SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



SCIENCE GOSSIR 



Proi--. B. Etheridge read a paper at the first 

 meeting of the Geological section of the British 

 Association, on the relations between Dover and 

 Franco-Belgian coal basins. He showed that 

 Professor Prestwich was probably correct in his 

 opinion that the Dover field was one of a chain of 

 isolated coal basins extending from Prussia to the 

 south of Ireland and passing under the straits of 

 Dover. 



Sir George Kim;, the president of the Botanical 

 section of the Briti.sh As,sociation, devoted his address 

 to a sketch of the histor\- of Indian Botany. In the 

 course of his remarks he spoke very strongl)- on the 

 aVjsence of botanical knowledge among the ordinary 

 forest ofticers in India. The majority of them, if 

 they love their trees, are content to do so without 

 knowing their names or relationships. He attriljutes 

 this, somewhat, to the general decadence in the 

 teaching of systematic botany in England during the 

 past twenty years. 



The Anthropological section turned its attention on 

 Saturday, i6th inst., to General Archaeology. The 

 attendance was large, including many members of the 

 French Association. Dr. Alfred Eddowes gave a 

 paper entitled " Stonehenge : Some >few Observa- 

 tions and a Suggestion," illustrated by several good 

 lantern slides. His suggestion was that the "grooved 

 stone"' which is best steeled and worked stone in 

 the whole ruin, was used for supporting a pole. 

 Such a pole would form the frontier of a 

 sun dial for daily observation, or an indicator 

 of the time of \-ear by the length of its shadow. 

 Mr. J. Allen Brown spoke on the discovery of stone 

 implements in Pitcairn Island. Dr. Hany, Keeper 

 of the National Museum of Ethnography in Paris, 

 spoke on the specimens found, and asked Mr. 

 Brown to give casts of the implements to the 

 ^luseum in Paris. Many other papers of interest 

 were read by French and English students of 

 Ethnography and .\rchaeology. 



Mr. C. H. Read, the President of the Anthropo- 

 logical section of the British Association, drew atten- 

 tion in his opening address to the small amount of 

 . H ork which is being done in this countr)' to furthei 

 our knowledge in this vast field of inquiry. He sug- 

 gested that Government should take oxer the rest of 

 the Imperial Institute and make a great anthro- 

 pological and ethnographical collection, and at the 

 same time establish a chair of anthropolog)- in the 

 London University. Some interesting papers were 

 read the following day by members of Professor A. C. 

 Haddon's recent Cambridge expedition to the Torres 

 Straits and New (niinea, which started in the autumn 

 of 1S97 and continued during two years. Mr. Ray 

 spoke on "The Linguistic Results of the Expedition." 

 Professor lladdon gave some particulars as to the 

 habits and customs of the Varaikanna tribe. Cape 

 \'ork, North Queensland. 



The chemical section of the British Association 

 opened with a Presidential address from Dr. Horace 

 T. Brown, F.R.S., on "The Assimilation of Carbon 

 by the Higher Plants." Sir William Crookes read a 



paper on "The Solidification of Hydrogen," written 

 by Professor Dewar, F. R. S., in which he stated that 

 solid hydrogen presents the appearance of frozen 

 water ; its temperature when solid is 16" absolute at 

 3.5 mm. pressure, and it melts at 16'' or 17" absolute, 

 the practical limit of temperature that could be 

 obtained by its evaporation being 14" or 15'' absolute. 

 Sir William Crookes also announced that Profe-sor 

 Dewar had succeeded in liquefying helium h\ means 

 of liquid hydrogen. 



In the zoological section of the British Association 

 Mr. J. J. Lifter read a paper describing a new form of 

 sponge obtained by Dr. Willey from the Loyalty 

 Islands, named Aslrosdera willeyana. It differs from 

 all other sponges in its stretetal element and appears 

 to form the type of a new family the Aslroscleridae. 

 Prof Lankester stated that he considered the dis- 

 covery one of the most remarkable of the )ear in 

 biological science. The Presidential address in this 

 section was by Professor Adam Sedgewick, F. R S. , 

 the subject being "Variation and some Phenomena 

 connected with the Reproduction of Sex." 



The meetings of the British Association were at 

 their best on Saturday, September l6th, when the 

 members of the French Association paid their visit. 

 In the geological section Sir Archibald Geikie gave 

 his presidential address, which had been deferred in 

 order that the geoiogical members of the French 

 Association and those of the Belgian Geological 

 Society might have an opportunity of hearing it. 

 The subject was " Geological Time," and the question 

 was discussed, how far geological authorities deserved 

 the reproach so often brought against thent, that they 

 deal vaguely and recklessly with lime, as a factor in 

 geological historj'. In the course of his remarks Sir 

 Archibald Geikie said that it was difficult at present 

 to establish a definite time for the history of the earth, 

 and that it was necessary for geologists and palaeon- 

 tologists to work together for this end. His opinion 

 was that 100 millioit years would suffice for that 

 portion of the history, registered in the stratified rocks 

 of the crust. If, however, palaeontologists found such 

 a period too narrow for their requirements, there 

 was no geological reason why they sTiould not enlarge it. 



The Chemical and Botanical sections met jointl)- 

 on Saturday, Mr. Horace T. Brown being in the 

 chair. Professor Hanriot spoke in French on the 

 " Excretory Products of Plants." He stated that he 

 had observed asparagine among the secretions of 

 plant roots. This when discharged into the soil 

 becomes o.xidized into nitrates and passes agan into 

 the plants. A discussion on symbiosis was opened 

 by Professor Marshall Ward, F. R.S. Professor 

 Armstrong, F. R. S., contributed a paper on 

 " Symbiotic Fermentation ; its Chemical Aspects." 

 He advanced arguments in favour of the purely 

 chemical character of symbiosis. 



An important Meeting has been held in the Council 

 Chamber of the City of Belfast, the Lord Mayor 

 presiding, with the object of offering to the Biitish 

 Association the hospitality of the City for the annual 

 meeting in 1902. The proposal was influentially 

 supported by all parties. It is about twenty-five years 

 since the Association visited Belfast. The Belfast 

 Naturalist.s' Field Club Committee has been quietly 

 moving in this direction for more than a year past, 

 and we feel sure that the Society and citizens gener- 

 ally will offer a cordial welcome and have much to 

 .show. The other cities competing with Belfast for 

 the As.sociations' Meeting in that j'ear, are 

 Birmingham and Cork. The former of these will, 

 we imagine, prove a serious competitor. 



