138 



NA TURE 



\y71nc 18, 1874 



important to ascertain whether the equilibrium about which the 

 oscillation tal;es place is stable or unstable. The necessary and 

 sufficient conditions for stability are that the real roots and the 

 real parts of the imaginary roots should all be negative. It is 

 proposed to investigate a method of easy opplicr.tion to decide 

 this point." — Mr. Routh's second paper was On rocking stones, 

 and a third was On small oscillations to any degree of approxi- 

 mation. 



Anthropological Institute, June 9.— Prof Busk, F.R.S., 

 president, in the chair. — Sir John Lubbock, Bart., read a paper 

 On the discovery of stone implements in Egypt. The author 

 began with a sketch of the writings and opinions of M. Arcelin 

 and Dr. Hamy, who maintained that the Hint implements found 

 along the valley of the Nile, including a hatchet of the St. 

 Acheul type at Deir-el-Bahari, indicated the existence formerly 

 of a true stone age there as in Western Europe. MM. Mor- 

 tillet and Eroca concurred in that view. — On thc'other hand 

 Dr. Pruner-Bey, and especially Dr. Lepsius, had ' expressed 

 the opinion that most of the objects described, such as the flint 

 flakes, were natutally produced. M. Chabas also took the same 

 view as Dr. Lepsius, and denied the existence of any evidence 

 of a stone age eiti.er in Egypt or elsewhere. On the occasion 

 of a late visit to Egypt with the object of getting conclusive 

 personal evidence on the question, the author found worked 

 flints at various spots along the Nile Valley, especially in the 

 valley of the tombs of the kings of Thebes, and at Abydos, and 

 after carefully weighing the facts and arguments brought forward 

 by MM. Lepsius and Chabas, he was disposed to agree with 

 MM. Arcelin and Hamy in considering that these flint imple- 

 ments really belonged to the stone age, and were anle-Phara- 

 onic. Sir John exhibited a full series of the Egyptian flint 

 implements found by himself during his visit, and the paper 

 concluded with a minute description of each specimen. — Prof. 

 Owen, F.R.S. , then read a paper On the ethnology of Egypt. 

 Since the observations recorded in 1S61, by Dr. Pruner-Bey, on 

 the race-characters of the ancient Egyptians, mainly based on 

 the characters of skulls, evidences, in the author's opinion, of a 

 more instructive kind have been discovered, chiefly by M. 

 Mariette-Bey. They consist of portrait-sculptures, chiefly 

 statues, found in tombs accompanied by hieroglyphic inscrip- 

 tions revealing the name, condition, and date of decease. A 

 study of those works led to the conclusion that three distinct 

 types were indicated, (i) The Primal Egyptian, bearing no 

 trace of negro or Ar.ab, but more nearly matched by a high 

 European facies of the present day. {2) The type of the con- 

 quering race of Shepherd Kings, or Syro- Arabian, exemplified 

 in the Assyrian sculptures. (3) The Nubian Egyptian, typified 

 in the bas-relief figure of Cleopatra in the Temple of Denderah. 

 In conclusion, llie professor drew a graphic picture of the high 

 state of civilisation attained by the Primal Egyptian race, 

 whose exquisite works, done six thousand years ago, are now 

 rendered accessible to man. The paper was amply illustrated 

 by a series of photographs, maps, and diagrams. 



Royal Horticultural Society, June 4. — Scientific Com- 

 mittee. — A. Giote, F.L. S., in the chair. — The Rev. M. J. 

 Berkeley exhibited trusses of Pelargonium " St. George," in 

 which all the flowers, and not the central one only, were desti- 

 tute of spur, thus presenting an illustration of what is termed 

 regular Peloria, and approximating to the genus Geranium. — 

 Messrs. Veitch sent a coffee-bush from Ceylon affected with afungus, 

 whichoverruns some 1,000 acres of plantation. This was probably 

 ihe Hciiiilcia '■aslalri.\. — Mr. A. Murray alluded to the moth, 

 Fromibit yitccascUa, which has the habit of gathering the pollen 

 of Yucca, and in so doing often fertilises the stigma. — Dr. 

 Masters showed the roots of a Deodar, which had suddenly died 

 after having been planted about fourteen years. On examination 

 the plant was found infested by mycelium, and on further inquiry 

 it was ascertained that the tree had been jilanted on the site of 

 an old tan-pit, which had doubtless furnished the nidus for the 

 spawn.- -Prof. Thiselton Dyer read the following extract from a 

 letter addressed to Admiral Spralt by his son : — " Dalhousie, 

 l'"eb. 22, 1874.— On the night of the loth of this month we had 

 a change of white to blood-looking snow. The native mind was 

 much excited, and said this falling of blood and snow was a sign 

 of some coming great war. . . The blood and snow was snow 

 mixed with dust. Now as the whole of the hills at the foot for 

 some dis'ance h.ad been formany days well saturated, thisdustmust 

 have come Irom a long distance, and must have ascended a con- 

 siderable height. The snow-cloud must have been full of dust, 

 or the atmosphere between us and it, probably the la'tcr. The 



amount of discoloured snow was $" and the contents of one super- 

 ficial foot \i\ grains. Under Ihe microscope it looked like small 

 transparent laminations of mica or silica." — Prof. Thiselton 

 Dyer communicated a note on the temperature of hill and dale. 



General Meeting. — W. A. Lindsay in the chair. — The Rev. 

 M. J. Berkeley commented on a re-v hybrid San-acciiia. raised 

 between S. Jlnva axiAS.fiirpurca, also on a plant of Aniorpho- 

 p/ialiiis Bcrkch.yiy found at Rangoon by his son Capt. Berkeley, 

 and the stems of which were said to be sold in the Indian 

 markets like asparagus. 



Paris 



Academy of Sciences, June S. — M. Bertrand in the chair. 

 — The president announced the death of M. Roulin, librarian to 

 the Academy, .and principal editor of the first volumes of the 

 Couiptcs Kcndits. — I'he lollowing papers were read : — Determi- 

 nation of the number of similar triangles which satisfy four con- 

 ditions, by M. Chasles. — On the distribution of the heat deve- 

 loped by collision, by M. Tresca. The author was led to this 

 research by observing the production of oblique luminous streaks 

 on the lateral faces of the platinum-iridium bar (described at the 

 last meeting by General ilorin) during the process of forging. — 

 Several communications on vine-culture were read, all relating 

 to FhylliKxa-a- The first of these was by M. Dumas, entitled 

 " Memoir on the means of repelling the invasion of Phyl/o.xcm." 

 The author considers ammonium sulphhydrate the safest sub- 

 stance for the destruction of the pest without injuring the vine. — 

 On the progress of the vine disease during winter. On the 

 practical means of opposing the disease, by M. H. Mares. The 

 author advocates likewise the use of ammonium sulphhydrate. — 

 On the employment of carbon disulpliide to repel PIiylliKxcra, 

 by M. le Baron de Chefdebein. — (Jnthe employment of sand in 

 the treatment of vines attacked by Phylloxera, extract from a 

 letter from M. J. Lichtenstein to M. Dumas. It appears that the 

 inject cannot make way through sand owing to the loose nature 

 of this substance. Since sand contains no fertilising principle, it 

 is proposed to mix it with ashes and guano. The extract concludes 

 with the following advice : — " Surround your stocks largely with 

 sand, /y/i'/A'.vtvv? will not come, or, if there, it will perish and your 

 vines will recover." — Prof. Cayley communicated a note entitled, 

 " On a Formula of Unlimited Integration." — On the age and 

 position of the Saint-Beat marble, a geological note, by M. Ley- 

 merie. — On the minute motions of a material system in stable 

 equilibrium, by M. F. Lucas. — Modification of the commutator 

 of Clarke's machine, by M. A. Barthedemy. — On friction in the 

 collision of bodies, by Mr. G. Darboux. — On the lines of curva- 

 ture of ruled surfaces, by M. E. Weyr. — Note on the spectrum 

 of Coggia's comet (1S74 III.), by M. G. Rayet. The spectrum 

 is continuous from the orange to the blue (spectrum of the 

 nucleus) and is traversed by three bright bands (spectrum of the 

 coma) in the yellow, green and blue. — On the motion of the air 

 in pipes, by M. Ch. Bontemps. — On a physiological peculiarity 

 of Axolotl, by M. C. Dareste. The peculiarity in question is 

 the presence of a mucous substance more or less red and con- 

 taining blood corpuscles in the cloaca of both sexes during the 

 period of reproduction. — On the metamorphoses of the Acari ot 

 the families Sarcoplidj: and Gamasida:, by M. Mc-gnin. 



CONTENTS pagb 



PrATEAU ON SoAP-BuBBLES. By Prof. J. Ccekk-Maxwell, F.R.S . 119 



Hinton's Practical Physiology ^^x 



Our Book Shele 122 



Molecular Molion.— Prof. F. Guthkie ,.,, 



Tfie Germans .ind Pfiysical Axioms.— Chas. G. Rout . . . . ! 123 

 Ttie Long Peruvian Skull. — Dr. J. Barnard Davis; Prof. Jef- 

 fries Wyman 123 



Lakes wilh two Outfalls— E. S. Holden : S. W. Burnham .' . 124 



Palseolherium magnum — W. Bruce-Clarke 12, 



The Telegraph in Storm-Warnings. — Fred. Norgate. . i . 12c 



Corydalis claviculata.— W. E. Hart ,25 



Polarisation of Light, IX. By W. Spottiswoode, Treas. R.S. . us 

 Venus's Flv-Trap {Dwiiaa miisciplila), 11. By Dr. BuRDON San- 

 son, F.R.S. (/(V/// ////«/r,i//<ws) ,,, 



Fertilisation of Flowers by Insects, VI. By Dr. Hebmann 



Muller {Il^it/t Illustrations) 520 



International Metric Commission AT Paris. ByH W. Chisho'lm, 



Warden of the Standards i,q 



Soundings IN THE Pacific '..''. Ai 



Coggia's Comet. By J. R, Hind, F.R.S Az 



Notes ,32 



Scientific Serials 135 



Societies AND AcADEMiss J36 



