372 



NATURE 



{August 15, 1889 



miners of the University of London, generally in con- 

 junction with Sir J. D. Hooker and the late Dr. Thomson ; 

 and he acted also in the same capacity for the University 

 of Cambridge and the Apothecaries' Company. 



From the commencement of the Gardener'' s Chrofiicle, 

 in 1841, till his health failed, he was a regular contributor 

 to its pages. His most important papers were a series 

 of articles on vegetable pathology, commenced in 1854 

 and continued at intervals till 1857. He also contributed 

 a series of articles on the diseases of plants to the 

 " Cyclopsedia of Agriculture." He was one of the first 

 to lay special stress upon the need for studying the full 

 life-history of a fungus in order to understand it properly, 

 the carrying out of which in the last generation has so 

 completely changed many of our old ideas. 



After the death of Lindley he acted for many years as 

 botanical referee and general counsellor to the Royal 

 Horticultural Society, a post for which he was well fitted, 

 from his thorough knowledge of vegetable physiology 

 and his acquaintance with practical gardening. It was 

 in the Journal of this Society that his papers on the 

 potato disease appeared. He was an excellent classical 

 scholar, and read through all the proof-sheets of Bentham 

 and Hooker's " Genera Plantarum," specially as linguistic 

 critic. He was a man full of geniality, always willing to 

 impart freely his wide store of information, and will be 

 greatly missed by those that had the pleasure of his per- 

 sonal acquaintance. He had a commanding presence 

 and a robust physique. His portrait, painted in oil by 

 Peel in 1878, now hangs in the rooms of the Linnean 

 Society, and a capital full-page engraving, by Mr. Woi th- 

 ington Smith, has twice appeared in the Gardener's 

 Chronicle. J. G. B. 



NOTES. 



We mentioned last week ihe fetes in connection with the opening 

 of the new Sorbonne, to which students from all the Universi- 

 ties of Europe had been invited. The following is a compkte 

 programme of the ten days' fcbtivities — held under the auspices 

 of the Association Generale des ^fetudiants de Paris — in which all 

 the students of Paris, as well as their foreign guests, were invited 

 to take part : — August 4, gala performance at the Opera. 

 August 5, inauguration of the Sorbonne ; reception by M. 

 Fallieres, Minister of Public Instruction. August 8, reception 

 by the Municipality of Paris at the Hotel de Ville. August 9, 

 matinee at the Comedie Francaise ; reception by M. Yves 

 Guyot, Minister of Public Works ; reception of the English and 

 American students by M. Beljame, Professor of English at the 

 Sorbonne. August 10, speeches by the chiefs of the foreign 

 delegations ; performance at the Gaite Theatre. August 11, pre- 

 sentation of the chiefs of the foreign delegations to M. Carnot. 

 August 12, ascent of the Eiffel Tower; excursion to Meudon ; 

 banquet on the terrace, under the presidency of M. Janssen. 

 The f^tes have been throughout a magnificent success, and the 

 students of all countries must carry away with them the most 

 pleasant of remembrances of their French comrades. The 

 Government and the City of Paris had voted a sum of about 

 ;i^3500 to the Association Generale des^^tudiants, and it is to the 

 organizing powers of the President, M. Chaumeton, and his 

 devoted lieutenants, that the success of the meeting is due. At 

 the Meudon banquet, at which there were nearly 2000 covers, M. 

 Lavisse, Professor of Modern History at the Sorbonne, in an 

 eloquent speech, declared that the principle of the future must 

 be, not cosmopolitanism, but " le respect de chaque patrie far 

 toutes les fairies." 



The Congress of Physiological Psychology was held in Paris 

 last week, and the meeting is considered to have been very suc- 

 cessful. It was decided that a second meeting should be held 

 in 1892, either in London or in Cambridge, during the month of 

 August. 



The Hygiene Congress at Paris brought its labours to a close 

 on Saturday last. Among the subjects discussed during the 

 week was that of the pollution of rivers. The Congress de- 

 cided that the pollution of underground watercourses and of 

 rivers by the residue of factories should in principle be forbidden, 

 and that water from factories should not flow into a stream till it 

 bad been proved to be absolutely free from all injurious sub- 

 stances. The Congress was strongly of opinion that the most 

 perfect method of purification was by irrigation. This, of 

 course, must, in certain cases, be preceded by such mechanical 

 and chemical processes as would render the water fit for agricul- 

 tural purposes. It was related that many manufacturers had 

 benefited by the application of the law, as in their efforts to 

 prevent the pollution of watercourses they had made discoveries 

 enabling them to utilize waste products. The difficulty was with 

 the smaller manufacturers, who were not rich enough to take the 

 necessary measures. The Congress decided that where persistent 

 resistance was displayed the authorities should themselves execute 

 the works prescribed for the purification of the water and compel 

 the persons interested to pay the cost. 



Arrangements are being made by the local committee of 

 the American Association at Toronto for an excursion, starting 

 September 3 or 4, to the Huronian district. Particulars will be 

 given in a circular, which is to be issued by the American Geo- 

 logical Society. There will also be an excursion to the Pacific 

 Coast. 



Some time ago the Berlin Academy of Sciences received from 

 Count Loubat, of New York, about ;^ii5o, with a request that 

 a prize might be founded for the encouragement of North 

 American studies. At the same time he sent ^120, which was to 

 be offered as a special prize. It has now been decided that a prize 

 of ^150 shall be awarded in July 1891, to the author of the 

 best printed work on the settlement of civilized colonies in North 

 America and their later history. The works to be submitted 

 must have appeared between July i, 1884, and July i, 1889 ; 

 and the authors must communicate to the Berlin Academy before 

 July I, 1890, their intention to compete. The language of the 

 books may be German, English, French, or Dutch. In 1896 

 there will be another prize of similar amount for a work on the 

 North American aborigines. Every five years a prize of ;i^i50 

 will be offered, the subjects being aboriginal and civilized history, 

 chosen alternately. The money for the first of this series of 

 prizes will be obtained by the addition of the special sum of 

 P^I20 to the interest on the larger and permanent fund. 



The Royal Danish Academy of Sciences invites research on 

 the following among other subjects : — Compounds of alcohol 

 radicals with copper, silver, or gold, and compounds of poly- 

 valent alcohol radicals with metals (all unknov/n at present). 

 Prize a gold medal. The fatty acids in the fat of butter ; to 

 be isolated and determined, and relations indicated especially 

 between the quantities of oleic acid and those of palmitic acid 

 and their higher homologues. Prize about ;^32. The Mycorhizte 

 of the beech. Are they different in different kinds of humus ? 

 Does the structure of the mycelium give a basis for classifica- 

 tion ? Is there a reciprocal symbiosis, the fungus preparing food 

 for the plant, &c., &c. Prize about ^^32. Memoirs to be sent 

 to Prof. Zeuthen, of Copenhagen, before October 31, 1890, 

 except in the last case, for which the date is October 31, 1891. 



The twelfth annual meeting of the Midland Union of 

 Natural History Societies will be held at Oxford on the after- 

 noon of Monday, September 23. An inaugural address, on 

 heredity, will be delivered by the President, Mr. E. B. Poulton, 

 F.R.S. This will be followed by a discussion, after which the 

 meeting will transact all necessary business. In the evening 

 there will be a conversazione in the Museum, and the Oxfordshire 



