June 3, 1909J 



NA TURE 



411 



rays, the arrangements being made to imitate the earth 

 with the sun as kathode. The experiments, of which 

 numerous photographs arc given, are exceedingly beautiful, 

 and present distinct analogies with the deductions from 

 the magnetic storms. At the same time, the analogies 

 are by no means conclusive, and may in some cases be 

 very misleading. 



The work of analysing each storm independently must 

 have been tremendous, but the results amply justify the 

 work. 



It is impossible to enter into details in such a brief 

 review, but we think no serious student of terrestrial 

 magnetism will read this book without feeling tljat a very 

 distinct step has been made towards the solution of the 

 refractory problem of terrestrial magnetism. 



G. W. W. 



ROCK-ENGRAVINGS IN SOUTH AFRICA. 

 TV/T R. L. PERINGUEY, '.n the eighteenth volume of the 

 Transactions of 'ne South African Philosophical 

 Society, continues his I'i^.port on rock-engravings of animals 



■*$(Tjfe««-., 



ears, the hanging lower lip, the curves c. the back and. 

 legs, are all strikingly artistic, and suggest keen observa- 

 tion on the part of the sculptor. Equally artistic is the 

 representation of the buffalo {Kig. 2), the figure of which 

 is fully hollowed out, the altitude of the animal and the 

 twitching of its tail being full of life. 



The age of these sculptures is still uncertain. Mr^ 

 r(^ringuey, comparing them with similar rock-engravings- 

 in .\lgeria and the Sudan, and remarking the patinatiorv 

 of the rock surfaces, the presence of Pala:;olithic implements 

 in the neighbourhood, and the absence of scenes represent- 

 ing domesticated animals, believes them to be anterior to- 

 the Hottentot immigration. As in Mauretania, the most, 

 highly finished sculptures, as well as paintings, are the 

 most ancient, and a decadence of artistic skill seems to 

 have set in with the arrival of the newer immigrants. 

 There is no evidence that these engravings were the work, 

 of the Bushmen, and it is equally difficult to attribute 

 them to the Strand Looper Hottentots, whom Dr. Shrub- 

 sail has recently identified on the southern seaboard. On 

 the whole, they suggest intercourse between North and^ 

 South Africa, a view corroborated by the analogies between 

 the engravings in Mauretania and those of South .Africa, 

 the identity of type in the stone imple-- 

 ments in both these regions, and other 

 ,^ considerations generally accepted by 



modern ethnologists. 



Jl 



Kig. 1.— Rock.engraving of an elephant and hunter armed with bow and arro 



and the human figure. The examples now described are 

 superior in finish and artistic merit to those hitherto known. 

 V\'e have no longer mere lines or outlines produced by 

 rough pointing or punching; the technique is more 



60 X 40 c 



elaborate, and the figures are drawn in relief. Thus, in 

 (he illustration (Fig. i) of an elephant fleeing before a 

 hunter armed with a bow and arrow, the lines in relief 

 represent the skin corrugation ; and the position of the 



C?^NTENARY OF THE 

 PHVSICO-MEDICAL SOCIETY 

 OF ERLANGEN} 

 HE Physico-medical Society of 

 Erlangen, founded by Joh. Christian 

 Friedrich Harles in 1808, reached its 

 one hundredth birthday on March 20, 

 190S, and celebrated the occasion on 

 June 27 by an anniversary meeting and" 

 a dinner. The first of the two publica- 

 tions cited below contains (a) a history 

 of the society, by Prof. M. Xoelther, of 

 the L'niversity of Erlangen, covering" 

 eighty-three pages, and illustrated by 

 portraits of Harles, Henke, Leupoldt, 

 Korn, Wagner, Canstatt, Gerlach, Gorup, 

 Zenker, and Beetz ; (6) an address, by J. 

 Rosenthal, " Ueber die Beziehungen der 

 Physik und Chemie zu den medizinischen 

 Wissenschaften "; and (c) a report of the 

 anniversary celebrations, by Oskar 

 .Size D X - Schulz. 



oxj9cm. Honorary doctorships in medicine were 



conferred on Prof. Becquerel, Prof. 

 Curtius, and Prof. Nernst ; doctorships in philosophy 

 were conferred on Sir Victor Horsley, Prof, von Leube,. 

 and Prof, von Kries. Honorary membership of the 

 society was conferred, on general grounds, on Queen 

 Margherita, Count Zeppelin, and Dr. Oskar von Miller ; 

 of the special sciences, chemistry was honoured by in- 

 cluding in the list the names of Bechmann and Buchner ; 

 physics was represented by Blaserna, zoology by Dohrn, 

 mineralogy by Zirkel, botany by de Vries, mathematics 

 by Poincar^, geography by Giinther, physiology by 

 Pflijger, anatomy by Roux, and the medical sciences by 

 Erb. Ehrlich, Kochcr, and Kraepelin. Amongst the new 

 corresponding members we notice the names of Prof. 

 Rutherford, of Manchester, and Prof. Sherrington, of 

 Liverpool. 



The Sitzungsberichte for 1907, sent out with the re- 

 port of the centenary, is a bulky volume containing 

 seventeen scientific communications. Nearly half the 

 volume is devoted to a memorial notice of Henri Moissan, 

 written by Gutbier, and extending over 260 pages ; a com- 

 plete list of Moissan's papers is given, and his work on 

 fluorine, boron, silicon, ammonium, calcium, diamond, the 



I (i) Festschrift der Physikalisch-medizinischen 

 zur Feier ihres 100 jahrigen Bestehens am 27 Ju 

 (Erianeen : Kommi<:sionsverlag von Max Mencke, i 



(2) Sitzungsberichte der Physikalisch-medizinisch- 

 Redigiert von Oskar Schulz, i;o Band, 1007. Pp. 

 Kommissior.sverlag von Max Rlenche, igo8.) 



Societat 



Erlange 



1908. Pp. ix + 124. 



i Societat in Erlangen. 

 xiv-(-562. (Erlangen : 



NO. 2066, VOL. 80] 



