28 



NA TURE 



{July 1 8, 1889 



Prof. S. R. Gardiner, Mr. Arthur Sidgwick, Mr. R. G.MouIton, 

 and many others. The second part of the meeting, which is 

 the special feature and new departure of this year, is to begin 

 •on Saturday morning, August 10, and end on Friday evening, 

 August 30. This is intended to be a period of more serious and 

 sustained study and instruction for those whose leisure and in- 

 dustry have not been exhausted during the previous ten days, as 

 well as for those who may prefer three weeks of more quiet and 

 systematic reading and lecturing. The lectures in this second 

 part are arranged in connection with lectures of a more genera' 

 character delivered in the first part. It is estimated that the 

 total expense of attending the first part of the meeting need not 

 exceed ^^5 for each person (including railway fare and price of 

 ticket), and may be considerably less if several persons live 

 "together ; whihe ^10, it is estimated, may cover the expense of 

 attending both parts of the meeting. The Secretary is Mr. W. 

 A. S. Hewins, 35 Cornmarket Street, Oxford. The number of 

 tickets is limited to 1200, of which about five-sixths have been 

 already applied for. 



Sir Edward Watkin was the client for whom Mr. Perks 

 bought the summit of Snowdon at Tokenhouse Yard last week. 

 It is said that Sir Edward has intimated his intention of offer- 

 ing a site on the summit to the Royal Astronomical Society for 

 purposes of an observatory similar to that on Ben Nevis. 



On Monday a deep-sea exploration party started from Kiel, 

 on board the steamer National, for the Greenland coast, where 

 they propose to carry on a series of submarine soundings and in- 

 vestigations. The expedition is directed by Prof. Hensen. 



According to the Times of India, Mr, Oldham, of the 

 Geological Survey of India, who is at Simla at present, is to be 

 deputed to Mergui, in Burmah, on geological work. 



Mr. Elliot, head of the Meteorological Department, has, 

 according to the Times of India, reached Simla after a long and 

 useful tour. He has arranged for the publication of a map of 

 "Bombay, showing the daily state of -the weather on the coast, 

 similar to that issued in Calcutta. 



The vexed and protracted question of a good zoological col- 

 lection for Bombay is, after years of discussion, at last on the 

 point of being settled. It came to the ears of the Governor, 

 Lord Rfay, that the terms on which the Victoria Gardens are 

 held by the Municipality of Bombay were at the bottom of the 

 whole difficulty. No charge for admission could be levied at 

 any time without the express consent of the Government. But 

 without the aid of fees it would be impossible to maintain, 

 much less to establish, a really good collection. The Govern- 

 ment thereupon intimated their willingness to see a moderate 

 fee charged for admission on certain days in the week, and on 

 June 17 the matter was brought before the Corporation, and 

 the propoFa's of the Municipal Commissioner were accepted. 

 Curiously enough, the Times of India, which brings this informa- 

 tion, also contains a letter from Mr. H. B. Brady, F.R.S., from 

 London, describing the present zoological collection of Bombay 

 as " a few poor beasts wretchedly housed." But now that fees 

 •can be charged at the Victoria Gardens, the situation is entirely 

 changed, and there is no reason why the Bombay zoological 

 collection should not speedily equal the fine collection at 

 •Calcutta, 



Dr. Francis Day died on July' 10 at his residence, 

 Kenilworth House, Cheltenham. He was appointed to the 

 Madras Establishment in 1852, and after taking part in the 

 military operations then in progress at Burmah, for which he 

 received the medal, he devoted himself exclusively to the study 

 of fishes, and became Inspector- General of Fisheries in India. 

 The results of his labours he presented in reports to the Govern- 

 ment of India of 1865 to 1877, in numerous papers to scientific 



journals, and in the following general publications: — "The 

 Fishes of Malabar," 1865 ; " The Fishes of India," 1868 ; "The 

 Fishes of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands," &c., 1870 ; 

 "The Fresh-water Fish and Fisheries of India and Burmah," 

 1873; "The Fishes of India," second edition, 1875-79; ^Wd 

 "The Fishes of the Nilghiri Hills and the Wynaad," 1876, 

 The Imperial Museum at Calcutta possesses his type collection 

 of Indian fishes ; and collections formed by him are in the 

 Natural History Museums at Leyden, Berlin, Florence, and 

 Sydney, and in the British Museum, to which he also sent his 

 collection of Indian crabs. Dr. Day retired from the Madras 

 Medical Stafif in 1877, He then began the study of the fishes 

 and fisheries of the United Kingdom, and in 1880-83 Pub- 

 lished "The Fishes of Great Britain and Ireland." He was 

 created a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire in 1885, 

 and about the same time received the cross of the Order of the 

 Crown of Italy. 



According to the Colonies and India, the Dunedin Accli- 

 matization Society have solved one of the greatest problems in 

 connection with the acclimatization of salmon. They have pro- 

 cured ova from fish reared from ova sent from this country. It 

 is claimed that this has never before been done in any part of 

 the world. 



In connection with a note by M. Leroy, in the Coniptes rendits 

 of June 17, M. Landerer pointed out, in a note read at the 

 meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences on July 8, that he 

 was the first to describe the phenomenon of the decomposition 

 of the image of the horizontal lines seen with the eye which 

 remains closed during microscopic observations. M. Landerer 

 offered two remarks in addition to his former statements: (l) 

 although the effort made by the eye in microscopic vision ap- 

 pears to be of the same nature as the effort demanded by 

 telescopic vision, the trouble caused to the closed eye is 

 much more sensible in the former case than in the latter, no 

 matter what the telescopic object may be. (2) The disposition 

 which must be given to the eyes during microscopic vision in- 

 volves the crossing of their optical axes, producing an effect like 

 that of " strabism." This is proved by the fact that, in giving 

 them this disposition, and then applying the eye to the ocular, 

 one perceives the image distinctly. It is this simultaneous work 

 of the two eyes that explains the trouble experienced by the eye 

 which does not take part directly in the act of vision. 



The Reale Istituto Lombardo proposes as subject for the 

 Cagnola Prize (2500 lire, and medal 500 lire) in 1889-90 

 ("ordinary " competition) the following : — Investigation of one 

 of the (at present few) trisubstituted derivatives of benzol ; 

 their mutual relations, and relations to the bisubstituted deriva- 

 tives to be studied, and facts ascertained which will throw light 

 On the laws of their properties and constitution. Samples of 

 new bodies to be furnished. The date is Aj ril 30, 1890. For 

 the "extraordinary" competition (same value of prize), a physico- 

 physiological monograph on one of the larger Lombardy lakes 

 is invited. The research must be carried out according to the 

 directions published by Prof. Forel, of Lausanne, in 1887 

 Date May r, 1890. Thirdly, a similar prize is offered for dis- 

 coveries on the cure of pellagra ; or the nature of miasma and 

 contagion ; or the steering of balloons ; or means of preventing 

 the falsification of writing. Date December 31, 1889. Manu- 

 scripts (in French, Italian, or Latin) are to be sent, with sealed 

 letter, to the Secretary of the Institute in Milan. 



The Transvaal Volksraad is reported to have placed ^^20,000 

 on the estimates for the current year, for the purpose of endowing 

 the first University of the Republic. 



According to the Calcutta Correspondent of the Times, 

 herd of 100 wild elephants has been captured in Mysore b^ 



