204 



NATURE 



[December 30 1897 



1862 he added to his Museum duties the work of a 

 "Docent" in the University; but eventually (1877) re- 

 tired a/together from the Imperial Museum to take upon 

 himself the duties of the University Professorship, in- 

 volving the care of the University Mineral Collection : 

 in this office he remained till the end of his life. 



Much of Schrauf's published work consists in the tech- 

 nical examination and description of mineral species, but 

 he also gave much thought to the general and recondite 

 problems connected with atoms and molecules and their 

 relation to the physical characters of crystals : his 

 earlier speculations are incorporated in his " Treatise on 

 Physical Mineralogy " published in 1866-68, but the later 

 are only to be found in isolated memoirs. He was also 

 the author of a useful handbook on " Precious Stones " 

 (1869). Interested deeply in the philosophy of his sub- 

 ject, he sought the necessary mental and physical re- 

 laxation in the mechanics of crystal drawing, and under- 

 took to prepare for publication an Atlas of the crystalline 

 forms of all mineral species, taken in alphabetical order : 

 but species and forms were discovered more quickly than 

 figures could be prepared and sold, and the publication 

 was discontinued before the letter D had been arrived 

 at. The loss of a real thinker is a great one for any 

 science. 



NOTES. 

 Among those who have accepted nomination as vice- 

 presidents of the general committee of the Fourth International 

 Congress of Zoology are the following : — Prof." R. J. Anderson, 

 of Belfast ; Prof. Bridge, of Birmingham ; Prof. D. J. Cun- 

 ningham, of Dublin; Prof. Herdman, F. R.S., of Liverpool; 

 Prof. M'Intosh, F.R.S., of St. Andrews ; Mr. J. Cosmo Melvill, 

 of Manchester ; Prof. Lloyd Morgan, of Bristol ; Prof. Alleyne 

 Nicholson, F.R.S., of Aberdeen ; Dr. Scharff, of Dublin ; Dr. 

 Traquair, F.R.S., of Edinburgh; Canon Tristram, F.R.S. , of 

 Durham ; Lieutenant-Colonel R. G. Wardlaw Ramsay ; and 

 Prof. Percival Wright, of Dublin. 



Mr. George Sharman retires at the end of this year from 

 the post of Paleontologist to the Geological Survey of Great 

 Britain. Entering the service just before the death of De la 

 Beche in 1855, he served for a while under the first Director- 

 General, and subsequently under Murchison, Ramsay, and Sir 

 Archibald Geikie, with Mr. J. W. Salter and Mr. R. Etheridge 

 as his senior colleagues. On the retirement of Mr. Etheridge in 

 1881, he was promoted, together with Mr. E. T. Newton, to 

 take charge of the palreontological collections in the Museum of 

 Practical Geology. Although he has published but little outside 

 the " Memoirs of the Geological Survey," Mr. Sharman has 

 sedulously devoted himself to the study of British fossils, and 

 more especially the Invertebrata, his acquaintance with which is 

 unequalled. The important aid which he has continuously 

 given for over forty years to the field-geologists of the Survey is 

 shown to some extent in the lists of fossils published in the 

 •official " Memoirs " ; but no inconsiderable portion of his time has 

 been given to those inquirers who so frequently come to a public 

 museum with bags and pockets full of fossils to be identified by 

 the officers. His skill and patience, and his readiness to give 

 information have combined to characterise his long career as one 

 of marked and unselfish devotion to the public service. 



The death is announced of Prof. Wilhelm Joest, known by 

 his travels in North Africa, America and Asia. 



Mr. Henry Cecil, writing from Bournemouth, under date 

 December 24, says: — " I was fortunate enough to see, at 1. 13 

 this morning, in the middle of the latter half of its passage, the 

 most remarkable meteor I ever saw. At that hour the sky was 

 perfectly clear ; and looking at the brilliant stars through the 



NO. 1470, VOL. 57] 



western of two windows looking south, I became suddenly 

 aware of an intense white illumination overhead, which, from 

 the steepness of the arc, could not, I think, have had its origin 

 far to the westward of the zenith." 



In the course of an article upon Sir W. E. Garstin's report 

 on the work of the Irrigation Department of Egypt in 1896, the 

 Times mentions as a new indication of scientific progress in 

 Africa, that, since January I, 1896, the water levels of the 

 Victoria Nyanza have been daily recorded by means of gauges 

 erected at three places, viz. Port Alice, Port Victoria, and 

 Lubwas Usoga. The readings, as also a monthly statement 

 showing the rise and fall of the lake, are received at Cairo ; but 

 the records of a series of years are necessary before any attempt 

 can be made certainly to prognosticate the extent of influence 

 that a rise or fall of the lake waters may produce on the Nile. 

 The report states that gauges upon the Albert Nyanza are very 

 urgently required in order to show what are the relations between 

 the levels of that lake and the summer water supply in Egypt. 

 This lake being nearer to the point of delivery, its levels are, 

 if possible, more important to Egypt than are those of Lake 

 Victoria, and the hope is expressed that the English officials at 

 Uganda may erect gauges and furnish Egypt with records of 

 the daily readings. Major R. H. Brown, Inspector-General of 

 Irrigation for Lower Egypt, in his report for 1896 expresses the 

 opinion that, as the catchment area of Lake Victoria is com- 

 paratively small, the lake may not have such an important 

 influence on the Nile as we are accustomed to attribute to it, and 

 that gauges at Fashoda, Khartum, and Berber are what is 

 chiefly wanted. 



We are glad to see that a Lincolnshire Science Society 

 has been established. For many years there has been, in 

 Lincolnshire, an absence of combination among scientific 

 workers. Of individual investigators there is no lack, and 

 much valuable work has been carried on by them ; but 

 from a want of knowledge of what has been, and what 

 is being done by others in the special subjects in which 

 each is interested, there has been a waste of time and 

 energy. A central, organising, directive force has been want- 

 ing ; and it is to supply this want, and to give to individuals 

 and to the local county societies an opportunity for combining 

 forces for the purpose of centralising and directing their efforts 

 so that their various plans of action may be harmonised, that 

 the Lincolnshire Science Society has been called into existence. 

 The Society consists of a number of sections, the members of 

 each of which devote themselves to the working out of one or 

 more lines of research in the sciences that the sections repre- 

 sent. The presidents of the sections form the Council of the 

 Society, and it is a part of their duty to suggest to the members 

 and to the affiliated societies such lines of research and such 

 methods as will be likely to yield the best results. The Society 

 is at present actively helping on a scheme having for its object 

 the foundation and the endowment of a county museum. The 

 object is a worthy one, and we trust that both it and the Society 

 will meet with the fullest encouragement and success. Particu lars 

 referring to the Society may be obtained from the president, 

 Dr. G. M. Lowe, the hon. sec, Mr. G. Grierson, or the vice- 

 president, Mr. J. H. Cooke, Thorndale, Lincoln. 



A FRESH contribution to our knowledge of the physiological 

 effects of high altitudes is given by Prof. Piero Giacosa {Rendi- 

 conti del R. Istituto Lombardo, xvii.), who has studied more 

 especially their influence on the exchange of material, and 

 particularly on the elimination of nitrogen. Prof. Giacosa con- 

 siders that as the altitude of 6000 metres is approached, there is 

 an increasing risk of reaching the limit beyond which the 

 physiological functions cannot be completed ; but below 6000 



