Feb. I, 1872] 



NATURE 



275 



for supplies, and unable to move ; Lul the last certain intelligence 

 will be three years old on the 30th of next May. The question 

 now is, shall this great and noble-hearted man be left to his fate? 

 In January 1870 the Treasury sanctioned a grant of 1,000/. to 

 send stores by natives from Zanzibar through the political agent ; 

 but tills method of affording relief failed, and neither letters from 

 Livingstone nor proof tliat he ever received the stores have 

 reached the coast. Mr. Stanley, an American traveller, has 

 also attempted to penetrate into the interior, but he was stopped 

 by disturbances at Unyanyembe. It has thus become clear that, 

 if Livingstone is to be relieved, a properly equipped expedition, 

 ably commanded, must be despatched from this country to do 

 the work. The Lords of the Treasury have declined to grant 

 any pecuniary aid to the expedition which is destined to bring 

 succour to Dr. Livingstone, who, it must always be remembered, 

 is Her Majesty's Consul for the interior of Africa. No adverse 

 decision from the Treasury will, however, l-e allowed to check 

 the necessary prep.arations, nor to retatd them for a sint;le day. 

 The known facts upon which the Council of the Society have had 

 to base their decision are few, but they all pointed to one obvious 

 course. According to the latest rumours, which were to some 

 extent corroborated by tlie great traveller's expressed intention, 

 Dr. Livingstone is in the Manyema country, to the westward of 

 Lake Tanganyika, where he may be prostrated by sickness, and 

 where, at all events, according to his last letters, he was urgently 

 in want of supplies. As experience has proved that it would 

 not be safe to entrust the charge of supplies to the Arab traders, 

 the only alternative is to despatch a relief expedition led by 

 Europeans, and the Council of the Society had determined on 

 that course. The fortunate accident that an excellent oppor- 

 tunity offered itself of reaching Zanzibar in the first steamer that 

 has ever made the direct voyage by the Suez Canal was a 

 sufficient reason for the rapidity with which it was necessary to 

 prepare and despatch the expedition. Nearly 200 persons had 

 volunteered to take part in the expedition, and the choice of a 

 leader had fallen upon IJeut. Llewellyn Dawson, R.N., a scien- 

 tific seaman, who possessed most of the qualifications which were 

 needed to fill so difficult and trying a post, and in whose ability and 

 judgment the Council had perfect confidence. It was intended that 

 he should be accompanied by a second in command, and the Foreign 

 Office had applied to the Admiralty that any naval officer who 

 served on this expedition should be rated on one of Her Majesty's 

 ships, so as to be allowed time and full pay. Mr. \V. Oswell 

 Livingstone, Livingstone's son, who was born twenty years ago 

 in the neighbourhood of Lake N'gami, would also accompany 

 the expedition. It was hoped that Mr. New, a gentleman con- 

 nected with the Mombas Mission, would act as interpreter, and 

 the party would in all consist of an escort of about fifty picked 

 men, besides porters. It would leave England early in February 

 in the Abydos steamer, chartered by Messrs. J. Wiseman and Co., 

 who had generously undertaken to convey all stores free of charge, 

 and, if possible, to secure reduced charges for passages for the 

 members of the expedition." A discussion ensued on the read- 

 ing of this statement, in which Mr. J. R. Andrews, Dr. Purcell, 

 Mr. Lee, Mr. J. Ball, Admiral Collinson, Mr. Thorpe, the Rev. 

 Horace Waller, and others joined. The letter from the Treasury 

 declining to aid was called for and read, arjd comments made on 

 the possible meaning of the chief sentence in the letter — "A 

 new expedition is not the only means left through which Dr. 

 Livingstone's safety may with reason be hoped for." The 

 following communications were read; — i. "Letter to Dr. Kirk 

 on an Ascent of Kilimanjaro." By the Rev. Charles New, of 

 Mombasa. This letter describes the recent visit of the author to 

 Chagga and his ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro to the snow-line. 

 Mr. New had made a collection of plants growing in the upper 

 zones of vegetation on the mountain which he had forwarded to 

 Dr. Hooker at Kew. He described the varied zones, from the 

 tropical country at the base of the mountain up to the mag- 

 nificent snow-coloured dome which forms the summit. The 

 lower slopes were covered with dense forests of gigantic trees 

 clothed with mosses, the upper of heaths and green pastures. 

 2. "Ascent of the P.adass River and Visit to the Ahiin/s 

 Country in Northern Bonieo." By Lieut. C de Crespigny, R.N. 

 This journey was undertaken in the search of ourang-otangs or 

 Alias, which abound in that pare of Borneo. The I'adass rises 

 on the slopes of the lofty mountain Kini-balu, and flows through 

 a plain furrowed by the courses of many other rivers. Much 

 inlormation was given concerning the Ai/umis and Mmiits, and 

 other little-known tribes, and cases of the employment of ourang- 

 otangs as domestic servants, employed to collect fire-wood, &c. , 

 were given. 



Entomological Society, January 22. — Mr. A. R. Wal- 

 lace, president, in the chair. — The Rev. T. A. Marshall, and 

 Messrs. H. W. Bates, A. Mtiller, and F. Smith, were elected 

 into the council, to replace meniliiers retiring therefrom. Prof. 

 Westwood was elected president; Mr. S. Stevens treasurer; 

 Messrs. McLachlan and Grut, secretaries ; and Wv. Janson, 

 librarian. I'he retiring president read an address, and the meet- 

 ing ended with the usual votes of thanks to the officers. 



Victoria Institute, January 22. — Mr. Charles Brooke, 

 F.R.S., in the chair. — Dr! W. M. Ord, "On the influence of 

 colloid matters upon crystalline forms," illustrated by numerous 

 diagrams and specimens. Having briefly defined the use of the 

 terms, he proceeded to show that when crystalline substance was 

 deposited in a colloid, such as gum or albumen, it assumed not a 

 crystalline, but a globular form. Diagrams showing the various 

 changes that took place illustrated this part of the lecture. The 

 action of salt water on the carbonate of soda in the case of the 

 shell of the lolister, and the changes in the organisms were ex- 

 plained ; the formation of bone in liawk-man tortoise and the 

 codfish were alluded to, and Dr. Ord concluded by drawing 

 attention to the importance of the investigation of the chemistry 

 of colloids. 



Glasgow 



Geological Society, January 11. — Mr. John Young, vice- 

 president, in the chair. Mr. James Thomson, F.G.S., read 

 a paper on I'aUvocoiyne scotiacm and P. radiatiim from the 

 carboniferous shales of the West of Scotland. He stated that 

 at the first excursion of the society to Corrieburn, in 1S58, he 

 had observed in some portions of shale a small, delicate, stellate 

 body which he could not refer to any genus or species he had 

 seen described. Since then, at various Saturd.ay aftertnoon ex- 

 cursions of the society, he had discovered other forms of a 

 similar kind. He had consulted the collections of the Geologi- 

 cal Society, the Government Museum of Practical Geology, and 

 the British Museum in London, without finding any similar 

 organisms ; and lacking the necessary facilities for prosecuting 

 the work himself, he had at length placed them in the hands of 

 Prof Duncan, in order that they might be identified and named. 

 On investigation Prof. Duncan found them to be new and un- 

 described forms wliich could only be referred to the Jlydrozoa. 

 The calcareous investments of these Paluocorynida made their 

 recognition as true Hydrozoa a matter of some difficulty ; but this 

 had been overcome by the examination of the anomalous genus 

 Biiiu-ria (Wright), which, as pointed out by Prof Duncan, 

 shows a very decided resemblance to the fossil under considera- 

 tion, the semi-solid investment being continued over the greater 

 part of the tentacles and upper part of the body. These minute 

 but interesting forms are found both in our highest and lowest 

 beds of limestone — at Roughwood, Broadstone, Auchiiiskeigh, 

 and Gare — and their discovery may be said to add another Imk 

 to the chain that unites the present with the remote past. — Mr. 

 Thomson also gave notes on a new species oiPaliZi/iiiius, from the 

 limestone shale of Auchinskeigh. It was most nearly allied to 

 Dr. Secular's species spluzricus, but differed in the form and 

 ornamentation of both the ambulacral and interambulacral plates. 

 He proposed to name it provisionally Pahvchiims scoticus. Mr. 

 Thomson exhibited the fossils and some beautiful microscopic 

 sections in illustration of his paper. 



Paris 

 Academy of Sciences, January 22. — A paper by M. J. 

 Boussinesq on the geometrical laws of the distribution of pres- 

 sures in a homogenuous and ductile solid, subjected to plane 

 deformations, was communicated by M. de Saint-Venant. — M. 

 Faye read a note on Encke's comet and the phenomena which it 

 presented at its last appearance. — A sixth letter from Father 

 Secchi on the solar protuberances was read, containing a tabulated 

 tummary, with explanations of all the observations made upon 

 the protuberances during the year 1871. — M. Tremaux forwarded 

 a note on phenomena indicating the condition of the sidereal 

 medium. — M. Delaunay communicated a note by MM. Prosper 

 and Paul Henry, on the construction of very detailed celestial 

 maps, and exhibited a map prepared by them on the principle 

 indicated.— A note on the Meteorological Annual of the Paris 

 Observatory for 1S72, by M. E. Renon, was read; the author 

 criticises some of the numerical results given in that volume. — ■ 

 M. E. Dubois presented a note on a marine gyroscope.— M. H. 

 de Jacobi communicated his researches on the induction currents 

 produced in the coils of an electro-magnet between the poles 

 of which a metallic disc is set in motion ; this paper contains 



