336 



NA TURE 



[Feb. 26, 1874 



hollows lying between the Portpatrick coast and the north-east 

 of Ireland, and between Anglesea and the coast south of Dublin, 

 were attributed to the increased erosive action of the ice-sheets 

 due to the narrow-ness of the channel at these points. — Mr. 

 Andrew Taylor gave a description of the course of the River 

 Almond, near Edinburgh, and stated that that river followed, at 

 various places, which he specified, lines of " faults." 

 Manchester 



Literary and Philosophical Society, Feb. 3 — Physical and 

 I\I(il/ieniaticaI Scrtion. — Alfred Brothers, F.R.A.S., President of 

 the Section, in the chair. — " On the Theory of the Tides," by 

 David Winstanley. 



Feb. 10.— R. A. Smith, F.R. S., V.P., in the chair.— "The 

 Northern Range of the Basques," by W. Boyd Dawkins, F.R.S. 

 The northern extension of the Basque race from their present boun- 

 dary, in ancient times, is demonstrated by the convergent testi- 

 mony of history, ethnology, and the researches into caves and 

 tombs. In the Iberian peninsula the Basque populations (Vas- 

 cones) of the west are defined from the Celtic of the east by the 

 Celtiberi inhabiting modern Castille. In Caesar's time, the 

 Aquitani were surrounded on every side, except the south, by 

 the Celt:e, extending as far north as the Seine, as far to the east 

 as Switzerland and the plains of Lombardy, and southwards, 

 through the valley of the Rhone and the region of the Volscse, 

 over the Eastern Pyrenees into Spain. The district round the 

 Phocrean colony of Marseilles was inhabited by Ligurian tribes, 

 who held the region between the river Po and the Gulf of 

 Genoa, as far as the western boundary of Etruria, and who 

 probably extended to the west along the cuast of Southern Gaul 

 as far as the Pyrenees. The ancient population of Sardinia is 

 Ein'cd by Pausanias to be of Libyan extraction, while that of 

 < riica is described by Seneca as Ligurian and Iberian. The 

 Basques, or Ligurians, are the oldest inhabitants, in their re- 

 spective districts, known to the historian ; while the Celts appear 

 as invaders. We may be tolerably certain that the Basques held 

 France and Spain before the invasion of the Celts, and that the 

 non-Aryan peoples were cut asunder, and certain parts of tliem 

 left — Ligurians, Sikani, and in part Sardinians and Corsicans — 

 as ethnological islands, marking, so to speak, an ancient Basque 

 non-Aiyan continent which had been submerged by the Celtic 

 populations advancing steadily westwards. The Celtic and 

 Belgic invasion of Gaul repealed itself, as might be expected, in 

 Britain. Just as the Celts pushed back the Iberian population 

 of Gaul as far south as Aquitania, and swept round it into Spain, 

 so they crossed over the Channel and overran the greater por- 

 tion of Britain, until the Silures, identified by Tacitus with the 

 Iberians, were left onlyin those fastnesses that formed subsequently 

 a bulwark for the Brit-Welsh against the English invaders. The 

 Basque non-Aryan blood is still to be traced in the dark-haired, 

 black-eyed, small, oval-featured peoples in our own country in 

 the region of the Silures, where the hills have afforded shelter to 

 the Basque populations from the invaders. The small swarthy 

 Welshman of Denbighshire is, in every respect, except dress and 

 language, identical with the Basque peasant of the Western 

 Pyrenees, at Bagneres de Bigorre. The small dark-haired 

 people of Ireland, and especially those to the west of the 

 Shannon, according to Dr. Thurnam and Professor Huxley, are 

 also of Iberian derivation, and, singularly enough, there is a 

 legendary connection between that island and Spain. The 

 human remains from the chambered tombs as well as the river- 

 beds prove that the non-Aryan population spread over the whole 

 of Ireland as well as the whole of Britain. The evidence offered 

 by an appeal to history and ethnology, as to the former 

 northern exicnt of the Basque peoples, is confirmed by an exa- 

 mmation of the human remains in the Neolithic caves and tombs, 

 scattered throughout the area under consideration. The dis- 

 coveries^ in the caves of Gibraltar and of the Spanish mainland 

 prove th.at a small long-headed race, wiiii acu^lit^ rv..iiuica and 

 orthognathic profile identical with the Basques who buried their 

 dead in the modern cemetery of Guipuscoa, ranged throughout 

 the Peninsula, using with indifference caves and chambered 

 tumuli for their tombs. And on the same grounds their former 

 range through France, Britain, and Ireland is demonstrated, and 

 as far to the east as Belgium. At the present time the Basque 

 blood asserts itself in the physique of certain isolated popu- 

 lations, and within the historic period is demonstrated to have 

 been more .-.rongly defined, and to have occupied larger areas, 

 and lastly 111 the prehistoric period to have formed one con- 

 tinuous race from the Pillars of Hercules, as far north as Scot- 

 land, and as far to the east as Belgium. 



New Haven, U.S. 



Connecticut Academy, Dec. 17, 1873. — Prof. Lyman, 

 president, in the chair. — Prof. Marsh, of Yale College, 

 gave an account of the explorations of his party in the 

 Rocky Mountains and on the Pacific Coast during the past 

 season. The first explorations this year were made in 

 the Pliocene deposits near the Niobrara River. Owing to 

 hostile Indians, the explorations of the party here were at- 

 tended with much difliculty and danger, but were on the whole 

 quite successful. Many new animals were discovered, and ample 

 material secured for a full investigation of those previously known 

 from that region. A second expedition was made in August from 

 Fort Bridger, Wyoming, and large collections of Eocene fossil 

 vertebrates were obtained, especially of the Diiiocerata, Quad- 

 rmnana, and Chiroptc} a^ which had first been brought to light 

 by the researches of the party in previous years. A third trip 

 was made in September to the tertiary beds of Idaho and 

 Oregon, where some interesting discoveries were made. 

 Paris 



Academy of Sciences, Feb. 16. — M. Bertrand in the chair. 

 — The following papers were read : — On the acid waters which 

 flow from the volcanoes of the Cordilleras, by M. Boussingault. 

 • — On a mechanical equation corresponding to the equation 



rd Q 

 1 —J,- = o, by M. R. Clausius. This was a paper relating to 



those of M. A. Ledieu on the same subject which have recently 

 been read. — Report on a memoir, by M. Marey, on the point of 

 action of a wing on the air, M. Tresca, reporter. — Experiments 

 to determine whether all the vascular nerves have their focus of 

 origin and their vaso-motor centre in the rachidian bulb, by 

 M. A. Vulpian. — New topographical chart of Mont Blanc on a 



scale of , by M. E. VioUet-Leduc— M. Ad. Chatin ad- 



40,000 ■' 



vanced his paper On androgenesis compared with organogenesis 

 another stage. — On the action of soft waters on metallic lead, by 

 MM. Mayencon and Bergeret. Electrolysis was used by the 

 authors to detect the lead, as they considered sulphuretted hy- 

 drogen not sufficiently delicate. They found galena slightly 

 soluble in water by long boiling. — On the preservation of wood 

 by means of cupric sulphate, by M. Boucherie. — Facts illustrat- 

 ing the history of yeast, by M. P. Schutzenberger. — On a trans- 

 formation of Taylor's formula, by M. Jourgon. — On a method 

 of determining vapour densities, by M. Croullebois. This method 

 is a modification of that which depends on observing the tension 

 of the vapour in a barometer tube. — Observations on the eftlor- 

 escence of the two hydrates of sodic sulphates, by Dr. L. C. 

 de Coppet. This was an answer to a late paper by M. Gernez. 

 — On the " antifermentescible " and antiputrid properties of 

 solutions of chloral hydrate, by MM. Dujardin-Beaumetz and 

 Hirne. — On the method of respiration in certain fish having a 

 labyrinthiform pharynx, by M. Carbonnier. — On the fossils 

 brought from Cape \'erde Islands by M. de Cessac, by M. P. 

 Fischer. — On the movements of the chlorophyll in;the St/a^i- 

 nact\r, by M. Ed. Prillieux. — On the relatii.ns between thermo- 

 electric properties and crystalline form, by M. C. Friedel. — On 

 a method of quickly re-forming vineyards threatened by phyl- 

 loxera by the introduction of American vines, by M. H. Bouschet. 

 — On anesthesia produced by the injection of chloral, by M. Ore. 



CONTENTS Page 



The Roth.vmsted .Agricultural Investigations ... . . 317 



Dr Livingstone ^iS 



Post-Tertiary Geology, I. By A. H. Green 31S 



Our Book Shelf 321 



Letters to the Editor : — 



Zoological Nomenclature. — F. P. Pascoe 321 



The so-called '* Meteor-cloud " of Feb. 5. — J. J. Plummer . . . 322 



.\boriginal Australian Artists. — G. KRcrKT 322 



R-.;nlinw and its Reflection - c;. Dawson 322 



Remarkable Fo«"'» 322 



Volcanoes and the Earth's Crust.— J. J. Murphv 322 



The Use of Terms in Cryptogamic Botany.— A. W. Bennett . ! 323 



A Lecture Experiment.— L. Ta it ; . 32- 



Todhunter on Expekimental Illustrations. By G. P. Tait! .' 3^^ 

 Polarisation of Light, V. By W. Spottiswoode, Treas. R.S. 



(With Illustrations) ,2, 



The Heart and the Sfhvgmograph. By A. H. Gareod (»'///I 



Illustration) ,j. 



Dr. von Miklucho Maclav's Researches among the Papuans. 



By J. C. Galton .,28 



MicRoscoiTc Examinations of .\ir. By D. D. Cunningham, M.B. '530 



Notes ' 



Scientific Serials '..!'.".'.!'.-■" 



Societies and Academies .' i . . . ' ™ 



