86 



NATURE 



{Nov. 2 2, 



of Elliott Cresson, of Philadelphia, 'and conveyed to the Trustees 

 of the Franklin Institute. By the Act of the Institution, May 17, 

 1849, ^^ Committee on Science and the Arts was designated 

 and empowered to award this medal, and the Committee 

 decided to grant it, after proper investigation and report by a 

 sub-committee, either for some discovery in the arts and sciences, 

 or for the invention or improvement of some useful machine, or 

 for some new process, or combination of materials in manu- 

 factures, or for ingenuity, skill, or perfection in workmanship. 

 (2) The John Scott Legacy Premium and Medal (twenty dollars 

 and a medal of copper), founded in 18 16, by John Scott, a 

 merchant of Edinburgh, Scotland, who bequeathed to the city 

 of Philadelphia a considerable sum of money, the interest of 

 which should be devoted to rewarding ingenious men and women 

 who make useful inventions. Upon request made to the 

 Secretary of the Franklin Institute, full information will be sent 

 respecting the manner of making application for the investigation 

 of inventions and discoveries ; furthermore, the Committee on 

 Science and the Arts will receive and give respectful consideration 

 to reports upon discoveries and inventions which may be sent to 

 it with the view of receiving one or the other of the above- 

 named awards. Full directions as to the manner and form in 

 which such communications should be made, will be sent on 

 application. 



The late Prof. Edward Tuckerman made a choice collection 

 of books and papers relating to lichens, some four hundred 

 numbers in all. These works have been presented by Mrs. 

 Tuckerman, in accordance with her husband's wish, to Amherst 

 College Library ; and it is proposed to keep the collection by 

 itself under the name of the " Tuckerman Memorial Library," 

 and to render it worthy of the name by making it as complete as 

 possible in its own department. Some persons interested in this 

 specialty may like to assist in maintaining and completing the 

 collection, on the understanding that it shall always be available 

 to public use. Mr. Wm. I. Fletcher, the Librarian of Amherst 

 College, has therefore issued a notice to the effect that he will 

 be glad to receive contributions, either in money or in material 

 (especially rare monographs that may have escaped Prof. 

 Tuckerman's notice), to this memorial to an eminent scholar 

 and man of science. Whatever money may be contributed will 

 be kept as a fund of which only the income will be employed in 

 making additions to the collection, or in repairs and rebinding. 

 The sum of 1000 dollars would probably suffice as such a fund. 



At the meeting of the Scientific Committee of the Royal 

 Horticultural Society on November 13, Mr. Henslow showed 

 specimens of several species of plants which are propagated by 

 cleistogamous flower-buds. By that means, while retaining a 

 dwarf habit, they are able to multiply very ra;_idly, and to ex- 

 tend over considerable areas in a tennis-lawn. Although none 

 of them are perennials, they remain so reduced in size that they 

 are not exterminated by the mowing-machine periodically cutting 

 them down. The result is that each species has more or less 

 completely covered certain patches of ground, to the almost 

 entire exclusion of everything else. The plants in question are 

 Cei astium glovieratum, Montia fotttana, Trifolitim procumbe^ts, 

 Sagina pi-ocumbens, Alchemilla arvensis, Veronica arvensis, and 

 Pea annua. Mr. Henslow added that he had observed, many 

 years ago, Trifolium subterranean flourishing in the same way 

 on the close- cut grass in Kew Gardens, on the site of the present 

 rockery. 



Earthquakes occurred at Vyernyi on October 30, at 6 a.m. ; 

 at Digne, in the Department of the Lower Alps, on November i, 

 at 1.36 a.m. ; in Sikkim on the 9th inst. ; and in various places 

 in California on the 19th inst. 



On the night of Saturday, November 3, about 8 o'clock, 

 the tens of thousands of sheep folded in the large sheep-breeding 



districts north, east, and west of Reading were taken with a 

 sudden panic, jumping their hurdles, escajiing from the fields, 

 and running hither and thither. Early on Sunday morning the 

 shepherds found their animals under hedges and in the roads, 

 panting as if they had been terror-stricken. Messrs. Oakshott 

 and Millard, who write to us on the subject, suggest that a 

 slight earthquake may have been the cause of this strange 

 incident. 



The third general meeting of the Italian Meteorological 

 Society was held at Venice, from September 14 to 21, in the 

 Institute of Music of Benedetto Marcello. Reports of the various 

 papers read are being published in the Bolletiino Mensuale of 

 the Society. There were discussions on various questions con- 

 nected with general meteorology and climatology ; meteorology 

 applied to hygiene, and hydrology ; and geodynamics. 



A SUMMARY of the results of two interesting papers read by 

 General Strachey at the recent meeting of the British Association 

 on the meteorology of the Red Sea and Cape Guardafui, prepared 

 from data collected by the Meteorological Office, is contained in 

 the Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society for November. 

 In 1882 the Admiralty called attention to the precautions 

 necessary in rounding Cape Guardafui from the southward, 

 wrecks having frequently occurred in foggy weathir and at night- 

 time, owing to vessels being out of their reckoning from the 

 great variation in the drift of the currents. The paper shows 

 that, although not always infallible, the change of sea tempera- 

 ture in approaching the land is of great assistance in determining 

 the position when near this dangerous coast. The late Captain 

 Symington called attention to this important fact in 1880. 



The Meteorological Office of the Argentine Republic, which 

 was established at Cordoba by Dr. Gould fourteen years ago, and 

 to which we are chiefly indebted for our knowledge of the climate 

 of this vast region, continues to follow the same useful lines 

 under its present Director, Mr. G. G. Davis. Volume vi. of 

 the Anales, recently published, contains exhaustive discussions 

 on the climate of five places, from as long a series of observations 

 as was available in each case. The observers are supplied with 

 verified instruments, and the stations are regularly inspected. 

 Several new stations have been established in the more remote 

 districts. 



Most ornithologists have hitherto been of opinion that birds 

 during their yearly migrations never cross the Caucasus chain of 

 mountains, and that on their way towards the north, and on their 

 return, they take the route via the shores of the Black Sea or of 

 the Caspian. It appears, however, from recent observations made 

 by M. Rossikoff, and communicated to the Caucasus newspaper, 

 that such is not the case. On October 9, while on the banks of 

 the Aragva, close by the Ananur station, he saw a number of 

 large birds on the summit of the Tsikhes-dziri Mountain, and 

 they proved to be a flock of some 100 to 150 white storks 

 [Ciconia alba), which were crossing the Caucasus chain on their 

 return journey. It appeared also from information gathered 

 from the inhabitants that cranes, herns, and ducks have been 

 often seen in that part of the main chain on their migrations. 



Two new crystalline compounds of arsenious oxide with 

 sodium bromide and sodium iodide have been prepared by Prof. 

 Riidorff, of Charlottenburg. They form two additional members 

 of an interesting isomorphous group discovered two years ago 

 by Prof. Riidorff, having the general formula MX + 2AS2O3, 

 where M may be potassium, sodium, or ammonium, and X 

 represents chlorine, bromine, or iodine. In his former memoir, 

 published in 1886, the following members of the series are 

 described, and accurate analyses given : — KI + 2AS2O3, 

 KBr -f- 2AS2O3, KCl + 2AS.P3, NH4I + 2AS2O3, and 

 NH4Br -f 2AS2O3. These five salts are beautifully isomorphous. 



