January 25, 1906] 



NA TURE 



303 



•of Oxford University ; afterwards he worked in the labor- 

 atories of Guy's and St. Bartholomew's Hospitals, London. 

 He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1878. 

 His air-pump, which he described to the Chemical Society 

 in 1865, led to results which had an important influence 

 on the development of both science and industry in the 

 latter part of last century. It provided a convenient 

 method of obtaining vacua of very high tenuity, and con- 

 tributed greatly to the perfection of the incandescent 

 electric lamp. Dr. Sprengel devoted much time to the 

 study of detonation and explosives, and in 1S71 took out 

 patents for a class of explosive substances which were non- 

 explosive during their manufacture, storage, and transport. 

 He was the first to direct attention to the value of picric 

 acid as an explosive when fired by a detonator. In 

 addition to papers on his vacuum pump and kindred sub- 

 jects, Dr. Sprengel published the following contributions 

 to science among others : — Atomised water as a substitute 

 for steam in a chemical process, 1873 ; improvements in 

 explosive compounds, 1871 ; on a new class of explosives, 

 1873 ; the Hell-Gate explosion near New York and so-called 

 "' Rackarock," 18S6 ; the discovery 

 of picric acid as a powerful explosive 

 and of cumulative detonation with 

 its bearing on wet gun-cotton, 1902. 



The fifty-fifth meeting of the 

 American Association for the 

 Advancement of Science was held 

 at New Orleans, and began on 

 December 29 last. The membership 



■of the association has now reached 

 4500. It has been decided to hold 

 two meetings during 1906, one in 

 the summer at Ithaca, N.Y., the 



•other in the winter at New York 

 City. At the recent meeting, the 

 address of the retiring president, 

 Prof. \V. G. Farlow, dealt with the 

 popular conception of a scientific 

 man at the present day. The presi- 

 dents of the different sections de- 

 livered their addresses on various 



-days throughout the meeting. Prof. 

 Ziwet, at the first meeting of the 

 section of mathematics and physics, 



took for his subject the relation of mechanics to physics. 

 Prof. Kinnicutt, in the section of chemistry, considered the 

 sanitary value of a water analysis. Prof. Merriam, in the 

 section of zoology, discussed the question, Is mutation a 

 factor in the evolution of the higher vertebrates? The 

 subject of the partition of energy was taken up by the 

 president of the phvsics section, Prof. Magie ; and the 

 generic concept in the classification of the flowering plants 

 was dealt with by Prof. Robinson in the section of botany. 

 Prof. Knapp, in the section of social and economic science, 



■considered the subject of transportation and combination. 

 In the section of mechanical science and engineering, Prof. 

 Jacobus addressed the meeting on commercial investigations 

 and tests in connection with college work. The experience 

 at New Orleans makes it doubtful whether the experiment 

 of scattering the addresses of the presidents of sections 

 through a week is a wise departure. 



We have received copies of the reports of the Bristol 



Museum and Reference Library for 1904, and of the Bristol 



Museum and Art Gallery for 1905. The change in the 



title of the institution is due to the opening of the An 



NO. 1891, VOL. 73] 



Gallery, which took place in February of last year, when 

 the inaugural address was delivered by the late Prof. 

 Herkomer. About the same time Mr. F. G. Pearcey 

 entered the museum as assistant curator, and since his 

 appointment a thorough re-arrangement of the zoological 

 exhibits has been undertaken, while large additions have 

 been made by gifts and purchase. 



Botanical surveys undertaken with the object of study- 

 ing the distribution of plants over a limited area have been 

 prepared by several workers in Scotland and England. 

 Mr. G. H. Pethyridge and Mr. R. L. Praeger publish in 

 the Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy (vol. xxv.) 

 a survey of the vegetation of the district lying south of 

 Dublin. The authors distinguish four zones, littoral, 

 agrarian, hill pasture, and moorland. It was observed 

 that the three associations of Ulex Europaeus, Vlex Gallii, 

 and Calluna maintain a definite succession in altitude, Ulex 

 Europaeus occurring at the upper limit of the agrarian 

 zone, and Calluna forming the most important feature of 

 the moorland. The association in which Pteris is the 



Plwto. 



-Piperstown 



dominant member occupies positions in each of the three 

 former associations, holding its own where it is favoured 

 by well-drained soil and a sheltered situation. The paper 

 is accompanied by six illustrations, of which the one re- 

 produced shows the characteristic rounded hummocks of 

 I 'lex Gallii in the foreground ; in the background the farm- 

 land is seen below with Ulex Europaeus just visible in the 

 middle distance and Calluna clothing the summit of the 

 hill. 



The educational advantages of the Central Museum at 

 Brooklyn, New York, form the subject of the first article 

 in the Januarv issue of Museum News, in which attention 

 is specially directed to the exhibits of typical groups of 

 mammals, birds, and reptiles. It would seem, however, 

 that the museum authorities themselves stand in need of 

 education, otherwise they would scarcely have stated " that 

 the present revolution in Russia bids fair to complete the 

 extermination of the European bison by killing off the 

 Lithuanian herd." They appear to be quite unaware of 

 the existence of this animal in a truly wild state in the 

 Caucasus. 



