Rickards, of Oaxaca, Mexico. The receipt of these specimens proved that this Tapir extended from Panama through Central America into Southern Mexico, and was probably the only spe cies of this genus to be met with in America, north of the Panamanic Isthmus. -Mr. Sclater also exhibited and made remarks on skulls of Ovis arkar, from the Altai Mountains, and the stuffed skin of a specimen of the Wild Ibex of Crete.-Mr. E. Ward exhibited two feet of a Fawn, the mother of which had had double hind feet, and had for several years brought forth fawns having the same malformation.-A communication was read from Dr. O. Finsch containing a description of an apparently new species of Parrot from Western Peru, which was proposed to be called Psittacula andicola.—A second paper by Dr. Finsch contained the description of a new species of Fruit Pigeon from the Pacific Island of Rapa or Opara. This unique specimen had been sent to the author by Mr. F. W. Hutton, of Otago, New Zealand, after whom it was proposed to name the bird Ptilonopus huttoni.-A note was read by Major O. B. C St. John, on the locality of the Beatrix Antelope (Oryx beatrix), which was believed to be the south of Muscat.-Mr. Edward R. Alston read the description of a new Bat of the genus Pterofus, which had been sent to him from Samoa for identification by the Rev. S. J. Whitmee. Mr. Alton proposed to call this species Pteropus whitmeti.—A communication was read from Mr. A. G. Butler, containing a list of the species of Fulgora, with descriptions of three new species in the collection of the British Museum.-A communication was read from Mr. Herbert Druce, containing an account of the Lepidopterous Insects collected by Mr. E. Layard, at Chentaboon and Mahconchaisee, Siam, with descriptions of new species.

Meteorological Society, Jan. 21.-Dr. R. J. Mann, president, in the chair.-The date of the annual meeting having been altered in June last to January, the report of the Council was shorter than usual. The Council have been making efforts to render the operations of the Society more extended. They took advantage of the presence of their foreign secretary, Mr. Scott, as one of the delegates from this country, at the Meteorological Congress at Vienna, to request him to represent the Society. The congress was duly held from September 1st to 16th, when Mr. Scott presented a report on the replies received in answer to a series of questions which the Council issued to the Fellows on several important points in connection with the hours of observation, instruments, &c., and which has been printed in the report of the Congress. The report concluded by stating that the Council have to mark, with some measure of satisfaction, the maintenance of the numbers of the Society during a somewhat critical and transitional period in its history, when changes of detail have been entered upon with a view to increased energy of action, and when the beneficial results of the alterations have not yet had time to be practically felt. The president then delivered his address. After alluding to the loss which the Society had recently sustained in the death of Mr. Beardmore, and marking the place that gentleman had filled as president at the transition era of the Society's history, the president drew attention to a misconception that is largely entertained of the primary aims of meteorological science, and pointed out that desirable as a comprehensive and reliable theory is, the immediate object of observational work is none the less certainly the determination of climate in different regions of the earth, and the investigation of the method by which the action of the great natural forces that determine temperature, direction and force of wind, and rainfall, is influenced by physical conditions. This argument was supported by evidence of the valuable practical results that are secured in these particulars by the labours of meteorologists. The address then proceeded to note briefly the chief landmarks that had marked the yearly progress of meteorological science since the period of Mr. Beardmore's presidency, when the Society, in its remodelled form, had just reached the half-way stage of its history. From this review it appeared that the photographic method of record has been largely extended; that the discussion of the Greenwich observations from 1848 to 1868 is being steadily pursued; that the influence of meteorological conditions upon the public health is carefully investigated in the metropolitan district; that telegraphic intercommunication of meteorological aspects is now regularly made throughout the United States of America; and from the Meteorological Office of London through England, and through France to the shores of the North Sea and Baltic in one direction, and to Corunna in the other; and that storm-warnings are displayed and fishermen's barometers maintained at 129

coast stations. The methodical investigation of the connection of sun-spot periods with atmospheric phenomena, such as rain. fall, aurora, and magnetic storms and earth-currents was also alluded to. Among other topics of special interest connected with the recent progress of meteorological science, the president dwelt with special favour and affection upon the discovery and establishment of Buys Ballot's law and Mr. T. Stevenson's barometric gradient; the extension of the influence which indicates this law to the great vertical circulation of the oceans, traced out by Dr. Carpenter and Prof. Wyville Thomson; the marine charts, and especially the mapping out of the mid-Atlantic area of the Doldrum calms, by Capt. Toynbee; Mr. Meldrum's Mauritius investigations of the movements of the cyclones of the Indian Ocean; the daily weather charts of the Meteorological Office; the deleterious physiological influence of the recent heavy fog in London; Mr. Symond's examination of the rainfall of the British Islands, with a volunteer staff of 1,700 observers systematically distributed; Mr. Draper's deductions as to the invariability of the climate of the United States, and to the orderly progress of storms across the entire breadth of the Atlantic; the establishment and work of International Meteorological conferences; and the barometric compensation of clockrates for altering pressure and resistance of the atmosphere.-The following gentlemen were elected officers and council for the ensuing year:-President-R. J. Mann, M. D., F. R.A.S. Vice-Presidents-C. Brooke, M. A., F.R.S.; G. Dines; H. S. Eaton, M.A.; Lieut.-Col. A. Strange, F. R.S. Treasurer-H. Perigal, F.R.A.S. Trustees Sir Antonio Brady, F.G.S.; S. W. Silver, F.R.G.S. Secretaries-G. J. Symons; J. W. Tripe, M.D. Foreign Secretary-Robert H. Scott, F. R.S. CouncilPercy Bicknell; A. Brewin, F. R. A.S.; C. O. F. Cator, M.A.; R. Field, B.A., Assoc. Inst. C. E.; F. Gaster; J. K. Laughton, F.R.A.S.; R. J. Lecky, F. R. A. S.; W. C. Nash; Rev. S. J. Perry, F.R.A.S.; Capt. H. Toynbee, F.R.A.S.; C. V. Walker, F.R.S.; E. O. Wildman Whitehouse, Assoc. Inst. C.E.

Entomological Society, Jan. 5.-Prof. Westwood, president, in the chair.—Mr. Meldola exhibited some photographs of minute insects taken with the camera-obscura and microscope. -Mr. McLachlan called attention to a paper in the last part of the "Annales de la Soc. Ent. de France," by M. Bar and Dr. Laboulbene on a species of moth belonging to the Bombycida, described and figured by M. Bar as Palustra laboulbenei, and of very extraordinary habits, the larva being aquatic, living in the canals of the sugar plantations in Cayenne, and feeding upon an aquatic plant. The hairy larva breathed by means of small spiracles, a supply of air being apparently entangled in its hairs.

Mr. Butler remarked that Mr. J. V. Riley, in the Journal of the St. Louis Academy of Sciences, had alluded to Apatura lycaon Fab. and A. hyrse Fab. as distinct species, whereas he believed them to be identical with the A. alicia Edwards.-A letter from M. Ernest Olivier stated that he had recently come into possession of a portion of the collection of his grandfather, the celebrated French coleopterist, and that he would be happy to show it to any entomologist who might desire to examine the types. Mr. Smith communicated a paper on the hymenopterous genus Xylocope; and Mr. D. Sharp a paper on the Pselaphida and Scydmanide of Japan, from the collections of Mr. George Lewis.

EDINBURGH

Royal Society, Jan. 19.-Principal Sir Alex. Grant, vicepresident, in the chair.-The following communications were read:-Additional remarks on the fossil trees of Craigleith quarry, by Sir Robert Christison, Bart. -On a method of demonstrating the relations of the convolutions of the brain to the surface of the head, by Prof. Turner.-On some peculiarities in the embryogeny of Tropaeolum speciosum, Endl. and Poepp., and T. peregrinum, L., by Prof. Alex. Dickson.-Notes on Mr. Sang's communication of April 7, 1873, on a singular property possessed by the fluid enclosed in crystal cavities. (1) By Prof. Tait; (2) By Prof. Swan.-Preliminary note on the sense of rotation, and the function of the semicircular canals of the internal ear, by Prof. Crum-Brown.

DUBLIN

Royal Zoological Society of Ireland, Jan. 13.-His Excellency, Earl Spencer, president, in the chair.-The report was read by the Rev. Prof. Haughton, M.D., secretary, who referred, among other matters, to the loss by death of an old pelican (Pelicanus onocrotalus) "who had been domiciled in the Gardens for forty-two years. He was supposed to have been

eight years of age upon his admission, so that he was a bird of over fifty at the time of his death.-Every effort was made to prolong his valuable existence by feeding him on live eels and whisky punch; but old age prevailed, and he died peaceably on the approach of the cold weather. He drank the punch with great relish; in fact he had resided so long in Dublin that it must have come naturally to him, and this and the live eels prolonged his life for at least a fortnight." We are sorry to see the funds of the society are not in a very thriving condition.

VIENNA

I. R. Geological Institute, Nov. 18.-The director, F. v. Hauer, stated that towards the end of the international exhibition he had asked almost all Austrian and a great many of the foreign exhibitors of ores, coals, or other useful minerals, to present these objects to the museum of the Institute. This request was very successful, more than a hundred exhibitors have offered the whole or parts of their expositions to the Institute, and the number of the donators is increasing still every day. Out of the objects obtained in this way will be formed a particular collection of useful minerals from Austria and from abroad, embracing ores, coals, salts, building-stones, all sorts of useful clays, limestones, &c., minerals used for colours, for dung, &c. This collection, which will contain generally specimens of large size, will form quite a new and, as he hopes, very interesting branch of the museum.— -Dr. R. v. Drasche: Geological observations on a journey to the west coast of Spitzbergen during the summer of 1873. The journey was made in a schooner chartered especially for the purpose. Dr. Drasche left Tromsöe on June 30, went to the north till Amsterdamö in 79° 45′ N. lat., and returned to Hammerfest on August 27. Many very interesting observations and large collections of rocks and fossils are the fruit of the expedition. Here we will give only a few particulars: On the flat land which forms the eastern part of Danskö and Amsterdamö, Dr. Drasche found very large masses of erratic boulders, which consist partly of certain varieties of granites, syenites, and gneiss, unobserved till now on the shores of Spitzbergen. Probably they are brought down by glaciers out of the interior of the island. The Hekla Hook formation (Nordenskiöld), which is probably Devonian, is formed in the Belsund by black limestones and chloritic slates, which resemble very much the Taunus-slates. The mountain limestone formation is developed in large masses and with many fossils in the Belsund and on the island of Azelö. On Cape Staratschin the mountain limestone alternates with very fine Hyperith. The Triassic formation was accurately studied on Cape Thordsen; it contains here many Ceratites, Nautilus, Halobia, &c., besides which were found the remains of a saurian. The Jurassic and the Tertiary formation are formed by marly beds in the Ice-fiord, and can scarcely be separated from each other whenever they do not contain fossils. On the Goose Island in the Ice-fiord Dr. Drasche found proofs of a very recent levation of the ground. From 8 ft. to 10 ft. above the highest level of the sea the ground is covered with shells of Mytilus edulis, which have preserved perfectly well their bluish colour.-M. Niedzwiedzki has examined the microscopical structure of a large number of the eruptive rocks of the Banat which by Prof. Cotta had been united under the name "Banatites." He found that the mineral which mostly prevails is a plagioklastic feldspar out of the Andesin series. He concludes therefore that the rocks from Dognacska, Oravitza, and Csiklova, which hitherto generally had been called Syenites, are rather to be considered as quartz-bearing Diorites. The basalt, which transverses in small veins the "Banatite" from Moldova contains, besides a vitreous ground-mass, only Augite, Olivine, Biatite, and Magnetite, and therefore cannot be united with any one of the great divisions of the basalt rocks.

PHILADELPHIA

lar in structure; the remaining one formed of the culms of a species of Aira, constituting an exceptional case, and the only one that has ever fallen under my notice. They are all shallow, loose in texture, scarcely surviving the season for which they were designed, and placed between two twigs of a cedar or a maple tree at a considerable elevation from the ground, on a branch nearly horizontal to the main axis. They are built entirely of clusters of male flowers of Quercus palustris, which, having performed their allotted function, don their brownish hue at the very period when they can be utilised. Here is evidently a change within a moderately short period, rendered necessary by external causes. This necessity may have grown out of inability to procure the favourite materials, or a desire for selfpreservation. I am satisfied, however, that the former has not been the leading one, but that self-preservation has operated in this case for individual and family good.

PARIS

Academy of Sciences, Jan. 19. — M. Bertrand (in the chair.-The following papers were read :-On the theory of shocks, by M. H. Kesal.-Memoir on the temperatures observed by means of electric thermometers, at the Jardin des Plantes, from the surface of the ground to a depth of thirty-six metres during the meteorological year 1873, by M. M. Becquerel and E. Becquerel.-On the formation, in the gaseous state, of the oxides of nitrogen from their elements by means of heat, by M. Berthelot. The paper dealt with the thermal pheromena accompanying these formations.-On the discovery of a deposit of bismuth in France, by M. Ad. Carnot.-On organogenesis compared with androgenesis, &c., by M. Ad. Chatin.-On the geometrical properties of rational fractions, by M. F. Lucas.On the vibratory movement of an elastic wire fastened to a tuning-fork, by M. E. Gripon.-On the measurement of the magnetic movement in very small magnetised needles, by M. E. Bouty. On the modes of forming black phosphorus, by M. E. Ritter. The author stated that certain samples of phosphorus refuse to blacken when heated to 70°, while others show that property. The latter contain a trace of arsenic, and to arsenide of phosphorus the author attributed the blackening. He gave analysis of the arsenide which agree with the formula As, P.On the existence of two isomeric modifications of anhydrous sodic sulphate, by M. L. C. de Coppet.-On the solubility of succinic acid in water, by M. E. Bourgoin.-On a new cause of spontaneous gangrene accompanied by obliteration of the capil. lary arteries, by M. L. Tripier.-On the pathological develop ment of the eye in the so-called telescope fish, by M. G. Camuset.

During the meeting, the places of MM. Petit and Valz, in the Astronomical section, were filled up. For the first, Dr. Huggins obtained 38 votes, M. Stéphan 2, and Mr. Newcomb 1; for the second, Mr. Newcomb obtained 46 votes, and M. Stéphan, I; Messrs. Huggins and Newcomb were accordingly elected.

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Flight of Birds.-HORACE B. PORTER

Vivisection.-Dr. C. M. INGLEBY

Instinct of Monkeys.

VIVISECTION.

AMERICAN SCIENTIFIC ENTERPRISE

TUBES FOR SILENT ELECTRICAL DISCHARGES (With Illustrations) HAECKEL ON INFUSORIA

LECTURE EXPERIMENT (With Illustration)

A SCIENCE LECTURE AT THE CHARTERHOUSE
NOTES.

THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5, 1874

SCIENTIFIC WORTHIES

II. THOMAS HENRY HUXLEY

the same period he was President of the Ethnological Society. In 1870 he filled the office of President of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, and in 1872 was elected Secretary to the Royal Society. He has been elected a corresponding member of the Academies of Berlin, Munich, St. Petersburg, and of other

HENRY WIUX the exception of two

half years spent at the semi-public school at Ealing, of which his father was one of the masters, his education was carried on at home, and in his later boyhood, was chiefly the result of his own efforts. In 1842 he entered the medical school attached to Charing Cross Hospital, where, at that time, Mr. Wharton Jones, distinguished alike as a physiologist and oculist, was lecturing on Physiology. In 1845 Mr. Huxley passed the first M.B. examination at the University of London, and was placed second in the list of honours for Anatomy and Physiology, the first place being given to Dr. Ransome, now of Nottingham. After some experience of the duties of his profession among the poor of London, in 1846 he joined the medical service of the Royal Navy, and proceeded to Haslar Hospital. From thence he was selected, through the influence of the distinguished Arctic traveller and naturalist, Sir John Richardson, to occupy the post of Assistant-Surgeon to H.M.S. Rattlesnake, then about to proceed on a surveying voyage in the Southern Seas. The Rattlesnake, commanded by Captain Owen Stanley, with Mr. MacGillivray as naturalist, sailed from England in the winter of 1846. She surveyed the Inner Route between the Barrier Reef and the East Coast of Australia and New Guinea, and after making a voyage of circumnavigation, returned to England in November 1850. During this period Mr. Huxley investigated with a success known to all naturalists, the fauna of the seas which he traversed, and sent home several communications, some of which were published in the "Philosophical Transactions" of the Royal Society. The first which so appeared, presented by the late Bishop of Norwich, and read June 21, 1849, bears the title "On the Anatomy and Affinities of the Family of the Meduse." This was, however, not Mr. Huxley's first scientific effort. While yet a student at Charing Cross Hospital, he had sent a brief notice to the Medical Times and Gazette, of that layer in the root-sheath of hair which has since borne the name of Huxley's Layer. Shortly after his return he was (June 1851) elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.

In 1853 Mr. Huxley, after vainly endeavouring to obtain the publication by the Government of a part of the work done during his voyage, left the naval service, and in 1854, on the removal of Edward Forbes from the Government School of Mines to the chair of Natural History at Edinburgh, succeeded his distinguished friend as Professor of Natural History in that institution, a post which he has continued to hold up to the present day. Since that time Mr. Huxley has lived in London a life of continued and brilliant labour. From 1863 to 1869 he held the post of Hunterian Professor at the Royal College of Surgeons. He was twice chosen Fullerian Professor of Physiology at the Royal Institution of Great Britain. In 1869 and 1870 he was President of the Geological Society, having previously served as Secretary. During VOL, IX.-No 223

from the Universities of Breslau and Edinburgh, and last year was presented with the Order of the Northern Star by the King of Sweden. Since 1870 he has been one of the Members of the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science. From 1870 to 1872 he served on the London School Board as one of the members for Marylebone, and during that time was Chairman of the Education Committee which arranged the scheme of education adopted in the Board Schools. In 1872 he was elected Lord Rector of the University of Aberdeen.

In this skeleton narrative of the career of this distinguished naturalist we have purposely omitted any list or any critical estimate of his writings; but we have great pleasure in laying before our readers, as a token of what is thought of him by those who are labouring in the same field of Science, the following communication from one who ranks in his own country as well as among ourselves as one of the very first of German naturalists.

The more general, year by year, the interest taken by all educated people in the progress of Natural Science, and the wider, day by day, the field of Science, the more difficult is it for the man of science himself to keep pace with all the advances made-the smaller becomes the number of those who are able to take a bird's-eye view of the whole field of science, and in whose minds the higher interest of the philosophical importance of the whole is not lost amid a crowd of fascinating particulars. Indeed if at the present moment we run over the names distinguished in the several sciences into which Natural Knowledge may be divided -in Physics, in Chemistry, in Botany, in Zoology-we find but few investigators who can be said to have thoroughly mastered the whole range of any one of them. Among these few we must place Thomas Henry Huxley, the distinguished British investigator, who at the present time justly ranks as the first zoologist among his countrymen. When we say the first zoologist, we give the widest and fullest signification to the word "zoology" which the latest developments of this science demand. Zoology is, in this sense, the entire biology of animals; and we accordingly consider as essential parts of it the whole field of Animal Morphology and Physiology, including not only Comparative Anatomy and Embryology, but also Systematic Zoology, Paleontology and Zoological Philosophy. We look upon it as a special merit in Prof. Huxley that he has a thoroughly broad conception of the science in which he labours, and that, with a most careful empirical acquaintance with individual phenomena, he combines a clear philosophical appreciation of general relations.

When we consider the long series of distinguished memoirs with which, during the last quarter of a century, Prof. Huxley has enriched zoological literature, we find that in each of the larger divisions of the animal kingdom we are indebted to him for important discoveries.

P