Aug. 4, 1870] 
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NATURE 28s 
SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LONDON 
___ Royal Society of Literature, June 22.—N. E. S. A. 
_ Hamilton, librarian, in the chair. _Mr. W. R. Cooper exhibited 
a Greek Tablet from the Hay Collection, found by the late 
Mr. Robert Hay in the Aasaseef, Thebes, about 1823. Mr. Cooper 
stated that the relic was one of peculiar interest, as it was a 
palimpsest tablet, upon which had been written, in the bold 
uncials peculiar to the fourth century, a list of familiar Grecian 
names, and among them that of Athanasius. This circumstance, 
and the fact that it was found near to the ruins of a Christian 
church, where a long inscription in honour of Athanasius once 
_ existed, seemed to warrant a belief that the tablet had some con- 
nection with that famous bishop, the more so as the name was 
not a common one in Grecian history, and the characters are 
unquestionably of the period in which he lived. Mr. Cooper was 
_ supported in his views by Mr. W. S. Vaux and Mr. Hamilton, who 
examined the antiquity with much interest, and supplemented 
his short paper by some very able remarks of their own. 
Quekett Microscopical Club, July 22.—Annual general 
meeting, Mr. Peter le Neve Foster, president, in the chair. 
According to the annual report of the committee, which 
was read, the Club still maintains its popularity and success. 
It numbers over 500 members, and meets for the prose- 
cution of miscroscopical inquiry twice a month throughout 
the year. Mr. Peter le Neve Foster, in vacating the pre- 
sidential chair which he had so ably filled during the 
past year, delivered his valedictory address, in which he 
called attention to various open questions in microscopical 
science, and which were fields well worth the labour required 
for their investigation, and which he considered the members 
_ might undertake with pleasure to themselves and advan- 
_ tage to the world at large.—Prof. Lionel S. Beale, F.R.S., 
was elected president for the ensuing year, and Messrs. Henry 
Lee, F.L.S., Arthur E. Durham, F.R.C.S., Peter le Neve 
Foster, M.A., and Dr. Robt. Braithwaite, F.L.S., were elected 
vice-presidents, while Messrs. Allbon, T. W. Burr, F.R.A.S., 
Witham M. Bywater, and Charles F. White, were elected to 
fill four vacancies on the Committee.—The proceedings then 
terminated in a conversazioie. 
Syro-Egyptian Society, July 19.—Messrs. Bonomi and 
Simpson attended to exhibit and explain a large collection 
of water-colour and pencil drawings, mostly by the late Mr. 
Robert Hay, and now the property of hisson, Mr. R.J. A. Hay, 
of Munraw. The sketches represented Egyptian views and 
antiquities, the most interesting of which were as follows :— 
A series of coloured views of Philol and Koum Ombos, taken 
. about 1833, the more valuable as the latter temple having fallen 
down is now almost completely buried in the Nile alluvium. A 
series of very elaborately finished drawings of the palace temple 
of Medinet Habou, by the late C. Laver. The original measured 
plans, sections and details of the Pyramids of Gizeh, by C. 
_ Catherwood (to whom and Bonomi we owe the first accurate 
_ map of the Haram es Shereef). These were accompanied by 
_ notes and details of the now famous Sarcophagus in the king’s 
chamber. A large panoramic view of Z%ebes and a folio of 
_ sketches near Karnak, in pencil, by F. Arundale. A view of 
the singular Purple Lake near Thebes, so called from an unex- 
plained phencmenon, viz., that its waters at a certain period 
- annually assume a purple tint. And, lastly, a collection of mis- 
cellaneous hieroglyphic inscriptions and mural paintings from 
the Tombs at Gourna. Many of these, apart from their artistic 
merit, are deserving notice as being excellent illustrations of the 
marvellous accuracy obtainable by the use of an almost for- 
gotten instrument, the camera lucida, by means of which, ere the 
_ days of photography, the splendid works of Canaletti, Britton, 
Roberts, and Hay were produced. At the same meeting were 
also exhibited, by Mr. T. Christy of Fenchurch-street, seven 
volumes of beautiful photographs from the East, taken in 1869 
by M. Felix Bonfils. They represented the present condition of 
most of the buildings comprised in the Hay drawings, and ex- 
_ emplified in many cases the wanton vandalism of the celebrated 
Mahomet Ali, who caused many of the then almost perfect 
temples to be destroyed for the sake of their materials, with 
which distilleries, cotton factories, and warehouses were erected 
about the years 1836 and 1840, in fact until the havoc was 
arrested by a vigorous ‘‘ Appeal to the Antiquaries of Europe” 
(1841), by the late G.R. Gleddon, U.S. Consul at Cairo, to 
whose energy and the united action of the sayans of France and 
: 
England, the present conservation of the monuments of Ancient 
Egypt are due. 
Zoological Society, June 23.—Prof. Flower, F.R.S., V.P., 
in the chair. An extract was read from a letter received from 
Dr. J. Anderson, of Calcutta, containing additional remarks on 
the dolphin of the Irrawaddi.—Two letters were read from Mr. 
W. H. Hudson, Corresponding Member, containing remarks on 
birds observed by him in the vicinity of Buenos Ayres.—Mr. 
Howard Saunders exhibited and made remarks wpon some nest- 
lings of the Booted Eagle (Aguila pennata) from Southem Spain. 
—Dr. J. Murie read a memoir on the anatomy of the walrus 
(Trichechus rosmarus), principally founded upon the example of 
this animal that had lived for some time in the Society’s Gardens 
in November 1867.— Dr. J. Murie also read notes on a species 
of Zenia from the rhinoceros, which he regarded as probably 
undescribed ; and on a case of variation in the horns of the 
Panolian Deer (Cerwes eld). A third communication from Dr. 
J. Murie contained remarks on Phoca groenlandica, its modes of 
progression and its anatomy.—Mr. R. Swinhoe communicated a 
catalogue of the mammals of South China and Formosa, with 
notes upon the various species that he had observed during his 
numerous travels in those countries. A second communi- 
cation from Mr. R. Swinhoe contained a list of birds 
collected by Mr. C. Collingwood during a cruise in the 
seas of China and Japan, with notes by the collector. The 
collection was stated to embrace examples of 33 species, amongst 
which were several of rare occurrence.—A communication was 
read from Dr, O. Finsch, C.M.Z.S., containing an account of a 
collection of birds recently obtained in the Island of ‘rini- 
dad. The collection included 115 species, amongst which were 
several new to the avi-fauna of the island.—Messrs. H. E. 
Dresser and R. B. Sharpe read a paper on the Great Grey Shrike 
(Lanius excudbitor) and its allies. The differential characters of 
the various species were pointed out, and special attention was 
drawn to the Indian Grey Shrikes (Zavius lahtora) which was 
considered to be identical with the Algerian Zanius pallens or 
dealbatus.— A communication was read from Mr. J. Brazier, 
C.M.Z.S., containing notes on the habits of the Grakle of the 
Solomon Islands, recently described by Mr. Sclater as Gracul 
hrefjti.—Mtr. J. Brazier also communicated descriptions of ten 
new species of land shells, collected by Mr. W. F. Petterd in 
various parts of the Australian region.—Messrs. Sclaterand Sal- 
vin read an account of several species of birds recently received 
by M. Boucard of Paris, in collections from Mexico, which were 
new to the avi-fauna of that country.—Dr. J. E. Gray communi- 
cated a paper on some tortoises in the British Museum, with de- 
scription of some new species. 
Ethnological Society, June 27.—Extra meeting, Prof. 
Busk, F.R.S., inthechair. Sir John Lubbock, Bart., described 
the opening of the Park Cwm Tumulus, in the peninsula of 
Gower, South Wales, and exhibited a plan of the structure. — 
The Rey. Canon Greenwell read a paper on his explorations in 
Grime’s Graves, Norfolk. These so-called graves consist of a 
large number of pits and galleries in the chalk, excavated in pre- 
historic times for the working of flint. The explorations led to 
the discovery of many neolithic flint implements, picks made of 
the antlers of the red deer, and curiously-sculptured fragments of 
chalk. Colonel Lane Fox, Mr. Flower, Mr. Fisher, Sir ]. 
Lubbock, and Mr. Dawkins took part in the discussion.—Mr. J. 
W. Flower exhibited a large collection of specimens from the 
neighbourhood of Mr. Greenwell’s discoveries, including objects 
of widely different dates, such as palzeolithic and neolithic flint 
implements, a large British urn, and a fine Roman glass bottle. 
Mr, Boyd Dawkins then gave a verbal abstract of his paper on 
the discovery of the remains of platycnemic, or flat-shinned 
people in Denbighshire. Explorations were made ina refuse-heap 
in a tumulus, and in two bone-caverns, and the human remains 
thus obtained were exhibited. These proved that platyenemism 
was manifest in the ancient dwellers in North Wales, as well as 
in those who buried their dead in the caye of Cro-Magnon in 
France, and in those whose remains are found in the caves of 
Gibraltar.—Prof. Busk exhibited and described the peculiarly- 
formed tibiae, and distinguished two forms of platycnemism, but 
attached no value to this peculiarity as a race-character.—Several 
other papers were taken as read, this being the last meeting of 
the session. 
PaRis 
Academy of Sciences, July 25.—M. J. Darboux read a 
reply to some observations by M. Catalan on his note on the 
centres of curvature of an algebraic surface. M. Bertrand com- 
