October 28, 1897] 



NA TURE 



617 



pool, to-morrow, by Mr. John Fell, chairman of the Lancashire 

 Sea-Fisheries Committee. 



Prof. F. Omori, of the Seismological Institute, Tokio, is 

 now in India, for the purpose of investigating the recent Cal- 

 cutta earthquake, and reporting on the same to the Japanese 

 (iovernment. 



The Departmental Committee recently appointed to consider 

 and report upon the desirability of establishing a National 

 Physical Laboratory, and the functions which such an institution 

 would perform, has just commenced its sittings. 



With the last issue of our contemporary The Electrician^ Mr. 

 Bond's nine and a half years' connection with that journal 

 ceased. Mr. W. G. Bond joined the editorial staff in April 

 1888, and was appointed editor in April 1895, upon the retire- : 

 iiient of Mr. Alex. P. Trotter. 



The United States Board of Geographical Nomenclature have 

 lately come to the following decisions about the orthography of 

 some names brought into prominence through the Klondike gold 

 discoveries : — Klondike will be spelt this way and not Clondyke, 

 or Klondyke, Lake Lebarge is adopted instead of Lake Labarge, I 

 Lake Lindeman instead of Lake Lindemann or Linderman, j 

 the Lewes river and not the Lewis river, and Taiya instead of ; 

 Dyea, to denote the inlet, river, and village at the head of the \ 

 Lynn Canal. \ 



We regret to receive confirmation of the report, already re- 

 ferred to, that Dr. J. Hann, Director of the Austrian Meteor- ! 

 ological Service, has resigned that arduous position, from | 

 considerations of health, and has been appointed by the 1 

 Minister of Instruction, &c., to the Professorship of Meteor- I 

 ology at the University of Graz. We have very frequently had 

 occasion to notice Dr. Hann's valuable labours in our columns, 

 and we may hope that now he is relieved from the onerous 

 routine duties of such a large organisation he may be able to 

 continue his studies for the benefit of meteorological science. 

 His place in Vienna will be worthily filled by Dr. J. M. 

 Pernter, late Professor of Meteorology at Innsbruck University, 

 and the author of several meteorological publications. 



The Paris correspondent of the Times states that the value of 

 the collections bequeathed by the late Due d'Aumale to the 

 Institute of France is officially reported to be 15,000,000 

 francs. Of this sum, 1,500,000 francs represents the additions 

 made by the Duke subsequent to his deed of gift. The library 

 alone, with its 28,000 volumes and 1400 manuscripts, is worth 

 5,000,000 francs. The receipts from lands, fisheries, timber, 

 lite, are estimated at 400,000 francs per annum, which will leave 

 a surplus of 40,000 francs over the outgoings. Annuities, more- 

 over, to the Credit-Foncier, now amounting to 86,000 francs, 

 will expire in 1934. The Institute will enter next spring into 

 possession of this princely bequest. 



The Duchess of Portland, president of the Society for the 

 Protection of Birds, has written a special letter of appeal for 

 increased funds to enable the Society to establish a small per- 

 manent office in London. More annual subscribers are wanted, 

 and as an inducement it is proposed to designate as Fellows all 

 who subscribe not less than one guinea per annum. 



A GREAT physiologist. Dr. Rudolf Heidenhain, professor of 

 physiology in the University of Breslau, has just passed away. 

 From a notice of his life and work in the British Medical 

 /ournal, we derive the following particulars of his career : — 

 Heidenhain was born in Marienwerder on January 29, 1834, 

 and was thus just over sixty-three years of age at his death. 

 He studied medicine at Berlin, Kijnigsberg, and Halle. In 



NO. 1 46 1, VOL. 56] 



Berlin he attended the lectures of Du Bois-Reymond, and in 

 Halle those of F. W. Volkmann. He graduated at Berlin in 

 1854, and in 1859 he was called to the chair of Physiology and 

 Histology in Breslau, a post which he held throughout his life. 

 The early fruits of his labours and that of his pupils in Breslau 

 appeared in his " Studien des physiologischen Institutes zu 

 Breslau," in four volumes, from 1861 to 1868. Before that time, 

 however, he had published his " Physiologische Studien" 

 (1856). The first volume of " Pfliiger's Archiv fiird. gesammte 

 Physiologie " appeared in 1868. In this " Archiv," from the 

 second volume' onwards, we have numerous papers from his 

 laboratory, by himself, by his pupils, and by his assistants, in- 

 cluding such diverse topics as the influence of the nervous 

 system on temperature, metabolism in muscle, arhythmical 

 activity of the heart, action of drugs on the nerves of the sub- 

 maxillary gland, for example, atropine, calabar bean, nicotin, 

 digitalin ; his histological observations on the structure of the 

 pancreas, wherein he showed the changes in gland cells that 

 accompany secretion ; the action of stimulation of sensory 

 nerves on blood pressure, both by himself and in conjunction 

 with his pupil Griitzner, now professor of physiologj' in Tubin- 

 gen ; spinal reflexes ; the innervation of blood vessels, a 

 continuation of Ostroumoffs work on the same subject. In 1883 

 appeared his essay, *' Physiologie der Absonderungsvorgange," 

 in vol. V. of Hermann's " Handbuch d. Physiologie." This is 

 still a standard essay on this subject, and it contains an account 

 of his researches on the salivary, pancreatic, gastric, and other 

 glands. The whole series extends to over four hundred pages. 

 His results are incorporated in every text-book on physiology. 

 These essays record a masterly array of work dealing both with 

 the physiological and the histological aspects of the question, 

 and there stands out the pre-eminent fact that in all glands 

 secretion is accompanied by characteristic structural changes. 

 In later years came his now well-known researches on lymph 

 formation, in which he attributed such great importance to the 

 activity of the capillary wall as secretory organs. From his 

 laboratory have appeared that long and important series of 

 studies on h;emodynamics, by his assistant, K. Hiirthle, while 

 from the chemical department under Prof. Rohmann has come 

 a whole series of important memoirs, many of them dealing 

 with ferment action, which at present is attracting so much 

 attention. Throughout the whole of Heidenhain's researches 

 we have exemplified the value of conjoint histological, chemical, 

 and more purely physiological work, the one serving to elucidate 

 the other. Heidenhain was an admirable example of an "all- 

 round " physiologist who did not work in a limited groove, but 

 had a wide and comprehensive grasp of his subject, and, directly 

 by his own work and indirectly by that of his pupils, added in- 

 numerable stones to the stately building of physiological science. 

 Many of the scientific societies commence the new session 

 next week. On November 2, a short address will be given at the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers by Sir J. Wolfe Barry, K.C.B., 

 F.R.S., and the medals and prizes awarded by the Council will 

 be presented.— A meeting of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers will be held on November 3 and 4. The chair will 

 be taken by the President, Mr. E. Windsor Richards, at 7.30 

 p.m. on each evening. The following papers will be read and 

 discussed, as far as time permits : Experiments upon propeller 

 ventilating fans, and upon the electric motor driving them, by 

 Mr. W. G. Walker ; diagram accounts for engineering work, 

 by Mr. John Jameson ; mechanical features of electric traction, 

 by Mr. Philip Dawson.— The Chemical Society meets on 

 November 4, when papers by Profs. Moissan and Dewar will be 

 read (see p. 596).— The Society of Chemical Industry will meet 

 on November i, and papers will be read on (i) the adulteration 

 of Portland cement, by Messrs. W. H. Stanger and Bertram 

 Blount ; (2) an improved adjustable drip proof Bunsen, by Dr. 



