Mafck I, 1877] 



NATURE 



38: 



Prof. W. H.' Flower, F.R.S.,'will commence his course of 

 Hunterian Lectures at the Royal Cfillege of Surgeons in Lincoln's 

 Inn Fields, on Friday, March 9. The lectures, nine in number, 

 will be delivered on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, zA four 

 o'clock, the subject being " The Comparative Anatomy of Man." 

 From the prospectus, we learn that after treating of the varia- 

 tions in the human external, dental, and osteological characters, 

 Prof. Flower will discuss the methods of estimating the capacity 

 of the skull, craniometry, and the peculiarities of the brain. It 

 is worthy of remark that anyone anxious to attend these lectures, 

 if not connected with the College, will be allowed to do so upon 

 application for a card of admission. 



The Association of German naturalists meets at Munich on 

 September 18, and not in February, as stated in a recent number. 



We are glad to be able to state that a final settlement has been 

 arranged between Mr. Floyd and the trustees of the late Mr. Lick's 

 legacy on the one hand, and Mr. Lick, the son of the testator 

 and the other relatives on the other. After a deduction of about 

 200,000 dollars the whole of the estates will be reserved for the 

 ends proposed by Mr. Lick, the father. The sura so secured for 

 scientific purposes amounts to a little less than three million of 

 dollars. 



The French Society of Aerial Navigation has published a 

 circular stating that owing to internal difficulties the meetings 

 are suspended up to May i. Anotlser society was established 

 by French aeronauts — who ei caped from Paris by balloon during 

 the siege — last April and is called the School of French Aeronauts. 

 They confine themselves to practical ends, devoting themselves 

 exclusively to the use of balloons for scientific purposes, 



A NEW aeronautical periodical, V Aerostat, has been published 

 in Paris by M. Achille Rouland, secretary of the School of French 

 Aeronauts. It is to appear three times a month, and to contain 

 a summary of all aeronautic news. 



The Dcnstonian is the name of a journal published as the 

 organ of St. Chad's College, Denstone, Uttoxeter. It devotes 

 some space to natural history. 



"Geological Time" was the subject of the presidential 

 address of Mr. T, Mellard Reade to the Liverpool Geological 

 Society, and which has been published in a separate form. 



Newman's Entomologist now appears as The Entomologist, 

 and several new features have been added which will increase its 

 scientific value. 



A SPECIAL committee, intrusted with the elaboration of a 

 scheme for the representation of Russian gardening at the Paris 

 Exhibition of 1878, has been appointed by the Russian Society 

 of Gardening. 



By order of the Lord President of the Council, a letter, 

 written by Mr. Andrew Murray, on Injurious Insects has been 

 sent to the Secretaries of the Agricultural Societies of England, 

 Scotland, and Ireland. Mr. Murray proposes a method of 

 stamping out these insects which is worthy of being tried. 



Dr. Petermann has just published an index to his Mit- 

 theihmgen for the period between 1865-1874. This will be of 

 great value to geographers, and its value is much enhanced by 

 two most ingeniously-constructed index-maps which show the 

 various parts of the earth that have been mapped in the Mit- 

 thdluttgtn during that period, and in a simple way indicate 

 where the map will be found. Besides a general index-map 

 there are maps of the various Continents and of the Arctic and 

 Antarctic regions. By differently coloured lines the scale of the 

 special map referred to is shown, as also its character, whether 

 outline, topographical, physical, or geological. 



A memorial to Lomonosoff, erected in the square of the 

 University of Moscow, was unveiled on the anniversary-day of 

 t'^e University, January 24, The memorial, which was erected 

 at the %'ery moderate cost of 225/., collected among professors 

 and students of the Moscow University (founded by Lomonosoff 

 in 1755), is very modest. It consists of a small bust placea on a 

 high very plain pyramidal pedestal bearing the inscription : 

 " To Lomonosoff — the Moscow University : year 1877." In an 

 address by M. Solovieff", Professor of History, he briefly sketched 

 the impulse given to science in Russia by Lomonosoff, and 

 insisted especially on the importance of his works in the deve- 

 lopment of the history of his nation. No reference was made to 

 the task performed by Russia's first physicist. We are glad to 

 take this opportunity to say that it is a great pity that the 

 Russian learned societies have not yet published a collection of 

 the works of LomonosofT, all the more as many of his writings, 

 dispersed in rare old periodicals, are now totally unknown or 

 forgotten. This neglect induces us to think that Russian men of 

 science have not yet fully appreciated the depth and width of the 

 physical conceptions of this remarkable physicist of the past 

 century, who not only devoted his time to the study of the most 

 important questions of astronomy, physics, and physical geo- 

 graphy (as, for instance, the transit of Venus, the existence of 

 ascending warm currents in the atmosphere), but also in a now 

 forgotten, but able paper on the Arctic Seas, expressed himself 

 very explicitly as to heat being but a mode of motion. We 

 think, therefore, that a complete edition of Lomonosoff's works 

 would be not only an addition to the glory of the science of the 

 eighteenth century, but also a most interesting acquisition for all 

 those who are interested in the history of science, 



A party of the Swiss Alpine Club have availed themselves 

 of the prevailing mild weather to extend their yearly winter 

 excursion in the mountains as far as the Col de Balme, They 

 crossed the mountain -pass on January 21, and, after many 

 pleasant adventures, reached the hotels of the Col, which were 

 so deeply buried in snow that the way to the rooms had to be 

 made through the windows of the first floor. Other parties, of 

 French and Swiss excursionists, visited about the same time the 

 renowned archaeological ground lying in the Jura between Mont- 

 belliard and Porrentruy. The special aim of the excursions was 

 to organise a scheme for a thorough exploration and a detailed 

 survey of these localities to be undertaken next summer. If we 

 take into account the immense number of caves, rocky abris 

 (shelters), tumuli, grave-walls, open dwelling-places, and mega- 

 lithic stones scattered over this part of the Jura, and the strange 

 anomalies observed in the geographical distribution of these 

 remains of prehistoric man (only caverns and rocky abt^s being 

 known in the S wiss part of the Jura, whilst the French part 

 abounds with all kinds of remains enumerated above), we cannot 

 but hope that an exploration of these localities will result in 

 valuable contributions to prehistoric archaeology. 



A NEW form of marine sounder has been described to the 

 French Academy by M. Tardieu. It consists of a spherical 

 envelope of caoutchouc, a few centimetres in thickness, com- 

 municating with an iron reservoir by means of a tube of small 

 diameter fitted with a valve. The caoutchouc envelope being 

 filled with mercury, any increase of the exterior pressure makes 

 a certain quantity of mercury pass into the iron reservoir, whence, 

 however, it cannot return. When the apparatus has been 

 lowered in deep water, the weight of the mercury found in the 

 reservoir enables one to determine the pressure to which it has 

 been subjected, and therefore the depth. 



M. Felix Plateau read, at a recent meeting of the Belgian 

 Academy, a paper giving an account of the journeys of a large 

 number of Belgian naturalists during the last two centuries. This 

 paper is now published separately (Hayez, Brussels), and con- 

 tains much important information. 



