96 



NA TURE 



[Dec. 4, 1873 



dress, manner of living, general habits, including badges of 

 mourning, lood, &c. The Snakes, Ute?, Piutes, Foxes, Siouxs, 

 and other tribes were briefly described. 



Cambridge 



Philosophical Society, Nov. 17. — "On a suspected forgery 

 in the Vatican Manuscript Record of the Trial of Galileo before 

 the Inquisition," by Mr. Sedley Taylor, late Fellow of Trinity 

 College. Tlie object of the paper was to show, in accordance 

 with the views of recent German and Italian authorities, that 

 the sentence pronounced against Galileo in 1633 was based on a 

 spurious document fabricated for the express purpose of securing 

 his condemnation. The evidence adduced to support this con- 

 clusion was taken partly from the works and letters of Galileo, 

 and partly from the contemporary records of the trial preserved 

 in the Archives of the Inquisition, portions of which have been 

 lately published for the first lime. The result of the paper was 

 to exonerate Galileo rompletely from the charge of contumacy 

 which all his biograjihers have hitherto either advanced or tacitly 

 admitted . 



Manchester 



Literary and Philosophical Society, Nov. 4 — R. Angus 

 Smith, F. R.S , vice-president, in the chair. — "On the Burst- 

 ing of Trees and Objects struck by Lightning," by Prof. 

 Osborne Reynolds, M.A. The results of the experiments 

 referred to in this paper were exhibited to the meeting. The 

 suggestion thrown out by Mr. Baxendell at tlie last meeting — 

 that the explosive effect of lightning is due to the conversion of 

 moisture into steam — seemed to him to be so veiy probable, that 

 he was induced to try if he could not produce a similar effect ex- 

 perimentally. He tried various experiments by sending a dis- 

 charge through pieces of damped wood, and through glass tubes 

 with and without water. The pieces of wood, which varied in 

 size, yielded various results, and the glass tubes, which also were 

 of various sizes, were shivered to pieces. — The Rev. W. N. 

 Molesworth, M.A., brought under the notice of the Society 

 some Roman and Celtic antiquities, to which he thought 

 that sufficient attention had not been given in this country. 



Nov. iS. — E. W. Binney, F. R.S., vice-president, in the chair. 

 — " On the Bursting of Trees and Objects struck by Lightning," 

 by Prof. Osborne Reynolds, M.A. In a paper on this subject 

 read at the last meeting I stated that the tube which was burst 

 by a discharge from a jar would probably withstand an internal 

 pressure of from 2 to 5 tons on the square inch ; and I made use 

 of the expression the tube might be fired like a gun without 

 bursting. These statements were based on the calculated 

 strength of the tube, and with a view to show that there was no 

 mistake, I have since tried it in the following manner. — I made 

 3 guns of the same tube. No. i, which was 6 inches long, had 

 its end stopped with a brass plug containing the fuze hole. No. 

 2 and No. 3 were 5 inches long and had their breeches drawn 

 down so as only to leave a fuse hole. These tubes were loaded 

 with gunpowder and shotted with slugs of wire whicb fitted them, 

 and which were all | inch long. No. i was first fired with ^ inch 

 of powder, the shot penetrated -\ inch into a deal board, and the 

 gun was uninjured. No. 2 was then fired with 1}. inches of 

 powder, and the shot went through the I -inch deal board and I 

 inch into some mahogany behind, thus penetrating altogether i| 

 inches ; the tube, however, was burst to fragments. '.Some of 

 these were recovered, and although they were small they did not 

 show cracks and signs of crushing like those from the electrical 

 fracture. No. 3 was then fired with '} incli of powder, and the 

 shot penetrated S inch into the deal board. It was again fired 

 with I inch of powder, and the shot penetrated i inch into the 

 deal. Again it was a third time fired with i^ inches of powder, 

 when it burst, and the shot only just dented the wood. These 

 experiments seem to me to prove conclusively the great strength 

 of the tube and the enormous bursting force of the electrical.dis- 

 charge. — On the colour of Nankin cotton by Edward Schunck, 

 Ph.D., F.R.S. — An improved method for preparing Marsh Gas, 

 by C. Schorlemmer, F. R. S. The author found that by heating 

 an intimate mixture of anhydrous sodium acetate with more than 

 twice its weight of lime and sodium carbonate, a very regular 

 and quiet evolution of marsh gas took place. The gas thus ob- 

 tained always contains some acetone, which is easily removed by 

 shaking it with water, or, better still, with a solution of acid so- 

 dium sulphite. 



Dublin 



Royal Geological Society of Ireland, Nov. 12.— Prof. 

 E. Hull, F.R.S. , president, in the chair.— Mr. J, E..Gore, C.E., 



read a note on a bed of fossiliferous kunkarin the Punjab — The 

 president read a series of notes on the Microscopic Structure of 

 Irish Granites: — I, Granite of Aillemore, Co. Mayo; 2, Granitoid 

 Quartz Porphyry of Attilhomasreagh, Co. Galway ; 3, Granite of 

 Ballynockan, Co. Wicklow. — Prof. Reynolds exhibited speci- 

 mens of the new minerals Uranotine and Walpurgine. — Prof. 

 Traquair exhibited specimens for the Rev. J. Emerson, of some 

 coal fossils from the Jarrow Colliery, Co. Kilkenny, among 

 which were noticed portions of the skeletons of (Jrocotdv^ns wan- 

 dtsjordii and Iihthyerpeton hradlcyi described some time since 

 as from a neighbouring colliery, by Huxley and Wright ; also 

 the palate tooth of Cicnodon cristatits, patches of scales of A/ci^a- 

 UchtJtys hibbi-rli, and some vertebra? and scales of a Rhizodopsis. 

 Royal Irish Academy, Nov. 10. — Rev. Prof. Jellett, presi- 

 dent, in the chair. — A paper was read by Messrs. Draper and 

 Moss on some forms of Selenium, and on the influence of light 

 on the electrical conductivity of this element. — Prof Macalister 

 read a paper on the anatomy of a species of Aonyx ir. m. the 

 Upper Indus. The species Iiad been sent by the late Earl of 

 Mayo to the Royal Zoological Society of Ireland, but diltered ia 

 no marked degree from the one described by Horsfield as A. 

 uptonvx. — Mr. II. W. Macintosh read a paper on the myology 

 of Atctopitluciis hlainuUlii. 



Edinburgh 

 Royal Society of Edinburgh, Dec. i. — Sir Robert 

 Christison, vice-president, in the chair. 



The following communications were read : — 



1. Laboratory Notes, by Prof. Tait. — (i) First Approximation 

 to a Thermo-electric Diagram. (2) On the Flow of Water 

 through Fine Tubes. 



2. Note on tlie use of V in Curvilinear Co-ordinates, and on 

 the Transformation of Double and Triple Integrals, by Prof. 

 Tait. 



2. On the Physiological Action of Ozone, by James Dewar 

 and Dr. M'Kendrick. 



4. On a Compound formed by the addition of Bromacetic 

 Acid to Sulphide of Methyl, and on some of its Derivatives, by 

 Prof. Crum Brown. 



5. Note on the Expression fur the Action of one Current- 

 element on another, by Prof. Tait. 



Glasgow 

 Geological Society, Nov. 13. — Mr. E. A. Wiinsch, vice- 

 president, in the chair. A paper on the Post-tertiary Beds 

 (Kyles of Bute), by the Rev. H. W. Crosskey and David 

 Robertson, was read to the meeting. The succession of 

 beds, as found at various parts of the Kyles, in proceeding 

 from high to low water mark, is as follows : — ( i ) Boulder- 

 clay, hard, compact, unfossiliferous, and red in colour ; 

 (2) A highly laminated clay, precisely similar to that 

 which occupies the same position at Paisley and many 

 other localities, has been found to contain the remains of some 

 species of Foraminifera ; (3) A bed of clay and sand, exceed- 

 ingly rich in characteristic Arctic shells ; (4) The Pccleii ma \imus 

 bed, has been found cropping out in various localities. — Mr. Jas. 

 Armstrong read a paper on the Fossils found in the Carbonife- 

 rous Shales of Garc and Westerhouse, illustrated by a series of 

 finely-preserved specimens collected from these localities, about 

 three miles to Ihe north-east of Carluke. — Tlie Chairman ex- 

 hibited some interesting specimens of the junction of granite 

 and slate from tlie island of Arran, and made some remarks on 

 the various theories which had been propounded regarding its 

 origin. 



CONTENTS Page 



Dr. Mever's Expedition TO New Guinea. By Dr. .\. E. Mever . 77 



Microscopic Petrography 79 



Our Book Shelf 81 



Letters to the Editor: — 



The Southern Uplands of Scotland.— Prof. A. Geikie, F.R.S. . . Si 



The Huemul.— Dr. Burmeister S= 



The Diverticulum of the Small Intestine considered as a Rudimen- 

 tary Structure. — Prof Struthers -. 82 



The Atmospheric Telegraph.— R. S Cullev 83 



Sensation IN THE Spinal Cord. By G. H. Lewes S3 



The Artistic Representation OF N.iTURE. {IVith flluslratmi) . 84 

 On the Science OF Weighing and Measuring, and the Standards 

 OF Weight and Measure, IX. By H. W. Chisholm, Warden 



of the Standards {With Illustrations) 87 



Earth-Sculptukh, 11. By Prof. A. Geikie. F.R.S 89 



Notes 91 



Scientific Serials 93 



Societies and Academies 94 



