6oo 



NA TURE 



[OCTOEER i;, 1S95 



20S-211), and, .It the request of the Earth Tremors Com- 

 mittee of the British Association, he wrote an adinirable 

 summai^- of his results up to the middle of 1893. As 

 this is readily accessible, it is unnecessary to enlarge 

 upon his achievements here. I will merely add that 

 since that date he has written several papers on 

 earthquake-pulsations in Petennann's Mil/Zicilii/igc/i and 

 tlie Astrfliiomisclic Xac/iriclitcn. His last memoir, and 

 one of the most valuable, has just been published in 

 ( ierland's Rcitnii^c :ur GiOphysik. 



For several months before his death, von Kebeur- 

 I'aschwitz was occupied with a scheme for the organ- 

 ised study of earthqu.ike-pulsations all over the 

 globe. The suitability of his horizontal pendulum for 

 this purpose had received ample proof, and nothing but 

 the want of health seemed likely to prevent the fulfil- 

 ment of his plans. These, no doubt, will be carried out 

 by other, if less skilful, hands ; but to him will belong a 

 great part of the credit for any results that may be 

 attained. Dying at thirty-four, he had done work which 

 most men of twice the age might regard with satisfaction 

 as the frtiits of a well-spent life. Ch.vrles D.wison. 



CHARLES V. RILEY. 



CHARLES \'. RILEY, >LA., I'h.U., whose death on 

 the 14th ult., in consequence of injuries received 

 in a fall from a bicycle in the streets of Washington, 

 w;is announced in these columns on October 3, was an 

 Englishman, born at Walton-on-Thames in 1843. He 

 emigrated to the I'nited Stales at the age of seventeen, and 

 settled, as we learn from the Ganicii and Forest, on a farm 

 in Illinois. Like so many other .-Xmericans, who have 

 since made a reputation in science, he served as a soldier 

 in the civil war. Subsequently, after some experience as 

 a journalist, he was appointed .State Entomologist of 

 Missouri, a position he occu])ied nearly ten years. 

 During this period he did excellent work in the investi- 

 gation of the lifc-liistories of insects injurious to plants, 

 anfl experiments to discover the most effectual means of 

 destroying them. But one of his earliest papers was on 

 a new genus 1 Proitiil>i<\) of the Tincidiu, and the part it 

 plays in the fertilisation of Vinca} This was an im- 

 portant and interesting contribution to biological science. 

 In 1S78 he accepted the post of Entomologist to the 

 I'nited States Department of .Agriculture at Washington, 

 where, in the words of the authority cited abo\e, he 

 practically supervised all the entomological work of the 

 ("■overnment until his resignation last year. The valuable 

 results of the investigations and experiments conducted 

 by him and his staff, were in part published in occasional 

 bulletins, of which thirty-two appeared between 1883 and 

 1894, and partly in the now familiar periodical entitled 

 ///(■(*(■/ /./'A, which was established in 1888. Six volumes 

 Hupcared under his editorship. Dr. Riley was an in- 

 ^able worker, and his organising and .idminislrative 

 i-s were well exemplified in the department which 

 li' -n successfully developed. W. B. H. 



NOTES. 

 \\ \ ; in urdcr to enable the Hcrlin .Xcademy of 



.Scicm cviriipletc edition of Kant's work.s, the (iovcrn- 



nunl 111 Ku-.>i.i has consented to place at its disposal for a 

 linii; tlic philosopher's nianiiscripls belonging to the University 

 of I)or|iat. 



A' 'OKiilsr. to the Brilisli Mfiiinl Jotirml, the New York 



I . ur Institute has jnirchasi-d thirty-five acres of land near 



1 I (•..! ..„ which an experiment station is to be cstab- 



lon will be stocked with cows, horses, sheep, 



u^, >\nii.ii will \k used for the production of diphtheria 



i/fjAf//>n/ uf the Airadcmy of Science of St. Iahuk Hi. (1673) p. 55. 



NO. 1355, YOL. 52] 



and cancer anlitoxins. The situation is healthy, and in tlie 

 grounds there will lie a house in which some of the patients of 

 the Institute w ill be treated. .\ new station, to he known as the 

 Pasteur Station, will be established on ihe Erie Railroad, close at 

 hand. 



Wk regret to notice the following announcement in Siicmc : — 

 " Prof. Ernst Ritter, whose appointment -is .issistant professor of 

 mathematics in Cornell L'niversity was recently announced, died 

 on September 23, of typhoid fever, on his arrival in .-\merica from 

 Germany. Ernst Ritter was born at Waltcrshausen, Germany, on 

 January 9, 1867. He spent twelve years at the Gymnasium at 

 Gotha, and afterwards studied mathematics and natural science 

 under Thomas, at Jena, and under Klein and Schwartz, at 

 Gottingen. In 1S90 he passed the Government teacher's 

 examination with the highest distinction, after two years of 

 pedagogical work at Cassel, and at the Wohlcrschule in Erank- 

 furt. He took the degree of Ph.D., sum ma iiiin /aiiift'. at 

 Gottingen in 1892. In 1893 he was ap|ioinled assistant to Prof. 

 Klein, and began to devote his entire lime to mathematics, con-, 

 Iributing regularly to mathematical periodicals. Last year he 

 lectured on geometry and the theory of automorphic functions, 

 in which he was an authority. He was appointed to his Cornell 

 professorship last June."' 



We learn from theyoHz-Hn/of the I'ranklin Institute that the 

 German Hygienic .\ssociation offers a prize of 1200 dols. for a 

 research e.ssay on the efficiency of electric heaters. The jiro- 

 gramme is as follows : " The heat given out in healing instal- 

 lations by heaters in their various forms and modes of use is 

 to l)e ascertained. The investigations are to be described in 

 detail in respect to the arrangement of the heaters, the nature 

 of the heating agents, and the observations made : and thej- 

 are to be illustrated by drawings. The heating values obtained 

 are to be stated in units of heat given off per hour per unit of 

 surface. In the cise of heat given out to air, Ihe investigations 

 must be conducted with currents of air at speeds .is different a-i 

 possible. The heaters are to be described in detail as regards 

 form and measurement, and the relation of their liealing effi- 

 ciency to their weight is also to be ascertained." Essays are to 

 be written in German, and sent, with a motto and sealed enve- 

 lope, to Prol. Konrad Ilarlmann, Charlottenliurg, Easannslrasse 

 18, before.July I, 1896. The e^say will remain the property of 

 the successful competitor, but he is r,;quircd to publish il within 

 six months, and to give the prize offerers gratuitously 300 copies. 

 The offerers reserve the right to divide or withhold the prize. 



Til K display of hor.seless carriages, held at Tunbridge Wells 

 on Tuesday, under the superintendence of .Sit David .Salomons, 

 will do something towards the introduction of self-propelling 

 light vehicles in England. Two carriages, filled with Daimler 

 motors, were shown in operation. One of these, that belonging 

 to Sir David Salomons, weighs 13 cwt., and s\ill run nearly 

 two hundred miles « ithout recharging. The motor has a horse- 

 power of 3J, and a .speed of fifteen miles an hour can be allained 

 on a level road, while on a gradient of one in ten a speed of 

 four miles an hour is reached. .\ mechanical tricycle, worked 

 by a petroleum motor with electric spark ignition, was shown 

 by MM. de Dion and Houtoii, of Paris. The tricycle can run 

 at a rate of fourteen miles an hour, and only needs a fresh supply 

 of benzine after about six hours' work. 1'he exhibition proved 

 the capabilities of auK.-mohile carriages to a large number of 

 spectators, and it will probably do something to bring about a 

 change in ihc present vexatious Highways and Locomotives ' 

 Act, which at present limits the rate of speed cf self-propelled 

 carriages to two miles an hour, and makes it necessary for a 

 man carrying a red flag to precede the carriage as a warning of 

 appro.-iching danger 1 



