September 17, 1896] 



NA TURE 



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further determined that the annual subscription should be one 

 guinea, that the name of the Society should be the Palsonto- 

 graphical, and that its officers should consist of a president, 

 treasurer, secretary, and council of sixteen members. Sir Henry 

 De la Beche was elected first president. The presidents from 

 the foundation to the present have been : Sir II. De la Beche, 

 from 1S47 to 1855 ; Mr. W. J. Hamilton, from 1856 to 1867 ; 

 Dr. Bowerbank, from 1S68 to 1876 ; Sir R. Owen, from 1S77 

 to 1892: I'rof. Huxley, from 1893 to 1S95; and since then 

 Dr. Henry Woodward. Want of space will not permit of our 

 giving a list of the monographs issued by the Society ; suffice 

 it to say that they range over a large area of information com- 

 prehending the fossil PlanlK, &c. , fossils from the sub-kingdoms 

 Protozoa, Porifera, Crelenterata, Echinodermata, Annulosa, 

 MoUusca, and Vertebrata; and that monographs are in progress on 

 the Foraminifera of the Crag, the Fossil Sponges, the Cretaceous 

 Star-Fishes, the Carboniferous .Mollusca, the Inferior Oolite 

 Ammonites, the Fishes of the Old Red Sandstone, the Pleisto- 

 cene -Mammalia, and the Devonian Fauna. The Honorary 

 Secretary of the Society, Prof. Wiltshire, will, we are sure, be 

 glad to receive the names and subscriptions of many new 

 members. 



It may be remembered that some time ago the Austrian man- 

 of-war Pola returned from her voyage of investigation in the 

 Ked Sea, after having spent eight months there, and surveyed 

 the northern half of this region, covering an area of about 600 

 nautical miles long by iSo broad. An account of the work 

 accomplished during this trip is given in Die Natiir (No. 37), 

 and seems to be of great importance. No less than seventy 

 boxes, containing fish and smaller Seetiere, and twelve large 

 boxes full of coral have already been despatched to Vienna. 

 Other results of observation tell us that at a depth of 500 metres 

 the water commences to become homogeneously warm, having 

 a temperature to the bottom of 2i"'2. The amount of salt at 

 the time of observation was greatest in the northern part, 

 diminishing towards the south ; the transparency of the water 

 was found to be less than that of the Mediterranean Sea ; and 

 the colour was not so fine and of such a distinct blue as is the 

 case of the Mediterranean and Adriatic Seas. Altogether 1243 

 temperature observations, 691 determinations of the specific 

 gravity at the surface, half-way down, and at the bottom, 254 

 colour observations, and 22 determinations of wave-elements 

 were made. The investigation included further innumerable 

 chemical analyses of the water from the deeper parts, and 

 observations of the chemical changes taking place between the 

 Red Sea and the land surfaces. At most of the harbours and 

 places of anchorage the officers made astronomical po.sition and 

 time determinations, magnetic observations for all three elements 

 — declination, inclination, and intensity, and pendulum observ- 

 ations for the determination of the force of gravity. The 

 above were made at twenty-seven stations on land and islands, 

 twelve being on the Egyptian coast, ten on the Arabian, and the 

 rest on the half-island Sinai. Meteorological observations were 

 also strictly made, thus completing a valuable amount of work 

 in an important region. 



The current number of La Xatun (September 12) has some 

 specially interesting articles. M. de Navaillac gives us an 

 account of some of the prehistoric finds that have been made in 

 Florida, referring to the work done especially by Mr. Frank 

 Cushing, who was sent out by the University of Pennsylvania. 

 His researches seem to have been very successful, and he was 

 rewarded with sufficient material to permit him to describe the 

 life and costumes of the race that had peopled the land. Dr. 

 Felix Kegnault discourses on the origin of ornamental art : the 

 principles which actually guide ornamental art date neither from 

 the Renaissance, nor even from the Greek period. They result 

 NO. 1403, VOL. 54] 



" d'une tendance naturelle a I'homme telle qu'on retrouve dans les 

 origines memesde I'humanite." " Renaissance Clocks" is the sub- 

 ject of an article by M. Planchon, who describes some of these 

 beautiful works of art. There are several illustrations showing 

 the dift'erent methods of design adopted. 



The Bulletin de la SociiU <V Encouragement pour Vindustrie 

 Nationale for the month of August contains various articles which 

 should be read with interest. M. Ronna, in a long summary of 

 sixty-four pages, gives an account of the dry regions in the 

 United States of America, and describes at some length the 

 different methods of irrigation employed to suit the various local 

 conditions. Plans, cross-sections and photogravures are given 

 to illustrate the regions under discussion, and these give us a 

 good idea of the enormous scale on which some of the under- 

 takings are made. The first part deals chiefly with the 

 distribution of water, by the formation of reservoirs, and the 

 subsequent building of canals. The question of wind and steam 

 pumps then passes under review ; here all kinds of types are 

 mentioned, including an account of some of the more important 

 artesian wells. Then follows the different systems adopted for- 

 actually distributing the water over areas, such as, for instance, a 

 plantation ; these vary according to the amount of water 

 required. The statistics brought together show the enormous , 

 increase in the productive value of the land since the adoption, 

 of irrigation on a large scale. Under the heading of " Metal- 

 lurgy," Roberts- Austen's and F. Osmond's researches on the 

 structure of metals are translated. 



In the current number of the Annales de Cliim. et de Phys., 

 M. Moissan gives an interesting account of his experiments on . 

 the volatilisation of refractory substances in the electric furnace. 

 The sublimates were condensed on the outside of a curved " 

 copper tube placed two centimetres below the arc, and just above 

 the substance under examination. A rapid current of water 

 was passed through the tube, and kept it cool during the experi- 

 ments, which usually lasted for about five minutes. The vola- 

 tilised metals were copper, silver, platinum, aluminium, tin, 

 gold, manganese, iron, and uranium. Quantitative experiments, 

 were not made in every case, but it appeared that manganese 

 was sublimed more rapidly than the others, and that the rate of 

 volatilisation of copper was about five times as rapid as that of. 

 gold. The condensed metal was usually, in great part, in the 

 form of little spheres. Silicon and carbon were also volatilsed 

 and condensed on the tube, though the amount collected of the. 

 last-named element was very small, and lime, magnesia^ 

 zirconia and silica were sublimed without difficulty. M. 

 Moissan draws the conclusion that the most stable compounds 

 hitherto known disappear in the electric furnace, being either 

 decomposed or volatilised. Nothing resists these high tempera- 

 tures except the series of perfectly crystallised compounds 

 discovered by him, and consisting of borides, silicides, and, 

 above all, carbides of the metals. M. Moissan intends to pub- 

 lish a description of these compounds shortly. He regards them 

 as being probably among the original constituents of the globe, 

 and as still existing in some of the stars. 



The earliest recorded measurements of the " dip " of the earth'si 

 magnetism were made in London by Robert Norman in the 

 year 1576, and by Gilbert in 1600; but it was not until 1671 

 that this element formed the subject of a series of regular 

 observations at Paris, indicating a continual diminution during 

 the last two centuries from 75° to 65° 5'. In endeavouring to 

 trace the secular variation of the dip, it is important to obtain, 

 if possible, data extending over a far longer period. In a highly 

 suggestive paper published in the Atti dei Lincei, Dr. G. 

 Folgheraiter, taking as his starting-point the well-known pro- 

 perty possessed by clay after it has been baked of retaining 

 permanently any magnetisation that may have been induced in 



