324 



NATURE 



[August 6, 1891 



a University has been decided upon, and Prof. Haase, of 

 Konigsberg (Germany), has accepted the appointment to the 

 Chair of Physics. 



The last number of the Rendiconti of the Reale Accademia 

 dei Lincei contains an account of the annual meeting held on 

 June 9, at which the King of Italy was present. After the 

 opening speech of the President, Brioschi, one of the chief 

 features was an admirable address by Prof. Messedaglia on the 

 Homeric uranology, with special reference to precession. 



La Revue Scientifique of the ist instant contains the address 

 by M. Villemin, the President of the Tuberculosis Congress. 

 It deals with recent researches. The results of the first Congress 

 are also detailed by M. Petit, the General Secretary. 



A FINAL meeting of the Committee of the Virchow Testi- 

 monial Fund took place on July i6, Sir James Paget, Bart., 

 F.R.S., in the chair. The Treasurer gave an account of the 

 moneys received, which amounted to about ^175. It was 

 resolved to send this sum to the General Treasurer of the Fund, 

 and to present Prof. Virchow on the occasion of his birthday 

 with an illuminated address, conveying to him the congratula- 

 tions of the Committee and subscribers. This the Honorary 

 Secretaries, Dr. Semon and Mr. Horsley, were directed person- 

 ally to transmit to Berlin on the occasion of the celebration. 



The Essex County Council has appointed an Organizing 

 Joint Committee, consisting of six members of their own body 

 and six members of the Essex Field Club, to form a centre for 

 supplying lecturers and teachers (with apparatus and materials), 

 conducting examinations, and affording help and guidance to 

 local bodies, in connection with the recent grants towards 

 technical instruction. A grant of ;^900 has been made for these 

 purposes. The members of the Committee are : (representing 

 the County Council) Mr. E. N. Buxton, Mr. E. A. Fitch, Mr. 

 J. H. Burrows, Mr. S. W. Squier, Mr. F. West, and Mr. W. 

 B. Whittingham ; (for the Essex Field Club) Prof. BouJger, Mr. 

 F. Chancellor, Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S., Sir Henry E. Roscoe, 

 M.P., F.R.S., Mr. F. W. Rudler, and Mr. J. C. Shenstone. 

 The Organizing Secretary to the Committee is Mr. W. Cole, 

 35 New Broad Street, E.G. 



The idea of " a British Museum of Portraits," to be executed 

 by photography, was conceived as long ago as 1864 by Mr. 

 James Glaisher, F.R. S., and brought before a meeting of the 

 Council of the Amateur Photographic Association, of which the 

 Prince of Wales is the President. The suggestion was cordially 

 approved by the meeting, and photographs were taken in carte 

 de visite size and deposited at the South Kensington Museum. 

 At first, however, only fading silver prints were made, and these 

 were so unsatisfactory that for some years the undertaking was 

 held in abeyance. By the discovery and perfection of the pro- 

 cess of permanent carbon printing, an opportunity has at length 

 been afforded of resuming the prosecution of the work under 

 infinitely more favourable conditions ; and, as a result, a collec- 

 tion of excellent portraits is now being made by the Amateur 

 Photographic Association. Already there are nearly 200 large 

 permanent carbon portraits deposited in the Art Department at 

 the South Kensington Museum, and about as many more are 

 ready to be sent. These latter were on exhibition at a private 

 view on Saturday last at 58 Pall Mall, S.W., the studio of Mr. 

 Arthur J. Melhuish (Photographer Royal). They embrace some 

 photographs of men of distinction in science, and are excellent 

 both as likenesses and as specimens of photographic art. The 

 conditions under which they are taken are, in fact, sufficiently 

 exacting to insure the production of a faithful portrait, inasmuch 

 as every portrait must be approved by the sitter and by the 

 Standing Committee previous to its being placed in the South 

 Kensington Museum. The undertaking is on a non-commercial 

 NO. 1 1 36, VOL. 44] 



basis, the photographs being taken for the purposes of this col- 

 lection only, and not for publication, and no expense of any 

 kind being incurred by the sitter. The invitations to sitters are 

 issued under the authority of the Council. 



The Trustees of the Indian Museum, Calcutta, have just 

 issued the second and concluding portion of a Catalogue of the 

 specimens of Mammals contained in that Institution. The first 

 volume of the Catalogue, compiled by Dr. John Anderson, the 

 late Superintendent, was published in 1881. The present volume, 

 which commences with the Rodents, has been prepared by Mr. 

 W. L. Sclater, the present Deputy- Superintendent. The total 

 number of specimens of Mammals contained in the Indian 

 Museum, as is shown in the Catalogue, is 4872. These are 

 referred to 590 species, of which, 276 are found within the limits 

 of the Indian Empire, and the remainder are from elsewhere. 

 As the Indian Museum contains many types of Blyth, Jerdon, 

 and the older Indian authorities, the collection is one of con- 

 siderable importance, and the Catalogue will be of much use to 

 students of the group of Mammals. 



For the first time for many years \\\& Journal fiir Ornithologie 

 has actually appeared within the month imprinted on the cover 

 bearing the date of publication. English ornithologists have 

 this year received in July the Heft bearing the date ' Juli, 1891.' 

 Gott sei dank. The articles published in the present year 

 appear also to be of a higher class than many of those formerly 

 issued in the Journal, and some very important papers by 

 Dr. Reichenow, Dr. A. B. Meyer, Herren Schalow, Hartert, 

 &c., have been published. The chief interest centres round the 

 collections which that greatest of modern naturalist-explorers, 

 Emin Pacha, has sent to Berlin ; and the birds obtained by him 

 during his journey from Bagamoyo to Lake Tanganyika are 

 fully described by Dr. Reichenow. The novelties are not many, 

 but are sufficient to show that there is much to be done in 

 German East Africa before our knowledge of its ornithology 

 approaches completion. English naturalists will await with 

 eagerness the zoological work of our Consul in Mozambique, 

 Mr. H. H. Johnston, C.B., for the whole of the district in his 

 sphere of influence is practically unexplored as far as natural 

 history is concerned, and at present our knowledge is almost a 

 blank. To Mr, Johnston and his companions, therefore, 

 English zoologists are now looking for information which shall 

 connect the work of Bohm and Emin with that of Kirk and 

 Livingstone. 



In a recent paper to the Societe des Ingenieurs Civils, M. 

 Haubtmann states that in London the cost of the electric *' horse 

 hour" is o*375 francs, that is three times the cost of gas. In 

 Paris it is o'go francs, and at Saint Brieuc, the town where, 

 since June i last, it is cheapest in France, it is still o'52 francs. 

 At Fribourg it has the lowest cost in Europe, 0*15 francs, and 

 o'lo francs for a consumption over 20 horse-power. Such 

 differences, he points out, do not arise from difference in cost of 

 motor force, for, deducting that, the horse-hour still remains 

 in Paris at 075 francs, while in Fribourg it is o*i25 francs. 

 They arise from differences in the amounts of capital engaged, 

 and in the systems adopted. 



It is stated that a memorial is about to be presented to the 

 United States Congress asking for the creation of a Government 

 Department of Public Health, with a Cabinet officer at its head, 

 to be known as the Medical Secretary of Public Health. 



The Danish Academy of Sciences has recently offered the 

 following among other prizes : — A gold medal, worth about 

 £iT, for an exposition of the theory of electric vibrations in 

 limited and resting bodies in general, with a special application 

 to simple forms of perfect conductors, so that for these cases, the 

 mathematical problem may be explained, and if possible solved. 

 A prize of about ;(f 22, for an investigation showing in the case 



