% 
mige. 17, 1871 | 
NATURE 
317 

SECTION C. 
AFTER the reading of Prof. Geikie’s Report on the Progress of 
the Geological Survey, Mr. James Thomson, F.G.S., read a 
paper On the Age of the Stratified Rocks of Isla. Ue gave an 
account of the general character and relations of the beds, which 
are much affected by intrusive igneous rocks, and illustrated the 
subject by two sections—one of the east coast of Isla and a 
transverse section of thesame. His paper contained much detail, 
which was hardly of sufficient interest toa general audience, but 
it clearly showed an amount of careful investigation that will 
prove of great value to geologists. 
In the discussion which followed, Mr. Geikie differed from the 
author in his identification of the Fundamental Gneiss, and he 
thought sufficient evidence of its presence had not been brought 
forward. Professor Harkness regarded the Gneiss as corre- 
sponding with the newer gneiss of the Highlands, Mr. Thomson, 
in reference to some remarks upon ozd0x, stated that having 
sent to Dr. Carpenter some specimens of the rock, he reported 
that Zozdon structure was not sufficiently distinct to warrant him 
in calling it Zo2007. 3 
The Third Report of the Committee on Earthquakes in Scot- 
Zand was communicated by Dr. Bryce, F.R.G.S., F.G.S. 
There was nothing, however, of importance to make known, but 
a few slight earthquakes having been felt—one at Lochaber and 
another in the upper part of the Firth of Clyde. In regard to 
the latter, very little information that could be depended upon 
had been obtained, but there was less doubt respecting the other. 
It occurred in a district in which some of our most severe earth- 
quakes have taken place. However, in the absence of any re- 
cording instruments, it has been impossible to state with certainty 
the intensity of the shocks. The Committee recommend the 
adoption of a much simpler form of Seismometer than that at 
Comrie belonging to the Association ; they also proposed placing 
such an instrument at a number of the meteorological stations 
which are within the area liable to disturbance. 
Mr. Henry Woodward, F.G.S., read his Report on the Struc- 
ture and Classification of the Fossil Crustacea, first noticing the 
new forms discovered and described during the past year, which 
amounted in all to 21 species, including 6 Decapods, 1 Amphi- 
pod, 2 Isopods, 1 Eurypterid, and 13 Phyllopods. He referred 
to the wide distribution of a new Cretaceous Isopod (Palega 
Carteri) which had been found in Upper Silesia, at Turin, and in 
three localities in England, and pointed out that if the conclu- 
sions arrived at by Mr. Billings and himself as to the Trilobites 
possessing legs be established by further research, then that 
group would carry the Isopodous class back in time to our earliest 
Paleozoic rocks. 
The structure of Dictyoxylon (D. Grievit), a new species of 
which had been discovered by Mr. G. J. Grieve, near Burntis- 
land, formed the subject of some remarks by Prof. W. C. Wil- 
liamson. He regarded the form as of a type belonging to the 
Coal Measures. 
SECTION D. 
SUB-SECTION.—ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY 
THE Committee for the Foundation of Zoological Sec- 
tions in Different Parts of the Globe, reported that since 
the last meeting at Liverpool steps were taken by Dr. Dohrn to 
secure the moral assistance of some other scientific bodies, that 
the Academy of Belgium had passed a vote acknowledging the 
great value of the proposed Observatories. Besides, the Govern- 
ment at Berlin had given instruction to the German Embassy at 
Florence and to the General Consul at Naples for Germany to 
do everything to secure success to Dr. Dohrn’s enterprise. Next 
October the building at Naples will commence, under Dr. 
Dohrn’s personal superintendence, who will be accompanied by 
the assistant architect of the Berlin Aquarium. The contractor 
is to finish the building in one year, so that in January 1873 the 
Aquarium in Naples may be hoped to be in working order. 
The Naples Observatory being thus arranged for, the Com- 
mittee urged the importance of establishing a Zoological Station 
in the British Islands, and to the opportunity, which is now | 
offered for such a proposition in consequence of the cessation of 
the grant to the Kew Observatory. In the same way as the 
Association took the initiative in the foundation of Meteorological 
Observatories, so may they legitimately, and with every prospect 
of success, take in hand the foundation of Zoological Observa- 
tories. Until a recent date the Association has given consider- 
able sums of money to dredging explorations ; but in consequence 
of the advance in Zoological Science the problems are so much | 

changed, and their nature is of such a character as to demand 
the assistance of the Association in other directions. The care- 
ful study of the development and the habits of marine animals 
can only be carried on by aid of larger Aquariums and cumbrous 
apparatus, which an individual could hard!y provide for himself. 
This and the copious supply of animals for observation can be 
provided by such a co-operative institution. There can be little 
doubt of the convenience to Naturalists and the benefit to science 
which would be brought about by the foundation of a Zoological 
Station in the British Isles. 
The Committee recommends that a Committee of the Associa- 
tion be formed for the purpose of erecting a Zoological Station 
at a convenient place on the South Coast of England, say Tor- 
quay, and that a sufficient sum of money be placed at their dis- 
posal either by a single or a series of annual grants. 
Prof. E. Perceval Wright suggested that Bantry Bay would 
be a good place for establishing such a station. Here scientific 
research could be carried on at a very trifling expense, and 
although no return would be obtained from visitors to the 
Aquarium, yet from this station other Aquaria might be supplied 
at a remunerative rate. Prof. Lawson remarked that such a 
station might be turned to good account for the investigation of 
the marine Flora as wellas Fauna. Prof. Dunns trusted the 
Department would make a very hearty recommendation to the 
Council of the Association on this subject, in which Prof. Wy- 
ville Thomson concurred ; and Dr. Sclater, who had read the 
Report, promised that the matter should be laid before the full 
Committee of the Section. 
The Report was signed by Dr. A. Dohrn, Prof. Rolleston, and 
Dr. Sclater. 
SUB-SECTION, —ANTHROPOLOGY 
Pror. W. TURNER opened the Section with an address from 
the chair, in which he traced the rise and growth of the science 
of Anthropology, and the vicissitudes in the fortunes of the sub- 
section over which he presided. Anthropology was first allowed 
place in the proceedings of the British Association under the 
head of Zoology and Botany ; then it was assigned to the depart- 
ment of Geography, and at last, in 1865, resumed again its old 
place under the newly named department of Biology, which 
embraced not merely Zoology and Botany, but the whole science 
of organisation. The science of man obviously has an organic 
connection with Biology, and ranges itself naturally under that 
master science. Within its scope falls everything which has a 
direct bearing on man, and as nearly every branch of human 
knowledge has a relation, more or less, to man, questions may 
occasionally arise whether papers brought before the sub-section 
come within its province or more naturally belong to the other 
sections. The most satisfactory way of solving this difficulty 
would be for the different sections concerned to come to a com- 
mon understanding, that all papers, which treat of the origin and 
progress of mankind, should be forwarded to the Department of 
Anthropology. The term Anthropologists—dv@pwmoAo0yoi—was 
first used by Aristotle, as to denote “‘ gossips,” or talkers about 
men rather than facts. And if we lay claim to the title, let it not 
be in this sense, but in the nobler and wider sense of humble and 
patient students of the great science of human nature. 
Dr. Beddoe then read a paper Ox the Degeneration of Races in 
| Britain, in which he urged the necessity of systematic inquiry 
into the physical changes which are now taking place in our 
population. Cf the four countries—England, Wales, Scotland, 
and Ireland—the first, which is the richest, and considered to be 
the most advanced in material civilisation, and whose habits and 
modes of life are more and more imitated by the others, is, ac- 
cording to Edward Smith’s reports on the subject, the one in 
which the people are most scantily and ill-nourished. The 
scarcity of milk especially, as to its supply to children in towns 
and in dairy districts, is a growing evil, and one of national 
importance. Here may be mentioned, as having probablyarelation 
to the quality of the food, and possibly to this very defect of 
milk, the apparently growing evil of unsound teeth, which, again, 
seems to advance far7 pass with the advance of material civili- 
sation, and is worst among the English and the townsmen of the 
United States, not so conspicuous among the Scotch, and de- 
cidedly at the minimum among the Irish. Certain changes in 
the process of natural selection, as it operates on our people, 
seem to be on the whole detrimental to the standard of 
physical type. Emigration drains away large numbers of the 
stronger and more energetic young men from the best of oue 
districts; so do the military and civil service in India; and thr 
voids arg supplied to a less extent than they used to be from the 
