io8 



NATURE 



\ytme 2, 1881 



This is a week of soirees. The Royal Society soiree on 

 Wednesday is followed by the Society of Arts soiree to- 

 night, while the President of the Institution of Civil Engineers 

 has issued invitations for another on Friday. These two last 

 are held in the galleries of the South Kensington Museum. 



Much interest has always been attached by anthropologists to 

 the Stone Age of Egypt, on account of its bearing on the an- 

 tiquity of man. Hitherto the finds of stone implements have 

 been purely superficial, but in March last General Pitt- 

 Rivers, President of the Anthropological Institute, disco- 

 vered worked flints two to three metres deep in stratified 

 gravel and mud near Thebes. The gravel had become so 

 indurated in Egyptian times that they were able to cut square- 

 topped tombs supported by square pillars in it, and these have 

 remained in their original condition to this day. Some of the 

 implements were chiselled out of the gravel in the sides of these 

 nombs. General Pitt- Rivers will read a paper giving an account 

 of this discovery at the Anthropological Institute on Tuesday 

 tex t, the 7th inst. 



Mr. J. Y. Buchanan has, we learn, gone to Italy to see the 

 ship which the Italian Government has fitted out fur deep 

 sounding in the Mediterranean. 



The "General Report of the Norwegian North- Atlantic 

 Expedition " is being published in parts, each Memoir being 

 distributed immediately on its leaving the press. The General 

 Report will comprise the following Memoirs : — Capt. Wille, 

 R.N. (Narrative of the Expedition — Description of the Appa- 

 ratus, how constructed and used — Magnetical Observations) ; 

 Prof. H. Mohn (Meteorology — Deep-sea Temperatures — Motion 

 of the Sea — Astronomical, Geographical, Geological Observa- 

 tions) ; Mr. H. Tornoe (Amount of Air in Sea Water — Amount 

 of Carbonic Acid in Sea Water — Amount of Salt in Sea Water) ; 

 Mr. L. Schmelck (the Salts inSea Water — Investigation of Bottom 

 Samples) ; Prof. G. O. Sars (Crustacea, Pycnogonida, Tunicata, 

 Bryozoa, Hydrozoa, Spongozoa, Rhizopoda, Protophyta) ; Drs. 

 Danielssen and Koren (Holothurida.Echinida, Asterida.Crinoida, 

 Gephyrea, Anthozoa) ; Mr. H. Friele (MoUusca, Brachiopoda) : 

 Dr. G. A. Hansen (Annulata) ; Mr. R. Collett (Fishes). The 

 publication of the Report, for which a grant of money has 

 been obtained from the Norwegian .Storthing, is conducted 

 in conformity with the directions of His Norwegian Majesty's 

 Government. Of the memoirs we have received that on " Fishes," 

 by Mr. R. Collett, and " Chemistry," by Mr. H. Tornoe. 



We greatly regret to learn that Dr. James Croll, F.R.S., has 

 been compelled, in consequence of ill-health, to retire from his 

 position on the Geological Sui-vey. The same reason vnll account 

 for his not replying to certain correspondence and criticisms 

 which would otherwise have claimed his attention. 



Dr. August Wilhelm Eichler, Director of the Royal 

 Botanic Garden and Museum, Perlin, and Professor of Syste- 

 matic Botany at the University, has recently been elected a 

 Foreign Member of the Linne.m Society in the room of the 

 late G. P. Schimper of Stra«sburg. Prof. Eichler is well known 

 among botanists for his memoir, " Loranthace^ et Balano- 

 phorse," in Martius's "Flora Brasiliensis " ; also as author 

 of " Entwicklungeschichte des Blattes," and " Bliithendia- 

 granime," &c. 



We regret to have to record the sudden death early in March 

 of Mr. John Sanderson, one of the oldest colonists of Natal. 

 From his arrival in 1850 he resided in Durban, where he con- 

 ducted for many years one of the most influential newspapers. 

 He was otherwise much occupied with public business, and was 

 for some time a member of the Legislative Council. To botanists 

 in Europe he was well known as an ardent explorer of the South 

 African flora and active correspondent, and his name is com- 

 memorated by the beautiful genus Sandersonia. 



A MONUMENT is to be erected to the memory of the late Dr. 

 Broca, the founder of the Paris Anthropological Society ; not 

 less than 14,000 francs have already been collected. We are 

 desired to state that the li^t will soon be closed, and that all 

 subscriptions are to be sent as early as possible to M. Leguay, 

 treasurer of the fimd, at the Paris Anthropological Society. 



The Dorpat University offers two prizes of 750 and 500 

 roubles respectively for the two best models of a monument 

 in memory of Karl Eru'^t von Baer. Sculptors are informed 

 that the models will be received by the University until 

 September 15 next, and that the carriage to and from Dor- 

 pat will be defrayed by the University. Professors Dr. 

 Grosse (Dresden) and Bohnstedt (Gotha) are members of the 

 committee of decision. 



A MONUMENT of the Celebrated naturalist, Freiherr von 

 Siebold, was unveiled in the park of the Vidim Horti- 

 cultural Society on April 22 last. The monument is four 

 metres high, and is in the form of an obelisk with a granite 

 pedestal. The upper part is formed by a very ancient memorial 

 stone ornamented with floral designs, which was originally sent 

 to the Vienna Exhibition by the Japanese Government, and was 

 afterwards destined for this monument. Below this stone is a 

 slab of marble bearing an excellent bas-relief of Siebold, the 

 work of Schwanthaler. The whole monument is surrounded by 

 living fir-trees, which were obtained from the Rax Alpe. 



The death is announced of Dr. Ludwig Rabenhorst of Meissen 

 (Saxony). He was a well-known botanist and editor of the 

 Hedivigia. Among his numerous publications we may point out 

 "Die SUsswasser Diatomaceen" (Leipzig, ¥.. Kummer) as an 

 indispensable companion to all students of microscopical plants. 



The conversazione of the Society of Arts takes place to-night 

 at South Kensington, and that of the Institution of Civil Engi- 

 neers to-moiTow night at the same place. 



The death is announced of Herr Andreas Schmid of Eichstatt 

 (Bavaria),, the editor of the B:enenzeituHg, and author of 

 numerous treatises and pamphlets on bee-culture. 



The Whit-Monday excursion of the Geologists' Association is 

 to be to the Isle of Wight, and will last three days. 



Dr. Schliemann has recently been nominated "honorary 

 citizen of Berlin," and has also been presented with the large 

 gold medal "for Arts and Sciences" by the Grand Duke of 

 Meek lenburg-S chwerin. 



In a brickfield near Liitzen (Saxony) some 200 sepulchral 

 urns, skulls, and bones have been found. Dr. Virchow has 

 examined one of the skulls, and declares it to be of a very 

 peculiar type, somewhat resembling the well-known Neander 

 Valley skull, but yet differing from it sufficiently to form a special 

 type of its own. The whole discovery at Liitzen, combining 

 cremation and ordinary burial, is at present unique. No orna- 

 ments of any kind were discovered. 



The Jablonowski Society at Leipzig offers the foUowing'prizes 

 in its scientific section for l88l : — 700 marks (35/.) for an inves- 

 tigation of the motion of Encke's comet, at least for the period 

 since 1848, taking into account all disturbing influences; for 

 1SS2 : the same amount for a compilalion of our present know- 

 ledge of the corrosion-figures of crystals, with an account of 

 original experiments on this subject and a deduction of general 

 maxims regarding the cohesion and structure of crystals a^ well 

 as their molecular conditions ; for 1883 : the same amount for a 

 determination of the photo-electrical tensions produced in artificial 

 and suitably-coloured crystals by the action of light and their 

 relations to the thermo-electrical effects produced by changes of 

 temperature. 



