Sept. 26, 1878] 



NATURE 



575 



Mr. John Penn, F.R.S., the eminent marine engineer, died 

 on Monday last, at Lee, in his seventy-third year. Mr. Penn's 

 various patents for marine engines were considered so good that 

 no fewer than 740 British war vessels were fitted with his 

 machinery. Among them were the Warrior, the Black Prince, the 

 Achilles, the Hercules, and the Sultan. Messrs. Penn also supplied 

 the engines for nearly all the largest war ships for the Italian, 

 Spanish, Brazilian, German, Danish, and Peruvian Govern- 

 ments, and those for the yachts of the Queen, the Emperor of 

 Russia, the Khedive, the Sultan, and the Emperor of Austria. 

 Mr. Penn was elected a member of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers in 1828, and a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1859. 

 He was also a past president of the Society of Mechanical 

 Engineers, and had received many marks of distinction from 

 various foreign governments. 



Messrs. Barraud and Jerrard are to be congratulated on 

 the latest issue of their fine plate containing a collection of 

 portraits of Fellows of the Royal Society produced from photo- 

 graphs and printed in " permanent print." Most of the por- 

 traits and many of the poses are very lifelike, and the intro- 

 duction of so many portraits into one picture, while retaining a 

 certain artistic effect, has not been accomplished without a con- 

 siderable overcoming of difficulties. The full-length portraits 

 of the Astronomer-Royal, Sir J. Lubbock, Dr. Richardson, 

 Dr. Siemens, Dr. Lister, Dr. Spottiswoode, and Prof. Martin 

 Duncan, in the fore-front, are all excellent. A convenient key 

 accompanies the plate. 



The Seth Thomas Clock Company have recently introduced 

 a time-keeper with a novel and most useful addition. This con- 

 sists of a perpetual calendar, the day, date, and month being 

 shown on a second dial. We have personally tested the action 

 of this part and can state that the mechanism takes ordinary leap 

 years perfectly into account. Indeed, the novelty is a marvel of 

 ingenuity. We hope later to be able to give more details. 



The Trustees of the Australian Museum seem not only to 

 have an unhappy knack of getting into hot water, but a strong 

 feeling that it is good to remain in it. Without entering into 

 the quarrel between[them and the late curator, any one will regret 

 the course of action thus referred to in the last report "to his 

 Excellency, the Govemor-in-Chief " : — "The Trustees regret to 

 state that, notwithstanding their strenuous endeavours to bring 

 all disputes with their late Curator to a satisfactory conclusion, 

 and to relieve the institution of the custody of the whole of the 

 property which they could admit to belong to him, that gentle- 

 man has thought fit to bring an action to recover certain 

 medals awarded to him as Curator of the Museum in respect of 

 property of the Museum exhibited on various occasions, at the 

 expense of the Museum, and certain specimens and articles of 

 clothing and furniture alleged to have been detained by the 

 Trustees. The Crown Solicitor was authorised by the Minister 

 of Justice and Public Instruction to defend the action, which 

 came on for trial in the Supreme Court on November 6, and 

 resulted in a verdict against the Trustees of 50/. damages for the 

 temporary detention of the plaintiff's property, which had been 

 returned to him before the commencement of the action, and 

 the further sum of 850/. in addition to the sum of 25/. which the 

 Trustees had been advised to pay into court as amply sufficient 

 to cover the value of the articlesto which the plaintiff coidd show 

 even a colour of title. Notwithstanding the astonishment of the 

 Trustees at this most unexpected result, they yielded to the 

 advice offered by their counsel and by the court, and offered by 

 •way of compromise to give up the medals and other property 

 claimed, and to pay the further sum of X'J^l. in addition to the 

 25/. paid into court, but this offer was rejected by the plaintiff, 

 whereupon a rule nisi for a new trial was granted by the court." 



The daughter of Laplace has offered an excellent picture of 

 her father to be copied. The family of Arago have likewise 

 offered a picture of the illustrious astronomer. A large and 

 excellent picture of Leverrier was in the hands of M. Bischofs- 

 heim, who wTote a letter to Admiral Mouchez, wishing him to 

 take possession of it, at his earliest convenience, on behalf of 

 the Observatory. 



On October 4-6 the annual meeting of ornithologists will 

 take place at Berlin. The following papers will be read : — On 

 the birds of the Danube forty years ago and at the present time, 

 by E. von Homeyer (Stolp), president of the society ; On the 

 recent researches in the osteology and myology of birds with 

 regard to classification, by Prof. Blasius (Brunswick); On an 

 ornithological excursion to Hungary and Croatia, by Dr. Brehm 

 (Berhn) ; On the latest collection of birds from Eastern Africa, 

 by Prof. Cabanis (Berlin) ; On the birds of the Caucasus, by Dr. 

 Radde (Tiflis) ; On the latest acquisitions of the Zoological 

 Museum of Berlin, with special reference to the nests and eggs 

 of African birds, by Dr. Reichenow (Berlin) ; On the importance 

 of splanchnology with regard to systematics, by Herr Gadow 

 (Algiers) ; On the progress of ornithology since 1875, by Herr 

 Schalow (Berlin). 



A LARGE and very brilliant meteor was observed at numerous 

 places in Central Germany on September 6. Near Hanau it 

 appeared in the south-east about 9.10 p.m., and looked hke 

 a large comet, with a solid nucleus and a long train of light 

 stretching across the sky to the north-west. It appeared 

 suddenly like a flash of lightning, and, when the nucleus 

 had disappeared, the line of light yet remained, and little 

 stars could be noticed in it by the naked eye. The total 

 duration of the phenomenon was about thirty seconds. 



On September 15, at 6 to 7 p.m., a large meteor was observed 

 at Montpellier. On the ?ame day and at about the same time, 

 one was witnessed at Tenez, and Constantine in Algeria, and 

 a number of places at great distances from each other. It is 

 not yet known whether it was the same body or if the earth 

 met in its course a meteor swarm. The bolides were notable 

 for their brilliancy and their duration. It is reported that at 

 Constantine the phenomena were accompanied by noise. 



A short but violent shock of earthquake was felt at Buir, 

 near Diiren (Rhenish Prussia), on September 2, at 9.15 P.M. 

 Indeed it is stated that since the great earthquake of August 26 

 shocks have been felt in that district almost daily. Another 

 shock is reported from Remagen, on the Rhine, on September 3, 

 at I A.M., and a third one from Wiesbaden and neighbourhood 

 on September 14, at 11.35 p.m. The latter was particularly 

 violent. 



According to the last official calculation the total receipts 

 of the Exhibition from entrance-money will reach 13,000,000 

 francs up to the end of October. There are other sources of 

 revenue and a subvention from the City of Paris. It is 

 supposed that the deficit will not exceed 400,000/., which will 

 be more than covered from various sources. 



Quite recently a most remarkable new cave has been dis- 

 covered in the United States near Glasgow Junction, Kentucky. 

 It has been investigated to a distance of no less than twenty- 

 three miles in one direction and sixteen in another. Most of 

 its passages are very broad, and it is stated that a carriage with 

 a pair of horses has room to drive some eleven miles into the 

 interior. It contains several very deep rivers, one of which has 

 been traced to a distance of fourteen miles; further progress 

 was then arrested, the cave narrowing too much to allow a boat 

 to pass. The cave is described to be " most wonderful," by an 

 American contemporary, and is said to surpass in grandeur all 



