520 



NA TURB 



[March 28, 1901 



tion of the Paris Academy it was decided to assume 

 control of the committee of physiology, having for its 

 object the standardisation of the self-recording instru- 

 ments used in physiology and increased uniformity in 

 the methods used in that science. 



- ■ M. Darboux concludes his article by mentioning a 

 matter which proves at least the interest excited by the 

 formation of the International Association of Academies, 

 namely, that intended donations have already been 

 announced. At the suggestion of M. Diels, it has been 

 decided that any one having expressed the desire to give 

 to the Association the means to develop its action could 

 make the donation, with special instructions, to any 

 of the academies taking part in it. Other less deter- 

 minate projects will come before the general meeting. 

 One, from the Academy of Munich, has reference to the 

 publication of a " Corpus des actes et diplomes grecs du 

 moyen age et des temps postdrieurs." 



Another, suggested by the Academies of Leipzig, 

 Munich and Vienna, is the publication of a " Real- 

 Encyclopaedie des Islam." 



The committee meeting at Paris had finally to fix the 

 date of the next meeting, the first general meeting. It is to 

 be supposed that some, at least, of the proposals here 

 made known demand careful consideration ; hence, to 

 leave the academies which have presented them time to 

 give them a precise and definite form, Tuesday, April i6, 

 which follows Easter Tuesday, 1901, has been fixed as 

 the date of the next general meeting of the Association 

 at Paris. 



The various discussions and proposals mentioned are, 

 without doubt, of unequal importance ; they have at 

 least the merit of being very varied and of putting in 

 evidence the diversity of the services that may be rendered 

 by the International Association of Academies. 



The Association has been received with favour 

 wherever science is cultivated. " Already," remarks M. 

 Darboux, " we look to it for many works which it alone 

 will be capable of realising. It may be recalled that 

 the agreement between scientific men in the field of 

 theoretical research often precedes a good understanding 

 between peoples in the field of practice and business. 

 There is a feeling that a new organism has been created, 

 which should ultimately be called upon to exert a great 

 and beneficent influence. It is important that the con- 

 stituent academies should justify this feeling and forward 

 the working of the Association by submitting carefully 

 thought out proposals. It is important, also, that all 

 those who expect much from the Association should bear 

 in mind that it has time before it ; that, by their very 

 nature, academies are bodies which move with a certain 

 slowness ; and that time ought to be given to the new 

 Association to create little by little the means by which 

 it may be able to realise all the hopes to which it has 

 given rise." 



PROF. C. F. LUTKEN. 



/CHRISTIAN FREDERIK LUTKEN was born on 

 ^^-^ October 7, 1837, at Soro, a small town in Zealand, 

 which at that time possessed an academy where his 

 father was professor of philosophy. When quite a young 

 man, even before his student days, his interest in the 

 natural sciences was awakened, and after his examina- 

 tions were completed he devoted himself heart and soul 

 to zoology. In 1848 his studies were interrupted by the 

 war between Germany and Denmark, in which he enlisted 

 and served as a lieutenant. In 1852 he left the army 

 and obtained his master's degree with distinction, almost 

 immediately after which he was appointed assistant to 

 Prof. Steenstrup, at Copenhagen, whose pupil he had 

 been in his early days at Soro. Thus began a connec- 

 tion with the zoological museum of the University 



NO. 1639 VOL. 63] 



which lasted for 47 years, terminating only when illness 

 enforced his resignation. 



His career was marked by constant devotion to the 

 collections under his charge, and by the publication of a 

 long series of scientific memoirs, published chiefly in the 

 Transactions (Skrifter) and Proceedings (Oversigt over 

 de Forhandlinger) of the Royal Danish Academy of 

 Sciences, and the Communications (V^idenskabeliger 

 Meddelelser) of the Natural History Society of Copen- 

 hagen. His studies were always intimately connected 

 with his work in the museum, and hence systematic 

 zoology and geographical distribution and, to some extent 

 also, palaeontology constituted the main subject of his 

 writings. Almost every one of the larger divisions of the 

 animal kingdom owes something to Liitken's industry, 

 but during his earlier years he concentrated his attention 

 principally on the echinoderms, and later on ichthy- 

 ology. Under the title '' Dyreriget " he pubUshedasmall 

 text-book of zoology, a work which would have attracted 

 considerable attention had it been in a language more 

 generally understood. It is still the authorised text-book 

 in most of the educational establishments in Denmark. 

 Amongst his scientific writings special attention may be 

 called to three papers on the echinoderniata of Green- 

 land and on the geographical and the bathymetrical 

 distribution of northern echinodermata, which con- 

 stituted the thesis for his doctor's degree ; to a memoir 

 entitled " Spolia Atlantica," which gives a large series of 

 impdrtant observations on the young stages of many 

 species of fish, and to a communication on Himantolo- 

 phus reinhardli, a deep-sea lophioid fish, in which he first 

 called attention to the probability that the attracting 

 tentacles in these forms are phosphorescent. 



On the death of Prof Reinhardt, in 1883, he was ap- 

 pointed " inspector " of the department of vertebrates, 

 and in 1885 he succeeded Steenstrup as professor of 

 zoology and director of the museum. As a professor 

 he was by no means the conventional pedagogue, and 

 his pupils obtained from his lectures a clear and striking 

 picture of the animal kingdom. Physical weakness, 

 however, gradually grew upon him, and in his later years 

 it was only with difficulty that he accomplished any 

 teaching at all, and his auditors were frequently anxious 

 lest he should be unable to complete his lecture, so feeble 

 and distressing was his appearance. In 1897 he resigned 

 the chair, and for the last year of his life was a victim of 

 paralysis, which completely disabled him. He died on 

 February 6, 1901, leaving behind him a record of valu- 

 able services to the University and to the science which 

 he loved, and the memory of aji intellectual and genial 

 personality in the minds and hearts of all who had the 

 privilege of his personal acquaintance. W. E. H . 



NOTES. 

 Reference was made in our issue for February 28 to the 

 retirement of Sir A. Geikie from the office of director-general 

 of the Geological Survey, and to the appointment of Mr. Teall 

 as successor. Mr. Teall takes the title of director of the 

 Geological Survey and Museum, and the further changes in the 

 staff (which date from April i) are as follows : Mr. H. B. Wood- 

 ward to be assistant director (for England and Wales);, and 

 Mr. John Home to be assistant director (for Scotland) ; Mr. 

 C. Fox Strangways, Mr. Clement Reid and Mr. Aubrey Strahan 

 to be district geologists for England and Wales ; Mr. B. N. 

 Peach and Mr. W. Gunn to be district geologists for Scotland ; 

 and Mr. G. W. Lamplugh to be district geologist for Ireland. 



Sir Archibald Geikie will be entertained at a complimen- 

 tary dinner on May i, as a mark of recognition of his services to 

 geology, and in commemoration of his refcent retirement from 

 the position of director-general of the Geological Survey and 



