34 



NA TURE 



[November 14. 1895 



During ensuing months it will be important to make as 

 many drawings as possible, and to secure a large number 

 of transits of the various markings. Among others the 

 following may be specially mentioned : 



(i) Light and dark spots near the equator (period gh. 50m. 6s. 

 in 1880, increased to gh. 50m. 30s. in 1888). 



(2) Dark spots on a belt in latitude 25°+ (period gh. 48m. in 

 1880, increased to about gh. 49im. in 1891). 



(3) Dark spots and breaks in a very narrow belt in latitude 

 35°+ (period gh. 55m. 39s. in 1895). 



(4) Light and dark spots in the region south of the red spot 

 (period 9h. 55ni. i8s., and apparently unchangeable between 

 1880 and 1 89 1). 



In the course of his work, the observer will also detect 

 other features worthy of attention. 



From eye-estimated transits the periods of the various 

 objects can be very accurately ascertained, and Mr. 

 Marth's valuable ephemerides for physical observations 

 of Jupiter, published in Monthly Notices (June and sup- 

 plementary numbers, 1895), will assist the student to 

 reduce his own materials. W. F. Denning. 



NOTES. 

 The Royal Society's medals have this year been adjudicated 

 by the President and Council as follows :— The Copley Medal to 

 Prof. Karl Weierstrass, For.Mem.R.S., for his investigations in 

 pure mathematics ; a Royal Medal to Prof. James Alfred Ewing, 

 F.R.S., for his investigations on magnetic induction in iron and 

 other metals ; a Royal Medal to Dr. John Murray, for his 

 services to biological science and oceanography in connection 

 with the Challenger reports, and for his original contributions 

 to the same ; and the Davy Medal to Prof. William Ramsay, 

 F.R.S., for his share in the discovery of argon, and for his 

 discoveries regarding gaseous constituents of terrestrial minerals. 

 Her Majesty the Queen has been graciously pleased to approve 

 of the award of the Royal Medals. The medals will, as usual, 

 be presented at the anniversary meeting on St. Andrew's day 

 (November 30). The Society will dine together at the Whitehall 

 Rooms on the evening of the same day. 



The following is a list of those who have been recommended 

 by the President and Council of the Royal Society for election 

 into the Council for the year 1896, at the anniversary meeting 

 on November 30 : — President : Sir Joseph Lister, Bart. 

 Treasurer: Sir John Evans, K.C.B. Secretaries: Prof. 

 Michael Foster, the Lord Rayleigh. P'oreign Secretary : Dr. 

 Edward Frankland. Other members of the Council : Mr. 

 William Crookes, Sir Joseph Fayrer, K.C.S.I., Mr. Lazarus 

 Fletcher, Dr. Walter Holbrook Gaskell, Dr. William Huggins, 

 the Lord Kelvin, Prof Alexander B. W. Kennedy, Prof. 

 Horace Lamb, Prof. Edwin Ray Lankester, Prof. Charles 

 Lapworth, Major Percy Alexander MacMahon, R.A. , Prof. 

 John Henry Poynting, Prof. Arthur William Rucker, Mr. 

 Osbert Salvin, Prof Harry Marshall Ward, Admiral William 

 James Lloyd Wharton, C.B. 



The Trustees of the British Museum have decided not to fill* 

 up for the present the Keepership of Zoology, vacant by Dr. 

 Gunther's retirement, but to appoint two additional Assistant- 

 Keepers from the existing staff, so that there will be one for each 

 of the three sections into which the department will be divided for 

 administration purposes, viz. insects, other invertebrates, and 

 vertebrates. Sir William Flower will undertake the principal 

 duties of Keeper of the Department, in addition to those of 

 Director of the Natural History division of the Museum. A 

 junior assistant will be appointed by competition, so as to keep 

 up the numerical strength of the staff of the department. He 

 will probably be attached to the entomological section, which 



NO. 1359. VOL. 53] 



although already the largest, still requires strengthening in order 

 to cope with the arrangement of the vast number of specimens 

 continually being added to the collection. 



We notice the announcement that, on November 20, Mr. Bal- 

 four will receive a deputation from the Association of Chambers 

 of Commerce, in reference to the adoption of the metric system.: 

 Our readers will remember that this subject has been considered 

 by a Select Committee of the House of Commons, which has 

 recommended that the metric system of weights and measures be 

 at once legalised for all purposes, and, after a lapse of two years, 

 be rendered compulsory by Act of Parliament. The deputation 

 will present to the First Lord of the Treasury mem.orials which 

 have been prepared by the Association and by the Leeds and 

 other Chambers of Commerce, urging the Government to bring 

 in a Bill next Session for the purpose of carrying out these recom- 

 mendations. We trust that the need for the reform of our 

 present cumbersome system will be forcibly impressed upon the 

 Government. 



A STRONG American Committee is being formed to act with the 

 Huxley Memorial Committee. Science states that substantially 

 all the American scientific men who have been thought of as pos- 

 sibly willing to serve have, so far as approached, signified their 

 willingness to do what they can in the matter. The biologists 

 are likely to be well represented, particularly, and the leaders in 

 scientific work in every field will do their full share. It is hoped 

 and anticipated by our contemporary that the contributions from 

 the United States will rival those of Great Britain, and exceed 

 those of any other nation. 



The suggestion put forward by us, a fortnight ago, that the 

 London County Council, or some other public body, should 

 reciprocate the erection of a statue to Newton by the Paris 

 Municipality, has not passed unnoticed in France. We indi- 

 cated either Laplace or Lavoisier as a suitable subject for a 

 statue in London ; but the Petit Journal, in commending the 

 idea, suggests that the right person to be honoured is Voltaire, 

 who was an exile in England from 1726 to 1729, and whO' 

 returned to France a great admirer of Newton. Voltaire was an 

 enthusiastic exponent of Newtonian principles, and it was 

 largely due to his support of them, in scientific and popular 

 writings, that Descartes' vortex theory was rejected by the Paris 

 Academy of Sciences. 



The second International Congress of Applied Chemistry will 

 be held in Paris next year. The Congress will be organised in 

 ten sections; under the following heads : ( i ) Sugar and sugar- 

 refinery ; (2) Industries concerned with fermentation ; (3) 

 Agricultural industries ; (4) Agricultural chemistry ; (5) Official 

 and commercial analyses of substances liable to duty ; (6> 

 Industrial chemistry ; (7) Photography; (8) Metallurgy, mining, 

 and explosives ; (9) Biology, medical, pharmaceutical, and 

 hygienic analysis; (10) Electro-chemistry. An International 

 Exhibition of Chemical and Agricultural Industries will be 

 held during the Congress, and for that purpose the Government 

 has given the use of the whole of the Palais de I'lndustrie. 



A SIGN of advance in Africa comes to us in the shape of an 

 announcement of the establishment of a monthly journal of 

 South African science, arts, and crafts. The Scientific African 

 (for that is the name of the new periodical) will contain popular 

 scientific articles, written by experts, on South African animals, 

 plants, rocks, and minerals, and giving information as to the 

 habits, uses, and occurrences of organic and inorganic matter 

 in South Africa and elsewhere. All the industries of South 

 Africa, in the Colony, Transvaal, Free State, Rhodesia, &c., 

 will be described, with photographic illustrations of the interiors 

 of factories, the workings of mines and collieries, bridges. 



