196 



NATURE 



{Jan. 6, 1876 



25. Montyon prize, in connection with unhealthy occupation, 

 2, 500 francs, to M. Denayrouse for his invention to protect work- 

 men while in the midst of an irrespirable medium. 



26. The Tremont prize, 1,000 francs, having been awarded for 

 three years, 1873-75, to Prof. A. Cazin, an "encouragement" 

 of 500 francs war; awarded to M. Sidot for his researches on the 

 various conditions of carbon and on the protosulphuret of carbon. 



27. The Gegner prize of 4,000 francs was awarded to M. Gau- 

 gain to assist him in pursuing his researclies on electricity and 

 magnetism. 



28. The Laplace prize, consisting of a complete collection of 

 the works of Laplace, was awarded to M. Bonnefoy, "dux" of 

 the£cole Polytechnique in 1875. 



NOTES 



PRor. Huxley, on Tuesday last", at the Zoological Society, 

 in his paper on CeratoJus, in describing the brain of that fish for 

 the first time, showed how closely it approached that of the 

 Lepidosiren, and how that in some points it resembled the 

 Selachian rather than thej Ganoid type. He gave cogent argu- 

 ments against the theory of Gegenbauer with reference to the 

 typical conformation of the fore limb, and laid special stress on 

 the affinities of the animal with Chivimra. 



The Crown Prince and Princess received the leading German 

 scientific men on Monday at Berlin, in order to confer upon the 

 means of securing an adequate representation of Germany in the 

 exhibition of scientific intruments to be held in London next May. 

 Besides Doctors Achenbach and Falck, the Ministers of Commerce 

 and Education, there were present Herren Kirchhoff, Dubois-Rey- 

 mond. Dove, and Foerster, as physicists ; Herren Hoffmann and 

 Maghellans, as chemists; and Herren Reuleaux and Siemens as 

 representatives of mechanical science. Mr. CundiffeOvven, the 

 Director of the South Kensington Museum, was present at the 

 audience. A German committee was formed to promote the 

 objects of the meeting. This is the latest adhesion to the 

 scheme, and we are now able to say that the arrangements are 

 complete in the case of Germany, the United States, Belgium, 

 Holland, and Switzerland. In all these countries, committees 

 appointed by Government are collecting instruments either for 

 the Research^ the Historical, or the Educational department. 



The following extract from the Order Paper of the Legislative 

 Council of New Zealand, Oct. 19 last, seems to show that a 

 supposed prehistoric man may perhaps become the subject of a 

 iudicial inquiry. The skeleton in question was exhumed in the 

 course of excavations made for Moa bones and associated human 

 remains by Dr. Haast, as detailed in his paper ("Trans. N.Z. 

 Institute," vol. vii.), and as that author holds strongly to the 

 Palseolithic age of the deposit, while others assert its compara- 

 tively recent date, it will be interesting to observe what light the 

 coroner's inquest will throw on the subject : — " The Hon. INIr. 

 Mantell to move, That there be laid upon the table copies of 

 any proceedings at any inquest held upon a body found, under 

 suspicious circumstances, in a cave known as the ' Moa Bone 

 Point Cave,' at Sumner, in the Province of Canterbury, on 

 Saturday, Oct. 19, 1872, whose skeleton is reported'to be in the 

 Christchurch Museum. And, in the event of no suchjnquest 

 having been held, that the Government lay upon the table a 

 statement of the reasons why no inquest was held ; or assure the 

 Council that instructions will be forthwith issued to the proper 

 authorities to make such inquiry as may, if possible, lead to the 

 identification of the individual whose body was so found, and 

 set at rest any doubts as to the manner in which lie came by his 

 death." 



We would draw the special attention of our readers to a paper 

 in the current number of the Journal of Mental Science, by Dr. 

 Herbert B. Major, entitled " Observations on the Brain of the 

 Chacma Baboon." Having, in his Graduation Thesis before the 

 University of Edinburgh, shown that in the smaller apes the 



size of the nerve corpuscles of the cortex of the occipital lol^es was 

 less than in the human subject, the author has analysed, layer 

 by layer, the cortical substance of the brain of the chacma and 

 man, his observations as yet being entirely negative. The points 

 investigated are the number and appearance of the layers ; the 

 character of the nerve-strata ; also the vessels and the white 

 medullary substance. 



The large female chimpanzee, Mafoka, at Dresden, which 

 has recently attracted so much attention, died, we regret to say, 

 a short time ago. Dr. Meyer promises us an account of the 

 animal. 



A PAPER by Prof. Reinhardt ha? recently been published at 

 Copenhagen, [on the Glyptodon remains of Brazil, together with 

 the account of a new species, Glyptodon (?) diibius. 



The Hoge of General Poncelet at the anniversary of the Paris 

 Academy was the occasion of a pathetic scene. A tribune had 

 been set apart for the use of Poncelet's widow, who was sitting 

 with her lady companion. When M. Bertrand referred to the 

 attentive care which had surrounded the last days of the departed 

 geometer, and the real.worship paid to his memory by the noble 

 woman who had been his wife, Madame Poncelet could not 

 restrain her weeping, and her emotion was communicated to the 

 whole audience. The house was crowded by friends and pupils 

 of Poncelet. 



The Meteorological Society' of Paris has elected M. Jansseii 

 president for 1876. Mr. R.H. Scott, the director of the English 

 Meteorological Service, has been nominated a member of the 

 Council, and M. PL St. Clair-Devilleone of the vice-presidents. 



At a recent meeting of the Vienna Geological Society, the 

 Director, M. vontlauer, welcomed Dr. E.Tietze, who, after more 

 than two years' sojourn in Persia, had safely returned to Vienna. 

 He made extensive geological researches, especially in Mount 

 Elburz, and eastward as far as Asterabad and Sharood. He 

 visited, besides, the environs of Asabeidshan, Ispahan, Chamjar, 

 and the province of Farsistan, as als ) the salt desert south-east 

 of Teheran. 



The " Results for 1873 of the Meteorological and Magnetical 

 Observations taken in Victoria, Australia," have been received. 

 In addition to the usual averages, which appear to be carefully 

 made. Prof. EUery gives valuable summaries of electrical phe- 

 nomena, hailstorms, frosts, snow, sleet, gales, and strong winds, 

 together with a detailed statement of the "hot winds" which 

 have occurred during the year in different parts of the colony, 

 and which form so important a feature of the Australian 

 climates. The publication is accompanied with a map, showing 

 the positions of the meteorological stations and the telegraph 

 and railway routes. 



From Dr. King's recently-issued report on the cinchona plan- 

 tations in British Sikhim, which we have previously noticed, we 

 learnt for. the first time that an efficient febrifuge was being made 

 and sold at a cheap rate in India. On this subject Mr. Gammie, 

 the resident manager of the Government plantation at Darjeeling, 

 writing to Dr. Hooker, says : " We are nov/ busy collecting 

 cinchona bark, and propose to collect about ninety tons of dry 

 bark this season, which we can easily do.. We are manufacturing 

 it on the spot into a cheap febrifuge, which is evidently quite as 

 effectual as quinine. The medical department appears to be taking 

 kindly to it, for within the last three months I have sent them over 

 600 lb. of it, and they are asking for more. We are now making 

 from 40 lb. to 50 lb. a week, but are daily expecting orders to 

 extend our factory, so as to make at least double that quantity. 

 We have good hopes of being able to sell the febrifuge at one 

 rupee an ounce and pay all expenses." Mr. Wood, the Govern- 

 ment Quinclogist, has, it appears, been appointed to officiate as 

 Professor of Chemistry at Calcutta, and since his departure for 

 the capital, the manufacture has fallen upon Mr. Gammie. 



