482 



NATURE 



[Sept. 30, 1875 



{Cotyle riipestris) to be distinct from the Sand Martin, for 

 which it was then mistaken. He gives an interesting 

 account of its habits, and names it Hiriindo hyemalis, 

 from its great abundance at Gibraltar in the winter 

 months. The last letter of the series, dated June 15, 

 1793, has a special interest attached to it from the fact 

 that it was written only eleven days before the death of 

 this estimable man and ardent naturalist. The whole of 

 this interesting series will be published in the Transac- 

 tions of the Society, and it is hoped, through the kind- 

 ness of Prof. Bell, in whose hands they now are, that 

 Marsham's letters to White may be added. 



NOTES 

 During the last week there has been a goodly talk about 

 education, and Mr, Cross has come to the front in a most unex- 

 pected manner, while the modern English Cardinal has been 

 acting as his foil. Cambridge, too, in the shape of Mr. James 

 Stuart, has been active at Nottingham, and the world thinks that 

 the University is active. The truth is, however, that the Uni- 

 versity is too poor to do anything, and that the Colleges are 

 simply looking on while a private benefactor is providing both 

 with those means of teaching which third-rate institutions on the 

 Continent have possessed to a greater or less extent any time 

 during the present century. Mr. Cross not only foreshadows com- 

 pulsion, but he shows that we have now a Minister who knows 

 the difference between Education and Instruction. "It is not 

 mere book learning that I am talking of. That is not the object 

 of these schools. It is the school discipline, the training of the 

 mind of the child, the teaching him how to teach himself, the 

 self-control and the self-respect which he gets at school, which 

 do more for him than all the book learning that you put into his 

 head." The Cardinal, on the other hand, defines " Secular Edu- 

 cation" as "secular knowledge," and then adds : " Education 

 means the full possession and understanding and enjoyment of 

 the inheritance of faith, which the child has by virtue of his 

 regeneration in baptism." It is clear that the Cardinal, if he 

 means anything, confounds instruction with education as suc- 

 cessfully as ninety-nine out of every hundred who talk on the 

 subject confound education with instruction. 



At a meeting of the Entomological Club of the American 

 Association for the Advancement of Science, Mr. C. V. Riley, 

 the secretary, read a paper on "Locusts as Food," in which he 

 gave his own experience in cookmg and eating them. On one 

 occasion he ate nothing else for a whole day. He found them 

 to have an agreeable nutty flavour, and especially recommended 

 them deprived of their legs and wing-cases, and fried in butter, 

 and also spoke very highly of a soup made from them. He 

 referred to John the Baptist, who had often^ been pitied for the 

 scantiness of his fare, locusts and wild honey, and expressed his 

 opinion that he was rather to be envied than otherwise. The 

 writer regarded it as absurd that parties should actually die of 

 starvation, as some had done in the districts where this locust 

 plague had prevailed, while surrounded by such an abundance 

 of nutritious and palatable food. 



From different settlements on the West Coast of Africa 

 young living gorillas have several times been shipped for Europe 

 under auspices apparently the most favourable. On one occasion, 

 about six years ago, a Dutch merchant at St. Paul de Loanda took 

 the trouble to keep a young male in company with a black boy 

 for some considerable time on the coast, and when the two had 

 become good friends, took passages for them both to Holland. 

 The animal only survived a fortnight from the date of its embar- 

 cation, dying rather suddenly, as most others seem to have done^ 

 from a kind of depression or home-sickness, not from any well- 

 marked disease. No gorilla, exported as such, has reached 

 Europe alive. Quite recently, within the last month or so, ore 



destined for Hamburg arrived within two days of its journey's 

 end, when it shared the fate of its predecessors. This speci- 

 men was, immediately after its death, placed into spirit, and 

 will, we believe, form the subject of a monograph by Dr. 

 Bolau, of the Zoological Museum of Hamburg, from whom vk-e 

 may expect the settlement of several important and doubt- 

 ful points in the anatomy of the greatest of the anthropoid apes. 

 In about the year 1852, in one of Wombwell's travelling me- 

 nageries, there was exhibited for some months a monkey very 

 like a chimpanzee. The animal was expert at tricks, and was 

 clad in a grotesque costume. P'rom a daguerreotype photo- 

 graph in the possession of Mr, A. D, Bartlett, resident super- 

 intendent of the Zoological Gardens in Regent's Park, that 

 gentleman was enabled to identify the specimen as one of a 

 young gorilla, and not a chimpanzee. Its face was dark, its 

 arms and legs proportionately larger, its ears very much smaller, 

 and the distance between the eyes greater than in the chim- 

 panzee. A still more interesting instance of the same kind has, 

 however, recently occurred. For the last two years there has 

 been a female "chimpanzee " at the Zoological Gardens at Dres- 

 den, named Mafota, which has attracted considerable atention. 

 She was purchased by Herr SchopfT, the Director of ihe Dresden 

 Gardens, in a very unpromising condition, being much denuded 

 of hair, and covered with an unhealthy skin eruption. Since the 

 animal has been under Herr Schopff 's skilful care, it has become 

 quite a different creature. It has grown veiy rapidly ; surprisingly 

 so. The hair now forms an abundant covering, and the skin is in 

 a perfectly healthy condition. It is quite tame with its keepers, 

 whose boots it is in the,habit of taking off and replacing for the 

 amusement of visitors. It performs many other tricks, showing 

 great intelligence, Herr Carl Nissle, an artist, we believe, whilst 

 studying the figure and movements of Mafota, became rapidly 

 impressed with the idea that she is not a chimpanzee at all. Her 

 great size, the numerous black spots on . the naked skin of the 

 face, which in the chimpanzee is simply flesh-colour, the black 

 instead of pink hands, the slight webbing between the fingers, 

 and the different expression, with a broader nose, all led him to 

 the conviction [that she is a gorilla. He carefully studied the 

 stuffed specimens of the gorilla and chimpanzee, both at Berlin 

 and Lubeck, and, what is more, has had the opportunity of seeing; 

 the new Hamburg spirit specimen above referred to. Tliese all 

 confirmed his surmise, towards the complete verification of which 

 we have the affirmative opinion of Prof, R. Hartmann, prosector 

 to the Anatomical Museum of Berlin. So there is strong reason 

 for the belief that Mafota is a gorilla, the first living specimen 

 recognised as such in this continent. 



The following are the hours of the various Introductory Lec« 

 tures at the London Medical Schools, which will be delivered 

 to-morrow (Oct. ist), with the names of the respective lec- 

 turers :— 



Hospital. Lecturer. Hour. 



Charing Cross Mr, Fairlie Clarke 4 p.m, 



St. George's Dr. Barnes 4 ,, 



Guy's Dr. Stevenson 2 ,, 



King's College Dr. Curnow 4 ,, 



London Dr. B. Woodman 3 ,, 



St. Mary's Dr. Randall 3-30 



Middlesex Mr. Lowne 3 ,, 



St. Thomas's ... Dr. Payne 3 ,, 



University College Dr. Corfield 3 ,, 



Westminster Mr. R. Davy.. 3 ,, 



Dr. James Bell Pettigrew, F.R.S., Lecturer on the Insti- 

 tutes of Medicine at the Royal College of Surgeon?, Edinburgh, 

 has been appointed to the Chair of Medicine in the University of 

 St. Andrews, vacant by the death of the late Dr. Oswald Home 

 Bell. 



The following is a list of candidates who have been successfid 

 in obtain'ng Royal Exhibitions of 50/. per annum ea?h for three 



