Nov. 23, 1876] 



NATURE 



85 



of the duties laid down for them, those even who were 

 disposed to carry them out saw how useless it was for one 

 district to be cleared while adjoining districts remained 

 as practically breeding grounds for the pests. That a 

 workable law is wanted has been shown by the at- 

 tempts in 1839, 1849, 1851, and 1872, to introduce a bill 

 that shall repeal the old law and substitute one that 

 could be worked. The first two attempts fell thr-^agh 

 in consequence of dissolutions, the coup d'etat interfered 

 with that of 1 85 1, but the proposal of 1872 was considered 

 in March, 1873. passed a first reading December, 1874, a 

 second on January 5, 1875 ; while the amendments were 

 under discussion, however, M. Ducuing, the proposer, died. 

 Last May a pro jet du loi, based on M. Ducuing's proposal, 

 and somewhat modified in accordance with the discussion 

 on the amendments, was introduced by MM, de la 

 Sicotiirc, Grivart, and the Comte de Bouilld. They pro- 

 pose the law to apply to all harmful insects, the duty of 

 destruction being imposed on the landowners and tenants. 

 The time of the year to be selected for the destruction is to 

 be made known by the prefect who will have scientific 

 advice ; the maires and commissionaires are to see 

 that the law is carried out ; in cases of neglect they are 

 to have the work done, and recover the cost from those 

 who should have done it. Special provisions are made 

 for public lands, lands bordering on roads and railways. 

 The fines are to range from 10 to 25 francs for a first 

 offence. The articles that refer to the protection of birds 

 that eat insects are not applicable to the vvants of England 

 as we already have legislation on that subject. But for 

 years the want of some definite action to cope with " our 

 insect foes " has been over and over again the subject of 

 articles, speeches, and letters to the public pres^. The 

 experience of France and America is that farmers must 

 be compelled to iook to their own interests. The depart- 

 ni.cnt of practical entomology under the direction cf the 

 Committee of Council on Education is designed to give 

 information regarding England's insect pesrs, but the 

 question remains — How is tne knowledge to be applied for 

 the practical good of the country "i 



In connection with this important subject, the following 

 extract from a Memorandum of the Canadian Minister of 

 Agriculture, in reference to a despatch of the Secretary 

 of State for the Colonies, on the subject of the Colorado 

 Beetle is interesting : — 



" The remedies which necessity has taught on this side 

 of the Atlantic are such as to require for their application 

 the joint effort of the community at large, kept alive to 

 its interests and duties by the authorities, and men of 

 devotedness to the common welfare. These remedies are 

 (i) Searching for and crushing every potato-beetle where- 

 ever found ; (2) Frequent visits to the potato-fields, and 

 searching for the eggs deposited on the under-side of the 

 leaves of the potato-vine ; and (3) Watching for the 

 presence of the larvae on the buds and on the leaves of 

 the plant, in ordt r to destroy them by means of Paris 

 green, the only substance yet discovered to be effectually 

 operative on a large scale for the destruction of the insect 

 in its larva state. By these means, and by these means 

 only, the invaded American States, and the Western part 

 of Canada, have been able to secure pocato-ciops in a 

 measure commensurate with the care and energy bestowed, 

 and by similar mtans only can the invasion be retarded 

 and lessened in its effects. No measure has been taken 

 in Canada, for reasons given, to prevent the falling or 

 creeping of individual insects on board ships load-ng in 

 Dominion seaports. There is, however, almost a certainty 

 that the environs of Montreal will be invaded next year, 

 and with that prospect in view, general orders may be 

 given to public officers and employts of the ports to look 

 for and destroy any beetles which m-ght be observed on 

 the wharves, on sheds, on packages of goods to be em- 

 barked, or on board ships. A general appeal might also 

 be made to all persons having to deal with the shipping 



for assistance in the execution of such preventive mea- 

 sures. The undersigned respectfully recommends the 

 adoption of such precautions, beyond which he does not 

 see that there is anything within the power of the Cana- 

 dian Government to do." 



CARL J ELI NEK 



■p\R. CARL J ELI NEK was born at Briinn, in Mora- 

 A->' via. on OctoVier 23, 1822. He entered the Uni- 

 versity of Vienna in 1839 ^'^ ^ student of law, but soon 

 thereafter his attention was turned more exclusively to 

 the mathematical and physical sciences. In 1843 he 

 assisted in the work of the Vienna Observatory, and in 

 1847 was appointed assistant in the observatory of Prague. 

 It was while assisting in the work of the Vienna Obser- 

 vatory, then under the direction of Kreil, that (is interest 

 in exact observations in the fields of meteorology and 

 magnetism was awakened— an interest deep and strong, 

 which soon merged in a life-sacrifice to the furtherance of 

 these sciences. 



It is not necessary here to dwell upon his connection 

 with the events of 1848 further than to say that the high 

 moral qualities for which he was in after life so remark- 

 able were even then conspicuous, and that the knowledge 

 he then acquired of men and affairs was an invaluable 

 training for the successful discharge of the duties of the 

 pubUc offices he afterwards filled. 



His first important contribution to science was a paper 

 published in 1850 on the construction of self-registering 

 meteorological instruments, an important department of 

 practical science to which he continued to make contri- 

 butions down to the last. Indeed the last published 

 number of the Journal of the Austrian Meteorological 

 Society opens with the last of a series of articles by him 

 on this subject. He was appointed in 1852 Professor of 

 the higher mathematics in the Polytechnic School at 

 Prague. Eleven years afterwards, or in 1863, he returned 

 to Vienna as successor to Kreil, the first director of the 

 Central Institute for Meteorology and Magnetism at 

 Vienna. In this new sphere his remarkable powers of 

 administration and organisation had full scope. The 

 influence of this calm, eager, untiring, and clear-sighted 

 worker and administrator was immediately felt. A new 

 spirit was infused into the machinery of the institute, its 

 resources were increased, connections were formed on all 

 sides with the similar institutes and societies of other 

 countries, and its annual publications were enlarged and 

 improved ; and in the course of time not the least im- 

 portant change was efi'ccted by the erection of new build- 

 ings for the Meteorological Institute on the Hohe Warte 

 — an open commanding position on the outskirts of 

 Vienna — thoroughly equipped with all the instruments 

 required for meteorological and magnetical observation 

 of the most improved construction, and placed in positions 

 which indicate a clear perception of the problems to be 

 investigated and the methods by which the observational 

 data for their solution might be obtained. 



On June 14, 1864, he was elected a corresponding, 

 and on August 3, 1866, a full member of the Imperial 

 Academy of Sciences at Vienna. In 1864 he became a 

 member of the Unterrichtsrath, and from 1870 to 1873 

 acted as secretary of the High Schools for technology 

 and the schools for industry and commerce, and brought 

 to bear on the discharge of these duties the matured 

 results of science, a strong will, and an eagerness and 

 activity that never flagged, which were productive of the 

 best results to the interests of the department he served. 

 His public services were recognised when he retired from 

 the education department in 1873, by having conferred 

 on him the title and rank of Hofrath and the distinction 

 of Knight of the order of the Iron Crown. 

 It is, however, in meteorology that he appears as an 



