252 



NA TURE 



[July 15, 1897 



Museum " are to receive an annual stipend of 300of. and to be 

 lodged at Chantilly. The financial administration of the estate 

 will not, however, devolve upon them, but upon three other 

 members of the Institute to be subsequently appointed. Later 

 information has been received saying that M. Limbourg has been 

 appointed Administrator-General of Chantilly. 



We regret to notice the death of Prof. W. Marme, Director 

 of the Pharmacological Institute of Gottingen ; Dr. Giuseppe 

 Fissore, formerly Professor of Pathology in the University of 

 Turin ; Dr. E. Legros, Professor of Physiology in the new 

 University of Brussels ; and Dr. Marechal, formerly Professor 

 in the Naval Medical School of Brest. The last-named died of 

 septic poisoning. 



Mr. R. D. Oldham, the Acting Director of the Geological 

 Survey of India, has sent to a correspondent a letter on the 

 recent earthquake in Calcutta, from which we have been per- 

 mitted to make the following extracts: — " I was at Naini Tal 

 at the time, and as soon as I knew how bad it was, came down 

 here [Calcutta] to make arrangements for a thorough investiga- 

 tion of it. At present it is not possible to say more than that 

 it is the biggest and most severe of which there is any record in 

 India, and that its investigation will be attended by consider- 

 able difficulty and inconvenience, not to say hardships, to the 

 men employed, owing to the rainy season having commenced 

 immediately after the earthquake. I have had orders from 

 Oovernment to prepare a full and detailed scientific report in the 

 Geological Survey Department ; have issued circulars to all 

 station masters, telegraph officers, and other people likely to be 

 able to give information, and have despatched every available 

 man to investigate the damage done at all accessible places. 

 Some that would have been worth visiting are, unfortunately, 

 inaccessible at this season of the year." 



In addition to the foregoing communication we have received a 

 lengthy letter on the subject, and a photograph, from Mr. T. D. 

 La Touche ; and these we hope to publish in a subsequent 

 issue. 



A DINNER was held on the 7th inst., under the presidency 

 of the Duke of Cambridge, to commemorate the twenty-first 

 anniversary of the formation of the Sanitary Institute. Speeches 

 were delivered by Lord Kelvin, Sir Douglas Galton, Prof. 

 ■Corfield, and others. 



The American Naturalist notes that Dr. W. II. Evans, of 

 Washington, D.C,, has gone to Alaska for several months to 

 investigate the agricultural resources and possibilities of that 

 portion of the territory lying south of the Aleutian peninsula. 

 He will report to Congress as to the advisability of establishing 

 •experiment stations there. Dr. Sheldon Jackson is to collect 

 similar information regarding the Yukon Basin. — Prof Nelson, 

 the University of Wyoming botanist, will make an excursion 

 into the Red Sea Desert. This tract of land has, so far, never 

 received a botanical investigation, and the Professor has planned 

 to make three other trips into the desert during the summer. He 

 •expects to obtain many rare botanical specimens. — Prof. Bruner, 

 of the University of Nebraska, has sailed for Buenos Ayres, 

 where he will spend a year investigating the injurious locusts 

 which have, of late, increased enormously in three of the eastern 

 provinces of the Argentine Republic. 



We learn from the Journal of Botany that Mr. (jeorge 

 Murray and Mr. V. H. Blackman have sailed for the West 

 Indies, in order to work at the plant-plankton of the Atlantic, 

 ■especially the forms found remote from coastal waters, such as 

 the coccospheres and rhabdospheres. Their method of capture 

 is by pumping sea- water through very fine silk bags, thus 

 attaining practically the same result as by the tow-net, and 

 without stopping the ship. 



NO. 1446, VOL. 56] 



According to Science, Major Powell is at present on the 

 coast of Maine, engaged in research concerning shell mounds, 

 in the interest of the Bureau of American Ethnology. 



A MEETING was recently held in Glasgow, on the initia- 

 tive of the Lord Provost, the Principal of the University, 

 and the President of the Faculty of Physicians and Surgeons, 

 to further the proposal to establish a memorial to William and 

 John Hunter, and an executive committee was appointed to 

 collect subscriptions ; it is hoped that from 3000/. to 4000/ 

 maybe raised. 



The Berlin Town Council, on the motion o f Prof Virchow, 

 has decided to appoint a municipal " hydrologist," for the 

 constant examination and hygienic supervision of the different 

 Berlin waterworks. In connection with this appointment, the 

 creation of a municipal board of health for the city of Berlin is 

 being much discussed. If such were established, the municipal 

 hospitals, orphanages, and asylums would be placed under its 

 control, and also the municipal schools. 



The Park Board of New York City has adopted the plans 

 for the buildings of the new Botanical Gardens in Bronx Park, 

 as modified by the directors in accordance with the advice of 

 the committee appointed to consider the question. 



The German Iiitperial Gazette of a recent date contains the 

 regulations issued by the Government for the sale of Prof. 

 Koch's new tuberculin, under which name the new specific will 

 be sold by chemists in phials containing one millilitre at marks 

 8.50, and in phials containing five millilitres at marks 42.50. 

 The tuberculin will only be given to certificated medical men, 

 or to those provided with an authorisation from such. 



The July part of the Journal of Anatomy and Physiology 

 announces that in consequence of the death of Sir George 

 Murray Humphry, it has been considered advisable to re- 

 organise the editorial staff. With the October part the yi?z/r«a/ 

 will, as regards anatomy, be conducted by Profs. Sir W. Turner, 

 MacAlister, Cunningham and Thane ; and the physiological 

 department will, as heretofore, be in the hands of Prof. 

 M'Kendrick. 



In our issue for June 24 we briefly described the run of the Tur- 

 binia from the Tyne to the Solent. We understand that during the 

 three weeks the lurbinia was in the Solent she made frequent 

 runs of many miles at a time, at speeds of from 30 to 35 knots, 

 and that her performances were witnessed by many leading 

 authorities in naval matters, as well as the mercantile marine. 

 On Tuesday, June 29, with a distinguished company on board, 

 she was ran up to nearly full power, and maintained the un- 

 precedented speed of 35 knots, or over 40 miles per hour, for 

 the length of the line of battle-ships, or about 5 miles. 

 During this run there was an absence of strain, and from 

 this fact it seems that the limit of speed in this little vessel has 

 not yet been reached, and that after further improvements, at 

 present in progress (having returned to the Tyne last week), 

 she will be capable of not only maintaining her position as 

 much the fastest vessel afloat, but will be able to give 

 many knots to any competitor engined with reciprocating 

 engines. We purpose, in a subsequent issue, to give a further 

 account of the compound turbine engines which, by the most 

 direct and economical conversion of the power of the steam 

 into effective horse-power in engines of unprecedently small 

 weight, enable the Tnrbinia to achieve without stress or 

 vibration such remarkable results. 



The Pilot Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean for July, issued 

 by the American Hydrographic Office, contains a supplementary 

 chart showing the tracks of floating bottles which have been 

 returned to that office during a year ending June i last. Of 



