522 



NATURE 



[September 30, 1897 



in spite of every attempt of its experienced keeper to induce 

 it to eat. It was tlierefore, on reaching London, nearly 

 dead from exhaustion, and only lived for half an hour after its 

 arrival in the Regent's Park, where it was proposed to keep it 

 for the winter. This event is the more to be lamented, as the 

 fine young female already in the Society's Gardens (which was 

 also brought to England from the Cape by Herr Windhorn) thus 

 remains still without a mate, and there is at present little 

 prospect of obtaining one. 



Among the prizes awarded by the Institution of Civil Engi- 

 neers for the session 1896-97 are the following :— The Howard 

 prize of fifty guineas to Mr. H. Bauerman, in recognition of his 

 work on the metallurgy of iron. For original papers presented 

 to the institution, Telford medals, with premiums of books or 

 instruments, to Messrs. li. A. Humphrey, for "The Mond 

 Gas- Producer Plant and its Application " ; to Colonel Penny- 

 cuick, R.E., for " The Diversion of the Parivar " ; to Mr. E. C. 

 Shankland, for " Steel Skeleton Construction in Chicago" ; to 

 Mr. Dugald Drummond, for " High Pressure in Locomotives" ; 

 and to Mr. Thomas Holgate, for "The Enrichment of Coal 

 Gas." George Stephensop medals and Telford premiums to 

 Mr. Cruttwell, for "The Tower-bridge Superstructure," and to 

 Prof. Unwin, for "'A new Indentation Test for Determining the 

 Hardness of Metals." Watt medals and Telford premiums to 

 Messrs. Hay and Fitzmaurice, for their joint paper on " The 

 Blackwall Tunnel." This year marks the first award by the 

 Institution of the medals named after Joule, the discoverer of 

 the mechanical equivalent of heat, and Mr. James Forrest, 

 whose long service as secretary and the care devoted by him to 

 fostering the student class, have on his retirement been com- 

 memorated by the foundation of a medal. The presentation 

 will be made at the opening meeting of the new session on 

 November 2. 



The deaths are announced of Dr. August Mojsisovics, Edler 

 von Mojsvar, professor of zoology and comparative anatomy in 

 the University of Gratz ; Mr. Theodore Lyman, honorary 

 member of the National Academy of Sciences ; and Dr. Welcker, 

 for some years professor of anatomy in the University of Halle. 



Prof. John Milne has shown us the photographic tracings 

 of two well-marked earthquakes, recorded last week by his 

 seismographs at Shide, in the Isle of Wight. The times of the 

 disturbances are September 20, 7.30 p.m., and September 21, 

 5.30 a.m. The duration of each disturbance at Shide was about 

 three hours, and the preliminary tremors extended over about 

 forty minutes, from which facts Prof Milne concludes that the 

 place of origin was at least six thousand miles distant. 



Mr. N. L. Britton has been elected President, and Mr. 

 J. C. Arthur Vice-President, of the Botanical Society of 

 America for the coming year. 



We learn from the Botanical Gazette that the Smithsonian 

 Institution, Washington, has undertaken an important work in 

 bringing together all possible material bearing on the medicinal 

 uses of plants in the United States. Dr. V. Havard is chairman 

 of the commission for this purpose. 



Mr. William Wesley Woolen, of Indianapolis, has an- 

 nounced his intention of presenting to that city a tract of land, 

 consisting of fifty-six acres, for the purpose of establishing a 

 botanic garden and an ornithological preserve. 



Prof. J. P. O'Reilly sends us some extracts from a work on 

 Morocco ("An Account of the Empire of Marocco," by James 

 Grey Jackson, 1814), containing an account of the use of olive 

 oil as a remedy for a form of plague which depopulated West 

 Barbary in 1799- 1800. The oil was used to anoint the skin, 

 either before or after infection. Prof O'Reilly points out that 

 NO. 1457, VOL. 56] 



the ordinary olive oil of the Levant and of Spain is not the pure 

 clarified oil we know of in this country, but a green and gener- 

 ally more or less rancid oil produced in a coarse way from all 

 sorts of fruit, unsound as well as sound. 



The October number of Science Progress will contain articles 

 on "Some Physiological Aspects of Hypnotism," by Prof. F. 

 Gotch, F.R.S, ; on "Artificial Flight," by Prof G. H. Bryan, 

 F.R.S. ; on "Progress in the Study of Variation," by Mr. W. 

 Bateson, F.R.S. ; on " Blood and the Identification of Bacterial 

 Species," by Dr. Grunbaum ; on "The Fauna of the Great 

 African Lakes," by Mr. J. E. S. Moore. 



During the past summer full advantage has been taken of 



the facilities for research afforded by the Plymouth laboratory 



of the Marine Biological Association. Prof. Weldon has carried 



out an interesting experimental inquiry into the selective action 



of different conditions in the case of Carcinus manas. Mr. 



S. D. Scott has studied the physiology of excretion in certain 



Ascidians, Dr. Lubbock the anatomy of various fishes. Dr. G. 



Duncker, of Kiel, is at work upon the racial characteristics and 



variation of Pleuronectids and other fishes ; Mr. Taylor, upon 



Polyzoa ; Messrs. E. T. Brown and Jenkinson, of University 



College, London, upon Medusre and larval Crustacea re- 



i spectively ; Messrs. Bedford and Lanchester, of King's College, 



Cambridge, upon the development of Myriothela and general 



marine zoology. Mr. W. I. Beaumont has been studying more 



J especially the Nudibranchiate Mollusca and Nemertinea, and 



some rare captures have rewarded his exertions, notably several 



j specimens of Hancockia and large Lomanotus. Mr. Brebner, 



of University College, Bristol, and Mr. A. H. Church, of 



Oxford, have devoted much attention to the collection and 



study of marine algaj. In spite of the inclemency of the weather 



during August, the steamboat Busy Bee has been in constant 



requisition throughout the summer. Under Mr. Holt's charge 



a prolonged visit was paid in July to Falmouth, where Mr. 



Rupert Vallentin and Mr. J. T. Cunningham assisted the staff, 



and much valuable material was accumulated. The rare 



dragonet Callionymus maculatiis and the interesting Anthozoan 



Gonactinia prolifera were obtained during this cruise. Trawling 



expeditions under Mr. Holt have also been made to Exmouth and 



Dartmouth, in addition to the routine work in the neighbourhood 



of Plymouth. Mr. Garstang has returned from Toronto, and has 



resumed his investigation of the racial characters and variation 



of the mackerel, for which purpose a large number of fish has 



been received from H.M. Inspectors of Irish Fisheries. In 



connection with the food-supply and migrations of pelagic 



fishes, Mr. Garstang is also investigating the seasonal changes 



and distribution of the plankton, and has brought back with him 



two series of collections of the surface plankton of the North 



Atlantic, obtained during his recent voyages from Liverpool to 



Quebec viA the North of Ireland, and from Philadelphia to 



Queenstown along the edge of the Gulf Stream. Interesting 



results are expected from the comparison of these collections of 



"pump-plankton." The Marine Biological Association's exhibit, 



which proved so attractive a feature of the recent fisheries 



exhibition at the Imperial Institute, has been returned to the 



laboratory, and has been temporarily set up again in the students' 



lecture-room. 



Prof. R. C. Carpenter, professor of engineering science in 

 Cornell University, has (says Engineering) been conducting an 

 elaborate set of experiments on bicycle friction which have led 

 him to the conclusion that no form of gearing can possibly equal 

 the best chain for efficiency and durability. With such the 

 frictional loss has been found to be between \ and \ per cent, of 

 the total power transmitted, this result being obtained with a 

 chain which had previously been ridden more than 2000 "miles 

 with a rider weighing about 14 stone. With some other 



