napthaline, which the 
author effects by means of chromic anhydride. 
Anthropological Institute, Dec. 17.—Dr. Charnock, vice- 
president, in the chair. A paper was read by Mr. C. 
Staniland Wake on the origin of serpent-worship. After 
referring to various facts showing the existence of serpent- 
worship in many different parts of the world, the paper 
proceeded to consider the several ideas associated with 
the serpent among ancient and modern peoples. One of 
its chief characteristics was its power over the wind and 
rain. Another was its connection with health and good fortune, 
in which character it was the dgathodemon, The serpent was 
also the symbol of life or immortality, as well as of wisdom. It 
was then shown that that animal was viewed by many uncultured 
peoples as the re-embodiment of a deceased ancestor, and that 
descent was actually traced by the Mexicans and various other 
peoples from a serpent. The serpent superstition thus became a 
phase of ancestor worship, the superior wisdom and power as- 
cribed to the denizens of the invisible world being assigned also 
to their animal representatives. When the simple idea of a 
spirit ancestor was transformed into that of the Great Spirit, the 
father of the race, the attributes of the serpent would be en- 
larged, and it would be thought to have power over the rain and 
the hurricane, which provide the moisture requisite for life. 
Being thus transferred to the atmosphere, the serpent would come 
to be associated with nature, or solar worship. Hence we find that 
the sun was not onlya serpent-god, but also the divine ancestor or 
benefactor of mankind. Seth, the traditional ancestor of the Se- 
mites, was the serpent-sun-god, the Aga/hodemon, and facts were 
cited to establish that the legendary ancestors of the peoples 
classed together as Adamites was thought to possess the same 
character. It would appear to follow from this and other facts 
mentioned in the paper that serpent worship, as a developed 
religious system, originated in Central Asia, the home of the 
great Scythic stock from which the civilised races of the historical 
period sprung, and that the descendants of the legendary founder 
of that stock, the Adamites, were in a special sense serpent-wor- 
shippers. —Major W. H. Godwin-Austincontributed a paper ‘On 
the Garo Hill Tribes.” The Garos occupy the extreme west point 
of the range of hills south of the Brahmaputra, and which 
terminate with the great bend of that river on long. go° east. 
The paper entered into a comparison of the Garos with the 
kindred tribes of Duars, Kackari, and Kopili; and gave 
detailed descriptions of the physicai characteristics, religious 
rites, manners, and customs, and peculiar dwellings of that 
people. 
VIENNA 
I, R. Geological Institute, Nov. 19.—The first meeting of 
the winter season was opened by the director, Fr. y. Hauer, 
with the report on the progress of the geological survey made 
during last summer. It was carried on in three different regions 
in the north-western part of Tyrol and Vorarlberg, including 
also the dominion of Prince Liechtenstein, on the Carlstadt 
military frontier, and in the south part of Bukowina. The 
exact investigation of the limestone chain in the first region, by 
Dr. v. Majsisovics, gave very unexpected results ; not only did 
he discover Silurian (Grauwacke) strata and dyassic strata 
(Schwatz-limestone and Gréden-sandstone) unknown hitherto in 
the Rhiaticum, but he stated also that the large limestone range 
of the Drusenflah, Salzflah, and Weisplatten belongs to the 
cretaceous formation—a very important fact, which changes es- 
sentially our ideas as to the geological structure of the curious 
region which separates the eastern and western Alps. Not less 
important are the observations of Dr. Stache on the crystalline 
rocks of the Oetzthal massive. He denies the existence of any 
more recent and eruptive ‘‘ Central Gneiss ” in this region, and 
asserts that strata of the so-called rock alternate regularly with 
mica-schist, amphibolic schists, &c. in the middle part of the 
massive as well as towards its outer margins. In the southern 
part of Bukowina, a region very little known till now, Mr. Paul 
stated that the crystalline schists, forming the basis of a series 
