io6 



NATURE 



[December i, 1892 



"closely lined from top to bottom with lepers, suffering 

 from that loathsome disease in its worst forms and most 

 advanced stages." A number of the victims examined 

 by Mr. Boyle "presented a most sickening and awful 

 spectacle." Yet no provision worthy of the name appears 

 to be made for the maintenance or treatment of these poor 

 lepers, who are thus compelled to resort to begging to 

 keep themselves in existence. At Mandalay Mr. Boyle 

 came in contact with horrors of a similar nature. During 

 times of high festival the entrances of the great Arakan 

 pagoda in that city are crowded by hundreds of lepers, 

 so that the visitor has to pick his way carefully among 

 them. In the Sandwich Islands also Mr. Boyle was 

 strongly impressed by the terrible effects of the curse of 

 leprosy, which, he says, has nearly decimated the native 

 population. 



He has a curious theory to the effect that the propaga- 

 tion of leprosy has been to a large extent connected 

 with cannibalism, the disease " being spread wholesale 

 through the eating of infected bodies." He has frequently 

 seen in New Caledonia and the South Sea Islands human 

 bodies " hanging up in the natives' huts, intended for 

 future repasts, though then in an advanced stage of de- 

 composition and exhaling a sickening odour." 



The little bonk is by no means occupied only with 

 these terrible subjects. Reference is made to many inter- 

 esting things which came under Mr. Boyle's observation 

 in the course of his journey. We may especially note 

 the impression produced upon him by Buddhist temples 

 and various classes of objects associated with Buddhism 

 in Burmah. Pagan, an ancient capital of Burmah, situ- 

 ated on the Irrawaddy between Mandalay and Rangoon, 

 contains an enormous number of Buddhist temples of 

 various sizes and styles of architecture, and the city, as 

 seen from the river, is described by Mr. Boyle as " one 

 of the grandest and most impressive sights he has ever 

 seen." Lower down the Irrawaddy below Prome there 

 is a cliff" about two miles long and 300 feet high, on the 

 face of which are carved innumerable figures of Buddha 

 ranged in tiers from the bottom to the top. He thinks 

 that some of these figures cannot be less than twenty feet 

 high. Many of them are richly gilded, and the whole 

 forms " a very brilliant and curious sight." We reproduce 

 an illustration showing the great recumbent figure of 

 Buddha, in the province of Pegu, of which Mr. Boyle re- 

 ports that " it is said to measure about 270 feet in length 

 by 70 feet at the shoulder." In a paper read lately before 

 the Anthropological Institute (see Nature, November 

 10, p. 46) Major R. C. Temple gives the length 

 as 181 feet and the height at the shoulder as 

 46 feet. This remarkable monument is built of brick, 

 and Major Temple speaks of it as " well proportioned 

 throughout." It is supposed to have been produced in 

 the fifteenth century. It was hidden from view by jungle 

 until 1 88 1, when it was accidentally discovered by a 

 railway contractor. 



GAUSS AND WEBER. 



T N bringing before our readers the contents of a 

 ■■■ circular we have received with respect to the erection 

 of a monument, in Gottingen, to the two world- renowned 

 scientific workers and friends, Charles Frederick Gauss 

 and William Weber, we do so, knowing that every scien- 

 tific man, whether he be astronomer, mathematician, 

 or physicist, will be only too glad to have a chance of 

 paying some tribute, however slight, to their memory. 



Only about a year has gone by since the younger of the 

 two, William Weber, passed away, having brought glory 

 to the University of Gottingen, which was radiated 

 throughout the whole scientific world. The work which 

 both have done in the service of science cannot be said 

 ;to be the property of their followers alone, but is a 



NO. 1205, VOL. 47] 



precious heirloom of mankind, which has proved, and 

 will continue to prove in the future, valuable in many 

 ways in the service of technics, in methods of communi- 

 cation, and in civilization generally. 



Gauss, who is almost unequalled among the scholars 

 of the century, has not only left imposing landmarks of 

 his great mind in all domains of pure mathematics, but he 

 has also by his work furthered all departments of its appli- 

 cations in astronomy and physics, while his investigations 

 have become standard for the theoretical as well as for 

 the observational side. 



What Gauss did lor magnetism, Weber, whom Gauss 

 had chosen for his fellow-worker, attracted by his 

 useful work on acoustics, did for the strength of galvanic 

 currents, for their impelling electromotive forces, and for 

 their resistances. 



Further, in teaching how to measure these quantities 

 in absolute units, he has furnished extremely important 

 methods for their investigation. In this way not only 

 has the science itself been furthered, but a firm basis for 

 the development of electro-technics has been formed, the 

 soundness of which is proved b) its general adoption and 

 which has contributed greatly to the tremendous advance 

 witnessed during the last ten years. The pamphlet then 

 goes on to say : " It is not the purpose of these lines to 

 enlarge on the eminent works which we owe to the 

 co-operation of these great investigators ; we can only 

 call to mind the fertile researches on the laws of the 

 earth's magnetism, from which as it were a new branch 

 of physics has developed ; further, the attempts to 

 encompass the phenomena of electrostatics, electro- 

 dynamics, and induction by one single law, attempts 

 which, however a future generation may judge of them, 

 will mark an important epoch in scientific develop- 

 ment ; and further, we may recall the most popular result 

 of their co-operation, viz. the erection of the first 

 telegraph practically adopted for communication at a 

 distance." 



Since the year 1877 the birthplace of Gauss has 

 possessed a memorial of him, but Gottingen, the place 

 where he and Weber worked, and where the former died, 

 and which consequently became celebrated, possesses no 

 such memorial. That this should be remedied is the 

 object of this circular, and one has only to glance down 

 the list of names attached to it— about 275 altogether— 

 to see that it includes most of the learned men in Ger- 

 many, and those of many distinguished foreigners. 

 Among these we are glad to see the name of Lord 

 Kelvin, President of the Royal Society. 



The acting committee is composed of Prof. Klein, E. 

 V. Meier (Curator of the University), F. Merkel (Pro- 

 rector of the University), G. Merkel (Over-burgomaster), 

 Profs. E. Riecke, E. Schering, W. Schur, W. Voigt, H. 

 Weber, and S. Benfey (banker), and it is to the last 

 mentioned that subscriptions should be addressed (S. 

 Benfey, Bankgeschiift, Gottingen). The list will remain 

 open until April i, 1893. 



THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ROYAL 

 SOCIETY. 



YESTERDAY being St. Andrew's Day the anniversary 

 meeting of the Royal Society was held in their 

 apartments at Burlington House. The auditors of the 

 Treasurer's accounts having read their report, and the 

 Secretary having read the list of Fellows elected and 

 deceased since the last anniversary, the President (Lord 

 Kelvin) proceeded to deliver the anniversary address. 

 The medals were then presented as follows : — The Copley 

 Medal to Prof Rudolf Virchow, For.Mem.R.S. (received 

 by the Foreign Secretary), for his investigations 

 in Pathology, Pathological Anatomy, and Prehis- 



