112 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



It was stated at a recent meeting of the Linnean 

 Society of South Wales, that the total number of 

 species of Australian fishes described up to the 

 present time is 1291. 



M. Regnard has been making some very inter- 

 esting experiments on the influence of high pressure 

 on living organisms. They are particularly striking, 

 as bearing on the pressure which the sea-water must 

 exercise at great depths of the ocean. It was found 

 that soluble ferments were unaffected by extreme 

 pressure. Starch, at 1000 atmospheres, was converted 

 into sugar ; algae at 600 ditto were decomposed and 

 the carbonic 'acid liberated ; infusoria, leeches, and 

 mollusca were rendered insensible at a pressure of 

 600 atmospheres, but recovered when the pressure was 

 removed ; fishes possessed of swimming bladders 

 resisted 100 atmospheres, but became insensible at 

 200, and died at 300 ditto. 



Numbers of our readers will be grieved to hear of 

 the death of Mr. James Fullagar, of Canterbury, 

 hon. sec. of the East Kent Natural History Society. 

 Our Journal has been enriched for many years by 

 contributions both from his pen and his pencil, all of 

 them the result of original investigation and observa- 

 tion. Few men were ever more respected by all who 

 knew him (and this included many men of scientific 

 distinction), and, although he died at the ripe age of 

 77, he will be much missed and regretted for a long 

 time to come. 



Another of our scientific celebrities has "joined 

 the majority " — Professor Allen Thomson, the distin- 

 guished naturalist. He was one of the brilliant circle 

 which included the names of Edward Forbes, Good- 

 sir, Carpenter, &c. In 1879 he was President of the 

 British Association Meeting at Sheffield, and his 

 inaugural address bore on Protoplasm, and will not 

 soon be forgotten by those who heard it. 



Our short obituary notices are far too numerous 

 this month. We have the sad duty to chronicle the 

 death of a man well known in Manchester and 

 Lancashire scientific circles — Mr. James Parker, 

 formerly assistant curator at the Museum of the 

 Manchester Natural History Society. A kinder, 

 gentler, or more modest man never lived. Fossils 

 (especially those of the "Mountain Limestone," as 

 he always loved to call that formation) were more 

 to him than meat or drink, gold or raiment. We 

 received our first lessons in Fossils at his hands, 

 twenty-five years ago ; and therefore his memory will 

 always have a sweet savour. Mr. Parker discovered 

 many species new to science. He was well known 

 to Lyell, Murchison, John Phillips, Eilward Forbes, 

 and others of the older school. His knowledge of 

 Carboniferous crinoids and brachiojiods was remark- 

 able. Part of his collection, we believe, went to 

 Dublin more than twenty years ago. He died as he 

 had lived, peacefully, and without a pang. 



On Friday April 6, Mr. J. J. H. Teall, F.G.S., read 

 a paper before the Geologists' Association on " Some 

 Modern Petrological Methods." On Easter Monday 

 and Tuesday (April 14th and 15th) the members 

 made their annual excursion to Lincoln, under the 

 directorship of Mr. W. H. Dalton, F.G.S., Mr. A. 

 Strahan, F.G.S., and Mr. W. D. Carr, and 

 thoroughly explored all the known sections of the 

 Lias, OoHtic, and Neocomian strata in the district. 



Sir Richard Owen has just described a 

 new labryrinthodont amphibian, by the name of 

 Rhytidosteiis Capensis. The remarkable feature about 

 these South African reptilia is that they exhibit 

 mammalian characters. 



Every Naturalist will of course sympathise with 

 the motives of Professor Bryce's Bill in Parliament 

 for securing "access to mountain and moorlands in 

 Scotland," to natural history pursuits ; but — is it 

 necessary ? W'e contend that these places are access- 

 ible, and everyone acquainted with the Law of Tres- 

 pass knows that neither landowner nor gamekeeper 

 can hinder a man from wandering over them. All 

 the former could do would be to sue him for the 

 " damage done," but it would be difficult to appraise 

 the " damage done " in collecting alpine flowers 

 or insects, or specimens of quartz and mica-schist. 

 There is no law in our litigated land so little under- 

 stood as that of " Trespass," and none so utterly 

 harmless. Hence, Professor Bryce's Bill seems to us 

 like erecting a steam-hammer to crack nuts. The 

 gamekeeper cannot even force a man off the premises 

 without being liable to an action for assault. 



Everybody knows the story of Charles the Second 

 and the Royal Society about the gold-fish, and why 

 the latter didn't make the vase of water run over 

 when they were introduced into it. The savants 

 suggested a score of reasons, but — none of them tried 

 the experiment ! All took it for granted. It seems to 

 us some of our scientists are doing the same thing 

 with regard to the newspaper report that an isolated 

 mountain in Algeria, 800 feet high, is sinking, and a 

 cavity is forming round its base. Has any trust- 

 worthy geologist authenticated this statement ? And 

 yet we see strong inferences being drawn about over- 

 weighting parts (such as London) of the earth's crust. 

 The earth's crust is laden with hundreds of hills 

 and mountains, much higher than the unfortunate 

 hill in Algeria, but they don't sink, or form depres- 

 sions around their bases. Indeed, our hills and 

 mountains are getting lighter every year by reason of 

 denudation. So that their sinking ought to be less 

 probable as time rolls on. 



A VERY succinct and suggestive pamphlet has been 

 written by Mr. F. P. Pascoe, F.L.S., called, "Notes 

 on Natural Selection and the Orgin of Species." 

 It is a very handy little guide to the Darwinian 

 theory. 



