426 



NATURE 



[Sept. 



I, i< 



Mueller as Macrozamia Moord, in honour of Mr. Charles Moore, 

 F.L.S. , the Director of the Botanic Garden, Sydney. The exhibi- 

 tion of two stems (of which that secured for and ;ent to Kew is one) 

 in the Queensland Court at the Melbourne Exhibition, feems to 

 have draw n attention to the species. The plants appear to have 

 been obtained from the mountainous district near Springsure in 

 Queensland, where specimens have been seen twenty feet in 

 height, with a girth of six feet foar inches, cones measuring two 

 to three feet in length, and leaves seven feet long. The stem 

 at Kew has been placed in the Palm House, where it can 

 scarcely fail to be an object of interest. It is in excellent con- 

 dition, and there is every rea-on to hope that it will in time push 

 a new crown of leaves. But even if it does rot it will at any 

 rate form, as Sir Ferdinand von Mueller has suggested, a unique 

 museum specimen. 



The Casette contains the official notice of the appointment 

 of a Royal Commission, consisting of Mr. Bernhard Samuel- 

 son, M.P., F.R.S., Prof. H. E. Roscoe, D.C.L., F.R.S., 

 Mr. Philip Magnus, Mr. John Slagr, M.P., Mr. Swire Smith, 

 and Mr. WilliamWoodall, M.P., "to inquire into the instruction 

 of the industrial classes of certain foreign countries in technical 

 and other subjects, for the purpose of comparison with that of the 

 corresponding classes in this country ; and into the influence of 

 such instruction on manufacturing and other industries at home 

 and abroad." 



The Queen has signified her pleasure to confer upon Mr. 

 MacCormac, of St. Thomas's Hospital, Honorary Secretary- 

 General of the late International Medical Congress, the honour 

 of knighthood. 



The Meteorological Station to be erected at Pavia will be 

 under the direction of Prof. Cantoni, who will establish a 

 s'atioii for terrestrial physics, for the investigation of the in- 

 fluence of heat, light, electricity, &c., on vegetation in general, 

 and some cultivations in particular, and also for the observa- 

 tion of the diurnal and annual variations of terrestrial magnetism. 



The scientific activity of Paris is at present almost exclusively 

 concentrated on eleetricity, and the Paris Electrical Exhibition 

 will have a scientific significance which is quite unusual. The 

 initiative has been taken by the German Government, which 

 has sent several professors to deliver lectures on the objects 

 exhibited by that nation. Dr. Christian, of the Phvsijlo- 

 gical Museum of Berlin University, gives exi^lanations every 

 day at two o'clock of the galvanometers on the Siemens 

 system constructed by him. On Monday M. du Moncel 

 Member of the Institute, delivered a lecture on Telegrajjhy at 

 ten o'clock in the morning, and conducted his audience through 

 the galleries to visit the instruments de-cribed by him. Other 

 lectures liave been advertised for the different days of the w eek 

 from August 29 to September 3. The Exhibition was opened 

 to the Press la^t Friday and to the public last Saturday, at 

 night from eight to eleven. 



The electric tramway in Paris has at length begun to work, 

 and has several times gone backwards and forwards. A single 

 overhead tube was tried at first to convey the current, but it was 

 found impossible to insulate the rail by which it returned. Two 

 overhead copper tubes are now u,ed, along each of whicli at 

 the bottom runs a longitudinal slit. A wire passing through 

 the slit is attached to the tramcar beneath, and above to a small 

 wheel which runs freely in the copper tube. As the car advances 

 it draws along the little wheels through each tube, and tluis 

 maintains the connection. 



A NUMBER of natives of Tierra del Fuego are at present at 

 the Jardin d'Acclima'ation in Paris. 



The French Government have resolved to grant a subvention 



for erecting a statue in Franche Comte to Claude de Jouffroy as 

 the inventor of steam vessels. The French Academic des 

 Sciences at its last sitting adopted a report of M. de Les^eps in 

 favour of Jouffroy's claim to that distinction and to public 

 gratitude. 



The new botanical lecture theatre of the University of 

 Edinburgh was used by Prof. Dickson for the first time 

 during the past summer session. It is built from the plans 

 of Mr. Robertson, of H.M. Board of Works, and is a large 

 octagonal building lighted from the roof and by windows on 

 si.ic sides. It is seated for 600, and had this year to contain 

 450 students. The acoustic arrangements are perfect. The old 

 lecture-room has been converted into a general laboratory, w hile 

 the former laboratory becomes a private room. The practical 

 teaching has been conducted as formerly by Mr. Geddes, lecturer 

 on Zoology in the School of Medicine, assisted by Mr. J. M. 

 Macfarlane, B.Sc. Besides the usual elementary class, a class 

 for advanced workers has also been started, a considerable num- 

 ber of investigations have been prosecuted, and instruction in 

 drawing has been provided. The latter arrangement has been 

 peculiarly successful. 



The twelfth meeting of German Anthropologists was opened 

 at Ratisbon on August 8 by the president. Prof. Fraas. 

 Some 250 members were present. The secretary. Prof. Ranke, 

 read the report on the widely-extended activity of the Society. 

 Prof. Ohlenschliiger (Munich) spoke on the Roman epoch in 

 Bavaria and the excavations in the Roman burial-ground near 

 Ratisbon. Other addresses were delivered by Professors von 

 Virchow, Tischler, Undset, Groos, Mehlis, Klopfleich, Schaaff- 

 hausen, Vater and Tordk. The next meeting-place will be 

 Frankfort. 



The second meeting of Austrian Anthropologists took place 

 at Salzburg on August 12-16. Some 270 gentlemen were present, 

 principally Germans, Norwegians, and Russians. Of eminent 

 scientific men we may mention Prof von Virchow, the travellers 

 Dr. Holub and Dr. Nachtigal, Prof. Steub (Munich), and Prof. 

 Johannes Ranke. Count Wurmbrand was elected president, and 

 Baron von der Sacken vice-president. Addresses w ere delivered 

 by Herren Prinzinger, Much, and Zillner on the ancient inhabi- 

 tants of Noricum, which the former two said were Germans ; 

 Herr Zillner however believed them to have been Kelts. On 

 the second day Crown-Prince Rudolf took part in the meeting. 

 Count Wurmbrand spoke on the development of the forms of 

 bronzes and clay vessels, Herr Wolderich on prehistoric dogs, 

 Holub on the South African negro tribes. Herr Maska reported 

 on the discoveries near Schamberg, and Professors von Virchow 

 and Schaaffhausen had an animated debate on the jaw of 

 Neutitschein. Other addresses were delivered by Professor^ 

 Tischler, Luschan, von der Sacken, Milliner, and Schaaffhausen. 

 The usual excursions terminated the meeting. 



The death is announced of Prof. L. Spangenberg, director of 

 the technical Versuchsanstalt and Professor of the Engineering 

 Sciences at the Technical High School of Berlin. He died on 

 August 6 last. 



The celebrated Egyptologist, Brugsch Pacha, has changed his 

 residence from Cairo to Berlin, where he will lecture at the 

 University, 



The European Vice-Consal at Tchesme telegraphs to Con- 

 stantinople on August 27 that Tchesme and Chio were, on the 

 night of the 26th, visited by an earthquake still more terrible than 

 that of the 3rd of April. The destruction of property, he says, 

 is considerable, and the inhabitants are in despair. Contem- 

 poraneously with the shocks of earthquake felt at Chio ai.d 

 Tchesme, the earth at Zante is reported to have suddenly given 



