352 



NATURE 



[August ii, 1898 



Herr Albin Belar, director of the seismological station in 

 the k.k. Oberrealschule at Laibach, Austria, is making an 

 endeavour to collect information with reference to the earth- 

 quake which occurred in Dalmatia on July 2, and caused great 

 destruction in the town of Sinj. The disturbance was recorded 

 at Laibach by four instruments, and a number of observations 

 and pictures referring to the earthquake have been collected 

 there. It is proposed to publish these records, together with 

 any other papers which may be obtained, either on the recent 

 earthquake, or on the nature of earthquakes generally, and 

 recent seismology, in a work by the sale of which it is hoped 

 to obtain funds for the relief of the people who have suffered 

 losses by the shock. Contributions intended for this work may 

 be in German, French, Italian, or English, and should be sent 

 to Herr Belar before the middle of December. 



Many Polish men of science have signed a protest against the 

 action of the Prussian authorities at Posen (Poznan) in pro- 

 hibiting them from attending the meeting of the Polish Associa- 

 tion for the Promotion of Medical and Natural Knowledge, 

 which it was proposed to hold in that town at the beginning of 

 the present month. Early in July the organising committee of 

 the meeting was informed by the Director of Police that persons 

 of Polish nationality would not be permitted to take part in the 

 proceedings, and that if they went to Posen they would be expelled 

 from the country immediately. For thirty years the Association 

 has held its meetings without any difficulties, and in the year 

 1884 a meeting was held in the town of Posen itself. The 

 recent action, directed as it was against men whose only 

 object was calm and friendly intercourse, violates the legitimate 

 claims of science, and discourages scientific investigation in 

 Poland. It is unfortunate that intellectual enterprise should be 

 made to suffer on account of strained relations between certain 

 members of German and Polish nationalities. The protest 

 against the measures taken by the Prussian police authorities 

 has been signed by most men of science in Cracow and 

 Lemberg, and forwarded to the Polish members of the Austrian 

 Parliament. 



The death is announced of Prof. George Ebers, author of 

 numerous works on Egyptology. Prof. Ebers was born in 

 Berlin in 1837. He studied first at Gottingen, and then in 

 Berlin, where he came under the influence of the egyptologists 

 Brugsch, Lepsius, and Bockh. After taking his degree at Jena, 

 he undertook a journey of a year's duration in Egypt and Nubia, 

 and on his return in 1870 he was appointed to a professorship at 

 Leipzig. In 1872 he visited Egypt for a second time, and on this 

 occasion made his discovery at Thebes of the celebrated papyrus 

 which is known by his name. 



Particulars of the career of the late Dr. Johan Eliza de 

 Vry, the eminent Dutch pharmacist and quinologist, who died 

 at The Hague on July 30, in his eighty-sixth year, are given in 

 the Chemist and Druggist. Dr. de Vry was born on January 

 31, 1813, at Rotterdam. His first appearance in the literary 

 world was with a Dutch translation of Heinrich Rose's " Hand- 

 book of Analytical Chemistry," which was at that time a famous 

 text-book. This work brought him into direct correspondence 

 with many of the leading chemists of the day, among these being 

 Pelletier, for whom Dr. de Vry always entertained the utmost 

 reverence. It was through Pelletier's influence that his atten- 

 tion was especially directed to quinine and the cinchona alka- 

 loids generally, concerning which he was to become one of the 

 chief living authorities. De Vry took the degree of Ph. D. at 

 Leyden University in 1838, and was subsequently appointed 

 teacher of chemistry and pharmacy in the Medico- Pharma- 

 ceutical College of his native city. In 1850 he sold his pharmacy, 

 which he had carried on for eighteen years, and devoted himself 

 to scientific work exclusively. At that period he published 

 NO. 1502, VOL. 58] 



an immense number of papers on pharmaceutical subjects — 

 nitroglycerin, morphia, red phosphorus, cherry-laurel water, 

 and cinchona, occupying his attention. In 1856 he was 

 elected an honorary member of the Pharmaceutical Society of 

 Great Britain, and in 1857 he went to Java on a commission by 

 the Dutch Government as Inspector of Chemical Investigation. 

 He stayed in Java six years, and it is universally admitted that 

 his labours materially assisted in the development of the cin- 

 chona industry there. After finishing his labours in the island. 

 Dr. de Vry visited India, and gave much assistance to the 

 Indian Government in regard to the cultivation of cinchona and 

 the extraction of the alkaloids there. For his services in this 

 direction he was rewarded by the Queen of England with the 

 CLE. in 1880. In 1895 he was awarded the Hanbury gold 

 medal given by the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, 

 and only a few weeks before his death the University of 

 Utrecht bestowed upon him the honorary degree of M.D. 



The British Mycological Society's second annual week's 

 fungus foray will be held in Dublin from September 19 to 24. 



A severe shock of earthquake, lasting five seconds, occurred 

 in Messina at 2.33 a.m. on Saturday, August 6, and was 

 followed by three weaker shocks. 



This year's meeting of the French Association for the 

 Advancement of Science opened at Nantes on August 4. M. 

 E. Grimaux, the president, delivered an address on the 

 chemistry of the infinitely small, referring more particularly ta 

 Pasteur's researches. About 30,cx)0 francs were voted as grants 

 in aid of scientific work, 13,126 francs being from the funds of 

 the Association, and 18,800 from the Girard legacy fund. 



The Government of British Guiana has lately taken steps of 

 great practical utility in arranging for geological surveys in the 

 gold districts. From a report on the gold and forest industries 

 of British Guiana we learn that a survey has already been con- 

 ducted by Prof. J. B. Harrison in the north-west district, and 

 the results embodied in a report, while an additional report on 

 the petrology of the district is awaiting publication. A further 

 expedition to examine the formations of the Potaro-Cono- 

 warook district is now being organised. The great importance 

 of this work will be recognised in view of the fact that there are 

 no trustworthy official reports on the geology of British Guiana 

 in existence. The experience of the past ten years has proved 

 that British Guiana is rich in gold ; and what is now needed is 

 the importation into the Colony, and the adoption of, mechanical 

 washing appliances for alluvial gold. By such means deposits 

 of alluvial gold, vast areas of which are known to exist, but would 

 not pay to work by the means now employed, could be made to 

 produce large quantities of gold. During the year ending on 

 June 30, the amount of gold exported from the Colony was 

 117,265 ounces, or a decrease of 10,326 ounces upon the output 

 of 1896-97. This serious decrease is partly ascribed to excep- 

 tionally bad weather, and partly to the exhaustion of alluviai 

 workings in the Barima district. 



Prof. Karpinsky contributes to the latest issue of the 

 BiiUetin of the St. Petersburg Academy of Science* an interest- 

 ing note on hail observed on April 30, 1897, by M. Czernik, 

 near Ivangorod, in Russian Poland. The hail was falling that day 

 from two nearly quite opposite directions, and was of two entirely 

 different kinds. One variety consisted of large grains of a pear- 

 like shape, and of a peculiar structure ; while the other consisted 

 of smaller, transparent grains, which had the shape of flattened 

 .ellipsoids. These latter contained nothing, but the former had 

 in their central opaque portions black granules which proved, 

 on chemical analysis, to consist of iron, with traces of nickel 

 and cobalt, and silicon. These granules were sent to the 

 Academy, and Prof. Karpinsky analysed them. The powder 



