388 



NATURE 



\Sept. 2, 1875 



it would embrace all Italy. Nothing nowadays can flourish 

 which has not its root in the people. Great individuals have 

 given place to the co-operating multitude, and the sole thing left 

 for the people to reverence is science — the one surviving deity on 

 the deserts of Olympus. In Palermo, the city of the chivalric 

 Normans and the knightly Suabian Frederic, chivalry survives, 

 but its tournaments are philosophical discussions, and its mistress 

 is science, which is the immortal poetry of nature and truth. 

 Count Mamiani then signalised Sicily's services to science, and 

 spoke of what she will yet do for meteorology. 



Petermann's MittJieilungen for September will contain the 

 following among other papers :— On the Linguistic Divisions of 

 Elsass-Lothringen, with a map coloured to show the districts 

 in which Dutch, German, and mixed Dutch and French are 

 spoken. — Travels in the Republic of Guatemala in 1870, by 

 Dr. G. Bemouilli, concluded from previous numbers. — Remarks 

 on a Map of Western Australia, which will accompany the num- 

 ber.— Under the title of " Bilder aus dem hohen Norden," 

 Lieut. Weyprecht will commence a series of Sketches of Pheno- 

 mena in the Arctic Regions'; the article in the September number 

 dealing with the Aurora and the Ice. 



M. Brazza, an ensign in the French navy, and M. Marche, a 

 traveller, who has already made important discoveries on the 

 banks of the Ogove, left Paris last week for Toulon, in order 

 to resume the exploration of Tropical Africa, and to discover the 

 sources of the river just named. They will stay for some time 

 Saint Louis, the chief town ofthe Senegal settlements, ""and recruit 

 a number of Laptots chosen from among the negroes engaged 

 under the French colours. The expedition is supported by the 

 Society of Geography, private subscriptions, and a small grant 

 given by the French Government. The principal resource is 

 the sale of objects of natural history, which are so numerous in 

 a country rich in plants, birds, and animals of every description. 

 They are to be sent to M. Bouvier, the well-known naturalist of 

 Paris, and catalogues will from time to time be circulated. The 

 exploration will last for five years. 



M. Leverrier has published in the Paris papers a notice 

 intimating that the Observatory will be opened for observations 

 three times a week, from half- past seven, weather per- 

 mitting. Two large telescopes are placed at the disposal of 

 visitors, who may procure a letter of admission by writing to the 

 Secretary of the Observatory. 



The reforms which the French Minister of Public Instruction 

 is preparing for the next University term are so numerous 

 that no holidays will be granted to the employes of the Ministry 

 of Public Instruction this year. 



The French Government have published in the Journal 

 Officiel of August 24 a decree notifying the precautions to be 

 observed by manufacturers of explosives in which dynamite is 

 the base. The precautions, which are numerous, have been most 

 carefully drawn up by a special commission, and are worthy of 

 general attention. 



In the Paris International Maritime Exhibition there is a 

 small object deserving of notice. It is a platinum wire placed 

 in a bottle and ignited by electricity from a bichromate battery. 

 It is intended to be immersed in the sea, and the light emanating 

 from it is said to attract an immense number of fishes. Experi- 

 ments have been tried lately on the coast of the Cotes du Nord 

 department with a fishing-boat, and have proved very satisfactory, 

 on a bank of sardines. The glass must be green or black, other- 

 wise the fish are frightened by the glare and do not follow the 

 submarine light. 



The Civilian states that Major-Gen. Cameron, R.E., C.B., 

 has been appointed Director ;^of the Ordnance Survey of Great 

 Britaiiv and Ireland. 



The Russian expedition to Hissar has resulted in a complete 

 elucidation, from a scientific point of view, ofthe questions con- 

 nected with the llissar and Kuliaba rivers. All the important 

 towns in the country have been visited, astronomical observations 

 have been taken at fourteen places, and the members ofthe expedi- 

 tion are in a position to draw up a complete map of the country. 

 Moreover, a map of military routes has been draughted and an 

 entomological collection has. been made. The Expedition has 

 discovered that the Turkham river, whose very existence was so 

 long doubted by geographers, is one of the most important tribu- 

 taries to the Amu, and that the Drongate Pass, now called Busgol 

 Kham, fully bears out the formidable accounts of Asiatic 

 travellers. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include five Bonnet Monkeys (Macacus radlatus) 

 from India ; a Yellow Bdhoon [Cynocephalus lal/ouiit), and a 

 Sykes's Monkey {Ccrcopithccus aliigularis), from W. Africa, 

 presented by Mr. J. B. Tunnard ; a Common Marmoset 

 {Ilapale jaccJms) from S. E. Brazil, presented by Mrs. Puente ; 

 a Darwin's Pucras {Pucrasia darwini) from China ; an Indian 

 Cobra {Naja tripudians) from India, deposited ; and an Axis 

 Deer {Cei-mis axis) bom in the Gardens. 



SOCIETIES AND ACADEMIES 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, August 23. — M. Fremy in the chair. 

 The following papers were read : — Comparison of the theoi-y of 

 Saturn with the observations ; Tables of Saturn's motion ; by 

 M. Leverrier. — Theorems into which a condition of equality of 

 two rectilinear segments enters, by M. Chasles. — MM. Ch. 

 Galbruner, F. Crotte, and Lesthevenson, made several com- 

 munications with regard to Phylloxera. — A note by M. Declat 

 on the pathological us 2 of phenylic acid, and of phenylate 

 of ammonia. — A note by M. de Fonvielle on a new method 

 to determine the path described by a balloon. — On the inte- 

 gration of ^a system of equations with partial differentials, 

 by M. N. Nicolaides. — On the trisection of an angle by 

 aid j of the compass, by M. Ed. Lucas. — On the properties 

 of the diameters of wave-surfaces and the physical inter- 

 pretation of these properties, by M. A. Mannheim. — On a com- 

 pound of platinum, tin, and oxygen, analogous to Cassius' 

 gold purple (platinostannic oxide of M. Dumas), by MM. 

 B. Delachanal and A. Mermet.— On bankoul oil, by M. E. 

 Heckel. — A reply to M. Gauthier's objections regarding the role 

 of carbonic acid in the spontaneous coagulation of blood, by 

 MM. E. Mathieu and V. Urbain. — Note on the last elements at 

 which it is possible to arrive by histological analysis of striated 

 muscles ; by M. A. Ronjon. — On the shooting stars of August, 

 1875, by M. Chapelas. 



CONTENTS Pack 



The Science Commission Report on the Advancement of 



Science 361 



Irby's Birds of Gibraltar 364 



Hofmann's Report on the Progress of Chemical Industry. By 



Dr. A. Oppenheim 365 



Letters to the Editor:— 



The Spectroscope and the Weather.— Rev. C. Michie Smith . . 366 

 Sea Elephants from Kerguelea's Land at Berlin.— John Willis 



Clark 3<^ 



Our Astronomical Column :— 



Variable Star (?) 367 



The Solar Eclipse of September 28-29 3<57 



The Minor Planets 367 



D'Arrest's Comet 368 



On the Occurrence in New jERSEjr of supposed Flint Scalping 



Knives, By T)t. Chas. C. Abbott (IViik niusiration) .... 368 

 The Sliding Seat Foreshadowed, By W. W. Wagstaffe (lyi/A 



Illustration!,) 3^9 



The British Association 37° 



Reports 372 



Sectional Proceedings , 373 



Section D. — Opening Address 374 



Department of Anthropology.— Opening Address ....•• 382 

 Meeting of the Astronomische Gesellschaft at Levden, 



August 13-16 3^6 



Notes 387 



Societies AND Academies 388 



