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NATURE 



[Dec. 3, 1885 



days ; the second pan symhetic.il — the succession and trans- 

 formation of races, their past and future. In ethnology, Dr. 

 Dally will take ethnical cranioloyy ; in prehistoric anthropology, 

 M. Mortillet takes Tertiary man ; and in the history of civilisa- 

 tions, Dr. Lebourneau will lecture on the evolution and ethno- 

 graphy of morality. 



We have received the price list of the publications of the 

 Smithsonian Institution up to July last. It includes only such 

 publications from 1847 to the present year as can be supplied, 

 all others being out of print. The latter are very numerous, for 

 of the first hundred publications only forty-si.'i are now to be 

 procured, the remaining sixty-four being out of print. The list 

 first gives the papers according to their numbers in the publica- 

 tion catalogue of the Institution, then according to the authors, 

 then according to their subjects, and finally they are arranged 

 "under heads according to their mode of publication, such as 

 "Annual Reports,'' "Contributions to Knowledge," "Pro- 

 ceedings of Societies," &c. 



Telephonic communication between Paris and Rheims was 

 opened to the public on Tuesday. The distance is 172 kilo- 

 metres, but the electric resistance to be overcome between the 

 two points is estimated at 217 kilometres. The ordinary tele- 

 graphic wire is utilised for the purpose, but there is a special 

 telephonic station in the Plain of St. Denis, at the Pont de 

 Soissons. The tariff is one franc for five minutes' conversation. 

 At the inaugural st'anct; conversations were held with sundry 

 public functionaries at Rheims, whose voices were heard with 

 perfect distinctness. 



Prof. Du Bois-Reymond, it is known, has recently availed 

 himself of good opportunities for studying the electric ray in the 

 live state ; and among several important facts elicited by him is that 

 of irreciprocity of conduction in the electric organ. That is, when 

 short currents are passed through the organ in the same direction 

 as that of the animal's proper current, viz. from belly to back, 

 and in the reverse direction, the conductivity in the former case 

 is considerably greater. This irreciprocity begins to appear only 

 when the current has acquired a certain strength ; it increases 

 with the strength, but more slowly. Both this irreciprocity and 

 the small conductivity of the organ {which is considerably less 

 than that of sea water) are proved to be connected with the life 

 of the animal ; the former disappears and the latter increases in 

 the case of spontaneous death. The former depends also on the 

 duration of the current, diminishing with a continuous current. 

 This phenomenon of irreciprocity appears to have the effect of 

 strengthening the animal's current and so intensifying its physio- 

 logical action in external space. The author's researches on the 

 subject have been recently laid before the Beriin Academy 

 (Sitzungsierk/iie, Berlin Academy, 1885, p. 691). 



The fresh-water mussel, it is known, closes its shell by contrac- 

 tion of two strong muscles — one before and one behind ; but how 

 does it open its shell ? This question has recently been studied by 

 Herr Pawlow {Pfliiger's Archiv). The animal {Anodonta cygitaa) 

 was fixed on a board by one shell, while the other free shell was 

 connected by means of a silk thread with the short arm of a 

 lever, the longer arm of which indicated the movements on a 

 slowly-rotating drum. The nerves were variously irritated ; but 

 without giving details we may say that Herr Pawlow finds there 

 are two classes of nerve-fibres connected with the muscles — the 

 one motor, producing contractions ; the other inhibitory, pro- 

 ducing relaxation. The motor nerves for each muscle spring 

 from the ganglion next it ; the inhibitory fibres all proceed from 

 the two front ganglions. The posterior ganglion can thus only 

 send an impulse of movement to the posterior closing muscle, 

 while the front ganglions, besides being thus related to the front 



muscle, can also produce relaxation in both muscles. When 

 separated from the ganglions belonging to them the muscles pass 

 but verj' slowly from the contracted to the relaxed state. A 

 remarkable fact, noted by Herr Pawlow, is that by stimulation 

 of the nerves in the muscles contraction does not always follow, 

 but sometimes relaxation. Such phenomena are rare ; they 

 have been observed in the blood-vessels, and Herr Biedermann 

 has noticed them in the heart of the snail. 



The hatching offish-ova has commenced at the establishment 

 of the National Fish-Culture Association, South Kensington, 

 several agents having been employed lately to artificially spawn 

 fish, which in many parts are well forward. The specie^ chiefly 

 operated upon have been the Salmo fario and S. levdtieiisis. The 

 American Government have promised to forward large consign- 

 ments of ova from the various species of Salmonidre abounding 

 in their waters, particularly the whitefish, whose eggs will be 

 incubated in very large numbers by the Association. 



The telegraph system of the Great Northern Telegraph 

 Company has been extended to Seoul, the capital of Corea, and 

 to its port, Jenchuan, or Chemulpo. These two places are 

 therefore in telegraphic communication with the rest of the 

 world. 



A WRITER in the North China Herald, on ethnology in China, 

 points out that while there have been geologists, botanists, and 

 zoologists in China, no one has yet given himself specially to 

 ethnology who was already distinguished in it. The province 

 of Szechu'en is a very interesting and important region for the 

 work of the ethnological geographer, because of the Thibetan 

 tribes, the Lolos, and others located there. In the historical 

 ethnology of China, De Guignes led the way in the last century 

 in his " History of the Huns," which unfortunately were not the 

 real Huns, for the Huns of Hungary were not, as he supposed, 

 the powerful race known in China as the Hiung Nu. Yet he 

 did much in elucidating the history of all the Tartar races, and 

 his great merit was that he collected a large store of historic 

 facts from Chinese sources, from the second century B.C., when 

 the Chinese began to know Tartary, down to the days of the 

 Mongol conquest. Klaproth settled the point who the Hiung 

 Nu really were by the simple method of taking the words men- 

 tioned as theirs by Chinese authors, and finding out to what 

 linguistic stock they belonged. Besides making this step forward, 

 Klaproth also tabulated the facts of Chinese history relating to 

 all Asiatic races. 



Wn.4T remains to be done for ethnology in the field of Chinese 

 history is, the same writer adds, by no means a small amount of 

 work. It is possible to trace the Indo-European races men- 

 tioned by ancient Chinese authors, and follow them in their 

 movements westward, from Kansu to the Tsemgling mountains, 

 and beyond, where at Bokhara and Kunduz they meet with 

 other Indo-European stocks. In the north-west, besides these, 

 Chinese history introduces us to several Indo-European peoples, 

 occu[)ying before the birth of Christ the country around the Sea 

 of Aral, from which the Germanic races appear to have moved 

 westward. The Chinese tell us nothing of the first emigrants, 

 the Cimbri and Celts, but they give very considerable informa- 

 tion about the Germanic races, the value of which has not yet 

 been fully appreciated. Then the Huns, Avars, and Turks 

 went forward, and the facts respecting them in Chinese history 

 are, taken altogether, more abundant than upon any other 

 foreign stock of nations. " Hence there is every inducement for 

 the historical ethnologist to study Chinese history carefully." 



Messrs. Macmillan and Co. will publish immediately a 

 work on the " Elements of Thermal Chemistry," by Mr. M. M. 

 Pattison Muir, i^ssisted by Mr. D. M. Wilson. It is intended 

 to present a connected account of the methods and results of the 



