October 4, 1900] 



NATURE 



553 



further resolved that meetings shall be held at monthly intervals 

 during the greater part of the year, at which papers on special 

 branches of industrial chemistry are to be read and discussed. 

 At a subsequent meeting, Prof. Orme Masson was elected 

 president. The first paper to be read before the Society was 

 one by Mr. D. Avery on September 4, on the cyanide process 

 for gold extraction. The Society has made an encouraging 

 start, as up to the end of August 118 members had been 

 enrolled. We trust a lengthy and prosperous career lies before 

 the new arrival. 



The sixteenth session of the Queensland branch of the 

 Royal Geographical Society of Australasia was inaugurated 

 at Brisbane on August 17, when a paper was read by the 

 secretary— Mr. J. R. Thomson— on the geographical evolu- 

 tion of the Australian Continent. In connection with the 

 society it has been decided to award a medal annually for the 

 best and most scientific paper on some subject dealing with 

 Queensland, and a fund for this purpose has been opened. 



The seventy- second annual meeting of the Association of 

 German Naturalists and Physicians opened on September 17 

 at Aix-la-Chapelle with an attendance of about two thousand 

 members. Of the thirty-eight sections, seventeen are devoted to 

 such subjects as natural history, geology, geography, education, 

 &c., the remaining twenty-one dealing with all the special 

 subjects of medicine, including balneology, accidents, history of 

 medicine and medical geography, and finally veterinary matters. 

 A special correspondent of the British Medical Journal states 

 that at the opening meeting the usual speeches of welcome 

 were delivered by the Mayor and others, and the introductory 

 addresses this year were by arrangement devoted, not only to 

 giving a retrospect of the subject, but also to a sketch of its de- 

 velopment during the nineteenth century. Dr. J. H. van 't Hoff 

 spoke on the development of the exact natural sciences (natural 

 history, chemistry and allied subjects). Dr. G. Hertwig 

 delivered an address on the evolution of biology, in which, 

 after relating anatomical discoveries, he came to the large 

 question of the natural origin of the organic world. He con- 

 sidered that theories as to inheritance and natural selection still 

 rested on the uncertain basis of hypothesis. He pointed out, 

 however, that the difficulty arose from the absence of sufficient 

 prehistoric records, and expressed his agreement with the 

 opinion of Huxley that Darwin's teaching as to evolution will 

 survive, apart from his principles of selection. Prof. Naunyn 

 gave an address on the evolution of medicine, connecting the 

 progress of the science with the names of Schwann, Pasteur, 

 and Lister. The fourth and last address was given by Prof. 

 Chiari, whose subject was the evolution of pathological 

 anatomy. 



The British Mycological Society and the Cryptogamic Society 

 of Scotland held a most successful meeting at the Boat of Garten 

 from September 17 to 22. Various portions of the old forests 

 of Rothiemurchus and Abernethy were worked from day to day, 

 and a rich collection of scarce Hydnei and Cortinarii was 

 secured. Prof. Marshall Ward (President of the British 

 Society) gave an address, entitled "Nutrition of Fungi," and 

 also contributed a paper on " Naematelia." Exeter was selected 

 as the centre for next year's foray in the last week in September, 

 and Prof. Marshall Ward was re-elected President. 



At the annual meeting of the Hull Scientific and Field 

 Naturalists' Club, on September 26, an active and successful 

 year of work was reported. A committee has been formed to 

 work in connection with the National Trust for Places of 

 Historic Interest or Natural Beauty ; several important " finds" 

 have been made during the weekly excursions ; an exhibition of 

 local natural history, geological and archaeological specimens 

 NO. 1614. VOL. 62] 



has been held in the Technical Schools ; and the Club has 

 become a Corresponding Society of the British Association. 



Every one interested in astronomy will welcome the new 

 publication Astronoviischer Jahresbericht, the first volume of 

 which, for the year 1899, has recently made its appearance. This 

 important yearly volume is published by Herr Walter F. 

 Wislicenus with the aid of the Astrononiischen Gesetlschafl, and 

 printed in Berlin (Druck und Verlag von Georg Reimer, 1900, 

 pp, 536). The object of this volume is to present to astronomical 

 readers a brief summary of the contents of every publication, 

 whether it be in book, article or pamphlet form, which treats of 

 any matter connected with theoretical or practical astronomy, or 

 with researches in astrophysics. The project is a great one, 

 and with careful attention could be carried out successfully. 

 This, the initial volume, reflects great credit on Herr Wislicenus, 

 who, although associated with five other workers, seems to have 

 laboured nobly and undertaken the greater part of the 

 volume. The subject-matter is divided into four main sections, 

 namely : — General and historical ; astronomy, which includes 

 spherical, orbit determinations, celestial mechanics, instruments 

 and methods of observation, and, lastly, observations ; astro- 

 physics ; and geodesy and nautical astronomy. The work is made 

 complete by an excellent table of contents, and an index of 

 names and the full titles of works referred to are given in each 

 case. The author hopes that for future volumes he will have 

 the help of all well-wishers of this work, and that such help 

 will take the form of either references to published works or the 

 works themselves, especially when they appear in transactions 

 of societies which are published too late for insertion in the 

 yearly volume, or other publications which are not specially 

 devoted to astronomical matters. A glance at the present 

 volume is sufficient to show the utility and value of this work, 

 and it should be found in every astronomical observatory' and 

 laboratory. 



Quoting from the Botanical Gazette, Science says that the 

 private herbarium of Mr. Harry N. Patterson, of Oquawka, 

 Illinois, containing about 30,000 sheets, has been secured by the 

 Field Columbian Museum, and will be installed as promptly as 

 careful cataloguing will admit. The botanical department of the 

 museum is, says our contemporary, to be congratulated upon 

 this accession of one of the notable private herbaria of the 

 country ; one that will add a complete collection of Pringle's 

 Mexican plants to its already excellent representation of the 

 flora of that region and the Antillean islands. Mr. Patterson's 

 herbarium is more or less contemporaneous with that of the late 

 Mr. Bebb, which the museum secured some three years ago, 

 and as Mr. Patterson made it his aim to secure a complete 

 series of the species of North America, its addition to the 

 collections of the museum will be of great value to botanical 

 students and specialists in the west. 



The Royal Italian Institute of Military Geography ha 

 thoroughly revised the old map of the region round about 

 Vesuvius, issued by the institute in 1876, on the scale of 

 1/10,000. It has also completed a new plan in relief of the 

 cone of Vesuvius which has been subject in recent times to con- 

 siderable changes in its configuration owing to the repeated 

 eruptions. Both map and plan have been prepared under the 

 direction of Prof. Matteucci, who for years has made a study o 

 Vesuvius. The correction of the map has been rendered 

 necessary, not only by the eruptions, but also by the number of 

 new roads and buildings. 



The discovery of a new gutta-percha is reported from 

 Zanzibar. This substance is derived from a tree which grows 

 principally at Dunga. When tapped with a knife, a white fluid 

 exudes, which, when placed in boiling water, coagulates into 



