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NAP EOE, 
| JANUARY 10, 1907 
SoLar halos are not so rare as to be very remarkable 
meteorological phenomena, but a halo seen complete or in 
parts in the afternoon of January 4, in various parts of 
the country, seems to have excited some interest among 
people unfamiliar with its nature. At Hitchin the halo 
was first noticed about 2.15, and it lasted until about 
3 o’clock, three-quarters of a complete circle being visible. 
A complete halo noticed at Southampton and 
Worcester about 3 o’clock, and portions were observed 
near Ealing at 3.20, and at Chichester about 4 o’clock. 
was 
On Tuesday next, January 15, Prof. Perey Gardner will 
deliver the first of two lectures at the Royal Institution on 
““The Sculpture of Aegina in Relation to Recent Dis- 
covery,’’ and on Thursday, January 17, Dr. W. N. Shaw 
will begin a course of two lectures on ‘‘ Recent Advances 
in the Exploration of the Atmosphere.’? The discourse on 
January 18 will be delivered by Sir Andrew Noble, Bart., 
K.C.B., on “‘ Fifty Years of Explosives.’’ Prof. W. W. 
Watts being unable to deliver his two lectures on the 
“Building of Britain’? and ‘* Recent Light on Ancient 
Physiographies ’’ on Thursdays, February 14 and 21, Mr. 
Alfred Harker will deliver two lectures on those dates on 
“The Minute Structures of Igneous Rocks and_ their 
Significance.” 
A MAGNETIC survey of Mexico is now in progress under 
the joint auspices of the Mexican Government and the 
Department of Terrestrial Magnetism of the Carnegie 
Institution of Washington. It is reported in Science that 
the Mexican Government has two parties in the field under 
the direction of the Observatorio Astronomico Nacional 
Mexicano, one having charge of the eastern part of the 
country and one of the western part, embracing the Pacific 
coast from Manzanillo to Guaymas, inclusive of Lower 
California. The Carnegie Institution party will confine 
operations to the part of Mexico north of the twenty-fifth 
parallel, upon the completion of which it will proceed to 
Campeche, Yucatan, and the Central American countries. 
It will be possible within the next year to construct 
accurate magnetic maps for the region between the parallels 
of latitude 20° and 49° north and meridians of longitude 
65° and 125° west of Greenwich. 
Tue Harvard ethnological expedition to South America 
is now on its way to Arequipa, Peru, where it will make 
its headquarters for three years. It consists of Dr. W. C. 
Farabee, a Harvard instructor in anthropology, with two 
assistants, Mr. L. J. de Milhau and Mr. J. W. Hastings, 
with Dr. Edward F. Horr as physician to the party. Its 
main object is to collect all possible information about the 
little-known Indian tribes living on the headwaters of the 
Amazon and Parana on the east of the Andes. The only 
previous exploration in this region was that of Dr. Flick, a 
German man of science, who, however, covered only a 
small part of the territory that will now be visited. The 
expenses of the expedition will be met by a recent Harvard 
graduate. The Secretary of State has provided letters of 
introduction to various officials in South America, and 
assistance is also expected from the Harvard Observatory 
at Arequipa. Another scientific expedition in which 
Harvard is interested is that which Prof. Alexander Agassiz 
is projecting for February, when he will take a small party 
in a steam yacht for a cruise in the West Indies. 
Tue University of Michigan has come into possession 
of a tract of land which is to be developed into a garden 
meeting all the requirements of the present-day European 
botanic gardens. We learn from Science that the ground 
Huron River by an approximately equal area owned by 
the city of Ann Arbor. By an agreement entered into by 
the University and the council of the city, the two pieces 
of land are to be developed as one, thus ensuring a garden 
and park of at least sixty acres. The following four aims 
for its use will be observed in the development of the 
garden :—(1) teaching, in which students are instructed 
in the various orders and functions of plants; (2) scientific, 
in which genetic relationship is studied and experimental 
work is carried on; (3) economic, in which collections of 
medicinal and economic plants are made, and the effect 
of horticulture and agriculture is shown; and (4) esthetic 
and popularly educational, in which special provision is 
made to make the plantings, the drives, and walks of 
interest and value to the public. 
AN obituary notice of Prof. Ernesto Cesaro is con- 
tributed by Prof. Ernesto Pascal to part xvii. of the current 
number of the Rendiconti of the Lombardy Institution- 
Cesaro was born at Naples on March 12, 1859, and went 
to study in the School of Mines at Liége, where his brother 
had previously been appointed professor of mineralogy. 
He soon developed a taste for mathematics, and began to 
publish papers in Mathesis and elsewhere. In 1886 he 
presented more than a hundred papers in competition for 
university prizes at Messina on infinitesimal calculus, and 
at Naples on complementary algebra; and six years later, 
in awarding him the gold medal of the Italian “* XL” 
Society, Beltrami alluded to about 200 papers, many of 
considerable length, from his pen. Cesaro returned from 
Belgium to study mathematics at Rome, but never con- 
sented to present himself for examination for the university 
degree. In 1886 he was appointed professor at Palermo, 
and was awarded an honorary degree by the University of 
Rome at the early age of twenty-seven. In 1891 he was 
transferred to Naples. His works deal with arithmetic, 
theory of functions, algebraic analysis, theory of elas- 
ticity, intrinsic geometry and infinitesimal calculus. On 
September 12, 1906, he was bathing with his son at Torre 
Annunziata, when a wave struck the boy. In attempting 
to rescue him the father was struck on the head, and both 
father and son perished together. 
We have received a copy of an address delivered by 
Prof. Carl Rabl, director of the Anatomical Institute at 
Leipzig, before the university of that city on June 21, 
1906, and entitled ‘‘ Uber ‘ Organbildene Substanzen ’ und 
ihre Bedeutung fiir die Vererbung ’’ (published at Leipzig). 
One of the chief subjects discussed is the theory of the 
continuity of the chromosomes, that is to say, of the 
chromatic elements of the nucleus of the germ-cell. In 
conclusion, it is argued that the development of an 
organism must be regarded as a continuous chain of 
chemical progression, based upon and regulated by a 
definite anatomical substratum. 
Tue report of the Bristol Museum and Art Gallery for 
1906 chronicles the results of the first complete year’s 
working of the combined institutions, and it is satis- 
factory to learn that in every respect the authorities have 
reason to congratulate themselves on their efforts. The 
public has responded in an almost surprising manner to 
the attractions offered, the attendance during the year 
having exceeded half a million. In the natural history 
section groups of birds, both British and foreign, as well 
as one of tigers, have been set up for the museum by 
Rowland Ward, Ltd., and have proved highly attractive. 
In the list of big-game trophies the name of one animal 
comprises about thirty acres, and is separated from the |!is given as the ‘‘ Burmese buffalo or gaur,’’ which leaves 
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NO. 1941, VOL. 75 
