July lo, 1879] 



NATURE 



255 



The monument of the late eminent botanist, Prof. Alexander 

 Braun, was unveiled on June 17 at the Botanical Gardens of 

 Berlin. The granite pedestal is by Prof. Adier, the bust of the 

 deceased, which is said to be an excellent likeness, by the well- 

 known sculptor Prof. Schaper. 



According to the resolution passed at the last International 

 Congress of Americanists at Luxemburg in 1877, the city of 

 Brussels will be the meeting-place for this year's (third) congress. 

 It will be held from September 23-26 under the protectorate of 

 the King of the Belgians and the honorary presidency of the 

 Count of Flanders. We have before stated the objects of the 

 Congres?, vi hich will again be occupied by the consideration and 

 discussion of a series of questions relating to the history, archa;o- 

 logy, anthropolog>-, ethnography, linguistics, and palceography 

 of North and South America. 



Prof. Virchow, Dr. Schliemann's companion and coadjutor 

 in the latest excavations in the Troad, has written to the eminent 

 Homeric archaeologist, informing him of a concurrence of geo- 

 logical opinion at Berlin in the conclusion that all the building 

 stones, fragments of which the professor brought home from 

 Hissarlik, are of fresh-water formation. This conclusion is 

 thought to be decisive against those who affirm the impossibility 

 of identifying Hissarlik with the Homeric Troy, on the ground 

 that at the time of the great epic war the site must have been 

 covered by the sea. 



In the Paris Academy of Sciences M. Dausse has been elected 

 a Corresponding Member in the Section of Mechanics, in suc- 

 cession to the late General Didion. 



The French Minister of Fine Arts has placed at the disposi- 

 tion of the War Office fourteen cups of Sevres china to be 

 offered in competition to the societies of carrier-pigeon breeders. 



The Times Paris correspondent states that Dr. Krauss, at a 

 scientific meeting at Stuttgart a few days ago, referred to the 

 recent swarms of the Vanessa cardui butterfly. A like pheno- 

 menon occurred in Piedmont in 1741, 1S26, and 1857. This 

 year a swarm passed through Turin on June 2, through Switzer- 

 land from the 2nd to the 9th, Alsace, France, and Spain from 

 the 5th to the loth, and WUrlemburg from the nth to the 21st. 

 Prof. Eimer, of Tubingen, found that eighteen out of nineteen 

 specimens were females full of eggs, and he attributes the march 

 to the search for a place to deposit their eggs ; a march directed 

 by their keen scent. Caterpillars have already been found on 

 thistles in the districts visited, and a large number may be 

 looked for. 



The thirty-sixth annual congress of the British Archocological 

 Association is to be begun at Great Yarmouth on August 11, 

 and continue until the 20th, the last three days, commencing on 

 Monday, August 18, being passed at Norwich. Lord Waveney 

 will deliver an inaugural address at the Town Hall, Great Yar- 

 mouth, as president of the meeting, on Monday, August II, and 

 the following days up to Saturday the i6th will be dedicated to a 

 variety of interesting excursions. 



In connection with the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary 

 of the Paris Central School of Arts and Manufactures, the 

 Gazzetta d' Italia states that the meeting of engineers connected 

 with the Florentine branch was held on Sunday, and that a 

 banquet was given by the president, Commendatore Prof. Vegni. 

 After dinner those present visited the Workshop Galileo, in which 

 so much is being done for the resuscitation of mechanical art in 

 Florence, with no aid either from Government or the Municipality. 

 Over the door of the workshop is a clock so ingeniously con- 

 structed that it has gone now for fourteen montlis with a loss 

 of only five seconds. A chronograph was exhibited capable of 

 registering the thousandth part of a second, and applicable to 



the measurement of the velocity of projectiles ; a cathetometer 

 capable of measuring heights to the 1,200th of a millimetre, a 

 new electric machine by induction, and a most efficient pneumatic 

 machine, the invention of the eminent Padre Cecchi. 



We daresay most of our readers will be pleased at the result 

 of the motion by Mr. S. Lloyd in the House of Commons, on 

 Tuesday, in favour of appointing a Minister of Commerce and 

 Agriculture. The motion was agreed to by a fair majority, 

 among which w ere members of both sides of the House, This 

 is a step in the right direction. 



The GifFard captive balloon has begun its series of night 

 ascents by an experimental trip, which was made on June 30 

 with great success. The court of the Tuileries was lighted by 

 ten Jablochkoff lamps. It is proposed to carry an electric lamp 

 on the car if the sixty portable Bunsen elements which are in 

 preparation can be carried without inconveniencing passengers. 

 Captive ballooning is making its way in foreign lands. A 

 captive balloon is being fitted up in one of the places of resort 

 round New York ; the balance for registering the levitation 

 has been constructed in Philadelphia. It can register accurately 

 lo,OGO pounds, and is built for sustaining 25,000. 



The Paris Exhibition of Sciences Applied to Industry will be 

 opened on the 24th inst. The preparations are being made with 

 great activity in the Palais de I'Industrie. M. Jules Simon, the 

 President of the Council, and M. Nicol, the Director, had an 

 interview, on June 29, with the President of the Republic, to 

 suggest a series of measures intended to promote the success of 

 tlie exhibition. 



Mr. F. W. Moore, eldest son of the late Dr. Moore, has 

 been appointed Curator of the Botanic Gardens, Glasnevin, 

 Dublin. Mr. Moore has been for some time curator of the 

 College Botanic Garden, Dublin. 



A Select Committee of the House of Commons, of which 

 Mr. A. Pell was chairman, have concluded their considera- 

 tion of the Bill promoted by the Liverpool Corporation, to give 

 power to adopt and supply for public and private purposes 

 lighting by electricity. The committee had intimated their 

 decision to pass the Bill if amendments were made in the 

 preamble, the efTect of which would be to limit the power of the 

 Corporation to making a scientific experiment, and not allow 

 them to make it a commercial undertaking for purposes of 

 profit, or to compete with the gas company. Amendments were 

 proposed by the Corporation in this direction, and the committee 

 passed the Bill. 



It is stated that the Council of India, despairing of obtaining 

 the repeatedly asked-for assistance of the Imperial Government 

 towards defraying the cost of the India Museum, have decided 

 to break it up and to distribute the collections between the 

 British and South Kensington Museums and Kew. 



From the report on the forests and plantations in the Island 

 of Mauritius for 1878 we learn that many of the trees which 

 were introduced from India a few years ago have thriven beyond 

 expectation and have in some instances already reached the size 

 of useful timber trees. Among those which have done best are 

 mahogany, teak, and eucalyptus. The last named (E, calo- 

 phyllus) is found to grow with remarkable vigour, and produces 

 fertile seed at a very early age. The severe hurricanes which 

 sweep over the island commit great devastation among the plan, 

 tations of eucalyptus and other fast-growing trees, and the 

 Government this season intend to plant out a large number of 

 the young gum trees to be grown as large as bushes. In this 

 form they are expected to be able to withstand the force of the 

 wind, and form a screen for the protection of young plantations 

 of timber frees. 



