April 10, 1873] 
NATURE 
443 
current number of the Fortnightly, 1 should desire, with 
your kind permission, to find in your columns the oppor- 
tunity of saying without delay the single word which still 
seems necessary between Dr. Stirling and myself. 
Dr, Stirling now holds that the real question between him and 
me is whether or not Hegel ‘‘attempted” to produce ‘“‘a 
Hegelian Calculus.” And so it seems to him a virtual con- 
cession of the entire case when I say that the phrase “‘ Hegelian 
Calculus ” is used by mein irony. Dr. Stirling, I fear, misunder- 
stands me. What Hegel has given us on the subject of the 
Calculus is, strictly speaking, nonsense. But, as I have shown, 
this nonsense is not mere metaphysic, but involves mathematical 
absurdity. It is of course only in irony that one can dignify 
the paradoxes of mathematical ignorance with the title of a 
Calculus ; and if this admission satisfies Dr. Stirling, then our 
controversy is at an end. W. RoBerTson SMITH 
Aberdeen, April 3 
Meteorology of the Future 
I WIsH to call the attention of the writer of the article ‘‘ The 
Meteorology of the Future,” which appeared in NATURE of 
December 12, 1872, to a little work which appears to have en- 
tirely escaped his notice. 
In the beginning of 1871 I circulated a small book of t wenty- 
four pages, containing results deduced from the observations 
made at this Observatory, 1841 to 1870, I have given the 
decimal and annual variations of all the meteorological elements 
collected, and have pointed out their mutual interdependence. 
T have also given on an enlarged scale the curves of variations of 
annual mean temperature and freedom of the sun’s disc from 
spots, which appeared in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, 
March 23, 1871. 
No one acquainted with the subject would, I presume, believe 
that periodical variations could exist in the temperature without 
existing also in the other meteorological elements ; vapour as 
measured by tension, hence barometer humidity and rainfall. 
In the introduction to the work referred to, it is stated with 
regard to the curve of temperature and inverse curve of solar 
spots :—‘‘ There is an agreement between the curves which will 
probably be regarded as too close to be the result of accident, 
and which renders it probable that the two phenomena, repre- 
sented by the curves, result from the actio1 of a common cause 
connected with changes of mean solar energy.” And this es- 
tablished with more or less probability, I pro:eeded to poiat out 
(p. 17)—‘‘ That the variations of temperature are borne out by 
those of tension of vapour,” and on page 22—‘‘That the cor- 
tespondence between humidity and rainfall is strongly marked,” 
and also that—“ The correspondence between a curve swept to 
represent the variations in raiafall and the inverse curve of the 
variations in mean temperature is of a marked character.” 
You will perceive, therefore, that the connection between solar 
spots as an indication of less solar heating power and vapour, 
and rain, as well as temperature, was in the book referred to 
explicitly pointed out. I may add to this note, that the rain- 
fall for 
1871 was 20'098 inches 
1872 was 29°325 inches. 
E. J. STONE 
Royal Observatory, Cape of Good Hope 
Bright Meteor 
I HAVE this evening, at 7.40, seen the brightést meteor I have 
ever beheld: starting from a point about half-way between 
Cassiopza and the Pole star, it descended through about 20° of 
arc, when it was lost sight of behind a cloud: this cloud was a 
thick white opaque cloud shining brightly in the moonlight, but 
the meteor behind it illuminated the sky, and made the cloud 
appear for the moment dark against it. 
The colour of the meteor was a decided green; its passage 
was not very rapid ; it appeared far brighter than any star or 
planet, and seemed to have a short tail. Not only was it a 
gloriously beautiful object in itself, but it illuminated all the sky 
in its neighbourhood with its greenish light. _ : 
EpMuND H. VERNEY, Commander R.N. 
H.M.S, Growler, off Cape Matapan, March 5 
The Great Meteoric Shower of November 27, 1872 
THIS interesting display was also observed in the neighbour- 
hood of the small town of Santa Lucia in Venezuela (10° 12’ 
N., 68° 57’ W. from Paris), by Dr. A. Alamo. The first 
meteors were seen at half-past 7, about 100 in 30 minutes. 
Most of them followed an easterly course, some leaving a lumi- 
nous track visible for several minutes. From 8 to 12 o'clock 
their number was too large for counting, but after midnight the 
weather got misty, and few meteors could be distinguished. 
The shower, however, continued, and still in the morning some 
meteors were traceable. Unfortunately Dr. Alamo cannot say 
anything about the radiant point of the shower. At Caracas the 
sky was densely overcast, and not even a glimpse of the spectacle 
could be obtained. Dr. A. ERNST 
Caracas, Feb. 21 ‘ 
The Antiquity of Man 
Tue letter of Sic John Lubbock in your issue of March 27, 
induces me to call attention to what seems to me to be an anomaly 
in the state of our evidence conceraing fossil man. Sir J. 
Lubbock has insisted, and with much reason, on the parallelism 
between the condition of existing savage races and that of fossil 
man ; but, I would ask, is there any existing savage race capable 
of delineating animals in the masterly way in which the elephant 
is delineated on the plate of bone figured at page 326 of 
NaTuRE (February 27, 1873)? Such a life-like representation 
as is here produced by a few rough scratches would not discredit 
a modern artist. Unless I am under a misapprehensioa, the 
best figures that living savages can produce are but uncouth 
things, in which case either the parallelism between the intelli- 
gence of existing savage races and of fossil man fails in one im- 
portant particular, or else a suspicion arises as to the contempo- 
raneity of these engraved bones with palzolithic man; and a 
doubt is thrown on the supposed antiquity of the Troglodytes 
to whose hands this engraving is ascribed. 
We should, I think, until this discrepancy is explained, look 
with still greater suspicion upon the contemporaneity of en- 
graved representations of animals with so early a form as 
Miocene man, or accept them as any evidence of his existence 
at that epoch. : 
While suggesting the above caution, I would not, however, be 
understood to dissent from the probability of some form of man 
having existed as far back as the Miocene period, since, eleven 
years ago, I observed in the Phil. Mag. (for April, 1862, last 
paragraph but one of the paper) that the views there discussed 
“seemed to me to lead us to the presumption of a far greater 
antiquity for our race than had hitherto been accorded to ir, 
reaching perhaps far back into the Tertiary period.” 
Brentwood, Essex SEARLES V. Woop, JUN. 
Skeletons at Mentone 
A VERY accomplished geologist, a friend of mine, is now 
staying at Mentone, for the benefit of his health, and he writes 
to me under the date of the 25th ult. as follows : 
‘Another skeleton has just been found here in one of the 
caverns. It is far less perfect than the former one. The head is 
crushed and partly wanting, and a considerable portion of the 
vertebral column is absent. The limbs, however, indicate a 
person of larger size than the first skeleton. Oa the arms are 
bracelets of shells, which are bored for stringing. The parts 
found are lying in their natural position. With the skeleton are 
traces of what looks like very fine iron ore. Of this substance 
there is but a very small quantity, perhaps two or three table- 
spoonfuls.” . 
With regard to the iron ore, there have been many conjectures, 
and it is extremely remarkable that about the same quantity of 
a similar substance was found with the first skeleton. The more 
general opinion seems to be, that this material was employed ia 
some burial rite. W. 
Torquay, April 1 
[From a cutting from Zes Echos de Cannes sent us by W. T., 
we learn further that the head was covered by a network of 
shells, and that beside the skeleton were found many implements 
of bone, and even drawings of fish and swans.—Eb. ] 
Instinct 
Perception in Ants 
THE following fact with respect to the habits of ants, which I 
believe to be quite new, has been sent to me by a distinguished 
geologist, Mr. J. D. Hague; and it appears well worth pub- 
lishing. CHARLES DARWIN 
