594 



SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 



[June : 



ROYAL HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 

 At the last meeting of the Scientific Committee Professor 

 Scott reported on the abnormal flowers of Gentiana 

 acautis, which had five spongy outgrowths on the corolla, 

 corresponding in position to the petals. The microscopic 

 structure showed that they were due to excessive super- 

 ficial growth of the e-xternal tissues, especially the 

 epidermis. The outgrowths showed large irregular inter- 

 cellular spaces. At many places they had coalesced so 

 as to form closed cavities lined by epidermis. When 

 vascular bundles were present, the positions of the 

 xylem and phloem were variable. The upper end of 

 each outgrowth was flattened, and here the bundles, 

 though generally concentric, showed an approximation of 

 the xylem towards the upper surface. There was no 

 evidence that these abnormalities were caused by insects ; 

 but if so, the regularity of the outgrowth shows that 

 their attack must have taken place at an early age. 



LIVERPOOL GEOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION. 

 The members visited Owens College, Manchester, re- 

 cently, where they were met by Mr. Percy M. Kendall, 

 who courteously conducted them through the museum 

 and laboratories, pointing out the various objects of 

 interest, and ably answered the very numerous questions 

 which were propounded by a party of enthusiastic 

 students. At the monthly meeting of the Association, 

 held in the Free Library, William Brown 

 Street, Mr. T. R. Connell in the chair, Mr. E. 

 Dickson, of Birkdale, read an interesting paper 

 on " The Goldfields of the Transvaal." After de- 

 scribing briefly the geological features of the African 

 continent generally, he entered upon those of the 

 Transvaal in detail, noting particularly that the quartz 

 reefs are auriferous only when found crossing meta ■ 

 morphic rocks. After giving a lucid account of the gold 

 reefs, he exhibited some specimens of the gold quartz 

 in which no gold was visible to the unassisted vision, 

 and described the various methods adopted to ascertain 

 the presence in them or otherwise of gold. He also 

 gave an interesting account of the various conditions in 

 which gold is found, and the minerals with which it is 

 associated. During the evening some specimens of 

 Welsh gold ore were exhibited. Mr. J. Hornell exhibited 

 several fossils which had been converted into pyrites, 

 recently brought from Scarlet, Isle of Man. He also 

 showed some specimens of radiolaria, in section, under 

 the microscope. The Secretary, Mr. D. Clague, exhibited 

 some mineral crystals from Laxey, some remarkable 

 mosaic-like weatliering of limestone, and some fossil 

 polyzoa from Ronaldsway, Mammalian remains from 

 Hango Hill, and a flint scraper of Neolithic age from 

 Port-e-Chee, which he had collected during a recent 

 visit to the Isle of Man. 



■^-^t^^5<^^■ 



Presence in Soil of the Bacillus of Typhoid 

 Fever. — M. E. Mace (Coniptcs Rendiis), in seeking to 

 ascertain the cause of an epidemic of typhoid fever, made 

 a special bacteriological examination of the soil round a 

 suspected well. In addition to the bacillus of typhoid 

 fever he met with Bacillus colicorninunis, B. violaceus, 

 B. mycoides, and a large Diplococciis. 



Voracity of Trout. — A correspondent of the Field 

 mentions that a trout weighing 3 lbs., recently caught in 

 Aynhoc Park, was found to contain two young wild ducks 

 and a small rat. 



THE 



SOCIAL CONDITION OF THE 

 BABYLONIANS. 



Abstract of a Course of Lectures delivered by Mr. 

 G, Bertin, M,R.A.S., at the British Museum. 

 First Lecture — Private Documents. 



A MONG the ancient documents recovered from Babj'- 

 lonia there is a class which has till lately at- 

 tracted very little attention ; these are small tablets of a 

 private character. In them, however, is found a mine of 

 precious information which enable us to see the Baby- 

 lonians as they appeared in the daily intercourse of Iheir 

 life. 



Primitively the Babylonians appear to have used for 

 writing material papyrus, bark, or other vegetal sub- 

 stances, but, fortunately for us as all the documents of 

 this kind have perished, they adopted at an early period 

 small cakes of clay varying in size from a square inch to 

 that of our note-paper These clay tablets were, in fact, 

 their paper, and on them, with a wooden style, were 

 written all their documents. They had the advantage of 

 resisting the"atmospheric influences of their damp climate 

 much better than the Egyptian papyri or the Jewish 

 leather rolls. At a certain period (about 2,000 b.c.) 

 they even took the precaution of covering the tablet 

 after it had been written on, with a coating of clay, and 

 rewriting the document ; these are what Assyriologists 

 call case-tablets. 



The private documents written on clay tablets, and 

 of which there are in the British Museum numerous 

 specimens, are of a very varied character, and all, or at 

 least most, of them bear a date. The Babylonians did 

 not, however, arrive at a regular system of dating until 

 after many attempts. In the earliest documents various 

 eras are followed, or an epoch-making event is given to 

 designate the year. While the Ninevites adopted the 

 eponimic system, the Babylonians devised in the same 

 time one more perfect and more simple. They gave the 

 year of the ruling king, but to avoid the confusion which 

 would happen at the death of a king — for the last year 

 of a king would be the first of his successor — they gave 

 to the part of the year of the new reign completing the 

 civil year the name of "year of accession.' Besides the 

 date given on the tablet, the age of a document may also 

 be ascertained with a certain degree of accuracy by the 

 style of the writing, the language, and its very wording, 

 for each period adopted special formulas. 



Most of the private documents which have come down to us 

 are contracts, or relate to loans repayable in instalments, 

 When a loan was made a contract was drawn, stating the 

 amount, the interest to be paid on it, the amount of each 

 instalment, and the date on which it became due ; every 

 time a sum was paid back the borrower received a tablet 

 stating the fact, and if he did not pay at the fixed time 

 the lender had a tablet written as a protest in order to 

 take legal measures. Sometimes securities were given, 

 and the lender had the right to use the securities ; if it 

 were a house, he could inhabit it or let it till the full amount 

 of the loan was paid back. Other contracts are leases, 

 the description and measurement of the house or field 

 are carefully given, with the names of the adjoining 

 estates, the amount of the rent, its mode and time of pay- 

 ment being also stated. 



The simple contracts of sales are very numerous and 

 mention every possible article, from broken jugs, which 

 were used as we know from other inscriptions for certain 

 religious or magical ceremonies, to slaves, houses, and 



