352 



NATURE 



[February 7, 1901 



in the year 1598, Tycho had this worlc printed in his own office, 

 with the view to give the celebrities nf his time an exact idea of 

 the organisation of the observatory which he had left for ever. 

 But the edition appears to have been small, for the only copies of 

 the work now known to be in existence are two at Copenhagen, 

 and one each at the British Museum, Prague, and Stockholm. 

 Another edition was printed four years later at Nuremberg, but 

 it is not nearly so fine as that printed by Philip de Ohr at 

 Wandesburg. Subscriptions are invited for the facsimile of the 

 Stockholni copy of the work, and should be sent to Prof. 

 Hasselberg, Royal Academy of Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden, 

 before March ^i.. The price is fixed at 2/. a copy. 



The gold medal of the Royal Astronomical Society has been 

 awarded this year to Prof. Edward C. Pickering, of Harvard 

 College Observatory. The medal will be presented at the. annual 

 general rneeting of the Society, which will be held at 3 p.m. to- 

 morrow (Friday). 



On January 28 Scottish geology lost a most successful and 

 enthusiastic fossil-collector in Mr. James Bennie, who then 

 passed away at the ripe age of seventy-eight years. lie began, 

 while an artizan,.in early life to employ his leisure hours in 

 gathering fossils from the Carboniferous formations around 

 Glasgow and from the Glacial deposits of the West of Scotland. 

 So successful were these excursions and so excellent his pub- 

 lished descriptions of the results obtained from them that in the 

 spring of 1869 he was invited to join the Geological Survey of 

 Scotland as Fossil Collector. He was thenceforth able to devote 

 his whole time to work which had previously been only possible 

 for him in his scanty hours of leisure. His career in the Survey 

 was marked by remarkable industry, insight and success. He 

 acquired a more minute knowledge of the palceontological strati- 

 graphy of the Carboniferous system than was probably possessed 

 by any one else. He discovered the first recognisable traces of 

 Holothuria in that system, and obtained remains of scorpions 

 frditt nfiany different horizons. To his acute faculty of observation 

 we Owe the first recognition of the little Arctic Apus among the 

 deposits of lakes of the Glacial Period in Scotland. He was 

 not only a lynx-eyed collector but wrote well, and supplied 

 many interesting papers to the Tratisactions of the Geological 

 Societies of Edinburgh and Glasgow. He was fond of English 

 literature, and when too poor to purchase Tennyson's Poems, 

 borrowed a copy and transcribed it all. The value of his work 

 was recognised two years ago by the Geological Society of 

 London, which awarded him the Murchison Fund. His gentle 

 and kindly nature, his cheery helpfulness and his loyal devotion 

 to duty made him a great favourite with his colleagues, from 

 whom he retired in 1897 on a well-merited pension. 



At University College, London, last week Prof. Schafer was 



presented with a testimonial subscribed for by a number of those 



who had been his pupils or who had worked in the physiological 



a boratory during his tenure of office as Jodrell Professor of 



Physiology. From a report in the British Medical Journal, we 



learn that the chair was taken by Prof. Thane, who sketched the 



main features of Prof. Schafer's connection with University 



College, and spoke of the esteem in which he was held alike by 



pupils and colleagues. The presentation was made by Dr. 



Leonard Hill, F.R.S., who, in a short and sympathetic speech, 



referred to the way in which Prof. Schafer had stimulated 



physiological inquiry, and won, not only the respect, but the 



affection of those who were privileged to learn from him or to 



work under him. The presentation took the form of a bowl and 



two platters of hammered silver, designed and made by Mr, 



• Alexander, of University College School, and of a cheque for a 



sum of money which is to be devoted to founding a medal to be 



given for the encouragement of physiological research in 



University College. Prof. Schafer, who . was very warmly 



NO. 1632, VOL. 63] 



received, said that the occasion recalled to him another occasion 

 in the same theatre some thirty years ago. He then learnt from 

 the lips of Sharpey that he had won the medal in physiology, 

 and received it from the hands of Huxley. He believed that 

 that circumstance had determined him to follow physiology as a 

 career. 



Dr. R. a. Daly, of the Department of Geology and 

 Geography of Harvard University, is endeavouring to organise 

 a geological and geographical excursion in the North Atlantic for 

 the summer of 1901. Conditionally on the formation of a suffi- 

 ciently large party, a steamer of about 1000 tons, specially adapted 

 for ice navigation, and capable of accommodating sixty persons, 

 will leave Boston on or about June 26 and return to the same 

 point on or about September 20. The main object of the voyage 

 will be to offer to the members of the excursion party opportunity 

 of studying the volcanic cones and lava-fields, the geysers, ice- 

 caves and glaciers of Iceland, the fiords and glaciers of the 

 west coast of Greenland, and the mountains and fiords of Northern 

 Labrador. Some attention will be paid to the hydrographic 

 conditions of the waters traversed. Botanists, zoologists, 

 ornithologists, mineralogists, and persons mterested in other 

 branches of natural history may pursue independent studies. A 

 hunting party may take part in the expedition ; it could be 

 landed for a fortnight or three weeks in Greenland and for 

 about the same period in Labrador, Explanatory lectures on 

 the regions visited will be given from time to time by the leader 

 of the excursion. Dr. Daly, who will also act as guide on the 

 Labrador coast, where he spent the summer of 1900. An 

 inclusive fee of 500 dollars for each member will be charged, 

 250 dollars to be deposited with the leader of the expedition on 

 or before March 15. Applications for membership should be 

 addressed to Dr. R. A. Daly, Harvard University, Cambridge, 

 Mass., U.S.A. 



We regret to have received information of the death of the 

 Nestor of European botanists. Dr. J. G. Agardh, of Lund, who 

 died on Janqary 17 in his eighty-eighth year. Prof. Agardh 

 was chiefly known for his work in marine algae. He was a 

 correspondant of the Section of Botany of the Paris Academy 

 of Sciences. 



A Natural History Section has been formed of the 

 Hampstead Astronomical and Scientific Society, with the 

 primary object of working out the local fauna and flora. 

 Meetings of the section will be held from time to time, when 

 exhibits will be made, papers read, and discussion on zoological 

 and kindred subjects invited. The honorary secretary for the 

 section is Mr. J. W. Williams, 128, Mansfield Road, Gospel 

 Oak, N.W. 



Mr. William H. Crocker, of San Francisco, has offered 

 to defray the expenses of a solar eclipse expedition to be sent by 

 the University of California from the Lick Observatory to 

 Sumatra to observe the total eclipse of the sun on May 17. An 

 astronomer and assistants will sail from San Francisco on 

 February 19, to be absent until July. It is proposed to estab- 

 lish an observatory camp somewhere within twenty miles of 

 Padang, on the west coast of Sumatra. 



The "Historical Number" of the Electrical Review of 

 America (January. 12) is full of notes and articles of interest to 

 students of electricity. The number contains several very 

 readable and informing papers on various branches of electrical 

 work, and a series of portraits of men who contributed to the 

 progress of electrical science and industry during the past 

 century. 



We learn from Science that Mr. J. W. Sprague, who died 

 recently, left a will that should ultimately greatly benefit the 

 Smithsonian Institution. It gives 85 per cent, of the interest on 



