which evolve the oxygen was diminished, the proportion of ozone in the gas increased, and its thermic absorption also increased, until it amounted to 136 times that of ordinary oxygen; but even in this experiment the quantity of ozone operated with was perfectly unmeasurable by ordinary means. He considers, for the present, that ozone is produced by a packing of the atoms of ordinary oxygen into oscillating groups, and that heating dissolves the bond of union, and allows the atoms to swing singly, and thus converts ozone into ordinary oxygen. A paper was also recently read by the same author at the Royal Institution, “On Radiation through the Earth's Atmosphere." In a former communication he showed that the aqueous vapour in the air absorbed a vastly greater proportion of heat than did the air itself, although the aqueous vapour was only in the proportion of 1 to 199 parts of the other ingredients of the atmosphere. Several objections had been made to this result, and he now discussed those objections, and showed, in various ways, that watery vapour is opaque in an extraordinarily great degree to such rays of obscure heat as are emitted by the earth after it has been warmed by the sun, and that more than ten per cent. of the terrestrial radiation of heat from the soil of England is stopped within ten feet of the surface of the soil. The contents of this paper are similar to that of one by the same author recently read before the Royal Society, the object of which was to prove to meteorologists that they may apply, without misgiving, the results which the author had previously announced, regarding the relation of aqueous vapour to radiant heat. M. Dufour, in the "Comptes Rendus," describes some new experiments upon the degree of rapidity of combustion of fuses under different pressures of the atmosphere. His experiments were made in the open air, and the difference of pressure was obtained by igniting them at different elevations on the Alps. His results confirm those of Quartermaster Mitchell and Professor Frankland, each of whom found that the rapidity of combustion increased with the increase of pressure. Mr.T. H. Hill has presented to the Royal Institution some specimens of woods which had been charred by exposure to a temperature not exceeding 250° Fahrenheit, the heat being generated by steam pressure of about 10 or 12 pounds per square inch. ZOOLOGY. The Controversy concerning the Brains of Man and the Apes.-This has assumed a somewhat new aspect, from the appearance of an account of it given by Sir Charles Lyell, in his recent work on the "Antiquity of Man," where he states that in 1862 Professor Owen (in his paper before the British Association), "without alluding to the disclaimer of the Dutch Anatomists of their defective plates, observes that in the gorilla the cerebrum extends over the cerebellum, not beyond it; correcting the description of the same brain given by Professor Owen in 1861, in which a considerable part of the cerebellum of the gorilla is represented as uncovered."" Professor Owen takes exception to this statement of the case, as leading to the inference that, in regard to the same brain, he represented it as showing one structure in 1861, and another in 1862; and in a lengthy letter addressed to the Athenæum he endeavours to explain the circumstances. Sir Charles Lyell, in reply, expressing every desire to retract any exaggerated statement which he may have made, admits only one unimportant error, and, quoting from the published reports of Professor Owen's papers, confirms his original statements. These letters have also called forth others from Professor Rolleston of Oxford, and Mr. Flower of the Royal College of Surgeons. The former takes exception to three points referred to in Professor Owen's letter, and the latter is adduced by Sir Charles Lyell as a witness on his own behalf, to prove that the representation of the brain of a chimpanzee put before the public by Professor Owen in support of his views was an inaccurate one, in which the hemispheres had so glided apart that one was actually a quarter of an inch longer. than the other, and that the figure was thus distorted, and the two dimensions of each hemisphere were not given. The Ape-Origin of Man. - The supporters of this doctrine will be delighted with the conclusions enunciated by Professor Huxley, in his work just published on "Man's Place in Nature," who says that the sagacious foresight of the great lawgiver of systematie zoology, Linnæus, becomes justified, and a century of anatomical research brings us back to his conclusion that man is a member of the same order (for which the Linnæan term Primates ought to be retained) as the apes and lemurs. Professor Huxley, however, admits a chasm between man and the ape, which it would be no less wrong than absurd to deny; but it is at least equally wrong and absurd to exaggerate its magnitude. Although, however, the anatomical test is of such a character that Wagner, in his paper on the structure of the brain in man and monkeys (in the Archiv. fur Naturgeschichte, 1861), did not meet the objections of Huxley; though always remarking that Man is distinct from the Quadrumana, the objections brought forward by Huxley tend rather against the separation of Man in the special division assigned to him (viz., Archencephala) than against the separation itself. Population of the Globe.-The Abeille Medicale gives some curious statistics upon this point from the most recent calculations. The earth is inhabited by 1,288 millions of inhabitants-viz., 369 millions of Caucasians, 552 millions of Mongolians, 190 millions of Ethiopians, 1 million of American Indians, and 200 millions of Malays. All these speak 3,064 languages, and profess 1,000 different forms of religion. The number of deaths per annum is 333,333,333, or 91,954 per diem, 3,730 per hour, 60 per minute, or one per second; so that at every pulsation of our heart a human being dies. This loss is compensated by an equal number of births. The average duration of human life throughout the globe is thirty-three years, but one-fourth of the population dies before the seventh year, and one-half before the seventeenth; but of 10,000 persons, only one reaches the hundredth year, while one in 500 attains the eightieth, and one in 100 the sixty-fifth. Psychical Distinction of the Races of Man.-Mr. R. Dunn read a paper before the Ethnological Society upon this subject, maintaining that the genus Homo was one and distinct, and that the study of the cerebral organization and development of the various typical races was one of the most effectual means of better understanding and elucidating the psychological differences which characterize them. The Sandwich Islanders have excellent memories, and learn by rote with wonderful rapidity, but will not exercise the thinking faculties. It was found practically that negro children could not be educated with white children. In these cases the cognate faculties have not reached a complexity equal to the complexity of the relations to be perceived; and moreover this is not only so with the purely intellectual cognitions, but it is the same with the moral cognitions. In the Australian language there are no words answering to "justice," “sin,” “guilt.” Amongst many of the lower races of man, acts of generosity or mercy are utterly incomprehensible-facts which the author thought were in accordance with what might have been anticipated from the organic differences of the higher psychical activities. Anthropological Society.-From the above paragraphs it will be seen that the science of Man is one at the present time much studied, and a new society under the above title has just been formed, with Dr. James Hunt as president, and Mr. C. Carter Blake as secretary. The society meets at 4, St. Martin's-place, on alternate Tuesday evenings. 6 The Unicorn of the Ancients.-Dr. Brehm, the African traveller, speaks thus of the unicorn: "Also in the interior of Africa, where I have travelled, the unicorn' (Anasa of the natives) is nothing more than the rhinoceros." The Rev. W. Houghton, in the " Annals of Natural History " for December, quoted Ctesias as describing unicorns under the name of wild asses, of whose horns drinking cups were made, of such virtue that those who drank from them were said to be subject to neither spasm nor epilepsy, nor to the effects of poison. Dr. Brehm remarks that, at the present day, in the interior of Africa, for example, at Carthum (Khartoum) drinking vessels and cups are still made from the horn of the rhinoceros, to which they attribute the very same properties as Ctesias did. Preservation of Birds.-While the English farmer is energetically destroying small birds on his farm, the New Zealand farmer is making great efforts to obain a supply of such birds on his, for the purpose of destroying the insects which ravage his crops. The Acclimatisation Society of New Zealand are doing all in their power to promote the introduction into the colony of English field birds. The undermentioned amounts will be paid by the Society upon the delivery in Auckland, in a healthy condition, of a cock and hen of the following birds :-Blackcock (or grouse), cock and hen, 10 guineas; silver pheasants, ditto, £5; nightingales, £5; English partridges, £4; cuckoos, £3; missel thrushes, £2; common thrushes, £2; blackbirds, £2; starlings, £2; skylarks, £2; rooks, £2; crows, £2; jays, £1. 10s.; robins, 30s.; wrens, 30s.; bullfinches, £1; grey linnets, 15s.; green linnets, 15s.; sparrows, 15s.; goldfinches, 15s.; English quails, £1. Walking Fish.-An observer in Province Wellesley, passing along during a shower of rain over the wide sandy plain which bounds the sea in the neighbourhood of Panaga, witnessed an overland migration of a fish much resembling the tench, called Ikan Puya, from a chain of fresh-water lagoons lying jimmediately within the sea beach, towards the second chain of lagoons about a hundred yards distant inland. The fish were in groups of from three to seven, and were pursuing their way in a direct line towards a second chain of lagoons at the rate of nearly a mile an hour. When disturbed, they turned round, and endeavoured to make their way back to the lagoon they had left, but were caught by the Malay accompanying the observer. Upwards of twenty were taken during a walk of about half a mile. The ground these fish were traversing was nearly level, and only scantily clothed with grass and creeping salsolaceous plants, which offered very slight obstruction to their progress. Immense Shoals of Flounders.-Illustrating the proverbial teeming life in the sea, a person writing from Göthenburg states that "there have been caught after the late storms on the coast of Denmark a quantity of flounders, estimated at two millions and a half in number, and they say the sea is literally full of them. They do not know what to do with any more they may take, though there is a salting establishment in full work already. Five hundred men were employed night and day for three weeks in catching these fish." New Silk Moth.-The Revue de Zoologie says that the Minister of Agriculture in France has received from Japan living eggs of the oak silkworm, or Bombyx Yama-Mai, which it is hoped may be cultivated in the Jardin d'Acclimatation. Up to this time no European had been able to obtain this precious silkworm, all attempts having been hitherto met with a flat refusal, on the ground that the exportation of them was forbidden on pain of death. Young oaks in the South of France, Italy, and Algeria are in process of being forced in order to afford food to the precious insects, which it is expected will soon be excluded from the eggs. Acclimatation of Sponges.-M. L'Amiral, who has been to the coast of Syria with a view to obtain sponges for transplantation, has returned, and presented a detailed report to the Société d'Acclimatation. He distinguishes three kinds of sponge for which there is a demand,-a fine soft sponge, a fine hard kind, and the common sort. These sponges are found in the Levant, between Alexandretta and Saida. When first gathered at the bottom of the sea, the sponge is covered with a black but transparent gelatinous substance, resembling vegetable granulations, among which microscopic white and oviform bodies may be distinguished, which are the larvæ. When arrived at maturity they are washed out by the sea water which incessantly flows through the sponge, and then swim along by the aid of cilia, until they attach themselves upon some rock and commence a new life. This emigration of larvæ occurs about the end of June and beginning of July. The fine qualities of sponge are chiefly found at a depth of fifteen fathoms, and the common sponges lie between twenty and thirty fathoms. At Tripoli (in Syria), divers were engaged and collected sponges, which were placed in boxes, through which a stream of sea water was made constantly to flow. These arrived at Marseilles on June 17th and thence they were taken to Toulon and the islands of Hyères, where stone troughs, with five sponges in each, were sunk in different places. The success of the experiment will not, of course, be known till next season. CONTENTS.-No. VIII. ON THE PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE IONIAN ISLANDS. By Professor THE TELESCOPE. By James Breen, F.R.A.S. CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE HISTORY OF THE ROTIFERA, OR WHEEL- ANIMALCULES. Part IV.--THE FLEXIBLE CREEPERS (NOTOMMATINA); with Page Plate. By Philip Henry Gosse, F.R.S. ON THE MORPHOLOGY OF VINCA MINOR (SMALL PERIWINKLE); with Page Plate. By James Buckman, F.L.S., F.G.S. OUR BRITISH JUNGERMANNIÆ; with Page Plate. By Margaret Plues... 493 The Physical Geology and Geography of Great Britain-The Ape- Origin of Man and the New Philosophy-Heat considered as a Mode of Motion-Hints on the Formation of Local Museums- North Yorkshire; Studies of its Botany, Geology, Climate, and Science on the Continent-Provincial Institutions and Societies— Society of Amateur Botanists-French Workmen on the London Astronomy-Botany - Chemistry Geology and Palæontology-- Mechanical Science-Medicine, Surgery, Therapeutics-Micro- No notice can be taken of anonymous contributions. Intending contri- All communications to the Editor are to be addressed to 192, Piccadilly. Articles in the POPULAR SCIENCE REVIEW are Copyright, and the Right of |