December 5, 1895] 



NATURE 



107 



forward a comprehensive scheme, which ultimately resulted in 

 the erection of the Moncreiffe Memorial Museum. The avail- 

 able space was rapidly filled up, and in 1885 Dr. Buchanan 

 White suggested a scheme for the enlargement of the premises. 

 The scheme was embarked upon in 1892, and by the generous 

 support of friends, and in particular the donation of Sir Robert 

 Pullar, it had now reached its present successful completion. 

 Sir William Flower, in declaring the Museum open, said he 

 thouTjht that this epoch in the history of the institution might 

 mark a distinct advance in the educational history of the country. 

 The foundation of such societies as the Perthshire Natural Science 

 Society in all the principal centres of population was a proof that 

 they fulfilled a natural want in the human mind in its present 

 stage of development. Of the general value of museums, using 

 the word in its widest sense, as collections of works of art and of 

 nature, in the intellectual advance of mankind, there could be no 

 question. How could science be studied without ready access 

 to the materials upon which knowledge is built up ? In many 

 branches of science, especially those commonly called natural 

 history, the progress was mainly commensurate with the 

 abundance and accessibility of such materials. All would 

 recognise the gradual development of the conception that the 

 museum of the future was to have for its complete ideal not only 

 the simple preservation of the objects contained in it, but also 

 their arrangement in such a manner as to provide for the in- 

 struction of those who visited it. The value of a museum would 

 be tested not only by its contents, but by the treatment of those 

 contents as a means of advancing knowledge. What a museum 

 really depended upon for its success and usefulness was not its 

 building, not its cases, not even its specimens, but its curator. 

 They might as well build a church and expect it to perform the 

 duties required of it without a minister, or a school without a 

 schoolmaster, or a garden without a gardener, as to build a 

 museum and not provide a competent staff to take care of it. 

 Complimenting the directors on the objects they had sought after 

 in the arrangement of their museum, which was to provide a good 

 local collection of natural products, as well as the formation of 

 I type collection. Sir William Flower said every specimen 

 should have its definite purpose, and he quoted the saying of 

 Dr. Brown Goode that an efficient museum might be described 

 as a collection pf instructive labels, each illustrated by a well- 

 selected specimen. Advocating the appointment of a paid 

 curator, he said the great principle of expending public money 

 upon purposes of education, though a comparatively new one, 

 was now conceded upon all sides. The cost of supporting a 

 few really efficient museums would be a mere trifle compared 

 with the hundreds of thousands spent upon far less efficient 

 modes of educating and elevating the people. He commended 

 to the consideration of those who controlled the pecuniary 

 funds of the city the great benefits they might confer on educa- 

 tion by assisting to guarantee the stability of the Institution, 

 which noble voluntary efforts had brought into the condition 

 which enabled him to declare it open. 



The Gesellschaft fiir Erdkunde of Berlin has elected Mr. Scott 

 Keltic, Dr. II. R. Mill, and Mr. E. G. Ravenstein, Correspond- 

 ing Members, as a recognition of their work at the late Inter- 

 national Geographical Congress, 



The Paris Academy of Sciences have elected M. Lannelongue 

 Alember of the Section of Medicine and Surgery, in the place of 

 the late Prof. Verneuil. M. Charles Monod has been elected to 

 succeed Prof. Verneuil as a Member of the Paris Academy of 

 Medicine. 



Dr. G. Lagekheim (Tromso) has been appointed Professor 

 of Botany and Director of the Botanical Institute to the Uni- 

 versity of Stockholm. 



The second series of lectures arranged by the Sunday Lec- 

 ture Society begins on Sunday afternoon, December 8, in St. 

 NO. 1362, VOL. 53] 



George's Hall, Langham Place, at 4 p.m., with a lecture by 

 Sir Benjamin Ward Riehardson, F.R.S. Lectures will sub- 

 sequently be given by Mr. J. Churton Collins, Prof Arthur 

 Smithells, Prof. Vivian Lewes, Prof Percy Frankland, F.R.S. , 

 Dr. Karl Leutzner, and Dr. Andrew Wilson. 



A CORRESPONDENT in the United States writes :— "At the 

 elections this month several very important matters not of a 

 political nature were decided. In the State of New York, the 

 measure to expend $9,000,000 on the State canals was approved 

 by a large majority. The Erie Canal will be made nine feet 

 deep, and somewhat widened, and improved locks will be built. 

 Similar improvements will be made on the Oswego and Cham- 

 plain Canals. The work will be pushed on rapidly, and facilities 

 provided for the use of electric-motive power, to be furnished by 

 the Falls of Niagara." 



In June 1894, Dr. A. Donaldson Smith, a young American 

 physician, left England for an expedition across Somaliland to 

 Lake Rudolf. He was accompanied by Mr. Gillett, who was 

 recalled to England a few months later, and by Mr. Dodson, 

 who acted as collector and taxidermist. The attempt to march 

 straight from Milmill to Lake Abbai was frustrated by the 

 Abyssinians, and Dr. Smith returned to the Webi Shebeyli. He 

 left there in February last in order to try to reach Lake Rudolf by 

 another route, and as he was not heard of till he arrived at Lamir 

 in November, some anxiety was felt as to his safety. He has, 

 however, brilliantly carried out the whole of his plans, and 

 achieved the march from the coast of Somaliland to that of 

 British East Africa, which has been attempted repeatedly since 

 it was first projected by Burton. Dr. Smith has explored the 

 country to the north of Lakes Rudolf and Stephani and Abbai, 

 connecting the route of Teleki with that of the Abyssinian 

 travellers. He also reports [Times, 2nd inst.) a race of dwarfs 

 in this region. These must be the Doko, first reported by 

 Harris in 1844 from information supplied by a native of Shoa, 

 and whose existence has been repeatedly reaffirmed. Lake 

 Rudolf has only previously been reached by Teleki and Hohnet ; 

 at the time of their visit the lake was brackish, but it is now 

 fresh. Dr. Smith has brought back large collections, including 

 fish from Rudolf, Stephani, and Abbai. He does not seem to 

 have seen the snow-clad Wosho, reported by Abbidie ; Mount 

 Wosho will probably therefore have to be wiped off the map. 

 Dr. Smith is expected to read his paper at the Geographical 

 Society in January, when important additions to our knowledge 

 of this part of Africa may be expected. 



Further interesting additions to our knowledge of the 

 African fish-fauna may be hoped from the collection of Miss 

 Kingsley, who returned on Saturday, 30th ult. , from a courageous 

 journey on the West Coast. Miss Kingsley ascended the 

 Ogowe River to the French station at Njole, and thence 

 journeyed northward to the Rembwe, a tributary of the Gaboon. 

 She visited the Crystal Mountains. Subsequently she ascended 

 the Cameroons, and climbed the highest peak, the summit of 

 which was first reached by Burton and Mann in 1862. Miss 

 Kingsley's field of exploration is sufficiently well known to pre- 

 clude important geographical results, but many valuable ethno- 

 graphical observations have been made and zoological specimens 

 collected. 



A CURIOUS method 01 silvering mirrors has recently been 

 patented by M. Hans Boas, of Kiel (says Engiiteeriiig). It is 

 based upon the fact that, when one of the heavy metals forms 

 the cathode of a vacuum tube, containing a trace of hydrogen, 

 the metal is volatilised by the current, and is deposited as a 

 firmly adherent and highly polished layer on the walls of the 

 tube. The mirror thus produced is said to be of much greater 

 brilliancy than can be obtained by ordinary methods. 



