"72 



NA TURE 



[July 20, 1893 



testified to the success of his training. Profs. Ludwig 

 (Bonn), Braun (Konigsberg), Spengel (Giessen), Kennel 

 (Dorpat), Kossmann (Heidelberg), Carriere (Strassburg), 

 and Fraisse (Leipsic), and the Privat-Docenten Ludwig 

 Will, Biehringer,Voigt,Schuberg, and others,stillrepresent 

 the old Wiirzburg Institute in more than half of the 

 Universities of Germany. Pupils came to him from all 

 parts of the world. Of his contemporaries only two, 

 Albert von Kolliker and Rudolf Leuckart, can claim a 

 longer array of scholars, and none have trained more 

 successful investigators. Among those who pride them- 

 selves on their studies in the quaint old rooms overlooking 

 the Neubaustrasse are R. S. Bergh, C. S. Minot, H. 

 Jungersen, Sharp, Strubell, Goronowitch, Grassi, and the 

 cousins Sarasin. From Great Britain came but two, the 

 late Philip Carpenter and the writer. 



The peculiarity of Semper's training consisted in this : 

 — The budding zoologist was first thoroughly grounded 

 in comparative anatomy and histology, and then only, 

 after a preliminary trial on some well-worked theme, 

 might he commence independent investigation. The 

 work once begun, the student received abundant criticism 

 but no help, and thus while Semper guided the worker, 

 he never performed the task himself. In this way the 

 memoirs of his pupils came to be not the work of a 

 school in which the master alone was in evidence, but a 

 series of papers dealing with widely divergent questions, 

 and having only this in common that they were built 

 on the same solid basis of elementary knowledge. 



Semper was above all the close friend of his pupils, 

 and with them he formed a small " Verein," in which he 

 took considerable pride. The evenings — which usually 

 became early mornmgs — spent in the little " Alt-deutsche 

 Stube " of the " Zoological Garden " down the Main will ' 

 not readily fade from recollection. Then it was that the 

 conversation — French, German, and English — more fre- 

 quently turned to zoological travel, and discussions on 

 current zoology gave place to little lectures on the Philip- 

 pines and Palau Islands, on Heligoland and the Riviera, 

 on tropical animals and plants. The educational im- 

 portance of travel to the young zoologist was an ever- 

 recurring topic with Semper. The advice usually had 

 good effect, for most of his pupils have at one time or 

 another made zoological journeys to distant parts of the 

 world — to Ceylon, to Trinidad, to Greenland, the Celebes, 

 and other places. 



One of Semper's ideals was a new laboratory with a 

 tropical house for animals. After long treaty with the 

 Government he was happy in obtaining the completion 

 of his wishes — the new Zoological Institute, a building 

 worthyof the architect-zoologist. Three short years ago we 

 who were his old pupils rejoiced with him on the opening 

 of the new abode. Now, as he would bid the fleeting 

 moment stay, he is taken from us. The director's room 

 is vacant, our chief and our " Studentenzeit" are alike 

 memories, on both of which we can only dwell with 

 fondness and affection. J. Beard. 



NOTES. 



We regret to record that M. Marie Davy died on July i6, at 

 Clamecy, Nievre, at the age of seventy-seven. M. Davy was at 

 one time at the head of the physical-astronomy service of the 

 Paris Observatory, and took a leading part in the protest against 

 Le Verrier's administration in 1870. He published a large num- 

 ber of papers on electrical and astronomical subjects. 



Prof. S. P. Langlev, Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, announces that the Institution has secured a table 

 at the Naples Zoological Station for the use of American 

 investigators. The table will be known as the Smithsonian 

 table. Publications resulting from its use will bear the name of 

 NO. 1238, VOL. 48] 



the Smithsonian Institution, and such of them as are of sufficient 

 importance will be printed in the " Smithsonian Contributions 

 to Knowledge." 



The munificent gifts of the legatees of Sir Joseph Whit- 

 worth to Manchester are to be increased by a sum of £'^0,000. 

 The amount previously given by them to carry out the scheme of 

 the Whitworth Institute was ^ 105,000. The legatees consider, 

 however, that even their additional donation will need supple- 

 menting by the public if the institute is to attain its due im- 

 portance. 



The International Maritime Congress commenced its second 

 meeting on July 18 at the Institution of Civil Engineers, under 

 the presidency of Lord Brassey. A large number of British and 

 foreign representatives of maritime interests were present, and 

 the outcome of the week's conference will doubtless be of con- 

 siderable importance. Lord Brassey took for the text of his 

 presidential address the construction and use of breakwaters, 

 and the works that have been undertaken for the improvement 

 of the entrances to ports. Mr. Mundella, M. P., followed with 

 a description of the growth of the mercantile marine servi;e of 

 Great Britain. The Congress then divided into sections fo ■ the 

 reading and discussion of papers. Lord Swansea presided over 

 the section dealing with questions relating to the construction- 

 of harbours, breakwaters, and general sea-works ; and Admiral 

 Colomb is the president of the section devoted to signals, 

 lights, and buoys. Tlie papers read before these two sections 

 were chiefly of a technical character. 



At the recent Congress of Archaeological Societies a subject 

 that elicited an interesting discussion was the " Continuation of 

 the Arclis;:)logical Survey of England." It was announced 

 that the archaeological maps of Essex, Lancashire, Cheshire, 

 Surrey, Sussex, and Derbyshire had been considerably ad- 

 vanced since the meeting of last year. Maps are being pre- 

 pared by societies in Herefordshire, Cumberland, and 

 Westmoreland, on which all interesting antiquities are indi- 

 cated. A series of symbols has been devised by the Standing: 

 Committee for the diagrammatic representation of antique 

 objects and sites, and a resolution was passed expressing a hope 

 that all societies participating in the survey will adopt these 

 symbols and so ensure uniformity. Mr. H. S. Pearson, of the 

 Birmingham and Midland Institute Archasological Society, 

 gave a detailed description of a photographic survey of the 

 county of Warwick. Each photographer who took part in the- 

 work was assigned a district of about six square miles, and 

 their pictures were subjected to the criticism of a committee, in 

 order to determine whether they were ' ' worthy of acceptation .' 

 Up to now about 1,700 excellent photographs have been taken, 

 and permanent prints of them have been well mounted and 

 presented to the Birmingham Free Library, so that they could 

 be referred to at any time, Mr. Pearson's paper was cordially 

 received, Sir John Evans expres-ing his warm approval, and 

 bidding all archaeological societies throughout the country to 

 "Go and do likewise." The Archaeological Institute also 

 held its annual meeting last week. There was a reception at 

 the Guildhall, several excellent luncheons, with pleasurable and 

 doubtless profitable excursions, and a conversazione at the- 

 Mansion House, so the meeting was a decided success, though- 

 no papers were read or discussion raised of scientific moment. 



At the annual meeting of the Wilts Archaeological Society, 

 to be held at Warminster on July 25 and two following days, 

 the President, General Pitt-Rivers, F.R.S., will give an account 

 of some excavations he has been recently making in an early 

 camp in Cranborne Chase, near Rushmore, Salisbury, and ad- 

 jacent to the group of tumuli of the Bronze Age, which were 

 investigated by him in 1880 in conjunction with the late Prof- 



