Nov. 4, 1886] 



NATURE 



sive gold-mines imperfectly, and chiefly by the help of the 

 women, to whom falls the chief share of providing; for the wants 

 of the community, but who, after marriage, enjoy great freedom, 

 although th; young girls are kept under strict supervision. — On 

 the human bones found in France in caverns belonging to the 

 Quaternary age, by M. Cartailhac. Of such finds, none can 

 be referred to the early period of the Saint Acheul, or Clielles 

 deposits, the oldest belonging apparently to the Mousterian aj;e, 

 while the most abundant human remains are found in the com- 

 paratively recent beds of Solutre and La Madelaine. The former 

 of these are remarkable for the en armous number of horse-bones 

 accumulated about the stone hearths and in the kitchen-middens 

 of this station. According to Dr. Cartailhac, 40,000 skeletons 

 might be reconstructed from these equine remains, which seem 

 to have been exposed to tlie action of fire, the greater number 

 of the bones having been broken for the extraction of the 

 marrow, whence he assumes that the horse must have reached 

 its maximum development and served in the place of all 

 other game at the period of the Solutre deposits. The writer 

 c >m pares together the human and other remains found in various 

 Mediterranean and inland caves, with the special object of ascer- 

 taining how far the condition and mode of deposition of the 

 skeletons can throw light on the vexed question whether the 

 great preponderance of fractured over whole bones in these 

 vrimaeval graves indicates the practice of cannibalism, or whether 

 it may not be dependent on the observance of special modes of 

 tnirial, involving the burning or dismemberment of the body 

 after death. — The facial angle proposed by Cuvier and Geoffroy 

 Saint-Hilaire for comparative anatomical determinations and 

 for measuring facial differences in the living subject, by Dr. 

 Collignon. The writer, who considers at length the merits of 

 the various angles proposed by Camper and others, concludes 

 by showing the superiority, for practical purposes, of adopting 

 Cuvier's facial angle, measured by Topinard's goniometer for 

 determining the median angle. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, October 26. — M. Jurien de la 

 Graviere, President, in the chair. — On the unequal flow of gases, 

 by M. Haton de la Goupilliere. In continuation of his recent 

 communication on this subject the author here deals with the 

 reverse problem of a receptacle originally filled with compressed 

 air discharging itself freely into the atmosphere. — On the 

 intensity of the magnetic field in dynamo-electric machines, by 

 Marcel Deprez. Assuming that the most important element of 

 a dynamo-electric machine, whether employed as a generator or 

 receiver, is the magnetic field, the authordeals with the influence 

 of the deviation of the magnetic pieces, and shows that, contrary 

 to the opinion of certain electricians, the intensity of the field 

 decreases far less rapidly thin the distance of the magnetic 

 pieces increases. The influence of the dimensions perpendicular 

 to the lines of force is also considered. — Researches on the de- 

 composition of the bicarbonate of ammonia by water, and on 

 the diffusion of its components through the atmosphere, by 

 MM. Berthelot and Andre'. From the experiments here 

 described, the authors are led to the conclusion that it is the 

 diffusion of the carbDnic acid that determines the decomposition 

 by water of the bicarbonate of ammonia, and consequently the 

 transport of the ammonia itself. These results are of the greatest 

 importance even for the purely physical study of the circulation 

 of gases between the ground, the waters, and atmospheric air, 

 apart altogether from the phenomena of vegetation. — Note 

 accompanying the presentation of his work entitled " An Intro- 

 duction to the Study of the Human Races," by M. de Quatre- 

 fages. This isthefirstvolumeof the "Bibliothequed'Ethnologie," 

 edited jointly by the author and M. Hamy. It contains a summary 

 of the views expounded in greater or less detail in his other writings, 

 while dealing more fully w ith a number of other matters, which he 

 had hitherto merely indicated, or else entirely neglected for 

 lack of the fresh data and discoveries which now enable him to 

 discuss them seriously. One of the most important is the ques- 

 tion of prehistoric man, and he now shows that, even in Quater- 

 nary times the human race had already spread over the whole 

 earth to the remotest extremities of the Old and New World. 

 This vibiquity of Quaternary man already suggested the exist- 

 ence of the species in the previous epoch, and direct proofs of 



this fact have recently been multiplied to such an extent that 

 the presence of man in Europe during Tertiary times may now 

 be regarded as placed beyond reasonable doubt, although his 

 presence in America is not yet established. The results yielded 

 by palaeontology, geology, and even history point to the extreme 

 north of Asia as the cradle of the human race and the centre 

 of dispersion, which had already begun in Tertiary times. Here 

 also were differentiated the three fundamental types, to which 

 all races may still be reduced, as well as the three linguistic 

 types diffused throughout the globe. It is further shown that 

 hypsistenocephaly is the main feature distinguishing the Ameri- 

 can from the European primitive race, and that the man of 

 Canstadt, hitherto regarded as the oldest Quaternary type, in 

 reality dates back to the Tertiary epoch. — Note on the meteorite 

 which fell on Januaiy 27, 1886, at Nammianthu!, in the Presi- 

 dency of Madras, by M. Daubree. This meteorite, a specimen 

 of which has been received from Mr. Medlicott, of the Indian 

 Geological Survey, presents the ordinary characters of the group 

 of small sporadic asters. — Experiments on the transmission 01 

 force by means of a series of dynamo-electric machines coupled 

 together, by M. Hippolyte Fontaine. These important experi- 

 ments (carried out with seven Gramme machines, under the 

 inspection of the Commissioners, MM. Bertrand, Becquerel, 

 Cornu, Maurice Levy, Marcel Deprez, and Mascart) show that 

 it is possible to transmit an effective force of fifty horse-power 

 through a resistance of 100 ohms at a loss of less than 50 per 

 cent. — On algebraic surfaces capable of a double infinity of 

 birational transformations, by M. E. Picard. In supplement to 

 his previous communication on algebraic surfaces, the author 

 here shows that, for all surfaces capable of a double infinuy 

 of birational transformation, the co-ordinates of any given point 

 are expressed by the uniform (Abelian) functions of two para- 

 meters. — On the transformation of surfaces in themselves, by 

 M. H. Poincare. It is shown in connection with M. Picard's 

 theorem that, in certain cases, the Abelian functions may de- 

 generate into triply periodical, elliptical, or even rational func- 

 tions. — E.xtension of Riemann-Roch's theorem to algebraic 

 surfaces, by MM. Noether. — On the recomposition of white 

 light by means of the colours of the spectrum, by 1\L Stroumbo. 

 A process is described by means of which the recomposition of 

 while light is effected, taking as the starting-point the very 

 colours of the spectrum, and utilising, as in Newton's experi- 

 ment with the disk, the persistence of the images on the retina. 

 — Note on the principal showers of shooting-stars and the 

 aurora borealis, by M. Ch. V. Zenger. A careful study of 

 M. Rubenson's great Catalogue of the Auroras from 1800 to 

 1877 has unexpectedly revealed the fact that August 10 and 

 November 14 show a great frequency of these lights, thus 

 coinciding with the periods of the shooting-stars and suggesting 

 a connection between these two orders of phenomena. — Influence 

 of the amplitude of the lunar oscillation in declination on the 

 shiftings of the northern trade-winds, by M. A. Poincare. A 

 study of the tables for 18S0 83 shows certain relations between 

 these phenomena, which, however, differ greatly according to 

 the seasons. — On the phenomena associated with the heating 

 and cooling of molten steel, by M. Osmond. It is shown that, 

 as the quantity of carbon is increased, the temperature of trans- 

 formation of the iron is lowered, and that of recalescence raised, 

 so that both coincide in the hard steel. — Saturation of normal 

 arsenic acid by the water of baryta, by Ch. Blarez. — On the 

 function of the semicircular canals of the inner ear, by M. Yves 

 Delage. The chief function of this apparatus, as already recog- 

 nised by Goltz, Flourens, and others, is siiown to be distinct 

 from that of the auditory sense, and connected rather with the 

 rotatory movements of the head, either alone or with the body. 

 — On Syndesmis, a new type of Turbellarice described by W. A. 

 Sillimann, by M. Ph. Francois. This organism is shown to be, 

 not an ectoparasite of the large green nematoid, as supposed by 

 Sillimann, but a true endoparasite of Strg. livuius.^On two 

 Synascidians new to the French sea-board {Diazona hebridica, 

 Forbes and Goodsir, and Distaplia rosea, Delia 'Valle), by M. 

 A. Giard.— Organisation of Lcpidomenia hyslrix, a new type of 

 Solenogaster, by MM. Marion and Kowalevsky. — On the 

 Gephyrians belonging to the family of the Priapulida: collected 

 by the Cape Horn Mission, by M. Jules de Guerne. The dis- 

 covery of these organisms is a remarkable instance cf the 

 presence in the southern seas of forms almost identical with those 

 of the Arctic Ocean. — The simple epidermis of plants considered 

 as a reservoir of water, by M. J. Vesque. — Remarks on Poro.\y- 

 lon stiphaninsc, by MM. C. Eg. Bertrand and R. Renault.— On 



