40 



NA TURE 



[May 8, 1884 



Dr. Alexander Kowalevsky, Professor and Director of the Zoo- 

 tomical Cabinet, &c. , in the University of Odessa, notable for 

 his anatomical and embryological researches on the Tunicates, 

 Holothurians, Ccelenterata, &c. ; and Dr. S. Schwendener, Pro- 

 fessor of Botany, University of Berlin, whose labours in cryp" 

 togamic botany, more especially Lichens and Alga?, receive due 

 appreciation by his kindred workers on these and allied topics. 



A circular signed by Prof. Ray Lankester, Secretary pro 

 tern., and Mr. Frank Crisp, Treasurer pro tern., has been issued 

 from Burlington House, London, with reference to the pro- 

 posed "Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom." 

 The object of the Society, as explained by the speeches made at 

 the meeting of March 31, is to erect and maintain at suitable 

 points on the coast one or more laboratories similar to the 

 Zoological Station of Naples and the American Laboratories of 

 Newport and Chesapeake, to which naturalists may resort for 

 the purpose of investigating the history of marine life, both 

 animal and vegetable, and the various conditions affecting the 

 welfare of British food-fishes and mollusks. It is proposed, in 

 the first place, to establish a laboratory on the south coast of 

 England. To build this laboratory and equip it in an efficient 

 manner with boats, dredging apparatus, and tanks, a sum of not 

 less than 10,000/. is desirable, whilst an income of not less than 

 1500/. a year will be required to maintain it and to pay the wages 

 of attendants and fishermen and the salary of a resident superin- 

 tendent. The Provisional Committee, as authorised by the 

 meeting on March 31, has made the following rules with regard 

 to membership of the Society : — " The Members of the Society 

 shall consist of three classes — (a) Donors of 500/. and upwards 

 to the Society, who shall be Governors and permanent Members 

 of the Council. (/>) Donors of 100/. to the Society, who shall be 

 Founders and Members of the Society for life. (<) Annual 

 Subscribers of \l. i.e. The subscription maybe compounded for 

 at any time by a payment of 15/. 15*." The members of the 

 Society will shortly meet to elect a Council and Officers, and 

 to adopt a constitution and rules. It is proposed that the 

 members shall meet at least once a year for the purpose of 

 electing a Council and transacting other business, and they will 

 receive reports of the work done by the Society, and especially 

 of the investigations carried out in the laboratory maintained by 

 its agency. In addition to the fixed contributions above men- 

 tioned in connection witli membership, the Committee invite 

 special donations towards defraying the expenses of erecting the 

 first laboratory. Those desiring to become members should 

 communicate as soon as possible with the Treasurer, at 6, 

 Old Jewry, E.C. 



The Annual Meeting of the Academy of Sciences of Paris was 

 held on Monday, M. Blanchard, president for 1883, being in the 

 chair. M. Blanchard opened the silting by an address, reciting all 

 the losses that the Academy had sustained during the past year. 

 He dwelt principally on the exceptional eminence of M. Dumas. 

 He summarised also the several scientific expeditions which had 

 been fitted out by the French Government during the year after 

 having taken the advice of the French Academy. M. Bouley 

 read the list of the awards granted by the several academical 

 commissions, and which is too long to be reproduced in our 

 columns, the number of these foundations being yearly enlarged ; 

 thus far no less than three prizes were distributed for the first 

 time — the Penaud Prize for progress in Aeronautics to MM. 

 Tissandier, Taton, and Leroy de Brognac, and two prizes by 

 Le Petit d'Ormay, one for physical sciences, and the other for 

 mathematics. The interest of the Bream Prize (4000/.) for 

 curing the cholera was bestowed on M. Pasteur's pupils, who have 

 studied the subject in Egypt on the spot. One of the astronomical 

 prizes was given to M. Stephan of Marseilles, and the other to 

 several members of the transit missions not belonging to the 



Academy Gold medals were distributed to the marine officers 

 who took part in the expedition of the Travailleur under Milne- 

 Edwards for exploring the Atlant ic, and to those who wintered 

 with the Romancht in Terra del Fuego, in connection with other 

 Polar expeditions. M. Bertrand read the eloge which had been 

 written^ by M. Dumas on the brothers Deville, both of 

 them members of the Academy of Sciences, who died, Charles, 

 the geologist, in 1S76, and Henry in 1S81, both at the same age. 

 After having read this address on behalf of his illustrious col- 

 league, M. Bertrand read for himself an eloge on Puiseux, a 

 Member of the Mathematical Section. 



The following, according to Science, is a complete list of the 

 papers read at the meeting of the United States National Aca- 

 demy of Sciences, April 15 to iS : — G. K. Gilbert, the suf- 

 ficiency of terrestrial rotation to deflect river-courses ; T. Sterry 

 Hunt, the origin of crystalline rocks ; Simon Newcomb, on the 

 photographs of the transit of Venus taken at the Lick Obseiva- 

 tory ; A. E. Verrill, zoological results of the deep-sea dredging 

 expedition of the U. S. Fish Commission steamer Albatross ; Ira 

 Remsen, the quantitative estimation of carbon in ordinary phos- 

 phorus ; reduction of halogen derivatives of carbon compounds ; 

 Elias Loomis, reduction of barometric observations to sea-level ; 

 C. S. Peirce, the study of comparative biography ; C. S. Peirce 

 and J. Jastrow (by invitation), whether there is a minimum per- 

 ceptible difference of sensation ; S. P. Langley, the character 

 of the heat radiated from the soil ; J. E. Hilgard, on the depth 

 of the western part of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico, 

 with an exhibition of a relief model ; on the relative levels of 

 the western part of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico with 

 respect to the Gulf Stream ; account of some recent pendulum 

 experiments in different parts of the world, made in connection 

 with the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey ; E. D. Cope, on the 

 structure and affinities of Didymodus, a still living genus of 

 sharks of the Carboniferous period ; on the North American 

 species of mastodon ; Theo. Gill and John A. Ryder (by invi- 

 tation), the characteristics of the lyomerous fishes ; on the clas- 

 sification of the apodal fishes ; Theo. Gill, on the ichthyological 

 peculiarities of the bassalian realm ; George F. Barker, on the 

 Fritts selenium cell ; on a lantern voltmeter ; George J. Brush, 

 on the occurrence of mercury in native silver from Lake Supe- 

 rior ; H. A. Rowland, progress in making a new photograph of 

 the spectrum ; B. Silliman, on the existence of tin ore in the 

 older rocks of the Blue Ridge ; H. M. Paul (by invitation), the 

 Krakatoa atmospheric waves, and the question of a connection 

 between barometric pressure and atmospheric electricity ; John 

 S. Billings, memorandum on composite photographs in crani- 

 ology ; A. W. Wright, some experiments upon the spectra of 

 oxygen ; Elliott Coues, on the application of trinomial nomen- 

 clature to zoology ; E. M. Gallaudet (by invitation), some recent 

 results of the oral and aural teaching of the deaf, under the 

 combined system ; F. W. Clarke (by invitation), jade imple- 

 ments from Alaska ; Henry L. Abbot, recent progress in elec 

 trical fuses ; J. S. Diller (by invitation), the volcanic sand which 

 fell at Unalashka, October 20, 1883, and some considerations 

 concerning its composition. The following biographical notices 

 of deceased members were also read : — Of Gen. G. K. Warren, 

 by H. L. Abbot ; of Prof. Stephen Alexander, by C. A. Young; 

 of Dr. J. Lawrence Smith, by B. Silliman ; and of Dr. John 

 L. LeConte, by S. H. Scudder. 



On Saturday last a banquet was given by a number of anthro- 

 pologists to M. Gabriel de Mortillet, Conservator of the St. 

 Germain Museum of National Antiquities, and his portrait, 

 was presented to him. M. de Mortillet stated that his usual 

 summer excursion would take place this month or in the be- 

 ginning of June, and that Brittany would be chosen as a field 

 for exploration. [Any person wishing to join the Professor 



