NATURE 



{April \Z, 1872] 



and Fridays, at II, commencing Friday, April 19. "On 

 Botany," by Mr. Hicks, ■Sidney College; Mondays, Wednes- 

 days at I 1'. y., and Fridays, at 12, beginning Monday, April 15. 

 The lecture f this term Mill be chiefly on Cryptogamic Botany, 

 the movenrnts of plants, and the principles of classification. 

 " On Enibyology," the Trinity .Prselector in Physiology (Dr. 

 M. Foster) will deliver a short course at the new museums, 

 beginning Monday, April 22, at II o'clock. The Physiological 

 Laborato7 is open for practical instruction in Physiology to all 

 those wlo have gone through the elementary course. 



We lave to record this week the death of facile princeps the 

 most eninent of vegetable physiologists. Prof. Hugo von Mohl, 

 which took place on April i at Tubingen. Von Mohl was born 

 at Suttgart in 1S05, and in 1835 was appointed Professor of 

 Bot:ny and director of the Botanic Garden at Tubingen, a posi- 

 tioi he has held ever since. Conjointly with Schlechtendal, 

 ani since his death with Prof, de Bary, formerly one of his pupils, 

 h; has been editor of the weekly "Botanische Zeitung" since 

 is commencement in 1S43. ^^^ ^^^ one of the foreign members 

 jf the Linnean Society, having been elected as long ago as 1S37. 

 Von Mohl has been a copious and most accurate writer on sub- 

 jects connected with vegetable anatomy and physiology, of 

 which he may be said to have laid the secure foundation in his 

 early investigations of the true relations of cell-membrane and 

 contents. Among his original observations we may especially 

 mention his essay on the Structure of Endogens, published by 

 von M.-irtius in his " Historia Palmarum," and on the Stem- 

 structure of Cycads in the " Vegetable Cell," which appeared in 

 Rudolph Wagner's " Handworte rbuch ; " on the Origin and 

 Structure of Stomates ; on Cuticle ; on the Structure of Cell- 

 membrane ; on the Structure and Anatomical relations of Chlo- 

 rophyll ; on the Multiplication of Plant-cells by division, and 

 numerous other essays collected in his " Vermischte Schriften." 



Astronomy has sustained a heavy loss in the death of M. P. 

 A. E. Laugier, which took place at Paris on the 5th inst., in the 

 50th year of his age. M. Laugier was a member of the French 

 Academy and of the "Bureau des Longitudes," and examiner 

 to the naval school at Brest. He was a pupil of Arago, and 

 the following account of his various researches is furnished to 

 the Rhiie Scicntifiiiut by M. G. Rayet : — In 1841 he presented a 

 memoir to the Academy on Solar Spots, and was the first to 

 determine their proper motion. The discovery and calculation 

 of a telescopic comet in 1S42 won for the young astronomer the 

 Lalande gold medal. At the request of Humboldt lie was 

 engaged for some years in the improvement of the construction 

 of astronomical clocks. In 1853 he made an e.xact determina- 

 tion of the latitude of the Paris Observatory, estimating it at 

 48° 50' Il"'i9, differing considerably from the earlier determina- 

 tion of Arago and Mathieu. In 1857 he pubhshed a catalogue 

 of the declination of 140 stars, having previously issued one of 

 53 nebulre. M. Laugier was associated with Arago in a number 

 of his researches on the physics of the globe, and in his magnetic 

 and photometric labours ; and has for long made the observa- 

 tions on the declination and inclination of the magnet for the 

 "Bureau des Longitudes." M. Rayet speaks of his death as a 

 source of great grief to the Academy, which had formerly 

 elected him president, and to his colleagues, by whom he was 

 beloved for the moderation of his character, and his affable 



At the meeting of the French Academy of Sciences on the 1st 

 inst. the Abbe David and M. Ledieu were elected correspondents 

 of the Section of Geography and Navigation, in the room of M. 

 d'Abbadie, who has been elected a member of the Academy, 

 and of the late Prince Demidofif. 



The Museums and Lecture Rcom Sjndicate lave presented 



their sixth Annual Report to^the Senate of the University of 

 Cambridge. It includes separate reports from Mr. J. W. Clark, ■ 

 superintendent of the Museum of Zoology and Comparative 

 Anatomy, and from Profs. Humphry, Newton, Babington, 

 Miller, Challis, Liveing, and Sedgwick. In response to an 

 appeal from the venerable Prof. Sedgwick, the Woodwardian 

 Museum has acquired during the past year (the purchase money 

 having been raised by subscription) the very valuable collection 

 of fossils made by Mr. Leckenby of Scarborough. Prof. 

 Sedgwick considers the present geological collection of the 

 University to be one of the noblest collections, as far as regards 

 British geology, that exists in England, and for study and 

 practical use, to be inferior to none existing in the island. In 

 order to supply facilities for the practical study of Comparative 

 Anatomy, and to supplement the lectures of Prof. Newton, Mr. 

 J. W. Clark has commenced a class for practical work, for 

 which, however, no sufficient accommodation is at present pro. 

 vided by the University. Mr. G. R. Crotch has been engaged 

 for nearly the last twelvemonth in determining and arranging tht 

 extensive collections of insects, both British and exotic, con- 

 tained in the Museum. The collection includes long series of 

 those insects whicli were peculiar to certain localities in Cam- 

 bridgeshire and the adjoining counties, and which, from increase , 

 of drainage in the fens and other causes, are either extinct or 

 likely to become so in a few years. 



The discovery of two new planets is recorded. The elements 

 of the first. No. 11 g, discovered by M. Paul Henry at Paris, 

 are ; — ■ 



April 9, II ii, Paris M.T. R.A. = is"! 18"° 59=. D. =t _ S" 40' 23" 

 The first position is approximate only. The horary movement is 

 — 1^75 R.A.,-1- 25" declination. It is of the lUh magnitude. 

 The second was discovered by M. Borelly, and has the follow- 

 ing elements : — 

 April 10, I2l> 16™ 32s, Marseilles M.T. R.A. I2>i o™ S5'-38. 



Polar distance, 95° 2' 44 'g. 

 April 10, 13I1 14'" 36s, Marseilles M.T. R.A. 12'' o'" S3*-63. 



Polar distance, g5° 2' 41 " '4. 

 It is between the 11 ;h and 12th magnitude. 



The next lecture to the Crystal Palace School of Science will 

 be delivered this evening by Dr. W. B. Carpenter on " Re- 

 searches in the Deep Sea." 



Dr. Liebreich will deliver his lecture on " Turner and 

 Mulready " at the London Institution, Finsbury Circus, on 

 Thursday evening next, the 25th inst., at 7.30 p.m. 



The following paragraph, copied verbatim ef lileratim from an 

 evening contemporary, is a striking comment on our remarks 

 last week on "Newspaper Science :"—" M. Agassiz has been 

 finding out some more curious creatures in the deep-sea dredgings 

 near Rio. It would really seem that if we only go deep enough 

 we shall eventually reach the beginning of all things. Dr. Car- 

 penter found living at the bottom of the Atlantic crustaceans of 

 the same kind as those whose bodies now lie in our chalk hills, 

 only seeming slightly degenerated, as if the family had once 'seen 

 better days.' And now Prof. Agassiz tells his friend Prof. 

 Peircei, of Harvard, in a long letter published in the American 

 papers, how at 500 fathoms down he has fished pectens, and also 

 other creatures, who are henceforth to bear the fearful but doubt- 

 less honourable appellation of Tomocaris Peircei, which resemble 

 nothing living, only fossils of some of the earliest formations. 

 The Tomocaris, in particular, is strongly suspected of being — 

 we blush to name it — no better than a Trilobite ! We shall not 

 disturb our readers by quoting aU the an ay of teiTible words— 

 maxillipeds, pygidiums, phyllopods, and the like — with which 

 Prof. Agassiz's letter bristles ; nor his interesting controversy 

 v/ith Prof. Milne Edwards concerning the Simulus, whieji 



