56o 



NATURE 



{March 4, 1875 



as to the Quarterly Journal of this Society, are only aportion of 

 their fruits. Your separate works on the fossil remains of Aves, 

 Ornithosauria, and Reptilia, in the Woodwardian Museum at 

 Cambridge, and on the bones of Tterodaclyles, are well known 

 to every student of fossil osteology, and have been thought 

 worthy of the by no means empty compliment of being printed 

 at the expense of the Syndics of tlie University Press of Cam- 

 bridge. The esteem in which your researches are lield by the 

 Council of this Society, and their hope that you may still be 

 enabled to prosecute them, are best evinced by their presenting 

 you with the balance of the proceeds of llie Murchison Fund, 

 which I now have the pleasure of placing in your hands." 



Prof. Seeley replied as follows : — "Mr. President, I have ever 

 been taught that the Geological Society is the fountain of geo- 

 logical honour. It has always been a great honour to be 

 associated with the Fellows of this Society, who are constructing 

 the sciences we cultivate. Out of this association have grown 

 bonds of comradeship, encouraging some of us to follow on in 

 the labour of those whose work is ended ; and wlien, sir, I 

 receive at your hands this award of the balance of the Murchison 

 Fund, I am grateful for such a distinguished mark of sympathy 

 with my special studies, and shall be encouraged by it to prose- 

 cute researches which I hope may be better worthy of the 

 Society's acceptance." 



The President then proceeded to read his Anniversary Ad- 

 dress, in which, after congratulating the Fellows upon their 

 having at length got possession of their new premises, he called 

 attention to the advantage which accrued both to the Fellows of 

 the Society and to the officers of the School of Mines, Geological 

 Survey, and Museum of Practical Geology, by the close prox- 

 imity of the two establishments, and expressed a hope that there 

 niiglit be no severance of this union, whether by the removal of 

 the School of Mines to South Kensington or otherwise. lie 

 also contrasted the position of the Society as regards funds, 

 number of Fellows, &c., in 1829 and in 1S75, the former being 

 the first year in which the anniversary meeting of the Society 

 was held in the Society's rooms at Somerset House. He then 

 took up the main subject of his address, namely, the question 

 of the antiquity of the luiman race, and the geological evidence 

 bearing upon it. The address was prefaced by some obituary 

 notices of Fellows and foreign members deceased during the past 

 year, including Prof. Phillips, Dr. F. Stoliczka, the Rev. C. 

 Kingsley, Mr. J. W. Pike, Dr. Arnott, Prof. W. Macdonald, 

 M. Elie de Beaumont, and M. J. J. d'Omalius d'Halloy. 



The ballot for the council and officers was taken, and the fol- 

 lowing were duly elected for the ensuing year : — President, 

 John Evans, F.R. S. Vice-Presidents r.Prof. P. Martin Duncan, 

 F.R.S., Robert Etheridge, F.R.S, Sir Charles Lyell, Bart., 

 F.R. S., Prof. A. C. Ramsay, F.R.S. Secretaries: David 

 Forbes, F.R.S., Rev. T. Wiltshire, M.A. Foreign Secretary, 

 Warrington W. Smyth, F.R.S. Treasurer, J. Gwyn Jeffreys, 

 F.RS. Council: H. Bauerman, Frederic Drew, ! Prof. P. 

 Martin Duncan, F.R.S., Sir P. de M. G. Egerton, Bart., 

 F.R.S., R. Etheridge, F.R.S., John Evans, F.R.S., David 

 Forbes, F.R.S., R. A. C. Godwin-Austen, F.R.S., Henry 

 Hicks, Prof. T. McKenny Hughes, M.A., ^. W. Hulke, 

 F.R.S., J. Gwyn Jeffreys, F.R.S., Sir Charles Lyell, Bart., 

 F.R.S., C. J. A. Meyer, J. Carrick Moore, F.R.S., Prof. A. C. 

 Ramsay, F.R.S., Samuel Sharp, F.S.A., Warrington W. 

 Smyth, F.R.S., H. C. Sorby, F.R.S., Prof. J. Tennant, 

 F.C.S., W. Whitaker, B.A., Rev. T. Wiltshire, F.L.S., 

 Henry Woodward, F.R.S. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, March i.— Mr. C. 

 Brooke, F.R.S., in the chair. — A paper on the chronology 

 of recent geology was read by Mr. S. R. Pattison, F.G.S. 

 Mr. Patlison maintained that geology furnishes no proof, nor 

 high probability, that the introduction of man into Europe took 

 place longer ago than about >ix or seven thousand years. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, Feb. 22. — M. M. Frcmy in the 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — A report, by M. 

 Leverrier, on the meridian observations of the minor planets, 

 made at the Greenwich and Paris Observatories during the last 

 three months of 1874. The details are given for planets 69, 76, 

 91, 120, II, 43, 83, 6, 78, 140, 10, 3, 2, 4, 5, 59, Si, 33, 46, 

 and 49. — New observations of the nature of alcoholic fermenta- 

 tion, by M. L. Pasteur. — On ruthenium and its oxides, by MM. 

 H. Sainte Claire Deville and H. Debray. These gentlemen 

 had at their disposal a considerable quantity of ruthenium and 



its compounds, and have made them the subject of elaborate 

 investigations. Their report contains valuable details concerning 

 this rare metal 'and its compounds ; among them perruthenic 

 acid, RuOj, is of particular interest, as up to the present it was 

 hardly known ; they obtained it in yellow crystals of sulIi insta- 

 bility as to make it impossible to determine their form, their 

 melting point was at 40° C. They also obtained several salts of 

 this acid. At 108° it is decomposed under explosion. — On the 

 simultaneous formation of several crystallised mineral species in 

 the thermal source of Bourbonne-les-bains (Haute Marne), par- 

 ticularly of grey antimonial copper (tetrahedrite), copper pyrites 

 (chalcopyrite), streaky copper (philippsite), and copper sulphide 

 (chalcosine) ; by M. Daubree. — On the action of borax in fer- 

 mentation and putrefaction, by M. J. B. Schnetzler. This paper 

 treats of three distinct actions of borax, viz., that upon proto- 

 plasma of vegetable cells, that upon mineral organisms, and that 

 upon matter undergoing fermentation. — On the boiling of sul- 

 phuric acid, by M. A. Bobierre. The boiling of this acid is 

 generally considered a difficult operation ; the author shows that 

 it is very easy and even more regular than that of water, if one 

 introduces into the vessel holding the acid a sufficient quantity 

 of platinum. — On the winter vegetation of AlgK at Mossel Bay 

 (Spitzbergen), by M. F. Kjellman : observations made during 

 the Swedish Polar Expedition of 1S72-73. The author found 

 that the Algce at Mossel Bay during the winter are the same as 

 those during the summer and autumn, and that the dark season 

 in the winter, which lasts about three months and a half, makes 

 little or no difference to this part of the vegetation. He gives a 

 list of numerous species which he observed, belonging to the 

 orders of Corallinacece, Flondca, Fucacea, Phaozoosporiuea:, and 

 Chloi-ozoosporacca:. — On the chemical composition of the petit hit 

 of Luchon, by M. T. Garrigou. The author gives the analysis 

 of these waters, which hold about 7 per cent, of solid rrratter 

 partly in solution. — On a case of epilepsy treated with sidphale 

 of copper, and the presence of a considerable quantity of copper 

 in the liver, by MM. Bourneville and Yvon. — The Secre- 

 tary read the following telegram, dated Aden, Feb. 16, 1875, 

 from M. Mouchez, the chief of the expedition sent to observe 

 the Transit of Venus. The telegram runs as follows : — "Three 

 months of bad weather ; transit rather fine ; interior contacts 

 excellent, exterior contacts cloudy ; numerous photographs. Vii'cs 

 (the vessel carrying the material for the expedition) started for 

 Cherbourg ; all well. " — A note by M. J. L. Soret, on the diffraction 

 phenomenaproduced by circular nets. — On the influence of pressure 

 upon combustion, by M. Cailletet. — On the impurities in boracic 

 acid, by M. A.Ditte.— Anote byM. Bechamp on the Microzymata 

 and rSacteria, with regard to a remark of M. Balard. This paper 

 is a coirtinuation of another one read before the Academy on 

 Nov. 30 last, on the birth and evolution of Bacteria in organic 

 tissues sheltered from the air, by M. Servel. — A note by M. 

 Gayat on some comparative researches on man and animals with 

 reference to the ophthalmoscopic signs of death. — M. J. Vinot then 

 replied to a note of M. Chapelas, read at the last meeting, regard- 

 ing a large bolide, which «as supposed to have been an illumi- 

 nated cloud, and proved that M. Chapelas' idea was erroneous, 



CONTENTS Pagb 



SrR Chasles LvELi, Bart., F.R.S ■•^l 



The "Bessemer" 3^2 



The ENCvCLOF.r^DrA BRrxANNrCA 3^^ 



Brown's " Manual of Botany" ' ^.r 



Our Bookshelf:— ''^ 



Colonel Goldsmid's " Telegraph and Travel " , , , 3^^ 



Letters to the EorToR : — 



Sir J. Herschcl on Endowment of Research — J, F. W. H. . . ^47 



Trade Winds.— Prof. F. Guthrie, F.R.S. (With Illjistratioiis) . 348 



The Arctic Expedition. — R. J. Moss ,,g 



Herepath's Balance— E. W. P 3% 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Binary Star /i^ Bootis ^.3 



Falb's New Variable in Orion ,Tg 



The Variable Star R Hydra: 3], 



Winnecke's Comet q.g 



The Zodiacal Light ^.q 



New Minor Planet j^g 



Science at the New Paris Opera. By M. G. Tissandier (IFrtA 



I ttustratiotis) 3 .g 



English Government Eclipse Expedition, 1875 i "51 



Scholarships and Examinations for Natural Science at Cam- 



uridge, 1875 , oc? 



Notes ! . 354 



On the Dynamical Evidence of the Molecular Constitution 

 OF Bodies. By Prof. Clerk-Maxwell, F.R.S. (With Illus- 

 tration) 357 



Societies and Academies ^.rg 



