September 12, 1895] 



NATURE 



485 



monument to the memory of Werner Siemens and Ilelmholtz 

 in front of the Technische Hochschule at Charlottenburg. 



Prof. Retsius and Dr. Bergh, of Copenhagen, have been 

 elected Correspondants of the Paris Academy. 



The Berliner Akademieder Wissenschaften has, weunderstand, 

 recently elected the following gentlemen as corresponding mem- 

 bers :--Prof. W. V. (iUmbel (Miinich), Prof. A. von Zittell 

 (Munich), Prof. A. .Schrauf (Vienna), Prof. A. Cossa (Turin), 

 Prof. \. Agassiz (Cambridge, Mass.), and Prof. E. Mascart 

 (Paris). 



The quinquennial International Metric Congress, which is at 

 present being held in Paris, under the presidency of Dr. Marey, 

 was opened on the 4th inst. by M. Hanotaux, who delivered a 

 brief address. On the 6th inst. the second session of the 

 Congress took place, and M. liirsch, of the Neuchatel Observa- 

 tor)', was elected Secretary. The Secretary presented the report 

 of the Committee on the work already done, and the present 

 state of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures, and 

 a series of metric standards which have been under consideration 

 since the Congress of 1889 was sanctioned. 



The Swiss Naturforschende Gesellschaft has been holding its 

 annual congress at Zermatt. The proceedings began on Sep- 

 tember 8, and concluded on the nth. September 8 was devoted 

 to the meetings of committees ; the Sections met on September 

 10, and on the 9th and nth inst. the general meetings took 

 place. 



The death is announced of Dr. Sven Loven, the distinguished 

 Swedish naturalist. He was born, says the Times, at Stockholm 

 in 1809, and received his education at the University of Lund, 

 where he took the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. After attend- 

 ing lectures in Berlin in 1830-31, he devoted himself to the study 

 of the maritime fauna of the coasts of Scandinavia. He also 

 «.\p]ored the Baltic and the North Seas, and ccmducted the first 

 scientific expedilitm to Spitzbergen in 1837. He was the author 

 of numerous scientific memoirs, all published by the Royal 

 Swedish Academy of Sciences. Dr. Loven was elected a 

 member of the Academy of Stockholm in 1840, and Professor 

 and Conservator of the Royal Museum of Natural History of 

 that city in 1841. He was a member of the academies of Berlin 

 and Munich, a corresponding member of the Institute of France, 

 and in 1885 was elected a foreign member of the Royal Society 

 of London. 



The death is recorded, at the age of eighty-one years, of Mr. 

 JamesCarter, of Cambridge. Korvery many years Mr. Carter prac- 

 tised as a medical man, but found time to engage in the study of 

 scientific and antiquarian subjects, and was especially interested 

 in iwheontology. He contributed many papers to the Geological 

 Magazine and the Quarterly Journal of the Oeological Society, 

 and served for many years on the Councils of the (Geological 

 and Palxontological Societies. 



The Kew Biillelin has heard with regret of the death from 

 ■dysentery in May last of Mr. V . H. Smiles, who had been attached 

 lo the Royal .Survey Department of Siam. Mr. Smiles, who 



ha<l alrea<lydone some good botanical work, returned to Siam in 



December last with the intention of making further botanical 

 collections, and it was confidently anticipated that he would 



have added considerably to the knowledge of the rich flora of 



Vpper Siam. 



The death is announced of Mr. R. H. Tweddell, the well- 

 Tcnown engineer; of Mr. K. K. C. Davis, president of the 

 American Society of Mechanical Engineers ; and of Mr. H. 

 ■C. Hart, one of the first class technical ofiicers of the 

 <ngineer-in-chief's office. Post Oftice Telegraphs. 



NO. 1350, VOL. 52] 



The centenary of Jenner's first e.xperiments in vaccination is 

 to be celebrated next May by the Russian National Health 

 Society. To commemorate the event the Society proposes (l) 

 to offer four prizes for the best works upon vaccination ; (2) to 

 collect and publish materials for a history of the practice of 

 vaccination in Russia, and a short history of the same in Western 

 Europe ; (3) to publish a Russian translation of Jenner's works, 

 accompanied by his biography and portrait ; (4) to organise an 

 exhibition of objects connected with vaccination ; (5) to hold a 

 commemorative meeting on the day of the centenar)-. 



The annual joint meeting of the Swiss Geographical Societie.s 

 will be held this year at St. Gall, on September 22 and 23. At 

 this meeting a paper will be read by Dr. Hans Meyer on the 

 " Snow Mountains of Equatorial Africa." 



An exhibition of agricultural machinery, similar to that held 

 in May of the present year, is being arranged under the auspices 

 of the Imperial and Royal Agricultural Society of Vienna, to take 

 place in that city in May 1S96. The exhibits will comprise not 

 only agricultural machines as generally understood, but appliances 

 used in all branches of industry connected with agriculture, such 

 as breweries, and distilleries, and yeast, sugar, vinegar, and starch 

 factories. 



We learn from the Nation, New York, that only one MS. 

 was received in competition for the prize of 400 dollars 

 given by Dr. Gould's Astronomical fourual "for the most 

 thorough discussion of the theory of the rotation of the earth 

 with reference to the recently discovered variations of latitude." 

 The paper was sent by and the prize awarded to Prof. Newcomb; 

 The other prize, of 200 dollars, was given to Mr. Paul S. 

 ^'endell, for the best series of determinations of maxima and 

 minima of variable stars. 



Science states that the Berliner Akadeniie der Wissenschaften 

 has recently put aside over £^\<yy:i for the promotion of 

 scientific work and research. Of this amount an appropriation of 

 .^100 has been made to Prof. Fuchs, of Berlin, to be devoted to 

 the continuation of the publication of Dirichlet's works ; .if too to 

 Prof. Weierstrass, of Berlin, for the publication of his collected 

 w-orks ; ^75 to Prof. Gerhardt for the publication of the mathe- 

 matical correspondence of Leilmitz, and;£^ioo to Dr. Schauinsland 

 for researches on the Fauna of the Pacific islands. 



The Giittingen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften will, on 

 February i, 1897, award a prize of 500 marks for an anatomical 

 research and description of the cavities of the body of the new- 

 born child and their contents compared with those of the adult. 



The Academy of Sciences of Cr.acow proposes, as the subject 

 for the Copernicus prizes, theories concerning the physical con- 

 dition of the globe. Essays must be written in the Polish 

 language, and reach the Academy before the end of 189S. 



The Orient Steam Navigation Company, Limited, announce 

 their intention of sending one of their steamships to Vadso, 

 Varanger Fiord, l.ajiland, in August next, to enable observations 

 to be made of the total eclipse of the sun on August 9, 1896. It 

 is arranged for the vessel to leave London on July 21, to arrive 

 at Vadso on August 3, and to return from the latter place on 

 the loth, reaching London on August 17. Particulars as to 

 the cost, &c. , of the trip may be seen in our advertisement 

 columns, or obtained from Messrs. Anderson, Anderson, and 

 Co., 5 Fenchurch Avenue, E.C., or 16 Cockspur Street, 

 S.W. 



Severe thunderstorms again occurred in the southern and 

 eastern parts of England early on Saturday morning, 7th instant, 

 accompanied with heavy falls of hail and rain, and causing con- 

 siderable damage. The disturbance was occasioned by the 



