October 23, 1890] 



NATURE 



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NOTES. 



Everyone was sorry to hear of the death of Sir Richard 

 Burton, the eminent traveller and Orientalist. He died on Mon- 

 day morning at Trieste, where he had been British Consul from 

 1872. He was in his sixty-ninth year. Burton was one of the 

 boldest and most successful travellers of his time, and produced 

 a great impression on all who knew him by the wide range of 

 his talents, and by his energy and manliness. His career as a 

 traveller began in 1852, when he undertook the journey to 

 Medina and Mecca, of which he afterwards wrote so fascinating 

 an account. His journey with Speke in 1857, which led to the 

 discovery of Lake Tanganyika, placed Burton in the front rank 

 of explorers. He had previously made a successful expedition 

 into Somaliland ; and at a later period he did much brilliant 

 work in various districts of Western Africa and in Brazil. 



We regret to have to record the death of the Rev. J. A. Gal- 

 braith. He died at his residence in Dublin on Monday. For 

 more than half a century he was connected with the University 

 of Dublin, where he graduated in 1840. In 1844 his distinction 

 as a mathematician secured for him a Fellowship, and in 1854 

 he was chosen Erasmus Smith Professor of Experimental 

 Philosophy, along with Dr. Haughton. Prof. Galbraith was 

 the author of various excellent scientific manuals. 



Dr. Alexander Williamson, who died at Shanghai on 

 ugust 28, had for 35 years been a member of various mission- 

 ary bodies, and in his earlier years had travelled far and wide 

 over North China, at a time when the greater part of that 

 Empire was unexplored. His "Journeys in North China " is 

 still a work of interest and value, for he visited many districts 

 which are even still far outside the ambits of the missionary and 

 the traveller, and his great knowledge of China renders the 

 work very instructive. But his main work in life was the 

 establishment in Shanghai of the Society for the Diffusion of 

 Christian and General Knowledge amongst the Chinese, which 

 is, we believe, maintained by subscriptions from various mis- 

 sionary societies labouring in China, Up to the time of his 

 death, he was the editor and chief manager of the Society. 

 Under his superintendence some hundreds of cheap books and 

 pamphlets on all branches of science and on literary topics, suit- 

 able to Chinese intelligence and Chinese pockets, have been 

 issued by the Society. Usually these were compiled by 

 specialists amongst the missionaries, but occasionally a book 

 already published abroad would be altered to meet the circum- 

 stances of the new circle of readers, and published in Chinese. 

 It thus comes about that if an intelligent Chinese, knowing no 

 language but his own, desires to make a closer acquaintance 

 with that Western knowledge and civilization of which he has 

 probably beard so much — whether it be anatomy, zoology, 

 botany, mechanics, steam, the history of Napoleon Bonaparte, 

 the story of the American War, the tale of Robinson Crusoe, 

 the telegraph, the principles of hygiene — he goes to Dr. 

 Williamson's series of publications and selects what he wants, 

 usually at the price of a few cents or halfpence. The Society 

 under his care has in fact stood as an interpreter between the 

 East and West, and has striven to give to the former all the best 

 that the latter has to give in the way of intellectual and moral 

 instruction. This is surely as beneficent a task as can engage 

 the energies of any man, and in it Dr. Williamson appears to 

 liave been most successful. 



The Agent-General for the Cape of Good Hope invites 

 applications from gentlemen of appropriate scientific train- 

 ing and experience, willing to proceed to the Colony for a term 

 of years, there to fill one or other of the undermentioned posts 

 under the Government, viz. :— (i) That of bacteriologist, to 

 investigate the diseases of domestic animals, supposed to be 

 NO. 1095, VOL. 42] 



caused by germs. The salary offered is jCS^o a year. A free 

 first-class passage by steamer (including railway fare to port of 

 embarkation) will be provided. (2) That of toxicologist, to 

 attend chiefly to forensic cases and to investigate South African 

 native plants having medicinal properties. The salary offered 

 is .^400 a year. A free first-class passage by steamer (including 

 railway fare to port of embarkation) will be provided. Ap- 

 plications must be accompanied by testimonials, and by copies 

 of any scientific publications the applicants may have issued ; 

 and should reach the Agent-General for the Cape of Good Hope 

 (112 Victoria Street, London, S.W.) by November 15 next. 

 They will then be submitted to the authorities in the Colony, 

 with whom the appointments rest. 



At the meeting of the organizing committee of the Oriental 

 Congress held on the 9th inst., at the British Museum, it was 

 resolved that Prof. Max Miiller should be invited to preside over 

 the Congress. He has accepted the invitation. Sir Henry 

 Rawlinson, who was to have taken the chair, has been compelled 

 to retire on account of ill-health. 



The Council of the Institution of Civil Engineers have issued 

 a list of subjects on which they invite original communications. 

 For approved papers they have power to award premiums, 

 arising out of special funds bequeathed for the purpose. The 

 Council will not make any award unless a communication of 

 adequate merit is received, but will give more than one premium 

 if there are several deserving memoirs on the same subject. In 

 the adjudication of the premiums no distinction will be made 

 between essays received from members of the Institution or 

 strangers, whether natives or foreigners, except in the case of 

 the Miller and the Howard bequests, which are limited by the 

 donors. 



The nomination list of proposed members of the Council of 

 the London Mathematical Society, for the session 1890-91, 

 which will be submitted to members at the annual meeting on 

 November 13 next, contains the following changes : — Prof. 

 Greenhill, F.R.S., to be President, vk^ Mr. J. J. Walker, 

 F.R.S.; Dr. J. Larmor, Major MacMahon, R.A., F.R.S., and 

 J. J. Walker, F.R.S., to be Vice-Presidents. The proposed 

 new members are Dr. Hirst, F.R.S., R. Lachlan, and A. E. 

 Hough Love, in place of Prof. W. Burnside, Prof. Cayley, 

 F.R.S., and Sir James Cockle, F.R.S., who retire. At the 

 same meeting the retiring President will read an address on "The 

 Influence of Applied on the Progress of Pure Mathematics," 

 and will present the De Morgan Memorial Medal to Lord 

 Rayleigh, Sec.R.S., in recognition of his writings on physical 

 subjects. 



Herr J. Dorfler has successfully completed his botanical 

 expedition to Albania, and has returned to Vienna. From 

 Ueskueb he crossed Kalkandele to Waica, and accomplished 

 the ascent of both the Kobilica and the Serdarica-Duran. 



The late Dr. Henry Muirhead, of Bushyhill and Longdales, 

 Lanarkshire, gave directions in his will that his estate — subject to 

 certain life-rent provisions and legacies — was to be used for the 

 establishment and maintenance of an institution to be named 

 the Muirhead College, " for the instruction and education of 

 women in medical and biological science, where women might 

 receive an education to fit them to become medical practi- 

 tioners, dentists, electricians, chemists, &c." The trustees, 

 having obtained probate, have had several meetings, and it 

 is expected that in the course of a few months they will be 

 in a position to announce the arrangements they have been 

 able to make. As the estate consists chiefly of lands, its 

 money value must in the meantime be more or less a 

 matter of opinion. The trustees, however, are hopeful that 

 ;^30,ooo at least will be available for the College. 



