Mar. 14, 1872J 



NATURE 



591 



The Royal Academy of Sciences of Belgium offers prizes on 

 the following subjects for Essays to be sent in during the 

 year 1S73 : — (i) A simplification of the theory of the integration 

 of equations of^tlie two first orders; (2) On the disturbing 

 causes which influence the determination of the electro-motor 

 force and of the interior resistance of an element of the electric 

 pile ; (3) On the relations of heat to the divelopment of flower- 

 ing plants, especially with regard to the periodic phenomena of 

 vegetation, and on the dynamical influence of solar heat on the 

 evolution of plants ; (4) On the mode of reproduction of ser- 

 pents; (5) On the composition and mutual relations of albumi- 

 noid substances ; (6) On the coal fields of the basin of Liege. 

 A gold medal of the value of 1000 fr. will be given for the first, 

 fifth, and si.xth questions, and of 600 fr. for the second, third, 

 and fourth. The essays must be vifritten in Latin, French, or 

 Flemish. For 1874 the subjects are : — (i) On uric acid and its 

 derivatives, especially in relation to their chemical structure and 

 synthesis ; (2) On the polymorphism of the Muccdinea;, their 

 real nature, and the conditions of their development ; (3) On the 

 question whether the fungi of fermentation can, under certain 

 circumstances, become changed into the higher fungi, with 

 positive proof of the fact or the contrary. 



Harpers UVrf/i'states that Uriah F. Boyden, of Boston, U.S.A., 

 has deposited with the Franklin Institute, of Philadelphia, the sum 

 of one thousand dollars, to be awarded as a premium to any 

 resident of North America who shall determine by e.xperiment 

 whether all rays of light and other physical rays are or are not 

 transmitted with the same velocity. The condidons of the 

 premium limit the applicants to those living north of the southern 

 boundary of Mexico, and including the West India Islands. 

 Applications must be made before the 1st of January, 1S73, ^t 

 which time the judges, appointed by the Franklin Institute, 

 shall examine the memoirs and decide wliether any one is 

 entitled to the premium. 



We are desired by Colonel Grant to say that the botanica 

 collection from Tropical Africa, referred to at p. 339, was not 

 made in conjunction with Captain Burton, but during the 

 journey of Captain Speke and himself in 1S60-3, from Zanzibar 

 to the great central Lake Region. The results will shortly be 

 published in the Transactions of the Linnean Society; it will be 

 illustrated by 100 (not 600) 410 plates, and the descriptions will 

 be in great part drawn up by Prof, Oliver. We are glad to hear 

 that Mr. W. O. Livingstone, who is accompanying the Living- 

 stone Search Expedition, has considerable botanical knowledge, 

 and is intending to bring home a collection. 



In reference to the hairy tapir of the South American Andes 

 ( Tiipinis R(jii/ini), the acquisition of skeletons of which by the 

 Smithsonian Institution was spoken of in our last number (p. 

 370), we are informed that a fine series of skins and skeletons of 

 the animal has recently been obtained by Mr. Buckley in Ecua- 

 dor. Some of these are now in the British Museum ; the others 

 have been purchased by Mr. Edwd. Gerrard, jun., of Camden 

 Town. At the last meeting of the Zoological Society a paper 

 was read by Dr. Gray, describing the specimens acquired by the 

 British Museum, and referring them to a new species, Tapirus 

 Icucogenys. But we are informed that there are no valid grounds 

 for separating them from Roulin's Tapir of the U.S. of 

 Colombia. 



We desire to call attention to the Annual General Meeting of 

 the Iron and Steel Institute, which will be held in Willis's 

 Rooms, King Street, St. James's, London, commencing on 

 Tuesday, March 19, under the presidency of Mr. Hcniy Besse- 

 mer. The programme of proceedings will be found in our ad- 

 vertising columns. It is expected that on Tuesday evening, March 

 19, a paper, by Mr. I. Lowthian Beil, " On the Conditions 

 which Favour and those which Limit the Economy of Fuel in the 



Blast Furnace for Smelting Iron," will be read and discussed at 

 the meeting of the Institute of Civil Engineers, Great George 

 Street, Westminster. The Council have kindly promised to 

 issue invitations to members of the Iron and Steel Institute, to 

 attend on this occasion. 



Our readers will have noticed in our advertising columns the 

 list of subscriptions at present received to the " Priestley Memo- 

 rial Fund." The object is worthy of the attention of all who 

 are able and disposed to assist in so meritorious an object. 



An important letter, by M. Berthelot, appears in the Moititcur 

 Scientijiqiic for February, in which this eminent savant insists on 

 the reconciliation of the scientific worlds of France and Germany, 

 pointing out that the united action of France, Germany, and 

 England, in the advancement of civilisation and science, is neces- 

 sary for the progress of the world. 



It is stated that shocks of earthquake were felt at Dresden, 

 Pima, Schandau, Chemnitz, Rodenbach, Weimar, and Rudol- 

 stadt, between three and four o'clock on the afternoon of 

 the 6th inst. They continued to recur during an hour, and in 

 some cases several hours. 



The return of Professor C. F. Hartt, of Ithaca, from his late 

 expedition to Brazil, has been already announced in the papers ; 

 and we are glad to learn, from Harper's Weekly, that he suc- 

 ceeded in making many important discoveries in natural history 

 and the geography of the countrj', and especially the languages 

 of the native tribes. By his researches in this latter direction he 

 has already become quite an authority, and, we presume, will 

 before long begin to publish his linguistic results. In the course 

 of his expedition Professor Hartt took occasion to examine the 

 great Kjoekkenmoedding, near Santarem, referred to by various 

 travellers, which, however, yielded him only a few fragments of 

 coarse pottery and a few bones. He was very fortunate in the 

 opportunityof excavating the sites of a number of Ii,d:an vilbgcs 

 on the edge of the bluft's bordering the Amazon and the Tapjjos, 

 in the angle made by the two rivers. Here he found an im- 

 mense quantity of broken pottery, often highly ornament d, 

 idols, stone implements, cS;c., probably derived from theTapajos, 

 now extinct as a tribe, or merged into the mixed Indian popula- 

 tion of the Amazon. In an ancient burial-place on the Tapajos 

 he dug up a number of burial-pots ; none, however, containing 

 complete skeletons. An examination of the mounds of the 

 island of Marajo was to be made by some of his associates who 

 remained behind. 



The Royal Horticultural Society has just issued an exceed- 

 ingly comprehensive and valuable series of meteorological obser- 

 vations made at their gardens at Chiswick from 1S26 to 1S64, 

 and analysed by Mr. James Glaisher. The number of tables 

 is nearly sixty, including the mean temperature of every day, 

 and the extremes of mean temperature for every djy in each 

 month during the year specified, the excess cr deficiency above 

 or below the average of the mean temperature of every d.ay, 

 month, and year ; the daily ranges of temperature on eveiy 

 day of the year, and the daily falls of rain in each month. 

 Comparisons are made with the series of observations taken at 

 Greenwich ; general conclusions are deduced, and the intro- 

 ductory observations are of value and interest to all meteor- 

 ologists. 



We understand that the Meteorological Committee have re- 

 solved to issue lithographed illustrative charts of the Daily Weather 

 Report, which will be delivered in London, within a reasonable 

 distance from the office of the printer in Lincoln's Inn Fields, 

 between i and 2 p.m., or posted in time for the evening mails. 

 Up to the 31st of March these charts will be supplied gratui- 

 tously. 



