Sept. 5, 1 872 J 



NA TV RE 



385 



actual craters of eruption over the whole volcanic region of 

 Antrim. 



Traihyte Porfhyry of Co. Doii'ii. This rock is very similar 

 ill appearance and constitution to that of Antrim, consisting 

 of a greyish felsitic base with crystals of sanidine and blebs 

 of quartz. It is only visible at Fallyknock, about four miles 

 west of Hillsborough, surrounded on all sides by Lower Silur- 

 ian rocks, but nut very far distant from the margin of the 

 basaltic plateau of .Antrim. There can be little doubt that it 

 is of the same .age as the trichyte porphyry of Antrim ; both 

 being referable in all probability to the great volcanic outbursts 

 of the miocene period. 



Considerable uncertainty exists regarding the relations of the 

 Dovvnshire trachyte to the volcanic rocks of the adjoining 

 country. It only appears in two or three S[>ots within a small 

 area : but the probabilities are, that it is portion of an old 

 neck from which trachytic lava was erupted contemporaneously 

 with that of Antrim, the higher portion of the mass as well 

 as the original vent having been removed by denudation. The 

 district has since been deeply buried beneath boulder clay.* The 

 author then proceeded to show the similarity of the Antrim vol- 

 canic rocks with those of Auvergne, the Siebengebirge and 

 Eifel districts. 



SECTION D— Biology 



SUB-SECTIO.\ ZOOLpGY AND BOTANY 



On /he Occtinxnci of the Siipra-Condvloid Process in Man, by 

 Prof Struthcrs, of Aberdeen. 



Tlie author showed dissections of this part in several animals. 

 An arch of bone is thrown, like a bridge, over the great nerve, 

 and generally also the great artery of the limb, a little above the 

 elbow, protecting them from pressure and injury. No such 

 structure exists normally in the human arm, but it occurs occa- 

 sionally as a variation. When it exists, the process grows from 

 exactly the same spot as in animals which possess it, and the 

 arch is completed by a ligament, the nerve and generally also the 

 artery passing through the arch. This variety had attracted 

 some notice lately, and is supposed to be very rare, but the 

 author has found it often, and he exhibited a large number of 

 specimens of it from the human arm, in its various degrees of 

 development. He had also met with it occasionally in the living 

 body, and had lately been able to prove the correctness of his 

 previous supposition that it may be hereditary, having met with 

 it in the members of a famUy, in the father and in two sons. 

 The author remarked on tile great interest attaching to this varia- 

 tion. In animals which possess it, it is what, in olden phrase- 

 ology, would be called a contrivance specially designed .'or the 

 protection of the nerve in them, and it looks as much a piece of 

 contrivance as London Bridge or Temple Bar. But why should 

 the same contrivance occur as a variety in man ? The old argu- 

 ment from final cause, and no less its successor the theory of 

 " type," besides being metaphysical, l)ecomeS untenable in the 

 face of the existence of these rudimentary structures. The theory 

 of so-called type has a great deal to answer for in obscuring the 

 natural intei'pretation. If species are of independent origin, 

 how comes it that animals have in their bodies parts of other 

 animals, parts which are of no use to them, sometimes even 

 dangerous to them ? To those who are able to overcome the 

 prejudices of their early education, the evidence comes with 

 irresistible force in support of the hypothesis of the origin of 

 species by evolution. 



On the Sternum and Pelvic Bone in the Ri^ht- IVhcile and in 

 Great Fin- Whales, by Prof. Struthers. 



The sternum exhibited showed a very different form from that 

 of the same species of Fin-Whale which Prof Struthers had 

 brought under the notice of the Association last year. Instead of 

 a singled median cervical process, it has a deep median notch 

 vM.n a broad crest on each side ; and the posterior process is 

 very narrow. Two sterna of the Greenland Right-Whale ex- 

 hibited were large. Theauthor divides the sternum into three parts. 

 The middle between the first ribs is thick, completing the thoracic 

 girdle, and essential. The part in front of this, and the part 

 behind it vary greatly, being more or less rudimentary. The 

 sternum of the Finner has two joints with the first rib, that of 

 the Right-Whale only one joint, and this difference in the thoracic 



■* .Mr. Hardman considers that the amount of lime shown by the analy- 

 sis, proves that the trachyte has undergone some amount of metamorphosis 

 or alteration, and considers it probable that it is consequently older than 

 the basalt of Antrim, a view which subsequent examination in the field 

 has enabled me to verify. 



adaptation, together with the great breadth of the first rib in the 

 Right- Whale, might explain tlie very different forms presented 

 by tliis bone in these t\vo kinds of whales. 



One of these breast-bones exhibited marks of former inflam- 

 mation of the bones. The author mentioned that he had often 

 met with this condition in whales, in some cjses ankylosis of 

 vertebra- had resulted, and in some there must have been 

 considerable suffering to the animal. This fact might be com- 

 mended to the notice of those, if there be yet any such, who 

 have the notion that disease occurs in animals only when they 

 come under the influence of man. 



On the Occurrence of Finger Muscles in the Bottle-Nose IVliale 

 {Hyperoodon hidens), by Prof. Struther=. 



This bottle-nose stranded on the Aberdeenshire coast just after 

 the meeting of the Association last year at Edinburgh, at which the 

 author read an account of tlie finger-muscles in the great Fin- 

 whale, first noticed by Prof. Flower. It had been believed that 

 these muscles do not exist in the toothed whales, but in this 

 bottle-nose they were even better developed than in the Finner. 

 The extensor muscles especially were better marked, the external 

 e.xtensor, corresponding to the so-called extensor of the little 

 finger of man, being also present. An extensor corpus radialis 

 was also present. Besides the muscles which were known to 

 exist at the shoulder and arm in the Cetacea, he found a repre- 

 sentative of the biceps present liere. These muscles were mainly 

 to be regarded as rudimentary, but they had a certain low amount 

 of function by which their presence as muscles is maintained. In 

 some other cetaceans they are represented entirely by fibrous 

 tissue. Prof Struthers exhibited also a dissection of the rudi- 

 mentary teeth concealed in 'the gum of this botile-nose. They 

 are alive but useless, and their presence could be reasonably 

 interpreted only by the hypothesis of evolution. 



SUB-SECTION ANTHROrOLOGY 



Exploration of some Tumuli on Dartmoor, by C. Spence 

 Bate, F.R.S. 



The author had examined several cairns of the usual 

 kind c ommon on Dartmoor with but little success ; ihey 

 apparently had been previously rummaged by unknown hands. 

 In one, a broken urn and an implement of white slite was 

 fouinl ; the latter was supposed to have been that with which 

 the potter formed the rude urn. 



On Hamel Down, near the centre of Dartmoor, the author 

 explored a barrow composed of earth surrounded with small 

 stones ; in this he found, beneath five large stones which were 

 placed horizontally one beside the other, some burnt bones on 

 the ground, a bronze dagger blade, and an amber ornament 

 inlaid with gold, which is supposed to have been the extremity 

 of the handle of the dagger. 



The author contends that from the character of this inter- 

 ment, the burnt bones not being enclosed within an urn, and the 

 amber ornament taken together with the names associatetl with 

 the locality, are evidence of an early incursion of the old Scandi- 

 navian Vikinger in search of that tin which was necessary for 

 them to manufacture their bronze. 



On the Ethnological and Philological Relations of the Caucasus, 

 by Hyde Clarke. 



This paper communicates the further researches of Mr. Hyde 

 Clarke on the classification of the languages of the Caucasus. It 

 identifies (i) the Ude with the ancient Egyptian and Coptic ; (2) 

 the Abkhass with the Agau, Falasha, &c., of ihe Upper Nile ; 

 (3) the Circassian with the Dravidian ; (4) the Georgian, Lazian 

 and Sivan with the Caucass — Tibetan. The Ude and Abkhass 

 are connected with the statements of Herodotus (Book II.) as to 

 the Egyptian colony established in Colchus by Sesostris. Mr. 

 Hyde Clarke observed that the Caucasus was not a centre of 

 population for the world, but a place of passage, and showed the 

 relations of the Abkhass (Agau) and Circassian with the C)uge- 

 ners in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australasia, and America, illus- 

 trating the common population of the new and old world, and 

 the knowledge of America by ancient nations, dimly preserved, 

 though not understood by the Greek and Roman geographers. 

 The Origin of Serpent-worship, by C. Staniland Wake. 



After referring to various facts showing the existence of ser- 

 pent-worship in many different parts of the world, the author 

 proceeded to consider the several ideas associated with the ser- 

 pent among ancient and modern peoples. One of its chief 

 characteristics was its power over the wind and rain ; and a 



