March 1 1, 1SS0] 



NATURE 



459 



in the Pampas near Buenos-Ayres. M. Broca adds a brief de- 

 scription of the human bones. — Mdme. Royer, under the title 

 " Le Systeme pileux," treats of the different character of hair 

 in man and the lower animals, and the different line of 

 direction presented in the two, which under all other variations 

 remains constant and invariable. The author especially con- 

 siders the questions how far the hairless condition of the human 

 body may be due to sexual selection, and how far man's 

 progressive mental development may have resulted from the 

 necessity of counteracting the inconveniences due to the absence 

 of this mean-; of protection. — -Dr. Beuzengue gives a report of 

 the Arnold School for deaf-mutes at Moscow. The writer's object 

 is to prove that surdo-mutism is, in the majority of ca-cs, 

 the immediate result of cerebral lesions, and not due to consan- 

 guinity of the parents. The limited number of cases (no) 

 observed, and the short time in which the establishment has been 

 in existence, render the classification in accordance with rank and 

 nationality, of comparatively little value, but the indications 

 of the condition of health, intelligence, &c, of the children, are 

 interesting as bearing out the writer's views. — A paper by C. S. 

 Wake on the beard, as characteristic of race, is translated. — 

 M. Przyboro^ski has published the result of his explorations 

 in Volhynia, where he has discovered traces of pile dwellings, 

 and obtained flint knives and animal remains. — M. Zawiszahas 

 continued his examination of the fauna of the caverns of Poland. 

 and M. Ossowski, following the investigations of Przyborowski, 

 lias explored burial mounds in Volhynia, belonging presumably 

 to the latest prehistoric times, while M. I.oski has brought to 

 light a large number of cinerary urns from Terespol on the Bug. 

 The Archives des Sciences Physiques ft Naturcilcs, vol. iii., 

 January 15. — On dichrote seiches, by M. F. A. Forel and M. 

 J.-L. Soret.— Proceedings of The Chemical Society of Geneva. 

 — On the constitution of the diliromic ethylene, by M. E. 

 Demole. — On isophtalophenone or diphenieizophtalide, by M. 

 E. Ador. — On metallotherapy, by M. M. Schiff. — On several 

 applications of centrifugal force, by M. Thiery. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 

 London 

 Linnean Society, February 19. — W. Carruthers, vice-pre- 

 sident, in the chair.— Mr. J. Britten exhibited stems of My rmt- 

 codia cchinata and .)/. glabra, recently sent from Borneo by 

 Mr. II. O. Forbes, showing the remarkable tunnelled galleries 

 formed by a species of ant allied to, if not identical with, 

 Pheidole javana, Mayr. Specimens of very young plants were 

 also shown, all of which had been attacked by the ants. Beccari, 

 who had studied Myrmecodia in its native localities, asserts that 

 the presence of the ants is essential to the plant's existence, for 

 unless the young plants are thus attacked by the ants, they soon 

 perish.— Dr. Maxwell Masters also brought forward an example 

 of a pitcher plant [Nepenthes bicalcarala) from Borneo, and he 

 read a note thereon from Mr. Burbidge. It seems these pitchers 

 are perfect traps to creeping insects, by reason of the incurved 

 ridges round the throat of the pitcher. To get safely at the 

 prisoners a certain species of black ant ingeniously perforates the 

 stalk, and, tunneling upwards, thus provides an inroad and exit to 

 the sumptuous fare of dead and decaying insects contained in 

 the reservoir. The remarkable Lemuroid Tarsius spectrum, 

 likewise visits the pitcher plants for the sake of the entrapped 

 insects. These it can easily obtain from the N. Rajflcsiana, but 

 not so from AT. bicalcarata, v here the sharp spurs severely | rick, 

 if the animal dares to trifle with the urn lid.— Dr. J. E. T. 

 Aitcheson next read a contribution on the flora of the Kuruni 

 Valley, Afghanistan. Of 15,000 specimens or 950 s ecies 

 collected, the material shows a meeting of floras, European, 

 Per^a 1, Afghanistan, Tibetan, and Himalayan in character. In 

 the Kuru n and Hariab valleys the Deodar, our fine,t Himalayan 

 timber tree, forms dense forests, many of which will be found 

 easily worl ed and hereafter valuable for exportation. The pine 

 and the oak forests descend and recede much according to the 

 nature of the hill range, its exposure, dryness, or moisture. The 

 walnut and amlok (Diospyros Ictus) produce excellent fruit. 

 Ckanuerops Ritchiana, a branching palm, 20 feet high when 

 uninjured, forms but an aloe-like scrub on the plateau west to the 

 Darwaza Gar Pass. Of new species and varieties the genera 

 Acantholmion, Astragalus, Oxytropis, Cousinia, Nepeta, Sedum, 

 Saxi/raga, Pleurospermum, Cotyledon, Eremurus, Rosa, Rhodo- 

 dendron, Clematis, and Polygonum yield noteworthy examples. 

 Ferns were not plentifu', though over a d^zen species were I 



found, and Nephrodium rigiJum, most characteristic, now for the 

 first time found Afghan. Most of the European edible fruits 

 are found in the orchards. Tobacco is occasionally grown, but 

 plants used in kitchen gardening are rarely cultivated. The 

 climate of the Hariab district is much colder and dryer than 

 Kurum, and the rigour of the winter, accordingly, reacts on the 

 vegetation. Dr. Aitcheson, enpassant, gave interesting informa- 

 tion relative to the native uses of the plants, and also mentioned 

 that nearly every house keeps bees, so that a large trade is done 

 in barter for honey. On his approaching return to Afghanistan, 

 Dr. Aitcheson hopes still further to work out the flora of the 

 districts traversed by our army. — Mr. Edwin Simpson-Baikie 

 was elected a Fellow of the Society. 



Chemical Society, March 4.— Mr. Warren De la Rue, 

 president, in the chair.— Prof. T. E. Thorpe delivered a lecture 

 on the relation between the molecular weights of substances, 

 and their specific gravities when in the liquid state. The lec- 

 turer gave the results of some elaborate investigations with 

 which he had been engaged during the la-t four or five years. 

 He gave a resume of Kopp's conclusions on the above subject, 

 and pointed out the interesting evidence which could thus be 

 gained as to the atomicity of elements ill various comnounds. 

 He has determined the specific volumes of fifty-two liquids, 

 inorganic and organic, on the principle adopted by Kopp, i.e., 

 determining the specific gravity, the boiling-point, and rate of 

 expansion. A description of the apparatus used in these deter- 

 minations was given. He has in the main confirmed Kopp's 

 results, and has arrived at the following conclusions : — 1. A 

 difference of CH 2 in a homologous series corresponds to a dif- 

 ference of 22 in the specific volume. 2. Carbon has a specific 

 volume of n, hydrogen e f 5-53. 3. There is no reason for accepting 

 Buff's hypothe-is that the specific volume is a function of the 

 atomic value of an element. 4. The inference of Kopp that 

 members of the same family have the same specific volume does 

 not appear to be well founded. 5. The specific volume appears 

 to be a pieriodic function of the atomic weight. 



Geological Society, February 25. — Robert Etheridge, 

 F.K.S., president, in the chair. — Joseph 11. Cowham, William 

 Alexander Forbes, M. H. Gray, and Charles Thomas Whitmell 

 were elected Fellows of the Society.— The President announced 

 that a communication had been received from the American 

 Academy of Arts and Sciences, stating that the Academy 

 proposed to celebrate its 100th anniversary on May 26, 

 1S80, on which occasion the Academy hoped that one or 

 more delegates from the Geological Society of London might 

 be present. — The following communication was read : — On 

 the geology of Anglesey, by Trof. T. McKennv Hughes, 

 M.A. The author brought forward evidi nee to show that, 

 resting on the central gneissic axis of Anglesey, there was 

 a series of conglomerates which he refcrreel to the base of 

 the Cambrian ; that the Lingula-flags had not yet been recog- 

 ni-ed ; that the conglomerates were followed by the brown 

 sandstones hitherto referred to Caradoc, but which he identified 

 by the included lossils with Tiemadoc ; that the lower part 'of 

 the black-shale gr up was arenig, as shown by the graptolites ; 

 while he thought that the higher parts of the black-shale group 

 might turn out to be Lower Bala; that the black shale 

 under the gnarled schists, lie then adduced evidence to show 

 that the.^e gnarled schi-ts were not foliated or in any way true 

 metamorphic rod, , but only crumpled laminated bed in which 

 all the alteration that had taken place was ot the nature of vein- 

 Structure, and a kind of universal slickenside, consequent u 11 

 the crushing of a rock consisting of thin lamina of different 

 texture ; and suggested that the whole might be, like the green 

 kite, esc, of Chapel-le-dale, in Yorkshire, the water- orted 

 outlying equivalents of v. leanic rocks elsewhere, and be con- 

 temporaneous with ihe Snow don volcanic serie-. — Notes o the 

 strata exposed in laiing out the Oxford Sewage Farm at 

 Sandford-on-Thames, by E. S. Cobbold, F.G.S., Ass c.M. 

 Inst. C.E. The beds noticed in this paper belong to the 

 Kimmeridge clay and the upper and middle part of the Oxford 

 oolite. — A review and description of the various species of 

 British upper Silurian Fenestellidse, by G. \V. Shrubsole, F.G. S. 

 Anthropological Institute, February 24. — Edward B. 

 Tylor, F.K.S., president, in the chair.— The election of J. Hall 

 Gladstone, Ph. D., F.K.S., as a new Member was announced. — 

 Dr. Tylor read a paper on the origin of the plough and the 

 wheeled carriage. The first agricultural implement seems to 

 have been a pointed stick four or five feet long, such as many 

 savage tribes still cirry for the purpose of digging root', knocking 



