May, 1 6, 1895J 



NA TURE 



59 



iHK unveiling of a memorial tablet to the late Prof. J. C. 

 Adams at Westminster Abbey, on Thursday last, was an event 

 in which all men of science are interested. It might have been 

 made a great occasion, for .\dam.s' name is esteemed throughout 

 the scientific world, instead of which the meeting seems chiefly 

 to have reiiresented the University of Cambridge. The tablet 

 has been placed in the north aisle, close to the graves of Newton, 

 Herschel, and Darwin. It is the work of Mr. Bruce Joy, and 

 bears the following inscription :— " Johannes Couch Adams, 

 rianetam Neptununi Calculo .Monstravit. mdcccxlx'." 



A Bill incorporating the New York Zoological Society, and 

 providing for the establishment of a zoological garden in New 

 York, has just been approved by Governor Morton. The Act 

 provides that the corporation shall have power to establish and 

 maintain in New York City a zoological garden for the purpose 

 of encouraging and advancing the study of zoology, original 

 researches in thfe same, and kindred subjects, and of furnishing 

 instruction and recreation to the people. 



On April 26, the Linnean Society of Bordeaux held a meeting 

 devoted to the question of bibliographical refornu The pro- 

 spectus of the new Bibliogra])hical Bureau for Zoology was 

 approved by all the members present, and the wish was ex- 

 pressed that a similar organisation be at once attempted for the 

 other branches of natural science. In accordance with this wish, 

 it was decided to elaborate a project for the establishment of a 

 Central Bureau for Botany. This project will be presented to the 

 A-Ssociation Fran9aise at its next meeting, by the President of the 

 Botanical Section. M. Mourlan, the Director of the Academie 

 des Sciences of Belgium, proposes similar action for geology. It 

 is hoped that, by the establishment of several federated bureaus, 

 the plan of the Royal Society may be fully realised and without 

 great difficulty. Meantime, the organisation of the Zoological 

 Bureau has made considerable progress, the circular of the French 

 Commission has already appeared, and has been widely distributed 

 by the French Zoological Society ; the American Commission has 

 completed its preliminar)' study, and will soon send its circular to 

 press. In other countries, notably in Russia, similar progress is 

 reiwrted. 



Thk programme of arrangements for the I]>swich meeting of 

 the British Association has just been is.sued. The first general 

 meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 1 1 , when the 

 Marquis of .Sali,sburj- will resign the chair, and Sir Douglas 

 Clalton, President elect, will assume the jjresitlency. and deliver 

 an address ; on Thursday evening, September 12, a soiree will 

 be held ; on the following evening a discourse will be delivered 

 by Prof. Silvanus P. Thompson on magnetism in rotation ; on 

 Monday evening, .September l6, there will be a discourse by 

 Prof. Percy F. Frankland on the work of Pasteur and its various 

 developments ; a second soiree will take place on Tuesday even- 

 ing, September 17, and the concluding general meeting will be 

 held on Wednesday, September 18. The .Sections and their 

 Presidents are as follows : — (a) Mathematical and Physical 

 Science — President, Prof. W. M. Hicks, F.R.S. {h) Chemistry — 

 President, Prof. R. Meldola, F.R.S. (<) Geology— President, W. 

 Whitaker, F.R.S. (</) Zoology (including Animal Physiology) — 

 President, Prof. W. A. Herdman, F.R.S. (e) Geography — 

 President, H. J. Mackinder. (/) Economic Science and 

 Statistics — President, L. L. Price, [g] Mechanical Science — 

 President, Prof. L. F. X'ernon Harcourt. {h) Anthropology — 

 President, Prof. W. .M. Flinders Petrie. {k) Botany — President, 

 W. T.Thiselton-Dyer, CM. G., F.R.S. Section I ( Phy.siology) 

 will not meet at Ipswich, but papers on animal physiology will be 

 read in Section D. The delegates of corresponding .Societies will 

 meet on Thursday, September 12, and Tuesday, September 17, 

 under the presidency of Mr. G. J. Symons, F.R.S. The accept- 

 ance of papers is, as far as possible, determined by organising 



NO. 1333- VOL. 52] 



committees for the se\eral Sections, before the beginning of the 

 meeting. It has, therefore, become necessary, in order to give 

 an opportunity to the Committees of doing justice to the com- 

 munications, that each author should forward his paper, tc^ether 

 with an abstract, on or before August 12, to the General 

 Secretaries of the Association. 



Several summer schools for the practical study of botany w ill 

 be held during the coming season in the United States — one in 

 connection with Cornell University, and one in connection with 

 the University of Wisconsin, both from July 8 to August 16; 

 also one in connection with the Cambridge Botanical Supply 

 Co., Cambridge, Mass;, from July 5 for five weeks. 



The Sitzimgsberichle of the Vienna Academy of Sciences 

 (vol. civ. ) contains a discussion of the observations of atmo- 

 spherical electricity and St. Elmo's Fire on the Sonnblick by 

 Messrs. J. Elster and H. Geitel, being a continuation of the 

 observations to the time of the change of the former observer. 

 The results confirm those previo\isly obtained, and show that the 

 yearly variation of the electrical energy at the summit is small, 

 compared to that at the base, and that the smuniit of the mountain 

 projects above those strata of the atmosphere in which electrical 

 processes mostly occur. During the fall of fine snow the St. 

 Elmo's P'ire is mostly negative, but positive when large flakes of 

 snow and hail are falling. 



From a paper on early agriculture in Palestine, by Dr. H. 

 Vogelstein, we learn the interesting fact that in the first 

 two centuries of the Christian era, rainfall was measured by 

 means of a receptacle. The Jewish Mishnah refers to two 

 seasons, one wet and the other dry. In normal years the early 

 rain fell soon after the autumnal equinox, and its importance to 

 agriculture is frequently referred to in that document. The 

 amount which fell at this season was about 21 inches, which 

 agrees fairly well w ith the present measurements at Jerusalem, 

 but the total annual fall is not stated by Dr. Vogelstein, 

 Further particulars of this interesting communication will be 

 found in the Meteorologische Zeitschrift for April. 



Prof. L. II. Bailey, of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., 

 has recently read before the Biological Society of Washington 

 a paper entitled the " Plant-individual in the Light of Evolution." 

 In this paper, according to the Ameriian Naturalist, he suggests- 

 the idea that both Lamarckism and Darwinism are true, the 

 former finding its expression best in animals, the latter in plants. 

 The plant is, according to him, not a simple autonomy, in the 

 sense in which the animal is, and the parts of the plant are 

 independent in resi)ect to propagation, struggle for existence, 

 and transmission of characters. According to this view there 

 can be no localisation or continuity of germ-pl.asm in plants, in 

 the sense in which these conceptions are applied to animals'. 



The El Universal reports th.it the cold spell in February 

 extended right down the Gulf of Mexico to \"era Cruz. On the 

 I Sth and 1 6th it was freezing over a distance of 80 leagues from 

 Monterey to Ciudad \'ictoria and Tula in Tamaulipas, and the 

 mountains were covered with snow. In the district of Tancan- 

 huitz, State of San Luis Potosi, the sugar-canes and coffee-trees 

 were all killed, the value of the coffee crop destroyed being 

 estimated at a million dollars. In the Huasteca, State of Vera 

 Cruz, sugar-canes, coffee, and tobacco were similarly killed — a 

 loss of several million dollars — while cattle were dying by 

 hmidreds im the frost-bitten pasture lands. Owing to the frost 

 having followed a prolonged drought, prices had risen to famine 

 rates, and there was much sickness, especially croup and small-pox. 

 In the district round .\ltotonga a very hot .south wind set in on 

 February 13, which suddenly cooled, and grew in intensity and 

 cold. On the 14th, snow began to fall and did not cease till the 

 17th. Ten parishes in the temperate zone were snow-covere 



