l82 



NATURE 



[December 22, 1892 



collection; his " Odontography " ; his Lectures on Com- 

 parative Anatomy and Physiology ; his " Archetype and 

 Homologies of the Vertebrate Skeleton " ; his memoirs on 

 " The Nature of Limbs" and on " Parthenogenesis"; his 

 monograph of British fossil reptiles ; and his papers on 

 the fossil birds of New Zealand, and on some fossil 

 mammals of Australia. In 1856 he was appointed 

 Superintendent of the Department of Natural History in 

 the British Museum. How splendidly he fulfilled the 

 duties of this position all the world knows. He fought 

 steadily and earnestly to obtain proper accommodation 

 for the magnificent collection placed under his charge, 

 and to him, more than to any one, Great Britain owes 

 the fact that this particular set of her scientific treasures 

 is now so securely preserved and so finely displayed. 

 The practical duties of his office were not allowed to in- 

 terrupt his scientific researches, and year after year he 

 continued to give fresh evidence of the astonishing range 

 of his knowledge and of his remarkable capacity for far- 

 reaching and brilliant generalization. Among the 

 writings of this period are his Manual of Palaeontology, 

 and his memoirs on the classification and geographical 

 distribution of mammals, on the British fossil reptiles of 

 the Liassic formations, ichthyosaurs and plesiosaurs, on 

 the British fossil cetacea of the Red Rag, on the British 

 fossil reptiles of the Mesozoic formations, pterodactyls, 

 and on the fossil reptiles of South Africa. 



In 1883 he resigned his official position, but he did not 

 cease to interest himself in the studies in the prosecution 

 of which he had displayed so commanding a genius. In 

 1884 he issued in three volumes his great " History of 

 British Fossil Reptiles," and until a comparatively recent 

 date he submitted to the Royal Society from time to time 

 papers embodying the more important results of his 

 labours. 



In the course of his long career Owen did much good 

 service as a member of various Commissions, and it is 

 scarcely necessary to say that honours of many different 

 kinds were conferred upon him. About these matters we 

 have given all necessary information in our previous 

 article. Owen was very far from being content merely 

 with the collection and classification of facts ; he sought 

 also to bring out the ideas in which his facts seemed to 

 him to find their ultimate .significance. He was unable 

 to adopt the theory of evolution as presented by Darwin, 

 but his researches did much to prepare the way for the 

 general and rapid acceptance of Darwin's hypothesis, 

 since it was felt that there must be some strictly scientific 

 explanation of the affinities by which he had shown vast 

 groups of animal forms to be allied to one another. Apart 

 altogether from its speculative aspects, his work is uni- 

 versally acknowledged to be of high and enduring value, 

 and there can be no doubt that he will rank among the 

 strongest and most impressive figures in the intellectual 

 history of the nineteenth century. 



He desired that his body should be buried beside that 

 of his wife in Ham Churchyard, and his wish is, of course, 

 to be complied with. At the funeral, which will take 

 place to-morrow (Friday), there will be representatives of 

 all the learned societies with which he was connected. 



NOTES. 

 The following memorial, numerously signed, has been pre- 

 sented by Sir Henry Roscoe to the Right Hon. the Earl Cowper, 

 Chairman of the Royal Commission on the Gresham Univer- 

 sity : — The undersigned desire hereby respectfully to record 

 their strong opinion that the foundation of a Teaching Univer- 

 sity for London, without due provision being made for higher 

 Education and original Research, would be unworthy of the 

 Metropolis, and would entail the neglect of an admirable op- 

 portunity for promoting the advancement of Science and 

 NO. 1208, VOL. 47] 



Learning. The signatures cannot fail to command attention. 

 The following learned Societies are represented by their Presi- 

 dents :— The Royal Society, the British Association for the 

 Advancement of Science, the Royal Dublin Society, the Royal 

 Society of Edinburgh, the Iron and Steel Institute, the Physical 

 Society, the Institution of Electrical Engineers, the Institute of 

 Mechanical Engineers, the Chemical Society, the Royal Horti- 

 cultural Society, the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain,. 

 and the Institute of Chemistry of Great Britain and Ireland. 

 Eton College, Harrow School, Rugby School, and St. Paul's 

 School are represented by their head-masters. There are also 

 representatives of the University of Oxford, Cambridge, Edin- 

 burgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, and St. Andrews, the Victoria 

 University, the British (Natural History) Museum, the Royal 

 College of Science, London, University College, London, 

 Mason College, Birmingham, Durham College of Science, Firth 

 College, Sheflield, University College, Dundee, University 

 College, Bristol, City and Guilds of London Central Institution 

 the Royal College of Science, Dublin, and the Pharmaceutical 

 Society of Great Britain. A special group of signatures con- 

 sists of the names of a number of Fellows of the Royal Society. 



Sir Joseph Lister, Sir Henry Roscoe, and Prof. Ray 

 Lankester, will represent the Royal Society at the Pasteur cele- 

 bration in Paris on the 27th inst. ' Captain Abney has beerv 

 invited to represent the Society at the 150th anniversary of the 

 American Philosophical Society in May 1893. 



We are glad to see that a movement has been started for the 

 purpose of securing that due honour shall be done to the memory 

 of Jean Servais Stas, one of the most illustrious of modern 

 chemists. It is proposed that a new edition of his writings shall 

 be issued, his memoirs, notes, and reports being grouped in their 

 proper order, and that a commemorative monument shall also 

 be erected. An influential committee, representing science in 

 all parts of the world, has been a ppointed to take the necessary 

 steps. Subscriptions will be received by M. L. Errera, i, Place 

 Stephanie, Brussels. 



The Committee of the International Electrical Exhibition 

 to be held at Milan in 1894 proposes, according to La Lumicre 

 Electrique, to offer a prize for the most important invention or 

 discovery in the province of electricity, especially in connection 

 with the transmission of energy to a great distance, and its dis- 

 tribution and transformation for industrial uses 



Successful experiments have been made in France relative 

 to the introduction of telephones for use in warfare. The tele- 

 phonists are organized in sets of two men, each set being pro- 

 vided with equipment for a mile line. The very simple 

 receiving and transmitting apparatus are attached to the military 

 cap, and the wire is on reels in a sort of breast-plate, the whole 

 being so light that a man's ordinary equipment weighs less than 

 six pounds. 



The tunnel at Niagara Falls is finished, and the power plant 

 will be in operation by next March. It is expected that a cur- 

 rent of 45,000 electric horse-power will be transmitted from 

 there to Buffalo, and 30,000 to other points. 



M. Maurice Mallet, in L'Aeronaiite, describes what he 

 claims to be the longest balloon ascent on record. His 

 balloon, "Les Inventions Nouvelles," started from the gasworks 

 of La Villette, Paris, on October 23, and the voyage terminated 

 at Walhen, in Central Germany, at 6 a.m. on the 25th, after a 

 total journey of 36 hours 10 minutes above ground. The flight 

 was interrupted several times by the snow which fell in the higher 

 regions of the atmosphere. When lower strata were reached, 



Ithe snow melted, and the balloon regained its ascending power. 

 During one of these descents it was stopped and examined by 



