July 15, 1897] 



NA TURE 



251 



THE ''CHALLENGER'' ALBUM. 



AT the Ipswich meeting of the British Association, a 

 couple of years ago, a movement was started 

 amongst the zoologists present to congratulate Dr. John 

 Murray, and offer him some memorial of their apprecia- 

 tion of his services to science, on the completion of his 

 editorial work in connection with the fifty volumes of the 

 Challenger Reports. A Committee was formed, with 

 Mr. W. E. Hoyle as Secretary, and the offering eventually 

 took the appropriate form of a handsome album contain- 

 ing the portraits and signatures of the contributors to the 

 Challenger Series, with an artistic cover and illustrated 

 dedication designed by Mr. Walter Crane. The pre- 

 sentation was made to Dr. Murray at a meeting held in 

 London on November 30, and the happy thought then 

 occurred to Mr. Hoyle to have the volume, cover, dedi- 

 cation and photographs reproduced, so that all contri- 

 butors, and some others, might have, if they desired, a 



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^^ 



copy of this interesting memorial of the completion of 

 the Challenger work. The result is now before us in the 

 form of a thin quarto volume, bound in dark green cloth 

 like the Challenger Series, and containing some twenty 

 sheets of portraits, along with reproductions of all Mr. 

 Crane's quaint drawings, and an explanatory introduc- 

 tion drawn up by Mr. Hoyle. Messrs. Dulau and Co. 

 have issued an edition of two hundred copies at \2s. bd. 

 each. Most of these are being secured by the contri- 

 butors, but some copies can be obtained by libraries and 

 individuals who desire to add this supplemental volume 

 to their Challenger Series. Some of the original 

 photographs were very good, others were poor, and 

 naturally some of the reproductions are better than 

 others ; but all the portraits must be of considerable 

 interest to those who possess, and to those who read the 

 Challenger monographs. The volume is similar in size 

 and style to the well-known Reports, and containing as it 



NO. 1446, VOL. 56] 



does portraits of all the eighty-eight contributors to the 

 Challenger work, the pity is that, there are not enough 

 copies to go round all the libraries that contain the 

 Challenger Series. We are enabled to show here the 

 portrait of Dr. Murray himself. 



NOTES. 

 The Sydney expedition to Funafuti, to make borings in the 

 coral, projected and led by Profi David, started on June 2, 

 going, by steamer to Fiji, and thence by sailing vessel to Funa- 

 futi. This expedition has been made possible by the liberality 

 of the Mining Department of the Government of New South 

 Wales, which has supplied all the boring plant free of cost, and 

 by the munificent gift from Miss Walker, of Sydney, of 500/., 

 and from the Hon. Ralph Abercrombie of tool, towards the 

 expenses of the expedition. 



Prof. Souillard, of Lille, has been elected a correspond- 

 ing member of the Paris Academy of Sciences. 



The following are the names of the presidents of the several 

 sections of the Australasian Association, the next session of 

 which will be opened on January 6, 1898, under the presidency 

 of Prof. Liversidge, the president-elect : — Section A — Astro- 

 nomy, Mathematics and Physics, R. L. J. Ellery. Section B 

 —Chemistry, T. C. Cloud. Section C— Geology and Mineralogy, 

 Captain F. W. Hutton. Section 'D— Biology, Prof. T. J. 

 l^arker. Section E— Geography (president to be appointed). 

 Section F— Ethnology and Anthropology, A. W\ Howitt. 

 Section G— Economic Science and Agriculture, R. M. Johnson. 

 Section H— Engineering and Architecture, H. C. Stanley. 

 Section I— Sanitary Science and Hygiene, Hon. Allan Camp- 

 bell. Section J— Mental Science and Education, John Shirley. 



The third annual meeting of the Botanical Society of 

 America will be held in Toronto on August 17 and 18, under 

 the presidency of Dr. J. M. Coulter. The address of the re- 

 tiring President, Dr. C. E. Bessey, will be given on the even- 

 ing of the opening day. 



The summer meeting of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers will open at Birmingham on Tuesday, July 27. On 

 the morning of that day there will be a reception by the Lord 

 Mayor in the Examination Hall of the Municipal Technical 

 School. The papers to be read and discussed deal with " Some 

 Points of Cycle Construction," by Mr. F. J. Osmond; "The 

 Birmingham Corporation Waterworks," by Mr. Henry Davey ; 

 "High Speed Self-lubricating Steam Engines," by Mr. Alfred 

 Morcom : " Mechanical Features of Electric Traction," by Mr. 

 Philip Dawson ; and " Diagram Accounts for Engineering 

 Work," by Mr. John Jameson. A large number of works in 

 Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Oldbury, Tipton, Walsall, and 

 Coventry will be thrown open for the inspection of members. 

 On Wednesday the excursions will be to Wolverhampton 

 district, on Thursday to Slratford-on-Avon and Walsall, and on 

 Friday to Coventry, Warwick, and Rugby. 



The Paris correspondent of the Tijiies reports that at the 

 meeting of the Institute of France on July 7, the chief business 

 of the sitting was the consideration of the bequest made to the 

 Institute by the late Due d'Aumale of his estate of Chantilly, 

 and the discussion as to whether the conservators of the chateau 

 and grounds should be appointed for life or for three years only. 

 By 58 votes to 53 the Institute decided that the appointment 

 should be for three years, and M. Mezieres, of the French 

 Academy, M. Gruyer, of the Academy of F'ine Arts, and M. 

 Leopold Delisle, of the Academy of Inscriptions and Belles 

 Lettres, were almost unanimously chosen as conservators for the 

 next three years. The conservators of the new "Conde 



