May 5. 1898] 



NATURE 



19 



be of service not only to the organised provincial museum 

 officer, but will also educate the curators and managers of local 

 institutions of the "curiosity shop" type to a sense of their 

 responsibilities and opportunities. 



Ix March 1848, Louis Agassiz began his instruction at Har- 

 vard College, and with it a new era in zoological science com- 

 menced in America. To commemorate the jubilee of his 

 appearance as a teacher in America, the March number of the 

 American Naturalist, which has only just reached us, contains 

 a sketch of the life of Agassiz and reviews of some aspects of 

 his work. It is peculiarly appropriate that the American 

 Naturalist should take advantage of the opportunity which 

 this fiftieth anniversary presents to pay a tribute to Agassiz's 

 work, seeing that the periodical was founded by four pupils of 

 that distinguished investigator — Alpheus Hyatt, Edward Sylvester 

 Morse, Alpheus Spring Packard, and Frederick Ward Putnam. 

 The anniversary thus commemorated is also the anniversary of a 

 change in the character of zoological science in Ame rica, and of 

 a change in the academic position of zoology in the educational 

 institutions in the New World. To these changes must be 

 ascribed the advances which American students have made in 

 morphological science, and have gained for their country a fore- 

 most position among the nations of the earth. 



Friendly intercourse between men working in various fields 

 of natural knowledge tends to broaden views and sympathies. 

 With this aphorism in mind, and also the fact that the number 

 of persons in the University of Durham interested in the pro- 

 gress of science is increasing, some members of the University 

 met towards the end of 1896 and formed themselves into a 

 Philosophical Society having for its principal objects the pro- 

 motion of research and the communication of facts and ideas 

 bearing upon scientific questions. The first number of the 

 Proceedings of this Society has just been issued, and it is a 

 creditable production which may, we trust, be taken as an 

 earnest of greater things to come. Among the subjects of 

 papers printed in the Proceedings are : education and instruc- 

 tion in England and abroad ; the effect of alternating currents 

 upon the frog's heart ; native methods of fire-making ; and the 

 Great Ice- Age. 



The popular science lectures delivered on Tuesday evenings at 

 the Royal Victoria Hall, Waterloo Bridge Road, provide a valu- 

 able means for instructing a large section of the general public 

 in the methods and results of scientific work. The lecturers 

 give their services, and only a few pence is charged for admis- 

 sion, the object being not to make the lectures commercially 

 profitable, but to encourage interest in the pursuit of natural 

 knowledge. After the lecture a short variety entertainment is 

 provided, and it says much for the character of the audience that 

 more people leave at the end of the lecture than are admitted 

 to the entertainment. During May several distinguished men of 

 science will lecture at the Hall. On Tuesday, Prof. Tilden 

 delivered a discourse in which he described " What a Chemist 

 can gel out of a Brick " ; on May 10, Prof. McLeod will lecture 

 on " A Simple Experiment, and its Explanation" ; Prof. Sollas 

 will take as his subject " Funafuti, or three months on a Coral 

 Island," on May 17 ; and Prof. Marshall Ward will say "Some- 

 thing about Wood," on May 24. The Hon. Secretary of the 

 Hall should feel gratified at being able to offer such an attractive 

 programme as this. 



The many subjects covered by the articles which have ap- 

 peared in Science Progress since its commencement, and the 

 satisfactory way in which they have usually been treated, make 

 the volumes which have been published almost an encyclopedia 

 of science. There are few scientific subjects of prime import- 

 ance in which advances have been made in recent years but 

 NO. 1488, VOL. 58] 



what have been dealt with by our solid contemporary, and 

 surveyed in sufficient detail to make the volumes very service- 

 able to students of science. The April number of this 

 " quarterly review of current scientific information " contains 

 an article on Julius Sachs by Prof. K. Goebel, and one on the 

 germination of seeds by Mr. F. Escombe. Prof H. Crompton 

 describes association and dissociation ; Dr. T. Gregor Brodie, 

 the phosphorus-containing substances of the cell ; Dr. F. A. 

 Dixey, recent experiments in the production of insect hybrids ; 

 Mr. A. Harker, the forms and habits of igneous rocks ; Dr. 

 J. S. Haldane, F.R.S., the secretion and absorption of gas in 

 the swimming-bladder and lungs ; and Prof. J. Reynolds Green, 

 F.R.S. , oxidases or oxidising enzymes. 



The additions to the Zoological Society's Gardens during the 

 past week include a Mona Monkey (Cercopithectis mona, i ) 

 from West Africa, presented by Mrs. Christiana G. R. Potter ; a 

 Macaque Monkey [Macacus cynomolgus, 9 ) from India, pre- 

 sented by Mrs. Burrell ; a Ring-tailed Coati {Nasua rufd) from 

 South America, a Mantled Buzzard {Leticopternis palliata) from 

 Brazil, presented by Mr. Basil T. Freeland ; a Daubenton's 

 Curassow {Crax daubentoni) from Venezuela, presented by Mr. 

 Emil A. Goeldi ; two Silver-bills {Mania vialabarica) from 

 India, presented by Lady Charlotte Amherst ; two Moorish 

 Toads {Bufo mauritanica) from North-west Africa, presented 

 by Mr. D. P. Turner ; a Humboldt's Lagothrix (Lagothrix 

 hwnboldti, 9 ) from the Upper Amazons, two Beautiful Grass 

 Finches [Poephila mirabilis) from Australia, two Vellow-legged 

 Herring Gulls {Larus cacchinnaus) from Egypt, twelve Midwife 

 Toads {Alytes obstetricans), European, purchased ; a Californian 

 Sea Lion (Olaria californiana) from California, received in 

 exchange; four Barbary Wild Sheep (Ovis tragelaphus), a Grey 

 Ichneumon {Herpestes griseus), born in the Gardens. 



OUR ASTRONOMICAL COLUMN. 

 C0.MET Perrine (March 19).— The ephemeris of this comet 

 for the ensuing week is as follows : — 



\2.h. Berlin Mean Time. 



1898. R.A. 

 h. m. s. 



May 5 ... o 58 43 



6 ... I 4 9 



7 ••• 9 35 



8 ... 15 o 



9 ... 20 24 



10 ... 25 46 



11 ... 31 6 



12 ... I 36 25 



jDecl. Br. 



-f5°2 18-3 ... 0*46 



5238 



52 569 



53 147 .. 0-42 

 53 31-5 



53 47-4 

 52 2-4 

 -1-54 16-3 ... 0-38 



Tempel's Comet (1867 II.).— M. Gautier publishes {Astr. 

 Nack., No. 3490, Beilage) an ephemeris of this periodic comet, 

 which was discovered by Tempel at Marseilles in 1867. The comet 

 has a period of about 6-5 years, and it was observed at its re- 

 turns in 1873 and 1879, but since that time has not been seen, 

 although two returns have been due. M. Gautier, who has 

 interested himself in this comet, calculated that the last return 

 ought to have occurred in 1892, owing to the perturbating action 

 of Jupiter on its orbit. If this be so, then probably we should 

 expect its return during the present year. 1 he region of the 

 sky which should be swept for picking up this object is, accord- 

 ing to M. Gautier, for the present week between R.A. iih. 20m. 

 and I ih. 43m., and between Declinations -t- 16° 46' and + 18" 7'. 



Kirchhoki's SrECTROSCOi'E.— The Potsdam Astrophysical 

 Observatory has just become possessed of the celebrated spectro- 

 scope which Kirchhoff used in his well-known investigations on 

 the solar spectrum. Although this instrument has been pre- 

 viously described, detailed information on several points con- 

 nected with it was lacking. To remedy this Prof. H. C. Vogel 

 brings together {Sitztingsberichte der Koniglich Prettssischen 

 Akademie der Wis., Berlin, February 1898) such information as 

 is supplementary to that already known, obtaining his facts from 

 a minute examination of the instrument itself. As regards the 



