ae 
Oct. 9, 1873] 
the higher nations this element becomes more and more distinctly 
marked, till the expectation of future reward and the fear of 
future punishment becomes one of the great motives of human 
life. 
Third, when theology among the rudest tribes is mostly con- 
fined to consideration of ghosts, demons, and nature-spirits, the 
intercourse with these leads to little inculcation of moral action, 
It is when ideas of the great deities become predominant, when 
men’s minds are turned to the beneficent action of the sun, or 
heaven, or earth, or to a Supreme Deity yet above these, that it 
is conceived that the order of nature includes moral order of 
human conduct. Then, as in the religion of ancient China, the 
universe and its Supreme Deity are regarded as furnishing the 
model and authority regulating man’s actions towards his kindred 
and his subjects. Thus appears, not in the beginning, but in the 
middle of the development of religious ideas among mankind, 
the leading principle of a moral government of the world and its 
inhabitants. 
In these three ways it appears from the evidence of ethnology 
that the vast transition was made from the earlier unethical to 
the later ethical systems of religion. Its course, so different from 
that imagined by the older speculative theologians, has to be 
ascertained from examination of the actual stages through which 
the religions of the world have passed. The very attempt to 
make this investigation on a basis of facts is, however, a novelty. 
SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 
THE Monthly Microscopical Journal commences with an article, 
illustrated with a plate, ‘‘ On Organic Bodies in Fire Opal,” by 
Mr. H. J. Slack, in which the author, from the appearances 
which he finds and describes, expresses an opinion, though not a 
decided one, that these minute bodies may be vegetable fossils, 
possibly algae, though the evidence he adduces is extremely slight. 
Dr. G. W. Royston Pigott continues his researches on the high- 
power definition of organic particles, and re-affirms that the 
generally received description of the Podura scale is erroneous, on 
account of the employment of spherically over-corrected objec- 
tives——Mr. Wenham criticises Dr. Pigott’s paper in the preced- 
ing number of the Journal, remarking truly that the patience of 
microscopists must eventually become exhausted by the repe- 
tition of the same theme. He then shows that Dr. Pigott claims, 
without foundation, discoveries with regard to the improvement 
of object-glasses and the ‘‘ colour test.”—Dr. Maddox, On the 
apparent relation of nerve to connective-tissue corpuscles, 
&c., in the Frog-Tadpole’s Tail, describes, in connection with 
the observations “of Eberth, Kuhne, and Moseley, cases in 
which nerve-fibres seem to lose themselves in connective tissue 
corpuscles. His results are not very decided, and hardly tend to 
settle the question.—Mr., Edwin Smith describes a new sub- 
stage for the microscope, and certain appliances for illumina- 
tion.—The paper read before the Royal Society, by Messrs. 
Pode and Lankester, is given in full. Their experiments are 
divided into eight series, in which infusions of hay and turnip, 
mixed or unmixed, with cheese finely divided or in lumps, are 
boiled and some of them sealed. When the cheese was finely com- 
minuted, Bacteria did not appear ; when in lumps, they were 
frequently found. In a boiled turnip infusion, placed in a retort 
of which the end Was left open, there was no cloud developed 
after many weeks, which is quite contrary to the observations of 
Dr. Bastian (NATURE, Feb. 6, p. 275.) 
THE Geological Magazine contains Prof. T. Sterry Hunt’s article 
from the Canadian Naturalist, on the history of the names 
Cambrian and Silurian in Geology. The subject is divided into 
three parts: 1. The history of Silurian and Upper Cambrian in 
Great Britain from 1831 to 1854. 2. That of the still more 
ancient rocks in Scandinavia, Bohemia, and Great Britain up to 
the present time. 3. The history of the Lower Palzozoic rocks 
in North America.—Mr. E. Hardman describes and gives ana- 
lyses of the Siliceous Nodular Brown Hematite (Géthite) in the 
Carboniferous Limestone Beds near Cookstown, Co. Tyrone. 
The ore contains as much as 52°2 per cent. of iron, on the 
average, and no sulphur.—Mr. J. C. Mansel-Pleydell has a brief 
memoir on the geology of Dorsetshire, which is an interesting 
summary of the most important points in the unbroken series 
from the Liassic to the Quaternary formations found in_ the 
county.—Mr. Joshua Wilson, in endeavouring to arrive at the 
time when the Gulf Stream reached the British Coast and so 
dispersed the then abundant glaciers, ingeniously shows that a 
NATURE 
499 
raised beach, containing Arctic shells, mentioned by Geikie in 
his “‘Scenery of Scotland,” must have been produced before that 
event, otherwise i: would have been removed by the offshore 
under-current which always accompanies an onshore wind, —Dr. 
Winkler’s description of Prerodactylus micronyx in the Jeyler 
Museum, from the Lithographic Stone of Eichstitt, in Bavaria. 
The specimen is very small and complete. There are four 
phalanges in the long finger of the hand. In the foot there are 
two in hallux ; three on the second and third ; and two, with no 
metatarsus, on the fourth (Stiimmel).—In a letter to the editor, 
Mr. T. W. Danby, after comparing the new method of writing 
crystallographic formulz proposed by Mr. Rutley, shows that it 
is not so advantageous as that of Dr. Whewell, modified by 
Prof. W. H. Miller; it is therefore doubtful whether its partial 
ar will not place a further obstacle in the student’s 
path. 
THE numbers of the Journal of Botany for August, Septem- 
ber, and October, fully maintain the character of this magazine. 
In addition to the short notes and queries in each number, which 
often contain points of great interest to the systematic or physio- 
logical botanist, the following articles may be mentioned as of 
special value :—Dr. Alfred Nathorst, of the Geological Survey 
of Sweden, contributes a paper on the Distribution of Arctic 
plants during the Post-Glacial Epoch, which he considers to 
exhibit gradual changes of climate from the Forest-bed down to 
the Boulder-clay.— Prof. Church gives an analysis of the giant 
puff-ball, Lycoperdon giganteum, which he finds to contain, when 
dried, as much as 66°78 per cent. of albuminoids, and the ash 
46°19 per cent. of phosphorus pentoxide.—Mr. J. G. Baker 
describes a very interesting new genus of ferns, Diflora, of the 
tribe Asfleniez, from the Solomon Islands.—From the same 
botanist we have a valuable synopsis of the East Indian species 
of Dracena and Cordyline.—Mr. J. Ball commences a descrip- 
tion of some of the new species, sub-species, and varieties of 
plants collected by Dr. Hooker and himself in Morocco in 1871; 
the flora belongs essentially to the Mediterranean type, and the 
number of novelties is not comparatively large.—Mr. Carruthers 
gives his very valuable annual Review of the Contributions to 
Fossil Botany published in Britain in 1872, comprising 23 dis- 
tinct papers or abstracts.—In these numbers we have also parts 
vi. and vii. of the Rev. E. O’Meara’s Recent Researches in the 
Diatomacez. 
THE second part of vol. xxix. of the Zyamsactions of the 
Linnean Society, just published, is occupied by a continuation 
of Colonel Grant and Prof. Oliver’s ‘‘ Botany of the Speke and 
Grant Expedition.” The number of new species described in 
this part is thirty-five ; and it is illustrated by thirty-five full- 
sized 4to plates, the expense of which is munificently borne by 
Col. Grant. 
Der Naturforscher, August—The eruption of Vesuvius last 
year attracted much scientific observation, and we have in the 
present serial an abstract of a valuable paper by M. Heim on 
the nature and formation of lava, of which he distinguishes two 
kinds, ‘“‘lump” lava and ‘‘cake” lava (Schollen and Fladen), 
differing, he found, not in chemical constitution, but merely in 
vapour-contents. In the physical division we may note M. 
Wiedemann’s experiments in measuring the elliptical polarisa- 
tion from reflection on bodies with surface colours, for a series of 
angles of incidence, and different parts of the spectrum. Meteoro. 
logy is represented by M. Dufour’s recent observations on re- 
flection of solar heat from the Lake of Geneva; and an inter- 
esting paper entitled ‘‘ Polar Lights and Earth Lights.” There 
is a description of M. Zéllner’s new mode of estimating the abso- 
lute temperature of the sun, which is based simply on a knowledge 
of the density relation between two different layers of the 
hydrogen atmosphere, the distance between them being known. 
The value his formula gives {fs 61350°. Among botanical 
subjects treated are, autumn colouring of leaves and formation 
of vegetable acids, summer dryness of our trees and shrubs, and 
passage of radiant heat through leaves. Some physiological 
experiments by M. Rosenthal, on the time-relations of reflex 
phenomena, are described; and there is a variety of other 
matter, much of which has already been noticed in these 
columns, 
Annalen der Chemieund Pharmacie. Band. clxviii. Heft. 1, July 
16.—The number opens with four papers by Prof. Ad. Claus, on 
azophenylen, on di-iodhydrin, on the action of ammonia on dichlo- 
hydrin, and on the preparation of dichlorhydrin. The first of 
these contains a long and exhaustive account of the body in ques- 
