4 6 



NATURE 



[May ii, 1882 



Budde.— Experimental researches on the intensity of diffracted 

 light, II., by J. Frohlich. — Some observations on the works of 

 Herren Lommel, Glazebrook, and Mathieu, by E. Ketteler.— On 

 the condensation of gases on surfaces, by H. Kayser. — Re- 

 searches on the dependence of the molecular refraction of liquid 

 combinations on their chemical composition, by H. Schroder. — 

 On Legrange's equations of mot : on, by B. Weinstein. 



Journal of the Franklin Institute, April. — A new theory of 

 the suspension system with stiffening truss, by A. J. du Bois 

 (concluded). — Adaptation of Euler's formula to American long 

 column experiments, by \V. H. Barr. — The Flannery boiler- 

 setting for the prevention of smoke, by C. A. Ashburner. — 

 Milk, by F. Haines. — The fire-underwriters' regulations respect- 

 ing the use of the electric light. — On the filtration of water for 

 industrial purposes, by P. Barnes. — The sugar-beet industry, by 

 L. S. Ware and R. Grimshaw. — The Hudson River tunnel, by 

 S. H. Finch. 



Bulletins de la Socie'le d' Anthropologic de Paris, torn. iv. fasc. 

 iv. Paris, 1SS1. — This, the latest quarterly number of the 

 Bulletins, contains the concluding part of M. To| inard's paper 

 on his facial goniometer. — Observations by L. Manouvrier on 

 the relations between the weight of the cranium and that of the 

 maxillaries and the femur, with a view of trying to determine the 

 relations between the several parts of the body connected with 

 the cerebral, digestive, and motor functions. — Reports by M. 

 Ledr uble of a case of variation in the clavicular trapezius ; and 

 on the occurrence in man of the abnormal muscle named by 

 Wood, the supercostalis" ; a case of atavism in the occurrence, 

 in a woman, of the flexor profundus digitorum of the ourang- 

 outang, by M. Chuzinski. — On the crania of criminals preserved 

 at Brest, by M. Corre. — On the craniology of criminals, by Dr. 

 Ardouin, who also contributes an interesting paper on the 

 results of the Medical Statistical Tables of Japan, published at 

 Tokio in 1880. — M. Leon Metchnikoff gives the result of his 

 ethnological observations while in Japan on the different races 

 occupying the country, and his views as to their probable origin. 

 — M. Verneau considers the type and origin of the ancient 

 inhabitants of the Canaries ; and M. Manouvrier describes at 

 great length the result of his observations on eleven natives of 

 Tierra del Fuego, in the Jardin d'Acclimatation, at Paris. His 

 remarks gave rise to prolonged discussions among the Members 

 of the Society, and were supplemented by a communication from 

 M. Topinard, based on personal observation of these savages, 

 and by a riutmi by M. Hovelacque of all that is known ol the 

 people and their country, through the reports of '-English and 

 French travellers. — M. Magitot describes the abnormal cha- 

 racters of a dwarf, presented last October by Baron Larrey 

 to the Academie de Medecine ; and M. de Quatrefages re- 

 ports the case of a dwarf smaller than Tom Thumb, and 

 in whom, he believed, that the disproportionally large size of 

 the head was due to hydrocephalus. — M. Parrot brought forward 

 a case of megaloglossis, combined with idiocy, in a child of two 

 years of age. — M. Laborde presented to the Society his essay on 

 the experimental and morphological function of the semi-circular 

 canals in animals, in which he believes we may discover that of 

 a " sensitvo-motor " apparatus, intended to render the sense of 

 hearing more complete. M. Delaunay, in summing up the con- 

 clusions he has arrived at in his labours in the field of general 

 pathology, considered the various degrees of liability Inwards 

 certain diseases shown at different ages, by either sex, and among 

 different races. The only contributions towards palaeontological 

 inquiry contained in this number are : M. Hamy's report of the 

 progress of the excavations at Bollwiller, whose deposits would 

 appear to belong to the latest neolithic age ; Prof. Carl Vogt's 

 communication of the discovery by M. Roth, in the Pampas of 

 La Plata, of a human skeleton lying below the carapace of a 

 fossil glyptodon ; and the presentation, by M. Vinson, of a 

 chromolithographs reproduction of a celto-iberian inscription, 

 found near Siguenza. M. Vinson is of opinion that we have as 

 yet no authority for accepting the theory of any close affinity of 

 the Basques with the ancient Iberians. 



Mcmoric d,lla Societa dcgli Spettroseopisti ItaJiam, March. — 

 Solar observations made at the Royal Observatory of Palermo in 

 the fourth quarter of 1881, by Prof. Ricco. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Zoological Society, May 2.— Prof. W. H. Flower, LL.D., 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Before commencing the usual 



proceedings, the president called attention to the fact that one 

 of the communications made to the previous meeting was from 

 the pen of Mr. Charles Darwin ; and took the opportunity of 

 referring to the labours and character of the illustrious natura- 

 list, whose work had so profoundly modified not only zoological 

 science, but so many other departments of human thought. — 

 Mr. Sclater exhibited a drawing of a Tapir presented to the 

 Society by Mr. Fritz Zurcher in August last, which had been 

 captured on the Yuruari River in Venezuela. Mr. Sclater 

 observed that in form and colour this animal seemed to agree 

 better with Tapir us dowii than with the ordinary T. amerieanus, 

 and suggested that it was quite likely that the former species 

 might be the Tapir of the nor'hern coast-region of Columbia 

 and Venezuela. — Mr. J. E. Harting, F.Z.S., made some re- 

 marks on the desirability of adopting a standard of nomenclature 

 when describing the colours of natural objects. — Dr. Hans 

 Gadow, C.M.Z.S., read a paper on the structure of feathers in 

 relation to their colour, in the course of which he endeavoured 

 to show how the optical appearances of the various colours met 

 with in the feathers of birds were produced. — Prof. Flower, 

 F.R.S., gave an account of the cranium of a Cetacean of the 

 genus Hyperoodon from the Australian Seas, upon which he pro- 

 posed to found a new species, H. planijrons. — A communication 

 was read from Dr. O. Staudinger containing the description of 

 some new and interesting species of Rhopalocera from the New 

 World. — A communication was read from Mr. H. J. Elwes, 

 F.Z.S., containing a description of a collection of butterflies 

 made on the Tibetan side of the frontier of Sikkim, amongst 

 which were examples of several species new toscience. — A com- 

 munication was read from Mr. Edgar L. Layard, F.Z.S., de- 

 scribing a new species of Parrot of the genus A'ymphieus from 

 Uvea, one of the Loyalty group, which he proposed to call 

 Nymphuus uveznsis. 



Geological Society, April 16. — J. W. Hulke, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — The President remarked that it would 

 argue a degree of indifference with which the Society could not 

 be charged, if the meeting were to proceed to ihe transaction 

 of the ordinary business, without some reference to the sad loss 

 sustained by the whole scientific world within the last few days, 

 in the death of that illustrious naturalist, whose remains had 

 been consigned that morning to their last resting-place at West- 

 minster. He aaded that the spectacle presented by the vast 

 assemblage of people who came together to witness the obse- 

 quies of Mr. Darwin, was of the most soul-stirring kind, and 

 constituted the grandest conceivable testimony of respect for the 

 memory of the distinguished philosopher who had just passed 

 from among us. — S. S. Buckman, Hugh Salvin Holme, Collet 

 Homersham, and Joseph B. Tyrrell were ebcted Fellows of the 

 Society. — The following communications were read : — On fossil 

 Chilostomatous Bryozoa from Mount Gambier, South Australia, 

 by Arthur W. Waters, F.L.S., F.G.S.— Thawniseus : Permian, 

 Carboniferous, and Silurian, by George W. Shrubsole, F.G.S. 

 — On the occurrence of a new species of Phyllopora in the Per- 

 mian limestones, by George W. Shrubsole, F.G.S. — On the 

 relations of the Eocene and Oligocene strata in the Hampshire 

 Basin, by Prof. John W. Judd, F.R.S., Sec.G.S. The section 

 at Whitecliff Bay, in the Isle of Wight, affords us the means of 

 determining the true order of succession of nearly 2000 feet of 

 Tertiary strata, and is therefore employed as a standard to which 

 to refer the strata seen in sections where the order of succession 

 is not so clear. The author supported the views of Prof. Prest- 

 wich as to the limits of the Brack les ham series, as opposed to 

 the opinions expressed on the subject by the Rev. O. Fisher. 

 He pointed out the confusion which has arisen from the correla- 

 tion of certain strata in the Hampshire basin with the barren 

 Lower and Upper Bagshots of the London area, in which fossils 

 are so rare as to render their geological age somewhat doubtful. 

 To the Lower Bagshot some authors have referred 660 feet of 

 the strata seen at Alum Bay; while other authors have restricted 

 that name to about 73 feet of the same section. The age of the 

 Upper Bagshot of the London basin is admitted by all authors 

 to be very doubtful. The only way to avoid the confusion un- 

 avoidable from using the same names for strata, the correlation 

 of which was so hypothetical, was to employ local names for both 

 sets of beds. He proposed to refer to the freshwater sands below 

 the Bracklesham and Bournemouth strata, containing a distinc- 

 tive flora, as "the Studland beds," and the sands above the 

 Barton clay by the old name of "the Headon Hill Sands." 

 Above these sands are a series of clays only about 40 feet thick 

 at Whitecliff Bay, but much thicker at Headon Hill and Hord- 



