April i6, 1S96] 



NATURE 



561 



himself can surpass Wolf in the introduction of feeling 

 and humour into pictures of mammal-Hfe. 



AUhough after deserting scientific work Wolf was 

 liardly the less active, and executed a large number 

 of pictures, both in oil and in water-colours, these 

 products of his brain and pencil are not, perhaps, 

 so well known as his earlier work. Wolf was not 

 elected a Royal Academician, as he certainly ought to 

 have been, and very seldom exhibited pictures in the 

 galleries of Burlington House. His splendid efforts are 

 mostly hid away in the palaces and country mansions of 

 certain great patrons, who were always ready to gi\ e him 

 full employment. Such mansions as Lilford Hall, Cole- 

 brooke, and (luisachan, must be visited by those who wish 

 to examine Wolfs paintings of this class. But, after all, 

 we agree with the biographer that oil is not the material 

 in which Wolf most excels, although it may be as an oil- 

 painter that he prefers to be known. The best of his 

 productions are in water-colour, and in charcoal and 

 chalk. Such, at least, is the opinion of those who regard 

 his work from a scientific point of \iew. 



Before concluding this notice, we cannot avoid alluding 

 to the way in which Wolf's scientific work has been 

 plagiarised in Germany. On turning to the last page of 

 the present volume, the " Royal Natural History" will be 

 found given in the list of the most recent works which 

 Wolfs genius has served to illustrate. Wolf's pictures, 

 however, have arrived here in this instance by a curious 

 route. Originally prepared for the Proceedmgs of the 

 Zoological Society and other works, they were copied by 

 the artist employed on Brehm's " Thierleben." Not only 

 was this done, but in some cases Wolf's initials were re- 

 moved and those of the copier ("G. IVI.") inserted in their 

 place. The blocks thus altered for Brehm's " Thierleben " 

 were subsequently purchased by Messrs. Warne and Co. 

 for use in the " Royal Natural History," and have been 

 so employed without the slightest acknowledgment that 

 the designs were originally the products of Wolf's pencil. 

 To prove this, we ha\'e only to compare the figure of the 

 " \*ariegated Spider-monkey," in the " Royal Natural 

 History" (vol. i. p. 64), with the original figure of Wolf in 

 the Proceedings of the Zoological Society for 1867 (plate 

 xlvii.). It will be seen that the former figure is initialled 

 '■ G. M.," but the latter "J. W." 



We will now only add an anecdote of Wolf, extracted 

 from Mr. J. G. Millais's recently published " Breath from 

 the Veldt." Mr. Millais, who appears to be as great an 

 admirer of Wolf as his father is known to be, tells us that 

 one day, some years ago, Wolf was busy on one of the 

 superb panels which grace the walls of the late Lord 

 Tweedmouth's Highland residence, Guisachan. Landseer, 

 who was staying at the same house, and who, it should 

 be remarked, was a firm believer in the pre-existence of 

 man in other forms, came up behind Wolf, who was hard 

 at work, and stood gazing at his picture for some time 

 without making any remark. At last Wolf got a bit 

 nervous, and fidgeted about. Then turning round to 

 Landseer, on whom he was afraid the picture had created 

 an unfavourable impression : " Well, Landseer," he said, 

 " you might say something : I'm afraid you don't like it." 

 " Well, not exactly that," was the dry reply ; " for I was 

 just thinking that before you were a man, Wolf, you must 

 have been an osprey " (the bird at which the artist was 

 working). 



CHARLES CHAMBERS, F.R.S. 



W 



j^E have already briefly announced the death of Mr. 

 Charles Chambers, who for thirty years has 

 directed the CaU\ba Observatory of Bombay, and who, 

 by his zeal and ability, has materially increased its repu- 

 tation, and worthily upheld the cause of science in the 

 East. Mr. Chambers received his practical and scientific 



NO. I 38 I. VOL. 53] 



training under the late Prof Balfour Stewart, at Kew ;. 

 and when, in 1866, he was appointed Superintendent of 

 the Bombay Observatory, the fortunes of that institution 

 appear to have been at a low ebb, and its continued 

 maintenance by the Indian Government open to ques- 

 tion. Mr. Chambers's appointment was at first of a 

 temporary character, and his ofiRce the thankless one of 

 discreetly covering the shortcomings of his predecessors, 

 and of making the results of their observations available 

 for scientific use. The difficulties which he had to over- 

 come are hinted at in some of his numerous papers, 

 which have appeared as appendices to the volumes issued 

 from the Bombay Observatory, or in the publications of 

 the Royal Society. For instance, in his discussion on 

 the meteorology of the Bombay Presidency, it is men- 

 tioned that the whole of tlie original manuscript registers 

 prior to the year 1847 (the observatory was founded in 

 1 841) had disappeared, that it was doubtful, in some of 

 the printed records, whether the time was referred to the 

 Bombay or the Gottingen Meridian ; while other evi- 

 dences of looseness hindered the preparation, or neces- 

 sitated the rejection of his predecessors' work. 



The magnetic results appear to have been in a more 

 satisfactory condition, and very soon after his appoint- 

 ment he was able to report the probability of their turn- 

 ing out trustworthy and \aluable. With the mass of 

 accumulated arrears Mr. Chambers grappled manfully, 

 and in the Philosophical Transactions for 1869, the 

 Bombay observations from 1859-1865 are employed to 

 discuss the solar variation of magnetic declination at 

 that station. The energy displayed by Mr. Chambers, 

 and the favourable position of the observatory, inter- 

 mediate in longitude between Kew and Nertchinsk, 

 induced the Scientific Committee, consulted by the Indian 

 authorities, at the head of whom was Sir Bartle Frere, to 

 continue the grant to the observator)', and to supply it 

 with new instruments of the Kew pattern. Some delay 

 appears to have occurred in sending out these instru- 

 ments from England, a delay which permitted Mr. 

 Chambers to organise his staff and reduce his arrears. 



Trained in the school of Sabine and Stewart, Mr. 

 Chambers's earliest investigations had reference to the 

 possibility of referring the disturbances of terrestrial 

 magnetism to the sun, considered as a magnet with its 

 axis perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic. The con- 

 clusion at which he arrived was that no effect of the 

 sun's action as a magnet is sensible at the earth. This 

 decision, at the time, received the approval of the late 

 President of the Royal Society, and subsequent and 

 more elaborate investigations have tended to confirm the 

 conclusion. This tendency to trace the magnetism of 

 the earth to the sun, induced Mr. Chambers later to 

 investigate, from long series of observations, the solar 

 and lunar variations of the three magnetic elements 

 observed at Bombay, and likewise the effect of sun-spot 

 on terrestrial phenomena. It is not easy to do full justice 

 to the long series of varied researches which have come 

 from the Bombay Observatory under his able direction, 

 or to the heavy loss which that institution sustains in 

 his removal. 



Not the least of his services to science is to enable his 

 successor to continue the observatory under more efficient 

 conditions than he himself found, and with a reputation 

 considerably enhanced by his devotion. 



NOTES. 



A .MEETING for discussion will be held at the Royal Society 

 next Thursday; the subject, "Colour Photography," will be 

 introduced by Prof. Lippmann. 



A MEMORIAI. has been projected in Ciermany to the late 

 Prof. Hermann Hellriegel, of Bernburg, who died in Septemlier 

 last. It is proposed to erect a monument in the churchyard at 



