June I, 1888.] 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



523 



and the acid rocks in general, so far defied their efforts, 

 but the lecturer expressed the opinion that the time 

 would come when the rocks which were at present 

 proof against the efforts of science would be reconstituted. 

 Thus would be crowned the work of which Leibnitz had 

 already, two centuries ago, obtained a view, for he 

 wrote, " The man who will compare carefully the pro- 

 ducts wrenched from ths depths of the earth with those 

 of the laboratory will do a great work." 



THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF EDINBURGH. 

 At the meeting on May 7th, Lord M'Laren, Vice-Presi- 

 dent, in the chair, a paper on the secretion of carbonate 

 of lime by animals, by Mr. Robert Irvine and Dr. G 

 Sims Woodhead, was read by the latter. The special 

 importance ot the investigation was spoken of in connec- 

 tion with marine fauna and flora. A hen had been taken 

 for the purpose of observation, and it was found that 

 sulphate of lime could be converted into the carbonate 

 of lime which forms an egg-shell. The process of secre- 

 tion of carbonate of lime from the lime altered by 

 digestion were described. Dr. Alexander Bruce described 

 investigations in a case of absence of the corpus callosum 

 in the human brain, in which he took up a position 

 antagonistic to the views of Professor Hamilton, Aber- 

 deen. It was explained that the subject, a man, had 

 been a little stubborn in character, and had given way 

 to alcohol. Dr. John Murray submitted investigations as 

 to the distribution of some marine animals on the west 

 coast of Scotland. The leading results showed that many 

 of these animals were what would be properly called 

 deep-sea animals, usually abundant in depths beyond 

 100 fathoms. Dr. Murray also spoke of inquiries he 

 had made into herring life. He said that while the west 

 coast fishermen talked about the herring " coming in," 

 there was no direct evidence that the herrings ever came 

 in round the Mull of Cantyre to the Firth of Clyde ; and it 

 would be found that the fishermen meant that they were 

 coming in from the deep water towards the shore. 

 Again, they would be able to account from the food how 

 it was that the herring in one loch were different from 

 the herring in another. A paper on the solubility of 

 carbonate of lime under different forms in sea water, by 

 Mr. Robert Irvine and Mr. George Young, was read by 

 Dr. Murray ; and Mr. W. E. Hoyle made a statement on 

 the larvae of certain Crustacea from the Firth of Clyde. 



ROYAL METEOROLOGICAL SOCIETY. 

 At the meeting held on May i6th. Dr. W. Marcet, 

 F.R.S., President, in the chair, the following communi- 

 cations were read : — 



1. " Report of the Wind Force Committee on Experi- 

 ments with Anemometers Conducted at Hersham," by 

 Mr. G. M. Whipple, B.Sc, and Mr. W. H. Dines, B.A. 

 A whirling apparatus, with arms 29 ft. radius, was rotated 

 by means of a small steam engine. On the arms of the 

 whirler four different anemometers were placed. Each 

 experiment lasted fifteen minutes, the steam pressure re- 

 maining constant during the run. For the Kew standard 

 anemometer, with arms 2 ft. long, the experiments give a 

 mean value for Robinson's factor of 2'iS ; and for two 

 smaller instruments the factor is 2 '51 and 2-96. Mr. 

 Dines's helicord anemometer gave very satisfactory 

 results, the mean factor being o'996. 



2. " On the Measurement of the Increase of Humidity 



in Rooms by the Emission of Steam from the so-called 

 Bronchitis Kettle," by Dr. W. Marcet, F.R.S. The author 

 described a number of experiments which he had made by 

 steaming a room with a bronchitis kettle, and ascertain- 

 ing the rise and fall of the relative humidity from read- 

 ings of the dry and wet bulb thermometer. He found 

 that the air in the room could not be saturated, the rela- 

 tive humidity not exceeding 85 per cent. 



EGYPT EXPLORATION FUND. 

 A MEETING in connection with the Egypt Exploration 

 Fund was held on May 9th, Sir T. Fowler in the chair, 

 when a lecture, illustrated with limelight views, was 

 delivered by Miss Amelia B. Edwards on M. Naville's 

 recent discoveries at Bubastis. 



The Chairman, in opening the proceedings, remarked 

 that that was the first time they had met as a corporate 

 body. He therefore took that opportunity of saying that 

 their object was not the discovery of curiosities, but the 

 elucidation of ancient Egyptian history, and especially 

 that of the Old Testament. 



Miss Amelia B. Edwards said that it was in order 

 that thej' might form some idea of the objects discovered 

 since they last met that they had been invited there that 

 evening. M. Naville resumed work at Tell Basta, the 

 ancient Bubastis, ;on the 23rd of February last. The old 

 diggers of last year came back eager for employment, 

 and in a few days the tents of the explorers were 

 planted on the old ground, the mounds were once 

 again swarming with fellaheen, and the air was alive 

 with the monotonous singing of the girl carriers and the 

 deep hum of hundreds of men's voices. The work went 

 on apace, and in the course of two short months a vast 

 number of important discoveries were made. The two • 

 large pits of last year were first of all thrown into one, 

 and the ground was then cleared from east to west follow- 

 ing the axis of the temple till the whole width of the 

 building was laid bare. A third hall (built by Osorkon I.) 

 had been discovered. It was of red granite and lined, 

 with sculptural slabs. The remains of a colonnade had 

 also been discovered, and at the western end, where the 

 sanctuary lay entombed, some fragments of a beautiful 

 monohthic shrine in red granite were discovered. The 

 results of the investigations this year had brought up 

 the number of Pharaohs to the magnificent total of no 

 less than twenty-two roj'al names. Most surprising and- 

 precious of all the discoveries were an architrave sculp- 

 tured with the cartouche of Apepi and the remains ot 

 three priceless statues of the Hyksos period. The 

 Hyksos sculptures of Bubastis were remarkably fine and 

 extremely important. They were all three statues of 

 kings. One of these, which was unfortunately headless, 

 was seated on a throne inscribed with his family name, 

 his throne name, and the so-called " banner " name of 

 royalty. This was the first occasion upon which a 

 Hyksos statue had been found with a legible inscription. 

 The names and titles of this Hyksos king were as 

 sharp as if chiselled but yesterday by the lapidary 

 scribe. It was conjectured that this king, whose 

 name was Raian, was Joseph's Pharaoh, this name 

 being all but identical with the name which Arab 

 tradition gave to the king in whose time Joseph 

 was brought to Egypt. Among the objects exhi- 

 bited by means of the limelight was a head which 

 the lecturer described as one of the most beautiful 

 ever discovered in Egypt. It was of red granite, and re- 



