234 



NA TURE 



\yan. 9, 1890 



38" "8. This is an increase on the results of the preceding 

 quarter both in the number and height of prominences. Two 

 elaborate plates are included ia the Memorie, indicating the 

 prominences observed at Rome and Palermo from September to 

 December 1886. 



GEOGRAPHICAL NOTES. 



The following news was received a few days ago at St. 

 Petersburg from Colonel Roborovski, the present chief of the late 

 M. Prjevalsky's projected expedition. They crossed the Tian-Shan 

 by the Barskaun and Bedel Passes, and reached the Taushkan- 

 daria. Then they crossed the Kara-teke chain, and when they 

 were on the banks of the Yarkend river, they found out that 

 the Kashgar-daria no longer reaches the Yarkend-daria, but is 

 lost in the irrigation canals of Maral-bash. They followed the 

 Yarkend river, which rolls a mass of muddy water between quite 

 flat banks, covered for some 15 to 30 miles on both sides 

 of the river, by thickets of Populus euphratica, Populus prunosa, 

 tamarisks, Halostachus shrubs, and rushes. Sand deserts spread 

 on both sides, — towards the west to Kashgar, and eastwards 

 to Lob-nor. Many ruins of old cities are met with in the 

 deserts which are never visited by the natives. In the thickets 

 of shrubs which fringe them there are numbers of tigers and 

 wild boars, while amidst the barkhans of the deserts the wild 

 camels are freely grazing. From Yarkend, the expedition went 

 south, towards the hilly tracts, where it stayed for a month, 

 and then it moved towards Kotan, whence Colonel Roborovski 

 wrote on October 7. He proposed to winter at Niya, and to 

 search for a pass to Tibet across the border-ridge to which 

 Prjevalsky gave the name of " Russian Ridge." If they succeed 

 they will spend next summer in Tibet. 



In a lecture lately delivered before the Geographical Society of 

 Bremen, Prof Kuekenthal, of Jena, gave some account of his 

 researches in King Charles Land. Geologically, these islands 

 belong to Spitzbergen, and not, as was formerly supposed, to 

 Francis Joseph Land. During his stay of nearly three months, 

 Prof Kuekenthal thoroughly investigated this remote district, 

 which is almost unapproachable, the surrounding seas being 

 densely packed with icebergs. The islands are almost entirely 

 without vegetation ; only a few mosses struggle for existence on 

 the clay soil. Numerous walrus skeletons are thrown up by the 

 sea. Game is plentiful ; Prof. Kuekenthal shot 14 bears (besides 

 bringing back two live specimens), 39 walruses, and as many seals. 

 Many insects and crustaceans were obtained from the land 

 lakes. 



THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ROYAL 

 SOCIETY. 



'T'HE President, after giving an account of the scientific work 

 of many Fellows deceased during the past year, addressed 

 the Society as follows : — 



On account of the great importance of Joule's labours, both 

 directly, in the advancement of science, and indirectly, through 

 the knowledge thus acquired, in enabling improvements to be 

 made in the practical application of science for industrial pur- 

 poses, it has been suggested that it might be desirable to raise 

 some public memorial to him, and the Council has appointed a 

 Committee to consider the question. 



I have referred, and that very briefly, to some only of the 

 Fellows whom we have lost during the past year, but fuller 

 details both of them, of other Fellows whom we have lost, and 

 of our recently deceased Foreign Members, will be found in the 

 obituary notices which appear from time to time in the Proceed- 

 ings, according as they are received from the Fellows who have 

 kindly undertaken to draw them up. 



Of those who last year were on our list of Foreign Members, 

 we have since lost one who was truly a veteran in science. 

 More than three years have elapsed since the celebration of the 

 centenary of the birth of M, Chevreul, and two more recur- 

 rences of his birthday came round before he was called away. 

 He will be known for his researches on the contrast of colours. 

 But his great work was that by which he cleared up the constitu- 

 aion of the fixed oils and fats, and established the theory of 



saponification. Few scientific men still surviving were even 

 born when this important research was commenced — a research 

 in the course of which he laid the foundation of the method 

 now universally followed in the study of organic compounds, 

 by showing that an ultimate analysis by itself alone is quite 

 insufficient, and that it is necessary to study the substances 

 obtained by the action of reagents on that primarily presented 

 for investigation. 



There is one whose name, though he was not a Fellow, I can- 

 not pass by in silence on the present occasion. I refer to Thomas 

 Jodrell Phillips Jodrell, who died early in September, in his 

 eighty-second year. About the time of the publication of the 

 reports of the Duke of Devonshire's Commission, the subject of 

 the endowment of research was much talked of, and Mr. jodrell 

 placed the sum of ^6000 in the hands of the Society for the 

 purpose of making an experiment to see how far the progress of 

 science might be promoted by enabling persons to engage in 

 research who might not otherwise be in a condition to do so.. 

 But before any scheme for the purpose was matured, the Govern 

 ment Grant for the promotion of scientific research was started, 

 under the administration of Lord John Russell, then Prime 

 Minister. This rendered it superfluous to carry out Mr. Jodrell's 

 original intention, but he still left the money in the hands of the 

 Society, directing that, subject to any appropriation of the money 

 that he might make, with the approval of the Royal Society, 

 during his lifetime, the capital should, immediately upon his 

 death, be incorporated with the Donation Fund, and that in the 

 meantime the income thereof should be received by the Roya\ 

 Society. Of the capital, ^1000 was several years ago assigned 

 to a fund for the reduction of the annual payments to be made 

 by future Fellows, and the remaining ;^50oo has now, of course, 

 been added to the Wollaston Donation Fund. By the Fee 

 Reduction Fund the annual payment of ordinary Fellows elected 

 subsequently to the time of the change was made ^3 instead of 

 £^, and the entrance fee abolished. As to the Donation Fund, 

 a very wide discretion was, by the terms of the original founda- 

 tion, left in the hands of the Council as to the way in which 

 they should employ it in the interest of science. 



Since the Croonian Foundation for lectures was put on its 

 present footing, it has been made the means of securing for us 

 the advantage of a lecture delivered before the Society by dis- 

 tinguished foreign men of science. In the present year our 

 Foreign Member, M. Pasteur, was invited to deliver the lecture. 

 Unfortunately, the state of his health would not allow him to 

 deliver it himself, but at one time he hoped that he would have 

 been able to be present at its delivery. It was ultimately 

 arranged that his fellow-labourer at the Pasteur Institute, Dr. 

 Roux, should deliver the Croonian Lecture in his stead ; and 

 several of the Fellows have heard his lucid account, first of the 

 discoveries of M. Pasteur in relation to diseases brought about 

 by microscopic organisms, and then further researches of his 

 own in the same field. 



In addressing the Fellows at the anniversary last year, I 

 mentioned that Commandant Desforges had kindly offered to 

 compare that portion of Sir George Schuckburgh's scale, with 

 reference to which the length of the seconds pendulum had been 

 determined by Kater and Sabine, with the French standard 

 metre ; and as the ratio of this to the English standard yard was 

 accurately known, the length of the pendulum, as determined 

 by these accurate observers, would thus for the first time be 

 brought into relation with the English yard by direct comparison 

 with accurately compared measures of length. The comparison 

 was shortly afterwards executed, and the scale, which, of course, 

 was very carefully packed for its journey to Paris and back, has 

 long since been replaced in the apartments of the Society. This 

 highly desirable comparison occupied but a few days in its 

 execution ; which affords one example of the scientific advan- 

 tages derivable under an international agreement, from the 

 establishment of the Bureau des Poids et Mesures. Our own 

 country, which for some years held aloof from the Convention, 

 forming the sole exception to the general agreement among 

 nations of importance, joined it some years ago ; and we thus 

 have the privilege of availing ourselves, as occasion may arise, 

 of the appliances at the office in Paris for such comparisons of 

 measures of length or weight. 



The services of Mr. Arthur Soper, as a special assistant, have 

 been retained during the past session, with advantage to the 

 library. He has completed the much-needed shelf catalogue, 

 and the re-arrangement of the books where necessary. In the 

 course of this work the volumes of a purely literarv character 



