256 



NA TURE 



{Jan. 29, 1874 



eight years of age upon his admission, so Ihat he was a bird of 

 over fifty at the time of his death. — Every eftbrt was made to 

 prolong his valuable existence by feeding him on live eels and 

 whisky punch ; but old age prevailed, and he died peaceably on 

 the approach of the cold weather. He drank the punch with 

 great relish ; in fact he had resided so long in Dublin that it 

 must have come naturally to him, and this and the live eels pro- 

 longed his life for at least a fortnight." We are sorry to see the 

 funds of the society are not in a very thriving condition. 



VlIiNNA 

 I. R. Geological Institute, Nov. iS. — The director, F. v. 

 Hauer, stated that towards the end cf the international exhibition 

 he had asked almost all Austrian and a great many of the foreign 

 exhibitors of ores, coals, or other useful minerals, to present these 

 objects to the mirseum of the Institute. This request was very 

 successful, more than a hundred exhibitors have offered the whole 

 or parts of their expositions to the Institute, and the number of 

 the donators is increasing still every day. Out of the objects 

 obtained in this way will be formed a particular collection of 

 useful minerals from Austria and from abroad, embracing ores, 

 coals, salts, building-stones, all sorts of useful clays, limestones, 

 &c., minerals used for colours, for dung, &c. This collection, 

 which will contain generally specimens of large size, will form 

 quite a new and, as he hopes, very interesting branch of the 

 museum. — Dr. R. v. Drasche : Geological observations on a 

 journey to the west coast of Spitzbergen during the summer of 

 1873. The journey was made m a schooner chartered especially 

 for the lurpose. Dr. Drasche left Tromsoe on June 30, went 

 to the 11 ,rth till Amsterdamo in 79° 45' N. lat., and returned to 

 Hammerlest on August 27. Many very interesting observations 

 and large collections of rocks and fossils ate the fruit of the ex- 

 pedition. Here we will give only a few particulars : On the flat 

 land which forms the eastern part of Dansko and Amsterdamo, 

 Dr. Drasche found very large masses of erratic boulders, which 

 consist partly of certain varieiies of granites, syenites, and gneiss, 

 unobserved till now on the shores of Spitzbergen. Probably 

 they are brought down by glaciers out of the interior of the island. 

 The Hekla Hook formation (Nordenskiold), which is probably 

 Devonian, is formed in the Belsund by black limestones and 

 chloritic slates, which resemble very much the Taunus-slates. 

 The mountain limestone formation is developed in large masses 

 and with many fossils in the Belsund and on the island of Azelo. 

 On Cape .Staratschin the mountain limestone alternates witii 

 very fine Hyperith. The Triassic formation was accurately studied 

 on Cape Thordsen ; it contains here many Ceratites, Nautilus, 

 Halobia, &c , besides which were found the remains of a saurian. 

 The Jurassic and the Tertiary formation are formed by marly 

 beds in the Ice-fiord, and can scarcely be separated from each 

 other whenever they do not contain fossils. (Jn the Goose Island 

 in the Ice-fiord Dr. Drasche found proofs of a very recent 

 levation of the ground. From 8 ft. to 10 ft. above the 

 highest level of the sea the ground is covered with shells 

 of Mytilus edtdis, which have preserved perfectly well their 

 bluish colour. — M. Niedzwiedzki has examined the microscopical 

 structure of a large number of the eruptive rocks of the Banat 

 which by Prof. Cotta had been united under the name " Bana- 

 tites." He found that the mineral which mostly prevails is a 

 plagioklastic feldspar out of the Andesin series. He concludes 

 therefore that the rocks from Dognacska, Oravilza, and Csiklova, 

 which hitherto generally had been called .Syenites, are rather to 

 be considered as quartz-bearing Diorites. The basalt, -which 

 transverses in small veins the " Banatite " from Moldova con- 

 tains, besides a vitreous ground-mass, only Augite, Olivine, Biatite, 

 and Magnetite, and therefore cannot be united with any one of 

 ■the great divisions of the basalt rocks. 



PiULADELrillA 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, Sept. 23.— " E.xceptional 

 Conditions in the Vegetation of Forest Seed," by Mr. Thomas 

 Meehan. — Mr. T. Meehan also presented some specimens of a 

 malformed clover, Trifoliiiiii fratcnsc. — Mr. Gentry made the 

 following remarks regarding the nest of / 'ireo soli/ariiis (Vieil). 

 Audubon, in describing the nest of Vino solilaiius (Vieil.) af- 

 firms it "is pitltily constructed and fixed in a partially pensile 

 manner between two twigs of a low bush, on a branch running 

 horizontally from the mam stem, and formed externally of grey 

 lichens, slightly put together, and lined with hair chiefly from 

 the deer and racoon. " My experience has been quite different. 

 I have five nests of this species, four of which are perfectly simi- 



lar in structure ; the remaining one formed of the culms of a 

 species of Aira, constituting an exceptional case, and the only 

 one that has ever fallen under my notice. They .ire all shallow, 

 loose in texture, scarcely surviving the season for which they 

 were designed, and placed between two twigs of a cedar or a 

 maple tree at a considerable elevation from the ground, on a 

 branch nearly horizontal to the main axis. They are built en- 

 tirely of clusters of male flowers of Quercus paliislris, which, 

 having performed their allotted function, don their brownish hue 

 at the very per'od when they can be utilised. Here is evidently 

 a change within a moderately short period, rendered necessary 

 by external causes. This necessity may have grown out of in- 

 ability to procure the favourite materials, or a desire for self- 

 preservation. I am satisfied, however, that the former has not 

 been the leading one, but that self-preservation has operated in 

 this case for individual and family good. 

 Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, Jan. ig. — M. Bertrand [in llie 

 chair. — The following papers were read : — On tlie theory of 

 shocks, by M. H. Kesal. — Memoir on the temperatures ob- 

 served by means of electiic thermometers, at the Jardin dcs 

 Plantes, from the surface of the ground to a depth of thirty-six 

 metres during the meteorological year 1S73, by M. M. Becquerel 

 and E, Becquerel. — On the formation, in the gaseous state, of 

 the oxides of nitrogen from their elements by means of heat, 

 by M. Berthelot. The paper dealt with the thermal pheromena 

 accompanying these formations. — On the discovery of a deposit 

 of bismuth in France, by M. Ad. Carnot. — On organogenesis 

 compared with androgenesis, &c., by M. Ad. Chatin. — On ihe 

 geometrical properties of rational fractions, by M. F. Lucas. — 

 On the vibratory movement of an elastic wire fastened to a 

 tuning-fork, by M. E. Gripon. — On the measurement of the 

 magnetic movement in very small magnetised needles, by M. E. 

 Bouty. — On the modes of forming black phosphorus, by M. E. 

 Ritter. The author stated that certain samples of phosphorus 

 refuse to blacken when heated to 70°, while others show that pro- 

 perty. The latter contain a trace of arsenic, and to arsenide of 

 phosphorus the author attributed the blackening. He gave 

 analysis of the arsenide which agree with the formula As„P. — 

 On the existence of two isomeric modifications of anhydrous 

 sodic sulphate, by M. L. C. de Coppet. — On the solubility of 

 succinic acid in water, by M. E. Bourgoin. — On a new cause of 

 spontaneous gangrene accompanied by obliteration of the capil- 

 lary arteries, by M. L. Tripier. — On the pathological develop- 

 ment of the eye in the so-called telescope fish, by M. G. Camuset. 

 — During the meeting, the places of MM. Petit and Valz, in the 

 Astronomical section, were filled np. , For the first. Dr. Huggins 

 obtained 38 votes, -M. Stephan 2, and Mr. Newcomb I ; for the 

 second, Mr. Newcomb obtained 46 votes, and M. Stephan, I ; 

 Messrs. Huggins and Newcomb were accordingly elected. 



CONTENTS Page 



The Dutv of Electors 237 



Animal Mechanics 239 



Polar Exploration 240 



Our Book Shelf 241 



Letters to the Editor :— 



Prof. Barrett and Sensitive Flames.— Prof. I. Tynd.ill, f.L.D., 



F.RS 241 



Remarkable Fos.sils.— T. W. Cowan 241 



Earthquake in Argyllshire. — T. Stevenson . , 242 



Telegrapiiing E.\traordinary. — R S. Culley 242 



Eclio at lUaidenliead 242 



Ffight of Birds. — Horace B. Porter 242 



Vivisection.— Dr. C. M. Inglebv 242 



Instinct of Monkeys. 243 



Vivisection 243 



American Scientific Enterprise 243 



Tubes FOR Silent Electrical Discharges (IK/M Illustrations).. 244 



Haeckel ON Infusoria 247 



Lecture Experiment (With lUustraiion) 247 



A Science Lecture at the Charterhouse 247 



Notes 24S 



The Acoustic Transparency and Opacity of the Atmosphere. 

 Royal Institution Friday Evening Discourse by Prof. Tvndall, 



V.-&.'S. (iVitli Illuslration) 251 



Birmingham Natural History and Microscopical Society . . 253 



Scientific Serials 254 



Societies and Academies 255 



