1/6 



NATURE 



\yune 23, 1881 



dates from the discovery of the art of splitting by machinery. 

 Sir Josiah Mason also carried on for many years the business of 

 electro-platiag, copper-smelting, and india-rubber making, along 

 with the late George Richard Elkington. While he was very 

 much a self-taught man, his very liberal benefactions indicated 

 his sense of the value of good education. Conspicuous among 

 these is the Erdington Orphanage, established at a total outlay 

 of 300,000/. ; and the munificent gift to Birmingham of a 

 Science College (the building of which cost 60,000/., while 

 the total value of the endowment is probably little short of a 

 qnarter of a million) is fresh in public memory. 



Ot;R readers will learn with profound sorrow the loss which 

 biological science has sustained in the death, at the comparatively 

 early age of fifty-one, of one of its most brilliant and gifted 

 cultivators. Prof. Kollestou of O.xford. He had spent the 

 greater part of tlie winter in Southern Europe, his medical 

 advisers having hoped that a warmer climate and rest from his 

 incessant labours might have averted the malady with which he 

 was threatened. All precautions however proved unavailing. 

 He returned to England about a fortnight ago in a sinking state, 

 and died at his home on Thursday, the 1 5th inst. We propose 

 to give a sketch of Dr. Rolle, ton's scientific career in our next 

 number. Immediately after the funeral a meeting of Prof. 

 Rolleston's old pupils was held in the Museum, with the object 

 of perpetuating his name by some suitable memorial. A com- 

 mittee was formed, w ith power to add to its number ; the following 

 gentlemen being elected honoraiy secretaries ; — Dr. C. Mansell- 

 MouUin, 17, George Street, Hanover Square, W., and Dr. 

 Theodore Acland, St. Thomas's Hospital, S.E., London; 

 Mr. E. B. Poulton, M.A., Wykeham House ; and Mr. A. P. 

 Thomas, M.A., Anatomical Department Museum, Oxford. 



The Council of Owens College, at their meeting on Fri- 

 day, June 17, elected Dr. Arthur Schuster, F.R.S., to the Pro- 

 fessorship of Applied Mathematics in Owens College. Dr. 

 Schuster was a distinguished student of Owens College in 1870-- 

 71 ; he then proceeded to Germany, studying mathematics and 

 physics under Kirchhoff, Weber, and Helmholtz. On his return 

 he first occupied the position of Demonstrator in Physics at 

 Owens College, lecturing on the Mathematical Theory of Elec- 

 tricity. Afterwards he continued his studies at Cambridge under 

 Maxwell and Rayleigh, publishing several papers on the higher 

 branches of physics. In 1S74-75 he was intrusted with the con- 

 duct of the Government expedition to observe the total eclipse 

 in Siam, the results of his observations being printed in the 

 Philosophical Transactions for 1878. In 1878 he undertook a 

 similar expedition to Colorado, and in the following year he was 

 elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. 



The Davis series of lectures upon zoological subjects n ill be 

 given in tlie lecltire-room in the Society's Gardens, in the 

 Regent's Park, on Thursdays at 5 p.m., commencing June 16, 

 as follows : — June 16— Whales, by Prof. Flower, LL.D., F.R.S. ; 

 June 23 — Dolphins, by Prof. Flower, LL.D., F.R.S. ; June 30 

 — Extinct British Quadrupeds, by J. E. Harting; July 7 — The 

 Limb, of Birds, Prof. W. K. Parker, F.R.S. ; July 14 -Birds, 

 Ancient and Modem, by W. A. Forbes; July 21 — Zoological 

 Gardens, by P. L. Sclater, F.R.S. ; July 28 — Chameleons, by 

 Prof. Mivart, F.R.S. These lectures will be free to Fellows of 

 the Society and theii" friends, and toother visitors to the Gardens. 



Among other features of the forthcoming meeting at York, 

 the noble Guildhall is pliced at the Association's use as recep- 

 tion room. The theatre ol the Museum of the Yorkshire Philo- 

 sophical Society has been granted for the Geological Section. 

 The beautiful grounds, con aining the ruins of St. Mary's Abbey, 

 &c., will be open to members and associates. The Yorkshire 

 Fine Arts Institution will also be open, and the great hall will 

 be used for some of the evening meetings. The Minster will be 



thrown open for inspection. Excursions are being organised to 

 several places of interest, including Scarborough (where the Spa 

 Company give free admissions), Whitby, Castle Howard, and the 

 works of Messrs. Bolckow, Vaughan, and Co., at Middles- 

 borough. 



There has been recently some talk of establishing at Athens 

 or Smyrna an American Institute for the training of Archfeolo" 

 gists, and as a permanent committee for archfeological research 

 and correspondence. Two institutes with like aims are at pre- 

 sent in existence, viz. the German Institat fiir archaologische 

 Correspondenz, havmg its seat in Rome, with a branch in 

 Athens, and the ^^cole Fran^aise d'Athenes, which has a branch 

 in Rome. Mr. Thomas Davidson describes tlie work of these 

 in a recent issue of the Nation, and advocates Smyrna as the 

 place for the American Institute, as offering a more promising 

 field of research than Athens, while there would be a better 

 prospect of getting any antiquities discovered for museums. 

 The cost of such an institution is estimated at 5000 dollars to 

 begin with, for a library and necessary apparatus, and about 

 6000 dollars a year afterwards. 



The fourth and fifth numbers of Naturen for 1881 contain 

 interesting summaries, by Dr. Hercules Tornb, of the results 

 obtained by him, during the Norwegian Arctic Expedition, of 

 the depths of the Arctic seas ; the amount of salt contained in 

 the water at various depths and at different distances from land ; 

 and the variations observable in the relative quantities of the 

 different constituents of the air contained in sea-water. In 

 regard to the latter point, it may be observed that the mean 

 amount of oxygen present in the air was found to diminish with 

 increasing depth below the surface of the water from 35 '3 at the 

 surface, to 32"8 between 1000 and 1400 fathoms ; while the 

 relative quantity of the nitrogen present rose with the increased 

 depth from 13'! at the surface to 14 between 6oo and lOOO 

 fathoms. Carbonic acid was found both in a gaseous and basic 

 form. 



We notice a very interesting lecture which has been given at 

 St. Petersburg on the use of the heliograph during the Trans- 

 Caspian war. The heliograph used in the Russian army is that 

 of Mans, and the alphabet is the usual one, that of Morse. The 

 smaller system, which is employed in cavalry, transmits signals to 

 a distance of seventeen miles, and the larger, employed in forts, 

 has a double power. All independent parts of the army, on 

 their march to Akhal-Tepe, had their "heli>graph-drafis," and 

 owing to the bright sky of the steppe, and to the level country, 

 the heliograph was continuously used for establishing communi- 

 cation between different parts and small detachments of the 

 army. The heliograph was at work during all the battles, and 

 experiments were made as to the use of it during night, by 

 means of lunar light, as well as with special lamps. The latter, 

 however, being fed with turpentine, which evaporates very soon 

 daring the hot days of the summer, did not render great 

 service. It was observed also that the sight of those who receive 

 the heliogram gets very soon fatigued, which occa-ions error. 

 But altogether the lieliograph has rendered very great services 

 during this campaign. 



The French Minister of Postal Telegraphy recently sent to 

 the several telegraphic offices forms for recording all the obser- 

 vations connected with thunderstorms. The forms have been 

 dr.awn up by M. Mascart, the head of the Meteorological Office, 

 and printed at its expense. 



A REPORT has been presented to the Paris Municipal Council 

 on the state of telephonic exchanges in Paris, and the propriety of 

 putting a tax on them for the use of sewers in which the wires 

 are located. The number of telephonic hiill; will be increased, 

 and six of them will be established shortly, which will bring 



