548 



NATURE 



\_AprilT, 1 88 1 



this series given by Capt. Ibbetson and Dr. Barrois ; his o«n 

 views closely correspond with those of the latter writer. — On 

 the flow of an ice-sheet, and its connection with glacial pheno- 

 mena, by Clement Keid, F.G.S. The author considers that the 

 boulder-clays have been formed beneath an ice-sheet, and conse- 

 quently there must have been formerly a huge mass of ice, u hich 

 would have to flow 500 miles on a nearly level surface, and then 

 to ascend a gentle slope for nearly another 100 miles. He does 

 not think a sjreat piling up of the ice at the North Pole caii be 

 assumed to account for this motion. This he explains \<y the 

 gradual passage of the earth's heat thrciugh the mass of ice, 

 raising the temperature of the whole instead of liquefying the 

 surface-layer. As the heat passes upwards it raises the teuipera- 

 ture of a particular layer, causes it to exjrand, and so to put 

 a strain upon the layer above, and then to rupture it. The 

 broken part --jireads out, reunites by regelation, and then, 

 receivino' the heat from the layer below, again expands and 

 ruptures the layer next above. Tbus the movement is from the 

 base upwards rather than from ihe surface downwards. The 

 author estimates that the ice-sheet in Norfolk was only about 

 400 feet thick, because boulder-clay d'les not appear above that 

 level, but only coarse boulder-gravel ; iu North Yorkshire it 

 extends up 10 about 900 feet. The author considers that the 

 shell-beds of Moel Tryfaen were not defxisited under water, but 

 thrust up-hill by this advancing ice-sheet. — Soil-cap motijii, hy 

 R. W. Coppinger, communicated by the president. The author 

 described numerous cases in Patagonia where the ^tumps, &c., 

 of trees are to he seen in the marginal waters of the sea and of 

 lakes. These, together with stones and mcks, soiuetimes sium- 

 lating perched blocks, he considers to have been brought down 

 by the motion of the soil-cap — a thick spongy mass resting upon 

 rock often worn smooth by the action of ice, and -o sliding 

 down the more easily under the influ.nce of vegetation. The 

 appearances are not unlike those due to subsidence ; but he 

 points out that all the evidence is in favour of recent upheaval, 

 instead of subsidence. 



Victoria (Philosophical) Institute, April 4. — Prof. Balfour 

 Stewart, F.R.S., read a paper on the visible universe, which he 

 described in general terms, and then sought to trace its history 

 back, giving a passing sketch of the views of the theologian on 

 the one hand and the materialist on the other, through its many 

 forms to its first logical origin. A discussion ensue- 1, which was 

 taken part in by several who had been specially invited, the 

 question being treated from the scientific and the metaphysical 

 point of view. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, March 28. — M. Wurtz in the chair. 

 — On account of the death of M. Delesse, the Academy went 

 early into Secret Committee.' — The following papers were com- 

 municated : — On the heats of formation of diallyl, chloro-com- 

 pounds, an i aldehyde, by MM. Berthelot and Ogier. — Remark- 

 aole case of globular lightning ; diffuse flashes ne.ar the surface 

 of the ground, by M. Trecul. On August 25, 18S0, during a 

 thunderstorm, and in full daylight, he saw a very brilliant .body, 

 slightly elongated (say 38 to 40 ctm. long by 25 ctm. broad), and 

 with conical ends, pass fr^m one part of a dark cloud to 

 another ; and before disappearing, a small part of its substance 

 fell, as if having weight, and gave a luminous vertical track with 

 reddish globules at the sides. It divided in falling, and disap- 

 peared a" little above the house-. The other phenomenon M. 

 Trecul has often noticed in thunderstorms, viz , a band of feeble 

 light, momentarily illuminating a street and reaching right across 

 it, or only part of the width. The author adds some reflections 

 on the phenomena he described on August 23, 18S0. — On the 

 repre-entation of numbers by fonns.by M. Poincare. — On a class 

 of linear differential equations, by M. Halphen. — On the reduc- 

 tion of positive quaternary quadratic forms, by M. Charve. — 

 New researches on the winter egg of phylloxera ; its discovery 

 at Montpellier, by M Mayet. To find the winter egg in 

 Languedoc, he recommends searching on young American 

 vines of the species A'iparla, and only where galls are ob- 

 served on the leaves ; further, only raising the bark of 

 two or three years (preferably the former). — Attempted 

 application of the principle of Carnot to electro-chemi- 

 cal actions, by M. Chaperon. — On the construction of photo- 

 phonic selenium -receivers, hy M. Mercadier. These consist 

 of two strips of brass (l to 4 or 5m. long) separated by 

 two strips of parchment paper, the whole wound in a close 

 spiral, and held in position hy two wooden pieces with screws. 



The arrangement is heated to the melting-point of selenium, 

 and a pencil of selenium passed over the surface. 'I hese re- 

 ceivers are continuous, are easily made and repaired, have the 

 same |iroperties as the discontinuous ones, &c. It is possible to 

 give them a very variable resistance, from 8000 to 200,000 

 ohms., w ithout tlieir ceasing to act well. A large nnmber 

 arranged in series or in surface may be placed in the battery 

 circuit, and many persons enabled to hear photophonic effects at 

 once. In one of M. Mercadier's arrangements the sounds were 

 heard at 2 or 3 m. distance. — On the causes of disturbance of 

 telephonic tiansinission, by M. Gaiffe. He notices the disturb- 

 ing effects of t riction of wires with each other, and of vibrations 

 caused by wind or otherwise — On the preparation and the proper- 

 ties of protcchlrride of chromium, and of sulphate of protoxide 

 of chromium, by M. Moi-san. — On phosphoplajnic combinations, 

 by M. I'omey. — i'roducts of action of hydrochlorate of ammonia 

 on glyc rine, by M. t.tard. — Irian grafts ; pathogeny of cysts and 

 epithtrlial tu.r.ours of the iris, by 'M. Masse. He has found 

 (with rabbits) that small pieces of the conjunctiva or of skin 

 introduced into the anterior chamber of the eye, through an 

 incision made in the cornea, are pretty easily grafted on the iris. 

 After some time the graft takes the form of a fine small pearl, 

 very like the cysts or epithelial tumours which sometimes appear 

 on the human iris after wounds of the cornea. The grafts with 

 stin consit of a thick layer of pavement epithelium, with con- 

 nective tissue beneath united to that of the iris In the centre 

 of the grafts of conjunctiva a true cystic cavity is developed. 

 Hairs \Mth iheir follicles may also be grafted on the iris. 

 Rothmund's theory of the cause of cysts and tumours of the iris 

 (pieces "f s in, &c., carried through a wound) is apparently 

 verified by th se researches. — On the nature and order of 

 appearance of old eruptive rocks observed in the region of 

 volcanoes with craters of Puy-de-Dome, by M. Julien. 



Vienna 

 Imperial Academy of Sciences, March 31. — V. Burg 

 in the chair. — The following papers were read : — H. Wild, on 

 the temperatures of the Russian Empire. — Dr. H. Goldschmidt, 

 on the action of molecular silver on carbon chlorides. — Dr. F. 

 Hocevar, on some experiments made with a Holtz's machine. — 

 R. Andrasch, synthesis of methylated parabanic acid, of methyl 

 thioparahanic .acid, and of thiocholestrophane. — Dr. Emil Holub 

 and A. v. 1 'ezeln, ornithological results of Holub's voyages in 

 South Africa. — Kachler and Spitzer, on Borneol- and camphor- 

 carbonic acid. — Max Grbger, on sulphochromates.— Alb. Cobenzl, 

 contribution to the dissociation of tungsten from antimony, arsenic, 

 and iron, with an analysis of a so-called pseudo-meteor. 



CONTENTS Pack 



The Aryan Village. By Edward B. Tvlor, F.R.S 525 



Nile GLEANiNr.s 5=6 



Letteks to the Ii^ditor : — ■ 



Improved Arrangement of Scale for Reflecting Instruments. — F. 



Jacob (IVith Diagram) 527 



A Note on Flame-Length.— Lewis T. Wkicht 527 



Future Development of Electrical Appliances.— George Ravleigh 



Vicars 528 



Prehistoric Europe. — R. H. Tiddeman 528 



Induction Current from Leyden-jar Discharge. — W. Larden 



(IVitlt Diagram) 5>9 



Classific.ition of the Indo-Chinese and Oceanic Races —A. H. 



Keane 529 



Crabs and Actinia.— Col. H. Stuart Wortlev 529 



Miaration of the Wagtail.- N. J 529 



Sound of the Aurora.- George F. Burder 529 



Earthquake Warnings. — H. M. C 529 



On the h-AKTHQUAKBS AT Agram IN iS8o-8i. By Prof. Szabo . . 530 



The St. Petersburg Dv,-)amite Mine 531 



Fish-Culture in the United States 532 



ThkVxki?. Obs^rvatokv {IVith lUustratioris) 533 



Achille DkleSsE 535 



Pkoeessok Helmholtz's Faraday Lecture 535 



Notes i*° 



Our Astronomical Column : — 



The Variable Stars U Cephei and U Geminorumj S42 



The Comet of 1812 542 



Biological Notes: — 



The Shinin'g Slave-Maker (Polyer^us lucidus) 543 



On the Red Colour of Salt Cod • • • 543 



Marine Isopods of New England 543 



Statistics of Disease m Italy 543 



The Eye and Intensity of Colour 543 



Isoetes lacustris 544 



Geogkaihical Notes 544 



University and Educational Inthlligencb 544 



SCIKNTIKIC .SEKIALS S45 



Societies and Academies 545 



