5i8 



NATURE 



[March 29, 1900 



Mr. Stark ; the former adding the termination " formes" 

 to the names of the orders. Here again, although we 

 regard the addition of the termination in question as 

 totally superfluous, and at the same time ugly, we should 

 be quite prepared to sacrifice our personal prejudices for 

 the sake of uniformity. 



The descriptive portion of the work appears to be 

 carefully executed, and the " keys " seem to be well 

 drawn up. While quoting from the publications of the 

 numerous field-naturalists who have written on African 

 ornithology, Captain Shelley is by no means dependent 

 altogether on the observations of others for his accounts 

 of the habits of many of the birds he describes, since he 

 himself has twice visited Egypt, and has likewise travelled 

 in Cape Colony and Natal, where he had the advantage of 

 meeting such well-known local ornithologists as the Messrs. 

 Ayres. As a " bird-country " Captain Shelley speaks very 

 enthusiastically of Africa, observing that it " may fairly 

 claim to be the metropolis of the song-birds, for the bush 

 resounds with their melody ; it is the winter home of a 

 large proportion of our most attractive small birds, such 

 as the nightingale and the many warblers which enliven 

 our English gardens and surrounding country in summer, 

 as well as the swallow, our well-known harbinger of 

 spring." 



Mention has already been made of the beauty of the 

 'plates illustrating the second part, and it may be added 

 that the typography and general " get-up " of the work 

 are beyond praise. If the same high standard be main- 

 tained in the succeeding issues, the complete work 

 <:annot fail of proving highly attractive to all bird-lovers. 



R. L. 



NOTES. 



Prof. W. C. Brogger, of the University of Christiania, the 

 distinguished Norwegian geologist, will deliver the second 

 -course of the George Huntington Williams memorial lectures at 

 the Johns Hopkins University during next month. Prof. 

 Brogger is the most prominent Scandinavian geologist, and has 

 published a series of memoirs upon the geology of Southern 

 IsTorway that have given him rank among the leading investi- 

 gators of his time. As the Williams lecturer, he follows Sir 

 Archibald Geikie, who opened the lectureship two years ago 

 with a course upon the founders of geology. Prof. Brogger will 

 lecture upon modern deductions regarding the origin of igneous 

 rocks, a subject that has commanded the attention of many 

 -geologists in recent years. 



The Royal Meteorological Society will attain its jubilee on 

 Tuesday next, April 3, having been founded on April 3, 1850. 

 The celebration of this fiftieth anniversary will be commenced 

 at a commemoration meeting to be held on Tuesday afternoon, 

 when the President, Dr. C. Theodore Williams, will deliver an 

 address, and delegates from other societies will be received. A 

 -conversazione will be held at the Royal Institute of Painters in 

 Water Colours in the evening. In addition to the pictures in 

 the galleries, there will also be an exhibition of meteorological 

 instruments, models and photographs, and lantern demonstra- 

 tions will be given by Colonel H. M. Saunders, Mr. T. C. 

 Porter and Mr. W. Marriott. On Wednesday, April 4, there 

 will be an excursion to the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, and 

 a dinner at the Westminster Palace Hotel. As a memento of 

 the jubilee of the Society, a bronze commemoration medal, 

 bearing on the obverse a portrait of Luke Howard, F.R.S., has 

 been struck. 



The New York Electrical Review states that the North 



German Lloyd has decided to equip all its swift steamships with 



wireless telegraphy apparatus to announce their proximity to the 



•German coast. The Kaiser Wilhelm der Grosse has been 



NO. 1587, VOL. 61] 



equipped with the necessary instruments, and a similar outfit has 

 been installed on an island near the mouth of the Ems in the 

 North Sea. The ship will thus be able to exchange signals 

 with the mainland long before she is sighted, or has passed out 

 of view when outward bound. The question of installing wire- 

 less telegraphy apparatus on the Nantucket Shoals Lightship, off 

 the Massachusetts coast, is under consideration by the Light- 

 house Board. Incoming steamships, similarly equipped, could 

 thus be reported many hours before they could be sighted at 

 Fire • Island. 



M. Crevat-Durand, who recently died at Fontainebleau, 

 bequeathed to the Pasteur Institute the sum of 100,000 francs. 



Dr. Patrick Manson, professor of medical pathology at 

 the English Colonial School of Medicine, has been elected an 

 associate of the Paris Academy of Medicine. 



It is stated that Dr. Edward Ehlers, of Copenhagen, is about 

 to proceed to Crete to make arrangements lor the segregation 

 of the lepers on the island. There are about 2000 of these, and 

 they will be placed on a small island off the north coast. 



The death is announced, at New York, of Dr. Oliver P. 

 Hubbard, formerly professor of chemistry and geology in Dart- 

 mouth College, and one of the founders of the American Asso- 

 ciation for the Advancement of Science. 



It is reported that the Lemaire scientific expedition has 

 reached Tenka, after a successful and peaceful journey of 3000 

 kilometres along]|the border of the Congo State. Three days 

 east of Lualaba Mission the expedition met Major Gibbons, 

 who was on his way to Tanganyika, via Lafoi, and thence to 

 the Nile. 



We learn from Science that under the direction of Prof. A. A. 

 Wright, of Oberlin College, systematic excavation has been 

 commenced in Brownhelm, Ohio, near Lake Erie, and about 

 twelve miles from Oberlin, to recover mastodon remains, the 

 first of which were discovered several years ago. The jaws and 

 head, both tusks, together with a number of ribs and vertebrae, 

 have been obtained in a good state of preservation. 



The Royal Scottish Geographical Society proposes to organise 

 a purely Scottish expedition to the South Pole to work in con- 

 junction with the British and German expeditions. The sphere 

 of the expedition will be the Weddell sea quadrant, south of the 

 Atlantic Ocean, while the British expedition will explore to the 

 south of the Pacific Ocean and the Germans to the south of the 

 Indian Ocean. The leader will be Mr. William S. Bruce, who 

 visited the Antarctic regions in 1892 and 1893. 



At the last meeting of the Paris Societe d'Encouragement, 

 the president, M, Carnot, referred to the death of Prof. S. 

 Jordan, a member of the council of the society. Prof. Jordan 

 was professor of metallurgy at the 6cole centrale for many 

 years, and was widely known among metallurgists and engineers. 

 He was a member of the Comite des Arts chemiques, and 

 represented more particularly the metallurgy of iron and steel. 

 It was upon his report that the society awarded the Lavoisier 

 medal to M. Osmond in 1897, for his excellent researches on the 

 microstructure of steel. 



It was mentioned last week (p 498) that a gentleman had 

 given the Scottish Meteorological Society a donation of 300/. 

 to be spent during the next two years in the discussion of the 

 results of the observations made on Ben Nevis and at Fort 

 William since 188 1. By the patriotic generosity of Mr. Mackay 

 Bernard, of Dunsinane, whose three donations amount to 

 1500/., the observations will be carried on to the end of next 

 year. By the 1000/. presented by the Royal Societies of London 

 and Edinburgh, the hourly and other observations will be 



