44 



NATURE 



{May 9, 1889 



NOTES. 

 We regret to announce the death of Mr. Robert Damon, of 

 "Weymouth, the well-known naturalist and geologist. He died 

 suddenly on Saturday, the 4th instant, from heart disease. Mr. 

 Damon was the author of an excellent work on the "Geology of 

 Weymouth and the Isle of Portland," now in its second edition. 

 He was a most extensive traveller and an assiduous collector. 

 He obtained a marvellous series of fossil fishes from the Cretaceous 

 beds of the Lebanon, Syria, now in the British Natural History 

 Museum, also the most complete skeleton of that rare and extinct 

 Sirenian, " Steller's Sea-cow, " from Behring Island. Although 

 in his seventy-fifth year, he contemplated another trip to Siberia 

 to procure an entire Mammoth's skeleton for the National 

 Museum. Only a few years ago he took passage from Nijni 

 Novgorod, down the Volga to Astrakhan, for the purpose of 

 collecting a complete series of the fishes of the Caspian Sea, in 

 which he was most successful. He lately purchased the celebrated 

 zoological collections forming the " Godeffroy Museum" in 

 Hamburg, and he had perhaps the largest collection of recent 

 shells in this country. Mr. Damon's loss will be long felt by a 

 wide circle of scientific friends in all parts of the world, by whom 

 he was warmly esteemed and respected. 



The Paris Exhibition was opened on Monday by the Presi- 

 dent of the French Republic. As usual on such occasions, there 

 was a great display of empty spaces which ought to have been, 

 and soon will be, filled with exhibits. The British Section was 

 greatly in advance of the others. M. Carnot, in speaking of 

 the general character of the Exhibition, referred emphatically 

 to " the surprises reserved for our generation by the marvellous 

 progress of science." 



At the Royal Academy banquet, on Saturday last. Sir Henry 

 Roscoe responded to the toast for "Science." He spoke of the 

 intimate relations between science and art, and, as an illustra- 

 tion of the services rendered by the former to the latter, referred 

 to the fact that this year we celebrate the jubilee of the dis- 

 covery of photography. "In 1839," he said, "the power of 

 the sun to draw in black and white was first indicated by 

 Daguerre and Fox Talbot. In her infancy exhibiting but 

 slight promise of artistic life, Photography, in her maturity, has 

 developed true artistic power, so that she has now grown to be 

 a trusted and valued ._helpmate to the artist, while she can pro- 

 duce effects and catch expressions which might defy the brush 

 of a Turner or a Reynolds." 



An International Congress of Photography will be held in 

 Paris from August 6 to 17. If we may judge from the pro- 

 gramme, which has been issued by the Organizing Committee, 

 the proceedings are likely to be of great interest. Anyone may 

 suggest subjects of discussion on condition that the suggestions 

 are sent to the secretary (M. S. Pector, 9 rue Lincoln, Paris) 

 at least fifteen days before the opening of the Congress. On 

 August 20 there will be a public conference on the labours of 

 the Congress. 



The third of the series of One-Man Photographic Exhibi- 

 tions at the Camera Club is now open to visitors on presentation 

 of card. The Exhibition will continue for about two months. 

 The object of this series of exhibitions is to bring together, in 

 turn, representative collections of the work of the best photo- 

 graphic artists. The photographs shown on the present occasion 

 are by Mr. J. Gale. They are chiefly photographs of land- 

 scape, and landscape with figure, and are printed in platinum 

 and in silver processes. 



Science gives the following as a complete list of the papers 

 presented and read to the American National Academy of 

 Science, at its meeting in April : on composite coronagraphy, 

 by D. P. Todd ; additional experimental proof that the relative 



coefficient of expansion between Baily's metal and steel is con- 

 stant between the limits zero and 95" F. (read by title), by W. 

 A. Rogers ; notice on the method and results of a systematic 

 study of the action of definitely related chemical compounds 

 upon animals, by Wolcott Gibbs and Hobart Hare ; on sensa- 

 tions of colour, and determinations of gravity, by C. S. Peirce ; 

 on the Pliocene Vertebrate fauna of Western North America, 

 and on the North American Proboscidea, by E. D. Cope ; on 

 the mass of Saturn, by A. Hall, Jun. ; on the nature and com- 

 position of double halides (read by title) ; on the rate of reduc- 

 tion of nitro-compounds, and on some connection between taste 

 and chemical composition, by Ira Remsen ; recent researches in 

 atmospheric electricity, by T. C. Mendenhall ; measurement by 

 light-waves, by A. A. Michelson ; on the feasibility of the 

 establishment of a light-wave as the ultimate standard of 

 length, by A. A. Michelson and E. W. Morley ; on the general 

 laws pertaining to stellar variation, by S. C. Chandler ; review 

 of the trivial names in Piazzi's Star Catalogue, by C. H. F. 

 Peters ; on Cretaceous flora of North America, by J. S. New- 

 berry ; terrestrial magnetism (read by title), Cleveland Abbe ; 

 spectrum photography in the ultra-violet, by Romyn Hitchcock ; 

 North American Pelagldce (read by title), and development of 

 Crustacea (read by title), by W. K. Brooks ; the plane of de- 

 marcation between the Cambrian and pre- Cambrian rocks, by 

 C. D. Walcott ; report of the American Eclipse Expedition to 

 Japan, 1887, by D. P. Todd. 



It is reported from India that Mr. Blanford, Meteorological 

 Reporter to the Government of India, who retires at the end of 

 his furlough, has been recommended for the special pension of 

 6000 rupees per annum. 



The following "resolution" of the Government of Bombay, 

 which has just been published, tells its own story, and adds 

 another to the already numerous examples of the well-judged 

 munificence of the Parsee community of Bombay. The resolu- 

 tion is entitled " Scientific Medical Research." " (l) The sum 

 of Rs. 75,000 having been placed at the disposal of his Excellency 

 the Governor by Mr. Framjee Dinshaw Petit, for the purpose of 

 erecting and fitting a laboratory for scientific medical research, on 

 a site which has been approved by the donor, in the immediate 

 vicinity of the Grant Medical College, the Governor in Council 

 has much pleasure in accepting the offer, and, in doing so, 

 desires publicly to thank Mr. Framjee Dinshaw Petit for his 

 munificence in supplying an institution, the want of which has 

 long been felt by those most interested in promoting the cause 

 of higher medical education in this Presidency. (2) The 

 Governor in Council is pleased to direct that the institution 

 shall be called ' The Framjee Dinshaw Petit Laboratory for 

 Scientific Research.' (3) Instructions for the preparation of 

 the necessary plans and estimates for the proposed building have 

 already b een given. " 



The native population of Benares cannot be said to have very 

 advanced ideas as to the importance of sanitary science. The 

 other day a monster meeting was held in that city to protest 

 against certain proposed drainage and water supply schemes, and 

 a petition to the Government condemning the entire action of 

 the municipality in the matter is said to bear 100,000 signatures. 

 According to the Calcutta Correspondent of the Times, the 

 petitioners emphatically decline to pay by increased taxation for 

 any new system. 



Last winter the Vienna Medical School was attended by 150 

 British and American medical graduates, among whom were 

 many Edinburgh men. As many medical students, on their 

 arrival at Vienna, do not know German, the Vienna 

 Weekly Neivs has opened a special " medical inquiry office " near 

 the hospital, where information as to lectures, lodgings, &c., is 

 given without charge to British and American medical men. 



