April 14, 1 881] 



NATURE 



571 



current is passed in the same time, and at the same instant we 

 take off the current and the external heat, the wire when cold 

 will be found to have a higher degree of strain than previously 

 possible with the wire when cold. 



We have seen that both mechanical vibrations and heat can 

 reduce the wire to a zero, but its action is very slow, several 

 minutes being required ; but the action of electricity in producing 

 a permanent twist is exceediugly quick. I have found that a 

 single contact, whose duration was not more than o'oi of a 

 second, was equal to that of a prolonged contact of several 

 minutes, and magnetism was equally as quick in reducing this 

 strain to zero. And it is the more remarkable when we con- 

 sider the very great mechanical force required by torsion of the 

 wire to untwist the strain produced in an instant of time by 

 electricity. 



The results I have given are those obtained upon soft iron 

 wires of \ millim., but I have experimented with different sizes 

 up to 3 millims. diameter. The resuUs with i millim. diameter 

 were quite as e\ndent as the J millim., but on the 3 millim. wire 

 the strain was reduced to 25° instead of 50°, owing to the extreme 

 rapidity and low electrical resistance compared with my small 

 battery wires. On a telegraph line, the wire of which is almost 

 entirely of iron, there must be a very great strain set up, which 

 however would remain a constant, except where reversed currents 

 are used, and in this case a constant movement of the molecules 

 of the wire must be the result. 



I believe it to be most important that we should determine, as 

 far as we can by experimental research, the nature of all mole- 

 cular changes produced by electricity and magnetism, and in this 

 belief I am happy in being able to bring this paper before the 

 Royal Society. 



Chetftical Society, April 7.— Dr. Russell in the chair. — The 

 following papers were read : — On the organic matter in sea- 

 water, by W. Jago. The author concludes that the organic 

 matter of sea-water is much more capable of resisting oxidising 

 agents than that present in ordinary fresh water, and that it is 

 probably organised and alive. — On the action of compounds 

 Inimical to bacterial life, by \V. M. Hamlet. The cultivating 

 fluids used comprised Pasteur's fluid, beef tea, hay infusion, 

 urine, brewer's wort, and extract of meat ; these were sterilised 

 by boiling for ten minutes in Pasteur's flask, cooled with suitable 

 precautions, and then seeded with hay solution, and the sub- 

 stance under examination added. Many gases, &c. , were tried. 

 Chlorine and hydric peroxide were fatal to bacteria, while chloro- 

 form, creosote, carbolic acid, salicylic acid, &c., hindered their 

 development, but did not destroy them. 



Anthropological Institute, March 22. — F. AY. Rudler, 

 F.G.S., vice-president, in the chair. — The election of George 

 B. Waterhouse was announced. — Mr. R. W. Felkin exhibited a 

 series of photographs of scenes and natives of Central Africa, 

 taken by Herr Buchta. — Prof. Flower, F.R..S., exhibited a col- 

 hction of crania from the Island of MallicoUo in the New 

 Hebrides, which had been lately presented to the Museum of 

 the Royal College of Surgeons by Mr. Luther Holden. The 

 peculiar conformation of the heads of the people of this island 

 attracted the attention of Capt. Cook and the naturalist Forster, 

 who accompanied the great navigator on his second voyage, and 

 who writes that "the depressed and backward inclining forehead 

 causes an appearance in the looks and countenances of the 

 natives similar to those of monkeys.'' Yet Cook bears testi- 

 mony to the activity, intelligence, and honesty of this "ape-like 

 nation,'' as he calls them. A few years ago Mr. Busk described 

 some skulls collected in the island by the late Commodore 

 Goodenough, and found that they all showed si»ns of having 

 undergone alterations in form from pressure applied in infancy. 

 The present collection corroborates Mr. Busk's views : some of 

 the skulls being deformed to a remarkable degree, and closely 

 resembling the well-known Peruvian crania from the neighbour- 

 hood of LakeTiticaca. This is the more remarkable, as on no other 

 of the numerous islands of the neighbouring ocean is the prac- 

 tice known to exist. Besides the deformed crania the collection 

 contained several monumental heads, said to be those of chiefs. 

 In these the features are modelled in clay upon the skull, apfa- 

 rently with the intention of preserving a likeness of the dead 

 person ; the face is painted over with red ochre, artificial eyes 

 introduced, and the hair elaborately dressed and ornamented 

 with feathers. In one case the hair had been entirely removed, 

 and a ver}- neatly-made wig substituted. The head thus pre- 

 pared is stuck upon a rudely-made figure of split bamboo and 

 clay, and set up in the \nllage temple, with the weapons and 



small personal effects of the deceased. This is a custom not 

 hitherto known to exist among the Mallicollese, and its motive 

 is not completely understood, but it is obviously analogous to 

 many others which have prevailed throughout all historical times 

 and in many nations, manifesting itself, among other forms, in 

 the mummified bodies of the Ancient Egyptians and the marble 

 busts over the mouldering bones in Westminster Abbey. — Mr. 

 Joseph Lucas read a ]iaper on the ethnological bearings of the 

 "terms Gipsy, Zingaro, Rom, iS:c. 



Zoological Society, April 5.— Prof. W. H. Flower, LL.D., 

 F.R.S., president, in the chair. — Mr. Sclater exhibited five 

 bird's skins obtained by the Rev. G. Brown, C.M.Z.S., on the 

 Island of Rotumeh, and presented by him to the ChaUcnga- 

 Expedition. Mr. Sclater also exhibited specimens of two new 

 species of birds from New Britain, belonging to the Museum 

 Godeff.oi, which he proposed to call Trichoglossus rjifigularis 

 and Orty^ociihla ruhiginosa — Mr. H. E. Dresser exhibited and 

 made remarks on a specimen of Saxicola deserti killed in Scot- 

 land, and a specimen of Pictis puiescens believed to have been 

 killed in Normandy. — Mr. W. A. Forbes, F.Z.S., read some 

 notes on the external characters and anatomy of the Californian 

 Sea Lion (O/rtrMo-Z/fo///), and exhibited some coloured draw- 

 ings of this animal. — Prof. Flower, F.R.S., read a note upon 

 the habits of the Manatee, chiefly in reference to the question as 

 to whether this animal had the power of voluntarily leaving the 

 water for the purpose of feeding on the herbage of the banks, 

 as stated by many authors, and as supported by a communication 

 from the late Mr. R. B. Dobree, notwithstanding which Prof. 

 Flower considered the evidence upon which the statement was 

 based to be very unsatisfactor)'. — A paper was read upon the 

 same animal by Miss Agnes Crane, consisting of observations 

 upon the Mana'tees lately living in the Brighton Aquarium.— 

 Dr. A. Giinther, F.R.S., read an account of the Amphisbtenians 

 and Ophidians collected loy Prof. Bayley Balfour in the Island 

 of Socotra. A new form of snakes allied to Tachymmis was 

 named Dilypoplih vivax, a new species of Zamcnis was named 

 Z. Socotnr, and a new form of Amphisbsenian PacJiycalamus 

 irevis.—Wf. W. T. Blanford, F.R.S., gave an account of six 

 species of lizards which had been collected by Prof. Bayley 

 Balfour in Socotra ; of these the three following appeared to be 

 undescribed ; —Ilemidactvhis ho-n<Tohpis, Pristurus insignis, and 

 Eremias Palfciuri.—Mx. Charles O. Waterhouse read a paper on 

 the coleopterous insects which had been collected by Prof. Bayley 

 Balfour in Socotra. The number of species of which examples 

 were collected was twenty-four, and showed that the fauna of 

 Socotra, judging from this collection, was distinctly African. 

 Twelve of the species appeared to be new. — A commimication 

 was read from Prof. J. O. Westwood containing obsei-vations 

 on two species of Indian butterfles, Papilio castor and /". 

 pollux. — A communication was read from Mr, Edgar A. Smith, 

 containing some observations on the shells belonging to the 

 genus Goiddia of C. B. Adams.— Mr. Sclater read the fifth of 

 his series of notes on the birds of the vicinity of Lima, Peru, 

 with remarks on their habits by Prof. Nation, C.M.Z.S. A 

 new species of Bjnrremon, of which an example was in the 

 collection, was proposed to be dedicated to its discoverer as B. 

 Miiwni.—Ur. G. E. Dobson read some notes on certain points 

 in the muscular anatomy of the Green Monkey, Cciropithecus 

 callithrix. 



Edinburgh 



Royal Society, March 21.— Sir Wyville Thomson, vice- 

 president, in the chair. — Prof. Geikie communicated a paper by 

 Mr. C. A. Stevenson, B.Sc, on the earthquake of November 

 28, 18S0, in Scotland and Ireland. The main conclusions at 

 which the author arrived were the following :— The centre of 

 the disturbance was at a point some thirteen miles south-west of 

 Fladda, in the continuation of the line of the fault that lies along 

 the great glen which stretches in a south-westeriy direction from 

 Inverness! The disturbance was felt over an area of 19,000 

 square miles, extending as far east as Blair Athole, as far north 

 as the Butt of Lewis, and as far south as Ai-magh in Ireland. 

 The undulation was everywhere of an up-and-down character ; 

 its breadth w as estimated at 1 100 feet, and its velocity seemed 

 to varv from 375 to 775 miles per minute, having a mean value 

 of 675 over the sea and 4-68 over the land. The accompanying 

 rumbling was not heard at all the stations, and appeared to have 

 been best heard where but little soil covered the hard dense 

 substratum of rock. The disturbance was felt better over the older 

 rocks. Noises were not heard outside a radius of 38 miles from 

 the centre, except in the north of Ireland, where however it was 



