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It is proposed that a school of hygiene shall be established at the University of Michigan, and the State Legislature is about to be asked to authorise the necessary expenditure. The scheme was suggested by the State Board of Health. The school would include in its curriculum climatological studies, air analyses and ventilation.

Hermes took a fragment of a specimen of Gadus callarias, which had been made strongly phosphorescent in this manner, to the laboratory of Councillor Koch; and Dr. Frank, a pupil of the latter, was enabled to isolate it after a few days. This is undoubtedly a new species. Like Dr. Fischer's Bacillus, it can be transferred upon sterilised fish, and after forty-eight hours it emits an emerald-green light; the sea-water is also rendered phosphorescent. A point of difference is that the Bacillus of Dr. Fischer develops best in a high temperature (20°-22°), while Examined that of Dr. Hermes develops better in a low one. microscopically, the latter is much smaller than the former. Dr. Hermes has given it the name of Bacterium phosphorescens.

LAST week there was a Convention of Photographers in the Hall of the Society of Arts, and the attendance was good and representative. The proceedings in the morning were opened by a few remarks from Capt. Abney, the President, who, in the afternoon, delivered a more elaborate address, projecting on a screen a succession of diagrams and pictures illustrative of his statements. At a dinner in the evening the toast of the Camera Club was proposed by Mr. V. Blanchard, who, in recalling the time when he made his first practical acquaintance with photo-tained that these animals are most destructive to the fisheries. The graphy by watching a friend develop a paper negative, expressed the opinion that photographers might perhaps return to the use of paper negatives.

PROF. LIVERSIDGE, of the University of Sydney, who is about to return to England on leave of absence, has been requested by the Minister of Public Instruction of New South Wales to inquire into and report upon the mode of teaching natural science in the elementary schools of Great Britain and Ireland.

NEW SOUTH WALES will be represented at the Conference of Astronomers to be held in Paris in April next, by Mr. H. C. Russell, the Government Astronomer.

A VALUABLE "Report on the Medusa collected by the U.S. Fish Commission Steamer Albatross, in the Region of the Gulf Stream in 1883-84," by Mr. J. Walter Fewkes, has lately been reprinted, at the Government Printing Office, Washington, from the Annual Report of the Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries for 1884. Mr. Fewkes is not sure that certain of the Medusa recorded by the Challenger from great depths do not also live and flourish at or near the surface. There is need, he thinks, for greater accuracy in the determination of the exact depth from which a deep-sea Medusa is taken, and for an improvement of the apparatus used in this kind of collecting. In the case of fixed hydroids, or such Medusæ as Cassiopeia and others, which live upon the bottom, the determination of the depth at which they live is an easy task. With such genera as Atolla, Rhizophysa, and others, this determination is more difficult. Mr. Fewkes points out that it is of great importance, from a morphological stand-point, that the question whether Medusæ are confined to certain depths, should be definitely answered. "I can at present," he says, imagine no place on the globe where the uniformity of conditions under which Medusa are placed can be the same as at great depths of the ocean. I do not mean necessarily on the floor of the ocean, since that may be raised or depressed, and the varieties of conditions which come from such motions may result, but in the depth of the sea, separated from the surface by a wall of water of great depth, and from the ocean-bed by a similar wall of equal amount. Here, if anywhere, may we look for the continuance of ancestral features unmodified by environment. this account the determination of the bathymetrical limits of free Medusa, no less than that of those animals which inhabit the bottom, is a most important thing, and from it should be eliminated all possibility of error."

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DR. OTTO HERMES has just published the results of some interesting investigations concerning the phosphorescence of marine fish. He wished to ascertain whether the phosphorescence was caused by the same Bacillus which Dr. Fischer, an eminent authority on Bacteria, has discovered and brought from the West Indies. Marine fish are easily rendered phosphorescent after death by being moistened with a little sea-water.

THE German Fishery Association lately asked the German Chamber of Commerce to put a premium on seals, it being main

petition was refused. The Association, in support of its views, stated that a full-grown seal requires 10 lbs. of fish a day for its food, making 3650 lbs. in a year. At the same rate, 1000 seals would consume the enormous quantity of 3,650,000 lbs. a year. As the seal is a faithful attendant upon herring-shoals, it causes enormous havoc among a species of fish which is one of the greatest sources of revenue to the fishermen on the North German coast. It is maintained that these depredations have greatly decreased the quantity of fish in recent years. Complaints of the serious destruction of fish by seals have also lately been made by Swedish fishermen in the Baltic.

THE additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the past week include a Green Monkey (Cercopithecus callitrichus 8 ) from West Africa, presented by Mr. Charles W. Demprey; a Bonnet Monkey (Macacus sinicus 8) from India, presented by Mr. G. S. Copeland; a Common Otter (Lutra vulgaris), British, presented by Mr. John Hall; two Rufous Tinamous (Rhynchotus rufescens) from Brazil, presented by Mr. Francis Monckton; two White-throated Finches (Spermophila albogularis ¿?) from Brazil, deposited; a Collared Fruit Bat (Cynonycteris collaris), born in the Gardens.

OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN

A METHOD FOR THE DETERMINATION OF THE CONSTANT OF ABERRATION.-Referring to M. Loewy's plan for the determination of the constant of aberration by measuring the relative positions of stars situated in distant parts of the sky at successive epochs by means of a double mirror placed in front of the object-glass of an equatorial (NATURE, vol. xxxv. p. 282), M. Houzeau points out (Comptes rendus, tome civ. No. 5) that the same idea occurred to him some years ago, and that the fundamental principle of the method, and an enumeration of the advantages attending its application, were published by him in 1871, in a paper entitled "Considérations sur l'Etude des petits Mouvements des Etoiles," which appeared in tome xxxviii. of the Mémoires de l'Académie de Belgique. It appears, therefore, that M. Loewy's method cannot, strictly speaking, be considered a new one, though we believe it has never been put into actual practice-a work which we hope to see before long accomplished at the Paris Observatory.

THE APPLICATION OF PHOTOGRAPHY TO THE DETERMINATION OF STELLAR PARALLAX.-In the Monthly Notices for January 1887, Prof. Pritchard publishes the results of his measurements of the photographs of 61 Cygni and neighbouring stars, taken on fifty nights ending December 7, 1886, with a view to the determination of the parallax of this well-known star. Using measures of distance only, the relative parallaxes of each of the components, referred to each of four comparisonstars, are:

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The means for the parallaxes thus obtained for the four independent sets of measures of 61 and 612 Cygni respectively are as follows:

For 611 Cygni, o"438; for 612 Cygai, o' 441.

Prof. Pritchard explains that this determination is to be regarded as provisional only, and that the work will be continued to the end of the annual cycle. The method certainly appears to be a most promising one, and the publication of the full details of the Oxford researches will be awaited with interest. OBSERVATIONS OF VARIABLE STARS IN 1885.-No. 151 of Gould's Astronomical Journal contains Mr. Edward Sawyer's The following observations of variable stars made in 1885. epochs of maximum brightness were observed :-R Andromedæ, 1885 January 10; R Leonis, about 1884 December 24; R Leo. Min., 1885 June 26; R Bootis, 1885 May 16; R Ursa Majoris, July 1; S Ursa Majoris, May 7; U Herculis, July 8; g Herculis, June 4, August 2 (?), October 16; S Corona, May 11; x Cygni, 1886, January 10; R Scuti, 1885 June 17, August 10 (?), and November 16; Mira Ceti, February 10; R Aquarii, January 4. 8 Pegasi and a Cassiopeia appeared constant, and p Persei nearly so, during the observations. R Corona was well observed, and showed numerous but slight fluctuations of light. An unusally bright phase, 6'2 m., occurred on August 15, followed by a rather faint minimum, 74 m., on October 13. T Monocerotis was well observed last minimum, April 20, 15h. 26m. Camb. M. T.; last maximum, April 27, 15h. 55m. U Monocerotis was observed at minimum on April 1, and at maximum on April 14. W Cygni was observed at maximum on August 20 and December 16, giving a period of 118 ± days, and at minimum on October 30.

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THE ALLEGED ANCIENT RED COLOUR OF SIRIUS.-Mr. Lynn, in the current number of the Observatory, shows that the evidence for this star having formerly been of a red colour is much less strong than has frequently been supposed. Prof. Schjellerup had pointed out in his notes on his translation of Sûfi, that the designation vókippos applied to the star in our editions of Ptolemy was probably an error of transcription for σeípios; whilst it had been suggested long ago that, for the word "rubr" which we find used in reference to it by Seneca, we should really read "fulgor." It certainly has always seemed improbable that a star of such vast dimensions as Sirius must be should have so entirely changed its colour in less than 2000 years.

BRIGHT LINES IN STELLAR SPECTRA.—Mr. O. T. Sherman, in No. 149 of Gould's Astronomical Journal, brings together various observations of the bright lines which have been observed by Vogel or Copeland in the spectra of B Lyræ, y Argûs, R Geminorum, and some smaller stars, and compares them with Hasselberg's observations of the low-temperature spectrum of hydrogen and the high-temperature spectrum of oxygen, and draws the inference that the stellar bright lines belong to these spectra. The inference seems scarcely warranted, however, for, on the one hand, the lines in the spectrum of hydrogen are so numerous that, wherever the star-lines lay, it would be easy to find lines near them, so that the accord would have to be very close for any such deduction to be safely based upon it; and, on the other, the observations of the lines in the stellar spectra are less accurate than Mr. Sherman seems to think. The slight differences in the recorded positions of the bright lines as given by different stars are probably indications simply of a roughness in the readings, and the lines are most likely the same in general in the different spectra. The following may be taken as rough mean positions for the bright lines in these interesting spectra : 600 mm., 581, 568, 540, 466, together with the F line of hydrogen, and, in some cases, D, and the third line of hydrogen at 434, assuming that the lines are the same in the various spectra of the type. The close correspondence of the bright lines in R Geminorum to those observed by Cornu in Nova Cygni, 1876, indicates that we probably have there the coronal line 1474 K, the principal chromospheric lines, and the typical nebular line at about 500.

ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENA FOR THE WEEK 1887 FEBRUARY 20-26 (FOR the reckoning of time the civil day, commencing at Greenwich mean midnight, counting the hours on to 24, is here employed.)

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GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES

It would seem that Dr. Oscar Lenz is only to leave Zanzibar this week. The Times Vienna Correspondent is mistaken in thinking that the Royal Geographical Society expects Dr. Lenz to come direct to London. He must, of course, first render his account to the Vienna Society, which sent him out; but after that, it is hoped, he will come to London and tell his story. It is possible that before leaving Zanzibar he may have an opportunity of giving Mr. Stanley the benefit of his experience. Mr. Joseph Thomson, in a letter to the Times, endeavours to show that Mr. Stanley is taking a too rosy view of the prospects of his expedition. Mr. Thomson naturally insists on the superiority of the Masai Land route over all others. Certainly Mr. Stanley exaggerated the difficulties of this route, and we are inclined to believe that, had it been selected, the expedition might have reached Emin Pasha sooner than by the Congo. It should be remembered that, even if all the vessels on the Middle and Upper Congo are available, they could not possibly convey a thousand people in one journey-a good authority assures us that there must be at least three journeys; so that, unless Mr. Stanley starts on his land journey with only one-third of his caravan, instead of 35 days after leaving Stanley Pool it will take 100 days to reach the mouth of the Aruwimi. At the same time we must believe that Mr. Stanley knows what he is about, and is not likely to lay himself open to the reproach of being so far out in his calculations. IN the official report, just issued, on the administration of Lower Burmah during 1885-85, and Upper Burmah during 1886, there are some interesting passages relating to the resources of the new British province. Agricultural products, such as rice, wheat, maize, and other cereals, are grown in large quantities. The country is believed to be rich in mineral resources, and the subject is at present under the examination of the Geological Survey. Meanwhile it is known that the country to the north-east of Mandalay is the richest, if not the only, ruby

producing tract yet discoverel. As to gold an 1 silver, nothing trustworthy is known. Jade and amber are found in parts. But the most valuable of the Upper Barmah minerals is likely to be coal, of which there are certainly four fields, one of which has already yielded excellent fuel.

DR. HOLUB, whose murder to the north of the Zambesi is doubtfully announced, may be remembered as the author of "Seven Years in South Africa," published about six years ago. He set out some three years ago to march from the Cape to Cairo, partly for purposes of exploration, and partly to open up markets in Central Africa for Austrian commerce. He does not seem to

have made much speed.

are.

strove to reach them only through facts. Facts always first, but never facts only; from facts to principles. He understood that all progress mainly depends on the power of grouping and uniting for some new purpose facts that have been discovered independently and that are daily being revealed, yet with little or no reference to the principles they are found to support. He saw that surgery, in his time, was but a rude, empirical art, consisting of little else than a knowledge of many facts which stood in no visible relation to each other, and of many more opinions which, for the most part, had no relation, or but a very distant one, to any facts whatever. He held that surgery should be raised from a collection of such creeds to the rank of a science, but this could be only by founding its practice upon some principles. The discovery of some, at least, of these principles was Hunter's final aim. But those principles could not be reached by guessing. They could be approached only through the orderly investigation of facts. But then an explanation of these facts themselves could be only through the truths of physiology. The signs of disease could be understood only by him who had studied the laws of life and health. An intelligent interpretation of the one could be only in proportion to a previous knowledge of the other. But the problems of life, of health, are presented to us in man in their most complex form-in a form so difficult that even Hunter could not solve it. They must be reduced to simpler terms through a study of the lower forms of life. Thus, with the ultimate aim of relieving human suffer

PROF. MIGUEL MARAZTA has made what seems a curious anthropological discovery in the valley of Rebas (Gerona) at the end of the Eastern Pyrenees. There exists in this district a so newhat numerous group of people, who are called Nanos (dwarfs) by the other inhabitants, and as a matter of fact are not more than four feet in height (110 to 1'15 metres). Their bodies are fairly well built, hands and feet small, shoulders and hips broad, making them appear more robust than they really Their features are so peculiar that there is no mistaking them among others. All have red hair; the face is as broad as long, with high cheek-bones, strongly developed jaws, and flat nose. The eyes are not horizontal but somewhat oblique, like those of Tartars and Chinese. A few straggling weak hairs are found in place of beard. The skin is pale and flabby. Mening, Hunter studied the phenomena of motion in plants. Nay, and women are so much alike that the sex can only be told from the clothing. Though the mouth is large, the lips do not quite cover the large projecting incisors. The Nanos, who are the butt of the other inhabitants, live entirely by themselves in Rebas. They intermarry only among themselves, so that their peculiarities continue to be reproduced. Entirely without education, and without any chance of improving their condition, they lead the life of pariahs. They know their own names, but rarely remember those of their parents, can hardly tell where they live, and have no idea of numbers.

JOHN HUNTER

THE Hunterian Oration was delivered on Monday afternoon

in the theatre of the Royal College of Surgeons by the President, Mr. Savory, F.R.S., Senior Surgeon to St. Bartholomew's Hospital. After a few introductory remarks, Mr. Savory proceeded to say that surgeons with one voice have proclaimed the supremacy of Hunter above all who have ever studied surgery. Students of science have acknowledged him to be among the chief of those who have in any age advanced human knowledge. He was, and is, beyond and above all surgeons, a philosopher in surgery. His idea of the subject of his thoughts was far more adequate than that of other men. He was supreme in the scope and method of his work. He understood much better than those around him how to engage in the interpretation of Nature; he knew best how to approach and to disclose truth. For he not only understood that the problems which lay immediately before him were, of all, the most complex and difficult to solve, but he could see also that they were not isolated but dependent ones. He saw in the necessary relation in which they stood to others the only means by which they could be worked out; and on this understanding he resolved to investigate the questions he desired to answer. Mr. Savory next spoke of the passion of Hunter for collecting. His museum included, he said, not only to use the words of Professor Flower"illustrations of life in all its aspects, in health and in disease; specimens of botany, zoology, paleontology, anatomy, physiology, and every branch of pathology; preparations made according to all the methods then known; stuffed birds, mammals, and reptiles, fossils, dried shells, corals, insects, and plants; bones and articulated skeletons; injected dried and varnished vascular preparations; dried preparation; of hollow viscera, mercurial injections, dried and in spirit; vermilion injections; dissected preparations in spirit of both vegetable and animal structures, natural and morbid; undissected animals in spirit, showing external form or awaiting leisure for examination; calculi and various animal concretions; even a collection of microscopic objects, prepared by one of the earliest English histologists, W. Hewson; but it extended to minerals, coins, pictures, ancient coats of mail, weapons of various dates and nations, and other so-called articles of vertu. Hunter's labours in surgery were next referred to. He was ever searching for principles, but

he went further, to crystals and other forms of inorganic matter;
and he says: "The better to understand animal matter, it is
necessary to understand the properties of common matter, in
order to see how far these properties are introduced into the
vegetable and animal operations." The singleness of purpose
with which Hunter worked is made evident, Mr. Savory
continued, not only in the actual result of his labours, for
no human being with divided interests could rival such
achievements, but in the record, as we have it, of the life
he led. He gave not only the whole of his time-yes, the
whole of it in no mere conventional sense-and all his great
powers, his mind and body alike, to the one object of his life;
but to this he sacrificed all that he possessed, all that he could
gain. To this he devoted, without stint or scruple, his money,
his friendships, all his other interests. What any other man
would have considered impossible, he made practicable. And
this to no personal end. He was careless of all rewards save
that which was to him para mount, the discovery of truth. A
noteworthy point in the character of Hunter appears to be found
in the relation which, in him, thought bore to action. He com-
bined in himself in a singular degree the power of conception
and of execution. He not only saw much further, but he was
able to do much more than most others. He saw as Bacon saw
--and the idea was probably as original with him as with Bacon
-that the systematic and thorough examination of facts was the
first thing to be done in science, "and that, till this had been
done faithfully and impartially, with all the appliances and all
the safeguards that experience and forethought could suggest,
all generalisations, all anticipations from mere reasoning, must
be adjourned and postponed; and further, that, sought on these
conditions, knowledge, certain and fruitful, beyond all that man
then imagined, could be obtained. But he went immeasurably
further than the great prophet of science in putting his con-
ceptions to the proof in imperishable work on the lines he
had laid down. "I only sound the clarion," said Bacon,
proudly, "but I enter not into the battle." Hunter sounded
a clarion the echoes of which are reverberating still, but
he entered into the battle also, and was a'ways found where
the blows fell thickest, and we are in possession of the
spoils. In his museum there is, at once, the clearest evi-
dence of the idea and the richest fruits of execution.
In speak-
ing of Hunter's general education, Mr. Savory proceeded to say
that if Hunter had received a good general education in early
years he would have been all the better for it. He would have
lost nothing. His mental powers could have been in no way
impaired; on the contrary, enhanced. He would have recorded
the results of his labours in better order, with more light and
greater effect, and we should have had the advantage of a
clearer revelation of his thoughts. But all this is very far from
saying that Hunter was not, in the strictest sense, an educated
He was not, indeed, a scholar. If the subtle rendering
of a Greek poet, or the skilful turning of a Latin verse be the
sole test of culture, he gave no sign of it. Of ancient lore he
was sadly destitute. In Literis Humanioribus he could have

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had no place. But if a transcendent knowledge of Nature and her ways, if a firm and ample grasp of her noblest truths, be accounted education, if the devotion through a lifetime of gigantic intellectual powers and of a truly loving heart to the reverent study of God's works be culture, then Hunter, though not a man of letters, was surely a highly educated man. The fame of Hunter, after all, falls far short of him. It may, without exaggeration, be said that he is really greater than to most men, even to most surgeons, he appears to be. It is only after a review of the whole of his vast labours, in their mutual relation, not merely after a study of the merits of his numerous papers, each taken by itself, but in an attempt to apprehend the scheme to which all his labours were subservient, that we are in any measure able to realise the strength of Hunter's genius. Then, as the chief merit of his work is not of a character to catch at once the eye, even of one who searches for it, so his subject is not one of widespread or popular interest. Of all men who have achieved greatness, Hunter requires to be studied with most diligence, the more so because of the absence of all literary skill. And there can be no doubt that he shared the fate of all those who have been, like him, in advance of their time. He was so far beyond his contemporaries as to be, for the most part, out of their reach, and therefore they left him alone; and even his successors have not always found him out. It may, indeed, be said to have been almost by an accident that, in association with the possession of his museum, we have periodically a festival in honour of his memory. Such, then, at least in the eyes of one who, though from afar, has long and earnestly looked up to him, was John Hunter. Beyond all cavil, if the word have any meaning for us, he was a man of genius-a man supremely endowed with power and faculties for the discovery of truth. With little education at the outset of life, without the advantage of the schools, he found himself face to face with the deepest and most mysterious problems of Nature, and he was forthwith able to take full measure of the magnitude of the task. seems never to have occurred to him that he could snatch an answer by surprise; that a solution could be reached by any short or sudden means. But his survey assured him that upon one plan only, but by that abundantly, could success be made certain. So with patience, which of itself has been called genius, he went back to the beginning. It was genius too, and that of the highest order, to discern, at so vast a distance, where the beginning lay. But there he placed himself, and from that point went forward only when he had made each footstep sure. shall say that his imagination was not fertile, or that he faltered in the use of it? Yet no seductive theory tempted him into undue haste, and though sometimes drawn aside by a specious speculation, he seems hardly ever to have been lost in an unsound conclusion. And when he fell, the treasures he had won were found not only in the multitude of facts he had garnered, or even in the principles which, by virtue of the facts he had discovered, were made plain, but also in the very plan and purpose of his work. For, from the height on which at length he stood, not only can the path he trod be clearly traced, but the highway thenceforward is disclosed. So is the greatness of John Hunter to be estimated, not only by what he discovered, but rather by the lesson and example of his work. Truly it may be said of him that he did much. Truly it may be said of him that he showed how much more there is to be done. being dead yet speaketh," still speaks to us as no other man before or since has spoken. But when and where can his voice be heard most plainly? Are the spirits of those who have shaken off "this muddy vesture of decay" permitted to revisit the scenes of their earthly labours? Can they still be with us on our way? If the soul of this mighty son of science is ever in our midst, surely his favourite haunt must be now within these walls-in the museum which will soon almost surround us, at once his most graphic and glorious monument. The memory of Hunter, like the memory of the greatest men of every age, is imperishably enshrined. Art, in her noblest efforts, has striven to make his form familiar to us. His name is stamped in indelible characters on the records of human progress. But, before all, he lives in, and draws the breath of life from, his own immortal works. And of these none can be so truly a memorial of the very man as this; no other can so resemble him, can possess so much of him, can tell so fully of what he was; can so perpetuate him in the vast store of facts, in the purpose for which they are set forth, in the illustration of principles, in the suggestion of truths beyond those it

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can show, above those it can reach-in all this, I say, no The memorial, however majestic, can rival our museum. foundation of this with his own hand and his whole heart he laid; it has grown, and still is growing, from his strength, and it must be made for ever worthy of his name.

UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATIONAL
INTELLIGENCE

OXFORD.-The following new Examiners have been appointed in the Natural Science School: Mr. V. H. Veley (Chemistry), Dr. W. H. Gaskell and Prof. Ray Lankester (Biology), Mr. J. V. Jones (Physics). Mr. W. W. Fisher and the Rev. F. J. Smith are to be Examiners in the Pass Schools.

The Sibthorpian Professorship of Rural Economy is now vacant, and canditates for it are requested to send in their appli cations to the Registrar of the University before March 10.

The Board of the Faculty of Medicine has issued a list of subjects to be offered in the first examination for the B.M. degree under the new medical statutes.

Scholarships in Natural Science are announced for competition at Merton, Corpus, and Queen's, and at New College.

SCIENTIFIC SERIALS

American Journal of Science, January.-The Muir glacier, by G. Frederick Wright. The paper contains an exhaustive study of this interesting glacier, which lies in the Alpine region of Alaska at the head of Muir Inlet, Glacier Bay, in 58° 50′ N. lat., 136°40' W. long. It forms a frozen stream some 5000 feet wide by 700 deep, entering the inlet at a mean rate of 40 feet, or 140,000,000 cubic feet, per day, during the month of August. The vertical front at the water's edge is from 250 to 300 feet, and from this front icebergs are continually breaking away, some many hundred feet long, with a volume of 40,000,000 cubic feet. The glacier appears to be rapidly retreating, there being indications that even since the beginning of this century it has receded several miles up the inlet, and fallen 1000 or 1500 feet below its former level.-On the age of the coal found in the region traversed by the Rio Grande del Norte, by C. A. White. The carboniferous beds occurring at various points in this region vary greatly in quality, but none of them appear to be earlier than late Cretaceous age.-The viscosity of steel and its relations to temper (continued), by C. Barus and V. Strouhal. Among the chief results of the authors' further experiments, as here described and tabulated, is the light thrown on the crucial importance of the physical changes which steel undergoes during annealing at high temperatures between 500° and 1000° C. Within these limits occur several nearly coincident phenomena: such as Gore's sudden volume expansion; Tait's sinuously broken thermoelectric resistance; Gore-Baur's sudden disappearance of magnetic quality; the passage of carbon from uncombined to combined; Jean's critical cementation temperature; and the authors' own unique maximum of viscosity.-On the nature and origin of lithophysæ, and the lamination of acid lavas, by Joseph P. Iddings. The data upon which the conclusions here stated are based were obtained from a study of the various forms of structure and crystallisation assumed by acid lavas in cooling, as observed while prosecuting the work of the United States Geological Survey in the Yellowstone National Park under Mr. Arnold Hague. The lithophysæ, composed of prismatic quartz, tridymite, soda-orthoclase, fayalite, and magnetite, appear to be of aqueoigneous origin, having been produced by the action of the absorbed gases upon the molten glass from which they were liberated during the crystallisation consequent upon cooling. It also seems highly probable that the differences in consistency and in the phases of crystallisation producing the lamination of this rock were directly due to the amount of vapours absorbed in the various layers of the lava and to their mineralising influence.— The latest volcanic eruption in Northern California, and its peculiar lava, by J. S. Diller. The volcanic district here described is that of the so-called "Cinder Cone," near Snag Lake, North California, where the recent character of the eruptive phenomena is most striking as compared with other outbursts in the same region. The lava field, some three square miles in extent, is of basaltic type, but remarkably anomalous in containing numerous grains of quartz, and very high percentages of silica and magnesia with correspondingly low quantities of the oxides of iron. On the texture of massive rocks, by

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George F. Becker. From his researches the author infers that porphyries may form at any depth and no matter how slowly the temperature of the magma may sink, while granular rocks can scarcely ever have been thoroughly fluid or homogeneous, but have often consolidated at pressures extremely moderate compared with those at which it is certain that porphyries would form. A fifth mass of meteoric iron from Augusta County, Virginia, by George F. Kunz. This specimen, which comes from the same place where was found the largest of the three masses first described by Prof. Mallet, yielded, on analysis: iron 90'293 ; nickel, 8.848; cobalt, o'486; phosphorus, o'243; carbon, o'177; with traces of copper, tin, sulphur, silica, manganese, chromium, and chlorine. Note on the origin of comets, by Daniel Kirkwood. It is argued that, although most comets are of interstellar origin, some of short period may have had their rise within the solar system. The bichromate of soda cell, by Selwyn Lewis Harding. The experiments here described tend to show that this is a most efficient cell, whose effectiveness, as far as its constancy is concerned, might be materially increased by interchanging the positions of the electrodes with their surrounding liquids, after the fashion of the Fuller cell.

SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES

LONDON

Royal Society, January 13.—“ Supplementary Note on the Values of the Napierian Logarithms of 2, 3, 5, 7, and 10, and of the Modulus of Common Logarithms." By Prof. J. C. Adams, F.R.S.

In vol. xxvii. of the Proceedings of the Royal Society, pp. 88-94, the author has given the values of the logarithms referred to, and the value of the modulus, all carried to 260 places of decimals.

The calculations in that paper were carried to several more decimal places, but the application of an equation of condition which supplied the means of testing the accuracy of the whole work, showed that errors had crept into the work which vitiated the results beyond 263 places of decimals.

Through inadvertence, however, the results were printed in the above paper exactly as they were given by the calculations, although several of the later decimals, especially in the value found for the modulus, were known to be wrong.

The author has now succeeded in tracing and correcting the errors which occurred in the former calculations, and the equation of condition which tests the accuracy of the work is now satisfied to 274 places of decimals.

The present paper gives the parts of the several logarithms concerned which immediately follow the first 260 decimal places as already given in the former paper, and likewise the corrected value of the modulus, which is found to be—

M=43429 44819 03251 82765 11289 18916 60508 22943 97005 80366

65661 14453 78316 58646 49208 87077 47292 24949 33843 17483 18706 10674 47663 03733 64167 92371 58953 90656 92210 64662 81226 58521 27086 56867 03295 93370 86965 88266 88331 16360 77384 90514 28443 48666 76864 65860 85135 56148 21234 87653 43543 43573 17253 83562 21868 25

which is true to 272 or 273 places of decimals.

February 10.-"Contributions to the Metallurgy of Bismuth." By Edward Matthey.

"An Inquiry into the Cause and Extent of a Special ColourRelation between certain Exposed Lepidopterous Pup and the Surfaces which immediately surround them." By Edward B. Poulton.

Linnean Society, February 3.-W. Carruthers, F. R.S., President, in the chair.-Dr. M. C. Grabham and Capt. G. Wingate were elected Fellows of the Society.-Mr. G. Maw exhibited a Narcissus cyclamineus grown by him from bulbs sent by Mr. A. W. Tait, of Oporto. The plant in question was known to Parkinson (1640), afterwards was lost of, and rediscovered by Mr. Johnston, near Oporto, in 1885.-Mr. Maw showed a drawing of Crocus Karducharum, and another, for comparison, of C. conatus, from the Taurus, to which it is allied. -Brigade-Surgeon J. E. T. Aitchison read a paper on the fauna and flora of the Afghan boundary. The zoological collection obtained comprised, in round numbers, 20 species of mammals, 130 species of birds, 35 species of reptiles, 7 species of fish, and over 100 species of insects. Among these, many were new to science. Of special interest is the mole-like rat, Ellobius fuscicapillus, hitherto only known from the type ob

tained forty years ago at Quetta. In certain places the ground is riddled with the burrows of this and other rodents. The geographical range of the tiger goes east and north to Bala Murghab; that of the cheetah to the valley of the Heri-rud. A pheasant (Phasianus principalis) and woodpecker (Gecinus gorii) are new. With some exceptions, the birds are chiefly migratory, their arrival in spring following each other in quick succession. The Brahmini duck (Casarca rutila), unlike its congeners, nests and remains throughout the year. The most abundant species of birds are, among the genera Saxicola, Lanius, Sylvia, Motacilla, and Emberiza. An adult fine example of Naia oxiana is a museum acquisition, as the species heretofore has only been recognised from young undeveloped specimens. Regarding the insects, 20 are new, though, taken as a whole, the insect fauna resembles that of Arabia and North Africa, rather than that of India proper. The botanical collections amount to 800 species, and probably 10,000 specimens of plants. Over 100 are new to science. The author gave some account of the physical features of the districts traversed, and of the climate. Taking these into consideration, he states that the plants do not represent what is generally recognised as an Oriental flora, being chiefly composed of northern Persian and Arabian forms, augmented by Central Asian and Siberian types, with a few West Himalayan or Tibetan, and still fewer representing the Punjab or Scind. Beside these are a fairly representative local flora; say, one-sixth of the collection. Juniperus excelsa is the only indigenous conifer; neither oaks nor species of Esculus, Olea, or Myrtus were met with. Populus Euphratica forms forests in the river-beds, but as long as the tree is situated near water it is indifferent to altitude. Out of 75 natural orders, Composite and Leguminosæ greatly preponderate over the others, containing 81 and 80 species respectively. In Compositæ, Cousinia heads the genera with 18 species; Centaurea has 10 species. Of 80 species of Leguminosa, 39 belong to the genus Astragalus, 14 of these being new. Of 61 species of Gramineæ, all are well known. The Cruciferæ collected number 56 species; several are new. Chenopodiacea follow with 39 species, Labiata with 35, Boraginaceæ 32, Umbelliferæ 30, Caryophyllacea 30, Rosacea 27, Lilliacea 26, Euphorbiaceæ 16, Polygonacea 15, Ranunculaceæ 14, Rubiaceae and Cyperaceae each 13, Scrophularineæ and Plantagineæ 10 and 11 respectively. The orchards at some of the villages are surrounded with high walls, inside which is a row of mulberry-trees grown for the breeding of silkworms. In the Afghan gardens, beetroot, carrots, turnips, cabbages, radishes, and tomatoes are raised, and these are of excellent quality. In the fields, besides wheat, rye, and barley, opium, tobacco, melons, and certain oil-seeds are cultivated. Cotton is grown, but the quality of the fibre is poor. Several plants of pharmaceutical value

flourish-Galbanum, Ammoniacum, &c., and of these the author gave a full account.

Zoological Society, February 1.-Dr. St. George Mivart, F.R.S., Vice-President, in the chair. - Mr. F. Day exhibited and made remarks on a hybrid fish supposed to be between the pilchard and the herring, and a specimen of Salmo purpuratus reared in this country.-Mr. W. L. Sclater exhibited and made remarks upon some specimens of a species of Peripatus which he had obtained in British Guiana during a recent visit to that country, and added some general observations on the distribution and affinities of this singular form of arthropods.-Mr. A. Thomson read a report on the insects bred in the Society's Insect House during the past season, and exhibited the insects referred to.-A communication was read from Dr. B. C. A. Windle, containing an account of the anatomy of Hydromys chrysogaster.-Mr. Martin Jacoby read a paper containing an account of the Phytophagous Coleoptera obtained by Mr. G. Lewis in Ceylon during the years 1881, 1882. About 150 new species were described and many new generic forms.—Mr. F. E. Beddard read some notes on a specimen of a rare American monkey, Brachyurus calvus, which had died in the Society's Gardens. Mr. Oldfield Thomas read a note on the mammals obtained by Mr. H. H. Johnston on the Camaroons Mountain. -A paper was read by Capt. Shelley, containing an account of the birds collected by Mr. H. H. Johnston on the Camaroons Mountain. The collection contained thirty-six specimens referable to eighteen species, and of these four were new to science. -Mr. G. A. Boulenger read a list of the reptiles collected by Mr. H. H. Johnston during his recent visit to the Camaroons Mountain. Mr. Edgar A. Smith read a paper on the Mollusca collected at the Camaroons Mountain by Mr. H. H. Johnston,

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