At

Cambridge, where he distinguished himself equally in mathematics and in classics. He acted as Chairman of the Royal Commission on Scientific Instruction and the Advancement of Science, whose reports might have marked an era in our national progress if there had been a scientific department of the Government to give effect to them. Cambridge he did what he could to encourage scientific study by his splendid gift of the Cavendish Laboratory. The Duke was the first President of the Iron and Steel Institute; and the Owens College, Manchester, owed much to the zeal and liberality with which, on every suitable occasion, he sought to promote its interests.

MR. E. RAY LANKESTER, Deputy-Professor of Human and Comparative Anatomy, has been elected to the Linacre Professorship of Human and Comparative Anatomy, Oxford, vacated by the death of Prof. Moseley.

PROF. MARSHALL WARD has been engaged lately in studying the strange compound organism called by villagers the "gingerbeer plant." We print elsewhere an abstract of an interesting paper in which he submitted his results to the Royal Society last week.

AT the annual meeting of the Academy of Medicine of Paris, on the 15th instant, the Alvarenga Prize, which is given annually for the best treatise on some medical subject, was awarded to Dr. Bateman, of Norwich, for his work on aphasia, and to Dr. Legneu, of Paris, for his treatise on renal calculi, these gentlemen being bracketed together ex æquo. This prize confers the title of Laureate of the Academy.

THE "Committee of Council on Education" have sanctioned the appointment of Mr. George Brebner as first Marshall Scholar in Biology at the Royal College of Science, London. Mr. Brebner has passed through both the botanical and zoological advanced classes of the Biological Division in the Royal College, and in 1889 obtained the Edward Forbes Medal and Prize awarded to the best student of the year in biology. Mr. Brebner has already been engaged in botanical research, and has published two original papers on structural subjects, in conjunction with Dr. D. H. Scott. He has also assisted Dr. E. Schunck, F.R.S., of Manchester, in his investigations of the chemistry of chlorophyll, and is about to publish a joint paper with him. Mr. Brebner's researches as Marshall Scholar will be carried on in the Huxley Research Laboratory, and will be concerned with questions relating to the histology of plants.

THE Paris Museum of Natural History has been partly reorganized by a recent decree. The financial mangement is changed; and it has been decided that the Professors shall, as a rule, retire from their Professorships at seventy-five years of age. To this rule, however, there are to be exceptions. An exceptional case is that of M. de Quatrefages, who retains his post, although Profs. Fremy and Daubrée will have to retire. The name of "aide-naturaliste" disappears, and that of "assistant" takes its place-a fact which is rather curious, since "assistant," in French, has not the same meaning as in English, or as the corresponding word has in German. The assistants are empowered, under some limitations, to deliver courses of lectures, and their financial position is to be improved.

graphy for foreign words, which in many details agree with the English system.

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AN Italian correspondent of the Lancet writes that on December 10 the academic world of Rome entertained at a banquet the Senator Stanislao Cannizzaro, in celebration of the bestowal on him of the Copley Medal by the Royal Society of London. The Accademia dei Lincei (the "Royal Society" of Rome), the Accademia di Medicina, and the Senatus Academicus of the 'Sapienza" were fully represented on the occasion. The Chairman was the eminent mathematician and engineer, the Senator Brioschi, who, in a few felicitously chosen sentences, conveyed the sense of pride shared by all Italians at the bestowal on their compatriot of the "blue ribbon" of science. Signor Villari, Minister of Public Instruction, also spoke. The Senator Todaro, the Professor of Anatomy in the University, gave the toast of "The Royal Society of London," which was as cordially received as it was eloquently proposed. Prof. Cannizzaro thereafter delivered an effective speech, in which he showed that it was in the effort to make his prelections clear to successive generations of students that he had trained himself to reach those laws, the co-ordination of which had won for him the recognition of the greatest court of scientific arbitration in the world.

ACCORDING to a despatch from Philadelphia, published in the New York Sun, it has been decided that an Expedition shall be sent to Greenland for the relief of Lieutenant Peary and his party. Dr. Keeley, who accompanied Lieutenant Peary on his exploring expedition, but afterwards returned, has said that, unless such an Expedition, fully equipped for an Arctic season, were sent to his assistance, Lieutenant Peary and his companions would never reach the bounds of civilization.

MR. RICHARD BOXALL GRANTHAM, who died lately in his eighty-sixth year, was one of the engineers who helped Brunel in the construction of the Great Western Railway. He made the branch line from Gloucester to Cheltenham. He was an authority on sanitary matters, and in 1869 became Chairman of the Committee appointed by the British Association to inquire into the treatment and utilization of sewage. In 1876 he successfully completed the reclamation of Brading Harbour, in the Isle of Wight. This had been attempted by Sir Hugh Middleton 250 years previously, but his work had afterwards been destroyed by the sea.

DUTCH newspapers announce the temporary nomination of Mr. E. Engelenburg, meteorologist at the Royal Meteorological Institution at Utrecht, as Director of the Observations on land. This directorship had become vacant by the appointment of Dr. M. Snellen to the position of Chief Director of the same Institution, which had been held by the late Prof. Buys Ballot. Mr. Engelenburg accompanied Dr. E. van Ryckevorsel to Brazil, acted as his assistant during the magnetic survey of that country, 1882-85, and prepared a part of the report on this survey published in 1890 by the Royal Academy of Sciences at Amsterdam. In 1887 he was attached by Prof. Buys Ballot to the Meteorological Institution, and has since been responsible for the yearly report on the thunderstorms observed in the Netherlands, formerly prepared by Dr. Snellen. He has also investigated the quantities of rain in different parts of the Netherlands and in the different months of the

in the Memoirs of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Amsterdam; the accompanying rain-maps give a clear idea of the dependence of the rainfall on the distance from the seashore. He has repeatedly directed his attention to the tides. at the coast of the Netherlands; to the variation of the velocity of the tidal currents in the Dutch " zeegaten," i.e. the entrances to the Dutch roads or harbours (de Ingenieur,

Nos. 5, 9, and 38, of the year 1889); and to the influence of the wind and atmospheric pressure on the height of the sea-surface (de Ingenieur, 1891, No. 39).

THE Annual Meteorological Report for Japan for 1889, recently received in this country, shows that considerable attention is given to the subject of meteorology, and contains the results of the hourly observations or continuous records for Tokio, together with observations taken simultaneously at the top and base of Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan. The observations on the mountain were made at a height of about 12,250 feet, during 38 days from August 1 to September 7, 1889. Twice during this period the anemometer was broken by the force of the storms. The position of this station-an extinct volcano, near the Pacific-renders it very important for the investigation of the meteorology of high regions. On this account it has several times been used for that purpose, but the observations have previously all been confined to a few consecutive days.

ON December 18, at 7.30 a.m., a violent earthquake shock was felt at Corleone, an inland town in the province of Palermo, Sicily. The first shock was followed by a pronounced undulatory movement in the direction of north to south.

MR. G. A. NUSSBAUM, agent in London for the Société Générale des Téléphones, Paris, informs us that he has lately made a complete telephone installation at the Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool. The installation comprises three floors, and on each floor a switch board for seventy directions is fitted, the total number of stations being 210. Visitors are thus enabled to communicate with one another, but it seems somewhat doubtful whether they will all be quite pleased to find this sort of thing in their bedrooms.

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AN interesting paper on electricity in relation to mining, by Mr. Ernest Scott, was read before the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland on November 24, and is now printed in the Institution's Transactions. About fifty mines in the United Kingdom are already supplied with electricity, and the new methods are not unlikely, he thinks, to effect small revolution in the mining industry." Mines which have been commercially unworkable owing to their depth, or the great distance of the working face from the pit-head, may now be turned into profitable undertakings. Mr. Scott notes that electric power can claim the following advantages over steam, hydraulic, and compressed air: (1) greater efficiency, and therefore reduced first cost and expenses in working, than other mediums of power transmission over considerable distancessay above half a mile; (2) the greater ease with which the comparatively small copper conductors can be manipulated and kept in order as compared with piping, especially where there are falling roofs or shifting floors; (3) the facility with which machines which require to be moved occasionally-e.g. coalcutters, pumps, &c.—can be advanced along the roadways as the work proceeds, or taken about on bogey carriages from one part of the workings to another.

AT the meeting of the Society of Arts on December 16, General Pitt-Rivers delivered a capital lecture on typological museums, as exemplified by the Pitt-Rivers Museum at Oxford, and his provincial museum at Farnham, Dorset. The lecture is printed in the current number of the Society's Journal. By "typological museums," General Pitt-Rivers means museums in which objects are arranged in a way that brings out the sequence of types. Museums of this kind are, he thinks, best suited for educational purposes; and he urged strongly that many of them should be established. The museum he has formed at Farnham has been greatly appreciated; and he believes that in some respects it is even better than the institution which bears his name at Oxford, because such series

as it contains are more fully represented. Among the speakers after the delivery of the lecture, was Dr. E. B. Tylor, who gave a striking instance of the value of the principle on which the objects in the Pitt-Rivers Museum are arranged. It often happened, he said, that a series might be made purely theoretical, by putting in their order a number of specimens which referred to one another more or less distinctly, thus showing where the curve of development had probably passed; but yet important links were often wanting, and the visitor went away possessed with the desire to find those links and present them to the Museum. Only a few weeks ago they thus acquired a muchdesired link in the history of stringed instruments. The late Mr. Carl Engel suggested that the strung bow must have been the origin of the whole series of stringed instruments, whether pianoforte, violin, or guitar. This view was proved to be correct when the instruments were arranged in a series, beginthe starting-point-an authentic bow capable of being used both ning with a strung bow. The difficulty, however, was to get for hunting and twanging. One people who were described as using the bow for this double purpose were the Damaras; it was said that the hunter shot game with his bow during the day, and when he came home sat by the fire and amused himself by twanging the string. Three or four weeks ago Miss Lloyd, who had spent some time in South Africa, sent them one of these bows, and it now stood at the head of the series of stringed instruments.

THE Indian Bureau of the U.S. Government propose to have at the Chicago Exposition an interesting exhibit, which wil perhaps occupy two acres. Representatives of all the leading Indian tribes, especially those of a distinctive type, will be shown, together with their habitations, industries, &c. Zuñis, who will live in a "hogan," as they call their dwellings, The Navajos will display their skill in blanket-weaving; the will make pottery; the Piutes are to make water-bottles of rushes. There will be a great collection of relics, weapons, and utensils; and it is intended that competent teachers shall carry on their work in a model Indian school. Visitors will have ample opportunities of comparing the aborigines in their wild state with the civilized or semi-civilized Indians of to-day.

ACCORDING to official returns, lately reviewed by the Adelaide Observer, the area of land devoted in South Australia to gardens and orchards has advanced since 1885 from 10,775 acres to 15,362 acres, representing an increase of 50 per cent., this area apparently including that devoted to viticulture. The statistics show that the orange, almond, walnut, chestnut, and olive are largely cultivated. The number of almond trees is given as 134,038, or 27,768 more than last year; olive trees, 59, 118, or 11,694 more; and orange trees, 56, 341, the latter producing 44,762 cases of fruit, or 3040 more. The increase in the manufacture of olive oil is even more marked. The quantity made is returned at 6838 gallons, as against 1486 in the previous year. Almond trees are stated to have produced 3311 cwt. of nuts, being an increase of 1468 cwt. In 1890 walnut trees numbered 7644, and chestnut trees 1128. The climate and flora of South According to the rough estimates of the bee-owners, 25,383 Australia are also well adapted to the needs of the bee-keeper. hives in the colony last year produced nearly 500 tons of honey, of which 80,793 pounds were exported.

TOWARDS the end of last March the citizens of Sydney were astonished by the sudden discoloration of the water in Port Jackson. In the harbour the water presented in many places the appearance of blood. This remarkable phenomenon, which was soon found to be due to the presence of a minute organism, has been made the subject of a paper, by Mr. Thomas Whitelegge, in the Records of the Australian Museum (vol. i. No. 9). On March 31, Mr. Whitelegge went to Dawe's Point, and got a

bottle of water, in which there was a good supply of the organism in question. At first he thought it was a species of the genus Peridiniidae; but further research convinced him that it was a new species of the closely allied genus, Glenodinium. So far as Mr. Whitelegge is able to judge, fully one-half of the shore fauna must have been destroyed by these small invaders. The bivalves were almost exterminated in those localities where the organism was abundant during the whole of the visitation. Mr. Whitelegge is of opinion that the great destruction of life brought about by an organism apparently so insignificant is of the highest interest from a biological point of view, showing, as it does, how limited is our knowledge of the causes which influence marine food-supplies. This, he points out, is particularly the case in regard to the oyster, which has often mysteriously disappeared from localities where it formerly abounded.

THE U.S. Department of Agriculture has published the fifth number of a series of papers on the North American fauna. The number contains the results of a 'biological reconnoissance" of a part of Idaho, which Dr. C. Hart Merriam conducted during August, September, and October 1890; and also descriptions of a new genus and several new species of North American mammals. The new genus (Microdipodops) is a kind of dwarf kangaroo rat from Nevada. Dr. Merriam speaks of this as one of the most remarkable of the many new and interesting mammals discovered in North America during the past few years. Six specimens were collected in Nevada by Mr. Bailey in October and November 1890.

It is most important that members of the medical and scholastic professions, and the public generally, should have scund ideas on the best means for guarding great educational establishments from the outbreak and spread of preventible infectious and contagious disease. We are glad to note, therefore, that the code of rules on the subject, drawn up by the Medical Officers of Schools Association, has been so much in demand that it has been necessary for Messrs. J. and A. Churchill, the publishers, to issue a third edition. An important note to an appendix in which disinfection is dealt with has been added in this edition. The measures indicated in the appendix have hitherto been regarded as at least serviceable for the attainment of disinfection. Recent experiments, however, seem to show that none of them can be relied upon as absolutely effectual in

certain cases.

AT the meeting of the Field Naturalists' Club of Victoria, on October 12, Mr. J. P. Eckert read a paper on "some peculiar changes in the colour of the flower of Swainsonia procumbens." When the flower opens, the corolla is lilac, and the first change is noticed in the longitudinal venules of the largest petals, which soon after assume a deep crimson. Then, at two different points of the petals a dark blue is noticed, which gradually extends over the whole surface, the peripheral portion being a little paler in colour. In the central portion the colour varies through all the shades of blue till finally it assumes a rosy tint. Frequently the petals will assume their original colour for some days, and afterwards go through all the gradations of colour once more. Mr. Eckert assigns the phenomena to a meteorological cause, and claims that his theory is supported by experiments with the electric current.

THE New York Engineering News says that prehistoric irrigation canals in Arizona are "really worthy of more notice than is usually given them. The Salt and Gila River valleys are intersected by a vast network of these canals, which antedate, at least, the arrival of Coronado in 1552, for he mentions these ruins and the traditions of the Indians regarding a once dense population in this region. Modern engineers cannot improve upon the lines of these canals, nor in the selection of points of

diversion from the rivers. The first irrigation canal in this section, the one that has made Phoenix, with its present population of 20,000, simply followed the lines of one of these old canals. Their extent may be appreciated when it is said that in the Salt River valley alone the land covered by these canals once aggregated over 250,000 acres, and the canals themselves, with their laterals, must have exceeded 1000 miles in length. This country is filled with prehistoric ruins, with walls of stone or adobe, and almost every acre contains fragments of pottery, steel ornaments, stone implements, and other remains of a population which can only be estimated in its aggregate."

THE fifth part of "Bibliotheca Mathematica," edited by G. Eneström (Stockholm), is devoted to a bibliography of the history of the mathematical sciences in the Netherlands, by D. Bierens de Haan, of Leyden. By the conditions of the publication the writer is restricted "aux écrits se rapportant exclusivement ou au moins essentiellement à l'histoire des mathématiques pures." In ten octavo pages the list ranges from 1667 to the present time, and contains sixty entries, the compiler being credited with thirteen of them. There is also a long list of éloges on Dutch mathematicians.

WE have received from Mr. Elliot Stock the second volume of The Field Club. It is a magazine of general natural history, and cannot fail to give pleasure to readers who are

interested in the results of scientific observation. The editor is the Rev. Theodore Wood.

THE new number of the Economic Journal (vol. i. No. 4) deals with various questions which are of great scientific interest as well as of urgent public importance. It opens with an introductory lecture on political economy, by Prof. F. Y. Edgeworth, the editor. Then come papers on the alleged differences in the wages of men and women, by Sidney Webb; the coal question, by Forster Brown; the new theory of interest, by W. Smart; the evolution of the Socialist programme in Germany, by Prof. G. Adler; labour troubles in New Zealand, by W. T. Charlewood; and an attempt to estimate the circulation of the rupee, by F. C. Harrison.

THE January number of Mind, the first of the new series, will contain articles by Mr. W. E. Johnson on "Symbolic Logic," by Mr. Alexander on the "Idea of Value," by Mr. McTaggart on the "Change of Method in Hegel's Dialectic," and by Prof. Lloyd Morgan on the "Law of Psychogenesis.”

THE arrangements for science lectures at the Royal Victoria Hall during January are as follows:-January 12, Sir Herbert C. Perrott (Chief Secretary of the St. John's Ambulance Association), "First Aid to the Injured: its object, origin, and development" (this lecture will be followed by an ambulance class in the Morley Memorial College); 19, Mr. Locke Worthington, "Egypt 3000 years ago." On the 26th, Prof. Reinold

will deliver a lecture.

Two new methods of preparing free solid hydroxylamine, NH2OH, are described by M. Crismer in the current number of the Bulletin de la Société Chimique. It will be remembered that this important substance was isolated a few weeks ago by M. Lobry de Bruyn; an account of the manner in which it was obtained, together with a description of the dangerous properties of the free base, was given in NATURE (p. 20). M. Crismer now publishes two very simple methods of isolating anhydrous hydroxylamine, by the use of a compound of hydroxylamine and zinc chloride, previously described by him (comp. NATURE, vol. xli. p. 401). This interesting compound is a crystalline substance, of the composition ZnCl. 2NH,OH, readily prepared in large quantity by dissolving the hydrochloride of