Jui.\ 



I I , 



<895j 



NATURE 



249 



Surely this group of the great naturaHsts of this country 

 and this centun- must be completed b\- the one we have 

 just lost, in some respects the greatest of the three. The 

 statues of I'itt and Fox stand side by side in Westminster 

 .A.bbey. Huxley and Owen, often divided in their lives, 

 would here come together after death in the most appro- 

 priate place and amid the most appropriate surround- 

 ings." 



What Is now wanted is a representative committee to 

 take the matter up ; we are confident that an appeal for 

 funds \\ ould meet « ith a ready response, and we are glad 

 to know that steps are being taken in this direction. A 

 circular signed by Dr. Foster and Sir William Flower has 

 been issued, calling a meeting at the rooms of the Royal 

 -Socictv this afternoon. 



NOTES. 

 The meeting at which the Prince of Wales. ])rcsided in St. 

 James's I'alace on Tuesday, ought to further the interests of the 

 liritish School at .Vthens, in support of which it was held. A 

 distinguished and representative company was present, among 

 'hem being many well-known men of science. Tl.e Prince of 

 Wales has concerned himself with the existence and welfare of 

 the School from the time of its foundation in 1883, and we are 

 glad to notice that in his remarks to the meeting he drew atten- 

 tion to tile fact that the scantiness of the means provided was 

 out of all proportion to the valuable archa;ological work carried 

 on. The School only has a precarious annual income of .^500, 

 whereas the French School at .\thens has an assured income of 

 over ;f 3000 a year, and the Herman .School more than /.2000 a 

 year. Owing to this state of .affairs, it is quite impossible for the 

 British School to enter into competition with such undertakings 

 as the explorations of the Germans at Olympia, the French at 

 Delphi, the .\mericans at ."Vrgos, or the Cireeks at P^leusis and 

 Ejiidaurus. The sum required to bring Kngland approximately 

 into line with other nations is at least ^1500 a year.. For- 

 tunately, as the Prince of Wales remarked at the meeting, 

 there are hi>peful signs that matters will soon be placed on 

 a more satisfactory footing. \ petition for support addressed to 

 the late (jovernment, met with a ready response : and before 

 leaving office .Sir William Harcourt took steps to use some jior- 

 tion of the public funds devoted to the encouragement of scientific 

 investigation for the support of the .School, andit is understood that 

 the present Ministers are willing to confirm the action of their pre- 

 decessors. (Jneof the colleges at Canibridge. which has been most 

 severely tried through the agricultural dcjiression, has generously 

 made an annual appropriation out of its reduced funds, and three 

 colleges at fJxford have voted annual grants. The public 

 schools are also moving in the matter. The Prince of Wales 

 supgesletl that perhaps .some of our Cit\" (.\)mpanies, whose funds 

 are devoted nut only to local charities, but which have extended 

 their sphere to the support of educational and scientific institu- 

 tions, may see their way to encourage research in Greece ; 

 and he ho|)ed that our colonies, which are so intimately bound 

 up with our own culture and our higher national aspirations, 

 will recognise the fact that all the privileges of the Athens School 

 are open tu their qualified students, and will make some effort 

 towards securing its adequate efficiency. Lastly, he appealed 

 to the liberality of private individuals, and expressed himself 

 convinced that the appeal would find a response throughout the 

 country. Kvery year excavation, both in Greece and else- 

 where, is becoming more important to science. The follow- 

 ing resolutions, confirmatory of the object of the meeting, 

 were carried unanimously: — (i) "That the British School 

 at .\thens has already done excellent work during the nine 

 years of its existence, and is well deserving of increa.sed 

 -supjiorl." (2) "That this meeting pledges itself ti> use every 

 effort to place the School upon a sound financial ba.sis. so that in 

 NO. 1341, VOL. 52] 



point of dignity and efficiency it may worthily represent this 

 country among the other foreign institutes in .Vthens." 



Pkoi\ CiRTits, of the University at Kiel, has been ap|5ointed 

 successor to the late Prof. Lothair von Meyer at Tubingen. 



Prok. Daxiei. C. F'atox, well known in botanical circles by 

 his work on ferns, has just died at New Haven, U.S. 



We learn that SL J- Deby, one of the leading authorities on 

 diatoms, whose magnificent collection was recently acquired by 

 the British Museum, is dead. He was in his seventieth year, 

 having been born at I^acken, in Belgium, in 1826. 



To the list of honours given last week should have been 

 added Sir Bernhard Samuelson. M.P., F.R.S., who has been 

 made a Privy Councillor, and Dr. H. D. Littlejohn, who has 

 been made a knight. On Thursday last, Mr. Thornley Stoker, 

 President of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and Dr. 

 Christopher Nixon, were knighted by the Lord-Lieutenant of 

 Ireland. 



The date of the annual meeting of the Society of Chemical 

 Industry, which is this year to be held in Leeds, has been post- 

 poned from July 17 to July 31, in consequence of the General 

 Election. It is not thought that any material change will have 

 to be made in the programme. 



Prof. Sch w.\rz has been elected a Correspondant of the Paris- 

 Academy, in the Section of Geometry ; Baron von Midler has 

 been elected to the late Prof Pringsheim's place in the Section 

 of Botany, and Prof Engelmann succeeds Ludwig in the Section 

 of Medicine and Surgery. 



We are glad to be able to announce that the Italian Meteoro- 

 logical Society, which was temporarily dissolved after the death 

 of Padre Denza, has again been reorganised, under the presi- 

 dency of Count \'igodaizere, whoisthe proprietor of an observa- 

 tory at Fontaniva. The central observator)- will be at Moncalieri, 

 as before, and we look forward to a continuation of the useful 

 work carried on formerly by the Society. 



We are informed that King's College, London, will open next 

 October a department for training teachers for Secondary 

 Schools. There will be a two-years' course of technical studies 

 combined with the preparation for the B..\. degree of the 

 University of London. Detailed instruction in the art of teach- 

 ing i>articular subjects will be given by the Professors of the 

 College. Six FZxhibhions of /15 are offered. Names of 

 students should be sent in before September 16. 



A Reiter correspondent at St. John's reports that the 

 steamer Kite left there for Crreenland on Tuesday to bring home 

 the Pearj- Arctic Expedition. It is expected to return on 

 October l. The party on board includes Prof Salisbury, of 

 Chicago University, who goes to study the glaciers and geology 

 of the region ; Prof Dyche, of the State University. Kansas, 

 who will collect specimens of the fauna and flora ; and Mr. 

 Boutillier, of Phil.adelphia, who represents the Geographical 

 Society. 



The influence of the Royal Gardens at Kew is felt in widely 

 diflerent regions of the world, through the men who are 

 trained at the (lardens and sent out to various Botanic Stations. 

 Three new appointments of men who have benefited by the 

 Kew training, are notified in the current Kew Bulletin : they 

 are .Mr. C. II. Humphries, who has been made Curator of the 

 Botanic Station of .Aburi, on the Gold Coast ; Mr. J. C. Moore, 

 who has been appointed Curator of the Botanic Station at St. 

 Lucia, in the Windward Islands, West Indies ; and Mr. H. 

 McMillan, who goes as Head Gardener to the Royal Botanic 

 Gardens at Peradeniya, Ceylon. 



Mr. a. B. Basset has sent us a letter referring to the proposed 

 changes in the size of the pages of the R05 al Society's publications. 

 He directs attention to chapter xii. .section ii. of the Statutes 



