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NATURE 



[September 24, 1891 



By the death of August von Pelzeln, which took place on the 

 2nd inst. at Ober-Dobling, near Vienna, Europe has lost one of 

 her foremost ornithologists. He had been in failing health for 

 some years, and had recently retired, after forty years' service, 

 from his post of Gustos of the Imperial Museum at Vienna, 

 where he had charge of the collections of Mammalia and birds. 

 Von Pelzeln will be always celebrated in the memory of zoologists 

 by his important essays on the collections in the Vienna Mu- 

 seum, but his most enduring work will be found in the famous 

 " Ornithologie Brasiliens," wherein he gave a detailed account 

 of the collections made by the great traveller Natterer in the 

 early part of the present century. Only last year he published 

 in the Annalen des k.k. naturhistorischen Hof museums, an 

 account of the formation of the collections of Mammalia and 

 birds in the Imperial Cabinet, which is a very valuable historical 

 record. The amiability of his character and his great knowledge 

 of zoology had raised up for Von Pelzeln a host of friends in 

 every country, and the news of his death will be received with 

 wide-spread regret. 



A Reuter telegram from New York announces the death of 

 Prof. William Ferrel, the meteorologist. 



The Royal Academy of Sciences at Lisbon send official notice 

 of the decease of their Secretary, Jose Maria Latino Coelho, 

 who died on the 29th ult. at Cintra, at the age of sixty-six. 

 Besides his Secretaryship of the Academic Royale des Sciences, 

 Prof. Coelho held the post of Director of the Mineralogical 

 Section of the Museum at the Ecole Polytechnique de Lisbonne. 



The death of M. Wilken, the well-known Dutch ethnologist, 

 has excited much regret in Holland, where his scientific work 

 was greatly appreciated. He was forty-four years of age, and 

 had spent some time as a Government official in the Dutch East 

 Indies, where he had ample opportunities for carrying on his 

 favourite studies. 



Prof. K. Goebel has been appointed Professor of Botany in 

 the University, and Director of the Botanic Garden at Munich, 

 in the place of the late Carl v. Nageli. 



The Photographic Society of Great Britain announce the 

 holding of an exhibition, which will be open from September 

 28 to November 12. 



The most interesting part of the Royal Horticultural Society's 

 exhibition on Tuesday was a series of the so-called carnivorous 

 and insect-eating plants. It was hoped that the display of 

 this series would tend to correct some very mistaken ideas 

 which are said to be current on the subject. According 

 to Mr. Weathers, the Assistant Secretary of the Royal Hor- 

 ticultural Society, some persons, relying on what they have 

 heard, will assert that "these plants can easily dispose of a 

 beefsteak or mutton chop if their digestive organs are in thorough 

 repair. " 



The annual meeting of the Federated Institution of Mining 

 Engineers was held on Tuesday at the Mason College, Birming- 

 ham, and was attended by about 120 members. Mr. T. W. 

 Embleton, of Leeds, presided. In the report it was stated that 

 the Council had not yet undertaken any special inquiry con- 

 nected with the objects of the Institution, but their attention 

 had been directed to the question of safe explosives for use in 

 mines, the mechanical ventilation of mines, and other subjects. 

 By the permission of the Durham Coal-owners' Association and 

 the Durham Miners' Association, a report upon the fumes pro- 

 duced in mines by roburite, tonite, and gunpowder had been 

 printed in the Transactions. The North of England Institution 

 had appointed a committee to examine and report upon the so- 

 called "flameless" explosives for use in mines. A paper 

 sketching the geology of the Birmingham district was read by 

 NO. II 43, VOL. 44] 



Prof. Lapworth. A paper was also submitted by Messrs. W. 

 F. Clark and H. W. Hughes, in which the local method of 

 working the thick coal was described to the visitors, and the 

 peculiarities of the South Staffordshire coal-fields were described 

 in technical detail. Mr. Arthur Sopwith supplied some similar 

 information with reference to the North Staffordshire portion of 

 the coal-field. These two papers were taken as read, and the 

 discussion was deferred until the members of the Institution had 

 visited the principal Staffiardshire pits. 



A Report for the year ending May 31 last, by Mr. G. J. 

 Swanston, the Assistant Secretary of the Marine Department 

 of the Board of Trade, upon the colour tests used in the ex- 

 amination of candidates for masters' and mates' certificates in 

 the British mercantile marine has been issued as a Parliament- 

 ary paper. The number of persons who presented themselves 

 for examination fjr masters' and mates' certificates of com 

 petency under Form " Examination 2 " amounted to 4688, being 

 an increase of 26 over the previous year, when 4662 were ex- 

 amined. In the past year 31 persons were rejected for their 

 inability to distinguish colours, as compared with 23 rejected in 

 the previous year. The number of persons examined in colours 

 only under Form "Examination 2a" amounted to 601. Of 

 these, 32 were rejected, being an increase of over I'Sper cent, 

 as compared with the previous year, when, out of 839 candidates 

 examined, 29 were rejected. A few of those who failed to pass 

 succeeded afterwards in satisfying the examiners. One man, 

 who, on March 3, described a green card as drab, drab as green, 

 pink glass as salmon and green, standard green as blue, bottle 

 green as red, and neutral as green, passed a fortnight later, 

 having apparently learned to distinguish the colours in the 

 intervening period. The mode of conducting the colour-test 

 examination described in the Report for the year 1887 is still in 

 operation ; but Mr. Swanston notes the fact that the whole 

 subjectof colour-vision and the best mode of conducting the 

 examinations are now being investigated by a Committee 

 appointed by the Royal Society. 



On his return from Japan, sixteen years ago. Prof. Rein, the 

 well-known authority on Japanese art and industry, planted in 

 the Botanical Garden at Frankfort some specimens of the 

 lacquer-tree {Rhus vernicifera), from which the Japanese 

 obtain the juice employed in the production of their famous 

 lacquer work. According to the Times, there are now at 

 Frankfort thirty-four healthy specimens of the lacquer-tree, 30 

 feet high and 2 feet in girth a yard from the ground ; and the 

 young trees, which have sprung from the original tree's seed, 

 are in a flourishing condition. It seems to be proved, therefore, 

 that the lacquer-tree is capable of being cultivated in Europe, 

 and it only remains to be seen whether the juice is affected by 

 the changed conditions. The Times says that, to ascertain this, 

 Prof. Rein has tapped the Frankfort trees, and has sent some of 

 the juice to Japan, where it will be used by Japanese artists in 

 lacquer work, who will report on its fitness for lacquering. In 

 the meantime, some of the most eminent German chemists are 

 analyzing samples of the juice taken from the trees at Frankfort, 

 and samples of the juice sent from Japan ; and should their 

 reports and the reports from Japan be favourable, it is probable 

 that the tree will be largely planted in public parks and oiher 

 places in Germany. In course of time a skilled worker in 

 lacquer would be brought over from Japan to teach a selected 

 number of workmen the art of lacquering wood, and in this 

 way 'it is hoped that a new art and craft may be intro- 

 duced into Europe. Prof. Rein has been conferring with the 

 authorities at Kew as to the results of his experiment. 



The Hydrographic Department of the Admiralty has just 

 published full details of the determinations of the latitudes and 

 longitudes of six stations on the west coast of Africa — namely, 



