10 



NATURE 



[pOV. 22, 1877 



At the meeting of the Paris Academy of Sciences, on Novem- 

 ber 12, M. Faye presented the volume of the " Connaissance des 

 Temps" for 1879. This publication has reached, according to 

 M. Faye, the highest degree of perfection desirable, and the new 

 volume is marked by two important improvements both due to M. 

 Loewy. The first consists in a new method which enables longi- 

 tudes to be calculated according to occultations of stars by the 

 moon, and that with such facility that sailors will make use of 

 them with great benefit. The second improvement consists in 

 tables which enables the latitude to be obtained by observation 

 of the polar. 



The death of von Baer has made a foreign associateship 

 in the Paris Academy of Sciences vacant, and MM. Bertrand, 

 Fizeau, Becquertl pere, Claude Bernard, Dumas, and H. St. 

 Claire Deville, have been appointed a commission to prepare a 

 list of candidates for the vacant " fauteuil." 



A PRIZE of 1,000 marks (50/.) is offered through Dr. Her- 

 mann J. Klein, of Cologne, for the best treatise on "The 

 Development of Monistic Philosophy from Spinoza down to the 

 Present Time." The treatise must be written in the German lan- 

 guage, and must contain a complete account of the relation of 

 Spinoza to the Cartesian philosophy, a description of the progress 

 and changes in the monistic theory brought about by Leibniz, 

 Schopenhauer, Lazarus Geiger, and Ludwig Noire, and a clear 

 definition of the differences between the materialistic and monistic 

 theories. All details can be obtained from Dr. Klein. The 

 term up to which treatises will be received is fixed for July 30, 

 1878. 



By a recent will, M. Maujean has bequeathed to the French 

 Institute the capital producing a sum of 1,200 francs, designed to 

 form a biennial prize of 2,000 francs, to be awarded alternately by 

 the Academic Fran9aise, and by the Academic des Sciences. To 

 obtain it of the latter, it is necessary to have published the work 

 which shall be pronounced the most useful to hygiene, con- 

 sidered in all its branches. 



The Berlin Aquarium suffered, on November 13, the loss of 

 what was certainly, from a scientific and from a financial stand- 

 point, the most valuable zoological specimen in Europe, viz., 

 the famous gorilla Pongo, whose human-like form and playful 

 antics became so familiar to Londoners during the past summer. 

 The visit to England, and stay in its warm moist climate, was 

 regarded as having had the best effect on Pongo's health, when he 

 returned to Berlin on September 21, and there was every pros- 

 pect of the animal's being able to live through his second northern 

 winter. Five weeks later, a lessening of appetite and slight 

 diarrhoea were observed, but were not regarded by the physician 

 as of sufficient importance to prevent Pongo's appearance in public. 

 The consternation was great when a few days later, the gorilla died 

 suddenly, without any apparent increase of dangerous symptoms. 

 The loss to the Berlin Aquarium is no small one, as it had lately 

 refused an offer of 2,500/. for the animal, and, taken in connec- 

 tion with the late deaths of their orang-outang and chimpanzee, 

 will check somewhat the tendency to invest capital in anthro- 

 poidal apes. Not less severe is the loss to the scientific public, 

 for no animal of late years has so attracted the attention ot 

 zoologists as Pongo, and theorists were looking forward with no 

 slight degree of interest to the possibilities connected with his 

 growth and education. After a dissection, which will probably 

 reveal the cause of the sudden death, the skin will be handed 

 over to the Berlin Anatomical Museum. 



We have received from Dr. Aguilar the annual volume of the 

 Observatory of Madrid for the last year, 1876. It is a little 

 late in the day, but we may call attention to the long and inter- 

 esting article on geographical discovery with which the book 

 terminates, seeing that that commences so early, "2400 (?) anos 

 A. des J. C. Dispersion de las gentes despues del Deluvio. 



Del caos consiguiente a tan immensa catastrofe surgen a poco 

 tiempo los tres grandes reinos de Babilonia, Ninive y Egipto." 



Already studied by two geologists, the Crimean peninsula 

 has been recently visited by M. Ernest Favre, of Geneva. M. 

 Hebert presented to the Paris Academy of Sciences, on Nov. 12, 

 the results of this new examination, consisting of numerous 

 sections on a very complete map. 



Hachette and Co. are about to publish an important 

 work of reference in Chemistry containing such important 

 matter as the coefficients of dilatation, the specific weight of 

 vapours, refrigerating mixtures, numerical documents on quali- 

 tative, quantitative, and spectral analysis, &c. We may state 

 that the Smithsonian Institution are about to publish a similar 

 work. 



There are now "on view" at the Westminster Aquarium 

 four Laplanders — two men and two women — who have with 

 them reindeer, dogs, an Arctic fox, a tent, sledges, and numerous 

 articles of dress of home manufacture. They have been brought 

 to England by Mr. Carl Bock, through the enterprise of Mr. 

 Farini, so well known as the " inventor" of Lulu's "upward 

 bound," Zazel's "lightning flight," and Maraz's "eagle swoop." 

 Any entertainment announced by one whose greatest successes 

 hitherto have been to puzzle the public as to "how it is done" 

 will naturally be looked upon with the same kind of suspicion 

 that was bestowed on the " Egyptians " in the recent Lord 

 Mayor's show. In some cases the public enjoys being puzzled, 

 and this adds a zest to the enterprises of those who devise how 

 to puzzle them. In the case of these Laplanders there does not 

 appear to be the slightest ground for any suspicion as to genuine- 

 ness. It will be recollected that Mr. Farini's whale at the 

 aquarium was genuine, and when the post-mortem was held under 

 the direction of Prof. Flower it was shown beyond doubt that it 

 was not made of vulcanite and kept going by clock-work as was 

 popularly supposed. We draw attention to the visit of these 

 Laps because there is much of interest to be learnt from seeing 

 them, and we do so with all the greater pleasure because the 

 aquarium, looked at from a scientific point of view, has fallen 

 from its high estate. We cannot pretend to make it a com* 

 plaint that it is in the evening practically a large music hall with 

 a miscellaneous entertainment by comic performers and sword 

 swallowers. The place cannot be kept open without money, 

 and if the public will not pay to go to an aquarium pure and 

 simple, the management must provide what the public will take 

 to, or shut up the place. But what we fear is that the manage- 

 ment has been too much neglecting that part of the public, the 

 minority certainly, who do care for an aquarium. Occasionally, 

 especially during the control of Mr. Cariington, the aquarium 

 has been in good order and well-stocked. It is again getting 

 very unsatisfactory, perhaps because Mr. Carrington is in Naples. 

 We gladly mentioned such recent improvements as throwing 

 several tanks jnto one to make a place for large fish, and the 

 removal of the seals to the whale tank, where their gambols in 

 swimming can be better seen, and we have on several occasions 

 recorded interesting arrivals, and if we could honestly do so we 

 would gladly recommend the tanks generally as affording a good 

 opportunity for studying the habits of the occupants. Tho-agh 

 the Laps are not especially connected with aquarium objects the 

 building affords a centrally located home for them. The per- 

 formance, if it may be so called, through which ihey go, is an 

 illustration" of their quiet life, and happily there is no attempt to 

 make it sensational. They show, among other things, how rein- 

 deer sinew is worked into a continuous thread, a process of 

 interest to those who have examined collections from bone caves 

 containing implements which it is believed were used either with 

 such threads or strips of reindeer hide. The size of some of the 

 eyes of the bone needles is more suggestive of thread than strips. 

 Their monotonous singing on the syllables iva wa wa, if not 



