ii8 



NATURE 



[Dec. I, 1887 



and uniqvte position of Mr. Darwin, the scientific historian of 

 the future will recognize how mujh the development of the 

 modern theory of evolution, from its first conception in the mind 

 of Mr. Darwin, was facilitated by the interaction upon one an- 

 other of the work and minds of Darwin, Hooker, and Lyell. 

 It was due to the earnest efforts of his two friends that Mr. 

 Darwin was induced to publish the first sketch of the origin 

 of species at all. And no one, had he been alive, would have 

 more cordially recognized than Mr. Darwin how vast an armoury 

 of facts the wide botanical experience of Hooker constantly 

 placed at his disposal in fortifying and supporting his main 

 position. 



Of the two Royal Medals, it is customary, though it is not 

 an invariable rule, to award one for mathematics or physics, and 

 the other for biological science. 



The medal, which, in accordance with the usual rule, has been 

 devoted to mathematics and physics, has this year been awarded 

 to Colonel A. Clarke for his comparison of standards of length, 

 and determination of the figure of the earth. 



Colonel Clarke was for some twenty-five years the scientific 

 and mathematical adviser for the Ordnance Survey, and whilst 

 acting in that capacity he became known to the whole scientific 

 world as possessing a unique knowledge and power in dealing 

 with the complex questions which arise in the science of geodesy. 



His laborious comparison of the standards? of length, carried 

 out mider General Sir Henry James, R. E., are universally 

 regarded as models of scientific precision. 



His determination of the ellipticity and dimensions of the 

 earth from the great arcs of meridian and longitude involved 

 a very high mathematical ability and an enormous amount 

 of labour. The conclusion at which he arrived removed an 

 apparent discrepancy between the results of pendulum ex- 

 periments and those derived from geodesy, and is generally 

 accepted as the best approximation hitherto attained as to the 

 figure of the earth. 



The accounts of these investigations have been published in a 

 number of memoirs, several of which have been communicated 

 to the Royal Society. 



In 1880 he published a book on geodesy, which, besides 

 giving an accurate account of that science, embodies the main 

 results of the work of his life. 



In the biological division of the sciences the Royal Medal has 

 this year been awarded to Prof. Henry N. Moseley for his 

 numerous researches in animal morphology, and especially his 

 investigations on Corals and on Peripatus. 



The result of his elaborate investigations on Corals, an account 

 of which has been published in the Philosophical Transactions, 

 was to show that the Milleporidas and the Stylasteridae were not, 

 as had been thought, Anthrozoan in nature, but were composite 

 coral-forming hydroids. Many new genera and species were 

 described by him in these memoirs, and in fact a new group of 

 organisms, the Hydrocorallinse, was not merely indicated, but 

 the complete morphology and systematic subdivisions of that 

 order were worked out. 



Moseley's memoir on Peripatus is not less remarkable. He 

 was the first to point out the true nature of this remarkable 

 animal, and to demonstrate that it was in reality an archaic 

 Arthropod. The subsequent investigations of Balfour and 

 Sedgwick have further increased the importance of Moseley's 

 discovery. 



Moseley's memoir on the Land Planarians of Ceylon (Phil. 

 Trans., 1872) is an important contribution to the anatomy of the 

 Turbellaria. He was the first to apply the method of section- 

 cutting to the Planarians, and his paper is full of new facts of 

 great importance, which have stood the test of subsequent work 

 over the same ground. 



Besides these three great memoirs published in the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions, Moseley has published numerous minor 

 discoveries, and his spectroscopic observations on the colouring 

 matters of marine organis'ns have proved the starting-point of 

 valuable investigations. 



Mention must not be omitted of Moseley's admirable book, 

 "Notes of a Naturalist on the Challenger," -which, has been 

 justly compared, for the varied ability, interest, and activity 

 which it evinces on the part of the author, to Darwin's " Voyage 

 of the ^^^^/^." 



Since the date of the works above referred to, Moseley has 

 been chiefly active in the discharge of his duties as Linacre 

 Professor, and the success with which he has directed the work 

 of his pupils is evinced by the important memoirs on zoological 



subjects which several of them have produced whilst working 

 under his direction. He has himself also published a remark- 

 able discovery with regard to the Chitons. In the shells of 

 many genera and species of these mollusks he has detected 

 highly developed eyes, of which he has described the minute 

 structure. 



The Davy Medal for the year 1882 was awarded by the 

 Council to Profs. Mendelejeff and Lothar Meyer conjointly, 

 for their discovery of the periodic relations of the atomic 

 weights. This relation, now known as " ihe Periodic Law," 

 has attracted great attention on the part of chemists, and has 

 even enabled Prof. Mendelejeff to predict the properties of 

 elements at the time unknown, but since discovered, such as 

 gallium for instance. 



But while recognizing the merits of chemists of other nations, 

 we are not to forget our own countrymen ; and accordingly the 

 Davy Medal for the present year has been awarded to Mr. John 

 A. R. Newlands, for his discovery of the Periodic Law of the 

 chemical elements. Though, in the somewhat less complete form 

 in which the law was enunciated by him, it did not at the time 

 attract the attention of chemists, still, in so far as the work of 

 the foreign chemists above mentioned was anticipated, the 

 priority belongs to Mr. Newlands. 



SCIENTIFIC SERIALS. 



Rivista Scientifico-Industriale, October. — On the crepuscular 

 phenomena of 1883-84, by Prof. Annibale Ricco. These remarks 

 are made in connection with the author's comprehensive work, 

 now nearly ready for the press, on the remarkable after-glows of 

 the years 1883-84. One of the chief conclusions arrived at in 

 this work, after a careful consideration of all the evidence, is 

 that the volcanic theory, first advanced by Mr. Norman 

 Lockyer, is the only one that can be now accepted. The light - 

 effects appeared soon after the great eruption of Krakatab on 

 August 27, 1883, were propagated from the neighbourhood of 

 the volcano to the most distant parts, and then gradually died 

 out, precisely in the same way that similar manifestations were 

 made immediately after the eruption of the island of Ferdinandea 

 (Julia) in 1831. It is further concluded that the after-glows were 

 due, not to the ashes or scorise ejected by Krakatab, but to the 

 condensation of the aqueous vapours caused by the volcano, 

 which condensation increased the quantity of solar light reflected 

 by the atmosphere. 



Bulletin de V Academie Royale de Belgiqiie, October. — On the 

 mass of the planet Saturn, by L. de Ball. By a comparative 

 study of its satellites, made at the Observatory of Cointe during 

 the winter of 1885-S6, the author finds the mass of Saturn to be 

 1/3492 '8 that of the sun, which is rather less than the values 

 obtained by Meyer, Hall, and Struve, which are i/3482'5, 1/3481 '3 

 and 1/3490 '8 respectively. — Experimental researches on the sense 

 of vision in the Arthropods, by Felix Plateau. Of this elaborate 

 memoir the first part only appears in this issue, dealing first 

 with the work already accomplished down to the year 1887 on 

 the structure and functions of simple eyes ; secondly, with the 

 eyes of Myriapods. The four remaining parts, to be publi-hed in 

 subsequent numbers of the Bulletin, will treat of vision in the 

 spiders, and in larvae generally ; of the part played by the 

 frontal eyes in perfect insects ; of compound eyes and the per- 

 ception of movements ; with an anatomico-physiological 

 summary, and experiments with insects. — Remarks on the total 

 solar eclipse of August 19, 1887, by L. Niesten. A comparative 

 study of the photographs obtained by MM. Niesten and Karelin 

 at the station of Jurjewetz, shows that with Van Monckhoven's 

 sensitive plates an almost instantaneous image is obtained not 

 only of the protuberances but also of the corona ; and further 

 that a pose of thirty seconds gives no more detailed images of 

 the corona than those obtained at the end of eight seconds. 

 Hence it would appear that photographs of the corona obtained 

 after an exposure of over a minute should be attributed to 

 physical phenomena due to the atmospheric conditions, or to 

 light-effects produced in the photographic apparatus itself. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES. 



London. 



Linnean Society, November 3.— W. Carruthers, F.R.S., 

 President, in the chair. — Mr. J. H. Hart, of Trinidad, was 

 elected a Fellow of the Society. — The President called attention 



