June 23, 1904] 



NA TURE 



i8- 



ment observatory is now in course of erection near Johannes- 

 burg. Mr. Theodore Reunert, as honorary secretary of the 

 South .African .Association, has been specially active in 

 spcurinij the observatory, and he is to be congratulated on 

 the success of his efforts. His representations led to the 

 ■decision to form a meteorological department as a sub- 

 •department of the Colonial .Secretary's office, and Mr. 

 R. T. \. Innes was appointed its director. The site near 

 Johannesburg selected for the observatorv is at an elevation 

 of about 200 feet above the Bezuidenhout X'alley on the 

 ^tiuth, to whiili it dips almost precipitously. On the north 

 Ihe ^lopp is considerable, the difference in height between 

 ihe summit and the northern boundary of the observatorv 

 7)roperty being about I(K> feet. The summit, which includes 

 ■some two aiTes of fairly even ground, is iHo feet higher 

 *han Johannesburg, or about sqoo feet above sea-level. The 

 prevailing winds ensure freedom from smoke and dust. 

 The site covers lo-o acres, and is estimated to be worth, at 

 <he market price, 10,000/. at least, though the actual cost 

 was, owing to successful negotiations, only 2500/. While 

 ihe observatory is being built the meteorological depart- 

 ment is lodged in the New High Court Building in Johannes- 

 burg. Arrangements have been made for the establishment 

 ■of 150 observation stations at various centres of the Trans- 

 •\'aal under volunteer ob.servers, and from these stations 

 ■observations are regularly transmitted to the director of the 

 Kiovernment Observatory, Johannesburg. 



In addition to a number of skins of small mammals, the 

 lion. N. C- Rothschild has recently presented to the British 

 "Museum the entire skeleton and skin of a Nubian wild ass, 

 ■obtained by himself during a sporting trip to the eastern 

 '.Sudan- The <kin of this wild ass (Equus asituts ttuhianus) 

 has been -et up by Rowland Ward, Ltd., and is the first 

 ■entire specimen of its kind exhibited in the museum. .A 

 ■second specimen is, we believe, being mounted for Mr, 

 Walter RotlisihildV museum at Tring. 



.\n imnouncement of special interest was made at the 

 meeting of the Zoological Society of London held on June 7. 

 So long ago as 1S70 the late Prof. C. Peters described, 

 imder the name of l')inomys hranichi. a remarkable paca- 

 3ike rodent of which a single e.xample had been found 

 ■some time previously w-andering about the courtyard of a 

 house in I.inia. I-"rom that day until a few months ago 

 nothing niore had been heard of this strange creature, which 

 is regarded -'is representing not onlv a genus, but likewise 

 .a family by itself. Now, however, Dr. Ckieldi announces 

 ithat he has specimens of this rodent living in the museuni 

 ■under his charge at Par.-i. His description of these speci- 

 mens will be .awaited with great interest. 



At a nieeling held recently in Trinity College, Dublin, 

 lit was agreed that the great eminence of the late Provost, 

 and his life-long connection with the university, demand a 

 permanent commemoration in the form of some suitable 

 memorial. .\ general and an executive committee have 

 ilherefore been formed, and they invite the support of all 

 graduates of Trinity College and other friends and admirers 

 of Dr. .Salnion in establishing a memorial to him. The exact 

 form of the niemorial will be decided at a meeting to be 

 held later. In the meantime, subscriptions will be received 

 and acknowledged by the honorary secretaries, .Messrs. T. T. 

 (.ray, E. J. (iwynn, W. !■:. Thrift, and W. Kennedy, <.r 

 :the treasurers, the Right lion. .Mr. Justice .Madden and the 

 Right Hon. the Lord Justice l'"itzgibbon. 



A MUR.iI. tablet erected by the Royal Institute o( British 

 \rchitects to the niemory of the late Mr. F. C. Penrose, 

 I .R.S., was unveiled in the crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral 

 NO. 1 808, VOL. 70] 



on Saturday last. Sir L. Alma-Tadema, who performed the 

 ceremony, remarked that Mr. Penrose's accurate measure- 

 ments revealed how far the Creeks had gone beyond the 

 use of the straight line into comprehension of the hidden 

 curve. He showed, for instance, that the lines of the base 

 of the Parthenon were curved in order to appear straight, 

 and that columns on the same plane were made different 

 in size in order to create a more perfect and harmonious 

 impression of uniformity. It was Mr. Penrose who directed 

 the strengthening of the Parthenon after the earthquake 

 of 1894. His knowledge of astronomy led him to make 

 valuable researches concerning the orientation of ancient 

 temples ; and work of the highest importance being done 

 to-day in Creece by a band of young excavators, who had. 

 among other achievements, caused Crete to yield her buried 

 treasures, was directly due to Penrose, through whom the 

 British School of .Archaeology at .Athens came into being. 



The death is announced of Prof. Victor de Luynes, director 

 of the laboratory of the French Minister of Finance. 



The Daily Chronicle announces that Prince .Albert of 

 Monaco has taken the lead in a movement for another 

 North Pole expedition on a plan prepared by Ensign Charles 

 Benard, late of the French Navy. The cost of the expedi- 

 tion is set down at 6o,o(jo/., two ships being employed. 



L'i'ON the authority of the St. Petersburg correspondent 

 (if the journal, of Paris, the Times announces that the 

 installation of a service of wireless telegraphy at Lake 

 Baikal is almost coniplete, and will be in workin-'i^ order by 

 the end of the week. It will consist of three stations, one 

 of which will be on boiird the ice-breaker, which will thus 

 be enabled to comnmnicate with both shores during its 

 passage across the lake. 



.At the first itieeting of the 11104 session of the Canterbury 

 Philosophical Institute, held on May 4, the president. Dr. 

 Charles Chilton, congratulated Captain Hutton on the publi- 

 cation of the " Index F'auna^ Nov;v Zealandia?," and pre- 

 sented to him an album containing congratulatory addresses 

 on the subject from the Canterbury Philosophical Institute, 

 the Otago Institute, and from the various specialists who 

 assisted Captain Mutton in the preparation of the " Index." 



.At the seventieth annual general meeting of the Royal 

 .Statistical Societv on Tuesday, June 21, .Sir P'rancis S. 

 Powell, Bart., M.P., was elected president for the ensuing 

 session. It was announced that the Guy medal (silverl 

 had been awarded to Mr. D. A. Thomas, M.P., for his 

 paper on the growth and direction of our foreign trade in 

 coal during the last half century, the presentation to be 

 made in November. It was also announced that the subject 

 of the essavs for the Howard medal, which would he 

 awarded in ic)05, with 20/. as heretofore, was: a critical 

 inquiry into the comparative prevalence of lunacy and other 

 mental defects in the Cnited Kingdom during the last fifty 

 years 



Tin; annual general meeting of the Pal.-contographical 

 Society was held on Friday last, June 17, Dr. Henry Wood- 

 ward, F'.R.S., president, being in the chair. In the annual 

 report of the council special reference was made to the 

 activity at present prevailing among British pala.'ontoIogists. 

 The society has received niore offers of monographs than 

 it can accept for immediate publication, but it has expended 

 more than 200I. of its accumulated funds in issuing an 

 unusually large volume for ic)03. Dr. Henry Woodward 

 was re-elected president. Dr. (ieorge J. Hinde, F'.R.S., 

 was elected treasurer, and Dr. .A. Smith Woodward was 

 re-elected secretary. 



