l62 



NATURE 



{Dec. 1 6, iSSo 



in/ulalji. — Mr. W. A. Forbes, F.Z.S., read a paper on the 

 external cliaracters and anatomy of the Red Ouakari Monkey 

 {Brachyurus rtibkundiis), describing more particularly the liver 

 and brain, and made remarks on the other species of that genus 

 and their distribution. 



Anthropological Institute, November 23.— Allen Thom- 

 son, M.D., F. K.S., vice-president, in the chair. — The election 

 of W. R. Huggard was announced. — A paper by Dr. Paul 

 Topinard, entitled observations upon the methods and processes 

 of anthropometry, was read. Anthropometry means the measure- 

 ment of the entire human body with the view to determine the 

 respective proportion of its parts : — i. At different ages, in order 

 to learn the law of relative growth of the parts. 2. In the 

 races, so as to distinguish them and establish their relations to 

 each other. 3. In all the conditions of surrounding circum- 

 stances, in order to find out their influence upon the variations 

 ascertained. The number of skeletons at disposal for this 

 purpose being small, all our efforts should tend to make perfect 

 the methods of operating upon the living, and to simplify them, 

 so as to render them accessible to all, to travellers, officers of 

 the navy, recruiting agents, schoolmasters, &c. ; hence tlie 

 number of measurements should be reduced to those strictly 

 necessary, and only those insisted on which are really useful 

 and lead to the knowledge of one of the natural morphological 

 divisions of the body. Heights above the ground, breadths, 

 some circumferences, and perhaps the facial angle — to these we 

 ought to limit our demands. The dimensions to be obtained 

 directly, or by the method of subtraction, relate to : — I. The 

 trunk. 2. The head and the neck taken separately. 3. The 

 lower limb as a whole. 4. The upper limb as a whole. 5. 

 Each of the segments of the limbs, the hand, the forearm, and 

 the arm in the one case ; the foot, the leg, and the thigh in the 

 other. 6. The intrinsic proportions of the head, of the trunk, 

 of the foot, and of the hand. Three fundamental principles to 

 be observed are, determination and marking the reference points 

 slowly, taking the measurements quickly, and the possession of 

 good instruments. The choice of reference-points is a matter of 

 great importance, and the author explained his views upon this 

 subject. — A paper by Mr. C. Staniland Wake on the origin of 

 the Malagasy was read. 



Physical Society, November 27. — Prof. W. G. Adams in 

 the chair. — New Member, H. C. Jones, F.C.S. — Prof. Graham 

 Bell exhibited his photophone, and explained the apparatus em 

 ployed by Mr. Sumner Tainter and himself for transmitting sound 

 by a beam of light. The form in use consists of a metal plate 

 or mirror vibrated by the sound and reflecting a beam of light 

 to a distance, where it is focussed on a selenium cell in circuit 

 with a telephone and battery. The light undulates in sympathy 

 •with the vibrations of sound, and alters the resistance of the 

 selenium in accordance with the vibrations, thereby reproducing 

 the sound in the telephone. The electric light used was too 

 unsteady to give articulate speech ; but by means of a rotating 

 disk perforated round its rim with holes the light could be 

 occulted in such a manner as to give an audible note in the tele- 

 phone. Different varieties of receivers were described, some of 

 which have not yet been tried. One of these consisted in vary- 

 ing the rotation of the plane of polarisation of the polarised 

 beam. A plan for transmitting the beam consists in making the 

 vibrating plate vary the supply of gas to a jet or manometric 

 flame. The farthest distance speech has been heard by a photo- 

 phone is Soo feet ; but theoretically it should operate better the 

 greater the distance between the mirror and selenium. On inter- 

 posmg a sheet of hard rubber in the ray, the invisible rays 

 passing through it conveyed the sounds in a lower degree, and 

 sounds can be heard by replacing the selenium receiver by di-.ks 

 of different materials, such as hard rubber, metal, &c., and 

 simply listening at them. All substances appear to possess the 

 power of becoming sonorous under the influence of varying light. 

 Hard rubber, antimony, zinc, give the best effects; paper, glass, 

 carbon, the worst. Even tobacco-smoke in a glass test-tube held 

 in the beam emitted a note, as also did crystals of sulphate of 

 copper. When hard rubber was simply made into the form of 

 an ear-tube and held in the beam, the audible effect was also 

 produced, and in fact when the beam was focussed in the car 

 itself, without any other appliance whatever, a distinct sound 

 could be perceived. — Prof. Adams thanked Prof. Bell in the 

 name of the Society, and called on Mr. Shelford Bidwell, who 

 exhibited a lecture photophone, in which the reflector for receiving 

 the light was discarded and the beam focussed on the selenium 



by a lens. The two lenses used cost only 25?., and the beam 

 was sent fourteen feet. The selenium cell was made by spreading 

 melted selenium over sheets of mica, and then crystalhsing it by 

 heat. For mica Prof. Bell recommended microscopic glass. The 

 resistance of the cell was 14,000 ohms in the dark, and 6500 in 

 the light. Speech was distinctly trans'nitted by this apparatus. 

 Mr. J. Spiller thought that since selenium probably alloyed with 

 brass and the baser metals, it would be better to use gold and 

 silver for the cells ; but Prof. Bell said that he preferred brass, 

 since (perhaps for the reason that Mr. Spiller gave) it yielded 

 the best results.- — Dr. J. H. Gladstone read a paper on the 

 specific refraction and dispersion of isomeric bodies — an exten- 

 sion of his paper of last June. He concluded that the dispersion 

 of a body containing carbon of the higher refraction is very 

 much greater than that of a body containing carbon of the 

 normal refraction 5, and that isomeric bodies which coincide in 

 specific refraction coincide also in specific dispersion. ;jt;;5_, 



Entomological Society, December i.— Sir John Lubbock, 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. Pascoe exhibited a large 

 series of Aresciis histrio from Peru, to show the extreme varia- 

 bility of the electral markings in this species. — Mr. Billups 

 exhibited four species of Pezomachus new to Britain, viz., 

 P. Miilleri, P. jtivenilis, P. intirmcdiiis, P. incertus, and also 

 exhibited twenty species of Coleoptera found in a small parcel 

 of corn refuse. The president exhibited two specimens in 

 alcohol of a species of Pkasmidcv forwarded by a corresponderit 

 in St. Vincent. Mr. Cansdale exhibited a specimen of Tischeria 

 gaiiacclla, a ■ species of Tineina, new to Britain ; he also ex- 

 hibited a remarkable variety of Cidaria russata. — Mr. J. Scott 

 communicated a paper on a collection of Hemiptera from Japan. 

 — Mr. C. O. Waterhouse read a paper entitled description of a 

 new species of the anomalous genus Polyctenes, and exhibited a 

 diagram illustrating the structure of this insect. 



Royal Asiatic Society, November 15. — Sir H. C. Rawlin- 

 son, K.C.B., F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Sir W. R, 

 Robinson, K.C.S.I., S. S. Thorburn, Capt. R. Gill, R.E., ard 

 the Rev. Marsham Argles, M. A., were elected Resident Mem- 

 bers ; and the Bishop of Lahore, Lieut. H. E. McCallum, R.E., 

 S. W. Bushell, M.D., and Abd-er-rahman Moulvie Syed, barris- 

 ter-at-Iaw, Non-resident Members. — Prof. Monier Williams, 

 CLE., read a paper on Indian theistic reformers, in which, 

 after showing that Monotheism was not of recent growth in 

 India, he traced the development of the modern Theistic churches 

 there, from Rammohun Roy, who formulated a system w'hich 

 may be described as Unitarianism based on Brahmanism, through 

 his successor, Debendra Nath, who improved on Rammohun 

 Roy's work by founding the Adi Brahma Samaj, to Keshub 

 Chuudar Sen, who threw off altogether both Brahmanism and 

 caste, and founded his new progressive Brahma Samaj in 1S66. 

 In his present eclectic form of Theism, composed of Hinduism, 

 Mahammedanisni, and Christianity, he teaches the worship of 

 God under the character of a Supreme Mother. Some of his 

 followers, offended with him, chiefly for marrying his daughter 

 before she was fourteen to the Maharaja of Kuch-Behar, have 

 recently set up a new Theistic Church called the Sudharana 

 Briihma Sam.ij, or Catholic Church of God. There are now 

 more than 120 Theistic churches in different parts of India. 



Royal Microscopical Society, December 8. — Mr. J. 

 Glaisher, F.R.S., in the chair. — Eight new Fellows were 

 elected. — Mr. Wallis exhibited a new rotating substage ; Mr. 

 Mayall his form of spiral diaphragm, and Tolles' mechanical 

 stage of extra thinness, and Mr. Crisp Crouch's histological 

 microscope, Parkes's demonstrating microscope, Holmes's com- 

 pressorium, and Atwood's rubber -cell. — A paper by Dr. Hudson 

 was read, on a new CEcisles (yaims), and a new Flosctilaria 

 (trifolium), found by Mr. Hood of Dundee in Loch Lundie. 

 The trochal disk of the former formed a link between that of 

 MdiciTta and QLcistcs. The latter was remarkable in having 

 only three lobes and being much larger than any Floscularia 

 hitherto known. — Mr. Stewart explained some pecuhar struc- 

 tural features of the Echinometrid^, illustrated by specimens 

 and drawings. 



Institution of Civil Engineers, November 9. — Mr. W. H. 

 Barlow, F.R.S., president, in the chair.— The paper read was 

 on machinery for steel-making by the Bessemer and the Siemens' 

 processes, by Mr. Benjamin Walker, M. Inst. C.E. 



December 7.— Mr. W. H. Barlow, F.R.S., president, in the 

 chair. — The pajier read was on the different modes of erecting 

 iron bridges, by Mr. Theophilus Seyrig, M. Inst. C.E., of Paris. 



