Atignst 7, 1879] 



NATURE 



353 



Ant. tie Bary (Strassburg), Dr. N. Pringsheim (Berlin), and 

 Prof. O. E. Meyer (Breslau). Dr. Felix Klein of Muuicli has 

 been elected as Extraordinary Member. 



The first congress of all tlie German societies for the protec- 

 tion of animals will be held at Gotha on August 17-19 next. 



The Imperial " Leopoldino Carolinische " German Academy 

 of Naturalists has presented the well-known Gottingen professor 

 of physics, Dr. Wilh. Ed. Weber, formerly one of Gauss's 

 collaborateurs, with the Cothenius medal, in recognition of his 

 valuable services for the furtherance and progress of experi- 

 mental physics. 



The following is the prize theme given by the physico-mathe- 

 matical class of the Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin : — 

 According to Faraday's theory of electrodynamics, as worked 

 out mathematically by Prof. Clerk Maxwell, the generation 

 and disappearance of dielectric polarisation in isolating media as 

 well as in celestial space, are phenomena which possess the 

 electrodynamical effect of electric currents, and which can be 

 called fortfi like the latter by electrodynamical induction forces. 

 The currents in question would, according to the theory, be 

 equal in intensity to that one which charges the boundary sur- 

 faces of the conductors electrically. The Academy now de- 

 mands that decisive experimental proofs be given for or against 

 the existence of electrodynamical effects of nascent or dis- 

 appearing di-electric polarisation, of the intensity supposed by 

 Prof. Maxwell, or for or against the generating of di-electric 

 polarisation in isolating media by means of electromotoric forces 

 induced magnetically or clectrodynamically. The term for 

 sending in solutions of the theme ends on March I, 1882. 



On the 1st inst. a century had passed since the birth of the 

 celebrated naturalist and philosopher, Lorenz Oken '(properly 

 Ockenfuss). Oken was born on August I, 1779, at Bohlsbach, 

 in Swabia, and died on August II, 1851, at Zurich. He had 

 held for many years the post of professor of natural history at 

 Jena, Munich, and Zurich. His principal works are the well- 

 known "Lehrbuch der Naturgeschichte " and "AUgemeine 

 Naturgeschichte fiir alle Stiinde." 



Russian newspapers announce, as we stated last week, that a 

 very rich archaeological find has been made by M. Kibalchich, in 

 Southern Russia, on the banks of the Trabesh River, in the 

 Government of Poltava. In a locality covered with numerous 

 small mounds, a sheet of earth with pieces of coal, bones, 

 broken pieces of earthenware, as well as stone and bronze 

 implements, were discovered under the recent sands. The 

 number of stone arrows and knives discovered is no less than 

 372 ; besides, M. Kibalchich has found two larger stone imple- 

 ments which were used for breaking great bones, several clay 

 and glass ornaments, earthenware with ornaments, and five 

 bronze arrows. Thb find is the first in Southern Russia, whilst, 

 as is known, the remains of the stone and bronze periods are very 

 numerous in Northern and Eastern Russia. 



A CAPTIVE balloon has been established in Berlin, and 

 was inaugurated on July 27. But the wind having blown 

 with some velocity, the balloon was opened, and the occu- 

 pants of the car were precipitated to the ground. A tree 

 having diminished the shock, the travellers escaped almost un- 

 hurt. The Berlin balloon was about -i^ the size of the Paris 

 balloon, inflated with coal gas, and the cover ordinary silk. 

 The Norddeutsche Ztitung asks for police inspection before new 

 ascents be made. The intended height was only 500 feet, and 

 the number of passengers two or three. 



On August 30 M. Gaston Tissandier made an ascent from 

 La Villette Gas Works with his wife and his brother. The 



travellers started at Sh. and landed at 7h. 50 at Dawmartin. 

 The observations were highly interesting. When the National 

 left ground, the wind was blowing south-westerly, but at about 

 7h. the direction changed abruptly, and an instantaneous change 

 took place in the direction of the balloon. It was caused by 

 the brise de mer setting in after a hot day. The sky was 

 covered with cumulus, intermixed with a few cirrus of 

 small dimensions. When at an altitude of 600 metres, M. 

 Tissandier passed through a cloud which was very cold indeed, 

 as proved by the sensation which the travellers experienced, but 

 the duration of the passage was so short that it was not possible 

 to observe the temperature at the thermometer. When at a 

 higher altitude M. Tissandier observed the refraction of the rays 

 of the sun on icy particles, and at the same moment on the 

 western sky splendid rainbows. At the same time a very large 

 halo had been observed at Paris by the Temfs meteorological 

 editor, and noted by him. 



Dr. Dunant publishes in the J'ournal de GenSvea note on the 

 low temperature of this summer. While the mean temperature 

 for the years 1873 to 1878 was l8°'9 Celsius in June, and 2l°-o 

 during the first half of July, in 1879 it was only lS°'8 and l6°*7. 



The Ramon Societe of Toulouse is organising an ascent on 

 the Pic du Midi, to inspect General Nansouty's Observatory. 

 The peak is covered with unseasonable snow, but it will not pre- 

 vent the ascent from taking place, it is expected, without any 

 great difficulty. 



A SHOCK of earthquake was felt on July 20 at 3*30 A.M. at 

 Vulpera, in the Engadine (Switzerland). It was accompanied 

 by a rather strong rumbling. 



An earthquake consisting of three moderately violent shocks 

 is reported from Cairo. The phenomenon was observed in the 

 night of July 11-12. In the quarter of Bab-en-Nasr, which is 

 at some distance from the modern portion of the city, some 

 isolated walls fell in, and an old and somewhat dilapidated 

 minaret has suffered so severely that it must be taken down. 

 During the last decades earthquakes have been extremely rare at 

 Cairo and indeed in Egypt generally, and since the great earth- 

 quake of 1857, which caused so much damage amongst the 

 shaky old buildings, in which the Caliph-city abounds, and 

 through which several lives were lost, no earthquake of import- 

 ance has occurred. The phenomenon of July II-I2 is said to 

 have been noticed also at Gizeh, near the great pyramids. 



The Manila papers state that a terrible thunderstorm passed 

 over that city on May 31. It was preceded by an almost suffo- 

 cating warm atmosphere and rain, and lasted about an hour. 

 The lightning struck the Binondo Tower, dam.aging the crystal 

 shade of the clock, but not injuring the mechanism, though the 

 stone work forming the arch was much damaged. Out of 

 several persons in the tower at the time, four appear to have 

 been killed. Several other places in the city were more or less 

 injured. 



We have received from Mr. Henry Chichester Hart, B.A., a 

 copy of his collected papers " On the Flora of North- West 

 Donegal," which have been appearing in the J ournal of Botany. 

 These floras of particular districts are valuable contributions to a 

 perfect knowledge of the British flora in general, for it is evident 

 that a more thorough exploration of a given range can be better 

 effected by confining the observation to a small circuit than by 

 extending them almost indefinitely. Many points of interest in 

 the localities of species arc more clearly indicated by these con- 

 tributions than we expect to find in a work whicli treats of the 

 flora of the entire country. As an illustration of the utility of 

 these papers we may refer to the fact that Ofhioghssum Imi- 

 tanicum, L., was found by Mr. Hart in August last amongst 

 short grass near the margin of a cliff on the northern side of 



