158 REPORT— 1867. 



The author also showed that the shells of the Eed and Norwich Crags separated 

 them into distinct beds, whilst the same method would also separate the Upper 

 from the Lower Crag- in Norfolk. He therefore contended for the existence of 

 four Crags instead ol' the present classification of them into three. This arrange- 

 ment established a complete and beautiful sequence between the oldest Coralline 

 Crag and the latest Drift deposits. 



On tlie Internal Heat of the Earth. By Dr. Julius Schvaecz, F.G.S. 



The author reviewed the evidence upon which is founded the doctrine of central 

 heat as applied to the earth. It is based on three arguments : — one, gathered from 

 volcanic phenomena — phenomena which may be explained by the chemical and 

 electro-chemical schools of geologists at least as satisfactorily as by the supporters 

 of central fire ; the second argument is deduced from the nebular hypothesis, an 

 h-^'pothesis ha-\'ing now-a-days no other foundation than what is involved in it from 

 the central-fire hypothesis ; and the third is deduced from the supposed uniform 

 increase of temperature down to the centre of our planet, in every part of the earth, 

 — an argument which, again, is a mere hypothesis. 



Having carefully studied the literatm-e of the subject, Dr. Schvarcz criticised the 

 observations upon which the hypothesis of central fire is supported, and showed 

 how imperfect and conflicting is the evidence to prove that the increase of imder- 

 ground temperature is reallj^ general and uniform. 



Before generalizing, we must accuuudate a greater number of facts, jirecisely re- 

 corded, than are at present at command ; and he therefore urged geologists to com- 

 bine all their efforts in order to multiply geothermometrical observations, especially 

 in countries now unexplored. 



He was of opinion that solar impressions, in all the climates on our earth's sur- 

 face, taken collectively, and local reservoirs of lava, not exceeding considerably the 

 depth of thirty-fi-^e geographical miles, and manifesting themselves through volcanic 

 cones from local processes of oxidation, mast be taken for those secondary causes 

 which remain indispensable elements of any tetiology of underground temperatures, 

 even for theories to come. Electricity, as connected with cosmical magnetism and 

 planetary rotation, may have been an important agent, besides the secondary causes 

 j ust alluded to. 



Nouvelle comparaison des memhres pehiens et thoraciques chez f Homme, les 



3Iammifires, les Oiseaux et les Reptiles, deduite de la torsion de Thumerus. 



Par Charles Martifs. 



Vicq-d'A zyr est le premier qui ait attaquS r^solument et discut^ serieusement 

 le probleme du parallele des extremit^s chez I'homme et chez les quadrupedes. Sou 

 m^moire parut en 1778. INIettaut rm squelette du bras de I'homme en tournant 

 I'olecrane en a^ant, a cote d'un membre inferieur du meme cote, il vit que les deux 

 axes du col du feniiu- et du col de Thumerus n'etaient pas paralleles, et eut la mal- 

 heureuse idee pour rtltablir co parallelisme de comparer le membre superieur droit 

 an membre inferieur gauche et rice versa ; mais alors le ponce de la main est en 

 dehors, et le gros orteil du pied, qui est son analogue, en dedans ; ce qui viole la loi 

 de s;^anetrie. Du reste Vicq-d'Azyr, commeplus tard Goethe, Meckel, et Barclay, 

 assiiiiile le radius an tibia et le cubitus an peron^, sans expliquer pourquoi la rotule 

 analogue de I'olecrane estfix(5e an tibia, tandis qu'elle devrait faire partie du perone. 



En 1832 Bourgery,pour r(5soudre cette difficulte, pretendait que la partie superieure 

 du tibia avec la rotule representait le cubitus surmonte de I'oli^crane, tandis que la 

 partie inferieure du meme os correspondait an radius : de meme selou lui la partie 

 superieure du perone etait le radius, sa partie infdrieure le cubitus. Cette hypothese, 

 connue en France sous le nom d'h;/potJiese du croisemerd, fut adoptee en 1843 par M. 

 Cruveilhier, qui la formula nettement ; mais dans cette maniere de voir, I'avant-bras 

 6tant en pronation, le cubitus et le radius se croismt tandis que le perone et le tibia 

 sont paralleles entre enx. De plus, il est conti-aire a toutes les lois connues des 

 coalescences de supposer qu'un os long pent etre forme par la soudure bout a bout 

 des moities de deux os longs diflerents. 



En 1838 ]M. Flourens compare le membre superieur, I'avant-bras etaut en pro- 



