Oct 20, 1870] 
NATURE 
493 
It may also be of interest to state that on the 21st inst. I 
observed a bright meteor to shoot in a path from near the 
Pole Star to Capella, vanishing near the latter after discharging 
a brilliant light-green flash. 
From Ilfracombe the view to the north commands an exten- 
sive range of the sea horizon, 
ERAS. OMMANNEY, Rear-Admiral 
Ilfracombe, Devon 
Natural History Museums 
WHILE admiring and agreeing with the main features of Dr. 
P. L. Sclater’s plan for the exhibition of the National Natural 
History collections in the new Museum at Kensington, I must 
beg to be allowed to enter a protest with regard to the geo- 
logical portion of the scheme, which was all but completely 
overlooked by those who took part in the discussion of his sug- 
gestions and by Dr. Sclater himself. 
The only words which Dr, Sclater devoted to the subject were 
to the effect that the palzontological collections should be merged 
into the general zoological and botanical ones. This arrangement 
‘is, however, one which will not serve the purpose of the geologist. 
We can fancy the utter misery of the man who wishes to study 
the fossils of some special formation, when he finds that to do so 
he will have to rush from case to case, amid stuffed and spirit 
specimens of all kinds, all over the place. The naturalists who 
deplore the loss of time incurred by them under the present order 
of things at the British Museum, have no thought for the geologist 
whom their proposed arrangement would condemn to far worse 
wandering in the new building. But in this particular I, as a 
geologist, sincerely trust that the project will not be carried out 
without some revision, and that a paleontological collection, 
quite independent of any other, and arranged stratigraphically, 
will forma by no means inconspicuous part of the Museum. 
The advantages of this system may be seen at a glance in Jermyn 
Street, where the British fossils are thus arranged. 
In a collection as large as that of the National Museum must 
be, it may very likely be found impossible to exhibit specimens 
of every species in the show cases, and indeed it is by no means 
desirable that this should be done. It would be quite sufficient, 
and as far as the general public is concerned infinitely better, to 
limit the ex/zbited specimens to those belonging to species cha- 
racteristic of each formation, and to keep all others, which would 
interest students only, in a cabinet drawer, where they would be 
at once handy to the specialist and not wearying to the sight-seer. 
Duplicates enough could doubtless be spared to complete the 
zoological and botanical series in the lower galleries, but unique 
and rare specimens should, to my mind; most decidedly be kept 
for the geological series. In conjunction with the latter, it would 
be highly desirable to establish a lithological collection, the 
absence of which, with the solitary exception of the small one in 
the Geological Museum, is every day more and more to be won- 
dered at in such a country as curs. 
Not only should appropriate rock-specimens accompany the 
fossils of each fossiliferous bed, but they should be so arranged 
that the organisms and the matrix in which they are found em- 
bedded, could be examined side by side. Typical examples of 
unfossiliferous strata should be placed in their regular order of 
succession, including specimens of contemporaneous rocks from 
other parts of the world. Clear geological sketch-maps, boldly 
coloured and not over-burdened with names, showing the distri- 
bution (so far as it is known) of the various equivalent groups of 
beds, should be placed in conspicuous places at intervals in the 
room or gallery, and thus, or in some closely-resembling manner, 
could a homogeneous whole be arrived at, combining the greatest 
amount of instruction to the public and the greatest convenience 
to the student. 
Of course the geological collection shadowed forth above would 
by no means take the place of another more detailed lithological 
collection, which should, it possible, be added to the minera- 
logical one, containing all the igneous rocks, &c., and, like the 
minerals, arranged chemically. 
G. A. LEexzour, F.G.S. &c., 
of the Geological Survey of England. 
Changes of Level at Pozzuoli, referred to in the 
**Apocryphal Acts of Peter and Paul” 
In the well-known description which Sir Charles Lyell givcs 
ol the changes of level of the shores of the Bay of Baiz in the 
30th chapter of his *‘ Principles of Geology,” there occur at pagcs 
172-174 (vol ii. 10th edition) the following statements. 
Speaking of the so-called ‘‘ Temple of Serapis,” and its adorn- 
ment by the Emperor Alexander Severus between A.D, 222 and 
235, hesays: ‘‘ From that era there ts an entire dearth of historical 
information for a period of 12 centuries, except the significant fact 
that Alaric and his Goths sacked Pozzuoli in 410, and that 
Genseric did the like in 440 A.p.” Again: ‘ The period of deep 
submergence was certainly antecedent to the close of the 15th 
century’—a statement which he goes on to prove by a quotation 
from Loffredo referring to the year 1530, and a reference to 
documents cited,by A. di Joris, one of which, dated 1503, speaks 
of land ‘‘ where the sea is drying up.” 
Still more recently Professor Phillips, in his interesting volume 
on Vesuvius, speaking (p. 244) of the ‘Temple of Serapis,” 
observes that, at the time of its adomment by the Emperor, 
“early in the 3rd century, it must have been in its original, or 
else in its second stage—perhaps we may adopt the latter view— 
there may have been a depression of 5ft., a new floor, restoration, 
and adornment. Nothing is absolutely known of any further 
change of level till the early part of the 16th century.” 
Thus both the authorities cited appear to agree that from the 
middle of the 3rd to the end of the 15th century there is a o/a/ 
absence of information. You may therefore possibly think that 
the following extract from the ‘‘ Apocryphal Acts of Peter and 
Paul” possesses some interest, even though it may be difficult to 
agree on the approximate date of the writer. Your columns 
would scarcely be the place, nor am I competent, to discuss this 
last point, but as one of the MSS. collected by Professor 
Tischendorf for his edition of the Greek original is said to be of 
the end of the 9th century, it appears to me that we have here 
not only a rather quaint explanation of the immediate cause of 
the changes of level of the land at Pozzuoliand in its neighbour- 
hood, but a distinct reference at /eust to six centuries before the 
Italian writers already quoted, not merely to the fact, but also to 
the extent, of the movement in question. Notwithstanding its 
suspicious legendary framework, the statement that ‘‘ Pontiole 
sunk into the sea-shore about one fathom ; and Chere it ts until 
this day, for a remembrance, under the sea,” has an air of 
vraisemblance, a ring of truthfulness, about it which I hope will 
justify my bringing the matter under the notice of those so much 
more competent than I am to assign to it its true value, and to 
whom it may possibly be new. 
I quote from the translation by Mr. A. Walker, forming a 
portion of Vol. xvi. of the ‘‘ Ante-Nicene Library,’’ published 
by Messrs. Clark of Edinburgh, pp. 257-8. 
F. Fox Tucketr 
Frenchay, near Bristol, Oct. 3 
“*And when Paul came out of Mesina he sailed to Didymus, 
and remained there one night, and having sailed thence, he 
came to Pontiole (Puteoli) on the second day. And Dioscorus the 
shipmaster, who brought him to Syracuse, sympathising with 
Paul because he had delivered his son from death, having left his 
own ship in Syracuse, accompanied him to Pontiole. And some 
of Peter’s disciples having been found there, and having received 
Paul, exhorted him to stay with them. And he stayed a week 
in hiding, because of the command of Czesar (that he should be 
put to death). And all the toparchs were watching to seize and 
kill him. But Dioscorus the shipmaster, being himself bald, 
wearing his shipmaster’s dress, and speaking boldly, on the first 
day went into the city of Pontiole. Thinking, therefore, that he 
was Paul, they seized him and beheaded him, and sent his head 
toi Casanr (ae s+ 
** And Paul, being in Pontiole, and having heard that Dioscorus 
had been beheaded, being grieved with great grief, gazing into 
the height of the heaven, said: ‘O Lord Almighty in Heaven, 
who has appeared to me in every place whither I have gone on 
account of Lhine only begotten Word, our Lord Jesus Christ, 
punish this city, and bring out all who have believed in God and 
followed His Word.’ He said to them, therefore, ‘ Follow me.’ 
And going forth from Pontiole with those who had believed in 
the Word of God, they came to a place called Baias (Baia), and 
looking up with their eyes, they all see that city called Pontiole 
sink into the sea-shore about one fathom, and there it is until 
this day, for a remembrance, under the sea. 
** And those who had been saved out of the city of Pontiole, 
that had been swallowed up, reported to Czesar in Rome that 
Pontiole had been swallowed wp with all its multitude.” 
Hereditary Deformities 
In the number of NATURE for Sept. 3, a letter from Mr, 
William Field appears with the title ‘* Hereditary Deformities,’ 
