which adorn the Naples Museum, reappears in the six r FIG. 25.-Bas-relief in baked earth, of the Volscian epoch (Velletri). Three horses harnessed together, walking at a foot-pace. But the representation of the foot-pace, more difficult than the preceding, is rarely faithful. Examples, scarcely satisfactory, are found in all the epochs; take, for instances, Figs. 24 and 25. The foot-pace is correctly represented in the two figures borrowed from the column of Trajan (Figs. 26 and 27). This column also displays oxen and other animals faithfully represented. These paces, it should be noted, are a little varied with respect to the instant chosen; almost invariably the horse raises only one fore-foot. The gallop is in general the pace of which the representation leaves most to be desired. Without speaking of contemporary art, I will refer only to the paintings of the two or three last centuries. The horses therein deemed to be galloping are represented in a sort of prancing attitude, posed upon the two hind-feet, and raising the two fore-feet to an equal height. We have seen, by the preceding notations, that this synchronous action of the right and left limbs does not exist. In the grandest epoch of Greek art we find admirable representations of the gallop. Fig. 28 is an example. teenth century in a painting by Albrecht Dürer (Fig. 22, Fig. 16. The first step has been taken. The attitude chosen is the first step of the gallop as in The diagona FIG. 16.—Captain of the Guards riding at a foot-pace. (Column of Trajan.) "The Cavalier. and Death"). The classic statue of FIG. 28.-Frieze of the Parthenon. (Bas-relief remaining at Athens.) limbs which make the second step are approaching I have already admired the reproduction in plaster of another bas-relief from the same frieze, in which a galloping horse is represented with equal correctness, and I was led to believe that in the age of Phidias, artists were in possession of the science of paces. But subsequently, in examining the reproductions of the entire frieze, I have become convinced that the results were obtained by a happy chance, for the greater part of the horses are represented in false attitudes, which is all the more to be regretted in contemplating the exquisite elegance of their forms. It is incontestable that at the present day, artists make great efforts to represent the horse with truthfulness, and many among them succeed. But I will not perm myself to criticise the works of my contemporaries. Such, then, is the graphic method, and such are its numerous applications, extremely varied, and often of enormous importance. In this discourse, the length of which you will excuse, I have only shown you a little corner of the subject, but that will suffice, I hope, to give you a desire to study more deeply, and in its entirety, a method which Henri IV. on the Pont Neuf is an example of the correct appears to me to be full of promise, and to the developtrot (Fig. 23). FIG. 27.-Mule laden with baggage, walking at a foot-pace. (Column of ment of which I have already consecrated much effort. IN GEOGRAPHICAL EVOLUTION1 N the future development of scientific geography one of the main lines of advance will be in the direction of a closer alliance with geology. The descriptions of the various countries of the globe will include an account of how their present outlines came into existence, and how their plants and animals have been introduced and distributed. The principles on which this evolutional geography will be founded have regard to the materials of which the framework of the land consists, to the various ways in which these materials have been built up into the solid crust of the earth, and to the superficial changes to which they have been subsequently exposed. The materials of the land consist mainly of compacted detritus, which, worn from previously existing terrestrial surfaces, has been laid down in the sea. Hence the But land, as we now see it, has originated under the sea. the common belief that over the whole globe land and sea have been continually changing places, and that wide continents may have bloomed even over the site of the most lonely abysses of the ocean, may be shown to be incorrect by a consideration of the character of the sedimentary rocks of the land on the one hand, and of that of the deposits of the sea-floor on the other. The sedimentary rocks, even in the most massive palæozoic formations where they attain depths of several miles, are shallow-water deposits, formed out of the waste of the land and always laid down near land. Nowhere among them, even including the thick organically-derived limestones, such as the chalk, is there any formation which properly deserves to be considered that of a deep sea. Recent researches into the nature of the sea-bottom across the great ocean-basins have likewise shown that the deposits there in progress have no real analogy among the rocks of the land. The conclusion to be drawn from the evidence is that the great ocean-basins have always existed, and that the terrestrial areas have also lain on the whole over those tracts where they still exist. The way in which the sedimentary rocks have been tilted up and made to lie discordantly on each other shows that the marginal belt of sea-floor near the land has again and again been upraised and worn down. The ocean-basins appear from very early times to have been areas of subsidence, while the continental elevations have been lines of relief from the strain of terrestrial contraction. The land has been subjected to periodic movements of upheaval, sometimes of great violence, whereby not only large areas of sea-bottom were raised into land, but where, as huge earth-waves, lines of mountain-chain were ridged up. During these movements great changes were effected in the structure and arrangement of the rocks in the regions affected, original sedimentary masses being rendered crystalline, and even reduced to such a pasty or fluid condition as to be squeezed into rents of the more solid superincumbent rocks. Volcanic orifices were likewise opened, by which communication was established between the heated interior and the surface. The relative dates of these successive terrestrial disturbances can be satisfactorily determined by stratigraphical and palæontological evidence. The history of the gradual growth of the European continent furnishes many interesting and instructive illustrations of the principles by which evolutional geography is to be worked out. The earliest European land appears to have existed in the north and north-west, comprising Scandinavia, Finland, and the north-west of the British area, and to have extended thence through boreal and arctic latitudes into North America. Of the height and mass of this primeval land some idea may be Abstract of an Address given by Prof. Geikie, F.R.S., at the meeting of the Royal Geographical Society on March 24, 1879. stone It was formed by considering the enormous bulk of the materia! GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES AT a recent meeting of the Board intrusted by the French Government with the care of granting missions for exploring foreign countries, it was decided that none of the regions proposed offered any special field for excepThe funds of the tional services rendered to science. Government will be spent neither in exploring Central Africa nor in seeking the north pole, but in excavating Trojan ruins and examining some of the islands of the Asian Archipelago. It was also complained that no qualified traveller had been sent into civilised parts to study the progress of special arts and sciences. Such excursions as the celebrated "Voyage en Angleterre et en Irlande," accomplished by Baron Dupin in 1820 have rendered immense services to French industry, and the memory of it is not extinguished by the sixty years which elapsed. The sending of regular scientific missions abroad was inaugurated in France by the First Republic, for the purpose, not exclusively for cultivating anthropology, but for introducing into France the progress made by the foreign nations. M. CHARNAY has recently forwarded to the Minister of Public Instruction at Paris a series of communications on the results of his investigations in Java in the summer of last year. He explored the east and west portions of the island, and he claims to have discovered a close affinity between the remains of the civilisation introduced by Hindu Buddhists and that of the ancient Mexican Empire. He also calls attention to the great density of the population of Java. From this island M. Charnay went on to Melbourne, and when last heard from, was engaged in making natural history collections in Queensland and at Thursday Island in Torres Straits. THE death of the last chief of the Belgian caravan has not abated the resolution of King Leopold and the members of the International Committee for African Exploration. A third expedition is to be sent out immediately, it is said, under the guidance of Mr. Stanley. It is also stated that a new Belgian expedition led by Capt. Popelin will soon start for Zanzibar, in order to work out the plan of establishing a chain of stations right across Central Africa, viz., from Zanzibar to the Loango coast. The King of the Belgians will grant the means for this important undertaking. THE last Bulletin of the Société de Géographie Com→ merciale de Bordeaux contains a brief paper by M. Albert Merle, advocating the exploration of Ferlo, Senegambia. This is a tract of country between the Senegal and the Gambia, marked in our latest maps, "desert country, no water;" it extends from 14° to 16° N. lat., and its interior is quite unexplored. Several travellers have passed along the outskirts of the region, and from their accounts and from native reports, it appears to be covered with thick forests containing many kinds of valuable trees; tobacco, indigo, and cotton also grow there in abundance. Those of its products which are at present turned to account, find their way to the Gambia, but M. Merle's desire is to divert the trade to the French settlements on the north. M. PAUL SOLEILLET, the French traveller who left St. Louis in Senegal with the intention of reaching Algeria through the Sahara, according to the last intelligence received in Paris by telegraph, had reached Segou, the capital of the negro state of the same name, and he was proceeding onwards. This adventurous man received only 6,000 francs from the Governor-General of Senegal. The Paris Society of Geography, as a protest against such indifference, resolved to send him, when possible, all the money disposable from the travelling and exploring funds. THE latest news from Dr. Rohlffs' expedition to Central Africa states that one of its members, Baron Leopold von Csillagh, has left the expedition, and will return to Europe after paying a short visit to Murzuk. News from Tripolis states that the presents sent by the Emperor of Germany, and destined for the Sultan of Wadai, have at last arrived there. The latest papers sent by Dr. Rohlffs contain a valuable zoological report by Dr. Stöcker, the naturalist accompanying Dr. Rohlffs' expedition, besides a number of astronomical observations. IN the present demand for accurate information respecting the Zulus and their country, it may not be out of place to call attention to a series of papers which appeared in the Nautical Magazine for 1853 and 1854, under the title of the "Loss of the Brig Mary at Natal, with Early Recollections of that Settlement." These papers were published anonymously, but were written by Mr. C. R. Maclean, now an official in St. Lucia, who more than fifty years ago spent three years with the famous Chaka, then King of the Zulus, and consequently had the best of opportunities for observing the character of the country and the people. the author of several excellent geographical handbooks. Dr. Vogler was in his eighty-seventh year. THE King of Portugal has presented to Dr. Oskar Lenz, the well-known African traveller, the knightly cross of the Portuguese Order of Christ. PROF. BASTIAN, whose severe illness was announced not long ago, is in a fair way of recovery. The indefatigable traveller and ethnographer is at Calcutta and intends soon to start for Batavia. WE learn from the Colonies and India that those who took part in the recent expedition from Wellington, New Zealand, to New Guinea, which proved a failure, intend starting another one. They propose to proceed to Astrolabe Bay, and will take with them two whale boats and a long boat, two horses, some goats, &c. The services of a doctor, geologist, and botanist are to be secured, and a carpenter, gunsmith, and one or two other handicraftsmen are to be invited to join. NOTES ON Tuesday morning, in the presence of a small number of his sorrowing friends, the remains of the late Prof. W. K. Clifford were placed in their last resting-place in Highgate Cemetery. THE following grants have lately been made from the Research Fund of the Chemical Society:-10l. to Dr. C. A. Burghardt for an investigation into the constitution of topaz; 20%. to Mr. Francis Jones for the investigation of boron hydride; 15. to Mr. F. D. Brown for the study of the theory of fractional distillation; 30%. to Dr. Dupré for the estimation of organic carbon in air; and 157. to Prof. T. E. Thorpe for the investigation of albietene, the hydrocarbon of nut-pine. M. BISCHOFFSHEIM, the well-known French Mecenas of science, has just returned from Mentone, which he visited with M. Loewy, the Sub-director of the National Observatory, to examine the practicability of establishing an observatory in his mansion. The site was found to be very convenient in all respects, and M. Bischoffsheim resolved to spend a sum of 900,000 francs for instruments, &c. The work is to begin immediately. M. ANDRÉ, the well-known eclipse and transit of Venus observer, has inaugurated the publication of meteorological readings taken in the Municipal Observatory established at Tête d'Or, in the vicinity of Lyons. The peculiarity of that. establishment is that astronomical and meteorological observations are conducted pari passu with the same zeal. It is the only place in France where the schemes organised by Leverrier, at Paris, are practised. THE Select Committee of the House of Commons appointed to inquire into the subject of the lighting of towns by means of electricity, and to which the Liverpool Lighting Bill was referred, has determined to go into the general question, settle the principle, and then leave the thirty-four private Bills which ask for powers to light by electricity to be dealt with by the regular Committees of the House of Commons. The inquiry will commence on the 31st inst. As the evidence will be lengthy and the committee will probably report late in the Session, it is expected that no powers will be granted this Session for lighting by electricity. THE Werderman light was tried by M. Becquerel in his lectures on electricity, delivered at the Conservatoire des Arts et Métiers on March 19. This apparatus, which will be tried very shortly in Paris, has been introduced into France by Dr. Cornelius Herz. Six Werderman lights were arranged round the chair of the professor and burned with the utmost regularity every time they were lighted. The opinion of M. Becquerel was very WE regret to announce the death of Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Vogler of Lüneberg, well known in Germany as favoura indeed; he insisted upon the presence of a micro He scopic arc giving an exceptional brilliancy to the flame. reserved the question of cost in comparison with gas, and confined himself to making a comparison between Werderman and his competitors. M. Jamin has presented to the Academy of Sciences a system of his own, which has been described in the Comptes rendus, and will be tried by the Jablochkoff Company. Other systems are said to be preparing so that the partial failure of bougies is giving rise to a renewed electric light agitation in Paris. The members of the Municipal Council have determined to give fair play to any rational experiments. As the result of the experiment of lighting the Holborn Viaduct with the electric light it has been found that the cost is seven and a half times that of gas, while the illuminating power is seven times greater. It has been decided not to continue the experiment. A VALUABLE contribution to the marine "zoology of the coast of the United States is furnished by a paper by Prof. H. E. Webster upon the chatopod annelids of the Virginia coast. This contains the result of several years' observation on the coast of Virginia by Prof. Webster, adding many new species to our hitherto published lists. THE death of Prof. Yarnell, a much esteemed member of the scientific corps of the United States Naval Observatory, took place in Washington on February 27, at the age of sixty-two. The annual volumes of the Observatory contain a great many important memoirs by Prof. Yarnell, and he had just completed another at the time of his death. IN the Report for 1878 of the "Observations of Injurious Insects," which has been drawn up by Miss E. A. Ormerod and her fellow-workers, and recently published (London: West, Newman, and Co.), a good many facts interesting alike to the agriculturist, entomologist, and meteorologist are recorded. The thanks of all interested in the preservation of food-crops are due to Miss Ormerod for her persistent efforts to promote a know ledge of, and a means to diminish the ravages caused by insect pests, and to all those who have opportunities to assist, such information if sent to Miss Ormerod, Dunster Lodge, Spring Grove, Isleworth, will be sure to be utilised. For the guidance of fresh observers the points required to be observed are pointed out, those particularly wished for being as follows: "r. With regard to weather; a very few lines as to general state through the year, such as any marked succession of warm or cold days, of great rainfalls, or drought. 2. Any observations as to the spread of common crop-insects from common crop weeds. For instance, with regard to observations of charlock and black. thorn in connection with turnip fly and gooseberry caterpillar. These two plants supply food or shelter for two insects that certainly come under the head of 'pests.' Their presence is either agriculturally bad or of little use, but they keep up the supply of successive insect generations in safety, because little noticed on these worthless growths. 3. Observations as to infested farm stores and seeds might throw much light on the intermittent appearance of some destructive insects. Thus the wheat midge Cecidomyia tritici is kept safe in the larval state during winter in neglected chaff-heaps, and the red clover weevil may be seen in legions creeping from the recently-stored clover. The amount of loss from this insect has been observed for more than eighty years, and still Apion apricans is at work in the clover as hard as ever." Miss Ormerod further points out that often the larvæ and pupæ are both contained in the seeds, and consequently sown with them, and she further remarks that we shall probably find the key to great devastations in what were originally small appearances. "Each note of information," we are reminded, "even if incomplete in itself, will or may probably join on to those of other observers, and thus the circumstances which give rise to insect ravage be gradually more and more clearly made out, till we may hope, if not entirely to check the evil, at least to mitigate it greatly." The special points of interest in the report under consideration are: 1. The spread of the turnip fly in localities where charlock was most prevalent, and attention is drawn to the desirability of eradicating, as far as possible, this food-plant of the insect. 2. The effect of rain or dew in diminishing the spread of the pest by reducing its powers of locomotion; and 3. The observations regarding the destruction of insects by birds. One observer mentions that in the neighbourhood of Plymouth migratory insectivorous birds were very abundant, especially starlings, who congregated in such enormous quantities that the flocks coming in from all quarters to roost in the evenings so completely filled the roosting-trees as to constitute quite a sight. The report altogether is one of much value, and its circulation will, we doubt not, create that interest in the subject which the promoters desire. MISS E. A. ORMEROD, who has done so much in the field of economic entomology, has recently contributed a brief but interesting paper, entitled "Notes on Economic Entomology," to the Watford Natural History Society. This paper may well be taken as a companion to the "Notes of Observations of Injurious Insects" for 1878. THE Chemist and Druggist gives the following account of an experiment in opium-smoking, made by Dr. Miclucho Maclay upon himself during his stay in Hong Kong :-The experiment was made at the Chinese Club, where every convenience for smoking opium is to be found. Dr. Clouth, of Hong Kong, took the necessary observations, and his notes are recorded below. These may be summarised as follows:-Herr Maclay was in normal health, and had fasted eighteen hours before commencing the experiment. He had never smoked tobacco. Twenty-seven pipes, equivalent to 107 grains of the opium, used by the Chinese, were smoked in two and three-quarter hours, at tolerably regular intervals. The third removed the feeling of hunger caused by his long fast, and his pulse rose from 72 to 80. The fourth and fifth caused slight heaviness and desire for sleep, but there was no hesitation in giving correct answers, though he After the seventh pipe could not guide himself about the room. the pulse fell to 70. The twelfth pipe was followed by singing in the ears, and after the thirteenth he laughed heartily, though without any cause that he can remember. Questions asked at this time were answered only after a pause, and not always correctly. He had for some time ceased to be conscious of his actions. After the twenty-fifth pipe questions asked in a loud tone were not answered. After the last pipe had been smoked he remarked, "I do not hear well." Forty minutes later there was a slight return of consciousness and he said, "I am quite bewildered. May I smoke some more? Is the man with the pipe gone already?" Fifteen minutes later (4.55 P.M.) he was able to go home, and then retired to bed. He woke the next morning at 3 A.M., and made a hearty meal, after his fast of thirty-three hours. During the next day he felt as if he had bees in a great hollow in his head, as well as a slight headache. The organs of locomotion were first affected, next came sight and hearing, but Herr Maclay is very positive that there were no dreams, hallucinations, or visions of any sort whatever. It is well known from the equable temperature of the Fiji Islands and the favourable nature of the soil of many parts that the colony is well adapted to the cultivation of various useful plants that require only to be introduced to thrive. These matters have recently been discussed in a little pamphlet pub. lished at Levuka, on the agricultural prospects of Fiji. That the productive powers of these islands is very great is here fully exemplified. It is shown that tropical produce of all kinds is capable of being grown on an extensive scale, so that the resources of the islands might be made highly remunerative. Sugarcane, coffee, tea, cinchona, and cocoa are the principal staples advocated. Sugar is looked upon in a most favourable light; some parts of the islands, both in richness of soil and climate, as well as in extent, are spoken of as extremely favourable for growing and maturing the cane; so much so as to make all well-wishers of Fiji look for the time when sugar will be made in the islands and "exported by the hundred thousand tons and to the value of millions of pounds sterling." Regarding coffee we learn that the Government have sent large supplies of seed into the interior of Viti Levu to form coffee gardens for the natives. The plants are described as having an extremely healthy appearance. Tea and cinchona could both be grown successfully in Viti Levu over an extent of country roughly estimated at about one hundred square miles. Though many valuable timber trees exist in the islands it is suggested that several well-known Indian trees such as teak, saul, sissoo, toon, and ebony, as well as mahogany, rosewood, and others should be introduced. It is to be hoped that as the resources of Fiji, including those of the forests, become developed, no undue sacrifice of timber will be effected, but on the contrary the trees will be carefully preserved or replanted as others are cut down. THE class of substances whose fluorescence does not follow Stokes's law, and so which do not emit rays of less refrangibility than the existing rays, has lately been enlarged by Prof. Lommel by addition of one of two new fluorescing substances. That is anthracene blue, an etheric solution of which fluoresces olive green very strongly; it is excited extremely weakly by the blue and the greater part of the violet rays, but very strongly by the orange-green and yellow-green. The second new fluorescing substance is bisulphobichloranthracenic acid, the etheric solution of which gives superficially a beautiful blue, and the interior a greenish fluorescence. It obeys Stokes's law. THE French Minister of Public Works has not yet answered the inquiries made by M. Giffard as to the probability of the Cour de Tuileries being at his disposal up to the end of September, in order to organise a new series of captive ascents. But M. Giffard, willing to give the preference to his native city, has rejected the advantageous offers made by the German company offering to work his captive balloon, and to pay him a royalty of 33 per cent. on the gross receipts. AT 12.35 A.M. on the 22nd inst. an earthquake traversed Northern Persia, taking a direction from Tabreez to Zendjan and Mianeh, and shocks continued with more or less severity until Sunday, the 23rd. Several strongly-built houses were thrown down at Mianeh, and in others large rents were made in the walls. The most serious damage, however, appears to have been occasioned in two villages off the road, about four farsachs from Mianeh, named respectively Tark and Manan. These were totally destroyed, and of the 500 inhabitants in the one case and the 600 inhabitants in the other, only a few are reported to have been saved. Mianeh is situated in north lat. 37° 27', east long. 47° 43'. IN a report from the Philippine Islands we learn that in the towns of Molo and Javo, both situated close to each other, and distant about three miles from Yloilo, it is very rare to enter a house that has not its loom at work, so large a trade is done in weaving not only in the towns themselves but all over the province. The principal fibre used is that of the pine-apple, and some of the articles manufactured, such as shirts and dresses, are of considerable merit and sell at high prices. In weaving China silk in colours is intermixed with the pine-apple fibre, for of giving stripes to the dresses and shirts. The purpose value of the Chinese silk so imported varies at from 200,000 dol. to 400,000 dol. (£40,000 to £80,000) per annum, the THE Teplitz thermal question may be considered as being solved in the most satisfactory manner. The Spring Committee established by the Austrian Government declared that the quantity of recovered water is 2,224 cubic feet per hour, which is sufficient for supplying all the thermal establishments in existence before the catastrophe. The temperature has not been altered in any sensible manner. It appears that altogether the catastrophe may be considered as having been in some respects useful. The actual quantity is one-third more than the sum of the several sources which were used before the catastrophe. WE have received the first number of a new American journal -Useful Arts-edited by Mr. J. A. Whitney. It contains a great deal of miscellaneous industrial information, mostly referring to patents. Gardening Illustrated is the title of a new cheap "weekly journal for town and country." A METEOROLOGICAL work, entitled "Ergebnisse fünfzigjähriger Beobachtungen der Witterung zu Dresden," with an introduction on meteorology, the atmosphere, meteorological instruments and observations, has just been published by Dr. Adolf Drechsler, the director of the Royal Physico-Mathematical Institution at Dresden. THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include a Mona Monkey (Cercopithecus mona) from West Africa, presented by Miss Sandford; a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus radiatus) from India, presented by Mr. George Eggar; a Chinchilla (Chinchilla lanigera) from South America, presented by Sir Chas. Smith; a Greater-spotted Woodpecker (Picus major) European, presented by Mr. H. Laver; a Sumatran Rhinoceros (Rhinoceros sumatrensis) from Sumatra, a Tabuan Parrakeet (Pyrrhulopsis tabuensis), a Stair's Dove (Phloganas stairi) from the Fiji Islands, deposited; a Pied Wagtail (Motacilla yarrelli), a Reed Bunting (Emberiza scheniclus) European, purchased. SPECULATIONS ON THE SOURCE OF HAVE recently read M. G. Tschermak's most interesting memoir, "Die Bildung der Meteoriten und der Vulcanis mus. I am not competent to offer any opinion on the mineralogical questions involved in his discussion, but the numerous arguments he has adduced appear to me to justify his conclusion that "the meteorites have had a volcanic source on some celestial body." These arguments are briefly as follows: Meteorites are always angular fragments even before they come into the air. Most meteoric irons have a crystalline structure which, according to Haidinger, requires a very long period of formation at a nearly constant temperature. This condition could only have been fulfilled in a large mass. Many meteoric stones show flutings resembling those seen on terrestrial rocks and which are due to the rubbing of adjacent masses. Other meteoric stones show a joining together of several fragments analogous to breccia. Many meteoric stones are composed of very small particles analogous to volcanic tufas. After glancing at the old theory of the volcanoes in the moon and rejecting as untenable the supposition that meteorites have any connection with ordinary shooting stars, Tschermak concludes "We may suppose that many celestial bodies of considerable dimensions are still small enough to admit of the possibility that projectiles driven from them in volcanoes shall not return by gravity. These would really be the sources of meteorites." Similar views having been put forward by Mr. J. Lawrence Smith and other authorities it is not unreasonable to discuss the following problem. Read at the Royal Irish Academy, January 13. 2 "Sitzungsberichte der mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Classe der kaiserlichen Akademie der Wissenschaften," Wien, 1875. Band Ixxi., Ab theilung 2, pp. 661-674. |