many of the statements as to their authorship are erroneous. In addition to the three anti-Martinist tracts that Dr. Nicholson assigns to Nash, I am inclined to believe that 'An Almond for a Parrat' was written by him. This is the opinion of Mr. Payne Collier. The late Mr. Petheram (and no man was better able to judge), in his Introduction to the reprint of it in 1846, distinctly gives Nash as the author.

In a review in the Athenæum of the 4th of April, of Dr. Waddington's 'Congregational History,' an error is made respecting the Marprelate tracts which I take the opportunity to correct.

Referring to the ponderous volume" of the well-known Dr. John Bridges, published in 1587, the reviewer says, "It was answered in a bantering pamphlet, 'O read over John Bridges!' Cooper, Bishop of Winchester, also wrote a work against him, entitled 'An Admonition to the People of England.'"

Now the fact is, Dr. Bridges's book was answered by two pamphlets, the first called the Epistle, "Printed oversea in Europe within two furlongs of a Bounsing Priest," the second called the Epitome," Printed on the other hand of some of the Priests." These two were answered by Bishop Cooper in 1589, in his "Admonition to the People of England,' wherein are answered not onely the slanderous untruethes uttered by Martin the Libeller, &c." Cooper's work was answered by a tract called 'Hay any Worke for a Cooper.' This tract, the Epistle, and the Epitome, are evidently written by one hand. The language they are written in is as rude and unbecoming as the spirit is fierce and unchristian, and I cannot resist coming to the conclusion that Penry was the author of them.

Dr. Nicholson, in his communication, says he may return to the question of the authorship of these tracts on some other occasion. I trust he will, as the subject refers to one of the most important periods of our history, and was the means of the appearance of that immortal work, Hooker's Ecclesiastical Polity,'-a work which, independently of its subject, and considered merely as a composition, is, beyond comparison, the greatest work of the Elizabethan age, and whose existence must be coeval with our national language. GEORGE W. NAPIER.

NOTES FROM ST. PETERSBURG.

St. Petersburg, May 4, 1874. AMONG the numerous efforts to assist the faminestricken peasants of Samara are two books. One of them is a selection of the works of Pushkin, published, in a cheap form, at 75 kopeks (2s.) the copy, the printing and paper of which are most excellent. It is the most perfect edition of any of Pushkin's works that has yet appeared; the proofs having been read by four different persons, but seven errors were found to be corrected in the Errata. The selection was a matter of some difficulty, as it was necessary to restrict the book to a certain size, the proprietor of the copyright allow ing only ten sheets of his edition to be used. Together with the poems, there is printed a biography by Polevoi, and the criticisms of Bielinsky and Gogol. 10,000 copies were printed, and 4,800 roubles were immediately paid over to the Samara fund.

This is the beginning of a cheap series of Russian classics, which have hitherto been inaccessible to many on account of their high price. A selection of Lermontoff is now in the press, and will be followed by selections from the works of Gogol, Tourguénief, and others. The present volume bears on its cover the words "for the benefit of the Samarans." It is a curious fact that, the famine being officially over, and the subscriptions having been stopped, the edition would have been confiscated had the words "famine-stricken" been added, as at first proposed.

The other book is a thick octavo of 700 pages, called 'Skladtchina' ('Contribution'), and is a collection of small pieces, poetry and prose, by nearly all of the living Russian authors,-Count

Leo Tolstoi being the only one of importance who is not represented. Amidst a mass of trash there are some remarkable things, such as the little sketches by Gontcharof, Stchedrin, and Tourguénief. The little tale of Tourguénief, called 'Living Relics,' was originally written for his 'Memoirs of a Sportsman'; but was left out of that collection, and has never before been published. It is, however, fully worthy of the author of those memoirs in his best epoch. Tourguénief, at the same time with this, has published several other sketches, which have been read with avidity by a public which is eagerly watching for a new novel, on which he has for the last year been engaged: 'Pegas,'-which was printed for some benevolent purpose in Kazan, -the story of his dog; 'Ours,' a touching account of one of the days of the July revolution in Paris, where a workman left the barricades in order to bring intelligence to a German poet, whom none of the insurgents knew, that his infant child and nurse had been captured at the railway station, and put in a place of safety, and who, refusing any reward, and disclaiming any generous intention, as he only obeyed the orders of "Ours,"-risked being shot down or arrested. "Punin and Baburin,' in the last number of the European Messenger, is much longer and more developed, being the story of a Russian republican of the burgher class,-a class hitherto strange to Russian fiction. Baburin, the hero of the tale, is an overseer on an estate, but is constantly losing his situation from his opposition to the corporal punishment of the serfs and to the harsh measures which were given to them. Poor as he is, besides supporting a feeble friend, he meets a poor girl in distress, and educates her. Falling in love with her, he hopes to make her his wife, but she abandons him for some young man she has casually met; but when reduced again to despair by his desertion, she is fortunately found again by Baburin, who marries her. Getting some little position at St. Petersburg, where he lives in almost poverty, he is, of course, arrested for political conspiracy-as every one of liberal ideas was under the reign of Nicholas - and banished to Siberia, where he dies from fever, brought on by his enthusiasm on hearing of the decree liberating the serfs.

The pictures of Verestchagin, which were shown a year ago in London, have been, with some additions, on exhibition here, where they have produced a greater excitement and impression than any collection of pictures has ever done before. The public, which has become accustomed to the narrowness and stiffness of ordinary Russian Art, were surprised by the power of drawing, the accuracy of colour, and the atmospheric effects of Verestchagin's pictures. There was some talk of their being purchased by the Emperor; but, refusing, it is said, more advantageous offers from London, from reasons of patriotism, Verestchagin sold them to Botkin, the well-known tea-merchant and connoisseur of Moscow, for 90,000 roubles. They are to be open to the public, and never to leave Moscow. In spite of the almost unanimous approval of the public, there were ultra-patriots who found fault with Verestchagin for having represented the Russian soldier in what they considered an unpatriotic way. It was said that in his pictures the barbarians of Central Asia were too often victorious; and one of the very best pic tures, The Forgotten,' was especially blamed, as the body of no Russian soldier could be left in the desert to the vultures. Stung perhaps by these remarks, and also by hints that this was an unfair return for the money which he had received from the Government while making his studies in Central Asia, where, though nominally an army officer, he was allowed exemption from service and great freedom of movement, Verestchagin, in a fit of rage, cut from the frames, and is said to have destroyed, three of the best pictures-The Forgotten,' 'The Surrounded,' and 'The Attack on the Fortress.' Nearly all of the pictures have been photographed and photo-lithographed at Munich, and the sale of the photographs of the pictures which have been destroyed has not yet ceased.

Mention was made in a late number of the Athenæum of the death of Jacobi. Maurice Hermann Jacobi was born at Potsdam on the 21st of September, 1801. His parents desired that he should become an architect, and after completing his studies at the University of Göttingen, he established himself as architect of Königsberg, from whence, in 1835, he was called to be Professor of Civil Construction at Dorpat. Even while at Göttingen he had become much interested in galvanism, and in 1835 he published a pamphlet on the application of electro-magnetism to the movements of machines. At Dorpat he employed all his leisure in the study of electricity, and his papers were so highly appreciated that in 1837 he was called to St. Petersburg, and became in 1839 Adjunct Member of the Imperial Academy of Sciences, in 1842 Extraordinary Member, and in 1847 ordinary Member. The discovery of electrotypy, which he made in 1838, is that by which he is best known. The next year he applied electromagnetism to the movement of a boat which navigated the Neva with fourteen passengers, and at that time he made the first submarine electric torpedoes, and established a subterranean electrictelegraphic communication. Very many of his electric machines and instruments are preserved at the Academy of Sciences; but he devoted himself with too much ardour to inventing and perfecting his machines, to describe them, or to publish the results of his investigations; many precious acquisitions have thus been lost for science. One of his inventions in the domain of applied electricity, that of batteries of polarization or counter-batteries which attenuate the disturbing influences in telegraphic transmissions, is of great importance to us, as we owe to it alone the possibility of transmitting messages by the Transatlantic cable. His most important scientific work is that which he undertook in connexion with Lenz, on "the laws of electro-magnetism." Jacobi did not devote himself, however, entirely to electro-magnetism, and during the last years of his life was using all his efforts to bring about the unity of weights and measures, and much of what has already been done is owing to his exertions. His life, to the last, was devoted to science, and the very evening before his death, though enfeebled by a year of suffering, he was busy with new inventions for the practical application of polarizing batteries, about which, a short time before, he had addressed a paper from his sick-bed to the Academy of Sciences.

The library of Jacobi, consisting almost exclusively of books on mathematics and physical science, and especially rich in rare works and pamphlets, is to be sold by his family, and is now on exhibition.

Owing to the illness of the Grand Duke Nicholas Constantinovitch, the scientific expedition to the Amu-Darya has been delayed, but is now to leave in a few days under command of Col. Stolétoff. Major Herbert Wood, of the Royal Engineers, is the only foreigner accompanying the expedition.

S.

"THE TAMING OF THE SHREW.' Skipton Grammar School, May 2, 1874. IN your issue of to-day, you honour a paper of mine on 'The Taming of the Shrew' with a notice which, in all respects but one, is, I believe, accurate and impartial. The exception of that one, however, places every other point that is mentioned in a false light; and I shall be grateful to you if you will allow me to supply the omission. My paper was not, as might be supposed from your report, a setting forth of any theory of my own, but merely an endeavour to support one fully published and ably developed long since by Mr. J. Payne Collier. It was the feeling of the unjust way in which Mr. Dyce and others had summarily dismissed his valuable and undoubtedly truthful conclusions as to this play that led me to try to support him with such new arguments as had occurred to me. I did not, however, dwell at length on Mr. Collier's previous investigations; as I took it for granted that gentle

men who would publicly discuss the question would, of course, make themselves acquainted with them. Hence I merely mentioned the fact of Mr. Collier having preceded me, without enlarging on it. Unfortunately, I find I was quite wrong in my supposition. Mr. Furnivall evidently unaware of the extent of Mr. Collier's investigations, produced, as original, what he was pleased to call "exact lines of demarcation" between Shakspeare's work and his coadjutor's. These lines were merely Mr. Collier's statement, "that the scenes in which Katherine and Petruchio appeared together were the only ones written by Shakspeare," thrown into a tabular form, in which the acts and scenes were detailed. It had seemed to me that Mr. Collier's statement was amply full and accurate enough for all practical purposes: it is, in fact, more accurate in part than Mr. Furnivall's detailed scheme; hence I did not give anything in shape of a table of my own. My object in writing this letter is simply to ask you, by printing it, to call public attention to the fact that Mr. Collier did much work long since, which is now unfairly put aside or forgotten; and to express my personal pleasure in recognizing this fact, as increased by my having had, on other matters of some importance, to differ from that gentleman. As regards the special play in question I have, since sending my paper to the New Shakspere Society, tested Mr. Collier's division of it by the rhyme-test, and find it confirmed in every particular, including the Induction,' which is, of course, Shakspeare's. I have, in conclusion, to express my regret, if I could by a more special notice of Mr. Collier's work have saved Mr. Furnivall from this error. In the narrow limits of a paper, to be read in half an hour, it is not possible to include all one would like to as to such matters. F. G. FLEAY.

THE MOABITE INSCRIPTIONS.

Bodleian Library, Oxford, May 13, 1874.

I Do not propose to discuss in your columns who forged the inscriptions from Moab, a question fast degenerating into a national dispute between French and German professors, but I should like to point out that if, as seems likely, M. Ganneau should prove a certain Selim to be the culprit, this result will have little value, except to M. Shapira and those who believe in the documents impeached. It does not matter in the least who made them, if it can be shown, palæographically, that they can

not be true.

When the longest inscription (that published by Prof. Schlottmann, in the Journal of the German Oriental Society, 1872, part 2) was sent to me, in September, 1872, I, at once, stated that, for paleo

graphical reasons, it could not be genuine. To this opinion I still adhere. In this inscription are characters apparently the same as those on the Moabite stone, and, therefore, if so, of the ninth century, B.C. With these are others of the latest period of Phoenician, or rather Lybian writing, and some, too, which I do not remember having ever seen before. Now, I hold it simply impossible that, in a genuine inscription, there can be letters of ages so remote the one from the other, and these, too, intermixed in one and the same line.

It is the old story: the forger has done his work with only half-knowledge. He has been able to copy some letters correctly enough, but has betrayed himself by jumbling together characters varying in date by, perhaps, a thousand years.

That a distinguished scholar like Prof. Schlottmann should have been misled by so impudent a forgery is, however, matter for real regret.

W. S. W. VAux.

SIGNOR TOMMASEO. On the 1st of May, the most eminent of Italian critics and men of letters, Niccolò Tommaseo, expired. He was born at Sebenico, in Dalmatia, in 1802, and he was educated in his native country, and at Padua. At seventeen, he was already an author, writing Latin and Italian

verses, tragedies, translations, &c. In 1822, he became Doctor of Laws, and he commenced contributing to the Antologia, which Giampietro Vieusseux had founded at Florence. A Sceptic originally, he made the acquaintance of the philosopher Rosmini and of Manzoni, and their influence brought Tommaseo gradually round to Catholicism, of which he proved, in his later years, an even intolerant champion. His articles in the old Antologia drew attention to his critical powers; but after the suppression of that periodical, he was obliged to quit Tuscany, and he went to France, where he remained till 1839, when he removed to Venice. In the meanwhile, he had published his masterpiece, the 'Dizionario dei Sinonimi,' a book on Education, a novel, 'Fede e Bellezza,' and a collection of the popular songs of In the Tuscany, Corsica, Dalmatia, and Greece. In the years 1847-49, he took an active part in Italian politics. Having demanded reforms, he was arrested along with Manin, and prosecuted. On the 17th of March, 1848, the people delivered him and Manin from prison; and Tommaseo was made a Member of the Provisional Government, then Minister of Public Education and Worship, and, finally, Envoy at Paris of the Venetian Republic. After the fall of Venice, he went into exile, and sought an asylum first in Corfu, and in 1854 at Turin. He had now lost his sight. The events of 1859 led to his return to Tuscany, and he took up his abode at Lungarno delle Grazie, where he continued to toil till his death. Owing to his Republican opinions, he refused to accept any title or any Government employment. He lived by his pen, and throughout his life preserved a noble love of independence. His articles fill several volumes, and his criticism is minute, but subtle and someHis commentaries on Dante times profound. are esteemed, and his labours for the composition of the Vocabolario Universale' have been most useful.

Tommaseo was, before all things, a noble worker, and the city of Florence, by burying him with imposing pomp in the Church of Santa Croce, has done homage to his talents, his integrity, and his industry, perhaps also to his piety.

A. DI GUBERNATIS.

Literary Gossip.

THE public will hear with interest that the collection of "Speeches and other Unpublished Political Writings of the late Lord Lytton," which the Messrs. Blackwood have in the press,

will be accompanied by a Biographical Memoir and a Review of his political career, of considerable length, by his Son.

the several Medical Officers of Health, a Report on Naval Expenditure, from the pen of Sir Spencer Robinson, and a letter respecting the System of Taxation in Foreign Countries as to Beer and Malt. A Bill headed "Registration of Births and Deaths. is the only one of which the name betokens anything of possible national importance. There is a despatch respecting Suez Canal dues and International Tonnage among the Papers by Command; and there is a Report on the "Admission of University Candidates, Scientific Corps," together with Minutes of Evidence before the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science.

THE Rev. A. H. Sayce, of Oxford, has in the press a volume on the 'Principles of Comparative Philology.' An attempt will be made to establish several new conclusions but the work will mainly be a criticism of current philological theories and assumptions. It will be dedicated to Prof. Max Müller.

THE Hunterian Club has just sent out to its members its first issue of publications for 1872-3, which includes Samuel Rowlands's Diogines Lanthorne,' 1607, and 'A Fooles Bolt is Soone Shott,' 1614; the Bannatyne MS., Part I.; Alexander Craig's Poeticall Essayes,' 1604, 'Poeticall Recreations,' 1623, 'Pilgrime and Heremite,' 1631, 'Miscellaneous Poems,' with an Introduction by Dr. David Laing, and Indexes and Glossary to all Craig's works. 'Sir Thomas Overburies Vision,' 1616, which was announced for this first issue, is not quite ready. It will be sent out, before long, with the second issue for this year.

A NEW edition of Messrs. Chambers's Encyclopædia is ready. It may be a month of two, however, before it is in the hands of the public. It will be revised throughout.

MR. ROUTLEDGE writes to us :

This con

A NEW house is to be built immediately at Cambridge, to receive those ladies who come into residence to join the classes of the University Professors and other lecturers. A site has been obtained at Newnham, on ground belonging to St. John's College. "Newnham Hall" will take the place of "Merton Hall," and will be governed, as the earlier foundation was, by Miss Clough; it will contain between twenty and thirty students, or more if funds will permit. It is hoped that the new building may be available before the end of the year.

MESSRS. HANSARD's monthly list of Parliamentary Papers for April betokens a quiet time. It contains 61 Reports and Papers, 29 Bills, and 29 Papers by Command. Among the first, we note a Return of Appointment of

THE late Chancellor of the Exchequer, speaking in a debate at University College, the other day, on cheap literature, is reported to have said that an edition of 'Adam Bede' had been published at five shillings. No such edition was ever published, but there has been for some time an edition at a yet lower price.

Ar a meeting of the Historical Manuscripts Commission on May 7, a letter was read from Mr. C. T. Martin, of H.M. Record Office, giving a brief account of the Archives of Canterbury Cathedral, and it was resolved that the Rev. J. C. Robertson, Canon of Canterbury, be invited to contribute a Report on the Archives, with the assistance of Mr. J. B. Sheppard, of Canterbury. It is expected that this Report will form a very interesting portion of next year's publication of the

Commission. The archives have recently been examined by Mr. Sheppard, and a large number of interesting charters and other documents which had been mislaid have been rediscovered. The series of charters ranges from the Saxon period, and contains a few which were not printed by Kemble, and a very large number of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. There are also many documents referring to the monasteries of Christchurch and St. Augustines, contemporary copies of political documents relating to the civil wars. in the reigns of Henry the Third and Edward the Second, and letters from most of the sovereigns of England.

A CORRESPONDENT confirms what we have

written about Zadkiel, and says that Capt. Morrison was a Member of the Committee of the London Astrological Society, which flourished about the same time as the London Phrenological Society, and consisted of many men of attainments. Tao-Sze is connected with another of Capt. Morrison's designs for the advancement of science and the improvement of the world. He was the restorer and Grand Master in this country of the Tao-Sze, a secret society intended to be of immense power, and to outshine the Freemasons, but which, most probably, by his death, is reduced to two members, and inanition.

A SHORT time ago an effort was made to obtain subscriptions for the purpose of erecting a monument to the memory of Father Prout (Mr. F. Mahony) in Shandon churchyard, Cork, where he is buried. The movement, which originated with Mr. T. F. Dillon Croker and Mr. Sandford, the editor of the Cork Constitution, was, we regret to say, unsuccessful. We understand that not more than about 187. was promised to Mr. Croker and Mr. Sandford.

A RUMOUR is afloat that Mr. Disraeli's Government proposes to make a grant of a large sum of money towards the funds of Owens College, Manchester.

THE first number of a new monthly serial is to be published on July 1st, to be entitled The Literary Mart. It will address itself chiefly to booksellers, and especially to those who deal for the most part in old and scarce books.

MR. PEACOCK's forthcoming novel, John Markenfield,' enters into political questions. The scene opens in Lincolnshire, but the hero and heroine quit the fen country for America, where they arrive during the Civil War.

from the north of England baronets of the name; and the father of his country is as entirely without a pedigree as the obscurest democrats among us." Since this rage for pedigrees has sprung up, there is no end to the delusions that possess the minds of certain families in America with respect to property supposed to belong to them in the old country. Thus, "the Houghton family, not many years ago, sent an agent over to England to establish their claims to the property of their ancestors, who came to this country in 1640, and were not a little surprised to find that there was no property waiting for them to step into it. Among others the Willoughby and Ingraham families formed associations for the purpose of investigating similar claims; and the Holt family, when they assumed that they were the heirs of the family of Chief Justice Holt, with singular credulity, based their claim upon a pedigree which was entirely without foundation.'

M. PAUL LACROIX, better known under his assumed name of "Le Bibliophile Jacob," has lately presented some valuable MSS. to the library of the Arsenal at Paris. These consist, for the most part, of autograph works by the Abbé Brizard, a literary man of some distinction towards the end of the eighteenth century. The collection, which is in about sixty volumes, comprises not only the published works of Brizard, such as his 'Massacre de la SaintBarthélemy,' 'Éloge de l'Abbé Mably,' and 'L'Amour de Henri IV. pour les Lettres,' but various others which have not yet seen the light, owing, perhaps, to the troubles of the time in which they were written. Among these unpublished works are mentioned an extensive history of the reign of Louis XI., a sketch of the history of Henry IV., a literary history of the reign of Henry IV., political treatises, historical notes, and studies.

DR. R. PISCHEL, a pupil of Albrecht Weber, has in the press a critical edition of Hemachandra's Prakrit Grammar. Dr. Pischel has

obtained a satisfactory text by the collation of the India Office MS. and the two Bodleian MSS., with the Bombay printed edition mentioned in the Athenæum of May 9.

THE Home Journal (New York) has some remarks upon the rage for pedigree hunting which has been so prevalent in the United States during the last two generations. It mentions the origin of several conspicuous families in the States, tracing them back to the mother country, and then remarks of one of them, the most interesting of all to students of history, "Late investigations have completely disproved the formerly received genealogy of the Washingtons, which derived them

IN 1871 the Sociedad Economica de Amigos del Pais de Valencia, Spain, adjudged a premium to Señor Ferrer y Bigné, for his tract upon the Poets and Poetry of Valencia of the thirteenth, fourteenth, and fifteenth centuries; it has now been printed, and forms a compact volume of eighty-six pages. It is hardly a critical study of early Lemosin and Valencian poetry, and is not an exhaustive work, but rather a commentary and biographical notice, with extracts from the works of over seventy

poets, who wrote in the Lemosin and Valencian dialects during those three centuries. It is to be hoped that Señor Ferrer will continue his labours, and give us notices of, and extracts from, those poets who wrote in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Cataluña is a great manufacturing province, and the Catalans are proverbially the Yorkshiremen of Spain. Still Chivalry, in spite of Cervantes and his satire, flourishes in the capital, Barcelona. The "Jochs Florals," or Floral games, have for the last fifteen years (in May) found their enthusiastic votaries; and the "Gay Science" yet flourishes in the city of the "Old Counts." There is a Queen of the Revels appointed to decorate the fortunate winners of the golden rose, the silver palm, and other prizes. More than 250 poetic and prose compositions have been submitted for this year's "Revel"; all are and must be in the Lemosin dialect of Cataluña only.

THE New York Evening Post of April 14, quoting in full Mr. Crosby Lockwood's recent letter in our columns, respecting the tomb of Mrs. Barbauld, at Stoke Newington, remarks, "This little extract indicates an important point of unlikeness between old-world and new-world manners. It would be very difficult to find an American who would have the courage to recommend a fellow-citizen to keep his great-aunt's tomb in better repair"!

THE author of 'Geoffrey's Wife' writes to

us:

"I trust you will permit me in self-justification to say that I had never even heard of the novel to which your critic refers. The similarity of my own plot to that of 'Erma's Engagement' is, therefore, purely accidental. May I mention also, as a matter of fact, that my hero's speech is made nearly a year after entering Parliament, not ‘in This is true, but the speech is a maiden one, and, as far as we can make out, it is made at the beginning of the session, the gentleman having been elected late in the previous one.

the first few weeks.'

WE note, with regret, the untimely death, at the age of thirty-two, of Dr. R. Cowie, of Lerwick. Few who have in recent years visited "Ultima Thule" have failed to experience the personal or vicarious attentions of the author of 'Shetland and the Shetlanders,' on a new edition of which Dr. Cowie was engaged at the time of his death.

Works,' for the first time combined in one pubA NEW edition of 'Margaret Fuller's Life and lication, is to be brought out at Boston, U.S.

THE Hexaglot Bible, of Messrs. Dickinson & Higham, which we spoke of some months back, has been completed.

THE proposed celebration of the fourhundredth anniversary of the introduction of the art of printing into this country has been postponed.

SCIENCE

OCEAN TEMPERATURE.

THE temperature-survey of the Atlantic, between the parallels of 38° N. and 38° S., which has been successfully carried out by the Challenger, affords a vast body of data for the solution of the question of Ocean Circulation, which it was one of the special objects of this Expedition to elucidate. It may, in fact, be truly characterized as the most important single contribution yet made to Terrestrial Physics; making known to us the thermal stratification of an oceanic area, which may be roughly

estimated at fifteen millions of square miles, and which has an average depth of at least 15,000 feet. And I shall, therefore, be glad to be allowed to point out what I regard as the bearing of its results upon the doctrine which my earlier share in these inquiries had led me to advocate.

This doctrine is, briefly, as follows:1. That putting aside the horizontal circulation produced by the action of winds upon the surface of the ocean, there is a vertical circulation maintained by opposition of temperature between the Polar and Equatorial areas; the whole mass of water contained in any ocean-basin that is in free communication with both, being divided into two strata, of which the lower constantly, though slowly, flows over the ocean-bed from the Pole towards the Equator, whilst the upper is as constantly flowing slowly from the Equator towards either Pole.

2. That the primum mobile of this circulation is the action of surface-cold upon the water of the Polar area; which, by reducing its bulk, increases its specific gravity down to its freezing-point at about 270; so that a column of polar water weighs heavier than a column of Equatorial water of the same height. As excess of downward pressure involves excess of lateral pressure, there will thus be a bottom-outflow of cold water from the Polar area, producing a general downward movement, and a surface indraught; and the water thus drawn in will be cooled and will descend in its turn. On the other hand, in the Equatorial area, the draught ing-off of the warm surface-water and the constantly renewed arrival of polar bottom-water, will produce a general upward movement, which, by bringing the glacial water under the influence of solar heat, will maintain that difference of weight between the Polar and Equatorial columns (their levels being assumed as equal), on which the maintenance of this circulation depends. I have on. several occasions exhibited an experimental illustration of this doctrine; the continued application of surface-heat and surface-cold at the two extremities of a long trough filled with water producing, (a) a slow movement of the upper stratum towards the cold end; (b) its sudden descent when subjected to the influence of cold; (c) its creepingflow along the bottom towards the warm end; and (d) its gradual ascent there towards the surface.

3. That the amelioration of the climate of North-western Europe, which has been recently proved beyond all doubt to be mainly dependent on a north-east movement of ocean-water, does not depend (as has been usually taught by geographers and meteorologists) on the extension of the real Gulf-stream, or Florida current, to the North Atlantic; but that it is the result of the northward movement of the whole upper stratum, produced, not by any vis a tergo, but by a vis a fronte, not by the persistence of the propulsive force of the trade-winds, but by the surface indraught towards the Polar area, which is the necessary complement of the bottom outflow. I based this conclusion upon the fact, that while all observations show that the true Gulf-stream dies out as a current in the mid-Atlantic, the course of the isotherms laid down by Dr. Petermann indicates that the northward movement extends all across the Atlantic, from the British Islands to Newfoundland; and further, that the depth of this movement, as shown by the excess of temperature it carries as far as the Faroe Islands, extends to from 600 to 700 fathoms. That such an enormous body of ocean-water should be put in northward movement by such a little rivulet as the real Gulf-stream is in comparison with it, especially considering that the last direction of the Gulfstream, when it can be recognized as a current, is nearly due east, and that its depth does not then exceed 50 fathoms,-is to me inconceivable.

Now this doctrine of a general vertical circulation, accepted as theoretically sound by such authorities as Sir John Herschel, Sir George Airy, Sir William Thomson, and (I am now permitted to add) M. Dumas, led me to hazard the following predictions:

4. That in all the great ocean - basins, the general bottom-temperature would approach that

of the Polar area, in proportion to the freedom of their communication with it. Previous physicists had predicated the existence of local "polar currents"; my prediction involved the uniform spread of glacial water over the sea-bed. And thus I expected, (a) that the bottom-temperature of the South Atlantic would be lower than that of the North Atlantic, in consequence of its greater freedom of communication with the Polar area; (b) that the bottom - temperature of the North Atlantic would probably not be found below 35°, except near the line of the main Arctic or Antarctic underflow; (c) that the bottom-temperature of the South Atlantic would probably be as low as 32°; and (d) that the influence of the stronger Antarctic glacial flow would very probably extend to the north of the Equator.

5. That the depression of the bottom-temperature would be found to depend, not upon a mere glacial stream of a few hundred feet in depth, such as might be regarded as a return from the Polar areas of water propelled towards them by wind-currents; but upon the creeping flow of the whole under-stratum, of from 1,000 to 2,000 fathoms' thickness.

6. That as the Arctic and Antarctic underflows

must meet at or near the Equator, whilst the surface-stratum is continually being draughted off thence towards each Pole, there will be a continual ascent of glacial water under the Line, showing itself by the nearer approach of cold water to the surface in the inter-tropical than in the extra-tropical zones.

Now all the foregoing predictions have been most signally verified by the Challenger temperature-soundings. For in the North Atlantic the whole mass of water, from 900 fathoms down to a bottom at an average depth of 2,500 fathoms, has a temperature ranging downwards from 40° to 35.5°; and the reduced temperature of this enormous mass of 1,600 fathoms thick and 3,600 miles wide shows that it must, for the most part at least, have come thither from the Polar area. In the whole breadth of the South Atlantic, the isotherm of 40° lies at a depth of only from 400 to 500 fathoms; below which to the bottom, averaging about 2,400 fathoms, the temperature ranges downwards to less than 33°, the deepest stratum below 35° having an average thickness of 600 fathoms. Thus it is clear that in both oceans there must be an underflow of the entire lower stratum from the Pole towards the Equator; since if there were no such underflow, but a stationary condition of the deeper stratum, such as exists in inland seas, the temperature of all but the surface-stratum in each locality will be (as numerous recent observations indicate) the isocheimal, or mean winter temperature, of that locality.

Again, the upward movement under the Equator is indicated by three distinct facts:-1. That Polar water is met with much nearer the surface than in any other part of the area explored by the Challenger; the isotherm of 40° there lying within 300 fathoms from the surface, and the whole mass of water thence to the bottom at 2,475 fathoms, where its temperature sinks to 32:4°, being unmistakably polar. 2. That the surfacetemperature is thus kept down to a much lower level than it reaches in shallower waters or in inland seas, where there is no cold bottom-water to come up and reduce it. 3. That the specific gravity of the surface-water of the Equatorial band has the low standard which the bottomwater has brought thither from the Polar areas; whilst in extra-tropical seas it is considerably higher, having been raised by the prolonged evaporation to which it has been subjected in moving towards them.

I cannot see in what other way these facts can possibly be accounted for, or in what other way such a continual upward movement can be sustained, than by the continual draughting-off of the surface stratum. And I have high dynamical authority for asserting, that the action of the tradewinds in draughting the Equatorial current westwards would not produce this upward movement of bottom-water since this sweeping-off of surface

water will simply give occasion to the horizontal circulation returning into itself, which we are able distinctly to trace round the Sargasso Sea.

But the Challenger temperature - observations bring into view a most important part of the tradewind circulation, which was previously quite unsuspected. The section between Bermuda and Halifax, and the western part of the section between Bermuda and the Azores, are distinguished from the section taken 15° to the south, by the extraordinary thickness of the sub-surface stratum having a temperature of between 60° and 65o. This warm layer appears to me to be most probably the reflux of that part of the Equatorial current which strikes the chain of West India Islands, the Peninsula of Florida, the coast of Georgia, &c., without ever passing into the Gulf of Mexico; being the Atlantic counterpart of the Kuro Siwo, or Japan current, which is produced by the Pacific equatorial. Now the presence of this warm stratum, though not making itself perceptible at the surface in this latitude, gives to the north-moving upper layer of Atlantic water a great accession of heating power; as is shown by its power of resisting surfacecooling in its flow towards the Arctic Sea. If it were not drawn thither by the general oceanic circulation, it would simply return southwards round the Azores, to join the feeders of the Equatorial current. If, on the other hand, the warm stratum carried northwards by the Arctic indraught had no greater thickness than that of the South Atlantic, its ameliorating influence on our climate

would be much less than it is.

While still retaining my opinion, then, that the true Gulf-stream, or Florida current, has very little direct influence on the climate of North-western Europe, I am now disposed to attach more importance than I previously did to the trade-wind circulation, in bringing as far north as lat. 40° a large body of warm water, there to be taken up and carried onwards by an entirely distinct agency, which would continue to operate, though not as efficaciously, if the whole Equatorial current were to pass on (by the subsidence of Central America) into the Pacific.

Another point of great interest brought out by the Challenger soundings, is the continuity of the cold band which separates the Gulf-stream from the United States coast, with the deep cold strata beneath the Gulf-stream, as had been previously indicated by the U.S. Coast Surveyors. This is most remarkable near Halifax, where a bottomtemperature of 35° is encountered in water of only 83 fathoms' depth. Now this fact (with

two others of a like kind I have obtained from other sources) is at once accounted for, on the doctrine that the cold deep stratum is moving from the Pole towards the Equator. For just as the Gulf-stream that is flowing northwards from the Equator carries with it an excess of easterly momentum that gives it an eastward direction, so the cold under-flow brings from the north a deficiency of easterly momentum, which will consequently give it a westerly set, causing it to flow up the slopes of the American coast.

I submit, then, that, so far, the doctrine of a General Oceanic Circulation, sustained by antago nism of Temperature alone, is fully supported by the Challenger observations.

WILLIAM B. CARPENTER.

THE EXODUS OF THE ISRAELITES. London Institution, May 2, 1874. WHEN I was at Cairo in the beginning of last March, on my way back from Jebel-en-Nur, which I identify with Mount Sinai, I was informed by Prof. Brugsch, the distinguished Egyptologist, that it was radically erroneous to imagine the Children of Israel, in their Exodus, to have crossed the Red Sea, whether this be the Gulf of Suez as is generally supposed, or the Gulf of Akaba as I contend; for that the sea through which the fugitives passed was the Serbonian Lake near Mount Casius, in the north-east of Egypt. Upon this point he told me there was no possible room for doubt. Egyptian hieroglyphical inscriptions identify Rameses, whence the Israelites commenced their flight, with

The coolness with which the erudite Professor expounded all these matters to me was quite refreshing. Repeatedly did he assure me that he was not expressing any opinion of his own it is no matter of opinion; the inscriptions speak for themselves. And he was so obliging as to look them up from the immense collection of materials he is amassing for a Geographical Dictionary, on which he has long been engaged, in order that, as he said, I might read them myself. As my knowledge of hieroglyphics, however, is almost limited to what I learned from Dr. Thomas Young's discovery before M. Champollion's system was invented, I was content to take Prof. Brugsch's word for everything being as he stated; though, at the same time, I could have no difficulty in recognizing the bridge over which the Israelites crossed the Pelusiac arm of the Nile, with the crocodiles in the river, as depicted in one of the pieces shown to me.

I was given to understand that it would be some considerable time before the particulars of this interesting discovery would be made known to the world; but from a letter from Cairo, published in the Times of the 28th ult., I perceive that Prof. Brugsch, stimulated apparently by my visit to him, has just read a paper before a Society in that city, in which he has publicly enunciated what he had so kindly imparted to me privately.

From the printed report of that paper I gather that its author repudiates altogether the expression "Yam Suf," or "Red Sea" of the Scriptures, for the reason that it occurs only in Moses's Song in the fifteenth chapter of Exodus, which was composed a long time after the occurrence"; whereas

in the true historical narrative there is only mention made in a general way of the Sea,' which was the Mediterranean." My impression however is, though of course I may be mistaken, that Prof. Brugsch showed me some characters, which he read "Yam Sufa," as being the name of the body of water through which the Israelites passed.

It may be expedient to explain that the expression in the original Hebrew text translated "Red Sea" is "Yam Suf," that is to say, the "Sea of Suf," this being the denomination of the sea "in the land of Edom" of 1 Kings ix. 26, on the shore of which was Ezion-Geber, where Solomon, King of Israel, in conjunction with Hiram, King of Tyre, made a navy of ships to go to Ophir. And as the Hebrew word "Edom' means "red," the name of this "Edom" Sea was, in accordance with the custom of the Tyrians or Phoenicians, and, after their example, of the Greeks, translated "Erythræan" or "Red" Sea; and this term, though in the first instance belonging to the Gulf of Akaba alone, became applied to the entire Arabian Gulf, and thence was eventually extended to the seas washing the whole coast of Arabia, and even to the Indian Ocean; just as, in later ages, the names Atlantic" and "Pacific," which belonged in the first instance to the seas on the west coasts of Africa and America respectively, have been extended to the entire oceans of the two hemispheres. Prof. Brugsch says, however, that the "Red Sea" is named only in Moses's Song, and that in the historical narrative of the Exodus mention is made in a general way of "the Sea" alone. But on this I feel myself called on to remark that the expression "Yam Suf" occurs in more than one place besides Moses's Song in connexion with the passage of the Israelites through the sea. For instance, in Exodus xiii. 16, 17, it is said that "God led the Israelites, not by the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near... but God led the people about by the way of the wilderness of the Yam Suf;" and in Exodus xv. 22, after Moses's Song is ended and the historical narrative is resumed, it is said, "And [wrongly translated 'so'] Moses brought Israel from the

Yam Suf, and they went out into the Wilderness of Shur." Further, in Numbers xxxiii. 8, after it has been said that "they departed from before Pihahiroth, and passed through the midst of the Sea into the wilderness," it is stated, in verse 10, that "they removed from Elim, and encamped by the Yam Suf."

The report in the Times adds that Mariette Bey has given his adherence to the conclusions of Prof. Brugsch, whom he considers to have adduced arguments "short and few, but irresistibly solid," in support of his theory; which theory, he says, “explains all difficulties hitherto experienced, and takes away every stumbling-block."

It remains to be seen what the members of the Ordnance Survey of the Peninsula of the traditional Mount Sinai will say to these novel views, they having, in their recent controversy with me (see the Times of April 3rd and 9th), appealed to "the testimony of history and of hieroglyphic monuments." For my own part, as I have not the same faith as they have in the hieroglyphic monuments as hitherto interpreted, I am not made at all uneasy by Prof. Brugsch's reading from them of the Scripture history. At the same time, I may remark that, assuming for the sake of argument the correctness of his theory, there might be a means of reconciling it with mine, which places Mount Sinai in the east country" beyond the Land of Edom and its sea-the Red (Edom) Sea, or Gulf of Akaba; whereas Prof. Brugsch's views appear to be utterly irreconcilable with those of the Ordnance Surveyors and the traditionists, who place that mountain in the peninsula between the Gulfs of Akaba and Suez, far away to the south of the "south country."

SOCIETIES.

CHARLES BEKE.

ROYAL-May 7.-W. Spottiswoode, Treas. and V.P., in the chair.-The list of names of candidates recommended for election was read: I. L. Bell, W. T. Blanford, H. B. Brady, T. L. Brunton, M.D., Prof. W. K. Clifford, A. W. Franks, Prof. O. Henrici, P. G. Hewett, J. E. Howard, Sir H. S. Maine, LL.D., E. J. Mills, Rev. S. J. Perry, H. W. Rumsey, M.D., A. R. C. Selwyn, and Major C. W. Wilson. The following papers were read: 'Preliminary Experiments on a Magnetized Copper Wire,' by Messrs. B. Stewart and A. Schuster,-Addition to the paper on Volcanic Energy,' by Mr. R. Mallet, and Note on some Winter Thermometric Observations in the Alps,' by Dr. Frankland.

GEOGRAPHICAL. May 11.-Sir Bartle Frere, President, in the chair.-Sir John Glover read a paper On the Volta Expedition, during the late Ashanti Campaign.'-Sir Garnet Wolseley also spoke.

ASTRONOMICAL.-May 8.-Sir G. B. Airy, Astronomer-Royal, V.P., in the chair.-Prof. Otto Struve read a paper 'On the Irregularities in the proper Motion of Procyon.' He said that last year Prof. Auwers, of Berlin, had expressed grave doubts as to the possibility of the minute companion of Procyon being sufficiently large to account for the observed irregularities in the motion of the principal star. He had calculated that it would be necessary to assume for Procyon a mass eighty times as great as that of our sun, and for the perturbating companion a mass at least five times as great as that of our sun. He had further calculated that if the minute companion were the perturbating body, it should, at the beginning of this year, occupy a position angle 9° or 10° greater than that occupied by it last year, whereas if it were only a small star situated in the neighbourhood, the observed proper motion of Procyon would carry it forward, so as to diminish the position angle of the companion by about 4°. On recently examining Procyon, he had found that the companion had moved forward during the year from a position angle of 8740, till it now occupied a position angle of 96°. He was therefore disposed to think that there could now no longer be any doubt that the minute companion is the pertur

No

bating body, which accounts for the irregularities in the motion of the primary. Mr. Glaisher gave an account of some manuscript volumes of twelvefigure logarithms which have recently been presented to the Society by the executors of the late Mr. Thompson, of Greenock. The table of logarithms of numbers extends as far as 120,000. account has been left of the way in which Mr. Thompson obtained the logarithms of the prime numbers, but, from internal evidence, Mr. Glaisher was inclined to think that they had been independently calculated. He attached great value to the manuscripts. No twelve-figure logarithms have as yet been published. Mr. Glaisher estimated that the cost of printing these tables would be about 1,000l.

GEOLOGICAL.-April 29.-J. Evans, Esq., President, in the chair. Mr. W. Shone was elected a Fellow. The following communications were read: 'On the Gault of Folkestone,' by Mr. F. G. H. Price, and 'On the Cretaceous Rocks of Beer Head and the adjacent Cliff-sections; and on the relative Horizons therein of the Warminster and Blackdown Fossiliferous Deposits,' by Mr. C. J. A. Meyer.

ZOOLOGICAL.-May 5.-Dr. E. Hamilton, V.P., in the chair. The Secretary read a Report on the additions made to the Menagerie during April, amongst which were a Vigne's Sheep (Ovis Vignii), presented by Capt. Archibald ; a White-cheeked Flying Squirrel (Pteromys leucogenys), presented by Mr. A. Gower; a new Kangaroo (Halmaturus luctuosus), deposited by Signor L. M. d'Albertis; and four Bladder-nosed Seals, presented by Capt. D. Gray and Capt. A. Gray.-Mr. Sclater made some remarks on the Cassowary in the Gardens, hitherto called Kaup's Cassowary, which, it appeared, ought to bear the name Cassuarius Papuensis.-Mr. Sclater announced that Government had consented to send a naturalist to Ker

guelen's Land, to accompany the Astronomical Expedition shortly proceeding there, and that the Rev. A. E. Eaton had been selected by the Royal Society for the post.-Mr. Blanford exhibited and

made remarks on a series of heads of the Ibex of

Persia, which he considered to be referable to Capra ægagrus.-Papers and communications were read: by Mr. A. H. Garrod, 'On the Anatomy of the Columbæ,' in which a new arrangement of that group of birds was proposed, based upon certain points not hitherto sufficiently investigated,from Dr. J. Haast, on a new species of Euphysetes (Euphysetes Pottsi), a remarkably small Catodont Whale, which had occurred on the coast of New Zealand, from Mr. F. Moore, on Diurnal Lepidoptera collected in Cashmere by Capt. R. B. Reed, 12th Regiment, with descriptions of new species, from Mr. A. G. Butler, containing a complete list of the known Diurnal Lepidoptera of the South Sea Islands,-by Mr. H. Saunders, on the Grey-capped Gulls, in which several species hitherto confounded were distinguished,-by Dr. A. Günther, entitled, 'A Contribution to the Fauna of Savage Island,' in which several new lizards peculiar to this remote Pacific Island were described, and other animals found in it were mentioned, from Dr. J. S. Bowerbank, being the sixth part of his 'Contributions to a General History of the Spongiada,'-and, by Mr. R. B. Sharpe, on a small collection of birds made in Bulama, one of the Bissagos Islands, West Africa, by Lieut. Bulger.

ENTOMOLOGICAL-May 4.-Sir S. S. Saunders in the chair. The Entomological Society of the Netherlands presented a well-executed medal in honour of M. S. C. Snellen von Vollenhoven, on his retirement from the office of President, which he had held for twenty years.-Messrs. G. T. Porritt and H. Goss were elected Members.—Mr. Butler exhibited an example of arrested development in a peacock butterfly, caused by the tail of the pupa having become detached during the process of emerging; the right wings being completely developed, whilst those on the left side were not developed at all, the pupa case remaining attached