February i8, 1892] 



NATURE 



377 



rule he was everywhere well received. To him we are 

 indebted for much of our information on the Monbuttus 

 and their country, the A-Sandeh and the various other 

 tribes that inhabit the wide region watered by the Western 

 Nile tributaries and some of the northern feeders of the 

 Congo. Indeed, much of Junker's work lay in that ex- 

 tremely interesting country which forms the water-parting 

 between the basin of the Nile and the Congo, and his 

 hydrographical observations form some of the most im- 

 portant results of his many years' travels. To him may 

 be said to be due the first steps in the solution of what 

 was long known as the Welle problem. The Welld, 

 which Schweinfurth came upon near its sources, was, 

 even up to 1886, conjectured by many to be the upper 

 course of the Shard, which runs into Lake Chad. Junker 

 struck the river at various places, one as far west as 

 22' 40' E. ; but it was not until Grenfell and Van G^le 

 followed the Mobangi up from the Congo that the Well^ 

 was proved to be one of the chief northern feeders of the 

 Congo. But this is only one of many services rendered 

 by Junker to the scientific geography of Africa. His in- 

 vestigations into the ethnology of the whole of this in- 

 tensely interesting region are of the first importance, and 

 his collections both in ethnology and in natural history 

 now form some of the most prominent exhibits in the 

 great Museum of St. Petersburg. Junker was an admir- 

 able specimen of the scientific explorer, and his twelve 

 years' researches in the Soudan entitle him to be classed 

 with Schweinfurth and Nachtigal, Wallace and Bates. 

 Junker was in the heart of the Soudan when the Mahdist 

 revolt reached a crisis. He had the greatest difficulty in 

 escaping, and it was only after long detention that he 

 reached Europe via Lake Victoria, Zanzibar, and Egypt. 

 He made many friends in London when he came here to 

 receive the gold medal of the Royal Geographical Society, 

 which he well deserved. 



NOTES. 



Mrs. Adams wishes us to say that she would be very grateful 

 if former friends and scientific correspondents of the late Prof. 

 J. C. Adams would be so kind as to send to her care any of his 

 letters still in their possession. Their doing so would much assist 

 in the preparation of a memoir. All letters so intrusted will be 

 carefully returned. 



The Electrical Committee of the Royal Commission for the 

 Chicago Exhibition are anxious that the electrical department of 

 the Exhibition should contain a good representation from this 

 country. They have accordingly issued a circular letter on the 

 subject, and it may be hoped that this will receive the careful 

 attention of all who are in a position to facilitate the Com- 

 mittee's arrangements. The Committee especially desire that 

 the Exhibition may display the very large share which English 

 electricians have had in the development of electrical science 

 and its practical applications. It is hoped that the fine collection 

 of historical apparatus in the possession of the Post Office may 

 be shown, and this will be supplemented by contributions which 

 will be sought from many other sources. Although practical 

 electric lighting has made greater progress in America than in 

 this country, the Committee think there is much that England 

 can show electricians on the other side of the Atlantic ; and 

 firms who devote special attention to the domestic uses of elec- 

 tricity and its artistic application are reminded that it may be to 

 their interest to send to the Exhibition good specimens of their 

 work. There will also be excellent opportunities for the 

 manufacturers of electric railway signals, and for electro- 

 metallurgists. 



On January i, no fewer than 2082 applications for space at 

 the Chicago Exhibition had been received from intending 

 exhibitors in the United States alone. The number at the 

 Philadelphia Centennial on the corresponding date was 864. 



NO. I 164, VOL. 45] 



Many applications have come from foreign countries, and it is 

 expected that the exhibitors will be more numerous than at any 

 previous "World's Fair." The allotment of space is to be 

 made about June. The reception of exhibits will begin on 

 November i next, and continue until April 10, 1893. 



We regret to have to record the death of Mr. H. W. Ba^es, 

 F.R.S. He was sixty-seven years of age. Of his well-known 

 book, " The Naturalist on the River Amazons," Darwin said 

 that it was "the best work of natural history travels ever 

 published in England." His "Contributions to an Insect 

 Fauna of the Amazons Valley," printed in the Transactions of 

 the Linnean Society, were described by the same high authority 

 as "one of the most remarkable and admirable papers he had 

 ever read in his life." Mr. Bates is widely known as the dis- 

 coverer of the principle of mimicry in the animal world. For 

 twenty-seven years he was the acting secretary of the Royal 

 Geographical Society. 



We have received an intimation of the death of Dr. Pieter 

 Willem Korthals, at the advanced age of eighty- four years. 

 He was for many years in the Dutch East Indian Service, and 

 published a considerable number of papers on the botany of 

 Sumatra, Borneo, and Java, the most noteworthy of which form 

 a folio volume entitled " Verhandelingen over de Natuurlijke 

 Geschiedenis der Nederlandsche overzeesche Bezittingen," 

 edited by C. J. Temminck, 1839-42. This work contains 

 seventy coloured plates of excellent execution. Dr. Korthals's 

 first botanical paper appeared in 1830, and dealt with the genus 

 Nepenthes ; and his last, so far as we are aware, appeared in 

 1854. He was a Knight of the Dutch Order of the Lion. 



The Council of the Royal Society of Edinburgh have 

 awarded the Keith Prize for 1889-91 to Mr. R. T. Omond, 

 for his contributions to meteorological science; and the Mak- 

 dougall-Brisbane Prize for 1888-90 to Dr. Ludwig Becker, for 

 his paper on "The Solar Spectrum at Medium and Low Alti- 

 tudes." 



The Grand Gold Medal of the Paris Geographical Society has 

 been awarded to M. Reclus. A gold medal has also been 

 I awarded to the Prince of Monaco for his researches on marine 

 currents. 



Sir John Coode, Past- President of the Institution of Civil 

 Engineers, was last Friday elected by the Committee of the 

 Athenaeum Club a member, under Rule IL, which provides for 

 the annual introduction of a certain number of persons of dis- 

 tinguished eminence in science, literature, or the arts, or for 

 public services. 



The third Congress on anthropology in relation to crime 

 will be held at Brussels from August 23 to September 3 next. 



On Monday Lord Cowper called attention in the House of 

 Lords to the subject of technical instruction, and to " the diffi- 

 culties in which County Councils were placed by not knowing 

 whether or not they could rely upon a permanent annual Govern- 

 ment grant for its promotion. " Lord Cranbrook, in the course 

 of his reply, said he did not believe any Government would 

 repeal the Act in accordance with which the Councils had 

 received the money which was being devoted to technical 

 education. So far as the present Government were concerned, 

 they had not the smallest intention of repealing the Act or of 

 taking the money for any other purpose. 



At a Conference on technical education, held in Edinburgh 

 on October 29, 1891, a general committee was appointed to 

 consider the subject. This general committee in turn appointed 

 a sub-committee to report on the amendments necessary in the 

 laws relating to technical education in Scotland. The report of 

 the sub-committee has now been issued ; and appended to it is 

 an official statement to the effect that the general committee. 



