Oct. 5, 1876] 



NATURE 



517 



does not diminish but increases the danger of hjemorrhage after 

 parturition. Prof. Turner also wishes us to say in reference to 

 the note on p. 466, as to M. Broca, that that anthropologist in 

 the Reznie iV Anthropologic, 1876, t. v. No. 2, has given a 

 critical account of Prof. Turner's paper on Cerebral Topo- 

 graphy, as also of the writings of MM. Gratiolet, Heftier, and 

 Fere. We may here also state in reference to the report of 

 Prof. W. C. Williamson's paper at the Brit. Ass. (vol. xiv., 

 p. 456), that what Prof. Williamson really said was that the 

 fossiliferous rocks would be the true battle-field on which the 

 problems of evolution would be fought out 



In the Afionblad oi ihe 19th Sept. a letter was published from 

 Dr. Theel (of Nordenskjold's Siberian Expedition), in which 

 he states that, after travelling for ten days by steamer, first on 

 the rivers Tura and Tobol, and then on the Irtisch and the Obi, 

 his party arrived on June 3 at Tomsk, and on the 8th at Kras- 

 nojarsk. Starting from the latter town on June 16, they arrived 

 at Jeniseisk on the iSth, and at Turuchansk on July 16, and 

 were at that date hoping to be at Dudinskoj by the 25th of the 

 same month. The party had made rich collections, both 

 zoological and botanical. 



The Russian Count Oovarof, is preparing a great work on 

 the "Stone Age in Russia," which will be published in Moscow, 

 with numerous illustrations. Such a work is much wanted, 

 owmg to the large accumulation of material during the last 

 few years, and to the absence of any systematic account of them. 

 So far as we know, there have appeared in Russia during recent 

 years, only two monographs devoted to the subject, one by M. 

 Holmberg, on the stone and bronze implements of Finland 

 (" Bidrag till kannedom of Finlands natur och folk," 1858), the 

 other by M. Poliakoff, on the stone age in the Olonetz province 

 ("Mem. R. Geogr. Soc," 1874). 



• It is proposed among the physicians and hygienists of St. 

 Petersburg to open there a Hygienic Society, v;hich will be 

 in close connection with the London Sanitary Institute and with 

 the Paris Societe Nationale d'Hygiene. Plygiene obtains great at- 

 tention among Russian physicians, and the fortnightly periodical, 

 Zdorovie {The Health), has already published, during the first 

 half year of its existence, some very valuable original papers by 

 MM. Arkhanguelsky, Skvortsoff, Shapiro, Gue, Ucke, Hiibner, 

 Erisman, Tarkhanoff, Dobroshavin, and others. 



The investigation of the upper parts of the atmosphere by 

 means of balloon ascents continues to interest Russian savants. 

 Some very valuable additions to our knowledge of the subject 

 have been made during recent years by Prof. Boltzang in Kasan, 

 and by Lieut. Rykatcheff, of the Central Physical Observatory, 

 who took advantage on many occasions of the public ascents of 

 M. Berg. But neither was able to extend their observations to 

 great heights. Now, the Professor of Chemistry of the St. 

 Petersburg University, M. Mendeleeff has devoted to further re- 

 searches in this direction all the profits which may be received 

 during the next five years from his widely-circulated " Hand- 

 book of Chemistry " and other works, as well as the whole profits 

 of a just-published Russian translation, under his editorship, of 

 Prof. Mohn's "Meteorology." It is proposed to construct a 

 large captive balloon, of from two to three thousand cubic metres, 

 and to fill it by apparatus specially devised or modified for the 

 purpose by the Professor. 



The last numbers of the Bulletin of the Siberian branch of the 

 Geographical Society, published in Irkootsk, contain an ela- 

 borate monograph of the fishes of the Baikal, by M. B. 

 Godlefsky. 



Preparations are being made in St. Petersburg for the cele- 

 bration of the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the Academy of 



Science, which will be held in the same manner as the fiftieth 

 and hundredth anniversaries in 1776 and 1826. It is rumoured 

 that the Academy purposes largely to increase the number of its 

 honorary and corresponding members, both foreign and Russian, 

 and that a special meeting will be held in honour of the library 

 of the Academy, the first scientific library opened for the public 

 in Russia (October 25, 1728), and which is now one of the richest 

 in Europe in its Natural Science Department, and in the valuable 

 collections of scientific periodicals received from nearly all the 

 scientific societies of Europe and America. 



A West Siberian branch of the Russian Geographical Society, 

 receiving a yearly subsidy of 2,000 roubles from the government, 

 will be opened at Omsk. It is hoped that the new section (the 

 sixth section of this large society) will do as much for the exten- 

 sion of our knowledge of the little-known Western Siberia as the 

 East Siberian branch at Irkootsk has done for Eastern Siberia. 

 This last, which enters upon the twenty-sixth year of its exist- 

 ence, has largelycontributed to the exploration of nearly every 

 part of its region, from the Polar Sea to the interior of China, 

 and from the Jenissei to Behring Strait, and has published 

 (besides the works which have appeared in the periodicals of the 

 St. Petersburg Geographical Society, of the Imperial Academy, 

 &c. ) the well-known Travels of M. Maack, Annual Reports, and 

 a very valuable series of Memoirs (eleven vols.) zxs^ Bulletin (five 

 vols.). We hope that the new section will take more pains 

 to circulate its periodicals than has been the case with her older 

 sisters, the periodicals of the Irkootsk branch being, we are 

 told, almost bibliographical rarities even in St. Petersburg. 



The remarkable palseontological and mineralogical collections 

 of the deceased Prof. Folborth, being the result of more than 

 forty years' labours in Russia, are now, according to his bequest, 

 in the possession of the S t. Petersburg Academy of Science. 



On Wednesday, September 20, an earthquake was felt at 

 Digne, the chief town of Basses Alpes, at seven in the morning. 

 The motion was considerable, although the damage was slight. 

 The last time Digne was visited by a similar phenomenon was in 

 1873. A destructive one took place on August 14, 1708, and 

 from that time slight disturbances have been comparatively 

 frequent. 



A FEW days since there died in Paris, at the age of sixty-one, 

 M. Joseph Julien^ a clockmaker, who had succeeded in directing 

 a small elongated balloon with a screw moved by a spring. 

 The experiment was tried with success in the Hippodrome at 

 Paris, in 1849-50, and attracted much notice. M. Julien died an 

 inmate of St. Aime's Asylum for the Insane. 



Mr. John Evans, F.R.S., has just published a brochure 

 likely to be of great service to collectors of bronze implements, 

 weapons, and ornaments ; it is entitled " Petit Album de I'Age 

 du Bronze de la Grande Bretagne " (London : Longmans and 

 Co.), for the letter-press is in French. This is explained by the 

 fact that the collection was prepared for the meeting of the Pre- 

 historic Congress at Buda-Pest, the official language of which is 

 French. This brochure is a mere scintillation from a much larger 

 book which Mr. Evans has been preparing for some years, but 

 which unfortunately does not seem to be near completion. There 

 are twenty-six plates altogether, each with an average of about 

 six figures of various bronze articles, embracing specimens of 

 almost everything in prehistoric bronze that has yet been found. 

 The plates are beautifully executed, and are accompanied by 

 descriptions of all the articles represented. 



The death is aimounced, on September 30, of the Rev. Henry 

 Wilkinson Cookson, D.D., the Master of St. Peter's College, 

 Cambridge. 



Mr. W. H. Preece (Memb. Inst. C.E.) is about to proceed 

 to America, under instructions from the Postmaster-General, to 



