272 



NATURE 



[July 19, 1900 



far interference with other undertakings, rather than ordinary 

 commercial and industrial conditions, will come to be a deter- 

 mining factor in the selection between continuous and alternating 

 currents. It is expected that many members of the American 

 Institute will spend a few days in London on their way to the 

 joint meeting in Paris. Arrangements are being made to 

 entertain the visitors, and it is hoped that a large number of 

 the British members will assist in making the visit a memorable 

 one. 



A CIRCULAR-LETTER has, this week, been addressed to the 

 students of the Institution of Electrical Engineers informing 

 them that the Council of the Institution propose to grant 5/. to 

 each of twenty selected students to assist them to visit the 

 electrical exhibits in the Paris Exhibition. Intending candi- 

 dates must send in their applications by Saturday, July 28. 

 In the selection, the Council will give preference, other things 

 being equal, to those who, being still students of the Institution, 

 have either, or both, read papers before the students' section, or 

 been members of the committee of that section. 



The Paris Societe d'Encouragement has awarded the following 

 medal and prizes : — Gold medal to M. Potier for his work in 

 physics ; 20CX) francs to M. Codron for his works on machine 

 tools ; 2000 francs to MM. Charabot Dupont and Pilet for 

 their work on essential oils ; 500 francs to M. Halphen for his 

 work on the analysis of fatty bodies, and to M. Blanc for his 

 work on the constitution of camphor ; 500 francs to M. Granger 

 for his study of the application of tungsten blue to ceramics ; 

 and 10CX5 francs to MM. Coudon and Boussard for their study of 

 the potato. 



The Paris correspondent of the Chemist and Druggist an- 

 nounces that the late M. Milne-Edwards, director of the Paris 

 Museum of Natural History and professor of zoology at the Paris 

 School of Pharmacy, has bequeathed his scientific library, which 

 is exceptionally complete and valuable, to the Paris Museum. 

 The books are to be sold, and the proceeds will be applied 

 towards maintaining the professorship of zoology, which the 

 deceased savant occupied with so much distinction. M. Milne- 

 Edwards also bequeathed 20,000 francs to the Paris Geographical 

 Society, of which he was president, and 10,000 francs to the 

 Societe des Amis des Sciences. 



For several days in last week the weather was very warm 

 over a large part of England, and in London the temperature 

 frequently exceeded 80°. This week the temperature has still 

 further increased, and on Monday the thermometer in the screen 

 registered 94° at Greenwich, which is the highest reading in 

 July since 1881, and is higher than in any summer since 1893, 

 while in all there have only been seven days during the last 

 sixty years with so high a temperature there. At Camden 

 Town the shade temperature registered 95° '2, the highest 

 reading there since 1858. Thunderstorms developed at the 

 beginning of the week over a large part of the country, but no 

 appreciable amount of rain has fallen in London for about a 

 fortnight. 



We learn from Science that it is proposed to celebrate the 

 70th birthday of Prof. Wilhelm Wundt, which will occur on 

 August 16, 1902, by the publication of a " Festschrift," to 

 which his former students are invited to contribute. The manu- 

 scripts must be forwarded to Prof. Kiilpe, Wlirzburg, not later 

 than January I, 1902. 



It was recently stated in the public press that postal packets 

 containing plants for transmission to England were refused at 

 Swiss post-offices on the ground that the plants would not be 

 permitted to enter England. The Board of Customs has, how- 



NO. 



603, VOL. 62] 



ever, just stated that there is no objection to the importation of 

 plants from Switzerland, if they are sent by parcel post or letter 

 post. But plants must not be sent by sample post, and the 

 refusal of packets presented for transmission as samples appears 

 to have produce d the impression that the importation of flowers 

 is not allowed. 



An exhibition and conference and other meetings will be held 

 at the Crystal Palace, Sydenham, on July 20 and 21, in celebra- 

 tion of the bicentenary of the introduction of the sweet pea to 

 Britain from Sicily in 1700. Some authorities hold that two 

 forms, having a general relationship one to the other, were in- 

 troduced, one from Sicily and the other from Ceylon. The 

 history of the sweet pea and its earlier development will be 

 dealt with at the conference meetings which are to be held in 

 connection with the celebration. Many foreign horticulturists 

 are giving the celebration their support in various ways ; and 

 one of the papers at the conference will deal with the culture 

 and development of the sweet pea in the United States, where 

 many fine varieties have been cultivated. 



The Times states that the construction of the vessel designed 

 by Mr. W. E. Smith, one of the chief constructors to the 

 Admiralty, for the National Antarctic Expedition, is now in 

 active progress at the yard of the Dundee Shipbuilders' Company. 

 The ship, which is to be named the Discovery, is to be barque- 

 rigged and to have three decks. Accommodation for those on 

 board will be provided under the upper deck. The stem will 

 be of the ice- breaker type, with strong fortifications. The 

 length of the vessel between perpendiculars is 172 feet ; beam, 

 34 feet, and depth, 19 feet. The timbers are of oak dowelled 

 and bolted together, and the keel, deadwoods, the stem, and 

 the stem-posts are also of oak. The planking is of American 

 elm and pitch pine, and the inside beams are of oak. With the 

 object of avoiding the magnetic influence of iron on the scientific 

 instruments on board, it has been decided that for a considerable 

 radius amidships the knees and fastenings shall be of naval brass. 

 In case the Discovery should have to winter in the ice, a heavy 

 waggon cloth awning of strong woollen felt is to be provided. 

 The fittings and equipment of the vessel will be of the most 

 modern type. The engines, which are to indicate 45ohorse- 

 power, ar e to be constructed by Messrs. Gourlay Brothers and 

 Co., Dundee. 



News has just reached this country of the death of a well- 

 known geologist. Prof. G. H. F. Ulrich, F.G.S., who, since 

 1878, held the position of director of the School of Mines con- 

 nected with the Otago University, New Zealand. Prof. Ulrich 

 fell from a cliff while gathering rock specimens at Port Chalmers, 

 and the injuries he received terminated fatally. Prof. Ulrich was 

 born at Clausthal-Zillerfeld, Germany, in 1830, and was educated 

 in his native town at the High School, and subsequently graduated 

 at the Royal School of Mines, Clausthal, Hartz. He went to Forest 

 Creek, Victoria, in 1854, and was appointed in 1857 assistant 

 secretary and draughtsman to the Royal Mining Commission in 

 Victoria. He was afterwards appointed assistant field geologist 

 under Mr. Selwyn in the Geological department of Victoria. 

 He continued an officer of the Geological Survey department 

 until its abolition in 1869, when he became curator of the mining 

 section under Mr. Newbery, superintendent of the industrial 

 and technological museum and lecturer in mining at the Uni- 

 versity of Melbourne. He was appointed by the South Austra- 

 lian Government to report on their copper mines and goldfields, 

 and in 1875 he paid his first visit to New Zealand and reported 

 on the Otago goldfields. In 1877, the Otago University Council 

 having decided to institute a school of mines, the Chancellor 

 secured the services of Prof. Ulrich for the Otago University. 

 The School of Mines was for some years small, and not very 



