398 



NATURE 



\_At4gust 25, 1887 



and with the United States Fish Commission, of which 

 he was also President. In 1884 the Auk announced that 

 the bird-registers of the United States National Museum 

 had reached 100,000 specimens in number, this splendid 

 collection having been based on the nucleus of 3696 

 skins, the private collection of Prof. Baird ; and the same 

 journal states : — "As being, more than any other living 

 person, entitled to the privilege, specimens numbered 

 100,000 and 100,001 are entered as donations from Prof. 

 Baird, to whom they were presented by Mr. Geo. N. 

 Lawrence, the oldest active American ornithologist. One 

 of these, a common Crossbill, was shot by Mr. Lawrence, 

 in New York City in 1850, and the other, a Flicker, on 

 Long Island, in 1862." 



We may add that, during an experience of twenty years, 

 we have never heard from any ornithologist, European 

 or American, a single unkind word concerning Prof. 

 Baird, either in his public or private capacity. This is 

 something to say in this age of jealousies and back- 

 bitings. R. BowDLER Sharpe. 



NOTES. 

 Last year the New South Wales Government, through their 

 Agent-General, invited the British Association to meet at 

 Sydney in Januarj'. The invitation has now been withdrawn. 

 Strangely enough, the matter was treated as a party question in 

 the New South Wales Parliament. 



The American Association for the Advancement of Science 

 met in New York from August 10 to 17. Prof. S. P. 

 Langley, the President, in his opening remarks, congratulated 

 the members on the fact that the meeting promised to be most 

 successful. Prof E. W. Morse, of Salem, Mass., the retiring 

 President, chose as the subject of his address, " What American 

 Zoologists have done for Evolution." "Eleven years ago," 

 said Prof. Morse, "I had the honour of reading before this 

 Association an address in which an attempt was made to show 

 what American zoologists had done for evolution. My reasons 

 for selecting this subject were, first, that no general review of 

 this nature had been made ; and, second, that many of the oft - 

 repeated examples in support of the derivative theory were from 

 European sources, and did not carry the weight of equally im- 

 portant facts the records of which were concealed in our own 

 scientific journals. Darwin was pleased to write to me that 

 most of the facts I had mentioned were familiar to him, but, to 

 use his own words, he was amazed at their number and import- 

 nnce when brought together in this manner. The encouragement 

 of his recognition has led me to select a continuation of this 

 theme as a subject for the customary presidential address — a 

 task which is at best a thankless if not a profitless one. Had I 

 faintly realized, however, the increasing number and importance 

 of the contributions made by our students on this subject, I 

 should certainly have chosen a different theme." Prof. Morse 

 laid much stress upon the fact that "American biological 

 science stands as a unit for evolution." 



In Europe the weather rendered almost useless the elaborate 

 preparations which had beea mile for ob32rvations of the total 

 solar eclipse of August 19. From the German stations the 

 Berlin Observatoiy received a series of dismal telegrams, such as, 

 " Fog and rain ; no observations," " Nothing done ; quite 

 cloudy," "Cloudy; observed nothing." Partially successful 

 observations were made in Germany only at Nordhausen and 

 Eisleben. In European Russia observers were almost equally un- 

 fortunate. At Klin all attempts to get a glimpse of the eclipse were 

 '•' completely frustrated by the dull gray sky and thick Scotch mist 

 which quickly damped both one's clothes and one's spirits." At 

 the last moment Prof Mendeleieff, who was stationed at Klin 

 to observe the foroa of the corona, its spectrum, ani the course 



of the shadow, went up alone in a balloon, but he was too late 

 to obtain important results. A balloon which went up at Tver 

 was met in its ascent by torrents of rain. A glimpse of the sun 

 was obtained at Tver only twice — at the contact, and when it 

 was about seven-eighths obscui-ed. At Spirovs, nearer St. 

 Petersburg, totality is said to have been visible for twenty 

 seconds. At Petroffsk, in the Government of Jaroslav, Prof. 

 Glasenapp, of St. Petersburg, was lucky enough to be able to 

 make six drawings and to get two photographs, while Prof 

 Stanoievitsch, of Belgrade, was successful in observing and 

 photographing the spectrum of the corona. Fortunately there 

 was a clear sky at Tomsk and other stations in Siberia. 



It is worth noting that an extraordinary amount of interest 

 was excited on the Continent by the eclipse. It is calculated 

 that in Berlin and the neighbourhood no fewer than 200,000 

 persons were waiting in the hope of seeing it, and in Russia 

 great numbers of people flocked to many points of observation. 

 This may, we hope, be taken as an indication that both in 

 Russia and Germany there is a Rowing popular appreciation of 

 some of the more striking truths of physical science. 



The Berlin Correspondent of the Times has brought together 

 some interesting reports as to the effect of the eclipse upon the 

 lower animals. Foresters state that the birds, which had already 

 begun to sing before the eclipse took place, became of a sudden 

 quite silent, and showed signs of disquiet when darkness set in. 

 Herds of deer ran about in alarm, as did the small four-footed 

 game. In Berlin a scientific man arranged for observations to 

 be made by bird-dealers of the conduct of their feathered stock, 

 and the results are found to deviate considerably. In some cases 

 the birds showed sudden sleepiness, even though they had sung 

 before the eclipse took place. In other cases great uneasiness 

 and fright were observed. It is noticeable that parrots showed 

 f.ir more susceptibility than canaries, becoming totally silent 

 during the eclipse, and only returning very slowly to their usual 

 state. 



It is greatly to be regretted that the Government has found 

 it necessary to abandon the Technical Education Bill. In 

 announcing to the Hou^e of Commons the surrender of the 

 measure, Mr. W. H. Smith said :— "We hoped that the Bill 

 would have been received almost unanimously by the House, 

 but it has met with opposition, and we are threatened with pro- 

 longed discussion of the measure, and on August 18 I cannot 

 encounter the difficulties which are likely to be thrown in the way 

 if we persist in the carrying through of that Bill in the course of 

 the present sess'on. It is, however, a measure which we should 

 feel it our duty to introduce in the very earliest days of the next 

 session, and I hope that the consideration which will be given 

 to the subject in the interval will enable us to meet any 

 objections raised by hon. friends on this side of the House, and 

 by hon. gentlemen on the other side, so as to produce a measure 

 which will rapidly obtain the concurrence of the House without 

 exciting any party feeling of any kind whatever, for I should 

 greatly deprecate any party or sectional feeling in a question of 

 this kind." 



Ix the discussion on Tuesday evening of the vote to complete 

 the sum of ;^I47,385 for the Brhish Museum, Sir J. Lubbock 

 expressed much regret that the amount allotted to purchases for 

 thi Museum w.ts ;^io,ood less than usual. It would be hard to 

 conceive a more striking instance of misplaced economy, for, as 

 Sir J. Lubbock pointed out, there is at the present moment an 

 exceptional number of interesting specimens for sale. Mr. Molloy 

 proposed that the Museum should be opened at night, and main- 

 tained that the sum required for the electric light would not 

 exceed ;[{^iooo per annum. Mr. W. H. Smith, on behalf of the 

 Government, promised that this question should be most carefully 

 examined during the recess. 



