dition. Some of these minute creatures he describes as having been petrified in the midst of their "life functions." Among them he finds infusoria and rotiferæ, intermingled with alga, and he infers their formation in a large expanse of stagnant water. By the publication of a small book on the subject, Dr. Jenzsch offers means for testing the accuracy of his conclusions.

EARTHQUAKE PHENOMENON.

IN the Proceedings of the Asiatic Society of Bengal for June last, we find a statement of the effect of an Earthquake which is worth notice. In November, 1868, a shock was felt in the district of Murwut. The underground moisture at that season is commonly found two feet below the surface; but it rose after the earthquake to about six inches below the surface, not in one spot only, but throughout all the light sandy tracts of the district. In consequence of this rise, "numbers of villagers who, on account of the drought, had for a time deserted their villages, returned, and, with those who had remained, at once commenced ploughing and sowing." It is only right to mention that the occurrence of this phenomenon has been questioned; but the Deputy-Commissioner who reports it states that he was in Murwut shortly afterwards, and satisfied himself of the truth. The sandy soil exhibited its usual dry, parched appearance, but on scraping the surface a little the moisture was at once rendered apparent. Perhaps some of our geological readers will be able to say whether there is any similar instance of such a phenomenon on record.-Athenæum.

DARWINISM.

THE following papers were read to the British Association on this important and interesting question:

"Man v. the Animals: being a Counter-Theory to Mr. Darwin's as to the Origin of Species," by Archdeacon Freeman.The author said that the question raised by Darwin was already an international one. In England great names ranged themselves on either side; in France, De Quatrefages, Langel and others disallow the theory; while in Germany, Fritz Müller and Fraeckel warmly espouse it. But what is wanted is a compact counter-theory, accounting for all the phenomena on which Darwin's rests, while free from the difficulties which beset it. It is not enough to allege objections, however serious. Mr. Darwin confesses to them, but believes them to be not insuperable. Now, there is a very ancient view, entertained by Plato, and countenanced, to say the least, by Scripture, as to the process or order according to which the production of the world, the animal world included, took place in the Divine working. It is that certain ideals pre-existed, and that after these the creatures were formed. Man certainly was created after a pre-existing image, that of God himself. And of the higher animals, the lion, the ox, the eagle, we seem to be distinctly told that the ideal

existed before in the form of the cherubim. And man is there exhibited as on a par with them, and they with him. Especially, it is said that they were, in certain respects, anthropomorphous. They all had the likeness of a man, and the face and the hands of a man (Ezekiel i. 5, 8, 10). And their employment is described in the Revelation, iv. v. as that of conjointly glorifying God. Now, this mysterious representation only shadows forth with marvellous accuracy what science and observation teach us about the higher animals. They are anthropomorphous; their organisation, limbs, digitation, expression, intelligence, emotions, all are intensely human. But, whereas Darwin would account for this by supposing a common descent and slow graduation of the species with each other, we are thus helped to a widely different view. The purpose of all being to unite with man in glorifying God, whether by the exercise of common powers of action, feeling, and intelligence, or by aiding him, it is perfectly natural that they should have had impressed on them from the first a common type, both of bodily and mental organisation. It is an ennobling badge of brotherhood between creatures serving in their degrees the same purpose. The sum is then, the species, or great orders however, were created at once, as the Bible tells us, but with an affinity and uniformity of which a very sufficient account can be given. And this view does not exclude, but welcomes, the observed phenomena of "natural selection," considered as accounting for a certain degree of variation in the creatures. But it sternly defines that there are strict limits to that variation, that, as Mr. Ruskin says (Queen of the Air, 1869), "the species may mock us by deliberate imitation of each other." "The Difficulties of Darwinism," by the Rev. F. O. Morris. This paper was read by one of the Secretaries of the Section, in the absence of the author, and contained an enumeration of many facts which the author could not account for on the Darwinian hypothesis, but which Mr. Darwin himself and others have fully considered.

"Philosophical Objections to Darwinism and Evolution," by the Rev. Dr. M'Cann. After various preliminary remarks, Dr. M'Cann said that Prof. Huxley acknowledged that, in the present creation at any rate, no intermediate link bridges over the gap between man and the apes. But, this being so, evolutionism must be false, even according to Mr. Darwin himself. The hypothesis was also opposed to man's progress, ignoring every inducement that could be urged to stimulate man to do the right and true. Prof. Huxley's lecture "On the Physical Basis of Life" was severely handled, and considered to contain many untenable statements. He concluded by urging that evolutionism must be false on any supposition that may be adopted, and, consequently, ought to be rejected.

Prof. Huxley disclaimed any desire for controversy, but felt called upon to say something, as he had been personally alluded He would not notice the second paper (that of Mr. Morris), since it was a mere repetition of objections which had been an

to.

swered over and over again. It was one of the most annoying things to which men of science were subjected to be called upon incessantly to reply to arguments which had been completely shelved. With regard to Dr. M'Cann's paper, he would make some observations. He did not understand that " brotherly love" which seemed to him to be so often the synonym of a very different kind of emotion. He sometimes thought it not improbable that Abel was the first man of science and Cain the first theologian. Dr. M'Cann had come forward in the name of philosophy, but he (Prof. Huxley) protested, in the name of philosophy, against such shallow pseudo-philosophy as that which they had just heard. The view for which Dr. M'Cann had endeavoured to make him responsible was really that of the excellent and pious Bishop Berkeley, of Cloyne. Dr. M'Cann had started with the veracity of consciousness. Now, the formula of Descartes had been long ago exploded, as the author should have known. It was an entire fallacy in the way in which Dr. M'Cann had used it. A man may be conscious of a feeling that he calls brotherly love-so far the affirmation of consciousness may be trusted; but that it is really "brotherly love " is another question altogether. A single object, such as a marble, may be made, when applied to the fingers crossed one over the other, to give the impression of two objects. If the affirmation of consciousness were true in Dr. M'Cann's sense, it would be true that there were two objects, and not one only. Mr. Morris had caricatured Darwin's hypothesis, but Dr. M'Cann had not done this, for it was necessary to understand a matter before you could caricature it. Prof. Huxley had recently published a paper (his reply to Mr. Congreve on Comte's Philosophy), for which his friends told him he ought to receive the highest rewards the Church had to bestow. Dr. M'Cann ought to have been acquainted with that paper when he made the charges he had made. In that paper he had stated that he considered the question for and against free-will as a balanced one at the present time, and one which would probably always remain so. It was not right under those circumstances to call him a necessitarian or a materialist. The first paper, that by the Archdeacon, was a great contrast, from its honesty and the manner which characterised it. He had been delighted to hear the Archdeacon, for his way of looking at things was so novel that he should have to make quite a new pigeon-hole in this classification of men for his special reception. He had generally found that theologians hang on to certain dogmas or doctrinest till their fingers are burnt, and then, letting go, say it is of no importance, or was not meant in the sense which they have been contending for. Now, the Archdeacon did not do this, but was honest and consistent. As to his theory of the cherubim, it was essentially the same as the Platonic doctrine of Archetype, which has been advocated by Owen and Agassiz. He had had great pleasure in listening to the Archdeacon, though he need not sapy that he totally dissented from his views.

it

At the close of the discussion the President said that not any one of the three authors had shown any knowledge of what the Darwinian theory really was. The general notion that it taught that man was descended from the apes was quite false, since it did nothing of the kind.

ZOOLOGICAL REAPPEARANCE.

PROF. LOEWEL, of Stockholm, while dredging in the Strait of Tornea, discovered Zoophytes hitherto unknown among the existing fauna, but which show a close analogy to certain crinoids. Here, then, as Prof. Milne-Edwards remarks, is a real zoological re-appearance of animal forms which had completely disappeared from remote geological periods. What is the zoological or geological significance of this interesting fact? and are there many more secrets to be revealed from the bottom of the sea?

MICROSCOPICAL EXAMINATION OF DUST.

MR. J. B. DANCER has reported to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society that he had made some Microscopical Examinations of Dust collected in June, July, and August last, and also of the particles contained in the rain water after the long drought. He proposed to carry on observations during every month in the year, for the purpose of recording the average amount of solid matter deposited in a given area, and also as far as possible to ascertain the character of the deposits. The observations so far had shown, as might have been expected, that the dust in various localities, at different altitudes, and under other varying conditions, contained particles differing in magnitude, appearance, and quantity for the same superficial area. In every instance, molecular activity was abundant, but the animal life was very variable in amount, the largest number of moving organisms being in the dust collected at the lowest points; this was about 5 ft. above the surface of the earth. This dust also contained the largest proportion in magnitude and quantity of vegetable matter. These observations also showed that in thoroughfares where there were many animals engaged in the traffic, the majority of the light dust which when disturbed reached the average height of 5 ft., or about the level of a foot passenger's mouth, consisted of a large proportion of vegetable matter which had passed through the stomachs of animals, or which had suffered partial decomposition in some way or other. That was not an agreeable piece of information, but it was a fact. It showed the necessity, in a sanitary point of view, of the streets being well watered before the scavengers were allowed to commence operations; otherwise the light dust was only made to change its locality, and was not properly removed. It was not pleasant to contemplate the possibility of germs of disease being wafted along with that decaying matter, and inhaled by those whose condition might be favourable for its development.-Mechanics' Magazine.

Electrical Science.

GREAT INDUCTION COIL.

ONE of the greatest scientific wonders of the age is unquestionably the Great Induction Coil—or inductorium, as the German physicists term it at the Polytechnic Institution. It is an instrument of remarkable power and capacity, and possesses the highest scientific interest. In designing this induction coil, which is about six times as large as any previous production of the kind, Professor Pepper's object was to obtain an easily controlled source of electricity, combined with a degree of tension sufficient for the scenic requirements of the Polytechnic Institution. To Mr. Apps, of the Strand, is due the construction of the present powerful machine; but, although so extremely powerful, it is nevertheless perfectly safe to the manipulator, so carefully has every contingency of accident been guarded against. The machine consists of an ebonite barrel, 9 ft. 10 in. in length, supported at each end on two ebonite pillars. The barrel was made at the Silvertown Works, and is the largest ever turned out there. It contains the compound coil, and of itself weighs 477 lb., the whole machine weighing 15 cwt.

The primary wire is of copper of the highest conductivity, 0-0925 in. diam. (B.W.G., No. 13), and 3,770 yards in length; the number of revolutions of the primary wire round the soft iron core is 6,000, its arrangement being three, six, and twelve strands. The total resistance of the primary coil is 2-201400 British Association units; and the resistances of the primary conductors are respectively, for the three strands, 0·733800; for the six, 0.366945; for the twelve, 0.1834725 B.A. units. The soft iron core is composed of straight wires of very soft iron, each wire being 5 ft. in length, and 0.0625 in. in diameter. The diameter of the bundle of core wires is 4 in., and their weight 123 lb. The secondary wire is 150 miles in length, 0·015 in. (B. W. G., No. 29) diameter, and is covered with silk. The total weight of the wire is 606 lb., and its electrical resistance 33,560 B.A. units. This secondary coil is 4 ft. 2 in. long, and the insulation is calculated for safety at 95 per cent. beyond absolute requirement. The secondary wire is insulated from the primary by an ebonite tube 8 ft. in length and in. in thickness. The condenser is made with sheets of varnished paper and tinfoil, arranged in six parts, each containing 125 ft. super., or a total or 750 ft. super.

The machine was originally tried with a contact breaker detached from the great coil, and having an independent electromagnet; this worked well up to ten Bunsen cells with the great inductorium, but when the battery was increased to thirty or forty