196 



NATURE 



\yuly 9, 1874 



On Saturday last, July 4, a meeting of the Council of the 

 Royal School of Mines was held at the Jermyn Street Museum, 

 at which the reports of the examinations of the students con- 

 nected with that institution w'ere received and considered, and 

 the prizes awarded. The following gentlemen received the 

 diploma of Associate of the Royal School of Mines : — Mining, 

 Metallurgical, and Geological Divisions, S. A. Hill and \V. 

 Saise ; Mining and Metallurgical Divisions, R. Cowper, A. R. 

 Guerard, C. Lloyd Morgan ; Metallurgical Division, W. Pearce ; 

 Geological Division, A. R. Willis and W. Frccheville. The 

 two Royal Scholarships of 15/. each for first year's students were 

 awarded to Henry Louis and E. Fisher Pittman ; H.R.H. the 

 Duke of Coinwall's Scholarship was awarded to A. R. Willis, 

 and the Royal Scholarship of 25/. lo W. S. Lowe ; the Edward 

 Forbes INIedal and prize of books were awarded to A. R. 

 Willis ; theDe la Ecche medal and prize of books to C. Lloyd 

 Morgan ; the Murchison Medal and prize of books to A. R. 

 Willis. 



The Quarterly Weather Report of the Meteorological Office 

 has been issued, containing the observations of the seven ob- 

 servatories from April to June 1S73. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 last week include a Himalayan Bear {Ursiis iibctainis), presented 

 by Mr. George Lockie ; two Red Kangaroos {Macropiis robiis- 

 ius) from Australia, presented by the Acclimatisation Society of 

 Melbourne ; two Audouin's Gulls {Larus audoidiii) from Sar- 

 dhiia, presented by Lord Lilford ; a Kappler's Armadillo 

 (Tatiisia kappleri] from Surinam, deposited; two Musquashes 

 (Filler zilhiiciis) from North America, received in e.\change ; a 

 'Ha.x^y 'Ej3.g\e (Thrnsai'liis kaipyia) from P.iraguay ; seven Ariel 

 Toucans {Rampliaslos arid) from Brazil, purchased ; a Collared 

 Fruit Bat (Cynonyctms collaris), bom in the Gardens. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS 



The current number of the yournal of Anatomy aud Physio- 

 logy contains several papers of interest. Dr. Binz commence 

 with an article C>n some effects of alcohol on warm-blooded 

 animals, in which he supports the non-heating action of alcohol, 

 considering the subjective impression as partly the consequence 

 of the irritation of the nerves of the stomach, and of the en- 

 largement of the cutaneous vessels. The cooling eflect of 

 alcohol on febrile conditions is demonstrated and shown to 

 depend on its direct diminution of the activity of the cellular 

 elements of the body, on the increase of the cutaneous circulation 

 which arises frem strengthening of the heart's action, and in the 

 diminution of muscular activity which follows its exhibition. 

 — Dr. J. Blake continues his observations On the action of 

 inorganic substances when introduced directly into the blood, 

 endeavouring to show that in the same isomorphous group of 

 elements, the intensity of physiological action increases as the 

 atomic weight of the elements, but the relative atomicity of 

 groups which are not closely related shows no corresponding 

 gradation. The salts described on the present occasion are those 

 of the alkaline earths. — Prof. Cleland discusses double-bodied 

 monsters (kittens), and the development of the tongue in them, 

 that organ being frequently found situated in the nasal pass.ages, 

 the palate at the same time being cleft. — Dr. C. Reyher described 

 points connected witli the cartilages and synovial membranes of 

 joints, .showing that the "synovial process," or portion of the 

 synovial membrane which lies over the borders of the cartilages, 

 is not to be looked upon as an ingrowth of the sjmovial membrane 

 but as being formed in situ as the development of the joint pro- 

 ceeds. — Mr. Reoch endeavours to account for the presence of 

 free hyd-ochloric acid in the gastric juice, the constant presence 

 of which he gives experiments in proof of, on the far-fetched as- 

 sumption that the oxidation of the sulphur which is contained in 

 albumen takes place in the w.alls of the stomach ; that the 

 sulphuric acid thus formed decomposes the sodium chloride, 

 liberating free hydrochloric acid to form part of the gastric juice. 

 — Prof. Turner having had a second specimen of the Greenland 

 shark {I.aeniargus Iwrmlis), is enabled to give an account of 

 parts omitted in the original description, to be found in the same 

 journal of the year previous. He gives a drawing of the animal. 



which was six feet long. It was male, and the sexual organs 

 are described. The testes possess no vasa-deferentia, their pro- 

 ducts must therefore be shed into the peritoneal cavity, whence 

 they reach the exterior water through the abdominal pores. The 

 ureters were found to combine before they entered the cloaca by 

 the single duct. — Prof. Savory has a paper On the use of the 

 ligamentum teres of the hip-joint, in which he endeavours to 

 prove the idea, which, as he remarks, had been previously 

 suggested by the late Prof. Partridge and by Prof. Turner, that 

 the body is slung on the two ligaments as a carriage is on C- 

 springs. Prof. Humphry criticises Mr. .Savory's results, re- 

 stating his former remarks that the ligamentum teres is not 

 tense in the erect posture. — Prof. Turner, in description of 

 variations in the arrangement of the nerves of the human body, 

 mentions a branch from the fourth cranial nerve to the orbicu- 

 laris palpebrarum. In another instance the same nerve sent a 

 branch to the infra-trochlear of the nasal. Peculiarities in the 

 various plexuses are also noted. — A loquacious paper follows by 

 Dr. Radcliffe on the syntheses of motion, vital aud physical, in 

 which it is attempted to be shown, that in muscle the state of 

 rest is that of contraction, the state of action relaxation. 

 — Mr. Ogilvie and Mr. Cathcart give the dissection of 

 a malformed lamb. — Prof. Crum-Brown gives an ingenious 

 explanation of the sense of rotation and its connection with 

 the semicircular canals, connecting it with the inertia of 

 their contents affecting the peripheral ends of the auditory 

 nerves. — Dr. Brunton proves the value of external warmth in 

 preventing death from an over-dose of chloral. — Mr, F. Champ- 

 neys gives a detailed description of the septum of the auricles 

 of the frog and the rabbit. — Mr. J. C. Ewart describes the 

 epithelium in front of the retina and the external surface of the 

 lens. — Dr. J. Ogle describes and figures a man born without 

 legs. — Ptof. Turner gives a drawing of the surface of the brain 

 in its relition to the skull, which is followed by part of his 

 paper on the placentation of the sloths, which we have noticed 

 on a former occasion. — Notes on some muscular irregularities, 

 follow, by Prof. Curnow ; and the papers of the number end 

 with three short note; by Mr. G.J. M. Smith, Mr. J. A. Russell, 

 and Mr, Bellamy, on the dissection of an excised elbow, on 

 unusually large renal calculus, three inches long, and a fusion of 

 some of the carpal bones, repectively. 



Bulletin Meiisud Je la Socide a\4cclimatation de Paris. — ■ 

 In his anniversary speech, reported in' the Bulletin for April, M. 

 Drouyn de Lhuys, the president, gives an interesting account of 

 the victories of acclimatisation in the case of the coffee plant, 

 the product of which, now universally esteemed, would never 

 have been general but for its transplantation from its native home, 

 Abyssinia, into other parts of Africa, into Europe, Asia, Ame- 

 rica, and those East and West Indian Islands which are now its 

 best producers. — M. II. Bouley follows with an exhaustive 

 paper on the subjection of animals by man to his own purposes. 

 He analyses the various effects of food, of climate, of locality, 

 of se'e:tion, and other influences on the natures of animals, and 

 shows how our jDrincipal useful animals, such as the horse and 

 the dor, h,ave gradually, by dint of the constant exertion of 

 various powers, been brought to their present state of subjection. — 

 The annual report ot the Society gives a retrospective glance at 

 the year's work. Among birds the principal acquisitions have 

 been varieties of pheasants, black swans, and Chilian geese. 

 Among fishes, the telescope fish, the rainbow fish of China, and 

 the gourami, are the most remarkable. Among plants, numerous 

 Australian trees, acacias, and others ; various kinds of bamboos j 

 the Eucalyptus, fairly acclimatised in Algeria ; and China grass, 

 which promises to form a useful textile fabric, have been in- 

 troduced. 



Zdtschrift fiir Ethnologic. — Recent numbers of the Zcitschrift 

 fiir Ethnolo'^ie have been continuing and concluding the series 

 of papers in which its readers have been put in possession of a 

 very minute summary of Col. Dalton's official report on the 

 ethnology of Bengal, translated by Herr Oscar Flex, missionary 

 in Ranshi. These valuable reports proclaim the remarkable 

 dissimilarity which prevails in the domestic habits .and national 

 customs of tribes presenting strong Iniguistic and psychical 

 affinity with one another. Thus amongst the Manipuris, who 

 may possibly, however, be of Aryan descent, although they have 

 long been followers of the religion of Brahma, and claimed him 

 for their proto-genitor, the women enjoy perfect freedom, both in 

 regard to their control of the household and their participation 

 in games in which men take part ; and although the husband may 

 divorce his wife on good grounds, if he venture; to do so with« 



