September 13, 1894] 



NA TURE 



481 



obituary notice in the Time;: — After seein; a large amount of 

 active service, and earning for himself a high reputation, he wa5 

 appointed to the command of the yacht /juV/ in a private ex- 

 pedition which was sent in search of Sir John Franklin to 

 Smith's and Jones's Sound — an experience which partly 

 suggested the interesting story he published under the title of 

 "A Summer Search for Sir John Franklin." Although it 

 failed in its main object, his plucky mission on that occasion 

 enabled him to record the discovery of an open polar sea and a 

 coastline Soo miles in length, while he also had the pleasure of 

 carrying mails to the Government Arctic Expedition at Beechey 

 Island. For these services he received the gold medal of the 

 Royal Geographical Society of London, the large silver medal 

 of Paris, and a much-treasurei diamond snuff-box from the 

 Emperor of the French. He was at the same time elected a 

 Fellow of the Royal Society. His first Arctic experience 

 brought him a second like command in 1853, when he went 

 out by order of the Admiralty with three ship;, especially 

 despatched to the relief of Sir Edward Belcher's expedi- 

 tion. One of the three vessels was crushed in the ice, 

 and foundered, but he was able to bring home an officer bearing 

 the news of the discovery of the Xorth-West passage. In the 

 following year he received the command of another expedition, 

 consisting of the Phinix, the Talbot, and a transport with 

 stores, sent out to afford further relief to Sir Edward Belcher, and 

 this time he brought back the officers and crews of five ships 

 which were abandoned in the ice. For these services he was 

 awarded the .\rctic medal, and the honour was signally con- 

 firmed by the Queen in 1SS7, when he was knighted on the 

 occasion of the celebration of the completion of the fiftieth yfar 

 of her Majesty's reign. To hi; skill and daring as a seaman 

 Sir Edward Inglefield added a technical ingem.i y which lias 

 bequeathed to naval engineering the hydraulic steering appa- 

 ratus fitted in the AchilUs and the Minoiaiir, the screw-turning 

 engine of the Monarch, and the anchor bearing his name, which 

 was supplied to the Dreadnought, Sans Parcil, Rcnoiun, In- 

 flexible, and other ships. He was a graceful writer and a 

 vigorous speaker, and, beside the book recounting hi; Arctic 

 researches, was the author of pamphlets on "Maritime Warfare," 

 "Naval Tactics," and "Terrestrial Magnetism.'" 



The thirty-ninth exhibition of the Royal Photographic 

 Society will open to the public on Monday, September 24. The 

 exhibition will be held, as on former occasions, in the Gallery 

 of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours, at 5A Pall 

 Mall East, and will remain open until November 14. 



The Royal Commission appointed last year to inquire into 

 the mode of identification of habitual criminals having reported 

 favourably on the Bertillon system, the Commissioners of 

 Prisons have decided to adopt the anthropometrical system of 

 measurement of criminals The system will be worked in con- 

 nection with the present system of identification. From various 

 prisons officers have been already ordered to attend at her 

 Majesty's Prison, Pentonville, to receive instructions from 

 Ur. Garson. 



Reiter reports that the members of the Arctic excursion 

 party, organised by Dr. Cook, and noted in Nature of .\ugust 

 30 (p. 429), have returned to North Sydney, Cape Breton, in 

 the Gloucester fishing schooner A'igcl. The steamer Miraiula, 

 by which the party travelled, grounded and sprang a leak on 

 the coast of (ireenland. .Xfter they h.ad remained on the dis- 

 abled vessel for some time, the party were taken off by the 

 ftigel. The Miran,ia was floated and taken in tow, but 

 foundered on her way home. 



A MONUMENT, erected in honour of Armand de Quatrefages, 

 was unveiled at Vallerangue, his native town, at the end of last 

 month. M. Darboux presided over the distinguished company 



NO. I29S, VOL. 50'\ 



that took part in the ceremony. The scientific labours of the 

 renowned investigator were extolled by MM. Milne- Edwards, 

 Hamy, GeofTroy Saint Hilaire, and Brongniart. Prof. Hamy 

 referred to Quatrefages as the creator of the science of 

 anthropology. The monument is five metres in height, and 

 consists of a bronze bust of the deceased on a stone pedestal, 

 having on its principal face a figure holding in one hand a 

 scientific work, while the other is presenting a crown to the 

 eminent naturalist. 



Wf. learn from the New York Nation that the Marine 

 Biological Laboratory at Wood's Holl, Mass., has concluded 

 its seventh summer session, the most successsful in its history. 

 The number of students and investigators in attendance was 

 133, representing seventy colleges and high schools. Courses 

 of instruction in zoology and botany were offered, a new building 

 for the accommodation of the students in the latter course 

 having been erected. The important part played by the 

 Laboratory in the development of the biological sciences in this 

 country is evidenced by the fact that do less than fifty-eight of 

 those in attendance were carrying on research in zoology, 

 botany, or physiology, and that several important investiga- 

 tions were completed during the summer. A number of 

 the lectures delivered at the Laboratory during the session will 

 as in former years, be published in book form. 



Mr. H. Garnett informs us that while boating with a 

 friend on the River .\von, just above Evesham, on .-\ugust it, 

 he had a good view of a white swallow flying amongst a flock 

 of others very near the ground. Its companions were 

 apparently persecuting it. Finally it flew across the river close 

 over the observers' heads, and this view was sufficient to con- 

 vince them that it was the common swallow, and not one of 

 the martins. Curiously, it wa; not a snow-white, but 

 apparently a very pale uniform cream colour. In connection 

 with -Mr. Garnett's observation, it is worth remark that the 

 current number of Science Gossip contains a note on a white 

 variety of the common sparrow, shot at Ripley on August 13 ; 

 and Mr. E. W. Atkinson, writing to the Zoologist, says that he 

 recently saw a white swallow at Harswell, in the East Riding 

 of Yorkshire. 



Of all the sciences, meteorology is probably the farthest 

 from perfection. Many dabble in it, but few seriously attempt 

 to reduce the abundance of observations to law and order. One 

 of the reasons for this state of things is that, so far as we can re- 

 member, none of our educational institutions include systematic 

 courses of meteorology in their curricula. There is practically 

 no field for professional meteorologists, and therefore no training- 

 school exists. Forthesake of the science we are glad to note, 

 however, that the Board of Regents of the University of Cali- 

 fornia has decided to establish a course in meteorology in that 

 University. Through the course of study and investigation 

 which the students of meteorology will prosecute at the 

 University, valuable additions to knowledge may be expected. 



M. I'E FoNviELLE calls our attention to one of Roger 

 Bacon's essays, published in 161S, in which some of the possi- 

 bilities of steam are vaguely foreshadowed, and aerial naviga- 

 tion is declared to be a thing of the future. We quote from a 

 translation with which he has furnished us, and which re.ads 

 like Mother Shipton's prophecies. 'Instruments may be 

 made for navigating without any men pulling the oars, with a 

 single man governing, and going quicker than if they were full 

 of pulling men. Waggons also can be made so that without 

 any horse they should be moved with such a velocity that it is 

 impossible to measure it. . . . It is possible also to devise 

 instruments for flying, such that a man being in the centre if 

 revolving something by which artificial wings are made to 

 beat the air in the fashion of the birds. . . . It is also possible 

 to devise instruments which will permit persons to walk on the 



