492 



NATURE 



\_March 22, 1888 



Federal law differ from those here spoken of in their 

 organization. In Bale Campagne with its 37,000 acres of 

 forest, 75 per cent, of this being public, has no officials 

 whatever. Laws have been passed, but the people set 

 them at naught ; and similarly in Thurgovie there is the 

 greatest opposition to any interference with what the 

 people consider to be their ancient rights ; and here also 

 there are no officials, except one who has the care of 300 

 acres of State forest. 



The salaries of the forest officials vary very much in 

 the different cantons, but even in the best-paid districts 

 the remuneration is very modest. Under-foresters receive 

 sometimes a fixed salary, sometimes only daily wages 

 when employed. If the former, the sum varies from £2\ 

 to ^48 ; occasionally it reaches ^60. If the rate of pay 

 is per day, which is unusual, it is generally fixed at 4J". 

 District foresters usually receive from ^88 to ^112 

 a year. In Uri, however, ^120 is given, and in Glarus 

 and a it.'N other places as high as ^160 per annum. 

 Cantonal forest inspectors receive from ^120 to ^180 a 

 year, besides allowances, which are always given to the 

 higher officials when travelling on duty, ranging from 5^. 

 to Zs., with the cost of the journey. 



NOTES. 

 .We regret to announce the death of Signor Giacomo di 

 Brazza, brother of the Governor of the French Congo Settle- 

 ments, also an African traveller well known by his investigation 

 of the Ogowe River. He died at Rome, aged thirty. 



Herr Andor Semsey has presented the sum of 8000 florins 

 (;^8oo) to the Natural Science Society of Budapest, for the 

 printing of a work by Herr Otto Hermann on Hungarian 

 birds. 



The International Congress of Americanists, which met in 

 1886 at Turin, proposes holding its seventh session at Berlin 

 early in the month of October. The Organizing Committee 

 already includes such well-known names as Virchow, Reiss, 

 and others. 



Mr. a. W. Pickard-Cambridge has taken first place in 

 Classics among the senior students at the last Cambridge Local 

 Examination, and has been offered, in consequence, an Ex- 

 hibition at St. John's College, Cambridge. He has won this 

 honour at an almost unprecedentedly early age, being only 

 fourteen years old. He has been a pupil of Weymouth College 

 for the past four years, and is the son of the Rev. O, Pickard- 

 Cambridge, F.R. S., the well-known naturalist, 



A REPORT of the Cambridge Local Examinations and Lec- 

 tures Syndicate laying down a scheme for the examinations for 

 commercial certificates has been confirmed by grace of iha 

 Senate. The examination is to be wholly separate from the 

 local examinations, there being no papers of questions com- 

 mon to the two, and no common classification of successful 

 students. The standard set by the Syndicate is that suitable 

 for well-prepared students of seventeen. Amongst the com- 

 pulsory subjects are arithmetic, and physical and commercial 

 geography, whilst the optional subjects include algebra and one 

 of the following five subjects in elementary science : (i) inor- 

 ganic chemistry, theoretical and practical ; (2) organic chemistry, 

 theoretical and practical ; (3) mechanics, including hydrostatics 

 and pneumatics ; (4) sound, light, and heat ; (5) electricity and 

 magnetism. 



According to the Oldham Evening Express of March 16, 

 what is described as a full-grown summer butterfly took refuge 

 from a blinding snowstorm in a dwelling-house at Lusley 

 Brook, near that town. The wings are said to be beautifully 

 variegated ; and on obtaining shelter in a warm room the 

 butterfly thoroughly revived. 



At the last meeting of the Calcutta Microscopical Society a 

 paper was read by Mr. Simmons on the mango weevil, a pest 

 which is spreading rapidly in India. He has devoted much 

 attention to the weevil, and in this paper he gives much useful 

 information as to its geographical distribution, the extent of the 

 damage done by it, with the observations of English and 

 American entomologists on its ravages among fruit. This 

 lecture is believed to be the first attempt made in India to 

 systematically study the habits of the weevil. 



The Fund which has been established by Mrs. Elizabeth 

 Thompson, of Stamford, Connecticut, "for the advancement 

 and prosecution of scientific research in its broadest sense," now 

 amounts to 825,000. As accumulated income is again avail- 

 able, the Trustees desire to receive applications for appropria- 

 tions in aid of scientific work. This endowment is not for the 

 benefit of any one department of science, but it is the intention 

 of the Trustees to give the preference to those investigations 

 which cannot othenvise be provided for, which have for their 

 object the advancement of human knowledge or the benefit of 

 mankind in general, rather than to researches directed to the 

 solution of questions of merely local importance. Applications 

 for assistance from this Fund, in order to receive consideration, 

 must be accompanied by full information, especially in regard 

 to the following points:— (i) Precise amount required. Ap- 

 plicants are reminded that one dollar is approximately equivalent 

 to four English shillings, four German marks, five French francs, 

 or five Italian lire. (2) Exact nature of the investigation pro- 

 posed. (3) Conditions und'.r which the research is to be prose- 

 cuted. (4) Manner in which the appropriation asked for is to 

 be expended. All applications should be forwarded to the 

 Secretary of the Board of Trustees, Dr. C. S. Minot, Harvard 

 Medical School, Boston, Mass , U.S.A. It is intended to make 

 new grants at the end of 1888. The Trustees are disinclined, 

 for the present, to make any grant exceeding $500. 



The following is a list of the grants already made from 

 the "Elizabeth Thompson Science Fund": — (i) S200 to 

 the New England Meteorological Society, for the investiga- 

 tion of cyclonic movements in New England. (2) S150 to 

 Mr. Samuel Rideal, of University College, London, England, 

 for investigations on the absorption of heat by odorous gases. 

 (3) S75 to Mr. H. M. Howe, of Boston, Mass., for the investiga- 

 tion of fusible slags of copper and lead smelting. (4) S500 to 

 Prof. J. Rosenthal, of Erlangen, Germany, for investigations on 

 animal heat in health and disease. (5) I50 to Mr. Joseph 

 Jastrow, of the Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md., 

 for investigations on the laws of psycho-physics. (6) S200 to 

 the Natural History Society of Montreal, for the investigation of 

 underground temperatures. (7) S210 to Messrs. T. Elster and 

 H. Geitel, of Wolfenbiittel, Germany, for researches on the 

 electrization of gases by glowing bodies. (8) §500 to Prof. 

 E. D. Cope, of Philadelphia, Penn., to assist in the preparation 

 of his monograph on American fossil vertebrates. (9) S250 to 

 Mr. W. H. Perkin, Jun., for experiments on the synthesis of 

 uric acid. (10) Si 25 to Mr. Edw. E. Prince, of St. Andrews, 

 Scotland, for researches on the development and morphology of 

 the limbs of Teleosts. (11) S250 to Mr. Herbert Tomlinson, of 

 University College, London, England, for researches on the effects 

 of stress and strain on the physical properties of matter. (12) $200 

 to Prof. Luigi Palmieri, of Naples, Italy, for the construction of 

 an apparatus to be used in researches on atmospheric electricity. 

 (13) $200 to Mr. Wm. H. Edwards, of Coalburg, W. Va., to 

 assist the publication of his work on the butterflies of North 

 America. 



The latest reports received by the Hydrographic Office of 

 the United States about the logs of the great raft abandoned 

 south of Nantucket about three months ago, prove that, 



