^o 



WATURE 



[July 7, 1910 



Royal Anthropological Institute, June 28 — Sr II. 

 Risley, president, in tlie chair. — \V. J. Lewis Abbott : 

 'X'he classification of the British Stone age, and some new 

 and little l^nown horizons and cultures. After pointing 

 out that the implementiferous deposits have not always 

 been laid down in an unbroken chronological sequence, so 

 that the number of feet at which an implement is found 

 above Ordnance Datum is not always enough in itself to 

 determine its age, the author urged that none of the 

 systems of classification which have been formulated upon 

 the conditions which obtain on the Continent are applic- 

 able in this country, where the conditions do not neces- 

 sarily obtain. He suggested that nature in the first 

 instance furnished man with the prototypes of his tools, 

 and that subsequently he discovered new methods of work- 

 ing flint, and these gave rise to new sets of shapes. In 

 the author's opinion, therefore, these groups of implements, 

 representing various cultures or industries, must enter as 

 basal units in the classification. The author then went 

 into details of two such industries, which he has named 

 the Prestwichian and Ebbsfleetian respectively. Each of 

 these is characterised by a set of special implements worked 

 in a special manner. Although the author had been work- 

 ing at this industry for many years, it was only recently 

 that a large deposit of them was found ; this was at North- 

 fleet, where Ihe deposit fills a hollow some si.x acres in 

 extent. The principal implement of this industry is a 

 large weapon, weighing sometimes as much as 7 lb., and 

 resembling a gigantic spear-head. For this implement the 

 author proposed the name Preslwich. The great peculiarity 

 of this implement was that, when finished, another imple- 

 ment was struck off it without impairing its efficacy. This 

 latter the author has named after Sir John Evans. The 

 author suggested that these may have been used as tallies 

 in a bargain, as it seems clear that they were religiously 

 kept. The implements occur in enormous numbers, and 

 include large axes, with a rounded edge and triangular, 

 heavy side choppers, spear-heads of peculiar type and of 

 large size, and knives, many of which are more than a 

 foot long. 



Edinburgh. 



Royal Society, June 6. — Prof. Hudson Beare, vice- 

 president, in the chair. — Dr. R. A. Houston : Two rela- 

 tions in magnetism. By a simple application of the two 

 laws of thermodynamics, relations were established 

 between each pair of the quantities, magnetic force, stress, 

 and temperature. The chief novelty lay in the manner in 

 which the relations were deduced. — A. D. Ross : A new 

 method of differentiating between overlapping orders in 

 mapping grating spectra. The method consisted in photo- 

 graphing the Zeeman effect in the spectrum, a thin plate 

 or lens of optically active quartz or other allogyric sub- 

 stance being introduced between the source of light and 

 the slit. The plane of polarisation of the components was 

 thus rotated by amounts depending on the wave-length. 

 Owing to the selective or polarising action of the grating 

 itself, the intensity ratios between the components in 

 triplets, quartets, &c., gave an indication of the approxi- 

 mate wave-length. The method had been successfully 

 applied to the mapping of spectra of certain rare elements. 

 It greatly reduced the cost of the work, and might be ex- 

 pected to reveal, incidentally, series among the spectrum 

 lines. — Dr. H. Walker : The variation of Young's modulus 

 under an electric current, part iii. In this continuation 

 of previous papers a number of new results were given. 

 In particular, the effect of increasing tension on the pheno- 

 menon was investigated. The peculiar law of variation of 

 Young's modulus under increasing currents, as shown in 

 the cases of the four metals iron, nickel, copper, and 

 platinum, gradually changed as the tension was increased, 

 until, finally, all peculiarity vanished. — Prof. W. Peddie : 

 Continuous and stable isothermal change of state. James 

 Thomson's form of continuous isothermals was discussed, 

 and was shown to be inapplicable below the triple point. 

 For example, water free from ice-nuclei and vapour-nuclei 

 must pass either to the solid or to the vapour state. If it 

 follows the paths of Thomson's curves, two such paths 

 must exist ; but no physical distinction remains to deter- 

 mine which shall be selected. .'\ modification of Thom- 

 son's form of isothermal was suggested, in which no un- 

 stable part occurred. In the liquid state, under decreasing 

 NO. 2123, VOL. 84] 



pressure, the volume would increase until, without change 

 of density, a molecular re-arrangement would take place 

 and the substance become solid. Under increasing pressure 

 the volume of the solid would decrease until, by molecular 

 re-arrangement, the vapour state would be reached. The 

 applicability of this representation above the triple point, 

 when solid does not exist, was shown to be complete. 

 Calcutta. 

 Asiatic ' Society of Bengal, June i. — Dr. L. L. 

 Fermor : A Palaeolithic implement of manganese ore. 

 The paper gives a description of a Palaeolithic implement 

 which is unique in that it is made of manganese ore. — 

 F. D. Ascoli : Rivers of Dacca district. The paper deals 

 with the changes that have taken place in the courses of 

 the rivers of the Dacca and Faridpur districts since the 

 desertion by the Brahmaputra of its old channel north of 

 Dacca. The author attributes the origin of these changes 

 to the incursion of the Teesta into the Brahmaputra in 

 17S7, and shows that the principal changes now going on 

 are not, as Fergusson anticipated, in the Ganges at and 

 above the confluence at Goalundo, but further to the south 

 in the Rajnagur area. — D. Hooper : Medicinal lizards. 

 The dried lizard sold in the bazaars of northern India is 

 Scinctis mitranus, .Anderson, and not, as quoted by writers 

 on Indian materia medica, Lacerta scincus, Linn. Refer- 

 ences are given to the uses of this lizard in medicine, and 

 to the use of other saurians in Europe and China. 



DIARY OF SOCIETIES. 



FRIDAY, July 8. 

 Physical Society, at 5.— A Thermo-electric Balance for the Absolute 

 Me.isurement of Radiation: Prof. H. L. Callendar, F.R.S.— The Con- 

 vection of Heat from a Body cooled by a Stream of Fluid : Dr. Alexander 

 Russell. — On Hysteresis Loops and Lissajous' Figures, and on the 

 Energy wasted in a Hjsteresis Loop: Prof. S. P. Thompson, F.R.S.— 

 The Energy Relations of certain Detectors used in Wireless Telegraphy : 

 Dr. W. H. Eccles. 



CONTENTS. PAGE 



The Laws of Heredity. Ky Sir W. T. Thiselton- 



Dyer, K.C.M.G., F.R.S i 



The Metabolism of Marine Animals. By J. J. . . 5 



Smallpox and Vaccination in British India . . 5 

 The Alternate. current Theory. By Prof. Gisbert 



Kapp 6 



Our Book Shelf 7 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Arthur's Round Table in Glamorgan. (IllustraleJ.) — 



Rev. John Griffith . . . . S 



Halley's Comet. (///»j/;a/f(^.)— Dr. James Moir . 9 

 Earth-current Observations in Stockholm during the 

 Transit of Halley's Comet on May 19. — D. Sten- 



quist and E. Petri . . 9 



Lcptocephaliis hyopyoroidcs and L. thoriaims. — Johs. 



Schmidt 9 



Static Charge in Bicycle Frame. — Robert S. Ball, 



jun- 9 



Marine Biological Photography. [lUiistrahd.) By 



Francis Ward .... ,10 



Some Extinct Vertebrate Animals from North 



America, (fllustiated.) By A. S. W , 12 



Experiments on Air Resistance. (U'il/i Diij^raii:.) 



By Dr. T. E. Stanton 13 



C. H. Grtville Williams, F.R.S. By A. H. C. . . . 14 



Notes . 14 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



Astronomical Occurrences in July 19 



Halley's Comet 19 



Ephemeris for Comet \<)\oa 19 



Photographs of Morehouse's Comet 19 



The Determination of Position near the Poles .... 19 



The Variation of Latitude 20 



New Canals and Lakes on Mars 20 



The International Congress at Eusseldorf ... 20 

 The Tuberculosis Conference and Exhibition ... 22 

 International Union for Cooperation in Solar Re- 

 search 22 



Modern Submarine Telegraphy. {Illustrated.) By 



Sidney G. Brown 23 



University and Educational Intelligence 28 



Societies and Academies 29 



Diary of Societies 30 



