108 
NATURE 
[ DecEMBER 3, 1896 
M. Micuet Levy has been elected a member of the Section 
de Minéralogie of the Paris Academy of Sciences, in succession 
to the late M. Daubrée. 
WE notice with much regret the announcement of the death 
of Dr. Benjamin A. Gould, the distinguished founder and editor 
of the Astronomical Journal. 
Dr. GILBERT W. CHILD, Lecturer on Botany in the Medical 
School of St. George’s Hospital, and Public Examiner in the 
School of Natural Science, as well as for the M.D. degree at 
Oxford, died on Tuesday. The death is also announced of Mr. 
William Francis Ainsworth, known for his travels and re- 
searches in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia, &c. 
THE new aquarium of New York City, in Castle Garden 
Building, of which mention was made in NATURE several months 
ago, will be opened tothe public on December 15. The open- 
ing was delayed by the elaborate work of reconstructing the 
building. 
THE total expense of the British Association meeting at 
Liverpool, defrayed from the local fund, was (it appears from 
the final report of the Local Committee) 26257. The balance 
in the Treasurer’s hands is about 9802., which the Committee 
has decided shall be invested, and the income therefrom paid to 
the Liverpool Marine Biology Committee, for use in the publi- 
cation of Proceedings and the prosecution of scientific research. 
This action ensures that the meeting will have a lasting effect 
upon local scientific research, as the fund will be made a trust, 
and the income only used annually in the Liverpool Marine 
Biology Committee’s investigations. 
WE learn that the work on the ‘‘ Ancient Volcanoes of 
Britain,” upon which Sir Archibald Geikie has been engaged 
for some years, is now all in type. It will form two large octavo 
volumes, and will be copiously illustrated. Among the illustra- 
tions are numerous reproductions of photographs, also of sketches 
by the author, representing the more interesting or important 
features in the old volcanoes of this country from the earliest 
geological periods to the last great eruptions in older Tertiary 
time. The work will be further accompanied by a series of 
maps showing the distribution of the volcanic rocks of each 
eruptive period. It will be published by Messrs. Macmillan 
and Co., and will probably appear early next year. 
Ar the fourth Congrés international de Zoology, to be held 
at Cambridge in September 1898, under the presidency of Sir 
William Flower, the prize of the Tsar Alexander III. will be 
awarded for the first time, and that of the Tsar Nicholas II. 
will be awarded for the second time. The subject to be treated 
in papers competing for the former prize is ‘‘ The Ruminants of 
Central Asia, from the zoological and geographical point of 
view,” and the latter prize will be for ‘‘ An Anatomical and 
Zoological Monograph of a Group of Marine Invertebrates.” 
The prizes consist either of a sum of money or a medal of equal 
value, at the choice of the successful competitors. Memoirs 
must be sent to the President of the Permanent Committee before 
May 1, 1898. All zoologists are eligible to compete, except 
those belonging to the country in which the Congress will be 
held. British zoologists are thus excluded. 
THE British Chamber of Commerce at Alexandria have come 
to the unanimous conclusion that the adoption of the metric 
weights and measures in the United Kingdom would be of 
advantage to British traders in Egypt. Lord Cromer, in for- 
warding the report to the Foreign Office, remarks that a very 
general opinion undoubtedly exists in Egypt that British trade 
with that country would benefit by the adoption of the metric 
system of weights and measures, and adds that the compulsory 
introduction of the metric system was strongly urged upon the 
NO. 1414, VOL. 55] 
Egyptian Government some years ago, when it was held that 
so brusque a change was to be deprecated. On the Egyptian 
railways, however, and in fact wherever there are Government 
weighing machines, the metric system has been adopted, and it 
is hoped that it will thus gradually take root throughout 
Egypt. 
WE learn from the Aritish Medical Journal that, on the 
suggestion of Dr. Nicholson, Professor of Natural History at 
the University of Aberdeen, the Town Council of Aberdeen 
agreed some time ago to utilise part of the buildings of the old 
bathing station as a marine aquarium. The tanks have been 
made, and the further necessary fittings are-in hand. In view 
of the great importance of the fishing trade at Aberdeen, further 
developments have been contemplated with regard to combining 
a department for fish hatching and culture on a scientific basis 
with the aquarium. It is to be expected that the investigations 
carried on in such an institution should prove of great interest 
and importance to the students of zoology at the University. 
THE juvenile lectures at the Society of Arts will this year be 
given by Mr. Clinton T. Dent, past president of the Alpine 
Club. Mr. Dent has taken for his subject ‘‘ The Growth and 
Demolition of Mountains.” The lectures will deal mainly with 
the destructive agencies, weather, frost, glacier movements, 
avalanches, waterfalls, floods, &c. They will be delivered on 
January 6 and 13. 
AN advertisement inviting applications for the position of 
Macleay Bacteriologist to the Linnean Society of New South 
Wales, Sydney, has lately appeared in NATURE. It may be of 
interest to state that the salary attached to the post arises from 
a sum of £12,000 bequeathed by Mr. William Macleay, whose 
total benefactions to science in New South Wales amounted to 
about £100,000. In making the appointment the object in 
view is entirely the advancement of natural knowledge by 
research, the Linnean Society not deriving any pecuniary benefit 
therefrom. 
M. A. A. L. TRECUL, whose death, at the age of seventy- 
eight, we announced on November 5 (p. II), was one of the 
highest authorities on vegetable organogeny. In addition to a 
monograph of the Artocarpaceze, he had contributed, during a 
period extending over half a century, a very large number of 
papers on various points in the anatomy of plants to the French 
botanical journals. Among the subjects thus treated of are 
adventitious roots and buds ; the increase in diameter of woody 
dicotyledons ; the origin and development of the fibres of the 
xylem and phloem; the theory of the graft; the formation of 
leaves ; secondary formations in vegetable cells ; laticiferous 
vessels, &c. His latest observations, contributed to the Comptes 
vendus of the French Academy, were on the ultimate ramifica- 
tions of the vascular bundles in leaves and petals. 
On Friday last, at a meeting of the full Committee formed to 
establish an international submarine telegraph memorial, the 
report of the Executive Committee was received and adopted. 
The following are the resolutions: (1) That a bust of the late 
Sir John Pender, at a cost not to exceed 500/., be erected in 
the Imperial Institute or other suitable place ; (2) that a sum of 
not less than 5000/. be placed in trust with the Council of Uni- 
versity College, London, to form an endowment fund for the 
maintenance of the electrical laboratory in that College, on the 
condition that the Council name the laboratory the “ Pender 
Laboratory,” and the existing chair of Electrical Engineering the 
“Pender Chair of Electrical Engineering”; (3) to endow a 
scholarship, or a scholarship and medal, in connection with elec- 
tricity at Glasgow. The Lord Provost of Edinburgh desired 
the word ‘‘ Edinburgh” substituted for ‘‘ Glasgow” in the 
third resolution. This was not done, but the Chairman (the 
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