374 



NATURE 



[August 14, 1890 



THE AUSTRALASIAN ASSOC/ATJOV FOR 

 THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE. 



THE third annual meeting of this Association will be 

 held, as we stated last week, at Christchurch. New 

 Zealand. On January 15, the President-Elect, Sir James 

 Hector, F.R.S., will hold a reception in the grounds of 

 Christ's College, and the first general meeting will take 

 place in the evening, when Baron F. von Mueller, F.R.S., 

 will resign the chair, and an address will be delivered by 

 his successor. 



The Council of the Australasian Association invite 

 the members of the British Association to attend this 

 meeting, and a circular relating to the matter, signed by 

 Profs. A. Liversidge, F.R.S., W. Baldwin Spencer, and 

 F. W. Hutton, the general secretaries, will be distributed 

 at the Leeds meeting. The cheapest way of reaching 

 New Zealand is by the direct steamers which leave 

 Plymouth every fortnight for Wellington. These steamers 

 call at Tenerifife, Cape Town, and Hobart on their way 

 out, and at Rio de Janeiro and Tenerifle on their way 

 back. In the circular to which we have referred, it is 

 stated that return tickets will be issued to members of 

 the British Association proceeding to New Zealand to 

 attend the Christchurch meeting for £2)^, which is 20 per 

 cent, below the ordinary return fares. These tickets will 

 be issued by the New Zealand Shipping Company and 

 by the Shaw, Savill, and Albion Company, and holders 

 may return by either line. In addition to this advant- 

 age, members of the British Association \vill be allowed 

 to travel over the New Zealand Governm.ent railways 

 (1770 miles) at half fares during January and February. 



Visits to places of interest in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of Christchurch will be made during the meet- 

 ing. After the meeting is over, excursions will be made 

 to the West Coast Sounds ; to the top of Ruapehu ; and, if 

 possible, to the Upper Rakaia. The trip to the top of 

 Ruapehu will start from Napier, and will be accompanied 

 by Mr. H. Hill. The trip to the Sounds will start from 

 Port Chalmers, and will be accompanied by Prof Hutton. 



Members of the British Association have thus a 

 splendid chance of visiting New Zealand, and of seeing 

 for themselves what is being done in science by our 

 kinsfolk in Australasia ; and no doubt a good many will 

 avail themselves of the opportunity. Those who decide 

 to accept the invitation are requested to notify their 

 intention, as well as the name of the steamer by which 

 they propose to go, to Prof F. W. Hutton, the general 

 secretary in Christchurch, in order that arrangements 

 may be made for their reception. The following steamers 

 will leave Plymouth in time for the meeting : — 



Company. 



N.Z. Shipping Co. I S.S. Kaikoura. 

 Shaw, Savill, andi' 



Albion Co. \'S>.'&. Doric. 



Leave 

 Plymouth. 



Nov, 15, 1890 

 Nov, 29, 1890 J 



Arrive at 

 New Zealand. 



Dec, 28, 1890 

 an. II, 1891 



Members going by the Kaikoura could visit the Hot 

 Springs district of the North Island before attending the 

 meeting. 



NOTES. 



Nothing of scientific value can be extracted from the ghastly 

 descriptions of the recent electric execution. These graphic 

 horrors are too evidently manufactured for sensational or political 

 purposes to be trusted, even had the writers b een spectators of 

 the scene. But we may at least gather from them that an entire 

 absence of physiological knowledge, and a very scant acquaint- 

 ance with elementary physical principles, were exhibited alike 

 NO. 1085, VOL. 42] 



by the contrivers of the operation and by the actual operators. 

 With our present physiological knowledge, electric currents, 

 whether steady, interrupted, or alternating, are not qualified 

 primarily to produce death, but torture — which, of course, may 

 lead ultimately to death. They have been recommended, in the 

 interests of humanity, as efficient and (if the expression be per- 

 mitted) healthy substitutes for the "cat." But Nature's own 

 operations, in a thunderstorm, suggest the true substitute for the 

 axe or the cord, viz. the discharge of a condenser of sufficient 

 capacity, charged with so-called "statical" electricity. 



The French Association for the Advancement of Science has 

 been holding its annual meeting at Limoges. The meeting 

 began on August 7, and will come to an end to-day, M, A, 

 Cornu, the President, chose as the subject for his nddress " the 

 part played by physics in the recent progress of the sciences." 



A CONSIDERABLE impetus to scientific study ought to be given 

 by the science scholarships which the Royal Commission for the 

 Exhibition of 1851 is about to establish. They amount in the 

 aggregate to ;^5ooo a year, and are to be used for the benefit 

 of English provincial colleges, and of colleges in Wales, Scotland, 

 Ireland, and the colonies. In accordance with the recommend- 

 ations of a scientific committee, each of the scholarships will be 

 ;(f 150 a year in value, and will be tenable for two years— in rare 

 cases for three ; and they are to be restricted to those branches of 

 science (such as physics, mechanics, and chemistry), the exten- 

 sion of which is specially important for our national industries. 

 A series of seventeen scholarships will be allotted to various 

 institutions annually. The first allotment, as the Commissioners 

 explain in a paper they have issued, is to be considered experi- 

 mental and temporary. "The selection now made of institutions 

 to which nominations are off'ered will be subject to modification 

 in the future, having regard not only to the manner in which the 

 nominations are exercised, but also to the claims of other univer- 

 sities and colleges which may from time to time be brought 

 under the consideration of the Commissioners." 



The Reale Istituto di Scienze e Lettere of Milan offers prizes 

 as follows : — (i) A historico-critical investigation of works on the 

 variations of climate in geological times (with estimation of 

 hypotheses as to the causes of those changes). Prize, 1200 lire 

 (the lira equals 9\d.). (2) A monography of the Protista of 

 spring water in Milan, Cagnola Prize of 2500 lire, and a 

 gold medal of 500 lire. (3) Elucidation, by personal observa- 

 tions, of some points in the physiology of the nervous system, 

 especially the brain, Fossati Prize of 2000 lire. (4) Elucidation 

 of the physiology, or the macro- or microscopic anatomy, of the 

 brain. Fossati Prize of 2000 lire. (5) Draper's theory of the 

 progressive development of the light-rays of a body whose 

 temperature is gradually raised having been attacked by Prof, 

 Weber, a thorough investigation of the phenomena is desired, so- 

 as to establish their laws, to exclusion of the ordinary influence 

 of the observer on the meaning of the phenomena, Secco-Com- 

 meno Prize of 864 lire. Papers to be written in Italian, French, 

 or Latin, and sent in, with motto, to the Secretary, Palazzo di 

 Breri, Milan. The dates are— for No. i, April 30, 1891 ; for 

 Nos. 2 and 3, May i, 1891 ; for No. 4, April 30, 1892 ; and for 

 No, 5, May i, 1893, 



The Berlin Academy of Sciences has recently granted £60 

 (each) to Prof. Dames, of the Mineralogical Museum, for a 

 geological investigation of Dalecarlia and the island of Gotland ; 

 to Prof Urban, of the Botanical Garden, for a visit to Paris, ta 

 study the specimens of West Indian flora there ; and to Dr. 

 Rinne, for study of the Central German basalts. Further, £■]$ 

 has been granted to Prof Nussbaum for publication of his studies 

 on Californian Cirrhipedia, and ;^27 for printing of Dr. Schu- 

 mann's researches on the union of races. £t$ is granted to 

 the Anatomical Society, to further the publication of Prof, His's 

 uniform anatomical terminology. 



