30 
8 NATURE 
| NoveMBER 12, 1896 
Prof. Henri Moissan (of Paris), for the isolation of fluorine and 
the use of the eJectric furnace in the preparation of refractory 
metals ; the Darwin medal to Prof. Giovanbattista Grassi (of 
Rome), for his most important discoveries, especially on matters 
directly related to Darwin’s speculations. Her Majesty has 
signified herapproval of the award of the Royal medals. 
WE find the following piece of news in the Pal/ AZall Gazette : 
—‘ Prof. Koch and Dr. Kohlenistock, the German bacterio- 
logical experts, are to leave Southampton on the 14th inst., in the 
Dunottar Castle, for the Cape. They are being sent out by the 
German Government to inquire into the plague of rinderpest, 
and to report what measures are best in their opinion to prevent 
it spreading to the German South-west African Colonies. The 
Cape Government is giving every facility to the Commission.” 
Nothing could better show the vast difference which exists be- 
tween the British and German Governments in relation to all 
questions of science. We were informed some time ago, 
by one upon whom implicit reliance can be placed, that 
some years ago, long before the devastating rinderpest crossed 
the Zambesi, the Foreign Office was warned of its serious nature, 
and it was pointed out at the same time that the proper step to 
be taken was to send out a competent man of science to in- 
vestigate it, in order that some means might be'ifound to stop it. 
The Foreign Office declined to take any action in the matter. 
Ar first sight it might appear that such a question as the 
election of the President of the Royal Academy is beyond our 
purview ; but there is one point about it, which makes it needful 
for us to refer to it. The Royal Society and Royal Academy 
are the bodies in this country to whom is entrusted the duty 
to look after the highest interests of science and art respec- 
tively. It is necessary that in the case of both bodies the 
office-bearers should be chosen among those whose leadership is 
beyond question. The distinct affirmation by the Academicians 
by their selection of the new President, that excellence in art is 
the chief point they have to consider, should not be without 
reflex action in our scientific bodies, first among which is our 
Royal Society. With some of the minor societies excellence in 
science is oftentimes one of the last things to be considered. 
THE following isa list of those who have been recommended 
by the President and Council of the Royal Society for election 
into the Council for the year 1897 at the anniversary meeting 
on November 30:—President: Sir Joseph Lister, Bart. 
Treasurer : Sir John Evans, K.C.B. Secretaries : Prof. Michael 
Foster, Prof. Arthur William Riicker. Foreign Secretary: 
Dr. Edward Frankland. Other names of Members of the 
Council (the names of new members are printed in italics): 
Prof. William Grylls Adams, Prof. Thomas Clifford Allbutt, 
Prof. Robert Bellamy Clifton, Wilhiam Turner Thiselton-Dyer, 
C.M.G., Prof. James Alfred Ewing, Lazarus Fletcher, Dr. 
Walter Holbrook Gaskell, Prof. Alfred George Greenhill, Dr. 
William Huggins, Prof. Charles Lapworth, Major Percy 
Alexander MacMahon, R.A., Prof. Raphael Meldola, Prof. 
Wilkam Ramsay, The Lord Walsingham, Prof. Walter Frank 
Raphael Weldon, Admiral William James Lloyd Wharton, C.B. 
Sir JosepH Lister and Prof. Michael Foster have been 
elected honorary members of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, as 
successors to Huxley and Pasteur. 
Pror. PENzIG, of Genoa, has started on a botanical expe- 
dition to Buitenzorg, Singapore, and Ceylon. The editorship 
of AZalpighia is in the meantime undertaken by Prof. Pirotta, of 
Rome. 
Pror. HuGo bE VRIEs has been appointed Director of the 
Botanic Garden in Amsterdam, in the place of Dr. Oudemans. 
NO. 1411, VOL. 55] 
Tue German Fisheries’ Association has offered a prize of 
600 m. for the best essay on the history of development and the 
vital conditions of Leptomztus lacteus, with especial reference to 
its appearance and disappearance in impure water. The essays 
are to be sent in to Prof. Weigelt, 90/91 Zimmerstrasse, Berlin, 
S.W., by May 1, 1897. 
THE Republic of Mexico, at the beginning of October, adopted 
the metric system of weights and measures for use throughout 
the country as a legal system. 
A RUN of motor cars from London to Brighton will take place 
on Saturday, November 14, when the new regulations with 
respect to the use of light locomotives on highways come into 
force. The vehicles will assemble at the H6tel Metropole, and 
are expected to start at 10.30 a.m., Mr. Henry J. Lawson, 
President of the Motor Car Club, leading the way. Fifty-four 
cars have been entered for the trip. 
ARRANGEMENTS are now actively in progress at Newcastle- 
on-Tyne for the opening there, in February next, of an Electrical 
and Engineering Exhibition, which, among other purposes, is 
to commemorate the sixtieth year of the Queen’s reign. It is 
proposed to illustrate the changes and developments that have 
taken place in electrical, engineering, and other leading branches 
of industry since 1837. 
THE College of Physicians of Philadelphia announces that the 
next award of the Alvarenga Prize, being the income for one 
year of the bequest of the late Senor Alvarenga, and amounting 
to about 180 dollars, will be made on July 14, 1897, provided 
that an essay deemed by the Committee of Award to be worthy 
of the prize, shall have been offered. Essays intended for 
competition may be upon any subject in medicine, but must not 
have been published, and they should be received by the Secre- 
tary of the College on or before May 1, 1897. 
A REUTER telegram from Stockholm announces the death of 
Prof. Hugo Gylden, the eminent astronomer, at the age of fifty- 
five. After studying at the University of Helsingfors, his native 
town, he entered the Observatory at Pulkova, where he was the 
pupil of Struve. In 1871 he became Director of the Observatory 
in Stockholm, and, after thirteen years, was appointed to a 
similar post in Gottingen. He was a member of the Stockholm 
Academy of Science, a corresponding member of the French 
Institute, and an officer of the Legion of Honour. His numerous 
works have made his name very familiar to astronomers. 
THE opening meeting of the 143rd Session of the Society 
of Arts will be held on Wednesday evening, November 18, 
when an address will be delivered by Major-General Sir Owen 
Tudor Burne, K.C.S.I., Chairman of the Council. The subject 
of the address will be ‘India, its Arts, Manufactures and 
Commerce.” At the subsequent meetings before Christmas, the 
following papers will be read :—‘‘ Recent Developments in 
Mechanical Road Carriages,” by W. Worby Beaumont; ‘‘ The 
Teaching of Economics,” by W. A. S. Hewins; ‘* Mining at 
Great Depths,” by Bennett H. Brough. 
THE Aew Sulletién announces that the Government of 
Zanzibar have decided to appoint a Director, and have selected 
Mr. Robert N. Lyne for the post. The new Director informs 
Mr. Thiselton-Dyer that the object of the Government in 
creating the post is to improve, where possible, the methods 
under which the agriculture of the country is now carried on, 
and to endeavour by experiment to discover some new product 
that may to a certain extent take the place of cloves, The 
Government desire that the work so admirably begun by Sir 
