444 



NA TURE 



[Sept. 26, 1872 



tween the two peoples ; and for the increase and diffusion of 

 knowledge among men." It is apparently intended to acco n- 

 plish this purpose by establishing an American college in Chin 1, 

 and the resoluuon of the A-ssociation "heartily endorses the 

 purpose of the aforesaid Bill." 



In expatiating upon the propriety of this resolution, Presiilcnt 

 Smith alluded to the insecurity of the present position of the fund 

 in the hands of the United States Government, since it offered a 

 premium for trumped-up claims, and already 37,000 dols had 

 been thus alistrac'ed from it ; that if it remained much longer 

 unappropriated, Jap.inese as well as Chinese claims would be 

 in* reduced against it, and it might eventually suffer the fa'e of 

 the Smithsonian funds, which the Government had to make good 

 after the loss of a considerable portion. 



During the course of the same day a scene of intense e.vcite- 

 ment and disorder took place on the reading of a paper by 

 Prof. B. C. Swallow, the Missouri geologist, entitled ''Good 

 Winaa.'Jocial and National Blessing,' which was devoted princi. 

 pally to the details of wine making. It was, however, m.ide 

 an opportunity for the discussion of the causes of drunkenness, 

 and the best means for jjreventing it, which had far more of a 

 social than of a scientific interest. 



A very interesting and valuable paper was that of Mr. C. V. 

 Riley ol St. Louis, entitled " Insects Shaped by the Needs of 

 Flowers," with especial reference to the fructification of tlie 

 American Yuccas. Dr. Engleman of St. Louis had this ye.ir 

 discovered that these plants must needs rely on some arliUcial 

 agency for fertilisation. The flowers are peculiarly cons;ructed, 

 so that it is impossible for the poUeil to reach the stignn, it being 

 glulinous and expelled from the anthers before the blossoms 

 open. Prof. Riley disc.:ivered that there was a small white moth 

 that did the work, and demonstrated on the blackboard liiw 

 wonderfully well the insect was adapted to the purpose. Tliis 

 li tie moth, which he calls Pronidm YuccascUa, has been unkno.vn 

 to entomologists, and forms the type of a new genus. It is m ist 

 anomalous from the fact that the female only has the basal j.iint 

 of the maxillary pilpus wonderfully modified into a long pre- 

 hensile-spined tentacle. With this tentacle she collects the 

 pjllen and thrusts it into the stiijmitic tube, and after having 

 thus fertilised the flower she consigns a few eggs to the young 

 frui% the seeds of which her larvre feed upon. He sta'e 1 that 

 the Yucca was the only entomophilous plant known whicli alj- 

 solutely depended for fertilisation on a single species of insec', 

 and that insect so remarkably modified for the purpose. Tlii-Te 

 was a beautiful adaptation of means to an end, and a mutuil in- 

 terdependence between the plant and animal ; and Mr. Iviley 

 explained how on Dirwinian grounds, even this perfect adip'a- 

 tion was doubtless brought about by slow degrees. He alluded, 

 in closing, to a prac ical phase of the subject. The plant and ils 

 fructifier are insepar.able, under natural conditions, and the l.Ttcr 

 recurs throughout the native home of the former. In the mo-e 

 northern portions of the United States, and in Europe, wh.er e 

 our Yuccas have been introduced and are cuhiva'ed for ihjr 

 sho*y blossoms, the insect does not exist, and consequent y the 

 Yuccas never produce seed there. The larva of Proniiba eats 

 through the Yucca capsule in which it fed, enters the ground and 

 hibernates there in an oval silken cocoon. In this s'age the 

 insect may easily be sent by mail f.om one part of the wur'd to 

 another, and our transatlantic florists may by introducing it ■■■•o'ln 

 have the satisfaclion of stcing their American Yuccas pro uce 

 seed -without any personal efloit on ihtir part. 



Among other paptrs read at subsequent meeiings of the .\jSo- 

 ciation wa-, one by Dr. J. W. Foster on the " Bird-shaped Sliulls 

 found in Indian Mounds," in which he tried to show that 1 lie 

 peculiar shape of thi se skulls was not produced by compression, 

 as in the case with the heads of many modern Indian tribes but 

 really belonged to a very early and comparatively low type of 

 man intellectu.ally. 



Another paper was by PrL.f. Daniel Kirkwood on "Lin-ry 

 Stars with Extraordinary Orbits," with special reference to Mr. 

 Wilson's communication to the Royal As'.ronomical Society, 

 as to the orbits of the stars constituting Castjr. 



Mr. W. W. Wheildon of Concord, Mass., advanced in 

 opposition to what is known as the Gulf Stream theory 

 an atmospheric tlieory to account for am.-liorations of climate 

 and an open sea in Polar regions. He thought that thcrj 

 could be no question that if the whole Arctic region were of 

 open water that fact would not account for all the atmospheric 



phenomena and warmth of temperature experienced by polar 

 navigators. The theory of Prof. Wheildon ii that open water, 

 melting ice, rain after saow, and other phenomena of ih; 

 so't in Arctic regions, are not caused by winds warmed liy an 

 open sea, but by a circulation of air in which warm winds 

 descend from upper atmospheres ; bei"g a circulation by which 

 winds heated at the equator reach the poles. The brief di.cus- 

 sion which followed this paper did not indicate much difference 

 of opinion on the subject. 



Of course, there were the usual nunlhers of excursions to phaces 

 of interest, including one to the curious " Picture " cr " Calico " 

 Rocks near the town of Macgregor, which are composed 

 of Potsdam sandstone. Far up in a narrow glen, outcrop- 

 ping sandstone rocks, partially denuded, exhibit in narrow stripes 

 and patches hut principally in linear horizontal directions, the 

 greatest variety of colours. Red is predominant, but black, blue, 

 yellow, and intermediate shales are not wanting, ea:h being 

 distinct and not unfrequently contrasting sharply with the ad- 

 joining stripe, or with a gray that is almost white. Prjba'ily the 

 original s.and was white; the colours indicite varying admixtures 

 of iron oxides and carbonates. Another was to the Mississippi, 

 apparently for the purpose of seeing and collecting spec mens of 

 the large lily or lotus of that river (the Nelninbiutn Itilfniii), 

 closely allied to the Egyptian lotUs. 'I'he last excursion was to 

 Sioux City, and was to last for three days. 



Altogether this year's meeting seems to have given general 

 satisfaction, and the hospitality of the lowans was unbounded. 

 Next year's meeting is 10 take place at PortUnd, Maine, on the 

 third Wedneslay of August, Prof Joseph Livesing, of Harvard 

 University, being the president-elect. 



THE FRENCH ASSOCIATION MEETING AT 

 BORDEAUX 



THE first session of the French Association for the 

 Promotion of Science, closely modelled after that 

 at Britain, was held at Bordeaux from the 5th to the 12th 

 of September, and seems in all respects to have been 

 sujcessful and satisfa:tory. As is usual at similar meet- 

 ings everywhere, the citizens of Bordeaux lavished their 

 hospitality upon the tnembers, who well deserved this as 

 well as the gratitude of the French generally for i laugu- 

 rating a movement to spread among that nation a know- 

 ledge of and love for science, and thus inform and temper 

 their often misleading enthusiasm; in the words of M. 

 Quatrefages, " to renovate our country by the scientific 

 spirit and scientific s'.udies." The meetings were well at- 

 tended both by French and foreign sazM/ts, though the 

 only two English onei wliDse names we notice were Prof. 

 Odiing and Ur. Gladstone. The Society already numbers 

 Soo members, and, as will be seen by M. G. Masson's 

 paper, its finances are in a flourishing condition. 'I'he 

 first general meeting was pres'ded over by M. de O"''-'''^- 

 fages (the president-elect for next year), in room of M. 

 Claude Bernard, the state of whose health pi evented him 

 f.om attending. 



The opening address of M. de Qua'rcfjges as acting pres'- 

 deut, was a very stirring and noble one, fud of sound sense as 

 to the recent humiliation and present condition of France, en- 

 thusiasm towards science, and faith in it as one of the most 

 powerful regenerators of the country. " Science is at present , 

 supreme," he said ; "she is becoming more and more the sove- / 

 reign of the world ;" and he believes that it is only when all \/ 

 ranks and classes of the people, rulers and ruled, are thoroughly 

 imbued with the sciendfic spirit, and are guided by scientific 

 knowledge, that France will ever again take and maintain the 

 supreme place in the world which she ought to hold. M. de 

 Quatrefages cmcluded with a grac , ful allusion to "our elder 

 sister, the British Association." 



After an enthusiastic speech from the Mayor of Bordeaux, M. 

 Cornu gave a brief sketch of the history of the Association. The 

 first idea of the Association, he tells us, origmated among a 

 group of French Alsatian students gathered around M. Combes, 

 the late lamented director of the School of Mines of Paris, and 

 it has been nourished by a patriotic Jdesire to contribute to the 

 moral condition of the dejected country. After the death of M. 



