October lo, 1895 J 



NATURE 



573 



logy, and mineralogy so far back as 1827, and among the 

 naturalists who taught one or other of the subjects before 

 the new section was created were Hubert, Lor\-, Fouqu(5, 

 \'an Tieghdm, Dastre, Perridr, Cornu, {}iard, Lc Mon- 

 nier, and Bonnier. The feature of the instniction now- 

 given is the large at tcntion paid to field work. Fre- 

 quent geological, botanical and zoological excursions are 

 made under the charge of the professors, both during 

 the school year and the holidays, kx the marine biological 

 stations, holiday courses are always offered. Owing to 

 the labours of Prof de Lacaze-Duthiers, biological labora- 

 tories have been established at various points on the French 

 coast. .Since 1881, many students of the Normal .School 

 have worked at the stations at Roscoff, Banyuls, Concar- 

 neau, Wimereux, and .Saint-Waast, and the knowledge 

 they have thus gained from nature herself is far in ad- 

 vance of that received throug^h lectures or from books. 



Pasteur's connection with the school has a melancholy 

 interest at the present time. Before he left the Faculty of 

 .Sciences at Lille, to become administrator and director 

 of studies, he had made his important researches 

 on the tartrates of soda and ammonia, and had com- 

 menced the study of fermentation. He therefore wanted 

 a laboratory in which to continue his researches, but the 

 school could not at the time offer him ')ne. After 

 a little difficulty, one small room, about ten feet square, 

 was obtained, and in that restricted space he made some 

 of his most valuable discoveries. This accommodation 

 however, was gradually increased. In 1862 a large room 

 was expressly constructed for Pasteur's work, and was 

 added to from time to time as the value of the researches 

 carried on came to be recognised. Finally, it was im- 

 possible for him to carry on his extensive researches 

 under the hospitable roof in the rue d'Ulm, and he had 

 to remove to a larger building. .-X few years later his 

 work for science and humanity was recognised by the 

 construction, at a cost of more than ^100,000, raised by 

 international subscription, of the Pasteur Institute in 

 Paris, where the results of his researches are daily 

 applied, and where the remains of the great investigator 

 will finally rest. 



The \aluable Annales d Ecolc Norinale owe their 

 commencement to M. Pasteur. The journal was first 

 issued in 1864, and many impoitant memoirs by members 

 of the teaching staff, and by students, have appeared in 

 it. Pasteur was editor from 1864 to 1870, and was 

 succeeded by Henri Deville, who held the position until 

 1881, though the publication must have entailed pecuniar)' 

 loss. Finally, the An)i(t/es\\cre placed upon a firm foot- 

 ing by M. Zevort, director of .Secondary Education, who 

 twelve years ago increased the subscription list by pro- 

 viding for the introduction of the journal into a number 

 o{ lyccrs, and since then the assistance thus rendered has 

 been continued by succeeding Directors of Higher and 

 Secondary' Education. -M. Debray held the editorship of 

 the Annnles from 18S2 to 1888, and M. Hermite now 

 edits it, with an editorial committee comprising many 

 of the most eminent men of science in France. 



Many other names, in addition to those already 

 mentioned, have contributed to the glor\' of the school. 

 The work of (ialois, for instance, whose short life 

 ended in 1832, while still a student at the school, 

 has had great influence upon the development of mathe- 

 matics. 



In the early part of this centuiy, little attention was 

 paid to astronomy at the Normal School. The inathe- 

 maticians there produced a number of important memoirs 

 on celestial mechanics, and inade astronomical tables, 

 but practical astronomy was entirely neglected. When 

 Le \'crrier became director of the Paris Observator)-, he 

 obtained permission for a limited number of students to 

 work at the Observatory while still retaining their position 

 in the school. \'ictor Puiseux and Paul Desains were 

 the two first students selected, and they were succeeded 



NO. 1354, VOL. 52] 



by Paul Serret and Marie-Davy. Le V'errier thus opened 

 a new career for students at the school, and the way they 

 availed themselves of it is shown by the fact, that, in 1866, 

 there were as many as fifteen of them upon the Obser- 

 vatory staff. .Among the names of astronomers who 

 were students at the school, are MM. Tisserand, Rayet, 

 Andrd, Angot, Stephan, Simon, and Voigt ; and at one 

 time or another the school has provided directors for 

 all the State observatories in France. 



What more need be said ? The names and works of 

 the school's alumni are known and honoured throughout 

 the scientific world, and that is sufficient testimony 

 to the character of the instruction. The French 

 Government is generous in its treatment of the 

 school, but the expenditure is returned increased 

 a hundredfold through the works of the students. And 

 not only do these works benefit the Republic ; they 

 have an international value. Therefore the centenary 

 which the school celebrated this year, interests all who 

 are concerned with the advancement of natural know- 

 ledge. R. A. Grki-.orv. 



THE "GEMMI' DISASTER. 



A MONTH ago, the Swiss newspapers were full of 

 ■'*- various accounts of a destructive avalanche which 

 took place at the Gemmi on September 11, at 4 a.m. 

 The first report read as follows ; " .\ large part of the 

 Altels glacier got loose and slipped down, covering three 

 kilometres of ground on the Spital Alp, two hours' walk 

 above Kandersteg. Men (6) and cattle (300) have been 

 killed by the slipped mass. The break across the glacier 

 may be seen from the valley with the naked eye. Help- 

 has been sent up from the villages of Leuk, Kandersteg, 

 and Frutigen." {AUg. Sc/i7>.'. Ztg., September 12.) More 

 correct details afterwards decreased the loss of cattle by 

 about one half, and the whole damage is estimated at 

 from 60,000 to 80,000 francs. 



The part concerned will be perfectly familiar to many 

 English travellers. Few foot-tourists in Switzerland miss 

 the Pass of the Gemmi, which bridges the beautiful lime- 

 stone mountains between Canton Bern and Canton 

 Wallis at their western end. The tourist coming from 

 the North leaves the broad .Aare \'alley of Canton Bern 

 and its lakes at Thun, and ascends gradually through 

 the lateral Kander X'alley towards the glaciated chain of 

 the Diablerets, Oldenhorn, Wildstriibel and .Altels on the 

 southern horizon. The characteristic group of snowy 

 summits known as the Bliimlis Alp closes in the south- 

 eastern. The valley itself is bestrewn with gigantic 

 remnants of old mountain-slips, now clad with fir-tree 

 and a rich flora. -At Kandersteg it narrows, long moraines 

 fringe the mountains, and the driving-road is left for a 

 a steep winding footpath which climbs the mountain-sides 

 beneath the shade of densely-grown larch and fir. The 

 main stream hurls over rocky escarp and raves in deep 

 ravine. A sudden opening in the wood discloses the 

 tributary stream of the Gastem, its grey cliffs, and 

 tumbling waterfalls ; surely one of the most picturesque 

 glens in the .Alps ! 



Immediately beyond this point of view, the path 

 descends slightly for a short distance and bends round 

 the base of a wooded hill, known as the Stiercnhergli, 

 before it once more rises to the mountain pasturage and 

 chalets of the Spital. Here, the sound of cow-bells rings 

 over a grassy river-fiat, hemmed in east and west by 

 mountain ridges, northward by a thick tongue of moraine. 

 Only one steep, narrow passage defiles the northern 

 rocks and marks the contact of the Altels range with the 

 moraine tongue. A dammed-up lake basin, often dry in 

 summer, lies on the other side of the moraine where the 

 road leads to the cosily-sheltered Schwarenbach Inn. 

 Three-quarters of an hour's farther walk on rocky shelving 



