EE a 
Dec. 22, 1870] 
NATURE 

to determine the variation of the intensity of the force with a 
change of distance, by placing the needle opposite an electro- | 
magnet and noting the deflection produced when the instru- 
ments were at different distances from one another : it was found 
that in the apparatus employed the intensity varied inversely as 
the 2°7404 power of the distance from the core. Dr. Mayer 
has determined the power of cores made of insulated and of non- 
insulated soft iron wires, and finds that the insulated core is 
slightly the weaker. He has also measured what thickness of 
tube is equal to a solid core of the same diameter, and has found 
that a solid cylinder ten inches long and 1°68 in diameter may be 
replaced by a tube of the same length and of a thickness of % of 
the diameter. ‘This relative size does not appear to be constant 
for cores of all dimensions. A longitudinal slit in the tube does 
not diminish its power ; in fact, Dr. Mayer seems inclined to think 
that it facilitates its magnetisation. By placing a helix inside a 
soft iron tube a magnet is produced with poles the reverse of 
those of the coil, or ofa bar placed within the helix; this sup- 
ports Ampére’s theory of magnetic currents. Numerous other 
experiments are detailed in this paper, and the author promises 
toemploy his apparatus for the determination of the force of 
magnets of different sizes.—Mr. G. F. Barker contributes an 
abstract of the second series of Professor Meissner’s researches 
on electrised oxygen, in which are detailed the author’s experi- 
ments on the substance formed simultaneously with ozone which 
possesses the property of producing a white mist in contact with 
water. The original paper was published by the Gottingen 
Royal Society of Sciences.—Mr. A. E. Verrill describes a new 
species of Entozo6n from the Hog. This is followed by some notes 
on the structure of the Crinoidea, Cystidea, and Blastoidea, by E. 
Billings, F.G.S.—The next article consists of contributions to 
chemistry from the laboratory of the Lawrence Scientific School, 
the first paperof which is by W. G. Leison, on the precipitation and 
determination of the metals of the magnesium group in the form 
of oxalates. For this purpose the solutions containing the 
metals are mixed with oxalic acid and alcohol, the precipitated 
oxulates washed, dried, and dissolved in hydrochloric or sul- 
phuric acid, and the quantity of oxalic acid present estimated by 
means of astandard solution of potassic permanganate. A num- 
ber of examples show the accuracy of the process.—J. H. Talbott 
describes the precipitation of zinc and manganese as sulphides, 
and the quantitative separation of tin and tungsten by fusing with 
potassic cyanide, by which the tin is reduced to the metallic 
state.—A new mode of treating gelatinous precipitates is sug- 
gested by T. M. Chatard, which consists in evaporating the 
liquid containing the pre-ipitate to dryness, and stirring until the 
mass becomes a dry powder, which is then readily washed on a 
filter.—S. P. Sharples points out that antimonious sulphide pre- 
cipitated by sulphuretted hydrogen in boiling solutions is granular 
and easily washed. Arsenious sulphide does not beiave in a 
similar manner.—In the fifth section B. Godwin advises the repe- 
tition of quantitative analyses with the same quantity of material, 
the mean of the results being taken.—The next article is by Pro- 
fessor W. A. Morton on the corona seen in total eclipses. He 
calls the attention of astronomers to the importance of determin- 
ing the positions of the more prominent portions of the corona 
with reference to the equator of the sun.—Dr. Finlay contributes 
observations on prehistoric archeology in Greece. —The remainder 

of the journal consists of extracts from other journals principally 
European, 
THE Geological Magazine for December (No. 78) opens with a 
curious paper on Earthquakes, written about the year 1798 by Sir 
John Prestwich, an ancestor of the President of the Geological 
Society. This paper is interesting not only asshowing theabsurdities 
which passed as science not much more than seventy years ago, 
but also as giving a list, derived from old historical works, of the 
occurrence of earthquakes in England.—The most important 
article in the number is a continuation of Mr. H. Woodward’s 
Contributions to the Knowledge of British Fossil Crustacea, 
containing descriptions of species of the curious genus Cyc/us 
from the British Carboniferous rocks. Many of the species are 
described as new, and most of them are well figured. There is 
also an interesting article by Mr. George Maw, on Recent 
Changes of Level in the Coastline of the Mediterranean ; and Mr. 
J. F. Walker describes and figures some Brachiopoda, from the 
Lower Greensand of Upware in Cambridgeshire, two of them as 
new species. Other papers are: ‘‘On the Age and Position of 
the Blue Clay in the West of England,” by Miss C. Eyton ; and 
‘On the Dispersion of Granite Blocks over the Plain of Cum- 

berland,” by Mr, D, Mackintosh, 
E57 
THE most important paper in the American Naturalist for 
November is one presented by Prof. Agassiz to the Troy meeting 
of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, 
“On the former existence of local glaciers in the White Moun- 
tains.” He conclusively shows that whatever may have been 
the number of its higher peaks which at any given time during 
the glacial period rose above the great ice-sheets that then 
covered the country, this mountain range offered no obstacle to 
the southward movement and progress of the northern ice-fields. 
To the north of the White Mountains, as well as to the south, the 
| northern drift consists of a paste more or less clayey or sandy, 
containing abraded fragments of a great variety of rocks, so 
impacted into the minutely comminuted materials as to indicate 
neither stratification, arrangement, nor sorting, determined by 
the form, size, or weight of these fragments. Large boulders 
and pebbles of all sizes are found in it throughout its thickness, 
and these coarser materials have evidently been ground together 
with the clay and sand under great pressure, beneath heavy 
masses of ice ; for they have all the characteristic marks so un- 
mistakeable now to those who are familiar with glacial action, 
scratches, grooves, furrows, &c. We have also articles ‘‘ On 
the Habits and Migrations of some of the Marine Fishes of Mas- 
sachusetts,” by J. H. Blake; ‘‘ What is the Washington Eagle?” 
and ‘* On the Distribution of the Moose in New England,” by J. 
A. Allen ; “‘ Notes on certain Inland Birds of New Jersey,” by 
Dr. C. C. Abbott; and two reprints, ‘‘ On the Cultivation of 
Alpine Flowers,” and “ Acclimatisation of Foreign Trees,” both 
from the Quarterly Fournal of Science, by Mr. A. W. Bennett. 
Further abstracts are also given of papers read at the recent 
meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of 
Science. 


SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 
LonDoN 
Royal Geographical Society, December 13.—Sir H. 
Bartle Frere, vice-president, in the chair. The following new 
fellows were elected: —Daniel David Dymes; Colonel T. G. 
Glover, R.E.; R. M. Gordon; Captain L. W. Longstaff, 
Edward Masterman, jun. ; Don Pompeio Moneta (Chief Engi- 
neer Argentine Republic), Charles Pannel ; Alfred Robinson ; 
G. S. T. Scobell; and C. A. Winchester.—Lieutenant G, C. 
Musters, R.N., read a paper on his recent journey through 
Patagonia, from the Straits of Magellan to the frontier of the 
Argentine Republic. The author, having determined on this 
journey, landed at the Chilian penal settlement of Punta Arena, 
in the Straits, on the 15th April, 1869, and, having procured the 
goodwill of the governor, was permitted to accompany a party 
who were despatched across the country to recover some run- 
away convicts at the mouth of the River Santa Cruz. Here he 
made a friendly arrangement with Orkeke, the cacique of a tribe 
of Patagonians, to traverse the country with them as far as the 
Rio Negro. He studied their language and manners, and joined 
them in their hunting parties: the country abounding in game, 
chiefly guanaco, the three-toed ostrich, and the puma, or Ame- 
rican lion, the latter of which was eaten as well as the rest. 
Frozen rivers and heavy snow-falls prevented their starting from 
Santa Cruz before the 12th of August. They travelled at first 
in a westerly direction, until reaching the foot ofthe Cordilleras, 
along which they marched for upwards of 700 miles to the 
upper waters of the Rio Negro, making a short, but important, 
detour across the River Limay, in the Cordillera due east of 
Valdovia. The author described the streams crossed throughout 
the route, the physical nature of the country, and its chief pro- 
ductions, and gave also long and most interesting details of the 
manners of the wild tribes, including an account of hostile en- 
counters with other tribes. He stated that, when not excited, 
the Patagonians manifested a good-tempered and generous dispo- 
sition, and that they were remarkable for their affection to their 
wives and children. The women have the whole charge of the 
tents, constructed of poles and guanaco skins, and the march of 
many months was an almost continuous chase after the gamet 
the country. Every morning the chief gave his orders for the 
day in aset speech. The men, on starting, spread themselves 
over a wide space in the plains, in a crescent form, the more 
advanced of whom on each side, travelling fastest, as the whole 
cavalcade moves on, meet in front, and thus enclose the game in 
a circle ; the women and children, with the baggage-horses, 
forming the base line of the crescent. In the earlier part of the 
journey four such marches were made in succession, averaging 
