Au^. 8, 1872] 



NATURE 



291 



The Paris Academy of Sciences has submitted the names of 

 MM. Loewy and Wolf to the Minister of Public Instruction to 

 fill the vacancy in the Bureau des Longitudes, occasioned by the 

 death of M. Langior. 



M. Foi.iE has recently called the attention of the Royal 

 Academy of Sciences of Belgium to the question of the density 

 of the earth. He criticises some points in Sir George Airy's 

 discussion of his observations, which gave the value 6 566, and 

 slates his opinion that 6 '439 is nearer the mark. 



In the Canadian Journal for July, Prof. II. Alleyne Nichol- 

 son discusses the Contemporaneity of Strata and the Doctrine of 

 Geological Continuity with tlie view of demonstrating "that 

 groups of strata presenting the same fossils, if widely removed 

 from one another in point of distance, can only exceptionally 

 be ' contemporaneous ' in the strict sense of the term. On 

 the contrary," he contends, " in so far as v/e can judge from the 

 known facts of the present distribution of living beings, the re- 

 currence of e.tactly the same .fossils in beds far removed from 

 one another, is /;7'///rTy</oV evidence that the strata are «i'/ exactly 

 contemporaneous ; but that they succeed one another in point of 

 time, though by no long Interval, geologically speaking." Dr. 

 Nicholson concludes "that it is not correct to say that we are 

 living m the Cretaceous period in any other sense than one might 

 E.iy we are living in the .Silurian period ; with this diflerence 

 only, that the Cretaceous period is much nearer to us in point of 

 time than the Silurian, and that we can thus trace a relationship 

 betwean certain living types and certain Cretaceous forms, such 

 as we cannot hope to establish in the case of Silurian forms." 

 Farther, " the conditions present in the deep Atlantic cannot be 

 exactly similar to those of the Cretaceous se.as ; for the Cepha- 

 lopoda of the chalk seem to have no representatives in the 

 abyssal mud of the Atlantic, while this class was well represented 

 in the Carboniferous times ; so that there is, if anything, a closer 

 genetic connection between the chalk and the Carboniferous 

 limestone than between the chalk and the Atlantic 'ooze.'" 



The principal articles in the Transactions of the Royal Micro- 

 scopical Society for August are the conclusion of Dr. L. S. 

 Beale's paper on the Nerves of Capillary Vessels and their 

 probable action in Health and Disease, a discussion of the vexed 

 question of the Nomenclature of Objectives, by Dr. J. J. Wood- 

 ward, of the U. S. Army, and a useful paper, by Dr. R. H. 

 Ward, on Our Present Medical and Students' Microscopes. 



The July number of the Proceedings of the Geologists' As- 

 sociation contains a paper, by Mr. Henry Woodward, on Relics 

 of the Carboniferous and other old Land Surfaces, and an ess.iy, 

 by Mr. M. Hawkins Johnson, towards a solution of the chalk- 

 flint enigma. 



There are only two papers in the recent issue of the Trans- 

 actions of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scot- 

 land, one on the Matmfacture of Cast Steel, by Mr. B. D. 

 llealey, the other, by Mr. Alexander Morton, on the Expansion 

 of Water. The former is copiously illustrated. 



Other things besides history have a tendency to repeat 

 themselves. Vice-Consul Green, in his repoit concerning the 

 Tunisian fisheries, states that a large portion of the fish supply of 

 the capital of that African state comes from the Bisuta Lake, a 

 distance exceeding forty miles, on pack animals, and, consequently, 

 frequently arrives in an unmarketable state. It is calculated that 

 if proper and expeditious conveyance could be obtained, the 

 supply of the fisliery would be sufficient to augment its yearly 

 value by 15,000/. or 20,coo/. But owing to the present fish 

 farmer be.ng able, Without any considerable outlay in guards and 

 assistance from preservative enactments, to secure a handsome 

 return from the fisheries conceded to him, great waste and 

 destruction of fish exist. 



The Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for May con- 

 sist mainly of the third instalment of Dr. F. .Stoliczka's Notes on 

 the Reptilian and Amphibian Fauna of Kachh or Cutch. 



According to Dr. Henry Seueur, the twenty-eight weeks' 

 siege of Paris cost upwards of 50,000 lives to the civil population. 

 He ascertains that 300,000 Parisians left Paris by rail before the 

 investment ; but 190,000 regular troops and 170,000 refugees 

 frgm the suburbs entered the city ; so that the population of Paris, 

 on the whole, was raided from 1,890,000 to about 2,000,000, the 

 excess consisting chiefly of men between twenty and forty years 

 of age. The mean mortality of the four preceding years and of 

 the following year for these twenty-eight weeks was 24,928 ; 

 that for the twenty-eight weeks of 1870-71 was 77,231 — an ex- 

 cess of S-.o'^i- The mortality fell unevenly on persons of 

 various ages. Between fifteen and twenty-live, it was multiplied 

 sixfold. The general mortality was tripled. The nioitality was 

 least among men from forty to sixty ; they took no part in active 

 service, and had comparatively greater facilities for resisting cold 

 and privation. The diseases which contributed chiefly to the 

 immense mortality were six — small-pox, bronchitis, pneumonia, 

 typhoid fever, diarrhoea, and dysenteiy. 



The seventh annual meeting of the Quekett Microscopical 

 Club took place on the 26th ult., when Dr. L. S. Beale, F.R.S., 

 the retiring president, delivered his valedictory address. The 

 club now numbers about 550 members. Dr. R. Braithwaite, 

 F.L.S., is the president for 1S72-3. The four vice-presidents are 

 Dr. L. S. Beale, F.R.S... Mr. Arthur E. Durham, Mr. Henry 

 Lee, and Dr. Matthews. The following gentlemen have been 

 re-elected to serve during the ensuing year : — As treasurer, Mr. 

 Robert Hardwicke, F.L.S.; as secretary, Mr. T. Charters 

 White ; and as secretary for foreign correspondence, Mr. M. C 

 Cooke, M. A. 



The British Medical Journal thinks "it cannot be doubted 

 that one moral will be finally drawn from the difficulties of the 

 southern districts of London as to their water-supply. An 

 adequate supply of drinking water to a crowded part of a great 

 city is of as great importance as a supply of fresh air ; and it may 

 reasonably be doubted whether any pains or penalties will suffice 

 to protect a great population from the shortcomings of companies 

 who undertake to furnish a water-supply on purely commercial 

 grounds, and who neither have nor can be expected to have any 

 benevolent interest in the health and comfort of their customers. 

 The water companies of the metropolis hoid in their hands the 

 lives of a very large mass of people ; and very slight laches, as 

 in the case of the East London epidemic of cholera, suffice to 

 slay hundreds of helpless and perfectly innocent water-drinkers." 

 The Journal holds out to " the consideration of all classes of 

 statesmen and of electors, whether the water-supply of great 

 cities, such as London, should be left to the tender mercies of 

 companies, whose opinion as to the importance of ' living or- 

 ganisms ' and ' previous sewage contamination ' are notoriously 

 sceptical, and are much influenced by the annual arguments pre- 

 sented by the auditors." The Lambeth Water Comoany, it re- 

 marks, "is alike a terror to drunkards and teetotallers ; it adds a 

 fresh terror to adulteration, and another curse to the list of these 

 that afflict great cities." 



We have received Part iv. of the fourth edition of Varrell's 

 " British Birds," edited by Prof. Newton, and in course of publi. 

 cation by Van Voorst. The birds described in this part are 

 chiefly of the families Turdidce and Silvidip. 



At the rfcent half-yearly meeting of the Grand Trunk Railway 

 Company of Canada, in respect to the rails being exposed to 

 severe cold for a great length of time, the President said that 

 from 3,500 to 4,000 rails on the line break every winter ! But 

 he found comfort in the fact that, in about i to miles of steel 



