156 



NATURE 



[December 13, 1S94 



into a state of stupor, and in this condition — almost 

 obli\'ious of everything that went on around him — be re- 

 mained until he passed into the silence of death. 



But let us forget these events. However dark they may 

 seem to be, they cannot hide from us the wonderful 

 applications of science we owe to Lesseps. 



\Ve learn from the Times that Mdme. de Lesseps has 

 received many messages of condolence. The Emperor of 

 Germany telegraphed to her, " All intellectual and scien- 

 tific people mourn over the tomb of one of the greatest 

 minds and of a genius which embraced the universe." 

 Lord Dufferin has conveyed the sincere grief of the 

 Prince of Wales, as also the sympathy of Lord Kimberley. 

 It is understood that a committee of the Suez Canal Board 

 is to propose to the company that a statue be erected 

 to M. de Lesseps at the expense of the company, and 

 that the city of Paris is to be asked to grant a site in 

 one of the public squares. 



These expressions show the high regard in which 

 de Lesseps was held. A still more striking testimony 

 is afforded by the fact that the Paris Academy of Sciences 

 adjourned on Monday in sign of mourning, when the 

 president, M. Loewy, is reported to have said : " Many 

 storms had latterly broken over the head of the illustrious 

 veteran. It is, perhaps, not to be too much regretted 

 that his declining strength had for several years made 

 him almost a stranger to the melancholy affairs of this 

 world. His name will for ever be linked with a grand 

 work, the success of which is due entirely to his glorious 

 efforts, and will be a memorable date in the history of 

 civilisation." 



Scientific posterity will remember the Academy's act 

 of respect to de Lesseps, and .^L Loewy's words of tribute 

 to his colleague's memory. 



NOTES. 

 We are glad to see the report that M. Pasteur, who has been 

 poorly for some little time, is improving in health. 



Prof. G. Lewitzkv, the Director of Charcow Observatory, 

 has been appointed Director of Dorpa*. Observatory, in succes- 

 sion to the late Prof. L. Schwirz. Dr. L. Struve goes to fill 

 Prof. Lewitzky's place at Charcow. 



The Academy of Sciences of Berlin has granted a subsidy of 

 1200 marks to Dr. P. Kuckuck, to aid him in the investigation 

 of the alga-flora of Heligoland. 



Wt learn from the Botaniiches Centralblatt, that Herr W. 

 Siehe, of Berlin, ha; undertaken a botanical exploration of the 

 almost unknown region of Cilicia Trachaea. 



Considerable changes have recently been made in the 

 scientific department of Smith College, U.S.A. The botanical 

 department has been reorganised, and Dr. W. F. Ganong 

 appointed professor. Miss Grace D. Chester, formerly in- 

 structor in botany, has been appointed instructor in cryptogamic 

 botany. 



Our correspondent at Cambridge has sent us the following 

 notes : — The Council of the Senate have appointed Dr. R. D. 

 Roberts to be a governor of the Royal Holloway College, 

 Egham. Dr. H. H. Tooth, of St. John's College, has been 

 appointed an additional examiner in medicine. The Walsing- 

 ham Medal for biologic.il research has been awarded to H. 

 Barkill, assistant curator of the Herbarium. The following 

 awards for Natural Science have been made at Si. John's Col- 

 lege : G. S. West, Royal College of .Science, London, Founda- 

 tion Scholarship of /'So a year; E. F. Hudson, Dulwich 

 College, and T. F. R. McDonnell, St. Paul's School, Minor 

 Siholarships of Cyi a year ; A. C. Ingram, Felsted School, 

 Exhibition of Clo. 



NO. 131 I, VOL. 51] 



A SociETt des Amis des Explorateurs francais has recently 

 been formed at Paris. Its object is to collect and administer 

 funds for the purpose of aiding travellers, particularly in their 

 return, and to contribute to the progress of geography by the 

 publication of the resultsof explorations, and other contributions 

 to geographical science. The Society is in connection with the 

 Paris Geographical Society. 



We thought it would come. The anti-vaccinationists, anti- 

 vivisectionists, and kindred souls have, if only for the sake of 

 consistency, protested against the new treatment for diphtheria. 

 At the ordinary fortnightly meeting of the Metropolitan Asylums 

 Board, on Saturday last, a deputation, headed by Lord Coleridge, 

 waited upon the Board to present a memorial against experi- 

 ments being carried out in the hospitals in the Metropolitan 

 Asylums district in the use of the anti-toxin cure for diph- 

 theria. The Royal College of Physicians had offered to supply 

 serum for the treatment of diphtheric patients in the Board's 

 hospitals, and the General Purposes Committee advised the 

 acceptance of it, but the deputation wished to stop the action 

 altogether. By arguments that have been u.-;ed over and 

 over again, it was urged that the experiments led to in- 

 jurious effects, and were of doubtful utility. Therefore, the 

 deputation submitted, "public money ought not to be devoted 

 to experiments in physiology." The Board, however, thought 

 differently, for the report of the Committee was adopted. 



Prof. W. C. McIntosh writes on the artificial hatching of 

 marine food-fishes ia Science Progress for December. In the 

 course of his article, he pleads for increased funds to carry on 

 experiments on a larger scale than is at present possible at 

 Dunbar. The sum of £yxK> per annum is granted to the 

 Scottish Fishery Board for scientific investigations, but really 

 only /'iSoo a year is available for research. " This income has 

 to bear the salaries of the staff, experiments in fish-, lobster-, and 

 mussel culture, the cost of apparatus, the marine laboratory at 

 St. Andrews, the hatchery for marine fishes, with its small 

 laboratory at Dunbar, and the carrying out of other scientific 

 fishery work." Leaving England out of consideration, com- 

 pare this with what is done on the other side of the Atlantic. 

 "The United States spends annually ^70,000 on fish-culture 

 and scientific investigations, and employs two large steamers 

 and a sailing vessel exclusively for the work. Besides this large 

 sum, the Fish Commissioners of the various States also disburse 

 considerably on the development of their fisheries. Canada, 

 again, expends /■ioo,ooo yearly on her fisheries, of which a 

 sum of about ;£'io,ooo is devoted to fish culture." 



It was pointed out by Lord Rayleigh in these columns in 

 1883 (vol. 27, p. S3S), that whenever a bird pursues its course 

 for some time without moving its wings, we must conclude 

 either (l) that the course is not horizontal, (2) that the wind is 

 not horizontal, or (3) that the wind is not uniform. Prof. S. P. 

 Langley's recently published memoir on the internal work of 

 the wind shows that the condition represented by the third 

 cause, which Lord Rayleigh believed must sometimes operate, 

 alw.iys exists. The investigations described in the memoir 

 distinctly prove that (he wind is never a homogeneous current, 

 but consists of a continued series of rapid pulsations varying 

 indefinitely in amplitude and period. These pulsations un- 

 doubtedly help a bird to maintain lis flight without working its 

 wings or expending energy. This may be accomplished by a 

 succession of ascents and descents ; the ascents being made 

 during the wind-gusts, and the descents during the lulls. Prof. 

 George K. Curtis, of Washington, has lately investigated 

 mathematically whether the third case of Lord Raylcigh's 

 analysis is the one actually employed by a bird in soaring ; 

 that is to say, he has tested whether the pulsations of the wind, 



