ELASTICITY OF WIRES1 THE experiments described in this paper form a continuation of experiments undertaken in connection with the work of the Committee of the British Association for commencing secular experiments on the elasticity of wires. Long-continued application of stretching force increases to a very great extent the tensile strength of soft iron wire. Thus in experiments described to the British Association in 1879 (see Report of the Committee just referred to), a particular very soft iron wire was shown to have a breaking weight 10 p.c. higher if the weight necessary to break it is applied half a pound at a time per day, than it has if the breaking weight is applied half a pound at a time at intervals of say two minutes. It was found also that this wire, quickly broken, extends before breaking by as much as 25 p.c. of its original length; whereas if the application of the stress is very slow, the extension is not more than 5 or 6, or perhaps 8 p.c. Further experiments have been undertaken on this subject, and are still in progress. Using a continuous arrangement for applying the stretching weight and employing some very soft iron wire which had been specially prepared, and which was used in former experiments, the greatest weight which could be rapidly put on the wire without breaking it was determined. It was found that with a weight of 41 lbs. gradually applied in 6 minutes the wire stretched by 24'4 p.c. of its original length, and broke 18 minutes after the weight was put on. With the same weight, 41 lbs., applied in 6 minutes, the wire stretched 22'1 p.c. and broke in 24 minutes. With 41 lbs., however, applied in 7 minutes, the wire stretched 18 p.c., and did not break. This weight, therefore, appeared to be just as much as the wire would bear with this method of applying the weight. Accordingly it was applied to a great number of wires for different lengths of time for the purpose of hardening them, and arrangements have been made for keeping a number of wires for very long times with this stretching force applied to them. The amount of extension produced by the application of the hardening stress was observed in each case. After the hardening stress had been applied for a certain time the additional weight necessary to break the wire was determined, and also the additional elongation before breaking, which was in all cases almost insensible. The wires seemed permanently set in about forty minutes from the time when the hardening stress was applied. They did not alter in length till just before they broke, when they generally stretched 1 or 2 millimetres on a length of about 1,800 mm. The following table shows some of the results out of a great many that have already been obtained. Curves have also been obtained and were exhibited to the Section showing the extension with gradually applied weights both of a number of wires and of the different parts of the same wire; also curves showing the extension at different intervals o time from the beginning of an experiment in which the wire is running down under a weight sufficient to break it finally. The author acknowledged the great assistance that he had received from Mr. A. C. Crawford and other students the in Physical Laboratory of the University of Glasgow. Similar experiments are in progress on wires of copper and tin, and it is intended to test gold wire very soon, as it will probably give interesting results, and results very different from those given by soft iron wires. Strength and Elasticity of Soft Iron Wires. Abstract of a Paper read at the British Association, by J. T. Bottomley, M.A., F.R.S.E. SPECTROSCOPIC NOTES, 1879-80. DOUBLE Reversal of Lines in Chromosphere Spectrum.-The magnesium lines of the b group, and the two D-lines of sodium have been seen several times (first on June 5, 1880) doublyreversed in the spectrum at the base of a prominence. A bright line first appears in the centre of the widened dark lines; then this bright line grows wider and hazy at the edge, and a thin dark line appears in its centre, as shown in the figure. The phenomenon lasts usually from ten minutes to an hour. It is evidently the exact correlative of the double reversal of the bright sodium lines, observable in the flame of a Bunsen burner or alcohol lamp under certain circumstances when the quantity and temperature of the sodium vapour in the flame are greatly increased. The H-lines in the Chromosphere and Sun-spot Spectra.-In 1872 I found the H- and K-lines to be reversed in the spectra of prominences and sun-spots, as observed at Sherman, 8000 feet above the sea. Until recently I have not been able to verify the observation, except for a moment during the eclipse of 1878. During the past summer, however, I have succeeded in seeing them again, and with suitable precautions as to shadeglass, adjustment of slit to true focal plane for these special rays, and exclusion of extraneous light, I have no further difficulty with the observation. The spectroscope employed has collimator and view-telescope each of 1 inches aperture, and about 13 inches focal length, and a speculum-metal Rutherfurd grating with 17,300 lines to the inch. A shade of cobaltblue glass greatly aids the observation. The solar image is 1 inches in diameter. In the spectrum of the chromosphere, H and K are both always reversed. I have never failed to see them both when circumstances were such that h, the nearest of the hydrogen lines, could be seen. Furthermore, H, in the chromosphere spectrum, is always double: that is, a fine bright line always accompanies the principal line, about one division of Ångström's scale below. The principal line seems to be exactly central in the wide dark shade, the other is well within the nebulosity. K on the other hand shows no signs of duplicity. In the spectrum of a sun-spot H and K are also, both of them, generally, though not always, reversed; and the reversal is not confined to the spot, but covers often an area many times larger in its neighbourhood. In the spot spectrum, however, H has never yet been seen double. The companion line of H is therefore probably due to some other substance than that which produces H and K; a substance prominent in the chromosphere, but not specially so in the neighbourhood of spots. In view of the recent observations of Vogel, Draper, and Huggins, it is natural to think that hydrogen is probably the element concerned. If so, it may be expected that H will be found doubled in the spectrum of a spot which reverses the hydrogen line h. I have not yet been able to test it in this way, as h is rarely seen reversed, though C and F occur pretty frequently. [Note.-An observation made since my paper was written leads me to modify this opinion, that the companion of H is due to hydrogen, and satisfies me that in all probability both H and K must themselves be hydrogen-lines. At II A. M. on October 7, a bright horn appeared on the S.E. limb of the sun. When first seen it was about 3' or 4' in elevation, but it rapidly stretched up, and before noon reached a measured altitude of over 13′ (350,000 miles +) above the sun's limb. It faded away and disappeared about 12.30. It was brightest about 11.30 with an altitude of about 8' and at this time both H and K were distinctly, and for them, brilliantly reversed in it clear to the summit. H was not double in it to any notable elevation, though the companion of H was visible at the base of the prominence. The H and K-lines also showed evidence of violent cyclonic action, just as C did. was only faintly visible in the prominence; F and the line near G were of course strong. But no other lines, either of sodium, magnesium, or anything else, could be traced more than a very few seconds of arc above the sun's limb. I am not able to say how long the H-lines continued visible, or to what elevation they extended afterwards, as I returned to the C-line to watch the termination of the eruption. If I remember rightly, this eruption reached a higher elevation than any before observed. There was (and is to-day) nothing on the sun's limb visible with the telescope which would account for it.-Princeton, October 8.] An Examination of Lines in the Solar Spectrum which are given in the Maps as common to Two or more Substances.—For this purpose a spectroscope of high dispersion has been constructed by combining the grating mentioned above, which has about 4 square inches of ruled surface, with a collimator and observing telescope each of 3 inches aperture and about 42 inches focal length, using magnifying powers ranging from 50 to 200. The apparatus is arranged upon a wooden frame-work, and when in use is strapped to the tube of the 12-feet equatorial of our observatory, so that it is kept by the driving-clock directed to the sun. image of the sun is formed on the slit by an achromatic objectglass of 3 inches aperture, in order to increase the light and to avoid the widening of the lines due to the sun's rotation. A large prism of about 20° angle was sometimes placed in front of this object-glass (between it and the sun) to separate the colours before reaching the slit; and in examining the darker portions of the spectrum a concave cylindrical lens was sometimes used next the eye, like a shade glass, to reduce the apparent width of the spectrum and thus increase its brightness. illuminated by monochromatic light, the image of the slit, formed on each side of the simple reflected image in the focus of the view-telescope (which is supposed to have the same focal length as the collimator), will have the same width as the slit itself only in one special case, not usually realised with a reflecting grating. If the angle, between the normal to the grating and the view-telescope, is less than that between the normal and the collimator, the slit-image will be narrower than the slit, and a prominence seen through it will be compressed in the plane of dispersion. If the relation of the angles be reversed, then of course the distortion will also be reversed, and we shall have extension instead of compression. The mathematical theory is very simple. Suppose the collimator and telescope to be fixed at a constant angle, as in the now usual arrangement. = T. Let angle between telescope and collimator = a. S n λ= sin T- sin x The grating is an admirable one, on the whole the best I have ever seen. But I have been greatly surprised at its excessive sensitiveness to distortion by pressure or inequalities of temperature. Although the plate is fully of an inch thick, and only 3 inches square, an abnormal pressure of less than a single ounce at one corner will materially modify its behaviour, and a quarter of a pound destroys the definition entirely. In fact the plate is not naturally exactly flat, and to get its best performance it is necessary to crowd a little wedge gently under one corner. When it is in good humour and condition, however, the performance is admirable; one could wish for nothing better, Differentiating, we have at once unless for a little more light in the violet portions of the spectrum. With this instrument I have examined the 70 lines given on Ångström's map as common to two or more substances. Of the 70 lines, 56 are distinctly double or triple; 7 appear to be single; and as to the remaining 7, I am uncertain; in most cases, because I was unable to identify the lines satisfactorily on account of their falling upon spaces thickly covered with groups of fine lines, none of which are specially prominent. As a general rule the double lines are pretty close, the distance being less than that of the components of the 1474 line. Generally also the components are unequal in width or darkness, or both, though in perhaps a quarter of the cases they are alike in appearance. The doubtful lines are the following, designated by their wave length on Ångström's map: 5489°2, 5425'0, 5396 1, 5265 8, 4271*5, 4253'9 and 4226.8. I strongly suspect 5396 1 and 5265.8 (which present no difficulty in identification) of being double, but could never fairly split either of them, and therefore leave them among the doubtfuls. Those which show no signs of doubling, so far as could be seen, were: 6121°2, 6064'5, 5019'4, 4585°3, 4578′3, 4249°8, and 4237'5. may In respect to the lines 5019'4, 4585'3 and 42375 it is quite possible there be some mistake as to the coincidence, since in his tables Thalen gives neither of them as due to iron. An accidental strengthening of the dotted line, which, on the map, leads up from the symbol of the element concerned, through the iron spectrum, would account for the matter, by making the line appear on the map as belonging to iron also. As the facts stand, therefore, it is obvious that arguments which have been based upon the coincidence of lines in the spectra of different elements lose much of their force; it appears likely that the coincidences are in all cases only near approximations. At the same time this is certainly not yet demonstrated. The complete investigation of the matter requires that the bright line spectra of the metals in question should be confronted with each other and with the solar spectrum under enormous dispersive power, in order that we may be able to determine which of the components of each double line belongs to one, and which to the other element. If in this research it should be found that both of the components of a double line were represented in the spectra of two different metals, and the suspicion of impurity were excluded, we should then indeed have a most powerful argument in favour of some identity of material or architecture in the molecules of the two substances involved. Distortion of Solar Prominences by a Diffraction Spectroscope.Generally, in such an instrument, the forms seen through the opened slit are either disproportionately extended, or compressed along the line of dispersion. The reason is this: if the slit be }, A being the wave-length of the ray which is in the centre of the whence ηλ dr= -dк, or COS K cos (α-T) dk; COS T which reduces to, dr = (cos a + sin a tan 7) dк. Distortion can only disappear in cases when this coefficient of de reduces to unity. Special cases 1. If there is no distortion-but also no dispersion : it is the case of simple reflection. 2. If x=0, the grating being kept normal to the collimator, then dr = sec а dk. 3. If 70, the grating being kept normal to the telescope (which in this case must be movable), then dr 4. If a=90°, dr=tan τ dê. = cos a dk. 5. If a=0, dr=dк, and there is no distortion. This is possible only by using the same tube and object-glass both for collimator and view-telescope, the grating being slightly inclined at right angles to the plane of dispersion. The principal difficulty in this form of instrument lies in the diffuse light reflected by the surfaces of the object-glass. It is hoped that this may be nearly obviated by a special construction of the lens which will throw the reflected light outside of the eyepiece. An instrument on this plan is being made for Prof. Brackett by the Clarks, for use in the physical laboratory at Princeton, and is now nearly completed. Princeton, September 27, 1880 C. A. YOUNG UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL INTELLIGENCE DR. J. E. HARRIS (D.Sc. Lond.) has been appointed to the vacant Professorship of Natural Philosophy at Trinity College, London. FROM the new Calendar of the University College of Wales we learn that the present number of students is fifty-seven. We see there are classes for most of the branches of science, only unfortunately they are all taught by one professor, which, to say the least, must be rather hard on him. We hope the college will soon be able to have separate teachers, at any rate for the physical and biological sciences. THE new University Library at Halle has just been opened. It is built entirely on the French system, and special precautions have been taken with regard to fire. It now numbers some 200,000 volumes, but there is room for half a million. The cost of the building amounts to 400,000 marks (20,000%.). SCIENTIFIC SERIALS THE American Naturalist for December, 1880, contains:D. Cope, on the extinct cats of America.—F. V. Hayden, Twin lakes and Teocalli Mountain, Central Colorado, with remarks on the glacial phenomena of that region.-C. E. Bessey, sketch of the progress of botany in the United States in the year 1879.C. S. Minot, sketch of comparative embryology, No. 5; on the general principle of development.-The Editor's Table.-Permanent exhibition of Philadelphia.—Recent literature.—A new edition of Packard's "Zoology" is announced.-General Notes. Scientific news. Proceedings of scientific societies. bird. The zona pellucida is porous, and allows granules of foodmaterial to pass from the epithelium cells of the Graafian follicle directly into the vitellus. But it is chiefly in this epithelium that the interest centres, for the inner layer of cells of the follicular epithelium appears to be formed in the peripheral layer of the vitellus of the ovum itself, making their appearance first of all as mere nuclei (derived in all probability from the nucleus of the ovum), around which part of the protoplasm or vitellus of the ovum becomes segmented off. This description is compared with that which Kuppfer gives of the formation of an inner layer of follicular epithelium from nuclei which make their appearance in the periphery of the vitellus of the ovum of Ascidia canina, and with the observations of Kleinenberg upon the formation of a layer of cells from the periphery of the ovum of Hydra. This Revue des Sciences Naturelles, December, 1880, contains: Herborisations of Strobelberger about Montpellier in 1620, translated, with notes, by M. Kieffer (a complete exposé of the extraordinary plagiarism of Strobelberger, who copied his work on the plants of Montpellier almost verbatim from the work of Lobel).-M. Doumet-Adanson, on an immense Calamary taken near Cette, January, 1880 (Ommastrephes sagittata). specimen was nearly six feet in length, from the end of the body to the tops of the arms.-M. S. Jourdain, on the late develop. ment of scales in the eels.-E. Dubrueil, catalogue of testaceous mollusca collected from the French shores of the Mediterranean. -M. Reitsch, an analysis of Falkenberg's researches on the fecondation and alternation of generation in Cutleria.-F. Fontannes, on the stratigraphical position of the Pliocene group of Saint Aries, in the Western Bas-Dauphiné, and particularly in the environs of Hauterives (Drôme).-Scientific Reports and Bulletin. Gegenbaur's morphologisches Jahrbuch, Band 6, Heft 4.-Dr. M. v. Davidoff, contribution to the comparative anatomy of the posterior limb masses in fishes, 2nd part (Plates 21, 23); Dr. W. Pfitzner, on the epidermis in the amphibia (Plates 24, 25); J. E. V. Boas, on the conus arteriosus in Butirinus albula and in other Teleostei (Plate 26); Dr. H. Rabl-Rückhard, on the mutual relations between the chorda, hypophysis and the middle ridge of the skull in the embryos of the sharks', &c., brains (with Plates 27, 28); Carl Rabl, on the "pedicle of invagination," &c., in Planorbis (Plate 29); Prof. R. Wiedersheim, on the duplication of the os centrale in the carpus and tarsus of Axolotl (Plate 30); Prof. C. Gegenbaur, critical remarks on polydactylism as atavism; short notices; W. Leche, on the morpology of the pelvic region in the Insectivora. Archives des Sciences Physiques et Naturelles, December 15, 1880.-Tertiary man in Portugal, by M. Choffat,-Monograph of the ancient glaciers and the erratic formation of the middle part of the Rhone valley, by MM. Falsan and Chantre.-Organic dust of the atmosphere, by Dr. Yung.-On the question of lowering of the high waters of the Lake of Constance, by M. Achard. SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES Royal Society, January 6.-Observations on the Structure of the Immature Ovarian Ovum in the Bird and Rabbit, and on the Mode of Formation of the Discus Proligerus in the Rabbit and of the "Egg-Tubes" in the Dog. By E. A. Schäfer, F.R.S. The first part of the paper is devoted to a minute description of the young ovarian ova of the bird as seen in sections of the ovary of a laying hen. The germinal spot is described as composed of two distinct substances, namely, a homogeneous matrix staining but slightly with logwood and a number of coarse granules imbedded in it, which become darkly stained. The germinal spot may often be seen to be connected with the wall of the germinal vesicle by a network of fine filaments (intranuclear network). Appearances are also described which indicate that two germinal vesicles may be originally present in one ovum (? formed by the fusion of two primitive ova), and that one of the two may afterwards disappear. A network of filaments is also described as existing in the yolk, which in some ova shows peculiar condensations of vitelline substance, which simulate nuclei; but the origin and meaning of these are left in doubt. Other appearances, as of systems of striæ, are also mentioned as occurring in larger ovarian ova. With regard to the membranes of the ovum the author differs from Waldeyer and agrees with Balfour in regarding the zona radiata as a product of the protoplasm of the ovum, and not as derived from the cells of the follicular epithelium. The ovarian ovum of the rabbit is next described, and is found to agree in most essential particulars with that of the Finally the gland-like nature of the ovarian tubes in the Waldeyer, and in opposition to the view taken by Foulis. bitch's ovary is insisted upon in agreement with Pflüger and January 13.-"On the Forty-eight Co-ordinates of a Cubic Curve in Space," by William Spottiswoode, President R.S. In a note published in the Report of the British Association for 1878 (Dublin), and in a fuller paper in the Transactions of the London Mathematical Society, 1879 (vol. x. No. 152), I have given the forms of the eighteen, or the twenty-one (as there explained), co-ordinates of a conic in space, corresponding, so far as correspondence subsists, with the six co-ordinates of a straight line in space. And in the same papers I have established the identical relations between these co-ordinates, whereby the number of independent quantities is reduced to eight, as it should be. In both cases, viz., the straight line and the cubic, the co-ordinates are to be obtained by eliminating the variables in turn from the two equations representing the line or resulting from the eliminations. the conic, and are, in fact, the coefficients of the equations In the present paper I have followed the same procedure for known, be regarded as the intersection of two quadric surfaces the case of a cubic curve in space. Such a curve may, as is well having a generating line in common; and the result of the elimination of any one of the variables from two quadric equations satisfying this condition is of the third degree. The number of coefficients so arising is 4 X 10 = 40; but I have found that these forty quantities may very conveniently be replaced by forty-eight others, which are henceforward considered as the co-ordinates of the cubic curve in space. The number of identical relations established in the present paper is thirty-four. But it will be observed that the equations are lineo-linear in each of two groups, say the U-co-ordinates and the U'-co-ordinates; and as we are concerned with the ratios only of the coefficients, and not with their absolute values, we are, in fact, concerned only with the ratios of the U-co-ordinates inter se, and the U'-co-ordinates inter se, and not with their absolute values. Hence the number of independent co-ordinates will be reduced to 48 34 2 = 12, as it should be. Mathematical Society, January 13.-S. Roberts, F.R.S., president, in the chair.-Miss C. A. Scott and Messrs. J. Parker Smith, O. H. Mitchell, Fellow of Johns Hopkins University, and T. Craig, U.S. Coast Survey Office, Washington, were elected members. Dr. Hirst, in drawing attention to the loss the Society had sustained by the death of M. Chasles, gave a rapid sketch of that distinguished geometer's career and work; in lightly touching upon his private life he mentioned how gratified M. Chasles had been by the fact that he was not only the first Foreign Member of the Society, but for a long time the only one. The following communications were made:-On an apparently paradoxical relation of the circle, parabola, and hyperbola, by A. J. Ellis, F.R.S.-A proof of the differential equation which is satisfied by the hypergeometric series, by the Rev. T. R. Terry.-On the periodicity of hyperelliptic integrals of the first class, by W. R. W. Roberts.-On the tangents drawn from a point to a nodal cubic, by R. A. Roberts.-Sur une propriété du paramètre de la transformée canonique des formes cubiques ternaires, by Signor Brioschi (Milan).-Note on a kinematical theorem connected with the rectilinear courses of two vessels sailing uniformly, by C. W. Merrifield, F.R.S.-A partition-problem connecting the angles of a triangle with the angles of the successive pedal triangles, by J. W. L. Glaisher, F.R.S. PARIS Academy of Sciences, January 10.-M. Wurtz in the chair.-The following papers were read :-On the conditions relative to the theoretic expression of the velocity of light, by M. Cornu.-Crystalline substances produced from old medals immersed in the thermal waters of Baracci, commune of Olmeto (Corsica), by M. Daubrée. Some of these bronze medals had merely a dark patina resulting from superficial sulphuration. A few others had a thick crystalline crust, the substance being apparently a double sulphide of copper and tin (of which the nearest natural analogue would be stannine). The water, containing only o°3 gr. of mineral matters per litre, has chloride of sodium, sulphate of soda, and silica in predominance.-On the star-fishes dredged in the deep regions of the Gulf of Mexico and the Carribean Sea by the American ship the Blake, by M. Perrier. The new collections raise the number of species from twenty-seven to seventy. A pretty large number are new generic types. On a class of linear differential equations, the coefficients of which are algebraic functions of the independent variable, by M. Appell.-On the circulatory apparatus of isopod crustaceans, by M. Delage.-Phylloxera in California, by M. de Lavignon. The old vine-growers say they have always known it, and they do not regard it as introduced with plants from Bordelais. Its effects are the same in kind as in France, but its progress is very slow by reason of absence (apparently) of the winged insect, quality of the soil (rich and deep), and the existence of an acarian parasite (Tyroglyphus longior).— The Inspector-General of Navigation reported on the variations of the Seine at Paris in 1880. The highest water was on January 4, the lowest on February 3 and 4.-On a process of astronomical observation for use of voyagers, &c. (continued), by M. Rouget.-On the transformation of reciprocal directions, by M. Laguerre.-On the size and variations of Purkinje's images, by M. Crouillebois. It is proved that the mechanism of the adaptation consists in a simultaneous modification of the curvature of the two faces of the crystalline lens.— Thermo-regulator for high temperatures, by M. D'Arsonval. This is applicable up to 1200° at least. A regulator like that before described has its space under the membrane connected by means of a capillary tube with a short hollow stem which can be opened or closed with a screw and is connected by two tubes with a mercury manometer, and an air-reservoir (of glass or porcelain) to be put in the medium that is to be kept constant. For temperatures over 300° he opens the stem when I atm. has been reached, and so lets the manometer come back to zero before closing again. A new method of reading must then, of course, be adopted.-Investigation of gaseous compounds and study of some of their properties with the spectroscope, by MM. Hautefeuille and Chappuis. With the spectroscope one can follow the isomeric change of ozone into oxygen, and prove that its destruction does not give hyponitric acid. Electrification of a dry mixture of nitrogen and oxygen, containing at least one-seventh of the former, gives a substance not before observed, and having a remarkable absorption-spectrum. It is thought to be pernitric acid, analogous to M. Berthelot's persulphuric acid.-On bromides and iodides of phosphorus, by M. Ogier. -Rapid stoppage of the rhythmic contractions of the cardiac ventricles through occlusion of the coronary arteries, by MM. Sée, Bochefontaine, and Roussy.-On the application of anatomical examination of the blood to diagnosis of disease, by M. Hayem. He gives two methods: examination of pure blood, in a thin layer, of constant thickness; and examination of blood diluted with a special reagent. The phenomena in certain diseases are described. On the quantity of light necessary to perceive the colour of objects of different surfaces, by M. Charpentier. For retinal surfaces 8 to 1 mm. square the illumination necessary to make or perceive colour (once the luminous sensibility is obtained) was the same for each colour tried. It may, then, be said that for red, yellow, green, and blue the chromatic sensibility is independent of the retinal surface excited. Influence exerted by environment on the form, structure, and mode of reproduction of Isoetes lacustris, by M. Mer.-On the conservation of grain in closed reservoirs, by M. Muntz. With renewal of air he found about ten times more CO2 produced than in a closed vessel. The volume of CO, found in contact with air is always less than that of O absorbed. The O is chiefly fixed by fatty matters. Too dry grain, not giving much of an asphyxiating atmosphere, is liable to the ravages of insects. The proportion of CO, increases rapidly with the degree of moisture. As the temperature is raised there is physiological combustion up to a point (about 50°), thereafter chemical. Anaesthetics, like sulphide of carbon, diminish, without stopping, the formation of CO,.-On a simple means of bringing to life new-born infants in a state of apparent death, by M. Gozard. He describes a successful application of M. Le Bon's suggestion for young asphyxiated animals, immersing in a water-bath heated 45° to 50°.-M. Boutigny invited attention to the fact that boiling water projected on an incandescent surface instantly falls in temperature to 97°. He attributes this cooling to work done in production of the spheroidal state. BERLIN Geographical Society, January 8.-Dr. Nachtigal, president. The President gave a sketch of the work of the Society's explorers for the past year. It was hoped that Dr. Lenz would have been present at the meeting, but he had been unable to leave St. Louis in Senegal, as yellow fever prevailed there. After a long interval letters had been received from Dr. Buchner, dated February, May, and July last. He had been for six months in Mussumba in Muatà Janvo's kingdom, carrying on topographical, photographic, and natural history work. After sending most of his papers and collections to Angola he proceeded northwards, writing on July I from Muene Chikambo. Dr. Nachtigal then referred to the East African Expedition, which, along with Capt. Ramaeckers, has arrived at Tabora, and Dr. Rohlfs' party, who on December 12 were at Massowah.Herr Buchter exhibited a large number of photographs and drawings from the Upper Nile. THURSDAY, JANUARY 27, 1881 UNCONSCIOUS MEMORY of consciousness the hereditary offspring of those states, we have added nothing to our previous knowledge either of heredity or of memory. All that lends any sense to the analogy we perfectly well knew before-namely, that' in the race, as in the individual, certain alterations of Unconscious Memory, &c. By Samuel Butler. Op. 5. structure (whether in the brain or elsewhere) when MR as (London: David Bogue, 1880.) R. BUTLER is already known to the public as the author of two or three books which display a certain amount of literary ability. So long therefore as he aimed only at entertaining his readers by such works "Erewhon," or " Life and Habit," he was acting in a suitable sphere. But of late his ambition seems to have prompted him to other labours; for in his "Evolution, Old and New," as well as in the work we are about to consider, he formally enters the arena of philosophical discussion. To this arena, however, he is in no way adapted, either by mental stature or mental equipment; and therefore makes so sorry an exhibition that Mr. Darwin may well be glad that his enemy has written a book. But while we may smile at the vanity which has induced so incapable and ill-informed a man gravely to pose before the world as a philosopher, we should not on this account have deemed "Unconscious Memory" worth reviewing. On the contrary, as a hasty glance would have been sufficient to show that the book is bad in philosophy, bad in judgment, bad in taste, and, in fact, that the only good thing in it is the writer's own opinion of himself-with all that was bad we should not have troubled ourselves, and that which was good we should not have inflicted on our readers. The case, however, is changed when we meet, as we do, with a vile and abusive attack upon the personal character of a man in the position of Mr. Darwin; for however preposterous, and indeed ridiculous, the charges may be, the petty malice. which appears to underlie them deserves to be duly repudiated. We shall therefore do our duty in this respect, and at the same time take the opportunity of pointing out the nonsense that Mr. Butler has been writing, both about the philosophy of evolution and the history of biological thought. The great theory, which Mr. Butler has propounded, and which with characteristic modesty he says seems to himself one, the importance of which is hardly inferior to that of the theory of evolution itself "-this epochmaking theory is as follows. The processes of embryonic development and instinctive actions are merely repetitions of the same kind of action by the same individuals in successive generations." Therefore animals know, as it were, how to pass through their embryonic stages, and, after birth, are taught by instinctive knowledge, simply because (as parts of their ancestral organisms they have done the same things many times before; there is thus a race-memory as there is an individual memory, and the expression of the former constitutes the phenomena of heredity.. Now this view, in which Mr. Butler was anticipated, by Prof. Hering, is interesting if advanced merely as an illustration; but, to imagine that it reveals any truth of profound significance, or that it can possibly be fraught with any benefit to science, is simply absurd. The most cursory, thought is enough to show that, whether we call heredity unconscious memory, or memory of past states VOL. XXIII.-No. 587 once made, tend to remain: But the analogy throws no light at all upon the only point which requires illumination namely, how is it that, in the case of heredity, alterations of structure can be carried over from one individual to another by means of We can understand in some the sexual elements. measure how an alteration of brain structure, when once made, should be permanent, and we believe that in this fact we have the physical basis of memory; but we cannot understand how this alteration is transmitted to progeny through structures so unlike the brain as are the products of the generative glands. And we merely stultify ourselves if we suppose that the problem is brought any nearer to a solution by asserting that a future individual while still in the germ has already participated, say in the cerebral alterations of its parent-and this in a manner analogous to that in which the brain of the parent is structurally altered by the effects of individual experience. But Mr. Butler goes even further than this, and extends his so-called theory even to inorganic matter. He "would recommend the reader to see every atom of the universe as living, and able to feel and remember, though in a humble way." Indeed he can conceive of no matter which is not able to remember a little"; and he does "not see how action of any kind is conceivable without the supposition that every atom retains a memory of certain antecedents." It is hard to be patient with such hypertrophied absurdity; but if the bubble deserves pricking, it is enough to ask how it is "conceivable" that an atom," even if forming part of a living brain, could possibly have "a memory of certain antecedents," when, as an atom, it cannot be conceived capable of undergoing any structural modification. " So much for Mr. Butler's main theory. But he has also a great deal to say on the philosophy of evolution. Op. 4' was called "Evolution, Old and New," and now "Op. 5" continues the strain that was struck in the earlier composition. This consists for the most part in a strangely silly notion that "the public generally"-including, of course, the world of science-was as ignorant of the writings of Buffon, Dr. Erasmus Darwin, and Lamarck as was Mr. Butler when he first read the "Origin of Species." That is to say, "Buffon we knew by name, but he sounded too like 'buffoon' for any good to come from him. We had heard also of Lamarck, and held him to be a kind of French Lord Monboddo; but we knew nothing of his doctrine. . Dr. Erasmus Darwin we believed to be a forgotten minor poet," &c. No wonder, therefore, when such was our manner of regarding these men, that we required a Mr. Samuel Butler to show us our error. no wonder that Mr. Charles Darwin, who doubtless may have peeped into the literature which Mr. Butler has discovered, should so well have succeeded in his life-long purpose of concealing from the eyes of all men how much he owes to his predecessors. No wonder, also, that Mr. Darwin, when he chanced to see an advertisement of a forthcoming work by Mr. Butler with the title "Evolution, And |