July 24, 1890] 



NATURE 



299 



knew him for his uprightness, modesty, unselfishness, 

 and generosity to fellow-workers, always helping young 

 inquirers with specimens and information, he was sud- 

 denly lost to sight as a friend and father, but remains in 

 the minds of fellow-workers, of those whom he so freely 

 taught, and of his stricken relatives, as a great and good 

 man, whose beneficent influence will ever be felt in a 

 wide-spreading and advancing science, and among 

 thoughtful and appreciative men in all time. 



ALPHONSE FAVRE. 



"D Y the death of Prof A. Favre, Switzerland has been 

 *-^ deprived of one of her foremost men of science, and 

 geology has lost a very assiduous and successful cul- 

 tivator. His death appears to sever the last remain- 

 ing link between the present generation of Swiss geo- 

 logists and that older and famous one which included 

 Bernhard Studer, Arnold Escher von der Linth, Peter 

 Merian, and Oswald Heer. The late Prof Favre, who 

 had reached the age of seventy-seven at the time of his 

 death, was the author of numerous papers, the earliest of 

 which, " On the Anthracites of the Alps," was published 

 as long ago as 184 1. He will perhaps be best remem- 

 bered by the part he took in the famous controversy 

 concerning the supposed admixture of fossils, belonging 

 to different geological horizons, which were said to occur 

 in the same beds in the Alps. In opposition to M. 

 Scipion Gras and others who asserted that such inter- 

 mixture of fossils did actually occur, Favre was able to 

 show, by a series of patient investigations, that the appa- 

 rent reversals of succession, and intimate union of Car- 

 boniferous, Jurassic, and Tertiary strata, could all be 

 accounted for by repeated interfoldings and complicated 

 overthrust faults. It is interesting to note that at the 

 time when Favre was thus successfully contending for 

 such an interpretation of supposed anomalies in the 

 Alpine rocks, James Nicol in this country was engaged 

 in a precisely similar controversy with Murchison and 

 his followers, concerning the rocks of our own Highlands. 

 But whereas the triumph of Favre's views was immediate 

 and complete, and their author lived to see the justice of 

 his interpretation universally admitted, Nicol was fated 

 to witness the influence of great authority exerted for a 

 long time in preventing the truth of his conclusions from 

 being accepted ; and only after his death was the re- 

 traction made which showed how much Scotland owes 

 to this able interpreter of the geological structure of his 

 native land. History may be relied upon, however, to 

 do equal justice to the successful Swiss geologist and the 

 disappointed Scotch one. Prof Favre, besides papers 

 on a great variety of geological questions, wrote several 

 works dealing with the geology of the parts of Savoy, 

 Piedmont, and Switzerland of which Mont Blanc forms 

 the centre. During the later years of his life he bad 

 retired from his Professorship of Geology at Geneva, but 

 up to the time of his death Favre held the post of Presi- 

 dent of the Federal Commission having charge of the 

 geological map of Switzerland. As long ago as 1874 he 

 was elected a foreign member of the Geological Society, 

 and he was also a correspondent of the Institute of 

 France. 



AID TO ASTRONOMICAL RESEARCH. 



pROF. PICKERING, of the Harvard College Obser- 

 -*- vatory, has issued the following notice : — 



" Miss C. W. Bruce offers the sum of six thousand 

 dollars ($6000) during the present year in aiding astro- 

 nomical research. No restriction will be made likely to 

 limit the usefulness of this gift. In the hope of making 

 it of the greatest benefit to science, the entire sum will 



NO. 1082, VOL. 42] 



be divided, and in general the amount devoted to a single 

 object will not exceed five hundred dollars ($500). Pre- 

 cedence will be given to institutions and individuals 

 whose work is already known through their publications, 

 also to those cases which cannot otherwise be provided 

 for, or where additional sums can be secured if a part of 

 the cost is furnished. Applications are invited from 

 astronomers of all countries, and should be made to 

 the undersigned before October i, 1890, giving complete 

 information regarding the desired objects. Applications 

 not acted on favourably will be regarded as confidential. 

 The unrestricted character of this gift should insure many 

 important results to science, if judiciously expended. In 

 that case it is hoped that others will be encouraged to 

 follow this example, and that eventually it may lead to 

 securing the needed means for any astronomer who could 

 so use it as to make a real advance in astronomical 

 science. Any suggestions regarding the best way of 

 fulfilling the objects of this circular will be gratefully 

 received. " Edward C. Pickering. 



" Harvard College Observatory, Cambridge, Mass., 

 U.S.A., July 15, 1890." 



NOTES. 



The American Association for the Advancement of Science 

 win meet this year at Indianapolis, under the presidency of 

 Prof. Goodale. The first meeting will be held on August 19. 

 The subject selected in advance for special discussion is "The 

 Geographical Distribution of North American Plants," and 

 papers upon it will be presented by Messrs. Watson, Macoun 

 (of Ottawa), Sargent, Britton, Underwood, Halsted, and 

 Coulter. 



A Royal Commission has been appointed to inquire and 

 report ' ' what is the effect, if any, of food derived from tuber- 

 culous animals on human health, and, if predjudicial, what are 

 the circumstances and conditions with regard to the tuberculosis 

 in the animal which produce that effect upon man." Lord 

 Basing is chairman. Tha other Commissioners are Prof. G. T. 

 Brown, Dr. George Buchanan, Mr. Frank Payne, and Prof. 

 Burdon Sanderson. 



The Turin Academy of Medicine has proposed the following 

 theme for the Riberi Prize of aho\x\.£T$o : " Researches on the 

 nature and the prophylaxis of one or several infectious diseases 

 of man." Works may be sent printed or in manuscript ; they 

 may be in Italian, French, or Latin ; and printed works must 

 have appeared since 1886. The date limit is December 31, 

 189T. 



The failure of the Government to carry its scheme for the 

 extinction of some public- house licences is likely to result in an 

 important advantage to education. In his statement on Monday 

 with respect to the money which was to have been applied to this 

 object, Mr. Goschen said: — "As regards England we propose 

 to add the amount set free by the abandoned licensing clauses 

 to the residue which, under the Bill as it stands, goes to the 

 county councils, accompanying this inclusion by an intimation 

 that possibly new charges may, by and by, be put upon them, 

 with reference to intermediate, technical, or agricultural educa- 

 tion. It seems very desirable, if more is to be done in this 

 respect, that the localities, and especially county councils, should 

 be interested in the work. In England there is at present little 

 machinery available for carrying out such an object, and it would 

 be impossible to create such a machinery at this period of the 

 session. But in Wales and in Monmouthshire the machinery 

 does exist. County councils may supply funds to the joint 

 committee for intermediate education under the Act of last year 

 out of the county rate, but to the extent of a halfpenny of such 

 rates only. We shall propose that the county councils in Wales 



