April ii, 1901] 



NA TURE 



571 



H. Wallon, permanent secretary ; L. Delisle ; G. Boissier ; 

 Breal ; Barbier De Meynard ; Senart ; E. Miintz. Academy of 

 Sciences: MM. Fouque, president ; Bouquet de la Grye, vice- 

 president ; Berthelot and Darboux, permanent secretaries ; 

 Marey ; H. Poincare ; Moissan ; Lannelongue. Academy of 

 Moral and Political Sciences : Count de Franqueville, presi- 

 dent ; G. Picot, permanent secretary ; Greard ; Glasson ; 

 Lachelier ; Sorel ; Boutroux. St. Petersburg : MM. Famintzin ; 

 Backiund ; Oldenbourg ; Kouliabko. Rome : Prof. S. Canniz- 

 zaro ; Prof. A. Mosso ; Prof. I. Guidi. Stockholm : Prof. G. 

 Retzius, president of the Academy of Sciences. Washington : 

 Prof. G. L. Goodale. Vienna : Prof. Victor von Lang, general 

 secretary of the Academy of Sciences ; Prof. T. Gomperz ; Prof. 

 Leopold von Schroeder ; Prof. J. Karabacek ; Prof. J. C. 

 Zirecek ; Prof. A. RoUett ; Prof. G. Tschermak. 



Mr. L. de Niceville, who has for many years been well 

 known by his published work on Indian and Malay Lepidoptera, 

 has been appointed entomologist in the Indian Museum, Calcutta. 



Prof. Eugen Warming and Dr. Victor Madsen have 

 been appointed to the Danish Geological Survey, and Dr. H. 

 Topsoe has retired from the Survey. 



The death from cholera of Mr. G. F. Reader, of the Geolo- 

 gical Survey of India, took place at Madras on March 12. 

 Mr. Reader was appointed as a specialist in coal mining in 1899, 

 and for the last five months of his life, also ofificiated as Govern- 

 ment mining inspector. 



Reuter's correspondent at Constantinople states that the 

 sharp earthquake experienced there on March 30 occurred at 

 6ve minutes past nine in the morning. The movements observed 

 were in the direction from south-west to north-east and lasted 

 nearly five seconds. 



Mr. W B. Tripp, writing from Isleworth, says that on 

 April 4, about 10 p.m., a fine display was observed of lunar 

 halo with horizontal ray on a level with moon and two parase- 

 lense (or mock moons) at its intersection with the halo, which 

 remained all the evening while the paraselense soon disappeared. 



The subjects of the Walker prizes in natural history to be 

 awarded by the Boston Society of Natural History, Massa- 

 chusetts, U.S.A., are as follows : — For 1901 : Monograph on 

 any problem connected with, or any group belonging to, the 

 North American fauna or flora; for 1902 : (i) nuclear fusions 

 in plants ; (2) the fate of specific areas of the germ of chordates, 

 as determined by local destruction ; (3) the reactions of or- 

 ganisms to solutions, considered ifrom the standpoint of the 

 chemical theory of dissociation. 



An International Maritime Congress will be held at Monaco 

 on April 12-15, under the presidency of M. J. Charles-Roux. 

 The congress will discuss, among other questions, those of 

 assistance to the shipwrecked, the international unification of 

 coast-lights and buoyage, maritime meteorological observations, 

 wireless telegraphy, marine pigeon-post, international maritime 

 tribunals, and a scheme for the creation of a permanent inter- 

 national maritime bureau. The last-named project aims at the 

 international discussion of maritime questions by a permanent 

 and official body. 



The Director of the Missouri Botanic Garden has recently 

 called attention to the facilities offered by that institution for 

 botanical research. The garden owes its foundation to the 

 munificence of Henry Shaw, and the good work which he 

 inaugurated has resulted in the formation of a splendid coUec. 

 tion of plants in the garden and in the herbarium, together with 



NO. 1641, VOL. 63] 



an adequate library without which they would lose much of 

 their value. The collection of books is especially rich in system- 

 atic works, and thus affords opportunities for study of the 

 American flora and of its relations with that of other countries. 

 The Director, Dr. Trelease, extends also a courteous invitation 

 to those who may desire to make use of the collections for 

 physiological or other objects, suggesting that provision may be 

 made to suit the requirements of those who desire to engage in 

 such investigations. The growing prominence which is being 

 given to research, and the spirit which impels it, affords one of 

 the surest guarantees for greatness of the intellectual and material 

 future which lies before a strong and virile community. 



The Brussels. Academy of Sciences announces the following 

 prize subjects for 1901 : — New researches upon the compounds 

 formed by the halogens between themselves (800 francs) ; the 

 determination of the form of the principal terms introduced into 

 the formulae of nutation in obliquity and longitude by the elas- 

 ticity of the earth's crust (800 francs) ; historical and critical 

 discussion of Weber's experiments on unipolar induction, and 

 new experiments bearing upon the laws and interpretation of 

 this physical fact (800 francs) ; a contribution to the study of 

 mixed forms with a number of series of variables, and the appli- 

 cation of the results to the geometry of space (600 francs) ; 

 history of researches on the variation of latitude, and a discussion 

 of the interpretations of this phenomenon (600 francs) ; investi- 

 gations of the physiological role of albuminoid substances in the 

 nutrition of animals or plants (800 francs) ; new researches on 

 the organisation and development of Phoronis, and the relations 

 existing between the animals Rhabdopleura and Cephalodiscus, 

 and the class to which the name Enteropneusta has been applied 

 (1000 francs); description of simple substances, sulphates and 

 binary compounds of Belgian soil (800 francs) ; researches on 

 the influence of external factors on karyokinesis and cellular 

 divisions in plants (800 francs). 



The expeditions which will start for the Arctic regions during 

 1901 are described in the U.S. Afjnthly Weather Review as 

 follows : — (i) The Zeigler-Baldwin, to be led by Mr. Evelyn B. 

 Baldwin, who lately resigned from the Weather Bureau for this 

 purpose, the funds to be contributed by Mr. William Ziegler, of 

 New York. (2) A Russian expedition, commanded by 

 Vice-Admiral Makaroff, in a vessel constructed to push its way 

 through ice fourteen feet thick. (3) A Canadian expedition, in 

 charge of Captain Bernier, in the Scottish King. (4) A German 

 expedition, plans not yet published. (5) A joint expedition by 

 Dr. Nansen and the Duke of the Abruzzi. (6) Peary and his com- 

 panions will finish the exploration of Grinnell Land and return 

 home. (7) Dr. Robert Stein and his companions will complete the 

 exploration of Ellesmere Land. (8) A relief expedition to 

 Franz Josef Land, under the command of Captain Stoekken, and 

 apparently at the joint expense of Nansen and Abruzzi. (9) 

 Baron Toll will send a party from the Kara Sea eastward along 

 the Siberian coast. Captain J. E. Bernier, of Quebec, proposes 

 to travel by the route taken by the wreck of the /eannette, with 

 dogs, reindeers, and sledges, over the ice from the Lena or 

 Bennett Island region. The trip may last two and a half years. 



On Tuesday next, April 16, Dr. Allan Macfadyen will deliver 

 the first of a course of six lectures at the Royal Institution on 

 cellular physiology, with special reference to the enzymes and 

 ferments. On Thursday, April 18, Mr. Roger Fry will begin a 

 course of two lectures on naturalism in Italian painting, and on 

 Saturday, April 20, Mr. John Young Buchanan will deliver the 

 first of a course of three lectures on climate : its causes and its 

 effects. The Friday evening discourse on April 19 will be de- 

 livered by Prof. J. J. Thomson, his subject being " The Existence 

 of Bodies smaller than Atoms. " 



