of the two races which has been going on ever since, and by which the Iberian type is at the present time being slowly obliterated. JOSEPH JASTROW communicated to the American Association an account of some experiments with ants, from which it results that, having regard to the difference in size, these little insects walk from seven to fourteen times as rapidly as man. Other experiments indicated a sensitiveness to odors. When brushes were dipped in various substances, the ants invariably took notice of those which had been dipped in lavender, and mostly noticed those which had been dipped in cloves or mint, but were indifferent to brushes which had been dipped in distilled water. Lavender ap: pears to be extremely disagreeable, and even deadly, to them. M. WALTHER has made some observations in the Mediterranean Sea of the manner in which chalk is formed by sea-weeds. the Bay of Naples, which grow at depths of He particularly studied the Lithotamnia of from one hundred to three hundred feet, a class of algae remarkably poor in organic matter, but rich in mineral constituents, among which carbonate of lime is preponderant. They grow to be about as large as change of form by decomposition. Living the hand, and then die without suffering plants attach themselves to dead ones, and thus extensive deposits are formed. Beds of pure, uncrystallized chalk remain after the gradual disappearance of the organic matter, the vacancies left by which are gradually filled with calcareous substance. Beds of chalk thus formed may, under some conditions, attain great thickness. M. PASTEUR recently reported concern PERTINENTLY to a controversy between German and Scandinavian archæologists as to priority in the classification of the pre-ing 1,656 cases which he had treated of Of 1,009 historic ages-stone, bronze, and iron-Pro- persons bitten by rabid animals. fessor Virchow contends that two Germans, 11, 8 of whom had been bitten by wolves, French cases, 3 had died; of 182 Russians, Lish and Danneil, discovered the three ages not by dogs; of 20 Roumanians, 1; of 445 simultaneously with the Dane Thomsen. from other countries, including 18 from In support of his position, he quotes a memoir by Lish, which was published in America, none. The total number of deaths 1837, but was in large part printed in was, therefore, fifteen, or less than one in 1836, before Thomsen's work appeared, and when it was wholly unknown to him, expounding a similar theory. In 1835, Lish had actually arranged prehistoric objects in the museum in Mecklenburg, according to the three ages. Danneil's share in the discovery does not appear so pronounced. Ir is usually believed that bats hibernate at home, in a dormant condition in caves, hollow trees, and other places of retreat. But according to Dr. C. H. Merriman's observations, as he related them in the American Association, the evidence is complete that the hoary bat and the silver-haired bat emigrate. The hoary bat belongs to the Canadian fauna, but in fall and winter occurs at places far to the southward of its breeding-range. The silver-haired bat occurs regularly in spring and fall at a lonely rock about twenty miles off the coast of Maine. No bats breed at this place, and the nearest island is fourteen miles distant. A REMARKABLE illustration of the power of lightning has been observed at Löiten, Norway, where a fir-tree eighty feet in height was struck, with such effect, that it was cut in two, and the upper part, which was about sixty feet in length, was thrown to a distance of several yards. The surface of the detached part is as smooth as if it had been cut with a saw, while the stump is jagged, charred, and split to the root. The ground around the tree is furrowed in all directions. a hundred. THE Committee of the British Association on Antarctic research has reported that, in view of the great increase in facilities for prosecuting work of that kind consequent upon the development of steam navigation, it desires to secure a full discussion of plans for the purpose of giving more definiteness to the objects sought to be obtained, and to the best means of obtaining them. SEA-TROUT have been artificially spawned with great success at the South Kensington aquarium, even from fish which had been kept in captivity for three years and had never visited the sea. The different species of the Salmonide living in the tank are found to pair quite readily with one another. Fish in captivity yield their ova much later than they do when in a wild state; but, of every thirty subjected to artificial existence, only one is, on the average, barren. A COMMITTEE has been formed in Paris for the organization of a floating exhibition for the purpose of bringing the products of French industries within the view of the people of other countries. The Sarthe, a vessel of 3,900 tons, has been furnished to the enterprise by the Minister of Marine. The exhibition will fill about 1,600 cubic metres of glass cases and counters; and 400 square metres will be given to machinery. The first voyage of the exhibition will be to the coasts of Central and South America. Ir was reported recently, in the Royal | may be the living organisms that produce Society of Tasmania, that a Mr. Vimpany malaria. Thus they confirm in substance had captured a black snake four feet three Tommasi-Crudelli's opinion that a living orinches long, in which one hundred and nine ganism is the cause of malaria, but they reyoung ones were found. The greatest num-gard its form as differing from a schizomyber said to have been before taken from a single snake was seventy. M. LEWIN has reported to the Berlin Medical Society his observation of an affection that seems to be peculiar to workers in silver. It appears in the form of round or oval bluish spots on the skin, which in extreme cases may be as large as a nickel five-cent piece, generally on the back of the left hand. Workmen in metals who do not use silver are free from it. The manner in which the spots are produced is not clear, for experiments with the direct ápplication of silver in various forms have failed to generate them. The silver probably falls upon some scratch-for the spots are usually developed where there has been a lesion-in a solution, and afterward undergoes some chemical change by the action of the bodily fluids which induces the peculiar color. MR. W. H. PREECE described, in the British Association, how he had extracted a piece of needle from his daughter's hand by the aid of a suspended magnetized needle. The needle was strongly deflected, and invariably, when the hand was moved about, pointed to one position, which was marked with a spot of ink. The needle was afterward extracted by cutting at this spot. PERTINENTLY to the question whether man in the palæolithic age was acquainted with the potter's art, M. Martel reports that he found last year in the cave of Nabrigas, in immediate contact with the remains of specimens of the cave-bear, nine fragments of human skulls, and a piece of rough pottery, not turned in a lathe. In connection with this discovery he adduces the fact that, fifty years ago, M. Joly found in this same cave a fragment of a large vessel in contact with the skull of a fossil bear. There is no trace of any disturbance, no other neolithic objects are found, and the skull is in its natural position; therefore he is persuaded that the question should be answered in the affirmative. TOMMASI-CRUDELLI and Klebs published the account of the discovery of the schizomycete (bacillus malaria) as the causal agent of malarious fevers, in 1879. Marchiafava and Celli have announced, as the result of their researches on an individual affected with malaria, that within the red-blood globules are constantly found plasmatic bodies endowed with lively amoeboid movements, in which the hæmoglobine is transformed into melanine; and in a further memoir they suggest that these plasmatic bodies cete. PROFESSOR WINDLE has announced to the British Association, as conclusions from his researches on the subject, that man's original dentition included six incisors in either jaw; that two from each jaw have gradually disappeared; that this loss is due to the contraction of the anterior part of the palate; that this process of contraction will probably go on and result in the loss of two further incisors; and that the conical shape of many of the supernumerary teeth indicates a reversion to the primitive type of tooth. THE operation of compulsory vaccination obedience to popular clamor, in 1883. The was suspended in Zürich, Switzerland, in deaths from small-pox per 1,000 total deaths had been, in 1881, 7; in 1882, 0; in 1883, 8. for the two previous years and that year They rose, after compulsion had ceased to be used, in 1884, to 11-15; in 1885, to 52, and in the first eight months of 1886, to 85, per 1,000. MR. JAMES W. WELLS relates that while exploring the stream connections between the head-waters of the Brazilian Rios Tocantins and San Francisco, in 1875, the natives, unaccustomed to the sight of white men, attached a mystery to the presence and personality of one who was neither a trader, planter, priest, nor soldier. They finally decided that he was anti-Christ entering the country with the object of making slaves of the people and heathenizing them; and they were afterward discovered most fervently offering up prayers for deliverance from the machinations of the evil-one. A VERY severe earthquake occurred in Greece, the Ionian Islands, and other lands of the Mediterranean Sea, on the 29th of August. In the southwestern Peloponnesus, four considerable towns and a large number of prosperous villages, with about sixty thousand houses, were destroyed, and hundreds of persons were killed. An eruption of Vesuvius was reported at about the same time. The close approach to coincidence in time-making allowance for the distanceis noticeable; but it is not supposed that a of this earthquake with that at Charleston coincidence exists in any other respect. ARTESIAN Wells are of great antiquity in China. Abbé Huc describes the method in which they were bored. It is by tubulation, and drilling with a rammer regulated by a rattan cord-a rude suggestion of the more perfect apparatus which is now used among us. THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. DECEMBER, 1886. SCIENCE AND THEOLOGY. BY JOHN BURROUGHS. ONE of the latest phases of the religious thought of the times seems to be a desire to get rid of, or to explain away, the supernatural -at least to reclaim and domesticate it and convince mankind that it is not the irresponsible outlaw we have so long been led to suppose -a desire nearly as marked in the theology as in the science of the day. Thus, the Bishop of Exeter (Dr. Temple), in his Bampton Lectures of 1884, on the "Relations between Religion and Science," upholds the belief in miracles, without calling to his aid the belief in the supernatural as the word is commonly used. A miracle, he urges, may be only some phase of the natural not yet understood; the turning of water into wine by word of command, or the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, may have been accomplished by the exercise of some power over Nature which is perfectly scientific, but of which man as yet has imperfect control. And the Duke of Argyll, in his "Reign of Law," cautions us against assigning an event or a phenomenon to the agency of the supernatural until we are quite sure we understand the limits of the natural-the natural may reach far enough to include all that we have commonly called the supernatural. The latest considerable attempt in this direction is furnished by the work of Professor Henry Drummond on "Natural Law in the Spiritual World," a work which undertakes to demonstrate the naturalness of the supernatural, or the oneness of religion and biology. Butler, in his "Analogy," says that there is no "absurdity in supposing that there may be beings in the universe whose capacity and knowledge and views may be so extensive as that the whole Christian dispensation may to them appear natural; that is, analogous or con VOL. XXX.-10 |