Proceedings of Learned Societies. 141 



PROCEEDINGS OF LEARNED SOCIETIES. 



BY W. B. TEGETHEIEK. 



MANCHESTER PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY.— Jaw. 12. 



Ox the Amount op Carbonic Acid existing in the Air op Man- 

 chester. — Mr. Roscoe related the results of numerous experiments 

 made to ascertain the amount of carbonic acid existing in the air in 

 and around Manchester. He found the maximum quantity on a foggy 

 "winter day, January 7, 1864, when the amount reached 5"6 vols, per 

 10,000 of air ; the minimum amount, on Feb. 19, 1863, being 2"8 vols, 

 per 10,000 of air ; the mean of numerous experiments in the centre 

 of the town giving 3 - 92 per 10,000, that of London being 3"7. Con- 

 tinuous rain was found to lower the amount from 4 - 8 to 33 volumes 

 per 10,000. 



These results show that under no circumstances does the amount 

 of carbonic acid rise to 6 vols, per 10,000 of air, and that the mean 

 quantity, nearly 3 '92, closely agrees with that which is generally 

 assumed to be the amount — namely, 4 vols. — this being the average, 

 as obtained by Saussure's well-known investigations. 



ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY.— Jan. 26, and Feb. 9. 



The Varieties op Man in the Indian Archipelago. — Mr. "Wallace 

 read a valuable paper on this subject. He stated the animals of 

 Borneo, Sumatra, and Java to correspond more or less closely with 

 those of Asia; whilst the animals of New Guinea and the adjacent 

 islands confirm, the idea of their having been once connected with 

 Australia. The two human races are as strongly marked in their 

 diversity as the animals, Malays inhabiting the western and Papuans 

 the eastern group. 



Mr. Wallace accounted for the wide spread of the Oceanic race 

 of the Polynesian Islands, by regarding these islands as being relics of 

 a continent formerly existing in the Pacific, and that the present 

 Polynesians arc the descendants of the inhabitants of a continent 

 now sunk beneath the ocean — a theory which is supported by nume- 

 rous facts, both geological and zoological. 



On the Ethnology op Australia, byM. A. Oldfield. — The author 

 considered the New Hollanders to be mainly of Malay descent, 

 which people, he supposes, colonized the northern shores of Austra- 

 lia, and their descendants to have spread lower eastward, over the 

 continent, following, to a great extent, the lines marking the dis- 

 tribution of edible plants. The familiar customs of the various tribes 

 evince a community of origin ; but, as the migrations have been 

 irregular, the migratory bands have crossed each other's lines, 

 leaving their traces at the points of transit. That Australia was in- 

 habited prior to its colonization by the Alfouras, seems probable, from 

 the existence of relics of a civilization far hiqher than can bo claimed 



