May 2, 1878] 



NATURE 



15 



A ROTATING BOOK-CASE 



"IT 7"E have received from Messrs. Triibner and Co. a 

 VV book-case on a novel principle, the invention of 

 an American, the introduction of which, into local 

 museums would, we believe, be attended with considerable 

 advantages. The accompanying woodcut will rende'r a 

 detailed description of it unnecessary, while the practical 

 advantages of storing books in such a small space will 

 be obvious to every^body. We draw attention to it not so 

 much from its use in a private library, to the owners of which 

 it will at once commend itself, as from the convenient man- 

 ner inwhichbooks and specimens supplementingeach other, 

 may be arranged in close proximity. We believe that if in a 

 museum geological books, for instance, were thus arranged 



by the side of the geological specimens, references to the 

 former would be more often made than they are at present 

 when they have to be consulted often in another room at a 

 considerable distance away. Of course the more valuable 

 books and the special memoirs should find their place 

 in libraries as they exist at present, but a typical collection 

 of books side by side with a typical collection of specimens 

 such as this neat arrangement suggests would, we believe, 

 form a novel feature which would be greatly appreciated 

 by many students. The four sides of the rotating book- 

 case also afford a capital means of dividing the subjects 

 as well as saving space, almost to as great an extent as 

 the rotating case for art illustrations introduced by Sir 

 Henry Cole into the South Kensington Museum. 



FAUSTINUS yOVITA MARIANUS MALAGUTI 



'\17'E are called upon to chronicle a new loss to French 

 ^^ science in the death, on April 24, of the well- 

 known chemist Prof. Malaguti. He Avas born in Bologna 

 February 15, 1802, his father being a pharmaceutical 

 chemist. At the age of sixteen he completed the course 

 in pharmacy at the Bologna University, and undertook 

 the direction of his father's establishment. Although 

 holding himself aloof from political questions, he became 

 unintentionally involved in the complications of 1831, 

 and was forced to leave his native land. He arrived at 

 Paris unfamiliar with the French language, and succeeded 

 in exciting the sympathies of Gay Lussac, who admitted 

 him into his laboratory as, assistant to Pelouze. After 

 finishing a course in the Ecole Polytechnique, he was 

 appointed, in 1843, chemist to the porcelain manufactory 

 at Sevres. Soon after he received the degree of doctor 

 of science, and in 1850, as the result of a competitive 

 examination, was appointed to the chair of chemistry in 

 the scientific faculty of Rennes, a position which he has 



since then occupied. In 1855 he was elected dean of 

 the faculty. 



As an investigator Malaguti won a prominent place in 

 the annals of French chemistry, the period from 1833 to 

 1867 being especially fruitful. Devoting his attention 

 to the theoretical dispute of the day, he laboured un- 

 weariedlyin widening the region of experimental chemistry, 

 showing himself equally at home, not only in the organic 

 and inorganic departments, but also in technical and 

 vegetable chemistry. In inorganic chemistry he devised 

 methods for preparing a variety of metallic oxides, such 

 as cuprous and chromic oxides, in the pure state, and 

 investigated closely the properties of a number of salts 

 and minerals. The extensive occurrence of silver in the 

 blood, in sea-water, coal, salt, &c., as w-ell as the most 

 profitable means of winning the metal, formed subjects 

 for an interesting series of papers in 1849. 



In the province of organic chemistry, Malagiiti ren- 

 dered his chief services, his exhaustive studies into the 

 principles of etherification and the action of chlorine on 

 ethers and organic bodies in general being models of 

 careful, thorough work. The enormous mass of facts 

 Avhich he gathered together contributed in no small degree 

 to the establishment of the principle of substitution. 

 Among other important researches in this department 

 should be mentioned the discovery of methylal, the study 

 on the action of acids on sugars, the papers on amides 

 and nitrites, &c. 



The influence of soils on the composition of plants 

 was investigated by Malaguti in the most thorough 

 manner, and led to the general conclusion that the con- 

 stitution of the soil affected the ashy constituents of the 

 plants, but not their physical properties. Equally im- 

 portant was the series of experiments on the division of 

 inorganic matter among the various plant families, on the 

 temperature of the soil and the air, and on the action of 

 various compounds on living plants. 



Besides these more purely scientific labours he ac- 

 complished no small amount in analytical chemistry, and 

 made some valuable discoveries in practical metallurgy. 



In addition to his numerous contributions to the 

 periodical scientific literature, Malaguti published in 1848 

 "Legons de Chimie agricole," and in 1853 "Legons 

 el^mentaire de Chimie," a text-book highly regarded in 

 France, and recently honoured with a new edition. 



In 1855 he was elected a corresponding member of 

 the French Academy of Science, and in i860 he was ap- 

 pointed an officer of the Legion of Honour. The 

 Academy of Turin, the London Chemical Society, and 

 several other learned societies, numbered him among 

 their honorary members. T, H. N. 



DR. THOMAS THOMSON, F.R.S. 



A SERIOUS and protracted illness had removed Dr. 

 Thomson, — who departed this life on Thursday, 

 April 18, — so long from any very steady participation in 

 the progress of botanical research that, except to those 

 old friends who cherish the memory of his more active 

 days, his name has of late been little before the public. 

 Few, however, have done more permanent work in de- 

 scriptive botany, in which department of science his 

 information was not only extensive, but unusually accu- 

 rate, while the range of his acquirements in other 

 branches of natural science was distinguished by a cor- 

 rectness of judgment which, added to no ordinary amount 

 of general knowledge in matters of taste and literature, 

 made him a most delightful and instructive companion. 

 Like many others who have acquired a permanent name 

 in science, he had the advantage of being trained under 

 a scientific father, while his intimate acquaintance with 

 Sir W. J. Hooker, was no small advantage, and not less 

 the having as the constant companion of his youth, Sir 

 Joseph Hooker. 



