November 2, 1893] 



NATURE 



vicissitudes of climate and attacks of " fly " pertaining to some 

 parts of the country proposed to be visited. This wagon has 

 been fitted inside and outside vi'ith shelves and other para- 

 phernalia for holding specimens, cork, medicaments, &c. When 

 not travelling, accommodation is found in a large marquee fixed 

 to the side of the wagon, from which step-ladders, dissecting- 

 table?, &c., may be let down. A lighter and rougher wagon, 

 suited to more inaccessible country, also accompanies the party. 

 Everything has been done to favour the success of this expe- 

 dition, and the Raad has passed a resolution specially exempt- 

 ing those engaged in it from the provisions of the game law. 

 The nucleus of a good general collection should thus surely be 

 obtained, whilst the idea of collecting the Transvaal fauna is 

 highly to be commended. 



An appeal for subscriptions to found a Pasteur Institute for 

 India is about to be made (says the Allahabad Pioneer). It 

 is proposed to locate the institution in some convenient place 

 near Simla. There the necessary laboratories, fitted with the 

 best scientific appliances, quarters for the officials, and accommo- 

 dation for patients will be provided. The expenses will be 

 I very considerable, but the Government of India, besides giving 

 their cordial approval to the scheme, have contributed notable 

 help by promising the services of a selected medical officer. 

 India has hitherto taken very little interest in bacteriological 

 work, though alniost every European nation, America, and 

 Japan are devoting a large amount of attention to it. It is 

 hoped that in addition to ilsanti-rabic work, the Indian institute 

 may be put on such a footing as to enable it to carry on original 

 research in this and other directions. The institute should also 

 serve as a training school in practical bacteriology for medical 

 men in India. The scheme is full -of promise, and there should 

 be little difficulty in obtaining the funds necessary to carry 

 it out. 



At the Institution of Electrical Engineers, on Thursday, 

 November 9, Prof. George Forbes, F.R.S., will read a paper on 

 "The Electrical Distribution of Power." 



According to the Pretoria Press, and from a Blantyre 

 source, a very large supply of ivory has come down from the 

 Lake, in the Lake Company's possession. Huge 6 feet and even 

 7 feet tusks were to be seen at Mandala, and several thousand 

 pounds must have been paid the Arabi in exchange for this 

 valuable commodity. 



An International Horticultural Society was founded at the 

 recent congress of horticulturists held at Chicago. The chief 

 object of the^society is to facilitate the exchange of plants, seeds, 

 books, &c. The following officers have been nominated : — 

 President, P.J. Berchmans ; Vice-President, Henry L. de Vil- 

 morin ; Secretary and Treasurer, Mr. George Nicholson, the 

 Curator of Kew Gardens. We are informed, however, that 

 Mr. Nicholson is unable to undertake the work that this office 

 would impose upon him. 



An International Exhibition of Industry, Science, and Art 

 will be opened at Hobart, Tasmania, on November, 1S94, and 

 will continue open for a period of about six months. The 

 exhibits will be arrangedinto twenty-four classes. Class X. is 

 Chemistry, Apparatus and Processes, Philosophical Instruments; 

 XI. is devoted to Electricity ; Gas and Lighting, other than Elec- 

 tricity, is the subject of Class XII. The following classes are 

 also of scientific interest: XVI.— Machinery, Machine Tools, 

 Hydraulic Machines, and Machines for raisinn; heavy weights. 

 Elements of Machines, Furnaces; XVII.— Prime Movers, and 

 means of distributing their power. Railway plant; XVIII. — 

 Naval Architecture and Engineering ; XLX.— Civil Engineering, 

 Construction, and Architecture, Sanitary Appliances, Aeronau- 

 NO. 1253, VOL. 49] 



tics, &c. ; XX. — Mining and Metallurgy, Minerals, Quarrying, 

 and Fuel ;«? XXI. — .\gricult>ire, Horticulture, Arboriculture; 

 XXII. — Fisheries. 



A CORRESPONDENT Writes: "There seems still little re- 

 corded as to the maximum or average size of the Hying fish, 

 Exocxtus sp. On my voyage to the Cape, on board the R. ^LS. 

 DruJiimond Castle, in about the longitude of Greenwich and 

 the latitude 11° S., and on September 9 last, a specimen flew, 

 or was blown, on board, where the bulwarks were 19 feet to 

 20 feet above the water, which measured iSiJ inches long, with 

 an expanse of izh inches across the wing^;. This was the 

 largest specimen that has ever passed through my hands. It 

 only weighed lib. 6oz. , but a development in weight would 

 clearly be disadvantageous to its power of flight." 



In the notice of Prof. Sylvester's life which appeared in 

 Nature for January 18S9 (vol. xxxix. p. 217), it is mentioned 

 that after coming out at Cambridge as Second Wrangler, " he 

 was incapacitated by the fact of his Jewish origin from taking 

 his degree," and it is added that in "more enlightened times 

 (1S72) he had the degrees of B. A. and INI. A. by accumulation 

 conferred upon him." The learned librarian of Trinity College, 

 Dublin, Rev. Dr. Abbott, calls our attention to the fact, which 

 should not be overlooked, that though unable to take the 

 degree at Cambridge, he actually passed ad eiindein to Dublin 

 University, and had the degrees ofB.A. and ^LA. conferred 

 upon him there (in virtue of his Cambridge qualification) in 184.1. 

 The honorary degree of LL. D. was also conferred upon him by 

 Dublin in 1865. It may not be without interest to mention that 

 the first Jew to obtain a degree in the United Kingdom was 

 Nathan Lazarus Benmohel, who graduated B. A. at Dublin in 

 1836, and M.A. in 1846. 



Six years ago Hofrath Dr. A. B. Meyer, Director of the 

 Natural History Museum at Dresden, published in the Ahhand- 

 luni^en iind Berichte des K. Zool. Museum Zu Dresden, a series 

 of descriptions and drawings of iron-framed cases, and of other 

 museum fittings and apparatus introduced by him in Dresden. 

 Since then a good deal of attention has been directed to the 

 subject of metal instead of wooden framing in museum cases ; 

 and in 1S91 Dr. Meyer gave further details as to his experience 

 in a communication to the Museums Association meeting at 

 Cambridge. In the Abhandlungen of the Dresden Museum for 

 the year 1S92-3, just published. Dr. Meyer returns to the subject 

 of iron-framed cases, on the details of which his recent experi- 

 ence has suggested several improvements. In a series of twenty 

 liihographic and photographic plates, accompanied by elaborate 

 specifications, measurements, &c., he deals with several forms 

 of case, with store cabinets and their fittings, with trays for eggs 

 and nests, sheet iron trays for shells, supports for skeletons and 

 crania, craniometers, and several other varieties of museum 

 appliance and case fittings. In truth Dr. Meyer has, with real 

 German patience and industry, drawn and described in an ex- 

 haustive manner a range of museum cases and appliances which 

 every curator more or less works out (or himself, and of which, 

 having by rule-of-thumb or otherwise attained his object, he 

 thinks no more. But, as Dr. IMeyer points out, museum officials 

 are much given to experimenting at a loss of both time and 

 money, and there is no reason why the results of well-matured 

 experience should not be authoritatively laid down and generally 

 accepted as a basis from which to reach forward to further 

 improvements. The only other means than publication by 

 which museum officials can obtain the results of mutual experi- 

 ments and experiences is by visits to museums, but by that means 

 alone the observer cannot get the precision of information and 

 the working details which are conveyed by Dr. Meyer's mono- 

 graph. The publication indeed confers a signal benefit on all 

 interested in museum work, and it is much to be desired that 



