5o8 



NATURE 



[Oct. 17, 1872 



differs in several points. I propose to refer the fossils to a species 

 with the name of llipposyus formosus. Trof. Leidy further re- 

 marked that he had recently the opportunity of examining tlie 

 tooth described by Prof. Marsh under the name of Palicosyops 

 minor. The tooth evidently belongs to the curious pachyderm 

 with the beaver-like incisors named Troi^osus casliviihiis. (.)n 

 observing the molar tooth, which is not worn away like those in llie 

 jaw specimen upon which the latter was named, it at once called 

 to mind, the tooth which had been described under the name of 

 Aitchippodiis riparius. On comparison, it would appear as if 

 the specimens referred to Pahcosyops minor and 'J'rot^osus castori- 

 dens, really belong to the same genus and species. The tootli of 

 Ancliippodus ripparins was obtained from a tertiary formation, 

 Miocene or Kocene,in Monmouth Co., N.J. If the determination 

 is correct, it would go to show that the Bridger Tertiary forma- 

 tion of Wyoming was contemporaneous with the Tertiary deposit 

 of Monmouth Co., N.J. I'rof Cope stated that the largest 

 mammal of the Eocene formations adjoining those of Wyoming, 

 i.e. of the Wahsatch group of Hayden, was tlie Bat/iinodon 

 7'adians, Cope, of about the size of Rhinoceros. It was an odd- 

 toed ungulate, with peculiar dental characters. The incisors 

 were well developed above and below, as in the tapir, but the 

 dental series was little interrupted. The crowns of the upper 

 molars were all wider than long, and presented mixed characters. 

 On the outer margin one only of the usual crescents of ruminants 

 was present, but a tubeicle represented the anterior one, Tlie 

 one wliich was present was directed very obliquely inwards. 

 Inner crescents were represented by two angles, the posterior 

 forming the inner angular margin of a flat table, the anterior a 

 mere cingulum at its interior base. The arrangement of these 

 parts was stated to be of interest in connection with the relation 

 ships between the types of hoofed animals. The single outer 

 crescent was a niminant indication, while the inner table re- 

 sembled the interior jiart of the crown of TitanolJuyiunt. It 

 differed, however, in its early union with the outer margin, its 

 edge being thus possibly homologous with the posterior trans- 

 verse crest in Ixhinoeeros. The premolars had two or three 

 lobes with crescentic section arranged transversely. He regarded 

 the genus as allied to Chalieothcriunt. He stated that the 

 mammalian fauna of Wyoming and Utah more nearly reseml'led 

 that of the Paris Basin than any yet discovered in our country, 

 and that it had been discovered to contain a still greater numljer 

 of generalised mammalian forms. One of the most marked of 

 these was the genus just described by Dr. Leidy. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, September 30. — M. Chevreul, 

 president. — Tlie following members of tlie International Com- 

 mittee on the Metric System were present at the meeting : — MM. 

 Stankart and Bosscha, for the Low Countries ; Mr. Chisholm, 

 for England ; General Ibanez, .Spain; MM. Lang and Herr, 

 Austria. The following papers were read : — "On the demon- 

 stration of the formula which represents the elementary action 

 of two currents," by M. J. Bertrand, a long matliematical paper 

 on iVmpcre's law of electrodynamical attractions ; " On the im- 

 mediate determination by the principle of correspondence of the 

 number of points of intersection of two curves of any order whicli 

 meet at a finite distance," Ijy M. Cliasles. — Next came a note on 

 the stability of colours on stuffs in general, and on silk in particular, 

 by M. Clievreul. The autlior refers to a paper he read before 

 the Academy twelve years back, when he drew attention to the 

 unstability of many of the aniline colours then recently intro- 

 duced. He now again calls attention to these colours, and con- 

 siders that the use of them cannot fail to have a disastrous effect 

 on French commerce and industry. — A paper by I-'atlier .Secclii 

 followed, entitled, "Solar Spectroscopic Researches." The 

 author calls attention to the following extract from a letter 

 to Herr Schellen, written Ijy Mr. Young, of Dartmouth College, 

 U.S. A. Mr. Young was stationed on Mount Sherman, S,joo 

 feet above sea level, and used a telescope of 9 '4 inches aper- 

 ture. He says, " The spectrum of the sun, although not entirely 

 reversed at the border of the disc, became contmuous, as Fatlier 

 Secchi has seen in Italy. When the air is calm the height of 

 the region where this occurs is not greater than l". The lines 

 rays of the chromosphere were remarkably augmented in number. 

 H[ and H.^ were seen reversed, as was ii and the other hydrogen 

 lines. In the spectrum of each spot the lines of hydrogen were 

 reversed in a region slightly more extended than the penumbra ; 

 this has been verified for at least twenty different spots." Father 

 Secchi states that these oliservations confiim his own made at 

 Ronei 1 lS6j. — M. B-rlrmd Ih-n pr seii'ed the Academy wilh a 



posthumous work of M. Duhamel, entitled "An Essay on the 

 application of scientific methods to the mural man," upon which 

 lie made some remarks. He was followed by M. Max Marie's 

 concluding paper "On the theory of the residues of double 

 integrals." Next came M.M. A. Rabuteau and F. Papillon's 

 "Researches on the Physiological Action and Antifermentable 

 properties of Sodic Silicate. " The authors have added various 

 quantities of this body to different kinds of fermentible matter 

 and iind a quantity of two grammes to completely stop all fermen- 

 tation of wliatever kind, its action is exactly analogous to that 

 of borax but more energetic. Two grammes of the latter 

 injected into tlie veins of a dog produced no effect whilst one 

 gramme of the silicate produced violent purging and vomiting 

 and ultimately death after an interval of nine days. — On the 

 effect of vegetable parasites in altering bread by M.M. F. Rochard 

 and Ch. Legros was refen'ed to the commission appointed to 

 examine the Oidium aurantiaenin. M. Bertrand then presented a 

 note " Onthemovement of the Planets around the Sun according 

 to the Electrodynamic Law of Weber," by M. F. Tisserand. 

 M. Yvon Villarceau presented a note by M. Stephan on the 

 "Elements and Ephemerides of Planet 122. M. Yvon Vil- 

 larceau remarked that M. Stephan had also calculated the orbit 

 of 121, and he then presented a note by M. R. Luther, on an 

 " Observation of the Planet 95, Aretliusa, made at the Observa- 

 tory of Bilk-Dusseldorff," which was followed by a note of M. 

 Treve, " On Magnetism." — M. Milne-Edwards then presented a 

 note by M. N. Joly, entitle!, " Observations on the Metamor- 

 phoses of Osseous Fish in general, and particularly on those of a 

 small Chinese fish of the genus Macropoda, recently intro- 

 duced into France." — This was followed by a paper by M. 

 H. Sicard, " On the Connection which exists between the Nervous 

 and Muscular .Systems in the Helice.s. " — And then came a note 

 by M. Lichtenstein, " On a Process for the Destruction of P/tyl- 

 lo.xera," by the burying and subsequent destruction of the young 

 shoots. Papers on the same subjects were received from MM. 

 A. Rainaud, Peyiat, and Louvet, and were sent to the Phylloxera 

 Commission. 



PAMPHLETS RECEIVED. 



English.— Tlie Philosopliy of Theism: J. Croll. — Quarterly German 

 M.ig.azine, No 2. — Proceedings of the Bath Natural History Society and 

 Antiquarian Field Club, Vol. ii. No. 3. — Proceedings of the Liverpool Natu- 

 ralists' Field Club. 1S71-72. — The Geology of the country around L.verpool : 

 G. H. Morton.— Notes for my Students in Magnetism : W. J. Wilson.— 

 Annual Report of Committee for amending the law with respect to the pro- 

 perty of married women. — Journal of Mental Science, October.— Qnarierly 



Journal of Science, No. 34. — Heywood's School Atlas of Twelve Maps 



Pyrology, or Fire Analysis ; Captain W. A. Ross. — Journal of the Statistical 

 Society, September. 



American and Colonial.— Canadian Naturalist, Vol. vi. No. 4. — Popu- 

 lar Science Monthly, October. — Preliminary Description of New Tertiary 

 Mammals ; O. C. Marsh.— Notice of some new Tertiary .and Post-tertiary 

 Birds : O. C. Marsh. — Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences, 

 Philadelphia, January — .'Vpril 1872. — Washington Observations for '870 ; 

 Appendi.x II. Report on the Observations of JSucke's Comet during its re- 

 turn in 1S71 : Hall .-uid Harkness.— The Curious History of a Butterfly : S. 

 11 Scudder. — Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, Auguft. 



Foreign. — Verhandlungen der k. k. geologischcn Reichsanstait zu Wien, 

 August 30.— Sulla incinerazione del Cadaveri : G. Polli.— Zeitschrift fiir 

 Meteorologie, September. — Sur la mesure des sensations physiques ; J. 

 Plateau. — La Belgique horticole, July — October. — Om Echinoidecrnis 

 bygynad; S. Loveu. 



CONTENTS Pack 



Canon Kingsley on Physiological Training 489 



Martin on Microscopic Mounting 490 



Ous Book Shelf 491 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Solar Spectroscopic Observations. — Lieut-Col. J. F. Tennant, r*^ 



R.E., F.R.S 4,j2 



Consciuusnejs and Volition. — John Moore 492 



The Solar Spectrum. — J. Rand Capron ■ . . 492 



A Day Aurora — J. P. Earwaker 491 



Meteor.— Rev. T. W.Webb, F.R.A.S 493 



Fossil Oyster .... 493 



An Electrical Barograph. By H. C. Russell 493 



Beaufort's Wind Scale and the Board of Trade 493 



Science at Oxford and Cambridge 494 



American Preparations for the Forthcoming Transit of 



Venus 494 



The Hasslcr Expedition . . 496 



On the Fertilisation of a few Common Papilionaceous 



Flowers. II. By T. H. Fareer, F.L.S. (With tUustratioHS) . 49S 



Notes 501 



The Birth of Chemistry. IL By G. F. Rodwell, F.C.S. (With 



Itliistratiojt.) 50^ 



The Diathekmacv OF Flame. By W. Mattieu Williams, F.C.S. 506 



Scientific Serials 507 



Societies and ,\cademies 507 



Rii 



