534 



NATURE 



\Sept, 12, 1878 



of the Exhibition), a few weeks ago, and deserves notice. It is 

 a technical library for French authors which now numbers more 

 than 3,000 volumes. This library will be made permanent, and 

 established somewhere in Paris when the Exhibition is over. It 

 was originated by M. Tresca, the sub-director of the Conserva- 

 toire des Arts et Metiers. 



The weather being magnificent in Paris, the GiflFard captive 

 balloon takes up daily 500 passengers, paying twenty francs 

 each, exclusive of a large number of invith, two aeronauts, and 

 meteorological observers. M. Giffard has received propositions 

 from the New York Daily Graphic for the purchase of his 

 balloon, but he has declined ; it will probably become a perma- 

 nent institution in Paris. 



The Russian Technical Society at St. Petersburg has com- 

 menced the publication of polyglot technical dictionaries. The 

 French-Russian-German-English part has just appeared. 



The rage for exhibitions has now spread even to Central Asia. 

 The latest news from Tashkent states than an agricultural and 

 industrial exhibition is about to be held there. Great prepara- 

 tions are being made for it at Samarcand, and the Government 

 has promised gold and silver medals to the exhibitors as well as 

 — honorary Kaftans ! 



We recommend to all who have anything to do with the 

 management of schools, two lectures by Dr. Liebreich, which 

 have been published by Messrs. Churchill "under the title of 

 " School Life in its Influence on Sight and Figfure." 



The botanist Fournier finds in Mexico 638 varieties of grasses, 

 of which 376 occur in no other land. Of the remainder 82 are 

 found in the United States, 30 on this side of the Atlantic, and 

 the rest in the West Indies, South and Central America. 



Dr. Ahlberg describes, in Neubert's Deutsches Magazin, the 

 Japanese flora as being at the height of its beauty in May, 

 None of the great families is without its representatives, although 

 as usual the Cruciferse, Compositae, Papilionaceae, Ranunculaceoe, 

 and Umbelliferse predominate. The forests are marked by a 

 variety of maples, numerous representatives of the oak, and a 

 large number of varieties of ilex. 



Under the title of " African Poisons " the Journal of Applied 

 Science for the current month has some notes on the poisonous 

 properties of a species of Strychnos and on the Inee poison 

 (Sirophanthus hispidus). Regarding the former it seems to be 

 employed as an ordeal by the natives in Gaboon under the 

 names of "Cusa" or " Icaja," and at Cape Lopez by that of 

 "M'boundou." The plant producing it is described as growing 

 in swampy or inundated situations, and attaining a height of 

 only from four to six feet. The root is long and tapering, and 

 is covered with a red bark, and it is from this bark that the 

 active principle is obtained. The root -bark is scraped off" and 

 steeped in about a quart of water. When the water has acquired 

 a reddish colour the poison is ready. According to the recent 

 investigations of Messrs. G. Picholier and C. Saint Pierre the 

 toxical principle of M'boundou is soluble in water and alcohol, 

 and has a mode of action analogous to nux vomica, that is to 

 say, acting on the sensitive nervous system. It only in a 

 secondary degree affects the active nervous system. It is 

 suggested in the article from whence the above information is 

 obtained that it would be interesting to compare the M'boundou 

 with the hoang-nan jJSirychnos gautheriana) of Cochin China, 

 which is employed in cases of leprosy and hydrophobia. 



In the British Section of the Paris Exhibition, amongst 

 scientific instrument makers, the gold medal has been awarded 

 to Messrs. A. Lege and Co., for their exhibit of instruments of 

 precision and for the improvement of navigation. 



We learn that Parts I. and II. of Mr. Buchanan's work on 

 " The Grasses of New Zealand," which is being published in 



the colony is on the eve of publication if it has not already 

 appeared. These two parts contain twenty-one plates. The 

 volume is large quarto and when completed will consist of five 

 parts, and will contain fifty-five plates all native printed. It is 

 said that Dr. Hector intends to bring out a reduced edition in 

 octavo with the plates reduced by photo-lithography, and 

 tinted. In this form it will be more handy and convenient than 

 the original bulky volume. 



The Paris mint has published statistics on the value of pieces 

 struck in the establishment from 1795, the date of its founda- 

 tion, to 1878 :— In gold, about 8,500,000,000 francs ; in silver, 

 about 5,510,000,000 francs ; in copper, about 62,702,785 francs. 

 Total value, 14,072,702,785 francs. 



PROGRESS OF THE "CHALLENGER" 

 REPORT^ 



A S a period of more than two years has now elapsed since 

 •**■ the return of the Challenger expedition, I may very 

 properly be expected to give some account to my scientific brethren 

 of the progress which has been made up to the present time in 

 the reduction and classification of the multitude of observations 

 which were made in different departments, in the description and 

 illustration of the natural history collections, and in the prepara- 

 tion of the official record of the voyage, which has been called 

 for by government. 



Before doing so, however, it may be well for me to sketch 

 briefly the circumstances which led to the adoption of the plan 

 now in operation for working up the results of the expedition, 

 and putting them in a permanent form. 



The voyage of the Challenger was undertaken for a very 

 definite purpose, the determination of the physical and bio- 

 logical conditions of the ocean, and as the period of three years 

 and a half occupied by our cruise round the world was quite too 

 short even to draw the first outline sketch of general deep-sea 

 conditions, our time was entirely devoted while the ship was at 

 sea to registering observations, and cataloguing, and labelling, 

 and storing specimens. Owing to the great liberality of the 

 government in supplying abundantly all the necessary materials 

 and appliances, an enormous collection of marine animals was 

 sent home from time to time in wonderfully good condition. It 

 was a matter of distinct understanding when I undertook the 

 scientific direction of the expedition, that the responsibility not 

 only of the conduct of the scientific work during its progress, but 

 of the working out of its results at its close rested with me, and 

 before the end of this cruise I was called upon by the jLords 

 Commissioners of the Admiralty for a statement for their con- 

 sideration of the course which I proposed to pursue both with 

 regard to the publication of the results, and the ultimate destina- 

 tion of the specimens and other materials. Of course I had 

 given this matter much careful thought, and I was in a position 

 to submit to their lordships a general plan which commended 

 itself to their approval, and which is now in process of being 

 carried out unaltered. I proposed that for the time the collec- 

 tion should tbe placed in rooms which were given to us for 

 the purpose in the University of Edinburgh, and that for the 

 first year our attention should be chiefly directed to the prepara- 

 tion of an outline of the general report, and to the examination 

 of the collection and its rough classification in zoological 

 sequence ; and that during this period the services of the gentle- 

 men who had been associated with me on the scientific staff" on 

 board should be retained. I proposed that as soon as possible 

 arrangements should be made to invite gentlemen who were 

 recognised as authorities in different departments, and who had 

 suflScient leisure at their disposal, to undertake the description 

 of the zoological series, group by group, and that a sufficient 

 sum should be granted to defray the expense of complete illus- 

 tration and to compensate them to a certain extent for their 

 expenditure of time. 



With regard to the destination of the collection, I proposed 

 that in the first place each specialist who undertook the description 

 of a group should be requested to set aside all unique specimens 



» " On the Progress which has been made in the Preparation of the Official 

 Report of the Challenger Expedition." Paper read at the Dubhn meeting of 

 the British Association by Prof. Sir C. Wyville Thomson. Revised by the 

 Author. 



