Dec. 21, 1876J 



NATURE 



169 



growth of our knowledge is p refixed to the description of their 

 chemical properties, while in all cases of importance references 

 to original memoirs are given. Special care has been bestowed 

 upon the illustiations. 



The following are the arrangements for the Friday evening 

 lectures at the Royal Institution : — ^January 19, Prof. Tyndall, 

 LL.D., F.R.S., M.R.I. ; January 26, Prof. Huxley, LL.D., 

 F.R.S. ; February 2, Prof. Osborne Reynolds, "Vortex Mo- 

 tion;" February 9, Francis Galton, F.R.S., M.R.I., "Typical 

 Laws of Heredity;" February 16, Prof. F, Gulhrie, F.R.S., 

 "Solid Water;" February 23, J. F. Moulton ; March 2, Sir 

 John Lubbock, Bt., M.P., F.R.S., M.R.I., "Ants ;" March 9, 

 Frederick J. Bramwell, F.R.S., M.R.I. ; March 16 ; March 23, 

 Prof. Gladstone, Ph.D., F.R.S., M.R.I. 



M. Leverrier is setting up, at the door of the Paris Ob- 

 servatory, a public clock for the use of clock-makers, who have 

 been in the habit of calling at a special room to see a chrono- 

 meter regulated for thtir use. He has also issued a circular 

 announcing that every commune which purchases a public 

 aneroid barometer, places it for inspection in a public building, 

 and enters into an engagement to send regularly weather tele- 

 gram', will receive warnings, either directly from the Observa- 

 tory, or through a departmental office established in each chief 

 centre. 



A LARGE aneroid barometer has been placed in the most 

 prominent pait of the Paris Halles for the use of the country 

 people who come daily to sell their garden produce. The dial 

 is I metre 50 in diameter, and is lighted at r.ight. 



At the last meeting of the Netherlands Zoological Associa- 

 tion {held on Saturday, November 18, in the Zoological Garden 

 of Rotterdam) the Committee of the Transportable Zoological 

 Station (see Nature, vol. xv. , p. 118) presented their first an- 

 nual report, which was received with enthusiasm by the members 

 of the Association, and will be printed in its Bulletin. Next 

 year Flushing will see the station erected in its neighbourhood. 

 With the addition of a fourth member, the Committee of the past 

 year was re-elected for the year 1877, and consists now of Prof. 

 Hoffmann (Leiden University), Dr. Hock {Assistant at the 

 Leiden Zootomical Laboratory), Dr. Hubrecht (Conservator 

 Leiden Natural History Museum), and Dr. Horst (Assistant at 

 the Utrecht Zootomical Labor tory). 



No less than twenty-nine medical men have been elected 

 members of the French Chamber of Deputies, and seven mem- 

 bers of the Senate. One of these. Dr. Henry Liouville, suggested 

 the establishment of an extra Parliamentary Conference of all 

 his colleagues. The idea was cairied into execution, and the 

 conference of medical legislators has produced much useful 

 work. Various important bills hive been already prepared 

 and presented to the Chamber of Deputies by these medical 

 members. The object of the Conference is merely to deliberate 

 upon medical matters, all political subjects being excluded. 

 Members of all parties are admitted if they be'ong to the medical 

 profession. The meetings of the Medical Conference are held 

 weekly at the residence of Dr. Henry Liouville. 



A Parisian optician recently commenced to observe daily the 

 exact times at which a radiometer in his shop began and ceased 

 to rotate. The results are published daily in the Temps , and 

 although different radiometers cannot well be compared with 

 each other, these results are already interesting. Since Decem- 

 ber I, when the first notice was publiihed, the radiometer stopped 

 twice entirely during the daytime — on the 8th, during a thunder- 

 storm, which lasted from 1.30 to 3 r.M., and on the 13th, from 

 10 to 10.45 A.M., during an obscuration produced by fogs. The 

 exact time of the first move varies from 8. 15 to 10.25 a.m, accord- 



ing to the purity of the atmosphere. The time of stopping is 

 far less irregular, having varied only from 3. 30 to 4 p. M. 



The hall in which the Academy of Sciences meets seems tc) 

 be one of the worst ventilated rooms in Paris. If the windows 

 are closed the members are stifled with heat and foul air, and 

 many of the members have a horror of openwindows. An illus- 

 trious physiologist is specially remarkable for his aversion to a 

 current of fresh air. At a recent sitting the following colloquy 

 on this subject occurred : — "M. Bouley : Nous sommes plonges 

 dans un air irrespirable ; ce n'est pas tenable ; et, au lieu du 

 gaz, je desire qu'on nous rende les anciennes bougies. M. Le- 

 verrier : J'ai reclame I'eclai rage par le gaz ; mais j'avais reclame 

 aussi un autre mode d'aeration. Or, rien n'a ete change sous ce 

 rapport. Cependant nous avons le general Morin, et en huit 

 jours des appareils convenables de ventilation seraient installes, 

 si Ton voulait. M. Morin : Ah ! en huit jours ! II y a dix ans 

 que leur installation est decidee en principe ! ! ! M. Leverrier : 

 L'etat actuel est vraiment honteux ! II n'y a pas de salle aussi 

 mal ventilee que la salle de I'lnstitut !" If M. Leverrier would 

 enter the meeting-room in the magnificent new buildings of the 

 Royal Society during a meeting of that learned body, perhaps 

 he would be inclined to modify his statement. It is a curious 

 commentary on the progress of science that in Paris and London 

 the most unscientifically constructed buildings are those in which 

 the leaders of science carry on their dehberaions. 



Baron von Hofmann, presiden': of the Oriental Museum in 

 Vienna, has received a letter from the Austro-Hungarian Consul 

 at Khartoum giving some details of the travels of Emin Effendi 

 (Dr. Schnitzer). He has visited Uganda, Usoga, and Unyora, 

 and stayed for some time with King Mtesa, whom he speaks ol 

 as a most wonderful man, with a considerable proportion of 

 Abyssinian blood in his veins. This mixture of Abyssinian and 

 negro blood Dr. Schnitzer is inclined to think accounts for the 

 varied traits of character which travellers tell us Mtesa exhibits. 

 He speaks of him as a man of high intelligence, but like all 

 negroes, a child with tiger instincts ; his liking for Christianity 

 may possibly be an outcome of his Abyssinian blood. Dr. 

 Schnitzer states that if he gets safely to the end of his journey 

 through Nasindi, Magango, over the lake to Duffla and Lado, 

 he will set about the arrangement for publication of his well- 

 filled diaries. Dr. Noll of Frankfort will publish the zoological 

 results of his travels. 



A Commission for the investigation of the possibillity of 

 making a canal across the Isthmus of Darien, left St. Nazaire 

 last month. If their report is favourable it is stated that the 

 work will be commenced next year. 



A SPECIAL society for sending a scientific and commercial 

 expedition to the unexplored parts of Asia is about to be formed 

 at St. Petersburg. 



Mr. William Jolly, II. M. Inspector, has reprinted the 

 paper he read at the B.A. Glasgow Meeting, on Physical Edu- 

 cation and Hygiene in Schools. Kempster and Co., London, 

 are the publishers. 



In the last session of the Berlin Anthropological Society 

 Prof. Virchow presented a communication from Dr. Maclay 

 on the results of his journey through the Malay peninsula. 

 In his zigzag course through the mountainous region he re- 

 peatedly encountered savage tribes, displaying many points of 

 resemblance with the Nigritos of the Philippine Islands. Two 

 very interesting physical peculiarities of these savages attracted 

 the traveller's attention. The first was the unusually prominent 

 development of the so-called third eye-lid, a feature by no means 

 uncommon among many families of animals ; and the second a 

 remarkable inclination sidewards of the three outer toes. This 



