[96 



^NA TURE 



[February 24, 1898 



ice and to the unknown west coast of Victoria Land, discovered 

 by Sir James Clark Ross, will be undertaken in the spring. The 

 return of the expedition, which will last two years in all, and 

 will make observations on the home voyage as well as on the 

 way out, will take place in the southern autumn. Dr. Erich von 

 Drygalski, well known as an explorer of Greenland, was 

 appointed the scientific head of the expedition. 



Lord Lister is suffering from a severe cold, and was pre- 

 vented by it from occupying the chair at Dr. Nansen's lecture on 

 Monday. 



We are glad to see the announcement that Sir Richard 

 Quain's strength has so far improved that no further official 

 bulletins will be issued. 



The Pasteur Institute at Paris has received a donation of 

 1600/. from Mme. E. Durand, for the purpose of carrying on 

 investigations on tuberculosis. 



The personal estate of the late Mr. J. W. Zambra, formerly 

 of the firm of Negretti and Zambra, the well-known philo- 

 sophical instrument makers, has been valued at 176,075/. 



The fifth International Congress of Hydrology, Climatology, 

 and Geology will be held at Liege this year, from September 25 

 to October i, under the patronage of His Royal Highness Prince 

 Albert of Belgium. 



The Physical Society of Frankfort-on-Main propose to erect 

 a monument to Philipp Reis, the inventor of the telephone, and 

 have appointed a committee to obtain subscriptions for this pur- 

 pose. The estimated cost of the memorial is 1500/. 



The fourteenth International Horticultural Exhibition is to be 

 held at Ghent from April 16 to April 24 next. This exhibition, 

 which takes place every five years, is organised and managed by 

 the Royal Society of Agriculture and Botany at Ghent. It is 

 under the patronage of the King and Queen of Belgium, and is 

 subsidised by the national, provincial, and municipal Govern- 

 ments. 



H.R. H. the Prince of Wales has consented to open the 

 International Photographic Exhibition at the Crystal Palace on 

 Monday, April 25, and not Wednesday, April 27, as originally 

 announced. The latest date for the reception of exhibits in each 

 section will therefore be two days earlier than that first stated on 

 the prospectus. 



At the meeting of the Physical Society of London, to be 

 held at Eton College on Saturday, February 26, the Rev. T. C. 

 Porter will exhibit and describe several interesting experiments. 

 The subjects with which he will deal are : (i) a new theory of 

 geysers ; (2) a new method of viewing Newton's rings ; (3) 

 experiments bearing on the sensation of light ; (4) a method of 

 viewing lantern projections in stereoscopic relief; (S) winter 

 observations on the shadow of El Teide, with a new method 

 for measuring approximately the diameter of the earth ; (6) 

 temperature of the water of Niagara. 



The death of M. Gauthier-Villars was referred to, with ex- 

 pressions of regret, at the meeting of the Paris Academy of 

 Sciences on February 7. Since 1835 the Coinptes rendus of 

 the Academy have been printed by the firm of Gauthier-Villars, 

 and, in spite of the large quantity of matter on a variety of 

 subjects, and the idosyncrasies of authors, the hour of publi- 

 cation has never been delayed. The firm has published for 

 many years the publications of the Bureau des Longitudes, 

 those of the Paris Observatory, and of the Bureau Central 

 meteorologique. M. Gauthier-Villars also assisted the P'rench 

 Government and the Academy in the publication of the com- 

 plete works of Lagrange, Fermat, Fourier and Cauchy, and 

 his name is associated with many other scientific enterprises. 



NO. 1478, VOL. 57] 



The anniversary meeting of the Geological Society was held 

 on Friday last. Mr. W. Whitaker, F.R.S., was elected presi- 

 dent in succession to Dr. H. Hicks, F.R.S. , whose presidential 

 address appears in another part of the present issue. The new 

 vice-presidents elected are Prof. J. W. Judd, C.B. , F.R.S., and 

 the Rev. H. H. Winwood. Prof. W. W. Watts has succeeded 

 Mr. J. E. Marr, F. R.S., as secretary, the other secretary being 

 Mr. R. S. Herries. To the list of members of Council were added 

 the names of Dr. G. J. Hinde, F.R.S. , Mr. W. H. Hudleston, 

 F.R.S., Prof. H. G. Seeley, F.R.S., Prof. W. J. SoUas, F.R.S., 

 and Mr. A. S. Woodward. The medals and prize-funds were 

 awarded to the geologists whose names have already been 

 announced (p. 252). 



Surgeon-Major Black, Edinburgh, has received a letter 

 from Mr. C. L. Wragge, dated Sydney, January 7, referring 

 to a new high-level meteorological station. In the course of the 

 letter Mr. Wragge says : — " You will be pleased to know that I 

 have quite successfully established a mountain experimental 

 observatory on the summit of Mount Kosciusko 7328 feet above 

 sea -level, and the highest point in all Australia ; also a sea-level 

 station on the south-east coast adjacent at Merimbula, where 

 simultaneous observations are taken. The hours are midnight, 

 4 a.m. and 8 a.m.; noon, 4 p m. and 8 p.m. ; also half-hourly 

 from 8.30 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. inclusive. Simultaneous readings 

 are also taken at a new station in Sydney, at Sale in Victoria, 

 and at Hobart, and on Mount Wellington, Tasmania." 



The meeting, held in the rooms of the Manchester Literary 

 and Philosophical Society on February 16. to consider what 

 should be done to assist in making the forthcoming Con- 

 gress of Zoology a success, was well attended by representatives 

 of various natural history and scientific societies in the centre 

 and north of England. Mr. J. Cosmo Melvill presided. Prof. 

 S. J. Hickson explained to the meeting the objects of the 

 International Congress of Zoology and the probable programme 

 of the week in August at Cambridge. The following resolution 

 was then proposed by Mr. Masefield, president of the Concho- 

 logical Society, and carried unanimously: — "That this meet- 

 ing of persons resident in the centre and north of England, 

 and interested in zoological progress, offers its most cordial sup- 

 port to the Committee now organising the fourth meeting of the 

 International Congress of Zoology, to be held in Cambridge in 

 the last week of August, and expresses a sincere hope that all 

 societies instituted for the study of zoology and kindred subjects 

 will contribute in accordance with their means to the funds of 

 the Congress, and appoint one or more representatives from 

 their members to attend the Congress." The delegates at the 

 meeting were enthusiastic about the Congress, and their cordial 

 CO operation will encourage as well as assist directly the work 

 of the Executive Committee. 



At its annual meeting on February 2, the Russian Geo- 

 graphical Society awarded a special Constantine medal to Dr. 

 Nansen ; a Constantine medal to V. I. Robcrovsky, for his 

 journeys in Central Asia ; the Count LUtke's medal to I. I. 

 Strelbitzky, for his journeys in Persia and Manchuria in 

 1891-96 ; the new Semenoff s medal to Dr. Sven Iledin, for his 

 three years' journeys in Central Asia. A large gold medal of 

 the Society was awarded to I. K. Zhdanoff, for his ethnographical 

 works, and especially for his work on *' Russian Epical Poetry" ; 

 and small gold medals to Th. Witram, for pendulum measure- 

 ments in the Far East ; to F. Sperck, for his large work on the 

 climate of the Astrakhan region ; to S. Rybakoff, for the col- 

 lection of specimens of musical texts of songs amongst the Ural 

 natives ; and to S. Gulishambaroff, for his work " The World's 

 Trade in the Nineteenth Century and Russia's Part in it." Silver 

 medals were awarded to MM. Pastukhoff, for his ascension of 

 the Elbrus ; Abels, for hypsometrical measurements in the Urals ; 



