90 REPORT — 1865. 



On the Characteristics of the South Sclavonic Race. 

 By Miss Iebt and Miss Mackenzie. 

 The writers of the paper contrasted the Sclavonic characteristics with those of 

 the Greeks on the one hand, and the Germans on the other. The Greeks were 

 ambitious and irritable ; the Bulgarians were contented and not easily roused to 

 anger. The Greek was subtle : while the Bulgarian was strong in common sense 

 and perseverance. The Bulgarians were especially devoted to the cultivation of 

 the soil, especially in Servia, where they carried on a great part of the agriculture. 

 They possessed a'great respect for truth, of which the Greeks were entirely defi- 

 cient. The poetry of the Sclaves was very picturesque, but it lacked much of the 

 great merit of that of the Germans. In art they were not altogether deticieut, 

 but the condition of the people precluded that cultivation of the tine arts which 

 might otherwise have developed the tastes they undoubtedly possess. 



On the Turdus niigratorius. By the Rev. A. ~W. M c Kat. 

 This paper gave a minute description of the Red-breasted Thrush of North 

 America, pointing out several particulars in which it resembled the thrushes of 

 this country. It is a bird about the size of the common blackbird ; the head, back, 

 and wino-s being black in colour, and the breast and belly red, inclining to white 

 about the region of the vent. Its note sometimes resembles that of the blackbird, 

 especially when the bird is startled. Its song-note is much like that of the musical 

 thrush of this country. The most remarkable peculiarity is in the colours of the 

 plumage of the voting bird, which is spotted like the permanent coat of the thrush 

 At the first moulting-season this plumage is cast oft', and the ordinary red and 

 black assumed. The bud is a universal favourite, for its familiar habits and the 

 beauty of its song. 



On the Arctic Highlanders. By C. R. Maekham, F.B.G.S. 

 The author said the people were found in latitude 76° and 79°, on the verge of 

 the unknown polar region. The waters were crowded with seals, walrusses, and 

 whales, and great quantities of small fish. Here they might expect to find man 

 existing; and there were actually about 140,000 souls scattered along the coast, of 

 Asiatic aspect, as far as the outer man was concerned. They had no canoes, nor 

 had thev bows and arrows, but their sledges were superior to those of the Esqui- 

 maux. The hunting-season enabled them to accumulate large stores for winter use, 

 but sometimes those failed them, and great hardships had to be suffered in hunting 

 in January and February, and frequently they were reduced to eating their dogs. 

 Thev, in common with the natives generally of that part of the world, had a won- 

 derful talent for topography ; they were very fond of liberty, possessed great powers 

 of endurance, and were very brave. He thought they had been derived originally 

 from the frontiers of Siberia. 



On Phosphorescence, Storms, ami Disease. 

 By J. Moffat, M.D., F.R.A.S., F.G.S., &c. 

 The results given' in this paper were deduced from observations extending over 

 a period of four years. It was asserted that phosphorus was luminous under the 

 conditions of the* south or equatorial current of the atmosphere, and non-luminous 

 under the north or polar current ; that it becomes luminous on the approach of 

 storms, and that it becomes luminous, or, if luminous, it becomes more brilliant 

 at the time that cautionary telegrams are sent out to give warning of approaching 

 storms. The author believes that ozone is produced when phosphorus is luminous, 

 and that there is a connexion between luminous and ozone periods, and non-lumi- 

 nous and no ozone periods. The commencement of these periods, and the approach 

 of storms were stated to be accompanied by diseases of the nervous and vascular 

 systems. Storms, however, are useful in a sanitary sense, as thev ventilate fever 

 nests and cholera localities. Dr. Moffat considers phosphorus an effective disinfect- 

 ant, as a producer of ozone, and has used it as such for four years. 



