350 



NATURE 



{Feb. 7, 1889 



should be, and consequently should not reflect radiations polar- 

 ized perpendicularly to the plane of incidence at a certain 

 incidence. This is what has been observed, and it has been 

 decided that the plane of polarization is the plane of the mag- 

 netic disturbance. They next tried reflection fiom sheets of 

 glass, and obtained no results ; but, as Mr. Joly suggested, the 

 experimenters were practically observing the black spot in 

 Newton's rings, for the sheet of glass was much thinner than 

 a wave-length, which is about 30 centimetres. Some rough 

 -observations at various incidences from the wall seem to show 

 interference at some and not at other incidences due to the same 

 -cause as Newton's rings. 



The German Government have granted the sum of ^27,500 

 to repair the building of the University of Berlin, and to erect 

 new lecture-rooms, staircases, and corridors, and for the heating 

 and lighting apparatus. The Government have also given 

 j^36,5oo to the Natural History Museum, besides £zS<Xi for 

 books. A further sum of ;i^iooo is to be devoted to the 

 purchase of physical apparatus and an anatomical cabinet. 



At the Epidemiological Society, on February 13, Mr. Victor 

 Horsley will read a paper, illustrated by lantern photographs and 

 micro-photographs, on " Rabies, its Treatment by M. Pasteur, 

 and its Detection in Suspected Cases." 



A TECHNICAL LABORATORY for special instruction in dyeing 

 and bleaching has just been opened in connection with Univer- 

 sity College, Dundee. This technical portion of the chemicaj 

 department consists of a completely fitted dye-house, a labora- 

 tory, and a museum for technical samples, more especially con- 

 nected with the textile industries of the district. Practical 

 instruction in the dye-house was begun by Prof. Percy Frankland 

 last week. 



The Keiv Bulletin for February consists of a list of such 

 hardy herbaceous annual and perennial plants as have matured 

 seeds under cultivatign in the Royal Gardens, Kew, during the 

 year iSfcS. These seeds are available for exchange with colonial, 

 Indian, and foreign botanic gardens, as well as with regular 

 ■correspondents of Kew. The seeds are for the most part avail- 

 able only in moderate quantity, and are not sold to the general 

 public. The compiler points out that, as compared with the 

 list previously published {Kctu Bulletin, February 1887), the 

 number of names inserted in this list is far fewer. This, he 

 says, has arisen on account of the unfavourable conditions 

 experienced during the summer of 1888, when, owing to pro- 

 longed rains and absence of sunlight, many plants did not 

 mature seed. 



We learn from Peterinann s Mitteihingen for January that a 

 •Central Meteorological Institute was established on April 7, 

 1888, at San Jose, Costa Rica, under the Ministry of Instruction, 

 with Seiior Pittier as Director. 



An Intercolonial Meteorological Conference was held at the 

 •Melbourne Observatory from September 11-15 last, under the 

 presidency of Mr. R. J. Ellery, all the Australian colonies. 

 New Zealand, and Tasmania, being represented. The Chairman 

 stated that the chief object of calling the Conference together 

 was "with a view of improving the intercolonial weather 

 system, and for the advancement of Australian meteorological 

 ■science generally." The following are among ihe principal 

 • resolutions adopted : (i) that the amount of information sent by 

 telegraph should be reduced as far as possible, by reducing the 

 number of stations ; (2) that, with the telegrams, a forecast be 

 sent from each colony for that colony ; (3) that no meteorological 

 .forecast or prediction made in one colony and having reference 

 to any other colony shall be communicated by telegraph to any 

 other person or destination than the meteorologist of the colony 

 to which such prediction refers. This motion was carried with 



one dissentient, Mr. Wragge. A long discussion ensued as to 

 the best mode of thermometer exposure. Mr. Todd stated that 

 he had fully tested the Stevenson stand ; he thought it was 

 quite impossible for anyone to say positively what was the best 

 form of exposure. He was going to adopt the Stevenson screen 

 for his out-stations, but was not necessarily going to put it only 

 4 feet from the ground. The Conference generally agreed that 

 they should all work towards uniformity in the matter as far as 

 possible. On the question of the supply of self-registering 

 instruments to certain stations, Mr. Russell said that he had 

 found the most diverse results from Richard's instruments ; some 

 gave satisfactory results, and others were perfectly useless. Sir 

 James Hector said he had been fortunate with the instru- 

 ment ; as an assistant to reading the weather, it was most 

 efficiert. On the question of cloud nomenclature the forms 

 given by Mr. Abercromby were approved of ; the Chairman 

 urged the importance of having them lithographed in colours, 

 and he undertook to get copies of Mr. Abercromby 's photo- 

 graphs so prepared, and sent round for approval to the members 

 of the Conference. Various other questions were discussed, 

 including the connection of climatological observations with 

 hygiene, and the reduction of barometer observations to sea- 

 level. 



French students of ethnography are much interested in the 

 group of Lapps who are at present being exhibited at the Jardin 

 d'Acclimatation, Paris. The other day the group was increased 

 by one, a daughter having been born. The new-comer is called 

 " Parisienne." 



The Geographical Society of Paris has just opened an inter- 

 esting exhibition of photographs, dresses, weapons, boats, and 

 other objects brought a short time ago from Greenland by 

 M. Charles Rabot. 



For many years the Kazan Society of Naturalists has de- 

 voted a good deal of attention to its collection of skulls, which 

 is now one of the richest collections of the kind in Russia. Dr. 

 Malieff gives, in the Memoirs of the Society (vol. xix. 2) a 

 catalogue of the collection, with the chief measurements and 

 indexes of each skull separately. The Slavonian and Russian 

 skulls— partly from the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, 

 and partly more recent — are the most numerous ; they number 

 about three hundred. The old Bulgarian skulls, represented by 

 thirty-seven examples, come next. The Permians, the Votyaks, 

 ihe Tchuvashes, and the Tcheremisses are well represented. 

 The like may be said of the Mordovian and the old Finnish 

 skulls derived from the grave-mounds [kurgans). The Tartarian 

 skulls are represented both by samples found in ktirgans, and by 

 modern specimens. Eighteen Kazan skulls found at Astrakhan 

 are especially worthy of note. 



Russian botanists are busily exploring the floras of the 

 various divisions of the Empire, and the number of floras of 

 separate provinces is rapidly increasing. At the same lime, 

 they are devoting closer attention to the delimitation of the 

 various floras of European Russia, their chief efforts being 

 directed towards the establishment of the separation lines be- 

 tween the flora of the black-earth or steppe region, and the 

 flora of the forest region. M. Korzchinsky's new wdrk on the 

 northern limits of the former in the Government of Kazan, ac- 

 companied by a map which illustrates the conclusions of the 

 author, is a valuable contribution to the subject (Memoirs 

 of the Kazan Society of Naturalists, vol. xviii. 5). Full lists 

 of the species characteristic of separate districts are given, 

 together with a review of the literature dealing with the pheno- 

 mena. Contrary to views formerly maintained, the author holds 

 that in Eastern Russia there is no such separate flora as might 

 be considered intermediate between the forest and the steppe 



