Oxus. At the time when the river emptied itself into the Caspian the conditions of its régime were such that the volume and velocity of its summer or flood water were sufficient to clear away annually from its bed the deposits of mud resulting from the smaller volume of its winter course. From certain data it is concluded that the difference of the delivery of water between winter and summer is as one to three: thus the bed would not undergo any deterioration, its course would remain unchanged, and the river would continue to discharge itself into the Caspian. But, as soon as the volume and velocity of its summer waters were diminished by the action of irrigation canals, those compensatory arrangements of Nature would be upset, and a proportion of the muddy deposits of winter would escape the annual scouring. In course of time bars would form in the bed of the river, and in the end prevent it extending its course to the Caspian. That the Oxus has changed its lower course is proved by numerous historical documents.

Antiquity of the Divining-Rod.—A paper on "Rabdomancy" (or the use of the "divining-rod") and "Belomancy" (or divination by means of arrows) was read by Miss A. W. Buckland. According to the author, the staff as a sceptre was probably a later form of the horn which was thus used in prehistoric times, and in that character adorned the heads of gods. From this use of rods or horns arose a veneration for them as possessing the power of healing. Hence their use by magicians, whose chief instruments have always been a ring and a staff. These symbols conjoined are found in Egyptian, Assyrian, and Peruvian sculptures, and may be traced in some of the stone circles of Britain and in the shape of ancient Irish brooches. Belomancy, or divination by marked arrows, said to be of Scythian origin, was practised in Babylon, Judea, and Arabia, and traces of it may still be found in the popular tales of Russia and Siberia. "That the arts of magic and divination are a remnant of pre-Aryan religion is proved," said the author, "by their present existence among aboriginal non-Aryan races; and they might even be used as a test of race, so that those who in the counties of Somerset and Cornwall claim the power of divination by the rod might possibly have some remote affinity with the aboriginal inhabitants of Britain."

The Clinical Thermoscope.—Dr. Seguin, of this city, has devised an ingenious little instrument, called the clinical Thermoscope, to be used as an aid in diagnosis. It is employed for detecting the variations of temperature on the surface of the body, and estimating the rate of radiation going on therefrom.