27« 



NA TURE 



[January 21, 1892 



minster. The chair will be tal<en at half-past seven p.m. on 

 each evening. The President, Mr. Joseph Tomlinson, will 

 retire, and will be succeeded by the President-elect, Dr. 

 William Anderson. The following papers will be read and 

 discussed, as far as time permits ; — Notes on mechanical 

 features of the Liverpool water-works, and on the supply 

 of power by pressure from the public mains, and by other 

 means, by Mr. Joseph Parry, water engineer, Liverpool 

 (Thursday). On the disposal and utilization of blast-furnace 

 slag, by Mr. William Hawdon, of Middlesborough ; com- 

 municated through Mr. Charles Cochrane, past-President 

 (Friday). 



The German Mathematical Association (Deutsche Mathe- 

 matiker-Vereinigung) propose to hold their annual meeting in 

 the autumn of this year at Nuremberg, and at the same time an 

 Exhibition of Mathematical and Physical Models and Apparatus 

 is to be brought together under the auspices of the Govern- 

 ment. This Exhibition will resemble that of the Loan Collec- 

 tion, held at the South Kensington Museum in 1876. At 

 Nuremberg the corresponding Germanisches Museum is avail- 

 able for the same purpose. The German Mathematical Asso- 

 ciation request the concurrence and assistance of those persons 

 and institutes interested in the subject in this country, so as to 

 make the Exhibition as complete and representative as possible. 



The American Institute of Electrical Engineers has passed 

 a resolution declaring its intention to co-operate with "the 

 World's Congress Auxiliary " in the effort to secure the gather- 

 ing of an International Electrical Congress at Chicago in 1893, 

 and pledging itself to do everything in its power to make the 

 Congress a successful and worthy representation of the best 

 electrical science and practice in all parts of the world. Accord- 

 ing to a prospectus issued by the World's Congress Auxiliary, 

 the Congress will deal with "scientific and technical electricity, 

 telegraphy, telephony, electric light, electric power, and other 

 forms of electrical application, with appropriate chapters and 

 sections for the proper consideration of each." 



The friends of Prof. Baird, the late Secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, will regret to hear that his widow, Mrs. 

 Spencer F. Baird, died at her home in Washington on Decembe^" 

 23, 1891. 



M. DE QuATREFAGES, the well-known anthropologist, died 

 on Tuesday, January 12. He was born in 1810, and studied 

 medicine at Strasburg. Afterwards he became Professor of 

 Zoology at Toulouse, where he had settled as a medical practi- 

 tioner. In 1855 he was made Professor of Anthropology and 

 Ethnology at the Jardin des Plantes, Paris. He had already 

 been admitted to the Academy of Sciences in 1852, and he 

 was an honorary member of many foreign learned Societies. 

 Numerous friends and pupils were present at his funeral, and 

 addresses were delivered by M. Milne-Edwards, and other men 

 of science. The most famous of his writings are his " Crania 

 Ethnica" and. " Etudes des Races Humaines." 



Mr. W. L. Sclater, Deputy-Superintendent of the Indian 

 Museum, Calcutta, has been appointed Curator of the Museum 

 and Lecturer on Biology at Eton College. 



In a letter on " A Difficulty in Weismannism," published in 

 Nature on December 3, 1891 (p. 103), Prof. Hartog quoted 

 some passages from a private letter he had received from Prof. 

 Weismann. To this letter reference was made in a subsequent 

 communication by Mr. A. H. Trow (p. 175). Prof. Hartog 

 has sent us Prof. Weismann's letter, but we do not consider it 

 necessary to print it, as the correspondence is now closed. 



An important and interesting paper on Chinese fibres appears 

 in the new number of the A',£T£/i9?<//i?/i«. It seems that at Chinese 

 ports there is much confusion as to the origin and classification of 

 NO. II 60, VOL. 45] 



these fibres, different fibres sometimes bearing the same name, 

 while the same product often bears different names at different 

 ports. This confusion is apparently due in part to the fact that 

 European traders have used the terms "jute " and " hemp " in 

 a generic rather than a specific sense ; in part to the fact that the 

 duty on "jute" is only " 2 mace per picul," whereas " hemps " 

 pay 3^ mace. The subject has lately been carefully investigated 

 at Kew, and further inquiry is about to be made at the Chinese 

 ports under the direction of Sir Robert Hart, Inspector-General 

 of the Chinese Imperial maritime Customs. At Kew much 

 help has been derived from specimens sent by the Acting Consul 

 at Chefoo, Mr. Alexander Hosie, a report by whom is included 

 in the paper in the Bulletin. A memorandum on the jute and 

 hemp of China, by Dr. Augustine Henry, is also given. The 

 question is one of considerable practical importance, as the con- 

 fusion which prevails cannot but tend to hinder the development 

 of trade. 



Another interesting paper in the Kew Bulletin is on Ipoh 

 poison of the Malay peninsula. It consists chiefly of a valuable 

 report by Mr. Leonard Wray, Junior, Curator of the Perak 

 Government Museum, who has sent to Kew an admirable series 

 of specimens. The report is printed in advance of the re- 

 sults of the examination of the presumed poisonous fluids, 

 which has again been undertaken by Dr. Sidney Ringer, 

 F.R. S., Professor of Clinical Medicine, University College, 

 London. 



Dr. Brown Lester, who accompanied the Gambia Delimita- 

 tion Commission, made a botanical collection fairly representa- 

 tive of the flora in the neighbourhood of the River Gambia, as 

 far as the dryness of the season would permit. The specimens 

 have been determined at Kew ; and a list of the determinations, 

 with Dr. Brown Lester's brief notes, is given in the Kezv Bulletin. 

 From a botanical point of view, the collection, according to the 

 Bulletin, is not of very great interest ; but it is said to afford a 

 useful picture of the character and productions of the country 

 traversed. 



In an appendix to the latest number of the Keiv Bulletin, a 

 list is given of the staffs of the Royal Gardens, Kew, and of 

 botanical departments and establishments at home, in India, 

 and in the colonies, in correspondence with Kew. On two 

 former occasions a list of the same kind has been issued in the 

 Kew Bulletin ; and it has been found of considerable value, as it 

 affords a convenient means for placing on record the official 

 titles and designations of the officers concerned, and renders 

 possible the notification of the changes that take place in the 

 several appointments. The new list includes an enumeration of 

 the officers that have been selected to carry out the recently- 

 organized botanical survey of India, with the districts allotted 

 to each one. There is also a fuller list of officers in charge of 

 gardens in Native States. The organization of the botanical 

 department of the Leeward Islands brings into one group the 

 several botanical stations existing in those islands. 



MM. Laborde and Rondeau have given, in the Revue 

 Mensuelle d'Anthropologie, an account of recent experiments on 

 the poison of the arrows of the Sarro savages, in ihe Upper 

 Niger valley. Specimens were brought back by Lieutenant Jaime. 

 From the physiological experiments performed, it would seem 

 that the poison is identical with that of Strophanthus. 



Senor F. p. Moreno, who has been investigating some ancient 

 graves in the Argentine Province, Catamarca, has found various 

 objects which are likely to be of considerable importance in the 

 study of American archaeology. He has secured 86 human skulls, 

 400 vases, 420 stone implements, 15 copper implements, and no 

 objects made of bone. The skulls are of two different types, 

 one set resembling those found in the graves at Ancon, Peru, 



