Oct. 7, 1875J 



NATURE 



503 



rapidly over the various regions and departments, indicates the 

 relative proportion of notable men belonging to each, and the 

 particular intellectual product in which each has been most fer- 

 tile. As might be expected, the north, particularly the basin of 

 the Seine, which includes Paris, the great centre of population, 

 is the richest. Seine-et-Oise, I'Aisne, Seine-Infirieure, Calvados, 

 Champagne, are also marked by a deep tint. In the east, 

 Alsace and Lorraine — which in this respect may yet be considered 

 French — Burgundy, especially the Cote d'Or, Doubs, Lyonnais, 

 and French-speaking Switzerland, all stand out prominent. In 

 the south, Iscre, Bouches-du-Rhone, Hcrault, Haute-Garonne, 

 Gironde, are the most remarkable. The west, as a whole, is 

 but slightly tinted, notable exceptions being Ille-et-Villaine, 

 Charente-Inferieure, and to some extent Maine-et-Loire and 

 Finistere. In general, however, Brittany, whose inhabitants 

 have many other noble qualities, does not show any great 

 eminence from an intellectual point of view. This M. Cort- 

 ambert is inclined to attribute to the fact that the Bre- 

 tons are still to a large extent Celtic ; and it is noteworthy 

 that the centre of France, where also the same element 

 is still strong, is also comparatively poor in eminent intel- 

 lectual products. With regard to the particular kind of intel- 

 lectual product for which each district is noted, M. Cortambert 

 finds that the north is specially fertile in poets, claiming such 

 names as Malhcrbe, Cornei'le, Racine, Molicre, Boileau, La 

 Fontaine, Voltaire, Beranger, De Musset ; while in science it 

 has produced such names as La Place, Elie de Beaumont, De- 

 lambre, Ducange ; also not a few men eminent as painters, 

 warriors, musicians, historians, and a large proportion of geogra- 

 phers. From the east come many men who have a world-wide 

 fame in the natural, physical, and medical sciences — BufTon, 

 Cuvier, Daubenton, Eerthollet, Andre Ampere, Jussieu, Bichat, 

 Recamier, Saussure, Bonnet, De Candolle, Agassiz, and others ; 

 in other departments also, specially in literature and art, this 

 region hag been fertile in great names. The south stands out 

 prominent in the region of orators, but has also produced such 

 men as Fermat, I>egendre, Arago, Borda, Montesquieu, Mon- 

 taigne, Toumefort, and Adanson: Brave sailors and celebrated 

 voyagers are the special product of the west. In Brittany and 

 the Centre, philosophy seems to dominate ; to the latter belong 

 Pascal and Descartes, and the daring humourist Rabelais. Al- 

 together M. Cortambert's researches in this direction are of 

 special interest, and will be of real value if he connects the results 

 above indicated, as he states he intends to, with the nature of 

 the physical and ethnographical characteristics! of the various 

 regions which he has surveyed. 



We read in the Lille papers that the Catholic University of that 

 town has been granted the use of Saint Eugenie Hospital, under 

 certain restrictions. 



I The Geological Magazine states that Dr. W. Waagen has been 

 \ appointed to the post of Paleontologist to the Indian Survey 

 rendered vacant by the death of Dr. Stoliczka. 



Scientific work will soon be resumed in Paris with activity, 

 the Geographical, Biological, Anthropological, and other societies 

 recommencing work within a few days. The Institute is the 

 only French scientific institution which takes no holiday, 

 even for any religious solemnity or national festivity. The 

 regular weekly meetings were only interrupted once during the 

 Commune, when civil war was raging in Paris. M. i<;iie de 

 Beaumont, who was the perpetual secretary, tried to reach 

 the Institute in order to open the sitting, but he was prevented by 

 insurgents refusing to allow him to cross the barricades. 



We have now the final fasciculi of a work, the publication of 

 ■which has extended over the last five years, the " Nomenclator 

 Botanicus," by Dr. L. Pfeifler, of Cassel. In two volumes, 

 amounting to over 3, 500 pages, are here enumerated all the names 



j and synonyms which have been applied to classes, orders, tribes, 

 i families, divisions, genera, and sub-genera of plants, from the 

 : time of Linnaeus or earlier to the end of the year 1858, with 

 I reference to the place of publication. The work will be indis- 

 pensable to anyone compiling a monograph of a genus or order. 

 ; It is intended shortly to continue the work down to the most 

 recent times. 



The intended publication is announced, by subscription, of a 

 " Flora of Clackmannan," by Messrs, James R. and T. Drummond. 

 Subscribers' names are to be sent to Messrs. Maclachlan and 

 Stewart, Edinburgh. 



The Report of the Curators of the Botanical Exchange Club 

 (Dr. J. T. Boswell and Mr, J. F, Duthie) for the last two years 

 has just been published. It gives the new localities for scarce 

 plants discovered during that time, and describes in great detail 

 the observations which have been made on new forms or varieties 

 of British plants. 



The Photographic News, in speaking of " Photography and the 

 Illustrated Press," gives some examples of the extent to which 

 the latter is now dependent on the photographic art. The Ahw 

 York Daily Graphic, besides often executing its pictures from 

 photographs, 'employs a photo-mechanical process in the produc- 

 tion of some of its work. At the office of the Moniteur Uni- 

 versel, which is one of the most extensive printing and pub- 

 lishing establishments in France, arrangements are being made 

 for large photo-printing works, as well as for producing coloured 

 pictures by M. Leon Vidal's photo-chromic process. In this 

 country photography is used to aid the artist in sketching to a 

 great extent. One of these days, no doubt, the Nt-ws believes^ 

 we shall have our papers illustrated by photographs /«r et simple, 

 but even now photography has far more to do with the execu- 

 tion of the illustrations in our journals than most people may 

 be aware of. 



" We were witness, ' says the Photographic NrMs, " the 

 other day of a very pretty application of light made by a 

 gardener. Everybody knows that the ripening and colouring 

 of fruit are due for the most part to light and heat, and 

 that the roses upon an apple are influenced by the manner in 

 which the sun strikes it. On looking at some fine wall-fruit in 

 a Kentish garden, the proprietor called our attention to the 

 manner in which he allowed his peaches to be partially covered 

 by a leaf or two, in places— namely, where he wished them to 

 remain green— and thus heighten by contrast the purple bloom 

 on other portions of the fruit. There were many examples of a 

 leaf being very sharply photographed upon the fruit, and the 

 grower, by exercising a little care during the ripening season, 

 thus enhanced the beauty of his fruit, and also their value, as in 

 the case of a peach it is not only its flavour, but its appearance, 

 which governs the price at Covent Garden," 



A coRRESroNDENT writes as follows to the Dei-ry Sentinel :— 

 "On Sunday evening last, while going into the country, I ob- 

 served at Churchill, Glendermott, a bird which at first sight I 

 could not easily class among any known species. On coming 

 closer, however, I found that it was a white swallow. There 

 was no perceptible difference between it and the common 

 swallow, with the exception of its plumage being of the purest 

 white. Other swallows were flying about at the same time, but 

 this rara avis shunned their company, and did not seem anxious 

 to join them, as it flitted about by its solitary self, and kept at a 

 respectful distance from the others. As I have never heard of 

 a white swallow having been seen about this part of the country 

 before, I consider it to be a very strange visitor." 



Prof. E. Morren, of Brussels, has been making some expe« 

 riments with insectivorous plants, with the result that he combats 

 the view that they possess t^ power of absorbing and assimi- 



