December 21, 1893] 



NATURE 



179 



at all. The rule would evidently apply safely in every 

 such case, unless the ships had nearly equal manogavring 

 powers, and were then so placed that their turning arcs 

 coincided ; two concomitant conditions almost impos- 

 sible to exist. Needless to say that the results of 

 actual collisions exactly follow the diagram. 



It now remains to express my general belief as to the 

 Victoria. The paths in turning given of the Edinburgh 

 and Dreadnought are those of two of the ships which 

 were present on the occasion of her loss. Whether or 

 not they had these traces on board I do not know. 

 There is no mention of such things in the Minutes of the 

 Court Martial, and the questions and answers never go 

 beyond the work of 1865-74. But it is to me inconceivable 

 that the mistake could have been made had such traces 

 been familiar in every ship, and had the late Sir George 

 Tryon been supplied with those of all his ships as a 

 matter of course. 



I think that, while blame for this accident has been 

 authoritatively and unauthoritatively strongly thrown on 

 individuals, it is impossible for anyone realising what I 

 have written, to blame any one individual. 



P. H. COLOMB. 



THE TUNICATE. 



"ppAR down in the depths of the ocean 

 -^ The Tunicate's active and gay ; 

 It hasn't the ghost of a notion 

 How cellular tissues decay. 



With a notochord all down its central part, 



It is surely a wee morsel vain ; 

 For it knows it possesses a ventral heart, 



Not to speak of a dorsal brain. 



Then down in the depths of the ocean 

 The Tunicate's lightsome and free ; 



It hasn't the ghost of a notion 

 How degenerate old age can be. 



For it must be a pleasing sensation 



That, if other resources all fail, 

 You can never come quite to starvation 



If you've been endowed with a tail. 



Then down in the depths of the ocean 

 The Tunicate's careless and glad ; 



It hasn't the ghost of a notion 

 Its instincts all tend to the bad. 



Till, wearied by youthful diversion, 



It thinks it will rest on a stone. 

 It becomes disinclined for exertion. 



— Ah ! Tunicate, you are undone ! 



Now, down in the depths of the ocean 



That Tunicate's losing his tail : 

 As though he had swallowed a potion. 



His mental resources all fail. 



His brain and his nerves they degenerate, 

 His notochord meets a like fate ; 



You hardly can class him, at any rate 

 He's no longer a true vertebrate. 



And down in the depths of the ocean 



He gets him a cellulose frock ; 

 And all just because of that notion 

 Of taking a rest on a rock. 



And there is a moral deduction. 



Which I'd like you to cogitate often : 



Don't we all know of stones vvhere, by suction, 

 We stick, till our intellects soften ? 



R. M. 



NO. [260, VOL 4.9] 



NOTES. 



The Croonian lecture of the Royal Society for 1894 is to be 

 delivered by S. Ram('m y Cajal, Professor of Histology and 

 Pathological Anatomy in the University of Madrid. The sub- 

 ject will be "The Minute Structure of the Nervous System," 

 and the date, March i. 



O.v February 16 next. Prof. E. Haeckel celebrates his sixtieth 

 birthday, and in honour of the event it is proposed to place his 

 marble bust in the Zoological Institute of Jena. Friends 

 and admirers of Haeckel who desire to support this object, 

 should send their subscriptions to Prof. Richard Semon, Jena. 



Miss Ki-UMPKE, the well-known lady assistant at the Paris 

 Observatory, took the degree of Doctor of Mathematical Science 

 at the Sorbonne, on December 14. The subject of her thesis 

 was Saturn's rings. 



Profs. Barnard and Asaph Hall have been awarded the 

 Arago Prize for Astronomy by the Paris Academy of Sciences. 



Prof. C. F. Mabery has received a grant of 300 dollars 

 from the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, to enable 

 him to carry on his investigations of the American sulphur 

 petroleums. 



The death is announced of Dr. J, Boehm, Professor of 

 Botany in Vienna University, of Dr. D. A. Brauns, Extra- 

 ordinary Professor of Geology in Halle University, and of Dr. 

 P. A. Spiro, Professor of Physiology in the University of 

 Odessa. 



It appears from the will of the late Sir Andrew Clarke that 

 he has bequeathed the sum of ;^5oo to the London Hospital 

 Medical College, for the foundation of a scholarship. 



At a special general meeting of the Royal Institution of 

 Great Britain, held on Friday last, the following resolution was 

 unanimou.sly adopted : — " That the members of the Royal In- 

 stitution of Great Britain, in special general meeting assembled, 

 hereby record their deep regret at the death of Dr. John Tyndall, 

 D. C. L., LL.D., F. R.S., who was for forty years connected with 

 the institution as lecturer, professor, and honorary professor of 

 natural philosophy, and who by his brilliant abilities and 

 laborious researches nobly promoted the objects of the institu- 

 tion and conspicuously enhanced its reputation, while at the 

 same time he extended scientific truth, and rendered many new 

 additions to natural knowledge practically available for the 

 service of mankind ; and that the members of the Royal Insti- 

 tution further desire to convey to Mrs. Tyndall an expression of 

 their sincere sympathy and condolence with her in the bereave- 

 ment she has sustained in the loss of her gifted and distinguished 

 husband." 



We learn from the Victoria)i Naturalist that Baron von 

 Mueller has withdrawn from the directorship of the International 

 Academy for Botanic Geography of Le Mans. 



After remaining dormant throughout historic time the vol- 

 cano El Calbuco in the Andes (Lat. 41° 21' S. Long. 72' 38' W.) 

 has renewed its activity. Mr. A. E. Nogues described the 

 eruption in a communication to the Paris Academy, on Decem- 

 ber II. Some moiuhs ago, columns of vapour began to issue 

 from the crater, their escape being accompanied by the usual 

 subterranean noises, seismic movements, and electrical phe- 

 nomena. This stage was followed by the ejection of scoriae and 

 rock fragments in such large quantities that the surrounding 

 woods were burnt up, and the ground raised to a comparatively 

 high temperature. At the present time the volcano is in full 

 play. Lava has issued from the sides of the cone and flowed 

 down to the base, forming streams of molten rock which have 

 barred the way of torrents and changed the directions of rivers. 

 This phase of the eruption, however, marks a decline of activity, 

 and will in all probability be followed by the quiet emission of 

 gaseous products. 



