January i8, 1900] 



NA TURE 



279 



of the Colorado Valley," to say nothing of his " Key to 

 North American Birds" — of which a third edition was 

 announced for the ensuing spring — and his " Ornitho- 

 logical Bibliography," each a model of accurate work, 

 proclaim him to have been far in advance of any 

 other contemporary of his own country, or indeed 

 of many others. In the summer of 1884 Dr. Coues 

 visited England, to the great satisfaction of British 

 ornithologists, to most of whom he had been only known 

 by name, for thus his attractive personality attached 

 to him many warm friends. After taking a considerable 

 share in the publication of the " Century Dictionary," of 

 which he was the Natural History editor, he latterly 

 turned his attention to some of the earlier geographical 

 explorations of his own country, and we owe to him 

 admirable editions of the "Travels " of Lewis and Clark, 

 and of General Pike. 



Last summer Dr. Coues revisited Arizona, intent on 

 ethnological researches, but found a camp life at the 

 elevation of 700c feet too much for his powers. Return- 

 ing to Washington in the autumn, distressing symptoms 

 of a serious ailment soon began to show themselves, and 

 in a touching letter to an English friend, written at the 

 end of November, he announced that the only hope for 

 the prolongation of his life lay in the success of a very 

 formidable surgical operation which he was about to 

 undergo in the Johns Hopkins Hospital at Baltimore. 

 The last mail brought the sad news of its failure, and 

 the ornithologists of Britain will assuredly condole with 

 those of North America in the loss of the most accom- 

 plished of their brethren. A. N. 



NOTES. 



In calling attention to the article in another column concern- 

 i^g the future representation of the London University in 

 Parliament, we may state that there is a very widely expressed 

 feeling that such representation, being a matter of national 

 concern, should be considered from an absolutely non-political 

 standpoint. A strong feeling has been expressed in many 

 quarters that if the representative of the University be not a 

 man of European distinction, a great opportunity will have been 

 lost. Among those thought of from this point of view is a dis- 

 tinguished office bearer of the Royal Society. We trust that if 

 he has been asked to serve in such a cause, he will not refuse to 

 come to the assistance of those who are working to promote it. 



Profs. Darboux and Moissan have been nominated to 

 represent the Paris Academy of Sciences at the forthcoming 

 celebration of the second centenary of the Berlin Academy of 

 Sciences. 



The Council of the Royal Astronomical Society have 

 awarded the Society's gold medal for this year to M. Poincare, 

 for his researches in celestial mechanics. 



The Municipal Council of Paris have adopted a proposal 

 by M. Daix, to light the place de la Concorde with acetylene 

 gas during the forthcoming Exhibition. 



The Geological Society has this year awarded its medals and 

 funds as follows : — The Wollaston medal to Prof. G. K. 

 Gilbert, of Washington ; the Murchison medal to Baron A. E. 

 Nordenskiold, of Stockholm ; the Lyell medal to Mr. J. E. 

 Marr, of Cambridge ; the Wollaston fund to Mr. G. T. Prior ; 

 the Murchison fund to Mr. A. Vaughan Jennings ; the Lyell 

 fund to Miss G. L. Elles ; and the Barlow-Jameson fund to Mr. 

 (j. C. Crick and Prof T. T. Groom. 



The annual congress and exhibition of the Sanitary Institute 

 will be held at Nottingham about the end of August. 



The annual general meeting of the Institution of Mechanical 

 Engineers will be held on Friday, January 26. 



NO. 1577, VOL. 61] 



The Royal Bavarian Academy of Sciences has conferred upon 

 Herr Eugen Wolf, the explorer, its large gold medal for services 

 rendered to science. 



The St. Petersburg correspondent of the Times announces 

 that a special separate department has been created in the 

 Russian Council of State, to be called the *' Section of Industry, 

 Science and Trade." Under the head of Science, it is intended 

 that this new department shall help to direct the advance of 

 national education, a subject which, in connection with the 

 economical development of Russia, is now beginning to obtain 

 the powerful support "so much needed. 



We learn with regret from Prof H. II. Giglioli that Mr. 

 John Bernard Stallo, of Cincinnati, U.S.A., died at Florence on 

 January 6, in his seventy-sixth year. Judge Stallo, as he was 

 usually called, was well known as a philosopher, mathemati- 

 cian and physicist ; he was, during President Cleveland's first 

 term of office, Ambassador of the United States at Rome. Since 

 then he had lived in Florence amidst his books, taking to the 

 very last a keen interest in the progress of science. Prof. 

 Mack's last book is dedicated to him. 



We learn from Science that Prof. E. B. Wilson, of Columbia 

 University, has been elected president of the American Society 

 of Naturalists, in succession to Prof. W. G. Farlow, of Harvard 

 University ; and Dr. William McMurtrie, of New York City, 

 has been elected president of the American Chemical Society, 

 in succession to Prof. Edward Morley. 



Sir William MacCormac is contributing to the Lancet 

 some valuable notes on the treatment of the wounded at the 

 seat of war, and the wounds produced by modern bullets. He 

 is particularly well qualified to express an opinion on the 

 severity of bullet-wounds, for he had excellent opportunities of 

 observing the lesions resulting from bullets during the Franco- 

 Prussian war, and he states that in most cases the damage done 

 by the modern bullet, especially by the Mauser, cannot be com- 

 pared in severity with that inflicted by the needle-gun or the 

 Chassepot. His articles put medical men in the possession of 

 much information not hitherto available, and constitute a real 

 contribution to scientific knowledge. 



Several correspondents have sent descriptions of solar halos 

 and parhelia observed from various parts of Sussex and Surrey 

 on Thursday last, January II, between 9.30 and 11.30 a.m. 

 Judging from the particulars communicated to us, what was seen 

 was a typical exhibition of this meteorological phenomenon, 

 which is not unfrequent in these latitudes, though it is rarely so 

 well defined as it was on Thursday. The halos consisted of 

 (i) a first bow concentric with the sun, red within, blue or 

 green without, and having an angular radius of 21° or 22° ; 

 (2) a second circle or halo, similar to the first, but at twice 

 the angular distance from the sun ; {3) two inverted arches 

 touching the two concentric halos, blue or green on the 

 concave side, and red on the convex ; (4) bright patches or 

 mock suns on the same level as the sun, and apparently lying on 

 the halos. The sky, except near the horizon, was cloudless 

 but misty, the sun being faintly visible. This is the usual con- 

 dition for the formation of halos, which are produced by the 

 reflection and refraction of the sun's rays by the minute ice- 

 crystals which constitute cirro-stratus clouds. A writer from 

 New Shoreham, Sussex, remarks that the mock suns are there 

 called " sun hounds," and in Kent " sun dogs." 



From a recent issue of the Times we learn of a brilliant day- 

 light meteor which was seen by several observers on the after 

 noon of January 9. Mr. H. H. P. Bouverie, writing from Glynde 

 Place, Lewes, remarks : " Whilst shooting here today I saw a 

 brilliant meteor, which started from near the moon, that was 



