Nov. 4, iS86] 



NA TURE 



17 



Creek (North Carolina), which are evidently nothing but cast- 

 iron, and a third, labelled Tarapaca Hemalga (Chili), which is 

 probably of similar material. We could find' on the specimens 

 of thi< class in the Haivavd collection no distinct evidences of 

 crystallisation ; but also we could find no features incompatible 

 with that unity of structure which it has been the chief object of 

 this paper to illustrate." 



Mr. Horatio Hale has issued in pamphlet form his address 

 "On the Origin of Languages and the Antiquity of Speaking 

 Man," delivered before the Anthropological. Section of the 

 American Association for the Advancement of Science at Buffalo 

 last August. The anthor's views were much discussed at the 

 time, and those interested in the subject will be thankful to have 

 them presented in this convenient form. Rejecting all the 

 theories hitherto advanced by Lyell, Frederick MuUer, and 

 others, he endeavours to account for the vast number o{ specific- 

 ally distinct languages spoken by races not specifically distinct 

 by assuming that they originated from children's prattle in inde- 

 pendent centres after the spread of speechless man over the 

 globe. The cases are mentioned of the Boston twins born in 

 i860 and of some other " Geschvvister," who appear to have 

 evolved and practised for some time infantile jargons understood 

 only amongst themselves, h hich it is argued might, under favour- 

 able conditions of isolation and so forth, develop into regular 

 forms of speech consistently worked out with their own vocabu- 

 laries and grammatical structure. In this way linguistic families 

 differing absolutely one from the other need not be of any great 

 antiquity, and in fact may have been developed from slight germs 

 in many places and at different times since ihe dispersion of the 

 ' ' homo alalltis " from some given centre. This homo alallus 

 himself is admitted to be the lineal descendant of the men of the 

 Stone Age, who are assumed to have been speechless, so that all 

 forms of speech now current may be of comparatively recent 

 date, say, not more than 8000 or 10,000 years, notwithstanding 

 their great number and profound differences. This theory, 

 which refers human speech in the first instance to " the language- 

 making instinct of very young children," is presented with con- 

 siderable force and plausibility, but will scarcely be taken 

 seriously either by philologists or anthropologists. The latter 

 especially will find it difficult to accept the conclusion that man 

 properly so called, the homo sapiens, as distinguished from his 

 precursor of the Neolithic Age, does not date further back than 

 "somewhere between 6000 and 10,000 years ago." The theory 

 also requires us to regard this first spe.aking man as already fully 

 developed, possessing " intellectual faculties of the highest order, 

 such as none of his descendants has surpassed," thus reversing 

 the conclusions of modern anthropology. 



It is reported from Vienna that a great ice cavern has been 

 discovered on the southern slope of the Dachstein, or Schnee- 

 berg, the very conspicuous lofty mountain in Lower Austria, 

 which is visible from the ramparts of the capital. The general 

 direction of the cavern runs from south to north, and it has been 

 explored for a distance of 600 metres, a sharp precipice seemingly 

 14 metres deep having stopped for the time further progress. 

 The cavern is from 5 to 5 metres broad, and very lofty, giving 

 the impression that the ice is enormously thick. The explorers 

 are of opinion that a subterranean lake will be found in the 

 cavern. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during 

 the past week include a Bonnet Monkey {Macacus sinicus Q ) 

 from India, presented by Miss Edith Prowse ; four Common 

 Hedgehogs {Erinacctis curopc^ns), British, presented by Mr. W. 



Walkinshaw ; a Buzzard (Biiico ) from Mogador, 



North Africa, presented by Mr. P. L. Forwood ; a Ring- 

 necked Parrakeet {PaAeornis torqtiatus V ) from India, presented 

 by Mr. W. S. Bradshaw ; an Aldrovandi's Skink {Plcstiodon 



aurali(s) from North Africa, deposited ; a Rusty-spolted Cat 

 {Fclis rubiginosa) from Ceylon, two Diuca Finches (Dinca 

 grisea) from Chili, two Wood Larks {AlauJa arborea), British, 

 purchased ; eight Long-fronted Gerbilles (Gerbillus longifrons), 

 born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN 



The Bi.n'ARY Star y Coron.-e Australis. — Mr. H. C. 

 Wilson, of Cincinnati Observatory, has published elements of 

 the orbit of this interesting southern double star in the Sidc?-eal 

 Messenger (ov October. These elements, which do not differ 

 much from a set recently computed by Mr. Gore (A/onMy 

 Notices, vol. xlvi. p. 104), are as follows : — 



P = 78-80 years A. = i39°'o 



T = 1887-40 a = 4i°-o 



e = 0-324 a = i'-85 



7 = 50° -5 

 Comparing observations inade 1834-47 to 1883-62 with this 

 orbit, Mr. Wilson tinds that the position-angles are well repre- 

 sented, with the exception of those observed by Powell from 

 1S59 to 1864, which seem to be affected by systematic error, 

 and thinks we may conclude the period is not far from eighty 

 years. It is to be hoped that numerous observations of this 

 star will be obtained during the ne.xt ten years, while the dis- 

 tance is small and the angular motion rapid. 



Oppolzer's Astronomical Refractions. — Herr Oppolzer 

 has recently published, in the Transactions of the Mathematical 

 and Natural Science Section of the Imperial Academy of 

 Sciences of Vienna, vol. liii., a paper containing a theoretical 

 discussion of the problem of astronomical refraction, followed 

 by numerical tables intended to facilitate the practical applica- 

 tion of the results at which he arrives. The relation between 

 the temperature (/) and density (p) of the' atmosphere which 

 Herr Oppolzer adopts is 



It 



— = e + 2 V"'. 



8p 

 where /■ and a are quantities depending on the state of the 

 atmosphere and on the place of observation. Whatever may be 

 thought of the legitimacy of a relation of this form from a 

 theoretical point of view, it at all events has the advantage, in 

 Herr Oppolzer's skilful hands, of leading to a comparatively 

 simple expression for the amount of refraction, deduced from a 

 modification of the ordinary differential equation. And that it 

 is capable, when the approximations are carried far enough, 

 of giving results of great accuracy for large zenith distances, is 

 shown by a comparison made between the computed values of 

 the refraction and the well-known observations of Argelander, 

 which form the basis of Bessel's supplementary table given in 

 the "Tabula; Regiomontance, " with the following results :— 



Observed— Computed 



Observed — Computed 



85 O 



86 O 



87 O 



88 o 



89 o 

 89 30 



- 2-5 

 + 2-3 



Comets Finlay and Barnard. — The follow ing ephemerides 

 for Beriin midnight are from the Astronomische Nachrichtcn, 

 No. 2752 :— 



Comet Finlay {I'&^d e) 



