222 Proceedings of Learned Societies. 



Friday, September 16th. — The Rev. G. Browne read two interest- 

 ing papers in the sections of Chemical Science and Geology, re- 

 spectively, on the Prismatic Formation of Ice in certain Ice Caves 

 and Glaciers. The caves were stated to occur in the Vosges, 

 the Jura, and Dauphine, in France and Savoy. Some of them are 

 200 feet below the surface, and the ice is thickest in the deepest 

 caves. The caves occur at altitudes varying from under 2000 to 

 nearly 6000 feet above the sea-level. The temperature was from 

 31 c to 36° Fahr. Some of the masses of ice were 70 feet thick. 

 In many of the caves there is perpetual darkness, and in almost all 

 a candle will burn without showing any evidence of a current of air. 

 The ice forms columns and cascades in the caves, and when fractured 

 presents a columnar appearance due to the number of prisms of 

 which the ice is composed, and which are closely packed together. 

 The prisms could be separated from each other, and thrust out sepa- 

 rately, like a knot from the edge of a wooden board. The axes of 

 all the prisms in the vertical columns lay horizontally. The ice 

 resisted the effect of heat more effectually than ordinary ice. 



On the same day, Captain R. H. Burton read a paper on the 

 Ethnology oe Dahomey. The kingdom of Dahomey is a power 

 once very famous as a military empire. Its size and popula- 

 tion has been greatly exaggerated. Its area is not more than 4000 

 miles, and its population not much over 150,000, of whom four-fifths 

 are women and children. The " customs " of Dahomey — the time 

 for the annual payment of charges to the king — are the seasons at 

 which the human sacrifices take place. These have been represented 

 as much greater in number than they really are. Captain Burton 

 said only forty victims were offered when he was last at Agbome. 

 Two great peculiarities of the Dahomian social system are, the 

 duality of the king, and the precedence of women over men. The 

 king has two separate courts — one of women, the other of men 

 — each with officers corresponding in rank to those of the other 

 court. The Amazons form a body of nearly 2000. They are 

 divided into five classes, according to the arms with which they 

 are furnished. They are masculine in physique and dress, but not 

 ferocious in appearance. The latest attack on Abbeokuta resulted 

 in the loss and capture of nearly 3000 of the Dahomian soldiers, 

 male and female. Dahomey daily loses prestige. 



In a discussion which followed a paper read by Dr. Henry Bird, 

 on the Utilization of Sewage, it was stated that two experiments 

 had been made with regard to this, one at Leicester, the other at 

 Croydon. At Leicester the experiment had been a complete failure, 

 but at Croydon it has been quite successful. There a farm of forty 

 acres had been taken, ordinary drains had been cut, and the sewage 

 had been turned into the land before it passed into the river. It was 

 thus purified of its offensive ingredients, and had proved of great ad- 

 vantage to the land. About 6000 tons of sewage per acre had been 

 applied, but less would do. So perfectly had the water been purified, 

 the ammonia having been reduced from six and a-half grains to two 

 grains in the gallon, that although some time ago proceedings had been 

 taken on account of the pollution of the river, the persons who now had 



