November 



892] 



NATURE 



'Si 



An international ethnographical exhibition is to be held next 

 year in St. Petersburg. It will be organized by the Russian 

 Geographical Society. 



The American Microscopical Society offers prizes for the en- 

 couragement of microscopical research, two of the value of 50 

 dollars each, and two of the value of 25 dollars each, for the best 

 papers which shall give the results of an original investigation 

 made with the microscope, and relating to animal and plant life 

 respectively; also two of the value of 30 and 15 dollars respec- 

 tively for the best six photomicrographs in some subject of 

 animal or vegetable histology ; and two of the same value for 

 the best collections of six mounted slides illustrating some one 

 biological subject. 



In a letter to the Times on scientific titles and their abuse 

 Prof. Tilden has opened a subject of considerable interest to 

 men of science. It is well known that the letters indicating 

 membership of a society are sometimes used by persons who 

 have no right to use them, and Prof. Tilden notes that an effort 

 is to be made to deal with this evil by getting a Bill before 

 Parliament "for the purpose of securing to the respective 

 societies the copyright of these letters." This, however, is a 

 comparatively unimportant aspect of the question. The real 

 difficulty is that membership of scientific societies is frequently 

 "represented in courts of law or by candidates for public 

 appointments as evidence of professional trustworthiness," 

 whereas in very many cases it does not at all necessarily imply 

 any extensive or accurate knowledge of the subjects in which 

 the societies are especially interested. " Fellowship of the 

 Royal Society, indicated by the letters F. R. S.," says Prof. 

 Tilden, " is a real distinction which is justly prized. But what 

 is the public to understand regarding such alliterations as 

 F.B.S., F.C.S., F.E.S., F.G.S., F.L.S., F.S.S., F.Z.S.,and 

 ofF.S.A.,M.R.I.,F.R.A.S.,F.R.M.S.,F.R.G.S.,F.R.S.E., 

 •&C. ? With the exception of one or two of the societies repre- 

 sented here, admission is to be gained by almost any one who is 

 willing to pay the customary contribution to the funds of the 

 society, and who can get two or more members of the society to 

 testify to his fitness for admission, which generally means re- 

 spectability and a profession of interest in the subject, the cul- 

 tivation of which is the object of the society." He adds that 

 if the public knew all about the societies no harm would arise ; 

 but "judges and barristers, and county councillors and town 

 councillors cannot be expected to have this knowledge." Prof. 

 Tilden thinks that " the only chance for a better state of things 

 is for every member of these societies who respects himself to 

 abandon the use of these unmeaning letters altogether" ; but 

 he fears that there is very little prospect of such a general reform 

 while "an Institute having for its president no less a person 

 than the Heir Apparent to the throne condescends to bait its 

 advertisements for subscribers with the offer of more letters. The 

 Times, discussing the subject in a leading article, expresses the 

 opinion that in the main "we must trust, imperfect though the 

 security is, to the ability of grown-up men and women to pro- 

 tect themselves against a form of deception which has most hold 

 over those who themselves covet the meaningless letters to 

 which they blindly pin their faith." 



The weather during the past week has been characterized by 

 a marked increase of temperature and excessive rainfall, accom- 

 panied by strong southerly winds and gales. Between Wednes- 

 day the 26th and Friday the 28th October, the temperature in 

 parts of England increased upwards of 30^ while the air became 

 very humid and unpleasant. The continuance of comparatively 

 high temperature, during which the thermometer reached 60" in 

 the central and southern parts of the kingdom, was due to the 

 track of the depressions, causing a continual indraught of warm 

 air from off the Atlantic. On Thursday the 27th ult,, about if 

 NO. 1 201, VOL. 47] 



inch of rain was measured in the West of Ireland, and heavy 

 falls occurred on the following days in the Midland counties. A 

 further downpour, amounting to I J inch in the Channel 

 Islands, and to 1 "3 inch in London, occurred on Sunday night, 

 and the amount which has fallen on the east coast of Norfolk 

 during the month of October is about equal to three times the 

 average. During the first part of the present week, the dis- 

 turbance which caused the heavy rainfall passed away, and a 

 small area of high pressure temporarily advanced over the 

 United Kingdom from the Atlantic, while the temperature fell 

 several degrees, with mist or fog in places ; but conditions were 

 very unsettled, and a change of wind to the south-eastward in 

 Ireland gave indications of probable further disturbances. 

 During the week ended the 29th ultimo, the amount of bright 

 sunshine exceeded the mean in nearly all districts. 



The Meteorological Council have recently issued asunjmary of 

 the Weekly Weather Reporiiot the quarter ending September 1892. 

 which shows the rainfall and mean temperature in each district for 

 each similar quarter for the twenty-seven years 1866-92, grouped 

 in five yearly averages, and also the means for individual years 

 from 1881. The average rainfall of the quarter for the whole 

 of the British Islands was io'2 inches, or only 07 inch in excess 

 of the mean for the whole period. This result is almost entirely 

 due to an excess in the grazing or western districts, amounting 

 to 1*5 inch, while in the wheat-producing or eastern districts 

 the fall for the quarter is slightly below he mean. The tempera- 

 ture for the quarter has been below the mean generally; for 

 the whole of the country the deficiency amounted to i°'8, and 

 was i'7 in the grazing districts and I'-g in the wheat-producing 

 districts. Similar returns show that the excess of rainfall 

 amounted to i'5 inch in the >ame quarter of 1891, prior to 

 which there had been a series of seven dry quarters, while the 

 temperature has been uniformly below the mean for six corre- 

 sponding quarters. The coldest quarter was in 1888, when the 

 deficiency amounted to 2°-5, this being, in fact, the coldest cor- 

 responding quarter during the last twenty-seven years. 



The late Mr. George Grrote, the historian of Greece, ex- 

 pressed in writing, eight years before his death, a desire that 

 after his decease his cranium should be opened and his brain 

 weighed and examined. The task was undertaken by the late 

 Prof. John Marshall, and the results of his observations are set 

 forth in a full report printed in the current number of the Journal 

 of Anatomy and Physiology. The entire encephalon was some- 

 what above the average in size, if compared with the adult male 

 brain at all ages. If allowance be made for the effects of senile 

 wasting, it must be regarded as a rather large brain, but not as 

 an actually or especially large one. There can be no doubt, 

 however, that it was, at death, further diminished in size and 

 weight through the effects of disease, as shown by its marked 

 deviation from the ordinary ratio as cbmpared with the body- 

 weight. As tested by the standard of macrocephaly adopted 

 by Welcker, its utmost allowable weight was below that 

 standard ; and as contrasted with the encephala of certain other 

 eminent men, it would find its place about one-third up from 

 the lower end of the list. The general form of the cranium was 

 rather or nearly brachycephalic, but it was decidedly higher 

 than usual. The cerebrum itself was, in accordance with the 

 shape of the cranium, short, broad, and deep. The cerebral 

 convolutions were very massive, being not only broad and deep, 

 but well folded, and marked with secondary sulci. This con- 

 dition was observable all over the cerebrum, but chiefly re- 

 markable in the frontal and parietal regions. Studied in refer- 

 ence to Dr. Ferrier's researches into the localization of function 

 in the brain, the relative size of certain convolutions or groups 

 of convolutions suggested some reflections as to individual 

 peculiarities, but these reflections did not seem to Prof. Marshall 



