428 



NA TURE 



[August 30, 1894 



Proterosaurus is classed under the Rhynchocephalia, | which he published in the Bulletin of the French Mine- 

 apparently on the author's judgment, though theproposi- | ralogical Society, some relating to improved instruments 



ti'on might be hard to sustain. There are chapters given 

 to Anomodonts, Crocodiles, newly-discovered Dinosaurs, 

 and ancient birds ; in which curious illustrations appear, 

 some of the funniest being reproductions of the animals 

 created by Mr. Waterhouse Hawkins for the Central 

 Park, New York. The concluding chapters describe and 

 illustrate mammals. Palaotherium and Coryphodon, 

 Dinothirium and Mastodon, are fairly well illustrated. 

 Horses and their ancestors give illustrations of 

 Phenacodus and Hyracotherium. There is some account 

 of the extinct marsupials of Australia, and of the extinct 

 mammals of South .America, such as Toxodon, Macrau- 

 chenta, and Sfachaerodus. 



The Bos urns of Cxiar, which probably became extinct 

 in Britain before the Roman occupation, is represented 

 by a spirited drawing. .Appendicesgivea table of strata, an 

 enumeration of the orders of animals, and a list of books 

 for reference. H. G. S. 



ERNEST MALLARD. 



THE following paragraphs are extracted from an 

 obituary notice of this distinguished mineralogist, 

 contributed to the Miiuralogical Magazine by M. G. 

 WyroubotT : — 



in the history of scientific mineralogy the name of M. 

 Mallard will undoubtedly occupy a place beside that 

 of Haiiy, to whom is universally conceded the honour of 

 originating this branch of human knowledge. It may be 

 asserted without exaggeration that M. Mallard created 

 anew the science of crystallised bodies by bringing that 

 science into close and intimate union with general 

 physics. Only a few years ago mineralogy was regarded , 

 as a purely descriptive science, and crystallography was j 

 no more than a special chapter of abstract geometry. 



He was a close follower of Bravais, whose beautiful 

 theory he, to his great credit, adopted, developed, and 

 popularised. Bravais, however, viewed the problem of 

 crystalline structure as a geometrician, and saw only one 

 side of the question. His conception of the lattice is 

 based upon the homogeneity of the crystal ; now, experi- 

 ejice had long ago shown that crystals are far from being 

 always homogene lus. To M. Mallard is due the honour 

 of explaining this apparent contradiction by demon- 

 strating, theoretically and experimentally, that crystals 

 frequently consist of several lattices distributed in a cer- 

 tain regular manner about an axis which does not belong 

 to any one of them. 



M.'Mallard did more than this, and hereon rests his 

 claim to imperishable fame: he deduced from the theory 

 of lattices and of reticular assemblages all the physical 

 phenomena observed in crystallised bodies, including 

 what were called the optical anomalies. Owing to his 

 labours crystallography became a completely rational 

 science to the same extent as any other branch of 

 physics. 



The crowning work of M. Mallard was his " Traitc de 

 Cristallographie," which was intended to comprise three 

 volumes. 'I"wo only of these have been published ; the 

 third was to have dealt with crystalline assemblages, 

 polymorphism and isomorphism, the most complex 

 problems in crystallography, and those in which his most 

 original work was done. The materials from which this 

 volume was to be constructed are to be found in the 

 memoirs published by M. Mallard since 1879. Some of 

 these are real mastcrpiecfes, and have become classical ; 

 such are the papers on optical anomalies, on the quasi- 

 cubic form of all crystallised bodies, on the transforma- 

 tions of polymorphous substances, and on isomorphous 

 mixtures. 



When we add to these the many detailed researches 



NO. 1 296. VOL. 50] 



of precision, and some to particular mineral species such 

 as boleite, lussatite, tridymite, and meUinophlogite, we 

 cannot but feel that since the time of H.uiy no one has 

 done so much to advance that section of physical science 

 which is concerned with crvstallised bodies. 



NOTES. 



M. CoTTEAt;, whose death we announced last week, has 

 bequeathed his fine collection of living Echinoderms to the 

 Paris Museum d'Histoire Naturelle. 



Reuter reports that an earthquake shock of short duration 

 was felt at Athens at a quarter to eight on the morning of the 

 26ih inst., and also at Corinth, Vastizza, Zante, Thebes, Chalcis, 

 and Atalanti. 



It is announced that a laboratory for the manufacture ol 

 tuberculin, mallein, anthrax, vaccine, &c., will shortly be es. 

 tablished in Rome in connection with the laboratories of Hygiene 

 of the Ministry of the Interior. 



We learn that Prof. Pettenkofer has resigned the chair of 

 hygiene and the directorship of the Hygienic Institute in the 

 University of Munich, on account of his advanced age. He is 

 succeeded by Prof. Hans Buchner. 



The British Medical Journal says that the President ol 

 Queen's College, Belfast, has received information that the 

 Government will grant the sum of ^2,500 for the erection and 

 equipment of a physiological and pathological laboratory. Plans 

 are being prepared, and the buildings will be at once proceeded 

 with. 



Mr. H. C. Russell, of Sydney Observatory, writing to us 

 with reference to an aurora observed on July 20, says thai he 

 noticed that while the display lasted there was a fog or ha/e 

 over the southern sky bright enough to hide 5th magnitude stars, 

 and when these began to reappear the auroral light vanished, 

 as if the fog or haze had been necessary for its manifestation. 



Mr. Richard Langdon, stalion-m.aster at the Silvcrton 

 Station of the Great Western Railway, Devon, died on July iS. 

 Nearly thirtv years ago he began to study astronomy, in which 

 he took an absorbing interest to the end of his life. Being a 

 skilful mechanician, and having acquired a knowledge of optics, 

 he employed his spare time in constructing an eight-inch silver- 

 on-glass equatorial reflector, grinding the mirror with a machine 

 which he made for the purpose. He was a keen and accurate- 

 observer, and in 1872 he read a paper "On certain Markings 

 on the Planet Venus " before the Royal Astronomical Society. 



KoR just a year the Birahi Ganga River has been dammed 

 back by the great landslip at Gohna. We noted this event 

 shortly after its occurrence, and on July 5 gave an abstract of 

 Mr. T. H. Hollands report upon it. In this report Mr. 

 Holland estimated that the lake would overflow the barrier 

 about the middle of August. The news has now come 

 that the water reached the top of the dam early on Sun- 

 day morning, .ind cut through the temporary dam which 

 had been constructed to prevent its escaping during the night- 

 ' Combined percoKition and overflow c.iused the water to fall 

 I rapidly, until its length was reduced from five miles to about 

 I two and a half miles. Telegraphing on Monday, Reuter'* 

 ' correspondent at Simla says that the water thus released 

 I has swept away all the Government buildings on the 

 banks of the river. At Hardwar a torrent of water 6ft. 

 I in depth rushed through the town, but there was n» 



