July 14, 1892] 



NATURE 



moriorum, Ocydromus Pygmceus, Fulica newtont, F. chat- 

 hamensis, Ap/tanapteryx hawktnsi, Ap.} s\>^., Chenopis 

 sumnerensis, Carpophaga chathamica, Columba sp. 



Henry O. Forbes. 

 Canterbury Museum, April 2. 



ADMIRAL MOUCHEZ. 



■\irE have already referred to the loss which French 

 * * science has recently sustained in the sudden death 

 of the director of the Paris Observatory, at the age of 71. 

 It falls to the lot of few sailors in any country to take so 

 large a share in scientific progress as did Admiral Mou- 

 chez, or to combine great administrative capacity with 

 thorough knowledge and power of initiation. 



His love for astronomy and geodesy first made itself 

 felt when he was at the College Louis le Grand. Appointed 

 to the navy in 1843, he was captain of a frigate in 1861, 

 but three years before this he had communicated to the 

 Academy of Sciences observations of the partial eclipse 

 of the sun seen by him at Buenos Ayres on September 7, 

 1858. He was then in that locality constructing the 

 hydrographical map of the eastern coast of South 

 America. A year or two later he presented to the 

 Academy a map of Paraguay, and he was presented as a 

 candidate for filling the seat vacated by the untimely 

 death of Bravais in 1863. But he was outvoted, and he 

 continued his hydrographical work. He published a 

 description of the coast of Brazil, and he observed an 

 annular eclipse of the sun (on October 30, 1864) at San 

 Catharina, Brazil. 



When in 1872 expeditions were being organized by all 

 countries to observe the transit of Venus in 1874, 

 Mouchez was placed in command of the party which was 

 destined for the island of Saint Paul. The climatic con- 

 ditions of this island — either the winds are very violent, or 

 the heaven is nearly always overcast — did not seem to 

 favour the observers. The head of the expedition had 

 the greatest difficulty in reaching his post, and it was in 

 the middle of a violent storm that he had to approach 

 the large volcano which was to be his station. 



The evening of the day before the transit the rain fell 

 in torrents ; but the next day, at the moment wished for, 

 by quite a fortunate chance, the storm cleared in con- 

 sequence of a change of wind, and the veil of mist which 

 covered the sky suddenly vanished ; the observation was 

 thus made under most favourable conditions. Mouchez 

 was able to recognize the atmosphere of Venus very dis- 

 tinct from that of the Sun at the moment of contact. 



The astronomical expedition which he commanded 

 was composed of naturalists as well as astronomers ; it 

 has furnished science with interesting accounts of the 

 geology, zoology, and botany of the islands of St. Paul 

 and Amsterdam its neighbour. 



On Mouchez's return to France he was promoted Com- 

 mander of the Legion of Honour at the same time that he 

 was nominated a member of the Academy of Sciences in 

 the place of the astronomer Mathieu. In October 1875, 

 at the annual public sdance of the five academies, he gave 

 an account of his expedition to the island St. Paul. 



In 1878 he obtained from the French Admiralty the 

 funds required for establishing at Montsouris, with the 

 same instruments used by him at St. Paul, a school of 

 astronomy for the use of marine officers and masters. 

 This school is in full prosperity, and every year about a 

 dozen men are trained in conducting astronomical and 

 magnetical observations. 



When Le Verrier died, on September 13, 1877, Mou- 

 chez, then commander, was appointed to the directorship 

 of the National Observatory, and nearly simultaneously 

 with this Commander Mouchez received the rank of Rear 

 Admiral. He was put on the Reserve List in 1880. 



NO. I 185, VOL. 46I 



Admiral Mouchez showed himself, at the Observatory, 

 an active administrator. He brought about many marked 

 improvements in the different branches of the establish- 

 ment. He suggested the establishment of a practical 

 school of astronomy, which has been worked for eight 

 years consecutively, and has furnished all the French 

 observatories with a remarkable supply of young astro- 

 nomers. Thirty have passed through the two years' 

 course. 



Admiral Mouchez always encouraged useful researches, 

 and the magnificent work undertaken with so much suc- 

 cess by the brothers Henry in celestial photography, and 

 the development of i\xe equatorial coudt', under the foster- 

 ing care of M. Loewy, must be specially mentioned here. 



But by far the most important result of this kind which 

 we owe to the Admiral's clear foresight and power of 

 dealing with men is to be found in the Chart of the 

 Heavens, which will remain as one of the memorable 

 works of the science of the nineteenth century. It was 

 on the proposal of the director of the observatory that the 

 Academy of Sciences convoked foreign astronomers to 

 take part in the Congress which, on three different occa- 

 sions, assembled with so much success at the Paris Obser- 

 vatory. 



This vast undertaking would have been impossible 

 without the genius of the French nation and without 

 such a man as Mouchez. It is essentially an international 

 work which England should have started, but alas ! in 

 such matters our science is scarcely national ; it is paro- 

 chial, and so it must remain until the relations between 

 science and the Government are changed. 



Admiral Mouchez was a very zealous promoter of 

 colonial observatories. He travelled to Algiers in order 

 to preside over the inauguration of the large establish- 

 ment erected by M. Tripled. This very year, having 

 travelled to Tunis to recruit his failing health, he had 

 taken steps for creating an astronomical station in the 

 town of Zaghouan, and he was advocating the building 

 of observatories at Tahiti and Tananarivo at the time of 

 his death. 



There are few astronomers who will not feel the death 

 of Admiral Mouchez as the loss of a dear friend, and one 

 in whom loyalty, honesty, and simplicity of character 

 were so blended that the great services rendered by the 

 savant were almost forgotten in the esteem felt for the 

 man. 



NOTES. 



M. Meckel, the President of the Botanical Section of the 

 French Association for the Advancement of Science, proposes, 

 as special subjects for discussion at the approaching meeting of 

 the Association, to be held at Pau, the flora of the Alps and of 

 the Pyrenees, and a comparison between them ; and the best 

 means of arranging and preserving botanical collections. 



Prof. T. H. Huxley has been elected President, and Sir 

 Henry Roscoe and the Master of University College, Oxford, 

 two of the Vice-Presidents, of the Association for Promoting a 

 Teaching University for London. Motions on the whole 

 favourable to the plans of the Association have been carried by 

 the Senate of the University of London and the Council of 

 University College. 



Prof. Ramsay, in his report as Dean of the Faculty of 

 Science in University College, London, has to record many 

 changes during the past session. Reference is, of course, made 

 to the retirement of Prof. Croom Robertson from the Chair of 

 Philosophy, and to the appointment of Dr. James Sully as his 

 successor. Prof. Ramsay's predecessor as Dean, Prof. 

 Lankester, expressed to him his regret that he had not taken 

 steps to ascertain the number of original investigations carried 



