00 



8 



NA TURE 



[April 4, 1S95 



tx quest provided for a six months' course on the subject, to be 

 binding on every student before being admitted to a science or 

 medical degree at the University. Pending the inability of the 

 Senate lo accept, within a month after notice of the legacy, the 

 conditions contained in a memorandum annexed to the will, the 

 legacy was to be void, and the sum given over to the Linnean 

 Society of New South Wales, for the endowment of research in 

 bacteriology. On receiving the money, the senators, the majority 

 of whom are lawyers, have sought a judicial interpretation of 

 the words "six months' course, ' and have secured the hand- 

 some endowment to themselves, on the ruling of Court, for 

 -disposal on their own terms. What they will do with it re- 

 mains to be seen. Sir W. Macleay had been a member of the 

 Senate, and his impiession of its conduct may be gauged from 

 the fact that in bequeathing this very legacy he took especiril 

 pains to protect his executors against that which he termed " its 

 very uncertain views." In this he has failed! " Sharp prac- 

 tice "may be a conventional, but it is hardly a befitting term for 

 the behaviour of the Senate, which thus expresses the gratitude 

 of a colony for the devotion of a life and foitune to the advance- 

 ment of science and scientific education. 



We understand that the Macleay memorial volume is selling 

 very slowly. Its promoters are considerably to the bad on the 

 undertaking. 



Dr. Doberck would be glad if astronomers who notice 

 shooting stars having radiants south of the equator, will send 

 their observations for discussion to the Hong Kong Observatory, 

 ■where some attention is being paid to southern shooting stars. 



General Sir George Chesnev, to whom belongs the 

 credit of originating and organising the Royal Indian 

 Engineering College at Coopers Hill, died on Sunday. 



Prof. Ludwio Schlafli, the well-known Swiss mathe- 

 matician, has just died at Berne, at the age of eighty. In 1853 

 he «as appointed professor of mathematics at the University of 

 Berne, where he first acted a.5 privatJccent, but some time ago 

 he gave up his post on account of his advanced years. 



Messrs. Sothebv, Wilki.nson, and Hodge will include 

 the original autograph manuscript of Gilbert White's " Natural 

 History and Antiquities of Selbotne " in their sale commencing 

 Apiil 22. Several passages in the manuscript have not been 

 published, and the whole has never passed out of the possession 

 of the lineal descendants of the author. 



The Geologists' Association have arranged an excursion to 

 the Tertiary Beds of the Isle of Wight, during ICaster, under 

 the direction of Mr. R. S. Herries and Mr. H. W. Monckton. 

 The party will leave London next Thursday, and will return 

 on the following Tuesday. 



The Liverpool Marine Biology Committee have appointed 

 Mr. J. C. Sumner, from the Biological Laboratory of the Royal 

 College of Science, South Kensington, as Curator of the Port 

 Erin Biological station. 



Dr. Jentink, of Leyden, hasrccenllydrawn attention lo the 

 scantiness of trustworthy evidence concerning the distribution of 

 the two species of Rhinoceros which inhabit the Malay archi- 

 pelago. It is sometimes stated that l>oth species (A". siiiiKilrensis 

 and K. sondaitus) are 10 be found in Borneo, Sumatra, and 

 Java ; but it appears that nothing can be maintained with 

 absolute certainty at present, except that /i". sondaictis inhabits 

 Java, and /'. iunalrcmii both Sumatra and Borneo. It is 

 clearly desirable that any authentic information bearing upon 

 this point should be brought to light, if yet unpublished. 



The Biological and Microscopical Section of the .\cademyof 

 Natural Sciences of Philadelphia have just sustained a severe 



NO. 1327. VOL. 51] 



loss by the sudden death of Dr. George A. Rex. Dr. Rex was 

 the highest authority an the Myxomycetes in the United States. 

 He was the author of numerous species, which, owing to his 

 extreme conservatism, will doubtless continue to bear his name. 

 Many forms, new to him, remained in his collection unnamed 

 for years, and were only published when he had thoroughly 

 convinced himself that they were really new to science. 

 Although he was interested principally in the Myxomycetes, 

 he was an earnest student of the lower orders of fungi, and an 

 ardent admirer of everything beautiful in microscopic nature. 



We have also to record the deaths of a number of 

 other scientific workers in the United States. Dr. Darwin 

 G. Eaton died in the evening of March 17, aged seventy- 

 two. He was prominent as an instructor in the Packer 

 Institute and in the Long Island College Hospital. His 

 works belong chiefly to chemistry and astronomy. He 

 was twice a member of Government parties to observe 

 eclipses of the sun. Dr. P. H. Van der Weyde died a few hours 

 later, on the iSth ult. He was born at Wymeguen, Holland, 

 in 1S13, and removed to New Vork in 1S49. He taught in the 

 University of the City of New York, at Cooper Union, and 

 Girard College. Dr. Henry Coppee, acting president of 

 Lehigh University, "died March 20, at Bethlehem, Pa., aged 

 seventy-five years. He was elected Regent of the Smithsonian 

 Institution in 1874. Mr. Isaac Sprague, well known as a 

 botanist and artist, and illustrator of botanical works, died at 

 Wellesley Mills, Mass., March 13. 



We notice the announcement of the death of Mr. .\. Ci. 

 More, who for many years exercised an influence of a special 

 kind on the zoologists and botanists of Ireland as an authority 

 to whom they implicitly referred questions on the sul>ject of the 

 determination of the species of Irish birds and Irish plants. 

 Under the modest title of " Contributions towards a Cybele 

 Ilibernica," in conjunction with the late Dr. David Moore, he 

 published in 1S66 an excellent account of the geographical 

 distribution of plants in Ireland. Another good piece of work 

 by him was his list of Irish birds, published in the year 1885, 

 in connection with the collection in the Dublin Science and Art 

 Museum, and in 1887 he published an excellent guide to the 

 Natural History Department of the Museum. He succeeded 

 Dr. Catte as Curator of that department, but illness compelled 

 him to retire in 18S7, after twenty years' service. 



The annual banquet of the Institution of Civil Engineers 

 took place on Wednesday, March 27, a distinguished company 

 being present. Sir Robert Rawlinson, K.C.H. (the President) 

 occupied the chair, and among the guests were the Duke of 

 Cambridge, the Duke of Teck, the American .-Vmbassador, the 

 Marquis of Salisbury, Sir John Fowler, Sir Frederick Brani- 

 well. Sir Redvers Buller, Mr. C. T. Ritchie, Sir F. A. Abel, 

 Sir George Stokes, Sir Courten.-iy Boyle, Sir John Donnelly, ■ 

 Mr. Henry Kimber, M.P. (Master of the Merchant Taylort' 

 Company), Dr. Anderson, Sir B. Baker, Mr. C. Barry, Prof. 

 Forbes, Dr. Frankland, Mr. Hawksley, Dr. Kennedy, Sir G. 1 

 L. Molesworth, Mr. Preece, Mr. Rennie, Prof. Robetts-AusteD, 

 Sir David Salomons, Prof. Unwin, Mr. Walmislcy, and Mr. 

 Yarrow. The Marquis of Salisbury, in proposing the toast of 

 "The Institution of Civil Engineers," dwelt upon the system ol 1 

 sanitary military reform set on foot by Sir Robert RawlinsoD, 1 

 and which has had such bencfical results. He continued:— 

 The system has yet some advance to make, and I hope some 

 day the civil engineers, if the military engineers do not do it, 

 will lemove the reproach of typhoid fever from our barracks. 

 Hut an enormous distance has been traversed by the genius o( 

 civil engineers, and by none more than by the President who 

 occupies your chair ; and I think it has reacted on civil society. 

 We never really took in hand the sanitation of our civil popii- 



