30J- Notes and Memoranda. 



NOTES AND MEMOKANDA. 



SctjTiPtttbe op the Reindeer Peeiob in Central France. — Messrs, 

 Lartet and Christy have laid before the French Academy an account of their 

 discoveries in the grotto of Eyzies, in the Arrondissement of Sarlat (part of ancient 

 Perigord). They found bones, cinders, wrought flints, and implements of rein- 

 deer horn. They likewise came upon numerous fragments of a hard schistose 

 rock, and on two slabs of the same material were profile engravings giving partial 

 representations of animals. They believe these to be the first examples that have 

 been obtained of this kind of art as practised by the men who were contemporary 

 with the reindeer in France, and other temperate regions of Europe. At Lan- 

 gerie Basse they discovered another manufactory of arms and implements of 

 reindeer horn, some of them ornamented with " elegant sculpture, and of work- 

 manship quite astonishing, when the means of execution possessed by a people 

 who had no metal tools is taken into consideration. At Eyzies they likewise 

 found a bone whistle similar to one from Aurignac. Some of the bone imple- 

 ments from Langerie Basse were not merely engraved, but sculptured in relief. 

 One represented a horse's head, and in another instance the handle of a weapon 

 was carved into the representation of an entire animal. M. Yibrage adds divers 

 reasons for believing in the antiquity of the human race ; and after speaking of 

 the weapon handle just mentioned, states that these early sculptors likewise 

 reproduced the human form in the shape of an indecent idol, the materials for 

 which seem to have been taken from the elephant." 



Companion op Procyon. — Mr. Bird, whose success in constructing silvered 

 glass telescopes has been described in a former number, states, in the Astronomical 

 Register, that he has succeeded with his 12-inch instrument in resolving one little 

 star in the same low-power field with Procyon into two stars 9.5 and 9.8 magni- 

 tude. Mr. Knott has also seen them with his fine refractor, and estimates their 

 angle of position at about 200°. 



Common Oeigin of Comets IV. and V. 1863.— M. B. Valz communicates to 

 the Frencli Academy his observations on these two comets. He shows that 

 " their inclinations differ only 4°, and their nodes only 7°. The angle comprised 

 between the planes of their orbits is 9% and they arrive at the point of approxi- 

 mation of their orbits with equal velocities, and five days' interval. He remarks 

 that in 1846 the comet of 6J years was seen to separate slowly in two parts, and 

 their inclinations, orbits, nodes, and velocities experienced little alteration. In 

 like manner lie thinks comets iv. and v., 1863, may have had a common origin. 



Faiebaien ON Ieon Girders. — The Procecdincjs of [he Royal Society, No. 61, 

 contains a paper by Mr. Fairbairn on iron girders, in which numerous experi- 

 ments arc adduced. The conclusions arrived at are that " wrought iron girders of 

 ordinary construction are not safe when submitted to violent disturbances 

 equivalent to one-third of the weight that would break them. They, howover, 

 exhibit wondi rful tenacity when subjected to the same treatment with one-fourth 

 the load; and assuming, therefore, that BO iron girder bridge will bear with 

 fchil load 12,000,000 changes, it is clear that it would require B2S years, at the 

 rate of 100 changes a day, before its security was alleclcd. It would, however, 

 be dangerous to risk a load of one-third the breaking weight upon bridges of 



this description] as, according to an experiment cited, the beam broko with 

 818,000; or a period of eight years, at the same rato as before, would bo suf- 

 ficient, to break it." Mr. I' airliairn considers, however, that the beam had been 

 injured by 3,000,000 previous changes, producing a gradual deterioration. 



Vaiuationh in' DiFiT.tmiAN- Kiu/.opods. — Br. Wallich has an elaborate 

 in the A, nuils <./' NtttUTol //'s/or//, illustrated by very numerous draw- 

 ihowing varieties of .-tructni •<■ m the tests of these creatures. His conclusion 

 is that the "animal dnrs not var;., but it modifies the architecture of its habita- 

 tion, and the mineral material of which that habitation is in a great measure con- 

 structed, in obedience to local conditions, and in the manner best lilted to meet 

 its requirements." A " species" of diillugia will, therefore, only be a variety, 



