December 15, 1892] 



NATURE 



155 



1 



Royal Academy of Sciences of Berlin, have already been 

 referred to. Dr. von Siemens was a member of many 

 learned societies, and only in the spring of this year he 

 was elected one of the sixteen honorary members of the 

 Institution of Civil Engineers. The late Emperor Frede- 

 rick III. of Germany conferred upon him the patent of 

 nobility in 1888, and the present Emperor has expressed 

 his sympathy with his sorrowing widow and family. 



Dr. Siemens was unfortunately one of those attacked 

 during the influenza epidemic, and although he recovered 

 from it, it left him weak, and he has since been ailing 

 more than once. A work on which he has been spending 

 his spare moments was an autobiography, giving reminis- 

 cences of himself and of the firm of Siemens and 

 Halske. This was published in Berlin a fortnight ago. On 

 Tuesday, the 6th inst., Dr. Werner breathed his last at half- 

 past six in the evening, just within a week of completing 

 his seventy-sixth year. It may truly be said of him that, 

 although he has passed from us, his life's labours will 

 ever endure, having left an indelible mark on the world's 

 progress. 



The funeral took place on Saturday. The London, 

 Belfort, Vienna, and St. Petersburg factories of the firm 

 of which the deceased was a member, sent officials and 

 workmen ; the many thousands following the hearse, and 

 the respectful attitude of the bystanders in the streets 

 through which the funeral procession passed testifying to 

 the regard in which he was held. The Emperor William 

 was represented by Prince Leopold, the Empress Frede- 

 rick by Count Seckendorfif, and the German Empire by 

 Chancellor Caprivi. Science and art and industry, the 

 City of Berlin and the town of Charlottenburg were 

 represented by deputies and deputations, all combining 

 to do honour to one esteemed of all. E. F. B. 



NOTES. 



We are glad to announce that Sir Archibald Geikie has under- 

 taken to write the Life of Sir Andrew C. Ramsay, his prede- 

 cessor in the Geological Survey. Sir Andrew Ramsay spent 

 nearly the whole of his scientific career in the service, so that the 

 record of his life and the story of the progress of the Survey are 

 closely bound together. This is the third member of the staff 

 of the Survey whose memoirs Sir Archibald Geikie will have 

 written, the two others being Edward Forbes (whose Life he 

 wrote in conjunction with the late Prof. George Wilson) and Sir 

 Roderick Murchison. Sir Archibald joined the staff under 

 Ramsay, and grew into the closest relations of friendship with 

 him. 



We regret to have to record the death of Mr. H. T. Stainton, 

 F.R.S. He died on December 2 at the age of sevent)'. He 

 was indefatigable in his study of entomology, to which he made 

 many important contributions. His chief work is "Natural 

 History of the Tineina," in four languages, with many plates. 

 His "Manual of British Butterflies and Moths" is also well 

 known. Mr. Stainton was one of the founders of the 

 Entomologists' Monthly Magazine, and remained to the end of 

 his life one of its editors. He was for many years secretary of 

 the Ray Society and of the Zoological Record Association, and 

 one of the secretaries of Section D of the British Association. 

 From 1848 he was a Fellow of the Entomological Society, of 

 which he was at one time president ; and from 1859 he was a 

 Fellow of the Linnean Society, of which he was at one time 

 Ance-president. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society 

 in 1867. 



The Chemical Society held a special meeting on Tuesday, 

 the anniversary of the death of Stas. A paper, prepared for the 

 occasion by Prof. J. W. Mallet, F.R. S., on "Jean Servais 

 Stas, and the measurement of the relative masses of the atoms 

 of the chemical elements," was read and discussed. 

 NO. I 207. VOL. 47I 



The new Victoria buildings of University College, Liverpool, 

 which include the Jubilee Tower, were formally opened on 

 Tuesday. Lord Spencer, as Chancellor of the Victoria Univer- 

 sity, took part in the ceremony. At a banquet held in the 

 evening, Mr. Bryce announced that the Queen, out of certain 

 funds belonging to the Duchy of Lancaster, had been pleased 

 to bestow upon the two great Lancashire Colleges a sum of 

 ;^4000, to be applied in some permanent form, such as might 

 be agreed upon by the authorities of the Colleges, particularly 

 the principals, to commemorate the event of that day, and Her 

 Majesty's interest in the growth of the institution. 



On Monday, at Merchant Taylors' Hall, Dr. William 

 Anderson presented the prizes in connection with the City and 

 Guilds of London Institute for the Advancement of Technical 

 Education. Afterwards, addressing the students, Dr. Anderson 

 called attention to the extraordinary advantages enjoyed by students 

 of the present day in comparison with those within the reach of 

 students of the past generation. In nearly all towns men and 

 women were improving their knowledge in almost every branch 

 of art and science to which their necessities or their inclinations 

 led them. He had come to the conclusion that the aids given 

 nowadays to manufactures and commerce were absolutely indi- 

 spensable if England was to hold her own, and to overcome the 

 difficulties which high-priced labour, the restrictions of the 

 Legislature, and the interference of trade organizations imposed. 



Dr. T. Jeffrey Parker, F.R.S., of Dunedin, Otago, New 

 Zealand, who is now in this country, will read a paper on the 

 cranial osteology, classification, and phylogeny of the Moas 

 (Dinornithidre) at the Zoological Society's meeting on the 14th 

 of February. 



The committee appointed by the Board of Agriculture to 

 inquire into the plague of field voles in Scotland have declined 

 for the present to recommend the adoption of the plan lately 

 carried out in Thessaly by Prof. Loeffler, who claims to have 

 got rid of voles in that district by feeding them with prepared 

 bait containing the germs of mouse typhus. It is thought that 

 Prof. Loeffler may not have attached sufficient weight to other 

 causes which have doubtless operated to reduce the swarms of 

 voles in Thessaly, such as the heavy rains which on the low 

 ground would flood the holes and runs of the mice. The chair- 

 man of the committee. Sir Herbert Maxwell, and the secretary, 

 Mr. J. E. Harting, with the sanction of the Board of Agriculture 

 and of the Treasury, are about to proceed to Thessaly for the 

 purpose of taking evidence there and reporting. 



A new edition of M. Alphonse Bertillon's important book 

 on " Identification Anthropometrique " will be published in 

 January. The book has been entirely recast and considerably 

 enlarged. It is the result of ten years of observation, and has 

 been prepared, not merely for the anthropometric service 

 directed by the author, but for all who desire to have a proper 

 comprehension of man's physical qualities. In addition to the 

 copies intended for the use of the penal administration of the 

 French Ministry of the Interior, a small number of copies will 

 be reserved for persons who may desire to subscribe for them. 



On the evening of Thursday the 8th instant a deep baro- 

 metric depression advanced upon our north-west coasts, and 

 proceeded with considerable rapidity in a south-easterly direc- 

 tion, completely traversing Great Britain, as far as Dover, and 

 travelling throughout its course at the rate of about 36 miles an 

 hour. Its passage was accompanied by gales and by heavy rain 

 or sleet, with severe snowstorms on the east coast. This dis- 

 turbance passed away to the eastward, and was followed on 

 Saturday by a fresh depression which appeared in the north- 

 west, causing a strong gale in that district, and heavy squalls in. 

 most other parts. The changes of temperature were very 



