July 26, 1894] 



NATURE 



\07> 



sity, the laboratory from the first has been under the 

 control of the Fishery Board for Scotland, who 

 administered the Parliamentary grant given in 18S4. for 

 its equipment, and who maintain the attendant and 

 defray certain other expenses. 



Ample space exists for the formation of large external 

 ponds and tanks, and certain portions of the tidal rocks 

 in the neighbourhood are fitted for enclosure, so that 

 young fishes and crustaceans may be reared from the 

 post-larval stages onward, under conditions as closely 

 approaching nature as possible. In the same way the 

 culture of useful mollusks can be experimented with. 



The beach at St. Andrews is remarkably adapted for 

 marine researches, since it combines extensive reaches of 

 sand with their special forms, and on which a vast 

 variety of materials in a fresh state are stranded by storms, 

 ■with great stretches of tidal rocks and rock-pools so rich 

 in littoral animals and plants. The valuable mussel-bed 

 in the estuary of the Eden, the proximity of the Forth 

 and the lay, the constant stream of specimens brought 

 by the fishing-boats, and the plenitude of life in the bay 

 itself — all combine to render it classic ground to the 

 naturalist. For example, amongst the rarer form- at St. 

 Andrews are Corymorpha, Cerianlkus, Fcnnatula, 

 Asterias MiilUri^ Ec/iitiriis, Mage/ona, Tornaria 

 Mitraria, swarms of Appendicularians {Oikopleura), 

 Pelonaia, Ac/tnotrocha, the Pteropods Clione and 

 Spinalis, the Nudibranch Idalia, and the Tectibranch 

 Aplysia. 



The greatly improved facilities for research which the 

 munificence of Dr. Catty has granted to St. Andrews 

 cannot but increase the results in regard to marine 

 biological science and the fisheries, and render the old 

 University city even better known in this connection in 

 the future than in the past. Yet there are those still 

 living who remember the glee of Edward Forbes as he 

 picked up the living spoon- worms {Ec/iiuri) on the west 

 lands, and who listened to a short course of lectures he 

 gave in the University on star-fishes, before the publica- 

 tion of his work on this group, and who were familar with 

 tlie figure of John Reid as he descended the steps at the 

 Kaths to hunt for Hydra tuba, and watch the scyphistoma- 

 stage of Aurclia, which he independently worked out 

 there. It is unnecessary on the present occasion to 

 allude to the names of more recent workers, but they are 

 many, and include continental and American, as well as 

 those of our own country. W. C. M. 



NOTES. 

 All who take an interest in science will be glad to hear that 

 the health of I'rof. von Helmholtz has been improving of late, 

 and that he has regained partial use of his paralysed side. 



The resignation of Prof. Dana, from the position he has so 

 long occupied at Yale University, is announced. Dr. Dana was 

 appointed, in 1850, .Silliman Professor of Natural History and 

 Geology at Yale, and now at the age of eighty-one ye.ars he is 

 compelled to abandon further active work by reason of feeble 

 health. \Ve hope that many years of well-earned rest remain 

 to him. 



Prof. II. S. Williams, formerly of Cornell University, has 

 been appointed Prof Dana's successor at Yale University. 



The sixty-second annual meeting of the British Medical 

 Association will take place at Bristol, from July 3 1 to August 3, 

 under the presidency of Dr. E. Long Fox. The report 

 which the council has to present is, we understand, a very 

 favourable one, and shows that the membership of the 

 Association has increased from 14,703 to 15,090, and the total 

 investments to ^41,789. Dr. Long Fox is to deliver his address 

 ■on Tuesday, July 31, and during the meeting the following 

 Addresses will be delivered : — On Medicine, by Prof. Sir T. 

 NO. I 29 I, VOL. 50] 



Grainger Stewart ; on Surgery, by Prof. Greig Smith ; and 

 on Public Medicine, by Sir Charles Cameron. 



The Societc Industrielle de Mulhouse has issued a programme 

 of the prizes to be awarded next year. The prizes are open to 

 all, whether natives of France or not, and works competing for 

 them must reach the President of the Society before February 

 15, 1895. Most of the awards consist of medals only, but some 

 carry with them prizes varying from one hundred to five thousand 

 francs. A complete programme can be obtained by applying 

 to the Secretary of the Society, Mulhouse. 



The twenty-third meeting of the French Association for the 

 Advancement of Science will be opened at Caen on August 9, 

 under the presidency of Prof. Mascart. The work of the 

 Association will be divided into four groups, each containing 

 from three to five sections. The first group (Sciences Mathe- 

 matiques) will be devoted to mathematics, astronomy, and 

 geodesy, mechanics, navigation, civil and military engineering. 

 To Group II. (Sciences Physiques et Chimiques) belong 

 physics, chemistry, meteorology, and terrestrial physics. In 

 the third group (.Sciences Naturelles et Medicales) will be 

 found geology and mineralogy, botany, zoology, anatomy, 

 physiology, anthropology, and medical sciences. The fourth 

 group (Sciences Economiques) is concerned with agriculture, 

 geography, political economy and statistics, pedagogy, hygiene, 

 and public health. 



The next annual meeting of the Italian Botanical Society 

 will take place at Palermo, in 1895. For the present year a 

 botanical excursion is arranged, on September 25 and the three 

 following days, to the Island of Giglio, the largest of the Tuscan 

 Archipelago, except Elba, the flora of which has been but im- 

 perfectly explored. Botanists desirous of taking part in the 

 expedition should communicate, not later than September 15, 

 with the President, Prof .\rcangeli, 19 Via Komana, Florence. 



Information has come to hand respecting an International 

 Exhibition of Arts, Industries, &c. , which is to be held at 

 Bordeaux in 1895. The exhibition, which is the thirteenth held 

 at Bordeaux, will be opened on M.iy i, and will be divided 

 into some ten Sections, as follows : — Section I. Education. 

 II. Arts (Liberal, Industrial, and Decorative ; Medicine, 

 Hygiene, &c.). III. Social Sciences. IV. Agriculture, 

 Horticulture. V. Wines and Spirits. VI. Industries 

 (Mineralogical, Mechanical, Chemical, &c.). VII. Habitation 

 (Furniture, Dress, &c.). VIII. Transport, Civil Engineering, 

 and Military Art. IX. Electricity. X. Commerce and 

 Colonies. England, Belgium, Italy, Portugal, Spain, and 

 Switzerland are invited to contribute. 



The seventeenth annual meeting of the Midland Union of 

 Natural History and Scientific Societies will take place on 

 August 3 and 4, at Ellesmere, under the auspices of the 

 EUesmere Natural History Society and Field Club. A strong 

 programme has been arranged, and after the business meetings 

 of August 3 a conversazione will be held at St. Oswald's College. 

 The following day will be taken up by three excursions : one to 

 Chirk, Llangollen, and Valle Crucis for the archaeologists, led 

 by Mr. A. T. Jebb ; a second, round the Meres and Peat Mosses 

 of the neighbourhood for the biologists, under the leadership of 

 Messrs. Peake, Jennings, and Thompson. The third, for the 

 geologists, will be under the guid.ince of Dr. Callaway, who 

 will conduct his party to Ilawkstone and Grinshill. We 

 understand that the Ellesmere Society hope that many of the 

 visitors will be able to stay in the neighbourhood over the Bank- 

 holiday, when further excursions maybe air.inged, and they 

 are perfecting the arrangements in a most generous and 

 hospitable spirit. 



We hear, with much regret, of the death, at the age of 

 seventy-nine years, of Dr. Daniel Cornelius Danielssen, who 



