they will take our advice, they will not waste much time 
udying the history and progress of a futile and false art. 
With Paracelsus (b. 1493, d. 1541), a somewhat new phase of 
_the science of chemistry appeared. By pointing out the value of 
chemistry as an adjunct to medicine, he caused a number of 
_ persons to turn their attention to the subject, and to endeavour 
to ascertain the properties of various compounds. Thus he 
helped to withdraw men from the pursuit of alchemy, by assert- 
ing that the knowledge of the composition of bodies, which had 
“necessarily been forwarded by alchemy, was of importance 
to the human race, for the better prevention and curing of 
their ills. In the way of discovery or research, Paracelsus 
did little. He mentions zinc and bismuth, and associates 
them with metallic bodies, and he makes considerable use 
of several compounds of mercury, and of sal ammoniac. 
Paracelsus compares the alchemist of his day with the physi- 
_ cian, and speaks of the former in the following terms :-—‘‘ For 
they are not given to idleness, nor go in a proud habit, or plush 
and velvet garments, often showing their rings upon their 
_ fingers, or wearing swords with silver hilts by their sides, or fine 
and gay gloves upon their hands, but diligently follow their 
_ labours, sweating whole days and nights by their furnaces. 
They do not spend their time abroad for recreation, but take 
delight in their laboratory. They wear leather garments with a 
_ pouch, and an apron wherewith they wipe their hands. They 
put their fingers amongst coals, into clay, and filth, not into gold 
rings. They are sooty and black like smiths and colliers, and 
_ do not pride themselves upon clean and beautiful faces.” 
_ Among the Paracelsians we find Oswald Crollius, who men- 
-tions chloride of silver under the long-retained name of Juna 
cornea, or horn-silyer, from its peculiar horny appearance and 
ae after fusion. He was also acquainted with fulminating 
gold. 
2 The name of Andrew Libavius (died 1616) deserves men- 
tion, because he sought to free chemistry from the mazes of 
alchemy and mysticism in which it was involved. In this he to 
some extent succeeded ; and he appears also to have been a 
patient worker in the field of the science which he did so much 
to promote. He discovered the perchloride of tin which is even 
now called fuming liquor of Libavius ; he also proved that the 
acid (sulphuric acid) procured by distilling alum and sulphate of 
iron, is the same as that prepared by burning sulphur with salt- 
petre. Libavius was great at the making of artificial gems, and 
_ was able to imitate almost any precious stone by colouring glass 
with various metallic oxides. G. F, RoDWELL 
r ee ee — eee 
5 SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
THE Zoologist continues Dr. J. E. Gray’s catalogue of the 
whales and dolphins inhabiting or incidentally visiting the seas 
_ Surrounding the British Isles.—The Rev. A. C. Smith gives the 
_ results of the observations of Dr. Rey, of Halle, on the colour- 
"ing of cuckoos’ eggs, which are in favour of Dr. Baldamus 
‘theory.—From notes by Mr. J. Sclater and Mr. J. Gatcombe, 
from Castle Eden and Plymouth, we find that the glaucous gull 
has been obtained in both places, and the winds have driven 
ashore several other sea-birds, petrels, &c. 
_ THe Monthly Microscopical Yournal commences with the ex- 
cellent address of the president of the Microscopical Society, the 
perusal of which, from the enthusiasm exhibited, will convince 
"sceptics that there isa fund of enjoyment in science equal to that 
“paper on the development of the skull in the thrushes.—The 
Rev. S. L. Brackey has a paper on reduced apertures in immer- 
‘sion objectives, a subject on which Mr. R. B. Tolles and Mr. 
FP. H. Wenham have a correspondence.—There is a short and 
“severe review of Dr. Bastian’s ‘* Beginnings of Life.”—Mr. S. 
Vellshas a paper on the structure of Lepodiscus Argus, and 
G. W. Royston-Pigott one on spurious appearances in micro- 
Scopic research.—Captain T. H. Lang gives a short abstract of 
Prof. Smith’s ‘* Conspectus of the Diatomacez,” which has ap- 
eared in the Zers. . 
_ PETERMANN’s JZittheilungen (19 Band, 1873, ii). The first 
‘paper is another contribution to the literature of North Polar 
Exploration by J. Sporer, in which he shows the importance to 
‘Science and humanity of records of exploration. One of the 
‘maps in this number shows the route4 followed by two Russians, 
wlinowand Matusowski, in their politico-commercial expedition 
NATURE 
in other mental occupations—Mr. Parker also contributes a | 
Pot 
ais iat 
‘i 
7 > a. 
395 
of 1870, in Western Mongolia. Herr Fricke, a German merchant 
who has extensive connections both in East and West Africa, 
writes, giving several interesting details concerning the state of 
trade with the interior of South Africa, both from the east and 
west coast, showing that European connections with the interior 
extend much further than is indicated in our geographies and 
maps. 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LONDON 
Royal Society, March 13.—‘‘ Note on Supersaturated Saline 
Solutions.” By Charles Tomlinson, F.R.S. 
‘Visible Direction : being an Elementary Contribution to the 
Study of Monocular and Binocular Vision,” By James Jago, 
M.D. Oxon., A.B. Cantab., F.R.S. 
Anthropological Society, March 11.—At this, the first 
meeting of this Society, the rules proposed by the Organising 
Committee were adopted, subject to confirmation at the first 
Annual General Meeting; and the following officers were 
elected :—President—Dr. R. S. Charnock, F.S.A. Vice-Presi- 
dents—Capt. k. F. Burton, F.R.G.S., and C. Staniland Wake. 
Treasurer—Joseph Kaines. Council—Dr. J. Beddoe, H. B. 
Churchill, Dr. Barnard Davis, F.R.S, John Fraser, Dr. G. 
Harcourt, Dr. Sinclair Holden, Dr. T. Inman, Dr. Kelburne 
King, Dr. J. Barr Mitchell, and T. Walton. Hon. Sec.—A. L. 
Lewis. Hon. For. Sec.—Dr. Carter Blake. This Society has 
been founded in consequence of a difference of opinion among 
the members of the Anthropological Institute, and a letter from 
Capt. Burton, the well-known traveller, heartily supporting the 
new organisation, was read. 
Geologists’ Association, March 7.—Henry Woodward, 
F.G.S., &c., president, in the chair.—‘*On the Geology of 
Brighton,” by Mr. James Howell. Surface indications did 
not, he believed, afford evidence that the northern portion 
of the Downs had been submerged since its upheaval, His- 
torical documents, submerged forests, and the shallowness of 
the sea’s bottom, afforded abundant proof of the great encroach- 
ment of the sea along this part of the coast of Sussex during the 
historic period. The site of Old Brighton was stated to be sea- 
ward between East and West Streets, and not, as Lyell states, 
where the chain-pier now stands ; and the coast line at the period 
when the Brighton Valley was an estuary of the sea and a river, 
was very different from what it is now. The geological 
formations at Brighton were stated to be six, viz. silt in 
the valley, brick-earth of Hove, the Elephant-bed, Temple- 
field deposit, plastic clay of Furze Hill, and the upper chalk. 
The present paper embraced Mr. Howell’s observations of the 
first three. In the lower portion of the silt and the coombe 
rock beneath it, are embedded immense numbers of water-rolled 
sandstones, similar to the sarsenstones distributed over the 
surface of the downs ; but whether of Wealden or Tertiary 
origin is unknown. The brick-earth is a later formation than 
the elephant-bed upon which it everywhere rests, though the 
fossiliferous remains embedded in it are the same, viz., those of 
the mammoth, horse, red-deer, whale, and shell, of an: Arctic 
type. If,as Mr. Godwin Austen tells us, brick-earth is the wash 
of a terrestrial surface, how are we to account for the marine 
| remains embedded in it? The pebbles of Palzozoic rocks, 
found in the old sea-beach under the elephant-bed, were stated 
to have come from France, when that country was united to 
Britain, having travelled along a beach once extending from 
Brighton to Calvados. The observations of Mr. Howell, of 
how pebbles and pieces of rock travel along a coast, aided by 
sea-weed to which they may be attached, supp.rted this opinion. 
The author in conclusion opposed the opinion entertained by 
the geological section of the British Association during their 
visit to the Kemp Town section of the elephant-bed, that this 
remarkable deposit was formed by ice-action, and adduced the 
fact that the materials composing it are all water-rolled as cor- 
roborating the opinions of Webster, Mantell, and Lyell, 
DUBLIN 
Royal Geological Society, Jan. $.—Professor Macalister, 
president, in the chair.—The Rey. Dr. Haughton, F R.S., read 
a paper on Stirm’s Fertiliser, from New Hampden, U.S.— 
Rev. Maxwell Close read some Notes on the High Level 
| Gravels near Dublin. 
Feb. 12.—This was the annual meeting. The outgoing 
president, Professor Macalister, delivered the annual 
eee paren oe Py She 
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