2. "W. B. D." asserts that in every one of the cases cited by me (I cite one or two hundred) to prove "the ages" simultaneous, "there is no proof that the deposit has not been disturbed.

I select by way of reply five examples: the pile-village at Unter Uhldingen (Switzerland); the skeletons found at Cumarola, in Italy; the trenches at Alise; the pile-village near Lubtow, in Pomerania; and the relic-beds at Hissarlik.

3. Solutré is a crucial case. Referring to this, "W. B. D." dioposes of it by remarking that a Merovingian cemetery was planted here on a paleolithic station, "as he was informed by Dr. Broca at the French Association at Lyons in 1873." "In this case," he proceeds, "which is made the basis of the attack on the high antiquity of paleolithic men, the human skulls are comparatively modern, and the refuse heap of an untold age." This statement implies both ignorance and a treacherous memory on the part of "W. B. D."

We are all aware that there are Merovingian remains at

Solutré. There are also Roman or Gallo-Roman remains. But the argument from Solutré is this: (1) That the bones of the extinct animals found in association with the flint implements have preserved a portion of their gelatine, and that the horns of the reindeer, when cut, yield the odour of fresh horn. (2) That the flint implements found, though unpolished, are of very superior and advanced workmanship, hardly inferior to the beautiful specimens from Denmark. (3) That there are found here the remains of some 40,000 horses, and that the horse was probably domesticated. (4) That there are numerous instruments here of paleolithic date, some of them in carefully closed stone cists or boxes. The remark of "W. B. D." about the Merovingian graves has therefore no application except in connection with (3) and (4); as regards (3), the horse-deposit, as it is called (outside of the refuse-heaps), some of which was compacted into a solidified mass-contained the flint implements and the bones of the mammoth, reindeer, &c. ; and, in addition, extended beneath the most ancient fire-places, or hearths, containing the paleolithic skeletons and the flints and the bones of the reindeer and mammoth. The horse-remains are not, therefore, Merovingian. As regards (4), and the assertion, on the authority of Dr. Broca, that the graves are Merovingian; this whole subject came up at the French Association at Lyons in 1873; the Association visited Solutré ; and by way of reply to what "W. B. D." says he gathered from Dr. Broca, I quote from the report of the Proceedings of the Association in " Matériaux pour l'Histoire de l'Homme," 7, 8, and 9e Livraisons, 1873, pp. 324, 325, 342. When M. Cartai hac observed that "the discussion was of the greatest gravity, and would remain celebrated in the history of anthropological science," and that although there may have been some disturbances of the soil, "one thing remained certain, viz., that in more than ten instances, a human skeleton had been found on a quaternary fire-place, and not one fact exists to be opposed to the admission of their contemporaneity"—when M. Cartai hac had expressed himself to this effect, the report proceeds :

M. Broca partage cette opinion et déclare ouverte la discussion sur le deuxième problème : les chevaux."

Subsequently, participating further in the discussion (p. 342), M. Broca stated that he had examined twenty-five skulls from Solutré, and that of this number seventeen belonged to the epoch of the reindeer—“à la véritable époque paléolithique solutréenne."

I leave "W. B. D." to reconcile these declarations of Dr. Broca made in the public meeting with the private declarations made to him. 'W. B. D." closes with the remark that "he has not been able to find [in the book] a single shred of proof of the recent origin of man."

I show that the lake-dwellings in France come down to the eighth century of our era; in Pomerania and Sweden to the eleventh century. I show that great changes of level have occurred in different parts of the earth within a comparatively recent period, as at Uddenalla and Södutalje in Sweden, and in the island of Möen.

I show that in America the remains of the mastodon and mammoth occur in the most superficial deposits—the food sometimes preserved in the stomach; I refer to the preservation of the Mammoth in Siberia; I show that the reindeer and Great Irish Elk lived in Europe down to the Middle Ages; that the

lion was found in Europe three centuries before our era; that the rhinoceros is found in the neolithic caverns of Gibraltar; that the elephant was brought to Shalmaneser II. by the Murri in the eighth century B. C. I might have added that the elephant lived in Mauritania (near the Straits of Gibraltar) in the time of Herodotus and Pliny.

I point out that, owing to the continuance of the ice-sheet, paleolithic man never penetrated into Scotland or Denmark; but that the human period there commences with the Neolithic age, which, interpreted, means that the Glacial epoch in that region lasted down to the date of the older lake-dwellings.1 JAMES C. SOUTHALL

Richmond, Virginia, U.S., March 20

rise to.

"The Unseen Universe"

IN Art. 213 the distinguished authors of "The Unseen Universe" say: "We have already shown (Art. 164) that development without life, that is dead development, does not tend to produce uniformity of structure in the products which it gives In the article referred to they say: "There is one peculiarity of the process of development now described which we beg our readers to note. We have supposed the visible universe, after its production, to have been left to its own laws, that is to say, to certain inorganic agencies, which we call forces, in virtue of which its development took place. At the very first there may have been only one kind of primordial atom; or, to use another expression, perfect simplicity of material.

As, however, the various atoms approached each other in virtue of the forces with which they were endowed, other and more complicated structures took the place of the perfectly simple primordial stuff. Various molecules were produced at various temperatures, and these ultimately came together to produce globes or worlds, some of them comparatively small, others very large. Thus the progress is from the regular to the irregular.' Is not this a non sequiter? "And we find a similar progress when we consider the inorganic development of our own world. The action of water rounds pebbles, but it rounds them irregularly; it produces soil, but the soil is irregular in the size of its Wherever what may be grains, and variable in constitution. termed the brute forces of nature are left to themselves, this is always the result; not so, however, where organisms are concerned in the development.

"Two living things in the same family are more like each other than two grains of sand or two particles of so.l. The eggs of birds of the same family, the similar feathers of similar birds, the ants from the same ant-hill, have all a very strong likeness to each other." It seems to me that the argument here tends to show that the planetary or world development, and what the authors term living development, are based on the same primordial law. If development without life does not tend to produce uniformity of structure in the products it gives rise to, and development with life does tend to the opposite result it would logically follow that the worlds with which we are acquainted are the result of living development.

No two living things of the same family are more alike than are the planets of our solar system; alike in form, alike in their motions, and alike in the material of which they are made; and if the doctrine of their growth, maturity, and final dissolution which the nebular hypothesis ascribes to them, be a verity, the alike in these respects to living development on the earth. have long been of the opinion that the same principle underlie all development from the smallest microscopic insect to the largest world in the universe, and I am gratified to find two such profound philosophers as Professors Stewart and Tait virtually advancing the same theory. It may, however, be said that they do not admit this sequence. They suppose the visible universe, after its production, to have been left to its own laws, to certain inorganic agencies or forces in virtue of which its developments took place, that at first there may have been only one kind o primordial atom from which all present development has arisen. This is mere speculation; but admitting its verity, it does not alter the truths enunciated by them that dead development does not tend to produce similarity of structure, that the results of the brute forces of nature left to themselves are accidental forms, and that where there is uniformity of structure there is living development.

1 Certainly not 10,000 years ago; in my opinion not 3,500.

In a careful examination, however, of the whole argument of the authors of the "Unseen Universe," it looks to me as though they saw clearly to what their course of reasoning, as far as this particular point is concerned, tended, but were willing to stop short of the true logical result, believing that humanity was not yet prepared to admit that we are only a small part of one stupendous whole, a universe of individual life.

Of the main object and scope of their argument I have nothing to say, only this: if the premises assumed-and they are the assumptions of the modern school of science-are correct, there is nothing unreasonable in the conclusions at which the authors have arrived.

NOTE. Since writing the above I have seen the authors' preface to the second edition of the "Unseen Universe," in which they say: "To reduce matters to order, we may confidently assert that the only reasonable and defensive alternative to our hypothesis (or, at least, something similar to it) is the stupendous pair of assumptions that visible matter is eternal, and that IT IS If anyone can be found to uphold noti ns like these (from a scientific point of view), we shall be happy to enter the lists with him." If the distinguished authors will confine them. selves to this proposition, that "All visible aggregations of matter, such as our earth and its congeners, are living organisations, in other words, ARE ALIVE," I think the affirmative can be successfully maintained.

ALIVE.

Whether matter is eternal and each individual particle or atom of matter is alive, is too far in the interior of the unknowable to be discussed with any possibility of successful results, and, too, the idea of an atom being a living organisation is directly opposed to the whole theory of atomicity, and scientifically ludicrous in view of that theory. JOSIAH EMERY City of Williamsport, Pa., U.S., March 10

Prof. Tait on the Earth's Age

IT is well known that Sir W. Thomson has concluded, from different lines of argument, that the age of the earth, as a body cool enough for habitation, cannot be much greater than a hundred million years.

Prof. Tait, in his "Recent Advances in Physical Science," recapitulates these arguments, but with a different conclusion. He states the limit of age to be about ten million years. As the subject is of inmense interest, may I ask Prof. Tait to explain this change of conclusion? J. D. EVERETT

A Relapsed Donkey

SOME years ago on one of the Lucknow roads I met a "Dhobi (washerman) with some donkeys. I send you a picture of one of them, made by a native artist. It shows, I think, the relationship between the zebra and the donkey better than many which I have seen. Mules and horses often show zebra marks on their legs, but I have never before or since seen the marks so well displayed on the trunk and legs as in this donkey. The stripes on the body are blended together at their base, and so are the stripes on the legs blended into bands. At the time I endeavoured to find out whether in the days of the kings of Oudh there had been any zebra in Lucknow which might have bred with donkeys, but could find nothing about it. Had there been a zebra which bred with donkeys, I think there would have been more of these striped animals; but this is the only one I have seen since 1858. I think it a case of simple alavism. Perhaps you may think it worthy of a record in NATURE. All "Dhobis" donkeys are small, wretched creatures, mostly with crooked legs. E. BONAVIA

Lucknow, Feb. 29

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN VARIABLE STARS.-Mr. J. E. Gore, M.R.I.A., of Umballa, Punjab, calls attention to a star of the sixth magnitude entered in Harding's Atlas, between e Leporis and B.A.C. 1553, and which is underlined. Mr. Gore says "In February of this year, with a 3-inch refractor, I found Harding's 6 m. star a little brighter than the 9 m. star south of it, but less than several 8 m. stars (Harding) Jollowing. It has a small companion f at about 1'. Harding's 9 m. stars seem about 10 m." Reading off from the Atlas the position of the sixth magnitude for 1800

appears to have been about R.A. 73° 32'5, N.P.D. 111° 25', whence for 1876'0 we have R.A. 4h. 57m. 25s., N.P.D. 111° 18'. This star does not occur in Argelander's Zones, nor in the Washington Zones in the volumes of observations for 1870 and 1871.

Gilliss has this note to No. 543 of his Catalogue of 1248 stars for 1840 (B.A.C. 3815): "Probably variable at Of the seven observations three very short intervals. estimations make it 6th magnitude, three 5th, and the other 56." This star, which was observed by Flamsteed, Bradley, Piazzi, and Taylor, was also observed by Argelander on three nights, viz., 1850, March 15, 1851, April 22 and 28, the magnitudes being noted on these occasions, 5, 7, 6 respectively. It appears not unlikely that if this star is examined at short intervals Gilliss's suspicion of variability will be confirmed. It is situate in Hydra R.A. (1876), 11h. 2m. 45s., N.P.D. 117° 25'.

As perhaps connected with the subject of variable stars, we may refer to a remark by Piazzi, applying to his star XVI. 35. He says: "Fortiter micans, intereadem, sequens tranquilla luce splendescit." No. 35 is called 8 m., and the star following 15", and south 18", which did not exhibit the strong scintillation of its neighbour, 6 m. Both stars occur in the Washington Zone, 1847, June 17, magnitudes 78 and 67. Also to the remark attached by Lalande to the star of 8.9 mag. observed on the middle wire at 20h. 35m. 39 ̊5s., 1796, August 23, Beaucoup de scintillation" ("Histoire Céleste," p. 242); this star is No. 40102 Cygnus, of the reduced catalogue, R.A. (1876), 20h. 39m. 23s. N.P.D. 58° 45'2. Several of the variable stars are well known to exhibit striking scintillation at times, and perhaps more especially when on the point of diminution; this has been particularly the case with S Virginiis (Hind, 1851), in which reddish-yellow star flashes of a deeper red are occasionally present, producing an impression of unusual scintillation.

The star Lalande 34746 Aquila is of a deep orange colour. Its position is erroneously given in the reduced catalogue from the observation 1796, June 25; the N.P.D. should be 96° 43' 28" 7. It does not occur in the Zones of Bessel or Santini. Lalande calls it 7m., and it is entered of the same magnitude in the charts of Capocci and Inghirami. In September, 1873, it was 78, so that at present a claim to be included in the list of variables is not quite made out; still as so large a proportion of the highlycoloured stars do prove to be variable, L. 34746 may be worth watching. Position for 1876′0. R.A., 18h. 38m. 25., N. P.D., 96° 39′*5.

Several of the variable stars to which attention has been called in this column during the last twelvemonth, are now in favourable positions for observation.

THE SEARCH FOR COMETS.-No new telescopic comet has been detected since that found by M. Borrelly at Marseilles early in December 1874, an interval of more than sixteen months. Perhaps we may attribute this circumstance partly to the very unfavourable weather which has prevailed generally during the last year, but it is pretty certain that if a systematic search for these bodies, with suitable instruments, could be instituted by aid of amateurs of the southern hemisphere, cometary astronomy would be greatly the gainer. Such work is not adapted to the routine of the public observatories, nor can they afford, in the actual state of what may be termed the standard astronomy of the other hemisphere, to devote time to it; but it is an occupation especially within the province of the amateur. If his instrumental means are not equal to the determination of accurate positions, he may content himself with intimating any discovery to the astronomers in charge of the public establishments who, after receiving indication of the approximate position of any new comet, will no doubt secure observations sufficient for the calcu lation of the orbit. In this way it is highly probable that the number of known comets of short period may be materially increased, since it is only at certain returns

that conditions favourable to observation in the northern

hemisphere occur. The "comet-seeker" properly so called is an instrument much better known on the continent, and probably in America, than in this country. It may be used for much other useful astronomical work, and if the observer is content to be without equatorial mounting, and rely upon star-maps for ascertaining approximate positions, a first-rate instrument of this class need not involve great outlay. It is true, we believe, that the fine comet-seekers of the kind produced by the continental opticians (those of Berlin and Vienna especially) have, like most other things, increased in their cost during the last twenty years or so, but less perfect instruments would doubtless enable an amateur to do excellent work in the above direction.

THE HE Carnivora, as existing at the present day, form a natural group, though very sharply divided into two distinct sections, the Pinniped or aquatic, and the Fissiped or terrestrial forms. The former include the Seals, Walrus, and Otaria or Sea-lions. They differ from the terrestrial carnivora chiefly in modifications of their limbs to suit a semi-aquatic life. In their dentition they also present striking distinctions. Though they have the small incisors, large, pointed, recurved canines, and more or less trenchant molars characteristic of the order; the incisors depart from the typical number of three above and three below on each side, so constant in the other division, being always less numerous, and the molars are simple and uniform in character, never having one tooth differentiated as the sectorial, and others as tubercular molars. The walrus offers a most remarkable modification of dental organisation, which, being unaccompanied by any other deviation from the general structure of the group affords an important caution against placing too great reliance in classification upon characters derived from teeth alone. It must, however, be noted that a knowledge of the complete dentition of this animal in its early stages shows a nearer conformation to 1 Abstract of a course of lectures delivered at the Royal College of Surgeons "On the Relation of Extinct to Existing Mammalia, with Special

the general type than appears at first sight in an examination of the adult. The existing species of Pinnipedia show some gradational forms between the most aquatic species, and those (as the Otaria) which more nearly resemble the terrestrial Carnivores, and upon the supposition that the former have been gradually differentiated from the latter, it might be hoped that palæontology would have revealed some further stages in the series of modifications. At present, however, this expectation has been disappointed. In fact, the fossil remains of seals and seal-like animals as yet known are not numerous Antwerp crags, where they occur more abundantly than or of very great interest, although when those of the elsewhere, have been completely described (a work upon which M. Van Beneden is at present engaged) we may look for further information about them. At present we know of fragments of skulls, jaws, and principally isolated teeth assigned to Pinnipeds, from various Miocene and Pliocene deposits in France, South Germany, Italy, and Bessarabia. The genus Pristiphoca, was founded by Gervais on a jaw found in the Pliocene marine sands of Montpellier; it belongs to a form apparently allied to Stenorhynchus and Pelagius. The Miocene species from Aquitaine, known only by isolated teeth, are referred by Delfortrie to the genus Otaria. Tusks of animals of great size, and apparently allied to the walrus, have been found in the Antwerp and Suffolk crags, and received the name of Trichechodon, and a lower jaw of much interest, as showing a transitional character between the walrus and the more typical seals, also from Antwerp, has been described under the name of Alachtherium.

The fissiped carnivora are distinguished from the seals by their limbs being adapted to terrestrial progression, and by their dentition. The latter is best exemplified by that of the dog, which is one of the most average or generalised forms of the order. Its dental formula is i 3 c 1 p 4 m2 42, thus only wanting the last upper

=

3 I 4 3 molar to complete the full typical mammalian dentition. The premolar and molar series are much differentiated from each other in characters, and one tooth above and below is distinguished from all the others by its superior size and special attributes, and hence called in descriptive odontology the "sectorial" or "carnassial" tooth. Though the upper and lower "sectorial" have some adaptive similarity, and work against each other like the blades of shears, they are not the homologous teeth, the upper one being the fourth premolar and the lower one the first true molar. The former consists essentially of a more or less compressed blade, consisting of three cusps, and supported on two roots, and an inner lobe supported on a distinct root. The anterior lobe of the blade is very small, the middle one conical, high, and pointed, and the posterior has a compressed, straight, knife-like edge. The lower sectorial has two roots, supporting a crown, consisting, when fully developed of a compressed bilobed blade, a heel, and an inner tubercle. Great modifications in the characters of these teeth occur in the different genera of the sub-order, recent and extinct, but their essential similarity can be traced in all, though sometimes so disguised as to be recognised with difficulty. The teeth in front of sectorials in both jaws are compressed and pointed, those behind thein broad and tuberculated.

The existing genus Canis, comprising the animals commonly known as dogs, wolves, jackals, and foxes, may be considered as truly cosmopolitan, being distributed on the American continent from Greenland to Patagonia, and throughout the Old World, and even Australia has its wild dog, though this may belong to a feral race, introduced originally by man. True dogs have also been found in a fossil state in Europe and North America, throughout the Pleistocene, Pliocene, and even Miocene

(See Reports in NATURE for that year.) Continued from p. 450.

isolated teeth. In the early Miocene a very interesting form occurs, named Amphicyon, characterised by the greater development of the tubercular molars, which are not only larger relatively than in modern dogs, but the one missing in them is present, making the typical number complete. In addition to this generalisation_in_the dental characters, they possessed five toes on each foot, whereas the modern dogs have lost the hallux. They were large heavy-limbed animals, and have been supposed to present affinities to the bears, which, however, they only do inasmuch as they are more generalised carnivora than are the typical dogs. Remains have been found in various Miocene deposits in France, Germany, Italy, and some assigned to the same genus in North America. It is doubtful if the cynoid or dog-like type of carnivore was distinctly recognisable in the Eocene period, for the Canis parisiensis of the Paris gypsums was founded on a single tooth.

From the dogs, which hold a very central position in the order, the other existing members deviate in two different directions, one extending through the weasels and martens to the otters and bears, which make the nearest approach to the seals, and the other through the civets and hyænas to the cats, the most highly specialised and characteristic carnivores. The true bears are especially distinguished by the great development of the tubercular and the suppression of the sectorial portion of the molar series. The peculiar dentition of a bear is, for a carnivorous animal, highly specialised, and, as might be expected, appears to be a comparative recent introduction upon the earth, not extending beyond the Pliocene epoch, though several transitional forms occur, as Arctotherium bonariensis of South America, and Hyænarctos sivalensis of the Siwalik Mountain, and H. insignis of the Pliocene of Montpellier. Otters have been traced back to the Pliocene in France, and an allied form Potamotherium, to the Miocene. Enhydriodon is a large otter-like animal from the Siwalik Hills, with very broad and tuberculated molars. The evidence as to the ancient history of the Mustelida is not very satisfactory, as isolated teeth, by which many of the fossil forms are known, are not sufficient indications as to their general characters.

True Viverrida are met with in the European Miocenes, one genus, Ictitherium, forming a transition to the Hyænas. The latter first appeared in the Upper Miocenes of Europe in forms intermediate between the extremes of existing species, and continued abundant until the close of the Pleistocene, but are now restricted to Africa and Asia. The species so common in the British caves appears to have been identical with the Spotted Hyæna (H. crocuta) of Africa, and the Striped Hyæna (H.striata), has been found fossil in France. The genus has not

been met with in America.

The Felida present the most complete adaptive modification of the carnivorous type for a predatory existence. The jaws are short and wide, the incisors very small, the canines powerful, and the molar series shortened, and its sectorial element developed almost to the complete suppression of the tubercular portion. The limbs and claws have undergone corresponding specialisations. The family has now a very wide distribution, and has existed both in Europe and America since the Miocene period. It acquired one most remarkable modification in the animals known as Machærodus and Drepanodon, in which the upper canine was developed to an extraordinary degree, projecting down from out o the mouth like huge sabre-like tusks. In other respects the animal was constructed much on the ordinary feline type. They were widely distributed both in time and space, being found in North and South America, in Europe (including

Britain), and in India, and ranging from Miocene to Pleistocene epochs, when they became quite extinct. (To be continued.)

UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, BRISTOL

THIS college is now being incorporated under the Board of Trade as a company limited by guarantee, under the Companies' Acts, 1862 and 1867. The Board of Governors is the supreme governing body, and comprises all con ributors above 57., and a large number of honorary members, with various qualifications, resident in various parts of the West of England. The Council is the managing body, consisting of sixteen, one-half of whom are elected by the governors (in the first instance by the contributors of money, about 20,000l. having been already promised in Bristol alone), and the other half are nominated by the Vice-Chancellors of the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge, and London, by the two contributing Oxford Colleges, by the Lord-President of the Privy Council, by the faculty of the old-established Bristol Medical School, and by the Principal and professors of the College.

The Council comprises the following names :

Elected by the Contributors.-W. P. Baker, merchant ; F. N. Budd, barrister; Rev. J. W. Caldicott, Head Master, Grammar School; Lewis Fry, School Board Chairman, solicitor; Rev. F. W. Gotch, Principal, Baptist College; Rev. J. Percival, Head Master, Clifton College; G. F. Schacht, pharmacist; W. Smith, mer

chant.

Prof. B. Jowett, nominated by Vice-Chancellor of Oxford; Prof. Stuart, nominated by Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge; W. L. Carpenter, nominated by ViceChancellor of London; Prof. Henry Smith, nominated by Balliol College; Rev. H. B. George, nominated by New College; R. W. Coe, nominated by Bristol Medical School.

At their preliminary meeting, held recently, the Council decided to commence operations in October next, and to appoint at first a Professor of Chemistry and a Professor of Modern History and Literature.

A piece of land has already been secured, but, for the first session or more, the lectures will be given in temporary premises. In all except the strictly medical classes of the medical school (which is being affiliated with the New College), the instruction will be open to young people of both sexes. Other courses of occasional lectures will be organised during the session.

In addition to the aid afforded by Balliol and New Colleges, Oxford, the Worshipful Company of Clothworkers in London have spontaneously offered a very handsome subvention to the College, with the view of establishing a department of Textile Industries for the improvement of the technical education of the West of England cloth manufacturing districts, as Stroud, Trowbridge, &c. It is believed that special attention will be given to the chemistry of dyeing and wool scouring, as well as to the mechanical part of the manufacture. The details of the arrangements are under the consideration of the Council and of a committee of cloth manufacturers and others, by whom very great interest is felt in the proposed scheme.

The registered temporary office of the College is Shannon Court, Bristol, and letters sent to the Secretary of University College, Bristol, at that address, will be attended to.

The Council are seeking for a permanent secretary, and offer a salary of 200l. per year. They hope to obtain the services of a gentleman who will throw himself with zeal and interest into the establishment of the College.

THE USE OF YELLOW GLASS FOR ZOOLOGICAL COLLECTIONS

AT a recent meeting of the Entomological Society of Belgium, M. Capronnier read a paper giving an account of some experiments which he had made bearing on the question as to how public collections of insects