96 



NATURE 



\Nov. 25, 1880 



is remarkably confirmed by numerical results obtained by him. — 

 Prof. Cottrell threw some doubts on Mr. Gray's results on the 

 score that numerical coincidences were not always safe ground 

 for basing theoretical deductions on. Mr. Gray stated that in 

 the parts of the paper which had to be skipped Prof. Cottrell's 

 objections were answered. He also pointed out that Mr. Brown 

 in his criticism of tlie gasiform ether had not taken into account 

 the important condition that the particles of ether have volume. — 

 Professors Perry and Ayrton read a note on the contact-theory 

 of Herr Exner recently brought before the Academy of Science-; 

 of Vienna. They showed that Exner's experimental results 

 disagreed with the concordant results of several independent 

 experimenters, namely, Kohlrausch, Hankner, and Ayrton and 

 Perry. They concluded that Herr Exner's experiments were 

 inaccurate. They further argued that Exner's second and later 

 paper, so far from being a disproof of the contact theory of 

 electromotive force as now received, is in reality a proof of it. 

 Dr. Wright stated that he will read a paper on this subject soon ; 

 and Prof. Reinhold said that Herr Exner had since corrected 

 some of the results of his early papers on contact electricity. — 

 Prof. Minchin of Cooper's Hill Engineering College exhibited 

 a new photo-electric cell. This consists of a vessel of water 

 containing a little acid, carbonate of calcium, and two tinfoil 

 plates. When a beam of lime light was allowed to fall on one 

 of the plates, a powerful current was set up in the cell, as seen 

 by the deflection of a galvanometer connected in circuit with 

 the plates. When a red glass screen intercepted the beam, the 

 effect was very slight. Prof. Minchin had begun his experi- 

 ments with fluorescence, but found " hard " water containing 

 this salt of lime do equally well. The cell possesses this advan- 

 tage : that the current it gives soon decreases in the light. 

 When first the light falls on it, the exposed plate is positive, 

 but it soon changes to negative. Prof. Minchin had tried tlie 

 cell in place of a selenium one in the photophone, but with 

 unsatisfactory results. 



Anthropological Institute, November 9. — Edward B. 

 Tylor, D.C.L., F.R.S., president, in the chair. — A paper was 

 read on anthropological colour phenomena in Belgium and else- 

 where, by J. Beddoe, M.D., F.R.S. Within the last few years 

 the numerical method had been extensively applied to the deter- 

 mination of ethnological colour-types, the Anthropometric Com- 

 mittee of the British Association having set the example. The 

 Continental nations were, however, now far ahead of us. In 

 Germany Prof. Virchow had procured the tabulation as to 

 the colour of the eyes and hair of all the school popula- 

 tion, with the exception of Hamburg. In Switzerland Dr. 

 Guillaume, of Neuchatel, had obtained school statistics. For 

 Belgium an elaborate monograph had been written on the subject 

 by Prof. Vander Kindere, wlio, by the aid of the National Geo- 

 graphical Society, had induced the Minister of Public Instniction 

 to include questions on the colour of the children's eyes and hair 

 in the educational census. The results obtained have been of 

 considerable importance, and bring out a remarkable contrast 

 between the Flemish and Walloon provinces of Belgium. — Mr. 

 J. F. Rovvbotham read a paper on different stages in the deve- 

 lopment of the art of music in prehistoric times. Musical 

 instruments, though their varieties may be counted by hundreds, 

 ai-e yet readily reducible under three distinct types : I. The drum 

 type. 2. The pipe type. 3. The lyre type. And these three 

 types are representative of three distinct stages of development 

 through which prehistoric music has passed. Moreover, the 

 stages occur in the order named. That is to say, the first stage 

 in the development of instrumental music was the drum stage, in 

 which drums, and drums alone, were used by man. The second 

 stage was the pipe stage, in which pipes as well as drums were 

 used. The third stage was the lyre stage, in which stringed 

 instruments were added to the stock. The three stages an-\\ er 

 respectively to rhythm, melody, and harmony. And as in the 

 geological history of the globe the chalk is never found below 

 the oolite, nor the oolite below the coal, so in the musical history 

 of mankind is the lyre stage never found to precede the pipe 

 stage, nor the pipe stage to precede the drum stage. — A paper 

 was read on neolithic implements in Russia, by Prince Paul 

 Poutiatine. From the evidence of certain finds on his estate the 

 author came to the conclusion : i. That the Sclave-Scythians 

 existed there in the stone period. 2. Tliat they possessed instru- 

 ments resembling those of the Celt-Scythians, and burned 'heir 

 dead. 3. That the old iron period of that neighbourhood was a 

 continuation of the stone period. 4. That they supported them- 

 selves partly by hunting. 5. That they understood corn-growing. 



Meteorological Society, November 17.— Mr. G. J. Symons, 

 F.R.S. , president, in the chair. — The following gentlemen were 

 elected Fellows : G. Corden, E. T. Dowson, F. Hepburn, B.A., 

 C. M. Hepworth, J. Mulvany, M.D., R.N., F. H. G.Newton, 

 Capt. M. Parry, E. P. Phillips, and II. L. Roth.— The papers 

 read were : Table of relative humidity, by Edward E. Dymond, 

 F.M.S. — Rainfall in South Africa, by John G. Gamble, M.A., 

 M. Inst. C.E., F.M.S. The author gives the monthly totals of 

 rainfall from 103 stations for the tliirteen months, December 

 1878 to December 1S79, and also the monthly means from all 

 stations in South Africa from which a record of five years or 

 upwards could be obtained. It is shown that the Cape Penin- 

 sula, the South- West and the West Coast, have winter rains 

 wdth a dry summer, characteristics of what is called the sub- 

 tropical region, the rains coming with the north-west wind or 

 anti-trade ; while Natal, Aliwal north, and in a less degree 

 Queenstown, have the tropical features of a wet summer and dry 

 winter. On the South Coast the rainfall appears to be more 

 equally distributed throughout the year, though there seems to 

 be an October maximum at Port Ehzabeth and Uitenh.age. In 

 the Central and Northern Karroo the maximtmi of the very 

 scanty rainfall occurs in Februaiy and March. These rains 

 generally fall in thunderstorms ; each storm seems to come from 

 a westerly direction, but it is a more or less well-ascertained fact 

 that these rains do not fall up country until the south-easters 

 have set in on the South and South- West Coasts. In the south- 

 east of the colony the transition towards tropical features may 

 be noticed, both Grahamstown and King Williamstown showing 

 a winter minimum in June. — On the meteorology of Mackay, 

 Queensland, by Henry L. Roth. — Thermometrical observations 

 on board ship, by Capt. W. F. Caborne, F.M.S. 



Vienna 

 Imperial Academy of Sciences, November 18. — Contribu- 

 butions to general nerve and muscle physiology, by Dr. Bieder- 

 mann. — On rhythmic contractions of striped muscles, produced 

 by chemical stimulation, by the same. — -On some platino-cyanide 

 compounds, by Herr Scholz. — On resorcin colouring matters, by 

 Drs. Wesselskyund and Benedikt. — On the formation of car- 

 boxylnatron acid from Brenz, catechin, and the constitutional 

 formula of benzol, by Prof. v. Barth. — Note on mononitro- 

 pyrogallol, by the same. — The distribution of rainfall over 

 Austria in the period August II-15, 1S80, and its relation to 

 distribution of air-pressure, by Herr Hann.J 



CONTENTS Page 



SuLPHi-nic Acid and Alkali. By Prof. H. E. Roscoe, F.R.S. . . 73 



The Flora of Plymouth 74 



OoR Book Shelf :— 



Reiss and Stiibel's " Peruvian Antiquities " . . 73 



"Expose Historique concernant le Cours des Machines, dans 



TEnseignement del'Ecole Polytechnique" 75 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Fertilisation of Yucca. — Lord Walsingham 7fJ 



Skin Furrows of the Hand.— Sir W.J. Herschel 76 



The Aurora of the 3rd Instant. — J. Rand Capron ^fy 



Temperature o£ the Breath.— Dr. R. E. Dudgeon; F.J. M. P. . 76 



Coral Reefs and Islands. — Joseph LeConte 77 



Vox Angelica. — George Rayleigh Vicars 77 



Fascination (?) — Arthur Nicols 77 



Soaring of Birds. — W. Larden 77 



The Photophone.— A. R. Molison 78 



SaltsofZinc— S. ; W. BOTT 7S 



The Works OF Carl vo.-j Nageli. By Sydney H. Vines . . . 7S 



Prof. Tait On the Formula of Evolution 80 



Comet-Finders (IVith Diagram) 8: 



Notes S3 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Third Comet of 1 169 85 



The Star Lalande 1013-4 85 



Chemical Notes 85 



Physical Notes 86 



Geographical Notes S; 



University and Educational Intelligence ?7 



On a Method of Determining the Critical Temperature for 

 any Liquid and its Vapour without Mechanism. By Sir 



William Tho.mson. F.R.S S7 



AnNORMAL Variations OF Barometric Pressure in thS Tropics. 

 AND their Relation to Sun-Spots, Rainfall, and Famines. 



By Fred. Chambers (With Diagraiii) 8S 



Dr Siemens' New Cure for Smoke. |By D. A. Stevenson ; C0S.M0 

 iNNEs : Thos. Fletcher; Dr. C. William Siemens, F.R.S. 



(With Diagrams) 9' 



Curious Impressions in Cambrian Sandstones near Loch 



Maree 93 



The Quantities of Water IN German Rivers 94 



Scientific Serials 9^ 



Societies and Academies 9 



