3i6 



NA TURE 



\_Feb. 19, 1874 



fungi, in some cases so nearly, that it was difficult to believe that 

 the fibres and fruit-like forms are not really organic bodies. The 

 author expressed his opinion that these bodies were simply 

 crystals, modified in their formation by the oil contained in tire 

 insects, with which the crystals are in some way combined. Some 

 of the specimens exhibited were taken from insects collected 

 twenty-five years ago. 



Liverpool 



Geological Society, Feb. 12.— Mr. T. Mellard Readc, F.G.S. 

 read a paper containing a series of novel investigations on the 

 action of tides on the sea-bottom. Applying a formula used by 

 civil engineers, the result of practical observation in tidal estuaries, 

 to the observed currents at the surface at various points in the 

 St. George's and English Channels, it was proved, by com- 

 parison with experiments instituted for ascertaining the moving 

 powers of running water on materials of various specific gravity 

 and bulk, that, conditions being otherwise favourable, tidal 

 currents were capable of destructive erosive action on the sea- 

 bottom. Mr. Reade then entered elaborately into the pheno- 

 mena of the tides in the Irish Sea, in the Enghsh Channel, and 

 surrounding seas, using Captain Beechey's admirable observations 

 for this purpose. Mr. Reade infers from a consideration of a 

 variety of circumstances that the materials of the Irish Sea bottom 

 are principally composed of re-arranged glacial drift, either 

 eroded off the bottom or off the coast by the sea itself, or poured 

 into it by the many rivers in the north-west of England, south 

 of Scotland, and west of Ireland, draining vast basins mostly 

 covered by glacial clays and sands. These materials, notwith- 

 standing the oscillatory character of the tidal streams, have in 

 the main a slow, progressive motion down channel, and out as 

 far into the Atlantic as the little Sole Banks. Clear cases of 

 the erosive action ol ihe water on the bottom were then given. 

 It was shown that there are pits or gullies excavated in the 

 bottom in both the English and Irish channels, and that these 

 depressions have generally their major axes conformalile in 

 direct on with the set ol the stream tide ; and that the contour 

 lines of the bottom approximately follow the same direction. 

 The most remarkable of these excavations is the North Channel 

 Gulley, oft the coast of Wigtonshire, twenty miles long, one 

 mile wide, and from 400 ft. to 600 ft deeper than the surrounding 

 bottom, and which the strong tide existing there has euher 

 partially or wholly excavated, and now keeps open. In conclu- 

 sion, Mr. Reade expressed his conviction that the diurnal ;»nd 

 semi-diurnal movement of the tides, acting down to the pro- 

 foundest depths of the ocean, accounts for the preponderance of 

 life in it over that exhibited by the fauna of the Mediterranean. 

 Edinburgh 



Royal Society, Feb. 16. — Sir William Thomson, president, 

 in the chair. — The president read obituary notices of deceased 

 Fellows of the .Society. — The following communications were 

 read :— On the Kinetic Theory of the Dissipation of Energy, 

 by Sir W. Thomson. — On the Electric Conductivity of Iron at 

 a Low Red Ileat, by Prof. Tait. — On the Stresses due to 

 Compound Strains, by Prof. C. Niven, communicated by Prof. 

 Tait. 



Gl.\sgow 



Geological Society, Jan. 15.— Mr. E. A. Wiinsch, vice- 

 president, in the chair. — Mr. R. L. Jack, of H.M. Geolo- 

 gical Survey, read a paper on a Boulder-clay, with broken 

 shells, in the lower valley of the River Endrick, near Lochlo- 

 mond, and its relation to certain other glacial deposits in the same 

 neighbourhood. The author stated that the eie\ ation of Loch- 

 lomond above the sea is so trifling that there is no difficulty in 

 classing it with the sca-lochs that indent the western Highlands. 

 A depression of 20 feet, or the removal of the superficial deposits 

 traversed by its short outlet, the Leven, on its way to the Clyde, 

 would restore it to its former condition. He then called atten- 

 tion to a deposit which he had observed in the course of his 

 work on the geological survey near the south-eastern angle of 

 Lochlomond, and whose relation to the aheady-known members 

 of the glacial series seemed to deserve particular attention. The 

 deposit is a true typical till, in every respect similar to the old 

 boulderclay or till of the Lowlands of Scotland. In a matrix of 

 stiff unstratified clay, brown in colour, like the subjacent Old 

 Red sandstone rock, are scattered stones of various sizes, blunted, 

 smoothed, and marked with striations in all directions, but most 

 frequently in the direction of tia ir longer axis. It presents, however, 

 one remarkable peculiarity that distinguishes it from the common 

 till^it contains worn and broken fragments of marine shells. 



Though he had not found any clear instance of an olderdeposit be- 

 low this shelly till, he believed its place was above the old boulder- 

 clay, and that itjwas also the product of land-ice. He believed the 

 till to be the product of land-ice —the iiuvaiiif piofonJeoi a large 

 glacier which filled up the lake, covered the islands, and climbed 

 the rising ground between the Leven and the Endrick to the 

 height of at least 320 feet. This glacier, in .all probability, ex- 

 isted during the latter portion of the period which preceded the 

 "great submergence" of the land. — ilr. John Young read a 

 paper on the occurrence of a bed of highly indurated Sandstone, 

 with water-worn quartzite pebbles, interstratified with the trap ol 

 the Campsie Hills. The bed is probably of lower carboniferous 

 age, and indicates one of those periods of repose between the 

 great outbursts of igneous rock matter of which the Campsie 

 Fells are principally buUt up. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, Feb. 9— if. Bertrand in the chair. 

 — The following papers were read: — On Balislique intcrietire, 

 by General Morin. Ttiis was a paper on the various forces act- 

 ing on a projectile whilst still in the bore of a gun. — On the de- 

 vitrification of glass, by M. Eug. Peligot. The author decides 

 that, contrary to the received opinion that this effect is due 

 merely to a crystallisation of the glass, it is due to the formation 

 ol a definite silicate having a formula corresponding to that of a 

 pyroxene. — On the action of water on lead, by M. Balard. — New 

 clinical and experimental researches on the movements and 

 repose of the heart, and on the mechanism of the passage of the 

 blood through its cavities when in the normal state, by M. Bouil- 

 laud. — On the preservation of vines threatened by Phylloxera, by 

 M. de la Vergne. — On the problem of three bodies, by M. E. 

 Mathieu. — On the resistance of glass tubes to rupture, by M. L. 

 Cailletet. The author finds that a tube stands pressure from the 

 outside better than from the inside. The pressures, however, 

 which a tube can stand from the inside are very great. One of 

 9 mm. internal diameter and i mm. thickness, containing 6'9 c.c, 

 was submitted to an outside pressure of 460 atmospheres, 

 without injury, and subsequently to an internal pressure 

 of 104 atmospheres, when it burst. — On the use of a 

 double refracting prism for determining the axes of ellipses, 

 by BI. Jaunetaz. — On some new bands produced in the ab- 

 sorption spectrum of chlorophyll by reagents containing 

 sulphur, by M. J. Chautard. — On a new process for pre- 

 serving wood, by M. Halzfeld. — On the hardness and density of 

 carbon obtained from pure sugar, by M. F. Monier. — On the 

 flight of birds, by M. E. Bertin. — On an electric fire-alarm, by 

 M.Vl. A. Joly, and P. Earbier. — On the measurement of heat, 

 by M. G. West. — On a case of monstrosity, &c., by M. Claudot. 

 — Theorems concerning algebraic equations, by M. F. Lucas. 

 — On the impossibility of certain double equations, by M. A. 

 Genocchi. — On the conditions necessary for a conic with a 

 curve of any order to have a contact of the fifth order, by 

 M. Painvin. — -On the chemical characteristics of the uredo of 

 maize, &c., by M. Ilartstn. — On the consecutive eflects of the 

 reipoval of the mammae in certain animals, by M. de Sinety. 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Fhvsiologv at Camekidge 207 



Athenian Text-Books OF Science. By G. K. Rodwell, F.CS. . tn.,-: 



The AcKiDiD.^£ OF North America 2.,., 



UUK Book Shelf ^,, , 



Lbtteks TO the Editor :— 



Simultaneous Meteorological Observ.-itions. — Robeki' H. Scott, 



K.R.S. ; Brigadier Gcii. A. J. Mvee 300 



Remuneration of the Contributors to Milne-EdwariDs' '• Mission 



Scientifique au Mexique." — Milne-Edwards . 301 



.4nimal Locomotion. — A. H. Garrod ; Alfred R. Wallace, 



E.Z.S 301 



On the Variability of the Node in Organ-pipes.— Hermann 



S.MiTH 301 



Auroral Display. — W. H. Watson 303 



The Fhotograi-hic Society 303 



Notes from the Challenger 304 



The Common Frog, X By St. George Mivakt, F.R.S. {.With 



Illustrations') 305 



The Induction Tube of W. Siemens. By Sir B. C. Bbodie, Bart., 



F.R.S. until Illustration) 308 



Recent Researches on Tekmites and Honhv-Bees. Charles 



Darwin, F.R.S. ; Feitz Muller 308 



Mars. By Rev. T. W. Webb,.F.R.A.S 309 



Notes 311 



Scientific Serials 314 



Societies and Academies 314 



