NOTES. 



287 



Bois-Reymond have been constituted a com- 

 mittee to arrange for a suitable celebration of 

 it. A like anniversary will come to Prof. Vir- 

 cliow on the 13th of October, in view of which 

 English and German co-operating committees 

 have been formed. The English committee 

 includes Sir James Paget, Dr. Lauder Brun- 

 ton, and Dr. Victor Horsley. A medal, bear- 

 ing Prof. Virchow's likeness, is to be struck, 

 and the rest of the subscriptions are to be 

 given to him personally. 



Tfh French Academy of Sciences gave 

 its Lalande prize for last year to Prof. 

 Sebiaparelli, of Milan, for his discoveries 

 concerning the rotations of Venus and Mer- 

 cury ; and the Janssen prize to Prof. Young, 

 of Princeton, for his spectroscopic discov- 

 eries, especially of the infra- chromospheric 

 layer of the sun which is called by his name. 



The fiftieth anniversary of Prof. Arcange- 

 lo Scacchi's professorship of Mineralogy in 

 the University of Naples was festally cele- 

 brated on the 8th of February. Most of 

 the scientific institutions of Italy and some of 

 other nations were represented, the Geologi- 

 cal Society of London and the Mineralogical 

 Society of Great Britain by Dr. Johnston- 

 Lavis. A gold medal, bearing his head and 

 a suitable inscription, was presented to Prof. 

 Scacchi ; and a memorial pamphlet contain- 

 ing, with other matters, a biography and a 

 list of his works. He having resigned his 

 professorship, his son, Prof. Eugenio Scacchi, 

 will take his place. 



Captain W. de W. Abney has expressed 

 the opinion that the action of light on fugi- 

 tive dyes must eventually teach us something 

 as to the character of molecules, and add 

 to the methods by which their coarseness may 

 be ascertained. 



The mischievous prevalence of locusts 

 in Cyprus is ascribed by Sir Robert Biddulph 

 to the destruction of the forests. By the 

 resultant washing away of the soil the ground 

 became barren, and the locusts at once took 

 possession of it. It is only since the forests 

 were destroyed that this pest has made head- 

 way in the manner which has been so nota- 

 ble in modern times. Its great breeding 

 ground is not likely to be ever again covered 

 with forest, and its disappearance will de- 

 pend on the increase of population and culti- 

 vation. 



The New York State Engineer has re- 

 ported to the Niagara Falls Commission that 

 the Horseshoe Fall has receded an average 

 of 104 feet 6 inches since 1*742, but at one 

 point 240 feet, while the American Fall 

 has receded 30 feet 6 inches. The crest of 

 the tall has increased in length, from the 

 washing away of the embankment, from 

 2,260 to 3,010 feet. The area of recession 

 of the American Fall is 32,900 square feet, 

 and that of the Horseshoe Fall 275,400 feet. 



From the examination of the paper of Dr. 

 Purdy, of Chicago, and other sources of evi- 

 dence, the Lancet infers that the most impor- 

 tant causes of Bright's disease are improper 

 food, unwholesome occupations, and insani- 

 tary dwellings ; and from the study of the 

 question it is led to the same conclusion as 

 from the study of phthisis, that " the chief 

 danger of humanity at the present day is 

 that the growth of great cities may lead to 

 the neglect of some of those primitive con- 

 ditions of health fresh air, light, exercise, 

 plain food, healthy housing without which 

 the vigor of the organism can not be long 

 maintained." 



Certain resemblances which are some- 

 times observed between man and wife have 

 been ascribed to the influences which the 

 parties exert upon each other, with increas- 

 ing effect as they live longer together. Mr. 

 Hermann Fol is of the opinion, however, 

 that more or less striking likenesses often 

 exist from the beginning, and form one of 

 the attractions that bring the parties to- 

 gether. In the photographs of 251 couples, 

 not personally known to him, he noticed re- 

 semblances in more than two thirds in 

 66 - 66 per cent of young, and ^l^O per cent 

 of old couples. 



Mr. Nevill, Superintendent of the Natal 

 Observatory, South Africa, remarks that the 

 number of thunder-storms has been gradu- 

 ally decreasing in all the larger towns of 

 Natal, but most markedly so in Durban and 

 Maritzburg. 



Dr. Oliver, of London, is engaged in an 

 investigation, from a botanical point of view, 

 of the effect of fog upon plants. The ex- 

 amination of specimens of plants affected 

 by fog is in the hands of Prof. D. H. Scott, 

 of the Royal College of Science, South Ken- 

 sington. 



A process for preserving dead bodies by 

 galvanoplasty is described by M. Variot in 

 La Nature. To facilitate the adherence of 

 the metallic deposit, the skin is painted with 

 concentrated solution of nitrate of silver. 

 This is reduced with vapors of white phos- 

 phorus dissolved in sulphide of carbon. The 

 body is then treated in the electric bath. The 

 metallic mummy is then incinerated, and 

 after the corpse has disappeared the gases 

 escaping through openings provided for them 

 a faithful image or statue remains. 



Maintaining that short-sightedness, or 

 myopia, is a product of civilization, M. Mo- 

 tais, of Algiers, cites his ophthalmoscopic ex- 

 periments with the eyes of tigers, lions, and 

 other wild beasts. Those which are captured 

 after they are six or eight months old are 

 and remain hypermetropic, while those that 

 are captured earlier, or are born in captivity, 

 are myopic. 



